I wonder how I looked the day I fell. Cry said he saw an unremarkable fear in my eyes as I fell. I looked like a pilot who had fallen out of their plane, and I had my arms wrapped around Sophie from before we jumped. Sophie was less fearful than me, however, she had ended up losing consciousness as well. The only one who remained awake was Cry, it was a mystery to me as to how that was. It was a miracle, really.
I remember that pleasant feeling of a dream, despite the fact I realized I had hit the concrete what only seemed like seconds before. It had a sensation falling feeling that felt remotely familiar. Am I dead? The answer was “no”. It wouldn"t be much of a story if I was dead already, would it be?
But no. There"s more to this story so far.
Come with me.
There"s something else I want to show you.
“This isn"t what I meant by, “rule this city”,” The man of ginger hair and a top-hat said, chewing at the end of his lit cigar. He had a cane that was more for show than anything else. He didn"t seem to need it for walk as I would later learn: Roman Torchwick was both a good runner and a coward. I remembered seeing him in my dreams, this man. In a state of awake consciousness, I remember the scene play out, as I watched from the distance, with the inability to interact. “You"re not exactly Grimm, either,” he said, dropping the cigar to the ground, crushing it with a single stomp of the foot. He rose his cane, aiming for an oncoming horde. I was shocked to what I saw next.
A rocket flew straight from the bottom of the cane, like it doubled as some sort of gun. I had honestly never seen anything like that before. Well, that was before I met Lie Ren and Roman Torchwick, then things were different. To be fair, I didn"t exactly have that normal of weapons either. Where are my manners? I keep spoiling this story, for that. I"m sorry.
The blast had caused an eruption of dust and dirt to fly everywhere in the abandoned city. The man gave a smirk, pulling out another roll of his cigar, pulling a match from his pocket, ready to walk away, when he turned around, hearing that infernal crying and moaning. He raised his cane again, “Okay,” he said, looking at the crater that now existed in the ground. “You"re a nasty bunch, aren"t you?” He bit the end of his cigar off, spitting it on the ground, walking backwards as he lit it, dropping the half lit match on the ground, stepping on it as he walked. He raised the cane again, another rocket sent for the horde. Again, it only caused a massive explosion and some staggering. He sighed, “Well, this isn"t exactly as I planned,” he mumbled, looking around the alleyways of the abandoned city for some sort of escape.
At the time, I had the feeling that he was going to die. “Behind you! Idiot!” I called out to him, but it seemed he could not hear me. “Idiot! There"s a ladder, right there! That alleyway! Climb it!!” I keep yelling out to him, but no matter how loud I strain my voice, he could not hear me. “BEHIND YOU!”
He turns around, looking into the distance. He takes his cigar out, blowing rings of superiority at the oncoming horde from the other side, they climb a yellow, rusted, run-down car with no wheels. He was between two incoming hordes…you"re gonna die, idiot! Get out of there!
As the incoming hordes began to converge, I watched as he moved towards a dumpster, his cigar hanging from his teeth. “This isn"t Vale, is it?” He said with a bit of a smirk and a cough, “if it were, I would"ve already won.” He said, looking over at the inhumane creatures. They weren"t Grimm either, I hear him say, but no mouth moves. I"m sure I had imagined it, at least until later, when I discover the full potential of my ability. I see the horde almost cover the man completely, he drops his cigar to the ground when all of a sudden, I see a green-flash, fly right through the horde, two swords of glittering silver slash through the horde, knocking some of them out of the way.
Up on strings, a man takes a landing leap, the ropes of his device recalling to the side. He looks back, a dark look on his face. I come to recognize this face and familiarize myself with it in the future. An ironic twist of events on this story, as Roman and Levi come to really rival one another. It"s funny to say that in the end, they really did care. “Hmpf,” the short man with black hair says he turns around, facing the ginger. “Is that the best you have?” He says in a cold, foreboding voice.
The ginger lights another cigar, letting it slide to the corner of his mouth. He smirks, “And just who are you, Green?” The black-haired man looks at him, a cold look. His facial expression doesn"t change until the staggering horde, and even when that happens, the only change in his facial expression is the blood that spatters as he mows through the crowd.
“Henry!” I hear a voice call for me, I snap awake in an instant, Sophie is beside me, a circle of healing light beneath me. Cry is looking down on me, I can see his white mask. “Yeeees?” I say in a casual tone, despite the pounding feeling in the back of my head. “You feelin” okay?" He says in a quiet tone and I nod my head, looking to the purple haired girl, “Did you heal me, Sophie?” She nods her head, silently, a foreboding look in her eyes as she looks over to the alley in which we had come from.
Asbel.
She"s missing Asbel. I didn"t know it at the time, but the resent from Sophie Lhant had grown over time. Honestly, it wouldn"t be later until the death of Asbel really took its tolls on me. I"ll admit, I wasn"t particularly close with him, but watching him go out like that…let"s just say I take a little blame for it.
Maybe if Asbel didn"t die. I would"ve never saved as many people as I did.
Ah, I"m getting ahead of myself again, aren"t I?
“Thanks,” I say, sitting up and looking around. I find myself looking at my gauntlets, “Why didn"t you tell me your gauntlets can do that?” Cry says, I let my arm hang over my knee, “well, to be honest. I had no idea they could do that myself. Or else…,” I look over to Sophie, she says nothing. Her eyes, they say nothing. She"s just looking down over towards the alleyway. I later learn that she didn"t go back for Asbel, she couldn"t do it, face herself. Her failures.
Sophie…
I look over to my crew, remembering the strange, avid dream I had. “What"s up?” Cry says, noticing my facial expression. “Nothing, just thinking…you think there are others like us in the city?” Cry shrugs, “Maybe. There is me, you, and Sophie…,” he trails off, looking to the young purple haired girl. I nod my head, “exactly. I was just thinking about it, was all.”
I hear the moans and groans in the next alleyway over. “They"re below us.” I say, creeping close to the edge to look below. I"m careful not to let my beret fall down. “W-What are they clambering for?” I say, disturbed by the sight as many of them are gathered near the wall of the building. “I don"t know.”
“Do they know we are here?” I say, looking over to Cry. He shakes his head. “I have no idea.”
I lean back, realizing it"s hopeless to ask Cry or Sophie or help. Cry is clearly like me: he has no clue. And Sophie…well, she just lost someone important to her. It would be up to me to find out if there were more people…“HENRY! NOT AGAIN!” I hear Cry shout my name from behind.
I turn around, looking behind me as someone is sent flying in my direction again. Hitting and sliding across the rooftop, I catch a glimpse of the symbol on their green cloak. “Gotcha!” I say as the person collides with me, I grab onto him, both of us are sent staggering backwards. “W-whoa. Maybe I-I don"t!” I say, holding onto him.
“Oh, crap!” I call out, as I hold up my gauntlet, the rope slings around the escape ladder, catching us mid-air as we fall. “Well, this isn"t good,” I say, looking up to Cry, he"s looking down with Sophie. “Hang on, Henry! We"ll come and get you!” He calls, and I look at the kid I caught. That"s right, kid.
“Wait…you aren"t the same one, yet you have the same symbol?” The kid is shaking a bit, he has blonde hair and blue eyes that I would see a few minutes later, for now, they were closed. “W-What?” He manages to stutter out. “You"re not in the best of shape, kid.” I say, noticing the blood trickling down the side of his face.
“I know…I"m sorry,” he mumbles, and I"m still holding onto him, we"re both dangling. I can feel the rope"s durable beginning to extend. If we fall, we"re swarmed by…those things. I shudder at the thought. “Henry,” I say to the boy, looking over to him. “Huh?” He says, opening his eyes and I"m greeted with the ocean blue eyes of his. “My name. It"s Henry. If we fall and die, I"d rather you at least knew who your failed savior was.”
He gives a nervous smirk, “Armin. My name is Armin,” he says, looking down below us, seeing the horde. “Those…things,” he mumbles and I shake my head, “Yeah, I know. If we fall…,” he finished my sentence for me, “we"re done for.” We"re silent for a few moments, where is Sophie and Cry? They should"ve gotten here by now…
“I"m sorry,” I hear Armin say again, and I look at him, “What for?” And then I look below, letting out a nervous laugh, “Oh yeah. That. Well, don"t worry about it,” I say, looking at him, “in a way, you"re the answer to my questions.” He looks at me, a look of mixed confusion, “Huh?”
“I"ll explain when Sophie and Cry get us.”
“O-Okay.”
“So, Armin, where are you from?”
“Not here.”
“Me either.”
“Henry!” I finally hear Cry say as he and Sophie reach the corner of the escape ladder. “Try to pull yourself up, we"ll grab you two from there.” I nod my head, let"s do this. “Gotcha!” I call up then look over to Armin, “you ready to try this?” He nods in reply.
I didn"t expect to fall.