CW: Abusive family situation
Gryff couldn't wait until he was old enough to move out of his parent's home. His siblings were coming home from the academy for the holidays and he was not looking forward to it. His parents were bad enough towards him when his siblings were away, it was limited to just being constantly compared to them, but when his older sister and brother were home all four of them talked about how bad he was compared to them but also made him do everything. His siblings also liked using him for target practice for all the spells that kept learning, the only decent thing was how he improved his own shield spells but they normally got pissed at him for using shield spells so he also had gotten a lot of practice at first aid. He knew it wasn't a good relationship at all but there was nothing he could do, not yet anyway. His siblings were some of the most powerful watchers, one who was being considered for the next generation of leaders, and compared to them he didn't have that much power, so everyone else didn't care.
"Little brother, did you miss us?" He heard his sister, Megaera, call out.
He reluctantly came down to where his siblings were standing with his parents, "Good to see you little bro," His older brother, Andrew, said coming over towards him, "Maybe we should have some fun outside like we used to,"
"I'm good," Gryff said, wanting to get out of the situation he was in, he didn't feel like dealing with his siblings.
"Gryff, you should spend time with Megaera and Andrew," his mother said.
His father continued, "They aren't here for long,"
"Come on little bro," Andrew said, pulling him by his hand out to the yard.
Gryff knew that he wouldn't have a choice so he went along with them, he barely blocked the fireball that came his way from Andrew's hand. He had to get ready for a few hours of fun.
- - - - - -
Gryff was currently hiding on one of the rooftops of the academy where he was a second-year student he was studying at. It was a rooftop with a small garden that everyone avoided, he didn't know why but he was glad for it. He didn't have any friends here, everyone either hated him or didn't want to be hated by the people who hated him. He preferred sitting by the plants, the flowers at least didn't try to make his life miserable in any way possible. Everyone loved his siblings, the teachers constantly talked about how spectacular students his older siblings were, and they didn't miss a chance to put him down either. He had tried having friends during his first year but after they all saw how the teachers hated him everyone started to hate him as well. The only good thing about the academy was that he didn't have to deal with his parents anymore, and his siblings whenever they came to visit. He had three and a half more years until he went to the army, and then he would fight for as little as possible, he did not want to keep fighting if his siblings became generals. After he was free he would avoid his family as best that he could.
- - - - - -
Things weren't any better for Gryff when he joined the actual army, it was worse. At least at school, he was able to escape onto the garden rooftop; here, the generals always needed to know where everyone was. He had done so many different chores over and over again, laundry; dishes; cooking, pretty much whatever needed to be done. Again no one wanted to go near him because of how hard whoever was in charge of them at the time was. In the past few years, he had tried his best to get as powerful as possible, hoping that at least then people wouldn't actually hate him. He had improved his flight skills; and how well he handled using a blade, though he didn't have anyone to fight with so he had to find different ways to improve his abilities and he had improved his magic to a point where if he had fought some of the teachers at his academy he could have taken some of them down. It made them hate him more, suddenly he was a show-off so it just landed him more duties, occasionally he would take the duties just to show off because he was proud of what he had done.
His siblings had visited his camp a few times, they had gotten to the point where they had the luxury to go between the camps whenever they felt like it. When they did, whoever was in charge would praise them and, just like his parents, compare him to his siblings and how fast they were moving through the ranks. He wished that he was able to be invisible at camp, he had seen some people whom he wasn't even sure if the generals knew their names, that's how invisible they were, and he wished he could be one of them. For now, he would keep doing what he was doing, surviving. He hoped that he wouldn't have to deal with any major fights, he could fight but he didn't think that this was a cause worth fighting for. He would keep going, and maybe one day the war would end and he would end up in a place where he would have a family, not whatever he had now.
- - - - - -
Gryff had his sword in one hand and his other hand ready to send some magic. The High Leader, Lysabel and he along with some other watchers and admins were about to lead another assault on an academy. They had been tracking this one for the past few months, it wasn't the first academy that they had raided but this one made him feel nervous, this was also an academy where they had learnt that they were kidnapping young watchers and training them young with ideals. It seemed to be something that was becoming more and more popular throughout those circles. Lysabel and Gryff were going to go straight for where they heard the leaders were, they would offer them mercy but they were prepared to go further if they needed to. As the two of them turned to the corner to face the leaders he saw two very familiar faces, Andrew and Megaera. "If it isn't our little brother, a ⨅ᒷꖎ╎⎓ᒷ ̇/," Megaera said, her hands alight with purple fire.
He didn't know what to say, which is why he was glad when Lysabel spoke, "You can either surrender or deal with the consequences of your actions,"
"Sorry admin, we don't surrender to traitors," Andrew said, "So little bro, couldn't keep up with us so decided to start a rebellion ha. You'll never be good enough, you're weak,"
"You have made your choice," the Lysabel said, "Now face the consequences,"
She pulled out her sword and came running towards them, Gryff it took a few more seconds for him to move. Lysabel went to fight Andrew while Gryff was against Megaera, "Little brother, why did you do this to us? Did you know after mother and father died from hearing about how you betrayed your kind to be friends with those magicless beings," she said.
"They weren't parents to me, they always compared me to you and didn't care when you treated me like I was worthless," Gryff yelled out.
"That's because you are," she said, she sent forward a slash at his left eye and he could feel his blood drip down his face.
They were holding their own against the two of them but the High Leader came in and helped finish them off. His siblings didn't have time to attack her before the High Leader turned them to dust. Part of him felt good that they were gone, but something at the back of his mind was bothering him.
- - - - - -
He never realised how much everything that everyone had said to him had left such a lasting impact on him. He had made his way up to the roof of ᓵ||∷╎ℸ ̣ ⍑⚍∷╎ᓭ, wanting to get some air. He along with Lysabel and the High Leader had been leading the Main World for almost a decade now, he had that family that he wanted for a long time, people who didn't make him feel horrible about himself. Right now though, he wasn't feeling the best. Seeing his siblings again had brought up those feelings of not being good enough again. Gryff wasn't expecting it when the High Leader flew up and sat next to him, "Gryff are you okay? It must have been hard facing off against your siblings. Losing them as well,"
"They've never really been siblings to me, I was always just someone they could push around, same with my parents," Gryff said, trying not to cry.
It was like the High Leader could sense that he was upset, so she gave him a hug, which made him feel better. He continued, "I guess just seeing them again brought up the insecure feelings I had from them growing up,"
He felt the High Watcher comfort him as he kept going, "I know I shouldn't really care, I know they were horrible, but I don't know it just still feels bad. They were never really a family to me,"
"You know you're amazing right," the High Leader said, "You have made the world we have in front of us become such a better place. Lysabel and I will always be here for you,"
"Thank you for being here for me. Lysabel too. It feels weird to think of you guys as my family because you've cared so much compared to them, but you are truly my family," Gryff said, now letting go of the hug.
"You are able to talk to us whenever you need to, feel free to take some time off if you need it," the High Leader said, heading back inside.
Gryff was glad that he finally had a family that actually cared for him, a family that had a connection that was more than blood.
WC~ 1726