Roots

We don't choose our family and they don't choose us, but we learn to go get along. Mostly. All it takes is one wrong ingredient to spoil a bake. All it takes is one wrong person to wreck a family. Forever.

Siblings were meant to argue and fight, that was just human nature. Although the fights can be brutal, your siblings are your best friends , They know so much about you. Even how you'd react with certain things , as if you were merely a chemical. Your siblings know what your nature is, and that they can use against you. But if they truly care for you they won't. My younger brother didn't care for me, he was jealous. Always. I loved him and helped him and he turned against me, using those weaknesses he learned over years forced to live as a functioning family. He worshipped the Dark Gods, despite all we said. He choose to hunt not for food but for pleasure. The thrill of the kill. I taught him how to fight and he learned all he could about me in those times. He knew I was an angry man and when I got angry my magic flew out my mind - all I wanted was to give the person's throat a good, tight hug. I still do, though punching is becoming much more fun.

I had an older brother, he helped me with everything, slipped me extra food, taught me the best ways to fight. I though I was being nice teaching my younger brother, but that was the first mistake I made. He was a complete sociopath and was always the outsider, living always so close yet so distant.

We looked different too. Me and the yougest sister both had the green/ grey eyes of our father, while my oldest sister (who was still younger than me) and my two brothers had the green eyes my mother had. They always suited her, with the dark brown hair all but the yougest son had. He had the jet black hair.

When it came time to choose our names, the final piece clicked into place. The final piece we buried under lies of growing up and struggles of a 17th century life.

I took Skulduggery Pleasant. My older brother took Brogen Edge , my sisters took Phoebe Stalk and Lena Moon (oldest and youngest respectively) but my younger brother took a name I will never forget as long as I walk this earth. He took Nefarian Serpine.

I told Valkyrie once that my family made my crest mean something. They did. All besides me and that snake of a brother. Serpine. Serpentine. A characteristic that resembles a snake...