Scream
"Mayor, there's a guy here with a briefcase!"
"…If you refuse to participate in court meetings, and if you do not testify, you will lose custody of young Gill."
"Gill doesn't have a mother either,"
~TOSO~
Gill was lounging (if you can fathom the thought) on the couch in his cozy home, re-reading Treasure Island for the fifteenth time in his life. He couldn't help but think that life was a bit boring, too routine, but he quickly rid his head of this, assuring himself that he liked it that way: routine.
Then, something completely un-routine happened; his father came home later than usual, and sat down next to Gill with a solemn look.
"Gill," he began, voice shaking. "My son, I need to tell you something."
"Sure, Father," Gill said, placing down his book on the coffee table. "What's wrong?"
"Um, we need to be going on and off the island for a while."
"Why is that?" Gill asked with a quizzical look.
"Well, Gill, I…" Hamilton's voice was starting to shake. "We…"
"What is it?" The Mayor took deep breaths, trying to choke out the words.
Finally, he spoke: "We need to go to court, Gill." The blonde's faced paled.
"…Why?"
"I am not your biological father; you know that, so we need to go testify so that I can keep you."
"What if you can't keep me?" Gill's voice was starting raise. "Why is this happening now, why not when Mom died?!" The older man flinched; he was suddenly reminded that the day they lost her was only a few sunsets away.
"I've… Been challenged for your custody." The teen's eyes widened.
"No…" Fear flashed across his face, his voice a wail now. "No!"
"Gill, please, calm down, Gill."
"No, no, no, no, no, no," He continued to shriek. "He can't do this, he can't take me!" He was the one shaking now, the words leaving his mouth drowning in sobs. "Please… You can't let him…" The mayor wrapped his arms around the shivering body, assuring him that he wouldn't let anything bad happen to him ever again.
~TOSO~
The group peered into the window, slightly relived that it wasn't a crying ghost, but were shocked as to see Gill in a state of emotional wreckage.
"What happened?" Angela was getting teary, she hated crying; she was tough, damnit!
"I don't know," Chase replied. "Toby, when did Gill's mom pass away?" The light blue-haired youth shrugged, Luke was, like Angela, making an effort not to cry (memories of his mother, few as they were, had begun to spring into his head).
"We should leave them alone," Angela muttered.
"Let's," Toby agreed, and the rest nodded. The group left in an awkward silence.
~TOSO~
"Wow, I am beat!" Angela announced to no one (her house was empty besides her). 'I feel really bad for Gill,' she thought. 'I should ask him if he's okay.'
~TOSO~
"What do you mean 'Gill's not here?'" Luke whined.
"I mean that: he left the island this morning with the Mayor and isn't expected back until later this evening," Elli sighed.
"Where did they go?" Angela inquired.
"I don't know," Elli said, shuffling a few papers. "I hope I'm not expected to do all this while Gill's gone, though."
"Why did they leave?" Chase asked.
"If I don't know where they went, how would I know why they went?!"
"Okay, okay," Chase huffed. "I think Gill's mood might be rubbing off on you!" Elli took a deep breath in response.
'It's been a stressful day," she thought.
~TOSO~
'It's been a stressful day,' Hamilton thought as he left the court house alone. Gill was supposed to be there with him, but he freaked out and ran into the nearest shop, refusing to come out. Hamilton couldn't blame him.
"I was saddened to see that Gill didn't come." The mayor spun around to face the source of the voice: a man with jet black hair and burning green eyes. His tan face told of arrogance and pride to the state of overconfidence, and as much as he hate to say (or think, in this case); he had seen that look on Gill's face many times.
The difference between them was that this man had an evil glint in his eye, while Gill's eyes read: "Challenge me, prove me wrong, I dare you." There was no such gleam in the boy's eyes today, only fear as he gripped the taxi car's seat, before all of his remaining poise disintegrated. Perhaps this man stole it for himself.
"Gill has no desire to see you, Kale," Hamilton firmly said. The man smiled a malicious smile.
"You can't speak for him," he pointed out. "That's why he needs to be here for this whole ordeal."
"The ordeal you started?" Hamilton spat. His hate for this man made him brave; even as he loomed over him, drawing closer.
"Have you even informed him?"
"Don't change the topic."
"Oh, I'm sorry for that."
"No, you're not: you're not sorry for anything you do." His grin grew wider.
"I'm sorry you think that." With that said, Kale left without as much as a goodbye.
~TOSO~
"Honey, I'm home!" Kale was answered by a female voice, coming from the kitchen.
"Oh, Kale, I didn't hear you come in."
"That's because I'm sneaky like that." The female giggled at this.
"How was your day, Mr. Ninja?" She asked.
"Work was fine."
"What about the court thing?"
"It's too early to tell." The female sighed, and wrapped her arms around Kale's waist when he came into the room. "This is so exciting…Do you think he'll call me 'mom?'" Now it was his turn to laugh.
"Don't get so excited, it'll take a while for him to get use to the idea of having a mom."
"I thought you said you wouldn't talk about her again," The woman said, crossing her arms.
"She doesn't mean anything to me, baby," Kale whispered. "She never did."
"Won't that hurt the kid's feelings if you say that?"
"I thought you said I wouldn't talk about her," Kale chuckled. "So how would it come up?"
"I guess you're right," she mumbled, smiling. She released him and returned to washing the dishes, fully aware of the evil smirk on her boyfriend's face.
'He already knows,' he thought. 'He already knows.'
~TOSO~
Toby headed home after a long day of fishing, when he spotted Mira waiting at the docks. He hardly saw Mira, her being a native to the mines and all, so he decided to strike up a conversation.
"Fancy seeing you here, Mira." The widow looked up and smiled.
"Hello, Toby," she said quietly. "When will the boat be back?"
"No idea. Do you need to go somewhere, this late at night?" She shook her head, saying nothing. Toby, seeing no further way to continue the chat, he headed inside the store, and went to bed.
~TOSO~
It was almost midnight; Mira had been waiting since nine. The boy-who-smelt-like-fish talked with her for a moment, then left in favor of the indoors. Mira denied herself that luxury. She needed to wait for them.
He lost a love one like she did, and though she never raised a child like he did to Gill, she felt close to Julius, and losing him would be the end of the world for her.
Finally, they arrived. They were both pale and tired, emotionally drained. She came forth and wrapped a blanket around the teen, and he thanked her in a small voice.
She led them to their house, and asked if she could do anything else for them. After the Mayor said no, she took her leave, wishing them a good night, but she knew that neither of them would get any sleep.
~TOSO~
Alright, so here's the next chapter. Don't worry Gill abuse fans, the horrors are coming I promise.
The antagonist's name was a pain to chose, by the way. I wanted to have and obvious meaning, but the best I could find for that was Klypto (thief) or Malkorad (mal-ko-rad=bad-child-care). So I settle for the deep meaning of Kale. I mean, really deep. I wouldn't try to find the real meaning just yet, though, you kind of need to know the entire story before you can even begin to get how the Hawaiian form of Charles is connected to this fic. ^^;