Thaddeus

Chapter Nine

                                            {Thaddeus POV}

Thaddeus was out on the porch, he wanted to get away from everyone inside. The house really had become full over the last few weeks. Thaddeus suddenly turned his head over when he heard the sound of a stick break, then running footsteps. 

Confused, Thaddeus wondered whether or not he should grab Zagen, but he quickly shook that thought away. He had fire, why would he need someone else to help?  Thaddeus quickly walked down the steps and went around the house, it was there he found a small boy crouching behind a tree.

The boy's green eyes met  Thaddeus's, he looked scared. He got up to run, but Thaddeus stopped him. "Wait! Wait!" Thaddeus launched forward, managing to grab the kid's arm. "Truman, is your name Truman?" The second Thaddeus asked the question, the boy looked up at him, not too scared anymore but still wary. "Mhm.." Truman answered, nodding.

Thaddeus lookd at his younger cousin in shock, the only reason he even knew what Truman looked like was through photos. Thaddeus let go of Truman, who sorta just stared at him. "Uh, I'm Thaddeus, your cousin." Thaddeus said, trying to be friendly, but his voice naturally sounded bitter. 

"Dada was talking about you!" Truman's eyes lit up as if he'd won the lottery, Thaddeus just guessed he liked knowing things his older family did. "What do you mean?- Oh, nevermind. What are you doing here, Truman?" Thaddeus asked, just now remembering both of them were at Zagen's house. 

"Looking for Ala." Truman said, smiling. 

"Ala? Who the hell's?- Oh, Alastor. He's, uh." Thaddeus looked back towards the house, he decided not to go get Alastor, he had his own reasons not to. Thaddeus looked back at Truman, it occured to him that he didn't know how old the boy was. He couldn't remember Truman's exact birthday. "How old are you, Truman? Six? No, seven?" He asked. 

"I'm nine!" Truman smiled again. Thaddeus's eyes widened, Truman was small for a nine-year-old, underweight too. "You said your dad was talking about me, where is he?" Thaddeus asked as he looked toward the road. "I don't know." Truman answered, shrugging. Thaddeus narrowed his eyes, glaring at Truman.

"What do you mean you don't know? He has to be with you if you're here." Thaddeus said, sighing. "I followed Dada, then he left." Truman said, his innocent face still had a smile. "Of course you did- Okay, where does your dad live?" Thaddeus continued glaring at the kid, who paused to think.

After a minute, Truman shrugged again. "I dunno." He said. Thaddeus grumbled, scoffing. "Why would you know, you're a kid. Just follow me." Thaddeus began walking towards the sidewalk, Truman right at his side. "Why can't we go inside?" Truman asked, looking up at Thaddeus. 

"Because it's a madhouse in there." Thaddeus flatly repiled.

"What's a madhouse?" Truman asked.

"Er- Somewhere loud and crazy." Thaddeus said, trying to figure out where to go with Truman. He didn't want a young kid going anywhere near Zagen. 

Soon enough, the boys made it to the high school. Thaddeus didn't know where else to go, and according to when he last checked the time, school was out. Thaddeus stood in front of the entrance and while Truman sat on the steps, Thaddeus fiddled around on his phone, trying to figure out where to take Truman.

"Will you do something with me?" Truman looked up at Thaddeus, who turned to the kid. "....like what?" Thaddeus cautiously asked, he didn't know what kids these days did, after all, he'd spent a good bit of his life locked away. "Play!" Truman launched up, now standing in front of Thaddeus.

Thaddeus mumbled something incoherent, he dreaded this. He sighed, rolling his eyes. "Play what?" Thaddeus asked, clearly annoyed, but Truman didn't notice. "Hm..hide and seek? Ooh! Eh, no..uh.." While Truman pondered, Thaddeus took a look at his phone. He saw a group home's address in it. He'd been looking at places to take Truman, so it made sense this would show up.

Thaddeus looked at Truman, who was still rambling about games and whatnot. "Truman?" Thaddeus said, Truman didn't notice. "Truman!" Thaddeus raised his voice, still, Truman didn't notice, still ranting. "For the love of- TRUMAN!" Thaddeus yanked Truman's arm and that's when he heard a yell. 

"Hey!" It was Alastor marching down the steps of the school, and he looked furious. He shoved Thaddeus. Hard. "Get the fuck away from my brother, what is he doing with you!?" Alastor seethed, clenching his fists. 

"He was at Grandpa's house! I was trying to get him awa-" Thaddeus didn't even have time to explain before he felt a fist connect with his face, and judging from how hard he felt his nose throbbing, it was bleeding. 

"Wanna know something, Thaddeus? It is really hard to actually believe you, he couldn't have been at Grandpa's!" Alastor yelled, going for another punch, but Thaddeus narrowly got out of the way. Thaddeus delivered a punch to Alastor this time, sending his cousion back a bit.

"Don't believe me? That's fine, let him tell you himself." Thaddeus said before walking away, scoffing. Of course Alastor wouldn't believe him, why should he? 

Thaddeus went back to Zagen's house, where Eros was waiting outside. Once he spotted the teenager, he grinned, crossing his arms. "And where have you been?" He asked, he had the same cold tone as Zagen did. 

"Went out for a walk." Thaddeus lied, but Eros only laughed. "Son, your nose is bleeding, you definitely didn't just go for a walk." He said.

"I saw Alastor while I was away and we...got into a little fight. It's fine." Thaddeus shoved Eros out of his way and went inside the house. He went upstaris, slamming into Kathryn as he tried to go into his room. 

"You're Brooklyn's son, right? I didn't get a chance to catch up with her." Kathryn was pretty damn near the exact opposite of her two brothers. She was warm and gentle, and for some reason, Thaddeus liked it, it felt nice. "No matter how much I hate to admit it, yeah I'm her son." Thaddeus said, rubbing his nose, it still hurt. 

"Oh, let me help you with that." Kathryn said and before Thaddeus could protest, she had dragged him into a bathroom. Kathryn found a rag, put it under the sink's faucet for a moment, then turned back to Thaddeus. 

Thaddeus winced as she wiped the blood off of his face, she looked concerned, just staring at him as she continued addressing the wound. Eventually, she found something to say. "Lucky you, your nose isn't broken. It'll probably hurt for a little bit though. What happened?" She asked as she set the rag down.

"Uh, Alastor happened." Thaddeus bitterly said, sighing silently. 

"Alastor did this? He must've been really angry." Kathryn said.

"Oh, no, he just did this for fun." Thaddeus sarcastically huffed, marching out and into his room. 

"Not even a thank you!?" Kathryn called out after Thaddeus, getting no reply. 

Thaddeus sat on his bed and pulled out his phone. He didn't have Brooklyn's number in it, it was the regrettably the first thing he tried to find when he was attempting to find somewhere for Truman to go. He hated how much he still looked for his mother when he was in some sort of situation. 

He sat on his phone for awhile, wanting to push Truman out of his mind. He couldn't even remember when he last saw Truman, only Alastor.  He decided to stay locked away in his room for a bit, he already hated the fact he'd probably wasn't finished facing the wrath of Alastor. 

Thaddeus knew he was a little bit more in control of his fire than Alastor was, but that was only because he'd stayed with Zagen longer. He knew Alastor was older, bigger, and most likely stronger than he was. 

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I am the queen of horrible endings, woohoo.