“Big brother, where are you?”

The sound of his voice stirred me awake. Wary, I sat up to look around. The sensation of being watched weighted on me, yet no one other than us was in our room.

Despite my brusque awakening, Baal only stirred in his sleep. He mumbled some gibberish before he continued sleeping peacefully. I breathed out relieved, I was probably having a nightmare…

“Come on out, Luke. Don’t you want to see your brother?”

I opened my eyes wide, my body going cold. My hands were shaking and I was scared. How did he manage to find me here? He couldn’t have caught up with me. I made sure to keep a low profile.

“It’s cold out here, not that it matters, but you wouldn’t want me to go inside looking for you, would you?”

I got out of bed and got dressed. With my sword in hand, I rushed out the room leaving Baal asleep in bed. I ran out to the main entrance and then blindly into the dark, mountain forest. Once I ran far enough, I came to a brusque halt. He was close.

My skin crawled wherever I sensed his gaze. His eyes were posed on me.

“I thought you’d be more occupied playing with the princess, Thanatos.” I spoke up. More so than anger, fear threaten to show in my voice. “Isn’t she a shinier new toy?”

“She got boring. I already toyed with her enough, she has too much of an explosive character...” The faint sound of footsteps over snow interrupted the eerie silence reigning in the mountain.

I turned around and there he was, smiling as smug as ever, his eyes glowing bright red. My younger brother didn’t look anything like me. Nutmeg colored silky hair covered his head, neatly combed back so it wouldn’t hide his red, almond-shaped eyes. His pick of dark pants, knee-high boots and a sleeveless button shirt would barely keep a human from freezing to death in these conditions. The first buttons of his shirt were undone, exposing a nasty scar over his lightly tanned skin. Belts decorated his waist as they hung loose and incorrectly adjusted to his pants. Part of his alluring charm was his almost irresistible, intoxicating scent. It threatened to numb me out, make me stray from sanity.

If it weren’t for the fact he was undead, one could say Thanatos hadn’t changed at all in the last two thousand years.

“Aww you don’t seem pleased to see me again big brother.” The way he smiled was cold and fear inducing.

He knew he was powerful and he enjoyed it.

“How could I be? You’re not really my brother, I buried him a long time ago.” I wanted to sound as cocky as possible, make him think I wasn’t about to run away. He knew better. “My answer is no.”

“I’m not here for your ‘yes’, Luke. Actually, I’m here to see your sane side for one last time.” His words were mocking as he circled me like a wolf stalks its prey. “It’s not like I care about your mental health, you will say yes to me, insane or not… well, it’d be nice if your boyfriend joined us too instead of dying for your sake. The Goddesses have a cruel way of steering things their way. I thought you’d know this by now, the prophecy is very clear on—.”

“I’ll tell you this now, little brother. There is no version of our story where you get to lay a finger on Baal. You can rest assured.”

My body grew hot thanks to searing anger. The moment he mentioned Baal, fear disappeared from within me. Thanatos wouldn’t touch him. He could do with me as he liked but I would not allow him to harm a hair on Baal’s head.

“Is that rage I see in your eyes? That’s new…I thought he was just one of your usual flings. You do bed maidens as much as you blink, but now… I really would love to see the face he will make when you deprive him of his life.”

I didn’t give it much thought, I rammed my sword through his shoulder and pinned him against a tree. Black blood oozed out of the wound, Thanatos started laughing at his own pain. I twisted the blade and he moaned pleased. He was enjoying every minute of the pain, which only pissed me off more.

I let angelic energy run through my body and then flow into him through my sword. Almost instantly he started screaming and trying to push me away. I had him right where I wanted him.

His glowing red eyes met mine and I took one hand to his neck. I dug my nails into his skin until they drew blood. He kept quiet for a few seconds, paralyzed by the angelic energy in him.

“You think you’ve changed? Oh, dear me, the Lord of The End learned how to control his angelic energy! He’s a good guy now!” Thanatos’ sarcasm was tinged with dreadful poison. “You’ll never cease to be what you are, Luke. You’re a monster just like me. No amount of good deeds or pity love will ever change that. The prophecy foretells your return to me, you will be mine again, brother.”

“Prophecies can be proven wrong, Thanatos. I’ve seen it happen.” I released him, taking my sword out of him and wiping the blood off on his clothes while he still couldn’t move. “Next time, the sword I drive into you will kill you off for good. I’ll erase you from this world. That, my dear little brother, is a promise.”

“…Oh, my dear, will I deeply enjoy your fall.”

Thanatos vanished in a cloud of dark haze. I breathed out feeling free of his presence. Soon I came to realize that after all that time running away from him… today I had finally found the courage in me to fight him back. Smiling to myself, I understood I didn’t have to fear him. Prophecy or no prophecy, I was as powerful as he was.

By the Temple’s entrance, Baal stood looking out in my direction. When he spotted me, he began running towards me. The force he used to bash me was astounding for someone who almost died a couple hours ago, we almost fell backwards into the snow-covered ground.

“Are you alright?” Worry was one of the emotions swirling on his side of the Bond. He had woken up to notice I had left with my sword, leading him to think that perhaps something bad had happened. My explanation of what had transpired in the last hour didn’t help in calming him down. The new information only increased his worry.

Thankfully, once he reached for my mind using our Bond, all he feared was simply forgotten.

“You sure you’ll be okay?”

“Yes, I’m sure I will be.”

We went back to sleep after that, Baal snuggled up against me as he hummed a lullaby I was sure I had heard before. I ended up humming it with him until our eyes closed shut and we both drifted off.