Silas sat in his apartment, counting out his money. The week had been a long one, and he was extremely tired. After getting out of the long hours of the local bars, he was more than ready to flop on his creaky bed and pass out. Sadly, though, the week wasn't exactly over for him.
"You shouldn't have volunteered," Aarav grumbled, yawning. The yawn wasn't from sleep – in fact, he had just woken up, having slept through Silas' work shift. "Maybe you'd be sleeping now, instead of having to leave the house again."
"Doesn't matter now," Silas muttered, rubbing the sleep form his eyes. He stretched, grunting as he looked back at the money. "Alright… we have enough for this halved fee, plus a little bit extra." He glanced at the old clock that hung on the wall. He bit his cheek. They had to give the fee in just under an hour… there were hundreds of people in the apartment. He'd better start now, or else they'd be late.
And from Samuel's description of this new landlord… late was not something Silas wanted to be.
Silas suppressed another yawn as he finished collecting the final fees. The movement helped him be awake, but he was still longing for his bed.
he frowned as his mind moved away from his bed. Instead, it moved to the teary eyes of the few that couldn't turn in the entire fee. The fee, even though it was half, was short noticed, and still quite large for the poor people of Sino city.
Now Silas was back in his apartment to grab his own money. It counted it for what felt like the fiftieth time. Three couldn't pay a fourth… one couldn't pay a half…. He chewed his lip as he considered this information. Aarav tensed at the action. He couldn't be considering… no, that would be ridiculous.
"What if…," Silas started slowly. 'Fuck' was the only thought that entered Aarav's mind. "What if… we pay the fee for the others?"
Aarav stared at Silas for a long time in shocked silence. He almost didn't believe his ears; then he remembered that this was Silas he was talking to. He was still quiet, unsure how to respond to Silas' outrageous suggestion.
"You're insane," he finally stuttered out. Silas frowned a bit, but the determination didn't leave his eyes. "Silas, we don't have the money for that!"
"Yes we do!" Silas said quickly.
"No we don't! Not enough to pay for all of them and for us! They'll kill you if you don't pay them – you know that, don't you, Silas?"
"Of course I—" Silas began. Aarav cut him off, stepping closer. He placed his hands on Silas' shoulders, ensuring he had Silas' full attention, staring into his eyes.
"Then why," he said slowly, trying to contain his anger – it didn't last long, though. "Pray tell… why the fuck are you considering this?"
Silas winced at the harsh tone in Aarav's voice, but he didn't back down.
"If I don't do this, these innocent people will get hurt."
"So what? What does it matter if – if five people get hurt, huh? That's not worth a whole damn life!"
"You don't understand!" Silas said, pushing Aarav's hands off of him. "They may hurt them too bad! They may – they may hurt them so bad they can't work for money, can't take care of their family! Then its five families at risk, not five injuries! That's basically death, Aarav. Its just slower… more painful."
Aarav hesitated as he looked into Silas' eyes. There was hurt in them. As clear as the sun in the sky.
"I can't let that happen, Aar. I won't."
"And what about you, Si? What'll happen if you die – if – if you get hurt?"
"I'll just have to pray they'll go easy on me."
"Pray, Silas? To what god are you praying to, exactly?" Aarav's voice seemed softer. It was still clear he was bitterly against this, though. He knew there was no stopping Silas at this point. "Do you see any gods around here?"
Silas gave a soft smile. It was a sad smile, Aarav knew. "Things will work out, Aar. I know they will."
Silas ran down the street, cursing himself silently. He hadn't realized he was half an hour late already. Shed, shed, his mind repeated. One of the locals had mentioned to him that the person that collected the money was in a shed. Where on earth would that shed be? The park, perhaps? He hoped that was right – he couldn't risk more time now.
He felt a wave of relief wash over him as he saw a small shed that sat on the edge of the park. He hoped desperately that this wasn't some random shed. Coming to a stop in front of it, panting, he heard talking on the inside. So, this was the correct shed! Or… perhaps it was a drug deal? He shook the thought from his head quickly.
Silas went to knock, but Aarav grabbed his arm, stopping him. Silas glanced at him before being turned fully. Quickly, Aarav fixed up his hair, making sure he looked, at the very least, presentable. There was a slight pause as Aarav studied Silas.
"Get yer ass in here! Yer so fuckin late!" someone inside the shed shouted. Aarav frowned, but nodded, telling Silas he was good to go. Turning again, Silas pushed the door open. He froze, hearing his heart in his ears as he saw the three people in the room.
The first person Silas noticed was the man in the middle. He looked just about a copy of all the other mobster in the town; white dress shirt, black suspenders, and slicked back hair. He was sitting behind a small desk. Silas locked eyes with disgusted, dark green eyes, a cigar propped in the man's eyes.
"Yer late," he growled again.
"I… I'm sorry," Silas muttered, his eyes flicking to the right.
To the right of the man stood another man, arms behind his back. He seemed more well-kept than the other. His clothing seemed expensive; a grey dress shirt with a black suit vest over the top. He had a slightly thin, maroon-colored tie around his neck.
Silas studied the man a moment longer. Their eyes were a reddish-brown color. Eyes… no, Silas realized. Not eyes. It was only one. The other was a milky white. He hesitated, noticing the scar that ran through it. He seemed young – older than Silas, perhaps, but still quite young.
This man seemed to realize he was staring at his eye, quickly shaking his head a little. His white hair fell over it, almost completely concealing the wound. Quickly, Silas looked away, feeling embarrassed for insulting the man.
"Sorry ain't gonna cut it," the middle man growled angrily. Silas barely heard him, however; his attention had turned to the third and final man in the room. And his heart sank.
The man sitting to the left seemed bored at first. But once his eyes landed on Silas… amusement crawled onto his face. He took a long drag from his cigar as the silence thickened. Red smoke escaped from the man's eyes.
Even through that red smoke, Silas could see Ruk's burning red eyes. He quickly looked away, gritting his teeth. Ruk smirked at his reaction, slouching back in his chair. He watched Silas with lidded eyes.
"Well, this'll surely be interesting," Ruk mused.
Silas' attention was caught as the middle man slammed his fist on the table, standing quickly. Silas' eyes widened at this, shocked.
"Are ya fuckin' ignorin' me, bitch?" he snapped. A satisfied smirk seemed to come into his eyes as Silas seemed surprised.
"No – no, I… I didn't mean to – to, uhm…," Silas trailed off, slowly inching closer to the desk. He found himself moving a bit further to the right; he wanted to get further away from Ruk. He went to place the money on the table.
His arm was grabbed. He was pulled forward, slamming his stomach into the counter. It hurt, but he wasn't exactly focusing on that now. The man grabbed the collar of his shirt, glaring at Silas with deep hatred clear in his eyes.
"I should tear yer goddamn throat out, bitch… Ya don't get to show up half n hour late and get away with it, ya hear, fag?"
Silas was released almost as quickly as he had been grabbed. He held his stomach, gritting his teeth. He watched as the man had been shoved back by an unknown source of power. His eyes widened as he gripped his chest, quickly flickering his eyes to Ruk.
Ruk took a slow drag from the cigar before snuffing it out on the desk. The middle man glared at the action, but he didn't dare speak, not wanting to provoke the monster further.
"I believe," Ruk said slowly. His voice was anything but friendly; it was deep and bitter. "It is our job to deal with punishments, Abe."
Silas looked at Ruk in confusion. But Ruk had a calm, neutral look on his face. He wasn't happy, by any means; but his face showed no hint of the bitterness and anger that betrayed him in his voice. He looked calm.
Abe opened his mouth, but he didn't speak; it appeared, as far as Silas could tell, that Abe had a great pressure on his chest. His breathing was shallow and irregular. It was… the magic, wasn't it? Silas wondered briefly if Aarav had any magic like that.
Finally, Abe seemed to be released. It seemed Ruk was hesitant to release him. Abe gasped for air, seeming confused and quite startled by the entire ordeal. He looked at Ruk with newfound fear; that, it seemed, only made Ruk more satisfied.
Ruk stood. He glanced at Silas, winking with a small smirk. "Stay here, why don't you? We have some things to… work out." Ruk glanced at the other man that stood in the room. "Entertain the human, won't you? I think I'll give this one a… shortcut, out of here."
With that, Ruk grabbed the mans shoulder. They vanished, leaving only a puff of that red smoke.
Silas watched as the last man in the room sat down in the chair the middle man had previously been in. He was… tall. No, not tall. Silas was taller than him; he wasn't tall, no, he was lanky. He had a small, smug smirk on his face. Though his looks wanted to tell Silas he was not an issue, wouldn't hurt him, he was with Ruk. So… he had to be bad, right?
Then something clicked in his mind. Ruk… Ruk was here? Why? He remembered the meeting – it was all about a new landlord, right? Is… is Ruk their – no, no. Silas looked up. It was this guy, right? Yes, that's it – Ruk was simply helping introduce this man as the new landlord. Yes… yes, that's what was happening, Silas was sure.
"Who are you?"
Silas jumped at the words, not expecting the man to speak. The boy's voice was a bit scratchy, and the tone was high-pitched. That only added to Silas' suspicion of the man's age. Silas hesitated, glancing at Aarav. Aarav shrugged, confused.
"I'm… err…," he paused, still glancing at Aarav.
"'Err'?" the man said, tilting his head. Silas looked at him, furrowing his eyebrows in confusion. It was as if the man really thought his name was 'Err'… really?
"Uhm – Silas," he corrected quickly. "And you?"
The man gave a slightly smugger smirk, raising his chin. "I," he said, placing a hand on his chest, "am Koska."
"Are you… the, uhm… the new land – landlord?" Silas asked.
There was a pause. The smirk disappeared, replaced with a sort of… odd look. Silas couldn't quite place what it was. Koska furrowed his eyebrows a moment. He sat forward, the smirk again plastered on his face as he crossed his arms.
"Yes! I have a few questions, about your town. First of all – your restaurants! What are they like? Are they clean? What food do you sell?" he questioned quickly. It took a moment for Silas to process the quick words.
"Ah… restaurants? Uhm, well – I, I'm not really… err… from here," Silas explained slowly. Koska tilted his head. There was not anger on his face, only simple confusion, as if he didn't understand. Silas hesitated. How did he not understand?
"So," Koska said, startling Silas a bit, "do you have any fancy restaurants here?"
"I… fancy? No, I don't think so," Silas said slowly. "Again, I'm – well, I mean… I'm not really from here, but… but if its anything like my old town, uhm… we can't really afford to eat fancy foods often. If a person can't buy it, then the owner doesn't waste money on products they won't be able to sell, so…," he trailed off as his eyes landed on Koska again. He looked a bit… off.
"What… what food do you have?"
That was the first time he's really stuttered, Silas thought. Koska was messing with his tie a little. "I'd assume… well, burgers. And – and fries… you know, stuff like that."
Koska wrinkled his nose, eyebrows furrowed. He looked pretty disgusted. At… food? Silas thought, confused. It… was just food?
"Pasta? Steak? Anything not so… greasy?" he questioned, leaning a bit more forward.
"Oh, no," Silas said quickly, shaking his head. "Those are – they're expensive. Like I said, we can't afford it, buyers or sellers…."
Silas studied Koska's face as he explained. He seemed to get a bit more and more uncomfortable with every word. That was… odd. Why was he so uncomfortable with food? Cheap food, but food, nonetheless.
"Oh… well…," Koska muttered, clearing his throat.
"You… didn't know that?"
"It is… uhm… quite – quite cheap, in my… town," Koska explained, shifting. Silas blinked, remembering something. This guy… he's rich. He clearly had loads of money, depicted in his fancy clothes and the few rings that decorated his hands.
Oh, gods, Silas thought, finally realizing what was happening. Koska was uncomfortable because – because he didn't like that this town was poor, did he? Perhaps… perhaps that wasn't all bad, though… perhaps if Silas continued this, Silas could get the landlord to… to lower fees – make things better on all the people? It was worth a shot, wasn't it?
Of course, Silas didn't know the extent of how much people were struggling here… but he knew they were. That meeting outside the apartment had proved it. Anything to help these hardworking people get the life they deserved… he'd have to try. Try to make their lives easier.
"Yes," Silas said slowly, making sure he had Koska's attention. "But… we, well, we don't get paid much, you know… not a lot of good paying jobs. Then, if you do get a good job, its rare you'll keep it, and… you know, with all the extra fees from the dons… we just don't have enough to spend on the… finer things, of life."
Koska considered this information for a moment. Silas was quiet, watching as the man opposite him stared at the desk in thought.
"Well, don't go breakin' his heart now," a new voice came. Silas stiffened, quickly turning around. He held back a grimace as he saw Ruk's stupid grin. He was leaning in the doorway… how long had he been standing there? Silas suppressed a shiver as he looked at Ruk.
"Besides," Ruk shrugged, standing fully. He stepped closer to Silas – had he always been so tall? "You're breakin the wrong man's heart."