Not AS Bad as I Thought

"I knew it," Vanessa said when Finral walked through the portal. She was standing in front of the portal with her arms crossed, apparently waiting for him to return.

"Knew what?" He asked confused.

"That you'd come home a depressed mess. Which means your fiancée wasn't there today."

"I told you guys, she's Langris' fiancée, not mine. No she wasn't there but I don't know why you think I'm depressed."

Vanessa sighed before reaching up and whipped Finral's cheek with her thumb and showed him.

When had he started crying?

He quickly dried his eyes with the back of his sleeve.

"No... it's not them...," he said. "It's just... I met my mother today."

"Hmm?" Vanessa said tilting her head to the side. "What do you mean?"

"Okay, I didn't really meet her. I found a panting of her in a room Langris and I were never aloud to enter. I kind of used my magic to sneak in today..."

"Kind of?"

"Okay... I did... It turned out it was Mother and Father's room when she was alive. There was a large painting of her and Father that I'm assuming used to hang above the fireplace in the living room before Father remarried. There was a wardrobe that has a lot of her dresses... But I only got the chance to look at one before Kathryn caught me... It was her wedding dress. It was the most beautiful dress I've ever saw, I bet she looked like an angel in it."

Satisfied with his response, Vanessa nodded then looked around the room to make sure nobody was paying attention. Gordon was sitting in a chair with some fabric and a needle. Grey and Charmy were nowhere to be found, except maybe the kitchen. And she knew Yami had left to the restroom moments before Finral returned.

She turned back to Finral and whispered, "and how's Fatry? I know how he sometimes gets after visiting your family."

"There was a moment there where I thought he was going to loose it, but he was fine once we went to Mother's room... Crap..." he said as he fell forward into Vanessa, the portal closing behind him.

"You okay?" She said wrapping her arms around him.

"Forgot to... close... portal..."

"And Tota is far enough away that it drained too much of your mana."

Finral nodded though he knew it wasn't a question.

"Alright. Over here," she said draping his arm over her shoulder for support as she helped him to the couch. "Don't nobles have a lot of mana? How do you always run out so fast?"

"We do... But I don't have as much as the rest of my family... so they keep telling me... And spacial spells takes up a lot of mana... because of it ripping holes in space and covering long distances that other types of magic can't cover... Of course the rest of my family don't have that problem because they don't use transport spacial magic... Tired... I sleep now."

"Fiiiinrrrraaaal!" Charmy yelled running into the room and jumping onto the couch next to Finral, some how managing to not dump the food on the tray she was carrying. "Welcome back! I made some nums! Wanna try?!"

"Thank you, Charmy, but I'm really tired. I~"

"Eat iiiiiit~!"

"Huuuh! But I just wanna sle~... Oh... Cherry Tart..." he said finally looking at what was on the tray. "If I try one, will you let me sleep?"

"Of course!"

"If this is as good as the other food you make, would you mind making a batch for my brother? He loves Cherry Tart. I'll take it to him later when I have more mana," he added as he picked one up.

"Sure!" She said as Finral took a bite. "Weeeellll?"

Finral nodded before swallowing, "delicious. Make as many as you want. Langris won't complain about there being too much."

"Alright!" She said before excitedly running to the kitchen.

"Looks like you just made her day," Vanessa said looking down to Finral only to find him already fast asleep on her shoulder. She noticed a red mark slowly appearing on his face. "Fatry?"

"Crap," he muttered. "Why does this keep happening?"

Vanessa looked over her shoulder to the chair Gordon had been sitting in. He wasn't there anymore and she didn't sense his or anyone else's mana nearby.

He sat up.

"So Finral had a good day I take it."

"After dinner was over. His brother announced that he got promoted then told them Finral did too. But of course instead of congratulating him they made fun of him and told him how pathetic he was for still being a junior Magic Knight."

"I take it that's what Finral was referring to when he said he thought you where going to lost it at one point."

"Yeah," he said, scratching the back of his head. "Just because his magic can't attack doesn't make him pathetic."

"What about his mother? What was she like?"

"Personality wise? I still don't know. But she was very beautiful. She seemed like she was a very kind person. I assume she's where Finral gets his kindness from because it sure as hell wasn't his father."

"What happened when he got caught?"

"Nothing. Luckily it was Kathryn that caught him. She's very understanding. Apparently she's been trying to get Ledior to let Finral in the room for awhile now, but he refuses. She said he could comeback anytime he wanted as long as he left everything as he found it or Ledior would know if he were to go in there and see something moved. I don't see what the big deal is, it's his mother, he deserves to know who she was. I'm going to see if he wants to try to go back tomorrow. I don't think he's going to be up for it tonight seeing as to how he's out of mana and exhausted."

"Probably not. Not to mention it's probably best to not push it too much. You two already snuck in once today, you got lucky that you were caught by someone who actually likes Finral. If you try again too soon, you might not be that lucky."

"I know. If Ledior or Liliane caught him... they'd kill him."

"Not if I can help it. They even think about laying a finger on him, I'll make sure they regret it."

"I don't doubt it," he smiled. "I should probably go to Finral's room before someone comes in and sees me," he added, standing up.

"That would probably be a good idea. I'll bring you up something to drink in a few."

"No thanks... Knowing you, your trying to trick me into another drinking contest."

"Fatry! How could you say that?! I would never do that to Finral," she said innocently.

"Oh, but you'd do it to me?"

"Caught me," she winked.

"Vanessa!"

"I'm only joking. Yami would kill me if I got Finral drunk again. I only meant I'd bring you some water or something. Charmy's in the kitchen so you can't go in there without her seeing you."

"True," he said before opening a portal. "By the way, Finral maybe seventeen now, but he's still not old enough to drink."

"He'll be twenty in three more years, it will be fine."

"Three years too many," he laughed before stepping through the portal.

Setting on the edge of the bad, he reached into the nightstand drawer and pulled out some photos Finral had hidden in it. Flipping through them, he paused on one in particular. Langris was sitting next to Liliane, who was smiling proudly. Fatry scowled at it for a moment, then sighed.

"You really do look lonely little brother... it's unbecoming... I wish you were here," he said to himself, brushing his thumb over Langris' face. It took a long time, but he had begun to notice subtle signs that Finral had always been able to see in Langris. Slight twitch's at the corner of his mouth. Glints in his eyes. The way he quickly looked away with a huff if he was caught watching his older brother. Finral knew Langris was lonely, but the way his family treated him, he didn't know how to fix it. Fatry wanted to tell him that what Langris wanted, despite the way he acted towards Finral, was his older brother to be his older brother. But Finral didn't know how to be a big brother because his parents never let him be. He tried, many times... But every time Finral asked if he wanted to spend time with him, Langris turned him down. Almost like Langris didn't know how to be a little brother. "You're parents really screwed you two up, didn't they."

"What's that you got there?" Vanessa said holding a glass of water out to him, he hadn't realized she was there.

"Hmm? Oh... some pictures of Finral's."

"That his little brother?"

"Yeah," he said taking the water from her.

"He looks offaly arrogant."

"He is. It's annoying. But some how, Finral cares very much about him."

"Because that's who Finral is."

"I know. I used to be that way to, until I met his family... Or perhaps it's because of my being reincarnated... I don't know."

"Why would it have to do with your reincarnation?"

"It's a long story. I don't really feel like explaining it again. I should probably get Finral's body to bed so it's fully rested when Finral wakes up."

"Okay... Can I ask you something first?"

"Sure."

"Do you know why you and Finral switch when he's asleep?"

"I don't know for sure but I think it only happens when Finral's asleep and I'm awake, because it doesn't happen all the time."

"So if you're both asleep it doesn't happen."

"I think so. Don't know for sure for obvious reason."

"You're unaware of what's going on in your sleep."

"Exactly."

"Makes sense. I'll let you get to bed. Good night, Fatry."

"Good night, Vanessa."