1

"Where are you from? You're not local." Mirai's voice broke through Sora's thoughts and he looked over at her. His mouth quirked up into a smile before it dropped and he turned back to stare out into the darkness. He didn't really want to answer that question. It wasn't because it was stupid. In fact it was incredibly obvious she'd gotten him there, but that didn't make it any less painful. "You have something against locals don't you?" She asked, almost knowingly. "We've all been in that camp for so long that we just...don't want to talk about it, okay?"

She hummed quietly and he glanced over at her again. She'd been watching him since they left. Even with all of their equipment loaded onto carts and their weapons resting on the floorboards of their carts, Mirai stood tall, even though there were several more cart sized bags stacked next to hers. Sora knew why she felt the need to stand. After all, if one day she fell out of the sky, would anyone even notice she had gone? Not unless she wanted them to.

But even though it was hard to believe she was falling out of the sky every morning, it wasn't impossible. There were rumors going around that there was another village, somewhere to the east of where they were right now. A village made of trees, and people like them. People with power. People who could see monsters. Sora thought back to his days with Team Plasma. They'd come to this village looking for a job, looking for someplace new, to escape. To start fresh. And when that didn't work, when the old memories started coming back, well...They ran. They ran from home. From the town where everyone knew who they were. They fled to the woods where there were no outsiders, where there weren't monsters waiting to hurt them. Where they hadn't yet met the woman who became one of their closest friends. Where there was nothing but forest stretching on for miles.

He knew better now. If anything, it was the same forest as before. No monsters. Just trees and dirt. But that didn't mean the memories weren't still there, or that they couldn' t take hold again. That wasn't good for anyone involved.

"Alright. Fine. We're not going to talk about it." Mirai sighed, pulling his gaze away from the darkening horizon as she turned back to face him. Her shoulders slumped and he wondered what she looked like with her hair loose, with just enough of a breeze to ruffle it up slightly. He found himself wishing she'd cut it off, so she didn't look quite so different from how she did in the past. He liked her hair. A lot. And she wore it down now, instead of in a ponytail. Something small and insignificant but important nevertheless. When she smiled he felt warm inside.

There was no way he was going to let that happen ever again.

He watched the last remnants of sunlight disappear behind the trees before shifting uncomfortably. "So uh, when you say 'not talking', do you mean not talking to me?" He teased lightly. Mirai shot him a glare and his grin widened.

Mirai groaned and pinched the bridge of her nose. "What I meant by that was that we won't talk about your past. Because it doesn't matter." She said bluntly. Sora scoffed but didn't argue. He'd already tried once.

He'd said too much and then refused to speak to anyone after that. He knew that if he talked it would only end up hurting everyone else more and he never wanted that. So he'd kept quiet. And kept quiet he had, until now, when they finally reached their destination. The ruins of what he suspected used to be a city.

When they got closer he could see it more clearly. The buildings were still standing, although they were crumbling. And some appeared to be made entirely out of wood, which would probably be useful if they wanted to keep moving without tripping on debris. He shook his head and pushed forward.

He spotted someone ahead and froze, eyes darting to Mirai for a split second before looking to the figure again. What was the guy doing here anyway? They didn't exactly have friends in the city. They didn't have anything to trade. Or maybe they did. Whatever it was, it had to be dangerous.

His hand slipped into the pouch he carried with his weapons strapped to his sides and pulled out his gun. He moved slowly towards the other figure, who hadn't noticed them yet, and took aim. He could kill the stranger if he went for him first. He had to stop being so damn cautious. If the strangers noticed, he could easily deal with them and get this whole mess sorted out.

But something didn't feel right. He felt like this person was the enemy, like his whole purpose was to fight this stranger. He was going to attack, he had to, because that would be wrong. But his finger remained poised above the trigger and for the life of him he couldn't do it.

Just as he was about to lower the gun Mirai called out, "Stop! You're making our mission harder!" The man spun around at that, and Sora recognized him as one of the people Mirai had run into the night before. He stared at the group before his expression hardened, and he walked toward them. Sora stepped back. This guy didn't look like the type to play nice with them. But he needed to try, because if he didn't the others were going to get caught in the crossfire, and he didn't want that.

"It seems like you have a problem." The stranger said flatly, eyeing Sora's gun. Sora shifted uncomfortably and Mirai rolled her eyes, muttering under her breath in a language Sora didn't understand. The stranger nodded sharply and pointed at the weapon. "That gun is not your business. It doesn't belong to you. Give it back. Now." He ordered calmly. Sora's grip tightened slightly on the handle and he narrowed his eyes at the other man.

"Why should I listen to you?" Sora asked. "I'm the leader here, I can do whatever I want." And that was mostly true. At least, that's what Sora told himself. But he was also aware that the other guy was just trying to protect his comrades from him. Trying to prevent him from getting caught in the crossfire. That was all Sora was here to do. Capture the girl and leave. Nothing more. "It's my turn to ask questions. Why are you in my area of the forest?" he questioned again. The other man gave him a flat look and crossed his arms.

"Are you asking the question or answering it?" He snapped. Sora's lips twitched downwards slightly, and the other man continued quickly, "No, that's what I thought. You're just here to capture the girl. Which means you won't be able to stay here very long. You'll have to leave eventually." Sora frowned and stepped forwards, lowering the gun slightly.

"And you think you can do something to stop us? Are you threatening us? My friends?" He demanded angrily. He was furious at the idea of being threatened like this. Threatened with losing his best friends because this other idiot wouldn't leave them alone.

The stranger snorted and shook his head, a condescending smile forming across his face, "Of course not. I wouldn't waste time trying." Sora tensed, preparing for a fight. They didn't need this asshole in their way. Especially not with the girl so close. But the stranger's words didn't seem to register to the younger boy. Instead he focused on how the stranger's voice had sounded. Like he knew more than he was telling them. That he' d seen more than he let on. That it was only by chance that Sora saw the fear flash across his face when he heard the word 'capture'. Had Sora been wrong? Was the stranger afraid of him? Did the man know more than he was letting on? How much of what he was saying was truth or lie?

He didn't realize he was staring until he suddenly realized that the stranger seemed to realize he was staring, and that his jaw clenched ever so slightly. His brows furrowed slightly and he raised an eyebrow in return. Sora immediately dropped his gaze and turned away. He hated confrontations like these. He didn' t like people acting like this. He never had, actually, but he'd changed since the day he came to this strange place with his parents and his brother. After his mom died he stopped caring about what other people thought about him. Not because he wanted people to hate him, but because he didn' t care. Not enough to change things. He still thought his friends should have been the ones to die back in that alleyway that day. He still thought they were guilty. He still thought there was another way to save them. But that anger had been replaced with guilt, replaced by worry over his family. With worry over his mother.

He glanced back over at the other two, watching as Mirai spoke with him quietly and they argued a bit. He wished he could join in with what they were saying, but he knew if he did he'd just upset everyone even more. So he stayed quiet as the stranger led Mirai through the forest.