"Hey, Sieg, I'm here, little one. Look at me, jeje."
I always thought babies were annoying, little humans who cry all day, too dumb to understand basic orders, but somehow clever enough to fool their parents. But that changed the moment I met my little brother, Sieg.
"Jejeje, you like that? You like when I tickle you, right? You like tickles, little Sieg."
Sieg isn't a tiny human who cries nonstop. He's a tiny half-elf who giggles and laughs at everything, all day long.
"Don't spoil him too much, Ryker," I heard from downstairs.
"Sorry, White Mom. I can't help myself—I just have to spoil this cute little baby."
As I answered White Mother, Sieg kept giggling while I tickled his tiny belly. Every time I see him laughing, something warm spreads through my whole chest. And whenever he cries, it's like the world tilts sideways. I still remember exactly how it felt during the Chaos Breaker incident… that flash of anger when he cried. Honestly, that was part of what pushed me to attack Perugius.
Just imagining my little brother getting hurt makes a knot twist in my stomach and gives me the creeps. I don't know why, but with Ars I don't feel the same. I love Ars too, but I don't feel that instinctive need to protect him the way I do with Sieg.
"Hey, Sieg… your older brother Ryker will always protect you."
I placed my finger in his tiny hand, and he grabbed it. My eyes met his. His big round eyes were staring at me with that amazed little look, my smile grew even more.
—CRACK
"AAAAHHH! FUCK!"
Out of nowhere, that warmth in my chest was replaced by a tidal wave of pain slamming through all my senses. Shit! It hurts like hell! I looked for the source of the pain, and there it was: my cute little brother, the one I was having an emotional moment with, laughing and playing with my finger like it was a damn stick. Sieg broke my goddamn finger!
"Ryker! What happened?!" White Mother rushed in, pale as a ghost. Aisha and Grandma Lilia were right behind her, all wearing the same worried expression.
"The finger… Sieg… AAHHH! Just chop my hand off!!"
"Oh, don't be so dramatic." White Mother gently pried open Sieg's tiny hand and released my finger. When I looked at it, the damn thing was twisted and bent in ways a finger should not bend.
Honestly, I always thought the first person to break one of my bones would be Red Mother with her insane training, not Sieg!
"First me, then Rudy, and now you. We really need to control Sieg…" White Mother sighed as she leaned closer, preparing healing magic.
"Sieg did the same to Father and you?!" I blurted out, confused.
"Yes. He broke Rudy's finger too, and he almost broke my wrist," she said, sounding more disappointed than actually alarmed.
When she finished healing me, I looked at Sieg again, this time a lot more cautiously.
"Wahhh… Wuaahh…" Sieg's eyes were watery, and he was sobbing while reaching his tiny arms toward me.
"Oh, I could never be angry at you, little Sieg." I scooped him up and gently patted his back. Though honestly, now I feel stupid about all that protective stuff I said earlier. He's the one who's going to end up protecting me!
"Ryker, instead of spoiling Sieg, go downstairs. Roxy has to tell you something important," White Mother said while taking Sieg from me.
"Fine, I'll go downstairs."
When I arrived to the living room, I found all my siblings gathered around Blue Mother.
"What took you so long?!" Lucy asked angrily, her hands on her hips. She definitely learned that pose from White Mother when she gets mad at Father.
"Problems… Anyway, what's going on?" I asked Blue Mother.
Blue Mother lifted a fishing rod and said proudly, "We're going fishing."
"Fishing? Why?" Blue Mother wasn't the kind of person who suddenly wanted to spend family time without a reason, so her behavior was suspicious…
"Well… Rudy and the rest of us will be busy with work. We'll be leaving for a few months," Blue Mother replied nervously.
"A few months?! But it's only been two months since you came back from baptizing Sieg, and now the four of you are leaving again?"
More than sadness, I felt worried about whatever was going on. It was normal for Father and Red Mother to be away for a couple of months. But if Father and all three mothers needed to leave together, then something big was definitely happening.
"Hey, don't worry about that, Ryker. Let's just focus on spending some family time—you, your siblings, and Blue Mother. Can you do that for me?" Blue Mother patted my head as she spoke.
"Of course…" Still, I had to admit. I felt a little sad.
"Good. Then our group will be Lucy, Lara, Ars, Ryker, Leo, and me. Let's go, kids!" Blue Mother said excitedly as we headed out the door.
"Be careful!"
"Take care!"
"Enjoy your trip"
White Mother, Aisha, and Grandma Lilia said goodbye to us from the living room.
We were heading to a river nearby, so it wouldn't take long. Still, the trip to the river was kind of tense.
"Hey, don't reply at Blue Mother, and take Ars hand" Lucy was particulary grumpy today, it must be because our parents are leaving.
"Sure mom" I replied sarcastically as I took Ars hand.
"Hey!" Lucy growled at me angry
"What? Now you want to act like White Mother, so I call you mom"
"I'm your older sister Ryker!" Lucy got angrier as she spoke.
"Hey! Both of you stop, family trip, remember?" Blue Mother said, while looking back at Lucy and me.
"Sorry..." We both said at the same time
"Good, now Lucy take Ryker's hand too"
"Hmmph!" Lucy snorted while taking my hand. This girl is really annoying sometimes.
As I was lost in my thoughts, something pulled one of my hair locks.
"Ouch!"
I turned around and saw my blue-haired sister, Lara, sitting on top of Leo. She had a bunch of my hair locks clenched between her fingers.
"What was that for?" I asked indignantly.
"Hmmm."
"What does that mean?" I replied to her snort, but Lara just kept moving forward on top of Leo, completely ignoring me.
We kept walking in silence, with a few tense glances exchanged between Lucy and me. Before I even noticed, we had already arrived at the river.
"Here we are! Let's sit down on the riverbank," Blue Mother said as she took out the fishing rods.
We sat on the riverbank, and Blue Mother handed us small fishing rods.
"Take them and look at me," Blue Mother said. She began to bait the hook, then cast the line into the river. After a moment, she started reeling it in, and a fish could be seen hanging from the hook.
"You see? Now try it," Blue Mother ordered us with a proud look.
I easily started to follow Blue Mother's steps and fished thousands of fish… well, that's what I would like to say. In reality, I couldn't even place the bait on the hook, and when I tried to force it, I ended up pinching my own finger.
"HAHAHA! Look, Ryker! I'm already fishing!" Lucy laughed.
"Tch… shut up, Lucy."
I kept trying to place the bait on the hook, but all my efforts were useless. Blue Mother eventually helped me by placing the bait for me. When I cast the line into the river, it somehow hit a rock, and the hook broke.
"What the—how is that even possible?!" I shouted angrily.
Blue Mother sighed and gave me another hook, then she went to help Ars and Lara. I think she already considered me a lost cause. But I wouldn't give up!
I'm Ryker Greyrat! Son of Rudeus and Eris Greyrat. Fishing won't defeat me!
As time passed, Lucy and Lara were already showing off the fish they had caught.
"Hehehe, what is it, Ryker? Can't you catch a fish?"
"Ryker is really bad at this."
Lucy and Lara's teasing wasn't helping at all. I had already cast my line into the river; I was just waiting for the right moment…
"Mama! Look, a shishs!"
I looked in the direction where the tiny voice was coming from.
"That's good, Ars, but it's called a fish."
"Fish! Hehehe!"
To my disappointment, I saw Ars holding a tiny fish while Blue Mother patted his head.
"Forgive me, Father… I have failed you," I said, lying back on the ground. The moment I saw that Ars had already caught a fish, I gave up completely.
"I guess you're not much of a fisherman, Ryker," Blue Mother said, shrugging while chuckling.
The rest of the afternoon, we swam in the river. I vented all my frustrations by annoying Lucy in the water, though Lara kept pinching my hair and Ars kept slapping my head, as always. In the end, I lost the fight against my three siblings.
"Okay, time to go back!" Blue Mother shouted.
We quickly dried off and started our way back. Even though I sucked at fishing, I really enjoyed the family time. Still, I knew the reason we were doing all of this was because our parents would be leaving in the following days, but I tried to focus on the positive.
"We're back!" As soon as we entered the house, Lucy announced our return and ran toward White Mother.
"Did you have fun, Lucy?" White Mother asked gently.
"Yes! I fished a lot! Ryker is really bad at fishing," Lucy said, pointing at me.
"It's not something you should be telling everyone, Lucy," I said dryly, and Lucy just stuck her tongue out at me.
I sighed and walked to the dining table. Surprisingly, everyone was there: Red Mother, Father, Norn, Aisha, Grandma Lilia, and Grandma Zenith.
"Seems you had a good day," Father said with a bright smile. He was holding Sieg, who was sleeping peacefully in his arms.
"Before Lucy tells you, I suck at fishing," I said.
Father looked confused at my words.
"Hey! I wanted to tell him!" The hig-pitched voice of Lucy said
"Too bad."
Lucy growled angrily at my response.
"What is it? Maybe I'm bad at fishing, but I'm still better than you at everything else," I said teasingly. I was just joking, getting a little revenge for all the fishing comments she kept throwing at me, but Lucy seemed to explode at my words.
"THAT'S NOT TRUE. I—I'm not…" Lucy started sobbing and ran upstairs to her bedroom.
"Eh? It was just a joke. Why did she take it so—" I muttered, but suddenly I was grabbed by the scruff of my shirt and lifted up.
Shit. This brought back bad memories.
"Why did you say that?"
I looked toward the voice and saw Red Mother staring at me furiously.
"Wasn't I clear the last time I spoke to you about arrogance?" Red Mother said.
"She was the one who started! She's been bothering me a lot. If she can make fun of me, why can't I?" I replied.
Red Mother remained silent. She is very strong, but she's not good with words.
"Ryker and Lucy have been fighting a lot lately," Blue Mother intervened, but she wasn't talking to Red Mother, she was talking to Father.
"It's true that Lucy was bothering Ryker a lot, but she was just joking," Blue Mother continued.
"And I was joking too!" I replied.
"But the difference is that your jokes hurt Lucy. Did Lucy's jokes hurt you, Ryker?" Blue Mother finally said, this time looking directly at me.
She got me there. Lucy was annoying, but I wouldn't start crying because of her stupid comments. On the other hand… maybe my joke was too rough on her.
"Go upstairs and apologize," Father finally spoke.
"And don't say things like that again. Those comments hurt others," White Mother added as I looked to my right.
"Fine…"
Red Mother let me go, and I started walking upstairs.
Honestly, most of the time when my parents scold me, it's because they're right and I did something wrong, just like what happened at Perugius's castle. But this time, I don't see what I did wrong. I mean, if she was mocking me, she should be ready to get mocked back.
I know Lucy has a serious problem of envy toward me. I'm not stupid, I notice it. I've always justified her behavior because of that, but lately… lately I'm starting to get tired of it.
With these thoughts, I stood in front of Lucy's bedroom door.