What We've Missed Without You

chapter 21

*sorry for mistakes*

Before Adam could blink, he and Envy were back in the concealed employee break room. The dark-haired boy thrashed about in Envy's hands as he yelled,

"Put me down! Why didn't you follow my orders?! I told you that I wasn't leaving without Momoi and Airi!"

"I apologize, young master. But Lord Karlheinz is my creator, anything he orders me to do is absolute. My body immediately does what he orders." The silver-haired familiar set down the young boy down, only to receive a shove from him. The steel-blue eyed boy glared at the mouse familiar as he yanked off the yellow raincoat to reveal his ash-colored sweater, kicking off the rain boots while he was at it.

"Would it have killed you to tell me about that beforehand?!"

"Lord Karlheinz doesn't go home often, so I was honestly surprised when I saw him. I apologize, I should have told you. I was inconsiderate." The dark grey servant bowed with a sad look. Adam huffed and stared at the ground, worked up at the thought that his so-called 'grandfather' was going to make his mother do extra work to get back her children. Why did he even call himself 'grandfather'? Surely he wasn't related to those two men, they didn't look anything like him. But what Ayato told him still stuck in his head:

"Fucking smart aleck, just like your dad..."

So...That means Adam's father was related to Ayato?

He shook his head, trying to clear up the clutter that took over. He hasn't been concerned about his father since he was young, why should he be concerned now? He left and hasn't returned, so he surely didn't want anything to do with him or Yui. This situation has really gotten Adam worked up, he couldn't think straight knowing the fact that his sisters were still not home and that his mother had to go to that place, around dangerous-looking people, to get them back. He didn't like how Karlheinz smiled at him, it was just like the Chesire cat, mischievous and bound to do something terrible.

"Envy, what is going on at that house tomorrow?"

"Lord Karlheinz is throwing a birthday ball for his youngest son, Master Subaru. It seems that your mother will be attending tomorrow in order to get the young mistresses."

"We need to make sure she doesn't go." Adam declared, walking out of the door and glaring down at the floor. Envy turned into a mouse and followed behind in order to not been seen by the other children horsing around in the empty diner, he followed the human up a flight of old wooden stairs and through a door at the top of the stairs to enter the small apartment. Yui was sat at the couch, staring deeply into a flat pastel-pink box until she noticed her second-eldest son walk towards her. She gave him a warm smile and turned towards him.

"Oh, hello Adam! How has your day been going?"

"Don't go." The pale blonde was taken aback, blinking her eyes to think if she heard her son right. She gave him another smile as she placed the cover back on top of the pastel-pink box, covering what seemed to be a powder-pink dress. "What are you talking about?"

"The party, don't go. I don't trust that man."

Yui's velvet-pink eyes widen as Adam stood his ground, looking into those scared doll-like eyes with a serious gaze. He saw this all before, this was the same look she gave him when he first asked about his absent father: scared, hesitant to tell the truth, trying to come up with a good excuse, regret. The older woman looked down to the package in front of her, the large white bow fancifully reminding her of what was to come soon. The tag hanging off the box had Karlheinz's condescending tone and smile with each stroke of his ink fountain pen. Pale and calloused hands clutched at the end of her grey sweat pants as she carefully worded her sentence, making sure nothing got caught in the venus flytrap growing in her throat.

"I'm only going for an hour and I'll come back with your sisters...Don't worry about it. Do you want me to bring you back something?...I'm sure there will be sweets for your little sisters-"

"MOM!"

Adam didn't understand, he didn't understand why he was getting so worked up and why tears started to leave his eyes. His sweet mother gazed with a shocked expression twisting her soft features once more. Adam's chest felt tight as his voice wavered, hot tears blocking out his vision. If he wasn't crying, he probably would have seen his mother rush to his side. Her hands were calloused and bruised from the work she pushed herself to do, but they were so soft and gentle as they cradled his face and thumbs carefully wiping underneath his eyes. For the first time, Adam finally had enough of what he allowed her to do for so many years.

"Mom...P...Please...Don't lie to me!"

"A-Adam...I..."

"Y-You do it all the time! You keep giving me that stupid smile and telling everyone you're alright when you aren't! T-That man did something to you, right?! He and those other guys did something to you! I-I can see you don't want to see them!...J-Just tell me the truth, mom! Why are you doing this to yourself?! Don't lie and smile at me! I-It hurts me too much!" Adam choked out his confession with hot tears running down his face, Yui wordlessly pulled her son into a tight embrace, gripping him with her hands tightly as if he was going to disappear. She allowed him to cry on her shirt, it was old anyway, nothing mattered more than her son at this moment. Tears brimmed her doe eyes as she whispered.

"I...Just didn't want you to experience what I went through...I...When through some tough times. I want you all to be reassured that you'll be safe with me no matter what. I know I'm a fool, a lone woman with children that could fill up a whole classroom. But the moment I held you all in my arms for the first time, I knew that I wanted to be the one to protect you...Even if I get hurt in the process, I just want you all to be safe and happy. I'm happy as long as we can live life like that...But it's unrealistic, I was trying to hide you all from something that will eventually come...I'm sorry, I shouldn't have lied to you so much...I will admit, there were times where I just wanted to throw my life away because of how much I was suffering...But because of all of you, my lovely children, I was able to find new hope in life. I wanted to be around when you all graduate, make families of your own, and die knowing that my children were happy. I know what we have isn't great, but as long as we're together, nothing else matters."

Adam was limp, he could finally hear it. Her words were true, they were sad, they were raw...She finally wasn't smiling and lying to him...She was crying and telling the truth. Yui sniffled as she continued to speak, words croaking out of her throat.

"I thought...That if I smiled, you would be reassured. No matter what we go through...If I smiled and told you all it was fine, you wouldn't be worried over what other people say, how much money we have in our pockets, or anything like that. I selfishly thought that I could keep up the charade...I knew you all would ask about your fathers one day, I was just too scared..."

The ten-year-old weakly wrapped his arms around his mother's warm and petite body, a vision overcoming his vision:

Flashback/vision:

Under a pale blue moon, two figures stood in a dark room.

"To think I've been cheered up by livestock...That's true...If we don't discard the possibility, maybe..."

"Ruki-kun..."

"I don't understand you. Is it because you're Eve?...Stay that way. You're my Eve, and mine alone."

"Stay with me."

The man leaned down, hugging into the smaller woman as they stood in silence under the full moon.

End of flashback/vision:

Adam couldn't really see the man, but it looked like he had the same hair as him. That's where he got his hair from, and his eyes too since he didn't look like Yui. There was a warm buzz in his chest as the relished in the thought, a seemingly gentle man and woman together...Until Adam realized something:

Livestock?

Word count: 1-4-9-4