Bastards & Heirs

5 - Beatings & Brothers

"I – I don't think I should, uh..." Sirius tried to come up with a response to his mother's odd request.

This had to be some kind of trap, he knew it. But by the way she was looking at him, he decided it was safer to do as told. Sirius lunged forward a bit as he took his hit, not using his full strength but not fully holding back either. Walburga simply pivoted her own staff to block him, despite being so much small, she seemed to easily overpower him. The woman then shoved her leg forward and kicked him enough for him to stumble, before she rounded again and hit him square in his stomach with as much force as she could. Sirius stumbled back quite a bit, letting out a grunt as he was hit. He continued fighting back, despite most of his hit attempts being blocked.

Walburga didn't hesitate as they continued, taking every hit that she could before finally knocking him to the ground. She held her staff above him, like a sword. Sirius didn't move, laying on his back and propping himself up by his elbows. He was breathing heavily as he stared up at Walburga, exhausted and defeated. Walburga rolled her eyes.

"Pathetic," she sneered, walking away from him, "Regulus, hand me that". The brother stood, handing his own staff over. "We'll take this even more slowly for you." She then kicked Sirius in his side and barked, "Get up".

Sirius huffed a bit as he was kicked, scrambling to his feet.

"Is there really a reason for me to be doing this?" he questioned, speaking out of turn again.

"Not everything is about you, arrogant prat." Walburga snapped and hit him with the staff again for speaking. She then looked to Regulus. "Now, you two will spar," she set Regulus's staff aside, and kicked Sirius's over to him. He sighed, biting his lip a bit as he leaned over to pick up the staff. Sirius stood, not daring to make the first move — this time, he'd focus on defending himself.

Regulus moved into a stance, tilting his head when Sirius didn't immediately move. "Begin!" Walburga growled and Regulus ducked around Sirius' staff, kicking him in the knee. Sirius cursed a bit too loudly before taking his own hit at Regulus, one that wasn't very effective. He spent more time blocking than actually attacking. Regulus caught the staff when Sirius threw it his way, twisting instead of tugging, before kicking him square in the chest. He then pushed Sirius' staff upward, knocking straight into his jaw. He stumbled back more, grabbing his jaw for a minute.

Sirius then suddenly froze, looked his brother up and down, then sprinted in the opposite direction

Regulus watched him sprint off for a moment, unimpressed, before he took off after him. It didn't take much to latch onto him, using his knees to force him face-first into the arena dirt. "What the hell are you doing?" Regulus hissed quietly.

Sirius hit the ground with a groan before turning his head to the side. "I don't want to fucking do this," he snapped back in a whisper shout, "Get off of me".

"It's worse if you don't try," Regulus said under his breath. He rolled off of him and dropped the staff, standing up.

Walburga appeared utterly unconvinced by the whispering. "I didn't ask you to chitchat, I asked you to fight," she looked at Sirius, "I know you're pathetic but this is even too much for you". She kicked him again. "Get up and show us a real fight. We can do this all day."

"Why the hell do you even want us to fight?" Sirius grumbled, brushing himself off as he stood up

"I didn't ask for your stupid questions," Walburga growled as she slapped him. "Nothing teaches you to stop being insolent, does it? You just-" the woman cut herself off, "The reason we're here? Fine, let's get on with it. Get your weapons out".

He hesitated before pulling his sword out, an uneasy feeling sweeping over him. Regulus silently unsheathed two blades from his sides, watching his brother for a moment.

"Don't hold back," Walburga dismissed, stepping back.

The younger brother didn't make the first move this time, instead taking a step to the side. The elder was still uneasy for a moment before taking a deep breath and going all in, lunging forwards towards his younger counterpart.

Regulus ducked, twisting away, and took a slice at his hand as he did. He stood to the side now and didn't appear to hold the same uneasiness that Sirius did. Sirius pulled his hand back with a hiss, just barely blocking the next move. Sirius charged at Regulus yet again, aiming for his shoulder. Regulus ducked to the side with an almost offending motion. He didn't move completely from his path, trying to trip the other man. It nearly worked — though he didn't fall to the ground, he didn't stumble and he barely caught his balance in time. That put him behind Regulus, and he did the first thing that came to mind. He dropped his sword, tackled him from the back... then bit his neck.

Regulus grunted quietly, but didn't speak. He went pliant for a moment, angling his blades as he fell so that they were lying flat. Barely a moment later, he ripped into Sirius' hand with his teeth- he went for the uninjured one and used enough force to draw blood. Sirius let out a small sound of pain as his teeth left Regulus's neck, leaving marks on the flesh. He dug his nails into his brother's scalp before tugging on his hair, hard. Regulus hissed, angling himself to the side and shoving his boney elbow straight into the other's sternum and pushing against him with an angry amount of force. He made a choking noise, the blow knocking him off of Regulus and onto his back. Sirius still had a grip on his hair, though. Regulus breathed out once, sharply, and then shoved his head backwards as fast as he could straight into Sirius' face. He shoved his blade upwards, slicing across the other's fingers.

"What the fuck — " Sirius yelped out, pulling his hand away. Now, both his hands were bleeding out. He kicked his brother in attempts to get him away.

Regulus jerked forward with the kick, but caught himself with the drag of metal against dirt. He was still for a second before he contorted his body around like some kind of demon and tackled Sirius to the ground. This time, they were face to face. Regulus dug his knees into the dirt at his brother's side and pulled his blades upward until they were hovering just over his throat. He looked wild and pissed off, eyes flaming and Sirius' blood dripping down his face.

Sirius didn't move, swallowing hard and trying to get his face and neck as low to the ground as possible. "Reg," he spoke quietly, more of a plead than anything else. He knew Regulus wouldn't kill him, but... that thought wasn't at the forefront of his mind at that moment. Fear would get the best of him.

The quiet word caused a small falter in the other's expression. The intense look in his brother's eyes melted away into a void, and the blades were quickly retracted and sheathed again. Regulus stood up without speaking, hand drifting to the blood but his eyes staying on Sirius.

Walburga walked over and didn't look in the least bit pleased. "That took far too long and there were far too many theatrics," she listed off, but took in the thoroughly traumatized faces of her children. That seemed to bring her some satisfaction. "But at least you did something," she sneered at Sirius, grabbing Regulus by the shoulder. He didn't flinch at the contact to his neck.

"This is why we don't take pity. Pity is weakness and it will may you just as pathetic as the scum you give it to." It would be a surprise if she didn't spit on Sirius right then.

Sirius took a deep breath as he stood up, looking down to examine the cuts surrounding his hands and parts of his wrists. "I really should go clean this up, I'll get blood everywhere — "

"How many times must I say!" Walburga backhanded her eldest son, releasing Regulus to grab Sirius by his already injured wrist. "What you'll do is stay here and clean up this arena- at least it has some value to me, you on the other hand..." the woman squeezed his wrist. "You'll go to the infirmary when I'm done with you. Until then, figure it out." She let go of his wrist and wiped her hand down like he held some kind of germs. "Get to it."