Chapter Title: Old Friends

Series Title: Unlikely Brothers

Ages in this chapter: Tanner (11) Dashen (17)

POV: Dashen

Chapter Summary: Childhood friends of Dashen resurface, their intentions unclear and uncertain.


Frustration was the first emotion that surfaced. It mixed with a little anger and a bit of hurt. Feelings I'd leaned on too long in situations like this. An old 'friend' happened by. Two of them actually. We'd played together as kids, swore to be life long pals and all that stuff you say as kids but have no idea what it actually means.

We hadn't become life long pals. They'd walked on me not long after my folks died and my focus went from being a normal kid to dedicating my life to looking after my little brother, Kossi. Free time was not to be had and for growing and active teenagers on the go, I'd become a dullard.

So they split. I saw them a few times after, tried to reach out when I had precious moments of free time, but when my life took that impossible turn, my friends had deserted me completely. Not the 'life long pals' I'd imaged them to be.

I'd come to terms with it, lived with it, understood it. My chosen and given path was to take care of Kossi. He was my world, and with our parents gone, he needed me. I had to find work and make sure he kept up in school. We had little money, funds were low, but I still had to somehow get food into his stomach. Priorities had changed and I couldn't enjoy the fun loving days of being a young teen, living out the rest of my childhood without a care.

They either didn't get that or didn't want to get it. The latter was most likely correct. And as I said, I'd accepted their reaction and desertion after a while. There was nothing I could do about it.

That they resurfaced now of all times, when the crap was hitting the fan again, it bothered me.

"Still workin' your ass off and nothing to show for it, hey, Lesedi?"

That was Walen. Male. Human. About my height and build, dirty blonde hair cut short, annoying and snarky. A lot like I was.

"Got yourself a big fancy house though. Must be doing something right. Kinda looks like you sold out on us, Dash."

That was Setch. Female. Human. Stocky and strong, if a head shorter than Walen and myself. Hair was also cut short and was a mix of a dark brown streaked lines of blue. Also annoying and snarky - I guess I had a type in friends. She was also rather blunt.

"Walen. Setch. Good to see you," I lied. Mostly. I had very little in the way of good friends in my current life, so a tiny piece of me always hoped the three of us would find a way to repair our friendship. But the reality-based part of me thought that tiny piece of me was an idiot. "I'm only in a small apartment at the residence." I responded. "Trust me, it's nothing exciting. Beats sleeping in the dirt and bug-infested place that I used to crash."

They thought about that, knowing how I'd lived after my folks died. The work I'd found was barely enough to keep me and Kossi fed, much less maintain a decent roof over our heads. But I really had no desire to walk down this line of conversation, so I changed subjects.

"What's up with you both? Haven't seen you around. Still working towards training for local security?" They'd always wanted to be law enforcement. Setch in particular enjoyed a good confrontation when we were younger. She had trained with her father to be a hell of shot with a blaster at a young age. Walen, he just enjoyed dreaming of being in a position of power and he'd always been constantly in motion; never one to sit still.

"Cadets. Start with patrol later this year. Time to clean up some of the scum that coats the Kaolin streets."

Huh. Specific in his comment, Setch said the words with far too much intense eye contact for my comfort. I got an uneasy sensation that part of that comment was directed my way and referring to Colton's criminal ways. I really hoped that I was reading too deeply in to it. I mean seriously, the last thing she wanted was to take on the well tuned machine that was Virgil Colton's realm. Local had an understanding with Colton that worked. They both basically stayed out of the other's way. It worked and was mostly good for the town and surrounding areas.

So this... well, I left the perceived challenge alone and caught Setch's fiercely dark eyes. They'd been a beautiful shimmering shade of brown when we kids, but now had darkened to something much more intense.

"Great." I said with as much enthusiasm as I could muster. Probably not very convincing, but whatever. "It's what you guys have always wanted. I hope it works out."

"It'll work out." Walen chimed in, confident. "We're damn good cadets. Too bad you're anti-blaster. You never fell in love with weapon, did you, Lesedi?"

"Yeah, never been my thing." And it wasn't. Don't think that would ever change. You carried, you had the responsibly of another person's life in your hands. Nope, couldn't do it. If I couldn't run, talk or annoy my way out of something, then maybe it wasn't meant to be. "I'll leave that fun to you guys."

"Heh. You arm yourself, you live. That's my motto. Better to protect that new orphan kid of yours. You adopt him or what?"

So, okay. They knew something about Tanner. No major details I was sure, but they'd seen him and had seen me with him. It meant they were aware of the goings on of the town. I was careful with what information I shared.

"Yeah, kinda. He lost his only parent and had no one on Terra. I was in the right place at the right time, I guess. Good kid. Helps me stay focused." I shrugged and finished with, "Guess we go where our paths lead. A lot different than when we were kids, yeah?"

They stared at me then. For several very long, not-all-that-comfortable seconds. One of the more awkward experiences of my life. We'd never had difficulty rambling on as kids, saying whatever came to our minds. Laughing and enjoying every second. This wasn't anything like that. I had no idea what their motives were for tracking me down. It certainly wasn't to rekindle a childhood friendship. Couldn't believe it would be anything like jealousy. Hell, no one was ever jealous of anything in my life. My life pretty much sucked. But my family life had always been stars better than either of theirs. I'd had parents who would have died for their kids. I had a little brother that thought I was the greatest thing in the entire galaxy. Now, I was friends with a wealthy criminal entrepreneur and had a new little brother with who I was basically attached at the hip. Neither Walen or Setch had those things. They came from broken homes and parents or siblings that lived under the same roof without much emotion. It's why we loved the company of the other when we were young. I certainly never flaunted my family life, neither then or now. Not much to flaunt with parents dying and leaving me to care for my little brother who then died in my arms two years later. Yay, me. This was all just weird.

Setch cleared it up a bit. "Careful about flaunting your new life, Dash. Enemies are out there. Never know what's around the corner. Walen and I, once we're Patrol, we'll see things. Hear things. You got a good thing here. A job. A roof. Protected. Eyes watching your back everywhere you go. More than we ever had as kids. More than we will ever have. You're lucky."

Yeah. Lucky. It's exactly what I would call my life. What the hell was she talking about?

She continued. "Just don't think who you know and what you have can protect you all the time. Shame you stopped hanging out with us after your folks died." Well, that was wrong. They gave up on me. And I could have used the support, or could at least have used a friendly face or a damn shoulder to cry on once in a while. "We coulda been tight today. Sharing our lives. Sharing our dreams. You got your dream, Dash. We're working on ours."

Apparently, Setch didn't know me as well as she thought she did. I got my dream? Sure. If my dream was to lose my entire family then fall into such a deep depression that I tried to take my own life - more than once. If that was my dream, I'd hate to see what my nightmare was.

Again, I was careful with what I said, but I sure as hell couldn't leave that one alone.

"Really, not my dream at all, Setch. Seriously. My folks died. My little brother died. All in the span of two years. Those things broke me. Not a dream I'd wish on anyone. But whatever you..." Ugh, I left the rest of the sentence hang. Whatever you need to believe was my intended statement. But I felt my anger and frustration rising and I needed to let it lie. Tanner's voice nagging in my head and telling me that sometimes the best thing to do is walk away. But... ugh!

Thankfully, said little brother found me at just the right moment. Walen said something stupid after Setch finished her I was living the dream bit, and before I could respond with something I'd probably regret, Tanner came bounding toward me. Eyes bright, smile broad and an actual skip in his step. An eleven year old bundle of positivity and goodness. They didn't make very many like him. He was just what I needed.

"Hi Dash!"

"Hey, Tanner." I'd normally greet him with his nickname of Mouse, but I felt it best to leave that out with Setch and Walen in earshot. The less they knew about Tanner the better. And really, our brother thing was just none of their damn business. His Jedi braid was completely hidden, tucked into his longer hair. Last thing I needed was my former friends for life discovering that secret. I did greet him with a snug arm around his shoulders, curtailing his routine hug greeting.

"Tanner these are some old friends of mine from childhood. Setch and Walen. They were just about to be on their way." The perfect moment to remove myself from a situation before my irritation boiled any further.

"I need you to help me run an errand anyway," Tanner generically fibbed, sensing my discomfort around these two almost immediately. He planted a legit excuse right in front of their noses and they'd have to accept it. "It's nice to meet you both." It's all he said. The normal Tanner would have kept going with he hoped he see them again, or invited them to meet for lunch or some other obsessively friendly suggestion. But he felt something and wanted no part of these two. At this point, I'd didn't either.

"Perhaps we'll see each other again, Lesedi." Walen said.

Nope, I didn't like that idea.

"Sooner rather than later." Setch replied.

I really didn't like that idea.

The past reminded me that these two had never been good at keeping promises, so I didn't put too much salt into their words. I'd keep them in mind though, if for no other reason than they were on their way to being local security and I did work for and live under the roof of a known crime lord.

Note to self. Mention this to Colton so he can have his people run a check on my old friends.

"Until next time then. Setch. Walen." I nodded and left out verbally referring to them as old friends again. I didn't believe it and Tanner sure didn't. Both of them gave me a look before departing and I was left wondering what the hell this had been about. Clearly, the meeting had been intentional. No way was this just an accidental passing by. My nerves rattled as I followed their departure.

Once they were out of sight, Tanner grabbed my arm. "Dash, they were... odd." And that meant something coming from Tanner. "I got really strange feelings from them. Are you sure they were friends of yours?"

"Were." I emphasized. "They ran out on me when my folks died, when my responsibilities changed and I couldn't be a kid anymore."

"They deserted you when you needed them the most." Tanner responded bluntly.

"They did."

"And it hurt you."

"It did."

"I'll never desert you, Dash."

Damn kid. Now it was time for the hug.

"I know you won't, Mouse. And that goes both ways."

Tanner smiled, causing me to smile. The hug was a good one and we pushed Setch and Walen to the back of our minds and had a good old fashioned brother-race home.

I won - I always did with my longer legs. Then I won again with a celebratory victory hug from Tanner.

So, yeah. I'd dare my old friends to show even the slightest of threats toward this kid.

There was no possible way that would end well for them.


END