I'll Find You... I Promise

Chapter 1

Janus had no idea how it had happened or who had let it happen. Up until a few minutes ago, when he had been informed of it, Janus hadn't even known this was allowed to happen. Because what kind of monster would ever do that to anyone? But no matter what, right now, Janus didn't care. He just cared that it had happened and that there seemed to be absolutely no way to stop it.

"You can't!" He insisted with a stomp of his foot, fists at his side as he glared at the man in front of him who Janus had been told to call 'Mr. Bennet' but who he always called him by his first name, Ryan.

"Janus," Ryan said, "It's going to be okay. This could be a good thing! You're sixteen Janus, you shouldn't have to be responsible for a kid."

"He's not just a kid. He's my brother and I've been looking after him since I was ten."

"Janus-."

"You can't separate us!" He practically screamed as tears began to poke at his eyes. His voice shook just slightly near the end, but he didn't care, he just hugged himself tightly as he stared down at the ground with a look of hopelessness and fear, "Please... he's all I have."

Ryan sighed, standing up from his seat and making his way toward Janus. The man placed a hand on Janus's shoulder only for the teenager to shake it off of him, "Janus. I know this is hard for you, and I know it's going to be hard for your brother too. But, Janus, Virgil turns ten in three months. And as you know, once a kid reaches the double digits their chances of adoption go down." Ryan said, his voice was still just as soft as it had been the rest of their day but was a lot more explanatory as he tried to break down their reasoning more and more. "Once you add in Virgil's history, his chances were already small. If we didn't separate you, his chances would go down exponentially."

Janus hiccuped as another sob escaped, "But I need him."

Ryan shook his head, "Well Virgil needs this. A real family could really help him."

"I'm his real family!" Janus shouted, "I'm helping him!"

"The Sanders couple are wonderful people Janus. One of them is a doctor and the other is an elementary school teacher. They have two sons they adopted, and who are both doing so much better since they were placed there."

"If they're so good with kids why can't we both go?" Janus asked, "It's just another foster home."

Ryan shook his head again, "No Janus. Not in the way you're thinking of. The Sanders are looking to adopt again, they read Virgil's file and... Janus, this is really more of a trial run. They'll be fostering Virgil yes, but with the intent to adopt him if everything goes well."

"But... we're brothers," Janus whispered, "Why can't they take us both?"

"They're only looking to adopt one kid Janus, and you're a little older than what they're looking for. Fourteen is the oldest age group they were looking through and-"

"But why would they only take Virgil? Didn't anybody tell them he had a brother? That he has me?"

"I don't know Janus, I-I wasn't there," Ryan said, Janus nodded his understanding. Of course not, the day the Sanders had decided to foster Virgil, Ryan had been on vacation and had left the brother's case in the hands of another social worker. "But, like I said, this could be really good for Virgil, and maybe even for you."

"How could this ever be good for me," He sneered angrily.

"Your plan since you were twelve was to basically leave and take Virgil with you as soon as you could. Now, you can just be a normal kid. No emancipation and no need to parent Virgil anymore."

"Virgil's not a burden!" Janus insisted, "I don't mind taking care of him! I would do anything for him! I would chop off my own arm for my brother."

Ryan gave a knowing smile, "Then do this for him." Ryan said, "Give him this chance. That would be the best thing you can do for him." Janus looked up as he caught Ryan's eye. He'd known the man for six years now, ever since his and Virgil's parents had passed away in a house fire and their extended family had passed them onto the state.

Janus had met Ryan while he had been in the hospital. He and Virgil had been his very first solo case, and the man had been through hell and high water trying to find them a home and keeping them out of trouble. And Janus would be the very first to admit that he had not made it easy for the guy. If Ryan didn't have enough trouble finding them a home due to their ages and the fact that they were supposed to come in a set, Janus's knack of getting himself into trouble certainly didn't help.

Nor did Janus's appearance, which tended to scare most families away. They just wanted a normal kid, which Janus didn't seem to pass as. The burns that covered half his face, a majority of his chest, the entirety of his left, part of his right arm, and a large of both his legs would always be a deal-breaker. The treatment that went with them only enforced that. Janus tried not to let it get under his skin, but it never failed to anger him when people made it clear that it was the burns that had them saying no to even just fostering him and his little brother, let alone adopting.

Other than the burn, however, Janus would say he looked normal enough. He was sixteen and stood just below five-eight, still room to gain some height during his next growth spurt. Despite him being shorter than average (by a mere half-inch but things like that don't matter when you're the shortest in the group, even if it's only by that half-inch) Janus was pretty strongly built and had some hidden muscle underneath the long sleave shirts and coats he always wore. His black hair was starting to get a little longer than he preferred, the waves in it much more obvious and present than they were when he had his typical hair cut. His eyes were brown, though they'd been slightly different shades since the fire. His skin was a beige color, just a few tones darker than his brother's. He didn't look bad, his scars just made him look different.

Apparently, that's not what they wanted. Apparently, people wanted normal-looking kids so they could be a normal-looking family. Normal-looking kids like Virgil, who could probably really use a happy home life that didn't include them getting bounced around whenever the poor excuse for a system felt like it.

"Okay," Janus relented with a sigh, roughly wiping away the tears.

Ryan gave a proud smile as he patted Janus on the back, "Thank you, Janus. You're doing the right thing" Ryan said with a nod, "And I'm sure we could arrange something with the Sanders to allow you to visit every once in a while."

"Yeah, that'd be great," he mumbled non-committedly.

"Great. Now, I'm going to finish some paperwork, but why don't you go find Virgil. I'm dropping him off tomorrow, so try and get some good quality time in, okay?" Janus nodded at the suggestion before shuffling his way out of the room and going in search of his brother, summoning a smile to his face before he entered the room Virgil was watching TV in with some of the other kids.

Word Count: 1269