Summary: You watched him be taken from you. He screamed your name and you reached for him, but you missed. You let him down. And now you don't know how to save him. This is my version of what Niko went through when Cal was in Tumulus. One-shot.
Disclaimer: The characters mentioned come from the brilliant mind of Rob Thurman. I do not own anything.
A/N: My first Cal Leandros fic.
NL/CL
You fall to your knees and call out his name because you don't know what else to do. But you're supposed to know what to do. You always know what to do. You've always taken care of him- that's how it works. But tonight…tonight you failed.
Tonight the trailer went up in flames and Sophia died- no, Sophie fucking burned alive. Tonight you lost your brother. You watched him be taken from you. He screamed your name and you reached for him, but you missed. You let him down.
And now you don't know how to save him.
So you fall to your knees, and in one desperate, anguish-filled cry you call for him and hope he'll answer. "Cal!"
He doesn't, and if you're honest with yourself, you knew he wouldn't.
Trembling, you collapse to the ground and sob. You never cry. You're always the strong one. But tonight there's no one to be strong for. Cal has vanished and Sophia is dead, and you are all alone.
NL/CL
You don't sleep.
You sit there, staring at the last spot that you saw him.
You just wait.
Wait for what? You wait for your little brother to come. He's not coming back… You swat those doubtful, depressing thoughts away. Cal is coming back. You have faith.
NL/CL
You curse yourself as your eyelids start to droop and you vaguely wonder how long it's been. He's dead by now. You ignore the thought and keep waiting.
He'll come.
You know he's fine.
If Cal was dead, you would feel it. Somehow, you would know. But the only feeling you have right now is sleepiness.
But you're not sleeping until your little brother is with you again.
NL/CL
The days are too long, and the nights are too dark. You're getting tired and you just sit there, in front of where your trailer used to be, wiping at the tears running down your face. You miss him.
You wish your baby brother would come back.
You hope he's ok.
You're going to make whoever took him from you suffer. And you can't wait to do it.
You'll probably enjoy it a little too much. You imagine ways to torture but then you feel anger surge through your body. Anger at yourself, for not thinking of Cal. You've been worrying and crying and begging for him for the past nearly two days and now you're thinking about torture.
You close your eyes and think of Cal. You remember him as a child- saying his first word "Niko." You remember his first day of school and how he cried when he found out he couldn't be in your class. You remember when he got into that fight when he was in sixth grade after some jerks called him white trash.
You gave that punk a broken arm for the black eye he gave your little brother.
You swallow a lump in your throat, realizing this time Cal's going to come back with a lot more than a black eye.
NL/CL
You don't expect the growl you get from the dark-haired older version of your brother when he suddenly appears exactly where he was before they got him.
"Cal," you say, hoping your voice doesn't sound as broken to him as it does to you.
He just snarls again and pries himself from your grip.
"Cal, it's me," you say desperately, trying to help him. You have to save him this time. You won't mess up again. You can't lose him again.
This time when you go closer he whimpers and backs away in fear. Your heart pounds in fear and sadness. Is he scared of you?
"Cal, please, it's Niko," you say. You're slightly surprised when he begins to cry.
"Nik," he says, his voice cracking.
"Yeah, Cal, it's me," you feel hope and you quickly wrap your arms around him in a hug. Relief washes over you as he returns the hug, sort of. More like clutches onto you for dear life. But you clutch back. You missed him too.
"Cal, I'm sorry."
You say it so quietly that you're pretty sure he didn't hear you.
He just keeps crying. "Nik, I'm scared." He looks all of four again, wanting you to chase away the pain and you gently pull him onto his feet and towards your car.
You feel lost again, though. Just like the night he was taken. You don't know where he's been or what he's been through and you're completely befuddled by the fact that he is somehow two or so years older than he was two days ago, but at least you're with your brother again. That's all you ever wanted.
"Shh, Cal," you coo, soothing him like you always have. "It's going to be ok. I'm going to take care of you, and everything will be fine."