Crowley's eyes narrowed. "...What the hell are you doing here, kid?" he said in a somewhat annoyed voice.
Gasper opened his mouth slightly. "What?"
"You heard me."
Gasper stared at Crowley, his eyes holding a questioning look. "Well, I'm here for training, you know? The thing we do almost every day around this time."
Gasper looked around. "So where's Saji at, and what's with all the lights being off?"
Crowley looked at him like he'd gone crazy. "...Wait,"
"…Did Saji not tell you?"
"Tell me what?"
Crowley sighed, face-palming. 'That idiot…'
Crowley turned around and crouched down, reaching under the table, pulling out a bucket full of items.
"Sorry, kid, but there's no training today."
Gasper blinked…
Was he hearing things?
"I told Saji to tell you yesterday, but with you being here…" He stood back up, bucket in hand. "I reckon he forgot."
Gasper's eyebrow twitched. "You've got to be kidding me."
Crowley brought a hand up, placing it on the side of his neck, and slowly tilted his head, a pop sounding out. "Afraid not."
Gasper ground his teeth, 'Next I see the BASTARD I SWEAR!!!' An image of Saji with a smug grin flashed into his mind.
'I'LL MAKE HIS TRAINING FIVE TIMES HARDER!'
Crowley turned to him and walked forward. "I'll be heading out."
He placed a hand on Gasper's shoulder. "You can stay here if you want; just lock up before you leave, alright, lad."
Crowley walked out through the open shutter, the warm breeze hitting his face.
'Bloody weather can't make up its damn mind… '
He closed his eyes as the sunlight hit him, his white dress shirt collar flipping in the wind.
Ding!-Ding!
"Watch out!!"
Crowley opened his eyes, only to see a bicycle with a kid right on it, coming right towards him!
The kid swerved out of the way of Crowley… putting himself into the main road…
Crowley grabbed the collar of the kid's shirt, pulling him off the bicycle.
The bicycle went flying—
HONNNNNNK!
As it got hit by a car.
The kid looked at his bicycle, shaken.
Crowley pulled him up to his feet and let go of his collar.
"You alright, lad?"
The kid turned to look at him, tears in his eyes. He wiped them away and nodded at Crowley, "Mhm, thank you, mister."
Crowley turned, beginning to walk away, "Watch where you're going next time, kid."
Rattle!
BANG!
The sound of metal hitting the pavement echoed behind him.
"Hm?" He paused for a moment, then continued walking.
'Probably just Gasper.'
He released a slight chuckle. 'Yeah, with his short attention span, having nothing to do might actually feel worse than having too many things to do.'
'He'll probably just go home… or maybe go and find Saji or something.'
Tap!
Tap!
Tap!
Crowley kept walking…
Tap!
TAP!
He stopped.
Shadows covered Crowley's eyes. "What in the bloody hell are you doing, kid?"
Crowley turned to his right, Gasper standing right next to him, his goggles hanging on his neck.
Gasper smiled at him as he put up a peace sign. "Well, isn't it obvious? I'm coming with you."
Crowley blinked. "Why?"
"Cause why not?"
Crowley just stared at him… and Gasper stared back.
"You sure about this?"
"One thousand percent." Gasper gave him a thumbs-up. Anything would be better than more training with Rias after all.
Crowley looked at him once more … then closed his eyes, 'It could be good to have some extra hands.'
"Alright, but be warned, no excitement will find you where we're going." Crowley began walking once more.
And Gasper followed.
"Here, hold this." Crowley passed him the bucket.
Gasper grabbed it and looked into it…
'no…IT CANT BE!'
His cheeks hollowed as his face filled with absolute dread.
It was cleaning supplies!
"Wait, now that I think about it more clearl—"
"No backing out now, lad."
Gasper looked at the bucket one more time, "...please don't make me clean."
Crowley just let out a snicker.
…
..
.
.
Gasper slowly tilted a big wooden dipper spoon filled with water.
And slowly poured it down on a grave.
SPLASH!
He dipped the spoon back into the bucket next to him… and exhaled, a somber look on his face.
The grave looked like it had been untouched for years, grime clinging to it.
But even so, he could make out the name inscribed on it.
Hina Baker
1970-1998
Gasper reached out to his side, grabbing a scrubber.
He dragged the scrubber across the surface, carving a clean line through the grime.
He readied himself to brush it one more time…
But—
He heard footsteps from behind him. He turned and saw Crowley.
"Kid, be sure to be gentle there, alright."
Gasper nodded at his words.
Crowley set himself down next to Gasper as his eyes focused on another gravestone entirely.
He put his own bucket down and took a deep breath as he grabbed the dipper hanging on the side.
Gasper looked at him with a side eye.
Crowley's eyes were filled with something… something Gasper wished he was imagining.
SPLASH!
At the sound of water falling, Gasper began scrubbing the grave in front of him with slow strokes.
With each slow stroke of the brush, Gasper's mind just couldn't shake the feeling he had away.
Maybe it's because of his own past experiences in a graveyard…
'But why…' Gasper's mind flashed back to the look on Crowley's face, 'did he look so guilty?'
Gasper took a deep breath…
And opened his mouth.
"Hey Crowley…"
Crowley didn't stop scrubbing. "Yeah?"
"I know I should have probably asked this earlier…but why are we cleaning these gravestones?"
Crowley didn't look at him and just kept scrubbing.
"I mean, is it not disrespectful to the family? They should be the ones to clean it."
Gasper looked at the gravestone Crowley was cleaning
Kenta Baker
1993-1998
They both fell silent as the trees around them rustled in the wind.
And birds chirped as they went about their day.
"Normally, you'd be right… to clean one's grave would be dedicated to the family and the family alone."
"...but I am afraid they have none left except for me."
Gasper's eyes widened. "But…how?" he blurted out on pure accident.
Their names were completely different, weren't they?
No matter how you put it, they had Japanese first names and European last names… neither matching Crowley… Alan Crowley.
Gasper's face scrunched. 'Could they be distant relatives?'
Crowley paused for a moment, his brush stopping mid-stroke.
"...I changed my name," he said quietly. "A long time ago."
"I see, so that means… your last name is Baker?"
"Indeed, it is."
Gasper looked at the grave in front of him and just stared for a good moment.
'Alan Baker…'
"For whatever it's worth, you're one of the only people who know about it." Crowley raised his dipper once more—
SPLASH!
Gasper got back to scrubbing. "...Even if you think it's worth nothing, I'll keep it a secret."
Crowley looked at Gasper.
"Even if it's just a name, it's not my secret to tell."
…
..
.
.
Gasper stood in front of the clean gravestones, looking at the sky.
Crowley lit the incense on Kenta's grave and gave a silent prayer.
Slowly, he got up, his back facing Gasper.
"You know, he would be about your age by now…"
Gasper put his hands into his jacket pockets.
And said nothing.
Crowley sighed.
"Hey...kid, can I ask you something?"
"Sure," he responded immediately.
"Why?..." Crowley didn't turn to look at him, his brown hair waving in the wind.
"Why is it that you train so hard?"
"Why do I train?" Gasper said softly, his voice being carried by the leaves.
Gasper looked at the ground.
"Well, it's so I won't be weak."
Crowley took a deep breath and looked up at the clouds overhead.
"So you won't be weak, huh?" Crowley turned and looked at him. "I'm sorry, but there is no way I'd believe that."
Gasper just looked at him with an expressionless face.
Honestly…
He didn't even believe it himself.
"For the couple of months that I've known you, you've trained…" Crowley turned around, "..but that's it. It's all you do."
"You stay the latest, and you arrive the earliest. You push yourself the hardest…" Crowley looked him straight in the eyes. "No one would push themselves that hard for such a weak reason."
Gasper didn't speak; his eyes covered by shadows, the wind tugging at his hair.
"Gasper, tell me what it is that you are hoping to achieve, once you truly… become strong?"
"Honestly…" A white dove flew past, covering Gasper's face. "I don't know."
"But… for a while."
Gasper looked at him right in the eyes and took a deep breath.
"I wanted freedom."
Crowley's eyes narrowed.
"It's all I could think about back then; after all, I never asked to become a servant, especially not to the master I serve."
A small laugh escaped his lips just thinking of her hearing him say that.
"But the truth is…"
Gasper put out an open hand, and a leaf fell into his palm.
He clenched his hand.
"I think… I was afraid."
"Everything was new to me, especially the people around me, but there was one thing I knew I had to do…"
Crowley's face remained stone cold, "And that is?"
"...to become the strongest… it would be then that I could truly be free."
Gasper averted his gaze.
"So I trained, every new move learned, even every pound added to how much I could carry, even if it was only a single pound, was a small stepping stone to what I desired; it didn't matter how much time I had to sink…it didn't matter if I was alone."
"But then...an annoying white cat came into my life and brought an equally annoying girl with him."
Gasper closed his eyes.
"And as I got to know the people around me… somewhere along the way… that fear…"
Gasper's clenched hand fell to his side.
"It went away."
Gasper looked up to the sky, a weak laugh escaping his lips
"I became a slave to my own fear while thinking I was slowly gaining freedom…"Gasper smiled at Crowley. "Ironic, isn't it?"
Crowley stared at him, eyes unblinking.
Then he closed his eyes.
'It's really like looking into a mirror...'
Crowley sighed. "Ironic? Maybe." He stepped forward, raising a hand—
Pat~
And placing it right on Gasper's head, "It's fine not to have a goal. You're young, so it's only natural, but…" Gasper looked up, seeing past the arm. "Your discipline is a powerful weapon. Truthfully, striving to be better than you were the day before is a good thing… but if you never stop to enjoy the day, then what's the point of making it to the next? To see the next one after that?"
"Take it from an old man: don't wait till you're running on fumes to enjoy the breeze."
Gasper lowered his gaze.
Completely silent.
"You're right…."
Gasper sighed and opened his clenched fist.
And a leaf perfectly unharmed was carried by the warm breeze.
A smile made its way onto his face.
"....You are old."
GRIP!
"AH!" Gasper's hands shot up to grab Crowley's arm.
"Who are you calling old, you brat?"
"You—!" Gasper just had to double down…
Crowley's grip on his head only got tighter!
Gasper broke into particles.
"You're running?"
"YEP!"
Crowley turned to the voice, seeing Gasper running to the exit.
He smiled and turned back to the graves, looking at them for a solid second.
He grabbed both buckets.
And took off in the direction Gasper went, "COME BACK HERE AND TAKE YOUR PUNISHMENT LIKE A MAN."
"HELL NO, YOU GEEZER!"
←–TO BE CONTINUED—