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Disclaimer: Soul Reaver and all related characters belong to Eidos.

This began as my being bored (seems to happen alot) and more than slightly frazzled at work I did not want to do, so I decided to torture some characters. It's now turned into an AU, completely by accident. Who knew?

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Ties That Bind

How could they not care? How could they not care what was happening to him? Didn't they...? He's our brother, curse them all! How could they not care that... about what...?

The fact that he was alive amazed me. The fact that Kain hadn't ripped his wings from his body and torn them into a pulp was a miracle.
The order of our birth made all the difference among the Lieutenants of Kain. As the last born, I had the mouse's share of gifts, while Raziel, poor Raziel, was Kain's firstborn. His chosen Childe. And as such, he was expected to live up to that. I suppose that he did in his evolution in a way.
The high cliffs overlooking the lakes and my territory are always a comfort to me. Whenever I need to think, which lately is quite often, I go there. That evening was no different.
I couldn't tell you how many hours I sat brooding over the callous behavior of my siblings. Turel had actually spoken ill of our oldest brother, calling him a barrage of slurs. He spoke low to himself, but I heard him. I heard him and it made my blood boil. I kept my anger to myself, trying to decide what to do if it came back that...
I admit it freely. Of all my brothers, Raziel is my favorite. Though he is the eldest of Kain's making, he is the youngest of us in flesh. I, likewise, am the last made but the oldest in face and body. Ah, Raziel, who can look so grimly serious one minute, then flip and be a rakish rogue with a skill for tricks and practical jokes that would put the most mischievous imps to shame. I think that greatly annoys the others, as well. I'd heard one of my brothers, I can't recall which, mumble "Led by a impetuous child" once as we moved against the humans. That "impetuous child" and his clan showed that entire town and us as well, what it was to be a vampire.
This was one of the thoughts I turned over in my head as I sat watching the poisoned waters ripple. Sickly green, almost glowing... how many of our kind have perished in its depths...?
"Melchiah...?" The voice was soft, abnormally so, but...
I heard Raziel's ribs groan as I whirled and crushed him in my arms, but he himself made no sound. I, on the other hand, was trying to stifle the zealous joy that threatened to send me into histrionics.
"You... he didn't... your wings..."
"Are still there..." there was an odd, joyless tone to that statement, one I'd come to understand much later. But I noticed it. I always noticed when he was bothered. Anyone of us could have seen this, though.
Normally there's a shine to his golden eyes, predatory and wild. Wolf's eyes that added to his fine-boned face. But those eyes were dull; distant and clouded, as if the smoke of Nosgoth had blocked the light from them as they did the sky.
"Raziel?"
"What were you thinking about?" He moved past me with a new, light grace and an unnerving emptiness in his expression. He leaned against the window ledge where I had been and looked out. I realized then that he wasn't dressed in his uniform. Instead, he was wrapped in a red velvet cloak that bore his signet. Slits had been made in it to accommodate his new wings. Underneath was the loose black silk shirt and pants he wore at leisure. His feet were bare, and I surmised he must have flown at least part the way here. "What were you thinking about?" He asked again.
"You. If Kain had killed you or not. He just..."
"Did he say anything?"
"No. He hasn't spoken to us... at least to me since... I thought you were dead, brother."
"So did I." I saw the corner of his mouth jerk, and he made a small sound, tensing.
"Raziel?"
"Fine. Just a bit slower to heal than normal. Kain broke a few of my ribs."
"I didn't hurt you, make it worse when I...?"
"No, no. On the contrary. It is nice to know that at lease ONE of my siblings cares about my continued existence." He sat down on the windowledge and leaned out, resting most of his weight on his thigh and arm. I've never seen him look so frail and vulnerable. What had Kain done to him?
He jumped as I put my arm around his shoulder. This was not the Raziel I knew. My Raziel would have smirked and playfully pushed me away. This one... This one looked up at me with eyes as lost as a man without a soul. Then he closed them and lay his head against my chest. His hair was unbound, and I stroked it gently.
"What did he do to you?"
"What Kain did... is inconsequential. It is what he is going to do..."
"I don't understand. Does he still intend to kill you?"
"No. He's convinced now..." he shook his head a little in half-dismay and half-disbelief, "that I was given wings before him for two reasons. The one was bad enough..." I wanted to ask him to elaborate, but decided to let him go at his own pace, "I think the second has something to do with who or what I was as a mortal, but... he said he would explain later."
"So long as you live, can it be that bad...?"
"Yes. No. It is... not something I want to think about right now." He looked sick, ready to fall over. The mother hen in me rose cackling to the surface. She had a tendency to do that when I started worrying over my eldest little brother.
"Have you fed? Have you been sleeping?"
"I don't know... I think... I think I slept some... or tried to..." he shrugged, "I cannot really... remember."
"I'd risk that you haven't and you aren't." I dragged him away from the window before he fell out of it and he readily came with me, not resisting at all. I found myself trying to blame it on the weakness of not feeding, not on something our master may have done to him. But my mind began whirling with possibilities. Of course, my train of thought was broken when he stumbled and nearly fell as we walked. I caught him and was amazed at his weight. Even out of armor it should have been more than what I felt when I held him in my arms. I'd felt his natural weight and strength before in sparring matches, almost twice of a human his size. Now he barely felt the weight of a man his size.
Raziel rested against me, tried to walk, and stumbled again. Unable to take it, I bent a little and lifted him into my arms. There was no opposition, no pulling away. Just a brief flutter of one wing as he just sank into my embrace and closed his eyes.
A few of my fledglings questioned me as I carried Raziel to my chambers. I answered simply that he was not well, and instructed them to scour my human slaves and find the most robust, full of the best blood and bring him to me. They nodded and scampered off.
The subdued light of my private rooms highlighted the caverns under his eyes. He looked as bad as the occasional stubborn fledgling who refuses to give up his humanity and feed on others, slowly starving and wasting away. There was exhaustion on his pale face, though, along with the gaunt hunger. His lashes were a stark line against his sallow cheeks. He jerked suddenly in my arms, as if in pain, and I quickly lay him down on the nearest couch, checking for any major injuries left over from his encounter with Kain. I could feel his ribs under my fingers. How had he lost so much weight so quickly? It had been at least a handful of days since he'd presented himself to Kain... could he have been starving himself since then? Had Kain given him some bizarre command in order to kill him slowly...?
My second-in-command returned with a young worker I didn't recognize, but who was absolutely perfect. His hair was the rich brown of hardwood, and despite the lack of sun in Nosgoth, his flesh was a golden tan. He smelled of sweat and human musk, but most of all fear.
"What is your name, boy?"
"Perrin, my lord." He attempted a clumsy bow, and I smiled a little.
"Well, Perrin, my brother is sick, and I need your help to heal him."
"M-mine, master?" His voice was suddenly little boy small, despite his six-foot frame.
"Yes, come here." I waved him over with one hand, stroking Raziel's hair with the other. Those cloudy yellow eyes had cleared a little, flecks of metallic gold reflecting the light from the braziers. Perrin came obediently to my side, visibly shaken. I grabbed the human and made a cut on his neck with my claw, filling the air with the sweet scent of his blood.
"Raziel, I-" I began, and didn't get a chance to finish. Raziel struck like a poisonous snake. All I felt was a rush of wind and heard a leathery flapping, followed by Perrin's scream. I'd seen the terribly hungry of our kind frenzy before, but never one of my own brothers. Perhaps because we normally stayed well fed... Raziel hung on him like a hunting cat, arms around his body, the claws of his feet dug into the human's thighs. His wings folded around my slave... ex-slave's body as he drank in deep draughts from his throat. The dying man remained standing for a few moments, then collapsed under his own weight combined with Raziel's. My brother's wings opened fully and he caught them mid-fall in brief flight before planting his own feet solid on the ground and embracing the body, still drinking. I'd also never seen a body drunk so dry. When he finally dropped the dead man, he was little more than a shrunken husk.
Raziel whirled around to face me, his eyes wild as an untamed beast, blood trickling down his chin. His tongue snaked out and caught even that small dribble. A few thick black locks of hair curled over his shoulder like snakes, and for a second I didn't recognize him as my brother. Then his sanity returned as the blood-hunger abated.
"Brother...? What... What happened...?" His foot caught on the dried raisin of a man left over from his feeding, and he looked down on him at first with confusion, then mild chagrin. When he raised his head to look me in the eyes, I saw again my beloved imp of a brother, if a little subdued. "I normally don't feed so ravenously. I need to work on my table manners." I laughed. It felt good to laugh again after so many days.
"I'm glad to see you're better."
"I am, thank you. And..." He stepped over the corpse, then dragged one foot a little in obvious embarrassment, "And thank you for caring for me. I probably would have let myself waste away..."
I began to say something sappish like "that's what brothers do" and then I thought of Turel and the others. I shrugged instead.
"You would do the same for me, wouldn't you?"
"Of course. As the oldest I'm supposed to look out for my baby brother." He said this with a broad smile, showing his perfect white teeth, and I laughed again.
"Of course." His smile faltered, and he looked distant again, eye glassing, "Raziel?"
"Hmm?"
"Is something wrong?"
"N-no. Just thinking about something. It's not important." He gave me a flippant, dismissing gesture with his hand. I believed him about as far as I could throw my own stronghold.