DISCLAIMER: I don't own Kamen Rider.
Yo! the name is Archer, Archer Claymore Yari is the full name. Quite a mouthful isn't it? And a weird name too. I was just your ordinary jaded guy who was really pathetic to the point it made you want to puke. My hair is kinda unique compared to everyone else and I've been getting scolded a lot for it. Well don't blame me it's always that way. The left side of my hair grows more slowly than the right side of my hair. It doesn't help that the left side sticks up while the right side smooths over my face. I'm not really your goth type or jewelry guy either but I wear a cross earring on my exposed left ear. It was more a dare than anything but I thought it looked kinda stylish so I stuck with it. My eyes are a dark blue to the point you'd think it was black like my hair but I'm currently wearing red contacts. I'm a little on the pale and skinny side so don't ask me if I'm sick every other time you see me.
It all started on that day. It had started out like any other…
"Archer get out of bed, it's your turn to take a bath", a guy groggily called his sleeping room mate while drying his hair on a towel. He was wearing an open polo with a plain white shirt underneath. He wore dark blue jeans in contrast to his mint green polo.
"Zzz…", was all the answer he got.
The guy sighed and put the towel aside and climbed over to the top of a double deck bed. "Hey wake up", he poked the guy sprawled all over the bed. No response. The guy wearing the polo shoved the sleeping one off the bed.
"OOF!", the guy fell.
"Is it morning already?", the guy who fell yawned.
"No, it's dawn now get in the shower Arc this was your idea anyway", the polo guy stifled the infectious yawn.
Archer got himself off the cold floor sneezing every now and then, "Fine". He shuffled to their cabinets near the door, took out what he needed, got in the bathroom and did his morning rituals starting with brushing his teeth.
This was one hell of an idea and the keyword here is 'hell'. Taking that freakishly annoying foreign educational opportunities exam for the hell of it was beyond stupid. Now it landed Archer and a couple guys he knew somewhere in Europe of all the places to have a promising education. The whole place seemed to be covered in snow the whole year around. The dorm was murder, being the size of a medium bedroom for one it had a double deck bed stuffed into it in one corner and in the opposite corner were desks between those was a sliding window. On the other side one corner was made into the bath room while the last corner was where the cabinets were put with the door in between the cabinets and bathroom.
"Geez man don't you ever get cold?", Archer got out of the bathroom wearing a shirt, a sweater over it, jacket over that then a coat. He also wore shorts under pants and travel boots. For good measure he also wore a thick scarf over himself.
"I like the cold", Archer's room mate explained, strapping on his watch and putting on extra pants and a winter jacket.
"You've gotta be inhuman or something Raven", Archer shook his head. Raven Macabre Sylvilagus Creed is Archer's room mate and not so best bestest friend. He's calm and collected, quiet and broody too which makes him kind of hard to deal with sometimes. He has a lean build and wears golden contacts over his brown eyes, he's kind of average by looks. His hair is a short cut raven black hair that stuck up in all directions. Even though he doesn't look like much this guy can hold his own in a fist fight.
"I just like the cold", Raven zipped up his jacket and got out of the room.
"Dude you forgot your bag!", Archer an after him with their school bags in hand. The boy with contacts ran back to their room and locked the door before running after his room mate again.
Classes weren't very pleasant considering they had been using languages that varied from Spanish to French to Italian to Spanish to Portuguese and whatever European country their varying teachers came from. Lunchtime came and Archer was very thankful for it.
"Man this sucks", Archer sat down at his usual spot.
"I blame you", Raven quietly sat beside the chair across Archer.
"Everybody does", the odd haired boy smacked his head against the table.
"Well cheer up Arch. That isn't anything new", some guy smacked him in the back. He had two other guys behind him.
"You…", Archer couldn't move from the stinging in his back.
Praxis Animus Orare, human calculator, international math contest winner and one of the guys stuck with Archer in the foreign exchange program. His hair always looks like he just had his hair half-shaved and let it grew back. He looks a bit mischievous and always has this twinkle in this eye that suggests he's up to something if not then he's just playing dumb or something. He usually has some sort of insidious plan or something up his sleeve.
"Prax, stop picking on the poor guy", one of those two guys spoke. He was overly large more in the width department. He may have looked fat but underneath those was a sumo wrestler powerhouse. He was a bit tan as well with glasses. His hair was of no notable color styled in a natural orbit. He was wearing a button up shirt with a vest, a coat and a scarf, he was wearing thick winter pants and boots. His name is Jacht Empathia Gigas Trifolde.
"Who the hell are you and what have you done with the real Jacht?", the big guy. He had pale skin, a big build and decidedly good looks. He was considerably the ladies man among all of them but they never really minded it until girls flocked around them just to get to him. His hair is usually spiked with gel but he just combs it to the side when he doesn't feel like using gel. He's always got this goofy smile on his face that shows his happy-go-lucky nature but he's got a serious and gloomy side to him that they never want to see again. His name is Altair Frozen Gram.
"Hey I'm just trying to be nice", Jacht said as he, Praxis and Altair took a seat each beside Raven.
The day's lunch was stew as were all the other meals of everyday considering it was the only food warming enough for them to consume. The poor guys who'd come in last of the food line had to consume cold pasta and pizza and other various freezing consumables. They left their bowls as is after eating and decided they'd hang out in Praxis' dorm till classes.
"It's 12:37 right now", reported Raven from the top bunk of a double bed.
The dorms were pretty much identical and everyone found it convenient to crash and hangout at Praxis' dorm considering it always seemed to be stocked with excessive food supplies and it was in between the dorm Archer and Raven shared and Altair and Jacht's dorm.
"Well classes are still around 1:30 right? We still got loads of time", Altair laxly sat down on the crowded floor brandishing a bag of chips.
"I wish classes started earlier", Jacht spoke from the bunk beneath Raven's, reading one of the mangas he'd bought in a bookstore.
"Whatever. This suits me fine any other way", Archer sat on the floor along with Praxis and Altair who were digging into Al's bag of chips while he was distributing cards.
"Hey guys, you here?", a tan guy came into the room. He is Prax's dorm mate and the guy who always plans some sort of group outing. He wore glasses, a coat over a sweater and jacket. He also wore jeans and boots. His name is Fenrir Nibellung Stray.
"Where else would we be?", Praxis sarcastically asked his room mate while stuffing some chips into his mouth.
"Hey I'm no mind reader", Fenrir defended himself as he took a seat amongst them on the floor.
"Alright guys get your cards. Change the loser", Archer said after distributing the cards into four hands. He took one into his own hands and started rearranging the cards. Prax and Altair took one each and started fixing their cards as well.
"Hey guys let's go to the store. I wanna stock up on food.", Fenrir took the last batch of cards from the floor and began fixing his like everyone else's.
"Hell, not in that weather", Archer commented loudly without looking away from his cards. The lack of words from the others was enough to show their agreement since they usually had something to say that contradicted his statements. It didn't help that the winds that accompanied the blizzard outside began to howl eerily.
"Fine, though most of those would be most likely eaten by you guys.", Fenrir said off-handedly.
"Okay who's up for shopping", Archer said already up and grabbing his coat. Choruses of "yeah", "sure" and "Okay" was heard as they all got up to go out.
"Works every time", Fenrir thought to himself.
"Oi idiot we're going", Praxis called his room mate.
The six were now battling the frost covered streets of the seemingly small town the school was located in. Actually the town was a village made specially to accommodate the school so it was more of an on campus town than anything.
"Hey guys the school's gonna hold a fair or something this weekend", Fenrir informed his fellows in the blizzard.
"Why would they do that?", Archer asked with a raised eyebrow.
"It's because it'll be sunny for the weekend and the following week as well so they're celebrating though it's only the weekend.", Altair explained.
"Oh yeah I read about that in the school newsletter", Jacht spoke as if just remembering it.
"What? You planning something again?", Prax hung one arm over Fenrir's neck. "If you say anything stupid I 'will' jab you", he threatened.
"You'd jab me anyway", Fenrir ducked away from Prax. "I thought we'd check out neighboring towns", Fenrir offered.
"Guess we could do that though I'd really want to see the fair", Jacht thought about it deeply while keeping his scarf from being blown off.
"I guess I've got nothing better to do", Prax shrugged though every one could barely see it.
"I'm in, since some sight seeing is order", Altair grinned.
"Whatever", Raven said as everyone looked to him for his decision.
"Then we'll all go?", Archer shouted.
"So it's on", Fenrir said with a tone of finality. The blizzard began to pick up and the six of them decided to pick-up the pace.
As the group walked through the raging flakes of snow, Archer, who was trailing behind to make sure everyone was there, heard a sound. It was almost like a voice whispering half-garbled words. He looked around for the source but saw nothing that could make such sounds. He looked towards the mountains near the school grounds and somehow knew that the sound's origin could be explained there. He looked around and noticed that everyone had gone on ahead of him. He looked back one last time to the mountains before he ran to catch up with the others.
The Convenience store they usually 'raided' was unsurprisingly open since the owner was a stubborn old man who kept saying stuff like how much harder it was in his day or something. They stocked up on chips, candies, instant noodles, instant soup, hot coco and coffee. "That'll be 200 euros", the old man gruffly rang them up.
"Jesus guys! Are you guys trying to buy out the store?", Fenrir grumbled as he took out said huge amount.
"Hey these are supposed to last us a whole month", Altair defended.
"And it'll be gone by next week", Raven said straight out.
So the guys got back out into the natural freezer which was outside. Each of them had around two bags per hand.
"Seriously, you guys are gonna get me broke", Fenrir muttered as he struggled through the snow.
"Hey you're the one that invited us out to shop", Archer spoke out.
"Damn we should have gotten ice cream", Altair groaned regretfully.
"What the hell? You wanna ingest something cold in 'this' ass freezing temperature?", Archer exclaimed.
"Plus won't the ice cream melt if it isn't in a freezer or something?", Fenrir suddenly added in the conversation. Everyone looked at him through the blizzard like he was an idiot. "Oh right! Ass freezing temperatures", he said as if it was nothing weird.
The group made it back to the dorms without much incident aside from the fact Fenrir sank into a large dune of snow which took half an hour to dig him out and landed him an hour in the nurse's office with slight frost bite but that is beside the point. Anyway afternoon classes wasn't so bad consisting of varying lessons in world history, science and math, thankfully all of them were in English. At five, PE classes took place which consisted of varying sports and exercises. Sports were for the varsities and anyone interested in joining up, Altair and Jacht are included here. While those uninterested were forced to the exercise side, basically everyone else with no exceptions. These lasted up until a bit after sundown so needless to say everyone was dying of fatigue and hunger.
"Man stew for dinner again", Altair whined looking distastefully at the plate in front of him.
"Why didn't order something else then?", Jacht asked him through a spoonful of stew.
"Like the fried chicken", Archer suggested after swallowing the last drop off his bowl.
"And eat what? A block of frozen oil?", Altair raised an eyebrow and glugged down whole thing in one go.
"Well everyone's done so let's go back", Jacht said after seeing the empty bowls.
"Man that was a killer work out. 30 laps around the hundred meter dash in ten minutes", Archer stretched.
"Don't forget the 100 sit-ups in three minutes", Patrick added.
"Not the 75 push-ups in 3 minutes either", Fenrir popped in.
"Nor the 75 pull-ups in 3 minutes", Raven tossed his two-cents into the conversation as well.
"And of course I can't forget the fact he kept adding to those numbers every time we exceeded the time limit", Archer added.
"I could do everything in time but the pull-ups after going through the push-ups", Patrick sweat-dropped at the memory.
"I couldn't do anything within the time limit", Fenrir hung his head.
"I could do everything within the time limit", Raven announced brightly.
"What about you guys?", Raven asked Altair.
"We joined the soccer team", Altair answered gleefully.
"But we were benched the whole time", Jacht in opposition.
And so the whole meaningless conversation was carried through all the way till their dorms. The time finally came where they decided to sleep and the moon came out.
"Hey Raven, when the hell are you gonna finish brushing your teeth?", Archer asked irritably.
"Why does it bother you so much?", Raven asked through the minty froth in his mouth.
"The damn lights are that's what", Archer complained.
"Sheesh you're just like a kid. Just go to sleep", Raven ignored him and took his sweet time in brushing his teeth and keeping the lights on.
Archer grumpily shifted the sheets into a more comfortable position and grumbled something that sounded like "bastard". He closed his eyes and sleep took him away after what felt like an eternity.
It was a bit dark. Archer could barely see his hand when he stuck it in front of his face. "Man it's dark", he commented and as if the dream heard him a stream of light shot down from above. The boy with the oddly styled hair followed the light with his gaze as it fell on a hunched up form. Archer thought a bit if he should go investigate but in the end his curiosity won out and said, "It's not like there's much else to see I guess". He casually walked over to the spot but stopped when he could clearly see what the light was shining on, more precisely who.
It was a woman. The first thing Archer noticed was how frail she looked. Her face was pale and her body looked weak and skinny. Her shoulder length hair had a dull tan color and her yellow eyes looked lifeless. She was wearing a set of thin pajamas under the blanket she covered herself with. Archer decided to go closer until she looked at him with trembling eyes.
'Did I do something wrong', Archer nervously thought to himself. It was scary to see those eyes. They really looked desperate for some reason. "Um hi", Archer said as if meeting under the circumstances was as normal as walking to school.
The woman looked away. The situation immediately felt awkward.
"Um mind if I sit down?", Archer asked energetically though inside he was a nervous wreck.
The woman didn't answer and Archer took it as permission to sit down. He sat down a couple of feet from her and saw things strewn about. A kettle, some tea cups, an assortment of warm beverage mixes and a fire pit.
"Should I make tea?", Archer offered her.
She looked at him cautiously and slowly nodded.
"Yeah you do look kind of cold and I'm freezing I'm sure a cup of tea would help.", Archer worked with ease since it wasn't unusual for him to make hot beverages in the cold recesses of the school though his room mate didn't appreciate his like of warmth all that much. He suddenly felt something nudge him. "Hmmm?", he looked to his side and found the woman leaning on him.
"What is it?", he asked slightly flustered at the contact. Nothing special, he just never really had much physical contact with anybody, except maybe when he wrestled with his friends.
Her answer was just a sharp movement but Archer kind of understood.
"Hmm it's the cold huh?", he gathered. He took the teacups and began to pour the kettle's contents into them after the tea was done. He handed her one of the warm ceramic cups which she accepted emotionlessly. Archer took his own cup and took a sip. The warmth of the cup seemed to set off something in his nose and he suddenly blew out a big sneeze.
"Aww geez", Archer whined as he rubbed his nose, wiping it of snot and stuff. He heard a small laugh.
The woman was giggling and came nearer and wrapped him in the blanket she was using. Currently they were struggling to keep inside the blanket. Archer tried to keep as much distance between them as possible but the woman seemed to pull him back against her. Finally he gave up and just drank his tea side by side with the woman.
He looked at her and found her face was set with a far away look as if searching or waiting for something in the dark empty horizon. Actually she looked very beautiful, like one of those fragile porcelain dolls. Her face looked wistful but unaffecting of her age. She looked to be a youthful woman at her early twenties but Archer just stored the information in his mind and kept silent drinking his tea.
As he silently drank his tea in peace he couldn't help but feel warm and cozy as if he was sleepy. Just as he was about to doze off he felt the woman beside him shift a bit as he leaned on her.
It was like watching a roll of film flashing before your eyes. Various scenes, each one of a girl with hair the lively color of ripe harvest grain just above her shoulders and bright topaz eyes. Archer thought that the girl looked kind of familiar. The bright sunny smile the girl wore in certain scenes where a guy who's only discerning feature was his grumpy looking disposition, though in certain scenes he looked so kindly and lovingly at the girl. Archer guessed that they were a couple but he still couldn't help but feel the familiarity roll in waves from the peppy looking school girl.
Scenes that varied from a morning walk to school, sharing lunch under a tree, enjoying a picnic with friends under falling leaves, a date in an amusement park, the guy visiting the girl in her part time job as a shop clerk and lots more.
It suddenly hit him, he snapped out of it and the images stopped rolling in front of him and he looked to the woman beside him. It was most definitely her. She never gave him a glance or anything so he didn't mind her as well and kept on drinking his tea. She gave him a nudge and he looked to see what was wrong. She had a small smile on her face and suddenly everything disappeared.
Archer bolted upright from his bed and hit his head on the roof forgetting how low the ceiling was. "Aw shit", Archer hissed. He peered through the pain and tears in his eyes and saw his room mate Raven.
"Well at least this saves me the trouble of having to wake you up", Raven climbed back down the ladder. He was already finished with his bathroom thing.
"What the heck was that? It felt kinda real to be a dream", Archer thought to himself.
"It's your turn so go faster", Raven tossed a shoe at Archer nailing the guy right on his bump.
"Oww… geez…. I'm there, I'm there", Archer said nursing his head and climbing down the ladder.
He dismissed the dream as just another dream but oh how wrong he was. That was just the beginning, the herald to a battle called the 'Games'.