The Desert

[sanguinius]

Castor reached the top of the ridge. He looked down on the two contrasting warriors battling each other.

It was clear that Pollox had the upper hand.

Castor sheathed his swords. He decided he'd be a spectator for now and let his brother finish the duel.

-~@8@~-

Pollox saw Frost lash out with his weapon, too slowly.
He set his footing, and brought his own blade down across's his opponent's sword in a heavy smashing blow.

[Seathia]

The barrel of the rifle slowly lifted and droped mimicing the movement of his lungs.
Seathia looked down the scope at the two figures battling with much more honerable weapons then he carried. He couldn't get a clear shot at his target he would have to wait for a the bistander to move.

[captainankh]

He was too tired. His assailant's blade crashed down, knocking Frost's sword into the sand.

Tiberius Frost was running out of options. He was losing his concentration; no, he had lost it already, wandering for days, weeks, he didn't know, in this godforsaken desert.

Frost cared little for honour in a time such as this.

Hr raised his boot and lashed out at the assassin's groin, yelling loudly as he did so.


This oughta wipe the grin off the bastard's face.

[sanguinius]

Pollox's face slowly crumpled as he buckled at the waist, then at the knees.

He hadn't been expecting that.

He coughed, holding his stomach with his left hand, struggling to keep grip on his sword with the other.
His mind clouded, his thoughts were drowned in an ocean of darkness....
-~@8@~-

Castor reached nervously for his blade as he watched his twin stagger.
'He must recover', he thought, 'he must...'

-~@8@~-

Pollox blinked heavily, trying to remember where he was....something about...a battle...a desert...a mission...sword...

He looked up, trying desperately to recover.

[captainankh]

Frost saw the opening.

He gripped his sword as tightly as he could, and spun the blade in his trademark style.

Pointing the blade at his attacker's midsection, he drove forward with all his power, screaming with rage as he channelled all his availiable strength in the single blow.


It was all or nothing.

[sanguinius]

Pollox gasped. His eyes bulged, and he blinked.

It hurt.

He looked down, saw the blade in his body; saw his own fall from limp hands.

The bright red stain slowly began to spread across his heavy coat, staining the white fabric.

He fell to his knees as the blade was drawn out, collapsed on his hands, gasping for air, and failing.

-~@8@~-

"NO!!!!"

Castor screamed at the top of his lungs, exhaustiong himself with his anguish. He felt his brother's pain as he collapsed into the sand, felt his own desperation rise as he realised that Pollox was doomed.

"No........"

-~@8@~-

Pollox choked. He choked again, and blood came out.
It splattered into the desert sand, making a thick puddle.
The last of his strength drained away, and Pollox collapsed in a crumpled heap in the desert.

Castor rushed to his side, kneeling beside his fallen twin.

"Brother, Brother", he spoke,"are you hurt?"
Pollox turned his weary, bloodied eyes toward Castor, and laughed all he could, which was very little.
It was still enough for Castor to recognise, and he smiled.
"You shall be healed, Brother, you will heal...", he said, obviously in vain.

"Lie to me not my Brother. For I know all the truth that do you. Let me die in comfort and the knowledge that my twin whom I have trusted always was honest and true to the end. Abandon the mission, for we have failed, and it is nothing. Seek not to join me in endless oblivion, but find another to love, one that loves you for all that you are and for all you are worth. Remember me always, Brother, for you and I are one, and as I pass I know that I steal away part of your soul."

With his final words, a smile, barely visible, appeared on Pollox's lips, and his eyes fell shut for eternity.

Pollox died in the sand of the desert, and his brother wept for him.

-~@8@~-

Castor wiped his eyes with his wrist.

"Rest, my brother, for you have earned your peace."

Then he rose and turned towards the man that he had hunted, the man dressed in black.

"You have slain my brother, the only one that I cared for. And for it I hate you. I hate you for all that you are, all that you ever were, and all that you ever could be. I hate all aspects of you. And it is a hatred that can never, ever, be satisfied, for even if and when your death occurs I shall hunt you in the afterlife and make you pay for eternity.

I hate you."

[sanguinius]

Castor drew the device from inside his cloak, and placed it beside his fallen brother. He pressed the controls, and it glowed a warm red.

The sky began to grow dark, and clouds of purple and grey started to form as the air around them grew thicker.

There was a flash, and the sand underneath them glowed white, and a floor of glass spread out from the sphere until it consumed the entire desert.

He turned one last time to Frost.

"I will see you soon."

With that, the twins vanished from the desert, leaving a darkened mirror in its place.

[captainankh]

Frost was left standing in the remains of the once harsh and bitter desert. He looked around, and saw nothing.

Then he remembered Alternate-Jess's body, lying in the sand. Looking around, he spotted her, not too far away.

She was still breathing, and as he knelt beside her she opened her eyes.

"Am I still alive?" she whispered.

Frost nodded.
"I think so.", he replied.

He picked up her limp body and began to walk across the glass.


It started to rain.