And this one takes place in Metal Fury! Read and review please!
Julian was silently stewing, Nero noted with pride as he looked at the chessboard. He was one move away from winning, and Julian was furious over it.
"Give in now, and I won't humiliate you." The eleven year old said, smugly.
Julian glared at him for a moment, before sighing, "Fine. I surrender. You're a better chess player than I am."
Nero grinned, and pumped his fist, "Ah, yeah!"
"Takes someone of a high IQ to play against someone like Julian." Nero jumped at the voice of none other than Lucas McKandless. He glanced up, seeing the slightly older teen staring down at the chessboard.
"Yeah, I know I'm smart, but I don't know exactly how smart. Anyways, you're better than your brother, and he's better than me, so don't start putting yourself down." Nero flipped a strand of his hair out of his eyes. In the last year, the pre- teen had grown it out to about mid- neck, and it was a windblown, messy... mess. His brother constantly fussed about it, but Nero never paid him any mind.
"Hey, guys." Wales said, frowning at his laptop, "Madoka just sent me an e- mail."
"Yeah, about what?" Julian frowned as his brother fixed the chess pieces back to a starting position.
"Read for yourself." Wales dropped the laptop on the chess board, and Julian scowled at his friend. Lucas snorted in amusement. Nero grinned.
Julian glared for a moment more at Wales, before looking at the laptop in front of him. He frowned, his brow creasing together with each second, and Nero knew it was serious.
"Get Sophie and Klaus." Julian suddenly stood up, "We need to have a team meeting."
Nero was with his brother as he, Julian, and Klaus all explored the once beautiful temple of Mars.
"I want to know who did this!" Nero exclaimed, popping up from behind a fallen pillar and shaking plaster from his messy blonde hair.
Julian frowned, "I hope you realize you're going straight to the shower when we get home, right?"
"Well the same goes for you!" Nero shot back, "And that's your best jacket too! Why are you even wearing it in a crumbled place like this, where it would get dirty?"
"Because you're doing all the messy work." Was Julian's snap back.
Klaus chuckled at the two glaring brothers.
At that moment, there was the sound of a boat engine echoing in the harbor.
"Well, I'd guess that Gingka and his crew are here." Nero said.
When the news came around that Nemesis had risen, but with no idea on his location, Excalibur got to work. Nero was going through books in no time, trying to find something about Nemesis. Sophie and Wales were working the technological corner. Klaus was calling in a few of his contacts, Lucas was helping where he could, and Julian mostly stayed by his brother's side.
It made Nero curious.
One late night, he set one of his books down, and stretched out his arms and legs, watching his brother, who was focused on his own book.
"Shouldn't you be helping Wales and Sophie?" Nero asked.
"Lucas is with them." Julian replied.
"Klaus?"
"When he needs me."
"So why are you with me?"
Silence.
"Julian?" Nero asked.
"It's complicated." Julian mumbled.
"Un- complicate it." Nero said, irriatedly.
Julian looked up, and winced at the icy look in his brother's eyes- people constantly compared Nero to fire, and himself to that of the cold, but if you thought about it...
Ice could burn too.
"You're my brother." Julian finally stated, as though those three words explained everything.
Nero narrowed his eyes, before his shoulders slumped in realization.
"You're trying to make good on your promise." He said, flatly.
Something akin to pain flashed through Julian's eyes, and Nero knew he'd guessed right.
Nero sighed, and shut the book in front of him, "Listen, Jules-" He didn't miss his brother's scowl at the knickname, "If Nemesis does some however take over the world and destroy it, I really doubt that anything you do to try and protect me is gonna be of any help."
"I can protect you until I die. That much I'm gonna make sure happens." Julian said, icily.
Nero sighed, and rubbed his temples, knowing that arguing with his brother would only be a futile action.
To say Nero had been scared when Vesuvius started erupting- the first time in thousands of years- would've been an understatement.
But at the same time that he was terrified, he was entranced. The way the lava and magma leapt up into the sky...
It was like a calling.
Nero shook his head, whimpering a little, backing up from the edge of the cliff he was standing on with the rest of Excalibur.
He knew what the calling was.
One of destruction.
And damn it all if he let himself give into it. He'd rather throw himself into a pit of lava than control it and destroy the world.
"Nero?" It was muffled, but he heard his brother's voice through the screaming voices in his head.
"Go away..." Nero whispered, before yelling louder, "Go away!"
It wasn't so much at his brother as it was the tempting voices that reverbrated through his skull.
His brother, the one person who knew him better than anyone, seemed to pick up on it. He grabbed his brother's arm, firmly, but not harshly.
"No." Julian said, sternly, "I'm not leaving. You're my brother. I made a promise, and you know I never go back on my word."
I'd argue that if I weren't going crazy, Nero thought, as he could count a few times Julian had broke a promise.
The ground rumbled suddenly, and the voices became louder in Nero's head. The younger screamed in pain, his knees buckling under him. Julian caught him before he hit the ground.
Nero had no idea how long the agony rippled through him. But he knew that when the voices suddenly began to fade out, and when he could see and hear straight again, Julian was with him.
"Julian..." Nero mumbled, trying to sit up. As he tried to get up, his brother grabbed him in a bear hug, pinning his arms to his side and keeping him still.
"You ever me worry me that much again-" Julian couldn't think of anything harsh enough to say.
Nero grumbled under his breath in Italian, but didn't say anything mean.
Because he now knew the exact thing his brother had felt when he had been under Ziggurat's control.
And it was a scary thing.
And tomorrow will be the one shot of Shogun Steel.