another short story between kilo and miles- this being the last time they interact.
TW: lots of phyiscal pain descriptions, torture, vomiting, mentions of abuse.
Two figures sat across one another in what looked to be an underground campsite of a sort, the only source of light emitting was that of a small campfire within the vast darkness.
The first looked to be that of a taller, built, pale elf with dark hair, his face was thrashed of many scars, with a tired expression painted across his face.
He looked to be the older of the two, wearing darker loose fitting clothing bedside his armor.
The other seemed to be a shorter, younger elf with darker blue skin, his hair was that of a starlight off white color, his face appeared to have freckles speckled across as one of his favorite eyes remained covered by his hair that draped down.
He’d worn dark, almost full armor to cover and protect themselves in the harsh world he’d lived within.
The two looked to be related of sorts.
His face painted a different expression though, one of which that portrayed distress.
It was relatively quiet between the two as the only sound was the popping of the firewood, crackling and sparking.
“Right.. what’s wrong?” The older one spoke, breaking the silence as he glanced over at his younger brother.
“Hm?” He seemed to snap from his daze as he met with the man across the fire.
“You’re only this quiet if you’re upset or if you’re distracted. Both can fall into the same category.”
“Oh um..” Kilo was caught off guard, “it’s-“
“You’re full of shit if you say ‘it’s nothing’ Kil’” Miles spoke as he glared over at his brother, he was a very blunt and brutally honest individual.
Kilo, quite the opposite as he considered his options, before sighing in defeat.
“Well- I guess just..” they struggled in an attempt to find their words “I miss my parents, y’know..?” He admitted. “I mean- they couldn’t had just.. up and left me could they? They would’ve told me they would’ve-“ he was soon cut off “yes they would’ve.” Miles spoke bluntly as he took a swig of alcohol.
“No! I- maybe with you but not with me. I-“
Kilo stopped before covering his mouth, gasping as they’d realized what they’d said, looking over and seeing an angry expression on his brother's face.
“No I- I didn’t mean it like that.”
Miles let out a laugh “no- no I get it! You’re the perfect son and I’m the fuck up they sold! Yeah. Yeah that tracks.” He spoke in an aggressive tone.
“Miles.. you know I didn’t mean it like that, I never said you were a fuck up-“
“Yeah but you sure meant it.”
“No I- you’re not a fuck up. I’ve never thought you were one..” Kilo tried to calm his brother down as he sighed.
“No I mean, what I meant is-.” He stood up.
“I don’t understand why they’ve done what they’ve done I mean- they sold you, like you said, and they.. I dunno I guess never really paid much attention to me and I just..” he sighed, it went quiet for a moment.
“It’s unfair, yeah but..” Miles spoke letting out a sigh before he’d shook his head “They’re just shitty people, don’t try to put much thought into their actions.” He said in an attempt to calm him.
Kilo snapped “No! They’re not shitty people they- they took care of me! They fed me they-“
Miles sort of laughed “Kilo- you can’t still seriously be defending them?” He said in a puzzled way, Kilo about to speak back as Miles hadn’t let him get a word in.
“Yeah- they did the BARE minimum?? Kilo- they neglected you your WHOLE life! And you still defend them?” Miles spoke baffled and a bit angrily as he stood.
“Because they’re my parents!! I’m supposed to love my parents! And they’re supposed to love me! And- I need to do better!” Kilo yelled in an upset tone.
“Oh for god's sake Kil- why can’t you see what shits they are?? They NEVER even fuckin told you about me! You had to find out that shit on your own, what kind of parents fuckin, sell your children and neglect the other one??” Miles snapped at him.
“Maybe they had a good reason! Maybe they were I dunno.. low on money??” Kilo tried to defend his parents
“Oh and you think that’s a fucking excuse?? Low on money? So what? You pop out a baby and sell him immediately??” Miles was so baffled with Kilo’s argument.
“YOU’VE NEVER EVEN MET THEM!!” Kilo yelled out at Miles.
“I don’t need to have MET THEM to know that they’re fucking CHILD ABUSING CULTISTS!” Miles practically screamed at his brother.
“They- what-?” Kilo’s eyes widened as he focused on his brother.
Miles was stunned for a moment before he’d shook his head
“Oh- yeah! Did I mention? Yeah they’re fuckin cultists, built a WHOLLEEEE cult on the raven queen, and I was their little present to her!” Miles ranted out
“What? No I- that can’t be true.”
“Pff- oh hear and weep Kil’ if you don’t believe me? Oh just ask Fern. That’s how we met in the first place.” He spoke as if they hadn’t seen Fern in at least over 3 years.
Kilo shrunk “no I… no how could they-“ he shook his head.
“You remember that little symbol Fern had on his forehead? Yeah that’s FROM them, their sadistic fucking cult.” Miles growled.
“No- you.. you’re lying!” Kilo began to panic as they yelled out.
“Why would I do that?” Miles said as he crossed his arms.
“Because- You’re- you’re just jealous because you killed your dad and I still have mine.”
Kilo said as Miles’ expression immediately changed, more in an upset form as Kilo brought up his adoptive dad.
His expression soon turned to rage as he walked over to his brother, and grabbed the collar of his shirt to lift him off the ground.
“You do NOT get to talk about him like that. Or EVER.” Miles hissed at his brother, who shrunk in the grasp of him.
Miles' expression intensified as he bawled his fist up and growled, before punching his brother in the face, breathing out before letting Kilo drop to the ground as he walked off.
Kilo sat there on the ground as he watched his brother walk off, glancing down at the ground as they clenched their fists, their face ached, but they knew Miles held back on that.. despite everything.
Miles breathed out as he turned within the cave-like structure he was in, placing his head in his hands momentarily as he sighed to himself. “God fucking dammit Kilo..” he spoke aloud to himself.
After some time of walking, he’d made his way to a small stash of different items he’d been smuggling to different people, scanning his items before spotting a barrel, picking it up and taking it with him.
He was supposed to smuggle some illegal items to a faction he was vaguely associated with, he was the guy they’d gone to whenever they needed a smuggler for a task.
Granted, he was good at his job and he worked alone, careful not to involve his friends or family into his crimes as he didn’t want to make it their problem to deal with.
He sighed, making it to the meeting spot after what felt like forever.
“Moonshine! There he is, our favorite smuggler!” A taller, quite bigger person had cheered out, briefly going over putting an arm around Miles as he’d shaken him slightly, Miles could never quite recall the name of the faction or the faces of these people too well though.
Only thing he’d really recalled was these specific two being bigger than him.
“Get off me-“ Miles hissed as he escaped the arm of the first man. “Ah that’s right, shadow-boy doesn’t like being touched.” He spoke with a gruff laugh, backing away as Miles rolled his eyes at this exchange.
“So, did you get the goods?” A, slighter shorter one chimed in.
Miles nodded as he set his barrel down, kicking it over to the two, It rolled to their side.
Miles crossed his arms afterwards.
“Ohh! This is gonna be so go-“ the first one began to pick up the barrel but as he did, it began to growl and rumble, unhinging itself as it showed a mouth that opened to reveal its sharp teeth.
Miles eyes immediately widened
“MIMIC!” The first of the men screamed out before dropping it, the other quickly snatched it, immediately throwing the creature off the nearby underdark rocky cliff side, the three glanced over the edge where it was thrown, seeing the creature fall before it had gone into the endless abyss.
The three went silent for a moment.
The taller man shot his eyes over to Miles, furious as he’d grabbed him by the neck “YOU TRYING TO GET US KILLED MOON?!” He screamed at him as he held him up within the air.
Man this would be a good time to teleport, but unfortunately- Miles already used that ability up for today.
Miles gasped as he choked, holding onto the massive hand that covered his throat, attempting to get free “n-no I-“ he gasped out, feeling the hand around him tightening, he had to act fast.
He quickly reached for one of the short swords at his side, swinging it at the hand, immediately dropping to the ground as a blood curdling scream let out of the man.
Miles gasped for breath as he coughed, hearing a thud nearby- glancing over and seeing the hand he’d just severed off.
The man screamed in agony as his friend now went over to Miles,
Miles attempted to get up, but before he even could- he’d felt his hair being yanked back as now he was forced to face the shorter man as he winced. “oh you’re gonna pay big time for that one Moon.” He spoke intensely to him.
As the other tried to stop the immense bleeding from his arm, using a spell on himself to heal the area, now just remaining a stump.
Miles attempted to get out of the grasp of the man who held him, as he sure as hell wasn’t going down without a fight.
Nearly ripping his hair out of the grasp as he’d harshly jolted out of it.
He’d soon felt a hard kick to the face, enough to make him fall onto his face from the nearby ground as he groaned, trying to get up once more, as another harsh kick to the back was done- enough to make Miles yell in pain, being soon met by the first man- pinning him to the ground by sitting on top of him.
“get the FUCK OFF ME-!” Miles yelled out as he could feel the intense pressure applied to his back not budging and keeping him there.
He couldn’t do anything, and he felt helpless. The only thing he genuinely felt good about was his strength, and that felt like it was ripped from him within seconds.
The one who kept him pinned began to speak
“Right.. perk up Moon! You won’t die.” He laughed as he continued, whispering closely to his ear “oh.. but you’ll wish you were..” He spoke with such an intimidating and intense demeanor as laughter was heard, Miles' vision slowly starting to go in and out.
Shit.
He’d completely blacked out, assuming one of them made him go unconscious, he wasn’t recalling how or why.
When he woke up his limbs were pinned down to a wooden table of sorts, not sure where exactly he was.
“Oh good morning sleepyhead.” A voice spoke to him, tilting the wooden panel he was on upwards.
His weapons and armor were taken off of him, just left in his wine colored shirt, chocolate colored pants and black boots.
“Where.. am I.. what did you do to me?” He spoke as he felt the pain from those kicks earlier remain.
He felt so dazed as he tried to get a look around the room he was in, but everything felt and looked too blurry to tell what exactly was going on.
“Oh we haven’t done anything to you.. not yet at least.” The shorter one spoke to Miles as he groaned shaking his head as he felt his stomach churn as he groaned
“Oh yes, well we did drug you to weaken you.. and to knock you out, we know you’re normally quite the strong one, we couldn’t have that..” the second ones voice spoke.
Miles gasped out before groaning “all this.. just for a fucking mimic..?” He spoke weakly as the room began to spin in his vision.
“You ALSO- cut off my FUCKING HAND-!” The taller one screamed at Miles right in his face.
Miles stayed silent for a moment “right well.. to be fair you did try to strangle and kill me..” he laughed weakly.
“Do you think this is funny Moon??”
“A little bit.. yeah..” Miles spoke in such a dazed and loopy voice.
“Right then, I’ll show you funny mister comedian-“ one of them had growled before absolutely decking Miles in the stomach, immediately causing him to throw up more as he groaned.
“God-! Could you have tried to aim somewhere else besides me??” He exclaimed
“Ah shit-“ Miles laughed weakly as he groaned “my bad, next time I get drugged then punched in the stomach by someone I’ll be sure to aim somewhere besides them-“ he laughed weakly before being decked once again, this time in the face, then his stomach, arms, legs, all over. This repeated for quite a while as he’d huffed out.
“That-.. that all you got..?” Miles taunted as he, for sure was totally out of it, bruises quickly forming across his body. As he could almost recall the two men looking in puzzled awe at one another at this man.. not only staying conscious but also joking? Taunting them?
“Right funny guy- enough fun and games.” One of them spoke as he’d soon brought out a beaten up looking tool…? Wasn’t too sure what it was with the dazed vision Miles had right now, maybe a pipe? Crowbar? It was something big and metal.
“The fuck is th-“ he couldn’t even get a sentence in before whatever they’d wielded was hit directly on Miles’ knee joints as he screamed in pain, feeling his bones crack, as they’d hit him in several other places- ribs, arms, over, and over..
He felt himself barely keep a consciousness up, actually he recalled losing consciousness several times during this but being brought back up just so that he was awake for everything.
The pain was agonizing and unbearable..
“And here.. I do believe it's only fair- since you took my hand, I can take yours.” The bigger man spoke as he’d carried a sort of hacksaw, “except.. I’ll make yours, so much worse..” he smiled in a grim manner.
This felt a bit overkill for a small mistake, sure mimics aren’t pleasant to deal with but this was fucking insane.
The saw pressed against Miles’ wrist as he could feel it begin to tear into his skin as he made a blood curdling scream
“Yeah! Doesn’t feel too nice does it Moons??” He spoke as Miles was practically sobbing from how much pain he was in, begging them to stop.
Finally, after what felt like several hours the three were alerted to the door as it had just gotten bashed into, looking up as it was Kilo, standing there within the doorway, huffing out angrily, Miles could barely make him out amongst the tears and the drugs distorting his vision.
“Get… the fuck away from my brother.” He growled in a protective manner.
“What? Moons you gotta brother?? Why’d you never tell us lad?” One of the men spoke with a chuckle.
“Oh hey Kil…” Miles spoke weakly, barely holding onto his consciousness, he was glad he was getting help but.. not sure how to feel about it being Kilo.
“Good gods.. what’d you do to him??” Kilo spoke with a concerned yet angry voice.
“Oh nothing he didn’t deserve second Moon.” A chuckle snuck out of one of the men.
Kilo huffed as he shook his head “listen here- whatever trouble you’ve got with my brother, just let him go. No one has to get hurt, we can discuss this civilly.” Kilo spoke in a flat yet slightly intense tone, he’d always been more of one to talk conflicts through before combat, however they’d hurt Miles, and he was holding everything in him back on fighting them.
“Your brother here gave us a mimic kid-“ the first spoke flatly as soon being joined by the second yelling
“And cut off my FUCKING HAND-!” Showing kilo what used to be where his hand was.
“Good gods Miles-“ Kilo spoke as he facepalmed, “is this true??” He yelled out to his barely awake brother.
“Pff-“ Miles shrugged “Yeah..” he laughed as he spoke weakly.
Kilo shook his head. “God dammit Miles..” he spoke defeatedly, pulling out a sword ready to fight these people.
“Aw lil moon wants to fight-!” One of them called out as Miles began to lose consciousness once more- the world around him getting blurrier and blurrier as he was fading in and out, hearing bits and pieces of the fight commence- hearing the commotion as he couldn’t do.
Anything.
He did hear a very faint yelping noise that sounded to be the sort of his brother, from that alone he could tell he was hurt, he knew what Kilo sounded like and he knew these people struck him.
He completely blacked out soon after that as the void felt as if it engulfed him whole, having the vague memories of Kilo's voice beckoning for Miles to wake up, and being moved somewhere.
He couldn’t figure out if that was real or not, but he assumed so.
It was dark and it was dark for so long..
He felt a poking in his side as the sharp pain came back in that area, he’d winced as he began to groan, his consciousness regained and he saw the sunlight.. sunlight? Oh of course.
He was up on the surface now.
He’d felt the hard dirt road of a ground underneath him as he tried to sit up, wincing in pain.
“You took quite a fall there sonny, we thought you were a goner for sure!” An older man spoke to him with a chuckle.
Miles shook his head as he tried to stand up.
“Oh- easier now there boy, you’re still quite hurt.”
He shook his head at the elder’s concern- seeing his items scattered across the ground as walking felt like agony, attempting to pick his things up as he lost his balance and fell to his knees.
The elder man rushed to his side, attempting to help him “Woah there lad, here-“ he pulled out a small health potion and gave it to miles.
“Sorry I know it don’t be too much, but I hope this’ll get ya back on yer feet.”
Miles quietly had taken the health potion, downing it as he felt some of the pain go away, still quite beaten up but not nearly in as much pain as before.
He sighed out. “Thanks..” he weakly spoke as the old man let go of him, Miles regaining strength had grabbed his things and put them back on.
He felt so dazed as he tried to recall what’d happened.
“What happened to ya?” The elder asked as Miles turned around “I haven’t quite seen a fella as beaten up as you in quite some time laddie.”
“Well I-..” he tried regaining memory as it felt like a massive headache, like the biggest hangover he’d ever had, he briefly looked at his wrist as he’d been putting his armor and gloves back on, now remaining a nasty scar, everything rushing back to him.
“Kilo… oh shit Kilo-“ he spoke as he frantically looked around and not seeing him at all. “Shit, shit- shit!” He began to run.
He ran down the dirt road in attempts to see if he could catch up or see where they’d gone, he ran for what felt like hours- until his legs wore numb and tired.
He panted out, breathing heavily as he placed his hands against his knees.
His harsh breaths shook as the night began to fall. “Fuck… FUCK!” He yelled out as he punched a nearby tree.
“God… DAMMIT!” He yelled out as he paced, his breathing beginning to get shaky as he felt tears trickle down his face..
That was the last time he’d ever seen Kilo.
