Birds of a Flock

"Antioch! I'm taking Ty out for a walk!" The young boy ran circles around his older brother as they made their way to the front of the house. His older brother was careful not to accidentally hit his younger sibling, the boy being just a child after all.

"Watch out for hunters! And pick up some bread while you're out, Rox!" a voice called back down from the upstairs of the two-story house. Rox, the older brother, nodded to himself, grabbed the house keys from their hook, and then opened the front door. He scanned the outside quickly then opened the door of the rest of the way. Ty burst from inside like a firecracker, racing down the steps and into the street.

"Whoa there, buddy!" Rox was careful not to leave the front door unlocked as he chased after his younger brother. One could only be so careful when treading in the  heart of a big city with a large demon population and demon hunters lurking everywhere willing to take down just about anyone that could be classified as a demon in this place. Rox caught his little brother by the arm and smiled. Ty cocked his head to the side ever so slightly as he looked at his half angel brother, then returned the smile.

"Okay, Rox," he replied, "I will stay with you." Black hand in Rox's, Ty led the two down the street. Rox kept a continual scan of the area, his angel senses not as sharp as Antioch's, so he had to keep a constant observation. One of the cons of only being half angel versus full angel. Of course, not that Rox could complain or anything. Ty had the worst of it, a victim of something not his own fault. It might not be as bad for the young one, except that his appearance is a constant reminder of the cursed heritage. His skin was split down the middle, his right side black as night, but his left side glowing with the completion of an angel. His hair was the same, with the right side black and the left side gold. Then, to top it all off, the young boy had just started growing his wings, the right one being that of a demon's and the left being an angel's. Truly, Ty was flashed his heritage as much as he could.

One of the cons to the whole ordeal of having a half demon brother was that it hurt to touch the part of him that was obviously demon. Ty didn't know it, but any time Rox held the young boy's black hand, it felt like a million bees were stinging his hand. Rox had long grown adjusted to the pain and put up with it without argument, because he could at least touch this half of Ty since he was half human. The eldest brother, however, Antioch, was a full angel, and it was a crime for him to touch any demon, even if it were his own sibling. As such, Antioch could never risk touching Ty's demon side. Rox understood this, so the half angel male put up with the pain; this way he didn't lose another member of his family to the angel police.

Rox was spaced out in thought when a strange liquid splashed him in the face. It burnt like acid against him, and Rox released Ty's hand in surprise. He rubbed his face and eyes hard, vision blurring as the substance stung him. He coughed hard as some had gotten into his mouth. His tongue registered the taste and the pain suddenly made sense. Someone had splashed him with demon's blood, a dead demon's blood. Rox opened his right eye just slightly and focused on a large figure now approaching Ty with a large knife. Rox charged and tackled the figure to a nearby wall. The man, prepared for this, had a packet of demon's blood in his other hand, and broke it over Rox's face.

Rox screamed in agony and fell backwards, the raw blood burning his face a pain a whole level higher than what Rox had adjusted to with Ty. He rubbed it out of his eyes again, his vision blurry with watery tears. He could see colors, the colors of Ty on the ground as what Rox assumed to be the man approaching. Rox pushed on the ground, trying to stand up but the agony of it made his muscles give out. He collapsed into the dirt and grit his teeth. Rox could only watch as his kid brother was advanced upon. He vaguely heard a shout in the distance and a sharp pain in the back of his head quickly followed. Darkness swelled around his as colors blurred and Rox's body shut down.

Ty began to cry, backing away from the demon hunter as he aimed his long knife at the child's heart. His older brother wouldn't respond to his calls for help. Big brother had to save him! Big brother always saved him! Ty closed his eyes as warm tears caressed his cheeks. He knew big brother would save him. There was no doubt. Ty just wished his big brother would hurry up. Ty was scared! It was then that a shout assaulted his ears.

"Hey! Leave that kid alone!" Ty opened his eyes and looked up as another man attacked the demon hunter. He pinned the man to the ground and expanded his large wings. Ty watched in awe as the man took down the demon hunter with only a few punches. He broke the blade and then turned to Ty. He offered a hand to the child and gave a small smile. "Are you all right, little guy?" Ty took the man's hand and stood up. He began to bounce up and down.

"You're so cool!" The man seemed a little surprised at Ty's initial response, but only chuckled a little and ruffled Ty's hair.

"Why thank you, but it's your brother that's the hero here. He took down the guy, I just came in and finished him off." Ty looked over at his brother. Was he normally smoking? Like actually smoking? Ty knew that Rox called himself that sometimes but Ty had always thought he didn't literally mean smoking. Maybe he did. Ty was very confused now. "But we should probably take him to get some medical attention," the stranger said. Ty looked back at the stranger and nodded a little.

The stranger walked over and picked up Rox, slinging the half angel over his shoulder. The stranger looked back at the child, who ran up to him and began to follow close to the man. The man nodded to himself, for no other reason than assurance that this was the right thing to do, then looked around, trying to figure out what places would be best to get this young half-angel man treated at.

“Um… mister?” The stranger looked down at Ty. Ty paused for a moment then said, “I know an apothe…. an apoeth… apoeth…” Ty stuttered over the word, not able to get it out.

“An apothecary?” the stranger finished for Ty. Ty pointed up at the stranger and nodded.

“Yeah! One of those! He takes care of me when I get hurt.” The stranger pondered the proposal. If this man was close by then he could be one of the only people that would take them. “All right, lead the way.”

Ty took off, using all his little boy energy to lead the way for the man and his brother. Ty took the way he knew best, which required them to weave back and forth through the alleyways of the inner city. Ty made sure the man who was helping him kept up, and even though he appeared to have a little trouble sometimes, he did fairly well overall. Finally, they arrived at an abandoned shack in the middle of town. Ty stopped and knocked on the door.

“Mr. Pierce! Mr. Pierce!” There was a shuffling from inside the building, then a loud creaking. The door rattled a moment later and partially opened.

“Who is it?” a loud, somewhat gruff voice asked. Ty stood up on his toes and moved into the view of the cracked doorway.

“Mr. Pierce! It’s me! Tyrell Argo!” There was a shuffling as the door opened a bit wider.

“Is it? And who is with you?”

“My big brother and a nice man who is helping us! We got attacked! Nice man saved us.”

“It wasn’t anything really, just protecting the kid,” the man dismissed with a wave of his free hand. Silence filled the air and finally the door opened all the way.

“Come in, I need to treat everyone’s wounds.” Ty jumped into the house, followed by the stranger and Rox. The man, Mr. Pierce, gestured for Rox to be placed on a nearby table. As he examined Rox, Pierce looked at the stranger through the corner of his eye. The man was obviously a half breed, alike Ty. He wasn’t as obvious in appearance as Ty was, but this man’s wings and hair displayed the heritage very well. After a moment, Pierce stopped and looked at the stranger fully. “And you are?”

“Just a man who happened upon a situation that required his assistance.” Pierce frowned then shook his head.


“I’m not taking that as an answer,” Pierce threatened, “your name.” The stranger frowned a  little at Pierce’s aggressiveness, but obliged nonetheless.

“I am Yu Kuroshiro,” the stranger answered. Pierce knew he would get nothing further from Yu, and decided to leave it be. He went back to work on Rox.

“I’m going to need to properly clear the demon blood from his system. That could take several hours, depending on how his half angel body takes the holy water.” Pierce looked over at Yu then nodded his head towards Ty, who was swinging his legs back forth while sitting in a nearby chair. “I need you to take care of the kid until then. Feed him and entertain him, just until his brother is back in working order.” Yu raised his eyebrows, but made no signal of protest if he was against the idea. “Just check back by here every once in a while and I’ll keep you updated.”

Giving Yu little choice in the matter, Pierce returned to tending to Rox’s wounds. The half angel was pretty beat up, the burns from the demon blood showing up red on his skin and black on his wings. Yu frowned a little, the black stains on Rox’s wings reminding him that this man was not like him. Yu looked at the little brother, an aura of innocence around Ty. Yu stood up and walked over to Ty. He bent down in front of the kid and smiled a little.

“Hey there, Ty. So, your brother needs to get tended to by the doctor. Until then, I’m going to take care of you. So what would you like to do?” As if to answer him, Ty’s stomach growled loudly. Ty looked at his stomach then nodded a little.

“I’m hungry,” he replied in a soft voice. “Can we get some ramen?”

“Ramen?” Yu repeated in a questioning tone. Ty’s eyes lit up at the word. The kid really seemed to like ramen. Yu chuckled a little and ruffled Ty’s hair. “All right kid, let’s get you some ramen then.” Ty jumped down from the chair and stayed close to Yu’s legs as the man stood up. He waved to Pierce as they left.

Ty took off down the street, pointing ahead. He obviously knew where he wanted to go. Yu barely had to jog to keep up with Ty, but the kid was still full of energy by the time they reached the establishment. Yu glanced up at the sign hanging over the door as he entered.

“Charming Ramen?”

“It’s my favorite place!” Ty called from inside. He ran up to Yu and pulled him to a table. A waitress came up to them and took their drink orders, then left them to their menus. “My big brothers and I come here when we can afford it.” Yu glanced over his menu at the small child. “They always tell me to get whatever I want, and they usually share something. They think I don’t notice, but I do. It makes me sad, because I know they are treating me and not eating as much as they should. But I think they enjoy it to. They tell me stories about when Daddy used to bring them here too. I think that makes them happy, which makes me happy too.” Ty looked out from behind his menu and gave Yu a childish grin. “Plus the food is really good too!”

Yu stared at Ty. That had been unexpected. This child was much more aware of what was going on around him than he led those around him to believe. Pity stung at Yu’s heart. Once again, Ty proved to share more and more similarities with this child than he would have originally guessed.

“Hello and welcome to the Charming Ramen! May I take your- hang on a second. Is that my favorite customer?” Yu glanced up from his menu and spotted a male waiter at the side of their table. He appeared to be speaking with Ty. Ty smiled broadly and clapped his menu shut.

“Hello Mr. Charming! Sorry to come in on a different day than usual! I wanted to show my new friend your food!” The waiter laughed and pat Ty on the head.

“You are welcome here any time, my friend. Now, tell me, who is your new friend?” The waiter looked over at Yu and immediately took note of his wings. The waiter looked back at Ty and asked, “Is he like you, Ty?” Ty nodded.

“Yes, Mr. Charming. This is my friend, Yu! He saved me and big brother from some mean people earlier today,” the small child explained. Mr. Charming looked back to Yu.

“Did he now? Well, I believe that calls for free lunch for the both of you. Wait here, I’ll get you the house special.” The waiter took both their menus and walked off as Ty cheered. It wasn’t long before the waiter returned with two large plates filled with ramen. Yu started to eat when he noticed Ty was not.

“Dear God,
Thank you for the food we eat.
Thank you for the friends we meet.
Thank you for our work and play.
Thank you for this happy day.
Amen.”

Yu watched as Ty unfolded his small hands and began to eat his food. He seemed to savor each bite, as if the child knew it may very well be his last. For all Yu knew, it could very well be Ty actually thought that way. Yu resumed eating his food as well and couldn’t keep a small smile from his face. Ty had not lied about the food. The ramen was very delicious. Yu ate without restraint and finished a little bit before Ty. It was then that he noticed a few other patrons at the restaurant pointing and staring at the two.

Yu frowned. The discrimination was evident in this place. Once again, the hatred towards his kind was ruining such a great moment. Yu glanced at Ty to see if the child had noticed. He spotted the child following Yu’s gaze around the room. Ty locked eyes with Yu and then shrugged. Yu raised his eyebrows. The child didn’t care what the other people thought? Even if it meant putting his life in danger?

The waiter came back over one more time and informed them that the meal was on the house and that the two were free to leave whenever they felt. The waiter thanked Ty for coming and welcomed Yu to return any time, which Yu assured the waiter he would. Yu waited until Ty was ready, then left with the child. Ty looked up at Yu when they exited the eatery.

“Your turn!”

“Excuse me?”

“It’s your turn to pick somewhere to go!” Yu lifted up one of his eyebrows at the proposition but did not protest. He crossed his arms and looked up at the sky in thought. Where to go with a small child? The idea came to him almost as soon as he asked the question. Yu smiled a little and held out his hand to Ty.

“I know a great place to take you.” Ty cheered and took Yu’s hand. Yu led Ty across town, weaving through back alleys and main streets to entertain the child with the journey. They also stopped to check on Rox, but the half-angel was still out cold and working on purging the demon’s blood. So, the two half-demon half-angels continued their travels across town to the park. As soon as Ty saw the trees and grass, he began to drag Yu towards the park. Yu laughed a little and released Ty. The child charged into the park with Yu not too far behind. Ty ran straight to the swing set.

“Push me!” he yelled to Yu. Yu went up behind Ty and gave him a light push. Ty swung forward and came back quickly. Yu pushed him a little bit harder this time, and with each push, Yu found himself enjoying this a little bit more.

After Ty got tired of the swings, he was insistent on taking Yu on the slide. The two climbed all the way up to the tallest slide and rode down together, showing up all the other little kids on the playground, which really made Ty proud. The two moved on to hours filled with hopscotch, hide and seek, and even some antics in the water. It was not until the sky began to change into a bright pink hue that the two realized how much time had actually passed.

Yu looked up at the sky just as he got splashed in the face by Ty. When Yu did not look down, Ty looked up as well. The two looked back at each other with concerned looks. They weren’t supposed to have stayed out this long. Yu paused then nodded to himself and motioned for Ty to back away. Ty moved onto the shore as Yu reassured him,

“I got this, don’t worry Ty.” Yu’s body began to glow a bright light and he grew into a large curled form. Ty shielded his eyes away from the light and only dared to look back when it disappeared. In the pond before him stood, no longer Yu the half angel half demon, but rather a large black dragon. Ty’s eyes lit up as he approached dragon Yu. Yu lowered his head down to Ty and growled, “Hop on my back. This is the fastest way.”

Ty climbed onto Yu’s back and held on to his mane. Yu took off into the sky and began to fly over the city. It wasn’t long before he spotted the run down shack the housed the doctor. Yu spun a little then gently flew down to the shack. As he landed, Yu noticed an angel moving out of the way. Yu had apparently startled the man. Whoops.

“Apologies, I mean you no harm,” Yu said to the angel as Ty climbed off his back.

“Ty!” the angel shouted.

“Antioch!” Ty ran to the angel’s open arms and half-hugged him. Yu shifted back into his regular form and observed the scene. Could this possibly be Ty’s other older brother? Ty looked over at Yu and pointed at him. “This man saved me and Rox from mean people!” The angel, Antioch, looked over at Yu.

“Thank you,” Antioch said, holding out his hand to Yu. “Most people won’t risk that kind of kindness for people like us anymore.” Yu shook Antioch’s hand and shrugged a little.

“It was just a matter of being at the right place at the right time,” he answered, then glanced at the shack. “Is the other one all right?” Antioch looked back at the shack as well.

“You mean Rox? Yeah, he should be waking up any minute now. Took a while to get out all the blood. According to Pierce, Rox was exposed to quite a bit, but Rox will be fine. It’s nothing he can’t handle.” Antioch looked over at Yu. “Thank you for taking care of my little brother. It sounds like he really enjoyed it and I think he would love to have you back some time soon.” Yu looked down at Ty and saw the child’s eyes sparkling at the suggestion.

“I’ll be sure to take you up on that offer sometime. Until then, I guess this is farewell.” Antioch and Yu shook hands one last time. Yu bent down to shake hands with Ty, but instead received a bear hug. Yu was surprised for a moment, but slowly hugged Ty back as well. Ty sniffled a little and whispered,

“Please come back soon. I want to play with you again!” Yu released Ty from the hug and smiled a the teary eyed child.

“Of course, Ty. I’ll be back soon.” With that, Yu expanded his wings and soared into the air, on to another task before the day was out.