Chapter 71 - A Breakable Friendship : Part 1

"I don't think I can run away anymore, Al." The 17-year old muttered, looking at the red-haired teen on the chair beside the bed Cain was on.

The Vergessene teen had been staying in his best friend's house for a month now. He managed to avoid whatever catastrophe happened to his family.

"What do you mean? You're laying on my bed right now as I do my homework which-" Alfred raised his voice and glared at Cain. "-you don't want to help me by letting me copy yours."

"Dude. This ain't homework that you can copy. You're supposed to write an essay out of your brain." Cain, who was facing the ceiling, turned to his left, returning Alfred's stare.

"You know I'm dumb with this shits. The difference is you're born genius, Cain." The red-haired teen sighed, turning away from his best friend as he tried to continue his homework.

"You flatter me too much, bro," Cain commented, fiddling with a pen in his hand.

"I am not flattering you. I'm stating facts, mister top of the class." Alfred retorted back with a slightly annoyed tone.

"Well, true. But I'm not Einstein, alright." Said the black-haired boy with a slight smile on his face.

"Duh." Alfred deadpanned, rolling his eyes.

Cain sighed and went to sit on the bed while crossing his legs. His black hair was messy, and his blue eyes had bags under them.

"What I meant about I can't run away anymore was-" The Vergessene began and tried to shove down the fear in his heart. "-will it forever be like this? There must be an end, right?"

Alfred turned his chair around to face his best friend again and smiled in understatement. "Hey. Let's just focus on what was happening right now, okay? We'll figure it out together if shits ever go down."

Cain sighed again and brushed his hair back just for it to cascade down to his forehead. "Okay." He nodded and tried to return the smile at his best friend.

"Come on. We both have a girlfriend now. Let's do a double date or something. Spice things up." The red-haired boy suggested, trying to lighten up the atmosphere.

"Ha. Yeah. I haven't brought her to date for a while." Cain smiled as his mind went into her girlfriend. Her mysterious purple eyes would soften every time they were together.

And her smile that no one would see but him. Maybe.

"You are totally in love, dude. Just me mentioning your girl, and you went all cheeky smile like that." Alfred sneered at the black-haired boy.

"Excuse me," Cain put pressure on his words to express his disbelief. "-who is the one that bought a whole store for Isabella?" The Vergessene continued before clasping both of his hands sarcastically. "Oh right, it's you."

"What?" Alfred tried to justify and clicked his tongue. "It's just a store."

"Just a store?!" The black-haired teen's mouth agape as he blinked sheepishly at his best friend. "Fuckin rich ass."

"I am both rich and has a rich ass indeed." Alfred chimed in and grinned at the Vergessene playfully.

The black-haired teen was the first one to let out an uncontainable laugh that brought tears to his eyes. The red-haired teen followed the laugh not long after as they both fell into a pit of laughter.

As their laughter faded, Alfred cleared his voice and put a hand on Cain's shoulder. "Oh right. If you're worried about your family, don't worry, I won't tell anyone." He reassured with two hazel eyes of determination.

"I know you love your brother so much." The red-haired added and pat Cain's shoulder lightly.

"Thanks." Cain smiled at him and returned the pat. "I don't know what I'd do without you, Al."

Alfred smiled. "Me too."

✵✵✵✵✵✵

"So Rune really didn't know, and I'm the first one to know?" Aster began as he kept the same pace with Axel.

Axel fixed his school bag and looked at Aster with a forceful smile. "For the hundred times, yes, Aster."

They just got back from their extra classes. Rune did not get in the extra classes because she had her own tutor at home.

Usually, the blond and the black-haired boy never actually went home together. They always walked alone every time they had the same extra class, never wanting to actually meet with each other.

If they did meet with each other, Aster would just belittle him and go the opposite way. And sometimes Aster's brother would pick him up if Valerian did not forget, that is.

But tonight was different.

From the whole identity reveal shenanigans and all the screaming with questioning their own existence, they kind of bond. Like a bond bond. A real bond.

Aster had been following Rune and Axel everywhere. The girl would try to push the blond away, and the two would create chaos that would lead to detention. And poor Axel would be dragged in and tried so hard not to burn the whole place down.

Rune started to accept Aster slowly, knowing that the blond was not following them to bully Axel, but he genuinely just wanted to be friends.

Not that the Edelweiss would admit it, of course.

Aster would glare at whoever was looking at Axel or Rune different. He would give a deadly stare at the people who just tried to glance their way. When Axel was bullied, Aster would not hesitate to punch the bullier.

And Aster would say along the lines of "I was not doing it for you, loser. They're just blocking my way."

When in reality, they weren't in his way at all.

It had been almost a month now for Axel to feel peace and have a new friend. Well, the Vergessene believed what he and Aster's relationship was called friendship anyway.

The Edelweiss would yell at him every time the young murderer just tried to ask if they were actually friends or not.

Oh, and Axel noticed how Aster was still always wearing the shoes he gave to him as the mute murderer.

"You know, I thought Rune already knew. Because she is your best friend and all." Aster commented as he kicked the rock in front of him.

The occasional barking of faraway dogs and hoots of owls broke the silence of the night. The two boys walked in an empty alleyway, ignoring the slightly flickering street lights around them.

The blue eyes looked down to the ground wanly. "She would hate me if she knew what I am." Axel sighed and continued. "She always said that I was her prince and what if she found out that I'm the monster all along?"

Aster blinked with confusion and disbelief. "What kind of edgy fantasy shit is that? No wonder why you two stick together like glue since you two are kids."

He put a hand over Axel's shoulder and brought the Vergessene close to him. "Dude, I'm sure she'll accept you. I mean, you two are like soulmates."

Axel finally looked up to meet the pair of green eyes. "Why are you so sure?"

"Well, because I'm great and all." Aster shrugged as his lips tugged upward a little. "Unlike you."

Axel rolled his eyes at him and continued walking. They both fell into all kinds of various conversations, just going with the flow. At some point, Aster would playfully bully the Vergessene, and Axel would just roll his eyes.

When Axel suddenly stopped walking, Aster almost fell face-first to the ground because his hand was over Axel's shoulder. Therefore, he could almost lose sight of his handsome face for weeks.

"Dude, what the hell?" Aster turned around to find Axel, who was warily looking around.

"Someone's watching us. Someone dangerous. I can feel it." The black-haired boy stated. Blue eyes scanned the surroundings tightly, trying to find where the person was.

"Really?" Aster slowly hid behind Axel. "How do you know? Are you like the criminal version of Spider-man? Having spidey sense and all?" The blond whispered while still trying to hide and use Axel as a shield.

Aster vaguely heard footsteps from behind him and tried to look back. Axel was faster to notice than the blond, just in time to push the Edelweiss away, letting himself be the one who the person took.

The person held Axel hostage and pointed a gun at his head. "No one move, or I'll shoot."

Aster quickly raised both of his hands and looked at Axel with green eyes that were asking, 'what are you going to do? What should I do?'

"You pick the wrong guy, my dude." Aster began and smirked unapologetically, trying to calm the adrenaline that was rising within him that was shouting for him to run away.

"Oh, really? What's he gonna do? Cry?" The person mocked and held Axel even tighter.

"Here, I'll give you two options." The man began and grinned at Aster with a smile that confidently believed he had already won. "Follow me, or I'll kill you."

"I prefer the third option, though." Aster ventured and tilted his head, causing his blond locks to fall to the side of his face. "Kicking your ass."

The sentence rang bravely in the air, causing some build-up tense that would soon happen. Though the words just stayed there without any movement being made. The person raised his eyebrows at Aster, unimpressed.

The blond chuckled awkwardly and looked over to Axel. "Uh, loser? This is the time where you kick his ass after I proudly declare it." He smiled at him, eyes wide, trying to make Axel beat the guy into a pulp.

Axel shook his head slightly at Aster, knowing that he could not move freely from the situation he was in. "He prohibited me to fight back when I'm me." Uttered the Vergessene.

Aster may be stupid, but he got what Axel meant. 'He' was the mercenary. Everyone knew the mercenary was the owner of the mute murderer's every single movement.

"Oh, come on, it's not like he's here, dude." The Edelweiss tried to encourage the Vergessene.

"And who is he anyway? He ain't owning you, right?" He continued, causing Axel's eyes to become wide at the question.

"You are your own person, loser." The last sentence from Aster's mouth opened something within Axel that should have been opened since he ran away from Kiaran.

Axel quickly turned the table around by suddenly grabbing the man's gun and twisting his arm. The man screamed and tried to punch Axel, only for the boy to shoot his shoulder and kick the man's stomach.

The man fell to the ground with blood flowing down his shoulder. Axel realized how he almost aimed for his head like he used to do to kill people. Thank god he managed to change the aim to the man's shoulder.

Aster clapped his hands proudly and looked down at the man with an etching smirk. "Told you. You pick the wrong guy."

"Should've picked me." He kicked the man's stomach just for closure, earning a grunt from the said man.

Aster looked over to Axel and punched the boy slight on the shoulder. "Good job." He took the gun in Axel's hand and examined it. "I'll call my brother. You go home first."

"By the way, I'm totally going to take the credit for this." The blond added and pushed Axel away.

"Good night, loser!" Aster waved at the Vergessene, who quickly realized he had been walking away from the Edelweiss in a daze.

Axel shook his head to snap out of it. The boy chuckled and waved back. "Good night, Aster!"

Without the two realizing it, a certain mercenary was watching them all the time from a rooftop with two darkened blue eyes.