Two Worlds: Round 4

"Sera, Sera!" Cross shook the shoulder of the sleeping bounty hunter, who had drifted off sitting by the side of the bed Cross was laid in. "Wake up! It's not like you to sleep like this. Really, I think this is the first time I've seen you sleep. I didn't even know you could sleep until now..." He jabbered on as Serafina awoke with a start. Her everlasting insomnia seemed to have finally seceded in the strangest of times.

Shaking her head, she glanced up at the enthusiastic red-haired child, acting like he was never injured in the first place. A half-smile worked its way across her usually emotionless face, and she pulled the child into a tight embrace, startling the boy out of his long run of words. "...Sera?"

Kamen stopped by the doorstep, listening. So she was called Sera, after all. Good thing about children like that boy, was that they tell no lies.

He waited to see how the woman would reply to him.

"...You've never done that before either." Cross stated. "Are you feeling okay? You didn't get your head bumped, did you?"

Sera released her hold on Cross, and gave an agitated sigh. "Cross. I told you to stay where you were. You knew how dangerous it was, yet you went against my orders." She said coldly. Cross looked a bit sheepish. "...I was just trying to help. It was all noisy and I got worried..."

"Because of you, Agapeto and Agapito are in trouble." She barked. "In fact, they might be dead."

Cross glanced up at her in surprise. "What? Short-hair and long-hair? But I-"

"This isn't some game, Cross. If it wasn't for sheer luck, you could be dead right now. Do you understand?!" Sera snapped. Cross flinched, and then glanced at the ground. "...Sorry."

"These aren't pirates. They aren't as predictable. They can't be easily bribed off or distracted. As far as I know, it is in their best interest to kill us." Serafina stood, and Cross fidgeted nervously.

"Now, I'm going to go try and find Agapito and Agapeto. I want you to stay here, and don't push youself. The owner of this place might come around to check up on you, be courteous, but cautious. He saved your life after all. And for the record, it's Regina, not Sera."

With that, she moved towards the door.

"Aye aye, cap'n!" Cross stated cheerfully.

When Sera walked out, what she saw was that Kamen was walking towards the guest house by an elegant bricked passage. Even though the passage was shadowed by the trees, Kamen still held up an oriental umbrella. The result was that he only got one hand left to carry what seemed to be a large tray of breakfast.

"Oh, Miss Regina!" He saw her from a distance and raised a hand to wave at her. Unfortunately, he had forgotten that he was holding something. "Ow-ow-OOW!" Kamen juggled with the umbrella and the tray, attempting to grab hold on them, but finally still dropped everything. "... Oh no..." He looked at the mess and shook his head.

A half-smile of amusement graced her lips as she went over to help him clean up the mess. "...There's no need to go out of your way to feed us. I feel like I'm asking enough of you as it is, and it's not like I'm so poor that I can't pay for my own food." Her one sharp blue eye glanced up at the albino man, the eye of a mighty huntress.

Kamen returned Sera's gaze with the pure, fearless look of someone who wasn't scared because he didn't know he was supposed to be scared. The first time they met, his children always gave him looks like that, but later on, they all learned a new fearless look, fearless because they had nothing to care about.

"I thought it would be nice to... I mean, you both just recovered, it's really unreasonable to make you take care of yourselves..."

Picking up the umbrella, he chucked at the stain that the tea was probably responsible about.

"Did Cross wake up?"

Serafina nodded. "Yes. And about that, I'm too afraid to move him until he fully recovers, and I have a few errands to attend to. If you can keep an eye on him, that would be appreciated."

"That I can do, but you are not supposed to run errands in this condition!" Kamen gaped at Serafina. "How important it is to be such a priority?"

"Rather important." Serafina replied calmly. She was half tempted to state that the errand might be life or death, but it might have been taken the wrong way. Whatever the case, she needed to find Agapito and Agapeto straightaway.

Kamen didn't question further. "Most... no, I'd say no doctor would let an injured person run around like this, but well... I suppose I have no right to stop you. Just be careful. And don't bring any policeman back here, will you? I hate troubles, and I hate having my store messed up."

Sera got a strange look. "And why would I bring policeman back with me?" She questioned slowly.

"Didn't you say, when I asked you if you caused the destruction of the Rose Hotel or if you were simply caught in it, that a little of both?" Kamen blinked at her. "Is it just me or do you forget what you said that fast?"

She offered a half smile. "...I don't think the police will be after me for that." She replied simply, and walked away.

...

Annoyance was clear on Agapito's face as he observed the bandages around the multiple wounds around his body. Agapeto, sheepishly, looked away.

"...Agapito... You really need to be more careful... You could have been killed-"

"It'd be better than being in this mess." Agapito grunted, and Agapeto flinched. "But, I really think they aren't the ones that went after Sister. They seemed all too willing to help, too."

"...It's called 'recruiting'. They just want more pawns on the battlefield." Agapito snapped. Agapeto frowned. "It's better than being dead!" He shot back, and Agapito fell silent, shaking his head.

It took Kamen a while to come back with another tray of breakfast. He knocked on the guest house's door, announcing, "I'm coming in!"

*

A screeching sound filled the awkward silence between the twin brothers. Soon the meaningless sound became a melancholic music, the lament of an old, tattered cello. The cello player was strikingly familiar: Even though his blond hair was no longer pulled back in a pony tail, but fell into soft curls on his back, and a white blindfold covered his eyes, he could still be identified as Vaserfal, the one who had battled with them not so long ago.


[Because Jun's treatment lasts many weeks, I think at this moment Vaserfal is still half-blind. ]

"Kay." Cross replied from where he sat in the bed.

...

Agapito and Agapeto said nothing, only staring at Vaserfal. Agapito's stare was one of irritation and contempt, but Agapeto's was of surprise and slightly fear. This man nearly killed them singlehandedly. If it wasn't for the fact that they were at a compromise with the Duochomatics, he could as easily kill them now, even if he was injured.

"Good morning." Kamen walked in, greeting the boy cheerfully. He brought the breakfast to the side of the bed. "You woke up earlier than I expected! You must be a brave young man."

His silver eyelashes glittered slightly as they caught the sun light, and Kamen tilted his head to the side, smiling warmly at the boy.

*

The music didn't last long; it suddenly came to a halt. "You." Without turning his head, Vaserfal pointed at Agapito and Agapeto with his bow, "Your most impolite look is ruining my music. If you want to say something, say it."

"I sure am!" Cross replied with a toothy grin, showing the gaps in his smile caused by missing teeth. He then observed his host with a cock of his head. "...You're kinda strange looking," He said casually, as if not knowing that what he was saying was in fact rude.

...

Agapeto blinked. "How can a look ruin music...?" He pondered aloud while Agapito stated blandly, "There's nothing I have to say to you."

Kamen stared at the boy, and then started chuckling softly, "That is true, even though it's not the most comfortable way to hear it. But well, I assure you I'm not that strange. Have you ever seen white rabbits, or white rats? They are all white and have red eyes. They are called albino. And I am just a human albino."

*

"Then can you just ignore me and look elsewhere? Else I would be very jealous of your capacity to 'see' and 'look' and I will have to make us equal." The blond-haired assassin stated as he turned around for the two so that they could see the bloody bandage covering his eyes.

"Oh. It's just that I've never seen that before. It's kinda strange." Cross explained thoughtfully. "Se- Um, Regina says that I get too curious about things I've never sawed before."

...

The threat had no affect on Agapito, yet he didn't have any reason to continue giving the man dark looks, so looked away. However, Agapeto now was wondering something else entirely, glancing at Vaserfal's bandaged eyes. Did they cause the eye wound he now sported? He didn't remember shooting him in the face. He was half out of it during the entire fight, and didn't remember very much of what happened at all.

"It's an absolutely normal thing for a boy such as yourself." Kamen smiled and served the breakfast on a small table by the window. "Can you get up by yourself? Feeling fine enough to eat? You'll need to eat lots, to make up to that amount of blood you lost. I hope the food is to your taste."

*

"It's due to the treatment." Vaserfal could feel Agapeto's look fixed on him, so he explained. It was unknown why he would do such a thing, maybe he just "felt like it". He rested the cello against the wall and stood up. "I don't know how long you will be staying here. But one of you will be placed under my division, thus, I ask of you to have proper manners. Dropping conversations without informing it is something a blind person would not appreciate."

"I sure can get up by myself!" Cross replied cheerfully, then stood from the bed just to nearly trip on his own feet, legs shaking. "...Um. If I'm careful..."

...

"What if we have nothing to say about the matter?" Agapito questioned. "It's not like I'm pointedly stopping the conversation."

Agapeto hesitated. It seemed that his brother was looking for trouble again, and he doubted that was a good idea.

"Let me lend you a hand." Kamen offered, and came to assist the injured boy. As soon as their bare skins came in contact, Cross could feel clearly how cold the man's, comparing to him.

*

"Then you just have to inform that you do not wish to speak further of the matter, like any civilized person." Vaserfal then turned towards Agapeto's direction, "Isn't that right, Agapeto?"

He shivered slightly, but didn't think much of it aside that the cold was uncomfortable. "Naw, I'm okay. I've had worse... I think. Does scurvy count as worse?"

...

Agapeto blinked in surprise at Vaserfal, being thrown violently from his train of thought. "H-huh? Well... I suppose..."

"Oh, that is a very nasty illness." Kamen commented while helping Cross to settle by the table. He then moved the tray to the most comfortable position to the boy's reach. "But only sailors are prone to have that illness. Did you travel pretty long by boat?"

*

"Please take care of your brother," said Vaserfal, without stating anything else. He then returned to his bed and lied down on the side, facing the wall. He made it look like he was asleep, but if he did or not, no one could tell.

Cross nodded. "Uh-huh. I was on a boat pretty much all the time when I was really little. Or at least as long back as I can remember, I think..." He seemed thoughtful for a moment before he started eating hungrily.

...

Agapeto stared at Vaserfal for a moment before shaking his head and glancing back at his brother. "He's right, you know. Stop being so stubborn! You're going to get yourself in trouble one of these days."

Agapito said nothing.