.
There's a third option. If we destroy the wall...
It wouldn't be paradise. It would be hell.
Shion
"Shion! SHION!" Somewhere in the crowd, Shion's mother was looking for him. He heard and calledout to her.
"Mom! Mom, I'm here!"
"Shion!" Her hair was disheveled, and her face was flushed, making her appear younger, but after all this time he could finally see her again. Not caring about his eyes, his hair, or his scar, she leapt into his arms and wept. "Shion, I'm so sorry, but I'm so happy you're alright. You're alive. I can't believe it, you're alive!" She wept and held him to her like if she let go he'd disappear again. His arms gently wrapped around her, holding her, keeping her from falling.
"I thought I'd never see you again." Shion said. Karan smiled at him through her tears.
"Silly, that's my line." She composed her self and gave Shion a good once over. Fingering his hair she said, "Your hair's gotten so long."
"And it's white." She hit him playfully.
"Mou, don't make fun of me. I was really worried about you. And Saifu..." A sudden hardness appeared in his eyes, quickly concealed with sadness.
"She's gone, mom. We failed."
Soft fingers caressed his cheek, "Don't undermine your efforts with such words, Shion. I'm sure Saifu would be upset." Tears glittered in her eyes, but now was not the time for tears. She would shed them later. For Saifu, and for everyone else Eluryias had taken from them. No. for everyone No.6 had taken from them.
A small cry interrupted her thoughts. A small baby looked up at her from the ground. It was nuzzled up next to a female dog. "Mama." She tried to add up in her head how many months Shion had been away.
"Uh, Shion?"
"Yes?"
"How long were you gone, exactly?" Dawning came on Shion almost immediately.
"Wah, she's not mine! She's an orphan. She needed someone to raise her, so..." An orphan? If it's No.6's doing,than it's my duty to raise this child. His mother looked at his flustered face with the slightest bit of amusement despite her somber thoughts.
"Most children bring home gifts, or stray puppies when they leave the house. Not babies." The sound of raised voices cut their happy reunion short.
"Who are these people? They're filthy." A woman with a shrewish voice spoke brashly. She was standing right next to a child who wore nothing but rags. "They smell like garbage."
Her boyfriend oggled an Outsider in his late 40's , "Hey, you! Do. You. . I'm. Saying." The man turned away, appalled by the No.6 brute. He felt something clench his shoulder. "Hey, old man, I'm talking to you!" The man turned and socked the boy in the face. A brawl broke out. It ended when one of the armed Outsiders accidentally killed a man.
Some had tried to stop the fight. Others had simply watched. Shion had wept. So, it was a pipe dream, after all... Isn't that right, Nezumi?
*A month later*
Break it.
Destroy it.
Destroy what?
Everything
No.6 was burning. Since the wall had been destroyed, the nonexistent crime rate in No.6 had skyrocketed. People were robbed and murdered in the streets. Woman couldn't leave their houses at night. Arson was becoming commonplace. And everyone had begun to carry weapons. The strange thing about this was, the Outsiders weren't the only ones committing the crimes. The people of No.6 had grown in a carefully controlled world that forced them to suppress their violent impulses and sexual desires. Now, without any restraints, some former No.6 elites were letting these desires run wild.
Shion had chosen to carry a concealed pistol. His mother had been against it. I want Shion to stay Shion.I don't want you to change. Hearing her echo Nezumi's words had momentarily disoriented him, but then fresh anger, hot and roiling, had swelled inside him.
"Look outside, Mom!" He gestured wildly at the window. Fires still burned brightly. Someone screamed. "This isn't No.6 anymore. It's not safe to walk outside alone rules have changed. Being a good obedient citizen isn't going to cut it. If you want to survive, if you want that baby to survive, then you have to let me protect you!" A hard knock came from the front door. Shion pulled it open with more force than necessary. "What?" Two men in black suits stood towering in front of him with a black car waiting on the road. How long ago would the sight of such a thing have left him trembling? Probably before he was forced to fall asleep to "Help me. Somebody save me." Every night it got easier to ignore. It wasn't really something new. The pleas for help, the dying cries had always been there. The only difference was that he could hear them now. He still couldn't do a thing to save them.
"We need you to come with us, Shion."
"Do I have a choice?"
"No." Shion sighed and put on his coat. It occurred to him that his mother might contact Nezumi.
"Mom, if I'm not back in an hour, do you think you could feed Hamlet for me?" The robotic mouse didn't need to be fed. His mother understood at once.
"I'd rather feed him right now if that's alright."
"Nah, if you feed him too soon you'll just spoil him. Bye, Mom. I'll be back soon."
"Take care." Shion followed the suit clad men into the car. One of the men turned to him, and asked, "What did you tell your mother?"
"I told her to feed my pet rat, of course." Shion looked at the man like he was concerned for his mental health. He let the subject drop. Red eyes. White hair. Man, this kid is creepy.
…...
Six kids were waiting for them at the abandoned No.6 school. They were all surrounded by men in suits. Probably to make sure they didn't flee. One of them didn't look frightened. Shion could tel that he wasn't from No.6. He looked at Shion with surprise, quickly masked with contempt, when he got out of the car. Most of the boys looked surprised. Well, this could be worse. I could have red eyes and white hair and stick out like a sore thumb. Oh wait...
He made notes about each of the boys as they were introduced. Stinger was the Outsider, the trainer, and the leader. He had choppy brown hair, dark skin, and narrow brown eyes. His clothes were rags, but at this point, so were everyone else's. Shion was to be this boy's second in command since he had intimate knowledge of both No.6 and the Outside. He wanted to protest that he had to take care of his family, but he knew that if he disobeyed, his family would be the ones to pay for it.
Yellow Jacket smiled uneasily at his captors. His eyes darting around. Probably looking for possible escape roots if the situation turned bad. His yellow sweatshirt was ratty, and his mop of blond hair was even rattier.
Stripes looked sullenly at the ground. His hands played absently with a switch blade. Swaying slightly, his head seemed to be keeping time to a rhythm only he could hear.
Wingman stood up straight as he stared defiantly at his captors. He didn't have a plan, but he figured he could make one up quickly if he had too. Shion liked him instantly, or he would have a month earlier. He could feel the headache that he'd had for the past few days starting to get worse.
Swift seemed small and meek. His too long black bangs concealed half his face yet he didn't even bother to move them. He wasn't someone Shion would want to trust his back to, but if he was fast, he might be better used as recon than a fighter.
And finally Vespid. He was the youngest of the group at twelve years old, but he puffed out his chest like he had something to proof. Shion could see through the facade. He was trembling. Sympathy for the poor kid stirred inside him. How did he get involved in this? Where were his parents?
Everyone of the boys had something in common. An aura of anger and despair that hung around them like fog. Oh, and a Wasp related name. He had good idea of what they had all been gathered for, and he wanted no part in it.
"Alright, boys, now that you've all been introduced, I want you all to meet Venom. He's your sempai and we expect you all to respect him. Understand?" Five voices answered in the affirmative. Stinger didn't say a would as Shion had anticipated. "Venom, do you have any questions you want to ask these boys?" Do you have any idea what's going on? Where are your parents? Were you kidnapped from your houses? Why is a boy from the Outside working with No.6? He settled for one.
"Where are your parents?" A tenseness made the air feel even heavier than the smoke already made it. It was Wingman who finally answered, "We're all orphans here." Orphans? No.6 orphans? Did their parents die from the parasite wasps? Were they murdered? "All our parents were murdered within the last week." All of them? That doesn't make sense. Unless...
Wingman
It had been difficult for Wingman to find out when the other children had lost their parents without the guards noticing, but when he had, he came to the same conclusion that Venom was going to come now. Hopefully. He waited for the new member to understand what he had said, and wondered what he'd do when he realized that No.6 was taking advantage of the chaos to conveniently murder people... He wasn't disappointed. Venom pulled out a concealed pistol and shot one of the guards in the shoulder.
Then he made a break for his home. Wingman was able to disable a few of them before being overwhelmed. It felt good to finally put his years of studying the human anatomy to good use.
Stripes
When the bullet went off, Stripes was ready. He killed the guard nearest him in a second. The second one felt like it took even less time. These bastards took his parents away. They took his future away. Why shouldn't he take their lives away?
Swift
Swift smiled; the kind of grin that seemed out of place on the face of a child. He kneed his captor in the crotch, and turned to run away, but... Vespid wasn't moving. Come on, kid. We have to get out of here. The boy wasn't moving. He was just standing there in a daze as the fight went on around him. Swift was just about to leave him when Yellow Jacket picked him up. They started to run.
"You weren't planning on leaving this kid behind were you?" The blond haired boy inquired. The black haired child didn't answer.
Somewhere a car had started. They ran faster. The hot air burned their lungs but they didn't slow down.
"Hey! Someone get in this car so I can go!" It was Venom! He'd hot wired a car. How'd he do that? Swift and Yellow Jacket piled in. Followed by Stripes, and lastly Stinger came in with a beat up looking Wingman.
Yellow Jacket observed tactfully, "Man, you look like shit." Wingman groaned.
"So does your sweatshirt." By the time they finally got to Venom's house, Wingman and Yellow Jacket were practically at each others throats. Vespid was still mentally MIA. Stripes was playing with his switch blade, Swift was yelling for them to shut the hell up, and Stinger was contemplating jumping out of the car. When the car stopped, everything was silent except for the crack and pop of burning wood. Venom rushed out of the car but Stinger managed to keep him from running into the flames.
Shion
"They're gone, Venom! Your families gone!" It's not my 's not my name. He struggled against Stinger's hold on him. He shouted for his mom, he shouted for his sister, he shouted for his dog, his rat, his best friend. No one came out of the building. Eventually he collapsed. The boys watched him with sad eyes. They too had watched their houses burn. The air smelt horrifically sweet. It smelt like burnt baked goods. A strange thought came to Shion. His mother loved baked goods so much, and now she was one. A baked mother. A baked baby... Everything inside his stomach came bursting out, leaving him empty and cold in the heat of fire. Cars surrounded them. Men in black suits filed out, but he hardly noticed. His family was gone, and that was all that mattered.
Surely, this must be hell.
.
.
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