Gunslinger kids

2. Orione (Orion)

'Children brought into  the agency undergo what the boss calls "conditioning" in addition to their physical modifications. Fortunately, for Sebastian, the conditioning erased any and all memories of his past. Good and bad.'

Sebastian walked besides Lovino to the cafeteria. Along the way he spots another cyborg, Erland, in a wheelchair heading for the computer lab.
Sebastian looked back at him and wondered how he ended up in a wheelchair if was a cyborg.
"Sebastian, let's go." Lovino said.
"Coming." He replied walking up to him.
Feliciano sat next to Lovino as the three ate Feliciano's pasta.
"I heard about the mission, fratello. I'm..."
"Don't. Even. Say. It." He growled.
He looked at Sebastian with soft eyes.
"Do you like the pasta, Sebastian?"
He swallowed, "I love it."
Feliciano squealed in delight, "you pick a good one fratello! He's Italian! I know he is!" He crushes Lovino in a death hug.
"Urk! Don't kill me idiot! We're in public!"
Sebastian got up and restrained Feliciano on the table.
"Ack! He's strong, fratello!"
"Sebastian let him go!"
He lets go and sits back down and continues eating while Feliciano wheezes.
"You might need to.."
"Yeah, I'll work on him don't worry." He cringed.

The next day...
Lovino gets permission from Dr. Eden for day off to train Sebastian.
"Sebastian, today your gonna learn that not only must you study and train for work, but you also have to learn how act and behave properly in the outside world. To blend in."
"Ok." He nods.
"You also need to know that not everyone is coming after me or you. It's ok to show emotion, you don't to listen to any other bastards other then me. Who you think is trying to harm isn't trying to harm."
"Lovino...I feel like I want to understand you but..."
"Sebastian."
The firm voice cut Sebastian off.
"Any or all negative thoughts you feel are not true. Trust you heart, not your brain."
Something shined in Sebastian. His dull olive eyes seemed to have shined to life. His heart raced faster. And his negative thoughts seemed to died away.
He smiled brightly at Lovino, "ok, I'll do that from now on."

'As time passed, I began to put in more effort with Sebastian.'

On the rooftop of the dorms Sebastian is holding a sniper rifle while Lovino stands beside him.

"Now pay attention, cause I'm only gonna say this once. To do a job, any job, you have to learn many different things. Every successful job is just the completion of smaller, simpler tasks...I'm going to start giving you notes to study each day."
"Ok." Sebastian lowers the rifle.
"Make sure the muzzle doesn't stick out over the edge...stay down as low as you can...And if your doesn't have a bipod, then you'll have to grip the barrel tight with your bracing."

He looks through the scope at the dummy target.

"Anything closer than six hundred meters, you aim for the head. Anything past that, aim for the center of the body."

Sebastian took in his words. And shot the dummy down.
Lovino too the rifle away and stared at Sebastian.
"What is it?" He asked.
Lovino pointed at the sky.
"Take a look at the sky." He points at a bright little dot.
"See that little dot by that cloud? Can you tell what that is?"
He shook his head, "no, it's a little hard to see."
"How about a guess? Anything will do."
He takes the scope of the rifle.
"Is it an airplane?" He asked.
"Good answer, but no. What if it were night right now? Then what would it be?"
Lovino hands him the scope as he points it to the bright dot.
"A star?"
"Close. It's actually the planet Venus, not far from Earth's orbit. Make sure don't look directly at the sun with that thing."

He points the rifle up.
"Of course, we'd probably need something a bit more powerful if we were going going to shoot something of that planet."

The wind blew through his hair his childlike mind wondered through his thoughts.

"Lovino. You know everything, don't you?"
He merely chuckled, "Not everything kid."

That night. The boys hanged out again until bedtime.
A knock came on Oscar and Sebastian's door.
"Ah, come in." The door opened to reveal Lovino in a warm coat.
"Oscar, can I talk with Sebastian alone?"
"Y-yeah that's fine, I'm gonna brush my teeth."
He rushed to the bathroom.
"Sebastian can you join me on the roof of the main building?"
"Um, yes I can."
He hands him a bag with a olive green trench coat.
"It's cold out so put this on."
He looked at the bag in confusion.
Lovino looks back, "I'll be waiting for you on the roof. Try not to get caught."
Sebastian puts on the coat walks up to the rooftop. He opens the door and sees Lovino, next to him is what looked like a telescope.
Lovino smirked, "I'm glad you could make it. Come check this out." He walks over next to Lovino.
"What's that? A telescope?"
"Isn't she beautiful? Feli and I used to stay up all night watching stars as kids. I wanted to show you the stars too. Not through a rifle scope."
Sebastian could barely breathe, "This is...This the first time I've seen stars...What made you do this?"
"Heh, I haven't seen a better night for stargazing in a very long time. And it's a reward for all your hard work today."

He looks through the scope as Sebastian's confusion grew.

"Your not angry? About yesterday?"

"Do you want me to be?"

He looked down, "no."
"Good, then come take a look...Orion's bright tonight."
Sebastian looks through the scope as Lovino looks at the other stars.

"In Greek mythology, Orion was mistakenly killed by his love, the goddess Artemis...Stricken with grief over her love's death...She carried Orion's body high into the sky on her silver Moon-chariot, and she left him in the darkest place in the heavens where he would shine the brightest." Lovino as he stared off the many bright lights.

"Lovino...You know everything, don't you?"

Lovino stared for a second, but cracked a smile.
"Yeah. Yeah, I guess do."