kusabi-tan

Lavi hadn’t been expecting what he found. When he saw the cage
in the corner of the room, he’d that made an animal was tucked away
there. He had planned on just leaving it alone, moving on because that
was a part of his job and they’d only stopped here to deliver a message
as part of an odd job they’d picked up to pay for food and other travel
expenses.

The Old Man had gone one way while Lavi had gone the other and
now, he half-wished he hadn’t let his curiosity get the better of him.
He’d never been to a circus, after all, and was now wishing he hadn’t
elected to go.

“Holy shit…” he muttered as he neared the cage and found not an animal, but a person,
one a couple years younger than himself. His hair was gray—perhaps even
a snow white, though the darkness made it difficult to
differentiate—and an unusual mark marred the left side of his face. What
clothes he wore were thin and tattered; it was a sin to even call them
clothes at all.

Even through the darkness, he could see the bags beneath his
eyes, that he was too thin for a boy his age. Worst of all, he was
shivering and Lavi was having a hard time discerning if his skin was
pale due to his clear lack of exposure to the sun or because he was ill.

“Hey… You okay?” Lavi asked quietly, tentatively reaching through the bars to touch his shoulder.

Allen stared at the man as he approached, reaching through the bars towards him. He wasn’t sure what to do, was this man a new addition to the circus? Or an outsider who lost their way? It was not easy to access this area, so that meant likely this person had been sent here for some reason.

What if he was sent by the ringmaster…? Allen wouldn’t put it past the man to send someone to bait Allen into attempting to escape, just to mess with his head.

But Allen would rather fail a hundred times, than let an opportunity pass by because he was too scared.

Allen shook his head in response to the mans question, and reached up a hand to tentatively touch the hand on his shoulder.

“Please help me.” he begged in a low whisper.