Wrath squared his shoulders as Greed loomed in front of him and Stonewell, who only raised an eyebrow at their opponent. The Avaricious Sin rose up in a cloud of black dust before raising his two daggers and flew toward them enveloping them both in a cloud of black dust. The cloud of the black substance was thick enough to where one couldn't see through it but it wasn't total darkness. The predator had a slight warning when he felt the tip of a blade touch his back.
His body already arched out the way before the blade could fully cut into his skin as he whirled around trying to locate the dagger that cut him. He saw a glint of silver before it shrouded itself back into the dark cloud and had him surrounded once more. He kept his head on a swivel trying to locate the attack before it was sent his way but as he looked intensely with his eyes, a faint sound of something grinding against sand reached his ears. Without thinking, he whirled around and sent a fist in that direction only to hit Stonewell's blade with his knuckles.
The blade penetrated his hand but didn't cut through the bones inside so it remained lodged into his hand. Wrath only sighed at the pain going through his hand before removing it and grabbing the hand that was sticking out the cloud then pulling Stonewell toward him. The old man looked at his blade then at the bleeding hand of the young man in front of him but didn't say anything.
"This was a terrible idea by the way. Fighting Greed in an open area, I mean."
The old man rolled his eyes before placing his back against the runt's and peering out to the black cloud that surrounded them. "Just shut up and stay on the lookout, we have to buy Her Majesty time."
"Time? What makes you think she'll live long enough to get those cuffs off?"
A dagger lunged out from Wrath's right which forced him to lean out the way. As he did this, Stonewell followed the handle of the dagger and was barely able to make out an arm made of black dust that was connected to a glint in the dark cloud. Quickly shuffling his feet, he sent a thrust in that direction hoping to hit his target. Another dagger intercepted his line of attack as the glint moved further into the dust as both daggers retreated. The old man went back over to Wrath who was still looking for any sign of Greed in the dark cloud.
"We just have to hope she'll be fine, we have our own problems to deal with."
Wrath felt a blade slice his cheek as he arched out the way. "Got a plan to get us out of this predicament?"
Stonewell sheathed his cane sword and pointed into a random direction.
"Run."
Greed watched from the bowels of the dark cloud and chuckled to himself when he saw Wrath look confused for a moment before taking off in the direction the old man pointed.
Like you really think I'll let you both get away.
He was about to pursue Wrath when he noticed the old man took off in the completely opposite direction. As they both were separating themselves, the Avaricious Sin pondered who to target first. Wrath was ultimately his target but the old man had ruined his strategy for the invasion so his death was certain. The predator could heal which would draw out the confrontation but the old man was just in a wheelchair and showed signs of weakness. It would be smarter to take out the weaker of the two. The problem with that however was that Wrath could get out of his veil of black dust if he went after the old man. If that happened, Greed would have to chase down his prey again who would be able to see and maneuver more efficiently. To prevent that from happening, the Avaricious Sin needed to at least slow down the Furious Sin before he lost the advantage of a superior field of vision.
Greed flowed toward Wrath ready to attack when he heard the faint voice of the old man. "It must really be tough; your master plan going down the drain like that. All because you couldn't keep your emotions in check and allowed an old fart like me to get the better of you."
The Avaricious Sin ignored the dig at his pride and sent a dagger at Wrath's left leg who avoided receiving a serious wound by rolling away at the last second.
"You had us in the palm of your hand and completely at your mercy but you fucked up and now you've lost both Weselton's and the Southern Isles' support. If that little hobbit of a man tells his men what he saw you transform into then they'll all probably turn against you since you're more of a monster than our Queen."
The old man's voice grew fainter which was a blessing in itself and allowed Greed to focus on his true target who was still running in the direction the Captain pointed to. Two daggers appeared out of the dark clouds, one aimed at his target's head and the other at his right leg. Wrath leaned out of the way of the first dagger that went for his throat but got caught by the second that caught him at the underside of his knee. He stumbled a step but continued to run albeit at a slower pace. Greed smiled to himself and prepared another assault when he barely heard the old man's voice reach him.
"A monster with a hard on for one guy. Tell me, when you found your wife and daughter dead in your home, did you break down and cry like a little bitch, or did you just let the anger build and put off your breakdown? Either way, if they could see you now; I bet your wife would kill herself and her daughter so no one would know she fucked something remotely like you."
The Avaricious Sin saw red as those words registered in his head and he instantly changed targets. If he was in the right state of mind, he would've been hesitant to leave Wrath who kneeled down to tend to his leg instead of going after the old man who was out of the black cloud of smoke. The Captain's words brought back a fresh dose of pain from finding the two of them dead. Greed would have that old man begging for death before killing him in the most excruciating way and putting his corpse on display for all to see.
The cloud of black dust was sucked back into the golden mask as it flew toward where he last heard his target's voice. The Avaricious Sin flew over a building and found the object of his anger sitting on the edge of the town square's water fountain. The old man was nonchalantly preparing a cigar and upon seeing the Sin, he raised his middle finger in the air as he took a puff out of his cigar. As Greed's mask didn't move while he spoke, one could not guess the emotion on his face but the roar the Sin made was more than evidence of what he was feeling.
The Avaricious Sin zoomed forward ready to tear his target apart when a barrage of smoke bombs went off all around the square. Greed immediately halted in his advance and gained some altitude as he looked down at the smoke looking for any sign of movement. Seeing nothing immediately, he ambled around the square waiting for the old man to break through the smoke cover to get into a better hiding spot. The setting sun wasn't helping the Sin as the natural source of light was beginning to wane and the fires around Arendelle were starting to smother as the buildings had almost completely burned down. The smoke from the fires were still in the air which made Greed lower his altitude so he was above the smokescreen on the ground but below the smoke from the fires.
Which unfortunately, made him an easy target with his gold mask being illuminated like a beacon by the flames.
A gunshot went off and Greed felt a bullet smash into his mask which made him black out for an instant. He fell a few feet and was barely able to right himself right above the cloud of smoke as he looked for the rifle that fired at him. He remembered being surrounded earlier by shooters in the buildings and thought they would've gone to protect their Queen instead of staying here. It took a moment to realize that the shooters weren't only there for the negotiation, they were also there to trap him.
With the smoke above and the smokescreen below, Greed had to remain around a second story building's height to be able to see. With him being surrounded by soldiers who were likely on the second story windows they would be able to take aim at him rather easily. The Avaricious Sin felt another gunshot clip his mask and made him stagger even more and put him dangerously close to the smoke screen.
I need to expand my cloud, if they can't see me, they won't be able to shoot me and I'll be able to find out where they are.
Greed started to let out more black dust but had to stop when another gunshot rang out, this time, he was able to see the rifle and move just before they fired. More and more gunshots started to go off, one every two or three seconds. Each one came from a building with the next being the building next to it so it became quite repetitive and easy to anticipate. He weaved out of each gunshot easily but didn't have time to expand his cloud of black dust. As he dodged, he had an eye on the smokescreen and watched as it started to dissipate. It wouldn't be long before he could find his original target.
As the smoke cleared even more, Greed did a quick sweep of the town square and found to his shock and great annoyance that Stonewell hadn't moved from his spot on the fountain. He sat there, still smoking his cigar not at all phased by the demon levitating a few meters away from him. He took a puff out of his cigar while keeping eye contact on the mask ahead of him then took the cigar out of his mouth and breathed out a few rings of smoke. When he finished the little parlor trick, he held the cigar out to the Sin.
"Want a hit, could make you feel better?"
Never before has such an arrogant and infuriating human ever crossed Greed's path. That little gesture made Greed rush toward the Captain not caring that the gunshots had ceased. The daggers in his hands were gripped tightly in his phantom like limbs as he was ready to plunge them into the old man. Stonewell put the cigar in his mouth and remained seated just as Greed reached him. Just as the Sin was about to plunge his daggers into the old man, something surprising happened, his target suddenly moved backwards quicker than he would've thought possible for someone of his age. That in itself wasn't surprising.
What was surprising was a kid that looked barely old enough to be called a man, rose out of the fountain with one hand pulling the back of the Captain's collar while the other had a very familiar looking crossbow in his hands.
"This is for my little sister!"
Klein pulled the trigger and the weapon in his hand released all of its wound of tension and shot a bolt with so much force the young guard thought he was firing a blunderbuss. One bullet managed to make Greed black out for an instant, a heavy bolt firing from such a weapon completely shattered his mask. The shards as well as the daggers flew past the fountain and hit the ground with a few clinks.
Cameron fell into the fountain from the force of the tension being released and looked at the weapon in his hands with awe. "Man, this thing packs a punch…" A moment later, a gruff hand grabbed him by the collar and hauled him out of the fountain before setting him on his feet. Stonewell had his trademark frown on his face as he threw his soggy cigar into the fountain before walking toward the mask fragments.
"It helps if you hold it with both hands instead of one."
The young guard nodded as the Captain kneeled down and started to gather all of the mask pieces. Halfway through gathering all of them, they all started to rattle until they flew together and created a red stone that began to emit red lightning before black dust started to leak out of it. Greed's body slowly began to reform with him kneeling just beyond the fountain completely nude. Before the Sin could turn around, a blade pierced the base of his neck where the thoracic section of the spine started.
Greed felt a majority of his body shut down with his neck and upper shoulders being the exception. Struggling to turn his head, he watched Stonewell fish out a fresh cigar before preparing it then placing it in his mouth. The Captain then bent down and blew a stream of smoke into the Sin's face that made breathing even more difficult.
"To be honest, I really didn't expect this to work but I can't complain. Looks like you and me will be able to have some quality time together."
Wrath had taken to the rooftops until he arrived at the rendezvous location he was instructed to go to after Greed had assumed his true form. Upon arriving at the warehouse district, he waited a moment before pulling out a signal gun that he had stashed away and fired a yellow smoke signal in the air. A couple of moments later, three squads of Arendellian guards appeared from the ruins of burned down buildings. A Sergeant walked forward to address the young man.
"How did it go?"
"The enemy focused on the Captain instead of coming after me. We'll give him ten more minutes before we assume that he's been killed and move on to the next phase." They didn't have to wait long before a green smoke signal was fired from the town square. Wrath breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the welcomed sight. It seemed that Stonewell's plan was working out perfectly but even the old man said that a great many things could go wrong.
If he was being perfectly honest, Wrath expected to see a yellow and red smoke signal being fired from the buildings ahead of the town square where a scout had been stationed. The scout was stationed there to watch over Stonewell's attempt to capture Greed, if they were successful then the scout wouldn't fire as it would reveal his location if the enemy had figured they were using smoke signals and shot a green signal assuming that it meant all clear. If the enemy had succeeded and killed all of the guards that were at the town square, the scout would wait before firing off a red signal. As there was no red signal after a while, the predator assumed that Stonewell was victorious, which left him free to carry out his other task.
"Alright, is everyone ready for phase two?"
The guards nodded and led him over to the burned out building they were hiding in and pulled out some crates that housed climbing gear.
Earlier, Talib watched Greed take off after Wrath while the Captain had emerged from the cloud of black dust and reconfirmed his position. The old man watched Gluttony and three prototypes take to the rooftops after the Ice Elemental but surprisingly didn't chase after them. The Captain just started to yell at the top of his lungs at Greed to likely get him to change targets.
The alchemist assumed that the old man knew what Wrath was and thought that if Greed had killed the predator then they would lose a very strong weapon, which was why the old man was trying to sacrifice himself to save the Furious Sin. How wrong he was when the Captain sprung his trap and managed to not only figure out that Greed's mask was his core and if it was destroyed then all the black dust he used would be wasted, he also managed to stab the Sin at the top of the thoracic section of the spine which left Greed largely paralyzed.
After securing the Sin then firing one of those signal flares, the Captain looked up at the alchemist and gave him another hard stare before he pulled out a pistol and shot Greed point blank in the head. Such an action almost seemed like an invitation for Talib to go down and rescue his creation but the alchemist had no such ties of obligation to do so.
The alchemist closed his eyes and tried to get a sense of where the key players in Arendelle were and could tell that Lust had somehow been moved to the castle. Focusing marginally harder, he tried to see what the Lascivious Sin was doing but when she opened her eyes they were completely blacked out. He tried to force the black dust in her arm to touch her eyes in case something was obscuring them but found that she couldn't move her arms. After a few more tries where he almost ripped the skin off her arms, he deemed that she was adequately confined and would be of no help.
Opening his eyes, Talib watched Greed be taken away by the Arendellian guards all the while the Captain held his stare.
The only one I really need to succeed is Gluttony, and he should be more than enough to deal with a helpless girl and her pet.
Elsa held onto Lina as Marshmallow carried the both of them while a wave of people followed behind them. Stonewell had told her that after she was cuffed it was paramount that she return to the castle as soon as she possibly could so they could remove her bindings. While she still had lingering feelings of anger and disappointment for the older man, she recognized he was doing the best he could in a bad situation and because he pushed Wrath to be the weapon he used to be, the predator found out he wasn't a mindless weapon anymore.
Her thoughts were interrupted when the guards that were freed at the town square alerted her to the forward base the enemy had in front of her castle. The Southern Isles troops all lined up with rifles aimed at the fleeing group of civilians and the large snowman. The blonde could hear the large snowman growl at the soldiers that were threatening his mother. Laying a calming hand on his large arm that made him look at her, she gently spoke to him.
"Stay calm Marshmallow."
The giant nodded before adopting his usual blank expression as General Julius walked through the crowd and addressed his men. "Soldiers stand down! The situation has changed, the Queen of Arendelle is to be allowed to pass through."
"I don't think so."
An echoing set of footsteps sounded behind the row of soldiers and they made way for Hans to appear. The King of the Southern Isles had a pleased expression on his face when he noticed that Elsa was still wearing her restraints but the smile was wiped away when he turned to his General.
"What you're doing right now is considered treason, General. I ordered that Her Majesty was to be captured and Arendelle being made to surrender. Allowing her to return to the castle would relinquish our dominant position, and I can't see a reason why we would do such a thing."
The Duke of Weselton pushed past everyone and had an accusatory finger aimed at the King before he shrieked. "Your man turned into some kind of monster and killed all of my men! You never told me that you made a deal with the devil!"
Hans paused when he heard that and took on a pondering expression. If Greed had really killed all of the Weselton troops at the town square, then the King guessed they were moving on to the contingency plan. "That's very unfortunate it seems we are moving to our alternate plans. Soldiers, prepare to fire."
The Southern Isles troops all primed their weapons as they readied to fire on the King's command. The Duke looked horror stricken that he was about to be fired on by his ally while Julius gnashed his teeth as he stared hard at his King. Marshmallow instantly stepped forward and tried covering a majority of the people behind him with his body while using his arms to completely cover Elsa and Lina.
A tense atmosphere fell upon them as Hans had his hand raised and was about to bring it down when a voice pierced the air. "Put down your weapons or be shot where you stand!" The King turned around and was surprised to see Hector standing with a number of Arendellian guards on the ground and Blackdust soldiers on the buildings above them, all with their weapons aimed at the soldiers on the ground.
Hans remained speechless as he quickly added up the numbers and realized his men were outnumbered. His brain was trying to work out how they managed to sneak up on him. The forward base was heavily fortified in case of any resistance that would come from the castle. Even when the scout team reported the Queen was moving to their position with her giant in tow and they diverted a good portion of their soldiers to head her off, there still should've been a fight of some sort to alert that the Arendelle guard had begun to move. Yet somehow, they appeared out of nowhere and had caught them all unaware in a pincer offensive.
Hector moved forward with no fear as the Southern Isles troops aimed their weapons at him as he got close to the enemy monarch. "Your Majesty, I think it would be in your best interest to surrender. I've got the feeling that you don't wish to die, and you obviously are aware of Her Majesty's benevolent nature so you can safely assume she won't kill you whereas my men will if you chose to resist."
Hans said nothing as he looked in the direction of the town square as he waited for something. The noble seemed to notice the look and cleared his throat to get the King's attention. "In case you're wondering when your special reinforcements will be arriving, you should know they'll have their hands full soon."
As if some higher power heard the Queen's personal guard, a large blaze of fire could be seen a few buildings down. Hector shrugged as he pointed at the roaring flames.
"Right on time."
Gluttony jumped from rooftop to rooftop with three of Greed's soldiers following behind him. They had taken off after the Queen when Greed left to pursue Wrath. The large snowman wasn't easy to conceal and they could see the giant from quite a ways away over the buildings and quickly ate up the distance between them and it. The Queen was likely to run into the forward base before they got there and the puppet King would hold her there until they arrived.
At least that's what Gluttony planned until a javelin of fire appeared a few buildings over to his right and sped right toward him. The Voracious Sin immediately halted and took cover over the railing on the building he was on and watched the flame engulf the house in fire. As he held onto the burning building the flames seemed to have a mind of their own as they increased on either side of him and coiled like snakes about to bite their prey.
The Sin leaped off the building before he was bitten and landed on the ground looking for the Elemental that no doubt controlled the flames. He knew they would need a line of sight to accurately target him for their attacks so he looked in the direction where the first attack came from. The soldiers with him continued on ahead to go after the Queen however they found themselves ambushed by two squads of Blackdust soldiers that outnumbered them five-to-one.
The Voracious Sin rolled out of the way to avoid another flame strike as he watched his soldiers be pinned down then restrained by the Blackdust soldiers. Gluttony frowned as he got behind a building for some cover away from his attackers while he came up with a plan. Every second he wasted here was another second the Ice Elemental would get away from him. He would've assumed his true form but knew that if he were killed in such a state then all the black dust he had used to fuel that form would be wasted.
For one of the other six, this loss would leave them quite vulnerable. Himself on the other hand was an exception. Thanks to his unique appetite that allowed him to devour entire souls versus certain aspects of soul echoes, he had a much richer amount of black dust in his body. As such, he can assume his form more than once but it was still quite taxing. With an Elemental in hiding, he didn't want to transform into a larger target before ascertaining where they were attacking from.
He frowned, from what he could see, they had Arendelle completely at their mercy yet somehow the enemy had managed to turn the tables. The Blackdust soldiers from the Prince's envoy had been reported to cause some minor problems but there were too few of them to be deployed in several places at once. He could tell that there were some here and he knew that others were still around setting ambushes. Ahimoth was smart enough to plan small skirmishes to destabilize their forces but he knew a lost cause when he saw one.
If Arendelle was truly going to fall and Ahimoth had no way of crippling his enemy's chain of command, he would withdraw with as much brass as he could. Greed had command over both the Southern Isle and Weselton forces, so killing him would be difficult if not impossible. His ability to reduce himself into a cloud of black dust and flow from place to place made him difficult to pin down. Even when he transformed into his true form and had only his mask as a solid object, his added ability to expand his cloud and attack in that radius made up for that weakness.
Before the negotiations broke down and Greed revealed himself, Arendelle was definitely in an unfavorable position and Ahimoth would've abandoned it if he needed to. Yet his forces were still here which meant that so was he. There was also the fact that the Sin was just attacked by living flames that could only come from an Elemental. As far as he was aware, there was only one Elemental with that particular element under her control and had a stake in Blackdust's involvement.
Lilian must be here.
The woman that Ahimoth brought with him from Elysion. Gluttony hadn't had a chance to meet her but he had read Talib's assessment of her. While she was marginally weaker than an average Elemental, she possessed a deeper understanding of her abilities. She always had a shy yet stern temperament and abhorred violence, however her experience in the civil war influenced her in many ways. For one, being so close to Alrick and Ahimoth, she learned that war was a thinking man's game and she got quite good at using her talents in the most advantageous way possible. She may prefer to stay on the sidelines but she had won Alrick many battles, her being here was a definite problem.
Whether she was a bigger threat than the Ice Elemental remained to be seen as the Queen of Arendelle was rumored to have a great deal of power but no experience using it in battle. Gluttony could just backtrack and go around hoping to avoid Lilian and the other Blackdust soldiers but he needed to secure the Queen.
Perhaps it's time to field test the prototypes.
Marshmallow let Elsa and Lina down in the castle courtyard as the Royal Guard rushed to meet them and secure the prisoners while tending to the civilians. King Hans and the Duke of Weselton were immediately detained while General Julius was only stripped of his weapons and placed with an escort.
The cuffs around the blonde's hands had been removed when Hans surrendered and her guards had searched the makeshift frontline base for the keys. With her magic now free, Elsa thought she would've felt some form of relief but she didn't. She knew that this was far from over, the earlier smoke signals were a welcomed sight but she thought back to what Stonewell had told her when they were in the war room.
"Remember, I'll always l-"
"So, you're just going to give up?" Elsa and Wrath jumped slightly when the Captain blatantly asked that question. The two turned to see him tapping his fingers on the cane that he was leaning on. His face was set in his usual frown but there was something deeper behind his eyes. His body language alluded that he was irritated and was trying very hard to not burst.
The blonde, who was still upset with him and had her patience tested by him more than once today, hardened her eyes and was about to reprimand him but he spoke first.
"What about Princess Anna? What am I supposed to say to her when we find her, that I let her sister sacrifice herself for Arendelle? She'd be devastated."
Elsa bit her lip, she had thought about that. She didn't want to hurt her sister and her choice was already hard enough but it had to be done. Her people's lives were at stake, Anna wouldn't like it and may not even agree but she would understand, the blonde hoped she would. If the redhead was here, she would've argued and Elsa honestly didn't know if she would be able to say no but she knew her duty and this was it. Anna would be fine with Edward and Kristoff looking out for her. She would have her baby and she would live a long life.
Those thoughts were a great comfort to Elsa right now before she marched to her death.
"Well...I guess she'd only be devastated for a short time before she's killed."
Elsa's mind screeched to a halt when the Captain spoke those words and her face seemed to mirror her extreme confusion.
"Oh, you don't think Hans is just going to allow her to live, do you. Come now Elsa, you and I both know you're smarter than this. Anna has already married and has been named your heir, even if you were to sign over your kingdom, she would still have a valid claim to the throne. Hans isn't dumb enough to leave someone who could potentially gather an army and take back the throne her sister sacrificed her life for, he of all people know the risks of having a royal remain unsupervised. Plus that's not considering your sister's personality, she would fight to the end of time if she found out that Hans was responsible for your death. It would make sense for him to kill her."
With each word the old man spoke, the more color that drained from Elsa's face. It was all starting to hit home how dire their situation was. Anna was a hothead if her fuse gets lit and she wore her heart on her sleeve. She'd never rest if her sister was taken from her by the guy who already played her for a fool.
"Y-you'll escort her out of the kingdom out of his reach, you can take a ship to Corona and request asylum. She'll be safe there and-"
"And Hans will likely follow us with an even bigger army as he will be in a perfect spot to cut off trade to the other alliance members and use Arendelle as a staging point to gather enemy powers together and declare open war on the alliance."
Elsa's face started to burn with anger as she took long purposeful strides to reach the old man and put on her most intimidating glare. "Captain, that is an order. You're already tested my patience today, you will not challenge my commands either."
Stonewell reached up and pulled the cigar out of his mouth before crushing it in his hand. He closed his eyes and took a long deep breath through his nose then snapped his eyes open with a fierce expression.
"Elsa, I've known you since you were a bundle in your mother's arms. Your father has never been happier and wanted nothing more to hold you in his arms and protect you from anything that could possibly hurt you. Fortunately, he was realistic enough to know that wasn't possible and there would be some difficult challenges ahead for you. That's why he made me promise that I would look after you, help guide you to be the Queen you're meant to be. Your teachers have done well educating you and you're a very intelligent woman but one thing you sorely lack as a ruler is an aptitude for war."
The Captain gestured all around him to everyone in the room who had given him their undivided attention. "See these people around us, your subjects, they look to you to protect them."
The blonde thought she knew what he was about to say and was offended by it and rushed to her own defense. "That's why I'm surrendering! When I do so, the fighting will stop and no more people will be-"
"DON'T BE NAIVE!"
Stonewell's voice was louder than the sound of thunder and stronger than a thousand cannon balls all at once being fired at the room everyone was in. Wrath had never heard the old man yell like that and he actually jumped at the tone, he could only imagine how Elsa was feeling being on the receiving end at point blank. He was halfway tempted to put himself between the two of them with the shock and fear on the blonde's face as she looked up to the Captain.
"You think that's the way to protect your people? Allowing yourself to die and delivering them to a man who would kill his own kin to be King's mercy? What about all the men who died just to buy you some time to evacuate the capitol? You're going to allow their sacrifice be in vain and just let yourself be killed? No, I refuse to accept that."
Stonewell reached into his uniform and fished out a worn box of cigars and held it out for her to take. Still in shock from his outburst, Elsa took it and opened it to see that instead of cigars there was a small worn book inside. She opened the first page and on the very top was a month and year that dated back some twenty odd years. Under the first month, she saw a list of names before the next month showed another list of names. Elsa flipped the pages of the book and saw that they were essentially the same format on every page up until the present. The blonde looked back to the old man who seemed to be waiting patiently for the question that she would inevitably ask.
"What is this?"
"That is the list of every single person that has died under my watch since I've been in Arendelle. Every time one of them dies, I commit to remembering their name because they all died for something bigger than themselves. As the man who leads them, it's my duty to make sure that even if they died, their death meant something and that we couldn't have done it without them." Stonewell took his book and flipped to the middle of the book and showed her today's date where a great many names were all written down. How he found the time to write all those names down during the crisis the blonde would never know but she already had an idea who all the names were.
"These men who died on the waters of Arendelle all had family, friends, and people they care about back home that compelled them to stand their ground and face certain death to buy us time. They could've sailed back here as fast as possible and each of them could've run to the people they cared about and take them to safety but they chose to remain and die hoping that you would take care of the people that died. How would you think they'd feel if they knew you wanted to surrender and while having your sister being secretly snuck away while the people they cared about was just handed to the man who killed them in the first place?"
Immense guilt began to well up in Elsa's stomach as she considered that point. She never thought of the idea that with her surrender, Arendelle and her people would be under Hans's control to do whatever he wished. While she didn't think he would but if he chose to enslave them or if any of them died due to his actions, their deaths would be on her. Anna might be spared from that fate but her people wouldn't. The blonde looked down as she started to shake.
What else could she do though?
If she didn't surrender then the people in the town square would be killed one by one. However if she did surrender then the words the Captain just spoke could very well become true. She didn't want to admit it, her entire life she was shaped for this role that she currently had. She was praised as a child for always having an answer to every question her instructors asked her. They thought her a genius, always pushing new ideas and concepts because she could handle the workload. Even the topics of battle strategy and tactics, she could recite every strategy that every Arendellian leader ever employed. She answered all those questions so easily, it didn't occur to her how much weight those choices had when she decided to put her army in harm's way.
When she found out about a bandit threat in the mountains she organized checkpoints and search parties and thought that her excellent strategy would instantly produce results but all she got back were bodies. She never saw a dead body before until she was informed the first of the scouting parties had returned and she expected their victory. They were covered by a sheet but the smell was there, the Captain had pulled it off to see the state of the body and Elsa happened to catch a look and her body shook.
The man's neck was cut open, blood flowed down his throat as his mouth was agape with his eyes blankly staring ahead. Her mind instantly made a mental picture of a human's neck and muscles being cut and ripped. It wasn't a long look but the damage was done as it burned the image into her brain and she had to excuse herself as she threw up in the confines of the garden.
That was the moment she realized that her choices had an extraordinary weight to them. She doubled the men sent out there hoping that they could watch after one another and pushed extra hard for peace around her small corner of the world.
She didn't want anyone dying from her choices.
Then that man Zavis came along and killed many of her men just to get to her. She thought him as the devil himself, a being of pure evil. When he threatened her sister, Elsa went along with him and watched him kill several other guards who tried helping her, all because she allowed herself to be captured by him. Edward had to go after her and fight Envy which resulted in even more death when he managed to cut them off at the checkpoint as well as when he killed the reinforcements that Stonewell had sent to the checkpoint.
She had thought that if she gave herself up, the fighting would stop but it didn't back then. Now faced with that same choice again, she was afraid to give herself up. A ruler was expected to make every sacrifice for her people and to her that meant she was duty bound to surrender herself but what if it made her people suffer even more? She wondered if she could find some way to fight back but that would put the hostages at risk.
Elsa's breathing started to increase as her breaths came out in icy puffs and her fingers started to frost over as panic started to set. She didn't know what to do. All her life she prepared to be where she was, to always have an answer and she didn't have one. The blonde could feel everyone in the room staring at her, waiting for an answer from her but she didn't have one. Her head remained low as she desperately tried to think of an answer.
If she surrendered, she'd be killed and her people would be under Hans's mercy and he would likely make Anna his next target.
If she refused then the hostages would all be killed one by one and she would be forced to fight the enemy which could have even more casualties.
Whatever she chose, people would die.
Elsa never considered herself special, even with her powers, she always remained humble and didn't see herself above others because of them. That was what she thought but now, she realized that she lied to herself. She had read plenty of journals of Arendellian leaders and had met with foreign leaders plenty of times that all expressed that with every choice by someone in power, people would die.
It never occurred to her that that would apply to her. With her powers she knew that she could accomplish what an army could on her own. She knew what the other leaders thought of her and how they feared the possibility of her using her powers to attack them and so they decided to either stay far away or try to be allies to prevent that from happening. Somewhere along the line, she unconsciously thought that with her powers and her mind, she could find a way to keep anyone from dying.
Even now, she created two giant ice walls to stop the volley of cannon fire from the ridgeline above the capitol and the harbor. She could instantly create a blizzard to sweep across the village and freeze all the enemy's munitions and weapons if she chose to but all that would do is force them to use the hostages.
All her power she held right now meant absolutely nothing.
It was because of her powers the hostages were taken and they were offering to accept her surrender.
The room around them started to get colder and colder as Elsa's panic started to grow more and more. Wrath could see her shoulders shake and started toward her when Stonewell looked up at him and shook his head telling the predator to stop. The young man narrowed his gaze at the old man as he looked down at the blonde in front of him and waited. He remained silent as the air grew colder that the inhabitants in the room started to get uncomfortable but he was entirely focused on the blonde in front of him.
"You don't know what to do, do you?"
There wasn't a slightest trace of either disappointment or mocking in his voice. It was a straightforward question he just wanted an answer to. Elsa didn't say anything, she didn't want to answer him because she had a feeling he already knew it but she just wanted to hear her say it.
"You don't know what to do, do you?"
His voice raised in volume as he asked his question again as he tried to get her to answer. Elsa kept her head down, as her lip trembled and her nails dug into the palms of her hands so much that they bled. The Captain got nothing but silence from her.
"You don't know what to do-"
Elsa's head finally snapped up to reveal from tears stuck to her cheeks as she screeched.
"NO I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO!"
Stonewell stared at her with a patient and open expression, it seemed like he knew that this was coming and just wanted her to let go of all this stress. More and more tears leaked out as the composed Queen persona she had built up came crashing down.
"I don't know what to do! I can't allow my people to die but I don't want to hand them over to that monster! My sister's missing, my capital is occupied, and even with all my power, I'm useless! Arendelle has never been taken like this before, in our long line of history of war, never has an enemy managed to catch our capitol undermanned and has completely set up a foothold in such little time. I thought I could stave off the enemy advance and instead I walked right into an ambush, that left me unable to do anything! We can't afford to barricade ourselves in the castle because they could just kill the hostages, do you expect me to sacrifice their lives for the 'greater good'? I can't, they're in this situation because of my actions! My entire life I was expected to know exactly what to do. Every lesson, test, and scrap of knowledge was all crammed into my head to prepare me for my future role, but I wasn't prepared for this! I wasn't prepared to see so many people die because of me, I'm not worth all this death! There are families that will forever be torn apart just because the world is afraid so the oh-so-omnipotent Snow Queen who is really just an introverted twenty odd woman who can make snow!"
To see the all powerful Snow Queen cry and vent was quite a sight for everyone in the throne room. To the guards, Hector, Klein, and Ahimoth, they were completely thrown off guard by the outburst from the normally composed young woman.
For Stonewell, Gerda, Kai, and Wrath, they knew that this was a long time coming.
The grandfather figure for the crying blonde put both his hands on her shoulders to make her look up at him. "Elsa, that's the thing about life, you can't prepare for everything. Some things you just have to experience and learn from them on the fly. No one expects you to know everything and have an answer immediately. You're not a god, you're you and you have to come to terms that that is perfectly fine…"
The old man looked up at Wrath as he said that last sentence before returning his gaze to Elsa.
"...what makes life so special is not knowing what the future holds which is why now is called the 'present' as it brings us something new to experience. If you knew exactly how your life would turn out and everything that would happen in it, then what would be the point? If you knew everything and was perfect in everything you set out to do what would be left for you? It's because of our faults and unknown future that make life meaningful. We choose what path we take unknowing what's later down the line. Even if we were set on our path by another, doesn't mean we'll remain on the path…"
Stonewell leaned down so he could whisper into Elsa's ear.
"...especially if it's a path that we don't want."
The young woman looked at him with a stunned expression as she understood the full weight behind his words. He stood back up and cleared his throat before speaking loud enough for the throne room to hear him.
"There will be many obstacles down the road that will be bigger than any one person. Trying to shoulder it alone will cause one to fail, which is why we have people standing next to us, side by side, that can help us when things get tough. We don't have to come up with the whole answers by ourselves, we can draw ideas from those around us who have a different perspective to form answers. We aren't all knowing, we're just us and that is more than enough to deal with anything we face."
The guards in the throne room all seemed to inflate a bit at the Captain's words as they looked at one another. Hector lightly scoffed but didn't say anything while Klein smiled. Gerda and Kai had warm expressions on their face aimed at the old man who imparted a very valuable lesson.
Wrath bit his lip and looked down at his hands that appeared normal but knew hid the sharp claws that took the lives of many. He did it on his own and was considered a dangerous weapon but now he knew he couldn't do it all on his own so he'd have to trust other people to help.
Finally, Elsa sniveled a some more before her sobbing stopped and she looked at the grandfather figure that looked as steadfast as he usually did, waiting for her to give him a command. The blonde thought about laughing at the contradiction, just moments ago he challenged her order, yet now he looked ready and waiting for whatever she had to say. For the life of her, she couldn't see any other option besides surrendering herself but the sure look in the old man's eyes had her ask instead.
"Do you have any ideas what we should do?"
Stonewell pulled out a cigar and prepared it to be smoked as he lit a match and started smoking it while nodding.
"I have a plan."
Elsa looked at the smoke signals in the air, things were going according to plan but her mind flashed back to the doctor who got his throat slit. Stonewell's plan wasn't perfect and could go wrong in so many ways, she knew that when he proposed it but could see it had a chance. The ambush at the negotiations was supposed to go more violently as the Captain planned but Elsa decided that she would attempt to reason with General Julius first given the brief history that Stonewell enlightened her between the General and the Captain.
Her eyes flashed back to the civilians being taken into the castle and was happy that no one else had been killed. Plus they managed to capture a good chunk of the enemy's leadership which left the one who was truly pulling the strings behind this attack.
With the smoke signals indicating that Greed had been captured, that left Wrath to get into position while Stonewell returned with his prisoner. Gluttony was likely being engaged at this very moment and kept at bay by Lilian for the time being. When everything was set, they would enter the final stages of the Captain's plan.
Hector walked up next to her and bowed before speaking. "The men on the battlements have confirmed that Wrath is moving into position as we speak. It won't be long until he completes his objective and returns here. The contingent of guards we sent to assist His Highness Ahimoth have been reported to have completed their assignment and stand ready for our signal."
"What of the remaining Southern Isle and Weselton soldiers still in Arendelle?"
"The Blackdust troops have blocked off most of the main streets besides the one that leads from the castle to the town square. Due to this, the enemy's movement has been limited so they're capability to counterattack is reduced for the time being."
Elsa nodded and was about to say more when she noticed that there were some red lights flashing in the street before the bridge to the castle. The darkening skies and smoke clouds made it more visible as she could make out about three sources of light. A frown marred her beautiful face as she recognized what it was, she had seen the same phenomenon with Envy and knew that if this much could be seen then something similar was happening.
Lilian was taking cover on a three story building's rooftop which allowed her a great view of the main street. Her earlier attack blocked off the Queen's pursuers and had them run for cover. The other Blackdust soldiers she had with her had begun pressuring the enemy and trying to keep them in her line of sight but was unsuccessful. Fortunately though, they were able to steadily push them back toward the town square as they were supposed to.
The Elemental had been told the rather long and complicated plan that the Captain of the Royal Guard had come up with and was honestly surprised to see it working exactly as envisioned. Alrick was a good strategist and one of the best leaders that has ever been in Blackdust's military, but this Walter Stonewell seemed to exceed her King's reputation. In the back of her mind she wondered why he wasn't a General but ultimately put the thought to rest.
Her only job was to push Gluttony back to the town square as much as possible, anything else that was going on was other people's problem. Some heavy footsteps behind her had her turning to see her fiance sporting his custom gauntlets and greaves. The large man crouched next to her and took out a spyglass to get a better look at the situation.
"How's it going?"
"As expected, Gluttony was able to dodge my attacks and is sticking out of sight so I can't accurately attack him at the moment. The advance squad is giving him some pressure while keeping those three soldiers who were with him under control."
Ahimoth nodded before putting down the spyglass and taking a deep breath. Lilian chose to take a moment to look over and see what emotions were playing across his face. Uncertainty was very apparent to see, so was a twinge of nervousness. Those two emotions had been on his face ever since he heard the plan, she didn't say anything back then in front of everyone but now they were alone, it seemed like a good time to talk.
"You're worried that we'll have a repeat of what happened in the civil war aren't you?"
The large man didn't look surprised or caught off guard in the slightest. "We have less soldiers than we had during the time plus we're facing an enemy that already has four monsters on their side, the last thing we need is Wrath changing sides."
"You remember what was said at the briefing, Wrath has changed and wouldn't do that again."
Ahimoth turned to give her a very serious and intense expression.
"Not by choice, but maybe it won't be up to him if the plan fails."
Lilain opened her mouth to say something but stopped when she noticed red lightning coming from the main street. She grabbed the spyglass out of the Prince's hand and peered through it to get a closer look. There were three Blackdust soldiers being thrown into view by an unknown force, they got to their feet and prepared to charge again but something large and fast was already on top of them and was ripping them apart.
She thought it was blood flying around but upon staring at it hard enough, she could see it was a red creature that was a bit taller than an average person. It had red scales that extended from its hands to its forearms and from the neck to its upper jaw. It looked somewhat human with the top half of its face being human while the bottom half had scales and colossal teeth that kept its mouth open.
Looking at it, it seemed to be a cross between Wrath and a human.
Lilian watched the creature roar before running off to who knows where. Putting the spyglass down, the brunette handed it back to the large man next to her who also took a look himself as she stood up. "We have to warn the others, just one of them killed three of ours and last time I saw, there were three of them."
Ahimoth stood up from his position and nodded as they moved to warn the castle of the new development.
Wow its been a LONG while and I'M STILL GETTING BUSY! DX. I cannot wait till I'm on leave in June 21st, I'm gonna take a good chunk of out of two months hopefully i'll be able to make up on my lost time with this fanfic but on the other hand i'm kinda glad I haven't been pumping out chapters because I've gotten some newer ideas that would be better than what I already had planned for this fanfic hoped you all enjoyed this chapter and hopefully I'll be able to bust out another one next week.