Author's notes:

I know I said these would be weekly, but I had another chapter ready and decided that I may as well post it. Hopefully, it turned out O.K. Please leave some feedback, because I want to know if I can improve this in any way. Also, I still need more avatars to continue this run so please, let me know if you have one.

with all of that out of the way, please enjoy Crimson Road


"Crimson!" Xander yelled as Rinkah sent me flying backwards. Jakob immediately began healing me and gunter rushed past to force her to back up, unfortunately leaving Kaze unguarded. His shuriken had an uninterrupted path straight for my heart.

"This won't do!" Jakob told him as he deflected the attack, before flinging his dagger in hopes of forcing kaze to back up

"Thanks you two" I said as I got back to my feet. I don't know how, but we had managed to incapacitate most of the prisoners, but these two were unrelenting. Kaze was to fast to hit and he kept us at bay with his shurikens. Meanwhile, Rinkah was using them as an opportunity to do massive amounts of damage. She was however, starting to tire. While still devastating, her last attack was nowhere near as strong as her first. "Gunter pull back, Jakob follow me" I rushed after her and landed a solid blow with the hilt of my sword, knocking her off balance "Jakob now!"

"Yes milady" he responded as he threw several daggers, each sticking her to the wall

"Now all that's left is Kaze. Gunter give me a hand!" I immediately rushed over and jumped on the back of his horse and Gunter took off, flying straight for the ninja. The moment we were close enough, I lept off of Gunter's mount, and used the momentum to tackle Kaze to the ground. "Stay down Kaze, I don't want to have to hurt you" I said, placing Ganglari's blade to his neck.

Suddenly, my head started pounding, and I heard that same voice "kill Kill KILL!" With my free hand, I clutched my head and cried out "NO I don't want to!" I hit Kaze with that demonic swords hilt, before dropping the it. Immediately, the voice stopped, and I felt tired

"Crimson what's wrong!" I heard Xander, but he sounded so far away. Everything went black.


"ungh, my head" I said sitting up. I wanted to vomit, cry, and sleep, but before I could do any of the three, I was suddenly bear hugged by someone.

"Oh my darling Crimson are you feeling better?" Camilla said as she smothered me.

"C-can't breath" While some other people might have killed for a death like that, I wasn't looking forward to dying today.

"Sorry Crimson, but I was so worried about you" She said, blushing slightly, "After all, you have been out for hours." Now that I was freed from Camilla's "assets", I could look around. While not the most extravagant room I had seen, I was still in a fairly large, stone room with a bed the same color as my hair. It was pitch black outside.

Before I could say another word, the door burst open and Elise was hugging me, somehow tighter than Camilla had. "OhmygodCrimsonthankthegodsyourO.K." words seemed to be flying from her mouth as she embraced me.

"Yes I'm fine Elise. Calm down" I managed to pry myself out of her gasp, but she was still bouncing up and down besides the bed. I suddenly remembered what had happened earlier and quickly asked "Camilla what happened to those prisoners? Are they O.K.? Did I-"

"They're fine Crimson" my big sister said, as she gestured out the window "Leo and Xander are smuggling them out right now" Immediately I rushed over and sighed in relief as I saw Kaze and Rinkah running out of the castle.

"Do you really care more about those Hoshidans than you do us?" Elise puffed out her cheeks.

"Elise, you know I love you"

"I know silly" she said as she leapt into me, causing us to spin around. I barely managed to stay on my feet for one spin before collapsing onto the bed. Elise immediately rushed to the corner of the room and grabbed her mend staff. "Are you O.K.?" she asked in a panic as she started casting the healing spell.

"I'm fine Elise." I said, stopping her from wasting anymore of her staff, "I'm just still a little tired." Immediately, Camilla started ushering her out of the room while telling me to get some rest. I closed my eyes, and was asleep immediately.


"Crimson are you feeling better?" Xander was sitting at my side when I woke up. "Do you have a fever, headache anything?"

"Actually, I feel perfectly fine" I replied, "Its like nothing even happened"

"But what actually did happen Crimson?" Xander asked. He was more worried than I had ever seen him, and he looked horrible. His hair was a mess and he had bags under his bloodshot eyes.

"I don't know" I answered honestly, "I just know that from the moment I picked up the ganglari, my head was pounding and ..." I stopped.

"Something kept telling you to kill?" Xander asked going pale. "Gods no why did father do this?"

"What did he do Xander?" Xander put his head in his hands.

"It's just like Leo's Brynhildr and my Siegfried. Our weapons want nothing but blood and they don't stop until we do as they wish"

"So you've killed someone before?" Even though I always knew he had, I had always denied it. I guess I can't really do that anymore can I? "Did it stop after you, obeyed?"

"For a while, yes. Unfortunately, they seem to take a liking to the bloodshed. Every time I kill, it takes less and less time for it to begin seeking more" If it was possible, he got even paler than before, and he started shaking. "There are times when I wish father would send me on a mission, just so that it will go away"

"Xander"

"Listen Crimson, I don't know how, but you have to get rid of that hellish nightmare he calls a sword." Xander seemed terrified, "I was to late to save Leo, but I will not let my little sister suffer the same fate" a knock on the door ended our conversation.

"Lord Xander, King Garon has another mission for you." Upon seeing me the messenger added, "and he would like to speak with Lady Crimson as well"