Chapter Twenty- Three: Arrival

Brian clung tightly to the hands wrapped around his waist. Something bad was going to happen, he knew it. They were going to fast down the tunnel, slide, or whatever it was. The child screamed as a huge bear came barreling at him. It was only inches away before it disappeared into think air. Brian gaped. Where had the bear gone? His uncle's laughter drew his attention

Why was he laughing at him? Tears welled in his eyes. What had he done? What was so funny about a bear charging at him? He didn't stop the tears from rolling down his cheeks as more scary things jumped out at him, literally, disappearing before they reached him. His uncle continued to laugh.

Maybe he shouldn't have come with him. Vernon had laughed at him when he was scared. Was this man going to the same thing as Vernon had?

"Isn't this fun?" he yelled as they took a sharp turn. Brian screamed from fear while his uncle screamed for the fun of it.

"This isn't fun?" Brian screamed while sobbing. His uncle stopped having a fun time when he heard the tears in his voice.

"What's wrong?" He felt a tear drop land on his hand. "Why are crying? Nothing in here can hurt you. It's all illusions; none of it's real. It's charmed to do this. I thought I told you that." He tightened his grip on the child as the most fearsome creature Brian had ever seen came at him.

It was huge, tall, red, slimy creature walking slowly towards them. This scared Brian more. All the others had come so fast. Why was this one coming so slow? Was he saving his energy to eat him?

He had a five foot horn sticking out of his head with green slime coming off of it. His arms dragged the ground with his two foot long feet sticking straight ahead. He had heads on his arms, four on each, and all were blinking at Brian. Some were smiling at him nicely. Others were smirking at him evilly, while a few were frowning and looking sad.

Brian finally screamed as the creature was within three feet of him and closed his eyes. He thought he heard his uncle's voice, but was too concerned with screaming himself to take much notice. He snapped his eyes open as the arms around tightened to hard he couldn't breath. He turned to look at his uncle as his grip loosened.

"Nothing will hurt you no matter how scary it looks, okay? Nothing will hurt you," he replied soothingly. He tried to reassure the child with his eyes, but it didn't work. The child was just as scared as ever. "Just close your eyes. We'll be there soon, and then you can see your aunt!" Brian took a deep breath and nodded, glad at the thought of seeing his aunt and finally being out of this tunnel.

Brian did as he was told and time seemed to pass much quicker. He hadn't the lurching turns still, steep drops and inclines, but it seemed like only a minute has passes before they were deposited on a grassy field. Brian felt his uncle pick him up and turned to look at him. "What's your name? I don't remember, sorry." He looked at him shocked.

"You don't have to apologize for it. You were very little when I left. I had to leave before your aunt did for… reasons." Brian frowned, but didn't think much on it. "My name is Derek. You may call me Derek, or Uncle Derek, whatever you prefer." Brian nodded. "You can ask me any question. I can't promise I'll answer, but you can ask."

"Where are we going?" Brian looked around. He could see a cottage a few feet away. Was that were he lived?

"We're going to where I live." Brian sighed.

"I know that. Where is that? Does it have a name? A street address?"

"That," he said mysteriously, "is a question I can not answer. You will find out when we get there." Brian frowned, but was too tired to argue. He just wanted to go somewhere warm to sleep. He looked at the cottage walls waiting for something to happen. He shivered as the wind blew.

"What are we doing?" His uncle only shook his head. Brian sighed and buried his head against Derek's neck as the wind blew bitterly again. Brian kept his head buried there even after the wind blew with his eyes closed tightly. He clung tightly to Derek's clothes, which Brian now noticed were no longer pink footed pajamas. He didn't open his eyes to look, but the material now felt different.

After five minutes he moved his head and opened his eyes. Brian blinked rapidly. Where had the cottage and grass gone? He looked around trying to figure out what happened. They were standing in some kind of store with people sitting at the counter and in booths. Brian's stomach rumbled as smells of cinnamon, hot chocolate, and doughnuts reached his nose. Derek turned to him and smiled.

"Hungry?" he asked good naturally. Brian blushed and nodded. "We'll get something to eat and then go home. How does that sound?" Brian simply nodded as Derek walked them to the counter with Brian still nestled in his arms. Derek sat Brian down on the stool next to him as a lady come over to take their order.

"Derek! You're back! Everyone's been so worried especially Jennifer. Where did you go? You know we're not supposed to leave not without clearance. I-"

She stopped talking as she spotted Brian. She looked at Derek suspiciously. "Who is this?" Brian shrank his seat. He hadn't meant to cause any trouble.

"Oh, this is my nephew. I had to go get him. It was an emergency. He would've died if I hadn't come when I had. I'm sure the Council will understand. We'll have two hot chocolates, one order of scrambled eggs, bacon, and four glazed doughnuts. Brian, what do you want to eat?" Brian looked at him, surprised.

"You don't have to buy me anything. I don't need anything." Derek looked incredulous.

"Of course you need something to eat! Those people weren't feeding you! This food doesn't cost anything. No one here has to buy anything. It's all free," he reassured him. Brian didn't believe him. He had never heard of any food being free.

"Are you sure it's free? I don't mean to be a burden."

"Honey, you're not a burden. Mandy, isn't the food free?" The waiter smiled kindly down at Brian.

"The food's all free. I believe your uncle already ordered you a hot chocolate. Would you like some pancakes? We have blueberry, raspberry, banana, apple, peanut butter, and even chocolate chip." Brian perked up. Chocolate chip pancakes were his favorite.

"Chocolate chip, please."

"How about some doughnuts? Your uncle ordered some for himself, but none for you I believe." She sent Derek a playful look. "How about a glazed doughnut with chocolate icing and sprinkles, two with chocolate filling, and three éclairs?" Brian's eyes were the size of saucers.

"You don't have to do that, and I don't think I can eat that many." Derek chucked.

"He'll have that, Mandy. I'll help you if you can't eat it all." Derek ruffled the child's hair sending warmth through his body only to be followed by sadness. Daddy, Brian thought, always used to do that. He looked down at his hands as tears filled his eyes.

Brian's head snapped up to look at his uncle as he was picked up. "What's wrong? You look like you're going to cry." Brian sniffled.

"I miss my Daddy. They took me away. Why did they take me away? He didn't do anything to me? He wasn't like my real daddy! He was nice! Why did they have to take me away?"

Derek held him close as the child sobbed. Brian didn't want to cry, but couldn't seem to stop. He had only cried the first day with Vernon. He had stopped after Vernon beat him for it now all those pent up feelings were coming out as he sobbed onto his uncle's chest.

Twenty minutes later the food had arrived, and Brian had calmed down enough to eat. Derek went ahead and cut the child's pancakes into bite size pieces for him. Brian practically inhaled the food after the Dursley's malnourishment. They left the small diner thirty minutes later.

"Are we going to have to go through another tunnel?" Derek chucked at the boy's obvious dislike of their first method of travel.

"No, child, we're going to talk. My house is only down the street. Your aunt is going to be so thrilled." Brian lifted his head from Derek's shoulder.

"Aunt Kristy? Do you really think she will be thrilled? I mean, some people may not want children around." Derek firmly shook his head no.

"We are both thrilled to have you. Of course she'll be thrilled! You're staying with us until further notice." Brian nodded sadly as he thought of Harry. Derek noticed the child's sad look.

"What's wrong?"

"I miss Daddy. My second Daddy not my real one."

Derek frowned. This was the second time he had mention his 'second daddy.' What had happened to the child's real father? Derek certainly didn't like the man, hated him in fact, but where had he gone? He was about to question the child, but a yell stopped him. He looked down the street and smiled. His wife was standing the middle of the street. He immediately released the squirming Brian as he ran to his long last aunt.

Author's Note: Sorry for the lack of updates, but this hasn't been high up on my priority list, and I haven't been in the mood to write on this. I've been preferring to write in my notebooks at school since that's when all the bad crap comes to mind, and I don't want to think about it. I'm going to work on getting that written up and posted so if you want to read something by me that isn't fanfiction, I came up with all the characters on my own, it might be on fiction press in the near future, and I have other stories there that I advise you to read thought not the short stories. They're not that great.

Thanks for the reviews!