Chapter Text
The princess watches her older brother trudge along the beaten path. Their brethren follow closely behind, beaten and bruised and tired. He whacks away stray branches with strength that is unfit for such a mundane task, and drags his feet too much to be considered walking. They continue to follow him in silence.
It had happened so suddenly, so quickly that all she remembers are snippets. She remembers sitting next to their ageing mother, reciting tales from a past bygone to her brother, peeling peaches in her own soft and delicate hands. It was the closest she got to holding a weapon. Brother reached for a half-cut slice, and mother had laughed quietly.
”My dear son, you are too impatient! Our dear princess hasn’t even finished cutting that one!”
Mother slid the bowl to him, still smiling, picking a couple peaches for herself and popping them into her mouth. They stayed like that for a while, talking about everything and nothing at the same time. Only then, was he himself, or so she liked to think. No longer was he quick tempered prince, nor the red-fleshed tyrant. He was simply Him, his mother’s son and her older brother. Then...
Fire. Screaming. The scent of burning wood.
”Sister! Take her, and go!”
She is being dragged, to where she does not know. Vile Orcs are there and they are plundering and destroying and—
Someone in purple dress with purple skin is shushing her, stifling her panic. No doubt they are suppressing their own as well.
Mother is gone. Father is gone. Everything is being devoured in the blaze. She screams for her brother, to be assured that he is well and that this is a dream and that she will go back to being shut inside their home while he ventures outside, spreading the glory of the Ogres.
She is being dragged, further and further from the blazing fire that is her home and away to safety. The tears in her eyes do not fall, because that is not what Ogres do, or so she was told. She still screams, because she might have lost her family or her friends (not that she had many) or both.
The lady in purple takes great, heaving gasps for air as she sets her down in a small clearing. They are both shaken, and they look at the surrounding trees, fearful of more Orcs ambushing them.
They do not know how long it’s been. Hours? Minutes? They continue to stand there, ears alert for any sound that suggests hostility.
Snap.
They both whip their heads to the noise, the lady brandishing a large, beaten iron great sword while she concentrates magicules into the palms of her hands.
There is a rustle of leaves, as bushes part to reveal her brother, pain in his eyes and obsidian horns chipped, with 3 men following him.
The sight of her brother is enough to instantly get her to relax, but the Lady still grips her weapon. The princess looks at the Ogres that her brother had brought with him.
The first of them is old and wrinkled, and the princess is reminded that he once trained her brother in the art of swordsmanship. He looks somber, and there are singe marks all over his clothes. He sits down close to her and sighs, closing his eyes and not opening them.
The second is a big, blue Ogre. His hulking figure is sagged, and his what used to be vibrant blue skin is turned a pale grey. He sports gaping wounds on his sides, and she itches to help him. He glances at the 2 woman before settling at the trunk of a tree and starts to treat his wounds.
The last of them is a lanky, also blue Ogre. There is a singular white horn that extends in a blade-like curve atop his head, but she cannot discern any features as the rest of his face his hidden by tangled, dirty hair. He settles quickly into the shadows and covers his face in his hands.
Her brother quirks an eyebrow at the Lady, weapon still brandished (from reflex or other motives, she does not know), before smoothing out his expression and walks straight towards her.
”I’m sorry.”
The princess doesn’t know what her brother is apologising for. Why he, of all people, is apologising. This wasn’t even his fault.
The Lady stares at her brother. His crimson red hair, the twin rivulets that run down his cheeks. His dirtied and broken armour, and his unsheathed sword. His lifeless eyes, his face choked with too many emotions for him to express. His black nails, caked with blood and his red skin that camouflages the burn marks she knows are there.
The Lady drops to her knees, the great sword clattering to the ground beside her. She screams, voice strained with grief.
The injured Ogre looks down, squeezing his wounds and drawing his body closer together. He lets out a muffled sob.
The silent Ogre wraps his arms around his head, listening in silence.
The old Ogre, eyes still closed, grips the grass around him, pulling out pieces of the Earth.
The Lady pounds her fists into the ground and wails, violently cursing the pigs that dared to touch their home.
She, she is certain, is looking worse for wear. She does not know what expression she is wearing. Her skin is mangled because she froze up when she first saw the fire. Her dress is ripped from where she tore it when the ceiling fell down on her. Her hair is lose in the wind because she lost the ribbon tying it when she was running from Orcs that wanted her dead.
The princess looks at her brother, and finds that his eyes were already on her. He crosses the clearing in 2 strides, standing in front of her. The siblings embrace, glowing embers lighting the sky, the disgusting snorts of pigs carried by the breeze.
The sibling embrace as the Lady continues to swear her vengeance on the ‘damn...detestable pigs!’
The siblings embrace as the injured Ogre tries to cover up his cries, of pain or grief they do not know.
The siblings embrace as the silent Ogre curls into himself, almost completely hidden from her view.
The siblings embrace as the old Ogre continues to pluck the earth of its green blades.
Her brother holds her as she nuzzles her face into his chest, fighting back tears for their home destroyed.
She holds her brother as his grip tightens on her back, suppressing the wave of grief that washed over him for his people.
‘What happens now?’
They continue to follow her brother in silence.