#And Oliver’s like “and it’s gonna be EVIL >:) and HORRIFYING and RADICAL”

[celestedoesarttm]

more Skrilliant doodles!! Trying to figure out its face (I think i finally got it everyone rejoice) and putting it in nice accesories!! I totally stole the Single Cross Earring Attached To A Hoop from one of my friend’s OCs

+ Closeups:

It’s so pretty <3

@bicolor-art

[iammultifandomaf]

Chapter 41 - You think the worst of me

BROTHERHOOD

https://m.fanfiction.net/s/12211562/41/

The older hunter carried a hateful expression on his face, trying to jerk out of the invisible force holding him down. The woman watched the trio that was sitting in front of them with spite and said: "Once we get out of this, you'll regret playing with us! You'll see how God's rage works in real life!" she hollared at them. Stolos, unfazed by her threat, poured himself another cup of coffee and looked at Lydia's father.

"Ask away," he encouraged Mr. Martin who was just blankly staring at the two furious hunters.

"These are the ones? They murdered Scarlett?"

"Yeah," Stolos answered shortly.

"That chick is insane, right?" Lydia said quietly to Stolos but the woman overheard and began yelling at her some more. Stolos glanced at Lydia whose eyes were wide open as the loud screaming continued.

"Alright, okay, you two shut up," Stolos said, turning his gaze to the hunters, making the blonde one lose her voice, "this man," Stolos continued, gesturing to Lydia's father, "has some questions for you. He will ask you a question and only then you'll answer, truthfully, okay?"

"I'll know when you lie so don't try that, just making that clear," Stolos added.

"Ugh," Mr. Martin nervously began, "do you kill banshees?"

Stolos nodded to the man, saying a simple: "Speak."

He resistently kept his silence, though. Stolos sighed and repeated the question: "Do you kill banshees?"

This time, the hunter almost spat out a 'yes'. He looked shocked by what had just happened.

Lydia watched her boyfriend silently, thinking about how limitless his abilities seemed. More of a scary Jedi than the Doctor, she thought. However, she couldn't bring herself to fear him anymore. Stolos was holding her hand gently, stroking it with his thumb during this peculiar scene. She felt safe with him.

"Why do you do this?" Robert asked, now more urgent than before.

Stolos again repeated the question, now facing the woman.

"Why do you think?! Do you think this is normal? What are you, huh? You deserve to burn in hell like the rest of them!"

Robert looked at Stolos who kept his coolness and repaided him the look. "Is that a satisfactory answer for you?" he asked.

"Umm, well, lady," Mr. Martin turned to the woman, "do you think it's normal to just plain murder everyone? Some of them are good folk!"

"Oh poor old man, you've been bewitched by those demons! They want you to trust them, slowly feeding off of you, spreading evil around them!" the woman didn't scream this time, but her tone was unsettling nonetheless.

"Scarlett was a good person!" Lydia's father cried out, "you're crazy!"

"They are really brainwashed," Lydia said in surprise.

"Yeah... that's a pretty common phenomen I feel like," Stolos commented.

"You're the ones brainwashed!" the woman yelled out again but then only gasped for air, losing the ability to form words again. She furrowed her brows at the young-looking man in front of her.

"Well, I feel like the case's pretty clear, then," Stolos concluded.

"How can't they feel any remorse?" Robert said quietly.

"That's simple, once you dehumanize the person, it's pretty easy to kill somebody without feeling all that bad," Stolos explained, "or you have to be a bit of a psychopat, emotionally disattached from the victim..."

"I don't know how to feel about it," Lydia admitted.

"Me neither," her father agreed, "these motherfuckers threw Scarlett into that dump. But I don't know what to do..."

"Can I suggest something?" Stolos asked politely.

"Uhuh," Lydia hummed.

"I wouldn't directly choose like a masacre or something. But maybe just dismantling their organization with some curse-based spell. Like if they kill another banshee or whatever creature that didn't do anything wrong, they'll die a painful death? Or maybe make the other members kill them. That would be pretty ironic, no?”

"You could do that to them?" Lydia's father asked slightly horrified by what Stolos said. He remembered his previous arrogant attitude he had with Stolos before the truth got revealed and felt a chill go up his spine. I guess it's better to be nice to him, he thought.

"It's just some mind control and a conditional spell, nothing big really," he said nonchalantly.

Lydia's stupor-like mood was slowly exchanged by anger towards the two hunters in front of them. Their sudden appearence was so quick that she wasn't able to process her feelings right away. She was mostly shocked how radical-thinking these individuals were and wasn't sure what to think of it. But the more time she sat there, the more she realized how furious she was. However, she was still somewhat paralyzed on the spot. She looked at Stolos who recognized this gaze.

She's angry, alright, he thought.

Lydia felt a bit ashamed for what she wanted, but she definitely knew it's something she wants to see. I want them to suffer.

"Who really killed her? Or was it both at the same time?" Lydia asked in a low voice, "I want the one dead," she added almost in a whisper. Stolos put his hand on her shoulder and squeezed it lightly and searched for the information himself as he didn't want to listen to the hunters anymore.

"So, you want the one who actually took the life of your mom dead and the other one-?"

"The thing you said," Lydia said decisively. Stolos glanced at her father to see if he agreed as well. Robert scratched the back of his head and watched his daughter for a while before saying: "Yeah, we'd be even protecting some other innocent people... I think it's the right thing to do."

Stolos nodded and stood up making everyone else in the room watch him carefully.

"I better take this... somewhere else," Stolos said in thought.

"No," Lydia said and grabbed his hand, "First, I want to know which one was it and then I want to see-"

"Are you sure, Lyds? This isn't like watching a movie," Stolos asked gently.

"Yes. I know this isn't a movie, Stolos, I want to see life for what it is. And if my decision is gonna kill one of them, I also should be here to see it. Or maybe even do it-"

"No, no... you aren't killing anyone, I am not letting you," Stolos said strictly but wasn't trying to intimidate her.

"Well," Lydia said sharply and rose to her feet too, then don't make an easy exit for them," she said and crossed her arms on her chest. Her father closed in and laid his hands on her shoulders: "With that I agree," he nodded, "Scarlett deserved better."

Stolos sighed and turned around, walking to the hunters and stopping behind their backs. "Don't you blame me for the nightmares, though," Stolos said and put his hand on the man's head who again began jerking around, trying to get out of Stolos' mental hold. Nonetheless, it didn't take long before Stolos' touch became lethal. The man started to shake violently, and soon loud cracking noises came about. Blood came down running from his nose, mouth and even eyes. The other hunter watched with horror in her eyes, not able to look away from the brutal sight. Suddenly, his body went limp and fell to the floor with a loud thud.

Both Lydia and her father were frozen at the spot, still processing what they had just seen. Lydia looked up from the dead body to Stolos whose eyes were just switching color back to his hazels.

"Um, I'll take them both now and finish on what we've agreed, okay?" Stolos asked as if nothing major just happened.

"Uhuh," Mr. Martin nodded absently and in a blink, the awful scene was gone. No corpse, no blonde woman and no Stolos.

Lydia sat down on the sofa, again and her father copied her. Both speechless.

"That...," he began.

"Yeah," Lydia agreed.

"He... he did warn us," Robert said quietly.

"Yeah."

"They got what they deserved."

"Yeah," Lydia repeated, feeling tears cummulating in her eyes.

"You're dating a pretty scary fella, you know that?"

"Yeah."

"But then again, he did only what we told him to."

"Yeah..."

"Maybe we are the scary ones, too."

...

Slowly, he was realizing that he was pretty hungry as he was putting the olives onto the ham. They did everything in silence, neither Thomas or Michendros said a word during cooking. Thomas put the pizza into the oven and looked at the big clock on the wall and then glanced back at Michendros who was sitting at the bar, holding a glass of white wine and was staring somewhere to his left.

"In fifteen minutes then," Thomas said quietly but didn't recieve any attention from Michendros who kept staring to his left.

Is he angry with me? He should be...

Thomas didn't know what to do with himself, so he started walking to the door.

"Did you say something?" Michendros suddenly said, startling Thomas a bit. He turned around again and saw Michendros standing at the bar now, watching him.

"Um- nothing important... just-"

Michendros looked at the oven and then back at Thomas with a small smile, "Oh yeah, the pizza, sorry," he interrupted, "I was talking to Stolos so I wasn't paying attention much."

Thomas kept staring at him in silence which made Michendros explain further as he walked towards Thomas: "Yeah, he's dealing this banshee thing. Come, let's hang out in the living room, I'll tell you about it."

Michendros said and headed to the living room, Thomas quietly followed him.

"You see, Lydia's mom was killed by these hunters apparently. She was a banshee, you know? Isn't that interesting?" Michendros continued and stopped when they entered the living room, looking around to face Thomas who seemed to be a bit surprised by that new information.

"Yeah and Stolos wanted to help Lyds and her dad find her again-"

Thomas was feeling dizzy all of a sudden and couldn't hear Michendros properly anymore. His eyes drafted to the tall man in front of him but he mostly saw small flickering spots.

Michendros noticed his change of expression and said a simple: "Tommy?"

In a split of a second, everything became black. Michendros only cried out: "Tommy!" and quickly caught him mid-fall. He watched him with wide eyes, worried about his state.

"Tommy, it's not easy to experience a near-death experience," he said softly to the unconscious man in his arms. Picking him up, he walked to the couch and sat down with him. Before laying Thomas down, he let a blue pillow float onto his lap and then he laid Thomas' head on it. With a light movement of his hand, a large blanket appeared on Thomas, covering him.

Michendros caressed his cheek for a bit.

"I'd like to help you, but then again, you'd be angry with me if I did something to your head. This will take some time, then."

Michendros put his hand on Thomas' shoulder, securing him. Thomas' questions from before were all valid. Of course it seemes weird to the magician that Michendros treats him the way he does after what had happened. But Michendros couldn't help himself.

"Just look at you," he said quietly and sighed. Michendros sat there for a few minutes like that, watching Thomas sleep. Why does it hurt me to see you like this, Tommy.

Michendros' thoughts drifted away for a bit and then returned to Thomas. Maybe I know you from somewhere, what do you think, Tommy? Maybe I met you some time ago.

Suddenly, Thomas started to shift around a bit and then opened his eyes, only to freeze again.

"I am sorry," Michendros began, "I just wanted to keep a close eye on you. You have the tendency to fall a lot," he smiled innocently.

Thomas still silently stared at the bearded man who started to feel guilty.

"I-I fainted?" Thomas suddenly said in a weak voice.

"Yeah."

"Oh."

"Your pizza's almost done," Michendros changed the topic and Thomas sat up, touching the blanket.

"Thanks," Thomas said quietly and started standing up which made Michendros shot up as well and dilligently watched Thomas if he were to lose balance again.

"I am fine," Thomas reassured him, noticing Michendros' alertness.

When they came to the kitchen, the overpowering smell of fresh pizza hit Thomas' nose immediately and he felt saliva bulding up in his mouth.

"Go sit down at the dining table there," Michendros commanded, keeping his tone light, "I'll take it out."

Thomas obeyed and dragged himself to the chair. Mich cut up the pizza into 12 triangles and served it to Thomas, putting a glass of water next to it too. Thomas grabbed a slice as soon as it was laid down, ready to take a bite. Michendros walked back to the bar where he left his glass of wine and took a sip.

"What are you doing?" Thomas asked without taking the first bite.

"Finishing my glass, what about you?"

"You are not going to eat?"

"Well... it's for you. Not for me."

"I want you to have some, too," Thomas insisted.

"No worries, go ahead and eat," Michendros smiled at him, taking another sip.

"No. If you aren't eating it neither am I," Thomas said stubbornly and turned away from the steamy pizza that made his stomach grumble.

"Tommy..."

The blue-eyed magician was about to stand up from the chair but stopped when he saw that Michendros walked over and took a seat as well. He put down the glass of wine and picked up a slice, taking a large bite.

Thomas didn't say anything and returned to his piece which he laid down before and started to eat it hastily.

It didn't take long and the pizza was gone. Michendros paid attention to eat less than Thomas but everytime Thomas finished a slice, he wouldn't take another before Michendros did so, too.

Thomas drank the whole glass of water and placed it back carefully, avoiding Mich's gaze who kept watching him all this time.

"It took my about a half a year to prepare," Thomas quietly said, "after I found out that Stiles isn't really Stiles... I didn't see everything, but I saw enough. Some of his memories were so bloody..."

"You can read minds?" Michendros wondered and laid his head onto his palm, watching Thomas with interest.

"Hm... that's one of the reasons why I was the 'prodigy'. I don't know since when... but I remember being taught about you two. Usually the words demons or monsters were used to describe you. The coven was delighted when I informed about Sti-... Stolos. And I was, too. They cheered me, I was basicaly a celebrity... All the women were trying to get my attention, the men wanted to be like me. It felt good. And I thought that I was working on something big. Everytime at work, I sat at my desk which was in front of Stolos' and wrote down this song... I didn't understand what it said so it took me long to get it right. I only knew what it could do - partly. Stolos' mind is a wild place. So many languages as well. It was kind of astonishing.

And then it happened. You came, the song worked... We were all thrilled. It felt like catching a wild animal. Finally, a step closer to safety, you know? I... I didn't think you could feel pain... not even when conscious... the elders told that to us. That you aren't human. Just stealing looks to fit in.

So... so when you were down... Stolos and the rest fled and... we took out the saws," Thomas breathing deepened at that memory and paused for a bit. "And... I knew that I gotta finish it. I was the role model after all. My mother watched me do it with a smile. It took hours I think... I started with that arm," Thomas nodded to Mich's left shoulder without meeting his eyes who haven't left Thomas's face since he started talking, "I was so tired from the spell... When I finally broke through the joint and... moved on to the next arm... I couldn't do it anymore. I was exhausted. So some other members finished it for me. I went to sleep right away. That's how Credence also found me - lying in bed... and the rest you know."

Michendros didn't say a word and just kept watching the man in front of him. Thomas felt a bit uncomfortable and stood up, taking away the plate and went to wash it into the sink.

"You know," Michendros said, being unexpectedly closer to him than Thomas thought. He looked up from the sink and shut off the water. Michendros placed his empty glass down on the kitchen counter and searched for Thomas' eyes.

"This might be even our fault anyways. Stolos and I didn't have a problem with being a bit... violent. We were brought up as soldiers after all. And let's say that everything wasn't that cultivated back then... People got killed pretty often. We usually had this strategy to always leave one man to tell the tale... so nobody would dare to look for us, let alone fight us. There was always some 'brave' group of people who did it anyways. Always one survived, though. I guess that has been a mistake in hindsight, but you learn from your mistakes eventually.

And one day it also came to your coven. They were much stronger in comparison to today's members... no offense. I think we went home from a tavern or something, actually having a good time. And there they appeared, ready to strike. Stolos being the one quick to act, he scorched the bunch on his side without hesitation. He usually goes for fire when he's in combat."

Michendros noticed Thomas' face that seemed to desire an explanation.

"He was once born a fire bender. It's a part of him naturally. It's pretty cool, actually. It requires mastering some sort of techniques so when he does it, it's pretty impressive," he acknowledged his little brother.

"And you are a fire bender, too?" Thomas asked quietly, again finding himself interested in Michendros' past.

"Yeah, no. I was born as a non-bender. But my sister was a water bender. Also cool. At first I was a bit bumped out about it but then I learned proper swordmanship so I got my courage back," Michendros laughed shortly before returning to his story, "so... yeah. These guys were on fire and when the rest tried to attack Stolos... I sort of turned them inside out. Stolos noticed that and let one of the burning fire killing the man extinguish, leaving him alive... well, barely."

Thomas stared at Michendros, not sure what to say.

"Well... I don't want to compete with you or anything. My point is that my actions have lead us here probably. And I ended up meeting you in this very odd way. I am not mad about it, though.

When I... got together again, I was staggered by the fact that somebody even dared to do this to me," Michendros chuckled, "Nobody tried to pull something like this in centuries. So, that's why I was so interested in you. Who was this person who build up enough courage to do so? And then I a saw you for the first time. I was surprised by your beauty, honestly. I was thinking, well, why not look into him a bit more, maybe even teach him something. I really have a lotta time on my hands anyways - and as I said before... I am a bit lonely. I knew that you were terrified of me and there was little chance of getting your trust, but hey. Worth a try. And then we talked on my bench... And I really enjoyed being with you.

When Allison, thankfully, noticed the strangeness of your messages, I felt desperate when I couldn't find you. I thought I might won't even be able to..."

Thomas looked away and wrapped his arms around himself.

"Don't worry, though. You said it loud and clear in the morning. You have no interest in me, so I won't push myself onto you, alright?"

Thomas glanced up again to meet Michendros' warm eyes observing him. "Push yourself onto me?" Thomas repeated slowly.

"I mean my feelings," Michendros said and apologitelly raised his hands.

"Why are you telling me this if you don't want me to be scared of you, then?" Thomas asked after a while.

"Well, you already think the worst of me," Michendros grinned, "I don't see a reason to pretend anything. And I like it actually, it's nice to be so open with someone besides Stolos. And as I said before, I believe saying the truth makes one more trustworthy," Michendros said and shrugged.

I don't think the worst of you anymore, Thomas thought and watched Michendros open the fridge, taking out a bottle of wine.