6:00 In the morning.

As Amber gets taken by a huge bird, Raven quickly climbs up the ladder, only to see Edward staring into the empty direction Amber was taken to.

"What are you looking for?! We have to go!" Jumping on his back Edward takes one full jump to fly past 3 whole buildings. Following them behind the river, I see Amber do the stupidest thing she possibly could.

Wiggling out of the arms of her kidnapper she begins to free-fall to the ground.

"THAT IDIOT!" The thing I previously thought was a huge magical bird turned out to be a human wearing a wing contraption. Seeing them deep dive for Amber, I tell Edward to get us to them.

"No need to say twice!" Jumping on the nearby rooftop, We see the bird guy catch Amber. Jumping on its wings, I stick my cane between its joints.

"GET OFF!" To my surprise, the person that yelled at me wasn't a guy but a woman.

While she starts to spin as her one wing can't move properly, dropping Amber, Edward jumps off and barely catches her.

Flying straight at a nearby building, I pull out my cane and let her fly into it. Falling freely to the ground, I stab my cane through a window and hook myself on the edge.

Seeing the winged lady burst out of the building with her wings spread out. I quickly dropped to the ground only to be spotted.

Flying straight at me, my stupid ass thought that I was being smart hiding behind a lamp post until she cut it in half with her metallic wings.

Spinning in the air, She brings her wings down on me, which I barely stopped with my cane. Surprised by the durability of that cane, we both yell. "What is this thing made out of?!"

Kicking me away, She swings her wing like crazy shattering all the lamps, I try to hide behind.

"You're a tricky one aren't you Raven?"

"ravens are always better than... Whatever kind of bird you are."

Snapping her wings into a blade, she says. "Crow, I'm a Crow"

Nodding my head, I ask. "Have you ever seen a crow be tackled by bison?"

Startled by my question she comes to hold, only to get slammed by Edward from the side.

"Buuuya! A good old Bison tackle!" Pinning her to a wall, I see shaking Amber climb from his back. Helping her down, I ask her what took them so long.

"Edward said that it's fun seeing you fight."

Of course, he said that.

Looking at the now-wrecked wings, I look at the technological marvel it is. To control something like this, one is definitely a Hod Sephirah. A mage of technology and knowledge.

As I think about that, I see Edward do the stupidest thing possible.

"Edward NO! She's a Hod Sephirah!" Getting electrocuted, he falls to the ground smoking hot. Reaching for my gun, I turn to the woman only for her to stab me with a feather-like object.

Falling to the floor, I see the woman run off until a box with wings lands in front of her. Strapping herself in, she charges at Amber at an incredible speed.

Firing my gun at the woman, I managed to stop the winged lady from taking Amber. Even though I probably missed most of the bullets, the woman decides to fly away.

Seeing no point in running after her, as I can't keep up with full-on mechanical wings. Not to mention that Amber is still here and I can't leave her unprotected.

Running up to me, Amber helps me get on my feet and helps me walk over to Edward. She tries to pull out the metal feather stuck in my shoulder, but I stop her.

"Don't, if you pull it out I'm gonna be 10 times messier."

Letting me go, I rest on my cane above Edward.

"Edward, what made you think that tackling a Hod Sephirah was a good idea?"

Rubbing his forehead he asks me what the hell is this Hod sephirah.

"Brother, remember those Yesod magicians? Yes? Good, cause Hod sephirah, is the same thing just for technologic, you could say that they're like technopaths, they control technology by their will."

Cracking my neck, I walk to a nearby clothing store. Rummaging through my pockets, I pull out a small, almost comb-looking tool. "What is that?" Amber asks.

"A comb pick. It's a lock-picking tool." Inserting it into the lock, I start shaking my hand like crazy. Finding it funny, Amber says. "You can't pick a lock like that-"

*Click* Opening the door, I turn around. "Oh I'm sorry, were you saying anything?"

Just walking past me with Edward, she speaks up. "What are we doing here again?"

Walking to the counter, I open the cash register and start pocketing the money.

"First, treat my wound, Second, disguise ourselves." Putting the last bill into my pocket, Amber asks me why they don't keep the money in a safe or something.

"Bold of you to assume that they have a safe, to begin with." Shutting the cash register, I sit on the counter and rip my clothes around the shoulder. As Edward comes strolling in with some ripped sleeves and dish soap he tells me not to move too much.

"Why don't they take the money with them?" Amber asks.

"They do. The money that's left in the cash register is just exchange money. Auch!"

As Edward pulls the feather object out blood starts to pour out of my wound. Putting a rolled-up ball of cloth against the wound, he starts to bandage it to the injury.

"Anyways," Continuing my conversation with Amber, I say

"The money I took is just the exchange. If we came on a Friday evening we would get more, but it's Sunday so..." Shrugging my one good shoulder, Amber asks me what the exchange is.

"It's just the small amount stores leave through the weekend for the opening on a Monday morning, they use it to exchange larger bills." Tapping on to the bandage, I give Edward a thumbs up.

Hopping down, I look at my ripped clothes. "I guess we could do with a change of clothes."

Looking over all the racks of clothing, I feel Amber grab my hand. "I... I don't think we should do it. We already took their money, we don't need to ruin their chance to make it back."

While I agree with what Amber says, I point to the clothes that had their sleeves ripped off to be used as bandages. "I don't think it will make much of a difference if we take some since most of them have already been destroyed."

Starting to empty my pockets on a table, I try to hide a certain thing from Edward.

"What is that?" Putting the thing back into my pocket, I pull out a magazine for my pistol. "Nothing, just a mag for my pistol~!" Seeing Amber reach into the pocket and pull out a syringe with foggy purple liquid, I panic.

Quickly grabbing it out of Amber's curious hands, I put it back into my pocket, even though Edward already saw it. "Raven... I thought you had promised. You said you had stopped."

Pulling out the syringe, I handed it to Edward. "I know..... I ....I... I... I just had to."

Not being able to come up with a better excuse. I look at the ground ashamed of myself. Pulling up my sleeve he reveals fully visible blue veins on Ravens' hand. Letting me go he throws the syringe against a wall and storms out of the shop saying he needs a smoke.

....

The room stayed silent for a few seconds before Amber started to pick up the broken shards of the syringe. Asking Raven if he wants to talk about it, he just tells her that it's a long story.

Throwing the shards into the trash, Amber decides to go outside.

Seeing Edward sitting on the curb smoking his cigarette, Amber asks him what that whole thing was about. "Nothing, it's just... None of us kept our promises, as you saw Raven is a junkie. We promised each other to stop doing the things that harm us! For God's sake!"

*Puff * Stepping on some of the ashes. He continues.

"I always felt bad that I didn't manage to stop smoking, while Raven presumably stopped. Yet now... I realize that we did the same thing. We told each other that we stopped, yet continued behind each other's backs."

Sitting down next to Edward, Amber listens to all his problems and troubles, as a friend would.

"What... What made Raven turn to those things?" Amber asks.

Edward thought of telling her that she didn't need to know, but her tone was..... No, it wasn't filled with curiosity like before. Instead, it's filled with worry like if she's worried for a friend.

"I..... don't know, to be honest. He never told me, but I think he made it to sleep better, as it's called the Dreammaker. You've definitely heard about it before. It's been-"

[Dreammaker]

Amber zoned out, a fantastical dream-inducing drug that showed up one day out of nowhere. It hit the news like a storm. For a whole week, they didn't talk about anything else, thinking someone like Raven is behind it. It's simply-

"WHAaaa!" Suddenly grabbed by something, she gets lifted into the air.

"AMBER!"

.....

As Raven washes his hands, he thinks about what Edward said.

"I thought better of you." Even though he whispered it into my ear while storming out, it stuck with me. The few seconds I was left alone inside the store felt like an hour.

Rubbing the vividly visible blue veins, I wonder if Edward will leave after this incident as well.

"I mean who would like to be a friend with trash like me-"

-BASH! * Hearing the door get kicked in, I worry that it's the volunteers, but instead, I just see a sweaty Edward. Tensing my face I prepare to get punched.

"What are you doing?" We need to go! Amber got kidnapped!"

"What?!" Grabbing me by the hand, he throws me onto his back and quickly scales the building. "I tried to catch up to the winged lady, but I wasn't fast enough to keep up"

Raising my hands to signal him to slow down, I speak up. "Wait! You're not mad at me?"

Jumping across a gap, he says. "Of course not! We're friends! Not to mention..... I did the same thing. I also lied to you about quitting smoking, so how can I be mad at you for lying to me about the same thing?"

Laughing fakely about it, I sigh. Guess I was just overthinking things..... again.

"Not to mention we can try again! But this time together! Last time we just told each other to stop but didn't help each other get through it. So how about we try to quit again? But this time together?"

Smiling about it, I told him that this time we're gonna quit for sure.

Suddenly stopping, Edward curses as he has no idea in what direction to run. Getting off, I pull out my shattered phone and open an app.

A small radar opens. "What is that?" Edward asked.

"Our ticket to Amber." Throwing him the phone, Edward looks at me confused. Seeing a red dot flash on the screen, he asks.

"You put a tracker on Amber?!" Nodding my head, I tell him that I put one on her all the way back in the container or at the beginning of this whole mess. Smiling, he begins to walk in the direction the red dot points.

Jumping back on his back, I told him to speed up.

Jumping over a few rooftops in silence, Edward asks.

"Raven... Do you think we will ever see Amber again?" Thinking Edward's question over, I reply. "Do you want to see her again? As that's all it depends on."

Jumping over a few rooftops in silence, Edward replies. "I... I don't know. I didn't want to get attached to her, but she grew on me. She's no longer a person we're escorting, she's... more of a teammate now."

Knowing where's coming from, I remember how she saved me from those volunteers.

"I guess, only time can tell, not to mention that she would also need to like to stay with us." Stopping on a roof, we can see that the tracker is right in front of us. It's a construction site for a new apartment complex.

"So, what's the plan?"

"Rescue Amber," I reply while looking at the floor. Rolling his eyes, I can see him puff up his cheeks. "I'm sorry Edward, but for a stupid question, I have a stupid answer."

Spotting the large wings, I see the woman walking around. Pointing at her for Edward we see a group of bad news arrive. "Gunter, looks like our winged friend works for Gunter. How great."

Jabbing his elbow into my side, Edward jokes. "At least you got me, I can take care of him for 5 seconds!" Chuckling, I reply. "Yeah, and afterward I have to save your ass again."

"But 5 seconds is 5 seconds." Rolling my eyes, I joke. "Edward you can't even light your cigarette in 5 seconds, so what do you expect me to do?" Standing up, I pop my back.

Starting to get ready, I see Edwrad wrap his hands in bandages. "So you're going all out?"

Giving me a nod, he says. "Even though we joked that I couldn't even last 5 seconds, I plan to give my brother a run for his money." Slamming his hands, I climb on his back and we charge to the construction site.

...

Seeing her kidnapper again, Amber begins to shake uncontrollably. Feeling the woman put her hand on her shoulder, she says. "Worry not dear, Gunter is a very kind man, right?"

Giving her a Nod, Gunter walks forward to Amber. As Amber closes her eyes a sound of shattering glass gets everyone's attention.

"FUCK! Who the hell puts a glass pane in the middle of a floor?!"

"Edward, it's a window... I don't know how to tell you this, but windows are pretty common."

Showing them selfs from behind a corner, Raven and Edward see the others.

Looking at Edward, Raven tells him. "I thought I told you to land a floor above them!" Ignoring my problems Gunter runs at us.

As Edward and Gunter, exchange hits, I suddenly get pulled back. "WHOA!" Flying through the air, I land on my feet, seeing the lady in her winged harness, I smile.

"Hello, Raven."

Dusting my clothes, I reply. "Hey, Crow. that was your name, right? If not I'm sorry, I don't remember one-night stands." Smiling, I move the hair out of my face.

"Sorry, but I don't like men with long hair, so I guess it will be a one-night stand."

Charging at me, she tries to cut me in half with her large wing. While Jumping away, I taunt that her wing can't even cut fabric, so how does she expect to cut me in half?

But I shut up the second I see a nearby support beam get cut in half.

"Okay, forget I said anything."

Ignoring my plead, she flies straight at me. Swinging her wing, I jump over it and stab my cane into her mask. Screaming in pain she jumps away, as her glass visor begins to fall apart, I see her long brown hair with purple eyes.

"You're gonna pay for that!" She screams as she flies straight at me.

Bracing myself for one of her swings, I feel Edward bump into my back. "Tap?" I ask.

"Tap" He replies.

Spinning around each other we switch our opponents. Slamming Gunter's fist away with my cane, Edward easily grabs the woman's wing and throws her away.

Now facing Gunet, he speaks. "Raven, let me grant you the honor of facing my full might!" Taking off his jacket, he reveals his huge scarred body.

Grabbing my scarf with one hand, I point at Gunter with my cane. "Very well, let's decide the winner, by good old duel!" Charging at him, I slide between his legs and hook my cane on his knee.

Giving it a pull with all my strength, I turn his knee inside out.

"GHAAA!"

Screaming in pain, he catches me by the leg. "oh no." Spinning me in the air. Gunter throws me against a concrete wall. Knocking the air out of me, I fall to the ground.

Spotting something in the corner of my eye, I see Amber being held down by some of the thugs. Starting to get up, I feel my knees give out. "Running out of juice?" Hearing Gunters' mocking voice, I pull myself up with the support of my cane.

"What makes you think so." Speaking with the little breath I have, Gunter chuckles. Jumping at me he grabs me by the throat and slams me against the wall, cracking in the process.

"I hate you Raven, and I want you to know it. I've spent 12 years building my status my crime empire! yet you show up out of nowhere and are suddenly considered my equal!?"

Taking a deep breath, I reply. "Simple, I'm just better in every possible way."

Pulling out my gun, Gunter chuckles. "Fool, no normal bullet can pierce my skin!" Mocking me, I just chuckle. "Who said I was aiming for you?" Putting the gun next to his ear, I pull the trigger.

*BANG!* As blood, drips from Gunter's ear, he lets go of me and grabs it in pain, big mistake. Putting the gun to his other ear, I pull the trigger again, causing him to scream in pain again.

Falling to the floor screaming, I run over him to Amber. Some of his thugs try to stop me, but I deal with them easily. Swinging my cane, I knock one guy's teeth out. Grabbing Amber by the hand I yell,

"RUN!" Running out to the stairs, I yell at Edward to run with us.

It's not long before he lands next to us with a piece of scrap metal in his hand. Looking at my watch I see.

[5:57] Comming to a stop. Amber yells at me as to why I'm stopping.

"Amber, are you sure you need to be back home before 6? or was it something else?" Just asking to make sure, she tells me that at six a maid comes to wake her up.

Laughing slightly, I open the rooftop door, only to reveal the rising sun. Walking to the edge, I enjoy the few of the sun rising over the horizon. Seeing the palace just a few districts away. I lean back and relax.

"Raven! We need to go! The sun is rising we don't have much time left!" Yelling at me, I just ask her if she knows when the sun rises.

"I don't know. 5:30?" Shaking my head, I tell her. "5:55, Even if Edward sprinted at his fastest he wouldn't make it to the royal palace in 5 minutes, so how can we?"

As Amber realizes what Raven means, she sits downs next to him. Looking at the sunrise with the still-blowing cold night wind, Ravne looks at his watch and says.

"6:00 Am, We failed."