Even though he couldn't move, couldn't scream or struggle as the weight of his own body held him down, it didn't mean that he couldn't feel anything. He wasn't numb, as much as he wished to be. He wasn't spared of the pain of the needles as they dug at his skin, changing its color, or of the pain of the wires slowly wrapping themselves around his spine and through his limbs, twisting like barbed wire around every nerve, following the trails of every vein in his body. He could feel the hands, cold as ice, brushing against the bared skin of his back, chilling his blood.

Someone, save me.

The plea went unheard. No one could hear him, not anymore. No matter how much he desperately wished, there was no one left to save him.

With his eyes blurring with tears of both agony and despair, the boy kept his gaze focused on the black haired boy's beside him. Red eyes unfocused and half closed, the other boy stared at him but through him, as if he wasn't even there, the crimson splashes on his back twisting and writhing, throbbing, as if the stained flesh had a life of its own and was trying to get free.

The first punch he threw that night was the last one of the fight before the big brute went down, landing hard on his back with a dull thump, his shaved head thrown towards the right from the impact as the bones of his opponent's hands cracked and popped against his jaw.

Surrounding the two, the crowd of onlookers both cheered louder and went silent as the younger boy, the victor of the relatively short match, clenched and unclenched his left hand, trying to regain feeling to it. Some mourned for their losses, sure that the challenger, at least twice the boy's size in bulk, would win, and they cursed his name. Others screamed victory, gleeful for their gains, cheering and shouting encouragements at their reigning champion for a good fight. Money was exchanged in various places and some people were dragged away, either for causing an unnecessary ruckus or for their inability to pay their bets. They would be dealt with accordingly, unheard and unseen by the crowd screaming his name, fists raised.

"Sly! Sly! Sly! Sly!"

It was enough to almost make someone go deaf.

After a moment, a woman, tall and slender with long white hair and a sheer veil over her face, separated herself from the crowd and approached him, maneuvering easily over the gravel and cracked concrete in her heeled boots as if it was as smooth as polished glass. Without word or invitation, she took his wrist and raised his right arm overhead, her gloved fingers cold against his flesh. "With a total of forty-seven straight victories, Sly Blue remains our champion and is rightfully deemed the winner of this week's Bl ster tournament!"

Another cheer went up, echoing loudly off the walls of the alley and disappearing into space above them, both his name and the woman's.

"Sly Blue! Sly Blue!"

"Usui! Usui!"

Sly, reveling in the clamor and din of those around him, felt a smile curl up on his lips, eyes gleaming bright gold in the shadows of his face, ignoring the two men with tattooed faces glaring at him as they each grabbed an arm of the fallen man and proceeded to drag him away, the crowd hardly splitting before swallowing them whole. The only though he spared to them was to wonder if they were angry that he bruised their next meal- sarcastically, of course. Though cannibalism wasn't all that unheard of, the rumors widely spoken of in stage whispers and spread around like wild fire, especially in a razed ruin like Midorijima, Sly honestly didn't give a shit about it. So what if the big man was gonna get his weak ass made into stew? Wasn't his problem. Hell, they should be thanking him for making it so the loser didn't struggle so much when they did cut him into little pieces.

With his name resonating through the dust filled night, Sly could feel only just content.

-0-

It took several minuets for the crowd to disperse enough for Sly to make his way through it, nearing the end of the alley that opened out onto the main street, following close behind Usui as he watched with appreciation how her hips swayed beneath the skin tight fabric of her navy dress with each practiced step she took. How she'd gotten such a dress was beyond him, but hey, he wasn't complaining in the slightest.

"See something you like?" She asked, not pausing in her steps as she seemed to look over her shoulder at him, the cloth of her veil swaying lightly at the movement, voice smooth and slightly alluring, completely different from the one she used to announce his victory.

The corner of Sly's mouth tilted upward into a one sided smirk. "Quiet a bit of it."

Usui let out a breath that sounded almost like a laugh, but it was hard to tell beneath the dull roar of their surroundings. "Hundred credits and I'll let you touch it." She said, turning on him suddenly as she stopped walking, a hand on her waist as the other reached out to touch him. Her fingertips brushed against his chest, barely making contact with the material of his shirt, but Sly still shivered. "Thousand and I'll let you have me for an hour."

Taking a half a step back, Sly let out a short laugh, shoving his hands into the pockets of his jacket. "That's almost worth it." He said, his smirk turning into a grin as his eyes flashed. "But I have live for another week on my meager winnings, so I can't afford to spend it on a whore like you."

"Whore?" Usui repeated airily, before turning back around, walking again. "How rude."

Grin still on his face, Sly followed closely behind, stepping in the woman's footsteps with only a small fraction of the grace she possessed. Together, the two stepped out onto the less crowded main street, where the air was more dusty than dank, but still cold, the unabating winter still clinging desperately to the nighttime hours with pale, knobby fingers only to be banished by the dull sun that rose in the grey sky come morning. Broken buildings lined the street, the majority of them crumbling and dark, leaning onto other buildings, threatening to fall to pieces at any moment. A few others still stood spuriously sound, the majority of their visible damage being broken windows and caved in walls, leaving holes in the structure similar to open mouths with jagged teeth. Those few were lit and occupied recklessly, the occupants ignorant of the groaning of the foundations and the growing fractures on the walls. Once, the street had been the focal point of life in Midorijima, adorned with multicolored neon and filled with shops and business trying to catch the eye of the common passer-by. It had a name once, too, and Sly had tried to recall it when he had first returned to the island, but found couldn't. Aokawa or Miyagi, it didn't really matter. All that remained of that street was its own ghostly, skeletal remains.

The few people in the street, remnants of the Bl ster match, clumped together in groups around several fires and burning oil drums, ranging from three to seven, some with wildly dyed hair and a variety of piercings, all of them with patched and torn clothes in need of washing. Each groups that the two neared hushed themselves into silence, moving out of their path if they just so happened to be in it, the gawking eyes watching them were both filled with excited anticipation and a wary reverence, the former mostly focused on Usui while the latter trained on Sly. He didn't pay much conscious attention to the observers with their peering eyes, even though in the back of his mind he was categorizing them. Who was a threat, who wasn't, and who looked like they had something to hide? Group and sort, the process so ingrained in him that he didn't even realize he was doing it anymore. It had saved his life on more than one occasion, like a sixth sense.

Usui continued walking as if she didn't even notice the people were there, not veering from her course and inch as she lead him down a familiar path farther down the main street, where the lights eventually dimmed into a silent darkness, the overcast sky smothering the night into a deep gray-black that took a moment for Sly's eyes to adjust to. He nearly tripped over a fallen piece of wood at one point, stumbling as he tried to regain his footing. The white haired woman made a sound similar to a laugh, but it only lasted a second. He cast a dark look at her back, but said nothing and continued.

It seemed like a long time had passed before Usui turned, whirling sudden to the left and towards another, darker alley that seemed devoid of all life and form of existence. It wasn't a place any normal person would go to, especially not at the current hour, the permeating presence of something lurking just beyond the shadows warning all away, but Sly didn't mind. He'd take on anything the darkness threw at him, smiling.

And from the darkness came the figure of a man not quiet visible, his dark silhouette braking away from the darkness of the alley as if he had materialized from it. He was tall and heavily built, his large frame almost oppressive, sharply dressed in a casual way unusual for those inhabiting Midorijima, with a thick mane of jet black hair that seemed to have a tendency to curl and wave, giving it an untamed look. With his night-adjusted eyes, Sly could just make out the shape of the man's hooded eyes, a startling deep sky blue in color, and the downward tilt of his mouth.

Upon his appearance, Usui froze, Sly stopping right behind her, and waited as the man approached, his steps as quiet and controlled as the woman's were graceful, his thumbs tucked in the front pockets of his fitted jeans. When he stopped before them, Usui nodded in greeting. "Welter." She said, voice warm with a tone of familiarity, slightly deeper and much different than the one she had used to speak to Sly.

The man, Welter, nodded back, letting out a yawn. "'sui." He said with slight grumble, his voice deep and low. "You're back late." To Sly, Welter spoke strangely, slowly, like he was drawing out his words, almost unsure of them. At least he could speak, and seemed to speak in a more understandable manner than his companion, who was for once not at the big man's side. Turning his attention to Sly, he nodded to him as well. "Yo." Sly nodded back, his smile faltering slightly.

"We had some issues with a few challengers in the preliminaries, but it was nothing that couldn't be managed." Usui explained, putting a hand on her hip. With the other, she gestured over her shoulder to Sly. "He won again, though, obviously."

"It should be expected, by now." Sly said, speaking up, pride edging into his voice, an underlying confidence.

Welter only gave him a glance before stepping to the side, waving his arm toward the dark alley behind him as if he was welcoming them inside. "Be quick. I wanna go to bed."

Usui stepped forward without a word and quickly vanished into the shadows. Though he wanted to, Sly didn't follow, and instead leaned back on his heels, turning his attention to the sky above. There were no stars up there, the pinpricks light having long since vanished during the war, and the moon remained a simple, hazy glow no where near as bright as it was ten years ago. Memory serving, the moon used to be bright enough to illuminate the entire world during the night, like a second sun. Now it only served to reveal what was directly teen feet in front of a person's view if conditions were were rarely ever fair.

Absently, Sly wondered if the sky would ever heal.

Author's NOte

Chapter one is finally done, after months of the prologue sitting around and gathering dust. I'm starting to get into writing mode again, so expect updates on other fics as well as some new ones sometime in the near future.

Sly's OOC on purpose, btw. We'll see why in chap 3 or 4. Sei and maybe Noiz should pop up next.

Until next update

-tcf