TERA Rising
By: Aubrie1234
"What was that about?" Francis asked.
"Well, you see, both of us are the sons of a human queen." Matthew explained, "We're half-brothers, and the thing is, Dougal used to be our babysitter!"
"And since you didn't tell anyone where you were going, you think he might tell your parents?" Arthur surmised, where the brothers nodded.
"We can't go back, not when we're so close and we have a job to do!" Alfred put in.
"Alfie! Mattie!" Anya was waving them over from the gate.
"You're safe!" Alfred hugged her, "How's Jalka?"
"He's okay now." she said, "And when I saw you in the square, not moving, I was afraid you wouldn't wake up!"
"Well, I'm awake and fine now."
"I wonder where the others went, though. They all disappeared when that bad man came." The group exchanged glances.
"You saw him too, Anya?" Matthew asked. She shook her head.
"No, but I dreamed about him, and he looked really mean and scary! In that same dream, I saw the other kids go into this cave and never come out." She whimpered a little, hugging Zo-zo close, "I hope they're okay."
"We'll look for them, poppet." Arthur assured, "Get to a safe place, though. We don't need you getting hurt or worse."
"Okay. Zo-zo says bye!" she held her bear tightly as she left, where Alfred shook his head with a smile.
"...You're smitten with her, aren't you?" Yao raised an eyebrow.
"She's cute and young."Alfred sighed, "And innocent. Besides, the man I saw and those argons are looking for her. We can't let them take her and that innocence away."
"Right." Ivan nodded, "But we must find the other дети before they are captured, дa? And if they are, we must rescue them."
"I wonder, though..." Francis clenched a fist, "If what she said is true, then we may already be too late."
"Non, we still have to look, eh." Matthew said, "This may be war, but we have to hope they're okay, or at least alive."
"And if not?" Yao asked.
"Then we fight this war for them." Ludwig said, "We fight this d*** war for the children and for all the other lives lost."
"Then let's go." They began to ask around the village, where Ivan finally got an answer from a man named Churic.
"When we came down here, we passed by a cave and there were survivors in it, but I didn't see any children."
"Thank you anyway."
"Did he say they were in the cave?" Anya appeared as the man walked off.
"Anya, you should not be here!"
"Let's go look!" she ran off, despite his protests.
"Anya, don't run off!" Ivan followed her for a time, until she stopped when she saw someone.
"Grannie Melma?" Beside the old woman was a man, and he seemed to be covered in wounds. Ivan knew from experience he wasn't sleeping, "Why is Mr. Finnlas sleeping?"
"Oh, child..." Melma sniffed, "How I would love to have your innocence."
"Anya, stay here for a second, please." Ivan led Melma off to the side so they could speak in private, "I'm sorry for your loss, Madam."
"He was going to be in the Mysterium, he was training so hard..." She wiped her eyes with part of her shawl, "Why did it have to be him, my poor son? It should have been me, I only have a few years left. Now I have to spend those years alone."
"The rest of the village is probably in the same turmoil as you are." Ivan assured her, "I'm sure you can share your grievances with someone, so you can grieve together."
"Yes..." slowly, she nodded, "Thank you, sir."
"Пожалуйста." Ivan went back over to Anya and began to follow her as she traveled farther, encountering others along the way with the bodies of their own loved ones. Ivan tried to console them, but knew he couldn't do much good, though he tried his best.
"I...I don't think they're in the cave, Mr. Ivan." The large baraka knelt down to her height and took her into a gentle hug.
"I'm sure we'll find them, Anya, just this time, don't run off." With a sniff, she nodded. Then her eyes brightened.
"I remember, Uncle Emun came through here earlier! Maybe he found them and took them to the soldiers' camp!" Ivan shook his head as he stood.
"It's too dangerous."
"I don't care! They're my friends! And if you don't let me go, I'll slip by when you're not looking!" Ivan gave a sigh.
"штраф, but stick close to me." She hugged one of his legs.
"Thank you, again!" Ivan smiled and held her hand as they ventured out of the cave.
"Look, Mr. Ivan!" she point to some of the bears they could see in the distance, "They look blue, like those monsters from earlier! Do you think they're monsters now, too?"
"дa, unfortunately."
"Do you...think you could ease their hurting?" she asked with pleading eyes. Ivan knew what she was implying, and he nodded.
"Yes, I'll do what I can. You stay here for now, though. If one of the others comes, stay with them." She nodded.
"Okay. This time, I'll stay." Ivan nodded back and left, putting on his brawling gloves.
I will do what I can, Anya. he thought, then charged at the nearest blue bear and attacked. After defeating a few, he returned to the cave to see Anya talking with two black cat elins. They were both boys, like Arthur, and seemed to be twins. They both had curls on the sides of their heads, but on different sides, and it seemed that they had different personalities and classes. One was grumpy and seemed to be a sorcerer, watching Anya and the other elin as they conversed. The other elin was acting happy and energetic and had two scythes, which signified him as a reaper. That surprised Ivan, as he had never seen a reaper before, as they were just about as rare as boy elins were, maybe even rarer. Both of them had brown hair, though the grumpy one's was darker, and they had orange-brown eyes, the reaper one having them closed. It was a wonder about how he could see with them closed.
"Mr. Ivan!" Anya waved her hand, ushering Ivan over, "These are Feli and Lovi! They're friends of Mr. Ludwig!" So they were the elin twins Ludwig had mentioned.
"Hello there, ve!" the reaper bounced up to him and shook his hand, "I'm Feli, and my fratello is Lovi!"
"Lovino, not Lovi!" growled the grumpy one.
"We saw the little bambina all alone and decided to keep her company until one of her friends or family came back!" Feli explained. Ivan nodded with a smile.
"Thank you, дa." he turned to look back out at the bears, "I do not believe they will hurt us if we pass by, so we should head to the camp. My group, as well as yours, should know where it is so we can all meet up."
"Alright." Lovino nodded, "Let's go, Anya." She took his hand and they walked past the bears and up the hill, all the way into camp. Already there were two other warriors. One was a black-haired castanic with brown eyes and a giant sword, signifying he was a slayer. The other was a leopard popori with brown fur, darker brown spots, and olive green eyes. He seemed to be a berserker. They were sitting around the fire, just staring into it as they sharpened their weapons. The slayer glanced up to seem them and smiled, nodding. When the berserker looked up, however, he jumped to his feet.
"Lovi, you're back!" he rocketed forward to hug the sorcerer. Feli managed to grab Anya away before she could be crushed in between the two, and he covered the girl's ears as Lovino began to cuss up a storm.
"Not again..." he sighed as the slayer came over.
"Feli, it is good to see you and your brother safe." Feli nodded to him.
"You too, Kiku." If he was Kiku, Ivan mused, then there was a chance the popori was Antonio.
"Hello, I am Ivan." Kiku bowed.
"Hai, I am Kiku. The popori is Antonio, another of our members." he sighed, "We are missing Ludwig and Gilbert, however."
"Ludwig is fine." Ivan assured, "He was with my group, last I knew. I do not know where your other friend is, though."
"Well, it's not unusual for him to be around somewhere without us knowing." Lovino said, managing to get out of Antonio's arms. Despite his cuss-storm, the popori didn't seem affected. He seemed to have a look of eternal happiness and bliss. Now that Lovino was clean-mouth again (if for a little bit) Feli uncovered Anya's ears.
"Lovi is right, Gilbert could be in the middle of fighting for all we know." Antonio said.
"HEY! I am right here, you know!" They turned to see an amani charging up the hill, along with the rest of Ivan's group and Ludwig. The loud amani was white with horns that curved forward from the sides of his head and glowing red eyes. He seemed to be a gunner, which was becoming not that surprising now.
"Anya!" Matthew gasped, "What are you doing here? We told you to stay safe, in the village!"
"She left and I followed her." Ivan said, "She was searching for her friends."
"By the way, bruder," Ludwig turned to Gilbert, "what exactly were you doing down there?"
"Helping Paesyn set up those crystals down there, called Argon Detectors. They're supposed to help keep the argons and whatever they infect away from here."
"Now that we know that, let's do introductions, oui?" Francis said. Once that was done, Arthur nodded to Ludwig.
"I'm glad you found your group." he crouched down to Anya, "Now, this time, you and Zo-zo stay in camp and don't run off."
"Okay." she said and hugged Zo-zo close. It was at that point Dougal came over.
"Ah, you've all made. That's good. Now," he turned to Alfred and Matthew, "could you both come with me for a minute?" They glanced at each other, then hesitantly nodded. They followed him to where they were behind a tent, far from the others.
"I can't believe you two!" Dougal growled, running a hand through his hair, "I know you've said it time and time again, but really?" They gave sheepish grins.
"You still love us." Alfred said.
"That I do." Dougal sighed, "And I'm glad you're here, actually."
"What do you mean?" Matthew asked. Dougal glanced down to him.
"You haven't heard?" They shook their heads, where Dougal looked away uneasily.
"What's wrong? Did something happen?" Alfred asked.
"Does this concern Hero's Point?" Dougal flinched at Matthew's words, "It does, doesn't it?"
"Are Mom and our Dads okay?!" Alfred wasn't liking how he wasn't getting any answers.
"...I wish I didn't have to be the one to tell you this," he finally looked at them again, eyes full of sorrow, "but Hero's Point is gone."
"Gone?!" Their eyes widened, filling with tears.
"What happened?!" Alfred snarled, "Are our parents okay or not?!"
"Another argon attack happened, just a few days ago." he shook his head, "They blocked off all the routes in and out of the city before blasting it to pieces. There are some search, rescue, and recovery efforts, but so far, no one's survived."
"They can't be gone." Matthew shook his head, "They just can't be!"
"You know what this means, don't you?" Alfred knelt next to his brother, "We're not fighting this war for just anyone anymore. We're fighting for Mom and our Dads, too." Matthew steeled his eyes and nodded.
"Right." his eyes cast downward, "And it had to happen right after we left, didn't it?"
"Cheer up, both of you." Dougal said, "I don't mean to sound insensitive, but you can mourn later. We've got an argon invasion to stop." A determined light entered the brothers' eyes and they nodded, Alfred standing.
"Should we tell them?" Alfred nodded.
"They're our friends, and they'll give us shoulders to lean on." Matthew nodded back, as did Dougal.
"Now, let's get to planning a counterattack." he gave a small smile, "And I might put a word in with the Federation about you and your friends joining."
"Really?" Alfred wasn't as excited as he usually would have been, but he was excited nonetheless. Dougal nodded once again.
"Thanks, Uncle." Matthew said, then turned, "I guess we better go tell them, shouldn't we?" Alfred deflated considerably, but nodded.
"Right." With heavy hearts, they ventured over to tell their friends the tragic news.
Notes from this chapter:
Hero's Point is a made-up place where the twins lived.
The reason Matthew calls Dougal 'Uncle' is because he was so close to them that they consider him family.
I know how reapers are usually very strong and don't begin on Stepstone Isle, but trust me when I say that there are special circumstances for the Italian twins. And also, Feli isn't going to be the only reaper to appear.
Пожалуйста means 'You are welcome' in Russian.
штраф means 'fine' in Russian (Spell-check makes it capitalized when I type it. (using Google Translate), so should it be capitalized?).
Bambina means 'child' in Italian, usually a girl (I think). Bambino is used for boys.
Now that all of that's out of the way, read and review, readers! The next chapter should be the last one for the Stepstone Isle arc.