Banished: Resistance is Futile

[17]

Btw, option 1 was a nightmare for Gri and EX comforts him, option 2 was an EX flashback (which is what y'all got) and Grian comforts him, and option 3 was pick a song from the playlist and let the ideas flooooowwwww-

And yes, double update pogchamp.

^*^

"Who are you really?"

The simple question hung in the air.

A simple question, yet so difficult to answer.

Easy come, easy go, that's just how you live, oh. Take, take, take it all, but you never give.

Xisuma has loved him, hadn't he?

He was there for Xanthus in some of the darkest days of his life... whether in good ways or not.

The banishment, the exile, the torture... the Void.

Xisuma knew he hated the Void. The gaping expansive that had held their home world aloft.

Had Xisuma just been using his emotions and his fears against him?

Gave you all I had and you tossed it in the trash. You tossed it in the trash, you did.

He breathed in deeply, closing his eyes.

Opening them, he started.

"Xisuma and I go way back... because... he's my older brother." He expected the injured Watcher to say something, but Grian remained silent.

He cleared his throat, continuing with the story. "We were best friends when we were younger, going off on adventures, causing a little mayhem, all of that. I never expected for us to grow so far apart."

To give me all your love is all I ever ask.

"I loved him, and I thought he loved me. That's all I ever asked of him, was for X to be by my side, whatever the circumstances."

'Cause what you don't understand is I'd catch a grenade for ya.

Xanthus paused. He had been willing to risk death for his brother, and Xisuma back at him.

"I... you might know me, though, under a different name."

Grian's head tilted slightly, but he once again remained silent.

Throw my hand on a blade for ya.

The sword at his neck. Xisuma in the background, screaming out his name in hatred.

Cold metal, clasped around his ankles and wrists.

"...You might know me as... Evil Xisuma."

I'd jump in front of a train for ya. You know I'd do anything for ya. Oh, oh, I would go through all this pain.

Grian stiffened, but didn't run.

Good, Xanthus thought.

"And I was evil, once. It wasn't of my own doing... you of all people would understand that, Grian."

You of all people, Xanthus repeated in his own head, seeing Grian's eyes widen, revealing the trauma buried within them.

"...They all told me about you," Grian spoke. "Stress said good things, along with Etho, but everyone else... Xisu-" Grian stooped mid-word, clenching his mouth shut.

"I get it, I really do, Grian."

Take a bullet straight through my brain. Yes, I would die for ya, baby. But you won't do the same.