A/N) Corvus = Phantom.
Alright. Alright. I've finally decided to start this series again. Or maybe I'll just rewrite it. Ahaha.
[I did rewrite it, in case you were wondering.]

Edited/Rewritten 26/1/14

Corvus winced as he hit the ground, the dust from the sidewalk flying everywhere, getting into his nose and mouth and he coughed from it as it itched away at his throat. He shuddered as he felt his clothes, the fabric already thinned from rough treatment and dirt scratched at, tear from the impact. The bright red apple in his hand was sent skittering across the ground, out of his grip, and it came to a stop at a sandy brick wall. Even from where he was, he could see that it was caked heavily with the unswept dust of the city and he let out a snort of disgust at how it looked.

A hand extended into his field of vision, and he blinked before he turned upwards to look towards the owner of the hand.

He had two brilliant sapphire blue eyes and a mass of slightly curvy gray hair, tinged with the exact same shade of blue as his eyes. The robe he was wearing was a clean white, and a single gold diamond was sewn onto the middle of his gold-trimmed shawl. His sleeves under the shawl were long, a lone thin golden strip running from one of the edges to the other and trimmed at the edges with yet more gold. He also had a hood over most of his head, casting a shadow over his face, but his eyes still shone through easily.

Even though it isn't a very good choice of clothes in the desert, Corvus thought irritably, more towards the simple richness of the other male and how easy he seemed to have in life, the fabric of it seems to be quite thin, and bearable to wear in this stupid heat.

He accepts the hand, pulling himself up as he said "Thank you" and inspected his clothes closely. His already dusty and dirty oversized shirt now had a tear in the middle, his jeans slightly ripped and dirtied as well. He huffed, staring almost enviously at the other child's clothes, wishing for better fabric to wear, at least. He then noticed the robes the child wore were similar to the ones the higher officers of the popular magician's guild 'Aurora' were, but simply less decorated and more made for children.

"No problem!" the other child said cheerfully, dragging him back to reality and out of the jealousy-induced haze. "You know, I was just thinking if you would like this, since you seem really hungry at all. Don't tell me you aren't," he said when Corvus opened his mouth to protest, "I saw you stealing that from the stand, and you dropped that apple way over there, but I don't think you would want that anymore. Maybe this could be a replacement or an apology for making you drop your food, then...?" He ended on a questioning note, seemingly unsure if he would offend the thief, and held out a bushel of apples that Corvus wouldn't have noticed if he didn't point it out. Corvus slowly let out a smile.

"...Really?" He asked in almost-confusion, hesitatingly taking the basket off the other child's hands. At a single nod from the other, he grinned widely and took out an apple from it, taking a swift bite. "Thank you! Thank you so much!" he smiled. "D'you think yoiu can come and maybe share some with me? I mean, I don't think I can eat too much of this, and I don't really want any to rot, because it would turn into a huge waste. It's been so long since anyone was so kind to me and I want to repay the favor somehow - although this isn't really repaying, but maybe you could at least take my company?"

"Um..." The other boy tilted his head, seeming to fall into a state of deep thought before his face brightened up into a brilliant smile. At least he smiled often. Not many people did, and it made them seem really unfriendly, but he seemed to be. "Sure. I think my schedule is free. It's usually not full of anything anyway, just my magic training, and even then I don't usually go for any of the sessions. It's not that I hate magic or anything, it's just that my mom thinks it's way too dangerous for me even though I tell her it's okay." He smiled again before taking an apple for himself.

"What's your name?" Corvus asked, increasing his speed as they walked towards a nearby oasis. The other scrambled to catch up, amazed by Corvus' swiftness. "Mine's Corvus. It isn't really my name, obviously, but I'm not too sure of my name given to me when I was born." He paused for a second, trying to remember the source of the name. "I just heard it from someone when I was walking past them. It's just Latin or French or something for Crow. Or maybe even Raven. I'm not too sure."

"Luminous." Corvus looked at him weirdly, and the other boy laughed. "No, no. That's my name. We're in the same boat of having the worst possible names ever. They're not even names, are they?" Luminous shook his head in emphasis, "Have you ever heard of a more feminine name for a boy even if it was a name? It's not even a proper name, and I'm nicknamed Lumi. Can you imagine that?"

"Come one, come all. set sail on the ship of the stupidest name ever," jested Corvus, before he paused and a grin came over his face. "Wait. Did you say your nickname was 'Lumi'?" Luminous nodded, an exasperated look going over his face as Corvus started to snicker and then to laugh. "R-really? Lumi? That's the worst nickname to give someone, ever! You already look so girly, if you haven't started talking to me, I would have simply thought you were a total female!"

"Well then, you're just unlucky I'm not a female, because then I can do this!" Luminous growled, slamming a surprisingly weak punch into his chest followed by a wince and a brief glimmer of pain over his features. Undeterred by the lack of reaction, however, Luminous seemed to fall into a state of concentration as wispy white flames gathered around his trembling fist. Corvus really should have started backing off right then and there, but he wasn't one to back down from an unspoken challenge. Again, Luminous slammed his fist back into Corvus' chest, the gathered magic giving strength to the otherwise meager attempt to attack. This time, it hurt like hell, and Corvus dropped the basket only for it to be caught by Luminous.

The pain seemed to spread like wildfire, eating at his limbs. "I told you," Luminous said smugly, a slight tremble to his voice, almost as if he was about to cry for a reason that Corvus couldn't comprehend. Luminous gripped the hand he had used to hit Corvus and frowned, casting quick glances towards him as he forced himself to relax. "I... need to go. I'll be back soon, don't you worry."

"But-"

Luminous turned away and hurried away, Corvus staring at his retreating figure with a confused look on his face. Why did Luminous rush away? There was a secret that Luminous was rather badly hiding, but at the moment Corvus couldn't exactly get up and chase after him. Instead, he sat there and grabbed an apple off the basket and started to eat it, simply lying there until the burning from the punch had stopped. Once it did, he got up, snatching the basket off the ground, and headed to a tiny alleyway where he had made his home - well, as much of a home as a small child aged 14 could.

When he did arrive home, he immediately sat down onto the pieces of cardboard he used as a shabby bed, and thought about the day's proceedings. He agreed to himself that it had been a good day, up until Luminous left. He did wonder what Luminous was hiding, but that was Luminous' business and choice as to whether he wanted to tell him or not.

And when he curled up onto his bed and tried to go to an uncomfortable night's sleep, he noticed when he thought about Luminous of all people, his heart warmed a little.