The Angry One
Cryptid au in collab with @sheep-turtles-and-pizza
Neilos was really starting to wonder what spirit he had managed to piss off to deserve this.
He snarled to himself irately as he wound between sunken roots and thick clusters of reeds beneath the surface of the water, propelling himself along with both ease and incredible power as he followed the female human's scent back to where she had entered their territory.Â
The water was murky, in this section of the marshes, polluted with dust and grime from the wildlands and bogged down with slowly draining, stagnant overflow from a nearby lake. There were much clearer sections closer to their sanctuary, with fresher, deeper water, more wildlife, and far less stinking muck, but he was well equipped to deal with most, if not all, watery terrain. It was of little concern to him, beyond preference... nothing could hide from him, not even in the clouded, briny mire.
No prey had managed to escape him yet, be it beast, bird, fish, or human... not until today.
He let out a long, virulent hiss from between bared fangs as he surfaced and stalked out of the water impatiently, kicking a large branch so hard that it flew out across the sandbar he had just grounded himself on and snapped into several pieces on the surface of one of Nyx's guardian stones. It showered the base with scraps of wood and bark, scaring a few small animals into fleeing their hiding spots and speeding away into the mist to avoid the predator's gaze (too small for his interest anyway), but did little to ease his growing temper.
What the hell was Nyx thinking? Putting his trust, Akuma's life, the future of their fucking family, in the hands of a human?! Had he learned nothing from the suffering they had all lived through, the way that they'd been hunted like animals for the sin of existing- no. He knew all too well what humans did to their kind, what showing trust for the spineless, cruel creatures always ended in.
Their father had learned that lesson the hardest. He hadn't lived to regret it, but they had.
Even as he fumed and seethed, though, Neilos knew he couldn't begrudge his youngest brother those softer feelings. That was the way that he was... he was the best of them, always had been. That was why he had to pick up the slack, though. He had to step up, and do the things that Nyx shouldn't have to... that Ravi wasn't inclined to... that Akuma wasn't able to anymore.
...that he would never be able to do again, if they didn't free him soon.
The massive mutated terrapin's kindled anger seeped from him like water from a flooded pool, his wide shoulders drooping, his shielded eyes lowered, one large, clawed hand rising to prop itself against one of the towering stones. He clenched his beak, snorting gruffly to refuse himself the building emotions, but still couldn't push away the recognition that, much as he hated it... Nyx was right.
They did need this human. More than his grudge was able to overcome, and far more than his pride could deny.Â
They were losing Akuma. More and more every day, his trapped spirit stilled, and forgot itself in the process, erasing their brother slowly but surely from existence. He was truly becoming one with his blade, and once he finally fell silent... Neilos' greatest fear was that they would never get him back.
He'd done everything that he could to free his twin. He'd taken the sword to every mystic in the yokai world, in the hope that they could break the curse. He had snuck into the human villages to steal books, in the hope that they contained some knowledge that their kind didn't possess. He had tried, over and over and over, to force the curse to accept him as Akuma's anchor to this plane... he had tried so hard and so long that it had nearly killed him. Nyx had to force him to stop, or else he would have let it.Â
Even decades later, he still had the scars, splitting the scales on his hands and arms...Â
It was no less than he deserved. He was supposed to be the family's protector. He was supposed to take care of them. Over and over he failed... and he'd failed Akuma most, not taking him seriously when he'd spoken of his plans.
It had been so stupid, so foolhardy, that Neilos hadn't truly believed he'd even try. Gaining power by absorbing his enchanted weapon's abilities, all in the name of finally freeing them all of humanity's chokehold on their lives. Perhaps making a kingdom of their own, one for all yokai to live in peace within.Â
He'd always been a dreamer. Never took anything seriously enough, or thought it through.
...he should have known he'd do it. He should have stopped him, made him come to his senses. And now... it may already be too late.
Neilos choked back the miserable sound building in his throat, angrily wiping his forearm across his narrowed eyes and shaking his head. He couldn't think like that. He had to believe there was still time, that even as he faded, Akuma would be restored by being brought back to them. He HAD to believe that.
...and if he was going to believe that, he was going to have to let the female bond with him. Something he was just unable to do.
Everything about the suggestion grated. He hated it more than almost anything... but there wasn't much choice anymore. He couldn't let his twin fade. He couldn't. And that meant letting the human into their haven, and keeping her there for the foreseeable future. She couldn't leave until they found a way to break the curse entirely, after all.
Once they had, he'd be more than happy to be rid of her, though.
Not the way she had come, unfortunately... just looking around confirmed that she had managed to stumble through Nyx's gateway to the outer realms, and using it had both robbed it of its power and had collapsed it entirely. The most unreasonable part of him had been hoping it would still be open, and he could just toss her back through right now... but as it stood, there would be no going back that way. Whatever world she had come from would be out of reach indefinitely.
That didn't mean they couldn't just dump her off in one of the villages at the edge of the wildlands, though.
More than settled on the course of action ahead, and starting to get a little dried out from standing on the shore, Neilos turned to wade back into the swampy water and return to his brother and the female, his jaw set and his gaze hardened.
He wouldn’t keep his twin waiting any longer.
