A/N. Ahh! Thank you guys for the wonderful reviews! I'm sorry if some of the details weren't correct, but I hadn't seen the movie in a while…I posted this one after I just saw it again, so hopefully the details are more accurate…but I'll be the first to buy it when it comes out on DVD, so expect more stories after I've watched it a gazillion times! For now, I hope you'll enjoy this, and knowing that I have other fanfics in the process of being written down right now. Sorry it's taken so long to update, but this chapter was slow in coming. Hopefully, it turned out alright! This is all brotherly love and stuff, so don't take it the wrong way. I modeled these three after Elladan, Elrohir and Estel (Aragorn) from The Lord of the Rings. Elladan and Elrohir aren't mentioned in the movies, and I'm not sure about the books, but they're all over FanFiction. I also need you guys to remember closely which hits landed when Nizam and Dastan were fighting. I'm having this chapter take place the day after Nizam was captured, and writing with the idea that Dastan didn't let anyone look at him after the capture. Wow, long A/N.
DISCLAIMER: I don't own Prince of Persia.
Pain. That's what I woke up to, although I didn't quite remember falling asleep. But I did know that my head hurt, and that my ribs were pounding fiercely. Something stung on my side. Groaning, I rubbed a hand against my face and pulled myself to my feet. The room spun as soon as I was up, forcing me to squeeze my eyes shut lest I retch all over the nice carpet in my room. Taking a deep breath, I slowly opened my eyes to look out at a blessedly still, non-spinning room. Smiling, I took a step forward. I don't know why anyone ever called me stubborn.
Oh, wait.
Now I do.
I shouldn't have tried to spin around to stare out the window.
I really shouldn't have tried to spin around and stare out the window.
My already wobbly legs gave out on me, dropping me once again to the floor. My stomach didn't enjoy the sense of vertigo and let me know it by emptying my dinner out onto the rug. Ah, crap. I really didn't want to be sick. A shot of pain raced up my side as my stomach heaved. Glancing blearily out the window, somewhere in the back of my mind I registered that it was night time, and that someone should have come looking for me.
As if they'd been reading my thoughts, I heard two people shouting my name.
"Dastan! Where are you hiding? The Princess isn't very happy with you!" that would be Garsiv, with his mocking tone.
"Come on little brother- Bis is getting worried!" And there was Tus, always the one to care. Except when I'd been framed for killing Father. My eyes widened as I was taken back to a different time ( the yesterday that didn't happen) when my brothers had been hunting me, calling out my name while they slowly drew their swords. Panicking, I jumped to my feet, the adrenalin in my system wiping away the nauseated feeling I was sure I should have had and replacing it with the fight or flight instinct. I usually pick fight.
I think I would have in this instance.
Had my side not been screaming in pain.
Had I not just been sick.
Had the door not just swung open to reveal a very miffed Garsiv and one extremely annoyed Tus. I jumped back when Garsiv started for me, eyes dark and angry. I could remember that-dark eyes and a sword aimed at my throat. I didn't notice the way his angry glance turned to one of concern when I backed into the wall. Tus inched forward, one eyebrow raised in confusion.
One eyebrow raised in disbelief until I plunged the dagger into myself.
No! I shouldn't remember this!
Garsiv reached a hand out to me (a hand holding a sword to kill me) and I whimpered pitifully as I skittered away, knocking into the side table and sending a book on to the floor.
"Dastan?" (Dastan, you murderer! I'll kill you!) I flinched when Garsiv came closer, not even realizing that Tus was slowly circling around the other side.
"Dastan, what's wrong?" The concern seemed real for a moment, and I halted as he stopped as well.
"I…I-" But then his hand landed to rest on the hilt of his sword. My eyes went wide. "No! No! stay….stay away from me!" I jumped backwards, trying to put space between me and the man who was out to kill me. Someone touched my back. I yelped in surprise and leapt away. My side stung sharply and I bent over in pain. Tus had his hand raised towards my shoulder, a worried look on his face.
"Dastan? It's alright if you're frightened. But we got Nizam. We're never going to hurt you." Never going to hurt me? Try telling that to the three inch gash running down my arm! Oh wait, that wasn't there anymore.
"Yes you will…you did! I was there! I was there…" I trailed off as my mind took me back to when I had been forced to watch Father die and had been unable to do anything.
"Dastan?" Garsiv asked, and he started for me again.
"Don't!" I shouted, and I stumbled backwards, trying to get my back to a wall.
Only, I forgot about the book.
The one I knocked off the nightstand.
My foot dropped down on the edge of it and wobbled dangerously before I put all of my weight on it. The book flipped up and I crashed backwards arms flailing as I heard Tus and Garsiv call out in alarm. Then, my head hit the hard stone wall and I knew no more.
Nightmares are strange things. They can be completely pointless, have nothing to do with your life. Or they can have everything to do with your life. The one I had after I was knocked unconscious was horribly vivid. First, I watched Father disintegrate, the robe burning him alive. Then I was yanked forward to when Bis was stabbed, blood pooling around him as Tamina dragged me away. And then Garsiv, as he fell to the ground, sharp spikes protruding from his chest as he used his last breath to stab a black clothed man. After that, Tus, his throat slit with Nizam standing over him. Then there was Tamina. I had to watch once again as I let go of her hand and let her fall into the abyss.
And then there was the fleeting sense of falling, and I was reliving the capture of Nizam. It was all silence as I proclaimed him a traitor, and then he shoved me over the edge. I knocked him sprawling and regained my feet, smiling grimly at Tus, who stood shocked before me. There was the sound of a sword being drawn from a sheath and an unbearable pain shot through me. I cried out as I looked down at my side to see a blood soaked sword sticking out of it. This wasn't supposed to happen… I shouted in fear and panic as I felt invisible arms wrapping around my shoulders and legs. Someone was pressing down on my middle and if felt as if it were on fire. I screamed again, and my vision faded in and out until I was back in bed where I belonged. I was dimly aware of one voice cautioning for me to calm down and another yelling for someone to get out of my room. All this was lost on me.
I leaned over the side of the bed and retched.
My stomach was still flipping when I was pushed backwards again and I felt someone's hand on my forehead, and another feeling around my neck for a pulse. I warily opened my eyes only to rear back in fear and surprise as I found that Garsiv was leaning over me. My breathing, which I had started to get under control picked up and I shouted in alarm. Garsiv jerked away, eyes wide as I scrambled towards my left.
I was close to the edge.
Too close to the edge.
I tumbled over the side, thankfully missing the pile of vomit until my mind finally registered the pain my side was in. My ribs had been jarred first when I collided with the wall, then when I hit the outside when I scaled the walls, and again when I hit the floor from my first fall and now this. Something had happened to my side, because I knew it wasn't supposed to hurt that badly from a few falls. Someone was hovering over me and I instinctively shied away, pressing between the side table and the bed. My back touched the wall, and I froze, trapped between my advancing brother and the stone behind me back.
"Dastan?" I jerked my head up to see Tus next to Garsiv, leaning down on eyelevel with me. I warily met his eyes, letting my dark hair hang in front of my face as I stared at him.
"Dastan, what is it?" He knelt all the way down, and reached out to grasp my arm, but a small noise of discomfort halted him in his tracks. He sighed, but pulled his hands back.
"Dastan, what's wrong?" He asked again, and I managed a few strangled words.
"You…dead…'n Gar…Dad too…Princess…Bis…me…" I don't think I was even trying to form a full sentence when I told them-just trying to make them understand that we should all be dead. Tus shared a worried glance with Garsiv before he glanced back at me.
"What do you mean, dead?" He asked, and I came back to the present long enough to give him a withering glance and elaborate.
"Dead: non-living, deceased, no longer breathing, heart stopped beating, stabbed, burned, killed-dead." I exclaimed in an exasperated voice. Tus frowned at my tone, and for a moment, it was as if there was nothing wrong with me, and we were all home safe. Then, Garsiv had to ruin it.
"How did we…'die'?" He asked. Tus elbowed him in the side before I started again.
"You got shot…four times. Tus…slit throat. They stabbed Bis…Dad's cloak…poison…The Princess…I let her go-Gar, I let her go!" Panic was rising in my throat, and I looked up at Garsiv with bright eyes.
"Garsiv, I let her go!" I was shouting again, and I nearly leapt to my feet. I would have, had Tus not darted a hand out to halt me.
"What do you mean you died?" My eyes flickered up to look at my foster brother. (My side graced me with another volley of pain.)
"I stabbed myself." I whispered, looking past him to look out the window. A sharp intake of breath was the only sound Gar made, but Tus pressed me.
"Why?" I glanced back at him.
"You didn't believe me." I almost didn't see the look of fear and horror that crossed his face when he heard this.
"Didn't believe you when?" I shook my head.
"You don't remember. Not supposed to remember." I mumbled, finally realizing that my adrenalin was wearing off, and that I was fading. My head dropped to my chest. My side hurt.
"Dastan…Dastan!" Tus shouted, and he gripped my arms and shook me.
"Remember what?" I blinked blearily up at him.
"The dagger…Princess's dagger…time…" I trailed off and my head dropped again.
"What dagger? What does this have to do with the Princess?" Gar asked, frowning. I could tell he was already in a mindset to go and ask Tamina what had happened. But she didn't know.
"It's nothing." I muttered. Apparently, that was the last vague answer Garsiv could take, because he reached out and grasped the front of my shirt and pulled me closer. I yelped a little and immediately put up a struggle, tugging at his hands and trying to kick away. Something wet and sticky came from my side and dripped onto my shirt.
"Dastan, quit giving us stupid answers and tell us right now!" He shouted, and I shied away from him. Tus was shouting at him to stop but Garsiv was annoyed.
"Dastan, what happened?" He roared, and I heard the door slam open. There stood Bis (Who should have been lying on the floor-dead) looking furious.
"What's going on?" He shouted and I jerked backwards from Gar, who had loosened his hold on my arms. He tried to tighten them as soon as I wriggled away.
"Bis, come here!" Tus commanded, but for a moment, Tus turned into Garsiv, and he was shouting for my head.
"No Bis, stay back!" I shouted, but flinched when Garsiv rounded on me.
"What for?" He asked incredulously, but then Tus stopped everything.
"Everybody, shut it!" he roared, and we all fell silent, me still shaking slightly. Tus sighed exasperatedly before he turned slowly to me.
"Dastan, what happened that we aren't aware of?" He asked, and I shook my head.
"I can't tell you. I'm not supposed to tell anyone." Garsiv really lost it then.
"For the love of the gods Dastan, we're family! You can tell us anything!" He exploded. That was the last thing I could take. I whimpered again, but that was it.
I didn't say anything.
Didn't move.
(It almost felt like I wasn't breathing.)
Gar was shouting at me again, and even if he wasn't threatening to kill me as a traitor, the tone still seemed the same. Tus tried to shake me out of it. I wouldn't move. I barely registered that he and Tus were talking with Bis, or that my best friend left soon after, or that no one was shouting. I just stared at the floor, flashes of a past that never happened spinning before my eyes.
Someone was calling my name. It was slightly annoying, if I do say so myself, but just then I watchedmy foster father crumple to the floor. Oh look, there goes Tus. I felt a hand on my shoulder, and I started. Someone was telling me I needed to snap out of it, to climb back into the bed. I wouldn't. (My side was literally killing me, not that we knew it yet.) Garsiv was distracting me in my mind's eye-yelling at me for killing Father. Someone slid his arms under my knees and around my shoulders and lifted me up onto the bed. Another someone pulled the sheets back around me and sat down on the edge of said bed.
"Dastan…What happened?" There wasn't any shouting. I blinked up and saw Tus seated near my feet with Garsiv hovering guiltily behind him.
"Nothing." I whispered, and they both frowned, but apparently my catatonic state had shocked them out of shouting.
"Dastan, Father's coming, and if you don't tell us, you'll have to tell him." I shrugged.
"I can't tell anyone. It's against the rules." Tus frowned.
"What rules?" I frowned.
"Their rules about the dagger." I could almost feel the tension in the air when Garsiv became annoyed with my answer.
"What dagger?"
"The one I gave the Princess."
"Oh. What's so special about it?" I frowned.
"Everything." Garsiv frowned.
"Could you be more specific?" I shrugged.
"You wouldn't believe me. Didn't believe me last time. And then everyone died." Tus interrupted this time.
"Dastan, no one is dead. Now, could you tell us what is going on?" I stared at him for a long time. A really long time. And then I glanced at Garsiv. I nodded.
"Yes." And that was how it started. I explained everything-how I'd taken the dagger, how Tus had given me the robe, how the robe had been poisoned, how I'd been chased. Everything. They looked incredulous at first, but as I told them more and more they started believing me.
"Nizam was really going to go back and let Father die?" Tus asked. I nodded. Garsiv hadn't said anything. He still looked guilty and horrified when I told him what he'd done. I cleared my throat and he glanced up. I saw tears in his eyes, and for a moment, I thought I was dreaming.
Because Garsiv isn't supposed to cry.
(My side hurt.)
"Little brother, I am so sorry." He sat down next to me and placed a hand on my shoulder. I couldn't help myself when I automatically shied away. He looked crestfallen, and I mentally scolded myself. This was my brother! Someone who had promised to protect me years ago, and had proven it! A little voice in the back of my mind didn't agree.
He hated you in the blink of an eye.
"Dastan, I would never hurt you. Not now. Not ever. I'm ashamed that I didn't believe you…then…but now I know. You wouldn't do anything like that. You're my brother." I nodded whilst looking at the floor. Garsiv gave a dejected sigh, but then he stood. Tus patted my shoulder before joining Garsiv.
"Get some rest Dastan. We'll talk about this in the morning." They both moved towards the door, and for a moment, I saw the Hassansinss and Nizam waiting outside. I let out a choked noise that could have sounded like 'stay'.
Apparently, that's what my brothers heard. They both twisted around.
"What?" I swallowed thickly. The Lion of Persia wasn't supposed to ask for his brothers to comfort him form a simple nightmare! But some part of my whispered that this wasn't just a simple nightmare. It had happened.
"Stay…please." Garsiv and Tus looked at each other in surprise. I ducked my head, waiting for them to tell me that I was old enough to scare away my own fears.
"Sure." My head shot up, and I looked over to see Garsiv striding towards me, Tus right next to him. They got on either side of me on top of the way too big bed and settled down on one of the many pillows that cushioned it. As soon as they were next to me, I felt safe.
No one was dead.
No one was hunting me.
No one was shouting at me.
I fell asleep between two brothers who could really have been considered guard dogs.
And that's how Father found us when he followed Bis into my room. All three of us curled up together like when we were younger. He smiled.
(Then he saw the blood seeping out of my side.)
A/N. Ah crap. Now I have at least a four shot, maybe more. *sighs* I promised myself I wouldn't keep going. (Obviously, I FAIL). Review!
Thx-
TOAS
