Anubis: Weighing of the Heart

[Daerune]

Vaelin

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Solitude, It was something that often healed his wounds, taking the time away to think about what has happened, away from all the outside influences. It had been months since his encounter with his brother and even longer since he had last seen his dear sister. Continuously he tapped the glass bottle he held against the metal platform he sat on, due to both a lack of consideration and his mind focusing elsewhere the force increased shattering the bottom of the bottle which snapped him back to reality. He lifted the remainder of the bottle and then pitched down to look at the glass and liquid on the ground before letting the neck of the bottle drop as he stood up. His mind continued to maul over his brothers words, while his reason wished to give him the chance his intuition continued keep him off kilter.

“Ship signal detected: Anubis - Combat vessel, Osiris class. Approach vector, ETA One hour thirty four minutes.”

He knew who was coming and inside he was rather apprehensive, as much as he knew about his sister understanding him he often entertained the idea that one day she would be angry wit him. She was a rock to him in many ways and one he avoided for the apprehension that he weighed her life down. Unlike him she had been capable of putting the past behind her and moving on from it while he was stuck in his ways, reluctant to give up what was familiar or if it was his path in life he didn’t know and something his sister seemed to leave well enough alone. A small shudder trembled through the ship as the mooring ports connected. Omega handled all the protocols needed. Vaelin had relocated himself to the small living quarters of his ship where he had spent most of his time, although he didn’t admit it he enjoyed having a small place disconnected from everywhere which only one person could invade it. He heard her familiar footsteps before he saw her.

“I’m okay.” He prompted before she fully swang into view. his head turned to her as he was laid out on the bed, consuming most of the sitting space.

With the room on the bed mostly consumed, Mira instead moved to sit on his stomach, slightly dropping down causing him to flinch somewhat. “So anything but?” She questioned as she lent down to kiss his forehead before righting herself.

He rolled his eyes and entwined his own fingers together and rested them over his chest. He did not often admit it the contact of his twin often found a way to steady his mind. “Well we have gone over on occasion what that word really means.” He rested his head against the pillow and closed his eyes. ”I can’t settle my mind on my brother, I want to be able to forgive him but.” He let his words fall off.

“But your intuition begs you otherwise?” She moved a hand down to ruffle in his hair and noticed the tension from his shoulders settle. “You should have come home brother.”

The disappointment in her voice enthralled him a pang of guilt, a soft frown. “Yea - I know.”He admitted reluctantly. “But, I didn’t want you to deal with this, again.” He twisted his head slightly to displace her hand.

She retracted her hand and set it on her lap. “You are too concerned about the ethics that you still yourself in the present. You just need to be yourself.” She laid down against his side and wrapped her arms around him as he did in turn. “You’ve never been one to follow your mind, trying to now.” she closed her eyes and let her words trail off.

His eyes remained closed as he hugged Mira something they use to do as children - they had a bond as any twin did and even their own language. “Mistakes are how people get hurt and I know nobody's perfect but I can’t be faulted for trying.”

“You can, when you lie to yourself so much that you are no longer you - You do what you believe is right, not what you think is right.” She nuzzled her head into his neck.

“I am just conflicted, he’s our brother and I am not as sure of him as I was once before at least not in my mind. I’ve condemned myself to kill him but where does that leave him to turn to.” He turned his head down to rest his chin on the crown of her head.

“Stop being who you’re not and start being who you are.” She sighing softly she relaxed herself into him. “You aren’t the monster you think you are in your head, you are too worried about that. That you don’t do what is necessary. You will never be the person you aim to be.” She knew her words would hurt him. “I wish he could be saved.”

Vaelin’s eyes opened slowly to gaze across at his sister. His mind swam with fogginess, he had never been a morning person. He listened to her calm breathing and kissed the her forehead as he got out of the bed and pulled the blankets over her shoulders. There was a simple tradition between them, the cooking of eggs and bacon between two slabs of buttered bread. To most it would seem like a small thing but this was the meal they shared together when they were reunited after being separated as children. After moving from the kitchen he went to the cockpit of the ship and activated all the systems, briefly information flooded the panels, he moved his hand to the back of his neck turning on the neural up-link. What had been on the monitors hang before his eyes as he stared off into the distance, blinking a few times his attention turned from it and his vision turned back to normal. He set the ship on a pursuit course of the Anubis as he moved to collect his sister from the bedding quarter, a droid collected their food. His sister had always been a wisp of a thing, the grace of a dancer and to him a representation of life. His own thoughts on his life how ever fashioned him as a reaper and someone who was inclined to end life.

A lot of things had been on his mind lately, not just the issues with his brother but the morality of it brought up by one of the snows. Truthfully he didn’t see it from the angle, as such it was more of the opposite that it was a responsibility for him to stop his brother from harming others even if it meant ending his life. What also troubled him was the actions of those who were supposedly his allies, he had wished to serve with them towards a better future but it had seemed that his previous thoughts about the nomads were anything but true. Having once been a high ranking Order agent even before the formation of the Order primary fleet, he had training in recognizing temperament changes and these changes he noticed in himself. An increase fondness for the nomads and his malevolent attitude towards humans, they were beyond his own personal core. He was not one to be loyal based on the past but on the present and as days had passed his mind had undone the knots. He regarded the nomads with less enthusiasm than when he had first stepped back into the madness that was the Omicrons. He had always been the type to be loyal to the people in the group and less so to the group on that principle alone. He still held onto the memory of the nomad he had encountered in times past, which held more of a business friendship than an actual friendship. They had benefited each other and had in ways coexisted, something which had not repeated itself here.

He set Mira down into her bed. She had a few bits of furniture in her room which he would often lounge on at times as he waited for her to wake in the past. He had always been more restless than her and his sleep was often on broken patterns that sometimes didn’t allow for him to achieve a resting state again. He placed the two dishes of food in a heat preservation module. The one thing he believed he did right in life was the protection of his sister, there was much he regretted and a lot of it was something he didn’t believe there was atonement for.

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