NoGift

"Only you could find this situation interesting," Aurum said with a bit of a helpless tone.  "What do you think, was the kid just pretending to be a victim?"

"Before I answer that, was the man trying to stab the kid really mad?  Do you think he"s born like that or was he simply too stimulated that he turned crazy?"

Aurum seriously thought of the answer to her brother"s question.  She tried to remember the feeling she got when he read the mind of the man and immediately got the answer she was looking for.  "It"s probably the latter."

The man"s mind was too broken.  That kind of brokenness was too artificial.  As if someone forcefully took his mind apart and didn"t bother to put it back together.  

"If it"s the latter, then there"s an 80% chance that the kid was not as blameless and innocent as he pretends to be," Argent said.  "My guess is he pushed that man into madness.  He let himself be taken to that alley.  Let other people see that man try to stab him.  He probably spent days making that man crazy just so they could arrive in that kind of situation."

Aurum"s brows furrowed.  That possibility actually didn"t cross Aurum"s mind.  "Then does that mean his injuries were also false?"

"No.  He"s injuries were true.  Or else Clay wouldn"t be emotionally affected.  That"s why I said it"s interesting."

A kid who wouldn"t hesitate to harm himself just to push someone into total madness.  If that wasn"t madness itself, then Argent wasn"t sure what was.

"Then what"s his goal?"  Then Aurum suddenly remembered something.  "Do you think this is related to that b.a.s.t.a.r.d Pope?  This situation is particularly similar to what happened to you in Shandra.  You know, when that b.a.s.t.a.r.d pretended to be some innocent priest so he could give you information about that pig Bishop."

Argent also thought of that.  But she immediately refuted it.  Because it"s just too coincidental.  She didn"t think that the Pope was that omnipotent that he could even know that they"re already here in Victoria City and even immediately discover their disguise.

"No, I don"t think he"s targetting you and Clay per se.  I think anyone who pa.s.sed by that alley in that particular instance, even if it"s not you two, would do.  He just needed someone to witness what"s happening and for that someone to save him.  In this case, that someone would be you and Clay."

"But why would he do that?" Aurum asked, still a bit confused.  

"Maybe it"s a game for him.  And you two should be his next target," Argent answered, shrugging.  "It"s a good thing you"re smart and didn"t immediately succ.u.mb to the kid"s victim act."

"Of course.  I"m your sister.  How could I be dumb?" Aurum said proudly, even raising her chin in a proud manner.

Argent smiled.  "Yes, my sister is definitely the smartest."

Aurum grinned.  "But Brother, how did you arrive to that conclusion?"

"Maybe because I also have a certain madness in me."

"How could that be?" Aurum immediately refused the idea of her brother being mad.  "If we"re talking about craziness level here, I"m definitely crazier than you.  But I didn"t even think of the possibility you thought of.  So you"re reasoning is invalid."

Argent didn"t stop herself from laughing.  Only her sister could lighten up her mood like this.  "Let"s just go to the Healing Center and find out from the kid himself if my deduction was right."

Aurum agreed and the twins walked to the direction of the Healing Center.  It didn"t take long before they reached their destination because the Healing Center was also located near the plaza.  

They saw Clay walking back and forth in front of the center.  He only stopped when he saw them coming.

"The kid?" Aurum asked.

"I left him inside," Clay answered.  "I thought about what you said and I agree that the boy could bring us trouble.  So in the light of that, let"s just leave him here."

"That"s certainly a wide decision.  But I want to talk to this kid first," Argent said.

She didn"t exclude the possibility that the kid might be related to the Temple or even to the Apostles themselves.  After all, a boy who"s not even more than ten years old and having a mind like that was certainly not something a normal child could have.

Clay looked at Argent.  This guy probably had something planned up so he didn"t disagree to his decision.  

They all went inside the Healing Center.  The inside was made up of pure white walls.  There were rows of beds, some occupied and some not.  Women wearing white gowns were walking around, a.s.sisting anyone who needed a.s.sistance.  They"re probably the nurses here.  

Clay led them to the backmost area only to see an empty bed.

"No, this was where I left the boy," Clay said.  "You wait here, I"ll look for the nurse I talked to earlier."

"Don"t bother," Argent stopped him.  "The kid"s probably gone anyway."

"What do you mean?" Clay asked.

"I don"t know.  Maybe he no longer wants to play with you two," Argent shrugged.

Clay totally didn"t get what Argent said.

Argent didn"t care for his confused look and just turned around.  "Let"s go.  We won"t find anything here."

She walked and Aurum followed without question.  

Clay looked at the back of the two and, at the end, just helplessly followed.

----------

Later that evening, inside a prison cell of the knight"s garrison, a man was trembling in the corner.  He was rocking back and forth in the corner he was sitting, continuously muttering complete nonsense.  If Aurum and Clay were here, then they would immediately recognized this man as the man who tried to stab a boy in the alley earlier.

Then suddenly, the prison bars opened.  A boy with pale blond hair slowly walked inside.  His skin had an unhealthy white hue.  He almost looked like a pale ghost under the dim light.  His gray eyes with almost no emotion pierced the man sitting in the corner.  The man trembled even more when he saw the boy.

"No... no... no!  Devil, it"s the devil!  Devil!"

"You lost.  The penalty is your life," the boy said with a voice lacking in emotion, like some mechanical puppet.

"You can"t kill me!  You can"t!  The game hasn"t ended yet.  Yes.  That"s right!"  The man stood up with a maniacal smile on his face.  "I can still do it.  I can still kill the other devil!"

"Brother already said that you lost," said another voice.  It came from another boy who walked inside the prison cell.  He had the same face as the other blond haired boy.  But unlike the other, his face was rich in emotion.  His hair and eyes were golden brown.  His skin was also golden brown like being kissed by the sun.  But all his exposed skin was full of bruises and scratches.  "So you"re going to die now," he added in a very sweet voice.

He walked to the side of the blond haired boy and clasped his hand.  When the man saw that, his trembling became even fiercer.  His body exuding the intense fear he was feeling. 

"No!  No!  Stay away from me!  Stay away you monsters!"  

Then the blond boy suddenly reached for the man"s arm.  The man convulsed.  He felt an intense pain.  It was so intense it felt like all his organs were slowly being cut into tiny pieces.

"Ahhhhhhhh!!!!!!!"

Wounds appeared on the man"s skin.  At the same time, the bruises on the boy with golden brown hair slowly disappeared.  Then blood poured out of the man"s orifices.  It didn"t even take a minute before he fell down and lost his breath.  Just like that, the man died.

The boy with golden brown hair looked at the man with a gleeful expression.  While the blond haired boy only stared with no emotion.

"This toy is no fun," the boy with golden brown hair said, pouting.  "The masked man earlier and his companion seemed to be a lot of fun.  Brother, why do we have to let them go?"   

"They"re not simple," answered the blond haired kid.  "Luc said, while we"re here, we could only target simple toys."

The other kid seemed to understand his brother"s answer and no longer sulked.  Then hand-in-hand, they both walked out of the prison cell.