Chapter 5: The Beginnings of Friendship / A Strange and Gentle Child

Written by Etnalla

Edited by Goald3n

Judge was watching Lucky, wondering why he had saved the kid. He didn't have anything to offer Judge, in fact he was a liability more than anything else. Yet, Judge used one of his Godly Zhuge Crossbows three shots in order to rescue him from being killed by that runt. 

At the moment Lucky was leaning against a tree tired and out of breath from their frantic run. Truthfully, Judge had wanted to keep up the pace they were going at—the farther they got from the howls and sounds of battle the better—but he could see that if he kept at it Lucky would soon collapse. After making sure the area was clear he begrudgingly called for a break. Why do I keep helping him? Judge thought. I guess I haven't learned my lesson after all... 

"Hey, Judge. Thanks for saving me back there..." Said Lucky in a voice little more than a whisper.

Judge looked at the kid and saw genuine thanks being expressed by the boy. That was rare to find in people nowadays, even if you saved their lives. Most all too easily forget the favors they'd owed and help they'd received, only remembering when it was convenient to them. It surprised Judge a lot that Lucky was not like most people. Maybe it was worth it. Kid's got potential after all.

"No problem, kid. I wasn't gonna stand by and let some monster kill someone I know right in front of me. Besides, I got a hundred points from killing that thing! So you can't say that I did it all for you." Judge replied in a much more welcoming tone than he'd used before.

"Also...if you don't mind...could you stay with me till the mission's over? You don't have to but..." Lucky tried to speak but Judge cut him off by placing a hand on Lucky's head, patting it gently.

"You don't have to worry about that, kid. I already saved your life once as far as I'm concerned that makes it my responsibility to keep you alive till the end." He continued while patting the boy's head.

Lucky smiled up at Judge—happiness clearly displayed in his eyes. "Thanks, Judge.... But-"

"But what? Afraid I won't be able to protect you?" Judged teased.

"No it's not that. It's just.....why are you calling me kid and patting my head? I know I'm short but I am twenty, so it's a bit weird since you don't seem much older than me...." Looking shy all of a sudden.

Huh?....This kid is twenty!?!?

Judge almost couldn't believe what he'd just heard. The kid in front of him shouldn't be more than ten! Twelve at max! Judge wasn't one to be easily shocked but hearing that the boy who barely even reached half his shoulder's height was twenty was truly something he didn't, couldn't, expect. But as strange as it was...Judge believed him.

"So you're older than me then, huh. I'm nineteen just in case you were wondering." Judge said trying to hide his surprise—discreetly removing his hand from Lucky's head. 

"You believe me?" Lucky looked shocked but after a few moments a bright smile lit up his face. "You believe me! That's a first time someone believed my age when I told them! You're a good guy, Judge. You trusted me, so I'll trust you!" 

Judge gave Lucky an awkward smile but Lucky was too overjoyed to notice.

Jesus Christ! This kid is really something. Trusting me over something as simple as that... Not even because I saved his life, he trusts me because I trusted him. I thought this kid was an idiot before, but isn't this just too much? And the fact that he's twenty makes it worse... A kid being this naive that I can believe but a twenty year old....

Not knowing what to make of Lucky, Judge settled for simple acceptance. He had saved the kid before and he had promised to protect him now. Despite not knowing what drove him to do such a thing Judge wasn't the kind to go back on his word, he would keep Lucky alive. After all, he'd long ago swore to never break such a promise again. Still, even knowing that Lucky was older, given the person's size and naivety Judge couldn't stop himself from seeing him as a kid.

"Alright, ki—Lucky. Are you ready to go yet? The longer we're stopped the higher the chance for us to run into one of those monsters."

Nodding happily Lucky responded, "Good to go, Bro! Hope you don't mind me calling you that. That's how people call their friends where I am from." Still smiling Lucky puffed out his chest and began marching ahead of Judge.

Seriously....How old is this kid....

"Wait." Judge placed a hand on Lucky's shoulder pulling the kid close. "Move closer to closer to me. I won't be able to protect you if you're too far away."

As the two made their way through the snow covered woods Judge was constantly on alert. He had heard the sounds of wendigos howling coming from all direction. It felt like they were surrounded and had nowhere to go. 

The howls echoed as they bounced back and forth of the frozen-looking trees of Blackwood Mountain and far behind them Judge could hear the sounds of crashing and even more intense screams from the direction of the cabin. Judge thought it was crazy. Together, him and Lucky had put a good distance between them and the cabin where they first woke up, yet even from this distance Judge could hear the sounds of battle coming from it. He had clearly underestimated Team 66's strength.

From the moment he saw those three he knew that they were strong. He wasn't able to see Jack and Miria's powers but he had a vague grasp of Victory's. It was a power that created illusions by taking over the mind. Judge had been trained to see through illusionary magics so whatever Victory used had affected his mind directly. Because of his special circumstance he had not fallen completely under the illusion but everyone else had....well everyone except for Lucky. Judge was still wondering how had the kid felt something was off. An experienced mind user would never slip up so much that an unenhanced could feel anything.

He looked back down at Lucky, who was happily humming a tune beside him. Judge felt a strange feeling when he looked at Lucky. It told him that Lucky was definitely unenhanced—normal—, but there was something that....unsettled him when he looked at the boy. It really was strange. Why did he feel both so protective and on edge by a normal child—person?

The two of them continues to walk on in silence, nothing except the howls of the wind and wendigos accompanying them as they walked further and further away from the cabin. Neither of them said anything but both knew that something dangerous was happening at the cabin—something that managed to garner the attention of every wendigo on the mountain—and the farther they got from it the safer they would be.

Judge checked his marker-watch and took note of the time. The mission had started at 7:00 p.m just a few moments after sundown and they had to survive until dawn which should be at around 5:30 to 6:00 a.m It was currently 8:55 p.m meaning that Lucky and him had walked/ran for just under two hours. Currently there was still 9 hours and 5 minutes till the end of the mission. 

They couldn't keep walking throughout the entire night, well, Judge could but he didn't know about Lucky. They'd just started walking not even thirty minutes ago and the kid was already out of breath. Resting, or worse sleeping, was not an option in this weather. If you stopped moving for more than a minute the snow would cover swallow you whole, and once you were buried under it you'd only need a few moments to freeze to death, winter gear or not.

Judge was worried. How long would Lucky last, out in this cold? And from his endurance and size there was something clearly wrong with the kid. He had to get them out of this weather.

"He...he....hey, Bro? Wha...what's that?" Lucky asked warily, stuttering from both exhaustion and the biting cold.

Following Lucky's outstretched finger his sight landed upon a huge black shape. It was nearly twice Judge's height and covered in dense fur. However, the fur and snow beneath the creature was dyed red.

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"That's a bear." Judge held Lucky tighter. "And from the looks of it a dying one. We better move, I don't want to run into what killed it." He said pulling Lucky along.

"Okay." Was Lucky's soft response.

Just as they were about to walk away, the bear's body shuddered and it gasped out a pained breath of hot air.

"It still alive!" With a start Lucky tore himself out of Judge's grasp and ran towards the dying bear.

"Dammit! Stop!" Judge ran towards Lucky, grabbing his hand just before he reached the bear. "Never approach a wild animal! Even dying it can still kill you easily! Wendigos aren't the only creature that can kill you on this mountain!" He shouted.

Lucky stumbled backward, shock registering on his childlike face before transforming into an entirely different look of stubbornness and anger. "Don't treat us like a kid, bastard! Just because you saved our life doesn't mean I'm gonna let you talk to us like an idiot!"

Lucky threw a low punch at Judge which given their size difference made his target quite obvious, and given the shock of Lucky's sudden change in attitude Judge was, for a moment, too stunned to react.

Judge took the blow to his....family jewels quite well. Preventing himself from crumpling up into a ball on the snow and minimizing outward reactions of pain—it still hurt like a motherfucker fucking your mother though. What he was unable to prevent, however, was Lucky taking advantage of a momentary lack of his grip to slip away and reach for the bear.

Judge blinked away the tears in his eyes and grabbed towards Lucky in an attempt to pull him back. He made contact with Lucky's shoulder just as Lucky made contact with bear. Upon making contact Judge tightened his grip and prepared to pull the boy back, but something made him pause.

The boy was looking back at him teary eyed. "Please, Judge. Let me help." Lucky said stroking the bear's fur gently.

"There is nothing you can do, boy. It's going to die soon anyway. Better leave now if you don't want to join it." Judge could see that the bear didn't have much life in it. Truthfully he was surprised the poor thing was still alive. Something—most likely a wendigo—had torn its side to shreds, almost tearing it in half. The bear's insides were outside of its body; different organs spread out on the snow before it soaking the ground in their blood and bile, some even looked half eaten.

"Please, bro. Let me help. I can help it feel better." Lucky insisted, practically begging at this point.

"Sorry, Lucky. We have to keep moving." Judge wouldn't budge on this matter. The bear had survived for this long when it had practically nothing to keep it alive. He wasn't going to wait for such a strong animal to keel over and die. If they were especially unlucky then the wendigo that killed it might even come back

Lucky looked at him and he could see that Lucky wasn't going to move. Sighing Judge took out the gun they'd received previously as part of their extra gear.

"What are you doing!" Lucky jumped in surprise and fear when he saw Judge bring out a gun.

"You wanted to help it feel better right? Well we are not going to wait for it to drop dead so I might as well put it out of its misery." Judge leveled his gun at the bear's head and prepared to fire.

"No! Don't!" Lucky quickly reached out to stop Judge.

"What? I'm not waiting for this thing to die. If you really wanna help that thing you'd let me do this." Judge said calmly.

"I'll do it. I said I can help it. I'll help it. Plus, you're right, we need to move." This time Lucky spoke with none of his former energy and had a calm look on his face. He even took out his own gun from his pocket.

Judge didn't expect that. In fact Lucky was acting pretty unpredictable. At the cabin he seemed to be loud but idiotic, after they began walking he seemed childlike and innocent, and now in front of the dying bear he changed from confrontational to cold at an instant. 

There is something wrong with this kid. I don't know what it is but it's not right. But he's not dangerous. If he was then my genetic constraint would feel it. Plus, I made a promise.

"Are you sure you can do it, kid?" Judge asked now slightly curious of Lucky. The kid gave of a different feeling now. He didn't like it but he wasn't afraid nor did he judge it. There were a lot of things in the world that could make a person like that. That could break a person like that. After all, wasn't the reason they entered God's Dimension because they had long given up on life? Judge had his reasons and he was sure Lucky had his to. He saw no reason to reopen another person's scars.

"Yes." Lucky walked over to the bear's front and pressed the gun against its head. The bear weakly struggled, letting out soft gasps and shuddering slightly. Lucky pressed his other hand on the bear's head and held it there. He stroked the bear's head softly while muttering things that Judge was too far away to hear.

Lucky kept patting the bear for a while and strangely the bear seemed to calm down. Its breathing stopped being labored and was more steady. It relaxed its tense body, lying lightly on the snow and allowing Lucky gently pat it's tired head and stroke its bloodstained fur.

"Hurry up now, Lucky. We have to move."

Judge was amazed at how calm Lucky had made the dying beast and was quite touched by the scene that was going on, but he couldn't help but ask Lucky to hurry up—they couldn't waste anymore time.

"I know." Lucky responded, his voice calm but sounding pained. He waited a few more seconds, whispering softly to the bear. "I'm sorry little one. I'm sorry I wasn't here to ease your pain. Hopefully our small time together was enough. Enjoy your rest, my friend."

*Bang!*

The gunshot was muffled by the close contact with the bears body but Judge was close enough to hear it. He didn't say anything. Judge walked up to Lucky and placed his hand on his shoulder.

Lucky turned his head and looked at him. Judge saw the cold look no longer present in the eyes of the kid. 

"Let's get moving."

"Okay, Judge"

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Author’s note

What? The this chapter is in Judge's pov? Boom! Bet you guys didn't expect that! So yeah, I am basically planning to have pov's of different characters throughout each arc. I am already expecting this to get really complicated once more people appear or get separated.... But hey, I always found it boring and frustrating to not know what a character is thinking, even if they are a side character they still are characters! So my goal is to make everybody appear like the main character because isn't everyone the main character of their own story? Boom! If you wanna know what I am getting at by an all main character story you can check out an epic little anime called 'Baccano!'. Seriously, everyone in that series feels like they have their own lives. Sorry for the big lag between chapters, I got school on weekdays so it'll prolly be a chap every two or three days. Except for the weekends when I can do a chap a day! Hope you enjoyed the chapter and see you in the next!  Also if the characters seem a bit different to you that's because I finally got them nice and smooth out! Much different from the rough outline I had for the earlier chapters. Consider how they are now as who they really are as opposed to previously. As always comments are much appreciated and if directed at me will, from now on, almost always be responded to.

Editor’s note

 Oh my judge a shotacon!?! *Gasp* “("Wait." Judge placed a hand on Lucky's shoulder pulling the kid close. "Move closer to closer to me. I won't be able to protect you if you're too far away.")” Hehe. Also who caught Author sans pun! “(He didn't like it but he wasn't afraid nor did he judge it.)”

Lastly, anyone have any idea what’s wrong with Lucky? Virtual cookies to those who get it right!