— @forowa bc it’s time to get angsty in here
How did he get here?
This is just a dream, right? Just some awful nightmare.
He’ll wake up soon and things will be back to normal.
Hanzo won’t be standing over him, sword in hand and pointed at him, a determination in his eyes that isn’t quite like any Genji has seen there before.
While it’s true that he and his brother haven’t been getting along the way they used to, that perhaps they’ve been drifting apart... And things have only gotten worse since their father’s passing... This still isn’t something that Genji can quite comprehend. Hanzo had approached, wearing an unreadable expression, and before the younger Shimada could get a word in, the older had gone on a tirade, using all of those words he favoured when speaking of his brother -- disgrace to the family name, liability, lazy, unworthy... There had been arguments in the past between them that had involved such language, but it had never felt quite as cutting as it had this time. It had never felt so... final. Before, it had always been about how Genji should better himself, but this time... it was as though Hanzo no longer held that hope.
Then Hanzo had lunged and, startled and bewildered as he was, Genji had been knocked onto his back in the tussle, leaving him now staring with wide-eyes up at the man who... seems to intend on killing him. ( He doesn’t want to believe that. He can’t believe that. )
“ Brother, what--- ” He begins, trying to make sense of all of this, trying to get Hanzo to slow down, to stop what he’s doing. There’s movement of Hanzo’s arms though, triggering Genji’s own honed instincts. Wakizashi pulled out in a swift action, it’s raised to stop the other’s blade from successfully landing its blow. From there he shoves the sword to one side and uses the second or two of time that allows him to scramble away, to roll to his feet and put some distance between himself and his brother.
“ Hanzo, please, I--- ” Again, he’s given no opportunity to complete a sentence, him speaking only seeming to anger his attacker further. Sucking in a sharp breath as the distance between them is closed, Genji dodges out of the way of another slash, chest constricting as the situation starts to properly sink in. Hanzo... really is trying to do this. Kill him. This isn’t just an extreme sparring session, this-- This is real. And he doesn’t understand.
Spinning on his heel to face the other Shimada, he makes no move to fight. Each movement he makes as Hanzo continues to come at him is merely self-defense -- nothing but blocking and dodging. Even if this is real, Genji... can’t make an effort to harm Hanzo. He loves his big brother, despite everything, and could never bring himself to hurt him. The fact that Hanzo evidently does not feel the same way stabs deeper than his sword or arrows ever could.
When the elder brother comes forth yet again, Genji manages a swing with his wakizashi that holds enough force to knock the sword from the other’s hand. It goes flying, topples to the floor somewhere off to the side, and the flighty Sparrow moves, once more putting distance between them. The smaller weapon is returned to its sheath on his back, and he raises his now empty hands before himself, a plea in his brother’s direction. There’s a glimmer of hope in his eyes to see that Hanzo makes no move after the discarded sword, but Genji makes a mistake in believing the best, and in taking his eyes off of the other for just a second, just to look off at the blade laying in the distance.
“ I don’t understand why you would do this, but Hanzo, we can--- ” This time, the words are cut off by a cry as a sharp pain bursts from his shoulder. Breath heavy, he looks over to find an arrow that has implanted in his skin, and all hope drains from his eyes in an instant, replaced instead with fear. Fear worse than before. Having an attack actually land... it makes the realization real that this is happening. That Hanzo... The determination worn in his expression is a determination to see him dead.
Body now beginning to tremble, Genji raises a shaking hand to his shoulder, to grip instinctively around the wound, and turns his head back to his brother with a reluctance that, in the moment, he can’t explain. There’s a stinging in his eyes, though whether it’s caused by fear, by the devastation of such a realization, or something else entirely, is unclear. Breath hitching in his throat, Genji attempts to part his lips, to make one last effort at pleading with his brother to stop, but he’s met with a bowstring being pulled back and a glow beginning to emanate from Hanzo, one which he’s all too familiar with. ...But never one that he’s seen while on the end of his brother’s aim.
This is it, he thinks, a despairing and incredulous sort of smile spreading across his lips. He might even laugh in disbelief, but he can’t be sure -- his hearing is suddenly muffled, his mind nothing but fog. This is how I die. Struck down by my own brother. By my family’s own ability.
