Bede found himself led around randomly by this smiling child, who he thought looked rather odd. He had large ears and a slightly large nose, and Bede was sure he saw a small, almost rabbit like tail on him as well, but his grayish brown hair and gray clothing didn't change the fact that he carried a weird looking pillow about with him that was pitch black, something that he couldn't really understand. "How many Halflings do you know?" he asked, and Bede shrugged.
"I… I don't know." he said, and the child hummed. He nodded as they continued to walk about. "I'm gonna let you meet my friends. We're hanging out at Mr. Quickclaw's place." he said, and Bede knew that was the man who sat next to Dagda the day before. He found himself drawn to a smaller house, where the child opened the door, as if it didn't have a lock.
"Guys, I brought a human!" he shouted, Bede able to hear the pattering of multiple pairs of feet, blinking when he watched three other children come into view. They were all very different, and he found them to all be rather adorable in their own ways.
Although, he noted specifically that all of them, even the one dragging him around, wore shirts with Dagda on them, as if they were big fans of his. A depressed looking boy with pale skin and black hair looked to Bede, his four wings draped about his chest and waist.
"Isn't he the Chairman's trainer? Why is he here?" he asked, and a shorter boy with purple hair and yellow eyes nudged him in the waist. "He got DQ'd, 'member? Mr. Scar said that Dagda wanted him to sponsor this guy." he mentioned, and the third child, an odd looking girl, looked to him.
"I like yer kowt." she said, an odd, almost infantile slur to her words. He smiled, nodding his thanks to her as another pair of footsteps approached, these much older and stronger. Bede soon saw the bronze skinned man from the stadium, Orzhov, who seemed rather surprised to see him.
"What's up? Belphegor drag you here?" he asked, and Bede nodded, the child waddling over to a corner and plopping down, nuzzling his chubby face against the pillow. "Mr. Kyouhei asked me to." he mumbled, and Orzhov whistled. "If that loony toon met Dagda, I bet all hell broke loose." he mused, sighing as he silently walked to the kitchen.
With the group huddled on the floor, including the red haired Orzhov, he looked to Bede. "Since I don't have too many friends, I have to ask. What's it like being the only human in the room?" he asked, and Bede blinked. He hadn't noticed this, but he made an assumption because of the location. He found himself shrugging, something that Orzhov laughed at.
"You don't need to get used to it unless you get too close to that Dagda kid. I just got off the phone with my friend Shere-Khan, and apparently they've all decided to evacuate this place." he said, and Bede found this rather surprising.
"And why is that? Didn't it just get built?" he asked, and Orzhov nodded. "We're having a bunch of the older and stronger Pokemon come here to help maintain it, but due to a shortage of Halflings in the region, and the knowledge that Chairman Rose is at least a former member of the Church of Arceus, and he sent Arcean Knights after you guys, we don't want any of the kids in danger. So since they're orphans, the families that chose to adopt them are being pressured to hurry up and grab them." he said, and Bede resonated with this.
He too was an orphan, a raggedy child in a run down building with other forgotten children, under the care of someone who either didn't care or couldn't give them what they wanted. It was a miserable existence, at least for him, and he hoped they all found families.
Bede noticed that the little girl, who wore an oversized hoodie that obscured her white hair and blue eyes, was wobbling, as if she was about to fall asleep. "Hun! Can you come grab Zara and put her to bed? Renji too!" he yelled, another woman coming into the room.
It was the large woman that they met at the Pokemon Center, and she seemed much kinder than he initially assumed. She picked up the small girl, and the purple haired boy with half lidded eyes, and carried them away. Orzhov smiled after her, like he was just seeing her for the first time. "Getting her to come out of her shell is still the best thing I've ever done." he mused, more to himself.
He looked back to Bede. "I can tell by that look on your face that you were an orphan at one point too. Don't worry. Renji and his mom, the Chief Zabi, are being permitted to stay in the Lionheart residence with Scar and Shere-Khan's family. And Kai is going with Grimsley, who he's rather fond of." he said, and the depressed looking boy actually smiled.
"He was always the one I enjoyed watching the most. He understands my pain." he said, and Bede found his choice of words rather odd. The boy stood up, scratching his head as he hummed, wandering off in the same direction the woman went with the other two drowsy children.
"In case you were wondering, Kai is half Crobat, and Renji is half Ekans. The little girl, Zara, is actually half Hatterene, and me and my wife actually adopted her. And as for me, I'm a Weavile Halfling myself." he said, and Bede blinked.
They looked almost normal. He found it rather surprising that all of these people weren't human at all. He didn't mind at all, and he wondered exactly why Rose wanted to hold Halflings back. He hadn't found out about Rose's hopes and dreams when he 'searched' the databases, but he found out other things.
He knew that Rose was a predator, a monster that victimized young boys until they reached adulthood, where he apparently murdered and ate them. It turned Bede's stomach, and he assumed that he was found out by the fact that he left his stomach contents on the floor. It made him so overwhelmingly afraid, and that's when he hatched his plan.
In order to save himself, he'd destroy a historical sight or commit some other crime to disappoint Rose and distance himself. Being disqualified scared him, because now he didn't have a public status to possibly protect him from the man's evil.
And it was so odd, because the man was a devout believer of Arceus, and even Bede himself was a believer. He looked back to Orzhov. "Chairman Rose always told me that I should always be accepting of others. I'm sorry that your people have been so…. Mistreated. I don't know what's wrong with him. He always taught me how to be strong, and maintain my confidence in myself, and my faith in Arceus." he said, and he heard a laugh.
"Faith in Arceus? Haven't heard that buffoonery in a while." Bede heard, turning to see Amy standing, leaning against the wall with her arms folded. Orzhov stood and rolled his eyes. "Arceus is a bad subject with her. I never mentioned Amy, but she's actually Arceus' daughter." he said, and Bede blinked.
He immediately shifted positions to kneel in front of her, and this seemed to upset her. She made for Bede, mumbling obscenities under her breath as her shorter husband held her back. "Don't kneel you goof! Stand up." Orzhov said, struggling to hold back the massive woman.
When Bede stood up, Amy had calmed down. "Look, I don't care if you believe in my father or not. But just know that he's a terrible creature that's no more. If Rose is still clinging to Arceus, than that means he's really, really far gone. I bet he's hurt countless people in his eschewed viewpoint of righteousness." she said, and Bede couldn't bring himself to disagree.
When he didn't, Amy hesitated. "I'm sorry… I didn't..." she trailed off, realizing that she brought up a bad memory or two when she saw the boy's face. Orzhov sighed, glancing up at his wife. "Go watch the kids and get sleep. You were the one that wanted to keep them all here. Go on." he said softly, and she nodded, a slight frown on her face.
"Sorry about her. She loses it sometimes." he mused, looking to Bede who simply tried to smile and shrug it off. Orzhov shook his head, grumbling under his breath about his wife. "Look, you can stay here for the night and rest up, since you look a little ragged. Feel free to crash anywhere comfortable. I hate to ditch you, but I need to have a talk with my lovely wife." he said, and Bede nodded, watching him walk away.
"Come here." he heard, turning to the small child, who was simply resting in the corner with his pillow. Bede walked over to him, the child patting the floor next to him, staring at him with large eyes until Bede complied and sat next to him. The boy passed him the black pillow, humming to himself.
"Take it for now. I can tell ya need it. It's actually made from Dagda, y'know." he said, and Bede looked at it and blinked, realizing the shade of black did match Dagda's hair, the small boy resting his head on Bede's shoulder. "Y'know, Mr. Quickclaw says everybody has to leave, but I haven't been adopted yet." he said, and Bede looked to him. "Why not?" he asked.
"Because of my name. Y'see, in some old legends, the name 'Belphegor' was pretty bad. It was the name of a big bad demon that represented the sin of Sloth. Anyone around this demon would become lazy, fat, sleepy, woozy and so on. I guess people are afraid of my name." he said, and Bede smiled at the child, who seemed a bit sad.
He reminded him of himself. He was a fatherless child with no surname to speak of, and he found himself questioning why every day he spent in the orphanage. Wondering why it took so long, why out of everybody on this planet capable, why nobody came here and picked him.
He felt terrible for the child, who seemed to begin dozing off. "I like my name, and I won't change it. It's all I got from my folks. Only thing they gave me was the name Belphegor Meitenkun. Can't change that for some old fuddy duddies." he mused, almost more to himself.
Bede found himself drowsy around the child, and he placed the pillow behind his head and sighed. He truly felt for this child, and he wondered if he could do anything to help him. He had no family or property, or even friends. He had nothing but his battling skill, which wasn't anywhere good enough to protect a child.
He wondered if there was something he could do to help this child as he began to fall asleep, hearing the Halfling's light snores. He wondered if his former status could garner him some kind of connection that might be of assistance, or if this 'Scar' character could help himself.
And then, as he closed his eyes, he wondered. What about…. Dagda? He was rather strong, and he already knew and got along with the boy. Could Dagda help him with his ever growing web of connections? Or was this poor child doomed to loneliness? Could Bede do something to help, or would the child become the victim of a monster, just like he was?
As he began to dream, his consciousness faded, he dreamt of six black wings, a wing for his Pride in his Self. A wing for his Envy of the power of others. A wing for his Lust for power. A wing for his Gluttony for knowledge. A wing for his Greed, his desire to obtain more and more fame and status. And a wing for his Wrath, his overwhelming fury directed at the wicked.
That left just Sloth. What if instead of a seventh wing, it was another friend? Would that work? Bede wondered as he dreamt, his dreams all too amusing to the one known far and wide in myth and legend as He Who Fixes.