A/N: Hey! I hope you're all having a good festive time. I myself am stuck in exams, but I have only one left! Merry Christmas to all of you! :)
Thank you to Guest for two reviews on the last chapter. I can't put it into words how grateful I am that you read and reviewed, and I am really happy that you are liking the story plot, if that's what I can call it. Thank you so so much and Merry Christmas to you and your family!
Thank you so much to ilunovels71 for reading, fav and following. It definitely means a lot. I hope you keep reading! A Merry Christmas to you and your family too!
Ps. The editing on this app gives me a headache, so please cope if you find any incorrection.
'Italic..' is Flashback
Ch 22
(Bryan)
Bryan stood awkwardly at the door of Kai's room, while said bluenette and the redhead sat on the bed; a middle aged man that he guessed was Kai's doctor, stood hunched over him, cleaning the dried blood on his face gently.
Tala sat at the edge of the bed watching Kai with concerned eyes. It wasn't the injuries the redhead was worried about, because compared to what they had been made used to, this was barely like a scratch. Rather it was the fact that Kai hadn't spoken a word since then.
Whatever Bryan had said had done this to him. Thinking of which, he turned his head and glared at the culprit, who shifted on his feet awkwardly, before raising an eyebrow as Tala stood up and walked over to him, pulling him by the arm and dragging him out and into his own room.
Closing the door, he fixed his eyes at Bryan, a no nonsense look in them.
"Tell me what happened."
Bryan sighed, "Look Tal, I didn't intend to-
"Don't fucking tell me what you intended and what you didn't!! Tell me what actually happened!!" Tala let out annoyedly.
"Fine, I was just talking to him, and then things just went downhill, I may have- said something sensitive."
"You may have?"
"I didn't mean it, okay?! How the fuck was I supposed to know he's such a crybaby!!"
Tala saw red, in his blinding rage hitting Bryan square at the face before grabbing his collar and yanking him towards him.
Although it was a known fact that Bryan was physically much much stronger than Tala, and could have avoided that hit, and could've in a second gotten himself out of his grip, he decided not to do so. He rarely ever hit Tala back anyways, and this time he knew it was his own fault.
"You're doing all this on purpose, aren't you?" The darkened blue eyes stared at him.
"You've hated him so much, and even now, even after seeing how bad of a condition he is in, you still have the nerve to hurt him?!"
Bryan didn't speak, his eyes widening as the blue eyes saddened and the grip on his collar was released before the redhead went and sat heavily on the bed.
"I just wanted all of us to be together…," he let out softly.
"You guys are the only family I have, and I don't want to let any of you go. I was so happy to see Kai back again, but I didn't know you were so bothered by that. We've all lived almost like we're a family for most of our lives, how could we abandon him now for something that wasn't even his fault?"
Bryan sat down next to him, cautiously looking for any signs of an outburst, but the redhead didn't seem angry, rather, it was worse that he was really sad.
And Bryan had always had a hard time dealing with that, because seriously, what would you think he'd do? Hug him?
Or maybe it could help…
He wrapped a reluctant arm around the redhead, the other - unlike he was expecting - leaning into it, resting his head on his shoulder.
"I just wished our family could be complete…"
Bryan felt even guiltier now, by a large gradient.
He knew how hard it was for all of them to live with the knowledge that their own blood relations had abandoned them in such manners one would shudder to think about. Kai's parents had loved him, but then his grandfather had snatched all of that love from him and made his life a hell. Ian was an exception, as he had been kidnapped.
That left the three of them, Tala, Spencer and himself. Spencer hadn't told them anything other than the fact that he only remembered living in an orphanage and was picked by Boris from there.
For himself, his father had been a very heavy drinker and had literally slaughtered his mother in front of his eyes with a broken bottle of wine when she had refused to give him the money she got from means that weren't so sacred. She hadn't loved him, not really. He only remembered her telling him again and again how he was the only reason she was in such a situation and that she wished she'd killed him at birth.
When his father, after taking every drop of blood out of her, had finally looked up at him, – and he could remember the look until this day – there was pure unrefined hatred in his gaze, and he had realised then, that he was the next victim.
He had run as fast as could, getting himself as far away from his monster of a father, before he had hid in an alley and seen his father staggering along the middle of the road in his drunken haze before a truck had crushed him to pieces right in front of his eyes.
That was the last time he had held the greatest sadness in his eyes, tears dripping down his innocent eyes, before a crowd had gathered around the site of the incident and he had run away.
He was just four back then, and how he had lived through that time, he couldn't ever put it into words…
"Hey! You filthy little kid! Get back here!"
He ran as fast as his small legs could afford to, breathing heavily, a piece of freshly made bread in his dirty hand.
The baker, an old man who had caught him stealing it, ran after him, huffing and grunting all the while cursing him.
He turned a corner, and there, in the bottom of the wall was a hole, barely enough for him to pass through.
He crawled under it, a sharp edge of the wall that jutted out scratching against his arm as he squeezed past it.
The old man stopped, panting, calling him a few more names, before going back.
Leaning against the wall, Bryan sighed before smiling at the piece of bread.
It was white, stark pale against his dirtied hands.
He bit into it happily, his hunger of two days slowly ebbing away for a while.
It ended too quickly, and he could hear his stomach grumbling again.
He picked himself up and walked around, searching for a thrown rag, anything he could use to protect himself from the deadly snow that was now starting to fall in gentle tresses.
Near a large dustbin, he found an old shabby, and definitely smelly cloak, though he couldn't really tell the difference as his own self smelled just as bad, wrapping it around himself before finding a small corner which was a bit sheltered, enough that he barely be safe from the snow.
He lay down and closed his eyes, the sky had darkened indicating the day's end. To his left shone a window, through which he could see a mother cooking dinner for her family, her children playing around, before sitting down quietly as she yelled at them, before she brought the pot of food and put it on the dining table. He couldn't see what it was, but he felt like he could smell it, and whatever it was, it smelled delicious.
He sat up and gazed with longing eyes as the two kids had their dinner, the expressions on their faces of pure joy and childish innocence. Their father and mother joined them soon after.
His eyes teared up, he also wanted to be in a warm cozy house with a sweet caring mother who could make him warm tasty meals and a strong father who could keep them both safe and happy.
The hunger he had apparently sated with the bread now struck up full force back again.
He lay down back again, curling into a ball and crying himself to sleep…
The next morning, he was awakened by a sharp jab on his leg.
He sat up slowly, a man with a red angry face glared at him, poking his cane at him.
"You filthy rat, get the fuck out of here," and he hit him again on the leg.
Bryan winced and got up, picking up the cloak and running away from the man.
The day was not that up high, a lot of shops were yet to be opened. He picked his way weaving amongst the legs of grown ups who shrank away from him or hit him.
Finding another corner in an alley, he raked his eyes at the shops again.
He had to decide which shop to steal from for today, he couldn't really go to the same one every day. And there really wasn't anything anyone ever gave him. Sometimes they threw things away because they had gone bad, and before the dogs could arrive, he'd pick up all he could. But it was barely enough.
Throughout the three weeks since he had become an orphan, his only purpose was to look for food. Everywhere, every minute, his focus was on food.
He had slept many nights almost doubling over with the pain of hunger, and he had spent most of the days being chased by shop owners he stole the food from.
That was his purpose right now.
Whether it was luck, whether it was pity of God, that just then, a milkman passed by with a load of milk cartons, and his cycle slipped on a puddle of mud and the cartons went flying around.
Many people gathered to pick up the fallen cartons and rushed away, he himself picked up three and quickly hurried away lest someone might catch him, wrapping them in the cloak and swinging it behind his back before dashing off.
By the time he stopped, he realised he had come too far, as he recognised nothing of the place.
He sat down on a bench in a park that was completely empty given the heavy snow it was laden with, and took out one carton, twisting the lid and putting the bottle to his lips.
The milk was, although very very cold, not frozen, and he gulped down as much as he could before his mouth got numb from the coldness of it. It was still half full, and he put it back in his makeshift bag.
As the day wore on, he wandered around, searching around for more clothes and food, once being chased out of a lane by a woman because he had scared her baby, and once getting a harsh shove and almost toppling down as he bumped into someone.
By now he had found another piece of cloth, a woman's shawl, a beige color with white crystals on it, though dirty and faded. Though, as he had done with his previously found clothes, he didn't throw the cloak away, but folded the shawl messily and put it in his cloak. It would work as a pillow!
He played around with an empty can, singing some random song that he had heard a vendor singing in a ridiculous but cute manner, before for the second time, he bumped into someone again.
A loud shriek was the effect as the woman now held up the dirtied part of her pure white skirt before glaring at him.
"You disgusting little shit," she screamed at him before running after him, trying to get god knows what kind of revenge from him.
As he rounded a corner, he heard a thump and another shriek, apparently the woman had lost balance of her heels.
He still ran and ran, until he couldn't anymore.
Hiding himself in another corner where no one could see him or hurt him, he sat down, tears silently falling down his cheeks.
He wanted a home…
Putting his cloak in his lap, he searched for the half filled carton, realising in horror that he had dropped one in his hurry.
Should he go back and search for it?
What if someone caught him?
He didn't want what had happened to his parents happening to him too, it seemed very painful…
He opened up another carton, and drank one fourth of it, before his crying made it difficult for him to swallow.
His mother had hated him, but there was this one time, when his father had beaten her so much, and she had been so scared and had clutched him and hadn't let go for a long while. He had heard all her sobs and broken cries all long that night, and in his memory, that was the only time she had hugged him.
He hoped she could hug him again, at least he would be warm…
His eyes slipped close, and just like the day before, he had cried himself to sleep.
As he walked by another alley down the street, he could hear the dogs barking viciously.
Probably a cat.
He resumed his walking, before jerking his head towards the darkened alley again.
He heard the sound again.
He slowly inched closer to the alley, peaking with fear inside.
There, at the far end of it, stood two dogs, not too big or too deadly, but enough to make you scared, surrounding something, or someone.
"Nooo!! Go away!!!" He could hear the terrified screams of a childish voice between sobs.
One dog bared his teeth, about to lunge at him.
The child let out a shriek and hid his face in his arms, expecting the dog to dig his teeth anytime in his skin.
"You stupid mutt!!" He heard a voice instead, a boy not too older than him lunging at the dogs with the cloak working as a weapon, shooing them away, before looking down at the crying boy.
He stepped closer to him, trying to take a peak at his head, "Are you okay? They're gone."
The boy nodded, his face still hidden in his arms.
"Why are you crying?" Bryan asked, poking him gently in the arm.
"I miss dada…" the muffled voice came.
"Where's your dada?"
The boy shook his head and started crying again.
Bryan tsked like an adult and sat beside him, but the boy took no notice. He took out the unopened carton of milk from his cloak, maybe this could cheer him up.
"Here," he whispered, "I stole it." He added, feeling proud.
The boy seemed curious maybe, lifting his head up a little before his eyes landed on the bottle.
He raised his eyes and stared at the boy beside him, he was also wearing clothes as tattered as his own, and his hair also looked greasy and muddy, not to add the darkness on his skin due to the dirt and mud. He had a black piece of cloth on his lap where there was another bottle, like the one he was offering him.
He was hungry, very very hungry.
He hesitantly reached two fragile pale hands and took hold of it before bringing it to his lips, taking small sips first before gulping it down and finishing half of it before giving it back to Bryan.
Bryan chuckled at him, pointing at his lips.
He quickly wiped his arm on them, before giving him a small smile, "Thank you."
Bryan held his hand towards him, "My name is Bryan."
He took hold of the hand, shaking it before leaving, fidgeting in his place.
Bryan stared at him expectantly, and he whispered out, softly, "Tala…"
And that was the beginning of a strong undying friendship…
He scurried along a familiar path, looking back every now and then to check if the redhead was coming behind him, before stopping and gesturing to the redhead to follow him along another narrow path.
"Dog?" The redhead asked, fearing the two monsters from before might be there.
"No dogs," Bryan assured him, dragging him along by his hand.
He chose a place, the one he had previously used to sleep in, and laid his cloak down on it, sitting on it and gesturing to the redhead to do the same.
"Are you cold?" He asked, noticing that the redhead was shivering.
He got a nod in return.
He unfolded the shawl and wrapped it around both of them, covering Tala's whole face in it too, making him giggle before he poked it out.
"Are you hungry?"
The redhead nodded his head, eyes sparkling as Bryan opened the lid of the other carton and handed it to him.
He gulped one fourth before handing it back to Bryan, who drank another one fourth of it before hiding it underneath the cloak.
Finding the redhead blinking his eyes wearily, he whispered, "Sleep?"
The other nodded.
He lay down and curled up on the cloak, Tala doing the same, and they both again giggled at each other before falling asleep.
The same filthy old man, who had woken him up by his hits the previous morning, was at them again.
"You fucker, brought another rat with ya, did you?!" He snarled, roughly shaking him by the collar.
Tala, hearing the commotion, poked his head out the shawl, immediately catching the man's attention, who dropped Bryan and turned his greedy eyes towards him.
"Oh my my, what is it we have here? A perfect face for a perfect whore," he held the pale fearful face in his own, inspecting it with lustful eyes.
"What's your name, princess?" And he laughed, his ugly teeth being showcased, a stench that made Tala want to puke caming out of his mouth. The redhead turned his teary eyes towards Bryan.
The other had, in the meantime picked up the cane the man had dropped in both of his hands, and just as the man leaned closer to the redhead's face, brought it down with as much power as he could muster over his head.
The hit was strong enough to make the man pass out, or it was the fact that he was already drunk as hell. Either way, he was not danger to them now.
Bryan clutched the now crying Tala close to his chest, wrapping the fallen shawl around him, his eyes still glaring daggers at the man's fallen form.
Of course he had no idea about the thoughts the man was creating in his mind, he just knew that he was making Tala cry, and that had enraged him. In the short time they had been together, he had become very protective of the redhead, and obviously didn't want anyone hurting him.
"Stop being a crybaby," he said softly, giggling at the redhead's reddened face matching his hair somewhat. Tala also smiled a bit, before they heard the man groaning and flew away from there.
"Your dada?"
He raised his head, the teeth still digging into a stolen piece of a bun, raising an eyebrow at the question.
The redhead in front seemed annoyed at not getting an immediate answer. He poked his chest, "Your dada."
"My dada? He was a bastard."
Tala gasped, "Bad word."
Bryan rolled his eyes, "Mama called him that."
"Mama?" The redhead seemed afraid of the word.
"Yeah, my mama. You also had a mama?"
The redhead shook his head, tears gathering in his eyes.
Bryan got worried when Tala started full on crying, worried he had said something to upset him. Was his mama also dead? It didn't matter, mama was always blaming you for her misery anyway. She didn't make you warm and delicious food anyways. She was better dead, at least she couldn't beat you anymore.
"Don't cry," he said softly, to the redhead who was now letting out small sobs, hugging him lightly.
"Don- take me to ma-ma," he let out in a broken voice.
"No I won't," he whispered to him, hugging him tightly now.
"Pro-mise?" The redhead stared at him with tearfilled eyes and a soaked face.
He nodded and squeezed his hand, "Promise."
"Caught you!" the redhead giggled as Bryan grumpily got out of his hiding place.
Bryan was toppled down soon after as Tala lunged at him, both rolling on the snow covered ground in their tattered clothes.
Still laughing, the redhead sat up, finding Bryan's still lying form very funny. He shook his head to fling the snowflakes off his head, before realising how cold it all was. There was a large gash on the arm of his shirt, and it was freezing with the snow that had sneaked in there.
Bryan sat up and observed him, before chuckling, "You're a baby!"
Tala puffed his cheeks out, "Nyet!!!"
"Cold?" He asked as he sat beside him.
The other nodded his head, "M hungry too" he whined at him.
They had finished the miraculously found milk, but since the last morning, they hadn't had anything at all. Even finding water was hard.
To make matters difficult, Tala simply didn't have in himself the capability of doing one bad thing, so him stealing was not an option, even though his smaller size was better for sneaking in and out. What made it worse was how sensitive he was, he had the habit of tearing up at every little thing. Bryan had spent half of his time just comforting him, just like now, he had suggested they play something because the redhead had again heard the word 'mama' and gotten scared.
Bryan was also left to steal for the both of them, and while finding even little bits of food was hard, he always gave the bigger portion to Tala, whether it was to cheer him up, or to stop whining about being hungry.
The redhead didn't seem to realize that Bryan was not that much older than him, and that he himself also needed all the comfort and the food. It seemed that his brain was still around two years back, acting like a baby, and relying on Bryan for everything. After days of being thrown around like a rag after he ran away from home, Bryan was the first person that had protected him. In fact, Bryan was the only person who had done so.
There were days Bryan would just give all of what he had stolen to Tala so he could stop being sad, the hunger would surely torture him but what else could he do. It was like he had embedded it in his head that the redhead was his responsibility.
"Let's go," Bryan said, standing up, and giving Tala a hand and hauling him up.
"Milk?" The redhead asked in his innocent soft voice.
Bryan shook his head.
The blue eyes saddened.
"Bread?" Bryan said, peeking at a new bakery from behind a wall at the far end of the street.
The redhead nodded eagerly, "Cake?"
He nodded again.
"Stay here," he ordered him, before running off on his mission to steal something to eat.
The shop owner was busy chit chatting with a customer, very observed in her talk.
There were a few more customers approaching the shop.
He crawled underneath, hiding himself behind the counter, before running into the shop and looking for something easy to grab.
There were two pieces of a wheat cake left, cherries and dry fruits decorating it. They smelled delicious. He put a crumb into his mouth, yes, they were delicious.
He put one in each pocket of his pants and made to sneak out, but just as he was about to run out, something, or rather someone, grabbed his collar.
"You little shit!!" The lady roared at him, before throwing him down, "You steal from my shop?"
She bent down and plucked one piece from his pocket that she had seen protuding out.
"Oh my god," she exclaimed, dropping the dirtied piece in the dustbin, Bryan watching with longing eyes, before she dusted her hands off.
She made to grab the other piece but by now he had already gotten up and was running out.
She screamed after him but by a few minutes, he was far gone.
He checked in his other pocket, and found that the piece had almost fully crumbled because he had fallen on that side.
He rushed to see if Tala was still there, and found the redhead hugging his knees, his face buried in the shawl.
He looked up at the noise of the coming steps, eyes shining with delight.
Bryan slowly took whatever the shape of the cake remained, and handed it to him.
"I ate mine in there," he informed him, when the redhead broke half of the only chunk that had remained.
"Mine?" The redhead asked giddily, pointing to all the crumbs that Bryan had laid over the shawl.
Bryan nodded, turning his eyes away, the hunger numbing him.
He watched from the corner of his eye as Tala slowly nibbled on the pieces, his hunger spiking up even more.
A few minutes later, the redhead came in front of him, holding out some of the remaining pieces to Bryan.
All Bryan wanted was to snatch it and stuff his mouth with it, but instead he asked, "Not hungry?"
The redhead nodded.
He grabbed it and put it into his mouth, eyes getting teary.
Tala frowned, "Okay?"
He shook his head and hugged Tala, crying into his chest while the redhead baby talked to him.
"Nooo, no cry," he whispered to him, patting his back, "Noo.." and he himself started crying too. Both of them sniffling and sobbing into each other's chests as the hunger, the cold, the abandonment, all crept over them.
"Why are you crying?" Bryan said, after he had calmed himself down a bit, but the redhead was still not done.
The redhead shook his head, "Don leave me, okay?" He asked him with teary eyes, "Not like dada"
"I won't," He let out, the words brightening up the redhead.
"Stop crying! You cry too much!" He huffed at him, he had brought him food, and look how he was crying.
Tala wiped his eyes,"I miss dada."
"Where is your dada?"
He pointed to the sky, which was slowly darkening, "That star"
"Which one?" Bryan asked, confused. How could his father be a star? And, there were so many of them, how could he find him?
The redhead didn't say anything, just looking at that star, which he had no trouble finding, with great sadness.
"Why do you hate your mama?" he asked, just so that the redhead could have something to think about and not cry again, not remembering that the word already made him cry a lot.
"Mama hate me," he let out, "Mama hit me," and he rolled up his sleeve to show a nasty looking bruise on the pale dirtied arm.
And then he sniffled again.
Bryan wrapped his arms around him, "I'll protect you, no one will hurt you. I'll keep you happy."
"Promise?" The redhead raised his eyes.
He nodded, and hugged him once again, not knowing that a childish promise was gonna stay with forever.
Whether it was in those dark alleys of the freezing Moscow, or the damp gloomy walls of the abbey…
Bryan hugged Tala closer, raking his hand through his hair, "I know Tal…"
"I hope Kai gets better."
"He'd be alright."
Tala looked up at him, "You don't hate him Bryan"
Bryan didn't say anything, "You do it all because you think I'm still a little baby and I may get hurt."
Bryan pursed his lips at that.
"I know you care, Bryan. I appreciate it, but please understand him a little"
The other nodded.
There was a knock on the door, "Come in" Tala let out.
Vladimir came in, "Master Kai wishes to see you."
Tala stood up at that, getting up, gesturing to Bryan to follow him and went to Kai's room.
Left on his own, Bryan's eyes flickered, a frown appearing on his forehead.
'You're right, I don't hate him. I just hate that after all I've done for you, after all those times I've been with you, when he wasn't, he's still your priority. I don't hate that he means so much to you, I hate why I don't mean as much…'
The frown disappeared, a blanked look appearing.
'But I guess, i'd have to accept that too, so that I can keep you happy. Just like I had promised all those years ago…'
Thanks for reading!