Viggo's Terrible, No Good, Very Bad Days

Part 34-Ends and Beginnings

*A bit of explaining- in this one, Viggo and Ryker are very young children. This is my theory of them losing their parents, how they ended up on their own. So if you don't like sad parts feel free to skip this bit, it likely won't be mentioned again XD have fun!*

Neither of them knew what started the fire. They were too young after all, so young that they were already in bed when the flames started to lick around the edges of their bedroom door. Ryker was woken by the choking smoke filling the room, and his screams for his parents brought no reply.

So with his tiny child's body shaking with fear, Ryker woke up his infant brother, carrying the crying baby out of the room, through the dark and orange-cast hallways. Their parents room was an inferno already, a gaping maw of flame and heat.

Viggo clung to him, little baby fist in his mouth, as Ryker ran on short child's legs, running and running until he finally reached the deck of the ship.

Adults!

Ryker grabbed a passing sleeve, shouting through his tears. He can't remember the adult's face, only the shock and shame on it. Tough hands seized him, someone lifting Viggo away from him.

And then they were in a lifeboat, drifting away from their burning ship. Drifting into the dark seas with a single candle to cling to. And when the candle ran down?

It was two small children, alone in a dark, uncaring, cruel world.

Years later, Ryker still woke up sweating with visions of the night of his parents' deaths in his head. Viggo was too young at the time to remember it, and Ryker wished he could forget. But that would never happen as long as he would live...

So whenever the night terrors came, Ryker crept out of his room and opened Viggo's just a crack. He watched his brother sleep, and knew that the horrors he remembered were all worth remembering, since Viggo was safe.

And they would be okay.