Before the Warrior
Chapter Eleven: For Freedom
"I have no time for fear or people in my ear.
Head down and running so fast. Try not to dwell on the past.
I'm fighting through this pain and things I cannot change.
Running right into the flame rather than running away."
-Maroon 5.
The beast scanned the landscape on its morning patrol. No sounds met its hearing sensors, but it wouldn't allow itself to be caught unawares. The creature scratched its claws on a brick wall, leaving marks in it as it thought about its enemy. Sure, there were several other soul sacks that still needed to die out there, but the pale doll's death in particular would be sweet after the many times she had escaped its grasp.
Suddenly a sound alerted the beast. It growled and set both its beam and scanning eyes to work to find the source.
A small shadow darted through nearby wreckage. The beast immediately lunged at it, but did not catch anything in its pinning paws. The great cat was just standing back up when it felt a jab at the back of its skull. The beast let out an angry roar. The pest was back.
The feathers on Seven's new helmet waved as she struggled to keep a hold of the raging monster. Her spear had barely made a scratch in the creature's head, but it certainly had enraged it. She ran along the beast's spine, looking something like a roadrunner with her bird-motif gear, and jabbed at every crease in the monster's beast, meanwhile, ran amok at the assault, rearing and nipping to get the either very brave or very suicidal prey off its back.
Despite her best efforts, Seven knew that she was losing her footing and leaped off the creature's back just as it was ready to buck her off. She held on to her spear, letting her body follow the movement of her weapon as it glided through the air before effortlessly swinging the blade to the side and slashing at the beast's leg.
Seven landed soon after the strike and assessed her handiwork. She had severed a wire that connected the cat's paw to its body and now the creature couldn't control its limb from the elbow joint down. She had rendered the paw entirely disabled.
A new injury didn't stop the beast from attacking again. Seven dodged the wounded monster's attack, rolling out of the way as it blindly snapped at her. The dodge didn't discourage the beast, and it closed in on clambered up a pile of debris and raced over a plank of wood that was overlying the heap, allowing the limping monster to follow her from a safe distance. She ran all the way to the end of the plank and stopped about eight feet up in the air.
The beast snarled, believing its prey to be cornered. However, when Seven lifted her helmet and smiled a sly smile, it was clear that the predator had been the fool of this game rather than prey.
The wooden beam trembled and slid to one side like a giant seesaw. The cat beast scrambled to climb up the beam, but instead went down with it. Seven however kept her balance as best as she could with her feet firmly planted on the board before she gracefully leaped a safe three feet off the ground. The beast only caught a glimpse of its would-be prey running off into the distance.
Seven scowled at the failed attack as she ran, hearing only a heated roar in the distance as she returned to the library.
The twins' optic lights flickered as Seven returned to the library that day. They greeted her in flashes of Hello, and How was the fight? but received no answers to their questions. The pale doll was too lost in thought to talk.
Seven went to her corner of the library where her books lay waiting for her. She flipped through nearly every page of the volumes she could reach. Still, she could find no new battle secrets. Frustrated, she flipped pages over and over with her metal hands, desperate to find something–the essential secret to success.
Three and Four watched Seven's fit with pity. Lately she had been so focused on her task that she rarely spoke to them at all. The hunt was no longer a quest; it was an obsession. Seven didn't even remove her helmet or shield when she came home anymore.
But pity was not the only reason that the twin dolls went to Seven's side. They had something they wanted to show her. Three tugged on Seven's right arm while Four tugged on her left as they led her to their surprise.
"What is it?" the warrior asked, trying to ignore her frustration.
The twins didn't answer though and led her to their great elevator. Seven hadn't taken a good look at the contraption when she came in, but now she saw the glory of what the two had finally achieved.
"You finished it?" she asked.
The twins nodded and gestured for her to step onto the platform. Seven wasted no time with that idea and soon the twins were right beside her. Three pulled a tiny lever at the side of the elevator and soon the device began to spin upward all around the globe. Seven almost smiled as they zoomed past the volumes and treasures of the past, heading up toward a small crack in the ceiling where light poured in.
Three stopped the contraption when it reached the top shelf and the twins scampered out. Seven noticed that they had stocked this particular shelf with scraps of fabric for sleeping and some light reading material for both of them.
"Not a bad room at all," Seven remarked.
It's yours too, if you want it, Four flashed.
We know you like being up high when you sleep, Three added.
The warrior smiled at the twins. "Well, thank you. You two really are amazing, you know that?" She paused and looked out the crack in the globe. She could see the emptiness going on for miles and miles beyond.
"Just think. Once that monster's gone, you'll be able to see the world. We can be free," she said, rather wistfully.
And we'll see the others again, Four clicked. Three smiled wide at that thought.
"Yes, yes, we will," Seven agreed, secretly trying to convince herself that the others would be as easily persuaded to come out of hiding as she hoped. After that last visit to the sanctuary, she prayed that Two would last long enough for her to free him.
Seven continued to look out at the horizon until after the sun set and the twins fell asleep. She knew that she would one day get out of the emptiness with her family beside her. They would all fly away, just as she had flown from the sanctuary and the beast.
Author's Note: This second-to-last chapter has also had very little revision, but there is a good reason this time. While before I was trying to avoid shifting the point of view, opening the chapter with the beast's point of view was crucial here. The actual fight scene was somewhat inspired by an animatic (storyboard for the non-savvy) I was working on at the time which was discontinued. Also, the song I've quoted is a little tricky to find. It's a bonus track on the original version ofHands All Over called No Curtain Call. If you like Maroon 5 at all, you'll probably like the track.