49
Loz looked up from the kettle with a frown and eyed the door. Who would want to visit them at this late hour? Reno surely wasn´t back from his journey yet and otherwise he didn´t know who would want to come to their house now.
He glanced at Kadaj who just shrugged, while searching for some bowls and motioned for the older with a nod of his head to open the door.
Leaving his spoon in the blubbling soup, Loz wipped his big hands on his trousers and strolled over, pulling the door open.
“Who´s it? Yest tell ‘em we ain´t doin´ any jobs taday anymoa…” Kadaj impatiently remarked, but as no answer came he walked over to his petrified brother in exasperation to glower at the guest and rout him. The snappy words never left his mouth. Instead two stone bowls clattered to the floor and rolled under the table.
“Good evening Loz, Kadaj.”
The two young men in the door remained stony, until eventually Loz nudged his younger brother in the ribs, whispering tonelessly “Ya seein´ what I see?”
Kadaj blinked once, twice, but the sight before him didn´t change. Cast in the light coming from the room stood… Yazoo.
“A…I see it,” he breathed, blinking again. That seemed to break a spell, as Loz made a sudden step forward and with a shaking hand reached out to the pale face opposite him.
Yazoo stood still at the contact of warm, trembling fingers almost frightened to touch his white skin. It was a good thing that he was pumped full of blood, the vampire distractedly thought, while he looked straight into the faces of his bewildered brothers.
“It´s real…” Loz whispered, his calloused, large fingers ghosting over the other´s features.
“It´s real, ya hear me?!” he choked and another hesitant hand was reached out to touch long, silver strands. It withdrew as if it had been burned, but stopped halfway though, as Kadaj stared at the vampire with eyes wide as saucers and his mouth hanging slightly open.
“How can dat be?” An almost hysterical edge had crept into his broken voice.
“It´s real…” Loz repeated, not hearing his youngest brother at all, since he was to caught up in his own astonishment and suddenly Yazoo found himself in a bone crushing hug “It´s real!”
The next moment another weight was pressing against him and a not so small anymore silver head burried itself in his chest, slender fists drumming against him as Kadaj threw a fit, just like he´d always done when something overexerted him. “Da hell hav ya been?! Ya hav any idea what we did ta find ya?! An now ya yest poppin up outta nowhere!!!”
Looking down at his youngest with clenched teeth, Yazoo stroked over his disheveled hair, the other arm slipping around Loz´ bulky form.
“I am so sorry…”
They stood like this for a very long time, Kadaj eventually stopping his rant and just exhaustedly embracing his brothers, while Loz continued his heavy sobs. Yazoo held them tightly, overwhelmed by their closeness and the surreal feeling of facing them again. It was just like he´d never been away. His nostrils flared as the vampire greedily took in their scent, smelling a little strange now but familiar nonetheless.
Eventually Kadaj ended the happy reunion, the bossy part feeling that he had to do something and take back control of the situation. Carefully unwrapping his arms, he awkwardly scratched his arm, shooting a brief look into the darkness “Let´s go back inside.”
Yazoo gave a short nod and took Loz´hand, leading the big young man back into the house.
Kadaj gathered the bowls from under the table, while his brother sat down the sobbing oldest, who wouldn´t let go of his hand, onto a chair and then took a place beside him.
Unasked, two bowls of hot, steaming soup were put in front of them and Kadaj joined them with his own food.
“Knew ya ain´t dead, feld it,” Loz whispered, guiding Yazoo´s hand to his solar plexus. “´d kinda changed, da feelin´ I mean, bud I knew…”
The vampire didn´t say anything and carefully withdrew his fingers. As much as he´d enjoyed the closeness again, he had to maintain his new identity unknown to them. And he could not claim the same determination his brothers had, for he had given up on them rather… easily.
“So whaddya do all da years? Ya look good…” Kadaj queried over his spoon, mustering the long haired man thoroughly. Although he looked exhausted and a little dirty there was no doubt that his clothes had been expensive. Also his manner had kind of changed. Eyes going wide, the spoon stopped midway, as the youngest asked uncomfortably “Dat creepy fella ain´t here, eh? ”
A strange shadow flickered over Yazoo´s smooth features briefly, but he only replied calmly “No, he is not here”
“Hm.” Kadaj tried to not look as relieved as he felt. The man was giving him nightmares still, and under no circumstances did he want to meet him again… Well, maybe one last time to smash his head for taking away his brother and destroying their family.
“Whaddya do?” Loz repeated the question curiously while slurping his own soup directly from the bowl.
Yazoo´s eyes wandered to his pale hands for a moment and he looked lost, but then he answered “Not much, I suppose. I have been studying. My… mentor kept me in the dark about you being alive. I just found out about it recently and immediately came here.”
Kadaj snorted and glowered darkly at nothing in particular, saying “Good thing ya left dat fella!” but Loz remained silent, somehow sensing that it wasn´t as simple as Yazoo claimed.
Distracting the topic from his master, the long haired brother inclined his head, asking “And, what did you two do during the ten years of my absence?”
What followed was a very disordered, interrupted and rushed report, in which the two corrected each other, but in the end, Yazoo got a vague idea of what their lifes had been like.
Apparently they had immediately went on their search for Yazoo. Under the pretence of making them work off the money they had stolen from him, Reno more or less ‘forced’ them to work on the ships he hired on, and ‘incidentely’ providing them with the opportunity to travel through the country.
But as it seemed Vincent had done a good job at hiding their tracks, because wherever they went, no one had ever seen a tall, mysterious man with a silver haired child. It hadn´t detered the boys from continuing their search, though, for they could feel that Yazoo was still alive, even though that bond had at one time fainted alarmingly. Apparently, as the winter came, they had settled down in this town and started to work as daily workers, Reno insisting that they should stay here and that he would keep his eyes and ears open on his journey. As it was he had become somewhat of an older brother to the boys, even though he could not fill the empty spot Yazoo had left behind, Loz hurried to assure.
“I see.” Yazoo leaned back in his chair, glancing at the closed window, but feeling dawn coming nearer mercilessly.
“Ya havn´t eaten ya soup,” Kadaj pointed out with a frown, but then shrugged “’S enough dere still, ya can eat later if ya want.”
The middle brother eyed the bowl, and slowly rose to his feet. “Well then, it is time for me to take my leave.”
The other two looked at him, flabberghasted, and instantly protested, but Yazoo calmed them down, promising to be back soon.
tbc
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Xyleel: Sorry dass es so lange gedauert hat! *schäm* Ja, Yazoo scheint noch sehr an seinen Brüdern zu hängen, ich glaube, sowas verliert sich nicht wirklich. Und ich wäre auch ziemlich sauer, wenn mir die einzige Person der ich vertraue so dermaßen die Hucke voll lügen würde -.- Danke für´s feedback!!!
