Seven

***

The sun dipped low, casting long shadows across the small, cluttered room. Dust motes danced in the golden light that streamed through the cracks in the wooden shutters. 

The little girl ran down the hallway. Panting, she turned the corner and noticed a woman looking down at a frail boy, about 12, with burgundy hair and glowing orange eyes. He clutched the red mark on his cheek.

"You just don't get it, do you, Ruthia?" The boy's voice was sharp, a mixture of anger and hurt. "You're always so focused on what I'm not doing, what I'm not achieving. Can't you see I'm trying? For who I am and want to be? One thing being not your pawn."

Ruthia's gaze hardened, her jaw clenched in defiance. "Trying? Is that what you call it, Seven? You've been coasting through life, content to settle for mediocrity. You think just because you're trying, everything should fall into your lap? I'm helping you, but you just don't seem like you want it."

The boy halted, turning to face his sister with wounded eyes. "I never said that. But what do you want from me? I'm doing the best I can with what I have."

"The best you can?" She scoffed, a bitter edge to her tone. "Forgive me if I'm not impressed. You had so much potential. But you squandered it, wasted it on frivolous pursuits and your...freaky fetish."

He fists clenched at his sides, his voice rising in frustration. "And what about you? Always striving for perfection, always measuring success by someone else's standards. Have you ever stopped to think that maybe I don't want to live up to your expectations? That maybe I don't have to follow your demands?"

Ruthia's eyes flashed with indignation, her voice laced with disdain. "Expectations? These are not just my expectations, Seven. They're the expectations of our family, of society. I'm not asking for the moon, just a semblance of ambition, of drive."

"Our family? It's just the 4 of us left! Three, Five, Six and Eight: Dead! They died according to your will, and unsurprisingly, I don't want to live up to that! "Maybe I'm not cut from the same cloth as you..." He shot back, his voice trembling with emotion. "Maybe I don't want to spend my life chasing after some unattainable ideal. Maybe I just want to be happy, in my own way."

She rose from her seat, her stance rigid with anger. "Happiness? Is that what you call this? Wasting away your potential, settling for less than you're capable of? You're better than this, or at least you should be."

He spat at her feet.

"Seven!" She screamed at him, and the little girl hid behind the wall, covering her mouth.

"You useless boy! No common sense! When I tell you to do something, you do it: No questions asked, no backchat, and certainly no boycott! You're just a...a defect! You don't deserve a place in my family!"

He growled, but not before rebelling back at her.

"My name is not Seven, and don't treat me like your family! Our parents treated me better than you ever will!"

The words hung in the air, heavy with the weight of years of resentment and unspoken truths. In that moment, as the sun dipped below the horizon and darkness descended upon the room, Ruthia and her younger brother stood on opposite sides of an unbridgeable divide, each grappling with their own demons and desires.

"Get out...." All but a whisper escaped from her lips.

"Huh...?"

Ruthia screeched from the depths of her lungs, her echoes reverbed down the halls. "I said...GET OUT!!" This type of scream was sharp enough to slice metal, and it definitely made Seven alert. Before he could react, she grabbed him by his collar, dragging him out of the room and to the front door.

That was the last time anybody saw him. Ruthia returned, but Ruthia returned alone.

***

Two's eyes open and expand with terror overwhelming her, only to calm down as she heard Nova's voice. 

"You're awake? Do you want me to put you down?"

She came to her senses, now realising that she was being carried by Nova on his broad back. Two scurried off of him and cleared her throat.

"Thank you."

"It's been a couple hours. Still no sign of your brother. Are you sure he's alive?"

"Yes. I know he is."

"When did you last see him...and where?"

She paused, reluctant to reply.

"What is it Two? How long?"

".....Five years..."

"And you're 100% sure he didn't die off somewhere?"

"He can't have...Not while he promised to....No. I'm certain he's here somewhere."

They had now reached the early stages of the slums: These places didn't even have proper well made buildings, mainly shacks and small huts. This is was like to be truly broke.

***

[ Side Quest

Feels like Home: Search for a suitable residence fit for a King.

*Duration: 4 Days Remaining.

*Failure: Death. ]

Time was drawing closer to an end that Nova wasn't too eager to see, and the chance of finding Seven seemed to decrease and decrease, so Nova decided it was finally time to postpone this search and focus on finding a place to stay. That was until...

Nova turned to Two and started to lay it straight to her.

"Listen, Tw-"

A tall, young boy, just shorter than Nova, with scruffy hair and unkept clothes, bumped into the man. Feeling something missing, Nova grabbed the boy's arm and saw his wallet in his hand.

"Hey kid, don't you have something to say?"

"Go die, old geezer."

"What...th-"

Nova froze once the boy turned around. Glowing right back at him, were the luminescent orange eyes on a face he seemed to familiarize himself with.

'Purplish hair like Ruthless.....Orange eyes like Two...'

He looked above.

[ Status Window

Name: Akira Emrys

Status: Hungry ]

Then his eyes followed to the screen adjacent.

[ Akira is gifted. ]