Chapter Text
The cold air was torture in all of Percival’s being
His tortured lungs felt like they were on fire, his tired legs felt like if they were a minute away from falling off, the injuries that Ripley inflicted on him certainly weren’t helping in any way, and he could feel most of them if not all getting reopened and worsened by the overworking of his body
And to make matters worse, he could hear the neigh of the dark horses and the barking of the bloodhounds nearing, the stomping and jeering of the Briarwood’s men coming closer accompanied by the swinging of swords
They had somehow found out about their escape, and they were going to make sure that they never set foot outside of Whitestone regardless if they ended up death or not
More than once had Percival thought of giving up. To succumb to his injuries, exhaustion and grief and let his body collapse against the cold snow. But the smaller hand against his own fingernail-less one accompanied by weak panting reminded him what he was doing this for
"Come on, Cass! We’re almost at the river! Just hold on a little longer!" He encourage his sister, the last family he had left, who looked just if not more exhausted than him. Gently but firmly tugging her arm, he led them both through the last shrubs of the forest
They were so close!! Percival could practically hear the streaming of the river and its blue glimmer, just a little longer and they will be free!!
But a new sound interrupted his hopeful fantasizing, the familiar stringing of an arrow being shot from its bow
Percival turned around to see a repitiere of arrows being thrown at their direction, and despite the darkness and his own panic he could also see who was the one that fired them
Doctor Anna Ripley, the wretched woman he once saw as brilliant
Cassandra on the other hand was frozen with fear at their newest attack, too shocked to react on time. He instinctively knew what to do, and a loud scream escaped from Cassandra’s lips when the arrows struck
The little girl remained unharmed, for Percival had hugged her protectively. And in doing so, his back was clawed with dozens of arrows no better than a sick porcupine
"Percy!!" She cried in horror of her brother’s heroic and foolish decision, tears threatening to leave her eyes maybe for the nth time in this horrible month they been together since the massacre of their family
Or perhaps it had been longer. Neither of them really kept count, and for all they knew, it could’ve been ages since that fateful night
"I’m alright, Cass. We need to keep going" Percival tried to assure his only sister, weakly smiling with a mouth filled with his own blood
For however young Cassandra may be, she wasn’t stupid. She knew her brother wasn’t alright, but she didn’t fight against his word. Instead, she just shakily nodded and let herself be directed by Percival whose condition was getting worse and worse
Finally, by some dumb miracle, they reached the river that was raging forward bellow them. Yet they still not cheered victory, for the rumble of their pursuers still ringing in their ears coming ever closer
Percival looked at the dark forest behind them, at the raging river bellow, at the sister holding his hand and then at his own hand. His tattered, scabbed and dying hand that he couldn’t recognize any longer
The hand that was used to create all matters of trinkets and invitations for no other reasons other than it made his family happy, the hands that became Ripley’s favorite torture plaything
Closing his trembling hand into a determined fist, Percival made his decision
"Cassandra, listen to me closely" He said in the most serious voice the girl had ever heard him use, crouching down at her eye level where the eyes that held earth and sky met with the ones that held the ocean
"I need you to jump, and go as far away as possible from here" Percival instructed "Stick to the shadows and never use your name in public, disappear completely from the eyes of Tal'dorei. Make them believe that Cassandra de Rolo truly died tonight”
"B-But what about you?!" Cassandra hiccup, big fat tears rolling down her sunken and malnourished cheeks
"…My time’s up, Cassie. This is it for me" He whispered, smiling humorlessly but his eyes still reflected a love that only a brother could have for his sister "But it doesn’t had to be for you"
“No!! I don’t want to leave you!! You can’t make me!!" Cassandra argued, attaching herself to her brother’s body with an aggressive vice
She could felt something warm and sticky dirtying her body that smelled an oppressive iron, an unpleasant and reeking smell that she had unfortunately became all to familiar with recently. But she didn’t cared, she wanted everything from Percival no matter how negative it was
"You’ll be okay, Cassandra. Always remember, you’re a de Rolo" Her brother reminded her, gently separating her from him
He took off the one brooch that was still in decent conditions from his ruined clothes, the same ones he wore that horrible night, that was only slightly bloodied. In it, the symbol of the de Rolo’s and Whitestone as a whole was still displayed proudly
"You’re as sturdy and strong as the Sun Tree’s roots" Percival placed the brooch on her hair, attaching it to her white streaks like a hair pin
He gently removed a few other wayward hair from his dear sister’s still-crying face and planted a fleeting but loving kiss on her forehead like he did when she was younger in order to comfort her
"I love you" Was the last thing Percival whispered to her before Cassandra was abruptly pushed off the edge by him, too shock to even say something as she was falling down
The last thing she saw was her brother’s crying yet still smiling face before she was evolved by cold water, and everything turned black
Cassandra gasped, a year later, waking up in the filthy streets of a no name town from that horrible memory turned nightmare
In that time, against all other odds, she had managed to survive the cold unforgiving waters of that river and a small fisher crew found and saved her. She had followed her brother’s last instruction for her and lived like a ghost
Wandering aimlessly from place to place, no better than a lowly beggar. Her days a constant struggle for survival, while her nights were filled with fear and cruel nightmares that were a reliving of her memories
Cassandra sniffed, searching through her small pockets and taking out the brooch that Percy had given her, the last thing she had of him. She hadn’t even wiped away the blood in it
Running her hand through the symbol in it served as an oddly soothing mechanism for him, as it reminded her of the last words her brother dedicated to her on that horrible night and she couldn’t help but laugh at the irony of it
"I’m sorry, Percy…" She hiccuped, curling herself up into a little ball "I guess I’m not strong enough…"
Cassandra cried silently, knowing that a full meltdown will just bring unnecessary attention towards her. But in truth, she wished she could stop crying entirely as it served nothing of value to her. She was honestly surprised she still had tears to cry for how many times she had done it already
And it was in that very moment, when Cassandra de Rolo reached her lowest, that something happened
Something that was otherwise impossible
The darkness thickened around Cassandra, slithering towards her like a pit of snakes. She gasped, raising her head from her fetal position with a few wayward tears still flowing down, looking at the darkness that was coming near her
No, darkness wasn’t all that accurate. It looked more like…smoke?
Cassandra knew that she should be afraid, but strangely, she wasn’t. Whatever this strange smoke was, it didn’t seemed like it wanted to hurt her
"H-Hello..?" She called to it with a small voice, watching on how one of its Smokey tendrils slowly raised and touched her face with surprising gentleness. The smoke was an odd mixture of cold and hot, but it didn’t felt totally unpleasant
The tendril slipped through Cassandra’s face all the way to her eye, and she let an involuntary shudder on what this mysterious smoke would do. While it didn’t seemed dangerous, that didn’t meant that she didn’t knew what her intentions were
"Don’t…cry…" A hauntingly familiar voice said as the tendril surprisingly wiped away her tears in yet another familiar manner, an action that she never thought she will feel again
"…Percy?!" She gasped, and the smoky tendril retracted itself to its main body. Said body then started to solidify itself and take form, into a figure that she thought would only live on in her memories and nightmares
"Hello Cassie…" Percy greeted with a small smile and she choked on tears again, but this time they were of relief
Without another word, Cassandra launched herself into her brother wanting to give him a hug. But to her surprise, she fazed through his body like if he wasn’t there
"W-What?” She gasped, trying to grab her brother’s hand with him doing the same. Only to see how it fazed away in smoke as soon as they tried to touch one another and later regrow itself a few moments later
Looking closely, Cassandra noticed that wasn’t the only new quirk about Percy
All the places of his injuries were replaced by black smoke pouring out of them, his hair was an ashy white despite the last time they saw each other he just had a few white streaks like herself. Now, his whole hair was as white as the snow-filled night in which he died
The hand that Cassandra had just tried to grab ended in sharp talons created by that same smoke, but most importantly were his eyes. Behind his dark glasses, instead of the perfect combination of green and blue for which she knew him for, his eyes were now a bright orange that glowed against the darkness surrounded by black
"Percy, but how..? What happened to you?" She asked and her brother smiled humorlessly
"I guess I wasn’t ready to leave you yet…" Percy said, and just then Cassandra could hear the unnatural smokiness of his voice
"I came back Cass, but I’m not entirely myself any longer” He said, looking at his taloned hands "I’m a demon now, a smoke demon it appears"
"You’re still Percy" Cassandra said firmly "You’re still my idiot brother that hid away in his workshop and built my music box for me and had dreams of being a clockmaker"
"And you’re still that nightmare of a sister that wouldn’t leave me alone for five minutes" Percy joked back with a soft chuckle "But it’s alright, I like brats"
Cassandra chuckled too, her spirits having been lifted a little more but there was still a glaring question lingering in her head
"Why can’t I touch you?" She asked and his face fell once more watching his new form
"I don’t know, when I touched you with my tendrils I had no problem" Percy mused, his face scrunching up in a position that Cassandra had seen him done before whenever he was hatching a new idea
"Maybe if I…" Wordlessly, her brother lifted his taloned hand to gently grab hers without it disappearing "It seems that only I can touch you, and not the other way around"
That was a bummer to Cassandra, but she was glad she could still feel Percy’s touch in some sort of way. Her fingers twitched urging her to hold his hand tighter, but she hold herself back remembering that was impossible now no matter the heartbreak she felt over it
“What’s going to happen now, Percy?" She asked with a determination shining in her eyes
"Cassandra, I want you to make a pact with me” Percy said seriously, offering his hand ”Since I’m a demon now, we should be able to perform one”
"A pact? For what?" Cassandra asked, but something inside of her already knew
"What both of us long for, Cass" He said, the smoke in his voice sharpening "To see the end of the Brairwoods, and all who ended our family. I gained some new abilities when I turned into a demon, abilities I’m more than happy to share with you"
"All you have to do is shake my hand, and the deal will be done" Percy finished his explanation "Will you do this, Cassandra?"
"…Like if you even have to ask, brother" She said with finality, extending her hand without doubting or stuttering
Percy’s smirk grew to dangerous proportions, turning manic. But despite that, Cassandra wasn’t afraid of his reactions as this was still her brother. And she could still see the look of pride in his new set of eyes that she always looked at her with
He grabbed her accepting hand, and the smoke from his own started to condense and swirl around her hand going down her arm. It felt really strange, like if a pit of snakes were slithering down her arm but it didn’t hurt and she didn’t felt any fear
After all, Cassandra knew that Percival could never hurt her even if he tried
Just as quickly as it started, the smoke stopped and disappeared like what it actually was. But she felt different somehow, in ways that she couldn’t explain but knew they were present
"I hope you are aware of all the properties of black powder, Cassie" Percy said, giving her a loving hug filled with smoke
"We have a lot of work to do before we get our revenge…"