It’s How You Die

"I am not watching him," Phoebe crossed her arms, glaring at Arlo. "Why do I need to watch him, he looks older than me. He doesn't need a babysitter."

"Older than you!" Arlo instinctively reacted, insulting Phoebe in turn. "You look older than me!"

"Do not!"

"Do too!"

"Edgard!" Phoebe turned her attention back to Edgard who had tried to sneak out of the room whilst Phoebe was distracted. "Why can't you just get Sta to watch him? If he's dangerous, Sta can just kill him!"

"Sta will be busy." Looking to Sta, Edgard gestured back out the door. "I'm calling a meeting with the heads of the departments."

Phoebe's annoyance gave way to a small amount of interest in Edgard's words. "The department heads are meeting? What for?"

"Mmm, to discuss recent developments." Joining Sta in standing in the hallway, Edgard smiled at the two left inside. "Now play nice kids, we'll be back in seven hours."

"Wh-" Phoebe jumped into the hallway as Edgard and Sta walked off. "Get back here! Edgarddd! Don't leave me with this potentially dangerous killer!" She whined, pointing at Arlo.

Edgard simply waved back to Phoebe without turning.

Arlo's right eye twitched as Phoebe pointed at him. Throwing the covers off him, Arlo swung his legs off the bed.

'Where was it?'

Taking a few steps from the bed, Arlo walked to a closet he had noticed earlier. Opening it, he found a collection of beige tunics. "Perfect." Taking one, he put it over his head, flinching as he put his right arm into the tunic.

"What are you doing!" Phoebe, now back in the room, had her hands on her hips as she watched Arlo getting dressed.

"You know where I'm from, people are supposed to give you some privacy when you're getting dressed," Arlo muttered, annoyed by Phoebe's presence. "What is this place anyway? A bedroom or something?"

"Yeah, it's a bedroom. That's why it has a bed idiot."

Arlo's right eye twitched again. Slamming the closet shut, he threw his hands up. "What is your problem with me? I haven't done anything to you!"

"Don't give me that," Phoebe muttered. "A random guy appears out of nowhere and suddenly everybody is on high alert. I swear if I find out you're from Beezle-"

"I'm going outside." Budging past Phoebe, Arlo made to leave.

Phoebe grabbed Arlo's arm as he brushed past her. "You're missing something."

"What?" Arlo muttered, stopping to glare at her.

"You're not wearing any shoes."

----

The meeting room fell silent as the door opened, Edgard and Sta "Allow me to call this meeting to order."

"Late to your own meeting?" A man with blond hair sat slumped in one of the five chairs surrounding the meeting table. "For having called this meeting, I would have thought at least you'd be on time, Edgard."

As Edgard took a seat, a woman with one red eye and one blue eye spoke up, laughing at the man complaining. "Oh please, Remit. Edgard's late once and you start complaining. You don't see anyone else complaining when you're late."

Remit crossed his arms, sitting back in his seat. "I have reasons for being late, thank you very much, Alia."

Shrugging, Alia turned to Edgard. "How is the boy?"

"Sta has seen to the boy's condition. I spoke to him, and whilst he was hesitant to tell me much, I've determined that he isn't somebody who has wandered out of Bastion and into the Boundary. Whomever he is, he is not from here."

Remit and Alia exchanged glances.

"Where do you believe he's from?" Alia asked.

Rubbing his chin, Edgard thought about it. "He seemed agitated when I spoke about the descendants of the Bastion of Pride. So that would be my best guess." Edgard looked around the table. "Oh," Two of the six seats were empty. "I take it Steph is not back from her hunt yet?"

Remit shook his head. "No, left not long before you arrived. Talking about how she couldn't sit still, knowing there was something happening in the Boundary."

"What?" Edgard exhaled. "And you all let her go into the Boundary, alone?"

"How are we supposed to stop her? I'm not going to bind her and I doubt Alia is going to expend the energy to get in her way-"

"Oi," Slamming her hand on the table, Alia stood up. "I could totally take Steph in a fight!"

Remit rose to meet Alia. "I never said you couldn't fight her, I said you wouldn't!"

"So now you're calling me weak!"

Remit slammed his own hands on the table. "No, I'm calling you lazy!"

"Shut up!" Edgard slammed his fist on the table to quieten the two arguing Protectors. "Stop being so childish, you two. We have business to attend to."

Alia and Remit both took their seats as they glared at each other.

Rubbing his brow, Remit returned his attention to Edgard "So you spoke to the boy? Other than being from the Remnants of Pride, did he let slip anything else? Anything Beezle related?"

Edgard shook his head with a huff. "Come now, Remit, I told you he's not from Beezle. While I was talking to him, it seemed that he has no knowledge about this world's past, whilst he was closed off I honestly do not believe he is Beezle and besides, he mentioned something far more interesting than those Beezle bastards."

"Interesting?" Crossing her legs, Alia leant forwards. "What could some random boy say that would be interesting to you?"

"It seems," Interlacing his fingers, Edgard smiled. "God's Messenger has made another move."

----

The sun shone through the clouds on a busy market square.

Having been properly equipped with shoes, Arlo had found his way out of the castle at the centre of Bastion, which housed the Protectors.

"There's so many people…" Arlo had found a shady spot to sit on some boxes as he observed the hustle and bustle of the market. "I've never seen so many people in one spot, maybe during the festivals when a bunch of towns get together, but these people are here because they want to be. Is it always like this?"

"Of course there's people." Despite her disinterest in following Arlo, Phoebe appreciated that he had found a shady spot for them to rest away from the heat. "This market's always packed, since it's so close to home."

"Home?" Arlo raised an eyebrow as he looked at Phoebe.

"Yeah, home." Phoebe gestured in the general direction of the mansion. "I live there, so it's my home."

"Ugh. You don't have to be such a pain about it, it was a genuine question." Arlo muttered.

Crossing her arms, Phoebe looked away. After a moment, she glanced back at Arlo.

Arlo was content watching the crowd. He subconsciously touched the bandages on his right hand as a slight smile formed on his lips.

'How can someone so suspicious be so, so,' It was almost like his eyes sparkled as he just watched the people go about their lives. 'Innocent.'

"Just give it to us, and we'll let you go."

Arlo and Phoebe jolted up from the boxes.

"What was that?" Arlo asked, jumping off the box.

Phoebe looked around, spotting an alleyway between two tall buildings.

"A man's voice. Someone's in trouble." Without a second word, Phoebe made straight for the alleyway. She moved faster than Arlo could react, causing her to reach the alley before he had taken a step.

"Hey, wait for me! That girl..." Arlo muttered as he raced to the alley, finding quite the sight.

Five men had surrounded a woman on the far side of the alley.

"You lot! Get out of here, leave that woman alone!" Phoebe yelled at the five, alerting them to her presence.

"You have to be kiddin' me," Arlo loudly exhaled. "We had the drop on them, we could have taken out one or two if you hadn't alerted them!"

Grabbing Arlo's collar, she pulled him as she yelled at him. "You're shouting at me now, of all times!"

In response, Arlo grabbed Phoebe by the collar. "How can your body move so fast, and yet your brain moves so slowly!"

One of the men turned to Arlo and Phoebe, brandishing a sword. "You kids!"

Arlo and Phoebe glared at the man as their faces were inches from each other. "What!?"

"You kids should get out of here if you know what's good for you."

Phoebe let go of Arlo's collar pushing him back. "Do you know who I am!" She continued yelling.

The man squinted looking at Phoebe, to his colleagues and then back to Phoebe. "I have no clue who you are kid."

"I am not a kid!" Reaching for her waist, Phoebe paused. "Dammit, of course, the one day I leave my sword at home is the one day I actually need it." Standing tall she threw a hand up. "My name is Phoebe Cloudstruck. I am a Protector in training, if you know what's good for you you'll get out of here before I have to call the guards."

The man laughed in response to Phoebe's declaration. "Ahaha, you really think I'm gonna believe some scrawny kid like you is a Protector in training."

"Scrawny," Grumbling, Phoebe's fingers flexed, white cloud formed between her fingertips. "I'll show you scrawny!" Pulling back, Phoebe threw her fist forward. The cloud flew from her hand, flying through the air it burst outwards as it struck the man in the face.

Shocked at first, the man laughed again seeing that the cloud had done nothing but block his view. "Ahaha was that supposed to intimidate m-"

Using the cloud as cover, Phoebe cleared the gap between her and the man. Swinging she struck the man between his legs causing him to collapse. As the man tried to get up Phoebe slammed him back into the ground beneath her heel. Reaching her left hand up, Phoebe caused the cloud cover to disperse with a wave of her hand.

"How's that for scrawny?" Phoebe's eyes widened, in her arrogance she hadn't thought about the other thugs. She wasn't the only one using the cloud cover, one of the thugs had reached her, his blade seconds from reaching her face.

Reaching forwards with his right arm, Arlo grabbed the blade with his power. Squeezing he crushed the blade causing it to shatter.

Reacting to this Phoebe struck the second thug across the face sending him into the nearby wall in a heap.

Phoebe took a breath as Arlo joined her side.

As she was about to say something, Arlo spoke before her.

"You shouldn't drop your guard when facing multiple opponents. It's how you die."

The three thugs rushed Arlo and Phoebe at the same time.

Rushing to meet them, Arlo ducked under one thug's punch. Pulling back, he punched the man in the stomach with his right arm amplifying his punch. Following up on his associate's attempt to attack Arlo, another thug swung down at Arlo. Grabbing the thug's arm with both hands, Arlo tried to wrestle with the man. After a moment Arlo's right arm twinged with pain causing him to reflexively use his power causing him to crush the man's wrist.

Falling back from the pain, the man rolled around on the floor clutching his broken wrist.

Looking down at the man, Arlo held his arm. "Sorry, I didn't mean to…"

"Why are you apologising?" Phoebe lightly punched Arlo's left shoulder. "They wouldn't be apologising to you if the situations were reversed.

Arlo looked behind him, the thug who rushed Phoebe was currently upside down slumped against the wall with his other cohort.

"It doesn't mean-" Whincing from his arm, Arlo tried to speak again. "Just because they wouldn't feel bad, it doesn't mean I don't."

"Down there!"

Arlo and Phoebe both turned as another male voice shouted at them from the entrance to the alley. It was a man in silver armour, behind him three other people in the same armour rushed into the alley.

"You took long enough." Phoebe casually spoke to the man. "I thought I'd have to drag them to jail myself."

"We're sorry for the delay." The man bowed, eyeing Arlo, he gestured to him. "Is he with you Miss?"

Phoebe contemplated her answer as she and Arlo's eyes met. Turning around Phoebe walked towards the woman who had been accosted by the thugs. "He's with me."

The man nodded to Arlo before moving to aid his associates in arresting the thugs.

Arlo moved to walk alongside Phoebe. "So who are they?" He asked sticking a thumb behind him.

"Guards."

"So Bastion has guards?" Crossing his arms as they walked, Arlo looked down at the slightly shorter Phoebe. "Are they like Protectors?"

Phoebe rolled her eyes. "I can't believe you'd try and put Guards on the same level as Bastion's Protectors. Protectors are tasked with protecting Bastion from outside threats, Denizens, Beezle, yadda yadda. Whereas Guards simply maintain peace within Bastion."

"Denizens?" Tapping his chin, Arlo had more questions. "I've heard that name, Edgard mentioned it when talking about the Boundary, the Denizens of the Boundary."

"You've been inside the Boundary, haven't you? Well, you came out of it at least, Denizens is a catch-all term for the creatures that reside within the Boundary. Makes it easier to say 'The Denizens are attacking', than something like 'Corrupted creatures from the Boundary are attacking'."

"Is it that much of a stretch?"

"Ugh, what do you know."

Stopping, Arlo looked back at the guards. "One last question." Arlo motioned to the guards with his good hand. "How did they know where we were? It's not like you had time to call anyone."

Turning away from Arlo, Phoebe lightly flicked the silver droplet that hung from her left earlobe."I'll let Edgard tell you later."

Arlo silently muttered profanities under his breath as they both reached the girl who had been harassed by the thugs.

"Excuse me miss." Phoebe offered her hand to the lady still sitting on the floor. "Can I help you up?"

"Ah," Taking Phoebe's hand, the lady accepted her assistance, standing up. "Thank you both. Goddess knows what those thugs would have taken from me if you hadn't intervened."

"It's alright," Nudging Arlo Phoebe smiled. "We're always happy to help people in need."

Arlo looked at the smiling lady before averting his gaze. "Y- yeah. Happy to help."

The lady blinked as Arlo looked away from her. "Oh silly me, how could I not introduce myself to my saviours? My name's Sypher Olivard, I run a small herbal shop not far from here."