~North side of Lima, Ohio, United States, Planet Earth, Ceti Universe~
A young Raven walked with his friends down an alleyway after meeting up at their middle school. His friends were grouped nearby pushing one another. They spent their time walking around the neighborhood during the summer leading up to football season. Each one boasted of the deeds they were going to accomplish this season. It was their last season before entering their high school years and a much more competitive level of football.
The suns warmth coated them, their tennis shoes crunching on stone and grass. His friend Chris was shoved into Raven. Raven shoved him back towards the other side of the alley. Chris grabbed the one who had initially pushed him, Derrick, in a headlock. The group all laughed as they continued their walk.
Raven turned and began walking backwards down the familiar alley to watch his friends playing around. This was their regular routine for the last three years. Their laughter died down when Derrick stopped trying to break free from Chris. Raven noticed Derrick staring directly behind him. He looked over his shoulder to see a group of boys with bicycles emerging from the bushes three quarters of the way towards the end of the alley.
Chris released Derrick and yelled, "fuck off assholes!"
A couple of boys from the newly emerged group raised their arms, middle fingers extending up. Chris returned a crisp slap of his thighs, arms crossed, giving the sign for suck it he had come to enjoy from the wrestling program all of the preteen boys watched on Friday nights. The hostile group of boys jumped on to their bicycles and pedaled hastily towards Raven's group.
"Looks like they didn't learn last time," chimed in Toby from the back of the small crowd.
The friends lined up, ready to receive the other group. As the cycling kids neared, they began jumping from their bikes. They thought themselves gangsters and wanted to claim the neighborhood as their own. Fortunately for Raven and his friends, no other group of kids in the area recognized the futile attempts either. The wanna-be gangsters charged into Raven's group. Fists flew as the two groups collided.
Raven tripped the other leader. Chris charged past, tackling one of the larger boys across from them. A loud crack echoed around the alley. Derrick, Toby, and the other boys ran into the fray. The other group slightly outnumbered them. This wasn't surprising considering last time they had fought each other, their numbers were nearly identical, and Raven's group had trounced them easily.
One of the smaller gangsters knocked the wind out of Toby. This wasn't surprising either as Toby wasn't really a fighter on or off the football field. Derrick was not on any of the football teams in town, but he did love wrestling heartily. He picked the small boy up over his shoulder and slammed him back to the ground. Chris had tried to encourage Derrick to the high school wrestling team for the coming season but had failed so far. Derrick was less into the organized Greco-Roman sport and more into the television version.
Derrick clumsily speared another gang member in the stomach with his shoulder. Raven's opponent slugged him with each of his fists back-to-back. While Raven stumbled backwards, Chris slammed his clenched fists into the back of the other leader's head. As the boy fell to the ground he fumbled at his waistband. Raven saw the glint of metal followed by a flash and bang sound. A burning sensation ignited on his left collarbone.
Every boy present began to rapidly scatter. All of them except Raven. He stumbled around for a moment, disoriented, ears ringing. He looked around, seeing friend and foe alike flee in every direction. From behind the fence to his left he heard grunting. Raven could see a hole smoldering in the wooden fence. His eyes went wide as he realized who's house they were behind. He ran to the fence and pulled himself up to look over. There in the yard lay an old man clutching his chest.
Raven finished pulling himself over, head still ringing from the gun blast. His feet hit the ground with a thud, and he ran over to the old man.
"No no no no," he cried, "I'm so sorry. What do I do?"
The old man looked into his eyes and shook his head. Raven crouched next to him and began cradling the man's head in his arms. Tears dripped down his face onto the man's collar. Raven sat silently watching as each breath took away a little of the old man's spirit. He spoke the old druidic words as the man had taught to him.
The old man reached up and touched his face, "Not... your... fault. Do not... carry... this."
A final sigh and the light faded from the old druid's eyes.
~South side of Lima, Ohio, United States, Planet Earth, Ceti Universe~
Raven shook his head where he crouched. A tear slid down his face as the flashback ended. He stood up and looked into the master bedroom. The orange cat continued its escape down the stairs and out of view. A queen-sized mattress lay on the floor to his right, half covered with a sheet. He crossed the room to look in the closet on either side of the northern window. Seeing no one was in the house, he turned back to Frank. Raven rushed across the room, grabbed him by the front of his shirt, and slammed his back against the wall.
"The next time you pull that trigger, you better be fuckin sure of what yer shootin at. Ya damn near blew my ear off!"
Frank vigorously and mumbled apologies. Raven noticed that a new puddle of urine was forming with another from when Frank had shot at the cat. Nerves of still the heavy man did not have. Nerves of rubber would probably still be a stretch. The memories that had resurfaced still sat fresh at the front of Raven's thoughts. He waved Frank away and started going through the items in the bedroom. A few things seemed like they might be useful later on but nothing that was important enough to take now. He went back to the child's room he had cleared and nearly ran into Frank with an armful of things stacked on a sticker-covered laptop.
He sighed, "none of that is vital right now. We can come back for it once we have the fence up and have a little free time to look around. Just do an inventory in yer head for now."
Frank looked at the stuff in his arms, "alright. So just look, don't touch for now?"
"Right kinda. Move stuff if you need to, but unless there is like ammo or some newer canned goods or some other weapons, we probably don't need it right now."
Frank smiled and went back into the other bedroom. Seconds later, Raven heard a soft crash as the items Frank was carried slid across the floor. He went downstairs to continue his brief mental inventory. Nothing here was particularly useful. Maybe a few things could be used later or repaired to be made useful.
"Frank. Let's go. We gotta finish up the fence along the front and back."
The clomp clomp clomp of Frank's heavy feet coming down the stairs followed Raven outside. Frank made his appearance and followed Raven back to the wood pile. Together, they moved the pieces of lumber they were going to need. They were starting to get a little light on wood, but he was hesitant to go with Frank to get some more.
They worked until the moon started to make an early appearance. The two men wiped their varying degrees of sweat and went to the back of the houses. Raven stopped Frank when he went to return to his mother's house.
"Hold up bubba. Why don't you come over and eat with us? We have enough to spare."
Frank looked as if Raven was rewarding him a prize for the first time in his life, "are you sure? There is still some food left in mom's house."
"We cleared a house together, spent the day building defenses together, and fought together. Least I can do is offer ya a meal. So come on," Raven continued with a wave.
Frank looked at his childhood home and back to Raven's house a few times. He followed Raven to the basement with a slight bounce in his step. They went down to the basement and entered. Sascha was stirring a pot on one of the small electric burners. Another pot contained vegetables, and something sat in the toaster oven. Raven noticed the limited-edition Walther he had bought for Lyn sat next to her. He introduced Frank and began to detail what their plans were for the next day. The plans involved Lyn, Sascha, and the kids, so all of the adults were included. They spoke late into the night. The conversation moved over to less stressful topics, the kids dozing off to the soft laughter of the ones protecting them.