FF Drakon and Apollo's backstory

Part 1: Drakon/Artemis’s POV

Wooden swords clashed together as two children fought, dodging each other’s wooden blades    and trying to ruin each other’s balance. Soon, the elder brother’s sword poked into his younger brother’s stomach, forcing him to fall over, laughing.

“You beat me!! Again!! That’s not fair!” Artemis giggled as Apollo tackled him.

“Well, I’m the eldest. Of course I’m gonna be stronger.” Apollo told him, getting up and reaching his hand to offer Artemis some help getting up.

“Only by two years!” Drakon accepted Artemis’s hand, hoisting himself up.

Artemis had just turned 10, while Apollo was 12.

“Two years makes a big difference,” Apollo pointed out, walking over to the corner of the tent and sitting on a couple pillows.

Artemis walked over, sitting next to him and leaning on his shoulder. “You need to teach me to be strong like you. I need to protect myself one day.”

Apollo thought for a moment. “Well, I could teach you some lessons next month. That’s when I’m gonna be less busy.”

“I wanna learn NOWWWWW,” Artemis complained.

Artemis’s loud complaining alerted their mother, Lady Victoria, head of the Fallen Flower camp, who peeked into their tent and hushed them fiercely. “I told you to go to bed - Artemis, if you do not behave, you will be sleeping outside in the cold.”

Artemis blinked and went silent, nodding obediently. He knew mom didn’t like him well. She even said herself that he was a curse. The day he was born, everything went wrong. Father went missing and raids on the camp from Ruby Slayers became more frequent.

As soon as their mom disappeared, Artemis sighed and hung his shoulders.

Apollo wrapped his arm around his brother supportingly. “Well, number one thing about being strong like me - you gotta be strong in HERE.” He said, poking Artemis’s chest and then his head.

“Eh? I gotta grow a big chest and head?”

“NO, silly, your HEART and BRAIN.” Apollo laughed quietly. “You need to be strong, both here and there. You need to toughen up against the world. You gotta love yourself and ignore all the hate from the world. You need to be CONFIDENT. Letting people get you down is gonna make you weak.”

“That doesn’t make sense. Don’t you have to grow muscles and be smart to be strong?” Artemis said.

Apollo sighed. “You’ll get it when you’re older.”

“You’re only two years older than I am, why do you act so mature?? I should be able to get it!!”

“I dunno. Maybe I’m just more mature than you are,” Apollo shrugged, elbowing his younger brother.

“Well, whatever. In the meantime, I trust you to fight for me, being my older brother and all.” Artemis shrugged and leaned back into Apollo’s shoulder, closing his eyes.

“Of course. I’ll always fight for you,” Apollo reassured him.

“Promise?”

“Promise.”

—---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Months passed, and Apollo lived up to his promise to teach Artemis some of his sword fighting techniques, even if it was a few months late. The two brothers were fighting out in the clearing with dull wooden swords.

Artemis had to do a lot of convincing to let Apollo bring them out to a secluded area to practice - due to the rise in activity of Ruby Slayers around camp, it was forbidden to leave camp. But the only secluded place for training was OUTSIDE of camp. Artemis told Apollo that Ruby Slayer activity was recorded at night most of the time anyway, so it was fine.

Artemis dodged an attack by his older brother, nearly losing his balance. Apollo’s sword aimed for his head, which he quickly blocked with his own sword, then forcefully slammed his older brother’s sword to the ground, giving him enough time to stab Apollo in the chest.

Apollo looked surprised, staggered back, and flopped to the ground dramatically. “Aaaaaa you got me!! Ouchie!”

Artemis giggled and helped Apollo up from the ground. “My first time beating you! Wooo!”

“Yea, congrats,” Apollo smiled, brushing his clothes off from dirt. “But that was just luck. You caught me with my guard down, that’s all.”

“Oh, pfft, you’re just embarrassed that I beat you,” Artemis rolled his eyes. “You don’t wanna admit defeat.”

“No! That is NOT the case,” Apollo elbowed his brother jokingly and laughed. “Ok, why don’t we take a break? I’m hungry.”

“What? But we JUST began training!!”

“For like, an hour! I’m tired!” Apollo pointed out. “C’mon, let’s grab something to eat.”

Artemis shook his head. “I’m not hungry. You go back to camp, I’ll practice by myself here.”

“No way, it’s dangerous out here!” Apollo refused.

“I promise I’ll be ok. We’re really close to camp, and if I call for help, you’ll be able to hear it. And also, I probably won't need to call for help because it is COMPLETELY SAFE. Ruby Slayers tend to wander around here at night anyway! They’ll get caught easily during the day.”

Apollo hesitated for a moment. “But… oh, alright. Whatever. I’ll be quick.” He said, running off from the clearing.

Artemis smiled contently and swung his sword around. He’d upgraded to a bigger wooden sword, but it was slightly heavy for his young body, so he was a little clumsy with it. He stopped for a moment, thinking of a move where he could twirl around for dramatic effect and hit his opponent with his sword from above. He tried it, but ended up losing balance as he spun and fell. He laughed a little and got back up, continuing his practice.

Minutes went by, and Apollo still hadn’t come back. Artemis figured he was probably feeding himself and continued when he heard a twig snap behind him. Before he could turn and see what had made the noise, strong arms wrapped around him tightly and snatched him from the clearing. Artemis let out a surprised yelp before a dirty hand clasped over his mouth and muffled his protests.

He was dragged through the forest for a minute before they ended up in a tight area full of tall trees. Large adults surrounded them, and Artemis’s eyes widened when he saw their marks. Ruby Slayer marks.

“Another kid? You kidnapped ANOTHER KID?? What about the adults? Weren’t there any lone adults??” A Ruby Slayer said in a frustrated tone.

“We need more recruits. The leader said anyone will do. If this kid doesn’t work out, we’ll just throw him out or kill him or something,” Another voice pointed out. “We can’t risk putting him back in the camp and alerting the Fallen Flowers of more Ruby Slayer activity. It’ll be harder to sneak people out of camp then.”

“Whatever. Let’s just get this kid back to camp and inject him quickly.”

Artemiskicked and squirmed at his capturer’s grasp, hoping to get free. But Ruby Slayers were much stronger than he anticipated.

A sudden familiar voice rang out. “Hey! Bastards! Let my brother go!”

“Apollo!!” Artemis managed to say as his captor unmuffled his mouth. “Help!”

The Ruby Slayer across them gave Artemis’s captor a nasty look. “I told you to make sure you weren’t followed! Idiot.”

“Let my brother go,” Apollo said, holding up his large wooden sword and swinging it threateningly.

The Ruby Slayers looked at each other in unison and laughed. “Whatcha gonna do, slay us all? You have big dreams, kid. Give them up.”

“I BELIEVE IN YOU APOLLO!!!” Artemis shouted. “BEAT THEIR ASSES!”

Apollo glanced over at Artemis, and something flashed in his eyes. He wasn’t sure what it was.

Apollo took in a deep breath and lunged forward at one of the Ruby Slayers, unbalancing them as they let their guard down. However, the Ruby Slayer managed to stand their ground and pushed Apollo back. The other Ruby Slayers took a step back, as the fight began.

The Ruby Slayer Apollo had unbalanced glared at him, then hesitated. “Hey, kid, let’s make a deal - you seem a lot less… pathetic than your younger brother here-”

“HEY!” Artemis let out an offended yelp.

“So, if you agree to trade yourself in, we’ll let go of your brother here.”

“That’s a STUPID deal. C’mon, Apollo, beat them up!!” Artemis cheered.

Apollo hesitated. He glanced over at Artemis, then at the Ruby Slayers, then dropped his sword. “Sure.”

“What?? No, Apollo, fight back!! Do SOMETHING!” Artemis protested, squirming.

Apollo gave Artemis a sad smile. “Sorry, little dude. I can’t fight back this time. I’m outnumbered.”

“What?? At least TRY!! I believe in you!”

“I… Can’t.”

“Why?!”

“I just CAN’T!” Apollo shouted, angry tears forming in his eyes. “It’s my fault you got captured here, and now we’re outnumbered and I just.. I need to do this. I need you to be safe.”

Artemis stared at his older brother and his eyes blurred a little as tears formed. “But… You promised… To always fight back…”

He watched as the Ruby Slayers escorted Apollo away, leaving Artemis and his captor in the forest alone. Minutes went by, Drakon continuing to shout and kick in the Ruby Slayer’s arms, until eventually they let go of him.

The Ruby Slayer began to walk away. Artemis, shocked, followed. “HEY! Give me my brother back!! I’ll kill you if you don’t! I swear I’ll kill you!”

“Get back to your camp, or I’ll have to knock you out to keep you from following me,” the Ruby Slayer growled.

“Fine!! Hit me, do whatever! I want my brother BACK!”

The Ruby Slayer whirled around, hitting Artemis in the head and sending him into darkness as he collapsed to the forest floor.

When Artemis woke up, he was in a warm orange-lit medicine tent. “A… Apollo?” He said, trying to sit up, but the nurse forced him back down.

“Shh, quiet, hon. You suffered some head injury. You need to rest.” The nurse quieted him. She put an ice bag on his forehead before leaving the tent.

Artemis looked around the tent, hoping to see Apollo, but he only caught the glimpse of his mother’s angry eyes.

“Mom?? Where is he? Is Apollo here?”

“No, damnit, you cursed him, child. It’s your fault he’s gone.” Victoria hissed, glancing away from her youngest son’s bruised face. “Tssk.”

Artemis stared at her in disbelief, tears welling up in his eyes. I… No, I didn’t curse him. It wasn’t my fault… I didn’t mean to… I didn’t try to…

No. Maybe it was his fault. Maybe he was a curse. A damned curse he couldn’t be rid of. It was all his fault.