Disclaimer: I do not own Tangled or any of the characters. Also I do not own the song I see the light (from the soundtrack).
Warning! This story does contain homosexual and incestual themes so if that kind of content offends you have been dually warned.
"All these years watching from a distance,
All my life hiding from within me
All that time spent fearing
Just how'd you react
Now I'm here confessing to the moonlight
Now I'm here mustering the courag..."
The faraway rhythmic crunching of heavy boots upon the various twigs and leaves that littered the forest floor silenced Gregory's foolish singing. His brother could not uncover his secret yearning, lest he lose the last thing that the world had not stolen from his grip. Lazily wafting into his nostrils black smoke took his attention down to the now charring hog that Lawrence had spent the greater part of the afternoon hunting.
"Bloody hell!"
Panicked at having burned the supper his older brother had slaved to attain, Gregory's arm lost control of its strength flinging the spick upwards. Insides still moist with tender juices, the pork block slid off. The half burnt meat cylinder flew through the night sky only to be brought down seconds later by a combination of a tree in the way and the physical force later to be named gravity. What would have been a dull thud was brought to near comical levels as the ruined dinner conducted a symphony of disturbed leaves, snapping branches, a harassed owl, and the final note of the crescendo being the boom of the meat chunk colliding with the foliage covered ground; creating a blast radius of ten centimeters.
The now closer walking rhythm broke into a run, Gregory's insides churned gifting him with the sudden urge to wet himself.
Facing the direction that Lawrence would emerge from and rearranged his face to the kitten, an expression that sometimes incited mercy from big brother.
From the blackness came fourth shining brilliance, undoubtedly the fire light reflecting off the magnificent gold breastplate of a knight in the service of the kingdom of Solstace.
"In the name of Edward Von Solstace the twenty-third I place you under arrest Lawrence Stabbington." The voice unwavering but still lacking true authority, the knight was only relatively experienced unlike Gregory who had spent his whole life dealing with authority in unsavory manners.
His hand instinctively went to the right side of his hip where his blade, Ramherst, normally hung sheathed awaiting battle.
"Still thy hand, your bastard lay unattended by your tent."
Defeated his arms reached for the sky, showing that he was unarmed. "What next, Sir Knight?"
"You will sit down, keep your arms raised, and still thy tongue. Marcus and Erin should return soon with your brother in hand.
Irrational fraternal worry threatened to break his calm demeanor, a nasty occurrence that happened whenever they were separated and in trouble. It was as predictable as it was reliable never failing to haunt Gregory; even though they were both experts at getting out of tricky situations. A psychological scar left behind by a broken childhood riddled with abuse, abandonment, poverty, and undue cruelty.
Far off sounds of a skirmish sounded feebly, the vibrations filtered through the countless trees. His captor lost focus looking in the general direction that the sounds of battle had come from. Gregory saw the opening and dove forward ramming his head just underneath the knights breastplate, granting him access to the softer tissue. Straightening his legs and using the added momentum of his charge he flipped the flabbergasted Solstace pawn onto his back. A warm stream of blood traced down his face, ignoring the minor injury he swiftly retrieved Ramherst and placed the fine point against the exposed neck flesh.
"Tell me Sir Knight, do you have a family?" Pressing the tip deeper, drawing a droplet of blood that rested haphazardly on the cool steel.
"Aye, a wife and daughter of seven." The movement of his adams apple caused the bastard to sink deeper, the perfect ruby becoming thin streams not unlike those running form his hair line.
"Taking such a dangerous job is grossly irresponsible, what of your family if I decide to kill you?"
"They-"
"Quite dog, or'll have your head out of principle!" He removed Ramherst from the mans throat aimed at a break in his armor and thrust it through his shoulder. Birds sleeping in the immediate area flocked away in a flurry of molested feathers as the knight let fourth a drum shattering bellow that minimally expressed the agony of having a blade slice through necessary muscle, ligament, and bone. Gregory repeated the same action with the opposite arm, summoning the horse twin of the previous bellow.
"Still your cries, consider this a mercy now getup and get lost." He helped the wounded knight to his feet and pushed him back into forest in the direction of Solstace. "Make haste if you wish to make it before you fall victim to blood loss!"
Gregory turned his attention toward where the music of battle had originated, straining his ears for naught a sound had emanated since the earlier distraction.
"Hands in the air." Called a stern voice from behind followed by the tip of a blade pressed against the small of his back.
His thick hands unwrapped themselves from the hilt of Ramherst, which fell to his boots with a dull thud.
"Your too soft letting 'im go instead of guttin' 'im." Lawrence chastised.
"Then my blood for his is it?" Retorted Gregory with a chuckle, awfully glad that Lawrence was fine.
"The ol' Kingdom couldn't bleed enough to equal ya brother." Shoving his own blade Crissel into his sheath enabled him to playfully backstab Gregory in the back with his large index and middle fingers.
Taking the roll he fell to his hands and knees coughing the last bit of life out of his body. "You foul dog, living true to thy surname!"
Lawrences' boot found itself slamming into Gregory's rump, sending him crashing into the muddy floor. Howling with laughter Lawrence turned his attention to getting their camp packed up.
Gregory turned over in the filth and held himself from pouncing on his brother for taking the joke to far. He cleaned himself as best as he could manage before joining his brother in packing.
"We'll travel over the Opac mountains ta that clearin' ya tol' me about." Lawrence explained, back to business. "Should be able to get some rest there, way you told it no one knows 'bout it."
Gregory grunted in agreement, in no mood to speak to his older brother.
Author's Note: I've researched the Stabbington brothers looking for first names but it seems like they have none so I took liberties and named them myself.
I also named some other things [like the Kingdom] and if they actually have official names I will change them promptly, just be sure to inform me.
Lastly this was supposed to be a one shot thing, but I foresee at least another chapter.
