HA\\LF: Dead nor Alive

Archie lived a peaceful life for a whole week after the battle with Gideon, he trained his newly attained ability every night outside the wall where everyone was asleep. He believed that there must be other things he could do with all the abilities he had since those parasites inside his body could support each other and make something new. He had been experiencing those abilities but it didn’t go as he wanted it to be, he thought that it might be better if he trained his abilities against The Mother since it was the only way he could get better when he was under pressure.

Archie was staring at his hand and someone knocked on the door. “Archie, are you home?” Ruby’s voice could be heard from behind the door.

Archie opened the door and saw Ruby with a prosthetic arm that they made for her. “How’s your arm? Getting used to it?” Archie asked.

Ruby lifted her prosthetic arm and moved the hands and fingers very slowly. “Not really, but I’m getting better,” Ruby replied. “Anyway, are you free?” Ruby asked.

“I’m planning to help Marie helped cleaning her house, why?” Archie replied.

Ruby crossed her arms and looked at Marie’s house. “If I help you clean her house, do you have time for me? I still haven’t heard about your story and since you’re in my division again and I’m the major now, you have to obey my order,” Ruby answered as she smirked.

Archie just smiled and nodded with understanding then they both went to Marie’s house to help her clean the house.

Ruby got promoted to Major because of her sacrifice and the report she made that the one who controlled the parasites was dead. Everyone didn’t believe her at first but the parasites started to disorganize because Gideon died and it proved her words.

She explained what she encountered to Marlon and since he was still skeptical about it, he sent a few people to check on the site where she fought him. They did see the wreckage of the area that looked fresh, with a lot of pool of blood everywhere. Fortunately, Archie was taken by the witch to the forest before they came so they didn’t know him.

Ruby somehow evolved the genes inside her body because of the exposure to the serum. She became a lot stronger which could be compared to the ones made from the experiment. Marlon and the scientist were shocked by that discovery and it was all thanks to the serum that Daniel made that was a bit different from the one they made. They started to do some research about the serum that Daniel made and tried to make it similar or safe to consume for the Axis Humans.

Ruby stretched both of her arms outside of Marie’s house. “Ah… I miss the cracking sound and the feel of it in my left arm,” Ruby said. “Now, since we are done with the task, let’s go to the pub and I will treat you to a drink,” Ruby continued as she looked at Archie.

“Sure, I’m down for that,” Archie replied.

They both walked side by side while Ruby told him about Tommy and Daniel knew about his identity as Ex-Human. Archie already knew about it by the look on their face whenever they looked at him. Ruby then said that those two and Vincent were waiting for them in the pub since they were all curious about him as well. Archie just nodded with understanding while he looked at the wall that was being rebuilt.

“Wow, you guys really are early for drinking today. I wonder if it’s because of how peaceful the past few days were since you guys barely do anything at all, huh?” Frank said as he wiped the glass in his hands.

Ruby smiled and sat at the counter with the others. “Come on, Frank, it’s the day that we all have been hoping for. A peaceful life without having to worry about parasites, we have been on the verge for the past few years and today we all can finally lie back a bit and enjoy life.”

Frank chuckled and nodded in agreement. “Alright, what do you want?”

Ruby ordered a whole bottle of whiskey for all of them since it had been a while since they had a proper drink.

“So, are you ready to tell us your story?” Ruby said as she took a shot.

Archie looked at Frank who was staring at him. “Are you sure that it’s fine for Frank to listen to our conversation?” Archie asked.

Ruby looked at Frank then looked back at Archie while she nodded her head. “Frank can keep a secret, he already knows about all of my secrets and these guys’ secrets as well so it’s fine since we trust him.”

Archie just nodded with understanding.

Archie thought for a moment since there was no reason for him to hide his past anymore but the problem was that the past that he knew and the past that they knew might be slightly different. He decided to tell them about the expedition he head to the FalCon-1 with Iohann and the moment he met Ex-Humans, then the moment he became an Ex-Human. He told them that he didn’t know how he ended up in FalCon-2 and used the parasite’s possession of his body as the answer for that.

All of them were dumbfounded by Archie’s story and looked at him with disbelief.

“Well, that’s a hell of a story…” Frank said as he shook his head and raised his eyebrows.

Archie nodded as took a shot. “Yeah, ever since that, I have been living with those Ex-Humans that live in the FalCon-2.”

Daniel stood up and looked a bit scared. “What?! There are still more of them out there?! Aren’t we still in danger then?!”

Archie scoffed and smirked. “No, they’re not the same as the guy that you guys saw. They’re the protector of the jungle and they don’t care about humans as long as you guys didn’t bother them in their territory.” Archie explained.

“You befriend them?” Ruby asked as she looked at Archie.

“Of course, since we are the same, there’s no reason for me or them to not befriend each other,” Archie replied.

Archie paused for a moment and then he looked at Ruby since he heard about her past that she encountered with one of the Ex-Humans from FalCon-3. “Why? Have you met one of them before?”

Ruby nodded as she stared at her glass. “I did…”

“Which one? The red-haired one? The green-haired one? Or the black-haired one?” Archie asked.

Ruby looked at Archie with a surprised expression. “The green-haired one,” Ruby answered. “Do you know their names?” Ruby asked.

Archie shook his head. “They preferred to be called the witch. The fire witch, the water witch, the wind witch, and the earth witch. There are four of them on each Fallen Continent, they’re the guardian of the continent as I said earlier and I called them the four witches of the continent.” Archie replied.

Ruby slightly smiled. ” The four witches, huh? That’s really interesting…”

Tommy, Daniel, Frank, and Vincent were looking at each other and they were sharing gazes and thinking the same thing.

“By the way, I still have no idea about whose blood they used for the experiment. Do you know the person’s name?” Archie asked.

“His name was Hendrick Fischer, he was from the Western Nation, like you. You must have heard about him since he was the only person who aced all the VSTs.” Vincent answered.

Archie turned his head and looked at Vincent with confusion. “Was? What happened to him?” Archie asked.

Vincent shrugged his mouth and shoulders. “We don’t know, we only heard that he died from heart failure. There was a rumor that went around that he died for the sake of the experiment, but we don’t know for sure. All we know is that everyone mourned his death and there’s a monument of him in the capital city of the Western Nation.”

Archie nodded as he stared at his own reflection on the whiskey. “Yeah, I know him.”

Ruby started to tell her story about what happened in that incident a few years ago that she had to abandon and go back alone after the expedition searching for an Ex-Human and after she got a warning from the witch. Everyone listened to her story for the second time, only Archie didn’t know about it. She told about Julia’s sister and it made her depressed knowing that she lost both of them and it was all because of her.

“Come on, Bub, don’t shoulder those pain on your own, we are here to support you,” Frank said as he leaned toward her. “Here, I have a give for you and maybe you can share it with Julia and her sister,” Frank continued and offered him an old bottle. “This is a 10-years-old wine that me and my wife made, you should take it and drink it with them,” Frank said with a smile on his face.

Ruby shook her head. “I’m okay, I just want to pour it all at once…”

Vincent looked at her and raised his eyebrows. “How about we all go there? It’s been a while since we visited her grave.”

Ruby looked at him and smiled while she nodded. “Yeah, that’s a good idea…”

Frank slammed his hands on the counter startled all of them. “Alright! You guys go and visit her while me and my wife will prepare a delicious meal for you guys? Just get back here at noon and the food will be ready.”

Ruby chuckled and nodded with understanding. “Okay, we will be back, and thank you, Frank.”

Frank grinned as he saluted Ruby. “No problem, Major!”