[Emil's POV]
It was around 6 am. It was the usual morning. My father was yelling. My brother was making breakfast. I walked into the kitchen and a thousand memories flashed by for a second. Memories that I had never recalled existing. Memories that had my mum. Memories of when things were good and life was rainbows and sunshine. Times when there was no storm or rain, just endless rainbows.
My father shoved past me pushing me to the counter and knocking over a mug. It wasn't just the regular mug that Lukas would usually serve his coffee in. No, it was mum's mug. Time seemed to slow down as the precious mug slipped from my grasp. Everone's eyes, even my absent minded father, were focused on the falling mug. It hit the floor and shuttered into billions of pieces. It didn't just shutter the last few remaining things of my mother. No, at that moment something else shuttered in the atmosphere in the room. I could sense it.
"I'm sorry." I muttered as I began to pick up the few pieces I could. It didn't stop the suffocating tension from building. I looked up ands saw my father with a raised fist, glaring down at me. My eyes widened in shock and then closed my in fear. I didn't know what else to do. I knew what was coming. It wasn't the first time I had seen this. It had never been directed at me but I knew what was going to happen. I was expecting the blow, I really was.
"You don't touch him." I heard a growl from behind me. Something was being hit. I began to panic but I opened my eyes to see my father's fist in my brother's hand. My father's other fist was slapping my brother hard enough to left his cheek dark red almost purple. My brother didn't even make a sound. My eyes welled up. Why couldn't this stop. Stop it. Please.
"You are ungrateful. That's all we have of her. And you aren't letting me hit him for it?" My father didn't even yell. His tone was deadly calm. He kept slapping my brother. This was my fault. Why was Lukas being hit because of me? Why did he always get hurt because of me?
"You're useless." He kept saying to my brother that had kept this house running since my mother died. The same brother that had pulled us out of debt. Same brother that worked his ass of to make sure I was okay and that I had everything. Same brother that took care of me and tried to understand me when I wouldn't talk after mum died. Same brother that deserved infinite amounts of heavens to make up for the sacrifices he had to pull for me and this family. Same brother that took in the beatings. Enough was enough.
"Stop it." I managed to mumble.
"Your mother should have given you up." This time my father punched Lukas. Lukas kept his head down this time.
"STOP IT." I screamed for the first time in years. Everything paused. My father's attention shifted to me. Lukas lifted his head slightly. Hot tears were running down my face. I was angry and I hatred myself for crying because I was angry. There was also fear but mostly anger that filled my system. My chest hurts from breathing hard. I knew I could break into panic anytime soon.
"You don't yell at me, boy." My father began. It was like I had summoned a beast. I was shaking with fear but at the same time I felt anger like no other.
"I CAN YELL IF I PLEASE. NOW SHUT UP AND LISTEN, YOU SAD EXCUSE OF A FATHER. IM LEAVING THIS PLACE AND SO IS LUKAS. GOOD LUCK RUNNING THIS PLACE WITHOUT US." I grabbed my brother's hand and dashed for the door, grabbing our bags and running to the bike outside. I could hear my dad chasing us.
Lukas seemed to understand what was going on and snapped out of it and got the bike running before the bull came running out of the house. He kept driving. Not stopping at school. He kept going. He just drove. I could see him turn to glance at me now and again to make sure I was fine.
I let the air pushing against us cool down my dizziness from my burst of anger before. The scenery changed from building to trees and grassland not too long. I didn't know where we were. I didn't particularly care. It felt so free being here with my brother. More free than it had been in years. There was no worrying about what was going to happened because we weren't going to go back to that dungeon we used to call home.
Lukas drove into a forest. I hadn't noticed how good my brother was good at driving his bike until now. He was avoiding a tree after another. The branches and roots made the ride bumpy and leaving cuts on our clothes. I knew my brother was somewhat crazy and daring but never saw it until now. Before I knew it we were in a clearing he stopped the bike.
It was a grass clearing that ended with a cliff drop into the sea. The sea salt smell was clearly there, along with the sounds of waves crashing into the land below. There were a couple of flowers but they all seemed to respect the cliff and stop at the edges of the forests we just drove through. Birds were flying in the sky towards the endless blues. Their silhouettes disappeared into the scenery. I felt so calm and free, I couldn't help my legs giving out on me and letting me fall onto the grass.
"Do you remember this place?" Lukas asked hopping of the bike and bumping his bag on the floor near the precious bike of his. I looked around and noticed the familiarity was there. I knew this place for sure. It used to be where our mother used to take us when dad had an argument with her. She would always say that it was a safe place for us. I smiled and flopped onto the long thick grass.
"Of course." I mumbled calmly. My brother smiled a bit and laid down next to me. It was comfortably silent between us. There was so much stuff that we had to think about now but it seemed to be left unspoken for now. the peace was soothing. I almost forgot my brother's swollen face. I glanced up and saw that it was indeed bruising up nasty but Lukas seemed to be calm. In fact, he was smiling.
"I always knew you had it in you, you know. I didn't expect this but.. I knew you could do it." He spoke calmly. The cool sea breeze blew by. He glanced down at me and his smile widened a bit. It was caring and warm. How many years had it been since he showed that at all?
"You know…" He began to speak and looked away at the deep shades of blue sea mixing with the light blue of the morning skies. "When you were little, mum said that you were her little one and that I had to take care of you if anything at all went wrong." He had done more than she would have ever thought he would. I knew that she would be proud of him. She would be beyond proud of Lukas. It made me want to cry because I knew as well as anyone that Lukas wasn't going to believe that. Not for a second.
"So, I made it my job to make sure you were okay. To see that you had everything and that no one would mess with you without knowing that they would get something worse in return." He continued. I could tell he was trying to hold himself together. He was never like this. He never let me see him like this. It was upsetting to see my strong big brother that always was sarcastic and ass-kicking, crumble like a pasty. I didn't know if I should hug him or cry.
"When she died… I knew that I had to take care of you even more than before. You were her little one and I couldn't let her precious boy be upset or hurt. I knew she would cry from heaven if she did. I knew I was her son too and she trusted me enough to make it my job to save your ass from situations." He looked down at his hands now. His jaw was tightly tensed as a single tear escaped him. Tears began to well up in my eye again. I could finally see why he would go through all that pain.
"And then dad lost himself. I knew he and mum fought sometimes. But he must have loved her enough to lose himself and let the decent husband he was die with her." He and I both knew that was an understatement. I also knew that dad was indeed in love with mum. I have a few memories of when they were happy. Every morning, it was like the man fell in love with her and would show it in a different way. This one time he made sure everything was clean and ready for us three to have breakfast and he made her favourite pancakes and her coffee was just how she liked it. It was so hard to believe that the same man was the one that had given Lukas those bruises on his face and was about to hurt me.
"Today, you took care of me. And I'm sure the mum would be very proud of her liten Emil. I always knew you were brave. You always had this temper to you. It was unpredictable but I knew it could be explosive like today. I know it's still not the worst that it can do. But I'm not going to let it get to that extend." He looked away and pressed his sleeve to his bruised eye, gently. I could tell that if he was alone he would be crying to himself. I always looked up to his strength in situations like this.
"I'm not going to let you get hurt. Even if you know you could deal with it. Because you've become my snort nose little brother that I need to mother you and spoil you rotten. You don't have a say in this, but, with the absence of both our parents I'm going to step into their shoes. Like I have been doing so for years now, but especially now that we are alone, I won't let any more pain come to you." He finished and wiped his other eye.
My tears fell and I hugged my brother tight. He wasn't sentimental in the least. He hated talking feelings. In fact, he never did. He always kept them to himself and instead listened to me complain about anything that was bothering me. He really had been my parent for sometime now. I couldn't even help the sob that came out halfway through. He was always working and never spoke. He deserved so much. He deserved everything he gave me and more. I knew he needed to talk but he wouldn't. not once, would my brother complain to me about his problems. He always fought through it alone. I could feel his arms wrapping around me and holding me close to stop my crying. I wanted him to be happy for once. I knew who managed to do that and I also knew that Lukas would probably throw a fit. But I knew exactly who to call for help.
We sat on that cliff for some time. It must have been maybe 3 hours. I had fallen asleep on the grass. I was tired after crying. Lukas must have too because he was asleep next to me. I could hear a faint buzzing noise from his bag near the bike. I stood up and went over to it and saw calls from Tino, Mathias and one that surprised (if not horrified) me. Dad had called. It was over and hour ago. But, he had called. I also saw texts from Mathias asking if he was okay.
It was around 11 am which meant it was morning break at school. I quickly got out my own phone and saw Leon had texted and called me as well. However that had to wait for a second. I wasn't about to forget the speech that my brother had given out. I need to make it up to him. So I called Mathias.
"Hello? Who is this?" He said when he picked up.
"It's Emil." I whispered back as a response to not wake my brother up. He was a very light sleeper so I knew I needed to move away into the edge of the forest.
"Emil! How are you? Is Lukas with you? He is away today and isn't answering my calls or texts." I could hear his concern. Oh, if only he heard the speech Lukas gave.
"Um, that's kind of why I'm calling. He is okay right now. But we kind of just ran away from our dad. He hit Lukas pretty bad too. But the thing is that we are kind of homeless at the moment and cant really got to school because my dad might be there and we can't go back there." I was beginning to rumble on. Luckily, Mathias stopped me with a calm and slightly fatherly tone.
"Wow, okay. Don't worry, Emil. I'm going to help you out okay? But I need you to tell me where you are and how long ago you ran away."
"About 3 hours ago. We are in this clearing. I don't really know. But I think we are towards the outskirts of town, near the beach. Don't tell anyone though. It's kinda of a secret spot. But we will be going to a small fish and chip shop soon and I will give you the address to that." I answered looking around to see if my brother was up yet. He was still asleep.
"Okay, don't worry. I will be there too. I'm going to contact a family friend that can help about your dad too. I won't tell them anything too personal or names for that matter but just make sure to stay calm and safe. I Lukas okay?" his tone was actually very calming and warm. Especially since he asked about Lukas. I smiled at that. I knew He had feeling from Lukas and I knew Lukas did too. That's why I called him. Lukas needed him right now, even if he denied it.
"He is sleeping right now. but he isn't okay. Dad said some bad stuff to him. he will be shaken up even if he doesn't admit it. He also sort of cried a little but don't even think about mentioning that to him." I grinned at the chuckle I got as a response. I knew Mathias was beyond worried though. I knew if Leon went though what Lukas just did, I wouldn't let him out of my arms. I blushed at the thought.
"Alright, I will be taking care of this don't worry!—oh and see ya soon, don't forget to text the address!" and with that I hanged up and called Leon.
"Where are you?" He instantly asked when he picked up.
"Good morning to you too." I answered with a smile.
"You're not home, you're not at school, you're definitely not at work and your brother isn't here too. Emil, tell me you're okay and you aren't in a ditch somewhere burying a corpse with your brother." Leon's tone was a mixture of actual dread and concern. I knew he was half joking around. I laughed anyways. He sounded just like Yao when Leon was late home and called him.
"Sorry to disappoint but, no we aren't in a ditch burying a body." Leon sighed in relief.
"Okay, but are you okay? Where are you?" He asked again. This time he was a bit more serious.
"… I'm at a cliff with my brother.. We run out on dad this morning before school. He talked a lot for his usual quiet self.. And we had a brother moment I think.." Leon was quietly listening. It one of the things I loved about him—I mean liked!
"How are you?" he asked. He knew that I would be a mess. I know he will want me to tell him everything in detail later.
"I'm scared… calm but scared."
And I'm back with a new sad chapter but at the same time its good that they are finally out of the bad situation. I was going to make another episode in between this one and the last one to lighten things up but nothing came to mind.
I'm not particularly in a good frame of mind but its better to keep moving the story along than to focus on problems.
review time~
SatanHerself: im very flutterred this is your all time fav dennor fanfic.
CopperTeaLeaves: Mathias has the best luck :3 As for Emil being brave, yea. I might write that scene later as a flashback. It would be more happier than this scene
DenNorFanGirl: The dance will be interesting. It will be to fairly soon! Terry and Daniel will be back next chapter. a lot will be happening all right after eachother! so stay tuned~
briana. schmidt1: I should have described the glasses better (my bad). But they are round ones with thick frames and thin legs. I know about the frames making someone more attractive or less. Thank you for letting us know about the unnoticed trio! We are actually planning for Matthew to be in the next few chapters. Also Peter will be getting his own story with Norge and Den as his uncles!Im so glad you enjoyed last chapter!
Hanatamago2204: yea the age gap thing is a continuity error. Mathias and Lukas are 17 ish and Emil is 15 ish now that I'm thinking about it. Just because of the romance parts making me uncomfortable if they were younger.
Terry Daniel and Kevin are my OCs. I didnt want to go for the typical move to make russia or another precious character the bad guy. I love all hetalia characters I cant make them the bad guys.