In Canada 1845, 2 children, James Howlett (the youngest, with a joy filled face, the ones you only find in optimistic little children) and Victor Creed (slightly older by age but with a lot of darker experiences, all his emotions under lock and key) were sitting in a cozy bedroom.
James was having trouble breathing and his coughing sounded more like barking if you asked the neighbours, while Victor sat across from him keeping himself entertained by trimming his nails with a small pocket knife.
-"You're always sick"- Victor complained after the latest bout of barking ended.
The small clippings of his nails fell to the ground, the only sound to be heard in the room (apart from James's heavy breathing).
Meanwhile, James just observed him with half lidded eyes as he spoke quietly, with a raspy voice.
"You were sick when you were my age."
Quietly considering the truth of the statement, Victor nodded and decided to ignore him. He simply looked down and continued to trim his nails.
After a few minutes of silence had passed, the bedroom door opened and John Howlett came striding into the room.
Fast as lighting, Victor stood up and greeted him with all propriety of his rank.
Mr. Howlett simply stopped suddenly from his path to his son's bed and quickly looked over at him with a mixture of pity and disdain.
"Evening Victor, I didn't realize you were still here" he said, barely hiding his dislike for the young boy.
Unfortunately, Victor got it loud and clear, making him shift a bit uncomfortably.
James quietly watched them interact while he waited for his father to address him.
"Are you better son?" John Howlett finally asked, sitting on the edge of his bed while he cradled his face.
"I'm still cold Father" he answered, leaning into his hand.
Victor Creed just looked on green with envy while observing how they joked together, further demonstrating the love they held for each other. He allowed a few seconds of weakness as he imagined himself living happily with a loving mother and a caring father.
Only moments after, the voice of a drunk Thomas Logan was carried into the room.
"ELIZABETH! ELIZABETH!"
The whole room went silent.
A tense atmosphere had settled among them all as they listened to the drunken shouts.
Finally kicking himself into action, John tersely spit out his words, barely managing to not choke on them.
"Your father's drunk again... you should help him get home Victor."
They could all hear knocking on the front door, as Victor silently fumed.
He was fed up. His daydream of a beautiful family shattered, its remains scattered across the wooden floor. He was fed up of his father's treatment, and also fed up by the way that Howlett Sr. talked to him. Letting the anger slip into his voice, he made it known that he was not going to let himself be bossed around anymore.
"It's not my name he's calling, sir."
Silence reigned while everyone was at loss of what to do.
John suddenly stood up and headed towards the door as he heard his wife start shouting, little James crying out fearfully for him to stay, while Victor followed John out.
James waited a few moments, trying to hold in the scared sobs that were trying to burst out, before -over all the screaming- a gunshot was heard.
Then as fast as his small feet could take him, he ran to the main doors.
What he saw immobilized him for a few seconds.
His dad lay there on the floor, in a pool of own blood, that was bleeding out from a gunshot wound on the left side of his chest.
James quickly regained control of his legs and bounded down the staircase, quickly kneeling next to his dad.
Hardly paying attention to what the adults were saying he watched as his father reached for his face and tried to call his name, but didn't live long enough to say it.
Partially in shock, his mind was reeling through so many emotions, unsure of exactly what he felt, except perhaps one strong emotion that was slowly overpowering the rest... Anger.
Having realized that his father lay dead without any hope of coming back, he reacted without thinking.
Looking around, he saw three people watching him anxiously, there was his Mother, Victor, and finally, there was Thomas Logan, the culprit for his father's death.
Focusing all his anger on the tall man, James could hardly feel the panic, nor the pain that was slowly making it's way up his throat, as 3 twig-like bones started to protude from his hands.
When the bones were fully unsheathed, James barely registered the different reactions he was receiving from this… curious occurrence, only concentrating on the rage he felt towards the man who murdered his dad.
Victor quietly watched astonished as the bone claws spread out from James's knuckles and then -after letting out a menacing roar- how he ran up to his father, only to murder him.
He really thought he couldn't be more surprised that night… He was wrong.
As soon as James heard that his father wasn't his real one and that he currently had his biological dad impaled on his bone claws, he slowly started to back away watching with a tiny pinch of fascination as his real father fell to the floor, dead.
Observing his mother's' panicked reaction and thinking about what had just taken place, James ran away –barefooted- through the forest trying to get as far as possible, hoping to escape before anyone found him.
Panting, he wasn't thinking clearly, not considering what he would do to provide for himself, how he would survive… but he hadn't gotten far when he felt someone tackle him to the ground, making him squirm as he scrambled to get away.
"I didn't mean it! I didn't..."
James shouted fearfully at his friend, -no, not friend- his half brother. He could barely wrap his head around it but he decided to ponder the implications later on.
If he escaped this alive that was.
"Yes you did" Victor said. "He deserved it, and you gave it to him." He added after a small pause.
Victor was running on adrenaline. Having thought a bit on the way, he arranged his thoughts and found out (to his delight), that his prior daydream was coming to life. Considering the fact that his father and mother were dead, it was a flawed version of his dream, but it was a real one nonetheless.
Grabbing his shoulders he looked into James' eyes and began "We're brothers Jimmy, you realize that? Brothers protect each other."
Seeing the fear in James's eyes, Victor tightened his grip on his brother's shoulders minisculely.
"You have to be hard now. So hard that nothing can ever touch us."
James, resigned, sighed quietly.
"I just want to go home!"
Victor immediately shot the idea down.
"We can't. We stick together no matter what and take care of anyone who gets in our way."
Before he could get another word in, a voice rang out from behind a nearby tree, making them both jump with surprise and fear.
-"Regardless of the fact of whom they are? How would you take care of them anyways? You don't look like much yet."
-T.R.M.-
Many years after that fateful night, the two brothers stayed united.
Living together, eating together, reading, writing, hunting, talking, fighting… they did everything together.
The duo went everywhere, never one without the other.
They watched as time flew past, leaving the pair of them untouched, despite their constant interference.
More often then not, you would find them fighting in some bar, or if they were lucky, their talents would be lent to whatever war was currently raging on.
While at war, when the brothers weren't in the trenches, you could sometimes find them writing letters (despite the fact that the other soldiers knew they never delivered them), making many wooden trinkets, or otherwise chatting about her.
Now, everyone knew about her.
Some incredibly brave -and stupid- soul had once snuck into the brothers's tents and started to snoop around, finding many objects, letters and pictures of the girl.
Of course, before he could investigate further, he was caught red handed by the brothers, and only by their lieutenant's intervention, did the soldier leave unscathed
-T.R.M.-
After many months into what was WWI, the blue-eyed beauty finally visited the barracks.
Gaining quite a few stares, not even 5 minutes had passed before everyone knew a dame was visiting, and one who perfectly fit her descriptions to a tee.
Quickly making her way through the camp, she followed the Lieutenant's directions to James's and Victor's tent, not heeding the wolf whistles that were following her since she arrived.
Finally getting there, she ignored the small crowd that had followed her, before she swiftly entered into the privacy of the tent, hoping to give them a nice surprise.
The rustling of the fabric disturbed the boys from their slumber, making them shoot up from their sleeping bags, and point their guns at the intruder, just as said intruder squealed happily.
"My little boys!"
Rushing up to hug them, she completely ignored their comically wide eyes and the fact that their guns were still pointed right at her face.
"Aww, my little cubs… I've missed you soo much!"
Finally regaining their bearings, the brothers smiled and eagerly hugged her back, pleasantly surprised at the unexpected visit.
"Liz, you're hurting my eardrums." Victor whined good-naturedly, jokingly rubbing at his ears as she let go after an excruciatingly long hug.
"Just ignore him Beth, he's in one of his moods" James mocked, nudging Victor's shoulder making him lose his balance as the pair started to snigger.
"Jeez, gang up on me guys or what? I can really feel the love all the way down here" Victor said sarcastically, slowly getting back up, and brushing off his knees.
"Twelve years is by far too much time to go without your lovely humour, my dear." Liz joked, lightly slapping his chest.
All of them laughing, they quickly settled down, and started to exchange stories about their happenings during these years they had spent apart.
-T.R.M.-
Before long Elizabeth had to leave, the brothers begging her to stay for a little while. They begged her to stay for a while, but she would not be persuaded.
"There is a young Asgardian warrior who should be arriving in a couple of minutes… I'm here to help him adjust to his permanent stay here at Midgard."
Sulking, the two brothers tried their best to remain aloof, but they couldn't manage to hide their disappointment that well.
Seeing their downcast expressions, Elizabeth's eyes softened, scooting closer to the boys, as she grabbed one of each of their hands, in her small dainty ones.
"I'm sorry boys. I promise I'll try and spend more time with you… and who knows? I might be able to convince Dee to come with me."
Both brothers looked a bit happier after that promise, both of them looking forward to her next visit.
"Fine, we'll just have to wait until next time. Hopefully we won't have to wait 12 years though… Give Dee my love." Victor stated, seemingly to forget his brother by the end of his sentence.
Elizabeth and James just looked at each other knowingly, while one was amused the other was slightly disappointed, for Dee (Death) simply did not share the same kind of love with which Victor held her in.
Smiling lightly, she kissed her two cubs on their cheeks, and let herself out of the tent.
As soon as she got out, she was greeted by some rather unsavoury comments and whistles.
..."Hey there baby girl!"...
..."Hee-llo sweetheart!"...
…"Dearie, come on over, we'll have a good time"...
…"Leave those buffoons alone, let me show you what real men are like"...
Taking a deep breath in, she sent a warning look towards the two brothers who had started to growl inaudibly.
Turning around at the now silent crowd (they all recognised the fact that it took guts to actually insult the brothers), Elizabeth quickly put on a fake smile as she looked expectantly at the man.
"Come with us! We can show you how to have a good time..." The man suggested in what he considered to be a very seductive way.
After a few seconds of hesitation, Ellie advanced unsurely towards the men, undecided on how to proceed.
Only James and Victor understood what was going through her head, making them tense as they prepared for confrontation.
Standing in front of the main offender, Ellie pulled a strand of loose hair behind her ears, clearing her throat as she tried to find the nicest way to deliver her message.
"Look kid," she began, causing the man to look utterly bewildered, and quite offended.
"I don't know who taught you your manners, but they're abysmal. That is no way to treat a lady, in fact, it's no way to treat anyone! I expect you'll learn from this mistake and cease to repeat it… I don't usually give second chances, so use them wisely…"
Everyone seemed quite shocked by small monologue, not quite expecting such a small thing to have such a temper.
After a quick glance at the rest of the men surrounding them, Ellie gave a quick nod, and turned away, intent on returning to the brothers.
Unfortunately this dismissal didn't sit quite well with the man, who extended his arm to grab a hold of her shoulder.
One second he was standing, the next he was on the ground, moaning.
Having sensed his movement, Elizabeth simply turned around and grabbed his forearm, pulling it towards herself, using her feet to trip him, while she used the momentum to push him to the ground with her other arm, causing a clear crack to be heard, as his arm broke.
Equal measures of bafflement, curiosity, anger and satisfaction reigned upon the faces of the crowd, as everyone stared at the whimpering man on the ground.
"Now I'm definitely late for my meeting..."
The whole camp stared at her wide eyed with mouths agape.
-"The name is Elizabeth Rose Maskell, and guys... It would do you well to remember it."-
A/N - Outfits are posted on Polyvore.
/rose_maskell_chapter/set?id=162813694
[just add the polyvore. c0m at the beginning].
