A/N: See ten minutes. Okay so after all day yesterday and all night in the car with very little sleep I started this chapter two hours out from where we are going and dead tired. The car ride ended being something more like 30 hours rather than 25. I literally can't see or talk straight to save my life right now. Although the seeing may be because my glasses are off and I'm still suffering from pink eye, sadly it doesn't go away over night. So for now typing will have to work. So since like with the last four, these were put up at the same time, I have no reviews for chapter eight. So another extra big thank you to you guys. Really you have absolutely no goddamned idea how much it helps to have your support. So again thank you.
So my little Gilbirds, I present to you chapter nine, Promised Reunion for you reading pleasure. Read cause its awesome!
Feli remained in his room for the next few days, discovering things about himself he hadn't previously known. For instance, that little curl on the left side of his head? That was going to come in handy in future heats. And he was eternally blessed with having a short cycle, most omegas suffered through that for a week, his only lasted four days, though it still felt like forever and a day. When he finally left his room he had found his grandfather in the common room with Aldrich quietly discussing something. His heat scent still lingered along with the fading temperature, and that caught the two old alphas' attentions quickly enough. They both smiled at him, and Romulus waved him closer.
"Better, I assume?" He asked as Feli trotted in and settled down on his knees beside his grandfather. He nodded quietly, knowing that he had been rather loud once or twice, or perhaps all night, in his heat. He'd rather keep quiet now. They both chuckled. While Aldrich had never had to raise an omega, he could remember how his son's mate had acted during her heats while he was away with the ships. She would hide in their room and not come out. And when she did, she kept very quiet afterward.
"Good, ve vere just talking about you." Aldrich said tossing a mango to him from the bowl that sat between the two alphas. No doubt he had finally come out looking for food. Most omegas weren't up to eating during their heats, and so came out of them rather hungry, Feli was no exception. He bit straight into the sunset orange colored fruit with a grateful happy smile.
"Why?" He asked after swallowing. They exchanged knowing grins with each other. Feli knew his promised was back, his name had been the only thing he shouted or whimpered in the waking and dark night hours. And they knew once his heat and stomach were satisfied, he would do nothing but ask after him. So they figured they would sate his curiosity now.
"Ludwig was asking after you. His memory is damaged, so he asked by appearance and not by name but, he remembers you. And that you are important him in some way. We thought once you had decided to come out might like to go s-?" Feli was gone and out the door onto the deck before Aldrich could finish, he even left the mango with one bite out of it laying there. With a high pitched whistle Felicity was outside and tossing her gear in the air to catch it perfectly in position over her shoulders. A trick he had taught her years ago. He leaped from the deck, cleared the entire second level to land in the saddle on her back. He barked the order and she went for a nose dive off of the first level before taking off running at top speeds into the jungle.
Fortunately even in old age the two alphas were quick on their feet and fast fallowing after the omega. Though they left out the acrobatics and didn't actually give chase, they watched the red and rainbow blur race off with almost smug grins. Aldrich laughed lightly.
"Romulus old friend, I don't know how you managed to raise him, but you did a good job." He said.
"Very carefully, and with lots of patience. You forget I raised his mother too, and he is so much like her in so many ways." Romulus answered with a sad yet prideful expression. A strange combination, but appropriate. Well like his mother he and Felicity rode faster than the wind itself. The thick roots and tangles of vines were no harder to cross than the soft sand to a casaraptor, especially one in her prime like Felicity. Aldrich's home was on the second level of the village, not so high and not too low, an easy hop, skip, and a jump for a casaraptor.
Berlitz stuck his head out of the window and roared in greeting. A bright sound, happier than he had heard him in years. Felicity returned the call warmly, and Feli sprang from his crouched position on her back. As previously noted, Feli was among the fastest of the tribe, it didn't take him long to scale the ladder up to the small deck in front of Ludwig's house. He was about to push the bamboo door aside, when he paused. Aldrich had said that Ludwig didn't remember him by name and only vaguely by relationship and appearance. What would he do if he just ran in there to tackle him in a hug? Well, he supposed he'd find out.
With no more hesitation Feli shoved the door aside and bolted into the house. He'd seen Berlitz in his old room, so it made sense that that was where his alpha should be. He skipped down the once familiar and frequented hall and straight through the door. And just like at the boat four days ago, his breath was taken from him and he froze. So much for tackling him in a flying hug.
Ludwig was just as he pictured him standing bedside Berlitz at the window where he had been looking outside. As tall as his brother, with blond hair pulled back to reach his neck. His eyes were still blue as ever, and a surprised shock swam in their oceanic depths. His jaw was set, and well toned muscles were pulled tense beneath still cream colored skin. Now that he wasn't in the mood to faint, Feli could study the scars along his body better. The largest was one the wrapped in a spiral around his left arm, obviously done with a blade and on purpose. There was another one that start just above his right hip and disappeared at an angle bellow his pants. Feli almost shivered at that one. As one of a few male omegas in all the tribes who could have children, a blow like that would have ended that little dream for good.
"Uh-uhm. E-excuse me, but who, who are you. I know you, I know I do, but your name is gone from my mind at this point. You are the one I am looking for ja?" He asked carefully. Berlitz padded past him, nudging his shoulder affectionately before leaving the two so that he could go and be with his Felicity for a few hours. Ludwig watched him go with a glance before locking his sweet blue irises on Feli's honey golds.
"I'm Feli, Feliciano, Omega of Vargas house." He vomited the title of prince, and hopefully he would remember that much on his own. Brief recognition flashed across his face before he calmed and loosened up some. He smiled faintly, something that made his heart melt and dribble down his chest to his toes and over the floor.
"You are Romulus's grandson, one of the princes. You have a twin brother too. Something vith an 'L' in his name." He stated rather than asked. It wasn't quite the reaction Feli was hoping for but at least he remember the prince part. He nodded smiling softly, almost sadly still in return.
"Vee~ That's a right. Lovino. He was just mated to a beta named Antonio at a Storm festival, the day you arrived." He explained. Antonio had come in once during his heat to see him while Lovi waited outside. He had been resting in between bouts then, and was able to talk for a short while. They really did have to drag him and Lovi out of the trees the next morning. He said it was the most amazing thing in the world, and that he knew when he and Ludwig finally mated, he would love it just as much. He looked forward to that day.
"I don't remember Antonio, but I'm sure I vill get to know him eventually." It made sense, Lovi had just met his mate the night before Ludwig was taken. Feli hadn't even known him. Just seen him sitting with Pele and his brother that morning before all Hell broke loose. He nodded agreeing and they fell quiet. It wasn't the same warm easy silence they used to share. It was thicker, heavy with the humid air and like something needed to be said. They both shuffled uncomfortably from foot to foot for awhile, not a word passed between them. The only sounds to be heard were those of the casaraptors coos and trills outside on the first level.
Feli dropped his head to look down at his feet, wondering if he couldn't just disappear for a moment. With his cast away Ludwig took the opportunity to really look the omega prince over. The boy he remembered had been small, light of foot, energetic, and lithe. The young man before him was still small compared to him, but built of lean muscle and strong looking, a runner and leaper if his long lets told him anything. His stunning honey amber eyes swam with perhaps the oddest combination of pure joy, sickening sadness, innocence and a deeply rooted affection. The dark mahogany red curl was what he remember best, the odd little hair still stuck up defying gravity and logic with its bouncy playfulness. Indeed he seemed light of foot as well, and the energy with which he had rushed inside matched as well. This was the boy who had haunted his dreams for the past eight years of his life. The one he remembered a promise to but couldn't quite feel that connection anymore.
"You..." he started into the silence. Feli jumped slightly startled from his poking at the floor. "You and I... ve vere promised veren't ve? That's vhy you appear so vividly in my memory yet others are such a blur." He said with slight hesitation. He knew this omega meant something grand to him, and he knew he had been terribly missed by him. The pain that mixed with the hint of sadness in his eyes pulled at one of his heart strings in just the right way. He missed this boy, this omega, the prince, in ways he had not missed his grandfather, or the brother he remembered. It was the same pull that prompted him to build a boat and escape the desert island for his home, and help.
Feli was shocked to hear it at first, but inexplicably happy. His Luddy remembered what they were, what they had and hopefully knew what he still felt. This was what he waited for eight years, and now he finally his prayers were answered. But of course nothing could be simple.
"I'm sorry Feli. I- vhat ever ve had, vhat ever be vere, it's, I don't quite feel it anymore. There is something, a feeling, I'm not sure vhat it is but I'm villing to vork on it. If it means you vill stop looking at me so hurt." Ludwig said. Feli's bandaged and bleeding heart nearly shattered to pieces again at his words. But it came back, with a new big bandage, tying it all together better than it had been before. He wanted to rebuild this, and for now, so long as his Ludwig was home, he could live with that. He would help bring his memory back, and he would make Ludwig fall for him again.
It came as a slight surprise when Ludwig slowly raised his arms and opened them wide. The gesture was achingly familiar, and in the lingering effects of his heat, he couldn't resist the though of being in his alphas arms. He leapt forward on strong legs, and fell into Ludwig's open arms. In almost instinctual reaction when Ludwig caught him in a tight embrace, one arm looped down around his waist, the other resting diagonal across his shoulders with his hand clutched in his silk soft hair. Feli locked his arms around Ludwig's neck, and buried his face in his broad shoulder, while Ludwig's chin rested atop his head, breathing in the last of his heat scent. He could feel the tears he had wanted to cry when he first saw Ludwig spilling over now as Ludwig gently lowered them to their knees. He held the omega like no tomorrow, breathing in and out steadily the sweet smell of the ocean and mangos and something all together warmer and spicier, all sharpened by his lingering heat.
He felt his own heart breaking and rebuilding at the same time. His memories may have been gone or jumbled but he knew this was something wonderful that they shared. And damnit he was going to hold onto it and never let it go, never again. And as much as he wanted it, he would take it as slow as he could, and savor it.
So he rocked Feli and himself back and forth while Feli mumbled in his ear about how long he had waited to see him again. He spoke about Gilbert's taking him in as a brother, and about waiting at the docks together when one or the other wasn't gone doing something. He spoke about Gilbert's family, his little niece and nephew. He talked for hours, and still no one disturbed them. He talked until he fell asleep with a smile on his face, and Ludwig laid him down in the pelts across his old room. He contemplated returning to his own hammock, but ended up laying down with the omega, curling around him in the most protective manner.
That was how Aldrich and Romulus found them late that night. Felicity and Berlitz had taken off somewhere and they weren't going to bother tracking down the two overly excited casaraptors. They shared soft smiles, and Aldrich said he would send Feli home when they awoke in the morning. But for now, they let the promised pair sleep. The gods above knew, they deserved it.
A/N: Well I ended this chapter at Ryan's Celebration of Life memorial party after the funeral. I met his girl friend. And we got to admit to each other that we were jealous of the other, because she was his first long term girlfriend, and I shared a cradle with him for the first three years of our lives... and got his first kiss... and I held his hand first. But... I will admit she looked better next to him. He was a lucky guy to have had her.
So I have my closure. And Feli and Ludwig have a new place to begin, we'll get to see a bit of a stricter side of Ludwig soon, because he's been through a lot, and he has a few issues to work out. I'm happy with how this turning out.
Well darlings I am plum tuckered out, I need at least twenty four more hours of sleep, and so I say good bye my sweets, I have to sleep off the last of my grief, and then I should be fine.
