Note of 10th Generation - well, I'm very glad you enjoyed it, and many, many thanks for reviewing each chapter throughout this time! :)
Winona paced in the open square before the Senate chambers. In the early morning it was buzzing with activity, filled with politicians and even commoners. What which would normally would have been considered a shocking thing - having the common Tom, Dick and Harry occupying the space where only senators went and even mixing and - what was more - conversing with those senators - seemed almost normal now. All because of Red's death.
For once, Winona regretted the illusion of widespread support they had constructed for Steven's benefit. While aware that they had received much less support then they had claimed to have, it was painful to realise how little and how fragile the tiny support was. It appeared as if the whole city had turned against them. Oh, how could it happen? How?
She kept her head down to avoid unwanted stares, and worse, unwanted recognition. Her face was not one unknown; if they latched onto the fact she was one of the assassins...she veered sharply away from a senator who glanced a little too long at her. She could not forget the incident of the certain unfortunate poet, mistaken for a conspirator and beaten to death by the crowds. They could do anything.
Fool, fool, ten times a fool! How could anyone think that it would be possible to convince the Senate? And at this stage of terrifying tension! To crown it all, the brilliant person who had conceived this brilliant idea wasn't even coming. 'Coming afterwards' was his explanation. Yet Wallace took that. Well, of course Wallace would accept that.
Dwelling on Steven's and Wallace's relationship did nothing to improve Winona's mood. If they weren't here -
A tug on the edge of her cape made her turn around. "Ah, Diamond. And is - is our wonderful planner with you?"
The plump young politician led Winona through the crowds and to a secluded spot out of the sight of most people. Wallace was waiting there for them.
"About time, isn't it?" Winona remarked sarcastically.
"This is no time for arguments. Hopefully, we will be able to convince - "
"Like this?"
"Do you have another plan?"
Winona crossed her arms. "I don't know, perhaps running away to another country isn't impossible?"
"That would defeat the purpose of everything we've been doing."
"Oh, really?" Winona rounded on her former lover. "What is the real purpose? Why, genuinely, why? For power? Only power? Or something - I don't know - undefined?"
He turned away irritably. "Now is not the time. We need to make the best of whatever unfortunate circumstances we are in."
"Which is why - "
"Not another word, please," he went on, ignoring her incredulity. "We have the Senate to deal with.
"All ready?"
"Certainly," Cynthia replied. Lance noted that she had failed to disguise her faint annoyance from having to take orders. Well, you'll take them, like it or not, until you get to my position, girl. He still couldn't see the sense in Red's promoting the young upstart anyway. Never mind bright and upcoming, she was an undisguisedly ambitious pain in the neck.
"Good. Let's go then."
"Are you bringing that - that thing with you?" Cynthia frowned, wrinkling her nose.
"Of course. She may still have a bit of value," the redhead replied, hauling the bloodied Shadow onto his horse, placing her across the animal's hindquarters, on the edge of the saddle.
The young blonde politician next to him scowled but said nothing. Together, with their entourage of several soldiers, headed to the Temple of Arceus.
"D'you think she was telling the truth?" Cynthia muttered as they rode on.
Lance gave her a sideways glance. "I am confident that I could tell when our little informant was lying or not."
Cynthia replied, "You would, wouldn't you?"
The senior senator ignored the jibe and continued, "Besides, it is likely, considering their psychology. No doubt one of them - Silver, most likely - would try to stir up something with a superstitious remark or a similar tale. The temple is the perfect place to do just that."
His companion acknowledged this with a reluctant nod.
"You will see," he promised, through gritted teeth.
Winona was painfully aware of the hate-filled stares coming from all directions. Although the outer chamber of the Senate was packed, the occupants somehow managed to part to make a clear pathway for the three of them, leading straight to the inner chambers.
Suspicious. So damn suspicious.
Winona guessed that Wallace, too, had suspected this. He paused before the imposing double doors, hesitant. The spectators' gazes burned into their backs. Like lions waiting for the prey.
Then Wallace shrugged, resolving himself, and entered. Winona and Diamond followed rapidly.
One hundred archers, assembled in every possible corner of the room, drew their bowstrings back.
"Anyone seen Shadow?"
"No."
Silver shifted his feet in frustration. ""Why the hell - oh, forget that. Just go." His irritation only mounted as he realised how very late they were. Anyone could have made it into the Temple before them - and foolish caution had prevented him from scouting ahead. No, he didn't want to risk anything...and perhaps now he had risked their safety most of all.
"Wait - " he called, but Emerald and Brawly had already stepped past the marble arches. Sighing, he followed.
A mistake he would never forget.
"Lance," the hiss escaped his teeth. Assembled before the altar, were at least twenty soldiers, all armed to the teeth, a couple of unimportant senators from Red's camp, Cynthia - looking peeved as ever - a very bloodied figure kneeling beside her, and Lance himself.
"Welcome."
"What do you want?" Silver muttered.
"I think you know very well," Lance replied with a sardonic smile.
"You - " A sudden noise behind him made him turn his head sharply. Another troop of elite soldiers had assembled at the entrance, and were slowly closing in on a semi-circle, essentially blocking all possibilities of an escape.
"A word of advice," Silver's former superior continued, "when you want to do something, please make sure you are capable of following through with it."
"What is it that you - "
"Another thing," Lance went on, ignoring Silver's protest, "you should try to choose fellow conspirators that you can actually trust."
A chill snaked down Silver's spine. Had they been betrayed? Was that why..."What do you mean?"
"I mean - " Lance leaned down and dragged the bowed dark figure kneeling at his feet upwards. "Recognise her?"
Emerald gave a little cry of shock. "Shadow! What have you done to her?"
"I think she know very well, don't you, eh?" Lance said, giving the girl a harsh shake. "Don't you?"
Her only response was a dry, painful cough.
"Say what you like," Silver said, trying to keep his shaking voice calm. "You don't need to prove it."
Instead of becoming angered, Lance merely laughed. "Believe what you like, then. But she'll testify to that, won't she?"
Shadow painfully raised her head, averting her eyes from the young men before her. In particular Silver.
"And," Silver went on, as clearly as he could manage, with his mouth and throat rapidly drying up, "I do believe that even if this is a - an arrest, we should have access to a court and a fair trial, for the sake of - "
"Traitors," Lance cut in, slowly and deliberate, "do not need a trial. They are to be eradicated by anyone and everyone."
Silver swallowed. The soldiers drew their swords.
Steven dismounted his horse as rapidly as he could, gripped by a terrible sense of foreboding. Why the hell had he proposed coming around later? Even he himself could hardly recollect his reasons.
Anyhow, his uneasiness grew with every step he took, swift but paced to a point that it was not obvious to the crowd around him that he was in a hurry. He fairly leapt up the steps and strode into the Senate, and was immediately struck by the sight of several archers pouring out of the inner chambers, in a file of two, rapid and in usual military order.
He broke into a run.
Ducking into the room as soon as the last archer had exited, he stopped dead at the sight that greeted his eyes.
The centre of the chamber were three figures, completely porcupined with at least fifty arrows each. He dashed over and knelt beside one of them.
"Wallace."
Graceful, beautiful, dead - smooth face twisted in surprise, foreboding, and something a little bit more that made one want to cry out in pity. Shock, perhaps, in realising that everything, absolutely everything had come undone.
Steven knelt numbly, gently stroking the deceased's face. No tears, no noise, no thoughts.
Then, carefully, with his limbs moving as if of their own accord, he plucked out one of the arrows, turning around such that the sharp head faced himself. He aimed for his own heart.
"Hurry!" Lance ordered. "Get another lot of soldiers to clean up the mess."
Cynthia had already mounted her horse, which was pacing impatiently outside the Temple. "Come on."
"I am," he replied, trying to keep the irritation out of his voice.
"Are you going to take her along?"
"Yes."
"Why on earth - "
"Don't argue," Lance snapped, yanking Shadow onto the back of his horse. "Just go."
As they rounded the corner sharply, however, somehow, out of her own will, or merely as a result of an accident, the girl tumbled off the horse, straight onto the cobblestones.
"What the - "
She was dead, he realised immediately, with the blood quickly pooling around her head. "Damn the bastard," he swore.
"Leave it," Cynthia advised. "Not worth waiting."
He complied, livid. So she had taken the easy way out. Oh, the irony. If only she could have watched the demise of those she had betrayed. Yet the hand of Providence had allowed her escape.
They entered the inner chambers of the Senate to see four corpses.
"Damn him," Cythia cried.
"He's escaped too," Lance murmured, glancing at the still-bleeding body of Steven.
So that was it. An assassination ending in blood, death, chaos, and not even with the satisfaction of having done so. For some reason, Lance did not feel particularly pleased, even at seeing his greatest enemies dead. It was almost like watching the demise of oneself. And in the end, it did not even feel like Red had been avenged properly. And nothing could ever bring him back.
If only one could escape...
"Get someone to clear this lot away," he said coldly, more coldly than he thought he could be.
Finally! Seven-and-a-half months later.
List of dead people: Flint, Volkner, Red, Silver, Emerald, Brawly, Wallace, Winona, Diamond, Steven, Shadow (in that order)
Any ideas on what I should write next?