Slowly rising from consciousness, Brakus's vision is fading in and out as shadows grab the safe. The shadows were strange like nothing he had ever seen before, but they had no form, similar to wind or light.
"What am I looking at?" Brakus attempts to push himself up off the ground. "Dammit .. i can't move. That explosion really did a number on me *ugh*."
"The fighting has stopped outside..if I can just stop them, I might be able to get away..." he reaches for the shadows before losing consciousness again.
[45 minutes later..]
The old man who owns the cornerstore drives through the intersection, arriving at his store; his eyes gliding across the wreckage, all of the people who just moments ago, were in the middle of a shootout, are lying there slaughtered by some unknown force. "What happened here....I thought it was a simple robbery In the middle of the night" a tear rolls down the old man's cheek into his goatee, he has a look of guilt on his face
"Could this be my fault?" he inquires. A shocked look crosses his face as he makes this realization, "all of these people..why!" he erupts with fury and grief, no longer able to hold his tears he continues, "I should buried that intel, because of me the war in the neighboring countries will come here! to our country of peace." anger leaving his face as he breaks down with the knowledge of what will occur.
He slides out the drivers seat and slowly approaches the front door of his store. The door is completely shattered and the lights are flickering; as he enters glass breaking under his foot, the entire store is scorched, the explosion leaving behind nothing but ashes and he notices the door to the backroom is off of its hinges and there is a young man on the floor.
He walks into the room and the safe is missing, and Brakus is laying on the cold floor, convulsing with pain. "Who are you?...wait is that Brakus!? are you okay..w-what are you doing way out here?"
"I-I-I can explain, but I'm not really in best position.." Brakus smiles weakly, still unable to move and the pain has heightened drastically "my mom's gonna kill me for real this time.." He imagines his mom slapping him with fire in her eyes, and whimpers to himself. "Did you see what was in that safe? because if you did I would have to kill you...but you're a kid and I would never murder a child, of course not." there is an awkward silence, Brakus stares at him with a blank look, his mind is telling him to run but he can't lose his composure "This guy may be serious, but I don't have to lie" he strokes his eyebrow In thought, then he begins to talk.
"No! I swear I didn't see anything gramps, I came here to protect your store, then there was this huuuge explosion and glass came from the front of the stor-" The old man cuts him of "It's alright, spare me the details, I believe you...if you were lying I would be able to tell anyways" he begins to walk away, his whole body language seemed off, like he was hiding something, whenever Brakus entered his store he seemed way nicer than this and even gave him free snacks and stuff from time to time.
He notices the state Brakus is in saying:
*sigh*
"Fine.. I'll patch you up, but you're gonna have to find your own way home" he walks to a intact medicine cabinet "and I apologize for acting so grim, I haven't seen death since fighting in the war."
This spikes Brakus' interest but before he blurts out a question,he hesitates, "maybe it's not the right time..but its probably the same war.." ; he chooses not to ask about it. "I'm going to turn you over to get pressure off the glass,you're lucky that you weren't pierced deeper." The old man analyzes the wounds, his old medical knowledge tells him that none of his wounds are life-threatening, he arrived at the perfect time to save him before he lost too much blood from the sheer amount of the wounds. "You're even luckier than I thought...you may have some acute fractures in your bones, nothing that will need surgery, but you will have to take it easy for a few weeks." *phew* Brakus let's out a sigh of relief "thank goodness, I would have been In huuuge trouble if I wasn't there for breakfast tomorrow.", a innocent smile crosses his face.
"All of this and that's all you're worried about? You remind me of my son" the old man laughs, acting like his usual joke filled self. he remembers when his son was around the same age as Brakus and smiles but is deeply saddened knowing what he may have caused. "Hey gramps are you done reminiscesing? I'm bleeding over here" Brakus yells out while smirking innocently , he was always the bright light in any room always energetic, but he was matured for his age, having seen violence while living in his home country.
The old man begins pulling out the shards of glass and sealing any wounds he can. Then he used a small handheld x-ray device to examine his bones for breakage, "As I thought... nothing major but a long recovery time, it's a good thing too.." he pauses struggling to think about his past, Brakus notices this; "What's good thing?" he inquires and the old man finishes his thoughts, "I used to be a field medic, and it's a good thing I decided to check on my store when my alarm went off" finishing up stitching the wounds, and checking a few more spots for fractures , the old man stands up and beckons for Brakus to get going.
"Th-th-thanks old man!" Brakus waves while running out of the store back towards his home at a less brisk pace than earlier, "I hope I can make it home, I really need some sleep." He wonders silently.
[Back home: 1 hour 15 minutes later. Time: 1am]
He finds himself back in his yard where the night began looking around for his way up, it is so dark that he barely recognized the tree he would climb to get back in most nights. Scaling the tree took no time at all , as he pulls himself up painfully to his window. He pushes the window up silently and slips in. Once inside, he sluggishly climbs back into his bunk "good, still asleep" he whispers as he climbs past his brother's bunk. Brakus lays his head down on his pillow and contemplates about what he saw earlier that night before rolling over and falling asleep.