[Posted here for now until I get permission to move everything. I've had this written for a while. Just never posted it.]
"Zael! Zael, help me with these boxes, will you?"
Aaron grunted as he tried to lift a few of the old boxes from the attic of the castle. They were moving to their new apartment tonight, and he hadn't even started packing yet.
"Zael! PLEASE! I'm not made of steel, and I'm going to drop them!"
Zael came racing up the stairs, and caught the other end of the box that Aaron was carrying.
"You know, A... It's kind of nostalgic being up here, isn't it?"
Aaron nodded his head in agreement. "Yeah - it is. Brings back some of those good memories."
Zael laughed, and started backing down the stairs.
"It does at that. Perhaps those 'memories' are why Dragon never comes up here anymore. I mean, we were enough of a handful to make him lose his hair twice, after all."
"Zael! That was his illness, not us!" Aaron snickered, and maneuvered around a corner. "But I suppose you're right. Stress was probably a big issue for him back then. But hey, it's his own fault, right? HE took us in. All five of us. It's not like he didn't have a choice."
Zael stepped over the last step, and helped Aaron get the box to the kitchen, where he set it down on the counter.
"What all is IN here anyway? It's heavy as hell."
As he spoke, he started to open the box, and peer around inside it, trying to figure out what was what, and which went where. Aaron shrugged.
"Random junk. Dragon's always keeping things in boxes. Especially up in the attic. I'll bet some of our old toys are up there too."
Aaron started helping open the box also.
"Heeey! I remember this!" he exclaimed, as he pulled out a bright red truck with blue letters spelling out A-A-R-O-N on it. "I used to play with this thing CONSTANTLY. It's a wonder I don't really like trucks now, seeing how much use this thing got." He laughed, and rolled it across the kitchen counter. "Brrooooom!"
Zael rolled his eyes, but then something caught HIS attention. "Hey! What's this doing in here?!"
He pulled out a small, wooden, toy sword that had been his first.
"I thought Dragon destroyed this one, when I got my real sword." he murmured, swinging the plaything around a bit. "I'm glad he didn't."
BOTH of them saw the next item in the box, and both were somewhat flabbergasted about it.
"... What in the hell...." Zael muttered, while he picked it up. "It looks like a scroll of some sort. With an Eye of Horus. But what's this doing in here? I don't remember ever having this thing. Unless Dragon had it sometime, and just never told us. The thing's old."
Aaron reached out to touch it, and Zael handed it over. As soon as his fingers touched the paper, an electric thrill went through his spine. He shuddered, but not entirely non-pleasurably.
"Z.... we should keep this." he said frankly, without knowing quite WHY he said it. "We should keep this, and bring it to the new place with us. It'll be interesting to have in the house... a conversation piece, if you would."
Zael scratched his chin for a moment, looked at the scroll, then looked back at his brother/lover. He sighed, and shook his head fondly.
"Alright, alright! Enough with those eyes. You know I can never resist them! Pack it up with the rest of the stuff we're taking, and I'll join you as soon as I find whatever else is in this box that we need. DON'T put it where it can get torn, A. Try under the front seat. It'll be safe there."
Aaron ran off to do so, and Zael couldn't help watching him for a moment or two, before shaking his head, and going back to what he was doing. He loved that boy more than he ought. But that was okay, because Aaron loved him too.
When they had gotten everything together in the van, and were on the road to the new place, both of them had fallen into an excited kind of silence. It was a long trip they were in for, but neither of them could wait to get there. Zael would have sworn it was his imagination, but it seemed as though the scroll under his seat were wriggling in anticipation too. He really needed to get more sleep at night. As if a scroll could wiggle!
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