A man with bright blue hair sat on a chair beside a bed. On the bed laid another man, only this one had long dark hair.
It was none other than Khun and his newly recruited teammate, Dan.
"It's not so bad that you can't walk, but... it won't be the same anymore." Khun held a rare look of melancholy on his face as he talked to the man. His eyes failed to meet the figure of his teammate as they trailed towards his hands.
"...I'm sorry, Dan." He said. "It was my fault. Maybe if I hadn't invited you to begin with..."
"Hey Khun." Dan interrupted him before he could go on. Khun looked towards him.
"Please.. Can you take me to the workshop battle?"
Khun's eyes couldn't help but widen. "B-but with the state your legs are in-"
"Rachel kept me alive on purpose." Dan's soft voice silenced him. "She wanted to see me despair and see me live with pathetic legs. That was the only reason she let me go. She'll be expecting me to go in misery.. and give up on everything."
"Dan..." Khun muttered.
"The truth is... on the last test before I met you guys, I lost all my teammates." He continued to speak, his soft voice somehow reverberating in the entire room.
"We met some strong opponents and thought we could take them... Unfortunately, all of my teammates were murdered. I... escaped from the test area by myself.
A slight tremor could be felt from his voice.
"At that moment... my fast legs felt so pathetic... so pathetic that I couldn't stop myself from weeping. And the true reason that I didn't betray you wasn't due to some loyalty... I just couldn't forgive myself if I became even more pathetic than I already was... It's funny-"
Just then, as Dan was continuing on with his emotional speech, a loud voice suddenly rang out in the area.
"Hey bro. That's crazy and all, but can you speed this up."
Khun's hair stood on edge as he hurriedly got up the chair and turned to look behind him. Three lighthouses instantly appeared in the air to make a shield while Khun pulled out a knife from under his clothes.
"Who's there?!" He yelled.
The room was silent for a moment.
But then, a momentary shift in the wall appeared. The wall turned illusory, almost see through. And then, a door formed in it's place.
Khun watched in horror as the door formed and slowly opened with a creaking sound. The surrounding lights seemed to dim dangerously as a reddish hue emanated from the surroundings. Hushed whispers rang in his ears and bombarded his brain with a light headache.
Creak~~
As the door opened, beyond it appeared darkness. Pure pitch darkness.
"What the hell?!" Khun yelled with a strange expression. What exactly was he dealing with here? Was it someone from FUG? Here to complete the job?
"You have some nerve pointing that knife at me." A deep voice, accompanied by a strange and eerie sound of a millions insects sounded in the room. Then, slowly, from the darkness, a foot stepped into the room.
It wasn't a human foot by any means. It was avian. Pitch black in colour, almost blending in with the darkness behind the door if not for the slight contours at it's edges, which, strangely enough, gave it a cartoonish feeling.
And then, the other foot stepped inside and along came the full body.
It was a gigantic crow, it's eyes coloured a blood red and almost protruding out of it's eyes. Half of it's torso was missing and it's feathers were metallic at a lot of places. And finally, at it's right eye was a tuft of feathers that created a circle around the beady eye.
"Greetings." The crow spoke in the same eerie voice.
"Did you miss me?"
"I don't even know who you are." Khun said, sweat pooling at his back. He would be lying if he said that the imagery didn't the least bit affect him. He was plenty scared at this point.
"Well... let me give you a small clue." The Crow said, and then, right before them it began to morph. It's flesh and blood shed away as the sound of cracking bones rang in their ears. Dan, at this point in time, was already scared shitless.
The crow continued to morph. Eventually, a man came into view.
And as he did, everything clicked for Khun.
"...Are you serious?"
"Damn right I am." Winston smiled as he lifted his top hat to meet Khun's gaze. Needless to say, Khun was pretty pissed. That is, if his attempts at trying to stab him are anything to go by.
"Stop that. You know it isn't going to work." Winston laughed as he dodged the knife. At this point, everything in the room had already returned to normal.
"Then, let me stab you! Just once!" Khun yelled, still trying to get a single stab in.
"Suit yourself." Winston shrugged his shoulders and stood still. And as the knife reached his body, a metallic ring sounded.
Khun looked at his knife, which had been snapped clean off it's handle.
"See what I mean?"
"Right." Khun nodded in agreement.
"Jeez man. You just saw me solo a Corps Commander and you're acting like that. Props to you." Winston said. He meant it, truly. It took guts to do something like this to someone so much stronger than you. Even if that person was a friend.
Only complete trust would give anyone the courage to attempt something like this. Either that, or downright insanity. One of those.
Winston smiled, genuinely.
"Hello, Khun."
Seeing his smile, Khun dropped the stink eye and returned the gesture.
"Hello, Winston."
They extended their hands and locked their arms.
"I just can't leave you alone huh. Stirring up an entire squadron Commander."
"You're one to talk. You went ahead and almost died I hear."
"Um. Excuse me. Who?" Dan said with a dumbfounded expression.
Khun turned to him with an awkward smile.
"Ah, right. I should probably introduce you right?"
~~~
"What the hell..." That was Dan's reaction after he got to know of Winston. A simple explanation wouldn't have hit the mark, so Khun figured he should at least show him the stream on which Winston fought Kallavan.
And guess what? It sort of... Well, it left him shocked.
"So... you're an irregular."
"As per my knowledge, yes." Winston nodded, but then, his eyes turned to his legs.
"Wow. You really got the short end of the stick."
Khun clicked his tongue, some in annoyance and some in regret.
"I never realized half of my team was filled with traitors."
"I really thought you were smarter than that." Winston sighed. "I guess Rak really was the true leader."
Khun turned to him with a strange expression.
"Are you... serious?"
"Very." Winston said with confidence.
Khun sighed heavily.
"Enough of that. What's done is done. What will you be doing now?" Winston asked with a raised brow.
Khun thought for a moment before answering.
"We are going to the Workshop battle." He continued. "I talked with Hwaryun. Oh, she is a guide who works with FUG, also, Jue Viole Grace, the infamous slayer nominee is actually just Bam. Hwaryun was also the one that helped FUG capture Bam at the 2nd Floor, but now she has agreed to help us." He explained in a single breath.
"...right." Winston nodded.
Is it fortunate that I already knew that? Khun's old habit to wish for a reaction in people hasn't waned I see. He lampooned.
Then, his eyes again travelled to the sorry figure of Dan.
"Well, I suppose if you're going to the workshop battle, as your friend, I can't have your teammates looking like this."
Khun looked at him questioningly.
Before anyone said anything, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a paper figurine.
Then, leaning down, he placed his hand on Dan's chest.
"Behold." He said. And just like that, the legs of the paper figurine began to crumble.
Winston retreated his hand and threw the paper figurine into the air.
Suddenly, Dan's eyes widened.
"Huh..? Huh? HUH?!" He got up from the bed in a hurry.
"Wait, Dan. You shouldn't get u-" Khun tried to get him back, but the man was quicker.
Whoosh!
In a split second, he dashed to the other side of the room!
"How did you... do that?" Dan asked in puzzlement.
Winston smiled and put a finger to his lips.
"Guess."
~~~
"I'll accept your offer!" Khun announced as he walked into the hall. In front of him sat Arkraptor, Wangnan, Miseng, Yihwa, Prince and Goseng on a couch while Hwaryun, the red haired guide stood before them.
"I'll go to the workshop battle with them! And I'll be sure to win it!" He declared.
Wangnan was the first to react.
"What? What do you mean?! You can't possibly be considering taking us to the workshop battle right?!" He yelled.
Just then, two men walked out of the room.
"What the?! Ghost! It's a ghost!" Prince pointed his finger at Dan who was gotten up and was looking all healthy.
"I'm not a ghost." He said awkwardly.
"How did he heal so quickly?" Asked Yihwa.
Khun and Dan shook their heads collectively.
"The reason is also a big part of why I'm agreeing to this." Khu said and pointed behind him.
"Let me introduce you."
It was at this point that they took in the final person to have exited the room. Winston didn't have his full face visible. His eyes were slightly hidden thanks to his half top hat.
"So you're here too. I was wondering why the paths were getting all blurry and covered with Fog." Hwaryun smiled at Winston.
Seeing this Khun raised a brow.
"You've met before."
"Never seen her after the test floor."
"His involvement makes everything blurry. It's happened on the test floor before."
Both of them lied as naturally as they breathed.
There seemed to be a tacit agreement to not mention their precious meeting.
"You?" Yihwa narrowed her eyes.
"Me?"
"I feel like I've seen you before." Yihwa had a small blush on her cheeks as she spoke.
"That's a clever way to spark a conversation." Winston smiled. Then, taking a hand to his head, he promptly removed the hat. "How about we get to know each other better? If you want to after seeing my face that is." He chuckled.
And as he revealed his face, the colour drained from everyone's faces.
"Yo-you!" Wangnan pointed at him with a shaky finger while Prince hid behind Arkraptor and Miseng hid herself behind Goseng.
"You're Winston Heath! The Irregular!" Yihwa exclaimed.
Winston chuckled.
"Correct."
He bowed a little.
"Pleasure to make your acquaintances. I hope we can work for a long time." He smiled. "Now that I've revealed myself, I have no reason to stay hidden."
A strange light escaped Winston's eyes, sending a shiver down everyone's spine.
"I plan to stick around."
There was silence in the room for a bit.
"That's great!" Khun gave him a thumbs up and turned to Hwaryun.
Seeing that, she smiled.
"My abilities will practically be useless with him involved. But even so, you'll be just fine." She shook her head.
"The next month will be spent on training for the competition. Winston will also be overseeing the entire thing." Khun laughed, "We will bring back Viole. But, you guys better be ready for a world of pain. What do you say? Are you in?"
Wangnan walked forward and looked at Lhun's outstretched hand for a moment.
Then, without a word, he went ahead and took his hand.
"Then it's final." Winston popped his neck.
"We'll be going to the workshop battle in a month. Let us do our best everyone!" Dan exclaimed.
"Um, Excuse me. Master Winston." Wangnan interrupted the conversation by raising a hand.
"Hm?"
"Um. If I may be so bold to ask... were you the one I met on the terrace?"
"What are you talking about?" Winston raised a brow with a quizzical expression. "I have no idea what you're asking. I didn't even arrive on the terrace."
As he heard his words, a chill suddenly travelled up Wangnan's spine.
~~~
~~~
A/N: I just read the first 100 chapters of season 3. Meanwhile, I forgot to update the chapter. I apologize for the delay.
But holy shit man. White just made it to my list of great antagonists. Goddamn that was good.
Anyway, do remember to leave a review. And if you're interested, check out my new fanfic(Though it will largely be like an original work, so if anyone's interested, do check it out).
Throw some stones. Cheers~~