"Or what, sissy? You gonna stop me and the gang from messin' up the kid's face here?" The three other boys smirked as they knew they had the number advantage. But the girl also gave a tiny smirk. "Yeah, I think I will."

The pack laughed.

"You-you've got to be kidding! Hahaha!" Billy managed to get out as he laughed. "You and what army? Ahahahaha!" But she continued to give them a smirk. "Well..."

--------

As if on cue, a blur rushed out from behind a bush, its target Billy. Before he could even register what the blur was, the boy slammed his elbow into Billy's face, sending him to the dirt. The tree branch above two of the bullies quivered, and another boy with dull blonde hair jumped down at them, slamming his feet into their faces before hopping down to the ground.
Quickly picking themselves off the ground, the bullies ran, swearing at the blonde's saviors. The girl gave a small sigh and muttered to herself, "You'd think heaven was a nice place." She turned to the blonde. "You okay?"

No reply.

"Not very talkative, huh?" the boy with jet-black hair commented, cleaning off the dirt on his jeans. The dull-blonde one walked up to the kid and stretched out a hand. "I'm Cain. You?" The blonde replied without looking at Cain. "Richi." he muttered. They all stared at him. "You mean... you're the devil kid?" the girl asked. Richi nodded, waiting for the insults and threats he was so used to.

"Nice to meet you."

He looked up in surprise. "You... don't hate me?" She looked back at him, an eyebrow raised, giving her a puzzled look. "And why would I hate someone I don't know?" She stuck out her hand as Cain did. "Jenna. The brooding one over there is Sean." She gestured to the boy with jet-black hair, who left the conversation and was leaning against a tree listening to music. Richi hesitantly took her hand.

"Hey kiddo."

The 4 kids looked toward the direction of the voice, and saw a tall blonde girl walking toward them. Richi waved toward the newcomer. "Heya, sis. How's your day been?" She took out a lollipop from her pocket and unwrapped it, handing it to the blonde boy before taking out one for herself. "It was alright. Who are your friends though?" Richi looked at the three other kids, who stared at the pair with the most quizzical expression on their faces. "The son of Satan.... has a sister?" Cain asked. The blonde girl gave a small shrug before replying. "Well, half-siblings. Same mothers, obviously different fathers." She wrapped her arm around Richi's neck and pulled him close in a one-arm hug and put on a large grin. "I still love him just the same. I'm Arabella. Call me Ara though. Names?"

Jenna took it upon herself to introduce themselves. "I'm Jenna. Sean is the one listening to music and Cain is the one looking at his phone every five seconds." Ara nodded. "Nice to see my little bro's got some buddies." She noted. "Little guy's been alone all his life. No friends and I'm really the only family he's got." Richi sighed. "I'm 8. Stop calling me 'Little guy', Ara." But Ara chuckled and ruffled up his hair. "I'm 7 years older than you. You'll always be 'Little guy' to me." Chuckles emitted from everyone except Richi, who was blushing with embarrassment. For the first time, he felt.... happy.

-------------

Thunder boomed and lightning crackled outside the apartment window, and Richi slowly sat up from his bed, smiling sadly at the dream. He stared at the clock on his nightstand and groaned. "2 AM.... ugh." He rubbed his eyes and made to go back to bed when a knock came from his bedroom door. "Come in." The door slowly creaked open, and Scotch stood in the door frame in her pajamas, holding her pillow. "Yeah?" Richi asked. She shuffled about for a little and looked down at the ground before speaking up. "Um.. I'm n-not too f-ff-fond of lightning. C-Can I-"

"Yeah." Richi interrupted. She looked up. "Huh?" He lifted up the edge of his sheets to let her into the bed, and she sighed in relief. As she climbed in, Val sleepily looked into the room. "Wha's all the ruckus?" she yawned out. "Oh, sleepover. Can I join?" Before getting a reply, Val went to go grab her pillow and settled in on the other side of Richi, who sighed as his two partners slowly fell back asleep. He thought of an old saying he heard once, which put him to peace and let him drift off to sleep once more.

"In life, bonds are broken and reforged. Cherish the ones you have and remember the ones that broke. Only then will your years be filled with joy." -Unknown.