A/N: Okay, so Thursday's not exactly the weekend, but I'm only a few days off! Also, my apologies for not getting to the reviews yet, I will respond to them as soon as I can. They are very much appreciated!

Happy Thanksgiving from the States!

Humans, such loud creatures. One stumbles into my peaceful reverie, completely uncaring of the disturbance he creates. I silently curse at the loss of serene isolation, but it is the nature of people to spread out and make themselves known in their own bold manners. Not the first time it has happened, and certainly not the last. I will depart from this place and let the creature be.

I turn to leave but pause for a moment. There is something more to this, not just a lonely hiker exploring new territory. Something powerful, perhaps even important. I tilt my head back to glance, just for an instant. Just to see what may be worth seeing.

It's a man, a boy really, a mere infant to me of course. He's bloodied and bruised, with a soul that feels far older than it should for someone who has spent so little time on this earth.

He's not alone. There's another soul with him, weakened and weakening. Pain and fear radiates from both of them, and it feels as though they've been through hell and are trying to emerge victorious on the other side. They don't see me, as they can't. Very few can so long as I keep my guard up.

The elder clutches the younger in his arms and tries to continue onward. He stumbles and nearly drops his parcel, but manages to hold steady. On his knees, he curls around it, whispering and rocking.

"It's gonna be okay, Sam. You're gonna be alright, I got you."

I should take my leave. I told myself long ago to let the world turn as it does. I would do well to turn my back and let them be.

But there's something about the man with the old soul. Something fierce, almost deadly in its passion. I pause for a moment to determine what it is.

Ah, yes. The most simple and yet most complex of emotions. One of the most powerful, capable of building empires or shattering them. Of course. It's love. The kind of love only seen in a family. Nearly unconditional, nearly unbreakable.

Nearly. After all, mine broke the moment my brother let his blade fall over my back and turned around so he didn't have to watch me die.

Brothers. They are brothers.

It suits them.

I should leave.

"Sammy? Come on, kid, wake up. Come on, little brother. Don't you give out on me yet."

I have seen humans die, plucked out of the world like insignificant specks of dust. Back when I watched them more closely, I even felt pity for a few. Death takes all in fairness, but it still stirs the heart to watch him take the young with the old. And this man is young indeed. Not a child, by their standards. But not an old man ready to make his peace.

He doesn't respond to his brother's call, though. He is drifting just out of the elder man's reach. And the other knows it, too, for his gaze shifts from the bloodied form of his charge to the surroundings. He takes them in, as if realizing for the first time where his feet have taken him. The broken brush and bloodied soil around him are unfamiliar, strangers to the one who so boldly entered upon them.

"Well, shit, Sammy. I think we might be a little lost."

I recognize the tone, vaguely, as humor, but it is thinly drawn over the cloud of bubbling emotion. The man is afraid, not for himself but for the younger. And his fear that drove him here is now leading to panic.

There is nothing I can do, nothing I should do for him. For either of them.

I wonder how many times I need to think that before I can tear myself away and leave.

The man's gaze flickers upward, towards me. He pauses, and I wonder if he is one of the few who see more than others. But he continues on, scanning the surrounding terrain. Nearly calculating in his observation, taking it all in until he bows his head and whispers.

"Goddammit. What the hell do I do now…"

The younger one coughs then, an action wracked with pain. I watch dark froth seep from between his lips as the elder clings even more tightly, as if a desperate embrace could shield him.

"Sammy? Please man, please don't do this." He looks up again, and his eyes, though unseeing, meet mine. "Please, for the love of god, somebody help me."

I should leave. I could, right now. Leave the man and his old soul and his little brother out here in the wilderness. The elder might survive. Besides, what do I care of the lives of two humans. I saved the human race in its entirety. I need not contribute any more to them.

But my mind is stubborn indeed. And I am curious of these two, these insignificant men with stories etched upon their souls. I catch only whispers, but the bits and pieces that float along the wind from them to me weave some strange tales indeed.

There. I have decided. I will not act, not yet. I am simply staying so I can hear and learn more. I do not care for their fates, only for their stories.

I choose a figure that pleases me and will not frighten them. Nefertiti has always been a human I admired, as one of the few who could see, and she was wise enough to listen to the advice of those creatures far older than herself. I take her form.

So with a sigh and a blink of my eyes, I step out into the fold, and watch as the elder one catches the movement of my cloak, resting his eyes upon mine with a look of pure shock upon his face.