Cagaster of an Insect Cage one shots

AU

3rd pov

In one world, Kidow's town is attacked and destroyed by the Cagaster's, with only him surviving due to an Exterminator arriving to almost literally pull him from the mouth of the bug, only a small scar on his chin left as a sign anything happened. He works hard, trains under the man - Lazarus - and becomes an Exterminator, one of the best after he finally manages to push aside his feelings, before moving from the East to the West. That is one world, and it is not this world.

In this world, at the age of 6, Kidow's village was wiped out and a bug bit off his lower leg, lowering his already small chances of survival to almost nothing. Lazarus takes him in, but the boy can not walk and so he does not teach him to be an Exterminator, instead makes sure the boy can survive, can read, do math and anything else of importance, even asks him to be bait during a few hunts, but otherwise, the boy is left alone for the most part, all of them having work they're required to do. However, most people forget that because he has a bad leg, does not mean he can not hear perfectly fine, and so he learns the ways of silence instead.

Moving on one leg alone is hard, but if he does it just right, and moves so he can crawl, he can be extremely silent, moving almost without a sound. Of course, there are few things that can be done about a missing limb at this point, since they no longer have the technology to create extremely sophisticated prosthetics, so the boy makes do, using anything he can get his hands on to help him. He puts branches and pieces of wood under his arm, using that to supplement the lost leg, trying his hardest to learn any way that will make him survive. Because he likes to practice and do things like that, he learns that bugs can be tricked, after he buries himself under the sand, breathing shaky as it steps around him, almost on him, but can not find him, the heat from the sand confusing the creature too much for it to know where he is.

He makes that part of his thing, learns how to use a sniper, and becomes pretty good at it. Once he's in position, pretty much nothing can get past him. Kidow eventually fashions a leg for himself, throwing together pieces of scrap metal, like he used to do back at home before it burned down, and he manages to make - well, it's not pretty, but it works - a metal leg for him to walk on. Sure, he has to adjust it and eventually manages to get a smooth covering to go over the stump so the metal does not burn or aggravate his stump, the tissue is extremely sensitive and the phantom pains always the worst, no matter what. He is not there when Lazarus is killed, is out on a hunt, and as soon as he gets word, he packs his stuff up and leaves.

After all, they'll assume he died on his hunt, no reason to search for him, it's his best chance to get away. It takes him a while, but he becomes more of a bounty hunter, someone who will kill evil people -slave traders, drugs, other things like that - since bullets only do so much to a fully formed Cagaster. He'll occasionally take out an outbreak if he's already set up and they're in his sight, otherwise he leaves it to the pros, keeping his focus on the people who are using others suffering for profit. Ms.Mario is a blessing letting him live at her place for a small rent fee, giving him food and a place to sleep. He trusts her, but not enough to remove his leg around her, in fact never plans on letting anyone know.

With a grunt, he rises, heading down for his meal, only to pause part way down the stairs and rub at hi eyes, because it's about 8 in the morning, but there's Jin, the merchant he trades with most, Ms.Mario behind the counter, his plate of food already out and there's a girl, small, short, young, sitting on one of the stools. He looks back up the stairs, wondering if he's perhaps asleep, but he's too hungry for it to be a dream. He heads right for the food, deciding to wait for an explanation, looking between the two people most likely to know why she's here.

"Look, Kidow..." Kidow immediately does not like this. Any other time Jin has ever started a sentence like that, he usually gets hurt or in a lot of trouble. He narrows his eyes at the man suspiciously, wondering what he's going to say this time. Ms.Mario is chuckling under her breath, prepared to see how this plays out, because Kidow is her charge, but this little girl - Illie - will likely be one too. With a grin, she watches on, though she really does hope the boy gets along with the girl, after all, they'll have to share a room for the moment.