The Young Gladiatrix

Brotherly Love

~This part is a flashback to when Ash was 6 years old, and Niero was 14~

"Niero I'm scared!" cried Ash as the storm echoed around them, the house shaking with the crashing thunder. Light flashing into the small building as lightning flashed across the sky. Niero cuddled Ash close, his arms wrapped around her as he held her close to his chest. He sang softly to her. Singing the old lullaby their mother used to sing to them before her passing.
After their mother had passed just months earlier, Niero had taken to protecting his little sister. Making sure she got food, warmth and shelter as their father worked away with Falcor, the eldest of the three children at 18 years old.
Niero would hold Ash until she fell asleep in his arms, keeping her close to him all night to make her feel safe. "Put her in her own bed Niero. Don't keep hugging her all the time" their father would say as he came home from the training ground. Pulling Ash from the arms of her brother and putting her in her own bed as the storm raged on.
But Niero would creep back to her once the house was silent once more. Ash hadn't been able to sleep alone since their mum passed. She cried every night for their mum, begging her to come back home. Their father would shout at her. Falcor would call her names. Niero would yell at them for it all. "She misses mum!" he'd scream. "Stop yelling at her!" he'd plead, just holding Ash close as she cried.

It wasn't until late Autumn that she stopped crying at night. She'd sit in the small garden in front of their house, picking the petals off of flowers before her father would drag her to the training ground. Niero protesting that she was too young to learn to fight. She was too young to wield a blade. All he wanted was for his little sister to live as a child. Not a soldier. By the time she was 7 years old, and Niero, 15. Ash could wield a sword and a crossbow. She could climb fairly high, and run fast for her age. Niero hated every second of her training. He saw it as her losing her childhood innocence. The day she came home crying broke his heart.
He woke early the next morning. Packing a small leather bag with food, and a blanket. Before he took off into the early morning mist with Ash upon their horse. He'd make a better life for her. Or at least he'd try. And he made that promise to her.
"I'll make it better, Ash. I promise" he whispered to her. He didn't know how. But he'd make it better.