A/N: This fanfic is supposed to be a one-shot, for a contest, but, ahh, I guess the story is too long, so I split it to four parts. I hope the pacing of this story is not too slow for all of you. But what the heck, you probably will lose interest in this story by the second scene.

A PJOFFW Contest: March 2013 entry. Theme: Alone. Semi-ORPG fic. Thanks to Hazelle More for being my second pair of eyes in the proofreading of this fic, in my time of despair. She's the best.

This chapter is dedicated to my newborn premature little sister, who finally came home, and currently sleeps on my bed. (Until we get her a crib, I am exiled to sleep in the makeshift bed on the floor.)

The Man Who Breathes Fire

I. UNFAMILIAR FAMILIAR TERRITORY

- October 2023 -

It was a quiet Halloween in Palewell Street, a new neighborhood that had been renovated from an old abandoned commercial district. It was also a sunny late afternoon, which was a good time to start trick-or-treating, but there were no kids around. A few of the houses were still empty, with House for SALE signs on their front lawns. Two kids were running in the middle of the small road, a brother and a sister, their laughs filling the whole silent street. They carried with them a small white box each. Cakes. There were new residents in the neighborhood, and the children's family wanted to welcome them. They had just bought the cakes from the neighborhood's only surviving bakeshop. It was owned by a stout man with plump red face and a funny nose, but he always had a smile in his face.

The boy was grinning to his sister when he noticed me on the porch of a one-storey house. He looked at me curiously. Then he tapped on his sister's shoulder and pointed at me with his lips. I just looked at them. I was a new neighbor as well, just moved in today. I smiled and waved to them. They smiled back and, because of the cakes in their hands, they nodded to me instead of waving, and continued walking toward their destination. I thought about them telling their parents about me, and then throw a party here in this place.

I looked inside my new house. It was still completely empty, no furniture or appliances. There was a worn mattress fit for two people that I found in the basement (how a worn mattress happened in a newly built house, I was yet to find out). It was in the middle of what could have been the living room. My bag was on the top of the mattress. I didn't think that this place was fit for visitors right then.

Moving inside, I took out my few clothes, placed them besides the bed, on the floor. My tool belt sat on the edge of the dirty mattress. There were a few other curiosities in the bag, but I left them in there.

There was nothing for me to do, so I went out for dinner. The nearby restaurants were almost full. I was lucky to be able to sneak into a seat. There were a lot of kids around me, all wearing costumes and holding up their bags full of candy to their parents. I saw that the restaurant was having some Halloween dishes in their menu for the occasion. On my table was a Halloween party hat. Well, there was nothing bad on wearing it, so why not? I took it and placed it on my head, be like one of the crowd for a change.

I looked back, thought about my new neighborhood. Palewell Street didn't have plenty of kids running around Trick-or-Treating. Was it a private neighborhood? It was too quiet for me, to be honest. But maybe quiet was what I needed right now. I watched the kids grinning to their parents. The adults made jokes and patted their kids' heads. It was noisy around me. I ate in silence.

After dinner, I walked back to my new home, but when I arrived at the street, I saw that the neighborhood was dark. So dark, I could barely see anything at all when I turned to the corner. The streetlamps were out, no lights in any house, and it was eerily quiet.

I walked cautiously in the middle of the road. Maybe there was a blackout. I was tempted on summoning a small fire for some light, but I fought it for now. A cold wind blew passed me. I suddenly felt a presence. Someone with negative air.

The hairs on the back of my neck stood. "Who's there?" I said. This time I did summon my fire. It was small in my palm, but it was enough for me to see a few yards around me. No one answered. I kept moving slowly. I wished I brought my tool belt with me. Or a small weapon. Like a knife.

No one answered. But I heard a coin being tossed in the air, and it landed on the ground. Cling!

I walked to the direction of the sound and searched the ground. I had to glance up a lot in case this was a distraction. I found the coin. It was big than most of the coins that was commonly seen around here. I knelt down.

A drachma.

I reached out for it, but I held my hand back. I quickly looked around. Someone was following me.

"Hey! Show yourself!" I almost shouted. I waited for gods knew how long. The presence was gone. The lights of the neighborhood were suddenly up. It almost blinded me, my eyes trying to adjust. There was some activity inside of the houses. I quickly extinguished my fire by shaking my hand rapidly. I wanted to leave the drachma on the ground, but I picked it up and put in my pocket. I quickly went to my house and locked the door behind me. I didn't open the lights, but I opened the windows, let the lights from outside come in. I took out the coin again and examined it. There was nothing dangerous. But it couldn't have just appeared out of nowhere.

I considered using the drachma. Call someone. Call my friends. Call home.

I closed my fingers on the coin instead, and made my way to bed. I stared at the ceiling for a long time, clutching the drachma to my chest. A lot of times I wanted to get up and go to the bathroom to Iris-message home. A few times I was unnerved that someone stalked me all the way here just to bring this coin. I cheered myself up by making jokes about it. But nobody here would probably get the punchline if I told the joke to them. Not my mortal neighbors.

I was alone here. I closed my eyes.

- November 2023 -

Old Palewell Street wasn't exactly abandoned before it was renovated into a family-friendly neighborhood. I went to the local bakeshop the next morning, learned that Mr. Santiago was one of the surviving residents of the old Palewell Street (once called Santa Anita St.), apparently, before everything else was demolished and replaced with new homes. His bakeshop stood out, which was the only gray building in the sea of colorful tall houses. How his building remained when everything else went away, I was going to ask in another day.

"I'm planning on painting the whole place," he said to me, when I decided to stay for some chat. (Nothing bad on getting to know the neighbors, right?) "Beige looks good for the old thing, wouldn't it?"

"I guess so," I said. I looked into my bag of delicacies I just brought from him. Some of them made my mouth water. I took something out and ate.

"So you just came from Oakland?" Mr. Santiago asked.

I nodded. "Aye, mate," I said, with my mouth partly full. "I move around a lot, but I came from California, although I was born and raised here in Texas."

"A Texan? You?" Mr. Santiago brightened up. "Ah, of course, you are! Coming back to the old frontier, I see? A lot has changed, recently. A lot has been changing in small amounts of time."

"Yeah, I don't recognize almost anything anymore." I rubbed my hands together to brush off the sugar. "But still the same sun."

"The same sun." The baker nodded. He looked somewhere beyond me, with nostalgic eyes. I decided this was time I should leave him. I thanked him for the chat and the bread, turned around from the counter, and, came in front of a man around my age. His face was friendly, cheeks with dimples, and he had bright eyes. Two kids were behind him. The kids I saw yesterday.

The man nodded to me, and made his way around me and greeted the baker rather cheerfully. His kids trailed behind him, smiling to me.

I was almost, almost at the door, when the man called to me. "Hey there, new neighbor! Where you going?"

Damn. So close.

I turned and managed to grin at him. "Hey."

The man moved towards to me with his paper bag of bread and his two kids. "My kids told me about you." (The children grinned at me apologetically.) He offered his hand in front of me. "I'm Charles, your friendly neighborhood doctor. These are my kids, Edeva and Robert."

I took his hand and shook it. "Leo, your friendly neighborhood mechanic."

Charles grinned at me. "You know, I like you already. I was sort of eavesdropping on your conversation with Mr. Santiago. How about we come over to your house for lunch later? We could invite the neighbors as well."

This man was probably the friendliest person (or the most foolish person) I met in my entire life. I thought about my house, how there was literally almost nothing inside of it. Really not fit for people to party.

"Ah, sorry, my house is not in shape right now." I smiled apologetically.

"Still unpacking?" Charles said. "We could help you with that."

I laughed. "No, I mean, there's barely anything in the house."

"Well, have lunch with us then. We don't bite." Charles patted my shoulder. His hand was a bit heavy, so my shoulder almost dropped under his weight. And before I knew it, I was inside the Castel house, a two-storey beauty with very neat interior and structure. The house was located at the corner of the street, a long walk from my house.

Charles introduced me to his wife, Mari, and she also had heard about me from their kids. She was pregnant, carrying an eight-month-old baby in her belly, and they were expecting the little kid to be born soon. She was busy preparing lunch, and I offered myself for any help, but the couple pushed me down in front of the living room TV with Edeva and Robert.

The two kids were really focused on the movie they were watching. It was some sort of noir film, black and white, violins for background music. There were two people, a man and a woman, talking to each other. The words they used were rather deep. I looked down to the children. They didn't seem to look bored. Then the people on the TV leaned closer and kissed. The kids' eyes were still glued on the picture. Hmmm…

"Yuck, they're kissing each other." I cringed.

Their attention turned to me. "But kissing is not bad, right?" Edeva said. "Kissing is harmless."

I wrinkled my nose. "Harmless? You'll get cooties!"

"Cooties?" Robert said. "What are cooties?"

"You don't want to know what cooties are," I said. But to be honest, I didn't know what it was, too, other than, yeah, some sort of childlore disease. "But they give you plenty of germs that will make you sick."

"Where do you get cooties?"

"From girls." I looked at Edeva. "And boys. You want?"

"But you said you have to kiss someone to have cooties."

"But I have cooties." I pretended to cough. "Here." I pretended to lick my palm and put it near her face. She backed away and screamed, suppressing a giggle behind her brother's back.

"What's wrong, honey?" Her mom shouted from the kitchen.

"Uncle Leo is giving me cooties!" she shouted back.

Apparently, Mari had heard her wrong, because she said, "Awww, that's sweet, honey."

I left the children to their TV and headed to the kitchen, where Mari was cooking over a pot and Charles was on the phone, rambling cheerfully.

"Is there really no help I can give?" I asked. I half-wished I wouldn't be here. I also wished that Mari wouldn't be moving so much. Perhaps I wasn't really used to living "normal" or be around "normal-normal" people for almost two decades.

Mari finally gave in and assigned me a task of setting out a number of plates on the table. (But first she made sure I washed my hands.) Not long after that, visitors came to the front door and Charles was more than happy to welcome them in. There was at least half a dozen, and they introduced themselves to me and I shook their hands. Well, most of them. There was one old lady who looked at me up and down, sniffed in disgust, and walked away to join the kids in the living room. Everyone called her Mrs. Nils, one of the old residents of Santa Anita Street. And there was this good-looking guy around my age who stared at me hard before joining her. He wore neat clothes and a clean hair-cut. His name, the neighbors said, was Johnson de'Amore, or John, since he'd like to be called that. Somehow, he reminded me of Dylan.

Lunch was okay. Lively. Everyone was full. They asked me loads of questions, a few of them too personal for me. I tried my best to answer most of them. Telling them about my history was not an option. Once, the conversation was going to steer that way. Then I said, "Hey! Dessert!" And there was ice cream.

After lunch, most of the neighbors joined the kids in the living room. I stayed in the kitchen cleaning up with Mrs. Santiago (the baker's wife, duh), and Rook, her grown-up son.

"The children are such angels," sighed Mrs. Santiago, taking the clean dishes from me and wiping them with a towel before placing them in a dish rack. "There's something special about them, I know. They're pretty darlings. I wish we could have children again."

"Do you have secret children, Leo?" Rook grinned at me, nudging my ribs. "A cute guy like you shouldn't be single. Or, you know…" He winked.

Before I could say anything, Mrs. Santiago sniffed, "Now, Rook, that's rude."

"Ma, I'm not twelve anymore. I can flirt all I want."

"It's good that they are having another child," Mrs. Santiago appeared to ignore Rook. "They are such a nice couple. While giving Edeva and Rob a home was a great thing, it probably would be the hardest decision they made, back then, I mean. They thought it was probably the only option they had, and had finally given up trying."

"Wait." I gave her the last dish and wiped my hands with a towel. "You mean the kids…"

"Are adopted." Mrs. Santiago finished for me. "But the children don't know. They were adopted right before they even knew their real mothers. So please, we'd rather not have anyone break it to them. Bless them, those children, they found a new home."

"Excuse me," I said. My lungs were burning. I walked out of the kitchen and found myself in the bathroom. I went to the sink and coughed. Nothing appeared on it, but I was coughing up fire, which quickly turned to white smoke and filled the room.

I took a towel and quickly swapped it around to make the smoke disappear. Then I went back to the sink to wash my face, and drank some water to cool my tongue. I looked at my face at the mirror for a while, wiping the fog from it. With my face clean, I saw dark shades under my eyes, and a few battle scars that had faded long time ago, now hidden in plain sight. I moved closer and traced a long one that went through one of my eyebrows.

I shook my head. I went out and took a peek at the crowd of the living room. Almost everyone was laughing at some story except for Mrs. Nils, who look gruff and was covering her ears. She didn't appear to like the crowd.

The Castel children were the life of the party. Looking closely, they didn't resemble their parents at all. The kids had sharper facial features. And they looked vaguely familiar.

I didn't realize that Johnson was staring hard at me until I caught his eye. Something in the way he looked at me didn't seem so polite. After we stared at each other for a while, he turned his attention back at the kids, giving them a wide smile when they looked at him. But the expressions of both children were indifferent.

Most of the neighbors went home late afternoon, including me, while a few wanted to stay for dinner. Mrs. Nils lived at the house next to me, so, unfortunately, we had to walk together. I heard a lot of mumbling and cursing, accompanied with not-so-happy glances at me.

Suddenly a hand clamped on my shoulder. The force was so heavy this time I did fall down on my knees.

"Sorry, partner," someone said behind me. I looked up and saw John towering me. "Don't know my own strength nowadays."

I quickly stood up and brushed my knees. "Yeah, what's up?"

"I just came to say I'm sorry that I've been giving you a bad impression of myself back there," he said. "This always happens when there's a new face in the neighborhood." There was some sort of aura in him that I couldn't place. Although it felt familiar…

I let one of my eyebrows rise up. "Always on guard, huh."

"Haha, you can say that." His laugh was forced. Again, another thing I kept in mind. He offered a hand. "Let's start again. John de'Amore."

"Leo Valdez." I shook his hand. His grip turned firm.

For a second, his mouth twitched, turning into a straight line. "Familiar name. Have I heard you somewhere?"

"Maybe. But I never heard of you anywhere." The friendly look in his eyes changed now. He was trying to see past through me. I stared at him back, trying to fight his gaze.

"Well, I must be heading back to my place." He smiled to me and let go of my hand. It was numb, throbbing, and red. "I will see you again."

"Yeah, you too." I hid my hands behind me, smiled back and nodded.

He turned his back on me and started to walk away. But ten steps later, he looked back and said, "You be careful around here. This may be a new neighborhood, but a lot of old spirits still lurk around in the corners." He flashed me a grin that could mean anything but friendly. His teeth were shiny white.

- December 2023 -

It had been a month since I moved in here. Christmas was coming, so everyone were already putting up lights and decorations, going for Christmas shopping often, and had started planning their noche buena. Some planned to go on a vacation. I made an effort to put up a few lights so my house could blend in with the others. But Mrs. Nils didn't bother putting up any, even when some of the neighbors offered to do the job with their own extra lights. John de'Amore's was the brightest of the houses. So bright, just staring at it from a distance could make you go blind already. (Wonder how his power bills were doing.)

After our talk last month with John warning me about this place, he wasn't exactly on my trust list. Yet his advice helped me, too. My first day in the neighborhood was proof that I still needed to be on guard, even against the good-looking dudes. I made a habit to carry a small weapon everywhere. I was out in the open. I was surrounded by either mortals or monsters.

Speaking of John, he was avoiding me, too, despite our friendly introduction. His face was stone hard whenever I was among the neighbors, his voice low when I talked to him, and when I was with the kids, especially with Edeva and Robert, he sneered at me. I studied this behavior, and I learned to stay with the kids often.

Because I was alone in the house right now, I was free to breathe. I took deep, slow breaths, calming and controlling my body heat. But white smoke came out of my nostrils and mouth, and my tongue was blazing. I wished I had a glass of water with me. My friends jokingly called it my dragon breath, but it worried them the moment they saw me breathing fire. It was some sort of disorder. The more I was growing up and my body adapting with the heat, the more unstable my pyrokinesis would become. I would often combust at random times (even when I wasn't excited, angry or scared), sometimes setting fire at whatever was around me. This was one of the reasons I had to leave home.

For a moment I thought about my friends at camp. How they were going to spend Christmas without me. I looked out of the window and saw Edeva, Robert, and a few other neighborhood kids running around the street playing tag. My heart sank. If only…

There was a loud knock on the door that startled me. I quickly made my way to the door and answered it. Behind was Mrs. Nils. I held my breath immediately, pushing down the fire to my lungs.

"May I come in?" Her voice was brisk and rusted, like she had not used it for a long time. Her white hair was tied up untidily, and she was smaller than me, but the way she looked at me made me feel small myself.

"Ummm, sure," I said, opening the door wide for her. She walked slowly inside and I closed the door behind her. "Do you want something to drink, Mrs. Nils?"

She snorted, but she said, "Tea would be fine, if you have some."

"Uh, I have tea bags, if that's okay."

"That is fine." She settled herself down on the couch while I dived to the kitchen to prepare the tea she wanted.

When I came back with a cup, Mrs. Nils' eyes moved to and fro the house, her gaze stopping on an object for two seconds or so. She probably must be criticizing me for lack of furniture, decorations, how spacious the place was, maybe thinking about wrong Feng Shui.

I handed her the tea, and she took it silently. I didn't sit down. She was here for a reason, so I waited for her to talk. She finished her tea quickly. When she still didn't speak, I decided to break the ice. "So what brings you here, Mrs. Nils?"

She looked at me, her eyes suddenly cold. "I know you, young man," she started, holding her tea on her lap. "I have a sharp memory."

I straightened up. What did she mean? Something about her air changed. My hand made a reach to my pocket, at a pocket knife made out of Celestial Bronze. If she was going to become a monster (as some old ladies had a habit to, learning from my experiences), I'd better be prepared for it. My tool belt was behind her. Really needed to bring the thing around for emergencies.

I forced myself to smile. "What do you mean, Mrs. Nils?"

The old woman sniffed. Then she stared at me for the longest time. Gradually, her eyes started to warm back, and her voice normal, like any grandma, which threw me off. "There is something fishy about you," she said casually. "Something familiar. Have we met before, Mr. Valdez?"

A lot of people seemed to say that to me. "I don't think so, ma'am," I withdraw my hand without taking out anything and placed it behind my back.

Her head tilted to one side and squinted at me. Then she sighed. She looked at me sternly again. "Then I have no business. Thank you for the tea." She stood up and moved to the door. I tried to run ahead of her to open the exit for her, but she was already there. Outside the children had taken out their bicycles and skateboards and were riding up and down the road. Mrs. Nils held the knob of the door, glanced at the children with an unreadable expression, and then stared at me one more time. "But, for the sake of the neighborhood, stay away from the children." She slammed the door shut.

I didn't meet up with any of the neighbors until the Castels invited me for Christmas Eve. I had already told them about my empty pockets, that I didn't have a day job so I couldn't afford to buy presents. When they heard that I was spending Christmas alone, they got excited and pulled me inside their house. It was the morning of Christmas Eve, and I was with the Castels helping them prepare for the big evening feast. While almost everyone in the neighborhood had their own Christmas dinner, and a few were out to visit their relatives. The Santiagos were also invited in by the Castels, so I wasn't alone.

Mari went to invite Mrs. Nils, since the old croon was "as lonely as me", but said old croon sniffed, and spat, "No." Then she slammed her front door shut at Mari's face.

On the subject of Mrs. Nils, I still remembered the time she visited me. Somehow it disturbed me. The more I interacted with some of the neighbors here, the more I was becoming guarded. Not that I wasn't on my guard already when I came here. Still, anyone would freak out when somebody declared that she knew him.

Also, what about the kids? Why did she want me to stay away from them?

"Mrs. Nils says that to every newcomer," Rook said to me, this morning of Christmas Eve. I told him about Mrs. Nils' visit a few days ago, when we were having coffee in the living room with the kids. "'Stay away from those darlings!' she says. Heh. Even me." He grumbled.

I patted his shoulder. "You don't look so dangerous," I joked.

"It's funny because I live in this neighborhood ever since I was born." He grinned. "But she keeps staring at you, I noticed. Maybe she's got something for you."

"Oh god, no." My face paled, finishing my coffee. Rook just burst out laughing, hitting my shoulder a bit hard. The children were overhearing our conversation, and laughed with the man. They were probably laughing because of my expression.

Charles appeared from the kitchen doorway to check up on us. "Hey kids, don't forget to visit Uncle John and deliver his presents for us, since he's sick."

The kids stopped laughing, moved their bright faces from us to their dad, and then in an instant their expression darkened. "Can we do it next time?" Edeva said.

"Oh, sweetheart. He asked for you two to deliver his presents today. You know Uncle John for so long now, and he has been really kind to you. Do this small favor for him? I'm sure he'll be really glad to see you."

The children looked down to their feet. The father sighed. "Alright then. Tomorrow or the next day." He turned back to the kitchen.

"I don't want to go to Uncle John," grumbled Edeva, her face grim. All the merriment in the air had disappeared.

"Why not?" I said, moving down to sit on the floor next to the kids. "Don't you like Uncle John?"

Robert and Edeva looked at each other. "No, it's…"

The door bell rang. Rook stood up to answer it. Much to the children's dismay, John appeared behind the door, smiling weakly.

"Good timing," Mari's head appeared in the kitchen doorway. "I thought you aren't feeling well."

"I am," said John. "But I feel bad that you have to walk a long way to my bright, bright home to deliver my presents. Besides, I can't wait to open them tomorrow."

Mari smiled. "Okay then. Kids, could you get Uncle John's presents? And Rook, can you help me out with this turkey?"

"Right away, madam." Rook let John in, closed the door, and disappeared to the kitchen. John stood in the middle of the living room, looking down on me and the kids, accompanied with a big menacing shadow over us.

"I thought you were sick," Robert mumbled, looking back down to his toes.

John only smiled at him and ruffled the boy's hair. The children stood up and went to the Christmas tree to find John's presents.

"Haven't seen you in a while," John said, looking at me.

I shrugged. "Haven't seen you around either."

"Yes." The corner of his lips twitched. "That's because you're everywhere."

The kids were back and handed John a big wrapped box. The man took it politely. Then he looked at me. "Would be it be rude to say you're starting to annoy me?" His voice was low and deadly.

I smiled. My fingers drummed slowly on my lap. "Not really. A lot of people said that I'm annoying, and I'm used to it."

"I see then." His eyes squinted. "You say you are from Oakland, California?"

"I've stayed there for a good amount of time, yeah."

He sniffed. Not as if he had a cold, but like he was trying to smell something. He sneered, baring his teeth. I could see fangs. "Of course. Demigod."

The children cowered behind me, clinging to my clothes, their eyes wide with fright. They were probably seeing more than I could right now. There was a thick amount of Mist around him. I didn't feel anything until now.

I grinned. "I guess you're the one who randomly threw me that drachma in my first day. Hi. About time you revealed yourself." My fingers made way to grab my pocket knife. Damn it, I forgot my tool belt again.

I took out my knife, John's hands turned into big hooves, and he was about to make a grab for Robert when Rook's head appeared in the kitchen doorway. "How's everyone doing?"

In two seconds, my knife went under my butt, John's hands went back to normal, and both of us were smiling to Rook, and I managed to give him a thumbs-up. Edeva and Robert, on the other hand, still looked terrified, and my shirt was getting creased by their hold on my clothes.

"We're doing fine, Rook," John said to him, managing a wave. He picked up his big Christmas present, which he dropped on the sofa when he was showing his true colors. "Just playing a game," he said through clenched teeth, managing a grin.

"Oh, yeah, Mari asks if you want to stay for lunch, John."

"Uncle John is a monster!" Edeva shouted, pointing at him, "He has—"

I quickly covered her mouth. "Not too loud, Ed! Not too loud!" I forced a laugh, and John joined me.

"She's not lying!" This time Robert said that. "He has fangs and—"

I placed another hand on Robert's mouth too. "The game is over, guys!"

Rook's eyes darted between me, John, and the kids, and the man was no doubt confused.

"I think I won't be staying for lunch," John said. "See you around Rook, Leo…"

I nodded to him and waved, watched him out of the house. "See you."

Rook, still look baffled, shrugged and disappeared back to the kitchen. The children and I remained on the floor for a while, staring at the door, expecting John to come back.

"You can see what we're seeing, uncle?" Edeva voice quivered.

I pulled the children close to me, almost to a hug. "Yeah."

I stayed for a few nights in the Castel residence. They tried to entertain me a few times, and sometimes I did feel better when they talked a lot more about themelves. I laughed at their jokes. The children huddled around me all the time I was in the house. They seemed to feel safe around me. I expected them to ask questions. Why I could see what they could see. Why their uncle John called me demigod. And definitely why they were food to him.

I wish there was a time for me to at least explain to them who they really were. Tell them about their possible god parents. That would mean I have to tell them that Mari and Charles were not their real parents.

But my time with the Castel family made me see a close relationship between parent and child. Even though it was important to bring the children to safety right away (I admit, I did have a soft side for children, and I grew to care for them like a dad), not to mention we had a monster for a neighbor, I didn't want to break the family apart.

On New Year's Eve, I sat down with Mari and Charles in the dining room one late afternoon. The family was planning on going to a relative's home to celebrate for the occasion. They were already packed for the night and tomorrow, and they had let the children play outside before they were sent to their aunt's house, and the kids promised that they would be around to be called.

"Camp?" Mari asked me, looking slightly confused. "You're suggesting we send our kids to a camp?"

I nodded. "Yeah, for the summer. I know this really cool camp that Ed and Rob will totally love. I went there since I was a kid, too. There are two of them, really. One in New York and one in California. I went to both."

"But that's really far!" Charles said. "Is it really worth the trouble to send our kids that far?"

"Really. I wish I could show you some brochures for it."

"Maybe I'll look them up on the internet. But I doubt I'll send the kids to any of the camps."

"Trust me; it's really great in both places."

"Why are you so interested in sending them to these camps?" Mari squinted a bit. "It's probably expensive there."

"No, no, everything is free."

Both parents arched an eyebrow each.

I scratched the back of my head. It was really tough to explain without blurting something that would alienate them. "I've got an idea. Why don't you call either of the camps? Make inquiries when everyone's home?"

All this time I had been talking, Charles was sitting close to Mari, a hand on her belly and occasionally rubbing it, and in doing so, his always kind eyes changed into something else, like he was suddenly a cautious person trying to look past me. Like John and Mrs. Nils. Did he know his children were…special in some special way? I doubted it. Maybe it was fatherly instincts. Something that I didn't have.

Charles looked at his wristwatch. "We better get going now. Let's get the kids."

"Alright." Mari stood from her seat, and then, all of a sudden, she was holding her belly, her face contorted in pain.

Charles and I quickly stood up, and that was when I noticed that she was…well, leaking.

I decided to point the obvious. "Her water broke."

"Not right now, sweety!" Charles cursed. "Come on, let's bring you to the hospital quick."

Mari groaned in response, and he guided her out of the house and into their car, and I looked around their home for some towels and ran to follow them. Charles glanced at the neighborhood for a moment. "Where are the kids?"

His wife moaned loudly at the back of the car. ("That sounds painful, buddy," I said.) I gave her the towels to avoid possibly any other leakage. (The car looked really nice, too.)

"Don't worry," I said, waving a hand to him. "I'll go find and look after them. You go and take her to the hospital."

"Right. Thanks." He got into the car, started the engine, and drove away. When they were almost out of the street, I turned around. The whole street was empty. No kids. No laughter. Just pure silence.

A lump grew inside my throat. My demigod instincts were tingling. "Ed? Rob?" I called out. Of course they couldn't hear me. They could be inside of their friend's house, just hanging out. Did I hear kids playing outside? I didn't have super-hearing, but I was positive the children were the loudest bunch. And Ed and Rob both knew they were supposed to go to their aunt, and they had promised that they would be nearby to be called out. No, no, I knew enough of Edeva and Robert. I knew, right now, that I feared the worst.

I didn't realize that it was getting dark already. I made a dash across the street. I was going to stop by John's house. But I stopped on my tracks. I was going there unprepared. I went to my home first, getting a dagger and my tool belt. I wasn't used to fighting with a small weapon, but I was good with tool belting. I was glad that I didn't forget about it this time.

The street was dark by the time I came out of the house. Many of the houses were empty, save for those who were going to spend New Years in their own dining tables. Street lamps were lit. The neighbors had already taken down their Christmas lights, except for John's, so when I was approaching his home, it was hard to see anything beyond the lights. It was that bright.

I walked to the door with caution, hiding the dagger under my clothes. And then I knocked at the door casually.

I waited there for longer than a minute. When I was growing impatient and worried, I turned back and thought about sneaking to the back of the house when the door opened. "Oh, I've been waiting for you." I heard John behind me. "I thought you wouldn't come. I was about to eat the kids, really."

I stopped, didn't turn to look at him. And when I did, I threw my pocket knife at him.

He dodged sideways, the knife hitting the door frame, where he was leaning before. He laughed, clutching his stomach. This behavior threw me. "You missed me."

I took out my dagger and charged at him. He backed inside his house when I slashed at him horizontally, shamelessly trying to suppress a chuckle. Inside, I saw Edeva and Robert sitting on chairs, shaking, their eyes red from crying.

My guard, at that moment, went down, and John took the opportunity to elbow me on the face. The force was heavy; I fell down on my back, tasted blood in my mouth. John knelt on my stomach, held my shoulders, and revealed his teeth. No, not teeth. Ridged bones. The children screamed. Either because of the teeth, or they were screaming for me.

I found my dagger again and dug the blade to the side of his knee. He howled and held his leg. I pushed him to the side, and slashed his neck. He writhed on the floor, shaking and clutching his wounds, silver blood oozing through his fingers. I stood up and ran to the children. They got out of the chairs and hugged me, crying on my shirt. I patted their backs. "It's gonna be alright, guys. Let's get out of here."

John's cries behind me transitioned to laughter. I looked around, and saw him standing up, brushing away dusts from his clothes. His wounds were still there, but they were dry. "Now, now, my friend, let's all be civil men here."

The children moved behind my back. I pulled them closer to me. "Good, because I have a civil question. Do you really need to wait for me to eat these kids?"

I guessed I shouldn't have said that back then, because the children looked horrified at me, and backed away at the corner of the room.

He shrugged casually. "Bahaha, that's a good question, demigod. Just that I want you out of the way, but I don't mind you in my feast. You're still like them. When I learned that you've come here, I thought it was going to be tough getting the children. I've been following them for months. Almost two years. Matured half-bloods are a drag, but they have good, strong, juicy meat."

I heard a lot of comments about me being food my entire life, but this time I cringed. "Good god, man. That sounded wrong."

John dropped on all fours, the Mist around him shimmered, and his skin bubbled, literally. In no time, I was staring at a creature with a body of a stag, lion's neck, and really sharp cloven hooves. He was as tall as my chest, which was bad.

The children shook in their corners, shaking and screaming. I took a grenade from my tool belt and threw it to John's face. He dodged it without a sweat, but the grenade hit the wall, and in just a few moments the whole room was filled with smoke. I quickly grabbed the children's hands and dragged them out of the house, far up to the street. "Get out of here," I said. "Go hide."

"Who are you, uncle?" Robert cried.

"Don't worry, I'm not a monster. I'm just like you two, I promise. Now go and hide. Call for help."

"We don't want to leave you," Edeva choked, clinging to her brother.

Just when I was going to say something, John pounced on me, face to the ground. His sharp hooves stomped my back, and then he bit my shoulder. I screamed in pain, rolled and pushed him away from me. My right arm couldn't move and my clothes were already soaked with blood.

The children stumbled away from the fight, John saw them running, and I took the moment to strike the side of his body with my left hand. But when the blade hit the hide, only the tip of the dagger entered. John the monster looked at me and snarled. I dropped the weapon, backed inside the house and he followed suit. I had only five seconds to think. This fight was too fast-paced for me. With his monster form, I couldn't maim him. I had only one plan, which was, in my book, not really good.

I ducked into a room, and when John followed, I slammed the door to his face before he entered. I rummaged around my tool belt, took out a whip. I gave it a test by slicing the air with it. SNAP! Something slashed across my cheek and I flinched.

The door broke down and came charging the monster, baring his bone-teeth. I held the whip with both hands, like a sword, rubbing the handle a little bit. Small sparks flew. I took deep breathes. Fire came out of my mouth. It was good to breathe free.

I slashed the whip at John, and he recoiled. My right arm ached, so I switched my grip to my left hand. I whipped it again, but this time it wasn't as accurate, since I hit his left side, and he didn't seem to be affected by it.

I managed to get out of the room, slipping past him, barely missing a hoof stomp to the face, and climbed up to the second floor of the house. I looked at my whip. I gripped it tight, and from my fingers, I was setting fire on the handle, and it was slowly going down to the tip of the weapon.

When John was behind me, I turned and lashed the whip to him. I got lucky; the whip tied itself on one of the monster's front legs. I used all my strength to pull, and the monster lost his balance. I forced my weapon away from him and lashed at the curtains. They set fire easily, and it quickly spread through the others until they were all on the floor, now setting fire on the carpets.

I was getting dizzy. My arms were getting numb, and my shoulder wound was opening up. John looked all around him. When he learned that he was surrounded with flames, he gave me one good pounce again, and opened his mouth wide, about to eat my head. I pushed my palm at his chest, my right hand to his face, summoned fire, and left impressions on both places. He shuddered and recoiled, and I pushed away him from me. "You really like to be on top, don't you?" I managed to say. This time, I was the one laughing. I didn't know the reason why, I just was. Maybe I was really tired. Maybe I was losing, maybe I was winning.

Now John looked really agitated. I took my flaming whip and managed one last smack to his face before running around him, hopping to his back and tying the whip around his neck. He struggled, rampaging around the hall, knocking himself on the walls, trying to throw me off. I tightened the whip around him, dropped down and backed away. The monster was trying to bite away the whip. The flames were all around him, closing in. The second floor groaned, and debris started to fall down. I decided to leave the monster, stumbled my way down the stairs and out of the house. I looked back and saw the second floor crumbling down to the first floor, setting the whole building on fire. If I couldn't kill him with weapons, then let him burn inside.

The children were out of sight, probably in hiding. But when I looked around, I saw Mrs. Nils standing in the middle of the road, watching, a cane held by both of her hands. Her face was grim, and because of the fire behind me and the darkness, there were more shadows and wrinkles in her face than usual.

She saw me breathing smoke, my wounds and shredded clothes, and, of course, the burning house. She pointed her finger at me. It was growing longer, and longer…

I summoned my fire in my right hand, forced it to move, and charged to her. The closer I approached, the more her expression became horrified. When I grabbed her clothes, her scream pierced the air. I stopped and blinked. My vision, I realized, was disoriented until now. I looked at her. She clearly looked frightened, and her fingers were normal length.

"Monster!" she screamed at me. "Hesus, Maria, Yosef! A monster! Help me! Help me!"

I stared at her, wide-eyed, paralyzed on the spot. I didn't know what to do, what to think. She struggled from my hold, but she was small compared to me.

Mrs. Nils' cries were answered by neighbors coming out of the house. I heard plenty of sirens in a distance, moving closer. I quickly extinguished my flames, let the old woman go, and ran. But I was so tired and confused. My wounds were giving me a hard time to run. I couldn't see properly. When I was half-way down the road, I dropped on my knees and blacked out.

- January 2024 -

I was not an Aphrodite kid. So talking my way out of the police's questions was as hard as single-handedly wrestling a heavy bronze dragon. Without any weapons, of course. I was recovering in a hospital when a few police officers decided to invade my room and interrogate me about what happened a few nights before. But the Mist had probably affected them, since a few of the details were mortal-ized, so I had to make up new stories. I wasn't exactly good at making them.

Most of my neighbors didn't remember John de'Amore.

Most of them. The old croon remembered everything perfectly, gave testimony to the police, but they didn't buy her story because her view contrasted all the other views that the police had in their hands.

To my relief, after the interrogation, they all nodded to me, thanked me for my cooperation, and exited my room. They still looked doubtful and suspicious. Maybe I would get arrested. Maybe, when I get back, Mrs. Nils was probably going to bite me like a vicious bear. But I didn't care about that right now. I slumped on my bed, removed my mask, and, hoping no fire alarm sets off, exhaled a lot of smoke. Air! Sweet, air-conditioned hospital air!

Someone knocked on my door. I sat up, put my mask on again, and waved my arms around to make the smoke disappear. "Come in," I called out.

Mari came inside of the room, holding a tiny little baby wrapped in bundles of cloth. She was closely followed by her two adopted children, who smiled at me and waved. Robert hopped on my bed and Edeva pushed a seat besides him and sat down.

"I heard you're in the building," Mari said. "Charles just went down to clear the papers. We're going home with baby Thea."

"That's good." I managed to smile. "Be safe."

"What happened back there?" Mari said, all of a sudden. "In Palewell? The children are there, they were involved, but they wouldn't tell me anything. No one is telling me anything."

Edeva and Robert looked at me with alarm. Even though they could remember clearly what happened during New Years Eve, they still didn't understand what they were. They still didn't understand anything.

I didn't speak right away. "I think the police will tell you. They just came in and asked me a few questions. I'm sorry, but I'm not feeling well right now, Mari. I wish I could tell you everything."

Mari sighed. "That's fine." She waved a hand dismissively. The baby girl in her arms moved a little, yawned and twitched her face. She made me yawn, too.

"Do you want to hold her?" The mother said to me. She offered me her little baby. I gingerly took her with my good left arm, and Mari helped me carry the baby up to my arm.

"Hey, little guy," I whispered. "I mean, girl." The mother and the kids laughed.

Baby Thea opened her eyes, looking at her nose before they wander around the room. I poked her small nose with my thumb. She moved a little bit. She placed her hand to her face. I lifted that hand with my thumb, watched her small little fingers curl around it. She was so…tiny.

"You okay, uncle?" Robert said. "You don't look so good."

"Huh?" I looked up from the baby. "Yeah, I'm fine." I handed the baby back to Mari. "Like I said, I'm not feeling well."

Mari nodded. "Well, I guess we better get going. Charles is probably looking for us. See you home, Leo."

"See you." I turned to the kids. "Bye, you guys. Be safe, and watch your little sister!"

They both grinned to me and followed their mother out of the room. As Robert closed the door, he stuck his head out, looked at me. His face was serious. "Thank you for…saving us, uncle. We never got to thank you because…we're scared."

I smiled at him and waved. "Getting scared is normal kid. Now scram, before your mother makes a racket." He grinned and closed the door. It was silent again.

I stared up the lighted ceiling. I thought about the little baby I just held a few moments ago. How she so tiny and adorable. Then I came to the thought of my friends. Yeah, they probably had started their own families by now. I knew most of my friends already have families, but my close friends…

I wasn't with them right now. I wasn't part of the family.

I knew what I had done, but it always came down to me like a mind-blowing realization. I ran away from my home. For reasons I chose not to voice out.

Maybe I was jealous that the Castels had a new daughter. Maybe I was tired because of the fight. Or maybe I was homesick.

I guess I just missed home. I closed my eyes.

A/N: This is a fanfic that is out of my comfort zone. Which, I mean to say, I approached the story with a different style. Because of that, and I was in a tight time-limit, the quality of this fanfic is tremendously butchered. I'm sorry. Will proofread again in the future.

I'm writing up part two right now (an estimate of 5000 words and up). Leave a review! Tell me what you think will happen in the next part of the fanfic. Do you have questions? Are the OCs annoying you? Or better yet, write a letter to Leo through the review. Tell him that he's not alone, and there is someone worried for him, whoever he/she is. Thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoyed the first part of this drama story, The Man Who Breathes Fire.

p.s. i didn't sleep for a couple of days to finished this.