Chapter2

        The city of Guygolos, the capital of the Guylos Empire, was brightly lit, contrasting with the inky darkness of the night sky above it. Fiona Alyssi Lynett stood by a large window in an empty conference room of the Guygolos Palace and stared out at the large city. The lights were off, and there was only a little light, coming from the other buildings, seeping through the darkness of the room. The light revealed the look on her face: her eyes were somber and half-lidded, her mouth set in a small frown. The look on her face looked strange and foreign on her, as if she rarely looked that way, or that look just didn’t suit her.

        “Miss Fiona?” a soft voice said behind her.

        Fiona could see Thomas Schubaltz’s reflection on the large window. “What is it, Thomas?” she asked. Her voice was not the kind and cheerful voice she was associated with. Her voice sounded tired and drained, as if all hope had left her.

        “We...” Fiona could see Thomas look down at his feet, “We have found out the last location of where Van last resided.”

        Fiona looked away from Thomas’ reflection and looked down at the city below her. She was silent for a moment, then she spoke, her voice soft, “Where?”

        “In Republican territory, in a small town called Kalen on the Western Continent. He was seen there two days ago.”

        “...I see,” she said, her voice still soft. “Thank you, Thomas.”

        “Miss Fiona...” If Fiona were paying attention, she would have noticed the worry that was so apparent in Thomas’ voice. “I’ll always be there for you if you want to talk.”

        “Hm,” Fiona said, not really listening. She didn’t catch the worried glance Thomas gave her before he silently left the dark conference room.

        Van was sitting on the ground, watching the flames of the campfire that chased away the darkness that surrounded him. The sun had set hours ago, the same time he stopped to make camp. Van continued to watch the fire, his stare turning into a glare, as if the simple fire was the cause of all his problems. It had been six hours since he found Raven lying unconscious on the hot, dry ground. He put the boy in his jeep without question; even if Raven was his former enemy, he would not leave him in the middle of nowhere. Even if he didn’t like doing it. Damn his conscience.

        Van watched Raven sleep silently. The said person was lying in his jeep, the passenger door opened, to accommodate Raven’s feet, which was sticking out of the car. He couldn’t help but wonder what would happen when the man woke up.

        “The little shit would probably try to kill me, even after I helped him,” Van muttered to himself. Although that was very likely to happen, it was in Van’s nature not to leave someone who was in need of help alone. He cursed himself for the hundredth time that night for his weakness.

        He unfurled his bedroll and lay down on it. He pushed the thoughts of Raven out of his mind as sleep took over him. He would just have to deal with the man in the morning.

        Van could vaguely feel something crawling on his forehead. He let it be for a while, as he was still half-asleep. But when he became more aware, he realized what was on his forehead. He swatted at his forehead, knocking the thing off, as he gave a short exclamation of surprise. He could feel his heart race as he saw the roach crawl away from him. He had an irrational fear of roaches ever since he was a child. He heard his parents would put a dead roach in his crib if he misbehaved. Hardly anybody knew about his fear, only the people closest to him knew. He watched the roach and raised an eyebrow as a black boot squashed the insect. Apparently, Raven now knew, too.

        Van’s eyes led a trail up the boot and finally landed on the man’s face, or what he could see of his face. Raven was sitting in Van’s jeep, with his feet on the ground. Raven’s long hair veiled his face as he was looking down.

        For a short moment, Van was embarrassed about that roach incident, but he realized that Raven wasn’t even paying attention to him. Van stared at him in silence for a minute, waiting for the other to do anything, but the man just sat there, silent as stone. So, Van got up, dusted himself off, and walked toward him. Van ended up standing in front of him, his arms crossed across his chest. “Well?” Van said expectantly. “Aren’t you going to say anything?”

        Raven said nothing; he didn’t even acknowledge Van’s presence.

        “Hey!” said Van, trying to get Raven’s attention. He lowered his head, trying to look Raven in the eye, but Raven’s hair covered his face. “I saved your scrawny ass out there,” he pointed in the general direction of where he found Raven. “The least I could get is a ‘thank you.’” Truthfully, Van didn’t expect a “thank you.” He really expected a “fuck you” after what he said, but all he got was silence.

        Van stared at him again, but gave up after a couple of minutes because the other was totally silent, save for the sound of breathing. So, he busied himself by packing up his things. “You know, I could just leave you out here,” he said, while rolling up his bedroll. “You didn’t seem to mind before.”

        Silence.

        The silence was beginning to annoy him. “Fine,” said Van, throwing his things in the back of his jeep and putting on his shades. “If that’s the way you want it.” He entered the jeep and sat in the driver’s seat. He reached out with his right arm, intending to push Raven out of his jeep.

        He slammed the door and drove away. He lit a cigarette and took a long drag of it. “Why on Zi did I do that?” he asked himself, but heard no answer. All he heard was soft breathing, which was reminding him constantly of his weakness.

to be continued...