I stayed silent as he punished me, reigned in my murderous behavior. Not a sound escaped me, my eyes stared down at the marble floor, red of my blood splattering as a stark contrast against the pale perfection. Though that's not to say it didn't hurt. It did. It did, a lot. But I wouldn't admit it. As much as I would have liked for him to understand that perhaps his humans aren't the only fragile, breakable beings, I wouldn't lower myself to be the example. He knew what got to me the most, though, how to break me the best. Centuries of being together, placing my trust in him. He learned a lot and only recently had I begun to realize that perhaps it was a mistake.

But he was my brother, my family- the only part that had ever treated me with kindness. Perhaps I had convinced myself that I owed him this, perhaps I was under the impression that he needed to punish as much as I needed the punishments. Part of me wondered, though, if this wasn't just another layer of his sick game that never ended. The one where everyone's a pawn, where, if a piece is broken, it can easily be replaced.

How badly I wanted to ask him which piece I was.

It finally came to an end, the stabbing. I was high above the ground, points sticking through my skin grotesquely at all angles as my blood continued to drip. Dimly I realized that maybe I wasn't another fragile being- if I was, would I have been able to survive this? Not physically, no ; I wasn't weak. But I was breakable. My mind could shatter. My heart could be lost. I wondered if, when that day comes, would he toss me aside as another useless piece on his chess board and replace me, or would he mourn my loss.

Taunting emeralds gazed up into my ocean hues, his grin ever present as my own lips were parted with a slightly ragged breath rate from the pain. I stared and stared down at him, reading his every available emotion. None being regret, none of affection. Entertainment, eagerness, mocking ; that's what he looked at me with and oh, how my heart sank. My own eyes were empty, voidless pits that I had worked on for so many centuries to hollow. Nothing betrayed my emotions anymore and I was sure on that. No longer did anyone have the upper hand on me in that.

After the long minutes of silence ticked by, he finally spoke to me, his tone an insult, in itself.

"Isn't it so very pleasant to watch your toys break, again and again and again, before your very eyes."

I was silent and unmoving at his rhetoric, my mind fogged with pain working at a slow pace to understand his words ; working even harder to find his hidden meaning. Ah, right. Yes, I knew he enjoyed watching me break, but I wasn't broken. Not yet. I still held on to a piece of my sanity. After a moment, I realized he was most likely just saying that to gain a reaction. I wouldn't give him one. His voice came again as he began to circle me, gloved hands held behind his back.

"But, after a few centuries, you do get used to it. Even when the toys you've grown most fond of break, it's mostly just routine."

He paused in front of me again and I refrained from thinking over his words just yet ; I knew there was more.

"After all, everything breaks in time."

My eyes closed as a silent rage began to bubble inside me again. His words, his ridiculing repetitious words, not only shattered my heart and drove me insane, but threw me into a fit of anger. Because, yes, he spoke of what I wanted him so dearly to believe, that not only his humans could break, but he didn't believe it. Mocking. That's all it was. He wanted a rise. That's all he ever wanted. My jaw clenched, a painful stab being sent through my mouth as I recalled the rod through my face. With a heavy sigh, that I regretted with much pain through my body, my eyes opened again to stare emotionlessly at his expectant grin. My voice was soft as I gathered enough strength to actually speak.

"I understand, Aniue."