The slums of Aquaria

After crossing the woods, we arrived at a large field in front of the city. Looking down at the city, Amber asked. "Wow, what is that?" Not as stressed now, she looks at a large wall.

"That? Those are just houses. They're also used as walls for the slums. They're built right next to each other, leaving no room for alleys."

As Amber starts to run down the hill, Edward runs after her.

"Wait for me!" Slowly going down the hill, I see Edward turn around, yelling.

"What? Can't your senile ass keep up?"

Feeling a vein pop on my forehead, I lift the cane off the ground and go into a full sprint down the hill. Even though it hurts my leg, I run to Edward.

"I'm sorry, but did you just call me senile? I'll have you know that my leg is in this state because of YOU!" Tapping my thigh with the cane, he rolls his eyes.

"Yeah, but it's not my fault you couldn't handle my weight!" Waving my worries off, He starts to run faster.

"Couldn't handle your weight?" Going back and forth for a few more minutes, I yelled.

"And that's why it's your fault!" Stabbing my finger into Edward, we arrive at the wall made out of apartments.

"Jesus, every time I'm next to it, it sends chills down my spine." On the outside, there are no windows, it just looks like a large wall made of yellow bricks.

"Yeah, I don't know why, but the emptiness of the wall and its sheer flatness just makes me uncomfortable." Hearing Edwards's opinion, I nodded along.

Walking along the wall, I turn around only to see Amber with her hand on the wall.

"Amber?" Looking closely at the wall, she asked.

"Why would you build something like this?" Looking at me for answers, I shrug.

"Guess twice, why do you think we build a wall?" Giving her a second to think about it, I knock on a large gate. While waiting for the gate to open, I hear.

"The gate's shut! It's your fault for coming late and I'm not opening it for you at this hour! Hell! How do I even know you're human?!" Feeling a vein pop on my forehead. I open my mouth to ask Edward for help, but he's already pulling the small door on the gate out of its hinges.

"Edward! NO!" Resting the door against a nearby wall, he smirks. "What? Weren't you going to ask me to break it down anyway?" With all the noise caused by the gate, a few guys with halberds showed up.

"STOP!"

Seeing their iconic Green shoulder pad, I sigh. "Look, this is a huge misunderstanding so how about-" Reaching into my coat, one yells at me to stop.

"Just a second." Pulling out a roll of cash, I extend my hand to them.

"Take it, for the trouble we caused." Seeing Edward put the gate door back on its hinges, they looked at each other nervously.

"is... is this okay?" Hearing Amber's worried voice, I just tell her to stand to the side and stop disturbing my attempts at bribing the guards.

Keeping to the side, Amber sits down on a bench with Edward. "Shouldn't you be helping Raven?" she asks. Cracking his neck, Edward smiles. "Nope, Raven always says, that you should deal with your own problems."

As he says that a man in an iron chest piece comes to Raven. His long brown goat-like beard swings in the wind. Stabbing his halberd into the ground, he says.

"Hands up, I'm the captain of the volunteer guard-" Raising my hand I cut him off. "I understand you guys are volunteers. You risk your lives for the safety of the slums for FREE, and all I'm offering you is a [small donation] as a sign of my gratitude."

Waving the roll of cash in my hand, he just grabs it and put's it into his pocket.

"Welcome to Aquaria, the capital of humanity." Sharing smiles, he lets as all pass.

....

"Finally we're done with that!" Giving a good pop to my back.

Now a few blocks from the gate, I see Edward sulking. "What's wrong?" Turning his head away from me, he starts to mumble something. "What? Look at me when you're talking."

"S-Sorry...." Confused, I ask what for. "For the money... I didn't think it through." Stopping, I start holding back my laughter. "What?!"

"Nothing... Do you think I'd be mad about that? I mean it isn't my money that I gave them." Raising his eyebrow, Edward asks. "What do you mean by that?"

Opening my jacket I reveal a few more rolls of cash on me. "Back in the docks when you jumped at Gunter, I knew that the whole deal was over so I quickly "borrowed" some money into my pockets... Pernametnly" Smiling widely, I can see Edward sigh.

"First, that's called stealing and second, I had nothing to worry about." Putting his hand on his chest, he takes a deep breath full of relief.

"I hope that you know that if it was my money, I would have taken it off your salary."

"Oh, Common! We just had such a nice moment!"

Laughing about it, I see the Captain guard that let us into the city walking from behind a corner.

Raising my eyebrow, I ask. "Something happened?"

As a few more thugs come from around the corner holding pipes, I immediately understand.

Swallowing in my nervousness, I walked forward confidently. "Hey, I thought we were already welcomed into the city!" God, please let there be a peaceful solution, I thought.

"Sorry, but that girl is wanted by our boss." One of the thugs says as he drags the pipe through the dirt road. "Yeah! So hand her over before someone gets hurt!"

"Sorry buddy, Gunter wants the girl, but you're free to go, I'll say that you got away... as a thank you for the cash at the gate." Giving me a wide smile, I curse.

Cursing my luck as I stand right in front of the guard captain. I step aside and let him walk over to Amber. "Smart man." I hear him say as he walks to Amber.

I can't fight someone like him head-on.

"R-Raven?" Hearing Amber's scared voice, I saw her start to shake. "Sorry, I tried all I could."

Looking to Edward for help she sees him staring at some very interesting rocks in the middle of the road.

"Guys! You promised to help me!" Starting to cry, I sigh.

*BANG* Holding my gun, I shot the corrupt captain in the back of the head.

Hitting the floor dead in front of Amber. She screams in terror as his blood spills onto her.

Putting the gun away, I throw the cane in my hand a few times.

"Let's see what you can do!" Swinging the cane over my head into one of the thugs, its axe-shaped handle easily digs into his shoulder. "Edward!" Yelling for that baffoon, he yells back.

"Just a second I'm warming up!" Snapping my head in his direction I want to yell at him for leaving me in this, but instead, I get hit by a pipe.

"That's for scaring Amber!" Hearing Edward yell enthusiastically, I kick one of the guys only to feel a sharp pain in my leg. Stumbling a bit, I see one of the thugs stick his tongue out.

"Disgusting!" Jabbing him in the throat, he falls to his knees coughing.

...

Looking at them, Edward sees that Raven could easily take care of them by himself. But what about him? He wants to have some fun fighting.

But if he goes and joins the fight, who will protect Amber?

Starting to get lost in his thoughts, he feels something grab onto his leg.

It's Amber, holding her mouth, her eyes shaking like crazy, she says.

"Why?" Trying to look at the now-dead captain, she watched his blood drip from her hands.

Crouching down, Edward puts his hand around Amber and says.

"He made a choice, a wrong choice. He worked for Gunter, the person who kidnapped you. Your enemy. It was only a matter of time before he died, so.... don't think too hard about it Amber. People die in the slums all the time. It's only a matter of when and how."

Crying Amber asks. "Why? Why do you have to kill each other?!"

Done with the thugs, Raven stabs his cane into the ground near Amber and speaks.

"Because there's no other choice, it's simple as that. When there's no option to talk, run or hide, you fight with all your might!"

Looking at Raven in horror, she sees the blood dripping from his long hair.

BANG! As a bullet comes flying past us, Raven sees a green pad on the shoulder of the shooter.

"It's the volunteers!" Yelling loudly, I grab Amber by the hand and begin to run.