Fan Fiction ❯ Illusia ❯ Koura - A Lonely One 4 ( Chapter 50 )
[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
By: Serenitychan13 
Chapter 4: Family
Anime/Manga: Fan Fiction | Genre(s): / Suspense / Supernatural / Romance / Fantasy / Action / Angst / Drama | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 01.25.2004 | Pages: 2 | Words: 2.2K | Visits: 136 | Status: Completed
Chapter 4: Family
Anime/Manga: Fan Fiction | Genre(s): / Suspense / Supernatural / Romance / Fantasy / Action / Angst / Drama | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 01.25.2004 | Pages: 2 | Words: 2.2K | Visits: 136 | Status: Completed
Chapter 4
I let my voice trail off with an exhausted sigh. I heard Illusia sniffle, then whimper softly, her arms braced gently against Terran’s chest. His shoulders were shaking and he was holding her close, his hand over his heart. His breathing was ragged and his head was bowed so that his dark brown hair fell over his face. Illusia’s face was pressed against his chest and she was shaking badly.
I leaned back, then pushed myself to my feet. Slowly, I went over to sit beside my brother. It would definitely ease the pain for both of us now that the truth was out in the open. I laid a gentle hand on his shoulder. He looked up at me to see that I was crying as well. All of us needed to just cry this one out. I managed to smile through my tears and move my hand from his shoulder to the top of his head to ruffle his hair again. He tried to smile back.
After a while, the three of us started to calm down. Terran stroked Illusia’s back softly and gradually she started relaxing. Soon, she wasn’t shaking anymore. She lifted her head from Terran’s chest and looked up at me, her eyes still sad. Terran was trying to get his breathing under control, and without much success. Finally, I did what I had needed to do on that cold, moonlit night so long ago: I raised my hand to his face and brushed away the last of his tears.
“Now you see why I didn’t want to tell you… Are you sorry you asked?”
He stared at me with that haunted look once again in his dark brown eyes. Illusia settled against his chest, wrapping a comforting arm around his neck.
“No…” he said softly. “At least now I know what happened… Koura… Thank you…”
“For what?”
“For saving my life,” he said, looking me straight in the eyes. “You were right about the girl in my dreams…”
He looked down at Illusia with a smile and sighed.
“She’s right here,” he said, so quietly I almost couldn’t hear him. “And if it weren’t for that night, I would never have found her.”
I had to smile at him. And all that time I had tried to make myself think that his dreams were just that: dreams… But somehow, in the back of my mind I had always believed that his dream girl was real. I almost felt sorry for Taelia. (‘Almost’ being the key word here…) She had really been gone on him. I hoped he at least broke it to her gently.
“You know,” Illusia said softly. “You really are lucky…”
“What do you mean?”
“At least you have family that can’t be taken from you…” she whispered, tears welling up in her eyes again. “I have no brothers or sisters and I’ll probably never see my family again… I almost had a brother though… But he’s gone now…”
I bit my lip. Tentatively, I reached a hand over to gently ruffle her bangs. She looked at me with confusion and sadness clearly visible in her eyes.
“You still have a family…”
She whimpered softly. Any mention of family must have been painful for her.
“What do you mean?” she asked almost inaudibly.
“Terran’s your family now… And I’m here if you need me.”
She looked at me uncertainly for a second, then looked up at Terran as if asking for reassurance. He smiled and stroked her cheek softly, nodding. She smiled up at him then turned and smiled at me, her eyes shining. I smiled back, then winked at her. She giggled, blushed and hid her face. Then I heard something I hadn’t heard in far too long: Terran was laughing. I ruffled his hair again and sat back with a contented sigh.
It appeared that things could turn out alright after all…
I looked over at my brother and the tiny girl in his arms. She was almost asleep, her eyes half closed and her head resting over his heart. What Taelia said about love that night had definitely been wrong. Terran loved her so much, he would die for her. And from the way she looked at him, from the way she settled in his arms, I could tell she would do the same for him.
I leaned back with one hand behind my head. The sun was just coming up, sending golden red streaks shimmering over the snow on the ground. I noticed that the snow was starting to melt a little. Terran would be happy when it was gone. To tell the absolute truth, so would I. He said he was getting sick from seeing blood in the snow? Well it wasn’t that easy for me either. I swallowed hard as I remembered seeing his blood staining the snow as I pulled the knife from his heart.
I pushed the thought out of my head and settled in to watch the sunrise. I reached over and gave Terran’s shoulder a push. He looked at me with one eyebrow raised, looking as if he would rather be sleeping right now. I just pointed to the eastern horizon and the beautiful sunrise. He looked where I was pointing and his eyes went wide.
“Illusia,” he said softly, stroking her long hair. “Illusia, look… The sunrise is so pretty this morning…”
She lifted her head off his chest and turned over in his arms. Smiling and watching the horizon, she settled back against him, her back against his chest. His hands were clasped in front of her and he was resting his chin on the top of her head. Both of them looked so content, so deeply in love. My heart clenched a little; I was a little jealous of my brother, I must admit.
I wondered if a woman could ever care for me the way Illusia cared for him…
The three of us sat together in silence as we watched the sun rise and start brightening a new day. Slowly, Illusia stretched her arms up and arched her back like a cat. I looked again and saw a large cloud of lavender smoke. I jumped up with a startled yell. Terran looked fairly surprised himself. In a couple of seconds, the smoke cleared and Illusia was gone. Terran was left holding a small black cat with bright lavender eyes. It was laughing at us.
“Sorry Koura,” said the tiny cat. “I didn’t tell you I was a shapeshifter, did I?”
I was floored. My eyes went wide and I stared at the small feline resting comfortably in Terran’s arms and looking quite satisfied with herself.
“Illusia? Is that you?”
The cat smiled at me and another cloud of lavender smoke puffed up. Terran waved it out of his face and in a couple of seconds, Illusia was once again settled against him. She looked up at him, then looked at me and burst out laughing. I was more than a little bit put out. A major jolt like that was most definitely NOT what I needed this early in the morning. But I got a look at Terran’s face and started laughing as well. He looked absolutely evil. When we were younger, he only got that look when he was up to something major. Most of the time, though, he had a pretty good poker face. I wondered what he had come up with this time.
A cloud of golden-red smoke puffed up around the couple. In a few seconds, the smoke cleared and Illusia was sitting against a…
“What the H*LL is THAT!?”
Illusia looked up at the… thing that was holding her. It looked like a giant red bird. Its head looked like that of a peacock. Huge red wings wrapped around Illusia’s body and the bird’s long, gold beak rested on her shoulder. To my surprise, she smiled and settled back against the thing’s chest, her eyes half-closed in contentment.
“Illusia, what the h*ll is that thing!?”
“Your brother,” she said calmly, smiling at me.
“WHAT!?”
“He just happens to be in the form of a phoenix right now,” she explained as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
“But I thought---”
“The curse only said he couldn’t be human,” she explained. “Nothing ever said he wouldn’t retain his shapeshifting abilities after it was broken.”
“Holy sh*t…”
Another cloud of golden-red smoke came and went and once again Terran was sitting there with Illusia settled comfortably in his arms. I really didn’t know what to say. There really were no words for the moment. So I just walked up to my brother and calmly popped him upside his head.
“Ow!” he yelped. “What the h*ll was that for!?”
“You scared me half to death! Both of you!”
Illusia grinned at me.
“So, what happens when you get scared half to death twice?” she asked, trying to be cute.
Terran had one hand on the side of his head, but he was grinning at me too. I just threw up my hands in disgust and stalked off to lean against a tree.
“You did not need to do that to me so early in the morning…”
Slowly, Illusia got up and approached me, her face full of concern.
“I’m sorry,” she said softly. “I didn’t mean to scare you. I was just playing around…”
I rolled my eyes at her. Did she honestly think she had scared me?
Ok, so at first my heart stopped for a second, but other than that…
She looked up at me, her lavender eyes wide. Gently, she put a hand on my arm. Perfect opportunity. In a split second, I had spun her around and had her held up off the ground just like I had done to Terran.
“Yeep!” she squeaked. “Put me down!”
“No.”
Ok, so maybe that was a mistake. At least, my shin regretted it. Her heel connected sharply with my shin and she struggled to get down. However, I was at least a foot and a half taller than her, so she wasn’t getting far. I just tightened my grip and she squeaked again. Terran thought the whole thing was hysterical. I could hear him laughing.
Illusia, however, was finding no humor in the situation at all.
“I said ‘PUT ME DOWN’!” she yelled, still struggling wildly (or at least trying to).
“And I said ‘No’.”
Again I tightened my grip. Once again, she squeaked. Finally, she stopped moving. I wasn’t about to let her go, though. Not after that kick in the shins. If I let her loose now, she’d probably strangle me. (And she probably could, too.) So I leaned my head down to whisper in her ear, making sure to sound somewhat threatening.
“What are you going to do about it?”
She started trying to struggle again, but I had her so tight that she couldn’t really move that much. She might be something else at fighting with a knife and be unmatched as to speed, but in strength versus strength, I definitely had the advantage. I probably should have set her down when she started growling, but I was having way too much fun with this.
Again, a menacing whisper tickled her ear…
“It doesn’t look like you’re going anywhere…”
Every muscle in her body tensed. I could feel the chill bumps rising on her arms. I tightened my grip just a little, then dropped her. She squeaked and landed flat on her rear in a snowbank. I almost fell over laughing. She folded her arms over her chest and sulked. I grinned at her and reached a hand down to help her up. She just looked in the other direction.
Alright, if she wanted to do this the hard way… I took hold of her shoulders, lifted her up and set her on her feet. She turned to go back to Terran. Before she could get two steps away, I hooked one arm around her and pulled her close for a hug. I had her pinned for about a second, then released my hold on her. She actually smiled at me for a second before settling back down beside Terran. He rolled his eyes at me and wrapped an arm around her, letting her rest her head on his shoulder. She closed her eyes and smiled, just the picture of contentment.
I let my voice trail off with an exhausted sigh. I heard Illusia sniffle, then whimper softly, her arms braced gently against Terran’s chest. His shoulders were shaking and he was holding her close, his hand over his heart. His breathing was ragged and his head was bowed so that his dark brown hair fell over his face. Illusia’s face was pressed against his chest and she was shaking badly.
I leaned back, then pushed myself to my feet. Slowly, I went over to sit beside my brother. It would definitely ease the pain for both of us now that the truth was out in the open. I laid a gentle hand on his shoulder. He looked up at me to see that I was crying as well. All of us needed to just cry this one out. I managed to smile through my tears and move my hand from his shoulder to the top of his head to ruffle his hair again. He tried to smile back.
After a while, the three of us started to calm down. Terran stroked Illusia’s back softly and gradually she started relaxing. Soon, she wasn’t shaking anymore. She lifted her head from Terran’s chest and looked up at me, her eyes still sad. Terran was trying to get his breathing under control, and without much success. Finally, I did what I had needed to do on that cold, moonlit night so long ago: I raised my hand to his face and brushed away the last of his tears.
“Now you see why I didn’t want to tell you… Are you sorry you asked?”
He stared at me with that haunted look once again in his dark brown eyes. Illusia settled against his chest, wrapping a comforting arm around his neck.
“No…” he said softly. “At least now I know what happened… Koura… Thank you…”
“For what?”
“For saving my life,” he said, looking me straight in the eyes. “You were right about the girl in my dreams…”
He looked down at Illusia with a smile and sighed.
“She’s right here,” he said, so quietly I almost couldn’t hear him. “And if it weren’t for that night, I would never have found her.”
I had to smile at him. And all that time I had tried to make myself think that his dreams were just that: dreams… But somehow, in the back of my mind I had always believed that his dream girl was real. I almost felt sorry for Taelia. (‘Almost’ being the key word here…) She had really been gone on him. I hoped he at least broke it to her gently.
“You know,” Illusia said softly. “You really are lucky…”
“What do you mean?”
“At least you have family that can’t be taken from you…” she whispered, tears welling up in her eyes again. “I have no brothers or sisters and I’ll probably never see my family again… I almost had a brother though… But he’s gone now…”
I bit my lip. Tentatively, I reached a hand over to gently ruffle her bangs. She looked at me with confusion and sadness clearly visible in her eyes.
“You still have a family…”
She whimpered softly. Any mention of family must have been painful for her.
“What do you mean?” she asked almost inaudibly.
“Terran’s your family now… And I’m here if you need me.”
She looked at me uncertainly for a second, then looked up at Terran as if asking for reassurance. He smiled and stroked her cheek softly, nodding. She smiled up at him then turned and smiled at me, her eyes shining. I smiled back, then winked at her. She giggled, blushed and hid her face. Then I heard something I hadn’t heard in far too long: Terran was laughing. I ruffled his hair again and sat back with a contented sigh.
It appeared that things could turn out alright after all…
I looked over at my brother and the tiny girl in his arms. She was almost asleep, her eyes half closed and her head resting over his heart. What Taelia said about love that night had definitely been wrong. Terran loved her so much, he would die for her. And from the way she looked at him, from the way she settled in his arms, I could tell she would do the same for him.
I leaned back with one hand behind my head. The sun was just coming up, sending golden red streaks shimmering over the snow on the ground. I noticed that the snow was starting to melt a little. Terran would be happy when it was gone. To tell the absolute truth, so would I. He said he was getting sick from seeing blood in the snow? Well it wasn’t that easy for me either. I swallowed hard as I remembered seeing his blood staining the snow as I pulled the knife from his heart.
I pushed the thought out of my head and settled in to watch the sunrise. I reached over and gave Terran’s shoulder a push. He looked at me with one eyebrow raised, looking as if he would rather be sleeping right now. I just pointed to the eastern horizon and the beautiful sunrise. He looked where I was pointing and his eyes went wide.
“Illusia,” he said softly, stroking her long hair. “Illusia, look… The sunrise is so pretty this morning…”
She lifted her head off his chest and turned over in his arms. Smiling and watching the horizon, she settled back against him, her back against his chest. His hands were clasped in front of her and he was resting his chin on the top of her head. Both of them looked so content, so deeply in love. My heart clenched a little; I was a little jealous of my brother, I must admit.
I wondered if a woman could ever care for me the way Illusia cared for him…
The three of us sat together in silence as we watched the sun rise and start brightening a new day. Slowly, Illusia stretched her arms up and arched her back like a cat. I looked again and saw a large cloud of lavender smoke. I jumped up with a startled yell. Terran looked fairly surprised himself. In a couple of seconds, the smoke cleared and Illusia was gone. Terran was left holding a small black cat with bright lavender eyes. It was laughing at us.
“Sorry Koura,” said the tiny cat. “I didn’t tell you I was a shapeshifter, did I?”
I was floored. My eyes went wide and I stared at the small feline resting comfortably in Terran’s arms and looking quite satisfied with herself.
“Illusia? Is that you?”
The cat smiled at me and another cloud of lavender smoke puffed up. Terran waved it out of his face and in a couple of seconds, Illusia was once again settled against him. She looked up at him, then looked at me and burst out laughing. I was more than a little bit put out. A major jolt like that was most definitely NOT what I needed this early in the morning. But I got a look at Terran’s face and started laughing as well. He looked absolutely evil. When we were younger, he only got that look when he was up to something major. Most of the time, though, he had a pretty good poker face. I wondered what he had come up with this time.
A cloud of golden-red smoke puffed up around the couple. In a few seconds, the smoke cleared and Illusia was sitting against a…
“What the H*LL is THAT!?”
Illusia looked up at the… thing that was holding her. It looked like a giant red bird. Its head looked like that of a peacock. Huge red wings wrapped around Illusia’s body and the bird’s long, gold beak rested on her shoulder. To my surprise, she smiled and settled back against the thing’s chest, her eyes half-closed in contentment.
“Illusia, what the h*ll is that thing!?”
“Your brother,” she said calmly, smiling at me.
“WHAT!?”
“He just happens to be in the form of a phoenix right now,” she explained as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
“But I thought---”
“The curse only said he couldn’t be human,” she explained. “Nothing ever said he wouldn’t retain his shapeshifting abilities after it was broken.”
“Holy sh*t…”
Another cloud of golden-red smoke came and went and once again Terran was sitting there with Illusia settled comfortably in his arms. I really didn’t know what to say. There really were no words for the moment. So I just walked up to my brother and calmly popped him upside his head.
“Ow!” he yelped. “What the h*ll was that for!?”
“You scared me half to death! Both of you!”
Illusia grinned at me.
“So, what happens when you get scared half to death twice?” she asked, trying to be cute.
Terran had one hand on the side of his head, but he was grinning at me too. I just threw up my hands in disgust and stalked off to lean against a tree.
“You did not need to do that to me so early in the morning…”
Slowly, Illusia got up and approached me, her face full of concern.
“I’m sorry,” she said softly. “I didn’t mean to scare you. I was just playing around…”
I rolled my eyes at her. Did she honestly think she had scared me?
Ok, so at first my heart stopped for a second, but other than that…
She looked up at me, her lavender eyes wide. Gently, she put a hand on my arm. Perfect opportunity. In a split second, I had spun her around and had her held up off the ground just like I had done to Terran.
“Yeep!” she squeaked. “Put me down!”
“No.”
Ok, so maybe that was a mistake. At least, my shin regretted it. Her heel connected sharply with my shin and she struggled to get down. However, I was at least a foot and a half taller than her, so she wasn’t getting far. I just tightened my grip and she squeaked again. Terran thought the whole thing was hysterical. I could hear him laughing.
Illusia, however, was finding no humor in the situation at all.
“I said ‘PUT ME DOWN’!” she yelled, still struggling wildly (or at least trying to).
“And I said ‘No’.”
Again I tightened my grip. Once again, she squeaked. Finally, she stopped moving. I wasn’t about to let her go, though. Not after that kick in the shins. If I let her loose now, she’d probably strangle me. (And she probably could, too.) So I leaned my head down to whisper in her ear, making sure to sound somewhat threatening.
“What are you going to do about it?”
She started trying to struggle again, but I had her so tight that she couldn’t really move that much. She might be something else at fighting with a knife and be unmatched as to speed, but in strength versus strength, I definitely had the advantage. I probably should have set her down when she started growling, but I was having way too much fun with this.
Again, a menacing whisper tickled her ear…
“It doesn’t look like you’re going anywhere…”
Every muscle in her body tensed. I could feel the chill bumps rising on her arms. I tightened my grip just a little, then dropped her. She squeaked and landed flat on her rear in a snowbank. I almost fell over laughing. She folded her arms over her chest and sulked. I grinned at her and reached a hand down to help her up. She just looked in the other direction.
Alright, if she wanted to do this the hard way… I took hold of her shoulders, lifted her up and set her on her feet. She turned to go back to Terran. Before she could get two steps away, I hooked one arm around her and pulled her close for a hug. I had her pinned for about a second, then released my hold on her. She actually smiled at me for a second before settling back down beside Terran. He rolled his eyes at me and wrapped an arm around her, letting her rest her head on his shoulder. She closed her eyes and smiled, just the picture of contentment.