Hello people of fanfiction. New chapter time, and the beginning of the real plot actually mentioned in the summery, hurray. I'm excited to start this new section of the story, and hope it is just as good as the first. (currently feels like their will be three separate sections all together)

Chapter 13- Of Coping and Survival

Keane wasn't too sure when he's managed to fall asleep, but it was maybe four o'clock when he woke up to the sound of people walking across the overhead dock. Looking over to his side he saw that Straton was already awake, staring out into the ocean barely a foot away from them. His back was hurting like crazy, rocks and shells stabbing into him, and he quickly sat up, hoping that no one above would notice any movement in between the planks.

"You're awake," Straton whispered, glancing at him through the corner of his eye. Keane nodded, still feeling a bit groggy from the flipped sleep schedule. "How are you feeling?" he asked, and Keane simply shrugged.

"Alright, I guess. How long have you been awake?" he answered, making sure to keep his voice low as well. Straton has said that they were going to move around during the night, so it'd be best if they could keep any chance of being found during the day at an absolute minimum.

"About an hour," the blonde answered, turning towards him now for the first time since they'd started speaking. "Do you know how to draw in your anima yet?" he asked, startling Keane slightly. Feeling his ears, he felt that they still felt like a mouse's. So he hadn't changed back yet. He'd kind of hoped it would have just happened while he was sleeping, so that he didn't have to worry about it.

"Not really… but it can't be that hard, other anima seem to be able to do it with no problem," the older boy mumbled, and Straton just nodded. Concentrating on the animal like parts of his being, Keane quickly felt a similar feeling to when he must of gained the powers, the joints of his hands and feet contorting, along with a strange morphing of both his ears and eyes, only without the pain from before. Glancing down at his hands, they were back to normal human shapes, with one exception.

There was a black marking on the back of each. The had the appearance of a stylized mouse print, five slender black spikes representing the claws pointed towards each of his fingers. Silently he held it up in the light slitting through the dock to show Straton.

"Guess I figured it out," he said softly, and the blonde nodded for a second time as he stared at the markings.

"Guess you did," he mumbled. It was silent for a few moments between the two boys, Straton returning to staring out at the ocean, which Keane had to admit was a better view then the rotten wood and grainy sands that were their alternatives. "You should go back to sleep, there isn't anything else we can do until nightfall," Straton said. Even though he was right, the redhead wasn't sure if he really wanted to, or could.

"Yeah, just not really tired yet, since I just woke up and all. You should sleep too though," he said, and Straton just shrugged.

"I'm not really all that tired either," he said, and Keane just agreed. If they stayed up too long though, they'd probably just end up getting very hungry until they could finally go out during the night and find something to eat.

Deciding to actually clear off the ground before laying down, Keane slowly managed to fall back to sleep, dearly hoping that the next time he woke up, it would be night, and they could leave the damp underground of the dockings behind.

Straton sat on the cool ground while Keane slept, occasionally tossing pebbles into the close water. He knew he should sleep too, especially since he'd hadn't actually slept last night, despite what he'd said earlier. He just didn't want Keane to worry is all, he'd get to bed soon.

It was just, every time he closed his eyes, he saw flashes of the last time he'd spent at the palace. It wasn't something he wanted to remember, but it would be fine. They'd go away soon enough, and what was one day without sleep? He'd done it before, back home, he could easily do it again.

Every so often he would glance down at the redhead lying on the sand next to him. He still had the fabric tried around his head, and truthfully he looked like a complete mess, but Straton really didn't care. He was just glad he was alive, and even more amazingly had saved him. It still didn't seem real in his head, even though he could see everything around him that pointed to the fact that it really had happened.

He was an anima now too. Straton subconsciously started rubbing at the cuts on his arm that his claws had caused. He'd always liked animas, and hadn't understood why they were kept as slaves. That was why they had to go to Asteria. Even if the laws were… changing, though it was in a bit of an unorthodox way, it was still safer there than staying here. Hopefully.

Once the sun had set, Straton was going to wait maybe another hour before waking his companion up. He wanted to make sure the streets were as clear as possible when they headed out, but the whimpering and shaking he started to hear changed that in a heartbeat.

"Keane? Keane, wake up," the blonde said quietly, shaking the older boy until his eyes finally opened, looking wide and confused. Keane quickly sat up after that, staring around the place as if he'd ever seen it before, until finally recognition started to set in, and he seemed to calm down, if just slightly. It was then when Straton decided it was safe to start to speak to him again. "Are you okay?" he asked, and the redhead just nodded, an absent appearance on his face that Straton couldn't help but be worried about.

"Yeah… yeah I'm fine. Just a bad dream… sort of," he mumbled before glancing around the dock once again, a more stable look in his eyes then the first time. "It's night out now?" he asked, and Straton nodded.

"Mmhmm, we could head out now, if you wish," he explained, and Keane nodded, slowly starting to stretch himself out from just waking up. Even though the nightmare didn't seem to have that much of an effect on him, Straton was still worried. He could be suppressing it, that's what most people would probably be trying to do in a situation like this, after all.

"That sounds like a good idea, I guess," the red head said, starting to crawl out of the docks. The water was a bit lower now then it was the night before, but it still almost reached his knees the farthest he had to go out. Straton was following close behind.

Out of the water, both boys were freezing. For a place that got so hot during the day, it became so cold at night. Scanning the area a bit, Keane didn't see anyone in the immediate area, but was once again faced with another problem.

"Um, how do we get to Asteria?" he asked after a moment, still having no idea what in the world they really were doing. He was pretty sure that their destination was on the complete other side of the country. Not to mention he could barely think straight, despite the fact that he kept telling himself that he needed to just focus on the now, and forget about everything that had happened until both he and Straton were safe.

"East, but we should probably try and find some food first, so that we don't starve," Straton said, starting to walk down along the dock, this time Keane being the one to follow. Dang, he really was lucky to have found the younger boy, and not just to help him deal with having lost everything in the world. He'd probably wouldn't of even lasted this long if he'd had to do it on his own.

"How do we find food?" Keane asked, and Straton stopped for a moment, starting to start at the decaying planks below their feet, something Keane did not take as a positive sign in the least.

"I don't know… we don't have any money, and if we did, it wouldn't be a very good idea to go to a shop anyway," the blonde mumbled, and Keane just nodded. He shouldn't have expected Straton to have all the answers in the first place. Neither of them really knew what they were doing, Straton just had the better sense to remember that Asteria was east, and eating was essential to living.

"Right, um well, I'm sure it wont be that hard… maybe. We could just… uh, something…" Keane said quietly, not really having any answer for their dilemma. Straton just nodded slightly and started walking forward again, even though the red head hadn't really given any sort of viable answer.

"It'll be okay. We'll find something," Straton said, and Keane decided to just believe that was true. There were already so many other things wrong, maybe this could go in their favor.

After several hours of walking what was generally east, the two brothers stopped. They'd yet to find anything to eat, and there was only another hour or two before sunup and they'd have to go back into hiding, and have to wait an entire day before they had the chance to even look for something again.

"I don't think we're doing this right…" Straton mumbled, and Keane had to agree. How did people survive on the streets, without a home? He knew that they had to, he learned that there was a homeless population in their country, and for that to work they couldn't be constantly dieing.

"Um, we could try eating plants or something, if we could find any, that is…" Keane suggested, not really enjoying the idea, but unable to really think of anything else. Straton nodded absently, appearing to be thinking of something else instead. At least, the older boy hoped he was. He didn't really want to eat bits of grass, because that's all that seemed to grow outside of the palace garden.

"We could steal some…" Straton said quietly, Keane almost hadn't heard him. When he realized what he had said, the redhead wasn't all too sure if he actually liked that plan.

"Steal? From where?" he asked, figuring the whole plan would fall through if they couldn't find a stand or something to rob safely in the first place. Straton pointed across the street at what looked like a closed cart. Carefully, the two started to walk towards it, both alert to the tiniest sound incase they were to get caught. Looking it over a bit, Keane guessed it might carry food, but it was shut and locked, so he didn't know how they would get into it in the first place.

"How are we suppose to open it?" the redhead asked quietly, not sure if Straton had realized this when he pointed it out. Whoever the owner was didn't want his stuff getting stolen, and the lock on it was proof. It didn't seem to bother Straton much at all though, who just looked up at him with the ghost of a smile just barely visible on his face in the darkness.

"The same way you saved me, just use your claw to pick the lock," the blonde explained, his voice in a whisper. Quickly Keane stared down at the markings on his hands. That sounded like it would actually work. They wouldn't starve yet, and he just had to use his anima…

"Oh… okay," he said, taking a small breath and trying to concentrate on his anima. He still wasn't even sure how it worked, but sure enough the clicking and elongating on his bones and morphing of his eyes and ears left him back with anima visible, and most importantly, his fingers tipped with long, thin claws.

Exhaling, he opened and closed his fists a few times, still not used to the feeling, before starting to pick away at the lock. He could see better in the dark now too, so it wasn't as hard as he thought it would be. In the end it still ended up taking him almost ten minutes, Straton keeping guard the entire time before the lock finally gave and opened. He sure was lucky it hadn't taken that long to get the blonde out. That might have been all panic that somehow made him go faster though.

Opening the case, the two boys quickly grabbed several of the fruits that were inside each, before closing it again and running off, all without a word. The eastern sky was starting to turn a light grey, and they desperately looked for another place to hide for the day. They were too far away to go back to the docks now.

After another twenty minutes or so they were on the edge of town, finally collapsing behind a large boulder. It definitely wasn't as good of a hiding place as they had before, but it was better then nothing.

Almost immediately the two starting finishing any of the fruit they hadn't eaten while they were looking for a hiding spot. When all of it was gone they were silent for a few more minutes, the sun just barely peaking out over the horizon. Keane had absolutely no clue how they were suppose to survive all the way across the country. They had barely managed to make it one day.

"You should sleep soon," Straton said after a moment, and Keane just nodded, looking around at the mostly barren landscape that surrounded them, the city on the other side of the rock behind them. It was so strange. He'd never left the palace before, let alone the city. Someone in the back of his mind, he knew that once they left, they couldn't ever come back, but he ignored it for now. If he thought about that, there was no telling what other thoughts would decide to rear themselves.

"Right, you too," the redhead said, and Straton nodded. Brushing off the ground below him, Keane tried to get as comfortable as possible, although it still made him as sore as any sword fighting practice ever had. Straton decided to sit up, leaning against the boulder and try to sleep instead.

"Goodnight," Straton said, and Keane just nodded, his head leaning on his arm so that it wouldn't have to be directly against the ground. Really, it wasn't night anymore though, but that didn't matter. They could pretend.

"Yeah, goodnight," he mumbled, closing his eyes, and hoping desperately to actually be able to sleep without any nightmares, unlike before. Because if he did have one, he couldn't just wake up and tell himself it was all just a dream, since it wasn't. It was real, and he still could barely comprehend it, not that he wanted to. Not one bit.

And they've survived their first day. I know you can't starve to death in a day, but Straton and Keane aren't used to this sort of thing, even the more levelheaded Straton is pretty clueless. Well, I hope you liked the chapter, reviews are much appreciated.