~ 19 Years Ago ~
"Frid."
The rhythmic crunch of fists smashing against flesh and bone dominated the space. A collection of people gathered but left a sizeable gap in the middle. No one was willing to step up to the small boy assaulting a man nearly four times his senior.
"Frid."
The boy's pink eyes stayed locked onto the face he had just disfigured. He didn't seem to realise as he kept going, ignorant even of the sole voice in the street that called out his name. The wind howled, shivers being sent down the spectators' spines. Some were unsure whether the chill was from the harsh winter breeze or from the spectacle.
"Frid!"
He snapped out of it. Life returned to his eyes as he turned to look at the owner of the voice. His posture shrank, revealing his shame, not from his actions but from the fact that she had seen it.
"...Do you understand what you've done?"
The young Frid looked around for the first time. Upwards of fifteen bodies sprawled out across the dirt. Some still exhibited signs of life while others lay completely limp. He felt a knot form in his throat at the sight of what he had done. Looking at his hands covered in red, he stood up, rapidly backing away from the body he had just been beating and approaching the woman.
"It's not what it looks like!" He said defensively. He moved to hold onto her but paused. Realising that he would get the blood on her, he wiped his hands on his pants erratically.
Smack
The crowd jumped at the sound. Some who knew the woman quickly tried to whisper calls to escape while he was in shock. Frid and the woman ignored all of it. She stared firmly down at him, the boy feeling ashamed to meet her gaze.
Before anything else could happen, she swept him up into her arms and ran. The people could only watch as she extended the distance between them at abnormal speeds. Silence once again conquered the area, and finally, a gruff middle-aged man scoffed and adjusted his hat before going about his business.
"Hey!" A brown-haired woman called out to the man, her mannerisms rife with panic. "Don't you think we should do something?"
"You're free to do what you want." He fastened a bag by its straps onto the back seat of his bicycle. Turning back to the looks of disbelief from the group, he wondered if he had grown a second head.
"What?"
Another man, slightly older and on the shorter, more portly side, stepped forward from within the crowd.
"Well..." he started, awkwardly scratching the back of his neck. "You're the mayor, Brun."
"Right. And?" Brun stared plain-faced as ever. "Does that make it my business?" As the people recoiled, he realised he should have delivered it better. He sighed, dragging his sleeve across his face before pushing a hand through his sweat-greased hair under his beloved bucket hat.
"Frid is Mirena's son. She's responsible for how she raises him."
"But—"
Brun raised a hand, silencing the murmur that had broken out. "If—and only if—she asks for my help, then I'll give it. Unless that happens, none of my business."
Immediately, he began riding off before anyone else could put forward their thoughts, glancing briefly at the bodies on the ground.
'They aren't dead, right...?'
He hoped and prayed that was the case so that he wouldn't have to clean it up later.
---
On the outskirts of the town, in front of a simple cabin, far isolated from any neighbours, the black-haired duo stood. The older of the two hunched over, trying to catch her breath.
"...Mom..." Frid struggled to put together an apology.
"Shut up!" Mireina blurted while straightening dramatically, causing Frid to jump in surprise. "I'm trying to gather myself here!"
"Sorry?" Frid said, tilting his head and uncertain of how he should respond. He watched as his mother looked like she was fighting desperately not to empty her stomach. "Take your time." Mirena shot a rapid glare at the boy who raised his hands in mock surrender, before she heaved from the sudden movement and threw up on the ground.
She groaned before looking at some of the food that had gone undigested and breaking into exaggerated tears.
"Damn it! It was so good, too." She clasped a hand over her mouth. Whether it was to prevent more coming out or to muffle the "cries of lament", Frid wasn't too sure, but the boy began to laugh, catching his mother's attention. A small smile formed on her lips before she remembered the previous circumstance. In a flash, she was in his space, and her fist collided with the top of his head.
"Ow!"
He fell to the ground, clutching his head. He had learned early on that his mother was the only one who could manage to make him feel any sort of pain. As far as he knew, at least.
"I keep telling you not to get into fights." Mirena settled next to the boy, her eyes automatically shifting upwards towards the floating barrier seals and the fake sky they projected. "You're strong. Scarily so. Stronger than even I was when I was your age." She shook her head, turning to look at her son. "Before you were born, I hoped you wouldn't have my special constitution, but as always, my luck was pretty trash."
Frid looked at her, hanging onto her every word. While he knew that she ultimately would forgive him—and probably already had—he still felt the guilt eat at him from the pits of his stomach.
"Your father and I... we failed in every single way possible," she said, a bittersweet smile forming on her face.
"That's not true!" Frid interrupted, displeased that she would even think it. "He is none of my business... but you've never let me down!"
"Frid—"
"This is my fault!" he continued, closing his eyes to fight back tears. "Stop acting like you did something wrong!"
A gentle hand clasped his cheek, lifting his face to look at her. He was taken aback by the look in her eyes. He bit his lip, even more frustrated with himself. She wasn't judging him, nor did she hate him for his acts of disobedience. As always, she smiled at him, and her pure blue eyes reflected nothing but pure adoration.
"Frid," she started, seemingly looking and speaking right into his soul. "You're a child. Children are allowed to stumble, fall, and have multiple chances at trying over and over again."
Pulling her hand back, she absentmindedly started to trace lines into the sand beneath them as she spoke. A habit that she found hard to break.
"But... there's a step in that process that is the responsibility of the grownups. And only our responsibility."
Frid blinked. "What is it?"
Mirena smiled brightly.
"Making sure you guys have the right environment and support to get up when you fall." Her expression fell, and an awkward one took its place. She looked down to see the enamoured gaze of her son before coughing into her closed hand, as if trying to fight off some embarrassment she felt. "Anyway! If you're going through hard times, you don't get to claim that as your fault just yet."
"The world is a wide place with all kinds of lessons to learn," she spoke, her measured but gentle tone returning.
"Really?" Frid asked, not from a place of genuine interest but because he honestly just wanted to hear more from her.
"There's even too much for just one person to learn," she paused, looking at the lone tree outside their house. "One day, you'll pick an interest or a couple of them and commit yourself to experiencing as much as you can in regards to them."
"What did you choose?"
Still staring at the moderately sized tree, she broke out into a fit of laughter.
"Happiness."
Frid frowned in confusion, not understanding how she could laugh and say that, given how they were currently living. Noticing the change in his demeanour and realising immediately what he was thinking, she lightly chopped the top of his head to divert his attention.
"I used to live a pretty rigid life, you know?" She finally noticed that her other hand had been playing with the sand and immediately stopped it. "A bunch of annoying guys dumped all their expectations on me, and I basically had no say in what I wanted."
A look of fondness crossed her face even though it didn't match what she was expressing with her words.
"I met your dad while running around with them." She didn't miss Frid's expression souring, but she kept on going nonetheless. "Those guys were physically stronger than him, and probably had much more fighting experience than he did, but he laid them flat with the same tranquil look he always had on his face."
"He was an interesting guy. Spoke to trees despite admitting he heard nothing back from them." She snorted out a light chuckle. "I thought he was a weirdo, but fast forward a bit and I decided he was going to be my weirdo."
Frid understood at that moment that she still loved him even after he left them in a hellhole and went off to who-knows-where. A part of him refused to accept it or dwell on it, and it won over, prompting him to shove it to the back of his mind.
"I got sidetracked." She shook herself out of her reverie. "The point is, just like the real sky beyond this one, I want you to go as far as you can. Learn. Grow. Live. And then one day, when you've found what it is you want to do, do it with a smile on your face."
She patted him on the head, ruffling his hair.
"Just like the name he gave you, be free." She stood up, walking back in the direction of town. "But stop fighting people. It's pointless, and there are all kinds of dangerous people in this place. You need to keep your head low and stay out of their business, especially—"
"The red-haired women. I know. You say it literally every day."
"Well, that's just how much I want you to stay away," she retorted somewhat indignantly at being cut off in the middle of genuinely warning him. She suddenly got deathly serious. "There's something wrong with them at the most basic level. If you run into them, don't even look in their direction. Got it."
Frid straightened himself to show he was taking her seriously and nodded. Seeing this, Mirena continued on her way.
"Why are you going back?"
She raised a hand, casually waving back at him.
"Someone has to clean up after you with the mess you made."
Frid flinched at the reminder but watched silently as she disappeared from view. He then rose, looking to find some work to do around the house. It was less than the least he could do. Turning toward the home he shared with his mom, he immediately came face-to-face—or eye-to-eye with an intimidating pair of deep red eyes.
Taking a step back, he quickly took stock of the situation. His senses told him that it was just the two of them here, but they also told him that, for his current standards, this person was dangerous. More than anyone he'd ever met.
'It's not my fault...' he thought, taking in the appearance of who he assumed to be a girl about his age. 'Mom can't even be mad at me... She came to me!'
Scarlet long hair flew sideways as a gentle wind blew by. When it subsided, she used a finger to readjust the strands that framed her face.
"So you're him?" she said, her voice soft yet abrasive at the same time. "The brute that lives on the outskirts."
She walked backwards towards the house and sat on the wooden porch at the entrance, crossing her legs and looking at him expectantly.
"Show me what the hype is about."