[Author's Note] Hi!

This one is a one-shot side story of Salvation Sanctuary. The reason why I upload it here and now would lead to the upcoming chapters of that one ongoing fanfiction.

Actually this story was first written from Uco's point of view, but then when I already wrote almost three pages of MS Word, I changed my mind because the story had no souls.

When I wrote this, I felt like being in Eka's shoes. His emotion, his concern towards Uco, etc. Call me sentimental or what, who cares.

Well, may you enjoy the story and your review is always awaited!

Never Gonna Be Alone © Nickelback

The Raid 2: Berandal © PT. Merantau Films

"Eka, this is my son, Uco," said Bangun, "Uco, this is Eka. Since today, you two are brothers."

Eka was picking some arrows that he took from his locker as he smiled. He remembered the first day he was brought to Bangun's house as an adopted son. His life was whole. Although a car accident that killed his father destroyed him for a moment, since he had no other family members, everything turned perfect afterwards.

Bangun was Eka's father's best friend, although Eka's father only worked as an engineer in one of Bangun's companies. Not long after he was left alone, Bangun visited him and asked him to be his son. He doubted it at first, but he changed his mind right away when Bangun told him that he had a son.

He left his locker and walked to school field. Some archery club members, who were selected to perform in sectionals like him, were on training. He stood in front of a target and shot his arrow, which hit the third circle. He sighed before he focused more on his target, shot the arrow and hit the first circle. He smiled. He was confident of winning the sectionals.

Since he was adopted by Bangun, he promised to himself to always be a son that would never embarrass Bangun and he made it by far. He was just transferred to the current middle school but he already reached the highest score out of all second-graders in final semester test, became student council vice president, and was selected to perform in archery sectionals.

"Good job, Eka," said the archery coach, "You'll hit the target easily after some trainings."

"Thank you, Coach," he shot another arrow again and hit the target. He smiled, satisfied. He took the arrows from the target and walked back to where he stood. He almost turned his eyes to the target if he did not see Uco stood outside the field.

"Hey, Uco!" he waved and walked to Uco, but then he winced.

He saw Uco's face was wounded and bruised.

He knew Uco had just been suspended by school for fighting with some senior year students, but he still could not judge Uco even so.

"Oh, no, you hurt so bad…," Eka touched Uco's temple which was bandaged, but Uco shoved his hand harshly.

"Don't touch me," he growled, "You are nobody."

Eka was startled before he sighed. It had always been like that. Nearly six months had passed, but ever since the first time they were introduced to each other by Bangun, Uco never acted nicely towards him. Still, Eka could not hate Uco because all his life he always dreamed to have a brother. His father could not give it to him since his mother passed away not long after giving birth to him, which was why he agreed to be adopted by Bangun.

Uco was a year younger than Eka, a rascal first-grader. He was as handsome as Bangun, he had flawless skin and hair, and from his posture it was seen that he would grow up tall. Even though he always spoke harshly nearly to everyone, he was a smart one whose finals score was one of the top ten among first-graders.

"Get some rest," said Eka, "You're suspended, it's a good time to recover."

"Quit pretending being a good kid, Vice President," said Uco indifferently before he left the field.

Eka smiled. Uco always thought that he pretended being a good kid before everyone, although he never did it and Uco never proved it as well, and he had been used to it. He looked back to his target and shot arrow by arrow there. He still missed the target until some members left, yet he still continued training.

One of his arrows fell not long after it hit the second circle. Eka winced. He shot again and the same thing happened after the arrow hit the first circle. He took the falling arrows and found them less sharp, probably because he had used them a lot. He took the other arrows from the target. He walked to the lockers area and in a quite long distance, was shocked of what he saw there.

Uco was beaten by a male student, which Eka recognized as a first-grader, while two other male students, whom Eka known as second-graders and archery club members, watched it as they held some arrows and a bow. He saw his locker door was opened and realized right away that those arrows and bow belonged to him. As he walked towards them, Uco pushed back his opponent to the lockers and punched his mouth twice, soon he kicked the student who held the bow until he was thrown to the floor. He snatched the arrows easily from the other student who had been terrified.

Meanwhile, the first-grader pulled Uco's collar, grabbed his hair and slammed his head hard to the wall.

"NOOO!" Eka screamed before he ran and caught Uco, who was staggered. His forehead was bleeding badly and he almost lost consciousness. Eka shivered to watch him. Uco had been hurt badly enough, and before he even healed his wounds, he already got a new worse one.

"Let…me…," said Uco breathlessly, "…go…,"

"You're bleeding, please, please stay awake," begged Eka. He turned his head to those three students and stared at them wrathfully.

"All of you," he pointed at them alternately, "Note in your mind that you're all charged a high cost to pay for this. I know all your names," he lied, since he did not know the first-grader's name. Those three students looked terrified and it did not take long for them to run away. Eka looked at Uco again, who was still trying to stay conscious.

"Please stay awake, Co," begged Eka as he brought him to the school clinic, "I'm going to treat your wound, please stay awake," he shivered.

"…let…me go…,"

"No, we're going to clinic now," Eka kept walking, he put Uco's left arm on his shoulder. He could not stop himself from shivering. Tears nearly fell from his eyes.

Uco was bleeding terribly and it was because of him.

When he saw what happened in the lockers area, Eka could see clearly that Uco fought with those students because they were trying to mess with his archery property. He also knew right away that it must be because some archery club members were jealous of him for he was the newest member but he was already selected for sectionals.

The one thing that he did not know, and did not expect, was that Uco would defend him.

Eka and Uco arrived at school clinic. Uco already lost his consciousness. Eka brought him to one of the beds and got some medicines, cottons, and bandages. When he was removing blood on Uco's face with wet small towel, the doctor came.

"What happened, Eka?" she asked and looked at Uco, "Oh my…what did he do again?" she prepared for the medicines while Eka kept removing blood.

"Not what you think, Doctor," replied Eka. The doctor winced as she treated Uco's wound.

"This is Uco the rascal," she said, "What else can he do?"

"Defending me," replied Eka, "His opponents were messing with my bow and arrows."

The doctor furrowed her eyebrow. She continued treating Uco's wound, while Eka was still removing some left blood.

"Well, I heard you're brothers," she said, "It's not surprising that he did it for you."

"But-,"

"What?" asked the doctor.

Eka shook. Bangun did not allow him to let people know that he was adopted. Wherever he was, he was required to always introduce himself as Uco's big brother, not stepbrother. And the doctor's words crept into his mind.

"You're brothers, it's not surprising that he did it for you."

Eka smiled and stared at Uco. Uco's innocent sleeping face tickled him to caress his hair. He would not confirm to Uco about why he fought because he knew he did not need it.

He nearly cried. His life was whole. Everything turned truly perfect after his father passed away. He got what he always yearned for and he swore to himself that he would always protect it even though it might cost his life.

He finally got the little brother that he always dreamed of.