Scrap Iron Angels

Chapter 6: Oblivion

The mere thoughts that Vincent had implanted into the two doctor's heads made it hard to work around Kieren while they tended to the shoulder wound he had. Surprisingly there was no infection, it was healing rather fast as well. Lucy tried to make small talk with him often, but every time he'd look at her, or would even dare glance down at the mark on his collar bone she would become terrified of those words and what it could mean for this child. He would either be protected or destroyed merely because the Imperial Church was adamant about destroying the remnants of the once beautiful kingdom of Zelferia.

"To suggest that this child is one of the few surviving Zelferian Alchemists is absurd. He's fourteen, and those people were trained from age three up to use alchemy and guard their homeland's secrets. This boy is only fourteen, and the Zelferian Alchemists were dying out just as the war was starting. They might have some that are slaves, but none of them that carried birthmarks were left alive. This child must just be one of those odd cases that we believe to be one thing, but is not. That is the only answer."

But was it really? Wilkinson had been outraged at the statement – his family was originally from Zelferia, and his cousin had been killed in the war, but that also meant anyone who was accused or suspected of being related to those alchemists were either complete fools or the legitimate thing and were going to be slaves, or killed. Lucy felt sad for him when she had talked to Wilkinson on what he believed, and the man had taken a look at the mark and looked away. Vincent knew Wilkinson was hiding something from the real facts he said once he'd looked down at the floor and spat out that it was just a mistake and that the boy just probably was tattooed or branded with the mark at an extremely early age.

Kieren was wandering the ship today trying to get used to the place – his fever had broken the night before so after quite the argument Lucy let him go, but told him he needed to keep check on it. With a smile she watched the boy go out the door as fast as possible. She suspected that Kieren was a bit of a free spirit, and that was probably true considering that he was so young. Deep down Lucy suspected he would become a rather good pirate if he would just let go of the assumption that all of them were dangerous murderers. She sighed and went back to work while her mind wandered off to the conversations and events that had already happened with the boy aboard the ship.

In the front of the ship however there were worse things taking place. Emi and Jun had gotten into a fight and managed to rip the place completely apart before being stopped when Jun accidently knocked Kieren into the wall. The boy was currently nursing a sore bruise on his head with a pack of ice while he sat in a corner far away from the two that were currently cleaning up. He was watching Via pick up papers and Zambi and Elice were helping Aven push things back into place.

"Is it always so lively?" he questioned.

"Pretty much. How are you feeling?" Via came over to him and pulled the ice away to see the bruise forming. She winced and handed him the ice back.

"Lucy and Wilkinson are going to kill you two," said Aven as he sat a few books back into a trunk.

"What? It's not my fault!" the two said at once.

"Now, now, children, get along." Kieren couldn't help his teasing words as he sent a devilish smile at the two.

"That smile is creepy!" said Jun.

"What's so creepy about it?" the boy shrugged.

"It looks weird. Kind of wild almost," he answered.

"Yea....I get that a lot." The others raised an eyebrow at him.

"But you don't seem really that wild or well...devious? I guess is the right word," Siri explained.

"I'm not really that wild I guess, but I have my moments. But...ever since I came to Arcataia everyone always said how sweet I was, how kind and polite I was to people. That I was always helpful, and I sort of took on the role of being someone mature enough to take care of those around me. I became the town's delivery boy when I was ten so I could get money for Molly and the others."