Prince Of Vengeance

The Longing Of Family

They can fight or they can laugh but he knows deep down that they'll never have the luxury of a real family.

*****

My conversation with Lyra had put me in a bad mood. I hate to admit it but her words had shaken me quite a lot. I wasn't quite used to people talking about my parents yet. Especially rudely. I had gone to find Rae and Alan but they were nowhere to be seen. How far could they have gone?

After wandering around for a bit, I heard the sound of two people bickering in front of me. I walked a few steps and found Alan and Rae arguing with each other. I decided to wait behind the tree. Listening to them fight might be amusing considering they always got along so well.

"Alan what are we going to do? We're totally lost! You should have told me we were going the wrong way!" Rae said pouting. She was sitting on the floor hopelessly while Alan was pacing because he was annoyed.

"I did but you kept on insisting that we weren't going the wrong way! This is why I said we should go back to the group for a map!" Said Alan frustrated.

"I didn't know that the forest was this big! It's not my fault! I didn't mean to lead us in circles!" Rae whined.

"Of course it's big! That's why it's called a forest! This is why you should listen to people older than you! They know more!" Alan said, slightly raising his voice. It was clear they were both getting emotional.

"That's not fair! You're only like 4 years older than me! You're still a child too! Stop blaming everything on me!" Rae shouted. She was starting to tear up from the stress of the situation. Looks like I'd better calm things down.  I stepped out from behind the tree.

"I leave you two alone for 10 minutes and you're already at each other's throats." They both looked my way with looks of relief and happiness on their faces. Rae ran to my side and grabbed my arm and Alan went the other side of me and scowled at Rae.

"Killi Alan's being mean to me! He's bossing me around just because he's older!" Rae whined looking up at me. Before I could respond, Alan retorted.

"What? No! Killian she's just being immature! I've been trying to help but all she does is shout!" Alan moaned. Then they proceeded to glare at each other instantly with me in the middle. I sighed.

"Rae you should listen to Alan more. You're younger so it's only natural he'd try and help you. He only wants to keep you safe." I said softly to Rae. She reluctantly stopped glaring at Alan and nodded her head.

"I know. Sorry Alan." She mumbled. Alan gave her a small smile to show he accepted the apology. I turned to look at him.

"Alan, you know Rae can be a little reckless. You're older so you should look after her. She's only shouting because she's upset so just comfort her next time." I explained to Alan. He looked to the ground but still slightly nodded.

"Yeah I will. Sorry Rae." Alan apologised. Rae did the small smile back.

Although they were probably still bitter about the argument, I was satisfied. I picked up Rae with one arm and she leaned her head on my shoulder then I put my arm around Alan's shoulder and ruffled his hair. I smiled. Not only did they get along like siblings, they also fought like siblings.

I led them into a small clearing in the forest that we could set camp for the night. We started to prepare for the night. I told Alan to go get the rest of the group while Rae and I set up the camp. Well try to at least.

"Rae although I am very grateful that you're so keen to help, please just sit and watch. We'll get nothing done at this rate." I said to Rae. As lovable as Rae was, let's just say putting up tents weren't her strong point.

"Fine it's less work for me." She shrugged and sat down on a nearby log then watched me work.

She started fidgeting as if there was something she wanted to tell me but she was unsure of how I'd react. So I just sat down next to her and asked.

"What's wrong Rae?" I asked. She looked down for a moment but then she turned to me with a determined face. It looked like she had a request.

"Um I know you said that once we got the magical device we would get rid of the group but can't we just take Alan with us?" She pleaded. My eyes hardened. It looks like she had gotten a bit too attached although it would be a lie if I said that I hadn't grown quite fond of him myself. Even if we do care for Alan, that wasn't the problem.

"It's not that simple Rae. We are different from him. He probably has his own family. He has someone waiting for him to come home. We don't have that. What we're planning to do will destroy lives and put targets on our heads. I wouldn't even be doing this with you if you had a family to go back to. This is not his fight. We can't pull him into this mess because of our own selfish desires." I explained. She looked down sadly.

"Yeah your right. I guess I thought it would be nice if we could be a kind of makeshift family for awhile." She sighed. It looks like she still felt lonely from the death of her parents. She started to tear up again but before I could comfort her Alan and he others arrived. Rae stood up, ran to Alan and hugged him.

Concerned, Alan instantly hugged her back. He looked up at me with a confused face. I just mouthed that she'd missed him so he just needed to give her some attention.

While Alan looked after Rae, I set up our tent and organised our stuff. When I finished I noticed something strange in Alan's bag. It was chains but not any kind of chains. Slave chains. They were cut and now ruined. There was only one reason someone would have those chains in their bag. Was Alan a runaway slave?