Matthew had barely slept. He had ended up staying all night, racking his brain for the perfect plan. He had obsessed over finding the most logical way to achieve the perfect outcome and in doing so, ended up tired, sluggish and barely operable.
Feverishly, Matthew finished scratching the final etches of writing into his wall, a tapestry of convoluted and outright insane ideas on it with his latest circled.
Kill Orvo Black - how? I don't know, infiltrate into Black Industries?
Teach all the slum residents how to fight and face Orvo with my new army - how? I don't know, maybe give them a motivational speech?
Finish making my super duper, big and awesome earth canon to demolish Orvo's men? That could work. Actually, never mind, ma would kill me if I killed someone.
A̶s̶k̶ m̶y̶ f̶r̶i̶e̶n̶d̶s̶ Ask the young heirs of the Grand Families for help? Nope, I can't communicate with them in any way, and I can't even get near their homes.
Maybe...
This went on for a while, until finally:
Just do nothing. Hide, simply. Orvo's men probably had too much pride to admit they got done in by an 8 year old, so they probably didn't tell him. So, just do nothing and hide!
Matthew sighed with contentment, falling on to his soft bed with satisfaction, letting his fatigue claim him.
Until he heard his mother calling him down for breakfast.
"Argh!"
,
"...You didn't get any sleep, did you?" Mary stared unenthusiastically at her son. "Rest is important for a healthy mind, Matthew, and a healthy mind makes for a strong one. You should already know that."
Matthew's head was embedded into his earthen dinner table, the lecture falling in through one ear and out the other. He groaned. "Yes, ma."
"Honestly, boy, you attend a high end school, full of youths that will run the country. How do you not know basic self preservation?"
Matthew responded with the same. "Yes, ma."
A slow smile crept on to Mary's face. "Promise me that today, you will clean all the dishes."
"Yes, ma."
"You will look after Hazel while I take naps from now on."
"Yes, ma."
"You will help me out at the market today."
"Yes, ma- wait what?!" Matthew jumped out of his chair. "No- no, I can't, not for like, two weeks!"
Mary grinned, grasping her son's hand before he could reel it back. "Too late, buster. Eat your food, we're gonna leave right after."
"No, I really, really can't, ma! Can't you ask Hazel?"
Lips pursed, eyes rolled and unimpressed, Mary sighed. "Some insane nutjob created a massive hole right outside Grandma Meryl's store, and they didn't even bother to fill it back up."
Matthew flinched.
"Hazel's a baby, barely old enough to walk. You are a big and strong man, not to mention the only man in this house currently, so you have to step up." Mary continued, but Matthew was strangely reluctant. She had even used the words he loved the most in conjunction! Big, strong and man.
"Not today, ma, I'm really tired!"
"That's enough out of you, Matthew. Seeing as you're talking this much, you must be done eating." She stood up and put away the plates. "We leave as soon as I finish the dishes."
Matthew groaned loudly, staring daggers into Hazel, who was smugly smiling at him the entire time from the living room.
. . .
Matthew snuck around the slums like a rat, wearing a hood, sticking to the shade and hiding behind trash. He masked himself in the filth of the homeless and purposefully dirtied his face to the most it could possibly be. Heck, he even gave himself enlarged, earth shoes to give him more height. He looked like a completely different kid, but still, he was on high alert. He rolled around like a rogue, keeping a watchful eye.
Mary watched in silent delight as she was entertained with her son's weird shenanigans. 'He must have read too many survival-action books. Like father like son, I swear.'
They turned into a deep alley, walking a little while longer before finally reaching a crescent. In the middle of said crescent, was a gaping wound in the earth. Matthew laughed nervously as Mary talked with Grandma Meryl, who was grasping a heavy shovel with her feeble arms, throwing dirt meaninglessly into the pit.
"Oh, thank you, dearie~" Grandma Meryl warmly shook Mary's hand. "You've been such a help to the community since you've been here. You've helped so many unfortunate earth mages create stable homes, and you've even given them stable jobs."
Mary waved her off, dismissing the compliments. "I was just making up for all the trouble little Matthew over there has caused over the years, like, remember that one time he tried making the biggest playground ever for the children? It ended up with the entire thing breaking apart! It was a miracle nobody got hurt."
She smiled wistfully as she recalled her memories. "Tell me, honestly, was this also him? My two children tried to hide it, but they snuck out yesterday and knowing them..." She looked at the hole. "This could be them."
Grandma Meryl chuckled, giving Matthew a knowing side wink. "No, believe it or not, this was done by Orvo's men. A show of force, if you will. Luckily, those bumbling idiots managed to actually fall into their own hole!"
Mary laughed, chatting with Meryl all the while filling the hole. Matthew still darted around the area, flinching at the slightest sounds. Mary snapped at him to help, and he begrudgingly did so.
Ten minutes passed, and by now the hole was about half filled. Matthew groaned some more. 'Why is filling a hole so much harder than creating one!'
The company wasn't great too. He had to listen to an old lady speak to an even older lady for ten whole minutes! That would drive any 8 year old insane! While he was mulling over his misfortune, and the origin of it -- 'Hazel!' -- a sudden noise knocked him out his frustrated stupor.
A slam, a scream, followed by flesh hitting the floor. Then a corrosive, loud voice --that was now oddly nasally-- he had dreaded, boomed. "Where is he! Where is that imp!"
Mary and Grandma Meryl stopped talking, as did all the other slum dwellers. They all stared at the direction of the voice.
A huge gang of thugs -twenty at least- barged in to the crescent where Grandma Meryl lived, each one of them had a fierce look on them. Though one had the fiercest.
Stood above the rest was a large man with a bandage over his nose, frowning so hard his eyebrows nearly touched his nose. "If I find that any of you are hiding him, I'll kill you all! Orvo demands his head, and its either him, or you!"
A bead of sweat dripped down from Matthew's head as the eyes of the slum residents turned to him. He gulped, turning away. Mary watched him suspiciously.
While the rest of the slum'ees shrunk back in fear, only Mary and Grandma Meryl remained.
"You, hag! Where is he!" The large thug was now mere feet away from Matthew, not recognizing him. "If you think what I did to your son is bad, think about what I'll do to you!"
Grandma Meryl tutted, sighing disappointedly. "Listen here, lout, you seem to be as dumb as you are loud, so I will mercifully correct you. He is my grandson, and you are lucky I am not a few weeks younger, otherwise I would have beaten you ignorant bumpkins back to your boss with your pants down!"
For a moment, the large thug forgot his anger. That was...poetic. He quickly regained it, his face burning red. "Call the forensics team and the legal department. I'm about to commit murder."
He rose a threatening hand up, and before he could smash it down, Mary got inbetween them. "That's a bad idea, and you know it."
"Oh yeah?"
"Oh yeah." Mary stood firm.
The large thug scoffed. "Why'zzat?
"Grandma Meryl is a pillar of the community. Her blackrocks alone make up for 30% of the slum's profits. If you so much as harm them, morale here will drop, and your source of income falls instantly. That's why."
Matthew watched in amazement. 'She...she was important?'
The thug grimaced. "She's an earth mage, just like you, just like everybody in this bloody place. You Theians are a blight on us mages everywhere, what makes you think I give a damn if one is missing?"
"Because she isn't just an earth mage. She is a source of income for you. We've lived under the rule of Orvo for over 10 years now, and we earth mages know the way he is. He cares more about money than lives, so how pissed off would he be at you, the person who harmed this lovely lady, if he learned you cut off his profits?"
The large thug hesitated for a moment, frowning hard...before he lowered his fist. "You know what, you're right, she is important..."
Matthew sighed with relief, the crisis was averted.
"But you're not." And then the thug slammed the back of his hand into Mary's jaw.