Crescent arrives alone per Asho's request, but the suspicion within his gut doesn't allow him to trust fully. He decides to show up earlier than expected, eyes darting wearily at his surroundings for anything that seems out of place as he tries to find somewhere to settle. The eerie feel of the dock, combined with the heavy washing of the rough waves being the only sounds nearby makes the experience even more dreadful. Small flickering lanterns hanging from nearby light poles have bugs flying around them. There are no signs of life and definitely no celebration decorations. The light jingles of the chains scraping the ground from the wind. The rustling trees and the stagnant cool air. This feels like the moment in the movies where the main characters die. A meeting spot without a welcoming atmosphere.

Not one boat is docked and it doesn't look like any had been here for a while. The Academy has entry by land, air, and now water. Crescent wonders if there is also a belowground passage. Following the water path, all he can see is a narrow man-made way until the water vanishes into the dark forest.

All student items can be ordered and shipped via trucks. Food and water as well. This makes the Academy look suspicious and Crescent isn't a dummy about these things. He always carries a finger to blame. What is Nirvana doing?

Crescent tucks himself behind a nearby crate that reads fragile. He grazes his fingers over the wood carefully. It's worn down a bit, having sat here for a long time. Whatever is inside isn't too important right? Maybe it's for decorations and Principal Jones will use this location for theatrics? He can only hope as anything tying P. Jones into some sort of dark scandal will blow the roof off of this school. While many of the students don't seem to mind, Crescent finds himself curious. Having one up on a powerful figure sounds like something he'll hold dear. 

This dock offers no sense of security. A small boating house is the only protection, but that's located further towards the end. Hiding there means Crescent will be spotted. Sighing with disbelief, his eyes close faintly as he begins to think of a plan.

When and if his company shows up, he's sure to remain as calm as possible until he has to. Being schooled by Ahni so many times, Crescent feels he needs to exercise patience and not seem as immature as he likes. In this world, it's best to grow up a little bit even if he's already a young man. Quick to snap, hating being lied to, as he's been doing to everyone since he arrived, he just thinks of them as a joke, but this place is their reality.

Getting deeper into the muk means he needs to adjust as best as possible. He requires pawns on his side. Maybe starting today, Crescent can learn a thing or two. Yeah, he should. What better person to put this in motion than Asho? By no means, is everything forgiven, however.

"Hey, I've come to protect you!" A voice cuts through the silence, startling Crescent. Crescent gasps, looking at the masked person kneeling beside him so closely. With their head dangling over his shoulder, personal space relinquished, the eyes are all too familiar, followed by that innocent grin locked at their lips.

"Ralp... What are you doing here!?" Crescent can't contain the rush. "And shut up--" Keep calm... "I mean keep your voice down." 

The stealth from Ralp is perfect. Something worth feeling proud and envious over. Crescent had no idea anyone was approaching nor did his senses alert him that Ralp was so close. Not even a footstep. Is this some kind of wolf ability or is this more practiced as a talent of Ralps? Whatever it is, Crescent likes it. Having these types of skills means the enemy will never know their demise. Ralp may not be as useless as he thought he was. 

Ralp looks around, as nonchalant as his attitude presents. He has done nothing wrong in his mind. There's no one here but them. Scoping the area before finding Crescent told him that someone was approaching in the distance, but they weren't close enough to hear them talk. Ralp has his ears ready to pick up on anything. A sense of danger lacking behind innocent eyes. 

Out of everyone, every stronger gang member, Kisha decided to send... Ralp. There had to have been something special about Ralp, in which Kisha constantly relied on him throughout this ordeal. From Crescent's standpoint, Ralp's wimpy, but Kisha knows him best, so maybe a little bit of patience will grant Crescent a better understanding. Ralp isn't a fighter, that much is certain and his airy walk packs a heavy realization that his speed must be unimaginable. Whatever, he'll take the aid, for now. It's better than doing this alone.

"More orders. You think Boss will let you go alone? If anything goes to shit I'll make sure you make it out." Ralp smirks to himself. 

"You're too similar to Ahni and he can't hurt a fly," Crescent whispers.

"But Ahni isn't what I am..." 

A calm, confident voice reassures Crescent that Ralp is right. No matter which way it's turned and twisted, Ahni can never be Ralp.

 "Shoosh, they are here" Ralp speaks again. 

The sounds of a group approaching figures alert Crescent and both of their attention turns to the many scuffing sneakers. The two sit on the edge of their nerves when the small lanterns show six members crowding at the foot of the doc. Different sizes, but all wearing a specific black mechanic jumper. Nothing suspicious at all. Crescent's previous gut feeling swirls around even more and though it tells him not to move, he stands up, brushing off his hoodie, and looking at Ralp.

"Stay here. You'll be in danger if they know it's you who's with me."

"B-but, Mr. Bride..." Ralp tries to stop Crescent who begins walking away from him. He reaches out, trying to snap at Crescent's arm. Crescent moves too quickly and Ralp can do nothing but remain hidden, tucked behind the boxes with focused intent. He doesn't like this one bit.

 "They're not dressed to welcome you..." Ralp whispers to himself, his eyes scanning the men fully. 

This isn't a celebration at all. Jumpers are often used by enforcers, or what Asho refers to as soldiers whenever they are planning to dispose of someone. The jumpers are burned later to kill evidence and though they may be found in Nirvana's large dumps, no one ever questions them. The entire scene feels wrong to Ralp, but he heeds Crescent's words. Ralp could be wrong and they are just going to beat Crescent up as a graduation test. Not knowing all that Asho does within his gang, Ralp doesn't want to assume the worst. If Asho wants Crescent dead, why leave such a trace?

Soon Crescent appears and the men turn around. All standing huddled in a circle, he greets them with a slight wave and a small smile plastered on his lips. The men don't return the hospitality and Crescent rolls his eyes. Keep calm... His chant, as he thinks to himself.  Taking a deep breath, Crescent places both hands in his pocket, looking over the men in an attempt to assess the situation. 

Out of six guys here, he can easily take the two smallest. Considering they are a unit, he'd lose for sure, but knocking some of them off the dock can gain his favor. The biggest ones, he needs to keep their bodies facing him with the dock just behind them. If push comes to shove, he can just tackle one and go into the water together. Crescent can't swim, but it's better than being pummeled by a group of unruly bastards. The dead look in their eyes, the fact that they look like killers waiting to destroy something for the fun of it-- him in their marbled reflection.

Would Ralp run? Maybe he should yell it before he starts anything to give Ralp a chance to get out alive.

Crescent's wearing something similar to his raid attire. This time a darkened blue sweater, a baseball cap, and a mask covering his lower jaw. No pictures will be taken this time around. He's on guard. Keeping his head as low as possible, glasses left inside of his dorm. They often reflect under pictures and show his eyes, thus a dead giveaway. At least if anything got weird now, his sealed identity could help him deny any participation. Coward... of course not, right?

"I see you did as you were told this time! How... nice." The soft squeal of a familiar, annoying voice grabs everyone's attention. Crescent watches as two other members, dressed in black jumpers, follow Asho. Asho raises his arms and shrugs, his tone airy, suggesting that this isn't a friendly welcome. Still wearing his school uniform, he looks as messy as someone who has had a long day in the field. His shirt is untucked, buttons are undone, one side of his blazer hangs awkwardly off one shoulder, and his baseball cap barely stays on his head. Someone needs to tell Asho that his appearance is the first impression he makes on others. Crescent can only imagine the state of his dorm.

"This doesn't seem like a party." Crescent jokes, scratching his foot against the concrete. There has been a piece of old black gum stuck there for ages, he tries to scrape it off to keep himself from getting offended by the blatant lie Asho fed him. 

"Because the dog went into hiding, Crescent. And we have to get him out..." 

Crescent observes as Asho slowly begins to approach him until the two stand only a foot apart. Asho raises his hand and lightly touches the baseball cap on Crescent's head before pushing it up slightly to see his face. Crescent doesn't react, only looking into those devoid, lost glass eyes. Asho's eyes are like that of a rabbit. They don't settle at all and seem to hold no depth. The eyes are windows to the soul, and these don't have a soul to reflect. Quick to react, irresponsible, and unreliable, chaotic.

"You're going to call him out for us, ok?"

"Us...? Asho... who's this pooch again?" Crescent waits until Asho's expression changes, his boss looking up at the space above them both before blowing a made-up bug away. That's when a step back saves Crescent's hat from Asho's grasp and Crescent is allowed to contain himself again. He ought to keep space between him and Asho. There are times when Crescent believes Asho will strike him and he can't have that because that'll be the last time.

"Oh... Kisha, of course. Where is he...?"

"I don't know..." A small, but serious voice comes through Crescent's lips at Asho's question. He lied. So this is more about Kisha than anyone else. He's only been gone for a few days, but Saikai is also MIA. Why will it matter to bring him out? The haste to remain in power is Asho's insecurity, but Crescent doesn't think it's a shared load. To stoop this low, what is Asho expecting of Kisha?

"I doubt you can make him come out, Asho. You know Kisha doesn't take orders from anyone. You don't have the means to do it."

"I do," Asho smirks. "You're here." Asho raises one hand, all of his fingers twitching barely before the men bunch together beginning to move their way.

"Seeeee, Crescent. This is an extravaganza after all. Let's prove how much of a shock you can be." 

Asho steps back through the moving men and around him like a ring in unison, all of them suddenly encircle Crescent. One of the largest men wastes no time going for him from behind, wrapping his arms around Crescent's frame. He goes to hoist him in the air, but Crescent is used to squirming like a cat. He raises his arms and dips all of his weight, the sudden rush of being overpowered teaching him to react quickly. He hates being pinned down. Sweater, hat, and mask bunch above his head in the male's arms, leaving his identity exposed.

Falling to the ground, only in his white plain shirt the gush of the cold air touches his skin and he sighs. Feeling alive at a time like this, as if dipped in a bucket of peppermint, every sensation driven by the desire to escape but, Crescent doesn't have time to think because another male closes in on him. Senses whip into overdrive, he compiles his thoughts quickly. He kicks out to ward off the figure as if it's a trained defense mechanism, before rolling and pushing himself quickly to his feet.

With an unexpected right-hand slap, Crescent's body shifts to his left. Knees buckle, slamming into another male's chest. He can't recover quickly enough when he is again restrained tightly. Crescent curses beneath his breath grits his teeth, and rolls his eyes. This isn't the fighting response he thinks of. He is supposed to be quicker than this! Get himself out of this mess, but he knows his chances are slim, and the thought of being ensnared aches at his limbs.

"Chain him." Is all Crescent hears before the gang manhandles his frame. Crescent is flung to the center of the group, watching frantically as majority of the gang members begin to violently grip his limbs. They jerk, tug, and force him onto his abdomen before Crescent can hear the heavy scraping of a large metal chain echoing inside of his mind.

Just what is inside of this scrawny ass man's mind?! Sometimes the things that Asho does don't make any sense. Such questioning images dancing of the unknown send a sickening tremble throughout Crescent's core. He knows he needs to tell Ralp to escape.

"Let me go!" Ralp's whine unexpectedly captures Crescent and he looks in the direction the hysterical voice is calling from. Some of the members had their hands on Ralp, tussling him onto the ground before carrying his small frame and hurling him chained up like a log. Ralp coughs, blowing his hair from his face. Crescent's wide eyes at Ralp's busted lip and disorderly hair, dampened in sweat meant Ralp had been struggling for some time now. Crescent didn't hear him this entire time. When did they find him?

"Y-you ok, Mr. Bride?" Ralp huffs, clearly exhausted. 

"Yeah..." Crescent sounded finished, trying to understand how could a being like Ralp be subdued by a group of humans. What's the whole Ahni isn't what I am speech Ralp said moments ago? He got caught quicker than Ahni would've. At least Ahni is trained as a runner. Ralp is ineffective!! Where are those superior skills?! It's just talk! Shouldn't he be able to break the chains?! Anything?! The unexpected inner voice screaming to Crescent transferred itself to focus on Ralp in disbelief. The person Kisha chose to protect him, needs more protection than those who aren't even in danger.

"Two for one!! How... fortunate." Asho's shoes stops right before Crescent. Through the peripheral in his eyes, frame casting a dark shadow looming over him, Crescent watches as Asho kneels. His gaze then falls between his legs, watching the distance to the nearest Academy entry door. It looks so far away, so small. Countermeasures to ensure his safety, his plan easily thwarted. An ending that seems to find him. 

"I don't think this one is reliable, but.. Oh well." Asho refers to Ralp as trash.

Crescent isn't bound by his hands. Only his ankles are shackled and his feet are overlapped so there's no standing up for him. He quickly reaches out to grab Asho by the ankle, squeezing so hard he startles Asho who jumps back, falling on his butt. A look of horror wraps at Asho's expression, not expecting to be attacked by a goon. Crescent pulls his weight forward until he's up enough to meet Asho in stare. 

"It may not be now, Asho. But I promise you... I fucking promise you--" The emotions in Crescent's voice boil over, turning his skin a light red as the veins in his neck bulge from the uncomfortable position. With Ralp, whom he feels he needs to protect lying next to him panting, Crescent wants to remain fearless just as he was whenever he gets around Ahni. At least Ralp can remember these details about him. So these words are not just a promise made up by some compiled pride, but a declaration of voice in being tired of the games.

"I will end you! When you are at your lowest eating shit and rotting in the depths of your own small mind will you be finished in front of everything you love!" 

The blatant scare tactic isn't enough, because as soon as he finishes his sentence, Asho's face scrunches up suddenly, hands drawn to cup his stomach. Just like all the leaders, even the smallest has his sense of invincibility.

"Hahaha! You talk big for someone who lays down with a mutt!" Heavy grip at Crescent's fingertips and his hand is pried off of Asho before Asho scurries to his feet to clear some distance between them. 

"Toss them both."

Eerie sounds of running chains clashing into liquid force Crescent to turn over suddenly and look at the edge of the dock where his lifeline had begun to run out. First the large plop of a weight, and then the zipping line of chains. His wide eyes travel toward Ralp, who is still attempting to calm his nerves before he looks at his legs. They are chained together, but Ralp is completely immobilized. From the looks of it all, Asho's going to kill them. In a matter of minutes, Ralp's frame starts to slide across the concrete. Crescent dives forward to grab hold of him, but the weight yanking Ralp is too much and they both travel.

"D-Don't do this to him!!" Crescent calls out. "He has nothing to do with this Asho!!" An innocent person is thrown into the fray. He can't bear it. This isn't something Ralp deserves. Asho never answers back, keeping his back to them as he commands his group to follow along.

"I'm not scared," Ralp whispers, but his tone is shaking. The words are dead, without emotions.  The thought of having to revert to this type of reaction leaves Crescent speechless. Who talks like this? Ralp a once happy guy, is now shrouded in what looks like he's said these words too many times. He can't understand why isn't Ralp more bent on surviving. Being in a gang means being so little?

"Don't say that." Crescent looks over to Ralp, gripping his back as they slide onto the wood of the doc. Crescent yanks back as hard as he can, reaching out and pressing his foot at one of the pillars to keep their bodies from going over. Gritted teeth due to the unimaginable bend the pull contorts him into, he speaks again, this time the fire within him trying to call out a desperate help. 

"Don't fucking act like you don't mean anything, Ralp! Where is your drive?!"

 Unforgivable, his reaction remains unforgivable.

"Fight as if you wanted to live--"

In a moment of panic, a sudden kick to Crescent's back sends him tumbling into the water, and he feels a wave of shock wash over him as he plunges in alongside Ralp. With one hand, he instinctively lets go of Ralp to tightly grip his clothing, while his other hand desperately clings to the ledge for support. The frigid water smacks against him, forcing a heavy breath from his lungs as he swallows a mouthful of salty sea. It stings his eyes and makes it difficult to see, but he can't wipe his face; he simply has to endure the blurring chaos around him. As the lights dance and reflect off the water's surface, he can't help but worry about Asho's whereabouts. He catches a glimpse of Ralp's head bobbing above the surface, but he knows the weights dragging them both down are becoming increasingly difficult to manage.

The men on the dock are soon after dismissed and so leave Asho for his job is done. He didn't need to wait until Crescent died.

"You're strong, Mr. Bride."

"Why are you talking-- as if you've already-- given up!? I want to live!" Crescent snorts, pulling himself upwards to no avail. The tips of his fingers burn, denting themselves into the wood as his flesh turns solid white. The numbness radiating down his elbow feels like his shoulder is on the verge of dislocating if he doesn't let go. The weight invites him into the water with satisfaction that every pain pushed into his overdriven body will go away. Crescent chokes, his throat gathering a growing knot once a ripple comes to fill his mouth with salt water. He shook his head violently.

"Please, Ralp!" Crescent spits some of the water as he cries out from the pressure tearing on his joints. "Please!" He starts to panic even more, not wanting to let go. Not wanting to drown. Not wanting to know that Ralp will also die. Not wanting to die and leave Ahni behind.

A familiar feeling gushes in his chest at the thoughts of his younger brother crossing his mind. Ahni... leaving him to deal with the aftermath. 

Times like these are inevitable living on the streets and Crescent suffered his fair share of near-death incidents, but it's always a way out as long as the brothers worked jointly. How could he fight with someone who's prematurely giving up? He needs Ralp's strength more than anything because there's an ache telling him that it'll be better once he lets go. Ralp's words of motivation and his wish for Crescent to keep fighting. 

"Ralp!" Crescent cries out again, voice reaching max pitch. His chest constricts. A finger suddenly slips, scrapping top layer of his skin from the digit.

"Y-y-you have some kind of wolf instinct right?!" Water but a lovely threat tries to again enter his mouth, but Crescent spits too early and inhales it through his nose; however, he holds back on violently coughing, instead pushing the way he feels through his chest. "Call your fucking boss! We are in this shit because of Kisha anyway! It's all his fault! That idiot!" 

Though he doesn't mean it, he wishes somehow he's right. Maybe they have some other abilities and aren't just a bunch of animals with shapeshifting powers. Maybe they have telekinesis like the movies or maybe they share some cliche bond. Whatever it is that can get them out of this mess.

Ralp's eyes, head barely above water venture towards the sky as his head falls into the freezing water. His ears are submerged to listen to the crashing liquid, he allows his vision to flutter shut beneath lids. Crescent's right. The moon on a good day gives them her blessings and they have their song whenever separated. It can be heard for miles.

Watching Crescent struggle because of his shortcomings is like watching Saikai get beaten by another gang years ago as he sat in fear. Cowarding in the corner when they told Ralp to stay out of it. It's not having Kisha around to give him strength. Useless Ralp. Weak Ralp. Everyone bullies him for his status in the gang, but Ralp has feelings. That hurt. When the playing got too tough, he could always run to Kisha's hands.

"Ok, I'll call him..." But at this moment, the one Kisha will be coming for isn't him. "for you," Ralp responds nonchalantly.

"You can't reach-- your damn phone!"

With deep inhales Ralp's lips part, releasing a sweet, haunting sound from deep within his chest. It's the cry of a lost wolf, a signal meant to reach others in communication. This sound is deep and smooth, unwavering in its pitch, and it carries a weight of emotion that Crescent can feel resonate through both him and the water. He winces slightly, struggling to hear it over the rushing currents as he, too, is almost completely submerged.

Ralp's true emotions echo not just in the water, but also to the heart of the man who protects him—the one he loves with an innocent heart, his leader. This bond they share is more than just a sound; it's their force, their call, their howl, a testament to their connection.

Crescent's unable to hold it anymore. Frantically trying to grip once more, palm smacking the edge, splashing water. Desperate for life, the two are suddenly swallowed by the depths of the water and Ralp's voice is cut short, but for a few seconds, his cry reverberates through the darkness.

Vanishing beneath, as if nothing happened, but the thick cluster of bubbles and then...

Stillness.

(((A/N

Asho plans to bring Kisha from his hole at whatever the cost may be.

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