Auld Lang Syne

Schuldig cocked his head curiously for a moment, trying to gauge the power source coming toward them at a high rate of speed. He had barely a split second of warning via the almost battle call “Schu-bear!” before he was bowled completely over, rolling almost to the edge of the docks. He blinked up at his assailant, taking in the large, golden eyes that were so familiar to him through Brad and long black hair.


“Bon-bon?!” he said as realization dawned on him.


“Yeah, well, duh! Who else would be tackling you on the dock?”


“Very few people with good intentions,” he said, sitting up and shifting her off of him. “Scheisse! When did you grow the rack?”


“I was eleven the last time you saw me, Schu. Things like that happen in girls after a certain age.” Bonnie proudly stuck out her chest for further admiration. “They’re nice aren’t they? Cat’s are still bigger though.”


“I dunno, they’re about a couple good handfuls,” Schu said, reaching forward.


“Touch my sister’s breasts and I will cut your fingers off. One by one. With a rusty knife,” Crawford said from the boat.


Bonnie popped up instantly and went to tackle her brother, nearly landing them both in the water, leaving Schuldig to be helped up by Nagi and Farfarello.


“Schuldig, exactly how do you know Oracle’s sister?” Nagi questioned.


Schu shrugged. “Brad and I were trained together. Remember? His parents visited every once in a while and brought Bonnie since the other two weren’t really interested. Plus they were probably afraid the other kids would get nabbed too. Besides, Bon-bon’s shields are almost as good as Brad’s are.”


Bonnie grinned at him from the boat, taking to heart the compliment.


“I thought you said you wanted to know some of Crawford’s secrets,” Farf laughed. “Seems like you know a lot already.”


“I didn’t know his having siblings was a secret.”


“They think I was found under a rock,” Crawford said to his sister before stepping off the boat with Bonnie still hanging on to his waist for dear life.


“Nah, that’s Alec,” Bonnie joked. “He’s here by the way, just to warn you.”


Crawford sighed in typical long suffering fashion. “Gods, Gran really did do a full clan call if Alec is here.”


“Yep.” She glanced over Farf and Nagi, looking at Nagi far longer than he was comfortable with. “I know Schu-bear. Who are the other two?”


“The scarred, insane one is Farfarello,” Crawford said. Farf grinned and took a bow at the description. “The one around your age is Nagi.”


“Cool. C’mon, everyone’s waiting at the house.” She grabbed Crawford’s hand and started dragging him along the dock toward the castle.


“You all go on,” Angus said, waving them off. “I can get the bags and such.”


“Now that is a house,” Farf remarked, eyeing the turrets that could be seen above the treeline. “If Crawford grew up here I can understand the superiority complex.”


Crawford glared at him over his shoulder. “I did not grow up here. This is the ancestral home not my childhood one. Yes, I did have a childhood.”


They walked up the path toward the castle with Bonnie chattering a mile a minute at her brother while the others tagged along behind.


“Is it odd to you that Crawford has a family?” Nagi questioned Farf.


Farf shrugged. “All of us couldn’t be lucky enough to be orphans.”


They came in through the side door to the kitchen Bonnie had used earlier. Brad barely ducked as a knife whipped by his head and landed with a solid thunk into the door frame. He glanced over to find his other sister grinning at him wickedly.


“Catherine, would you try to avoid killing our brother until he’s at least talked to Dad,” came a bored sounding voice from behind the Wall Street Journal.


“If I’d been trying to kill him, he’d be dead,” Cat said, with a smirk.


“I doubt that sincerely, sis,” Brad said, coming over to hug her.


Schuldig and Nagi just stared, Crawford hugging someone was unheard of. Hugging someone of his own free will was impossible to fathom. Farf, on the other hand, was looking at Cat with a very interested air about him.


“I think I like your sister, Oracle,” he said.

“You like anyone who can throw knives almost as well as you can, Farf,” Schuldig remarked snidely.

“Brad, really, can’t you control your underlings?” the voice behind the paper said.

“About as well as you can control yours, Alec,” Brad fired back.

“I do not have underlings. I have associates. Whom, I might add, have nothing to do with the criminal aspects of society.”

Bonnie and Cat both laughed and removed themselves from the line of fire between their older siblings.

“Round one, place your wagers, everyone. My bets are on the mean one,” Cat said.

“They’re both mean,” Bonnie pointed out.

“I know. So I’m guaranteed to win either way.”

“Very amusing,” Alec said, still not lowering the paper. “I’m simply not thrilled with the fact I’ll probably end up prosecuting one or more of my siblings some day.”

“You couldn’t anyway. You’d be too close to the situation and no judge in their right mind would allow you to,” Brad scoffed.

“That isn’t my point, Bradley.” Golden eyes glared at him over the top of the paper before letting the periodical drop completely.

Crawford’s team stared and stared and stared from one to the other of the two men.

Schuldig, as usual, finally broke the sudden silence. “Scheisse, there are two of them!”