Confusion broke through as he opened his eyes. Rain splashed on the boy's face, cold and unwelcoming. The sky was a musty dark gray and blue, growling, threatening clouds grumbled overhead as fast strikes of blue shook the night sky.
The boy's eyes were half opened, large and dull. The brown in them darted from left to right, searching for any open answers in which would answer his questions.
Where was he?
What's going on?
Who was he?
A flash of red danced in the sky, hitting him in the face. His eyes widened at the all too familiar scent of blood.
The boy's ears were clogged, and he could only make out a little bit of a conversation.
"Got the last one, Alba?" A feminine voice rang out. The boy thought her voice was ravishing.
More crimson liquid splashed in the air. "Yeah, Éire, I did!" The one called Alba exclaimed excitedly.
The boy was even more muddled. His thoughts collided with each other for possible solutions on how to stay alive. He finally decided to open his mouth, but cold air suffocated him, making his gums dry up. He quickly closed his mouth, tears in his eyes at the pain his throat felt for being sore.
"Oi, Alba, look at this!" The feminine voice whispered. Alba jumped off of a large cargo box, putting his sword in its sheath.
"Who's that?" Alba questioned, slinging his brown hair out of his eyes.
"Don't know," Éire shrugged, wringing out her red, wet hair. "Should we bring him to the CMEC? I know Riem will get pissed, but..." She sighed.
Alba lifted up the boy's body, "Yeah, I understand. You don't care what Riem thinks, eh?"
She smiled, "Basically. Let's go." She lead the way.
The boy's eyesight was still blurry, his head hanging down the man, the boy feeling the man's shoulder blade jolting into his stomach uncomfortably.
What's... The boy thought, seeing only the dark, wet cement beneath him.
Suddenly, bright lights reflected in the rain that stayed on the ground. Although the boy's eyesight lacking focus, the lights were blue, red, pink, yellow, green--any color one could think of.
The boy saw the bottom of stone buildings, and heard cars whizzing by in a rush. It frightened him, the cars. He'd never heard one before. The smell of tires pounding on the worn road, the burning stench, it covered up all of the boy's senses.
Finally, Alba dragged the boy off of his shoulder, standing him up. The ground felt weird to the boy, his legs wobbled. He fell back into the arms of Alba.
"Whoa, careful there, little buddy." He placed him back on the ground.
Why does he sound so weird? The boy glanced sideways. People were staring at the one called Alba with strange looks in their eyes.
Are they...judging? The boy's eyebrows curved in sadness.
Éire took a gold key out of her pocket and placed it into the slot on the door.
The boy noticed the glass door and windows surrounding the building. Someone could easily break in.
"Got it!!" Éire stuck her tongue out in concentration. The door opened up, and she ran in. Alba pushed the boy inside, holding the boy's little hands tightly in his grasp.
Éire stopped, her eyes squinting in seriousness. "Riem," She scowled, voice becoming bitterly angry.
The boy gazed at Éire's back, and at the black-haired, blue-eyed man that was called Riem.
Alba stepped forward, hand still attached to the boy's.
"Riem, we had a deal. I told you that you can't bother Éire like that as long as our countries are allies. Don't break it now."
"Aww," Riem smirked, tilting his head sideways, "But she's such a temptress! I can't help it."
"Screw off," Éire crossed her arms. "Or I'll sick my Alei on you."
Riem snorted, "It's just a red deer. Deer can't do anything. Dilerra is a bald eagle."
Éire blinked her eyes slowly. "Huh?" She asked, tilting her head sideways. "The hell you mean by that, lad?"
Riem sighed. "Nothing. You know what? I'm done here." He turned around and gave up on his plan.
"Haha!" Éire pumped her fist in the air in triumph.
Alba sighed, following Éire up crystal-clear glass stairs that were oddly in the middle of the room.
Is everything made out of glass here? The boy thought in response.
After what seemed like forever, the three managed to reach the height of the stairs.
The boy watched as the lady and man talked to each other. They were making odd sounds he couldn't quite comprehend. What were they talking about?
The boy was shoved into a room. A huge, red-wooded table with many chairs was in the facility. The boy looked around the room cautiously, many oddly-dressed people either sat in the chairs or stood around the room, waiting for someone to begin the meeting.
"Come on, Alba." Éire beckoned the brown-headed male.
Are they twins? The boy questioned their extremely similar looks. The female's was much more red, but they both had light-green eyes. Plus, the male dressed with a plaid skirt that was red and black while the female's was black and green.
There were other oddly-dressed specimens as well. A girl with two black, messy buns at the side of her head was wearing a orange coat-dressy thing, a tall, curvy woman who was obviously a veteran of the meeting wore white paint on her face, and had pink-colored lips. Another female, seeming about her late teens, had completely white hair with black tips. Beside her sat a orange-haired boy with a lollipop in his mouth. They both held hands as lovers.
They're all weirdos. The boy filled his cheeks up with air. All these people were making him quite uncomfortable.
The creepy guy Riem entered the room. "All right everyone, let's start this meeting!" In response, everyone gathered to their seats quickly. They seemed to want to leave soon.
"Come on, let us go," Éire tugged the boy away from Alba. The boy spotted Alba go straight for the paint-faced, older veteran lady.
"Stupid frickin' Bree." Éire snorted in disgust, going to the very end of the large table. She stopped and sat by the messy-bunned girl.
"Ah, Ireland! Hello," She paused for a moment, gazing at the boy as Éire pulled him up into her lap. "Did you...have a baby or something? Adopt one?" She then became excited, "With who? Riem or Alba?"
"Shhhhhh," Éire shhed viciously. "Quit yer yapping! I don't even know who this kid is, we just found him after he was attacked by some demons. He doesn't even speak, from what I understand."
The male Riem starts speaking, but Éire's ears do not follow him. "Do you think you can helped, Hop-Hu?" Éire whispered loudly.
Hop-Hu nodded. "Try speaking to him in Irish Gaelic first, to see if he understands. If he doesn't, then I'll try my country's language."
Éire nodded, turning to the boy. "Dia Duit, ceann beag," She spoke with a beautiful accent.
The boy cocked an eyebrow.
Hop-Hu giggled. "Mkay, looks like it is my turn," She paused for a moment, taking a deep breath,"Nín hǎo, Bǎobǎo,"
The boy understood, "Nín hǎo, Shūnǚ." He responded with accuracy.
Hop-Hu became excited. "Yehe! He understands simplified Chinese. He must be a traveler, then," She was happy to find someone that spoke her language.
Éire became a slight bit jealous. "Hmmp, that's unfair. I'm going to teach him Irish Gaelic later. Little bastard, thinking he's cool knowing a language I don't."
The boy squinted his eyes. Éire's eyes were locked onto his in silliness, and her arms were crossed against her breasts tightly. Any language could realize she looked a bit jealous, or angry. Perhaps both.
"AHEM."
Éire turned around to face Riem's, them being only a fingernail away's from each other's faces.
"It's your turn to report about your country," Riem smiled like the Devil himself, clearly taunting Éire.
Éire sighed, placing the boy on her chair, and stood up. She faced the table, and cleared her throat. "Ireland has been pretty clean lately, with low-leveled demons defeated by yours truly: me! However, I would like to complain to Bree that she sucks at defeating the demons that run her country, since they keep appearing in livestock barns." Crossing her arms with a smirk, Éire was quite proud.
Bree sighed, Alba sitting next to her, clinging to her hands, her fingernails painted a disgusting pink.
"You know, you really shouldn't complain about stuff like that, Ireland. You're acting like you can't handle the fact that I have demons accidentally running across my borders." The lady shrugged.
The boy let out a 'bleh.'
Bree's head cocked towards where he was sitting. "Got a problem, child?" She snapped.
Éire's black boot stomped the ground harshly, shaking the table nearby. "Stop it, Bree! Leave the kid alone. Sorry if I pissed you off in any way, but you see here," She pointed at Alba, "You always have Alba running to your side like some lack-assed lap-dog, and quite frankly, it's ticking me off. Just get off your lazy royal butt for once and kill some demons for your country! Or do you not care about England anymore, hmm?!"
Hop-Hu jolted forward in her chair, clapping loudly and repetitively, pretty excited for Ireland's sudden burst.
Bree growled, biting her colored-in lip, "Careful, Hop-Hu, England could still take you over."
Hop-Hu fell back in her chair lazily. "Tell that to Xi Jinping," She shrugged, taking a bit into her thumb.
The boy looked at Éire in hope for one of her cool comebacks.
"You still think you're Great Britain, lass?!"
There it was!
Riem sighed, grabbing Éire's hands and tying them up with thick ribbon.
"Hey!!" Éire exclaimed, struggling like a lost worm, "Get your filthy hands off me, you piece of shit America!!"
"Oi, let her go, Riem. I'm pretty interested in the little boy she brought here," A voice rang out from the large crowd.
The boy turned around to see the white-haired girl. He was astounded by her rebellious figure. She wore a black half-shirt that went to her ribs, a leather belt with metal holes in it, and blue-shorts that were rolled up at the ends. Her gray boots complemented her dull gaze at Riem.
Riem shook his head. "No, sorry Ukraine. I can't do that." He rejected.
The girl sighed, twirling her index finger in the air with circular motions. "How many times do I have to explain this to you people? The name's Kiev, after the capital. Not Ukraine. Plus, you should really accept my offer. It's a pretty good one," She winked her light blue eye at him.
"Nope, sorry," Riem shook his head with an awkward smile on his face.
The boy next to Kiev with his hand connected to hers took the lollipop out of his mouth with his free hand. "Stop being a sly pervert, Riem. Everyone here knows that you've been mates with Éire before, but nobody wants to witness you force yourself on her. Do that shit in private."
Kiev snorted. "Wow, Olive, trying to convince forced sex? That's nice. Right in front of children, too, you should be proud."
Olive shrugged, "Well, it says it's legal for Demon-Hunters to do that, so personally, I think I'm following our laws."
Kiev glared at him. "Doesn't mean you should uphold it in front of children. I mean, jeez, you're making this meeting vulgar."
Riem grunted, releasing Éire by thrusting her arm in the air. "Fine, then talk about the kid." He threw himself into the last empty chair. He was pouting.
Éire cleared her throat, grabbing the boy from her chair. She had an awkward face on and gazed around the endless pairs of eyes that looked at her. "This is...um...a boy me and Alba found by the cargo load. He speaks Chinese...and...he's, um, Asian. I think he's at least ten years of age, since he looks that way. That's 'bout it."
Bree rolled her eyes. "So, you don't even know anything about the child you picked up? What of his parents?"
Éire plastered on a serious face. "I'm pretty sure his parents wouldn't leave him soaking in pouring rain, laying on the ground with so sore of muscles that he can't move them with demons lurking all around the damn place." She hissed like a cat with a ferocious impression.
Bree smirked, eyes wandering to the albino Ukraine that was picking at her teeth with a tooth-pick. Ukraine was staring blankly at the boy, as if studying him.
"Well, maybe his parents were like Kiev's," Bree offered up an answer.
Kiev's blue eye widened in shock, her other line of vision covered by hair. "The hell did you just say, you crumpet-sucker?!" She jumped out of her chair and landed on the table. Her thin piece of wood to clean her teeth out with was clenched in between her jaws. Kiev reached down to her belt pocket, where a Shashka was sheathed. The sheath was black with golden edges, a silver cross sewn on it. Kiev pulled her sword out, its beautiful silvery edges nearly blinded everybody in the room. Kiev placed the tip to Bree's neck, gripping the black, neatly carved, dark-wooden handle tightly in her hand.
The boy shook in fright at Kiev, in which she noticed right away. Everyone had their weapons closely prepared in case a slaughter was about to commenced. Kiev's eyes slowly drained of her fury, and she sheathed her Shashka back. "I apologize if I scared any of you. Especially the boy, and I'm excluding Bree from my apology. She can go get some Viagra and go fuc-"
Kiev was cut off by Olive. "Anyways, we should probably end this meeting. Let's hold the next one at my place next time, all right?"
Everyone nodded in agreement. Kiev blinked, and got off of the table, falling in Olive's lap grumpily. Olive grabbed her waist to comfort her. Nevertheless, she crossed her arms in disgust over Bree's comment.
Riem cleared his throat, standing back up. "All right, now that that's over, let's get back to business," He turned his head around the room, "We'll need to discuss why there is another missing from his seat," He met the eyes with several people.
Hop-Hu and Kiev along with a multitude of others glanced away although some did not.
Riem sniffed back, "You all knew Laos' Demon-Hunter, Newt, right?"
Most people nodded. Hop-Hu snorted harshly, "Who couldn't remember the guy that screwed half the girls in he room?!"
Bree rolled her eyes, "Clearly excluding I," She added.
Kiev scowled, "Come on, Bree, please save your excuses. We all know you're the biggest whore in here."
Bree gasped in a squeaky voice. "How dare you?!"
Alba quickly stood up in Bree's defense, "Do not speak that way to Lady Bree!!" He demanded.
"Says the whoremonger." Éire added sarcastically to her brother.
Hop-Hu couldn't help but laugh. "You'd say that to your own brother?"
Éire nodded. "Of course. When he gets all, 'Bree, take me!' mode I can act however I want towards him." She explained irrationally.
Kiev smirked, "See, you must be, Bree. I'm sure you've screwed half the guys in this room too."
"Hey!!" Riem and Olive shouted at once. Most of the other people in the room were kinda zoning out. It was a funny conversation, but who the hell really cares?
Really great meeting, yes.
Riem shook his head, "Anyways," He gained the attention to everyone in the room once again, "Newt, the previous Demon-Hunter of Laos, died. Most of you were all ready aware of the fact that he was dead, but we found his body by a stream in India," He gazed at a girl in the room.
The girl was clearly Indian, but she had green eyes. Her dark, flawless hair was braided down her back. She wore a choli, a midriff-baring blouse that was white and dotted with a vast amount of gems. Her lehenga was woven the exact same way. She had a Machete pined to her side and glanced at Riem with a glare.
"Do not blame me for anything; I don't willingly go kill people, especially Demon-Hunters."
Riem sighed. "Then how else would his body end up in India? It's so far away that it's practically impossible to not suspect you. Plus, it is very difficult to kill Demon-Hunters, so--"
"So I did not do it," She growled defensively. "He was an experienced Demon-Hunter, and I have only been one for three years. I do not have the strength to even accomplish such a task," She blinked at Riem, it was quite obvious she was trying to control her anger.
"I am leaving."
Riem opened his mouth in protest, but nothing came out.
"Aadakash, you can't just leave a meeting." Hop-Hu stood up. "It breaks protocols. If you leave, everyone else has to." She reminded Aadakash.
Aadakash shrugged. "Then that is a gift for everyone else. Come, Gurshant."
The boy's face turned a dark red as a tiger walked beside the one called Aadakash. He was completely overtaken by its majestic appearance. The black stripes of the gigantic beast folded into the middle of the tiger's back and top of his head, massive paws filled with ivory-like claws gently pounded the ground as Gurshant the tiger followed Aadakash.
Éire pulled the boy into her lap as the tiger walked past, stalking behind the young Indian girl. Aadakash left the room whilst in reaction everyone stood up from their seats.
Riem let out a huge sigh that could most likely be heard from for miles.
Éire's teeth ground together as she witnessed her brother Alba walk out behind Bree. "Bye, asshole!" She shouted from behind him.
The boy looked up at Éire with his large round eyes. Noticing this, Éire all of a sudden felt bad.
Hop-Hu giggled behind Éire, gripping the back of her seat. "Aw, around him you might not be able to curse anymore." She teased, walking towards the door like all the others.
Éire sighed, watching everyone leave in a hurry. "So I'm going to be a babysitter, eh?" She questioned herself. Éire looked down at the boy, releasing yet another sigh.
"Do you know where Ireland is, child?" She asked the boy, standing up after placing him on the ground.
The boy merely looked up at her, quiet as a dead soul.
Éire smiled, chuckling at herself. "Fair enough." She walked forward, beckoning the boy to come. He followed her, gripping Éire's kilt for comfort. "Well, that is understood to all people apparently." She told herself while walking out the door.
After closing the door behind her, Éire walked into the hallway with the boy at her side.
Suddenly, Éire is slammed into the wall by an opposing foe, the boy losing his grip on the one that saved him. Shocked and shaken up, the boy is confused and looks up to see Riem viciously attacking the two.
ns 15.158.61.6da2