The small, fair-haired boy dashed down the narrow, filthy street. His lungs ached and he tasted blood at the back of his throat, but still he kept on running, jumping over garbage heaps and dodging around corners. Although he knew this district by heart he'd lost his bearings at some point and now he just went by his street urchin instincts in the darkness. Those bastards from his gang wouldn't get him. He couldn't let them get him, for there was a good chance he wouldn't survive their beating and the kind of sport they had in mind for him. So all he could do was run and ignore his aching side and the bloody cuts on his bare feet.
But how much longer could he keep going?
His toes caught on some trash in the street and Kyo hit the muddy, stinking ground hard, barely being able to cushion the fall with his arms. //Shit!// He tried to scramble up again, his foot slipping another time and his knee cracked forcefully against a hidden cobblestone. //Oh shit...// He could hear them catching up even above the noise of his own blood roaring in his ears. With a strangled half sob, half snarl, Kyo managed to get up enough to scramble on, driven by pure survival instinct... and a desperate rage. He wouldn't let himself be beaten and raped. He wouldn't die. He wouldn't!
A wall blocked his way and he ran up into it, having sensed it a moment too late in the pitch dark. //Fuck it!// He hit his fists against the rough tiles and crumbling plaster, tearing bloody scratches into his hands. Frantically he searched for a way out of the dead end. There was a small crack between two rundown buildings at one side, much too small to actually call it a lane. A waste ditch. Kyo squeezed his small body in, shredding his shirt and adding further bruises to his dirty skin as the rough walls on both sides scraped against him. His hands sank into the soft ground, mud squeezing through his fingers, and rank water soaked his threadbare clothes. The stench in the small crevice made him choke as he struggled to wind himself further in between the two buildings.
There was the sound of about a dozen running feet and the boy froze, cowering down in an effort to become as small as possible. He tried to smother his harsh pants until his lungs felt like they'd burst and his heart thundered loudly in his ears.
"Where's he?"
"He went down 'ere ..."
"Come out ya little shit! We'll find ya!"
"There's nowhere ya can run to, thieving slut! Ya thought ya could fool us and keep the money for yourself, bastard!"
Kyo clenched his teeth, fighting the urge to gulp for air. Suddenly he heard a high hiss and he felt something wet and furry scurry over his leg. Involuntarily it jerked and there was a stabbing, burning pain at his calf as some rodent dug its sharp teeth deeply into his flesh. The boy gave a strangled small cry. //Curse ya, rat!//
"Hey, Tai! You've heard that?"
"There!"
"There's the little shit!"
Someone gripped Kyo's ankle and jerked brutally at it, twisting the boy's leg and making him cry out again. Kyo dug his fingers deeper into the refuse, trying to find some purchase... or some kind of weapon, while he kicked back hard, ignoring the pain in his sprained ankle. There was a satisfying thud as his heel connected with something and he felt bones crunch slightly and crack, which was followed by an even more satisfying cry of pain. The grip at his leg loosened, but before Kyo could react, a stronger one replaced it and he was wrenched and dragged roughly out of the small gap, his abused body collecting more bruises.
"Ya nasty little bastard! You'll regret that!"
"I'll kill ya!"
Kyo started to thrash blindly as the first kick landed against his stomach, almost making him throw up, then more kicks hit his back and his head. He felt his skin split and bones inside him crack. //They'll kill me ...// Desperate rage welled up in the small body, singeing him from the inside, filling Kyo, trying to find a way out, while the kicks and blows rained down on him. Kyo opened his mouth and screamed; it was a husky, strangled cry that grew in volume, pulling the boy inside out. Rough with pain and rage... and raw power. The kicks stopped as the attackers - mere boys themselves - suddenly doubled over, pressing their hands over their ears. But they couldn't block out the scream that reverberated through their bodies. Tearing. Burning.
Kyo didn't feel that the beating had stopped and he didn't see how the other gang members writhed in agony even though his eyes were wide open. The normally velvety black iris had gone pale, all color bled out of it.
But Kyo felt how arteries tore inside the bodies and how blood started to boil and eat up the flesh beneath the skin, before the bodies exploded into living torches. The rundown lane was illuminated by sickly flickering light, casting shadows that wove into a grotesque dance on the high surrounding walls, while the thick, greasy smell of burning flesh hung heavily in the air.
Kyo screamed.
He screamed and screamed till his voice was all rough and raw and his scream turned into a retching. Curling up in spasms the boy vomited, spitting blood into the mud. The world around him was spinning. Exploding. Then tumbling into welcome darkness as Kyo slumped down face forward into the dirt and his own blood.
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Kyo choked and then gagged. His dry, raw throat working frantically as the urge to throw up grew. But something filled his mouth, forcing it wide open. He gagged again and then panicked, trying to struggle - just to find out that he couldn't move, that he was held down somehow. His heart started to beat madly and his eyes flew open.
Bright light dazzled him, hurting his eyes and his head. It was hard to make out anything but indistinct shadows in the sea of blinding light. There was movement amongst the shadows. They drew closer to him, towering threateningly above him, leaning in to engulf him...
Indistinct shapes that bent over him while he lay helplessly on the ground... That was familiar. The kicks and blows would rain down on him again at any moment.
Desperately Kyo threw himself against the restraints binding him. The biting pain at his wrists and ankles felt detached and unreal. It didn't stop him from struggling even more violently to get free. He heard voices talking rapidly and there were hands trying to hold him down... just holding him, not beating. Not yet at least.
Kyo's chest heaved and he stared wildly at the shapes that slowly became more distinct, taking on color. But as his vision got clearer the sensation of the world spinning around him intensified and the pain in his head made him feel sick. A face swam into view, moving closer to his own and amongst the rapid, hurting voices he made out someone talking calmly... soothingly. Kyo stared at the face above him, a face framed by purple hair. He watched the lips move. It took him some moments though to connect the calm words to the moving lips.
"We don't intend to harm you. You're at the temple. You're safe here. But you need to calm down so we can take care of you, Saint."
The face was talking to him, but the words didn't make much sense. He only knew they were thick with the Hightown's accent. Some of his utter confusion must have shown in his eyes for the calm voice addressed him again, even though he had stopped struggling. "You're a Chosen One, a Ray of the Sun. A Saint. Please calm down so we can help you."
//A Saint ... chosen ...// Another wave of panic hit Kyo and he started to fight his restraints with renewed vigor, hearing someone curse. But after a moment his worn out body began to tremble with the effort and a sudden nausea flooded him. He choked desperately against the gag in his mouth, feeling he'd suffocate if he didn't get rid of it. Suddenly the gag was removed and cool hands turned his head, lifting it a little and holding it as Kyo retched blood and sour bile. The world around him grew dim again for all his senses seemed blinded by the burning ache in his belly and throat every time his stomach was sized by a spasm and soar bile rose to the back of his throat. Finally he had no more strength left and his head sank against the wonderfully cool hands on his glowing face. A wet cloth cleaned his blood and bile stained lips and chin, then his mouth was forced open.
//No... not the gag again.// Weakly Kyo tried to protest, but his voice didn't work and he produced no more but a hoarse croak.
"Drink this." The calm voice told him and the rim of a ceramic mug touched his dry, cracked lips. Warm liquid poured over them into his mouth, just a little, but it still made him cough and spit it up before he could swallow it.
"Try again. It will soothe your throat, Saint." He was told patiently. Again the mug was put against his lips and this time Kyo managed to swallow a bit of the warm liquid. The faint taste of something bittersweet he'd never tasted before felt soothing and it overlaid the soar taste that clung to his mouth. Greedily he wanted to drink more of the thick, warm liquid, but far too soon the mug was taken away. "That's enough."
Warmth spread from Kyo's churned belly. A warmth that made him feel like he was floating, no longer aware of his aching, abused body. //A drug... it's some drug...// Kyo thought curiously detached, almost amused, as he slowly drifted into oblivion. //A Saint...? Me...?//
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The purple haired priest watched the boy lying on the bed in a deep sleep. A drug induced sleep. His wrists and ankles were still tied down nevertheless. But Kaoru-san had insisted that the gag wasn't necessary just now, for it would take some hours until the sedative would wear off and the new Saint would be back in his mind - enough to be out of it again anyway. So Kaoru-san kept watch to gag the boy again at the first signs of awakening.
It wasn't advisable to take risks with this one. They'd seen what this Saint had done in the back lane of the slums where they'd found him... too late to prevent the little inferno he'd caused with his Voice.
Carefully Kaoru bent closer to observe the boy's face, as much as could be seen of it beneath the layer of filth and dirty smudges. They hadn't had time yet to wash him, but just stripped him and took care of the more serious injuries. So the short hair still stuck wildly around the boy's head. It was hard to tell its color, being grey with grease and dust. Perhaps it was a light brown. The lad's lips looked rather pretty though, curved like a cupid's, slightly parted in his sleep. But Kaoru-san remembered the wild, thrashing creature the boy had been while he was awake, the memory dispersing the picture of a sleeping cupid.
Just like the rank smell that emanated from the small body, thus bringing part of the slums into the high, divine temple hall.
The priest sighed and leaned back again. //Just another dirty, undisciplined street urchin from the slums - unable to control his powers.// Though at second look the boy seemed a bit older than he'd first thought. Older than it was usual for the Saint's powers to break free. Perhaps that was the reason why the Revelation had been such a violent one. In a way it was a real blessing that the Saints were only chosen amongst the lowest beings of the city, amongst the children of the slums, Kaoru mused. Such an outbreak of uncontrolled, raw power at one of the artful domes of colored glass and entwining patterns of steel, where the city's nobles and rich merchants met would be catastrophic. But in the slums it was hardly noticed amongst the daily fights between the street gangs, the daily wreckage and casualties.
The priest's gaze rested thoughtfully on the drugged boy, fascination, horror and disgust mingling in his eyes' shaded depths. //From the lowest and dirtiest of existences right to the top of the spiralling towers and luxurious halls of the city, where a heaven of glass and illusionary paintings protects you from the ever overcast sky and the devastating influence of the elements.// Most of the Saints couldn't really cope with this drastic change. And even less could they understand what really happened around them, so dazzled were they by the decadent pleasures and luxuries offered to them and by the devoted reverence to which they were suddenly subjected to. //But that's just fine ...// Kaoru-san steepled his short fingers and smiled very slightly, his gaze resting on the new found Saint. //Just fine...//
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