The Abandoned Genius

Can You Listen?

Adlet didn't need to consider the request, nodding his head immediately.

"Of course I will!"

"Yer head and anyone else ya tell belongs to me if ya don't." Hans added. Adlet couldn't help but cringe in fear as a sinister grin spreads widely across the man's face. A nervous sweat beaded down his forehead and a shivering chill shot down his spine when he sensed the sudden bloodlust in the atmosphere. The scariest part was that Adlet knew how serious Hans was; there wasn't a doubt in his mind that he would slice his head off his shoulders at a moment's notice.

Hans eventually eyed the ground underneath his crossed legs. He began to roughly scratch his head with his clawed finger as he thought to himself. "Meow, I haven't thought abeowt this in ages. Where should I start?"

Adlet pondered over his answer for a moment, trying to separate his many questions for the man into a list of what he deemed more important. "Well, how about..." He looks back over to Hans. "How about you tell me about your folks?"

"Hmph," Hans scoffed as if entertained by the question. Adlet momentarily regretted his question, thinking the unpredictable man might lash out, however abandoned such thoughts when he realised how unlike him that sounded. "There's not much to tell abeowt those two, meow; I never knew 'em."

"What do you mean?" Adlet asked, curious for more detail. Hans seemed to continue without complaint.

"They ditched me in some abandoned landfill or somethin' when I was born. I don't kneow who they are, where they're from, or what they do." Hans explained, his head down without making eye contact. However, by the tone of his voice, Adlet could feel as though talking about this didn't bring Hans any pain. "They're probably still alive somewhere, but I have neow way of lookin' for 'em." He shrugged his shoulders, a smile of amusement on his face. "Neowt like I care, though. They didn't want me 'cause I wasn't a girl."

"You serious?" Adlet exclaimed in surprise. His eyebrows instantly knitted together and his teeth clenched when he heard that. He couldn't stop his blood from boiling with resentment, even though he was being told about a couple of strangers. He didn't stop to think about the reason behind this as his teammate nodded his head and continued.

"Meow, I think they wanted to train a Saint or somethin'. But they got a son instead, so they didn't hesitate to throw it away." Hans shrugs with little enthusiasm. He really didn't show any care when talking about these people. "They're probably just as bad as I make 'em seownd."

"Damn," Adlet replies without much thought. He looks away as he ponders over the disturbing image of actually throwing a newborn baby into a pile of garbage like it was the same. "So, did you actually grow up in this landfill you mentioned?" Hans nodded his head in response.

"Yeah, it was the meownly place I knew." He stops for a moment to scratch his head in thought. "I'm pretty sure the place was abandoned since people passin' by would toss their garbage like they didn't care, and I neowver once saw people working in the area."

"How did you survive?"

"That's easy!" Hans scoffed as if to say Adlet asked a stupid question. "All the stray cats that lived there! There were tons of 'em!"

"You grew up with cats?" Adlet repeated as if to make sense out of it, something that came so easy to Hans.

"Meow, they made their home there," he continued. He looks over at Adlet, his messy hair covering the majority of his face, "They took me in. A lot of 'em had that pack instinct so I didn't have to worry abeowt warmth or anythin'."

"That's pretty cool!" Adlet commented, creasing his eyes with a bright, intrigued smile to match. Hans scratched his head with a slight tilt to the side, coming off somewhat confused.

"Ya think so?" Hans smiled a wide grin as he tenses his shoulder alongside his tilted head in a bashful manner. "Meow-heh-heh, I neowver thought much of it since it's all I knew."

"That's what I think!" Adlet replied with his usual supportive smile, speaking his mind to the man's story. "Not only am I surprised to hear such an outrageous thing is true," He then rubs the back of his head with an embarrassed smile, "But, I'll admit, I don't really think about cats all that much, so that's also a bit of a shock to hear."

"Why's that, meow?" Hans wonders. A moment later, a sly grin spreads across his dirty face as if to tease the redhead. "You a dog person or somethin'?" Adlet chuckles softly with a look of defeat.

"I guess you could say that, yeah," Adlet sighed as he shakes his head, "I mean, I like cats too, but-"

"Ya don't think about 'em as much," Hans interrupted, making the point for his comrade. At Adlet's sigh, along with no argument, Hans snickers in his entertainment. "Ya filthy dog person!"

"Shut up." Adlet returned, however, with an amused smile of his own. He brings himself back to the story, looking over at Hans. "So how did you survive?"

Hans shrugs his shoulders as he slowly pieces his story together. "Meow, it was a matter of takin' the little things. The cats would carry me around the place until I got the hang of walkin'. Clothes and food were whatever was found."

"You just found all this stuff?" Adlet had to wonder, a little skeptical. Hans nodded his head in confidence.

"It's amazin' what people just throw away these days!" Hans replied, seeming a little surprised himself, "A little rip in the clothes, even some packed food that's meownly close to or a day passed its suggested date. Meow, people are seow damn picky, but all for my benefit!"

Adlet couldn't help but chuckle under his breath. "You really took the most out of the least, huh." Hans nodded his head in a simple manner, not seeming too over confident with his past lifestyle, but also not disheartened.

"Ya gotta work with what ya got." He stated, lifting his head up to take pride in his answer. He shrugs his shoulders before continuing, "It may neowt have been ideal, but it's all I had, so I'm neowt complainin'."

"Yeah, I getcha," Adlet agreed, nodding his head. He felt a type of mutual connection with Hans after hearing this story. He came to understand that, despite how different they are to each other, they both came from similar backgrounds. It gave Adlet a sense of relief to be around Hans now that he knew a little more about him. He lowered himself to sit on the ground and crossed his legs, ready to hear more as he looked back over at Hans.