Chapter 7: Escape From Albion

In the midst of the wreckage from the Chapel, one survivor rose up from the ground. Kazuko had managed to survive the blast he made of his own unstable energy and anger. Kazuko's cloths were torn and tattered, with his body bruised. He picked up his sword from the rubble and had to run or hide. Albion's prince was murdered by him, unintentional but the deed was done.

Kazuko picked himself up from the dirt but he had to collect his thoughts. Otherwise he would be executed. "I failed. No way to turn back the clock. It's over. I took an innocent life and Nightmare will have his war. I've got to get back to Tristain if I wanna have a chance to fix things. I have to get out of here and soon. Better find a place to change my appearance. I'll be enemy of the state #1 and they will want retribution.", thought Kazuko.

In the distance it looked like Albion's forces were closing in on him. He saw them coming and all he could think of, all he could do, all he had left was...RUN. So he ran, as fast as he possibly could. His powers were drained and he had no idea if anyone was coming to save him. He could only run away from the judgement of his crime, were it so easy.

He imagined the troops like his own past, for so many years he went after the thing responsible for his fate. How he would go after it relentlessly, without pity, or remorse. Kazuko had to find shelter or find a way out of Albion. Kazuko was alone, with what looked like no way of escaping.

Meanwhile in Tristain...

Louise confronted Henrietta in tears. She only gave her the ring that the Whales had given her before he perished. Henrietta thanked Louise for her service. But there was still a much more important matter to attend to, Kazuko. Saito, Louise, Guiche, Kirche, and Tabitha came before her explaining what exactly happened at Albion.

Louise and Saito said that Kazuko believed to be attacking Nightmare but he had no idea that it was Whales. Guiche, Kirche, and Tabitha said they only saw Saito and Louise escape with them and headed back to Tristain but no idea what Kazuko did inside the Chapel. A while after deliberating what Henrietta heard from everyone she came to her conclusion of action. She came before everyone and gave them her answer.

"Listen everyone I know that you all are great friends of Kazuko and that he has touched your lives. But since he committed an act of war against Albion I cannot send any assistance to bring him back.", she admitted.

Saito and Louise were hurt most by the news and could not believe what they just heard. Kirche and Guiche were shocked by her decision and were speechless.

Tabitha just gave a small, "hmm", of concern. Saito said what he thought first. "Your highness we can't leave him there! It wasn't his fault!"

Louise then gave her thoughts to the princess, "Please it was all a trick to bring us to war we have to save him or we won't stand a chance against Albion!", Louise begged.

The princess raised her hand in a motion that said she heard enough. "I am truly sorry. But if we aid him then the chances of possibly making peace with them will truly die.", said Henrietta.

"Princess there is no way they will not declare war on us regardless of what we do. But if we don't help Kazuko then that demon will have nobody to stop him!", said Louise.

"I believe you Louise and all of you. But as the ruler of my country I must make the decision that is best for the people. Not just for one person, no matter how special he his.", Henrietta said in shame.

They all left with the princess to prepare the country for war. When everyone left the room Henrietta with-held her tears and wished with all her heart that Kazuko was alright.

"Well what do we do? Are we all going to war?! I mean if that's true then Kazuko on the front line would make our chances of survival better right?", said Guiche.

"We can't do anything. If we help Kazuko then Tristain will be outraged at the princess for helping Kazuko. We have to hope that he can get out of Albion alive.", said Louise.

Back in Albion...

Kazuko managed to make it in to a town filled with people. Kazuko was lucky to find a cloak to disguise himself from the authorities. Kazuko was hoping to see someone friendly pick him up or a distraction to get the guards distracted. But he was in no such luck.

"Why hasn't the princess sent help for me? I mean the chances of getting out of here on my own are incredibly slim. My powers are exhausted to a great extent and everyone in this floating continent is looking for me. I think I can't make this fact any more clear!", thought Kazuko.

The sun set on the horizon and Kazuko was miles from the nearest harbor. He needed a ship to get him out of there and make his way back to Tristain. He knew he could not succeed, at least without his friends or his powers. But he had to try and he had to work with what he had. As dusk finally settled in Kazuko was near a small village in Albion. He needed to rest and continue his way to the harbor soon.

But he needed to rest as much as he wanted to continue on. As he searched for a quite and secluded place to sleep, Kazuko felt uneasy. He knew he was being hunted, but it felt more like he was being stalked. He looked cautiously around every corner, every window he passed, and every roof. He was being watched.

Kazuko had managed to find an empty house that appeared to be abandoned. He rested but did not sleep. He only sat in a meditative state and had his sword ready to wield it if trouble came to him. He simply rested his body in order to gather his strength for his eventual escape. Knowing it probably wouldn't go smoothly.

Meanwhile back at Tristain...

Louise and the others went back to the institute in order to decide on what they should do. Saito and Kirche voted to go back for Kazuko while Guiche and Louise voted they had to leave him. The only one who still did not answer was Tabitha. She didn't mutter a word or a gesture to say who was right. She just stood in the middle.

With everyone still in a stalemate Louise dragged Saito back to her room. "Saito there is nothing we can do. If we rescue him then Albion will show no mercy.", Louise stated.

"And even if we don't, that thing with the sword won't show any regardless what the princess does. This is stupid! Why is it that you won't help rescue him?", asked Saito.

"Because I have to help the princess however I can. And if it means leaving my friends behind then...", Louise could not finish. She though for a moment thinking if she was doing the right thing. Was she just trying to help her friend or just trying to atone for her failure at Albion? She broke in to tears thinking that Kazuko was going to die because she put him in that position. "It's all my fault. If I wasn't controlled by Wardes, then Whales would still be alive!", Louise cried out. Without any notice Saito hugged her trying to calm her down.

He whispered, "Louise there was nothing you could have done to stop him. We were all baited to the trap. And we all paid the price. Right now Kazuko is paying it harder than the rest of us. We just need to know how to handle it. I'm going to bring him home, but what will you do?", Saito said as he left.

Saito went to see Tabitha and asked for her to get him and Kirche to Albion. She said nothing but as soon as Louise said, "I want to help bring back Kazuko and we need your help.", Tabitha nodded.

They began to come up with a plan to find Kazuko and get him out of Albion. An hour later they managed to have everything mapped out. But Louise was worried if they were already too late.

In Albion... (Another moment to enhance the mood! Listen to [ Batman Mask of the Phantasm, The Big Chase]

Kazuko was in a largely populated area where he was close to getting a ship off of the floating continent. It was just like any other town except with higher structural settlements.

But the mysterious figure was still stalking his every move. Kazuko wasted no more time and followed the figure to an old shack. Kazuko held out his sword in extreme caution. He opened the shack door with a message written in blood, "I"M WATCHING YOU", Kazuko was scared by it at first and realized this was something else entirely.

He glanced around the inside looking for the mystery man. But instead noticed a large amount of highly flammable stuff around him. He looked up and saw the figure with a match in his hand. The figure threw it down and leaped away from the shack. The thing blew up causing the citizens to go and investigate what happened, with the stalker above the city rooftop's looking at the site.

But from out of the blaze came out Kazuko alive and pissed he went after the stalker while shoving his way through the crowd. Kazuko made it above ground and gave chase to him. Thanks to his chaos enhanced agility Kazuko managed to catch up to him. He managed to tackle the stalker but he spoke saying, "Stay away, this is not our time yet!", said the mysterious person.

"This madness ends now!", Kazuko replied. But Kazuko noticed a squadron of dragons closing in on Kazuko. The stalker seized the opportunity and hit Kazuko in thee face and disappeared in to a flash of light. "No!", Kazuko yelled. The squadron called out to Kazuko, "You there! Step away from the edge of the roof and turn yourself in!" Kazuko instead ran away and tried to lose them.

He tried getting across the rooftops to throw off the dragons. He ran across them but knew that he had to go in lower ground if he could lose them. He jumped off one and tried to break his fall with his muscle. He grunted from the pain but couldn't stop. He barley managed to lose them by jumping through a crack in a pair of buildings in close proximity. Kazuko landed on another level of the skyscrapers and was cornered by the Griffin squad led by Wardes. "Halt! Don't even bother.", said Wardes.

Kazuko glanced at him and back flipped himself off and was making his way to the harbor. Wardes told them to stop all ships from leaving. Which didn't give Kazuko much time in response. The ground forces and the aerial ones surrounded the harbor hoping to box in Kazuko. His cloaked disguise only gave himself away. Leaving him to hide anywhere that kept him safe from the shot's being fired from the mages. He kept dodging and hiding like he had little less of life with each bit of cover he lost.

But Kazuko noticed that the room he was in had a gas tanker in it. Which for the moment meant he was probably going to be incinerated! One shot from a fire mage hit the tank and blew up a section of the harbor. Wardes angered by the development commanded everyone to search the area knowing for sure if Kazuko survived or escaped. Kazuko was alive but barley. His vision was blurred and his head got injured from the explosion. Kazuko's only hope was to hide in the debris but unfortunately Wardes on his griffin spotted him.

Kazuko was almost blinded by the light Wardes shinned to show where the mages to fire their magic. Kazuko grabbed a piece of metal and tied a knot around one end. He then swung it at the griffin hoping it would snag. The mages saw Kazuko try to attack Wardes and fired all their magic at his shadowy cloaked figure. But from all the bombardments it was just the cloak they shot at, not Kazuko himself. They all went around to stop Kazuko from reaching the last ship that began leaving.

Kazuko leap off from any form of solid ground and tried to reach for any part of the ship he could grab on. But then Kazuko pulled back when a barrier of wind magic was blocking his path.

He ran for it as fast as his body could go and saw only a million foot drop as his only means of escape. Kazuko looked back and saw the griffin squad along with Albion's forces almost within reach of their sights. Kazuko dived down and was left in free fall. He hoped his life would end in that very second so that Nightmare couldn't use him for his endeavors. Then from out of freaking nowhere within only a split second, Tabitha rescued Kazuko. Not what was planned by Saito and Louise but Kazuko was alive none the less. Wardes watched in the distance seeing Kazuko escape.

He was angered and sweated knowing Nightmare's wrath would not be very merciful.