The Kirkland family sat down at the table, solemnly.
"Andrew, do you have to go?" Wendy, the 10 year-old girl asked, playing with her food.
The eldest brother sighed and knelt down to look at her in the eye.
"The Germans have started a war. And because I'm part of the Armistice Army..." Andrew paused, and rubbed his eyes. "I have to go fight."
The legs of the chair screeched against the floor and Jett had stood up. "No."
"Jett, please be reasonable-"
"I thought you said the war was over! I thought you said that was the last one!"
"That's what we all thought!" he snapped back. "Look, I have to protect France! I have to protect you."
The younger three all stared at each other, before they looked away. They had all lost their parents due to the after-effects of the Great War. Kaelin could still remember his mother passing away in his arms as he tried his best to keep her in this world.
"So are you leaving us too then."
Kaelin blinked back into the real-world and stared at Wendy, who refused to meet his eyes. He glanced sideways at Andrew, who gave him a ghost of a smile.
"Of course not, I'm staying here to look after you. We can wait for Andrew to come home together."
"JETT! WENDY!"
Kaelin stumbled through war-torn France as he looked around desperately for his siblings. They were gone, they were gone, he couldn't find them-
He swallowed, clutching a newspaper article he had managed to pick up. No, they were still alive. He couldn't lose them. Not after everyone else had been torn from his life-
He bumped into a celebrating man, who was cheering because France had been finally been liberated from German occupation.
"Sorry," he mumbled and continued to run. He heard a squelch, and immediately blanched. He wished he could have better self-control, but he looked down anyway, and jumped back. A severed head stared back at him... with lifeless eyes and pale cheeks...
He chocked on his breath yet he continued to stare. This person could have had a family they were looking after... if they had survived, they could be celebrating with the other citizens... He shut his eyes, taking deep breaths.
There was a shuffle from behind him. He froze and reached for Andrew's hand.
"S- Someone's there." he whispered. He felt him stiffen and he turned around.
"Who's there?!" he shouted, his voice trembling with fear.
He heard a snuffle and Kaelin turned around too, against his better judgement, and saw two toddlers huddled near the bush.
"Oh." he breathed. "Do you reckon they're... they're alright?"
"Kae. They're toddlers. What do you think?"
They headed over to the bush and picked up one each. The girl began to wail.
"Shh... everything's going to be alright..." Kaelin mumbled and rocked the child.
"Are you okay?"
Kaelin opened his eyes and looked over his shoulder. A man, the same one who was celebrating, was approaching him, with worry in his eyes.
"I'm alright," he replied, unconvincingly. He knew instantly that the other man didn't believe him. They stayed silent until he cracked. "I'm looking for my siblings. They- They-" he took a deep breath. "We got separated when we surrendered to Germany-"
"Five years ago?" the other interrupted, a look of concern covering his face.
"They're- They're not... they're still alive, I know it! They can't have... They can't leave me all alone!" His fist clenched around the paper article.
He noticed his hand coming to touch his shoulder, and he shuddered and whacked it away on an impulse.
The man froze, staring at his face.
"I- I'm sorry," he mumbled, suddenly feeling really tired.
There was a knock on the door.
"Someone's here!" Wendy cried out, eating tinned tomatoes.
Kaelin smiled. "I know," he replied and went off to open the door. His smile slipped when he saw a unknown man standing in front of him.
"I'm sorry," was all he said as he passed him a telegraph and left.
He remembered standing there by the door, hands shaking.
"Kae?"
He inhaled sharply and glanced downwards to see Jett tugging on his shirt hard. "If you're not going to eat, I will your share. Hurry up!"
"I... I'm not going to eat."
"What?!"
The two younger siblings stared at him as if he was insane.
"What in the world are you talking about?!" Wendy's voice was high and shrill. "You've got to eat!"
"I'm not hungry." he replied, numb. His appetite had vanished the moment the man had stood on their doorstep. He knew what the telegraph contained, but he didn't want to hear it. There was no way. He couldn't be-
"Well..."
He could hear it in the tone of his voice that he didn't believe they were alive. He felt his blood boil. He was just going to have to prove him wrong.
"There you are!"
A woman came jogging up to the pair of them.
"Don't just disappear like that! I was worried-" She stopped and noticed Kaelin standing there. "Oh, are you joining on the celebrations too? Don't just stand there, come on!"
She grabbed his hand and he wrenched it away.
"I can't celebrate. Not without my family." he spoke determinedly. "I have to find them."
And with that, he turned around and ran off.
"Kae's not leaving the corner..."
"What should we do?"
He reread the paper yet again. 'A. Kirkland. Soldier first class. Presumed Dead.'
"Kae! Stop being depressed!" Wendy lost her cool and snapped at her brother.
"I'm not being depressed!" he argued back, the first response the two had gotten from him since they had gotten the news.
"Then stop acting like it! You're supposed to be the eldest, you're supposed to look after us-"
"And what do you think I'm doing?!" He couldn't stop himself; he was mad. "You do realise if I ever get sick of looking after you guys, I could leave and join the army?! I'm of age and I am a guy! I'm doing my best and you're just shouting at me!"
He couldn't control himself as he stormed out of the house, ears hot with fury.
Soon he walked down what in his mind was familiar... but glancing around he could see the effects of war everywhere. The destroyed houses...
He felt his legs grow heavy as he realised why the street was so recognisable. His home... Their home was on the adjacent road.
He stopped walking altogether.
Why was he doing this?
What if they were really...
What if they were really gone? Dead?
He wanted to turn around and run back the way he came, he didn't want to go near his house ever again.
But you'll never know if they're dead or alive if you never check.
He bit his lip as he looked at the damage in front of him. If this looked so bad... there- there was no way-
He subconsciously played with the paper in his hands and began to rethink his decisions. Rethink his life.
"That must've been so cool!" Kaelin gasped as he huddled over to sit in his mother's lap. "You were part of a war! Was it fun?"
"No, it was not." Andrew cut in before their parents could say anything. "Everyone was dying."
"Not everyone." Their father smiled sadly as he picked up three year-old Kaelin above his head. "We're still here."
"Yes, not everyone. But plenty did." Andrew persisted. "I remember."
"It's okay to remember." Their mother nodded, holding him tight. "To keep them in our memories. But we must also remember not to keep grudges. After all, the Great War is over. There will be no more."
"Why aren't you signing up for the war?" Wendy asked, sitting at the table besides Andrew.
"Maybe because someone needs to look after you guys." Kaelin replied, giving them more food.
"So... if we weren't here, would you sign up?" Jett decided to contribute to the conversation.
He frowned. "Right, what brought this up?"
"Nothing!" they said in unison. "We're just wondering."
He sighed, bent down, and looked at them in the eye. "For one, I don't have the standard body for someone wanting to sign up in the war."
"But you're very guy-ish!" Jett protested.
"Not enough for the army." he chewed on his food.
"But that's alright!" Andrew gave a bright smile. "Because you'll have someone to look after you! When I come back, you have to tell me everything that you got up to, 'kay?"
"Mhm."
"A- Ah-" Kaelin stuttered, trying to hold the baby boy as he wriggled around and screamed. "How do you handle him?!"
Andrew laughed and swapped toddlers with him. He placed him down, and the boy immediately began to crawl on the floor.
"Isn't that a bad idea..."
"It isn't," his older brother replied. "You can tell what sort of personality he has, he needs his freedom."
Kaelin kept his eyes on the boy. That was until the girl in his arms started flopping.
"What do I-"
"Put her down."
He stared at him in denial but soon it became too much, so he bent down and let her go. She crawled after her brother and tackled him.
"Should... we name them so we can stop calling them 'boy' and 'girl'?" he glanced over at Andrew, who bit his lip.
"Yeah, we should. It's not like their clothes had any name-tags on them anyway. He squatted and stared at pair. "I don't know... the boy seems like a Ralph to me..."
"Ralph?" Kaelin blinked. He didn't see it even if his brother did. "I think Logan."
"Logan?" From the tone of his voice, it was obvious Andrew didn't agree.
"Okay, I think we need to go back to him."
They turned their attention to the girl, then looked at each other.
"She feels like..."
"I think she's a..."
"Wendy?"
They smiled.
"Back to him..." Andrew's face fell into a frown as he thought. "What about..."
"Jett?"
Andrew glanced upwards, his face clearing. "I like that!" he exclaimed.
"Jett and Wendy... Wendy and Jett!" he reached down and picked them both up. "Ah, they're too adorable for this world!"
He had walked into their street. He inhaled sharply as he finally took in the damage of the war. He could remember the days when the streets were filled with green trees, blue skies and fluffy white clouds, happy children and a generally relaxing vibe.
Now... Now it was filled with debris, grey skies and the final bomber planes flying away, no one- there was no one around anymore- and it was strangely tense.
Slowly, he walked passed house by house- well, more like debris by debris, and counting subconsciously to their house.
5... 7... 9... 11... 13... 15...
He stopped, staring at the remains of his home. Wordlessly, he knelt down, observing the destruction. He reached and pulled multiple tiles. His breath caught in his throat as he saw the scratches in one of them.
"Jett! What did you do?!"
Kaelin had run into the kitchen after Wendy had complained that her brother was about to do something he shouldn't do in the bathroom.
Jett turned around, hovering a knife over the bathroom tile.
"Put that down!" he screamed and rushed over to him and grabbed the knife.
"Noooo!" he wailed. "Kae, let me finish first!"
"Finish-" he paused. "Finish what?"
He pointed at the tiles where Kaelin noticed he was etching the four of them in it.
"That's Andrew-" He prodded his finger at the tallest figure, "-and that's you."
Next to Andrew, was a stick figure of someone who was staring up at the clouds.
"You do that a lot. You like looking up. But never down. Why?" he asked, clambering on his lap.
Kaelin had to think about this. He wasn't aware of this habit. "I think... it's because I like to think the best of things. And for me, happy things are usually up and sad things are down."
He began to laugh as he saw Jett struggling with the information.
"Don't worry about it. You'll learn when you're older."
He continued to dig, and unearthed another object. He turned it over, feeling the material of a stuffed Mickey Mouse. It was dusty and dirty.
"Is this for me?"
Andrew was playing with Jett elsewhere, so the other two were sitting in the kitchen table together.
"Yes, of course it is."
Wendy's face lit up and she grabbed for the Mickey Mouse doll. "I love it!"
She jumped off her chair and dashed over to him and hugged him. Then she ran away to show her brother.
"Jett! Jett! Kae gave me a doll! Are you jealous?!"
He chuckled and followed her.
He watched her fall asleep cuddling the Mickey Mouse doll to her chest.
He placed the doll next to the tile and dug some more. With each dig, more and more memories came flowing back and he sighed.
What was he even doing? He should be searching for Jett and Wendy instead of-
He froze.
He had pulled out a bone.
Against his will, he felt tears slip out of his eyes and onto his cheeks. With a shaking hand, he wiped his face, sniffing. He was being stupid. That wasn't his siblings. They were alive.
They had to be.
He couldn't be alone.
"Kaelin?"
He stiffened, shutting his eyes. No, no, no. He was hallucinating. Take deep breaths.
He heard the grass shifting and sensed that someone was sitting down next to him. He decided to risk opening his eyes and stood up, his mouth agape.
Staring at him were the amber eyes of his brother, Andrew.
"You're supposed to be dead!" he cried out, pointing at him in shock.
He let out a sad smile. "I thought so, too. What... What happened..."
Kaelin inhaled sharply as he remembered he was still holding on the bone. He dropped it in anguish. "Andrew..."
The tears he had wiped away were coming back, and this time he didn't try to stop them.
He had found his brother. But at what cost?
His legs gave way and he collapsed, sobbing into his hands. He felt his brother wrap his arms around him.
"I- I couldn't save them. I'm sorry..."
"It's okay, it's okay. Just breathe. You don't have to be sorry for everything. I've got you."
After he stormed out, he walked through a nearby forest before he calmed down. What an idiot he was. They were trying to help him. And he acted like a brat. He bit his lip and stared upwards to the sky. 'The sky that was filled with ashes,' he thought grimly. He really hoped they didn't think he had walked out on them. He did sound really serious though...
He sat down on the forest floor and tried to think of a way to apologise for such an outrageous outburst.
After his brainstorm had failed miserably, he decided he would just go back and wing it. He should've done that at the start. What an idiot.
He began the long walk back, but then he saw German soldiers a while away and he ducked behind a tree.
They were talking about something, he knew that much. They sounded... anxious? And somewhat excited.
What could they be talking-
There was a boom and he was blown off his feet.
He woke up, after how long he had no clue. He looked around him to see the effects of a bomb. Something in his stomach fell.
If he had been knocked out because of it...
His siblings... They probably didn't make it.
No one could've survived that blast.