Chapter Seven

...Three years later...

Noah watched Daniel's knee bounce up and down in a nervous tick, and his fingers fidgeting with the handle at the top of his cane. He was anxious, and that surprised and delighted and scared Noah all at the same time. Daniel's round, dark-framed glasses slipped down his nose some, and he pushed them back up into place with a quivering hand. The spectacles were a new addition to his clothing that he had felt necessary to have once he realized that his uncontrolled eyes were more annerving to the public than he had first thought.

Noah smirked to himself, leaning against the sill of the large open window. It was summer, and a nice warm wind wafted through the window, serving as a pleasant break from the almost year-round blizzards, "Is something the matter?" As much as he had not wanted it to, a laugh made the words seem teasing when they were meant to be concerned.

Daniel's fidgeting came to an immediate halt, his palms gripped the cane more tightly than had to be comfortable, and he crossed his still leg over the previously bouncing one. "Of course not," he answered. He shifted his weight from one side to the other in his chair.

"Oh, really?" Noah tried to lighten the mood by being overdramatic. "Then why have you been twitching like a mad dog ever since you sat yourself down?"

Daniel sighed, sinking down in his seat until the base of his neck rested against the top of the chair. "Well...," he started as he twirled his cane in the small circle of his curved fingers.

"Well?" Noah prompted.

"Well-" Daniel's eyebrows furrowed. "We're moving out today."

"Yes," Noah didn't get the problem. "We're eighteen, or at least we will be tonight, and we had decided a long time ago that we would move out on this day. Actually, you decided it first, then convinced me, too, so it is your idea-"

Daniel grunted, halting his brother's rambling. "I know that," he snapped, "I'm just... It's... It's different than what I had thought."

"It?"

"It. This. The situation," he took the Noah's silence as not understanding, so he explained. "I had... I had expected more of an- argument- from people- Father, I mean."

"You don't often speak in cracked sentences like this," Noah said softly. "You must really be upset."

"Not upset. No. Nothing like that. Just...," he shrugged, uncrossing his legs to stretch them out straight.

"Surprised. Nervous. Juvenile. Dissapointed," Noah offered. Daniel did not reply. They listened to the birds singing from their nest in the tree near the window, letting them fill the heavy silence. "It's going to be a sad birthday party tonight," Noah could not stand the quiet any longer, so he changed the subject. "Farro, Patience, and Modika know of our plans to move out, but... They don't know that we're going to let them off. I'm sure they'll be hurt. They've been by our sides for years, and now were going to shove them back into the harsh world where they'll need paying jobs to survive. And what about poor Modika? First he loses his best friend Gabriel, and now he's losing us. And he won't find work as easily as the other two, given his color...," he reached out to the birds nest, which was just within touching distance. The mother bird stopped her singing, eyeing the hand suspiciously. Was it a predator, out to eat her eggs? Noah took his hand back, choosing not to destroy at least one being's happiness today.

"Our birthdays have been tainted for all our lives. You should be used to it by now," Daniel stated, tightly grasping his cane once more.

"Not all our lives...," Noah bit his lip. He hated it when Daniel got morbid like this.

"You're obviously not remembering everything," Daniel's voice lowered.

"Daniel, please..."

"So our first few years alive were good and happy, but do you recall any of it? Of course not. On our fifth birthday, great-grandfather died. We didn't know him. We didn't attend the funeral. Sixth birthday, an early lightening storm brought down a large tree, crushing our mother's favorite horse. Seventh, Gabriel touched Father's gun without his permission, and as punishment had to shoot and kill the first wild animals he saw, which happened to be innocent rabbits. You know he never fully recovered from that."

"I know, I know, but please-"

"Eight birthday," Daniel continued, "Mother killed herself. Around the nineth, Gabriel started hallucinating and having seizures. Almost our tenth birthday, I got trampled and lost my sight." He paused, taking a deep breath. He was working himself up for unknown reasons, even to him. Maybe he just needed the adrenaline rush. "For the next few years, Crae fought with Gabriel and eventually refused to teach him, focusing on you as his top student instead-"

Noah went ridged, but Daniel did not notice.

"-Thirteenth, Gabriel is locked away. About the fourteenth, I noticed you starting to act strangely after completing Crae's training course. We didn't talk much that birthday," he seemed hurt. Noah clenched the sill with both hands so tightly that his knuckles turned white. "Fifteenth, you stopped talking and- Gabriel died."

"I do not appreciate this flashback, Daniel," Noah sounded dangerous, as he always did whenever Crae was brought up. "But let me finish for you, since you seem Hell bent on ripping open my heart just when it was almost healed. Again."

Daniel said nothing.

"Birthday's sixteen and seventeen, we had to endure Father's lecturing about how we shouldn't miss Gabriel, even though it was his birthday, too. I almost couldn't stand it, not having Gabriel there with us. Twice. No, everyday. And this year, we're stabbing all of our friends in the back and then we'll have to suffer the loss of them everyday after this, as well," Noah frustratedly swatted his hand at the nest he had chosen not to disturb, making the mother squak in surprise and fly away with loud flaps of her wings. "Are you happy now, brother? Is your masochistic mood-swing satisfied for now?" his voice was rising. He wanted to slap the nest off of it's perch in the branches, but he knew he would regret it later, so he didn't.

A lapse in conversation was filled with Noah's loud breathing, which was beginning to quiet as he came back to his senses, and the sound of Daniel resuming his bouncing and fidgeting from before.

"For now?" Daniel tried to say in a voice that would not provoke anymore of Noah's anger. "Have I gotten carried away like this before?"

"Many times," Noah answered in a tight voice.

Daniel sighed. "I'm sorry. For getting like that. And for what I've said. It was uncalled for."

"Yes, it was," Noah pushed himself away from the window. He smoothed his hands down his wrinkleless jacket, thinking about his next words. "But if we got along all of the time, we wouldn't be normal, now wouldn't we?"

"Normal," Daniel laughed through his nose. "What an odd word to use for us." The tension was broken, and they both knew it. They loved eachother to much to stay mad.

Noah rocked on the balls of his feet for a second, then strode over to Daniel in the chair. He got down on his knees, situating himself between Daniel's outstretched legs. He could hear Daniel breathing in time to the movement of his chest going up and down. Daniel's glasses had slipped down again, so Noah reached out and pushed them back up into place, choosing not to resist the urge to pinch the tip of his brother's nose afterward.

"Hey-" Daniel started. He did not get to finish, however, since his lips were now covered by Noah's. They had only started kissing like this a few months ago, when they could not deny the most unbrotherly affection they shared any longer, so it was still a new feeling. It was a sweet kiss, soft and passionate, nonetheless.

"Hey Daniel?" Noah asked when they pulled apart.

"Yes Noah?" Daniel replied. Their faces were still close, and they could feel the other's breath on their face.

Noah smiled. "Let's go get drunk with some friends."

Daniel snorted. "Alright."

---

It was just the five of them; Noah and Daniel, Patience, Farro and Modika. They sat at their own private table in the back of a pub, speaking and laughing over the noise of the other inhabitants of the bar. Noah and Daniel sat at their rightful place at the head of the rounded table, everyone seated around them. Farro and Patience sat together off to one side. Modika sat by himself, a bit farther away than the other two were. He had grown more and more aloof from everything and everyone ever since Gabriel's passing.

"So, eh? I say we drink to this wonderful day!" Farro slurred, for he had already consumed at least three drinks already.

"Again," Patience laughed, "How many times now have you proposed a toast, dear Farro?"

"It has to be at least eight," Noah chided.

"Have not!" Farro paused to try and string together what everyone else supposed was to be a sentence, "Anyway, even if I have had a few too many so far-"

"There is no such thing as too many drinks," Noah patted his friend on the shoulder.

"-I'd like to propose a toast to something else," Farro finished, a look of triumph on his face when he realized he had surprised everyone.

"Oh?" Daniel asked, "And what would that be?"

"Weeeell," Farro giggled, "I dunno if none of the rest of you have noticed, but Noah 'n Dandan have been a bit on the depressed side since we got here, so I propose a toast to ever-lasting friendship, even if endless miles seperate us!"

Both of the brothers looked shocked. Even when sober, Farro had never been so perceptive. And to guess correctly that they would be parting ways soon... "To friendship," Patience chimed in, lifting her glass. Everyone else joined in, though Modika's clinking of glasses was half-hearted. They laughed, and partied and enjoyed themselves until the wee hours of the morning, even Modika managed a smile or two.

And then-

"It has been nice being friends with you all these years, truly, but now we must leave you to your own devices. We both feel this neccessary, so don't try to protest," Daniel was speaking. His voice was tight, and not only from his fighting against the alcohol in his system. Noah was cowarding behind his brother, trying not to cry in front of the others, but it was hard.

"What... are you saying... Daniel?" Patience asked, panicked.

Daniel didn't respond at first. He bit his lip, trying to build up bravado, but it was difficult to do when he could feel Noah quivering behind him. Daniel wished he could look Patience in the eye, wished he could see just how she had grown these past three years, wished to see everything, anything. He realized he wished for his sight to be back, a feeling he had fought against most of his life. "What I am saying, Patience," Patience was dizzy, "Farro," Farro nearly dropped his glass, "Modika," Modika looked the same as he always did; he had known something like this would happen, he had just known, "-is goodbye."

Goodbye.

...Goodbye.

...Goodbye.

Noah cried.

---

Err, it's shorter than usual, but I think after my FOUR MONTH DISSAPEARANCE, you deserve SOMETHING as soon as I could write it.

Haha, so so sorry about that.

OH, question! Would any of you be interested in a bonus chapter that consisted entirely of how the triplets' parents met? You know Fletcher and Swanhilde? Would anyone want to read it even if it's -GASP- heterosexual?

Anyway, next chapter actually has a name:

Gabriel's Journal

(I had called it Gabriel's Diary before, but then I realized that was a little too gay. haha)