I have never felt so tired in my life; I don’t even know how long I’ve slept. I hope everything from today was merely a dream, just some terrible nightmare to shrug off later. I was sore, dirty, and utterly shocked from today’s mess and didn't see anything settling down later on in the road..

I was passed out, completely unaware of my surroundings. My mind blank, just hoping to wake up to a fresh day with none of this mess. Maybe wake up to a different reality… yeah, that's not going to happen.

I felt a rumbling of some sort― it was low, but not that noticeable. It was almost like I was laying down in a car driving on a highway. Fuck, this probably might not be a dream at all.

I could feel myself starting to wake up… slowly but surely I inched my way to move around and my body. The rumbling suddenly stopped, faded out from my senses... Then it abruptly started again, until it happened consecutively on and off a couple more times. I knew something was off.

I tried to open my eyes, but it felt like they were glued down, like waking up in the early mornings. The rumbling then became a slight earthquake… wait, no… I could now feel the vibrations in my chest. It was a violent sensation, as if explosions were going off in the distance. The fading in of sirens in the distance were accompanied with vague yelling and screaming of people, freaking out or in agony. It sounded like total chaos, almost like a riot. I tried to force myself to wake up, only to find my entire body paralyzed. Slowly, everything around me sounded more vivid, more violent crashes and barrages that grew louder and louder until it became unbearable to my ears, almost deafening to the extent.

An explosion flung earth up into my face, rupturing right next to me. I could feel my body being flung and hitting the ground. I couldn’t feel pain, I couldn’t feel anything… Am I dead? I could finally open up my eyes, only to see the horizon lit up in red, a blurry fiery red. The forms of buildings being swallowed by fire, the smoke coming up from destroyed vehicles― it was like a war zone.

There is no way this is happening. A silhouette came― to me, moving in panic and urgency. It rolled my body to face the sky. Planes were zooming over, streaks of bullets flying through the air. The person shook my body, as if I was unconscious. She had long hair and her face... almost looked like my sister.

“Akani! Akani!” I couldn’t move, engulfed in complete helplessness, my body slack and non-responding. She pulled me up, carrying me on her shoulder. In front of her, I see two other people carrying guns, guiding us to an unknown location. I can’t make sense of anything that was going on. Everything was happening so fast. Explosions were going off left and right, gunfire being heard from the distance. We’ve passed several destroyed buildings, seeing the hands of people begging for help, people crying over their loved one's body, various dismembered parts laying on the ground. I started to lose consciousness, my sister noticing it.

“Mom! Dad! We need to stop!” Those were my parents? I couldn’t tell that they were. I looked closer, my mom’s face was clear as day but for my dad… it was like he had no face at all, blacked out, entirely unrecognizable. Hastily, my sister laid me down beside a wall. Next to it, there was a sign that had the words…

WFTA OPERATIONS BASE [HAWAII AIR-BASE]

Hawaii? An airbase? Oh god… This was the start of the fourth war. My eyes widened. My heart beated faster. I could feel my body shake. This can’t be happening… This can’t be happening!

“Akani. Hey, Akani!” Everything went blank. I’m going to die, aren’t I? “Akani! Hey, wake up!” The rumbling became louder.

“Take cover!” A male voice shouted and pierced the commotion. Suddenly, I felt an intense thud, the force of the shock running through my body in a flash of overwhelming sensations. It was almost as if a bomb had exploded right beside us. My vision went completely white, blinded by a harsh light. I could feel my head hitting something…

*THUMP*

Slowly, the sound of a car going over something came to my ears, my head aching. Did I hit something?

“Ugh, what? Ow!” Jasper was laughing at me as I started to realize what was going on. Fuck, that wasn’t a dream what so ever… well, dealing with these people, I had sure hoped it was.

“Sorry about that kid, just hit a small speed bump. Didn’t expect it to kick like that.” Athos chuckled as we were pulling up the gate.

My head was throbbing, in an I-can-feel-my-pulse type of way. It was bright outside, but the sun was above the horizon, nearly hitting evening. We were driving through a boulevard that led up to an entrance of the airbase. The entire place was not too packed, with just the right amount of bustle. There was a lot of activity all around, people going about doing their own businesses, training and working for whatever was in store.

I was still rubbing my head, massaging to hopefully mediate the pain away. As I leaned back groaning in pain, Jasper took a glance at me.

“Bad dream?” She kindly passed me an unopened water bottle. I gladly took it, along with a large swig. I then put the somewhat cold bottle against my head, cooling my growing and upset bump down.

“Yeah... it’s whatever.” She smiled… It seemed that she knew what was up.

I’ll be honest. This was not uncommon for me to have these “flashbacks”, and even so it’s been a while since I’ve had that bad of a memory come back up. It has always been the same exact thing over and over again. I thought I would get used to it but… the screaming, the chaos, everything is just as agonising to hear and see. I don’t think my situation will alleviate the memories and really, I don’t see an end to this.

--------

“Alright, we’re here!” The car suddenly stops right against the curb, next to a sandy-colored building. Athos getting out and opening the door to the car. Everyone in the car disembarked, grabbing our belongings before hopping out. The entire place was sort of barren. It was just buildings on top of buildings, no actual structure to the architecture.

Jasper gives Athos some paperwork, talking about our flight and instructs him to head inside. Yuma, on the other hand, continues to unload extra stuff from the car. Now that I notice it, I haven’t heard him speak in a single conversation this whole time, other than when he was screaming for me to yield. I tapped Jasper on her arm to grab her attention.

“What’s up?” I nodded in Yuma’s direction. “Is he okay? I haven’t heard him talk in a while.” She nervously but softly laughs. Did something happen to him?

“Well, you see… When you were sleeping, he talked about you during your rooftop quarrel. He is actually pissed that you got the upper hand on him, so he tried to sleep it off, which, in this case, didn't happen.” Oh great, I’ve already made an enemy.

“Wait, so is he mad at me or himself-” The back car door was forcefully shut, startling everyone in the area who had witnessed its bang. The birds around the area flew off, spooked by the sound. He dropped everything he was holding aggressively to the floor and dusted his hands, looking quickly at Jasper, to which she nervously stared back.

“I’m going to take a shit.” And with that, he turns, and leaves. That’s the first time I have ever seen someone so mad they needed to go to the restroom. Jasper cackles, which quickly turns into a hysterical laugh.

“He can’t be that upset! Are you kidding me?” I nervously glance at Jasper.

“Is it really that big of a deal?” She calms down.

“Yuma? Apparently it is!” She wipes a small tear from the corner of her eye. This woman...

“What do you mean?” She tries to calm herself down to talk.

“Yuma is one of the highest-ranked students in his class and he is very touchy about it. Never in the world has he been taken down by a rookie like you!” She continues to laugh and gather up herself before she passes out from not breathing. I don’t know how she is laughing this hard.

“I don’t know if this is that funny…” She finally starts to breathe but heavily to stop herself.

“Well, if you know him personally, it kind of is.”

“Ah… eh it’s whatever I guess...” As I looked at her trying to get herself together, my bladder felt terrible. Probably shouldn’t have taken that much water.

“Yo Jasper, I’m going to use the restroom.” She waves at me at acknowledgement as I run to the restroom quickly trying to rush at the nearest urinal. I really hope Yuma didn’t actually take my actions personally. I was just doing what I had to do. He looked like he wanted to come at me with a knife when he stared down at me. Eh, who knows? I wouldn’t be surprised at this point.

I finished up my last drop and headed towards the sink to wash my hands. Ah, I don’t know how many times I want to just lay down on a soft bed, sleep in comfort and all that. Simply forget everything that has happened this whole day. Wait, that reminds me, where is Yuma?

The click of the pistol being armed startled me. As I turned around, the barrel of a gun was shoved on my forehead. It was Yuma, holding a full size Beretta, looking anguished and frustrated. “You better not say a damn word about earlier today.”

“Whoa whoa!” I put my hands up in fear.

“I swear to god, if you tell anyone about this…” He sounded very angry, almost like he was some psycho.

“Chill out! Are you really going to just kill me just over some small act?” I sighed, exasperated.

“I shouldn’t be the one you need to worry about. Jasper over there is laughing her ass off.” I turned off the faucet and slowly lowered my hands. He still was very frustrated.

“Look… I’m sorry that I shoved you down earlier. But what did you expect?” Yuma’s face looked fiercer and angrier than before.

“Tch… you disgust me.” He puts his thumb on the hammer and puts it back down, however, he grabs my shirt by the collar.

“Hey! chill out it was just a-” He swung his pistol back to hit me in the head. I covered my head to prepare for the hit.

“Easy now.” A Russian voice suddenly emitted throughout the restroom. I looked at the mirror, and Athos was gripping Yuma’s wrist aggressively. The gun was rattling and vibrating as both of the men’s arms were struggling.

“I’m the one who’s supposed to beat him up Yuma…” Yuma shakes his arm off Atho’s hand, glaring at both of us.

“Calm the fuck down.” He holstered his gun and stammered out the door. He really has some anger issues.

“I’ll have to talk to him personally later..” He dusts his hands off.

“You good, kid?” Athos punches me on the shoulder, painfully, something of which that will surely bruise later.

“Agh! What the hell was that for?” He chuckled.

“Looks like you have a new enemy.” He went up to the sink and washed his hands. My arm was swelling up from the punch he gave me.

“No shit…” I remarked, to which he laughed softly in return. “You’re acting nice all of a sudden.”

“Ah, I hate doing these types of jobs. That incident that Lieutenant talked about? I was forced and easily pissed off. Ended up shooting the guy in the leg. They always run away confused.” He puts his hand out, offering a handshake. “But you, heh… first time I had ever felt exhilarated by a newbie.” I gripped his hand and firmly shook it. “I should’ve introduced earlier, Athos Gorya.”

“Oh, um...” I didn’t know what to say to him so I let go of his damp hand.

“Don’t worry kid, I’ll keep an eye on him.” He went to the restroom door and opened it up.

“We better leave soon or the pilot will get mad at us.” We both walked out the restroom and headed back to the car where Jasper and Yuma were waiting for us. We all grabbed our belongings and headed inside the main building. There were people sitting around relaxing and others talking, a typical scene. It almost felt like a normal airport, but full of people in uniform. A young lady came to us, holding a clipboard.

“Lieutenant Jasper?” She asks and Jasper raises her hand.

“Yep, thats me!” The both of them shook hands.

“All right, your jet should be ready. Just head out to the tarmac and I’ll bring all of you to the apron.” The four of us went out to the other side of the doors, revealing a huge airfield with jets lined up as far as the eye could see.

“Ever been inside an airbase before?” Jasper asked as we walked.

“I’ve seen one outside but not fully on the inside, no.” We all got on board a small cart on the tarmac. Once everyone was on, we were driven down the airbase for a couple of minutes, seeing planes take off and land, and hearing the pure sound of jet engines. We turned into a hangar which was fully open.

“All right, we’re here!” We all got off the cart and headed towards the hangar doors. Once we got closer, the jet was a piece of architecture from the twentieth-century. Well, for its purpose I didn’t expect to be used like it is right now.

“Wait isn’t that a B-1 Lancer? Like a bombing plane?” The lady laughs at me.

“Well, yes! It is an old B-1. You know these things?” I chuckled.

“Well, yeah, my father used to be in the Air-Force.” She raised her eyebrow, impressed by my limited knowledge.

“That’s very impressive. Well, now this B-1 has been refurbished with new tech and repurposed for passenger transport. This will get you to your destination in under a few hours!” The aircraft still had its grey paint and it’s old-fashioned design, but the engines were different along with the added windows on the side of the aircraft. As I was about to head up, the lady slightly held my shirt preventing me from heading up the cabin.

“Kizuato, right?” She asked me, slightly curious about who I was.

“Y-yes, that’s me…” She pulls my hand and gives me a small object and smiles at me.

“Keep this, make sure you give it to the director of Heiwa.” I opened up my palm to see that she had given me a small flash drive.

“Wait. what is thi-” As soon as I looked up, she was nowhere to be found. I looked around… nothing. I shook my head to clear up what my mind was thinking right now. Just expect the unexpected, Akani.

I climbed up the stairs to the main cabin of the jet. It almost looked like the inside of a private jet, but in a way that it was still meant for conventional passengers. Athos and Yuma sat in different seats, seeing that we were the only ones flying in this plane. I sat in the front next to the window, getting a pleasant view of the wing and just the sheer beauty of this plane. I placed my extra bag right next to me, since there were no flight attendants to bark at us.

“Anyone else sitting here?” But of course, she would be the one to ruin my mood for this flight. As I sighed, she laughed.

“Ah don’t worry, I’m not going to sit next to you. Just behind you.” She puts her stuff on the seats right next to her and sits down. The more I spend time with these people, the more I realize how interesting they are. Athos with his mysterious persona, Yuma the jealous prodigy, and Jasper the passive aggressive gun-girl. It was certainly a weird trio to have as a team, but it worked out somehow.

“We will arrive at the island ETA three hours, local time at arrival approximately be twelve hundred. I hope you all brought everything on because there is no going back here.” The small speakers in the jet were fuzzy, but clear enough that we could hear what the pilot was trying to say. The jet rolled out of the hangar and into the humid air. Engines started up quickly and quietly. I wished that this plane had wifi so I could somehow beat the time away. I looked towards the back of the cabin and I could already see the two men sleeping away, Athos leaning back with his mouth open, while Yuma was sitting with his eyes closed, almost like he was awake. Jasper on the other hand was looking outside the window.

“Hey Jasper.” She looked at me.

“Mhmm?”

“Since, you know, I’m being dragged into this situation, what’s it like over there?” She smiled and looked out the window, gathering her thoughts together.

“Heiwa? Hmm, how would I describe it...” She continues to look out the window. “It’s a place that needs to be seen to even try to describe it. The city school life, everything is completely different.”

“Well, how would you describe it in one word?” She closes her eyes and then looks at me.

“An ‘opportunity’.” She sits up in her chair, making herself comfortable.

“I would say this whole place and being able to be there was the best thing that has ever happened to me. All of us. Me, Athos, Yuma― everyone started out like you did.” She looked almost melancholic. Her mood suddenly changed from her happy and playful self to something else. “If I never got this opportunity, I don’t know where I would be.” She just stared at the seat, eyes fixed in thought.

“Is there something wrong?” She shook her head to clear up her mind. I laughed under my breath.

“Oh yea, I’m okay- Wait why are you laughing?” She threw a glove at me and smacked me right in the face. Her glove had a plastic/carbon fiber like knuckle guard on it and it directly hit my nose. My nose bled all over my shirt and jeans.

“Shit! What the hell?” She was giggling while I was holding my nose to stop the bleeding. I tried to look for any cloth or paper to patch up my nose but all I could find was a single tissue from my pocket. I shoved it up my nose to keep it from dripping down my clothes. Great, now I have to deal with this bloodstain for three hours straight…

“Here…” Jasper was standing right next to me, holding a small piece of cloth and some sanitizer on top of it. She awkwardly smiles at me.

“I forgot my gloves had those knuckle guards on, ahaha.” I stared at her, annoyed, stupidly frustrated and took the bottle and cloth off her hand. I dampened the cloth with the liquid and tried to clean off the stains from my clothes and from my face, only to have some blood smeared faintly on my clothes. I sighed.

“It’ll be fine, I’ll get you extra clothes when we land.” She sits back down at her seat and buckles up. I can’t even tell if she is sorry or not… or if she’s like down or something. Tried to look at her face but she was looking out the window again, seeing the sunset in the distance. I buckled my seatbelt as the plane was about to take off on the runway.

“All crew standby, preparing to take off…” The jet held its position on the runway. As the engines revved up, we moved forward. The acceleration of this jet was nothing that I have ever felt before. We soon got off the ground with the engines roaring and its afterburners creating a streak of light behind us. We were going fast, way faster than any plane I have ever been on in my life.

As the wings swept backwards, and the coast of California disappeared, the flight felt smoother. I was now used to the speed of the jet, and I could stand up and stretch. Athos and Yuma were still sleeping in the back- Jasper was still looking out the window. I walked to the small restroom the jet had and took a breather. Staring at myself in the mirror, I examined how bloody and roughed up I was.

Why is this happening to me? Just… why? I kept on looking at myself and completely contemplating and thinking of the situations I have been through. It has been these same questions I have been asking myself, even though by now it was pointless. There’s no turning back now, even though how much bullshit I was faced.

I took out all the trash I had from earlier with the tissue and other things I had. As I was about to throw away the handful of stuff, I took out of my pockets, a bloody cloth was hanging out of my hand with the rest of the stuff. I threw everything else away except for that piece of cloth. I unfurled the piece of cloth and it was actually a greyish bandanna. One corner of the bandanna had some Japanese characters written....

クリムゾン・デーモン

I couldn’t read or understand the language well, but besides that, the whole piece was smeared with blood and small red finger prints around it. It would be disgusting if I gave it back like it is right now. The bathroom had a small sink and a bottle of soap, thoroughly scrubbing the bandanna to get rid of the stains. The red foamy liquid fell down the drain. I unfurled the cloth again; it was cleaner than before but still had red residue throughout, however, it was better than nothing.

As I headed back towards my seat, Jasper was already sleeping leaning against the window. She looked almost like a small child sleeping. I folded up the small bandanna and laid it on her leg. She was peaceful. Too bad she’ll be as much of a pain as before when she wakes up. I softly laughed at my inner thoughts.

“You idiot…” I sat down back at my seat. I didn’t feel that tired since I slept earlier during the car ride. I might as well try to just rest my eyes for a bit. That wouldn’t hurt, right?

Yeah… it wouldn’t be a terrible idea.

----------------

“Akani…” I twisted around my seat, not wanting to be woken up.

“Akani… Get up…” I got aggravated and tried to move around and probably make whoever was trying to get me up to stop. My arms felt restrained. I tried to move my legs. They were as well. I opened my eyes to look around. Everything was pitch black. All I could see was my body and the chair I was in.

“Why did you leave them Akani…” The voice was almost a female’s, but there was a distortion to it that made it totally clear.I frantically tried to get myself unrestrained, to find who was talking.

“Who’s there?!” I felt nauseous, which immediately someone in the distance emerged.

“Why did you leave me…” I kept on trying to get myself unrestrained. I looked up again and there was another figure, slightly taller.

“Why did you leave me…” This has to be a dream, this has to be a fucking dream. The two figures started to come closer. Their clothes became more apparent. It was normal clothing, but the closer I looked, they looked more… torn and tattered.

“Why did you leave us Akani…” Both voices started ached with pain, strained in despair. The figures started to look gruesome, bloody. Their faces, it was my dad and sister.

“No! Stay away! I didn’t leave you! Stay back!” They both started to walk faster, as the surroundings started to fill with shadows of the two people. Arms once more began to restrain me from moving, pulling me down. The two figures watched me as I started to sink.

“Stop! I didn’t leave you! Help me! Help me!!!” I opened my eyes again- back in the same seat on the jet I was riding on. It was just a fucking dream again. I rubbed my eyes trying to gather up my thoughts. I looked at my hands, they were shaking.

“Fucking hell, it has been the second time already today…”

“Bad dream again?” The voice behind me shouted. Jasper was wide awake and kicking. I sighed and shook my hair to freshen up.

“Just one of those days I guess… agh, how much longer?” The doors from the restroom opened. Athos came out stretching.

“Just a few more minutes until we land, just spoke with the captain earlier.” I looked out the window to find the island, but all I could see was vast amounts of water.

“All crew, please head to your seats quickly, we are starting to descend and decelerate in concealment radius. Stand-by.” Athos went to his seat and immediately buckled up. He also woke up Yuma, who completely was fast asleep.

“Decelerating in three, two, one,…” The plane slowed down drastically, shaking the whole cabin. I was immediately thrown forward and I could feel the plane sinking. The chaos started to calm down and we were now slowly cruising smoothly. I looked out and there were still no islands, yet we were low on the sea.

“I don’t see the island…” Jasper esoftly laughs.

“A few more seconds…” She replies, I waited, still no island.

“I still don’t see it, where is it-” The scenery started to change, from an ocean through a transitioning mirage of a large island with a huge city on it. A citadel like tower dwarfs everything else around it.

“Akani… Welcome to Heiwa.”