Ed Singal didn't want to wake up.

He curled up, feeling like he was sinking in warm water, quiet, comfortable and safe, as if he had not yet been born and did not have to face the coldness and cruelty of this world.

"Ed. Someone called softly.

Ed buried his head and craned his shoulders, refusing to respond.

"Ed. "The voice patiently repeats over and over again," said Ed Singh. ”

"I don't want to wake up. He muttered.

"You don't have to wake up, Ed, if you don't want to. ”

Ed finally opened his eyes.

He turned over, his outstretched limbs gently lifted, his eyes full of blue boundless, sparkling waves, he seemed to lie at the bottom of the Visa River on a summer day, looking up at the blue sky through the clear water.

It's good to stay here.

It's good to stay here forever, forever.

The man leaning towards him had a pair of transparent, pale blue eyes, and light blonde hair floating, as if it were the light that had materialized in the water.

"Hi, Is. Ed whispered hello to his friend. He knew it wasn't true, but now, he made up his mind to assume it was.

"I'm sorry......" he said.

"Because of what, Ed, you haven't done anything to be sorry for me. ”

In this world, Isis will always look like a teenager, but there is no such careless confusion in his eyes and the purity of not looking directly into the darkness, and the almost transparent light blue seems to contain everything, and it seems to have nothing.

"I have. Ed insisted, "You saved me, but I put you in prison with a paladin, I couldn't get you out, I didn't tell you I don't care, whatever becomes of you...... I couldn't get you to stay, I made Naria sad......"

Iss smiled helplessly at him and didn't say anything, just listened quietly.

Ed's voice faded and finally stopped. He'd already blamed Iss for fainting in front of the iron door of the chamber when he first entered Chrissus, and if he continued, he could probably only say, "I'm sorry, I didn't find your missing brother." ”

Even if he wasn't very conscious, he knew it wasn't his fault.

"I'm sorry. He said.

There were some things he couldn't stop — there were so many things he couldn't stop that he didn't know whose fault it was, but he just couldn't stop apologizing.

"Ed. Iss reached out and touched his forehead, "Do you really want to say that to me?"

Ed glared at him, and suddenly he started to get angry.

"You're not him. He said hoarsely, "Who are you? Get out of my dreams!"

"It's not your dream, Ed, it's more like ...... My dream. The boy calmly replied, "Do you want to get out of here?"

A wave of panic enveloped Ed.

He didn't want to leave here, not at all. It's dark and cold out there - the whole world is just a huge black hole, full of danger and malice.

He can't get out of here.

"Tell me, Ed. ”

Is's voice reminded him of the sound of the Visa, a whisper that could only be heard at night when there were no ships entering the harbor and no sailors making a loud noise.

Ed's family had moved to Visa's business district by the time Ed began to remember, but Valla had told him that until he was three years old, they had been living in the docklands, listening to the never-ending river flowing over his pillow day after day, which was the best lullaby for little Ed.

The voice quieted Ed. He looked blankly at Is's face, the boy's blonde hair curled little by little, dyed a not-so-bright tan, his soft-line cheeks gradually plumped, and his blue eyes were tingled with a layer of iron gray.

"Lafferty ......," Ed recognized the face. He thought he had forgotten, that he hadn't even dreamed of him for a long, long time.

"I'm sorry," he sobbed, not understanding why he could feel the temperature of tears in other people's dreams, "I'm sorry ......".

Ed Singal has had many friends since he was a child.

His father was always away from home, and Vala was often ill and didn't have much energy to care for him. Young Ed was always sneaking out of his house, from the bustling streets of the business district to the canopy of the docklands.

The streets of Visa City are full of unattended children like him. With his likable smile and innocent and frank personality, Ed quickly made a bunch of friends. A group of little boys under the age of ten who come together, with never-ending energy and fearless recklessness, are enough little devils to cause headaches for all adults.

Rafferty was one of them at the time, a year or two older than Ed, and perhaps because he was growing so fast, his clothes always didn't look like they fit. He was taller and bolder than the other children, but he was not very popular because he always started beating people at the slightest disagreement.

Ed doesn't have much desire to be a leader, but he has a lot of tricks, he takes the boys to tease the always serious-looking Black Rock Dwarves, makes girls crying his age, squats on the docks and watches all sorts of ships and people come and go, and even sneaks into merchant ships from distant cities in a vain attempt to travel with them undetected...... Occasionally, he would detect Lafferty's envious gaze, but when he smiled at him kindly, the tall boy always turned his face away with disdain.

But Lafferty saved him. They were chasing a stray wild dog in boredom, and the beast finally turned around and fought back, and the frightened boys scattered and fled, and Ed fell very uselessly, and it was Lafferty who rushed behind him, and although he chased away the wild dog, he was also bitten the arm.

It took a long time for Rafferty to reappear, and that wound became his bragging rights. But when he showed that ugly scar in public again and again, boasted of his bravery and strength, and triumphantly accepted the admiration of the boys, he had to express his gratitude again and again, and admitted with a smirk that he was cowardly and useless.

Until Ed was twelve, the story was still an occasional joke among his peers. Even Ed himself didn't really care - if it weren't for the fact that Lafferty had to repeatedly talk about how bravely he had saved Ed in front of the girl he liked, and clumsily and exaggeratedly describe how Ed cried out loud in fright to make the girl laugh, he really wouldn't mind being teased and teased by his friends.

Then he stumbled upon Lafferty's secret, when he was sitting in the carriage with his mother, watching out bored as he wandered through the night street, when he suddenly saw a familiar figure being chased by several men, and then thrown to the ground not far from the carriage.

He sat up straight in surprise and poked his head almost out.

That's Rafferty.

The boy struggled on the ground. But even if he is much taller than his peers, he is unlikely to be a match for a few grown men. Ed was about to tell Vala to stop the carriage and find a way to stop the men, when the shouts were already reaching his ears in the wind.

"Useless little ghost, will you only bully people who are younger than you, and spit out all the money you stole from my brother!"

For a moment Ed couldn't comprehend what he was hearing—it wasn't that he hadn't heard of blackmail or anything like that, but he never knew that Lafferty would do such a thing.

Vala frowned and stopped the carriage, pulled Ed away, and pushed the door open.

"Stop!" she shouted to the men outside the carriage, "that's just a child!

There was a natural majesty in her voice, and the men walked away swearing. Vala didn't close the door until she saw the boy get up and stagger away, allowing the carriage to move on. Ed sat there stiffly, not jumping down to ask if his friend was hurt, or daring to tell Vala that the man who had been beaten was his friend—a blackmailing and chasing guy who was obviously not the friend Vala wanted him to know.

When he saw Lafferty again the next day, the bruised face told Ed that he hadn't recognized the wrong person last night.

As he absentmindedly threw stones into the water of the harbor, he listened to Lafferty with mixed emotions as he concocted yet another story of his injuries that would bring him glory to the rescue of a girl who had been robbed and wounded by a gang of thieves.

If the story hadn't ended with the old topic of how bravely he had saved Ed, perhaps Ed wouldn't suddenly be unable to control that unwitting anger and blurt out, "Really? wasn't that the brother who was injured by blackmailing someone younger than you?"

Lafferty fell silent suddenly. The boys around him burst into laughter, and Ed continued to throw stones into the river without looking back, convinced that he had done nothing wrong—but he didn't dare look back at Rafferty's face.

He didn't know when Rafferty had left, but when he had to turn back, he was greatly relieved to find that Rafferty was gone.

The boys didn't care about Rafferty's departure, they were even happy about it. To Ed's surprise, most people know that Lafferty often intimidates and blackmails younger children on the streets, and it's not the first time he's been beaten, and they've even laughed at him until now to know about it.

"But you never told me!" said Ed, dissatisfied, thinking that there were no secrets between friends.

"He's saved you, and you seem to like him, who's going to tell you that??," said one of the boys, "and he's never blackmailed us anyway." ”

After that, Lafferty never appeared among them again. Ed was a little uneasy, but everyone else thought it was a good thing - no one really liked the big guy who was always scaring people with his fists.

Maybe it's a good thing to be away from that friend—Ed comforted himself and began to fade away. Until one day, a tall, protruding girl blocked him at the door of his house.

Continue to update the single next week ~ released on time at 11 noon every day......

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