To Happen By Chance

[Sal]

Snow gently fell upon Fort Briggs, lightly covering the ground with white specks. It was no different from the light snowfall at the Pirate Ship, yet it somehow felt colder. Maybe it was the fact that the wall of Briggs was so massive that it made everything feel colder. Or was it perhaps just his imagination? Things like this were starting to cross Sal's mind often, and he couldn't understand them much himself. His 12 year-old brain was rapidly changing, and though his recent thoughts seemed way too advanced to him, he still held onto his playful, childlike mentality when need be. Sal was leaning against the railing outside, watching the snowflakes fall. He appeared to be deep in thought. Pensive, even, and his tail hung down, gently swaying back and forth.

He'd recently become a more common sight at Briggs, though most of his time here was spent at the outer parts. There were too many people inside to tempt him, and he didn't want to risk destroying his new found relationship with the Reila, the mastermind behind the place. With a sigh, he rested his chin in his hand and looked down at the ground below. It was so far from here to there, but even if he jumped, he would live. He would be able to get up as if nothing happened, and that was just as worrying - if note more so - as the rate at which he felt his brain maturing. Taking the glove off of his left hand, he held it out, letting some of the cold flakes fall into his bare skin. He thought he heard the sound of approaching footsteps, but he didn't care enough to react.

[Murazar Dauthi]

Murazar sighed outloud as he walked the exterior wall of the might fortress Briggs. He wore his typical white suit with his weapons, he had pinned upon his cloak and suit the Head of the North insignia. It gave his troops and people outlying of the north some hope to instantly recognize him. It also gave warning to any wouldbe bandits to not even try, it let him know anyone who attacked him was assassins and would know who he was. He shook the serious thoughts off as he saw what seemed to be Sal the Pirate Captain child just watching outward as if thinking deeply.

He dealt with him as a supplier, but that was mostly in equipment, weapons, and intel. Mostly business, if Sal was coming here that mean't he was a ally if a bought one at the least. He walked up and leaned over the railing without looking directly at Sal he held a hand out to him and smiled softly. He figured being polite and nice would be the best approach."Head of the North and Intel of Briggs, Murazar Dauthi. A pleasure to meet you, sir since I haven't seen you around here before." He looked over with a genuine happy smile, Rei-chan seemed to be the cause of that lately. She always brightened his days, he was beginning to think it was love. It wasn't so much as a giddy feeling as just sunshine shining through his dark and dank cloudy overcast he had his whole life.

His hand was gloved and he seemed fairly underdressed to be walking in direct contact with the weather. It gave off a tough appearance or at least a crazy one. He spoke up again as if curious,"Is Amestrian your natural language? Or is there one you know better we should speak?" He knew more languages than most people alive, but that was simply the souls translating and helping him through their knowledge and experience. It was as if they lived through him and guided him as he heard, spoke, read, and wrote in other languages.

[Sal]

The man walked up next to him and leaned on the railing as well, extending him a hand. Sal put the glove back on his left hand before shaking. "Nice to meet you. I'm Captain Sal, of the Pirates." So, this was the man named Murazar Dauthi, then? He seemed different from what Sal had imagined, but the friendly smile on his face wasn't very menacing at all. Then again, a person's first impression didn't mean too much. After all, Sal harbored many secrets that wouldn't be immediately detectable or that one might expect given his behavior and physical appearance. The young Ishvallan nodded and smiled back, but the smile faded shortly after. He didn't quite feel like smiling today.

Language? Ah, yes, his natural language. He thought for a moment before replying, not wanting to sound strange with his response. "It's not what I know best, but practice makes parfect? Is that right?" He looked up and shook off a snowflake that landed on his nose. "Ishvallan is better for me, though." the chimera said, sighing. Maybe the man would be able to figure out what language it was just by listening, but if not, he'd just have to tell him in Amestrian. In truth, he felt that speaking Amestrian all the time made him less himself, but he ignored the feeling as much as he could and just focused on the situation. It was his first time meeting Murazar in person, and he didn't want to come off too strange.

[Murazar Dauthi]

He rose an eyebrow as the young man seemed to be slightly depressed or at least not having one of his best days. Murazar decided to keep him in better cheer, or at least prove an excellant distraction from whatever was bothering him. He spoke in Ishvallan as if he was a natural speaker and had been born with it. The accent varied constantly, but the natural feel remained consistant. It seemed to contrast with his Amestrian and unnatural appearance. " Ah, Ishvallan then. I always prefer to speak whatever language whoever i'm talking to is more comfortable with."

He smiled pleasantly, " A pleasure to finally put a face to the name then. So how much do you know of me exactly? My brother probably doesn't talk of me too much I hope." He had always called Xan his brother, and he had heard from Xan a few small details about Sal whenever he got the chance and remembered to ask about the Pirate Captain. He knew enough to know him, his crew, he was the 'Hungry Homonculous' which funnily enough sounded like the old game hungry hippo, and he was very powerful. Beyond Murazar's equal in hand to hand, but underpowered in terms of range or his soul stealing capabilities. Which were enough to scare all, but Xan himself.

Xan was probably the only one who could possibly be immune to him, everyone else had resistance yes; on the same note however, everyone had a breaking point. Off of that note however, he was going to probe Sal on just how much he knew about himself. Hopefully very little and nothing of his Soul Catcher side, which was now becoming Infamous among the world. He was becoming far too well-known now, almost as famous as Rei-chan and Dai. He tried to keep it on the down low, but it was soon going to be impossible to prevent even peasants in the country from hearing storys or legends of him.

[Sal]

So the man did know Ishvallan, then. Well, at least he wouldn't be forced to speak Amestrian on account of a language difference, and despite the fact that the way Murazar spoke was inconsistent, it still seemed to be somewhat natural. That was good. Sal wasn't keen on inconveniencing people just because of his own inability to do things, and conversation was no exception. At least that was one less thing to worry about. Sal's ears twitched and perked up at the mention of a brother. If there was anyone who would have talked to him about Mura, it would have been Xan. But then...Mura considered him a brother, as well? Sal had to chuckle at the thought. It seemed that Xan just had a very brotherly quality about him.

"You mean Xan? Well, I mean..." The small child began to twiddle his thumbs. "Xan doesn't talk too much about work, he figures that I'd find it too boring. He does tell me about some of the fun stuff that happens, but other than that he doesn't say much about it." Sal shrugged almost apathetically, not as a rude gesture, but simply because it didn't matter to him much whether he knew a lot about the daily life of a Briggs Second in Command, and despite the fact that he himself was the head of a small force, it seemed that he didn't have to worry too much about battle plans and the like. The people in his crew were quite capable of defending themselves in hostile situations, and he knew it.

"But I guess you're a pretty interesting guy. What he did say about you is that you're 'something else'," The boy made quotation gestures with his hands as he sad that, "but I don't know. You seem really weird to me, but I like it, I guess. It's not a bad thing." Most people knew that children were always brutally honest, and Sal was no exception. Even if he hadn't intended to sound as though he was alienating the man, it was true. "It's kinda funny, my animal instincts are on the fritz when I'm near you, but I'm not really that scared. It's just like... like you're different, kinda like... I don't know, not a normal person, like there's something about you that I should be avoiding. I don't really get that a lot, even if I'm somewhere where there's a lot of people, so I guess that has to mean that it's something to be careful about? I don't know." He shrugged again and looked at Mura with wide eyes. It seemed he was starting to take a little more interest in the conversation now.

[Murazar Dauthi]

Murazar raised his eyes and grinned, he thought for a moment as Sal explained what he felt about him. He decided to reply in turn and answer those thoughts of his. First his own thoughts however, "Lets see, to me and my instinct's." He spoke as if he had more than one, not as if it was a single one. Just a starter to be odd, maybe something Sal would pick up. He continued without stopping."You have a controlled if extreme desire to consume, to eat. I also feel as if that causes some depression and maybe anger whether its directed at yourself or whatever caused it I can't tell yet. On a brighter side, you seem happy to talk to friendly people and seem to crave that as much as eating."

He paused a moment with a smile as if those observations were just from the introduction and that he had more that he wasn't sharing. Whether those other observations were just being worked on or not couldn't be told yet. He spoke again answering those thoughts directly in Ishvallan. " Well, those instincts of yours I can explain. Not being scared of me is simple, i'm not actively trying to hurt you or kill you or anything you love or have befriended. Instead i'm just a friendly person, now to explain the weirdness and dangerous oddity of me. I have very similar powers that Xan has, i'm the only human that can steal souls." He said it as if it was common knowledge, which truth to be told was mostly legends and rumors that were circulating around amestris at the moment.

He looked back over at the white snowy desert, thats what it was to him. It was beautiful in its own way, but no one could love a snow-ridden land forever. He yearned for spring and summers that had heat and blooming vegetation. He visited other parts of the country and other countrys often, but it was never to sight-see per se. He wanted for once to just take a break without bothering to protect himself and keep an eye out at every opportunity.

[Sal]

The boy's asymmetrical red eyes opened wide at the man's analysis. Whether this was something he had known beforehand or not, the insight was incredibly accurate and Sal almost felt a tug on his heart. It was true that this inevitable hunger was driving him crazy, to borderline depression, but that had improved a little and was starting to become more anger toward his own curiosity and stupidity and ignorance. It made him clench his jaw and look away from the man. He wasn't going to look at him when he felt that he might just burst from anger, but at this point, it didn't seem to matter anymore. His chest rose significantly more when he inhaled, and sank more rapidly when he exhaled. His ears fell back, and his tail had stopped swinging. He almost didn't hear the other part of Murazar's statement regarding the positive side of him.

Sal continued to glare toward the horizon for a while, but as the militant began to explain why Sal's instincts were telling him that he was someone to avoid, he turned to look at him. The anger in the homunculus' eyes wasn't directed at him, but the young Ishvallan had a hard time letting it go. A chill went down his spine as he heard about Mura's soul-stealing. Not only was that one of the craziest things he's ever heard, but one of the most frightening. After all, this wasn't something like excellence in hand-to-hand combat or poison specialty (the latter of which he was immune to). It was soul stealing. "Soul...stealing..." he mumbled, unable to wrap his mind around the concept. It was something extremely powerful, but Sal felt that there had to be some drawback to an ability of that nature. What happened to the souls afterward? He doubted that it was like himself, where whatever was taken ended up in an alternate dimension that had no exit if you were caught (but he could force things out himself).

The chimera felt smaller than usual next to this man. He'd always been one to shy away from dangerous situations, but this particular case felt different. The bright side of this was that Murazar wasn't his enemy. If he were an enemy, then this would be a completely different situation, in which case he'd have high-tailed it out of there much sooner, but he wasn't. That thought alone was comforting, even if he technically wasn't completely an ally, either. It was easy to stop an exchange, since there was no loyalty involved in that kind of dealing, unlike being a member of the crew. Sal took a deep breath, but the nervousness in his voice was difficult to hide. "Something like that...it has to have some bad parts to it," he muttered, gripping the railing tightly and looking down at the small specks that were people walking in the snow.

[Murazar Dauthi]

The small chimera Ishvallan next to him seemed angry, not at him but at himself. It was interesting that his observation must've hit very close to the mark about him. Murazar rose an eyebrow after the kids small hesistant question. At least even though he was nervous and a bit scared although out of animalistic fear rather than an actual sort of fear you were conscious of. Murazar was just a predator that was at the top of the food chain, few could even possibly be above him. Xan was one of the few on par with his level of destructive powers.

Murazar looked over at Sal with a sad smile, " Aye, there are plenty of side effects. I however would not wish to burden you with those. You have you own problem that you'll figure out how to fix in time. I can't be fixed permanently, only temporarily. For you my only suggestion is to think positive and keep control over yourself. If you do that you'll be fine. Ok?"

He smiled brightly to him, he genuinely seemed to think that the advice he had just given to him was the best he had to offer and would work. He should have proven already he wasn't an idiot and he was very intelligent. You know, just maybe the guy with screaming in his skull is right. Just saying, thats all. He decided to stick with the positive approach it seemed to be what Sal needed and it seemed to be the best way to talk to him.

He leaned over the railing as he saw the sun shining through the clouds that buried the sky heavily he smiled absently. He liked that image just then, as soon as it came it went away. You saw those kinds of images and visualizations every now and again. They were the ones you hoped to either never forget or to have enjoyed as much as you could out of them.

[Sal]

Plenty of side effects, huh? Sal figured as much. The fact that Mura didn't want to 'burden' him, as he put it, with them meant that the toll must have been quite heavy. No matter, because as Mura had to skillfully put it, Sal had his own problems to worry about. Even though they'd just met, he felt like he could trust this man to an extent. While he didn't trust many people at all, especially if they were human, this particular person was different. Maybe it was after becoming a homunculus that he started trusting humans less and less, save for the people that he already knew. That, and his past experiences.

It seemed this was the beginning of some positive relationship between them, whether it would become more of a friendship, he wasn't sure. One thing was certain, though, this man wasn't his enemy, which, as far as the homunculus could tell, was a good thing. Someone like him as an enemy would be far worse than anything he could have imagined. Sal cast him a rather contemplative glance. If this was someone he could consider an ally, he worried about who his enemies might be...though he doubted they were anywhere near as frightening as Mura....except when he smiled. It was strange how someone so dangerous could have such a friendly smile, and it made Sal aware of the fact that even some of the most friendly-looking people could turn out to be conniving, sadistic people.

"You know...I think it's kinda funny how Xan just seems to be such a brotherly guy..." Sal rested his chin in his hand once more, but this time with a smile on his face. "If it wasn't for him, I don't even know where I'd be right now. Probably dead in some dumpster in a back alley. I...I guess I really owe him for that." He really meant what he said. Without Xan, he probably wouldn't be here, at Briggs, alive and well. Maybe alive, but not necessarily well. After all, if he hadn't talked to Xan that day, he probably wouldn't have mustered up enough courage to do it at all. The boy's red eyes scanned his surroundings warily. If it weren't for Xan, he wouldn't have been able to survive. "The next time I see him, I'll have to thank him for that."

[Murazar Dauthi]

Murazar nodded in a understanding manner before speaking softly, " He is like that alot, I dont think he even realizes it usually. " He paused before grinning and putting a hand on Sal's shoulder, his touch was a cross between smooth with only specific parts on each hand that were calloused. It seemed he was a cross between climbing, weapons handling, knives, and hand to hand callouses rather than a carpenter or a metal shops callouses. He was a warrior down to his soul.

He spoke with a grin and some cheer," Lets go see if we can find him now, he should be easy to find. Theres no time like the present, eh? After all you might not get the chance later." Even speaking of death as if it was a joke or just some small humor bespoke who he was was. His thoughts however were going in other directions,Hmm, since I am Soul Catcher maybe I should come up with some kind of flashy entrance or costume of some sort. Nah, I think I might just remodel my body armor. After all if I can scare my enemys enough they might just retreat and never return.

He still seemed unfazed by the freezing air and various winds and breezes that seemed to pass through. His suit seemed to do nothing to stop or slow the cold, even his skin was pure white from the freezing and looked as if ready to shake. His body was telling him he was freezing, while his mind seemed to ignore it as if it was trivial.

[Guest]

BUMP

[Sal]

The small boy's ears perked up, and he looked at Mura, wide-eyed and with a grin on his face. Just the thought of going to see Xan increased his mood ten-fold, and it showed in every inch of his body, even in his voice. If just thinking about it made him this happy, then actually spending time with his older brother made made upped his mood at least one hundred-fold in comparison. Sal was now bouncing up and down almost restlessly. "Really? Right now? That would be so awesome!" As he said so, he ran toward the building, hoping to be able to Xan before the day was up. After all, he didn't spend as much time with the man has he might have liked, so any time spent with Xan was time to be enjoyed. The homunculus bounced around near the door and called out to Mura in a hurry.

"Come on, come on!! Let's go, Mister Mura!!" His breath came out in a large foggy cloud, but the weather seemed to have no clear effect on him. Maybe it was due to the fact that he'd spent so much time outside nowadays that he'd gotten used to the cold. No, today was cold, even for the northern standards. It was as though his positive disposition was something that heated his entire body, drawing his attention away from the cold outdoors. As his eyes focused on the man a number of paces away, Sal had to wonder about the intelligence that Mura clearly had. Either this man really was that insightful, or he'd done his homework, and very thoroughly at that. Putting his hand on the door, he paused for a moment. He was pretty sure that in order to get back inside, he'd need some sort of clearance. Gazing at the large metal contraption, he wiggled a little bit, waiting for the man to enter (and hopefully lead him around Briggs, which was definitely not a small place.

[Murazar Dauthi]

Murazar chuckled lightly as Sal became very energetic and bouncy, he smiled as he followed him over to the door and put his hand on the door whilst looking at a scanner that scanned his Iris's and he said calmly,"Dauthi, Murazar." Afterwards the door opened just long enough for them to enter he smiled over to Sal as he said while motioning to follow." Just stick close, alright? We should find him easily, or rather he should find us if he's not napping."

Murazar looked around and knowing that Xan would probably hear him sucked in a breath before yelling out as loud as he could." Get out here you lilly-livered, horse brained, cattle sucking, poop eating, dung chunking, monkey raping, cat eating, butt kissing, son of a whore monger!" He figured Xan would hear that and either have already shown up or would have soon enough considering that Murazar was the only one who insulted in such a long and funny manner that seemed completely on the fly.

He looked over at Sal with a grin," Beats looking for a shadow in this huge of a place. Eh?"

[Sal]

The way that the doors opened around here still fascinated the small boy. He loved his ship and all, but that was just AWESOME! If he could end up with those on his ship, it'd be pretty sweet...but how he'd go about doing that, he didn't know. That was something he'd have to figure out later, though, because right now he had other things at the top of the list of important things that needed to get done. At the very top was paying a visit to Xan, but when Mura shouted, he figured that it wouldn't take that long for them to run into the other Ishvallan. Even though Sal didn't understand some of what was being said, he figured it was probably an effective way to seek someone out. The chimera-turned-homunculus' ears fell back at the shout. His feline ears were more sensitive to noise than "normal" humans, so he almost felt that it was unnecessarily loud.

"I guess so, Mister Mura..." It was true that yelling through the halls was an effective way to grab the attention of others, but Sal probably would have been able to figure out the general area they might find Xan in by smelling around. Oh, well. He wasn't going to say anything about that. Although, he was still quite curious about that last part. That was the first time he'd ever hear something like that, so he was curious to learn what it was. "...What's a whore monger?" the boy asked, tilting his head to the side with a confused look on his face.

[Xan]

A nearby shadow seemed to become darker for a moment, meaning that Xanthus was about to make his usual entrance. Sure enough, the lights inside the fortress seemed to dim for a moment where Mura and Sal were standing and when they resumed full brightness, Xanthus Icarus, or Pride the Arrogant as some were beginning to call him, stood before them in his pitch black variant of the Amestrian uniform. He looked with crimson eyes at Sal, his eyes very much alive with a look of brotherly affection that he never hid from the younger Ishvallan.

"I'll be sure to tell you what a whore-monger is later...when you get older, little brother."

A smile on his face betrayed that he was resisting laughter, if only just. His red eyes were almost literally glowing with amusement and he doubted that he would be able to hold it in for much longer. He chuckled for a while to help resist the urge to laugh, then looked to Mura and Sal again.

"I never thought that I'd see you two in the same place at the same time. I feel like I missed something."

When he stopped chuckling, Xanthus stood in the middle of the hallway, now with a look of slight confusion dawning on his face.

[Murazar Dauthi]

Murazar grinned wildly before saying with a obvious joy. " Aye, young Sal is good company as younglings go. Also we are in a business relationship so we'd have to meet eventually. Although i'm happy its under fine circumstances such as now." He nudged Sal for a moment and indicated Sal had something to say. He spoke softly to him," Go ahead Sal."

He looked to Xan and used the sign language that Sal had something important to say and Xan should listen and pay heed in a good way. It was quick and neigh unreadable by any other. Murazar was good ebout doing things like that. He crossed his arms in front of him and kept a small happy smile on his face as he stood next to sal awaiting what the young boy had to say.

[Sal]

[OOC: This post is too heavy @_@ I've no idea how that happened...]

There was something in the air, something familiar, but the small chimera was unable to put a finger on it until he noticed a shadow grow darker. It could only mean one thing, and as sure as the sun rises at dawn, the lights dimmed momentarily, and upon brightening up, there he stood: Xanthus Icarus, known to some as Pride the Arrogant. Despite the fact that this man was Pride, a homunculus, Sal knew quite well that Xan had enough of a heart to let him - a small, Ishvallan chimera, who at first was lost and confused, in a place where most could not understand him, and he could not understand most - he had let him into that heart of his, and without a doubt, that was one of the most valuable moments and one of the most valuable relationships that the boy had the chance to experience. The look in Xan's eyes alone made Sal feel as though he had been stolen away from the clutches of a place of no return, an unending spiral of negativity that had started with the death of his surrogate mother. The weight of these thoughts caused him to feel as though his entire body had grown heavy.

He had, for the most part, paid no real attention to the exchange between the two men, as he was solely focused on his own thoughts - the connection between him and the man that he called his brother. Murazar's words yanked him violently back to reality, but the aftereffect of his mind's work made him feel light-headed, yet there was still the sensation of being tied to a safe filled with nothing but weights, stores of them, all no less than a ton - the safe had to be very much like his own black hole, an endless dimension, unforgiving and without a single ray of light. The boy took a single step at first, but then another, and another, until he reached Xan; Each step seemed to have drained him of all of his energy, but there was an unknown force driving him forward. What felt like hours to him would have only been but a mere minute to the others, but there was no stop to his ever-spinning mind.

"I...I wanted..." Sal's arms moved upward, but paused for a moment, as if he was unsure of what he was doing. Slowly, he lifted his arms again and wrapped them around Xanthus. He wanted him to know how he felt, but the small boy wasn't able to form the words. "I wanted.... I just wanted to say thank you," he muttered, his voice shaking. In that very moment he could feel that his emotions had not left him at all, but had been buried to the point where he couldn't find them. "I... I wanted to say thank you, brother, thank you," Followed by a sob. Though his actions were likely a puzzling sight, he didn't care about what was happening around him. He was going to let it out, all of it, and all at once, if he could.

[Xan]

"Aye, young Sal is good company as younglings go. Also we are in a business relationship so we'd have to meet eventually. Although i'm happy its under fine circumstances such as now."

Ah, so that answered how they knew each other so well. Xanthus knew about Sal's pirate crew, and in fact was not surprised in the least that Mura not only knew about the crew but apparently was somehow connected to it also. More likely than not it was probably another of the merc's contracts, if not something similar enough. Although, the thought of Mura as a pirate...

Xanthus was spared the image of Murazar in pantaloons by the mercs' next three words: "Go ahead Sal." Somewhat confused again, Xanthus looked down at Sal and up again at Mura, who sent him a message using their silent language. An imperceptible nod by Xan was to be taken as confirmation that he understood Mura's message. At this point all of his attention was focused onto Sal...

"I...I wanted..."

Xan suddenly found his little brothers' arms wrapped around him. He sounded as though he were trying to find the right words and his movements were hesitant.

"I wanted.... I just wanted to say thank you,"

At this point, Xanthus copied Sal's movement; his arms began to rise from their positions at his sides. A smile had begun to dawn on his face in place of the confusion.

"I... I wanted to say thank you, brother, thank you."

At this point, Xanthus' arms were wrapped completely around Sal and he pulled his little brother into a tight hug. The Homunculus was smiling at this point, and though he would likely never admit it later to anyone but Sal and Mura, a happy tear ran down the side of his face, followed by another shortly after.

"I wanted to thank you too Sal, though I never had the chance before now...thank you for being my little brother."

An emotional moment from Pride? This was a rarity, but there was something about the anomaly that was especially important. Sal was, beyond the shadow of doubt, one of the very few people that Xanthus actually cared about deeply; deeply enough to cry tears with in the middle of Fort Briggs.

[Murazar Dauthi]

Murazar smiled, it wasn’t sad, scary, or angry. It was a pure joy; he didn’t shed a tear like Xan did. He didn’t run over and hug them, he felt like he was just an observer of the moment. A moment of true happiness that he would never ever receive, he neither deserved it nor expected to get it. He always hoped he would get it, but never believed he himself would achieve something so nice and comforting. It just wasn’t his place.

He had destroyed too many lives, on purpose and accident. Killed too many deserving and non-deserving people. He was death, just a killing machine that would never be happy and hated what he did. His own rules, morals, and ethics prevented him from falling into the mode of a serial killer. He loved Rei-chan, but the way she was now he needed to talk to her to even try to have a chance at love; at happiness. He crossed his arms in front of himself at his deep thoughts and happy face. It wasn’t his happiness however, it was being happy for them.

He shed one tear and turned his head to subtly wipe it away hoping neither would notice. It wasn’t a happy tear, it was an envious tear. He envied those that could gain happiness to what seems like to him so easily. He worked hard and all his life without giving up and finally if he could realize it with Rei-chan he would finally after so much work and effort just crack and fail. He had too much working against him to look anymore after Rei-chan. He would just work until he died; it was all he could do if he failed. After all what was there left in his life for anyway?

[Guest]

{BUMP}

[Sal]

"I wanted to thank you too Sal, though I never had the chance before now...thank you for being my little brother."

Tightening is grip on Xanthus, Sal let out another sob. So much had happened to him in such short amount of time, and while some were positive events, he still felt slightly overwhelmed by the staggering quantity of occurrences. His usually happy, carefree disposition was no longer present; This was something that invoked nearly all of his emotions, and he was both happy and sad all at once. Happy, because he finally had someone that he cared about more than Jie Huan; Sad, because he had to go through a number of things before he was able to find this person. He had been so lonely, and Sal disliked solitude over everything else. First, his surrogate mother had passed; Then, in his own rage, he left the others, dooming himself to a solitary life, and the thought of being alone again made his heart ache.

"You have to promise," the small boy said between sobs, "You have to promise that you won't leave me..."

In truth, he was still a child, even if he had been transformed into something in-human by forces that he couldn't even understand, and would remain a child for as long as he was alive. That was just one side-effect, and as such, in his mind, if Xan were to vanish from his life, he would be left alone again; Yes, the crew was just as much his family as Xanthus, and Ogihci even more-so (as he was his biological father), but none of them had formed as strong of a bond with the boy as Xanthus had. The older male had been permanently etched into Sal's heart, so deeply that nothing would be able to keep Sal from feeling so strongly connected to him.

"...I... I don't wanna be alone again..."

[Guest]

BUMP

[Sponsored content]