Leave Me Alone, Big Brothers! [BL]

Chapter 177: Follow The Light

Nathan stood nearby the whole time, watching the scene unfold before him. He felt nothing. Not because he had no heart. He still couldn’t feel any connection with his mom. He thought it wasn’t just him, his brothers felt the same way.

Except for Nael, who looked utterly devastated. His twin was hugging Natasha, refusing to let go. Then he buried his face in his hands. Nael’s shoulders shook with every sob. Nathan felt a strange, heavy tightness in his chest, but he didn’t cry.

He watched the way Hale rubbed Nael’s back, and the way the other brothers stood in a circle, staring at the ground.

For Nathan, this farewell was different. He looked at Natasha, the woman who was his mother but also a complete stranger. He had spent seventeen years in an orphanage, wondering why he was unwanted.

He had spent months in the mansion feeling like an intruder. Now, he was standing in a different dimension, listening to a woman explain that he had been sent away to save a family he didn’t even know he had.

Nathan felt a deep sense of confusion. He looked at the towering buildings in the distance and then back at his mother. He expected to feel a surge of hot anger, or perhaps a wave of overwhelming sadness like Nael.

Instead, he felt hollow. It was as if he were watching a movie about someone else’s life. He was the sacrifice, the key to a ritual he never agreed to, and now the person responsible was saying goodbye forever.

Natasha walked toward him. Her footsteps were quiet on the stone. As she approached, the other brothers stepped back, making room for them. Alexander watched them with a soft, guarded expression.

Natasha stopped in front of Nathan. She looked at his face for a long time, as if she were trying to memorize every detail of his features. Then, she reached out and pulled him into a hug.

It was a tight, firm embrace. Nathan stayed still at first, his arms hanging at his sides. Her body felt real, but there was a strange chill to her skin.

Nathan breathed in her scent, which was nonexistent.

"Nathan," Natasha whispered into his ear. Her voice was thick with emotion. "You are the bravest person I have ever known. I know I have no right to ask for your love. I know I took seventeen years of your life away. But please believe me when I say that our family exists today only because you were strong enough to survive."

Nathan pulled back slightly to look at her. "I didn’t have a choice," he said. His voice was flat and honest. "I wasn’t being brave. I was just trying to live."

"That is exactly why you are brave," Natasha replied. She reached up and touched his cheek. Her hand was cold, but her touch was gentle. "Nothing I do now can make up for what you lost. No amount of money or words can give you back those years. I am leaving you all now so that you don’t have to carry the weight of this curse anymore. You and Nael are free. Our family is free. And it’s because of your sacrifices too."

She looked over at Alexander and the other sons, then looked back at Nathan. "I have one last wish, Nathan. I know you’re angry. I know you feel like your brothers are part of the reason you suffered. But I’m the one who made the decisions. I’m the one who gave the orders. Please... try to forgive them. If you must be angry, keep that anger for me. Let it stay here, in this world, with me. Don’t take it back to the mansion."

Nathan looked down at his shoes. He thought about the months of fighting with his brothers. After all, they were trying so hard to make him accept them. He just couldn’t accept it. But... he wasn’t sure now. He wasn’t sure what he felt.

"I don’t know how to do that," Nathan said quietly. "I don’t feel angry right now. I just feel lost. I don’t know who I’m supposed to be if I’m not the ’orphan’ or the ’sacrifice.’ I don’t even know who you are to me."

Natasha’s expression softened for a moment. A single tear rolled down her cheek. "You are my son. That is all you ever needed to be. I’m sorry I failed to show you that."

She hugged him one last time, even tighter than before. Nathan slowly lifted his hands and rested them on her back. He didn’t squeeze back, but he didn’t pull away. He just let her hold him because, after all, it was the last time he would see that woman.

His mom.

Laura, Zane’s mother, stepped forward.

"We must go," Laura said. Her voice was loud and clear, cutting through the heavy atmosphere of the garden. "The portal will close soon."

Natasha hugged them again. Nathan was crying loudly.

But they had to go.

Laura led them toward the massive white gate. They walked back through the giant city, feeling smaller than ever. The giant people they passed were no longer sitting at tea tables. They stood still, watching the small group of humans with glowing, neutral eyes. The scale of the world made their journey feel long and exhausting.

They reached the old, dilapidated house. It looked out of place among the marble palaces, like a piece of trash in a jewelry box.

Zane stopped at the threshold. He turned to Laura. His face was pale, and his eyes were red from crying. He reached out and grabbed his mother’s hands.

"I don’t want to leave you again," Zane said. His voice was shaking. "It’s not fair that I only got an hour."

Laura pulled him into a hug. She smoothed his hair, her movements slow and maternal. "You have your whole life ahead of you, Zane. You have Nathan. You have your father. I am not gone. I will always be in your heart. Be happy. That is the only thing I want from you. Be happy, Zane. I love you."

"I love you, Mom," Zane whispered.

He stayed in her arms for a few more seconds before Alexander placed a hand on his shoulder. "We have to go, Zane. Now."

Zane let go of her hands. He stepped back into the group. Laura stood in the doorway of the vast world, her white dress glowing faintly in the fading light. She watched them with a peaceful smile as they stepped through the dark doorway.

The transition was jarring. One moment, they were in a bright, oversized palace; the next, they were back in the dusty, cramped, ruined house. The smell of stale sweat and burning oil hit them instantly.

Nathan felt the weight of the Market World pressing against him. The air was thick and hard to breathe. He looked out the broken window. The market was even darker than before. The only light came from the flickering lanterns at the stalls, and the sky above was a terrifying, solid black.

"Listen to me," Laura’s voice echoed from the doorway they had just passed, though she was no longer visible. "Never be separated. Whatever happens, never leave your friend. Do not look at the faces of the people in the crowd. Follow a light once you see it. That light is your way home."

The group stood in the center of the decaying room. Alexander stepped forward. He looked at each of his brothers. "Did everyone hear her? No one wanders off. We move as a single unit."

They stepped out of the house and back into the tall, purple grass. The grass rustled loudly, as if creatures were scurrying through it. Nathan gripped Zane’s hand. Zane’s grip was like iron, his fingers digging into Nathan’s palm.

As they walked back into the market streets, the atmosphere had changed. The people with the yellow cat-eyes were no longer just walking past. They were standing in groups, watching the Salazars with intense hunger. They didn’t move, but their heads turned in unison as the group passed.

So terrifying.

The streets felt longer. The leaning wooden buildings seemed to hover over them, blocking out the sky. The smell of the spices was so strong it made Nathan’s nose burn.

"Don’t look at them," Alexander reminded them. His voice was a low growl. "Keep your eyes on the back of the person in front of you."

Nathan kept his eyes on Alexander’s jacket. He could hear Nael whimpering behind him, and Hale’s soft voice trying to calm him down. The sounds of the market were strange, whispers that sounded like his name, the clatter of wooden wheels on stones, and a high-pitched whistling that never stopped.

They walked for what felt like hours. The market seemed endless. Every time they turned a corner, they found another square filled with lanterns and yellow eyes.

"Alex, we’ve passed this stall before," Roger whispered. He pointed to a stall filled with scaled, purple fruit. "We’re going in circles."

Alexander stopped. He looked around. The crowd was beginning to close in. The yellow light of their eyes was the only thing Nathan could see in the periphery of his vision.

Alexander said nothing, he was confused too.

"Mom said to follow a light," Zane said. He was looking up. "Not the lanterns. Maybe there’s a different light."

Nathan looked up too. In the distance, far beyond the crooked roofs of the market, he saw a faint, flickering blue glow. It looked like a star, but it was moving.

"There!" Nathan pointed. "The blue light!"

Alexander looked hesitant, but they had no choice but to try. "Stay together. Don’t run off!"

They picked up their pace. They were almost running now, but they tried to stay together. The crowd began to scatter, minding their own business. But many of them looked up and started following.

"Don’t panic, don’t run!" Alexander ordered.

Nathan felt a hand brush against his shoulder, a cold, thin hand with long nails. He didn’t look back. He just squeezed Zane’s hand harder and kept walking quickly.

The blue light grew brighter. It was coming from a gap between two massive bone-trees at the edge of the market. As they got closer, Nathan realized the light was coming from a lantern held by a figure standing in the mist, a huge creature.

"Is that Grandpa?" Nathan cried out.

"Don’t stop!" Alexander yelled. "Keep moving!"

They burst through the final row of market stalls. The cobblestones gave way to soft dirt and moss. The scent of spices vanished, replaced by the sharp, clean scent of pine.

Nathan felt the cold wind hitting his face. He tripped on a tree root and fell forward, pulling Zane down with him. They tumbled onto the wet grass.

When Nathan looked up, the blue light was gone. He looked back, but there was no market. There was only a thick wall of fog and the dark silhouettes of ordinary trees.

They were back in the forest.

But it looked different. In front of them was a small hut.

Nathan seemed to recognize the hut. It was the hut in the forest behind their mansion.

Everyone was confused. But they were near the mansion!!

Alexander was standing a few feet away, now counting his brothers. "One, two, three... everyone is here. Everyone is okay."

Nathan sat on the ground, gasping for air. He looked at Zane, who was also panting, his face covered in dirt. They were safe. The nightmare of the Market World was behind them.

But as Nathan looked at his brothers, he saw the same lost expression on all their faces. They had lost their parents. They had seen a world that shouldn’t exist. And they were going back to a mansion that would be different.

Nathan looked at his hands. They were shaking.

"Let’s go!" Alexander said. He had to call Antonio. Where was that old man?

Nathan watched his own shadow stretch out in front of him, and he had never been more glad to see a patch of darkness in his life.

We’re home.

And for the first time, Nathan called it home.