Hello hello, and welcome to a new chapter! Sorry for the long wait. I've been trying to do a different style, so tell me what you think of it.
'Who looks inside, dreams. Who looks inside, awakens.'
Matt's hands were shaking as he realized something was very, very wrong when he woke up, turned around and looked at his brother's bed. Sheets on the floor, small whimpers, Vale's eyes were open and staring at the ceiling, unblinking.
The boy's breath was loud, out of cadence. He looked shaken - something had snapped in him, and he couldn't resume his control, wasn't even able to try. As soon as he unclasped his hands, he crumbled down from the bed, on the floor, locking into a ball so hard his muscles felt wooden.
Being chased. Hiding to avoid someone seeing him, as always. Listening to conversations from wherever was his hiding spot, learning, thinking. Mistakes, punishments, insults. Missing the sky and the sun. Sneaking out to steal food, usually not ending well. Petty theft, all in the name of survival.
'DoN'T TouCh Me StOp iT GeT aWay FRoM mE!'
Matt shook Vale awake. "You were scratching your skin off," he quietly explained his deviation from their unspoken agreement where Matt did what he could to help Vale's nightmares without ever admitting to knowing about them.
Vale looked down, in his sleep he'd wrapped his arm around himself. His t-shirt was in tatters and the skin beneath it was heavily scored. He needed to calm himself down. His mind churned with half-baked plans and ideas. He needed to step back, set goals, analyze his situation, and formulate a strategy.
What was his ideal outcome? He paused.
Survival, he decided. Survive the coming war with his family intact. Leave. Never fight again.
He wanted out. He wanted to be completely neutral, but he suspected neutrality was a just a pipe dream.
His stomach clenched. Bile filled his mouth. Foreign urges warred with his desire to survive, transforming his mind into a dark labyrinth with no way out. The monster lurked in the shadows, stalking him. The moment it consumed him he would die and it would take his place, becoming him ,if only temporarily. No one would ever mourn him because as long as his body lived, breathed, and spoke, who would say the monster killed him? No one.
Maybe the monster was just a figment of his imagination, triggered by recent events. Not real. Gut feelings weren't proof. They weren't. They were not.
Apologies were made and bandages were applied. The younger boy never mentioned this wasn't the first time it happened.
Lea had never expected the nightmare she was now getting used to have, even if she didn't quite remember it, would clear itself, would allow her to peer in what she suspected wasn't just a disjointed recollection of events that didn't have meaning, would let her see.
But it had, and the girl immediately wished it hadn't.
Lea had crawled out of bed (late, late into the night) to come stand beside the bed and simply stare and stare until she could come up with some way to convince herself this wasn't a dream and letting Valentine out of her sight wasn't going to mean he might actually still be dead. Watching the slight rise and fall of the comforter seemed to help, but Lea still felt twitchy and unable to close her eyes.
The lump under the covers shifted, feeling eyes on him, and Vale peered blurry-eyed up at her. "You okay?"
No, she wanted to say around the lump in her throat. No, because before you were dead and now you're not, and none of this feels real.
Something must have come through in her expression, because Vale moved over under the covers and held up the end on the now empty side of the bed.
Lea didn't have to be told twice.
They shifted around, the bed nowhere near big enough for two people, before settling back to back and heart to heart. It would get a little too hot as the night went on, but for now, the heat of her brother's (living) body warmed Lea's, slowly sleeping in and finding every cold place that had formed over the past three years.
Lea hadn't realized how tense she'd been, until it was gone.
"Stop thinking. Not going anywhere." Vale's voice was groggy and barely more than a sleepy murmur. "Too early to be up."
Lea smiled and didn't care that there were pricks of tears in her eyes. "Night, Vale."
Art was Lea's favorite class, that much was certain to anyone who knew her. She loved drawing and painting, and intended to put that to good use the second she heard that day's assignment. It was very simple, draw anything she wanted, anything at all.
She loved art class. There was everything she needed, everything she wanted. She had breathing space.
Eagerly she picked up her pencil and rolled it between her fingers, ignoring Kiara who had been left staring at her own sheet of paper, wondering what to draw.
At first it had been just a blank paper, but she penciled a few strokes and the drawing grew and grew, until she had a pretty good idea of what it was and she hated it and wanted to throw it to the thrash bin right that instant. Because the paper was filled with gray and brown and so so so much red, and the boy lying there looks too much like him. The shadows were hands that reached out to grab him, punch him, kick him, or mouths with jagged teeth that spit hateful words.
"Oh, that is so powerful!" Mrs. Jackson appeared at her side, smiling. "May I see it?"
Lea didn't want her to see, it felt too personal, she had only seen a bit of the drawing. "Um..."
"Oh, I just need proof that you've done it, honey."
'Powerful'. It isn't, and it will never be. That's what she thinks as she walked to the trash can and ripped it in half, in quarters, in eights. She didn't care about the teacher telling her that it was a great drawing, that she could've kept it.
It's only when she's back on her desk that she notices the drawing, another one that for the life of her she couldn't remember making. A butterfly in the sky, wings all orange and yellow and brown, flying in her previously blank sheet. In the background, a swirl of grays and blues and darks, what she could only describe as a hurricane.
Dread pools in her gut, and she's reluctant to hand it in.
She receives top marks.
As soon as the school bell rang, Naya started her mission. With the hordes of students now in class, she was free to roam the area unnoticed. She quickly found the building the small prince was occupying, and idly perched herself upon a nearby tree that faced the windows. Conveniently, the child sat directly across it, allowing for an easy time in observing him.
As she watched the hybrid, Naya thought back to how she had gotten herself into this situation. Yes, she had ordered one of her Gomorradons to track down the heir to the throne. The King had gone absolutely berserk when the boy had literally flown away -understandably- and she thought she could gain something if she could convince him to go back. Not only the fair haired child was the the son to the greatest Kaiju alive, heir to the throne and ultimate weapon in winning the war, he was also (in Naya's opinion) the youngest and weakest Kaiju, incredibly vulnerable as he sat amongst his natural enemies of humans.
But what her Gomorradon found had confused her so greatly she decided to check it herself.
What she had discovered: another heir to the throne -a flamehead named Lea that had apparently taken a liking to her Gomorradon (she had even named it!) and had charmed Naya's little brother enough that he was thinking to ask her for a mate (she had to threaten him to more training just so he'd stop trying to go with her) a human brother, and a prince who was too frail for her liking.
Regardless, it would be a while before the class ended, and with nothing else to do, Naya settled down for a long hour. She had initially attempted to occupy herself with her various snacks, and the occasional pestering of the birds, but eventually even they grew dull and she found herself falling into to the familiar territory of boredom.
She redirected her attention to the half-human babe (she had been absolutely gobsmacked when she learned his age -even when he was first introduced he looked like he was only just past babyhood, but even then she had assumed the boy to be four hundred at the absolutely least. Now, mere three years later, he aged centuries before her eyes) and found him writing. Honestly, the child was too naïve. He should have known better than to lower his guard simply because he was in an environment which he perceived to be protected. His lack of experience and skill was obvious when he couldn't even sense Naya's presence despite their close proximity.
For what she had learned, picking up stray thoughts of him, the background of his thoughts was what he could do to protect his family and friends from the hands of Kaiju. It was such an innocent mindset! He was a delicate little thing. Well… at least he was when compared to the other Kaiju. It was easy to forget that he was half human (she had seen him in action once or twice -and though she had a few comments, more along the lines of why he preferred hiding or running rather than fighting) and wasn't as endurable as his Kaiju kin. The boy could be hurt severely if the injuries were serious enough.
He was just far too human. In fact, Naya had been surprised when she first saw him at the beach, while both their siblings played in the sand. Even with the knowledge that he was only half a Kaiju, he had expected the boy to be a bit more fearsome. Instead, he appeared as human as one could get.
Soon the birds learned not to approach her and the class still hadn't ended (Ghyyzda how long did these lessons go for?).
The black-haired Kaiju focused her attention to the humans her future ruler hung out with, and had to bite back a snort of contempt. Huh, if this was the crowd the boy hung around with, it was no wonder he was weak. She had even overheard the prince telling the pale one about 'proper posture, if you keep looking at the ground they'll perceive you as a target...' 'Newsflash pale boy, humans are MEANT to be targets, if you're one among your own kind it's not our problem!' Naya wanted to yell at him. Interestingly, she sensed a full Kaiju sitting right next to the Prince and had to repress a wince of sympathy.
No Kaiju enjoyed having to be in their human form for too long -the size difference was too big and it reduced their lifespans, to the point that, if enough time passed, the Kaiju would find themself again at a human's rate. Seriously, those two! The brown haired Kaiju, she could understand he didn't have a choice in the matter, but the little prince...
Did he not know they were his enemies, or was he just that stupid? She simply didn't understand it. The child-prince would rather engage with his enemies than with his kin? The child was practically flourishing the humans with his attention while turning his back to what had been his home for the past years. Then again, Naya considered, the prince had been raised by humans before...
The bell rang, an unexpected sound that hurt her hears.
Naya found herself inwardly cheering with everyone else.
She kept an eye of him for the two days she was able to bear it, watching him go on about his life, feeling sicker by the minute. 'It's nothing to worry about' he said, time and time again. 'I'm okay' 'It's just a fever'.
They both knew what that meant.
And now there she was, doodling, using Matt's bed since he was out with his friends, and Vale was writing, which he could be found doing more often than not. And suddenly Lea was tired. Tired of holding it together. Tired of trying to pretend nothing was wrong when it still felt that everything was wrong, which wasn't fair, because Valentine was right there, and yet it did nothing to make Lea forget.
Slowly, Lea rose out of the chair and crossed the room on autopilot. When she reached her brother, her arms moved without any prior thought, reaching around to cling to her brother, trying to ground herself in the here and now.
Vale didn't hesitate to return the embrace, but there was a shred of something nearing fear in his eyes, because his little sister was shaking and he didn't know why. "Lea?"
What are you so afraid of, little one?
Was it the thunderstorm outside, lightning flashing and thunder clapping just as suddenly, leaving ears ringing and a half-second of alert? Was it something that haunted her sleeping nights, some sort of nightmare she couldn't get rid of? Was the source of her fear in dreamland or realland, what could be hurting her little sister so?
It was like the nights they spent as children, ages ago in another skin, another life, almost. Being her comforter, her protector, her prince in a shining armor that were only pajamas and would assure her that everything would be alright. Too young, both too young, and the next three years were spent in a daze, far too many, and now wishing and waiting and wanting so desperately to go back, to return to what once was. She wanting to know those years of darkness, he wishing to forget but unable to.
"You died." She clung tighter, burying her face in Vale's shirt. "You died and you left us alone." The tears burned her eyes, causing her to blink and blur her vision. "You left me alone."
The body she was clinging to went rigid, most likely from alarm. "I'm right here." The hands on her shoulders tightened and gave her as much of a shake as their position allowed.
Vale tightened his grip around her, never intending to let go, feeling her mimic him immediately after. He kept his voice soft as he tried, tried so hard to come up with something that would soothe her, that would ensure she'd later look back to this incident with the relief that came from being assured, instead of with the terror that would arise if he couldn't find a definite response.
And if chosen wrong, his answer would haunt her, definitely.
"He hurt you. He killed you." Lea choked half a sob as She looked up, tried both to explain and understand why this was kept away from her. To almost lose her brother and not being aware of it until years later was almost too much for the nine-year-old to bear.
"…No." it sounded soft and it made her pause. "No he didn't. You would have known." Vale finally spoke, wiping the tears from her eyes. "Besides, I'm not going anywhere without you following, 'member?" It may had been a lie or a truth, spoken in their mutual ignorance, but the siblings knew the bond they shared was broken, disjointed, and thus could not have the name it previously had. His guesses were as good as any. "You are me and I am you. Remember?"
He'd do it again in a heartbeat if it meant protecting his family. If he had refused in the first place, the consequences would have been… severe.
He didn't do it because it was clever or right.
Vale did it because it was necessary.
Darren had toyed with the idea of telling his uncle about Vale's problem since the 'changing room' incident, as he was calling it in his head. He was quite reluctant in doing so, for the simple reason that it was too personal, too intimate of a secret to just tell it, to just throw words in the wind. Even so, he found himself in need of advise.
He found himself keeping an eye on the younger boy, and what he could see disturbed him. Take this morning, for example. He could feel heated and he had been only sitting next to Vale. His face was slowly turning red and was shivering like a leaf. Darren was sure the boy had developed a fever and was about to call the teacher and let her see the problem. That was, until he spotted Vale's gaze. His normally bright brown eyes looked nearly black with enormously dilated pupils. He breathed as if his heart was about to stop.
And when he had tried to use the special vision he himself had taught his prince, it seemed as if there were two beings instead of one. Whether a parasite or an attacker, it was restless and bright, oh so bright it hurt his eyes and made him snap them open and not blink for as long as he was able to.
When the teen Kaiju gathers the courage to tell -in his mind apologizing to what he considers to be his best friend- he's left exactly with what he started with. Not that Darren blames him, abuse is one of the, if not the single worst thing any Kaiju could do. Who would deliberately harm one's offspring? Who would intentionally stunt a child, weaken their own bloodline?
The next thing Rîus tells him is that he's going to leave, but that he promises to be back tonight. Darren doesn't give this much thought -it has happened ever since he was a small child, and his uncle has always returned in the promised time, sometimes even earlier. Darren likes to think his uncle leaves because he's planning something. Everything he's done for the last eight years, the last lifetime. If he is honest, he's sure his uncle has been planning forever.
He doesn't ask if he can come, too. He knows the answer. He sat on his bed, dimly aware of the snake wrapped loosely around his waist, his tail. Nobody has ever seen it, always hidden beneath a pant leg. It was yet another thing that marked him as different. Special. Feared. Hated. Despised.
He knows the answer, besides he's needed here.
We're reaching the 'bottom' my dearest readers!
Well...I hope you all liked the chapter...tell me your opinion please!
H. E. B.
