Brothers Battle

[Aro Volturi]

1277 B.C.

Aro slipped through the quiet night through the murky forests off the coast of Brazil. It had been eleven years since he joined the conscription for the king and journeyed all over the world in battles, winning countless titles and the rarest of jewels. Women lined up to bask in his warrior presence. He would boast about his wins and dared anyone to challenge him. A sadistic smile came to his face when he turned quickly and saw the enemy, pulling his bow and arrow from his back and firing a single shot as the arrow went straight through the eye of the man, his body slumping to the ground.

Aro was good with the arrow, it was meant for him. His name was pronounced the same way his weapon of choice was....how was that for irony. Stepping forth, he pulled the arrow from the socket and looked at the eye ball with a grin, hearing the crunch of the earth, spun around and waited.

[Henry]

*I'd had enough of blood and violence to last ten lifetimes since leaving home over ten years ago. For a while, I'd been conscripted to our King's army but when I realized he was fighting for the wrong things, I had asked for a dismissal. It was given, with dishonorable epithets attached to it. I didn't care. He was greedy man with more shit for brains than anything else and did not have the good of his people as his guiding thrust. He only longed for riches, for fame and glory.

Just like my little brother, Aro.

I was considered a blight on our village after I bowed out of the Kings Service, and much of it was propagated by Aro and his vile tongue, his jealous and ceaseless battle with me that was never what I wanted. My father though, he understood, he was an honorable man whose needs were simple. Didyme, she too, knew my reasoning in this. As long as I stayed, I was, however, harming them with my very presence.

So I left the tiny hamlet I'd lived in my whole life. Left behind my father, still a working man, a strong man, a good man. Didyme was a flower of womanhood and had learned to stay clear of Aro when he WAS home. They had never mended their fences. I became a soldier of fate, going where I was needed. I took little away from each skirmish, allowing myself the freedom to fight for what I believed in. I was a nomad, a gypsy..a wanderer.

And now, another battle. Standing amidst the battlefield littered with gore, fallen and broken bodies, I spun in a slow circle. We were outnumbered, outskilled and if we stayed, we'd be overtaken. This was a feudal land war between the King and a coastal lord who had amassed a large enough army to overthrow the bastard who now sat on the throne. Sword in hand, I spun in time to see my general, Desiderius, fall to the ground, an arrow jammed in his eye socket. He twitched once then grew still. With disgust I watched his attacker remove that bit of wood and I flew his direction, weapon raised. A blood curdling scream left my throat as I parried...

And then pulled up short. I hadn't seen him in countless years. But one never forgets their blood, their flesh. It was Aro standing there in vicious victory, his smug face lined with pleasure at the kill.*

[Aro Volturi]

He stood there, ready to fire the arrow when the face of the man was revealed in the rising sunlight. Slowly lowering his bow and arrow, he paled as if he'd seen a ghost. They stared at one another for the longest of times before he finally whispered his name.

"Henry..."

It was barely audible as he pulled his feet together and stood regally. A smile tugging at the side of his lips. "Brother, what a surprise it is." Motioning his hand over the corpse of the man he'd just slayed he bowed at the waist once, sarcastically at best. "I take it he belonged to you. Oh well.." Grinning, he placed his weapons behind him, having no reason to fear his brother.

[Henry]

*He'd grown. And in the growing, I'd lost even more of the young boy who had once thought the sun and moon rose and set within me. I had never wanted to be more than our father had been..a good man. A decent man. But there had been a time when the battle hardened man before me had looked up to me as his own hero, had followed me over the lands as we'd run and play. I had lost Aro so long ago and I was quite sure I would never get him back, not the way he was. Our mother's death had changed him. His hate for Didyme, for father and for me....had mummified his once light spirit with dour, angry bandages. I hated that we were seperate in the world now, and not just by distance. But by what we stood for.

Clenching my jaw, I lowered my own weapon. I could not, WOULD not attack my brother. But neither would I bow to him.Ever. In any way. It wasn't seemly. But more than that was the fact that he stood for the very things I had eschewed. Glancing down at Desiderius, I said a silent prayer to our Gods, begged Charon to see him safely across the River Styxx and his final resting place. He'd been a good man, a good fighter. Aro's face gleamed with triumph, those dark eyes fierce and gloating. I wouldn't give him the satisfaction of knowing how much it saddened me to come across him like this, to lose a man to his hand.* He was a good fighter. *taking a long look at the bow and arrows my brother was caressing mindlessly* And he'd have taken you in a fair fight. But you never were one for mano y mano, were you Aro?

[Aro Volturi]

He laughed, sadistically and childlike shaking his head. "It is not my fault, brother, that your warrior failed to know his surroundings. This is war, not some play in a gardens of daisies." His body stiffened and he lowered his head, looking through hooded eyes.



"Do you question my skills, brother? Surely you've heard of the great warrior I've become and soon I will wield the greatest power you would only wish for."

[Henry]

Great warriors have no need of the vainglorious affirmations you give yourself, Aro. *standing back, keeping my body tense and prepared for an attack. How sad that I knew he'd try and take me down, given half a chance. Keeping his hard gaze with my own green eyed one, I jerked my chin around the battleground* I wish for nothing more than any of men that lay here now. Peace, brother. And justice. All this infighting your King commands, is only killing the land he depends on for his largesse. The common man grows weary of taking a knee to the pompous bastard you serve. What is power and wealth in terms of gold and riches? Aro....think about it. Come away with me, brother! *I was suddenly determined to reach him* Fight for what is just and not to fill your pockets and his with ill gotten gold.

[Aro Volturi]

"Do you DARE question my beliefs? You pretentious saint. You carry yourself like you own the world, like you're so much better. Hah, I spit on your beliefs, it will get you no where. You must take what you know is yours, just as our sister took our mother's life." He spat out with such disdain for his brother. Without another word, he ducked low and swung his leg to throw his brother off of his feet. He would once and for all put Henry in his place.

[Henry]

*I moved at the last moment and yet his leg still caught my ankle, causing me to stumble. But not fall. His words hurt far more than his actions but I kept my face impassive and my eyes hooded, quickly spinning a roundhouse kick, aiming my foot square for his gut, the impact causing him to jerk back but neither did he fall* I won't fight you, Aro! Bring your greatest soldier and I'll gladly pass back his head, but I will NOT fight my brother!

[Aro Volturi]

The square kick to his gut made him stumble back and catch himself before he fell. A smile came to his face, sadistic and calculating. He weighed all options silently in his mind before he stepped forward once more. The smile faded and he snarled low and growled out, "Am I not worthy enough for your fight? Do you see me as no threat?" He couldn't control his anger, all the pent up frustration as he lunged forward knocking Henry to his back and demanding a fight. Rearing back a fist and slamming it to the side of his face.

[Henry]

*my head rang with the fierce blow, stares exploding behind my eyes. The sword I'd been holding flew from my grasp and skittered off, scraping along the rocky ground as I tried to corral the beast that was my own brother. The pure venom in his tone and demeanor tore at me. I didn't want to fight him....I did not! But I also wasn't going to let myself become his own battle dummy. Bucking up, half throwing him off of me, my fist curled, making contact with his face repeatedly, cuts from the spartan ring i wore cutting into his flesh, drawing ragged furrows of blood*

[Aro Volturi]

Rolling over and springing back to his feet, he moved to the side hunched over slightly with arms braced for another round. His face bled from the punches he was able to give him and he just looked into his brothers deep green eyes and snarled. "Is that all you have, brother?" Circling him like he was prey as he silently thought of how he should attack. He didn't want a fight, fine. Standing erect, he never took his eyes from Henry's. Removing the two swords he wore on his back, he braced again holding them in position.

"It will be you or I brother, are you with me or are you against me?"

[Henry]

*I rose up slowly, to my full height and didn't flinch from his gaze, although my body was aching with the pain he'd inflicted. But none was as damaging as the cold splash of truth before me. Enemies we were always going to be.....brothers or not. I watched him slide his swords from his scabbard in back and face me, saw and died a bit inside, half giving him my back.* As long as you stand for what you do, I will always be against you, Aro. Are you going to cut me down then? Stab me in the back? Mother would be so proud..*this last bit with an infusion of disappointed sarcasm*

[Aro Volturi]

The pain of his words were sharper than knives, deadlier than any weapon he could have ever used. It tore deep into his core, the very core he'd been numb to for so long, finally feeling and he didn't like the feeling. Seeing him turn his back in expectancy to being stabbed in the back as he liked to say, Aro lowered his swords and watched with pained eyes.



His voice raspy and low as he spoke, "She was my mother, same as you. You will not tell me what she would and would not have been proud of. It doesn't matter now, brother. SHE'S DEAD!!!!!" The last part coming out in a scream, a scream of agony as the pain of a thousand knives were felt in his heart. Dropping to his knees as he lowered his head to the ground and sobbed like a child.

[Henry]

*There was a part of me that wanted to hit my own knees and take him to me, hold him..comfort him. But I remembered all the animosity of the passing years, the times I’d reached out only to have my hand slapped away. There were worlds between us now, gaps we’d never be able to bridge although I’d have given anything in that moment to have it be like it used to be. Before matera died,…

I should have killed him then. I should have..his guard was down and my own sword was only a few feet away. I should have done it to save us both the pain that would come later on, the pain I had no idea would inflict us both with scorching hate and blinding fury, that would make all that came before seem inconsequential. But at the end of it all…he was blood. I would not spill anymore of it.

Because I knew, already, that something was missing in Aro. He was cold, he was ruthless and he was absolutely determined to use whatever he could to possess the world. But what if the world wasn’t enough for him? That was the other thing I sensed in him. It was always and only him. What could he get, do, receive, have.

Looking down on him, his shoulders shaking, his head bent slightly, I made a decision. A decision I would always and forever regret, although he’d never know it. He’d think it a weakness and that he’d won.

I turned and walked away, feet dragging over the craggy ground and into the night, the smoke from the small pitch fires drifting in lazy tendrils. I didn’t look back.

I couldn’t.*