The Fates (Book II)

6.8 - Worth a Damn

Let's check in with some folks we haven't seen in quite a while... and with another flashback, get another little glimpse into the past... :)

P.S. Fellow Jensen/Dean fans - do check out the media box!! Hope you like the gif and soundtrack posted with this scene ;D

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Scene 8: Worth a Damn

A.D. 2015

Some things would never change.

Once the casket was lowered, respects paid and pale flowers laid, the weary world would go on turning just the same. Without a care as to the boy buried too soon, beneath the earth that'd been too cruel to him, in life and death alike. Without even remembering his name.

To be forgotten, dead to all the world... except for Axel Golde. Some things would never change. He'd always known that his sole purpose in this life was to protect his little brother.

And he had always failed.

A.D. 2004

Damn, he loved this car. The biggest, best thing he had ever earned and owned for real. He'd never felt more like a man than when he got behind the wheel. He always liked driving his kid brother to school, feeling like he was doing something right for Ro, for once. And, at the same time—if he might say so himself, catching a glimpse of his own chiseled features in the side view mirror—looking pretty damn cool.

Now, what always ruined things was the look on Ronan's freckled face, most mornings. Never anywhere near happy. But today, even by the standards of a family as fucked as the Goldes, it looked pretty damn sad.

"Hey—hey Ro, what's up?" Axel asked. "What's wrong?"

Ronan pouted at the world past the windshield, where people smiled sometimes. "Mom said I'm too young to ride in the front seat."

"Naw, she's just being overprotective. You're old enough now. As long as your seatbelt's on." He glanced over just to make sure that it was.

Ro pulled a tissue from his pocket, blew his ruddy nose. "Mm-hmm."

Axel didn't know if that was just the usual sniffles—poor guy had the world's weakest immune system—or if he'd been crying. "What's really wrong, kid? Come on; you know you can tell me anything."

"Well," Ro sniffed, "when Mom said that this morning, Dad said..."

At the mention of their father, the car started going a hell of a lot faster. Whoops. Axel forced himself to let up on the pedal, just a bit.

Ronan was used to it, so he had barely noticed. "...he said I'm not worth worrying about, that my life ain't worth a damn anyway, and..."

Fingers clenched into fists around the wheel, dark eyes hardening into steel. Damn, he hated that man. "And he hit her again, didn't he."

"Really hard."

"Damn it. Should've been there."

"You were hitting the snooze button still."

"Exactly. It's my fucking fault."

Ro crumpled his tissue. "He tries not to do it when you're looking. I think you scare him a little bit. Now that you're getting all big."

"Yeah, well these big arms aren't worth shit if I can't protect Mom from that son of a bitch," Axel muttered as they pulled into the parking lot, turning to look at his brother. "What about you? Did he hit you?"