Work Text:
Sometimes, when he closes his eyes, his mind wanders.
Back to a period in his life that Vein wishes he could erase from his memory forever, that he tried to bury deep inside his brain.
But every now and then, something opens the lock to a chest full of vivid images of a time where he was a powerless, fragile creature at the mercy of a world that offered him nothing but cruelty.
He can still hear it. The growling of his stomach. Desperate to be filled after being empty for days, maybe weeks. At some point, he stopped counting.
He can still feel it. The hunger driving him to the verge of insanity.
He can still smell it. The stench of the rotten corpse.
He can still taste it. The soft tenderness of the flesh that marked the meal that would keep him alive.
He was a street rat, and like other rats, he would stop at nothing to survive.
If he had to feast on his brethren to do so, he would.
He would continue breathing until the day comes that he can finally be on top of the world that has treated him so horribly. Some day, he would have the power to subdue those that have beaten him down all his life.
And once he'd have grabbed it, taken hold of it, he would never let it go again.
Tonight is such a night. Suddenly, while reliving his most painful memories, the feeling of an arm grabbing his waist startles him awake.
Confused and panicked, he turns his head - only to instantly relax as he looks at the face of a soundly sleeping Xia Fei.
A soft smile creeps up on his lips as he moves his hand to tenderly stroke the blonde's hair.
Oh, sweet, innocent Xia Fei.
He remembers his promise to himself that he would protect this one naive, disarmingly honest boy from all the fowl and dirt this vile world had to offer.
But what a hypocrite he was - After all, the most rotten creature of them all was himself.