"Hey! What do you think you're doing?" It's just the usual Arthur Yates gets thrown at him when he passes the lockers at school— if he takes the fastest way to his, that is.
Ignoring the callout towards him he simply bumped his way through until he was at his locker and inserted the key into it to open. Just when he was about to tug its door it was pushed close by the taller guys and by 'taller guys' Arthur means bullies.
With a sigh the boy turned, glancing his chocolate eyes up towards the guy next to him, giving him an exasperated look.
"I just want to get my lunch, Dane." He uttered under his breath, attempting to open his locker again but it was bumped close again by the big bully called Dane. He was, indeed, big. From beneath the jacket he was wearing a simple grey t-shirt that gave away the rolls of fat that could only mean that this bully eats too much. On the corner of his lips were still a bit of leftovers from, apparently, a lunch he's already had. Arthur guessed it was peanut butter.
"What you got for lunch, sucker?"
A frown caught Arthur's expression.
"Get your own food at the candy store." His tongue was laced with sarcasm as he said it. "Or did your mommy not give you enough pocket money?" Oh Arthur was going to pay for that— he could already see the jaw from Dane move inches forward which made him pretty ugly and look like a bull. This was his way of looking displeased.
Two firm hands from behind (undoubtedly the ones of one of Dane's 'henchmen' or 'followers', the dumb-looking guys) kept him steady on the shoulder so he would not dodge like previous times.
A hard punch was delivered in his cheek and Arthur was thrown against his locker.
The boy could hold onto his key that was still in the lock not to crash on the floor.
"Y'know...you really should stand up to those guys." A voice made Arthur open his eyes, sending a stinging pain through his cheek. Arthur grunted and looked to the side, spotting his best and perhaps only real friend: Elena, or Ellie as she preferred it that way. Her sassy reply made him roll his eyes.
Elena and he have been very close friends even when they were little, given that their parents were close friends as well they were deemed to become close too. They shared some good memories together. Although they were opposed gender, doesn't mean Arthur was ever attracted to her, let alone Elena to him for she happened to be more interested in women than in men. She discovered that perhaps a few years ago, catching Arthur in surprise, because Elena wasn't the kind of type to be so outgoing, however she was honest and he appreciated that. Especially in every freshman year which they were in they had to explain it a hundred of times to their class, or friends, that they were not a couple.
However, there was no place in hell he was going to let that friendship sink, despite the people judging, therefore he simply accepted it and live with it like nothing has changed, which — in fact — there hasn't.
Her looks weren't at all that outstanding. She was a bit taller than him (Arthur himself isn't a big guy, about 1m65) and she's a dirty bonde, unlike Arthur, whiose hair was pitch black.
Moreover Elena has thick but healthy thighs, which she always complains about (fun fact!) and her attire was mostly dark or black, which made her skin look extra pale. They were both in the same class, one year before graduation and they both couldn't wait to get out of this school.
Arthur rose a brow. "Yeah? Have you seen them? They're giants."
Elena stifled a chuckle. "From your point of view, yeah they are, Art."
Unlocking his locker he got his food out and then turned to Elena when she prompted to say something, but decided not to so she shut her mouth again.
"What?" Demanded Arthur, unwrapping the plastic bag from his sandwiches.
"You should probably get a look at your cheek."
"No shit Sherlock."
After school Arthur returned home, finding he was alone which he was thankful for, considering he walked around with a big purple bruise on his cheek.
It went all the way from his cheekbone to his jaw.
"Great.." the raven-haired murmured, facing himself in the mirror.
A boy, about the age of seventeen with furry dark brows and thin lips stared back at him. He was now used to getting picked at his height; he wasn't tall like every other boy in his class. They seem like skyscrapers compared to him. A hand ran over his forehead before grabbing the ice he had gotten earlier from the freezer and pressed against his bruise, pulling his expression into a painful one. It's going to be fun tomorrow at school...

It was not at all unexpected that he'd get glances and whispers shot at him, considering that almost the entire right side of his face had gotten a nice fuchsia colour around the rim, along with the deep purple in the middle of it. Arthur decided wisely to ignore it.
His parents hadn't returned last night, which was almost usual to him. His father was doing his job abroad almost everyday of the year and his mother was a nurse and was sometimes working extra when the ER was busy. He had spoken to her, however, over the phone, telling her everything was alright while it actually wasn't.
"Hey blue man." It was Elena greeting him and Arthur sending her a moody expression.
"Really?" A sigh left his lips when his forefinger trailed along the bruise. "Is it that bad?" Elena nodded immediately. "Absolutely, but I guess that makes you special, my friend." Then she took him into a brief embrace, which Arthur was thankful for. For the first time today a gentle smile began to curve his lips.
"You're a good friend."
"Oh I know. Let's get to class."
Letting his chin rest on his palm Arthur blinked. He was nearly nodding off and he was trying to stay awake at this boring history class. Everyone else was rapidly taking notes, but all the seventeen year old was doing, was being tired and to sleep.
That was until he was jolted awake by something that shuddered the ground beneath him. First he thought he had dreamed, but the teacher had stopped talking and also the students were glancing around in confusion. Then an explosion was heard and the ground shook as if it was an earthquake.
"Everybody, get out!" The historic yelled, sending everyone off in a panic and the door was quickly barricaded by people who wanted to desperately get out. The air filled with another deafening explosion; it was coming closer, so it seemed.
From the side Arthur was being hugged by Elena, who was just in panic as the others.
"What the hell is going on?" She whispered in his ear, but all Arthur could reply with was "I don't know..."
Exiting the classroom they glanced around, hesitating which way would be less crowded and less dangerous when another explosion was triggered and the ground under them collapsed, diseppearing from their feet. They were tugged to the ground rapidly. It went all too quick for Arthur to scream or yell something else. The second floor of the school broke the concrete into smaller blocks, like it was hit with a sledgehammer. It tumbled down along with the few students that were still present on the floor.
Before Arthur knew it he had hit the ground, on top of him heavy blocks of concrete, but that were only on his foot, luckily. He was pretty sure he had one broken, but the adrenaline had already kicked in, numbing the pain. Therefore he whispered his best friend's name to make sure she was alright.
"Elena...Elena, you ok?" His voice sounded hoarse and when he sucked some air back in the dust made him cough.
"Shhhht..." he only got as a reply, no doubt Elena's. The dust slowly settled and he saw her close by him, looking through a crack of concrete. Only then he became aware of the distant voices; two male ones.
"We've got everyone, but two are still missing, sir."
"Don't worry about them, they can't be alive anymore. Let's leave before we get any trouble with the police." There were footsteps drawing away, Elena withdrew herself silently from the crack, hiding in the shadows for her not to be seen. When she was sure the footsteps had subsided into the distance she took another look.
"They were looking for us."

Thankfully the block that has fallen on Arthur's foot had only been a sprain. Nothing broken, but it hurt as hell. He and Elena had lifted the concrete with great effort, but they succeeded.
Now Arthur stood, but limping and holding onto his best friend who supported him by holding one arm of his draped around her shoulder.
"We need to get out of here, before more starts to come down." Elena urged Arthur to move, much to his protest, yet moved anyway.
Of course Arthur was questioning the event that had happened so suddenly as he limped on. But the foremost question he couldn't help but slip from his lips.
"What did you mean with they're looking for us?" The chocolate hue of his eyes rested on a limp body on the side; her head was covered with blood. A wave of nausea hit him resulting him to look away. Elena didn't seem to notice. Or did she look unbothered?
"Not now Arthur." His friend firmly stated in a way that it made the boy glance at Elena in surprise. He had never seen her this serious before. Her demeanour was usually semi-playful, but her features didn't budge into that this time.
"Why?"
"We're not safe yet, Arthur. It's not the right time."
"Safe?" Art mused. Those men were gone, weren't they? He had no idea what was going on and he was not keen to find out, considering they basically dropped the building on them. Chocolate brown eyes scanned Elena as if she was a total stranger. What did she knew that he didn't?
"We have to get someplace safe," she then notified.
"Yeah, I wanna go home."
"No, that's the last we should go to." Finally they have made their way from the debris and have arrived with what was left of the school. At least the left wing of the school was still intact, that looked like it anyway. From their point of view it looked deserted, just like the rest of the school.
"What the... it looks like the zombie apocalypse has broken out." Arthur joked, but it was not displayed on his expression— he looked rather baffled and shocked.
"Yeah..." came the distracted voice from Elena, she looked the other way, perhaps if there were survivors, but there was absolutely nothing, no one, not even a cry for help.
Taking the time to rest Arthur tried to stand on his sprained foot, to no avail; it still hurt tremendously.
"We're leaving through the back door, c'mon." The exit was already in sight, leading to a sports field and beyond that a small forest, it's their best chance of getting away, Arthur thought.
Yet it was not where they went. After exiting the school they immediately turned right, into the street and that's where they halted their steps; near a bench, which Arthur sat on. And Elena turned to leave.
"Hey, Ellie. What are you doing? Elena!" That made her turn around. "Stay here Art. I need to do something. You wait till someone comes and get you. It's a man who's got a somewhat strange hairstyle. You'll know when you see him." With that she rotated back and disappeared back into the school. The seventeen year old wanted to scold her back, but she had already disappeared from his sight.
With a sigh the raven haired put his head in his hands. It was a little hard to process what had happened today and then he didn't even know the half of it; why the attack on his school had happened or why Elena was suddenly acting this way...
What's wrong with this world?

"Hey, you gettin' in or nah?" A voice snapped Art out of his train of thoughts. Before him there was a tall man, dressed in vintage clothes but his hair was extraordinary— it was entirely pink with a black strands here and there. He was tapping the side of his vintage car. Arthur estimated that he wasn't much older than 30. "Arthur, right?" A smirk curved his lips when he saw the boy's blown face. "Don't worry, lad, I know Blade, or Elena, how you wanna put it. She's pretty sharp with friends." Then a roaring laugh came from the man's throat. "Ohh..." He chuckled a few after. "Good joke.
"Now c'mon, we haven't got all day, hop in."
With hesitation Arthur moved slowly — and carefully — to the passengers seat and buckled himself up.
"I'm Maxi, how you doin'?
I bet she hasn't told you a bit, so I'm gonna keep ma mouth shut as well, but if I were you, I'd hold on." The man started the engine and roared it a few times before driving, but instead of feeling the asphalt beneath the tires, the car levitated off the ground, racing with great speed off towards the horizon.