SCREAM

The sheet of night had veiled the sky; left nothing but only darkness and several tiny light spots. The crescent moon up above shared some of its light to the earth dwellers, but not enough. On the sea, the Dauntless rocked gently. A young boy – with light brown hair and eyes as blue as the ocean, rested his hands on the ship's railing. He let the cold breeze blew his hair and sighed.

"Another restless night." He murmured to himself.

He couldn't sleep. He tried to shut his eyes for how long, but to no avail. There was something which kept him awake. Were.

"Ukh…" The cursed rune on his left hand was glowing. It was them. "Please… stop…"

He covered both of his ears. His head was in pain as he heard them. He gave up and fell on his knees. Tears and sweat flowed on his pale face. It was them – they were the cause of his restless night.

"Lazlo…? Lazlo, are you alright!?"

A person helped him to stand. Since he was too weak to answer, he just moaned in pain. From his squinted eyes, he could see a slender woman with blonde hair.

"Just hang in there! Let me carry you back to your room!"

He resignedly nodded. More and more people came to his aid as he lost his consciousness.

Flare opened the door to Lazlo's room quietly and closed it off. Lazlo opened his eyes and turned his head to see the visitor. Seeing her, he smiled faintly. When he was trying to get up, Flare rushed over to help him.

"I thought the doctor told you not to move too much?" asked Flare softly while holding and resting his back against the wall. "Are you feeling any better?"

"I'm okay, now…" he said. "Thank you, for helping me earlier."

She didn't reply, but gave him the most reassuring smile she could. She then sat on a stool beside his bed. "The whole ship was on edge when you collapsed, you know. Even Setsu was freaking out!" She chuckled.

Lazlo couldn't help but to laugh as well. "I can't imagine that." He closed his eyes, and sighed in deep relieve. "Thank you, Flare…"

"Please, enough of that—"

Lazlo fixed his gaze at her, stopping her to finish her sentence. "I mean it."

Flare could see it from the boy's pair of eyes—the pain which resides within him, which he hides all this time. She couldn't feel it, oh, how she hoped he could share it with her so that he could feel less pain. He reminded her of her mother; strong, and clever in hiding whatever pain they suffer.

"I heard them sometimes…"

Flare looked up. "Eh?"

"Screaming… of the past bearers…" Lazlo continued in a whisper.

Unable to understand his words, she repeated them to make sure she heard it right. "Screaming…?"

"Yes." said Lazlo. "Recently, at random times, they scream and shout inside my head, and along with that come an aching pain that I couldn't even describe… I could bear it at times, but… I think… I'd reached my limit last night and passed out…"

Flare bit her lips. Is that the rune's doing? It is said that the rune's very nature is that it is absorbing the bearer's life… little by little… Is it absorbing his now?

Silence filled the humid air. After a brief moment, Flare put her hand on Lazlo's and tightly squeezed it.

"I'm sorry I couldn't do anything…" Her chest was throbbing. She tried to hold her tears so badly that her throat was starting to hurt.

"…It has nothing to do with you. There's nothing we could do about it, anyway, so please don't apologize." Lazlo smiled again as if to ensure Flare that she didn't have to be sorry.

She just hung her head and kept her mouth tight. "It… must be very painful…" Her voice quivered. "I'm sorry… I just… I suddenly remember my mother… As you know, she once held the rune, so—"

"Hey, I should be the one who's crying over the pain here, not you." Lazlo spoke with a soft laugh, trying to cheer her up. "It's alright, Flare. I understand."

Flare smiled in response, but she couldn't turn her eyes from Lazlo's left hand—the one in which the symbol of the rune resided. There were so many things in her mind. She couldn't stop thinking why fate is so cruel; choosing her mother and a young boy upon millions of people in the world to carry this deathly burden, this curse. Why not the bad guys? There are many bad and evil people out there who deserve the punishment more than her beloved mother and Lazlo.

'Why? Why all of this had to happen…' She bit her lips.

She was well aware that cursing the fate was a wrong thing to do; she even had promised herself to just accept things the way it is and continued her life to be strong and independent so that she could protect her people. However, after all the incidents with the cursed rune; all the wars and endless conflicts, she ended up cursing the fate again. She was just a human after all.

Lazlo, who felt that something was off, leaned his body to shorten the distance between them. "Flare, you okay?"

"I'm fine." Flare answered shortly. "Sorry to worry you, Lazlo."

Lazlo kept staring at her in concern. Suddenly, he woke up from his bed and held her hand tightly.

"Lazlo, you shouldn't move your body just yet!"

But Lazlo didn't answer. Instead he pulled her and ran out of his room, dragging her. The confused blonde girl struggled to stop him as he dragged her along, passing several of their comrades who were just as confused. Lazlo didn't pay attention to their puzzled look, though, and by only wearing his plain black shirts and shorts, kept running with his bare feet.

They finally arrived on the deck. The sky was no longer dark, but light blue with thin white clouds spread all over its surface. The fresh breeze and ocean scent greeted them. After they reached the upper deck, Lazlo quickly lifted both of his hand to his face and took a deep breath.

"DAMN YOU RUNE OF PUNISHMENT! STOP CONSUMING MY SOUL AND JUST MOVE AWAY FROM MY BODY! STOP MESSING AROUND WITH MY HEAD! YOU ARE NOTHING! NOTHING BUT TROUBLE! A PARASITE! DAMN YOU TO HELL! I DON'T WANT TO DIE!"

Flare, surprised by his sudden shouting, just stood there in awe. Never since her first meeting with him she saw him angry or heard him yelling like mad. It was the first time he ever let loose like that. Again, all the crews who were on the deck stopped doing their activities and turned to the very source of the loud familiar voice. Some furrowed their eyebrows, some exchanged glances, some wondered what has gotten into the leader who was famous for his poise and reserved attitude.

Lazlo panted and looked up to the sky. He smiled as if he had let all of his feelings which he always suppressed out of his chest for good. Then, he turned his head to Flare, grinning. His face looked bright and happy like that of a child—a kind of face he had never showed up to anyone. Unconsciously, her lips curved up. She then took a step forward and did just the same thing as Lazlo had done.

"MOTHER, IF YOU CAN HEAR ME, I WANT YOU TO KNOW THAT-THAT I MISS YOU SO MUCH! I-I WANT TO SAY THANK YOU, FOR EVERYTHING—FOR SAVING ME AND FATHER! I'M FINE HERE AND HAVE A FAVOR TO ASK TO YOU! WHEREVER YOU ARE NOW, PLEASE LEND YOUR STRENGTH TO LAZLO!"

Tears flowed from both of her eyes, but she was smiling.

Afterwards, they laughed together. Lazlo was content. It wasn't easy to gather the courage to shout like a maniac, but he was relieved that he decided to do it. Even though it was ridiculous, he could finally release his burden, and it looked like Flare was relieved, too.

He couldn't remove the curse from his body, thus his life would continue being absorbed. The screaming of the past bearers might echo again inside his head and hurt him. Well, when it felt hurt as hell… When he couldn't hold anything anymore, he could just scream and let all of his pain and burden fly and swallowed by the ocean wind.