"Put your hands in the air! You are under arrest." A stern voice shouted, surrounding the sound of sirens all around.
Multiple guns were aimed at the mercenary and the murderer. Axel looked over to Kiaran to see him sigh and put down the package on the floor. Kiaran lazily put his hands in the air, Axel followed him right after.
"Seriously, police boy?" Kiaran deadpanned, he stared right at the policeman who was commanding them to put their hands in the air.
"I was just having this 'put your hands in the air' scenario like a minute ago, this is getting boring." He continued talking. The blue eyes meet the green ones dully.
The all-suit-up policeman walked forward slowly to Kiaran. Blond hair was dancing on his head as the wind from the helicopter outside blew it. Kiaran watched the policeman with a smirk, he knew this guy would always be there every time he finished a big job.
And it was fun to tease him.
"It's Lieutenant Valerian for you, mercenary." The policeman justified his name as he glared at Kiaran.
"Nah," Kiaran darted, a mischievous look etched on his face. "Your name's too damn long, police boy." He teased, earning a grunt from Valerian.
Valerian was still making his way to Kiaran cautiously, he was waiting for Kiaran to pull his foolish stunts like he always did. He did not even know why he even bothered to wait, it was just the usual thing between them.
"Then, tell me your name, mercenary." The lieutenant retorted back, eyes still locked on the criminal. "I can't keep calling you 'mercenary', can't I?" He continued as he got really close to Kiaran.
"Nah," The mercenary paused, smirking. Though it was hidden by his mask, he knew Valerian felt it. "Mercenary has a nice ring in your mouth." He answered casually.
Axel was looking back and forth between the two enemies in wary. He was getting worried as Valerian got too close to them.
Kiaran noticed the boy's discomfort and quickly looked over to Valerian, who knew when he would meet his sworn enemy again after he got away tonight. He noticed the bag under Valerian's eyes and chuckled, did he pull all-nighters to find him again?
Damn, what a fan.
"Alright, my murderer right here is starting to get worried, it was a nice conversation, police boy, but I got to go." He uttered as he took a step back, followed by Axel with their hands still in the air.
Valerian's green eyes went bug-eyed as he heard the mercenary's statement. He started running toward Kiaran in a hurry.
Though Kiaran was always a step further, a smoke bomb was already thrown from his sleeve as he saluted the lieutenant. "Until next time, police boy." He muttered as he disappeared into the smoke with Axel.
"No, no, no, damn it!" Yelled Valerian as he thrashed around the smoke, searching for the mercenary.
Everyone around him was coughing, but Valerian did not care at all. He stomped his way back as the people around watched him in pity. They knew their lieutenant was a sworn enemy of the infamous mercenary.
And the youngest lieutenant in this city was lost to the mercenary again.
✵✵✵✵✵✵
"Great job for today, Axel. I'm proud of you." Kiaran complimented his little brother as they arrived home.
Axel smiled at his brother as he took off his mask. "Do you want to have dinner together?" The little boy asked.
Kiaran was still in his suit, busy with the package in his hand. He was texting the mad scientist to meet up. "Not now, Axel."
He jumped out of the window after fixing his mask. "Maybe tomorrow, I got to go." The voice faded as Axel watched his brother disappear from his sight.
"That's what you said yesterday." The poor boy mumbled, knowing that his brother would not hear him anyway.
Axel walked towards the kitchen. His blue eyes caught the sight of an apple and took it. He did not feel like eating something big tonight.
He chewed his apple while staring at his reflection. The big mirror was a really weird decoration to put in the dining room. His father sure had a weird taste, huh?
Well, he did not know anything at all about his father, so why even bother? He just hoped his father would be proud of his accomplishments for this family. He had been helping Kiaran for so long now.
The mirror suddenly flashed into three people staring at him with obvious longing eyes. It flashed onto his family but with some weird red eyes and-
Was that a wing?
Axel's breath hitched, and he automatically took a step back. The startled boy's hand accidentally brushed off the glass on the dining table, making a loud crash on the floor.
He jumped at the sound and dropped the apple in his hand. He swore at himself as he began to take the scattered glasses one by one.
"Be careful, don't hurt yourself." A voice that sounded like his father rang in the air, causing the boy to make a quick involuntary movement and hurt himself.
He grimaced as the glasses sliced his hand. A drop of blood fell down to the floor, and he could feel his heartbeat pumping. He whimpered softly as he took away all the glasses from the floor and threw them away.
"I told you not to hurt yourself, and you did exactly that." His father spoke again, and Axel quickly scanned his surrounding.
"Uh, father?" Axel hesitantly asked. He was getting all the goosebumps when he could not see his father at all.
"I would tend the wound if I were you." A monotone voice spoke. Axel knew it so well to be Adreanna's.
"Haha, what the fuck?" Muttered the boy as he held his wound while looking around the dining room guardedly.
"I think the first aid kit is in the far-right cabinet." And now it was Kiaran's voice. Didn't he just leave earlier?
The voice came from here, so why couldn't he see them at all? What was happening? Why did he keep hearing their voices yet could not see them at all?
"Take a deep breath, kid. Tend your wound." Adreanna reassured, her emotionless tone somehow calming him.
"Okay, okay." Axel breathed. He made his way over to the cabinet that his brother just pointed out. He opened it and took the first aid kit.
He placed it on the table and took out some bandages. He washed off the wound first before finally applying it to his wounded hand.
When he finished tending himself, his blue eyes once again wandered into the dining room. "Where are you guys?" He raised his voice to the air.
There was no answer.
The boy laughed dryly as he looked around again. Of course, they were not here. Why would they be? They were never there for him. They never were.
"I'm starting to hallucinate, I should go to sleep." He shivered. He stared at the mirror one last time before running to his room upstairs.
When he went to bed, he was expecting a nightmare like he always had every night.
But tonight, for the first time in forever, he slept soundly as he heard Kiaran's voice reading him his favorite book.
That was nice.
✵✵✵✵✵✵
Axel ran full speed with a slice of bread in his mouth. His fluffy black hair was messy as it bounced around with the wind. He jumped over a bench on the sidewalk and burst through the people.
The sun was shining, befalling the city with its light, watching the boy trying to get to school on time. The traffic around him was loud but the boy could not hear anything besides the wind in his ears.
He almost bumped into people, making them startled. Though he did not have time to apologize so he just kept running like his whole life depended on it.
A big gate was becoming visible in his blue eyes, and he smiled through the slice of bread in his mouth. He made it to school and he was not late!
He knew it was too good to be true when he saw the gate was closing.
His smile quickly vanished as he fastened his pace. He could hear his own heartbeat in his ears while he was getting closer to the closing gate.
He widened his eyes when the gate was a few inches from getting close. He saw a few kids in the same position as him, running.
He easily raced all of them and jumped. He flipped right before the gate closed and went right through.
The sound of a loud clank rang behind him. He looked back to see the gate was already closed. He smiled triumphantly as he walked backward, enjoying the view of some kids grunting from being too late.
He suddenly stopped when his back bumped into something- no, more like someone.
He turned his head slowly and quickly and was met with the one and only Aster. The biggest jerk in this world who happened to be his bully.
"Here we go again." Groaned the boy as he met Aster's eyes. Two of his minions stood right behind the bully like a loyal dog, looking at him like he was trash.
Which ironically, he was trash in everyone's eyes.
"Oh, look at what we have here." Aster chimed as he crossed his hands over his chest. "The one and only rotten nerd in the world." He continued as he looked down at Axel.
Axel wished they would just stop now, this was getting tiring. He looked down at the floor, trying to avoid Aster and his minions' gaze.
Don't be wrong, he could kill all of them easily in one swift move. But he couldn't because he would not kill anyone outside his brother's wish. It was just wrong, you know. To kill, he meant.
If he could take it, then it was fine. If he started fighting back, someone would be the next victim, which would be a pain because it would just add more to his guilt list, which already had more than a thousand.
Besides, he would love to be a normal boy in this school. A nice normal boy coming from a normal family who was not a criminal at all.
It sounded nice, he loved it. He wished he could be this fake version of himself.
Aster knocked him back to reality when he suddenly held him by his collar. The grip was tightened around Axel's neck as the blue eyes met with the wicked green one.
"Listen to me when I talk, loser." Roared Aster. His dirty blonde hair brushed Axel's eyes as they stared at each other.
"Sorry," Axel mumbled. He closed his eyes as he felt Aster's hair brush them. Okay, this boy was too close to him. He would like to go, please.
"Hey, stop it!" A high-pitched voice exclaimed from afar.
Oh, look, his savior had come. Thank you, thank you so much. He would like to go to class, please. Just for today, he would like no beatings.
A red ponytail girl arrived with her hands on her hip, and her elbow turned outward. She looked at Axel and smiled, earning a smile back from the receiver before she diverted her gaze over Aster and frowned.
"Let go of him." She commanded. Her sharp hazel eyes supported her red hair as they stared harshly at the bully.
"Oh, the white knight has come to save her prince." Aster mocked and quickly shoved Axel to the ground, earning a grunt from the boy.
"Fine, miss president, I'll leave." The dirty blonde hair continued before he left Axel alone with his minions on his tail. Turning their back on him.
A helping hand was offered to him, and Axel gratefully took it. He stood up and looked over at his only friend, who was looking at him with a mild grave look mixed with apologetic hazel eyes.
"No, don't look at me like that, Rune." Axel sighed. He playfully shoved Rune with his shoulder, earning a whack on the back of his head as a result.
"We're in high school now, and I've been becoming your white knight since elementary school with the same opponent every day." The girl complained.
"I offer to teach you some little martial arts to defend yourself, and you always say no." Rune continued, her red ponytail bouncing around as they walked side by side.
"I can't save you every time, you know." She finished her sentence by putting her hand over Axel's shoulder.
"I know, don't w-" Axel's sentence was cut off by his best friend.
"Don't worry about you?" She spoke in disbelief. "You're my best friend. Of course, I worry about you, silly." She stated, eyes looking at Axel disapprovingly.
Axel opened his mouth to answer back but quickly got cut off by Rune. "You always said that it was fine to take the beating. Well, it's not fine for me to see my best friend suffer!" She complained more at the black-haired boy.
"Well, you don't have to worry about me and just focus on becoming the next president of this country." Axel shrugged her off and smiled.
"Look, just because my father is the president doesn't mean I will be the next president, dumbass." She retorted back and brought Axel closer to her, whacking his head softly.
"I mean, he does want me to be a president someday, but it's not right now." She corrected herself and shrugged.
"But you will be one, one day, right?" Axel darted. He grinned at Rune. "So I am right."
"Ugh, fine." Rune rolled her eyes at Axel, who was grinning widely at her.
They walked together to their class. Rune was glaring at Aster who was watching the two of them mockingly as they got into their class. They sat side by side, and Axel immediately slumped in his chair.
The red hair girl shuffled the inside of her bag and brought out a little white box. Axel was watching in interest as she shoved the box to him.
"Here, take it." Rune insisted.
Axel took the little white box and opened it to find a necklace with a little silver arrow. He narrowed his eyes and looked over at his best friend.
"What's this?" He asked curiously.
"Just a little package for you. I bought it yesterday when I was travelling with dad." She muttered, feet fidgeting as she waited for Axel's answer.
"A package, huh?" Axel muttered and examined the necklace in his hands. The little arrow was shining at him as the sun's light outside the window bounced from it.
He quickly wore it, eyes focusing on the little arrow. Rune watched with anticipation as a soft click was heard from the back of the necklace.
Axel looked over to Rune's hazel eyes and smiled genuinely. "It's nice, thanks."