The sky was a mixture of yellow, red, and orange. The clouds peacefully floated, the wind calmly blowing away the orange Autumn leaves. Jedediah looks around to see fields of grass, being slightly blown because of the wind. The blonde was placed in a sitting position on the soft but ticklish grass.
He wonders to himself where he is, as he keeps thinking, he hears the cheerful and happy laughter of both a younger boy and an older man. Jedediah stands up, and walks over to where the laughter was to see his youngest brother Ira laughing alongside his older brother Austin.
For some reason, he feels a spark of joy. Tears suddenly fill his eyes as the Texan runs up to them “Austin! Ira!” he shouts, the two gingers look at him with a confused expressions. Jedediah immediately hugs them when he reaches them, pushing them down to the ground.
Ira laughs while Austin makes struggled noises “Haha! Jed, what's wrong?” the youngest asked in a happy tone, Jedediah doesn't answer, he doesn't know how to answer, he just keeps hugging them as he tries to hold back his tears.
“Hey, what's happening here?” the blonde hears another voice say, he looks up to see Peter sitting beside them “Pete... C'mere!” Jedediah exclaimed, Ira pulled his big brother into the hug and now the four of them are hugging.
Peter and Austin make strained noises but Ira doesn't say anything “..Jed, let go... Ma and pa are lookin’ for ya..” Peter managed to say. Jedediah lets go of the hug to look at Peter with a sad and puzzled expression “Pete... Ma and pa aren't..”
“Junior! C'mon, need yer help!” a deep voice called, the Texan immediately knew who it was and he quickly got up and ran over to where the voice was “Pa?!” he couldn't help but exclaim.
He sees a little shack, his mother sitting on the rocking chair by the porch, his father talking to a brunette man and... There was a blonde little girl playing by the grass.
The Texan makes his way to them “Pa? W-who's that?” he asks. His father looks at him and smiles “Jj, you don't know Octavius?” as he finishes saying that, the brunette man turns around to reveal his friend Octavius, smiling at him.
Jedediah puts on a puzzled expression “Then... Who's the tot?” he asked once more, pointing to the little girl “Jed, no more questions. C'mon I need yer help. I also need to talk to you..” his father said, whispering the last part to his son.
Jedediah didn't knew what was happening, nor did he knew where he was, but he felt happy. He saw his mother and father again, even if it's from a dream, he gets to see them once more.
As him and his father get away from the little shack, leaving Jed's mother, Octavius, and the little girl there for a while, Jedediah's father stops in his tracks.
“Pa? Something wrong?” the blonde asked, Jedediah Sr. Wasn't facing him, this made the blonde a bit anxious “Pa?” he asked, putting his hand on the older man's shoulder.
Before Jed could say anything, his father turns around, eyes completely black as goop start to flow down his face. The older man's hair slowly turning into snakes hissing at Jedediah. The skies turn black, no more comforting skies to look at anymore, the supposed to be grass turned into a watery pool of black goop.
“Jedediah... You've disappointed me boy..” Jedediah Sr. Says, as he somehow towers over his son “Pa! What're you talking about?!” the Texan asked, his father points at him “I told you to look after your brothers but it seems that you haven't been doing a good job..”
The blonde shakes his head repetitively “No! Pa, I got a job to help Austin! I've been talkin’ to Peter ‘bout him growing up! A-and I've been helping Ira with his school work even though I don't understand ‘em!” he falls to his knees, he hugs himself.
“Please pa..What else do I have to do?! I just want you an’ Ma to come back!” he screams, tears streaming down his face.
“Ever since y'all passed away, we've changed... Aussie became more responsible for us, Peter became a bit rebellious, and Ira... He hasn't even met you an’ ma..” he mutters. The man he once thought of was his father scoffed, crossing his arms “Excuses Jedediah. You know how much I hate it when you make up excuses.”
“But I haven't!” he claps back, before the blonde knows, he's falling into the pit.
Jedediah lands on the ground, falling flat on his face. There he sees Ira, crying his eyes out “Now, what do we have here?” he hears his father's voice call to him.
Now there was a crowd that surrounded his little brother, and he hears a gun being set off and glass shattering before hearing his own voice “That's what I thought, now keep filling up that bag!”
In the midst everything, all Jedediah could focus on was Ira who cried uncontrollably.
“You scared him..Was that part of your responsibility?” Jedediah shakes his head, tears flowing faster than before.
The ground shakes and the Texan falls once more. He lands on a closed space, he sees nothing and that makes him even more anxious
Jedediah hugs his knees, afraid of what'll happen next. The blonde doesn't hear anything, just the sound of him crying, but after a while, he starts to hear whispers.
The whispers started off not too loud, but as the time went on, the whispering grew louder and louder, to the point where Jedediah had to cover his ears.
“You were never a good brother.”
“You failed us.”
“We would've been better without ya.”
After minutes of whispering, Jedediah finds himself awake.
He jolts upwards and looks around the room to see his brothers, surrounding his bed. Austin was the first one to say something “Jed? You alright there amigo?”
Jedediah rubs his eyes and he feels tears on his face “I... What happened?..” he asked in confusion. Peter sits on the foot of his bed “Well earlier you were screaming an’ crying. We thought you were getting possessed but Tin here says you were just having a nightmare.”
Ira sits next to the blonde “Mhm, we kept waking you up and now here we are.” the little boy said, hugging his older brother's arm. Austin sits on the bed as well “Jed, are you alright?”
Jedediah sniffles, shaking his head “No...I dreamt of them again..” Austin looks at him sympathetically.
“Bubba, d'ya want us to hug you?” Ira asked with his small voice, Jedediah nodded hesitantly. His brothers all hug him tightly “We're here for you Jed, don't forget that.” Peter said, he wasn't usually the type to say such things like this so it's a big thing if he does.
After a few more minutes of hugging, they all let go “You want us to stay or..?” Jed wipes his tears away “Y'all can go now, don't worry about me.”
Peter and Austin nod before standing up, the oldest ginger messes up the blonde hair and says “Just call if you need us bambino.” they leave the room, but Ira stays there with him.
“Why'd he call you bambino? I thought you only called me that.” the ginger whispered, Jedediah couldn't help but chuckle “Before you an’ Pete were born, Aussie always called me bambino. Say, ain't ya gonna go back to sleep? You still have school tomorrow lil’ man.”
Ira shakes his head “Imma stay here with you, don't want you to have a nightmare again. Plus me an’ Ruby will be here to protect ya!” the little boy exclaimed happily.
“Well alright then, just hope I don't squish you.”
“Wait what”
Only after a few minutes, Ira falls asleep, Jedediah kisses his little brother's forehead and covers him with a blanket. Jedediah looks at Ira before laying back down in his spot.
But the blonde can't sleep, thoughts kept running in his mind,why did he have a dream like that, who was that little girl with blonde hair earlier, and why was Octavius even in his dream?!
These questions kept pestering him, he didn't wanted to sleep until he thinks of a possible and good reason. But the small hands of his little brother hugged him, suddenly he felt bliss again.
“I'll think about that dream tomorrow, right now I'll get my siesta first.” he mumbles to himself, hugging Ira and drifting off to sleep.
Hello! This is the author once again, this chapter was a filler I uploaded first on Ao3, filler chapters are what I'll write whenever there are exams coming up or when I'm just busy. Just wanted y'all to know! :)