The time Cassius joined the EFA

2nd of May 2013
A week after █████████████

The steps echoed through the alley alongside the sound of water dripping somewhere nearby. Cassius wiped the blood away from under his nose as his eyes glanced up at the man standing now in front of him. He towered over the teenager who was sitting on the dirty ground, back leaning against the brick wall. The man looked like any man from Erast would, old tattered clothes layered on top of probably more old tattered clothes. He hadn’t shaved in days as the unruly stubble, or half beard showed. “Go away” The teen said, anger filling each and every sound. Cassius glanced away, not able to hide his chaotic emotions at all as his brows were scrunched up into what might have been the angriest scowl the man had ever seen before.

“Cassius, get up” The man spoke, his voice stern, yet there was a slight sorrow to it. “This isn’t what ████ wanted” the man could barely finish his sentence before Cassius sprung to his feet, anger flaming through his every movement. “ Don’t you dare say that name Owen!” Cassius yelled, almost growled at the man. Cassius could not stop the tears that came just by hearing it. A smack could be heard as Cassius felt a stinging feeling at the top of his head. Owen had smacked him over the head, like he was some unruly teenager, which he probably was. Before Cassius could even say or do anything about it, Owen spoke again. “I’m not the one who sully ████’s memory by picking fights everywhere I go” His voice was stern, yet there wasn’t a sign of judgment in it. Cassius didn’t say anything, he stood there staring at the ground as he felt the rain drip on him.

Owen wasn’t wrong. Ever since that day, that moment when ███████████████ Cassius had been filled with feelings of pain, anger and an unfathomable sadness that he never had felt before. Barely nothing was enough to set him off, hence why he had been picking fights wherever he went. Cassius couldn’t remember the last time he had been at home, not that anyone would notice, even if they did they wouldn’t do anything. The only thing he wanted was to not feel the pain, and the pain from fighting helped numb it all. Cassius glanced down on his hands, bloodied and blue from the countless punches thrown.

There was a silence between them, Cassius didn’t say anything, his teenage mind not wanting to admit the other was right. He just did not know what else to do with all these feelings he felt. The pain, the grief, the anger caused by the injustice of this all. ████ shouldn’t be the one dead. It should be Cassius, he was the one dying of an illness. As if on que, a cough escaped through Cassius lips. Owen’s concerned eyes burned as the man looked at him, even if Cassius wasn’t looking at him.

“You know, there is a better way for you to fight for ████” Owen suddenly said. Cassius’ eyes darted up at the man, desperate to know what he talked about. Another cough and then another. Having stayed in the rain too much the last couple of days, Cassius could feel another fever coming. “Join us” Owen said. Cassius uncertain eyes just looked at him in confusion. “The EFA, we fight so no one else has to die for what they are” Owen said as he reached out his hand towards the boy whose life had turned upside down.

It took Cassius seconds to decide, even though Owen hadn’t told him everything. He grabbed Owen’s hand and shook it lightly. “I will do it, it would be something ████ would want” Cassius responded. They let go of each other’s hands. “I’ll tell you more on the way, come now” Owen said as he led the boy deeper into the streets of Erast. To Cassius, the walk was like a trip down memory lane. At every turn memories flashed through his mind. Memories from this last year. At each memory, his determination to ████████████ grew.

When they reach a building, looking like an old abandoned and rundown factory, Owen knocked on a door. The knock seemed like an ordinary knock, though Cassius would eventually learn there was a certain pattern in the knock that only those who knew it could hear. Eventually someone opened the door, letting them in. Cassius didn’t know what he expected the group to look like. Maybe big scary and shady men, stereotypical terrorists and criminals like the media had portrayed them. One thing was for sure, he had not expected them to look like regular people. He could’ve very well passed these people on the streets without noticing that they were considered terrorists and criminals.

“Owen, who's the kid?” Someone asked. Their eyes looked at Cassius with suspicion. It felt like they could see that he did not belong amongst them. Cassius was dressed differently than them afterall, his parents still controlling how he dressed. Dressed as the high born son that he was, the heir to the family business. Sometimes it annoyed him how his parents acted like he wasn’t going to die at any moment, like he wasn’t sick. “It’s the kid I talked about” Owen said. Talked about? Had he talked about Cassius to this group? What had he said about him? Cassius mind raced with every possible bad thing Owen could’ve told these people about him and his eyes glanced at the man with a slight anger. A teenage anger that was actually fear. “Now, where is Thomas?” Owen asked, someone pointed in the direction of what looked like to be a hallway. “He is in his room” the person said. This group seem to really trust Owen Owen lead in the direction of that room.

Cassius wasn’t sure really sure what he was getting into. However if this from what he had understood from Owen and this Thomas guy (who he learned was the leader of the EFA), this was a cause ████ would fight for, and so Cassius would fight for it, as someone who already had a death sentence, he could as very well die for it too. Maybe he would meet ████ in the afterlife?