Chapter 7: Speak now or forever hold your peace
Heya doods! Sakurada here! Back with another chapter of Voidwalker!
To make up for how late it is, I tried to make the quality extra good. Hope you can all forgive me.
Eh? How've I been? Eh, I'm good. Been watching more anime lately. Just recently finished Jourmungand Perfect Order.
Honestly? The show is quite good. Despite the obvious straight shota in it, though Jonah is practically an adult with all the crap he's been through. If you're old enough to kill, you're old enough to get laid. Or so they say.
The best things I like about it?
1.The fact that Lutz keeps getting shot in the ass, his reactions are hilarious.
2.The fact that Jonah looks a helluva lot like Archer EMIYA from Fate/Stay Night.
3.The art and personality design of the characters, male and female.
4.The little snippets of comedy.
5.Schokolade/Chocolade. She is so damn adorable! She's so innocent looking and always eating delicious food without a care in the world! I have finally found a waifu of my own!
I don't know where all the fat from that food goes but it probably goes into her breasts, which are quite large indeed.
I also have been watching Gundam Build Fighters, which is officially my third favorite robot/mech themed anime, the other two being Robotics Notes and Gurren Lagann. The OST is great, the character art and design is impressive and the design of the Gundams make me salivate. I mean come on! As if Gundam Wing Zero wasn't cool enough, they make a customized one that belongs to a badass Italian dandy? Gundam Wing Fenice Rinascita is officially my second favorite Gundam, the first being Gundam Wing Zero Custom.
Its name literally translates to 'Gundam Wing Phoenix Rebirth'. And it belongs to a guy whose name translates to cat. 'Felini'. I thought his name sounded more like a type of pasta.
Ah, update on my progress in Dark Souls 2. I have now entered New Game+3.
Shit, things are getting intense now. I have to watch my step more carefully. The enemies are gunnin' for my blood. Heh, I'll show them the terror that is my pyromancy!
The spell Forbidden Sun? Awesome. Especially if you have two of the scrolls.
I'll get to my replies to reviews at the end of this chapter, but first I must address one particular review by the Avatar of Erebos, who is not really happy with how the Lordran escapades with the CU is going.
Now, I know it is all looking a bit too cheerful and I do agree, I should put in exactly HOW they managed to get everything into order, all the blood and sweat they used up to get to that level.
The problem is, I was planning on writing that… after Voidwalker. As soon as I was done with this fic, I was planning on doing a story focused on Saito himself and how he ended up in Lordran. His journey, how broken he became, how he went nuts, how he got hitched with Priscilla, etc. since you requested it though, this chapter won't have a Lordran escapade and instead, the chapter after this will be completely dedicated to a more dark and gloomier part of the daily life of Saito in Lordran.
Other than that, I have no plans on making the Lordran escapades gloomier, but the amount of insanity and creativity in it ends with the inn. It ain't gonna get happier than that.
Unless I can somehow type up Saito and Domnhall designing a chainsaw that runs on pyromancy…
Holy shit, that might work! Lol.
Anyhow, I also decided to take your suggestion on the Pursuer being the first Vanitastir. Sorry if this is a spoiler to anyone but this great reviewer doesn't have an account for me to PM so I had to post it here.
The eventual fight scene I will type up of Pursuer VS Sasha will be… intense… but you will have to hold on to your panties and wait till the chapter with that fight, cuz it ain't gonna be this one.
Now then, without further ado, let's get to the 8th chapter of Voidwalker!
The moment the arrows sailed through the air, everybody hit the deck. Surprisingly, most of them missed almost pathetically, though a scarce few managed to nick a few innocent citizens. Kirche immediately turned the large table over to use it as a barrier as everybody else hid behind it. Guiche peered over the table after a moment of silence before ducking back down as an arrow nearly lobbed itself into his forehead.
"T-that was a close one…." The blonde said with a stutter. Kirche clicked her tongue in obvious irritation.
"They're used to fighting mages it seems. They want to wait until one of us try lean out and aim a spell before they let loose more arrows. We're sitting ducks."
"Whoever these people are, they know their stuff." Wardes said with a fake dark expression. "How are we going to get around this?"
"Artorias, can you do that abyss walking thing to catch them off guard?" Louise asked to her tall familiar, who was having a bit of trouble keeping himself still as he hid behind the table with them.
"I could. That would draw their attention and then you can launch your spells. Should I do it now?" the sky blue eyed knight asked to his tiny master. 'Whatever Fouquet plans on doing to separate me from the others, she better make it quick. I cannot let Wardes escape with master.
"I have an idea."
'Ah, speak of the devil. Muhehehe.'
Everybody turned their heads to Wardes. "The mission still counts as completed as long as the ring and letter is delivered to prince Wales. And there are dozens and dozens of bandits out there, maybe more. I say that Artorias causes a distraction and then you three-" He said as he pointed at Guiche, Kirche and Tabitha "Will then fire off the most destructive spells you can. Anything you can use to distract them. I will use my wind magic to get Louise to safety and while the enemy is distracted, we will get to the ship and continue the mission ourselves."
Kirche and Guiche nodded silently as they agreed that it would be a wise course of action. Tabitha was fuming on the inside as she realized that Derflinger may have been right about Wardes being incredibly suspicious. Artorias narrows his eyes, realizing that his task was just made more difficult than before. Louise was simply looking back and forth between Wardes and the others.
"W-we can't simply abandon them! I can't leave my friends here to face Brimir-knows how many bandits who have experience with mages!"
"What am I, chopped liver?" Artorias remarked with dry humor, chuckling at his master's embarrassed reaction to that. "I was just joking master. You go, I'll be done with these bandits before you know it. They may have the cover of the night but I have fought in the dark for years. Though a nice fire to light up the area would be nice when I get out there."
Kirche grins as she proudly crosses her arms under her breasts. "I believe I can handle that. Guiche can do whatever and Tabby can use her wind to make the fire bigger."
"What do you mean I can do whatever?" Guiche muttered.
"Excellent. On the count of three then?" Wardes suggested, everybody nodding.
"One…"
Tabitha tugged on Louise's shirt before looking her directly in the eye and whispering "Be safe."
Louise blushed a bit before smiling and mouthing back "You too."
"Two…."
'Here goes nothing…' Artorias said mentally as he dug into the powers that he once cursed with all his hate.
"THREE!"
With a small blast of shadow, Artorias sunk under the ground quickly and then immediately reappeared outside the hotel, right behind the main row of archers. His right hand went straight towards the hilt of his sword as he prepared to attack, pleased that his Abysswalker ability caught them off guard.
He too, was caught off guard when a familiar giant stony foot smashed into his side and sent him flying into a nearby field.
'HOW THE FUCK DID WE NOT NOTICE THAT THING LUMBERING AROUND!?' The inner Manus exclaimed in surprise.
Louise and the other occupants of the room couldn't help but gape at the sudden intrusion as they stared at the giant stone golem that was being rode by a familiar cloaked being with green hair.
"F-Fouquet!?" Louise exclaimed in shock. The green haired thief simply waved in reply.
"Yoohoo, miss me?"
"This… may be problematic…" Wardes said grimly, though inside he was laughing. 'Serves the Gandalfr right. About time that useless woman got here.'
Suddenly, a howl echoed through the town as Artorias got back up from the ground and charged right at the golem. Fouquet grinned as she saw Artorias playing along and she instructed her golem to charge as well. The bandit archers, remembering their mission, turned to fire arrows at the group of mages, only for many of them to be met with blasts of wind, fire and big clumps of earth.
"We will handle things here! You two go on!" Kirche yelled as she fired off non-lethal blasts of flame at the enemy, the blasts aimed specifically at their pants so they would run around like headless chickens as they try to put out the fire.
Tabitha looked at Louise one last time before turning to the battlefield. The bandits were disoriented and she had to keep them that way as she used her wind to batter them around. Some managed to fire a few arrows but those attempts were futile as her harsh winds tore the projectiles into splinters.
A small tremor shook the area near her, causing her to look at the source. To her surprise, Guiche was holding his own against the bandits' attacks pretty well. He had summoned two bronze Valkyries and made a small wall he used as a shield to hide behind. The wall was made of a mixture of stone and brass. His Valkyries were armed with long spears, which effectively battered the bandits out of the way.
Tabitha snapped back to her current task as she blocked an incoming sword with a small wall of ice, which spread over the blade and onto the bandit's arm until it froze him over completely. She kept the man frozen as she fended off other bandits' attacks until she was sure the man was knocked out from lack of oxygen. She didn't freeze his organs after all, just trapped him in a blanket of ice.
If she wanted to, she could have killed the bandits around her quickly. So could Kirche. However, these men needed to be questioned so she had to resort to non-lethal attacks. Kirche wouldn't kill a person either, unless you REALLY pissed her off.
She felt the ground shake violently for a moment before returning to normal. Whatever Artorias was doing with Fouquet, it was intense.
#nearby#
"My my, you've gotten feistier since we last met!" Fouquet teased as she maneuvered her golem to smash its fist into Artorias, having confidence in the knight's skill to avoid the attacks.
"You seem to be in a good mood."
Fouquet turned her head with a frown as she looked at the masked man who freed her from her cell. The man was like karma, he turns up when you really don't want him to.
"Well, I am glad to have a nice chance for revenge." The green haired woman lied. She was happy for a completely different reason.
Two actually.
One; she was soon going to be free from Reconquista, as long as Artorias plays his part right.
Two; she kissed the knight himself.
Kissed him.
It took that short meeting between their lips for her to truly confirm her feelings.
She was in love.
He was a kind of man you can't find easily these days in Halkeginia. Strong, handsome, noble (not just in status), honest, brave, kind, forgiving and so many other things.
But most of all…. Mysterious.
If there was one thing Fouquet loved, it was a good mystery. And Artorias had mystery written all over him. His power, his eyes, his own origins. He was like a book and she was going to read him.
After of course she escapes from the masked man on her left.
"When are you going to stop playing around with him and just finish him off quickly? He has dangerous powers and if you don't kill him soon then he'll use them on you." The masked man said with impatience as he glared at the green haired thief.
"Hmph, you need to learn how to have fun. You must lead an incredibly boring life with that attitude." Fouquet snapped back. Suddenly, her golem stumbled briefly, something impacting with the left leg. She turned her head to find that a tree had lodged itself into the stone limb, effectively decreasing its use significantly.
Artorias was standing several meters away, abyssal smoke rising from his body as he panted for breath. Uprooting the tree and then throwing it like a javelin wasn't as easy as it looked, abyssal influence or not. He left his blade stabbed into the ground behind him as he grabbed another tree, a 13 meter tall redwood, familiar runes flaring as he ripped it from its spot in the ground and heaving it over his right shoulder.
"…Oh my." Fouquet muttered as she stared at the spectacle.
"A tree being used as a spear. Now I've seen everything." The masked man commented before vanishing in a burst of wind and reappearing on top of a nearby tree.
"HRAAAAAAA!" Artorias roared as he launched the natural missile at the golem. The stone construct tried to move out of the way but its lack of speed failed it as the tree smashed right into its waist. The golem began to topple over, Fouquet jumped off of it and landed on the ground safely before she ran away from the collapsing behemoth so she wouldn't get crushed under it. The ground shook violently when it smashed into the forest floor.
She turned her head to the rubble and flicked out her wand, only for Artorias to burst from the ground in front of her in a blast of black smoke, his left hand grabbing her wand and snapping it in half. Before she could do anything else, Artorias' right hand grabbed her by the throat and smacked her into the ground roughly. The ground beneath them began to darken and emit black smoke that rose up ominously as Fouquet struggled against Artorias' iron grip, her eyes staring into his glowing cyan ones.
Atop his tree, the masked man frowned as he tried to see what was happening.
'There's too much of that black mist, I can't see anything. But if I use a wind spell to clear it, he'll notice me. Louise still isn't near the harbor yet either. This wind body won't last very long against that damned knight if he finishes off Fouquet now. And with that 'abyss walking' ability, he'll get to her in no time.'
He was snapped out of his thoughts when the ground shook violently several times and he could hear the sound of something smashing the ground. His eyes locked on to the now slightly visible figure of Artorias, the black smoke fading away from around him.
The wind mage's eyes widened when he saw the state of the ground. It was pitch black with black ichor spreading from that giant splodge of abyssal ooze where Fouquet once was. Artorias' hands were covered in the stuff though it was rapidly dissolving into small wisps of abyssal smoke.
'DID HE BEAT HER TO DEATH!? WHAT KIND OF KNIGHT WOULD DO THAT!? HE'S A MONSTER!' The masked man mentally exclaimed before vanishing. There wasn't a chance in hell he'll be able to stall him with just a wind clone.
Artorias sighed as the masked figure vanished. He could smell the man since he got here, the strange mix of a cold country breeze and some sort of scent he would find on a bird. Most likely the griffin. It was fainter than the scent on Wardes but was in every way identical.
'Wardes… what is it that you are planning to do with master?'
'You can ask him when you're in the middle of tearing his balls off or something, hurry up and get back to the midget. I can't wait to see the look on the bastard's face!'
'I will NOT be ripping off his genitals!'
'Phooey.'
'But if he's hurt master or done worse, not only will I rip them off, I will shove them down his throat and then separate his arms and legs from his body and kick him off a cliff.'
'Yay!'
Meanwhile, deep underground, at least several dozen meters under and away from Artorias' location, Fouquet was panting for breath as she finally began to relax.
'I… I did it… I'm free… no, not yet, I need to make sure he isn't following me. And now I have to find a place to hide for a while… damn, I forgot to tell Artorias what we should do after the plan succeeds!'
She paused for a moment before shrugging and using her magic to burrow around and find somewhere to actually rest that won't cave in the moment she stops her magic.
'Once everything is over… I will tell him how I feel.'
#outside the hotel#
Tabitha's eyes narrowed as she watched over the area that was littered with unconscious or tied up bandits. As soon as they were defeated, soldiers finally arrived to take care of the rest. Tabitha and the other students were praised and thanked by the patrons of the hotel for saving their lives, causing the other two to grin sheepishly.
The blue haired girl was the only one who wasn't even remotely happy right now. Her Louise was off with that damned Wardes and Artorias was elsewhere dealing with Fouquet.
The kuudere paused for thought as she realized that she just called Louise as 'hers'. Her Louise. Tabitha's Louise. A blush crept up onto her face as she realized that she can't shut away these feelings after all. No matter how much she tried to act professionally and tried keeping her usual ice cold persona, thinking about Louise immediately melts that ice.
'Can't get distracted.' She chided to herself as she shook those thoughts out of her head. She still needed to catch up to Louise. she turned her head to see Kirche waving at the people thanking her, saying something like 'It was no big deal.', while a number of girls had surrounded Guiche who did his classic 'Rose for everybody' pose. The blue haired girl frowned before walking up to the two and bonking them both on the head with her staff.
"Ow, what was that for?" Kirche complained while rubbing the place of impact on her head.
"Louise."
"Ah, oh right. We need to catch up to her and her silver haired hunk. Can you summon Sylphid?"
Tabitha nodded and then proceeded to whistle loudly. After several seconds, the blue dragon that was her familiar flew over to them from Brimir knows where and landed beside them with a squeal. Tabitha pat her dragon on the head softly for a moment before speaking seriously.
"Sylphid. Find Louise." She said before mounting her familiar, Kirche and Guiche following suit, though the blonde was a bit shaky since he's never ridden on a dragon before.
"Kyuu!" the blue infant drake chimed before flapping its wings and taking off into the sky.
#road close to harbor#
"A-are you sure we shouldn't stop and wait for them?" Louise asked meekly as she was being carried bridal style by Wardes who was using wind magic to help him run faster than any normal human can achieve.
"This mission is important. If they are as competent as they seem, they'll be fine. They have Artorias with them too, they will catch up in no time with his help." The bearded adult said with a grin.
"But why was Fouquet there? Last we saw her, she was emotionally broken… she even cried… why would she want revenge after the kindness Artorias showed her?" Louise asked with a confused frown. Wardes frowned as well as he thought on those words.
'Fouquet did seem strangely focused on Artorias… he must have affected her to some strange degree with his dark power… shouldn't matter now though, she's nothing but a mark on the ground. But Louise is getting less obedient than I thought. I need to keep her quiet and submissive for this plan to work.'
Louise felt her body get hugged closer to Wardes' as he ran. She looked up to find his grey eyes staring at her with a loving gaze.
"Don't worry about anything Louise. I'm sure everything will be alright. Now let's get to the ship and go to Albion, okay? I promise to protect you there."
Louise blushed and nodded before turning her eyes to the distance. Her mind was a flurry of thought and emotions.
'Artorias… Tabitha… please be okay…'
#much further behind#
"Tabby! Can't you get Sylphid to fly faster?" Kirche asked as she held on tight. The blue dragon under her was actually flying pretty fast, but at the pace they're going, the ship will have already launched.
The bluenette shook her head as her locks danced in the wind. "Too many people."
"Then can't we throw Guiche off?"
"OI! I'M RIGHT HERE YOU KNOW!?"
Tabitha shook her head again. "Still too heavy."
Kirche made an expression of mock shock. "I'm not heavy at all! What part of my beautiful body could possibly be heavy?"
"I can think of two parts…" Guiche muttered under his breath.
Slowly, the harbor entered their sights. It took them longer than usual to get there since they tried finding Artorias first. Unfortunately, he was nowhere to be seen.
As they approached though, Tabitha and Sylphid's instincts kicked in as a warning. Sylphid suddenly swerved to the right as an extremely fast blade of wind shot right through where the dragon once was. The large familiar then did more aerial maneuvers as more blasts of wind started chasing after her.
"W-w-what the hell!?" Guiche exclaimed in shock and pointed at something. Kirche and Tabitha turn their heads to see what he was pointing at.
There was somebody standing on the air, cloak billowing around him, a large hat covering his head and a mask on his face.
"He's standing on the sky!? He must be at least a triangle class mage!" the blonde fop exclaimed again before shutting his mouth and holding on tight to Kirche as the dragon started to dodge and barrel roll around again.
"Guiche, as much as I enjoy being groped, can you find some other place and time to grab them and not in a life or death situation?" Kirche said with humor in her voice. Guiche turned a bright shade of red before moving his arms lower to wrap them around her waist instead.
Tabitha ignored the two behind her and focused on the mage. Only one, standing on midair. Definitely triangle class, just like her, maybe a bit higher. Not only that, same hat and sword wand as Wardes. But if Wardes was here, does that mean Louise has been…
Tabitha's eyes widen at the implication of Wardes presence here before glaring daggers at the robed figure and commanding Sylphid to charge straight at him.
"Wait wait wait, Tabitha, what are you doing!?" Kirche asked in shock. Guiche's eyes were as wide as dinner plates. Little to their knowledge, the wind clone of Wardes was shocked as well.
'Is she trying to do a suicide attack? Or does she really think she can dodge all my wind blades from this close?'
The robed clone started chaining wind blade spells together in rapid succession as Tabitha's dragon got closer. To his surprise, the blue familiar was dodging left and right, each wind blade missing the dragon's scales by mere inches.
'Ho? She's quite good. Unfortunately…'
Sylphid was only two meters away from the masked figure, Tabitha aiming her wand at the clone preparing to use a spell. Kirche was taking out her wand as well while Guiche simply held on for dear life.
Everything happened in slow motion. Just as they were about to launch their spells, the clone jabbed his wand sword out and a blast of lighting erupted from it.
The megane clad kuudere's eyes widened in shock before the bolt struck her familiar directly on the right front leg. The electricity surged through the dragon and its passengers as they screamed in pain. The shock only last a few seconds before disappearing. Slowly, Sylphid began to fall, her passengers falling with her. Tabitha was glaring weakly at the robed mage in the sky as she fell, unable to cast a single spell at him.
"Lou….ise…."
Her vision turned dark as she lost consciousness before hitting the ground.
*THUMP*
#on the ship#
Louise jerked awake. She was leaning against the mast of the ship. When the large vehicle took off into the sky, she settled down to rest a bit by sitting on a large wooden box next to the one of the masts. She drifted off into sleep shortly after. Until something interrupted her nap.
"Tabi…tha…?"
"Louise, are you alright?"
The pinkette turned her head to see Wardes looking at her with a concerned expression. "You shouldn't sleep here you know. There are bedrooms on this ship."
"A-ah, I'm sorry, I just sat down and then I felt a little drowsy…" she said with a sheepish look. The grey haired man smile and pat her head.
"Let's get you to bed, I need to stay up to help get the ship moving faster."
Louise nodded and let Wardes pick her up bridal style. In no less than ten minutes, he had tucked her into bed and kissed her forehead before leaving the room and locking it.
Louise lay still as she felt herself drifting off again.
'Tabitha… are you safe? Kirche… Guiche…. Artorias…'
#dreamscape#
Louise found herself in darkness. Pitch black darkness. The ground beneath her was hard and felt like stone. The air was heavy and oppressive, like a sea of dark thoughts. She looked around and saw the same scenery, nothing but black, black and more black.
She started walking. This was a strange dream, it felt so real yet when she pinched herself, she didn't feel pain. This was definitely just a dream.
Soon, she saw something. A small light in the distance. It was faint, barely visible but as she got closer, she made out more details. First of all, it was a bonfire of sorts. Instead of wood, it looked like the flame was burning on nothing but the ash under it and the broken sword plunged into the ash.
Second of all, she wasn't alone.
As she got much closer, she saw the figure of somebody sitting on a rocking chair near the flame. She walked around the bonfire and the light from it illuminated its features.
It was an old man, similar to Osmond but his beard was shorter, though still quite long. He wore a dark hooded robe over his body and was snoring lightly as he rocked back and forth very slowly on the rocking chair. Louise stared at the man and decided it was rude to interrupt his sleep, so she sat down opposite him across the bonfire and warmed her hands over it. The heat felt strange, unlike any fire she's ever warmed herself with. This felt calmer, more peaceful. She stared at the bonfire, the dance of the flames beginning to look mesmerizing, as if drawing her gaze in.
Like a moth flittering towards a flame.
Louise reached out and slowly pushed her hand into the flame, not feeling any pain at all, just comforting warmth.
Like the father in the embrace of the sun.
She wriggled her fingers around and sighed in content at the warmth. She then tried to touch the blade that was in the center of the bonfire. She wrapped her fingers around the rusted blunt weapon.
Like the duke who coveted the secrets of death.
Suddenly, the flames grew hotter and it started getting uncomfortable for Louise. However, when she tried to let go, her fingers wouldn't budge. Slowly, the flames grew hotter and hotter and Louise felt her skin start to hurt from the heat. She gritted her teeth and then let out a cry of anger as she gripped the sword harder and then it shattered. Her eyes which closed when the flames began to hurt start to open and look at the bonfire. The blade was gone and now the flames were black, with a strange white outline. This flame wasn't hot. It felt cool and soothing, like Tabitha's presence. It felt… alive.
Like the abyss that swallowed everything.
"My my…" a throaty chuckle suddenly sounded out, causing Louise to jerk her head up towards the source. The old man was now awake and was leaning forward a bit to touch the obsidian flames.
"Never have I seen a bonfire get corrupted by the abyss. You are certainly the most potent child of the dark I have ever seen. No, not a child of the dark. Something more…. Ancient. Something… emptier…"
"A-abyss?" Louise chocked out.
She knew what the abyss was. She knew the horrors of it that Artorias told her about. She knew the monster that once lurked inside it.
So why was this man calling her the child of this dark place?
"Young one, I see much potential in you. You could never use any of those conventional miracles and sorceries now could you? No fireballs, no gusts of wind, no turning stone into brass and no waving around water. No, you are destined for something greater than that…." The old man chuckled as he rocked back and forth in his chair. Louise stood up and glared at him.
"Shut up! I know what you are going to say! I will not use abyss magic! It is dark and wrong!"
"So does that make Artorias 'dark and wrong' as well?"
Louise flinched but shook her head and glared at the old man harder. "Artorias is different."
"Then by all means, so are you."
The pinkette's expression turned quizzical at this.
"Your familiar shows unusual control over the abyss. As if it has become his sole territory that nobody may cross. I dare say, he has become the monster that rules over the abyss in this world. As his master, you have access to this territory, free of the sanity consuming charges it normally comes with."
Louise's expression was unsure now. One part of her wishes to get away from this dream now. Another part wants to listen to the old man.
A large part of her wants the power, so she can prove that she isn't a zero.
"I… I don't know…"
"Of course, take your time child, the abyss is not going anywhere. After all, when everything ends, only the sun and the abyss will remain, though which of the two will perish before the other remains to be seen. I believe you must wake up soon, your journey is about to begin again.
Louise felt the world shift as the horizon of the darkness began to shine, a bright and hot light beginning to erase the black away. Before she felt herself get swept away by the light, she barely caught the old man mutter one final thing.
"Take your time child, for once you face despair, I know you WILL use this power…"
#reality#
Louise slowly woke up and began to sit up in her bed. She flexed her right hand as she remembered the heat of the bonfire and the cold of its corrupted state.
'Yet, comparing the two flames, why do I prefer the dark one?'
A knock on the door interrupted her thoughts.
"Louise, are you awake?"
It was Wardes.
"Yes, I just got up."
"Well come on out here, we are getting closer to Albion."
Several minutes later, they both stood on the deck, watching the thick clouds go by. The air was incredibly fresh and moist, so Louise took a nice deep breath to enjoy it.
And then a cannon shot was heard.
The ship became all abuzz with activity as they tried to figure out where that came from.
"Captain! Look!" one sailor said with horror. The portly man looked up to see a large ship approaching them, a black flag hoisted above the raven's nest.
"PIRATES!"
All the crew members began to panic and they began to search for weapons until a second cannon shot was heard, followed by a loud voice.
"That is your last warning. Surrender or we will blow your ship out of the sky!"
The crew members settled down and dropped their weapons. Louise looked at Wardes who kept his face grim at the events. Pirates were not part of his calculations.
The pirates boarded their ship, the apparent leader being a rather tall (not as tall as Artorias obviously) man with a great scruffy black beard and classic pirate clothes. He had a number of pistols holstered in his belt and two cutlasses on each side of his waist.
"I be cap'n Saltybeard! Who'ere be the cap'n o this freight?"
"M-me sir."
"What be on her?"
"S-sulfur sir, that's it, I swear!"
The bearded pirate grins widely before clapping the other captain on the shoulder. "Aye, fine loot! We'll be takin' it all! Unless ye'd rather we take yer life?"
"Nonono, please, help yourself!"
The pirates soon got to work on the sulfur and started bringing the large containers of them onto their ship. Captain Saltybeard notices Wardes and Louise who stood further from the rest of the crew. He narrowed his eyes and stalked towards them.
"Well well well, ain't every day we see nobles like yerselves on a wee cargo ship. What be yer business 'ere?"
Louise, still irritated with the dream she had, decided to speak before Wardes could. "That is none of your damn business, pirate! You've got what you wanted now get off the ship and let us be on our way!"
Wardes had a comical expression of shock, a look shared by Saltybeard who then proceeded to laugh. "I always liked the way nobles spoke. It makes me feel better when I slit their throats." His look turned serious. "Since yer a noble, ye must be carryin' jewelry. Why, lookee that wee ring over… there…"
The pirate trailed off as he saw the water ruby ring.
"Lass, where'd ye get that ring?"
"Hmph, none of 'yer' business."
"Ye may be a noble but a ring like that oughta be out of the budget o a wee child."
Louise began to fume. "I'll have you know that this ring was entrusted to me by princess Henriett-"she cut herself off by clamping a hand over her own mouth. Saltybeard's eyes widened before turning serious again.
"I see… right, ye two will be meetin' me in me cabin right now. Oi boys! Show our two guests here to me cabin!"
Before Louise and Wardes could protest, they were dragged to the pirate ship and brought aboard. Two armed pirate mooks were bringing them into the ship before leaving them in a finely decorated room which had maps and scrolls and other pirate gimmick.
The two pirate goons remained there until the captain himself entered and dismissed them with a jerk of his thumb. Once they left, the room was silent for a few moments.
"…So Henrietta sent you here?" the captain asked in a completely different voice. Louise and Wardes' eyes widen at the sudden change.
"Wh-what?"
"Show me the ring."
Louise hesitantly held up her hand with the ring around her finger, gasping briefly when the pirate raised his own hand which had a similar ring with a different colored gem on it. The two rings sparkled for a moment before a rainbow formed between them.
"Heh, I should have known."
The pirate drew his hand back and then took off his hat and then his beard which appeared to be fake. His face was now young, light blonde hair in a neat cut and blue eyes.
"Water and wind make a rainbow, a rainbow which symbolizes the friendship between Tristain and Albion."
"A…awawa…. B-but if you have that ring…."
"Yes. I am Wales Tudor, prince of Albion."
Louise stood there as still as a statue. Wardes was in a similar state, though he was planning in his mind. 'This does not change anything at all thankfully. If anything, the plan might actually move into action earlier than I thought.'
"W-why would you dress up like a pirate? Albeit, a very convincing one."
"Ah, that was to get more supplies. Plus, by dressing up as pirates and disguising our ship, we can launch hit and run tactics to the enemy's supply lines and they won't be able to trace it back to us. Not a very flawless plan but it's worked so far. Now then, I'm guessing Henrietta gave you a letter?"
Louise nodded and checked her pockets before presenting the letter to the prince. The young man kissed the seal on the letter lightly before opening it and reading its contents. His expression softened as he read the letter before looking conflicted and the resigned. He then folded the letter and returned it into its envelope.
"So she's getting married… ah my sweet Henrietta…" Wales murmured softly before returning to reality. "It seems she wishes for me to return a certain letter to her. Fortunately, I still have it, though it is back at the castle. If it isn't too much trouble, I would like you to come with me there to eat and rest before I give you the letter."
Louise nodded and so did Wardes. The grey haired man smirked inwardly as he praised whatever unholy God was helping his plan move along.
'The knight and the other useless students aren't here. The situation is perfect. The plan will go off without a hitch.'
#unknown location#
A certain bluenette's eyes slowly opened as she returned to reality. Her head hurt and her body was sore all over. The last thing she remembered was…
Lightning.
Tabitha shot upright from where she lay, instantly regretting it as she felt her body surge with immense pain.
"Idiot, you'll reopen your wounds like that."
The kuudere looked towards the source of the voice, her eyes widening as she took in the figure of the former secretary, Miss Longueville, A.K.A; Fouquet.
She would have flicked out her wand if it weren't for the fact that she was injured and had no idea where her wand was.
"Calm yourself, I'm not here to fight. I'm on your side." The green haired thief said nonchalantly. Tabitha's eyes narrowed.
"Why should I believe you?"
"Trust her lady Tabitha, she means no ill will." A calm voice interjected. Tabitha snapped her head at the source, revealing Artorias sitting calmly on a wooden crate. Tabitha's eyes were wide with confusion but if the knight was okay with Fouquet's presence then she had to trust his judgment. She looked around her to take in the surroundings. Wooden walls, a curtain drawn over a window, a table that Fouquet sat at, two other small mattresses which had Guiche and Kirche laying in them respectively and a door leading outside.
"Where are we?"
"A ship on its way to Albion. Don't worry about your familiar, its downstairs in the cargo hold. We left it some food. There weren't any water mages, or any kind of mage on this ship so we had to take care of your injuries the old fashioned commoner way. You're lucky I softened the earth you landed on in time otherwise you would have gotten worse than a few broken bones." Fouquet said with a small wave of her hand. "I know a small time water mage in Albion who works for cheap. He's just a line class but he'll patch you all up in time."
"For what?"
Fouquet's expression turned grim at this. Tabitha turned to Artorias who had a similar expression.
"There has been talk amongst the other crew members. Some of them overheard a few of the soldiers invading Albion talk about an attack. A final attack. At dawn tomorrow, the army will attack Newcastle, the last standing castle that belongs to the Albion royalty. The army dwarfs the soldiers in the castle, it will be like a group of ants trying to fight a wave of water from the ocean. They will be wiped out." Artorias explained in a very grim voice. Tabitha's eyes widened in horror. She knew it was definitely going to be a massacre and if Louise was still there by the time the war starts….
"How much further?"
Fouquet opened a curtain to peer outside. "Why I do believe this is our stop."
#hours and hours later, Newcastle#
Louise and Wardes were following prince Wales to his room, where he kept the letter. On the way to Newcastle, they both saw the terror that loomed near the last standing fortress. A gigantic warship called 'The Lexington'. Originally called the 'Royal Sovereign', it was an Albion warship that somehow fell into the enemy hands. Because the floating behemoth, they had to enter Newcastle through a secret entrance. They were greeted by surprisingly enthusiastic soldiers and servants, despite the fact that they didn't have a chance in hell against the ship with 180 cannons mounted on it.
The prince's room was strangely simple looking room. The blonde prince opened a drawer and used a key on his necklace to open a small box inside. The contents of the box was an envelope with the seal of Tristain on it and a small picture of Henrietta. He held the letter to Louise and she received it with a bow.
"There, now you have the letter. The Eagle should take you back home tomorrow, since we won't need it in the coming battle. Against a monster ship like that, anything we need would be nothing short of Brimir himself."
Louise looked startled for a moment. "But… then how do you plan on getting out?"
"Sorry?"
"You can't be telling me that you won't escape? Not even for the princess?"
Wales simply gave her a sad smile. "She's getting married with a man whose country isn't going to fall apart very soon. If I do leave, what will I have to live for? My love will be with another, my people will be dead and I will be alone. Not to mention that the rebels will know I escaped and will try to hunt me down. Trust me, it will be better if I just die in a blaze of glory rather than spend the rest of my life running away."
Louise was torn between yelling at Wales to not give up just like that and give up herself. Suddenly, she felt a warm hand rest upon her shoulder. She stared at the prince of the doomed country who shook his head. "You have done enough. I cannot leave my people, not like this. Before you sleep, please come downstairs, there will be a big farewell party."
The prince then left the room without another word. Wardes took Louise's hand in his and led her out of the room to go to the party.
This was probably going to be a long night.
#a certain house in Newcastle#
"Honestly Fouquet, you could at least warn me next time you decide to show up after all these years. I'd thought for sure you'd been done in by an angry noble."
"If you had paid any attention to the outside world instead of brooding in this shack all the time then you would have known that I had been the hype lately with my sudden capture by a bunch of children." Fouquet said impatiently.
"And me."
"And you sir knight, and you."
The group of people were sitting in chairs around a large round table in a small house around the outer areas of Newcastle. The room was only furnished with said table and chairs, other things such as food supplies and beds being in two other separate rooms. In two beds, Guiche and Kirche slept soundly, their wounds healed. Tabitha on the other hand…
Tabitha was grimacing in pain as the healer got to work. He was a youngish looking man, possibly around his 30's. He had long onyx colored hair that was tied in a long braid behind his head. His eyes were steel grey and his skin had a light tan to it. He was lean but not too thin, some muscles gained from exercise were visible on his arms. He wore a simple silk short sleeved shirt and a long silk tunic. A bandana was wrapped around his head. He was muttering and chanting a healing spell as he held a wooden staff that looked like the type a shepherd would use to herd sheep.
Tabitha was laid across the big round table, her clothes all stripped off with the exception of some cloth covering her chest and crotch to preserve her modesty.
"These are burns from a lightning spell… how on earth did you end up in a fight with a triangle class wind mage?" the healer asked with shock. Fouquet answered for her.
"Some bastard traitor of Tristain tricked her and her little friends. The bearded bastard went off with this knight's master and is going to assassinate the prince Wales himself sometime tomorrow. That's all I was allowed to know, since he didn't expect me to survive my fight with Artorias."
"I doubt he expected you to convert to my side either." The knight of Gwyn said with some amusement.
'I bet nobody expected her to get the hots for ya.'
'For the love of Nito's bones, would you stop reminding me? I keep worrying about what will happen if Ciaran finds out.'
'She's not in this world, remember?'
'I doubt that could stop her though…'
Both of the two who shared one mental space shuddered as they imagine Ciaran tearing a hole in reality just to drag Artorias by the ear and demand him to explain what the hell he's been doing.
The mention of Wardes being a traitor got Tabitha's eyes to widen. She remembered the fight. That figure floating in midair was Wardes. The man had manipulated them all like puppets and now Louise was in danger.
She feels most of the pain in her body recede and then the cool touch of the healing spell began to fade. She looked up to see the black haired healer wipe some sweat off his brow. "That was all I could do. Anymore and I'll end up using all of my will power up. Now you can either get another water mage or just let the wounds heal naturally."
"Thank you Aladdin, I appreciate the help."
The man chuckled and waved Fouquet off. "Eh, thieves got to stick out for each other. Even if I am retired."
Tabitha slowly began to sit up and Artorias passed her clothes to her. She began dressing herself before asking something to the cyan eyed knight.
"Can you beat him?"
"Hm? Who?"
"Wardes." Tabitha spat out his name like a disease. "Can you beat him?"
Artorias paused for a moment before shaking his head. "I cannot beat a man like him."
"Wha-"
"I can only KILL them." the knight continued grimly. "If I defeat him and get him thrown in jail, another member of his group will rescue him just like he did Fouquet. The only way to get around this is to kill him to prevent any future occurrences."
Tabitha nodded slowly. She knew that there were battles where you couldn't avoid killing someone. Still…
"But you can beat him?"
Artorias smiled.
"Like a wolf tearing into a pig."
#newcastle main hall#
Louise felt sick. Not because the food at the banquet wasn't tasty, far from it. But because of how the people were acting.
They were celebrating and acting jovially…. Despite the fact that they were going to die. According to Wales, the Reconquista will attack tomorrow during the day and they will make a final stand, a pointless stand that will do nothing at all to curb a miniscule amount of enemy numbers. The enemy was around 5000 in number and they were little over 300 people, including women. The children were being evacuated of course, along with their mothers. But every other able bodied man or young adult was going to take part in the last stand. Not because they had to but because they wanted to.
Louise felt confused, enraged and disgusted that these people would act like this despite the fact that they had no chance of living. What if Reconquista didn't kill them all right away? What if they took prisoners and tortured them. Would they still remain loyal to the fallen king and prince? Would they take the torture with the very same smile they have on them now? Or would they regret the decision of staying here and curse their foolishness and their leader?
Eventually, Louise had enough and promptly left the main hall to be alone, ignoring Wardes' concerned voice. She found herself back at her room after a few minutes of wandering. The moment she entered the room, she slammed the door shut and locked it. Wardes was sleeping in a different room for tonight.
She didn't have a change of clothes so she just took of her cloak, socks and shoes, unbuttoned the first three buttons on her shirt, and dropped Derflinger on the floor before collapsing into the bed. She curled up into a ball as she kept thinking about the people of Albion, the prince's determination at the obviously suicidal battle plan and her friends. Were they okay? Was Artorias in good shape? What about Guiche and Kirche?
And Tabitha?
'Stupid Albion people… stupid unreasonable prince… leaving Anne behind…' Louise thought sadly as she clutched her pillow closer to her. Some tears threatened to fall from her eyes.
'They are going to die tomorrow. Every one of them that doesn't leave the castle will either die or suffer a worse fate. The prince will die, all those soldiers and civilians who deserve a better future will die…'
Droplets of water escaped her glassy eyes as she shut them tight.
'I hate this! I hate this feeling of being useless! Guiche has golems, Kirche has flames, Tabitha has wind and ice, Wardes has lightning and Artorias has that bloody big sword of his! I can't do anything to help these people! I can't fight properly, I can only hide behind my familiar! I'm useless! I'm…. a zero…'
Louise sobs quietly as she feels remorse eat at her soul.
'I… I want to help people…. I want the ability to save these people…. I want….'
Derflinger felt shock as he 'saw' Louise's soul. Her small soul, utterly flawless, was slowly developing a small dark smudge around the center.
'I want power.'
#the next day, Aladdin's living room#
"So what's the plan of attack?" Kirche asked as she stretched her back popped a few sore joints. By now, she and Guiche were practically completely recovered, though Aladdin said they should take it easy on the bones.
"First, we need to find out where Wales will be. If Wardes is planning on killing him then we need to be there before he gets the chance. Master will most likely be there with him." Artorias said he fastened his old armor's gauntlet's on. Guiche stared at him before shuddering.
"I still can't shake off the eerie feeling I get from that armor. It feels cursed."
"It is." The knight of Gwyn said bluntly as he put on his hood helmet but kept it down.
"Why are you wearing it anyway? Isn't that armor a bit too damaged to wear?" Kirche asked with a confused expression.
"It's better than the clothes I was wearing before. Besides, I doubt Wardes will recognize me in this armor."
"He'll recognize your great sword."
"Which is why I'm going in unarmed."
Everybody present's eyes widened in shock. Tabitha was the first to recover from it as she asked. "Why?"
"Wardes deserves nothing more than death for what he's doing, so I asked myself what kind of death he deserves. The answer was the humiliating death of being beaten into a bloody pulp by an unarmed knight. Maybe I will rip off an arm. Or both."
'Hey, you said you were going to rip off his bal-"
'That was a MAYBE. Chances are, I still will.'
'Now you're talking!'
As they all prepared themselves, Fouquet noticed Aladdin packing up his bag with herbs and other apothecary materials and also preparing his staff and clothes. He had changed into a sleeveless black long coat, long black trousers with sandals on his feet and his bandana has been moved to cover the lower half of his face.
"Aladdin, what are you doing?" Fouquet asked with a quizzical expression. The onyx haired man simply smile (though nobody could see it) and shut his bag securely.
"In case you didn't notice, Reconquista is going to level the entire castle sometime today. As much as a hermit I am, I would rather not stay here knowing the risk of being discovered or getting killed by cannon fire. So I'm going to secure an escape route for you chaps for when you're done with whatever you're doing and then I will leave for R'ub Al Kali and visit my old friends. It's been a decade since I last visited."
"No offence, but you're a line class mage on your own without back up. How will you secure an escape route?" Guiche asked as he scratched his head in confusion. If it weren't for the bandana covering Aladdin's mouth, they would have seen his smile turn savage for a moment.
"I may be a line class mage but I have other talents that have saved my hide many times." The retired thief turned healer said as he picked up something from his bag and tied it to his waist.
It was an ornate dagger in a sheath.
Guiche and Kirche shivered a bit as they remembered that this man was just like Fouquet before. A cunning thief and most likely a murderer as well at some point. They were glad that he was on their side.
"Well then, I think we are ready. Now it's time to-URK!" Artorias cut himself off as he felt pain emanate from his left eye. Fouquet immediately rushed to his side and held his shoulders as the knight fell to his knees clutching his face.
"What's wrong? What happened? Are you alright?" the green haired thief asked in a surprisingly soft and comforting tone. This tone of voice had the three students and retired thief gaping in shock.
"I… have never heard her speak like that in my life…" Aladdin muttered in shock.
Artorias grunted as he felt his eye throb painfully and he lifted his palms of his face. Upon doing that, everybody else stiffened.
"A-Artorias, your eye is pink!" Kirche exclaimed in surprise.
It was true, Artorias' eye had turned pink instead of the sky blue it was before. Not only that, it was a bit dull and lightless.
"What is going on here… my left eye isn't working proper-wait, what in Izalith!?" Artorias shouted in shock. His left eye's sight was blurry but what he could make out was that he was seeing something else from what his right eye saw. He saw walls, a blurry image of a bearded man and a young blonde man.
"I think I can see Wardes! Why can I see him?" Artorias asked in confusion. Tabitha realized what was going on as she felt that the pink eye was somehow familiar.
"Familiar bond. Mages can see what their familiar sees and vice versa." Tabitha said as quickly as possible.
"That explains why it's pink… Louise's eyes are pink too… wait, if she's with Wardes then what are they doing?" Kirche asked.
"I don't know, everything is too blurry but I think they are moving…"
"If that's the case then the bearded bastard is on the move. We need to get moving to stop him now!" Fouquet yelled as she exited the house, the others following her. Artorias stumbled a bit as he felt the odd feeling around his eye disappear.
"Ah, it's normal again." Guiche commented.
"I think… I think I know where they are. I can feel my master's soul. I should be able to track it down." The knight of Gwyn said with steel in his eyes.
"You're the fastest out of all of us so you get to her first. If you see Wardes, kill him. Get pinkie and the prince and then haul ass back to us. We'll catch up." Fouquet ordered in the same tone she used to direct the bandits and mercenaries she once hired in the past. Artorias, understanding her commanding tone of voice, nodded and pulled up his hood helmet, the shadow of the hood completely obfuscating his face, save for his glowing eyes. He then kicked off and bounded in one direction.
"Hey, that way leads to the chapel! Why would she be there?" Aladdin asked out loud. Tabitha tried to process the idea too because it didn't make… wait...
Chapel… priest… bells… wedding… bride….
Wardes was going to marry Louise.
"THAT BASTARD!" Tabitha growled as her face twisted into a furious expression, shocking Kirche and Guiche. Without another word, she took off using wind magic to boost her speed as she ran after Artorias.
Fouquet, who was carrying Artorias' sword on her back (she transmutated the metal into a much lighter mineral), blinked in surprise before turning her head to Kirche. "I take it she never gets mad like that?"
The red haired girl shakes her head with a fearful expression. "If she's ever angry, it's a cold and silent anger… to explode like that… somebody is going to die very horribly…"
#elsewhere, unknown location#
"I can see the knight, he's heading towards the church. Should I let Wardes suffer at his hands?"
"No, I think I would find it more amusing if that girl with blue hair was the one to give our viscount the punishment. How about we test out the prototype on the knight? My familiar say it will be quite the challenge for him since they draw power from the same source."
"Very well my lord."
#hillside road#
Artorias was running as fast as possible towards a large white building. It seemed to be a church of sorts. Why his master would be in there, he had no idea.
'Ya think the old beard face decided to get hitched earlier than planned?' the knight's inner Manus remarked.
'He better not have or I really WILL tear of his-wait, what's that?'
Far on the road in front of him stood a cloaked figure. It wore a ragged tan colored cloak that went down and low enough to cover the feet. It had a hood that was up and completely over shadowed the face. It stood there silently, facing the knight.
'That thing… does not feel human…'
'Does Wardes have a bodyguard?' Artorias asked no one in particular as he prepared to run past the thing. Maybe it was just a passerby.
Suddenly, it hunched over and darted right at him, cloak fluttering as an arm covered in bone like armor drew a familiar black sword and stabbed at Artorias.
'WHAT!?'
'NO FUCKING WAY!'
The knight of the abyss leaped over the stabbing attack and flipped around to face his attacker, only to find that the cloak had been thrown into his face to blind him. The sky blue eyed knight leaped backwards to avoid the blade that slashed through the cloak, barely missing him. As the cut cloth fluttered down to the ground, Artorias saw the being in front of him in horror.
'It can't be... Why is one here!?'
The being wore skeletal armor, a dark hood that shrouded a face covered in a skull mask with empty eyes.
'A Darkwraith… why the hell is one here and why can't I command it!?'
'What are you talking about?'
'I'm technically a copy of Manus so I have control over the abyss and so do you. By all rights, we're the ones who are supposed to be able to command Darkwraiths and make them! So if this one isn't listening to me…'
'Then someone else made it. But who could…' Artorias trailed off as he remembered what old Osmond told him.
'The book dictates that in order to counter Brimir's familiars, negative versions of them were created. Darker, more menacing familiars. There were four of course.'
'Could one of the other abyss familiars have created it?'
'SHIT, ITS MOVING!'
Artorias snapped back to reality in time to see the Darkwraith begin to menacingly walk towards him, its darksword held at its side. Artorias clenched his fists and prepared to fight it and hopefully steal its sword so he could defeat it easier. Suddenly, a shower of long spears of ice rained upon the Darkwraith, many of them lodging themselves into its body and even into its head. The knight of Gwyn blinked in surprise before turning his head to find Tabitha with her staff out. Her expression was livid for some reason, which suddenly turned into shock as the Darkwraith continued to move.
"W-what is that?" she asked to Artorias who simply shook his head.
"It's a monster from my world. I'll handle it, you go and save master! Now!"
Tabitha nodded and took off, extremely unnerved that the menacing being didn't even flinch when it was bombarded by those spears. Her fear turned to anger as she remembered her original purpose.
Artorias didn't watch Tabitha go off as he had to dodge a nasty swing of the Darkwraith's sword. The swing had a lot of power put in it, as it made a small gust of wind when it was swung.
'If that hit me, I would have ended up losing a few pounds of flesh.'
'Oh gee, ya think!?'
Artorias grabbed a nearby tree and dug into the power of the abyss as he uprooted it and swung it at the monster in front of him. The Darkwraith simply lifted up a hand and caught the tree, much to the knight of Gwyn's shock.
'They weren't this strong before!'
'Well it's obviously a new model!'
In his shock, he failed to react in time as the Darkwraith lifted its blade and cut through the tree to hit Artorias. The blade dug into his chest plate and left a shallow cut thankfully, but it still stung a lot.
"GRRRRAAAH!" the Abysswalker let out a feral growl as he pulled back the tree and swung it again, this time in a slamming motion. The Darkwraith lifted both its hand and blocked the strike, only for Artorias to lift the tree again and slam it down again, repeating the process over and over again. The Darkwraith had no time to move away and the ground beneath it slowly began to crack as the tree began hammering him into the earth like a nail.
Getting tired of the repetitive attack, the skeletal warrior quickly jabbed its sword up and it plunged into the wood of the tree. The power behind the stab caused the tree to split in half, causing Artorias to stumble a bit.
'HOW IS THAT KIND OF CUT EVEN POSSIBLE!?'
'SHUT UP AND LET ME CONCENTRATE!' Artorias yelled back at his inner Manus as he abyss walked away from the Darkwraith. He reappeared several meters away from it, panting slightly before he cracked his knuckles and let the abyss flare through his left arm with its dark energy. His runes glowed a dull dark blue as shadows flamed across his arm.
'If this doesn't blow it up, I don't know what will.'
'Scenario A, it works and we kill it. Scenario B, it doesn't and we will be left wide open for a stab or slash.'
'Thanks for the vote of confidence…' Artorias said grimly before crouching down like a wolf about to pounce. The Darkwraith sense that hits opponent was about to do a dangerous attack and it changed its stance. Before, it was simply standing straight with its sword held out to the side almost lazily. Now, it entered a stance where its two legs are planted into the ground firmly in a position that let it prepare to run. Its right hand held its blade out behind it and its left hand flared with black and maroon energy. The Dark Hand.
'Better not let that hit you, I don't know how it works against primordial humans but normally it drains humanity.'
'So if it hits me, I go hollow. No pressure.'
Both combatants stayed still for a moment before a small gasp signaled the start.
Kirche, Aladdin, Guiche and Fouquet finally made it there and found the two about to clash.
"What the hell-" Kirche cut herself off when the skeletal warrior and Artorias all but blasted out of their stationary positions and dashed at each other, arms raised to kill.
#chapel#
Louise didn't know what was happening. From the moment she was rudely awakened, her vision and thoughts have been hazy. Like she was still have asleep. She felt a veil get placed upon her head and her mantle was replace by a white one. She heard Wardes mention something about a wedding.
'..yes… I was going to marry Wardes, wasn't I..? I can't remember… I feel tired…' she muttered mentally.
Derflinger was watching Louise from his position on Wardes' back. The bastard was really showing his true intentions now.
'He bloody drugged her! Pinky better snap out of it on her own or she's gonna end up hitched with this weasel!' the rusty sword thought in panic. For a brief moment, he thought he saw one of Louise's eyes turn sky blue. He couldn't tell, it was still a bit dark and she had her head hung low.
Wardes smirked silently as he led Louise into the chapel. Now he will seal the deal and Louise will be his and Reconquista's.
Wales gave Louise a concerned look upon noticing her downcast face. "Is she alright?"
"She's fine, she's just a bit sleepy. Let's begin."
Wales nodded and began the ceremony. Louise remained silent the entire time as she stared at the floor.
'Maybe this is how I should be… just being useless… let everybody lead me around…'
'Now now, what happened to your fiery spirit?'
'Go to Kirche…. She has plenty…'
'You used to be so confident and proud.'
'Guiche might be… I'm not..'
'Come now, you can't be that daft?'
'I'm a fool… not like Tabitha… she's so smart…'
'Wake up, dear child of the voided abyss, do you really believe that you have no use? Everything in existence has use, and you my dear are very useful indeed.'
'True… useful to be mocked… and bullied…'
'What would Artorias say?'
'He deserves a better master…'
'….This drug is more potent than I thought. Let me give you a small booster.'
Suddenly, Louise felt something briefly surge through her. It was like a cold wave of water smashing against her mind, sobering her up. All traces of the magical obedience drug washed out of her system as the abyss cleaned her out.
'W-what?'
'Now I will ask you again. Do you want your life to be led down this path?'
'I-I don't-'
'Do you want to lose your friends, your familiar, and your loved one?'
'What are you-'
'If you marry this man, you will truly become useless. A pawn. You still have a bright future ahead of you, you have so much potential, becoming this man's wife will only leave one possible future for you and that is being a submissive housewife.'
'I'm not a-'
'Answer me now, Louise of the Valliere family, future pilgrim of the dark, do you want to be great?'
'Of course I-'
'Do you want to be recognized as a mage, not as the zero?'
'Yes I-'
'Do you want power?'
'YES I DO!'
'Then you better snap back to reality.'
Louise blinked as she looked up to the two men with her. Wardes had a confused expression on his face and Wales seemed sympathetic. "Bride? Do you feel ill?"
"N-no, I don't feel ill. In fact… I would like to think that my head has been cleared." Louise said with determination lacing her voice, causing Wardes' mind to enter a small panic mode.
'She can't have recovered from the drug that quickly! That's impossible!'
"Well then, we can continue. Do you, Louise le-"
"I can't."
Both men turned to her in surprise. "Sorry?"
"I'm sorry Wardes… but I cannot marry you." Louise said with finality. Wardes turned pale.
"L-Louise, you're just nervous, you can't be refusing my offer of marriage? I thought that was what you wanted?"
"It was. It's just… if I become your wife, I will have to stay at home… I will have to quit school… I do not wish to be a housewife. I want to learn more and continue studying. I want to gain achievements of my own. I want to fix my magic. I want…"
The pinkette briefly thought of Tabitha before shaking her head. "I want to be great. I cannot do that by becoming your wife. Not yet."
"But you can!" Wardes said as he put his hands on Louise's shoulders. "You have power! You have something that no other mage has! The both of us can rule the world! We can both be great!"
Louise narrows her eyes as she listens to the grey haired man speak in an almost feverish tone. "What are you talking about?"
"You can surpass Founder Brimir! You can become the greatest mage in history! I need you Louise!"
"Viscount, I believe you are going a bit too far! It is obvious that the bride does not wish for the marriage to continue and you have no right to try and change her mind like this!" Wales said, anger lacing his voice as he pried Wardes off Louise. The grey haired man stared at the pink haired girl with a betrayed and shocked expression before lowering his head and beginning to laugh.
"What's so funny!?" Louise shouted, having had enough of Wardes' behavior. The wind mage stopped laughing and looked at her, an insane look in his eyes.
"It seems that I'm only going to be able to achieve two of my objectives today…"
"What?"
"Ah it's such a shame… Reconquista will be so disappointed."
Wales and Louise's eyes widened in shock upon that revelation. Louise's face twisted from shock into a look of betrayal. "Wardes… you can't be…"
"Oh but I am. Ever since day one. You see, I was given three objectives. The first was to get you, but that obviously isn't working out well. The second was the letter in your pocket to start a war. And the third…" Wardes trailed off as he pulled out his wand sword and pulled it back as he prepared to stab.
"IS TO KILL THE PRINCE!"
Louise and Wales were frozen in shock as Wardes quickly stabbed his sword right towards the blonde prince's heart.
"GLACIER TEMPEST!"
Suddenly, the room shook and Wardes lost his balance for a moment and his blade missed Wales' heart and ended up stabbing him in the left upper arm. The prince cried out in pain before giving Wardes a kick, knocking the man back and pulling the sword out. The gray haired traitor felt the room shake again.
"What in the name of-"
His sentence was cut off as suddenly, the roof of the chapel was ripped off, revealing the weather outside.
Ice and wind buffeted the area as a miniature storm circled the building, causing their clothes and hair to flutter wildly. A loud smash sounded out as the great big doors of the church were ripped off their hinges and flung away as a short, blue haired figure walked into the room with cold and calm fury.
"T-Tabitha!" Louise exclaimed in shock and relief. 'She's alive! She's okay!"
The blue haired girl turned to look at Louise and she blushed when she saw what the pinkette was wearing. The white mantle and wedding veil were the only new additions to her clothes but that still made her look adorable.
Turning away from the cute sight, Tabitha locked her eyes with Wardes as her face settled into one of anger. "You have no right to get near her."
Wardes growled before pulling Derflinger off his body on throwing it at Tabitha who caught it. Wardes then used his wind magic to float upwards and away from the building. Tabitha held her staff steady as she did the same, flying after Wardes. Louise felt the winds get stronger as her wedding veil was ripped off. She turned to Wales who had a grim expression.
"Can't you help her?"
"I'm afraid I left my wand on my bed. I was not expecting treachery like this to happen at a wedding. Where is yours?"
"I-I don't know… I think I left it in the bedroom."
"Then all we can do is watch." Wales said as he watched the aerial duel between two triangle class wind mages.
Wardes slashed his blade three times and created a flurry of wind scythes, which Tabitha blasted away with a swing of her staff. She then spun it around and swung it in a downward swipe, a hail of sharp icicles appearing from behind her and darting straight at Wardes.
'She's a triangle class as well!?' the gray haired man thought before parrying a few of the spears of frozen water with small blasts of wind and then stabbing forward and shooting a lightning bolt from his blade. Tabitha's eyes narrowed as she used her wind magic to quickly strafe to the side, the bolt of electricity missing her by mere inches.
This cycle continued for several minutes as the two casted and parried each other's attacks. However…
'She should be used to the pattern by now… her loss.' Wardes thought as he subtly used his signature technique as he darted at Tabitha and slashed at her with a lightning covered blade. Tabitha dodged backwards and prepared to counter his attack.
"TABITHA, BEHIND YOU!"
The bluenette's eyes widened as she heeded that warning and moved, mere seconds before a second Wardes stabbed where her body was from behind.
'Wha-'
*SHNICT!*
Her thoughts were cut off as something sharp pierced her back and went all the way through to the other side. She slowly and shakily turned her head to see a third Wardes behind her.
"Wind clones, my secret technique. I can create perfect replicas with wind and even use them as my eyes and ears. I'm actually impressed that you made me use this technique."
Tabitha tried to say something, a swear or an insult towards the bearded man, but the words would not form as pain racked her stomach and back. She felt the blade get pulled out of her and she coughed up blood before falling towards the ground.
"TABITHAAAAA!" Louise cried out as she raced to catch her. Thankfully, Wales was faster, even with his wounded arm, and rushed forward and caught Tabitha, grimacing as he felt the pain in his arm increase significantly. Tabitha's staff cluttered to the ground and broke in half next to him as he gently lowered her to the floor. Louise ripped off her mantle and Wales took to press against Tabitha's wound, before ripping off half of the mantle's fabric and pressing it to the wound on the other side.
"Tabitha! Tabitha! Speak to me!" Louise cried as she held onto the blue haired student's hand. The glasses clad girl turned her head to Louise weakly and smiled.
"L-Louise…"
"Shh, I'm here, don't say anything! Where's your wand, we can use it to heal you!" Louise said as she searched Tabitha carefully but quickly, finally finding the wand in a special compartment in her right sleeve. Wales took it and began to administer first aid before snapping his head up to the sound of laughter.
Wardes stood in midair, laughing as she watched them.
"Look at you! Trying to save her life despite the fact that it is yours that you should be worried about! I think I may complete all three objectives actually, I just need to kidnap Louise after killing of the two nuisances!"
Louise glared at Wardes. Anger coursed through her veins as she clenched her fists.
'Do you feel that? The despair? The anger? Do you hate that man now? Have you realized how much of a fool you were?'
"Wardes…. You…" Louise growled out as she slowly picked up a part of Tabitha's staff and stood up.
"Scream, roar, shout, shriek, show him your power! Your anger!"
"I'll…. I'll…."
Darkness started to creep up from the ground and leave wisps of shadowy smoke around her as she raised the staff. Wardes' eyes widened as he realized that she was about to cast a spell. Derflinger rattled in his sheath in panic. "STOP, LOUISE!"
"I'LL KILL YOU!"
With that roar, she smacked the butt of the broken staff to the ground, which erupted in darkness. The shadows flared around her as abyssal ooze crept up her pure skin and soaking through her clothes, dyeing it all black and blue. The darkness crept and spread into her hair which turned a darker shade of pink and her eyes began to glow red as she let out another roar of fury before aiming the broken staff at Wardes.
"PURSUERS!"
With another blast of darkness, six orbs of abyssal magic erupted out of the staff and rushed at Wardes. The grey haired man's eyes were wide in shock as he tried to deflect them with a blast of wind.
The moment the wind touched the orbs, they exploded.
Wardes watched in horror as he realized that his wind attack only destroyed one of the six orbs, the other five flying straight towards him. He used his wind magic at full power and flew away from them, as fast as possible. He looked behind him to find that they were moving at the exact same speed as him and had changed shape.
Before, they were just orbs of darkness with strange flaming white outlines. Now, they had taken longer, more distinct forms. They appeared to be mimicking a human's body shape. A pair of blank white eyes were staring at him from each dark figure as they pursued him.
"N-no no no, stay away from me!" Wardes all but shouted as he let out more blasts of wind, detonating more and more of the orbs. But with each Pursuer he destroyed, the rest would become much faster. Finally, there was only one left and it was so fast that it had gotten right up to Wardes' face.
Wardes used his wind magic to make him fall down through the skies of Albion as he tried to outfly the thing, but it just stayed as it was, chasing him at the same speed, staring into his soul. Wardes wanted to strafe to the left or use wind magic to dodge to the right, but he feared any other movements would make the THING get faster. What happens if it hits him? Will he dissolve? Will he melt? Will it eat away at his soul like acid?
"STAY AWAY, STAY AWAY, STAY AWAAAAAAYYY!"
And then he smashed into the ground, the pursuer exploding directly in his face.
#back with Artorias, before Louise snapped#
This was a losing battle.
No matter what spell they used, the Darkwraith would shrug it off like a bug. When Fouquet's golem punched it, the Darkwraith just judo flipped the thing. It didn't react to fire eating at its flesh and not even Guiche's Valkyries did anything. Every time the bronze constructs tried to attack it, the Darkwraith would read their movements perfectly and counter them.
That last attack that Artorias did wasn't that effective, it only left a small gouge mark in the monstrous warrior's shoulder, while the Darkwraith had managed to deliver a deep cut along Artorias' torso. Thankfully, its Dark Hand didn't seem to affect Artorias at all, other than making him feel weaker. Maybe it's because of his abyss abilities?
The knight of Gwyn panted as he clutched his chest while Aladdin tried to heal it. 'Damn it all to Izalith, this Darkwraith is insane! It's some kind of super Darkwraith!"
'Crappy name but I agree. That thing is-'
The inner Manus was cut off as he felt something tug at his power.
'Hang on, what the-'
And then dig into it completely.
'Wha-GRAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGHHHH!'
'What the-GKH!' Artorias cut himself off as he lurched forward and clutched his left arm. The darkness of the abyss grew thicker around him and the runes on his left arm started leaking corrosive abyssal sludge. Aladdin jumped back in surprise as Artorias hunched over, grimacing in pain.
'S-something is… what is this!?'
Then he felt a pulse through the familiar bond.
'M-master!? G-grr….'
He could feel it. Her anger. Her hate.
"G-Grrrr… GROOOOOAAAAAARRRRRRR!" He arced his back and let out a feral howl, shocking everybody present, even the Darkwraith. Artorias hunched over again and wobbled a bit before sprinting towards the skull face warrior at high speed. The skeletal soldier of the abyss didn't even get to block properly as Artorias grabbed its face with his left hand and dragged it after him as he ran through the forest, barreling down any tree that got in his way. He smashed the Darkwraith's face into the ground and dragged it as he ran, grinding the skull mask until there was barely anything left of the head. Artorias then flung the body at a tree before ramming his left fist into its chest, the body part exploding into dark ooze several seconds after that.
The knight continued to growl and pant as he left his fist buried in the remains of the body, even as the others called out to him. With one last breath, he collapsed.
#several minutes later#
After helping Artorias up, they went straight to the chapel, only to discover that it was in ruins and the very person they were trying to find was different.
Her shirt had turned black and her skirt had developed dark blue edges. Her shoes were once brown but now they were black as well. Her socks were still the same black as before but had developed dark blue crack patterns on it. Her hair was a darker shade and her skin was a bit paler.
Louise had changed. They hoped that it was just a physical one.
Tabitha was badly injured but the first aid administered by Wales kept her stable. Fouquet carried Louise while Aladdin carried Tabitha, Derflinger strapped to his back as they left the chapel.
The attack began several minutes later.
By then, they were in a tunnel that Guiche's familiar was digging so they could escape to Aladdin's secret boat. They couldn't use the normal passageway since it was too small and the entrance was further away. So they settled for Verdandi digging a wide hole for them all to fit in.
Eventually, they made it onto the boat, which had a wind stone in it and a spare in the hold. The boat was twice the size of a carriage, so they managed to fit themselves on it. There was only one bedroom and a relatively large bed, which they lay Louise and Tabitha in. The rest worked on the floating ship to get it moving away as fast as possible.
Tabitha's familiar; Sylphid, had remained on the ship that Fouquet and Artorias used to get to Albion but the crew was instructed to release her the moment they got back to the mainland. Eventually, the blue dragon appeared from above the clouds and landed heavily on the deck and tried to squeeze its head into the bedroom where Tabitha slept.
Artorias stood on the side of the ship, looking at the clouds. He could still hear the explosions of the cannons that the Reconquista's ship was making.
"May I join you?"
The knight turned to find prince Wales with a sad smile. He nodded and the blonde man proceeded to stand next to Artorias and stared at the sky.
"….You know I was actually planning to die. I was going to join my kingdom and fight against the Reconquista in a futile blaze of glory." Wales finally said after a few minutes of silence. Artorias' eyes widened a bit in surprise.
"So why didn't you?"
"I saw that girl. Tabitha. She fought desperately against that traitorous Griffin knight. Despite the fact that we were in a warzone, she came here and raised a storm just to save Valliere. It was beautiful really. Then when she was stabbed… Valliere used that... dark magic."
Artorias remained silent as he listened.
"I thought… what if that was me and Henrietta? What if during my blaze of glory, she came into the middle of the battlefield just to stop me? What if she got killed? Would I go insane? Would I let myself go loose in a rage? Then when I was healing Tabitha, I could feel her struggling to hold on to her life. Struggling to stay alive so she could remain with Valliere. Would I be doing the same thing if I was injured that badly? Would Henrietta?"
Wales trailed off as he sighed.
"You all came to the chapel not just to save Valliere."
"Yes. We also came to drag you to the princess so you could apologize on your knees for even thinking that you could leave her in a blaze of glory."
Wales chuckled. "She'll be so angry. There is nothing more frightening to a man than an angry girlfriend, am I right?"
"I know the feeling." Artorias said as he shivered. "If I ever get back home, Ciaran is going to castrate me for worrying her."
"Where are you from anyway? I've never quite seen a knight like you."
Artorias sighed. Wales was a good person so he deserved to know something.
"There is a place called Lordran…"
#dreamscape#
Tabitha blinked tiredly as she looked around her. There was nothing but foggy darkness. She could hear the pitter patter of somebody running, the sound echoing like droplets of water in a dark cave.
Tabitha started running towards the source of the sound. She ran for Brimir knows how long until eventually she found it.
Louise.
*cue Dark Souls OST; Gwyn. Lord of Cinder*
Louise was shivering on the ground in front of some sort of twisted bonfire with black flames. She was shivering and her color was wrong. Her clothes were all black and dark blue, her hair was darker and her skin was paler.
Louise turned her head to look up at Tabitha with glowing red teary eyes.
"I-I-I can't control it… I-it's too strong… I-I'm scared…" Louise whimpered with a distorted voice as she clutched her sides fearfully as darkness began to thicken around her. Tabitha's eyes widened and she immediately rushed forward to embrace the pinkette, feeling the darkness begin to cover them both like a blanket. It was cold and it felt wrong.
But Louise was warm.
*end song and switch to Dark Souls OST; Nameless Song*
"I won't leave you. I will stay with you. You won't be alone in this." Tabitha said with a soft voice as she stroked Louise's head. The pinkette sniffled as she returned the hug and buried her head into Tabitha's chest.
"Promise?"
"I promise Louise. I… I love you…."
Louise stiffened briefly before relaxing and leaning into Tabitha's body. It was just a dream, so it was fine to let her admit that. It was fine.
And it made her heart feel much warmer.
#bedroom#
Both girls slept soundly, not realizing that what they were dreaming was not just a dream. Slowly, their hands clasped each other comfortingly.
*end music*
#Albion#
Two men stood around a crate. In the crater lay a man, or what remained of one. His grey hair had dissolved with his skin, his hat was ruined and his clothes were horribly mangled and some were fused with his skin.
"Well, this was an unexpected end for him. Should we leave the body milord?"
"No Cromwell, I think we can use him. That special Darkwraith failed because it was just a normal human that was turned hollow and then bathed in the embrace of the abyss. What we need is someone who is an actual warrior to be turned. Use the ring."
Cromwell complied and used the magic of the ring on his hand. Slowly, Wardes began to heal slightly and he was coming back to life.
"Now, my beautiful familiars will work their… magic…"
With that, four gigantic ethereal figures rose up from the shadows and circled Wardes, before picking up his body and then lowering it into a pitch black whirlpool of darkness that appeared in the crater. The body was sucked in and the figures disappeared.
After several seconds, the whirlpool began to convulse and something stepped out.
It was a Darkwraith but it had modifications.
Its hood was replaced by a wide brimmed hat with a black feather.
Over the armor, it wore a high collared ripped trench coat. Black shredded cloth dangled from parts of the Darkwraith's arms. It had a black feather mantle around its shoulders that went down to its back. Instead of a classic darksword, it had a long obsidian rapier.
"Today, Viscount Wardes of the Griffin knights has died. Arise, Darkwraith Wardes of the Dark Stalkers."
DUN DUN DUN DUUUUUUNNNN!
HOWS THAT FOR A PLOT TWIST!? BETCHA DIDN'T SEE THAT ONE COMING!
Ahem. Anyhow, there it is. End of the Albion arc and on to the Founder's Prayer book arc!
Now then, I hope you liked Louise's physical changes! In most fics I read where Louise ends up with some sort of dark power, she ends up changing physically.
In Heart of Blaze, she change into a hotter, taller version of herself.
In an Alien crossover with ZNT, she became more Xeno like.
In this, she's going to look a bit more gothic. But don't worry, her personality won't change in the slightest.
This chapter contained a lot of deviation from canon but hey, that's what fanfics are supposed to do. Even if you guys don't like this little change, I'll still continue anyway.
Now then, onto replies to some reviews!
To 'Loyaltothelegion', I'm glad you like it! Don't worry, Ornstein isn't actually a total dick, that was just the Inner Manus messing with Artorias. Orny ain't that mean.
Maybe a little.
And you're right, the I.M deserves a real name. But that might now be for a while, so for now we will treat him like Hollow Ichigo and just call him by what he technically is.
To the random guest who praised the sun, PRAISE THE SUN!
To 'BladeEater2', oh don't worry, I have no plans for stopping this story.
To the guest who asked for an embarrassing moment for Louise and Tabitha, wait till the next chapter because those two are going to be AAWWWWKWAAAARDDD.
To 'FD' (Guest), that's right, the song that was sung on Gough's birthday is in fact a parody of the song 'Rasputin'. Hopefully somebody who reads this fic will eventually make the song become reality.
To 'KO' (Guest), I know, Saito is a lucky son of a bitch, isn't he? He kind of deserves it though, he DOES live in Lordran after all, even if it is a softened version.
To 'stylus legna', that bandit was hiding and waiting for the others to get their asses kicked before letting himself get caught and then catching Guiche's attention. Crappy explanation but eh.
To 'Ultima-owner', yes, it is a very strong smile. The power of MANLINESSSSSS!
To 'Black Iron Bob' (Guest), Thanks, glad you like the authors notes! *watches you get dragged yanked into the portal by Manus* Oh Gwyn's beard, here we go. Solaire, cover for me, I got to save a reviewer! *jumps in after them*
Solaire: But there are still other reviewers! Oh dear, there he goes. This may take a while. Tarkus, can you please go in there and help them?
Tarkus: Ye got it lad. Hang on ya wee pansies, Black Iron Tarkus is comin' ta save ya! *jumps in after them*
Solaire: I need a vacation… oh, on a small note, the next chapter will be purely devoted to the Lordran Escapades, though it will be a darker chapter with remembering the painful past. Expect Chaos covenant feels. Well then, I bid you all good day and *charming sunlight wink to the ladies* Praise the sun.
Tarkus: SOLAIRE! QUIT FLIRTIN' WID DA HOES AND 'ELP US! MANNY'S ANGRY AND ME COUSIN BLACK IRON BOB IS GETTIN' THROWN ROUND LIKE A TERRIER SHAKIN' A RAT!
Manus: GRROOOOOOAAAARRRR!
Solaire: *sigh* Father's flaming beard… *charges a sunlight spear and jumps into portal*
