"Subaki, you're in no position to move," Sakura admonished her retainer as she administered treatment to his many injuries.
"But the children, my Lady," Subaki gritted out through his pain, "they've been taken by those foul wyvern riders and I'm the only one the army can spare in the midst of this battle to rescue them."
"No, you're not the only one," Selena told her husband as she stood up and made her way to the weapon supply chest. "I can go in your stead."
"But you have no mount," Subaki protested, "you can't possibly catch up with them before they reach the horizon."
Grabbing a black tome, Selena refused to meet her husband's eyes as she replied to his question. "No, I have a mount I can use."
"No!" shouted Odin as he, Laslow, and Silas made their way through the rear guard as a part of a tactical decision by Corrin. "We swore to never use that power again, Selena."
"What is he talking about?" asked Subaki as he gazed with piercing eyes at his wife's suddenly cagey form.
"These are our children, Odin!" Selena shouted at the dark mage. Silas, Subaki, and Sakura were taken aback by the way her irises glowed an eerie purple-pink color. "And the oath we swore as their parents takes a greater precedence than the fear of what this dark power can do to us."
Subaki, with support from his liege, stood up and looked his wife right in the eyes. "Speak plainly, Selena. What is he talking about?"
"I once told you that a pegasus would never accept me as a rider," Selena said. "This isn't entirely true. Pegasi shy away from me, but that's only because they can feel the bond I share with a Dark Pegasus." Casting a spell from the black book, Selena's armor changed to a gold and ebony ensemble. "I'm a Dark Flier, inheritor of the dark magic of Akaneia, and of that dead nation's terrible vengeance."
"Will it save our Caeldori and the others?"
"Yes. This should be more than enough power to deal with weaklings like that, hostages or no."
"Then save them, beloved, and return to me."
Selena gave her husband a watery smile. "You truly don't care?"
Subaki shook his head. "If this power can save our child and the children of our friends and allies, then who am I to judge its source?"
Nodding in gratitude, Selena opened a portal in the air beside her, and a beast of great and beautiful power strode out to greet her mistress. "Take care of him," she said to the others before flying off in pursuit.
"Mommy!" shouted Caeldori as she was shoved behind a wooden door and locked inside.
"Hmph," the leader of the band of rogues spat as he noticed the appearance of a lone pegasus rider. "So I guess we've got someone to play with after-" His grandstanding was cut short by the magical spear that had impaled itself in his throat.
"Fly you sodding curs!" shouted another one of the rogues. "She can't hit us with her magic if we're on our wyverns!" This statement, of course, was quite wrong.
Selena's mount flew faster than any of the wyvern riders could have predicted, carrying its rider from kill to kill with increasing speed that seemed entirely unnatural. And unnatural it was, for the dark magic of the Galeforce used the power of Selena's kills to drive both rider and mount faster and faster, almost as if it thirsted for blood.
It was the work of a few short minutes for Selena to bring down all the wyverns from the skies, their riders either already dead or like the one who had told the others to fly, trapped beneath the corpse of their mounts. "You're a bloody monster, stay away from me!" the rogue shouted, struggling to get away as Selena dismounted to finish off her kills.
Selena, her hair changing from red back to her natural black, sneered at the man pinned on the ground. "Says the scum who kidnapped children for money from an insane human-hating dragon." She conjured up a small crystalline mass that glowed red, before shoving it in the man's mouth, using her strength to keep it closed. The man writhed in pain as the magic turned his blood into red hot iron.
"Mommy, why is your hair different?" Caeldori asked later that night after the battles had been won and the army was safely back in Lady Corrin's castle in the astral plane.
Selena smiled as she brushed her five year old girl's hair. "Mommy needed to summon her pegasus in order to rescue you, sweetie."
"So your horsie only lets you ride her if you have the same color hair?"
Subaki and Selena both chuckled at this innocent question. "That's not too far off from the whole truth of the matter, my sweet Caeldori."
"What's the rest of it?" Caeldori said threw her yawn.
Subaki gently tapped his daughter's nose. "We'll leave that for another day, Caeldori. In the mean time, it's time for bed."
Caeldori sighed. "Okay, Papa." Before scooting completely off her parent's bed, she turned to her mother and gave her a hug. "Thank you for saving me from the bad men, Mommy. Your horsie is pretty."
"High praise from her," said Subaki with humored solemnity.
"I'm sure you have questions-" began Selana before she was cut off by a kiss from her husband.
"I told you, beloved. All that mattered was that Caeldori and the others were brought back safe and sound." Running a hand through his wife's changed hair, he smirked as he continued. "I'm sure between the two of us we can discover the perfect solution to dealing with any side effects the use of this power has on you."
Selena laughed and maneuvered herself to where she partially lay on his chest as they both stretched out on the bed. "The first step to finding that should be following our daughter's example and going to sleep ourselves, I think."
"That sounds perfect."