I smiled, reaching my arms out. Riven ran over and sank into another hug again, this one a little happier.

"So, kids," the man on the door called out again. "Y'all interested in joining the Rebels?"

I held my breath, holding Riven a little closer too. No. No, no, no. Riven's been trying to join for ages. We can't even join! We're too young!

Panic filled my head as I felt my palms get sweaty. Everything I've done, I've done to keep Riven safe without the need of the Rebels. Why would they show up now?

Riven let go of me, looking up to the man, who had a dumb smirk sprawled across his face. "Nah, I'm just pulling your legs," he laughed, hopping down from the balcony. "Prolly ain't even old enough to join."

He walked over to us, and for the first time, I got a good look at his face. His jawline was covered in heavy stubble, his hat barely covering a scar across his forehead. 

"Actually," he remarked, getting closer. "How old is you two?" he asked Lyra and I.

"18."

"17." We answered in unison. 

"Hmm." He observed Lyra from a distance, looking her up and down. "Nah, you don't have that killer in you," he said to her, finally. "Not yet, anyways," he muttered.

He turned his gaze to me, shaking his head. "You got it, but you're not gonna use it unless you gotta protect the little shit, right?" he said, almost in a mocking tone. 

The man in black looked back to the remains of the man with the electric baton. The one I gouged open with his own weapon. He sighed, shaking his head. "And the youngest one don't even understand the cause. Cares too much."

He gave a lighthearted laugh, putting a fresh cigarette in his mouth.

"Well, shit. Looks like I'm out of luck." He lit the cigarette, watching the lit end. "Maybe another time."

He walked over to the ledge of the building, tilting over, and falling off.

The three of us ran over to the ledge, but the man was gone. No body, no blood stain on the concrete, just gone.

I looked back at Lyra and Riven, wondering if they had anything to say. Lyra fixed her eyes on where the man should've been, while Riven looked over at the soldier with the open forehead. I covered Riven's eyes with one hand, holding his hand in the other, and started walking back to the doorway. Whatever the hell happened today, I'd be glad to forget it. 

Another 30 minute nap. Another loud noise to wake me up. After the rooftop encounter, I dropped Riven off at the apartment with Lyra, and went to go buy another bedframe, some new blankets, and pillows. It wasn't easy to make good money in the Graveyard, but anyone who could win in a fight was pretty well off. Most people were too scared, though. They thought their poverty-ridden, sunken faces were too pretty to get bashed in.

No, that's not fair. I was scared too. But then I met Riven. The entire time I was, I couldn't stop thinking about what that man said. 

You got it, but you're not gonna use it unless you gotta protect the little shit, right?

Did I? Did I really have a killer in me? I shuddered at the thought. 

No way. I wouldn't have saved Lyra, or spared her in the first place if I did.

But the memory played on the back of my mind, unending, like subtle torture. 

I got back to the apartment to find Lyra holding Riven in a chokehold. "This little shit pulled his knife on me!" She squealed. 

Not to my surprise, Riven's knife was in his hand, his teeth clenched as Lyra held him in place. 

"Riven, what the hell's wrong with you?" I sighed, putting the box of metal parts, blankets, and pillows down. 

I walked over to him, taking his knife, when I noticed he had a small cut on his forehead. I put my thumb up to the cut and squeezed around it, bringing out a drop of blood.

"Ow!" He yelled. "That hurts!"

"What is this?" I cleaned the blood off with my hand.

"Nothing!" He exclaimed. Lyra let go of him, and he fell to the ground, covering his face. "It's nothing."

"Riven. Where did you get that cut from?"

He started shaking. "I'm sorry," he said through tears. "I just wanted to know how it felt..."

I sighed, my mind going back to the man in black. The knife he threw went straight into the soldier's head, cracking it open like it was made of paper. Not to mention the rest of the damage it did. The memory of it was enought to make me hurl again, but I held my stomach this time.

"Riven. Let's go for a walk."

Riven held my hand and we walked to the door, leaving Lyra behind. "Go ahead and set up the bed I got. It's cheap metal, but it's all we got."

She shook her head, smiling. "No, it's perfect. Thank you."

We left as Lyra started taking out the cold metal pieces and assembling her bed. 

Walking outside, the city was as disgustingly bright as always. Riven and I walked a couple steps before we said anything.

"Ash."

"Yeah, bud?"

"Why'd you save Lyra?"

I smiled, almost laughing. "Riven?"

"Yeah?"

"Why do you hate Lyra so much?"

He didn't answer right away, looking down at his feet. We kept walking, passing stalls selling all kinds of trinkets. From wrenches to daggers to pendants and scepters. All kinds of Aethos-less weapons could be found here, along with many other things. 

"Are you gonna fall in love with her?" He asked, looking up at me.

My mind went blank. Fall in love? I never even considered a life where I'd have that privilege. Our walk came to a halt, and we stood in the street for a good few seconds before I shook myself awake and started walking again. 

"I don't think I will, but why do you ask?" I finally answer.

"Because if you fall in love with her, you won't be able to take care of me anymore. And I'm not strong or smart like you, so-"

"Riven," I interrupt him. "I'll never put you in a position where I'm not there to protect you. And what if Lyra becomes something like an older sister? What if she's there to protect you too? Wouldn't it be nice having a larger family?"

He doesn't meet my gaze, looking back down at his shoes. "Yeah. I guess."

I turn around and poke his scar, making him recoil. "Why'd you do that?" He winced.

"Good question," I smirked. "Why did you do that?"

He looked around at the stalls, holding my hand tighter. "It didn't feel fair. He was just following orders. Why'd he die like that?"

I took a deep breath. I never considered how much the man's death would've affected him. I never even considered why it didn't affect me. Maybe I didn't care. Maybe the man in black was right. Maybe Riven's safety was just that much more important. But I should've done a better job at hiding the sight from him.

"I don't know, bud. Shit happens, and sometimes you fall on the wrong side of history."

Riven looked up at me, confused. "History? What's that?"

My mind went blank again, and I completely lost track of what I was saying. His story? What?

"I... I don't know." My head started hurting. 

"You're not making sense again, big brother."

"Yeah, I know. Sorry."

We kept walking around some more. Riven came across some candies he'd been eyeing for a while, and even though I said we'd ration our money, I figured that something sweet might help take his mind off the dead soldier. 

We made our way back to the apartment, where Lyra was already lying down in her new bed. She sat up once she saw us, almost in a guarded position facing Riven.

"You got something to say, bud?" I looked over at Riven. He looked down again. This kid must be so fascinated by his shoes. 

He walked over to Lyra, got down on his knees, and bowed his head down. "I'm sorry for being a dickhead to you, Lyra. Just please don't steal my older brother from me."

Not exactly like we'd rehearsed, but close enough.

Lyra looked back up at me, a baffled expression on her face. "Should I even ask?"

"Nope. We got some sweets, you want some?" I threw her the bag of candies, and she picked out a pink gummy. The second she popped it in her mouth, her eyes lit up. 

"Yo! What? This is so... Wow!" She couldn't even finish her sentence. She sat there chewing the gummy diligently, almost like it was a workout. Riven reached into the bag and grabbed a yellow hard candy. He threw me a pink hard candy. 

We were gonna eat the candies on the way back, but Riven suggesting waiting to get home. I think it was his way of showing me he felt bad for the way he'd been treating Lyra. 

She was right, though. These candies were amazing. 

The three of us sat around each other with the bag in the center. We organized the candies based on which ones we liked and which ones we wanted to give to others. To my surprise, Riven and Lyra ended up exchanging the most candies.

My head started hurting again, and my mind flashed with images. Sitting around a wooden table, with an orange bucket in front of me. It was filled with bright, colourful wrappers, and a brown brick was inside each one. Some bricks were different. Some had a lighter brown goo inside, some had a darker brown biscuit. I remember giving away the ones wrapped in red for the ones wrapped in yellow. Other kids my age sat around me, all of them wearing the weirdest clothes. One looked like he was dressed like Cyrus, the Manbeast. Except this kid's Manbeast looked almost... cute? Another had a reptilian costume on with wings, and another was wearing a dark cloak and waving a stick around. Parents were standing behind their kids. Everyone was laughing. A warm hand placed itself on my shoulder, and suddenly, my body relaxed.

Immediately, my head went blank again, and I opened my eyes to see Lyra and Riven laughing, throwing gummies and hard candies at each other.

Damn. Again?

These incidents happened often. At random times, I'd see flashes of things that never happened to me. At least, I don't remember them happening to me. Sometimes, I'd be walking in a bright green park with huge trees around me. I'd be small, holding the hand of an older lady. Other times, I'd be sitting on a comfortable couch with some plastic device in my hand. It had a screen on it, showing me some kind of image. An older man would be sitting next to me, leaning over my shoulder and watching with me.

But parks didn't exist in the Graveyard. The only existed in the Capital. Same with those portable screens. Only government officials had them, and they looked different than the one I was holding.

I used to think I came from the Capital, but I abandoned that theory soon after living in the Graveyard. If a child from the Capital got lost in the Graveyard, you could bet your ass they'd send someone to look for them. The more influential the family, the more they'd tear down the slums to find the kid, killing anyone who didn't give them information. I would've been found by this point.

Besides, ever since I'd appeared, more people appeared without their memories. People of all races, ages, genders, and backgrounds. People who claimed they were mages, technicians, pilots (whatever the hell that meant), and more all appeared around the same time I did.

"Ash? You good?" Lyra's voice woke me up from my daydream.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm alright. Just thinking."

Riven put another candy in his mouth. 

He's gonna get a sugar rush at this rate. And the last thing I need is a hyperactive Riven. God knows what mayhem he'll cause.

"I'm bored," he said, stretching his arms out. "Can we go back to the Pit? I wanna see you fighting again."

I looked at Lyra, whose wounds hadn't healed yet. She noticed me staring at the bite wound on her forearm. "It's fine. We can go back, you can beat me around a little, and any money we make we can split among the three of us again. We made a good amount last time."

I shook my head. "No, we only made that much because it was the first time I'd actually won anything. Going back again with the same goal isn't going to net us nearly as much."

"So should I beat your ass up this time?" Lyra laughed. Even Riven cracked a smile.

"No. We need to upstage. Take bigger fights if we want to keep making this money."

Riven's smile faded. "No, wait. But-"

I held my hand up, stopping him. "I know. I'm not too happy about it either, but with Lyra helping us out, you have way more cover to do your thing."

I explained to Lyra what the plan was. Whenever Riven hid in the audience, it was easier to see him from the ring. I don't know why, but from the ring, watching Riven was easy as hell. This made maneuvering around the cage to pull the audience together an easy way to give Riven an opening to squeeze around and pick pockets. 

Lyra had a stupid grin from ear to ear while I explained the plan. When I was done, I was almost annoyed by it.

"I see," she said, smirking. "So, what if we get into a little playfight, pull the audience around, let Riven work his magic, and then we can feign an end to the fight?"

I nodded. To be honest, that was the most reasonable plan I had in mind. But...

"No. That's the backup plan. I want to take a real fight. Lyra," I looked at her. "Can you be my coach?"

She looked taken aback. "What? Me? Coach? Why?"

"Not an actual coach. I need you to stand near the cage and help give me callouts on patterns and predictable movements. It might actually help-"

"No!" Riven cried out. "That's a stupid plan! We only need the money!"

"Riven..." I mumbled. I steeled myself and admitted the truth. "I don't want to fight the next fight for money. I just want to fight."

Riven gave me a confused look, and even Lyra looked at me weirdly. 

"You sure you're feeling okay?" She asked.

"Yeah." I stood up, holding my hand out for Riven.

"Let's go back to the Pit."