Mommy Said I Shouldn't Talk to Strangers [NDE, R]

[Nathaniel Tan'O]

Something about Nathan’s small, thin arms wrapped around the man, something about those three words he spoke, caused a change in Aevus. Nathan could feel that change, though he wasn’t sure exactly what it was. Aevus had been following the tiny speck of light at the end of the dark tunnel, and just when he got there, the brightness was overwhelming. There was a surge of emotion in Aevus, but the most prominent of those emotions was hope. Nathan had absolutely no clue what it meant, but he did understand one thing: Aevus was happy. And that made him happy.

And then there was that sound. Aevus heard at, and only by extension, Nathan could vaguely hear it too. He was inside Aevus’s mind, so when a voice spoke to Aevus, Nathan could pick up on it. But the voice didn’t form any words. Not at first. It was only a slight hum, and somehow, Aevus connected it to the sword he owned. At first, Nathan wasn’t sure what was so special about the sword, but a word and all of the meaning behind it came to him.

Zanpakuto…

And then, the sword and Aevus spoke in unison, although they were one person. “Whisper softly, Umbra.” Magic was the only word to describe what was going on. Nathan’s jaw hung in a wide, childish smile as he excitedly watch the sword transform completely. Its hilt began to resemble a little puppy to him, though most would consider the depiction of the wolf far more ferocious and vicious. There was no impurity in Nathan’s heart to have him even consider that a wolf may be malicious. If the sword belongs to Aevus, whoever or whatever it was, it had to be as nice as he was.

Aevus would thank Nathan, but the child was too exhilarated to even notice or question what he was being thanked for. “Woah, Mister Aevus! How’d you do that?” the child asked with an excited light in his eyes. However, that wasn’t all Aevus did. He had more traditional magic tricks as well, like making things appear out of thin air. Aevus held out his hand, and, suddenly, he was grabbing on to the tail of a little black cat. The young teenager jumped a good two feet into the air. “WOAH! HOW’D YOU DO THAT? CAN YOU MAKE A CAT COME OUT OF YOUR HAT TOO?! WE NEED TO GET A HAT TO FIND OUT!”

“This is Kiti.” Natha gleefully ran his fingers along the small cat’s back, enjoying the touch of its smooth fur. “Hey, Kiti. You have a really pretty name.” Nathan looked up at Aevus, who had a small, yet warm smile on his face. Nathan could indirectly feel the nostalgia, and he knew that this cat was really important to Aevus. “You’ll be looking after him from now on err.” The child leaped into the air once more, though this time, it was toward Aevus. He tackle-hugged the man, and if he wasn’t a little child, the impact may have blown him up. Aevus, however, would have no trouble withstanding the force of the hug. “Thank you, Mister Aevus! Now I have you and another friend. I promise that we’ll have plenty of fun and play games like tag and hide-and-go-seek and tick-tack-toe and hot lava monster and Simon says and…”

Nathan went on and on, listing as many games as he could as Aevus tried talking about Kiti’s nature and how he slept during the day. Nathan didn’t mind that, though. He was just excited to have a friend to travel with him. Nathan didn’t even pay attention when Aevus explained that he was Aura’s friend before that, for he already knew. This cat was really important to Aevus, and he was really excited to be its friend too.

But one thing did stick out to Nathan. “Hey, Mister Aevus. Kiti’s gonna come with me while I look for my dad, but you won’t, right? You have to go be a hero and save little people like me. So, Mister Aevus, I want to make sure you come visit me, and I’m not important enough if I’m just your friend. You’re my big brother, and brothers never forget about each other. Someday, I’m gonna be strong like you and I’ll take Kiti and we’ll go find you. You can even meet my dad. We’ll go play games and have fun, but that may take a long time. So until then, can you promise you'll be a good guy?”

Nathan didn’t forget about all of the wars and the bloodshed. They were just as vivid in his mind as they were in Aevus’s. He didn’t forget about the death of Aura. He didn’t forget about how important Kiti was to him. But when Nathan felt that hope in Aevus, he knew that no matter what happened, everything was going to be all right. With one last hug, Nathan would grab Kiti and sprint away down the beach toward the rising sun. “Bye Big Brother!” he screamed as he ran on, toward the light.

But he didn’t look back.

[☾ Aevus | Umbra ☽]

“Thank you, Mister Aevus! Now I have you and another friend. I promise that we’ll have plenty of fun and play games like tag and hide-and-go-seek and tick-tack-toe and hot lava monster and Simon says and…”

Aevus would listen rather enthusiastically for once his demeanor completely changed from his first meeting with the child. The child would go on and on about games, most that he had never even heard of before in his entire life surprisingly. It was now that he suddenly realized that he had stopped regarding the failure as an it but instead as a friend. A boy seemingly in peril had saved him. Though that wasn’t pathetic not in the least, nor did he feel any shame from such an event.

This child, Nathan was a shining reflection of that stealthy teal eyed girl. Just a person looking to help, while selflessly putting themselves in situations where they could easily get hurt. Burdening themselves while all the while smiling through that struggle. Completely and utterly selfless to the end. That is what Aura wanted to do, she wanted to help people, she wanted to be a hero and now he did too.

What kind of hero he would be was up to debate and he still wasn’t so sure of himself. But he no longer felt that weight, at least not in this moment. This child, this boy had washed such guilty emotions away with seamless ease. He was many things but to regards to his race a failure he was not. Though Aevus knew not of the child’s power nor of what exactly he was, he knew one thing. Nathan was someone he never knew he would see again, a hero...

“Hey, Mister Aevus. Kiti’s gonna come with me while I look for my dad, but you won’t, right~"

Nathan caught on quick. For such a seemingly naive child, he was smarter than one would let on. Slightly ignorant he may have been but an idiot he definitely was not. Before he regarded him as an idiot, a naive child who bled of ignorant dreams and thoughts. He had easily been caught under a false deception and in truth he was the ignorant one for falling for such a thing. For it took a child for him to know exactly what he had undoubtedly lost sight of.

“You have to go be a hero and save little people like me~.”

Heh hero, this kid had actually had saved him but Aevus respected his modesty. It was a trait many lacked, he himself included. Or maybe perhaps that was one of the things the child was ignorant of. He probably knew not of the actual impact he had on him. But that was lie and Aevus knew through the tears, that Nathan had glimpsed into his very memories. He was just yet again being nice and trying to reassure the pale faced reaper that he was a hero. Though oddly enough such persistence was starting to weigh on him.

“So, Mister Aevus, I want to make sure you come visit me, and I’m not important enough if I’m just your friend. You’re my big brother, and brothers never forget about each other.~“

A sleepy smile slowly crept forth as he spoke. A simple smirk but he was actually happy to be called a big brother and it felt rather nostalgic. He had felt that way about Aura and she had actually only regarded him as such a few times with their time together. Her stubborned nature had seemed to wash on him and he was simply awestruck that this child had quickly placed him in such high regards upon just meeting him. As a brother he had a big responsibly even if he was just one figuratively.

“Someday, I’m gonna be strong like you and I’ll take Kiti and we’ll go find you. You can even meet my dad. We’ll go play games and have fun, but that may take a long time. So until then, can you promise you'll be a good guy?”

Aevus's blade would continue to hum faintly, the brilliant silver reaitsu fluttered off the runic design of the blade, emiting a peculiar light in the coming hours of dawn. The blade would slowly fade away from Shikai to its regular sealed state and with that he would open the Senkaimon "You wont have to come looking for me, I'll find you as long as you're with Kiti of course." He meant that, the mark of fate that he left on the black tabby would allow him to teleport to him at any time.

That grin on his visage would not falter as the spiritual lights from the waiting doors began to open. Passing into the door of light of that doorway he would look back towards the child sheathing his blade. "I promise little brother." And with that the doors would close and his time in the human world would fade to black leaving only the sun and the light of a new day.

[Amagai Kuchiki]

160 TP Nathaniel
190 TP Aevus

No victory bonus awarded.