Author's Note: Yay, for the first time I get to dedicate my story..er..songfic to someone..er..two someones. First of all it goes out to, of course, Gatomonangewomon. For her letting me borrow the Escaflowne series. And a shout out to a new friend, Harmony, for the e-mail inspiration I needed to get off my lazy ass and finish it. I don't own Escaflowne and am using the characters without permission (like always), and considering I have a terrible singing voice, I don't own Blessed Union of Soul's song Brother My Brother.
By the way, I originally wrote this in alternating first person POV, so if it seems like it switches the focus from Folken to Van and so-forth, that's why. And I forgot that Folken wears a shirt under his cloak thing and made it so he didn't have one. R&R, even flames are fun..course I've only ever gotten one *sniff* so deprived I am, and talkin' like Yoda I be.
// denotes thought
Brother My Brother
Brother my brother
Tell me what are fighting for
We've got to end this war
We should love one another
Oh, can't we just pretend
This war never began
We can try
Brother my brother
"Van."
One whisper was all it took to get his brother's attention. Although Folken made sure to enter Van's room without being noticed, if only for a brief moment of watching him without the normal masked look in his eyes. Finalia's young king had enough reasons to doubt his brother's sincerity as it was. He didn't want him thinking that he was being stalked like an animal, that Folken was only waiting for the perfect moment to strike.
//Am I the reason you always look as if you're waiting for someone else to betray you Van? Did my leaving hurt you that badly? Or do I think too much of myself, wanting, for my own selfish reasons, to mean more to you than I probably do.//
Van whirled around and the other man saw the anger the boy always showed when talking to him etched onto his beautiful face.
"What do you want Folken? Get out!"
"What do I want? Only to talk to my little brother, is that too much to ask?"
He stiffened, looking as if he'd lose control and lash out against the ex- Zaibach sorcerer. //But you won't, will you Van? You lost the one you love, the girl from the Mystic Moon, because you gave into your rage and hatred. You won't make the same mistake twice. If there's any chance you can bring her back to you, you'll try it, including the possibility she may forgive you if you show enough self-restraint now. So instead of your fists, you use words to hurt me and, to tell the truth, I would have preferred the physical blows.//
"I'll never consider myself your brother. I don't even want to feel the shame of knowing I'm related to a coward like you."
Folken smiled; though his chest felt as if there was a gaping hole in it.
"Fine Van. Tell me what I can do to make it up to you. I left, I ran away from our country...from you, and I'm sorry but I can't undo the past. I joined Dornkirk to give a better future to you and you hate me for it. I left Zaibach because I didn't agree with how that future was bought, with the blood of the innocent, and rejoined you. I can't go back to Finalia, but I did come back to you. Can't we start over, pretend, if only for a little while that we're done with this war, better yet, that it never began."
He grabbed his brother's shoulders, absently noticing how goosebumps broke out from contact with the cold metal of the hideous mechanical arm, and shook him. Van's head snapped back and forth, finally stopping in a forward position, raven hair brushing lightly against the fabric of the other's cloak.
Folken gently cupped the side of the boy's face with his good hand, amazed that he let himself be touched without pulling away. "We're brothers Van, as much as you may want to deny it, we are, and I love you, I never stopped loving you." Not quite trusting the good luck that had been bestowed upon him thus far, he pulled his brother into an embrace, praying it would not drive him even farther away.
We face each other from different sides
The anger burns can't remember why
It's kind of crazy to cause so much pain
Our foolish pride makes us hate this way
//We're enemies, or at least, we were. Now everything is mixed up and I don't know what to think anymore. It was so clear only a little while ago, protect Hitomi, that was my mission, all I had to do, but now she's gone and the world is falling apart. Again.// Van eyes were clenched tightly shut as he listened to the deep breathing of his brother.
//It was so long ago; I don't remember everything that happened. The dragon- slayer rite, mother's death, and the rumors that everyone spread that you ran away. I couldn't handle thinking you were a coward, so I built you up to be an invincible force, that you had died heroically, with honor. Then to see you alive, serving the enemy no less, I snapped. I only wanted to cause everyone else the pain I was feeling and that made me lose her.
Pride, that's what made me think I was protecting her, when I was only causing her more anguish. Pride and the fact I wanted to prove I was better than you, a real man. I hate you with all my heart but what really gives me the right to pass judgement? I'm just like you; I hurt and abandon everyone that trusts me. I left Finalia just like you. I am you. I don't deserve to have good things happen to me; I should be punished for all the suffering I've caused.// He stiffened as he felt metallic fingers caress his back, then relaxed as a plan began to form in the back of his mind. //Folken is the only one who can't look down on me...and he owes me.//
We watch our world fall apart
Tell me what good is winning
When you lose your heart
//Where is the fire, my little one, the flame that used to consume you, make you push everyone and everything away. It hurts me that it's gone, and I know I'm the reason. Gaea is being ripped apart at the seams by those blood thirsty fools and through the victory I know you're destined to bring to them, they're not going to notice one broken child who's lost his heart along the way.//
Lost in his internal musings, Folken didn't notice the smile that crept across his "little one's" face and the different bearing with which the boy let himself be held. The only thing he was worried about had been addressed and the outcome was better than he had hoped. Not only was Van not pulling away, he seemed to push farther into the embrace, circling thin arms around the older man's waist and burrowing his face through the heavy cloak until he rested his forehead on a well muscled chest.
At the feel of a warm tongue marking a wet path to one nipple, however, Folken's reality check got cashed. "Van, what are you doing?", he asked trying to pull away, only to find his brother's frail arms were much stronger than they looked.
"You said you loved me, didn't you Folken? And that I should tell you how you could make it up to me. I was bad Folken, very bad, and I want...I want you to punish me."
Brother my brother
Tell me what are fighting for
Isn't life worth so much more
We should love one another
Oh, can't we just pretend
This war never began
Tell me why
Van felt his brother stiffen against him and attempt to back up. //He owes me, he can't refuse! That bastard! I won't let him, he's the one that said we should love each other. If he loves me he'll do this// the young man raged wildly. Pressing himself against his brother's front, Van ground his hips into the protesting man.
"Folken please, you can't say no. I need you. You're the only one I can trust." His breath came in little pants and he knew he was getting hysterical. But once he thought of the idea, it roared in his head, getting louder and louder and he knew it wasn't going to stop until he had been properly punished. By Folken or by fate, disciplined either in body or mind. Tears unbidden streamed down his face, which seemed to stop Folken's fretting.
Muscular arms wrapped around Van pulling him close, while he still squirmed, feeling a little satisfaction as something pressed against his stomach hardened. "Folken, do this for me and I promise I'll be a good brother from now on. No more war between us. We can start over." The king felt only slight remorse as the last hint of uncertainty vanished, knowing the older man was only giving him what he wanted to satisfy his own need for acceptance.
Brother my brother
Lips met in a kiss filled with a passion that would never be defined as "brotherly". Folken stepped back waiting for Van to pursue the contact. That was when he backhanded the boy so hard it spun him around to face the other way, where he landed heavily on the bed.
Yes We can try
Brother my brother
Yes
//He wants it rough?// The ex-Zaibach sorcerer smiled, an expression that held no joy.// So be it.//
Let's take a moment and look deep inside
And say we'll learn to give love a try
When matters differ as we seem to be
There's so much more to me than what you see
There seemed to be much about his brother he didn't know, but then again, if Van felt this was love..who was he to interfere?
Folken laid heavily on the boy, making sure the weight was felt, that his captive knew just how powerless he really was. Cruel hands pulled hair back to gain access to the tender flesh of the neck. When his mouth left, blood trickled from various bite-marks embedded deeply into the skin. Van felt the pain but also relief that the pressure in his head was easing. His sins were being repented.
His lips were bitten harshly, as his pants became tight, hips trying to jerk but not being giving room to by the body on top of him, although it did provide exquisite friction. Folken pressed his throbbing member down against the boy beneath him. Bothering with no formalities, the older man shredded the red tank top, using his claw to scratch lightly down the other's chest, leaving light crimson streaks in his wake. Finally, with the needle tip of one finger, he rolled a nipple around until it became a bloody nub.
Van, in the meantime, was trapped between heaven and hell, tears pouring onto the pillow his head lay against. Whether from joy or pain couldn't be determined, but he could only think, //this is what I want//. Folken went from being bent on his knees to balancing lightly on his heels and he quickly shimmed out of his pants, now totally naked, ready to devour his prey. But this was not cruel Zaibach and because he loved him, he gave Van one last chance to leave.
You don't have to be this way
Think about the consequences
Turn around and walk away
"You don't have to go through with this Van, think about it, get dressed, walk out of this room, and don't come back. I'll never tell anyone if you don't want me to." His only reply was a muffled "fuck me". He sighed,// I'll always do what you want me to, after all, I love you.//
Brother my brother
Tell me what are fighting for
Isn't life worth so much more
We should love one another
Oh, can't we just pretend
This war never began
Tell me why
Brother my brother
Van felt his pants being taken and his legs spread wide, with sharp nails digging into his thighs. Then a pain like nothing he had felt before. It seemed like he was being ripped apart, torn on the inside, but oddly, it excited him. The battles he had been in, the people he had killed, flashed before his eyes. //I liked killing them and I like this.// With that revelation, he felt the urge to be sick, which was forgotten as Folken angled upward hitting something inside him, that through the blood and pain, felt like salvation.
Dimly he knew Folken had shuddered and released hot seed into his body, but it felt far away. In an instant he also knew he had been forgiven, Hitomi would come back to him, and he could rule Finalia as he should. This delight triggered his orgasm, which left him soaring high above his tortured body. //This..this is bliss//, he thought shortly before slowly falling into a tired dream-like state in which he missed seeing the cost of nirvana. Missed the rogue tears occasionally falling from eyes that held only hopelessness as Folken dressed and, placing a chaste kiss upon Van's faintly smiling lips, murmured only, "Brother..my brother", then left.
End Note: About now you're probably going, WTF. Yeah yeah, I promised smut and didn't actually deliver. I just kind of caught up in the mental aspect of the story instead of the physical. And before you ask, yes Van is very very crazy. We've sent him to a counselor but they keep "disappearing." *Looks suspiciously at Van*
By the way, I originally wrote this in alternating first person POV, so if it seems like it switches the focus from Folken to Van and so-forth, that's why. And I forgot that Folken wears a shirt under his cloak thing and made it so he didn't have one. R&R, even flames are fun..course I've only ever gotten one *sniff* so deprived I am, and talkin' like Yoda I be.
// denotes thought
Brother My Brother
Brother my brother
Tell me what are fighting for
We've got to end this war
We should love one another
Oh, can't we just pretend
This war never began
We can try
Brother my brother
"Van."
One whisper was all it took to get his brother's attention. Although Folken made sure to enter Van's room without being noticed, if only for a brief moment of watching him without the normal masked look in his eyes. Finalia's young king had enough reasons to doubt his brother's sincerity as it was. He didn't want him thinking that he was being stalked like an animal, that Folken was only waiting for the perfect moment to strike.
//Am I the reason you always look as if you're waiting for someone else to betray you Van? Did my leaving hurt you that badly? Or do I think too much of myself, wanting, for my own selfish reasons, to mean more to you than I probably do.//
Van whirled around and the other man saw the anger the boy always showed when talking to him etched onto his beautiful face.
"What do you want Folken? Get out!"
"What do I want? Only to talk to my little brother, is that too much to ask?"
He stiffened, looking as if he'd lose control and lash out against the ex- Zaibach sorcerer. //But you won't, will you Van? You lost the one you love, the girl from the Mystic Moon, because you gave into your rage and hatred. You won't make the same mistake twice. If there's any chance you can bring her back to you, you'll try it, including the possibility she may forgive you if you show enough self-restraint now. So instead of your fists, you use words to hurt me and, to tell the truth, I would have preferred the physical blows.//
"I'll never consider myself your brother. I don't even want to feel the shame of knowing I'm related to a coward like you."
Folken smiled; though his chest felt as if there was a gaping hole in it.
"Fine Van. Tell me what I can do to make it up to you. I left, I ran away from our country...from you, and I'm sorry but I can't undo the past. I joined Dornkirk to give a better future to you and you hate me for it. I left Zaibach because I didn't agree with how that future was bought, with the blood of the innocent, and rejoined you. I can't go back to Finalia, but I did come back to you. Can't we start over, pretend, if only for a little while that we're done with this war, better yet, that it never began."
He grabbed his brother's shoulders, absently noticing how goosebumps broke out from contact with the cold metal of the hideous mechanical arm, and shook him. Van's head snapped back and forth, finally stopping in a forward position, raven hair brushing lightly against the fabric of the other's cloak.
Folken gently cupped the side of the boy's face with his good hand, amazed that he let himself be touched without pulling away. "We're brothers Van, as much as you may want to deny it, we are, and I love you, I never stopped loving you." Not quite trusting the good luck that had been bestowed upon him thus far, he pulled his brother into an embrace, praying it would not drive him even farther away.
We face each other from different sides
The anger burns can't remember why
It's kind of crazy to cause so much pain
Our foolish pride makes us hate this way
//We're enemies, or at least, we were. Now everything is mixed up and I don't know what to think anymore. It was so clear only a little while ago, protect Hitomi, that was my mission, all I had to do, but now she's gone and the world is falling apart. Again.// Van eyes were clenched tightly shut as he listened to the deep breathing of his brother.
//It was so long ago; I don't remember everything that happened. The dragon- slayer rite, mother's death, and the rumors that everyone spread that you ran away. I couldn't handle thinking you were a coward, so I built you up to be an invincible force, that you had died heroically, with honor. Then to see you alive, serving the enemy no less, I snapped. I only wanted to cause everyone else the pain I was feeling and that made me lose her.
Pride, that's what made me think I was protecting her, when I was only causing her more anguish. Pride and the fact I wanted to prove I was better than you, a real man. I hate you with all my heart but what really gives me the right to pass judgement? I'm just like you; I hurt and abandon everyone that trusts me. I left Finalia just like you. I am you. I don't deserve to have good things happen to me; I should be punished for all the suffering I've caused.// He stiffened as he felt metallic fingers caress his back, then relaxed as a plan began to form in the back of his mind. //Folken is the only one who can't look down on me...and he owes me.//
We watch our world fall apart
Tell me what good is winning
When you lose your heart
//Where is the fire, my little one, the flame that used to consume you, make you push everyone and everything away. It hurts me that it's gone, and I know I'm the reason. Gaea is being ripped apart at the seams by those blood thirsty fools and through the victory I know you're destined to bring to them, they're not going to notice one broken child who's lost his heart along the way.//
Lost in his internal musings, Folken didn't notice the smile that crept across his "little one's" face and the different bearing with which the boy let himself be held. The only thing he was worried about had been addressed and the outcome was better than he had hoped. Not only was Van not pulling away, he seemed to push farther into the embrace, circling thin arms around the older man's waist and burrowing his face through the heavy cloak until he rested his forehead on a well muscled chest.
At the feel of a warm tongue marking a wet path to one nipple, however, Folken's reality check got cashed. "Van, what are you doing?", he asked trying to pull away, only to find his brother's frail arms were much stronger than they looked.
"You said you loved me, didn't you Folken? And that I should tell you how you could make it up to me. I was bad Folken, very bad, and I want...I want you to punish me."
Brother my brother
Tell me what are fighting for
Isn't life worth so much more
We should love one another
Oh, can't we just pretend
This war never began
Tell me why
Van felt his brother stiffen against him and attempt to back up. //He owes me, he can't refuse! That bastard! I won't let him, he's the one that said we should love each other. If he loves me he'll do this// the young man raged wildly. Pressing himself against his brother's front, Van ground his hips into the protesting man.
"Folken please, you can't say no. I need you. You're the only one I can trust." His breath came in little pants and he knew he was getting hysterical. But once he thought of the idea, it roared in his head, getting louder and louder and he knew it wasn't going to stop until he had been properly punished. By Folken or by fate, disciplined either in body or mind. Tears unbidden streamed down his face, which seemed to stop Folken's fretting.
Muscular arms wrapped around Van pulling him close, while he still squirmed, feeling a little satisfaction as something pressed against his stomach hardened. "Folken, do this for me and I promise I'll be a good brother from now on. No more war between us. We can start over." The king felt only slight remorse as the last hint of uncertainty vanished, knowing the older man was only giving him what he wanted to satisfy his own need for acceptance.
Brother my brother
Lips met in a kiss filled with a passion that would never be defined as "brotherly". Folken stepped back waiting for Van to pursue the contact. That was when he backhanded the boy so hard it spun him around to face the other way, where he landed heavily on the bed.
Yes We can try
Brother my brother
Yes
//He wants it rough?// The ex-Zaibach sorcerer smiled, an expression that held no joy.// So be it.//
Let's take a moment and look deep inside
And say we'll learn to give love a try
When matters differ as we seem to be
There's so much more to me than what you see
There seemed to be much about his brother he didn't know, but then again, if Van felt this was love..who was he to interfere?
Folken laid heavily on the boy, making sure the weight was felt, that his captive knew just how powerless he really was. Cruel hands pulled hair back to gain access to the tender flesh of the neck. When his mouth left, blood trickled from various bite-marks embedded deeply into the skin. Van felt the pain but also relief that the pressure in his head was easing. His sins were being repented.
His lips were bitten harshly, as his pants became tight, hips trying to jerk but not being giving room to by the body on top of him, although it did provide exquisite friction. Folken pressed his throbbing member down against the boy beneath him. Bothering with no formalities, the older man shredded the red tank top, using his claw to scratch lightly down the other's chest, leaving light crimson streaks in his wake. Finally, with the needle tip of one finger, he rolled a nipple around until it became a bloody nub.
Van, in the meantime, was trapped between heaven and hell, tears pouring onto the pillow his head lay against. Whether from joy or pain couldn't be determined, but he could only think, //this is what I want//. Folken went from being bent on his knees to balancing lightly on his heels and he quickly shimmed out of his pants, now totally naked, ready to devour his prey. But this was not cruel Zaibach and because he loved him, he gave Van one last chance to leave.
You don't have to be this way
Think about the consequences
Turn around and walk away
"You don't have to go through with this Van, think about it, get dressed, walk out of this room, and don't come back. I'll never tell anyone if you don't want me to." His only reply was a muffled "fuck me". He sighed,// I'll always do what you want me to, after all, I love you.//
Brother my brother
Tell me what are fighting for
Isn't life worth so much more
We should love one another
Oh, can't we just pretend
This war never began
Tell me why
Brother my brother
Van felt his pants being taken and his legs spread wide, with sharp nails digging into his thighs. Then a pain like nothing he had felt before. It seemed like he was being ripped apart, torn on the inside, but oddly, it excited him. The battles he had been in, the people he had killed, flashed before his eyes. //I liked killing them and I like this.// With that revelation, he felt the urge to be sick, which was forgotten as Folken angled upward hitting something inside him, that through the blood and pain, felt like salvation.
Dimly he knew Folken had shuddered and released hot seed into his body, but it felt far away. In an instant he also knew he had been forgiven, Hitomi would come back to him, and he could rule Finalia as he should. This delight triggered his orgasm, which left him soaring high above his tortured body. //This..this is bliss//, he thought shortly before slowly falling into a tired dream-like state in which he missed seeing the cost of nirvana. Missed the rogue tears occasionally falling from eyes that held only hopelessness as Folken dressed and, placing a chaste kiss upon Van's faintly smiling lips, murmured only, "Brother..my brother", then left.
End Note: About now you're probably going, WTF. Yeah yeah, I promised smut and didn't actually deliver. I just kind of caught up in the mental aspect of the story instead of the physical. And before you ask, yes Van is very very crazy. We've sent him to a counselor but they keep "disappearing." *Looks suspiciously at Van*