Burned

Chapter 5

Trigger warning, my lovelies.

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Morning came and Isaac was the first up. A rare occurrence for him to be awake this early, but here he was. He didn't move, mornings always irritated him, and it wasn't easy to fall back asleep with the very bright sun shining in his face, so he settled for just staring at the trees. It had been about an hour of just staring and thinking before he heard Xander stir near him.

"Mornin' sleepyhead." He said, not taking his eyes off the trees from above him.

"You're up...?" Xander asked sleepily. He sat up, rubbing at his eyes.

"What does it look like." Isaac said. He rolled himself over to the side so that he could face Xander.

"Oh, um, Isaac? I was kinda wondering..." Isaac let out a hum in response. "Well, it's already autumn... So what about the winter? Like, what do you do for warmth?"

"Warmth? I dunno. Fires in caves, I guess?" Isaac told him. "Is there something I'm supposed to do?"

"I guess not, but... you don't have any blankets for yourself?"

"Xander... When you met me, did you see me carrying anything like a blanket? No, you didn't. Does that answer your question?"

"Well, yeah, but you need a blanket to keep yourself warm and protected, right?"

"Xander. All I need to do is walk this damn earth and eventually die. I don't need to do anything else. Everything else is basically a luxury at that point."

"But still-"

"Look, if it'll make you shut up, then we can go get you a blanket or whatever from the next village over." Isaac had rolled over again, away from Xander, and didn't speak after that.

Xander was quiet, then let out a little "Okay..." He thought of asking when they would be leaving, but decided not to anger Isaac again. Not pretty the first time around, and definitely won't be the second time.

Instead he preoccupied himself with 'building', using rocks as hammers to mess with sticks that he found on the ground. Not much came from it, except for a sword of sorts. It wouldn't protect him against any attacks --it wasn't nearly sharp enough--, but it did keep him entertained as he pretended to fight giant monsters and other mythical creatures.

In fact, it kept him entertained for the two hours that Isaac had gone back to sleep for.

"What are you doing...?" Isaac asked, seeing Xander tire himself out.

Xander stopped mid swing and turned to look at Isaac.

"Well, you'd be dead anyway." Isaac sat up and stretched. "You didn't even kill that last guy."

"Well, uh..."

"Whatever. Come on, let's go." He stood, beginning to walk again. "We gotta get you that blanket."

It had been about three hours of walking before Xander and Isaac had come across the next town, Callia. Walking through the front gate, Isaac kept his eyes straight while Xander couldn't help but look around. The first thing that anyone could see was that it was a market place, but the second thing was the village's depression. There were people begging for money on the streets, drunks passed out on the sides of buildings, and the wares of the vendors looked no better.

"Um... Isaac...?" Xander asked quietly, shyly.

"Just don't look at anyone. Keep your eyes straight ahead, you got me?" Isaac didn't need to hear what Xander was going to say about what he was seeing. Isaac, on the other hand, had seen things like almost as long as he'd been travelling around. It was nothing new.

"Okay..." Xander said, choosing instead to keep his eyes down instead of looking at what was going on. Isaac looked around, eyes searching for someplace that he thought would sell blankets for Xander. A small shop came into view that sold linens.

"Uh, Xander, how much money do you have left?" Isaac asked, turning to face him. Xander looked in his bag for a moment, before looking up again.

"Quite a bit left... I... Earned a lot of money from where I came from." He said. Isaac eyed him for a second, before holding his hand out.

"Just give me enough to buy you a blanket, alright?" Xander had given him about 15 dollars, before asking if that was enough. "Yeah, stay here, I'll be back." And so Isaac went into the shop, looking for something to give Xander for the winter.

Meanwhile, Xander had been anxiously standing next to the alleyway near the shop Isaac had just gone into. He'd been staring at his feet when he was pulled into the alley. He would have screamed, had a hand not been placed over his mouth.

"Shh... Yelling comes later~" A woman's voice whispered into his ear. She lifted her hand from his mouth and saw that he looked a bit scared. She gave a sly smile. "Mm... You're quite young. I bet you're still a virgin, am I right?" Xander couldn't bring himself to nod. He didn't like lying. "Ah, speechless are we? Now there's something new~" She kissed him before he could protest, but he pushed her away, moving further into the alley. She, of course, followed. "Aww, don't be shy, dear. I'll be gentle with you~"

Xander's eyes widened as she said those words and he almost burst into tears. "A-anything but gentle..."

The woman was about to respond in a lewd way. That is, until a voice interrupted.

"Hey, lady. That boy you've got there is mine and I kinda need him back." Isaac said from the alley opening. His arms were folded and he had a dark blue blanket draped over one of them. Xander quickly moved past the woman.

"So he's yours, huh?" She said, putting a hand on her hip. "Fine, so be it. But I'm still charging for that kiss." Xander was about to reach into his bag for money before Isaac stepped up. He inwardly sighed and pressed his lips to hers for a few seconds before walking away with Xander.

"Equal exchange. Let's go, Xander." He said, turning the corner. Xander quickly followed behind.

"Wh-who was that...?" Xander asked, looking back at the alleyway they just left.

"A prostitute. Pay no attention to them. They're no good." Isaac said, glancing at him.

"Prostitute..." Xander repeated quietly, slowly. Was that what he was? No, he didn't do anything like that on his own accord. It wasn't like he ever wanted it.

"Yeah. Now let's go. This place isn't that great." Isaac said, looking around at everything. Buildings were pretty much crumbling. Isaac began walking back towards the village gate.