A Hero's Dilemma

Chapter 17

Enjoy the chapter.

Cover art by: Notgustiarp

Chapter 17

It took a bit of bargaining and a whole lot of patience to get Sun's undies back, but they'd calmed down enough to at least negotiate.

"No, you're not getting my shoes for my underwear," Sun yelled, hiking up his shorts, "they're mine, and plus I think you all owe me. Like, I don't know-a lot!"

The kids weren't amused.

"Hey man, we never asked for your handouts, alright." Piped in one of the kids munching on a roll of bread in the back, "so are we getting those shoes or what?"

Sun was pretty strong but also apparently incredibly patient, holding back from bonking these sassy brats.

Struggling, but it was the fact he hadn't yet that counted, right?

"Alright, alright already!" He yelled, hauling Sun off his feet and dragging him away for a timeout. Pouty-lipped and very huffy, the presumably also twelve-year-old boy took a timeout to cool off by kicking rocks off the side of the empty lot.

"I don't get it. I just don't get it!"

"Get what?"

"Them!" he yelled, pointing at the rowdy kids now fighting over a ball one of them had no doubt pilfered, "I have no idea how kids like these survived out here so long. I mean, I've given 'em so much food, blankets, and stuff, yet not once have I gotten even a thank you from them. Ugh, how did they ever survive out here before I came along!?" He yelled, kicking a particularly evil-looking rock.

"W-Well, I think that's just how they had to be to survive out here, right?" Vale didn't seem that bad, but maybe that was just Vale proper that he was used to. Who knows how bad it is in these ghetto areas? He'd heard from Tai about how overcrowded the kingdom was, so that probably didn't help.

But Sun just looked at him like he said something crazy.

"No man, trust me it ain't that. Honestly, it's probably cause things aren't bad enough here that they're like this."

Doing a double take, it was his turn to look at the other boy crazily.

"How does that even..."

Sun looked like a sage the way he looked back at him-thoroughly disappointed in his pupil.

"No matter how strong someone is, we all need support from others. People just aren't strong enough to survive alone, let alone a bunch of rude crabby orphans like them," he looked wistfully to the distant bay and the ocean beyond, "in vacuo, things would be different."

That thought spoken aloud reminded him why he'd even followed the Faunus this far. Maybe his goal lay in that same place, which Sun seemingly had tons to share about. Yet he hesitated to ask.

There were so many mixed feelings locked within this orphan Faunus's memories as he gazed away. Sadness, regret, and a little anger, but most of all...

"Fear?" he questioned.

"Huh?"

"Nothing! Ugh, you were saying?"

He looked curious but brushed it off a second later, seemingly never worrying about anything, making him a little envious. How can he so obviously dismiss questions like that? It was like he didn't care about anything except what mattered in the present moment.

But the boy was curious, if only briefly. How can he just let it go so quickly? He wouldn't-couldn't really. Maybe it wasn't a fair comparison since all others ever saw was a dodged question or a brief change of expressions. They weren't privy to what he felt.