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"Russian"

"Japanese"

All the boys had gotten in the room for the night. They had all eaten a 'dinner,' if you could call it that, and now were climbing into the bare cots; two to a bed.

Tala, though, had looked over to Kai, who was sitting in the corner, ugly bruise still spread over half of his face. The crimson eye was nearly shut, and the other one was clouded and merely looking over all the occupants of the room.

Bryan shared a cot with Tala, and he was watching Tala out of the corner of his eye as his red haired friend said, "Hey Kai, want to come share our cot?"

Most of the children in the room went silent, and stared at Kai as they waited for his response.

The slate haired child moved his pained gaze to Tala, and a spark of happiness entered his good eye. "If you don't mind..." He said quietly before using the wall to help himself stand up.

Tala smiled at Kai before scooting closer to Bryan to make room for the boy, whereas Bryan made no move to make more room for him.

Kai climbed into the cot on the side, Tala's left, and rested his head back on the lumpy 'mattress.'

Tala rested quite contentedly in the middle and the occupants of the cot fell asleep with a different thought in each of their heads.

Kai was wondering what else that purple haired man would do to him...

Tala couldn't wait to get back outside and learn more about Kai...

Bryan was thinking of every single way he could to keep Tala to himself, and away from Kai.

The next few days had passed as normal:

Wake up.

Go straight outside in the frigid, Russian weather, no breakfast, for the day.

Go to sleep.

Bryan was becoming more and more infuriated, and was becoming obsessed with his time with Tala.

His obsession wasn't going unnoticed by Tala...or Kai for that matter...

(Last day before they begin training.)

Bryan had cheered a little bit, noted Tala as he ran around with Bryan, playing tag, while Kai watched on from his place sitting in the snow up against the wall.

He had his knees pulled up to his chest, and his chin rested on top of them as he watched all the other children running around. He found Spencer talking with some older boys while they watched two other kids shouting at each other. They stood on each side of some bright blue, metal dish...thing. There were several of them about in the yard. They were all lined up in a row, starting near the brick walls of the Abbey and continuing outwards. The dishes closer to the Abbey looked older; faded, some cracks, a few chips taken out along the rim, but the farther you got from the building, the shinier, nicer, more solid these strange dishes got.

Sometimes (most every day), fights would break out about who would get to use the newer dishes. Naturally, mostly the older boys won these fights, and the younger the boy, the worse dish they would have to use.

The youngest children had not been forced through the brutal training program yet.

And for this, the older boys who had their childhoods ripped from them despised the young boys.

The one exception to this, was Spencer.

Spencer, knowing the horrors of the Abbey, wanted to help the younger boys through this by showing support for them, and being somebody they can go to for help. He had taken Tala and Bryan under his wing, and now this new kid, Kai, who held no innocence in his eyes, had been taken under his wing as well. For taking them under, he had been deemed an outcast by the other older boys. That feeling would later be reversed...

Meanwhile, Tala had tired out, but Bryan still wanted to run around. He would do anything for another minute alone with Tala.

Tala said to Bryan warmly, "Ugh, I'm tired. Lets go sit down." Tala's smile faltered as he noticed Bryan's previously happy demeanor darken, and his bright eyes swarm with anger.

"Bryan, what's wrong?"

Bryan clenched his small fists, not able to stand looking at Tala anymore. He just spun on his heel, and stormed off again.

Tala's previous happy moment was crushed by Bryan's departure, and he sulked off towards Kai, who remained looking stoically at him. He had lost hope that anything good could ever happen after his traumatic experience.

The red-haired boy sighed as he sat down next to Kai. "Bryan thinks that he's the only friend I can have..." He sighs again, dejectedly, and Kai turns his gaze to him, and then said in his quiet voice as he notices the ice blue eyes sparkle with tears, "Don't cry..." He sounded almost scared as he watched with wide crimson eyes.

Tala looked over at his new friend. "Why not?" He asked innocently. "It's a way to express your pain." He noticed something in Kai's eyes, something that was making him afraid. He could see the sadness in the crimson depths, but the boy would not let it out.

Just then, Kai was opening his mouth to say something, but a shrill bell went off, and all the boys started flooding back inside the Abbey. Kai looked relieved, and he stood up and offered a pale hand to Tala, who took it gratefully, curiosity gnawing at the back of his mind.

What was Kai going to tell him? Was the only question in his head as he followed Kai back inside to their room.

Sorry, another major boring, filler chapter.

Updated this for you guys, for being slow and such.

I promise we'll get the training in the next chapter!

:D

-PWN3D