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Brimstone walked mindlessly along the halls of the abbey. he had woken up not too long ago and remembered he promised to meet Claudere and Drench for brunch. he'd overslept so he very quickly had to toss on a shirt and some short-shorts.
now he was heading towards the commons, not quite paying attention to anything as he was still hazy with sleep. his tail dragged on the ground as if it was too heavy to lift.
when he passed a doorway that led directly outside, a figure lunged out at him. he jolted back away, holding his arms up in front of him. his tail jerking up with him, now wide awake.
he peered around his hands when he realized the figure hadn't attacked him.
oh it was his brother.
oh...it was his brother..
from the moment he was summoned, Calcite had never seemed to like his little brother. this seemed like another confrontation where he would pick on Brimstone for something completely out of his control.
But Calcite showed no obvious aggression, just stood there, leaned against the doorway.
Brimstone dropped his arms to his sides, giving the larger earth ghoul a questioning look. Calcite smiled, it was obviously fake. "hey Stone, i wanted to eh, apologize for how i've been treating you. how about we start over? i should be a proper big brother to you, yeah?" his deep voice was sickeningly sweet.
Brimstone had forgotten his notepad so he simply nodded. Calcite led Brimstone out to a courtyard, a fancy fountain set in the center of the already extravagant garden.
he gestured for Brimstone to sit on the edge of the fountain, which he did, very hesitantly.
Calcite sat next to him and began speaking again "i noticed you don't have your notebook so im going to assume you can only answer yes or no questions at this time, correct?" Brimstone nods, his tail twitched from behind him, displaying his nerves.
Calcite glances at his younger brothers tail briefly. "no need for that" he chuckles, motioning at his tail. "im here to catch up." he clears his throat and begins his questions. "i know there were some complications with your summoning but are you still enjoying your time topside?" Brimstone nodded again, he felt his body was relaxing.
"even though you lost your ability to speak you still communicate well? be able to participate in the conversation?" Brimstone smiles, feeling a need to show off to his brother and impress him. he prods at Calcite's thoughts and pushes a small "yes" into his head.
Calcites eyes widen, he seemed genuinely surprised. "telepathic speech eh? that quintessence ghoul been teaching you?"
Brimstones face lit up, as he nodded very enthusiastically.
"how good are you with it?"
Brimstone responds again, continuing to press against his brothers mind: "still learning. very new. not all that..." he fades out, loosing his focus. he winces and rubs his head in discomfort, pouting.
"don't worry about it, i'm sure you'll get better." Calcite said softly.
upon asking the next question though, Calcite's demeanor changed. "what about that fire element you gained, do you like it?" his words were dripping with thinly veiled venom. this immediately shot up a warning flag in Brimstones head, where did this malice come from all of a sudden? Brimstone stared at his brother, wide eyed, confused. tail behind him quivering with uncertainty.
"well?" Calcite pushed.
Brimstone, though perturbed by his brothers tone, decided he would be honest. he shook his head for the first time, lowering his eyes away from Calcite.
Calcite's lips curved up in a grin, unnoticed by the smaller earth ghoul. "why don't we get rid of that yes?"
Brimstone didn't even have a second to question what his brother said before Calcite was on him. Grabbing him roughly by the hair and using a hand on his shirt to spin Brimstone around and shove his head under the water. Brimstone helplessly clawed at Calcite, who put a stop to that in an instant, gripping Brimstone by the wrist. the other hand stayed pushed against his head, holding him under the surface.
panic set in immediately, Brimstone thrashed around, kicking violently, tail whipping back and forth frantically, trying to get a hit on the attacker.
when the smaller earth ghouls tail swung close enough to Calcites mouth he snapped his jaw forward, biting onto Brimstone's tail to hold it still.
under the water, Brimstone opened his mouth in a silent scream.
he knew he didn't have much air left, this would be where he would die, drowned by his own brother.
in a surrender, he stopped moving, only his tail limply twitched in Calcites mouth. in one last effort, using the rest of his energy, he broadcast out a distress call through telepathy, hoping someone. ANYONE. would receive it.
everything was silent underneath the cold water as it filled his ears. it was almost peaceful.
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out further away from the abbey, Claudere and Drench sat in the grass on a large comfortable blanket. they had everything set out but hadn't started yet, waiting for Brimstone.
not too long ago, a feeling of dread had begun eating away at the back of Clauderes mind. who voiced his concerns to Drench, though he didn't think it was anything to worry over.
"its just, Brim isn't here yet, its very unlike him to be late like this" Claudere had been saying, an edge of fear in his voice.
"maybe he just overslept, it happens sometimes. this little outing was sorta last minute" Drench tried to console the nervous quintessence ghoul.
until Drench felt something spear right through his thoughts, it was full of fear and hurt his head with how intense it was. his ears perked up in interest as his head snapped towards the source of the call.
"what is it?" Claudere asked urgently.
"it was a distress call. telepathy. it could be Brimstone, he's one of the few ghouls that know telepathy here." Drench explained.
Claudere immediately shot up from where he was sitting. "where? where was it coming from?" he spat out quickly.
"courtyard."
Claudere was bounding off in a second, running faster than Drench had ever seen him run. the skinny water ghoul followed, pumping his legs hard to try and keep up.
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Brimstone didn't know how long he'd been there, his mind was fuzzy and his brain felt like it was full of water.
he saw darkness prickling at the corners of his vision. his time must be up.
but, there was no release. in fact he felt the pressure on his head disappear and his form being dragged out of the water.
Drench had tackled Calcite, catching him off guard allowing him to pull the ghoul away from Brimstone.
he pushed Calcite to the ground and started wailing on him, punching at his face with the force of a jackhammer.
Claudere had been the one to pull Brimstone out of the water, who was now coughing up any water he had swallowed. Claudere rubbed the dripping ghouls back, holding him close and telling him "its going to be okay. i have you. you're gonna be alright" over and over again.
Brimstone choked on a sob, tears spilling to dampen his already soaked face. he curled up into Claudere, hugging him tightly, trembling with vigor.
others were starting to notice the commotion and a few ghouls rushed into the courtyard to pull the still growling Drench off Calcite, who was being pulled up and contained himself. Drench snarled at the ghouls holding him back. he glared at Calcite, wanting nothing more than to shred him. he struggled and fought to try and break free.
then a voice called from the doorway. "Drench." a stern but gentle warning. it was Mistral, stood just inside with their arms crossed. upon seeing Mistral, Drench lowered his ears submissively and quit fighting back against the two other ghouls. "i'll take that one." Mistral said playfully, pointing at their tall water ghoul. Drench was released, Mistral held a hand out, allowing Drench to take their hand in his and be led out.
immediately pushing past Mistral came a younger ghoul, Orion.
"hey kid! what are you doing?" one ghoul attempted to grab at Orion. the little quintessence ghoul just shook him off, rushing over to where Claudere and Brimstone were, sliding to his knees before them.
"oh my god what happened? is he alright?" he spoke quickly, concern edged all his words.
"i- i think his brother must've been trying to drown him." Claudere explained, a tremble in his voice. Orion looked over to where Calcite was, there were ghouls surrounding him, asking him questions. Orions eyebrow twitched with rage, he looked back to Brimstone with a huff. Brimstone was clinging to Claudere , face buried in the ghouls chest.
Claudere looked over Brimstone, taking in the wounds left. there were deep gashes on his wrist from where Calcite had dug his claws in while being dragged off. the blood flowed steadily over Brimstone's skin and some even got on Clauderes clothes. and of course there was a bite mark left on Brimstone's tail, only some blood dripped from the skin.
"we need to get him to the infirmary." Claudere finally said. Orion held up a hand, silently asking for Claudere to wait.
He took Brimstone's tail in his hand, making the earth ghoul whine and try to pull it away. Claudere nuzzled the side of Brimstone's face and whispered to him. this calmed him, allowing Orion to gently wrap his hand around the wound, using his still developing quintessence abilities to numb the pain there.
"i can't do anything about his wrist, the wound is too deep." Orion mumbled, a little discouraged about that.
"don't worry Ri, what you did was enough. i appreciate it." Claudere reached over and placed a hand on the other ghoul's shoulder, smiling.
Orion smiled back. "i'll get to the infirmary to let a ghoul there know you'll be coming." he offered as he stood up.
"that would be great, thank you so much."
Orion nodded and ran off.
"hey, butterfly." Claudere nudged Brimstone. "i need you stand for me, baby." he began standing himself, hands on Brimstone's waist to help pull him up. Brimstone kept his hands placed on Clauderes shoulders, fingers flexing nervously.
"can you walk?" Claudere asked, trying to get the earth ghoul to look at him. Brimstone nodded, sniffling, taking his unharmed arm to wipe his face on. Claudere grabbed that arm and took Brimstone's hand in his and started leading Brimstone along to the infirmary.
Brimstone never looked back at the courtyard, never seeing how his brother stared daggers at him through the crowd of ghouls.
on the walk to the infirmary, Brimstone was unsteady on his feet, constantly wobbling. his tail seemed to be the only thing keeping him slightly balanced.
when they finally got to the infirmary, Brimstone began loosening consciousness, his vision fading rapidly. he heard some stressed voices before those faded out too and the world went dark.
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Brimstone slowly opened his eyes, he stared at the ceiling of what appeared to be Clauderes room. he blinked and turned to his right, there was his mate, leaning against the headboard of the bed reading a book.
what felt like mere seconds to Brimstone had apparently been hours, he noticed as he peered over to the clock.
"oh butterfly, you're awake!" Claudere placed his book on the bedside table and turned his whole body to face Brimstone. "how are you feeling? do you wanna talk right now?" Claudere ran a hand over Brimstones soft cheek, the earth ghoul leaned into the touch, sighing peacefully.
Brimstone shook his head as he crawled over to the other ghoul, draping his long form over the smaller form of Claudere.
"ok, going back to sleep it is." Claudere laughed, setting a hand onto Brimstone's hair and carding his fingers through it. Brimstone jolted at the contact, it reminded him of how his brother had handled him earlier. Claudere noticed the shift and instead moved his hand to Brimstones back, rubbing gentle circles.
"Good night, Brimstone. you're very strong. i love you," and Claudere left it at that, he too would be deep in slumber soon.