The residents of the castle were used to seeing Utena treat the hallways and corridors as her own personal track course. However, she usually did not run in her school uniform or with such a grim expression on her face. No one dared stop her to ask why she'd run off so suddenly after kissing Master Touga. When the lord of the castle came running not long after, they didn't have to ask.
"The castle is under attack! Where's Saionji? And where's my majordomo?"
The green-haired man stepped forward. "Kouze's distracting him."
Touga nodded. "I want the doors barricaded and the lower windows shuttered. Empty the armory. Arm everyone. Everyone has their ring?" He swept the crowd with an intense gaze, getting nods all around. "Good. If we survive this, everyone leave. Go home. In the meantime-" he broke off as a scream sounded from the nearest window. "-what was that?"
"Swords!" came the panicked response. "Hundreds of swords, just flying around!"
"We can't fight those," Saionji said quietly.
Touga nodded. "Everyone, forget the armory. Grab all the wood you can carry and go to the Master's wing. Make sure everyone – and I mean everyone – is inside, and then barricade the main door with everything we've got."
"But what about Utena?" Wakaba stepped out from behind the maitre'd and glared fiercely at the redhead.
"Utena's already there. Now move, everyone!"
They scattered.
Touga watched from a window close to the Master's wing as the gondola disgorged its single passenger – a man in a white uniform, tall with dark skin and long, lilac hair. The Acting Chairman, Akio. End of the World. He sauntered leisurely to the center of the dueling arena, then looked up at the castle as though he could see Touga watching him. With a strange little skip-step, he flew straight at the castle, landing in the main courtyard before Touga had time to take a startled breath.
The redhead whirled and ran for the giant double doors. "Is everyone inside?"
The former students manning the doors nodded. "You're the last one," one of them said.
"Barricade it," Touga snapped, not even slowing down as he wove through clumps of terrified servants. "Saionji!"
"What did you see?"
Now Touga paused, eyed Wakaba clinging to his arm, and mentally shrugged. "End of the World is coming. You know what he's coming for."
Saionji nodded grimly. "What do you want us to do?"
"Have the servants barricade themselves inside the rooms. They should be safe enough out of sight."
"I'm not hiding," Wakaba declared suddenly. "And I know some of the others won't want to, either."
Touga looked at her for a long moment. "You can't fight swords."
"I can get them stuck in a piece of wood," the brunette countered.
"Fine. Everyone who wants to fight, arm yourselves with wood and try to stop as many of the swords as you can. Everyone else, hide and don't come out until everything is quiet."
Wakaba and Saionji nodded and ran back towards the barricade, which began to shudder under the strikes of the first swords, the ones which had bypassed the doors and flown in directly from the upper windows. Some of them got stuck, but it didn't take long before a handful began to dart in like deadly silver fish. As he grabbed a footstool and began blocking swords, Touga wondered how long it would take before Akio arrived.
For the most part, getting the swords stuck in improvised wooden shields worked perfectly. The student-servants who chose to fight sustained only minor cuts and punctures when the blades went further through the wood than anticipated. They were taking out dozens, maybe hundreds of swords – but more kept coming.
Much sooner than he would have liked, the barricade splintered under the onslaught of hundreds of swords, and End of the World stepped through the gap. The swords flowed around him as though he were unworthy of their thirsty blades. Touga grabbed a decorative sword from the wall – a black-hilted longsword with a wide golden crossguard, not his usual weapon at all – and ran for the mirror corridor.
"Where are you going, Mister Student Council President?" the taller man called, sauntering insolently after him.
Touga didn't bother to reply. At the start of the mirror corridor, he stopped and took a stand.
"My, my. Are you trying to be the Prince, protecting the Bride?"
"No," the redhead spat. "I'm just a playboy pretending to be one. The real Prince is already with the Rose Bride."
"Are you going to duel me for her, then?"
Touga smiled grimly, knowing which her Akio meant and referring to the other one. "Yes, I am."
Inside the Rose room, Utena hurled herself once again at the unseen barrier keeping her from the girl who hung suspended in agony, eyes still closed despite the steel that violated her. Again, the barrier resisted all attempts to break through and hurled Utena into the wall with an electric backlash. She was close to crying with frustration when she heard the faint sounds of swords clashing in the mirror hallway. She picked herself up from the floor yet again and was about to investigate when the mirror on the door shattered. The door itself held for a few seconds before there was a splintering sound and a strange whistle, and then a sword flew down the short secret corridor. Utena ducked out of the way and watched in horror as it pierced the barrier and impaled the girl who hung in agony. It was followed by a second sword, then a third. With an inarticulate cry of denial, the pink-haired prince tried to block the swords, but they evaded her and circled up to the stained-glass rose before shooting down to take their inanimate vengeance on the girl whose eyes still remained closed even though she whimpered softly at each new injury.
Then, through the open door, Utena heard Touga cry out in pain.
Without a second thought she dashed down the hidden hallway, ignoring the swords that dodged her, drawing her own as she ran. As she burst out into the mirror corridor, Touga staggered back into sight. The longsword fell to the floor with a clang as his grip weakened, left hand pressed against the bloody wound just below his right shoulder.
"Touga!"
His eyes flicked over to her at her cry, but they returned immediately to the opponent who also took note of her presence. Green eyes narrowed at the blade in her hand, and just as he lunged, Touga flung himself at her. The strike which would have sliced diagonally across Utena's chest cut into Touga's back instead. He cried out again and collapsed heavily against Utena, who dropped the sword in favor of not dropping the redhead.
"Touga," she moaned, lowering him gently to the floor. "Why did you-"
He lifted his left hand to her cheek, and smiled through the pain when she leaned into his touch. "Because that's what a prince would do," he said quietly. "Don't worry about me. You have a Princess to save."
Utena nodded grimly, forcing herself to take his hand from her cheek. "Don't die," she told him fiercely, kissing his hand before placing it gently back on the bloody wound. "You better not die, because I love you."
The defiant look in her eyes made his breath catch, and it was all he could do to nod. She looked around for the sword he'd given her, but the dark-skinned man had taken it on his way to the Rose room, and after a moment she grabbed the abandoned longsword instead.
At the end of the corridor, End of the World gazed thoughtfully at the sleeping face of his sister, then at the gleaming blade of the Sword of Dios. He ignored the swords that still streaked down the hall to add themselves to the collection already impaling her and raised the blade slowly, deliberately. Then, with a shout, he thrust the blade cleanly at her heart – only to have the barrier deflect it. Again he struck, and again, getting angrier as each slash and thrust were turned away by that unseen barrier.
"Get away from her!"
The angry demand made him turn his head in curiosity. Touga had said the Prince was with the Rose Bride, but the only one behind the mirror door had been this girl. Did the poor, cursed boy think this girl was a Prince?
"Or what?" he asked, one lilac eyebrow raised questioningly.
In response, Utena charged. He met her halfway down the corridor and the blades met with a ringing clash. The stranger in white pinned her longsword to the wall, kneed her wrist, and then kicked her in the chest as the sword fell from her grip. She'd grabbed the hilt of his sheathed sword, however, and climbed to her feet with the dark mirror of her own sword in her hand. The irony wasn't lost on Akio, and he laughed. Utena just charged him again.
Whether it was the more familiar shape and weight in her hand, or whether he was distracted by his amusement, she fought better and he had to actually work to defend himself. Her practice with Touga had improved her skill greatly, but the lilac-haired man was still the better swordsman and he pushed her step by step into the Rose room, backing her against that electric barrier.
As she screamed, body arched rigidly, he thrust the Sword of Dios neatly through her chest. He hoped her body would act to hold the blade still and let him finally break through, but the barrier held and the sword snapped less than a foot from the hilt. Utena was flung against the wall and slumped to the floor like a marionette with its strings cut.
"This is the Prince Touga fought so hard to protect? Pathetic," he sneered, tossing the hilt of the Sword of Dios in her direction. "Your sword, noble prince."
The man who had once been Dios turned and began walking away. Utena grabbed the broken end of the blade in her chest and pulled it slowly out, her breath coming in broken gasps and whimpers. She dropped the bloody steel and picked up the hilt of her sword, not caring that it was broken, and forced herself to her feet despite the battering she'd already taken and the blood flowing freely down her chest and back. One step. Two. Three. She leaned against the invisible barrier, ignoring the power coursing through her or the pain it brought, waiting for the discharge that would launch her directly at the dark-skinned man's back.
"I am a Prince," she ground out, making him pause. He turned to look at her and his eyes widened in shock and – was that fear? "And I will free her!"
The discharge came. Utena put everything she had left into the scream of rage that burst from her throat, the broken blade of the Sword of Dios aimed at his heart as she flew at him. He screamed, but he wasn't looking at her.
The swords in the hallway stopped, frozen where they were. The ones that had already reached their destination quivered.
The Rose Bride opened her eyes.
The swords impaling her pulled themselves free and re-oriented, shooting unerringly at the girl once again charging recklessly at him. Her eyes held a determination he hadn't seen in ages, not since Dios had been sealed away. He blinked, and then it wasn't Utena flying at him, but a younger boy with lilac hair and green eyes.
He screamed again.