Her Captain
"Lady Symphonia!" cried a soldier in worry the moment he saw his commander, a gorgeous female blond hair knight with deep blue eyes who was clad in the glamorous white armor with red cloak decorated with gold trim, was pinned down by the dragon's front leg.
"Don't worry about me! Keep attacking the dragon!" ordered the young woman firmly, her left hand holding her shield was holding against a front dragon leg above her as she swung her sword, deflecting the incoming attack of three Black Troop before she slew them.
"Behind you, Lady Symphonia!" cried another soldier desperately the moment he saw the horned tail of the dragon was swung toward his leader, who was fully opened after her attack .
And all the female knight could do when she turned to the tail was raise her sword in an awkward angle and try to decrease the damage of the incoming hit as much as she could
*Sssslll*
But the hit didn't come and all she heard was the painful howl of the dragon.
Curiously, Symphonia opened her closed eyes and what she saw stunned her: In front her was a dark brown hair young man with a bloody sword in his hand as the dragon tail laid emotionlessly on the ground.
"You're okay?" asked the young man stoically as he looked at her with his deep amber eye
"Thank you for your help" said Symphonia gratefully as her mind was still amazed with his amber eyes
Beautiful. It was the word that Symphonia could think about the young man's eyes.
*Short timeskip*
"You must be Cyril of the Volunteer Army. My commander suggested I help you. Please allow me to join you. I'm Symphonia of the Holy Guard." Said Symphonia formally in front of the young man who had saved her the first time they had met.
"Welcome to the Volunteer Army, Symphonia." Said the young man simply as he extended his right hand toward her
"Let's go! The divine protection my shield provides will aid in the trials ahead!" said Symphonia enthusiastically as she shook his hand.
'But... what's this warm feeling?' Thought the blond hair knight as she thought about the feeling she had when she had shaken his hand
*One month later*
"Phew! Good work, everyone." said Symphonia with a bright smile. It had been a month since she joined the Volunteer Army. It had been a surprise when she found many members of holy orders had joined the army before her.
And it had been a great month, Symphonia admitted. And she found that hanging around with Captain was so enjoyable. And to her, it wasn't an exaggeration to say that the time she had spent with her stoic Captain was the best time she had ever had so far in her life.
"You too! But really, what amazing leadership!" chirped Pirika
"Really? All I did was believe in everybody and tell them, 'Let's fight together!'." Said Symphnia casually
"If you're not doing it conciously, it must be your charisma that's moving them." Mused Phoena with a smile.
"I admire you, Symphonia. Although you're great at everything, you don't flaunt it." Pirika tilted her head as she floated in front of Symphonia
"Thanks. It's nice to get a compliment like that. I like how you say what you mean." Said Symphonia with gratitude
"You even manage not to be overly humble. What a perfect response..." said Pirika with an appraising look "But you seem so perfect. I'm worried about you. Do you have any problems?"
"Thank you for worrying about me." Said Symphonia with a small harmonic laugh "But that's not a problem at all. I've been like this since I was a child, and it's normal for me"
Floating around the member of Holy Guard, the sprite looked at her with a critical look
"Really? Doesn't that make you the type of person to bottle up your feelings...?"
"No wonder the Volunteer Army unites around you. You pay attention to the details." Complied Symphonia which made Pirika had a small blush
"Again, what a great response! Why you?!" spat Pirika with as much venom as she could muster " That armor is so gaudy! You tasteless Holy Knight! Silly sheltered girl!"
"... Pirika? What's gotten into you?" said Phoena
"... Your mom has an outie belly button!..." continued the insult from the sprite as she puffed her cheeks angrily
With a small smile, Symphonia just shook her head as she gently patted the head of the sprite with her finger
"It's okay, Phoena. Pirika's just being kind. She's just trying to shake me up to see if I'm bottling up my feelings. Isn't that right, Pirika?"
"... You saw right through me..." grumbled Pirika dejectedly before she turned to the Captain of Volunteer Army who currently had a deadpanned expression on his face "Cyril! Say something to Symphonia that'll get her flustered!"
A silence.
"Will you marry me?" said the Captain of the Volunteer Army, his stoic face didn't even change
*SMACK!*
"What did you just ask, Cyril?!" said a clearly irritated Phoena after hitting the young man's head with her Chronicle
"That's okay! It's been a while since anyone recognized me as a woman and I almost agreed there even when I know you were just joking. " Said Symphonia cheerfully, much to the shock of everyone. "Though if that lady permit, I would like to get to know and understand each other more first before we get
But everyone didn't prepare for what the blond hair knight did next
Approaching the stoic-looking young man, Symphonia slowly pulled the brown hair young man into a close tender embrace, her head rested on his right shoulder for a few second before she looked up
"And I like you too, after all." Said Symphonia with a genius smile as she looked straight into his deep amber eyes that always made its way into her dream "Oh, by that, I mean I respect you as a person, of course."
"Wah! So close! Are you going to kiss?" exclaimed Pirika with a shocked look
"Ah ha ha, sorry but no! It's just an embrace to show our friendship."
"Ah, Cyril's all flustered now..."
"Now now. That's enough for today. Let's head back, we've got a quest tomorrow." said Symphonia, ending the conversation before she returned to her soldiers
"Ah! Symphonia, wait for us!" cried Pirika
"Hah, you never did manage to find any flaws in Symphonia perfection." Said Phoena with an amusing smile
"But does she really have no weakness? It just makes me more curious about her." Mused Pirika aloud
"We'll learn more about her as we battle together." Nodded Phoena
"Yeah, you're right. Let's return then, Cyril... Oh, what's this?"
"He's still blushing?" said Phoena with a frown.
"It's too easy to see what our stoic leader's weak spot is."
But unbeknown to the trio, the female knight in their conversation didn't escape the ears of gorgeous blue eyes knight as she currently was thinking giddily
'His blushing face looks so cute!'
But strangely, there was a good part of her kept thinking back about what her Captain had asked if she would marry him or not. For some reasons, she felt a little sad that what he had said was just a joke. She didn't know why, but she couldn't deny a part of her wished that what her Cyril had asked her was real...
Wait, since when had she started refering to Captain as "her" ?
Just... what was this feeling?
*Two weeks later*
"I'm sorry for all the trouble I caused you." said Rowendia the White Lily Knight as she bowed her head to her friends and comrades
"Well, it all worked out in the end..." Chirped Pirika merrily as she floated lazily near Phoena "... so I'd say we're square."
"I'm so glad it did." Said Juliana. If only the young queen hadn't needed to hide her real identity,she would have tried to do something in her power to help the lieutenant of 'Holy Psalm' order get out of her arranged marriage. Thankfully, everything was solved in the end.
And of course, she would have to thank Einslotte for his convenient save, noted Juliana mentally.
"Thank you. Now, I need to go tell my family about this then."
"We'll be waiting at the tavern." said Phoena with a bright smile
"Okay." Nodded Rowendia absently "Oh, and..."
"Yes, Rowendia?" asked Phoena with a raise of her eyebrows, mildly surprised by the sudden change of the platinum blond hair knight's demeanor
In front of the surprising eyes of the members who had participating in the battle for Rowendia's freedom, the face of the platinum blond hair female knight now had a gentle expression instead of her usual stoic demeanor while her lips morphed into a happy smile as she looked at the Captain of the Volunteer Army with an unreadable expression in her eyes
"I was happy that I got to be your lover, Cyril." Said Rowendia with a happy sigh as her right hand gently caressed the left cheek of the dark brown hair young man "Even if only for a little while..."
"I... uh..." no matter what Phoena intended to say, they all died in her throat before they could reach her lips as everyone else was too stunned, or was pouting oddly in the case of Nina, to say anything
"Okay, I'll be back soon." Withdrawing her hand, Rowendia gave a small bow to her stunned comrades and a small smile to the Captain before turned back and left to her parents's estate
"..."
"..."
"Well... That was unexpected..." Surprisingly, the thick silence was broken by the stoic voice of Alvert. Usually, he only spoke whenever the conversation was directed at him.
"But to think of all people would say something like that... " said Ihelmina with a huge smirk, which made a few male unconciously inched away from the captain of the 'Holy Irons' order.
"Captain, you're blushing." Said Roy the Wandering Clergyman in the matter-of-fact tone as he lit another cigarate
"Hmm..." huffed Pheona, clearly not happy with what she had just witnessed
"Are you mad, Phoena?" said Pirika teasingly as she floated in front of the Chain Chronicle bearer.
"No, I am not!"
Despite the commotion, Symphonia just kept silent as she was deep in her thought.
Just what was this unpleasant feeling that kept gnawing her heart ever since she had seen the scene between her Captain and Rowendia?
She knew she should be happy for her fellow knight now that she was free from her arranged marriage but... looking at her Cyril blushing and how Rowendia had acted toward Captain made her felt... irritated.
'Am I... jealous?' thought Symphonia as she unconciously frowned. 'But... why? They're friend, so it's normal for her to act like that toward my Cyril. And why didn't I feel jealous with Phoena? She was the closest of everyone?'
Again, why did she kept refering to Cyril as 'her'?
Just... why?
*Timeskip, Christmas Eve*
"Everyone, hold the line!" ordered Symphonia "Together, we shall win!"
It was the late night of Christmas Eve and the moment the festival ended, the Black Army had launched a massive surprise attack toward the Vice Capital. And to make the matter worse...
*ROAR!*
... they used dragons.
"Could this even end?" said Rowendia tiredly as she bisected the 237th black troop. The battle had gone for hours since midnight and the dawn was cracking yet the number of enemies was still too large despite Aludra's and Cherry's effort as there was still one more dragon flying, not to mention the number of men on their side was decreasing. If the reinforcement didn't arrive on time... this would be the Fall of Vice Capital and Volunteer Army.
"Have faith in ourselves and Captain, Rowendia! We will win!" said Symphonia with conviction despite her weariness as she bashed her 243th Black Troop with her shield.
*ROAR!*
Before Symphonia could react, the last dragon flying in the sky did a sudden dive right where both her and Rowendia had stood just a few seconds ago. Still, the impact of the dragon hit the ground was too large for both the knight to handle as both them were knocked onto the ground with Symphonia's shield flew away from her left hand, leaving her defendless to the dragon claws that prepared to impale her.
Time seemed to slow down.
Was this the end?
Being a knight, Symphonia knew that one day she might fall on the battlefield and she had never regreted her choice to become a knight. But now... she could feel her eyes were blurry as the sadness consumed her the first time as well as the last time in her life
'Cyril... I'm sorry...' thought Symphonia the final time sadly as she closed her eyes, prepared for the death to take her away
Yet after what felt like eternity, the pain didn't come. Just like the first time she had met him...
"CYRIL/MASTER!" the wail of Rowendia and Nina made her eyes snapped open and the reason claws of the dragon couldn't bring death to her.
The scene that would forever be imprinted in her mind
"... Symphonia... Everyone... I'm... sorry..." uttered the words of the Captain of Volunteer Army whose back was facing her, his sword fell out of his hand as the claws had impaled him before he fell onto his knees
No.
Nonononononononononononononononono!
This... this was just a dream. A nightmare.
She tried to tell herself that. But her mind, her eyes and the amber eyes that was slowly became lifeless of her Captain said otherwise.
"CYRIL!" wailed Symphonia as she catched the Captain's body before it touched the ground as Rowendia and Nina ran toward the Captain. Noticing the new targets, the black dragon turned its head as a fireball formed between its jaws
"BURN, YOU MAGGOT!" a huge jetstream of fire along with a familiar maniac shout from Velnar shot toward the dragon before it could fire its attack and pushed it back, giving enough time for Orianna, Adelle, Marina and Noel to approach their fallen Captain as the dragon's attention turned to the group of newcomer
"Out of the bloody way!" the usual calm and well-mannered former student of Dilma forcefully shoved Rowendia and Symphonia, who was hugging the captain as her tears kept streaming down on her cheeks, away as she along with her fellow clerics started casting their strongest healing spells despite their exhaustion. In other time, the sight of the usual cheerful, bubbly and optimistic Symphonia crying in grief was enough to break a person's heart and hope but this situation didn't allow them to be.
There would be no way in hell they let their Captain fall in a place like this! Not before the Black King fall!
"We're losing him!" cried Orianna desperately as she threw away her staff "Marina, Adelle , Noel! You three keep healing him and keep him conscious! Pirika, give me some mana!"
Feeling a small portion of mana flowing into her courtesy of the tired sprite, Orianna focused those mana in her hands and let the circulate around her palm before she put her hands on her Captain's chest
"Charging! Three, two, one, clear!"
*Meanwhile*
"DIE! DIE YOU MAGGOT!" laughed Velnar maniacally as he continuously shot torrent after torrent of fire toward the black dragon, not allowing it had a chance to retaliate.
*ROAR!*
Letting out a painful howl, the dragon flapped its wings and started flying up, but before it could reach the height of a tree...
"Don't you dare run away after what you did to my Master."
The cold and apathetic voice of Nina reached everyone's ears as her arrow impaled through the crook between its left wing and its body, making the dragon lost balance and crashed down into the ground. But before the dragon could stand up on its legs, two figures quickly ran toward its, their respective blades emitting magic power were raised up and prepared to deliver the finishing blow.
"This is for my Captain!" cried Katya as both her and Yuni jumped up and aim their blows at the neck of the beast
"Spellsword!"
"Absolute Zero"
In just a blink of eyes, the frozen head of the black dragon rolled on the ground before the body slowly fell to the ground and laid emotionlessly.
Letting out a long tired sigh, Katya staggered toward her comrades, using her sword as if it was a cane to support her exhausted body as Yuni looked much paler than usual.
"So... this is the end, huh?" said Katya to no one as she witnessed the Black Army retreating after the last dragon was slain. Perhaps the reinforcement wasn't necessary anymore... Except for the clerics, esspecially Lilith. With her Captain critical state, every help was needed to save him.
But why did she kept having a feeling that something wasn't right?
"Perhap." Came the familiar monotone voice of Yuni "But what did you mean when you said 'This is for my Captain'?"
"You don't need to know." Said Katya dismissively with a wave of her hand as she turned away.
"I want to know." Came the reply of the emotionless Sealer, which brought a tick mark on Katya's eyebrows
"For the last time Yuni, I said..."
But before the commander of Sorcerer's Army, her instinch flared to life as she jumped forward, narrowly dodged something slammed down where she had stood two seconds ago.
*ROAR!*
In front of the surprised Katya's group, the headless corpse of the dragon let out a monstrous roar from where its head had been cut off as numerous gigantic spider legs spourted out from its back while a wolf-liked head was morphed in front of its chest
"Frontline back off! Archers and wizards, hit it with everything you got!" immediately seeing the danger of the newly revival monster, Katya quickly gave the order as a rain of arrow and magic attack poured down on the monster. But what the monster did next shocked Katya to her core: the monster erected a barrier from its neck, deflecting most of the attack. At the same time, the wolf head in front of its chest opened the jaws and an energy orb appeared and started charging.
Noticing the incoming danger, Katya could only cried desperately
"Everyone take cover!"
(Line break)
Tear was falling uncontrollably on her cheeks as an overwhelming pain in her heart that hurted so much
Why? Why did he save her? Despite feeling stupid for asking herself a question that she had already known the aswer, her mind just kept asking that particular question
Of course he would save her as well as his other friends and comrades, even with the cost of his own life. He was Cyril, the Captain of Volunteer Army, the person who valued his friends the most, the person who had answered he would choose to save everyone to Lilith instead of choosing who should be saved or not.
She knew when both him and her chose this path, they might lose their lives. But why? Why couldn't she accept it?
Because to her, the Captain perhaps was far more special than anything in this her...
Her eyes suddenly widened in realization. She finally understood it.
She finally understood why she kept having the warm and happy feeling every moment she spent with him.
She finally understood why a part of her had wished the 'proposal' the Captain had asked her had been real.
She finally understood why she felt jealous everytime a girl in the Volunteer Army being close or acted intimately toward Captain.
She finally understood why the image of the brown hair young man would always find its way to her mind and her dream.
She finally understood why she kept refering to Cyril as 'her'.
She finally understood why her heart felt like it was being torn apart now as hope slowly extinguished like a candle in the wind.
She finally understood why she could feel the unfamiliar emptiness and hollow inside her heart.
She finally understood why she felt the urge to end her life, end her misery right now and die right here.
Symphonia, the Holy Knight of Glamour, the perfect knight of the Holy Capital, was in love with Cyril, the Captain of the Volunteer Army. The hints were certainly there yet she had never realized her own feeling until he sacrificed his life to save her.
And now... it was probably too late to tell him how she felt toward him...
And that moment, overwhelming hatred started flooding her, consuming her as everything around her became red.
"..Y- you..."
Without noticing, Symphonia slowly picked up her shield and the sword Captain had dropped onto the ground, a pale blue aura started developing around her like a thin pale blue mist.
"YOU!"
With a loud battle cry, she dashed toward the monster, ignoring the call of Katya.
This monster... she would make it pay!
Time seemed to slow down around her.
Numerous gigantic spider legs slammed toward her but none of them could make contact with the knight as all of them were bisected with Captain's sword in her hand. Noticing the danger coming close, the monster erected the barrier and started charging another shot.
"Dazzler!"
With one single swing, the barrier was broken by the beam Symphonia shot out and the monster had no choice but to shot the charging shot toward the danger, creating an explosion the moment it made contact with Symphonia's shield.
*BAM!*
Ignoring the pain in her limped left arm and dislocated left shoulder, Symphonia kept running toward the crawling monster, her pale blue aura became brighter as she poured all of her ramaining mana and strength into one last final attack
"Dazzler!"
A giant beam impaled broke the sound barrier and slammed into the monster, picking up a screen of dust before it detonated and created a titanic explosion with a huge columm of fire, literally annihilated the monster and turned the ground where the monster once stood into ground zero.
Dropping her Captain's sword, Symphonia dropped onto her knees and panting tiredly after exhausting all of her remaining mana and strength. She had killed the monster. It had finally pay for what it had done to her Cyril...
But the moment Symphonia turned her eyes to where Orianna and other clerics were desperately trying to save her Cyril, she painfully realized that no matter what she did, it wouldn't bring him back to her.
And she could only cry bitterly before the exhaustion finally consumed her and the world around her turned black.
*Timeskip*
The grassland ran endlessly under the cloudless clear blue sky. The sun spreaded its warm light to all living creatures as the flower petals lazily flew in the gentle wind. And in the place where the softest grasses and the most beautiful flowers grew without the touch of human hand, there was a blue sword. Its chain-liked crossguard shone under the sunlight as its glimmering blade was buried in the ground where currently a young man was sitting on a wheelchair. His dull eyes kept looking at the sword lifelessly like a plant, totally unawared of what was happening around him. If it wasn't for his rising chest indicating he was alive, people might think he was just a statue or worse, a lifeless coprse.
Among the Volunteer Army, there was a group of people kept coming nearly everyday or right after they finished their mission, all of them were women, and spent time with the young man. A young Commander with long silver violet hair with two braids and a sword hanging on her left waist had her head bowed down slightly in order to hide the tears that was escaping her eyelids. A female Assassin with violet eyes and very pale silver pink hair clad in black leather clothes with a bow on her back was crying hysterically as her lips desperately tried to morph into a smile that she remembered her Master like so much about her. A priestess with closed blind eyes and long blond hair with two braids on both sides of her face stood silently yet her shoulders were visibly shaking as she let her tears streamed down on her cheeks. A female knight with long platinum blond hair kept by a gold bandage and light blue eyes was gripping the handle of her slim blade tightly with her armor-clad left arm, her eyes tried to hold back her unshed tears. And finally, a beautiful young female knight with long blond hair and deep blue eyes crouched down in front of him with a brightest smile she could muster despite the tears in her eyes, her trademark red and gold cape had been taken off and put on the unawared young man.
It pained them greatly everytime they saw the one they loved kept being in this vegetative state, especially the last young woman who had been saved by the young man, but they refused to believe that he couldn't recover.
They refused to let go of their remaining hope, no matter how fragile it was, without caring that people exclaimed it was false hope that they were clinging onto.
They spent time with him as much as they could. Talked to him. Smiling. Laughing. Crying. Even sharing the bed with him. All in hope that he would give even a very small reaction, thus proving that their young man would recover.
And from now on, no matter what happened...
"Don't worry, Cyril" said Symphonia with a tearful smile as she hugged the young man tightly "From now on, I... we will never leave your side again..."
... They would always stay by his side and wait for him.
Eternally if they must...