What my Mother Gave me

In the eye-squinting light of a white and sickly teal room, Allistor stared into unfocused malachite and can remember being asked what he thought of his newest brother. Looking to where Dylan dozed against his mother's side in the hospital bed and the absent chair next to the bed that should have held his newest brother's father, Allistor had only one kind answer that he could give his mother.

"I think he will be fun to play with." Or he would be if the Scotland-born child had any say. The answer pleased his mother and she waved for him to scoot into the open space on the other side of her. Doing so, he settled easily and let her take the blond baby.

Tickling Allistor's brother beneath his chin, his mother remarked; "He's quite a handsome little fellow, isn't he?"

It was on the tip of his tongue to speak out, to tell her no, to let his mum know he didn't appreciate this second brother; that he didn't like that their wasn't a da to do boy stuff with along with him, that they'd be moving again by the end of the year 'cause London would be too expensive now that their was another baby who needed caring for and Allistor was too little to be doing any "serious" minding (was there any other kind?). But instead, the little boy hummed some and rested his head in the crook of his mum's elbow so he could stare at the baby's face a bit longer.

He was ugly with such big eyebrows, but maybe, as his mum always told him he would, his new little brother Arthur would grow into his eyebrows too.

"Take care of him, Allistor."

The boy bobbed his head in response.

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By the time mum met Adhamh, Arthur was sitting up all by himself and blowing raspberries at people with annoying frequency (Dylan was to blame for that, Allistor knew). And just as his little brother's beginning to crawl around with the best of them, their mum brought Adhamh home to meet them along with his son, Padriac.

Suffice to say, there meeting was not quite a joyous one. Adhamh's son had spent little time with babies and so didn't know you couldn't take their toys and tease them; Allistor told the boy to give back Arthur his rabbit and Dylan proclaimed he'd bite him if he didn't make their brother stop crying, but being the idiot four-year-old that he was, Padriac ignored both Allistor and Dylan in favor of laughing and waving the toy just out of the blond baby's reach.

Giving a sudden, frightful screech; Arthur's malachite eyes glowed and the toy flew from the older boy's hand and back to the baby as several other things in the room levitated too. Allistor had to gasp and marvel then, his brother was super like them. A very powerful little super too, as far as the five-year-old could tell. Sure, the Scotland-born child could win any and every game he played just by willing it and Dylan could take any shape - animal or human - that he wanted...but this! Arthur could make things move with his baby-mind. That was really, really cool! Tumbling back with shock, Padriac simply began to cry and their mum and Adhamh came into the room then to see what had happened.

By that time, Arthur's eyes had stopped glowing and the stuff he'd moved was back on the ground and all they had for proof now was the blubbering of Adhamh's son who was more than vengeful enough to blame a baby not even a year old for the the frightful thing that had happened to him. Later, when Allistor was much, much older, he would ponder on this event and consider it along with many of the other memories he had of his step-brother from over the years; maybe this had been the first indication that Padriac would be anything less than a good man once grown.

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Once Arthur was six and getting ready for real school, their mum decided to hold him back because he wasn't as good at controlling his ability as the rest of them. Allistor felt badly about this because his mother had named his temper tantrums that caused him to levitate things without his wanting as one of the reasons why he couldn't go to school along with Allistor, Dylan and Padriac.

His baby brother only had those fits when he and the older children teased the little boy too much, the Scotland-born child knew he shouldn't have believed it was his fault that much because his mum had listed a few other things and in retrospect, he was pretty sure she just wasn't ready to send her baby off into the world when he still believed in her faerie tales and his life long aspiration was to be a pirate.

And when Allistor had thought to ask Adhamh what he thought about his mother's choice to coddle Arthur, the Irishman had only grunted something along the lines of, "he's not my kid." Allistor backed off then, realizing for the first time that his mother's husband may talk with him and treat him the same as his own son but that didn't mean he loved him or wanted him. Finding himself disappointed and frustrated that he'd seemingly managed to keep his brother home from school when he'd been so excited that he was finally going to get to go to go to primary with "Al, Dylan and Paddy", the Scotland-born child turned mean and filled his brother's head with frightening, grim tales about the teachers and other kids so instead he was frightened of the place he was to go.

By then, Arthur was overjoyed when their mother said he'd be staying home with her for another year. Of course, no one had quite understood the ramifications of this until one afternoon Allistor had been walking home from the bus stop with Dylan and Padriac on either side only to see an older neighbor - one that used to offer them cookies in her kitchen when she saw them playing near her yard - standing behind his little brother with a brick in her hand.

The older boy had only paused long enough to see her pull back the brick like she was going to-

"ARTHUR!" Allistor screamed, thinking with all his will for his brother to turn just the right amount so the brick would only clip him. The little blond boy turned his head, green eyes wide and innocent. The brick coming at him scrapped across his face and he knew the neighbor was going to try again when a blur of little bodies ran at her; tackling the older woman to the ground.

Running forward, Allistor hugged Arthur close as Dylan talked Padriac and his doubles down.

"You have to get off her so mum can call the police," he told the infuriated Irish boy.

Eyes wild, the boy vehemently argued with his step-brother. "She was going ta kill him! Kill! This bitch wanted ta kill yer brother and ye want me ta get off of her?"

It went on like that for quite a while, but the Scotland-born boy was only half-listening due to the fact the crying six-year-old in his arms mattered a lot more than any bigot.

Suffice to say, they learned she'd only seen Arthur use his powers because she'd begun to watch him when she realized he wasn't going to school like the others and had wondered why that was. They had to move a few towns away after she was arrested and Allistor's brother went to school despite his wails of other kids and teachers who were going to hate him.

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When Arthur was ten, Dylan twelve, Padriac thirteen and he fourteen; their mother and Adhamh were fighting about a lot of things, from how to pay for the house, mum's interest in supporting super rights to where they should move so they could go to a better school and that was only in addition to what they were going to name the new baby Allistor's mum was pregnant with at the time. Most of this hadn't mattered to Allistor at the time and he'd much preferred going to town with Padriac and Dylan to bum around that summer before Sean was born. Arthur was the bratty tag-along that they often chased off with a few rocks and the right scare, but one unusually hot day, the allowed the little menace to stick with him - so long as he didn't talk too much.

And while they were checking out the movies at a local cinema, a flouncy boy that had to be the same age as Padriac approached them.

"Bonjour!" He'd yelled at them.

Stuffing his hands in his pockets, Padriac had mumbled; "Great, a Cheese-Eating Surrender Monkey!"

"A what?" Arthur had inquired, unfamiliar with the term.

Giving his step-brother a shove, the Scotland-born boy hissed, "shut yer trap Paddy!"

He knew it was on the tip of Padriac's tongue to say something, but the French boy had offered Allistor a hand. "I am Francis, and who are you?"

"Allistor," he replied reluctant, shaking the hand. "This here is Paddy, Dylan an' Artie," the fourteen-year-old then said. Grinning at how Arthur scowled at his nickname.

Smiling, the boy bobbed his head. "It's nice to meet you all!" He exclaimed. "This town is so boring! I do not know why my papa and mama decided we must come 'ere!"

Just to be a little shit, (as he was wont to do those days) Arthur snapped; "I like it here! It has the best forests!"

"Oh really?" Francis chuckled. "Why's that?"

Perking up at the interest, Arthur declared; "It's 'cause faeries live in it!"

Allistor, along with Dylan and Padriac groaned. Why his baby brother still talked about magical creatures was a mystery to everyone. Dylan, being the most tactful, chided Arthur;

"Aren't you a bit old for these stories Artie?"

Malachite glared at them. "You're just too stupid to see them!"

The Scotland-born boy hardly believed that was the reason; more like they were too old to play those sorts of games. Dylan for his part, didn't let the brat's insult get to him and instead raised an eyebrow and muttered sardonically "riiight."

"It's true!" Arthur yelled with a stomp of his foot.

Giving the younger a good shove to the ground, Padriac declared; "Alright, ye're bein' a stupid little baby and we don't want ye around anymore!" Turning then to Francis, he said; "We got some extra money fer another ticket if ye want ta come watch a film wit us."

Having picked himself up, the smaller blond yelled; "He won't want to go to the cinema with a bunch of jerks like you!"

And when Allistor looked to the French boy, he really did look torn. On one hand, it was obvious to see he didn't approve of their treatment of Arthur...but on the other, he also wanted to make friends with kids closer to his own age. Sighing, Francis took a step toward them and smiled. "I think I will join you," then with apologetic blue eyes offered "But I would also like it if you showed me your forest Artie?"

Thick brows coming together in an ugly way, Arthur shouted; "I'm never talking to any of you again!" And ran away. Likely to his beloved forest.

Seeing how their new friend was biting his lip, Allistor patted him on the shoulder. "Don't worry 'bout it Franny, ya can win him over later." And with a hesitant nod, Francis followed them into the cold foyer of the cinema.

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A short while after Sean was born, Adhamh left. Allistor couldn't be sure he knew all the specifics, but from what little he'd overhead the night the Irish man left, it had something do to with his mum's power.

"The nurse asked me if ye were my daughter!"

"It's just my ability Adhamh! I just age a little slower, that's all..."

"Try a lot."

He'd left behind Padriac and mum walked around like a zombie most of the time. Allistor stepped up, made sure his brothers got to school on time, that Sean had a clean nappy before he went off to work at the grocers down the road and he'd stop by Francis's (who happened to be their neighbor two houses down) and ask him to make sure nobody picked on his brothers.

The French boy always agreed to and there was proof on his skin from time to time to show it. Padriac was picking fights left and right these days and Arthur with his outlandish tales was always grabbing older students's attention. It was one afternoon when he managed to wrangle his boss into giving him forty minutes for lunch instead of thirty that Allistor decided to run home and check up on his mum and Sean.

Stepping into their little house, he was relieved to see that their mum was dozing on the couch and his youngest brother was in his playpen kicking his feet. Picking up the baby, he cooed; "How's it goin' ya little slobber-monster? D'ya need a teething ring?"

Sean smiled back a white-speckled grin and reached for Allistor's eyebrows. Pulling back, he wagged his finger at the infant. "Just 'cause ya lucked out on the family curse don't mean ya get ta make fun of those wit 'em!"

The Scotland-born teenager would have headed for the kitchen then, but a knocking at the door caught his attention. Juggling Sean, he told his shifting mother; "I got it." And went and opened it.

A young teenager, with a well-suited bob stood in front of him. Biting her lip, she asked; "Is this the Kirkland 'ome?"

Great, another Frenchie he had thought before he answered. "Yes," Allistor replied suspicious as the baby made a grab for the girl.

Her eyes went to Sean, a smile flickering on her face, but it disappeared as quick as it came. "From what I understand, my père, erm, slept with you mother and I was wondering if...?"

"My mum's been with a lot of different men over the years. Did he give any specifics?"

"About twelve or so years ago..." she replied.

Running a hand through his hair, Allistor sighed. "Arthur." Looking her over then, he demanded. "So what the hell are ya doin' here? Is he not man enough to face us himself?"

Voice trembling, she said; "My stepfather kicked me out. 'e saw that I was - different and my père must 'ave switched phone numbers or something and I-" she began to sob. "I only 'ad enough money to get 'ere!" Blue eyes watery, Allistor could almost imagine they were malachite, they had the right shape to them after all. "Look I'll leave if you want me to, but I was 'oping maybe 'e and 'er-"

"He never knew my mum was pregnant," he told her. "Or I'm sure he woulda stopped by at some point in twelve plus years."

She looked like she was going to cry some more and Scotland was about to tell her to just leave; they didn't have the money for her. But suddenly a voice from behind, his mum, questioned her. "Your father, he's Fastr?"

Looking back, Allistor saw her staring intently at the girl.

"O-oui," she warbled.

The Scotland-born teen watcher her open her arms and say; "Any child of Fastr is a child of mine."

Relieved, the girl fell into the offered arms. "Oh merci! Merci!"

"Mum!" Allistor rebuked quietly. "We don't have the mo-"

Glaring at him, she said. "You let me worry about that. I'm your mum. You should be in school and so should-"

"Jeanne, madame." The girl - now Jeanne - answered once she pulled away from Allistor's mother.

Nodding, his mother went on. "Jeanne." Making a grabbing motion for Sean, she told both of them, "Things are going to be different now, you here me? We're going to be a great family with or without a man to help us."

Jeanne was beaming and Allistor, well, he was just happy she'd stopped moping.

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It was a greater tragedy eight months later when their mother killed herself. Things had been going so well and-

He supposed it was a good thing Padriac's father returned then. He had looked all of them over once and then said to Jeanne who was crying quietly beside Arthur, "Who are ye? I'll take care of the boys because their mum did the same for Padriac even though he wasn't her son, but I'm not raisin' someone else's brat as well."

It was callous and Allistor wanted to deck him right there, but Francis, the Cheese-Eating Surrender Monkey, had been with them and snapped at the Irishman; "You don't 'ave to! My family will 'appily 'ave Jeanne!" And they would too. Francis and her had fallen madly for one another. It was disgusting and Allistor was actually kind of jealous.

Nodding, Adhamh watched the French boy lead her away to his parents who took her in with open arms and an appropriate glare at his mum's ex-husband for his unbecoming behavior. Brave and stupid, Arthur demanded, "What if we don't want to live with you?"

Shrugging the Irishman answered; "Ta the orphanage wit ye then."

"Ya're stayin' with us Arthur," The Scotland-born teen broke in then. No way was his bratty brother going to do something so rash as get himself sent to an orphanage. Mum would absolutely hate him for letting her "little storyteller" leave the family. Allistor looked to his other brother then, Dylan, always the most taciturn, shifted into a cat before his very eyes.

Looking at the brown-gray cat, Adhamh inquired; "He still does that, does he?"

Handing the baby off to Padriac who didn't look at all pleased about having to hold the slobber-monster, Allistor picked his half-Welsh brother up by his scruff. "He says when he's done with school he's goin' ta go live with the sheep of Wales fer a couple years," the Scotland-born teenager explained.

Shaking his head, the Irishman turned to his youngest son. "And ye're Sean, aren't ye?" He whispered at the wide-eyed infant. "Looks like ye take after me!"

Allistor bit the inside of his cheek and told himself he and his brothers only had to stay with him until he was of age and then he was getting as far away from Abhamh as he could.

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After they move away with Padriac's father, they stay in touch with Jeanne and Francis and by the end of the school year, Arthur'd decided he was going to live with Francis and his half-sister for the summer, Dylan was spending most of his time as a cat in the house, Padriac brooded more than ever and Allistor had wondered if he shouldn't try and find his own father; anything had to be better than Abhamh who felt he could tell them what to do now that their mother was gone.

It's on the last night before Arthur went to stay with Francis that the man began to pick on his brother for his childish fancies.

"Ye're too damn old fer unicorns and shite!" He yelled at the blond boy.

Sitting back on the couch at the other end of the room, Allistor bounced Sean on his knee and hoped the Irishman would stop yelling soon. It was almost time for bed for the youngest Kirkland. Keeping an eye on his blond brother as he played with the baby, he saw an odd look come to his younger brother's eyes.

"Something bad will happen to you," Arthur murmured.

Sneering the Abhamh laughed. "Is that so? How do ye know that?"

"Padriac hates you," Arthur went on, ignoring their step-father. "You abandoned him and Sean. He's going to kill you one day along with his mum and everyone else who was bad to him!"

The Irishman was furious and lashed out at his younger brother, knocking him out of his seat. Jumping to his feet, Allistor screamed; "What the bloody hell ya arsehole! That's my brother! I'm goin' ta kill ya before Paddy can get at ya!" And he would have rushed his step-father then if it weren't for Sean, who was bawling in his arms.

Pushing himself up from the kitchen floor, Arthur rubbed at his cheek and sniffed. "I'm going to tell Paddy, he'll add it to his tally of reasons why he should kill you!" And before Adhamh could hurt him anymore, his brother ran out of the house.

He didn't come back in that night, so in the early morning Allistor put Arthur's backpack outside for him and some money so he could get a train ticket to their old town.

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Unexpectedly, or maybe as he should have expected, Arthur didn't come home after the summer and when he attempted to call the brat he never answered. If he could have, Allistor would have gone to visit his brother, but that meant leaving Sean alone with Abhamh, Padriac and Dylan; none of which were capable of taking care of a baby for any longer than an hour at a time.

So with an unhappy heart, he set to making the next three years pass as quickly as he could. Doing well in school was no easy task between working and caring for his brothers, but Allistor did it and when he told Dylan he was moving back to their old town, his brother smiled at him in what had to be the first time in years.

"Really?"

The Scotland-born man had nodded. "You, me, Sean an' Padriac if he really wants ta."

His brother hugged him. "Thank you Al," he mumbled into his chest. "I'm happy you aren't going to leave us all alone with him."

"What would mum think if I did that?" Allistor muttered into his hair as he hugged him back.

Later, when he asked Padriac if he was coming with, his step-brother threw aside his book and grinned. "Of course! I don't want to stay here all alone with the bastard!"

With a unanimous "leave Abhamh", the Scotland-born man planned their departure so his step-father would never know. Willing it to go just as he wanted, they left the village they'd spent the last three years in without a hitch.

Returning to their old town, he went straight to Francis's home and was shocked to find that the Bonnefoys had moved back to France. Thankfully, he got their phone number from the new family and a few tries later, he reached his younger brother.

"Bonjour?" Arthur answered in an awful accent.

Bouncing Sean on his hip, he whispered "Arthur?"

There was silence for a moment. "Who is this?" His younger brother demanded.

"Al," he swallowed. "Allistor an' yer little brother Sean's here too. He wants ta say hi."

"Really? It's you Allistor?" Arthur awed.

The Scotland-born man found himself laughing. "Yeah brat, it's me. Now do ya wanna say hi to Sean?"

"Sure, put him on."

Giving the moblie to the four-year-old, he told him, "That's Arthur, yer big brother, wanna say hello?"

"Uh-huh!" The beaming bundle of gape-toothed wonder shouted. Turning to the phone, he yelled "Hi Arthur! Al, Dylan and Patty tell me about you all the time! When are you comin' home?"

Wrangling the phone back to his ear, Allistor asked; "So?"

"So? I'm not coming home Allistor! Not to-"

"We left him."

There was a pause. "All of you?"

"Yeah."

There was a very, very long breath of silence and then a sudden curse. "Shit, I'm not going to be able to fit everything in my suitcase."

"We'll come fer ya, we'll come for ya, don't worry kiddo," Allistor told his younger brother. Their family was finally on track again.

This of course, wouldn't last more than a couple years, but when the Scotland-born man looked back on the time he'd spent raising his brothers; he'd never regret it. It didn't matter if Padriac was a villain, if Arthur was a hero, if Dylan didn't ever want to see them, if Sean thought he was trying to control him; no all that mattered was that Allistor had done the right thing and hopefully made his mother's spirit proud in the process.

This is a side story for Scotland who I fear will simply never get the exploration I want in my fic Ascendant, which is the universe this story is set in.

Characters:

Allistor-Scotland

Dylan-Wales

Arthur-England

Padriac-Scotland

Abhamh-Celt

Francis-France

Sean-N. Ireland

Jeanne-Jeanne D'Arc

Fastr-Scandinavia

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