Breath of Fire III (Teepo/Ryu)

[syvia.livejournal.com]

Title: Reflection
Author/Artist: syvia
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: mild language
Word Count: 2894
Summary: They mirror each other, but Teepo fails to recognize the reversal of the image. Dreams before and after the ten year absence.

Note; some of this story is revamped from an earlier BoF III fic I wrote. It was useful, and very important with regard to my view of Ryu’s character. So yeah, I’m using my own material! ;p
Prompt: 4. Breath Of Fire III, Teepo/Ryu: Twisted familiarity - "We are brothers, you and I."



There was darkness.

Ryu couldn’t see the ground beneath his feet, and he couldn’t see any light source in this place- still... he could see around him, and his shadow was like a small puddle of midnight around his feet.

“You understand now, don’t you Ryu?”

He turned and saw the violet-haired warrior from his other dreams. He recoiled from the man’s anger and blind arrogance.

“We’re different from other people. We can never belong in their world- all we can do is fight and kill, or be killed. Is that what you want?”

“Not everyone is like that,” the boy whispered. “Nina was nice to me... she didn’t mind that I was a dragon.”

“She was using you! You rescued her from those horses,” he spat the last word. “She enjoyed having a bit of muscle around to ensure her safety.”

“That’s not true!” he protested.

“The scientist would experiment on you as soon as travel with you- the plant was as much a freak as you are-”

“Stop it!”

“-and let’s not forget what kind of friend Garr was.”

Ryu turned and ran from the hateful voice, the tears in his eyes shaking loose and trailing down his cheeks. The warrior was shouting, calling his name. Ryu kept running. He ran until his human legs were spent, shaking and unable to carry him. He turned into a dragon and ran until those legs were tired too. Then he walked. Walked until he could no longer move. Until he lay down and fell into unconsciousness.

~~~

The dragon woke, and found himself in Dauna mine- where his journey had begun. It seemed right. Among his ancestors and the chrysm that was their decayed bodies, he was safe at last from the dreams. He destroyed the machines and warned the miners away with his fiery breath. He chased them off, killed them when they wouldn't be chased.

Eventually, they left him alone and sent hired warriors to battle him. None succeeded, but they continued to try. Bitterness crept into his heart as he had to kill to defend himself again, and again. The only solace he found was in dreams of long ago- his life with Teepo and Rei, where he had laughed, and even in the coldest days of the winter, he had felt warmth.

This was his life, for ten years.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The miners finally resorted to hiring a full-fledged dragon slayer, and if the being looked half-dragon himself; what better way to kill a monster than with another?

Garr derived little amusement from the thought Still, he'd been searching for a beast such as this bounty described, and accepted the contract.

In the deepest floor of the mine, Garr found him.

The Guardian might have passed right by the little beast. The whelp was green- and camouflaged by the chrysm ore clinging to one of the dragon skeletons high on the wall. Movement upon one of the ancient rib cages drew his gaze, and he saw it. The whelp saw him as well, hissed, and ran off.

~~~

When Ryu opened his eyes, the world didn't look the same. It didn't feel the same- his body shuddered and the rock floor beneath his flesh poked uncomfortably into skin and muscle. It was so cold. Moisture beaded upon his skin and he realized- that was part of what seemed so wrong. Skin. Not scales.

Hands, fingernails, not paws and talons, his hair fell thickly over his forehead, slick and ill-smelling. He felt something soft rub against his skin when he moved and he realized it was cloth- he tried to move his legs and wondered briefly, on the beginning of panic, how on earth he'd ever balanced without a tail. He couldn't remember. How would he walk?

“Hello, Ryu,” Garr said.

Ryu flinched, drawing his now long limbs inward, beneath the blanket.

“What do you want, Garr?" He remembered well the last conversation he'd shared with the Tapan Guardian. Fear dried his throat. This man wished to kill him- must have already, if his body had reverted forms through instinct.

“I’ve been looking for you for a long time,” Garr continued. “Ever since the-”

“What do you want?” Ryu repeated, lifting his head just enough to glare directly at his attacker.

Garr flinched- just barely, and his voice went neutral. “I promised you once, Ryu, that I would reveal to you what had happened to your kind. I did so... but I was never able to explain why it happened. I did not then, and I do not now, know why my God demanded the lives of your people. I wish to find out, and I believe that you have the right to know as well.”

Ryu attempted to rise, but his legs trembled. He drew the blanket around his waist with one hand and braced the other on the wall next to him. Eventually he was able to stand- lean- in an upright position.

“How nice,” he said derisively. “Do give my regards. Thank your God for causing me to grow up an orphan.”

“I am returning to Angel Tower to commune with God,” Garr continued as if Ryu had not spoken. “You must come with me.”

Ryu flinched, tensed. He didn't have a weapon- he didn't think he could transform fast enough to attack, even if he could remember a gene sequence that would avail him- oh god... he was trying to reason out the best way of killing Garr. He breathed in, breathed out. Spoke.

“‘I must come with you’, or?”

Garr only stared at him- confused perhaps? Ryu didn't give him time to think up an answer. He was all too ready to explain what he meant.

“You told me once that your duty would not end until one of us was dead,” Ryu said, his voice soft and frantic. “If you still plan to kill me, do it now. I will not go back to Angel Tower so you can make me a sacrifice to your God.”

“Ryu-”

He flinched away from Garr’s hand, expecting a blow, and backed up further, using the cavern wall for support, gaze fixed upon the Guardian's halberd.

Garr followed his gaze and raised his empty hand, trying to calm him, perhaps. He set his weapon on the floor, then his camping supplies, the pouches on his belt- anything that could be a weapon or be carrying a weapon. He held both hands up, palms out, and stood very still.

“You’ve grown, Ryu.”

Ryu barked a laugh, high and strange, strained, at the sudden change of topic. The utter normality of the observation sent his thoughts skittering to all corners of his mind. His eyes were too wide and he knew it. Ryu couldn't think through his fear- only react.

“You haven’t aged a day, Guardian.”

“I will not harm you, Ryu. I would not have then- I will not now.”

“You’re lying.”

“No. No, had I wished to kill you then, I could have taken you quickly- unawares; removed your head with a single stroke. I did not.”

“Because you wanted a final battle-”

“No!” When Ryu flinched, Garr checked himself, softened his voice. “No," he continued, "I knew what you were capable of. I wanted you to be victorious. I pushed you to grow strong so that you could kill me in the tower. You did not. You gave me another chance- an opportunity to atone for the wrongs I had done... to find the truth.”

“Then leave me and go on your search.”

“I cannot.” Garr winced at the pain in the young man’s gaze and attempted to explain. “I have no understanding of why... but everything that connects me to my God is saying that you must come. You must travel with me. Do you not wish to know? To understand why the Brood were killed- is that not worth something to you?”

As quickly as Ryu forced the desire back, it wasn't fast enough. Garr saw it. “No,” he whispered, shivering. “I do not care. It’s better here- better to stay where it’s safe.”

“Safe?” Garr echoed. “The miners are becoming increasingly determined to have you removed. Their drive for chrysm is great. It may take time, but some day one of them will strike a lucky blow- and-”

He shook his head “Better that than the dreams,” Ryu whispered.

“Dreams?” Garr murmured. “What dreams?”

Ryu flinched, glancing at the Tapan briefly before drawing his focus inward once more. “It doesn’t matter. I’m not going with you.”

Garr put his hands on his belt, cracked his neck and fixed Ryu with a determined look. “Yes. Actually, you are.”

Ryu looked at him. Fear warred with anger and lost. The young man glared fiercely and spoke. “I thought you said that you would not hurt me.”

Garr plucked his halberd from the ground and stepped briskly up to Ryu, thrusting the shaft of the weapon towards the young man. He looked at Garr for a moment, tucking the blanket more firmly around his waist, then slowly took the spear. Garr stepped back and dropped to his knees.

“I will leave only if you come with me,” he said calmly. “Thus, you may join me of your own volition, or strike me dead here and now. Because I will leave, and when I do, you will come along.”

“Garr,” Ryu sighed, “I don’t-”

“If it is worth the lives of all those other warriors to remain here, it is certainly worth mine.”

Ryu flinched. “That’s not fair.”

“No. No it is not. But if you wish to stay, you must kill me.”

Anger tightened his face. Ryu shifted his hands for a better grip on the halberd. It was heavy- so heavy, as he raised it. He stepped back, shifting his feet into the battle stance he had favored as a child- but with none of the child’s uncertainty. He pulled the halberd behind his head, gathering momentum. Garr watched emotionlessly, waiting. Ryu stared into the Guardian's eyes and gritted his teeth. Garr didn't think he would do it.

Well he would prove his conviction. He would.

Ryu held the spear, breathed, stared into Garr's eyes. He imagined the halberd's graceful swing, the impact and resistance as it cleaved into leathery yellow skin, spilling blood over the cave floor, spilling out the Guardian's life. Peace. He wanted peace.

He would never have it through violent means.

His hands shook as he lowered the spear. The blade touched the floor and he dropped the shaft, wood and metal clattering as it hit the ground. He staggered away and fell to his hands, trying not to retch.

He could see them so clearly, even those things that hadn't happened- Garr, bloody and lifeless. The hired warriors; burnt into ash and fluttering through the air. The miners from long ago, skinless and bloody, writhing on the ground.

A hand, dry and smooth, eclipsed his shoulder. “Damn you, Garr,” he choked. “Damn you for making me-”

“You did nothing,” the Guardian murmured.

“I could have-”

“No,” Garr interrupted. “You could not kill one who meant you no harm, Ryu. You have a healer’s soul.”

~~~

They left Dauna entirely and made camp far from the mines. Garr didn't trust Ryu's control of the transformation- not after having remained exclusively in the form of his birth for ten years. If Ryu turned into a dragon during the night, he wanted them far from any form of civilization.

Ryu sat before the campfire long after his body sagged with fatigue and his eyelids began to flutter. Reluctant to sleep, fearing it all day, he remained outside to head off the impending slumber until finally, it overtook him.

Garr carried him into the tent and laid him on the bedroll, removing the youth's boots before settling a blanket over him and leaving him to his sleep.

But not rest.

The dreams waited.

~~~

"Ryu."

He didn't answer. He didn't turn and acknowledge the one standing behind him. He walked away- trying to leave. Five steps forward brought him to the edge of the very thing he'd been trying to avoid. The illumination fell like a spotlight from high above- a perfectly circular ray of sunlight which revealed another young man. He stood as if upon a stage.

Lavender hair, mage robes of fine cloth done in shades of white and violet. Crimson eyes that looked at him, through him, and knew everything. Ryu clenched his jaw, remembering, waiting for condemnation, to be called a fool, a haughty tone and sarcasm.

Instead, the figure smirked slightly, tilted his head to the side.

"I told you it wouldn't work."

Ryu flinched. This... wasn't how the dream usually went. He didn't ask 'what'. He wanted to know, but this wasn't how the dream went. He stood there, off-balance and unsure of what was happening.

"I told you the mines would hold no protection, but you lingered there anyway."

He was so tired. Nights of uninterrupted sleep had been rare in the mines, and he just wasn't used to his human body anymore. He was tired, upset, and God help him... the soft, mildly sarcastic voice sounded inexplicably wonderful in his ears. Ryu sagged where he stood and let his tormentor continue without interruption.

"You hid among the bones of your ancestors- but people want chrysm, Ryu. They didn't leave you alone, did they?"

"Teepo, please-"

"Please what?" he snapped, glaring. "You killed them to keep your solitude, but the Guardian came and rooted you out anyway."

"I-"

"So you took innocent lives for nothing."

He knew that, damnit, and did his brother think he wasn't remorseful?

"I didn't want to hurt them!" Ryu shouted. "I chose exile. I didn't want to hurt anybody!"

"Yes, you did."

He flinched at the calm assurance of the older boy's tone. Teepo honestly thought-

"No. No I-"

"They wanted to kill you," he murmured. "You were only defending yourself." His gaze softened and Teepo approached him, carrying the light with him, one step at a time. "It's perfectly natural to want vengeance- especially for ones like us. We're a violent race, we Brood."

He knew that. He knew what he was- what Teepo was. The strangeness was in that he'd never realized it in the conscious world- that he'd never realized Teepo was alive. Of course he was. What would have been death to a normal child couldn't touch Ryu, and he'd known- in the back of his mind- that Teepo was the same. If only he could carry the knowledge to wakefulness.

"No," Ryu said again, weakly. Garr said he had a healer's soul. He hadn't chosen to kill- he'd simply chosen not to lay down and die. He had been defending himself, but he hadn't meant to... he didn't.... Teepo moved closer, raising a hand, palm out. Ryu was certain he would press that hand to his cheek, wrap an arm around his shoulders.

He wanted that.

He hadn't been comforted in so long. He was taller, older, but he hadn't grown in all that time. He didn't feel like an adult, or even approaching one. Isolated in dragon form all those years, he hadn't learned how to be. Had Teepo? His older brother had ever been the more confident, claiming knowledge he didn't necessarily have.

Ryu knew he was still a child, and he wanted his brother. The boy who'd snuck with him through the Mason house- had laughed with him as they fought giant cockroaches, had trembled in fear between the burning wreck of their home and the gangsters Bailo and Sunder.

"Yes," Teepo hissed. He'd stopped, but continued to smile and look so very self-assured in his fine coat and mage paraphernalia. "You killed them for us."

"No I didn't," Ryu murmured. "I killed them because they wouldn't leave us alone- because they threatened-"

"There's no shame in being what we are, Ryu," Teepo answered, not even listening to him. "The Goddess doesn't condemn us for it- but we aren't able to live among the rest of the world."

Now he did lay a hand on Ryu's face, and the younger boy leaned into it, nuzzling and shaking his head in the same gesture.

"I don't agree with you." He closed his eyes, moving closer. Teepo put his arms around his little brother's shoulders. He chuckled softly.

"I'm older."

"I'm wiser," Ryu teased.

"Like hell."

"Rei would wash your mouth out with soap for that," he chuckled. Ryu couldn't see Teepo's mouth curl in distain, and mistook the silence for discomfort. He assumed Teepo was pained by the memory of their oldest brother. "I'm sorry."

"You're forgiven."

Ryu let his forehead rest on Teepo's shoulder, feeling their sameness- the call of blood to blood, brood to brood. He'd felt it when they were children long ago, but never known it for what it was. Now, with the memories of Nina and Momo for comparison, he knew it wasn't the same- wasn't as powerful.

"You have to come find us. Stay with the Guardian and he'll lead you."

He wanted to see Teepo again- face to face instead of mind to mind.

"I will," he said. "I promise-"

~~~

"Promise what?" Garr asked, when he saw Ryu's eyes were open.

But in the light of day, he couldn't remember.