Chapter Text
Lio
Lio Oak honked the car horn when he saw his wife, Song, exit the empty animal clinic, alerting her of where he was. He watched her lock the door before turning around to wave at him, a tired smile plastered on her face. She must’ve had a hard day, then , Lio thought.
Song hurried her way across the almost empty parking lot and opened the door to the passenger seat. As soon as she was sitting down, Lio leaned towards her to lovingly kiss her cheek. She smiled at him.
“How was work today, babe?” he asked, starting the car before driving out of the parking space.
“It was alright — kind of stressful. They brought in a hurt baby mandrill from the woods earlier this morning. They said it was completely alone, no signs of his family. They’re pretty sure that his parents are dead,” Song explained and Lio frowned. “We’re going to keep him in the clinic for further observations.”
Lio didn’t miss the sad look on her face. He knew that she’d always had a soft spot for animals, ever since she was a child. It was the reason why she’d decided to become a vet.
“I bet he’ll be alright. He has the world’s most amazing vet taking care of him,” Lio reassured, reaching a hand out to squeeze Song’s gently.
Song giggled. “Thank you, hun.”
They sat there in silence, just enjoying each other’s company. Lio focused on keeping his eyes on the empty road, lulled by the quiet hum of the car. The darkness of the night comforted him, with the stars looking down at him and his wife from above.
He was about to speak up again to ask his wife if she wanted to grab takeout, or for him to make a home cooked meal, when a small shadow bolted from the trees on the left side of the road. His foot was on the breaks in a second, stopping the car just as the shadow ducked.
Song grabbed his arm in worry. “Lio? What happened?”
“I think I almost ran over something,” he said, unbuckling his seatbelt before getting out of the car, hearing Song gasp as she followed suit.
Lio hurried to the front of the car, expecting an animal to lie there, maybe a deer. What he didn’t expect was the young boy crouched down into a ball, cradling his head in his skinny arms. He looked over at Song who stood on the opposite side of the car, looking just as shocked as he was.
“Hey, there, are you okay?” Lio asked, kneeling down beside the child to check on him.
His brown skin was bruised and dirty and he was clearly in need of a bath. Lio reached out to touch him, but the boy immediately flinched back, looking at him with big, brown, fearful eyes. Lio held his hands up in surrender, taking notice of the item that the boy held in his uncovered arms. A first-aid kit.
The poor boy was shivering, but whether it was from the cold or from being afraid, Lio didn’t know. He supposed that it could be both, since the boy’s clothes were badly torn and too large for his bony body.
Lio wasn’t sure if bringing a random child home was the best idea, but he sure as hell wasn’t going to leave him there. He was young and defenseless, and Lio was fairly sure that he wouldn’t make it by himself.
“Where do you come from?” he asked the boy gently, receiving no reply.
Lio saw Song approach them from the corner of his eyes, and before he was able to stop her, the boy noticed her and got back on his feet before running past her and into the darkness of the forest.
“Wait!” Lio called after him.
Sharing a look with Song, they nodded at each other before taking off into the forest to go after the little boy.
Because of the boy’s fragile form, he was unable to run fast enough to lose Lio and Song.
They followed him from a distance, watching him disappear into an abandoned building in the middle of the woods. The building resembled a house, although it was too broken down to be called that anymore. The wood was rotting and slowly breaking down. Lio’s heart hurt knowing that the young boy was taking shelter in there.
Lio and Song made their way towards the house. The door was hanging off of its hinges, making it easy for them to enter.
Lio’s eyes searched the room for the boy, and his heart dropped at the sight that welcomed him.
The boy wasn’t the only person living there. On the opposite side of the room, he was kneeling next to a little girl who appeared to be a couple of years younger than him. She was coughing and gasping for air as the boy searched through the first-aid kit. Lio’s eyes almost welled up with tears when he took notice of a third shadow, smaller than the other two children. It was another little girl, curled into a ball in the corner of the room with a thin blanket wrapped around her thin frame, which did nothing to protect her from the cold of the night.
Lio wanted to punch whoever was responsible for these three children being alone in the woods. Hungry, sick and cold with no adult to help them. Lio refused to leave them there. He was going to take them home, one way or another.
He took a step forward, accidentally creaking the floorboards underneath his feet. The boy swiftly turned around to glare at him and his wife from under his overgrown hair.
The boy whistled, waking up the youngest little girl. As soon as she saw Lio and his wife, she gasped and crawled towards the boy, hiding behind him.
“We’re not here to hurt you,” Lio promised. “There’s no need to be afraid. We just want to help you.”
Song nodded in agreement. “It’s not very nice out here, is it? We’ve got a warm place for you to stay and we’ll take care of you. That one definitely needs it, huh?” Song continued, gesturing towards the sick little girl.
The boy didn’t reply at first, his eyes traveling back and forth between the adults. Lio almost assumed that he wasn’t going to say anything at all, when he finally gave them a timid nod and let out a barely audible “‘kay.”
Lio sighed in relief, attempting to hide his smile. He was just happy to be given a chance to help those young children. He didn’t know how they had gotten into that situation in the first place, but he swore to help them.
Song walked up to the children, leaning down to pick up the sick little girl. At first, the boy looked like he wanted to protest, but visibly calmed down when Song didn’t hurt the girl.
Lio held the other two children’s hands gently, leading them back to the car. They bundled up in the backseat, letting Song put a warm and thick blanket over them before Lio began to drive home.
He could practically feel the anxiety that radiated from the children behind him, but he was going to do his best to soothe their worries and make them never be afraid ever again.
These children desperately needed his and Song’s help, and he was not going to let them down.
He made eye contact with the boy through the rear window, offering a gentle smile that wasn’t returned. Lio didn’t mind.
The road ahead would be tough, he knew that. Yet, somehow he had a feeling that everything would be okay.