Word of the day: Parse – to analyze
"What are you doing, Captain?" Yozak asked as he approached Conrad, who was standing in the shadow of a pillar.
"I'm parsing…" Conrad murmured in a distracted tone of voice. His brown eyes were focused on the scene in front of him, brow furrowed as he took it all in.
Yuuri was swinging Devi around on his shoulders, grinning widely as Devi shrieked with joy. Wolfram sat some distance away with Greta, laughing at Yuuri and Devi.
"Papa! Papa! Faster!" Devi yelled happily, holding onto his father for dear life.
Wolfram spoke up from his position on the ground. "Yuuri, Dear, don't swing too fast! Make sure you have a tight hold of him!"
Devi pouted. "Awww but Daddy!"
"No 'but's young man!"
Wolfram chuckled as Yuuri spun a little faster, swinging Devi around wildly. Greta moved closer to her father, laying her head against Wolfram's thigh. Wolfram smiled softly at her and threaded his fingers lightly through her curly locks.
Conrad's brow furrowed even more at this family scene. Where had the baby that Yuuri had once been gone? Where was his precious baby brother who was too tiny to do anything other then crawl rather then walk?
"They grow up fast, don't they Captain?" Yozak chuckled, swinging an arm around the brown haired soldier.
Conrad's facial expression clamed somewhat, and he allowed himself a tiny smile. "Where have the years gone?"
Yozak and Conrad fell into a still silence, observing the boys turned men, turned fathers. They quietly took in the scene before them, minds wondering when the last time they had seen the fathers giggle or chase each other around the courtyard with the naivety that came with adolescence.
Where had the years gone?