Asa Branca

It is raining outside. Our heroes are inside a large wooden hut.

Joy and Biel were just given some kind of soup with a loaf of bread. They are clumsily trying to eat it with their hand tied.

Some new people are in the camp, apparently their leader's squad has just arrived from a trip to the city. They called a reunion and are talking just outside, although it is hard to listen. 

Joy is humming a song Biel is all too familiar with. He sings quietly.

"Eu perguntei a Deus do céu: Ai; Por que tamanha judiação?"

She suddenly looks at him with glittering eyes, stops humming and prostrates closer to him.

He gets a little flustered and says

"What is it, Matraca?"

Even though he didn't initially remember her from class, he fairly quickly recognized from the non-stop storytelling of the previous day, and It was enough for him to give her a new nickname. Might his way to signal that he respects her, but really Biel? There is no way she'll understand that.

She was the exact type of people he didn't really like, and that was all so common in his home-country of Braxil. Overly social, touchy and always so overwhelming, but he was warming up to her, even like the smooth voice and overall passion. It keeps him from thinking about the whole situation they are in. 

"Do you know it? I sa brunca? I love this song!"

"Yes. I know. And it is Asa Branca."

Biel's answer is so direct, all the life in her eyes vanishes instantly.

She feels in her gut that he hates her right now. He chose to sit on the opposite wall from her. She cannot come up with the reason or how to fix it.

Poor thing. See what you have done? [ … ] Boys these days

She started thinking, "He is so unlucky, getting stuck here with someone he cannot bear. Did I offend him with some of my stories? Was it GoGo’s Amazing Travels? Too controversial? No, maybe Two Wholes. God, I knew I shouldn’t make fanfics […] Did I talk too much about Part II? Oh no, he thinks I’m that kind of fan […] ”

snap snap

There is someone in full plate armor trying to get her attention. Joy didn't recognize the two figures besides her either. 

"Hello. We are Don's squad. My name is Sally, this one is Betty and the tall one is our new recruit, Bob. We were told your friends were causing confusion? May I ask what is the idea?"

Her voice is rough, but not without sweetness or elegance. Holding her posture and her helmet. 

Betty was pure elegance, perfect posture and a slightly condescending look. Beautiful short blonde hair, slim nose and lips. Deepest of blue eyes.

Bob is clearly overly relaxed and uninterested, but even so manages to present himself with proper mannerisms.

Biel answers that he doesn't know either, and that it was pretty sudden for him too. It didn't take much for them to lose their cool. They were clearly not having it, specially Betty, who interjected. 

"Look! We are being patient with you all, treating this as a conversation with equals. But we really need some quid-pro-quo."

Joy starts blabbing.

"There was this one guy that was sent into a game-like world. Suddenly everybody was stuck there. […]"

After literally telling the whole first section of Shield Ability Offline and confusing everybody who was listening.

"What I want to say is, I only thought that we could get advantages by starting earlier, and I could be a main character myself. I am kinda ashamed, but I swear that I just got mixed up with those guys because they were going ahead."

Somehow, the three felt more imposing after that. They just started discussing between them what they should do. 

They sent Betty back to the city to report the guys, and Bob was charged with taking care of the prisoners while Sally was coordinating activities in the camp. 

The weapon crates were being moved inside.

Joy insisted for stories about their squad and their leader. Honestly, apart from the charisma, some political power and the founding of the attack clan, he didn't seem all that impressive.

When the night was closing in, Bob took Biel and pushed to the side besides Joy and sit on the other. He was getting ready to sleep while keeping an eye on them.

Joy was the first one to fall asleep, over Biel's shoulder. Even though that delayed his falling asleep for several minutes, it didn't take much longer.

Joy wakes up in a jump. Biel seems to be looking over her. Worried. It is somehow even hotter than it was all day long.

There is a flood of sound coming from outside. Screaming, fire, even some words and maybe even her brother calling her name?

Bob stands up in a jump. The other boy that came with them appears in the entrance, but Bob deals with it in an instant. He is begging for his life. Biel is begging for the boy's life. Joy is incredulous with the situation and cannot move.

Bob stops. His eyes are still too innocent to kill the boy. He hits him hard in the head, knock out.

That's what he gets for trying to take my narration job. The boy is dead.

[ NOTE FROM THE EDITOR: THAT IS NOT TRUE. THE BOY IS NOT DEAD. THE NARRATOR HAS ALREADY BEEN PUNISHED WITH A FINE. ]

Bob seems conflicted and a bit ashamed. Those sounds cannot mean anything but chaos, and if such an incompetent kid managed to get here, they clearly need help outside. Not to mention, the prisoners aren't even dangerous.

He commands while ultimately choosing to go outside:

"Don't move!"

Well, as if anyone would actually obey those orders. 

"Let's go, Matraca. Hold him on that side."

They take the [ NOT ] dead boy's body to give him a proper funeral, and try to escape. 

Outside the tent the confusion seems to be going on mostly on the east side, but there are some weird lights coming from the southwest too. They choose to go northwest the fastest they can while carrying a [ UNCONSCIOUS ] boy between them.

They leave the confusion and bloodshed only to be devoured by the darkness of the night.