This World

by Lee, TD

  It takes Hiro a few seconds of scavenging before his whole body stops moving. From here, he looks shocked, scared even. He reaches down to pull Sadie’s limp body up from the black ooze. He holds her tightly as she’s not responding at all. No way, please, she can’t be dead. Even from here I can tell that Hiro is crying. His clutch on her becomes tighter

  Hiro hoists Sadie over his shoulder and quickly runs over to me. As soon as I get a clearer view of his face, I can see the tear streaks down his cheeks, mixing with blood and sweat. His eyes are puffed red. Now that he’s closer I can see several injuries. His head and left shoulder are bleeding. He has two daggers lodged into his left thigh, another in his right shoulder, and a fourth dagger in his rib. His left arm is limp, matching the same arm he cut off when he was in Lancelot.

  “Hiro,” I murmur.

  “Stay low,” he orders without looking at me. He gently sets Sadie down next to me. Her body is scarily still.

  “I-is she-”

  Hiro stands, shaking his head. “I don’t know.” He takes a deep breath. “Stay low and stay outside. Buildings aren’t safe for anyone and there’s more of a chance to get hurt if you’re inside a building. This will be over soon. That big, ugly eye up there is the brain of all of the Sefirots. Once I destroy that thing, all of the Sefirots will go away.”

  “How do you plan on getting up there to kill it with all of those injuries?” I ask.

  “I just have to. All of the other pilots are too occupied with the Sefirots or rescuing people. I’m the only one that can do it.

  I start arguing with him, “What do you mean you’re the only one? There’s definitely other people that can do it too! Why do you have to risk your life?”

  “Because that’s what a hero does. And if someone doesn’t do it now, our world could end. It’s vulnerable right now, I have to do it,” he calmly replies back. Despite him trying to keep a calm demeanor, his body is shaking. His hand is clenched into a fist that’s violently trembling. His knees are shaking badly. He’s scared, nervous. I can’t blame him, he’s facing death.

  “But you’re injured,” I reply.

  “It doesn’t matter. I have to end this now or things will get worse. Several of the other pilots are injured, some are dead because of these damnations. I have to do this,” Hiro says. He pulls me in for a quick hug and speaks into my ear, “Please, look after Sadie.” He runs off towards his mech and immediately starts flying.

  I can’t argue against him. As much as I want to, I can’t. He’s determined to end this fight and I can’t tell him otherwise. He’s injured, sad, angry maybe, but he will put the safety of others above his own health. Amongst all of this chaos, he’s still that guy that will do everything in his power to help the people around him. He’ll never stop being that guy, will he?

  Lancelot rapidly soars into the air, aiming for the eye of the Alpha Sefirot. Lancelot is going so fast that you can even see it breaking the sound barrier. Trailing behind Lancelot is a bright trail of light that follows every subtle movement. In Lancelot’s right hand is its big sword. Several Sefirots fly towards Lancelot, but with simple sword strikes the Sefirots fall. As Lancelot ascends faster and faster towards the Alpha, the entirety of Lancelot’s armor glows brightly. The mech looks like a shooting star.

  Lasers from the Alpha shoot down towards the ground, crossing each other and slicing through almost everything they touch. However, it’s clear what the Alpha is aiming for, it’s Lancelot. Hiro maneuvers the mech carefully, spinning and dodging any moving laser that locks onto him. With how the lasers are being controlled, it looks like a cage trapping Lancelot within. A laser clips Lancelot’s leg, ruining the momentum of the mech’s trajectory. More lasers close in on Lancelot, completely obscuring it from view.

  No. He was so close! He can’t die!

  Bursting from the lasers is Lancelot, still propelling itself into the air. Yes! Hiro, you’re still going! Lancelot slashes away at the lasers that fly towards them. Despite the second wind that Lancelot has, I’m surprised the mech is even functioning. Both legs are severed and the lower torso is damaged. Yet, Lancelot is flying closer and closer to the Alpha’s eye. How is the mech still even functioning? The closer Lancelot gets to the Alpha, the smaller the mech seems by comparison.

  “You can do it Hiro!” I unintentionally yell. He has to, he’s so close.

  A violent shriek wails into the air, echoing ominously all around me. The Alpha Sefirot’s eye violently blinks between red and white. Its whole body spazzes as lasers are being shot at random. It looks like the eye is about to explode from the inside as grotesque lumps start stretching at the already big eye. The red veins blink erratically, shooting lasers in any sort of direction you could think of. One last wail echoes as the Alpha explodes, spewing gross white liquid that quickly evaporates into the air. The Alpha itself is starting to disappear into nothingness. The underling Sefirots are flying about in a craze. Some explode as others escape back into the sky.

  Where’s Hiro though? I squint my eyes more to find something falling from the sky. Like a meteor, this thing is set to crash land. Wait. It’s Lancelot! It’s coming down fast, faster than it was when it was aiming for the Alpha. What’s left of its white armor is starting to tear apart. Shit! Isn’t there anyway to stop Lancelot from crashing with the ground?

  The jet propulsors on Lancelot’s back are fighting to turn on. Hiro angles Lancelot’s back to face the ground to use the propulsors to soften the landing. It only slightly works since the mech is still on a rapid and steep descent. Lancelot is coming in hot. It’s going to crash near me!

  Lancelot slams into the ground causing dirt and debris to fly into the air. The ground trembles violently and I lose my balance. The mech slides and smashes into a building. Or two. Or three building before it finally comes to a stop. Without thinking, I make a mad dash to Lancelot. Smoke is rising from the mech. It’s unmoving. Hiro’s just unconscious right? That has to be it. He crashed, he can’t be dead.

  I do my best to climb up Lancelot to the cockpit. The armor is slippery from all of the rainwater on it, making me lose my balance and footing. Any place my bare hands touch is greeted with the sizzle of intense heat of the mech’s armor. You would think the rainwater would’ve cooled down the mech, but the heat continues to prevail. I have to power through though, Hiro needs fresh air. He’ll wake up once I get to him! I grit my teeth every time I touch something hot until I climb all the way to the cock pit. It’s hard to see inside, but there’s several holes that have been made so I can tell Hiro is all in one piece in there. I try to pull the cockpit open, but it won’t even budge. Wait, I still have a sword in my hand. Yeah, I can use this to open the cockpit! I take the sword and wedge it at the bottom of the cockpit. With all of my body weight, I push down until the cockpit reluctantly opens.

  Inside is Hiro. His eyes are closed. There’s blood everywhere in here. All over his controls. His seat. On himself. There’s tons of blood. Did the blood come from all of these wounds he got? There’s another dagger lodged into his chest. Where did these even come from? His body is scarily still. It doesn’t even look like he’s breathing.

  "H-H-Hiro?" my voice quivers as I gently get a hold of his body, "This isn't funny man, please get up. Get up! You saved us already, you saved the world, get up!" My soft shakes become violent the longer he keeps his eyes closed. He’s just unconscious, that’s all it is. He’s tired. He just saved the world. He’s injured too. I need to get Hiro medical help.

  I bend down to unbuckle the seatbelt that’s strapping him tightly to his seat. As soon as I undo the seatbelt, his body slumps forward, exposing the large cord going in between his shoulder blades and into his spine. What the? How have I not noticed this? My hand wraps around the giant cord and start pulling. There’s tons of resistance, but I pull the cord as hard as I can. When I finally pull the cord out, Hiro’s body convulses for a brief moment. With all of my strength, I pull him out of the cockpit. This guy is so heavy. I half carry,
half drag him down Lancelot as safely as I can.

  “C’mon Hiro! Stay with me man, you can’t die,” I mumble. I can feel the tears starting to well up at the edge of my eyes. He has to be alive. Right. He’s just unconscious. That’s all it is. He’s unconscious.

  As soon as my feet touch the ground, a frantic, yelling voice stops me, “Hold it there!”

  I turn my head, but come to a complete stop when a sword’s blade taps my neck.

  Chapter 17

  In this world, we have heroes and villains. We even have those who don’t stand on either side of the coin and just do their own thing. Sometimes we get heroes who become villains and villains that become heroes. Heroes are usually saving the day so no one really has to worry. Even when the big baddies scheme their worst, the heroes usually prevail. It’s a wonderful world.

  So in this wonderful world, how is it that I’m standing in the middle of a massacre of dead bodies with a hero’s blade at my neck?

  My eyes wander in fear, noticing the mass amounts of dead bodies that are around me. The absolute carnage that has happened because of the Sefirot attack. There’s so much death and destruction all around me. Even with the Sefirots gone, people are still frantically moving about. How did I not notice that there are a bunch of other people here in the park? Was I just so engrossed with watching Hiro that I just lost where I was?

  In front of me is a familiar woman, her chest breathing heavily. In her hands is a shiny sword that taps my neck. Her outfit is dirty and she looks tired, defeated even. Has she been fighting the Sefirots too?

  “A-aren’t you Ainia?” I question.

  “Don’t you dare move,” she ignores my question.

  Fear shivers down my spine. Unlike the blade at my neck, my whole body is trembling. Why is she doing this? I didn’t do anything wrong. “Why are you pointing a sword at me?”

  “Are you trying to play dumb?” she remarks sternly, “Are you saying you don’t see the massive amounts of dead bodies that are around you? And you’re holding a weapon?”

  Weapon? My eyes wander down and notice the sword still in my hand. Why do I still have this? How did I forget I still had it? “Y-you don’t understand, I-I didn’t-”

  “Save it for someone who cares!” she interrupts me.

  Quickly running to me are several armed soldiers, they all point their guns at me. One orders me, “Let go of the sword and put your hands in the air!”

  I immediately comply, dropping the sword. However, I slowly release Hiro to the ground before I raise my arms high above my head. My hands get grabbed from behind and I’m quickly handcuffed. Without any sort of explanation I’m being forced away.

  “B-but my friend! He needs help!” I yell. I try my best to fight back against these soldiers’ grips, but they’re way too strong.

  “Shut it, he’ll get taken care of,” one of the soldiers dismissively speaks to me.

  I’m thrown into the back of a vehicle that quickly speeds away. I press my face against the window, watching the disaster zone that is the city. There’s tons of building on fire or completely destroyed, people are injured with several medical people assisting them. Disaster Relief is already starting to fix the city, but there’s so much destruction that who knows how long it’ll take for everything to be fixed? This is a complete disaster.

  The vehicle comes to a complete stop and I’m forcefully dragged inside the HERO HQ which is surprisingly untouched from any sort of destruction. I’m dragged through several hallways and thrown into a cold room. It’s hard getting up with my hands tied behind my back, but I manage. It’s completely empty in here except for a table and a couple of chairs. I take a seat, but I’m impatient. I just want to know if Hiro is okay. My feet rapidly tap the floor. Anticipation is killing me. Can someone just come in already?

  A minute goes by.

  And another.

  And another.

  Seriously, can someone come in already!?

  Coming through the door is a stocky man in a suit. He’s going grey and has a distinctive mustache. Following him in is Ainia. She doesn’t look happy at all. Rather, she seems really annoyed about having to be in here. What’s up with her anyway? Pointing a sword at me and all.

  “Hello,” the stocky man greets me. His face is rather cheerful, but it’s hiding the somber, seriousness the tone of his voice has. “I’m Judge Braxton, most of our police and armed forces are out assisting civilians, so I’ll have to hold this meeting with you.”

  Meeting? Just say the real word, this is an interrogation.

  “So, who are you?” Braxton starts.

  “Ridley Law,” I answer quietly.

  “Occupation?”

  “Student.”

  “Birthdate?”

  “Why’s that even important?”

  “Alright then. Do you know why you’re here?”

  “No.”

  “Oh, bullshit,” Ainia remarks. Her eyes roll.

  “Now, now Ainia,” Braxton murmurs. “Alright, well I’ll tell you. You’ve been brought in because you have murdered multiple people during the World Ending event and-”

  I immediately start refuting by yelling, “What!? I didn’t kill anyone! I’m just an innocent bystander in all of this!”

  “Bullshit!” Ainia repeats herself, but way more aggressively this time. She takes her sword and points it at me again. “Then how do you explain all of those dead bodies then, huh?”

  “Ainia, put your sword away,” Braxton sighs. “Listen, I’m sure you had your reasons. You took advantage of the fact that Safety Mode didn’t engage so you caused some mayhem. Many people do it. Believe me, you’re not the first I talked to today, but you’ll have to be rightfully disciplined with the correct methods.”

  “B-but I didn’t kill anyone!” I say, bordering on pleading. I can feel the tears starting to well up again at the edge of my eyes. “Please, all I want to know is if my best friend is okay.”

  “Pfft, sure you totally care,” Ainia sasses, “you probably killed him too.” Instead of pointing her sword at me, she’s just playing with it now, swinging it all about.

  “Wh-what!? No! I didn’t, I was trying to get him medical attention!” I refute.

  Ainia rolls her eyes again. She takes a deep breath. “The guy in the skintight suit? The one in the Mobile Knight? Yeah, what do you think those giant cords that go into their backs are? Those are directly attached to their spinal cord, ripping them out without ejecting them properly will most likely kill the pilot. At the safest, ripping out the cord will paralyze the pilot. So think about it, you probably killed him when you ripped that cord out of him. Tch, some best friend you are.”

  “N-no way,” I mumble. Tears start to stream down my cheeks. “Th-there’s no way I killed him. He’s my best friend, I couldn’t have.”

  “Ainia, the suspect is already in a state of confusion, don’t make it any worse,” Braxton sighs again. “As you can tell, Ainia isn’t the most cooperative in these meetings. But she is correct, pulling out the cord out of any Mobile Knight pilot like that is more than likely to kill the pilot and that in itself can be considered as murder. Now, we will have a court hearing about your case, however you will be grouped with the several others that took advantage of the World Ending event and-”

  Interrupting Braxton is the door flying open and an older woman entering the room. This woman has wavy, medium length hair with the tip dyed a light bluish silver that compliments the natural blonde. This woman is dressed in a large coat with a thin scarf around her neck. Pinned to her scarf are several enamel pins. Peeking out of her coat is a white dress shirt. Long black pants ending with tall, black, heeled boots finishes off her professional wardrobe. In her hand is a black, leather work case.

  A man yells, “Ma’am you can’t go-”

  The woman shuts the door in the man’s face. She speaks with a very particular accent that makes her sound a bit condescending, she’s also very articulate with her words and suavely greets the room, �
�The suspect in question is not a murderer nor are they even remotely responsible for the incidents that occurred during the Sefirot attack.”

  “Who the hell are you?” Ainia asks, pointing her sword at the woman.

  “My name is Adele,” the woman introduces herself with a confident smirk that’s highlighted with the red lipstick she has.

  “Oh no,” Braxton mumbles upon hearing Adele’s name. “You’re this Adele I’ve been hearing about. Butting into investigations that don’t even pertain to you.”

  “I believe you are quite incorrect about that. I am the head of AKA, therefore investigations are my forte. So before you continue to make fools of yourselves, you may want to inquire about what I have to say about what happened during the incident,” Adele responds calmly. She places her work case on the table, opening it to pull out several papers.

  Ainia rudely states, “Listen, lady, I don’t care what you have to say. This person is a murderer and we’re doing what we can as the law to take care of it. So if you can back off.”

  “That is where you are so dreadfully wrong,” Adele replies, still with a confident smile on her face, “If you would both take a look at these photographs, you will know that the suspect in question is not remotely a murderer.” She places down the papers in her hands which are all very detailed photographs that were taken within seconds of each other. In this series of photos are pictures that start at the moment people were being mind controlled to go to the park, all the way to when I get Hiro out of his mech. There are even photos when Hiro comes up to me with Sadie. “As you can see in front of you, the suspect was among several others at the park. Then they had one brief interaction. Lastly, we have the suspect grabbing the pilot, Hiro, from the Mobile Knight, Lancelot. It is a simple sequence of events that do not at all implicate any sort of murder on the suspect.”

  “Then how do you explain the suspect’s actions?” Braxton asks. He holds up one photo and says, “In this one it looks like the suspect is about to strike the little girl in front of him with the sword that Ainia found them with when she confronted the suspect.