Ravok slowly looked up, his vision blurry from the loss of blood. The figure was once again hovering, this time slightly to the right of Ravok, turned to the left. A tall woman with red hair and a scar over her cheek stood. Despite this, she looked feminine and could not be any older than twenty years old. She was wearing a crop top with a devil design, seemingly of some band that Ravok did not recognize. Her eyes were just as red as her hair, both an unnaturally vibrant color. But one of the most curious things about her were the glowing red veins that were glowing in the dark as if someone was pumping some red fluorescent liquid through her body.

"F*ck off, you bag of bones, fight someone your size." She yelled out loud, holding out her hand as the ax that she had just thrown reappeared in her hand. Compared to her, it was of equal size, still large enough that she would have to wield it with two hands but not as large as it looked while flying through the air.

The floating figure calmly recomposes itself in the air, looking at the woman that just struck it. "That is a cocky tone… care to back it up?" It asked both politely and threateningly as a snake hiding its poisonous fangs.

Axe held high as the woman was getting ready to charge. For a moment, she looked behind her. "Blue, heal him up. Make sure he doesn't die right here."

From behind her stepped another woman, significantly shorter than the first. Her name matched her looks. She had deep blue hair and blue eyes to boot. She wore a simple but tight-fitting shirt and pants with little design whatsoever. All she did was nod with the simple phrase "Understood" as she jumped forward, making her way to Ravok with an expression that could not be described as anything else but neutral.

The mysterious skeletal figure attempted to bring down its scythe towards Blue, but before it could connect, it was caught by the large red ax wielded by the other woman. The force of the push was more than the woman expected clearly, as she immediately had to catch it with her full strength.

Her hands started glowing faintly with some form of energy. A warm bath of power slowly surrounded Ravoks's wound, who faintly started catching his breath as the injury was closing up. "Thank you.." Ravok gritted through his teeth.

The skeletal figure looked down on the woman. "I'll deal with you first then… Red." It said with a particular hostility that it had not spoken with before. Its words shocked the woman.

"How do you know my name?!" She yelled in a fury. To Ravok, it was almost funny. The only name he would have guessed was Red, as she was not making it particularly hard to imagine, but the figure spoke it as if he knew.

The figure pushed the scythe against the ax, winning ground with relative ease as it started leaning in. "I know that's not your name, and I know you have yet to know mine." It said as it pulled its scythe back for a moment to suddenly launch it to the side, hitting Red in her hip, cutting deep down into it.

Red almost immediately crumbled, her leg unable to handle the pain and the pressure. She yelled out in pain. "F*CK, You bastard." It took her some time to stand back up, but she eventually managed, leaning on the giant ax she was holding.

"But… before you die… I'll at least let you know who killed you." It spoke sinisterly, making it clear that it had killed before. "Sonor…. remember that…" As he spoke, he looked to the right, directly at Ravok and Blue. His sunken eyes looked down at the ground for a moment as if hit with something like regret.

"Give it your best shot, you F*ck…." Red spoke with an intensity that Ravok had never experienced as if someone was ready to die in this fight. He could see no thought of retreat behind her eyes.

Before Red could finish the sentence, Sonor appeared right in front of her. He went so fast that it was almost impossible to notice his steps. The scythe he was wielding was raised high in the sky, slashing down with enough force and speed that it left a trail of black dust through its path. It cut right through her collarbone diagonally downwards, cleaving through her chest and stomach, rending the flesh apart as if it was paper.

Both Ravok and Blue their eyes widened. There was no sound from Red, no scream, no yelp in pain, just the immediate loss of consciousness as her body collapsed and the glowing red lines over her body seemed to fade from existence.

Ravok, whose wound had finally healed, stood up, still unsteady due to blood loss, and looked at Sonor. Without missing a beat, Sonor looked back at Ravok in a low vibrating tone. "It seems that time has run out for me… until next time… protector." as if his body aged hundreds of years, in a single moment, he turned to dust, leaving behind nothing but an ashen substance.

Blue rushed over to Red, blood pulsating out from her, the blood just as vibrant and colorful as the rest of her. The wound was deep and long. Any other person would have died instantly, but she was still alive or clinging to it. Blue, her tears started flowing, breaking her otherwise neutral expression. "Red? Are you okay? R-red… Red, come on." Her voice cracked with every other word as she desperately attempted to close the wound with the same power she had used on Ravok. The damage was slowly healing but was not fast enough to save her life.

Ravok looked at the two women that had just saved his life, one of which was now in need of saving. For a moment, he hesitated. He wanted to walk inside like nothing had happened, ignoring the entire situation that was going on in front of him. But something inside of him pushed him forward, towards Red and Blue. "Is there something I can do?" His voice carried hesitation, but he had to do something.

Suddenly another ax appeared, the blade inches away from his throat, able to kill him with a single push if the person wielding it desired it. This weapon was blue. However, Blue was holding it with both hands, having turned around with a speed that Ravok had never expected. "Don't you dare touch her" Her voice was covered in anger, yet at the same time, it was still so collected as if a machine was trying to emulate the emotion of anger in its speech but failing to do so.

"I want to help… is there anything we can do to ensure that she will make it? Bring her to the hospital? I can call 911 right now." Ravok says as he pulls out his phone slowly, not wanting to risk his life so quickly after having it saved only moments ago.

Blue slowly lowers the ax, realizing that Ravok isn't attempting anything harmful. While still hesitant, her calm self slightly returns as she shakes her head. "I am… unsure… I think the only chance we have is to link."

Her words seemed unfamiliar, but Ravok had already decided to help, so he nodded. "Any risk involved? Should we do it inside?" He asks as he points at the door behind him. It felt strange to keep this in the open where everyone could see. Luckily nobody seemed to have noticed the odd event that just happened.

Blue only nodded, picking up Red by her shoulders, giving Ravok a look to pick up her legs. Ravok quickly followed her lead as he grabbed her by the legs and lifted her at three.

The two of them slowly made their way to the door, and as Ravok opened the door, he noticed that he had forgotten. Cole and Sarah were right there; as such, Ravok yelled out loud. "I AM HOME! I KNOW I AM A BIT LATE, BUT I GOT INTO A FIGHT. I'LL BE THERE QUICKLY!" He didn't want either of them to see the sight before him, the flesh cut in two, being able to see inside a person and the blood constantly seeping out of her. All of it he wanted to hide from the eyes of his little siblings.

Sarah's voice echoed back. "FINE, BUT YOU ARE LATE AGAIN. HURRY UP!" There was a hint of irritation in her voice. She would display the same anger each time Ravok was late picking her up from soccer practice. She would probably forgive his being late if he didn't make it too much.

Slowly the two of them made their way up the stairs. Each step was taken with care and was thought out to make sure that Red would be in as little danger as she could be. Time felt like it was taking ages for each step, despite the two of them making as much haste as possible.

Finally, they made their way to Ravoks' room, the trail of blood following them up the stairs as they put Red onto the bed. "So this linking… how do we do that?" Ravok asked as he looked down upon Red. Her hair, blood, and clothing were slowly losing color, darkening with every second that went by.

Blue looked at him then at herself and whispered something, it was too quiet to be understood clearly, but Ravok could barely make out the words "First Time" as she turned towards him. "I will need a while, I will call you when I need you, but the longer we take, the more dangerous it will be for all of us." Her voice returned to the neutral-sounding one that Ravok heard before the fight went down.

A nod was exchanged between the two. "I'll be here when you call me… just be quiet. I don't want my brother and sister to panic." Ravok said as he quickly threw on a different jacket and shirt, a mismatch of an open green sweater and a yellow shirt underneath. A combination he often called his ninja turtle outfit that he would wear to parties if he had the time and ran down the stairs with a careful step wanting to make sure to avoid the tiny drops of blood that followed Red.

As he arrived in the living room, he noticed Sarah and Cole sitting next to the table; Cole was wiggling while Sarah had her arms crossed, showing that hint of her annoyance at him being late. In the middle of the table sat a piece of cloth covering something thin and rectangular, and in front of his seat was a slightly misformed cake with two candles on it, a candle with the number two and a zero, under it was written Happy Birthday.

As Ravok looked at the cake, Sarah lowered her eyes. "It didn't turn out how I wanted it to," She said with a hint of shame in her voice, but to Ravok, it didn't matter. The fact that she tried was good enough for him.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" Cole yells out with his hands in the air. He was excited, as it did not take much to excite him, but this time there was something different about it as a whole.

"Open my gift!" He quickly followed, only to be interrupted by Sarah's stern, higher, pitched voice. "Our Gift!" They both looked in anticipation at Ravok, wanting to know what he would think of the item hidden by the cloth.

Through his mind, Ravok could only think about the injured woman upstairs, Red, the creature called her. It was a really uninspired name to him, but who knew what it would mean to her? His siblings luckily didn't notice him being slightly absentminded. "Alright, let's see it. What is the big surprise?" Ravok said as he shook himself back to focus on his two siblings.

The two siblings pull off the cover to reveal a picture collage, a mismatch of frames most likely bought at a bargain price, glued together with spots in the wrong locations. There was a picture with a baby Ravok and Sarah with their mother, a photo with their father, another where Sarah won a competition and stood proudly with her medal next to Ravok, and last but not least, a picture that the three of them had recently taken with all of them smiling, together. Seeing the smile of their mother and father again did something to Ravok. It felt like a large rock was stuck in his throat as if his chest had just been stabbed. Times that he would never get back frozen in front of him. All of this was held together by a piece of paper that read. "For the best brother, we could wish for, Sarah and Cole."

"It's…. beautiful" Was all he could muster as Cole smiled, noticing that his brother liked his gift, while Sarah stood up and gently embraced Ravok.

She took a look at the pictures and then smiled. "You deserve it… now have some cake" The knife she was holding glinted in the light for a moment, reminding Ravok that he had somewhere to be. While he had not heard from Blue yet, he wasn't even sure what the signal would be or if she would tell him if something was wrong.

"Do you mind if I take some upstairs… a friend of mine that is in trouble is staying in my room for a bit." He says calmly, knowing that what he just asked is at the very least rude and, at the worst, might ruin the entire evening, but he had little choice. He would have to do it, but surprisingly, Sarah cut two pieces of cake and handed them to Ravok.

"I heard, it's alright." Sarah said in a soft-spoken manner. For a moment, it reminded Ravok of his mom, who spoke the same way when she knew something was wrong but knew she couldn't stop him even if she tried.

Cole attempted to protest, but Sarah swiftly shushed him, telling him that whatever it was, it must be important.

Ravok quickly made his way up. His shoes were hitting the floorboards echoed throughout the house, loud enough that they could probably be heard the next house over. With one push, he opened his bedroom door, returning to the sight of Blue trying to stabilize Red.