Chapter Six

The morning was grey, but not dark. The clouds split open in scarce cracks of filtered light, dressing the fresh morning air in contrasted colours. It was pleasantly warm and brisk at the same time. The weather warmed one's skin and the air woke them up.

Damian soaked it in, rarely off campus grounds so early on a school day, and it was giddily unnerving.

"Here. Breakfast." The waffle cone Demetrius handed to Damian was perched with chocolate ice cream, Damian's favourite. Demetrius got vanilla and the vendor repeated the odd look he'd given them earlier.

"Shouldn't you boys be in school?"

"Nope." Demetrius immediately turned away, guiding Damian's head as he ate his ice cream.

The boys meandered through the moderately busy streets, and those the Desmonds passed, paid them no mind. They walked, and turned, and wove, and before long, they were strolling through a large, leafy, fenced-in garden maintained by the city. A piece of nature amidst busy streets and buildings. It was mostly empty and the boys ate in silence. Damian was pretty sure they'd come upon it accidentally. Demetrius hadn't mentioned where they were going and seemed to take rather spur-of-the-moment turns to get here. It had looked like he'd just been wandering around, turning towards whatever caught his attention.

"What are we doing here?" Damian eventually asked when they sat at a bench by a pond and watched the local birds go about their business. Damian was weirdly okay with skipping school with Demetrius, but he didn't seem to have any kind of plan.

His brother finished off his cone. "It's a park. Kids like parks."

Damian didn't even bother to look at him and watched the ducks swimming in the pond. "Were lost, aren't we?"

"One hundred percent."

"What do we do?"

"I dunno. Walk around?" Demetrius said unhelpfully.

"No, how do we get back?"

"We'll figure it out. Can't be too hard."

"You are very unprepared." Damian said, and it said a lot. Damian might not know Demetrius very well, but this was strange for him, going about without a plan. It was slightly thrilling. It was silly to get excited over such a small thing, but Damian understood when his brother smiled like it was the best thing in the world.

"Yeah." Demetrius said.

Damian finished the last of his ice cream cone and brushed the crumbs off his pants. "How come you took me out of school?" Said Damian, though it was rather obvious.

Demetrius kicked the pebble at his shoe into the water. "You didn't want to go, did you?"

"Not really." Damian mumbled, torn by his good sense of following the rules, and glad he hadn't.

"Well, there ya go."

"But I shouldn't be skipping."

"Why? Because other people say so? You should have had more time off, anyway."

"I should have said something to Ewen and Emile before I left." Damian commented, glossing over Demetrius' assessment, and wondered if his friends were worried he had disappeared. Probably not, he amended. They saw him with Demetrius, they would've figured it out.

"I told them you'd catch up with them later." Demetrius said and he was surprisingly sincere, like Damian had forgotten his earlier statement. Damian snorted.

His brother suddenly sprung up off the bench. "I'm still hungry. You want a sausage or something?" Demetrius asked but he was already heading back the way they came.

"Uh. . ." Damian got down and followed. "I guess. . ."

Demetrius led them out of the gardens, through town, and into a square. They found a vendor selling bratwurst sizzling on a grill, and Demetrius had three loaded up with toppings. He gave one to Damian and they strolled down the streets, not saying much. Demetrius savoured his first sausage and wolfed down the second. "You know, I don't think I've ever had street food." Demetrius commented.

"Me neither."

"Hey, let's try that, next." Demetrius directed Damian to a cart bedecked with bright colours and an even brighter umbrella to protect the vendor from the sun.

Demetrius bought kebabs made of various meats from the lady, and handed two to Damian. They continued on, in no particular direction.

Damian picked at his as they went, and the quiet between them continued. It wasn't uncomfortable or tense, but just a naturalness settling between them. An easiness. Demetrius was surprisingly relaxed and Damian didn't know that was even possible.

Occasionally, Demetrius would randomly steer them to the other side of the road for no apparent reason, or halt them all together until someone else crossed the road as if Demetrius had predicted that would happen.

It was weird, though Damian didn't question it too much.

"I think I'm full." Damian said after finishing one of his kebabs.

"Really? Should I eat the other one?" Demetrius said nonchalantly, but he didn't fool Damian.

"Here."

Demetrius wolfed that down, too.

The brothers wandered. With no clear destination and no agenda, they found themselves stopping on a bridge stretching high over a wide river and enjoyed the view. Damian liked the silence. The simple act of just standing here with Demetrius as they watched the rippling water below with the breeze tussling their hair.

Maybe this was what Damian needed. He still felt the cloud over his head but it wasn't storming and raging. It had calmed somewhat and Damian let himself relax as his eyes focused on the entrancing, hypnotic waves.

It was like a balm to his mind. He didn't have to think, he just had to watch the water and relax into it.

But then Demetrius leaned on the railing and pulled him out as he took a bite of his donut. "What was your nightmare about?" He said after the first ten minutes of nothing.

Damian remembered his own donut and finished the last bit, licking the sugar off his fingers and swiping them on his pants. "Um. . ." He hesitated. This wasn't something he wanted to talk about, as if thinking about it would make it happen again. He wanted to forget.

Demetrius stared at his own donut as if it was the subject of the conversation. "I get them too." He said when Damian didn't. "But they're only nightmares. They can't hurt you."

Damian wondered how Demetrius dealt with his. "What's your's about?" He asked.

"I have this recurring dream." Demetrius obliged. "At the lab, the scientists cut my stomach open and pull out all of my organs." His hand made a sharp, jerking movement that mimicked a blade, then a scooping motion before resting his elbow on the railing like he was holding his heart. "Then they stick me full of other subject's body parts, like limbs and intestines, hearts and eyeballs and stuff that are wriggling around, then sew me back up. After that, they stab me with needles that burn me alive, melting my bones, and electrocute my brain that leaks out my ears. And then I'm trapped in a cell deep underground, buried under all these dead kid's skeletons, suffocating. Somehow, I know it's Father who put me there and then I half-die, like the other kid's parts are keeping me alive, but I'm more like a zombie and I don't have control of my body. I'm alone, but I'm also not, because my new organs are sentient and they tell me they'll be with me forever."

Demetrius took another bite of his donut and Damian paled.

"Oh. . ." Demetrius turned to him and his hand rested lazily over the railing as if he was still holding an organ. "Too much? I thought that one would bother you the least."

"That one? Are there others?"

"Mm." Demetrius finished his donut and brushed the crumbs off his hands "But again. Just a nightmare. They're normal after what you went through. But you don't need to worry. What happened at the lab won't happen again.

"You can't promise that."

"Sure, I can."

"How?"

Demetrius paused, holding Damian's gaze, and kept it there for an eternity. As if gathering the resolve that sounded in his voice a minute later, and his face set firm as he turned away. "I won't let it." He decided firmly, looking over the river as his forearms rested on the rail, and Damian stared up at him for a long moment. Then leaned his forehead against the rail bars and stared at the water below.

He suddenly felt less alone. Like he'd been living in a cabin by himself in the middle of the woods and Demetrius suddenly appeared to fortify it against the wild animals, taking up residence there with him.

It did make him feel better that Demetrius had his back wether he could actually defend it or not. As if his older brother had become a fortress for him to hide behind.

"Did those things actually happen?" Damian's dark curiosity manifested in a quiet tone and Demetrius hesitated.

"Maybe I shouldn't have told you that." He said, and after another moment, stood upright again to let his hands fall to his pockets. He stepped away from the rail. "C'mon. I'm hungry." He said and avoided Damian's question.

Of course he did.

Damian jogged to catch up and Demetrius went on to find some schnitzel.

—-

Demetrius experienced something new that morning.

Worrying over Damian had been exclusively reserved for things involving the lab, Donovan's involvement with Damian, and the twisted things Demetrius had navigated all his life. As long as none of that touched Damian, what else mattered?

Demetrius cared for Damian. He wanted him safe and he wanted him kept at arm's length from the family. Up until now, that included himself. It was easier to prevent Damian from being pulled into this nightmare of a mess. It was easier to keep him distanced.

However. As much fondness as Demetrius had for Damian, his concerns only extended so far. If Damian was protected from the things Demetrius felt he needed protection from, anything could happen to him, from the smallest of insecurities or stresses, to the finality of death, and Demetrius would be less than empathetic.

It was just life. It might be regrettable, but he would move on.

And then Damian called.

Something changed when Demetrius finally broke free from his father and those limited concerns, extended. It was small, and he didn't know what it was, but Damian called, crying, and Demetrius was struck with a need to fix it. Before he knew what the problem was.

Before he knew what the problem was.

Demetrius was worried about him in a way he hadn't been before and he was forced to confront it.

You don't care if he get's hurt because of you?

Anya's question popped into his head as soon as he realized it. As soon as Damian hung up on him and Demetrius had no context for Damian's breakdown. As soon he spiked with alertness and felt a need to do something.

As soon as he was worried.

If he get's hurt.

Damian was hurt now. Demetrius didn't know how, he didn't know why, but he had to fix it. If only to satiate the unrest in Demetrius' mind.

You don't care if Damian get's hurt because of you?

The question played in his head over and over as he went to Damian, escorted him around town, and tried to ease his mind. He thought it might be true. He thought it strange, but it might be true. There was a concern he hadn't quite felt before. Not like this.

And as Demetrius returned Damian to the dorms, he wondered at it, ruffling his brother's hair before sending him inside.

You don't care if he get's hurt because of you?

Demetrius thought he might. But he wouldn't let it happen.