Wayward Son

Chapter 3

Edward ran. He didn't care where he was going so long as it was away from that spiky-haired stickman, whatever his deal was.

'Don't be followed'. Was that really such a hard instruction to follow? And then he'd made up some stupid crap about them already being there as if that was any differentfrom them being followed, but if anything, it was so much worse! What was he expecting, trouble?

Alright, trouble was basically what had happened, but that was beside the point!

He mentally slapped himself. Nobody here was trustworthy; he should have realised this by now and was an idiot for denying it even for a second. He had to find his ownway out, his own way back home or else he would be stuck here for-

No. Don't think like that. If he thought like that'd he'd just fall into a rut.

Again.

He didn't want to go there again. He couldn't take it.

He stopped to examine his surroundings.

Still in the back alleys. Right. He had to stay away from where there were lots of people. Couldn't draw attention to himself. It only led to bad things.

But he'd seen the look on that idiot's face. He was suspicious. Did he know?

He couldn't.

He couldn't.

Dammit! Why was he thinking about this so much? He should be focused on running! He had to find somewhere to hide; somewhere nobody could find him and then-

He turned a corner and ran right into a dead end.

He looked back, but nobody was following him. Apparently. Thankfully.

Then the wall exploded.

Edward jumped back, landing like a cat while simultaneously shielding himself with his arms. He avoided clapping. Didn't need to bring in any more attention than he had already.

"Sorry!" yelled a voice from within the dust. "I didn't hurt anyone, did I?"

The blonde boy coughed and cleared the air in front of his face.

"No," he choked while still trying (unsuccessfully) to sound snarky. "Not so you'd notice!"

The dust settled to reveal a... they were called Wallops, weren't they?

"I really didn't mean to hurt you," he said with a degree of innocence that only made Edward feel nauseous. "Hey, wait! You're the guy I'm supposed to be chasing after!"

"Aw, dammit," Edward swore, bracing himself for either a fight or a second round of running. "You're one of them, aren't you?"

"If by them you mean Storm Hawks, then yeah," the stranger replied, "and Aerrow told me how you attacked him while I was looking for you, and for the record I don't really like it when people try to hurt my friends."

He slammed his fists together and they glowed with brilliant and strangely ferocious green energy.

"So are you gonna come quietly or what?" he asked.

Edward looked him up and down.

"You're big," he commented.

The quite clearly teenage Wallop raised a confused eyebrow.

"I've fought bigger," the short boy added with a cheeky smile.

"Is that a no?"

"No, it's a SCREW YOU!"