Leave Me Alone, Big Brothers! [BL]

Chapter 176: Time to Say Goodbye

They were in a garden filled with a bright, warm light that seemed to come from everywhere at once. Giant flowers, with petals as wide as roofs, hung over the group like colorful umbrellas. It was beautiful, but something was wrong. As Nathan looked at the white stone floor, he realized there were no shadows.

Even though the light was strong, the ground beneath their feet was perfectly clear. No matter where they moved, the darkness that usually followed a person’s body did not exist here.

Everyone sat on the ground, which was as soft as cotton. The air was still. Natasha looked at her sons, her expression a mix of peace and sadness. She had just finished explaining the truth about the Visha curse and why they were in this place.

"Seriously? I don’t understand," Alexander said. He sat stiffly.

He understood the words his mother was saying, but he was too upset and angry to accept them. He felt a sharp pain in his chest because his mother had kept this a secret from everyone.

"You’re telling us that you’re staying here? Forever? And we’re just supposed to go back and act like everything is fine?"

Natasha looked at her son with a gentle smile. "Alexander, I’ve always placed a heavy burden on your shoulders. I know that. From the day Nathan was sent away, I made you the head of the household. But you’ve always shown me that you’re capable of anything. I’m not worried about you. I know you’ll protect your brothers and your family with all your strength."

"Mom, stop it. Tell me this is a joke," Alexander said, his voice rising. "What the hell is going on? Leo knew everything, but you didn’t say a word to me?"

Alexander looked at Leo, feeling deeply offended. Leo was the brother who usually stayed in his own world, yet he had been the one Natasha trusted with her dark mission.

Leo remained silent. He looked down at his hands. He hadn’t actually known the full truth until they arrived here. He had helped his mother gather what she needed because she asked him to, and he wanted to be useful. He hadn’t realized that the "work" would lead to his parents disappearing into another dimension.

"Oh, come on, Alex," Natasha said. "We don’t have much time. The portal won’t stay open forever. Don’t waste these minutes being angry. Let me host you. Enjoy our time together. Okay?"

"No, Mom," Alexander said, standing up. "This is ridiculous! I want you to come home! With us!"

Natasha stood up too. For the first time, she saw her son’s eyes soften completely. The cold, calculating man who ran the Salazar household was gone.

"Well, Alex. There’s nothing more I can explain," she said. "I don’t regret what I did. You can hate me. You can think of me as a bad mother. But I’ll never regret making you care for your brothers. I’ll never regret breaking the curse, no matter the cost."

"You’re selfish," Alexander said, his voice trembling. "You decided all of this for us without asking if we wanted it."

Natasha smiled. "I know, sweetheart. I’ve always been selfish. But let me be selfish one more time. Let’s just enjoy this moment together, for the last time."

Nael was sitting next to Hale, crying quietly. He hadn’t stopped since Natasha mentioned she wouldn’t be coming back.

The idea of losing his mother permanently was too much for him to handle. He didn’t care about curses or ancient debts. He just wanted his mom to be with them.

"Don’t go, please, Mom," Nael said between sobs. "You don’t have to come every Christmas. You don’t have to visit every month. Just come once in a while. Just please don’t go..."

Natasha took a deep breath. This was the part she had dreaded the most. She had planned the ritual for years, but she hadn’t planned for the sound of Nael’s heart breaking.

Nael was always the most sensitive of her children. She walked closer and pulled Nael into a hug.

"Just think that I am still there, Nael," she whispered into his hair. "I’m just in a place that takes a long time to reach. It’s like I’m on a very long vacation. Just believe that we’ll meet again, someday."

Nael hugged her, gripping her dress so tightly his knuckles turned white. "Please, come back with us. We can find another way. Alex is smart. He can find a way to break the curse without you staying here."

"You will always have me in your heart, sweetheart," Natasha said, her own eyes welling up. "That is the only place I need to be."

"You’ll never reply to my messages again?" Nael asked, looking at her with a flushed face.

Natasha let out a small, sad laugh. "Oh, Nael. I wish I could. I really do."

On the other side of the garden, near a hedge of giant blue roses, Zane was standing with Laura. The light here was different, more golden. Laura’s body had shrunk back to a normal human size so she could stand eye-to-eye with her son.

"Why?" Zane asked. He felt like his head was spinning. "Why are you here, Mom? Why in this place?"

"It is a fate that I cannot change, Zane," Laura said. Her voice was calm and soothing.

"Are you going to stay here with them?" Zane asked. "In this place?"

"No," Laura said, shaking her head. "My soul was bound to the Salazar-Visha curse. I was caught in the middle of it. Once Natasha breaks the curse, the bond will break. I will be able to move on to where I belong."

"What is this place, exactly?" Zane asked, looking around.

"This world is another dimension," Laura explained. "It is a place where souls live, similar to the human world, but it follows different rules. To get here, you need a massive sacrifice. The place you saw before, the market, is the world of lost souls. It is a place for the dead who are confused and cannot find their path. Because I am dead, I could pass through that market to find you and bring you here to safety."

Zane looked at her, his heart aching. "Have you been alone here all these years?"

Laura smiled. "It is beautiful here, Zane. For a long time, I could not remember my life before. But when Natasha opened the portal, she brought my memory back. I remembered you. I remembered everything."

Laura reached out and pulled Zane into a hug. For Zane, it felt strange. She was cold, but the feeling of her arms around him was familiar. "Believe me, Zane. I have always loved you. I will always watch over you, even when I was just a shadow in the wind."

Zane tried to hold back his tears, but they escaped anyway. "Do you know that Dad always misses you? He never talks about it, but I know he misses you every single day. He still keeps your things exactly where you left them."

"Oh, I believe so," Laura said. "Tell him he doesn’t need to worry about me anymore. Tell Adam that he needs to be happy. He needs to live the rest of his life for himself."

"He won’t believe me," Zane said. "He’ll think I’m crazy if I tell him I saw you in a magical world. Come back with me, please? Just for one day?"

"I can’t," Laura said firmly. "But I have a secret for him. Tell Adam to look at the back of my painting, the one with the small house. I’m sure he’s never looked there. I wrote a poem for him on the back of the canvas, behind the frame. It was the last thing I wrote before the accident."

Zane blinked. "What? I didn’t know that was there."

Laura smiled brightly. "You’re just like your father. You only look at what’s right in front of you."

Zane’s expression darkened as a thought occurred to him. "But... what happened? Did you die because of the Salazars? Because of their curse?"

Laura let out a long sigh. She looked toward Natasha, who was still holding Nael. "It was fate, Zane. Natasha regrets bringing me with her that day. She didn’t know the curse was so powerful. It struck anyone involved. It was a backlash of energy. I was in the wrong place at the wrong time."

"So, it’s because of them that you’re gone," Zane said, his voice turning cold.

"You have to understand, Zane," Laura said, cupping his face with both hands. "Everyone dies eventually. Even if I hadn’t died that day, I would have died from something else later. That is life. Don’t let your heart be consumed by hate. Please, Zane... for me. So I can leave you with a smile."

Zane leaned into her touch. He wanted to stay angry, but looking at his mother’s peaceful face made it impossible. "No, I just hate that you were gone so early. I needed you. Dad needed you. It’s not fair."

"I was the only one who tried to help her," Laura said softly. "I chose to be there."

"And it cost you your life!" Zane cried.

"Oh, Zane..." Laura pulled him into a tight embrace. "I’m sorry. I’m so sorry I left you."

Zane held her as tightly as he could. He knew he didn’t have much time left before the portal closed. If this was a dream, he wished he would never wake up. He would rather live in this strange world with his mother than go back to a reality where she was just a memory.

"Can I stay here?" Zane asked. "With you?"

Laura pulled back and looked at him with a stern expression. "No, you can’t. You have a long life ahead of you. I won’t stay here either. Go back. Enjoy your life. You have a very nice boyfriend, Zane. Nathan is a good boy. He’s been through so much, just like you. I hope both of you can go through your lives with happiness and support each other."

Zane looked over his shoulder at Nathan, who was standing near the giant flowers, looking lost.

"How do you know he’s my boyfriend?"

Laura just smiled.

"Go to him," Laura said, giving Zane a gentle push. "You must go."

Zane looked at his mother one last time. He memorized every line of her face, the way her hair caught the golden light, and the peaceful smile on her lips. He didn’t want to leave, but he knew she was right.

"I love you, Mom," Zane said.

"I love you more than the world, Zane," Laura replied.

As Zane walked back toward the group, the golden light began to dim. The giant flowers started to close their petals, and the white floor began to feel cold. The time for goodbyes was over.

They needed to find a way home.