Disclaimer and Notes: After much maturing, reading, and classes in writing, I have revised the entire R.A.S. so that it's not as it was. I was twelve when I made it. I'm fifteen now.
"Ronin
Angel Saga"
By Missati DeValois
Chapter One
Angelican
Date: Generation 1902.4
Earth Date: Late 1945
Lina had not predicted the weather the Dynasty brought, nor did she predict the Dynasty. However, when the ground began to quake and a series of strange events followed, the entire kingdom of Sukufan panicked and went into chaos.
Lina sighed. It was finally happening, then. Slender digits ran through the strange, silken mane of violet and hot pink before she watched the skies darken. She would need to report to the Empress immediately.
Empress of Sukufan, Jade Matsuri, was angry. She watched from the balcony as the darkness spread, and listened with finely-tuned ears as the cries of woe sounded above Madhris' walls. She had seen this day in her dreams, but never had she imagined that it would come so soon. With little Greyoko so young, and Kitana barely able to hold her balance with a rapier…
"Your Majesty, the Guardian of Fire is here," a government official stated gently as the Empress' brow furrowed and knitted into a scowl.
"Send her in…" she said simply, her accent a mix of Russian and French due to the language she spoke with her people.
Almost as soon as she had spoken, the Guardian of Fire arrived, clad in scarlet robes of velvet and silk. Her eyes were burgundy, her hair blood-red that coiled at the ends. Her sensuous lips were flat as in an apathetic stare as she approached Jade.
"Your Majesty," the redhead spoke in tones that could put even a Siren to shame, "the Dynasty will be here by nightfall, and you know what it is they seek..."
At this Jade turned to face her comrade with a grim smile. "Get her out of Sukufan as fast as you possibly can. Get them both," she said, her hand going to the locket she wore about her neck.
"By the Guardians, Jade, you look twenty years older!" a new voice exclaimed.
Jade looked up; her lips parted, but no words came. There stood her old friend and partner in crime, Torai Sinistrani. Jade smiled, tears blurring her vision briefly before she went and threw her arms around the woman with a cry of joy. Torai returned the hug and kissed Jade on the cheek.
"So, Jade, that damned prophecy came true and the old fart Talpa held true to his promise, huh? How are we gonna get out of this one?" She smiled as she watched the dark grow ever darker until it seemed as if twilight had fallen. A stormy twilight, like that of a midnight thunderstorm.
Jade sighed. "I... I don't know. I am ushering the children from Sukufan as fast as I can. The Guardians will watch over them on the planet called Earth. You remember Earth, don't you?"
At this Torai chuckled. "We had all our best mischief on Earth, you dimple brain! C'mon, let's show Talpa what it's all about! Let's show 'em that the Dragon Duo is still ready to kick his ass."
Jade could not help but admire Torai's spirit and sense of humor even as danger loomed above their heads. They left the chamber to head for the throne room where the other Guardians waited for them.
All except for Lina.
"I have not heard from her at all, Your Majesty," Mayu said seriously as she stood there, her slim hands flexing in and out of fists. She was obviously worried for her friend.
"You are sure she was on her way here?" Jade asked as a young maid helped her into her sub-armor. The maid herself was clad in chainmail and armored shoes.
Mayu nodded. "She promised she would be here if the Dynasty were to come. Lina has never gone back on her word. She is a Guardian, after all."
"Yes, but she wasn't always a Guardian," Jade said bitterly.
Torai was busy helping the warriors weigh their weapons. Sukufan was the last army standing amongst all the others that had fallen. Even the Shadow Realm had succumbed to Talpa's iron will.
Netsui entered the throne room, a baby in one arm and a small child beside her. Kitana Matsuri was a sullen-looking child, hardly smiling, with eyes the color of pure bronze with catlike pupils. Her hair was bi-colored, blood red on the right, ocean blue on the left. She was a vision of horrific beauty, even at the age of six. What anyone failed to realize was the tumultuous feelings and situations this child would have to endure in her future. Even Shanindola could not foresee the Fallen Angel's fate.
Kitana regarded everyone in the room with a passive, seemingly emotionless stare. Jade beckoned Netsui to join them, but before Netsui could take another step a massive force shook the palace down to its very foundations. Jade retained her balance, as did most of the warriors in the room. Only the ill-experienced maids in the room fell and stumbled.
Jade uttered a foul oath under her breath before heading out the throne room to retrieve Avashi. She was hauled back inside by Netsui, given the baby Greyoko and the young Kitana. "Flee, Your Majesty! Talpa sends his Warlords to dispatch us all!" Netsui ordered, and Jade hesitated before slipping out the back of the throne room through a small passage doorway.
Lina came stumbling in, her clothes torn, her face streaked with sweat, her breathing labored. A nasty gash ran half the length of her torso, and Netsui pulled her up.
"You're late. How many are there?" the fiery beauty demanded, and Lina mouthed the answer. Netsui's burgundy eyes widened until the pupils seemed to vanish within the whites of her eyes.
Lina dragged herself to her feet and then... the Warlords... there were four. Four versus four. Mayu and Tonya readied themselves.
Meanwhile...
Jade ushered Kitana into a closet, placing Greyoko in her arms. "Keep her quiet, keep yourselves safe."
"Yes, Mama..." Kitana said as she shrank into the corner of the small space. Greyoko nuzzled her sister and gurgled before falling asleep.
Darkness engulfed them as Jade shut the door, only to be met by Cale, whose sword was pointed at her. "Give us the Zibotsu Matsuri, bitch, and maybe we'll make your execution swift."
"I keep no such evil here, Dynasty swine."
"You lie. One of your little brats has all five Zibotsu on her, and you know it. Now, be a good Empress, think about your people... think about what will happen to them if you don't comply." Cale's sword tip ran decadently, lightly, over Jade's swan neck, from ear to ear. A bit of pressure; a tributary of crimson trickled forth. Jade did not flinch.
"I think of what will happen to my people if I do comply. You will enslave them and parade my disemboweled body around your arenas like some trophy."
"After we've had our way with you first, Your Majesty. Now, the Zibotsu, or everything you see before you will be leveled to rubble. I promise to be gentle if you give it to us."
"Damn you to hellfire."
"Very well, then." In one fluid motion Jade was on her knees, clutching her throat as crimson spilled forth onto her armor, her hands, the floor.
From the darkness of the closet, a baby wailed. Cale opened the door, smirking down at Kitana and Greyoko. Kitana stared up in a questioning gaze, and Cale knew.
"Is that the whelp with the Zibotsu in her?" a deep voice asked.
Cale snorted.
"Not much of anything, is she? The bastard daughter of a fallen emperor," Cale retorted.
Sekmet came up behind his friend and laughed. "Well, I think Master Talpa shall be pleased to hear we've succeeded, yes?"
"Yeah, whatever. Just get the whelps and let's go. I'm starving."
"Come on, little one, we'll kill you later."
Kitana did not move; Greyoko sniffled in her arms. "It will be you who dies later, Warlord," she said calmly, and Sekmet and Cale went into whoops of laughter as they snatched the baby Greyoko away, causing her to wail.
Sekmet snatched Kitana up by her hair and spoke into her ear. "You'd do well to respect me, bastard."
"At least I have a mother."
Sekmet slapped her into unconsciousness.
Lina, carried by Mayu, Netsui, and Tonya, was cursing under her breath. "They are saying the queen is dead! Tell me it isn't true!" she cried as they headed towards the room Jade was supposedly in.
Lina soon got her answer. There was Jade, laying a pool of crimson. All four of them gasped and turned her over. The light in Jade's grass-green eyes was faded and dead. They had come too late.
From the corner, Greyoko wailed. "They dropped her. Kitana's double-edged tongue must have gotten to them..." Lina said as she scooped the wailing princess in her arms.
"We're all she has left now," Netsui said. "Proceed as planned. We head for Earth."
