Why

*Chapter One: Why

It had been almost twenty years since they had met. You'd think that you'd be able to forget someone in that time. To forget Eli was a different story. He was poison that had settled into the bloodstream those many years ago that he and Tretij had met. Some deep hatred and crave for revenge had attracted the boy to Eli, but it had been different than the others he'd been attached to before. Tretij could have some sort of free will with Eli.  A bond that would stay there. Even to the current day.
It had been an hour or so of comfortable silence. The two sat in a small break room in the back of the base. Liquid had been scribbling something on a napkin at a table while Mantis had been sitting on the counter with his legs pulled up to his chest. He had gone there to try and get some peace and quiet, something that was so rare. Liquid had shown up later after he'd asked where Mantis was.
"Eli." Mantis's raspy voice echoed in the emptiness of the small room.
Liquid was taken back by the name. He hadn't heard that name or had been called by it since the last time he saw his so called father. Mantis watched as he physically tensed, shoulders raising but still refusing to look at him.
"Don't make me say it again," Mantis hissed. He knew how much Liquid hated that name. It drew out an old feeling of heated, childish anger from him. A feeling not have being felt across their connection in such a long time. It almost felt nostalgic.
Liquid turned his head and looked at him with a confused and uncomfortable face.
"What," he managed to choke out.
"Do you want to talk about it? Out loud, I mean?" Mantis almost sounded concerned.
There had been something troubling his boss. He already knew what it was but he was tired of hearing it rattle around in Liquid's head every night, so he might as well get him to say something about it.
"You already know what it is, Mantis."
"Maybe I want to hear you say it."
Liquid paused and looked back down at the words scribbled on the napkin. A long sigh escaped his lips.
"Do you remember back when we were young? Back when you saved me the first time," he questioned with a dread filled tone in his voice.
"Of course."
"Why? Why did you save me?"
Mantis already knew this was the question, but he just hadn't had the chance to give the proper answer.
"And don't give me a pity answer. I know when you're lying," Liquid barked. He could feel things over their connection too. Lying was something that Mantis couldn't get away with. Not around him.
Mantis stood and moved over to him. Liquid still didn't look at him, feeling guilty for asking such a question. He heard small clicks and the sound of something sliding. A slender hand placed Mantis's gas mask on the table. It was something he rarely did, even around Liquid.
"Eli, look at me," Mantis said flatly.
The other did as he was told, feeling a very cold and harsh feeling over their shared psychic bond. Scars lined the man's face, stitches still intact from where there had been multiple procedures done to his brain. He wasn't beautiful or anything of the sort. Mantis was a harsh sight to see: not pleasing to the eye at all. It was a face even a mother would have trouble loving, but Liquid did.
"I want you to tell me what you see, and why you don't fear this face," Mantis inquired, a wave of pity and dread washed over their connection as he did. Liquid stood parallel to him.
"Because I've seen it before. I've seen what you really are, before you came back to me." The blond's eyes wondered over the psychic's face. "I see Tretij. I see the face of a red haired, Russian boy that's never had one freedom in his life. I see you," he traced one of the stitches that lined he corner of Mantis's mouth. "And I see your eyes. They're the same eyes that I saw for the first time all those years ago."
"Do you understand why I saved you now," Mantis said with a twinge of sentiment in his voice. "I knew the same thing back then as I do now. You were the only person not wanting to use me." He picked up his mask and slid it back on, hooking the buckles back to their respective tightness. A warm rush of some kind of affection and fondness clouded his mind.
"Eli."
"Tretij?"
"You haven't changed at all."