On a distant rooftop, Gadreel and Sherridan watched as a dozen men entered the abandoned building at the center of the ruins, and only a few minutes later, a familiar black-haired young man ran out into the nearby forest, dragging behind him a man by his leg. Gadreel recognized the man getting his face scraped off by the asphalt as the leader of the gang that had just entered.

"Mm?" Sherridan let out a hum of confusion.

What a peculiar event it was! Surely, though, all of it was the result of a plan. A very, very meticulous plan. Gadreel could sense it radiating from the youth rushing away.

All he had to do was reverse engineer it all in his head, and after a few moments of thought, it all clicked.

"I see~," Gadreel said with a wide smile as he tapped his forehead, where there was no longer a scar to be seen. "What a cunning fellow, indeed."

***

"What are you doing?" Aurelius asked as Cade rushed at the ladder.

Cade turned her head back with her teeth clenched. "I'm going to kill that scumbag."

"No," Aurelius said, raising his hand with a long blink of his eyes, "you won't."

Cade turned fully back and stomped towards Aurelius. "I won't? He planned all this out. He wasted our time to get revenge."

"He wasted nothing. We dealt with this scum," Aurelius said, pointing to the corpses at their feet that were flooding the room with their stench, "and it only took us a week. We also saved two kids today. Fuck Balgair. Let him go."

"If that's the case here, why did he run from us? He could've just killed their leader, and we would've accepted the situation despite him using us."

"You remember our conversation at the café?" Aurelius sighed. "Balgair wants to torture the man. He knew I wouldn't allow that, no matter what he had done, so he took the man. He wanted to kill the man painfully more than he wanted our company. That's fine by me."

Cade's face scrunched up at Aurelius' reaction. Perhaps she couldn't understand how he could be so calm. Honestly, he wasn't sure himself. He just wasn't angry. Simply disappointed.

"Well," Aurelius said, turning to go back to get the kids, "let's go get those kids back home. Nothing else matters right now."

Aurelius could hear as Cade finished some of the gang members off before catching up. She then conjured a ball of essence above her palm again to illuminate the passage again as they made their way down.

When they made it back, the girl flinched at the sight of their bloodied saviors. The boy's expression stayed hard. "Are they dead?" he asked, looking straight at Aurelius through his disheveled black hair.

Aurelius crouched in front of the pair and picked both of them up into his arms. "Don't worry about them. You're going home."

No further questions were asked, and they headed for the exit. When the lights of oil lamps became visible, Aurelius let off a hissing exhale. "Hey, kids. There's something up ahead that you probably shouldn't see. But... I won't close your eyes for you. You can choose now whether you keep your eyes open or closed. You decide."

Cade looked at him with furrowed brows, but Aurelius didn't falter. He didn't know what was right. Maybe he was being irresponsible, but maybe the real irresponsible thing was to close their eyes when they had gone through the things they had. It was all so blurry, so he decided to let them decide what they would see or not see. It was their authentic life experience either way.

The boy looked at the girl. "Bell, close your eyes."

The girl with short black hair that was formed in a kind of round shape hesitated before asking, "But what about you?"

The boy smiled with his lips sealed. "I'll close mine too."

"M'kay," the girl said with a nod and shut her eyes tight.

"I would advise you to breathe through your mouth ," Cade mentioned as they entered the room with the round table.

Aurelius looked at the corpses with a frown as he made his way around the table. He looked to his right. The girl kept her eyes tightly closed as she pressed her nostrils shut with her fingers.

Aurelius looked to his left and widened his eyes, as he saw the boy staring all around. At no point had he even thought about closing his eyes. His chest rose and fell, but his lips were still sealed.

Cade had noticed, as well. Aurelius looked at her with a mixed expression. She did the same to him. However, there was nothing they could do now.

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The boy had made his choice.

***

The boy chomped down on his spoon, making all kinds of expressions. The girl opposite him giggled uncontrollably, swinging her feet.

Aurelius looked on from the side as he ate. Cade, who sat opposite to him, looked at the pair, too. Particularly at the boy, Daniel Sparrow. 12 years old. He wasn't very sizeable for his age. Aurelius had thought him to be younger.

Both of the kids were of House Sparrow. The girl was Bell Sparrow. Nine years old.

They had been kidnapped a month or so ago. They didn't know. Time had passed weirdly in the darkness.

Aurelius wondered what the kids would grow up to be. He hoped they would recover. Forget the entire thing. Live lives completely separated from the filth of the world. On second thought, that didn't seem possible. And if it really was impossible, what really was the future? What was the point? What was childbirth other than judgment?

***

"Well, I'll have to part with you here. Cade will lead you the rest of the way," Aurelius said as he nudged the children on his sides forward.

They had gotten to House Sparrow before it got dark. Tracking the location was tough. Balgair could've helped.

"What? Why?" Daniel asked, his voice a high whine that had become somehow uncharacteristic of the boy during the time Aurelius had interacted with him.

Aurelius crouched down and touched his hair. "You see this? There's a wanted person in Mircrest right now who has hair like this. If the guards see me, they'll attack me. So it's best if I stay here."

Daniel crossed his arms and blew his hair out of the way of his sight. He wasn't budging. What was he expecting?

Aurelius looked to Cade. "Could you give us a moment?"

Cade left with Bell, and Aurelius looked back at Daniel. "Well? You have something you want to say to me?"

"A person with your hair? That's you. You're the wanted person," Daniel said with an irritated huff.

Aurelius smiled, and a light laugh escaped his lips. "I'm sure your parents are eager to see you. You should hurry up."

Daniel smiled back before leaning over toward what Aurelius thought might be a hug. Then he pulled out one of his hairs. He stretched the hair out and looked at it with amazement before wrapping it around his finger.

'Creepy little kid,' Aurelius thought with a sinking heart. He had really expected that hug.

"You're super strong, right?"

"Huh?" Aurelius couldn't quite process the question.

"You killed those guys without getting a scratch. I mean, you slaughtered them! One of them was blown in half. And you don't look phased at all," Daniel gushed.

This time, Aurelius' heart sank for real. "Stop that." He pinched Daniel.

"Ow! What?"

"Don't talk like that."

"Mmm... So, where's the third guy? He didn't die, right?"

Aurelius pursed his lips briefly. "No, he didn't. He just took off after something selfish. I'm not sure why."

"Was he your friend?"

"I thought so." Aurelius hung his arms loose, letting them touch the ground a little in his crouched position. "But I guess not."

"Are you sad?" Daniel tilted his head.

Aurelius stayed quiet for a long while. Then he looked Daniel in the eyes. "No. I'm not sad."

Unexpectedly, the boy smiled.

He then bowed awkwardly before turning halfway and then turning back. He put his hands behind his back and straightened his posture, like he was going to make an announcement. Was this what they taught wealthy kids?

"Uhm," Daniel started turning his foot in the gravel a little before looking back up to meet Aurelius' deep blue eyes with his darker ones. "When I grow up... I— I want to be just like you."

Aurelius didn't know. He didn't know whether to smile or frown. Should he slap the boy? Should he grab him by the shoulder firmly? Should he tell the boy to never say that again? Should he tell the kid to work hard so that he can reach his level? No. Certainly not that. Anything but that.

At that moment, Aurelius wanted nothing more than to see a future where the boy never became what he was.

He couldn't do anything, though. The boy had already scurried off after Cade while he had been stuck in a trance.

He was left there, his teeth clenched, while he wiped at his eyes for no reason. There were no tears coming out. No. Maybe he was wiping to make sure none would ever come out. But he knew he couldn't keep that up forever.