Mellory_245
Legacy Name: Mellory_245

Caring - Innocent - Trusting

Story

"Oh, stop...!"

"Stupid woman!" The slap of fur on flesh.

A whimper of fear. "Please Ray..."

The other snorted in derision. "Is it so much to ask? A warm meal when I come home? You're pathetic. Ugly, incompetent, annoying..."

There was the sound of another slap, harder. She collapsed to the floor, shivering from shock.

All the while, they didn't notice their son, trembling in the corner, clinging to a small mechanical dragon...

Mel woke with a gasp. He reached up and felt a tear on his face.

Mellory sat up on his blanket, trembling from the cold of the night air. He looked down at one creamy paw, and noticed that he had clawed his palm open again. A drop of blood balanced on the paw pad before running down his arm to the ground.

He clenched the paw, and glared at the ground. What was up with these continued nightmares? Was a year of living on his own not enough to scare them away...?

Mel shook his head, forcing himself completely awake. He could see the sky to the east lightening with the coming dawn, and the rule of these streets was early to rise, longer to live.

With a huff, he stood and stretched. The young Cream Paralix peeked out of his cardboard box to study the alleyway.

It hadn't changed much since the previous night. The same garbage piled next to the chain-link fence at the end of it, the same drab gray dumpsters blocking the entrance -- the largest opening between them was just large enough to admit an exceptionally small (or young) Paralix -- an smelling as though they hadn't been emptied for weeks.

But... There wasn't supposed to be a black bundle of fur in the corner... was there?

Walking over to what he assumed was a living person (but who could just as easily be a murder victim), he poked it in the side. "Hello...?"

He was surprised when the other sat up quite readily and blinked in the growing light. "Hi."

Mellory looked more closely at the newcomer -- a Demi, by the looks of him -- and realized that he was probably about a year or two younger than Mel himself. He had bright, intelligent eyes, though, eyes that had seen more that their share of suffering. Another thing the two had in common.

Mel felt his heart go out to the Demi, and he introduced himself, "Hello. I'm Mellory. Mel for short. Are you okay?"

The Demi looked around for a moment, seeming confused to find himself in a stinking alleyway, before he noticed that he was being addressed. "Oh. Is this your alley? I could leave..."

Mel shook his head. "No, you're wecome to stay. We runaways have to look out for each other."

Mel earned himself a reproachful look. "How do I know you aren't lying?"

Mel shrugged, feeling only slightly put out. After all, he wouldn't have trusted such kindness himself; a year living on your own in the streets of Centropolis could do that to a person. Or Paralix. "Feel free to leave if you'd like. Or stay, and we can survive together." Not wanting to push his luck with the young newcomer, Mel turned to trot to the entrance of the dark alleyway.

"Vauriode."

He stopped and looked around, a confused expression on his face. "What?"

"That's my name." The little Demi looked a bit surpised to be admitting this.

Mel nodded slowly, and sounded out the foreign name. "Vauriode. That's a strong name. A good one."

Vauriode blinked at the compliment, and Mel, not wanting to ruin the moment for the Demi, left through the sun-lit opening between the two dumpsters.

* * *

Mel returned to the alley as the sun was at its zenith, calling softly into the partially-shaded area, "Hey, Vauriode?"

He heard humming coming from the far corner, and, wrinkling his brow, he stepped over to the shadows. "Vauriode...?"

A pair of glittering, jewel-colored eyes regarded him. The rest of the Demi was hidden in shadow. "Hello, Mellory. How are you?"

The way the Demi was looking at him sent shivers down Mel's spine. "Um, I'm okay." He said hesitantly. He hoped that he hadn't taken off more than he could chew.

The weird feeling disappeared as Vauriode smiled and stepped out of the shadows, into the bright sunlight. He looked one-hundred percent the innocent child he could have been. "Great! I'm hungry, did you bring something to eat?"

Mel was thrown of by the sudden change. "Y-yeah. Here." He pulled his battered satchel off of his shoulders and removed a pair of salvaged hamburgers from its depths. "Here, Vauriode. You can have one of these."

His mismatched eyes lit up, and Vauriode attacked one of the burgers with a half-starved frenzy that Mel knew only too well. The Paralix couldn't help smiling as he watched Vauriode eat.

Halfway through the second burger, Vauriode seemed to remember that Mel was there. "Oh... Sorry. You were going to eat this, huh?" He laughed, a bit nervously, as though he thought he was going to be yelled at.

Mel reassured him that he wasn't very hungry, and Vauriode finished the burger and happily licked one paw.

"Uh..." Mel was glad to have found a friend, but he didn't want to scare him away, "Are you going to be... staying here? With me?"

Vauriode paused, tongue still out comically, then closed his mouth and thought. "Do you want me to stay?"

Mel nodded, gaining confidence. "Of course. Like I said earlier; you've gotta have friends if you want to survive."

The odd look came back into Vauriode's eyes then, and Mel tried not to shiver. "They do say I'm a bit odd, Mellory; are you sure you can handle me?"

Mel refused to turn this little kid out on these rough streets alone. Despite any "oddness"; surely they could work through it together? "Yes. Please stay, Vauriode."

The Demi nodded, as if to seal some sort of pact. "Shake on it."

The two children clasped their paws together. "Mel is fine, Vauriode." The Paralix was grinning broadly.

Vauriode laughed again, a genuine one this time. "Okay, Mel it is."

* * *

Mellory stepped into the alley, panting slightly from the weight of the backpack on his thin frame. He slid it off his shoulder and it fell with a thud to the dirty concrete.

"Hey, Vauriode! I brought soup again; chicken noodle!"

Vauriode stepped out of the shade into the late afternoon sunlight. "Are you gonna take me with you soon, Mel? It's been almost four weeks."

He tossed his head melodramatically and huffed. "I'm probably ready to get out of this alley, don't you think?"

Mel smiled at his friend's theatrics. "Yeah, Vauriode. Didn't I promise to bring you with me?" He applied a slightly rusty can opener to one of the cans.

"Yes." The Demi accepted the proffered can and licked at the cool broth inside.

"Here, if you leave it in the sun, it'll warm up." Mel pointed to his own can, now sitting in a patch of light. "Well, you can come with me tomorrow; how does that sound?"

Vauriode nodded, still seemingly preoccupied with his dinner. Then he looked up at Mel, suddenly asking a very uncomfortable question:

"Why did you run away from home, Mellory?"

The Paralix froze, his cream fur ruffling slightly in the breeze blowing down the alleyway. "Um..." This was not something he wanted to be talking about. The day suddenly seemed to get five degrees cooler.

"I -- My father was abusive. He hit me and my--" He faltered, "My mom. A lot."

Vauriode didn't seem bothered by how uncomfortable he was making his friend feel. "Did she run away with you?"

Mel swallowed and shook his head, feeling oddly compelled to finish the story now that he had started it. "No. He took our house and dumped us on the streets. My mom was... killed in an accident. About seven months ago."

Vauriode blinked, then looked down at the cans of soup sitting on the pavement. "Do you think those are warm yet?" He asked suddenly.

Mel was thrown again by the weird shift he had observed many times in his friend. He kept hoping they would go away under his care, but at least it had been a few days between them this time. He sighed lightly and replied, "Yeah, they probably are. Here, I'll go find you a spoon."

The two ate side by side, and occasionally asked one another questions about their day. Finally, after the sun had set and the orange glow of the streetlights leaked into their alley, Mel bade Vauriode good night and went over to his cardboard box.

He fell asleep thinking of his mother.

"Hey, mom!" His voice was excited, as only a child's could be, "A minin!"

She laughed at his happiness, and corrected him gently, "Minion, dear."

"Yea, Minin!" His blue eyes glittered as he turned to her, "Can we keep it?"

"No, Mel-bell, He probably belongs to someone."

The little Paralix ignored her and picked up the little machine, listening to its side as its automaton legs worked the air. "Mom, it's broke!"

She looked a bit confused, "Broke, Mel?"

"Yeah." He sat down with it between his legs and pulled a shining piece of metal out of his knapsack. His mother looked on in disbelief as he, with amazing dexterity for one so young, removed a side panel and aligned something inside of it.

With a triumphant cry, he closed the panel and set the machine on the ground. It whirred, resetting itself, then clicked and started walking toward its new best friend.

Mellory giggled as the little robot bumped against his leg, whirring away contentedly. "Mom, can I keep him, please?

She shook her head disbelievingly. "Sure, Mel. But you'll be responsible for him."

Her son had already picked up the automaton smilingly. "Okay Mom. Thanks!" He hugged her, hard.

"Come on, Mel. Your father will be expecting us home" She led him away gently as he hopped along on three legs, cradling the brass dragon in his arm.

"Mel! Time to get up, sleepyhead!"

Mel blinked his eyes open and muttered, "Huh?"

Vauriode stood at the opening of his box, smiling excitedly. "Come on, Mel. It's daylight already!"<

Mellory rubbed at one eye, looking up and down the small alley. Good; nothing had invaded in the night.

With an enormous yawn, he climbed out of his box and grabbed the satchel from beside it. This he handed to Vauriode, who was still standing there with an excited grin on his face.

"Here, put this on." Mel smiled at the Demi. "If you want to come, you've got to pull your own weight."

Vauriode shrugged into the straps for the backpack, settling the thing on his small shoulder blades. He trotted over to the entrance between the dumpsters, and sat to wait, still grinning excitedly.

Mel shook his head in amusement and walked over to stand next to his friend. "Okay. Rules. One: always keep me in sight. Two: If you get lost, don't move. I'll come find you. Three: We return before sundown." He paused a moment, trying to think of any other important points. When nothing came to mind, he looked at Vauriode and concluded, "That's it, really. Can you keep those in mind, Vauriode?"

The Demi nodded, looking impatient now. "Yeah, Mel. C'mon, let's go!" He stepped between the dumpsters and disappeared.

Mellory looked up at the sky and sighed. Then he followed the little Demi out into the sunlight.

They spent the day dumpster diving, mostly. Vauriode did tire of carrying the pack eventually, but Mel practically had to take it from him to get him to admit it.

At one point, Mel heard something larger than a rat moving around in a back alley the two were exploring.

"Wait. Vauroide!" Mel's voice was a hoarse whisper.

The Demi turned his head to look at Mel, dual colored eyes flashing. "What?"

"Ssh! Come back, there's something moving in that alley..."

He saw Vauriode swallow and moved back to give the Demi room to get out. When they made it to the street, they tore down it, laughing at each other's fear.

"Your eyes were this big, Vauriode." Mel demonstrated, and Vauriode giggled.

"But you sounded like you had a frog or something in your throat." They both laughed, and then, on unspoken consent, slowed down again.

The rest of the day was largely uneventful, and they returned to their alley to attack their spoils. After a dinner of partly stale bread and apples, the two said good night, and turned in.

That night, Mellory did not dream.

Mellory went out on his own the next morning; Vauriode was asleep, and looked so peaceful that Mel couldn't bring himself to wake the Demi. He padded out into the emerging dawn with his pack, thinking of the first place to look for discarded food.

Where now...?

* * *

"Vauriode?" Mel came back between the dumpsters, carrying a weighty haul on his back. "Vaur, help me empty this..."

He glanced around, squinting into the shadows where the Demi tended to wait out the hottest hours of the day. Mel's brow furrowed when he didn't immediately see his friend. "Vauriode Sefa, this isn't funny..."

Mellory searched the entire small alleyway with growing trepidation. He'd made it explicitly clear not to leave the alley without him...

Mel glanced down at the concrete, trying to think. And saw sooty pawprints scuffed all over their alley.

Mel caught his breath, rubbing one print with a shaking paw. It could almost have been his, but for the difference in size. An adult Paralix then. And, judging by the soot, a Reborn.

Mel felt his back fur stand on end. Somebody had kidnapped Vauriode! His friend, companion, almost... Mel choked back a small sob. A brother...

He wiped one paw furiously across his eyes, brushing away tears. People came and went in his life. It was unavoidable.

It was the first rule of the street.

FINITE