Assassins Failure

Disclaimer: This is not mine. Please do not hurt me.

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An Assassin is bleeding, a wound opened by magic. He is being chased by a Wizard. Both have a job to do. The sin failed to kill his target. And the Wizard was sent to finish him off.

The problem is they're brothers. And duty to them is more important than family. So in the end this is their moment of brothership. This is a sick twisted scene in which one kills the other and the other forgives.

Assassin's Failure

The night was colder than jilted love and as dark as some ancient cavern. The rows of mansions were quiet and still except for the surrounding sounds of nocturnal animals and the occasional puff of smoke from a chimney. A figure lurched on a rooftop in obvious pain.

He had to keep to moving. To stay was to die. His left hand clenched uncontrollably, and he breathed in pain from a gaping wound agonizingly close to his heart. His strength was failing. Only the wrist guard kept the deadly Katar in his hands as they grew heavier with each painful minute. He nearly collapsed and caught himself on the brick wall outside the second story of his target's home. Rest was all his body demanded. But he had a job to do, he fervently denied his body's pleas. To stay was to die. He had to keep moving.

The wound was failing to heal properly; a sure sign of a magical attack. His target had a bodyguard. Someone was good enough to slip past his experienced senses. Someone knew his style and techniques. A pulse of pain burned through his mind, but with hardened senses he blocked it. But he could not control the muscle spasm and he finally lost his balance and fell. He tripped over the side and fell head first to the ground.

It could end right now. His brain could be splattered on the ground for all to see. But he had a duty.

He flipped casually in the air and landed silently on his feet. The force of the impact forced him to roll aggravating the almost fatal gouge. He could feel the edges of the wound had been burned. It was a wind attack powerful enough to burn through his customized, Elenium-reinforced armor and powerful enough to nearly kill him outright had he not been prepared. His target's bodyguard had to be a Wizard. There was no doubt.

But no Wizard could evade him and sneak past his senses. He was one of the best assassin throughout the lands. No Wizard in the entire realm of Midgard could out do him. Memory nagged at him reminding him of only one person who could.

But he had a duty. He had to finish this job. He had never been one to think of destiny for intellectual thought interfered with his deadly arts, but now it was all so clear. He had to finish the job. That was his duty and his honor alone. If it kept him alive this long, then it would do so again if it was willing.

Summoning strength he did not know he had, the Assassin charged back into the mansion and blew through a glass window showering the expensive red carpet. Pain blinded his vision again, reddening out the edges of his sight. A thought, almost alien in his disturbed mind, remembered the laugh of a child and the gift of a friend. He squelched the thought and pushed back the bile coming from his throat.

This was his destiny to finish duty.

His body was automatically following the shadows without a sound. Although his mind was focused on his goal, he could still remember the fleeting advice the child in his memory gave him: "Remember the ones you love, for they will mean everything in the end." He clutched his Katars closer feeling the sounds of panicked footsteps reverberating through the entire house. And his target's voiced wafted out to the room.

"He could be still here!" Worry escalated in the old man's voice, but who he was talking to was more important.

All the Assassin had to do was lean forward through the wall with a Sonic Blow and cut the man down killing him instantly. All he had to do was…

The wall before him exploded becoming a miniature sun for a split second. The ground around him rattled and tore itself apart pelting him with immense heat. He reflexively jumped back avoiding the worst of the Meteor Shower as it turned mortar and brick to molten lava. No one was that quick. Certainly no damn Wizard had the reflexes or training to predict his next moves. His mind screamed in recognition but he refused to acknowledge it.

"Hello…" The voice was eerie. Deep like his voice. Low like his voice.

"Brother…" The word's escaped from the Assassin's parched lips as surprise registered across his bloodied face. "This does not concern you. Leave."

"No… no… it does this time." The Wizard had the same build as the Assassin but without the scars adorning every part of his body.

"I followed you… after you left. I followed you!" The Wizard's voice exploded in rage matching that of the spell he just cast.

"All I found was a trail of blood and murder and you. You did everything. You killed her." Tears formed in his eyes. The Assassin kept little track of his targets. But one a while back was a woman of great beauty. "The body was mutilated. You didn't even grant her a peaceful death. Why?"

"I had a duty to do."

"Even after what you have done? You're ten years older than me but none the wiser. How can you save me from a life of a disgraced orphaned then murder for nothing?"

The wound was still bleeding. Too much blood had been lost. He could only whisper the words.

"I had a duty to do."

"You taught me everything and gave me a life. You lied to me. You said you were through with this life. But here you are in the prime of it and ready to die for it. You could have walked away and I would have let you live."

Fire seemed to tear at his throat as he could barely form a complete sentence.

"Brother, this was my obligation. This was my duty."

"But why! EXPLAIN DAMN YOU!"

The Assassin pulled himself to his feet dropping the weapon. Blood had loosened the wrist guard, and he no longer had strength to hold it. Every movement burned what little was left of his energy. His untouched arm gripped the wall. He could no longer feel his other.

"There's nothing more to say about revenge or justice other than this time they coincided. Father was murdered. A great knight cut down by a few hoodlums and a family of nobility. Yes that woman you loved ordered it without remorse." The Assassin leaned forward to add emphasis to us.

"So I did her what she did to us. It was my duty given to me when father died. I had to do it. As she tore our family apart so I ripped her to pieces."

The Wizard slammed his fist, still smoking with heat from his meteor shower, and floored his older brother.

"She gave me a life and a reason to live again after you left! How dare you insult her! She repented everyday for her sin. I never knew anyone like her… I loved her like I would my mother had she not died when I was born."

There was no flittering of guilt in the Assassin's eye.

"People change…" The Wizard continued barely able to hold back his remembered sorrow.

"I understand , brother. But I too have a duty to finish."

The Wizard laughed for once tinged with pity.

"That is it, isn't it? Our father was a hero and he left two godforsaken sons. You are right, we have a duty to do. We all have a duty to do. Our father had a duty to his family, country, and honor. You and I share the duty of revenge. So yes, brother, we do have a duty to do."

For a moment both of them were in complete understanding. For a moment both of them truly knew the other for what they were and who they were. The deadly wind spell Jupitel Thunder flew from the Wizard's hands and coursed through the Assassin's veins without remorse. The Wizard lowered his hand slowly as the body of his brother fell broken and charred onto the ground.

It was his duty, afterall.

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Author's note: Wrote this a while back when I was entranced with Ragnorak Online.