Hawkeye patrols his part of the "broken areas" in his work clothes, which consist of an over-sized gray button up shirt (Two of the top buttons remained undone, of course) and khaki shorts. His brown boots make the gravel beneath them crackle loudly as he takes slow, unhurried steps. The ginger haired man never liked patrolling the town; it bored him to no end and proved to be quite demanding when Mihile demanded to hear his "reports". To Hawkeye, reporting to Mihile was like yelling at a deaf person, the larger man always seemed to refuse to believe a word that he came out of his mouth. He circles around his part of the "broken" areas for a bit before he deems that the day is over and that the Regulars are safe from danger for now. Just as the he was going to turn tail and leave, his grey eyes spot something very unusual. Well, unusual for his patrol route at least. A young boy, no older than twelve years of age with shaggy brown hair, dashes out from a nearby alley and nearly runs straight into him. Halting right before he face-plants Hawkeye in the chest, the boy looks up at him with concerned eyes. For a moment, they are trying to gather their wits because they both did not expect to come across anyone at all. Finally, the boy speaks up,

"Have you seen a tall guy anywhere 'round here?" the boy says with an accent that reminds Hawkeye of the stereotypical farmer.

"Can't say that I have, Alley Boy," the ginger tells the brunette. "Alley Boy" frowns at him. For a while, they both stare at each other, "Alley Boy" with a frown on his face and Hawkeye with a broad grin. "You seem upset. Tell ya what, kid, tell me what the dude looks like and I'll see if I can help ya out. Deal?"

"He's really tall, like at least seven foot tall! He's got short black hair and has horns and a tail, might have some wings too if he decided to fly 'round a bit." To empathize his points, the boy moves his arms around to demonstrate his friend's appearance. He raises one arm up over his head to show his height, brings his fists up to the side of his head to make horns, and flaps his arms furiously to show wings. "He don't speak much at all. Quiet sort of guy, y'know? And he looks really mad all the time, but he's really nice." The boy is breathing heavily now and has his hands on his knees, trying to catch his breath from his violent display. "I really needa know where he's at, mister! If he ain't by my side, them others are gonna git at me for sure!"

"Whoa now, Alley Boy!" Hawkeye holds out his hands in a reassuring manner. "No one's goin' hurt ya when I'm around, got it? I'm the top dog around these here parts and that's not gonna change anytime soon! Now then, you say he got horns n' a tail?" he adds in a disbelieving tone," Boy, you must be smoking something if you seeing tall dudes with horns n' tails!" Hawkeye barks out a laugh and slaps the small boy in the back, nearly knocking him off his feet in the process. "Ain't nobody here, got those things on them! Not even the Unwanted-"

"He is real!" the young boy snaps. "And what you mean you're top dog 'round here? You're nothing more than a spiffy lookin' fella roaming 'round the bad parts of town!" he screams accusingly at him. His face is flushed bright red and he's stamping his feet from the smoking comment. "I ain't no druggie either!"

"Okay, okay! No need to throw a fit. Sheesh, ya like Mihile when he sees that I 'forgot' to clean my mess in the kitchen!" Hawkeye exclaims," And I'm not just any average Joe on the street either, Eve. I got powers that'd knock yer socks off!" To demonstrate, he snaps his fingers and a bright green spark ignites from it for just a second before disappearing. The boy's eyes widen at the sight and his jaw drops. "Yup, kid, I'm just another Unwanted. I believe it's you who's just an average Joe on the street." Hawkeye watches as his head drops and he stares at his feet. He walks over to him and wraps a firm arm around his shoulders, pulling him close and giving him a one-arm hug. "There, there, now. If you're lost then I'll take you home with me n' you can hang with my family for a bit until we find your family. You don't have nothing to worry about with us! I won't let any of the other Unwanted get at you." The brunette glances up into his grey eyes and eventually nods his head. "Good! Once you're all settled I'll tell my buddies that yer imaginary friend's missing!"

"HE'S REAL!" he screams as Hawkeye tows him down the crumbling street.

The sun has already long sunk below the sea of clouds when they finally arrive at the apartment complex. Somewhere along the way, the child's feet grew tired and Hawkeye had to carry him on his shoulders the rest of the way. Now, the ginger gently plants him back on the ground so that he can knock on the door to get into the apartment complex, since he forgot his keys on his drawer that morning. "Alley boy" sticks close to his side, partially because the stairs look unsafe and partially because he's afraid to meet Hawkeye's family. The buildings looming over their heads and how the streetlight throws harsh shadows on the ground does not ease the boy's anxiety. A loud creak makes him flinch and his light brown eyes catch sight of a giant, though he is not nearly as tall as his friend is.

Mihile throws open the door long before Hawkeye even bothers to lift his hand to knock. For once, Hawkeye is actually late and Mihile has been waiting for him the whole time. The blonde man is completely oblivious to the young boy, his blue irises drilling through Hawkeye's skull with poorly contained rage, and he hasn't opened his mouth yet. Hawkeye prepares for the scolding and tucks Evan behind him.

"Where have you been, Hawkeye!" It isn't a question. "Do you know how long I had to wait? This isn't like you at all! Irena and Oz have already come back while you've been out… What were you even doing all this time?! Neinheart and Cygnus are worried sick over you and Eckhart is making funeral jokes now that Oz has woken him up in her little panic attack! There's no blo-Paint on you so you obviously haven't encountered an Unwanted. Have you been out messing with the Regulars again?!" Mihile furiously throws his arms about as he yells at the younger man. His voice is booming and Evan finds it to be a miracle that he can still hear. Though Mihile throws questions at Hawkeye nonstop in a very Oz-like manner, he has a quality that allows him to go on for hours without a single interruption no matter how slowly he is actually speaking. "Irena was just telling Oz that she'd go out and find…" Mihile's arms drop limply to his sides and he trails off when he catches a glimpse of the brunette shivering behind Hawkeye's back. "You…You brought back a child…?"


Short chapter is short. However, I'm taking this all in stride and decided that it would be best to post this chapter. I hope to post chapter 3 really soon. I can't guarantee that chapter 3 will be any longer but who knows!

Fun Fact of the Chapter!:

I'm in love with the title of this chapter! It may possibly be my favorite title of this whole story, but you never know what will happen in the future so let's see if another title can replace this one as my favorite!