Zero tried to get his bearings, his head slamming against the brick wall. The world was a swimming, blurry mess, and a high-pitched ringing drowned out all other sound. Through the haze, he could see Liane and Ren, standing in the middle of the alley, surrounded by the groaning, broken bodies of the gangsters. His ears were ringing, but he was safe.
Then, he saw Liane and Ren suddenly clutch their chests, their faces contorting in agony. They dropped to their knees, gasping. The gangsters on the ground, the dust motes in the air, the dripping water from a nearby pipe, everything froze, locked in a moment of stopped time.
A shadow fell over the alley. Sebas landed from above, his descent as silent as a shroud. His face was a mask of pure, unadulterated rage. His eyes, normally a calm, steady brown, now glowed with a terrifying golden light, the pupils narrowed to slitted, reptilian lines. Zero could see the fury directed entirely at the two kneeling assassins. He saw Sebas's mouth move, a muffled shout that he couldn't hear over the ringing in his ears.
Sebas moved. He reached down to one of the unconscious gangsters, and with a horrifying, liquid motion, plunged his bare hand into the man's chest. He ripped his arm back out through the man's back, a still-beating heart held in his blood-soaked fingers. He then turned and slammed the gory organ into Ren's face, the impact sending the assassin sprawling.
"Sebas..." Zero's voice was a weak croak, but it was enough. "I'm... I'm okay." The ringing in his ears finally started to fade.
Sebas froze, his hand still raised as if to strike again. He stopped. He turned. He snapped his fingers.
From the rooftops above, a group of small, shadowy figures appeared. The orphan assassins.
"Clean the alley," Sebas commanded, his voice a low, seething growl.
One by one, the kids moved with a swift, silent efficiency, dragging the unconscious and the dead into the shadows. Kai, the bruised boy, knelt before Sebas. "Done, Master."
"Go back to the base," Sebas said, his voice still tight with a barely contained rage.
Kai nodded and, with the others, vanished back up to the rooftops.
Sebas took out a pristine white handkerchief and carefully wrapped it around his blood-soaked hand. He then used his clean hand to help Zero to his feet.
"You know," Zero said, his head still throbbing, "I don't mind a little blood, right?"
"Calm down, Master," Sebas said, his voice still tense. "You just tanked a direct hit from a pair of magical brass knuckles. Two of them, at the same time."
Zero touched his bruised cheek. "They used brass knuckles? It just felt like getting punched, but... not that much."
"Please," Sebas said, his voice laced with frustration. "Your ears must be ringing."
Zero chuckled weakly. "Would you believe me if I said it wasn't their fault?" he asked, nodding towards the still-kneeling Liane and Ren.
"Liane and Ren clearly did not take this mission seriously," Sebas stated, his voice turning to ice. "It doesn't matter if you were not the intended target. I have no use for bugs who cannot even follow a simple order."
"Oh yeah?" Zero asked. "What was your order?"
"To die in your place, if necessary," Sebas replied without a hint of emotion. "And they failed a simple guard mission."
Zero was silent for a moment, then sighed. The ruthless logic was hard to argue with, even if it chilled him to the bone. "It's okay," he said finally. "With my constitution, I'll be fine in a few minutes."
Sebas straightened his suit, the perfect butler once more, though the golden slit in his eyes had yet to fully fade. "I will guard you personally until you are back at the café."
"I thought we had to distance our involvement," Zero protested.
"From afar," Sebas stated. It was not a suggestion.
Zero sighed. "Fine."
…
Deep in the underground dojo of the Hao Pavilion, the orphan assassins returned. They dragged the bodies of the gangsters with them, dumping them unceremoniously on the cold stone floor. Most were still alive, groaning and clutching their heads. Three were dead. One had a hollow, gaping hole where his heart used to be. Misela, who had been waiting for them, saw it and knew instantly it was her Master's handiwork.
"Fufufufu," she purred, a low, dangerous sound as she circled the pile of broken men. "My, my. You all found yourselves in the wrong place, at the wrong time, and in the wrong circumstances, hmm?"
One of the smaller children, a girl, stepped forward and stood over the youngest of the gangsters, who was still unconscious. Their body types were a near-perfect match.
Misela looked from the girl to the gangster. "Fufufu, are you sure about this one?" she asked, a clinical curiosity in her voice. "He's rather ugly."
The child simply nodded, her expression grim and determined.
"Fine," Misela said with a shrug. She snapped her fingers. Another child immediately came forward, presenting her with a steel tray laden with scalpels, needles, and other gleaming medical instruments. Misela picked up a wickedly sharp scalpel, her eyes glinting in the dim light. She knelt beside the unconscious gangster.
"Fufufu," she whispered, her voice a sweet, terrifying melody. "Don't scream, okay, honey?"
She began to cut.
…
Zero arrived back at the café. It was high noon, and the place was filled with the usual lunch crowd of workers from the nearby shops and construction sites. He opened the door, the familiar bell chiming his arrival.
"Ayyy! The boss is here!" one of the workers called out from his table.
Zero, feeling a profound sense of relief to be back in his safe haven, walked behind the bar. "Does Soma do a good job on the drinks while I'm gone?" he asked the room.
"He's alright," one customer replied.
"Meeeh, could be better," another one shot back.
"I mean, it's good, but it's not your good," a third clarified.
"Hey!" Soma's voice boomed from the kitchen. "I'm in charge of your lunch, too! Don't make me 'forget' the salt in your next meal!"
The customers roared with laughter, the easy, comfortable banter of regulars filling the room. Zero laughed along with them, the dark, violent memory of the alley already starting to fade. "Okay, okay," he said, holding up a hand. "You're all still on your break, right? This lunch round is on me."
"YEEEEAAAHHHH!" the workers cheered, raising their glasses.
…
The child, now wearing the face of the young gangster, dropped silently into a dark alleyway behind the Boarman HQ. She took a moment, her small chest heaving, not from exertion, but from preparation. She cleared her throat, testing the voice. "Aahh... aah... aaa." She pitched it higher, adding a tremor of panic, until she had the terrified tone of the boy she was impersonating.
Then, the performance began.
She burst from the alley, screaming, and ran full-tilt towards the entrance of the gang's headquarters, a rundown, fortified tavern. "BOSS! BOSS!" she cried, stumbling through the door.
The grimy common room, filled with the stench of stale beer and unwashed bodies, went silent. The hulking, brutish men, all members of the human-supremacist gang, turned to stare.
"Boss... we got a problem!" she sobbed, running towards the back room where the leader held court. "We're in trouble!"
The boss, a mountain of a man with a wild, boar-like beard, looked up from his table. "Kio? What is it? What happened? Tell me in detail."
The child, playing the part of Kio, collapsed at his feet, her sobs wracking her small frame. "The Sharkfins..." she gasped, her acting a flawless picture of a traumatized survivor. "They set us up."
"What are you talking about?" the boss growled, leaning forward.
"We got a tip," 'Kio' explained, her voice choked with convincing terror. "A good one. A demon weapons smuggler, moving a big shipment through the old cannery district. It was a perfect chance to crack some Fiendscum heads and take their gear." She looked up, her borrowed eyes wide with horror. "But it was a trap, boss! It wasn't demons!"
"Then what was it?"
"We got there," she continued, her voice dropping to a conspiratorial, frightened whisper, "and we saw them... figures in dark cloaks, with horns. We moved in, ready to strike. But when we ambushed them... they weren't demons." Her voice broke. "They were Sharkfins, boss! Wearing cheap, glued-on horns and black cloaks, mocking us! They laughed as they took their hoods off. They wanted us to think we were hitting demons!"
The boss's knuckles turned white as he gripped the edge of the table. The insult of using their most hated enemy's appearance as a disguise was a profound one.
"'Kio' wasn't finished. She delivered the final, venomous blow. "They overwhelmed us. They were waiting. They took some of us alive." Her voice dropped to a barely audible, broken whisper. "Boss... they took your brother. Your little brother, Fang."
The air in the room went cold.
"I could hear him... screaming," she sobbed, burying her face in her hands. "They were torturing him. Asking him about you, boss... about our routes, our safehouses... They were trying to make him talk."
A low, guttural growl began to build in the boss's chest. The calculated rage of a gang leader was gone, replaced by the pure, animalistic fury of a protective older brother.
He stood, his chair screeching backward. He swept a half-empty bottle of whiskey off his desk, sending it shattering against the far wall.
"GATHER THE MEN!" he roared, his voice a thunderclap of pure, unrestrained rage that shook the entire building. "ALL OF THEM! NOW!"
He kicked the remains of his chair aside, his eyes blazing with a murderous fire.
"Tonight's menu," he snarled to the entire room, "is sharkfin soup."
…
Later that night, the five brothers were gathered in the Animus Hub. The mood was tense.
"Why didn't you tell me?" Erwin said, his voice tight with a commander's frustration. "You could have contacted me. They would have let you through the blockade if you had just sent a message through the Hub."
Zero sighed, a weary, defeated sound. "Look, I'm okay. I have the body of an Archdemon. I heal fast."
"It's not about that," Soma countered, his arms crossed.
"It's lucky those gangsters didn't have any holy weapons," Legolas added, his voice a low murmur.
"How would a low-level street gang get their hands on a holy weapon?" Zero shot back.
"We don't know!" Soma said, his voice rising. "That's the point! That's why you have to be careful!"
"It doesn't matter if you can heal in seconds," Erwin said, his voice taking on the tone of a dressing-down. "It doesn't justify you running around alone and not contacting us when you're in danger. If Sebas hadn't taken the initiative to track Liane and Ren on his own, we wouldn't have known what had happened to you until they gave their report hours later."
"I WANTED TO FEND FOR MYSELF!"
Zero's sudden, raw shout silenced them all. The concerned, frustrated vibe in the Hub vanished, replaced by a stunned, dawning realization.
"You are me," Zero said, his voice now a low, trembling whisper. "All of you are me. But every time I look at myself, I don't see any of you in me." He looked at them, his eyes filled with a pain they had never seen before. "I've been cooped up in that café ever since the Viper attack. I've never taken the initiative, because I'm scared. I can handle the insults. Call me tainted, Shitspawn, Hornfuck, Filthcunt... I don't care. In the end, I know that isn't me. But when I see all of you... all I see is my own inadequacy. I'm a loser, hiding behind a veiled hat so the world can't judge me. I've been stepping on shit my entire past life, and I never lost myself because there was no one else to compare myself to. But now..." He broke down, his face dropping into his hands, his fingers running through his horns. "...all of you are me," he muttered over and over.
They were all too stunned to speak. Erwin, the ever-capable commander, was at a complete loss in the face of such raw emotion. Sebas, the stoic butler, couldn't truly comprehend the feeling of inadequacy. And Soma, for the first time, didn't know how to say what he wanted to say.
Legolas nodded, a silent signal to the others. One by one, Sebas, Erwin, and Soma's forms dissolved, leaving the Hub.
Legolas walked closer and manifested a chair beside the broken form of Zero. "Recognizing your fears," he said softly, "is the first step to outgrowing them." He looked at Zero. "You're an Archdemon. A feared and powerful race. That's what Cecil told us, right? But inside... whatever your shell is... you're human."
He looked up and, with a wave of his hand, shifted the endless void of the Hub's sky. It swirled with vibrant greens, purples, and blues, becoming a perfect, breathtaking aurora borealis. As they sat and watched the celestial lights, he continued. "It does feel weird, doesn't it? To have someone by your side when all our life, we just bounced from one foster home to another."
He looked at Zero, who was still silent. A gentle smile touched Legolas's lips. "Remember that time," he said, nudging him, "when we went to see The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring in the theater? You got so hyped up to watch the movie that you threw up in the parking lot, right into a pile of snow." He laughed, a soft, clear sound. "And remember when we left, there was a perfect imprint of a person who had fallen face-first into it? Hahahaha! Someone out there, some unlucky bastard, fell into your vomit. Remember how you said that was the first time you felt like the universe's bad luck wasn't just aimed at you?"
Legolas's smile softened. "You're not inadequate, Zero," he said. "You're evolving. Break down if you need to. Tears water the seeds of growth. Then, rise, horns held high, and fend for yourself. Not out of anger, but out of a love for the one-of-a-kind soul that you are."
Legolas then left the Hub.
Zero slowly looked up. The aurora borealis was truly beautiful, especially when seen through the gentle rain.
**A/N**
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**A/N**