A Sunless Dream

Standing in the middle of a large hallway with a small child in tow was a short extremely pale young man who's eyes appeared sunken in and his cheeks hollow. His hair although black had been turned slightly brown due to sand being lodged in it and his feet were bare for all to see. Despite all this, the young man possessed a small smile gracing his pathetic features.

Making his way towards the counter, Sunny held Rain's hand firmly and walked with short and controlled strides. He could feel Rain's hand shaking as it was interlocked with is and so Sunny gave it a firm squeeze to remind her everything would be ok. Although Rain appeared much healthier than he had, she too possessed the worn down and distraught features which the outskirts beat into those who inhabited it.

"I don't like this Sunny" she called to him, her tone was quiet and reserved and she didn't dare raise her eyes from the floor as Sunny continued to make his way to the counter. "You'll be fine Rainy, just listen to what your big brother says and never look back" was all he could say, although he knew very well that he would likely never see her again, the thought of his sister being in better hands and escaping from the hellhole they were both trapped in gave him slight solace.

Finally, after what seemed like years, Sunny reached the counter. The woman who was working there initially paid Sunny no mind, likely assuming him to be a beggar of some sorts who was looking for attention. However, Sunny remained there in front of her looking directly at her without saying a word.

Finally allowing her unease to take control, she snapped her eyes down at him and questioned "What are you doing here brat? You know this isn't a place for begging" although her tone was harsh, Sunny could tell that she was uneasy and scared of his sudden presence as well as his appearance.

"I'm here to put somebody up for adoption" the words came out, however his thirst quickly punished his excess speaking by throwing him into a fit of dry coughs. The attendant looked at him with an incredulous expression, she knew he was from the outskirts, and she also knew that those who were born there likely never escaped. So, for a child to appear before her and request to put someone up for adoption was entirely foreign to her.

How would he even gain the money to do that anyway?

"Are you sure you have the funds for that brat? I'm sorry to say but if you don't then you'll have to leave, we don't do charity work around here" Sunny knew that nothing came for free in this world, regardless of how much people preached the actions they were doing were 'just' and 'fair' people only cared as long as it furthered some goal that they had. Ultimately, concepts like those were simply just justification for people to do as they like with their power.

Without another word, Sunny beckoned for her to extend her hand as he reached for a small pouch he was holding. Pulling out ten glowing soul shards he handed them to the woman who's eyes had widened upon witnessing the display. A child from the outskirts couldn't have gotten that legally, but then again, she had no proof and quite frankly couldn't care less.

"Oh, I see. I assume you're dropping off the girl, correct? Just leave her with us and we'll sort out the rest" Sunny nodded at the woman before looking down at rain. Despite his small stature he was still quite a bit taller than his six year old sister and so chose to crouch down to meet her eye level.

"Hey. Rainy" she looked up at him with those black yet shining orbs that she called pupils. Looking at her for longer than he had to was going to make the process harder, so he had to finish this quickly.

"This woman over here she has some nice stuff she's going to give us. But she only can when I'm not there, stay with her for a bit and wait here for me ok?" he was looking everywhere except for his sisters eyes as she nodded furiously. A huge smile was planted upon her features that seemed to lighten up the gloomy and dark world that Sunny was so used to.

Witnessing her smile only strengthened his resolve. He had to do this. If she lived in the outskirts with him any longer the world was going to kill her smile and crush her spirit. He would die before he let that happen.

"I'll see you soon Rainy, be healthy and never stop being kind" he placed his hand on his sisters head rubbing it gently as he locked eyes with her one more time. Sunny then got up and turned around, making sure that she didn't see the tears that were falling from his face as she was taken away by the adoption attendant.

Sunny had to keep moving forward, farther and farther away from his sister and he knew he might die before ever seeing her again but that didn't matter. Her safety was all he cared about and all he would ever care about.

An hour had passed, Sunny had little to do except for struggling to steal synthpaste from other members of the outskirts and drink dirty water. He knew his methods for survival were selfish and quite frankly he didn't care. The world had given him a perfect excuse to revel in evil and be selfish, and he was going to take advantage of that.

As he sat down on a bench watching the sun continue to fight a losing battle against the night sky, he was suddenly surrounded by three men who from what he could tell didn't have the happiest of expressions on their faces. Each of them was quite fat and wore clothes that clearly indicated to him that they were not from the outskirts.

If his memory served him correctly, they were the three idiots he had stolen the soul shards needed to put Rain up for adoption from.

Sunny made no effort to run, running meant expending energy, which he was currently lacking and so he took the beating they gave him not even bothering to listen to any of their threatening words. Sunny took the punches, the kicks as well as their flimsy attempts at strangling him without saying a word. After about two hours, they were done with him and walked off tiredly to avoid going too far and ending up murderers.

Bloodied, battered and broken Sunny lay flat on his back looking directly at the stars. Those pearly white dots always were so disconnected from the suffering of man, they provided for themselves and were not dependent on others to decide their own fate. 'How unfair' Sunny thought to himself.

Although Sunny knew he was speaking to nobody, he spoke anyways in his hushed and broken voice "Say Rain, isn't it unfair that I don't get to live a life of prosperity and be in all of those big houses. Why don't I get to live there? What makes them so different to me? We were born the same, right? Man, I wish I could have been adopted. But nobody wants to take in a kid like me, dirty, ragged and disgusting. You were always too good for this place."

Although he didn't notice it, he had began to cry "I want to escape too! I want to decide what I want to do too! Why did I have to be born in the outskirts huh!? I didn't decide that! I had no choice in that!" his thoughts trailed to his mother and father "Mom, Dad. I know you aren't listening to me but, you guys are so cruel. So, fucking cruel. I know I'm being unfair and unreasonable, but my life hasn't been fucking fair since I was born!"

Sunny sighed, if he spoke any longer, he was going to expend the little bits of water he had managed to steal and gather from the rain. "Hey Rain, I hope you live well and forget all about your time in the outskirts because it looks like I might die here" Sunny laughed at himself, at the hopelessness of his situation.

"My life is a fucking tragedy huh. I'm born a slave, and it look like I'll die one" with that, Sunny fell asleep. He didn't have Rain next to him to keep him motivated for a brighter tomorrow, and he wasn't even sure if he'd wake up the next day and yet he slept anyway.

Leaving his fate in the hands of others, just like a slave should.