Alit looked down at the doll who lay on a crystal table. He was stalk still and not moving at all, which was expected. "Hey, kiddo. How are you feeling? Wait... sorry! I should not ask you questions when you can't respond. Okay, so Dumon, he's the grey dude, is going to make you able to move again. I'm going to get your sister. I'll be right back!" Alit teleported away leaving the boy with Dumon.
Alit appeared in front of the little girl's room. He knocked on the door three times before opening the door, "Hey, Princess?"
She looked up from playing her video game and cried, "Red-nii!" she flew at him and hugged him tightly. "You're okay! I'm so glad- wait, what happened to your arm?!"
Alit patted her head then gave her a one-armed hug. "Just got a little messed up. I have to wear this crystal cast for a few days while it heals my arm. I'll be fine."
She sniffled and hugged him tighter. "I don't want you to be hurt..." she muttered.
Alit 'smiled', "It could've been a lot worse. Oh, and I got your brother and dad. Your little brother is with Dumon if you want to see him-"
"What are you waiting for?! Let's go!" she bounced up and down in pure unadulterated excitement.
Alit laughed, "Alright, come here," he picked her up with one arm and teleported back to Dumon and the little boy, who was now moving his arms and legs in wonder all while casting fearful glances at Dumon. The little girl scrambled out of Alit's grasp and threw herself at the doll.
The boy flailed and attempted to get away as she hugged him before he saw who she was. "Sis!" he cried and hugged her back.
"Shh, shh, you're all right. Everything's going to be all right now!" she whispered.
"But- but what about the d- demons?" he whimpered.
"They're not demons, they're barians," she explained.
"Wh- what are barians?" he asked shakily.
Alit sat down next to him. "Just aliens with awesome powers! Seriously, I can teleport and levitate things! It's pretty awesome!"
The boy whimpered and buried his face into his sister's shoulder. Alit quickly back-tracked. "Okay, I know I look demonic, but I'm not evil. No one here will hurt you. Except maybe Vector but he'll just prank you or tie you to a moving ceiling fan. Actually, you should probably stay far away from him, he is utterly insane. Aw, shoot, I'm not helping at all, am I?"
The little boy shook his head. "Not really."
"Yeah, whoops?" Alit laughed nervously, "But I won't hurt you, promise!"
"...pinkie swear?" he asked cautiously.
Alit held put his pinkie. "Pinkie swear!"
The boy carefully hooked his own pinkie around Alit's, then smiled slightly. "...okay."
"This is Red, he's awesome! I don't know his real name because I didn't want to tell him my name so he said he wouldn't tell me his either. So I just nicknamed him Red and he nicknamed me Princess," she explained.
"So if I don't tell him my name, can I get a nickname?" he asked, sounding fairly excited.
"Sure kiddo, how about I call you Prince if that's okay with you?" Alit asked, 'grinning'.
He nodded eagerly. "Okay, Red! If my sister likes you, then you have to be okay!"
Alit 'smiled' and ruffled his hair, prompting a small giggle. "Oh, and do you know what happened to your dad?"
The boy frowned again and nodded. "I heard that jerk talk about it."
Alit 'frowned' slightly and pulled out a small book. "So you know about..."
The boy jerked his head up and stared at the book. "Is that Daddy?"
Alit nodded, opened the book, and wrote,
Hey! Sorry about letting you get captured! I should've took more precautions!
...is this you, as in not that bastard?
Yep! And your kids are here too. One of my comrades and I taught your daughter to read and write and we'll try to teach your son to read too.
They're here?! What did that son of a bitch do to them?!
Turned them into life-sized dolls and they couldn't move unless he let them. Don't worry! They can move now but we're still working on the doll thing.
Do me a favor and don't show what I'm about to say to my children.
I won't.
THAT SON OF A FUCKING BITCH! WHEN I GET OUT OF HERE I WILL CHOKE HIM WITHIN AN INCH OF HIS GODLESS LIFE THEN GUT HIM LIKE A WORTHLESS FISH!
Got that out of your system?
Yeah, I'm good. Can I talk to my kids now?
Yep! Here you go!
Alit handed the book and a pencil to the little girl. "Here he is." The boy leaned over his sister's shoulder even though he couldn't read as she wrote.
Daddy!
Oh, sweetheart, are you all right?!
Minus the doll thing, I'm okay! But Daddy! You're- you're a book! I'd be crying if I was able to.
Shh, shh, it's okay. I'll be back to normal soon, all right? I promise I'll see you again soon, as in, literally see you again since I honestly can't see anything.
Daddy...
I missed you both so much.
So did we! Red's been taking care of me ever since he rescued me.
Red?
I didn't want to tell him my name when we first met because he looked kinda demonic, all right, more than kinda, and I didn't trust him. So he said he wouldn't tell me his name unless I told him mine so I just nicknamed him Red and he nicknamed me Princess. I really like him now but we decided to just keep calling each other by the nicknames.
So you're really attached to him by now, huh?
Yeah! And since big brother's dead, can he be our adoptive brother?
…
Daddy?
Sure, sweetheart! I'm just glad there's someone around who you like enough to informally adopt as a brother.
Yay!
Is there any progress as far as getting you two back to normal?
Not really, Red said they were having lots of trouble turning us back without accidentally killing us.
Hm, I hope they can figure something out soon. I don't like to think of you two as dolls.
We're fine, Daddy! I mean, I can't swim because I'll sink and I have to be really careful if I play sports because I could break but it's all right.
Sweetheart, tell your little brother I love him and I love you too. Just don't hurt yourself and hang tight. Can I talk to Red again? There are a few things I want to discuss with him.
Okay, Daddy. I love you too!
She handed Alit the book with the pencil. "Daddy wants to talk with you again." She then turned to her brother, "Daddy said to tell you he loves you and to not get hurt."
He nodded, "I love him too and I won't! Pinkie promise!"
Alit 'smiled' then wrote,
What's up?
Just wondering a few things. How old do you appear to be?
Well, in barian form I look like a young adult by barian standards but in human form I look fourteen. I actually act fourteen most of the time too, especially on earth.
Oh, I was just wondering about that since my daughter wants to adopt you as a brother.
She told you about that?
Oh yeah, and I really need to thank you for taking that good care of her.
So is it okay with you?
Of course! You've been a really great friend to me and have taken care of my kids. Besides, if our family will ever recover, we need someone to act as an older sibling. Things just won't be the same for them without an older brother. I miss my oldest son beyond belief but I know he'd want his siblings to have someone to look after them.
Okay then! Oh, and you may have to deal with my comrades popping in from time to time.
They're all helping my family so I have no complaint about any of them. Speaking of family, do you have any idea what happened to my wife?
No, neither do your kids. Your daughter said the bastard kept her normal for a while but eventually she tried to escape with the kids and was caught. After that, they never saw her again. That doesn't mean she's dead! Maybe he just turned her into something. ...damn, that is not helpful at all.
It's more helpful than the prospect of her being dead.
True, I guess. Hey, I'm going to put you away for now so I can get your son settled, alright?
Alright, talk to you later.
Alit closed the book and tucked it away safely into his cloak. "Okay, so about living arrangements-"
"I wanna sleep on a shelf next to my sister," the boy muttered.
Once again, Alit felt that urge to regurgitate his last meal. "Okay, no. You are not sleeping on a shelf. You can share a room with her, if you're both fine with that. Or you can have a room to yourself if you prefer."
He jerked up his head and started at Alit in wonder. "A... room? Like, with a bed and toys and stuff?"
"Well, I still need to buy you your own toys, but yeah! That jerk was sick for making you stay on shelves. Well, he was sick for kidnapping you, turning you both into dolls, torturing you, abusing you, calling you HIS kids, and a whole lot of other stuff that I don't want to say right now because that'll just make me want to go back and kill him and even I know that's not a good idea with a broken arm," Alit replied.
"I'll share a room with my sister for now, but if I want my own room later, is that okay?" he asked hesitantly.
Alit nodded. "Of course it is! C'mon, let's go. Princess, mind grabbing onto my cast while I carry your brother because I can't hold both of you right now."
"Okay!" she smiled and clutched his crystal cast as he picked the male doll up. He teleported away and arrived in the girl's room.
The little boy's eyes went wide as he looked around. "We get to stay HERE?" His mouth hung open and he looked as if he had never seen such an amazing room before in his life.
Alit laughed and set him down. "Yep! I'll get you a bed soon and some toys. Might take me a little while though..."
"T- thank you, Red!" the boy hugged Alit tighter.
"No problem, Prince," Alit 'smiled'.
"Red? Can I sleep with my sister tonight? As in, share a bed with her? If that's okay!" he asked hesitantly.
"Well, Princess? Is it okay if your brother sleeps with you?" Alit asked the little girl.
She nodded enthusiastically, "Definitely!"
"Okay then, there's your answer!" Alit told the little boy.
He looked up at Alit and smiled. "Thanks, Red!"
"No problem! And, um, sorry to bring up bad memories, but that creature mentioned to me about some toy soldier incident and I was wondering what that was about," Alit asked as he sat down on the bed.
He was met with twin expressions of horror. The little girl curled up to Alit and buried her face in his cloak and the boy gained a death grip on Alit, as the red barian had not set him down yet. Alit felt sick. "That bad?"
"I- I don't wanna talk about it," the girl said shakily. Her brother simply shook his head frantically.
"H- he-" the little boy stuttered quietly, sounding terrified.
Alit patted his head, playing slightly with his hair, and hugged the girl close to comfort them. "Shh, it's okay, it's okay. You're not going back to him, not if I have anything to say about it."
"R- Red-nii," the girl murmured, cuddling up to Alit.
The boy looked up at Alit with eyes that, while dull and emotionless, seemed to have a spark of hope deep inside. "Y- you promise, mister?"
"Hey, no mister, okay?" Alit said softly, "Just call me Red. Or if you ever learn my name, call me that or Red. No mister or sir or any of those titles, okay?"
The boy nodded, "Okay..." he sniffled, "I- is it really okay?"
"Is what really okay, Prince?" Alit asked.
"Just... being familiar with you, getting a real room, getting toys... He- he would always hurt me if I even looked like I was thinking about that or my old life," the boy muttered.
Alit 'kissed' his forehead and rubbed his back. "Of course it is. He was sick, Prince. You should've had a room and a bed and be able to at the very least think about our life before all of this happened. And where and how did he hurt you, anyway?"
The boy sniffled. "My head, my arms, my chest, my back, everywhere. And he liked to either beat me with a cane or use his magic to cause me pain."
Alit felt tears come to his eye as he looked at the hopeless expression on the doll's face. "It's okay now. I don't even want to have you even see him ever again. If he ever comes within a mile of you, I will kill him. I want you both to be safe and, after you're human again, I want you to have a normal childhood. Or, well, maybe not normal considering I'm going to end up spoiling you."
The boy looked up at him in wonder. "You mean it?"
"I have never been more serious about anything, ever," Alit replied.
He looked up at the barian, then hugged him again. "I really like you, Red! You really are awesome!"
"You know he's our adoptive older brother, right? Daddy said he could be when I asked him!" the girl piped up.
"REALLY?!" the boy's eyes went wide, "He's our adoptive brother? WOOHOO!"
Alit 'grinned' and ruffled the little boy's hair. "Yep! So you're kinda stuck with me."
The boy hugged him once more, this time tighter than the other times. "You are the best person ever to be stuck with as my adoptive big brother!"
Alit 'smiled' then sighed, "I hate to go, but I kinda need to get you new clothes and toys. I'll be back in about an hour, okay? Princess, mind helping your brother learn to walk again?"
"Of course I will, Red!" she chirped.
The boy, however, resisted being put down onto the bed, choosing instead to keep a death grip on Alit. "No, I don't want you to go!"
"It's just for a little while," Alit soothed, "You'll be perfectly safe here. Besides, you and your sister have a lot of catching up to do."
The boy didn't loosen his grip, "You promise to come back?"
Alit nodded. "Of course, Prince. I'll be back in about an hour, promise!"
The little boy finally allowed himself to be set down and extremely reluctantly pulled away from Alit. "Pinkie promise?"
"Pinkie promise," Alit echoed, then stood up and overlayed to earth.
…. (^0^) ...
"That bastard beat him?! I really shouldn't be so surprised but I just- ugh!" Merag let out a cry of frustration as she helped him shop for clothes.
Alit sighed, "I know, I have to force myself not to get angry around them. I don't want to scare them, God knows that bastard has already terrorized them enough." he rubbed his crystal cast which was covered in bandages to make the humans believe it was simply a normal cast.
Merag picked out another shirt and set it in the cart, which was close to overflowing. "Those poor kids..."
"Yeah, but it's kinda odd," Alit commented.
"What is?"
"Well, their reactions to me and being free were the same at first, they were both terrified of me, but then their reactions were very, very different," Alit said.
"How so?" Merag wondered, turning to look at Alit.
"Well, Princess was kinda cold and didn't show her emotions at all. She didn't exactly want to be close to me because she felt I would hurt her. You saw what she was like. Then last night, she opened up and relaxed around me."
"Well, that's good. She smile?" Merag asked.
"Yep!" Alit replied, "She has a really cute smile too. But Prince had the complete opposite reaction after he got over his fear. He was a little wary at first but when I had to leave to go on this shopping trip, he didn't want me to go. At all. I actually had to almost literally pry him off and promise him I would be back in an hour."
"I actually think that can be easily explained," Merag commented.
"How so?" Alit wondered.
"Princess was the older sibling for a while after her older brother left, so she would feel it was her responsibility to take care of her brother and herself. Then she had no contact with her parents for possibly centuries. She would be more on guard than her brother would be. He, while abused just the same as she was, knew where his sister was and got to see her sometimes. Of course, she couldn't help him but he would know that someone was looking out for him. He, unlike his sister, would immediately cling to the first person he felt he could somewhat trust, i.e. you, who could protect him. Not to mention he probably likes you. And don't forget he's lost so much and now that you're in his life, he does not want you to go out of his life."
Alit was silent for a while as he processed this, then nodded sadly, "You're right. They're just coping in different ways."
Merag sighed, "Alit, I don't want to kill that bastard."
"WHAT?!" Alit cried.
Merag continued, "I want to torture him until he begs and prays for death. He destroyed that family and gave them a personal hell on earth. None of them did anything wrong, and yet he made them suffer beyond belief. Honestly? What that bastard did might've even been worse than what Don Thousand did to us. At least we didn't remember we had lost anything and we did gain quite a lot. And we weren't tortured day in and day out."
Alit nodded sadly, "Agreed. I just..." he sighed, "I want to make them stop hurting. I want to be able to make all that time spent with that bastard seem like a really bad dream."
"Alit..." Merag murmured sadly, "I don't think you can. They were hurt too much. They can't forget all of that or put it out of their minds. You can make them smile and laugh again like normal children without worries or the fear of being captured by him again on their minds all the time someday, but unless something really big happens, I doubt that will be anytime soon."
Alit looked down and sighed. He knew Merag was right, but he just wished he could figure out what to do to make them relax. Maybe if their real older brother was alive he would know what to do...