Chapter ten

Gray was taking a break, enjoying the sun as he lay on the grass. Until he was poked in the cheek. The finger was too small for it to be any of the adults.

"... Rudi, I hope you have a good reason to interrupt my nap time or you will not escape tickling this time."

He threatened, and in response, the finger magically disappeared from his cheek.

"You know, Gray, don't you think it's weird?"

Opening one of his eyes, he glanced at his little brother who was tilting his head curiously.

"What is?"

Resting his head on his hand, Rudeus glanced back at the house.

"Why are mom and dad making those noises at night?"

He almost choked on air, almost...

He expected this, those two were loud and Rudeus was a child, of course, he would be curious and he would need to act like a proper teen in a child's body and do the right thing...

"Ask mom and dad."

Shift the responsibility to others, he wasn't dealing with this shit.

The little shit probably knew what he was asking judging from that smirk on his face, he probably already asked them.

Sighing, he ruffled his hair and stood up, heading back to the house, ignoring the annoying sound he made.

Opening the front door, he stepped inside, he surveyed the desolate space. No one was home...

Roxy was out helping the villagers, Zenith might be in the clinic, healing people, and Paul must be patrolling the forest again while Lilia was out buying some supplies.

What to do, what to do?

"Hey! Rudi! Come to the backyard real quick, I want to teach you something!"

He turned back, to see his brother looking over the fence, it looked like he didn't hear his call.

Suddenly recoiling like he just saw a monster, a second later he turned around and ducked, shaking like a leaf.

His Touki flared, propelling him forward, and not even a second later, Gray was next to him.

He first looked over the fence to see if there was a small monster that managed to sneak past the defense line, they were close to the forest, after all.

His eyebrows rose when he only saw two, very confused kids.

Looking back at Rudeus, he kneeled next to him, rubbing circles on his back.

"Breath, it's okay, I'm here."

After a few breaths, he seemed to calm down a little but still looked shaken.

"Hey, what happened? Did you see something in the forest?"

He just shook his head and relaxed fully and finally, Gray felt that it was okay to pick him up.

Letting him get on his back, the older of the siblings stood up and started walking back to the house.

"You want to talk about it?"

He could feel Rudeus shake his head and he left it at that. He can protect him physically but mentally he couldn't do much.

Not when he still had things to deal with.

He wasn't always an orphan, after all.

-Flashback-

A seven-year-old boy was having fun.

It was easy to keep a child entertained thanks to the phone he was given and the older brother that was teaching him how to play the game.

The game was simple but fun, some would say that it was old but that didn't mean that it was any less effective.

"You can use the hoverboard if you are about to crash to save yourself."

The kid nodded at his brother's helpful remark and swiped left to avoid a train coming his character's way.

They were in the backseat of a car, their parents driving him somewhere he didn't know.

He continued to play the game, which sped up over time and didn't notice the truck coming their way at high speed.

His brother did.

He felt a tug on his arm and was pulled to the side. Falling on his back on the couch, the boy felt something impact the car, and the feeling of weightlessness overcame him.

After the rocking ended, he opened his eyes only to see his brother, smiling at him, his blue eyes looking at him filled with relief.

He said something, but ringing in his ears didn't let him hear it as the older teen collapsed.

And he soon followed him, slipping into unconsciousness.

When he woke up, it was in the hospital room.

That's when he was informed of what happened.

He was the only survivor, his father died when the truck impacted the car, and his mother died in the ambulance while his brother was found with a piece of glass stuck between his ribs, puncturing his lungs, he died on top of him and he didn't even hear his last words.

He got out of it with a concussion.

-Flashback end-

"Create a water ball."

Gray said as he was sitting in front of Rudeus cross-legged.

His little brother raised an eyebrow in curiosity but extended a hand with a sphere of water on top of it.

Smiling, Gray extended a hand right next to his and created a water ball of his own.

Ignoring the surprised face of his little sibling, he used his other hand to point at it.

"Now, you just need to..."

The sphere of liquid froze over in the blink of an eye, leaving behind a satisfied Gray and a stunt Rudeus.

"Like that."

Gray knew that he couldn't be everywhere to protect Rudeus but he would teach him every dirty trick he could come up with to increase his chances of survival, at least, until he got there.