HA\\LF: Dead nor Alive

“I see them, I see dead people…” Ruby said as she blankly stared at nothing. “They were screaming at me, yelled at me, they wanted me dead…” Ruby continued as her tears fell down from her cheeks.

Archie just stared at her unfazed by her words and decided to walk past her and ignored her.

Even after he ignored her, she kept mumblings the same words over and over that which started to annoy him. “Can you just leave and bother someone else?” Archie said as he washed his face.

Ruby ignored him this time and kept mumblings, Archie sighed and closed his eyes because he couldn’t take it anymore.

He approached Ruby and slammed her on the thin wall, he glared at her with his hand wrapped around her neck. “Stop talking nonsense!” Archie yelled at her.

The door suddenly banged open, Vincent looked at Archie and saw him choking Ruby. He ran and punched Archie in the face and immediately grabbed Ruby. “Are you crazy?!” Vincent yelled at Archie who was on the ground.

Archie groaned and sat on the floor while he stared at Ruby. “If I’m crazy, then what is she?” Archie said. “She came to my house, she hid in my bedroom, then she approached me while she was crying and telling me about her nightmares?” Archie continued as he stood up. “I don’t want to deal with whatever she’s having because it was her own fault that Julia died for nothing,” Archie said as he walked past them both and left his house.

“Archie, she said something about you that I don’t believe she was making it up…” Vincent said while he looked at Archie.

Archie stopped moving and immediately turned around to look at Vincent. “What did she say?” Archie asked.

“She said that you’re not Axis Human, you’re an Ex-Human,” Vincent answered.

“And you believe her?” Archie asked as he glared at Vincent.

“Knowing that she went to that extent to search for you even though it was dangerous and against Marshall Marlon’s order, I believe she was telling the truth,” Vincent answered while he wrapped his arm around Ruby who was still mumblings and staring at nothing.

“Let’s say that she’s telling the truth, what are you going to do with that information?” Archie asked as he rubbed his fist.

“I’m not going to say anything to anyone about this. But, there’s a favor that I would like to ask you, it’s about the current situation around the wall.” Vincent said as he looked a bit worried.

Archie looked away and scoffed. “You’re asking for my help? After you all agreed on discharging me back then?” Archie said as he pointed at himself and stared at Vincent.

“Have you not heard about what happened outside the wall?” Vincent asked and ignored Archie’s question. “Both Prince and Resse were in a coma right now after they encountered a Gen 7 ExTP,” Vincent continued. “Without them both, sooner or later that parasite would come and destroy everyone here,” Vincent said with his fist clenched.

Archie crossed his arms and furrowed his eyebrows. “Gen 7 ExTP? That’s nonsense, there’s no such a thing as Gen 7 ExTP when I lived out there for days, and even if there is, I would be able to notice its presence.” Archie explained as if he didn’t believe him.

“I’m not sure if it was true that what they saw was Gen 7 or not, but what I’m concerned about was the words they said before they fell unconscious,” Vincent said as he shook his head and kept holding Ruby. “They said that they saw a human standing next to that parasite, and they both said the human seemed to be the one controlling the parasite,” Vincent continued as he gulped.

“A human?” Archie asked as he furrowed his forehead.

“Yes, they said that the guy spoke with the parasite,” Vincent answered.

“A man?” Archie asked while he squinted his eyes.

Archie thought the human who ordered the parasite was one of the witches, but he knew that the witches couldn’t control the parasite at all and only lived amongst them. Now that he heard that the human who controlled the parasite was a man, he got more confused because all those Ex-Humans that protected the forest were all women. The only men Ex-Humans he knew were the Adams that were chosen by those beings.

“Yes, a man,” Vincent answered as he nodded. “They said, the man looked like a normal human being. They both believe that the person they saw was an Ex-Human.” Vincent continued as he walked toward Archie with Ruby in his arm.

“Alright, I will help you,” Archie replied after he thought about it.

“Do you know who that might be? Is he your friend? Or someone you know?” Vincent asked with curiosity.

“It’s really complicated to explain and it’s something that you can’t comprehend, at least for now…” Archie said as he looked at Ruby who was still mumblings. “Let’s put her in her house, she has been like that for quite a while and I’m starting to feel bad for her.” Archie continued as he nodded up at Ruby.

Vincent agreed and they both then brought Ruby back to her house so she could rest.

Archie sat on top of the wooden railing as he looked down at how high he was from the ground. The night wind was so cold that nobody dared to go out of their house. He was thinking about the appearance of Adam and thought about where that Adam came from and why he was there.

“Could it be that he’s here to bring the end of humanity since that’s what he chose to do?” Archie said to himself as he furrowed his eyebrows. “So, everything that happened here was his doing in the first place or it was just a coincidence?” Archie continued to question everything.

The wind hit Archie’s face and he immediately looked up. “You’re here?” Archie asked.

“Yes…” A woman’s voice could be heard as the wind blew but it wasn’t just one voice, there were many voices overlapped from one with another.

Archie stood up and followed the wind.

“Hello?” Archie said as the wind was coming from all four directions.

“So you’re here…” The soothing woman’s voice that he heard for the first time in FalCon-1 was talking with Archie.

Archie could hear other voices and he was a bit confused. “What’s going on? Why there are so many voices?” Archie asked as he tried to follow the voices.

“You need to leave…” The soothing woman’s voice said.

“Leave? Can you tell me what’s going on first?” Archie asked as he raised his voice a bit.

“We are the wind witches from every continent…” The soothing woman’s voice answered. “You have been discovered, you’re in danger…” The soothing woman’s voice continued.

“I know that he’s here, but his plan is to get rid of me?” Archie asked as the wind started to wrap his head.

“Yes… you must leave…” The woman answered.

“Why? Is he stronger than me? I don’t think I should be scared of him because we are the same,” Archie said.

“He’s stronger than you, he has been around way longer than you are and he killed two of our sisters on the north…” The woman said with a sorrowful voice.

Archie was surprised because he knew that the witches were stronger than him because they were the guardian of the Fallen Continent. They were chosen and raised to be strong but after knowing this Adam managed to kill two of them, which meant he was way stronger than Archie as they said.

Archie was thinking about it while the winds kept whispering to him to leave and run away as far as he could. Archie ignored those voices and looked to his right where the voices whispered in his right ear. “I will not leave, if I leave now, everyone will die and without them, I can’t get back to Western Nation,” Archie said with confidence. “If he killed two of your sisters, I will take revenge for you because we are Drautnir and we should take care of each other.” Archie continued as he looked left and right.

“It’s impossible…” Another woman’s voice said.

“It’s not impossible, and even if it is, are you going to let him roam and kill another sister of yours?” Archie asked. “If he wasn’t bothered to kill Drautnir, what makes you think he won’t do that again?” Archie asked with his eyebrows raised. “Help me kill him,” Archie continued as he gripped the railing tightly and stared at the wall.

The wind was silent and Archie could feel they were talking to each other even though what he heard was the wind whistling quietly.

“We will help…” An unfamiliar woman’s voice said. “Come and follow us when the sun rises…” Another unfamiliar woman’s voice said. “We have something to show you…” The soothing woman’s voice said. “Something that might help you to find a way to kill him…” The other woman said.

Archie nodded in agreement. “Thank you. I will be there when the sun rises.”

The wind suddenly dispersed and Archie could hear footsteps coming from behind.

“I never heard such wind could make a beautiful sound like that. This is the first time I have ever heard it as if they were whistling to each other,” Vincent said as he looked up into the sky with his hands hidden in his pocket.

Archie turned around and looked at Vincent. “They were whistling to each other.”