[Azura Rayume]

((He wants Haishin and Forza to meet at The Dead Coast after he gets his butt kicked here. xP))

"We're brothers," they responded together.

"Although you don't act it," Haishin snarled.

"This war was your idea!" Anthony snapped back.

Haishin gave a snort of laughter. "If you hadn't taken what was, and still is, rightfully mine, there would be no need to fight."

It was Anthony's turn to laugh. "Just becase Father felt that I was more deserving to have the circlet? It's not like I chose to be given it. No more than I wanted you to get those stupid horns. Look what they've done to you!"

"They've made me stronger!"

"You're evil! There's no strength in that!"

"That's what you think. I'm sure Siren can plainly see that I am the better of the two of us."

Anthony turned his attention to Siren. "Don't listen to him. He's become a master of deceit. His words sound sweet, but they are tinged with poison."

Haishin's focus turned back to Siren as well. "He sounds like something out of one of those holy books, doesn't he? He's always the good one, and I'm always in the wrong. But I'll tell you this, dear: he could never understand you, or your kind for that matter, half as well as I could."

[GrayGriffin]

Siren's tail thrashed in the water, making a small whirlpool that displaced a nearby fish. Haishin and Anthony were both angry...but Haishin seemed angrier. And even though he accused Anthony of thievery, it was obvious that it was mere jealousy. At last, she spoke.

"If you understand us so well, what do you see me as, Haishin? A fighter, something to use in this war of yours? I am not a fighting girl, I even detest the sight of blood. But if you insist so much on making me fight for you, then I promise I shall live up to the image of my race."

[9]

(Ah. Still, we should do an Anthony/Haishin/Siren/FdM RP sometime.)

[Azura Rayume]

"Of course not my dear." Haishin sounded a bit defensive. "If you do not wish to fight, then by all means don't. In you, I see a beautiful spirit, ready and willing to accomplish any goal you wish."

"Now who sounds like a religious book? You're a liar, Haishin. a liar and a theif. You want nothing more than to take away this girl's sense of right and wrong, turning her into a monster to fight for you. You'll give her the very image she is trying to erase."

"Brother, you know nothing. You think I am evil? Have you seen yourself? You sit alone in that marble chair of yours, sending others to fight your battles. How is that truely good?"

"I'm here now, aren't I? Your accusations are nothing more than words spoken in anger."

"Yours are the same!"

((Maybe we will. Just got to get Haishin and FdM together first. And possibly rescue Moria.))

[GrayGriffin]

Siren's fins curled at the tips, a sign that she was upset. The tension...sibling rivalry taken to the extreme. Haishin was obviously angrier, but Anthony seemed upset too. But she remembered the sorrow in his eyes...obviously he did not turly wish to fight his brother. And Haishin...she could not see clearly.

"Haishin!" she hissed. "Look me in the face, let me see what you truly are."

[10]

[Azura Rayume]

Haishin glanced over at Siren, diverting his attention to her. This gave Anthony a perfect opportunity to attack, and he took it. One moment, the brothers were standing side by side; the next, Anthony was sitting on his complaining sibling's back.

"Get off me!" Haishin snarled, trying to stand up.

Anthony responded with a laught. "And why should I do that? Siren asked for your attention, and I'm helping you keep still long enough for whatever it is she wants to do.. Now don't squirm. You'll just make this more unpleasent for the both of us."

[GrayGriffin]

Siren turned her head, staring at Haishin's eyes. What she saw scared her. Darkness...and at the very bottom, a sorrow. But a sorrow so buried, that Haishin himself didn't know it was there any more. A sorrow born from envy, and used to fuel anger.

"I see...Haishin, your soul is dark, and almost dead." Her voice was a whisper, and it grew even softer. "And at the bottom, sorrow, born from envy."

[11]

(Can you post in the Tengel RP?)

[Azura Rayume]

"What? I'm not almost dead! I've got plenty of spirit left!" Haishin began thrashing violently, claws carving deep ridges in the wooden planks.

Anthony hated seeing his brother like this. It was enough to tear him apart, even though Haishin had been like this for years now. He slowly got of Haishin's back and said, "You can't see yourself as we can, brother. You think nothing is wrong, but you're dying on the inside. Please, give up this useless war and stop fighting me. I just want to help you!"

"I could never accept help from a theif like you."

"Then leave. You have no business here."

((I just did.))

[GrayGriffin]

(I seed.)
"I am sorry you do not see..." whispered Siren softly. But then again, she should realize that most did not. "I hope in the future, you can accept your brother...this war should not be. Brother against brother? What kind of future will that bring?"

[12]

[Azura Rayume]

"The kind of future where I rule in place of Anthony. and if you don't want to join me against this liar, then I really do have no business here." With that, Haishin turned and began to walk away.

Anthony stared after his brother, a mixture of confusion and amazment on his face. "That's it? That's all? No fighting, no death threats, no... nothing?" It wasn't that he was looking forward to that. It's just, every time the pair had encountered each other, neither had left without a token for their troubles. This sudden departure had come as a sudden, but not unwelcome, surprise.

"No. There's nothing left to say."

[GrayGriffin]

Siren sighed, resting her chin on the dock. "Is it not better this way?" she whispered softly. "This war...what will it destroy? To have one battle less is not too great, but perhaps it can tilt the balance...the two brothers who began it." She was not insulting them, merely stating the fact. Indeed, it was a jealousy between Haishin and Anthony, that had been the very beginning.

[13]

[Azura Rayume]

Anthony let out a sigh. "Yeah, I know," he muttered, reaching toward the "halo" that rested just above his ears. he pulled it down and turned it between his paws. "It's all father's fault really. He chose to give this to me, and left Haishin those acursed horns. He probably didn't mean any harm by it, and definitly could not have forseen any of this." It felt strange to be telling all this to a stanger he had met not too long ago. "You see, this piece of metal once belonged to our grandfather. He did something for some king and got this as a reward. Those horns belonged to another grandfather, but he was a wicked soul. His dying words were something like, 'But there will be another who will carry on my wicked works.' Haisin really wanted this piece of gold all his life. Then Father gave it to me. I didn't really want it to begin with. Sure it's pretty, but it's not worth losing my brother over."

[GrayGriffin]

"Do you believe that the horns actually influenced Haishin to become the twisted creature he is now?" asked Siren curiously. She had heard about "possessed" objects, but never put much store in those rumors. After all, rumors were just that-rumors.

"Did Haishin use to be different before-before what happened?" she asked, not waiting for an answer to her first question. That might clear up some of her confusion.

[14]

[Update in Tengel, plz?]

[Azura Rayume]

"Way different. He and I used to be inseperable. Sure, he's always been a bit of a trickster, but nowhere as mean as he is now." Anthony just shook his head as he watched his brother's slowly shrinking form. "And, yes, I think it was those horns. Why else would he hate me so much? We used to have disagreements all the time, but we'd get over them. But this has lasted for years now."

[GrayGriffin]

"Ah...so his horns are not part of him? Have you tried to remove them, ever?" That might have been somewhat rude, but still, to save a brother's mind... "Would that cure him, or has the madness taken him too far? If only he woud become what he was, would this war end?"

[15]

[Azura Rayume]

"He won't let me get close enough. He ran away the night he got them, and I didn't see him again for at least two months. It might work, but We'll have to beat him in a fight and knock him unconcious before we'd ever get them. And it's the only way I can think to end this."