TwinsOfABlackRose
Luck stared down at his brother sleep; he had been so tired it didn't take him even a minute to fall into a deep slumber.
Luck needed a drink, he turned on the small bed-side lamp and reached for a bottle pouring it into a small glass drinking from it, he hadn't seen Claire this scared for nearly eighteen years or so and it wasn't a good feeling. He put his drink down with a thump and switched the light off lying down next to Claire staring at the roof above him. His room was the same as it had been when he was a child and his father was head of the Gandor's and him and his brothers watched the actions of the family from the top of the staircase ever interested in what it would be like someday. They all had a pretty good grasp of what death was and how it worked so when Claire came they felt for him, at least Berga and Keith did. Luck laughed remembering how he had first welcomed Claire into the family.
~~~~
"Hey~" Little Luck called running down, he was six years old and interested in anything especially cards, he put his hands on his hips pouting, "HEY!"
Claire, seven years old, looked up from his train. His eyes were as blank as anything and he always seemed mad.
"Hey Claire whaddya playin' with?" Luck asked sitting down next to him.
"Leave me alone!" Claire stood grabbing his train storming out of the room.
Luck wondered what was wrong with the boy so he followed him like a little chick all the way to his bed room.
Claire spun around, "Why are you following me?"
"Because you're my new big brother~" Luck was an innocent child and just wanted friends, he couldn't work out why this new kid was always so tense and emotionless.
Claire growled putting his train on his bed, why was this kid glued to him? Why didn't he have anyone better to play with?
"What do you want?"
Luck's eyes widened, finally he could ask the question that was on his mind. He sat down in front of the bed looking up at the red head. His hair was in front of his eye and somewhat distracting but he eventually answered, "What's your problem?"
Claire fell silent and looked at the ground before jumping off the bed punching Luck's arm. Luck had been hit with his brothers but they were play fights this kid meant business, the slight flicker of fear in his eyes proved that he was about to talk.
"My parents were murdered!" He growled at Luck in anger, "And I was attacked too!"
He rolled up his sleeves showing bandages on his arms a single tear formed in his eye and rolled down his cheek and Luck stared up.
"F-father said he had to talk to the man," Claire sniffed rubbing his eyes, "he called for mama an' an'...they were shouting with a strange man...father said to call Tony so mama came back an' went to the phone an' called Tony..."
By this time Berga and Keith entered the room shooting glares at Luck, he'd get a talking to for making their new brother cry.
Claire slid off the bed continuing, "So Tony came an' mama went back to tha door to let tha men in, they sat in the room and talked 'bout stuff that I didn't understand...then a man said 'Enougha dis shit we want the dough' and he pulled a big gun on father..." his voice trailed off and he started to cry, his words became hitched and barely audible, "m-mama ran to me tellin' me t-ta ta run and so T-tony took me an' we left but as I looked back mama fell and then they said it was ma turn...and they...grazed ma arms real bad...father told them to stop but he got shot in tha head...Tony brought me here and said 'This is Claire...please...look after 'im'...an' that's it.."
Luck grabbed the handkerchief from his pocket crawling over to Claire offering it to him, "But now you have us," he said innocently before giving him a big bear hug, "and I have another older brother! I feel so special! Nothing will ever hurt me with you and Berga and Keith here to help me!"
Claire looked at the handkerchief in silence before using it to dry his eyes, "I promise I'll be strong enough to keep you safe," he smiled, "forever!"
~~~~
Luck looked down at Claire's pants seeing a small piece of white cloth, he then carefully reached gently into the pocket to pull out the cloth. He stared at it for a few moments in the corner in gold thread read 'Luck', he put it back gently giving a happy sigh. It would seem that Claire had kept it all this time and never once got it stained with blood or if he did cleaned it to the best of his ability.
"Oh Claire," he laid back looking at the shadow figure in the window, "what are we going to do about you?"
He reached under the bed pulling out a small hand gun he kept there for safety showing it to Czeslaw.
The small figure nodded before leaving it's place and the two of them to peace.
"Thanks kid..." Luck muttered.
LOKIforDREAMS
"I get to dismantle WHAT? Oh, oh oh, you got a deal kid! I cannot wait to get started on this job. You are a genius, my friend! A genius! Genius! This is gonna be so much FUN! You don't know how long I been waiting to do somethin this, this big! I got cars down to an art. MY ART. But this, this is nuts! I'm gettin all excited now, hahaha! Ooh I cannot wait; I gotta find somethin to dismantle now! Oh man I'm gonna explode with all this excitement!"
~~~~~~~~
Claire woke up slowly. The first thing he saw was a sea of golden brown. What on earth . . . ? As his consciousness returned him from sleep, he realized he was face down in his brother's hair. After he got in last night, things had gone hazy and he didn't remember much. He remembered taking Luck's favorite steak knife and sitting vigil waiting for that kid to come after him, but the rest was a blank. So how'd he get into Luck's room? And why was his handkerchief on the side table with a bottle of scotch beside it? And a gun? Jeez, had he been drinking?
He dropped his head down and groaned wishing his memory wasn't so foggy. For all he knew, Czes was going to pop up at any moment and ventilate the both of them. The head under him suddenly groaned and started moving, forcing Claire to roll over, off of his little brother. "I'll bite Luck. What da hell happened last night?"
Luck sat up, wishing his brother didn't move around so much when he slept. Somehow, Luck always ended up on the bottom. Claire was looking more than mildly confused, staring rather blankly at the ceiling. Luck rolled over to the nightstand and put the gun back under the bed saying, "Nothing happened, Claire."
"We're both in yer bed, there's halfa bottle left on the table, an I don got a clue what's going on. An I am NOT gay!" Luck's eyebrows jumped up his face. Claire was never good when he skipped sleeping. And after last night, he could see why Claire didn't want to sleep. That Czes kid was almost as bad as Claire after a job. Luck sighed, "Neither am I, Claire. You know that. Nothin happened."
Luck got up quickly and headed for the kitchen. Without looking, he knew the assassin hadn't followed. Claire's behavior had never exactly been predictable but the past few days had unnerved him more than he would admit. But how could he help a guy who would never admit he was terrified. Luck Gandor was good, but he wasn't that good.
Claire wandered into the kitchen about half an hour later, fresh dressed and showered and grabbed a roll, heading for the door just like yesterday. Luck stopped and turn off the stove. "Claire." But neither turned to look at the other. Claire just called over his shoulder, "Stop callin me that, Luck. It's Vino now."
"I know. But you're still going to be Claire to me." Now Claire really did turn around, mouth open ready to tell the mafia boss to shove it. But he stopped when he saw the pained look in his brother's eyes. Deflated, he muttered, "I'm supposed ta be the one keepin you safe!" He left right after that.
Out on the street, Claire was careful not to slip on the icy winter ground as he hurried down the street with no particular destination in mind. Dammit he hated seeing Luck worry. He'd become so carefree in the last couple of years that this problem was making things that much worse. Claire stopped and pulled out the handkerchief, still immaculately white, just as he'd kept it all these years. The symbol of his promise, one that he wasn't sure he was capable of keeping right now.
TwinsOfABlackRose
Claire made his way down the path eating his breakfast quickly, he wanted to visit the Flying Pussyfoot and see how it was. He wasn't the conductor anymore and he couldn't care less but it was for Tony's sake and he wanted to see it for himself. It had been left out the back of Central Station for the police to check over and they sure were taking their time. Several months it was now but it didn't matter. Slipping past the police wasn't anything close to effort for the assassin.
But what he saw when he turned was anything but an elegant train with police. He stepped over the bodied wondering what could have done such a thing and the parts of train littered around his feet as he got closer to the dining car. Empty. Chairs were torn out and the cogs were visible beneath the torn out carpet. Only one thing was capable of this.
"Let me tell you a sad sad tale," the voice smirked as a large spanner came flying down in front of Claire, "however it is only sad for you, for me it is a happy one. A tale of revenge. But no revenge is such a...such a simple word...this train is amazing so the tale must be as exciting as it was to take this wonderful dream apart." Graham leapt down grabbing his spanner to look Claire in the eye, a shrill smirk across his face, "I assume the feeling of taking this apart will be very similar to that of taking the great assassin Vino apart. I can see it now! 'Humble Mechanic brings crazed assassin Vino to justice in a spectacle of crimson', yes that does sound good don't you agree? Of course you would!"
Claire stood there looking at him, he had almost forgotten how annoying this one was, "Why did ya do dis to Tony's train?" Claire asked, he wasn't a conductor anymore; he could care less about the train. But Tony? No, this was for him. Tony loved to drive the trains and this was injustice against one of the most important people to him.
"Funny story actually some mousey comes to me and he's not frightened you see? I ask him 'why aren't you scared?' and he tells me he's got a deal, so I ask 'what's the deal?' He tells me he's got a grudge against you or something, so I ask 'what do you want me to?' and you know what he said?" Graham paused raising the spanner to the tip of Claire's nose, "He says 'disassemble the Flying Pussyfoot', of course I couldn't decline such a wonderful offer, so I says 'sure thing' next thing I know this sweet piece of elegance is falling down around me. You know police are nothing these days~"
Claire reached over the bar grabbing a knife holding it firmly in his hand, the smirk of violence came across his face as he raced toward Graham, "Sorry buddy but you won't be takin' me apart anytime soon!" He lashed his arm around only skimming it past Graham's face, but a hit was a hit.
"Oh you got some fight in you?" graham ran to the back of what was left of the car swinging his arm before sending his spanner off in a spiraling direction toward Claire.
Claire smirked, this was easy, training in the circus showed him the distance between himself and incoming objects. However he was still sleep deprived, one night was not quite enough, and lingering thoughts distracted him. Thus the assassin fell down as the spanner continued to fly off his fore head lodging itself in the wall of the train.
"Well well," Graham said standing over the bleeding man, "maybe revenge is the appropriate word here. Oh such a sad tale I have woven for you but this is not the end, oh not by far. The 'hero' is still alive and has so many more hardships, he must now go to see the little mousey and only then can his story truly have an end~"
~~~~
Luck put on his coat taking a drink of scotch before leaving out the door, it was much more chilly than he had first expected it to be. There wasn't much he could do about the weather. In his pocket sat snuggly his hand gun, he wouldn't use it, but it did have a single bullet just in case. And in his other pocket was a deck of cards, of which he could pick out any card and it would be the one that he had desired.
Today he wasn't following Claire; today he was strictly on Gandor family business. He was meeting up with Berga and Keith in another city, as Luck locked the door he did worry if Claire would be okay but then he remembered who he was talking about. The note he had left on the dining room table should be enough to explain why he was out of town and for how long he was going to be. He stood on the train watching the station fade in the distance. Nothing could happen in three days could it?
"You look troubled," Keith said opening the newspaper.
"Ah no," Luck took a seat tracing his finger around the rim of the glass in front of him looking at the blood red wine, "Vino will be fine."