PRESENT DAY<\/p>\n
A seventeen year old with black cropped hair tossed a stone across the alley way, which was filled with puddles.
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Hello, Askasa,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d the boy said, a tinge of resentment in his voice.
\nHe wore an old, ragged brown jacket that was too big for him. On the right arm was a red stripe with a black symbol inside a white circle. The symbol looked like some sort of plus sign with twisted ends. What it meant had long been forgotten.
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Hikari,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Fortenra answered, watching his old friend chew on a piece of beef jerky. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153It’s good to see you again.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d
\nThe tradition of greeting eachother by last name was something they had started when they were just little kids.
\nHirun tilted his head back and gave a single, loud laugh at Fortenra’s statement. A piercing green eye glared at the older boy through his tangle of bangs. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Why are you even here? Wasn’t the Phoenix Gang taking care of you?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d The questions were laden with hatred. Hirun had felt betrayed when Fortenra left him.
\nThe waiter lifted up his blistered hands. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I need your help.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d
\nHirun’s eyes narrowed, and he finally stood on his old combat boots. They were falling apart, pieces of the material flaking off at the seams. But it was good to see Hirun had finally grown into them. Fortenra could remember when they were several sizes too small.
\nBut the Askasa kid’s moment of reminiscence was over with Hirun’s next statement:
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153And what about when I needed help?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d
\nFortenra frowned. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153That wasn’t my choice. Listen. Take me to a healer, and I can make everything up to you.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d
\nHirun grumbled to himself, shifting his weight uneasily. He spit the wad of beef jerky that had been too hard to chew from his mouth and turned to pick up a soldat cap, placing it on his head before kicking rubble across the alleyway and walking past Askasa and onto the main street.
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Hurry up, before it gets dark,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Hirun grumbled, walking up the ruins of the city.
\nThis place wasn’t for normal citizens, and Askasa, still in his work clothes, stuck out like a sore thumb.
\nAs the sunlight began to fade, he could see glimpses of the lowliest and most unfortunate Dexterians peering through the lengthening shadows toward him. But as long as Hirun was nearby, he knew the others would stay away.
\nHikari practically owned this place. He and Askasa grew up here. Even though Hikari had no rez, he had managed to beat most and instill fear into the rest. Askasa was his adoptive brother, and while Askasa had a rez, he hated using it.
\nIt was through Hirun that Fortenra received the wire implants. They had gone to Roy Salamandra, some hack scientist, and had the operation done. Fortenra’s wires were sheer science and brilliance, not a resonance soul. Askasa’s Resonant was far more deadly than his wires, and that was why he never used it.
\nHe looked to Hirun.
\nHirun had been abandoned, just like Fortenra. But Hirun had no power but his own body to protect himself. In Dexterity, especially in this area, people without resonants did not live long life spans. And Hirun was still a kid. He seemed to be doing well for himself.
\nCertainly better than Askasa, anyway. Askasa just felt like he had been used.<\/p>\n
But in the same vein, at least Askasa had a home to come to. A place with four walls. It meant a lot to him. He had worked hard for it.
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Here it is,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Hirun rasped, taking out a flask and shaking it.
\nHearing no water inside, he unscrewed the cap and dipped the flask into a nearby rain barrel to collect more. They were in front of something that looked like it used to be an old cottage at one point. But there was a huge amount of rubble all around, as if a large parking garage fell atop the house.
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Where are we?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Fortenra asked.
\nHirun drank from his now full flask before hanging it from his belt again.
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Opal’s place.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Hikari was unenthusiastic. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[12],"tags":[],"series":[30],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cc.khat.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/294"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cc.khat.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cc.khat.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cc.khat.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cc.khat.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=294"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/cc.khat.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/294\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":564,"href":"https:\/\/cc.khat.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/294\/revisions\/564"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cc.khat.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=294"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cc.khat.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=294"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cc.khat.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=294"},{"taxonomy":"series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cc.khat.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fseries&post=294"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}