The Cons of War
Lancer awoke with Granberia still sleeping; he stood up and grabbed his gear. He had to make sure he kept up his shape. He walked out and went to the training room. He did pushed ups for fifteen minutes then went on to sit ups. When he finished he walked out, he fortunately doesn't sweat very much. Tamamo was rushing down the hallway when he came out.
"Lancer!" She said
"Yeah? What do you need?" He replied
"Wake up Granberia quick!"
"O-on it!" he said quickly turning and jogged back to her room.
He slowed down as he reached his destination. He slowly opened the door and walked in closing behind him. He walked over to her. "Hey, wake up"
She stirred, and groaned. To be fair it was really early in the morning, around four from the look outside. She opened her eyes and sat up. She rubbed her eyes and got out of the bed.
"Sorry to wake you, but Tamamo seemed desperate and asked me to wake you. Before you ask, no I don't know what she wants"
"Ugh, then let's find out. Give me a second, I need to change."
"Okay" Lancer said turning.
Lancer started creating hypotheses about Tamamo and what was wrong, when Granberia interrupted his train of thought.
"Sorry if I um…did anything to you last night."
"What? Oh, that… Look I- "Lancer started while turning, but remembered she was changing and quickly stopped. He sighed and continued, it wasn't his style to stare at a wall while talking to someone. "It's not as if you could do anything about it, you were asleep; and well… You're a monster. It's well, what I'm guessing natural. Before you say anything I'm not an expert on your species, so don't judge because I'm probably way off.
"Well, you're correct, and I'm not judging, and neither are you. Anyways, I'm sorry. It won't happen again." Granberia said
"Well, I should (hopefully) have my room back again soon. Speaking of which where are the other girls sleeping?" Lancer asked this time fully turning.
"They're in their own room, though Allison went out somewhere I don't know where." Granberia said while Lancer turned.
"Woah, right sorry!" Lancer said quickly turning again. She was putting her bra on, though fortunately she was mostly covered.
"Oh whatever, it's not like you haven't seen me naked before." Granberia said sighing.
"I...haven't I think?" Lancer said questioning if he had. "I don't ever remember that. " Lancer said.
"Well, now you have. It doesn't matter."
"Right…" Lancer said doubtfully. "Are you done yet, it shouldn't take this long for you to change clothes. It takes me like two minutes."
"Oh whatever, I have more to put on."
"Like what?" Lancer asked shaking his head.
"All my armor" Granberia said in a duh like manner.
"Why are you putting your armor on? You don't need to."
"I always make sure I'm prepared for anything, whether it be stabbing you in the chest, or blocking against an unexpected attack. Can you say the same?" She said
"Well, I didn't really know that you were going to stab me and to be fair I couldn't block most of the others, like I don't know a sword getting teleported into my chest, blown out a window, or getting shot by a high-speed holy arrow. Not to mention my most recent death when I was severely out matched."
"Hey, I didn't know you were friendly. The previous time we met we fought so." Granberia said laughing quietly.
"Oh whatever, you were the one that instigated the battle in the first place. I was just minding my business wandering into that infernal volcano to hang out with some hostile monsters."Lancer replied, also laughing.
"How did it feel, getting a foot wide blade shoved into your chest?" Granberia said smirking while walking over and grabbing her blade.
"Well to be honest I can't say it felt to well. Though next time you stab me, go a little lower because you almost killed me." Lancer said shaking his head
"As if that would've helped, you have almost died several times, even without me helping." Granberia said walking over.
"Hey you're just jealous, because you could never beat my near death count. I think it's at like six or seven now… I've lost track." Lancer said, "Have you finished?"
"Just about" Granberia said.
Lancer turned and saw Granberia spinning her blade in circles. "Hey, watch it. I don't entirely want to be decapitated."
"Do you have a choice?" Granberia said smirking as she motioned towards his sword, which was on the other side of the room.
"Alright, well now that you're done we need to go Lancer said trying to change the subject.
"I don't think so" she said grinning, pushing Lancer up against the wall.
Lancer raised an eyebrow and gave her a questioning look. "Really now of all times?" He said sighing.
"Uh huh" Granberia said kissing Lancer.
"Tamamo's going to be pissed…" Lancer thought
Granberia wrapped her arms around Lancer and started pulling him closer.
Lancer didn't resist, it would only earn him more force.
Granberia pulled him towards the bed, still kissing him and pushed him down. She stopped kissing him, giving him the chance to stop her from doing anything rash.
"Granberia, stop. We have to go, and besides it takes you like half an hour to get dressed. So don't undo all that." Lancer said commandingly.
She stared at him constantly switching eyes too stare into. She finally got off of him and stood up. "Sorry, I-"
"It's fine, it's just we've been keeping Tamamo waiting for too long" Lancer lied, feeling uncomfortable. He stood up and walked over to the door. "Ladies first" he said trying to lighten the mood.
"Oh how gentleman like" Granberia said jokingly, causing a slight smile on Lancers part.
They walked down the hallway in silence, both knowing they hurt the other. The finally tracked down Tamamo, she was with the others, and from the loom of it she was complaining about the two. Lancer walked in, shortly followed by Granberia.
"Where have you been?!" Tamamo asked angrily.
"Alright, what's going on?" Lancer asked waving her question off
Tamamo just looked at him with an irritated expression. "What took you two so long?" Tamamo asked switching over to Granberia.
"I um, we almost…I" Granberia struggled to explain.
"Don't answer" Lancer said giving Tamamo a look of explanation.
"Oh, really. Of all times?!" Tamamo said looking between the two."
"Just forget it, we're here now, that's all that matters. So what's the problem?"
"Look" Tamamo said motioning towards a ball of glowing crystal.
"Wow, I didn't know those were a thing" Lancer said surprised.
"Just look into it" Tamamo said impatient.
Lancer bent onto one knee and looked through. What he saw caused his eyes to widen in realization and anxiety. There were ships crossing the Ocean with Orcs and Ogres they seemed to be heading for Sabasa. Beside the ships were Giants, they seemed to be heading for Grand Noah and the Ark. Then the vision changed to what seemed to be Lamias, but different in some way, swimming towards the port. Dragons seemed to be flying to Grangold. And a fleet of ships were sailing towards San Ilias. It zoomed in on what seemed to be the flagship. There was the Warlord on it. He was speaking to a mage; Lancer couldn't understand what they were saying. The mage muttered something and turned towards Lancers view. He waved his hand and the Ball became cloudy.
Lancer stood up and turned a grim expression on his face, "We need to warn the cities"
"What did you see?" Granberia asked
"Several armies converging on the different cities that Luka here has formed an alliance with" Lancer replied
"Well, I didn't do all the work. Considering your reputation I'm sure you have done something" Luka said to Lancer.
"Like what?" Lancer said
"Well, umm… I have nothing" Luka said shrugging
"Exactly, they wouldn't listen to me in the first place. They don't know me, so they wouldn't believe me." Lancer said, "Luka"
"Yeah?" Luka responded
"You should go they should, hopefully, trust you." Lancer answered
"What will you do?" Alice asked
"Well, you're the one in charge. You tell me" Lancer said turning to her. He was wondering if she had finally started trusting him again.
"I'm not the valorous one, I didn't defeat Ilias, or go one on one against the Warlord" Alice said, with a slight sound of jealousy.
"You still don't trust me huh?" Lancer said
"I don't trust you as far as I could throw you" Alice replied glaring
"Okay, look. I'm alive whether you like it or not. I don't care if you think what's dead is dead. We have a damn war to win, and if you haven't noticed. We are losing" Lancer said putting emphasis on losing.
"Fine, go to San Ilias, help them out I don't care."
"Luka, you're coming with me" Lancer said calmly waving him over
"Wh-what?" Luka said surprised, "Why not Granberia?"
"Because, they hate me. I killed their god." Lancer said, "Well technically Richard did, but they think I did"
"I can go if you want me to" Granberia said walking over to Lancer.
"I need you at Grangold, your sword'll be good at cutting through the Dragons scales" Lancer explained. By the way, they're… different than your species. Larger, fewer in number, and look very intimidating."
"Okay… I'll go there right away. Wait, are you formulating the plan? I thought that was Alice's job?" Granberia said.
"It is, though she seems incapable of doing it at the moment." Lancer stated
"You dare!" Alice yelled in outrage. She lunged at Lancer, who already had his sword out.
"I've gotten weaker, but that doesn't mean I can't still fight back" Lancer said glaring.
"I could kill you" Alice said vehemently.
"Maybe so, but you would come out with some bad cuts" Lancer said sheathing his sword, hoping she would see reason.
She had the opposite reaction, she jumped forwards and slammed Lancer in the chest and followed up by tripping him and slamming him into the brick. She went to punch him, but he moved his head to the right, and head butted her. While she was stunned he ducked grabbed her tail and pulled, she tripped and fell back on the ground. He unsheathed his sword, hoping to stop the battle before it escalated any further, but she grabbed him with her tail and slammed him into the wall, she stood up and grabbed his head and repeatedly slammed it into the wall, stunning him.
Luka ran over to stop her, but she pushed him back and continued. Lancer grabbed her arm, and slammed her hand into the wall, and used his elbow to hit her and pulled a quick jab on her left shoulder, close to her throat. Fortunately he learned Lamias weak spots. He continued and punched her in the face and pushed her back. She retaliated by quickly lashing his side with her tail, causing him to trip and land on the ground. He spun and leg swiped her. He jabbed her on the other shoulder causing her to stop attacking.
He stepped back and stumbled falling into a chair, the chair broke and sent him into the floor. He stood back up, using the wall to support himself. He looked at the wall, the brick was covered in his blood. He wiped his mouth and stumbled out of the room. When he looked back Luka was rushing over to Alice's unconscious form and Alma Elma was smiling, she looked over at Lancer and disappeared.
Lancer walked out of the castle and walked to the nearest spring. He tripped over a root, but was caught by someone. He looked over, it was Alma Elma. "Hey, careful. We don't want you dying again." Lancer was too weak to respond. Alma Elma helped him to the ground; he was bleeding from several places on his face. She laughed, "That was quite the show, nothing like a good power struggle to entertain us!" she said laughing hard. Lancer just stared at her, he wiped the blood off his mouth. Alma Elma sat down next to him and leaned on him.
At this point he didn't even care, he was too tired and worried about what he did to care. She put her arm on his shoulder and whispered something in his ear, though Lancer wasn't listening. He decided to apologize, it's not as if he could make the situation any worse. He struggled to get up, but stumbled and fell on his back. He sat up just to see Alma Elma give him a confused look. "Where are you going?" she asked. Lancer regained his balance and stood up. He looked at her and went to say something, but nothing came out. She cocked her head, trying to hear what he was saying, but heard nothing. "Are you okay?" she said standing up.
"Obviously not" a voice said from behind them. Lancer slowly turned, as to not fall over again. It was Erubetie, "He just fought the Monster Lord." She stared at him for a second, and felt a foreign presence in his mind. He stepped back in surprise, but instantly figured out what was going on. He replayed his previous thoughts through his head. "He trying to apologize to Alice" Erubetie said to Alma Elma.
"Alright, well help me support him so he can get to the castle without breaking himself."
"Alright" Erubetie simply responded.
They walked back in silence, with occasional grunts from Alma Elma as she was shouldering most of the weight because Erubetie is made of slime. Lancer watched the animals scuttle around them, and the trees flow in the breeze. He looked into the distance and saw the waves crash against the rocky shore, the tide was going out. The sky was darkening, "probably a rainstorm" Lancer thought. His ears started ringing and his vision went blurry, but quickly cleared up again. He felt his ears, and felt something wet. He looked at his hands, they were covered in blood. He stared, "who have I become?" he questioned himself.
Alma Elma leaned over and quietly said "Blood is very sexy".
Lancer rolled his eyes; he can't forget who he's with. They finally reached the castle, but before they could enter Granberia ran towards them. "What have you done!" she said while full force punching him in the face. He was staggered, he fell to the ground onto his side and coughed up blood.
"Huh?! Why did you provoke her?!" Granberia said picking Lancer up.
"He can't talk, or hear it seems" Erubetie said reading Lancers mind unsurprised
"He wants to apologize to Alice, I don't know how, since he can't talk…"
"I'll let you in, but Luka is umm a little pissed"
"Luka pissed? Wow Lancer you must've struck something" Alma Elma said
"Well she's his wife so…" Lancer thought
"Well, let's go!" Alma Elma said smirking.
They walked into the castle and over to their private chambers, collecting weird looks from the staff and guards.
Lancer used the remainder of his strength to stand up, without help, and knocked on their door.
"Who is it?" Luka called from inside, gaining no answer. The three walked off, leaving Lancer to his fate. Luka opened the door and saw Lancer standing there. "Oh, it's you. What do you want?" he said trying to keep calm.
Lancer pointed to his throat, his ears were finally clearing up to the point where people didn't have to talk directly into his ears. Lancer coughed a few times and apologized in a raspy voice.
"She's fine, though when you're better you should talk to her directly. I would send you in, but I doubt she would want to see you." Luka explained
Lancer nodded and went back to his current housing, Granberias room. He opened the door and collapsed on his side of the bed. His sword was pressing into his back so he shifted just enough to take it off and set it beside him. He closed his eyes and fell asleep.
Later he was woken up by Granberia. "You need cheering up" Granberia stated. "I know just the thing she said as she hopped on top of Lancer.
All Lancers mind was awake enough to think was, "To early for this"
How'd you all like the chapter? Please feel free to review, it's greatly appreciated. Tell me what you think, and next chapter will be out soon. So look forward to it!
