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"Oi Rudo!" Enjin calls from behind, "hm?" Rudo knows they've just finished another mission. He hasn't been needed yet so he's been going around the HQ trying to see if he can help with anything. He's already finished with his trash, even asked the previous team to bring him more if they get a chance to.
Rudo looks behind, Zanka and Riyo are with Enjin. They look like they're waiting for someone. "Wanna come with?" Enjin asks.
Zanka raises a brow, "'Ya sure, Enjin? Won't he like, panick when he sees 'em?" That perks up something in Rudo. Does he think Rudo won't handle it- whatever it is? Or wait, maybe it's the Raiders again? Who even is "them" ?
"Nah, Rudo's strong like that, right?" Enjin says and Rudo looks over at Riyo to see her winking at him. "That's right. But just tell us if you don't feel like it, 'kay? We're just gonna be there for a bit." She says.
Rudo furrows his brows. He's confused, "What is it? 'nd where are we going?"
The three start walking and Rudo follows them. "You know how the Cleaners' job is to exterminate Trash Beasts, yeah?" Rudo nods, "Well, we also look for bodies during our missions." Rudo looks suprised and Enjin notices it.
"Didn't you tell him about it, Zanka?"
Zanka looks away, "Uh, didn't have the right time to tell 'im..." While Enjin sighs at him, Riyo adds more information. "Anyway, there's a branch that specifically handles corpses and tries to get information on 'em. If not, they burn it." They took a turn, Enjin opens a door that leads downstairs. It surprises Rudo, it seems like he hasn't explored everything in the HQ.
"They're super busy because of that. Not many Cleaners try to do that job because a lot of people don't do well with bodies." Rudo finds himself nodding along. It's true, even he doesn't like seeing corpses. If he were to be assigned to be with dead bodies all the time, he'd bet he wouldn't even last a day. If you really think about it, corpses are basically just trash. No one wants them anymore.
Except Rudo would choose to be around trash more than corpses... He shivers at the thought of a dead person's eyes just staring at him... It's creepy.
"I'm betting you haven't been here before. This place is pretty quiet, and no one comes here much." Enjin says as he leads them towards a new room. It's spacious. Which is probably a good thing, Rudo doesn't wanna know how long he can last in there if the space is cramped. The room is located at the basement. Who knew the HQ would actually have a basement? Rudo thought it only had three floors. Then, they spot someone sitting behind a desk. Rudo feels a wave of deja vu, it feels much like how he first arrived in the Cleaners' HQ. The familiar sight is similar to Semiu's table. Except... there are more papers.
The person in the reception notices the new arrivals, "Oh hey." He had dark blue hair. A white beanie on top, very dark eye-bags, and her hands full of a coffee mug and a bunch of papers on the other hand. "Yo, Harvey." Enjin and the rest greets. Rudo looks at him shyly. Sure, he's not met everybody in the Cleaners', but he was already getting used to the familiar faces of those around him. He, Harvey, was definitely not a familiar sight.
"Need anything?" Harvey looks back down at the stack of papers, not even bothering to keep eye contact with them, like this was some sort of regular meet-up. "Yeah, we're looking for a property of someone. Thought you guys might've have it here..." Rudo's eyes wonder around. There's really not much to see other than the reception in front of them.
Riyo notices what he's doing and grins, "Hey Enjin, we're gonna take Rudo around for a tour," Enjin looks at them and then eyes at Riyo, "You three behave, I don't want any mess around here." He signals Zanka to atleast be the responsible one.
"Yeah yeah, we will!" Enjin doesn't get another word in because Riyo is pushing the two out of the room. The first thing Rudo notices is the atmosphere. It's.. definitely eery.
Zanka laughs at him, "You got the chills, didn't 'ya?" Rudo's face flushes.
"W-whatever..." Rudo says instead. Riyo leads ahead, "The room we entered is the place where they keep all the remaining bodies~" she says in a spooky tone. Zanka groans at her, "You make it sound like we're keeping 'em hostage!"
She snickers, "Well if you really think about it..."
Rudo does not want to think about it, thanks. Eventually, Zanka and Riyo start bickering. Usually, it's Rudo and Zanka who'd be doing that right now, but Rudo is awfully quiet ever since they arrived. It's... well, not out of character for him to do so. Rudo is loud, that's for sure. He can very well shout a big one. But Rudo is also quiet. He'd cuss out of you in one and the next he can stay quiet as a mouse.
Rudo wanders off. Despite the 'scary' stuff he's imagining, he's actually curious to see what they have in store, asides from the corpses. Rudo spots a door with a sign that says, "Bodies on hold". He squints his eye, he doesn't wanna see that... it'd be pretty disturbing and the fact that it's late right now? He doesn't wanna add more to his nightmares. But he knows he can't escape that forever if he plans to stay with the Cleaners.
He quickly shakes his head and spots another door with a sign that says "CREMATION". He doesn't know what that word means. He decides he'll explore that first. It's not like there's any active danger here, right? He opens the door to see a big... well, he doesn't know what it is. But in the left side of the room are a bunch of dead bodies. Well shit.
Rudo grimaces, I should've expected this in the place where they handle bodies anyway...
He goes further into the room, and something pulls him towards the bodies. He doesn't know why, call it curiosity but he just had to see it.
Looks like they really do 'handle' the bodies. Rudo wasn't expecting them to be...lined up on the floor though. It's not really his business; he doesn't want to do the wrong thing here. Rudo looks at each of the bodies one by one. They all had their eyes closed, which Rudo was thankful for. The first corpse was wearing all black, she, Rudo assumes, had long black hair. She looked like she was a Groundling. Her attire made it clear. The next one had a more stylish outfit; his hair fit his clothes too. Colorful clothes that were spoilt and darken from probably the ground or wherever he was found in, together with a dark-brown hair with some blue streaks in his hair.
The next one, he was just wearing a suit. But Rudo noticed the scars scattered all across his face. Upon further observation, he saw the dried up blood on the rest of the skin he was showing. Rudo doesn't want to guess how he died. It goes to all of them, really. The next one was a kid. She had dark-red hair, kind of like Riyo's but darker. Her face was messed-up too. She was covered with ribbons all over her clothes, even her hair. She still had her hair tied up into pig-tails.
The next one had a much lighter outfit than the others. But still, it was pretty much darkened probably from the trash. It was dirty and worn out. He was covered from chest to toe, save from his hands. He looked like he was bundled up with clothes. He wore thick clothing, making it look big on him. His chest had a dark color and a hole, indicating that he probably got stabbed.
Rudo pauses, he thinks, 'Huh, this guy looks kinda familiar...'
He looks at the corpse's face. And maybe that was the wrong move. Maybe coming here was the wrong one to begin with. He freezes. He doesn't realize he stopped breathing too. Rudo realizes why this guy was familiar. Because of course, those shitty Apostles would throw his father's corpse down here. A useless body for a hellhole down below. Rudo doesn't know what to feel.
That 'guy' is Regto. That corpse.
Should he feel happy? Now that he's seeing his father again. Now that he's standing in the same room as he is again- after months of not seeing him. Not really, anyway. Memories can only do so much for someone grieving every chance they can get, which in Rudo's case, isn't a lot of chances.
Should he feel sad? Because despite knowing that his father is there, he's still dead. Same stab wound. Same messy hair. Same blood on the clothes he wore when he died.
Rudo doesn't know what to do.
He doesn't hear the footsteps outside the door. He doesn't notice the others shouting for his name. He doesn't see the other corpses that are in the room. He doesn't remember when he moves closer to his father's body. He doesn't remember kneeling in front of it. He doesn't realize he's crying. Rudo knows why he's crying. And suddenly, the memories of him and Regto flashes through his mind. The memories he desperately tries to keep. Everytime Remlin visits, he tries his best to recreate those memories. That's why he always look so serious when drawing.
He remembers the day Regto saved him. The day he gave him those gloves which became the same day Regto started showing up in Rudo's life. He remembers Regto continuously following him around after that. He remembers how he eventually stayed with Regto. He remembers the love and care Regto gave him even though he was just some stupid kid. A cursed child. The son of a murderer.
He remembers Regto telling him the words that he lives by today. “If you treat something with care for long enough, it'll have a soul.”
He remembers the day the Angel came and ruined everything. The day he killed Regto and the day he was framed for his father's murder. Rudo cries and cries, recalling all his precious memories.
He snaps back to reality when he felt a hand on his shoulder. "Hey.. You okay, Rudo?" It was Enjin. Rudo sniffles and notices that Zanka and Riyo were in the room too. "I'm.. Uh-" Rudo couldn't form any words. The thought of him saying his father's name out loud made him cry even more. In that moment, Rudo realizes the tears he didn't realized he shed. He didn't care anymore; he didn't care for the embarrassingly loud sobs he gave out. Even if he tries to hide the tears away using his arms, rubbing the falling drops from his eyes.
Enjin hugs him and Rudo doesn't care if he looks like a crybaby. He hugs back tightly and just keeps on crying. The room is engulfed by Rudo's sobs, it isn't too loud that it can be heard outside. But loud enough to know that something was definitely wrong.
"Shh.. Rudo, it's okay. We're here with you." Rudo lets out a wet gasp, he feels another hand touch his body.
After a while, Rudo calms down. His sobs grew quiet, Enjin and the others stayed all the way. Rudo lets go of Enjin and stays quiet. Absorbing the things that just happened.
"...You okay, kid?" Zanka asks.
"Hey Rudo, it's fine alright? We're here for you." Riyo says.
"What happened here, Rudo?" Finally, Rudo looks up at them. He figures there's no room for embarrassment after crying his heart out in front of them. "S-sorry.." Riyo interrupts, "Don't apologize." she gives him a soft smile.
Rudo sniffles and tries his best to answer, "T-this body... it's Regto." Rudo's voice breaks as he responds and suddenly, the room goes quiet again. Rudo doesn't want to look at the body beside him, he looks straight at the floor, trying not to cry.
Enjin sighs and hugs Rudo again, "It's okay kid, if you want to cry again, we'll be here for you."
Rudo doesn't respond. In his mind, he's laughing at himself. Inside, he's feeling all sorts of things.
How could you cry like that in front of them? couldn't you wait until you got back to your room?
Regto was here all along. I miss you so much.
I'm going to kill that turdface the moment I lay my eyes on him.
One thing's for sure; he will have his revenge. He swears on it. Promises that until he finds him and kills the guy, he'll live on. For Regto.
Enjin carries Rudo to his room. Things quieted down after a while and eventually, the sobs stopped. Rudo fell asleep from exhaustion, he cried for what seemed like hours. Zanka and Riyo remained quiet behind him, they haven't said a word after that. All of them were thinking of the same thing: how Rudo hasn't had the proper chance to grieve his father's death.
It was clear after Rudo basically cried his heart out. Enjin's heart personally stabbed itself when Rudo said the body was his father's. He didn't even think about that. He knew about the bodies that would fall from above, why didn't he connect that they'd throw Regto's body down here in this shithole too? The both of them probably felt the same thing. It was so *obvious* that there'd be a chance for his father's body to end up here.
Asides from that, they kept pushing Rudo to work. There was always one thing after another. He can't remember the time they gave Rudo an actual break. A real one, not with more work that was disguised as fun. Enjin thinks back to Zanka and Riyo. He had a team full of kids and it makes Enjin feel pathetic. He's just been hurting these kids left and right.
Someone bumps his shoulder, "Hey idiot. We're okay. Just.. go to bed." Riyo says. Zanka nods at him with eyes distant. They figured out what Enjin was thinking. Enjin sighs, "You two head to bed, too. I know this was.. unexpected. Try not to tell anybody this 'till after Rudo comes out, okay?" The two of them nod.
Before leaving, he tells them one last thing, "I know you kids won't stay out so we'll talk to him tomorrow." Enjin says instead of leaving them alone. Truthfully, the last thing Enjin wants is for them to have more troubles. But he knows they won't leave Rudo alone, not after that. They have grown attached to him, after all.
Tomorrow, they'll talk. They'll be there for Rudo to properly grieve. And they will continue to be there for Rudo when he moves forward in his life.