Fangs

"Heellooow~" Linda waved at Alan. "Earth to Alan."

Alan stood blankly as Linda was trying to get his attention.

"Hmm... you are getting enough sleep at night, right?" Linda concerningly asked.

"Yes, I am." Alan snapped out of his daze. "I was just thinking about something."

Although this routine was quite normal for them, the others around the two had got the wrong idea about their relationship.

"So Alan, I didn't know you're into older women." snickered Marshal.

"I'm not! She's just my caretaker." Alan retorted.

"Wait what!?" Marshal stared at Linda with a star-struck face. "So this is the landlady that took you in? Lucky bastard." Marshal scoffed.

This discovery took aback even the other two waitresses standing with Linda.

"That's right~" Linda cheerfully said. "I've been his caretaker over since the... earthquake." Her voice died down after saying that, then she looked at Alan.

"Don't worry about it Linda," Alan said to cheer her up, "I've moved on from the death of my parents-" The memory of Alan's father striking Marshal down flashed in his mind. "..." Alan gazed off.

Many lives were lost during the earthquake that brought down the old city, so it was hardly strange to see kids in this city living alone without parents. Alan's parents were elsewhere in the city with the quake hit, but unfortunately, they had also been caught up in the disaster. A week after the quake, Alan was released from the hospital only to later learn that his mother had died and the body of his father was nowhere to be seen. Although he doesn't remember much of that day, he knows he saved another child and he has a giant scar on his back to prove it. Every once in a while, however, the scar on his back begins to burn in the same way he first got it, bringing back all the horrible memories of that day. But even with all the pain his scar had brought him, he doesn't regret saving that girl. He reflects on that memory, hoping one day he can meet the girl again and see how his actions had helped her.

Upon hearing this, a long, brown, curly-haired waitress wearing a light green uniform gave Alan a look of pity.

"!?" Alan noticed her look and instinctively tried to say something to ease the girl's worry. But after glancing at her face, he stop and scoffed.

Slightly worried, she took a step back behind Linda. Linda picked up on the situation and lectured Alan.

"Alan, what the hell was that?" Linda then lowered her voice and walked over to Alan. "You've gotta drop this act of yours. Just because people aren't originally a part of this city does not mean that they are trying to exploit the opportunity caused by the quake."

"Sorry." Alan then faced the girl in question. "Sorry, Evangela."

"Huh?" Marshal looked at the brown-haired girl with surprise. "Whoah, it really is you, Eva. That's a twist. Maybe I should come here more often."

"Anyway," Linda clapped her hands to grab everyone's attention. "Eva, we'll start your training on these two fine young men here." Upon hearing Linda's words, Evangela psyched herself up and walked the two to their table. After taking their orders, she went to the back to hand the orders to the cook. But before she got there, she turned around and stared right at Alan and muttered to herself. "Why is he here?" After the waitress left, Marshal continued Linda's lecture to Alan on his attitude towards women.

"You know, Alan, there are some things that you should keep to yourself." Marshal said, visibly disappointed in Alan's behavior towards Eva.

"Look, I'm aware of that. It just annoys me that the rich snob is working an honest job while already swimming in money." Alan said in an aggressive tone.

"Maybe she has some daddy issues or something." Marshal tried to calm Alan, but seeing that his look hadn't changed, he got serious. "Look, man, I get why you hate outsiders so much. They will never understand the pain we have gone through, but that doesn't mean that you need to actively chase them away. Not all of them are the damn rich upper-class that only care about making a profit. Some people, like Evangela, have a kind heart. Even if she is stuck up sometimes."

Shortly after Marshal said that, Eva came back with the two's orders.

"Here is your meal. Please enjoy." She said with an obviously fake smile.

Alan noticed the fake smile and looked away, trying to hide his annoyance. Although he knew he deserved that fake smile because of how he treated her, he didn't want this to cause how her career unfolded at the cafe. So he stood up with his eyes brimming with confidence, staring right at Linda, who was at another table monitoring Eva's actions.

"May I?" Alan asked Linda, who was currently taking notes.

"Go ahead, just be nice, k'." Linda replied.

Alan cleared his throat and looked at Eva's face. This gesture made Eva feel uncomfortable, but she knew Alan had some strong influence over this place, so she decided to just bear with it.

"Look, I understand we hate each other and I only made things worse. But despite that, if you want to make money in this place you are gonna have to steel your emotions. Customers here are demanding and will try to get under your skin, but most of them only do it to test the employee. If you can get over that hurled and serve them with a genuine smile, then you can get so hefty tips. Well, not like you need them, anyway." Upon hearing this, the waitress's face stiffened, and Alan noticed an extreme glare coming from Marshal. When he turned to look at him, Alan saw a blood-thirsty look in his eyes and apologized.

"Err...sorry for that last part."

Eva stood there in surprise. Then, after reflecting on what he said, she looked into his eyes and said, "I will keep that in mind. Thank you." Afterward, she took the tray that was used to carry the food and left the table.

"Dude, you need to learn to treat girls with respect." Marshal said while sipping his tea, "Even if you have to lie to them every once in a while."

Alan ignored him and looked out the window and looked back on the words Chronos had once said to him: 'The sin of sloth flows through your veins.' Alan then turned back at Marshal, "Hey, what does it mean to be slothful?" He asked.Marshal took a second to think, then gave his best answer. "I believed it to mean that to have the ability to make a difference, but then not take any action towards an event that you can change."Alan paused for a moment and then asked a follow-up question.

"Do you think I'm slothful?"

Marshal was confused by the question, then looked at Alan. He had a desolate look in his eyes that screamed that he had given up on something. Marshal took a heavy breath and spoke, "I personally don't believe you to be slothful, but sometimes I believe that you could have made a difference to help end conflicts more constructively. But don't sweat it. You are you, you're one person. You can't handle everything by yourself."

"I guess you are right," Alan said while putting on a fraudulent smile, the same one he just told Evangela not to do.

After their little talk, the two finished their breakfast and head off to school. Moments later, after the two men left the cafe, Linda turned to Evangela and congratulated her."Well done Evangela, you did pretty well," Linda cheerfully said, "But it looks to be Alan might make your dream slightly harder, huh? You said that you wanted to change your ways, but it looks to me that he really dislikes you."

"Yeah..." Evangela sighed.

"..." Linda looked around, trying to find a way to break the silence, "But don't worry so much, once you get to know him he's really nice. Just try to bear with his brutally honest nature though." She chuckled. "Anyway, get dressed and head off. Your next shift isn't till five."

After a long gruesome day of school, work was completed, Alan stretched his arms out and then collapsed onto his desk. Alan was a senior in high school and it was the final three months they had left. Usually, around this time, other students would head towards the library to study, but Alan had other plans after high school that didn't involve going to college.

Heh heh, imagine having to prepare to go to college. He thought to himself. After resting for a bit, he opened his eyes to a surprise that he had never thought he'd anticipated.

"Heh, looks like daddies' girl isn't with her friends today, how odd," he said out loud unintentionally. To the left of Alan sat a beautiful girl with long, brown hair wearing a tight, expensive-looking, blue and black outfit that shows her figure pretty well. "It's too bad, if she wasn't such an arrogant, bratty girl, she would be pretty cute," he said, still talking aloud.

Upon hearing this, the girl frowned to the point that she looked like she was gonna cry.

*SMACK*

"!?" the girl looked up, confused.

"It's too bad that you're a complete asshole to women, and fucking dense as well," Marshal said while shaking off his fist.

"Owww," Alan groaned, "that hurt...wait, how did you figure out what I was thinking?"

"You spoke out loud."

Alan reflected on his actions and after a few minutes, he walked toward the girl. "Look, Evangela, I'm sorry for what I said. It was uncalled for."

Evangela tried to open her mouth but held her tongue. She knew if she said something just now, it would only further the rift between them. Looking at the two, Marshal thought of a way of breaking the ice, so his new goal was to force Alan to get along with Evangela.

"So Evangela, how's the new job?" He said to help start up a conversion.

"Heh, what type of ri-" Before Alan could finish, he took another fist to the face and fell face-first into the floor.

"And what type of man openly insults a maidan like that," Marshal said, looking down at Alan like a cougar looking at its prey.

"Umm… you didn't have to do that for me," Evangela said in a polite tone.

Alan got back up and looked Marshal in the eyes as he was preparing to dodge the next punch that he would be receiving. "Look, I don't know what your circumstances are for this, but it's unnatural. Just talk to us like your normal arrogant side, please."

As Alan finished his insult towards Evangela, Marshal threw another punch at him but missed.

"Tsk," he muttered.

Evangela walked over to Alan and crouched beside his head. Alan looked with an annoyed expression. With a sadist look on her face, Evangela spoke. "Why do you try too hard to belittle me? Maybe you just get turned on by it?" Evangela's sadist tone caused Marshal to sigh. His attempt to tense the mood was for nothing as the two returned to their regular habits.

Evangela and Alan have never seen eye to eye, as Alan despised her for pretty much existing. Meanwhile, Evangela would only add to the bickering with her self-centered personality. The two were completely opposite people, Evangela was the daughter of a rich man who influenced the city while Alan was an orphan who had to work to survive in such a high-standard city, such as New Providence. But that wasn't the only problem he had with her; the two main issues as to why he hated her are her spoiled personality and her place of origin. Alan had natural hate towards those who moved into New Providence after it was rebuilt. He hated that they were unable to feel the pain and suffering that the others who lived felt. He believed that they only moved into the newly built city to make a profit and to leech off those who died.

However, Alan knew that her choice in being here was not entirely her own. As Evangela couched over him, he noticed faint tears trickling down her cheeks. She was putting on a front to mask the pain that Alan has constantly put on her. Alan stood up and adverted his eyes. He realized he was going too far. With a sorrowful look on his face, he scratched his cheek and apologized. Evangela was taken aback and blushed a little. Marshal watched over the two and smiled. He leaned over the desk and watched Alan.

'What the hell... this isn't what happened last time…' Alan thought to himself, 'then again last time I didn't talk to her till 4:30.' Still embarrassed, he walked over to his desk and grabbed his things. In the previous loop, Alan left the class right after school but then ran into her in the hallway at around 4:30. Alan looked at his watch and noticed the time. He kept a stern face in order to keep the others from guessing what was on his mind, as he realized he was running out of time till the incident happened. 'Four o'clock, huh? I only have a few hours left,' he thought to himself.

"H-Hey!" Alan turned to Evangela. Her face was a slight shade of red and she twisted the ends of her hair with her fingers. She looked Alan in the eyes. "Could you walk me to work?" Her voice was soft and charming, a combination that Alan was not used to.

"After all that I put you through, you still wanna be around me?" Alan said with a confused look. "I don't understand you." Alan shrugged his shoulders. Evangela pressed on. After seeing her determination to force him to do it, Alan gave in. She then gave a small smile and walked over to her desk and packed her things.

"Idiot." Marshal said faintly under his breath. He walked to Alan. "Use this as an opportunity to get to know her." Alan corked his head. With a disturbed look on his face, Alan tried to punch Marshal. Marshal jumped to the side with his things in hand and walked out of the classroom.

Alan and Evangela then made their way towards the Navicafe. The walk there was awkwardly quiet. Evangela softly hummed herself with a charming melody that reminded Alan of some kind of medieval song that a teacher of his was fascinated with. As they walked, Alan looked at his watch. The time read 4:25. He looked around with a paranoid expression. There were hundreds of people around them. He took a deep breath and relaxed. Before more horrid thoughts came to mind. In the last cycle, she was killed in the middle of a large group as well. Alan looked around once more and noticed something extremely unnerving. After taking a few more steps, he stopped walking, grabbing Evangela's hand.

"What is it?" She asked. His approach flustered her, and she tried to distract herself from weird thoughts. "If you wanted to hold my hand that badly, you could have just asked. I would have been nice enough to say yes."

"Something's not right here," he said, looking at the surrounding people, completely ignoring her statement. Evangela pouted a little and looked around at the people on the street. There was an odd distance between passersby and them. It was as if everyone deliberately was walking around them in a large circle as if they had some kind of disease. Off in the distance, Alan noticed a strange man breaking that abnormally, heading straight towards them. He wore a red suit with a bright red gambler's hat. He tilted his hat downwards and stood before the two.

"How odd. The nanomasses didn't work on you. That's strange." His voice was relaxed. He looked at Alan with a twisted smile.

Alan ran in front of Evangela and shouted at the man. "WHO ARE YOU!?"

A red-colored mist appeared behind him. "What's more strange is that you can see me. Only the girl should. Oh well, I only have to kill her anyway," he said while pulling out a knife from a red-colored mist. "But do be a good boy and stand down brat. I'll be done in a moment."

Frozen in fear, Evangela stood behind Alan.

"?!" Alan looked at the blade.

"Hmm? Oh, this?" the man asked. "Well, you see, I am part of the Ouroboros Execution branch. And I'm only here to kill that girl and nothing else. Oh, but if you were wondering where it came from, then it came from the nearby nanomasses."

"Nanomasses?" Alan repeated.

"Oh, you don't know? They were released as an after-effect of the earthquake caused by this country's government. Oh wait, they don't teach you that."

As the man in red said that, he pulled another knife from the red mist and flashed the emblem featured on the blade.

The emblem on his knife differed from the one Alan's father had. This one had two snakes revolving around a knife instead of a skull. As the man walked forward, Alan ran up and threw a punch, but the man sidestepped too fast for Alan to notice, leaving a trail of fire. As Alan turned around to look back at the man, an unpleasant sight greeted him. A decapitated girl's head was laying in front of a half-naked, headless girl. Her body fell to the ground before the man.

"Hmm… too bad I had to kill her," the man said bitterly. "She had quite the nice pair of breasts. Oh well, looks like my work here is done."

The man took out a camera and snapped a photo of the girl's body before placing her shirt on top of her. As the man walked off, Alan stood there motionless, before the corpse of Evangela. Just before the man walked into the crowd of people, he looked back at Alan.

"Hey, collector's son, the name's Apollo. I'm sure we'll meet soon. After all, what man sits there idly and watches a girl get killed and defiled? Also, you are gifted. After all, you are in possession of a relic that allows for the control of the nearby nanomasses. Though you should be careful, your father will hunt you down." After these departing words, he faded into the crowd, waving his hand goodbye.

'No...way...that's what I'm up against? He's not even human…' Alan thought in disbelief. 'He's too fast, not just that, he can also control these so-called nanomasses.'

"AHHHHHH!!!" A passerby screamed.

Snapping out of his thoughts, Alan bolted out of the crime scene while escaping the brave passersby attempting to apprehend him.