*In Doral/Doras/Whatever the fucking town is called*

"Fucking shitty shit shit fucking fuck God dammit fuck fucking fuck."

Freddy stomped through the town, face set in a characteristic pouty sneer. His eyes looks dourly at anyone he passed by, causing most to look away. At one point he turned his head and saw a child staring, and Freddy glared at the child till she ran away, crying, to her mother.

"Yeah, fuck you too," Freddy muttered, after having proven himself to be a generally terrible human being.

Freddy was much nicer to his friend's than he was too most people, and he wasn't exactly sunshine and roses to them all the time either. He would be KIND, to them, and show them that he cared, but he was by no means nice. So when it came to strangers...well...

He had just made a little girl cry.

Freddy really had no destination in mind. He had just taken off walking, wanting to get his mind off of things. His brain was being more or less an asshole, and he hated it. He hated feeling like he did then. His mind shot from place to place, never giving him time to think, never giving him a moment to relax. It was rapid fire thought, and he swore his thoughts were flying around him, just out of reach.

Sometimes, he wished he took medication.

Freddy stopped a moment when he felt one of his spirits reacting. Shouty was giving him all sorts of warning signals and Sentinel was getting excited. Freddy's eyes opened wide, and he turned around.

"Hey, kid," a large man in a black leather jacket said, grinning, "A little dangerous to be alone out here, huh?"

Freddy wasn't sure what the man and his cronies - eight similarly large men all armed with pistols and baseball bats - were expecting for his reaction.

They probably weren't expecting his rather colorful reaction.

"OH SERIOUSLY, FUCK ALL OF YOU. I SEE WHAT THE HELL THIS BULLSHIT IS. YOU GUYS ARE SO CLICHE IT HURTS! NICE FUCKING LEATHER JACKETS, DID YOU MAKE THEM FROM THE SKIN OF SOME COWS THAT ARE BETTER KNOWN AS YOUR MOTHERS? Nah, that's incorrect, bovine are far smarter than any ratchet bitch that spawned you lot! And at least cows have some use to society!"

"Wait, is this little shit talking about our mothers?"

"Okay, I see we got off on the wrong foot," the leader said quickly, "Let me clarify. Yeah, it's exactly what it looks like. Your big ass hammer and your money, or your life. What's it gonna be, lil guy?"

"It's gonna be a fucking blood bath," Freddy said, "If you don't all back the fuck off!"

The leader grinned, before walking up to Freddy, "Oh yeah, fine. Throw the first punch."

He bent down, bringing his face down to Freddy's level, "A bit hot down here, though. All the hot air seems to have settled around your head."

"HOT AIR RISES YOU NIMROD. NOW GO AWAY BEFORE I SHOVE AN ACTUAL ROD SO FAR UP YOUR ASS IT'LL POKE YOUR PRIEST IN THE DICK."

The gang leader blinked, before socking Freddy in the face.

Freddy took one step back, blinking away tears, as blood gushed from his nose.

Then he stared the leader in the eyes, and opened his mouth.

The man flew, rolling head over heels, as a concussive blast slammed into him. From that close of range, there was really no way for a normal human with no real training to remain conscious, and so when he slammed into a wall, he fell to the ground and stayed there.

"ANYONE FUCKING ELSE WANNA GO!" Freddy roared out.

As it turned out, all of them did. Freddy stumbled back as one charged him, swinging his baseball bat in a wide arc. Freddy saw one aiming his pistol, and squeezed his eyes shut as he heard a bang. Freddy opened his eyes again, to see the bullet bouncing up into the air. There was a sharp pain in his forehead, and he felt a bit of blood trickling.

He could feel Sentinel grinning within him.

[b]I seriously fucking hate you.[/b]

Freddy rolled his eyes as the spirit seemed to laugh within him. Asshole.

Freddy caught the bullet in mid air, and threw it. It slammed into one of the gangster's guns, knocking it from his grasp. Freddy was surrounded by four gangsters with bats now. This was a good thing, as far as he was concerned, as it prevented any more funny business with guns. Freddy wasn't sure how he could non-lethaly take them out while keeping himself safe. Sentinel's "Aegis" was fritzy at best, and an Aura of Terror in the middle of a well populated town was so extremely out of the question. It would cause mass panic and hysteria.

An idea popped into his head, and he let out a roar as he activated Sentinel's Vanguard and jumped into the sky. He pulled his hammer from its holster on his back, and then shoved it below him as he fell. Predictably, the gangsters backed up for a moment, making sure Freddy had a clear shot at his target.

The ground.

The resulting shaking of the ground knocked the gang to its knees, and kicked up a huge amount of dust. Freddy grinned. There was no way the gangsters had stuck around after tha-

[i]BANG![/i]

Freddy staggered back as the Aegis protected him. He saw the shiny glow around his flesh as more bullets pounded into him.

"IT'S A FUCKING XENO IN DISGUISE!" one of the gangsters yelled.

Freddy had only a second until his Aegis pattered out. His eyes widened. He had only one thought.

[b]IF THIS IS HOW I FUCKING DIE I AM GOING TO HAUNT THIS MOTHER FUCKER.[/b]

[b]"Step away from the young man and no one will get hurt."[/b]

Aaron had watched Freddy's fight with great interest while he was walking about town. Only minutes after talking with Olivia Aaron's mind had been swirling with all sorts of messed up emotions when the commotion that the gang and Fred had caused. With eyes hungry for a fight and a mind that wanted anything but, Aaron kept a tight grip on the handles of his sword wanting to give Freddy his due fight. For a moment there, Aaron had actually thought that the thugs would actually back off after seeing Fred's Vanguard, but the grip on his swords tightened when he saw the thugs come back with a vengeance. After hearing Aaron's command the thugs turned around slowly to see the average height standing hooded swordsman staring them down with eyes that could only hint at the hatred and anger behind them.

"Hey, mind your business kid. This fuckers a xeno and we're gonna get rid of him. Do you have a problem with that?"

"As a matter of fact I do. That 'xeno' is one of my closest friends, and you gentlemen have seemed to engage in a fight with unfair numbers."

"Who the fuck are you the morality police? And if he's such a close friend maybe your a xeno to and we should kill you to."

The mere mention of the thought that he might be anything like the garbage that attack the group on the road sent Aaron's blood to an all time boil. With gritting teeth and whitening knuckles Aaron calmly devised a way to get everything that he wanted out of the situation. Very slowly Aaron walked towards one of the guns that had been dropped by one of their commrades and kicked it towards the one that he had been conversing with.

"I'll tell you what, I'll make a bet with you. Take this gun and point it at me, if you can shoot me with it before I get to you then you can do what you want with the brat there. Here's the catch, if I can get to you first I'm going to kill you. Sound like a fair deal?"

The thug turned to his friends and started laughing directly at Aaron, which meant that he didn't take Aaron or his challenge seriously, which meant that Aaron had already won.

"Alright kid...ya got yourself a deal." The current leader turned back to Freddy and spoke with a grin, "after we deal with you....SHINKTHHH"

From where Freddy was standing he watched as Aaron blade passed through the thugs neck and beyond. As the man's body was trying to catch up to what had just happened to his brain Aaron leaned in close to the man's ear and whispered softly into his ear 

"By the way...there was something that I forgot to mention...I tend to cheat when I make bets."

When he had finished everything that he had to say to the now dead man, Aaron pushed the man's head and subsequently the rest of him to the ground Aaron turned to the rest of the group, blood still dripping from his blade Aaron called to them and spoke in the coldest tone he could muster and said,

"Does anyone else want to taste the edge of my steel?"

With eyes wide with horror and faces turned white as ghosts the rest of the gang turned tail and run to the hills. Once the gang had run away and turned his gaze to Freddy

"Are you O.K.?"

Freddy blinked, a thoughtful look on his face.

"Yeah, yeah I am. But, hey, Aaron, my buddy, my pal, my compatriot?" he said sweet as sugar.

"Yeah....?"

"I don't know if you knew this, and it may have slightly slipped your mind, but..." Freddy smiled, a sweet and kindly smile, before roaring out, "I WAS TRYING NOT TO FUCKING MURDER THEM YOU UNRELENTING SACK OF HUMAN WASTE. I SWEAR BY EVERYTHING THAT I AM, YOU ARE THE HUGEST COSMO-TWAT I HAVE EVER HAD THE INFINITE MISFORTUNE, FORGED FROM THE BROKEN BLOODY GLASS OF A THOUSAND LEPRECHAUN'S MIRRORS -
Having listend to most of Freddy's rant, Aaron cocked back his right hand and back handed Fred so hard that it sent him flying to the ground. Still having a grand plethora of rage still building Aaron began his own rant,

"Alright listen here you petulant brat, yes I killed someone, yes I may have brought unwanted attention to us and our group, but I am willing to pull the trigger when it comes to defending what I hold dear. Listen well Fred, you have to be willing to kill to protect what you love, that's what it means to be a soldier. That's what you need to get through your thick fucking skull."

With quivering hands and a wavering voice Aaron dropped his hand to help Freddy up. 

Freddy slapped Aaron's hand away and got up on his own. He stepped close to Aaron and stared up, directly into his eyes.

"Don't you even fucking dare lecture me on what it means to be a soldier, as if I'm not pulling my god damn fucking weight," Freddy said, his voice, on this rare occasion, low and controlled, "I fucking work hard to protect everyone. I pull my weight. Sue me if I'm not as bloodthirsty as you. Sue me if I don't charge into the middle of the enemy lines and die uselessly. Sue me if I'm not too busy lusting after fucking Olivia as she gives us orders."

Without even thinking Aaron drew his blade and held it tight to Freddy's throat, once again hands trembling with rage, everything within him wanting to push the blade deeper into his throat. 

"Don't you dare bring her into this...I will have to live with my mistakes everyday for the rest of my life knowing that what I did could have possibly killed everyone that I love, but you want to know something, I was willing to act so that no one will have to suffer except for me. That's what it means for me to be a soldier. At least I'm willing to act, and if I hadn't stepped in tonight you would have been dead on the floor. Damn it Fred don't you see that what I did I did to save your life? If something were to happen to you or anyone else in this little fucked up family I would never be able to live with myself."

Unable to stop himself, Aaron let tears stream down his face, not in an act of sobbing but he just wasn't able to contain all of the emotions that he was feeling at that moment. Finally letting loose the grip on his sword handle and letting it clatter to the ground, Aaron grabbed Freddy's shoulder and kept his gaze locked into Fred's,

"If you weren't around Fred, who would come up with the stupidest curses that I have ever heard in my life? " Aaron let himself chuckle at his own thought as he carefully watched Freddy's next few moves.

Freddy patiently waited for Aaron to finish talking. He got the feeling that Aaron was wearing his own anger out, and after a bit the real issues on his mind came out. Freddy felt a twinge of guilt for yelling at him. Aaron hadn't been trying to be a bad person. It just freaking Freddy out to see the blood spill, and between his usual anger issues and his currently manic, racing mind, he hadn't thought. Only yelled.

He took a deep breath to calm himself down. It didn't work much. He was still extremely angry, and had a thousand shrieking curse words he wanted to blast into Aaron's face with a 'deafening roar', but he managed to control himself as he spoke.

"Aaron, I...understand where you're coming from. I try my best to keep us stupid shit stains okay. You...you guys are my life. And I am thankful that you stepped in. But you could have interrupted and helped in so many ways. Instead...you made a bet and used it as an excuse to kill fucking a man. You may not have realized it, but your actions were partially motivated by a desire to harm others, as well as to help me."

He sighed, looking down, then looked back into Aaron's eyes. He put his hands on Aaron's shoulders, his voice solid and unwavering as he spoke, "I know what it's like to regret something you did too. I have the scars to prove it. I don't want you to make a mistake like I did. You just held a fucking sword to my scarred-ass throat, and I saw the desire to push it forward in your eyes. Anger's one hell of a drug, huh? I know I do dumb shit while pissed. I shouldn't have brought up Olivia, that's your personal shit. I mean, my whole thingy with the resident badass big spear fuck is pretty evident to everyone but him. I can't really judge you on stupid crushes."

Freddy paused, collecting his thoughts. It was difficult. Focusing. His mind was ablaze with activity, and he hated it. He hated being unable to help those he loved when they needed it, and he hated being unable to even really help himself. Damn it, though, Aaron was in a bad state, and he could only try his best. His failure best.

"Aaron. If you're angry or hurting, talk to me. Your way of expressing your rage is terrible. You could have killed me, right after saving me too. Now wouldn't that be a shitty fucking story to tell people while I'm burning in midget hell? 'The angry fucker that saved my sorry asian ass proceeded to kill me in a stupid fucking pissing contest'," Freddy said bluntly, "I have my anger issues too, so color me a hypo-fucking-crite."

Freddy stared Aaron in the eyes, unflinching, "Promise me you'll talk to me. Or someone. Anyone, really. Just don't let your anger rule you, or it'll be what kills you. Possibly after it kills some other douche canoe."

Freddy cursed himself for his disjointed lecture, but he hoped at least some of what he tried to say sunk in. It was pretty nice of Aaron to sit through the whole fucking thing, he thought.

After Freddy had finished his speech Aaron took a long moment to ponder it, and the fact that it came from Freddy surprised him even more. For the first time in a long time he saw a side of Freddy that wasn't all imaginative curses and short tempers. Suddenly something that he said brought a joke to mind that he couldn't let pass,

"Oh Fred you wouldn't end up in midget hell....midgets stand at least two to three feet taller than you."

"Fuck you, Hothead!"

A deep belly laugh erupted from Aaron as Fred's usual temperament returned and for the first time since the group had hit the road Aaron genuinely laughed from the depth of his soul. After he re-sheathed his sword he threw an arm around Freddy and pulled him in a hug,

"You know something Fred...your good people, if the freakishly short can be considered people. Lets go get a beer somewhere...my treat." 

Freddy paused, then looked at the corpse of the gangster Aaron had killed.

"...I...want to give him a proper burial. Whoever he was...even if he was a bastard in life...I...I want to give him a little respect in death," Freddy said quietly, "I can't just leave him here."

Freddy walked over to the dead body and lifted it, bridal style. It was an odd sight, Freddy easily lifting the huge man. The strength of a Guardian aided him in his endeavor.

"...Any fucking idea where to bury this douchebag?"

Aaron looked over the decapitated body with the same cold heartedness that he had shown when he severed the mans head, which he just so grab from the ground.

"It's probably best that we give him a sailors funeral," Aaron directed Freddy's gaze with the decapitated head to the edge of the water, "that's going to be the quickest and simplest way to dispose of the body and we can say a few prayers while he sinks."

"Fuck prayers. God doesn't give a shit," Freddy said, tossing the body into the water.

"I'm sorry," he whispered as the body splashed.

After a few moments, Freddy spoke.

"Holy fucking shit he's floating oh my god what if god damn little fucking children see it and cry holy fuck I just realized I made a little girl cry earlier oh my shitty shit fuck shit Aaron I'm a terrible person Jesus fucking Buddha on Muhammid's fucking sofa I need to go get that beer you mentioned go go go let's fucking GO!" Freddy declared, speaking rapidly.

Aaron turned tail right behind Freddy quickly catching up as he quickly started adding his own thoughts to the situation,

"By the way...we are never going to speak of this to Liv...got it?"

"Oh HELL no we aren't," Freddy said, "I'd die of shame, needing your sorry ass to save me."