Inyocha didn't attack.
He didn't scream. He didn't rage.
He just... stood there, his eyes distant, his hands trembling, while the Whisperer poured poison into his mind.
Lee saw it happening saw the darkness in Inyocha's chest growing, spreading, threatening to consume the fragile light that had taken root there.
"No," Lee said. "No, I won't let this happen."
He dropped Onyx Tempest.
He walked toward Inyocha.
"Lee, what are you doing?" Kira shouted from the tent's entrance. "That thing is inside him! He could kill you!"
"He won't," Lee said. "Because he's my brother. And I trust him."
He stopped in front of Inyocha close enough to see the tears streaming down his brother's face, close enough to hear the whispers crawling through his skull.
"Inyocha," Lee said softly. "Come back to me."
"He's offering me everything," Inyocha whispered. "Power. Respect. A place where I belong. No more shame. No more guilt. No more trying."
"Those are lies," Lee said. "The Whisperer can't give you any of that. All it can give you is more darkness. More hunger. More loneliness."
"But it feels good, Lee. The darkness feels good. Don't you understand? For twelve years, the darkness was all I had. It kept me alive. It made me strong. And now you want me to give it up for... for what? For a life of hard work and forgiveness I might never earn?"
"For a real life," Lee said. "For friends who care about you. For a brother who loves you. For the chance to be something more than a monster."
Inyocha's eyes flickered brown fighting black, light fighting shadow.
"I don't know if I can," he said, his voice breaking.
"Then let me help you," Lee said. "That's what brothers are for."
He reached out and placed his hand on Inyocha's chest over the place where the darkness was growing, over the place where the light was fighting to survive.
The golden light blazed from Lee's palm.
And Inyocha screamed.