My brother…An unwelcome memory flooded my mind…

I remember looking over my mother's shoulder, at the people chasing us, at you, my brother, clutching my leg, running…running…

After we stopped at that planet they caught us. Forced us to watch mother die. My brother…my older stronger brother bared it all. You never winced, never flinched, yet I cried and wailed.

After they left me…left us…she died. We had to watch her die. I was so confused…so angry…Why? Why? You sat calmly away, your small knife in your hands. I was angry at you. So very angry. Why weren't you crying? Why couldn't I suppress my tears? You looked at me…I remember running to you and falling in your outstretched arms. But…I was so mad. Why couldn't you see? I remember…grabbing your knife and plunging it into your back, while you were still trying to soothe my tears. I remember jumping away as your body fell to the ground, shuddering. Your eyes brother…filled with confusion…anger…sadness…I fell to the ground beside you, weariness overcoming me…

I woke up later…well after morning, a bloody knife laid beside him, my hands soaked with it. The knife laid beside me, your body a permanent reminder to what I did…

I winced slightly as the last memory faded. He was still there, peering haughtily out of the gloom. My brother. "B-But I killed you!" My stammer made his sneer that much bigger. "No. You didn't." My hands were shaking. Shaking…I wouldn't show my fear though, not to my brother. His cloak never moved in the slight wind that whirled around us. To show I was not afraid, I turned my back on him and pretended to fix my cloak around me. Deadly black eyes seemed to bore holes in the back of my head. "Don't turn your back on me, brother." His mouth twisted around the word. He made it sound like…a curse. And then, he was in front of me. Nobody should be able to move that fast. His sneer was gone, replaced by a frown. A very angry frown… "Peirge I--" My words cut off by a punch that swept all air from my lungs. He looked down at me, calculating. "Don't you ever-EVER call me by that name again." Confusion danced in my eyes. Gaining enough breath to speak I spluttered, "You give up your name you were born with!? If you haven't forgotten, mother is dead and the only thing left she gave to remem- " "SILENCE! Mother is dead, all ties are gone. I leave my name. My name is Tyrce. You will refer to me as that." He paused. "Understood?" His words left no hint of being refused. "I…guess…" How could I come this unraveled just by the presence of my older brother…whom I killed…I glared hostily up at him anyway. And suddenly, there wasn't that familiar presence, that familiar weight that hung at my neck. What? I clutched at my throat and my eyes felt ready to pop out of my head. My mother's necklace…in my brother's hands. He sneered. "Your revenge is based on a whole race, it's better to focus on one person...You have been blinded by hate and lost your soul. You're pathetic." A wad of spit somehow found itself on my face. He slowly crushed the necklace into a fine powder and threw it into the wind. My mother…gone…forever now. And then…and only then did it dawn on me. My brother…talking of revenge. It had to be a coincidence…had to be. Yet, as I look into his eyes, hatred and anger seep out. He had revenge of his own…revenge…on me…