If he were any other person, he'd be dead. He'd be beaten blue and bloody, burned alive for all Lua cared, skinned and hanged. If he were any other person. But he was his own brother. Someone who could tip the scales of Dhulka's fragile and fleeting peace.

So Lua did nothing. Because, doing something put lives at risk. And he wouldn't allow anymore people to die under his care. He'd play his brother's oblivious little puppet, for as long as he had to.

"You've barely touched your food," Huo said, sitting across the ridiculously long dinner table. "Are you not feeling well, brother?"

Lua released his clenched fists under the table. Scraped the bottom of porcelain bowl for the deepest scoop he could get. But his appetite was absent and the cold soup scratched his throat like sand.

"I feel just fine," Lua managed to spit out. The most coherent words he could utter.

"You know Lua," Huo began, narrowing his eyes. "You've been acting strange since we were reunited. You seem different. What happened while I was gone?"

Lua clenched his jaw so hard he feared he'd shatter his teeth. "Different how?"

Huo shrugged. "You were always the first one to throw a punch, and the last one as well if I might add. But now you seem calmer, more forgiving."

It was all her. The man Lua was now, was all because of the blind princess who saved his life. He allowed himself to calm down. "There's strength in  acknowledging your weaknesses and I confess my anger is a burden my heart is too weak to carry."

"Is that why you weren't angry when I told you how our own father killed our mother?"

Lua met Huo's gaze. He saw his father dying at Huo's hands. He saw his mother dying at his father's hands. And only one of those he believed was true. "It was no surprise. I always suspected you were different. For father to have killed mother over this, only proved how much more of the hateful man I knew he was."

Whether it was true or not, Lua knew he would've believed Huo. Every bit of his story, he'd eat it up like a dog would another dog's vomit. At least the old Lua would. He'd learned to stop, and step back to consider the other side before he threw a fist. Lua never would've thought he'd be grateful a broken bridge injured him and he'd been washed into another world.

"You've grown, brother." Fondness filled Huo's gaze. There was no doubt Huo loved Lua, Lua could see that as plain as day. But Huo wasn't himself. And he hadn't been since Huo had 'died' that night. "You're no longer the little boy who cried during thunderstorms. But you grew up too fast. Took up responsibilities too soon. I wished you'd took the time to be a kid. I wish father never forced us to become warriors so soon."

Lua shook his head. "What has happened has happened, there's no point regretting now."

A knock resounded through the vast dining room, redirecting the brothers' attention to the door. Naulo stood there as still as a statue and as emotionless as one too. Lua found her eerie and strange, and reminded him of her father, the Cadit Chief himself.

"Forgive me master." She bowed. "I thought you were alone."

"No, no, it's only Lua and I." Huo smiled and stood. "Come on in, why don't you join us."

She shook her head. "Thank you but I must decline. I've only come to report of the princess's treatment."

Lua felt the anger creep back into his veins. He planted his feet firmly into the floor and clenched his fists on his lap.

"I was able to heal her bruises and her physical well-being seems to be at its best. That is all." She turned away when Huo spoke again.

"What about her scars?" A storm of emotions brewed behind Huo's eyes. "What can you do about them?"

Naulo shook her head. Without a drop of emotion, "there's nothing I can do about it." And then she was gone.

"What—" Lua shouldn't have but he couldn't stop now. "What of her scars? Do they bother you?"

"No, no." Huo shook his head. He seemed almost, regretful. "I just thought that she might want them gone."

Chair legs screeched against tile. Lua stood and walked away. Because if he spent a second longer in his brother's presence one of them would've been dead and it wouldn't be Lua.

He made his way to his quarters, all the while keeping his anger at bay as best he could. Until he was far enough and he couldn't any longer.

He slammed his fist into the earth wall. Again and again, a hundred times and more. Anyone, anyone at all, and Lua wouldn't have cared, but Huo touched her, hurt her and after all he did tried to act like he cared for her. But he hated himself even more, because he couldn't help or protect her, he wasn't there when she needed him most.

He laid his head against the cold brick wall and watched the blood slip out the cracked skin of his knuckles and drip down his fingers.

She'd worry.

He pushed himself away and forced himself to stop sulking. She needed him now more than ever.

He made for the bathroom as soon as he entered his quarters. The bathroom lights flickered when he switched them on but thought nothing of it and went to rinse the blood off his hands. He only realized something was wrong when he saw that the door had been closed.

Lua froze, his gaze easing its way to the mirror. A fist swung towards his head from behind. Lua ducked and slammed an elbow into his attacker. He swung around, gripping the basin as he planted his foot square in his attacker's chest.

The stranger crashed into the wall. But before Lua could land another blow, the man lunged, taking Lua by his leg and hoisting him into the air. Lua saw black before he felt the pain of glass shattering on his head.

Lua struck the man's head but he held onto Lua as hard as he could and smashed through the glass plane of the shower enclosure. Glass rained down on Lua before he smacked into the wall.

The back of Lua's head pulsed with a violent ache as his senses blurred. His heartbeat filled his ears and he only saw black as cold water slid down his skin, igniting a million tiny pinpricks on his head. Water dripped into his open mouth and he tasted iron on his tongue. He wasn't dead yet. His fist closed around a shard of glass, forcing him back into the fight.

A foot struck him in the chest. Lua bit down on the pain. The next impact that came, Lua closed his arms around his attacker's leg and stuck the shard behind his knee. The man cried out. Lua turned him by his leg as he crashed face first into the floor. Lua kneeled on his spine and twisted his arm back only then realizing that one of his hands was made of metal. "You're"—

The assailant twisted under Lua when he let his guard down. A metal fist swept Lua across the face. Consciousness flickered. His body rose into the air, dangling. Then he was held against the wall. Cold metal pressed into the side of his hip where his old wound had just healed and a scream ripped out of Lua.

The dim morning sun slowly washed the room in an orange light. Lua met a set of fierce eyes over a dark peice of clothing that hid the rest of his face. Eyes that undoubtedly belonged to a certain bull.

"Why?" Lua coughed out. "Why are you doing this?"

"Why do you think?" The bull sneered. "Your people, your kind, have destroyed Dhulka. Innocent people taken, killed, tortured, after all we did to get you back. We never should've trusted you, I should've never let her trust you."

"You're wrong, she did the right thing trusting me. If she had never shown me kindness, I'd be worse off then I am now."

The bull shook his head. He'd fallen past the depths of despair and nothing could bring him back. "I should've killed you when I had the chance. But I won't because you're going to take me to her."

"I can't." It pained him to but he had no choice. "Not yet, she's safe where she is. Trust me."

"Why should I?" The metal dug deeper into Lua's old wound, a slight push away from ripping him open again. "Why should I ever trust you again, after what you did?"

"Because she would. Because she knows I would try my best even if I failed. Because she cares about me and I care about her."

"You think she'd forgive you after what your people did to her home, to her family, her father? If this is anything, this is revenge on her behalf. Because she'd hate you, she'd want you dead."

His side throbbed with pain like an old memory. Lua shook his head. Breathing had become a hassle. He chose his words carefully. "You know that isn't true. You of all people know she wouldn't think that way. You know her best and you know how strong she is."

The bull hesitated. Lua saw his mind clear. Reason and logic returning to him. All along he had been controlled by anger and vengeance. "Tell me where she is."

"It's best she stays where she is, I swear I'll never let anything happen to her."

"No, you tell me where she is or I kill you now."

"Before the invasion, the king had her kept somewhere safe. I found her and I was able to keep her from being killed. But she's guarded all the time. You'll never get to her, even if you try. And if you do try, you'd only be putting her in danger."

"I won't leave without her."

"Listen to me will you!" Lua caught him by the collars. "I'm on your side. Your home wasn't the only one invaded. My people were killed too, my father murdered, I hate these people as much as you. But I can't take them all on my own, and you can't either. We need each other, but you have to trust me. I need you elsewhere, I can't have you get killed or caught. The princess will be safe in my care. I'd die before she dies and kill for her if I have to. Now are you willing to listen to what I have planned?"

"Why?" The bull growled. "Why would I ever trust you to to protect her?"

"Because she saved my life. Because she's so good, so kind, so sweet, she's so beautiful. Because she's the best thing that ever happened to me." Lua struggled for a breath. "And I want to protect her for however long I can."

The bull understood. And Lua knew he felt the same, he'd do anything to keep her safe too. "What do you need me to do?"

"Go to the Underbelly, find Vaya. Tell her I'm on your side. Tell her I'll meet with her soon."

The bull stepped back, pulled the door open. "If I find out anything happened to her, anything at all, I will hunt you down and kill you if it's the last thing I do."

Lua would do the same if he were in his position. But for now he had to lie, because Lua couldn't let himself be killed yet. Not until he made everything right again.

~~~

Dowda woke in a shabby little room, with awfully dull wallpaper and a bed too small and too hard to be his. He wasn't in his room that was for sure. And he wasn't in his own clothes as well. The left side of his body throbbed and a migraine hindered his thought process and kept him from further investigation.

"You're awake," came a familiar voice. Then the face of his wife, Yano. She was concerned, happy, and sad all at once. "You're finally awake."

"Where," Dowda let out, "am I?"

"We're in the Underbelly, I managed to get us here after you were injured. We barely made it out alive." Tears filled her eyes. "But we did."

"What?" His last memories blurred together like static. "What happened?"

"The surface dwellers, they invaded Dhulka. Don't you remember?"

He shook his head. "What about Father? The others? How much of Dhulka has been taken over?"

"The King," she practically choked the words out, "the King was executed. We haven't heard from your siblings as well. And all of Dhulka has been taken over except for the Underbelly."

"No." Dowda threw off the sheets to find that his left leg twisted an odd direction. Horror flashed across his face. He climbed out of bed, only to fall face first onto the floor. Yano sat him up against the bed, tears streaming down her face as she did.

"I'm sorry Dowda. I'm sorry."

"Why are you sorry? What did you do to be sorry for?" Dowda snapped. "It's all their fault. It's all Father's fault, if he'd never let that surface dweller go we wouldn't be in this position."

A/n: ollo, do comment your thoughts and whatever else u feel like commenting. Theories, ships, anything random but related to the story.