Woah Woah Woah, hey! Hold up! Hang on a sec!
It's ya boi Ginzo here! Turns out the author's a big ol' idiot and used an old draft of Leona's and Anan's appearances on some versions of the story. Leona's actually the human and Anan's the Awoken. S' why he has white hair. Anyway, I went back and fixed it so the author didn't have to. For future reference, Leona has tan skin, with a jet Black ponytail. She's got a mean mug and a bunch of scars, too. I personally don't know how Lus finds her attractive but more power to him, you like what you like. Ain't nothing wrong with that. Except if it's morally reprehensible. THEN there's something wrong with that. Anyway, Anan has pale Blue skin that's almost white with White spiky hair and Red eyes. I apologize on behalf of the author and I hope he gets his stuff together. I gotta dip because he's yelling at me to stop breaking the fourth wall or something, I don't know. Ginzo out!
"Chopstick?! Explain!" Jose shouted.
"I thought there weren't any! The scans didn't match!"
"Well, it might not be one because I'm wishing for the Hive to stop!" Lus yelled, reloading his shotgun to prepare for the next thinning of the horde.
"I'm gonna make a gun out of it..." Ginzo said as he spun his Falling Guillotine in the Celebrant.
The dragon soared through the skies, raining destruction upon the Hive below. As a few detachments of Hive changed their target to the dragon, it took heavy fire from the Hive and roared in pain and fury.
"Do we help it? Moa asked, looking upon it with some awe.
"It looks like its helping us, so I'd say so!" Lus said, slamming the ground with a lightning fist.
Jose flew overhead, before planting his Dawnblade into the ground, incinerating the Hive around him. He then summoned a Penumbral blast, freezing the remaining Hive of this wave. He rushed them and raised his staff to the skies, shattering them. In return, the dragon roared and unleashed a blinding light upon the Hive, devastating them.
Anan looked upon his opponent, it somehow still alive despite Anan's attempts at eviscerating it. As he prepared to spike several Nova Bombs into it, it teleported away.
"Glaucia, where is it?!" Anan asked, running outside into the chaos to find it.
"On the rooftops! It's trying to sing a deathsong!" Glaucia responded, healing her Guardian.
Once Anan heard this, he blinked an unbelievable distance before rising up high enough to find the Wizard. As he threw a colossal Nova Bomb at it, the dragon attempted to attack the Wizard as well. However, the Wizard once again teleported away, causing the attacks to whiff.
"Dammit! We don't have time for this!" Anan muttered, scanning for his target. "Lus, are the students away yet?"
"We're getting the last of those in our bubble out right now!" Lus responded. Meanwhile Glaucia had been scanning for the Wizard.
"In the Chapel!" Glaucia yelled, causing Anan to unleash a Chaos Reach on the chapel.
However, the Wizard once again teleported, this time back onto the rooftop. The dragon from before spotted the witch and began to dive towards it, once again unleashing a freezing ray. The Wizard, however, barely flinched. Instead, as the dragon began to pull up, it conjured a portal and threw it on the dragon, causing it to disappear, before the Wizard disappeared as well.
"Wha...did...did it just take it to the Ascendant Plane?" Glaucia asked, dumbfounded by the occurrence.
Moa unleashed several Golden Gun shots upon the Hive in the mausoleum she was in, according to Hornet. The Blue-haired professor was on the other side of the mausoleum, surrounded by Hive soldiers hungry for his flesh. Moa tossed a Swarm Grenade near his position to provide him some cover while Moa rushed to his aid.
Meanwhile the professor was being rushed by the skeletal creatures and the smaller footsoldiers. Briefly panicking, he turned to look at the possible Relic on the ground and rolled to grab it. Spinning around to face the mob, Byleth swung the blade at an incoming skeleton, causing the blade to glow and cut down the skeletal thing, much to Byleth's pleasant surprise. He then turned to slice another attempting to maul him, causing it too to perish. However, Byleth was still forced back by the greater numbers of the Hive. Byleth mentally cursed as he was forced to retreat and avoid blasts of purple energy coming from the footsoldiers. He rolled to a crouch behind a coffin. To his relief, he heard several bangs and screams of Hive before it went quiet.
"You okay?" Moa asked the professor, snaking around the corner to extend a hand to Byleth.
Saying nothing, the professor nodded and took Moa's hand, allowing him to rise to his feet.
"Are the students okay?" Byleth asked, worry spreading over his face.
"...Yeah." Moa said, trying to hide her hesitation. "Lus and Jose are helping a whole bunch get out right now. Which means we need you to do the same."
Byleth once again nodded, before he and Moa began to rush out of the mausoleum in order to hurry to safety.
"I want to help." Byleth said, looking at Moa with a serious expression on his face.
"The Hive are really strong. Just let us handle it."
"But I-"
"Listen, professor…" Moa started as her and the professor ran up the stairs that led out of the Mausoleum. "Even with your new weapon, It'd be hard to continuously fight for as long as the Hive can. Us Guardians are used to dealing with the Hive."
Byleth had no choice but to nod in acknowledgment of the points she had made. Even with Byleth's godlike power, some of the Hive were seemingly immune to it. She was right.
"However, it seems like it's gonna be inevitable that you'll have to fight, even if it's not here. Let's get out of here, and then we'll talk." Moa said, as the two finally made it outside.
"This thing is strong as hell!"
Ginzo grunted as he reflected blasts of energy back at the Celebrant with his Arc Staff. Ginzo had already known that its objective was to stall him until the Hive took the monastery. But at the same time, he couldn't let something as powerful as the Celebrant run rampant. He rolled as he unloaded a Golden Gun into the Celebrant. The Celebrant was staggered and reeled from the hits. Ginzo smirked.
It was time for this thing to die.
"I believe in you Gin!" Fortune called, cheering on her Guardian.
He rushed the towering Knight with his Falling Guillotine, slashing and rolling around its legs before he unleashed his heavy attack on the Knight. Before he could though, the Knight disappeared in a Green mist like before.
"Uhh...Fortune, where'd it go?" Ginzo asked, looking around in an almost comical manner.
"I think to the Ascendant Plane...whoops…"
"Oh boy...Anan's gonna kill me…"
"I'd have to kill myself too." Anan said, dropping down from the rooftops to Ginzo location in the middle of the Monastery. "The Wizard took the dragon to the Ascendant Plane."
"Damn…" Ginzo said, eyes widening. He switched to comms to update the team.
"Alright y'all...so the Celebrant and Wizard just took the dragon to the Ascendant Plane. Leona, is the Ogre still up for you?"
"It just left." Leona said. "I don't know if that was their main goal, but I'm not a fan of the fact that the Hive have another dragon on their side. In any case, I'm not seeing any more Hive drop in, but the place is trashed. Is it even worth defending at this point?"
"I'd wager not." Anan replied. "Our next best move would be to clear out the remaining Hive and look for survivors. I'm not sure how fast they can rebuild here, but this place has suffered far worse than an average siege."
Almost as if to emphasize his words, parts of the main hall began to collapse as Anan and Ginzo dashed outside. To say the monastery was in ruins would be fitting. Burning wood, smoldering rubble, and the occasional body were strewn about the area. Thick smoke plumes rose from the ground to block the sun's rays. Some rooftops had caved in, particularly those covering what Anan and Ginzo assumed to be classrooms. Many other buildings and even what looked to be stalls in the marketplace were in flames, only adding to the atmosphere of chaos. Some were basically completely collapsed. The sound of structures crumbling along with the crackles and murmurs of fire filled the area. Some remaining Ogres slammed the ground, shaking the brittle buildings to their core. Other Hive were seemingly trying to attack and destroy the buildings, an unusual sight.
The monastery truly was in ruins.
"You got a point." Ginzo added.
Anan blinked into the air in order to begin an aerial bombardment on the Hive.
"Just another day for Tengoku…"
"Huh...well this is a lot worse than when I went down." Moa said as her and Byleth darted away from the mausoleum entrance.
"The monastery…" Byleth trailed off, the sadness in his voice matching his expression as he peered at the ruins.
"Yeah...I'm sorry we weren't able to defend-…" Moa attempted before Byleth cut her off.
"It's not your fault." Byleth said, shaking his head. "From what I saw, the Hive were far more powerful than anything here."
Moa could only nod, but she still felt shame for seeing the monastery in such a ruined state. Such a beautiful place, only to be ransacked by the Hive. It reminded her of the City, on a much smaller scale. She never saw it before the Cabal attacked, but she had always assumed it was bigger and more prosperous than the city now.
"That sword you have...is it a Relic?" Moa asked, attempting to somewhat change the subject.
"I think so...it glows like one." Byleth replied, unsure about his new weapon himself.
Moa's train of thought was interrupted as Hornet alerted her to a human underneath a pile of rubble near her. She turned to look at the rubble tomb, before rushing over to lift a massive piece of structure away. It revealed a woman with short indigo hair who wore a teal jacket, which was unfortunately riddled with tears and cuts. The woman herself appeared to have suffered some form of head trauma, along with some burns all over her body. After Hornet assured Moa that she was alive, Moa moved away the rest of the rubble covering her appendages before moving her to Moa's back.
"You recognize her?" Moa asked Byleth, who was not far away looking to see if there was anyone else trapped under rubble.
"She's a Knight of Seiros. Shamir, I believe. Will she be alright?"
"Her wounds definitely hurt, but she'll recover." Hornet said materializing. Find anyone else yet?"
"No…" Byleth returned. "I hope they got out…"
"Me too." Moa replied. "This'll be a little hard for you to understand, but Hornet's not picking up anyone else here. We should try to find our way out of here."
"What do you mean?" Byleth asked, visibly confused by Moa's statement.
"Well, I can...detect things and people. And well...there's no one else around here that's alive. So...yeah."
Byleth was somewhat surprised by this, but somewhat understood as well.
"I see..."
Byleth could only hope in his heart that all his students made it out alive.
Lus and Jose had left the monastery in order to pursue a group of Hive attempting to chase the refugees, as well as to look for any students that needed help.
"So…" Jose started over comms "On a scale of one to ten, how screwed are we?"
"I'd say an eight." Leona replied. "The students are scattered, the Hive have a dragon, who knows what the Vex are doing, we have no access to our vault, sparrows, ships, or other gear...dammit! What are we gonna do without access to our gear?"
"We are pretty screwed…" Lus agreed.
"Find any survivors?" Moa asked, looking around herself.
"Nada...I'm hoping that means that most of them got out." Leona said, audibly distressed.
The chilling ambiance of the forest was broken by the two Guardians firing upon a group of Hive feasting on a knight's body. The group was defeated before they could even put up a fight, thanks to the trademark weapons of Lus and Jose.
"My hatred of the Hive continues to grow..." Lus said, inspecting the body of the fallen Knight of Seiros.
"I think that goes for everyone." Jose replied.
Suddenly screams were heard from deeper in the forest.
"Guys!" Cinnamon frantically shouted, appearing. "I'm picking up a number of Hive attempting to attack a group of students."
"Let's go." Lus said, causing him and Jose to run after the marker Cinnamon left.
"Still no response…"
Zavala stood staring into the blue screen of information on his desk. Fireteams Noctis and Tengoku were both still missing. Ginzo had alerted him that they were going to enter into a portal, but Zavala had assumed they'd return by now. Rumors were beginning to fly through the City about their disappearance. Many in the City and the Tower were worried about their whereabouts. Some even assumed they had been K.I.A'd, though Zavala knew in his heart that the notion of two of the most powerful Fireteams ever dying was nearly impossible.
Zavala sighed in frustration. He was beginning to miss them all.
He missed the effectiveness of Moa.
Seeing Jose's undefeated streak continue in the Crucible.
The insurmountable force of Lus.
The expertise of Anan.
The sheer tenacity of Leona.
And while he may not admit it aloud, Ginzo's terrible jokes.
There was nothing he could do now but await the return of the missing Fireteams. With the Darkness at their doorstep, he prayed to the Traveler that their return would be sooner rather than later. But this still left Zavala with several questions.
What could be so important that it required all of their attention? And was it worth leaving their home?
"Man...that was wild."
Ginzo sighed as he, Leona, Moa, Anan, and a Blue-haired professor walked through the forest around the monastery, moving towards human signals picked up by Ori. They had failed to find any more living humans in the monastery, or at least any who could be saved in time, save for an Indigo-haired woman, whom Moa was carrying. So they decided to head North towards Fhirdiad, the capital of the Kingdom of Faerghus. The monastery behind them was still smoldering and crumbling down, most likely due to the bombardment by the Guardians and Hive. The three main targets they had escaped to the Ascendant Plane, worsening their situation.
"So how are we gonna get to the Ascendant Plane?" Ginzo asked, as their group left the lighter forest and entered a denser one.
"The easiest way to do that would be to kill an Ascendant Hive and use its essence." Anan said as his group began to march away from the monastery.
"Easy enough." Ginzo added. "What about the students? There's six of us. We can't defend them all. Not to mention three whole nations."
A significant period of silence passed as the two fireteams contemplated their situation.
"You guys wouldn't have happened to bring extra weapons, right?" Jose asked, appearing on comms while firing Telesto bolts into a Hive Knight on his end.
"Nope!" Ginzo said a little too nonchalantly. "I mean, why don't we just give some of the good ones some guns and call it a day? I mean like, they can't resurrect like us, but that should buy us enough time to get back home and kill the Vex and Hive on our end."
"We don't really have a better option. Although it did seem as if the Relics were doing damage to the Vex, and I assume by association, the Hive." Lus replied as he and Jose ascended a short hill.
"Well, we better find them quick then." Lus added.
"Ayo, crazy thought, what if the Relics are paracausal? Or at least, acausal. I mean, we have no proof or anything like that, but they can cut through the Vex and Hive right?" Ginzo asked.
"Anything with enough firepower can do that, but that might actually be plausible…" Jose replied. "Chopstick, did the scans give you any indication of that?"
"Looking back on it now…" Chopstick began. "They share some aspects of acausality...I think? It's so foreign I can't be sure."
"Hey, we're all lost here. Your guess is as good as ours." Moa replied.
This sparked a thought in Hornet, causing her to appear to the Professor
"Professor, could you show me that sword?" Hornet said.
"Sure." Byleth said, his face unchanging as he held the sword out in his arms.
Hornet scanned the sword intricately, making sure to garner as much information as possible about it.
"Thank you!" Hornet said, returning to Moa. She switched to comms, and relayed her findings to the team.
"So…the Blue-haired professor's new sword is acausal. It's strange, though. For some reason, I'm getting the same reading from, well, the professor himself."
"Interesting…" Anan replied.
"So, like, dude's acausal as well?" Ginzo asked.
"Maybe." Hornet answered. "But how? And what does that mean?"
Ginzo and Leona shut off their comms as they changed course to meet at the chosen location. However, Leona stopped in her tracks as she felt a dark presence near her. It was fairly weak compared to what she was used to, but she felt it nonetheless. She switched back to private comms.
"You feel that?" She asked her roguish comrade.
"Sure do." Ginzo replied, stopping in his tracks as well.
Leona paused, motioning for the others besides Ginzo to move on. She then turned to peer into the treeline.
"So are you gonna hide like a coward or are you gonna face us?" She asked the forest.
Nothing but the sounds of nature passed. Leona began to charge her fist with Arc energy and turned to a nearby bush formation.
"Well, if you won't come out, I'll force you out…" She stated, marching menacingly to the bush. Suddenly a man with long Black hair emerged from bushes in the forest. He was donned in clothing that would make one assume he held a high position, in an oddly pristine state.
"Wait! Forgive me! Oh knights! Thank the Goddess…my apologies, my intentions were not to give you fear. I was hiding because I did not know if you were hostile or not. I heard what happened to the monastery. I'm looking for my niece, Edelgard. Have you seen her? Is she safe?"
"We did indeed. What is your name?" Leona asked, her suspicions spiking.
"Do you not recognize me? I...thought I was well known. Perhaps you are new knights. I am Lord Volkhard von Arundel. I hail from the Adrestian Empire. What of you and your comrade?"
"Hmm…" Leona began. "You said you heard about what happened to the monastery? From who?"
"Ah, a messenger of mine sent word to me."
"Word travels fast, I see."
"Indeed it does. With an event as big as Garreg-Mach falling, word would be sure to spread like wildfire." Volkhard paused, before sighing. "Excuse me if I am overstepping my boundaries, but I do not recognize your armor. Would it be correct to assume you do not hail from here?"
"You could say that." Leona said. "Say, I'd assume a lord of a nation would be a little more...protected. Is there any reason you're alone?"
"That's…" Volkhard began, trying to explain himself.
Leona, not wanting to dance around the subject any longer, raised her Hawkmoon and placed Volkhard between its sights. "Talk."
"It seems it doesn't matter then." Volkhard began with a sigh. A Purple blip flashed before a different individual was seen, revealing a pale-skinned White-haired individual clad in Black armor.
"I'm amused." The figure spoke. "You figured me out."
"Yeah, though your defense was very weak, so it wasn't hard. Y'know they got books for that stuff right? It's stuff like, how to tell a lie and-" Ginzo said, smirking.
"Silence." The figure scoffed. "You are not from Fodlan. I do not think you are even from this world. Where do you come from?"
"We have no reason to tell you that." Leona replied, not being intimidated by the figure.
"Frustrating." The figure spoke, narrowing their eyebrows. "Why are you helping the Church? Do you know what they've done?"
"Again, we have no reason to tell you that. Maybe if you wanted answers you shouldn't have tried to sneak up and lie to us."
"The Church of Seiros is not what it seems. That woman, Rhea, is-"
"Yeah, yeah whatever sharkboy." Ginzo said, waving away the individual's monologue. "You gonna sell us some drugs or what?"
"Hmph. It seems you are not willing to be reasoned with." The figure growled, his anger growing.
"Ok cool. So flaming pistol or lightning shish kebab. Which one do you want?"
"I am offering you the truth about the Church. Why would you not take it?"
"Oh seriously? What is it?" Ginzo said, chuckling.
The figure paused before sighing and speaking. "They are corrupt. That cursed woman, Rhea, is Seiros herself. That is only a mere morsel of the reality. I would advise that you do not follow the Church any longer, lest you be crushed beneath our heels. However, I do wish to offer you an...alliance. One that may be able to send you back to your home."
"Thanks for the spoilers sharkie! Unfortunately, we already got our own plan for getting home, so no thanks. So, what do you want?"
"You fools!" Volkhard growled, his anger bubbling over. "You would continue to believe the lies of that wretched woman?"
"We're not believing anything. We're just trying to save people." Leona said, stepping forward.
"Hmph. Very well. If you choose to be a fool, I shall simply revel in pleasure when the Church turns its back on y-!"
BANG
The figure fell to the ground, clutching its hand which had a massive hole in it. Across from them, Leona aimed her Hawkmoon at the figure. As Leona attempted to move forward and set the sights of her weapon to Volkhard's head, they disappeared in a Purple blip.
"Shit! I meant to hit his head!" Leona growled.
"Yeah, well we all make mistakes." Ginzo said, putting his hands behind his head.
With a sigh, Leona turned and reloaded her Hawkmoon. "You think he was telling the truth?"
"Well...based on my genius-level street intellect, he didn't seem like he was lying. I'm guessin' Ori already relayed the feed to the others?"
"That would be factual." Ori stated.
"Well, we'll have to find out more either way, but it's good to know our suspicions aren't necessarily unfounded." Leona said, holstering her Hawkmoon.
Ginzo sighed as he began walking to the meeting point once again. The sun in the sky was falling, the sky a mix of Orange, Blue, and Pink. Thick plumes of smoke rose from the Monastery and corrupted the sky, reflecting a deep Orange color.
"You ever feel like our lives never stop, and it's always some sort of monster of the week or how much can go wrong type situation? Like no matter what we do things seem to go terribly until the very end?" Ginzo asked, hoping to change subjects briefly.
"Ginzo...are you on Ether again?" Leona questioned in return.
"Ohh…." Ginzo began, his voice thick with sarcasm. "Because anytime I have a remotely intelligent thought I must be on Ether."
Hey everyone! Sorry this chapter took so long to get out! I hope you're all doing fantastic! And also sorry for messing up the descriptions of Leona and Anan. I now know to double-check I have the right version of the story to copy and paste, lol. Anyways, as always I hope you enjoyed! Any favorites, follows, or reviews are appreciated. See ya!