Chapter 3
I wandered around town, Ethan trailed a pace behind me, still clutching the bread. I tried to find the group of boys from before. The day was slowly shifting into it's darker counterpart, although the sky was clear it was getting darker fast.
"Do you know where the other boys went?" I finally asked as the street lamps were lit. Ethan shrugged but took the lead. We walked down several alleyways which eventually opened up to a large courtyard. I grabbed Ethan and ducked behind a bush as two boys ran past. They looked around 12 or 13. My eyes widened in realisation, "Is this the orphanage?"
Ethan nodded but gave a small smile. He pointed to one of the open windows on the second floor, he then motioned to himself. When my gaze was back on him, he pointed to a different window and pointed to the bread.
"This is where you... all live?" Ethan looked me straight in the eyes, even though I thought I had done a good job at hiding my face. He pointed at his face, indicating to his smile. 'You're happy.' Was what I wanted to say, but I just couldn't bring myself to say anything about the current subject. "That's where the other boy lives?" Was what I said instead.
As we walked in, a lady with a sullen look approached us. "What ever he did, it wasn't him!" She jumped into the wrong conclusion, "He's a good boy i swear, please don't take them away!"
"I'm here to return this boy and also something another boy dropped." I explained quickly before she had a chance to burst into tears. "Who... might you be looking for?" She blew her nose into a handkerchief.
"He's about this tall, black hair... a brown and yellow scarf." I recalled everything I thought I knew about the boy.
"Second floor... actually, Ethan do you mind taking him?" Before Ethan could reply, the lady walked off.
Once again I walked in silence, this time with Ethan in the lead. Before I could ponder for too long, we arrived at a door. The condition of the entire building isn't too bad, there are some cracks in the wall but it's just mostly peeled off wallpaper, probably from a bored kid or two. I knocked on the door once, the wood was of a decent quality, mass produced but durable... I don't even know why I know this...
"Coming!" I think I faintly recognised the voice. "...You" was his reaction when he saw Ethan, I thought I could see signs of fear when his eyes fell upon me but it immediately shifted to surprise when he saw the bread. By now I felt bad for not buying a fresh loaf to give to him. "For me?" Ethan gave the boy the bread who thanked him in reply. When his door closed, the hallway seemed... lighter.
"Mister! It's you." I turned around but not fast enough for my cloak to have raised off the ground. It was Steven, he had a basket of different vials each filled with a reddish liquid. "These are for Sunny, he was really ill today." These kids were too good at reading me, or maybe I was letting down my guard too much.
"We never arranged a time did we?" Ethan looked very puzzled but Steven did a quick explanation, "I won't be able to come tomorrow. We're finally getting the second building finished." Steven shifted the basket from one arm to another.
"It'd be really nice if you could come and help." It was said in such a small whisper that I thought I imagined the words. "You don't have to, it might be faster that's all... also not many people had agreed to help us so most of the older kids will be doing all the heavy labour."
I wanted to stop him since I was already convinced to help him. He carried on for a bit longer before I finally stopped him and agreed to help. "I'll see you tomorrow then. Thanks again!" I waved back, also parting ways with Ethan I left for the inn I was staying at.
Still drowsy with sleep I pulled myself from bed. As I left the inn, I saw a notice board: more searches for still missing people, more offers for trade. Re-doing my hood once again, I left for the orphanage. The road there wasn't too bad now that the sun is beating down, what distracted me was how much better I could see the houses surrounding that area. Almost all of the buildings looked as if it was set up in a day, mashed together with whatever was available at the time. The choice of material was strange, from cobblestone/ smooth stone houses to houses made purely from coloured clay. It was either contemporary art or really bad architecture.
"Hello." I was greeted by Roth, he swapped his usual silver band for a white headband. "It's this way." I half trailed, half wandered behind him in a slow walk. 'I feel like I'm getting led around a lot lately.' He seemed to be in no rush to take me to the construction site, I guess I should rest as much as possible before working too.
"Here." He pointed down, it was a hole that was two blocks deep but wide enough to fit a typical mob grinder. "We wanted to keep the bottom level as half-slabs, there will be a storage level underground..." He started diving into the details of the structure. I did my best remembering most of the materials needed and what areas needed them, however, being an average adventurer, the most I've build was a two story rectangle... or cuboid as some would call.
"Steven and the others should be coming back with the wood soon so if you don't mind digging the hole a block or two deeper." Roth handed me a stone shovel and we began digging.
'Did he dig this hole by himself?'
'Are there any adults helping at all?'
'Does that lady know about this little project?' Were a few of the thoughts floating around my mind as I worked. "Roth!" Abel jumped in the hole which was now five blocks deep, "We have the wood if you wanna do the basement." He gave me a toothy smile and climbed out. Why he didn't just shout down was beyond me.
"Mister? Aren't you really hot in that cloak?" Steven asked me while handing me a drink. The house was coming together surprisingly fast. The Basement and ground floor were complete, just two more floors to go and it was barely mid-day.
"I'm okay." I admit it's really hot but my personality refused to let anyone see my face, maybe it's because of him, or the stares of those villagers. I hated even the thought of having to take my hood off.
"Lunch will be ready in a bit, we've done a good job so far!" Jace came out with a tray of baked potatoes shortly after. I declined the offer, these types of food don't quite go well with me. We built for the rest of the afternoon, occasionally stopping for rest. The main frame was fine, it was the sheer size of the building which made the build unnecessarily long. While starting to wall the second floor I heard a thud from the roof. A log of wood came crashing through the floors, who ever was on the floors beneath were in grave danger. 'There was no choice, I had to do it.' I reasoned with myself for a fraction of a second, the log of wood was falling in slow motion three blocks away from my face. It was too heavy for me to carry or hit away from anyone, I had to move whoever was in the way out of the way.
Teleporting to the floor beneath me, I beat the log to this floor. Thankfully it was empty anyway so I continued to teleport down. The ground floor was empty too, was I just worrying too much? The log fell through what is now the ceiling of this floor, if anyone was in the basement... A shout was heard outside, finally someone realised the roof was collapsing. I took a sharp intake of breath before teleporting through the floor. Curled up in a ball, Roth was paralysed with fear. Lifting him up by the waist, I teleported back upstairs, hoping that no-one noticed all the purple particles that was still slightly lingering on each floor. To my advantage, Roth had passed out, saving me the trouble of convincing everyone over his story.
All of this happened within the time of around a minute. Steven was the first to rush into the room, Hughie was next with the most guilty face a child was capable of making.
"Roth! Is he alright?" Steven began fussing over his friend, I released the breath I had held, "He will be fine." A headache had started to pound in time with my heart beat, I tried to hide how much it hurts. 'I haven't eaten much in a while, that's why it feels so painful right now.' Not being able to hold the pain any longer I walked outside and after having just enough sense to make sure there was no-one around, I fished out a block of what I considered food and began to eat it.
The whole situation went down better then I could have ever hope. No-one noticed any of my teleporting, I pretended to get a health potion while I ate and came up with the story that I was with Roth in the basement. All this was believed without a question. "I think a few more torches and it should be done." We stood back and assessed our work. It was nothing fancy but still impressive for it's size. Steven handed everyone a torch and we all placed one down around the land that was unused.
"Let's all meet tomorrow in the library and read a bit more of that diary!" Abel jumped at the idea, punching the night air.
"It's not that exciting." Lock muttered, still acting as the 'Negative Nancy' as an old friend would say. Hughie jumped around, knocking over his own torch and setting a block of grass on fire, it was quickly put out by Jace. Roth laughed at the scene, an overly large amount of bandages wrapped around his head by an overly protective friend. I also watched this scene play out in front of me. Abel made a remark about Lock's hair who in turn insulted Abel's obsession with an object I didn't recognise. Jace tried to calm the two down but was caught in the cross fire of Steven's body slam at Lock and Abel. 'They really do remind me of them'
'Too bad that time can't be reversed.'
A/N: Not much to say... This story will be quite short, around ~6 chapters I hope.
I also forgot to do this in earlier chapters,
DISCLAIMER: I do NOT own the character of Steve and I do NOT make any profit from this story.
Any reference to real life people and events are purely coincidental ;)