HALF: Dead nor Alive

“Marshall, the problem has arisen.” Prince stood at ease as he looked at an old man with black shiny hair.

“I see, our prediction came true…” The Marshall smoked his cigar as he crossed his hands and stared at the report that Prince made before he, Ruby, and Vincent came to his office.

“Captain Ruby, I heard from Bill that someone saved him during your mission. Who’s he?” The Marshal stared at Ruby judgingly.

“His name is Lance, Sir, he came from the Western Nation.” Ruby answered without hesitation.

“Hmm…” The Marshall nodded with understanding and then he looked at Prince while he slightly tilted his head.

Prince grabbed Ruby’s shoulder and immediately grabbed her arms then put them on the cuff.

“What’s the meaning of this, Sir?!” Ruby was shocked but she didn’t resist when Prince put her on the cuff.

“You lied about this did you not? I heard it from Bill himself that the kid that came here with you is Archie Lancaster. You should have known that we are all been looking for him for years, but now that you found him, you hide it from us.” The Marshall stood up as he smoked his cigar and glared at Ruby.

“Of course, I know, Sir, but what makes you think he’s the real Archie Lancaster? He looks different from the photo we have. There’s no way for him to be in the Eastern Nation when he was there in FalCon-1.” Ruby tried to convince the Marshall.

“It’s not for you to decide, just bring that kid here and we will decide if he’s really Archie Lancaster or not.” The Marshall looked at the documents on his table.

“Captain Vincent, would you do the honor to pick our guest?” The Marshall glanced at Vincent with a serious expression.

“Yes, Sir!” Vincent saluted the Marshall and left the room.

Vincent took a short glance at Ruby and she nodded slightly at him.

“Take her away, let Resse interrogate her.” The Marshall looked at Prince as he sat down on his chair.

Prince nodded with understanding and then left the room with Ruby walking in front of him.

“You already know about this?” Ruby turned her head and looked at Prince from the corner of her eyes.

“I do, that’s why I came late to aid you earlier.” Prince calmly answered.

“Do you believe that the person you saw earlier is really Archie, Prince?” Ruby kept staring at him from the corner of her eyes.

“That’s not me to decide, I’m just following orders, Ruby.” Prince kept his head straight as he brought her to the interrogation room.

Ruby scoffed and shook her head. “You’re not one of them, Prince, you’re still one of us… don’t be like them…” Ruby looked down as she clenched her fists.

Archie sat down in the corner of the room in the pub with a glass of water in his hand, he stared at the lantern and thought about his mission. The door opened and he saw Vincent looking around, he noticed that Vincent looked panicking.

“Where’s Ruby?” Archie asked as he came out from the shadow.

“You need to come with me.” Vincent stared at him with his heart pounding really fast that Archie could hear from where he stood.

Without asking anything to Vincent, he nodded with understanding and followed Vincent.

“Something happened to her and it’s because of me, isn’t it?” Archie walked behind Vincent and looked at his ear.

“Yes, the Marshall scuffed her and Prince should be bringing her to the interrogation room right now.” Vincent didn’t look back as he answered.

“What do you want me to do? Should I tell them the truth?” Archie looked around and saw people lazing around and talking to each other. 𝙛𝘳𝒆𝒆𝒘e𝗯n𝗼𝘷𝚎𝚕.𝒄૦𝓶

“If you tell the truth, Ruby might in danger.” Vincent slightly turned his head to look at Archie.

“You love her, don’t you?” Archie looked at Vincent’s back with his heart pounding really fast.

“I care about her,” Vincent answered immediately but his heart started to pound faster.

“Then I can promise you that I will help her out.” Archie closed his eyes while he kept listening to Vincent’s heart.

“Bring me to where she’s being interrogated and I will do what I can.” Archie slowly caught up with Vincent and walked next to him.

“What are you going to do? Even if you’re stronger than us, you won’t be able to win against Prince and his division. They’re different from us and it will only make things worse.” Vincent glared at Archie from the corner of his eyes.

“No, I’m not going to do something like that, just put me in the next room where she’s being interrogated because I have a very sharp hearing that I can even hear your heart pounding really fast right now.” Archie looked straight as he thought about his plan.

Vincent looked at Archie weirdly, “Is that so? I will bring you there then…” Vincent believed what Archie said without even questioning him.

“Thank you, I will do my best.” Archie slightly smiled and nodded.

The headquarters looked similar to the one in the Western Nation, and then he was stopped by a group of soldiers.

“Hold!” One of the soldiers reached out his hand.

“I’m bringing this person to Marshall Marlon, do you want to waste his time by checking his identity?” Vincent crossed his arms as he glared at the soldier.

“Oh? You may pass then…” The soldier let them past and entered the building.

Vincent asked the soldiers if they saw Ruby, and they told him that she was sent to the interrogation room as he expected. They both went there immediately but when they were on their way there, a guy with a fully badged suit appeared.

“Captain Vincent? Where do you think you’re going?” The guy with shiny black hair looked at Vincent with suspicion.

“Marshall! I thought you wanted to interrogate him so I took the initiative to bring him immediately there.” Vincent calmly answered.

Marlon smiled and nodded. “I know I can count on you, Vince. It’s a shame that you have to deal with that woman, should I move you to a different division so you can be in a different mission?” Marlon smoked his cigar and looked at Vincent.

Archie could hear his heart pounding really fast but this time it was different from earlier as if he was furious with Marlon.

“No, Sir, thank you for the offer but I’m comfortable with my current division.” Vincent forced his smile.

“Is that so? Alright then,” Marlon hummed with understanding. “So this is him?” Marlon continued.

“Yes, Sir. Should we bring him to the interrogation room?” Vincent asked as he kept staring at Marlon.

“Yes, please bring him there, I will make myself a coffee.” Marlon nodded as he walked past them both.

As Vincent brought him to the hallway where there were so many doors on the sides, he stopped and looked at a woman who came out from one of the doors.

“Resse?” Vincent seemed surprised to see that woman.

“Ah, Vince, you came here to see Ruby?” Resse leaned on the door while she crossed her legs and stared at Vincent.

“No, I came here to bring this guy in.” Vincent put his hand on Archie’s back.

“Ah, so this is the guy…” Resse squinted her eyes as she smirked.

“The next room is empty?” Vincent asked.

“Hmm? Oh, Yeah, you can put him there.” Resse looked back at the room.

Vincent nodded with understanding and gently pushed Archie and brought him inside the room. Archie sat down at the table and looked around, there was nothing inside other than a pair of chairs and a table.

“Just sit here and wait.” Vincent leaned on the wall next to the door.

“I’m not going anywhere.” Archie smiled.

“You looked surprised when you saw that woman, what’s wrong?” Archie asked while he furrowed his eyebrows.

“That woman, Resse Barret, she’s one of the experimented Axis Humans and she’s ruthless compared to the others. I’m worried that Resse might hurt her during her interrogation and I can’t stop thinking about her…” Vincent looked at the wall to the next room with a worried expression.

“It seems that there are quite a lot of people who don’t like her and I overheard your conversation with your team about Ruby, what happened to her and her previous team?” Archie put his hands on the table and looked at Vincent.

Vincent was shocked and immediately looked down, he went quiet as he kept looking at the floor.

“It happened a year ago, it was a massacre and it wasn’t her fault because the previous major was a fool,” Vincent replied as he crossed his legs and wiggled his foot.

“It was an expedition of a small group that was led by the previous major to FalCon-2, they were trying to find an Ex-Human and the only one who survived the expedition was Ruby.” Vincent looked at his nails while he shook his head. “During her interrogation, nobody believed what she said and blamed her for being a coward and left the other to their death.” Vincent clenched his teeth.

“What did she say?” Archie asked as he furrowed his forehead.

“She was warned to leave FalCon-2 by an Ex-Human.” Vincent looked Archie in the eye.