futuredated to saturday night- claus' nightmare
His mother. Her eyes, her smile, her laugh. The way she smelled, the way she sounded, how safe she was. The way Mom and Dad looked at each other. There was so much love.
Claus was there, sitting in the middle of a field. Sunflowers. It seemed strangely fitting, familiar. He wasn't sure why, yet.
"Claus!"
He spun, smile wide on his face, to see Hinawa, pink dress, long brown hair, just like he remembered her. Running behind her was Lucas, gentle, smiling, and bringing up the rear, slowly but surely, with Boney close at his heel, was Flint, the hint of a smile on his face, strong, protective, everything Claus strived to be.
Lucas tumbled into the flowers near Claus, laughing. Boney came up, sniffing Claus, licking his face. Claus laughed, petting the dog on the head, looking into his eyes. Boney looked back. Some expression in his eyes changed, and just as fast as he had come up to lick him, Boney suddenly snapped at him. A bright flash of pain, bringing his hand to his face, and then down in front of his eyes, Claus realized that he was bleeding. Bleeding. Boney had bitten him.
Flint was on him, dragging the still growling dog away, sharply admonishing him. Claus stared after him, in disbelief. Boney had never bitten him. He turned to his brother, who was looking at him, with slight reservation. Claus understood, he must look a fright with blood streaming down his face like that. After looking him up and down, Lucas finally spoke.
"I've never seen Boney growl at anyone who wasn't a threat. Much less someone who was part of the family. Only strangers. Boney only bites strangers."
That was strange. Lucas seemed strangely cold. Before Claus could open his mouth, Hinawa descended on him, hands on his face, wiping away the blood with a pink cloth.
"It's okay, Claus. I'm here. It's okay."
Claus could feel tears welling up in his eyes. Despite the feeling of slight betrayal, it was just a dog bite. Why was he crying? He could almost feel his father's disapproval. He had to look tough in front of Lucas. For Lucas. But, his mother was here. It was okay. He could cry, into her shoulder. So he did, bringing his hands up around her waist, as she knelt and hugged him tight.
He was aware of blood on his hands. It was too much, too much to come from his head. He brought his hand away from his mother, realizing that it was coming from a rapidly spreading pool of blood from a wound in her midsection. Where was his other hand?
It was on the hilt of a sword, a sword that was stabbing Hinawa.
With a yelp, he shot away from her, dropping the sword, dropping Hinawa, holding his hands over his head, tears streaming openly down his face. Lucas rushed over to his mother, face blank, and when he looked up at Claus, his voice was flat.
"You killed her."
Claus brought his hand up to his face, "No. No I didn't. Someone put that sword in my hands, I didn't do it!"
He backed up into Flint, who looked down at him, brought his hand down, strangely gentle, to where Claus remembered his dog bite was. A brief touch, and his father brought his hand away, showed it to Claus. There was no blood. Claus brought his hand up to the wound, above his eye, and felt only cold metal. He was wearing his helmet. His mask. He looked up at Flint.
"You could have fought it. You picked up that sword yourself. It's your fault."
Claus panicked. He was standing before his father in his commander uniform. Flint was walking away, shaking his head. So disappointed. So disappointed, Claus.
Claus whipped around to Lucas, who was standing now, holding Boney's leash. Boney was straining against it, snarling, foaming, snapping at Claus. Lucas was sneering, his eyes were pale, his skin was white. The air was still.
"Boney only barks at strangers. You're a stranger. You should have protected Mom. You should have protected me. It's your fault she's dead."
Lucas brought his empty hand up to his chest, and when he brought it away, there was blood. There was no wound.
"You might as well have killed me. I'll never be the same. You ruined my life."
Claus fell to his knees, sobbing. His mother was gone. There was only a gravestone where Claus had dropped her, sunflowers surrounding it.
"Lucas. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I promise I'll protect you from now on. I love you. You're my brother!"
A sharp, bark of a laugh. This didn't sound like his brother at all, but when he looked up, it was his face. The expression was unfamiliar, but the face was all him.
"You're not my brother. You had the chance to be my brother. You left. Dad disowned you years ago, and here you come, crawling back. You're so pathetic!"
Lucas looked down at him, a sinister grin, hair covering both his eyes.
"Pig Mask," he spat.
His grin got wider. His hair straighter. His skin pinker. This wasn't his brother. Pokey knelt down next to Claus, putting his hand on his shoulder.
"Why don't you go back to your real family?"