Woooo! Hot off the press for ya'll. Didn't think I'd actually get it done today but I did! So yay! Can't tell ya when the next one will be, but that's for future Lux to worry about. Anywho, we're coming up on the home stretch here. Should only have two more chapters to do before I'm able to end this and never look back at it. We've gone and done another time skip, lemon at the end there for ya'll if ya want it. Going to try and do my best not to just shove this ending off a cliff side like I sometimes do. So fingers crossed that don't happen this time around. Either way, enjoy and see ya'll next time!
"Again!" Brooklyn barked out from his spot on the training field at Nikita, the wind around all those out there gently blowing by them in the crisp mid-January air.
"If he says 'again' one more time, I swear… I'm gonna-gonna burn his face off…" Kain panted to his father beside him, wiping the sweat from under his hair line before it could trickle down his face and into his eyes as he was hunched over panting for air.
Whatever cuts or marks he had on him already fading and closing up, leaving no hint that he'd been hurt previously aside from the blood smeared on his pale skin that had seeped out of the cuts during his own training with Brooklyn only moments ago.
He'd been run ragged, more so than he'd ever been, and although he'd pushed himself to his limit, Brooklyn had still berated and scolded him for messing up. It wasn't anything new, but it was getting tiring having to listen to the man say the same things over and over again despite his best efforts to do better.
Ray gave him a half-hearted smile, patting the teen on the back in mock comfort as he kept his eyes on Nikita's every movement as she charged back towards Brooklyn across the open field, the air around them chilling more where their breaths could be seen coming out of their mouths.
Though, he couldn't say he wasn't feeling all that well either after they'd been out there training themselves with Brooklyn and Lee for hours now; just like they had been for the past several months since Brooklyn was released from jail and Kenny had been able to remove the device from around his neck that voided out his powers.
It hadn't been an easy decision to make at first, no one quite sure just how well they could trust Brooklyn with his powers back at his fingertips, but true to Brooklyn's word he did what Ray or any of the other's asked of him and was helping them prepare for when Anette and Kai arrived in the Village.
While the past months really seemed a blur to Ray and the other's, in a way they truly were.
After getting the device off of Brooklyn, back in September, he had his first vision which was one of many after that, confirming that Anette was on her way to the Village with her army of immortal Savages, and what he saw then was nothing short of a blood bath where everyone perished and she got what she wanted in the form of taking Kain being the helpless babe he was at the time.
Nobody had been able to sleep well after the news, not even Brooklyn himself as the guilt fell on his shoulders even harder knowing that if it wasn't for him, Anette wouldn't have ever been close to her end goal like she was now.
In a bid, not to just stop her from getting Kain, but also as a way to help the rest of them, he proposed to Ray and Tala an idea that at first they scoffed at yet ended up mulling it over themselves more and more as the days had passed by.
When they finally agreed to Brooklyn's idea they hadn't even bothered asking him how he'd done it or how it was even possible, as even Brooklyn was still unsure of all what he could do given his powers, but as promised he aged both Kain and Nikita up in order to better prepare them for the final fight.
During the past four months Tala and Ray watched their two children go from toddler and infant to child and pre-teen to teenagers with each passing week.
It had been a slow process, per Brooklyn's warning, and while they aged their minds aged with them to compensate for their sudden growth and as previously promised to them by Emily, the two children came into their powers the moment they hit puberty and were promptly thrown into training with Lee and Brooklyn overseeing it.
Not that either of them had wished the kind of life they were living for their children, Tala and Ray stood beside each other that it was a better alternative to Brooklyn's original vision since doing so had ended up changing it somewhat.
Anette was still on her way with her army of Savages with Kai by her side where they would be within the Village at the start of March, and while one problem seemed to be solved by aging the children up it still left Lee and the other members of the council fretting and worrying over what to do with their people when Anette would ultimately show up.
Between training the kids and the constant sit downs with the council, Brooklyn there only by Ray's demand, it was finally determined to have the Village evacuated in time while those who were made to fight stay back and do so. Yet, given how long it took the council to agree to it, it only left them all with a small window of time to make sure everyone got out while preparing to face off with Anette.
Luckily, and something not even Brooklyn had foreseen coming, Kenny had been able to finalize the Reversal serum back in October for them all after using Oliver and Johnny as their tests subjects after Bryan and Spencer had gone back to the Abbey and brought them to the Village by force. And with Max's direction they were able to put the serum in hollow bullets for Anette's Savages, mass producing them as fast as they could given their small window of time.
Though, putting Oliver and Johnny through the Reversal Process left them without any of their powers and they weren't useful to them any now, nor were they any help in understanding what had happened back at the Abbey the last time Spencer had been there with Mariah and Tyson and it was deserted.
Kenny had explained all he knew but was at a loss himself as to what had happened before the others rescued him from the Abbey, having to tell them all that he had helped Anette subdue Kai at the time he was being held captive to where she was able to get Black awake within him finally and explained the fail-safe he managed to imprint in Kai while he'd been put under. While he had confidence in his fail-safe, the other's weren't all too sure just how well it work given the destruction they'd seen Kai do over the past few months since Nikita was born back in August.
It had been hard at first when Lee finally showed them all what Kai had been out there doing, only for it to get harder when Ray and Tala had to sit their children down when they had come into their powers and explain to them who it was they were seeing out there causing so much pain and bloodshed across the world, and that eventually they too would have to face against him as he led Anette's army.
Nikita seemed more indifferent to it all while Kain had stormed out of the council hall, Ray needing to chase after him to keep him cooled down.
As Kain had aged up rapidly, Ray and Tala had done their part in explaining everything to both their kids to the best of their abilities just before their powers manifested, only giving them a week to do so. Kain had seemed to understand his role in it all and had even accepted it, nor did he grow up not knowing who Kai was, it was still a hard pill to swallow when he'd been shown the aftermath of what his father was capable of doing. Yet, since then, he'd been training with Brooklyn to the point he was exhausted and close to collapsing, doing all he could to be better prepared for the final fight.
In the end, everyone was doing their part, working tirelessly day and night to make sure that when Anette did arrive they would be able to end it all for good.
Ray knew they were all tired, the kids especially given how fast they were forced to grow up and then be tossed into the fray, but he couldn't say he wasn't proud of them for all they'd been doing the past few months and despite what the doctors had said concerning Tala and the use of his legs, he was always out there with them watching over their children beside him with his cane at his side.
He'd gone to his physical therapy, like he'd been told to do, and while he could feel some of his strength return to him it wasn't the same nor did he think it would ever be the same.
After the first month of therapy he'd been able to toss away his crutches for his cane and given the timing of when Brooklyn had approached him and Ray about their children, he was more than thankful to be rid of the crutches in order to help Ray chase their ever growing kids around the house.
As much as they both would have rather let nature just take its course, allow the kids to grow up normally, he knew this was for the better even if it had been a hard adjustment for all four of them and at times downright heartbreaking for the two of them.
Even though they seemed to speed right past the usual firsts with Nikita like walking and learning how to talk, the only good part of it was skipping the diaper and potty training stage. Yet, it all still came with its hardships on the kids when their teeth grew in quickly only to fall out almost right after they came in and being part nekojin with fangs of their own they were in constant pain with ice-packs pressed to their swollen cheeks day and night, unable to really eat for those few weeks.
While they did get to experience some of the joys of being actual children and Ray and Tala got to experience the actual joys of parenthood with the two of them; especially when the children weren't in pain or having one issue or another and they'd sneak into Ray and Tala's bed at night to sleep with them after a long day of play.
But those good times were too far and few in between the rest of it.
The growing pains were more severe than usual, given how rapidly they were growing, where at night they would lay awake and scream in pain as their father's tried to comfort them the best they could as they writhed and cried for it all to stop, breaking their father's hearts each time.
Then the mood swings had hit in just when puberty had, Kain getting his first heat at fourteen where Nikita wasn't far behind him with her first period at thirteen; and again nobody could peacefully sleep at night much less walk around the house without one of the teens bickering and fighting with each other or turning on their fathers, and anyone else in the Village who dared crossed their paths.
When their powers began to manifest they all went through more sleepless nights as neither could quite control them. Kain's skin was either burning him up to the point it singed his own clothes, and Tala was there at his bedside trying to ice him over before he burned the whole house down. Or, he was shivering so badly from the cold air his sister produced and living in such a small house where the two had to share a bedroom it was hard on them to adjust to all the different changes happening at once.
At times, especially when those bad nights outweighed the good ones, Tala and Ray often laid in bed wide awake wondering if they'd done the right thing. Always going back and forth about it, yet with what Brooklyn had seen and it then it changing based on what they decided to do they felt a little more at peace with it, though never fully nor did they think they ever would be as it wasn't reversible.
While Tala had tried to mentally prepare himself for certain milestones, he hadn't ever imagined they'd be one after the other like they'd just been through. That at the end of each week he'd come in to wake the children up in the morning and be greeted with an older version each time greeting him back.
By the time they had finished growing, which Brooklyn had already said would stop when they both reached sixteen and fifteen respectively, Kain had become almost the spitting image of Kai when he was a teenager yet had Ray's hair color with slate highlights running through it that they had noticed when he was still a baby.
Nikita on the other hand, given she was only a few months old with little to no hair at the time, had become almost the perfect mix between Ray and Tala. While her eyes had stayed their same brilliant gold like Ray's, her hair turned just as red as Tala's that she kept cut short just around the nape of her neck and had sprouted up like a weed to the point both of them were taller than Ray and close to Tala's height.
Despite it being a hard adjustment he somehow managed it, they managed it, and now the next battle was just over the horizon for them all. Like Ray though, he couldn't say he wasn't proud of them for all they'd been through the past few months and how quickly, after they'd been better guided, were able to harness their powers at their fingertips like second nature.
Nor could he say he wasn't proud of Ray for all the hurdles and hardships he'd gone through after having Nikita and like he'd promised back then, and when Tala had gone to his first physical therapy session, Ray had gone back to the hospital to figure out what exactly was going on with him and was diagnosed with postpartum depression.
It hadn't really come as a shock to Tala that Ray was depressed, he had already figured that part out, so the bigger concern was what there was to do about it and after getting some pills slapped into Ray's hand at the time of his diagnosis, he too was forced back to the hospital for his own therapy sessions which ended shortly before the kids turned four and three, yet he continued to take his medication even still through the past few months religiously.
From his spot on Ray's other side, his attention on his daughter out across the field still going at Brooklyn with all she had that even he felt the cold now around him, he started down the small hill he and the other two had been standing on away from the clearing and began his approach towards Brooklyn and Nikita.
Before he reached them his right arm swooped up and out, a wall of ice shooting through the ground that came up and separated Nikita from Brooklyn before she could attack him, or Brooklyn could counter attack. Both of them quickly turning their attention on Tala.
"Think that's enough for today." He stated, his right hand coming back onto the top of his cane where the wall of ice once again followed his motions and sucked back into the earth as if it had never been there.
Nikita panted for air, much like her brother had been doing earlier, and even with her entire body cold she had sweat running down her flushed tanned skin.
Wiping the bit of sweat from his own forehead, Brooklyn's arm came down to his side as he turned to face Tala more head on.
"Very well." He directed to Tala, turning to Nikita briefly after addressing her father.
"You did excellent today, much better than the day before. Though you have to watch your body temperature, I can see your fingers turning black and blue from over here. Warm them up before you lose them."
"Okay." Nikita sent back to him weakly, quickly putting her hands together and rubbing them to get the bit of icicles that had accumulated on her skin off as she willed her powers to calm.
Seeing her needing him, Kain bounded down from the hill towards her. Cupping her hands in his and bringing them to his mouth, he gently blew hot air onto them and melted the icicles away for her.
"That better?" He asked, rubbing her hands as his own warmed up over hers.
"Much." Nikita smiled at him as he let her hands go, the two returning back to the hill top with Tala.
"Let me see." Tala fussed the moment they got up on the hill, Ray trading places with Nikita as Lee traded places with Brooklyn in the clearing.
"I'm fine, Papa." Nikita groaned yet gave her hands over to Tala to inspect, the two of them jumping at the loud clap of thunder that roared overhead and shook the ground.
By the time they looked back at the clearing there was nothing but a blur of green and black lights clashing together in rapid succession, the thunder clapping louder and shaking the ground harder under their feet.
Storm clouds slowly rolled in overhead, darkening the sky and blocking out the sun from view as the once gentle breezes whipped and howled across the fields violently the more the two clashed together in the clearing.
Just as fast as it had started, it ended just as quickly within the blink of an eye where the green the black lights faded and the storm clouds rolled away, bringing back the sun, and the thunder could no longer be heard as Lee had Ray pinned on his back in the clearing.
Letting up his foot that he had pressed into Ray's shoulder, the two panting and out of breath with sweat pooling down their faces and their shirts soaked from it, Lee stepped off Ray and held his hand out to help him off his back.
Slapping his hand into Lee's, Ray's knees threatened to buckle when he stood up, not bothering to wipe away the sweat that was rolling down his face as he was more focused on trying to get air back into his lungs.
"You got distracted." Lee said bluntly, letting Ray's hand go once he knew the other wouldn't collapse back to the ground.
"Yeah, yeah I know I did." Ray panted at him, doing what Kain had done earlier and hunched forward to try and breathe.
"We have five weeks left before she gets here, you can't let yourself get distracted." Lee scolded.
"I know! Okay? I know." Ray bit back, toning it down some. "I'm trying, but it's hard when they're stood up there and I might hit them." He explained as he straightened himself upright, looking up to his children and Tala up on the hill staring back down at him.
"Its better they be here to watch so they have an idea of what's fixing to come." Lee said more gently.
"I think they get it." Ray sent back dryly, finally wiping the sweat away with the back of his arm that was littered in cuts from where Lee's claws and lightning had struck him.
He could barely feel any of them, his body so numb to the constant attacks he'd received over the past months from the other. Even when his own fingers and hands split open from his power he no longer felt it, but he was getting better at controlling it to where it didn't cut him open as badly as before thanks to Lee's training nor was he as winded to the point he blacked out from calling forth Driger's power like he had been.
It drained him still something fierce, leaving him tired and mostly incapacitated for hours afterwards at home, but it was still a process and one he wasn't willing to stop anytime soon.
"Let's go again." He managed to get out through his panting, turning back to Lee beside him.
"You think that's a good idea?"
"Probably not." Ray shrugged, throwing a wonky grin at Lee before getting into another fighting stance.
Up on the hill with his hawk eyes, Tala frowned at the stance Ray took up and quickly realizing what he was fixing to do. Doing his best to keep himself from rolling down the hill with his weakened strength, he rushed as fast as he could down the hill to the clearing to stop him.
The moment he went to yell out at Ray his voice was drowned out by the roar of thunder, the ground under him shaking violently as the wind came back and almost knocked him over and the two were gone again in blurs of green and black lights.
Muttering a curse under his breath, his eyes trying to pinpoint where Ray was exactly as the lights got blurrier and quicker in front of him his hand lifted only to lower back down when he realized he could potentially hurt Ray without having a good visual on him.
Letting the two continue with their training he trudged his way back up the hill where his children stood waiting for him, though their eyes were busy following every light and movement of their other father and uncle down in the clearing sparring like they'd never seen before.
"You know we're going to have to carry him back home, right?" Kain said as Tala came back up the hill top and stood between him and Nikita.
"Yup." Tala said dully with a bored and unimpressed look on his face.
"Not it." Nikita quickly cut in, raising her hand up.
Kain let out a groan, "Finneeee."
Like before the sparring match was over in the blink of an eye, more thunder having clapped and roared overhead through it all and with the match over it stopped, the black clouds rolling away once again as the green and black lights faded and Lee had Ray pinned on his back on the ground again.
More of his skin and shirt had been torn away, his blood slowly oozing out of the thin cuts yet he couldn't feel any of it and took note of the claw marks he'd left across Lee's face that spilled out his own blood down his right cheek.
"That was a bit better." Lee complimented, hauling Ray back to his feet and kept his hands on the other's shoulders as Ray swayed as the ground under him felt like it was suddenly spinning on him.
"Almost had you." Ray sent back in a pained laugh, blinking rapidly to try and get the dots that swam in his vision to go away.
"Yeah, sure ya did." Lee huffed his own laugh, waving Kain forward to come collect his father before Ray did collapse.
"Make sure he gets something to eat." Lee instructed as Kain came jogging over to them, taking Ray's left arm and putting it around his shoulders.
"Yeah, we will. See you tomorrow Uncle Lee." Kain sent back, pulling Ray alongside him as his father limped away from the clearing of the field and towards the hill where Nikita and Tala met them at the bottom of it.
Like he had with their daughter, Tala fussed over Ray the moment he was close enough to reach. Brushing Ray's bangs from him face and un-sticking them from his skin, checking over the new marks on him that he was going to have to patch up for him.
"Alright, let's get ya home." He sighed, not impressed in the slightest but knew that there would be no point in getting on Ray's case about just how hard he was pushing himself.
They'd already gone and done a run around about it all twice before, and he never won either arguments despite him being right. But, Ray was stubborn, always had been, and he knew that because he knew he could just be as stubborn as Ray could. And he loved the other for it at times, while all those other times he wanted to beat Ray over the head with a shoe.
Being unable to really help aide Kain in dragging Ray's almost lifeless body to the Jeep parked off on the other side of the hill, Tala led the way while Nikita went to Ray's other side to help her brother get him to the Jeep as his eyes were threatening to close on him as his body begged for rest.
Somehow, even when the vehicle was knocked around and jarred from the uneven roads, Ray continued to sleep in the back seat where his kids had managed to put him just before his body succumbed to sleep, leaving Tala at the wheel with Nikita upfront beside him, and Kain in the back keeping Ray's head propped on his shoulder the entire way home.
With Tala pulling into the uneven drive and throwing the Jeep in park and cutting the engine he let his two kids manhandle their father to get him out of the back, their shaking and yelling at him to wake up not startling Ray in the slightest as he was dead to the world.
"Just drop him on the couch, then go take showers." Tala ordered, holding the door open for the two as they carried Ray into the house and plopped his body down on the couch like they'd been told to do.
"I get the shower first!" Kain yelled, rushing past Nikita and knocking into her shoulder as he jumped over the coffee table in the middle of the living room to get to the bathroom.
"NO!" Nikita yelled after him, going to rush by him where they both ended up stuck in the mouth of the hallway.
"You always take the hot water! It's my turn to go first!" She hissed at him, baring her fangs as the two of them wiggled and thrashed to get unstuck from between each other and the wall they were pinned against.
"I do not! And I went first at training today and I'm the oldest!" Kain argued back.
"By a year!"
"SO?!"
"PAPA!"
Tala held his breath, having watched the two fighting and wiggling like worms in the doorway and only making their situation worse, and now his ears were ringing from the two of them yelling at one another; all the while Ray slept blissfully unaware and undisturbed on the couch…
"That's enough!" He barked out, making their thrashing stop.
"Kain, you had the shower first yesterday so it's Nikita's turn to go first today." He sighed out, pinching the bridge of his nose to keep himself calm when Nikita stuck her tongue out at her brother in her victory.
Kain stuck his tongue back out at her, letting her wiggle herself free while he stayed still so she could and pouted as she sauntered her way to the bathroom, the door slamming shut after her where he let out his own heavy sigh in a hard breath.
"You get ten minutes in there, you hear me?!" Tala called out to her the moment he could hear the water turn on through the closed door, though didn't get a response back.
"Why don't you come help me make dinner?" He directed at Kain who sulked his way back to the living room, throwing himself down on the armchair with his pout.
"Yeah, I guess…" Kain sighed again, pushing himself back out of the armchair before his aching muscles could even relax.
"Don't give me lip." Tala warned, a small smirk curling up his lips as he turned away and walked the few steps into the kitchen and towards the fridge.
"Got enough of that from both your fathers, don't need it from you too." He mused mainly to himself humorously though his words caused Kain's ears to perk some and next thing Tala knew the boy was right there beside him.
"Really?" Kain asked, looking more interested in what Tala had to say than he did about making dinner for them all.
"Mhmm." Tala hummed as he rummaged in the fridge for what he needed to use for their dinner, passing the pack of chicken to Kain without looking at him but continuing with what he had to say.
"Your father, Kai, he doesn't say much but when he does and does it when he's pissed, he can be a real pain in the ass and you'd wish you hadn't done whatever it was that pissed him off.
"You know how your Baba can be, you've seen it, it's where you get it, but even when he's pissed off he's never been as bad as your Dad. But you know what's worse? It's when your Dad goes quiet when he's really pissed about something and he doesn't say anything, nor do you know what he's thinking because then he'll just stare you down without saying a word. Now that, that is when you know you really fucked up and better run." Tala informed, holding onto his light and humorous tone.
Having been passing Kain all the ingredients he needed while he'd been talking, Tala finally shut the fridge door and faced the teen head on who looked to have been hanging on every word; neither of them aware that halfway through Tala talking that Ray had woken up on the couch and listened to him just like Kain had.
They had done their best to always talk about Kai whenever Kain asked questions, which he did more often as the days to when he and Anette would get to the Village crept closer, but sometimes it seemed too hard on Ray to say much about Kai at all or it flipped and it was too hard on Tala when Kain asked questions with the knowledge of Kai coming with the intent to kill them all.
They'd showed off pictures, when Kain was going through his rapid growth spurt and he was nine at the time, of Kai and what their family had looked like before Kai was taken from them. Kain, being so young when Anette took Kai, didn't have those memories of his father but he enjoyed whatever he could pry out of his other two fathers whenever he could as well as looking over the photos they had.
There was so much more he wanted to know yet held himself back from prying too hard, knowing how much it upset the other two at times, and while he was being trained to take Kai down by any means necessary and he'd already accept that, it didn't take away the fear that gripped him at night when he was laid in bed thinking about it.
Kenny had said that he was the fail-safe that had been implanted in Kai, how- Kain didn't know, nor did he know how he was the fail-safe but he had already told himself that he was going to try and do whatever it took to get his father back and end what his great-grandfather had started.
At the soft footsteps coming from behind them and before Kain could ask more questions, the two turned to look over their shoulders at Ray getting up from the couch.
"I can help you cook." He offered only to get a stern frown from Tala sent his way.
"No, you can sit your ass back down." Tala bit back, turning to Kain.
"Get the chicken cut up and fry it, chop those veggies and toss them in once the chicken is cooked through. Kay?"
"Kay…" Kain sent back, doing what he'd been ordered to do while Tala stomped his way around him to the cabinet that held the first aide kit in it under the sink, the butt of his cane clacking loudly on the wooden floor to show his agitation as he went about.
Doing what he'd been told, Ray sat himself back on the couch without having moved an inch away from it. Watching Tala almost apprehensively as he stomped and slammed his cane on the floor as headed his way with the first aide kit held at his side.
Not saying a word, Tala dropped onto the cushion beside Ray, popping the kit open and rooting around in it for the alcohol wipes they had to restock every other day.
"I'm sorry…" Ray gave him, already sinking in on himself and the cushion he was sat on.
"No you're not." Tala nearly growled back, tearing open the packet he'd dug out.
"But this is going to sting and I don't want to hear you bellyaching about it." He warned, putting the wet cloth against the worse looking claw marks across Ray's jawline.
Ray flinched, hissing out a breath as the sting set in and did his best not to pull away as Tala went over each mark with the wet cloth that began to burn instead of sting.
"Try not to look too happy about this."
"And you need to learn when to quit." Tala said in his dull tone, more focused on cleaning out the wounds on Ray's jawline.
"You're no good to any of us, especially me here at home, with you clocked out for hours after each training session because you don't know when to stop."
"Was only out a few minutes this time." Ray argued weakly which earned him an equally dull look that matched Tala's tone, making him shrink even further into himself.
"I'm trying to be ready." He offered instead.
"And you will be, but not at the expense of yourself." Tala said more calmly, "Lee should have known better, honestly." He grumbled more to himself.
"I'll take it more easy tomorrow."
Tala paused, having to pull out another alcohol wipe with the first being stained, and sighed through his nose.
"Think it'd be better for all of us to take a break. We still have time, they won't be here for another five weeks. If anything we need to go over our game plans again with everyone whose staying back."
Ray sat and mulled over what Tala had said, letting him wipe down the wounds on his arm next.
"I can bring it up to Lee in the morning, see what he says."
Tala only gave him a nod, more focused on cleaning him up than anything at the moment and was more than thankful that none of the wounds were as bad as they could have been on him.
With the two falling quiet on the couch while Tala worked, Nikita emerged from the hallway after her shower and getting changed in her room. Without looking up from what he was doing, Tala ordered her to take over making dinner so Kain could shower next, neither of them causing a fuss and doing as he said quietly.
Bandaged up, the burn and stinging from the alcohol being applied to his open wounds subsiding, Ray got up from the couch to take the first aide kit back to the cabinet and help Nikita in the kitchen who was finishing up their dinner while Tala stayed on the couch to rest his legs for a while after walking and standing outside for most of the day.
Watching from the couch, never tiring from the sight of Ray and their daughter working beside each other at the stove together, a smile tugged at the corner of his lips. Mindlessly, like he sometimes did, he played with the gold band around his ring finger that had his and Kai's initials carved into the band.
Ray had given it to him back in September after Brooklyn had the vision of Anette and Kai coming to the Village, saying he'd found them in Kai's dresser the day they packed up and left their home back in Russia but couldn't ever think of a time to give it to him much less say anything about them.
In a way Tala had understood, yet at the same time he was disappointed Ray had kept them stashed in his own dresser for so long without saying a word to him. And although Tala wore his every day, Ray had still yet to put his on and had only taken it out that one time when he showed and had given Tala his.
Tala never pressed him as to why he didn't wear it, having taken a few guesses as to why he didn't already, but that still didn't take away the sting from the fact Ray wouldn't much less just take it out to admire from time to time.
"Papa, dinners ready." Nikita called, pulling him from his thoughts and making his hand and fingers stop fiddling with the band around his finger.
"Do you want me to bring it to you?" Ray then asked, knowing Tala probably needed to stay off his feet for a bit longer.
"No, no I'm good." Tala waved off, pulling himself up from the couch with his cane.
Just as he made it past the front door and before there was even a knock, he stopped his trek to the kitchen table and pulled the door open where Bryan and Spencer were walking up the path to the house.
Between the two of them Bryan looked more beaten down than Spencer did, sporting a beautiful left black eye and split bottom lip.
"He got ya again?" Tala asked in a knowing tone, smirking at the slight glare that wasn't so powerful with Bryan's black eye he tried to send his way.
"He tripped over his own feet." Spencer chuckled back, walking past Tala first into the house with Bryan right behind him who was grumbling under his breath the whole way.
"We just finished making dinner, you two want a plate?" Ray asked as Tala closed the front door behind them.
"Please." Spencer answered, joining Ray and Nikita at the table.
Coming in and sitting with them, Bryan ruffled up Nikita's hair as he sat beside her.
"Hey squirt."
"Hi Uncle Bryan." She giggled, fixing her hair back to the way it was before picking up her fork.
"Looks good." Spencer commented.
"Thanks, I helped make it." Nikita beamed at him.
"Your brother did too." Ray corrected and like a light bulb had gone off he looked up from his own plate, noticing Kain wasn't out of the bathroom yet.
"Kain! Dinner!" He hollered out, knowing his son had probably fallen asleep standing up in the tub.
Like he'd been shocked by one of his father's lightning bolts, Kain jolted awake from where he had indeed fallen asleep standing up, his forehead sporting a bright red mark from where it had slumped against the wall of the shower when he'd dozed off.
Rushing to get out and dashing down the hall in a towel and dripping water behind him all over the floor, he hollered a hello to his Uncles that had joined them like they often did for dinner before coming back out of his room finally dressed more properly, yet his hair stuck to his face and neck and dripped with left over water.
"You fall asleep again?" Ray asked.
"Yeah, didn't even realize I had." Kain chuckled back, digging into his food with the rest of them.
"Were you four back out there with crazy guy and Lee?" Bryan asked around the food in his mouth.
"Mhmm…" Tala hummed back, lowering his head some more to focus on his plate like he was disinterested in the conversation.
"But we're going to take tomorrow off." Ray supplied, noticing Tala's shift in demeanor and knowing that if it wasn't for what he'd done earlier that day they wouldn't be taking that break.
"Wait, what?" Kain cut in, head popping up from his almost cleared plate of food that he had nearly inhaled already.
"Why are we taking a break? Brooklyn said I'm not ready yet. We only have a few weeks left." He flapped.
"Because we need it, especially the two of you." Ray answered calmly, "We don't want you two pushing yourselves to the point you can't stand."
"Kind of rich coming from you…" Kain mumbled, popping the last bits of his food into his mouth after.
Ray gave him a pointed stare that went ignored, turning back to Bryan on Nikita's other side.
"I'm going to go and talk to Lee tomorrow, have it where we all can have a sit down to go over our plans to make sure we're ready." He explained.
Bryan nodded back to him, "Sounds good. Lemme know when and where."
"Yeah, we will." Ray sent back before looking across the table to Spencer.
"How'd your guys training go today?"
"Was good. He's almost there. If he can learn to stop tripping over his big feet." Spencer answered, getting the kids to snicker around the table.
Bryan grumbled a little, shoving a forkful into his mouth and using it to point at Spence across the table from him.
"You know what they say about big feet though." He quipped back, getting smacked in the arm by Tala who was on his other side.
"If you don't mind, you have a lady sat beside you." He reminded, pointing his own fork right in Bryan's swollen face.
"Oh lighten up, she's growing up around boys she'll get used to it." Bryan sent back with a light hearted laugh, nudging Nikita in the arm beside him.
"Aint like you're not used to it already, right?"
Nikita giggled at him, always finding him funny since she was little. Although most of her memories were blended together, given how fast her mind had to keep up with her aging as quickly as she did, she always had fond ones of whenever Bryan was around for one reason or another. Knowing how much her Papa and him could go around in circles with each other and finding it amusing every time since nobody could ruffle Tala's feathers as much or as badly as Bryan could.
"Don't make me freeze you to that chair all night, because I will." Tala threatened, not looking amused.
"Alright, alright." Bryan conceded only for a wry grin to spread along his face, "What size shoe you wear again?" He coyly asked.
Having just put some food into his mouth, Ray almost choked on what he'd bitten into. Kain and Nikita besides themselves laughing as Tala's face turned several different shades of red. Spencer doing his best to hide behind his hand as he laughed quietly under his breath.
"That's it, I'm done." Tala stated, dropping his fork onto his plate where the metal clattered against the ceramic and his arms crossed over his chest with his unimpressed look sitting on his face.
"Nine and a half…" Ray whispered loud enough the whole table heard with his head ducked down, not willing to look up at Tala's expression that he was sure had twisted into something unpleasant.
Bryan howled, smacking the table between them all, his side cramping up instantly with his full belly. Spencer almost choked on his own food, having to cup his hand to his mouth to keep it all in while he laughed with him and the kids had tears in the corner of their eyes now.
Ray took the chance and peeked up, finding Tala's icy glare greeting him that he couldn't help but smile at like an idiot.
"You can go back to sleeping on the couch." Tala directed at him, yet Ray knew it was an empty threat given how the corner of Tala's lips tried to curl up into a smile with all the laughing around them.
Not long after, the plates were finally cleared once the laughter had died away, Tala finishing his food with the rest of them as idle chatter filled the air around them and Bryan and Spencer were bidding the family of four a good night and heading back to their own place.
"Alright, brush your teeth you two and off to bed." Ray shooed at the kids, picking up the empty plates from the table while Tala stayed sat.
"Night." Nikita called as she pushed herself away from the table, giving a peck to her each of her father's cheeks before going to the bathroom.
Kain wasn't far behind her, bidding their fathers a good night though didn't give them a peck on the cheek before he joined Nikita in the bathroom to brush his teeth.
"You want any help?" Tala asked the back of Ray's head the moment they were left alone in the kitchen as Ray stood at the sink, cleaning the dishes under the running faucet.
"I got it." Came the fast reply.
Tala huffed a sigh, pulling his cane away from where he'd left it leaned against the table while he'd been eating and hauled himself out of his chair. Going up beside Ray like he hadn't heard him and grabbed a dish towel from the drawer beside him.
"Pass me the plate."
Ray rolled his eyes though did as he was asked once the plate was washed, passing it off to Tala to dry where he leaned against the counter to keep some of his weight off his leg.
A comfortable silence came over them, listening to their children down the hall climbing into their beds for the night after they had closed their bedroom door behind them.
"I think he's coming along fine. Both of them are." Tala commented quietly enough he knew the kids wouldn't hear him, drying off the third plate Ray had handed to him, making a stack on the countertop behind him.
"If Brooklyn says he stills needs to train then he has to. Both of them do." Ray sent back just as quietly, scrubbing down the next plate in the sink.
"I know you're worried for them, I am too, but if we push too fast and too hard we can do more damage than good." Tala warned.
Ray stayed silent while he finished the plate, passing it off to Tala before answering him. Holding off from washing the next plate that sat off to the side of the sink, resting his arms against the edge of the counter while letting the water just run.
"I know. I just want them ready, for anything that might be coming our way. At this point it really is life or death this time, and I can't lose them."
"And we're not going to. I won't let that happen, and I know you won't either." Tala comforted, placing a hand on Ray's shoulder which drew the other's attention towards him.
"Can't lose you, too."
Tala gave him a soft smile, moving the hand he'd placed on Ray's shoulder and brushing his bangs from his face, tucking his hair behind his ear.
"Still don't plan on going anywhere anytime soon." He said softly, taking that same hand and gently caressing the side of Ray's face.
Ray returned the smile, straightening himself up from against the edge of the counter, turning the tap off and bridging the small space between them before pressing his lips to Tala's where their eyes slipped closed at the contact.
Crowding Tala between him and the counter, Ray's body pushed in closer till they were chest to chest. His hands roaming up Tala's sides, slipping them under his shirt as the kissing got more heated.
Tala's skin twitched at the soft touches, his own hands having wandered around Ray's lower back, trailing down to cup his ass and pull him in even closer which seemed to only rile the other up more.
Nearly forcing his tongue down Tala's throat, his hands having pushed Tala's shirt up higher around his middle and settling them around his rib-cage, Ray gripped and groped at him, their growing erections rubbing against the other till it all seemed to just stop as Ray pulled away so fast Tala nearly came crashing to the floor if it weren't for Ray's hold on him still.
Being led to their bedroom on the opposite end of the hall, Ray kicking the door shut behind them, Tala was a bit surprised that Ray hadn't tried to just fuck him right there in the kitchen on the counter when he was suddenly attacked again and promptly shoved down onto their bed.
He didn't bother asking what had gotten into Ray, letting his body succumb to the weight of the other above him as more feverish kisses were peppered along his face and jawline while his shirt was getting bunched up around him again with Ray's hands going all over his sides and chest.
While his head got dizzy, the heat between the two of them rising, and his shirt finally being peeled off of him, his head lifted and he bit into his bottom lip to keep the noise muffled the moment Ray's lips trailed down his exposed chest. Every now and then a fang nicked him, making him writhe and breathe heavily through his nose as his teeth sunk into his lower lip harder.
The lower Ray got the more his chest began to heave, his hands flying up from where they'd laid against the bed at his sides, going through Ray's hair and his fingers twisting around the dark locks in his grasp the moment he could feel Ray lowering his zipper and undoing the button to his jeans.
Sucking air in through his teeth, his eyes screwed shut the second Ray's tongue met his cock, licking up the underside of it to the tip slowly like he was savoring it yet Tala could only take so much for so long as he continued to breathe heavily and hiss out pleasurable low gasps that managed to escape his tightly sealed lips.
Continuing with his teasing of Tala's cock in his hold, swirling his tongue around the head, Ray kept his eyes up on Tala's face as it twisted in pleasure. Finding the way he kept trying to bite back the noise in fear of the kids overhearing them more of a turn on than anything at the moment.
It'd always been a little tricky to have moments of intimacy since they got older so quickly, their hearing just as good as his and Tala's they could hear a pin drop a room over. And for a while neither Ray or Tala had cared all that much about the noises they produced until Kain was ten and Nikita was nine, the two innocently asking them about all the things they'd heard the previous night as they sat around the kitchen table for breakfast that morning.
In hindsight, that had only been six weeks ago, yet with how the kids minds were now rewired it seemed like it had been six years ago and while Ray was sure they didn't even really remember that conversation much less that particular night Tala had differing thoughts and made sure to keep his noise level to a bare minimum if he could control it; and if Ray didn't try to push him over the edge like he seemed to be trying to do now.
He'd always been gifted with his tongue and mouth, it doing things to Tala not even Kai could do to him and for a while, when their three-man-relationship had been pretty new to the three of them, it was often he and Kai fought over who got to choke Ray with their cocks before the other.
They'd never really been sure if Ray had been with anyone before them, nor had they ever had the balls to flat out ask either, but with the way he was able to give and take it was a safe bet that they weren't his only adventures before he came to them.
And with the way Ray's mouth was working against him now, taking him all the way back to his throat and stroking him in a different rhythm than the one he was sucking him off at, Tala was more than glad that Ray had decided to come to them in the end.
He couldn't help it when his back lifted from the bed, a bitten off groan shaking his body and his fingers gripping tighter to Ray's hair as he changed the pace of how fast and hard he was sucking his swollen dick.
"Fuck, Kit…." He hissed out, eyes prying open to see the beautiful face nestled between his thighs and those golden eyes he loved staring back up at him.
Taking that as his cue to come away before Tala did, Ray released him with a light pop and trail of saliva connecting them still till he wiped it away with the back of his hand.
Coming up from the bed where he'd been laid out between Tala's legs, he grabbed Tala's jeans and stripped them away quickly. Glad that Tala had decided to go commando for the day, and quickly stripping out of his own clothes before popping the side table drawer open and grabbing the lube nestled within.
"Think you can get on your knees?" Ray questioned.
Tala wasn't sure if he really could, but right now he'd do whatever Ray wanted him to and gave a slow nod like an automatic reaction.
The roll over was slow, placing himself more in the center of the bed and closer up to the headboard so he had something to grip onto as Ray's weight dipped the bed behind him.
His teeth sunk into his lip again the moment Ray's soft lips touched the bare skin of his back, making him arch into the kisses and his head go back some. His right hand flew out to grab the top of the headboard, gripping at the wood tight while his left kept up most of his weight.
Following the curve in Tala's spine, having coated his fingers and gently teasing his opening, Ray continued to kiss up and down Tala's back as he pushed his finger inside him where the muscles tightened around his single digit as he buried it in Tala's body.
"You're too tight, relax." Ray cooed, placing another kiss around Tala's shoulder blade where he felt him shiver at the soft touch.
Tala breathed slowly and deeply, relaxing himself enough that Ray could move his finger inside him. A burn and sting settling in his lower back that spread up his spinal cord that was quickly washed away as the pleasure kicked in.
He bit back every noise that he could as Ray picked up speed with his lone finger, another soon following when he felt Tala was ready for the second, twisting them around inside him and grating against his inner walls that had clamped back around him tightly with the extra girth that had pushed inside him.
"Relax, Tal."
At the softly whispered breath ghosting right below his ear, Tala's body relaxed once more yet his grip on the headboard and now the sheets below him tightened to compensate instead. His body jerking with every push and pull of Ray's fingers inside him, every noise threatening to come out of him being bitten back with all he had to the point he was slowly drawing blood from his bottom lip.
With a few more rough thrusts of his fingers, having stretched Tala out as much as he could, Ray pulled them out and quickly coated himself up, slapping his hands to Tala's hips before throwing his own into his ass-cheeks as his cock slid inside him.
Tala's head back with a whimper, eyes closed tightly and nails chipping on the wood of the headboard but kept himself as relaxed as he could.
Opposite to Tala, Ray's head had gone down. Not moving until he was sure Tala was good enough for him to before he slowly and carefully began to pull out only to push back in before he fell out of him. Quickly picking up a speed and rhythm that had Tala panting out heavy breaths through his nose as he wouldn't dare open his mouth now with the way his body burned and the pleasure was rampaging up and down from his head to his toes.
Keeping his grip on Tala's hips, using them to push and pull Tala how he wanted him, Ray too got lost in the pleasure yet unlike Tala he let out the noises that kept rising and rolling out of his chest. The bed creaking under their combined weight and the headboard knocking against the wall as he picked up speed and threw himself into Tala harder and faster.
Leaning over Tala's back, targeting the bare flesh of his neck and shoulder, Ray kept going with his harder thrusts as his mouth latched onto the pale skin, fangs sinking in and breaking through that had Tala whimpering and trembling under him as the pain quickly blossomed, head tilting to the other side to try and give more room while Ray pounded into him from behind.
As badly as it hurt, it felt just as good like it always did whenever Ray latched into him like that. It adding to the pleasure he was already feeling, making his already weakened body slack some as arm threatened to give out under him.
He wasn't even entirely sure why Ray did bite him like he was holding him there, assuming it had something to do with the cat genetics as he'd seen him do it to Kai plenty of times before as well as being on the receiving end of it on more than one occasion, yet neither of them could or would ever complain about it nor did they ever.
"Ray… Ray, Kit…" He panted out, unable to keep himself suspended over the bed any longer as the pleasure got too much and his body only getting weaker with each thrust now that had him already seeing stars.
At hearing Tala call for him, Ray unlatched himself from his neck and stopped dead, pulling himself out of him to let Tala roll and lay down on his back.
"You okay?" Ray asked, looking Tala over worriedly.
"Mhmm." Tala hummed back in a daze up at him, threading his arms around Ray's neck as he hovered over him and pulled him into a hard but sloppy kiss.
Ray kissed him back, hooking Tala's legs under his arms and dragged him closer till he felt himself break through his opening again and pushed in the rest of the way till he was buried in completely once more.
Keeping his thrusts more sensual and slow, hitting in deeper with longer strokes, their tongues tied together inside his mouth Tala dominated the kiss. His body swayed under Ray with his thrusts, moaning and bleating into Ray's mouth weakly as his cock was trapped between their stomachs and getting rubbed off at the same time.
Unable to hold it in any longer, Tala broke their faces away, crying and moaning out with each perfect throw of Ray's hips into him. The bottom of his gut tightening and twisting to the point it hurt, and before he could even try to stop it his orgasm snapped on him with a powerful slap. His cries ricocheting off the walls of the bedroom as he climbed higher and higher to the clouds only to be smacked back down to the earth.
Ray wasn't far behind him, not with the way Tala's insides had clamped around him tightly, it driving him over his own cliff and soaring into the sky with him only to get smacked down just as hard if not harder than Tala had been where his entire body shook and trembled as he fought to stay hovering over Tala instead of collapsing right down on top of him.
Their stomachs and chests were coated now with Tala's spilled seed, and the moment Ray managed to pull himself together and out of Tala's weak and abused body his own began to trickle out of him that he quickly wiped away with Tala's earlier discarded shirt, tossing it off the bed and flopping himself down beside Tala where they both panted heavily for air through their dry throats.
Just as their breathing seemed to even out, the two basking in the post coital feel and bliss, it was quickly shattered as banging could be heard from down the hall and through their closed bedroom door.
"YOU TWO DONE NOW?!" Kain's voice echoed from his room at them.
"Trying to freakin' sleep here…" They heard him mumble after.
Despite Tala's cheeks blowing up in a blush, the two of them belted out laughing together. Barely calming any as they got under their tossed up sheets and Ray had put his head down on Tala's chest, eyes closing but small leftover giggles escaping him just enough for him to settle and relax. Tala's arms having wrapped around him, his fingers combing through the short locks where Ray's chest began to rev up and vibrate as he contently purred against him.
A tired smile stretched out over Tala's face, his body relaxing and melting more into the bed due to the weight over him and the sounds coming from the other that helped lulled him off to into his own deep and much needed sleep.