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Lightning split the darkness outside and I jumped. Scratching from the window made me turn with wide eyes. Something was coming for me. There was only one place I felt safe, so I ran the short distance across the wide hall. The door banged open and rattled the wall as did the thunder. Vivid blue eyes met mine.
“Are you frightened, brother?” His voice was smooth, calm. Not angry or annoyed as it was earlier when I taunted him. He always forgave me.
“Yes”
He patted the large bed. I closed the door, softer than I had opened it and scampered to the bed like a mouse. The light flickered again, and windows shook. “Come stay with me.”
“Aren’t you scared?” He was never scared. I was. I feared losing him too, now that father was gone.
“Sometimes but father always said it was best to use your fear as a tool.” He sounded so sure of himself as I leaned against him. He wrapped his arm around me and I laid my head to his lap.
“How does that work?” I laced my finger thru his with both hands. His other hand stroked my hair as the rain came hard and fast against the window.
“I don’t know” He seemed pensive as if his mind wandered far from here, far from the storm, from me.
“You’re the smart one. You’ll figure it out.” He looked down at me and smiled. I remembered that smile fleeting and rare. It reminded me of how snow glistened in the sun.
“Yes, I will.” I knew he was stronger, I felt it. Something inside him had awakened a long time ago. It frightened me at first, but he was my brother. He would never hurt me. I jumped again finding I hid my face in blue sheets as thunder crashed outside. Light now streaked the sky showing the wind moved the trees with great force. I peeked up to see him watching the storm outside our window. He always watched. Always. He didn’t fear anything.
“Do you miss him?” At times, he reminded me of him strong and quiet.
“Yes, I suppose I do.” He looked to me again. Sadness touched his eyes.
“Will he come back?” I was hopeful we would be a family again. I didn’t like to see mom cry.
“I think he will, but I cannot say for sure when. I think something very scary happened and I think one day we must face it too.” I shivered but he squeezed my hand.
“I don’t want to. It’s scary.”
“All things can be scary that is why we must prepare. The more we learn about what happened the stronger we will be to defeat it.”
“Will they come for us?”
“Yes, they will try.” Something inside him flickered in his eyes and I felt something stir within me.
“Can we defeat them?” His expression changed. I was being silly to him, but he was patient.
“Hnnn… if we work together, yes.”
“What about mom?”
“She is weaker than us and we must protect her. We must protect those weaker than us, those that cannot understand the dangers they face. We have responsibilities.”
“How?”
“Might, power, it controls everything. I believe we need more power, more strength for what lies ahead.”
“And then?” His smile returned as he pulled himself from something within. I felt his hand stroke my head and I wasn’t afraid anymore.
“Don’t worry little brother. I promise to protect you, always.”
“Really? You’ll always be with me?” He nodded.
“Yes, I’m the eldest it is my purpose.”
“What’s my purpose?” He became thoughtful a moment and I unclasped a hand to stroke his cheek. He leaned into the touch. When his gaze drifted back to me he grinned.
“Hnnn… to watch my back. Yes, I protect you and you me. Then together we find father, protect mother, and save our family.” I remember that look, that determination. It was always his foundation.
“Together?” I felt sure of what I should do even if I didn’t know what I was doing.
“Yes, together.” His voice has proud and he gazed out the window. The storm was dying down, but a new storm grew behind his blue eyes that were so much like mine. They became like a storm and he fueled its ferocity.
“I like this plan. I promise to watch your back and together we find pops and protect mom.” I curled against him tight as he settled in to sleep once more. My mind made up. I would follow my brother to the ends of the earth. I pressed tight against his back one hand still laced together, the other supported my head and I clasped his hair as I breathed on his neck. We were inseparable.
“So, do I,” he whispered as we fell asleep. For a time, the storms passed.
--
I bolted upright. A cold sweat covered me as my heart raced, my breath shallow and quick. Demons? Light blinded me in my confusion, and I threw my arm over my eyes as lightning flashed across the sky outside my window. My room now illuminated with shards of white and awash with shadow. Not demons, but dreams. I sighed.
I had not dreamed like this in years and the memory the dream had spawned from flickered like a candle in my tired mind. I remembered that night, but it seemed so long ago. A new roll of thunder made the walls shake and I stared unblinking to remember that room years ago. Movement, next to me, made me flinch from my memory to refocus on where I was and who was beside me. My brother? Yes, I remember. We found him. My brother stirred next to me, sluggish in his own dream, his nightmare, and I stared at the dark shape next to me.
The storm raged outside as it did here within him. Wind whipped at the edges of the window making noises not unlike the sound of claws biting into the siding. Demons? I smiled faintly in the sporadic dark. My imagination was running wild again. I felt a warm mirth fill my chest and I chuckled softly. I had almost forgotten. I used to love thunder storms. I would sit with my brother late into the night until the storm passed and then we would curl together and sleep. I loved the closeness he allowed me then. I loved the rain more, the puddles. He scoffed at my messes, but I think secretly he wished to join me as he once did before that night. Rain hid my secrets, like when I cried in despair and loneliness. It wasn't often but I was always drunk. God, did he understand just how much I missed him?
The rain tapped like an annoyed child, petulant at having been locked out and kept from this space. I remembered the rain held another purpose. It hid his path away from me as he traveled farther from my understanding, but it always gave me a chance to start over, and I did, many times. He needed that chance now. Lightning streaked again, this time a brilliant blue and white filled the room as the walls shook. I turned to watch the window again. I still loved this raw unchained and fierce power hidden within a storm. It reminded me of my father; my brother. I missed them for so long. The way the flashes of electricity played with the shadows always made things seem clearer for a moment. I looked back at my brother. His form now silent next to me.
Then, then I remembered something new. New? No, not new. An old memory one that had aged as ungracefully as I had. I remembered why I didn’t like the storms anymore. It happened when the lightning flickered across the sky and I felt the searing sharp pain of his sword plunged deep into my chest. It all changed then. He had changed.
“Foolishness, Dante, foolishness. Might controls everything, and without strength, you cannot protect anything. Let alone yourself.”
Was this his way of asking for help? We were separated for so long... so long. Was he trying to remind me of that night, our promise to one another? Perhaps, and perhaps I wasn’t listening. I was so arrogant back then. Maybe I wasn’t ready to hear the message, but I was now. Light flickered across the room making strange tortured shadows appear then disperse. He shivered again. I'm still arrogant but only now it's my mask. My stormy facade to keep others at bay. His storm had become a battle much more visceral than he was prepared for. The room vibrated as if it tried to shake free of some hidden fear, just like him. I knew what I needed to do. I curled around him and laced my fingers with his. I remembered, and I wouldn't forget any time soon. I was ready to hear his message this time. Now, I understood.
“Easy Verge, it's gonna be OK. I’ve got your back.” His body stilled, his breath calmed, and we settled into sleep once more as the storm passed.