Iolani Tori was always thinking; every age of his was less than a number. While the boys in his village were climbing trees and playing soccer by the fields, he was staring at a burnt spot on the floorboard to the left of his bed—floating through his sea of thoughts that were at still and at peace, wondering if there was any purpose of his breathing and what would happen if he should stop since Ma had always told him that air was necessary for a human being to live but what exactly was living?

Snap, and he'd flow upwards. Against the current of his river, back up and return to a reality he wasn't so sure of. He had been looking at the burnt spot. Again.

Death was at the forefront of his mind at present time.

Moments ago, he had been reading through his textbook when a monstrously huge ant, black and shiny, fast on its legs, traveled across the elevated pages of his book as though it was a mountain to climb, an obstacle to be overcome along the way to its destination. Startled, the boy had released his grip on the edges of his book and a gust of wind blew on the pages as it flipped, increasing its momentum before closing the text entirely.

"Oh."

It was dead by the time Io re-opened his textbook. All that remained was a smudge of what appeared to him like brown ink, barely noticeable beside the word 'moment' and not too far away, a leg. Or was it a speck of eraser dust?

Io hadn't dared to disturb the scene of crime but was oddly fascinated by its very set up. The fact that the ant had been so stunningly huge paled in contrast to the tiny splatter of brown blood on page sixty-four of his hard-backed textbook.

Dead?

Already?

So fast. So fleeting.

It was fragile. That much, he knew but what more could he have known from that? What more could a six-year-old deduce from their first encounter with death, so mild and indirect?

For Io, everything.

The ant was dead. Right, it was taken away. Death had taken it away. What more does Death take? The pork from lats night came from a pig. The ham from this morning came from a pig. The pig died. We ate it. Pigs can die. Cows can die too, then. What else can die? In the first place, how did they die? Knife. Knives will cut...then, blood. I have blood too. There was one time I pricked myself on that cactus by Ma's window. There was blood. If knives cut me, there will be blood. If there is blood...then that means—

I can die.

Speaking of which, no one ever told me 'I'm going to die'. Will Ma ever say that to me?

'You're going to die, Io.'

One day, I will, right?

When?

Now?

I can die. I will die. I'm going to. One day, I will die.

I wonder if anyone else knows that they are going to die. If they do, I wonder who told them? They all seem to act as if they don't know that they will die. Do they know? Do they know it like I do?

He was staring at the same burnt spot on the floorboard to the left of his bed. Iolani Tori was always thinking and every age of his was less than a number. After six years of living, he understood—to an extent so severe—that there was a possibility of him dying the very next day even though he was in the pink of health.

Everyone was just like the ant.

The way in which Io lived in his mind was unlike any other human being. He knew very well that he did; that it was his mind and his perspective that he viewed the world in and that it wasn't just him but everyone else lived in their minds because their minds were the world.

A childhood with nothing else but his mind made for one that existed within the walls of his room that left little to no space for anything more than his Ma and Pa. He knew no one else.

He found the stories to be strangely attractive—characters who had a history of being bullied and shunned for being different, lonely for a reason when he had none. Little did he know that the lack of reason would come to be his very downfall for the rest of his life.

That there was no reason to his loneliness made for the absence of a solution to it. He would never become any less lonely than he already was.

Never.

The only person who could hold his hand 

was Iolani Tori himself.

______________________

Vaughn was mildly taken aback by the extent of influence Io had over his classmates despite the relatively short period of time he had spent with them so far—although it certainly did not show on his face. After all, the last thing he wished for was to be observable. Readable. An open book. Whatever it was.

"It appears that this sparrow of yours is extensively sociable," the vulture prompted with a wry smile directed at Luka Sullivan. They were the only ones lagging behind the massive group, watching Iolani Tori from behind as he answered the burning questions of those around him. "How unfortunate is must be for you, the sorry other on the losing end. Having your only friend lose interest in your boring self, leaving you for the entertainment of useful acquaintances—"

Luka snorted, glancing sideways at the one who voiced his woes.

"If you're trying to make me angry or upset, you don't have to," the eagle clarified, lips thin. "I already am."

Vaughn was terribly pleased. "Wonderful! Well then, have you come to regret being friends with that sparrow? Do you now wish that he cease to exist? Do you feel hatred bubbling in the core of your—"

"I might be upset, but I'm not you, vulture." Luka did not hesitate in his answer, and the newfound spark in his eyes served well to remind the vulture of a reply worthy of that stupid-sparrow's standards.

The latter was quick to hide a frown that threatened to surface, masking it with a surly smile. "Ah, what a pity it is that you think so. Unfortunately for you, Sullivan, every withered human on this island has the capacity within to experience the immense boil of hatred and regret. We cannot help but succumb to darkness and its comfort, be consumed by—"

"You...like to talk," observed Luka with a fair look of surprise. Having never seen a single expression on the eagle's features ever before, Vaughn could not help but pause and consider his miserable existence before finally registering that low-key shade had been thrown in his direction by someone he'd least expect it from.

However bitter he was about the off-handed remark, Vaughn had no choice but to (internally) admit that it was true. He did like to talk. In fact, he had been elaborately talkative in his younger days, having no one else to speak to but his mother. Jae-min as well, was always at school. The lack of friends and social interaction had resulted in a suppressed fondness for conversation or any form companionship.

"And," Vaughn was, one again, taken aback by the fact that Luka had more to say. He followed the latter's gaze to Io, amongst the others as they made their way to the predator's common room to hang out before dinner. Dmitri's idea. "Io will never abandon me."

What sheer confidence one must have to pronounce a claim as bold, or so Vaughn had thought. The embers in the eagle's eyes were honest and not a single doubt clouded his vision, so clear—and for a brief moment there, the vulture found himself quietly envious of those who were able to place every bit of trust in a friend.

"And what makes you so sure of that?" He scoffed, sounding, even to himself, less confident than before. In Luka, he saw his young, foolish self. A heart defenseless against one, sole existence. "Do you even understand how incredibly naive you sound?"

The eagle did not answer his question and could only hope that Vaughn would somehow eventually run out of insults to say.

He considered several responses, and after a good moment of silence decided on one.

"You keep going on about hating others," Luka began as they arrived at the main lobby of the east wing after descending the stairs. "But Io once told me that if he had to identify someone who could never hate another, he'd bet his life on you."

For once, Vaughn could not come up with a witty response. The very sentence sparked something within the vulture: months ago, he would have laughed wryly and rejoiced at the sheer number of fools that surrounded him but now, now that he'd seen something so familiar destroyed before his eyes but rebuilt again so quickly—Vaughn was no longer so sure of the him that existed before.

But how could it be? It was obvious that he hated every single living being on the island; how was it that the sparrow thought otherwise?

Was he that much of a fool? Perhaps one of the best he'd ever come across, really. That stupid sparrow was.

His thoughts halted there and were harshly stuffed back into a corner of his cage when the entire group came to a stop by the entrance.

They were staring at something by the door, and upon closer inspection, Vaughn realized that the notice board in the main building was filled with a list of what seemed like...names.

"What's this?" Shri narrowed her eyes at a poster pinned to the top left.

______________________________

<ANNOUNCEMENT>

As of 27th April, the following rule will commence

[ALL PREY OF FLIGHT SCHOOL ARE REQUIRED TO HAVE A PREDATOR REGARDLESS OF STATUS & AVIAN]

Violation of or failure to obey the lawful order/regulation will be subjected to a case by case basis of confinement and shall be punished as the court discipline may direct. Please be advised that dereliction in the performance of his or her duties as Winged in maintaining the social order of the Pyramid is strictly forbidden and highly discouraged.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Don't have a predator?

ALL PREY UNOWNED ARE, BY SYSTEM, OBLIGATED TO ATTEND THE SEASON GAMES ON 1st APRIL

Please refer to the following list of unowned prey by alphabetical order:

______________________

"You're kidding."

Dmitri was frowning hard—an expression fairly unseen on the face of a human so free of doubt and care. Io (being one of the shortest aside from Meryl) was at the forefront of the rest, staring at the notice board with a narrowed gaze and tilted head.

"Your name," Odette pointed out almost at once, listed amongst the hundreds of others according to alphabetical order. "It's right here. Iolani Tori."

She was right; and although Io was reluctant to direct his immediate gaze towards the name he was so naturally familiar with, he knew that it was not something that would disappear upon a wish of his own.

"Most of them are either sparrows or mynas. Pigeons and doves," Meryl observed, knowing that it shouldn't be much of a surprise to her but feeling the emotion nonetheless. "I guess they really are unpopular in the market."

"That's not a very nice way to put it," Jeremiah commented vaguely, turning to Io who he assumed was fairly insulted by the raw use of predator terms but instead came across an anxious gaze—fixed on the rest of the names.

Pipa Felice

Right there under the 'P's after 'Pam Lee Eun' and before 'Piper West'. She couldn't possibly be. There was simply no way—no way for a girl so traumatized by her previous experience, movement restricted by her disability, bound by a wheelchair to repeat it all.

"What are they planning?"

"Chaos, for sure," Lucienne clicked her tongue and cursed quietly. "The new council...we have to think of something."

"It's supposedly months until the next season games and they're forcing one now?" Dmitri looked towards Io, searching his face for a telling sign of a break in his composure.

The latter shook his head. "There's a catch, I think. With so many prey—hundreds of them, surely it's got to mean something. Who needs a hundred prey? Are there even enough predators for that number? Even under Miss V, no one's ever been forced to have a predator. Doesn't that defeat the purpose of having one at all? Unless the purpose has been changed..."

Io fought the desire to question Vaughn, knowing that the vulture particularly disliked being interrogated and torn apart in front of others and understanding that he too, had his right to privacy. Perhaps there were some things that he was not allowed to say.

"For now, let's be on a look out for similar announcements," Jeremiah concluded as they began to leave the main building and the notice far behind. "We still don't know if the hearts are supposed to...no."

It was, in that critical whisper of a word—the slipping of a phrase so familiar past the lips of one who, all of a sudden, had found it so foreign—that halted the flock in their tracks and made each and every one of them see beyond what had been clouded.

"Fuck." "Well, that sums it up."

Luka could feel the unease skittering about in his cage, clawing at its bars and producing the most discomforting sound.

"That's why we're no longer the hearts," Abigail pieced it together for the rest who'd already figured it out in their minds but had not the will to voice its reality. "They are going to take our places in the games."

____________________

Somewhere along the way back to the predator's dormitories, Vaughn had disappeared. Luka only realized when Io specifically pointed it out to him after some time, even though the former was supposedly walking alongside the vulture.

"So much for having those eagle eyes, huh." Io had said with a fairly teasing lilt and while it sounded characteristically playful of a sparrow, Luka found it mildly attractive (in a very interesting way, that is).

The eagle had laughed, a low, affectionate sound that was strangely intimate and pleasing to the ear all the same. Everyone in the vicinity had paused to stare. "I guess."

Dmitri had turned to Lucienne with an expression nothing short of awe, lowering his voice to a whisper. "You heard that?" The moment of surprise lasted long until most of them came to the conclusion that Io had the eagle completely wrapped around his finger. Either that, or both of them had a hopelessly close relationship that resembled nothing they'd ever seen between predator and prey.

It certainly didn't seem like they were just 'friends'; but 'lovers' wasn't entirely accurate either, or so they had come to understand.

The vulture who had disappeared would have a clear perspective. After all, he'd encountered the pair far too often for his liking and was, as a result, able to decipher the uniqueness of their relationship. Although the respective two remained quite in the dark.

He dropped in altitude and banked right, passing the west tower to arrive at the staff quarters. Vaughn shifted according to the landing, having his fair share as a lone flier—uncharacteristic of vultures who often took to the skies in numbers.

"Oh! Vaughn," he crossed paths with Callaghan, who appeared to be on his way to his mother's office as well. "You, um, you're going this way as well?"

Vaughn nodded simply, walking alongside the professor who seemed fairly intimidated by his presence. The vulture found it slightly strange to be viewed in such a manner by his mother's (well, he was aware) sleeping partner.

"Have you, perhaps, spoken to Miss V as of recent? I—well, was looking forward to speaking with you but I supposed it was a sensitive topic and so I didn't. On Wednesday night, I mean." Ah, yes. The night that Iolani Tori had shamelessly dragged him along to the 'club meeting'.

"I haven't," Vaughn responded honestly. There was no reason to lie. "And I wasn't aware that you wanted to speak to me about anything."

He had thought it was something along the lines of small talk, since Callaghan wasn't exactly the best conversationist that a certain stupid sparrow was.

"Well, um. I wanted to tell you that I no longer serve Miss V," the widowbird began very slowly, avoiding his gaze. "Under the instructions of the new headmaster. I...I'm sure you know what I mean? From what I told you that night..."

"Kirill wants you as his prey, again?" The vulture was unexpectedly blunt in phrasing a reply, and Callaghan had to glance at his face to ensure that he wasn't particularly angered by the topic. "Does this mean that my mother lost both you and her position all at once?"

"Calm down Vaughn, that is not the case," the professor reassured. "I am still your mother's prey—just, the headmaster's secretary. Meaning, I somehow managed to retain my position in the council. I...I am afraid that Quint—Professor Faustes, I mean, would be affected as well due to...ah...circumstances."

It didn't take a genius to understand the sort of circumstances that Callaghan was referring to.

"Rivalry over prey?"

"I suppose, yes." The widowbird shook his head sadly. "And it is, of course, all my fault. I'm sorry, Vaughn."

The vulture raised a brow, having assessed the situation and considered its future implications. "Save your apology for someone who cares. I don't need it."

Callaghan was slightly taken aback by his response that suggested a dismissal of his apologetic feelings as unnecessary and irrelevant. It was strangely thoughtful of the student (although the streak of bitterness couldn't quite resist the temptation of surfacing).

"I understand. Shall I show you to Miss V's new office? I was on my way to the headmaster's, actually."

Ah. So they hadn't been heading towards the same destination after all.

*

It was strange how they could spend an hour talking in the predator's common room like childhood friends that hadn't met for a very long time. While none of the hearts had ever spoken on such lively terms, Io's presence changed almost everything.

Taking the time to listen to each and every one of their opinions; coming to a concrete understanding of them and arriving at a certain consensus around the general matter—these were all led by the moon phoenix as dinner approached fast.

Despite, however, the stark difference in the overall mood of the predator's common room, Slayne noticed that none of the hearts were (in the strictest sense of the term) changed in any manner. They were surprisingly...well, normal.

Closing his eyes, he could tell them apart from the words they said and the tone in their voices.

Perhaps it was true then, that Io had the strange ability to reveal a side of others that even they themselves had never before seen—the casting of his lunar light to unveil what was hidden among the shadows. That's what the moon does, he supposed.

Either way, their conversation lasted all the way until the end of dinner, where each went separate ways to their dormitories and respective...night-time activities. What exactly the author meant by that however, no one would ever know. :>

"I brought an inflatable bed," said Io as he held up a fairly large brown package that was tucked under his arm. "Jing—Jane, I mean. Shehelped me get it! Asked if I was able to collect half the credits that predators get every month since I'm sorta...well, sorta acknowledged by the council as a predator now. Professor Faustes agreed, so." 

Night activities, apparently, included a certain eagle and his companion seeking refuge in a humble treehouse of theirs. They were at present, taking their time to reach their destination.

"You're staying the night?" Was Luka's first thought as they made their way through the darkness, guided by the light of Luna hovering slightly above the treetops.

"You don't want me to?" Io teased with a laugh, and the eagle was far too pleased to respond accordingly. After all, it had been a very long time since he had his friend all to himself. "We're supposed to share this by the way. A queen-size was a little too big for the size of our tree house, so I ordered the double...hope you don't mind."

The term 'our' was enough for Luka to put aside all insecurities and doubt that had been skittering about in his cage all day since the encounter in the hallway. The eagle had his concerns about Io remaining upset (and possibly mad) at him for the rest of the week but as fearfully fast as they had come, all doubt ceased to exist at a similar speed.

"I don't mind," came his characteristic response, to which Lyra left her Winged's shoulder to settle on his. Ah. For once, an elevated view.

They laughed, including Victoria and Luna from above. Luka glanced sideways, lowering his gaze to meet his friend's. "Io."

"Hm?"

"You are the first person I've ever felt the need to understand no matter what," he said all of a sudden, eyes reflecting a golden warmth in the dark. "But you are also the first person I know I can never understand."

Io did not say anything. There was a dull dread that filled his cage, fearing what he would have to hear next. Was Luka going to say the same?

Strange. Weird.

He braced himself.

"For that, I'm sorry."

"O-oh!" The moon phoenix was fairly startled by the sudden apology. "Oh, you don't need to b—"

"Because even if I will never understand you, I don't think I will ever leave your side."

Things had taken an unexpected turn, and Io had stopped in his tracks upon hearing the words of his companion carried by the whisper of the night; the rustling of the leaves around them, masked by the darkness and enhanced by its silence.

"What does that...?" What does that mean?

"I can't leave you," Luka repeated simply, as though it was the weather that they were talking about.

He looked up to see that the eagle had fixed his gaze on him as well. The moment was fleeting and eternal all at once; the force of an emotion so large and unknown that swept the pair off their feet and allowed the respective creatures in their cage to grow.

"I thought you were going to say that I was..." his blurred vision made it hard to decipher the emotion in Luka's eyes, reduced his voice to an inaudible whisper that he was certain could not be heard over the breathing of the night. "That we could never..."

He paused to wipe his eyes—filled to the brim—with the sleeve of his shirt.

The eagle was quiet.

It certainly didn't seem like they were just 'friends'.

But 'lovers' wasn't entirely accurate either, or so they had come to understand.

They were more like partners.

Two existences that had come to a mutual understanding of each other.

_____________________

A/N: It's getting increasingly hard to explain Io's loneliness, or his character in general because he's just so different from the characters I've written so far or even read about across all literature. 

Io doesn't learn from experience like so many other characters do. Pipa's betrayal, an experience, does not somehow equate to distancing himself from relationships to prevent himself from getting hurt. This is the complete opposite of Vaughn, who decides to keep away from anything close to social interaction that would eventually hurt him (or so he has learnt from his experience with Cameron). 

Io's knowledge is inherent; meaning, he can sit in a cave and gain knowledge just by doing that. He relies heavily on his mind, a true rationalist. Such characters are rarely seen because 

1. The book with that character as a protagonist will therefore have no plot since plot (or the character's first-hand experience) isn't even needed for character 'development'

2. It's insanely hard to write

Writing about a character whose knowledge is gained through rationalism would mean diving into his thoughts 100% of the time and having to bore one's readers of a single perspective. 

Without the characters around him, Io is ultimately the most boring character ever. This is mainly because no one can understand him; not even the readers who read about him and it really goes against every form of literature. 

What kind of book should make a reader more confused about the protagonist at the end than he or she was at the very beginning? I suppose it alludes to how we, as humans, get increasingly confused as we learn more about another person, or increasingly filled with too much information so that--beyond that simply surface that we've seen before--lies an ocean with complexities far beyond our understanding. 

On the other hand, I cannot disagree with the opinion that Io is a character is so very hard to understand. 

As to his loneliness, which I emphasize as eternal and resting on the basis of his very existence (beware, loneliness is different from being alone. Io has many friends), I cannot fully explain how it works unless we take the lines, sentences; paragraphs, books to learn about him. Even then, perhaps we will never come to understand him fully. After all, is one book--two, three?--even enough to understand one person at all? 

I am unsure. 

Thank you for reading as usual! :) 

-Cuppie.

P.S I'll be taking a break next week to edit some of the chapters from the first book! :D Might be rewriting the scene where Io and Luka first meet at the tree house. Or...adding some classroom scenes.