"Arthur- hey, Arthur ! You gotta wake up-"

The man was awoken by a gentle shaking of his shoulder. He cracked his eyes open to find Rin is the one waking him up. "W-what ?" the older asked, blinking the sleep out of his eyes. "Did something happen ?"

"Well uh- not really. But you were sleeping really long and I was kinda worried..." Rin sheepishly admitted. "I also went out a bit and looked around, guess what ? I found a sign for hikers ! Apparently there is a hiking trail nearby , I thought that maybe if we followed the trail we'd find someone sooner" he added. "Really ? That's great news !" Arthur replied as he quickly stood up.

Rin smiled happily , obviously satisfied with the praise from the older. Arthur stretched his arms and took his coat off the ground. Luckily if was dry. Rin seemed to have put out the fire already, too. This means they were all set to go.

"Let's get going ! I can't wait to find out who I am" his companion pestered. The older couldn't help but laugh along. "What a lively boy" he thought as he answered "alright, let's get moving then ! You lead the way to that hiking trail"

It was a surprisingly short walk to a small village and a police station. Call him old but Arthur was glad they didn't have to walk that much.

"So just to be clear, you two woke up in the forest last night with no idea where you could've come from or who you are ?" an officer asked them both for what felt like the tenth time. Both nodded. He just signed and turned to his colleagues "do any of you know what we should do now ?"

Suddenly a woman spoke up. "Wait a minute- that uniform the boy is wearing is that of some sort of prestigious school. My cousin goes there, maybe we could call the school ?" The other officer agreed easily and the two were left alone yet again.

Rin , positive as always, started up a nice chat about what their lives could have looked like. "Maybe you were like a supermodel !" he joked.

"Aw, thanks kid" Arthur replied to which Rin smiled and happily continued to babble. Although the conversation was rather one sided with Rin mostly proposing one theory after the other, the older didn't mind it at all.

It was quite nice actually, Rin emitted a nice aura and the room seemed to light up whenever he smiled. Their pleasant chit chat was interrupted however when the woman from before informed them that two people had arrived to pick them up.

"huh, that was fast" Arthur thought as he stood up, Rin wanted to do the same when a male officer came into the room. "The two requested to talk with first, alone."

"Why would they want to talk with me ? Aren't they supposed to get both me and Rin ?" the older questioned but the policeman just shrugged. He signed , "you stay here, I'll go talk to these two people." Rin nodded as Arthur left to talk with the strangers.

"How do you think the Vatican will react ? No doubt will they both have to explain what happened" a woman asked. Arthur stopped right as he was about to pass the corner to talk to them. He could see the two people. The woman who just spoke had her back turned to him but he could still make out some of her features.

She had dark pink- almost reddish hair with yellow tips and wore a dark jacket along with a pair boots and what looked like long fishnet socks. The man who she talked to was easier to make out. He must be around Rin's age if Arthur had to guess. He had equally dark hair as his companion and wore glasses along with a long, black coat. He also had some sort of heart-shaped pin with silver, red and blue ?

"What a weird way of dressing" the blond thought, then again, the white coat he woke up in wasn't that much better. He also wondered what this "Vatican" was they talked about. The woman did say she wondered how he would react to the situation. That Vatican guy doesn't seem like a nice fellow considering the hint of worry on the woman's voice.

Just as Arthur was about to step out behind the corner the man spoke up. "Let's just hope they won't see it as proof that Rin should be executed after all"

•

•

•

What ?

The Vatican wants to do what to Rin ?

Arthur could feel shock flooding his chest as he took half a step back to remain undiscovered by the two others. He- he needed some time to clam down and work this new information through his head.

Why would anyone want to hurt Rin, let alone kill him ? He was a child , goddamnit ! Not some criminal that has to be killed. Arthur knew Rin for barely a day by this point but even he could see that his companion was nothing but kind ! What sort of demented people would want to kill him !?

"The Vatican will be our least worry. Arthur must be fuming right now, considering that Rin ruined his mission. Part of me is surprised he hasn't killed him yet" the woman responded. To which the man only signed "I know. As if it wasn't bad enough that most of the order probably wants him dead already. Sometimes I think Rin wants to be killed. Let's just hope he won't get arrested when we arrive"

"I doubt so. He's still a valuable weapon afterall" the man's companion soothed him.

A black hole formed in Arthur's chest as dread rocked through his body. They- They were talking about him now ? Whoever he was before he lost his memories was apparently willing to murdere an innocent child !? Arthur had the swallow the foul tasting bile rising in his throat.

He wasn't- he wasn't evil , was he ? He couldn't be ! Maybe this is all just a misunderstanding ? He knew Rin, the teen was an angle. Arthur would never want to hurt him ! Although... well, for all he knows he could've been a dictator. He can't remember a thing... And if memories make a person then he without them is a completely different person than the Arthur with memories-

"No. This is not the time to question my own moral standing" Arthur thought.

Aside from the fact that he apparently wanted to see Rin dead when he had his memories, there are a bunch of people out there who want the same. The man talked about something called "the order" , so almost whole order wants to kill Rin ? That's bad. Why would they even want to do that ? What use would it have to end the life of a child ? What monsters would decide to kill a teenager who seemed to have only kindness for the world ? Arthur couldn't wrap his head around it.

Not to mention that the woman said Rin was a "valuable weapon".

A weapon.

Is that what they saw him as ?

Was that why Rin had a sword with him when they woke up ? Because those- those people trained him to fight ? To be their attack dog ? Their weapon ?

The man couldn't decide what was more perverted, wanting to murder a child or using a child as a weapon.

Both things are equally unacceptable, Arthur decided. He may not know a lot right now but he at least knows three things for sure now.

1) This "order" they talked about are a bunch of psychos and obviously evil to the core (because let's be honest here, how good can an organization be that views a child as a weapon while also wanting to murdere said innocent child)

2) Whoever this Vatican guy is, Arthur wants to punch him. Preferably so hard he doesn't get up again.

and last but not least ,

3) He would rather die than to allow these people to harm Rin. Arthur will personally burn them to the ground if that's what it takes to make sure they won't hurt the child.

Suddenly the glasses wearing teen addressed him, causing the woman to turn around and look at him, too. "Ah- Paladin Angle, I'm sorry. I didn't notice y-"

Shit, they noticed him. What now ? Arthur couldn't allow them to take Rin and neither did he want to go somewhere with some evil organization. Fighting is off the table, he doesn't have a weapon and he has no idea how strong the enemy is. This means the only option ... is flight.

The teen with the glasses didn't get to finish his sentence before Arthur turned around and ran. He could faintly hear shouts of confusion from the two but he ignored it. Returning to the room he and Rin waited in, he quickly grabbed the teen's arm and took off.

"What- !? HEY ! Where are we going?" The dark haired boy asked as Arthur opened a fire exit and got them both out into the street. Although the child was obviously confused he didn't try to pull away from the older. (A small part of Arthur felt a little emotional at the prospect of Rin trusting him that much, but that wasn't important right now)

"The people who came to pick us up are bad, they want to hurt you and possibly me. We need to get away before they catch us" he quickly explained.

Rin's eyes widened in shock before nodded and followed him into the streets of the small village.