Sometime later, Zaire was handcuffed and sitting on the floor, facing the wall.
Behind him, the 5 were discussing what to do
"he told us to leave him alone so.."
"what if he breaks out of those chains?"
"what did he think to make you think he can break those chains..? these chains are built to handle s ranks"
serena turned her head, looking at kevin
elijah stared at the figure quietly sitting against the wall
"do you think he needs to eat..?"
"what kind of question is that..?"
azreal stood up after giving a slight knock at elijah's head
"do you have any specific allergies?"
"…"
"hello?"
"?"
zaire turned his head to look up at azreal
"do you have any specific allergies?"
"no not really"
"… alright"
azreal grabbed some porridge and heated it up before placing it next to zaire, who looked up at him with a puzzled expression
"…?"
"what are you looking at me for..? eat it"
zaire picked up the spoon and took a bite out of the porridge
azreal walked away from him, back to the group
"so, have the four of you finished deciding what to do?"
"i think we should just leave him in the living room for now. It's not like he has done anything bad to us and we need to focus on the mission"
serena replied to azreal
"for now we should just rest, we'll start looking around the village tomorrow"
***
I stared at the five people chatting as i fiddled around with the handcuffs
'It doesn't restrict everything'
That made sense, it was a handcuff specifically made to make sure mana could not transfer to the hands, I don't know why they didn't cuff my legs too.
i placed a bit of divinity in my eye and looked around the room, the five figures disappeared from my view,
the room becoming vacent. and a few muscled figures appeared instead , sitting around the couch, laughing and talking something about experiments
'is this what they were investigating?'
***
zaire felt a hand pat his shoulder.
When he closed his eyes and reopened them again, he was facing the wall and he looked back.
The hero was behind him and the sun that was previously outside the window had become a crescent shaped moon.
"do you need something?"
"you've been staring at the wall and not moving for the past hour, you havent reaponded to our calls either"
"my apologies, i was lost in thought"
"…"
elijah sighed, sitting down next to zaire
They both sat in silence for about a minute
"…so… do you need something?"
"i want to get to know you more."
"why?"
"Do i need a reason?"
Elijah had a gentle smile on his face, a fitting expression for a hero.
"… mhm, sure"
zaire stred at elijah's face, whom's facial expressions seemed exaggerated to him
"great! so.. how old are you?"
"..17?"
"you dont sound confident in your answer…"
"i just got confused for a moment."
"then.. do you have a surname? or is it just zaire?"
"…its just zaire"
"ah…"
the two sat in akward silence once again
Truthfully, elijah had alot to ask
How did he know their names?
why did he come find them?
Why were his eyes glowing earlier?
why did Mr farreal seem to know him?
but…
the five stared at mr farreal from the phone
"handcuff him and leave him there.. dont interact with him or even talk to him.."
"pardon me mr farreal.. but you seem to know this person, why do you not want to telll us who he is and even advise we stay away?"
salirse asked as she stood forward
Mr farreal simply kept silent before sighing
"he is… something above your league"
'something..?'
Elijah wanted to ask mr farreal what he meant by "something above their league" but held back due to mr farreal's grave expression
he was pulled out of his thoughts by a calm voice
"why don't i ask you a few questions too?"
elijah looked to his left, at the boy whose ivory hair seemed to glow in the presence of the moon, his pale skin that seemed even paler, those navy blue eyes that seemed to be staring beyond him
He was enchanted by the sight of him, but soon noticed the boy's intense gaze
He immediately tried go remember what zaire had asked him earlier, and quickly mumbled out
"a-ah..? sorry.. yea you can ask me questions too"
"do you have any goals?"
"goals..?"
Elijah met zaire's gaze before looking out at the sky.
'a goal…'
He didnt have one.
Elijah wasn't one who had alot of aspirations, while others were always heading torwards a new goal, he was always focused on one thing, survival.
All he wanted was to have a happy life with his friends, to see them smile, to see them laugh, to always be able to have a full stomach, to not be fighting just to live another day.
He would do anything for this wish.
"…i… want to live happily with my friends"
"…live happily?"
"y-yea…"
saying it aloud made him feel abit embarassed, why was he sharing this with a stranger?
"do you genuinely think it is a wish that is fulfillable?"
"…huh?"
"Just because the world seems more civilised doesn't mean it'll be peaceful forever"
Elijah stared at zaire, who seemed to be cursing the fall of the entire world,that the peace people were familar with today would soon become a past memory
"you.. seem awfully pessimistic"
"really? i'm just being honest"
elijah stared at the boy's pretty face, not knowing what to say
A calm voice broke the silence
"well, that probably won't happen anytime soon. Say, have you thought about my suggestion from earlier?"
"what suggestion?"
"letting me be your comrade!"
zaire put on a cheerful expression that made elijah feel uncomfortable
"ah..well.. i dont know you well enough. i only just met you today.."
"then lets be friends!"
zaire reached out to elijah with his hand
looking at his hand, elijah noticing a cut
"ah your skin.."
"oh this? its nothing.."
zaire quickly hid his hand and reached his other hand out
"lets be friends then! this hand shake will be the start of our friendship"
"…"
elijah sighed slightly before shaking zaire's hands
"lets.. be friends then"
In the back of his mind, elijah had a thought.
Didnt mr farreal tell him not to get close to this guy?