He dug for what seems like half an hour before a certain pale leg came into his sight. Overjoyed took his well-being and before Viktor could process what was happening, he was running home with his little brother cradled in his arms.
"Mama, papa!" Viktor screamed as tears of joy sprung from his gray coloured orbs. He bursts into the door and gust of warmness greeted him right away. "Look what I found!"
His father grunted at first but when his eyes landed on someone in his older son's arms, he gasped.
"Yelena, come!" He called out to his wife.The man limped towards Viktor and he dropped on the floor beside his younger son's sleeping form. "Moya zhena, bring a warm cup of tea with you!"
Yelena frantically wiped her wet hands on her apron and snatched a cup of tea along the way. She then staggered towards the living room to where the commotion is.
"What is happening in here?" She asked with her frail voice and when her sight landed on Alexei, she screamed in sheer delight. "Moy syn!" She whimpered as she approached the limp figure sprawled across the floor. Viktor grabbed the warm cup of tea and forced it into Alexei's frozen lips.
"H-he's breathing..." His papa muttered in disbelief and Viktor tilted his head up to meet his eyes.
"He's been alive all along." He answered back shortly, flashing Alexei's sleeping form a small smile. "Those imbeciles were all wrong, Papa, Alexei's alive. He's alive!"
A smile formed on his father's aged face and Viktor, for the first time, shed tears in front of his parents.
"He is, Viktor," Ivan said as he wrapped an arm across his wife's shoulders. "He is."
That night, Viktor pleaded to let Alexei sleep with him in his room once again.
"Big brother..."
There was a faint voice calling out to Viktor and he stirred in his sleep.
"Big brother," The scrawny voice tried once again. "Wake up."
Viktor shot up from his bed and he came face to face with a ghostly looking Alexei who is currently sitting on his lap.
"Big brother, I'm scared." He whimpered, his voice cracking and faltering at the same time.
Viktor scratched his head and tried to rub the sleep from his eyes. "Alexei...?" He mumbled tiredly. Everything went slow at first but then realization hit him and he abruptly embraced his younger brother into a bone crushing hug while lifting him up from his bed. He scampered out of the room and onto the hall towards his Papa's.
"Papa, wake up!" He yelled as he slammed his fist on the wooden door of his parent's room. "Alexei's gained consciousness. Wake up!"
There was a soft click and the door bursts open, revealing his half-awake father. "Say what, eh?"
"Alexei," He shouted excitedly while ushering his father towards his bedroom. "He's awake, papa!"
The two ran towards the place Alexei is currently staying and when they opened the door, they found the youngest lad in the house cowering at the corner of the room.
"Alexei?" Viktor said with a hint of concern in his voice. "Are you okay?"
The younger boy sat with his arms wrapped around his knees and he decided to ignore his older brother. He continued to stare at the far distance between Viktor and his father while nibbling his lower lip.
"Alexei, moy syn..." Ivan advanced a step towards him and his eyes suddenly landed on his. "Jesus," He screamed. "What happened to your eyes?"
Viktor's head snapped to the said part of his body and his jaws dropped in shock. Alexei's rare and once breathtaking eye colour vanished and was replaced with dull gray, the same color of ash.
Why hadn't he noticed it earlier?
"What happened to your lavender eyes, Alexei?" His father continued to interrogate but Alexei chose to ignore it.
The man waited patiently for the young boy to speak but all he got in return was silence. Before Viktor could say something, Alexei cuts him off with just one word that brought goose bumps on the back of his neck. "Temnayafigura,"
