>.< Sorry it is short, didn’t have much to go off

Shifting close to Aciel, Dmitri’s eyes flickered with an anticipation that was nothing but the worst. Where are they really going to die? Well Dmitri didn't think he would die, but the way Aciel was looking made him doubtful. The soft howl of the wing against the shed caught him off guard, and made Dmitri jolt in surprise. He hadn’t noticed yet, but the man had stood back up, and when he had noticed this too caught him by surprise. The man seemed to be eyeing the outside, and seeing how the rain pattered against the shed in a harsh ticking noise it was hard for Dmitri to keep his attention on one thing. His mind was a jumble of thoughts and emotions, and having never felt this overwhelmed by his own mind Dmitri was starting to feel almost nauseous. Squeezing the hand on his own, he looked back up over to Aciel who seemed to look worse each time he checked on him. Mumbling softly, Dmitri was starting to feel the anxiety that had been eating him up coursing through his skin.

``You know you boys shou-n’t stay in ‘ere..right?`` the man’s voice finally seemed to break the rhythm of the rain, ``I got ‘aye place if you want…``

The thick voice stuck out from the rain like a sore thumb, and forced Dmitri to look back over at the man. Twisting his body to sit partially in front of his fellow, Dmitri felt the compelling urge to almost protect Aciel, like a mother would to it’s kin. Nodding cautiously he briefly glanced back, watching to see if his fellow would give him any sort of reaction if he was doing the correct thing. Gazing back over with a now weary leer, Dmitri pulled more of Aciel’s arm forward resting it subtly against his own torso. At last he seemed to lighten his grasp on Aciel’s hand, debating himself if he should get up or not. The man seemed to be in an almost trance as he watched outside the partially open door, gazing in wait for something. Dmitri could do nothing more than feel envy at this, wishing he himself could keep such a focused gaze.

``The rains ‘innally lett’n up,`` the man started, offering them only a glance, ``we ‘ought to get out’a ‘ere while we still can.``

He was still cautious but if they were going to get out of there, he could only place his trust in the man, even as much as it pained him to do so. Glancing back once more towards his fellow, Dmitri would have to figure out if Aciel could even walk. And judging by how his fellow looked, the chances were looking dim.

(it's not short, don't worry 0-0)

feeling Dmitri move infront of him Aciel leaned forward and rested his forehead against his shoulder, it helped to have Dmitri blocking out the wind that was still coming from the doorway "thank you" he muttered, trying to heat himself up as much as possible so he could get up and go with the man and his friend

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the idea of having a place to stay and sleep sounded perfect right now and that's all he wanted, he stumbled to his feet and looked at the man "then let's get moving, as long I get to wrap myself in about a dozen blankets then I'm good" he smiled through his chattering teeth, turning to Dmitri and holding out his hand to him, trying to prove he wasn't dead yet

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"C'mon, we have to get moving unless you want me to turn into a block of ice" Aciel said, turning to the man "lead the way Mr. uh....what can we call you?" he asked, staying close to Dmitri even though he was eager to leave, he trusted Dmitri a lot more than anyone, including this random man, even if this person was offering to help them

(sorry this is still so short =-= )

I am truly sorry for the delay, I’ve got a small block >.<

It would have been an understatement to say he was relieved. Relieved to see Aciel actually move. Dmitri didn’t look it, but he was actually quite worried about his fellow. Offering a nod, he hadn’t intended to block out the wind on purpose but it seemed to just work out that way. Letting an irritated hum escape him, the small rain drops spit into his face as the door was opened further. Some of them would painfully sting his eyes with the same stinging feeling he got with the ocean water, Dmitri dropped his head into an uplifted hand trying to just partially save his orbs from that painful achy feeling in which the rain inflicted. Falling forward partially, Dmitri pushed himself upwards before returning his gaze back onto Aciel. He found himself looking at his fellow rather frequently now, although seeing how set his mind had become that Aciel was going to die this wasn’t that surprising. Taking in a few hesitant breaths, Dmitri knew if he was going to be going anywhere he would at least have to calm his breath.

In a few steps forward, he joined the man by the door. The two of them looked outside, although Dmitri’s arm was extended as he refused to release his grip on the other’s hand. There wasn’t much to see, after all the rain was coming down heavily and he could hardly see a foot in front of himself. Stepping back from the door at last, Dmitri had just managed to calm himself down.

``Are you ready?`` he asked, eyeing at Aciel nervously.

Looking back forward, it seemed as if his heart was beating a million times a minute. Nothing in that moment could have drawn his attention away from looking forward and listening to the heavy pounding of the rain. He was so drawn into the sound of the rain, Dmitri could hardly make out what his fellow had said. Although after only a moment, the man’s voice pulled his focus and instantly gave away what Aciel had asked.

``Just call me Doc`` the man replied, before at last stepping into the pounding of the rain.

Tightening his grip either further, Dmitri lightly pulled on his friend's hand as the two of them started from the shed. Not being able to use any of his senses was eating at him, neither the smell nor the sounds of anything around him gave away where he should be going or even where he was going. The only thing that even partially helped him continue forward was the shape of the man in front of him, that and feeling an obligation he held to help Aciel as best as he could. Even without him seeing it, Dmitri could feel the ground change from the sand to a sort of hard dirt material. Still he pushed forward, having no clue where he was going nor if he was going the correct way. All he could do was continue forward. And that was all he did.

"alright, Doc it is" Aciel nodded, keeping up with Dmitri as he felt himself being pulled forward, he could feel the attention of his fellow shift from the path and back to him every now and then until they were in the depth of the rain where his friend's sights were set on the figure of the man that was leading them to safety, he followed his lead and kept his eyes trained on the path that was supposed to be there but given how it felt it was more like stumbling through underbrush than anything else "how much further?" he called out shivering

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Aciel wasn't trying to hold them down but he felt numb so as he trudged along he couldn't help but feel like he was slowing the other's down, so he loosened his grip on Dmitri to try let him move faster as he lagged behind. He felt like his sight was good enough to be farther behind but still know where to go while Dmitri was clearly not okay with that, earlier he could tell how the water had stung his eyes and that wasn't even the full force storm it was starting to become clear that they both needed to get indoors fast

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The longer the walk went on the more robotic his movements got, it was forced and tedious to lift his feet and push himself forward and all of it seemed to be uphill, of course this meant Aciel's mood had dropped and he was suddenly completely quiet with his eyes focused on the ground. All this went on for ages until he lifted his head to ask Doc if they were lost "Doc? We've been walking for a while and I think my feet have frostbite, are we going the wrong way or am I being dramatic?" it was most likely the latter

Feeling the grasp of his other loosen Dmitri promptly reached back, catching Aciel's arm and grasping it with a tight grip. He couldn’t help but fear the worst, which for him was that the two would separate and somehow end up dead. So to avoid this, he would get about the best grip he could on his friends dripping arm. It was cold. He wasn’t being held down or at least that's not how he felt, the rain was harshly beating down on him so there wasn’t really any way to go much faster. As well, Aciel was obviously cold and looked almost sickly. So leaving his friend or losing him might just mean he would be alone, and not just for a few hours. Still, despite everything that was happening he was grateful to be out of the lab. It was a horrible place that held horrible memories, anything even the rain beat being there.

As they made it seemingly into town, the rain pounded against the many tin roofs heavily making it extremely difficult to hear. He could just hear the faint whisper of his fellows voice, but by far couldn’t make out whatever words he spoke. Only small figments of them. ` uch…-er`, Dmitri didn’t know how to respond. And so he just didn’t. Having no idea what Aciel was trying to say, he stayed quiet and continued to tread forward. It irritated him how truly helpless he was in that situation having no smell,sight, and vision. Even more so because he himself should have an upper hand from everyone else, yet there he was following the occasional glimpses of the man in front of him.

``St-..ght `he..d`` the Doc grumbled, obviously not having nearly as hard of a time as the two following behind him.

To this he shut his eyes tight, and just kept forward. The water was painful and he hated every bit of it when it went into his eyes, and so as long as he didn’t need to worry about taking turns or anything like that Dmitri would happily keep his eyes closed the rest of the way. He seemed to have gotten used to the rhythmic thudding of the rain against his body, as when it all finally stopped his eyes shot open in surprise. Glancing around eagerly, they stood on a porch of a wooden house. The man ahead of him was hastily tampering with the door, but Dmitri couldn’t keep his eyes looking ahead for very long. Now his gaze shot backwards, feeling a slight bump from his other at his side. He wouldn’t release his tight grip on Aciel, not yet. Not until the two of them were fully inside, warming up, and safe.

Aciel had been prepared to completely let go of Dmitri if needed but clearly that wasn't happening, it made him smile a little when his friend grabbed his arm, the gesture didn't mean much and probably wasn't supposed to imply anything but Ace took it as a sign that the other had not given up on him yet and it did lift his mood a bit. Sadly there was no time to thank him for it because they had to keep moving on, plus judging from the lack of response to his words he guessed that Dmitri couldn't hear him over the drumming of the rain and crashing of the ocean, so he just held onto his friend's wrist and kept going, now moving with urgency in his steps

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It wasn't long before they entered the town again, the only way to tell was that the ground they were walking on became more even and compact. The fact that the three were finally on something closer to a road meant they could walk faster so it couldn't be much further or take more than a few minutes to get to Doc's place. The thought of a warm place to sleep was enough motivation for Aciel, he picked up his pace so he was at Dmitri's side and decided to try talk to him again "I can't wait to dry off" he said through chattering teeth, he didn't need to talk but it was better than nothing but the sound of water...even if the rhythm was calming

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Turns out he actually didn't have to say anything to break the white noise because Doc answered him, he managed to make out what he thought was "straight ahead" good enough, he looked over at his friend's face and noticed his eyes were closed he's keeping the rain out of his eyes and just walking he thought and started going faster so he could lead Dmitri along for the last stretch and keep him from slipping or something, that was the idea but he was out of energy so by going faster he ultimately just fell behind again. Aciel still tried to help by pushing Dmitri away from rocks and branches and such, he did this until at last they came to a stop under some kind of roof, they were at Doc's house

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Once inside Aciel's first instinct was to take a look at the place and it looked much better than the Inn, a lot more sturdy seeming, next order of business was to warm up "hey Doc? I know we just got here and you're helping us already but you don't happen to have spare dry clothes or blankets we could borrow?" he asked turning to Dmitri to check if he was still okay or if his friend was also freezing by this point

This time he heard it. That faint whisper of Aciel’s voice seemed to finally form something more than just broken up gibberish. He could understand what was being spoken, words that formed a complete thought and more than anything something he could actually respond to. It was reliving to hear, and exactly what he needed to continue pushing himself forward.

``Yeah.`` he responded with a fragmented gaze going over to the slim outline of the figure beside him.

He heard Aciel, so even if he couldn’t see him all that was it was good enough that he knew for a fact he was there. At times his shoes would sink into a patch of loose dirt, the water having made it into mud. Dmitri knew his shoes would be dirty, there was no doubt in his mind about this. Just keep moving. Over and over he would repeat to himself the same phrase; it should only be a little further or so he hoped so he needed to continue on. He needed to just keep moving forward. The little encouragement he received from his fellows helped as well. Aciel had finally caught up with him for the most part, and the Doc having just said the house should be only straight ahead. It surprised him that he didn’t trip more because he kept his eyes had been screwed shut for the rest of the way. Although he could at times feel a light nudge at his side, so figured he had Aciel to thank for his still standing upright. Taking in a sudden deep raspy breath; his eyes shot briefly before shutting as a water droplet dropped down from his hair. With his off hand he pushed the hair and water off his eyes, clearing his field of view at last. Dmitri could finally see again. It was a relief to be able to take in long breaths instead of the short tampered one had been, having not wanted to inhale any rain. Kicking off his water filled shoes, his feet felt lighter than he had remembered. Dmitri still dripped water from every place in his body, from head to toe he was soaked. Pulling at his shirt collar he felt it sticking straight to his skin because of the water; all his clothes were wet and felt horribly uncomfortable all of a sudden. Stepping forward promptly as the door clicked open, his orbs traveled rapidly up and down the walls and floors. It was a small hallway where they stood, presumably leading to some sort of main room judging by the distant couch. On top of this, another hallway branched off to the side, what was in or connected to that hallway he couldn’t yet see. Eyes gazing now around the hallways as he stood still on the welcoming mat, his eyes were greeted with the very reason he figured they were allowed to come along and stay. He had a son. Dmitri noticed it from the pictures that lined the walls and that perched atop the shelves, the male in them looked young yet gradually older as his eyes went frame by frame over the pictures. He would probably be a few years older than them just judging off of how most the pictures were gray or extremely pixelated having probably been taken on an older camera. His mind was pacing as he still withheld his distrust for the man; he paid attention to little details such as the pictures. However it wasn’t something he would ask about it just in case the reason that boy wasn’t still with the man was thanks to some tragic accident. Hearing Ariel's voice he jolted; having been so focused in his own thought he had forgotten about having two other people still standing by.

``Yep, you two can go through my son’z old stuff...Kid was a late bloom`a, didn’t leave the nest till late so his clothes should fit you two fine.`` the man replied, his saying this confirmed Dmitri’s suspicion.

Knowing this much, he figured the two of them somewhat reminded him of that son. Fatherly instincts or something of the sort, Dmitri had no idea. The only thing that seemed to puzzle him was that no woman seemed to be in any of the pictures, just the Doc and his supposed son. He didn’t really have either growing up, so it didn’t matter that much. Maybe something had happened, Dmitri wouldn’t pry in case it came of as rude or sparked bad memories; the same reason he hadn’t asked about the son before. Stepping partially behind Aciel, his grip was loose but he wouldn’t let go. As the Doc lifted a hand and pointed to the side hallways that lead off to a few connecting rooms his eyes followed.

``His bedroom ‘s just across from the bathroom, which should already ‘ave fresh towels if you two need ‘em.`` The Doc’s voice shot, implying they could just help themselves.

Side stepped forward towards the hallway, Dmitri lifted his other hand and held Aciel’s arm now with both he lightly tugged on it. He wasn’t all that keen on speaking to the Doc or in front of him for that matter, but he signaled that he wanted to go off and get dry. A warm shower sounded nice; it was exactly what he wanted to do.

Aciel nodded and focused on Doc as he spoke son? I'm guessing he's the guy in all the photos he made a mental note of it for no other reason than it meant this man was probably not going to harm them, he had a brief memory of his parents and for a moment was happy for the rain as it hid the tears at the corners of his eyes, he only ever knew them as sweet and caring so now that he knew Doc was also a parent he was much more relaxed "Alright, thank you, we'll be back in just a bit once we're warm and dry" he smiled, glancing back at Dmitri noticing he was behind him, why? it couldn't be to hide, Dmitri was a little big to take shelter behind Aciel's skinny and water-logged frame but he said nothing and just listened to the directions to the room so he could get there and get rid of his soaked clothing

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Dmitri seemed to have the same idea because a moment later he felt a pull on his arm and Aciel nodded following his friend down the hall "so what are you gonna do first? I think I just need to get out of these clothes so I don't freeze" he sighed moving his arm out of Dmitri's hold and back down so he was just holding his hand, he wasn't entirely sure if the other would be okay with that but he hadn't let go for a while so he would just keep the contact until he pulled away. Something told Aciel that Dmitri wasn't as comfortable as he was just yet which made sense, they had just met this man after all and they didn't know Doc well

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he lost that train of thought once they were in the room, now his thoughts were about the closet which he walked over to to rumage through using his free hand. Aciel found himself a shirt with long sleeves, a pair of pants and a pair of socks because they looked cozy "okay, I'm all set" he smiled and stepped back to let Dmitri get something too, once he had gone off to shower Aciel started to change, pulling of his shirt he already felt better and by the time Dmitri got back he had wrapped himself in a blanket and was using a hand towel to dry his hair "how you feeling?" he asked looking up

Being behind Aciel wasn’t his way of hiding, but he would have rather had someone between himself and the man. It all came down to `just in case`. Just in case things went south, he would much rather be the one still alive. Call it selfish just as it was; Dmitri didn’t know any different. If he could keep Aciel by his side he would, but if not he would make due by himself however hard doing so may be. Eyes coming to a halt suddenly as he heard the other’s voice, Dmitri tightened his grip in a way that attempted to bring comfort to the other. It wasn’t that he could see the tears, but the sound in Aciel’s voice gave away the sad feeling he seemed to be experiencing. Unlike Aciel, Dmitri had no memories of his parents. He couldn’t remember what they looked like or how they sounded; though he didn’t want to. After all you can’t miss something you never had. So not having or knowing his parents left no absence for him; it didn’t make him sad to think about, and he was perfectly content with only having Aciel by his side. Sure he would take the other dying over himself, but being alone wasn’t something he was keen on. He was grateful he at least had someone, because despite not always being much of a social butterfly with the other children at the lab he had become acquainted with constantly being around people. At the lab it was normally ‘every man for themself’, but he still became familiar with being in other peoples company constantly. Dmitri didn’t know any of the children all that well, which included the other he was with. He had no idea of Aciel’s past or even what his favorite things were. Knowing this fact bugged him, how he could let himself put so much trust in another person whilst not even knowing something as simple as their favorite color. His head was a buzz as it filled with thoughts, and so when Aciel spoke to him Dmitri only answered with a hum. He was still convinced the man named Doc had plots to bring them back to the lab or worse kill them both, and now after thinking it over he wasn’t sure if he should be trusting Aciel either. It was all so much to take in the new places, smells, and sounds. And so as he locked the bathroom door behind him, Dmitri would stop dead. Back hitting lightly against the door he paused, eyes carefully scanning around the bathroom with his divided attention. He needed just a brief moment to let everything which had happened to sink in, especially now because he had no idea who and who not to trust. Most of his shower was spent thinking; sorting his thoughts out. Doing so proved to be extremely beneficial as well, seeing as once he emerged Dmitri looked a lot more upbeat than he had going in. He took care to keep the towel draped atop his head, seeing as his hair would drip water otherwise. Glancing up as his body turned to close the door behind him, Dmitri’s orbs met with those of the other male.

``I feel a lot better, you?`` he sheepishly admitted, being fully aware that his not responding earlier could have come off as rude.

Cautiously going over and sitting on the bed, he broke the eye contact the two briefly held. The clothes he wore didn’t fit all that well seeing as they ran a size bigger, but he made them work. Wearing some sort of white long sleeve hooded jacket in which he didn’t know what to call and a pair of shorts which fit better than the other pieces of clothing, Dmitri crossed his legs while he sat there looking over at Aciel once more.

``Hey...what's your favorite color?`` he asked cautiously, ``I’m not trying to be weird or anything I am just curious- and if it helps mine is red.``

It was a start. Something as simple as knowing Aciel’s favorite color; it wasn’t anything big like asking about his whole past and how the other ended up at the lab, but it was a step in the right direction. After all he planned to keep Aciel around for a while, so it would be nice to know a little more about him. Falling back onto the bed, Dmitri to a deep breath which inevitable led him to the realization of how hungry he was. Having been used to eating three square meals a day, eating only a small one that morning he was famished. Luckily he doubted that he would stay this way for much long, having smelt the distant aroma of carrots when he first entered the bathroom and now having smelt cooking meat. Even if the food was poisoned - which it wasn’t - Dmitri would still eat it. He was too hungry to not accept food if offered, and hell he was to the point now that he was internally debating himself about asking for some.

While Dmitri had been off in the bathroom Aciel had pulled up his sleeves and stared at his arms for a while with a frown and furrowed eyebrows, he hated seeing them but sadly he didn't think cutting them off was a good course of action, though he remembered debating it before. Why did he hate his arms so much? simple, the lab was to blame, they had jabbed him with so many needles and disected him so many times the skin from his shoulders to his hands looked like a map of a city. Aciel was so glad to be away from it all, the memories still burned but he had a feeling that it would fade eventually, it had to but until then he pulled down his sleeves and kept them down. Aciel wrapped his arms around his torso in a self-hug to make himself feel better "It's okay, you're safe" he muttered under his breath and sighed "We're going to be fine" this time Aciel included Dmitri in his words, he and his friend had survived the worst of it so it should be downhill from here! at least that's what Ace liked to believe, at this moment Dmitri walked in and he cut off his thoughts, not wanting to bother the other with some sob story about how he felt at the moment, emotional issues weren't exactly Dmitri's speciality

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"I'm glad you feel better, you look better too" Aciel smiled "and I feel great" he added shifting over so his friend could sit down, he noticed the clothes were too big on the other which made him look down and inspect the clothes he was wearing...yeah it looked like a kid wearing their parents clothing the way it hung loose around his shoulders and with the sleeves coming just past his hands. Aciel hummed slightly in contemplation before electing to ignore this and turned his attention to Dmitri again, the question shocked him a little but he smiled "Oh, I've never thought about that" he paused "I like orange" Aciel said eventually "mind telling me why you're curious about this kind of thing?" It didn't come off as weird but it was a bit out of the blue especially considering Dmitri rarely ever did this kind of thing

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Aciel turned to keep his eyes on Dmitri as he sunk into the mattress, which reminded him he would have to ask where they could sleep later that night, but for now his mind was on the smell coming from what he guessed was the kitchen "whatever that is smells good" he guessed Dmitri had picked on it long before he had so his friend must be hungry "want to go check it out or something?" Aciel was eager to eat after the day he had and so far signs pointed to Doc being a good cook. Once the two did end up in the kitchen/living room type area with a table and chairs and such his attention was on the photos again, they were all over the walls so pretty hard to miss or ignore but to keep himself from asking about it he tried to talk about something else "Hi Doc" he greeted with an awkward little wave unsure what to say next so he kept it blunt just a plain "I see you're making food, one, can I help? and two, are we allowed to have some?" Aciel wasn't always the best with social interactions but this seemed simple enough.

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Soon the food was ready and the table was set, Aciel was seated and quietly waiting for his chance to serve himself some of whatever Doc had cooked up

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Aciel wanted to break the silence that had settled considering Dmitri didn't want to talk to or around Doc and Doc seemed to be a man of few words as well "so, your son? what was he like he seems friendly in all the pictures" he ventured cautiously, not wanting to stir anything up, he glanced at his friend to see if there was any signal coming from him to indicate that Ace had done something stupid or out of place, he really hoped he hadn't crossed a line since Doc had been nothing but kind to the two of them since they had met