So it is done

Silence

7:59:59

Urd tried his best to clean the wound on the girl's legs while trying his damnedest to stop the bleeding, all the while ignoring the screams of the soldiers and the chaos surrounding them. Blood, blood and more blood, how is this girl still alive? No matter, wipe it off and tighten the bandage until the bleeding stops. It finally stopped... And yet there is no rest.

"THE GRIMM IS COMING! WE CAN'T HOLD THIS POSITION!" A soldier's cry broke through Urd's calm, forcing his to pick up the girl in his arms and start running.

The Grimm is everywhere, to his left and his right. Wherever his eyes landed there was fire, and ashes... But the sound of sirens are no longer. The endless, monotonous voice of alarm had stopped.

If there was a God in the world, he must be looking at this hell in anticipation. For truly Mount Glenn was a den of vice, judgement had come. But, perhaps, the grace of God will find its way even to this hell.

"THREE PEOPLE DOWN!" An officer shouted, whose identity Urd could no longer tell. "THE CORDON IN THE BLUE PARK IS DOWN!"

"RETREAT!" There was only one path for salvation. Urd, who was holding a still girl in his arms, could only trudge forward. To do or die was not a choice. "RETREAT BACK TO THE SUBWAY! KEEP SHOOTING! WE HAVE TO HOLD ON FOR EIGHT HOURS! YOU HAVE NO PERMISSION TO DIE!"

And if there is salvation from this, please god, grant it to us.

***

7:54:32

Jonathan had appeared next to Cinder as unexpectedly as ever, right out of nowhere. Tears ran down Cinder's cheeks, and there was no stopping them. The room she was in was very quiet and safe. But, it was in this silence that the hell beyond the wall was heard very clearly.

Shouts and explosions, cries and howls.

And then silence.

A silence that gives way to screams.

Screams that rend the heart. Screams that subsided.

And then, once again, silence, only for the cycle to keep repeating.

Cinder rushed to Jonathan, trying to be near to her only beacon of safety and belonging in this world.

"Don't cry, Cinder." Cinder couldn't see Jonathan's face, ensconced as she was in his arms, but she could hear his voice clearly. Even when muffled, she would always hear his voice clearly. "Don't cry Cinder. I'll fix everything, actually, we will fix it. There's no need to cry, Cinder. All is fine, so won't you help me?"

Jonathan's hands then pressed on her shoulder before Jonathan pulled back, all the while looking into Cinder's red, puffy eyes.

As her eyes cleared up, Cinder could see a sense of... purpose in Jonathan's eyes. And yet behind that font of determination, Cinder could see a well of sadness and gloom. Jonathan's right, this is no time for her to cry, she has to support Jonathan. There is no way that Cinder would allow Jonathan to be sad.

"Cinder," Seeing Cinder's determined face, Jonathan smiled, before a serious look entered his face. "Now, before we start, don't listen to what's happening outside. Don't listen to anything else, just listen to me. Look only at me, and don't look out the windows. Can you do that, Cinder?" A smile returned to his face at Cinder's eager nods.

"Okay, before we begin, I have to ask you something. Do you like to draw?"

Cinder blinked at the non-sequitur question, before lowering her gaze from such an unexpected question. "I... I don't know."