After the blood had been cleared from his airways; after Shell had patched him up and Spoon had babied him, Pine didn't want to be touched. Each time somebody would lay a hand on him, he'd shrug them off, refusing to accept their sympathy.
He felt as though his insides were just one muddled heap of flesh and excrement. With the smell of wood-smoke and heavy rain thick in his nostrils, Pine watched his brother storm off into the sheets of precipitation, heart thrumming angrily in his chest. The eldest twin chinobo clutched what was left behind after the argument they had shared. The battle of tongues had ended, leaving him feeling just as mutilated as before. The emotions were raw and simmered in his chest, all becoming far too clear within his head.
He refused to deny it now.
Sightless in one eye, he was, and not only that... but he was deeply envious of his brother.
Pine was envious of his passion, envious of his drive and his strength-- he was envious of the fear Slate had brought to the colony, envious of his new love, envious of how close he was with their sister and how their leader respected him and his even his little pet.
His brother was his worst enemy.
Tilting his good optic down toward the strands of auburn that had been left behind by his father's spear, he gritted his teeth and felt his muscles tremble before finally tightening his steel grip around them. They were the colour of fire, the colour of inferno, the colour of burning autumn. The hair was the exact hue that Koba had once come to love, despite it having belonged to the species he had loathed for so long. Pine's coat rose along his spine.
He hunched over and brought the strands of fiery tangerine closer to his broad and bruised chest.
Slate would learn.
He was going to burn him. He was going to burn the heart out of him.
YOU ARE READING
Not Like You (The Simian Forest Saga: Vol. I)
Adventure"The rain grew colder, the canopy enamoured and blushing even deeper shades of auburn and gold. The tension was growing and the entirety of the large ape colony knew that it would snap at a moment's notice. They were all waiting-- waiting for someth...
