Chapter 32 - The World Burn : Part 3

The moon almost disappeared completely as the sun rose up a little, trying to take the spotlight away. A building in the middle of a forest wholly covered by its trees held a key for a future nightmare for Livedam city.

-that no one knew about it until later on.

Axel sped through the hallway with a choker in his hand. The boy's fluffy locks bounced around, glueing some of them on his sweaty forehead. The white cap on his head almost fell down for how fast the murderer ran.

He wore the choker in one click as he ran, messily brushing off his two necklaces a little.

The pain in his chest was long-forgotten alongside the necklace he wore. The dim red emerald necklace ricocheted with the silver arrow necklace that Rune gave him weeks ago.

Rune, right- Rune.

His mind was locking on his best friend. Worry ran through his veins, racing with his blood. He could hear his heartbeat pounded in his own ears as the wind fought with him.

He did not even notice how the scientist was eyeing him as he burst through the front door, running to the forest ahead of him.

The leaves brushed through his mask; some of them almost went into his eyes if not for the white cap protecting the blue pupils. All his visions were blurry for how fast he ran.

It was such a pity that Axel did not notice his two siblings watching him from the top window.

He also did not notice how the emerald necklace only had a little red light left.

✵✵✵✵✵✵

A red-haired girl popped out from a big gate. The white colour of the gate was blinding, completely showing how fancy her house was. She smiled at the security as she got out to the side of the street.

"Did father actually come home at all last night?" Rune asked, masking her disappointment with two kinds, curious eyes.

The security shook his head dejectedly. "Unfortunately, no. It seems like Mr. president stayed in the palace."

"Ah, I see." Rune's face morphed into disappointment before quickly turning into a bright smile again. As if the disappointment was never there.

"Thank you, sir!" She exclaimed almost too brightly, waving at the security and finally leaving her big empty house.

As she took a quiet saunter down the road, the girl brushed off the promise her father made that they were going to have dinner together.

It was a lovely morning, if she may add. The calm wind surrounded her, the sun accompanying her quiet walk, and the empty street with no one around—just silence and peace.

Well, it would be silence and peace if she did not notice a person that had been following her for the last minute. But she just had to catch everything, didn't she?

"Alright, that's it." The girl stopped in her place, exclaiming her words with complete irritation

Rune turned around with two glaring hazel eyes, ready to face her soon-to-be kidnapper. "If you're going to kidnap me, you are doing a really bad job because-"

Her ponytail became still,l just like the owner of the hair. Her eyes turned wide at the sight of the mute murderer before her. Her feet automatically took a step back.

"You-" Her voice cracked a little, and she realized how the mute murderer's eyes crinkled at it. The blue eyes made both of her cheeks turn red from embarrassment.

Rune bit the inside of her cheek and straightened her pose. She cleared her throat, exposing a fake confident face. "I mean you, you again." The girl said, lowering her voice to make it all scary.

The mute murderer nodded and raised both of his hands in surrender, trying to make peace with her. He obviously was holding a laugh behind that white mask.

The audacity.

Rune also obviously did not buy that 'trying to make peace' crap at all.

"I don't know what you-" She pointed at him, making a circling motion with her finger to make a point. "-a mute murderer, want from me-" The girl continued, forming a defensive stance with her body as she stared at the criminal.

"But I can do martial arts and kick your ass in a second." She gave her best glare at him and crossed both of her hands on her chest. Still wary with the situation she was in, knowing that the murderer could attack at any time.

The murderer sighed, blowing his mask a little from his breath. He finally put both of his hands down as he returned her stare.

"I know." Uttered the criminal dejectedly.

Still thinking that the man in front of her didn't believe her, she began to retort back again. "I mean it. I will fight you and-"

Rune snapped her mouth shut after realizing something. The murderer tilted his neck at the sudden silence, furrowing his eyebrows a little. She blinked a couple of times at the criminal with a dumbfounded look.

"Wait, did you just talk?"

The mute murderer blinked. "Yeah?" He answered. The criminal was confused between answering or actually questioning back at her.

"I mean, I am, right now, talking to you?" The murderer raised both of his shoulders slowly, lowering his head as he grimaced behind his mask at the sudden thought that maybe Rune caught up who he was despite him wearing a voice changer.

"What- that's not how it supposed to go! You are- you are the mute murderer!" She frantically explained in sudden confusion, waving both of her hands almost panicky.

"So why the hell are you talking?"

Rune had so many thoughts going on her mind right now at the possible outcome of this conversation would go.

Like- would she die after this because she just heard his voice, or was this some kind of a death sentence, or was the rumour just a lie, that he could actually talk, but no one actually made it out alive after hearing his voice?

The criminal scratched the back of his neck and shrugged. "Because... I can?"

She clearly did not expect that dumb answer, though.

"And I kind of need to, because convincing you will do lots of talks." The mute murderer continued awkwardly.

Rune tilted her head back slightly, frowning. "Convincing... me?"

Oh, was this what they called blackmail or something?

"Well, guess what," She paused, turning her back on him in a hurry, yet she managed to be as calm as possible. "You can't convince me at all."

The criminal reached out a hand to her back, trying to catch her. "I haven't even started-"

She quickly speed-walked and managed to dart forward right before the murderer grabbed her. "No, thank you. Have a good day, murderer. I have a school to do."

The criminal tried to keep up with her pace and grabbed the girl's right hand. "Wait-"

When he finally caught her hand, Rune quickly turned around and kicked his right front calf, causing him to fall forward at her. The girl swiftly went to her right, completely handling him and slammed his back to the ground.

Rune's eyes glinted with danger as she stared down at the murderer below her. The hazel eyes met the blue ones for a while. She could not help but feel a rush of familiarity in the back of her mind, screaming at her to notice something evident in front of her eyes.

Realizing that she was still holding the criminal, Rune quickly jerked back and put a quiet distance between her and the mute murderer.

"I told you I can do martial arts, so you better back off." Ventured the girl, scoffing a little at him.

The criminal got up from the ground slowly with a sigh, brushing off the dust on his white sweater.

"I know you can. I just need you to follow me." He explained, staring at her with two pleading eyes. He knew he was running out of time.

Using the same strategy as before, the mute murderer raised both of his hands in peace. "Look, the mercenary is trying to hold you hostage, and I'm here to help."

Rune sceptically eyed him as she raised one of her eyebrows. "And why should I trust you?"

Taken aback by the statement, the criminal stuttered. "Well- uh-"

She deepened her gaze, still trying to interrogate him. "Well?" Taunted Rune.

When she knew the criminal could not seem to answer her question as he desperately tried to think of an answer, she turned her back on him once more. "Yeah, I thought so." Muttered the red hair.

"Ay, what the fuck." A voice chimed in from behind, the clear annoying tone laced in his voice.

Just when she began to run away from the weird situation she was in right now, the voice completely made her spin around so fast that her bones would actually crack.

A blond boy with a messy uniform and a bag thrown over his shoulder looking at the murderer and Rune with raising eyebrows.

She widened her eyes and jumped between the mute murderer and the blond. "Aster, get back!" She made sure Aster stayed behind him while facing the mute murderer.

Aster tilted his head to his left in wonder and walked past Rune, completely ignoring her warning.

The blond pointed his finger to the mute murderer lazily while looking at Rune's widened eyes. "White knight loser, you know this guy too?" Aster asked casually like a murderer wasn't actually in front of him right now.

"Wait, 'too'?" She gaped at him with panic and a hint of confusion mixed with exasperation. "What do you mean by 'too', Aster?!"

"This is a completely dangerous and unstable person that could kill you-"

"I miss you, buddy! It's been what- a week or so, eh?" Aster put a hand on the mute murderer's shoulder as he playfully nudged his shoulder with a soft punch.

Rune's jaw went slack as her mouth hung open loosely when she watched them.

Did Aster just-

She shook her head, blinking away the sudden surprise that she had just absorbed into her brain. "A monster befriending another monster, it's supposed to make sense, but in this scenario, it's just didn't." She mumbled out loud, looking at both of her own feet as she lost in her own thoughts.

The two boys were looking at her in an awkward stun.

"I'm a monster?" The criminal suddenly became all gloomy upon Rune's statement. "But I was a prince..."

Thank god Aster missed that last part. Well, even though he did catch it, he would be too stupid to put two and two together.

"Rune, you are thinking out loud. We can hear you." Aster reminded her, thoroughly offended.

Ignoring Aster's statement, she quickly voiced out another one of her thoughts. "How can you go buddy-buddy with him?!" The girl whispered-yelled at him as if trying not to let the mute murderer hear her, even though he obviously did.

The blond shrugged. "Eh, kinda spent some nights with him, went on an adventure to another world, almost died a couple of times, but let me tell you, it was fucking cool."

What the hell? What did she miss?

"It's- it's not! Like at all." Rune let out an exasperated yell.

The mute murderer nodded in agreement, pointing at her with his white-gloved hand. "I actually agree with Ru- this girl."

"Oh, come on, murder boy, it was kinda fun, just admit it."

The mute murderer took a big sigh. "No, it's really not-"

"Oh, by the way, you talk again, I see. A little improvement, huh?" Aster cut off the literal criminal as he continued. "You know, you nearly gave me a heart attack for dying, dude."

Rune looked back and forth between the two. "Dying? You two-" She stuttered, ultimately falling in confusion. "Am I missing something?"

She was baffled and lost right now. Could someone actually explain what was happening and why did she stick with these two?

"Nah, I just got kidnapped, no big deal." Aster brushed it off. "And he just kinda dying a little." The blond added while nodding at the mute murderer.

"You got kidnapped?!" Rune retorted back, voice cracking a little. "What- It is a big deal!" Rune defended. Though she really did not know what she actually defended.

It seemed like the more words came out of Aster's mouth, the more she fell into a sea of confusion and shock.

"I mean, you are a dick, but if you got kidnapped, it's still kinda important information." The red hair explained, trying to find the right word.

Feeling insulted, Aster leaned forward and glared at her in disbelief. "I'm sorry, did you just say kinda, you bitch?"

The criminal grimaced at the scene. They were running out of time and clearly did not have time for this. "Guys, can we talk-"

Rune took the challenge and leaned forward, too, forehead almost touching each other. The hazel eyes and green ones glared at one another.

"Yes, I did. Because you are a goddamn jerk and-"

The mute murderer tried to stand between them. "Guys, we need to-"

But then something was rolling like a ball, stopping in between the three of them. The ball was blinking red lights, seeming to increase as the seconds counted down.

Rune was the first one to begin talking among the sudden silence they were having. "That is a bomb, isn't it?"

The criminal nodded dejectedly. "Yes."

Aster sucked in his breath went the blinking red light stopped.. "Fuck, we are so dead."