Chapter Text
“Rudo!”
He heard someone’s voice in the midst of battle. Something large was coming his way, but his muscles protested at the very thought of rapid movement as a result of neglecting his brain for so long.
A familiar stick swung him away as a pair of jaws shredded the ground, inches away from his legs.
“Rudo!”
Who was calling him? Riyo? Enjin?
Zanka?
“Hey, Rudo!”
Rudo shot awake, red eyes facing a plate full of food - his plate full of food. All the background noise that his hearing had obscured flooded back, including the sound of his own breathing. He hadn’t been able to sleep properly, hence the ringing in his ears and the constant feeling of utter exhaustion. Either he was truly something else rather than human, or it was the fear of seeing Regto’s ghastly pupils again.
He registered the voice in front of him to be Riyo, who was slightly hunched over her empty dish. Her green eyes scanned the younger boy as she waved back and forth as an attempt to snap him out of… whatever the hell was going on in his head. “You haven’t eaten a single thing off that plate. It’s gonna get cold.”
“Huh?” Rudo took a moment to process. The buzzing of the cafeteria attacked his eardrums again, making him wince. His throat was dry. “Oh, I’m not hungry.”
“You said that yesterday,” Enjin chimed in, a cigarette hanging from the corner of his mouth. Rudo then remembered that he was having lunch with them. “And we let it slide. You’re gonna eat today.”
“What if I don’t.” He felt irritation boil over, but he was too tired. Keeping his head high seemed like a chore.
“I don’t know, maybe you would upset me,” Enjin shrugged. That statement shouldn’t have affected Rudo at all because the guy was always such a drama queen, but he felt sudden guilt creep up to his spine.
Enjin had done so much for him to the point that refusing the man felt like a whole sin. He raised his fork and reluctantly stabbed it into a hash brown.
Riyo watched him chew, smirking with merriment. “Wow, you really listened to him?”
“What can I say?” Enjin gave a prideful huff, leaning back against the chair. “I’ve got the charm.”
“So enchanting of you,” the girl remarked sarcastically. Rudo didn’t seem to hear the continuing banter, more focused on his food than his surroundings now. Unless it was to intensely pick at each detail of his meal as an excuse to not fall asleep at the spot. However, he could tell that the squabbling died down.
He heard Enjin speak again. “Anyway, shall we go?”
“Go where?” Rudo responded almost automatically, like his brain had given up converting information. Both Enjin and Riyo gave him incredulous looks that suffocated him.
“You’ve been begging me to go back to the trash site this entire week, have you not?” Enjin let out a dumbfounded scoff. Or so Rudo could tell. There was then a laugh. “You’re seriously out of it huh?”
Right. Rudo had been asking Enjin to take him since he’d used up all his scrap. His sleeping schedule was still as fucked up, but it worsened this week. Now, his brain felt like mush, and every movement ached like a bludgeon wound. He was going to open his mouth and spit out a retort, but his muscles refused to flex.
“Nap time for you then,” Riyo grinned, patting the younger kid on his head, seeming genuinely surprised that he didn’t try to swat her hand away. “We can do it tomorrow.”
Tomorrow?!
“No!” He unexpectedly yelled, immediately cringing at how defensive he sounded. The two older people were staring at him now, visibly thrown off. “I mean…I can go. ‘M not sleepy.”
Fucking liar.
He watched Enjin exhale smoke before crushing the cigarette in an ashtray, shoulders heaved. “Okay then, suit yourself,” the man then said, standing up. “Be ready in five, okay?”
“Yep.” Riyo pushed her chair in as well. She gave Rudo a look before eventually making her way to the exit. He couldn’t tell what it was for. Judgement? Mockery? “Take your sweet time, Rudo! The trash isn’t gonna go anywhere!”
By the time the cafeteria door clicked closed, Rudo dragged two gloved hands down his face, which proved it a mistake when he’d almost trawled his whole head into the canteen table. He snapped his neck up to avoid hitting its surface and immediately got lightheaded from the sudden action. The lack of sleep was really catching up to him.
But between sleeping and staying awake, he’d rather die than see Regto get hurt all over again.
Everything was louder than he wanted it to be. He couldn’t process what was happening at all, whether it was his team’s singing or the whistling wind outside their van. This would’ve been a good opportunity to fall asleep, but he didn’t dare to.
He felt the tires skid to a halt, and saw the van door sliding open. Then it got to him that he was the only one left in the car when Enjin appeared, leaning an arm on the panel.
“You gonna come out?” Enjin asked him, concern slowly appearing on his face. Rudo tried to ignore it as he exited the vehicle.
A colossal heap of trash stood before him.He would’ve dashed to it instantly, stuffing his sack full with loot, but he didn’t. He zombie-walked his way towards it and picked at the waste like it meant nothing.
It was odd, as it meant everything.
Enjin and Riyo stood by the van, completely flummoxed with the kid’s unusualness. Riyo had spoken up first, not even trying to hide her own shock anymore. “That’s weird as hell.”
Enjin slowly nodded in agreement, cigarette forgotten under his boot. He watched the kid drag the sack behind him, eyeing the pile like it amounted to nothing. They didn’t mention it on the way home in the car, radio music useless when it came to drowning out their worries.
When they reached HQ, Rudo immediately slouched back to his room. Even Semiu was a bit surprised. She could tell that his sack wasn’t weighing anything as well.
“Have you checked on him?” She asked.
“Who?” Enjin asked absentmindedly, eyes following Rudo down the hallway before the boy disappeared behind the corner.
“The kid,” the receptionist asserted. “White hair with black ends, red eyes?”
“Oh, you mean Thompson, your cat?”
“Quit messing with me.”
“Okay sorry,” Enjin raised two hands as surrender, then his face drooped. “I haven’t.”
“Not since the other day?”
After that mission, he’d been able to group them up for a brief check up, but neither of them wanted to talk. Riyo had something to say, but she lost interest and left it for another time. Zanka was still simmering, but Enjin could tell that he was angry at himself, not Rudo.
All this teenager stuff would always be hard for him, no matter how long he’d taken care of them.
“Look, it’s been rough for all of them since that job and I’d rather let the kids go at their own pace,” Enjin said. “I don’t wanna be too….” He waved a hand around, trying to conjure up a word.
“You’re not pushing them if you’re asking about their wellbeing, Enjin,” Semiu pinched the bridge of her nose. “They’re under your care the moment you take them in, no? What happens to them is your responsibility.”
Enjin did, in fact, take them all in at their lowest and treated them like his own. In a sense, it was to return the favor to the person who had sheltered him when he had nothing, gave him this name and made him the person he was now.
To let something happen to them would be a burden he couldn’t carry.
“Rudo’s the newest in the patch. We don’t know much about him besides his main motives…and that he loves sweets. It’s up to you to figure him out.” Semiu concluded, her hands on Rudo’s record page. Enjin stared down at it. “At the end of the day, it's you he trusts the most. If he doesn’t talk, there’s always Zanka or Riyo.”
Silence took over before Enjin let out a sigh, rubbing the back of his neck. No matter how professional she turned out to be, Semiu would always emphasize HQ’s younger Cleaners. Ultimately, Enjin found himself in the same position the instant he found Riyo. Now with Rudo as their newest edition, he needed to make sure the kid wasn’t languishing under his watch as well.
“I guess you’re right,” he told Semiu. Then to her satisfaction, he slapped a collection of smut magazines on the counter that he’d promised to get the other day. “Well, I’m gonna head out. Thanks for the reminder.”
“Go away, Enjin,” Semiu had already dismissed him, tucking her newly acquired materials into a drawer. “See me once you get along better with your kids.”
“They’re not my kids,” Enjin pouted.
But they both know that wasn’t true.
The next morning was torment. Usually if he couldn’t sleep (which was never) he’d assemble loot until dawn or stare at the ceiling. Unfortunately, his stupid arms were hurting again, and with how his entire nervous system was acting up because his dumbass refused to sleep, everything felt impossible. Especially when he just happened to have training today with Zanka.
During a standoff, Rudo accidentally lost his footing and was slammed to the brink by the older teen. His vision tunneled and the growing migraine from last night finally caught up to him. He’d had plenty of headaches since last week, but this was by far the worst. Shout out to his flaring arms for adding up his misery.
“What the hell is wrong with you?” Zanka cracked his neck after the successful knock out. He was surprised that despite them both being in casual clothing for maximum comfort, Rudo was stiff as a rock. “Yer arms actin’ up again?”
“They’re always acting up,” Rudo sassed, but he couldn’t turn to look at Zanka. He was in this awkward sitting position where his legs were crossed and back hunched so far to the front he looked like he was constipated.
Zanka gave him a suspicious glare. He wiped his knuckles before approaching Rudo, the kid shifting uncomfortably under his watch. He didn’t like it when people weren’t straightforward to him. And Rudo wasn’t.
A few days ago, Rudo was almost killed when he zoned out mid battle. A few more seconds later and Zanka would’ve failed to swipe the kid away with Assistaff before the trash beast pummeled where he stood. After the threat was eradicated, he didn’t know how long he’d spent biting Rudo’s head off. Gris and Enjin had to get in between them, saying that the kid just needed a little nap.
It then occurred to Zanka that Rudo had always been a light sleeper. Sometimes he’d wander the halls in the middle of the night, scaring the life out of every passing person. He wasn’t even sleepwalking - his eyes were wide open, but completely unaware of his surroundings. All that lack of sleep was obviously affecting him now - he just wouldn’t tell them shit.
Zanka stopped a few inches away from the kid. His confusion slowly sunk as unwanted unease started to take over.
“It’s been pissin’ all of us off, ya know,” he fumed. “The way ya aren’t tellin’ us what the hell’s goin’ on.”
Rudo’s shoulders slumped slightly, a sign that he was listening. Zanka continued, “Wouldn’t come outta yer room, wouldn’t eat, yer performance during jobs turnin’ absolute garbage…Shit, ya barely even brought anythin’ back from yer trash salvagin’ the other day! What was all that about, huh?”
Rudo would’ve been in his face by now and they’d start arguing, but this time the kid was still. That ticked Zanka off even more and he didn’t want to admit why.
He felt like he was failing, not being able to see through his student. It irritated him.
“I don’t wanna waste trainin’ time, Rudo, so spit it out!”
“I’m not telling you jack!” Rudo snapped as he stood up abruptly. He immediately swayed at his feet, much to the older teen’s flabbergast. “Can we just get this over with?!”
All the training he’d gone through until he left the Hell Guard - the shit his family gave him once he did - spiraled down into one bubble of thought. This kid, who he was assigned to look after, almost died on his watch the other day. He felt like all the hard work he’d endured just to view himself as average was going to absolute waste.
White eyes stared at him with such obliviousness he could’ve imploded from rage at the spot.
“You’re just sitting in a chair.”
“Nothing will change, no?”
“What did ya just say? ‘Get this over with’? Do my efforts trainin’ yer sorry ass mean nothin’?!” Zanka was extremely hysterical now. “Yer getting fuckin’ bold, thinkin’ yer the only one with a hard time! So tell me then! Tell me what the hell’s goin’ on!”
“Stop it!” Rudo suddenly yelped, his breath laboring. “Let me go!”
“I won’t stop unless ya give me a good damn reason why yer actin’ like this!”
“Let me go!!”
Something clicked in his head when Zanka realized that he was manhandling the kid. Rudo flailed like a dying bird as he was gripped by the front of his shirt, the sides of his fists colliding weakly against the older teen’s wrist, legs wriggling in the air. Unexpectedly, he was then released and hit the ground back first. Zanka backed away, jarred at his own actions.
Rudo looked paler than before, his elbows barely keeping him upwards as they stared straight at each other. There was fury in both of their eyes, but it wasn’t the same kind. Looking down, Zanka could clearly see that the shock had temporarily snapped Rudo out of his stupor.
It felt like years before Zanka stopped holding his breath.
“…Trainin’ is over.”