Day 0: I am going to die

November 24th, Meeting place, 3 pm

The weather was cool as autumn gave way to winter, the trees steadily losing their leaves, leaving the trees bare and vulnerable to the cold snow and freezing winds that frequently accompany the season. Yet, the frosty temperature did not bother the occupants of the small apartment as the warmth both the hearth and the heater were emitting was able to drive the cold lingering on their bones away.

Their bodies might be warm, yet the tension was high in the room.

All six of them were examining the others. In Ezra's humble opinion, not one of them seemed qualified to be there. The boy with the glasses was fidgeting, the curly-haired girl looked like she was rather bored, the long-haired boy that was sitting on the floor had a stupidly annoying smile on his face, the man with the beard smelled of alcohol from kilometers away and finally, the black-haired woman was sporting an awkward smile that made her look like someone was pulling at her cheeks.

''Okay, how about we introduce ourselves?'' the black-haired woman clapped her hands to catch everyone's attention. The man beside her looked at her with a raised eyebrow and a look on his face but didn't comment on it. "I'll start. I am Park Hyun, nice to meet you all.''

They all looked at her weirdly. Did she think they were a bunch of five-year-olds on their first day of kindergarten? However, before Ezra could voice this, admittingly rude, question the long-haired man voiced his own.

''So your name's Park?'' he asked confused, head tilted to the side like a curious dog. The woman let out a small laugh while the man next to her started laughing loudly, his hands wrapping around his middle, tears gathering at the corners of his eyes. The boy blushed furiously at the reaction he was getting from the two adults and looked around to see that no one else was even cracking a smile.

Once the man calmed down and apologized after a glare from the lady, she looked at the boy and smiled kindly. She didn't appear to be angry or even offended.

''No, my name is Hyun. Park is my surname. Korean people usually introduce themselves by putting their family name first,'' her posture had relaxed slightly and was not as rigid as it was, her hands now resting on her legs.

''That is just weird.'' the boy said and seemed to realize what he had just spoken because he looked at her with wide fearful eyes. ''I didn't mean to offend you… I just find it weird.'' he looked down, now playing with his fingers. ''Sorry.''

''Thank you but it is not necessary to apologize.'' she smiled at him and nodded. ''Who is next?''

Her eyes run across the room before stopping on the drunk man. With a nudge of her head and a sigh from him, he stood up from the old leather armchair he was comfortably seated.

''I am Alexandros Papadopoulos,'' he said with a heavy accent. "Hi."

Now that he was standing, Ezra had the opportunity to study him better. He was standing at approximately 1,75m. His clothes were of good quality yet he didn't appear to care much about his appearance. His black hair was combed and pushed back, the black stubble on him drawing most of the attention. From what Ezra could make, his physique wasn't too bad since he could see some muscles hidden underneath that knitted wool jumper.

A few seconds of contemplative silence. And then-

''Alexandre?'' the boy with the glasses spoke for the first time, his pronunciation heavy with a French accent.

''Alexandros,'' the man corrected.

''Alejandro?'' the long-haired boy offered.

''Alexandros.''

''Alexander,'' Ezra also tried the name.

"Alexa-"

''Alex!'' the curly-haired girl snapped, frustrated.

Alexander opened his mouth to speak, then seemed to reconsider. Finally, he passed a glance at Hyun, who simply shrugged. "You know what?" He grunted as he sat back down. "Sure. Why not."

Ezra watched the man---Alexander---sink into the armchair with an arched brow. Amusement danced across his features, despite his evident intoxication. Ezra fought the urge to curl his lip in distaste. Why would a drunken man such as himself be invited to work among them? Which qualities of his deemed this stumbling mess of a man suitable for this urgent, delicate job?

Alexander tilted his head, eyes flickering to Ezra. Their stares met for half a heartbeat.

The younger man turned away. He hadn't come here to make friends. They just needed to finish their jobs and then they will all be on their merry way.

Before anyone else had the chance to introduce themselves, the door that led to the kitchen opened, and out came a woman, not older than 40, holding a tray with tea and biscuits. Her long brown hair was tied in a messy ponytail, her eyes had black circles beneath them, a clear sign that she was not sleeping as much as she should. Erza could understand that. Since, what was dubbed as 'The Fall', some people fled the city and went into hiding, fearing for theirs and their loved ones' lives.

"I made some tea," she said as she put the tray down on the table. ''I hope you enjoy it.'' she continued as she gave each of them a cup.

Erza gladly took it, feeling the warmth of the beverage seep through the material of his black gloves. With a sigh, he looked up just in time to see her take a seat next to the Korean lady --Hyun-- and throw a tentative smile of her own.

"I trust you've already introduced yourselves?" Briefly, she took in their faces, and Ezra pondered how well she knew the others. Might she be friends with Hyun, considering she chose to sit right next to her? Then again, even if they weren't close, he wouldn't blame her for picking that spot---Hyun probably looked the friendliest out of all of them.

Or, at least, the one who tried her hardest to look friendly.

"Not yet; not all of us," answered Hyun. She was looking at them again; an encouraging smile plastered on her face, a small nod urging them to participate. Ezra once again got the impression that this woman considered herself a preschool teacher surrounded by 6-year-olds.

It was the long-haired guy that piped up."I'm Cleandro. Cleandro Rivera." Slender torso slumped, the young man leaned back against the wall of the fireplace and offered another one of those stupid smiles that Ezra feared he would witness much too often. "Nice to meet you."

''Νice to meet you too Cleandro.'' Hyun greeted back with that friendly smile. Ezra tried hard to keep his eye from twitching in annoyance (and thankfully he had complete control of his body, so it wasn't as much as a problem.)

''I...I am Corneille Boucher.'' the boy with the French accent said, making all eyes snap to him as he did not seem the type to be very talkative.

He was of average height, with glasses the only accessory on him. His hair, he guessed, could be considered modern but Ezra found them rather chaotic with how untamed and wild they appeared to be. The black strands were flying everywhere, evidence that maybe the man--boy rather-- ran his fingers through them as he is doing right now.

A sign that he is either anxious or uncomfortable.

''I am Izara,'' seemingly sensing the uncomfortable feeling that was emitting from the French, the freezy haired girl piped in. Looking away from her nails, she leveled all the occupants with a glare, like their mere existence was annoying her but she had to bear with them anyway. ''Izara Onai.''

Ezra did not have any idea what to make of this girl. Her freezy honey-colored hair should have become a problem to anyone who had them, yet she seemed unfazed by the way that the rebellious strands were covering almost half of her face. By the glare she was throwing them, Ezra concluded that she might have problems containing herself--and maybe her anger too.

As soon as the girl had finished introducing themselves, all eyes now turned on Ezra. Keeping his face stoic and emotionless, he unconsciously started rotating his cup, eight times in total, not once breaking eye contact.

''Ezra.'' he finally responded before taking a sip of his tea, the hot beverage warming his insides before looking up at them again.

''Just Ezra?'' Alexander asked, a questioning eyebrow raised. He had leaned forward a bit and seemed to be studying him. His elbows were placed on his knees and he had intertwined his hands together.

''Just Ezra,'' he replied, voice cold and not betraying any emotion. He looked at the others challengingly, daring anyone to ask him anything further.

''Okay, relax. No need to get defensive.'' Alexander said, having raised his hands in a form of surrender. However, he still looked at him in a weird way and Ezra was not appreciating it nor was it giving him any favor in his books.

''Now that we have all introduced ourselves, let's get into planning.'' Hyun broke the tense silence that was beginning to develop over the room. Throwing a glance at Ezra, she didn't say anything else about the matter.

And so planning they did. And, yes, Ezra found their plans to be too… dysfunctional. Idiotic. Over-the-top. With limited chances of success.

He wasn't certain whether Hyun thought of herself as a preschool teacher or as a detective, because her plans were, for lack of a better term, much like the plot of a horrendous mystery series. It must be quite easy for a master of her field such as herself to infiltrate the building, but for the rest of the group, which did not consist of another Weaver, such a task would be unachievable.

Speaking of obscurities, Izara's plan was as destructive as Ezra would have figured---either a flood, a fire, or an earthquake was the girl's suggestions. Ezra had to master every inch of his willpower not to exhibit his sheer exasperation at the absolute insanity of her plan.

"We," he said, each word was spoken with the strained evenness of someone done with such nonsense, "do not want to destroy the building. We want to get into the building, preferably while it's still intact."

And even when Ezra began to think there was no more room for this lunacy, Cleandro went ahead and burst out with the brilliant idea of ringing on the doorbell, masqueraded as delivery guys, stacks of pizza in hand.

This time, Ezra made no attempts to hide his irritation. He pinched the bridge of his nose, "Seriously?"

"Come on," Cleandro raised his arms, signature grin in place, "who wouldn't let pizza in?"

Alexander's plan might've been somewhat plausible if it weren't for the fact that he hoped to down five bottles of beer---" For encouragement!"---before its execution. And at long last, the finishing blow delivered Corneille---also known as Superman---quite eager to have Izara catapult them into the building like soccer balls.

Ezra was done with them all. Drinking some of his tea in an attempt to calm down, he thought again about how this mission had failed before it even began.

''You tell us then a plan, Mister Smartypants,'' Izara said, her brown eyes appearing to be blazing. She was clearly agitated, as were all of them, but resulting in insults were below someone, even someone like her.

Before Ezra had the chance to respond to her slander, a phone rang in the otherwise quiet room. Looking at the woman who was silent all this time, he noticed that she briefly jumped from the noise but after her initial shock, she picked up the cellphone. The black-haired man watched as the color drained from her face, her breathing picking up, sweat forming at her temples and forehead and her heart pounding faster than when a person is relaxed or otherwise calm, drawing to the conclusion that the amygdala of the brain was activated and the woman would soon have the ''fight-or-flight'' reaction, as it is commonly known, meaning that something dreadful must have happened that would justify that reaction.

Ending the call, the woman stared at her phone for a minute longer like she was hoping that all of what she was just told was a lousy farce and not reality. When she realized that was not the case, she looked at all the occupants of the room with panicked eyes and labored breath, ''We've been compromised,'' she got up quickly and ran towards the table where different plan papers stood. Taking all of them, she threw them to the fire, letting it do the rest of the job, ''We have to leave this dimension immediately!'' she said and just like that, she rushed out of the door, leaving the rest of them looking at the door confused and scared.

''Well, you heard her,'' Huyn was the first to snap out of the trance and instead started urging them outside, '' we have to get away from here,'' she said, opening the window and looking down at the fire escape.

Even though the building was located in a well lit and somewhat central part of this pocket dimension, the back of it faced a dark alleyway that could either be their salvation or their damnation. Looking down at it, Ezra was not sure which one of those it was going to be but right now they did not have many options or alternatives.

Huyn looked at them before going out of the window and started running down the stairs of the fire escape. The others threw a brief glance at each other before they went after her, Izara following last after she had literally set fire to the entirety of the room--and probably apartment-- that they were previously occupying.

The alley, as expected, was dark and empty with the only sound being their hurried footsteps and labored breathing patterns. From outside the alley, probably in the main road of this dimension, screams were heard and things breaking. Honestly, Ezra had no idea what was going on specifically but he knew that something was terribly wrong and he had to flee before getting caught in the crossfire.

Finally, the alley gave way to the main road where the mayhem was happening. Everything seemed to be on fire or in some form of destruction. Some people were running, others were chasing and some of them even killing. His eyes widened as he saw a man, not older than 25 years killing a young woman who was already beaten down. Putting his hand on his mouth, he turned around from the sight towards the others of their small group. Everyone was at least in some degree of panic. Though Hyun and Alexander were handling it better, Corneille looked like he was on the road towards a full-blown panic attack.

''We have to go. NOW!'' Hyun screamed as she grabbed Corneille and Cleandro and started running. Alexander cursed too and grabbed both him and Izara and started dragging them after the woman.

Their small group though didn't go unnoticed and sooner than later a two people were running after them. Fireballs were being thrown at them, the ground between their feet started crumbling and he could see that Izara was in pain, her hand clutching her stomach but even then, she didn't stop running. Ezra looked back at them and squinted his eyes. He looked at the Elementalist, straight at his heart. Like magic, statistics showed themselves in front of his eyes, visible only to him. The man's heart is in a good condition, the heart's pulses a little high because of the running but otherwise completely normal, 'let's see if we can change that,' Ezra thought and got to work.

Giving the man a heart attack was not moral and definitely dangerous but Ezra was not a man with a stable moral code and he--they-- were in danger so, he found his actions pretty justifiable. Concentrating Ezra blocked the arteries, let's face it the man was halfway to a heart attack anyway, Ezra just gave a little push, not allowing the blood to run around the body anymore. Within seconds, the man had fallen to the ground unconscious. The fireballs stopped coming and when he looked over at Izara, she was no longer clutching her stomach.

''Where are we going?!'' Alexander yelled, his question directed towards Hyun who was in the lead. Yet, she was not the one to answer the question.

''I know there is another door around here, I sensed one when we passed through the first time,'' Corneille answered and before any of them replied or commented, the boy took a sharp turn, dragging a surprised Hyung and a scared Cleandro with them.

As soon as their little party turned, they stopped. In front of them was an enormous, gaping, purplish hole. Yes, a hole the size of an entire building was standing there in the middle of the alley. The portal was swiveling, completely at ease like nothing was wrong. Beside it, a phone booth was laying on the floor, broken beyond repair.

''How in the world did they manage to break the booth?!'' Corneille asked, voice raised in disbelief and fear, eyes wide looking at the big portal.

''We can marvel at it later, where does it lead?'' Izara spoke, looking behind her shoulder to the growing footsteps of certainly more than two people this time.

''I don't know!'' Corneille said with panic lacing his voice while the other's just groaned in either annoyance or helplessness. Too wrapped in their own heads, they didn't notice the men that were blocking the exit until a warning flash was sent from behind.

Turning around, Ezra almost groaned again and squashed the temptation of stomping his foot like a toddler throwing a temper tantrum but it was hard. The exit from the alley was blocked by half a dozen men and women. They were all dressed in black, weapons in their hands ranging from those killing machines the humans loved so much to magic weapons. Dressed and poised like they were in the military, those people seemed to believe that whatever they were doing was completely normal and acceptable and maybe that was the most disgusting thing of all. Standing tall and proud while your face and hands are covered in blood. Suddenly, Ezra was feeling sick.

''Stand down and move away from the portal.'' the man in the middle shouted, what could be identified as a rifle in his hands. He was tall and built, his chocolate skin melting nicely with the background and his hair cut military style. He was obviously the leader being the tallest and the most built one in their little party. The others were fierce too but he commanded attention and submission.

''And what if we don't?'' Alexander asked, moving slightly in front of them, trying to shield them with his body should things go for the worst. Ezra's respect for the drunkard man was just raised a little.

''We will be forced to remove you without your consent.'' the man answered evenly and with no emotion coloring his voice, face as impassive and emotionless as it could get.

They all looked at each other. All of them were scared but they knew that if they got caught, they would either be killed or imprisoned. Neither sounded like a plausible alternative. Without much prompting, Izara raised her hands and a huge wall of flames rose in front of them, separating them from the others.

''Get in!'' Hyun yelled and ushered the people inside. Everyone looked around. No one stepped inside the portal, either too scared or too stubborn to get inside.

''I'll go last so I can close the portal,'' Corneille said loudly, fierce determination hiding the fear Ezra knew he was feeling.

''I am holding up the wall!'' Izara screamed so she could be heard over the noise of gunfire. As expected, their opponents weren't so patient and started attacking them as soon as the firewall was raised. Thankfully it stopped most of the bullets and didn't let the people on the other side use their powers but it wasn't enough. It wasn't going to last forever and more of the bullets were coming through.

''Okay, Izara and Corny are going to hold the fort. Ezra and Cleo, you go in first and then me and Hyun.'' Alexander yelled, a shield of some sort in front of him deflecting most of the bullets that were coming at them.

''Why should we-?'' Ezra didn't have enough time to respond before he was yanked forward and forced to a sprint. His wrist was caught in Cleandro's hand and they were running towards the portal, ''No wait!''. His words floated into the air just like him. He was flying. No, more like floating inside a swirling purplish portal. He felt like a knot was formed in his stomach and his mind was swimming, going round and round, and was feeling a headache approaching. However, before he could succumb to the need to close his eyes, he was on top of a body. Looking down, he was face to face with Cleandro, green eyes looking at him, his wrist still clasped into a tanned hand. They were crammed since there wasn't much space on the floor of the telephone booth.

Scoffing, he took his hand back and stood up. Opening the door of the green booth, he stopped short at what he was seeing. Trees and bushes and so much...green! It was nighttime and his sight wasn't working well in the dark but his other senses did. He could hear birds and smell nature. Pine, rain, and flowers all melted together. He could hear and feel the dried leaves beneath his boots and a pang of fear hit his heart.

''Oh fuck!'' a voice sounded and Ezra tensed slightly. He had forgotten about the others. Turning around, he saw that they were all together again and the booth was destroyed. Alexander was looking around with eyes wide and, honestly, they all had the same reaction.

''Who had the brilliant idea to plant a portal in the middle of the forest?!'' Izara screamed, making the birds that were taking their night's sleep take off from fright. Her eyes were wide and glowing amber, maybe something leftover from her use of powers.

''We are so screwed.'' Alexander sighed and they all looked at each other. They so were.