Silence opened his eyes and squinted. He blinked a few times, feeling the light from the roof hit his face. His body was less sore than what it was before and his mind was at ease. A sneeze left his nose and he heard the sound of Leo stuttering.
It was distant and low. It sounded like he was trying to put words together, but he couldn't. Almost like when he was getting bullied. Silence sat there and thought about it for a minute and then quickly stood up. Getting bullied? Was he getting bullied by new people at the arena?
"Oh come on I just wanna see my new compitish." An unfamiliar voice spoke.
"Like I said he's… he's sleeping." Leo whispered.
Silence walked up to the door and stared at the person outside of it. The man at the door had round brown eyes with honey blonde hair and had a pointed nose. He leaned on the doorway and a smile grew on his face as he looked up at Silence.
"Ah there goes the little guy, Silence what was it? Anonymous, right?" He asked.
Silence glared at him and glanced between him and Leo. Leo seemed to calm down more, knowing that Silence was up, but he didn't move from the door.
"Kyle!" An angry voice screamed from the hallway. The boy froze and his eyes widened "Kyle I'm going to murder you! What part of just stay in the room didn't you understand?!" Another boy, one who looked identical to the one before walked up to the door and hit Kyle in the head.
The only difference between the two was that the new boy was just an inch or two shorter. The shorter one began to lecture Kyle, while pointing at him. After smacking him a few more times, the shorter boy turned to look at Silence and extended his hand out.
"Sorry for my brother, he's a tad bit… annoying. My names Sam, and that's Kyle. Nice to meet you Silence."
Sam.
Kyle.
Silence hesitantly took his hand and shook it.
"And you are?" Sam looked over at Leo who was looking between everyone frantically, clearly trying to keep up.
"That's Leo." Silence said.
"Oh! Are you guys brothers too?"
"No, just friends."
"Nice. Well anyway me and Kyle should be on our way. Nice meeting you, Silence." Sam's voice changed when he said Silence's name. Almost like it was a threat.
Leo stared at the opened door for a bit and then closed it. He locked it and then turned to walk deeper into the room. Silence walked back to his bed and sat down on it.
Something about Sam didn't sit right with Silence. Something about both of them didn't sit right. They were after all his competitors. Maybe it was best if he didn't talk to people or get attached, he'd have to fight them eventually anyway.
Silence stared at the paper that was on the table and picked it up. He looked down at it and read it. It said:
Congratulations Silence!
You've made it to level eleven, beware of tougher competition and harder fights. Now that your at level eleven you can't pick your own competitors, the only way you can is if the two of you agree to fight each other and sign each other's names.
Don't forget that you have free access to: gyms, showers, restrooms, infirmaries, dining halls and kitchens.
Have a great day and don't forget once you hit level twenty you start getting money!
"What does it say?" Leo asked.
Silence opened his mouth and explained what was on the paper. He looked up at Leo who seemed to trying his best to focus.
"Can you say it again but make it shorter?"
Silence nodded his head and repeated what was on the paper, but instead used smaller words and only said the important parts. Leo looked down and began to play with his hands.
"You still don't understand it do you-"
"No." Leo shook his head.
"It's just saying that I made it to level eleven, and that I can't pick who I fight anymore."
"Oh… so they can pair you up with anybody? Even the really strong people?"
"I'll be fine." Silence smiled assuringly.
He put the paper down and walked around the room searching for his knives. Once his eyes landed on them he smiled and grabbed them. He always had his knives with him, they just assured him that he was safe and if he wasn't he had something to protect himself with.
Silence had five knives in total. Well, at least five that he took everywhere with him. The knives weren't like kitchen knives, they were more like small swords or daggers. They were the easiest to hold in his hands, but that didn't mean he didn't know how to use other knives.
If you handed him any sort of blade he'd adjust to it quickly.
"Sorry for waking you up." Leo looked down at his hands.
"That's okay, I should be training anyway." Silence twirled the knives in his hands.
The sound of Leo's rumbling stomach made Silence look up from his blades and look over at him.
"Are you-"
"Yeah." Leo nodded his head.
"Well, they did say I had free access to the dining halls, I'm sure you do too. Come on." Silence began to walk towards the door.
Leo stood and followed close behind. He watched Silence open the door and walked out into the warm hallway. It seemed some other people had food on their minds too, because everyone was heading towards the direction of the dining hall.
Silence looked at all of the people walking out of the rooms. They all looked older than him, and some even looked stronger. Some were very buff, others were as skinny as a twig. There were some that looked old and some that looked young, but none as young as him.
Silence began to walk to the dining hall making sure not to make eye contact with anyone. Staring could be intimating, but nothing is scarier than someone walking with knives and looking straight ahead. It gives off the impression that he mean't business, or that he was going to kill someone.
Kill.
He hadn't thought of that word in a while. Of course he wouldn't kill someone, not right now at least.
Silence turned into the dining hall and looked at the beautiful scenery. The walls were brown, and there were a bunch of chairs and tables all inside the room. Some people were sitting already while others were in line.
"Oh my god your Silence! You got here from just pushing people over." A girl walked over to him.
She had black freckles and jet black hair.
"Yeah… who are you?" Silence asked.
"Right, I always forget to properly introduce myself. My name is Yui." She extended her hand out.
Yui.
Another hand to shake. Silence shook her soft hand and then moved his. Yui looked over at Leo and opened her mouth.
"That's Leo, my friend." Silence responded before she could even ask.
"Oh." Yui nodded her head "well if-"
"Yui! Come on, don't tell me your leaving me for some kid." A guy walked up to Yui making her roll her eyes as if already knowing who it was just by his voice.
Yui sighed annoyed.
"Silence meet Hunter, the pesky rodent that won't leave me alone." She gestured behind her at the boy standing behind her.
Hunter.
"She likes me." Hunter leaned on her shoulder and smiled.
"I don't." Yui unenthusiastically spoke.
"Oh crap your the guy who's been pushing people left, right and center. Nice to finally meet ya." Hunter glanced at Leo "Why don't you two come and eat with us? It would be nice to have a level eleven guy at our table."
Silence looked over at Leo who was clearly trying to mentally shift attention on each person who was talking.
"Sure." Silence shrugged.
He looked at Leo and grabbed his arm, forcing him to walk. Leo was pulled away from his thoughts and began to follow.
"So what's it like being the first ever level eleven kid?" Hunter asked as he sat down.
"I'm the first? Wow those guys are weak, weaker than I expected at least." Silence sat down next.
Leo began to tap his fingers on the table as he listened to the conversation start. As Hunter and Yui began to talk about their fighting experience Silence couldn't help but stare at the flowers in the vases that sat in the middle of the table.
He for some reason felt drawn to the white pedals and green vines. Silence grabbed the flower from the vase and stared at it closely. He ran his fingers along the pedals and then placed it back.
"Hey do you guys know what these flowers are called?"
"Those? They're called gardenias, they have these a lot where I'm from." Yui grabbed one as she explained.
Silence eyed the flowers suspiciously and then pushed the vase away from him. They gave off a vibe, one that he wasn't so sure how to explain. It was mixed with both good and evil, and made him feel weird inside. Like he was supposed to grab one.
As a waiter like person approached them, Yui began to argue with Hunter about the type of flower it was and how he knew little about it. The waiter smiled and handed all of them a menu. She told them that she would be back to take their orders soon.
"This feels like a five star restaurant." Hunter leaned back in his chair "Good thing all of this is free." He began to look at everything that was displayed.
Silence picked up his menu and looked down at the tiny words and pictures. Leo tapped Silence's shoulder and looked over at his menu.
"Can you read it out loud?"
"All of it? There's a lot." Silence flipped the menu upside down only to show another page of food.
"What you can't read?" Hunter asked. Yui smacked his arm and glared at him.
Leo began to play with hands.
"I CAN read…" he said.
"Hey it's okay, when I was little I could barley understand a word. It took a lot of practice for me to learn to read." Yui smiled at him and spoke in a calm voice.
"He can read." Silence looked up at her, his eyes almost like daggers.
Yui nervously chuckled as she stared at his face.
"Yeah… if you say so." She looked down at her menu clearly trying to avoid eye contact.
"All of it?" Silence asked and looked over at Leo again.
Leo fidgeted with his hands.
"No… if it's…umm…a lot you don't have to." He picked up his menu and looked down at the words on it.
Silence sighed and began to read off the menu. He spoke very slowly and very clearly, making sure to use smaller words. He would even show Leo the picture that was provided so that he could have a better description.
Hunter and Yui only looked between the two, mostly at Leo eyeing him with a weird look. Almost as if thinking 'does he really not know how to read?'.
"Oh my dad had that before! He told me it was super good! We should get that!" Leo pointed and happily screamed.
Some people looked over at their table, but Leo didn't seem to notice. His face lit up again and he swung his feet in the chair.
"You sure are bubbly… speaking of parents where are you guys parents? They just let you guys out like this?" Hunter asked and put his menu down.
"Oh my dad died, and my mom-" Leo stopped and the smile on his face vanished. Yui smacked Hunter making him wince.
"Why would you ask something like that? Of course their parents aren't here or else they wouldn't be fighting for money you idiot." She angrily spoke.
"Ow baby-"
"And stop calling me baby." She smacked his head again.
Silence watched Leo's glowing face become filled with sadness as he thought about Nahla. He lightly nudged Leo making him look up at him.
"She's safe." He said.
"I know." Leo forced a smile "I just miss her."
Silence didn't really know what to say. He felt bad for Leo… but there was no amount of words that would make him go back to exclaiming happily and pointing at things. Silence wanted to see his happiness radiating off onto everyone else.
"Wanna tell me another story?" He asked and bent down to look at Leo's face.
"You sure you wanna hear one?" A small smile grew on Leo's face.
"Yeah."
"Well… I didn't tell you about that time my dad got attacked by a hippo," Leo slowly began to tell his story.
Each second he would get louder and would use his hands to explain everything. Yui and Hunter contributed to the conversation by laughing or commenting on something Leo said. Leo spread his arms apart when he explained how small or wide something was and he would sometimes fall off topic.
Silence listened closely, and grabbed onto everything he said like it was a rope and he was hanging off of a cliff. Although he was trying his best to keep his focus solely on Leo, he found himself falling distracted by the flowers.
It was like they were calling out to him. Begging him to look their way and do something with them.
"And there was this super small black box! It was almost as dark as Silence's eyes! See look!" Leo turned to look at Silence and continued to smile.
Silence smiled back. Dark eyes. Was that a good thing? Was it good to have dark eyes? Leo didn't have dark eyes, neither did Nahla or that girl in the picture… they had bright eyes. His eyes were just another symbol of the difference between him and other kids.
Still, despite knowing that, Silence continued to smile. Their food came quickly and Leo was still telling the story as he ate. His voice was loud and filled with enthusiasm, people looked over at him and some even began to listen to the story, getting intrigued in what he was saying.
That was one thing about Leo that Silence could never do, he was good at capturing someone's attention and he was excellent at telling good stories; even if he did get sidetracked sometimes.
"Then he grabbed a sword and lifted it over his head and chopped the hippos neck off!" Leo finished his story making some people gasp and others clap and cheer. Leo turned to look at Silence to make sure he was still smiling.
"That was such a good story." Yui clapped.
"Yeah, almost better than our relationship." Hunter smirked. Yui rolled her eyes annoyed and continued to look at Leo, but he seemed too focused on Silence to notice.
Eventually Silence and Leo decided to leave, making sure to wed their goodbye's to Yui and Hunter. Silence felt odd as he parted ways with the flowers in the vase and walked into the room. As soon as Leo closed the door Silence felt his body stumble forward and he fell on the ground.
Why did he feel like this? It had to be because of the food. It seemed after everything he ate he felt sick…
Leo bent down to help him and placed his hand on his forehead.
"Your so strong, I thought your body would've recovered from being sick by now…" Leo spoke worriedly.
Silence smiled up at Leo and forced him to lay down on the ground next to him.
"Are you sure you can fight? Your really sick, and you can't pick your competitor anymore."
"Leo," Silence smiled and looked over at Leo "I promise I won't get hurt. Plus we're only here until we can figure out what to do next remember?"
"Yeah… but still. What if you go against some really tough guys? What if someone kills you? What if one of the guys you beat before want revenge?"
Silence grabbed Leo's hand and looked at it. He trailed his finger along his bones and skin making him tense up and his face become red.
"Do you really think I'd make you watch me die in the arena?" Silence looked at Leo's face.
"No," Leo stuttered, shook his head and looked down.
"Exactly." Silence smiled and let go of Leo's hand "I won't get hurt or killed, not while your watching. Why don't you just pick a place for us to travel next, when we get out of here."
"Yeah your right!" Leo sat up "We should go on a train! I always wanted to go on one!" He smiled happily.
I won't get hurt, not while your watching.
Why did he say that? There was no guarantee that he wouldn't get hurt. Why did he feel the need to assure Leo? So he could get happy again? Silence didn't know why he was saying and doing stuff like that for Leo.
Was it because he was slowly becoming like a normal kid? Was it because it was what Leo wanted to hear? Why was he promising him lies?