Rage

Vell who was usually calm and collected is now trembling and scared.

'what do we do..what do we do..what do we do'

He was at the brink of a mental breakdown but one glance at Maya snapped him back. She was trembling uncontrollably, curled up on the ground.

'What's wrong with me, I have a little cousin to protect.'

He hit himself on the cheek and forced a smile. 

"Hey." 

He whispered

'Go hide over there, don't come out no matter what, ok?"

She stared at him for a few seconds, she knew he was being brave for her. She nodded and crawled behind a few boxes. Now it was just him and the monster banging at the door.

'That door won't last much longer and there is nothing to use to defend myself in here' he continued looking around slowly but nothing.

'Dammit, this is bad, no tool to defend myself and my hands are cuffed, am I going to die here?'

The steel door was on its last hinge and the BANG!

The huge door fell making a loud thud as it hit the floor.

His blood went cold, he knew there was a creature behind that door but he didn't expect it to be so terrifying. Huge paws, huge in size, sharp teeth covered in blood and eyes that looked at him like prey.

'a wolf? No, no wolf is that big, what the hell is it'

The monster wasted no time and lunged at him. Without anything to defend himself, the monster made contact with his stomach sending him flying into the wall.

As he fell down he groaned in pain.

' Yep, something just broke' 

He thought as blood came rushing into his mouth.

The monster took a step closer but suddenly stopped and began sniffing, it picked up another human scent in the room.

"N-no, hey you ugly bastard, i am here, where the fuck are you going, you scared of a little human!?"

His taunts didn't work, the monster kept sniffing its way towards Maya.

'fuck pain, i am not letting you reach her'

He powered through the pain, stood up using the wall as support and ran at the monster screaming.

"Don't ignore me you mutt!"

He grabbed its tail and began pulling with all his might. The monster turned its head and groaned at him indicating it does not like him grabbing its tail.

"That's right, come at-"

The tail flicks him away like a bug into the shelves causing even more damage to his body. The monster leaped and tried to crush him but he evaded and wobbled to the other side of the room. He could run but Maya would be in danger.

His movements were slowing down and the cuffs didn't help. He was losing too much blood from just two attacks.

Seeing this, the monster grinned at him, it knew he was done for, the look was as if it was mocking him , "after that talk", that's what the look was.

" Hehehe…."

He sat up and began laughing in a low voice. Maya stopped trembling and began listening.

"Hahaha…."

The monster was confused, he was about to die but he was laughing? On the other hand, Maya began to smile, her trembling stopped, she knew it would all be alright because this, this is who vell truly is.

He remained silent for a few seconds before getting up without using his arms. It was like seeing a person be reborn but this was not the case, this is the side he hides away, his true self, his anger and hate for the world, for the ones who did him wrong, this rage and hate was dangerous, it fueled his strength but he always went too far.

So he hid it behind a smile, Maya also helped with this, she kept him happy, kept him in check but right now, he is more angry than he has ever been, angry that the world went to shit and angry that he might let Maya to die, there was no reason to hold back the anger now, he let it all loose.

He looked at the cuffs and without a word, he dislocated his thumbs and freed himself.

"Much better. Now then mutt, round 3?"

He was now working off anger, hate and adrenaline, one would say he is fighting without thinking but that is not the case, he was just as smart as normal, the only difference is that fear, mercy and other unnecessary emotions were thrown out.

'It's clear I can't beat this thing head on, its thur is thick as brick, it's too big and too powerful, so the only way to beat it is to sacrifice something.'

He looked at a few crates on the ground and smiled.

"Hey ugly, you just gonna stand there or come at me?"

It let out a loud cry before charging at him. He didn't move, he waited for his chance.

'3...2...1'

He pushed 3 crates and the monster rolled over landing head first into the wall. This did not faze it, it got back up and shook off the dust. Turned around and it saw him standing there, waiting.

"Hey"

It opened its mouth and he wasted no time. He pushed his arms down its throat and before it could retaliate, he already grabbed it. He was looking for the heart but something told him what he was holding was just as important.

He began pulling and the monster reacted in a nervous way which just confirmed his theory. He began pulling once more..harder, faster and whatever he was holding began slowly moving toward him.

The monster panicked, tried to shake him off but it couldn't, it was losing strength fast. It sank its teeth into his arms hoping this would stop him but he just kept pulling despite the pain of his skin being peeled off.

"Fuck you!"

He gave it his all one more time and successfully pulled it into its mouth, it toppled over and slowly died. The mouth muscles loosened and he freed his arms. He pulled them out while still holding what he pulled out.

"A green crystal? Is this it's heart?"

Dizziness took over and he fell to his knees and he couldn't hold the blood back anymore, it came falling out of his mouth.

"Ah, is this death? At least I saved her."

His vision blurred and he slowly fell to the ground. What he saw last was Maya running towards him shouting and crying.

—-----------------------------

"UGH!!!!"

He woke up in intense pain. He touched where the wound is supposed to be but gets greeted by a bundage. He looked at himself, seeing how well he was bandaged. Beside him was Maya sleeping like a baby.

He moved and winced in pain waking her up. 

"Oh, look who decided to come up"

She said with a smile and tears flowing down her cheeks. 

"I thought you would never wake up."

Seeing her so concerned about him made him sad and happy at the same time.

"I would never leave you alone."

"Heh, of course you wouldn't, you know I would be mad if you did that."

"Yeah, I would never hear the end of it. Where are we anyways?"

A new voice chimed in.

"A military underground bunker"

He turned his head to see a woman with long jet black hair walking in. She wore a military uniform and was equipped with a gun. He just stared at her without saying a word, Maya noticing the tension and chimed in.

"Ah, these nice people saved us, they treated your injuries."

She was getting nervous, afraid he would enter that state again but surprisingly, he was calm, too calm, which was more worrying than the anger.

"Is that so?"

He turned to the lady again. 

"Well thank you for saving Maya."

"....you are welcome, feel free to stay as long as you want. I just came to check up on you and it seems you are up and doing well so I will take my leave."

She walked out and Maya looked at him with a weird expression.

"What?"

"What? You were literally rude to the most beautiful girl you have ever seen, if you continue to be like this, how are you ever going to find a girlfriend?"

" I am not interested tho-"

"Shush, go apologize to her for being rude."

 "No way."

He could sense her gaze piercing him from the side.

"Haaah, fine."

He patted her on the head and got up. He felt dizzy a few seconds but stabilised not long after. They walked out of the room and arrived outside where a camp had been set up with military cars and tanks everywhere.

The camp is full of savivors, most of them crippled while others wished they were dead. As they walked around seeing all the chaos and looming towers, he felt bad for the people suffering.

"I overheard the officers talking, they said this is happening all over the world and that...90% of the population has already been....you know. They didn't tell anyone because it would cause a panic."

" So it's the end of the world after all. Dammit, all this had to happen just before my birthday, is this a sign?"

" Don't overthink it and besides, your holiday was 3 days ago."

".....that long huh." 

"Yep."

She spotted the person they are after. 

"Oh, there she is."

"Do I really have to do this?"

"Yes you do, go on, I will wait here."

He exhaled and staggered over tapping her slightly on the shoulder. She turned around and her Express went sour, she was not happy to see him. Not like he wanted to be there either.

"...so, i think we got off on the wrong food. My name is Vell, nice to meet you."

He extended out his hand and she looked at it for a few moments recalling all the deep wounds she wound on his arms.

"Nice to meet you too, I am Erza. I got the impression that you didn't like me, which is strange since we just met."

She gently shook his hand trying not to hurt him.

" Sorry about that, after what we went through, i am a bit hostile."

"Yeah, I don't blame you, can't believe how much chaos happened in such a short time."

She gives him a curious look before asking.

"Maya tells me you killed one of the monsters with your bare hands, is that true?"

He didn't feel like lying.

"Yeah, it was painful as hell but I pulled it off." 

" How exactly?"

" It's easy, go for the heart, did you not see the crystal i was holding?"

"What crystal, all we found was you and your cousin, no crystal."

He understood right away.

"I see, maybe I am imagining things."

She knew something was off.

"... maybe."

"Well, nice meeting you, I will head back now." 

"Alright, don't push yourself too hard..."

She grabbed her radio and reported something to the higher ups.

He took Maya back to the room and locked the door.

"Do you have it?"

She understood what he meant as if their brains were connected.

"Oh, that? Yeah."

She Walked over to a bag she found in the storage unit and took it out, the pure green crystal he took from the monster.

After handing it to him, he sat down and just stared at it for a while.

"What do you think?"

He finally spoke looking at Maya who just shrugged.

She sat next to him and began eating a candy bar.

" I told you that you will get fat if you keep eating sweet things"

"Yeah yeah."

She ignored him and dug into her candy bar with an adorable look on her face.

He smiled seeing her so happy despite all the mess going on.

This was short lived as the crystal began shining and a severe pain shot in his arms where he was beaten.

"Kugh! What the hell?!"

He fell down with arms now bleeding through the bandages. Maya tried to go get help but he told her not to.

'but why, you are hurting, they can help"

"Wait, something...kugh...is happening to my body."

'What the hell is going on, my head feels like it's going to split and all my organs are on fire, too much blood? No, that's not it, my blood is flowing too fast.'

He looked at the crystal with eyes full of blood. It began turning into a smoke and entering his wounds on the arms where he was bit.This was excruciating that he began screaming so loud, people outside heard him for sure and they were on their way.

"Ah..ah..what do i do! What do I do vell?"

Maya was panicking, she wanted to go call for help but she trusts in his judgement but seeing him in pain is still not easy.

His veins became visible with the green color visible through the skin. This went on for a few more seconds before it all abruptly stopped.

"Hahh...hahh...hahh."

She ran to his side with a worried expression.

 "Are you ok-"

She stopped and got closer to his face. 

"What, is something wrong with my face?"

"Your eyes-"

Before she could finish, his eyes went back to normal and the soldiers came bursting through the door, guns ready.

" Is everything ok here?"

A man with years of experience written all over his face walked through the door and his eyes fell on vell who was still on the floor with blood visible all over his body.

"....is that him?"

Erza walked in and stood by the man's side. "Yes commander, that's him."

"Hmmm, alright, bring him," Maya snapped.

"What, no, get away from him."

She stood in front of him but they easily got past her and picked Vell up, dragging him out of the room.

Maya got up to run after but then she saw it.

He was smirking.