Chapter Title: Belonging
Series Title: Unlikely Brothers
POV: Dashen
Ages in this chapter: Tanner (14) and Dashen (20)
Chapter Summary: Tanner is dying after being tortured by a group discovering his Jedi secret. Will he be saved in time?
I'd die for my brother. Without a second thought. Without a single regret.
Unfortunately, 'Choose Death' wasn't an option in the mess we were caught in now. Four days now, trapped in this hell. Tortured in this dungeon or whatever it was. How they'd found out Tanner was a Jedi, I couldn't think to guess. But they had and rather than turn him in for reward and notoriety, they choose to slowly drain the life from him.
The screaming of a fourteen year old boy doesn't empty from your mind even when he's gone quiet. My own screams had followed each of his. Not because of physical pain. This gang didn't much touch me, other than a few punches to the gut, but they kept me strung up during the periods when they were abusing my brother to his death. I yelled for them to stop. To put me in his place. No go. My voice eventually went hoarse. It was surprising that Tanner still had his.
I can't name the things they did to him and the worst had to be the burning. Hot sticks under the fingernails seemed to get the most reaction so they made that one of their favorite games. Tanner was strapped down, sometimes on his stomach, other times his back. The only clothing left on his bloody and bruised body was a soiled pair of under-briefs. Mud and blood battled for control of his knotted hair and that kind face of his, well, if you didn't have proof who was under the mess, you wouldn't have known it was Tanner.
I could see him as each hour passed, losing the last of any semblance of fight. Honestly, I don't know how he'd lasted this long. There was unknown strength in that small, skinny body, no doubt, but time was running out. He was done. He was ready. And if this went on much longer he'd figure out a way to let himself go. I knew that as well as I knew I'd do the same. And who was I to blame him? Hell, I was pretty damned sure that if Tanner died, I'd be soon to follow.
I tried again to get them to stop. My creaky voice filled with a pleading and begging sound that no human should ever be forced to make.
"Please. Just…let him go. He's a kid. My brother. Please."
The leader of the crew, the tall, extra large mouthy one laughed as he'd done repeatedly since the beginning. He laughed, smacked me once more in the gut and said, "He ain't nothing, boy. And you ain't nothing. Some two-bit thief who spends his time running from town to town, working for that overstuffed blonde jack-ass, Virgil Colton. That ain't no life you got there, boy. It's pathetic and weak. You're nothin'. Not even worth the crap that I scrape off my boots. I'd have killed you by now, but as I said, you're nothin'. Not even worth killin'. Not even worth my time. Although, it has been entertaining watching you squirm each time we lay another film of blood on the Jedi kid here. Brother? Ha. Nice try, Worthless. Jedi ain't no brothers to no one. Killin' them things off was the best thing anyone ever did anywhere. But having my shot at one, hell, that's even better. So, shut your damn hole and think about your worthless life and how much more worthless it'll be come sundown when the kid here is dead. Yeah, the fun is ending. Ain't nothin' left in this one anymore, time to put him outta his misery with a few hours of…eh, never mind. As I said, you ain't worth it. But I will give you one thing. Twenty minutes off your leash, under heavy armed guard of course. I'm not without complete heart. I'll let ya say goodbye to the piece of trash. Cut him down, Rizo."
I got my twenty minutes. I got them to unstrap Tanner too for that time. It's not like he was going anywhere. He couldn't move any part of his body more than a couple inches. Carefully, I set him down on the dirty floor and cradled him in my arms. The second time, I'd held a dying brother to me in my twenty years of life. My crappy life.
"Hey, Mouse," I said softly, gently brushing his muddled hair from his eyes. "I'm here, okay? Right here. I won't leave you. Not ever. Looks like one predicament that we couldn't smart-ass our way out of, huh? I'm sorry, Tanner. Gods, I'm so sorry. You fought so hard though. I'm proud of you. Do damned proud. Your Master Ayden would be too. I know it. How could he not be? Maybe you'll see him soon. Maybe all the Force stuff will bring you together again. You miss him a lot still, so many years later. I know the feeling. I miss Kossi that much too, but…I
told him when his time was short that it was okay to let go. So...Mouse. It's okay for you to let go if you need to. I won't
be mad. Big brother promise, okay?"
Something happened then.
I paused for a second to catch the hitches in my breath when I heard it. A whistle. Low and deep, but definitely a whistle. I knew the tune. I knew the meaning. My heart sped up. My breathing sped up. I clutched Tanner tight to me and lowered my body over his as best I could just in time for the light show.
They came in ready. They came in firing. A crew of two. One tall, broad and blonde, the other a lizard-like humanoid. Virgil Colton and Rosina Ethy. Enemies when it came to criminal competition, but joined together when it came to the well being of those under their charge. Rosina would stab you in the back if she caught another's runner invading her turf. It was fair game. But outside the circle of understanding of the daily operations that she and Colton ran...a certain one thing was always off limits. Their own.
In other words, don't screw with their families.
I've no idea how they found us. We were buried deep from what I could tell. I would never again question their tracking and surveillance abilities as long as I live – which at the moment, figured to be a bit longer than originally thought. Our four man kidnap crew went down hard and fast. Colton recognized the leader of the pack and without hesitation or remorse (despite the man's sudden need to beg for his own life), Colton gunned him down with a deluge of shots to his chest and face. I lost track of how many times I heard the blaster fire, but when I eventually did raise my head, the man no longer had a face. Colton kicked his body once in the ribs and said, "Told you once before, you bastard, don't touch my boys. One rule, one simple rule. Now you're dead. Good riddance."
My arms still held strong around Tanner as I lifted my eyes to see the quick destruction of four lives. Stirring slightly, Tanner cried out when I moved his neck to what I thought was a more comfortable position. It wasn't.
"Sorry, Mouse. I'm sorry. Don't let go, now, okay? All that stuff I said a few minutes ago. Just ignore it. We're okay now. Colton is here." I begged him to life just as Healer Kalis came in hot on their heels. Quin Kalis, Colton's personal healer and one of the best medical minds money could buy...literally. Colton had bought her medical services many years ago. The best treatment offered and no questions asked. I felt a relief wash over me that I didn't know possible. Quin had a motherly affection for Tanner. She'd patched him (and me) up enough times in the past. She knew everything about him, probably more than me, and she'd take care of him. She'd keep him alive.
Her tone was serious and kind at the same time when she knelt to us and laid hands on Tanner. Hands calloused and strong from years of saving and patching and fixing and healing. There was no one Colton trusted more – and in our world, that meant something. I put her at about sixty standard years old, but I suspect she was much older than that. She could put those like Colton in their place with a simple look while at the same time make you think she was the sweetest, kindest person you'd ever hope to meet. Don't cross her and don't tell her how to do her job and you'd get along fine. Oh, and don't forget to pay her abnormally high prices. Her healing skills didn't come cheap and although she wasn't a miracle worker, Tanner was in the best of hands.
I stared at her white hair pulled back into a fat single braid that reached her mid-back, but currently fell over her right shoulder. Her eyes found mine. Pale. Creepily so. Almost clear, but there was the most minute tinges of blue mixed in that kept them from being completely transparent.
Hands roamed Tanner's body. "Broken. Much is broken. Bleeding inside somewhere. I can feel it. Burns on the fingers."
"They burned him under the fingernails," I told her in my panicked state, my breaths hard and heavy. "He kept screaming and screaming, but they didn't stop. They just kept hurting him..."
"That will heal, Dashen," Quin promised me. "It might take time, but he will heal. Now, you step back and let us work to move him. I have Healer Fen with me to assist. You know her. You can trust her. Step back now."
It's the last thing I wanted to do and my body wouldn't cooperate no matter how hard I pushed it. I couldn't budge until a large hand from behind snagged my shoulder and pulled me up and backwards so that my back rested against his chest. Colton's hands gripped my shoulders hard.
"You need to let Quin work, Dash."
I didn't say anything. I didn't tell him how Tanner was on the verge of leaving us forever and that I would have followed him into oblivion. Colton didn't need to hear that. Not after he'd just saved our hides and committed full blown murder to save us. I knew that side of him; that take-no-prisoners, ask-no-questions, criminal side. There was always reason for his actions though and no one who died by his hand was ever innocent. Not by any stretch of any imagination. But I was more familiar with the everyday side of Virgil Colton. The side that had taken me and Tanner under his wing not long after the whole Jedi slaughter. He gave us a home. He gave me a job. He paid to put Tanner though school. Those two sides had collided here in this place of hell because we were in trouble and he'd scoured the ends of his abilities to find us.
Weakly, I tried to pull away, to go to my brother, but he held me tight. And as the healers continued to save his life, I heard Tanner's whimpers and cries. I needed to go to him. I needed to be there. Colton wouldn't let me. I'd only be in the way. My pleas to get to him although not falling on deaf ears, were not enough. Instead, Colton pulled me tight against him, folding his arms around me from behind. I reached up to grab his arms with my hands; holding on. Desperate.
"Let them work, Dash."
"Colt...". My head fell forward. He clutched me tighter.
"I know, kid."
Kid. It's what he called me when he'd first entered my life. Trying to help me when no one else gave a rat's tail, just a few months after Kossi had died. I'd turned him away at the time, but the fact that he'd given a crap when not one single other soul had...it meant something. Virgil Colton wasn't a happy go lucky huggable softie. He was a hard shell at times and to be permitted into his small but protected inner circle, it was rare. Tanner and I had found our way in and were privileged now to know the man that lived under that exterior. Still not a softie, but in rare times, he'd let it be known how much he cared for us. How much he loved us, even if he never actually said it. Rare times like now, when I needed him most. When my brother was beaten, bloody and half dead on the floor.
I only had two people in my life. I couldn't afford to lose either of them.
A strange numbness overtook me as I watched from a distance while the healers got my brother to a point where they could move him. My back still drawn to Colton. My hands still clutching his arms. Finally Healer Quin came to us.
"He is stable enough to transport to the surface. We have bacta on every wound we could find and have wrapped his fingers. It will prevent further bleeding. But we need a hospital quickly. Surgery as well to stop any internal bleeding. We must move."
—-
A blur. Healers all around as Tanner disappeared into surgery. I'd not even been given a chance to speak to him.
Was this the day that was the last I would ever see my brother alive?
"You'll do no good sitting around moping for him, Dash. He's a strong boy. Especially his heart. He knows you're near."
Colton sat with me in the waiting area. I hadn't been here too often. More times than not, Quin treated our injuries at home if minor enough. Colton had made her a rich woman, so treating
his family to the best wasn't a question. This place...it smelled. Chemical? I didn't know, I just knew I didn't like it. Made me sick to my stomach.
Or...maybe it wasn't the smell making me ill.
"Breathe deep, Dash. Use those exercises Tannerlin taught you. You get so worked up that you puke on me and I'm tossing you out of here and into a tub. Understand?"
My laugh was small, but there. I appreciate Colton's attempt to help. "Yeah, I get it. I promise, no puking. At least, no puking on you. Just...I've done this before, you know? The whole 'losing the brother' thing? Can't do that again. I won't."
"You were a mess back then, kid."
Understatement of the year, right there.
"I was a suicidal mess. And if this ends badly..."
"Stop talking, Dash. Stop talking. Stop thinking. Just stop. When Quin gets him fixed up, you'll go sit with him and help him recover and before you know it, you both will be out there driving me crazy and screwing things up once again. That's how it will be. I will accept no other end. Understand?"
He'd placed an arm around me at this point. Again, not the Virgil Colton that most people knew or had ever seen. But by some weird whacked out twist of fate, I was family now. Non-blood, but still family. We were an odd trio, a crime boss, a former Jedi and an idiot, but we fit.
Unashamedly, I leaned toward the big man, resting my head against that crime boss-turned-surrogate-uncle's shoulder while we waited for news on that former Jedi-turned-little-brother.
My life was so weird.
And hours later when Healer Quin sat down in front of me, my heart skipped about a million beats until I saw a contented expression cross her aged face.
"He'll be fine, Dashen. Once he heals. Such a strong boy. Now, go be with him. Stay as long as you need. He won't go home for a while, but he should wake by tomorrow."
She took my hands in her own, promising me with those strange almost-clear eyes that my brother would survive.
"Thank you for saving his life."
"Nonsense, boy. I only fixed the wounds. You saved his life, and he yours, many years ago. Go be with your brother."
Quin knew the truth about us. About Tanner's Jedi past. She was paid enough by Colton to keep that secret of course, but I think we'd wormed our way into her heart too. We had a way of doing that, the idiots that we were.
I left them with a hurry, finding Tanner in the recovery room. The other healer, Fen, she pointed me to the bedside chair and left the room. Tanner's left hand was bruised, as was the majority of his body, but the blood and dirt and grime and puss were gone. His fingers were bandaged in bacta packs, so I wrapped my own fingers around his wrist instead. My other hand instinctively went to his face to run a hand over his forehead and through his hair. Just as I'd done so many years before with Kossi whenever he got hurt or sick...and again during the final hours of his life. Those memories of my little brother came flooding back so damned hard right then and I sniffed the tears into submission. I'd lost Kossi. I wasn't going to lose Tanner. That just wasn't going to happen. Not ever.
There came a soft hand on my shoulder. I exhaled. Colton.
"Family. Dash. You and this boy had no right to enter my life. But you did. And I am grateful." More tears threatened, but leave it to Colton to solve that problem. "And if I ever get wind of you telling anyone, anywhere, anytime about any portion of my side of this, I will fly you to Hoth and leave you there with nothing but your boots and shorts. Do we understand each other?"
A laugh filtered through my broken breaths and I nodded. "Got it, Colt. Not a peep. I swear. I can't afford to have any of my parts frozen off with a stint on Hoth. You reputation as a unemotional, bad ass criminal mastermind will remain intact. Promise."
"Good boy." The hand on my shoulder squeezed and he bent his head down to my ear to whisper. "Take care of him."
"I promise that too."
Colton left. I went back to stroking Tanner's hair. The next day he woke up. Seven days later I bought him home. Colton greeted him with a hug so big that Tanner about disappeared in his grasp.
We were home. Here. Together in this strange-should-never-be weirdo family of ours.
And it was just where the three of us belonged.
END
