Vince balled his tiny fingers into fists.'So what if he runs away all the time? Surely they will look for him anyway?'
"I understand, we'll keep an eye out for him as well and notify the Virus Resistance,"
"What about the girl??" Vince blurted out.
"You mean this victim?" Nīkau said holding up a monochrome picture of the girl from before. Her clothes seemed less vibrant and she wasn't wearing any shoes. Though that could have easily been the picture.
"We don't have much information on her besides the fact that she was part of a city monitor group, last seen three months ago," Nīkau, the man next to him said.
"No- NO WAY !!" He protested. The orphanage caretaker gave him a stern look not to interrupt. The two inspectors spoke over him.
"The type of monster we assume is likely a low level Virus." Nīkau explained.
The orphanage manager exhaled. "Inspector Nīkau, Is that particularly bad?"
"Any virus is bad. The Virus Resistance will have to be informed so he can be monitored." Nīkau responded simply.
"It doesn't help that he looks similar to the Eldritch Fated race. They are more dangerous than the Viruses. What with that black hair and unusual colored eyes,"
"...Eldritch Fated," she looked over Vince again as if expecting to notice something she hadn't before.
"Eldritch Fated humans are monsters in disguise. Human time bombs waiting to be triggered. Essentially they're destined to become one with any of the monsters of this Apocalypse Epoch the world is in,"
"You do know what the Apocalypse Epoch is right?" The orphanage manager asked abruptly. Vince sat rigidly in his chair, eyes wide in terror; but he nodded nonetheless.
'They think I'm the threat here..!!' he realized. He was grateful he paid attention in history class but felt frustrated they were just ignoring Ado going missing.
"We're supposed to turn them over to the associates of the planet Midgard. The people fr there claim to know how to handle them best. But we'll give this one a bit of leeway until he becomes hostile," Mandarin responded, putting a hand to his forehead. Then glanced at Vince as thought it were somehow his fault.
"Instead, we'll contact the Virus Resistance and decide the way to have him on surveillance but for now the only option is to send him home." He informed the boy. Vince looked on the verge of tears.
"Your records don't exist in the database and you are an orphan. You'll have to be stationed on the outskirts of the city where the population is minimal compared to the center." Mandarin responded casually.
"You won't be completely alone, other juvenile kids will be there,"
"I'll vouch for him this time, since he's one of my best students," the orphanage manager decided, handing back the paperwork she signed.
Vince blinked blankly at them as he was escorted down the hallway.
He hung back looking at the woman admiring the various portraits of inspectors and police officers on the wall. The portraits didn't interest him any, but she certainly seemed intrigued.
Her face and skin made her look like the indigenous people of North America, in the world before the apocalypse started. He'd seen them in his history books he'd just started. Her black hair was longer than the pictures of the people depicted. Something else about her seemed different than normal too.
An air that she was ethereal, or magical perhaps.
Her dress didn't quite match that however. As it was a brown dress dotted with small gold sparkles and one arm didn't have a sleeve. The other had a short sleeve made of strings of brown beads that stopped before the elbow.
"You're really pretty Miss," he said formally.
"Thank you for the compliment potential savior of this world..... You bear a remarkable resemblance to the original vessel of the first Ancient Eldritch beings, I look forward to seeing your growth," she remarked, crouching down so she was at his level, then tilting his head up, examining his eyes.
"The... what now..?" He asked, expression slack with confusion.
Her expression looked sympathetic.
"Heroes, saviors meet unfortunate endings,"
He looked at her in confusion.
"Come along Vince," the orphanage manager insisted, pulling on his arm a little and seemingly unaware of the woman who spoke. Silently, he looked back at her.
"Vince! Kid! Try and keep up with us will you?" Inspector Mandarin asked. He stood straighter and wondered why he hadn't asked about the woman in front of him.
"I have to go now," he said carefully.
She let go of him, as did the orphanage manager and he began to run towards the two adults.
❃❃❃❃❃❃⍟❃❃❃❃❃❃❃❃❃
Just as the inspectors said he was moved away from too many people in a brick place akin to an apartment.
The new surprise was that his friend was in his new room and waiting for him. Ado was sitting on the bed across from the one by the door swinging his legs.
"How'd you get to be here?" Vince asked tackling Ado with a hug. He hugged as tight as he could to make sure -completely sure- he was real.
"I'm sent here almost all the time because I run away so much. Got escorted here when I was found wandering around the street. How'd you?" Ado countered.
"I was sent here to be separated from the other kids while I'm on watch,"
Ado's expression relaxed in understanding, the boy nodding as though that made sense.
"They gave up interrogating me and let me come home," Vince shrugged sitting on his bed.
Ado stood up calmly "we should do that again but scout to make sure nothing scary is there,"
"How'd you escape the worm things anyway? The inspectors Mandarin and Nīkau said it was a Virus attack. I read in some old articles that people usually --" he stopped seeing the confusion on Ado's face.
"I don't know. But I'm okay now!" Ado smiled.
❃❃❃❃❃⍟❃❃❃❃❃❃❃
**Eleven Years Later**
"It's time, the long awaited moment has approached," a familiar woman spoke. He recognized her as the woman from eleven years ago. Who mentioned his potential to end the Apocalypse Epoch. Or as she put it 'save the world'.
"You again," he remarked. His eyes narrowed," who are you?"
"I am the Wood Witch Robin Yolanda." She introduced. "I'll guide you through your journey and help redeem the purpose of the Eldritch Fated humans who remain," she smiled vaguely.
"Welcome to our world, we've been waiting for you," a happy voice said from behind him. Vince turned to see the owner but instead Vince rolled over and blinked awake, his eyelids halfway open before widening as he acknowledged the bland equivalent of autumn morning.
After a bit of debate Vince just rolled back over.
"Hey Vince, get up, life's too short to sleep in," Samantha remarked, hitting him with a pillow. Samantha had dirty blond hair put in a side braid, her turquoise eyes filled with amusement. She was dressed rather nicely instead of her normal sweater and jeans. Today she wore a dress, seeing her in one alone surprised him enough to sit up.
"wha? but it's my birthday, Caretaker Genevieve said I could sleep in.." Vince yawned sitting up.
"she has preparations to carry out, so you can't be here," Samantha flipped over her hair with a shrug so it now rested on her back. He could see the shirt more easily though he already recognized it as her favorite one. the letters had long faded but he remembered it once said 'hello kitty' in pink letters.
Beneath the words a watercolor image of a cartoonish white cat head surrounded by pink flowers. instead of the normal jeans she wore a multi layer pale pink dress, the bodice hidden by her hello kitty shirt. He noted she still wore her grey converse sneakers though.
She cracked her bubble gum, the sweet scent filling his nose as he walked by to get clothes.
"You don't need those." Samantha held out a gift bag.
"Huh? But Caretaker Genevieve has always said they were good enough." Vince couldn't help but defend.
"She's saying that you can wear this today," Samantha snarked, raising her eyebrow. Her hand was still holding the bag out to him.
"well--" Vince decided not to question it. "okay then,"
Vince came back from his shower dressed in a crimson red letterman jacket, the original patches on it replaced and exchanged for the current ones; the front right side had his full name in calligraphy, below it in an elaborate bold print font was the specific date of his birthday.
On the back a hand stitched name of the orphanage: Orphanage Yorkshire of District 49.
"Aw Vince! You look like you're not an orphan!" Samantha grinned ruffling his semi dry hair.
Vince couldn't help the blush that crept up his neck. He tried to smooth out his hair when she removed her hand.
"Thanks, that means a lot to me," he replied
They headed downstairs first to see Genevieve to get the required amount of money for their trip. Afterwards they bade the other children a farewell for the day and headed to the marketplace.