I
laid curled up in his protective arms. I buried my head against his smooth
chest. I could feel the smooth outline of what wasn't fat, but what wasn't
muscle either. The only place that he really had muscle was his arms, from all
the lifting that he did. And those arms laid wrapping my body in a tight,
protective embrace. He'd always been protective of me. He hated to see me sad,
or hurt. The small alarm clock rang, arousing him from his slumber. "Good
morning." He said, looking at me. He'd always been a morning person. He
could get up before the crack of dawn with ease.
"Since when is a morning ever good?" I mumbled into him, reluctantly
extracting myself from his grip. He smiled at me, and sat up. He looked down at
me from his perch on top of his hand. With his free hand he brushed a stray
lock of hair away from my face. I sat up, and reluctantly walked to the
bathroom. I turned the shower on to cold, and stepped into the arctic spray. I
felt my body react to the cold, even colder than the stone room. I quickly
showered, before changing into one of the many, similar maids outfits, giving
the bathroom up to my brother.
He emerged a few minutes later, towel wrapped around his waist. You could
clearly see the white scars that criss-crossed his back. His long blonde hair
lay plastered against his wet neck. He quickly pulled out a pair of black pants
and a matching shirt, and dressed, before donning the torn and tattered
tailcoat that he insisted on always wearing. He'd wear that thing till it
completely unraveled. There was something about it, and no one knew what, that
he was stubbornly proud of. I think it had something to do with the fact that
he had bought it himself, one of the few things he could call his own.
That tailcoat and me. I was his, and his alone. I had always been his, and
would always be his. I don't know what I could do without him. If we were ever
taken away from each other, I'd be completely heartbroken. I wouldn't be able
to go on without him. I don't quite know where we fell in love, but it was
early on in our lives. We had basically been the only things that each other
had. With virtually no family, just a father who all but disowned us, we were
pretty much completely on our own.
And we learned to fend for ourselves quite well. He always had protected me,
and he had sworn he would for the rest of time. I knew he'd keep that promise.
He already had numerous times. Every time Frank had gone to lash out at me,
Riff was right there, making Frank think twice. Every time I got hurt, he was
there to comfort me, and erase the pain almost immediately. And he'd let
nothing stop him from protecting me, no matter what the cost.
