X3 Another Akefia & Ryo brother fic YAY! I wanted to write another one. This one has been in my head for a while. Its pretty simple but I wanted simple and I feel its pretty touching X3

Brothers: Always Together

By: DNL

The desert sands of Egypt shifted slowly just like time did. The light of the sun god Ra shimmered on its surface making things in the distance seem nothing but a blur. It was hot as ever in the great desert most animals were hiding or resting about now to spare themselves. Food and water were scarce but the animals were used to it and new how to live in such harsh conditions. Anything that lived in the deserts of Egypt was hardened by the conditions. This life was normal to them, an everyday thing it was harsh but there was nothing they could do about it. Most beings dealt with the same thing even the humans, most of them that is.

For a pair of exhausted orphans…this was very dangerous and harsh place more so than it was for others. The pair had one feature between them that clearly made them brothers, stark white hair. Their hair clashed with the sandy background they walked through but tied them together as a wayward pair. Both of their clothing was ragged as their expressions were. The younger sibling who looked about five gripped his older ten year old brother's hand tightly, fearing he'd get lost in the desert if he let go. While the younger looked meek and innocent the older was far from that. Though he was young he had a harsh and stern look on his face as he led his brother through the desert to the next village.

The younger sibling quietly followed his older brother not asking any questions. Their travel had not been easy and his brother's temper was running short. He was only ten. He wasn't emotionally equipped to raise a sibling. He was supposed to be running around playing like any kid should, but, life and the gods had different plans for the pair. Village and parents gone they were left to fend for themselves. They had stayed in the ruined village living off the leftover food but that only lasted so long and they were forced to finally leave.

Since then it was a life of thievery for the older sibling who was determined to make sure his younger brother and him survived the harsh life they lived. Kul Elna, the village they were from, had been the village of thieves so the older brother knew the basics of how to steal and not get caught as well as how to survive. With this basic knowledge they survived.

They left the pervious town due to tight security. A group of bandits had unfortunately settled nearby causing the increase in guards. The older brother knew his limits so they had to move on. Sadly for them the nearest village was towards the edge of the great desert which leads them to where they are now. Wandering in the desert hoping to find the village before the desert took them.

The youngest looked around warily, he still couldn't see the village and they had been wandering for days now…it was beginning to concern him and they didn't have much food or water left. He licked his tongue around the inside of his mouth trying to moisten it. His thirst was beginning to become apparent but he didn't want to ask his brother for some water. They had to save it as much as they could. He looked around again, still no village he had to ask. Gulping he looked up at his brother, "Are we near the village yet?" He asked warily with his head low.

"Do you see a village!?" The older snapped quickly making the younger recoil looking sorry for asking. Seeing this the older sighed, he shouldn't have snapped, letting his frustration wane, "No Ryou, I don't think we're near the village just yet. We'll be there soon I'm sure." He said in a softer tone to reassure his younger sibling.

Taking his words Ryou calmed feeling confident that his older brother was right. Silence settled and they continued to walk along in the desert before they stopped at a shaded space between two rock formations. The older brother took a drink from their camel skin letting out a refreshed sigh; he looked to his brother eyeing him with his pale purple eyes. Holding it out he said, "Drink." He instructed firmly.

Ryo looked at the pouch, his dry mouth begging him to give in. He shook his head looking away sheepishly, "No…I'm okay Akefia…you can have the rest."

Akefia frowned, what his brother said was an obvious lie. He could tell he was thirsty by how raspy his voice was. Not taking no for an answer Akefia shoved the pouch into his hands spooking his little brother, "You won't survive unless you drink, so drink. Don't be stupidly selfless." He said flatly looking at his brother with a stern gaze. If Ryou died their Mother's sacrifice would be for nothing so he couldn't let him die. If he did not only would he have failed his Mother but then he'd be completely alone…pain struck him when he thought of that.

"Okay…" Ryo said quietly, he had upset his brother…so he knew he'd better do as he told otherwise risk Akefia getting mad at him. He didn't want that to happen. Ryo drank from the pouch the water felt good as it ended the dryness in his mouth. Exhaling in relief he offered it back to his brother not wanting to drink what was left.

Akefia shook his head refusing the offer, "You drink the rest." He said firmly leaving no room for argument.

Ryo took his words as an order and finished the pouch. When he was done he looked around wondering what they were going to do now. He wrinkled his nose picking up a bad stench. They could both really use a bath. He shifted he hated feeling sticky like this, it wasn't pleasant. Moving on from the thought he looked back to his brother, "Are we going to rest now?" He wondered aloud.

"No," Akefia answered bluntly, Ryo frowned out of disappointment his feet were upset about it too, "I heard rumors of a temple ruin around here in the side of a rock face it'd be a better place to rest." He answered looking out towards the sun baked sands.

"How do you know we're near?" Ryo asked curiously blinking his big light green eyes.

"Because of all the rock formations," Akefia answered gesturing to all the rocky objects around them, Ryo lowered his head feeling a bit embarrassed. "Everyone in the last village said it wasn't hard to miss when they talked about it so it shouldn't be hard to find." He explained before he began to draw in the sand with his finger, "We just need to look for an obelisk and we'll know we found it."

"What's an obelisk?" Ryo asked curiously as he looked at the drawling his brother had done. He tilted his head it looked like a tall tower with a pyramid point at the top, "A tower?"

"Basically, it's solid though you can't go in, shouldn't be hard to spot." Akefia answered as he leaned against the rock wall behind him. "We'll rest a little longer then go look for the temple." He decided, naturally being the oldest Akefia was unofficially the leader of the pair. Ryo never questioned it though. Ryo knew he wouldn't know what to do in his position. It really made him look up to his brother. Ryo nodded to his decision resting against the rock wall happy they were going to rest for a bit, his legs were certainly happy.

Once they were both rested and cooled off Akefia and Ryo headed off in search of the temple. They walked, and walked, and walked through the desert the sun already making them sweat again. Ryo looked around trying to spot the obelisk that'd tell them they were near the temple but could see nothing but sand and rocks. He withheld a worried whimper not wanting to bother his brother again with is worries. It wasn't until he spotted something poking over a sand dune that he continued to worry. It caught Ryo's eye enough that he stopped thus catching his brother's attention. Ryo pointed to the strange object, "What's that brother?" He asked.

Akefia looked at what he was pointing to with slight interest. Suddenly his face lit up and he bounded up to the top of the down. A pleased grin came onto his face as he saw what was indeed an obelisk, "You found what we were looking for Ryo~." He answered looking proudly to his brother for spotting what he almost over looked.

Ryo brightened at the praise and raced up to his brother looking excitedly to the obelisk and as his brother had over head the temple was just a ways behind it. Though it was in ruin the temple still held a mystic and grand quality to it as it was meant too. Though this was somewhat lost to the brothers who were too excited to have found their shelter.

Akefia grinned slyly and glanced to his brother before darting down the sand dune sliding halfway down, "Race you to it!" He yelled back to him catching his brother off guard who had just noticed his movement.

"Hey! Not fair!" Ryo protested as he scrambled down the dune trying to catch up with him. Akefia's only response to his words was amused laughter which annoyed his five year-old brother further. Trying to speed up Ryo slipped on the smooth sand and slide down the dune crashing into his brother sending them both tumbling down to the bottom of the dune. Pulling himself up Ryo shook the sand out of his white hair and looked to his brother who was spitting sand out of his moth. Ryo smirking a little held his head up, "Serves you right for cheating!" He piped.

Whipping the sand off his mouth looking a little embarrassed about what happened, "Yeah well…" He smirked back, "I still won!" He said motioning to the fact he had landed ahead of his brother therefore had won the race.

Ryo furrowed his brow incredulously as his brother got up, "Nu-uh! You cheated!" He protested as he got to his feet looking upset with his brother as he marched after him.

"You also crashed into me at least I ran down!" Akefia pointed out with a grin on his face purposely annoying his little brother.

"That wasn't on purpose!" Ryo yelled to his older sibling arms stiffly at his sides displaying how annoyed he was.

"You still lost~!" Akefia chimed mockingly with a wide grin on his face, arms behind his head as he walked to the temple.

Ryo growled irately, then he got an idea making him smirk, "Oh yeah? Well, I'll get into the temple first!" He yelled as he raced past his brother rushing towards the temple entrance. He heard his brother gasp in surprise before he chased after him. Suddenly Akefia tackled Ryo resulting in them tumbling; play fighting their way into the temple. It ended with Ryo getting pinned with a hardy huff and panting, "You always have to win don't you?" He half muttered to his brother who was sitting on him currently.

"No, I don't have to." Akefia answered simply with a smirk on his face, "I just always do~!" He mused smugly. Akefia seemed to have natural arrogance to him as far as Ryo could remember. He was big, strong, and smart and he knew it very well. He also wasn't afraid to use these qualities against his brother either. Thankfully he was only playful about it, even if it did get annoying after a while. Pleased with asserting himself as stronger brother Akefia got up letting Ryo stand again. He looked around, "Its cooler in here. Wonder if there's water around."

"I hope so I'd actually like a bath right now." Ryo answered as he followed his brother deeper into the temple. He looked around at all the hieroglyphs on the walls wishing he could read them but it was in hieratic text meaning only nobles, priests and the Pharaoh could read it. Ryo couldn't even read the text for commoners yet. His brother could only read bits as of right now. He stopped walking when he noticed his brother stop. Looking away from the walks he looked forward brightening when he saw, "Water!" He exclaimed seeing a big pool of it. Running forward he went up to it pushing his hand through the water happy to feel it cool against his skin.

Akefia looked around at the area, "Looks like a bathing room." He looked to Ryo smiling, "Looks like you get your bath." He commented lightly getting a happy nod from his brother making him chuckle to himself.

After one satisfying bath later Ryo found himself sitting in a bedroom they had found in the lower level of the temple. It was later in the day when Ra was getting ready to set for the night. His brother had gone out to find food for them to eat. They were running low on rations. Meaning they wouldn't be leaving the temple until they had enough to last a little while. Ryo didn't mind though he liked the temple it was safe, cool and had water. It did feel lonely though, the temple used to be a place of worship. A place that had people visit daily but as the god fell out of favor it became lost to the desert. Ryo pulled his legs up to him, he knew how that felt. He had felt this way when they stayed in their village after the attack. When he was old enough to know what had happened. It felt lonely, empty and sad when Akefia wasn't around him. He sighed; he didn't like feeling this way.

Ryo blinked when he heard footsteps looking up he saw Akefia carrying a bag of what was probably fruit and in his other hand was a couple of pudgy looking rodents called Caped Hyrax. Ryo licked his lips looked like they were going eat well tonight.

Akefia put down the dead rodents and pulled out a dagger that they had been their Fathers, he looked to Ryo and handed it to him, "You need to learn how to skin and gut an animal." He instructed firmly pointing to one of the Hyrax. "You skin and gut that one and I'll do the other but you are going first." He said in an authoritative manner.

The younger brother gulped, he wasn't like Akefia he couldn't stomach blood well but he knew he had to learn to do this eventually. Ryo nodded, though it was hesitant. Akefia grunted pleased he wasn't going to have to force him. A tough and bloody instruction later Ryo had managed, though in a sloppy manner, prepare the animal to be cooked.

"Go wash your hands." Akefia said looking at his blood covered hands. "I'll start cooking your hyrax." He added normally as he began putting the chunks of meat on sticks to cook them later. He watch as Ryo did as he said and went to go wash his hands. The older couldn't be more grateful that his younger sibling was obedient by nature otherwise this travel would be a lot harder. Then again it always hadn't been this easy. Akefia had been a very young when he was left alone to raise Ryo it was difficult to grow up pretty much over night. Yes he got moments like earlier to act like a kid but then it was straight back to things like cooking for him and making sure he stayed clean and healthy. As Ryo grew older he'd learn to take care of himself but by that time he would likely be an adult or late teen.

Sometimes he got upset that his brother was such a scared little runt, and worse times he let him know it. He was still young too and though plenty of other kids his age had to help tend the younger siblings it was far from a perfect practice. There was plenty of yelling and jealousy. Akefia was jealous that he did most of the work and planning and Ryo would stay somewhere safe, but part of him knew he was young and he had a right to be scared of the big world he was tossed into. Another part told him he should suck it up and deal with it.

Glancing at the door he saw Ryo come in hands clean. Turning back to the task at hand Akefia continued to prepare the food. Once he was done he started working on the fire, Ryo continued sit at the side merely watching quietly. When the fire was lit Akefia broke the silence, "There are dates in the bag, eat them if you want. It's going to take a while for the hyraxes to cook." He said flatly as he watched the put the meat in the fire to cook.

"Okay." Ryo answered quietly as he pulled the bag to him. He struggled with the knot for a minute before tugging the knot apart. Reaching in he grabbed a handful of the grape like fruits. The pale haired child munched on one before saying, "Thanks for getting the food again brother…" He said voice barely above a whisper.

"It was nothing." Akefia answered as he tended the food to keep it from burning.

Ryo frowned, his brother was in one of his moods were it was tough to crack him out of his shell. He'd act like an adult making him feel like he'd done something wrong or just plain guilty about being a bother. Ryo shifted were he sat eating his dates he looked at the fruit suddenly wondering something. He swallowed what was in his mouth, "Uh…brother?" Akefia hummed showing he heard him, "Where did you get these? We're out in the desert."

His older brother smirked and looked to Ryo, "There's a small garden out back. Most of it is still alive. In the garden is a tall date palm I climbed all the way up to the top and gathered most of the dates~." He said proudly pointing to himself with his thumb. Shrugging he continued, "The rest were the good ones from the ground." He added not normally as he looked back to the food.

Ryo's eye lit up in wonder, "Wow, you climbed all the way up a date palm tree!" He exclaimed amazed by the feat his brother had accomplished.

Akefia chuckled, "I sure did~." He said smugly as he continued to cook the meat. Akefia loved amazing his brother. It made him feel impressive and a good ego stroking always helped get him through a tough day. Also he liked being impressive for his brother because it was wonderful to see Ryo look up to him making him feel like a good brother. Looking back to the me he pulled the chunks out of the fire, "Meats done," He said handing Ryo his Hyrax.

The rest of the meal went by quietly both of the brothers eat their meat quickly due to the ravenous appetite they both shared. Afterwards they both pulled out the mats they found in the other temple rooms. They chose their current room since it was closer to the fountain that was outside, the bathing room and the kitchen further it looked the least ruined.

Ryo looked up at the ceiling that was covered in a painting of the night sky, it was rather geomantic stylized but it was still a wonder. "Brother," He started knowing neither of them was asleep currently. Akefia grunted in acknowledgement, "How long are we going to be staying here?" He asked curiously as he looked up at the night sky painting. "I like it here," He continued making Akefia roll over to look at him, "It's nice here right?" Ryo asked turning his head to his brother.

His brother hummed, Ryo was right. The ruin wasn't hold, it was pretty sound had water, food most of what they needed. The next village couldn't be too far away either. "It is pretty good here, might be some valuables around we could sell." He grinned at the thought, temples always had valuables, "Yeah, it is good here." He agreed making Ryo a little excited, "Yeah, we should stay here. It's probably near the village. When I'm older I'll steal a horse and make it even easier. We need a safe place anyway until I get stronger at least." Akefia said looking at his hand clenching it into a fist. He wasn't very strong right now, moving around too much wouldn't be a good idea if they ran into a group of bandits or any adult criminal really.

Ryo looked at his hands that were lying on his chest he played with his fingers a little then looked back to his brother. Akefia had set avenging their village as a long time goal. Ryo even at his age knew hate was building steadily inside him. It worried him, each year he was angrier than the last. Ryo wasn't worried that Akefia would hurt him though; no he never purposely hurt him. Even if he was yelling angrily Ryo knew he wouldn't lay a hand on him. He was worried that he'd lose himself to his hate and become something terrifying.

Putting his worries aside he smiled to his brother, "I'm sure you'll become the strongest in Egypt brother!" He exclaimed meaning what he said. Ryo knew his brother would be the strongest; he was already pretty strong to him.

Akefia huff smirking before grinning smugly, "Of course I will!" He agreed proudly before reaching over and ruffling his brother's fluffy white hair, "I'll have to be to keep you safe and out of trouble." He commented with a playful grin.

"I don't get in trouble!" Ryo retorted looking insulted, he always did what his brother said and stayed safe.

His older brother chuckled, "Just in case~." He teased continuing his playful grin much to his little brother's annoyance.

Ryo smiled a bit as much as it annoyed him he liked it when his brother did this it showed him he wasn't completely consumed by hate. That he was still his brother. He looked up that the painted ceiling and frowned a bit, "Brother, will we always be alone like this?" Ryo asked sadly, he didn't know what having a Mom or Dad was like and his brother only had a few memories. He wanted to at least make friends so he could have playmates since his brother was usually busy.

"We're not alone little brother." Ryo blinked in surprise shifting his head over seeing Akefia looking at him with a sure glint in his eyes. The younger sibling watched curiously as Akefia sat up and gestured for Ryo to do the same. Once Ryo sat up Akefia put his hands on Ryo's shoulders, "We're brothers right?" The younger sibling nodded, "Then we're not alone. If no one else we have each other. Okay?" He asked Ryo looking him straight in the eyes. Ryo's eyes lit up happily and nodded feverishly before he hugged his brother tightly. Akefia sighed he saw this coming. He patted his brother on the back to satisfy him. Akefia wasn't one for hugs but Ryo seemed to love them probably because he didn't get them often. When Ryo let go Akefia smiled slightly when he saw Ryo looked much happier.

Akefia yawned then laid back down, "Now let's get some sleep. We have to explore this place tomorrow."

"Okay," Ryo said as he laid back down he shifted his feet back and forth, "Hey, brother." Akefia grunted he heard him, "Do you think I'd be able to make a friend in the next village?" He asked curiously with a hopeful tone in his voice as he looked up at the ceiling with a smile on his face.

Akefia hummed before sighing to himself, his brother was still very little. Friends were the biggest thing he could hope for. "Who knows? Maybe," He answered, honestly he wouldn't be surprised if his brother did he has a very likeable personality. Shifting under his blanket Akefia says, "Now get some sleep."

"Okay," Ryo said normally as he got comfy in his bed, "Good night brother."

"Night little brother."

Hope you enjoyed! If you did this little oneshot is getting a sequel~! Ryo will get his wish for friends granted :D

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