Original Fic: Faith and False Hope for Better Days 2/?

[awritinglilypea]

Title: Faith and False Hope for Better Days
Fandom: Original
Rating: Strong PG-13
Summary: All Ajani Sullivan is trying to do is survive. Yet when his angel can't manage to he is left with nothing but his faith and false hopes. He finds himself immersed in a home with an eclectic bunch of characters who all want him to be happy.

Shifting around in his bed sixteen year old Ajani found himself being woken by something that sounded as though it had come from the very depths of hell, spawned by Satan, otherwise known as popular music. Some days Britney Spears had him wanting to run screaming into his closet with a noose, but alas he had not been brought to that moment of insanity quite yet. He could admit she did have some uses, mostly waking him up in the morning and taking away his sanity; he flung his arm out and smiled into his pillow when he heard the satisfying crack of plastic breaking.

Lying there for a few moments Ajani pushed himself up and managed to roll off the bed and land on the floor without it hurting too much, he began scrounging around looking for his newest spiral notebook, finding instead a beat up one under the bed. Sitting down he smiled to himself when he realized it was his journal from three years prior and flipped it open, reading slowly.

“My name is Ajani Sullivan and I want to die, lovely to meet you,” He muttered to himself, his voice barely above a whisper in the all too quietness of his room, practically echoing. He shook his head and ran a hand through his shoulder length, purple, red and black hair, sighing softly. “I was such a drama queen, Jesus.” He couldn’t suppress the bittersweet smile, displaying his true inner turmoil after his horrific childhood experiences. He remembered the death of his papa, the harsh words of his “father” from the night before, feeling tears prick his eyes he shook his head pushing them back he sighed, having not cried since he was eight. He quickly wiped his eyes and inhaled sharply, coughing as the door creaked open slowly.

Casandia Sullivan opened the door and peeked around it, not wanting to anger her eldest brother when he’d just gotten up in the morning, a small smile playing on her heart shaped lips. “Hello Ani,” She murmured softly to him, her voice angelic.

Turning his head to the door a large grin broke out on Ajani’s face, ridding it of his usual melancholic expression as he beckoned the tiny girl over to him, immediately wrapping her up in his arms tightly as he stood and sat on the edge of his bed. “And what might you be wanting this morning Miss Casandia?” He asked, putting on a deep Southern accent, trying to sound like a gentleman.

Giggling softly Casandia gave him a hug kissing his cheek with a smacking enthusiasm that was usually only seen in small children, her eyes sparkling happily up at him as she snuggled close. “Read a story to me,” She ordered, her smile melting easily into a pout, knowing she had her brother wrapped around her little finger, and used it to her advantage quite a lot.

Ajani succumbed immediately, to his angel’s every whim and desire as he always did, no matter what it was she asked of him he knew that he would never be able to say no to her. “Of course darling,” He fixed the bandana on her head gently, fighting to keep a smile on his face when part of her bald scalp was revealed, to that day it was one of the only things besides memories of his papa that brought tears to his eyes.

“Tell me a story about a princess Ani, I love your voice,” Casandia rested her head on his chest gently, tightening her arms around his neck just the slightest bit as though she sensed he was sad about something, little did she know that he was sad because it hurt him so much to see her look so pale and gaunt.

Nodding Ajani squeezed her waist lightly with one hand, amazed as always that she was so small, so fragile. He began speaking slowly, making sure his voice wouldn’t tremble too much as he did so. “Once upon a time there was an ugly prince by the name of AJ, he lived with his father alone because his mother had passed on to the land of the angels, a land more beautiful then any other where she could watch over her son and husband…” He murmured into her ear roughly, rubbing her back gently, tears still pricking his eyes making them extra shiny.

Casandia hung on every word, almost entranced by his voice she closed her eyes, relaxing as he told her the story; humming softly under her breath without even realizing it, a tuneless song.

“So AJ was not saddened by her leaving, at least not for long because he knew how happy his mother would be in the land of the angels, the undying lands where no one could ever feel pain again, only the beauty of love. And life went on, and spring turn to fall which fell to a freezing winter and one night, very late in pitch black darkness the enemies of an opposing castle invaded the territory of AJ and his father, but because AJ was still very young he was not able to protect himself, and his father, distracted by trying to ensure the welfare of his son with his weakened heart could not withstand the attacks that soon followed and he passed onto the undying lands to be with AJ’s mother.” Ajani swallowed heavily, remembering his mother and papa.

Squirming slightly Casandia shifted around in his lap before reaching up and kissing his cheek softly, “Get to the parts with the angels Ani, and the princess angel, that’s the best part of the whole story,” She told him, smiling up at him as though she didn’t notice the tears shining in his eyes even though she always noticed when her hero was sad.

Ajani nodded, automatically revising the story to the part she liked. “So then AJ went to live with his father’s best friend in the whole world, and his uncle was nice enough to give him a room to live in, and his aunt was a very sweet woman who first gave birth to a son, who tended to keep to himself, preferring his own company to that of other people so AJ didn’t get to talk to him often, but then…she gave birth to an angel, their beautiful princess.” He kissed the top of her head noticing that she had closed her eyes and was beginning to fall asleep, something she did far too easily now that her body was weakened in the wake of her sickness.

“And AJ knew the moment he held his angel that he would sacrifice any part of himself for her, absolutely anything to ensure her happiness and protect her from the harsh, cruel world. It was a world that hated those it did not understand and AJ knew when she grew up she would not be like other princesses.” He took a breath and kissed Casandia’s forehead. “AJ knew that she would have other interests many people would not approve of, and be interested in people that society told her she should not. AJ wanted to make sure she knew that no matter what people said, or how awful they acted he would always love her, and he would protect her, because she was his little princess who he never wanted to let go.” Ajani finished and looked down; smiling sadly when he realized his angel had fallen asleep.

The door fully opened and Brianne, Ajani’s adoptive mother smiled fondly at the picture her two children made. “Ajani I hope you realize that just because you two look so adorable doesn’t mean I’m going to let you stay home from school today.”

“Aw but mum,” Ajani teased in return handing Casandia to their mother gently, he kissed Brianne’s cheek. “She has a doctor’s appointment today right?” He asked, the look in his eyes turning to one of fear, the icy fist gripping his heart and squeezing leaving him momentarily breathless.

“Yeah they just want to check and see how things are progressing with the chemo and everything,” Brianne responded, her own demeanor displaying her fear and desperation in the situation as she reached for Ajani’s hand and squeezed it lightly, trying to offer him some kind of comfort even though all the wanted to do was cry.

Ajani nodded slowly, taking a deep breath so as not to cry, “Is there anything you need me to do at all?” He offered, wanting, needing to help her, needing to help his little angel because he would never be able to let her go.

Brianne smiled at her eldest son’s kindness and generosity, as to her he was truly her son, even if he wasn’t her blood. “You can just go down and help Riley with breakfast.”

“Alright I suppose I could do that,” Ajani agreed reluctantly, he marched down the stairs to the kitchen meeting up with his brother.

If there was any way to tell that Ajani was adopted it was by looking at Riley, the dissimilarities were almost uncanny, whereas Ajani tended to be tanned and dark Riley was blond and light. Ajani had a slow temper and Riley was easily provoked so it was quite odd that the reason for them starting a new school was because Ajani been caught fighting. The only major problem with that notion was that Ajani was defending himself, never having started a fight in his life. He should’ve known better to defend himself against one of the favoured children from the school which they passed through on their way to their newest home where another “miracle cure” would be waiting for Casandia.

“Hey Rile,” Ajani managed to force a smile onto his face as he pulled out a frying pan and pancake mix, setting the pan down on the burner Riley wasn’t using. “Excited to be starting at a new school?” He questioned, arching an eyebrow.

Riley shook his head. “Shut up, of course I’m not because once again I had to leave all my friends and my girlfriend just because of you. How about you try not to fuck up this time okay?” He snapped, blond locks falling into his face, obscuring his icy blue eyes from vision.

Ajani shrugged, trying not to let Riley know how bad his words could actually get under his skin. It frustrated him to no end how little the younger teen knew about what was actually going on in his life, he had no idea how his dad acted towards Ajani, or how serious his little sister’s condition actually was. It was a wonder to Ajani how little someone could care about their own family. He shook his head, clearing the depressing thoughts from his mind that came along with the topic of families and poured the pancake batter into the pan, when he was done he set the table and put the food on it, flopping into his usual chair to eat.

Liam Sullivan scowled when he walked in the room, to Ajani it seemed like that was all the man did. He could count on one hand how many times he had seen his adoptive father smile. Or at least at him, sometimes Ajani thought that the only good thing about Liam was that he had had some small part in the birth of Casandia, but even that wasn’t enough to make him like the man. “Good,” Liam barked out like a drill sergeant. “You actually got your lazy ass out of bed and made breakfast this morning, I’m almost proud.”

That was all Ajani ever heard from Liam, he was almost proud and he would continue to be almost proud of Ajani but never actually proud of him, it was quite simple to Liam really. Ajani was not his son, Ajani had a strange name, he looked completely different from the rest of the family, he did not want to become a lawyer and most of all, the worst thing in Liam’s eyes, that he thought Ajani was gay. It made Ajani want to scream and swear at the older man sometimes but really all he did was what he did in that very moment, swallow his food, look Liam straight in the eyes and say, “Thank you sir, I appreciate it.” And try not to gag when a sneer would spread across Liam’s face quicker than anything else Ajani had seen in his life.

Quickly finishing his breakfast Ajani stood up and marched up the stairs to shower and change, he quickly put on his favourite pair of worn in purple plaid bondage pants and a plain black t-shirt and hoody, he managed to style his hair into some semblance of order and grabbed his bag before heading on his way to school after spending a painstakingly long time trying to get his eyeliner perfectly done.

When he reached the school Ajani stopped and looked up at the massive building that he would come to consider his home away from home, after all he had discovered that during the school week you spend thirty five hours at school and seventy five at home, and forty of those at home were spent sleeping for him. And if he got a job that would mean even less time at home, mostly spent sleeping or doing homework for school, It all seemed rather pointless to him in the end and perhaps that was why he continuously ended up getting himself into fights at school, because he really didn’t care what happened there, or at home for that matter, unless it had to do with Casandia. He walked up the steps and into the building wondering if the day was going to be as bad as he thought it was…