The Army is a place where obeying your superiors is the law.
They don't tell you that sometimes it's better to disobey those superiors if they're bloody idiots who think its better to flaunt their power than to do anything good with it.
Destroyed excerpt from the Executed General
---
"Roll call you Blith~ering idiots!"
Snapping awake from his sleep bunched together with several others roughly his age and higher, Ren blinked away his sleepiness as his body instinctively rolled over to the side.
Gravity taking hold and waking him the hell up out of fear of falling, Ren plonked loudly onto the wooden floorboards, followed closely by a wooden stick.
*Thunk!
"Ow!"
"Slow~! Yuus didnat 'mediately look at yer superyor!" Chastising Ren as he stood up fully while suppressing the venom in his eyes, he looked at the man who had just hit him on the head, the bruise stinging less than before.
With a distinct dip in their lip, the tall black haired man wearing the coat of the Army glared at Ren, his mouth spraying spittle everywhere as he hollered at him whilst holding a bottle in their hand.
The distinct smell coming from it told Ren all that he needed to know.
"Did I give ya permissyon ta loook at mai face?! Fifty push ups!" He roared, Ren ignoring the urge to wipe the spittle on his face knowing full well that he would use it as an excuse to punish him so more.
But fifty pushups just for looking up? That was a lot more excessive than before.
"...Now?" Ren asked, his heart wondering what it was as the Dip Lipped Instructor's face flushed red with anger.
"Queshioning yer superyor!? Make it a Hundred! And give me yer hand!"
Snapping the stick against his gloved hand, Ren grimaced while putting out his hand already covered in thin scars formed from the numerous red welts currently being placed on the back of his hand.
This was certainly not how he expected his first week in the army's training to go, and seeing as how the others were watching wide eyed but still standing in their place, it seemed that they didn't expect it to be like this either.
And to think it all started over what had seemed entirely obvious at the time but apparently was unimaginable to Dip lip.
---
It was still the night from when Ren had escaped from their home.
It was an unfamiliar world.
Having used to been a good boy who followed the rules and never went out of the house when the sun fell over the horizon, the world of the night was an unfamiliar one.
Especially when what he remembered of the night was darkness as black as pitch.
Staring at the lamp posts erected by the city to light up the roads with a scant few even using them at this time of night, Ren's ears perked up when he heard the sounds of someone shouting.
It was always a bad habit to get into someone else's business, especially when they were struggling, but habits were hard to break as he rounded the corner and peeked into one of the cities many alleys.
'!' Ren froze in shock as he watched a large man wave a glass bottle around at a young scrawny boy protecting something.
And with the smell of wine drifting his way, it didn't take a genius to put two and two together as Ren instinctively shouted at the man who was dead set in swinging the bottle at the scrawny boy who flinched in anticipation.
"Hey!"
*Shatter
Flinching at the sound of several pieces of glass shattering against the nearby wall instead of the boys skull, the man stared drunkenly at his hand only to turn and glower at Ren with the scariest look he had ever seen in his life.
"Yooouuus broke ma' drink! Yaaa gotta pay fer dat!" Stumbling towards Ren with the walk of a drunk man who had taken to many to drink, Ren stepped backwards instinctively causing the Drunk to puff up his chest in confidence as the light struck his body.
"Awww yer wun of them strays?" The Drunk waved his bottle around, the sharp end catching the motes of light shone onto them by the surrounding lamp posts.
"Da city always had a prublem with straayyys..." He slurred. "I'll do it a favoor today!"
Raising the bottle high up, when his foot rose up and fell into the dip separating the road for carriages and the pavement, the drunk never even knew what had happened before they fell face first onto the stone.
*Bam!
Flinching at the sound as the bottle clattered a bit aways, Ren stared silently at the drunk. "..."
"Are you alive?" He asked, tapping the hand of the drunk with his foot, already primed to run for it if he turned out to be faking it.
But it seemed that whatever they drank was incredibly effective as the sound of heavy breathing echoed from the man allowing Ren to let out a sigh of relief.
It seemed that he didn't need to run away for fear of being called a murderer.
"Um... Thank you."
Turning to the small scrawny boy in the alley, he whispered his thanks to Ren
Who knew that the boy that the saved would join him in the army while the drunk would gain a dip lip and a vengeance towards Ren as a constantly drunk instructor more than willing to act on their threats.
Ruining their perfectly handsome face was more than enough cause to start targeting Ren for the rest of his days apparently.
It wasn't even good looking in the first place.
Griping silently as he wiped the sweat from his forehead caused by the last of the pushups, Ren held back the venom in his glare as Dip lip snorted and left the sleeping hall, bottle in hand.
Despite how drunk the instructor was, Ren didn't want to test how good his hearing was as he mentally yelled insults at his back.
The boy he saved on the other hand was at the least a lot nicer than the drunk who recalled his face in picture perfect detail.
"Hey... are you okay?"
Speak of the devil and he shall appear.
Turning to look at the scrawny boy who had appeared right after dip lip had finished taking the roll call and left them to their brief hour of free time, Ren nodded his head.
"I'm fine Bell." Ren rubbed the back of his aching hand. "What about you and that bird?"
Bell glanced around hurriedly, whispering quietly to themself. "I'm fine, and the birds fine, do you want to see it?" They glanced at Ren's welt covered hand. "Unless you want to see the medic again."
"I don't need the medic for now." He nodded his head. "And we have a lot of time before meal time, just let me clean up the bed then we can go. We both know that Dip lip would punish me again if I left it like it is."
"That makes sense..." Bell whispered to themself, their face marred with bits of guilt. "Are you still sure that you're fine with me being near you?"
Bell continued to chew on their lip "I'm the reason why that instructor is angry with you."
"It's fine." Ren waved Bell off, noting that their eyes were locked onto the back of his hand. "He's an idiot drunk anyways, soon I'll get strong enough to kick his ass."
Bell giggled only to suddenly place their hands on their mouth.
Watching Bell swivel their head like Dip Lip was somewhere nearby just about to lay down a punishment on Bell's head, Ren gestured to the bed frame that they had claimed. "So how's the bird?"
"Oh yeah."
Scrawny limbs shuffling over to their bedside where the bird lay, Bell glanced around worriedly before pulling the bedsheet away to reveal a small hole made into the mattress.
It wasn't made by Bell to be clear, it was just the state of the bed when Bell had found and subsequently claimed it.
'Hi there little birdie.'
Staring at the little yellow bird the size of a medium candle with a thickness of two fingers, Ren watched Bell hesitantly rub their fingers against the birds back.
It was a lot better looking then how Ren had seen it last time, what with the fact that there was no dirty city grime clinging to its feathers and no wound on its leg.
It also helped that a small bow was tied around the small birds leg sealing the wound.
It was pretty looking bow.
What wasn't pretty was the fact that training came right after breakfast, and lo and behold, guess who the hell was the instructor?
Dip Lip
That damned petty drunk man.
It was a week ago and he still continued to torment Ren throughout his daily life.
"In a fight, your enemy will hit you while you are down!"
They at least had the presence of mind to not look like a drunk when outside, but it just meant that Dip lip was a lot harsher and clear headed when he pettily punished him.
Ren felt his face hit the dirt as his legs were swept out from underneath him, the Instructo bearing a nasty grin on his face as he struck at Ren's body trying to get up from the ground.
"Like I'm showing you right now! You have to get up without a moment to waste!"
Ren felt a kick to his chest as Dip Lip had a sadistic grin on his face. "Imagine that I'm the enemy in this scenario! The Recruit has to get up otherwise they'll just keep hitting you when you're down."
Sucking in the air that had suddenly left his lungs, Ren felt another kick onto his side as he instinctively curled up into a ball.
"Ugh!"
"Get up!"
The stick slammed into his side as his eyes darted around for any sign of help, the many people his age and a bit older than him staring in horror at the blatant abuse of power.
Another kick sent a shock through his spine.
"Now as you can see! Because the Recruit isn't getting up! The enemy will keep on hitting him!"
Ren felt another stick slam into his arm causing him to cry out in pain as a kick caused him to tumble over to his other side.
"Painful right!? That's what you get for breaking my face!" Ren caught Dip Lips eyes twisted in morbid glee, his hand grabbing at a canteen which he drank, droplets of liquid falling to the ground.
Ren's nose twitched to the memorable scent of harsh alcohol.
"Get up! Recruit! Now!"
Ren felt the stick strike against his other arm, his body racked with pain, as another strike caused the wooden tool to shatter against his body.
"Ugh!"
The pain of such a thing breaking against his body wasn't little as he felt and heard something break underneath the skin, his arm suddenly racked with pain every time he moved it.
But at this point, that pain was everywhere.
"Idyot!" The Dip Lipped Instructor slurred, their eye twisted with glee "You should've just stuck to your own business that day! I was just doing my just duty of removing the kingdom's shtrays!!"
Abandoning the guise of an enemy attacking a downed recruit now with the breaking of their stick, Ren felt his body tumble over several times as he felt something shatter in him.
Cries of shock and panic rang out in the camp as he hazily caught sight of several people stepping forwards.
"Anyone who helps this recruit up will be considered disobeying my orders!" Dip Lip hollered madly, his eyes dilated into thin pin pricks as Ren caught sight of his glowing leg rapidly approaching Ren, leaving deep divots in the ground with his every step. "This is just an example! Unlesh yu guys want to beee the next exshamplleee!?"
The next thing he knew, his body was rolling across the ground as something hot poured out of his mouth, the hazy image of Bell running away in terror ingrained into his mind.
'Why are you running away...?'
Feeling betrayed by Bell as they disappeared into the sea of tents in the distance, the glowing foot appeared in his vision again, this time placed lower than where it had struck last time.
"Shtay down you fhyuging shtray!"
*Crunch!
Ren felt his leg crunch noisily as Dip Lip stepped onto his leg, the blinding pain shooting up his ankle as his voice tore out of his throat. "Arrrgghhh!"
"Wait jushht a minyut..." Dip Lip's voice returned to a semblance of calm as their twisted grimace turned into a grin. "I'll be doing the Kingdom a favor by removing this stray."
The Glowing foot lifted over his gaze as Ren caught sight of Bell returning with someone else in tow.
Weird, why did Dip Lip look so scared?
Not that he was complaining.
Staring at the scared face of Dip Lip as the hand holding the canteen fell to the ground splashing alcohol onto his face, it was the last thing he saw.
The next thing he knew, when he woke up from his sleep induced by medicine and potion, it was the next day.
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