"...Baron."

The name slipped away with the wind, between trees and was drowned in the rustle of leaves. His hand clenched tighter, nails biting into his palm.

You're not the only one who's lost someone to the shadow angels.

"SHUT UP!" Apollo clutched his head and screamed at the memory of words. The shout rang out, birds scattered even though darkness was falling. But the pain they heard in his cry bit sharper than any predators of the night.

"I know." He answered no one. "I know everyone's lost but I..." He let his fingers drop from his hair. "I have no one else..."

"Silvia, come inside."

"Brother...I'm just worried."

"Not about that mongrel."

"Don't call him that!" The blonde girl whirled on her brother, staring up at his ever-calm eyes. "How can you call him names when he saved us from Toma—when he didn't say anything about our—our feathers."

"Silvia, quiet! Besides, he still might."

"He won't. You saw the look in his eyes back there as much as me. He called us his friends." She let a shaky breath escape her. "He pulled it together to save us then. And in the vectors...when he disappeared—"

"What happened to you, Silvia? The way you screamed the name of his friend."

"I felt his pain, brother. And it was so deep, so overwhelming. But even feeling that he fought to save us. But now the battle is over. And he's out there somewhere, hurting." Her eyes were on the woods where Apollo had disappeared immediately after Baron's death. Now, she was sure he had taken refuge there again.

"He lived on the streets for years. He will be safer in those woods than he ever was there." It was a mild comfort, but she took it. Sirius put a hand on her shoulder and guided her back inside. "Come, you should get some rest."

"Is he going to stay out there all night?" Jun sighed at the window in the boys' dormitory.

"Huh?" Pierre had already started to drift but he brought his head around to look out the dark glass. "Apollo sleeps in other places all the time."

"I heard he ran off this morning, into the woods."

"What? He did? Well I'm sure he'll be alright."

"...yeah."

Pierre tried to roll over and ignore it but he could still feel Jun standing there, staring out the window. He let out a long sigh and sat up.

"What?"

"It's just...did Apollo really talk to anyone about what happened? It was pretty traumatic, even for those of us just watching. I mean, you were merged with him at the time. You must have felt it too."

"Of course I did. But like I told him, everyone's lost someone to the shadow angels."

"Yes, and everyone takes time to get over it. Baron was the only reason Apollo did anything with DEAVA. What if he's gone for good now?"

This got Pierre's attention. "You don't really think he'd leave, do you?"

"I don't know, but I think it's a possibility."

"Great." Pierre rolled out of bed.

"Where are you going?"

"To see what the others think. If there is a chance he's run off, we need to find him. Coming?"

"Right." Jun followed him out the door.

"What? Apollo wouldn't leave." Silvia reacted to Pierre's words to the assembled element users.

"I don't know, I think Jun has a point." The athlete defended. "But I think we all know we need him now. We should find him before he gets too far."

"What would be the point, of bringing him back, if he does not want to be here?" Sirius asked. "He will never merge with us, if he doesn't want to."

"I don't think that's what's going on here." Tsugumi said nervously. Her eyes met Reika and she continued. "I think he's hurting and he doesn't feel like he can turn to any of us."

"It's really no surprise." Reika added. "After the way we've treated him since he arrived. Of course he doesn't feel like he can show us his real feelings."

"Do you really think, we've been that horrible?" But Silvia asked it like she already knew the answer. She had been there both times Apollo had lost everything—the day they met, and the day Baron died. The first time, they'd imprisoned him and beat him up. And this time, he'd had to pull himself together because of shadow angel attacks. Neither situation had given him a chance to grieve.

"We have to find him." She concluded. "Tsugumi is right."

"I am?"

"Yes. He's out there and he needs to know we're here for him. We're a team, isn't that what Gen Fudo has taught us?"

Everyone consented. They left the warmth of the manor for the dark, cold woods.

The cold had settled on his bare arms and shins hours ago, but he made no move to warm himself. In fact, he didn't feel like moving at all, ever again. His head rested on his knees, arms wrapped around a mess of hair. His only protection against the night wind was the tree at his back, twice as wide as his small frame.

Animals had passed him by with a sniff or a growl, but none dared near him. There was no mistaking the heartache, the rage and the pain that boiled from him. But now, in the cold, everything was reduced to a simmer—a constant, chest aching pain that left him lifeless and empty.

Baron. The kids.

Their faces swam before him, in that realm that only exists on the cusp of sleep. He wanted to linger there forever, where he could focus just enough to hold an image, and it remained as clear as any vision before his eyes.

But he eventually lost control, fell deeper into slumber and the images morphed, backward through time, memories of hunger and pain and cold.

Like now.

Except there was no hope of Baron appearing, to toss him a loaf of stale bread, to shed a warm smile even if his own stomach ached for hunger.

There was no Baron to come rescue him from this place, from the loneliness of every day among people who thought him less than human, who called him names and despised him. Who had never known the suffering of the camps and took everything they had for granted.

"They're not really that bad, are they?" His head shot up. Baron's voice still echoed in his mind. He looked around the dark for his friend but saw no one, and knew it had only been a trick of his own mind, putting words in a dead man's mouth.

But it did sound like something he'd say.

"You wouldn't have liked Sirius." His voice was soft, he stared straight a head and rested his chin on his crossed arms. "But you probably would have gotten a kick out of Silvia." He tucked his head back into his arms. "They're not all bad, but they're not you. They'll never be anything close to you. But I'll stay with them. I'll do everything I have to to save the little ones. I promise you, Baron."

His voice choked off, he felt the damn breaking. "If only I'd been faster!" His fingers pulled hard on red locks. "If I'd just closed my hands—if I'd run as soon as I had you—" his words broke off, turned into something else, into a primal cry that shook the air, that shook his very soul. And when it died he was left only with the cold, outside and in, and the tears that shook his body, that tore from his throat in agonized sobs.

"Apollo..." He froze at the voice, his sobs ceasing at once. In the calm, he heard more bodies, caught the scent of several people. Slowly he drew reddened eyes from his knees, trying to keep them hard, trying to force a scowl over his face.

"What are you all doing here?" He failed to sound gruff, instead his voice was just hoarse.

"We came to find you." Silvia said softly. Why was she talking like that? She never talked like that.

"Can't you take a hint?" Now when he shot to his feet the anger was real. "I didn't want to be found!"

"You shouldn't be alone right now." Pierre took a step closer.

"But I am alone!" His voice rang out clear in the night. He took a step back from the group. He felt his heart thundering in his chest. "I am alone..." he repeated in a whisper.

"Apol—"

"Stay away from me." He pulled his arm back from where she'd tried to touch him. "I don't want you here. Any of you!"

"It's okay to be upset." Pierre was at Silvia's side.

"I'm not upset. Everyone's lost someone, right?"

"I didn't mean—"

"Of course you did! Why should I have feelings? I'm just Apollo. I'm just the dog, the street kid with no feelings."

"That's not true." Jun said from behind Pierre.

"You're our friend." Tsugumi added.

"We should never have made you feel that way." Reika stood at Sirius's side and looked to him. He gave a long sigh.

"You should come back with us." His voice was flat. Apollo glared at him.

"You're all just worried you'll lose your stupid Apollonius. Well I'm not him! I'm Apollo! Baron gave me that name, it's the only one I want! I don't care what happened 12 000 years ago. I care what happened three days ago." He gave a lurch, he was losing it, a hand shot to his face in a vain attempt to physically hold back the tears and the pain. "JUST GO AWAY!"

"No." Silvia stood firm before him.

"Fine, stay here." He shoved past her but his arm was caught by Pierre. He tried to pull it back but his grip was firm.

"Let go."

"No."

"LET GO!" He swung, wild, unthinking, Pierre caught this wrist as well. He yanked against the hold, but nothing in him was working right. He was shaking from head to toe and he ended up just standing there, arms going limp in Pierre's hold.

"I don't..." he lowered his eyes, stared at the blue uniform before him, muted in the dark. He felt heavy, like everything was slowing down. "I don't want to move on without him." His head fell forward against a strong chest. Pierre let his arms go and braced him.

"I'm sorry that you lost him."

Apollo squeezed his eyes tight, and was barely aware of the shift in bodies until he smelled her, felt her, and instead of a broad chest it was delicate arms wrapping around him. She pressed his face into her shoulder and he clung back to her, desperate for some relief, desperate to find an anchor in the storm of sorrow that consumed him. And he screamed. He sobbed. Until his knees gave out, and he felt his stomach heave, his vision blur, and the darkness win.

So I see this is a pretty small fandom here, but I recently came back to this series and I had this story in mind so I wanted to share if anyone out there still has a soft spot for Aquarion. This will be about 4 or 5 chapters long, tthe first part is more character and HC, the last part is action (and HC). If you stumble upon this, I would like to hear your thoughts,

Riza.