In the midst of the thick flames, Alaude could only stare. He could only stare at the ginger as Caelum slowly fell insane, just barely tipping over the edge. The unfocused, metallic blue eyes were wide as Caelum clutched onto his shoulders tightly, no doubt piercing through the skin with his nails.

Alaude didn't know what to do for once. He didn't know what he could do to calm Caelum down without agitating him. Not with the flames- Caelum's flames- circling the man protectively and ready to lash out. If it was suffocating before he spotted Caelum, it was deadly. It was out of control, just like Caelum's mind.

He breathed in and slowly crouched, stopping when he felt the air stilled and continuing when it returned normal until he was kneeling on the ground, seiza style like how Asari always did more than once in their presence. He did not let his guard down, for that was the last thing he should do. Instead, he used his flames.

He let his control on his flames go, letting it fill the air around him alongside with Caelum's. He used his flames to let the ginger know, to let Caelum's flames know, that he wasn't going to be an easy kill no matter how pure Caelum's flames was. (It wasn't as pure as Giotto's, nowhere near Alaude's as well, but it was still pure even with the slightly darker tint amongst it. Alaude doubt it was because of his mentality, but something else.)

Caelum's flames calmed, stopped trying to actively kill whatever is in its vicinity. It was then did Caelum blinked and slowly looked up. His body was still tensed, but no longer shaking. He was still hugging himself in the way of trying to restrain himself, but he wasn't trying to tear through his own arms with his nails as well. He looked towards Alaude, and dilated pupils stared right into Alaude's icy blue eyes.

Alaude didn't look away. He never did anyway. "Caelum." He said softly, but firmly. "It's all over." He let his words sink as he continued watching Caelum's reaction. He didn't say that it was alright, or it's fine, because it wasn't. It wasn't alright, and Caelum himself knew it all along even when he was denying it.

"It ended."

Caelum's eyes glisten, pupils no longer dilated as his face scrunched up. Tears dropped from the corner of his eyes as a sob wreck his whole being. He cried, eyes screwed shut, tears never ending. He cried ever so silently, but his pain wasn't unheard by Alaude, for the man himself, when Caelum started crying, started mourning for the lost of Caelum's family. Alaude mourned, but he did not cry.

He sat there and mourned for the lost of those whom held a precious spot in his heart.

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Alaude didn't know how long it was since Caelum started crying, his flames calmed fully and dispersed, having to lose track of time. He himself was lost in his own thoughts when Caelum finally stopped crying. He snapped out of it and looked at Caelum, whose eyelids were half close and dropping lower. His body was leaning to one side, tilting as he slumped down to the ground, no longer have the energy to hold himself up.

Just before his head hit the ground, Alaude managed to hold him up and cradled him to his chest. Alaude brushed his bangs away from his face, rubbing the dried tears from the cheeks as Caelum slept. The ginger had fallen asleep out of sheer exhaustion from what had happened and crying.

While Alaude was glad that Caelum was finally resting, he wasn't glad to know that it wouldn't be a fitful rest. Even so, Alaude genuinely hoped that Caelum's nightmare would be kind to him. (Caelum was but a human, a normal man whom had never taken any lives until that day. He wasn't used to the thrill of fighting, nor the feeling of fresh blood on his hands like Alaude was. He would definitely be traumatized, not just by what he had experience, but by the ghost of his nightmare that would continuously haunt him even as he wakes.)

Making sure that the ginger wouldn't fall from his lap, Alaude took off his coat and draped it over Caelum's body, covering him and gathered him up into his arms. He glanced at him once more before began walking out of the woods and headed to his house.

The sun had long went down, retiring for the day. So did all the villagers, all had returned to their houses and closed all doors. It wasn't uncommon to see them hiding in their houses whenever something happened. It was a rather small village, so surely all of them must had heard what had happened.

Alaude was more than pleased to find the street empty.

Just as he reached his house and was about to kick his door open because of the lack of free hands, it swung open itself. Or rather, Knuckle was the one who opened the door.

The priest stopped short in mid-yawn and stared stone-shock at Alaude. To be exact, the unconscious man in Alaude's arms. He immediately picked up the smell of blood and ushered Alaude in, closing the door shut behind him after glancing around warily. "What happened?" He asked just as the other walked upstairs to his room.

Knuckle followed closely behind when Alaude stayed silent. Although he was used to Alaude's behavior, he wasn't particularly pleased when he ignored him. Especially when someone's life could be on the line. "Oi Alaude-" The rest of the sentence seized in his throat when Alaude turned around sharply to give him a hard look.

They stood at the stairs, staring at each other for one full minute before Alaude broke it and continued his steps. Knuckle huffed in frustration and frowned, ruffling his hair roughly. He hurried after him just as the other went into his room and placed Caelum on the bed, totally disregarding the blood. He said nothing, but his body language had given all of it away.

He was dying to know what was wrong, but he would wait. He waited as Alaude peeled the stained articles off, watching by the door frame. (Pigs probably flew because Alaude, of all people, shouldn't be that gentle. He was literally soft in touches towards the unconscious one.) He frowned at how the pale skin was painted in blood, but relieved when he saw no external wounds just as Alaude left to the bathroom.

He couldn't tell if there was internal injuries on the man, however.

He heard the water running in the bathroom as he took a step towards the bed slowly. He was aware that Alaude knew what he was doing, so he paid close attention to the sounds. When there was no reaction, or anything abnormal, he took it as a permission and approached the bed.

He frowned at the how pale the man looked. Although Caelum's breathing was even, Knuckle wanted to make sure that he wasn't having a fever, so he reached over and placed a hand over the forehead. However, before his hand even properly made contact with the skin, he felt something lashed out. His eyes widen as he immediately retracted his hand, as though he had made contact with fire.

"Move." He jumped and almost bumped into Alaude when the man came up behind him. "A-ah, sorry." Alaude set a pail filled with water aside and soaked a towel in it, pulling a stool over to the bed. Before he did anything, he turned towards Knuckle. The priest, immediately recognizing the message behind the gaze, raised both his hands up and retreated from the room, closing the door behind him.

He made his way down slowly, mind elsewhere. He stopped at the very last step and stared at his hand. The hand that barely touched Caelum. His eyebrows furrowed.

(Alaude stared at the door for a long moment before turning back to Caelum, twisting the cloth to squeeze out the excess water. He grabbed Caelum's arm and started cleaning the blood and dirt off the skin. When he was done cleaning Caelum up, he dressed him in one of his clothes, a bit large on him but it fitted. Better than nothing after all.

He sighed as he brushed aside a stray hair from Caelum's face, tucking the man in. He hoped that Caelum would be able to rest fitfully, but he knew his hope was a naught.)

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Knuckle was cooking something simple for himself and Alaude, lost in his train of thoughts when Alaude came down to the kitchen, looking drained for once. He stayed silent as the other went to make some hot drink for the both of them, for he knew that they would have a long talk about this.

The moment they sat down on the dining table, opposite of each other, a tensed atmosphere filled in the air. Neither of them touched the food nor the drinks, simply staring at it as though it would move the moment they took their eyes off it. It was so silent that one could almost hear a pin drop in a distance. Surprisingly, it was Alaude who broke it first.

Alaude sighed as he picked up his mug, leaning against the back rest of his chair as he took a sip. "What do you want to know?"

Knuckle wanted to ask a myriad of questions, but he started off easy first. "Who is he?" Alaude looked away for a moment, as though contemplating on that question even when he had the answer on the tip of his tongue. "Caelum's a friend."

That word sounded so foreign in his mouth that he outright twitched at that.

Knuckle's eyes widen. It was unbelievable to hear the prideful man admit something like that. He knew that Alaude took him and the others as family and friends, of course, but he had never heard him claiming that. Nor did he claim that he cared about all of them but it was as clear as daylight. For Alaude to actually say that, Knuckle knew that the man, Caelum, was someone important to Alaude.

(Perhaps, it was because Caelum respected and accept Alaude more than anyone else did.)

"He's an active user, Alaude." "I know."

"He would suffer if you were to-"

Alaude glared at Knuckle, stopping him from continuing his sentence for he already knew what the man wanted to say. He himself knew as well, the risk of getting too close to an Flame active user spiritually. A risk that none of them wanted to take, for there was no telling what would happen. (It was still a work in progress after all, theories and facts about Flames.)

Knuckle frowned at that, but instead, he changed the subject. "What happened exactly?" He was replied with a withering look as Alaude lowered his mug, sighing again.

"A planned execution by the Capital is all I could think of." He glanced off, making a mental note to interrogate Percy. He was aware that the man was probably busy tending to the blond woman and the twins, and although he was desperate for answers, they needed it more than him.

However, he didn't need an answer to know that Caelum probably activated his flames when his family was murdered right in front of him. What was left of the Capital men in the house was probably Caelum's doing as well. He wasn't foreign to lost of self control in desperate times, for he himself had went through that, so it was easy to guess what had happened. If he were to put himself in Caelum's shoes, he would do the same thing as the ginger did.

Knuckle watched as Alaude lost himself in his own thoughts again. He said nothing of it, didn't interrupt the man even though he had other questions. It was heavy topic. It was hard enough just not knowing anything. If the ginger was really a friend to Alaude, then he could only imagine how hard it was for Alaude.

He shook his head and picked up the cutlery and started eating slowly. No matter, everything would be clear once things were sorted. Granted, it would be a hard time through the whole process, but it is a must. (After all, nothing stays a secret forever.)

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"Cael, could you make me a cup of coffee?" Caelum blinked, once and twice, eyes clearing. He looked at his father who was smiling at him as he carried a box of old, rusted metal. "Ah, okay." He heard himself reply and walked to the kitchen, as though nothing was wrong, but there was something wrong. It was realistic, but it felt wrong.

Everything felt so wrong.

"Caelum." He jerked at that, eyes widening as the empty cup he was holding was filled with dark red liquid, overflowing. "Caelum." He slowly turned around and jumped back, hitting the counter. He lost his grip on the cup and it fell onto the ground, shattering into million of pieces. His heart thumped loudly and painfully against his chest as he grew pale.

"Why?" He gripped the counter tightly, tensing as red hands waved around, trying to grab him. His family, all crawled to him, eyes gone leaving empty sockets with blood flowing out. Their body were crippled, limbs twisted in angles that it shouldn't be. "Why did you abandon us?"

"N-no, I didn't-"

"Why did you watch us die?" One of the hands- his mother's- grabbed onto him by the leg, clutching tightly as her sharp nails dug into his flesh. He couldn't shake her off, he couldn't shake any of them off as they latched onto him. He was frozen, stiff and rigid as all of them murmured 'why's. He clutched his hair, breath erratic. "Shut up-"

"Why?!"

"Shut up!!" He screamed, trying to drown out the moans and groans as everything morphed into a massacre, floor flooded with blood and corpses. He shut his eyes tightly, tearing up. Suddenly, it was all quiet. He breathed heavily as he slowly opened his eyes. They were gone, as if they were never there. All the blood had disappeared as well. Everything was plain white, with him standing in the midst of it.

He hesitately looked around, searching when a pair of familiar voices called out.

"Cael." He stiffen. "Why?" He slowly turned around, and choked at the sight of his younger sisters who both looked at him in sadness and disappointment. Their white dresses shifted around as though it was rustled by the wind, even though there was no wind. Slowly, the white dresses turned red from the bottom to the top.

"Why did you abandon us?"

He was suddenly aware of how close they were and tried to back away, only to fall down for his leg no longer had the energy to hold him up. "N-no..." They crouched in front of him, hands supporting their chin as they tilted, looking at him in the eyes. "You killed us." "You killed them."

Hands shot up from the ground, raw and rotting, grabbing his body and pulled. "S-stop."

Their eyes, the eyes Caelum loved, disappeared and left empty black sockets behind. "Monster." "Murderer."

He couldn't breathe. He couldn't breathe.

"NO!"

He shot up, eyes wide and frantic. His ears rang so loudly that it hurt his head. He could still hear their voices, all of their voices. So clear and so loud. He tried to breathe, once, twice, but failed. His lungs hurt, dizzy. He wanted to breathe, but he couldn't. He clutched onto his chest, pounding as tears sprang out of his eyes. He punched his own chest, trying to get it working as he heaved.

"Caelum!" He barely even registered that when two pairs of hands grabbed him, pulling his own hands away even though he still couldn't breathe. (He was drowning.) He struggled, wheezing hard, but he was weaker than them. A flash of image of two men, holding him down as he watched his father and mother died with his own two eyes.

He jerked upward once and he lurched. He tilted sideways and vomited, the smell of bile hitting his nose. He coughed as a hand patted his back. Finally, he could breathe. He greedily sucked in the much needed air through his mouth as his nose were clogged. Granted, his ribs actually hurt with his action but he couldn't care less.

It took a while, for his blurred sight to clear and his ears to stop ringing, but it did. During the whole time, Caelum was held by someone. He couldn't exactly register who it was, but they were someone familiar, and he couldn't even hold himself upright as he trembled it their arms.

He was tired, so tired, but he didn't want to fall asleep. He didn't want to close his eyes, for he fear that he would see them again. He tried to stay awake, but it was difficult when a warm hand ran their fingers into his hair, patting him as the arm held him protectively. (He felt safe.)

He could hear their heartbeat as he was crushed to their chest.

Ba-dump. Ba-dump.

The sign of life.

Ba-dump. Ba-dump.

His breathing slowed as his eyes slipped close, holding onto the shirt tightly.

Alaude couldn't help but sigh in relief when Caelum calmed down as he stroked the mop of ginger gently, watching closely as Caelum fell into peaceful slumber. He didn't let go of Caelum, even when Knuckle came back with a wet cloth from the bathroom and wiped the cold sweat and saliva off of the other's face. He knew the last thing he should do was letting go of him when what Caelum needed the most was grounding.

It was somehow expected, that Caelum would have nightmares. It was expected as well that Caelum would be traumatized by what he had gone through.

It was expected, but Alaude hated it.

He heard a small whimper, scared and vulnerable, as Caelum burrowed himself against Alaude even more. He held him just a little tighter, a little closer as he patted the ginger on the back.

(The flames curled around him before retracting, shifting and brushing but never touching. His own flames didn't reach out to it either, even if there was a small urge to do so.)

"He'll be alright, Alaude." Knuckled said.

Alaude stayed silent.

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A/N= Sorry that it took so long! I was busy since last week until yesterday and I'm damn tired. Both physically and mentally. I literally breezed through the whole chapter and checked only the spellings. This is going to bite me in the ass afterwards, isn't it?

Seiza style is a traditional and formal way of sitting in Japan, which is, sitting on their knees. I think you all know what it meant.  

Fact= There's only a handful of people who are flame actives, and it was rare during the First Generation's era. What it does and what effect will it bring is not confirmed. I won't say much about it since it will be explained slowly in the upcoming chapters, albeit, weird.

I love Caelum, just as how I love Ryuuichi, but I don't know why, I just want to see Caelum suffer. Idk why.

I don't know what else to say here so I hope you guys have a great week!!

Okay I probably jinxed myself because not an hour later I stubbed my toe against the sofa and it's legit bleeding. Like, the skin before the nail peeled off and I probably broke the nail at some point but broken nail is the last of my concern. My toe is bleeding. And there's practically no way that I can wrap it with a plaster. So I took a bandage and tried. And failed.

It hurt like hell that I whined out loudly. Please save me from this hell.

[I apologize for any grammar, spelling, etc. etc. mistakes]