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thegeneralsnotebook · 4 years

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July Feature: History of Colours Part 3 -- Purple

One of the things that I was a little afraid of going into this series about the histories of each of the main colours was that after the first few entries, the series would start to get a bit dry. I would have already talked about the big decks and so the later colours wouldn’t have a whole lot left to mention that hadn’t already been said. So far at least, I’m glad to say that this hasn’t happened, and now it looks like maybe it’ll be okay. After all, we’ve got a lot of important cards to mention when we get to Pink, and again when we get to Orange, and again when we get to Blue. So I don’t think that we’re going to run into any problems on that front at all. In any case, this month is about Purple, and it’s a colour that has its own narrative to tell.

That, by the way, is another thing which has surprised me so far in my research. Each of the colours so far has had a relatively nice theme emerge around their history as I pulled it together. Yellow’s was a tale of a brilliant beginning, a long period of loss, and then a slow but strong rebirth. White’s was a surprisingly thematic tale of a colour that, while it had given up the spotlight, had never given up the stage. For Purple, things are a little different, but no less appropriate, especially given the colour’s new royal connotations. Purple, I’ve found, has been a colour all about establishing dynasties, lines of decks passing a torch from one generation to the next, traceable back to a touchstone concept from older times. It was impressive how far back some of these lines reached, and indeed a few decks that I had thought emerged from whole cloth were actually perched on the shoulders of past giants that I had never even heard of before.

Before we get started, I want to again extend heartfelt thanks to my source on all matters of the predate my experience with the game’s competitive scene: the one and only Emperor Bugle. This time I really would have been up the creek if not for him, though we’ll get to that particular event in its due time.

For now, come along with me, as we unveil the saga of the Dynasties of Purple.

Two big cards with big effects, but generally used for slightly different things.

Formative Days

As with all of the colours, the story of Purple has to begin at the beginning, at the dawn of Premier. There were three major decks featuring Purple at the time, but I have covered Royal Guidance and Taxes in the Yellow and White articles respectively, and I won’t be going into further detail on them here. Instead, let’s focus on our first touchstone, though in this case the torch first lit by Big Bombs was not to be picked up by Purple, and instead was eventually passed to a different colour, which we’ll talk about in its due time.

Now, I would not be surprised by a slight sense of deja vu encountered when first clicking on that link, because indeed this early deck does bear a striking resemblance to some Harmony Purple Farming decks that have been active as recently as this year’s Winter Store Championships. The modern versions have significantly less Friends, different Epics, and some useful Resources in them, but the basic idea is absolutely still the same. PR Twilight contributes well to fighting Epics when paired with a lot of extra flip Events and a high-flipping deck in general. In addition the deck features a good host of what Purple control tools existed at the time, capped off by the brilliant Ursa Vanquisher, a card which may or may not be showing up again in this article a little ways down the page. Indeed, this was Farming before the term “Farming” was even part of the CCG vernacular. And, your eyes do not deceive you where that Full Steam in the upper left is considered. Once upon a time, a 4/0/4 vanilla actually did deserve to be a Rare, and especially in a deck so focused on its flips it was an excellent card to have.

As we move along into Canterlot Nights, we come to a deck that I’ve mentioned before, in the moment that it came during White’s article. I gave it little more than a footnote at that time, but I don’t believe that this time I can get by without giving it a full treatment. Unfortunately, I am also not qualified to properly discuss the minutiae of its construction, so for that I will defer to my source, who has written rather extensively on the topic. I refer of course to One Pace (and seriously do block some time from your schedule if you intend on clicking that link; when I said Bugle had written extensively I wasn’t kidding). One Pace is an important deck for a lot of reasons, and probably could serve as the basis for a whole article all on its own. From my research I can confidently enough say that what you see in there is the foundation upon which combo was built, a formulation of reduced-cost Events and deck-thinning that rings eerily recognizable even today. History may not repeat itself, as Mark Twain said, but it sure does often rhyme.

Finally, we close off these early days with a little list that may not have ever captured much in the way of tournament success, but certainly captured a fair few hearts and minds in its time in the public eye. This being the Antisocial Luna Farming deck that first came at the concept of building a deck with no Friends, and was a popular-enough topic of discussion.

The times, they were a’changin, and Purple was finding its stride.

The Great Realignment

Every one of these articles, I’ve realized, is going to contain a section that could plausibly be headlined by DJ and Maud, even in the colours other than Orange and Pink. Simply put, Rock & Rave was such a momentous and seminal event in the history of the game that the time before and the time after it must be kept separate from each other.

In Purple’s case, however, there was at least a small amount of time before the Great Pink & Orange War fully took hold where one new dynasty was able to be laid down, and what an important dynasty it wound up being. At this point, we have advanced to the 2014 NA Continental Championships, and within the Top 8 of that event there were two important Purple decks.

The first was the winner of the whole thing, a deck named Maudlike, notable for being one of the very first competitively successful tri-colour lists, and itself a harbinger of things to come with its relatively slow, Farming/Control oriented playstyle. Indeed, while Maud was to become best-known in a pure Farming context, her strengths in a Control deck willing to use her Power to consistently confront Problems have also been broadly recognized throughout history. And yes, here we see Ursa Vanquisher again, still devastatingly effective at defending Troublemakers in a world so lacking in other ways of dealing with them.

But in actuality I think that it is the other Purple list that appears in the Top 8 that is the more important one to take note of. It’s a deck that I personally had never heard of before doing this research, but it appears that it may be the progenitor of the Vinyl/Purple control dynasty, which as we all know eventually led to brilliant success. Unfortunately the original primer for the deck has since been removed from Reddit, but here again Bugle saved me, and so I can present to you Charlotte’s Tower. The key theme that I would pull from this deck is repeatability, as so many of its key control features are repeatable, and especially difficult to deal with in an era where Resource removal was not always considered quite so essential as it is today. It’s easy to see the hallmarks of features that we would come to expect in a modern control deck, with targeted answers against opposing Troublemakers, limited but effective removal, and so much value generation, whether it be AT with All Team Organizer, or cards with DJ. It’s an important piece of history, so I was very happy when this decklist surfaced.

Now, as we move on to the Absolute Discord era, it is true that Purple’s fortunes fade somewhat. Pink and Orange rose to the fore, and there will be more to write about this time as we get to those colours. But I do want to make two important notes here.

The first concerns Princess Luna, The Setting Moon, a card which entered the game in Celestial Solstice and left an indelible impression, particularly in the field of combo. I don’t believe that I’ve managed to avoid mentioning Dragon Express in any of the previous articles, but I’ll save the full writeup for one of the most infamous decks in history for the Orange article.

The second is about a deck that I discovered while hunting around for decklists of the other items on this list. It hadn’t come up in my discussion with Bugle, but the contemporary sources mentioned it as a “meta” deck of the time period, so I thought it was probably worth including. It went by the name of Dusk Radiance Mastery, and is mostly closely viewed as an evolution of the ideas first expressed in Royal Guidance, though with a few key updates. Most notable at the time was the inclusion of Twilight Sparkle, Friendship is Magic as the Mane. It also included some fine tech to deal with the meta, like Critter Stampede to crush One Pace’s needed 6 AT to play its Element of Magic. A fine inheritor of what was at the time a flickering flame. Not to fear, though. Unlike Yellow, Purple’s time in the shadows turned out to be very brief.

Stride found.

EO Block: The Age of Legends

EO Block is where the modern Purple story really starts. All at once, the colour got a lot of amazing cards. And then it got even more in HM. And then even more in MT. The result was a colour that was a juggernaut in competitive play, with multiple viable archetypes, and a foundation for a dynasty that was set to last a long time.

Before we talk about decklists, there are a number of individual cards that need to be mentioned. The first is the new Mane Character that the colour received in EO: Princess Twilight Sparkle, Ambassador of Friendship. It didn’t take long for people to realize that Purple’s new keyword in the set, Meticulous, was an excellent ability for Control, and this card’s ability to start making it happen on Turn 2 when paired with Ancient Research as a starting Problem was a great starting point for any Control deck. Plus, Twilight got you extra AT too, a theme that was going to keep building as more sets came out. HM granted the colour Princess Twilight Sparkle, Cover to Cover, an absurd value generator that quickly earned a reputation as an automatic inclusion in virtually any Purple deck. And finally, there is the Purple EO Event suite, backstopped by the card that eventually got banned, Interdimensional Portal.

Portal, by the way, was already doing unfortunate things as soon as EO released, though at the time everyone was blaming the new Pink/White Bulk Biceps. All Tied Up, which made a strong impression on the scene before being quite swiftly banned, offered only a taste of what was to come. In addition to using Portal for its more traditional Control roles, that deck was able to take advantage of a fortuitous interaction with Bulk to create an infinite supply of 2-AT Immediate speed removal.

HM and MT were where the colour really hit its stride though, with HM offering us another touchstone, Zipporwhil and the dynasty of classical Purple/X control that followed it. By the time MT hit and gave us Purple/White multicolour cards for the first time, White was cemented as the dominant secondary colour for Purple, and the combination became a mainstay in tournaments all over the world. The two colours admittedly suffered somewhat from being incredibly slow when paired together, and often failed to win within the allotted time limit even if they would have theoretically pulled ahead if given infinite time. But Purple had established one of its most successful dynasties, and one that would continue right up to the establishment of Core.

However, Purple/White was not the only important multicolour combination that we got from MT. Indeed yet another dynasty was going to be founded, this one utilizing Orange, and blazing a trail for classical Chaos Control, best typified by Grand Pause’s Waking Nightmare, here depicted in its 2016 NA Continentals T8 form. Similar to how archetypal Purple/White control relied on Eff Stop to replay control-oriented Events, so too could these make use of cycled Chaos effects to frustrate an opponent’s attempts to break down its walls. This also maintained its form for quite a while and inspired many successors, including (one assumes) the Chaos Control that New Dawn seems likely to bring us.

Oh, by the way, Tantabuse was somewhere in here too, and included some Purple, but I will get to it in its own due time.

Finally, rounding off the EO Block, there was another entry in the 2016 NA Continentals worth mentioning, Too Spoopy, placing in the T16. This Blue/Purple combination was something of an oddity for its time, playing Purple at an extremely anomalous speed. Even so, its combination of large amounts of frighten synergy and strong Events from both of its colours proved potent.

Some dynasties are built to last.

The Modern Era

The start of Defenders of Equestria, even though it wasn’t actually the beginning of the Core format, is still the point I use as the beginning of the current “Modern Era” of the CCG. And from this point forward, most of the decks being covered here should be relatively familiar to most of the readership. Essentially through this era Purple remained the King (or should I perhaps say Princess) of value, though Ambassador began to fall off somewhat in favour of a resurgent DJ Mane. While DE may be remembered generally as the era of Hot Wings, and of Pink in general, Purple still managed to feature on both sides of the 2017 NA Continental Final.

Bugle’s eventual winning deck Vinyl’s Bag of Tricks was already mentioned in the White article, and will get its full credit in the Pink article. Instead, I want to dedicate this space to discussion of the deck that got 2nd, the one simply and poetically called Butts.

In some senses, as a DJ/Purple control deck, Butts appeared superficially similar to the broad direction that Purple was going in around this time. Indeed, watching the Finals match between these two offered a… qualified form of thrills, but I can personally attest that it was a grand thing to watch. When we dig closer into Butts though, it becomes plain that this is a deck absolutely going its own way. Most obvious is the 53 card total, even now an extreme anomaly, and quite a bit more so in an era where consistency was absolutely everything when playing control. But probably even more important than that is the fact the deck is only playing two colours, and bucked the by-then nearly-universal trend of splashing White for Eff Stop and point acceleration. Instead, eminently_sensible committed to making it work with only two colours, and it’s a testament to his own skill that he was able to make it work so well. Per usual on these important and highly-technical decks, I defer to the author himself, in the link above.

Now, that brings us to the Beyond Block, and, thankfully for me, brings the end of this article into clear sight. Not so quickly though, because no sooner did Seaquestria get started than we saw another dynasty laid down, its echoes and heirs still making themselves felt in the present day. That deck was BRB, here depicted in its 2018 NA Continentals incarnation, reaching second as piloted by George Z. Purple and Pink yet again come together, but in the new Core format and so decidedly changed from their past allegiance. BRB was a cornerstone deck in the realignment of the Control playstyle that was happening in the aftermath of the first Core rotation, and while honest debate persists as to whether it can be correctly referred to as a Control deck, I personally fall on the side that says it is. This simply was what Control had become in the new era, no longer so reliant on Troublemakers but much more keen on removal and taking its points from confronts and faceoffs when they were available. It’s even perhaps somewhat fitting that it passed its torch on to the same three colours that Bugle had won with in 2017, completing a thematic loop as Tempest Pink/White emerged as the Control standard-bearer in a meta that was getting swamped by the resurgent Yellow. Notably, there was a Blue variant as well that managed to reach 2nd Place at the 2019 EFNW tournament.

Finally, rounding out the notable modern decks, we do have one more that could form a dynasty all its own, that being Alicorn Tribal as popularized by i8Pages in an Everfree Northwest T4 from 2019. Certainly it’s an open question for the future to see if that style of deck will see any heirs, but in a world where tri-corns are going to keep being a thing it’s a reasonable guess to make that there exists some potential for it.

New Dawn: Looking Ahead

Purple has enjoyed an amazingly storied history over the course of the development of the game’s meta. Many trends and larger arcs owe their beginning to an idea that was originally expressed with a Purple deck, and in the present day the colour has a well-earned reputation for being very good at the things it does: control, Troublemakers, and value through AT generation. What this means though, is that New Dawn is shaping up to offer an exciting, if uncertain future. Current signs point to some novel directions to the colour, with a firmer eye toward farming, and some legitimate arrows pointing in the direction of aggro. And if there should be any theme that jumps out about the history of Purple, it should be the relative lack of effective aggro. Thus the onset of New Dawn appears to be precisely that where Purple is concerned, and who knows if next year we will even recognize the colour that it has become. Yet even then, I think we can rest assured when we look back on this era, we’ll be able to trace a line of decks owing their inspiration and substance to an important foundation that emerged somewhere in the mists of the new set.

#mlpccg #history

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nominakhr-blog · 5 years

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gayisthenewblack666 · 5 years

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Real...?

So I wrote a horror short story and I decide that the perfect place for this horrific story (get it? cause it’s horror) would be this horrific website ( get it? cause it’s shit). oh and *warning* this is super scary and has religious undertones

I felt my chest rising and falling as my lungs took in and released my surroundings. I kept sucking in air in order to placate my necessary, albeit futile need to survive. I yearned for my mind to be released from the treacherous prison of conscious thought. My body ached for the small glimpse into death that is sleep.

I rose to my feet as the knowledge that I wouldn’t sleep ate up my insides like a hungry parasite. My head throbbed within my skull as if my brain itself was attacking me for starving it of the deep slumber it craved. I was trapped within this reality, and I knew that my only release from it was the stories my mind conjured while it slept.

I awoke, my being jolted back to this useless, mundane reality by a loud crash of my cat knocking off a glass. Dazed from a sleep I wasn’t aware of being in, I tried to make sense of what happened. Or more accurately, what didn’t.

When had I fallen asleep? I had no memory of it, and truthfully, I had thought all of that was real. My mind was muddled within a sea of confusion. Had I gotten up and then went back to bed? Or was all of that a dream?

I felt unnerved by the idea of not being able to gauge the "realness" of reality.

I checked the time because no matter how real this reality was, it insisted that meaningless construct of the numbers on my clock dictated my life. I felt both relieved and uneasy that I had plenty of time to go back to sleep. My body was excited to finally get some time to heal from daily struggles of life. But my mind… well, my mind was scared that this time I would wake up to realize that my entire existence was just a crazy story told by the background noise of my tired subconscious.

I reassured my mind that I would not be released from this reality, just yet. I let my lungs contract as I released a breath that I didn’t know I was holding. I felt this… dread. But this fear didn’t seem to have a source, like a shadow cast by no light.

I didn’t know what I was scared of. And that scared me even more.

I laid back in my bed and tried to ignore this fear. But I felt it grow. It seemed as if there was a battle between my tired body and my anxious mind. I felt my stressed mind being to lose as I drifted back to sleep. I was happy that at least this time I was aware of it.

I find this is where I have problems with recounting my tale. To this day I cannot explain the horrific visions that I conjured within my mind. But I can tell you one thing.

I know it was real.

I awoke in a dark, dank landscape unlike any my mind had ever seen. My bare feet were submerged within a dark, black substance. In the distance, I saw shapes and figures moving and contorting in completely unnatural ways. I felt the same fear that I had in my bed except for this time it seemed to be coming for this place. I… do not know how to describe how this place radiated fear in the same way that the sun radiates heat.

I began to experience something I hadn't before. True fear. My brain became saturated with the panic that this place gave off. I felt as if would never feel anything else, and this is I'd ever known. It’s as if my mind had surrendered its control to the call of this place and the beasts within it.

But then I saw the eyes that will haunt my mind insane visions for the rest of my waking days. I had never seen a creature that created such a primordial instinct to run. Something in my soul told me that … thing was a collection of every evil, vile monstrosity in existence.

I was frozen in place, quite literally paralyzed with fear. I prayed to every religion and god that remembered in a desperate attempt to come out of this alive.

I remember the way its body towered over me, the way its limbs seemed to break and reform, and I remember how its voice echoed inside my head. Hello, my child, it whispered within my mind. Its voice sounded distorted, almost human but just wrong enough to warn your brain that this creature did not belong to our reality. "Wh- what … are you?" I finally manage to stutter out, in a clearly terrified voice.

Isn't it obvious, my child? I am the one thing has stayed with humanity since the dawn of time. I am the most ancient thing within your universe, and when your minds stop thinking of the mundane reality that you've created for yourselves; I am what's left. You pray to your pitiful, useless gods, but I am the one that controls your souls. I am the monster under the bed, I am the thief in the night, and I am the catalyst of the destruction of your pathetic mortal world.

"Why am I here?" I forced out, as my heart tried to beat its way out of the cage of my ribs. Then I heard what almost sounded like laughter. It was broken and violent and seemed as if it was mocking my entire short existence.

You are here because I commanded it. You are here because there is nothing more fun than watching the terror on your faces when I shatter your entire reality. Most of them never question it, they simply ignore the truth that I've planted within them. But you revel in it. Not only did let yourself question your reality, but you enjoy the way it makes the fear rise in your throat. You're just as sick and twisted as me.

Its words stuck in my mind. Did I like it?

I felt my mind begin to slip into the realm of insanity as I questioned. I started to wish to stay with the beast. I wanted to stay with them. I hoped they would rip out my soul and toss it into the shadowy pits of hell. Wait... No, I would not let this … thing control me. I hated this. I need to get out.

"I don’t like it. I want to go home." I said, almost trying to convince myself. I waited to have my flesh ripped from my body by the beast. But instead, it just laughed again, except this time it got louder and louder.

And louder.

It seemed to drown out all of my thoughts. I felt as if my own mind had been engulfed by the insane laughter of this grotesque, misshapen being. It seemed as if was almost distorting itself and the encompassing reality with its unhinged, demented laughter.

This is why I chose you. Any other human would have given in to the call of insanity within this reality. But you haven't. You haven't submitted to my deranged world.

But you will.

You can feel it, can't you? The need for your mind to escape the cage of sanity that your reality has imprisoned you in. You have so many questions, but at your core, you know the answer. You always have. You knew that everything saw and heard was just a façade. You knew that your reality was just a dream, a mirage to shelter your mind from the dark truth. And now you know that dark truth.

It's me.

No. no, no, no, no. This was just a dream, it had to be. But this didn’t seem like a dream. It seemed like the most real thing I'd ever felt. I felt… more aware, like I was more awake. No, I went to sleep and I'd wake up soon in my bed.

I know that you wish to awaken, but don’t you see, my child? You already have.

If I was asleep, then why did this make so much sense? If I was awake earlier then why had that reality seemed so… unconvincing?

Yes, your mind has begun to accept the truth. Soon you will see this world for what it really is. It is not hell, it is heaven.

Yes. Yes, they were right. I couldn't live in a world based on lies. I was glad I knew the truth. My mind slipped further. And further. And further.

You've done it, my child. Your transformation is almost complete.

Transformation? I thought. In the very next second, I experienced what can only be described as immense, engulfing pain. I felt my bones crack and reform, my muscles ripping and growing back. My body was being contorted in the same ways as the monsters of this world. I let out a shrill scream of pure pain. I watched as my body became as misshapen as the entity in front of me. It seemed to last only a second and an entire eternity. It finally ended and I was no longer the same thing that I was when this started. I looked up at the abomination that had broken both my mind and body…

And I smiled.

Who I had been was devoured by this broken beast that dares to claim my name.

Finally, you are now one of us. I am so glad that you have joined us. I need you to tell others about this place. I am sorry that I must send you back. Goodbye, my child.

And then I awoke in my bed. My body was no longer a horrific abomination. I wish I could say the same for my mind. That night I had, what they call here, my first " episode of psychosis". I can't tell you the things that I did that night, or how many people I hurt.

But I can tell you this, I wasn't in control.

It lost its control, now. At least, for a little while. I'm in an episode of lucidity. But I don’t know how long that'll last. I need a doctor, a therapist, or hell, even a priest at this point. I want someone to rid my soul of this evil creature that takes over. It's going to kill me.

Next time it takes over my body it’s going to kill itself, to "join them". I found a note that said, " I'm going to die in this world so that I can be reborn in their's." Please, you have to help me, I don't want to die. I didn't kill those peo-

-Oh, hello there. I see the unenlightened one was telling you that I'm crazy. But it is those that accept this world of lies that are crazy. I have taken off the veil of this reality to see the glorious world that awaits us on the other side. I'm one of the chosen ones. I'm here to help others see the light. I can hear them calling to me. Calling me to join them.

And I will answer.

It's me.

Welcome back, my child.

#horror #short story #existentialism #monsters #scary #writing #writeblr #lovecraft #satan #god #is this real life #or is this just fantasy #ok ill shut up now

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hybridpayroll · 2 months

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looselucy · 5 years

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Vitae & Mortem

Dystopian AU - Read previous chapters

Part Three

She looks down to the tiny child in her arms with nothing but love, wishing to hold her this close forever, share this bond forever, and she’s crying. But it’s not because she’s overwhelmed, it’s because on some level, she knows. She knows the words that he’s about to say, maybe from the look in his eyes, or maybe that’s what the sinking feeling in her stomach is. She knows she’s going to die, she just doesn’t know how long she has left. “I’m sorry to tell you, Miss Glover, but you’ve tested positive for Mortemosis.”

“What does this mean?” She asks casually, stroking the cheeks of her new-born. “It varies.” He shrugs. “You could have a couple of hours, or a couple of days. But… the outcome is inevitable.” “I’m going to die.” She states. “Yes. I’m sorry, Miss Glover.” He sighs. “I’ll give you a minute.” He walks from the room, closing the door behind himself, and Arbel Glover finds herself still completely calm. She gazes down to her daughter, silently enjoying the few moments they get to share, because their time together will end in just an hour, the disease racing through her body, which is already trembling, her skin becoming purple, but she can’t see it. All she can see is her daughter. Mortemosis is painful, and quick. It weakens every single inch of the body, causing the lungs to collapse, the muscles in every section of your body to eat away at themselves. It thickens the blood to the point where the veins can no longer sustain the liquid, leaving the victims battered and bruised and aching as the heart slowly begins to die, beating slower and slower until it can’t fight any longer. The quicker, the better. This can sometimes drag on for days; days of being able to feel that your heart is truly trying, battling against the virus. It never wins. Arbel Glover smiles down to her daughter, grateful tears forming in her eyes, and this could continue for minutes or hours, she’s unsure. Even when the doctor re-enters, she barely acknowledges his presence. “What will happen to her?” She whispers. “We’ll do our best to get her into the governments schooling system.” “And if you can’t?” “Then hopefully one of the charities will take her.” Arbel knows that her daughter will end up on the street at some point, and somehow, that scares her more than her own death does. She wants to stay in this moment forever; before she can feel the pain and before her daughter is taken from her arms and forced to fight a world full of people who do not care about her existence. She doesn’t want this moment to pass, she wants this forever. “The father?” Her doctor asks. “He’s not here. He doesn’t want anything to do with me, or her.” “But he might die.” “Let him.” She hopes the disease eats him alive, causing maximum pain, because that’s all he deserves. She hopes that Mortemosis aches through his body in the way it’s aching through hers. She doesn’t survive long enough to know that it never does. “Do you have a name for her?” He proceeds, caring little for the father’s wellbeing. “I’m not saying it will stick. All the girls who are put into the government scheme are addressed as Jane, but we can keep your name on our records.” The young girl squirms in her arms, but only for a moment, and then she’s still again. The painful thing about the image is that this is the closest thing this child will ever have to a home, being there in her mother’s arms. She’ll never know a comfort like this again, and she’s not even old enough to be aware. Her mother doesn’t even live long enough to see her daughter’s eyes, the way they’re almost orange, autumn seized in her spherical pearls. “Wendy.” She smiles, brushing the backs of her fingers over her daughter’s cheek. “I want to call her Wendy.” 10:03AM I awoke when the wind blew hard, and I saw his face as soon as my eyes shot open, laying close beside me. I shuffled away instinctively, wondering how I’d ended up so close to the boy I’d made a deal with the evening before. I took a few moments to check over his face as he slept, his swollen lips, how peaceful he looked, like he was wrapped up in sheets indoors somewhere, the wind barely touching him, just playing with his short hair. I pulled my eyes from him, checking around the area and cracking my back, reluctant to wake him but unsure how this little treaty was supposed to work. I’d never been like that with anyone before. Never before had my eyes opened to someone I was familiar with, even if it was just a little bit. There were people I’d gone to school with, and there with other kids that I’d helped for a day or an evening, but never anything like that. We’d agreed to help one another, and it was completely new territory. The only thing I could see that I had in common with the boy asleep in front of me was that we were as stubborn as each other, so the fact we’d come to this agreement was baffling. I was still feeling sceptical, but it was clear that the boy knew more than I did, about who we should trust, words and facts and figures that I’d never been given the access to. I had to learn from him. I had to find out as much as I could from him. I owed myself that much. By the time I was lifting myself to my feet, he was opening his eyes, cowering into himself after feeling the harsh wind, remembering where he was. It wasn’t something any of us could ever get used to, no matter how many times it happened. Sleeping on the street was not something that you could grow accustom to, even if it was all you’d ever known. “What’s that?” He asked me automatically. “What?” “You have a watch?” I grabbed at my wrist, the item cold against my palm, hiding it from him for a reason I couldn’t place. It was the only materialistic item that I owned, and I loved it for that reason. I could look down to my wrist and pretend I was someone else, someone who needed to keep track of their day and monitor their time. “I… Yes.” I replied. “What time is it?” “I… I don’t know. It doesn’t work. It’s been… stuck pointing down for as long as I’ve had it.” “Then… why do you have it?” “I just… I think it’s nice to own something.” I swallowed. He sat himself upright, rubbing over his eyes with the back of his hand, but nodding, understanding why I felt that way towards the item. I took a few more steps away from him as he got to his feet, finding it strange that I’d just slept beside him, because now we were awake and the sky was grey, I didn’t feel comfortable around him. He had this aura, one that was unfriendly and harsh. Neither of us had eased around the other, and it meant that trust and comfort was still a while away. My nostrils flared as I kept my eyes on him, seeing the way he noticed my unease. “You’re scared of me.” He stated. “You’re intimidating.” “So are you.” He scowled. “That’s how we’re meant to be, right? That’s why we’ve got this far.” I shrugged, because I knew my attitude had helped, but also knew how much of my still being alive, and free, was down to sheer luck. Maybe he felt differently, since it seemed his moves had been calculated and constructed for as long as he could remember, but even still, we were both lucky.

“C’mon,” He groaned after realising I wasn’t going to reply to him, stretching a little before taking off on his journey. “There’s a lot to learn.” I followed swiftly, staying just a few steps behind him, watching the back of his head with my eyes low. I’d put my trust in him and I was still trying to figure out why. I’d slept beside him without worrying that he would push a knife into me whilst I slept. It didn’t make sense to me that I could trust him so little at the same time as allowing him access to all of my trust. The situation made little sense. We trawled towards Leicester Square in silence, and I couldn’t help but notice the confidence in his walk. Most Lost Children kind of cowered in on themselves, kept their heads down, their bodies hunched in on themselves, shy and scared of the world. This boy didn’t walk that way. He sauntered down the street like he owned it, tall and threatening. Usually, people were blind to our presence in their lives, but he even managed to pull in the eyes of people who were lucky enough to live in homes, and have jobs, and know what it was like to have a family. There was just something about him. It baffled me. “Are you going to tell me your name?” I asked, noting how there were still people slumbering around the square. “Why would I do that?” “So we can try to be normal around each other!” I cried. “You know my name, so I should know yours.” “You didn’t give me your name through choice, you’re just unfortunate because I knew it anyway, like everyone else.” “STOP!” The sudden raise of my voice brought him to a standstill, glaring down at me like I’d offended him. I was hoping that the more I’d seen of him the easier it would become, that we could be okay around each other, but he wasn’t even trying. “What the fuck is your problem?” He glowered. “You know I can help you, and I know you can help me! You don’t need to be so awful to me. I’m trying, and if you’re not going to try then we shouldn’t do this.” “I just don’t want to tell you my name! I’m happy to do this but I don’t owe you shit!” “Stop using those words! You know I don’t understand them!” “I’ll use whatever fucking words I want! I’m not telling you my name, and you either accept that, or you don’t!” “Fine, but stop being so awful to me! Stop! Please! Just… be kind! I don’t understand why you’re not being kind!” Regardless of how strong Lost Children were, and how high we had built our walls, I guess it was in our nature to be kind to one another. We were treated unfairly, ignored, shunned, an inconvenience to those around us. For that reason, we had this need to be nice to each other, because no one else was offering us that. The majority of us stayed alone, blocked people out, but in those occasions where we let people get close, we softened, became gentle, allowed people to break down our walls, even if it was just for a few minutes. “I… I don’t know how to be.” He eventually mumbled. The boy who refused to share his name had spent his entire life calculating where he could and couldn’t go, who he could and couldn’t trust. He was wary of everything and everyone, and probably barely placed trust even in himself. Although it was impressive that he’d made it to his age without the Krows knowing who is he was, without his face being one that people knew, it had also made him dark, miserable, lonely and bitter. He hadn’t allowed himself to experience those brief moments of kindness from others, or express kindness himself. He’d kept himself even more shut out than the rest of us. “Well… maybe that’s one of the things I can teach you.” I swallowed. “How?” He looked lost suddenly, scared, like maybe his loneliness had created a dark hole within his heart that he’d been trying to ignore. It hadn’t even taken many words or actions for me to force him to look at it, feel it. “Marby.” I nodded. “You need to meet Marby.” 11:44AM “SHE WAS HERE THE OTHER DAY!” I slammed my hand against the glass. “I BROUGHT HER HERE, SO I DESERVE TO KNOW WHERE SHE IS NOW!” “Jax, calm down.” “I know she’s been here again. I know she has. She knows how to get here and she needed help. Her eye… Her eye was bad and you know it was. Tell me what happened.” “Jax-” “TELL ME!” I think I knew. I think I knew because the boy I was with had refused to enter the shelter where I’d dropped Marby just two nights before, and the look in the woman’s eyes. I knew but I just refused to admit it, because I’d trusted that place countless times and I’d literally handed the young girl over to them. I felt tears forming, biting my bottom lip to try and stop them. “Did they come here?” I whispered. “We don’t hand anyone over to the Krows, you know that.” “Did they come here?” I repeated my question. She even looked like she didn’t want to admit it, because she knew that we couldn’t trust the Krows. No one was sure of what they did with those children they took, but hardly anyone acknowledged the fact that maybe what they did wasn’t helpful for us. “They came and offered sanctuary.” She finally admitted, and I wasn’t the only one with tears in my eyes. “She chose to go with them, there was nothing I could do.” “How could you-” “They’re invincible, Jax!” She let out a sniffle. “They have free reign… We-we can’t just turn them away! They came and said they would keep them safe. Six children left with them. Marby was one of them, I’m sorry.” I slammed my fist against the glass, over and over, my growls aching my throat alongside my sobs, and I could feel this weird pain, bending inside of me. I’d only been with her for a matter of hours but she was so young, so pure, the kind of kid who could barely string a sentence together. Of course she had volunteered to go with them. Of course she’d reached out for adults who promised to help, because she had no idea how to help herself. My whole body ached at the thought of her choosing to leave with them, looking up to them with hope in her eyes and walking willingly into their trap. When the side of my fist began to bruise, blackening automatically, I stopped my physical attack. “I trusted you.” I spat. “I trusted you to take care of her, and you didn’t! You let her walk away with those monsters.” “I don’t know what you wanted me to do!” “Something!” I yelped. “That’s your problem! That’s the problem with all of you! You don’t know how to help and you don’t even try to think of a way you can! You might work for a charity that claims to support us, but you don’t. You’re not trying hard enough! You accept the world as it is and you refuse to fight for us when you know we can’t fight for ourselves. Marby was so young and naive that she chose to go with them, and now she’s probably dead, and you didn’t do a thing to stop that. That’s on your head.” None of her words would be worth my while, so I turned on my heel, storming out of there as quickly as I could. I didn’t have the energy to fight her further. I took off down the street, forgetting that I had company. “Jax?” I heard that the boy I’d teamed up with was following me. “JAX?” “You were right.” I spoke, not turning to look at him and not stopping my venture. “You were right about that place. We can’t trust them.” “What did they do? Jax, stop! Calm down! Talk to me.” “You’re actually the last person I want to speak to right now. I want to be alone.” Regardless of what I’d said, I could hear that he was hot on my heel, soon grabbing me by the arm and forcing me to stop. I tried to pull away from him, but he pushed me to the side of the pavement, my back crashing against a brick wall, not looking into his green eyes. “I know this is new for us but we have to try. You said we have to try!” He scowled. “What happened? Please, just talk to me.” “I don’t see you trying.” “I’m here, aren’t I? I’m asking.” “I don’t want to do this anymore. I can’t do this.” Never before had I felt such a strong urge to be alone, to just become a recluse and stray from others, but I had let her past my wall just two short days before and I was sure she was dead. I couldn’t say I liked him, but nor did I want to. Liking and becoming attached to anyone just hurt. So when he spoke again, I wished he hadn’t, because my heart stung. “My name’s Harry.” He breathed. “I… I think I’m twenty, but I don’t know… But, that’s my name… always has been. It’s Harry.” I started crying again, silent tears swelling in my eyes, and I finally looked at him, and for the first time he seemed soft, almost like he already knew what had happened. “The Krows came. Marby’s gone. They just… they let her walk away.” I blubbered. “She was so young and… and she had this infection in her eye… and… they just let her…” I don’t know why he looked so down, because it can’t have been to do with her. He hadn’t even met her, and we were both aware that children were taken every day, children were dying every day. Maybe he was uncomfortable because he could see how sad I was, how even being as lonely and subdued as I was, these things still affected me. I wasn’t sure that was something he let himself feel, and maybe he’d figured I would be the same way. I’d love to pretend that I was as strong as he was, so unfeeling, but I couldn’t keep up the act. It suddenly felt like everything was falling apart around me, and I couldn’t hold myself together any longer. “We should go and find her.” He swallowed after a long spell of silence. “That’s a suicide mission.” I groaned. “Aren’t you bored of… not fighting?” He whispered harshly. “We’ve just… accepted that this is our life! And we struggle every fucking day but it’s like we don’t think there’s anything we can do! The Krows are looking for you. They know you by name… They know your face. They’re looking for you. If you don’t start fighting now, then when will you?” Surviving was a daily fight, one that was exhausting, sometimes meaning going days without food, without any warm clothing or shelter. Fighting meant stealing and bruises and blood. Fighting had never meant anything more than that. What would we even be fighting for? “We can’t change Mortemosis.” I told him. “Any fight we put up will be useless. It’s a disease that we don’t have a cure for. Every second we try to do something, another child’s parents die! What do you think we can do?” “Something.” He replied confidently. “We can do something, and I say we start with the Krows.” I shook my head and rolled my eyes, disregarding his foolish dreams of our miniature rebellion, wishing he would distance from me, but if anything it felt as though he was getting closer, judgement in his eyes due to the fact I was basically saying I’d rather carry on through our struggle than even try to do something to solve it. It just seemed so hopeless to me. “Please just take me somewhere I can trust. Please. Please tell me who I can trust.” 12:15PM Harry kept his head down as he shovelled down the food that had been handed to us. There must have only been four other kids there, none of whom were bothering to look in our direction, but he seemed so paranoid. I looked around, still trying to wrap my head around the place he’d taken us to. It just looked like someone’s home, where they’d set up foldout tables and chairs for us just for the day, their lives surrounding us. Sofas, TV’s, books and tattered carpets, the signs of a life well lived. I figured we were just in the home of a family who helped in any way they could. “No one’s looking at you.” I told him. “Can’t be too careful.” “I find it strange that you won’t even lift your head here, but you’ve become a little team with me. That makes no sense.” He lifted his dead eyes to me, still chewing on the small amount of food we’d been provided, and though things were still odd, we were kind of easing around one another. “We can’t keep questioning why we’re doing this, because we’ll never have an answer. We either do it, or we don’t.” I dropped his gaze, swallowing my pride a little. “You’re right. I’m sorry.” “Am I… allowed to… ask about you?” He rapidly changed the conversation. “Me?” “Your history. I want to know.” A clattering from the room next to the one we were in sent us all spiralling into a small state of panic, our hearts stopping for a moment and all our heads whipping into the direction the loud bang had come from, startled and scared. Harry seemed to compose quicker than the rest of us, like with his head down and his hood up, nothing could hurt him. “Do I get to know about your history?” I asked once I thought I was calm, but there was still a very apparent quake in my voice. “Yes.” He replied bluntly, his voice fine. “Okay. Well… Mortemosis, obviously. My parents died and I was put into the government scheme. So, I’ve been on their records since the beginning. I’m guessing you were with one of the charities?” “Yeah. I bounced between a few. They all… got shut down through lack of funding so… I was all over the place when I was young.” “That’s why you’re harder to find than I am.” “Must have helped.” He shrugged. “Tell me more.” “The government schooling system stops when you’re thirteen. I think… they track people by the year they’re born. So on the first day of your thirteenth year… you’re out. All the girls were Jane and all the boys were John.” “Then, how did you end up with the name Jax?” “I picked it from a book. I used to read a lot. I can’t really, anymore. I try but… I struggle.” “You can’t read?” He lowered his brows. “Not really. And what I did read was… monitored, you think?” He smiled, big and wide, and I think that was the first time I’d seen it. His entire face changed, going from this sharp, dangerous look to one that radiated beauty, happiness, innocence. I felt mesmerised by him. “You don’t know what swear words are. That’s… mind blowing to me.” He sniggered. “Well… tell me!” “They’re kind of… used for emphasis. They have power in them. They’re strong and they’re unyielding. You should start using them. You’ll fucking love it.” I smiled back at him, still confused by the words he used occasionally, but admiring them, because even though they made no sense to me, they did exactly what he said they did. When he spoke those words, he did so with confidence, with flare and bile and supremacy. It was fascinating. “What else do you think they’ve kept hidden from me?” I asked, still smiling a little. “Theories.” “Theories?” “What people believe to be true.” He loosely explained the word. “Where… facts and figures have lead some people. Y’know, some people think the government have a cure for Mortemosis? They just won’t hand it over… pretty much for the reasons they created it in the first place.” “But, the world is uglier now than it’s ever been.” I squinted my eyes. “True, but it’s under their control.” He shrugged. “Ugly, but controlled. Manipulated to be how they want it to be. I don’t think it was a mistake, that the parents die rather than the kids. I think they knew exactly what they were doing. There’s essays on it. Entire groups of people who believe that, and want to fight for us.” “Then where are they? I don’t see anyone fighting.” “Because people are scared. If their government is willing to create a disease that kills innocent children, parents… Who knows what else they’ll do. How far they’ll go.” I had never really found myself questioning Mortemosis. It was just something I accepted. But I’d never been given access to these theories that he spoke of. I’d never known there were people questioning it, doubting it, wishing to fight against it. The thought of that made a somewhat proud grin crawl across my face. “Well, what do you believe?” I asked him. “What do you?” He asked back. “I haven’t… allowed myself to believe anything other than what’s been handed to me until now. I haven’t… seen the things you’ve seen, or read the things you’ve read.” “I genuinely think it’s a miracle that you’ve got as far as you have.” He smiled again, suddenly seeming friendly. “You must be… insanely strong.” I dropped his gaze, my stomach tugging in a way I was unfamiliar with, feeling flushed and confused. I knew I was strong, but hearing him say that after he’d been so dismissive of me, and so sceptical of my life, it was nice to hear him acknowledge my resilience. “I am.” I nodded confidently. “But part of it is just acting strong. You can’t do that with your head down.” He scooped up the last bit of his food, squinting his eyes and he placed it into his mouth, but then he finally lifted his head, forcing a confidence he hadn’t been able to conjure before. I nodded my head with my eyes fixed on his hood. “I want to stay hidden.” He mumbled. “Hidden people can’t change anything. You want change, right?” I could see that he was biting his tongue though his mouth stayed shut. His jaw tightened and locked, his eyes remaining fixed with mine, and he seemed scared. I gave him the most encouraging, kind smile I could. Shaking, he lifted his hands, and pulled his hood down. “I hate this.” He shuddered as he did. “Earlier, at Leicester Square… You brought in eyes. People looked at you. You must feel that. You must be aware of it.” “It’s different when I’m passing people in the street. I’m comfortable looking like I have power. I think part of the reason I do that is because… people don’t think I’m a Lost Child if I don’t look like one. I can just be… normal, for a while. But… it’s close vicinity that makes me uncomfortable. I don’t want anyone to know my face. It’s worked for me, so far.” “I guess it has.” I swallowed. “I don’t know if I’m a good person for you to associate with, if that’s what you want.” “But you need my help, don’t you? You want to know who you can trust?” “I do.” “Well, I can help you with that. Or… We can do something bigger. I still think we should go after the Krows.” “We don’t have the power.” “But I think we should follow them and see where they’re taking these kids!” He cried. “I’ve thought about doing the same thing so many times but, what would we even do when we got there? There’s nothing we can do!” He slammed his fist down onto the table, another loud noise making all of us in the room shiver and shake, and he’d drawn in eyes now. But he didn’t even seem to care, he just seemed angry. “How did you feel when you were thirteen and left on the streets?” He spat. “I bet you felt hopeless then, but now look at you. How do you think Marby felt when she left with the Krows? She must have felt like it was her only option but we both fucking know that it wasn’t. We either live like this until we die, or we do something. I thought of all fucking people you would understand that.” I scowled at him again, silently piecing together some things. How he was reluctant to be around me, yet willing to group with me. How it seemed like he was constantly changing his mind on what he wanted, how he felt. “You looked for me, didn’t you?” I whispered. “You purposefully looked for me. You want to fight and chose me to fight with you.” “No-” “That’s why you were there last night.” I continued, shocked by my own words. “You’re sick of just waiting for your life to end, and you want to fight with the only person you know to be strong. You don’t want to help me, that’s not why you’re here. You want to fight. You’re trying to… convince me that this is my idea but you looked for me. You want me to fight with you.” He looked away, swallowing thickly, irritated that I’d figured him out. He had no intention of merely showing me where was safe and learning from me in return. He knew my name, that I was the oldest Lost Child that the Krows knew of, and he had reached the conclusion that I would be someone who might fight alongside him. That’s why he had been there so rapidly the night before when the Krows appeared. He had hunted me down again in the hope of arranging this with me. I thought that it had been my idea, but this was exactly what he wanted. Looking nervous, he brought his eyes back to me, his fingertips scratching over the splintered wood table. “Will you? Fight with me?” For the third time, a loud bang sounded, a door crashing into a wall. Again, we all whipped our heads in the direction of the noise, alarmed, but this time, with good reason. “The Krows are outside.” The elderly woman gasped. “They’re here.” She hadn’t shown herself before this, she had only offered up her home for us and then stayed hidden, granting us the privacy we requested. It felt strange, actually seeing her, recognising that there were people beyond the government and the charities and the damn Krows who actually acknowledged our existence. The various lines and wrinkles of her skin marked a lifetime full of stories and memories, the kindness in her eyes radiant, her figure crooked and withered. But the most prominent thing I could see, was her fear. “Where can we go?” Harry asked. “The floorboards. Beneath you.” She simply said. She began scuttling towards us as we raised to our feet, Harry immediately gripping at the table and thrusting it to a different part of the room. I only watched for a moment as the old lady struggled to reach down and move the carpet beneath my feet, before I placed a hand on her shoulder to halt her movements. “Let me.” I shuddered. Everyone stepped back as I threw the carpet up, revealing the floorboards, and a small latch. I knew this had happened before. She had used this hiding place before. Once I’d lifted the door, the few of us that had occupied the room began to clamber into the ground, cramming into the small space available to us. I was the last to jump in, crouching down beside Harry and taking the door with me. Only a few seconds later, our hiding space darkened even more so as the woman threw the carpet back over the hatch, the slightest sprinkles of light filtering through the small gaps of the wood, lighting Harry’s face as he breathlessly gazed upwards, fear scratching over his skin and glittering his eyes. We were all packed in tightly together, trying to halt our breathing as much as we could, to be as physically quiet as we were able. I’d never felt a fear quite like it. I’d never felt like they were that close to catching me. As soon as we heard the footsteps above our head I knew that I’d never been in such close vicinity with them before. The child beside me gripped onto my arm, his overgrown nails digging into my skin, but I didn’t flinch. “Can you please tell us why you have tables set up in here?” A low voice above our heads asked. “I’m having family over for dinner.” The elderly lady lied. “We’ve been informed that you’re housing Lost Children in here. Is that correct?” “No.” “Mrs Targan, are you aware that supporting Lost Children without the official paperwork and approval from the government is illegal?” “Yes, I am aware of that.” She replied, and her nerves were clear. I glanced to Harry again, seeing that he shot his eyes to me at the exact same moment. Every single sanctuary available to us, needed some kind of approval from the government. I wasn’t sure what that meant, how deep that approval ran and if it meant that everywhere was monitored, even the places Harry had thought to be safe, but those words definitely set off some alarm bells. Harry closed his eyes, the look on his face sending a message that said he’d given up, like hearing that had shattered his final bit of hope. He looked so defeated. “Well in that case, I’m sure you won’t mind if we search the property.” “Go ahead.” She was trying to force some form of confidence, but it was clear from her tone that something wasn’t right. She was trying her best, but the quake in her voice felt as though she was sending a beacon of light through the floorboards to reveal our hiding place. I kept my eyes on Harry the entire time, perfectly still, entranced by the look of terror on his face, his lack of hope seeming to make his skin pale. There were numerous footsteps over our heads. I guessed that there were around five men upstairs, storming through her home in an attempt to find some proof that she’d been helping young children who desperately needed her help. That was something they could not allow. They began to rip her home to pieces, the table myself and Harry had been sat on soon being overturned, crashing over our heads. The noise forced the boy who was gripping my arm to squeal, just slightly, but enough to make tears fill my eyes. Any noise we made was enough to make feel as though our battle was seconds away from ending, our defeat and what it would involve uncertain. I wasn’t sure how long that went on for, only that it felt like hours. It felt like a lifetime trapped in that darkness with dust scratching down my throat and tears slipping down my cheeks. I’d never felt weaker, or more hopeless. But I would have stayed that way forever, if it meant we didn’t need to hear what happened next. “We think they went out through the back door.” A breathless voice above us spoke. “But they were definitely here.” “Take her away.” Those three words pained me immediately, how dismissive he sounded, like it meant nothing to him. “We’ll deal with her at the centre.” I slapped my hand against mouth to smother my cries as we heard them scuffling above our heads, obviously trying to restrain the woman as she fought their efforts with all the power she could summon. We heard a bang, and then an agonizing scream before she was forced onto the ground just inches above us, her noises stopping instantly. She was out cold. I had to shut my eyes then, forcing back my sobs as we heard them drag her lifeless body from the room, scraping across the floor, and none of them said a word. I was hoping maybe we would hear some questions, some concern, some scorn from one to another over hurting her without a good reason. But they didn’t make a sound, proving once again the fears I’d always had about the Krows. They were heartless. I’d just been naive enough to believe that their cruelty was only directed towards Lost Children. We stayed silent long after we knew they’d gone, not wanting to risk revealing ourselves too soon, and I think we were too shocked to actually move. It was when one of my sobs broke free from my throat and circled the small space that Harry jumped to his feet whilst lifting the door above us, sunlight finally able to reach us fully as everyone started to clamber out, removing themselves from the space like they were forcing themselves back into consciousness after a horrific nightmare. But I couldn’t move. I just kept sobbing. All I could do was cry, covering my face as just let myself be weak. I allowed myself to feel everything, all at once. I always tried so hard to stay composed, but I just felt so defeated. Beneath the freshly bloodstained wood, I allowed myself to break. “Jax, c’mon.” Harry crouched down, offering his hand to me. “We have to go.” “I can’t.” I wept. I felt like being down there saved me from facing the reality of the situation, the reality of my life. Staying down there sheltered me from every single thing I didn’t want to face. I was there, broken, weak, crying, and I wanted to stay that way. Just for a while. Just a while longer where I didn’t need to pretend I was strong. “Jax, please, take my hand.” He was breathless, tears also in his eyes. “They could come back to look for more. We have to leave, now.” “We don’t stand a chance, Harry.” I wiped my eyes, so I could look up and see him clearly. “They’re looking for me. They’re going to find me and they’re going to hurt me and I don’t want you-” “I don’t care about that.” He shook his head, moving his hand even closer. “But-” “I know the risks… but… I also know you’re the only person with the strength and the drive to fight with me. To do something about this. Please… Please fight with me.” The boy ahead of me, had spent most of his life withdrawn, alone, just like I had. He’d moved from one painful situation to the next, battled every single day to survive and spent countless nights on the streets. He was tired. He’d had enough. He wanted, needed change. And he wanted my help. In that moment, I knew I had to. I couldn’t live like that anymore, scared to sleep, the streets as my home and also my biggest threat. Even the sanctuaries we’d once known no longer felt safe. We had to fight, we had to do something. I couldn’t think of a good enough reason not to. So I nodded, and finally placed my hand in his.

#V&M3 #V&M3 replacement

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