Archive of Our Own

The world was quiet, almost still in its silence. With the Satellite itself, while still being a rotting slum, continuing to hold some semblance of familiarity that any seasoned resident could identify with. It was their home. Tranquil. Though this silence wasn’t always peaceful, if one took a moment to stop to smell the scents of urban decay and garbage, then maybe they’d enjoy its deformed cousin. Apathy. 

But, all in all, things were mostly the same. The streets were still cracked and split from the environmental stress. The endless stone grey buildings and general infrastructure were still slowly crumbling from disrepair. The power grid was still stumbling and sputtering with its last vestiges of life, encumbered by fallen towers and broken lines. With the sewage, gas, and water all in similar states. Its general institutions long abandoned to the elements. All in all, leaving the downtrodden people of the Satellite with only dreams and foolish hopes.

For one person however, at least in this small section of the ruined city, the night was far from peaceful. Demonstrated by the sounds of shouting and the thundering of boots not far behind them as they ran through the darkened streets. Clutching the few bundles of whatever he had managed to snag back there, the teen heaved and huffed as he pushed himself forward to get away. His body being fueled as much by panic as it was desperation.

“C’mon, C’mon legs just fucking get moving!” Colt hissed, pumping his own weathered black boots against the ground harder, even as the cramping in his side only threatened to get worse.

Another series of angry shouting was then thrown his way, the foreign jumble of sounds passing by as background noise to him at this point. Normally, when someone started yelling at him Colt would’ve probably responded in kind, if only to get them away and out of his sight. But, having already been running for a while and with the exhaustion getting to him, Colt decided to save his breath.

“You’re not gonna die, You’re not gonna die, You’re not gonna die-” Colt repeated adnasium. Despite his attempts at comfort, Colt couldn’t stop the trembling in his limbs. Nor the swimming miasma staining his vision.  

Just then, however, a flood of white light was thrown over him. Illuminating his tall form and ripping away his cloak of darkness. Cursing to himself, Colt then threw himself into one of the many, many pitch black alleys. He knew that he couldn’t outrun them forever as he was too weak for that, and that his only hope was losing those thugs somewhere in the city. Though he had hoped that maybe he could’ve gotten farther away, the fact those thugs had flashlights made that almost impossible. 

So, to render those lights useless, he had to break line of sight. Trying to use a flashlight to see through concrete wasn’t very effective, after all. Unfortunately, his plan had a few soon to be revealed downsides that he had forgotten about. With one of them being the very real possibility of a-

“A dead end?! Are you kidding me?!” Colt exclaimed as his eyes darted around in a panic. Only to find a small passage just out of sight, that he hadn’t seen before.

Not wasting time, Colt slipped into the dark passage. Quickly, he emerged into the dim moonlight of another alley, this one deeper into the maze of buildings in the ruins of this city, but also having multiple different exits. Taking but a moment to look back and see dim shapes following after him, their yelling obviously containing some sort of threat, Colt didn’t spare another moment before darting off to the left. A beam of light only barely catching the back of his coat in the process.

“Th-Those marks” he muttered.

In all his few miserable months here, Colt had been able to learn a lot of lessons out here. And if there was one thing he had been schooled in it was that those marks, the ones that looked like tattoos, were called “criminal marks” so to speak. 

Combining this fact with those assholes general occupation as violent thugs, meant that those idiots were most likely from Neo Domino. And that they were almost certainly its worst of the worst. No one liked liked violent rulebreakers, much less paying to house them with their taxes, and the Satellite was the perfect dumping ground.

So, for endless divides and forks in the road, Colt ran. Taking this direction, and then the opposite, and then the same, and then the other again. All of it in an attempt to throw off his pursuers. More than once he stumbled, gaining a new injury for every fall. The cuts in his jeans, legs and hands only spurred him on however. As, from experience, he knew that if those thugs got a hold of him then he was in for a much worse time. The scar on his forehead spoke volumes of that.

‘They can’t, not again, not again. I won’t let them’ Colt grimaced.

Racing through the alleyways, Colt took a quick right and then a left before passing a turn and then going left and then right. The more twists and turns he added, the more distance he was able to put between himself and those thugs. On and on he ran, the dark silhouettes of his pursuers slowly fading as he gained more and more ground. For a moment, the fear and terror receded. With something dangerous slowly taking its place as he ran into a dead end and took the only other pathway out.

“Ack! Fuck!” Colt cried out loudly as he tripped again on a turn, his knees and shins skidding across the broken concrete as he tumbled into a role. Mercifully coming to a stop, Colt sputtered and heaved to get some breath back, his break quickly being interrupted by the exclamations of the gangsters.

“Shit, Shit, Shit, Shit, Shit, Shit” Colt cursed in a whisper. They knew where he was, and he was hurt and exhausted and, from the looks of it, cornered by a dead end.

Practically breaking his neck as he searched for a way out, Colt felt his nerves begin to fry as the sound of boots and jeers drew closer. His mind was barely able to think straight as he almost blindly searched for something, anything to get him out. The hyperventilating and visible trembling began soon after, his vision swimming and twisting as his efforts became frantic.

Then, something caught his eye. A flicker of light. Practically shooting his gaze over to the glimmer he saw not a moment ago, Colt almost cried when he spied the faint outline of a fire escape not ten feet away with a dumpster right below it. Its shape tucked away into a corner that the moon had failed to properly reveal. Regardless, with a flash of strength, Colt rushed over towards the emergency stairwell. 

With a few loud bangs and noisy thuds, Colt scrambled onto the lid of the dumpster. Its structure protested loudly against his weight. So, placing one of his boots against the metal frame of the container, Colt first tossed the bundles of stuff he had on him up into the fire escape. It was only a few feet away from the top of the dumpster, so throwing his things and jumping over wasn’t and probably wouldn’t be that hard.

But besides that, Colt knew he didn’t want to go through all this horror for nothing. After all, one never survived or achieved what they wanted by wasting their time. As he contemplated this however, a second series of shouts and yelling pulled him out of his thoughts. Looking back at the alley entrance and then to the fire escape, Colt smirked.

“Not today, assholes” Colt said confidently as he took a few shallow breaths, and then jumped. 

Though he never had the highest jump, ironic for a tall guy like himself, Colt had always made sure to stay consistent in his bedroom gym. So, as he grasped onto the cold, biting metal of the ladder, he managed to quickly haul himself up and onto the grading metal platform. His hands, protected by his boxing wraps, clapping onto the rusted metal bars with a determined, panicked fueled quickness. The fact he had saved the strength in his arms and chest also probably helped a lot, he supposed. 

Once he got up and collected the bundles however, a thought then occurred to Colt. Turning around, Colt peered down at the entrance to the alley, and then to the dumpster below. With his fears confirmed and the voices only getting louder, Colt knew that he needed to come up with something fast. Because, if he didn’t, then those thugs will probably just follow him up here.

“Oh c’mon!” Colt grimaced, a familiar spike of panic and anger racing up his spine. Couldn’t he ever catch a break?! 

‘No! No focus you idiot’ Colt scolded himself. He knew he needed to focus. Wasting time would only get him killed. Thankfully, he’d always been good at thinking. Maybe one of the only things he was good at really.

Sure, if he ran up the ladders to the roof now, they would almost surely hear and see him but they may decide it’s not worth it and move on. At the same time though, those criminals had already come all the way out here and were almost certainly pissed at him for stealing their stuff. So why wouldn’t they come after him? 

So, with that in mind, Colt’s exhausted mind decided that he needed to hide. Use the darkness that had concealed the fire escape to his advantage and hope that they didn’t think of looking up. The fire escape was over ten feet above the ground thankfully, so it wasn’t completely idiotic… He hoped.

Then, just as the thugs seemed to be on the verge of rounding the corner, Colt desperately threw himself against the brink wall. Pulling his black coat and hood tight around his body in the process. Pressing his body as hard as he could into the wall, Colt couldn’t resist the morbid curiosity and watched on with a trembling gaze as multiple, he counted three, people entered the alley. The moonlight letting Colt see them, while the darkness hid himself and the fire escape.

“Yoshi, ano kuso yarō wa dokoda?!” Dumbass, the biggest of the group who he immediately judged an idiot, seemed to demand. His rippling muscles, screwed up face, hate filled voice, and scared body doing nothing to hide the criminals intentions. Not to mention that his mark was one of the largest.

“Aitsu, kotchi e itta to omou yo” Tooth Pick, another but absurdly skinny, thug spoke. His voice was just as, if not more vicious but also measured unlike the bigger guy. Colt did not miss the knife in his hand as its edge glinted in the moonlight.

“Ato, ore no bun mo nokoshite oite kure yo” Tooth Pick continued “Mada… katadzuite inai yōji ga aru nda” he then idly brought a finger up and ran it against the edge of his blade. A drop of blood falling to the ground soon after. 

“Omaera futari tomo, damare?!” Fatso, a round fat gangster, spat gruffly as he scratched his neck beard. The previous two turned to glare at the fat gangster. 

“nanika mitsukari mashita ka?” Shitty Hair Do asked, looking over, Colt’s heart dropped as he eyed a fourth thug with what looked to be a flashlight. 

“Ittaizentai, doko ni itanda?” Fatso demanded.

“Damare, debu. De, ano imaimashī gaki wa dokoda?” Shitty Hair Do growled as the flash light clicked on. The cone of light soon being thrown around just beneath where Colt was standing.

“Kotchi e itta to omotta ndakedo…” Tooth Pick drawled as he brought his bleeding finger to his lips and grossly licked it clean.

“Konoyarō…” Dumbass scowled as Shitty Hair Do cast the light all about the alley, easily finding the dumpster but only barely missing the fire escape.

“Kare wa doko e itta nda?!” Fatso squawked, his rotund shoulders tensing as his head swiveled every which way. Meanwhile, Tooth Pick growled as he kicked a can at the dumpster.

“Tashika ni kare o mita nda…” Dumbass said, his voice trailing off as if he was trying to reason with his associates.

“Mā, kare wa chigau yo” Shitty Hair Do drawled as he turned back “Isoi de. Kare wa son'nani tōku he wa itte inai hazuda” he then commanded with a vicious grin. To that, Tooth Pick grinned while Fatso frowned and Dumbass looked indifferent.

“Temē o buttobashi ni iku zo, kono kuso yarō” Tooth Pick hollered into the night as the three of them followed after the fourth man.

“U wa~a, jōshi ni mitsukaranaito ī ndakedo” Fatso whimpered as they rounded the corner. 

“Aitsu o mitsukedasu. Bosu ga ano kādo o hoshi gatte iru nda” Shitty Hair Do said confidently. Their thudding boots and loud jeers continuing long past the point after they had left.

For a long time after that, Colt didn’t do much of anything really. For what felt like hours, all Colt did was continue to hug himself against the wall with all his might. The fear that those thugs would return forming a cold stake in his stomach that, along with the harsh pounding of his heart and the trembling in his limbs, kept him pinned to the wall the entire time. It was only when the cold pale moon light hit him did he even think of moving.

Slowly, hesitantly, Colt removed himself from the wall. His hands trembling and slick with sweat like the rest of his body as he stared down at them. His heart pounding and breath heavy as what just happened finally began to process in his mind. 

Dread began to course through him. It’s dark tendrils coming up to grip him as his stupid brain imagined all that could’ve gone wrong. Of just how risky and idiotic what he just did was. Who in their right mind would sneak in, steal from some obviously violent gang members, and think they could get away with it?

“This dumbass, apparently” Colt sighed in disbelief. His stomach interrupting him with a vicious growl.

“Or a hungry one, I guess” Colt laughed anxiously. His stomach rumbling and aching in its emptiness.

‘When’s the last time I even wanted to eat?’ Colt wondered to himself as he palmed his stomach. He couldn’t remember ever feeling this hungry. Or maybe he just ignored it?

Taking another minute or so to collect himself, Colt breathed one last sigh of relief before his mind hurriedly moved to what to do next. Turning to his left, Colt took in the now clearly moonlit alley. Its presence was foreboding, ominous, and just flat out terrifying given what just happened. Not to mention that those thugs could still be out there, searching for him. And if they caught him this time… Well, things wouldn’t be over quickly. Now would they?

“Beisdes” Colt huffed “I doubt I could remember the way back anyway” it wasn’t as if he’d been keeping a mental map of the place while he was running for his life, after all.

So turning to his right, when he saw that the rest of the fire escape was now easily visible and accessible in the pale moonlight, Colt almost immediately decided to go that way. While it was dangerous to travel across the rooftops, their lack of structural integrity for one and Sector Security patrols for two, it was infinitely preferable to walking through a maze of alleyways with four homicidal criminals in there with him.

Thankfully, going up through the escape was as easy as getting out and down through it. With his black boots, blue jeans, black boxing wraps, and white trimmed black jacket easily protecting him from any decayed hazards that may have done him harm otherwise. It wasn’t as if there were many, if any, working public services out here in the Satellite. Apart from its totalitarian police force that is. As demonstrated by one of their drones zipping over head as he was just working up the energy to poke his head up.

“Thank fuck that those guys are as blind as a damn snorlax” Colt snickered as he took one more look around and hopped up onto the rooftops. Ever since he’d arrived here he hadn’t seen a single advertisement for pokemon, but he supposed the comparison still worked.

‘Just remember, if you ever see one of those drone’s… Get down and don’t move a muscle. Those things are made to pick up even the faintest of movements from those not already ID’d in their system’ a voice echoed in his head. They weren’t from his parents, but they still brought him comfort all the same.

‘Just lay down with the rest of the trash and wait for it to be over… Great…’ Colt growled as he kicked a rock over the edge of the roof. Getting control of himself, Colt prepared to go back to his current hideout.

“Alright, now I’ve just got to… Woah” Colt almost stumbled over himself. It was just then that he had looked up. His gaze catching the full moon that now hung low over the rotting city of Satellite.

Unfortunately, he didn’t have much time to gaze at nature “heh, as if this city's anything left but a rotten, starving corpse” Colt joked bitterly as he began his hour or so long walk in, what he believed to be, the direction of his maybe temporary, maybe permanent, hideout.

‘Still, I wonder what’s in these things’ Colt thought to himself as he glanced down at the small bundles kept securely pressed against his chest.

One possibility crossed his mind ‘eh, if it is crack then I should probably just keep it. Don’t want some kid stumbling across this stuff if I just toss it out’ he decided. 

His reasons, he guessed, were pretty simple. The Illegal black market was quite ubiquitous out here, and honestly, he knew that it'd weigh far too heavily on him if he did get some innocent little kid hooked on a life ruining habit. And that was even if it allowed him to live a little better. Dirty money, after all, was considered dirty for a reason. And if there was anything that his dad had taught him, it was that you earn what you had through hard honest work.

“Hah, honest work? Who am I kidding? He’d be so disappointed right now” Colt snorted with a hollow laugh as he gazed at the full moon. The vague visage of his father looking down at him with nothing but disappointment in his eyes. Soon to be joined by the rest of them as well.

He remembered his father’s strong, guiding words. His mother’s care and intelligence. His grandpa’s advice and open ears. His sisters, all different and all special in their own ways, and their watching eyes all looking up to him as their big brother. His uncles, aunts, cousins, friends, all of them came and went in his minds eye like a rotating carousel of longing.

So, for a minute, Colt decided to stop and look up at the moon. Up there, he could see them. He could see them all staring back at him. A pang of emptiness in his chest begging him to go to the moon. But he knew that was impossible. Why would they be on the moon anyway? That’s not where people went when they di- went missing.

So, he instead turned to the city just across the water. It’s massive, glowing lights creating a cacophony of stimulation that reached him even all the way out here. Neo Domino City, from what he’d been told, was the most advanced and “cultured” city in the world. Or so the propaganda spread by Sector Police said.

Colt could imagine it now. Its trends, tech, techniques, manufacturing, power, all of it exported to the rest of the world. A world that then flooded its wealth back into Neo Domino. Making it the best city in the world, or so they said. Its people had the longest expected life spans. It had an amazing quality of living. Its people, on average, were some of the wealthiest in the world. But, for all that, it seemed that the most moral was not on that list. And for obvious reasons.

‘Does being moral even matter though? At the end of the day, none of this really matters at all. Someday, all this will be forgotten to the dust and dirt or, if it’s lucky, some old dusty history book. Not to mention that the likelihood of your name getting written down, or that you’d matter at all, is slim to none’ a poisonous voice whispered.

That was true. In reality, nothing really mattered in the grand scheme of the universe or existence or whatever. All of civilization, all of its values, systems, accomplishments, wars, atrocities, suffering, defeats, and success, all of it didn’t mean anything. It would all fade away eventually, forgotten and left to rust away under the marching boot of time. But still…

“Sure” Colt then spoke “maybe it doesn’t, but even if that’s the case, even if the only thing I can control is myself, I can still choose what I care about. Like morals, for one example. It’s freeing in that way, as I can be whatever I want” he replied.

It was at that moment, however, that Colt stopped himself. He then blinked and realized what he was doing. He almost snickered in that moment. Here he was talking to himself like some insane person, or a lunatic. But did that really matter? Why did he have to care about that?

‘Maybe because assholes with money and influence say so…’ the voice in his head mused ‘the world, after all, revolves around those with the power to shape its culture, opinions, systems, values. It’s all arbitrary, up to the whims of the powerful… What do you matter next to that?’ it asked. Colt hissed in return.

That was also true. While nothing really mattered in the end, practically everyone still continued to pretend that it did. And all of them did so based on the arbitrary standards set by those in power because, well, they had the power to enforce them. Thus, the powerful could do whatever they wanted, including taking away everything from everyone else. If you wanted meaning in this world, you needed to have the power to protect that meaning. Or else… You’d just get yourself endlessly hurt over and over…

“Well, if I… I want something, truly want something substantial… Then maybe I have to become one of them?” Colt threw the idea out there. But, as he said it, Colt couldn’t help but feel a deep sense of revolution at it.

‘Power, any level of power, is almost sure to corrupt someone on some level… Absolute power corrupts absolutely, after all’ it told him plainly. 

Colt couldn’t help but imagine himself like that. Absolutely powerful, but so twisted that he wouldn’t even be able to recognize himself. A monster made from an amalgamation of the worst people he could think of. It would make him the biggest hypocrite that one could imagine. A villain who used their own suffering to justify a hunger for power that never ended. Corrupting endlessly as they accumulated more and more power until it back an end onto itself.

“But… But it also lets them do whatever they want, they can protect themselves and whatever they want. And that’s even if all power is corrupting…” Colt muttered in consideration.

“If I have no power… The world will take everything… If I have power…” Colt stopped himself for a minute.

“Am I really willing to go that far?... All for what I want? For answers?” Colt asked himself. He was met with silence. Because he, disturbingly, did not know.

On one hand, Colt felt as though he owed it to his family. That he should go out there and acquire as much power as possible as to protect whatever meaning their memories, conections, and… disappearances, still held without it getting crushed by the world itself. But on the other hand, if he did so, he’d be betraying the morals he now chose to value. As well as the lessons his family taught him. Thus, making all the sacrifices they made to raise him worthless.

“He- she-... They’d understand right? I-I mean… Oh, who am I kidding” Colt sighed, his face twisting into a sad frown as he continued to look on out towards Neo Domino City.

‘Are any potential answers worth all the pain that power comes with?’ he wondered as he turned away from the city. The question just sitting there like a tumor in his brain, begging itself over and over again.

Colt didn’t know how to answer it.

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“Aw, what the actual fuck?!” Colt cried out as tossed the bundles across his small living space.

His flat mattress bed creaking as he got up to go kick a table, hit a wall, or do something to cool off. The last, now empty, small cans of beans that he’d been storing falling over as he stood. Its metal cassing clanging across the cold cement ground of his kind of temporary, kind of permanent hideout. 

‘Not home. This place will never be my home… Hopefully’ Colt seethed as he stared out across the space.

It was a small place really, a storage room down in the basement of some sort of convenience shop. With just about enough space that if he spread his arms out and touched one wall, he could just about reach someone else doing the same on the other side. Still, somehow, Colt had managed to fit quite a bit of stuff in here. Arranging everything in a way that it subconsciously reminded him of a place long missed. 

In one corner, sat an old, flat mattress surrounded by various pieces of insolation laid out on the ground with no blanket. A small teddy bear he’d found somewhere laying out in the center of the bed. In another, there was a small folding desk that he used to keep everything from his personal journal to random nicknacks he happened to pick up whenever he wasn’t doing an odd job or wandering the streets. Like a bunch of crayons, pencils and paper for his writing purposes. Being poor didn’t mean that Colt never got a little creative after all.

Under that desk, sat a stout padlocked safe box, all for the little money he did have. In the center of the room, meanwhile, was a spare swivel chair that he’d found in some random office building. Perfect for whenever he wanted to read some book or magazine or whatever caught his fancy. Which, thankfully, came in both English and Japanese more often than not. It seemed English being a global language was just as concrete a fact as where he came from.

Then, against the far wall stood a few shelving units that acted as a sort of shelving space for something he still hadn’t found, and a dresser to hold all his clothes. Which wasn’t much more than those on his back at the moment. But that was besides the point. 

Moving on, up on the ceiling there were around three small light bulbs that buzzed and flickered with a general consistency. Their light barely being enough to illuminate a handing boxing bag and a pair of worn gloves that he’d found at some abandoned sports store. Colt thought about giving 

Now, Colt didn’t really fancy himself an electrician, but he felt that he’d done a pretty good job taking them out and taping their wires to the ceiling. Turns duct tape and a lot of time could create wonders. Who knew? Colt, however, wasn’t focused on any of that.

“Motherfu- of course its a fucking card game. The police use it to arrest people, of course some stupid gangsters would treat it like their some long lost South American relic’s! it’s literally all people talk about! Like, please! Please talk about something else people please!” Colt ranted as he stomped over to the rusted metal door. Throwing it open with a clang, Colt stormed through it and into the convenience store's basement hallway.

“I mean, I just don’t fucking get it. It’s all duel this and duel that, like, why? How?!... Ugh. So stupid” Colt grumbled.

Immediately greeting upon his exit and entrance was another rusted metal door. This one, he knew, led to the manager's office. It wasn’t a place he went to that often. With its only real use being to serve as some sort of extra space that he could go to whenever he needed just store something away or lock something up due to it being the only one with a working lock. It’s also where he happened to get the safe box from.

Speaking of water. Turning to his right, Colt spotted the employee restroom. It was there that he’d go when he needed to wash his clothes with whatever water managed to reach this place through the banged up pipes. Plus, it was also where he could go to check himself out in the mirror to remind himself why it was worth going forward by pointing out what features looked like they came from either of his parents. That way, if he ever decided that it wasn’t worth it, he could buy himself just a few more days.

‘At least I got my dad’s brown hair and my moms brown eyes’ Colt mused to himself. Though he did always wonder what it would be like to have blue eyes with dirty blond hair.

“C’mon, idiot. You’re not actually considering it. It’s… It’s just the pressure… You’ve got this. Just keep going. You don’t want to waste what time you have here, after all” Colt told himself “Thing’s will get… They have to… My life’s worth more than all of this. The sacrifices they made to raise me are worth more than this” he echoed his thoughts.

‘If that’s true… Why is this all happening in the first place?’ the question nagged. Colt growled. Responding to it with a swift kick to one of the concrete walls. The pain in his foot barely even soothing what anger pulsed in his temple.

“I don’t know…” he whispered, barely audible to even himself. A few precious moments passing before he relented with a sigh. 

Rubbing the heavy bags under his eyes, Colt considered just going to sleep. To take this all in. But it didn’t seem like a good idea, his bed hadn’t gotten much use for all the months he’s had it. In fact, sometimes he wondered why he still kept it around at all. 

Pushing himself off the wall, Colt breathed as he contemplated what to do next. Looking to his left, Colt could see that he had in fact gotten through the night as evident by the sun beaming through the store's entrance and down the stairs. With that only being possible by the shattered windows up outside of the entrance to the basement. Normally, a place with broken windows would be somewhere that he avoided. Crime and all that. But, nowadays, he didn’t have that luxury and had to take what he could get.

“At least this place is mine, right? Heh, nothing like a dilapidated convenience store to make a convenient home, right?” he joked to himself.

He knew that little tidbit of his life came from his parents, like a lot of things did. He still remembered their lessons well, and even if they weren’t perfect, they had always tried their best to instill the values that would most prepare him for real life. Such as a good work ethic, responsibility, and independence. And he did have to admit, the day he’d gotten his first car through his own money had been one of the best days of his life. Unfortunately, they had a tendency of making certain things he had to do to survive all the tougher to swallow.

“The nights are only going by faster, huh?” Colt surmised with a sad smile. Everyday here… Another day without any idea where his family was. Colt let that sink in for a moment.

“Ugh!” Colt groaned as he held his head in his hands “no use mopping around, I guess. If only I had something-” Colt then stopped himself. Those cards from before entering his mind.

“If they are so valuable…” he considered, though the fact they were illegal for any Satellite resident to own almost immediately popped into his head.

‘The reason “some stupid children’s card game” is banned is because Sector Security doesn’t want anyone challenging their iron grip on the Satellite. Colt’ the comforting voice in his head reminded him pointedly ‘Not after they were given such a free hand with all those duel gangs getting wiped out and all. Anyone caught with some cards is getting years at minimum’ it finished.

“I’m sure someone would be willing to…” another idea flashed in his mind. Maybe he would be willing to buy some? Even if it was for cheap, money was still money. Plus, they were only cards, so it wasn’t that big of a deal. Not like selling cards was equal to getting dirty money anyway. Right?

“But he…” Colt cut himself off. 

What was he doing? That dude had been the one to show him most of the rope around here. He was one of the only people who he could actually communicate with. Giving him… Something in the process. If cards really were as illegal as his acquaintance tried to make them out to be, surely it wouldn’t be that hard to just get rid of them, right? It wasn’t like Colt would be endangering him, he just needed some quick cash and that’s all.

“The more money, the more resources. The more resources, the more freedom one has” Colt repeated to himself “the more freedom one has, the easier they can pursue their goals…”

‘Does that mean you’re planning to be just like those corrupt assholes in Neo Domino? That you're willing to give up everything because you want something? All over something that, in the grand scheme of things, doesn’t even matter?’ a voice in his head asked him. Colt squirmed in his skin.

“I-... I have to try something…” he reasoned with himself. Still, the more he let the thought sit, the more… Twisted he felt.

‘Shouldn’t you get a job then? Even if it’s rummaging through trash, even if it offers little to no pay, it’s still a job. You can still build something, and you don’t have to steal…’ his inner thoughts told him. Colt shut them away.

But then, he remembered the struggle, the pain, the agony of having to sit and wait while his questions burned like acid in his head. He hated it. He hated being helpless to the world. For having his own agency and freedom limited by the very system itself. 

Back home, he could’ve worked with it. Here? It was specifically designed to keep those in the Satellite down, subservient, and reliant on the regime in Neo Domino City. And, with so little time left on this earth, he knew he’d have to do something, anything to get out of here and get answers.

Even if it was impossible

“They would understand…” Colt whimpered sadly as he entered his bedroom. Soon beginning to collect the cards, mentally preparing to go outside into the world.

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‘The world…’ Colt considered for a moment before shaking his head ‘I-I… No one should care about what the world thinks. It’s not like you can please them all anyway’ he sighed as he walked down the cracked, dilapidated sidewalk.

‘Nice excuse pal, ever think of getting a side of fries to go with it?’ a voice taunted him. His lips twitched at the thought as he turned to look over his shoulder. It wouldn’t do him any good to be distracted after all. So he might as well keep a look out.

Dragging his boots along on concrete, Colt raised a hand to shield himself from the sun’s rays as he spied the streets beginning to fill up with people. It was still relatively spare at the moment, but with the break of dawn and the coming of the Saturday morning, that was soon to change. He was soon to come upon one of the few places of commerce here, a small place apparently and creatively called “The Docks” by the locals. Or so he was told. It wasn’t like he could understand the signs or what people were saying after all.

The reason it was called The Docks? Well, given that it was right around the only functioning docking facilities in all of the Satellite, he supposed that was pretty obvious. Although interestingly enough, The Docks was actually quite a ways away from the literal docks used by Sector Security and the Neo Domino government. With the actual amount of space it took up covering around maybe an entire street at most. And even then it only took, like, five minutes to walk through it.

This location and small size was, presumably, because of the strict “no trespassing” zone set up by Sector Security as to keep any would-be trouble makers out and away from the facilities that The Docks got its name sake from. As many before, and probably many after, had tried to escape on one of the many boats carrying rations and other miscellaneous items from the big city. Or, whatever god existed forbid, try and steal some product. 

As, apart from the crappy rations that only ID’d citizens could have access to, everything else was supposed to be sold for profit that would go back to the Neo Domino government. Of course this meant that, whenever a shipment came in, people would scramble over each other to get at anything they could use to support themselves or their struggling families. With some people deciding to sell it back to others for marked up prices at The Docks. Sliding right in with those selling everything from fish to nets to clothing. 

No boats or cannous of any sort, of course. Sector Security kept a tight ship and eye on this place, and anything they could twist into being seen as capable of being used to escape was in their crosshairs. Now while that didn’t necessarily mean that those selling something that could be considered useful for escape were arrested on the spot, because c’mon anything could be viewed through that lens, it did mean that they had to be careful and vigilant for when Sector Security showed up. Which, basically, was just about everyone.

‘Just hope they’re in a forgiving mood’ Colt grimaced, his shoulders tensing as he spotted a pair of officers relaxing in a shadowy alleyway just out of direct line of sight. It was always a curious thing to Colt, about how-

“Oof!” Colt grunted as someone bumped into him, almost sending him to the pavement before he steadied himself. Looking behind him, Colt saw some asshole with a criminal mark, a shitty hair style, an even crappier fashion sense, and brass knuckle dusters, glaring right back.

“Chōshininoru na yo, kozō” the thug growled. Colt glowered as he sneered at the thug, but the subtle hum of electric batons and the glow of duel discs out of the corner of his eye subdued him.

“Get on with it, asshole” Colt sneered as he turned and pulled his jacket tighter around his body. It wasn’t as if the dumbass could understand him, Colt understood the guy either, but it didn’t matter. He’d said his piece was getting on with it regardless of what the other guy thought.

He then briefly contemplated putting his hood up so he could ignore the looks he was getting from others, but thought against it. He was taller than most people in Japan already. That alone was notable and noticeable by the Sector Security, as those who were taller almost always registered to others as stronger, tougher, meaner, even if that wasn’t who the person really was inside. Throw in a hood to hide his face? Well, security would probably be on him faster than he could even realize.

‘The last thing I need right now is a Criminal Mark, after all’ Colt thought with furrowed brows.

‘Just imagine how they would all look at you with something like that’ his mind considered. And he did contemplate it. How their judging glares would only get worse. How they’d whisper and point when they thought he wasn’t looking.

‘Does that actually happen, or is that your own insecurity?’ a laughing thought taunted him. Colt tried to push onwards.

“I don’t care either way” he replied openly “I’m not one of them, why should I care” he tried to snicker. Only to make it sound more like a snort. It wasn’t very convincing.

It was a simple yet scarily effective thing, the Criminal Mark was. Most were so plain that one could go unnoticed if it wasn’t particularly large. But, as he learned from observation, once one did notice that you had one they instantly began treating you differently. This was because, as stated in the name, the Criminal Mark marked anyone with it as a criminal.

Now while Colt didn’t know much what each different kind of design meant or if they were used for every kind of crime or were reserved for the worst of the worst, In Neo Domino’s eyes of course, he did know that to have one meant quite a few things. From cultural and societal levels, things would always get harder. From being treated worse overall by the community to struggling to get a government sanctioned job. Whatever still existed in the Satellite anyway.

“It’s not like I can get a job at the trash plants anyway, not worth getting ID’d” Colt thought out loud as he turned his gaze to look in the direction of the docking facilities “I don’t get free food, but I can’t be tracked through it either. So I guess it’s fair… It’s not like I’d ever want to be dependent on those tyrannical fucks anyway” he said sardonically.

‘You’d really do anything to disappoint those who raised you, wouldn’t you?’ a voice in his head mocked him. Colt just scowled before moving on, trying his best to keep his composure as he walked.

‘Nothing matters anyway, why don’t you just give up? It would be easier’ another voice taunted. Colt grimaced.

“I’m caring because I want to… At least it’s not another person I have to care about…” he muttered. Colt could practically hear the tsk, tsk sounds in his head.

‘The powerful would take even that away once they have the chance, why risk leaving yourself open to their machinations?’ the voice reasoned. Colt didn’t have an answer for that.

Normally, he’d probably have kept his mouth shut on that one thought to keep himself from being hassled. But, if there was one advantage of having a language barrier, it was that it went both ways. Plus, it’s not like he had almost anyone to talk to anymore, so talking to himself had become quite the comforting habit over these long months. It’s what kept him going when the voices in his head got too loud, after all.

Moving along the edge where the buildings and sidewalk met each other, Colt continuously glanced around as he neared the small market place. Sector Security had already proven their own presence here, and given what he was carrying, he assumed that it would be a good idea to keep an eye on where they were staking the place out. 

Not finding much though, Colt took in a breath as he approached and turned a corner. Shoving someone who ran into him out his way in the process. Their exclamations falling farther and farther away as Colt tried to move and quickly as possible through the relatively crowded hub. A few glares came his way because of that, though they quickly returned to whatever task or item was of their interest. Still, it made his hackles rise and a certain tension to coil in his stomach.

‘Doesn’t matter. They don’t matter. I’m not one of them. I can’t even talk to them’ Colt argued to himself. Looking up from his darker thoughts, Colt then spied the rest of The Docks. It’s dull vibrance creating an intriguing atmosphere that he couldn’t help but be drawn into even if it only covered one street.

On either side of the road, set up in everything from ramshackle stands to crumbling buildings to spacious alleyways, were dozens of vendors. Selling everything it could for whatever price the market of the Satellite would deem acceptable for a competing business. From clothing to furniture to power tools to even some food items and practical household appliances, one could find almost anything so long as it was widely considered to have a practical function.

The layout of the place was just as anyone would expect for a small, pseudo market place. A large, open layout that, while messy, allowed anyone and everyone to move and go where they wanted without causing anyone else too much hassle. Which, given that there were probably like three to four dozen people here at max even on a Saturday, wasn’t that big of a problem. Still, even with so relatively few people, Colt didn’t like it.

“It’s interesting, I guess” he mused, much to the confusion of a few passer bys as he tried to avoid them “those in the Satellite have to focus on actually solving problems, while those in Neo Domino probably fill their places with useless, consumerist junk” running a hand through his dirty hair, Colt then considered something else.

“When’s the last time I took a shower?” he wondered, his mind working overtime to try and find some sort of memory of him taking a shower.

“Hmm… Let’s see. Guess it could’ve been before I… Wait no there was… Nah that doesn’t count… I guess-” “Sumimasen, san” a voice suddenly interrupted his thoughts, what felt like a finger coming up to tap him on the arm.

Revulsion almost immediately rolled in his gut “get away from me!” he shouted hastily as he turned and shoved whoever dared to-

Then, the realization hit.

“Oh, shit” Colt cursed, a cry of pain coming from the ground right in front of him. His body freezing up as he processed who he had just thrown to the ground.

As it turned out it had, in fact, just been some young kid that he had just pushed to the harsh stone and asphalt. Their cry of pain coming from a large scrap that was now bleeding profusely along with the tears now coming down the kid's face. And, based on the kid's features, it didn’t seem as if he was any older than… Then one of his little sisters.

Memories began to flash over his eyes in that moment, only to be squashed as he picked something else. That something was the whispering, the talk, and the stupid judging glares. It wasn’t that many people he could see doing it. In fact, most people were just trying to hurry up and give him as wide of a berth as possible. But still…

“I-... I uh…” he stammered uselessly as he spotted something at his feet. Looking down fully, Colt indeed spotted one of his pouches. Looking up to the kid, the dots began to connect in his head.

‘I must’ve dropped one when I bumped into that asshole earlier. This kid just wanted to do the right thing and I… I do this… Fuck what is wrong with me?’ Colt questioned himself. Though he didn’t get time to dwell on it, a surge of urgency rushed through him. Forcing him to take action.

Scooping up the small bag, Colt gave the kid one last scared look “I um… Thank you- I-I’m sorry” he stammered out before taking off down the street. His mind alight with turmoil the entire time.

‘Oh fuck me, why did I do that- what kind of person am I- why didn’t I stay to help that kid- great, now I made myself out to be some sort of villain- good job out there moron, can’t even accept help right- they we’re all staring at me! What’d you want me to-’

“Stop” he pleaded in a whisper as he pulled his coat tighter “ I-It’s whatever anyway. Just… Please stop” he begged. Mercifully, he didn’t have many more of those thoughts. For now at least.

Speed walking his way down the sidewalk, Colt passed by a few more vendors. Each one of them speaking of something or another that he couldn’t hope to understand. They wouldn’t be able to understand what he was going through anyway, and who would? His situation, he imagined, wasn’t exactly the most common thing in this world after all.

After a while though, Colt stopped himself as he spotted exactly what he had come here for. Its simple yet eye-catching architecture being easily noticeable from dozens of feet away. Slowing his pace as he spotted a small line in front of the vendor, Colt stood in place before taking another deep breath. It wouldn’t do anyone much good if he just collapsed on someone's private property now would it? 

Taking a gander at the stand itself, Colt could notice a few things that piqued his interest. One, the guy he was here to meet was here, he was just being a dick as always. Two, it looked like this time he was selling some sort of… Charm and or amulet scam or whatever. With the most prominent being some sort of red dragon amulet that promised great strength, protection and power or something.

All in all, he and Shinikichi had known each other ever since he’d been caught rummaging through Shinikichi’s, and his wife’s, Daisy’s home a mile or so east of here, over by the abandoned East Satellite High School. Colt remembered that he’d been starving that night, starving and cold. Expecting to be pummeled, Colt had tried to run only to be sat on his ass by the shorter man. It was that night that Colt truly expected to die.

That however, never came to pass. Upon learning why he broke in, they decided to take him in and help. Patching up what wounds he had before giving him some soup and water. From there he was given a harsh scolding by Shinikichi and his wife before they had asked him where he got his scar. Colt hadn’t wanted to answer, in fact, he’d have rather been kicked out before he felt he was indebted to them.

So instead, he offered to do odd jobs to repay them for their generosity, which they accepted. For the next few months, Shinikichi had taken him under his wing. Teaching Colt much about what he now knew as the Satellite and how it came to be, getting to know each other all the while. With Colt reluctantly sharing a few details like his love for boxing, writing, and history among a few other things.

It was during this time that Colt learned that Shinikichi had once been a teacher in Neo Domino along with his wife, that they’d once had a son, and that… They lost him to crime when he was around Colt’s age. At the end of these few months and having repaid his debt, Colt thanked them and left, simple as that. Sometimes he came over for help with something that needed to be fixed or to do the odd job, but he tried to limit interactions. They-... That way, it would be easier to deal with it when the world took them.

The connection however, persisted. Colt knew that he still owed Shinikichi a lot, especially since he’d been taught so much about the world around him. Not to mention the fact that Shinikichi and Daisy were some of the only people to fluently speak English, drawing him even closer to them even if he didn’t necessarily want to. Sometimes in fact, whenever he thought his father, Shinikichi and the memories they made together would pop up. Their presence and their words giving him some much needed comfort in this foreign ruin.

‘Let’s just… Just do this’ Colt decided with a small sigh as he came to stand in front of the vendor, waiting for some sort of conversation to start.

…

…

…

Only for nothing to happen. So, clearing his throat, Colt spoke up “Shinkichi-... Uhm… Sensei?” He tried and failed to properly greet his one acquaintance. The man in front of him snickered, pulling his old newspaper a little higher over his eyes as he adjusted his feet.

“Eh, good enough. Though I would’ve delivered that with a bit more gusto than that” Shinkichi said with a lazy wave of his hand as he pulled the newspaper down. Blue eyes met brown as Shinkichi gave Colt a relaxed smile. The criminal mark on Shinikichi’s face not even registering to Colt in that moment.

“So, Colt Beyer, do what do I own the pleasure?” Colt groaned at that while Shinikichi laughed “Haha, need anything, kid? You look like shit” Shinikichi then asked as he folded his newspaper and removed the cigarette from his lips. Colt went to answer, prepared to ask for this worlds version of a back alley deal, but the butterflies in his stomach got to him first.

“I uhm… I-I need to talk. S-Somewhere private that’s not here” he started while casting a glance over his shoulder. He didn’t see anything but other regular people, but that only unnerved him. Sector Security was around, just not in his line of sight at the moment.

Shinikichi sat up in his chair “talk? Who starts a conversation like that? No “how you doing?” or “what have you been up to?” Pretty rude in my opinion” he snickered. Colt went to defend himself, his hands balling up and body tensing in the process, but Shinikichi beat him to it with a raised hand.

“Sheesh, calm down” Shinikichi told him before adjusting his glasses and placing his hands on his vendor stand “been a little while, hasn’t it Colt? Still living in that old convenience store? You know me and Daisy have a place you could stay at. It’s not much but-” Colt shook his head as his cheeks became flushed with embarrassment.

“N-No. Just no, alright? Daisy still has that sickness and I don’t want to burden you guys” Colt answered quickly, shame coating him like slime as he lied. Not to mention the types of memories his presence could dredge up.

‘You’re own ego’s so big that you can’t even-’ ‘shut up. They need the space and resources more than me. All I’d do is weigh them down. What with my own reluctance to get a fucking job and all’ ‘so it is because of your own ego-’

“Colt? You good, buddy?” Shinikichi asked uneasily as he snapped his fingers. Snapping out of his thoughts, Colt looked away as he rubbed the back of his head.

“Y-Yeah” he said before locking eyes with his only acquaintance “It’s just that… I like my own space, because it’s mine and I’d… I'd rather not be reliant on anybody” Shinikichi just sighed.

“Kid, that’s not a good idea-” “I said no! Okay?!” Colt suddenly snapped as he slapped a hand down onto the table. Shinikichi raised his hands in a motion of surrender, though his hard blue eyes displayed nothing but calculation. Of pity. Colt hated that.

“Okay, okay. That’s my fault…” Shinikichi apologized, his eyes then glancing around as if looking for something before returning to Colt. Glancing over his shoulder, Colt once again grimaced as a few people began to give him weird looks.

Colt knew he had to hurry this up, the nerves were already building “It has to do with-” Colt then stopped himself. Sector Security was all over the place, if he said that he was messing with a gang, would they swoop in to arrest him? Or, more importantly, would Shinikichi not want to talk?

“It’s just really important, okay? I-I need some advice” he explained. Shinikichi gave him a searching look. His cold blue eyes looked him up and down before he placed the cigarette back in his mouth and leaned back in his chair with his hands behind his head.

“Hm, well, Daisy’s actually had some improvement recently, So… I guess I’ll ya tonight? At East Satellite?” Shinikichi offered. Colt breathed a sigh of relief at the offer. It had been weeks since they’d last seen each other, and… And Colt didn’t know whether the world had taken him or not.

“S-Sure” he agreed anxiously, he could practically feel the stares on the back of his neck. Shinikichi nodded his head as well. But, as Colt made to leave, he spoke up.

“Colt” Shinikichi began softly, but seriously, Colt stopped in his tracks “You-... I know you think you don’t belong here-” Colt didn’t, he never did “-I know you’re looking for answers-” what else was left to do really? “And I’ve got the feeling you’ve gotten into something… Trouble some” his acquaintance stated. Colt felt guilt start to truly weigh down on his shoulders at that.

“Thing’s aren’t good for you right now, and I want to help… but I can only do that if you’re willing to be truthful with me. I’ve got questions, to help I’ll need answers… But only if you’re comfortable sharing it” Shinikichi explained.

“Just… Promise me you’ll show up this time. Please” Shinikichi pleaded, his hard blue eyes becoming tempered by worry “I-... We can’t lose another one. Not again” he said sadly. Colt knew what they were talking about instantly, and he felt all the more guilty for it.

“I… I promise” Colt smiled thinly as he began to walk away, the heavy gaze of one of the only people he dared to get to know following him the entire time. His thought’s a mess of doubts, anger, and self reflection.

‘I’ll… I’ll be there… H-He cares… I know he does’ Colt then sighed ‘what am I doing? I can’t try to dupe him, as- like, as a person in general, how could I do that to someone else?’ Colt wondered to himself. So deep in thought was he that he didn’t even notice he was being followed.

He never made it to the meeting spot that night.