This chapter has been corrected [10/01/2013]
Disclaimer: I don't own Escaflowne characters, only Number Twenty-seven.
Be gentile please *x* If the grammar or the spelling are bad or monstrous abominations is because I'm good at reading english but terrible writing it.
Well, first of all, the release of this chapter delayed because I was busy with school and the muses left me. Then some personal issues happened and I was depressed and after that I was sick for almost a month! And the last reason was that I started to play in a roll game forum – that's the smallest reason – but well, this release is going to be longer than the previous because I couldn't make it in other way.
This is the notation I will use.
Italics for thinking.
XXX Flashback XXX At the beginning and the end of a flashback
Quatre de Pique – Inversé
"Are you tired?" the boy smiled friendly.
"No, why?"
"I want to see how you make it in a race."
"Race?"
"Yeah, all you have to do is to run with me, " the boy grabbed the child's hand and took him near the door "From here run surrounding the room until you get again to the door, we start when I make the signal, fine? " the child nodded.
"Do the same pose as me, " the boy prepared to run "On your mark?" he waited for the child to do the pose "Ready? " the child nodded "GO!"
They started to run, the child started slow but at the middle in each corner he up the pace and almost at the end he ran as the boy and surpassed him.
"Whoa! " he was so fast that ran to the corner of the next wall hit his face and fell. He caressed his nose.
Fine, this is good but I cannot let him surpass me at the race test… That would overshadow the boy, compared with the child.
"Excellent, but I ask you a favor, when we are asked to run, you cannot go ahead of me, but you can leave the others behind, understand?"
That's strange, but he asked me so nicely.
"Fine, " the child smiled.
"Do you want another fighting session? " he asked to the child nicely.
"Yeah! " answered the child happily "What must I do?
"Now I want to see how good you are with kicks, " he said happily "The last time I only saw how you punch. Get ready! " he posed for a fight "Use the same pose as I.
"Like this? " he tried to copy the pose but his hands were very close to his own face.
"No, " the boy took the child's hands and put them down a little "you must see you enemy and you range of vision must be unblocked, " he posed again to fight "Observe very well how I do it. Now, let's begin!"
He tried to kick the child many times, and almost all his tries chances the child dodged his hits.
Whoa! Another kick! Ah must move! The child moved but the boy connected a hit, then the child blocked with his right hand. He was threw away almost a meter and fell.
Ah must don't forget he's very strong! The boy approached him quickly to hit him while he was on the ground. The child dodged while rolling and got up from the floor fast.
He's very fast! And has a good eye to the movements, it's almost as if he were a natural fighter! Thanks God he isn't my foe and is very controllable, if not I would have a very strong rival. But he still lacks technique. This fact was taken into consideration by the boy.
"Stop! " the child was on blocking pose and then relaxed a little.
"I think it's better to teach you a kick properly or better said the kinds of kicks I've learned, " the child nodded "Listen and observe carefully kicks aren't basic as punches if you connect a good kick on the right place you can defeat your enemy with only one hit, " he did a side kick
I must tell him to take care of his limbs because I don't know if he can make grow out new ones or even attach again his old ones or he can only heal superficial wounds. The boy couldn't allow him to get hurt even if the child was a fast healer.
"But remember that you are barefooted and your opponent can even slice one of your limbs, " the boy moved his right hand emulating to cut his left hand "Understood?
The child wasn't scared but much focused on the ruby eyed boy's movements "I'll do it."
"Fine, then, " the boy moved his hands indicating him to rise from the ground "see my leg from its base to the end of my toes, " then he moved his right leg a little to his right side, flexed his knee and hit the child's left side with the tip of his toes, the strike was aiming under his ribs.
"If you hit hard in this way you can push out the air of your enemy's lunges, bend down a little, " he took the child by the shoulders and made him flex a little and be on a semi turned position "But he is going to be breathless so his hands are going to caress his ribs, " he moved the child's hands and put it under touching his ribcage
"If your enemy is like this then you can do this " he took the child by the head and gave him a simulated hit with his knee "He'll bleed, his teeth will fly out of his mouth even or bite his tongue, he'll feel a terrible pain and may fall to the ground."
The boy grabbed the child by the shoulders and back and made him bend completely con the ground "So, you can kick him quite a lot of times over his head, on and under his ribcage until he passes out " he emulated to do the moves he said then gave him his hand to get up "but the most viable way is to stab him several times."
"But that is unfair, " said the child.
"Why? " asked the boy.
"Because he can't defend against you or me, " the boy breathed deeply and sighed.
"This is the law of the jungle, eat or be eaten, kill or be killed, you must choose one of those, " he said with an exasperated tone.
"How do you think that I am still alive? They are older, bigger and stronger than us, from my point of view they are the unfair ones " he said angry.
"But if you want to play fair then can I keep your things? " the tone of his voice was soft and had a hint of mockery "Sometimes I'm very cold at night so I may use your blanket "
"When they kill you! " he shouted to the child face and looked very angry.
The child sat down flexing his knees and keeping his feet parallels to the ground and then he covered his head with his arms " Fine! Ah'll do as you said but don't be angry at me!
"Then do as I'll tell you to do, so you can survive, agreed? " he bent down to see the child's face.
"Yeah! " the child was happy again.
He's like a pup! Why of all the ambidextrous, fast healers and tricky children in this world they assigned me this airheaded crybaby? The boy sighed. Then I'll make him a strong person so he can help me to get out this place.
"Fine, now I'll tell you how to defend against the first kick that push out the air from your lungs, " he posed to fight " try to do the same kick but without strength, " the child did as the boy told him with his left leg.
"To evade the hit, you do this, " the boy grabbed the child's leg with his forearm turned ninety degrees "but he can grab you by the head or the hair if you let him, so immediately after this move you must throw yourself behind, " he pulled the child's foot with his free hand "and then try to land above his leg under his knee with all your strength and try to break his ankle like this " he took the child's foot and turned it to the left "so now his leg is broken and you can hit him while he convulses of pain.
They practiced kicks and punches and the ways to evade them or even counterattack them for hours until the moon appeared in the sky and now were very tired. Then the boy noted something strange in the child's movements, he reacted slower every time he was attacked from his left side and even when he tried to attack using his left hand or leg; in fact the child didn't dodged almost any attack to his left side but he blocked it. Can this be his blind spot?
"Stop! " the child stopped a punch "I have an idea " he closed his eyes.
My blind spot is the right side so he would cover me there while I cover his left side. Every trait is of good use.
"I could see that you are weak at your left side, this can be an inconvenient so you must pay attention when somebody tries to hit you there and another thing "
I can't say him about my weakness. You never know when somebody would become a foe. The information inside the lab was very precious, and there was always the possibility of his cell mate making an alliance with another guys.
"If I cover your left side, you must cover my right side, even when they say us to run or when we leave this room and walk through the corridor, deal?
"Deal, " the child stood straight.
I haven't noted that he is taller than me. The child supassed the boy for almost three inches; he saw that the child was sweating as himself.
Shit! I didn't think about this inconvenient, now the both of us are tired this is very bad…If the guards see us like this we'll be an easy prey…
"Ah'm hungry, " the child turned to see his partner.
"I don't have more food, " the boy breathed quickly "but if they like your performance on the field they will increase your rations, " the boy wiped the sweat from his own face with the shirt. Then he went to the child bag and took out a rag.
"Is it true? " then he drooled a little.
"Come here, " he gave to the child the rag "You are very dirty again, go to the water tap and wash your face, and then dry it with the rag, but don't let the bandages wet.
"Yeah, " he took the rag and went to the water tap.
I hope the show of the previous night made them fear to come near us but if they want revenge for his dead companion this would be very dangerous, now that I think it, yesterday they didn't returned to fight or something like that indeed they are very quiet right now. I don't like this feeling, something bad is going to happen but, when? The boy chewed his left thumb.
They know they can't touch me or I'll bite them smash them on a wall or worse, Lord Dune will be angry at them and may kill them, but I don't know if Twenty-seven is safe like me, they can try to do something to him. For now we must sleep so tomorrow we'll be ready for everything but this is still bothering me, then we must mount guard. The boy looked to the child while he was cleaning his face then he did the same.
"Ah'm sleepy, " the child yawned and stretched his arms and legs.
"So I am, are you very tired or can you still be awake some hours more?"
"Why do you ask dat? " said the gray eyed child with a quizzed tone of voice.
"Just answer the bloody question"
Why must he answer everything I ask him with another question? That habit of the child was a nuinsance to the boy.
"Now that Ah think about it yesterday Ah couldn't sleep for hours, until Ah went next to you. "
"Perfect! I was thinking of mounting guard, the guards were very quiet all the day."
"Now that you tell it, it is true, Ah haven't heard any sound from outside since the last guard gave us food. Ah have a bad feeling in the gut."
"I think you must sleep before me, " the boy pulled out his blanket from the bag "because I fall sleep easily, " he took out the child's blanket too and covered himself with both clothes.
"Come here, " he was near a wall and called the gray eyed child with his both hands "Sit next to me so I can sleep warm, don't fall asleep and when you feel you can't be awake more time, awake me so I can mount guard until morning, can you do this? " the child walked to the boy's side and sat there.
"Yeah! " the boy covered both with the mantles and rested his head on the child's lap.
"If you hear anything weird wake me, " the hours passed and the only thing the child heard was the drops of water falling from the water tap. The hours passed and nothing new happened.
The child started to caress the boy's hair and hide a tuft of his silver strands behind his ear. It's vary silky. The child grabbed another tuft and pulled it softly a little so the crimson eyed boy didn't wake up, he bent down and dragged the hair near his nose.
Ah like how he smells. The child chuckled softly and blushed. He combed Twenty-one's hair with his fingers until undo every hair knot. Then he saw the cloth around the boy's head. He looked sad. The hours passed and he started to doze so wiggled the boy.
"Twenty-one, Ah am feeling tired, " the boy waked and yawned.
"Then it's my turn, " he sat and pointed to his lap "You can rest your head here, " he yawned again. The gray eyed child laid his head and fell asleep in minutes.
The hours passed, from time to time a guard looked to their cell and the boy pretended to be asleep, but the man didn't try to enter. The floor was covered by a cold mist and the boy kept gazing to the door but turned occasionally to the window to calculate the time.
The moon is still in the sky and shines very much so there is plenty of time until the sunrise, and I am starting to bore to death. Then he saw a fleck under the child's left eye and another near his left nostril.
I haven't noted this before. Then he saw another one under the child's mouth.
I wonder if he has another one. The boy saw another on the child's jaw line near the ear and another one in his earlobe.
Why does he have these spots and I don't have any? Then he saw another three in the child's neck.
The boy searched bent up the left sleeve on the child's shirt and searched for more flecks; the child didn't waked but the boy saw one below his elbow on his forearm.
Could that marks be flaws or something like that? He searched more on the child's hands but couldn't found more, then he started to observe his own arms and hands, he didn't found any spot. Is this good or bad? I'll ask Jajuka later.
The boy saw that the child was chewing his right thumb and sometimes heard him gritting his teeth. He is surely eating in his dreams, being an airhead may be a blessing sometimes.
The moonlight started to fade and was replaced by the sunlight. I'll leave him sleep more. The boy had sore and dry eyes. This didn't worked, then this night I will take the first guard to sleep more. In less than an hour the gray eyed child started to awake.
"Good morning, " the child yawned and rubbed his eyes "Why are your eyes so red? " he pointed to the boy's eyes.
"I am not accustomed to sleep few hours, " the boy rubbed his eyes.
"So this night I will take the first guard and you will mount the next one. For now I am going to sleep, so don't disturb me, go and practice the same as yesterday but in silence, " the child rose from the ground and stretched his arms and legs.
"But what do Ah do when a guard comes? " asked the child.
"Pay attention to the alley and if you hear something approaching, come and wake me, understood? " the boy covered himself with the blankets.
"Yeah! " then he started to practice some kicks and punches.
The hours passed and the sun was starting to be orangish when the child heard somebody approaching to their cell. He went to where the silver haired boy was sleeping.
"Twenty-one, Twenty-one! " he talked to his ear "Wake up! " the boy opened his eyes, stretched his arms and legs.
"What do you want? " the boy yawned.
"Somebody is going to pass near here " the child pointed to the sound's direction.
"Then bring me a bag, " the child started to search for the bags. The boy extended the mantles and bent them. The child gave him a bag and put the mantles inside.
"Now come here, " they went to the middle of the room "Be straight and don't look them to the eyes."
"Your food, " they heard a guard saying this to somebody next to their cell; he passed near their room and opened the door.
"Here is your food, lab rats! " the guard threw them two white spheres and left. Behind him was a youngster with pinkish wavy hair, ashen skin and dark green soulless eyes, he looked dirty and desperate.
The child approached and picked the spheres, then smelled them. It stinks.
"What is it? " certainly the child didn't knew what this object was.
"Those are eggs and from what I can see, they are boiled, come and see how I peel it, " he took one of the eggs, walked to the water tap and hit the eggshell with the tap. The cover cracks a little and then the boy starts to pull the fragments until there is no piece of the eggshell.
The child did the same and felt how it was spongy now "Now just eat it, " the boy opened his mouth to bite the egg but stopped.
The child was just taking the egg to his mouth when the boy stopped his arm "Wait a minute, " then he smelled the egg.
I knew it, they rarely give us anything beside bread and pouridge, this smell. The boy wrinkled his nose a little to sniff better.
"This smells like, " he had the name on the tongue.
Tranquilizers! They had tried to drug the boy from the first day he arrived to the lab two years ago.
"Give me you egg, " the child did as the boy told him, then he took the eggs walked to the latrine and threw them inside it.
The gray eyed child rose from the ground quickly and ran to the latrine, he took a peek inside and the eggs were now gone, he looked sad and then turned to see his companion with teary eyes "Why did you do dat?
"I had to; they put tranquilizers in the eggs."
This means they are planning something against us. They had to be more careful from now on.
"But now what are we going to eat? " the child blinked "And what is a tranquilizer anyway?
"I am starting to feel tired of this, you know? " the boy closed his eyes and rubbed the bridge of his nose.
"A tranquilizer is something to make you fall asleep " then he saw another guard passing near on the same direction of the last. The boy heard a something near the window. There were some winged creatures.
How lucky! When this animals were near the boy's range of vision his eyes glowed amber, extended his hands and emulated to catch them. After this, some birds escaped flying but four were trapped by the boy's invisible grip.
"Twenty-seven, come here, " the child was drinking from the water tap then saw the animals.
"What are dose? " he approached to see the little birds full of curiosity.
"They are pigeons, and are going to be our meal " the child nodded "But first we need to kill them and pluck his feathers.
"Kill them, " the child was nervous.
"Don't be a baby! " the birds were revolving in their invisible jail "And now bring the bag Jajuka gave us and throw the content on the floor " the child ran for the bag "Now open it " he did as the boy told him.
The boy moved his hands emulating to put the pigeons inside the bag but kept one in the invisible grip "Now close it tying the cord " the child tied the rope "Don't let them escape " the child carried the bag and close the opening strongly.
The red eyed boy took the bird by its neck and maintained his wings pressed against its body without using his hands. Then beheaded it pulling apart the two parts to contrary directions. The boy's red orbs were open wide and he has a vicious grin over his face. The child yelped and covered his mouth with one hand but didn't let escape the bag from his grip. Blood was pouring out from the animal's severed parts.
The child was amazed at the sight of the ruby colored fluid. Beautiful.
The boy put the parts on the floor "Now give me the bag, " he extended his hand covered by the red liquid.
The child was observing straight at the boy's hand "Quickly! I don't have all the day! " he took the bag from the child's grip "If you want a well done job do it yourself…" he muttered.
The boy took a pigeon from the bag and closed it tightly then with his raw hands broke his neck " Now do the same to the third one " he pointed to the bag on the ground.
I think he is scared for the blood, but this is going to make him stronger. Making the child kill an animal was the first step to get him used to seeing death.
"Tell me, if Ah took his head from his body, the red liquid is going to come out? " asked shyly the child.
"Of course, but don't let that frighten you- "
"Ah'll do it " said the child confidently, he liked that color.
I wasn't expecting him to be happy of this. The boy had a quizzical look in his eyes.
"Fine, but be careful and don't let it go from your grip " he took the bag and walked towards the child, then started to untie the cordon of the bag "Get ready, push your hands on the bag, seize his wings with both hands and took out it from the bag.
The child put his hands on the bag and encircled the bird's wings with his hands. He took out the animal and observed how it was fighting against his grip. The child opened widely his gray orbs and pressed his lips together forming a straight line. Then cracked the pigeon's throat and tore apart the small bulb from its body. He dropped the pieces to the ground and observed how his hands were covered by the shinny juice.
The boy's heart was beating very fast in his chest and felt goose bumps in his skin. I don't know why but this make my blood boil, he could feel the blood hammering his tympanums.
I think I am starting to enjoy his company. Then he took the last bird and cracked its neck.
The boy took the pigeons and started to pluck their feathers and ordered the child to do the same. They kept like that for half an hour and the boy sliced the bird's meat skillfully in narrow slices. He washed the meat and put it inside the bag. Inside put the bones and organs too.
"We are going to eat one slice three times at day, in any case, we should capture all the pigeons come near here to have a reserve, now let's eat " he gave one slice of meat to the child and he took it "It is going to be stretchy and maybe is going to be difficult for you to chew it but the trick is to tore one part with your fangs and munch it with your molars.
The child started eating the pigeon's meat and it tasted kind of familiar to him but before he could remember when or where did he eat something like that, instead of images to his mind came sounds of people talking random unrecognizable things and some strange sounds of something being drummed rhythmically. Then the boy dragged him by the hand to the water tap.
"Wash your hands and teeth, " the boy guarded the meat in the compartment and took out from his bag some items.
"Go to your bag and grab your toothbrush and toothpaste, " the child looked confused "In your bag there are the same objects I'm holding, this is the toothbrush " he pointed to the white stick "and this is the toothpaste " he pointed to the gray tube. The child observed them and took out his own items; they were almost identical as the boy's items which were used.
"Now do as I do " the boy walked to the water tap, unclosed the toothpaste and spread the paste over the brush "Now you wet them " he opened the tap and dampened the brush "Look carefully, you stick it in your mouth and scratch your teeth with the brush like this " he showed to the child the way to wash his teeth and he did it as him.
"Now you must remove the spume from your mouth drinking water but not gulping it, you maintain the water there and move it around your mouth " the boy showed him the process, the first time the child did it, he gulped the water, but at the end he did it fine.
"Twenty-seven, are you tired? " the child turned to see the boy.
"A little," the child chewed his thumb.
"I think the better for us is to sit or to sleep until Jajuka come here, and save energy for tomorrow "
Even thought I don't know if he will come today. Sometimes Jajuka, being a slave, worked for days with no rest.
"Oh, and maintain hydrated, " then he offered his hand to the child who took it and they walked to the blankets then the boy covered himself with the mantles while sitting, he extended his arms.
The child walked to where the boy was and sat between the boy's legs and he hugged him while covering him with the mantles. Twenty-seven was smiling but the ruby eyed boy couldn't see him.
"Today I'll take the first turn of the guard " the boy rested his chin on the child's head.
"Fine, " the child fell asleep quickly.
The hours passed without changes. Every time a guard walked near their cell he faked to be sleeping.
I hope he did the same when guards come near here last night, if not they may start to suspect about our behavior. Dissimulating, was an important ability in this place.
The silver haired boy started to doze and almost fell asleep if not because the child breathed deeply. Then he noted a warm liquid falling to his arm.
What is this? The boy moved his arm to see clearly what was there, he saw saliva.
"Shit! You bastard! You drooled all over my arm! " He pushed the child to the ground but he didn't waked. The shocked the sleeping child by the shoulders strongly but it didn't work.
Dammit! He is slept as a tree! He shouted to the child in the ear.
"Goddammit Twenty-seven! Wake up right now or I'll slap you! " the gray eyed child jumped fast and turned to see the boy. His right eye was closed and the left half closed.
"Is it time? " he swallowed his own saliva and wiped it with his sleeve.
"Of curse is it time you retard! And from now on you'll sleep behind me so you'll never drool over me again " the child was still confused half slept and was balancing.
"Hey! " the boy snapped his fingers in front of the child's eyes "You must be ready for the guard because I'm falling asleep, " he was starting to see woozy.
The gray eyed child shakes his head and arches his back so he was seeing the door head downs then he stretched his arms and returned to the sitting position as before quickly "Ah am ready now, Twenty-one.,
"Fine, now you sit facing the door and pay attention carefully because in some hours they are going to take us to the field, when the sun rises you must wake me and one last thing, if somebody passes near here you must fake be sleeping, understood? " while the boy was saying this he started to accommodate behind the child's back and sat there, back to back, covering both with the mantles.
The child sat cross-legged and rested his chin on his palm. Why is he making a fuss over such a small incident? Ah don't understand him at all! The child chewed his left pinky finger.
Ah am thirsty…He turned to see the water tap. If Ah get up Twenty-one might fall and is going to be angry at me. He rotated his torso while maintaining his left arm firm to not let the blood eyed boy fall then rotated his arm and put him softly on the floor. The boy didn't waked so the child went to drink water quickly.
He returned to the boy's side and sat there cross-legged covering with a mantle then he crossed his arms. He started to pat his fingers like before but on his forearms and both his hands; following the leak's rhythm. He started to flex his toes when the drops fell to the ground. This maintained his mind busy for almost an hour and when a guard walked near their cell he only had to fake to be asleep.
Then he heard somebody approaching from his left to the window. He took the silver haired boy by the shoulders and shocked him.
"Wake up! " he awaked slowly.
"What do you want " the boy blabbed and rubbed his eyes.
"Somebody is coming near the window " the boy was fully awaked.
"Fake to be asleep now! " the child covered both with the blankets and laid near the boy.
The boy saw the feet of the stranger, heard him flex his knees and put a bag on the ground.
"Pst pst" the boy couldn't see the stranger's face bur recognized the voice quickly and jumped of joy. There was a white light coming from the window.
"Jajuka! " he shouted and the gray eyed child stopped to fake to be sleeping.
"Shh, " then the boy closed his mouth with the hands, waited a moment to see if somebody heard him shout.
"How are you? " whispered the beastman.
"How do you think we are? They tried to give us drugs in the food today so we ate raw pigeons! " he said this last like spiting.
"Why haven't you come before? " he crossed his arms and gazed angry to the ground.
"Sorry, I was busy and they were watching me all the time, " he waited a moment "I am here now only because the guards of our building are playing cards, " he opened the bag
"Now, as you asked me before, I brought you this, " he took out a fruit and a sausage then returned them to the bag "Share them with your friend " he lowered until be on the ground and gave the bag to the boy who had to jump to took it. The child looked the bag eagerly.
"And one more thing, they ordered us to remodel the field, I don't know what the others are doing but my group is digging holes in the forest, so maybe the tests are going to last almost a month or less and take this " he gave to the boy a sheet.
"Here are marked the holes we are making, I can't bring you information about the other areas so be extremely care- " he shut up quickly.
"I hear them come near here, hide that bag for now and eat when they can't see you, divide it wisely so it would last you for days and memorize the draw, " he breathed deeply.
"I wish both of you the best of the lucks, " then they heard him rush to the right.
"See you later… " whispered sadly the boy and sat on the ground.
"Hey hey, what did he gave you in dat bag? " the child inspected the bag from the outside and started to smell it.
"He brought us food, " he opened the bag.
"Give me one of the spoons I've sharpened, " the child ran to the corner near the latrine, removed a rock and took out one spoon closed the hideout and walked to the boy.
The boy looked at the window and saw that the moonlight was gone and a white light was entering the room. He took out a reddish almost brown tube and cut it in many slices, then gave one to the child who looked at it curious and put the remnants in the bag.
"What is dis? " the boy started to eat the sausage.
"Is a sausage, don't tell me, you haven't eat one of this, right? " he said this while munching his food.
"It has a good taste and bring me to mind the taste of the meat my parents gave me, " he gulped.
"Eat it quickly before the guards come here, " the child took the sausage and started to eat it.
It tasted salty. This is delicious! Better than bread, Ah wish we could eat this everyday. He finished the sausage.
The boy took out the bag a round orangish object with reddish parts, it smelled kind of sweet. Then he proceeded to cut it in many parts with the spoon, it dripped a sticky liquid, he gave the object to the gray eyed child and put the remnants in the bag.
"And what is dis? " the boy was licking his fingers.
"This is a peach, " he bitted the fruit "it make your fingers sticky so you must wash wherever his juice fall."
Twenty-seven smelled the round half and licked the liquid. He felt the sweetness invade his tongue and bitted the object, it was soft and creamy. The child shrieked and smiled while cupping his cheek.
What's up with that goofy expression of his? It's like if he were retard. The boy continued to eat the fruit.
The child's expression changed and now he was serious. I think I've tasted this before… He ate the fruit slowly and absentmindedly.
XXX Flashback XXX
Twenty-seven is in a room that smells like dust and humidity. He is sat on a wet couch watching the ceiling then he sees a bookshelf and walks towards it. He sees some strange boxlike things. One is small, narrow and blue with golden lines; the next one is a little bigger than the last and is dark green with orange marks. He took the green boxlike thing but somebody was coming to the room and he leaves it there.
A person entered the room; he was a tanned teenager with brown shoulder-length wavy hair and gray droopy eyes, he smiled friendly.
"Hi! " the teenager waved a hand and was carrying a bag and a candle.
"Do you want me to read you another story? " he took out from behind him a red boxlike thing with silver symbols. It was wider than the others but big as the green one.
The child rushes to the teenager and speak to him "Of course- " he said something more but all he could hear was a strange sharp sound "Ah thought you weren't coming today " the teenager closed the door behind him.
"When Ah promise something Ah keep it for sure " the tanned teenager said that while putting his hair behind his left ear.
"Sorry, " said the child while staring at his feet which were bare. The brown haired teenager sat on a couch and opened the red box.
"What page we were last time? Oh Ah almost forgot it " then he took out two orangish spheres with reddish spots. He offered one to the child "Eat it " and he took it.
"What is dis? " the sphere was smooth and soft.
"Dat is a peach " the child eat it.
XXX Flashback XXX
"Hey! " the boy waved his hand in front of the child's face and he blinked "Haven't you heard me? Finish eating quickly and wash your hands and mouth! I think the sun will rise soon " the child rushed to eat the fruit then went to the water tap and washed himself.
What was that? He changed his mood in a very strange way. The boy took a spoon and put it in a seam. Took the other spoons and walked towards the child.
Who was dat guy? And why am Ah again in that room? The child wiped his hands on his shirt.
"Take this, " the boy gave him the improvised weapons.
"Hide them like before " the child took the spoons and hided them quickly.
And so the days passed like water through the hands, each one like the other before. They practiced for hours and while eating a slice of the sausage of one of the peach they memorized the draw that Jajuka gave them and mounted guards each night. The boy did another compartment near the water tap to hide the food there. After three days they were out of food and started to catch again, for the child content, birds. Each day the boy explained to the child how the field was.
His eyes glowed amber and with his finger he carved a straight line on the inner part of the square covering their meal's compartment and marked a door and a cross.
"We are going to get to the field from here and the first area is the sand zone, " then two parallel lines with doors, those lines formed two squares and between them was a rectangle with a square inside it
"That area is surrounded by a grid and is the one to one fight zone, " he pointed to the area behind the grill and to the rectangle surrounding the square "They observe you from that tower, " he pointed to the square of the center.
"If you get hurt badly they took you to the infirmary, " he marked an X to the left square.
"We are from block 3B so we use that door, the guys from 3A block use that door, " he pointed to the left square
"Further to the right there is a pond " in front of the right square he draw an irregular figure.
At the left of it and behind the central square, he draw another irregular shape; at the left of it and next to the right square he draw another shape.
"To the left, " he pointed to the figure of the left "there is a swamp and exactly across the fight area there is a forest."
Then he draw an irregular curve surrounding these shapes, it started from the end of the right square to the end of the left square
"All the field has a wall to prevent us escaping."
"A sorcerer will come out from the tower and will order us what to do, " he marked the square inside the rectangle. He described each rock and hide place of each area.
The hours passed and the outside lights were grayish white. The child went to use the latrine, like always he sat there.
"Hey Twenty-seven, there is something is annoying me for days " the child was peeing and the boy was sitting on the floor leaning on a wall and seeing to the ceiling.
"What is it? " the child was wiping now.
"Why do you use the latrine like that?
"How 'like dat'? " the child pulled up his pants.
"You know, you sat there always even for peeing- " then they heard somebody hitting the doors' bars.
"Come on maggots! It's time for your cleaning" said a guard and kept walking to another place of the corridor.
Shit! I've forgotten this. The boy walked to his bag and took out the rag, a change of clothes and the soap.
"Twenty-seven, take the same items from your bag " the child started to arrange his items " and put your spoons in the hideout, they are going to register us " the child hided the spoons and the boy did the same.
"They are going to take us to the bath's area; there we are going to take a shower "
"What is a- " the boy made a 'sht' sound.
"Don't tell me,you don't know what a shower is, " the boy says with a sarcastic tone "Don't worry I'll explain you when we arrive."
"After that they are going to take us to the infirmary so be obedient with them and the nurses will treat you nicely, and something else, they are going to give us to eat some items. These are pills, and are like small pebbles, " the boy put his thumb and index finger almost together to show him the size of the pills.
"The best is to not shallow it and hide the pills in your mouth, but sometimes they check inside your mouth, when they do it, just shallow the pill, " they sat on the ground and after some minutes the guard opened the door.
The boy took the gray eyed child by the hand "Follow me, " the child walked at the right side of the boy and they left the cell. The guard guided them to their right side and they followed him.
The corridor was narrow and with many doors like the one of their cell. It was illuminated for gas lamps with blue fire. They walked through the way with a guard at the front of the line and each time they were near a door the guard opened it and one or two boys joined the lines.
When the others saw the child they started to murmur "Have you seen it? " says one to another "His head is all bandaged, " but the child didn't noticed it.
This is bad, now they are going to target him. This would be a problem for both of them.
When they reached the fourth cell came out a blond lad, he had emerald eyes and a strange red mark on his forehead and seems to have almost the same age that the ruby eyed boy. He doesn't seem to be as dangerous as the others, who were older and bigger than them.
"Do you see that lad? " he whispered and pointed to the last boy and the child nodded.
"He is Twenty-four, " the lad walked at normal speed trying always to evade visual contact.
"Observe him carefully and don't forget his face, " the end of the corridor wasn't far. There the child saw two doors, one at his left and another at his right.
There a guard opened the left door with his keys and the other guard guided them there. They entered another corridor and at its end the guide opened another door.
"Come on! " Twenty-one pulls Twenty-seven's hand and dash to the exit.
The room was three times bigger than their cell. The walls were cream colored and sprayed by lamps with the same blue light of the alleyway. Near the door was a small table with towels and a basket next to it. At each side of the room were almost ten cubicles with doors, if a person were inside you can see its feet and a little under its knees. The gray eyed child was amazed.
"Is this a shower? " the child asked. The boy took two towels and gave one to the child.
"Well, here you take a shower; it's named 'the showers', " the boy guides the child to one booth and opens the door which has four hooks on a line. The others enter the room and start to prepare for shower.
The boy remembered one of Jajuka's advices: Never take off your cloths in front of the others, especially of the guards, only take off your shirt to not seem suspicious.
"Take out your shirt and put it inside the basket " the child and the boy threw their shirts inside the container.
The boy walked to the table and started to undo the bandage of his wound. The skin was starting to heal over the fabric and when he removed it, the cloth was pulled together with some of his scabs. He repressed a growl clenching his teeth.
"Hey guard, " he walked towards the guide "He doesn't know how to bath I am going to tell him how to do it."
The guide thought for a moment "Fine but you have only three minutes to do it and come back at time."
"Understood, " the boy ran to the compartment and closed the door behind him.
"Enter, " Twenty-one leads him to go inside "Give me your change of clothes, the soap bar, the rag and the towel, " he extends his hand to the child and he gives him the items.
The boy takes the objects and hangs the towel on one hook, the shirt and pants on the other; the rag on the water knob and put the soap on a small shelf near the knob.
"You must put the items always on the same formation, " the child nodded in confirmation.
"Now what must Ah do? " asked the child.
"First, sit on the ground while I undo your bandages " the gray eyed child sat while the boy untied the bandages and then he put them in the clean clothes' hook.
The boy turns two knobs and the water started to flow, he tested the heat "Now take the rag and the soap, put them under the water flow and rub them together until spume appear.
"Like when Ah wash my hands?"
"Yes, like that. Then you put the soap on the shelf and massage your body firmly under the water flow, wash carefully between your legs and your ass to clean all the dirt over your skin, " the child nodded.
"You must wash off all the spume. When you'll finish the task you must dry your body with the towel and put your cloths again. You must call me when that happens and then I am going to enter to rearrange your bandages, " the child nodded.
"Are you sure you can do it alone?"
"Yeah, it sounds simple; it's just washing your body with a rag. It's easy " answered the child.
"Remember to call me when you are finished " the boy got out the cubicle and entered another next to the child's.
Inside the booth was steamy for the hot water vapor of the others cubicles. Both children started to bath. When they finished the others have already ended only minutes before and were leaving the room. The fog started to disperse and the children were drying their bodies.
"Ah am finished " shouted the child. The boy went to talk to the guard.
"I need his bandages."
"Fine, but do it quick! The sorcerer are going to be mad if you are late, " said the guard with a wicked smirk.
"Thanks! " the boy ran to the locker and took out some bandages then ran to the booth and entered quickly. He closed the door very fast behind himself.
"Turn to see the knobs and sit squatting " the child sat like that and the boy to bandage his head.
"Now you must put on the clean clothes, " when the silver haired boy gave to the child his clothes for a second put his glance between Twenty-seven's thighs. To his dismay there wasn't a dick but something very different.
"You, what the hell are you? " the red eyed boy was pale but covered his own mouth with both hands to not let the others hear him.
I knew he was strange! But now this! The silver haired boy knew there were some differences to separate between men and women. One of the most important characteristics for the men were their dicks, and for the women, the lack of it.
"What's happening to you?- " the child tried to go near the boy and touch his shoulder but he stepped aside.
"I can't believe it " the boy whispered "You are a girl, " he said with a dry voice.
"A girl, what is dat? " asked the child dumbfounded.
"Put on your clothes and later I'll explain it to you " the gray eyed child started to dress and took her items.
Don't make a fuss over this… The boy had to think quickly.
"What's taking you so much time? You freak! " a guard approaches their compartment.
The boy's expression was of concern. What must I do? They are going to notice that he-she is a girl! Then they are going to take her to the girl's area and I'll be on my own again. He finished the bandaging.
"Stand up " he clapped two consecutive times and the child rose from the ground.
"Now follow me, they are going to take us to the infirmary " they exited the booth and joined with the others at the line. The guard walked at the front and they followed him. They walked returning to the aisle of their cells but instead of going there walked straight ahead and opened the door that before was at the right.
On the way there the silver haired boy couldn't stop to think about the girl's situation but tried to act like always.
I'm pretty sure the sorcerer will discover his now healed wound; I hope they don't take him away because that would be a disadvantage to me again. The simple thought of those men discovering her being a girl made his stomach flip inside him and pale at the same time. He feared they would do herthe same as that woman the last year.
XXX Flashback XXX
The boy was returning to his cell after a test on the field when he saw a woman entering the building. She was young and had dark skin; her hair was black and her eyes brown. For the expression on her face, she was nervous and scared at the same time. The guards took her to the second floor, where they had their chambers.
That night, her screams of pain were heard across the whole building and froze his blood. The boy covered his ears with desperation and couldn't sleep until the morning.
The next day Jajuka came to visit him. He brought him some fruits.
"Hey, Jajuka, yesterday I saw a woman entering the guards' chambers " the boy was eating "and after that she kept screaming there all the night " the beastman had a frightened look.
"What did they did her there? " the golden beast breathed deeply.
"In this place they treat the woman like garbage, sometimes they took one or more to their chambers and do her things which your pure ears aren't ready to hear. Be thankful of being a boy and for Lord Dune to ordered them to not touch you, " he patted the boy's silver hair.
XXX Flashback XXX
Meanwhile Twenty-seven wondered about what the boy told her. A girl? Ah wonder what it is. Is it bad? Ah don't know anything about it. Ah've never heard it. They entered to another aisle.
But who could've imagined that Twenty-seven was a girl? I thought girls were delicate and harmless, like Lady Sora; this one is the opposite, she is clumsy and a dangerous weapon. Why did they put her with me? She didn't even know she was a girl. He remembered the time when she asked him why she was different but he didn't pay attention to her. I should've noticed it since that time if I haven't been angry before, I am an idiot.
When they arrived to the next room the boy's doubts ended for the moment and he saw the sorcerer enter a narrow door next to the room and the nurses inside the white room. This was the infirmary. Here they examined the children periodically.
If they putting her with me were a mistake, they should solution it here and now. All the children were lined up in arriving order.
While the silver haired boy was immerse in his thoughts, the girl watched all with curiosity. Each couple of children was taken to different places separated by white thin walls.
"Hey, Twenty-one, " she pulled his arm "What is this place?"
He turns to see her "This is the infirmary; here the sorcerer and their nurses examine you, and don't speak loud " he said firmly.
"Who are the sorcerer and who are the nurses? " she whispered.
"The cloaked men are the sorcerer and the women in white are the nurses."
"Why are they examining us?"
"Who knows, sometimes I ask myself the same but we just must follow their rules to not being punished, " then two nurses took them by the back softly.
"Come this way, " they weren't harsh like the guards, and guided them to a cubicle.
Inside the stand was a white table with a blanket covering it and a silver-gray shelf with strange items on it. But what was really strange was one of the walls, it was a mirror.
"What is dat? " the girl was stunned "Why there are two Twenty-ones and two pairs of nurses? And who is that person? " she pointed to each replica in the mirror.
"Are you retarded? " the boy shouted and the two women giggled "That's a mirror and reflexes the things in front of it! And that person is you! " he pointed to the girl's mirror image.
She went close to the mirror and touched her replica "That's how Ah look like? "
She scanned her own image. Her eyes were wide, sharp but droppy and of a very neat color gray; her nose was straight and she was tanned like the teenager in her mind; her jaw line was strong and a little pointy. She had some spots there and near her left nostril and one under her left eye.
Ah look like garbage compared to him, She gave a glimpse to the boy image and studied it.
His eyes weren't as wide hers but had a serene and straight feeling. His bloody red irises were like bottomless pools; they were framed by long silver lashes and delicate eyebrows, his cheekbones were soft and he had a sharp jaw line.
Ah wonder how my hair is. His hair was like a silver cascade at the same time it came to her mind she touched her bandaged head.
"Climb up please, " she broke her thoughts and did as the nurse order her. Then they removed the children shirts and put a cold silver-gray disc on their chests.
"Now breathe deeply and hold your breath until I tell you to release it, " the girl turned to see the boy and when he did as the nurse told him she did the same. They examined their eyes with a pointy lamp, checked their vital signs, length and weight them. All the data was recorded on sheets precisely. Then they undid her bandages and were amazed to see the healed wound.
"Lord Dune will like this, " one of them said and wrote on her sheets while smiling.
I think if he likes it could be good but the revision bellow the wrist comes next to this. When they checked up their thighs weren't surprised to see she was a girl.
This means they put her with me intentionally. Well it's fine, if I play my cards right and she learns more about her trick we can win the tests.
Meanwhile, the other nurse observed the boy's wound and cleaned it, the proceeded to bandage his forehead.
They gave them three pills and water to shallow them, but they faked to do it. Then a nurse walked towards the child to check inside her mouth, then she had to shallow the pills and almost lost her breath for doing it without water. The woman noticed it and writes it on her sheets.
When the nurses ended they went to the entrance of the infirmary and there other two women gave them a change of clothes and a roll of toilet paper. Then they left the room and went again to the corridor and returned to their cell.
Now here it come the delicate issue, how am I going to explain her about her being a girl? I think I'll do it just how Jajuka told me before. His thoughts were silenced by the child's voice.
"Hey, now can you tell me what a girl is?
"Well, first of all, do you know that there are two kinds of persons in this world? " the child looked puzzled.
I would have known it, she didn't even knew what a parent was.
"Then, to make it easier. Do you remember how the guards look like and how the nurses look like? " the child waited and nodded.
"Then, can you tell me their differences? " the child tried to remember all about their looks.
"Well, I think the guards are taller than the nurses and have that hair on their faces. And the nurses have those bulks on their chests and small hands."
"Well, that could be enough to difference them, other differences could be that men are stronger than women and women are delicate in all their movements and that men are taller than women."
Of course that doesn't include you! He remembered her height and strenght.
"But there is something else, " he blushed deeply but regained composure by faking a cough and resting his fist in his mouth.
Don't be shy! This is natural! He has never been in this situation before.
"Do you remember that I have something between my legs that you don't have? " the child nodded.
"Then, that thing is what makes me a man, it's called a dick, " he looked to the window trying to avoid the child's gaze.
"Then how it's named the opening I have? " now the boy was red as a tomato and turned very shamed to see the child.
"As if I should know! " then he composed and talked low "I haven't seen any of those in all my life and Jajuka didn't told me its name, " he bitted his higher lip and pouted out his lower lip, he was very shamed "Do you have any question?
Bad movement! Now he had to listen another silly question.
"Well, you told me woman are delicate, but Ah don't think Ah am delicate at all, a woman must be smaller than a man, but Ah am taller than you and in fact sometimes Ah had defeat you in fight- "
"Don't remember me that! " the boy looked angry "Not all the persons are the same, I told you about the most normal differences and features."
"Then, when we will grow you'll be taller than me and will have that hair over your face and maybe Ah will be delicate and those bulks are going to grow in my chest? " she moved her hands as if there were breasts in her flat chest.
He couldn't even imagine that scenario and looked to the child narrowing his eyes and opening his mouth a little "I don't think that even in a million of years that could be possible, I've seen ugly women, they are more like the men and maybe you'll be one of those."
Of course Ah will be like that, even as a woman Ah am not even near of being as beautiful as him.
"But maybe that's the reason you are here, because you don't have the same potential as the others girls, you are only useful as a warrior than being a courtesan " before the gray eyed child could ask he closed her lips with his index finger and explained
"Here are two buildings, in this there are only boys and in the others there are girls, Jajuka told me that they teach them how to be nice and don't oblige them to fight to death like they do us do, I don't know the details about them, but he told me they dress in beautiful clothes and have food all the time.
"They are very lucky, " the child drooled at the very thought of being feed when she wished it to, but felt sad at the feeling of not being with the red eyed boy "But I am happy they put me with you " she smiled.
"Sometimes you tell some strange things " after 'the talk' they returned to their routines until the day ended.
Well, I hope this haven't bored you and if you think the story is monotone, don't desperate, in the next chapter there will be more action and will introduce more characters, I swear it. I am waiting for your reviews. Then, without further ado, I bid you farewell until next chapter.
Some corrections were made to the previous chapters. Like removing the words in another languaje, a better explanation of Twenty-one's capture and the descritiption of Twenty-four marks. Here I changed the name of Folken for Dune [his movie name] and the description of Twenty-seven [from fair skinned to tanned].
