Crash

8

Emil was alone.

I mean, he had his "brother's" friends, and I guess his "brother", but he had no one like him.

Lukas wasn't actually his brother. Well, biologically, yes, but not technically. Ten years ago he moved from Iceland to Norway, and he met his biological brother. Apparently, there was a whole affair thing, and then Emil was born. His mother faced torment, so she moved to Iceland.

When she was diagnosed with depression, Emil couldn't do anything. The sight of him made her cry, but he had nowhere else to go. So, he stayed locked away in his room when he came home from school, only leaving to make food.

One day, while he was making dinner, his mother came down to see him. She saw her eight year old son having to make his own dinner. No one should have to cook at eight years old. Even more so, when he saw her, he was so startled he dropped what he was doing.

She was so angry at herself for neglecting her son that the very next day she slit her wrists. Emil found her laying in a pool of her own blood when he came into the bathroom to pee.

When somebody came to check on Emil, they found him crying in his room. He had been like that for two weeks, crying and starving.

A social worker came and decided to send him home to his father. When he got there, no one would look at him, not even his father. He heard the school children whisper words like "bastard" in his presence.

The only person that helped him get through this was his "brother". They shared a room, Emil talked about what happened, and Lukas listened.

Though he could never call Lukas his brother, he was more of a close friend.

But not close enough to tell him that he was gay.

Emil could never tell a soul that he was gay, he had kind of accepted the fact that he was going to die alone.

Now, Lukas was flirting with pineapple head, and Emil found himself alone, yet again.

All of a sudden he heard and exasperated sigh as a boy about his age sat down next to him.

"What are you doing?" Emil asked.

"I'm sitting. What does it look like I'm doing?" The boy replied I'm a snarky tone.

"Well, why did you sit next to me?" Emil tried.

"You looked lonely, and I was lonely, so I thought that we could be lonely together." He responded.

"If we're gonna be lonely together, I might as well know your name." Emil stated.

"Leon. Just Leon."

"I'm Emil. That guy with the weird curl is my brother, Lukas."

Leon laughed, "That is a weird curl. See that guy over there with the ponytail? With the tall shirtless guy?"

Emil nodded.

"That's my dad."

"Cool. Now what?" Emil asked.

"I'm gonna try and find a group. My dad's with the pilot, but that guy's a prick."

Emil laughed, "We were just saying that!"

Leon started to laugh along.

"Hey, I have an idea, you can join our group! That'll make nine of us! We could survive with those numbers!" Emil asked.

"Thanks! That sounds awesome. Hey, question; why are you not bothered by the fact that we almost died? I mean, everyone's a little bit frantic, at least, but you're pretty chill." Leon questioned.

"I've dealt with more traumatic events than this one." Emil responded blankly.

"Wow, That sounds rough. Well, if you start getting PTSD or some shit, come talk to me. My friends dad is a psychiatrist, and he taught me a few things." Leon said with a half smile.

"Thanks, I'll keep that in mind."

"Ok, I'm gonna go tell my dad that I'm joining this group with you."

Emil smiled, for the first time on a while, and said, "Sounds good."

Leon walked over to Yao, who was talking to the prisoner.

"Yo, dad," Leon started.

Yao looked away from Ivan and looked at his son.

"Leon, are you ok? Where have you been?" Yao asked, concerned.

"I was with my new friend, Emil, over there. I'm gonna join his group. They have more people, and now I have a friend with me, not just a few acquaintances and my dad." Leon explained.

"No way, you are staying with me! End of story!" Yao stated.

"No I'm not! I'm not a child, dad, let me go, please!" Leon pleaded.

"Fine! Fine, just check up with me every once in a while, ok?" Yao asked.

"Fine. See ya dad!" Leon said as he ran over to Emil once again.

"He is your son, da?" Ivan asked.

Yao sighed, "Yeah, he's in his rebellious stage though. It's hard raising lots of children."

"How many kids do you have?" Ivan asked.

"A lot." Yao said.

"I didn't take you for the kids type." Ivan retorted.

"Yeah, me neither." Yao replied,

Across the beach, Feliciano was looking a lot better. His wound was wrapped and Berwald had managed to remove the glass and prevent infection.

Ludwig was relieved. The little Italian had grown on him, despite their short time together.

Also, despite being awake, he kept his eyes closed.

"Feliciano..." he started.

"Yes Luddy?" He replied.

"Why do you keep your eyes closed all the time?"

Feliciano sighed.

"I keep them closed because I believe that one day someone will look into my soul and I won't be able to handle it. When no one is looking at me, I open them, just so that I can be aware of my surroundings, and I open them slightly during conversations. But never fully. I won't late anyone destroy my soul again." Feliciano explained.

"Again?" The german asked, dumbfounded.

"When I was younger, I let my crush look into my eyes. He was beautiful, and shortly after he left me and never returned."

"He?" Ludwig asked surprisedly.

"Yes. Most people are uncomfortable with the fact that I'm gay, so if you don't want to stay with me anymore, I understand." The Italian sighed.

"I'm, uh, not uncomfortable. My brothers friend is gay. I can handle it." Ludwig reassured.

Feli chuckled slightly, "Thank you."

"For what?"

"For not leaving me."