Companionable Solitude
As the sword traced delicately along his brother's cheek, Kadaj could not help but smirk. "You brought this upon yourself," he whispered cruelly, watching the body beneath the blades struggle to remain still. A stifled gasp left his prey's bloodied parted lips. The youngest stood upright, shaking Souba to rid of the excess blood. "You know better now..." he warned for future reference. And his brother did know, he knew he did wrong. He just better not do it again.
Kadaj formed a small frown. As fun as it was making his brother suffer for his audacious mistakes, there was still a pang in the remnant's heart. He didn't want to HAVE to do this. They were supposed to be completely loyal. And yet... they were flawed, sometimes downright unworthy of Mother's love or even her vessel's attention. Why was he given the burden of correcting them? Didn't he have enough on his plate? He shouldn't have to deal with this!
Clicking his tongue in disgust, Kadaj looked off into the glowing forest. He often wished he was the only one. His brothers made good company but it was days like these he figured they were more trouble than they were worth.
Without looking back Kadaj lumbered away, Souba hanging low by his side as crimson droplets stained the dirt below. He left his older brother there just like that, sliced in various painful pressure points. Nothing too serious. It would be a waste of Mother's gift if he killed one of them—even if they did deserve it. Besides, they had their occasional useful purposes.
Several yards ahead, still within sight but out of hearing range, the young remnant plopped himself down on the ground. Glancing over his shoulder, he witnessed one brother helping the other. Facial features chiseled in a scowl, Kadaj focused back to the empty woods ahead of him. "You're supposed to be on my side," he grumbled quietly. He couldn't understand why his other brother, the one who had not made a mistake (up until now), did not come over to comfort him! Instead, he decided to help the weaker, glaringly defective one.
Setting Souba across his lap, Kadaj wiped a gloved hand along both blades, cleaning off the dark red blood before it dried. "I don't need either of you anyway," he growled, wiping his hand free of any remaining liquids. "I'm Mother's chosen one." Pale green eyes narrowed in anger and then closed as he exhaled a long drawn out sigh. No matter how much he wanted to be close to his brothers, it would never happen. He was too... different. Perhaps they were jealous of his gift—who wouldn't be? Sure, they would die for him, or so they claimed, and almost always did exactly as he asked. But it was more out of fear of upsetting Kadaj than out of loyalty to Mother.
An unsettling sickness lodged itself deep within the hollow of the remnant's stomach. Breath hitched, Kadaj forcefully swallowed the aching lump in his throat. Even with two brothers by his side, Mother could truly only depend on her youngest.