Moon Theory (ABO)Ch74 - reminiscence, when they met

[march 2054, again, to their past]

The two of them have been running for a long time. fimZBU

With such tiny legs, the children could not hope to outmatch a deer thrice their size combined, and it is only luck that has kept them alive. Thunder cracks overhead and the storm rages on, clouding their vision past five meters. The winds break as they run, but the white-tailed beast would not be deterred by obstacle nor rain.

“—What are you doing?!” rasps the black-haired teen in front. Hyun is the quicker runner of the two, but the difference is nigh – especially when the beast speeds past thirty miles an hour. “Don’t daydream, Noah!”

Chrysanthemum Garden.

Noah, eight years old, doesn’t answer him. The child is preternaturally quiet – downcast eyes, expressionless face, a countenance so neutral that he may be zoning out altogether. If not for the frigid air keeping him awake, he may have toppled and fell minutes ago.

A second of lag is all that allows the white-tailed deer to spring forward and ram its antlers into him. Noah’s jacket is thick enough to protect the inner layers of his skin, but he is still scratched in collateral, the sharp bone tearing apart a surface of his pale arm. Perhaps the boy is so used to pain he hardly reacts even when it pierces deeper. dNl1QH

His eyes are of light frost, reflected in moonglow, and he stares at the injury in complete detachment. Red blood dribbles downward, the beast roars and bares its teeth, the rain pounds onto his frail body but still, he does not react.

It is only when his companion – the one he’s known for all of two weeks – throws him aside and kicks the deer squarely on the stomach that Noah regains a sliver of rationality.

“What! Are! You! Doing!” the teenager repeats but more angrily this time, his nose bristling in tandem. He hardly has time to scold before the mutated deer, too large and too quick, stomps its hooves on the muddied ground and immediately switches targets. The deer is hardly that radioactive – only, it is about the size of an elephant and its strength way outmatches two young children.

Hyun gets nicked dangerously close to his eyes. He yelps and ducks while simultaneously picking up a brittle tree branch on the ground. It makes for a pathetic sight, one small teen trying to fend off a mutant creature with a stick while the other, a lanky eight-year-old, does nothing but stand still in apathy.

Noah does not seem to care whether or not they’d survive this predicament, but Hyun is not at all willing for them to go out like this. He tries to stab the deer on the neck… to no avail. Its skin is too thick, and the tiny tree branch can barely make a scratch.

The young boy ignores all the shouts from his companion – he’s prone to zoning out recently. When the deer retargets him, he finds himself lying apathetically on the ground a few seconds later, the rainwater seeping through his clothes and streaming fresh blood onto the soil underneath. Noah may as well be a soulless thing just lying in wait of his impending death – and perhaps he’d long accepted his tragedy.

He isn’t aware of how long he had been zoned out, isn’t aware at all of the angry shouts coming from the unacquainted teenager. It is not until he hears loud bangs and louder crackles that he snaps to reality. Those sounds he is only mildly familiar with – he’d only seen firearms latched onto his father’s back, but he never knew just how loudly they could cut through air.

The mutated deer probably drops limply to its death a few seconds later, but Noah’s senses are too distorted from blood loss and fever. NZX1tO

A vehicle drives closer toward them and when it brakes, a pretty teenager steps out. She has long-flowing light-brown hair and a captivating pair of green-gray eyes. She’s dressed in a puffer jacket much too clean in comparison to theirs. They’re covered in soil and grime, looking no worse than those who battle in the slums.

The teenager looks equally as surprised to see them for reasons unknown. It may be Hyun’s appearance that catches her off-guard, that strange patch of fur by his left eye, or it may be Noah’s silver hair, radiant despite the hazy night.

“…Infected?” She speaks mostly to herself and then mutters some other foreign words – French, Noah supposes, though he isn’t quite familiar with the language. The unknown teenager carries a small pistol on her left hand, but she isn’t scared of them. Rather, there is intrigue and curiosity.

There is a man that follows behind her. It’s likely her father, for they have the same brunette hair. He had gotten out of the driver’s seat to inspect the two children – such an odd pair of human hybrids would warrant strange looks for sure. Yet, they aren’t looking at them as if they were strange. Green-gray eyes trail over their wretched bodies, and there isn’t pity, but empathy. LHT9gO

The father says a short phrase and then the female teen flashes them a genuinely kind smile – the sort that bears zero animosity, her features crinkling in pleasantry.

We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.

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“…” It is not Noah who responds, but Hyun, who still has an incredibly distrustful look on his face. “…Why should we trust you to not kill us?”

“Ah…” The stranger only chuckles airily. “You look on the verge of death regardless, mon chéri, so you don’t need me to finish the job. So? What is your name, handsome young boy?” sQkjlO

There is tease in her tone, but Hyun opts to ignore it. “…I am Hyun and he is Noah.”

“Hyun and Noah,” she repeats, weighing the syllables on her tongue. “No last name?”

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“We were not assigned last names,” Hyun says. “It is common.”

“Hm…” The teenager juts a thumb at Noah. “I’ve seen faces like yours, but those features of his – I’d believe you if you tell me he is royalty. A runaway son of a foreign kingdom?” bWLERG

Hyun doesn’t understand her lingo. “Not sure…?”

She laughs. “Well, regardless, I’m Allaire. This is my father and that is our vehicle. Care for a ride?”

The teenager has said it so casually that Hyun finds himself at a loss…

And then, a mere minute later, Noah and he are situated in the backseat of a small vehicle, being driven miles away, destination unknown. Hyun has a large gash on his palm – but “such an injury is nothing to fret over,” Allaire had told him, “especially since you’re already infected.” yA0FCL

They do opt to give treatment to Noah, however, and Allaire stares too long at the old wounds on his body. Several of them new and the rest years old, lingering uglily on his porcelain skin. Allaire daubs a soothing gel-like substance on his skin, some sort of medicinal herb, and Noah doesn’t flinch even when his raw wound is touched.

“I suppose I was wrong,” Allaire hums to herself. “You look too battered to be of royalty.”

—

The hanging bells chime as a black-haired teen enters through the door. He is dressed in clean and crisp attire, his dress shirt peeking out from his black trench coat. His way of dress accentuates his clean-cut features and his jawline is sharp despite the immaturity. He looks to be no older than fifteen, though he has an intellectual air that categorizes him as an elite, no doubt. kPAdYV

The teenager is alone. The first he does when he steps into the dimly lit shelter is to scour the vicinity, trailing his eyes from the reception desk to the hallway that spans beyond. A short moment later, he gives a brief nod to the man by the counter and takes out a piece of paper. Neatly folded, an indication of the meticulous person he is.

“I’ve stumbled upon here,” says the teenager. The quality of his voice is as elegant as the rest of him. His speech does not match how young he looks, his perfectly constructed sentences clashing with his stature. “I’ve heard you offer information for a tip.”

The brunette man studies him for a while before turning to call, in a foreign language, “Allaire! A customer!”

“French?” The teenager adjusts quickly. He places a hand on the counter and slides over the piece of paper – on it is but a simple picture of a silver-haired boy. Crisp features, brightly colored eyes, lips curved into a soft smile. The photo seems freshly printed. “Have you seen this person?” oMbuhg

The man looks at the picture with a frown. The frown deepens when he locks eye contact with the newly arrived customer. “No, but even if we did… Kid, we do not give away private information. Everyone operates on confidentiality here. The slums are not kind whether to normal folk or wealthy socialites like yourself.”

“The person I am looking for is a tad special,” the teenager says. Then he pushes his wire-frame glasses up on his nose bridge, his lips curving up knowingly. “But you are not commenting on his unusual appearance. You know of him.”

At this moment, Allaire comes down from the hallway as gracefully as always, her heeled boots clacking per step. She raises a neat brow at the strange customer (too elite, even by her standards) and then at her father who has on an inquiring look.

“A customer?” she asks as she walks to the reception area. Allaire leans against the mahogany desk and assumes a preeminent posture – shoulders relaxed, confident and comfortable. She studies the young teen who in turn gives her a gentlemanly smile. Allaire receives it with a smile of her own. “What brings this well-mannered elite here?” KigjzJ

The teen gives a slight bow of respect and says amicably, “I’ve heard of your vast intelligence network that spans outside the Nexus. I am looking for a certain someone who has been missing for the past two weeks. Perchance you would know of his whereabouts?”

Allaire examines the photo. Her face indicates nothing. “Two weeks ago? During the city border breach, I presume. And who are you, little stripling, to be so actively looking for him out in the slums? You do not give the air of a soldier. Perhaps some government official’s son or…?”

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“I am well aware of the implication,” the teenager says. “But this is only a personal matter—nothing that the Nexus has a hand in.”

“Hmm…” Allaire gives him another once-over. “And you are?” nM6Y7

“Shi Luo,” the teenager introduces himself good-naturedly. “I have no intentions to do harm. I am on a personal quest to find a good childhood friend who has gone missing a fortnight ago. His name is Xie Xing. Age eight, approximately 130 centimeters tall, silver hair, blue and yellow eyes. His appearance is… hard to forget.”

“Indeed…” Allaire seems to think about it deeply before nodding her head. “Consider yourself lucky you’ve piqued my interest. I am skilled at reading people and you don’t seem to be lying. I do not know of a boy named Xie Xing, but I do know a boy that matches your description perfectly.”

Shi Luo is slightly confused. “…And what of his whereabouts?”

“Right here.” She flashes him a pretty wink, then raises her voice to be heard across the entire shelter, “Noah! A handsome young friend is looking for you!” fYxzS

“…?” The teenager’s brows scrunch up in ponder.

It is not until the arrival of a 130-centimeter-tall, silver-haired, blue and yellow-eyed boy that Shi Luo’s mind clicks the pieces together. In front of him is missing child Xie Xing in the flesh, the top of his silver hair covered by a hood and his heterochromatic eyes widened in surprise.

Shi Luo freezes in place as the young child walks over (hesitantly, like he’s unsure of coming close). Shi Luo stares at his lanky frame, his small body covered by an oversized hoodie, his bony legs hidden by a pair of baggy pants. Xie Xing looks too small for his age but at least… When Shi Luo looks at his healthy complexion and the little bit of plumpness on his cheeks, he cannot help but break into a smile.

Overcome by a rush of relief, the teenager pulls the young child into a hug and says breathlessly, “Xie Xing… I was worried. I even thought you had died in somewhere I could not find. But you… Xie Xing, have you found a place to stay?” MypSdI

“…Shi Luo,” the child says quietly. “I don’t know. But they treat me well and I have no other place to go.”

“Regardless, I am glad you are safe,” Shi Luo exhales. He seems to be in a rush, however, as he keeps shooting glances at the door. With a low, resigned noise, Shi Luo reaches into his coat pockets and hands the boy a small transceiver. “This is something I made. A special device to contact me with.”

Xie Xing receives it. “You are leaving?”

“…Sorry, Xiao-Xing,” the teenager replies with a sad smile. “I have only come to ascertain your safety, but you cannot come back to the city with me. It is dangerous.” QJxKWY

“Okay.”

“Your father—” Shi Luo pauses and shakes his head. He hands over yet another item – a thin rectangular card. On it is a photo of a boy with brown hair, dyed but unnoticeable in low resolution. He has on a soft, cute smile. ‘Xie Xing,’ it reads underneath a barcode, ‘December 01, 2046.’

“—I also modified this. It is a permit you may use to go into the city. Xiao-Xing, you will always have a place to go, but…” Shi Luo drops his voice into a soft whisper, “you will have to find your own place to stay.”

“…Okay.” hGpbNX

“You… should come to visit,” Shi Luo says, still quietly. “Visit me often and tell me stories of the places you’ve been, the things you see.”

“Mn.”

Chrysanthemum Garden.

“…Stay away from bad people,” the teenager says – and he’s only spewing things at random now, unwilling to part though he knows his curfew is near. “Do not get hurt.”

The child only nods. lRo0jd

“And grow up well,” Shi Luo sighs softly. “Do not make me worried.”

At this moment, the hanging bells chime once more, signaling the entry of yet another person. Xie Xing immediately turns around so as to hide his appearance.

“—What’s taking so damn long!” comes an angry voice as the door almost slams open. The newcomer sounds young and quite attractive, the syllables roll off his tongue smoothly despite the foulness. The person must be a companion of Shi Luo’s – quite a familiar one at that, judging from how casual his speech is. “I’m freezing my ballsack off and you’re still here taking your sweet time doing who knows what?! I’ll have you know my time is limited, bastard Luo, and may I remind you who has to drive hundreds of miles back?!”

The door immediately slams closed afterward – it seems the newcomer isn’t interested in associating with anyone else. pXw2AS

Shi Luo only heaves a drawn-out sigh. He looks at the young boy in front of him.

“…Noah,” he says, the name sounding so foreign out of his mouth. “…Would you like to be called Noah from now on?”

The boy turns around and stares at him with a pair of translucent eyes. They convey no other emotion but sorrow.

“Mn.” iQcZMe

Author’s rambling: send help, i’m averaging 3 hours of sleep a day. but moon theory will hopefully be completed before i die