Hey everyone. Sorry for taking so long again, end of the year frantically trying to graduate and such. Everything's officially done now though, so I have all the time to write that I want.

Oh, but I did want to say before I started, I've started planning out the sequel for this story. It's going to be called Minor Adjustments and I've got about three major 'arcs' already in my head. One which involves the long awaited Husky, and another one I'm really excited for with Straton. Of course, we still have a bit to go in this first, but I'd just thought I'd let you all have a bit of a heads up for what's to come.

Chapter 28 - Of Safety and Strangers

Straton wasn't quite able to place his surroundings, still in a very groggy state of half-sleep, having yet to even open his eyes. It was hot, but it was almost always hot in Sailand during the day. This heat felt thicker though, almost muggy, as if he was underneath a very dense blanket. Just barely the broken sound of a few voices reached the dazed child.

"A couple of…. under the tarp…. this morning…." He couldn't place the voice, and very quickly everything else started to fall into place as his mind began to clear from the fog of sleep.

He and Keane were stowing away on one of the carts. It was already day again too. They must have fallen asleep.

The blond boy's eyes shot open as the scattered words he'd overheard finally registered in his head. He couldn't see anything under the thick tarp, but he could tell that it was much brighter outside than when they'd first crawled in. How long had they been there? Chances are someone had already found them, but for some reason didn't immediately wake them up. He didn't dare to move though, too afraid of drawing even more attention to them then there might already be.

He didn't want to get caught again. He did not want to be separated from Keane again.

The back of the cart jolted slightly, and Straton heard the sound of something trying to maneuver its way around the piles of goods to them. Without a word he started shaking the redhead still sleeping soundly next to him, needing to wake him up somehow but still too afraid to make any noise.

Keane's eyes opened about half a second before the tarp was lifted off of them, and the expression of confusion about what was going on that swept over his face was very apparent. Straton couldn't even attempt to explain what was happening, instead just clinging to Keane's arm and sit frozen, staring up at the figure now leaning over the two. He was torn between staying where he was and seeing what happened, or throwing the nearest possible item at her and attempting to run away.

The second Keane managed to focus on the person staring down at them realization hit and his eyes widened to the size of dinner plates. He instantly tensed, but before the redhead could think to activate his anima the woman started speaking, looking the two clearly terrified boys over carefully.

"Hey there, just relax. We're not gonna hurt you," the woman said, holding her hands up slightly as if to prove that fact. She looked to be maybe in her late twenties, and was quite tan from probably working out in the sun.

Keane glanced over to Straton very quickly, no where near close to trusting this person enough to look away for more than a few second. Reluctantly though, the redhead nodded, deciding on the spot that it would be safer to try to get out of this with as little fighting or letting anyone find out he's an anima as possible. He could feel Straton's grip on his arm ease up slightly at his cue, and the woman actually let out a sigh of relief at seeing the two relax ever so slightly.

"Oh good," she said, pushing a stray strand of brown hair out of her face before continuing. "Now, where in the world did you two come from?" she asked.

The two brothers glanced at each other for a moment, neither saying anything at first. They didn't know if it would be better to try to lie, and hope they wouldn't end up getting caught slipping up again like last time, or tell a half-truth and pray that no one made the right connections. The brunette quickly picked up on their hesitation though, offering the boys a smile.

"Ah, I see; secrets. That's fine. How about you two just tell me your names instead," she offered, clearly surprising them both. It was taking quite a bit for the two of them to accept that not everyone they met was going to instantly go in for the kill.

"I-I'm Straton, and this is-" the blond started quietly, still unsure of whether or not to use their real names. His really wasn't that big of an issue. No one would ever recognize him, let alone by name. Before he could decide for himself on what to call Keane though, the redhead cut him off.

"Kaveh," he said simply. The woman just nodded, not appearing fazed by the way that he'd just cut the other boy off. It wasn't that he didn't trust Straton to make the right decision for situations like this, but he didn't even know what that was at the moment. It would be better to just be safe than sorry though. He could go by his real name once they made it to Astaria. They weren't going to mess up again. Not after what happened the last time, that was for sure.

"I'm Almas, now, why don't we get out of this cramped space so that it's a bit easier to breath," the woman, Almas, suggested. A bit reluctantly the two boys stood and followed her out of the cart. At the very least, they had to admit that this wasn't going as horribly as it could be.

That didn't stop the brothers from flinching once they were back on the ground and the woman started yelling over to a tall man treating one of the horses over at another cart.

"Hey boss! Got the little runaways I told you about!" Keane instantly went on alert again, not taking his eyes from the man that was now walking towards them. He still wanted to try to get through this without any sort of major conflicts, but there was no way he was about to rule out anything.

Looking him over, he didn't seem to be particularly angry about having found them hiding in one of his carts though. At least, he assumed they were his, seeing as Almas had called him boss just now.

"So you have. Now, just what do you two boys think you're doing?" the man asked, not appearing to be bothered to introduce himself to them. He sounded a bit amused though, which they guessed was a better reaction than angry. Keane wasn't entirely sure what to say though, when what the brunette woman had said a moment ago clicked in his head. They thought they were runaways. He guessed they were kind of right, in a way, but not how they probably thought.

"We were trying to get to the next town east," the redhead started a bit hesitantly, keeping his head tilted down but still managing to stare up at the man in front of him. "But we didn't have enough money to pay someone to take us… and we couldn't walk the distance either," he finished. Really, so far everything he'd said was the truth. He could see Straton nod slightly out of the corner of his eye. The dark haired man listening still didn't seem too concerned by their story, but nodded all the same.

He probably thought that he just had to figure out when they'd managed to hop onto his cart and then he could send them back home. Keane wished it was that simple.

"Right, now why couldn't you two walk?" he asked. The redhead couldn't help but glance down at the ground again, still feeling very annoyed with himself over the injury Kazana had managed to land on him. Even though he knew he was lucky to have gotten out of that fight with only the scratch on his leg. It was just hard to prove that he was strong enough to take care of both of them when he was limping around and needed to constantly take breaks because of the pain.

"We were attacked… Straton's shoulder was cut really bad, and he messed up my leg…" he mumbled, only looking back up at the two adults once he finished. The shock was clear on both their faces, and they seemed to only just now notice the makeshift bandages partially hidden by their clothes.

"Are you two okay? Come over here, sit down," Almas commanded, pulling the two away from the man to sit on the back of one of the open carts. It was much easier to get onto than one that was closed. It clearly surprised both of them, who could only follow her and do as told while they tried to figure out just what in the world was going on.

"We're fine," Straton said once he was seated, pulling away from the woman ever so slightly as she tried to get a better look at his haphazardly bandaged shoulder. "It happened a few days ago," he finished, still fidgeting a bit.

"Who attacked you?" the man asked, having followed them over to where Almas had dragged the two .

Keane couldn't help but find himself frozen for a moment, unsure of how to answer. He didn't know how these people felt about +animas… of course, as long as they didn't know he was one, he guessed it really didn't matter one way or the other.

He half expected Straton to answer while he hesitated. When he glanced over though, he saw that the blond boy was staring at the ground, looking like he wasn't about to say a word.

He… he guessed Straton didn't want to offend him or something if he didn't want to let anyone know it was a +anima. But he didn't see why he would be. Kazana had tried to kill them, there wasn't any reason for him to feel the least bit loyal or defensive for any of that group. Sure, Kazana had said that whole thing about +anima needing to stick together, but that went out the window the second he decided that it'd be fine to attack his little brother because he wasn't one.

"A +anima," he said at last. "Like Strat said though, that was days ago. He's long gone by now. I just… haven't been able to walk as fast as I'd like to, so we decided to hitch a ride…" Keane finished. The two adults nodded. By now Almas had stopped trying to get a better look at Straton's shoulder and had instead taken Keane's shoe off, grimacing slightly as the dirty and red stained strips that was acting as a bandage.

"Just because it was a while ago doesn't mean you couldn't use some help, especially if you're still having trouble walking. Rasul, could you go get me some fresh bandages, the only thing these rags look like they'll do is make it worse," Almas said, and the man nodded, heading off around the cart to get what she'd asked for. The brunette quickly unwrapped Keane's leg as she waited.

"Where are your parents?" she asked, frowning slightly as she got a good look at the slash. It wasn't bleeding anymore, and as far as Keane could tell didn't look infected or anything like that, but he guessed it was probably still a pretty bad sight to see on a kid.

"Gone…" the redhead said quietly, not about to go into details, even if he could. The woman didn't look like she was going to press him, instead just sighing softly before nodding, turning her attention towards Straton next.

"And yours?" she asked, surprising both boys.

"I- What? I mean, we're brothers," the blond said, stumbling over his words slightly. Almas was clearly taken a bit off guard by this, looking between both boys as if trying to find sort of resemblance to prove what they said.

The two realized that she most likely wouldn't see many. Not when comparing Keane's bright, curly red hair and deep blue eyes to Straton's dull dirty blond hair and brown eyes. Sure, they'd both been pretty pale when they'd left the palace, but as it was now, most of Keane's skin that wasn't burned had stayed the same, only now his face and arms were covered in freckles, while Straton had just burned before turning a few shades darker.

"O-Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't, well, you two just don't…" she trailed off, and Keane couldn't help but nod, easily able to tell what she was getting at.

"Yeah, we know," he said, glancing over once Rasul came back into view. The black haired man handed the new bandages to Almas, also setting down a small bucket of water and washcloth next to her. The brunette woman simply picked up the cloth, dipping it in the water before gently running it over the healing cut.

"What are you going to do with us?" Straton asked after a moment, breaking the silence. The brown haired woman paused slightly, having already started to rewrap Keane's cut with the clean bandages. Before she was able to answer though Rasul started speaking instead.

"We can't just leave a couple of hurt kids wondering around all alone. Where are your parents?" he asked. Almas answered before either boy got a chance to, however.

"Gone," she said simply, repeating exactly what the redhead had said earlier.

"Both of theirs?" the man asked, although he didn't sound too shocked by this, more disappointed or sad than anything. She nodded though, and neither Keane nor Straton bothered to try to explain, figuring correctly that she was about to.

"Brothers," was all she said, finishing up with Keane's leg before turning back over to the blond. Now it was Rasul who looked over at the two in surprise, and the older boy sighed before nodding. He figured they'd probably have to get used to that.

"We know, you wouldn't think," was all he said, and reluctantly the man nodded. It appeared that he didn't fully believe their story, but at the very least didn't seem like he was going to question it for now.

So what if they were only half brothers? There wasn't any reason they would need to point that out to anyone. As far as either of them were concerned, that really didn't matter by this point.

"We'll just have to see what we can do then, won't we?" the older man said with a sigh. Neither boy answered him, not really sure what it was that they could do. Sure, they were nice enough to help them now, but that didn't mean that they could stick around or trust them too much at all. At the moment, they thought they were just a couple of injured orphaned children. If that changed though, who knows how their opinions would shift.

Neither of them could quite get over the fact yet that the last person who'd helped them had also tried to kill them the second he found out the truth. Sure, he'd ended up changing his mind for who knows what reason, but that didn't make the rest of the fight or death threats any less real in their minds.

Almas was cleaning Straton's cuts now. It'd taken a bit longer than Keane's had, since the blond had to pull the bag strap around his head so that it was no longer in the way so that he could take off his shirt as well. Once she was finished though he quickly put it back on, although had taken to simply holding the bag in his lap instead.

"Is that all you two have?" the woman asked, motioning to the slightly worn sack now. Straton nodded, although he didn't make any move to open it or hand it over to her.

"Yeah," he mumbled, mind already appearing like it was elsewhere. Keane quickly decided to speak instead, since Straton was probably busy figuring out what their next best move would be.

"We've survived on less, it's fine," he reassured, although it didn't seem to ease the adults minds at all. Well, while the first part was true, it still probably wasn't all that fine. They were so lucky they hadn't died yet, and that was only just now starting to sink into the redhead.

"Where are you two trying to go?" Rasul asked, changing the subject. Once again, both boys were silent as they thought about how they could possibly explain that without raising suspicion. When they were with the other +anima, Astaria made sense as a destination, but now? What could possibly push a couple of orphans to risk their lives in order to go somewhere as far off as that?

"J-just… as far east as we can get…" Keane answered at last, not looking at either adult as he did. No one spoke for a moment, until finally Rasul sighed once again, figuring that he probably wasn't going to get much more of an explanation than that.

"Almas, go find something for them to eat, will you?" he asked, and the woman just nodded before standing back up and hurrying away. "Don't worry, you two are safe now." Keane didn't look at him, instead glaring off towards the desert.

"We don't even know you," the redhead grumbled. It didn't appear to faze the older man much, but it managed to catch Straton's attention.

"Kaveh…" he cut in quietly, making sure to use the name Keane had introduced himself as. It didn't seem like he managed to convince the redhead much though, who just turned towards Rasul, distrust still clear in his eyes.

"The last person who said they'd help tried to kill us," he almost growled. The tall man frowned, but didn't look like he blamed them for not immediately trusting him.

"Yes, but you said that was a +anima," he said. Despite himself, Straton couldn't help but cringe slightly at the implication, and Keane found himself glaring even harder. So these people didn't exactly think very highly of +anima. It was a good thing that he'd decided to keep from pulling out his anima when Almas first found them.

It seemed that every time they found someone who it looked like they could trust, there was some glaring flaw that they couldn't ignore. Kazana and his group had seemed nice enough, but not only had they been so weary of non-animas that they didn't know how to act around Straton, there was that whole situation with Kazana attacking them. They had both genuinely liked Basim, and he'd tried to help them the best he could, but only after splitting them up and selling Keane as a slave.

He never should have even trusted his own father. It was under his ruling that the country had gotten to such a state, and Keane had never even known.

"That doesn't change anything," the redhead declared, and reluctantly the older man nodded. It was clear that he didn't quite agree with them, but wasn't planning on fighting with the two anymore.

"Well, we're not going to try to hurt you, but I can't force you to trust me either. You yourselves said that you're in no condition to be running around right now though, so just take what you can and allow yourselves a bit of rest, alright?" Rasul said. After a moment Keane nodded. The black haired man offered the two a small smile before starting over to another one of the carts, probably to finish up whatever it was he had been doing before Almas had called him over because of them.

Reluctantly Keane had to admit that was probably the best thing they could do for now. They needed to take every chance they could for a safer or easier way east, and right now this was one. As long as no one found out he was a +anima, they really would be safe for the moment.

That was really all they could ask for anymore.

And end of chapter. Poor boys, even when things go right for them it still don't seem to be good. Keane is really starting to not trust the world around him anymore. And yes, I do have a lot of fun making even the good characters have some horribly bad flaws or habits.

Anyway, I hope you liked the chapter, and as always please review.