Kadaj of the Irresistible Lips

Chap. 2- Pure Morning

Kadaj awoke, sweating, and clawing at the open air; his throat was raw from screaming. The pale light of early morning filtered through the blinds over his bedroom window.
Mother.
He whimpered, twisting in his bed.
“Kadaj!” His bedroom light flickered on and Yazoo appeared, Loz close behind him. They hurried to his bedside, one on each side of him, and reached out with loving arms to soothe their frantic little brother. But Kadaj’s eyes were wild, and he didn’t recognize them. He batted them away.
“Mother!” He shrieked.
“It’s alright,” Yazoo soothed. “She’s not here.”
He attempted to hold Kadaj still by force; Loz helped him, holding his arms down, as Yazoo embraced him and whispered words of comfort into his ear. Kadaj whined and writhed against their grips, tears of panic appearing in his eyes.
“Kadaj, wake up.” Yazoo said softly. “You’re safe.”
Kadaj struggled harder and said words that didn’t make sense, words that were unrelated to one another. Yazoo couldn’t follow it and he looked to Loz, who shook his head helplessly. “Kadaj,” Yazoo tried again. “You’re safe with us. We’re taking care of you.”
“No!”
“Your brothers are here, now.”
“…Brother?” Kadaj said, relaxing slightly. His eyes began to take on a gleam of recognition. He seemed aware of his surroundings.
Yazoo relaxed his grip slightly. “That’s right.” He said gently, smiling. “Brother. We are your brothers. You are safe with your brothers.”
Kadaj frowned and blinked sleepily, going limp in his arms. “But where is he?” He murmured, sounding distraught.
Yazoo tucked him back in and smoothed his hair back. He wasn’t even going to try and make sense of that question, he decided, kissing Kadaj on the forehead before standing up to leave. Loz mimicked his actions, kissing and hugging his baby brother somewhat awkwardly, for he found it difficult to be gentle with the teen who appeared to be so fragile; Loz had never felt at home in his large, muscular body.
Yazoo smiled at seeing Loz’s efforts and he led him from Kadaj’s bedroom quietly, satisfied that Kadaj was already sleeping peacefully again. He hesitated before turning off the light—Kadaj might be frightened if he woke up in the dark after having such terrible nightmares.
Yazoo settled for leaving the hallway light on and leaving Kadaj’s bedroom door open by just a few inches. He and Loz padded back to their own bedrooms, Loz in his bunny slippers and Yazoo in his sock feet. They were quiet as they parted ways; they were used to this—waking up in the middle of the night and rushing to comfort Kadaj, to reassure him that he was not still back in the labs being tortured by their “counselors” with Mother’s voice whispering Death in his ear.
They all had nightmares. After having an experience like theirs, it would have been impossible not to. But…for Kadaj, it had always been worse. He was not right. And they worried about him often, wondering if he would ever get well. Wondering if he was even aware of what was going on.
Loz fell back to sleep quickly, but in the other room Yazoo lay in his bed wide awake, for a long time. Thinking…
Hours later, Kadaj awoke, stretching languidly and smiling at the bright morning sunlight that filtered through his window in stripes of gold. He felt content, as though nothing in the world could go wrong.
The nightmares of hours previous were forgotten. He crawled out of bed, swaying on his feet with dizziness as the blood rushed to his head from having gotten up too fast. He laughed, amused by his clumsiness, and stretched again, sighing with satisfaction when he felt his back crack.
He had to pee, and he was hungry. But those needs were unimportant. He stood before his bedroom mirror, smiling. Admiring his reflection, beautiful as it was sleepy and sleep-ruffled. Thinking to himself that if he was someone else, he’d probably be desperate to be his friend. His lover, even.
Beautiful.
“I love you.” He whispered.
And he twirled around in a circle, throwing his arms wide, excited to be Kadaj in the light of pure morning.

A/N: *ahem* You know what I want.