AN

Hello people of the... let me think about this... umm... screw it. Hey guys! I've decided to rewrite my chapters of this story because I definitely see where there could be some improvement. The main story line and plot will stay the same, and Stryke's chapters will not be changed unless he does so himself. You can re-read the chapters if you want, but it's not needed. I've just added more detail to the story, and maybe a few more small events. I hope you aren't angry at me for rewriting, but it's happening anyways! Now, if you're a new reader, let me give you some information that YOU MUST READ! *whispers* Or I will come to your house while you're sleeping, bury you alive on top of 4 tons of landmines in a spiked coffin, and when you wake up, I will enjoy the fireworks with popcorn bathed in your parents blood. ANYWAYS, a friend and fanfiction writer you may know named Icarus 'Stryke' Aethon will be co-writing this with me. I haven't tried this before and it seems fun so far. For the people who've already read this chapter, I'm sorry for not posting a new chapter. That will come very soon. I am able to be more active in the fanfiction community, so that's something. Back to the new reader info, the view points will constantly change, and no OCs will be accepted yet. This plot has been planned out and more or less forgotten, so I hope you enjoy! And now, I take you to the summary!

Disclaimer: Icarus and I own nothing but our OCs, however, the rights to Final Fantasy XIII will be OURS!

Summary:

Scorch and Dels are an inseparable pair, however what will they do when they're forced to walk a path they do not wish to walk? Being thrown into the middle of chaos does not do any good to the mind, especially when it's been troubled by the past. You'd be surprised to see what people will do when they're desperate.

Now that the summary is improved (hopefully) you guys can enjoy the story! I decided to not introduce the characters as I usually dedicate my first few chapters to character development. However, there will be action this time! I will make this interesting to read because I know what it feels like to read a boring character/scene development chapter! Enjoy!

"What the fuck ARE you doing?!" Scorch harshly whispered to his life friend, Dels. At the moment, they were both on the roof top of a bakery observing the pedestrians below... well, they were both there until Dels decided to jump into the dank alley that sat just to their right. What were they doing on the rooftop you ask? Why they were looking for some food and jewelry to steal of course. Why were they stealing jewelry and food? It's a long story, so I'll sum it up.

Scorch and Dels lived on their own in their own small hideout in a clearing in the middle of a path of alley ways. They had no one but each other to live for and with, so they tried their best to survive each day, stealing anything that was worth getting their hands on. Of course, the commoners noticed that the rate of stolen items had been high around that area, so most of them had bugged off to protect their precious belongings. This did have a slight impact on Dels and Scorch, but they still managed to get by.

Getting back at hand, Dels started sneaking towards the intersection of the alley and road. One man dressed in elegant purple and blue robes calmly strode along the side of the street. He seemed to be enjoying himself, but he also seemed ignorant of the people around him. 'Just another fat-cat scum' Dels thought with a smirk on his face. Every once in a while, some rich person would travel to the area, most likely to head for the bakery, but they never payed attention to the warnings they were given. These idiots were easy to target, and usually gained Dels and Scorch quite a bit of money. The jewelry that came off these assholes was quite valuable in the black market, so valuable in fact that sometimes Dels and Scorch had to fight for their life to keep possession of the treasured items.

The robed man walked right past Dels without even noticing his obvious form in the alley. 'Alright, let's do this' Dels thought as he casually walked out of the alley. Scorch watched above and kept an eyes on his brother in the casual crowd. He sure had the cloths to blend in well enough, thanks to the last rich person they stole from. Walking behind the smug bastard, Dels inspected him for any easy accessories to take. On the back of the man's robe, he spotted a deep blue sapphire glinting in the bright sunlight. 'What an easy target' Dels laughed in his head. He slipped out a short slim knife from his sleeve and walked a little faster to catch up to the dangling object. Just as he had barely touched even the string of diamonds that held the sahhpire in a necklace like fashion, the man turned around and grabbed his fist. Without realizing what happened, Dels stood frozen to his spot. 'W-What the hell?!' In Dels's mind, peace remained, as this had happened only twice before. Dels knew what to do in these situations. He had to play it off.

"Wait!" Dels yelled, but not to the man. Dels had yelled loud enough for Scorch to hear, and he understood. However, the middle aged man was fooled.

"You think you can steal from me low-life scum? Let me tell you something. I know about this area more than you. I know what types of criminals exist in this area, and you're nothing compared to them. If you try that again, I will break your arm, do you understand?" The mans voice was crude and commanding, yet Dels just acted like he was scared and nodded with his eyes closed. The man threw him back onto the ground, turned around, and walked away as if nothing had happened.

'Well, that was certainly interesting' Dels thought with a grimace. Just as Dels turned around to head back to the alley, he noticed a small crowd watching him with either blank or confused faces. Dels ignored them since he knew that if he started talking, he'd look suspicious. 'It would be best for the people to make some story up, then there will be no real knowledge of what happened. They'll forget in time.' As Dels walked into the shade of the alley way, Scorch jumped in front of him.

"You okay? I was surprised to see that he reacted so quickly without even glancing at you once."

"Yeah, I'm fine, but that was unusal."

"What do you mean?" Scorch asked with a frown.

"He said he knew this place better than we did. We haven't even seen him in this slum at least once, and we've grown up here."

"Gah, he's probably just bluffing. If he hasn't been here before, he certainly doesn't know this place. He just has a good sense of his surroundings, and he's clever. Trying to intimidate you was a good option, even if he couldn't back it up with knowledge, he seemed to have the physical strength to do so."

Dels grinned at Scorch as he finished speaking.

"What?"

"Listen to you, getting all philosophical. It's tear jerking." Dels said with a clownish grin.

"Shut up..." Scorch mumbled before walking towards the back of the alleyway. Dels followed him, still wearing his malevolent smile.

"So what are we going to do now? We can't roam around trying to steal stuff, we'll get caught for sure."

"Well, do we have enough money to buy food?"

"Buy food? What have you turned into?"

"Would you rather starve?"

Dels thought about it for a moment before replying. "No I guess not, but only this one time okay? I don't want to interact with anyone in case they have something I could steal later on."

"I know what you mean. We'll just get something off a local market then. I'm sure that a restaraunt would be too fancy for us. Imagine the looks on everyone's faces if we walked in looking like we had just come from the dirtiest fight in existence."

"Yeah, that would be a scene. Alright, then let's head back to the hideout, grab some Gil, and buy some food."

"Agreed."

The walk to their "hideout" was quite short, as it only took a few turns and tunnels to arrive at their home. The massive metal cargo carts surrounded by what looked like heaps of junk looked unused and worthless. However, the heaps of junk were actually complicated traps set up to kill anyone who tries to enter their hideout. Only the brothers had known how to get passed, as they knew every piece used in every trap. Besides the hidden entrance among the traps, there was a trapdoor at the top of the cargo box, which was only possible to get to if you had a ladder, jet pack, or super amazing jumping abilities. Even if you had gotten to the top, the trapdoor only opened from inside so it was practically impossible to get through without blowing it off. As always, the massive construction gave the boys pride, but there was only one problem. None of the traps had actually been set off before, so they had no idea if they worked. They sure looked deadly, but the question of functionality remained.

Easily weaving through the traps, Scorch and Dels entered their hideout and sighed in unison. They were relieved to be back in their cozy space. You might think that their hideout would consist of a few crappy furnishings but it was the opposite. Comfortable furniture sat in various places around the hideout and many decorations were set. Candles adorned the walls and shelves of trinkets, weapons, and other items covered the walls. How did they get all of this in here?

Well, when they first discovered this empty cargo box, the front doors were easily accessible so they were able to eventually upgrade the inside and outside of their hideout until it had appeared as it does now. There wasn't much more they needed, and it didn't take too much time to get it into this state due to the many rich people that used to travel freely. Once the amount of travelers had died down a little, there wasn't much Scorch and Dels could do with the hideout, so they decided to just leave it at that.

Walking to a red fluffy couch, Scorch flopped down into the relaxing object and closed his eyes. Dels sat in a chair and had done the same thing. For a few minutes, everything seemed to be okay, but then they both remembered something. They hadn't checked their appearances. That might not seem important, but technology was so advanced, it was possible to be tracked just by a small mechanical bug crawling on your arm. Bug inspection was always a priority when in the hideout. Despite being petty thieves, Scorch and Dels did not want to risk the chance of being caught, and after meeting that strange robed man, they were a bit worried.

Scorch stood at 5'5" and aged at 15 years old. He was quite skinny, but not in some over starved child like way. His medium length brown hair barely stooped over his sapphire blue eyes. His slightly tanned skin showed no sign of any bugs crawling on him, and the cloths proved to be clean also. 16 years old Dels then looked into the mirror and bent down a little, due to his height being 5'9" and the mirrors height reaching only 3 inches below Dels's. His medium length dark red hair almost fully covered his icy blue eyes, but it contrasted greatly against his pale skin. He saw no bugs on him either, and his cloths also seemed to be void of any bugs.

"Well, it looks like we're clean." Dels told Scorch.

"Yep- wait" Scorch stopped in his spot listening closely. 'Did I just hear something?'

"What is-"

"Shh!" Scorch listened to the quiet sound, waiting for the noise he heard to verify it was there again. Understanding what his little brother was doing, Dels listened also. Just as they were about to blow off the noise as some creation of their imagination, they heard the noise again. A small buzz emitted from the ground. Terrified, the brothers looked down to see a barely visible bug. They both knelt down and took a closer look. It was mechanical. 'Shit.' They knew they were in trouble. Just as Dels was about to smash the bastard bug, a loud rattling sound bounced off a metal wall.

Standing up, Scorch quietly ran to the weapons shelf and took a small green crossbow off the wooden slab. Listening to whatever was outside the hideout, Scorch made his way towards the ladder that led to the roof hatch. Before he started climbing, a voice yelled from outside.

"Come on out! We know you're there! We've come with a message and a lesson! If you don't come out, we'll call the police! You shouldn't be here anyways, should you?" The voice sounded like it belonged to a large grunt. 'So these are hired thugs huh?' Dels thought. Understanding the situation, the brothers both climbed the wooden ladder to the hatch. Scorch started to count down, and Dels understood.

"3... 2... 1... GO!" Scorch yelled as he burst open the large hat and crawled onto the roof, Dels following him.

AN

Okay, so I hope this one was better than the original. I still have the original, so if it get enough hate, I'll add a little more detail to the original and post that instead. I'll update the other chapters, but for now, I'll see you guys later! Oh, and Icarus is doing the next chapter! Bye!