They ate in silence. The sun long set long ago, now lost in time the Psiioniic wrapped the grey cape around himself covering the tattered brown clothes. The gold blood that had been dripping down his face earlier began to dry and turn to a brownish color, the strip covering his forehead seeping with the liquid. The small amount of food was now gone, consumed entirely by the gold boy. The Signless' stomach began to rumble, he only eaten half of a fruit and left the rest for the poor starving boy. It became increasingly louder until the Psiioniic looked up to him.
"Signless, did you eat?" He asked timidly. The Signless' eyebrows shot up detecting the change in his speech. When they had first spoken he had heard a distinctive sort of accent in which his s's were slurred in a strange way.
"What happened to your accent?" He inquired harmlessly. However the boys hand immediately shot up to cover his mouth. The Signless frowned.
"Th-there'th nothing wrong with the way I thpeak!" He said defensively.
"See, there it is again." The Signless pointed to the boy. "I didn't mean there was anything wrong with it. I was just wondering where that accent is from."
"Well it'th…it's not an accent." The Psiioniic put a great amount of concentration into his sentence. The accent- or whatever it was- disappeared again. The Signless watched in wonder
"It's called a lisp, because of my teeth." He opened his mouth to a gaping hole so the Signless could see the forked tongue and extremely crooked teeth. When he shut his mouth again he noticed some stuck out . "I mostly have control of it, but it still comes back sometimes…" A light yellow flush subtly rose to the boys cheeks as he gazed at his grubby feet.
"Oh." The Signless said with eyes alight. What an interesting thing!
Psiioniic glared daggers at the boy. The red boy's face fell a bit, confused by the gold boys anger. His long lanky arm shot into the air and his crooked mouth formed words again. "But tho what if I have a lithp!"
"There's nothing wrong with it." Signless said calmly with a smile. The boy slowly smiled back.
"Signless! Signless!" A woman's voice cried out filled with panic and terror. The boy in question began to stand upon recognition of his mother's voice. The gold boy shrunk back into the shadows of the alley as Signless began to walk to it's opening. The woman whipped around the corner to face the boy and fell to her knees, drawing him in to a hug.
"Don't you dare scare me like that ever again!" She whispered into his ear as he held him close to her. The Signless clutched her back with guilt. She grabbed his shoulders and pulled him back to look at him face to face. The Signless could see a trace of jade tears shed moments before.
"Why are you crying?" He whispered back, taking a finger and wiping a stray tear from her cheek.
"I thought I had lost you. Why didn't you come back?" He eyebrows descended, showing traces of anger.
"I was helping someone-"
"I told you not to speak with anyone!" She spoke with more clarity, a fire of fear behind her shaky voice.
"He really needed it though!" Signless pleaded. Withdrawing from his mother he shrank back into the shadows where the other troll waited. With a gentle grasp of his hand, Signless lead the Psiioniic into the dim light to face the Dolorosa. The golden boy seemed to cower under her stare. He did not entirely understand why this strange woman was so kind to this troll boy. Usually the adult trolls could not care less for those of his age. But the kindness had shown in her face as she took the boy in. His tattered clothes, his broken teeth, and his cut head.
She opened her arms to him immediately. "I cannot be angry with you for helping him, my child. You deliberately disobeyed me but it was for reason rather than spite. I can't blame you for your kindness." She gently ran a hand over the boys head, grazing the cut. He winced at the pressure on the bloody wound. "Why don't we clean you up."
The three trolls walked through the town in a discreet fashion. More trolls were out now and things were much rougher. A scuffle could be heard a street over and Signless clutched his mothers dress in comfort. Soon they arrived at the forest. Psiioniic looked nervous; he glanced from tree to tree as if expecting the Jade blood to turn on him at any moment.
The made it to the river. The Signless sat himself down to watch as the Dolorosa took the boy down to the very edge of the stream. She carefully unwrapped the bandage from his head and set it on the ground. A new piece was ripped from the gray coat and dipped in the cold water. Dolorosa began carefully dabbing and cleaning the wound, few winces were heard through the near silence of the woods.
The moons shown high overhead. An olive girl crouched in a scraggly bush, posing for a pounce. White whiskers twitching, a wild lusus jackrabbit devoured a stray flower amongst dirt. The girls muscles tightened. On the edge of her toes, the rabbit suddenly sat up straight. Three sniffs at the air and they were off. The rabbit dodged between trees and rocks, the troll following close behind. She maneuvered her body to bounce off a tree, launching at the creature. A sharp yelp echoed through the trees, a few birds flew into the air.
Now the olive girl sat, a dead rabbit in her hand. It's neck broken, the warm body lay limp. She licked her lips; her hunger would be satisfied soon.
The wound was cleaned and dressed and the three trolls were on their way back to the town. Thoughts of the Disciple wandered away and were replaced with the boy at hand now with the strange eyes. The Dolorosa was in deep conversation with him now, he spoke of his home and how he worked for a large Olive troll who abused his "powers". Then some high bloods stormed the workhouse and destroyed everything; his home, his possessions, his master. He had just made it into this town a few days ago looking for a way to survive, which mostly included mugging weaker trolls than he. Of course he was not proud of this but it was a last resort. The Signless found this fascinating.
They were nearly back into town when a towering figure stepped into view. "Well well well, what have we here?" A voice sneered into the darkness. The Dolorosa immediately stepped in front of the two boys in a protective manner. The large cobalt troll snickered.
"Step aside, woman, it's the mutant I want. My my, he is a slippery one." Psiioniic shrank behind her even more, the Signless glanced at him in concern.
"Leave this child alone." She snapped back at the troll. He glowered back at her and placed a strong hand on her shoulder which she immediately shook off.
"You have no business with this, step aside before I squash you like a bug." His fangs were bared. He raised his hand again but she smacked it away. There was a snarl and she was shoved back. A fire rose in the Signless' belly, a fury like non other than before. How dare this man lay a finger on your mom? He was about to do…something. He really didn't know what, but he was going to do something, but the Psiioniic was on him first. The Dolorosa pulled herself back up, ready to fight when a streak of red, blue, and purple flashed by her. Then the entire forest was filled with this light, blazing like lightning.
The troll was down, burns grazing his body. He groaned and lolled his head on the ground. Psiioniic was panting and laying on the ground as well. The fire that was there moments ago completely burned out, sweat across his brow. The Dolorosa quickly grabbed the boy and half dragged him away from the scene with the Signless tagging along behind. The cobalt troll was left on the ground as the group absconded back to the town, jade, gold, and ruby.
Wow, sorry for the wait. This chapter came out kind of awkward, but hopefully it can pick up again soon. The ending ended up being kind of rushed and I'm not very happy with it, but it will have to do for now. Hopefully I can crank out the next chapter sooner this time. Growl Power! Cheetah Girl OUT