Capítulo 26: Not alone

The once bustling village is now filled with death, all the bodies that would have lied motionless have turned to dust disappearing into the wind. The village in ruins that once held the people's hopes and dreams now has nothing but the harsh wind blowing through it.

- 3rd POV -

Laying in bed with his eyes wide open, even as the sun was rising, Raziel lay there motionless. Pulling the heavy covers off of himself, he noticed the room was dark, with the only light entering being the small sliver passing through the sides of the blinds.

A month had passed, and all he had done was wake up and eat the food he had found around the village, kept in his room, messed around with his new weapon, and pushed his intangibility. He had learned the basics of how to activate cross tails, nothing extreme, but the length of the wire and the direction if he had enough time to think about his hand movements. Nothing that could be used in combat just yet.

Stretching his body, he looked down at the bandage, a small hole on the side of his ribcage. His wounds had healed enough to move around normally, but any strenuous movements would reopen the wound. So for now, he rested before he could continue his routine. A loud sound of an engine started to get closer and closer.

Raziel walked up to the window, peeking out, and he saw a small fleet of atlas aircraft landing not too far off from the village. He looked around at the mess of the room as panic started to set in. He couldn't run, he could maybe hide, but he would die if it came to a fight.

"They must have come to check on the village, maybe with no one to contact them they grew worried," Raziel said, moving away from the window. Hiding his tail and ears in his clothes, grabbing his bag, and putting his fur gloves over the cross tails, he walked towards the door.

A large group of Atlas soldiers walked into the village, and a few were sent into the buildings, clearing them out one by one. Raziel put on the best scared child impression he could muster and started to stagger towards them.

- Raziel POV -

As I closed in on them, I collected my mind and took a deep breath. I started to let the emotions that had been building up this month all out. Tears started to build up on the edges of my eyes as my breathing got heavy.

"Over here, please help me!" I shouted out, not hiding the fear in my voice.

"I hear something," an Atlas soldier shouted out, quickening her pace towards me.

A group of ten Atlas soldiers rushed towards me, and some of them passed by raising their guns, creating a perimeter. One of them seemed to have more gear and armor compared to the others.

"Please help me, the Grimm attacked. I think I'm the only one to survive," I let out, falling to my knees.

"Shhh, it's okay. We are here now. Let me bring you to safety," said the heavily armored Atlas soldier.

The soldier in front of me, unlike the others, seemed to have a jetpack of some type, most likely using dust to propel himself into the air on his back. Next to the jetpack was a large rifle, and his body, even with the heavy plating, was bulky, with a level of muscle I hadn't seen from an Atlas soldier yet.

"SIR, we can't take him in unless we have vetted him!" an Atlas soldier behind me said.

"Shut ya trap for a minute. It's a kid. If it comes down to it, I'll do it myself, but for now, we are here to protect and serve, not kill civilians," barked the soldier back. The higher-ranked Atlas soldier picked me up in a princess carry and took me to the aircraft they had just arrived on.

"It's okay now, kid. I've got you. My name is Igne. You seem to be in pain. We will bring you to a medic in a second," Igne said, hiding his facial expression behind the cold metal mask.

"Thank you so much, mister," I said, feeling my nerves finally calming down.

Not too long after we talked, I was inside the warmth of the aircraft with a medic checking my wounds. His face was shocked, as if he didn't expect me to be alive from what had happened to me.

After an hour of waiting on a bed, the soldiers came back, visibly a bit shaken from what they saw inside the village. Igne walked up, took a seat next to me, and took off his helmet. He was an older man with a scar going across his left eye. His face was rough, as if he had been through a lot.

"Hey, kid. Any chance you could tell me about what went on in ya village?" said Igne, looking into my eyes.

"It was the Grimm. I hid and stayed out of sight, and when I came out, everyone was gone," I said, averting my gaze away from him.

"That must have been rough. Don't worry. We will be going to a safe place where none of these bloody Grimm can touch ya again. For now, rest. We are in a fast-flying ship, so it ain't long till we reach the area location," Igne said, placing a hand on my head.

I gave a light nod as I leaned on my side and closed my eyes. I tried to sleep, even though I hated what Atlas had been doing. Just being around other people made all my built-up stress melt away.

- 3rd POV -

Raziel fell into a deep sleep for the first time in a month. In his dreams, he was sitting around a table with Akari as she told him stories about how the world was peaceful. But no dream lasts forever, as he was shaken awake.

As Raziel awoke from his slumber, he looked around the room and saw that most of the soldiers were sleeping, while only Igne and two others were near the door to the pilot's rooms. Raziel stayed in bed and took a book out from his bag, and started to read, not wanting others to come over and talk to him.

But even then, Igne walked up and sat down next to Raziel, placing a ration next to him as he sat in silence. Raziel picked it up and started to eat, having this not-so-tasty meal, but it was the first hot one in a while.

"So, how are you doing, kid? You slept like a rock for the past ten hours, I would say," Igne said, glancing towards Raziel.

"Better. I haven't slept like that in a while," Raziel said, as he took another bite of the food.

"That's great, kid. I've got a few questions for you. What gave you that huge wound on your side?" Igne said, raising his eyebrow.

"Well, I was a tiny bit out of town, and me and a few other kids had to fight a Grimm, and, well, this happened to me," Raziel said, scratching the back of his head.

"Ah, I see. Great job still being alive, kid," said Igne, giving a half-hearted laugh as if not knowing what to say.

"Yeah, I-" Before Raziel could speak, an alert sounded in the aircraft.

ALERT ALERT! INCOMING GRIMM AT OUTPOST CODEX.

All of the Atlas troops' gazes turned stern as they stood up at the same time, gathering weapons from the racks. Each grabbed a rifle of the same make, making sure their guns had ammo and that nothing was wrong with the weapons they now carried.

The aircraft took a sharp turn as Igne donned each piece of armor one by one, placing it across his body. He grabbed the sniper like gun and placed the helmet on his head, fully covering his face and body as he readied himself.

Outside the window, a small wave of grimm charged towards something in the distance. Both tiny and massive grimm could be seen as part of this horde, which moved like a single mind.

Raziel stared down at them, taking a gulp of saliva as he looked towards the soldiers who may now be moving to their deaths.