Chapter 1 – A promise that should never be broken.

While sitting at a campfire, a group of six teens are gazing upon the stars enjoying the last day of their vacation. While most of them are roasting marshmallows, cracking jokes and talking about all the fun memories they made this vacation one of them is already dozing off. This young boy has brown skin, green eyes, messy black hair and one white swirling tuft. his name is Lime. 

‘Lime…’ a voice calls out. ‘Lime...’ the voice calls out again for a second time. ‘LIME!?’ the voice repeats itself once again almost shouting. Lime wakes up panicking ‘W…w…what’s happening W..what’s wrong, is Denta getting his ass beat again!?’. A sweet, soft voice giggles ‘no silly it’s just that it’s the last day of the vacation and you are already dozing off’. At this point Lime is completely awake and notices that the sweet voice he is hearing is coming from Melody. Melody is a beautiful girl with a tanned skin, pink colored eyes and her long straight hair is brown while one strand is pink. ‘What a lovely girl.’ Lime thinks to himself while blushing. ‘So will you join us or not sleepy head?’ Melody asks Lime with a warm smile on her face. ‘Yeah come on join us this is the last day of the vacation we should make the best out of these final moments of peace together.’ An energetic voice shouts out of nowhere, this voice belongs to a petite girl with bright red eyes, short bordeaux hair whereof the ends are dyed green she also has a knot which was green too, this girls name is Vivian. Before Lime can even react Vivian is already grabbing his arm and is pulling him closer to everyone. Everybody starts laughing, Lime sighs with a smile and says ‘There is no stopping you guys when you guys put your mind to something.’ ‘Nope!’ the others say in harmony. ‘Shut up, just give me a marshmallow already.’ Lime says while laughing. ‘Here you go I made this one just for you.’ Denta says with a naughty smile on his face while holding a burned marshmallow. Denta is a handsome young man that has glowing yellow eyes, spiky silver hair with a long blue strand at the back of his head. ‘Oww thank you very much let me repay all your hard work with a punch to the face.’ Lime replies with an ominous smile. Denta backs away scared while he tells Lime that he will get him a new one. ‘You always were a scaredy cat.’ Vivian laughs while mocking Denta. ‘Poor Denta.’ Melody giggles. ‘Shut up I’m not scared of Lime tsk!’ Denta yells while handing over a good marshmallow to Lime. ‘Hehe remember the last time you said that?’ A little boy giggles. This boy is Melody’s 6 years’ younger brother named Anthem. Anthem’s eyes are azure blue, his hair is black but just like everyone else he has on tuft with a special color and his tuft was lime. ‘Oi, shut up you little brat. I can beat you any time, tsk.’ Denta replies annoyed. ‘Wow what a bad ass beating kids younger than you, oww you really got me shaking.’ Anthem response sarcastic. ‘Haha, even little kids aren’t afraid of you Dents.’ Lime laughs out loud, but then Anthem adds: ‘Lime you’re not that tough either trying to acting like the silent cool guy but you’re a coward to! When are you make my sis your girlfriend, you already confessed and everything so why is it taking so long.’ As soon as that sentenced ends everyone yells in shock: ‘WHAT!’ Melody her face is bright red and because the embarrassment she is babbling all sort of things. Vivian also a little embarrassed is trying to comfort Melody, Denta is rolling on the ground laughing his ass off. Lime shocked the most finally gets his composure back and answers: ‘For someone who saved your life you surely don't respect me like you should, brat.’ Anthem has a big smile on his face, everyone calms down and a silent falls, the only sounds you hear is the blowing of a cool summer breeze, the crackling of the campfire and the rustling of bushes because of the wind and wildlife. Then the silent gets broken ‘Man that was hilarious best moment of the vacation. Sigh – but damn it’s already being like 6 years since we all met each other isn’t it.’ Denta says while looking at the sky. The others agree with him while they eat one marshmallow. ‘Do you guys remember the day we met?’ Denta continues. ‘Of course, how can anyone forget that hectic year.’ Lime replies, he continues ‘I remember it like it’s yesterday, it all started with me going grocery shopping.’

It’s a bright and hot summer afternoon the town is bustling with people, traffic is really active, the sounds of cars echo through the streets as well as al the mumbling of talking people. Elderly, adults and children everyone is shopping and enjoying this summer day. Everyone expect one person that is hiding in the shadows of an alley, this person is watching a green grocer refill apple crates. He is waiting for the right time to strike and steal one of the bright red juicy apples, now as soon as the green grocer goes inside the mysterious person whispers: ‘Now.’ He dashes towards the crates of apples as fast as he can, maneuvering through the giant crowed of people with ease. Sliding under a woman’s dress, running further and grabs an apple. ‘Got you!’ a deep voice roars victorious. The mystery person revealed by the light of the sun is a little kid. While shocked his yellow eyes become big, as he slowly turns his face to face the green grocer. People now stop doing what they are doing to look at what is going on. ‘After so many time of failing to caught you I finally caught you and I’m going to make you pay for all the debt that you have.’ The green grocer brags with a evil smile on his face, as he lifts up his hand. People around start gasping in anticipation of what is going to happen. The green grocer goes in for the punch but right before the punch cam connect a stack of cash appears between the kid’s face and the grocer’s fist. ‘I will pay for the apple.’ A young green eyed boy offers nonchalant. ‘Lime are you sure you want to do that, is this thieving kid a friend of yours?’ the green grocer asks confused. Lime answers ‘No he is not one of my friends and as bad as stealing is I don’t condone adult on kid violence either.’ The green grocer a little ashamed of himself accepts the cash Lime offers and goes back inside.

The kid with the yellow eyes takes a bite out of the apple then he says with a full mouth ‘Yo, you were so cool, you were all like “I will pay for the Apple.”. Where did you even get all that money from?’ ‘First of all don’t talk with your mouth full that’s rude, second of all why don’t you introduce yourself first before asking me questions like that.’ Lime insists while he looks at the boy eating his apple like it’s his first meal in a while. ‘You’re right where are my manners!’ the boy chuckles, he clears his throat before shouting like some kind of anime protagonist ‘My name is Speed of Sound Denta the fastest kid in town! I’m so fast not even a car can catch up to me.’ ‘But you just got caught by the green grocer.’ Lime interrupts but the kid ignores that comment and continues ‘I’m so fast not even my shadow can keep up when I run at full speed!’ the boy starts laughing to himself while praising himself ‘Haha haha I’m the greatest!’ ‘So where are your parents Denta, did you lose them because you were moving so fast?’ Lime asks sarcastic, Denta freezes, for the first time the kid that has done nothing but talk, laugh and be energetic is completely silent. With big eyes he stares at the concrete ground while bearing a blank look on his face, his lips are shaking like he wants to say something but not a sound leaves his mouth. Lime gently puts his hand on Denta’s shoulder. “Denta.” Lime whispers with a slightly worried expression on his face.  Denta starts mumbling ‘mom, dad, everyone.’ All of a sudden he begins to space out, scream loud and cry “I’m sorry -- I’m sorry that I wasn’t with you guys, it’s all my fault.” Then the chaos ends with a quite unique sound “Erk”, Denta’s vision becomes blurry as his eyes slowly close he losses consciousness, his body tumbles forward but before he could fall any further Lime catches him and carries him to Lime’s house. 

Denta’s eyes start twitching a little while he’s regaining his consciousness, calmly he opens his eyes. He can see a shadow, but because his eyes aren’t completely adjusted to the lights yet he can’t see who it is. “You woke up without needing a prince to kiss you.” familiar voice teases, it is Lime’s voice he recognizes that snobby sarcastic way of talking. But something’s off its sounds different shakier, his eyes finally adjust he can now clearly see Lime once again Denta’s eyes become big. Denta can’t believe what he is seeing Lime’s face is all bruised and messed up, with a few bandages nonchalantly placed here and there. ‘What happened to you, who did this to you, are you okay. Wait I’m going to get some bandages and patch you up better!’ Denta shouts furious, you can see the concern on his face, even Lime feels that the concern Denta has for him is genuine. A faint smile appears on Lime’s face before he replies ‘I fell of some stairs while carrying you to my house so technically it’s your fault, you better take responsibility. But enough about me, are you okay? Cause you were the one who lost it, care to explain?’ Denta stays quiet for a few seconds afterward he sighs while replying ‘After all the trouble I gave you I really don’t have a choice, here we go then: ‘It happened 4 years ago, it was the day of my birthday as well as the family reunion. My family had a tradition were they would plan the family reunion on special holiday, this year it was planned for my birthday so of course I was extra happy on that day. My dad had reserved my favorite pizza place for the day, I really loved that place. It had a ball pit, super long slides, video games and much more fun stuff and of course the pizza was delicious. As more family arrived the happier I became, everyone in our family was pretty close with each other. Slowly but surely everyone arrived; my uncles with my cousins and nieces, of course my aunts, grandpa, grandma and – my sister. It was such a long time since I saw my sister, because she went to America to study and would only be home for Christmas most of the times, but this year she took some free days just to come to my birthday, I couldn’t wish for a greater gift. My sis and me were pretty tight, we could talk about so much together from stupid silly things to serious deep conversation, you wouldn’t think that was possible between siblings who had a 20 years’ age gap between them. With the arrival of my sis all the guests were present, now the real party could start. A few hours into the party my dad gave me his car keys and told me to go look in the trunk of the car, I rushed towards the exit, went to the car and opened up the trunk to find a brand new Playing System 4X. Then out of now where the dark parking lot suddenly got bright as day, me thinking it was another surprise turned around as fast as possible to see what it was, only to see the building that once was my favorite place in the world become a hell on earth. As the flames got bigger and bigger I could hear them, everyone one of them painfully screaming while getting burned alive, but the worst part of it was that between al the screams I heard this “Where is Denta where is he! Don’t worry he is safe outside I just send him to get his present. Thank God he is safe.” Even while in such a dire situation they still thought about me, while they were still suffering they were happy that I was safe. I should have been there together with them. I should have just died there together with them, because after that incident my life went to hell anyway. I stopped going to school, lost all of my friends because I ignored them when they were at my door or when they called. And of course I couldn’t stay in that house for ever, no way a 6-year-old could pay the rent. So after awhile the bailiff came to get all our stuff and to kick me out, so ever since that day I’ve been living on the street stealing food and money to survive. That’s it, that my story.’ Denta has a relieving expression on his face as he looks up waiting on Lime to say something. Lime sitting cross-legged is looking down, his black hair covers his face, all of a sudden he stands up while still looking down then he yells while looking up ‘Denta, from here on onwards I will do everything in my power to ensure that you can have a good and normal life. I may not be your dad, your mom, or sister heck we’re not even really related but please let me have the right to call you family, please make me your little brother!’ Lime now is on his knees with his head on the floor. Denta’s eyes start tearing up as he replies ‘Damn it you’re the one that’s supposed to cry because of my story. But instead you turned the roles around, man you’re something else you know Lime. First you save me from that green grocer, you bought me food, calmed me down, took me to your home, you even listened to my story and now this. You did all this for someone you don’t even know for a day so tell me how in heavens name could I ever decline the offer of such a wonderful person. I would be my honor to accept you as my family, as my little brother.’ 

2 months have pass, Lime is on his way to Denta’s house to give him his monthly allowance so he can pay for the rent and do some groceries, he has been doing this ever since he met Denta. As he approaches the house he grabs the spare keys out of his pocket to open the door, Lime enters the house and walks into the living room finding Denta laying on the couch playing video games as usual. Denta pauses the game and greets Lime ‘Yo bro how have you been, did you hit your face against the door again?’ Lime has a bandage on the side of his head again, this is the 4th time this month already. ‘Just shut up and pass me a controller will you.’ Lime replies while accepting the controller Denta gives him. ‘You’re going to lose like always.’ Denta brags as the boys start their matches. While playing the boys laugh, talk trash and joke around, peace and harmony filled up the room. ‘It’s already getting late Dents you should really go get some groceries, so that I can start cooking.’ Lime yawns. ‘Man why can’t these fun and peaceful moments last forever; they always go by so fast.’ Denta complains while putting on his shoes. ‘Well I’m off, be right back.’ Denta yells while exiting the house, the door closes with a loud sound. ‘Man these bags are so heavy; I should have asked Lime to come with me so he could help me carry some of these.’ As Denta walks past a playground a voice shouts ‘Look who we have here, little old Denta getting groceries the legit way. Haha what a joke trying to act like a good citizen and all, come on man just drop the act and come hang with us we’re going to hit up that grocery store we always go to.’ The voice belonged to a tall man that is around the age of 21, he has 2 others with him that were clearly lackeys cause the kept on repeating everything the tall guy said. ‘No thanks I don’t want to do that kind of stuff anymore, and you guys should stop doing things like that too. You can spend your time much better by doing something productive, why go around town causing everybody troubles, make them hate you and wanting to kill you for no reason. While you can have the totally opposite out come just by stopping to act like the victim and blame society for all the unfortunate thing that happen in your life.’ Denta advised the men with a straight face. ‘Hehe did you hear that guys, not only does the kid think he is better than us but he also thinks that he has the right to lecture us. Haha man this new Denta is really something else – I hate it. And why are you 2 fools just standing there let’s learn this kid to respect his elders.’ The tall man ordered the others. In a few seconds Denta is surround by 3 man ready to beat him to a living pulp, before he knew it one of them kicks his leg Denta loses his balance and falls on the ground, in mere seconds all 3 guys were beating up on him. After a few minutes the tall one yells ‘Okay that’s enough!’ As the two lackeys stop and take a step back the tall one goes into Denta’s pocket and grabs his wallet and then they walk away. ‘Tsk I definitely should have asked Lime to come with me.’ Denta mumbled. 

‘Hmm Denta is taking longer than usually, maybe I should go check on him.’ Lime worries. Lime grabs his jacket and puts on his shoes before he rushes toward the exit, he runs as fast as he can while also cautiously looking around for Denta. Lime reaches the playground he looks around for a while searching desperately for Denta, and then at the west entrance of the playground Lime spots the body of a young boy laying on the ground in a puddle of milk with bags scattered all around him. That boy is Denta, Lime rushes toward Denta almost tripping over his own legs. ‘Denta…. Denta can you hear me. Denta open your eyes please! Lime cried out. Denta slowly opens his eyes as he answers ‘Oww hey Lime I’m fine, I fell asleep while doing groceries and because of that I ruined all of it.’ Lime exploded with anger ‘Don’t you dare lie to me, tell me who did this to you!’ Denta mumbles unclear ‘it’s not fair you do it all the time.’ ‘What did you say?’ Lime asks because Denta is talking unclear. Denta replies ‘I said “can we go home it’s cold and my clothes are soaked”.’ Lime agrees, he grabs Denta and carries him home. Once home Lime lays Denta down on bed, not wasting a single second Lime asks Denta to tell him what happened. After refusing many times Denta finally gives in and tells Lime what happened. ‘I see.’ Lime replies while walking towards the door. ‘Hey where are you going.’ Denta asks surprised as which Lime answers ‘I’m going to get some fresh air and not to forget get the groceries.’ The look on Lime’s face is so terrifying even Denta is afraid of him, it is the first time ever that Denta saw that expression on Lime’s face. He never thought that his best friend is capable of bearing such expression, he is so surprised and most of all scared that he could do nothing but watch as Lime left. 

Lime stands before the entrance of a amusement arcade, Lime walks into the venue it’s bustling with children of all ages. Lime looks around searching for the people that match Denta’s description Lime looks at the 18+ section of the venue, that is the part of the venue that has the more mature and violent games that weren’t appropriate for the younger audience. And of course that would be the perfect place for those type of people to be at. Lime walks toward the 18+ section as soon as he enters he hears a few men yelling ‘Damn man that kid was loaded, I wonder how he got all this cash.’ The other one replies ‘Who cares man it’s ours now.’ They start laughing as they continue to play their game. ‘Looks like I found you.’ Lime says with a disturbing smile on his face., the talk guy responds ‘Man what’s with all these kids today. Get the fuck out of here this is the 18+ section you runt and your freaking me out, hurry up before I beat your ass.’ ‘Just like you did to Denta right?’ As he hears that name the tall guy becomes irritated ‘What are you one of his friend haha, did he send you to take re-. ‘Before the tall guy could finish his sentence Lime punches him in his face, he tumbles back and hits a arcade machine. His two lackey try ganging up on Lime, but Lime dodges all the punches and then counters. He kicks one in his stomach then he throws another punch hitting the other one against his jaw, while Lime is beating up the lackeys the tall one has already recovered. He sneaks up behind Lime and hits him on the back of his Lime freezes, thinking he has won the tall one started talking trash ‘I told you not to fuck with me you stupid brat and don’t think that I’m done with you.’ Out of now Lime turns around punching the tall guy right in the guts, he drops onto his knees now being on eye level with Lime. Suddenly the tall guy’s thoughts get filled with fear “How can a little kid do this.” and “what’s up with this look on his face.” Then the tall guy starts begging for his life ‘Please don’t hurt me, if it’s about the money we stole we will give it back but please don’t hurt me. And I will never bother Denta again so please.’ Lime look the tall guy straight in the eyes as he gives a sadistic reply ‘I know for sure you’re not going to bother Denta anymore and about the money you can keep that chump change, now goodbye.’ Lime punches the tall guy straight in his face again, as he falls to the ground he looks at Lime. He never thought that he would ever see something like this, looking down on him with a is a 10-year-old boy, whose hands and face were covered in blood who also has the look of a maniac on his face. Before completely losing conscious the tall guy mumbled “Monster”. 

The door opens Denta turns his face towards it to see who it is; Lime walks in Denta immediately asks ‘where did you go?’ while putting grocery bags on the kitchen table Lime replies ‘I went to get groceries like you can see.’ ‘That took you so long?’ Denta argued. ‘Yes there was some trouble on the way back, the road got locked off because there was a accident or something. So I had to take a detour got a problem with that.’ Lime snarls, he continues ‘I’m sorry, let’s just drop the conversation. I’m going to make some dinner I will be making your favorite dish today.’ Denta enthusiastically shouts with a big smile on his face ‘Yes curry, I love your curry it’s the best curry ever. I’m going to eat like 10 servings!’ 

It’s a hot and sunny summer day, it has been 2 weeks since the incident with the tall guy. Denta and Lime are picnicking in the park, Lime is casually drinking some tea while Denta on the other hand is chowing down all the food and almost chokes on some of it. Lime laughs at Denta chugging down a entire jug of milk. Like always the peace and harmony surrounding these 2 is phenomenal, it even looks like the sun is shining extra bright around them. But even this time this peace wouldn’t last long, because out of nowhere someone starting yelling “Get your dirty hands off me! I don't want to go back with you, let me go I want to keep playing!” The screaming is coming from a little kid, that is getting dragged by his arm by an adult male. The adult is wearing a fancy black tuxedo with a red tie, on his wrist he has a pure gold watch and his hair is combed back slick. The kid is wearing denim dungarees with a gold plaque on it indicating it is from a designer brand, under that he is wearing a black and white cashmere sweater. The kid, now noticing Lime and Denta starts yelling at them ‘Hey you two lovers! Help me, this man is trying to kidnap me' ‘Should we help him?’ Lime questions as which Denta replies ‘Nah we probably shouldn’t get involved, he is probably just a spoiled brat that doesn't want to go home and now he is trying to make his dad look like a bad guy. You know how rich kids are, no offense to you though and to be honest he already lost me when he called us lovers.’ Lime nods and continues to casually drink his tea. The man then lifts the kid up and throws him in de back of a black car, he then enters the car himself and drives off. 

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

A few hours pass by, Lime and Denta are busy cleaning up their mess and are getting ready to go home. When Denta sees a girl desperately looking around as if she is looking for something, Denta walks up to the girl and asks her with a friendly tone ‘Did you lose something my lady? can I offer you my help with the search?’ the girl answers with a shaky voice ‘I’m searching for my brother, he said he was going to the park to play, but he hasn’t come home yet and he also isn’t picking up his phone.’ The girl has a worried look on her face as she waits for Denta’s answer ‘Did this kid wear a dungaree with a gold plaque on it?’ Denta asks the girl while he raised one eyebrow, the girls face brights up as she enthusiastically replies ‘Yes… yes he did. Did you see him.?’ ‘Yeah he went home with his dad, he was making quite the fuss about not wanting to go home.’ The girls face became worried again ‘Went home with his dad?’ she asks but without waiting on confirmation she continues ‘That’s not possible dad is sick at home; he has been sick for the last couple of days. Could it be – no I’m too late.’ The girl falls onto her knees, her pink eyes become big and tears start rolling down her cheeks. Denta tries to comfort the girl but to no success. Not knowing what to do Denta starts losing his composure, at that moment Lime walks up to Denta and puts his hands on his shoulder and whispers ‘Remember me to never listen to you again.’ He sighs, then he goes down on one knee, now he is on eye level with the girl, the girl looks at Lime, tears stilling rolling of her cheeks. Lime looks the girl straight in her pink eyes then he says ‘We will help you find your little brother, we saw the kidnapper’s face and the type of car he was driving. I can provide the police a detailed description of the man, you have nothing to worry about.’ Upon hearing the word police, the girl quickly replied ‘No, no police, but I still want your help so please come with me.’ 

Lime and Denta have a hard time keeping up with the girl that is walking at an absurdly fast pace. 10 minutes have passed since they left the park and now they are in the rich district, you can tell that by the big houses and fancy cars. While walking pass the biggest house the girl stops ‘Here we are’ she exclaims. ‘No way this is your house; you guys must be loaded with money!’ Denta gasps with surprise. As the girl opens the big gate at the entrance of the mansion she replies ‘My parents are famous musicians, they make beautiful music. I’m really proud of their skills and of what they accomplished, but some time I really hate the fame.’ ‘Melody!’ a unknown voice yells, another girl comes running out of the mansions, she jumps on the girl with the pink eyes and hugs her. While tears of joy gush out of her eyes she sobs ‘I wah so wullied arout sou (I was so worried about you). I rought braybe shose revil man gots sou thwo (I thought maybe those evil man got you two.)’ ‘Now now calm down now I’m safe don’t you worry.’ The girl with the pink eyes comforts the other girl. ‘Oww Melody you’re finally back, you had us worried especially your dad, let’s go inside before he gets more worried.’ A pretty woman says with an elegant tone. This woman has luscious brown hair that extends till her knees, her hazel brown eyes are shinning like two giant stars in the night sky, then you have her voluptuous thick lips and in the designer brand dress she is wearing you could see every curve her body has clear as day. This woman is Melody’s mother, as they enter the gigantic dining room she asks ‘Melody, isn’t it time for your to introduce your new friend to us?’ ‘Oh my because of everything that happened I totally forgot to introduce myself or even ask you guys for a name. Where are my manners even, after you guys offered your help. My name is Melody, this girl with me is Vivian she’s my best friend. And that pretty lady over there is my mother.’ Melody explains. ‘You guys can call me miss Miracle.’ Melody’s mom tells the two boys. ‘And who might you two be?’ The Vivian girl asks rudely while looking directly at Lime. Lime does a step forward and answers the question ‘I’m Lime and this is Denta, we are here because we want to help you get your son back ma’am. We have seen how the kidnapper looks and what car he drives.’ ‘Well that is a nice lead, shall we get to business then?’ A unknown voice declares. 2 men walk into the dining room, 1 of the men is covering himself in a blanket and has a runny nose, probably Melody’s father. The other man was wearing a brown trench coat and was smoking a cigarette. ‘Hi, I’m detective Koonan could you guys please tell me everything you saw today?’ Denta and Lime explain what they saw, after they are done the detective nods ‘I see, I’ll head back to the station and investigate more with this new info. And remember what I said “No bargaining with the kidnappers what’s so ever”, I will call you if I have some new hints.’ As he is leaving he stops at the door, looks back and says ‘Shall I drop you 2 boys of at home on my way to the station?’ Lime looks at Denta for confirmation, Denta nods. ‘Sure why not.’ Lime replies.

‘Hurry up Denta we’re almost there!’ Lime yells while they run through the rich district. As they arrive at the big gate at the front of Melody’s mansion Lime rings the bell. ‘Hello, who is it?’ the voice at the other side of the intercom asks. ‘It’s me Lime and Denta.’ The gate opens up and not waiting until it’s completely open, Lime and Denta rush through the gate. Completely out of breath they reach the front door, upon their arrival miss Miracle was already standing in the door post. ‘Come in.’ she proposes; the boys follow her into the dining room where Melody’s father is also waiting. ‘So what happened?’ Lime asks with slightly worried look on his face. ‘It’s Melody she went to where the kidnappers are to deliver the ransom they are asking, for the release of Anthem.’ Melody’s dad tells the boys. ‘Huh, but how didn’t you not know where the kidnappers were hiding?’ Limes questions. ‘Well you see, this morning Koonan called and Melody was the one who picked up the phone. He probably told her all the info he had gathered so she could tell me and my wife, but instead of doing that she grabbed her savings and left.” Melody’s dad explains. ‘For her to go to such a dangerous place alone she must really care for her brother. Alone!? Wait where is Vivian?’ Lime asks out of now where. ‘After we told her what happened she went to the toilet and didn’t come back why?’ Melody’s dad replies. Lime looks at Denta the look in Denta’s eyes confirms that he thinks exactly the same thing Lime is thinking, “she went to get Melody herself!”

Standing before an abandoned factory is an out of breath Vivian ‘I need to protect her.’ she mutters to herself as she stands up and looks at the factory. ‘Let’s go.’ she says while she smacks her hands against her cheeks, she walks onto the factory terrain looking around for suspicious activity. As she gets closer to the factory entrance, 2 men wearing all black appear out of nowhere ‘This is as far as you go little girl. Turn around and leave on your own or do you want us to help you, please don’t choose the second option cause hurting little girls is not my favorite pastime.’ One of the men threaten ‘Hmm if that’s so why don’t you just let me pass by?’ Vivian says with a sassy tone. ‘We warned you.’ The man replies and he begins shooting, Vivian elegantly dodges the bullets with spins, turns and flips. She lands between the 2 men, jump, does a split in the air kicking the 2 men in the face and lands on the ground while still in a split position. ‘Wow I’m really glad Melody told me to try out for gymnastics.’ Vivian babbles to herself again. One of the men calls for back up and in just mere seconds Vivian was surrounded by 10 men ‘Let’s see you dance your way out of this one.’ The previous man sasses. ‘Hey, gymnastics is not dancing okay and second of all 10 people is nothing I already have performed for 100 plus people. Are you ready, here I come!’ Vivian boasts. Because of her swift movements the men have a hard time keeping a steady aim. ‘You guys are so worthless; guess I have to clean up this mess myself.’ A woman wearing a black, latex skins suit that’s closed till her under boobs nags. ‘Come closer.’ She commands the men, the men gather around her in a circle and then with one spin kick she knocks all the men out cold. ‘But why?’ Vivian asks surprised. Without any warning the woman dashes forward with her arm in front of her. Vivian dodges the attack in the last possible second, to her surprise the woman was holding a knife in her hand. ‘When did she pull a knife? Vivian asks herself. Vivian throws out a round house kick, which the woman dodges with ease as she crouches and does a low kick, making Vivian fall onto the ground. ‘Ouch.’ Vivian grumbles displeased as she rubs her hand over her head, she looks up to find the woman standing before her and pointing a knife in her face. ‘Tell me little girl, why did you go through all this trouble, putting yourself in such a dangerous situation just for that other girl?’ the woman asks out of curiosity. ‘Why does that interest you?’ Vivian snarls a little agitated, as which the woman replies with a fed up tone ‘I’m proposing your death right now, giving you a chance to live a little longer so you better start talking before I change my mind and just plunge my knife into your throat.’ Vivian gulps, ‘Well you see, Melody is the only one who truly accepts me for who I am. When I first started school I wasn’t really the popular girl that got all the attention, that was because I didn’t really fit in anywhere: the girls found me too tomboyish because of my short hair and way of talking but on the other hand the boys found me too energetic to be around. But then one day everything changed when we got a new transfer student, it was Melody, she got assigned to the seat next to me. Out of herself she started talking to me, me still insecure about my looks asked her if she thought I looked like a boy. She told me with the sweetest smile I have ever seen “To be honest it’s the first time I have seen a girl with short hair and it’s still something new for me but I will grow accustomed to it, so just be yourself and don’t worry about things like that, everyone is different right?” I felt so good about myself. Shortly after that, recess came, together with another side of me that I was insecure about. Even though the boys didn’t want to be friends with me, they still wanted my skills when they were playing football. So me being the energetic little me that I was, was running around tackling the boys, screaming things like “Hell yeah, get wrecked hard!” and being all competitive about it. After the match ended and I was walking off the court I saw Melody at the side lines, she was waving at me so I walked up to her all embarrassed and stuff and asked her “Did you see all that?” I was sure she would have been turned off by how I was acting but instead she said “Yes, I saw everything and it was amazing. You’re so good at football, your movement was so beautiful I wish I was that good at a sport.” At that moment I realized that it didn’t matter to this girl how I looked like or that I’m so energetic. It’s the complete opposite, she genuinely wanted to be my friend because of those things, because it’s was different for her she wanted to know more about it. For the first time in a long time I finally felt accepted, I finally had a friend, my first friend – my only friend. So that’s why I will do everything to be with her and protect her, even if it means putting myself in a dangerous situation like this. BECAUSE – BECAUSE MELODY IS MY ONLY FRIEND!’ The woman has a satisfying look on her face then she compliments Vivian ‘I really like your resolve and I approve everything you’re doing to protect and be with your friend. So sad that I need to end your little story here.’ The woman thrusts the knife towards Vivian, Vivian holds up her hands to try protecting her face. Vivian sits there waiting on her demise, but nothing happens. Vivian looks up and mumbles ‘Lime?’ To her disbelief there was Lime standing right in front of her, shielding her from the knife with his own body. ‘Oi, don’t go around saying stuff like “Melody is my only friend.” While Denta and me rushed over here, without a plan just so we could be here on time to save you.’ Lime says with a smile on his face, while he looks at Vivian over his shoulder. The woman surprised about what just happened yells ‘Who the hell are you!?’ Lime turns back around, ignoring what the woman said, grabs her by the arm to hold her in place and yells ‘Denta now!’ Out of nowhere Denta comes in with a flying kick, kicking the woman right on her temple. The woman loses her consciousness and falls onto the ground. ‘Lime –.’ Vivian sniffs, but before she could say anything else Lime interrupts her ‘No time to thank me, Denta, stay here with Vivian and protect her if any more trouble occurs. I will go and save Melody and her little brother.’ Lime start running to the entrance of the building, then suddenly he stops ‘By the way, Vivian your dancing back there was really beautiful.’ Without looking back, he continues running forward. ‘It wasn’t dancing you idiot.’ Vivian mumbles with a pleasant smile on her face. ‘Hey what's wrong? your face is red, hello you okay?’ Denta asks a bit worried but he gets no reply at all.

Lime is running through the factory’s hallways, ‘strange, since I entered there have been no guards what's so ever. Did he really think that little line of defense that he had would have been enough?’ Lime reaches a hallway with a giant door with a sign above it saying storage. Lime slowly walks towards the door when he suddenly hears ‘Lime, what are you doing here? Kids these day sure have some guts; I can tell you that. It was Koonan, he was leaning against a big crate and holding his arm, his arm was bleeding. ‘Stupid question, but are you okay?’ Limes asks which Koonan replies with ‘Yes I will live, but the bastard shot me 3 times in my arm and shoulder.’ ‘So that means Melody and her brother are right past this door right?’ Lime theorizes. ‘Lime, I’m not going to try and stop you, because I know for sure that I'm going to fail so I'm just going to say be careful.’ Lime nods, as he walks up to the giant door. He puts his hands on the cold metal handles and starts pushing, the door opens, it’s creaking fills the silent hallways. Lime enters the room; he looks around him. He sees Melody’s brother sitting in a cage, a man with a gun standing before the cage and Melody sitting down on the ground looking a little hurt. Lime rushes over to Melody ‘Are you okay?’ Lime asks gently, but Melody ignores Lime’s question and replies ‘Lime, what are you doing here? It's really dangerous here, did you come alone?’ ‘No I’m not alone Denta and Vivian are waiting outside, I wouldn’t come to a place like this alone, especially not in a situation like this. But you on the other hand, why did you come here alone, why didn't you just let your parents and Koonan fix this?’ Lime questions Melody. Melody’s eyes start tearing up ‘Because I always do things on my own, it always has been like that. Mom and dad never had time for me, they were always busy making music and going on tours. Ever since I was young I was obligated to do everything myself, cooking, cleaning, laundry and washing the dishes. I even paid all the bills because they were always out of the country. When Anthem was born I thought things might finally change, they will stay home more, we would finally do more things together as a family. But no, they just left Anthem with me and went back to their usual life style, they left me alone again.’ Lime looks at Melody with a smile on his face, he comforts her ‘But you’re no longer alone, no you weren’t alone for a long time you had Anthem with you. He may have still been a baby but he was there with you wasn’t he? After that you met Vivian, she would give the world to be together with you forever. Don’t forget about Denta, you might not know him as long as you know Vivian, but that didn’t stop him from rushing over here to come and save you. And last but not least you have me, same goes for me as mentioned with Denta. You don’t know me that long yet, but I’m still here to help you, protect you and to be with you. 

I will no longer allow you to feel alone, that’s why when we get older I will marry you that way you will never ever be alone again.’ Denta and Vivian who in the meanwhile have reached the storage room, are standing there with their mouths open in disbelief of what they just heard. ‘Lime do you know what’s your saying?’ Denta questions Lime. ‘Oww hey guys, what are you doing here? didn’t I tell you to wait outside?’ Lime casually replies. ‘Don’t you just “Hey guys” me, what we’re you planning to do with innocent Melody while we were waiting outside huh?’ Denta accuses Lime, meanwhile Vivian is just standing there looking at the ground then she mumbles “Melody again huh?” Then a squeaky voice suddenly complains ‘It’s funny how this all started with saving me, but instead it turned into a love comedy and saving me became the lowest priority. And why the hell did you, the supposed to be bad guy just sit here and let all of this happen?’ Anthem looks at the kidnapper. The kidnapper rubs his hand over his head and says ‘Well you see, it was kind of entertaining to watch all this. You know, most of the time these situations are things you see in movies or read in a book, but this time it’s really happening before my eyes so it was kind of special.’ Lime then turns around to face the kidnapper and says ‘You’re right Anthem, enough playing around let’s kick this guy’s ass, save you and go back home so I can have a stern talk with your parents.’ Lime walks towards the kidnapper, Denta and Vivian back him up by walking behind him. The kidnapper backs away towards the cage, the he grabs Anthem out of the cage and puts a gun against his head. ‘Don’t come closer, or the kid will die.’ The man threatens. ‘You won’t kill him, or should I say you can’t kill him. You don’t have any bullets left, that’s why you didn’t shoot at me when I entered the room. The gun you have is P-38, it can only hold up to 8 bullets. I encountered the detective who you shot in the arm 3 times, leaving you with 5 bullets, I also notice that you shot Anthem’s cage 4 time, probably because he was giving you a hard time keeping him under control. And lastly, right in front of Melody is a bullet mark too, indicating that you were keeping her from going to Anthem. In total those were all your 8 shots.’ Lime explains while still walking towards the man. Anthem giggles ‘If that’s the case.’ Then proceeds to head butt the man right in the family jewels. The man drops the gun on the floor, the he himself falls onto his knees with his face on the floor. ‘I will get you kids for this.’ The man cries. ‘No you will not.’ Koonan disagrees, he walks into the room pointing his gun towards the kidnapper. ‘It’s over, back up is already here, give up.’ Koonan adds, in that instant the swat team enters the room. Koonan walks up to the group and compliments them ‘You guys did a splendid job, never ever do something like this again, understood?’ the kids nod with smiles on their faces, Koonan continues ‘Okay good you guys understand, let’s go to my car, I will bring you guys back home.’ ‘Yeah I'm going to ride in a cop car again.’ Denta cheers, everyone starts walking toward the exit when suddenly Koonan asks Lime ‘Lime, those scars and bruises –.’ Lime Interrupts Koonan ‘Oww, these are from fighting the guards outside.’ Koonan sighs ‘But Lime you didn’t fight the guards outside, Vivian did, you arrived after the guards were already knocked out. You have no need to lie just –.’ And again Lime interrupts Koonan ‘Don’t worry about it.’ Lime continues walking. ‘Hmm.’ Koonan mumbles as he lights up a cigarette.

‘And after that Lime and me started going to school with you guys.’ Denta addresses which Vivian replies with ‘Yeah, but even that wasn’t the smooth start we expected.’ Melody giggles ‘Not quite, on the first day of school we hear that Denta and Lime beat up another kid.’ ‘Hey, in our defense he was a bully, we caught him bullying a kid, remember, that’s how we met Maruhi –.’ Lime stops talking, a silent falls and then everybody turns around to look at the kid sitting at the other side of the campfire. This kid is slender and wears glasses, his black hair was slick and straight. The top of his hair is colored dark purple. ‘Maruhino, man I totally forgot that you were here. You are always so silent man. Denta teases. ‘He’s always been like that hasn’t he?’ Anthem hypothesizes, Melody agrees ‘I wonder if he really wants to be friends with us, or did we just force our self onto him?’ Then a timid voice assures the group ‘Don’t worry about me guys, even though I don’t talk much, that doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy being around you guys. For me just being around you guys is enough to give me that warm and loving feeling. So please don’t get discouraged by the fact that I don’t talk a lot, this is still all new for me so I still need to grow accustomed to having people around me.’ Everybody’s faces lit up, then they all jumped on Maruhino for a group hug. ‘You guys, let’s make a promise. If something grand ever happens like the world is ending or aliens invade earth. Anything of that scale or even something small, I don’t really care what but let’s promise each other that we meet back at this campfire, so we can go through and conquer it together.’ Denta proposes. ‘Aliens, really Denta? but yeah I’m down with that.’ Lime agrees, the other all nod their heads in agreement. Denta smiles ‘It’s a promise then!’