Goodbye Apathy

[Satine]

Satine avoided over-thinking. It got her through a lot of the shit they made her do to 'prove herself' and her loyalty to the goddamn dark king. Drake Nightshade. What a despicably common storybook name. Like something ripped straight out of a bad fantasy book. It wasn't his real name, she'd bet. Not Drake Nightshade, when he was born a fae. Maybe it was something fruity like Rainbow Joy McSparklepants, and he wanted to get as far away from that as possible. (That was the stupid name she gave the villain in one of her childhood stories, the ones she made up with Rhys back when he was still innocent, before he Fell.)

And really, neither was Satine her real name. It was a name she made for herself because she wanted to distance this monster that she had become from the pure-hearted little girl she used to be. Back when she thought she was their real daughter, that Rhys was her real little brother, and when she hoped one day for her own wings to grow—so that they could be taken from her. The world had a bad way of crushing hopes and dreams. It had a way of grinding certain people down to dust.

But hey, what was the point of bitching and moaning? Satine got shit done. She was no one to be fucked with and the two wolves that Rhys pointed silently out to her were going to learn that the hard way. Satine made a half-circle in the air with her index; she would go one way, Rhys could go another. They'd trap them in a classic pincer movement. With a little crooked grin, she was gone. Adrenaline surged through her body as she sprinted at top speed along the side of the ravine, hidden by a screen of trees.

Where the trees thinned out, she sprang out, daggers drawn. Satine took a flying leap and landed on the back of one of the wolves. Sure sign of a Feral—they were much bigger than the ordinary wolf. More like wolves on steriods. One of her daggers sank into the thick fur at the back of its neck; it let out a sharp yowl and immediately tried to buck her, whipping its slavering, snapping jaws around. Satine let out a growl of her own as the other dagger flashed like a blur through the air, stabbing indiscriminately.

She just wanted to see the blood and the fur fly. To feel the life ebbing from that strong wolf's body. Its companion was already springing at her, jaws bared and howling, but Satine knew Rhys would have her back.

[Rhys McCabe]

Just like that, there was their prey. Satine went around one way and Rhys the other; there was no way their quarry was getting away from them, he thought with a sense of grim satisfaction.

Satine didn't go easy on the wolf once she came at it--and it really didn't see her coming. The other wolf came at her, its snarling mouth ready to latch onto her--right before Rhys came at it, his dark magic slinging directly at its throat and pulling it back and away from Satine almost as if it had been roped in. As the wolf went tumbling onto its back, Rhys leapt atop it and his hand came down onto its throat.

The corruption, the corrosion was strong. The wolf began to struggle more at first and then... as the dark touch really sank in like a deadly poison, it began to go limp. It twitched a few times in its death throes and then it was out, dead and gone. Rhys could feel its energy--it went directly from the wolf and into Rhys, making him stronger, giving him a boost of much needed energy.

He felt his heartbeat quicken and even with his hand still wrapped around the wolf's throat, he threw back his head and closed his eyes, letting the feeling of its energy invigorate him. Then, after a moment, he got up, giving the now dead wolf a hard, vicious kick so that it rolled down the nearby hill, body limp and useless. He turned towards Satine, his eyes flashing red for a few seconds. His hand flexed a little where he'd grasped the wolf.

"You always did like it as bloody as possible," he said, regarding her handiwork.

[Satine]

"Well you gotta show your work, Rhys," Satine said with a short laugh, rising from the dead wolf with a quick wipe at her face. Blood smeared all over her, all down her front, but it was nothing a good shower wouldn't fix. Besides, was she hurting for money? Not really. She could buy new clothes to replace the ones that were ruined. Human money was basically printed paper, anyway.

"Feel better?" She walked over after kicking hers down the side of the ravine too, watching it rolling only briefly. Rhys looked invigorated. That brought another smile to her face as she patted him on the back (with a bloody hand) and then she paused. "Hey. Is that...?"

A little Seek-Me floated towards them, playfully doing loops in the air. It stopped before Rhys, tinkling in a happy kind of way, and presented him with a letter.

"The hell? Who'd send you a letter out here?"

[Rhys McCabe]

"Yes, actually."

He felt much better, with new power coursing through him. The wolf he'd killed was barely spared a glance as he smirked. Yes. Much, much better. And then he was alerted to something as Satine voiced her question. Looking up, he saw the Seek-Me and raised a brow. Okay. Who was sending him a missive?

It seemed like Satine was wondering the same thing.

Taking it, Rhys saw that it was obviously addressed to him. Mildly curious, he opened it and instantly regretted it. He should have recognized the writing immediately. He frowned, skimming it. This was no time to actually read it, though. Not in front of Satine. Quickly, he stuffed it into his pocket.

"...I should get back to work."

He didn't even ask if Satine was finished here or not. They could have hunted a lot more than they did but... He was suddenly not in the mood. He stalked back through the woods. Why was that idiot sending him a damn letter? Now he was leaving a paper trail!

[Satine]

"Aaaalll right," Satine said slowly, watching Rhys stalk back towards the car in a terrible mood. An actual terrible mood, hm? Not merely vague annoyance or faint irritation? No scorn? No blase dismissal of whatever it was that he had read? Going back to work surely didn't demand this level of... reaction.

She followed him at a more leisurely pace, watching him with keen eyes. Something—someone—had gotten through to him. Satine didn't know what to make of it. She didn't read the letter and didn't see the writing, so she didn't know who sent it, but she thought that they were... dangerous. If Rhys wanted to remain the heir to his father's throne, that person was dangerous to him.

"Hey," she said as she caught up to him at the car, unlocking it. "You're sure everything's okay? You can still tell me things, you know. I'm your sister."

And she was here for him no matter what, no matter where their lives diverged. Satine turned the key in the ignition and pulled away from the woods, back onto the highway.

[Rhys McCabe]

Like what? What could he tell her? Satine might be his sister but there were things he couldn't even tell her; it was too dangerous. The things she could do with this kind of information... He got into the car, and all the good feeling he felt from killing that damned wolf was gone. Like it never happened.

He... wanted to talk. It was a strange feeling. When did he last feel like this? He couldn't remember. Maybe never. But he wanted desperately to rant about it, to get it out into the air, to hear that he wasn't nuts for feeling so beyond pissed about everything to do with this situation. But who could he really trust?

The letter felt like it was burning a whole through his pocket, too. Even what he skimmed was enough to put him in an awful mood. He could only imagine how he'd feel if he pulled it out and tried to read it in its entirety.

Looking over at Satine, he considered it. Saying something. Her loyalties to his father weren't that... unbreakable. In fact, sometimes he believed she outright hated his guts, despite remaining mostly quiet about it. But this job out here, probably a test for her, it probably only made her that much less loyal.

"It's that idiot, Raphael," he said after a moment. "He's not doing his job."

[Satine]

Ah. Raphael. That little servant boy with the name and face of an angel, he stuck out like a sore thumb. Satine heard he was something of a joke, really—nobody took him seriously. He was always saying dangerous things, things that could get people killed if they weren't careful enough. And yet he was sent along on this trip. He came with Rhys and Keith, both very capable assassins and trusted extensions of the King's rule.

Whose protection did he enjoy?

"Raphael not doing his job is pissing you off? To that degree?" Satine snorted softly. Right. And she was born yesterday. Either it wasn't Raphael or it was, and something else happened. She thought back to the pause earlier, when she first met Rhys, when he couldn't even come out to say, in one breath, that he'd sent his servant out.

Was it the job? A job of a personal nature? Possible...

"Just kill him. If he's not doing his job, he's worthless. Father will send a replacement for you, it's not as if that's difficult." Satine side-eyed him. Why hadn't Rhys killed him, if he was that much trouble? She couldn't imagine it would be hard. But then she thought... of Raphael, his eyes on Rhys the last time she saw them together, the over-eager way he ran for refreshments, tea, coffee, how he hovered...

[Rhys McCabe]

"No... I suppose it's not."

She couldn't be trusted with it. The fact that she brought up their father... Maybe her loyalties were still too deeply entrenched in their family. It made sense; she probably wanted to show him that she was worthy of his attention. If she did well here, she would show she was on par with any fairy. If Rhys said anything, she would probably be more than happy to reveal the truth to him.

"Just drop me off at my... place," he said. Although he'd been staying there for a few months, it still didn't feel like his place. It definitely didn't feel like home. "I need to talk to Keith."

[Satine]

"All right."

Satine didn't ask, didn't prod, didn't push for answers. This conversation was over--for both of them. That was the way it had to be for now, she thought not without a tinge of sadness. Rhys used to trust her with all of his secrets; now they were so distant. There were shades of their past selves inside, but too much time had passed between then and now.

The drive back was mostly quiet; Satine had her own thoughts to contend with and her answers were mostly monosyllabic and uninformative. In front of the apartment building she put the brake on, then after some thought leaned over and slid her arms around Rhys for a loose hug.

"Good luck, Rhys. I mean it." Satne pulled back with one of her rarer smiles--a warm smile she reserved only for him. "Don't do anything I wouldn't do, all right?"