In the eyes of the snake

What have I done?

All I could hear was the trembling of my shallow breath. My eyes stayed fixed on the body lying on the floor, as blood poured out of it. Blood had never fazed me, not until today. Not until this moment.

It looked horrific, the scene in front of me, my breathing became raged and uneven, with no steady rhythm to lead it. The face that belonged to the corpse wasn't just pale, it was terrifyingly white, with its lips a light shade of purple, its eyes were open wide, flipped over into the back of its skull.

Nothing crossed my mind at this moment. It was as if anything I had thought about a moment ago while doing the deed fled my mind in the fright that followed.

My body shook violently, my head throbbed at the overwhelming smell of fresh blood, splattered all over the floor, all over my clothes, all over my shivering fingers and palms. I looked at them, not registering a thing from the environment around me, the crimson liquid against my skin drawing all my attention.

I had a sword in my hands, the sword. I looked at it, hearing my heart and mind betray one another, as the thoughts started rolling in. However, I payed no mind to them, clutching the golden hilt as if the world had stopped and I was suddenly vulnerable. I looked back at the body, at the wound I'd inflicted in my sudden moment of anger and miscommunication, and dropped the sword with an echoing thud that drummed holes in my mind.

My knees began to buckle at the weight of me, once able to hold me up, now pathetically weak like me. They gave out and I dropped to the floor, able to stand no more. I caved in. Tears spilled from my eyes like a flood, dripping onto the face I thought I once knew, that face now smeared with its own blood.

I sobbed. I couldn't take it anymore.

What have I done?

What have I done?!

He's your brother

My brother.

Rhian.

I sobbed harder, clutching my waist in pain, pain that lingered in my heart and soul. I've never longed for my brother more than this moment, my twin brother, my other half.

I trembled more and more, the grief gripping onto me in a way I've only ever experienced once before. Then all that tormented me in my mind was his name.

Aric.

Aric. Aric. Aric.

I gripped my hair, unable to breathe, unable to discern anything around me. I thought heard something, the muffled voice of someone.. I couldn't quite place it, someone familiar... someone I once loved more than life itself. It echoed around me, like I was submerged in the deepest depths of the ocean.

My face was smeared with tears and blood, the scims that made my suit stiff and lifeless, some were missing, torn to shreds, showing off my skin. They held me tight, as if I might shatter if they suddenly let go. However, they stayed unmoving.

Then I heard it.. the softness of her voice, cutting through the darkness, she spoke to me, compassion laced in the words the spoke.

"Rhian?"

Rhian? Rhian is dead, what is she talking about?

"...You can bring him back..."

My cries slowed, tears running dry.

"You can use the pen. You can bring him back to life."

Everything stopped.

Bring him back?

My body ceased its shaking. My fingers loosened their grip on my unruly hair, my arms fell at my sides, I took a deep breath-

And laughed. I chuckled slightly at the idea, which slowly evolved into a cackle, loud and victorious, it felt as if I'd shaken the world to a fearful stop. I could still bring him back, my love. My Aric.

I slowly rose from where I was knelt beside the body of my once twin brother. As I turned, I saw horror contour her face. Sophie locked eyes with me, backing away.

I tilted my head at her, smile widening on my face.

"Oh?"

A golden scim flew off my suit, ready to finish the deed. It ascended to my head, and sheered my wet locks, just like Rhian's, it then reached down to my face, and tinted my skin a burnished amber, just like Rhian's.

I looked just like him, if not...

"More Rhian than the real thing" I chuckled at Sophie, who was still paralysed at the sudden twist in our interlocked tales.

I shot my finger at the still hovering scim. It cut through the air and out the window, writing the declaration of the now decided wedding, my wedding to Sophie, taking Rhian's place instead, ready to uphold my façade to the whole woods, starting with Camelot.

I turned back to my newly bride to be, her eyes never leaving the grey sky, where the message relayed.

I approached her, put my lips to her ear, and whispered; "ready for a wedding?"

Family has let me down far more than I would've liked.

Its time to take things into my own hands.