Yup, more updateness. I put in more stuff from Skeleios' p.o.v. (since, for all I know, he might have some sort of fanbase somewhere in the universe... o.O), and now we finally get to see Erol! Yay! Erol fangirls rejoice! xD
Usual disclaimer: The random people and merchants in front of the stadium, Skeleios, Seit, and (since they appear briefly in this chapter) the rest of Seit's family are mine; the rest belongs to Naughty Dog.
Enjoy! ^-^
During the few days after revealing his true identity to Seit, Skeleios had begun to learn how to read the humans' language thanks to his human friend and cohort. He was also able to practice speaking the humans' language so he would not slur his words and sound as if he had one too many alcoholic drinks within the past hour or so. In return, he taught Seit as much of the Metal Heads' spoken language as he could and wanted to in case the human ever encountered another Metal Head again.
Also, he was glad that he had decided to keep the music players he had gotten in one of his pouches and not sell them off to some willing human; thanks to Seit, he had finally learned how to use the devices like they were meant to be used. Now more than ever before, he could fully understand the lyrics to the songs on them, as well as what all the sounds were and the concepts of what the humans called rock bands.
Since there were not as many shops and stands selling food as the other area, the pair decided to move through the area to find some food and odd, very-short-term jobs to actually afford it so the guards would not go after them for stealing. Seit had allowed him to borrow his mask to wear around other people, just in case some of them were able to see beyond the shadow of his makeshift hood.
Over the past few days, they had gradually made their way to the city's stadium, since Seit had told him that there was going to be a race there soon. There were plenty of posters around on the walls and ground to confirm it. Seit had also mentioned that his brother was in it and it had been a long time he had either seen or talked to him, so they thought it was a good way to get in touch with him.
On the day of the race, they made their way through the metal jungle of the city in the direction of the stadium by staying alongside the wide canals that ran through the center of the main paths. The closer they had gotten to the stadium, the more posters they saw advertising for the race.
"Damn, talk about mass advertising," Seit stated as he kicked a fallen poster off of the bottom of his shoe. "They do this with all of the races every year from what I can tell. Granted I've only been up to see one of the races two or three times, including today, but I don't think that has much of an impact on that decision."
"Only two or three times, including today? I'm surprised! I thought your brother would have made sure you came up a lot more than that," Skeleios said.
"Yeah, a lot of people say that," Seit replied, breathing a deep sigh. "The thing is, though, my brother became the Baron's right hand man about six years ago, and he hasn't bothered to talk to me and my family since. That's why we're up here now. Maybe, by some slim chance, we can find him sometime either before or after the race and get a chance to talk to him or something."
"How will we know which human is him?"
"He's not that hard to find, especially if he's decided to sign autographs for his supposed biggest fans. If there aren't twenty people around him trying to get his autograph, then the best way to find him is to look for a guy that's about a little taller than me with bright orange-red hair. He's probably got some sort of goggles on his head somewhere, too, knowing him well. If we do get a chance to get near him, don't touch him and don't try to take any of his stuff if applicable; he's the most territorial person I know, and absolutely hates people touching him when he doesn't want to be touched."
"That's helpful…I think."
"Don't worry about it too much, Skel. Lucky for us, I still vaguely remember what he looks like, and hopefully vice versa. We should be able to find him in no time."
At that point, they had arrived at the stadium's square, which was beginning to grow more and more crowded with each passing minute. People pushed their way through the crowds, buying merchandise from loud-mouthed vendors, placing last-minute bets on who they thought would win, and talking to each other about the upcoming race. The two comrades managed to shove their way through the crowds and up the stairs in front of the stadium towards the garages, where there were fewer people around at the time. Seit began looking around past the people and over what heads he could, looking for something.
"What are you looking for?" Skeleios asked.
"Any sign of my brother. He's bound to be up around here somewhere, since the race is scheduled to start within the hour. With our luck, he's probably down by the garages either signing autographs or talking with his mechanic. Come on, let's try it. I think they're down here," Seit replied, taking Skeleios' arm and pulling him through the crowd towards a pair of red and silver poles with two flashing, red lights on top of them.
"Are you sure we are allowed down there? You know what happened the last time you got the guards to chase us!" Skeleios cried. "You are pretty lucky I am strong enough to lift up a human your size!"
"That's why we're staying right here until we can get a glimpse of either him or someone connected to him," Seit said when they got to the poles. "You know, like his mechanic or somebody."
They looked down the hall towards the slightly open garage doors and the people behind them. Skeleios was more interested in looking for anybody that even slightly resembled Seit's description of his brother, since he had no idea what his mechanic would look like. In fact, he did not have much of a clue as to what a mechanic was in the first place.
The two doors to the first garage on the left-hand side of the hallway were fully open. From what he could see, there were roughly four or five humans in it just past the door that was farther away from him. They looked more as if they were casually talking rather than stressing out over the upcoming event. He could tell that there were two black-haired and one green-haired adult-sized females, one female toddler with bright orange-red hair, and a man with the same colored hair as the toddler standing near a set of shelves covered with trophies.
"Hey, Seit, I think I found him!" Skeleios exclaimed, pointing towards the group of humans.
"Yeah, I see him! And is that…? Yes! Oh my god, that's my mom and my two sisters there with him! I know my little sister's hair like I know the back of my hand! Mehin, Shael, Mom! Over here! It's me, Seit!" Seit called, waving his hand as hard as he could.
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Seit started running towards the door to the garage, overjoyed with the fact that he had finally caught up with his family after going for what felt like years without seeing them. He was quickly stopped with the feeling of a gun against his forehead and a hand around his neck. Feeling lucky that the grip was loose enough to allow him to breathe, he stared past the gun and into his brother's brown eyes. He tried to speak, but felt scared as to what might happen to him if he did.
"Mom's told me that she's pretty sure you're dead. Prove otherwise before I blow your brains out and make it that way," Erol said softly as he narrowed his eyes and tightened his grip on the gun.
Seit quickly rolled up the left sleeve of his now somewhat tattered sweatshirt and took off the purple and black striped arm warmer and showed him his left forearm, which was covered with the scars he had received from an accident he had with a vat of Dark Eco during his childhood.
"I'm sure you remember the day I got these," Seit said, trying to hold back the flood of memories and tears that came with the scars. "I remember that day while I was in the hospital and you held my normal hand and told me that you would never forget; that you would always be there to protect me as long as you were still my brother. I think you're a bit long overdue with that promise right now."
Erol's expression had softened greatly, and he lowered the gun and his grip on Seit's hand. "How very wrong you are, little brother," he said, tears beginning to form in his eyes. "I've been keeping my promise all these years, you just haven't seen it."
"Of course I haven't! You haven't bothered to come home to see us since you became the Baron's lackey!" Seit cried, tears of anger burning against his eyes and beginning to roll down his face. "If you had fully kept your promise, you would have at least called us or something to keep in contact with us and let us know that you at least thought about us every so often!"
Seit looked behind his now speechless brother and saw Mehin cowering behind Shael's long, thin legs. He smiled somewhat and continued, "Now look, you've made me scare our little sister! I think we're supposed to do that occasionally, but not like that! What are you, some kind of crazy person?"
