` ` White Lies That Cut Ties ` `

"Azzy, over here!" A young messy boy, covered head to toe in bandages, cuts and scrapes, called out. Azzy, another young boy who's curls of hair covered his eyes, pushed the strands back a moment before stumbling over to the other. "What took you so long! I was waiting ages!"

"Sorry Velli... Papas left a bit later than usual today." Azzy said in a quiet apology. Velli quickly waved it off and smiled, throwing his hands on his hips in a dramatic display. He was trying his best to puff his chest out, confidence in his stature. He clapped his hands together and smirked.

"Alright, well you're here now so let's get moving, I wanna show you something!" Vel took off with a stride, Azzy following close behind, his posture a bit more sunken and unsure as he moved. Despite the obvious shy approach he had to the interaction, it was clear he was smiling though, He was with Velli after all! Ever since the day Azzy and Machiavelli met, the smaller kid had been stuck like glue to Velli's side and followed his every command like it was scripture or something. Of course this just boosted Vel's already inflated ego and he took quite the liking to having the runt around. Only two years apart in age, Velli being the oldest, these two were the perfect little companions who ended up into more trouble than good.

Machiavelli marched right up to the gates surrounding a large, very intimidating structure. It was the very heart of the town. The building that the fence guarded was the home of the town's plant, the very thing that kept this town kicking.

"What is this place?" Azzy spoke up finally, his hands pulling at the end of his shirt, trying to straighten it out a bit, a small habit he had, given all his clothes never quite fit him correctly. Between the messy and oversized garments and the chopped, blonde mop of hair he never quite could see correctly through, you would almost think this kid was orphaned or something. However he would always explain to curious folk that his papa was just always too busy, and did not have the money to get him nice clothes, he was just happy to have clothes in the first place. The kid was not really the type to bat an eye at those things. In this moment he only fidgeted with said outfit because he was anxious with curiosity, wanting to know what Vel had planned this time.

"Well, I heard that the people in charge of this place keep a real scary creature with 10 eyes and huge claws locked up in here! It is like 20 feet tall and smells really bad too! Since it is all locked up I thought we could sneak in just for fun!" Vel rubbed his nose. He was quite proud of himself. Who else came up with such cool answers to questions? Sure he exaggerated a bit, but Azzy sure seemed to like his explanation.

"How tall is 20 feets exactly, Velli? Is that taller than you?" Azzy genuinely did not seem to know the truth to his question, he was never really educated after all. This question however did not earn him a weird look or even a comment about him being dumb from Velli. Instead, the dark haired boy laughed a bit and ruffled Azzy's hair.

"Course not Az! 20 Feet is like, way bigger than me silly!" Vel exclaimed this causing Azzy to grow a bit pink with blush. He was less worried about being corrected and more focused on the way Vel had ruffled his hair it seemed.

"Woah! Really?" Azzy asked, his mouth wide open with shock. He was awed with the description Vel was giving, and by the look on his face, he seemed to be trying to imagine just how big the monster had to be for it to be even taller than Velli.

"Oh you bet! And if you get too close..." Vel leaned in real close to Azazel, trying to hold back the smirk that built on his face. "It will tickle you to death!" Of course any good story isn't complete without imagery. Velli took his hands and tickled the smaller boy a bit, causing Azzy to roar with loud giggles, trying to contort his body in a way that would avoid the tickle attack. Vel of course only gave up and let the other boy have mercy when they were both thoroughly out of breath from laughing. They both sat sprawled out in the sand, starfished and staring at the sky.

After a few more minutes Machiavelli finally stood to his feet, offering a hand to Azazel, helping him stand. "Alright, let's do this. Cmon Az, adventure awaits!" With this the raven haired boy gripped onto the fence of the facility and started to climb, only looking back to make sure the blonde was following. Azzy was making due, clumsily scaling the barrier too. He was always a bit behind, and was lacking in grace with pretty much anything that took athletic skill, but he never gave up. Azzy had someone he wanted to impress and by the way he held his breath till his face was turning red, it was not hard to tell he was giving it his all.

Once both boys were safely over the wall, bent over catching their breath, they turned their eyes to the destination ahead. The building was large and well built, with an almost futuristic style of architecture making it stand out against the smaller country town. Both boys had seen the place on the daily and passed by it all the time, but this was the first time either had approached it so closely. Azzy stared, his eyes set forward and focused a bit too hard on the destination causing vel to give him a little nudge.

"Whatcha starin at Az?" Velli asked in a voice that was laced only with curiosity. This earned a bit of a startled jump from Azazel who had been lost in thought a moment before. His eyes finally released from their focused gaze and moved instead to peer up at vel through curly banged curtains of hair.

"Did ya hear someone talkin'?" Azzy asked vel with a sudden tilt of his head. Vel could only blink a few times in response to the odd question. Nobody else was around, at least that he knew of.

"Uh, no? I don't think I heard anyone." He answered in a confused voice, his eyes never leaving the runt sized kid next to him. Azzy was quick to brush it off however with a quick tug on his shirt and a small embarrassed huff.

"It was nothin'. I was joking." He said in reply finally, taking this moment to throw on a grin. Vel was not thoroughly convinced and you could tell by the way he bit at his lip a moment, but the adventure ahead was enough to distract him from Azzy's confusing question. He normally would have pushed a bit more for answers. He instead grabbed the boy's hand and started to drag him into a quick stride that crossed the stretch of land between the fence and the targeted building. For such a large and fancy building, it sure lacked security, but in a small town like this one, the town did not have the funds to build an intricate system of protection, other than some basic guards. This made it rather easy for the two boys to get to the side of the building where Vel then started to work on unscrewing a vent cover. A grown adult would have never been able to get into such a small space, but with the cover removed, both boys easily crawled in and got moving on their exploration. The two started to crawl through the vent, Azzy making an effort to follow close to Vel who entered first. Az however was following a bit too close, so when Velli came to an abrupt stop, he ran face first into Vel with a umph leaving his lips. He backed up a bit and whispered. "What wrong Velli? Why you stop?"

"Shhhh, look." Vel moved to the side just enough for Azazel to notice the vent cover opening into a large room below. He let out a gasp and took in everything. The room seemed to be some sort of control room, a couple men working on some stuff.