Rias Gremory's POV

The Boosted Gear.

While it has several names, like the left arm of Domination, or the His arm, or even Ddraig's Revenge, the name Boosted stuck due to its effective summary of the effects of the Gear.

Which are to make the user's abilities exponentially powerful every ten seconds.

Pay heed, young devil who reads this, because this is all we are aware of.

No limit is known; no ability is unhindered; and, above all, you do have a limit.

This is one of the thirteen Longinus for a good reason, and if you don't pay heed to my words, young devil, you will be swept aside like many before you, and many after you.

"I am going to cut off the blouse." The blunt tone of my Rook snapped me off from my old book on Sacred Gears, the pages full of wet points where I drooled after falling asleep, older than the new government.

Tilting my chair back and forth, I listened to the conversation going on behind the curtain.

"Couldn't… take…off?" the voice of my new pawn came low, like he didn't want to hear his own voice.

"Going to open up the wound. Don't want to risk it. So I am going to cut it off." My far too blunt rook answered, and took out a small knife while Kiba was preparing the bandages and the salve for the light weapons.

My queen was on a call with my brother, instead, due to me having a Maou be damned Longinus as a Pawn.

Aaaaaaaah!

This was unexpected! It's good! But it's also hard! I don't know what to do!

Oh, and the fallen angels know about it! And I eliminated one!

What do I do!

"Aaaaaaah!"

*Crash!* *Thud!*

Then I tilted too much back, and my head thudded very much painfully on the floor.

I immediately mouth by biting my hand, so to not shout openly and make the others come immediately.

"Buchou, it's all right there? We heard something fall." Kiba's muffled voice almost immediately came from the bathroom, though I didn't hear any steps coming towards me.

In one hand, I was proud of myself, for not having made a fool of myself in this situation, and for not having overly concerned my cute little servants.

On the other hand, where was their concern for me!?

I feel cheated! Cheated, I say!

Also, ooooooowwww!

"It's nothing, Kiba-kun, I just hit the chair while thinking." The half truth came out easily, having to save my pride in front of the new member of my peerage.

Or at hearing range.

I got up, put the chair in place, sat like Gendo Ikari nursed my head while the tent in front of the bathroom opened.

My new pawn had bandages running over his chest and the side of his neck, converging towards the shallow, but still bad, cut to his side.

He was pointedly looking anywhere but at me, or anyone else, like he had been doing since that fight with the fallen, while Koneko and Kiba had cleaned him, the only dirt being on his pants and shoes.

"Werewolf, sit. Pretty boy, get him a shirt." Koneko's stoic voice didn't leave room for argument, which made both the devil do as asked.

Even a chuckle escaped one of the two, who went to take the shirt, while the other sat without an answer, to ask softly after:

"Is there something else?"

The rook tilted her head, hummed a moment, then continued spoke up, her monotone unchanging:

"You punch like shit. Get better. Don't want to patch up again."

The newly reincarnated devil stared at a point of the table, then, closing his eyes, answered softly:

"Certainly."

Koneko nodded solemnly at that, remaining standing at the ready, something that she really, really didn't need to do, and I said it, and-

"Punched so badly that you dislocated your own thumb. One night for it to be healed. Two weeks for the cut."

I was quite sure that my foot was making a dent in the stone of my floor. Maybe I should stop.

Going into a sinful against the fallen would be a better idea.

They had hurt my pawn, after all, and were in my territory.

But we had more important things to talk about

"Now, I think you want to hear about your sacred gear, right?"

He simply nodded, not looking everywhere else, not even at Kiba, only mumbling a "thank you" when he got the shirt.

It wasn't good, but he needed to at least know that much.

"I said that we were now in a lull. But I didn't say why we were in a lull in this war." I started, the old lesson coming to my mind immediately, and I repeated word for word: "In the final battle, when the angels' halos were like stars, when the number of the fallen spears were greater than the lights in Constantinople, when our wings bloated out the sun, the two dragons arrived. Albion, the white dragon, and Y Ddraig Goch, the red dragon, arrived. And our numbers became a drop, and the Satans fell, and wings weren't able to fly anymore, be they bat or eagle.

Then, He, with no words, no grandour, descended for the first time. And the two dragons, after a terrible fight, were sealed into the last two Sacred Gears: The wings of Supremacy, and the left arm of Domination."

I stopped, my mouth drier than the Sahara, and finished:

"You have the spirit, and power, of Y Ddraig Goch in your sacred gear. You have the power of killing a god."

My pawn didn't say anything, simply listened to this new, his face unchanging.

But his eyes never met mine once.

Samuele's POV

I was never going to be left alone.

Even if was able to run away, the simple fact that I had a weapon that made me a walking WMD would make any of these "factions" search me to literal hell and back.

"Eheh." To hell and back. Amusing.

So now I was not only a devil, but I had the red dragon of Wales in my left hand?

Ahah.

"Something amusing?" came the voice of the white-haired girl beside me, not turning towards me when asking the question.

"Only the irony." I wasn't in the mood to speak at the moment, so I hoped dearly that she wasn't as well.

I was simply too tired.

"Understood." The small girl was as emotionless as I felt. Perfect.

I just wanted to lie down, sleep and forget everything.

And-

*Beeeeeeeeep!*

-I was dragged back just when a car passed.

I shook my head and turned towards the girl beside me, my heart hammering:

"Thank you. Wasn't paying attention."

She just stared at me, her amber eyes wide and far more expressive than her flat lips.

She hummed and, turning the head in front, just monotoned:

"Pay attention."

Then continued walking, after the light in front of me, that I didn't even see, turned green.

The walk was a silent one, while the thoughts in my head were loud.

And with that loudness in my head, I arrived at that apartment, where the little girl had moved me towards from the indistinguishable streets and crossings and buildings.

Then we stopped in front of a door I knew and didn't know, and I patted my…ah.

"Here." The young girl beside made me jump when she spoke up and opened the door, and then, after a few seconds while my breathing came back to normal, offered me what looked like an advertisement paper with strange runes on it, and two books, of which one was dirty.

"My summoning circle. Master Rias's book on Sacred Gears, and took back the one on Devil's society. Call me if needed. Sleep. Tomorrow will accompany you. Bye." Then a circle of light circle appeared under, and she was gone like that.

I just stood there, unable and unwanting to think about anything, and entered that home, not even going to the bathroom to clean those damned stains I had on my hands that wouldn't get away.

I just…needed some sleep.

"P-please s-stop."

When my eyes closed, I saw the blood on his face when he was killed.

The sound of punches hitting like war drums.

The fear in his face, the maniac smile on mine.

The taste of blood on my tongue.

The fire that was raging in my heart at that moment, that thanks the damned Tyrant stopped when I came to my senses.

And, above all the satisfaction.

[Weakling, like the you-not-you of before]

Needless to say, my sleep didn't come easily.

The day after

"You look like shit."

I simply blinked away the tears of tiredness at those words, and nodded.

"Nothing out of the ordinary, unfortunately." I lied easily, walking beside the girl towards the school.

"Hmmm. Didn't sleep then. Sorry." The girl was keeping her tone as flat as possible, her eyes didn't look anywhere else, but her shoulder slumped slightly.

"It wasn't your fault, just some trouble sleeping. Why are we going to the academy if it's Sunday?" It didn't feel right for someone in a similar situation to feel bad for something they couldn't control.

Just more reasons to be disgusted by my "master", it seems.

"Training." Was her simple answer.

Too simple.

"I am still recovering, though. Even if my thumb doesn't hurt anymore, I am stiff on my left side." I had the shirt which had been borrowed and the two books inside a…suitcase, and my side was hurting quite badly.

I couldn't move my left arm well.

"Still have to see. So you can understand what will happen to you. And so we can keep an eye on you."

I stiffened immediately, pain flaring from my side, and a grunt came out soon after.

"Calm down. No fallens around." The young girl had noticed it, but she had picked the wrong reasons: "Can't feel any aura, just us with supernatural."

I scrunched up my nose, annoyed, but I didn't speak up after that.

In that silence we reached the academy, nothing strange happening there.

Quite strange if there were Devils training their abilities.

The smell of sulfur was overwhelming.

I shook quickly my head, my hand clinching quickly and my heart bottoming.

Inhale. Exhale.

I followed the young girl, who was staring at me emotionlessly, while we entered the almost hollow school.

I could see some university students around, but they were chatting between themselves, and we were going far from where not my university was.

Then, suddenly, I felt like I was going through molasses, and I heard the crackle of electricity, the crisping of burning and shouts of a young woman.

"Akeno, stop using magic in spars! You need to train your body as well!"

"Oh my, Rias, but I am so much better with it, am I not? Shouldn't I train my strengths?"

When we came in the clearing in the woods, the young woman and my owner were squaring each other, the black-haired girl smirking, dressed in a tracksuit, barely covering it with her hand, while my owner was openly snarling, glaring at the girl, in that school uniform.

"Master Rias, we are here." The small girl beside me announced us, and the two turned towards us.

"Oh. Good morning Samuele, I hope you slept well." Came the voice of my owner, her smile too cheerful to be true, her eyes not looking into mine a further proof of her duplicitousness.

But I had to bow my head slightly, and pull out fucking lies and flattery and courtesy to avoid looking too out of place:

"Good morning, master, I slept well enough, thank you." The girl beside me did look up inquisitively, but I kept my eyes on the ground, my head slightly bowed and my right hand on my heart.

"Good. Good! Now Akeno will help you with your Sacred gear, while I go find out what Kiba is doing. Koneko, you already know what to do, right?"

"Yes, master Rias." It was grating, and it made me want to snarl, which is why I waited until my owner turned away that I rose my head and moved in front of the young woman that would teach me.

"Come, come mister Benedetti! Sit down, so that I may begin to lecture you!"

I rose a brow at that tone, but I sat as my senior in devil knowledge said, and listened to her words:

"Now, you are the new Red Dragon Emperor. Congratulation!" She smiled at me, and clapped quickly with her hands.

I didn't show any reaction, simply waiting for her to continue.

Waiting.

Waiting.

She wasn't going to continue until I did something, wasn't she?

"Sìììììììì." I half pumped a fist up while spelling each "I" carefully and most annoyingly as possible.

"Good! Now you may wonder "How do I re-use it?", right?" She continued, and she looked at me again, like Dora the explorer, and waited that same amount of time without saying anything, only the wind against the leaves as a sound.

I exhaled from my nose, and gave up first, words coming out as capitulation:

"How do I re-use it, teacher?"

She smiled beatifically at that, and I twitched minutely, a hiss coming out at the discomfort from my side.

For some reason she smiled even more widely at that, but went on nonetheless, leaning on her hand while looking down at me:

"As Kiba said yesterday, a sacred gear is unlocked by a strong emotion, or, sometimes, if the user is in danger. What you felt yesterday was both."

Teeth on the ground, stained in red, the feeling of revulsion mixed with elation.

I scrunched my eyes, trying to keep the image away, and asked the most concerning question:

"So to reactivate it, how do I do it?"

Her smile didn't change, but I am sure that her violet eyes become far less luminous when she answered:

"You should try to feel as you felt yesterday, for a start."

I stood still, the discomfort forgotten, and had to hold myself back from shouting at that council.

But I inhaled deeply, exhaled from my nose, and asked as calmly as possible, looking at her in the eyes:

"Is this the only way?"

The young woman nodded, her smile firmly in place.

I sighed, then I stated staring at a particular blade of grass, remembering the emotions I felt the day before.

First it was the confusion.

My breath quickened minutely, fire in my lungs, while my eyes kept staring at that blade of grass.

Then it was the anger.

I felt something from my left hand, while my heartbeat felt more and more like a drum, that grass the only way to keep focused and unfocused.

Then it was the satisfaction.

And my hand felt hotter, while my teeth were gnashing with each other

Then it was the nothing.

And I restarted it.

Confusion, anger, satisfaction, nothing.

Confusion, anger, satisfaction, nothing; Confusion-anger-satisfaction-nothing, confusion-anger-satisfaction-nothing, confusionangersatisfactionnothing.

Over and over.

Then I felt an hand on my shoulder.

[Boost!]

I turned towards that hand, I saw the young woman, her smile no longer in place, her eyes wide and words of concern out of her mouth.

I wasn't able to hear them.

My heartbeat was too fast, too loud, it was suffocating any other sound from the outside.

My left hand was hot, too hot, and it was now clad in a red gauntlet, that red gauntlet.

But right now I was hyperventilating, and so I followed the gesture of the young woman in front of me.

One-two-three inhale; One-two-three exhale; One-two-three inhal-

[Boost!]

The green jewel on the gauntlet lighted up, and I felt my muscles straining a bit, I felt my breaths becoming deeper, and above all I felt all becoming a bit clearer.

Now I could feel the hammering in my head, I could feel the fire in my lungs while I started to keep them under control, and I started to parse the actual soothing words from the young woman.

"Good, good, follow me. Inhale, keep it there, exhale, keep it there."

[Boost!]

Alongside the voice, came more straining, more depth and more clarity, and I was finally able to put my breath under control.

Now I could feel that my side was in pain as well, and I could also feel a bit of sticky wetness coming from there.

I didn't say it though, focusing on the woman in front of me, and her motion for the breath, until I calmed down enough for my breathing to return normal.

[Boost!]

Now the straining was becoming far more uncomfortable, but I couldn't pinpoint the exact reason why.

"Now, we know that you can summon it. We also know that the Boosted Gear gives the wearer an exponential increase of strength, and if your rate of use is right, you can use it every ten seconds, roughly, right?"

This made me bite the inside of my cheek for a moment, before saying, my mind analytically trying to understand the situation:

"It seems more automatic than "on use", though. I am not really making it do anything, not on a conscious level, at least."

It was quite strange but-

[Boost!]

-it really wasn't something that I was controlling, not like a muscle or speech, and my muscles were becoming sore.

"Uh." The woman made a notepad appear in a flash of red and jotted something out, while scratching out something else, and she offered her right hand to me: "There was also some speculation that the power could be shared and passed to other individuals through a "transfer" command. Maybe we can try that now? Try to use that "transfer" to me."

I blinked, trying to understand what exactly she meant, then I clasped the hand and gave the command:

"Transfer."

[Boost!]

This time the soreness was more going towards the pain, still bearable, but it was now shadowing the one at my side.

The young woman pursed her lips, her eyes unfocusing for a moment until she had an illumination: "You never used magic, right? You must also have in mind the effect you want to give, an image would be better."

Image of what? Transfering power?

What should I think about, a stack of money being passed?

Wait. It is a good image, if that's what she is talking about…

"Transfer."

[Transfer!]

The young woman gasped when the command was given, while I suddenly felt so much weaker and a curtain of black fell in front of my eyes, making me almost faint.

"Lighting!" shouted the woman in front of me, and I felt a strong light in front of my closed eyes.

Then I heard a thunder that made me sit ramrod straight again.

The curtain was now gone, along with the pain of my muscles, but now I could smell the ozone, and the burnt tree, and I could hear the cinders and the panting of the young woman, who was standing up, staring at the damage she did with wide eyes.

"Oh my, oh my." She murmured, and I took that it wasn't exactly a normal situation for her.

"I am sorry, that's not how my magic normally works." As I thought.

I got up, my side lamenting that decision, and asked, staring at the black grass and the burnt tree:

"So, what happened?"

The young woman didn't answer at first, her hand in front of her mouth in surprise.

Then, after what looked like a few minutes, through which my muscles were starting to feel less like jelly, she spoke up, her tone amazed:

"So the description was true, the power does rise in an exponential growth…so this is the power of a longinus, uh?"

She then, after dusting off the dirt and grass from her tracksuit, turned towards me and asked, her smile back in its place and her eyes closed:

"So, how did it feel to reuse your Sacred Gear."

"Painful. Tiring. Can we not do it again?" I was hurting all over, and I was feeling more tired than before just by using that tool.

[Weakling]

I turned to the source of that voice, weak but grave, but there was nothing, while with a flash of green the gauntlet was gone from my left.

Instead I found an hand that helped me get up, while I bit my cheeks to not yelp when my side flared up again, the midday sun-

Midday?

"Good job, se-ni-or, you got it at the first day! Little Kiba was faster, though, so you will have to be better next time, got it?" she tried to tease me, but the effect was ruined when she refused to open her eyes.

It felt forced.

"Now, I wonder what Kiba and Rias are doing, hmmm. Let's go to the club, shall we?" her tone was warm, but it was strange, in the…

I grumbled and followed her lead, keeping those thoughts for later.

With a lot of silence, and a lot of stinging, we arrived in front of the door, and the door was opened for us by the blond young man, who smiled, his eyes closed as well:

"Welcome, I was going to call you Vice-president, but it seems it wasn't needed. And hello again, mister Benedetti!"

There was something wrong with these young people, all three of them.

"Oh? They are already here? Kiba, could you please explain to Samuele what a stray hunt usually entail while I talk with Akeno?"

And the common denominator was my owner, who was smiling from behind her desk, like she knew of a joke I wasn't aware of.

A joke I couldn't find myself to laugh at.

Rias Gremory's POV

"Truly, Rias, I hope that Gremory-sama has already taken care of this particular devil."

I nodded absently at that, my hands white by chalk, but I didn't answer.

I already knew what I had to do, even if I didn't like this; it was my territory, after all, and as such it was my duty to take care of dangerous strays who came here.

"Buchou, are you sure about bringing Benedetti-senpai to the stray hunt? He is not ready for this, I reckon."

I didn't turn towards Akeno, I didn't want her to see my doubt while I prepared the teleportation circle, but I did bite the inside of my cheek.

"Ara ara, it's better to not bite that much your cheek, buchou! It creates scars." How can she see it from behind!

"It's better for him to know how we fight normally, instead of how he did fight when the fallen came." I explained, without taking my eyes off from the correction in the chalk.

"And I don't want to hide that sometimes we have to do this."

It would be bad for him to hide this, wouldn't it? Also, I wanted for him to be more secure about our ability to shelter him until he is ready to fight.

"Hmmm, if you are sure. Do you want me to do the briefing, along with explaining to our Senpai what his abilities as a pawn are?"

"That would be perfect, thank you Akeno. But keep it short, I will be done soon."

It wasn't good to send someone in a possible fight without at least explaining what they were able to do, wasn't it, but I didn't want to go into the complexities now.

"Hmmmmm. Allright." There was something strange in Akeno's tone, but she went out of the teleportation room far before I could turn to her.

Then Zubat's mental probe came, which meant that the other side was free, so I did the last controls on the array.

I made sure that the protection against any kind of distance tampering were present, triple checking them; then there were those to put a shield after the teleportation itself, which was also why Zubat had been sent; then I tried to make it as Light-proof as possible, even if I wasn't that good.

Even after eight years it still wasn't my strong point.

A polite cough made me almost jump while I was adding the last touches to the mental array, and Akeno was behind me, smiling mischievously, even if she would call it "elegant".

"Distinct".

"Totally not fucking with you, Rias."

"Ara-ara, Buchou, I just finished the briefing with alllll we know about the naughty stray. Are you ready?"

I straightened up and put my best "I am in control of the situation" smile, crossing my arms exactly how mother would do, and I kept my eyes straight exactly like nii-sama would.

"The teleportation circle is prepared, we are free to go now."

The newest member of my peerage simply nodded, and stepped in, his eyes staring at the circle.

That… was a good sign, wasn't it?

Or at least, it meant that he was ready, right?

Well, after another clear by Zubat, the red light and vibrating humming of the teleportation spell submerged us, till we found ourselves just outside of an abandoned warehouse, in between other similar forgotten buildings.

The sunlight was so sudden that I almost wanted to block it with my hand, but the image was important, above all in front of the new member.

Come on Rias.

"My familiar hasn't found any kind of boundary field, or trap, around, but I don't want to have any unwanted surprise. Akeno, fly above and see if I missed something, and if not then prepare your lightning."

I heard only the flutter of wings as an answer, and Akeno flew above me, one devil wing still much bigger than the other devil wing.

I bit the inside of my cheek at that, but I had to keep my cool.

Come on Rias.

Turning towards the others members of my peerage, minus little Gasper, I made sure to keep a stony face like mother, and explained the usual plan.

"Koneko, you will be the vanguard. Kiba, behind her, be prepared to flank. Samuele, you stay beside me. This stray is dangerous."

Or at least, it could be against someone untrained, like he was.

He simply stared at me, then grunted a "yes", his face not betraying one emotion.

He mustn't be happy to go into another fight so close to the last, but keeping him out would be worse.

Come on Rias.

With calm, or at least I hoped the felt calm, strides, I reached the entrance to see Koneko nodding at Kiba, who had summoned his fire and ice swords.

Then they both entered, fast, while I kept the same aloofness that my mother was able to do so effortlessly, while biting the inside of my cheek and stabbing my nails in my palms.

The warehouse was clean inside, with several forgotten, or unwanted, wooden crates, but there was a lingering sensation in there, and a feeling of danger.

The air was damp, with the smell of moss inside, and there was the sound of insects in there.

That same feeling made me look up, towards what would be the telltale image of a chimera, the woman bust being connected to the body of a lion, and the tail that ended with a snake head.

On her woman part, I could see starkly several scars, surgical, but there were also burn marks, lashing scars, old bruises on its devil torso.

Truly, its master was an horrible devil, and I hoped that he would be punished hard for this.

"Whooooo arrrre youuuuu? Sweeeet? Soooouuur? Gooooood! Wrong! Wrong, wrong, wrong Vizer! No food! Yes food!" The stray in front of me hissed, its white hair standing up, its bloodshot eyes looking everywhere and nowhere, and her hands clenching and unclenching, its shoulders and tail twitching like electric current passed through it.

What a pitiful being.

"Koneko. Go."

Koneko acted immediately, and she darted towards that thing, Kiba using his wings, agility, speed and the present crates to jump as fast as possible to the ceiling.

Then the small Rook punched up, and the cracking of bones was only covered by the horrible, and saddening, wail from the creature in front of me, who was sent up, and up, until the fiery sword came down on its tail.

The smell of burnt feathers was only covered by the even worse shout of fear, and pain, and confusion, and the scraping of the claws of her lower body, and the sight of her covering her head, whimpering.

If I didn't know that she was too far gone, if I didn't have to kill her…

I shook my head, and kept my eyes straight towards the poor woman I would have to kill.

I owed her that much.

[Boost!]

I glanced to my left, at the other devil that had remained quiet, who was glaring at what was happening, silent, his face stone cold, his stance rigid.

Stone cold but for the minute snarl, and the twitching of his right hand's ring finger.

I wasn't aware of what he was really thinking. I should have been, but I wasn't.

The lightning made me focus back to the action completely, while the thunder with it made me concerned.

Akeno was there. She was flying down, on the right.

She was smiling, widely, her eyes' color changing imperceptibly while the cries rose and rose while the thunder came down.

"Akeno. Enough."

[Boost!]

She didn't hear, or didn't listen, and the screaming went on, while a joyous laugh started to come from my queen, and her eyes' irises were becoming more and more red, and the smell of ozone was becoming unbearable.

I could even swear that, under that continuous thunder, the word "father" was uttered by my queen.

"Akeno! Enough!"

Her head whipped back at me, her eyes wide, and she made half a step back.

[Boost!]

After a few seconds, during which Koneko and Kiba made sure the stray wouldn't attack, Akeno bowed her head, and she remained like this, without moving an inch.

I bit the inside of my cheek, while walking towards the moaning stray, who was trying, and failing, to get up.

I let my power flow to my hand, and asked, without feeling it, the phrase I had to ask:

"Any last word, Vizer of Lilith?"

The woman in front of me, her head bowed low, just whispered, tears landing on the floor:

"Please, kill me…"

I almost didn't do it. I had the duty, but I almost didn't do it.

But I needed time, and I had the duty.

[Boost!]

So I fulfilled that last wish, unable to look at any of my servants for the shame.

Samuele's POV, the day after

Step. Step. Step.

Those streets were the same. I knew about them, I didn't know about them.

Step. Step. Step.

Those stores, that I was seeing around were and weren't known to me.

Step. Step. Step.

Walking to not think, uh? Doesn't seem to work that well for me, unfortunately.

The pleading didn't let me sleep well this night, and so now I was walking around, without answering to her, or her calls.

I am sure I was being followed, but I didn't care.

Step. Step. St-

"Ooof!"

Then someone rammed me, full on, and made me hit the side of the building, making me force out the air from my lungs and my side flare angrily.

The man just went on running, a glint of silver coming from something around his neck.

I grunted, but I didn't feel like shouting, or being angry, or plainly feeling anything at that moment.

"Waaaah!"

Then another, feminine shout, came from behind me, and I turned towards the source, the instinct still there.

In the river of human bodies walking aimfull, and carelessly, there was a young woman in a nun outfit, her baggage's content being scattered around, and walked upon, by those around.

Who didn't move to help the young nun.

It's a bad idea, said my brain.

Step.

She is probably going to fight you, you are a devil now, said my instincts.

Step.

She probably doesn't need your help, said my shadow.

Step.

But for once, I will help someone, said my heart.

"I apologize, sister, can I help you?" I said, kneeling down to her, her green eyes meeting mine.

"Ah, uh, yes!" Came the unsure voice, while the people around continued uncaring their marches.

"Please, don't kill me."

But this time, I wouldn't be the one uncaring.