10-19-2018, 07:40 PM
[align=center][div style="width: 500px; text-align: justify; font-size: 9.4pt; line-height: 1.4;"]"Get out of here as soon as you can, kid. Don't lose yourself to this place." Those were the words he'd said to a child so many months ago, the last words he'd say to anyone before his world became the sterile white of a lab and clinical, detached stares. He couldn't remember much about that time, but he hadn't forgotten Laz, had woken in this bizarre body and resolved he was still going to return for him, drag him outside the hellhole before he became part of it. Before he became the king of the hill, like the bastard Gabriel killed, whose body he stepped over to get to Laz. Could he have stood aside for a boy to become a monster? No. That wouldn't be his future, so he intervened, killed anyone with influence, and dragged him off, far away from cold streets and desperately starving eyes. It'd been a painfully slow process, and not everything could be soothed when so much of Laz's life had become a fight.
But the trouble was worth it. If he could choose between gradually showing a child the world was more than food-scrambles and a ruthless killer, he would choose the former every time. Why wouldn't he? So many people had already turned their faces away from Laz, that bony-muscled boy with blood in his teeth and a daze in his eyes; so many of them had given up too soon, figured there was no hope for him, or just hadn't cared. Gabriel could have been Laz, if his mother hadn't stuck through thick and thin. He was lucky. He wasn't going to take it for granted and ignore when people didn't have the same fortune.
It was the best decision he'd made in a long, long time. It had felt...like he was helping again, as opposed to the limping end of Espada wherein they did more harm than good. Gabriel had missed that. He hadn't given himself to a life of working to aid people because he wanted the selfish benefits, or because he didn't care. But he had been punished for it, back then, had withered and passed himself over because he couldn't be useful anymore, but maybe someone could make something of the leftovers. He hadn't been satisfied with the results. Except Laz- again, best decision. He'd never change it. Gabe couldn't regret his son.
He'd been thinking about it a lot lately, ever since his body started falling apart. He assumed it was a "towards the end of life introspection" thing, and it didn't bother him too much. Death was expected. For everyone.
But someone once said that no parent should have to outlive their children. Gabriel had been pretty confident that wouldn't happen, confrontational as Laz could be. There were good people here. Good people the world shit on consistently.
Gabriel tracked the heavy scent of blood down, Laz's scent alongside it. Even as he told himself that the canine had probably just caught something, his heart quickened, each beat heavy-pressed against bone, air stuttering in his lungs.
And it dropped. He rocked back with it, stumbling at the imbalance, an awful, ragged sound abrading his throat. The hybrid shot forward, tension snapping him into a frantic pace that still took too long to bring him to Laz's side. "I'm here, mijo, I'm here." He cradled that large head so gently in his talons, wings flared out in a distressed arc. His neck- no. No that wasn't- no. No. But it was. A canyon in Laz's flesh he would fall into, tumbling down into the red that had already begun framing his body in a mockery of chalk lines. Too much too soon. Too late. "Perdóname. Please. Please." His front-limb shifted beneath the broad skull, lifting, pressing a dark face into his cheek, tugging at his skin, his little nubs with an uncertain beak.
"I'm here." He ducked, holding his head against the slit for pressure, but it was attempting to block a dam already drained. The pulse against his cheek was frail, slow, and his breath bundled in his throat as his eyes seared, unable to block the patter that was terrifyingly stronger than the blip in Laz's throat. "Lo siento- te he fallado. I'm so sorry." His talons trembled on the side of his face, and the rest of him electric, shaking. "I love you." The stroke lengthened, crossing planes of head and shoulder, begging to coax the dying warmth back. But he knew. He couldn't lie to himself, to either of them, not with the emptying chasm between them and the scalding of Gabe's eyes branding their faces.
"Arrorró pedazo de mi corazón."
[align=right][i]——INFO
But the trouble was worth it. If he could choose between gradually showing a child the world was more than food-scrambles and a ruthless killer, he would choose the former every time. Why wouldn't he? So many people had already turned their faces away from Laz, that bony-muscled boy with blood in his teeth and a daze in his eyes; so many of them had given up too soon, figured there was no hope for him, or just hadn't cared. Gabriel could have been Laz, if his mother hadn't stuck through thick and thin. He was lucky. He wasn't going to take it for granted and ignore when people didn't have the same fortune.
It was the best decision he'd made in a long, long time. It had felt...like he was helping again, as opposed to the limping end of Espada wherein they did more harm than good. Gabriel had missed that. He hadn't given himself to a life of working to aid people because he wanted the selfish benefits, or because he didn't care. But he had been punished for it, back then, had withered and passed himself over because he couldn't be useful anymore, but maybe someone could make something of the leftovers. He hadn't been satisfied with the results. Except Laz- again, best decision. He'd never change it. Gabe couldn't regret his son.
He'd been thinking about it a lot lately, ever since his body started falling apart. He assumed it was a "towards the end of life introspection" thing, and it didn't bother him too much. Death was expected. For everyone.
But someone once said that no parent should have to outlive their children. Gabriel had been pretty confident that wouldn't happen, confrontational as Laz could be. There were good people here. Good people the world shit on consistently.
Gabriel tracked the heavy scent of blood down, Laz's scent alongside it. Even as he told himself that the canine had probably just caught something, his heart quickened, each beat heavy-pressed against bone, air stuttering in his lungs.
And it dropped. He rocked back with it, stumbling at the imbalance, an awful, ragged sound abrading his throat. The hybrid shot forward, tension snapping him into a frantic pace that still took too long to bring him to Laz's side. "I'm here, mijo, I'm here." He cradled that large head so gently in his talons, wings flared out in a distressed arc. His neck- no. No that wasn't- no. No. But it was. A canyon in Laz's flesh he would fall into, tumbling down into the red that had already begun framing his body in a mockery of chalk lines. Too much too soon. Too late. "Perdóname. Please. Please." His front-limb shifted beneath the broad skull, lifting, pressing a dark face into his cheek, tugging at his skin, his little nubs with an uncertain beak.
"I'm here." He ducked, holding his head against the slit for pressure, but it was attempting to block a dam already drained. The pulse against his cheek was frail, slow, and his breath bundled in his throat as his eyes seared, unable to block the patter that was terrifyingly stronger than the blip in Laz's throat. "Lo siento- te he fallado. I'm so sorry." His talons trembled on the side of his face, and the rest of him electric, shaking. "I love you." The stroke lengthened, crossing planes of head and shoulder, begging to coax the dying warmth back. But he knew. He couldn't lie to himself, to either of them, not with the emptying chasm between them and the scalding of Gabe's eyes branding their faces.
"Arrorró pedazo de mi corazón."
[align=right][i]——INFO
[align=center][table][tr][td]
I'M
[/td][td]FADING
[/td][td]FADING
[/td][td]MUCH TOO FAST
[/td][/tr][/table]