Chapter Two: Meet the Caleb
He continued to sit there in the dining room with his hood down, chewing furiously as he
Caleb felt his ears twitch as he chewed the bread carefully. Somebody was here... but it was far too late. Alois Trancy grabbed Caleb by his fox-ears and the victim let out a sigh. "What are these?!" Alois asked excitedly and Caleb closed his eyes in complete resignation, then swallowed the last bite of Claudes bread. He had eaten the entire tray, and was now no longer hungry.
"Those are ears."
"I know that, moron, but what kind of ears and why do you have them?"
Caleb slowly turned his head to face Alois and his eyes flashed a slight red, causing the small and rather insignificant child to let go of his ears and jump back a step, why was beyond Caleb and he didn't really care. "They're my kind of ears, and I have them because I was reincarnated with them." He stated bluntly and he realized that Alois was currently in a daze after seeing Caleb's face, which was currently not obscured by the darkness and hood he had been wearing to shield his true identity.
"I know you..." Alois whispered quietly, and Caleb's eyes showed some intrigue at this statement.
"You know me?" Caleb, the boy with the strange ears asked. "What do you mean you know me?"
"You were there..." Alois stated and pointed a finger at Caleb. "You were the one... who... who... helped us." His voice was getting shaky and Caleb swallowed hard, Alois was beginning to have that look of infatuation in his head, and Caleb wasn't sure he wanted to know what he was forgetting... but he asked anyways.
"I helped you? I don't remember." He stated, and that was enough of an indication that he wanted to know.
"You saved me and my little brother Luka, from those bullies... don't you remember?" Alois was starting to cry and the tears streamed down the blond boy's face. Caleb now felt incomplete... something was missing, but he could not figure out what it was, was Alois telling the truth about him helping Luka and his brother? He couldn't remember it.
"I don't remember." Caleb stated and let out a brief sigh.
"What do you mean you don't remember. You were there! It was you!" Alois raised his voice and shouted at Caleb, then lunged at him, and Caleb gasped... the memories flooded back into his mind.
He was standing in the shroud of an alleyway, in darkness. Observing as a boy and his brother-apparent suddenly ran past him on the dirt road, their strides were long and appeared to be forced, they were tired and looked to have been running for quite some time. He stepped out of the alleyway and three other boys were now chasing after the duo. Shouting derogatory terms such as: worthless, combined with maggot. They rushed past the more ominous of the boys, the one who had been in the alleyway as they continued their chase, their strides weren't at the max and they were larger than the two they were chasing so they weren't as tired either. He noticed the glint of sunlight flashing on a blade as one of the boys chased after them.
So they have the intent to kill. That's not very nice.
Caleb walked after the blond and brown haired boys, as well as their pursuers. All he could do was watch as the smaller of the brothers slipped and fell, the blond stopped and turned around. Displaying admirable compassion as he ran to try and help his brother up... still no matter how compassionate and noble the gesture is... it was still fatal, and that's where divine intervention would come in.
The boy with the blade was the first to charge, lunging at Alois whose eyes widened with shock and terror. Caleb moved quickly, and time seemed to lock into place as he walked forth, his strides were calm as ever and then he stepped in, he kicked the back of each of the boy's legs except the one in the middle. He simply stepped in between Alois and the armed boy... his eyes were closed as he lunged, how ineffective.
He let go of his grasp on time and the other two boys fell to the ground writhing in pain and clutching their legs. "Hello there." Caleb stated casually with a nonchalant smile as he gripped the wrist of the boy, who opened his eyes.
"W-where did you come from?!" The boy exclaimed and Caleb could see the fear in the boy's eyes.
"What do you mean? I've always been here." Caleb said and let out an insincere smile and the boy tried to pull his hand free... but then Caleb squeezed harder and the very prominent sound of bone crushing made him scream. Oh... the noise was so beautiful, he loved the sound of a future killer deciding to change his path because of the divine intervention of a demon.
He let go of the boy's hand and he started screaming in terror as he stared at his completely crushed wrist and ran away. Screaming for the support of his mom to help him... oh she could not help him, for the bone was essentially reduced to gravel. A fate that could've been avoided if he hadn't been so intent on killing another human being. "Farewell!" Caleb called out to the boy, then smiled and waved. Now that that is taken care of. "Are you hurt?" Caleb asked and turned around to look at the blonde-haired boy. Holding Luka in his arms.
"N-no." The blond-haired boy stated and Caleb smiled.
"Good." He stated and started walking away, departing from these individuals... Trancy had a lot of enduring to do in this village, because it was far better than going back home to his pedophilic father and if she was still alive, the suicidal mother who had been raped and violated by the father of Alois Trancy more times than he could keep track of.
"Wait!" Alois shouted.
"Hm?" Caleb turned his head to face Alois and the way he did, the light of the sun shone directly onto his face, he didn't realized at first.
"Where are you going?"
"Oh, me? I was just passing through... I'm going on an trip."
"Can you take us with you?" Alois asked, and Caleb turned his head away from Alois and let out a chuckle.
"I'm afraid not, Jim. It's far too dangerous for you to be where I'm going... but I promise I'll come back and take you on an adventure next time." Caleb said and started walking away, he heard no protest from the young Alois...
"I never did get to take you on the adventure I promised you, did I?" He asked Alois, whom had his arms wrapped around Caleb.
"You came by more than once and were always there during our greatest time of need... but when Luka and the entire village was murdered, you never came back again..." Alois stated, and Caleb smiled slightly.
"I did, but Luka's body was present and yours was not. I assumed you had been killed by the flames and decided to simply wander off... but that was when I met Sebastian Michaelis... a man I fought in battle and lost to, in exchange for my life or services." Caleb said to Alois who stepped away from Caleb once again. He wiped his eyes and sniffled. "Sebastian Michaelis?" Alois asked.
"Yes, for a Demon of his caliber he's pretty classy and takes thing seriously... he doesn't really seem like the massacre sort of person."
"What are you getting at?"
"Hm? Oh nothing, I just recall from your story, that Luka was dead, but you didn't say his body was mutilated... much unlike the others... so that leaves one possibility, a demon had devoured his soul. I remain curious." Caleb stated and his ear twitched, Alois' eyes weren't even focused on Caleb's, he was instead staring intently at Caleb's fox-ears. Alois slowly leaned forward and continued to stare intently, he leaned even closer and Caleb grew irritable. He let out a deep and annoyed sigh, but Alois still didn't get the message and leaned even closer... and closer... and- "Stop it!" He shouted and growled. Alois jumped back in fright and started laughing nervously. He avoided eye-contact and let out a slight sigh.
"Where are your manners, fox?" A cold and familiar voice asked, apathetic and empty as usual, though he could not hide the slight concern at the thought of losing his very own meal. "We invite you into this estate and you dare raise your voice at my master? I suppose I'll just have to take matters into my own hands... master, your orders?" Claude turned his head to the blond master of the estate...
