#darius serapis

Darius are you compensating for something here

Previous Greetings from Libertalia posts: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

Seeker’s neck was prickling as though someone were sliding a razor back and forth across his skin as he led Darius away from the crash house, away from the ships, unconsciously searching for a spot that wouldn’t be spoiled by the memory of his brother’s presence there. Darius’ steps behind him were strong and light for someone of his bulk, contrasting sharply with Seeker’s own wavering path.

Eventually they came to a low hill that climbed up to the valley’s grassy rim. Seeker stopped, drew a deep breath, and turned. Darius had halted as well, and was regarding him now with hard expectancy.

Seeker closed his eyes for just an instant, bracing himself, and then met his brother’s cold gaze. “You know what I need.” This time, he was able to keep his voice level.

Darius rolled his jaw slightly. “And you know what I need,” he returned. “Unfortunately, the two seem to be quite incompatible.”

Seeker’s brows drew together in wariness. “What are you talking about?” he said harshly. His entire body was on edge, and already he could feel the subsequent exhaustion gnawing at him.

Darius’ lip curled. “You are a stain on everything I value, Caspian. A stain that must be removed.” He paused in consideration, and then continued on without remorse. “It was a relief, you know, to receive word of your imminent death. It meant that I need not expend further effort in hunting you down. That you would cause no further damage to everything I have built. And yet.” His voice turned pointed. “Here you stand... and I, it would seem, remain the only hope for your continued survival.”

That’s all it took.

That’s all it would take -

Are you satisfied now? - for him to wreak havoc on all we have built.

You smiled, and and watched as my world burned.

He is a dangerous man.

You took everything from me.

Brash, chaotic, defiant to the last.

My home. My work. My friends. My lover. He follows a disturbing path. He could cripple us.

You sought to break me.

But he is vulnerable as well.

Do you know how close you came?

He cannot be made to relent. But he can be made to fall.

I won’t let you come that close again.

I cannot seek him openly.

But I can’t even expose what you’ve done.

To do so would destroy -

It would mean her death.

- my family.

You know that too.

But you can.

Just let me go.

Find him.

I won’t stop.

Find him.

I’ll never stop. Find him.

Not until I find - Before he finds -

Do not turn. Do not look back.

The echoes of the whispered words pulse warningly through Seeker’s numb mind as he walks beside Darius. He can almost feel the shock of his crewmates slamming like waves into his back; but Darius’ arm is still there around his shoulders, a cunning shield that presses him forward. He wants to cringe from the touch of it. But there is no escape this time.

Darius steers him easily into a small room, unadorned and unfurnished. The door closes gently behind them. In an instant, Darius has him against the wall, his hands anchoring Seeker’s outstretched wrists to the cold metal.

“So good of you to drop by,” breathes Darius. His face is inches away. “I’ve been waiting for you, Caspian.”

Seeker’s features, previously rigid with shock, now contort. He struggles against the other’s iron grip, spitting, “You fucking - let me go!” Darius brings his face closer. “If you want your friends to even make it to the brig without an unfortunate accident, you’ll speak the way you were born to.” His tone is too light for the obvious menace it holds, and laced with disgust.

Seeker feels his throat twist, but he makes no reply. This seems to satisfy Darius, who leans back again; but the calloused hands that lift from Seeker’s wrists leave magnetic binders in their place, tethering him to the wall.

“How do these things usually go, then?” Darius watches Seeker carefully. “Ah - I believe you should start with, ‘How did you find me?!’, or some such cliche.”

Seeker tries to control the shallowness of his breaths. “The exo-lab,” he says, with difficulty. His voice now is deeper and more elegant, the highborn accent obvious. “Correct.” Darius smiles thinly. “See, you are intelligent. If prone to rash decisions.” He clasps his hands behind his back, half turning away as he continues speaking. “I’ve been hunting you since twelve hours after you disappeared, brother mine. I must give you some credit for eluding me for so long. Though not all. You never thought to consider the consequences of your actions.” His voice hardens to a slight edge. “The favours I had to call in, to cover your defection…” A reckless need to goad his brother takes hold of Seeker. “Good thing you’ve kissed so many noble arses, then. I’m sure you had plenty.” His brain is still spinning, lightheaded with disbelief. Darius regards him out of the corner of his eye, his expression darkening briefly. “You have no idea of the damage you caused,” he growls. “Very nearly the finest Eldanologist the Dominion had on Nexus, gone without a trace, threatening the security of dozens of operations. You set our research back by months.” His voice lowers deliberately. “Did you think about that, Caspian? The lives that could have been saved by that research? How many did you so easily condemn through your own selfish actions?”

Seeker clenches his teeth. “Don’t you dare put this on me,” he snarls. The need to taunt has vanished, replaced by a horribly constricted feeling in his gut.

Darius rounds on him again, so swiftly that Seeker flinches back in spite of himself; he had forgotten the speed that came with his brother’s anger.

“This is on you,” hisses Darius. Lashing out, he forces Seeker’s head back so that their eyes lock. “You can’t just walk away from this. No matter what you pretend, this will always be your legacy.” Seeker glares up at him, chest heaving slightly. He jerks his head away and strains again at his bonds. “My legacy will be with better people than you and the fucking Dominion.”

“Ah, yes, your Exile friends.” Darius’ voice is laden with contempt as he straightens. “Erratic imbeciles, flouting reason and authority simply because they can, tripping into great discoveries and then crushing them in their ignorance.” “And how is the Dominion any better?” demands Seeker. “The Exiles only want a home where they can live without being hounded by an empire hellbent on utter conformity!”

“They’re anarchists!” Darius says furiously.

“And you’re dictators!” retorts Seeker, his breaths coming quickly now. He meets his brother’s eyes defiantly, shoving away the realisation that some of their views might not be so different after all. “They are godless heretics,” says Darius, in tones of heavy finality. His words are almost a recitation. “They deny the destiny of the human race, and spurn the truths of the Vigilant Church. If they choose to turn their backs on the light, then it is up to the Dominion to carry out the will of the gods, and -”

Something snaps within Seeker. “They - were never - gods,” he forces out, and his voice shakes with the emotion of it. “They never ‘ascended’ to some divine plane, just -”

But he doesn’t get the chance to finish, as Darius backhands him viciously across the face. Seeker feels his nose crack under the impact, and warm blood wells there, wending over his panting mouth.

“How dare you,” whispers Darius, and his hatred in that moment is all the more terrible for its softness. He grips Seeker’s jaw mercilessly between thumb and fingers, pulling him forward even as he bends slightly. “I should kill you now, for all that you’ve done. Father would. But he would also hate to miss your execution.”

Seeker doesn’t close his eyes, but stares with equal hatred at his brother, as the taste of his own blood sullies his tongue. “Do it then,” he taunts thickly. “Kill me and preserve your precious family reputation, and may you die with it intact!”

He watches Darius’ lip give an ugly sort of twitch, but with enormous effort, the other pulls back. “You’re making this very difficult, Caspian,” he says. He looks momentarily unsettled, but speaks with deliberate steadiness. “For everyone. But that will change.” He examines the back of his hand with interest for a moment. “I will not allow the corrupted views of the Exiles to hold you as they do now.”

Seeker licks blood from his lips, his eyes boring into his brother’s. “Do your worst,” he challenges in a harsh whisper. “But I’m too strong for you, Darius.”

“Oh, don’t fear, brother.” Darius turns his back, barely a pause in his voice. “If I have to break you before I can help you, then by the Scions, I will.”

There is a long pause as Darius walks to the door, then -

"Let them go, Darius." There's something close to submission in Seeker's voice, just for an instant, but it's enough to make Darius stop and half turn back.

"Well," he muses softly. "That depends entirely on how cooperative you are."

He resumes his steps, then halts in the doorway, as though struck by a thought. "Ah. And I meant to tell you. I spoke with Alena yesterday.”

Seeker freezes, and then drags his head up slightly to stare at him. “Don’t,” he chokes out immediately. The vise in his chest tightens mercilessly, and twists.

Relentless, Darius continues speaking. “Every day she prays for your soul, and your safe return,” he murmurs. His tone is soft with disbelief, and chiding. “And every day you disappoint her.” A lingering pause. “I thought you cared more than that.” Darius turns away and slips from the room. The clang of the door as it closes mutes the strangled, animal-like cry that bursts from Seeker’s throat. His entire body strains desperately at his bindings for several moments, and then he sags, panting, and watches the blood that drips from his lowered face.