Lost Family

A Pledge to Victory

I woke up lazily, and turned to look at Free's bed. He wasn't there. I then could smell bread, eggs and bacon. 'Really Free.' I thought. I got up from my slumber and ambled my way towards the connected kitchen. I snuck up behind him, and was about to say something, until he turned around and picked me up. "Free! Put me down!" He chuckled. "Sorry. Can't do that." I crossed. my arms and huffed. "And why can't you do that exactly?" He gave me a small smirk. "I need you to reach the cookies from up there." He placed me into a one arm grip, and pointed to the top shelf. I gave him a 'really,' look and he shrugged. "I'm not going to stand on the counters, so unless you don't want your big brother to get cookies, then I suggest you try and wriggle your way out of my hold." He smirked wider. I gave a sigh of defeat, and reached for the cookies. I took hold of them, and placed them on the counter. Free carefully sat me down next to them, and opened the jar. He took two out, giving one to me, and eating the other one. I let a chuckle slip out, and he started to laugh with me. "So, Chris is letting you stay with me the whole of the tournament?" I asked hopefully. He nodded happily. "Yep. I'm allowed to stay with you for training as well. Don't worry, your big brothers here to help you now." I scoffed. "And I totally wasn't doing fine before then." He chuckled. "Wanna practice with your launcher?" I gulped. 'The launcher he gave me is still broken. What do I do? What do I do?'  I gave a guilty laugh and nodded. "Fine with me, but just so you know, I've got a new technique, so don't expect it to be easy." He laughed. "I was hoping you wouldn't think I was going easy on you." I put out my left arm and he did the same. We joint in the middle and gave each other a tight grip. I could feel my eyes flare to life, with their golden colour, and Free's did the same. 'We're prepared. I'm ready. Nothing can stop us now. I'm relying on you Madness. This year, we're going to win.'  I expected Free to have the same thoughts running through his mind, and I gave him a cocky grin. "Ready?" He smirked. "Always." We let go and took our pledge to the heart. 'Meet you in the finals big brother. Meet you there.'