The Unseeing Stars

Whenever Melos and Sai sleep, they usually head off the same time. Sai sleeps best whenever he knows Melos is getting the rest they need—so Melos feigns sleep for the first few minutes, until they start to hear Sai's soft snores.

Then they open their eyes, and slowly sit up—doing their best to not disturb their sleeping companion. Starborns like them do not need sleep, really. As long as the magic essence lingers in the air, and they have moments to meditate every now and then (and charge the magic essence back to their body), they thrive. But Sai doesn't seem to get it. He doesn't seem to understand how beings like them could go for days without sleep. But truth be told, it doesn't take that much for them to recharge.

What does Melos do to pass time, you ask? Not requiring long hours of sleep, they've always stayed up to patrol and ensuring the security of the target of their mission. From the facility they used to work in, the commanders they used to work under, the other subjects they're obligated to protect—Melos has been made to stay up to guard all kinds of things. However, now that they've escaped with just Sai—he's now the only person they need to look after, and they're more than happy about it.

As peaceful as keeping a watch on him may be, it does get boring to the point of Melos itching for a fight. Something to fend off against. Something to stretch their muscles and release their magic essence.

Step. Step. Step.

As light as they sound—like those who knew better than to stomp their feet towards their tent—someone's entering their camp.

But where are they heading to? Melos concentrates on the sound. The campfire? The tent? The spot they buried their food?

Soon, the steps turn into a rustle—and Melos heads right for the intruders outside. Chains made of magic emerge from the ground, wrapping and trapping the intruders before they even have a chance to notice Melos' presence.

With the light from their own magic, Melos catches two alerted and threatened intruders. Humans. One black-haired, one red-haired, then a barely scathed hidden spot.

Very bold.

As Melos conjures magic blasts to be thrown from their hand, intending to strike the two (for even thinking of stealing the food that's mostly for Sai), the red-haired thrashes around and screams. No comprehensible words. Just pure fear for life. Unlike a fighter they often had to face back then. What a pity.

On the other hand, the black-haired remains much calmer than the other, trying to undo the chains from themself. But the more they try to work through them, the more Melos' chains shift and bind them in ways that lower their hopes of escaping.

Oh, well. No more time to torture these two in the chains further. They'd be writhing at the end, anyway. Melos thinks, as the magic blasts grow larger and brighter. For the crime of attempting to steal their food, their only hopes for survival, they ought to—

"What's... happening?"

Sai's voice snaps Melos back to peace, as their magic blasts extinguish in the thin air. He's poking his head out of the tent.

Melos turns back to him. "Oh, nothing."

"Wait, have I seen you before?"

Sai's eyes are fixed on the black-haired one, and they seem to recognize Sai back, too.

"Roxon? What are you doing out here?"

"And what are you doing with them?" The black-haired, Roxon, shoots a quick glance at Melos.

"Oh, they're a friend! Did you make a new friend, too?"

Being referred to as Roxon's friend, the red-haired scoffs.

"Look, we're... uh, are you two on the run?"

"Yeah. You guys too?"

Roxon looks back to Elesia, almost solemnly. "...Yes."

With Sai's and Roxon's reunion, the campfire is reignited. Now that the black-haired and the red-haired visitors—Roxon and Elesia—are proven not to be a hostile threat to their survival, they can have their share of food. They've been hungry for a good while.

From Roxon's and Elesia's sides, they were escaping from being hunted down by the bounty hunters of a certain town. As Sai can guess by Elesia's reactions, she was pretty shaken up by the whole ordeal that led her and Roxon here, and it comes out with her aggression in the way she bites and rips into the fish they grilled together. Roxon, on the other hand, brings a lot of questions to Sai's mind—from what even happened to him after he left the orphanage, to how he had gotten himself roped into this situation. On the day he left, he had said nothing, except for the fact he's going on a mission. He had never specified anything else. But Sai remembered the way he had always looked back then—like he's pursuing something. Hunting something down. Sai had never known what Roxon was really after, but considering the circumstances that led him and Sai to the orphanage, he had some ideas.

Seems like the situation isn't too dissimilar with Sai's and Melos', especially with how Sai eventually gotten roped into a research project sometime after Roxon's departure. A lot happened afterwards, most of them too unpleasant to bring up in the dining circle, then he ended up having to run away for his life and freedom with Melos—a new companion.

"Is there any place you're planning to settle down at?" Roxon asks.

Sai looks down. "Mm. No."

"Oh, boy."

"You?"

"We're planning to make it to the southern dock as soon as possible, and... head to another unaffliated territory. Like the far south nations."

"I see..."

The rest of the late-night meal passes by, and the three (minus Melos, who offered their sleeping space to clean up and secure the area) eventually huddle up together in the same tent. It's been a while since Sai slept in the same room as Roxon, bringing back another set of painful, yet fond memories of his other old home.

When will he finally be able to feel truly home? He muses, while trying his best to coax himself to sleep without crying into the pillow.

Soon, he drifts off to the realm of nightmares. Like always.

From the day after that, the four joined together as a group of travelling fugitives.

Even if they're strangers who have known each other for a few days, they work surprisingly well in a group plan. For example: Roxon being the brains and the cunning one of the group, who formed the plans for the four to get on the ship. Melos with their abilities to take people out, who did the dirty work of getting some people out of their way. Elesia being the cautious one of the group, who dragged the group out of any possible problems with force. Then there's Sai, the nicest and softest guy of the group, who appealed to other's sense of pity and compassion.

Eventually, they made their way into the dock, secured a place on the ship with whatever they had, and fled away from this territory—ruled by the Angels who watched all the tragedies that unfolded in their lives. Some even played a direct part of it, to the point that all of them held at least a little resentment for those who are supposed to care and protect for their mortals—but no. They let it all happen. They're right behind the tragedies.

What would the world outside offer to the four of them ahead? None could tell, not even Roxon could predict, not even Elesia could make a wild guess, not even Sai could guess, and not even Melos could ever imagine. They had no clue. Even then, they made a pact to stick together for the unforgiving seas ahead, for that there's no one else who will look after them.