❝ 𝚂𝚑𝚎'𝚜 𝚖𝚢 𝚏𝚛𝚎𝚎𝚍𝚘𝚖. ❞

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Famin removes a strand of bloody (hair colour) hair off her face gently as she glares daggers at him. He craddles her in his arms, they're awfully gentle.

"It's okay now," he mutters softly, which is out of his stupid character. "Don't fight anymore. You can live with me, and we can watch father destroy this world." He cups her cheek gently.

(Name) wants to resist. She wants to punch him on that ugly face of his, she wants to throw a never-ending insults at him, she wants to kill him.

But she can't.

Her energy is drained out. She used too much blood, more than she could bear. She has reached her limit.

She's too weak to even lift her hand to slap that fucking hand from her cheek.

"Get your filthy hands off me," she says harshly as Famin chuckles. "No can do. You're too beautiful to not hold you close right now." He smirked mischievously.

He pays all his attention to her to notice the sand that forms a sharp end rushing to him. Just before it pierces his head, he jumps out of the way.

The sand goes back to its master as Orter lifts his arms, as if he's carrying something. The sand moves to him before they fall down to the ground, at the same time, (name) lands in his arms safely.

He carries her back to the spot that he has confirmed safe from Famin, where he observed their fight previously. He leans her head to the wall gently not to hurt her any further.

"Orter..." she mutters, and that is the weakest tone he ever heard from her. She tries to get up, but the desert cane pushes her shoulders back, making her lean against the wall again.

"Rest now," he mutters. "You did enough." (Name) slowly shakes her head. "No, I-... I can do better. I still can-"

Orter's hand cuts her off by removing a strand of hair from her face gently. That action alone makes her heart flutter, and she finds herself unable to resist him as she feels her vision getting blur.

"Leave it to me." She hears him mutter. "This time, let me protect you." Then the darkness greets her.

She faints too fast, too quick to feel his soft lips press tenderly against her forehead.

"I almost forget about you." Orter stands up as Famin tilts his head to the side. "Is she your girlfriend?" He asks curiously.

The desert cane shakes his head as he adjusts his glasses. "No, she's not." He denies. Famin then raises his eyebrows, "Then give her to me. She's mine," he demands.

Again, he shakes his head. "You can't have her too." He says firmly as he walks to the battlefield.

The clown scrunches his eyebrows before he snaps his fingers, as if a brilliant idea just come to his mind. "How about we make a deal? I'll forget your glasses and you can just walk away, but you have to leave her to me." He offers with a grin.

Orter stares at him as his eyes narrow. "You'll let me go in exchange of her?" He asks, and Famin blinks his eyes at the familiarity in the question, but nods his head nonetheless.

A scoff escapes the desert cane's lips.

"I'd rather die."

Famin blinks his eyes again. Twice. Thrice. "Huh. Deja vu." He mutters to himself. "But whatever. Then die." He summons his chakras, the very same ones he uses to fight the soul cane.

"Transparamency thirds..." a large, scary clown appears behind Famin. "Decius Inclination!" He bows down, as if he is about to make a circus performance before he suddenly disappears.

Orter widens his eyes as he looks around, just as Famin appears behind him before slashing his chakras at the desert cane. Orter jumps out of the way, but he manages to get a severe cut on his leg.

He lands perfectly on the ground, eyes averting at the spot he previously stood, and again, the clown is nowhere to be seen.

And once again, he appears behind Orter. But this time, he sends multiple slashes towards the desert cane, leaving him no room to defend himself.

Orter can't hear or sense him until the moment he attacks. Famin's thirds completely erases his presence from his opponent's perception.

"You have no chance of escaping me in the face of such power." Famin exclaims before vanishing himself again. "I'll grant you freedom.. by releasing you from this life."

More slashes come his way, but he doesn't make any effort to fight back.

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"Stop all the crime you can. Catch all the bad guys out there. Do it for me, okay?"

His dead friend's voice echoes in his head as another flash of memory plays in his mind.

He remembers. A year ago, he saved a girl from falling down a tall building.

No, he's not a fool.

A year ago, he stopped a girl from attempting suicide.

He was on patrol that night. It was raining, but he couldn't care less. He just let the rain drop on him with a gentle breeze.

He was sitting on the bench at the park, reading a book with the light of the moon. But then, something, or rather someone, blocked the moonlight from him.

He frowned as he raised his head, only to see a figure standing at the edge of the tall building.

Orter was not a fool. He knew that person was about to kill themself.

So he closed his book as his body decayed into sands before he reappeared at the rooftop. Just before the person let themself fall, he grabbed their wrist and pulled them away from the edge.

"What-...." he heard the person mutter with a feminine voice. So she's a female, he noted in his head. He was never the one who comforts a soul, neither he wanted to comfort her.

But he knew if he did nothing, a life would go to waste.

He then took out his book from his coat. "I was just reading a book, but you were blocking the moonlight." He muttered as she looked at him weirdly, her eyes silently asking him how did that have to do anything with her. "I'm just getting you out of the way."

"..." she looked at him as if that was the dumbest thing he'd ever said, which he also thought it was. She glanced down at her wrist that he was holding, "You can let me go now."

He stared at her hooded figure before letting out a sigh. Instead of releasing her wrist, he pulled her with him as he sat down on the floor of the rooftop.

"What are you-"

"I want to read," he cut her off. "Read with me." He didn't know what had gotten into him that night. But he knew, he was trying his best to prevent that girl from taking her own life.

The hooded girl deadpanned and sighed as she relaxed herself. "I don't like reading, so read for me." She said nonchalantly.

And he complied.

He read for her, his soft tone surprised himself. As he finished the last sentence of the last chapter, his eyes averted up to his side, where the girl was seated. Her gaze was on the book, but when he closed it, she raised her head to look at him.

Their eyes locked for a second before he broke the eye contact. Pushing his glasses to the bridge of his nose, he kept the book in his coat.

"Are you still planning to jump?" He asked nonchalantly, as if it was not a sensitive topic.

"Do you want me to?"

He raised an eyebrow at the question.

"What kind of question is that?" He asked, frowning. "Of course no. Being alive is the best thing. Don't waste it."

The girl let out a soft chuckle before softening her eyes at him. "I see." She smiled, "Then I won't jump." He hummed. "Good then."

She nodded her head as she started walking to the door that led to the stairs. "I'll be taking my leave." She glanced back at him one last time. "Thank you, Orter."

He didn't mind she knew his name. Because he recognised those (eye colour) eyes too.

Those eyes belonged to the crimson cane, he was sure about it. But the differences between her usual happy behavior and tonight's gloomy attitude made him doubt that.

But if anything, he was slightly proud of himself that he managed to stop her from taking her life. No matter if she and the hooded girl were different of the same person.

Every time (name) approached him with a smile on her face, a book in her coat and sometimes advices, he felt free. The feeling that he never thought he would have.

All the burden he carried on his shoulders disappeared when he heard her voice. He felt free whenever she stood by his side.

It feels like she is his freedom. With her, he doesn't feel like he need to follow the rules that he told himself to follow. While he stood beside the rule breaker, all the rules don't matter.

No words to describe his feelings, but he won't let that clown take her from him.

Under his silent command, the circus turns into sand. His hand grips the evolved wand, just as his sand stabs everywhere in the place, and he manages to find Famin and gets him undo his transparency.

The clown coughs out blood as he falls. 'He turned the whole circus into sand and attack everywhere at once?' He mutters to himself. Feeling his body being dragged down, he tries to swim up. 'It's drawing me in like an ant lion's nest!'

"Huff... huff... you lack freedom so you take it from others! No one's ever going to like you!" The drowning clown exclaims. "You can tell yourself it's for the sake of everyone else, but you're just killing yourself for society! Do you even enjoy living?!"

"Hmph, that matters little to me." Orter's words make him silent. "You ask me whether I enjoy life or not... to me, the answer is inconsequental." He replies as he pushes his glasses to his nose. "However, I do enjoy with that rule breaker in my life. That's why I can't let you take her. You said I lack freedom, but if you take her, I have no freedom left for me."

An image of the crimson cane running to him with a smile on his face before taking out the book she keeps in her coat, just for him.

"She's my freedom."

Famin feels a grin creep on his face as he lets himself getting sucked into the sand. "I want.. that..." Orter spares him one last look before turning around to walk back to the sleeping crimson cane.

"If the deal is slightly different, if you wanted my glasses instead of her... I would've gladly give them to you."

A/n: last update before I'm back to school :"D