Chapter 126 - The Mute Demon : Part 1

"Zack, you look like shit." Kiaran removed the cigarette from his mouth and blew up the smoke. He tapped the ashes while leaning on the wall in front of the front door.

The front door was opened, revealing a brunette with dark bags under his eyes. His hair looked like a whole mess. His clothes crumpled around as he exhaustedly dragged his feet inside.

"Yeah, no shit." Zack retorted back with a sarcastic smile. He groaned as he took another step and stumbled on his feet.

Someone suddenly caught him from behind and carried him bridal style. The brunette yelped at the sudden movement and widened his eyes to the person who held him.

A pair of deep red eyes with wings adorned her back, staring into the brunette's matching red eyes. She emotionlessly examined Zack in her hand without blinking. The latter's face went red at the sudden gaze as he spluttered around.

"Can you put me down? This is kind of embarrassing, Adreanna." Zack tried to hide his face with both of his hands.

"You need more rest." She monotonously spoke, holding the brunette even tighter in her hands.

Zack sighed defeatedly. He knew how stubborn she was with her words and belief. "Yes, I know. But I want to check on-"

His red eyes caught the boy that had been standing like a statue beside Kiaran. His patched eye and red eye stared at Zack even more emotionless than his sister. He wore a white blouse and white shorts with bandages from his feet to his neck.

"Oh, there he is." The brunette exclaimed and strugglingly waved to Axel. "Hey, kid."

There was no answer for a while as the boy only gave Zack a dead stare. Axel blinked once and then twice before finally moving his hand into his pocket. He took out a few mini notes and picked the middle one.

Axel brought the paper to Zack and showed it in front of his face. 'Hello! (•◡•) /'

Realization hit Zack like a truck. "Ah."

"Sorry about that."He moved his eyes to the bandaged boy and tried to smile for him genuinely. "-About everything."

Adreanna and Kiaran knew the implication behind the brunette's words. He was not sorry for Axel's death. He was sorry for manipulating the kid's memory. But Axel would not know, either way.

Zack struggled to open his mouth to speak more. Something was weighing the brunette down. Kiaran noticed that and quickly moved from his place.

"Anyway, you came here for something. So let's go." Kiaran moved his head, telling Adreanna and Zack to follow him.

"Or did you come to flirt around?" The secondborn raised one of his eyebrows, almost tauntingly. "If you do, please do get a room, you two."

"Ah, no." Zack's face quickly turned red again. "I'm here to talk about-" Zack side-eyed Axel, and Kiaran quickly understood.

"Then follow me." The anarchist continued while making his way to Axel and put a hand on top of the boy's head.

"Axel, we'll be discussing something for a while. You can play around for a moment. Don't hurt yourself. If anything happened, just knock on father's office room, okay? We'll be there."

Axel unblinkingly stared at Kiaran and searched for another note. 'okay ≧◉◡◉≦'.

Kiaran huffed fondly and ruffled Axel's fluffy hair. He began to walk away from his little brother, giving a last glance at the boy as he led the way for Adreanna and Zack that was still carried by her.

Axel stood silently, staring at the three that slowly disappeared from his eyes. He stayed like that for a very long time with no thoughts inside his head. He then looked over to the kitchen and robotically walked over there.

He reached the empty tray of cupcakes on the furthest side of the counter and blinked. He gazed at it for some minutes before diverting his gaze to the window. Axel examined the outside for a while and blinked once again.

Then his red and patched eye caught the front door that hadn't been closed since Zack came in. The boy blinked slowly and quickly got outside without thinking about the consequences.

✵✵✵✵✵✵

Axel arrived in front of a bakery and stood in front of the glass door. He looked at the inside with a flat look. Round red eye stayed to stare in the same direction. It was really uncanny for people who say the dead boy there.

When someone opened the door and came out of the bakery, Axel walked in swiftly into the cupcakes section.

He gazed at the cupcakes briefly until someone came up to him and smiled. "Do you need anything?"

Axel stiffly moved his head to the lady, blinking once, then pointed at the cupcake in front of him.

"You want to buy this?" She nicely asked once more.

Axel did not answer. He just unblinkingly stared at the lady until she chuckled awkwardly. "I'll wrap it up for you, then." She quickly took the cupcake and grabbed a paper bag for the boy.

Axel pulled out a large amount of money and put it down to the lady's hand. He quickly walked away with a cupcake in his hand as he dropped the paper bag to the ground.

"K-kid. The change-" She didn't get to finish the sentence when Axel had already been out of the bakery.

Axel was about to take a bite when someone suddenly slammed him down the nearby building's wall and made him drop the cupcake in his hand. The boy's eyes followed the fallen cupcake and stared at it, ignoring the man that was trying to strangle him.

"You dare to look away!" He quickly grabbed the boy's chin harshly and forcefully made Axel face him.

The man that had been cornering the boy gritted his teeth. There was an awful scar that went along from his chest to his neck and ended in his right eye.

"The butterfly murderer did this to me." He spat with uncontainable rage within his voice. "I've gotten stronger, and I came up to challenge him."

"But he said I have to beat you first to be worthy." The man's hand quickly formed spikes as he jerked it back, ready to launch a punch to Axel's unfazed being. The boy did not blink nor do anything as he stared at the man with his usual emotionless gaze.

The man grinned insanely. Though, his grin was hideous, unlike Kiaran's. Kiaran had a way to charm people with his insane grin. This man was straight up ugly.

"Now, die." He uttered and finally moved his hand at a fast speed onto Axel's face.

Right before the spiking fist hurt Axel, a sudden ball of fire was thrown into the man, sending him onto the ground with an ugly burn.

A young soldier with silver hair and a pair of red eyes stood protectively in front of Axel. The soldier's hands were shaking as fear took over him. Yet the boy still stood for Axel and tried to save him.

When the man had recovered and tried to get up from the ground, the young soldier quickly snatched Axel's hand and dragged the boy with him. "Run!"

"Why aren't you screaming for help?! Nearby soldiers could help you! Thank god a soldier like me was around." He nagged Axel as they ran together, with the mute boy obediently following him.

The silver-haired soldier did a quick turn into a building and fell onto the ground on his side. He grimaced at the sudden impact and quickly opened his eyes to check Axel's state.

Axel's face planted to the ground, unmoving.

It made the young soldier's face turn white and go into a panic state in a mere second.

"Are you okay?!" He worriedly took the boy's back to face him. He quickly examined the crack on Axel's face and fell even deeper into his panic state.

"Oh god. Oh my god. Did I do this? I- holy shit. Okay, uh, wait, let me search for-" The young soldier suddenly stopped after something tugged the back of his mind.

He took a slow breath as he moved his red eyes back to Axel's face. He looked at Axel with a surprised look that turned into disbelief that quickly changed into relief.

The wind that came from the opened window blew Axel's black fluffy hair, showing his dull face to the soldier. The silver head felt something weigh down his throat when he saw the boy's face.

"...Axel?"

The young soldier trembled as he made sure he was seeing the real person. His eyes started to water as he grabbed Axel's shoulders as if to make sure that he was real.

"You're not dead?" He croaked with a happy smile. "You're not dead!"

"You remember me, right? You are the one who saved me." The silver head exclaimed with tears that started to fall down from his face.

"It's me, Leo!"