AGALE/A

History

"Stop calling me your 'bro'. The thought of being blood related to a weak, incompetent deserter like you makes me want to throw up."

"Geez man, do you get tired of hating me?"

Hati grunts in retort.

"What's your problem with me anyway? A good big brother would be happy his little brother got to escape such an asshole like the chairman. After what he put me through asa kdi, you should've and should be happy for me."

"Asshole!? Happy!?"

"Okay why don't we all just settle dow-"

"That 'asshole' knew you were soft from birth and did his best to toughen you up!"

"Well I guess it's story time."

"Toughen me up!? Jesus Christ, do you even hear yourself? When I wasn't going through training that almost killed me, I was tortured! Training, fighting and torture was my everyday life! Here, treated like a living being, not a machine."

"He was our caretaker nonetheless. If it wasn't for him-"

"If it weren't for him I wouldn't have been dismembered everyday, burnt everyday in hopes that my body would adapt to flames, poisoned daily so my body would eventually become immune to it. The list goes on and on and that's only physical torture. Let's not begin with the pscologial torture that took me years to recover from. I've been scarred and not amount of my 'cultivated regeneration abilities' can heal. If you were even a shred of as good of a brother as you are the fighter you claim yourself to be you wouldn't even think about feeling animosity towards me. For four years I suffered while you sat there, cozying up with the guy that caused it."

"Yeahhhh, I don't think this story is okay for the kids. Ya mind handing over lil' Rosey, Jaspar? It's Brooklyn's turn to watch the kids anyway."

Jaspar handed Rosaria over to Kaine, followed by him leaving shortly after. The room was filled with a deafening silence. The one to break it was Jaspar.

"And look at what that caused. You're alive now, although weak, you've gotten far enough that these people have appointed you as the third strongest in their entire operation. Not only did he make you into the powerhouse you are now, if it weren't for him, the two of us would've been hunted down and killed when we were kids."

"We were nothing more than his dogs, br... Hati."

"It wasn't like that, Skoll. He did what he had to do to make sure that we were strong."

"I'm sure the only reason you can say that is because he treated you special. You were his little lapdog, never leaving his side."

"I wasn't treated special, nor was I a lapdog. I was treated the way I was because I was strong, and I was always by his side because I was his appointed guard."

"Yeah. Guard. Looks to me like you sucked at it, or else you wouldn't even be here, huh?"

"What'd you say to me?"

"You heard me. For someone as strong as you claim yourself to be, you couldn't even protect one human from what? Some other ghouls?"

Hati sat in silence to the question.

"Holy shit. You lost to some humans? You?"

Jaspar burst out in a fit of laughter. As his laughter continued, Hati begun to feel remorse for his failure as de la Cruz's guard.

"They weren't ordinary humans. THey sure as hell didn't smell like any ordinary ones that's for sure."

"So what? Super humans? Oh please, Hati, don't make excuses for your big fail. So you couldn't protect someone, big deal. You're not almighty and you sure as hell ain't perfect."

"But I sure as hell am stronger than you."

"Yeah right, you think I was going all out? You haven't seen anything yet."

The two grinned.

"Hey, can I start calling you brother yet, or do you still bear some stupid grudge against me?"

"I don't necessarily like you... yet... but if you'd like, we could wager it on a match. No holds barred. I want to see just how much stronger you've become since you left the island."

"Fine. I'm down."

"But when I win though, I'll call you by your true name. Skoll Pederson."

"Deal."

The brothers look at each other and smiled. They continued to chat when Faceless and the director walk in. Ebisu sits down in a seat next to Hati with Faceless standing beside him.

"So you beat our third strongest fighter, without even using your full power. Impressive. But then you showed us just how much alike you two are, by challenging the fighter in this establishment. Not gonna lie, that's pretty dumb of ya."

"I'm sorry, who're you supposed to be?"

"Oh sorry, I'll introduce myself. My name is Ebisu-Daikoko Watanabe. I'm the one that runs this place."

"But you're-"

"Yes, I am a human. Is that a problem for you, Mr. Pederson? If it will be then you can always take it up with my associate beside me."

Faceless gives Hati a condescending, twisted grin. Remembering the swift, effortless beating she gave him, he answers no.

"Good. Now, as Mr. De la Cruz was a rather...close? Hey Faceless, is close the word I want to use?"

"Nah, I think the word you're looking for is... huh. I'm actually not sure. Just go with informant. Associate is to nice, he was kind of a douchebag back in the day."

"True. De la Cruz was an informant of ours. So his death is a rather hefty loss. After all if it weren't for him, we wouldn't have been able to get young Jaspar in our employ. So, tell us everything."

Hati told them everything that happened on the island. After the explanation, Ebisu, Faceless and Jaspar all had to come to grips with what happened. However, Ebisu and Faceless were more intrigued with the people that attacked them right before they could get onto the boat. The case there, along with the case of the humans that fought against Kaine, neither smelt exactly like humans. Connecting the dots, they realize that the 'Anti-ghouls' are mobilizing.

"Thanks for the info Hati, really appreciate it."

"If you'd excuse us, we have to stress the urgency of this matter to our supposed information gatherer."