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There's yelling coming from the kitchen. He heard glass breaking everywhere. Wato walks downstairs to where his parents are, he watches as his father is screaming at a woman, his mother and some other man he doesn't recognize.
"Cheating on me with this man?! What is wrong with you?! Get out! Now!"
"Alright! I'll leave! You never cared about me anyway!"
His mother dragged the man out, leaving him alone with his father. His dad is now on the floor, crying, the anger drained down into sadness. He gets it, your partner is cheating when you have a child to care for? That hurts.
"It's okay papa! We still have each other!"
His father looks at him dead in his eyes, his face turned red and his breathing became heavy. He looked scary.
"You. You're the reason why your mother left! Are you even my child?! Or are just another brat she made with another?!"
His father lunges at his throat and started choking him.
"Papa! It-- hurts!"
"You're such a bad kid! Always causing trouble! I should just end your life!"
"Papa... It h-hurts... Papa please..."
With those words, his vision started to black...
Wato jolts up from his bed as he breathes fast, chest rising and falling all too quickly. Then he remembers where he is. He's at the Crossroads. He's home. He's safe.
He was nowhere near that bastard father of his, that man was the worse. And not just because he tried to kill him.
He doesn't know where his mother is, all he knows is that she married another and started a business. Things seem to be looking up to her, much to Wato's dismay. And yes, he hates his mother for leaving. She left without hesitation and never looked back.
He never understood why she cheated, the man she eloped with, was pretty dumb from his perspective. Arrogant too.
Enough of the sulking, he has important matters to attend to. Like... Fixing random shit!
Wato and Kenadian mainly take care of the electricity and technology in the Crossroads. Though Kalani could do it, she's far too young, only nine years old, no matter if she says she can do it or not.
He meets up with Ken to work on the generators. It got busted from some animals peeping around.
"Hey Wato, can you hand me the wrench?"
"Sure--", Wato was cut off by a headache, dropping the wrench unknowingly. He sees his father drinking on the couch, or was that the kitchen counter? Then, yelling, he threw a bottle at him, but it looked blurry. He's smoking now, a large bottle on the table, wait, is that a bottle? Nevermind. Everything is out of place, atleast some parts are.
It was so, so blurry. It was like he was living in a distant memory over and over again.
Then voices echoed through his mind.
"You brat--!"
"Such a disappoint--"
"Why?!"
"Mom!"
"Don't leave me--!"
"Get out kid!"
"You're not good here!"
It all sounded glitched out, Wato clutched his chest, his breath is rapidly fast. He can't control it. What-- what is happening?!
"Wato...? Are... Are you okay?"
"I... I don't... Know... W-what is wrong with me...?"
"Wato, calm down. Breathe."
"I-I can't-- I..."
"Shh, it's okay. I'm right here, I'm not going to leave you."
"R-really...?"
"Of course, we're friends. Trust me."
Kenadian offered his hand out with a warm smile.
He thought about everything. His mother leaving, his father hurting him, getting kicked out. It was hell. But he survived and found a new family, one which he can trust and feel loved.
He took Ken's hand without hesitation, one which he can hold forever.
This is hell. Wifies thought, his father is gambler who is lazy as fuck and you would think his mother would help him like all mothers do right? Well, she on the other hand is a drunkard that likes to party like she's twenty again. Yep, hell.
He's a four year old, making his own food, his own laundry, healing his injuries, taking care of himself at a young age. Some strangers on the street literally thought he was an orphan when he went out to buy groceries once.
It was around midnight. Wifies was waiting for his mom to come back from the bar, his father was playing and losing at poker outside with other gamblers who were far better than him.
His mother, who by the way was in her early thirties, came inside really drunk with another man that was clearly not his father.
"Mom? Mom? Are you drunk? And who are you?"
"Hm? Ohhh, Wifi--Wifiess. Thisss is Ricky. Y'know, from the bar.", yep, she's drunk. Wait. Who the hell is Ricky?!
"Um--hey there. Uh-- this is awkward.", the man said embarrassed, "I thought you would be asleep or something." Yeah he is supposed to be sleeping, he's a kid not a person who works a nine to five. And yet, he's awake like he was supposed to take care of his own mother, when she is perfectly capable of doing it herself.
"Don't worry. I'm just the bartender, her friends begged me to take her home." Good, he thought his parents might get a divorce over this, though maybe he wanted them to...
"Fine. Just leave her on the couch, she doesn't mind anyway.", the bartender nods and carefully places his mother down. He turns to leave before Wifies spoke up again. "Don't come back here, understood?", he said it in such a low and horrifying tone, it even made himself scared. The guy nodded and quickly shut the door.
How is he supposed to take care of her?
A few years passed by, Wifies is six now and finally has a neighbor. A kid, goes by the name Kenadian, two years younger than him. Their house is a lonely lot where the next building is a five minute walk, and with how dangerous their area was, no kid would want to go there. Except Ken's parents, well mostly his dad.
They moved in around a year ago cause the rent here is cheaper than other places. Plus, Ken's father didn't care about Ken, or his mother. Unlike Wifies' mom, Ken's mom adored and loved him with all her heart though his father...
Well to put it in perspective, Ken's dad is abusive and refuses to work while his mother works odd jobs to pay the bills. She did anything, from working at a diner to cleaning other people's trash to working as a servant, she did everything while her husband just sat at home, not even bothering to take care of his child.
It also didn't really help that Ken was too innocent to understand anything his father was doing, Wifies can't blame the kid, he's young and naive, he thinks his parents are the best heroes he could ever ask for.
Wifies vowed to give him the world, even if he too was struggling to make ends meet. He played with Ken, gave him his food, helped his mother clean their house, anything he could do at his age.
Though, one rainy day, Wifies' parents have been fighting for hours, and not verbally either. As in full on fighting with fists, broken bottles and knives. He was already used to the fighting but this was not their normal fight. He knew that one of them was going to die and the other was going to abandon him.
So, he left. He went to Ken's house with a backpack full of his clothes, some important toys he wanted to bring, and other essentials. He knocked on the door and was face to face with Ken's mother.
"Oh dear! What happened to you? Are you okay? I heard glass breaking at your house."
"I-I'm okay auntie... Can I stay here...?"
"Of course! Come in."
Wifies walked in and was met with a horrible smell, he covers his sensitive nose and looked around. He sees piles of dishes in the sink, cigarettes everywhere from the floor to the table and Ken's father drunk as hell on the couch. How Ken still thinks his father is a superhero, he will never know.
"So sorry about the mess! I'm still cleaning the place."
"No problem, it's nothing different from my home."
"I'm making breakfast, Ken should be upstairs if you want to see him."
"Okay..."
Wifies walks up the stairs into a narrow hallway, he goes to the very last door and knocks. There, comes out Ken, his face lights up with joy as he sees his friend at the door.
"Wifies! Why are you here?", he said in such a joyful and innocent voice.
"I'm... Staying here. As a guest."
"Ooh! Will you stay in my room?"
"Yeah. I will."
"Yay! We gonna have a sleepover!"
Wifies chuckles as Kenadian leads him inside his full and sad room. It's pretty empty for a kid who has alot of energy, but he wasn't one to complain.
"Ken! Wifies! Breakfast is ready!"
"Coming mama!", Ken yelled joyfully, "Wanna race?", Ken looks at Wifies with a grin plastered on his face.
"Sure."
"3.2.1 go!"
"Hey no fair! You started first!", Wifies yelled as Ken ran happily.
He wishes things would stay like this.
Forever.
Wifies rushed to pack a bag for the two of them. Ken's father was getting violent, he literally shot Ken's mother! He didn't know why he did but he shot her! He saw her laying in a pool of blood, her head had a bullet hole in it, she died on the spot.
They ran upstairs into the bedroom, Wifies blocked the door using a chair in the room. Ken was crying in one corner, covering his ears and shaking.
"Shh, it's okay. Everything is going to be okay."
"B-but... What happened t-to... Mama?"
"She's... Acting! Yes, acting!"
Both of them knew it was a lie, but Wifies couldn't just say "Yeah, so your mom is dead and we're most likely going to as well!"
Wifies grabbed as much clothes as they need into a small backpack, they could just steal more if they needed.
"Hey! Open the door!", his father yelled, clearly angry.
"No! We are not opening this door!"
"Yeah! Leave us alone!"
"You stupid, ungrateful brats! Open this door. Now!"
If Wifies wasn't terrified before, he sure as hell is now. The banging never stopped, Wifies was glad there was only one bullet in his gun.
After packing, Wifies looked around and spotted a window. They could climb out, but they would risk injuries, cuts or worse. But what else could they do?! That window is their only option besides death! They needed to risk it, if they did get injured they'll just steal from a run down pharmacy or something. Plus... They needed to survive.
"Ken. We need to jump out, okay?", Wifies whispered.
"W-what? No... I don't wanna. I'm scared..."
"I know, but we need to. Just trust me okay?"
"Okay..."
Wifies opened the window and signaled to Ken to jump, after Ken landed safely, Wifies prepared to jump when the door bursted open with Ken's father holding a dagger.
"You brat! You ruined our lives!", he threw the knife, slicing Wifies' wrist. He held back the pain and jumped. He landed next to Ken and they started to run.
"Go ahead! Leave! I don't care about you pieces of shits!"
His voice soon became distant noise as the two ran, they didn't look back. They would never suffer again. He will make sure of it.
The ran into the busy streets of the underground and ducked into an alleyway, tired, but alive. Wifies wrapped his scar with the bandages he packed, he breathed a sigh of relief. Finally, after an entire year of being in that house. They were finally free.
But that doesn't excuse that they're children, they need a proper place to live, to take care of themselves. And Wifies knows just where to go.
"Work harder Rejoice. The underground needs you to win."
"Stop being so lazy Rejoice. You need to keep your guard up."
"Strong protectors don't whine! Your just too weak."
Those words constantly rang in his head, his family, his home, depended on him to survive. For generations, his family has protected the Crossroads from villains. And so far, its been successful.
But Rejoice knows his life could be greater than this. Greater than being stuck in a district where he can't even take his eyes off for a second.
He never wanted this. But what choice did he have? You can't really do anything else down here, his fate is sealed forever.
So when his father passed down his duties. He swore to never have a child, to never let them live this hell of a cycle.
But alas, of course the universe had to give him twelve adopted children, who all of which make his brain hurt.
First was Wifies and Kenadian, they just escaped their parents and were looking for shelter. Then a year later, Wato came, who ran away from his dad who tried to kill him, then Avery, whose parents never gave a shit about what she wanted. And finally, Kalani and her group of mischievous friends.
It wasn't that bad at first, it was all normal, they greeted each other every morning, helped others, the usual. That was until Wemmbu "accidentally" blew up Avery's room.
Ah, he remembered that day, Avery came in his office crying, Wato looked like he went through hell and back and Kenadian told on Wemmbu while yelling loudly.
Then it got worse. Kalani and Wifies insisted they could make potions, what they didn't say however, was that neither of them experimented with potions. And those two weren't going to try it on themselves, they aren't that dumb. So... Kalani may or may not, bribed Spoke into becoming a test subject.
Rejoice had to run all across town to get there, and what does he see? Spoke looking like a drunk uncle with Kalani and Wifies on the floor putting random items into the potion bottle. After scolding the two, he asked Spoke why he agreed, and his response was, "Kalani said she would give me 20 bucks, and yes, I knew I was the sacrifice."
Yeah, safe to say, Rejoice was not happy.
And of course, it only became more chaotic from there.
"Rejoice! Jaden stole my mace!", Wemmbu yelled. Rejoice quietly said his farewells to the peace and quiet.
"No I didn't! It was mine first Wemmbu!", Jaden argued.
"Jaden, just give it back."
"Fine.", Jaden mumbled. As soon as the two left, a little girl ran in.
"Rejoice! Spoke is being a meanie.", Mia ran up to him and hid behind his desk.
"Why is Spoke being mean?", he knows Spoke can be annoying at times, so he was mentally prepared for what he had to say.
"No I'm not!", Spoke screamed at the top of his lungs, Rejoice wondered how his voice is not tired from the yelling.
"What happened?", Rejoice says with a sigh.
"He made fun of Brownie and is trying to throw me!"
"What...?"
"Yeah! He said Brownie needs to go and puts him next to the trash, and he tried to throw me off the building!"
Brownie was the name of her teddy bear that Kalani had given her. Mia loved it--him? He doesn't know if this thing has a gender given. Anyways, she loved him so much she refuses to give the bear a bath, making it dirty and broken looking. Hold on. Did she say Spoke tried to throw her off a building?!
"You have wings! You can fly! And I'm just speaking the truth with that thing."
It was true that Mia had wings, but the were still a bit small and Wemmbu hasn't been teaching her how to because he's lazy and Egg was almost never been able to be seen, like he always disappears out of nowhere and is only found hours later in a random spot.
"But I don't know how to! And don't Intult Brownie like that!"
"Insult, Mia. It's insult."
"Whatever.", and of course she had to get her attitude from Wemmbu.
Atleast he didn't teach her any swear words. Not yet at the very least, but Rejoice will take it as a win.
Mia stomps out of the room, most likely going to Ivory to tell on Spoke, while he follows her with smirk, knowing he won the battle.
"Hey Rejoice?"
"Yes Scott? Is there a problem?", he was already tired of their nonsense, he's seen the worse things these children can do. And let him tell you, it's not pretty.
"Kalani is testing her stuff on Ken again.", no matter what you tell Kalani, she would always get another "test subject" for her experiments. And don't remind him about the incident with Wato on an operating table with Kalani testing on him like a frog in some biology class.
"Tell Kalani she's grounded and to let Ken go."
"Alright."
For a while, his office was quiet. He did some paperwork, continued to check on the Crossroads, the usual. Then Ace walks in, holding a cup of coffee.
"Ace? Do you need anything?"
"No, I'm just dropping off your coffee, Serapter made it. And he is not letting you give it back."
Rejoice chuckled as Ace gives him his coffee, Ace was practically the only normal one among them, usually just coming to have a chat.
After a bit of talking, Ace says his goodbyes to check on the others.
He loved his adopted children. He didn't ask for them, but he loves them with all his heart. Yes, they are crazy, but they're crazy because they love each other. Nothing else will convince him otherwise.
Serapter states at the two bodies in front of him. His parents... they're dead... they lay in front of their son, their bodies twisted in the worst ways possible, blood spilling out of their heads.
It was just a normal day. People were laughing and talking with their friends and families, the sun was out, which was rare in the black market since the sky was always covered with smoke and ash and the grey.
His parents took him there to look for new jobs, his family was poor and his mother got fired from her last job. So they needed money. Like alot.
He looks around the place, it's so peaceful, he wishes it would stay like this. But to do that, he would need to wish on a star for that peace.
The underground is cruel and dangerous. Peace was never the first option, at least for some. But his parents think otherwise. His sweet parents have always been kind to others, even if they were struggling.
He wanted to be just like them.
Back to the market, one moment, it was peaceful and happy. The other, was filled with smoke in the sky, chaos everywhere as people ran. Serapter coughed and blinked his eyes.
"HACC is here!"
"They're commencing a Purge!"
"Everyone run!"
The Purge is one of the most feared events in the underground. HACC spends days, even weeks to turn the underground upsidedown. They usually do this to find villains and vigilantes, people they say are "problems" to peace.
But Serapter knows better, he knows this is just an excuse to cause mayhem to give them a show to watch. They're just the pawns in their game.
"Serapter! There you are!", his father yelled worriedly.
"Come on sweetie, we can't let them catch us. But don't be afraid, we're right here with you.", his mom said.
The three of them ran away from the enforcers, Serapter looks back to see them beating up people, and throwing nets into the air to catch the avians. They shocked others with tasers and as they fell to the ground in pain, they tied them up and dragged them to the vehicles.
Then, Serapter tripped on something, he looks down to see a dead body beneath him.
"Serapter!", his mother calls out.
He looks up and sees his parents running towards him. Then... he sees... a piece of dynamite on fire...?
BOOM
Serapter opens his eyes, his ears are ringing, the pain is unbearable. He slowly gets up, careful not to hurt himself further.
He looks around for his parents and sees a familiar bracelet on someone's arm. The same bracelet he gave his mother...
"Mama? Mama!", Serapter runs to his mother, only to see her crushed under some rubble, and his father... wasn't so lucky...
In that moment, Serapter understood, his mother was dying and his father was already long gone. Tripping over that body had saved him, but sacrificed his parents.
Tears formed at his eyes, his mother was still alive, barely breathing. She looked like she was in so much pain, it hurt to see her like this.
"S-Serapter... honey, it's okay... I'm going to be...", his mother's eyes started to close.
"N-no! Mama! Please! Don't leave me!", he begged for his mother, the last person he had left but to no avail. She was gone...
Serapter cried his heart out, he lost everything in the matter of minutes. All because HACC wanted to search for a stupid villain. He stayed there for a long time before he tried to get his mother out of the debris.
It took some time, but he managed to get her out. He dragged his parents' bodies to a small patch of dirt and buried them. At least they got a proper place to rest...
He wandered the streets of the underground and came upon a small newspaper station. There, he found out HACC was looking for a new villain named Arachnid. Apparently, Arachnid stole something HACC desperately needed back. Were they fucking serious? All of the pain, the loss, just to steal something back? It better be important to get it back if they were destroying their home. Bastards.
For years, he worked multiple jobs, ate very little and poorly, and saved every penny to get an apartment. And yes, he turned 19 a couple months ago and still doesn't have enough for a place to live.
How did he lived for over a decade without shelter? Simple, he stayed in alleyways, benches in parks and near trash bins. When raining he would just put his hood on and keep moving forward.
That is what he did for years. It helped him through everything.
Then at his morning job, a young girl, the same age as him, walks in. She had white hair and a part of her face was red and she had horns which were also the same color as her face.
"Hi! What can I get you?"
"Just a regular coffee please."
"You got it!"
Serapter turns around to make her drink, his morning job was a coffee shop, it wasn't the best, but it was better than nothing.
"How are you so joyful?"
"Hm? What do you mean?"
"I mean... why are you so happy? Are you just like that? Everyday?"
"Yeah, it's basically my entire personality!"
"Hm, sure..."
Serapter continued to make her drink and gave it to her a couple minutes later.
"You're not going to leave yet?"
"I'd rather stay here for a while. Not like I have anywhere else to go."
"Sure thing! I don't mind."
Serapter started working again, more like waiting actually, since the coffee shop he works at is very lonely and barely anybody comes to this part of town. He sometimes wonders why even bother to put a shop here.
"So, why are you here? Like, at all?"
Okay, that was a weird question, who would ask that on the first meeting? Serapter thinks this girl must be weird.
"What does that mean?"
"Like, why are you working here? It's obvious you don't want to."
"Well first off, I need the money, and second, why are you asking? I don't even know your name."
"My apologies, I'm Ivory."
"Serapter."
"Serapter? That's a nice name."
"Yeah my mother picked it."
"Where is she?"
"... She's... Well, gone."
"Oh, I'm so sorry."
"Oh no it's okay! It's been a long time since then."
"Sure."
And before Serapter knew it, he knew everything about this girl. They talked for hours. Serapter thought it would never end!
And soon enough, Ivory gave her number and they parted ways, agreeing to see each other again.
Wow, so that's what a friend is.
Him and Ivory have been friends for years now. They live in the Crossroads with the others. Life seemed perfect, because it is perfect.
They've been through so much, and yet, they still have each other through thick and thin. It's been fun, actually. Everything is peaceful and everyone looks out for one another.
They love each other, even if they can be annoying at times. Mia, the kid they found on the bridge, is the sweetest kid he's ever known. She may be clueless sometimes, but she has a pure soul. Something that Serapter thought would be impossible in this world.
The others are pretty nice too, they laugh together, cry together. It was all perfect.