»»-- Let's Get Stronger! --««

prologυe

It was dark.

It was quiet.

There was nothing around me, yet everything around me as well. Strange, isn't it? The sky was a bitter grey, and the rain felt like chilly needles prickling the skin of my body. There were people all around me, bodies everywhere, the weather was cold, the ground was hard- but I felt and saw and heard. . . nothing. Not even the blood soaked into the ground and the lifeless bodies on the battlefield. Not even my 'comrades' who fought so relentlessly, calling out my name of all names, my name which they used to yell and sneer with distaste right at my face.

"Arso!"

"Dammit- ARSO!"

"Arso what are you doing?!"

"We need you over here NOW Arso!"

Arso Arso Arso! Like a broken record, but I couldn't hear it. I felt numb, I felt cold, I felt nothing- nothing but despair. Of all the bodies around me that I couldn't see, of all the noise I couldn't hear- There was only one.

Just one.

This body slowly dropped to the bloody, dirty ground right before my eyes, looking at me with such warmth- undeserving care and happiness. 'Why are you so happy?' I wished to ask, yet all that came out was nothing. I couldn't say a thing. Even as I walked forward there was not a single word that could escape my dried lips. I crouched down beside that familiar body, I crouched down beside it and held it close, closer than I ever have. I wish I had done this more before, I wish I had told this person how much I cared for them. I wish I could have-

". .Arso? . . Why are. . . you making such an. . uncharacteristic. . -expression? . ."

'I don't know' was all I could think as tears streamed down my face more than the cold rain did. I could feel, see and hear nothing around me on this cursed battlefield, nothing but you. My face was hot and the fear gripping my chest tightened. The skin on my face strained as my expression twisted into utter anguish. ". . Don't go. . . Please don't go. . !" My voice as I begged never sounded so terrified before. It was new, a bad kind of new- I didn't like this. The look in the man's eyes as he stared up at me while I desperately cradled his head was so soft. He's always looked at me like this, as if he treasured me more than anything in the world. Noticing this kind of thing now was painful. But then his eyes began to close, and my begging had become louder, and louder until I couldn't see those gentle set of eyes anymore. Fuck. This couldn't be happening to me. This couldn't- "YOU FUCKING ASSHOLE! YOU SAID- YOU SAID YOU. . . You. . Wouldn't die on me today. . . You promised. . . Damnit!----!" I was scared. I was so scared, so much it hurt. The enemies around me were closing in but once again- I couldn't feel, see, or hear a thing. I could care less about anyone else right now.

Anybody else except you.

"Open. . . your fucking eyes *****. . . Please. . . !"

I would rather die than have this guy laying in my arms right now, and it seemed my wish would be granted when a shadowy figure stood in front of me, arm and weapon raised above their head and wings stretched out so beautifully, even in this wretched rain that soaked me so thoroughly. Ah... my world was going to become nothing for real it seemed. 'Please take me to where he went... that's all I ask.' Defeat was all I could think about, lowering my head submissively as I looked down at the seemingly sleeping face in my arms. For someone who was dead... he looked so peaceful. 'I wish I could look like that too.' With that final thought and a clap of Thunder, my world went dark just as my head flew off my body. I had the strength, I had all of it yet I still. . . I still couldn't save anyone.