It was oddly quiet. The only sounds were that of the train rumbling as it traveled on the tracks. Rin was occupied with watching the landscape go by through a small window in the wagon, leaving Arthur alone with his thoughts.

This whole situation was a mess. Now there was apparently a whole organization that wanted to either murder Rin or weaponize him. What kind of sick people would do that to a teenager !?

Arthur knew deep down that it was a little irrational to care so deeply about a child he just met and barely even knows, but for the love of god he is not some monster who'd just let an innocent kid be hurt like that. Not to mention that the two members of the organization from before talked as if they knew Arthur. He would have to run from them even if Rin wasn't involved. The blonde wanted to have nothing to do with these creeps , if they are willing to hurt someone as young as Rin , then what would they do to someone like Arthur ? Surely nothing good.

He will not allow them to hurt Rin or himself , Arthur would rather die than to let that happen. He and Rin will probably have to stay moving and keep themselves hidden if they want to escape these people which could be hard, but the blonde will manage. Best case would be to leave the country all together, but that was easier said than done.

They had no money and no real plan on what to do other than to get away from the order chasing them. Not to mention that they couldn't even trust anyone with this stupid situation 'cause Arthur didn't how big this "order" was and he couldn't risk them finding Rin and him.

He gritted is teeth and let out a deep sigh. This really couldn't get any worse, can it ? And Arthur isn't even considering that he still had no real idea who he even was or who Rin was. It was as if the whole universe was against them.

The blonde was pulled out of his thoughts by the voice of his companion "hey Arthur , I have a request..." The older looked into the direction the voice came from. Rin had sat himself besides Arthur, knees pulled to his chest with his arms resting on them. He looked a little shy as he talked to Arthur. Somehow Rin managed to look even younger. The older didn't think his companion would manage be able to manage that. "Sure kid , ask away and I'll see what I can do" the blonde replied without a second thought.

"It's nothing big- promise" Rin begann, obviously not wanting to risk to cross a line or burden the other too much. "But- uh... those people we ran away from... do- do you know who they were ? Are they really that evil ? You mentioned them being bad and wanting to hurt us... is that why we ran away from them ?"

Arthur should've known the question would come up sooner or later. Part of his however still had hoped he could avoid the topic altogether. "Yes." Arthur begann "those people are evil. They wanted to either murder or weaponize you."

The teen looked down and it broke Arthur's heart to see his companion like this. He couldn't pinpoint the exact emotion Rin's face displayed, it looked like a mix of sadness and something else. No matter what it was, Arthur didn't like it.

"I'll protect you." he added "I won't allow these people to hurt you, promise." The black haired teen looked up to him and suddenly asked "am- am I a bad person ? Is that why they want me dead ? Did I do something wrong ?"

The heart of the blonde might just have shattered into a thousands pieces. "Ofcourse would he search the fault in himself. He's far too kindhearted to assume that someone else would be in the wrong here" he thought.

"No. No , you aren't." Arthur replied sternly, looking into the eyes of his companion. "You are a great kid. You are in no way, shape or form at fault. You do not deserve what they want to do to you. Don't ever think that." he added, almost in a commanding sort of way. That seemed to have cheered up the kid at least a little , although he was still sitting with his knees pulled to his chest.

Arthur sighed before asking "where'd you even get the idea that you are the reason these people want to hurt you ?" Rin just continued to look at the ground "I- I don't know... I mean I have this gut feeling that some people have something against me so I thought that maybe I was like... evil before waking up here..."

The older laid his hand on the teens back and began to rub circles on it in an attempt to sooth him. "You're really kind, you know that ? You helped me a lot even if you don't know me... I'm glad you're here with me." Rin suddenly told him. "Thanks kid. You're pretty great, too" Arthur replied.

There were a few seconds of comfortable silence between them, Arthur's hand still rested on Rin's back. He could feel the child's breathing evening out and the tension leaving Rin's body.

"Everything was pretty stressful for him and it's probably early to mid afternoon anyway, I'll just let him nap a bit" the older thought and let his head fall back to rest on the wall of the wagon. A nap for himself didn't sound too bad right now, Rin surely wouldn't mind.

It'd also keep him from having to think about the order chasing them or the possibility of him being a member of it. He glanced at his companion who is already asleep- although with his eyes open.

Arthur had to chuckle. Rin really was an unique kid, wasn't he ? The teen also was as endearing as he was unique. The blonde couldn't wrap his head around how anyone would want to harm Rin. This Vatican guy that the two people who they had to flee from talked about probably was a psychopath or something. Atleast it was more likely than that he wasn't.

Arthur took a deep breath, closed his eyes and started to drift off to sleep.

xXx

"We searched the surroundings of the village the paladin and the spawn of Satan appeared in and we managed to find the paladin's weapon. Police reports state that the two had no recollection of any of their past." the exorcist states, handing Lighting the file in which the little information they had on the case was compiled in. "You mentioned that they fled ? Do we know where ?" the arc knight questioned, the answer he received was "no".

Bon stood behind his teacher as the exchange happened, he tuned most of it out anyways. Something in his stomach twisted at the prospect that Rin, one of his dearest comrades and friends, had currently no idea who he was. Infact, to Rin the exwires don't even exist right now.

The entier class was worried sick, Yukio especially. He could understand his teacher, Rin is his brother afterall. Bon would be equally worried if Konekomaru or Shima went missing like that.

He must've been pretty deep in thoughts, because the next thing he really paid attention too was Lighting telling him something he only catched half of.

"Uh- I'm sorry, could you repeat that ?" He asked, his teacher laughed in reply. "Worried 'bout your friend ?" He asked. Bon nodded to which the older of the two replied "Don't worry, we'll get them back. Pack everything you need, we'll pay a visit to the village they were found in tomorrow"