“Dear god, I pray to thee.

I pray for health and for assistance.

It’s been so long and my father has gone missing. I miss him dearly…. We all do. Please help me find him, grant me strength and courage to step outside and locate him. Deliver us from evil and keep us fed with love… Amen…”

Gabriel rested on a chair staring out the window. It was all he could do those days, after praying every morning, hide in his little room from the eyes of the world reading every little material Roy or his mother could bring him. The skies were clear and blue, the soils were rich in dark colors and the trees beyond the town sprouted green leaves. The seasons changed quite literally overnight, at least for Gabriel.

Suddenly, the child heard a rhythmic knock on the door breaking his trail of thought. Roy Firestorm quietly opened the door stepping in with a tray containing a meal and a few cups with one hand and holding a sack with the other. Gabriel heard the screaming in the clinic bellow and once inside the room he dropped it to close the door.

Roy had a different attire, his armor was a tight black leather set composed of a vest, pants, gloves and boots crusted in rubies, black sapphires, and gold threads. His new glasses are tinted black and a red thorn band adorned his forehead. Black sapphire eyes were the theme of the armor, it reminded Gabriel of old tales of evil warlocks. There was a sword hanging loosely by a golden rope around his hips. It had no sheath, a very dangerous hazard. Perhaps he had lost it in some form of battle.

“How do you feel today?” Roy asked as he settled the tray on the table near the bed. “Have you lost your appetite?”

“I feel peckish to be honest,” Gabriel said and set aside his drawings to lay on his bed. Roy took them, admiring the details before piling them in a stack on the dresser. “...You did see him; Crow,” Roy said peeking through the window and quickly closing the curtains.

“I did...” Gabriel whispered and held his crucifix. “Do you really take orders from him?”

“In a sense, yes.” The cleric took the tray and placed it over Gabriel’s lap carefully. The porridge smelled faintly sweet with hints of chicken.

One of the cups had a rich rouge tone. Curiously, Gabriel sniffed it and his nose wrinkled and his eyes watered. It was the biggest mistake of his life. Instantly Gabriel recoiled shielding his nose. It was poison, this was nerve gas, this was death in a jar, he was sure of it. “What is that?” Gabriel needed to ask.

“My meal.” Roy reached the glass knocking it back.

“Uhg! Is that wine?”

Roy stares at Gabriel, “no,” closed in and cocks a smirk. “It's blood.”

Gabriel rolled his eyes and pushed Roy away, "drunk men are dumb."

Roy squinted at the child accusingly, “I am not...” he pointed at Gabriel and trailed off in thought. “Hmmm... Not dumb enough...”

"When will we finally find my father?" Gabriel asked.

"Not today," Roy said, Gabriel almost jumped out of his bed at the statement. "Why not? You swore to help us."

"I am helping you all. Your mother has her hands full and I must help her around the clinic." Roy explained as he ruffled the child's hair. "I am sure your father would rather that, than anything else..." Gabriel stayed quiet knowing Roy was correct.

“You should eat that soup I made you,” Roy suggested as he turned towards the door. "Remember to stay in here. Your mother's hands are heavy and she needs my assistance, I will be outside running errands. Be good and stay in the shadows." The cleric said as he exited.

Gabriel sat beside himself staring at the door. "How long have I been sitting here doing absolutely nothing...?" The child wondered aloud. He finished his meal and proceeded to look inside the sack Roy left in the room.

There were many things such as books, elixirs, copper pieces and even a well folded armor. The armor was fairly small, almost fit for his form. It had a faint glow and was warm to the touch.

Gabriel's heart sank realizing these were his tools for battle. He knew that it was inevitable, however it seemed so beyond anything he was ever used to it almost scared him.

The sounds in the clinic somewhat shifted, his curiosity peaked needing to find out just what made his stomach sink into the floorboards. He quietly walked to the door and opened it slowly. Loud voices filled his ears, he couldn't quite catch what they said till little Gabriel hid by the staircase. "Someone, alert Grizelda!"

"Get him inside!"

"Someone get him something to warm him up!"

The midwives and some members of the Aschfal ran around panicked, Gabriel lost his breath too, Johan Amesthyn in tarred clothes stepped inside the clinic.

"Father..." Gabriel gasped. A woman with long black hair leaned the large man over her smaller frame. "I need assistance!"

Grizelda rushed in almost pale and frozen like a statue from the shock. "Johan! Oh dear heavens!" The frantic midwife wrapped his heavy arm around her shoulders and carried him up the stairs. "Are you alright?”

Johan barely nodded and leaned into his devoted spouse. Grizelda choked on her sobs trying to put a brave face.

Gabriel stumbled and hid in his room before his mother could see him. His heart almost burst through his chest and his eyes welled with tears.

He waited till he heard another door open to sneak out again. Just as he was going to open the door, he heard the heavy footfalls. "Mother Amesthyn, is he alright?" Gabriel heard. Possibly the woman who brought Johan in.

"I am uncertain, but we need to change his clothes. Selena, can you please bring me warm water from the kettle below to warm up his bath?"

"On it," the woman said and rushed down the staircase.

"Johan, you need to stay here, please." Grizelda urged. He barely heard his father as he spoke in a strained voice. "Johan please, I will be down stairs. Take a bath so I can properly examine you."

Another set of foot falls followed. "I brought the whole kettle."

"Please pour it in the bathtub. Thank you."

They continue to converse about Johan's health status to which he simply brushes off. Grizelda and the woman named Selene rushed down the stairs in conversation.

“Where did you find him?” Grizelda asked.

“I was walking through my hunting trap path and I found him near the gulch.” Said Selene. “I must confess I was horrified, he looked dead… I’m glad I went when I did…”

Gabriel took this opportunity to sneak into his parents room, the moment the halls were desolated. He heard the light swishing of water and as he lightly stepped into his room he caught his father undressing from his tarred clothes. On his back there were strange scars across with faint off colors. That didn’t change the fact it was his father. Gabriel removed his glasses to see what sort of colors he would have, he wasn't sure what he expected but black and purple were not at all an aura he felt comfortable to see. It was almost heavy and intimidating. Perhaps that was the aura many sensed when he walked in a room. Johan was always scary looking but it still didn't change the fact he was his father.

Suddenly, Johan turned surprised to see Gabriel. "Gabriel?"

"P-Papa.." Gabriel stared at his faded duo tone eyes almost locked in place before he put his glasses back on. Johan removed what was left of his rags and kneeled in front of Gabriel.

Johan smirked and caressed Gabriel's cheek… it was awfully cold, too. "Hey little one..." The grin threw Gabriel off, he had felt this chilling sensation before.

Gabriel's eyes lowered, widened by what he saw. Something wasn't right, he needed to run.

"What's wrong, child?" Johan asked with a smile. Gabriel kept staring down as his heart constricted in his chest and his stomach churned. The smaller Amesthyn slapped his hand away and ran out the room and squeezed his little body under his bed.

“Dear Lord, God, please heed my prayer… Where art thou…?”

Gabriel’s tears spilled from his eyes and muddled the round frames, almost tumbling them off his face to muffle his sobs.

A black hole consumes his heart, the child curls into himself quietly praying. “Where art thou…?”