A Guild of Moonlit Shadows (A KOTLC FanFic)

~22~ Always in Chains

"When I touched the rope in Foxfire, in trsported Vespera and I to a polane where we were in direct contact with Kynareth. Cynna must have known it was important to the Neverseen."

"How many of these things exist? Did Byzanthar or Kynareth give you guys anything to work on?"

"Clearly you haven't heard us describing our gods. Pushy, rude, vague for SOME REASON-" Maha interrupted Sophie's rant, "No, their instructions were short to say the least."

"Well, we need to figure out where to start. We already have one and another has been destroyed."

"I'm going to get our spies scouting for both artifacts and Egil's children." Maha said, crossing her arms.

"I'm going to focus on finding a place for our ships and Spartans." Sophie bit her lip, glancing at the door her brother walked out of. It felt wrong planning without her brother.

"You should talk to him, passerota." Filomena smiled, sadly, but smiled nonetheless. Sophie gave Maha a quick nod before striding out the door after her brother. The guildhall was quiet, even with all the Assassins returned home.

She followed her gut, and her gut led her right to him.

Alexios sat in the fields behind the guildhall, watching the distant ocean and picking apart the blades of grass. He knew his sister was there long before she sat down next to him, the silence settling between the two siblings.

Luckily, Alexios started, "You know the years you were gone were dark for me."

"Yeah."

He took a shaky breath, still dissecting the blades of grass between his fingers, "I know you hate how protective I am, I know that. But every single time you go into danger or somebody hurts you, I can't help where my mind wanders. I think about those agonizing years after the Fall, wondering what fate befalled upon you. You hurt more then uncle Allesandro did, because I knew what happened to him. I watched as we sent his soul to the after life."

Alexios swallowed, taking a deep breath before continuing,"But you? My mind always created the worst nightmares of what you could've been going through. And I was right, my worst fears were true." Alexios snapped a blade of grass in half, not protesting as tears slid down his face, "You died. You died uncermionosly and in agony, terrified and tired. And my heart hurts thinking about that. I always wanted to protect you, even if I'm the younger sibling. I wanted to know that you had a place to feel safe, but I failed at that. And you were hurt- no, not hurt. You were killed."

Sophie gently rested her palm on Alexios's back, "My fate wasn't your fault, Alexios. You were a child. A child in a time of war."

Alexios didn't believe her. His lip began quivering, making Sophie's heart hurt in ways it hadn't in years.

"I know I'm making this about me, but I can't imagine a world without you anymore Amalia. And the fact that you would be nothing but bones in a ditch outside of Inalia, that your soul would haunt those hills for eternities to come makes me sick. Makes me physically ill. And normally, I would be thanking Kynareth for her mercy and kindness, for returning my sister to my family. But after hearing how she is treating you," His fists clenched, his breath stiffening in his chest, "You have always been a slave to someone else. Whether it be in physical chains or not, you have always been a pawn. First the Neverseen, then the Elven Council, then the Black Swan, and now Kynareth? That isn't what I want for my sister." 

Alexios put his head in his hands, "You were dead, and she gave you no choice but to become her conduit. You were dead and a child, dead, dead, dead..." Sophie wrapped her arms around her brother, her wet eyes clamped shut as she held him tight to her shoulder. He didn't fight her. He let the tears flow.