Blood of my Brother

Good Knight

I have come to the conclusion I have no idea what an update schedule is. Sorry. I've been trying for Mondays and Thursdays, but with school and work, this is getting hard to do. I've already been posting on AO3 and am several chapters ahead there, but I've decided to put it on hiatus for a while. I'll probably drop my updates on here to once a week instead of twice so I don't have to put it on pause here too. Please be patient with me. Thank you!

Trigger warnings: mentions of previous violent injuries, mentions of prison abuse, general recklessness and tomfoolery

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Varian was not sure what to expect after his revelations to Hector.

Overprotective dad figure was not it.

That's what he got.

The next week after that night was spent trying to convince Hector he was not a porcelain doll. Sure, he was small and breakable, but he was stronger than he looked. He had survived up until this point, hadn't he? He had made it past all the accidents his experiments resulted in, a blizzard, a month of house arrest with hardly any food, the battle, six months of prison torture, getting turned into a cat and nearly killed, and getting arrested again. Climbing a tree was nothing compared to that.

"CAREFUL!"

His sudden fall was brought to an abrupt halt as he landed in a pair of strong arms underneath him.

"Just because I said you didn't have to wear the sling does not mean you can climb trees!" Hector sat Varian on his feet, but he kept his hands on his shoulders like he'd fall to bits if the warrior let go. "You're still recovering! What were you thinking?"

Varian looked up at Artemis, who sat on a nearby branch watching him. "Snitch," he muttered. The bird had kept an annoyingly close eye on him over the last week. She was probably the one who brought Hector to him. "I was thinking I wanted an apple."

"And the raccoon couldn't get one for you?" He glared at Ruddiger, who glared back.

"I wanted to get it myself."

Hector groaned and put his head in his hands. "You're going to be the death of me. Can you not be careful for five minutes? Just five!"

"Sorry."

"Why were you climbing a tree? I mean, I get the apple thing, but seriously, you could have let Ruddiger get it!"

Varian shuffled his feet. "I'm... I suppose I'm just tired of being... tired. I haven't done anything in so long. Just survived. I'm ready to not be injured. I just want to be able to do the things I used to do. Climb trees. Go swimming. That sort of stuff."

"I know, I know. Just... wait a bit longer, okay? And tell me when you're going to do stupid stuff so I can watch out for you. 'Kay?"

"'Kay. I mean, yes sir."

Hector rolled his eyes. "''Kay' is fine. I'm not stuffy."

"Right. So... can I start training yet?"

"Were you even listening?!"

Varia groaned and crossed his arms. Or tried to, anyway.

Hector gave a bone-weary sigh. "And I never thought I'd miss the days when you didn't do anything. Just—give your arm a few more weeks, 'kay? We've got a ways to go, and you've got time. I'll train you. But you need to get better first."

"'Kay."

Hector tilted his head in consideration. Then he jumped up, planted one foot on the trunk of the tree, sprang up, unsheathed his sword, and sliced one of the apples off by the stem. He dropped to the ground in time to cut the apple in two as it fell, catching both halves in one hand. He then gave it to Varian. "There. Have an apple."