Series: Suikoden V crossover with Suikoden IV
Prompt/Theme: Life.
Chapter Summary: AU, Life was precious and so were they, to Lazlo anyway. Part 11/100.
Disclaimer: I do not own anything you recognize.
Rating: T
Genre: Family/Friendship/Tragedy/Angst.
Pairings(however vague and implied): None.
Warning: Crossover.
Part I of V
Lazlo, that was his name - no last name, but that wasn't uncommon. In a world of assassins, family and names meant nothing. But to Lazlo, curious and resourceful and lively and wise, Lazlo, found himself wondering and questioning. He'd asked one of the nicer - nicer didn't mean they were nice by standards of society - caretakers and they said they found him in the Shipyard Grave, on a newly wrecked ship filled with corpses of the sailors and in the arms of a dead woman.
His mother. He always wondered and he wanted to know how she had looked like but he'd never know because he came from another nation - he doubted he'd be returning anytime soon - and the assassins who found him died on a mission.
Life was so fragile - in many forms.
Lazlo turned his ever alert eyes to the young toddler, a few years younger than his five years old. His new bunk-mate didn't seem older than nine months old but then he could be small. The assassins called him Michafute but Lazlo called the boy Dolph - short for Dolphin which was the plush he kept holding onto.
He caressed the boy's soft cheeks, in this world he lived in with other kidnapped children trained to be assassins, nothing ever remained soft forever. "I'd keep you safe, I promise, just stay with me," he promised despite knowing that in the brutal world of assassins, promises and life meant nothing.
The next to join their little group of two was a girl - she was a crying, sobbing mess, wailing for her mother, her clothes torn and in rags covered by mud and blood. Lazlo instantly knew she was one of those kids kidnapped straight from a purged village or a small town with no security. The assassin grunted, throwing her into the room, nodding to Lazlo and slamming the door shut.
The girl ran towards it, trying to turn the door knob to get it to open but it didn't budge. She pounded on the door with surprising strength, crying.
Lazlo wrapped his arms around her, ignoring her struggling, and murmuring, "I'll keep you safe, I promise, so don't cry, we'll be together."
From behind them, nibbling on his dolphin plush toy, Dolph cracked a crooked grin.
Life was unfair - but it truly depends on the person saying this.
Mismar, the name of the new girl and his new foster sister, repeated this every single night - without fail. Dolph was far too young to have remembered his experience of a world outside this life of killing, Lazlo was the same so neither knew - though they tried their best to empathize - what was so unfair.
Dolph didn't care.
Lazlo wondered, as he always did, as curious as he was, and perhaps he surmised life was unfair to those that he'd killed. Life was okay to him, he had two siblings to protect, to cherish and love, he had a job and a purpose and as long as he had those, life was okay.
Even if it was spent in Nether Gate - and the reason for such a name wasn't so far from its namesake after all.
Life was fleeting - a lesson Lazlo taught Dolph and Mismar on the same day, in different ways.
The three had been in a group - they always were, bunk-mates were automatically grouped together and if you fail to work together, you die - and it was supposed to be a simple mission like those years before; they were supposed to ambush and cause distraction to a group of surveying knights.
The three children - thirteen, nine, six respectively - weren't alone, they were with other groups. Lazlo didn't know why they need so many people - assassins usually work in few numbers unless the enemy was powerful or it was war - and he felt unnerved, knowing so many people together meant that the chances of dying were higher.
He tapped the blunt edge of one of his twin blades, waiting with baited breath for their target. He glanced briefly at Dolph and Mismar and when the latter frowned, he smiled reassuringly. "Nothing would go wrong, I promise," he whispered, planting a kiss like a blessing on both children's head - Mismar who smiled and Doph who scowled.
He was wrong. His life slipped away, his promise broken, the moment he realized this was a suicide mission. They weren't meant to succeed nor were they meant to kill anybody, they were just decoy while the rest of Nether Gate ran from the enemies.
He wanted to scream for this friends - eccentric, powerful, weak, protective, insane; all different yet he loved them for it - to run. Most have the sense to do so even without his warning but Mismar disappeared, Dolph didn't run.
The younger boy approached him, eyes curious, seemingly in shock. "Lazlo?"
A strange, beeping sound and Lazlo, with the last shred of his energy, pulled himself to his feet and threw himself at Dolph, wrapping his arms around the boy and whispering empty promises, soothing words, "We won't die, I won't let you die, I promise," as the world around them exploded into splinters, uprooted trees and fireworks and blood.
When his vision cleared somewhat, the first thing he saw was Dolph's blank, shocked silver eyes. Then the pain registered in his torso, salty liquid trickled down his lips to his chin, and he smiled. "Didn't I promise you won't die?"
Trembling, the younger boy's hands reached up to cup his cheeks, something wet dropped onto his cheek before he register it was raining but somehow, he knew it wasn't a rain droplet.
Dolph, young as he was, still knew what death was and he knew what life was.
He didn't cry, his eyes burned as he turned Lazlo's listless body over so that the older boy was laying on his back. He was smiling and his face was peaceful and accomplished as if he'd won a victory over the world. With some effort, Dolph managed to drag the boy's body till it was in the river.
His body floated a moment before it started sinking.
Life was fleeting - Dolph knew this well now.
The young boy knew he could die too, anytime now, without Lazlo - strong, protective, powerful, gentle, brave - around him. He stumbled blindly in the woods, the explosion had eroded the earth and he knew not of where he was heading. Dolph did not expect to stumble into a warm body, to feel large and warm hands encircling him.
"You shouldn't have been here, child," Dolph stared up blankly into the gentle face of a man that later, he'd know to be Ferid, King of Falena. "I'll keep you safe, I promise, just stick with me!"
"Lazlo...?"
Life was formless - where will he find it?
Part I of V - END.