"Hm hmm hmm hm hm hm..."
The sound of someone's humming filled the room as said someone weighed the bag.
Opening the bag straps, Ester sat down atop a box filled with ammunition, eyes staring straight into the man's face, daring, hoping even, that he would turn to stare back into his eyes.
But whether he didn't notice or he didn't care, the Broker continued to slowly weigh the talons against an antique scale, its broken glass revealing the hand pointing at barely legible values.
With a rare look of peace on his face hard found on this planet, he stared at the sinking weights and bobbed his head side to side.
Throat vibrating with a tune, the sound of his hums echoed out within the storage room, adding to the tune with a few well timed taps against the table.
Having finished weighing the bag, the Broker briefly placed his hand against the bag and felt its insides, noting that the bag tore a bit around the seams.
Placing it back onto the table where Ester had first placed it, the man continued to hum, now adding the beat of his fingers drumming against the table in a rhythmic fashion
Eventually, Ester couldn't bear the constant hums as he glared into the eyes of the Broker.
"Why?"
A word so simple but could contain a thousand and one meanings, a question that wasn't a question more so was it a demand, a statement spoken with an underlying current of emotions only able to be verbalised with a single word.
"Why?"
The Broker, hearing the implicit meaning underneath his flat tone abruptly ended his humming
"..." He never stopped drumming his fingers against the table. "Have you ever wondered what song I hummed?"
"...No?"
"I didn't think so." Continuing to drum his fingers against the table, the Broker asked a question. "So how have you been? My sources say that you've went completely Uncitied, besides coming to the city every now and then to sell, you've went completely off the grid."
"Don't change the subject." Growling, Ester glared at the Broker who in turn just shrugged non commitally.
"Amuse me."
*Tap tap tap tap
*Tap tap tap tap
*Tap tap tap tap
*Tap tap tap tap tap tap tap tap tap tap tap tap tap tap tap tap
taptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptap
"Fine!" Feeling agitated for some reason, Ester irritatedly clenched his hand around his left arm, his fingers finding purchase on the steel frame.
"And stop that damned drumming!"
"Fine."
Stopping his dinger drumming, the Broker brought both of his hands together and leaned back into his chair, revealing the muscular physique hiding underneath the tight cloth.
Seeing that the man hadn't neglected his training in the slightest, Ester felt his heart calm slightly as he focused his gaze into the man's heartlessly dead grey eyes.
In a world where the color of the eyes represented their inner self, it was unnerving that his eyes were completely devoid of color.
Feeling his settled heart become turbulent once again, Ester was forced to amuse the man's whims and answer his question.
"...After the failed plan due to the betrayal of those bitches, we went to uncity ourselves."
"That doesn't answer the question does it?"
"..."
"..." A small smirk covered the man's face as his dead fish eyes stared straight ahead, as if not seeing the man sitting in front of him.
Eventually, faced with those eyes he thought he had gotten used to, he averted his gaze and clenched his fists against his metal arm. "...We are still fine."
"We? Who is We?"
Hearing the emphasis put onto the word, Ester, who knew the man since his childhood, could tell for a fact that he wouldn't let go of this small statement and already regretted coming here dearly.
"...Yes, we, me and Eva... and Astra."
"Ahaaaa...." Chuckling, the Broker's face split into a smile that only served to heighten the unsettling aura about him.
Eyes narrow, they couldn't hide how dead those pair of eyes were. "To think you're living the life after the failure, are you guys using protection?"
"What?" Feeling as if he had misheard, the man repeated his words much to the dumbfounded gaze of Ester.
"Are you using protection?"
"..."
Staring at the broker wide eyed, he continued as if oblivious to the confusion radiating from him.
"I'll take that as a no."
Bending down to retrieve something under the desk, the sound of something being shifted reached his ears.
The thought that he could just rush over and stab his carving knife into the man's back briefly flashed through Ester's mind before the Broker got back up again.
"If we go by the standard market price, this weight of Klatul Talons is roughly 473g of Aether Dust."
Retrieving a scoop from someplace, he transported the equivalent into another bag and swiftly tied up its top, handing the bag to Ester.
Blankly taking the bag, he was forced to stop when a relatively intact box of rubbers found its way into his hand.
"...What?"
"Don't give me that dumb look, this is just a freebie for a child." Smiling a smile that couldn't really be called a smile, Ester was left questioning his intentions
"What do you mean?"
Tilting his head, the Broker declined to answer forcing Ester to ignore the question burning at the back of his mind as he focused on the question that had led them to this encounter in the first place.
"...Why?"
Sensing that the question had returned back to where it had begun, the entire situation had come full circle.
But this time, instead of letting the Broker take control of the flow of the conversation, he methodically flipped the pad on his left fist and unsheathed a silver colored blade protruding from his arm.
Shining underneath the dim light of the lightbulb, in an instant, the amicable atmosphere was as if it had been plunged into ice.
The flickering fluorescent light cast a haunted glow against the wall, painting the picture of various others screaming.
The air became as thick as melted cheese as every movement wasn't without effort.
But completely unfazed by how things suddenly got a whole lot creepier, he pointed his blade wielding hand at the man.
"Answer me"
"..."
"I said Answer me!" One step forward
"..."
"Answer me!" Another step forward
"..."
"ANSWER ME GODDAMNIT!" Another step forward
"..."
By now it was clear as Ester took another step forward
Even if he took another step forwards
And another
And another
And another
He wouldn't answer
Even when the tip of the blade was pressed against his neck, drawing a light dot of blood.
'Red, just the same like everyone I killed.'
Eyes flickering with emotion as he finally found out the man was as mortal as everyone else, Ester pressed the blade against his neck.
"Dad, don't make me do this."
A flicker of emotion in those dead eyes.
"Please." Eyes carrying various unshed emotions, Ester stared at the Broker.
Not as the Twilight of many.
Not as a one armed vagrant.
Not as the genius Weaver.
Just as Ester the sixteen year old.
And sitting in front of him was a man who was once his father.
Sadly, that man died alongside the light in his eyes.
"...I'm sorry."
Closing his eyes, Ester let out a hollow laugh.
"Even now you don't use my name, is it really that cursed to you?" Reopening his eyes Ester took a step back and turned around
Sheathing his blade into his arm, without even turning around, he walked away.
"Well goodbye then... Broker."
An unknown emotion flashed across the Broker's face, sadly enough, without the strength to express that unknown emotion in words, Ester was fated to never turn his back.
If he did turn his back however, he would've seen the brief flash of emotion flying across his face and the story would've been way different
But fate here is a concept that couldn't be broken.
So in the end, Ester's fate came to fruition and he left the store front without ever turning back, his hands only preoccupied with tightly holding the back of Aether dust and the box of rubbers.
Walking out of the chop shop filled to the brim with discarded military equipment, Ester's eyes were filled with conflict as he stared at the items in his hand
The bag of Aether dust obviously was going to join the rest of the stash, the box of rubbers though?
"..." Hesitating for a moment, Ester pocketed the box.
Rubber was a rare commodity in these parts, especially so if it was already processed rubber making it an even more valuable rarity.
Leaving for another part of the city, a field of ash unfolded within the boys gaze
---
Rubbing his neck, the Broker felt the cut heal up swiftly, the only signs of his injury being the blood smeared against both his hands and neck.
"You upheld part of your agreement."
"..."
The Broker silently listened to the voice that suddenly appeared out of nowhere.
"Oh wait, I'm sorry." Cheerfully giggling to themselves, the space in front of the man warped and twisted revealing a skin tight black suit that covered the figure head to toe.
Making it so that any identifying features couldn't be seen in the slightest, the only thing that could be gleaned from the bodily figure was that they were female.
But the Broker knew from past experience that this was nothing more than a high leveled deception.
"Hmm?" She tilted her head. "Not talking?"
"Ah! They clapped their hands. "Is it because I don't look like that guy from last time? Excuse me a moment.
Falling silent, the Broker closed his eyes as horrific sounds only found during a hunt rnag out from before him in gruesomely distinct detail.
Bones crunched as muscle fibres snapped and reformed.
The sound of liquids tumbling around nearly made the Broker sick as his dead eyes stayed close, enhancing the detail received from all of his other senses.
Strangely enough, despite sounding as if a human being was being chewed up and torn to shreds by a rampant and hungry monster beast, there was no scent.
"Tada... I'm done."
The sound of a man.
Reopening his dead eyes, the Broker scanned the man.
Still clad in the skin tight suit, their figure was now a short stocky man and well built man.
Built like a small boulder, the Broker assessed the figure who let out a chuckle
"Hehehe, how is this? Is it better?"
Answering with silence, the man seemingly smiled while clapping his hands.
"To think you upheld your part of the agreement, even when you wavered, you didn't break your contract."
He giggled
"To think that the Broker wouldn't break his ideals even for a child he's adopted and raised for eleven years."
"...Shut it."
"Oh? Did I touch a nerve?" Giggling to themselves, four tentacles suddenly sprouted from the holes on the back of their suit and placed themselves against his throat.
Bone tipped, the tentacles hung in the air as a dry voice filled with sarcasm positively dripped out of the man's mouth like honey.
"I didn't know that the Broker threaten a client."
He brought his face to the man's face and whispered into his ears. "Isn't that right fallen Heir of the Echo Clan?"
He turned to face the Broker, allowing him to witness his own expression being reflected against his glass like visor.
"Or is it that the pride of the Echo clan can be sold so easily nowadays?"
It wasn't a pretty look as the gaze of someone afraid of the being in front of them reflected itself into his vision.
"Tell me Heir of the Glorious and Noble Echo clan."
The thing was, this wasn't even the worst of it.
"Answer me-"
Because reflected in the glass visor...
"-Harris Echo"
Was the eyes of someone who killed his own brother
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