A calm and peaceful December morning. One of pure tranquility; enough to even calm the gods. All Effryn planned to do was sit back, farm for god roll sniper, and enjoy this peaceful saturday morning.

Ahhhh. What a day!! He thought while speeding running a mission with a giddy smile plastered on his face. .

If only everyday wasn’t filled with obscene rage and hurtful comments, then life would truly be a blist.

But like every blessing, there eventually comes a curse…

“Did you eat all the damn eggs!?”

The monstrosity angrily shouted from the depths of the kitchen. The Titan had to awake sooner or later.

Initiate plan 0.

“Whaat?? T-there’s no more eggs? Well I guess I used them all when-”

“Those were my last two! I swear to the nine themselves I’ll make you walk every pilgrimage imaginable for this!!”

For just waking up, Evvryn had a sheepish tone in her yells, though it didn’t make her any less scarier.

“W-wait, those were only enforced if you made a horrible offence to the church... A-and actually, check the microwave, I made your plate for you this morning!” Using his only and last card, Effryn prayed this could help avoid an early death.

Of course, the presumably said personal eggs weren’t actually made for Evvryn, Effryn just whipped up a quick breakfast for him, and the rest were just leftovers for whenever Effryn got hungry again-or rather, for him to forget about and in a weeks time just end up throwing them away.

“Aww that’s nice 💜.” She said with a happier tone, followed with a half-awake groggy smile.

Getting her/Effryn’s plate, the sleepy girl sat at the table in their small utilities room. It wasn’t to a big room, but it also wasn’t too small either, and everything was openly connected except for their bedrooms.

In it, they had a tiny kitchen, with a simple setup of a counter and a microwave for which they used primarily 90% of all their meals. A small living room like area they used for their setup, which consisted of Evvryn’s desk, her monitor, and her PC. A few feet away, was Effryn’s own small sanctuary, which had two consoles, and a smaller monitor than Evvryns.

Yep. Evvryn was a PC living legend while Effryn was a console plebeian. So of course she had every right to tease him, though Effryn didn’t see the what the big problem was with having a different way to play; he was still good nevertheless, so why should it matter?

“Anyways, good morning little man. Do anything with a fraction of interest today?” She said, uninterested, while stuffing her face.

“Well according to your ideas of fun, more than likely not.”

Evvryn only gave a hmmp as her lazy response, with a sheepish tone.

Effryn slumped to the ground, sprawled across the floor. Playing since the stretch of dawn, he felt tired enough to do so.

He looked at Evvryn, who was surprisingly silent while eating away at her precious meal.

“A quick correction to earlier, it’s good afternoon. Morning past a good hour or two ago.”

Effryn still calmly stared blankly at her, until…

“Wait really!?”

Shrieking while jumping out of her chair instantly, even making Effryn jump a little, she looked at him with a not-so-sleepy panicked look.

Sheesh! That was too quick of a shift.

“Our dues were supposed to be paid by noon!” She sprinted into their room, probably to get their dues, or in simpler, normal terms-their rent.

Effryn lazily watched her as she dolphin dived into their room, which was the only other part of their apartment that was separated from everywhere else. Their room only had sleeping mats and a lamp, and was used for pretty much only at night for sleeping, if they weren’t pulling off an all-nighter.

It was actually somewhat appealing to watch her sun-drenched hair flow through the air, before disappearing into the dark of the room, thought Effryn.

Today was supposed to be the day where the kiddos pay their rent money for the month to some old lady, but Evvryn, who may or may not have overslept, and Effryn, who just plain forgot it even existed, were considered late. On a few occasions she tried to get Effryn to turn in the bill himself incase she does miss it for any reason, but he always gets shy and anxious before actually going through with it. So she’s usually the one who does the bill paying-or anything socially needy in this case..

Effryn began to stare at the ceiling, getting lost in his own void of thoughts.

I hope the nice granny doesn’t get mad at us. It’s only been two months since we first moved here, not even adding the fact we just about missed the deadline for last month as well.

Truth is, Effryn did try to turn in their rent money at first. But that turned out to be short lived as soon as he saw some of their neighbors smoking outside. So doing what he thought was best, he turned to good ole Evvryn to handle the trip, as she didn’t have a problem with doing anything. Of course he got a “dumbass, they were just smoking. Grow a pair already!” when she got back.

And that was that.

But the more he thought about it, he soon came to realize he never met the old lady, or even hear about what she was like.

Strange, I would have thought Evvryn had talked about her by now...

While it did bother him about not even having any information on their own landlord, the opposite could also be said. She could just be so extraordinarily average that Evvryn had just forgotten about her existence entirely. That could explain for today’s forgetfulness.

But still lacking a definite reason, he put a hold on those ideas for now.

After thinking for sometime, he heard fast incoming footsteps coming out of their room.

“Kay, I’m gonna head off. If you have work today then take the trash out. Please and thank you!” With an envelope in hand, Evvryn flashed a smile while pointing at a bag, before leaving to pay.

Sitting up, Effryn glanced at the time.

1:46

I guess I should get ready. Jumping up, Effryn grabbed his coat, and the trash Evvryn wanted him to take out.

He didn’t have work, but he still made plans to hang with a close friend. So he decided he might as well do what Evvryn wanted.

Walking out with trash in hand, Effryn made sure to lock up before leaving. Of course, there were a small group of people on the closest set of stairs, so he took the furthest one to leave.

Since the beginning of time, Effryn had rarely ever went outside other than leaving for actual responsibilities, like school or work. So whenever he did go outside for something other than the two, Evvryn always marked the date down like it’s some kind of monumental moment.

After throwing the trash away, he set off to their normal meeting point.

This particular someone was whom Effryn had known for a long time in school, although nowhere near as long as Evvryn. Whenever Effryn had gotten into a bad situation or just needed someone to talk to, he was always there for him, with exactly the right words.

Though, where they had always met up at was a little unique to the conventional hideout trope everyone else had. But, Effryn rather enjoyed that aspect of it.

So, like he’d always done, Effryn began to think away his cloudy worries, and walk into the bustling urban streets of his city.

The city they had lived in wasn’t too big a city, so it’s manageable for Effryn to handle most of the time. Plus since daylight still shone he felt it was safe. For the most part.

After walking some distance, he stood approximately ten meters away away from his destination-an abandoned construction site.

Although this wasn’t the conventional place for two teenagers to hang out, it definitely was badass. Every few weeks they would have a get together, just talking about life and the such following it.

Whew, ok. Effryn mentally prepared himself. Every time they met up they mostly talked about half philosophical questions, and half comical paradoxes. Basically, stuff either of them had no clue about, but could still talk for hours on.

He walked inside, and reached the rundown stairs, which looked like they were barely gripping on life, just like everything else in the building. It was for the most part, empty. Maybe a few metal scraps here and there, but the constructors never finished for whatever reason, so the project for the place was scrapped.

Here we go. Effryn thought to himself, as he ascended the stairway to the clouds.

I’m never gonna get used to that, am I? After a while of carefully climbing the stairs, Effryn finally reached the top of the building. Let it be known, it’s no mere two minute climb.

And just like always, his companion, buddy, mate, and friend, was laying on the highest point of the building. Everytime they planned to come there, his friend would always beat him there. Effryn had always just assumed he had to live somewhere nearby… Thinking about it now, he actually had no idea where his friend currently lived at. Just that he lived with his mom.

Effryn walked towards him, keeping his guard up. All it looked like he was doing was staring down the clouds, hoping maybe something would come from it.

“It’s about time! Do ya know how cold it is?!” He exclaimed, jumping to his feet from rest.

“Hehe, yeah sorry, I might have taken a slight detour before getting here.” Effryn cracked a smile at him.

“Well hurry up and getcha ass up here, I heard the stars are gonna cry tonight.”

Wait...huh?

Trying to process his words, Effryn stood before the usual boxes leading up to their hideout, which was on top of what they had thought to be where the power breakers were.

He lifted one foot over, and began to climb. He noticed the boxes edges were starting to push inward, having a chance to collapse inward on itself. But he didn’t pay much mind to it. His main obstacle was to somehow pull himself up on the roof. God, why am I so short? He thought to himself, wishing what a wonderful life it would be to actually have at least a moderate height.

I swear… THE GENEPOOL SCREWED ME OVER!!

If he was taller, no, even just a few centimeters taller, then maybe he wouldn’t always be seen as a child. He could do and experience so much more if he had just won the gene-slots.

And while thinking about it, Effryn realized...

MAYBE EVVRYN WOULDN’T TEASE ME SO MUCH!!! Now I really need to see who did this and kic-

…

Ohhhh crap

Effryn, while trying to find a way up with his prolonged curse of height, and thinking about how much better his life would have been if he had been gifted, tried to find a footing. But…

Why?

...According to normal physics, a box was supposed to be there according to Mr.Newton himself. But to Effryn, either the laws were being distorted themselves, or the box just...left, and was nowhere to be seen. Panicking, Effryn tried pulling himself up with only sheer arm strength.

In his mind, he thought it was possible, seeing as how everyone in a game does it with pretty much no problem whatsoever. So, why can’t I do it?, was what he was thinking. But no amount of effort could ever amount to Effryn pulling himself up, let alone doing a pull up. And as he kept trying…

He felt his hands slipping, with his fingertips being the last line of defense.

Godohcrap

Glancing down, it seemed to be a lot further of a fall than he remembered it to be.

Effryn resisted his urge to struggle, trying to pick himself up again, but he knew he couldn’t do anything. If he kept trying, the only result would be him falling down at this ungodly height.

CrapCrapCrapCrapCrap! Why am I lucky with weapon rolls but not the gene roll?!

“Hehe, ya’know Effryn, you really are a one-of-a-kind-dumbass.”

“H-hey! I heard somewhere that it’s a REALLY thing to help a person in need!”

“Oh, so who’s in trouble? ‘Cause I don’t see anyone needing my help around here. All I see is a sad little boy desperately climbing as if his life’s on the line”

He was practically laughing tears at this point.

“I swear to everything before and now if you don’t help me right now, I’LL DIE!!! Effryn screamed as if his life was on edge to death.

Effryn’s friend, who was still dying laughing, stood over him. Placing his hand over Effryns fingers, he formed a fist. “Riiiiiiight, if you died from this fall it would make my life complete.” He laughed, lightly tapping away at Effryns fragile hope.

And with a scared, pained shriek.

“EIZER YOU BETTER HELP ME. RIGHT! NOW!!”

Eizer, wiping away the tears in his eye, finally helped Effryn up to safety, while also earning himself a punch to the arm.

While sunlight was slowly fading away, night began to seethe more upon the earth.

Effryn was sitting back, while Eizer was lying on the concrete rooftop, watching the birthing stars.

“So, how’s your survival playthrough with Evvryn?”

“Ehhhh…you know, just the same runs like always.”

Effryn thought back to how all they ever really did was game and breathe. Whenever school came around, or they had work, they’d just mindlessly push through until they came home to both log on.

“Oh yeah, Evvryn’s been getting into more tournament lately.”

“Damn, really? I knew she was good too. But damn, oh man, can she get mad.”

“Yeah, she’s actually won a fair bit of prize money before. But living with her, I’m get the first hand experience from her unsuccessful matches.”

Playing non-stop matches of Fps are bound to make someone better at the genre (At least for most people, some will just stay ass forever). So it wasn’t hard to see Evvryn getting somewhere with all the matches she played, including the yelling.

Thinking about it now, Effryn could see the amount of progress she’s made throughout her life. At first, her aim was all over the place, positioning was terrible, and she couldn’t predict enemy movements for her life, albeit he was exactly like her.

But now, it was as if God himself took control over her mouse, always getting first in almost every game and even sometimes matched against some of the pros. Now if Evvryn wanted to 1v1 Effryn, she would almost always win. There were some rare instances where Effryn would defy all logic and win.

Although Evvryn had skill on her side, it was as if luck had favored Effryn. In some cases Effryn was hitting shots that weren’t numerically possible, and was always surviving by the grit of his teeth. But with these blessed miracles comes the curse. Everytime he did win by these means, Evvryn did not approve at all. And Effryn was made sure of that.

Effryn wasn’t the only one she went off on. When another player kills her an what she calls an undeemable way, she more or less goes furious with a few curses here or there. Usually when this does happens Evvryn drops a hate message towards them, usually under the line of Really pussy? Who dropshots in 2018?

But after awhile of sentimental messages filled with love, Effryn has to step in for two reasons. The first was for the fact that if she kept sending them, her comms bans were only going to get worse, possibly resulting in a forever ban.

The second was the contents in the messages. When Evvryn has the chance to go off on someone, she’ll go off. Lately, Effryn has been stepping in because he genuinely felt bad for the person on the receiving side.

Hmm...she's been like this since my earliest memory. I guess old roots will always stay with us.

“Don’t you think it’s a little weird Evvryn acts almost the exact same as when we were little.” Effryn paused for a second, thinking back to their childhood. “I mean she’s always taken initiative over everything.”

Not that he had a problem with it. He was actually thankful for that aspect about her.

“Well there’s two variables we oughta look at for this dude. The first is pretty simple once you connect majority of the lot of dots.”

Eizer shot a smug smile at Effryn.

“It’s because she can be herself around you dude. You honestly think someone can act like that just around anyone? I mean c’mon man, you’ve known her your whole life. You guys did grow up together.” Eizer finished with a smile smiling, patting Effryns head.

“H-hey, stop! And...yeah we did grow up together in the orphanage, but she had to learn something from everything we’ve been through together.”

“Yeah that’s for someone more…normal, I guess? But this is Evvryn we’re talking about. She’s an exception on a whole ‘nother dimension.”

Eizer grinned, giving Effryn more head pats, while he tried swatting them away..

“And of course the second reason would be to protect your frail kid body.”

“S-screw you! Fight me now and we’ll see if you still think that!” Effryn yelled trying to defend his pride with an empty threat.

“Ha, I’d love to put your offer to the test shorty.” Eizer, still overly enjoying himself, grabbed Effryn’s shoulder. “But forreal dude, I’m sure she hasn’t changed because she helps support the both of you. Although you can barely work, it’s not like you got any social skills to go with ya. Hell I’d say you workings’ a miracle in itself.”

Making a hmmm, and failing to make a save for himself, he only proved Eizers point. But Effryn already knew he was far from being a social bird, yet social entity, to anything.

He tried his best in situations containing other humans, he really did. But every time resulted in him getting to anxious and caught up with what they were thinking about him, which always caused him to back down. This can even get him too entangled in his thoughts, keeping everything to himself.

“While there’s that, you also got your keeping to yourself problem you always had. It get you like to keep to your mind and all, but it’s ok to let loose on what your thinking. You comprehend?”

Effryn gave a hesitant nod.

Ahh, the problem of not saying what was on his mind. He knew this very well, and often hated that about himself. Thanks mouth for being scared he always said to himself when these events did occur.

Eizer sighed, reaching his hand out to the few stars out. “Y’know, you’ve been like that for as long as I’ve known ya. So you both might just be timeless, only having a chance to glimpse at the past.” He formed his hand into scissors, motioning an incision to a star.

…yeah, sure. Though knowing each other for some period of time now, Effryn couldn’t quite understand what Eizer said sometimes. So he just blew it off as mad talk.

Although he did wonder if what he said sometimes wasn’t pure crazy talk.

“Speaking of the forevers containing time, you two’ve been together since both of your existances came to be, right? I guess some people just can’t change if all they ever do is stick with the same people, uh, same person, for all their life.”

“W-well…if you mean since nearly birth, then yeah, we have. And please try to at least elaborate when your thoughts and words merge,my brain can only handle so much.” Effryn said, showing a monotonous face..

Effryn and Evvryn’s earliest memory both were their old orphanage, the Saint childrens New home. What a place that was, back then. Most of the staff ever did was sit there, feeling themselves up while most of the kids sat around crying or pondering why they weren’t lucky enough to have mothers.

But, of course, Evvryn was different. She had taken on the roll of guiding the other children, helping them everytime the good for nothing staff didn’t.

All the children followed her, even the older kids looked up to her. Whenever there was a major problem between the adults and one of the kids, everyone went to Evvryn to solve the problem and she was usually able to solve it.

Effryn was there too, but he mostly hid in the shadows of Evvryn, shy of even the slightest limelight. For his whole life, he hid behind Evvryn. Wow, maybe some things won’t change, huh?

Effryn had been a major crybaby back then, which was how the duo met in the first place. He actually still technically was one now, but that’s only for night.

During lunch time, one of the caretakers for the class a year below Evvryn had apparently wanted to skip snack time for the past three days. Effryn, being the hungry baby dumbass he was, attempted to fake cry his way to a quick meal. But the miss looking after them saw through his facade, and ignited “You little shit! We feed you enough already, so be thankful for what we give you!” Effryn could never forget what happened next, either because it was his first time being assaulted, or that he got scarred by a baby tray with peas under his earlobe. Either way, he was thankful it wasn’t too noticeable to attract attention without having to fully investigate his body and search for any marks later in life.

The incident caused Effryn to scream, probably because it was his first time seeing his own blood coming at an alarming rate, and gave an ear-deafening cry. The entire orphanage could hear the screams, albeit the entire building only contained five rooms in total with only one story. Boy oh boy could the entire place hear the siren like echo.

Getting ungodly ear punctured, Evvryn responded the fastest, hurrying to find the source. She opened and closed doors, searching every room to find the noise.

While it does sound badass now, it actually was just a five year old girl sprinting away with her tiny baby legs, having a bit of trouble reaching the door knobs. But she got them all with will, dedication, and tippy toes!

Baby Evvryn finally reaching her fourth door, or what she knew as Class Bee.

Though now she likes to refer to know as Class Beeitch, she burst through the door. She saw the crying boy bleeding profusely, ranging with decibel readings reaching on par to 130, and approached him.

Although she was slightly freaking out on the inside, she still worked up the courage to calm him down and clean the wound, somehow.

Picking up his head, Effryn was filled with snot and tears, and thanked the older girl who had come to his rescue. He had heard the other kids talk about her before, but this was his first time meeting the legend for himself.

After cleaning the wound, she scanned the room, searching for the adult responsible, locking eyes with the middle age women who had done this

“Why do this to us?! Can’t you see we can hardly take care of ourselves, let alone each other!” Evvryn shouted at the women.

“Acck. Dumb bitch, see how far you can get standing up for others.” The woman snickered, while she muttered more curses under her breath and walked away from the situation, or rather, her job.

All the other kids stood in shock, not knowing what else to do but look at the girl in awe.

Evvryn ignored her remarks and looked at Effryn, who visibly had no idea what was going on. He still had teary eyes.

“You shouldn’t let them treat you like that, ya’know? If you allow yourself to be hurt like that a lot, then how will life be fun we’re older?”

Effryn was stunned, Flash banged, concussed, whichever one had the greatest effect. In his entirety of four years existing, not one person had ever stood up for him. Being the quietest made him stood out, which also meant having a target painted on his back. He was usually the one called out in the crowd to do the chores or clean for their watchers, while all the other kids looked at him with sorry eyes, being thankful they weren’t him.

But now, someone had been different.

Someone had helped Effryn when he couldn’t help himself.

Someone had actually cared enough to help him.

“T-t-thank you!” Effryn barely managed to say, making it sound as awkward as possible. But that was miracle in itself, as he barely talked to anyone the entire year. He wanted to say something he’d seen on Television, ‘if it weren’t for you, I’d be a goner!’ But he couldn’t form them into words, and kept jumbling the words up. So he came to a better solution.

Everyone else was just as confused as Evvryn was on trying to decipher what the boy was trying to say.

So as his second plan, Effryn profusely shook his head up and down, trying to thank her.

“H-hey! Stop that, you’re embarrassing me…” Evvryn tried to stop him, but it wasn’t getting through to him. She tried to lay her hands on his shoulders, but…

Thunk.

Effryn headbutted Evvryn with a velocity similar to earth’s gravity, both stumbling back, but gave different reactions.

“Hey you…why you...son of an ass! I told you to stop!” Evvryn yelled, rubbing her forehead. The first words she could come up with had come from the adults, which she didn’t even know the meaning to.

“Owie...” Effryn muttured, rubbing under his earlobe. “...Sorry”

“Well, use words next time, it’s a lot easier than hurting people!” she said trying to gather her thoughts. “Well, I guess it’s okay if you apologize. Just be careful next time.”

Effryn then nodded his head once, but stopped as a feeling of burning pain rushed to his ear, adding salt to an open wound.

Evvryn just shook her head in disappointment, but burst out giggling to herself at this weird and strange boy infront of her.

Effryn just looked at her with puzzled eyes, confused on what she found so funny.

But all he got in return was a soft, warming smile, which helped calm his mind. She patted his head, almost as if she found herself a new puppy. And that same smile will be one photographic image he will never forget, as those Artic eyes were a pair that he would be stuck with from here on out.

“Hey wait...Is that blood? Oh crap, why are you bleeding again?!” She said frantically trying to hold his ear. “ Can someone go get me tissue and water? Jeez, how much can a small boy bleed...?”

The other kids frantically jumped up immediately went after everything she requested for, while she desperately tried to clean and stop the bleeding.

But Effryn wasn’t paying attention to the intense amount of bleeding from his earlobe-although it did hurt-and focused purely on the girl that had saved him. Someone who he had never meet had used their time and energy to help another out of compassion, not giving a second thought to what they could gain or lose from doing so.

Simply put, She had helped him because she wanted to. It was something Effryn had never experienced. This new feeling bombarded his emotions, making him question why can’t there be more people like this?

All he could really do while everyone else ran in chaos according to Evvryn’s demands to help ease the ear dilemma, was stare at her, thanking her over and over in his mind.

Wow, she’s so cool…

After their little incident, Effryn and Evvryn always stuck by each other's side, staying attached like a Russian and their vodka.

Three months later, another incident occurred where the police and an ambulance had to be involved.

One night, while everyone was asleep, one of the kids had to use the bathroom and tried to go by himself. There was a rule in the orphanage where if a kid wet himself, they’d be spanked and humiliated by staff for a week straight.

One of the adults apparently thought it would be funny to play with the child, forcing him to hold it back for as long as possible. The kid held out for awhile, but eventually broke down, and attempted to make a break for it to the bathroom. The adult grasped his hair, and held him close, making it impossible for the child to break free from the adults grip.

Well not thinking the entire thing through, the child finally let loose, pissing on the adult. The adult then, in both contexts’, got pissed.

“Why you little shit!! I should potty train you again, my way.” The furious adult yelled, waking up the bedroom of kids they were next to.

The adult brought the child to the bathroom, where he got beat and waterboarded senselessly. While this was going on, one of Evvryns influenced soldiers heard muffled cries, and called the police.

The sound of sirens woke up the two friends, and they met up along with everyone else to see what was going on.

Officers then stormed the building, arresting one of the younger adults who had worked there. Then some red men with a long bed rushed to the bathroom.

“What the hell you go people think you’re running! These are kids, not just some things you can easily toss away if they annoy you.” One of the officers yelled towards the adults.

Effryn was still half asleep, not knowing what had or was going on around him. He sheepishly looked at Evvryn, but was shocked to see her looking at the adults with a look of disgust he had never seen before.

Evvryn…?

A few moments later, the men in red came rushing out of the bathroom with a boy he knew, Garrett. He was covered in red from the neck down, but his upper body was soaking wet. But what scared him the most was how pale he looked; a white he had never seen before.

“H-hey...what’s wrong with Garrett? Why does he look like that?” Effryn said to Evvryn while rubbing his eye.

“I think we should go back to bed Effryn, and let the adults handle things.” She said,with a look saying she wasn’t going to accept any other answer than yes.

“O...okay, I don’t trust them, but if you say so...then okay.” Effryn didn’t have a reason not to, or rather he didn’t know of any reason to object.

Evvryn led them to a sleeping spot where they could sleep together, and Effryn got back in bed started to feel his conscious fade fast. Evvryn lay by him, looking at him while he was about to sleep, and grabbed his hand.

“Hey...promise me you won’t ever leave me like Garrett does, okay?” She whispered to him in a shaky voice.

“Now why...would I ever leave your side…?” Effryn responded, right as he fell asleep, escaping the outer world and entering his safe space, but not before seeing a tear running down her cheek.

“You better not.” She said with a teary smile, resting her hand on his head.

Not even a week later, the orphanage was shut down by the police for Corrupt practices and what had happened the week prior, freeing the children their captors. Every single one of them rejoiced in the news, knowing they were now free

All except for Evvryn, and well Effryn too, primarily because he had no idea what was going on around him. But Evvryn was concerned with the question ‘what was next’. If the orphanage lost all the workers, then who would run the place and watch the children? Where would we be sent to if they couldn’t anyone who would do it?

With all these thoughts flitting through her head, she let a worried look slip on her face. Effryn noticed, and held her hand, trying to comfort her.

“I wouldn’t worry so much, because as long as I hold your hand, you can never leave me!”

With a wide eyed expression, Evvryn thought back to how she had lived her whole life in the orphanage. How she had helped the other kids out in their times of need. And how she met one of her best friends, who was probably one of the weakest kids she had ever met.

The place where she got to experience so many things was going to disappear if nothing happened. The thought of it pained her, so much so she almost felt like crying.

Strange, huh? How could a place I hated so much before, actually have some precious memories? That’s a bit ironic?

But what worried her most was who was going to look after the children if they did all go to different locations. She looked at every one of them, standing and watching the police officer while he barked orders at another officer to find out what they were going to do with the kids.

Effryn still saw she had something on her mind, and shouted “E-evvryn! They can’t take us apart if we squeeze our hands tight enough! So don’t worry, I won’t ever let go of your hands, no matter how much the grip may hurt me or you!” even though he was already holding hands with her.

Evvryn was shocked at him. Not only was it rare for Effryn to say something in front of a crowd this embarrassing, but it was something else for him to shout his words.

But out all the feelings of surprise, embarrassment, and bit angry at him for shouting something so ridiculous like that, she was mostly happy. Happy to have someone who wanted her-needed her-to survive.

So she flashed a smile at Effryn, and shouted back “Well okay Effryn, but don’t cry to me if I hurt your hand!”

“Ha, I promise I wo-Ahh, ow, o-ok, that hurts. Please?! Evvryn!” Effryn whimpered, trying to free his hand from the most pressure he’s ever felt in his tiny little hand.

Eventually the police cleared everything up, and were even able to set up the orphanage with a new owner. It would take a few days until they arrived, so they had volunteers come and help watch the children until then.

Evvryn had been grateful for the news-probably because it was the best she had ever heard. The other kids jumped around, yelling and shouting about no more mean adults!

But she was still skeptical about the new adults. She wondered if they were nice and friendly people who actually cared about raising a kids, or if they were just more adults trying to make some quick cash sitting around watching kids. If it were the latter, then celebrating would just make discovering the reality they were in much worse. How couldn’t she be worried?

The adults back then, on paper, would be considered the legal guardians of the children, or if worded differently, their parents. None of the kids actually ever got to meet their parents, other than Effryn, so they didn’t see a difference either way.

But if it was a repeat of what happened before, then their spirits would surely be stomped on unlike ever before. These new adults could just turn out to be the same, and fastly adapt to the Stanford Prison theory.

Though while she had these thoughts, Effryn would always be the only one to notice her worrying, and so like every other time, he comforted her.

“T-they have to be better than before, the blue men can’t mess up.” Effryn always assured her, trying to make it sound like everything will be fine.

Hearing those words, it was enough to keep Evvryn moving on through the days, waiting in anticipation for the next new adults.

Until finally...came the day when the new adults arrived.

They were a somewhat older couple, who had wanted to help raise any kids without a home. The husband was a joyful caretaker, who always had enough energy to play with the children. While the husband played with the children, the wife usually cooked the meals and got along with the kids in a motherly manner.

The new adults were trying their best with the kids, and it was working-the little ones loved it. Everyone loved the new adults, with each day being a new fun adventure. Even Effryn seemed to be smiling more often around them, which was a rare occurrence with him towards any living being.

Evvryn saw how bright and energetic the other kids were, something they could never be with the old adults, and knew they were perfect for the job. They began to love them so much, they might even have branded to the illusion that they were their parents, calling the wife-mom ,and husband-dad. She thought that probably wasn’t healthy mentally, but no one else had a problem with it, so she never said anything.

Though one thing always on the edge of her mind was a rumour from some group checking on them that apparently the couple had been unsuccessful in having a child for the past ten years. They had tried and tried, but soon enough gave up, knowing the chances of having a kid were near impossible.

So they both decided they should go out in the world and help children without parents grow up in the world, and give them a chance to experience what a family truly meant.

It was like a mutual agreement, where both parties could enjoy the qualities of what a family could bring, so everyone was happy. A perfect win-win situation.

The children and the couple spent everyday together, with everyone enjoying themselves. Of course, Effryn and Evvryn still stuck together, with even the wife saying “You two are pretty close, and It’s adorable how much he clings to you.” Which elicited Evvryn’s hmm and, of course, made Effryn blush and turn away, spouting “W-what?!”

Evvryn, who loved teasing Effryn, would alway find a way to embarrass him. Especially in front of others.

“Oh you think so? We were thinking about our future plans, but I really don’t know what to do with him just yet…” She said in an innocently pure tone.

Which then Evvryn would usually give Effryn her smug smile. Especially whenever he got cornered into these kind of situations.

“H-h-h-hey!! We never talked about anything!” Effryn tried to come back with his more or less usual response.

“Well, it think it went something like that anyways.” Evvryn tilted her head, sticking her tongue out.

Although the two friends had always joked around like this, Evvryn knew life was going to be a lot easier on them. With new adults taking care of them, they could finally relax without someone constantly coming down their throats.

Seeing how the children played and laughed with the new adults, Evvryn sighed with relief. She could finally let go of some weight from the responsibility she had of looking after every child in the orphanage. After what happened to Garrett, she knew she couldn’t take that amount of pain again. It was too much as it was then, but more...more would just be too much to bear.

So the new adults had to do better. Any less was unacceptable.

Of course, Evvryn had seen how much they adored the kids, so it didn’t seem like that would be problem.

Well...she left nearly all the kids to the adults eyes. There was one she knew who couldn’t function in the world no matter how damn much he tried. Effryn now doesn’t think she was right about him ‘never being able to find, do, achieve, or be anything in this world without her help’, but with a definite probability, he probably wouldn’t make it too far in life without her.

So Evvryn thought it was best if she stuck with Effryn for as long as she could, and try to stick with him as long as possible. Of course Effryn had no say in the matter, probably because he couldn’t scrounge up the courage to say anything, or maybe he didn’t mind at all-she had no idea which it was.

What Effryn’s true feelings about being dragged with her were one of the few things Evvryn could never figure out, even while the rest of his thoughts were an open book.

What a fragile mind you have. She often though, looking at the scared and short kid who always hid behind her back.

As the time passed on, the days seemed to be fleeting.

And as the days went on, years started to skip by, like life just started moving in leaps.

Soon enough, Effryn and Evvryn started school together. Like Effryn imagined, and from the tales he had heard, school was pure anxiety hell. Lucky or not for him though, Evvryn was by his side for the atrocity of an experience he had.

It wasn’t the best time of his life, but he got through it nevertheless, even meeting Eizer along the way. Evvryn, on the other hand, enjoyed her time. It was strangely as if she controlled most of the school through her scareful tactics of staring people down and actually fighting back. The other kids even started seeing her as a school legend during her fifth grade year.

Actually, maybe school was made just for her to rise in power. It seemed almost too perfect, like it was her start to begin building her statue from rising in the hierarchy!

Eventually, freshmen year began, and Effryn already knew the lies and fairy tales of ‘oh don’t worry, next year will be better!’ were immediately crushed on the first day. He found out the hard way school isn’t going to change on the quality of everything, except it was going to get worse with each passing year. It was like continuing on new game +9, except if everything was a Pontiff incarnation (I’m sad).

Of course, high school for Evvryn was like playing against recruit bots, but it was as if they had major brain damage using knife only. Evvryn might have actually had fun at school with everything she did.

Her grades make her a model student, so the teachers praise her as some kind of deity. And on the other hand, students think of her as some scary strong behemoth, with rumors going around that if you piss her off, even if it was unintentional, you’ll be scarred for life. Of course, this was only partially true. Maybe mostly?

While definitely being true, her time at school was definitely better than Effryn’s. While he cursed Zeus himself for causing this, he never understood why his time was terrible just because he couldn’t say what he wanted to during class for the fear of being picked on.

Effryn had Evvryn to back him up, but because she was a grade higher than him, she could only help him in a select few classes, or during an off period. Eizer was there for him too, but it was only for half his classes. And even when they did help him out, it would only make things harder for him later when he was all alone. It was as if everything he did would gang up against him, and find a way to corner him in scenarios he didn’t want to be in.

Stemming from this, and how he was scared of people from when he was younger, is why he doesn’t talk much at all in the first place, except when he was with his close friends. He even started thinking ‘If you don’t talk, people won’t be as likely to notice you. And if they don’t notice you, they can easily forget about you’.

It was a nice motto to go by, if he thought so himself. Infact, it worked so well, it got him to eleventh grade without many hitches.

Some might say it’s a boring and lonely life to live, like Effryn would often tell him. “I’ll be fine. At least I’m not hating my!” He would always respond as if he was proud of it.

Yep, just crawling through life, with the help of Evvryn and Eizer, added in with keeping to himself. Mostly, though, it were his friends that helped him through.

The sky grew dark, with the sun beyond the horizon, leaving behind a crimson trace.

Effryn stared off at the sky, locked at the view the Gods had given him. It had been a few hours since the two got together, spending their saturday hours like true bros. Two close friends talking on a construction building- something only true homies could do.

“Yo.”

“H-huh!” Effryn jumped, breaking his concentration.

“You ever think people could confuse the sky with the ocean?”

“W-what? Is this a trick question?” Effryn gave a puzzled look towards Eizer, just to be more perplexed.

Eizer was partially hanging off a corner of their broken-down power box, with his chest and up hanging off. Ehhhh...ok.

“I mean if you have a normal stance, and just plain looking out at the sky, it kinda looks like the ocean already with the white and bluey stuff and all…” He held his hands out as if he had a camera, getting ready to snap a picture. “Well, since we already know the ocean is down, and sky up, can’t we switch the two easily by just flipping our vision to upside down?”

“If you mean perspective wise, then yeah.” Effryn could kinda understand where he was getting to.

“No, not just perspective. I mean what would be real itself.”

And now you’ve lost me…

“I mean just looking at something differently can always be a new badass thing, but living and seeing the exact opposite of it, well, that shit can change your life.” Eizer was snapping his imaginary camera, looking at awe in the sky. “Just give it a try, it’s not like it’ll kill ya.”

“Well if I fall, there’s a chance I could break my neck from the crash. Oh, and there’s the offset chance I could roll the wrong way off th-”

“Not that dumbass. And you’d have to be a special kind of special to do any of those.” Laughing at Effryn for not understanding where he was trying to take him, he lightly kicked him.

“Wha...then just what were you getting at?!”

“Sigh…dude, I’m just saying maybe you should try to see somethings from a different view. Or rather, from a mirrored view.” Eizer said with a more serious tone. “You’re in an ideal situation. If you wanted to fail, you’d have to try your damned hardest to.”

“Eizer, I’m going to be completely honest with you...I have no idea what you’re going on about.”

Effryn could usually keep up with what Eizer rambled on about, or at the very least, get a small piece of understanding. But right now, anything was game.

Effryn figured maybe he wanted him to get into the same position as Eizer, so he squeezed in next to him and looked up...or forward in his case.

Woah...the sky is like a flooding ocean.

The sky looked, even felt, completely different. It was as if he could fall straight down into the sky.

“Woah...Ok, I admit. This is pretty cool.” Effryn was bewildered by the myriad of colors and feelings flooding his mind, with his mind purely focusing on the treasure trove of art before him.

“Ain’t it life changing to have something you once knew be flipped completely from one small factor?”

“It is…”

Two close friends, who had talked about their past and everything new, were both captivated by what the lithosphere had to offer from their new point.

Yep, true friendship.

“So, now ya got a taste of having balls, let's shoot for another change on how we view something.” Eizer spoke, the sun had mostly retreated behind the horizon of space, and started darkening.

“U-uhhh...what else…?”

Effryn, still lying in a flat position to see more stars coming out of hiding, shifted his head slightly towards Eizer.

“I’d say the next target, or rather, your next target: Evvryn.”

“H-huh? How would I change my view on Evvryn? She’s been with me nearly for as long as my brain conceived time, so how co-”

“You absolute, pure dumbass!! I mean you should date her!”

Huh...?

Wait...what!?

Evvryn shot up fast, stumbling to sort out his thoughts and words.

W-w-w-w-woah! Hold one, let's think about this for a sec...”

Having been hit with a norfleet, Effryn tried to think about what Eizer said. Date Evvryn..? I mean sure we’ve been through pretty much everything together, but do I really have a right-no, a chance?

Eizer jumped up, grabbing Effryn’s shoulders. “Bro, think about this in that logical view of yours. You’ve known her as long as you just said, practically your entire miserable life. You both eat, lived, breathed, hell even slept together your whole lives! This is a bright neon sign from the nine you’ve been blessed. That or you have the luck of a mad man dude!!” He was shouting out, almost as if he was trying to convert someone to Talos.

Evvryn, still being completely flustered, tried to think about why he would think of something like that. Or why his chest was hurting so much.

“C-c-c’mon, why bring this up?” Effryn looked down, covering his head.

“Bro, It’s like you guys were made for one another, take the hint! Shit, even the gods are giving you hints at this point.”

“W-well...what if I don’t see her like that wa-” Before Effryn could finish his sentence, Eizer cut him off, knowing what he’d say next.

“Bullshit!!” Eizer shouted in his face. “Even just mentioning her makes your words hesitate. And the little girl blushing you do when sit back to think about her. Hell, you’re volcanic now!!”

Effryn was at a loss-no, he lost his grasp of language entirely. He could feel himself burning up inside, with only one noticeable thump aside from Eizers puffs.

“And based on what I’m feeling and hearing, It sounds like your lying. Lying to yourself.”

The only sound apart from the heavy breathing, was Effryn’s beating heart.

“I-I-I...don’t know...Can I?”

“If you can find your balls hiding somewhere, yank them out, and actually grow some courage, I believe you could pull it off.”

“I guess-no, hope so.” Effryn looked up and gave Eizer a worried look. “What are my chances?”

“Well if this were any other female being, the odds would be a definite zero. No questions about that.”

“Jeez, thanks for the reassurance.” Effryn said, giving Eizer a defeated smile.

“But worry not ultra-loner! For there is one chance for you to not die alone in this world. And I am here to start you on this path.” He teasingly announced, patting Effryns back. “I’m here for you little guy, I have been since elementary. And watching you two since then, I’ve always known this day would come. But boy I didn’t expect it this fast…” Reminiscing on the past, Eizer began sniffing. Effryn for a second thought he could see tears.

Slumping back down, the sky had now completely turned back, with a chill of wind whistling away at the sleeping city.

Effryn had never really thought about how little would change between him and Evvryn being in a relationship together. They both already share the same house, food, and rooms, so there was nothing new that could be benefited from being in a relationship.

Except one thing. The embracing of their thoughts, what they feel, their trust they have in each other, and eventually...their love.

Effryn wondered if they could ever reach a point to where they actually love each other. If such a possibility existed, could he reach it?

Can I really do something like this? I hardly do anything meaningful outside of games, but could I pull this one off?

While heavily contemplating whether or not he had the chances of a god on his side, he felt Eizer slump up right next to him.

“Listen Brother, all you have to do is use your inside voice as your outside. Stop keeping everything strapped up in your head, and just say what’s on your mind.”

“I try to, I really do, but it’s like my mind fights my tongue, and they both do what they think or say.”

“Well dude, all I have to really say is keep fighting against it. You have to speak what’s on your mind, or you’ll really hate yourself for not doing so before.”

Effryn knew of this all too well. There were many times he wish he had spoken up instead of keeping quiet, not doing anything, while his mind was screaming at him to say what he should have said.

“Well bro, I think it’s about time for me to head out.” Eizer got up, and stretched out his arms. “Quite the man-to-man discussion we had today Effryn, you better not forget it.”

“I won’t, I won’t.” Effryn said monotonously, waving him off. “But hey...I’ll try to see what I can do, if I can do it.” He finished, with a muffled tone.

“Dude, that’s exactly what I’m here for: to embarrass you and help you out!” Eizer said in a jolly tone.

Lifting his head to watch him leave, Effryn saw Eizer skipping away as if he was the happiest man alive, slipping away into the dark stairs.

Effryn looked up to the stars, all beaming with a prehistoric glow.

Well, what am I gonna do now?

After being bombarded with strange thoughts and feelings from Eizer, Effryn had no idea on what to do. If he tried to act on how he felt, would she share the same feelings? What if she rejected him? How awkward would things get between them?

Aggghhhh! Effryn scrambled his hair at the thought of losing their friendship over his feelings. The more he thought about it, the more worried he got.

Sigh...

I’ll just have see what I can do with the opportunities I get.

Effryn pulled out his phone and glanced at the time: 9:49. Welp, I better get going.

Looking up at the sky filled obsidian, he thanked every glowing wish above him, before proceeding toward the spiral of stairs rivaling the stars themselves.