11 : Stephen

Both Xena and Cassius walked through the overgrown forest.

Cassius was beginning to get anxious by every passing minute. He wanted to get there quickly and embrace his little brother in his arms. He wanted proof that he was still alive.

That maybe, just maybe, he hasn't lost everything.

"Can you walk faster?" Cassius muttered rudely at Xena who was taking tentative steps. Slow and cautious steps.

Xena just shrugged.

She was still angry about what went down and was in no mood to talk.

Cassius swore that if it wouldn't be for his brother and him being dependent on Xena's directions, he would be long gone.

"I will just fly us bo-" Cassius started but Xena had other plans.

"You are not touching me!"

"Is that a challenge?" Cassius asked and Xena stilled. With a burning fury, she turned around, facing Cassius and shouted,

"You will do as I say or I will never elevate the bond, you have be-!" Cassius stopped hearing when he heard the word 'elevate'. Wait, She was planning to give up the bond.

When Cassius seemed loss in thought, Xena thought he was ignoring her resulting in her getting angrier.

Oh dear.

Suddenly Cassius held his head in pain, his nerves clenching causing him to loose his balance and kneel down.

"Ahh! Blast! What is happening!" The fake bond was making him listen to her command and Xena knew exactly what was happening.

A master commanding their slaves would cause this. So that the slave would remember their place.

So that Cassius would be reminded of his place at that very moment.

Cassius further leaned into the ground because of the pain, his nerves popping as he continued to grunt in pain. Xena looked at him with sympathy and whispered,

"At ease." To herself.

The pain subsided and Cassius stood back up. He was angry. How easily these puny humans could control him.

He was the one that was once superior, how did he become this!?

"Silly humans, reminding me again and again about what I lost-" Cassius took a single deep breath and looked up at Xena, fixing her with a glare, "You were planning to lift the bond?" Xena nodded.

"I was going to set you free the first time I got you but I also didn't want anyone else to capture you again or you to eat me and when you asked for revenge, I knew you deserved it so I did not elevate the bond, so you could learn more about your enemies under my protection."

Cassius scoffed. How blasting thoughtful but he had to admit, she was quite helpful. If she wasn't there at the town, he would've been dead, but then again - if he were not her slave, none of that would've happened.

"Why do you want to go to my aunt's house though?" Xena asked while walking closer.

"She has my brother." Xena cocked an eyebrow.

"Alex is your brother?"

"His name is not Alex!" Cassius's voice boomed and Xena jumped. "It's Stephan!"

Cassius was angry with humans even more for changing his brother's identity. He will kill all of them.

Xena was quiet but then started walking.

"There." She pointed towards a small cottage - that was the moment Cassius was waiting for from the past hour and finally! - with a very inhumane speed, Cassius broke through the door only to find a fifteen-year-old boy eating and a woman cleaning the window sills.

Both freezing the instant the creature broke in.

The boy was nothing like the one Cassius knew but he knew it was him. It was Stephen!

He is alive! My brother is alive!

"Stephen?" Cassius called ever so politely and immediately pulled his brother in his arms. The boy was surprised.

If Xena was here and not panting in the forest while making her way here, she would be surprised at how gentle Cassius could be.

"Cassius?" He remembers him. He remembered him! Cassius was over the moon as he hugged him but then he noticed something. There were no wings.

"Where are your wings?" Cassius asked, ignoring the other woman completely who was already short of breath after looking at Cassius, and just then Xena tumbled through the door.

Stephen did not answer and only looked down.

"Stephen?" Cassius tried again. Stephen shook his head and that's when Cassius's anger flared once again and he stood up, in two seconds flat, he had the woman slammed into a wall.

"You have ruined him! You have made him human. What did you do!?" Cassius voice boomed and lady's eyes widened in extreme fear. Just like that, Cassius pulled his claws out, ready to rip her throat out when Stephen and Xena jumped in her defense.

"Cassius! No! She is my aunt!"

"Brother! You can't do that."

That struck a nerve and Cassius turned around in pure fury. His anger growing by the second.

"You are defending a low life human?! The one that killed our parents by stabbing them in the back and putting their crowns up in a form of entertainment!" Cassius asked Stephen baffled, ignoring Xena completely.

Stephen looked down. He knew his brother was right but he simply cannot let him kill the woman who actually protected him.

"Cassius - Brother, I will help you to get your rightful position but not her. She is the reason I am alive. Still walking and healthy and my wings are not gone, I just . . . cannot pull them out." Stephen explained but Cassius did not care.

Stephen had grown up so much.  Yes, he did want revenge from the people who killed their family and people but Cassius wanted revenge from the whole of humanity. And witches.

Even though Stephen was young at the time but he knew what happened that night. He knew what went on and he would never forgive them for that. He knew exactly who killed them.

Cassius didn't know what to do. He was troubled in Stephen's eyes, and Cassius himself knew that he was confused.

Either listen to his brother or get the revenge he desired. He then decided.

"I am out of here." The quickest and most effective way- Cassius opened his wide white wings. The lady almost had a heart attack while Stephen was in awe at seeing his brother's royal wings.

He wished he could get his golden wings back. He whished. To be honest, he wasn't surprised to see his brother either.

When the news went around that the last swifter was in town, it wasn't hard to decipher the code.

Stephen was actually looking forward to the meeting, but it didn't go as expected.

Xena watched Cassius swish away, leaving her there. Her heart broke at how he left her there without a thank you but she also understood what he was going through.

Xena had heard stories in her history class about how everything happened on the day of the attack but it wasn't anything like what Cassius said a while ago.

Xena was determined on finding out what actually happened.

"Stephen, you are welcome in the palace anytime you want to come to meet your brother." Xena didn't need to ask Cassius to allow his brother in her palace even though she knew Cassius would lash out.

"Thank you." Stephen wasn't anything like his big brother. Nothing. He only wanted to kill those who actually killed but Cassius held the entire humanity responsible.

After one final nod from Xena, she also walked away. Careful to not step on her dress or get it muddy. She was seriously debating on wearing pajamas now.

When she was hardly half a mile away, she heard some bushes rustle behind her and Xena jumped.

The night had started to fall but it would take a little more than an hour for her to reach the palace at the pace she was walking.

Suddenly she tripped, scrapping her leg deep from a broken branch and she bit back a scream.

One look at the wound and she started to cry. Man, she was such a wuss at times. How can the slightest of things make her cry and not the creature that could kill her in a matter of seconds or her own people in the town that had thrown knives at her?

"Such a Damsel. Princesses aren't supposed to be like this. In our kingdom, they would take part in wars and you, you are such a pussy." Cassius mocked as he came to kneel in front of her.

Uh, his colorful language, missed it!

Where did he come from though?

Xena could not even properly see him due to her tear-filled eyes and the falling night but Cassius's vision was as bright as the day.

He lowered himself to her legs and slowly lifted her dress up to see a very long gash starting from her ankle and up to her knee. Her muscle was definitely damaged.

Cassius sighed and ripped half of Xena's skirt off - which made her squeal in Surprise - and tightly cover the wound with it.

"This will stop the blood atleast."

The long dress that reached her toes was now up to her mid-thigh. Her father would not be happy about this.

"Can you stand?" Cassius asked Xena to which she shook her head and Cassius sighed. It was his fault . . . Sort of. He left her knowing well that she wouldn't be able to get home.

She wouldn't have left him either.

Cassius slipped his long muscular arms underneath Xena and lifted her arm. She gasped and quickly wrapped her arms around Cassius's neck.

"Please don't fly. Please." Xena begged but without answering, Cassius flipped his wings open and Xena was ready to cry again but what surprised her was that he wrapped his wings around her.

So that, no one could see her that bare and so she wouldn't be cold. Cassius figured that much that she wasn't used to having herself that bare - with her legs that exposed - in front of people. Also, it was getting colder by the time.

"Thankyou." This small whisper fluttered Cassius heart but he kept his expression stoic.

And just like that, Cassius walked in the falling night, sniffing his way out as Xena stayed cocooned in his wings and arms.

...

I mean, I find that really sweat also, I am facing a major power out - my body is facing the power out. I don't want to write but I have great ideas.

Help?

P R O Q U E E N