Hey, everyone!

Thanks for reading my story. Hope you enjoy!

P.s I'm bad at writing action/fighting scenes; so apologies in advance.

I stare back at the creatures unflinchingly. I extend an arm to prevent Raven from advancing; I am NOT letting him get hurt. It's not that I don't believe in him—it's just he's more of a tactician than a brawler. Not to mention, the fact that we're both unarmed; while these… things have weapons—rusted sure, but still lethal.

"Kekeke...He-ko...," the one with one arm laughs. I barely understood… him? Her? They? Well, I'm going with the male pronouns for now.

What? You try looking at them and determining their gender. What are these things anyway?

I shake my head to get rid of the thoughts and focus on the advancing creatures. The one with an axe raised his weapon and strikes, but he was too slow, I merely sidestep away—unfortunately, that left an opening for the pirate (one-leg) to attack. I ducked just in time, the mace hitting One-arm instead. The mere force of it was strong enough to rip his head off, the severed head now laying near Mr. Swody-Staff's feet—and then, it started laughing, as if it was amused by the whole predicament.

Suddenly, I feel a sharp painful impact on my tummy, before I'm kicked back a few paces. Damn, I completely forgot about Pirate-guy; I really need to focus more.

I notice One-arm's limp body nearby—the small axe still embedded into its back. I quickly dodge Pirate's swings and reach for the bloodied axe.

Desperate times, call for desperate measures.

As soon as I wrench the axe out, One-arm started to shriek—the sound ear-piercing, and filled with pure agony. Soon, his corpse starts to rapidly deteriorate and decay. In just a moment, all that's left are some bones, pieces of flesh, and maggots.

The pirate man starts to tremble, yelling something in anguish, his words slurred. In his rage, he quickly threw his mace at me. It freakin' headshot me—but it gave me an advantage. Ignoring the blood and pain, I kick the weapon as far as possible. Then I threw the handheld axe straight at his chest, the impact causing him to take a step back, screaming in pain. The axe easily pierced through his leather armour, but it didn't seem like a fatal wound.

"STOP!" An authoritative voice commands. I instantly snap my head to look at the source; Mr. No-mouth. Well, not really No-mouth anymore—the stitches on his lips were torn, and his jaw fell, literally. Then, I noticed he had one of those sword staffs at Raven's throat!

"Raven!" I shout, breathing heavily. I'm sure I look panicked, wild, and whatever else that fits. "Let him go!" I seethe, my hands clenching. Mr. Swordy-Staff just smiled—an odd sight with his jaw almost torn from his face. I tried taking a step forward, but the creature nearly cut Raven's throat!

Of course, I immediately take a step back. Raven's absolutely petrified, a look of absolute horror painted on his face. His form trembling as he stares at me, wide-eyed.

"Hehehe...good," the thing chuckles, his jaw moving up and down with the vibrations. He then clinks(?) his other swords together. The next thing I know, Pirate-boy had tackled me to the ground. I try to move away but he pins my arms above my head. He opens his mouth as if trying to bite me, and I get a first-hand view of his excessive amount of teeth.

Pirate pulls back his arm, before landing a punch straight to my face; more specifically, my freakin' eye. He grins stupidly, all the way to his ears—or whatever's left of them. He proceeds to repeatedly punch my face, and I'm powerless to fight back. After noticing my non-reaction, Pirate halts his actions and stands up. At first, I thought he decided to take mercy on me; oh, how wrong I was.

He continues to attack me—this time, kicking me with his bone pegleg. I curl into a ball, trying to protect my head, stomach, chest, and lessen the chances of me being killed. After a moment, Mr. Pirate sneers in distaste, an infuriated aura surrounding him. Suddenly, he uses all his force and kicks me as hard as possible.

The next thing I knew, I'm f****** flying through the air, before I felt myself crash against the cafe's brick wall. I groan, feeling my head spinning. Slowly, I slide down before collapsing on the rocky ground. I hiss, feeling the pain overtaking me. My whole body feels like lead, I can't even open my mouth.

I'm so tired, and my body already gave up on me. I guess it's angry at me or something. My eyes start to get droopy. Everything's getting hazy and blurry too...

Hey, who left the fog machine running? Get it?

My eyes instinctively trail up to look at Raven. His eyes were so wide, I'm kinda afraid they might pop out or something. He looks even more terrified than before—I didn't think that was even possible. His eyes locked on me, rooted to the spot.

Stupid boy...

He should've just run away when he had the chance...

He should've just saved himself...

He should've just left me...

I force my lips to twitch into a smile. I smile at Raven, just as I start fading away from reality. If I don't survive this, at least, the last thing I did, was smiling at the person who matters most to me.

Heh, he's so bloody stupid...

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No, no, no...

NO!

F***! Open your eyes, Max! Don't you dare die, you hear me?! Don't you dare leave me! Wake the **** up!

No...I shouldn't be mad at him; he got hurt protecting me. He would always charge into danger head-first if he knew he could save someone's life—even if it means sacrificing his own. ******* imbecile, always acting like a hero, always putting others above himself...

I swallow convulsively; dread, nausea, guilt, fury, sadness, anger—all the emotions swirling and warring for dominance inside me.

Suddenly, One-arm gestures to No-mouth. The leader growls but the former remains unperturbed. With a sigh—that sounds more like a gurgle—the leader throws one of their sword staffs to One-leg. The latter catches the weapon with ease as a malicious grin makes its way onto his lips.

He starts to approach Max's unconscious body, his own figure swaying erratically. The creature's body quivers as he starts laughing sadistically, gripping the sword staff tightly.

My breath hitches in my throat—he's gonna f****** kill Max! The image from before invades my mind again; of Max's severed head, smeared with blood and disfigured—and a pained smile on his face.

Suddenly, images of all the times Max and I hung out flood my mind; his smiles, his laughs, how he knows exactly how to make me smile and laugh...

In just a moment, I'll never experience any of that anymore—I'll never see his beautiful mismatched eyes that shine; his blinding smile that rivals the sun; his laughter, always free and full of cheer.

Then an image—no, a memory suddenly resurfaces. Max is in front of me. The memory is blurry and I can't really make out anything; except Max's smile. Then I hear myself proclaim, "I'm going to repay the favor; one day, I'll be the one protecting you!" Max smiles at me, giving me a thumbs-up.

Right, I said I'll be the one protecting him...

Time to fulfill that declaration.

A new feeling overtakes me, effectively crushing my uncertainty and fear. I swiftly elbow the one holding me hostage. He hunches forward, groaning as his grip slackens. I crouch down, before grabbing the staff with both hands and thrusting it into the creature's chest. They let out a pained shriek-like wail. I ignore it, get to my feet and pry the sword staff out his chest, before stabbing him again.

When he stops convulsing and starts to decay like One-arm, I become certain he won't be an obstacle anymore. I turn to look at One-leg—he was now standing right in front of Max, weapon raised!

Darn it!

No, calm down; I can still save him (Max, not One-leg). I hurriedly rushed towards them. Once I'm in range, I readied my weapon; One-leg spins on his leg, shocked. But he was too slow. I immediately swiped at him, the sword cleanly cutting off his head. Instinctively, I used the weapon to smash his head, like it was just a watermelon.

I heave a tired but relieved sigh as I drop the sword staff. I take a deep breath, which I immediately regret.

Right, I forgot these things are like zombies or something.

The stench of rotten flesh, dried blood, and their corpses makes me want to vomit. But the one that terrifies me the most is the whiff of fresh blood. (Don't ask how I can tell the difference)

I look around, the coast seems to be clear. But I'm sure as hell not risking it. I kneel beside Max's unmoving body. I checked his pulse— nearly having a heart attack when I couldn't find it—and thankfully he was still alive, hopefully.

My body sags against the brick building.

Ugh, I feel so tired...

What was that...? Adrenaline?

No, even if it.. whatever that was, was adrenaline; I wouldn't attack someone—or even something—so mercilessly. I didn't even feel any remorse for breaking their skulls, even if they're technically dead. (I'm just gonna assume they're zombies)

I take out my phone and dial a number. "...who, what, where; okay, shoot," the person on the other line says. I groan, looking over everything.

"Max, we were attacked, behind the cafe where I work," I answer, not bothering to keep the tiredness out of my voice.

"Is my brother alright? Actually, by the sound of it, are you alright?" Max's eldest sister questions.

"I'm fine. You should be more concerned for your brother—he's fainted." I instantly plugged my ear with my finger after that. I already knew what she'd yell before she even heard the statement. What any concerned person would say; 'WHAAAT?!'

"Please, just come pick us up," I sigh tiredly. I hear a groan on the other line before a grumbled,

"Fine."

I glance at my friend. By now, I'm not affected by the stench of the corpses and dried blood—surprising, considering how foul it is. Huh, I wonder if Max's sister can bear it; well, she is a doctor, but still.

I close my eyes as I let sleep take over me. But before I do, I whisper quietly to myself.

"I'm sorry, Max..."

On one of the buildings near the cafe, two figures stood. They had been silently observing the entire 'show.' One of the figures scrunches up all three of her eyes in confusion. "Young Lady," she starts. The other figure gave no indication she was listening but the former knew she was.

"Vhy did you nicht interfene? Zralls may nicht be among ze powerful, but in groups—especially against zose two vho vere so ill-eqfiped--zzey pose a fery r-r-real zreat," the three-eyed woman asks—in her distinctively German accent—gazing at the other expectantly.

After a long pause, the solemn woman replies, "Tell me, Drei; do you know how birds fly?" The aforementioned woman blinks, confused. But quickly gather her wits.

"If I'm korrect, zey pusch zeir kids off from heights, cha?" She asks for confirmation. The other woman nods.

"Do you know why they do that?" Drei shakes her head.

"To instill fear," the wise woman answers. Still not looking at her maid, the woman continues, "Fear can be very detrimental, but humans don't realize, it can be a motivator too." Drei tilts her head in confusion.

"If it wasn't for the fear of failure and death, a bird would never take flight; similarly, a human who has never tasted fear will never soar." The cloaked woman inhales the night air, before continuing, "Only a fool would take every risk, regardless of the consequences—but those who never dared to risk anything, are even bigger fools."

Drei flinches when she notices her Lady take a step forward. "Fear has two meanings." The cloaked woman advances another step. "The first meaning is..." She steps forward.

"Forget Everything And Run."

Now, the solemn lady stood at the very edge of the building. "It also means...," she trails off. Suddenly, she leaned forward and fell!

"Young Lady!" Drei screams in surprise, rushing forward. She frantically peers around, but she couldn't see a thing. A nervous tremor rushes through her.

But in the next moment, the cloaked woman flew right back up. Two pairs of beautiful crystalline wings extending out of her back, fluttering softly as they shone and shimmer with the pale moonlight.

Despite looking delicate, those wings were hard enough to withstand a bullet and strong enough to carry the woman's weight and withstand powerful winds—while still looking absolutely gorgeous.

Drei breathes out a sigh of relief. The woman's cloak sways as a gentle breeze whispered through the air. Her blizzard blue eyes—which were almost hidden by the shadow of her hood—seems to have an enchanting but haunting radiance.

"Face Everything And Rise."

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Yeah, I'm on the roll!

I'd like to thank all the reviewers who gave lots of good feedback. Thanks a lot!

Also, in case you guys couldn't understand Drei's accent, I'll write the translations down here:

1. "Vhy did you nicht interfene? Zralls may nicht be among ze powerful, but in groups—especially against zose two vho vere so ill-eqfiped—zzey pose a fery r-r-real zreat."

"Why did you not intervene? Thralls may not be among the powerful, but in groups—especially against those two who were so ill-equipped—they pose a very real threat."

2. "If I'm korrect, zey pusch zeir kids off from heights, cha?"

"If I'm correct, they push their kids off from heights, yes?"

That's all! If you enjoyed it, please leave a vote--a comment is highly appreciated as well!

SEE YOU IN THE NEXT CHAPTER!