Blood of my Brother

Dividing Lines

BIG shoutout to Portal, who wrote the first section of this while I was lamenting my sprained wrist keeping me from working! So sorry for the long delay, but finals were crazy, I was in a brace, and then I GOT A BOOK PUBLISHED!!!! Ya girl's making money now! (And the only reason I can't tell you what it is is because of anonymity T.T) But yeah, that's kept me busy, and this one was a whopper of a chapter! Anywho rant over, have fun!

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Hector rarely allowed himself to sleep in. The bearcats always woke him with demands for breakfast, whether that meant they would all hunt it down together or Riki and Kiki expected him to get them something from the castle's kitchen. He moaned and shifted when a soft, wet nose started nudging his own. The knight reluctantly opened his acid-colored eyes to see Riki with his paws on the bed, reaching over Varian to put his face in Hector's. The man sighed and blearily reached up to scratch behind his animal companion's ears. "Yeah, you're hungry already, huh? Can't you go bother Adira for once?" he teased.

Riki nuzzled against his hand and then licked his fingers. "Then again, neither of us know what all Edmund's got stocked in the kitchen. Guess I should go scout out the food situation, eh?" Two days had passed since he, Varian, and Adira had arrived home. Varian tried sleeping in Quirin's room every night, always discovering something new about his father from the items left behind. He always ended up crawling into bed with Hector, however, which the warrior didn't mind. Having Varian close always soothed his anxious thoughts about the possibility of another panic attack; as long as his nephew was within arm's reach, he had someone to rely on. Someone to protect.

To his surprise, Riki's behavior became more insistent, and distressed. Hector sat up and pulled the blanket a little tighter around Varian, his face contorting in confusion. "What's the matter with you?" he inquired, rubbing the sleep from his eyes with his knuckles. At that moment Kiki ran up to the bedside, and Hector realized the other bearcat hadn't even been in the room a moment ago. Now that he was more awake, both animals became even more distressed, jumping and stamping while growling nervously.

Instantly Hector was on the alert.

"What's wrong?" he demanded quietly, gathering Varian into his arms and moving him to the other side of the bed. His nephew squirmed and began to stir. Hector tried to shush him and tuck him under the blanket in the hopes that he'd fall back to sleep. Kiki jumped up onto the bed and pawed at Hector's leg, prompting the man to scramble to his feet and dress properly for a possible confrontation.

"Uncle Hector?" came Varian's sleepy voice from behind as he pulled on a day tunic.

"Stay here, kid," Hector grumbled, pulling one of his gloves on.

"W-why? What's wrong?" Varian sounded much more awake, and much more frightened.

"Nothing I can't handle," Hector assured. "Kiki will stay here with you. I'll scout the situation with Riki and come back—"

"No."

Hector turned to look at his nephew, captivated by the fire in his eyes so soon after waking up. "We made an agreement, and we're gonna start doing things differently. I'm not letting you run off again just 'cause you wanna protect me," the teen insisted. Hector sighed but couldn't bring himself to argue.

"Yeah, guess you're right," he agreed. "Get dressed and grab your weapons. I don't know what's got the bearcats on alert, but it can't be good."

"I thought the Dark Kingdom was supposed to be relatively safe," Varian commented as he untangled himself from the blanket and climbed out of Hector's bed.

"Yeah, well, Edmund agreed to let that stupid princess and her friends in," the knight grumbled bitterly as he picked up his other glove. "And it's not like a one-armed man is gonna fend off a group of people on his own if anyone else made it past the traps," he added. It was about time for the Sundrop to arrive, and dealing with her was the last thing Hector wanted to think about. He went to pull on his other glove but paused when he saw the symbol on the back of his hand. Edmund's words from their meeting in the war room flashed through his mind, and he grimaced. Artemis swooped into the room, perching on his bed and giving him a look. Ruddiger, who was yawning and just starting to wake up, scowled when he noticed the hawk. Hector rolled his eyes and grinned slightly; they would have to learn how to get along sooner or later.