Isolation

Chapter One

Isolation

AN: First and only warning I will be putting on this fic. This will be a lot darker then all my others. It will contain mentions of sexual and physical abuse, drugs, human trafficking, blood and death. I will not be going into great detail on all of these, but they will be present in this story. If you are sensitive to any of those things, don't read or proceed with caution.

Started writing on March 9th, 2018

Started editing on June 8th, 2018

Chapter One

Bryce sighed pulling up his hood and ducking into an alley. It was dark and snowing heavily, but it wouldn't be snowing for much longer. The temperature was supposed to drop below negative twenty-five. It was already getting very cold.

The red head paused and turned around hearing a can being knocked over. He immediately reached for his gun, he didn't expect to see a teenager huddled by a dumpster staring at him eyes wide with fear. Bryce relaxed seeing the kid. In his line of work someone could have been following him and the teenager was more of a welcome site.

Bryce was about to keep walking, but looked back over to the kid again. He had long blond hair and dull violet eyes. The kid only had a light ripped t-shirt and shorts to shield him from the cold. He didn't look any older then sixteen, but the red head could see scars littering his arms and legs. Some of them looked freshly healed and other cuts were still healing. He was so thin too, like a skeleton. Bryce couldn't ignore him knowing he had the means to help the kid. The kid clearly didn't have a home.

The mercenary slowly walked over and as he got closer, he could see how bad the teen looked. He crouched down in front of the kid, but stayed back quite a bit giving the blond space. He knew the kid was scared of him, his violet eyes darted around looking for an escape.

"Hello." He greeted with a small smile. The green eyed man sat back on his heels and tried to look the least threatening as possible. "My names Bryce Williams. What's yours?" The blond shifted uncomfortably and ducked his head. "I'm not going to hurt you, lad."

"M-Matthew." The kid stuttered quietly looking up at him.

"It's nice to meet you Matthew." Bryce said watching the blond closely. "Why are you out here? Where are your parents?"

Matthew just shook his head. "I d-don't know."

"It's going to be freezing tonight. You shouldn't be out here kid." Bryce warned. "I have a spare room, you can stay with me if you'd like?" Matthew looked hesitant. "You don't have to give me anything in return, I just don't want to see you freeze."

"Anything?" The blond asked not believing it. Bryce nodded and stood up. He offered his hand to Matthew and the teen eyed it for a second before taking it. He pulled the teen to his feet. He stumbled and almost fell, but Bryce caught him. "S-sorry." He apologized.

"It's alright." Bryce smiled setting him back on his feet. He unzipped his coat and handed it to Matthew. "Here."

The blond took the coat and carefully wrapped it around his shoulders. Bryce was a pretty tall man and his coat reached almost to Matthew's knees. The mercenary started to walk and motioned for the other to follow him. Matthew caught up and walked beside him with his head down. The walk wasn't long and soon they were stepping into Bryce's home.

The red head showed Matthew to where the room was. "It's not much." Bryce shrugged. "There's a bathroom right down the hall, you can shower if you like. I might have some old clothes that could fit you."

"T-thank you." Matthew stuttered quietly. Bryce just nodded and went to find some old clothes.

The red head didn't mind leaving the kid by himself, it didn't seem like he was strong enough to even hurt a fly. He didn't really know what to think of Matthew. He was so thin and the scars that littered his body didn't look self inflicted.

Bryce dug through his closet and found an old college hoodie and a pair of sweat pants he didn't know he had. The mercenary walked back to the spare room and found Matthew zoned out sitting cross-legged on the edge of the bed.

"Here kid. They'll be a bit big, but they'll do." Bryce said clearing his throat and gaining the blonds attention. He handed them to Matthew and the teen gently took them. "I'll be in the kitchen if you need me."

Bryce settled in for the night, making himself some coffee and reading that mornings paper. He heard the shower turn on, then a few minutes later it turned off. He didn't hear anything from Matthew for the rest of the night.

The next morning, Bryce was up earlier then he normally was. He groaned scratching his head and looking into the fridge. He really needed to learn to keep more food in the house. He did have milk and cereal though. He yawned and sat down at the table. The ginger started to eat and Matthew shuffled out of the spare room.

The blond hovered awkwardly by the table until Bryce motioned for him to sit. "Morning." The mercenary greeted. Matthew gave a small shy smile. Bryce shoved the cereal over to him. "There's bowls up in that cupboard."

"Okay, thank you." Matthew said quietly standing up to grab one. He sat back down and poured some cereal. For how skinny and starved the kid was he barely took any food. He ate quietly with his head down. "W-why are you being so kind?" He asked.

Bryce shrugged. "You seem like a good kid. I wasn't going to just leave you out there to freeze." He explained. He had thought about it quite a bit last night. The mercenary had done so many bad things in his life he wanted to do something good. "You're welcome to stay as long as you like. You can come and go as you please, but clean up any messes you make and don't bring people back here." Bryce said. Matthew blinked in confusion. "You should probably get a job too."

The blond nodded. "I'll do w-what I can." He said still not understanding why the man was being so kind.

Over the next few days he learned a lot about the kid he took off the street. He would let small bits of his past slip here and there. The teen also talked like he was much older than he appeared. When Bryce asked him about it he shrugged and said he was old fashioned. The red head didn't push it, he didn't want to scare the kid.

Another month passed and Matthew had become a part of his life. It was nice to have someone to talk to and to come home to warm meals. The blond seemed to trust him quite a bit and with that trust came a new secret. Matthew had told him the ginger was right when he thought he was older than he was. Bryce had expected him to say he was like twenty something, not that he was over three hundred years old. It took a lot of explaining before Bryce believed him, but the blond didn't have a reason to lie.

The 'teen' had seemed to age five years in a matter of weeks. He had grown almost a foot and was now slightly taller than the ginger. He had gained weight and his eyes were brighter. He looked much healthier, but Bryce knew he was still struggling mentally. The blond had waited a little bit longer before telling what had happened to him and it was easy to understand why he was having trouble fitting in. The green eyed man had noticed that he didn't really sleep and would sit outside in the middle of the night, but didn't say anything.

Matthew hadn't been able to get a job yet either. He didn't have any real qualifications or education, so it would be next to impossible to get even an entry level job. Bryce knew that and decided to reveal one of his own secrets. He had finally told the blond that he was a mercenary and his job wasn't exactly legal. He told Matthew that he'd be willing to take him under his wing as an apprentice. The blond had taken some time to think about it, but agreed soon after.

The red head was surprised how quickly Matthew picked up the skills. He was amazing at hand to hand, his aim with a gun was good and he was almost invisible in crowds. He had to admit the kid was good, but he still had a lot to learn.

AN: Chapters will probably be longer then my average ones. Matthew is a nation in this, but doesn't really know. More on that and what happened to him in later chapters. Might change the cover later, have to see. I will be posting this every other week! Happy Canada Day and Independence Day!