xremusx:
Remus had resorted to getting his brother to take the first step. He had done so before so he was sure it would happen again. Death was something the two of them knew far too well. If there was one thing the former vampire had always thought, it was that him and his brother would always have each other’s backs. They had seen their village fall. Together. They had become vampires. Together. They had gotten rid of the mad magister Amulius. Together. Everything they had ever done before his death, they had each other to fall back on. It had felt as blunt as the uppercut to his chin or the punch to his chest when he had been struck down by Romulus. He had never expected there would be any point in time where they ever would be without each other until that very moment. All of the anger and rage he felt for so long would come to a head right now. Those beasts within him threatened to come out, to show his brother exactly what had become of him at the magister’s hands. A monster just like their uncle had been.
He’s still doubled over as the words leave Romulus’ mouth, a low growl falling from the pits of his throat and filling the space between them. There would be no coming back from this, he knew that and he didn’t care. Remus had held onto the anger for long enough and he wanted to be free from it. This probably wouldn’t help, but he was too far gone to think rationally about any of this. And, if it wasn’t his own mind against him, it was the menagerie of beasts that he had come into contact with in the Otherworld. They seemed to all be within him, his jaw unhinging on its own accord, eyes bloodshot as he looked up at Romulus. No words could leave his mouth now, the monster he had been made had taken control and he was left with no recollection of who he even was. A hand lifted to pull his maw back into place before dropping both arms in front of him.
“You made me into this…thing.” He gripped Romulus’ shirt in his left hand before bringing his other to make contact with the magister’s cheekbone. And then he pulled back and let his fist fly to the same spot again. And again. And again. “You’re going to die here, Romulus.” He let go and let out a breath, a low growl leaving his mouth as he cracked his neck. “And you’re never coming back.” Hands lifted again to grab onto the other man’s shirt. “You’re never. Ever. Coming. Back.” He then let his hands wrap around his brother’s neck. “I want to see the life leave your eyes.”
“You’ll finally be just like him.” He rasps as he gazes up at Remus. He wonders if he already has become the man they had once worked so hard to kill. Blinded by ambition, hellbent on power at any cost. Romulus thinks he already knows the answer before he even reaches to grasp the other man’s forearms. It’s with as much momentum as he can manage that he throws them both to the floor and then they aren’t brothers. No, when Remus’s back hits the marble tile they aren’t siblings anymore, they’re two men fighting to stay alive. Punches are thrown, they roll this way and that, grappling to get to their feet and all the while the figures dance around them as if they aren’t even there. It’s all torturously slow compared to what they are used to. The last time they’d done this, he’d run his sword straight through Remus’s chest and to the ground. This time they have their fists and again, it is fitting that this time when one of them left the world, it would be as they were when they were born. Just two mortals, reverted by whatever magic or realm they were at the mercy of. Remus was a man unhinged and any time he got the upper hand, it was for naught. There’s so much he wants to say, so much that isn’t going to matter in the end. They were supposed to break the circle and here they were, pushing and shoving and clawing at each other like animals, perpetuating it further. He has had centuries to think of Remus, of what he’d had to do that day and if it was all worth it. If any of it had really mattered in the grand scheme of things, the senate, the supernatural, they all seemed hellbent on killing each other. The wolves, the eladrin, the druids, all pushed to the fringes and separated from the rest of them, the witches outright disappearing, killing one another. And the vampires were practically fully in control and he’s tried so hard to ignore it over the years. They’re both the man that they’d spent so long killing, just in different ways. It’s with this thought that Romulus falters, fails to counter a blow and his head recoils from a punch into the sharp edge of a portrait on the wall. His back hits the wall and he’s momentarily stunned as everything reels.











