"Hey? May I?"
"Yeah.. Sure, I don't care."
The voices interacted in a not so distant memory.
That was the final straw, he was looking at the most beautiful piece of art of himself, and it was on a fucking wanted poster.
In the picture he didn't look bad at all, his chin was resting on his hand and he was staring off into the distance, his eyes tired with eyebags but even those were beautifully drawn. Everything about this poster drove him mad.
He let this stupid kid draw him! He consented!!
I SAID YES!!!!!!!!!
His hair in the picture was hanging past his ears, it didn't grow much yet but it definitely made progress.
Behind him was his little merman in a wooden bathtub full of water. He sat on a small stepping stool, his face buried in one hand while the other held the wanted poster for the green head to admire.
His eyes were glowing but that wasn't the problem.
I may not be able to read but these look like dangerously high numbers!!!!!
With a target now plastered across his back he had no more time to stroll around and enjoy his time.
Final route!!!
He grabbed the borrowed dagger and began cutting into the floor creating a small unreadable map.
His path took him to three places, the forest, the village, and most importantly the city he robbed from.
He wasn't about to risk going back to the fishing dock, since there could be people searching for him.
He released the poster into his man's hand who splashed the water behind him in excitement.
That was three zeros… But I couldn't tell if it was gold, copper or iron… Whichever it is a thousand of anything is definitely gonna grab some attention, but why so much?
Did I mess with the wrong people? I needed to survive, I escaped a prince and a general.
He raised his head but stopped when he heard a knock at his door.
"Sir? Are you in there?" A familiar youthful voice called.
…
Mikel slowly got up, his hands balling up into fists but the merman grabbed onto his arm.
His silver eyes bore into Mikel's until his muscles loosened.
He's right, I shouldn't beat up a kid if there's witnesses around.
"Sir..?" The voice called out once more.
The door suddenly slammed open.
"What." Mikel glared.
The teen suddenly extended a piece of paper with flushed cheeks.
"Here's the original!" He smiled confidently.
With a flip Mikel got a better look at the art, instead of being a small part of a larger sheet of paper it was now filling up an entire sheet, the beautiful ink drawing was dried up capturing the wanted man with only the colour black.
I'M GONNA PHUNT THIS KID SO HARD!!
He was about to put the picture aside and instead offer his fists as gratitude but something held him back.
The kid had his little doe blue eyes watching Mikel's expression for any signs of praise or criticism.
You're so annoying… But…
"It's fine.." He begrudgingly praised. "How many did you make?"
"Just one! And then I showed it to my big brother!" He grinned from ear to ear clearly satisfied with the praise.
Alright, I'll beat the shit out of your big brother.
"What does he look like?" Mikel smiled with great interest.
"He's supperrr tall! But he is also made of water like me!! But he never comes anywhere personally! Except for today for some reason.." The boy immediately confessed.
I can take down a tall guy…
"He has so much strong water!"
I can drink that.
"He also is super annoying!"
I'll wear ear plugs.
"I HATE HIM!"
Me too.
"Hello?"
"Hm?"
"Were you even listening!!" The boy pouted.
"Yes, I am." Mikel immediately nodded.
"If you wanna meet him, he'll visit the hybrid kingdom today! But! If you wanna, I can stay with you instead! I'm so much cooler than him!"
"What's your name." Mikel demanded.
"Mosh." The kid lied.
"Terrible name." He immediately got judged.
"Naia.."
"Like the ocean?"
"Are you literate?" The boy was shocked.
"No.." Mikel shook his head at Naia.
"I can teach you!" Naia beamed.
"Perhaps." He immediately dismissed the offer.
The conversation went by so fast it was almost overwhelming.
There was a brief moment of silence before Mikel shook his head. "Kid, shouldn't you be home?"
"Well.." Naia's voice trailed off. "I'm usually not allowed outside, so I am really enjoying your company!"
His little eyes began glowing with the sun, as if attempting to convince the man to let him stay he began pouting.
The door suddenly shut in Naia's face and he walked back to the tub. "Here, something else to gawk over."
The merman hesitated before grabbing the paper, he must've been listening.
Their not so shabby home had to be abandoned once more. With a little snitchy kid around it won't take long for him to be detained once more.
"Let's take one last rest before we move elsewhere. Do you need fresh water?" Mikel knelt down while dunking his fingers into the cold tub.
The merman shook his head and Mikel finally decided to sit back down.
"Don't drown me in my sleep?" Mikel glared while the other smiled mirthlessly.
With that final comment he shut his eyes and leaned up against the tub with his elbow, the merman copying his movement the same way.
—
It was now dark enough for them to begin traveling and the thief already gathered all of 'his' items.
When he opened the door back up he immediately tripped and fell onto the ground startling both him and the merman.
"YOU!"
"I'M SORRY!"
Mikel grabbed the boy's collar. "What are you doing here again!!!"
"Again?" Naia tilted his head.
Mikel's disdain began to grow in his heart, but why?
The kid was resting and waiting at the door patiently for the man to come back out.
"Where are you going?" Naia asked curiously.
The merman was about to step closer to have a look as well but Mikel kicked him slightly back.
He still wore no clothes, indecent.
"I'm bringing you home." Mikel insisted while picking the kid back up to his feet.
The thief hid his companions' skirt away so he could wander outside alone in peace even if he left to search it, it would be enough time for them to leave.
"Oh..! At least- uh- at least it's with you!" The kid stuttered while Mikel took the time to go through his memory.
"Don't go anywhere, I'll be back for you." He spoke to the door before shutting it.
"Was there someone else?"
No response.
Naia extended his hand towards Mikel to take it but the man only looked at it before beginning to walk ahead.
Dropping his hand back down the teen shook it off and chased after the much larger man.
They were walking in complete silence. Naia wanted to say things but Mikel seemed to constantly be in a state of disinterest or up in the clouds.
A wave of unease took over and the boy scooted as close as he could towards his guardian.
Mikel was about to get suspicious but he decided to first take a small step aside.
They have been walking for not too long but the kid was already getting antsy.
"Do you not wanna go home? Are your parents bad?"
The thief began prying but the boy only shook his head.
"Is it not dangerous to go out at night?" Naia wondered.
.
.
.
"Yes it is."
A masked man dropped from a tree grabbing onto Mikel's hair, slamming his head into the nearest tree before releasing him and lunging towards Naia.
The kid quickly created multiple small streams of water slashing through the air to cut the attacker charging at him but each drop missed.
Each droplet was dodged with a speed the teen couldn't even keep up with but just as the stranger reached out to grab onto Naia he suddenly got tackled down by another man.
Punches rained down on the mysterious man's mask, body, and even neck before Mikel got flung off. Even more streams of water began rushing towards the man's mask. With a few scratches here and there his abilities seemed ultimately useless.
"WATCH OUT!" His guardian screamed while the masked man never ceased movements.
No matter how many times Mikel threw himself on the man, no matter how much water cut through his clothes and no matter how many kicks he got in, the man never seemed deterred.
"Get behind me!" He commanded and Naia immediately ceased his attacks and hid behind him.
They were now in a locked state while the man seemed perfectly fine the other two were already out of breath.
I'm so tired!! Of! EVERYTHING!
"Just the kid." The stranger demanded.
Mikel made sure to feel Naia behind him before glaring at the weirdo.
"Buzz off!" Mikel cursed.
"Buzz?" Both questioned.
He quickly shook his head but when he looked back up the man was already in front him , slapping him into the nearest tree.
He's fast!
Mikel thought he would go after the teen immediately after but instead he lunged right back to grab onto his throat.
Naia immediately began to panic running towards the Masked man to pull him off of Mikel's throat but he was unmoving.
"Go..!" He barely could gag out but Naia's eyes began tearing up.
"PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE!!" He yelled with each tug and pull while Mikel could feel his vision blur.
The masked man began considering his plea for a second.
Suddenly his entire body stiffened. Mikel raised his leg and shot it directly up the man's crotch with a cocky ass grin.
Instinctively the assailant dropped the weaker man to retreat. Mikel immediately pulled out his dagger and aimed it at his open throat.
"You annoying ass kid… LEAVE!!" Mikel demanded and the man below him stopped moving.
"But…" Naia stuttered.
"ARE YOU FUCKING DEAF!!" His guardian roared the dagger cutting slightly into the man's throat beneath him.
He was about to protest again but decided it's best to return.
The further the teen got the calmer Mikel felt. He snapped out of it when someone below him began cackling.
Did he realise I can't kill him?
His mask was plain white with a frowny expression painted in black.
"A thousand gold bounty. For you."
Gold.. GOLD!?
"Did you make someone mad?" With a spin the men swapped positions, Mikel's dagger pressed against his own throat and the man pinned his leg between Mikel's thighs.
"Is someone upset at you? Is that why you're running?" He mocked with an unbearable tone but Mikel could only bite his tongue.
The kid can't be caught anymore but the longer he stays with me the better.
"Tell me something.." The masked man grit through his teeth beneath the mask. "Who the hell are you?"
It was more of an interrogation rather than a question, why? Because he was confident.
He came alone confident that he could snatch this kid up and go back to base. That nothing could stand in his way, but this little hobo, this muscle less rat.
His hits were terrible but there was something about them. He was consistently attempting to get past the man's clothes and mask.
"I wanted to see what's beneath of course, how can you prioritise a teen over me?" Mikel responded with an eye roll, his arms laying on his sides.
"Why are you wearing that bland mask anyway?" He scoffed only to feel the dagger press harder against his throat.
"Why couldn't I hear you walk? Why do you have such advanced moves despite having no muscles to match. Tell me."
"I used to fuck an advance martial arts master."
…
...
Neither of them knew where it came from but Mikel decided to roll with it and turned his head slightly away with a flustered expression.
He's been embodying this persona a lot so maybe he should lean really into it. It has worked on Shi Fei, two guards and even a merman.
"Well.. That was before I, you know.. Left him." He confessed with a distant expression and the man slightly lessened the pressure of the dagger.
"So your pathetic bounty is from a lovesick ex?"
"Pretty much." Mikel confessed.
With a hearty laugh from the other man Mikel suddenly felt his vision cut to black.