The obstruction was large; easily three or four times his height. He looked it over, waving his hand to disperse his group. They parted down the center, and he stepped back behind them, taking a running start at the object. Nimble fingers wove their way into the rivets on the side of the fallen pillar, and within seconds he was standing on top of it. He reached around himself, unraveling the rope from around his waist and attaching the easily before dropping it down to his leader, who took it and held it as he made his way down the back of the pillar. When all five of his other team mates had made it over he recalled the rope, replacing it around his waist and continuing on.
"He's around here…" One of the taller, bulkier members of the team stated, a natural-born tracker.
"How can you tell?" Lacarr, the Leader, said, fumbling with the latch on his cloak. "Didn't you say Dusk Tamers are among the hardest to track?"
"Aye. They're born the same day as a dragon and if the pair doesn't find each other by their third astral year of life then they're considered failures. Public execution, for the tamer. Not many know about the dragon." He said, stopping a moment. "If they do find each other, they spend the rest of their life training together to become unstoppable. They have all different alignments. Chaotic, Justified, Neutral, and everything in between. They dissipate into the night. For as big of lizards as they ride you'd think one of them'd leave some footprints, broken trees, anything, but no such luck."
"Ah." Lacarr said. "So, How do you know where they are?"
"I've come across Dusk Tamers before. Their power is amazing and their skill is flawless. Only thing is they leave the smell of sulfur wherever they go." He said. "Sulfur and blood. And I can smell plenty of it just ahead."
They went onward, piercing into the forest beyond the ruins like an arrow. The night air wrapped around them like thick blankets. It was cold and dry and with the strong smells of sulfur and blood it made it painfully disgusting to breathe. Torak lead the pack through the woods, his eyes scanning through the darkness and sudden fog masterfully, picking out every tree and rock as they went.
"Wait!" Torak, the tracker called. "I can't smell it anymore."
Surely enough, the scent had subsided completely. The entire group immediately recognized this as a thread, turning their backs to each other, some drawing their weapons, others just standing alert, listening. There was no sound or movement, no wind or rain. Breaths were held and with good merit; in the same moment they had come together, a sound echoed. It was high pitched, and loud. It scared the birds from their trees and tore at the eardrums of the group. It ended as quickly as it started and Torak looked to Lacarr.
"That was a scream."
"Let's go, then!" Lacarr Commanded. The group started moving, slowly, cautiously, when the sixth member spoke for the second time since his arrival.
"Lacarr." Everyone looked to him, the cloaked figure dressed in black and white. His cloak was checkered to match the rest of his armor, which was dark grey, black and white at acute angles, looking more like three different colors waging war for dominance. The hilt of his dagger was evident and the handle of the gun on his hip stuck out, being made of a dark-black metal with white detailing. He uncovered his face, something none of them had seen before. It was young, younger than any of them had thought and white hair snaked its way past his eyes and around his face. A white eye attracted them. "Please leave now."
"Vaeca, We have a mission to accom-" Lacarr started, watching as Vaeca's face turned to something harsh.
"This is now my fight. Take the team back and wait for me on the ship. If I'm not back in three hours leave without hesitation."
"…I'll expect a full report and explanation when you return."
"Of course."
"Very well then. You heard the man, back to the ship." Lacarr said, sighing. They all turned and trudged back the way they came. When Vaeca could no longer see his mates he turned and ran full speed toward the sound.
The village was full of black fire, every house being cooled and darkened by it. The smell of burning flesh filled the air, making every breath disgusting. A weak cry reached his ears and he turned following it to the source. Under the remains of a home, a man laid, frozen to the point that his skin was black. Vaeca crouched, quickly pulling off his cloak and wrapping it around the man.
"Who did this?" Vaeca whispered, pulling the cloak around the man.
"I-i-it w-was the D-Dusk T-T-Tamer…" He said through a broken voice, reaching up to his abdomen to grab at his shirt. "S-She did th-this."
"She? She who?"
"Her- Her n-name i-is…." He began "Her N-name i-i-is…"
"Yes?"
"Her N-Name is I-Ivini-iya…"
That moment struck Vaeca hard. He tightened his grip on the man, feeling the weakness in him. He rolled up the hood of his cloak, leaving it under the man's head as he stood, watching the life fade from his face. He turned, walking away from the man and towards the other side of the village when it hit him, hard, fast and without warning, sending him spiraling into unconsciousness.
He awoke some time later. Looking around, he knew exactly where he was.
"Ivy, I know you're here!" He realized he was tied up and hanging. "Let me down!"
The footsteps came soon after that. Vaeca analyzed them. Whoever it was was strong. Confident. An excellent fighter. He was soon face to face with the owner of the footsteps.
"Long time no see." She said, smirking
"What the hell?"
"What?"
"I haven't seen you in four and a half years. I spent the entire span of time looking for you, killing countless enemies, Struggling with the thought that you might have died the moment you stepped on the shuttle from dreamland- Do you know how worried I've been?" He said, kicking at her. "I lost my eye because of you! I punched Arthur in the face because he wasn't going to let me go after you!"
"Hm."
"You-! You little-! You're lucky you knocked me out and tied me up or you'd be in so much trouble-"
"Mhm."
"Let me down! Let me down now!" He said, kicking about in an attempt to get free.
"Fine, fine, just be quiet." She said, taking a small device out of her back pocket. She aimed it at the metal bar that'd been wrapped around her brother like a pipe cleaner. The bars instantly snapped and he was sent to the floor. She crouched down, resting a hand on his back.
"H-hey, you alri-" She was interrupted by a punch to the jaw. She shot up, moving away from him quickly. He growled, standing up and staring at her. She looked at him warningly. "You don't want to start this."
"You're right. I want to finish it." He said, charging toward her. She moved out of the way with ease, turning to face his back. She planted a foot square in it and pushed, sending him stumbling forward to the wall. He turned, enraged, flying at her once again. She stepped aside, Watching as he passed her and turned in a fluent motion, attempting to punch her once again.
"I didn't dick around for four years; I actually trained instead of wasting time." She said, dodging another of his blows and kicking him across the stomach. He fumbled backwards, clutching his stomach and coughing.
"I wasn't wasting time! I was looking for you, you ungrateful little-" He said, ducking a right hook from her and landing a hit on her stomach. "What on earth were you doing?"
"I went out and destroyed every single member of Nightmare's special corps and several of the higher ups," she said, tripping him and stepping away quickly. "I laid waste to every single one of Nightmare's base of operations from sectors 16734a to 22053j."
"You couldn't have done that!" He said, recovering quickly and throwing a rock at his sister.
"And why not?" She said, dodging it.
"You're not powerful enough to do that! I can't even do that." He said, powering towards her.
"But I can. I did. I'm not the little girl I was 4 years ago." She said. "I'm stronger than you."
While she spoke she was grabbed, being held from behind as a blade was pushed to her neck.
"While it's unexpected, it's useless. You don't have the guts to kill me. You can't even use a minimum of your power against me." She said. She smirked, closing her eyes and smirking. "Face it, you're weak."
"That's not true." He said, pressing it harder against her throat.
"Yes it is. And while that may hold true for you," She said, grabbing his wrist with one hand and turning it, breaking his wrist and finding her freedom at once. He fell backwards in pain, clutching his broken wrist as he swung around, wrenching the Dagger from his hands. She grabbed him by the hair, swinging him around onto the floor and pulling his head back so his throat was full exposed. She pressed the blade there.
"You wouldn't." He said after a minor hesitation. The blade was pressed harder and he swallowed hard, seeing her expression being one free of hesitation and judgment. She was being serious.
"Oh, but I would." She said, venom seeping into her voice. She pressed the blade harder and Vaeca felt the blood beginning to trickle down his neck. "You see, I may not have become a bounty hunter gallivanting around and earning a reputation as the best in the business, but I learned how to be strong."
"Being able to kill people isn't strength, it cowardice!"
"You never learn, do you?" She said, pulling the blade away from his neck. He stood up, preparing a fighting stance. She looked at him, throwing the dagger at his feet.
"I'm done. Leave." She said, pointing to the exit of the cave she inhabited. She walked over to a small table he hadn't noticed before. "Just leave. Please."
"That village was full of innocent people. Why did you destroy it?"
"Innocent? Heh, please. This is just one of my stops. I'm going to take down nightmare. That village was one of Nightmare's Headquarters."
Silence filled the air. He just stared at her back as she closed her eyes, covering her face with her hands and leaning on the table tiredly.
"Have you heard the stories?"
"Of what?"
"Iviniya, The strongest Dusk Tamer in history."
"You?"
"Yeah."
"A few."
"I see. Lemme guess, same old, same old 'destroy, kill, wreck, pillage'?"
"Pretty much."
"They're lies. Every one of them."
Silence, again. He shifted his weight uneasily.
"Are you actually a Dusk Tamer?"
"Yeah."
"Can I see your Dragon?"
"Fine, but if you kill it, I die. Blood pacts work that way."
"You sold your soul?"
"Had to. You can't take a kingdom without losing some men." She said, reaching into her pocket to retrieve a small whistle. She blew it and they turned to the cave entrance, watching for the dragon. After a few moments the black dragon appeared, darting into the cave and tackling Vaeca, ready to destroy him if Ivy gave the word.
"Alright, Get off of him Mafoir. That's my brother." She said, tapping the dragon's shoulder blade. It stepped off, moving to stand between them.
"Mafoir?"
"Yeah."
"Ah."
"You happy now? Can you leave, or what?"
"Why do you want me gone? Do you not love your brother anymore?"
"Leave."
"What happened that made you so… angry?"
"None of your business. Leave."
"Tell me! I'm your older brother and I'm worried about you!"
"I'm not, so why should you be?"A moment of silence "Leave. If I have to say it again Mafoir gets to kill you."
He resisted the urge to punch her again and left without a word, running to where he'd last seen his troop's ship. It wasn't that far away, luckily and they'd waited for him. He pulled up his hood and entered the ship.
"My god- Vaeca?" Lacarr said, running to his aid. He nodded to the man. "It's been three days!"
"Why didn't you leave like I told you to?" He said. HE stumbled a bit, a pain in his leg that wasn't there before taking hold of him.
"Well, we were going to, but we can't lose the best member of our team, it'd be foolish." He said. "You look like all hell! What happened?"
The words, however were lost on him. His mind was fogged and he couldn't concentrate on the words. He leaned on the wall, panting. Why was it suddenly so hot in the room? He looked to Lacarr to see if he was still talking- his lips were moving from what he could tell but the words were mumbled and unrecognizable in Vaeca's ears. His vision blurred and the only thing he could think of was that his sister had poisoned him.
"Poison!" He exclaimed "That little-"
"Poison… Poisoned… Medical…Quick…" were the only words he could make out of a full set of commands given to the other four members of the team. Breathing was hard and everything was stuffy and hot and when he tried to talk it was like someone had stuck a glob of tar in his mouth- it tasted nasty and was almost impossible to move through. Before he knew it he was being carried to the medbay on Torak's back. Slowly his vision faded out and unconsciousness hit him.
Waking up hurt. It was like having an elephant stomping on him but the elephant was made out of cast iron with a lead frame on Jupiter. He stat up wearily, looking about. Sight was something nice, and he realized he'd gained that back, as well as hearing because the beeping from the heart monitor caught his attention. Looking down he had, next to the large scar on his abdomen, a patch of bandage on his side that covered what he assumed to be the wound from where he was poisoned. It was too big for just a needle hole. He pulled the Oxygen mask off.
"Suren?" he called for the medic, wincing at the volume of his own voice. "Suren?"
Within a few seconds he heard footsteps coming his way and the blond medic came in, tucking his clip board under his arm. He walked to the side of Vaeca's bed and laid a hand on his forehead before turning to the sink to get him a glass of water. He turned again, handing the glass to Vaeca, who took it and the two pills offered gratefully. They worked within moments.
"Better?"
"Much." Vaeca said.
"Okay. I managed to get a sample of the poison and most of it out of you, and from what Nhim said there's enough in you to thoroughly hinder your fighting, so Lacarr told me to keep you coming in here every once in a while until we can either get it all out of you or you can get strong enough to fight well with it in. I splinted your wrist, too."
"What caused it?"
"From what we can tell it wasn't the dusk tamer or her dragon. It looks like bite marks. From a Shadowbeast."
"Shadowbeast?"
"Yeah. Demon beasts that take the forms of humans and can manipulate their forms into anything else that it's seen."
"The- the villager!" He said, remembering the man touching his stomach. "She was telling the truth!"
"Who was? What?"
"The Dusk Tamer, My sister!" He said.
"You're confusing me."
"Get Lacarr to host a meeting ASAP. I have to go- I have to get my sister." He said, pulling on his shirt that was folded beside the bed. Suren walked out after him, knowing that if Vaeca was talking this much about something that it was important. He walked down the hallway and into the room that served as Lacarr's.
"Sir?"
"Yes?"
"Vaeca has requested that you call an emergency meeting."
"When?"
"As soon as he gets back from the Dusk Tamer's Hideaway."
"You let him leave?"
"He's got enough painkillers in him to make loosing half your body seems ticklish. He won't hurt on his way, if that's what you're worried about."
"No, I'm worried about him not being able to fight the Dusk tamer."
"The Dusk Tamer is his sister."
"That doesn't mean anything!" Lacarr said, moving to his armor. "I'm going after him."
"No, you're not, sir. He can sort this out himself. The Dusk Tamer isn't the one who poisoned him. What I didn't tell anyone was that there was a Neurotoxin in him- something his sister gave him judging by the preciseness. She's been doing this for a long time."
"Doing what?"
"Stopping things Nightmare Started."
"Ivy!" He called, entering the cave. She was nowhere to be found. "Ivy?" He looked around, going to the only place he hadn't been in when he was there the first time; a small 'room' in the back with nothing but a bed and a bag. He looked around. She was nowhere to be found. Curiously, he opened the bag, looking through its contents- A few knives, a few maps, Star charts, everything seemed normal until he felt something hard that he bottom. He pulled it out to reveal a small box with a latch to keep it shut. There were no markings at it was made rather shoddily, seeming to be something she's made long ago.
Opening it, He found a lot of things. Letters, a leather bound diary and the locket that matched his own were a few. He pulled out the letters, scanning them- most of them were letters from herself to him or Arthur, Kanna or Kiba. One or two were from herself to Sword Knight, Blade Knight, Meta Knight or the Inhabitants of Pupupuland; But at the very bottom there was a thick envelope, with roughly fifteen letters, all addressed to and from someone named 'Razrev Saerdtsa'. He read them all as best as he could, as they were in some form of broken Russian before replacing them and getting his answers. He stood, closing the box and turning to place it in the bag once again when he saw her, standing there.
"What are you doing in here?" She asked "Why are you back here again?"
"I was just- um… Looking for you…" He said, stepping backwards.
"What were you doing in my stuff? Why can't you just leave me alone?" She growled. "I'm not afraid to kill you!"
"I don't care what you're not afraid to do. I came back because I want to work with you. My entire team does."
"No."
"Come on. Just... Just come back to my ship, hear me out and then you can make your decision. If the answer's still no, I'll leave this planet, leave the group and leave you alone forever."
They shared a moment of silence.
"You have once chance to persuade me otherwise. If I don't like what I hear, than you're dead to me."
"Fair enough." He agreed. "Fair enough."
"Now. Explain to me what you think gives you the right to go prodding through my personal belongings."
"Impulse."
"Mm huh." She said pulling her sword from the holster that was on her lower back. She held it at his face. "And you think that that's a valid reason?"
"No, But I'm your older brother, I just thought…"
"You thought wrong. Get the hell out of here. I'll be at your ship in exactly 45 minutes. If you come back again I will slaughter you, your captain and the rest of your team. Leave, now."
He nodded, jogging out of the cave and back in the direction of his ship. She walked to the mouth of the cave, watching him go before walking back to the room and collapsing on the make-shift bed- A hammock-like thing that looked to be easily moved with a thin blanket laid over top of it. Mafoir trudged up to the side of the bed, looking rather apologetic, before nudging his head into her hand.
"Don't worry, Mafoir. I'm fine. I have a plan." She said tiredly. He gave off a small whine. "What are we? Babies? No, we're the best damn team to exist in the history of Nightmare himself."
She smiled even as she felt it happen, the light headedness and pain of losing something within herself, as was the contract- she'd become a dragon riding mercenary for the small price of a few gallons of blood a week, an organ every few months. She'd lost the muscles in her foot and In place of them gained a soft tissue replacement material that she'd stolen from one of nightmare's bases. She found herself drifting to sleep, the dragon crawling under the bed nimbly, knowing the only thing he could do was watch as the only family he had suffered for him.
She woke twenty minutes later and checked for the damage done with a small device stashed in her pocket. She pulled her sleeve up a bit, Placing the small pad on her wrist and watching as the results of a complete body scan were displayed on the wall. She sighed as it came up as what could be considered normal; she hadn't lost an organ yet, just a lot of blood which would explain why she was so dizzy. She set herself to packing up her bed which became compact and hooked to her bad which she slung over one shoulder. She climbed on top of Mafoir, keeping herself steady as he walked out of the cavern and took flight towards Vaeca's ship. She leaned forward, hugging around the neck of the dragon as he nearly waded through the air. The thinness of the oxygen made her head spin even more and a dull pain had begun to grow at the base of her skull, something she was accustomed to.
The dragon descended in altitude as he saw the ship in the distance, slowly making his way downward until he was hovering just above the ground a few meters away from the ship. He landed, walking up to it and allowing his rider to climb off and walk into the ship, with him following her carefully. Upon entering, guns were drawn and swords were pointed. She turned from them moving to leave.
"Wait wait wait! You guys, that's the dusk tamer!" Suren said, knocking away the guns. He approached her quickly.
"I'm sorry; they're just a little trigger happy." He said, hooking his arm into hers. "Come with me."
She walked with him, Mafoir following her and giving dirty glares to the three men that'd pulled weapons on her before. They walked into what seemed to be the main chamber; a large room with a high ceiling, a large table and some chairs that seemed invitingly comfortable. Suren pulled one out for her and smiled, watching as she sat down and her dragon lay behind her chair protectively. He pushed her chair in lightly as the dragon moved to it once again and took a seat next to hers. Her brother walked in, regarding the dragon who growled at him in response as he took his seat on her other side. The three members from before- Torak, Nhim, and Ubeyetsa-took their seats sounding the table from Suren's side, and finally, Lacarr came in, taking the last seat at the table.
"Alright," Lacarr began. "I honestly have no idea why this was called but I'm sure Vaeca does, so, let's ask him."
The table turned their eyes to Vaeca, who stood up, removing his cloak and draping it over his chair.
"Let me start from the beginning. Thirteen years ago, my parents were murdered in front of myself and my three siblings in cold blood. They were after my youngest sister- Ivy- because she held the power to destroy worlds within herself. A year prior my god father- the GSA's Commander Sir Arthur, had left his mission on earth to continue his quest to kill nightmare which he sadly did not accomplish.
"For four years we lived as orphans under the care of each other. We all did what we could to bring in money because we knew our family's money wouldn't last long. Five years after their death my youngest sister and I wake up somewhere I'd never seen before, but she had; a planet called Popstar. This planet was actually the basis of many games and an anime back on our home planet and, as a fan, my sister became instantly familiar with the place and its people.
"We shared many good times on that planet until a band of Bounty hunters came and attacked us." He stopped, pulling up his shirt to reveal a large scar. "This scar came from that attack- I was impaled completely and my sister had healed me good as new. A few days after that she left Popstar without me, and I never saw her again. Soon after, I joined this group. As you all know, recently, we were hired to terminate one Iviniya Arotha- a Dusk Tamer that'd been terrorizing villages everywhere. She now sits in this room with us.
"You see, Iviniya Is my sister's full first name- Iviniya Rose Starr. My younger sister is sitting next to me as we speak. When I was taken into her hideaway I thought she'd killed thousands of innocent people, but she explained to me that every single 'village' she'd attacked was really a base of nightmare, disguised so that people like her wouldn't find them. My sister hasn't been doing anything wrong- we have. We've been going to the aid of Nightmare himself."
"This is all really touching, bro," She said, "But why don't you tell them your name now?"
"Ah… yeah. My name isn't Vaeca; it's Vincent Beschützer Starr. I changed my name because I was ashamed of myself for not being able to protect my sister."
Ivy yawned, leaning back in her seat. The room was silent for a moment as each person seemed to sort through some information.
"It looks like I found the right Ship, then?" A voice called. Mafoir shot up straight, taking a battle stance at the man entering the room. He stuck his hands in the air and Mafoir looked to Ivy, who was leaning forward with wide eyes. Torak, Nhim and Ubeyetsa did their routine of standing up and pointing their weapons before Suren got up and pushed them all down. A second man walked in behind him, then a third, than a fourth, each of them working to take off their cloaks and armor. Vaeca well backwards into his seat and looked just as shocked as Ivy.
"T-that voice…" he said, swallowing. "It can't-…"
"It is. We're glad we found you two together like this. It's been a while."
"S-sir!" Lacarr said, standing and saluting. "Get up you morons! Don't you know who that is?"
"Is that…" Torak began.
"Sir Meta Knight?" Suren said, adjusting his glasses. Ivy turned her chair to face the four standing in the doorway.
"What are you doing here?" She said, standing up and moving around her dragon. "What in the hell do you think you're doing here?"
"Wow, nice to see you too." One of the figures in the back said.
"Shut up, Blade!" The other said, elbowing the first.
"Oww- Sword!" He said, turning to the second.
The entire squad of people stood and rushed toward the four Galaxy soldiers, creating a ruckus.
"We need to talk to all of you." The third, un-identified figure said.
"Yes, sir, of course. But first, why don't we celebrate? Lacarr said.
"That sounds nice." Meta Knight said, beginning to follow Lacarr around Ivy. She grabbed him by the shirt and grabbed the third person as well, pressing their backs against the wall.
"You didn't answer me. Why are you here?" She said, yanking the hood off of the thirds face. Arthur stood there, dumbfounded at her attitude. She backed off, thinking. "What am I doing here, for that matter? Come on, Mafoir, We're leaving."
The dragon trotted over to her side and she shoved past the four roughly. Angered, Arthur grabbed her in the same manner she'd grabbed Meta Knight.
"Do you think you can get off assaulting the two highest ranking GSA office-"
"Arthur, don't-" Vincent began, reaching a hand towards him.
Ivy whipped around, kicking his legs from underneath him, resulting in him falling and slamming his head on the wall. She pulled out her sword, yanking him up by his arm and twisting him around to be pressed against her, the sword upon his throat.
"Touch me again and see where it gets you." She said softly, pressing the blade against his throat a little harder to prove her point. She dropped him, turning to leave once again. Vincent moved to Arthur, who was rubbing his throat with the hand opposite of the one she grabbed.
"Are you okay?" he asked, looking at his throat cautiously. "It's not bleeding."
"Yeah, but she yanked my shoulder out of its socket." He said, reaching over to amend that problem. The entire group of 9 shuddered at the sound that came from it and he stood up.
"Any Idea why she's like that?" Meta Knight asked worriedly, rubbing at his shirt where she grabbed him.
"I... I think I might have an Idea, but I don't know for sure." Vincent said, playing with his hands. "All I know is that she's not herself. Something happened to her and now she's… she's just not my little sister anymore."
"You never did get to ask her what you wanted to." Torak stated, laying a hand and Vincent's shoulder. "Maybe we should introduce ourselves and then go after her?"
"Sounds like a plan." Vincent said, turning. "Everyone, this is Sir Meta Knight. I'm sure you've heard of him, but Ivy had a personal relationship with him."
Meta Knight nodded, doing a partial salute. "Ivy and I were… Engaged so to speak."
"Whoa. And she treated you like that? I guess she doesn't know how lucky she is." Suren said. "I heard that in the army no one saw you with anyone other than your team mates."
"Yes. I spent most of my time training with my squadron, that's true." He said. "But Enough about me. Continue, Vincent."
"Right." He said, nodding to Arthur. "This is Sir Arthur, Leader of the GSA. He is, as I said, Our Adoptive Godfather."
Arthur nodded. "I'm sure you told them the whole story?"
"Yeah." He said. "These to fine gentlemen are Sword Knight and Blade Knight, Meta Knight's followers since the war."
"Hey." Blade said. Sword merely waved.
"Now that that's done, you guys, this is Lacarr, our Squad's Leader."
A nod from the man in the mask.
"That's Torak, our tracker." He said. The Large man grinned and crossed his arms, nodding at the four in turn.
"That's Suren, our medic."
The Short, blonde man waved lightly with a smile. "Nice to meet you."
"That's Nhim, one of our front line fighters and a potent Poison expert." The black haired man saluted to the four.
"And that's Ubeyetsa, a munitions smith and terrain expert." Vincent said, pointing to the man on the end of the line.
"Pleasure." Ubeyetsa said.
"And Now I think it'd be a good Idea to go after Ivy, so, Meta Knight, Arthur, Why don't you come with me, and sword and blade can stay here and relax for a bit?"
"That sounds good. Let's go." Meta knight said, looking to Arthur who nodded in agreement. Vincent turned, Arthur and Meta Knight on his heels as he took off toward Ivy's cave.
They were silent when they arrived, stepping into the mouth of the cave quietly. Vincent held out his arms, signaling for them to listen. Light sobs could be heard along with a low, worried sounding whine. Vincent rushed forward to the door to the back room, angrily shaking the locked door in an attempt to open it.
"Damn it, Ivy, Open up!" He growled, hammering on it. "Open up!" Meta Knight Laid a hand on his shoulder, pulling him away from the door. Vincent watched as he reached for his sword, unsheathing the Mythical blade that was kept there. It was different now than before- instead of the blade taking the shape of a flame or of a sword with barbs on it, it took a new form- the blade was Golden, as per usual, but the thick blade now curved slightly, the serrated blade being covered with blue and black flames that ran from the tip to the hilt. On the other side, the edge hummed with electricity that crackled every so often. Vincent stood, awestruck at the new sword, and watched as Meta Knight Raised the sword to swing. He let his arm fall and the door cracked in half, smoldering. Before he could sheath the blade he was pounced on by Mafoir, the dragon's claws threatening to pierce the skin on his shoulders.
"Mafo-" A broken call sounded "Where'd you g-go…?"
The dragon instantly leapt from the man, who clamored for his sword. He was back into the back room yet again and Meta Knight got up on his feet, walking after the dragon. Vincent followed along with Arthur. They all stopped. Lying on the floor in the empty room was Ivy, A small spatter of blood by her head.
"Wh-What happened…?" Vincent whispered
"Vi-Vince? Get out of here!" She said shakily, attempting to get up from her position on the floor whilst reaching for her dagger. "You're dead!"
Meta Knight immediately went to her side as Arthur walked over, kicking the dagger out of her reach whilst eyeing the dragon. It growled.
"Easy, Boy. We're here to help her."
"I told you, I told you I'd kill you. I told you I'd kill you. Why didn't you listen?" She cried as Meta Knight gathered her into his arms.
"What's the matter? Where are you hurt?" He asked softly.
"I'm fine; I don't need your help... Go away…" She whimpered, trying to sound like she honestly wanted them to leave. Her clinging to him didn't help that goal.
"Where are you hurt?" He asked again, trying to quash the feeling of extreme guilt and terror that overtook him and made him feel sick. She held her breath a moment, not speaking. He reached down, brushing the hair from her face. He felt her fists lose their power in his shirt before falling limply into his lap, warm tears making their way though his shirt. She shakily grabbed the device from her pocket, attaching it to her wrist and pointing her arm at the wall. The diagnostics shone as she buried her face into the crook of Meta Knight's neck. Vincent stared at them.
"Can anyone read that?" Vincent asked.
"Yeah." Arthur said.
"Is she okay?"
"She should be, if we can get her medical attention in time."
"What's wrong?"
"She's lost multiple organs, including part of her heart, and enough blood to make her more delusional than she should be." He said, hesitating. "And it says she's gone blind."
Vincent reached up to cover his own eye, or lack thereof. He could handle not having an eye, but he couldn't imagine losing both.
"How is that possible?"
"Whatever is taking her organs took the small part of her sensory lobe in her brain that registers sight." Arthur said. Meta Knight remained silent, watching as she fought for consciousness.
"Mafoir?" He said, looking towards the dragon. "Can you take us to Vince's ship?"
The dragon looked at him, nodding partially at him. He picked Ivy up, setting her on the dragon and taking a seat behind.
"You take her and get back to the ship as soon as possible. Arthur and I will be there as soon as we can." Vincent said. Meta Knight nodded, looking to Mafoir who was staring at him in return.
"Alright, we're ready." Meta Knight said, patting the dragon. It sauntered out of the cave and into the night. Arthur looked at Vincent, who looked about ready to break down.
"What happened?" He asked.
"I don't know." Vincent said back. "Let's go."
Arthur nodded, following him out of the cave and into the moon lit field beyond it. In the distance he could see the mist-covered outline of his godson's squad's ship, and between it and themselves, a hovering dragon with two figures that stood out on Uza's moon, something that rivaled the planet itself in size. The only sound was that of the rustling grass they ran through brushing on their legs.
Upon their arrival, they found Ivy already being taken care of by Suren, who'd locked the door, closed the blinds and begun working on her in private. The only thing that let anyone know what was going on was the display panel on the wall, showing her heart rate, brain activity and blood pressure. It was slowly rising, which was good in a way, but that did not comfort Vincent or Meta Knight, both of them sitting in the small, low-lit room, watching the display panel with Mafoir laying curled up at their feet.
"So, Uhh…" Vincent began in an attempt to distract them both from Ivy, for their own good. "What happened to Galaxia? I noticed it looked different… you look different, too…"
"After you left I went out in search of the remaining Photoron. A foot-long sword isn't good against enemies when you're seven foot tall." He said, smiling and leaning his head back. "When I finally found them I pleaded to them to teach me the secrets of the blade, to teach me how to master it. Galaxia itself had told me that if I found the Photoron, than they could alter its form for me to fit my own."
"Did they teach you?"
"Yes. They told me, 'you've taken such good care of our child, we would be happy to train you two.' I was actually with the Photoron for fifteen years. They stopped time- somehow- so you probably had your eyes closed the entire time and not even know the difference." He said, "They changed me completely. Each day that Galaxia and I trained together our bond grew stronger. My last few days there, they reforged Galaxia into what he is now and gave me new, better armor. They called it the armor of the light warrior."
"So, so wait, you were on the Photoron's planet for fifteen years? Just training?" Vincent asked, dumbfounded. Meta Knight nodded, chuckling.
"I did what Ivy said. I got stronger." He said, looking to the gauntlet on his right hand. "And what have you been doing? I see you've lost an eye."
"Yeah. While I was looking for Ivy I managed to get into a fight with a guy that had one-too-many at some bar I had asked about her in. I don't even remember why we got into the fight but he put a steak knife through my eye in an attempt to stab my brain, but He was so drunk he couldn't stand up long enough to do it. Pulling the knife out meant pulling out my eye, and I couldn't just walk around with a steak knife coming out of my eye."
"Understandable." He said, smiling slyly "if you left it in you could literally stare daggers."
"Not funny." Vincent said, huffing. "Any way, it hurt like hell and it took me a few months to get used to the loss of depth perception. Shut me up for a while. The only one I've spoken more than a few words to was Suren, because he's my doctor and all. He was the one who stopped me from bleeding to death and I eventually joined with everyone here. We planned on making the New Galaxy Solider Army. Nhim wanted it to be called 'New Galaxy Federation' and Ubeyetsa wanted it to be called 'New Galaxian Empire' but we eventually settled on the name N.G.S.A."
"So you've been with these people how long, then?"
"Three and a half years." Vincent said, looking up with a smile. "They treated me like family."
Silence filled the room yet again, both of them looking back on the time they'd spent apart. They'd grown accustomed to each other, in a way. Spending three years as a family more than definitely made that feeling possible, and to just be ripped apart so suddenly was like being punched in the face with a brass-knuckle-clad fist of depression, rage, terror, and devastation. After a moment, their cloudy-eyed remembrance was halted and their attention shot to the door of the room Ivy was in. Both of them sprang up as Suren walked out of the room with closed eyes, yawning and stretching as he walked out. He stopped, opening his eyes and looking both of the men up and down, noting the dragon with the interested expression in the background.
"You were both out here the entire time?" Suren asked, pointing halfheartedly. He sighed when he received two nods. "I suppose you've been waiting for a diagnosis?"
"Is she alright?" Meta Knight asked for Vincent, who had since lost his voice.
"She's going to make a full recovery, aside from the blindness."
"How did whatever this is take just that part of her sensory lobe?" Meta Knight asked quickly.
"Sensory lobe? What?"
"Sir Arthur said she lost the part of her sensory lobe that transmits sight."
"Sir Arthur was tricking you, then. That girl in there has the best brain I've ever seen, there's nothing missing. She's been blind for a while."
"How long is a while?" Vincent asked, finally finding his voice.
"I dunno, Seven or eight years maybe?" Suren said, shifting his weight. "She's been blind longer than she's been chasing nightmare. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go file the report for Lacarr and get something to eat, sir."
"Oh, of course." Meta Knight said, stepping aside. "And don't worry about formalities."
Suren nodded and walked past, leaving the two in each other's company, breathless.
A few hours had passed since Suren had broken the good news to the three in the room, and since then, Meta Knight and Vincent had left Mafoir and gone to get something to eat from the large celebration Lacarr had insisted on for the four Star Warriors, and possibly relax there as well. Mafoir had stayed behind, patiently waiting for Ivy to be well enough to come out and see him once again. Or, moping, as Vincent had put it.
As of now, the dragon laid faithfully by the door, listening as the ten in the large conference room spoke softly to each other. The current popular topic was the reason why his master had changed- why she was radically deadlier than the last time anyone had seen her. Mafoir knew the reason; it was only natural he did. He was half the problem. The door next to him opened and he looked up at Suren, who'd come back to make sure nothing suddenly deadly had happened in the few hours he'd been off, eating and relaxing. He looked at Mafoir pitifully, crouching down and laying a hand on the dragon's head.
"Hey, don't worry big guy, she'll wake up any time now." He said, the dragon tucking his head under his wing as the doctor walked to the conference room, smiling. Sitting down, he looked at the nine other people.
"Ivy wasn't always like that." Arthur said, looking down gravely.
"Yeah. When we first met her we'd accused her of being a demon-beast and even then she didn't hurt us, or even try to." Blade said.
"When I went to her hide out the second time, something made me go through her stuff- A group of letters- Seven to be exact- to a man named 'Razrev Saerdtsa'. They were all in some form of adapted Russian but what I got from them…" Vincent stopped, hesitating. "She was looking for a cure to her contract. That man, Razrev, had promised her. He'd told her that if she worked for him, she'd get her cure. I was looking at her journal earlier and from what I understand they met and He said 'All you have to do is work for me'. She gladly accepted, happy she got to keep Mafoir and her abilities without losing blood and organs every day. He tricked her. There wasn't a cure. He gave her a poison that worsened her state, made her loose her organs faster. "
"How is that possible? It's not an illness; it's a curse, isn't it?" Ubeyetsa asked.
"Yes. I don't know how he did it but he did. There'd be no reason for her to chronicle lies." Vincent said. He walked out, returning shortly after with her bag, which he set on the table and opened, rummaging through until he found the box he'd found before. He set it on the table next to the bag and opened it, retrieving the leather-bound book and opening it to the aforementioned page.
"He lied to me. He spoon fed me false promises and I ate every bite. How could I be so stupid? What he injected me with… It's making the curse seem worse. I can't believe this. Now I have to work for him and fall apart at the same time." He read, "As you can see, whatever this man gave her, it accelerated the curse."
They sat in silence for a moment, every one of them swallowing the thought of a someone, nothing more than a girl, giving up their life to fight Nightmare. Knowing they'd die, slowly and painfully, with no hope of being cured just for the power to deal damage to an enemy. Each one of them had gained respect for her in that moment.
"She's so young though…" Nhim pointed out. "…She's barely even an adult…"
"Why would she… She must not have known something like this would happen." Lacarr said. Torak remained silent, only nodding. Vincent shook his head.
"No. She knew." He flipped to a place near the beginning of the journal. "I've had my doubts, I've thought about the toll this will take on me. I've thought about not doing it at all, about going back to dreamland and just living there, happily. But nightmare… My parents are dead, and my existence endangers those around me .If sacrificing my life means saving everyone from a life of torment… I'd gladly do it."
Silence filled the room again, and Vincent sat down, replacing the journal into the box and the box into the bag. They were all being smothered with a blanket of depression, each of them reflecting on the words.
"Wait a minute!" Suren exclaimed, "If it's a poison, Nhim and I could extract it! "
"You could? That entry was dated from two years ago." Vincent stated hopefully.
"It doesn't matter." Suren replied quickly.
"Suren's right, If It's prominent to continue affecting her it's prominent enough for us to terminate."
"I'll get a sample of her blood as soon as she has some to spare." Suren said.
"Speaking of which, Suren, How is she doing?" Meta Knight asked quickly.
"She's doing as well as can be expected. She lost a lot of blood and she's gaining it back faster than most people could, but she's still not got enough to be considered healthy. She won't for a few days. I put her into a medically induced coma until she has enough back for consciousness."
Meta knight nodded.
"But, the good thing is she'll have enough to become conscious soon, which means she'll be waking up in a few days." Suren said quickly before the room could fill with sadness. A beeping noise on his belt caught his attention.
"What?" Arthur said
"It alerted me that she's showing the brain activity of someone who's waking up." He said. "I'll go check on her; she shouldn't have activity like that yet."
"Ah… Suren?" Meta Knight spoke quickly as the man approached the hall to the medical bay. "Would you mind if I came with you?"
"Not a problem." Suren said smiling.
"Very well then." Lacarr said. "I believe now would be a good time to adjourn the meeting."
And with that, each of the members of the NGSA got up and headed off to do whatever they felt like doing at the time. Meta Knight got up, walking over to Suren who had waited for him at the doorway. They walked down the hall together, taking a turn and passing the dragon, which was anxiously waiting to see his master. They entered the room quickly, Suren moving to adjust the equipment on her body and Meta Knight standing at the side of the bed, watching as she stirred slowly from her recuperative sleep. It was then that he realized what had been plaguing him, what had been suddenly missing in his life that made everything feel so wrong. He had been missing this girl, this wonderful person who had been thrust at him so quickly that he had no chance to say no. The girl that had made waking up easier, made him eager to continue living. Missing his purpose. For a few moments nothing happened, and Suren sighed, readjusting the equipment.
"False alarm, I suppose." He said, turning to look at the screen on the wall. "Her brain activity is back to a sleeping person's. "
Meta Knight sighed.
"Could I stay here with her?"
"Yes, of course. Stay here as long as you like." Suren said, walking out of the room and closing the door. Meta knight looked over the body of his former lover; she'd changed so much. He could only imagine how much he'd changed, as well. He was confused for the first time in quite a while. He was confused as to what their current relationship was. She'd left just as they were figuring it out- together- and her absence was enough to confuse the living daylights out of him. He didn't know if she still felt anything for him, but one thing was for certain; at this moment, as the starlight ran through the window and covered her with its dazzling aura, as she lay, oblivious to her own beauty, he could say he loved her more than anything in the world. He turned, moving one of the chairs in the room to her bedside and sat down, gently holding her hand. He hung his head, his emotions battling him for power as he battled back for strength. If she did wake up, he'd have to be her rock. He'd always be there for her. He couldn't leave her. She attracted his presence like a bee to a flower, and he was helpless. She'd always be like that, he realized. There would be nothing, mortal or not, that could stand between them, no measure of distance or time, no walls or objects or lakes or rivers or streams, because he lost her once, and in that moment he decided he'd never lose her again because life just wasn't life without her.
This epiphany made him stop noticing everything else; the smell of betadine and ammonia and starched sheets and blood, the sound of the assisted breathing machine and the heart monitor and the brain monitor and the blood pressure meter, the feel of stitches and the hands too calloused to belong to the girl in front of her, and concentrated on the memory of how soft her hands were in his own on the day they'd decided to go down to the beach with Fumu and collect shells and she's taken off her shoes and rolled up her pant legs and run around in the sand and acted like a 13 year old should have instead of depressed and weighted down, instead of the depressed shell of a child that she hid so well. On that day she'd lost that look that was so empty, and her eyes sparkled genuinely and he remembered how beautiful she looked as he watched from the stone wall at the back of the beach while she stood shin-deep in the water as the sun set, bent over and moving her hands around in search of shells and smiling broadly as she held the bucket of shells up, running towards him with the happiest look in her eyes. She'd given most of them to Fumu but kept two in particular, keeping one for herself and giving the other to him and it was the most beautiful thing in the world. He still had it, the small pink shell, and he reached into the folds of his cape to retrieve it. It still shone brightly and touching it just brought him back to that day where Fumu had left and she'd given him the shell and blushed and said she knew he wasn't fond of pink things but where she came from when you give people small, meaningful things like that they remembered them and kept them and then she'd gone off in rambles and he'd smiled and said he loved it and meant it and then hugged her and she'd hugged him back and smiled and the overwhelming feeling of love in that moment could have killed nightmare on the spot. He just sat there and held onto the shell and remembered happier times and never let go of her hand.
He kept remembering and she said that she had the other half to his shell and as long as they kept the shells with them and the shells were okay than there would be a time when they would be together, just like the shells, and she pushed her shell against his and it looked like a heart and he'd smiled as he walked back to the castle with her and they were holding hands, and he had been truly happy for the first time since the war and he didn't want the moment to end because she looked beautiful against the ocean and not even Yamikage could have ruined the moment for him.
He looked up to her, breaking away from his memories yet again and looked at her face. It was still so gorgeous and he wanted nothing more than to tell her that it was and tell her how much he loved her but he knew it would make a difference because she couldn't hear him. His view wandered around her face and stopped on her neck, a small chain around it. He stood, moving the chain out of curiosity because in his joy and despair and every other emotion of his this girl had tried today, he hadn't noticed it. For a few seconds nothing seemed to be on the chain until he pulled cone more and the shell, her half of their shell, came around her neck and he felt something pang in him and he fell backward into his seat and finally lost the war of emotions, feeling hot tears pour down his face and he hung his head again, just holding her hand and crying because he had missed her so much and if she'd kept the shell then chances were that she still felt the same about him.
He leaned back, letting go of her hand and pulling up his mask until it stood off his face on its top edge and he let his head fall back and he cried and smiled and god he just wanted to laugh and kiss her and thank everyone he'd ever met in his life for helping him get here because at this exact moment even though he couldn't talk to her or see her beautiful eyes or walk with her through town he couldn't have been happier because everything was perfect to him and even in this moment as she lay in a comatose sleep she was the best thing to ever happen to him.
For a while no-one had asked questions or talked about it, the possibility of her leaving the ship and going after nightmare once again, alone. But two days had passed since she'd been brought in and they'd departed from that planet, and as she started getting healthier, the thought had risen.
"Everyone, I have a proposition for her. As soon as she becomes healthier and can stay conscious for more than a few minutes, I've decided that, if she accepts, she will become the new head of the NGSA." Lacarr proclaimed at a meeting that night.
The 13 other members began mulling over the idea. None of them had a look of disapproval on their faces.
"She's much more suited for this, judging by her past success. Should she decide to stay, Ivy Starr will become the Major General of the New Galaxy Solider Army. "Lacarr said. "Speaking of which, Suren, Do you think she's well enough to be brought out of her coma at this point?"
"I was actually going to do that after the meeting. " He said with a smile. "She should be up to fighting speed in no-time flat."
Every single one of the 14 members began happily chattering after that, expressing their joy about the fortune of the situation. Suren smiled again, leaning back in his chair and waiting for the chatter to die down.
"In that case, this meeting is adjourned."
Suren and Vincent stood, the four newest members of the NGSA standing as well, their agreement from the night previous playing in their minds. Suren had agreed to let all five of them see her as she woke up in the hopes that seeing their faces might make her less… aggravated. They arrived at her room shortly to find Mafoir still lying outside her room, not moved since the last time Suren had checked on Ivy. Vincent stopped.
"Mafoir, have you eaten anything since you got here?" The dragon opened one eye and looked at the inquisitive man before huffing and closing it again. Vincent sighed, stepping into the room after them. The only reason Mafoir wasn't in Ivy's room was because he was too large to get in and out of the room. All four of them sat in any of the many chairs in the large medical room and waited as Suren worked to wake her up, injecting her with this and removing that. Meta Knight was relieved that the assisted breathing machine was taken away shortly after her arrival. The device on Suren's belt began going off again and everyone looked to him, and he waived them off.
"It just means she's waking up." He said, confronting their worries. Her eyes opened slowly and everyone looked to her, happy she was in the waking world yet again. After Suren had removed all of the heart rate pads from her chest she sat up, looking everyone over.
"Hey." She said. She smiled, which made everyone else smile. "I've been thinking about it, and I'm sorry I was such a heartless bastard."
None of them said anything. For a few minutes and Suren left after making sure she felt alright. Sword and blade got up and left after a bit, leaving the family alone together.
"I have to tell you three something important." She said, hesitating, " Razrev Saerdtsa is Nightmare."