"I feel like a young boy about to kiss a girl for the first time..." Axel scoffed, "its pathetic."
Angalo released the breath that he didn't know he was holding and leaned back into his desk. "Brother... this sounds like recognition-" Angalo started, "No." The word was a crack of a whip, halting the advice Angalo was about to give.
"It affects us differently..." Angalo murmured as he tented his fingers together. Axel pushed off the desk with a low growl.
"No." Axel snapped again, "Its impossible."
Angalo shook his head, "You of all people should know... that there is no "Impossible" for us." Axel clenched his fists, "It has to be..." Axel muttered, Angalo sighed.
"Brother of mine... what you experienced then, is not what you are experiencing now." Axel stared at his brother with wide eyes, and Angalo had to keep himself seated in his chair, before him was not the man who has travelled at his side for the past thousand years, but it was the boy he left all those years ago...
"Even we can fall in love. And that love will haunt us as you told Myriah. That trauma will imprint on our mind and gradually taint our bodies." You were far younger then than you are now, little brother. You were more open and giving than you are now." Axel leaned into his brothers desk once more as the elder continued to speak.
"But-"
Angalo held up a hand that stopped his brothers rebuttal before it began. Axel clenched his fists, "Recognition is not love, it's instinct and even you know that if you follow it and let it guide you, it can also be the core definition of love." Axel held his brothers steely gaze for a long, heavy moment, "I have seen recognition a handful of times, and every time was different. Even my case with Atoli. However, one thing remains the same."
"What is that?"
"The eyes." Angalo murmured.
His tone sounded so final... Axel watched his elder brothers eyes shift from cold to empathetic.
"I feel like I'm looking at myself..." Axel shook his head, it couldn't be... "when I first looked into Atolis eyes." 'No…' Axel felt his body tremble and his arms give out. 'This cannot be. It will traumatize her further. To be a prisoner of her father and now of me?' Axels thought was confirmed when Angalo appeared at his side and guided him to the chair he was sitting before he stood and paced about the study. 'I won't be a source of her pain…'
Angalo let his mind drift back to when he met Atoli... it was almost 700 years ago... The call of recognition was torture for him.... but it seams to be different for Axel...
'He looks terrified.'
The younger male looked like a defeated soldier. A young lad who was entranced before he was even aware of what was happening to him...
Angalo glanced at his younger brother who sat stunned. Eyes wide, hand gripping his chest, mouth slightly agape... it was different to see Axel in such a state... 'he looked like this when I came home too.' "It's her pain… I can't let her suffer that alone…" Axel had explained, "it's consuming, worse than the fever…" 'how would he even…' Angalo wasn't sure how to feel. Part of him wanted to congratulate his brother while a darker, possessively protective part of him wanted to rid his younger brother of his vexation...
For the longest time, Axel took over as Atoli's guardian. In her, he saw the mother who once loved him before madness took her, and thus he catered to her. Axel's need to keep Atoli smiling vexed Angalo at first, it even made him jealous. The romantic of a man chuckled at the memory of him challenging his younger brother...
~"Why would I want to fight you for my sister in law?" Axel asked without looking up from his book, "I believe recognition has corrupted your mind, brother." Axel turned a page, "With your state of mind, I would defeat you faster than I usually do." He flipped another page, "And while humiliating you sounds appealing to my foul mood, I would gain nothing from it. Except another nuisance that I do not need."~
The words then were so cold. Like ice knives thrown directly to his heart. Axel mocked him, and his bond without even looking up from his book, 'and now the roles are reversed.'
Angalo thought with a light chuckle.
'Now that I recall, It was Atoli who gave me an even better understanding of my stoic younger brother...'
In the past few weeks, Angalo learned for himself that Axel feels. And that he loves. Angalo learned that when his little brother loves, he loves with everything that he has.
'Family is everything to him.'
Compared to himself, Axel is a very empathetic man. He understands conflicts to the heart, body and mind better than any of their kind...
'he resembles your mother…' Angalos eyes widened at the recollection of the deep voice, 'while you resemble me.'
Angalo shook the thoughts from his mind. Angalo was torn between hurting the girl and doting on her as Axel dotes on Atoli...
'Axel is the name sake for Ice, but he also burns like fire: ruthless, reckless and unforgiving…'
To be Frank, Axel was a brilliant strategist, who had a knack for getting in and out of tight situations on the spot.
After staring at his stricken brother for too long in his book, Axel stood with a growl and left his brother to his internal rambling. About what? Axel shrugged the thought away, only the Gods could guess what was on Angalos mind.
'But then…' the possibility of the clan growing with new children brought a new series of questions to his mind: did Myriah want to fight? Should she fight? Did she think she could survive this war? Axel found himself standing infront of Myriahs door. He raised his hand to knock, 'does she feel what i feel? Is she suffering as I am?'
Axel sighed and he shook the questions away. 'Her room is quiet... I should let her be.' He thought as he decided to go to his own room instead.
'We both need to rest.'
Myriah stood at her door with her hand touching the wood right where Axel's hand was. Her own mind was riddled with questions: Did he know what was happening to her? Did he know why he called to her...why he made her feel safe? Myriah's breath caught in her lungs when she heard him step away from the door.
'Don't go...' she pleaded, Myriah knew that to say this aloud would lead to disastrous situations... and disastrous was something she wished to avoid,. 'Is it so bad… being in his arms…' she pondered, 'the feel of his lips…' The lavender eyed girl squeezed her eyes shut. 'Fangs…' the word sent a shiver down her spine, and her instincts took control: 'Open the door, you foolish girl.' Her mind berated, 'call out to him...'
Myriah sighed as she willed the thoughts and ache in her chest to go away.... she could feel his turmoil, the internal conflict...
'Just what am I to him... and why does my chest feel heavier with every step that takes Axel further away?'