Alright let’s get this done.
Joshua had a half grin on his face as he set the last explosives around the building top that he had been told that he was to meet Rhyme at. They were remote activated and as he finished programming the detonator in his hand Rhyme walked through the rooftop door.
She was hugging herself shyly as she approached him. She was obviously nervous. Joshua already knew what she was going to say. Honestly he didn’t want to hurt Rhyme, in fact he kind of liked the young girl. She was cute to him… in a punk lolita type of way.
Joshua was torn from his thoughts as she began to talk.
“Uh… umm… Joshua I… I have something to tell you.” Rhyme stammered in a tiny voice.
“Oh man!” she thought as she started to blush, “I’m stammering. I bet he thinks I’m an idiot. Oh God, does he see me blushing!?”
“I lo…”
“You know, you’re kinda cute.” Joshua said as he interrupted her.
“What!?” Rhyme said surprised.
“I really like you.” Joshua said, putting up the best concerned voice he had ever done.
Rhyme couldn’t believe what she was hearing. The older boy that she liked was confessing to her! She blushed even more as he took her hands. Her bliss was cut short as Joshua whispered something in her ear.
Joshua leaped away from her and hit the detonator.
Beat was chilling out leaning on the wall of the building adjacent from the one his sister had gone into. She said she had to do something important and that she had to do it on her own. He didn’t like the idea of letting her go off on her own. He wanted to protect her from things as long as he could. He just wanted his little sister to be happy.
BOOM
Beat looked up towards a large explosion on the top of the building. Beat needed to get there fast. He had no idea if Rhyme had been hit in the blast but he wanted to be sure. He quickly looked around and saw an old skateboard wedged into the curb of the road a few feet away from him. He jumped on it and pushed of the curb with all his strength.
“Please let Rhyme be okay!” He begged to whatever god would hear him.
“What the hell was that noise!?” Trevor yelled as him and the others sprinted towards the no fading center of dark energy.
“It sounded like a bomb going off.” Holly answered.
Trevor cursed under his breath as he ran. “Dr. Myanmar, go towards where the bomb went off and see if anyone needs help.” He looked over at Holly, “Holly will go with you to assist you and give you protection.”
“Sure thing lad, you just be sure that Riku is alright. I don’t want to come back from shrapnel and burns just to see a broken arm or leg.” The doctor said playfully as he and Holly headed the other direction.
Trevor pulled out his handgun and made sure he had enough bullets. He didn’t want to go into a potential kill zone only to realize his gun was as useful as a rock.
Sora and Kairi stood in front of a group of the new S.O.L.D.I.E.R 3rd class recruits. Although Shinra was the one who made the S.O.L.D.I.E.R. program Hollow Bastion’s government took control of S.O.L.D.I.E.R. after the company’s failing. To be a first class was to be the pinnacle of the Hollow Bastion’s military. Sora was deemed fit to be lower level first class and Kairi high second class.
This being the case Sora was ranked as Lieutenant Colonel and Kairi was ranked as the Major below him. Sora still couldn’t believe that in less than a year he went from a normal kid to keyblade user to a high ranking member of the largest military power in the known worlds.
“Everybody get ready! Colonel Strife is coming” one of the third class officers shouted as he walked into the room.
Cloud walked in a few moments later. Everyone snapped into attention and saluted. Sora could tell that Cloud didn’t like being a Colonel or being responsible for any number of people’s lives. He had accepted the post because the military was short on trained men ever since the fall of Ansem.
“Okay men, you have been given the title of S.O.L.D.I.E.R. because you are the best your nation has to offer. We will not fail in our quest to rid the worlds of evil. As we fought with all our strength to remove Ansem from power so too will we do so against the
threat Xemnas and his organization pose.” With this Cloud raised his fist up into the air. “We are strong!”
“WE ARE S.O.L.D.I.E.R!” the men in the room replied.
“Make sure your weapons are clean and loaded because by this time tomorrow you will be on board a cruiser in enemy territory. Dismissed!”
Sora waited for the 3rd classes to leave before he spoke to Cloud.
“Cloud was it easy to adjust to this kind of life?”
Cloud laid his hand on Sora’s head and smiled.
“Adjusting is never easy, but its better when you have good friends to help you.” Cloud said in the soothing voice that Sora and Kairi had both grown to like.
Sora felt someone hug him from behind. He knew it was Kairi. She squeezed him tightly.
Cloud understood that that was his cue to leave the two of them alone.
“Kairi…”
“I’m not gonna let go!” she cried.
Sora had picked up on the fact that Kairi was afraid of war. She wasn’t afraid of being in a war but she was terrified of him being in a war.
Sora took her hands, turned around, and looked at her.
“Nothings going to happen to me.” He said calmly as he wiped away a tear with his thumb.
“You don’t know that!” She cried as she pushed herself against him and hugged him harder.
Sora gently wrapped his arms around her light almost fragile frame. He rubbed her back comforting her in this way.
“Kairi look at me.” He put his hand under her chin and made her look at him but she just buried her face in his shirt again, “Come on… look at me.” He did so again this time succeeding.
Her eyes were so big and blue. They were the prettiest eyes he had ever seen.
“I’ll never leave you…”
Kairi put her hands on Sora’s shoulders, quickly leaned up towards his face, and kissed him firmly on the lips and pulled just as fast.
The stood there holding each other in silence. Neither of them wanted to let go, but as it grew later they slowly let go and walked back to their rooms. And as Sora closed his eyes to go to sleep he thought of how Cloud must have felt when he lost Aerith and how he would feel if he ever lost Kairi. Tonight he truly understood what a loss that must have been.
“Trevor! Oh thank God you’re here!” Riku rasped as he crawled over to him the best he could.
“Riku!” Trevor shouted as he picked up speed.
“Wait there’s a magic barrier!”
Trevor stopped and pulled out his pistol and fired in an open area away from Riku. The bullet crumpled like a pop can get run over by a truck.
“Shit that’s some powerful magic! Who the hell did this to you!?”
“Just get me out of here…” Riku slipped into unconsciousness.
“I don’t like ridding in your bag! It’s degrading!” River grumbled as she pushed the flap of Trevor’s shell case up. That’s when she saw Riku.
“Oh my God! What happened!? What happened to my Riku!?” River yelled out as she leaped down from the bag and scampered over to him.
“Don’t worry River he’ll be,”
“WHAHHH!!!! RIKU IS HURT!!!!” She wailed.
Trevor nearly jumped as he heard River cry. She was too loud. Whoever did this to Riku might still be around and he didn’t want to have to deal with someone while trying to protect her.
“River please he’ll be fine! You need to quite down.” He begged.
“BUT WHAT IF HE ISN’T GOING TO BE FINE!?” She wailed again.
Trevor realized telling her to shut up wasn’t going to cut it. He grabbed her by the tail, which made River squeal in mild pain, and lifted her up to his face.
“River… you need to be quite because the person who did this to Riku might still be around okay?”
“Okay…” River said back in a hushed voice.
Trevor set her back on the ground and let go of her tail. He shrugged his jacket off and gripped the hilt of his gunblade. He pulled the exotic weapon out of its sheath and took a fighting stance. It had been such a long time that Trevor had thought he had forgotten it. He made and extremely quick slash that looked was almost unseen by the naked eye.
The attack resembled more of a flash of light. Without all the street lamps around them to catch the metal of the blade, River would not have seen it.
The barrier lit up for a few seconds, collapsed and faded away. River couldn’t believe what she had just seen. She knew that Trevor was strong, but so strong to collapse a magical barrier with just strength alone was next to impossible. Magic barriers were designed so that you couldn’t do that. It puts up a thin layer of powerful element based magic that is focused to the point where it distorts the light around it in rainbow like affect. There are only 3 ways to break a barrier. The first was to kill the person that made it; the second was to cast a spell more powerful than that of the strength of the barrier, and the third and hardest was to overpower the field with a physical attack while pumping out a large amount of your own magical power.
Magic backed physical attacks were what give immensely powerful warriors the ability to cut through metal and anything with armor. River knew that, that was an ability that was found only in the S.O.L.D.I.E.R 1st class and SeeD, formally Darkness, agents.
River was pulled back to reality with the sound of Trevor sliding his gunblade back into its case. She quickly ran over to Riku’s side. She mewed quietly as she brushed up against him.
“Tilt his head back.”
River’s eyes darted over to Trevor.
“What!?”
Trevor pulled a healing potion from his bag.
“Tilt his head back. It will open up his throat so he can swallow the potion.” Trevor answered as he knelt down.
“Will that make him better?” River asked tears flowing from her eyes as she pushed Riku’s chin back with her arms and tail.
“It won’t heal him completely, but it will make him stable. We’ll need Dr. Myanmar to have a look at him when we get back to him.” He said in a comforting voice as he hoisted Riku up onto his back.
River scampered squirrel like up Trevor’s leg and up to his shoulder so she could be closer to Riku. She kissed Riku lightly on the cheek.
“Don’t worry Riku. Your gonna be okay.” She whispered her words separated by sniffles.
Beat could see his sister falling. He pushed himself faster and faster, but it wasn’t going to be enough. No matter how fast he pushed himself he wouldn’t make it to her in time. PUSH! That was it!
Beat put all his weight on the front of the board, bent his knees, and pushed off the board into the air. He thrust his arms out so far that his muscles hurt. His prayers were answered as Rhyme fell into his open arms. Beat pulled her close to his body and rolled in the air to get his back to hit the pavement.
He hit the ground elbow first with a loud thud and the cracking of bone. Beat yelled at the top of his lungs as he cradled his sister in his arms. She was in a daze. Beat saw her eyes flutter as if she were having a heart attack. Lucky for him, she wasn’t.
Just as Beat was starting to sit up he heard a voice.
“Are you okay over there!?”
Beat looked over and saw an old man and a young girl with blood red hair running
towards him. They were upon him in a few seconds.
“Please, you gotta help my sister man! She’s all I got!” Beat pleaded with the strangers.
“Don’t worry son. I’m a doctor and a very good one at that. I will help you to the best of my abilities, but first are you okay?” The old one asked as he got down on one knee and set, what Beat now new to be some kind of medical bag, down next to him.
“I think my arm might be broken, but that doesn’t matter! Save Rhyme! Save my sister!” Beat begged.
Dr. Myanmar motioned for Beat to set her down flat. He removed his jacket and put it around Rhyme’s neck. His well trained eyes ran up and down Rhyme’s little body. She had a few shrapnel wounds but nothing to major. The problem was the trauma she might have sustained in the blast.
The doctor put his ear to the young girl’s chest. Her breathing was uneven. His eyes darted to the girl’s face. She was turning blue.
“Holly!” he shouted, “Slowly remove her hat.”
Holly did as he had asked and as the hat was removed Dr. Myanmar’s fears were confirmed. This young man’s sister had sustained blunt force trauma to the head. A large burse started to form on her head. His eyes darted over to Beat.
“You need to keep her awake by any means!” not waiting for a reply he turned to Holly, “Holly, open up my medical bag. Take the vial marked with a red number 5 and put it into the syringe gun.”
After a few seconds of digging through the bag Holly found the vial and placed it into the syringe gun.
“What are you gonna do with that thing!?” Beat shouted as he saw how large the needle was.
“It’s an adrenaline potion.” The doctor replied, “You sister’s lungs don’t have enough energy to keep take in air because of the hit she took to the head. This will giver he body the ability to run without commands from the brain.”
Rhyme convulsed as the needle was stuck into her body. The shrapnel that had found itself stuck in her skin was immediately pushed out.
Without stopping to take a breath, Dr. Myanmar issued more orders.
“Holly, get the hi-potion out of my bag! It should be enough to seal the wounds. Boy, talk to her. Keep her awake, because if she falls asleep she might not wake up!”
“Come on Rhyme,” Beat said as he kissed Rhyme on the cheek, “You can’t die! I love you too much for you to die!” He held her in his arms, his tears falling onto her face. “You’re what I live for! Out of all the things in the world that I hold in my heart you’re the most important! Please don’t go Rhyme! I’m begging you!”
Dr. Myanmar handed Beat the potion. He put it to Rhyme’s mouth and let it slide down her throat. He waited and… nothing happened.
Beat began to sob uncontrollably.
“Rhyme no! NO NO! NO! NO! NO!” he begged, tapping her face gently, “OPEN YOUR EYES!”
Still nothing happened. Beat hugged his sister tightly.
Holly thought of what her older sister’s death must have looked like. Was this how it happened? Her brother on the ground pleading that she be alright? She felt tears begin to form.
Dr. Myanmar sighed. He looked at his watch. It was 5:48. A child had died today.
“Time of death is…” just as Dr. Myanmar was about to call it, Rhyme coughed.
“Rhyme!?” Beat cried as he looked down at his sister’s face. Her eyes were starting to open! “Oh Rhyme, thank God you’re alive!” he said as he hugged her again.
“Beat,” she whispered in his ear.
“What is it Rhyme? What do you need?”
“You’re what I live for too.”
With that she passed out. Unconscious but alive.
Joshua looked down on Shiki like a hawk would a rabbit. She was with Neku, but they were a pair that constantly fought about something and often separate. Lucky for him they were having one such fight now. He looked on as Shiki stomped her foot, screamed something at Neku, and stormed off as Neku did the same. Joshua smiled as he slithered down from his perch and followed after Shiki.
Joshua knew a secret of Shiki’s. Her appearance wasn’t her own. Her real body was much different than the one she has now. He knew how to take care of her too. Good thing he brushed up on some illusion magic before he got involved with his new “Friends”. He snapped his fingers.
Shiki couldn’t believe how obnoxious Neku was. She just wanted to get to know him better. She wanted to be friends with him maybe even something more. He hadn’t even told her his last name.
“Does he not trust me that much?” She thought, “I guess I keep things from him too…”
Shiki was pulled from her thoughts as she saw a person on a bench with their backed turned to her crying.
“Are you okay?” Shiki asked in a nice, comforting voice.
“No.” the person said firmly as they stood up, “My friend stole everything from me.”
Shiki gasped and her eyes went wide as the person turned around. She looked just like her.
“Eri? But how!?”
“You stole everything from me! My face, my body, my voice, even my personality!” Eri screamed interrupting Shiki.
“Eri… when you went away.”
“What,” she interjected again, “You thought you could just become me? You were always jealous of me! I knew you hated that everyone liked me more and wanted to be me. Well guess what Shiki? You’re a loser and will always be a loser even if you do have my face.”
“Eri I’m…”
“Oh and don’t think I didn’t see that boy you were with. He only keeps you around ‘cause you look like me. If he saw the real you the he’d drop you like a bad habit. Of course no boy in their right mind would ever fall for you. You’re ugly and not appealing in the slightest.” Eri said as she circled Shiki.
Shiki fell to her knees and started to cry. Everything Eri said was true. She was a fake. Everyone hated her and the only person who did like her was Eri. With Eri hating her she had no friends, no real ones at least.
“Yeah that’s right! Sit there and cry! That’s the only thing you could ever do anyway. You’re useless and even that boy knows your useless.” Eri taunted, “I’m sure he’s told you that plenty of times.”
Shiki fell to the ground and curled up into a ball. She hated everything about herself. She closed her eyes.
Eri smiled. Shiki was in total shutdown. She walked away into an alley laughing. When she was finally far enough away she snapped her fingers. Her body flaked away until nothing remained of her and Joshua had taken her place. He smiled an evil smile.
“Four down… one to go.”