Disclaimer: This series is intended as in-between vignettes of my other fanfic, Of Life and Lemonade, so in order to understand it, you probably should read that one first. Since that one is Amelia-centered, this series will focus on the other characters that pop up. Slayers is owned by very talented people who make all the money. No harm is intended.

Occurs around chapters 2 & 3, but spoilers to chapter 10 of Life.

Chapter 2

Going Home

The landscape was a blur of greens and blues as Val stared out of the window of the train while it blazed its way east to the neighboring Kataart Mountains. With each flash of a passing sign or tree, bits of memories came to him, unwanted and uncalled for, but expected nonetheless. He shut his eyes against the thoughts, but they appeared in the darkness of his mind as they often did when he was alone.

Damn. He hated being alone.

His thumb pressed down on the button of his CD player and music filled the gloominess of his thoughts. Pictures of the singers' beautiful, smiling, and happy faces replaced the grimaces of pain and the tears of grief. He remembered happier times. Better times. When his mother and father and sisters and brothers still lived…

* * * * * * *

His whole family had been, apparently, very talented and very popular in Kataart, not that he really remembered the world outside of his immediate relatives. His mother played the violin as well as sang in a beautiful soprano, his father sang in a rich tenor, his older sister was an amazing painter, his oldest brother played the piano, his second older brother was a quiet alto, and his baby sister was the enthusiastic soprano. He remembered them all singing and dancing and playing instruments together in front of huge crowds. They were a regular Von Trapp family group. Singers, musicians, artists.

Idolized. Revered.

Murdered, for wanting a better life than what they were given by the government.

Oh, he had stopped blaming Filia and her family long ago, but not without a lot of grief and heartache. How were they to know that someone would tip off the officials that they weren't just going for a family outing to a friend's cabin in the woods? How were they to know that the man they had commissioned to smuggle them all out on his riverboat would be cunningly replaced by a spy?

Val's baby sister, Nadia, had been the first one to die. They had all braved the icy water to escape the boat when they discovered it was actually headed back to the capitol. Val held onto her tightly, trying desperately to keep her head above the water and swim at the same time, but his skinny arms had soon turned numb, and it was all he could do to keep himself afloat. Bellana, his older sister, swam over to take her from him, but before she could, he was swept into a huge rock and went under.

He vaguely remembered fighting the current that pinned him in place under water and the frantic thought that he mustn't let go of Nadia. His next memories were of Bellana waking him up on the icy riverbank, tugging him forward so they could move on. It wasn't until they met up with his parents and brothers that he learned that the only way Bell could save Val was to pry his grasp from his already dead sister.

* * * * * * *

Val opened his eyes and flexed his hand. If only he had been stronger back then. If only Bell hadn't felt responsible for their baby sister's death. He turned his gaze to his surroundings. They were still about two more hours away from the station. The mountains were fast approaching, but it would take a while to cross them to get to the valley beyond.

He rummaged in his backpack and found his sketchpad and pencil. Taking it out, he began to draw. He learned how to channel his thoughts and feelings into more positive outlets rather than bottling them up, and he found that he, too, had a talent for art as well. Sketching from memory, he began to draw his brothers, Arman and Petyr.

* * * * * * *

He remembered playing with them, playing pranks on their sisters. The three boys were born, sandwiched between the two girls, and Petyr was the middle of the middle. He and Val were closer in age, and therefore tended to play the same games when Arman scoffed at being too old for those childish things. Petyr, whose looks so closely resembled his own, had been Val's best friend.

On that frozen riverbank, Arman had pushed them on in front of him as they ran, and though no one said anything, the look he had given Val when Bell explained what happened to Nadia chilled him more than the wet clothes he was in. Petyr ran beside him and gave him a sympathetic punch on the shoulder, but his oldest brother blamed him for letting their baby sister die. Hell, he already blamed himself, why not Arman?

Gunshots rang out, and Petyr stumbled into him, knocking him to the icy ground. Val pushed himself up and saw all the blood spreading across Petyr's back. He tried to pick him up, but just then, Arman ran by, and grabbed onto Val's shirt as he went, yelling at him to run. Val fought his brother to go back and help, but he told him it was too late. Arman slung him over his shoulder and continued running. In that moment, Val realized that Petyr was gone from him forever.

* * * * * * *

As his mind drifted to the past, he realized that he had finished the drawing. Arman was holding Petyr in a headlock, something the older boy used to do to him as well. He was several years older than Val and Petyr, and was very popular with the young women in the city. Arman was the handsome one and he was hoping for a scholarship to Seyruun's University of Performing Arts. It was one way to get out of the country.

He scrawled a quick signature at the bottom, and then replaced the book and his pencil in his backpack. He checked his watch and looked outside. They were crossing the mountains now, sometimes ducking into a tunnel that burrowed deep under the mountain, sometimes skirting along the edges. In another hour, the train would arrive at the station.

Usually, in depressing situations like this, he would not be wallowing in grief. He'd just try and find something to occupy his mind and his time. This, however, was the fifth anniversary of the end of the war and the opening of the borders. It also marked the fifth anniversary of the memorial being erected at the river. He would visit that tomorrow.

No longer in the mood for music, he stopped the CD player and removed his headphones, carefully stashing them away in his bag as he tried to find something else to do. After several minutes of useless searching, he gave up and turned his attention, once again, to the world outside the train.

The countryside continued to rush by, but he focused his attention on the white tufts of clouds, forming amusing and disturbing shapes in his mind. Even this, though, did nothing to lighten the shadow that clung to him.

* * * * * * *

Although he and his oldest brother were not as close as he was with Petyr, Arman was always the fun one, getting them to play pranks on their sisters or their parents. He tended to disappear when one backfired, leaving the other two to deal with the punishments.

After running an inhuman amount of time carrying his little brother in these snowy conditions, Arman finally stopped and set Val down. Val was about to punch him for leaving their brother behind, but then he saw the tear-tracks down his handsome face. He was breathing heavily, gasping for breath.

No. He shouldn't have had to carry him all this way! Now he wouldn't be able to run…

Val pleaded with him to get up, but Arman couldn't. He was too tired. The next thing he knew, his mother and sister were pulling him away from his brother, and he was talking in low tones with his father. When his father joined them, Arman was not with him. Instead, he was hobbling through the woods, bumping into trees left and right, away from them!

Bellana's hand covered his mouth before he could scream, and the four snuck off into the night. It was only the next day that Val discovered that Arman told his father to continue on, and that he would try to lead their pursuers away to buy them more time. And he hadn't even said goodbye.

* * * * * * *

The train slowed, shuddering to a loud and whining stop at the station, and Val picked up his backpack. Taking a quick glance around the compartment for anything he might have left behind, he stepped out into the aisle and then off the train.

Kataart Station was older and more run-down than the one in Seyruun, but there were indications that the place was coming into the twenty-first century. They were retrofitting the building as well as updating their fleet of trains to the faster model that Val had just arrived on. No one paid him any heed, which was what he wanted. He couldn't handle if the press ever hounded him about his family. Having already dealt with that in Seyruun when he was too young to know how to deal with it, he was glad the media hype surrounding his family's tragic circumstances was long forgotten.

He walked the short distance to the hotel where he was staying for the night and checked in before wandering the town in search of something to eat. He found a nice little mom 'n' pop place nearby, and ordered almost every comfort food on the menu. The brief thought of having a drink to toast his family crossed his mind, but he remembered that drinking alone was the worst kind of drinking. Instead, he ate all the types of food he remembered eating as a child.

After receiving his order to go, he paid the waitress and returned to his hotel to wait until the morning. As ever, he slept fitfully that night.

* * * * * * *

They had been running for what seemed like weeks, but in truth, it had only been two days. Arman's sacrifice worked to distract the soldiers, but the remaining four stopped only long enough to rest for a couple of hours before continuing on their exhausting journey. They had no food, but water was plentiful enough in the ice that surrounded them and in the light snow that constantly fell from the grey sky.

None spoke of their grief, but it showed silently on each one's face, and none so much as his mother. Her fingers were chapped and bleeding, and Val remembered childishly thinking that she would have a hard time playing the violin. Her face betrayed such a sense of anguish and loss that, for the first time, he wished they had never thought to try to escape. Then she would not have to experience such pain.

His father pulled Val aside later that day, and detailed out to him the directions to the border where, once they crossed, they would be safe. He made him repeat it over and over and commit it to memory.

* * * * * * *

Even today, the area they had fled through was still largely uninhabited, but Val still remembered his father's simple instructions.

"At the bottom of this mountain, you must cross the stream at the fork. Follow the left fork until it becomes a waterfall and empties into the river. Follow the river through the mountains. It will seem like a labyrinth, but keep to the river. When you are out of the mountains, you are out of Kataart, and you are free."

Val paid the cab fare and shouldered his bag, heavier now than when he arrived. He was garbed in shorts and a t-shirt and appeared to be a typical tourist. He was anything but that. The cab left him on the side of a dirt road, just above the river where his baby sister had died.

He trudged down to the edge of the river, and double-checked that all his valuables and his food were in their waterproof bags inside his backpack. Finding a large enough piece of driftwood, he carried it to the river, placed his bag in a crook where it would stay mostly dry, and then waded out into the chilly water.

He couldn't believe that the springtime river was actually warmer than the autumn time river. All he knew was that it was cold enough to take his breath away now. He swam across the river with the wood, and when he came ashore, he was amazed that an eight-year-old boy could attempt to make that swim holding onto his little sister.

Shivering and cold, he still reached into his backpack and one of the waterproof bags, and carefully extracted a tiny pastry. This sweet was Nadia's favorite.

"See, Nadia? Big brother will always buy you a treat." He set the pastry in its paper holder onto the river, blowing a kiss as it floated away. "I will miss you forever."

Val stood silently on the riverbank, watching it until it floated out of sight. Wiping at his eyes, he closed up his bag and continued on.

* * * * * * *

When Val had repeated the instructions enough times to his father's satisfaction, Walter pulled his son and daughter into a fierce hug. Anna wrapped her arms around them all. She whispered words of love and encouragement into his and his sister's ears, telling them that they must live. His father was whispering to Bell, and tears continued to stream down her face as she listened. That moment was the warmest he had been in the last couple of days, but it soon became one of the coldest as well.

Val didn't understand what was really happening until his parents released them, and Bellana led him away. They had the same grim determination in their eyes that Arman had. They stood, hand in hand, watching their last remaining children continuing on.

They were going to leave him!

Bell had a difficult time getting him to calm down, but when she finally did, he tried to shut out the thought of his parents, his wonderfully kind and loving parents, dying in the cold and the dark.

* * * * * * *

As Val trekked through the forest, he paused now and again as he wondered if this place or that was where his brothers and his parents died. Time and memory were kind to him, and no signs or recollections of the places of any of those gruesome acts had survived the last eleven years. He stopped to rest and eat a couple of times throughout the day, and once again marveled at his younger self being able to go so far without food or much rest.

Just before night fell, he had arrived at the memorial to his family, deep in the Kataart forest. It was a waist-high stone made of a boulder that had been there for ages, and upon its face was carved the story of the Agares' flight from Kataart and a short description of their fates. Walter and Anna: executed on site. Bellana: shot and drowned. Arman: prolonged exposure to cold. Petyr: shot. Nadia: drowned. Val: only survivor.

"Master Val, you have arrived," a young man said, stepping forward with a lantern. He was a local monk who had decided to live at the memorial, not only to keep it clean and unspoiled, but also to keep up the tiny hut for when Val made his visits.

"Yeah, I just got here. I'll be over in a few minutes."

"Take all the time you want," he said, bowing and leaving the lantern for Val in the dimming light.

"Thanks," he threw over his shoulder.

His eyes were glued to the memorial. Not only was their story carved into the stone, but a bronze plaque, with a family picture set in relief, was firmly attached to it as well.

Val's fingers trailed over each of their faces, even his own, as he tried to commit them to memory once again. He never wanted to forget them. Digging into his bag, yet again, he pulled out the drawing he had made as well as a current picture of him, surrounded by his friends.

"This is for you guys," he said, placing on the memorial the sketch he had done on the train. The faces had been smoothed to a young man's recollections of long-missed older brothers, but at a glance, one could tell who they were. "I miss our pranks and all the fun we used to have. This is how I like to remember you."

"Here's a recent picture of me, mom and dad." He placed it next to the sketch. "I'm growing up, and calming down, I guess. But I'm changing the world, just like I promised I would. A little at a time, but I'm making a difference. I miss you all."

Silent tears streamed down his face as he hummed, low, but clear, the song that his mother loved singing. He couldn't remember the words, but his mother had always said, "If you don't know the words, hum along." Val hummed all the songs he forgot the words to that night for them.

* * * * * * *

They had reached the stream easily enough and had taken the left fork, just as father had said, but that was when the soldiers had caught up with them. Bellana pushed and pulled Val along, never letting go of his hand. She promised with tears in her eyes, that she would always be with him, no matter what. I won't let you die.

He believed her.

When they arrived at the waterfall, she ordered him to climb down first, and he scrambled down the slippery rocks. He had gotten halfway down when he chanced to look up. She was supposed to be right above him…

Bell was still at the top, but she wasn't looking at him. She was looking at something behind them. Then a single shot rang out, and his beautiful sister went falling over the cliff. As if time slowed, he watched her pass him as she fell, her long green hair fluttering about her sad face. She saw him, and a look of abject sorrow filled her eyes.

And then she was gone, disappearing beneath the foaming water below. I won't leave you… Val let go and fell into the water after her.

* * * * * * *

Val left early the next morning after a nice hot meal. After chatting with the monk, he knew that the items he left would be stored safely within the hut. They would then be transported to a nearby monastery when the monk next received a visitor from that place.

By noon, he had made it all the way to the waterfall where his older sister had met her death, and where he had been washed away to freedom. Opening his backpack, he pulled out a re-print of one of his favorite pictures. He had snuck up behind Filia as she posed for a picture and hung an arm about her shoulders. The picture was of her smacking him with a smirk on her face, while he was grinning widely.

"I finally know what you were talking about, Bell," he said to the wind. "Even though we're only a year apart, Filia's the big sister I know you would be to me now. She'll never take your place, but she's keeping me in line. I know that you'll always be with me."

He looked once more at the picture, and at a pair of fingers held in a "V" that was high above his head. He chuckled. "I have another friend, Amelia. She reminds me a lot of Nadia, with her spirit. I think you'd have liked them both."

With a deep, cleansing sigh, he turned around and addressed the forest. "I've had a couple of bumps along the way, but I'm starting to get my life back in order. All my friends are becoming my family, and I'm not feeling so lost anymore. I'm not sure yet if I'm ready to take our name back, but I will, one day. I promise."

With that, he took the path down to the river below, and followed it through the labyrinth, out of Kataart, to the small village beyond.

With that, he was going home.

*******************************

A/N: This was supposed to be a quick chapter about Val and it turned out to be angst galore! I'm fairly pleased with the way it turned out. *Just a quick note, I amended ch. 10 of Life to fix the name of Val's family and to add the fact that he was adopted.* I hope that helped to fill in some of the gaps about him. ^_^

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