Chapter Text
The birds sang above Br'aad and Sylnan's heads as they walked — or in Br'aad's case, skipped — through the forest on a well-worn path. It had rained throughout the night, giving everything a musty smell, the ground beneath their feet occasionally squishing loudly. Weak beams of sunlight broke through the canopy and made the undergrowth glow with a faint warmth. Sylnan watched as the younger half-elf kicked at a rock that was more like an iceberg and very much did not move an inch. Br'aad broke the near-silence as he recoiled with a yelp of pain, shaking his foot. Sylnan rolled his eyes in exasperation, a wide grin betraying him.
"What are you laughing at?" Br'aad grumbled, lifting up the injured foot to inspect it and failing miserably to balance on one leg.
"I’m laughing at you," he shot back, catching Br’aad’s arm before he could topple over and slapping him playfully on the back. Br'aad only pouted, unable to find an argument to that.
”Watch this!” he called to Sylnan as he ran to the nearest tree, jumping to hang off the surprisingly sturdy lowest branch by his hands. Eyebrows raised, Sylnan watched as Br'aad's legs flailed in the air for a few seconds before managing to pull himself up with trembling arms.
"Are you done yet?" Sylnan asked, walking to the tree and leaning against the trunk.
"Nope!" Br'aad squeaked back and climbed awkwardly onto the next branch up. Sylnan tensed as his foot slipped on the wet bark but the blonde quickly clung to the trunk like a koala and held on long enough to find a foothold. He continued a few more branches up before carefully sitting down on a branch that was swaying far too much for Sylnan’s liking. Br’aad looked down at him in triumph and instantly paled. "Uh..." he huffed a nervous laugh. "Could I- could I get a little help here?"
Sylnan snorted. "You’ve been up a lot of trees, Br’aad. Just go back down the way you came."
Hungry.
Sylnan shoves it back. Not now.
Br'aad takes a second to look at the branches below him and turned back to Sylnan. "You know, I don't really remember which way I came."
"Why am I not surprised? Alright, just turn your butt towards me and go down." Sylnan stepped in front of the tree, gesturing his hand in a circle. "Make sure your hands and feet have won’t slip before you move one.”
Feed.
Shut the fuck up. Go away.
Br'aad eventually descended down the tree, albeit slowly, with Sylnan's guidance. As soon as his shoes hit the forest floor, he dropped to his knees and kissed the ground.
Sylnan poked his side with a foot. "Don't put your mouth in the dirt, Br'aad, that’s disgusting,” he chided. Said half-elf gave him a wounded expression before getting up, dusting off his painfully white pants that were now covered in dust. Br’aad would be washing that himself.
HUNGRY.
Stop. I'm not feeding you.
HUNGRY. FLESH. TEAR BREAK EAT FEED FEAST FEAST FEAST FEAST FEAST FEAST FEAST
"—an? Sylnan, are you okay?"
He opened his eyes (when did he close them?) and snapped his head towards the source of the voice. Hand outstretched, wide eyes, long hair, young flesh.
An unbidden growl rises in his throat. The hand pulls back as if stung, drawn back against his chest. They stand as if frozen in time, staring each other down, neither daring to move. Sweet, rich fear scent rises from the half-elf and scratches the itch in his gut but it's not enough it’s not enough he needs more.
Br'aad raises his foot slightly to back away but the movement is all too apparent against the deafening silence of the forest. And it’s all Sylnan needs to lunge forward, teeth bared and snapping.
A shriek cracks the air. Br'aad manages to dive out of the way and avoids the brunt of Sylnan's attack but he barrels into his shoulder instead. Another yelp and the half-elf sprawls, winded, on the leaf litter, shallow scrapes already littering his arms and chest. Sylnan slams into the tree they'd climbed moments before, failing to stop his charge.
The faint tang of Br'aad's blood in the air hit him like a fist in the face and he leans against the tree trunk as his knees buckle for a second. What was he doing? Sylnan meets Br'aad's eyes and it feels like he's been dunked in a barrel of ice water. His brother was pale, well-kept hair strewn around, purple eyes wide in terror, scrambling backwards, away from Sylnan. He’d done this.
"B-Br'aad, I—"
Feast.
And then Sylnan's on top of him, slashing down and tearing at an arm raised in defence. Warmth gushes, filling Sylnan's mouth with a deep rich flavour. A high-pitched scream echoes through the trees. His prey is struggling, writhing underneath him, its cries only making him swallow his bite and continue ripping at its flesh. The arm is a mess already, ribbons of red curling and falling and it's not enough, not enough.
The sobs don't stop, if anything, they grow louder and more desperate. It makes his head spin, dizzy from the euphoria of finally being able to give in, being able to let go of his restraints and let his body do what it was meant to do. He’s been so hungry for so so long, nothing able to satisfy him. But now that ache inside him is finally being soothed and filled and he doesn’t want it to stop.
His prey begins to slow, its thrashing growing sluggish, falling quiet. He pushes its shredded arm away with barely any resistance and he's—
—knocked away, barely catching himself from slamming into the ground. The haze of red over his vision dissipates a little and he registers the shouting of voices. There's a figure by his prey's side and two more move in front of him, almost completely blocking his sight of it.
A little fear scent clings to the fur of the taller one. The other says something but Sylnan only snarls in return, springing at the small gap between them where he can break past. With surprising speed, the taller catches him around the chest and drops his body weight on him, sending them both crashing to the ground. He tries to slip out from underneath but he's tugged back again, something wrapped around him and pinning his arms against his sides. The shorter kneels before him, face wrinkled and red, yelling something. Copper is fresh in his mouth. They’re stopping him from getting to his prey, he craves— no, he needs it. The hunger is already gnawing at him again, the brief indulgence hardly putting a dent in weeks of build-up. He curls down to try biting at the arms trapping him.
Suddenly, Sylnan's ears are ringing, head snapped to the side and stinging. The white noise fades slowly as he turns back round, shaking it a little, to come face to face with Mountain, who's currently yelling. He blinks.
"—ould have fucking killed him!"
Did someone get hurt?
"He isn't himself, Mountain! This has happened before, remember?" Taxi?
Sylnan clears his throat to ask what the hell were they talking about and immediately retches, the tang of cooper filling his mouth and pressing against his nose, smothering him. Mountain jerks backwards just in time to avoid the splatter at his feet. Sylnan stares at the splotches of bright red blood in the small puddle.
"What..." He looks up at Mountain's now-pale face. "What happened...?"
His eyes drift past the dwarf's shoulder. Velrisa knelt next to a body with... purple tattoos. Memories came flooding back in a rush and this time the arms encircled around him let him go when he doubles over to bring up the contents of his stomach. Br’aad begging for him to stop, to snap out of it (Sy-Sylnan please stop please you have to fight back oh gods please Sylnan let me go please), the smooth slide of his teeth as he sliced through skin and muscle, the sweet and salty metallic taste of blood, the swell of triumph as his own fucking brother slowly stopped struggling beneath him.
He takes what felt like the first breath he’d had in hours and hurried over to where Br’aad lay, pushing past Mountain and ignoring Taxi shouting his name, stuck in a limbo between wanting to make sure Br’aad was alright, going to be alright, and unable to face him after fucking mauling him.
Velrisa doesn’t move from her spot, hardly even glancing up as Sylnan approached. Her hands glowed above Br’aad’s arm and Sylnan stares at the mess of red, transfixed in horror.
”Is... is he going to...” He chokes on his words but Velrisa seemed to understand.
”He’ll live. And his arm will be fine too.” Sylnan can’t help but deflate at her words, relieved that he hadn’t done any permanent damage. At least not physically.
A soft noise from Br’aad has Sylnan jumping out of his skin. Velrisa’s spell was already dissipated but it’d clearly done its job as the blonde half-elf stirred. He’s alive. You didn’t kill him. Purple eyes flutter open, slightly glazed, and look around lazily.
”Br’aad...” Sylnan watches Br’aad slowly meet his gaze at the sound of his voice. “I don’t...”
It’s like a flip is switched and Br’aad flinches, eyes wide and afraid, afraid of Sylnan. Belatedly, he realises he probably has blood everywhere and tries to raise his hands to show that he was back to normal. Br’aad’s face only whitens further as he tries to shrink back against Velrisa.
A hand grasps his shoulder gently but firmly. Taxi. “Br’aad’s not in his right mind,” he murmurs into Sylnan’s ear. “I’m sure he doesn’t mean it. He just... needs to calm down.” Carefully, as if he would break at the slightest wrong touch, Taxi leads him away from Velrisa and Br’aad.
Dimly, he registers Mountain trailing after them like a bodyguard. After all, you could snap at any moment, couldn’t you? You can’t even stop yourself from almost killing your brother. Who knows what you’d do next? You’re a monster.