Just Four Walls and a Roof

Ty asked the meaning of the word, and Astraios mulled it over for a moment or two. His mother had not known him awake when she had first spoken the word, and when he had whispered a soft question to her later, she had been reluctant to explain it to him. “It’s a piece of my past. It was the name given to the one that had forced us from our home. To my mother, it meant defeat. To him, it had meant victory, conqueror. Perhaps now it’s come full circle, and it would be our future, as us the victors.” He spoke so little about his past, the memory burning cinders against his skin. Searing holes across the barriers he built to protect himself, poking holes in his riddled heart.

He gave Ty this word with double meaning, reminding his father of the promise he had made him. Astraios wanted, needed, to become the victor. To hold sway over the one who had killed his mother, and to take his time ripping the man apart. To conquer the conquerors.

Rai did not think himself bloodthirsty or cruel, in fact, he would be uncertain what made up the core of him past the memory of his mother and the pain disguised as a need for revenge. With a little nurture perhaps he could become good. With a little guidance, and a hard road ahead, he could become something great.