Mentions of angst and abusive relationships later in the chapter, so tread lightly.

~~~~~

Nobody enjoyed talking about what the Lightners did.

Darkners and Lightners had been living in the world above for centuries on end. Then they just...started terminating them. The black blood Darkners bled was everywhere, the dust some species became when they died stained the ground.

The only reason Seam hadn't died yet was because of his magic. It held him together, let him go longer without food and water, and it was immensely powerful. Strings and needles assaulted any danger to his wellbeing.

The Lightners shoved the Darkners into abandoned, worn-down cities and built barricades to keep them separated. Seam was far away from the place where Lightners lived, trudging along the streets of what looked to be what was once a child-filled neighborhood.

He picked out a house that looked less run-down than the rest and approached it. He hadn't seen many left. Ever since the Lightners killed most of them off, order was near-impossible to obtain. Seam's heard rumors of it existing...somewhere. But not around his parts. No. Only loners who just wanted to survive.

The house was unlocked. It had an oak tree in the front with a tire swing on it. Inside was the home of a child, or at least had been filled with children. Doodles and posters for circus acts were plastered on the walls. There was no food, and thus Seam's trip here was in vain. He could still explore for other things, though.

Seam slowly entered the backyard. It was basically a small, woodsy area. A treehouse was built against several trees, the way up to it being haphazardly-placed rope and 2x4s. Half of one side of the treehouse had collapsed, showing various chests and other containers. Even from here, Seam could see things he'd want for whatever reason.

Welp. Time to test his old cotton body.

Seam approached the first 'step' up and judged it for a moment before sheathing his claws and gripping the bark for support, beginning to slowly, very slowly, make his way up. Several times the rope threatened to give way.

After much too much effort just to get into a treehouse, Seam was on the wooden platform leading to the 'house' itself. It creaked threateningly under his light weight combined with the items in his backpack.

Something below half his size dropped onto the platform soundlessly in front of him, a couple feet away. It looked like an imp, having a J-shaped tail curled around a branch above it. It was clearly a Darkner, and looked quiet young, his horns only a few inches long poking out of his messy, curly hair. He looked up at the startled Seam. "Wh- who-" Seam didn't get to finish.

"Bye-bye!" the imp grinned, and he grabbed at the end of a rope beside him. He tugged on it sharply, and the boards gave way from under Seam with a creak and groan.

The imp suspended himself by his tail and the branch for a moment before dropping, landing on his feet and swiftly approaching the dazed cat. "Uee hee hee! You looked a little out, out of breath, old man!" he giggled happily, amused. "Was my trap, trap tiresome?"

"Hooligan." Seam muttered, and summoned a needle behind the creature. He didn't notice, so Seam summoned a few more.

The imp grinned lopsidedly. "Ua-HA! Just stay still, still, and I'll let you live, li-"

"O!" the imp let out a comical sound when the needles pricked him and dug into his back. He whipped around, and Seam sat up. The creature fell off of him with a yelp.

Seam stood, brushing the fool off of him. "If anything, that was just a bad prank. But I do applaud you at keeping hidden, child." he hummed. He looked too offended to defend himself properly, hoped up on adrenaline.

"Hey, hey-! I'm not a child, child!" the boy cried, his small hands in fists. Definitely at least not an adult, or at least an immature one. "I'm a god, god!"

Great, a narcissistic child.

Seam chose to ignore the latter. "Of course you are. Farewell." he muttered, starting to sidestep his way into the house to leave.

"No, no!" the imp shouted. Spade attacks appeared in a circle around him. Then diamonds. And clubs. Hearts. Seam froze. He didn't belong to any suits...?

"And I...can do ANYTHING!!" the child grinned, jumping up onto his tail and fired the attacks at once. Not at Seam directly, but surrounding him.

Seam panicked, which was extremely rare for him. He didn't know other non-suiters even existed! His strings appeared and lashed out, grabbing the imp and yanking him to the side and slamming him into the ground. In turn, his magic was misdirected and some attacks struck Seam before dusting.

Seam immediately tried focusing his magic on mending the broken fabric, strings and needles working to sew himself back together. Even so, some of the deep black blood Darkners bled wept from the wounds, bright orange magic leaking with it.

The boy froze, his eyes widening at seeing the injuries he called. "I-I-" he practically threw himself further away from Seam, blood dripping from his legs and arms from Seam's strings digging into them like barbed wire. He let out a broken sound, still trying to back away and escape.

Seam's strings snapped and broke away from the boy.  He whimpered. "I-I- I didn't, didn't- I didn't- didn't- m-mean, I didn't, didn't- mean to-" he shakily stood, turned, and ran.

Seam muttered curses to himself, slowly standing as the attacks in and around him disappeared. He glanced around, still trying to gather his wits. "Child..." he scowled, and then realized he had run away, a trail of dark blood mixed with neon coloration in his wake.

Now, the cat could just raid the house and leave and forget the boy ever existed. But Seam wasn't heartless. He had some concern for the kid. His magic could do serious damage if he wasn't careful. If strings still remained coiled around him, it would take an hour for them to finally dust and give out on their own. Needles could stay buried into skin for longer.

_____

"....child? Boy?" Seam called, wandering in the woods for a few minutes now. He debated giving up, leaving a bandage roll at the treehouse or something for the kid, and leaving him alone.

He saw the imp curled up at the base of a tree, on his side and hugging himself. His tail was coiled around his small frame, which quivered at hearing his voice. "Please calm yourself, I won't hurt you."

The boy let out a small sound of fear, but let Seam sit him up properly and start looking him over for any wounds. The kid's magic must've been powerful for him to have healed most scratches this quickly. "....what's your name?"

The kid gave him a wide-eyed, confused look. "Wh...what?"

"Your name. I'm Seam. 'Shawm'." he introduced. "Your turn."

"...J-Jevil." the imp stuttered out, still tense and coiled as Seam finished looking him over. He had slim, frail arms. The closer Seam got to look at him, the more he realized that Jevil wasn't a kid. An adult, perhaps in his twenties. He was just....tiny. Roughly three feet if not a bit shorter.

"...it's nice to meet another person." Seam said softly. "Wasn't expecting anyone to be in a tree, but it's nice to have company." Jevil slowly nodded.

"..I...I didn't...didn't...mean to, to hurt you." Jevil said slowly and quietly. He closed his eyes and flinched, looking away even though Seam made no move towards him. "...?" he opened his eyes a sliver, as if surprised he wasn't hurt. "...you...you don't want, want revenge, revenge...?"

Seam stared at him blankly. "...what? You didn't hurt me on purpose. If anything, I panicked and that made you freak out." he reached out to pat Jevil's head. The imp shivered, not used to this.

There was a small silence. "What...were you aiming to do with your attacks? Was it just for intimidation?" Seam questioned. "Or to trap me?" The attacks had seemed poised to land around him in a circle.

"...b-both, both...." Jevil mumbled, hugging himself. "...I-I'm sorry, sorry, sorry..."

"It's alright. You're forgiven." Seam said softly. Jevil gave a little nod, curling up in a ball. Seam rubbed his head lightly, ruffling his hair and earning a weak smile. "...do you want to come with me?"

Jevil's ears twitched a little and he looked up at Seam, his eyes wide with hope. "R-really, really?"

"I can't just leave you out here, and I'd enjoy the company." Seam murmured. "So, do you want to?"

Jevil nodded vigorously, beginning to grin. "Yes, yes!" he began to stand, a little shaky since his legs still seemed scratched up. "Let's, let's go to my, my home, home to rest, rest!"

Assuming Jevil lived in the home with the treehouse, Seam nodded. He helped Jevil up, following him home.

_____

"Take, take what you'd like, like!" Jevil said, running upstairs to get his own things together. Seam nodded a little, beginning to look around.

Seam found a rather peculiar picture drawn, stapled to a random corner. It was crudely drawn, and compared to the other pictures, it had been drawn by a younger Jevil. It was of him and another man much taller than he was, in all black with a white face. Seam could make out black eyes with cracks going up and down the face. The man was smiling. Jevil was smiling.

It was immensely suspicious, considering the figure was nowhere else in any other crude art. Seam approached it and scrutinized it for a moment, wondering who the man could be.

Jevil trotted downstairs, having a small backpack on and wearing a cap that had messy holes cut in them for his horns. He stiffened at seeing Seam looking at the drawing. "Uee...ha...never got around, around to taking, taking it, it down...always...always chicken, chickened out..." he said nervously, forcing out a dry laugh. "At least, least now I won't, won't have to look at it, it anymore."

Seam gave him a concerned look. "Oh? And why is that?"

Jevil swallowed thickly, already in a nervous sweat." O-oh, th-that's just nobody, nobody-....nobody..." he stuttered. "A-absolutely...no one. No one."

Well that was worrying.

Seam looked around, noticing the scratches on the walls. They were mostly covered by more drawings and posters, but they were there. Something happened to Jevil, and Seam chose not to press him on it.

Seam went back to looking around, keeping an eye out for any signs of the man. If someone was still here....or if this was a well-planned trap..... No, Jevil was sincere, Seam knew that much.

"Is it alright if I look around upstairs?" Seam asked. Jevil nodded absentmindedly, seeming to force himself to tear his gaze away from the picture. He shuddered and resumed grabbing things that he seemed to hold dear and putting them in his backpack.

A door sat unopened. So, of course, Seam opened it. It was a dusty monochrome room with an unmade bed in it. It looked like it had once belonged to someone, but that someone was no longer here.

"Are you ready, ready?" Jevil called from downstairs. Seam quickly shut the door.

"Yes!" he called back, making his way downstairs where Jevil stood beside the front door.

"Where are we going, going?" Jevil asked, bouncing on his heels and smiling broadly up at him.

"I just wander the land, that's all. I suppose we could look for civilization now if that interests you. We can go wherever we please."

Jevil gave a little nod. "I...I stopped exploring, exploring when I ki-" he let out a sad excuse for a cough to hide his slip-up. Seam's gaze narrowed. "....n-now, now th-that, that I-I'm alone, alone."

"Oh? And then who was with you before then?" Seam asked lowly, wanting to know if Jevil had spilled blood before.

"..." Jevil looked down, tears welling up, fully aware he was cornered now. He hated it. "....a-a- Kn- spec- special- Knight- s-s-some-some- someone- who, who- who I, who hurt- who was, was not- he, he, powerful- not- love- he hurt- he l-loved, loved- h-hurt-"

"Mother of- please." Seam moved to calm Jevil down when he started to cry. He wiped the imp's tears away. "You don't have to continue. I understand. Please calm down."

Jevil sniffled and his crying subsided to hiccups. He nodded a little, quiet now. Seam held the imp close, rubbing his back soothingly. Then Jevil let out a small sound of pain, and so Seam stopped.

"...how long."

Jevil stiffened. "Wh...what?"

"How long were you hurt. How long has it been since you killed him." Seam said bluntly. They weren't questions, more like orders for answers. "I want to know."

Jevil started shivering, terrified to answer. He feared that it would affect his chances to stay with Seam. "You don't have to talk about it after you answer. Please."

Jevil whimpered softly before responding. "...s-since I was, was, was- uh-" he paused, hesitating to answer. "S-sixtee- no, no, f-fifteen, fifteen." he managed. "I-I'm t-twenty- twenty-one n-now, now." he paused again, flinching as he recalled something. "...I...I got rid, rid, rid of h-him, him... I think a c-couple, couple of, of years ago, ago, I don't really, really remember, remember."

Seam nodded, and gave Jevil a hug. "Okay, we can get going now. Are...you alright?" he asked. Jevil shook his head a little. "...do you want to talk about it?" Jevil shook his head again. "Let's get going, then."

"Yay!"

~~~~~

Casually living in a house filled with childish drawings and reeking of dark pasts, don't mind him!