Crimson Town

[Raven]

Francis closed his eyes and took a deep breath of victory. "Nope," he said, upon opening his eyes. He went on more quietly, so only Justin could hear, "And they never will again." Excitement coursed through him as he thought of what it would be like without them around.

[Gifted]

Justins eyes lit up and his grin widened. "What did you do now?" He already sounded impressed.

[Raven]

"I can show you," Francis answered, his eyes sparkling with pure pleasure. His Houndoom whined and pushed its head between the two of them, nuzzling Justin's chest.

[Gifted]

"Absolutely." Justin got off the chair. "I gotta take to the streets anyway, but hey." He addressed the other boy. "If they keep me inside then I got Clark take care of starting tomorrow morning."
"Kay." The boy left.
"Alright, let's go."

[Raven]

Francis excitedly led his brother back to the house that had been their home for years, Houndoom following a little sadly. "What do you think?" he asked when Justin could see the place where the house had been.

[Gifted]

Justin's eyes widened as he took in the devastation on the so-familiar lot. The place may have burned to the ground now, but in Justins mind he could see the flames, hear the screams of his foster parents trapped inside the house, and he loved it. Those bastards deserved to pay. He started to laugh. "You did this? You did this? This... holy shit man! This is incredible! Serves those bastards right! ....This is incredible."

[Raven]

"I did it for us," Francis confirmed, staring at the ashes with a calmer pleasure than his brother. "We're finally rid of them, and we won't go anywhere else. It's just us and the Saints. I've been thinking about it for weeks, making sure they couldn't get out." He grinned. "They thought they were so close." Francis squeezed Justin's shoulder.

[Gifted]

"You're a genius." Justin told him. "you are a genius... but damn, couldn't you have let me in on the secret so I could help?" He laughed.

[Raven]

"Well, I'm the pyromaniac." Francis linked arms with his foster brother. "And I've been with them longer," he added, quietly.

[Gifted]

Justin nodded and showed a rare moment of honest emotion. "Yeah, I guess you've earned that right." He said quietly. He put a hand on his foster brothers shoulder.

[Raven]

"Is it bad that I was happy when you and Ben arrived?" he asked. "Even though I felt bad for you, I was so happy that someone else was finally there to take the beating."

[Gifted]

"Course it is. It's awful. But it ain't like either of us are very nice guys, now are we?" Justin smirked.

[Raven]

Francis looked up at Justin. "You were. I hated it. I didn't understand how someone so pure could even exist, when clearly life sucked so badly." He put his arm around Justin's shoulders and started to walk back towards the bar. He hesitated to bring up the painful memory, but in the end he did it anyway, "Your real parents must've been great people."

[Gifted]

Justin winced and let go of Francis, looking down at his hands. "My real parents were naive and got murdered for their stupidity." he said firmly.

[Raven]

"Naive or not, they were still better than them," Francis said, shrugging.