Broken Feathers

*squeak squeak* Good morning! *squeak squeak* It's my second month working as a delivery man and today my route consists of picking up a package from someone who lives up a mountain. Normally you would expect me to be driving a mail truck or something, but that squeaking noise is from my bike that I'm currently riding. *squeak squeak* That feel when the government's own tools break down and they won't fix it right away. *squeak squeak* I'm getting tired. I should [[rest a bit]] or [[keep going]]...

You know what, I will rest just a bit, I'm still getting paid either way right? Parking my bike on the side near some trees, I took out my water bottle from the bottle slot and chugged slowly. "Ah..." Cold water never tasted so good. With the winds and trees rustling in the distance, if I wasn't at work I would've set up a picnic here and enjoyed myself. About to take another glug of water, I suddenly hear loud yelling in the distance. It was up the hill towards the direction of the package location. "WHAT WAS THAT????" I thought to myself. Dang I better check out [[what]] that commotion was all about, UH OH.

I know that I don't get paid enough to deal with this, but a job is a job. I'll just drink some water for a few seconds and then keep biking I guess. As you slow down, you reached down to whip out a small portable water bottle from the bottle rack in the middle portion of your bike, you hear yelling coming from up the hill towards the location of your package pick up. "Tsk, yikes man....." you think to yourself. Dude I need to see [[what]] happened up there, if I don't get that package I'm going to be marked down for it!

Riding my bike in a hurried fashion, I finally got to the destination of where I heard the scream from. As I came around the corner, I saw a scene that kicked in my fight or flight mode. Uh oh......... I'm not sure what came over me, but when I see someone in trouble, reflexes kick in and I go and [[YEET]]!!!! (Split second reaction though, what if I [[don't]] YEET???)

“Run, run!!!! Come on, let's get out of here!!,” I screamed as I dragged the mysterious man whom I had just met, but we're already running from two really buff security guards. You know, despite being a delivery man, I don't get paid enough for this. Just 15 minutes ago, I was on my way up a mountain to pick up a package. My truck broke down so I came on bike. As I reached my destination, there were these two shady looking dudes who was strangling and tying up a man with black hair. In a moment of panic, I suddenly dashed to the scene, took the man's hand, and ran. Just like that, this is how the whole situation all [[started]]

Running for our lives, we were zipping through trees and wet dewy grass trying to get away from two buff men who were running like bulls trying to run us over. My bike is left behind, I'm tired, thirsty, lost, and also I'm in so much trouble. “Wait!!! I need to do something,” The mysterious man whom I was dragging exclaimed. “What? Are you crazy?! We're in a middle of a chase, I can't wait, you fool!,” I yelled. This idiot must be crazy, where is [[no way in hell am I stopping]] just so he can do whatever he's going to do.

When suddenly, we ran so fast that we reached a cliff. I let go of him and looked down the cliff while trying to catch my breath. Dear LORD, we are totally going to die if we jump off here. I turned around, and saw the man kneeling on the ground picking up sticks and branches. What. [[WHAT ARE YOU DOING??]] [[Hesitantly picks up branches too]]

Good lord, I have no idea what's going on, but since we're already in this sticky pickle might as well... This job really doesn't pay me enough to do this sort of thing man. "Are these ok?" I asked the guy as I handed him a few branches I found on the floor. He looks at me then looks at the brances in my hand and does a nod. "Mhm." He takes them from me and continued to arrange them in a strange pattern on the ground in a hurried motion. Suddenly the mysterious man does a mantra and holds your waist. [[We fly.]] "WE WHAT??? WAIT WAIT WAIT NONONONO WE CA-"

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!?!" I screamed while trying to catch my breath. *huff huff* I really am out of shape. This is my own fault isn't it. The mysterious man kept picking up sticks even with my continued questioning. "Almost done." he mumbled as he arranges them in a shape on the ground. “STOP!” The two buff security guards screamed as they caught up to us. Suddenly, the man with the black hair wrapped his right arm around my waist. I looked at him. “[[We fly.]]” he said, and he jumped off the cliff with me screaming my head off.

I...... I am scared of heights... [[faint]]

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [[...]]

Some time pass and I'm getting chewed on the phone from my boss. “Yes, I understand. I'm so sorry, this won't happen again. Thank you, goodbye.” Turning off my phone, I ran my right hand through my dark brown hair and glared at the man in my bedroom who nearly gave me a heart attack 20 minutes ago. From what I remembered, there was this gust of wind around us and suddenly the sticks and branches around his left arm formed two wings and we took off. [[Jesus have mercy on my soul]].

“Excuse me, who are you? Also, what just happened, and how did you know where I live?” I asked the man who was sitting cozily on my purple beanbag who now looked at me. “My name..Rib.” He smiled, “I am prince of planet in space, I can fly, I read your house placement from your mind.” “[[What?? You're crazy.]]”

“What?? You're crazy.” I responded while I noticed his bright yellow eyes. “No, I not crazy. There is no crazy. I am one hundred percent truthing. What your name?” This dude is can't be serious I swear, “My name is Kei, and you need medical help.” “No. I no need help. Oh! I wish to know. What is this thing?” He said as he held up my [[pineapple]] in fascination which I had on my small round desk near my bed.

“It is a pineapple...” “What is...pineapple? Very hard yellow. Can eat? Can it...explode??” “You have really bad English you know. You should r-” Just then the door flew open. A girl with short peach hair stormed into my room with a worried face. It was my younger sister, Elri. She looked like she just ran 50 miles home. “BRO, KEI, WHAT DID YOU DO? I JUST GOT A CALL FROM YOUR WORK PLACE AND THEY SAID SOMETHING ABOUT YOU JUMPING OFF A CLIFF AND ALL THIS JUNK. WHAT HAPPENED??” She screamed at me then proceeded to avert her gaze from me to the man sitting on the floor next to my bed staring at her in confusion." “[[Who]] are you?”

Rib explains everything to Elri in perfect broken English and we both somehow got informed about the fact that Rib's hair and eye colors switches when he uses his “special ability.” We sat in the living room sipping some orange juice. I was looking at both of them while still in my white postal uniform, Elri was looking at Rib in utter confusion, and Rib was observing the yellow pineapple at every angle admiring the shape and size. Someone needs to tell this dude that the pineapple is just meant for eating. Elri then decided to leave and go back to work leaving me and Rib alone in the room. [[Take a look at Rib]]

Rib looks like he's about seventeen, but he kept telling me that he's equivalent to 24 years in human years. His black hair sways back with a spiky touch along with a long portion of it hanging down in between his eyes. He wears a black sleeveless jacket with a scarf looking neck warmer, with black shorts. Something about that makes me question their style of clothing at the place where he's from. If anything, if one looks closely enough, you'll see that his teeth are a bit sharp and pointy. Oh the other hand, I'm just your typical twenty three year old guy who works at a postal service delivering mail because that's the only job that I could handle at the moment. My hair is a bit short, dark brown and really soft. Somehow, I always run into strange things whenever I deliver or pick up mail. Maybe it's something wrong with this city, or maybe it's because somehow my fate is tangled with a string of misfortunes. Either way, it's something that I'll have to deal with myself and there isn't anything that can really be done about it. [[“Kei.”]]

“Yes, what is it?” “I sense family near by. They here for me. We need to run.” Before I could even say anything, he took my arm and I was dragged out of my room. Nearly half an hour has passed and we were soon hiding in an alleyway near the streets. “Rib, this is crazy, why would you be targeted in the first place? I think this whole thing is pointless and we should just stop what we're doing.” I whispered to him as he squatted next to a trashcan. "Kei... I want to escape my [[home]]. Help me find new one."

“Kei. I am prince. My father wants ruler for country. I don't want, so I run away. Understand … please.” He begged as he covered my mouth keeping an eye out for any openings all around us. There is no way that his family would come all the way to Earth just to take someone back, let alone going through all this trouble. Just when I thought that things couldn't get any worse, a tall figure jumped from the top of the building and landed right in front of us. He had long gray hair and wore glasses. “There you are, Rib.” He smirked and proceeded to speak into a mic installed in his shirt, “I have located the prince, get the rest of the royal family and set course back to our planet.” Not knowing what to do in this situation, I grabbed Rib's hand and tried to dash out of the alleyway hoping that we would escape, but just before I started running, the unknown man grabbed my shirt collar and said, “Where do you think you're going, dear? Heh. Tsk tsk, hiding a prince from his duties? What a crime. You should be punished.” [[punch him]] [[kick him]]

I tried to punch the man holding my collar, but he quickly caught on and blocked my punch. "HURK" [[A sharp pain ran through my head and my whole world turned black and I lost all my strength in my body and fell down.]]

I decided to kick the man holding my collar so I can be released. Unfortunately he caught on quicker than my reflexes and stopped my action before I could realize it. "HURK." [[A sharp pain ran through my head and my whole world turned black and I lost all my strength in my body and fell down.]]

As I slowly opened my eyes, I looked around and realized I was at a pier and Rib was next to me chained up against the wall. “R-Rib....” I choked. Then, Rib slowly opened his eyes and looked at me. I noticed that parts of his body was covered in blood and bruises, but he looked like he was glad to see me. Just before he could even say a word, the same gray haired man walked over to me and grabbed me by the neck. “Look who just woke up,” he said as he tightened his grip on my neck, “As I am to obey all rules of the royal family, I'll see to kill you right here and now.” [[resist]] [[reflect]]

I had enough of this. What did I do in my years of life that led me to suffer this torment from these strange people?? Even though my head hurts, I am not, backing down without a fight!!! My anger got the best of me as I spat at the gray haired man in front of me. He rubbed it off his face and glared at me HARD. "I..." I choked a bit, "I'm not go...ing down without.... without a fight.." "Why you little-" As his grip got tighter on my throat, it was getting harder and harder to breathe. “KEI!!!!” Rib yelled at the top of his lungs, “DON'T HURT KEI!!! STOP!!” The man got annoyed with the shouting and hit a certain pressure point at the back of my neck. "R....[[Rib...]]" I squeezed the last of those words out before I blacked out.

I can't believe it. My life flashed before my eyes, and the pain is getting stronger, and it's getting really tough to breathe. Somehow I wish that I would've never took the job and went up the mountain to pick up the package so I wouldn't get into a situation like this. Too bad that's all in the past and this is what I'm going to have to deal with since I made that decision in my life to try to fulfill what I wanted to accomplish. The sounds of my grunting because louder and at this rate I'm really going to die if he doesn't [[let go]] soon.

“KEI!!!!” Rib yelled at the top of his lungs, “DON'T HURT KEI!!! STOP!!” Rib tried to break free of his chains, but he looked too weak to do so. I thought that this was the end of me, but before I gave in, I noticed that Rib's hair started turning peach blonde real quick and he was really glaring at the gray haired man who was squeezing my neck. From my vision, he seemed to be holding something with his feet. An object perhaps?.... wait is that.. [[a weapon]] [[a bat]] [[a knife]] [[a bomb]] [[a pineapple]]

A weapon??? No...no that can't be.. that... it must be [[a bat]] [[a knife]] [[a bomb]] [[a pineapple]]

A bat?? That looks too weird to be a bat.... it must be... [[a weapon]] [[a knife]] [[a bomb]] [[a pineapple]]

A knife??? No... that's too big.... not even sharp... well unless... but it must be... [[a weapon]] [[a bat]] [[a bomb]] [[a pineapple]]

A BOMB??? OH... IT CAN'T BE HAHA... THAT'S WAY TOO BIG... then it must be.. [[a weapon]] [[a bat]] [[a knife]] [[a pineapple]]

[[It was a pineapple.]]

A sudden strong gust of wind came, knocking down the gray haired man thus releasing the grip that was around my throat. As I gasped for air, I noticed that Rib had bright white wings with broken feathers hanging out of them with a yellow sword. That's made of pineapple... Like a movie, Rib dashed towards the gray haired man who was now fleeing into a ship that was floating in midair in the sky. Rib screamed and flung his pineapple sword sending a wave of electricity impacting the floating ship enough to send it off into space. He then dropped the weapon and ran to me, who was laying on the ground. I looked up at him. He was [[crying]].

“Rib.... your family. Don't you need..to go....home?” I asked while gasping for air. He shook his head. **“I am home.”**

As I took a longer moment to see the scene before me, there's a mysterious man on the ground being tied up by two really buff security guards. Can I take them on??? .... Shaking your head mentally, NO????? ARE YOU CRAZY?? You barely even exercise, what gave you the mentality that you could just take on two big guys in a fight with those arms?? Man just thinking about this brought my self-esteem down just a tad bit. "H-[[help|YEET]]..." You focused your attention towards the direction of where the voice came from. It was from the man getting tied, as he glanced at you with pleading eyes. Should I???? Or... [[I....]]..I don't think I should help..

*laughs internally* I can't do it, I can't do it.... I can't do it. WHATEVER IS GOING ON IS NONE OF MY BUSINESS!!!!! I'M NOT RISKING MY LIFE TODAY, NO SIR! "I'm sorry" I mouthed the words towards the man struggling and turned my bike around towards the bottom of the hill where I came from. Out of sight, out of mind. Out of sight, out of mind. As I was zooming, I heard the two men chuckle to themselves as they continued with their action. I'm sorry mystery man, I just can't... I'll come back [[in a bit]] to pick up my delivery after the coast is clear I guess.

Dazing off into the distance I sat on a bench quite a distance away from the scene that just occurred. Let's pretend that never happened. No one saw a thing. Though, the guilt inside me swells at the thought of not helping someone in need is eating me away, but if I had gotten involved... I wouldn't know what would happen to me in the future. *sigh* Why are you like this... I rode my bike back up the hill and eventually got the package assigned to me. Life proceeded as normal with this incident just being a distant memory.

-------------- "WHY YOU DO THIS??" Rib screamed, "HE NOT PART OF MY SITUATION." "Tsk tsk, no my Prince. No he's not." The man picked up Kei's unconscious body and swung it over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. "You know your father will not let anyone go after witnessing the existance of our kind." "BUT-" "Hurry along before you cause more trouble for this mortal than needed. I'll send him onto our ship and bring him with us at once." *snap* With a snap of a finger, Kei's body glowed and disappeared in a flash. "I'm sorry Kei..." The night continued to drift as a missing persons report was filed a few days later.