Noctis tossed Taiga into the backseat and started the long drive back to Aria. The engine coughed to life, and the pink haired boy jolted awake in the passenger seat.
"I thought expensive cars were supposed to be quiet," the boy muttered.
"If I knew it was going to wake you up I would came in something else - tsk."
"Aww, you care about me that much Mr Don?" teased the boy with a sharp grin.
"Shut your trap, Jane. And get those fangs out of my face before I pummel you even more than that novice behind us already did. Embarrassing, really. The most promising Orator to come out of the Zenith Initiative-"
"The only Orator to survive Zenith." Jane interrupted.
"My point still stands. There's a reason only you made it out. It's appalling that someone of your calibre was beaten by a Frazeless. You just became a member of parliament, what would this look like to masses if it got out? The people in charge of protecting them are losing to random street kids?" Noctis scolded as he drove out of the plaza.
While thinking of what to say, Jane leaned his head against the car window and gazed outside at the small town. The car whipped past commercial area after commercial area, malls, cinemas, restaurants. To him, Berry Town exuded consumerism, the place was littered with attention grabbing signs, flashing lights pointing you towards the next motel - he was utterly disgusted. Before he could turn away in disgust, the car had finally made it towards the outskirts of the town, where evergreen trees reigned supreme. The town was now shrouded in lush greenery and forestry. Small fences had been built around the starting sections of the forest, but, the rest of the area seemed to be left unguarded, untouched. Jane pressed down a button sitting on the car door, feeling the ridges of the button escape underneath his overgrown fingernails, which lowered the window completely. The wind, which could only be implied between the pane of glass separating the boy and the outside, now caressed the boys face as he stuck his head out, slicking his hair backwards. Looking up, Jane was surprised to see that the orange, morning sky had almost been swallowed up by the towering trees of the forest. It looked as if the greenery were stretching their arms out in an attempt to grasp the sun in their hands, unfortunately falling short of their goal.
As he saw the 'See you again!' exist sign at the end of the road, Jane reared his head back inside and shut the window behind him.
"I lost on purpose, alright? It's not like I was going all out and got my ass beat. He was already weak mentally from his time 'Behind Bars', so I just wanted to see if he had a strong head on his shoulders, ok? No point hurting him too much, plus I doubt he'd awaken against someone like me."
"I'm well aware. There's a reason I sent you and not one of the emotionless, failed rejects of the initiative, or one of the older members of Parliament. Those guys have no knowledge on how to interact with humans, I needed someone who could actually test Taiga mentally. I was just playing bad cop, good work." Noctis replied smiling, patting Jane on the head and scrunching his hair inordinately.
"Cut it out!" Jane responded while swatting the man's hand away. "Stop treating me like a little kid. You're not that much older than I am, only 3 years."
"3 very long years." Noctis replied, now having made it on the highway.
"We've got a 5 hour drive from now until the front gates of Aria." he continued. "You should get some rest, you are still beat up, whether it was on purpose or not."
Touching his face and feeling the bumps and bruises from Taiga's frenzy, Jane lowered himself and tried to make out his appearance from the rear view mirrors - to no avail.
"Who even is this guy, Noctis?"
"His name is Taiga Kurosawa. I used my Fraze'Sharing is Caring'-"
"One of your many Frazes, if you don't mind me correcting" Jane entered.
"How many time do I have to tell you youngers? I have one Fraze, Sharing is Caring, it's just that I've honed and evolved it so much that it allows me to take Frazes from other people - albeit for only a short period of time."
"Yeah, yeah I know. I'm only teasing, go on." Jane replied while swatting his hand dismissively.
"Anyways, I gave him a Fraze, but I felt something different about it this time. I've handed out countless Frazes, well not countless 5,321, to be exact, but there was something unorthodox about him."
"Yeah, because the whole concept of Frazes is super orthodox" Jane remarked.
"Interrupt me one more time and I will throw you out of this car. I am not joking."
Jane sneaked a quick glance at the highway speeding past him and looked at Noctis.
"I'd probably survive. I could use Behind Bars to protect me before I hit the grou-"
"Do you want to test that?" Noctis interrupted, twisting his head to face Jane. He wore an uncanny grin.
"Nah, I'm good." Jane gulped.
"Alrighty then." Noctis continued, returning his view to the desolate road in front of him.
"I could feel something special about Taiga, he wasn't going to be like the other failures, I thought. Now I know he isn't going to be like the other failures. I think he'll finally be the one. he said while turning his head backwards to face the unconscious boy, lying on the edge of the natural - grain leather seats - about to fall down onto the car floor.
"Well, all we can do is hope. Hope that he's the one and, more importantly, hope he doesn't end up like Stefan."
Noctis momentarily grimaced at the mere mention of that name, before returning to his regular cheery look.
"Please don't remind of that thing. I pity him more than you can imagine. What a sad creature."
Hours had passed, and Jane had resumed his sleep, when the car suddenly halted to a stop in the middle of the highway. This jerk threw Taiga forwards and onto the expensive carpeting, covering the car floor.
Taiga's eyes shot open.