【Re:Freezing】 | Gray Fullbuster x OC

57: To Love and Be Loved

I don't like people.

People are scary.

I don't know what they're thinking.

I can't read their minds.

That's what makes them scary.

...

...

...

"Clarus! You can't treat people like that!"

"He was the one who touched me! I don't like it!"

"You fell. He was only checking to see if you were okay. You did not have to strike him and insult him in front others!"

Clarus gritted his teeth when Jura scolded him. He didn't understand why Jura wouldn't take his side. The others around had their silent eyes on them, unwilling to say anything to possibly worsen the mood. They were looking at him as if he was a ticking time bomb.

Currently, he was being scolded in the middle of Lamia Scale's lobby room where many members watched. They were all watching the young boy with short black hair tremble with his tiny fists, angered by a stranger's act of kindness.

An act that was transformed into something else in the child's eyes.

Jura jolted when Clarus turned around and ran out of the guild hall. "Clarus! I am not done speaking to you!"

"Leave me alone!" Was his screamed answer.

Jura heaved out a sigh and dropped himself on a stool near a table when Clarus disappeared from his sights. He pinched the bridge of his nose with frustration pinching his features. He wasn't too worried about Clarus running off on his own in the streets of Margaret. It was always the same with him whenever he lashed out and got upset, hiding away near some bushes under a tree in a local park to keep an eye out for people as he tried to calm down. It was his safe spot. Perhaps the only worrying thing would be his insistence on making it his safe spot even during heavy rains or thunderstorms.

What Jura was worried about was his inability to allow others into his heart aside from him.

When he was found, Clarus stayed with Jura where he was given kindness through a warm meal to digest, a soft blanket to sleep under, and a gentle hand to treat his wounds and pat his head to help him sleep. At first, Clarus' demeanor was like a white cloth, absorbing everything around him through his curious dark brown eyes and taking it all in as if it was ink, giving it colour.

It was all he could do with his inability to remember everything.

But the cloth that was dyed in different colours had black spots appearing soon.

When Clarus was able to get a better understanding of what was around him, where, he was, who Jura was, what Lamia Scale was, that was when it began.

Jura could see a hurt child that wanted nothing to do with people, too wounded to let them in. He'd try different methods to try and help him, but he was too angry and hurt, unable to trust people. His instincts were making him act that way.It became obvious that Clarus went through something that made him like this.

As if his initial appearance wasn't proof enough.

"Still having trouble with Clarus?" A nearby member asked him, a tone to his voice that gave away slight amusement.

Jura ran his hand across his face and frowned. His eyes remained fixated on the entrance of the guildhall. He didn't say anything to the member for the answer was plainly obvious.