1Chapter Four- Brothers
Vaughn sat bolt upright att the sound the voice behind him.
It was a voice he hadn't heard in a long time.
A voice he never wanted to hear for the rest of his life.
Not since.....
He got to his feet and slowly turned around, his eyes to the ground, to face the stranger.
But this was no stranger, for Vaughn knew him well.
He slowly lifted his eyes to take in the silver haired, leopeard-printed meneance, the deepest malice burning in his violet eyes at what he saw before him.
That Phantom of the night, self-proclaimed Prince-of-the Stars, just looked back, pain, fear and sorrow threatening to to show in his pale greens.
They stood there, for what seemed an eternity within a few moments, just staring at each other.
"How've you been, little brother..." Skye sighed at last.
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"Hurry up Vu-vu! We'll never make it to the next town at this rate!"
It was the the begining of winter, and the first snow was starting to fall. The world seemed to get quietier, and the wood lay silent as two boys trougded through the coming darkness.
The smaller one had fallen behind and was resting on a fallen log. He shivered at the cold and pulled his scarf up over his violet eyes, as if to prevent them from freezing.
His brother, slightly taller and with green eyes, dropped his bags and walked back huffiedly to to the shivering figure.
"Vaughn! Come on, we have to keep moving. We have to go before they find us."
Vaughn just turned his head away, tears fighting at the corners of his eyes.
"Stupid, they aren't coming for us anymore! We've been gone for almost three days, AND we've come so far away! Why do we have to keep running?"
Skye looked down at his brother, sighed and sat next to him. He knew Vaughn was just sad, hungry, and still scared at this whole thing.
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Two weeks ago, both of their parents died when their house caught on fire. They had been at school, where they heard sirens going off down the street outside. Someone's house must be on fire, they joked, before they learned what happened later that day.
After that, they stayed with the mayor, until after the funeral.
Skye had never seen Vaughn that sad before, staying in his room and crying for hours on end. He was just as sad, but tried to put on a straight face and tried to act brave enough for the both of them.
A few days after the funeral, it had been decided what would be done with the boys. The mayor told them that since they didn't have any other family, they would have to go to an orphanage where they would try to find them a new family.
Vaughn seemed alittle comforted by this, but Skye had a bad feeling. The next day, he snuck around and heard the mayor say it would be likely they would be separated if they were put up for adoption. Horrified, he told his brother, and they made plans to escape that night.
______
That night, they took shelter from the cold inside of a small cavern.
Vaughn was still grumpy and hungry, so he reached into his bag to try to find some food. All he found was old sandwich crust and a few berries they found in the woods. He stuffed them into his mouth, his stomach still growling painfully.
Skye sat down next to him, eyeing the bags.
"Is there anything left?"
Vaughn just shook his head, his tearstained eyes fixed on the wall. "Still hungry, though," he pouted.
"I'll go out and find some more food in the morning. Lets try to get some sleep, okay?"
He pulled out a big cover from his bag, and they laid down on the floor using their bags as pillows.
They sat in silence for a while, unable to fall asleep because of the still strange night sounds.
After a while Vaughn turned to his brother.
"Skye?"
"Yeah?"
"What do you think will happen? I mean, Do you think we did the right thing, running away like that?"
Skye could sense the desparation in his voice, and knew that if he didn't stay strong, Vaughn would break down completely. But even he was unsure of what to do, or what to say.
"I don't know," he said at last. Vaughn almost started to cry at this, but he went on, "I don't know what will happen, but as long as we keep going, we're sure to get somewhere. I know we can't be more than a day away from the next town."
Vaughn sniffed back his tears and wiped his eyes. "But what are we going to do when we get there?"
Skye smiled softly to his brother. "Heh, we'll see when we get there I guess. Just as long as we stay together, I'm sure we'll be okay"
Vaughn sniffed some more and nodded. He was getting tired, so he rolled over and pulled the cover over his head.
"Skye?" He asked after a moment, feeling himself starting to drift off into sleep.
"Yeah, Vu-vu?"
"We'll stay together no matter what, right?"
"Of course. Nothing can tear us apart..."
Feeling content, Vaughn drifted off to sleep. Skye sat there, happy to have calmed his brother's fears. He looked out the cave entrance, worring about his own...
Vaughn awoke the next morning, stomach growling loudly with hunger. He startted to reach for his bag under his head, before remembering it was empty. He rolled over, hoping to ask Skye to help him find something for breakfast.
But as he rolled over, he saw that Skye wasn't there.
He sat bolt upright, suddenly scared. His eyes scanned the inside of the cave, looking for any sign of his brother. When he did'nt see him, Vaughn started to panic.
He got up and started to run towards the front of the cave. He was about to call out Skye's name when he saw a small pile of berries and shoots at the mouth of the cave.
Oh, he must be out getting more food already, Vaughn thought, calming down slightly.
He almost laughed at himself for being so silly and jumping to conclusions like that, until he saw something white among the food.
He bent down and pulled out a scrap of paper. It read:
"Vaughn, I'm so sorry, but you're on your own now."
He stared at it in disbelief. No, This had to be a joke, right!?
He ran out the cave, frantically looking around for any sign of his brother.
He had to be somewhere close. He just had to be!
"SKYE! SKYE!! SKYYYYYYYE!!!"
No.
This wasn't happening.
Skye would never.....
We'll stay together no matter what, right?
He has to be around here somewhere...
Nothing can tear us apart...
No........
After what seemed like hours, Vaughn made his way back to the cave, his voice sore. He sat at the entrance, looking out, hoping to catch a glimpse of Skye.
Hours passed.
Finally, Vaughn, tears heavy in his eyes went back inside. He lay on the floor on the floor of the cave, and fitfully went to sleep.
When he awoke, it was early dawn the next morning. He looked around, praying that it had all been a dream and see his brother there.
But nothing in the cave had changed. There were no new footprints around him, and nothing had been moved.
He sat there in silence, taking it all in again as tears started rolling down his face.
His stomach growled louder than ever and he nearly doubled over in pain. he remembered the berries Skye had left at the front of the cave.
With the note...
Vaughn ate what little there was, not looking at the scrap of paper still there. He looked around and thought about what to do.
He couldn't stay here forever. he had to move on. Even if....
He grabed his bag, and stepped out into the freshly fallen snow.
He was on his own now....
He walked on through the snow in the direction they had been traveling in. He walked on and on for hours, but never saw any tracks of any sign that someone had bee this way.
His mind raged on and on, buzzing with questions to painful to think about. He tried to stay focused on moving ahead, afraid he'd freeze if you started crying again.
By nightfall, he came to small town.
Too cold and numb to think, he headed for the nearest building he could see.
He opened up the barn door and stumbled in, glad to be out of the cold. All the animals were asleep, so didn't notice as he dragged himself to the far stall, collasped and fell asleep.
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Vaughn now stood in front of the source of all of his pain, fears, and insecurities. He loathed the sight before him.
"When my Jill said she had run into someone who looked like me, I was hoping...." Skye began, tears starting to fill his eyes.
"Hoping WHAT!!?" Vaughn yelled, unable to control his temper.
"Vaughn....," Skye started taking a tenative step back. "I never meant to.."
"MEANT TO WHAT? TO LEAVE ME ALL ALONE, TO ABANDON ME FOR DEAD?" He yelled, his anger rising.
"Vu-vu, I never meant to-"
"DON'T CALL ME 'VU-VU'!!!!! NEVER CALL ME THAT AGAIN!"
"VAUGHN! You don't understand! I had no choice but to-"
Vaughn swung his fist around, striking Skye on the side of the head with all of his anger.
Skye dropped like a rock from the force of the blow. He landed hard on the ground, starting to taste blood.
Vaughn stood over him, breathing heavily. His rage started to die down a little, and he just looked down at the helpless figure on the ground.
He wanted to hit him again, but something inside held him back.
It wasn't worth it. Somehow, all those years of pent up anger just seemed pointless now.
He turned away, and started heading down the path.
As he turned to go, Skye sobbed after him, "Vaughn, I'm so sorry...."
"So am I." Vaughn said softly. "So am I......"