『 No Cross, you can't eat that. 』
Takara's life began with a broken spine and a kid with colour-changing eyes. Then came the bear, and somehow, the island's on fire.
If he has to deal with this brat, maybe he'll make it everyone's problem instead.
...
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They leave the island.
Infamous for something they never intended to do, they pick up the pieces and begin to take steps forward. It's time for independent travels.
Decision are made. Preparations go on.
Cross' eyes were usually gray. In fact, they were both gray so often, Takara often forgot that the boy's eyes could change colours.
Take now for instance.
They were on a little one-cabin fishing boat, caked in mud, soaked in ash, with burns on their skin. Moribakari island burned, flames rising high into the sky and painting the sky a shade of hell. Smoke bloated in the air and the green of the forest creaked and broke apart.
Cross' eyes were a mismatched shade of blue and gray, and he stared at the scene almost reverently, not saying a thing.
It was like he was trying to sear the image into his eyes, into his core, so he'd never forget it, ever.
In the boy's arms, a grizzly cub whimpered, dull eyes watching the scene as if he understood what was going on there. As if he could really comprehend that right now, his family was dead, his home was gone, and he was now all alone.
Takara prodded at a green gem between his fingers. It was something Umma had held onto, something that, according to Cross, was like a blessing of the forest, a treasure she guarded as holy. And now, her only surviving cub would have to inherit it.
"I'm glad we were able to bury Umma before we left," Takara said, trying to be sympathetic.
It wasn't as if he didn't hurt at this. It wasn't as if he didn't feel awful, disappointed-- he wanted to scream out, cry, and ask why this had to happen.
(Why would the Professor leave us?)
(Why did they find Umma on the forest ground, stabbed many times by what was evidently a human knife?)
(Why did, whoever that was, kill all the other cubs too?)
There were so many questions, and no answers. Takara was overwhelmed by it-- by this wave of so many soul-crushing things-- that he was unfeeling.
"Hey, Takara," Cross spoke, for the first time since they left-- and when he turned to the older male, his eyes were still those mismatched shades. "Where do we go?"
