Chapter 1221 The Boy and the Hero (Part 2)
On the way home, the two boys walked into the intricate back alleys and secret paths that adults call a "maze". The boy stopped He stopped walking and stared at an alley. He didn't dodge or show off, he just watched.
"What is that?"
his friend asked, but the boy needed no answer.
“Oh.”
His friend said after a while:
“Let’s go, before they see us.”
The boy stayed where he was, the narrow walls of the alley were covered with garbage, And among the waste, a couple hugged each other, at least the man hugged the woman, and the woman lay limply on the dirty ground, her clothes in tatters.
Suddenly, she turned her head towards the boy. When the man moved on her body, she looked at the two children with pure black eyes.
"Go quickly..."
His friend murmured and pulled him away, and the boy was silent for a long moment, which was made up for by his eloquent friend.
"Just look at it like that. You are lucky that we didn't get shot. Didn't your mother teach you what politeness is? You can't look at it like that."
The boy said still a little stubbornly :
“She’s crying.”
His friend was getting impatient.
"You don't know, you just see it."
The boy looked at his friend.
"She's crying, Ciel."
His friend fell silent after that, and they walked the rest of the maze in silence, when they finally reached their dwelling spire. Not even a "goodbye" was said.
The boy's mother arrived home earlier than him, and he smelled the cooking noodles and heard her voice humming in the only room in the living cabin: a room with a plastic-steel screen door. Kitchenette.
She rolled up her sleeves to her wrists as she walked into the main hall, hiding the tattoos on her arms, but the boy never commented on the way she always hid them. The code symbols tattooed on her skin marked her master. The boy at least knew that, though he often wondered if they had any deeper meaning.
"Your tutoring school called me tonight."
His mother nodded to the speaker - it was blank now, but the boy could easily imagine the tutor's words. A face floating on a flat, grainy screen.
“Is it because I am too slow?”
“Why do you think so?”
"Because I didn't make a mistake, I never make a mistake, so it must be because I am too slow."
His mother sat on the edge of the bed, her hands on her knees, her freshly washed hair was wet and dull , usually has blond hair - which is quite rare among city people.
"Talos, can you tell me what's wrong?"
The boy sat beside her and let himself fall into her arms.
“I don’t understand the meaning of tutoring, we have to study, but I don’t understand why we have to do it.”
"To become smarter, more wise and powerful, then you can live on the edge of the city and go to work somewhere...a better place than here."
She finished the last few words slowly word, casually scratching the tattoo on his forearm that symbolizes ownership.
"Is this really okay?"
The boy smiled for her, and she responded by hugging him, as she always did after being beaten.
In those nights, the blood on her face would always splash on the boy's hair, but tonight there was only one thing splashing on it: her tears.
"Why do you say that, kid?"
"I will join a gang, like my father did, and Charles will join a gang, like his father did, and we will both die in "On the street."
The boy seemed thoughtful rather than simply melancholy, and all those words that broke his mother's heart failed to move him at all.
In his opinion, facts are facts.
“The edge of the city isn’t necessarily better, is it? It’s not much different.”
She cried, just like the girl in the alley, and the things in their eyes were so similar, the same hollowness, the same numbness.
“Yes.”
She admitted in a low voice:
“It’s no different there.”
“So why do I have to go? Studying in a cram school? Why do you spend money to buy these books for me to read?”
She failed to give an answer for a long time. The boy listened to her choking and felt her trembling.
“Mom?”
“You can do something else.”
She began to shake him, just as she had done with him when he was younger. shake.
“If you stand out from the other kids, if you become the best, the brightest, the brightest, you will never have to see the world again.”
The boy looked up at her, unsure if he heard her correctly or if he liked the idea.
"Leave this world? Then who will..."
He almost said "Who will take care of you", but that would only make her cry again.
"Who will accompany you?" "You never have to worry about me, I will be fine, but please be sure to answer the tutor's questions, you have to act smart, this is very important."
"But where should I go? What should I do?"
"Where to go is all up to you."
She smiled at him, smiling happily.
“Because a hero can act freely.”
“A hero?”
The thought made him giggle, his laughter easing his mother's grief - a change he could already notice at his age, but it would take teaching him to understand how something so pure could stir a mother's heart. Resonance, it’s still too early.
"Yes, if you pass the trial, you will be taken away by the legion. You will become a hero, a knight, traveling with the stars in the dark night."
Boy After looking at her for a long time, he suddenly said:
"Mom, how old are you?"
"Twenty-six revolutions."
"Are you too old to participate in the trial?"
She spoke after leaving a loving kiss on his forehead, then smiled, and the tension in the small room suddenly disappeared. .
"I cannot accept the trial, I am a girl, and the Legion only accepts the best boys, but if you are like your father once, your qualifications will also pass."
"But I heard the Legion always takes boys from gangs."
"Not always."
She took him aside and continued stirring the noodles in the pot.
"Or it'll take some boys from the gang, but it's always looking for the brightest and brightest stars, promise me you'll be one of them, okay?"
"Okay, Mom."
"You won't keep silent in the tutoring class?"
"No, Mom."
"Very good, would you say this to your friend?"
"He is not actually my friend, he is always angry. And he wants to join a gang when he grows up."
The mother smiled at him again, but the smile was even sadder, like a silent lie.
"In this world, everyone will join a gang, my little maester, that is just one of the things that are destined. Everyone will have a family, a gang, and a job. But you It can't be like this, remember, there is a difference between doing something necessary and just satisfying a desire."
She brought the dinner to the small table, her pale hands wearing small gloves to avoid being burned by the tin bowl.
Then she threw the gloves on the bed. When he took the first bite, her mother smiled, touched his head and said softly:
"Remember, Talos, you want to be a hero. ."
"Master."
Suddenly, Talos felt something gently touch his face.
It was Octavia. She was gently wiping the tears on his face with a silk scarf. Her face was full of worry, like a mother waiting for him to come home.
Talos touched his cheek. He did shed tears, although he had not shed tears since Char's death.
Ma Kuchen also stood on tiptoes and stretched out his hand, as if he wanted to touch the teardrops on Talos's chin, and then asked.
"Uncle Angel, why are you crying?"
Talos smiled.
“Because I saw you.”
Octavia put away the silk scarf. Although she realized that Talos' emotions were very rich among his brothers, she did not expect that Talos would suddenly burst into tears.
The sensitivity from her mother made her guess that this might be related to Talos’s past family, so she asked softly:
“Did it remind you of your parents?”
A bitter smile appeared on Talos's face.
"Ha, my father was a murderer and my mother was a contracted prostitute. The painful years wore her down completely, and her face was always haggard. I couldn't live up to her wishes."
"I'm really sorry, I shouldn't have asked this."
The boy couldn't understand the conversation between the two. He just raised his little head and stared at Talos, his pure and innocent eyes reflecting the full face of Talos. It is a face of weariness and scars.
"Uncle Angel, can I be a hero like you?"
"Everything is possible, child, as long as a person has determination, will and courage, then he has the ability to become Qualifications of an angel."
At this moment, the communication speaker on the wall sounded, and Valier's voice came.
"The Chapter Master is here."
Talos straightened up and looked at Octavia.
"Ottavia, Septimus, thank you for bringing your children to see me. Go back to your comfortable and peaceful life. Don't come again, you and your children. Now that you are far away from the darkness and war, don't touch it again."
Ottavia nodded silently, holding Marcus's little hand, Septimus and the other two children. We left the medical cabin together.
I have a double monthly ticket from 29th to 31st. I hope everyone will support me. Thank you!
(End of this chapter)