there's fire in your blood [iden's jb]

Blood is the price for betrayal.

The taste of iron upon his tongue is enough to set his skin on fire. Every single reason is heavy in the air; anger boiling over to a point of no return. He's blown everything up to the sky, edges of a frayed family exposed to the empty walls of the justice building. Brothers only by blood. Born with a legacy of ruin beneath their feet. Iden's enjoying the fire of it all. The taste of blood upon his tongue as Pascal throws a fist at him. A collision of those words hanging through the air once more. A pitiful feeling of emerging from the tattered smoke of their own love in order to protect Pascal from the monster that lurks behind gold and ice.

"Nothing? Seriously? Does our blood mean nothing? Does our past mean nothing to you?"

The feeling stings with the numbness starting to fade over his arm where a heavy punch had been thrown in complete blinding anger. Feelings handled with bruised knuckles instead of words. Large slashes along their bodies from the desire to solve everything with training. Brothers to the end, even when the world is burning around them. The thought of everything before makes Iden sick. Barely managing to keep his eyes up and strong in the presence of his own brother standing on the other side fuming from the scene just minutes ago. The taste of metal tricking from his tongue and onto the floor makes him continue the entirety of the metaphorical ash raining around them.

"We're nothing more than servant and master. Isn't that what daddy taught you?"

Blood swirls as the first comes harder, this time colliding with his face, the sound of ringing in his ears and the swelling of pain already bursting outwards. Jostling around his brain inside his head, Iden revels in the feeling. The high of it all burning through his system. All of this pain was his form of protection. Sacrifices to be made in order to let Pascal forget about him. Let their father win for the final time only to take away anything he deserved. Iden would come home with a crown to burn his own father. The taste of blood meant Pascal's future would be filled with hope.

"Iden... You and I both know you've always been my brother. I had a plan. I was going to win for us. I-I-I...."

It burns to laugh, letting the blood trickle down his nose as he releases the feeling of his own cage breaking. Extending himself fully in his newfound freedom, ignoring the pain beating in his chest and the tears that want to fall. A society of the rich and the people beneath them still rings in his ears. The care his own half brother gave him, but truly never saw the minute details of differences sitting between them. The glances from a father and a mother who dared to find any reason to throw him to the wolves. Death glaring from outside of his peripheral always waiting for a simple mistake to be made. Take it. His head supplies through it all. A fist to the skull once more, eye swelling at the impact. TAKE IT! His head is shouting. The emptiness burns more than the half full feeling of the past.

"What? You don't think I can win, Pascal? After all the training you put me through. You think your daddy is still right about you?" The words are harsh. The anger in Pascal's eyes burning through his body. A feeling of fear bubbling in his chest, but he stands as tall as his mother once had in the face of death. Knife through her heart as she smiled down to him, just barely old enough to think for himself. "You were going to win for yourself. Not for me. I choose my own path. I deserve better. I'll be better. That's my choice."

There's a pause in Pascal. A simple look of surprise as he can see Pascal's eyes following the smile upon his own lips. The taste of blood and fire in his body, the licking of pain through his body as he takes hit after hit, but nothing more comes. The anger dissipating between them for just a moment as he can feel Pascal understanding what's changing between them. Love doesn't flourish without care, but Iden's found ways to let it grow over the years. Underneath the filth that lays in gold and silver, buried between the floorboards until it seeps into the entire place. Pascal would never understand fully what he's been through, but there's always been an unspeakable brotherly bond that Iden has never quite understood.

"You don't get to decide I'm a lost cause. Not anymore. You've lost the right to. You're nothing to me. So go back to Daddy's Manor, I have a crown to earn."

The words hold heavy in the air before the sound of splintering would sounds as a chair breaks across from him. Anger burnt into fists as they collide over and over with his body. You deserve this pain. His thoughts begin to burn through his skin, echoing in the sharpness of the pain. It's for his own good. The sound of blood being coughed up onto the floor as another fist collides with his face. The swelling of his eyes continues and he can feel the eyes of Peacekeepers desperately trying to stop Pascal. Another pair of eyes behind the door smiling down at them. I have to protect him.

"I-It's fine. I-I deserve it, o-officers. I-I can take it."

Splitting their bond apart was the only way to please Mr. Averill in the end. Who needs an heir trapped in the past? Iden's own blood was apart of the deal. Break their bond and leave behind nothing more than ash to come home to. Freedom comes with a price for someone like him. The taste of iron on his lips is enough of a sign that there was love here. A sibling who desperately wanted to protect him at all cost. Iden would pay Pascal back tenfold when he would receive his crown from the Capitol. A quest to ruin everything Mr. Averill has. A legacy to his own mother who died with whore wrapped around her name, burned to the depths of her soul. All of this pain would be the fire in his veins. The blood spilling from his lips would be the foundation of his love, the first step towards paying a price so deep even the devil himself would watch. The final words he can hear are muffled by the sound of his own ears throbbing in pain.

"Iden! You better fucking make it back here you fucking bastard. I swear to all that is unholy if you don't make it back, I'll burn it all without you, asshole."

A promise is never to be left unsaid.

The blood on his lips curves up in a smile as the Peacekeepers drag his half brother away; a whisper on his lips.

"You promise, brother?"