The problem was, he was standing alone and for the first time in years that bothered him.
Closing his eyes, he felt the bite of the cold against him as he summoned an image of Leta in his mind. "I miss you, baby." But there was nothing to be done about it.
Life was what it was.
Defeated, he turned to enter his house and saw that his door had been replaced. "Leta?" he asked with a hopeful note in his voice.
It wasn't her. Deimos was standing inside the living room, watching him.
Aidan couldn't understand his presence. "I thought you were playing chess."
"I was going to, but..." He hesitated as if there were something on his mind.
"But?" Aidan prompted.
Deimos indicated the door with a tilt of his head. "I remembered you had a broken door."
"Thanks for repairing it."
"No problem."
Aidan paused, waiting for Deimos to speak or do something. When he didn't, Aidan arched a brow. "Is there something I can help you with?"
"Not really. It's more along the lines of something I can help you with."
Now he had Aidan's full attention. "And that is?"
Deimos's gaze bored into him. "What would you give to have Leta with you?"
Aidan didn't hesitate. "Everything."
"You sure?"
"Yes." Suddenly, everything went black. Aidan jerked around, trying to get his bearings, but he couldn't see, feel, or hear anything. It was just dark. "Leta?"
This time she didn't respond. There was no kind hand to ground him. No words of encouragement and he missed that even more.
When the light returned, he saw himself as a kid near a Christmas tree. He was eleven and at his uncle's house. Aidan frowned as he tried to remember the exact event, but he couldn't. He only remembered the setting.
"What did you get?" Donnie asked as he came over to where Aidan was playing.
Aidan held up his action figure. "G.I. Joe and some candy."
Donnie curled his lip. "That's not fair. I wanted a G.I. Joe."
Aidan was baffled by his anger. "No you didn't. You said you wanted Optimus Prime and Grimlock, which you got."
Donnie reached for the toy in Aidan's hand and snatched it away.
"Give that back!"
Donnie refused, and when Aidan tried even harder, he punched him with everything he had. Aidan shouted in fury which woke his uncle up from the nap he was taking on the plaid couch a few feet away from them.
Two seconds later, with insults ringing in their ears, all the toys were in the garbage and both of them were grounded. Not to mention bruised from their uncle's anger.
"It's all your fault," Donnie snarled, shoving Aidan up the stairs as they headed to the room the two of them shared.
"I didn't take your toys, you took mine."
Donnie curled his lip. "That's because you need to learn to share. You're such a selfish scumbag. I hate you. I wish you'd died with Mom and Dad."
Aidan froze at the hostility on his brother's face as Donnie trudged past him. His heart heavy, he reversed course and returned to the living room. He sneaked around the corner, afraid of being caught. Luckily his uncle was back on the couch again, passed out from his Christmas drinking binge.
As quietly as he could, Aidan crept to the garbage can and pulled the toys out. Then just as silently, he made his way back upstairs where he handed the toys to Donnie.
"You can have them," he said, not wanting his brother to hate him anymore.
Donnie smiled.
But even though Aidan had won his brother back, there was no satisfaction in it. He merely felt relieved that Donnie didn't hate him...