Cadis Etrama di Raizel stood silently at the window, watching the sun set as he had done for an uncountable number of days.

He watched as the trees, the grass, the animals, and the sky were blanketed in darkness, watched as the stars appeared one by one, little pinpricks of light that surrounded the moon.

It was full tonight.

He let out a quiet sigh, unheard by anyone except the night sky.

He continued to watch the world outside his window, thinking of nothing.

Then he tilted his head slowly.

There was someone coming.

It did not feel like the Princess, his most frequent visitor, nor was it any of the clan leaders. This energy was small but fierce, and moving quickly in his direction.

He watched blankly as the small child, small human child, jumped through the other window in the room and bent down, his back towards him.

Cadis Etrama di Raizel looked at him from the corner of his eye. The child was tense, focused.

He was also viciously weary.

And scared.

Raizel looked out the window and observed the four Central Order Knights moving swiftly in this direction. Without a second thought he sent out a subtle wave of his power. The boy was no criminal. There was no need for them to discover the little one and cause him more stress.

With his duty to protect humanity accomplished he turned back to his window. He then quickly desisted his efforts to empty his mind. It was rather difficult when the thoughts of the young boy were filling his head.

Thoughts of sadness and loneliness.

Cadis Etrama di Raizel's eyes saddened as he turned slightly towards the child. He understood all too well the sadness that loneliness induced, and it pained him to see such a young child experience the isolation he had felt for as long as he could remember.

Their eyes connected.

-xxxxxxx-

Frankenstein stared into the eyes of the raven-haired young man for a moment.

Then he ran.

How could he have been so careless? The man had been right there, not ten feet from him, and he hadn't noticed him! He hadn't felt anyone in the house when he had entered, only that strange energy, so where – ?

Frankenstein's eyes widened with the horrifying realization that the power must have belonged to that guy! It was so immense and so entrenched in the atmosphere that he hadn't even considered that it had come from a person!

He continued to run down halls as he glanced behind him. He had to get away from this unknown being of unfathomable power!

…. Who wasn't pursuing him.

He came to a dead stop.

The man… wasn't pursuing him?

He forced himself to stay still and observe his surroundings, even though his body was still telling him to run.

… And that was weird in-and-of itself. His body wanted him to run, to move, to do something, but that was just a natural response to the adrenaline that had been released into his bloodstream. His instincts, on the other hand, were not raising any alarms, not when he had entered the building or even when he had noticed someone near his person. His instincts were what told him when someone was coming and how strong they were, like the people who he had just escaped from. That was what Dark Spear did. And yet, there had been no prickle of warning or caution before or after Frankenstein had noticed the stranger.

Did that mean that the man wasn't a threat to him? But he had been so powerful! And powerful people were always a part of the Union.

He frowned as he tried to reconcile his mind with his instincts. In his experience, strong men were bad men. There had been no exceptions. But his instincts, which had never led him astray before, told him that this man was not a threat at all.

He stared down the hall he had just run through. No sound of pursuit, no aura closing in. There was no one behind him. He hesitated. He knew he should probably run, use this chance to throw off all the people chasing him, but he couldn't help his curiosity.

Who was that guy? Why didn't he seem to care that Frankenstein was a Union traitor who had just broken into his house? The stranger hadn't seemed angry, upset or even surprised to see him. He had just stared at him.

Frankenstein bit his lip before squaring his little shoulders and retracing his steps, following the faint trace his aura had left behind.

He would trust his instincts this time. Because the fact that this man hadn't pursued him meant that he was already different from the other strong men Frankenstein had met before.