Crimson

The Attention way.

VITA

He had not gotten the reaction he had expected when he had told Juno he was leaving Agrippa with him .

It had been the same way when he had first told him but Vita had assumed it was because they had been in the middle of a literal life or death situation .

He watched Ali and Juno whisper to each other .

They kept turning to take a look at them , as if they were admiring livestock at the market .

Juno had told him that he needed to discuss with Ali first .

It was not that much of an issue .

Their assignment had been to catch the thief and retrieve the ring and since they had been unable to catch the thief or retrieve the ring , they were returning to Caeso .

What was so difficult about that ?

When he had explained it to Nero , he had also given him a weird expression and called him a liar .

Whatever Ali was telling Juno intensified , his eyes narrowed and his Adam's apple began to bob faster .

Vita had not been sure when Ali had spoken to him earlier but it seemed the man's iris was colourless .

He had never noticed all this while , was it as a result of his blood hue ?

He seemed to not have an issue with his sight though , so , it was not an affliction .

Was that why he and Juno had become so close because they both had unusual eyes ?

Vita slapped himself mentally , that was extremely senseless .

They both turned again but this time , their eyes were on Nero , he was trying to tap Fabia's head while Fabia moved in all directions trying to avoid the annoying human .

It was hard for Vita to admit , but , he was a two for one deal .

Nero came wherever he went to and he knew that Juno did not have an issue with this , he had seemed to like Nero .

The wolf cub still sat in Juno's arms yawning and licking it's paws , Vita had thought that was a behaviour only cats exhibited .

The larger wolf sat by Juno's feet , large and intimidating .

The unique brown of her coat identified her as a parent of the yawning cub .

At this point , Vita was no longer surprised , So Juno also had friends that were wolves?

It explained why curious people had not tried hard enough to find the shelter .

They finished their discussion with Juno smiling , he was exhausted but his face lit up like he was having the best day of his life .

Ali held out his hands to collect the cub but instead Juno pulled him in , hugging him tightly with the cub still in between their chests .

The mother jumped around by their legs , trying to get in on the fun .

Juno kept laughing as he hugged Ali tighter .

Did Juno not know about boundaries ?

Vita took a deep breath , there was no point getting angry , he counted the leaves that fell to his feet .

Juno's laughter still continued to reach him .

He spotted something behind one of the trees , the wolf that had been following Ali , the one that had looked a lot like the sire of the cub that Juno held .

He was watching Vita , his eyes bright and focused , it hit Vita then .

The wolves fur had the same colour as the one he had slashed the last time they had been here which meant the howling cub was the one currently being carried around by Juno .

They finally finished their conversation and Juno turned to walk towards them , Nero jogged ahead to meet him .

He told Juno something that turned Juno red .

Vita took a step forward when he realized that no one was paying him any attention , he took another few steps forward till he could hear what Nero was saying .

" I have a naturally firm grip , I tried to loosen it but I didn't know it could still hurt so " .

Nero nodded .

" Now , I know you were not trying to kill me . I could not really relate trying to kill me with the image I have of you now , It's good to know ".

Juno laughed at this and looked up at Vita who was casually lounging close by .

Nero clapped his hands as he turned again to face Juno .

" How about the wolves , are they yours ? Vita killed one of them ".

Vita hissed loudly , all his signs to Nero had gone unnoticed .

Juno turned to face him ," You killed one of mine ?"

Vita frowned , " They came at me ".

Juno narrowed his eyes , his voice was gaining volume .

" Of course , he came at you . You were in his territory ".

Vita was flustered .

" I didn't know he was yours , I would not have touched him ".

Juno scoffed ," So , you would kill other animals as long as they do not belong to me ? Despite knowing the situation of the Utopias wildlife ?"

Vita took a step back , Nero was frowning at him too when he had been too scared to even raise his sword .

His eyes hardened , " It was not a premeditated situation ".

Juno laughed mockingly , " Of course , a premeditated situation would make you worse than an animal evil-doer ".

Vita blinked ," Animal evil-doer ?"

Nero nodded ," Yes , animal evil-doer ".

Juno nodded too .

Something cold bumped into Vita's legs and he turned around swiftly , the wolf that had been watching him from behind the trees now stood behind him , his teeth bared .

Vita stumbled forward into Juno who pushed him into Nero , all the while , the wolf circled closer growling , his sharpened teeth on display .

Vita reached for his sword , he stopped when he saw the expression on Juno's face .

The wolf's eyes suddenly narrowed as he sat on his ass , he had stopped growling and began to lick his paws .

Vita waited confused , what had just happened ?

Nero began to laugh then , grabbing his stomach and jumping around Juno whose face was also lit with varying mocking expressions .

Even Ali that was bent somewhere afar had a ghost of a smile on his face .

Vita watched them continue to laugh like it was the most humouring thing they had experienced in a long while .

Finally , Juno stopped .

He bent to his knees and began to rub around the wolf's neck and under , the wolf turned slightly and Vita saw a scar that had not been covered by fur , a relatively new scar .

Juno looked up smiling at him .

" This is whale , he's the tough pack leader . Redirecting estranged people is his job ."

Vita kept mute , looking from Whale to Juno .

The wolf yawned widely , his mouth scarily close to Juno's face , Juno only peered into his mouth and tsked .

They both looked back at Vita .

" There's no cause for alarm , Whale is a big boy . Your sword barely grazed him ".

Whale had an expression that ascertained Juno's claims .

Vita's pride as a swordsman hit a new low .

The wolf got back on his fours and sniffed the air , Juno put a hand on his chest , the head of a blade showed , Ali stood too .

The wolf sniffed again and looked at Juno , Juno nodded and put his blade back .

Up ahead , someone pushed some branches aside and came forward .

Keanu , he was holding a really large bag .

We all looked from Keanu to Nero , Nero strange enough did not look very surprised .

Keanu jogged forward his bags bouncing .

" What is he doing here ?"

Vita was asking no one in particular , that had to be the reason no one bothered to answer him , next time he would ask a specific person .

Keanu reached them and tried to smile , he was not very good at that .

Nero cleared his throat , Ali and the female wolf had moved closer .

" He's going with us to Caeso ".

Vita blanked , when had this been decided ?

He turned to Nero , a barrage of words ready to spill out but the sight of Juno crouched , his hands around the wolf's ears stopped him .

He was not exactly the person to make Nero see sense , he was also following someone he had just met out of Agrippa .

" Okay , we should leave now ".

They all turned to Ali .

Nero scoffed , " You had a problem with us coming along but you accept him so easily ?"

We all turned back to Nero , shouldn't he have been the happiest that Ali had no problems with it .

Ali sighed , his shoulders moving slowly .

" Of course , I had a problem with you coming along , you will be nothing but trouble . He on the other hand , will be more than useful ".

Juno pretended not to hear them .

Keanu beat Nero to the question , " How do you know that ?"

Ali nodded , " I know of you , Keanu ".

We all waited for Ali to explain more , he just turned around and began to walk .

Juno stood too , " We should get going ".

Nero and Keanu moved closer and began to whisper furiously .

Whale stared at Vita , Vita moved forward and the wolf moved forward too following him .

Ali and Juno were saying something and Vita was trying to lose the Wolf that had suddenly taken an interest in him .

Juno counted heads and sighed loudly , he cleared his throat to gain their attention .

He held out the cub in his hands .

" This is Fluff , short for fluffy chocolate , those are his parents Star and Whale , then there's Fabia , Ali , Vita , Keanu , Nero and I . We will all be traveling together , it would be great to know each other's names ".

We all exchanged looks .

Juno raise his face again , a small smile was dancing on his lips .

" And just so you know , we have no destination in mind ".

The wolves all howled playfully at this and Ali smiled too , the man was smiling too much today .

Even Nero and Keanu were chuckling .

Once again , Vita had no one to fill him in on the joke again .

He whistled loudly ," Attention ".

Nero reverted to the pose before he remembered that he was in the middle of the forest , they all turned to glare at him with disappointment .

" We should leave ".

All attention was still attention .