Simony - Tumblr Posts
I love playing the brothers in a minor key, in the key of angst.
Simony
Summary:
Rafal was fed up with Rhian’s delusions of True Love. After the Vulcan fiasco, after following where the stories go at night, after seeing Gavaldon, Rafal reaches his breaking-point sooner in Rise, and decides to confront Rhian.
This is a canon-divergent fic, by the way.
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Simony (noun) = the buying or selling of something spiritual or closely connected with the spiritual.
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When Rafal returned to the Schools, still in an unrecognizable state after the brothers’ renovations, he knew he had to find Rhian, to communicate. Yet, there stood Good, pompous like a cathedral.
Rafal paced outside the glinting castle for a moment. His brother had sold himself out, twice, for faithless, unworthy lovers, and he’d tarnished himself and his soul in the process.
Rhian was his perpetual foil. Rafal always had to clean up his brother’s messes, do the dirty work his brother wouldn’t deign to do, stain his soul when his brother wouldn’t sully his hands. Wrap up everything when Rhian couldn’t.
He flung open the doors to Good’s foyer, and headed down an oddly vacant glass hall to another chamber, where he had sighted Rhian. With a conversation he would cast out Hook, purge one brother of impurities, and confirm the Evil of the other.
The wall of glass before him shone, the row of lancet windows casting long shadows. Rhian looked ethereal in the light, like a spirit.
His golden, wild-haired double turned to him. “Rafal?”
“Of course you’re here. The ringleader of the corrupt Evers,” Rafal said staidly, too drained to deal with false pretenses. “Where’s your right hand?”
Rhian paused. “Here, with me.”
There Rhian was, seeming as pure and untainted as perfectly blown glass. The walls behind him looked more the pure white of sugar glass, with distortions and cracks. He was backlit by the light streaming through the high, arched windows, haloed by it even. The dust motes swirled like powdered sugar. His soul was not unmarred, but it wasn’t stained irrevocably, unforgivably. He was marked by only cheating.
Rhian cut a striking figure albeit a dark one, with his face shadowed. Meanwhile, Rafal stood opposite him, not bathed in light but shrouded in shadows. With his suit that matched Rhian’s, Rafal stood out. Earlier, Rhian had doffed his royal blue jacket, and now, he only wore his white shirt, buttoned at the sternum, collar shielding his throat. On the dimmer side of the room, Rafal looked a smear of soot, sore and scalded.
He stepped forward and Rhian shrank from him. Rafal felt like he’d been impaled.
Rhian’s face crumpled, and he spoke. “I wish you’d stop attacking me and antagonizing your students. Even the Storian is on Good’s side, and it must have a reason.”
Rafal's head spun as the harsh light glared, illuminating Rhian. Yet, it obscured him in shadow. Even this grandeur and light had forsaken him, just like the Storian and its tales. The Pen always abandoned Evil, condemned it. Rejected and denounced the Evil brother. Always. He was hurt, not the villain. He was reactive—trying to prevent the downfall of the Schools and felled by his supposedly virtuous brother—this couldn't be an Attack.
Rhian’s hands shook as he continued. “I’ve only tried to improve Good. To bring glory to my Evers’ tales.”
“And what's all this? A new School, or a vanity project?” Rafal spat.
Rhian shook, more intensely than before.
“I was never consulted, so I shouldn't need to seek your permission for any changes I'll make to my Schools.”
Rhian recoiled, and his vitriol struck Rafal like live coals. “Your Schools? You abandoned them. And me.”
Rafal’s hands were cold, as always, he supposed. Rhian's voice was weak and sputtering out now, like a smoldering match, the last embers of warmth. His brother had always been his beacon, keeping him in check.
“I fix everything.” Rafal berated. “And then what? Do I get any credit? I don’t care whether I do. I don’t care what anyone thinks of me. But I’d appreciate basic respect for what I stand for. Yet, you seem to weigh the value of your life against what your reputation is. One day, you’ll let your precious Ever followers, the standard-bearers, the bards, the minstrels, wax poetic about you, write epics, compose ballads. Do you want your subordinates to hail and herald you like a martyr, Rhian? Like you’re Good’s one and only savior?
“I don’t believe it. You're too vain. You frame me as the one to be hated and scorned. A role I've been relegated to. To let rot and turn to dust in the storybooks. Why do you think I moved all of Evil’s tales to the upper shelves of our office?
Not all Nevers are villains. I may be a Never and a villain, but I never thought I'd be your villain. Oh, you underestimate how much the students revile and fear me.” His jaw tightened.
Rhian withdrew further under his incisive gaze. Rafal was always more perceptive than he gave him credit for.
"And, you've sold yourself out in the process of chasing your infatuations. You've betrayed your own soul, Rhian, and me. You've lost your true nature, your integrity and my trust.” Rafal stilled, swallowed, and continued on. “You've been corrupted. You've discarded your true nature and better judgment, for a man who ultimately betrayed you, and another who, who doesn’t have your best intentions at heart.”
“How would you know?” Rhian blared.
Rafal took another step forward, thrust out an arm, and blasted Rhian back onto the floor. Approaching smoothly, he loomed over Rhian, and hooked his hand under Rhian’s chin, lifting it to meet his gelid eyes. “I almost drowned to know that which you don’t.” He dropped his hand, and Rhian’s head nodded forward like a sodden mass.
Rhian quailed in Rafal’s grip. Rafal’s suit flickered to black for a moment, burnt and blackened, a scorched figure against the white, and Rhian shook his head vaguely, as if to dislodge water. Surely, he was hallucinating.
Rafal’s hand quivered, like he’d been singed. His eyes seared as if he were about to be burned to death, by the heat of his own built-up resentment and his brother’s corruption that he failed to prevent. He was hollow and numb, like an effigy. Yet, there seemed to be something off in his brother as well. Rafal’s heart throbbed with simultaneous fear and purpose.
His vision was momentarily veiled. Under the harsh, white light, all the flaws and rot beneath the surface of their relationship were laid bare. They were a specter of what they’d once been. Rafal’s face went dead cold.
And then, clarity in denial:
“I'm not Evil—I can't be," Rhian choked.
“And I'm not Good. I wasn’t, even when I had you.” Rafal’s finger burned with a black glow, blotting out the light in the echoing, empty room. He shot a Stun Spell at Rhian.
“I don't want to die.”
Rafal seized one of Rhian’s wrists to keep him from moving. “You’re human, Rhian,” Rafal said as he touched his brother’s face gently. “As in mortal.” He drew a dagger from his side, and held it steady above Rhian’s heart.
“No, Rafal! I forgive you. I love you,” Rhian gasped.
“And I loved you.” Rafal plunged the dagger cleanly into Rhian’s heart as Rhian stirred one last time. The rise and fall of Rhian’s chest quickened. His blood pooled when Rafal removed the dagger. His heart kept pumping regularly but rapidly, to compensate for the blood loss until it stopped.
Rhian’s body splintered into pure, golden light, dissipating in the air.
The burning, bright blue sky was unsettlingly placid as Rafal fled Good. The idyllic landscape around him unleashed a torrent of nausea in Rafal’s throat, for everything else in the world looked right, as it should. Right and good and balanced. No one had yet realized what changed.
It was The End. The End of Ends. For all of time. At least it had an End. Their tale has closed. It had been open for too long, he knew. He’d see The End printed on his tale’s last page soon enough.
Then, Rafal crossed over from Good, and stared at his reflection in Evil’s moat. Its dark waters undulated languidly like the Savage Sea in miniature. His gelid resolve died. Immediately, remorse flooded him. His face broke from its calcified expression. Rafal’s eyes widened. He couldn’t grasp his actions. He could only think of his stained, bloodied hands, and his brother’s stab wound welling up with blood. His jaw pulsed from having tensed it, and his face had gone white at the black depths of his soul.
His hands were pale, shaking, and blue-veined. What had he done? The only person who had ever loved him, gone. Because of him. His blind rage hadn’t been tempered or balanced by his equal as it always had been. No, Rhian brought this upon himself. He’d not placated Rafal. That was Rhian’s role, to appease his temperamental twin. But why was it that the instant Rafal left, he'd lost control? Was Rafal just as responsible for keeping his brother in check as well? His eyes burned and his windpipe closed. Then that meant he’d interfered with the Balance. That it was his fault. Not solely Rhian’s. Searing rage at himself compressed his chest. He couldn’t breathe.
The Storian would make him pay the price for his original sin. Because, Good and Evil relied on each other as much as they were locked in eternal war. And the brothers had breached their blood-sealed vow. The vow that overrode that war, and sustained the Balance. The very Balance he’d fought so long and hard to protect. That he’d destroyed in one, singular, rash move.
Rafal had been stupidly short-sighted for all his knowledge of the prophecy. All for the want of a truce. All for the want of an apology. All through the fault of a bet. The fate of the Woods had ridden on the outcome of a bet. A simple, petty, childish bet. Imagine that. What a tale. Staked on something so small and insignificant, blown out of proportion.
What were they now? Brothers torn asunder. Once pillars, that stood for Good and Evil. Stable and constant. Once equals. And now? Nothing. Nothing at all.
Love had burned Rafal, every time, like a sorcerer of the New tales, lashed to a stake.
There he sat, eyes burning with tears. And there he sat, never to trust again. Not anyone. Not even himself.
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Note:
If it's not obvious, and I didn’t explain it well enough, Rhian violated the Balance. And, the Balance was the sacred thing that was sold. Because Rhian sold himself out, meaning, his true self, or what his true self was meant to be, the image of Good. He might have once been saintly and pious, but now, not so much.
Songs I was inspired by:
“Fearing and Loathing” by Marina
“the last beautiful thing I saw is the thing that blinded me” by Paris Paloma
#deathfic, #fratricide, #rhian martyr fic
Alternate title I considered: “Original Sins and Simony.” Because it would have been the pair of them I considered. Yet, I thought “Simony” was more impactful alone.
This whole thing was written for the sake of narrative parallels. And highly specific imagery. And for the drama and mood. I’m not trying to be melodramatic. I’m just giving the situation the grievous graveness I thought it deserved, with actual drama, if it comes across the way I intended.
I'd love to know your thoughts and reactions, and receive feedback in general.
Also, this is mostly based on memory and a gradual outline. I’ve had this concept for a long time, and didn’t go back to check Rise. So please forgive any errors. Though, if you notice any errors, kindly let me know, so I can fix them.
Lastly, did anyone catch my reference to book one? Comment below what it was to see if you got it. I’ll reveal it a bit later.
A Cut Epilogue from "Simony"
Here, I present you with a scrapped epilogue to “Simony” that didn’t quite fit in the fic, or meld well with my characterization of Rafal. His murder of Rhian is supposed to be uncalculated and driven by unrestrained emotion, and it comes across as planned in this:
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The Evil intent, the injurious intent, festered in Rafal’s heart since Rhian had wounded him with his words at the start of the year. Rhian hadn’t paused to see how he’d hurt Rafal. To see how Evil would be useless, futile, lack all purpose to live if everyone was reformed to Good. Did Rhian ever spare a thought as to how he’d affect the other side? And look at his brother. His own brother. A revelation, Rafal thought bitterly. A walking contradiction of the waking world. In other words, for Good, not for Balance like he’d once vowed.
For the sake of the Woods, they’d better not judge by appearances again. Yet, that was how it continued, year after year. The tales became predictable, the bound tomes piling up like stones in his tower.
All the princesses were the same. Vapid but virtuous and beautiful, as beautiful as they were virtuous. It didn’t console him to know that all the lovers would become graves in time.
All the villains were the same. Rafal was more than a bit unnerved, but as such was how the tales went: they were as ugly as they were wicked, and they were woefully sore losers. Every new crop of Nevers was worse, more hideous, incompetent, and pitiable than the last. And just as unloveable as he was. Not that any love was worth the effort. Better to teach them they were incapable of love from the beginning.
"Simony" Analysis and Trivia
If anyone’s interested, this is just a look behind the curtain of my thought process surrounding “Simony,” my speculative, Fall prediction fic. Except, it takes place during Rise, if an alternate series of events were to occur. I would suggest reading my fic before reading this post if you haven't, so you aren’t confused.
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Rhian looked ethereal in the light, like a spirit. - Foreshadowing his death.
The walls behind him looked more the pure white of sugar glass, with distortions and cracks. - Imagery to represent Good’s and Rhian’s corruption.
There’s a lot of light-and-dark, black-and-white, shadow-and-sun imagery. This was intentional because I wanted a literal Halo Effect to apply to Rhian as people who are attractive are often judged as more innocent and honorable. At the same time, he’s also being backlit, so a shadow is cast on his face, to signify his turn. Additionally, when I described him from Rafal’s perspective across the room, I not only wanted to emphasize attractiveness but light that could burn out your corneas, if given the chance. Hence, how Rafal would react to the glaring light. He’d probably squint, or not be able to look at it head on. I also have in mind how when you narrow your eyes at light, you tend to see alternating flashes of red and black in your field of vision. So, that could also extend to literally “seeing red,” conveying anger.
Rafal’s figurative “death” of the soul is by burning alive. I repeatedly used the word burn and the adjacent imagery to signify this. This idea is also associated with the persecution of Evil in the tales through burning witches on pyres.
Rhian’s death is by “drowning,” in a way. He may have choked on his own blood, or I’d prefer the interpretation of Rafal’s fatal blow to the heart ending his life, to serve symbolism around matters of the heart. Rhian’s own figurative heart could have proven fatal one day, if he fell in love with someone worse. Even Vulcan was about to kill him. Also, drowning is the same fate Rafal would have had if he had lost to James Hook in the sea.
When Rafal says: “Where’s your right hand?” I originally intended for it to just be a way to ask Rhian: “Where’s your second-in-command (meaning: Dean Hook)?” The phrase right hand would have been interchangeable with any synonym. Though coincidentally, I discovered that this was an unintentionally fitting choice of words. The original Captain Hook’s right hand in Peter and Wendy was replaced by a hook, so Rhian’s figurative “right hand” has been replaced by a Hook, James Hook.
Rafal felt like he’d been impaled. - A reference to Rafal’s sacrifice in Rise.
“I fix everything.” Rafal berated. “And then what? Do I get any credit? I don’t care whether I do.” - I let Rafal be a hypocrite here because it humanizes him. (Rhian gets his hypocritical moment in the sun later. It’s meant to showcase that they’re both in the wrong.) I think it shows how skewed his perspective has become, maybe, ’cause he does want recognition? But anyway, Rafal is far gone, too steeped in his pride (and his probable superiority complex) as compared to canon Rafal.
Do you want your subordinates to hail and herald you like a martyr, Rhian? - Foreshadowing Rhian’s death, again.
To let rot and turn to dust in the storybooks. - A reference to Rafal’s demise in TLEA.
Approaching smoothly, he loomed over Rhian, and hooked his hand under Rhian’s chin, - A reference to James Hook.
“I almost drowned to know that which you don’t.” He dropped his hand, and Rhian’s head nodded forward like a sodden mass. - Drowning, heavy imagery, and the effects of Rhian's magic-induced paralysis.
Rhian quailed in Rafal’s grip. - Rafal’s bird motif.
Rafal’s suit flickered to black for a moment, burnt and blackened, a scorched figure against the white, and Rhian shook his head vaguely, as if to dislodge water. Surely, he was hallucinating. - Another reference to Rafal’s burning-to-ash death in TLEA, foreshadowing Rafal wearing all-black eventually, and drowning imagery.
He was hollow and numb, like an effigy. - A reference to how Rafal’s influence caused Sophie to feel emotionally-numb in TLEA, except this time it's his own soul cooling. Also, burning imagery in the bit about the effigy.
They were a specter of what they’d once been. - Rhian’s ghost foreshadowing.
And then, clarity in denial:
“I'm not Evil—I can't be," Rhian choked.
“And I'm not Good. I wasn’t, even when I had you.” Rafal’s finger burned with a black glow, blotting out the light in the echoing, empty room. He shot a Stun Spell at Rhian.
“I don't want to die.”
Rafal seized one of Rhian’s wrists to keep him from moving. “You’re human, Rhian,” Rafal said as he touched his brother’s face gently. “As in mortal.” He drew a dagger from his side, and held it steady above Rhian’s heart.
Did anyone catch this book 1 reference I alluded to?
This whole section is a backwards version of Agatha and Sophie’s final conversation in book 1 as Sophie dies. If it’s not a callback, then it’s a “call-forward.” First, Sophie gets over her delusions of Goodness and her denial of her Evil, at least partly by the end. Here, Rhian never has the time for that revelation. Agatha tells Sophie that she’s not Evil, she’s human, and brings her back to life. I decided to have Rafal use a spin on the familiar words. To echo them in a more sinister way because he’s paralyzed Rhian, and is about to kill him, not revive him. Thus, the meaning of human was twisted.
“No, Rafal! I forgive you. I love you,” Rhian gasped. - Time for Rhian’s hypocritical moment! He’s trying to follow the Rules (Defend. Forgive. Help. Give. Love.) again in a slapdash way because he’s desperate to bridge the rift between him and Rafal. It’s too little, too late. This was his mistake. And, he’s coming from the wrong angle because he still believes he’s in the right, and that he’s the victim. To be fair, he is now. But, if anything, what Rafal wants is an apology from him. Though, they should both apologize, really.
Rhian’s body splintered into pure, golden light, dissipating in the air. - A reference to Rhian’s soul during the Circus of Talents. Also, it seemed fitting for him to return to magic, being a sorcerer himself.
The burning, bright blue sky - The imagery of Rafal's surroundings is intended to be unsettling because I think most murders take place under dreary, bleak, overcast skies, or any time the weather is poor, for obvious mirroring of the mood. Yet, a pleasant summer sky would make it seem like Rafal’s murder was impact-less, and hopefully, it would hurt him more to see that nothing has changed, except their relationship and his own internal conflict. In fact, probably something had to stay the same to reveal the internal turmoil and the changes to Rafal’s psyche. I just thought it made for a better contrast.
his face had gone white at the black depths of his soul. - Black and white imagery. And, now, Rafal has to play both roles himself, as one School Master ruling both Evers and Nevers without anyone to mediate him. This also acts as a tribute to the swans of the School crest.
His hands were pale, shaking, and blue-veined. - A nod to James Hook’s blue blood.
Once pillars, that stood for Good and Evil. Stable and constant. - I compared the brothers to pillars because I wanted the act of fratricide to feel like an act of seismic effects/proportions, shaking the Woods to its very core, overturning all existing structures and the preconceived notions of Good and Evil.
Also, I tried to mimic the mood/tone in book 1 from that scene where rain washes the glitter out of Sophie’s skin, and Agatha leaves her, taking the umbrella or something. There’s a rift between the two, and Agatha basically refuses to help Sophie anymore until Sophie listens to her, or helps herself.
Love had burned Rafal, every time, like a sorcerer of the New tales, lashed to a stake. - Burning imagery. Foreshadowing to what Rafal believes the new tales will be like because he's secured Evil’s losing streak. Also, a reference to the New Evil regime in TLEA.
Aside from “Fear and Loathing” by MARINA which I thought fit thematically, I think “the last beautiful thing I saw is the thing that blinded me” has visceral imagery that matched the concept of my imagery. Overall, the song is haunting, cinematic, and climatic.
My foot fell upon your grave
Like a pressure point
Hidden beneath the soil
Down came sheets of pouring hail
I sheltered in a church's arch within
From the shards of glass falling so pale
And I look up, and saw the sun
It separated all the colors
And the ice, into my eyes
It fell and left me blind
That was the last thing that I saw:
The fractured glass and its downpour
I felt the blood mix with the water
And I didn't see no more
The white light features here, as well as the ice in the person’s eyes. I connected this to the figurative ice in Rafal’s eyes. Also, the last beautiful sight a person has blinding them could refer to both Rafal’s “death” and Rhian’s death. They both see the other in their final seconds together, and the remnants of their beautiful relationship before Rafal resorts to extremist actions, subscribing to the weird, self-fulfilling, tragic prophecy that he neglected to tell Rhian about.
I was tempted to include more diction with religious connotations altogether, but mostly, I left it at cathedral and martyr. I thought acolytes in place of followers would be unsubtle, and a stretch to be in character with Rafal’s brand of mocking.
I also almost kept a reference to August Sader in how Rafal could have had a thought about how his brother was under his nose this whole time, his nemesis. And, how they were in a fairy tale. Anything could happen in a fairy tale. But, it felt too intentional, like he had a plan, and reasoning to back it up. So, it had to be cut. Rafal’s decision to kill Rhian was meant to be more of a split-second, impulsive one.
Fic Covers
My fic covers so far. They can be read on tumblr, wattpad, or AO3.
The fourth is an AU oneshot coming soon. Any guesses as to its premise?