Hans Interlude 1

I was never much of a social person. It wasn't that I hated people or anything. Honestly, I found them all to be really interesting and it was fun to talk to them. But, like many introverts, it was hard for me to strike up a conversation with others.

Large groups of people would always be a bit of a challenge. I could easily blend in, but it was an exhausting ordeal. So, yeah, I liked to be alone most of the time. Rather than have a bunch of friends, I was happy just having a handful of good ones.

Life was a bit rough around the edges with school and my uncertain future, but that was fine. I liked it, the people in it, and I probably wouldn't change much about it. At least not with the amount of control I had.

Of course, life usually doesn't care about what you want. As they say, "Shit happens."

—————

To be stolen away from your life- from your family is a horrifying thing. At first, I thought It was just a dream. It had to be, right? How could someone just take me from my house? What about my parents? Were they here? Were they ok? And my dog?

So yeah, up until the first person died in that godforsaken underground prison, I was pretty sure it wall all a dream. The sound of crunching bone and the last breath leaving a dead man's lungs would haunt my dream for a very long time.

"H-Help!"

"P-Pleas sto-"

In that one instance, so many lives were snuffed out. One of the many mechanized horrors rushed at me. I would be just like all the rest- forgotten and killed without amounting to anything.

My death raced towards me, fist raised and ready to end me. I saw how easily it would play out. I'd just need to close my eyes and ignore what came next. It would be for the best, right? Struggling would just make it hurt more.

That's what I thought, but my body had other ideas. My heart practically exploded inside my chest. It pounded against my ribs like an angry man trying to break his way through a locked door.

Every single cell in my body screamed at me to stand up and fight. I would not, could not die here! So I did what came naturally. I let the strange, bubbling sensation in my stomach explode and consume me. Just like that, the world slowed down to a crawl.

The monster's metal hand turned from a blur to something I could see sluggishly moving through the air. How? Why?

I didn't know and I didn't care. My body felt light and my blood was boiling. I moved without thinking, lashing out with my hand. It was slow but still faster than the mech.

I don't know what I was thinking. How could I ever hope to do any damage to the hulking beast of metal? That was what I thought. At my touch, the machine's head warped and twisted like a tin can.

Were they that fragile? Or-

The sound of clanging metal reached my ears. Another iron fist sailed at my head, and much like the first, it was dreadfully slow. I stepped back and let it sail through the air and as soon as it came up short, I lashed out with a kick.

The metal arm flew through the air like it was a common ball. More of the mechanical monsters turned their attention to me. Just then, one of them was thrown across the room by some invisible force. Another crumpled into itself. One was set on fire.

The entire room was filled with strange, unexplainable phenomena. Then it hit me. Whatever was happening wasn't isolated to me. The others were also doing things that frankly looked insane.

I didn't know what was going on, but I didn't care. I reached deep inside myself again and called on the strange, wispy sensation floating in my gut. This was keeping me alive and I wasn't about to let go.

I jumped into the fray using my newfound powers. The metal men fell to my fist and the strange energy constructs that started forming around my hand. I didn't care. I just wanted to live and those around me wanted the same.

Before I knew it the room was empty of the machines. I wasn't finished. I smashed my foot into the face of one of them. Why? Why?!

I kicked its head so hard that it exploded. God fucking damn it!

Why?! What was going on?!

This whole situation was insane. Was it really just a dream? I bit the inside of my mouth hard enough to draw blood.

No.

No matter how much I denied it, I could still feel the pain.

This was no dream.

——

Somehow we'd survived. The monster that came for our heads had fallen and left behind scared, exhausted, and confused individuals. I wasn't the only one wondering what the hell had just happened. However, staying there wouldn't have helped anyone.

I saw it. A few others did too. I didn't know who it was that suggested moving on, but I latched onto their words for dear life.

"Y-Yeah. We should go," I stutter out, tripping over my words. It felt like I'd bite my tongue off. I was never the best at dealing with large crowds, but this whole mess just made it far worse.

Everyone was scared and while I was the sort of person to get stuck and just go along with the flow, I just didn't want to stay there. The robots were nothing more than scrap metal now, but was that really it? Would they just rise back up if left alone?

The whole scene stunk. Someone had sent all of us here to face the robots. They knew we'd gain powers or die trying. This was just the first of many trials coming our way. I could feel it. Maybe the smart thing would have been to just stay there and not head towards danger. But what if staying put was worse?

Who wanted someone that wasn't willing to do what was expected of them?

Of course, these were all things I found out later. Right then and there I was just scared shitless. I didn't want to be alone. So I followed the others out of the room.

—

By the time we reached the end, there were only three of us. Me, another boy, and a woman. The boy's name was Lee and he looked to be around my age. I have to admit, he seemed a bit more composed than me. Nothing compared to the woman, though. Her name was Shelly and she was the sort of person I'd have loved to have as a teacher.

She was scared just like us but she put on a strong face. In a way, she was like our leader and did a whole lot to keep us calm. It was comforting to have someone else, specifically an adult to tell us what to do. I was never the best at making my own choices.

We'd seen so much death already and maybe that was why I felt myself grow so close to these two. I wouldn't have called them friends, but they certainly weren't strangers anymore.

In the end, that's what made it all hurt so much more.

Our final challenge was a humanoid robot. Compared to the blocky, towering monsters from before, this one could have passed for a person if it was wearing a big trench coat.

Unlike its brothers, this one was far faster and way more deadly. It simply raised a hand and sent a wave of force at us. It caught me and slammed me into a wall, but by this point, I was already adept at keeping my body nice and sturdy.

This robot could use powers, just like us. That's what made it so much more dangerous. But there were three of us and only one of them.

We fought. We fought. And we fought! Even with our numbers advantage, it was a close battle. Our bodies were bruised and battered. Shelly had taken the brunt of the damage. Bless her soul. She wanted to keep us safe and ended up having her ankle twisted when she'd pushed me aside.

Nevertheless, we eventually stood victorious and the final door opened.

"I-I'll take a second to catch my breath," Shelly had told us with a smile. "Go give the exit a quick check and come back for me, alright?"

I didn't want to go, but her words did make sense. It was with that in mind that Lee and I left to take a look.

If I could go back in time and change my choice, I would. I'd have dragged her if I had to. Instead, the ending wasn't nearly as happy.

The instant we stepped out of the door we found ourselves outside in a city. And the underground complex? It was gone and with it any sign of Shelly.

My heart sunk.

Why? Why?

Not her too.

—

Home. Home was the only place I could really be myself. We all wore masks, even when around those we loved. Still, there was never a time where the veil was thinner than when I was at home.

Yet, this place wasn't home. The sky was the same, deep blue and the air was the same. But there was just something off about this place. I wasn't the only one who saw it.

"Are we in japan or something?" I asked nervously as we trudged along. The odd characters on the street signs and shops looked Japanese. I barely knew much about the language aside from a few words and the fact that there were katakana and kanji? Was that how you said it?

Whatever the case, it did remind me of Japanese. Though, we could have been in China for all I knew.

"Maybe," Lee said with a nod. He'd come to the same conclusion as me. "We should probably go up and ask someone just in case."

Yeah, that was the best option. Even if I didn't know the language, it still had this distinct sound to it. A friendly stranger was kind enough to prove our theory, though he did mistake us for American. Then again, Lee was one so he wasn't wrong.

Somehow, we decided to try and call family. Lee didn't remember anyone's number, but I did. Panic had really set in by then because we completely forgot about the cellphone Lee had in his pocket. Perhaps even stranger were the odd pay-phones in the city. They looked old but had a lot of modern accessories.

Either way, my house number didn't exist. My mom's number also wasn't available. There was nothing. I nearly fell to the ground as my world came crashing down around me. Thankfully, Lee was there to catch me.

This had to be a mistake, right? I tried again, desperately hoping for someone to pick up.

Please.

Please!

Please!!

The strange words came back at me. What could I do now? How would I get out of this? Everything was closing in around me. Had I been by myself, I don't know what I would have done.

In a way, Lee was my only link to my old life. Like a sailor caught in a violent storm, I held on tight as the raging sea of life smashed into me. I only hoped that he could forgive me for snapping at him.

————————

A home to call our own. If I were a betting man, I'd bet on there being explosives or something like that in the basement. This whole place stunk to high heavens, but where else could we go? We were on the other side of the world in a place neither of us could speak the language. How the hell were we supposed to find our way back?

If it wasn't for this house we'd be sleeping out on the streets! Of course, Lee had that strange phone of his with enough money to buy us a new house, but then what? How could we do that when neither of us knew Japanese?

No, there really wasn't any other way.

"I guess we should go look for rooms. Want the one with the biggest bed?" Lee joked, trying his best to lighten the mood.

I laughed, but it was a hollow thing.

"I don't mind, honestly. I definitely don't want anything too big though."

All that space would be overwhelming. My room was always kinda cramped, but I liked it like that.

"Oh, also want it to be close to the bathroom," this time it was me who made a joke, though not a good one. "Something's telling me the food here might not agree with me."

Lee chuckled and gave me a small nod.

"But there seriously are a lot of rooms here! I've never been in a house this big before!"

"Me neither," I said. "It's kinda too big if you know what I mean?"

"Yeah," he said with a small sigh.

Had I hit a landmine?

"Oh! This room has a laptop!" I said, clumsily trying to change the subject. "I wonder if it has Internet."

I never knew how much I missed it until now. Tears started to build in the corners of my eyes.

It wasn't much, but it was a reminder of home.

And it made all the difference.

—————

The first day was a busy one. Find this, move that. Pick a room and organize it. By the time we'd finished both of us were exhausted.

I sure as hell didn't know how to cook. The best I could do was make a sandwich. Lee was a bit better on that front, so he offered to make us something to eat.

Granted, what he made was just a better sandwich. Still, it was one of the best things I'd tasted. The fear, paranoia and stress of the day had been slowly creeping up on me. But this single sandwich had been the straw that broke the camel's back.

"It's good," I said as tears peeked out from the corner of my eyes. "I like the jam."

I said with a laugh, looking away so he wouldn't see me tear up. God. When was the last time I had a jam sandwich? It was just before all of this happened, wasn't it?

Lee nodded.

"It's alright. Hey, I'm going out for a quick walk. Want to come?"

It was a tempting offer, but-

"Nah."

I needed some alone time. All of this was just too much. Maybe I'd sleep early or try and check out that laptop I found. Yeah. That's what I'd do.

—————————

Google wasn't a thing in this here. Yeah, there was definitely an equivalent, but it was sort of like a mixture of Bing and Yahoo. God, what a nightmare. Seriously.

If there was one thing I was thankful about it was that whoever brought the laptop here was kind enough to make it a standard QWERTY keyboard. We'd have been screwed if it used those Japanese characters.

Of course, the first thing I did was try to get into the English version of the search engine. That was easy enough and finding my next piece of information was even easier.

We'd gone back in time. Or maybe this place had some massive information restrictions? Youtube wasn't a thing or it was blocked. Overall, it was incredibly confusing trying to find anything on our home. One name did keep popping up when I tried searching the city we were in, though.

"MBI, huh?" I chuckled at the name. How long had it been since I'd seen those movies?

I blew a sigh and got up from my chair. My eyes were still a bit tired. Maybe a walk would do me some good. Lee was probably back, right?

…

"I hoped he didn't get lost…"

——————

There are times in our lives where we find ourselves faced with situations so bewildering, so crazy that we freeze up. These are the moments that show the people we truly are.

Do we fight? Do we run? Or do we sit still and allow things to continue as they are?

"W-What?"

The streets were in utter chaos. Large sections of it were gouged from the ground, almost as if someone had set off a bomb. A thin layer of frost and ice covered the pavement and a stinking pool of blood could be seen in one corner.

I nearly threw up at the lump of flesh lazily sitting in the said corner. What the hell had happened?!

I walked forward, each step leaving me feeling like my legs were about to give out. In the middle of the street, laying next to a girl with pink hair was Lee. For a moment I thought he was dead. Just like the thing in the corner he was surrounded by a pool of blood, though his was smaller.

I swallowed my fear and despair. Desperation drove me to his side.

He had to be alive.

He had to!

A pulse, though a weak one. His clothes were ripped but there were no wounds I could see. The girl next to him was in a similar state, but she looked to be in a worse condition. There were bruises all over her body, but thankfully she wasn't in any serious danger.

Neither of them was.

He wasn't dead.

I sucked in a breath and tried to calm my racing heart. Everything was ok, right?

…

"I have to get out of here."

It wouldn't be long before someone came to investigate. I was surprised someone hadn't arrived already.

I reached down and grabbed Lee, throwing him over my shoulder and turned to the girl.

Who was she? Should I just leave her here?

No.

Lee had been close to her. Was he trying to protect her? Had they both been attacked by whatever left behind that bloody ball of gore?

There wasn't time to think this thorough. I grabbed the girl and started running. I nearly tripped, unprepared for how fast I was going. The fact I could carry two people was already crazy enough.

Was… Was I even human anymore?

—————————————

Getting Lee into a bed was an easy enough job. He sunk into it almost as if it was a sponge. It was spooky seeing someone so out of it. I'd never seen a person in a coma, but Lee definitely looked the part. The pink-haired girl wasn't much better either. If anything, she seemed worse.

It took me about an hour to get them in bed and clean them up. Granted, it was a bit embarrassing carrying a girl, but I wasn't one to let that distract me too much. Just as I'd finished, I heard sirens in the distance.

The police had finally arrived, but that wasn't my problem anymore. I was tired and just wanted to sleep. I hoped that tomorrow would be a much better day.

———————

How would one describe waking up in a strange place under an unfamiliar roof? I'd say it was pretty damned terrifying. For just a split second I thought it was all just one bad dream. The bed was just as comfortable as I remembered and the sheets had this cool air to them.

Everything slowly started to fall apart a bit after that. My pillow was different. It was something only I would have noticed. How could such a small thing leave that kind of impact? Simple. I'd used the same pillow for at least a decade. It was the sort of sentimental gift kept alive for no reason other than my own feelings. So I knew instantly that this wasn't my bed. It could never be mine without that pillow.

So I stared at the ceiling. It was all wrong.

"Ah…"

I was so far from home. The nightmare had become reality.

I sucked in a breath and got out of bed.

The only thing I could do now was move forward. Sitting around doing nothing would just leave me wallowing in my own despair. I needed to do something. Anything would be better than that.

I went to the kitchen and made some breakfast. Just a sandwich. Once my belly was somewhat full, I headed up to Lee's room. I had to admit, seeing him wake up practically lifted a pair of invisible weights from my shoulders.

We headed to the kitchen and Lee was more than happy to wait as I made him a tomato and ham sandwich.

"This isn't half bad!" Hearing compliments would make anyone blush. I tried to hide it, though.

One thing lead to another and then the two of us headed up to the girl's room with a tray of food in hand.

"Always bring a sacrifice when bargaining with the devil, huh?" Lee said. It was a strange thing to say, but he wasn't the only one that remembered lines from old games. I was a bit too embarrassed to say some of mine, though.

Anyways, the sleeping beauty showed no sign of waking up.

"Maybe we should bring her to a hospital?"

It was a bit risky, but I didn't want to have anyone's death on my hands. God. Something like that would have destroyed me.

"Yeah, maybe-"

There was a knock on the door. The loud, rhythmic thump echoed through the house like the ominous tolling of a bell.

—————————

Death took many forms. Right now it looked like a woman and two men wearing black business suits. I didn't know what it was, but the three of them made my blood freeze. It wasn't that they looked dangerous. No. It was the cold, calculating look in the woman's eyes.

She was staring at us as if we weren't worth her time. Like we were just bugs to be stepped on if we got too close or did anything she'd deem "disgusting."

They were looking for a girl. A girl with pink hair and somewhat short stature. What a coincidence, I thought. Then there was that name again. MBI.

Mid Bio Informatics.

Turned out Lee also saw Men in Black, but that really wasn't all that important.

After sharing a quick look, Lee eventually spoke his mind. I found it a bit odd that he was hiding her. She was just some girl, but these guys did look a bit on the dangerous side. Whatever they were up to probably wasn't good for the girl.

"Sorry, but we haven't seen anyone like that."

She sighed.

"I had hoped we could settle this without incident."

Suddenly, Lee's face paled and he reached up to cradle his head. What just happened? His hands were shaking. Did she-

"Lee, are you-"

The woman moved. She reached into her pocket and pulled out something black and bulky. I caught the barest hint of metal before it explodes in her hands. Sharpened pieces of metal and plastic buried themselves into her flesh and she screamed.

What just happened? It all went too quickly for me to understand. No, wait. Was that a gun?!

The men at her side jump into action. One rushes to her while the other pulled out a gun. He slowly raised it. I could see who he was aiming for before it was fully in position.

My blood froze.

No. No!

The world around me slowed to a crawl. The screaming and angry shouting were washed away with the roaring of my heart. That was all I could hear.

No.

I lunged to the left as a deafening bang echoed through the area. For a second, the bright sunny sky vanished. I found myself surrounded by thick metal walls. The clanging of steel feet against metal vibrated through my bones.

Not again.

I moved without thinking. In a split second, I crossed the distance between me and the man with the gun. My fist moved forward clumsily. Had I been moving at normal speed, it would have been little more than a nuisance.

But I wasn't moving like a slug. And my fist was anything but weak. It smashed into the man's face and I felt teeth crack and break under my knuckles. The man hit the ground with a muffled scream as blood erupted from his mouth.

He dropped his gun and my heel crashed into it like a wrecking ball. Only then, after the threat was taken care of, did I realize what just happened.

Honestly, I was just happy that the guy was alive.

The woman in charge said something? A number? I didn't know. What I did manage to learn was that Lee and I aren't the only people with supernatural abilities here.

A few moments later a crazed girl was on us. Her fingers were like razor-sharp blades that sliced through metal. The air sang as her gauntlet cut through it.

What happened next was a blur. But Lee and I tried our bests to say alive. Somehow we manage to restrain her and she ended up hurting herself. Those claws of hers were wickedly dangerous, and she didn't seem that smart either. And then, just when things couldn't get any weirder, the pink-haired girl leapt out of the house and landed in front of us.

"Huh? Haihane? What are you doing here? No, wait, where am I?"

Was that the gauntlet-wearing girl's name?

What the hell was going on?

Lee and the girl talked a bit. Something about Ashikabi and Sekirei. The first completely sailed over my head, but the later name… there was something familiar about it. It was a distant memory, sort of like an old storybook kind of thing.

Along the way, I somehow manage to save the gauntlet-wearing girl from slicing her own face off again. Seriously, was she half asleep or something? And that wasn't even mentioning what she was wearing! Seriously, was she a burn victim or were those bandages just a weird stylistic choice?

Unfortunately, things only continued to get worse.

Because of course, they would.

A woman with silver hair and an aura that screamed "death" eventually showed up.

"Karasuba."

The name made my skin crawl. We would die. If we tried to fight her, we would both die. That was what my instincts were telling me. So, when she eventually spoke, my heart leaped into my throat.

"Should I just clean up the trash you failed to sweep away?"

This woman's sword screamed for blood. Looking back on it, would Lee and I even have done anything to slow her down? We barely knew anything about our powers. Even with luck on our side, It felt impossible.

Thankfully, pinkie came to the rescue. Once more she spoke about Lee being her "Ashikabi" It took him kissing her to prove this point. Ethereal wings shot out from her back. A bundle of pink feathers were blown into the air.

Something in the back of my mind tingled. I'd seen something like this before, but definitely not here.

Either way, with Lee's "winging" of the pink-haired "Benitsubasa" we were now safe. Or so I thought. The sword-wielding "Karasuba" still looked rearing for a fight.

Somehow, Lee managed to convince her not to kill us all right then and there. With a laugh, she claimed to be "bored" and left.

I'd never been more relieved in my life. Call me a coward, but she did not look like someone to mess with.

After that, well, I just needed some time to relax. It was all getting a bit too much for me. The rest of the day passed in a blur. Benitsubasa joined our little group as Lee's Sekirei. It was around this point that I realized why it all felt so familiar.

It was honestly Lee who gave me the last clue. This world was that of an old anime I'd seen. I'd forgotten so much that I might as well have never seen it. The only things I remembered were names and the very beginning.

But, that was something to worry about another day. The moment we finished dinner, I headed up to my room and opened the laptop inside.

I needed a distraction. To me, there was no better distraction than games.

Granted, it was hard getting anything worthwhile when I had no money. Still, a few quick searches gave me some decently rated free-to-play games. I'd started downloading them before the whole near-death experience with the crazy sword lady. God, when was the last time I played one of those?

By the time I'd booted up the laptop I had a few things to play. The first was an FPS. Suffice it to say, I was never the best at these. Still, it was worth a shot. It took me all of ten minutes to decide it wasn't worth it.

The next game I tried out was a MOBA. It was fun for a bit, but definitely not something that would keep me distracted for all that long right now. Like most MOBAs, I was limited when it came to characters and who I could play with at the start. It was mindbogglingly easy, but maybe that's cause I played LOL for so long.

The last game I tried was an MMO. I rarely played these anymore, mostly cause I burned out before really getting anywhere. Still, the start was always fun.

A quick look basically made it look like a rip of off a certain Final Fantasy game. It surprisingly had a great deal of story for an MMO and I stuck with it. Levelling up my rouge was fun and before I knew it, a few hours had gone by.

As a new player, I'd expected the game's veterans to just ignore me. So, when I ended up getting killed in some dumb way and called for help, I was surprised to see one of these players come and revive me.

"Attic Princess" was her name. I was honestly really embarrassed when I found out I didn't need to be rezed. I could have just clicked a button and returned to town.

Still, that lead to me tossing the guy a friend request, if only to be nice. He accepted it and that was around the time I logged off.

The past two days had been hard. I didn't know If I could keep going like this, but it was something I had to do. If not for me, then for my parents who must have been worried sick.

I didn't know what the future had in store for us, but I wasn't going to give up just yet.