Case felt himself bump into Princess Max's back. "What is it?" he hissed.
"Brin," said Max simply. Case looked around the corner.
There were soldiers. There were a few women, though he couldn't see Jace anywhere. The one directing was a woman, of Asian descent, who was pointing whatever way troops were to go with a riding crop in her hand. Like Jace had done, she wore an armoured breastplate with a manticore on it over her dress, a helmet, boots...
"Fan out over the east quarter! Team Two, follow for backup! We're taking the woman and her son. Keep it quiet!" she bellowed, walking up and down. "What are you slowing down for? Did I tell you to slow down? DID I?"
Tinga's voice was thick as though she was struggling not to cry. "She's one of them now."
Princess Brin. The child Tinga had been mother, sister, and best friend to. She was grown up and a traitor. It was in that moment that Case felt that all of Tinga's childhood memories of a sweet, loyal and loving sister named Brin were shattered. Even HE felt awful, and all he had ever done was watch their childhood from the corner.
"Let's go," said Princess Max, who sounded almost as devastated as her older sister. The three of them crept along.
"This is where we leave you," said Princess Tinga, and she gave Case's shoulder a reassuring shake. "If you haven't set off the potion in five minutes we're going to run anyway."
"Come ON, Tinga!" urged Max.
"Don't fail, Zachary."
They stood nearby the well. Case waited until the two royals had run off before striding to the well and shaking up the contents of the vial before cracking the glass on the stone well.
There seemed to be a kind of explosion inside the bottle and the cork shot out. Smoke and magical sparks began flooding out. In the space of thirty seconds the place was engulfed in smoke.
"Hey!" yelled a voice. "What are you doing?"
An odd flickering light, like that of fire, began to present itself along the walls of the houses. Case tugged at his collar, feeling hot as a faceless soldier began to charge over to him.
"FIRE!" yelled Case, grinning and coughing. "FIRE!"
"Stop that!"
"FIRE! RUN, THERE'S A FIRE! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!!!"
The man reached him. Case whipped around at the last second and brought down the flat side of the sword's blade on the top of the man's head.
He crumpled to the ground. Case pulled off his cape and threw it over the man so he wouldn't be seen. He doubted the smoke was deadly- why would the princesses have used it if it could kill? Case ran off to find Max and Tinga.
He found Princess Tinga's house without much trouble and ran into her on his way in. Behind her were Princess Max and a shocked-looking Charles who carried Little Case in his arms. Case was wrapped in a blanket.
"Zachary!" cried Princess Tinga. "Good boy. Come with us!"
The group had barely rounded a corner when they ran into the thing the two princess' nightmares were made of.
A Nomaly.
They'd obviously brought some in for the mission of retrieving Tinga and Little Case. Max's face took on the look of a child who has just found out that every ghost story, every imagined beast; everything that had ever scared her... was real.
Charles gasped at this horrendous fiend, which threw back its head and roared. Tinga looked angry.
She pulled a sword from a sheath at her hip, and as she fought and the others shrank back, smoke obscuring the monster and the princess... Case could see why people would fall for her lies of being the daughter of a great warrior. Princess Tinga fought with every repressed anger inside her, every tension.
But she was being beaten. It could not be intimidated, and yet Tinga bravely went at it with everything inside her. "This," she yelled, slashing at the Nomaly's gargantuan form, "is for my parents."
It groaned and bared its teeth, snapping at her. It swung a giant paw into her face. She stopped it with her sword, but it pushed her toward the ground as she struggled to stand up, being crushed beneath its weight.
Tinga lunged upward, taking the Nomaly by surprise. It had relaxed, thinking it had the upper hand. "THIS is for my kingdom!" Princess Tinga screamed. The Nomaly took a blow from her and gave a roar of indignation. She fell to the ground, her sword spiralling out of her reach.
Case dived and caught it, looking around. He could see the silhouette of a man coming out of the smoke, and somehow knew to throw the sword to him.
The man sprinted and stabbed the Nomaly in the back. A familiar voice said as the Nomaly went through its death agony, "And this is for the ones who didn't make it."
Prince Zack.
The two men, two women and two Cases found themselves fleeing Portlandshire and going on to Princess Max's hometown- a great, rainy city called Seattleton. Case could hardly talk as he followed Max into an impressive townhouse owned by Sir Logan Cale. Case recognised this man as one from another dream who had asked Princess Max whether everyone in her family was a thief.
Case didn't know what to do with himself. He watched silently from a doorway as the princesses put Little Case to bed.
"Mommy, tell me the story," asked Little Case sleepily.
"What would you like to know?" asked Princess Tinga, smoothing the blankets unnecessarily.
"What happened after the beautiful princess ran away from the castle?"
"Well, she met her prince and they fell in love and they had a family."
Little Case yawned. "Did they live happily ever after?"
"I don't know, baby," said Tinga sadly. "I hope so."
She kissed her sleeping child on the cheek and looked up at her sister, her eyes full of tears.
Case wandered off and sat by a window, staring as the rain fell. He fell asleep. In the small hours of the morning, he was awoken by a commotion outside.
"What's happening? Max?" cried Princess Tinga. Max was shrieking something Case couldn't hear.
Case jumped up and ran, sore all over. He skidded into the room as the adults crowded around the limp body of Little Case, whose face was paler than snow. His cheeks had become rather red and he twitched fitfully, his eyes closed.
"He's burning up," said Princess Tinga, feeling his forehead.
"What's going on? Will someone please tell me what the hell is going on?" ranted Charles.
"It's a message from King Lydecker," said Max, turning him over. Everyone gasped. Case edged forward and read words that were blooming on Little Case's skin.
GIVE UP THE WOMAN TODAY AT NOON ON THE CITY COMMON AND THE BOY SHALL LIVE.
"How could this happen?" said Prince Zack, who was as shocked as Case had ever seen him.
"Teacher gave me sweets, Mommy," said Little Case, who fainted.
"Oh, God," said Princess Tinga. There was a pause. "I'm giving myself up."
"You can't!" yelled Max. "I won't let you! That's what happened to Brin, and now..."
Charles seemed torn. It was his wife or his child...
"I have to save him," said Tinga stubbornly.
Zack intervened. "Tinga-"
"It's not your choice!" she snapped.
"Fine," he snarled. "FINE. Give yourself up. Be killed on account of that child." He stormed out of the room.
Princess Tinga carried Little Case to an ornate sofa. Charles sat next to her. He was crying as she spoke softly to him. Max began to say something a couple of times before stalking from the room with Sir Logan. Case, numb, left as well.
Half an hour later, Case crept into the room where Little Case had been put to bed. Princess Tinga was packing a bag of belongings. She shut the bag, hitched it onto her shoulder and turned around to find Case standing there.
"Zachary," she said. "I... I didn't know you were there." She wiped furiously at her eyes.
"Are you crying?" he asked.
"I have every reason to."
Case felt even more awful. "Princess Tinga-"
"No. No, don't even suggest it. I have to go," she said hollowly. "It's for my son."
It felt hopeless. Case was devoted to this woman. "Why?" he asked desperately.
Princess Tinga fixed him with a shining stare. "I... would do anything for that child. If I had to have every bone in my body crushed, if I had to climb the highest mountain and cast myself from its peak, if any of these things would bring him an inch away from danger- I would. I have been a mother all my life, and it has served me well. My sister and brother will come for me. I believe that Zack still loves me, despite my folly."
Suddenly, Case couldn't help it. He hugged her. She laughed softly in surprise and stroked at his hair. "Poor boy, my Zachary. You have been through a lot."
"I don't think you're coming back," he said in despair. "Princess, I beg you, don't go."
He felt her kiss him on the top of the head. "My brother and sister will come for me," she said.
"You're so like my mother," he said, and he found that he was crying. "Please."
"Many have said that, Zachary. And yet... I have been separated from all of them. I am no mother. Do not cry for me."
She'd misunderstood. And Case opened his mouth to explain to her, to beg her again not to give herself up.
"I must leave. The meeting is nigh." Princess Tinga moved toward the door.
"I love you," he said.
Her look to him was a sad one, regal and fraught with an untold pain. "I know. But Zachary... you shouldn't." This was her reply to him. She left.
Case watched as the Smiths and Princess Max left. And he suddenly knew that he had to be there too. He, so used to this now, followed.
It was on the common, from behind a tree, that Case watched the exchange. Armoured, horse-drawn carriages stood waiting. King Lydecker, in all of his bloodstained finery, stood a long way from Princess Tinga and her family. A little way behind him, before the carriages and other soldiers, was Princess Brin. Her riding crop was with her, hanging from a thin chain on her belt.
Tinga kissed Charlie, then Case. Max walked forward and took a small package of something from Lydecker, bringing it back to the Smith family. She rubbed it onto the back of his neck, where the words were.
Little Case seemed to perk up. "Daddy?" Case heard his young self murmur.
Princess Brin ran forward, grabbed Tinga by the arm and dragged her along, towards an armoured carriage. She held the door open for her older sister and waited until she was inside. The two remaining Smiths turned to go.
"MOVE IN!" yelled Brin, and thumped the side of the carriage with her fist, scrambling inside. The carriage pulled away. There was a commotion inside as if Tinga was trying to escape, and the door swung open. Then it closed.
Soldiers dived upon the Smiths and Princess Max, knocking Charles to the ground and stealing Little Case from his arms.
Case panicked. This wasn't how it was meant to be!
"You bastard!" he heard Max scream at Lydecker, who seemed just as horrified as anyone.
"I swear to ye, Princess, I didn't do this!" he cried.
Max punched the tyrant in the face, knocking him to the grass, and ran after the soldiers who had taken Little Case.
And someone else intercepted them. A man on a white horse that galloped onto the common- a true knight in shining armour. Prince Zack. He rode in front of the soldiers, and Max took most of them out, taking Little Case and holding him. The ones still standing ran off in fear.
Case sunk to the grass and held his head in his hands. "Princess Tinga..." he moaned.
She wasn't coming back.
* * *
DISCLAIMER: 'Dark Angel' belongs to Fox and James Cameron. Not me. So don't sue.
NOTE: No, this isn't the last chapter either. At the most, this fic will extend for two more chapters.
Did anyone feel even the least bit sad in this part? I know most people are going to review to scoff, 'NO! That was PATHETIC!!!' but seriously. My ambition in the world of fics is... um... to make at least one person on ffn.net cry. Great. Now I'm going to get a whole helluva lot of reviews that will all simply say, 'You're twisted.' But there have been many greats on this site who have managed to make me cry, me being the big ol' sook that I am, and I just want to have the same effect in my writing.
I'm so sad. On a great many levels. Anyhow, more soon!
"Brin," said Max simply. Case looked around the corner.
There were soldiers. There were a few women, though he couldn't see Jace anywhere. The one directing was a woman, of Asian descent, who was pointing whatever way troops were to go with a riding crop in her hand. Like Jace had done, she wore an armoured breastplate with a manticore on it over her dress, a helmet, boots...
"Fan out over the east quarter! Team Two, follow for backup! We're taking the woman and her son. Keep it quiet!" she bellowed, walking up and down. "What are you slowing down for? Did I tell you to slow down? DID I?"
Tinga's voice was thick as though she was struggling not to cry. "She's one of them now."
Princess Brin. The child Tinga had been mother, sister, and best friend to. She was grown up and a traitor. It was in that moment that Case felt that all of Tinga's childhood memories of a sweet, loyal and loving sister named Brin were shattered. Even HE felt awful, and all he had ever done was watch their childhood from the corner.
"Let's go," said Princess Max, who sounded almost as devastated as her older sister. The three of them crept along.
"This is where we leave you," said Princess Tinga, and she gave Case's shoulder a reassuring shake. "If you haven't set off the potion in five minutes we're going to run anyway."
"Come ON, Tinga!" urged Max.
"Don't fail, Zachary."
They stood nearby the well. Case waited until the two royals had run off before striding to the well and shaking up the contents of the vial before cracking the glass on the stone well.
There seemed to be a kind of explosion inside the bottle and the cork shot out. Smoke and magical sparks began flooding out. In the space of thirty seconds the place was engulfed in smoke.
"Hey!" yelled a voice. "What are you doing?"
An odd flickering light, like that of fire, began to present itself along the walls of the houses. Case tugged at his collar, feeling hot as a faceless soldier began to charge over to him.
"FIRE!" yelled Case, grinning and coughing. "FIRE!"
"Stop that!"
"FIRE! RUN, THERE'S A FIRE! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!!!"
The man reached him. Case whipped around at the last second and brought down the flat side of the sword's blade on the top of the man's head.
He crumpled to the ground. Case pulled off his cape and threw it over the man so he wouldn't be seen. He doubted the smoke was deadly- why would the princesses have used it if it could kill? Case ran off to find Max and Tinga.
He found Princess Tinga's house without much trouble and ran into her on his way in. Behind her were Princess Max and a shocked-looking Charles who carried Little Case in his arms. Case was wrapped in a blanket.
"Zachary!" cried Princess Tinga. "Good boy. Come with us!"
The group had barely rounded a corner when they ran into the thing the two princess' nightmares were made of.
A Nomaly.
They'd obviously brought some in for the mission of retrieving Tinga and Little Case. Max's face took on the look of a child who has just found out that every ghost story, every imagined beast; everything that had ever scared her... was real.
Charles gasped at this horrendous fiend, which threw back its head and roared. Tinga looked angry.
She pulled a sword from a sheath at her hip, and as she fought and the others shrank back, smoke obscuring the monster and the princess... Case could see why people would fall for her lies of being the daughter of a great warrior. Princess Tinga fought with every repressed anger inside her, every tension.
But she was being beaten. It could not be intimidated, and yet Tinga bravely went at it with everything inside her. "This," she yelled, slashing at the Nomaly's gargantuan form, "is for my parents."
It groaned and bared its teeth, snapping at her. It swung a giant paw into her face. She stopped it with her sword, but it pushed her toward the ground as she struggled to stand up, being crushed beneath its weight.
Tinga lunged upward, taking the Nomaly by surprise. It had relaxed, thinking it had the upper hand. "THIS is for my kingdom!" Princess Tinga screamed. The Nomaly took a blow from her and gave a roar of indignation. She fell to the ground, her sword spiralling out of her reach.
Case dived and caught it, looking around. He could see the silhouette of a man coming out of the smoke, and somehow knew to throw the sword to him.
The man sprinted and stabbed the Nomaly in the back. A familiar voice said as the Nomaly went through its death agony, "And this is for the ones who didn't make it."
Prince Zack.
The two men, two women and two Cases found themselves fleeing Portlandshire and going on to Princess Max's hometown- a great, rainy city called Seattleton. Case could hardly talk as he followed Max into an impressive townhouse owned by Sir Logan Cale. Case recognised this man as one from another dream who had asked Princess Max whether everyone in her family was a thief.
Case didn't know what to do with himself. He watched silently from a doorway as the princesses put Little Case to bed.
"Mommy, tell me the story," asked Little Case sleepily.
"What would you like to know?" asked Princess Tinga, smoothing the blankets unnecessarily.
"What happened after the beautiful princess ran away from the castle?"
"Well, she met her prince and they fell in love and they had a family."
Little Case yawned. "Did they live happily ever after?"
"I don't know, baby," said Tinga sadly. "I hope so."
She kissed her sleeping child on the cheek and looked up at her sister, her eyes full of tears.
Case wandered off and sat by a window, staring as the rain fell. He fell asleep. In the small hours of the morning, he was awoken by a commotion outside.
"What's happening? Max?" cried Princess Tinga. Max was shrieking something Case couldn't hear.
Case jumped up and ran, sore all over. He skidded into the room as the adults crowded around the limp body of Little Case, whose face was paler than snow. His cheeks had become rather red and he twitched fitfully, his eyes closed.
"He's burning up," said Princess Tinga, feeling his forehead.
"What's going on? Will someone please tell me what the hell is going on?" ranted Charles.
"It's a message from King Lydecker," said Max, turning him over. Everyone gasped. Case edged forward and read words that were blooming on Little Case's skin.
GIVE UP THE WOMAN TODAY AT NOON ON THE CITY COMMON AND THE BOY SHALL LIVE.
"How could this happen?" said Prince Zack, who was as shocked as Case had ever seen him.
"Teacher gave me sweets, Mommy," said Little Case, who fainted.
"Oh, God," said Princess Tinga. There was a pause. "I'm giving myself up."
"You can't!" yelled Max. "I won't let you! That's what happened to Brin, and now..."
Charles seemed torn. It was his wife or his child...
"I have to save him," said Tinga stubbornly.
Zack intervened. "Tinga-"
"It's not your choice!" she snapped.
"Fine," he snarled. "FINE. Give yourself up. Be killed on account of that child." He stormed out of the room.
Princess Tinga carried Little Case to an ornate sofa. Charles sat next to her. He was crying as she spoke softly to him. Max began to say something a couple of times before stalking from the room with Sir Logan. Case, numb, left as well.
Half an hour later, Case crept into the room where Little Case had been put to bed. Princess Tinga was packing a bag of belongings. She shut the bag, hitched it onto her shoulder and turned around to find Case standing there.
"Zachary," she said. "I... I didn't know you were there." She wiped furiously at her eyes.
"Are you crying?" he asked.
"I have every reason to."
Case felt even more awful. "Princess Tinga-"
"No. No, don't even suggest it. I have to go," she said hollowly. "It's for my son."
It felt hopeless. Case was devoted to this woman. "Why?" he asked desperately.
Princess Tinga fixed him with a shining stare. "I... would do anything for that child. If I had to have every bone in my body crushed, if I had to climb the highest mountain and cast myself from its peak, if any of these things would bring him an inch away from danger- I would. I have been a mother all my life, and it has served me well. My sister and brother will come for me. I believe that Zack still loves me, despite my folly."
Suddenly, Case couldn't help it. He hugged her. She laughed softly in surprise and stroked at his hair. "Poor boy, my Zachary. You have been through a lot."
"I don't think you're coming back," he said in despair. "Princess, I beg you, don't go."
He felt her kiss him on the top of the head. "My brother and sister will come for me," she said.
"You're so like my mother," he said, and he found that he was crying. "Please."
"Many have said that, Zachary. And yet... I have been separated from all of them. I am no mother. Do not cry for me."
She'd misunderstood. And Case opened his mouth to explain to her, to beg her again not to give herself up.
"I must leave. The meeting is nigh." Princess Tinga moved toward the door.
"I love you," he said.
Her look to him was a sad one, regal and fraught with an untold pain. "I know. But Zachary... you shouldn't." This was her reply to him. She left.
Case watched as the Smiths and Princess Max left. And he suddenly knew that he had to be there too. He, so used to this now, followed.
It was on the common, from behind a tree, that Case watched the exchange. Armoured, horse-drawn carriages stood waiting. King Lydecker, in all of his bloodstained finery, stood a long way from Princess Tinga and her family. A little way behind him, before the carriages and other soldiers, was Princess Brin. Her riding crop was with her, hanging from a thin chain on her belt.
Tinga kissed Charlie, then Case. Max walked forward and took a small package of something from Lydecker, bringing it back to the Smith family. She rubbed it onto the back of his neck, where the words were.
Little Case seemed to perk up. "Daddy?" Case heard his young self murmur.
Princess Brin ran forward, grabbed Tinga by the arm and dragged her along, towards an armoured carriage. She held the door open for her older sister and waited until she was inside. The two remaining Smiths turned to go.
"MOVE IN!" yelled Brin, and thumped the side of the carriage with her fist, scrambling inside. The carriage pulled away. There was a commotion inside as if Tinga was trying to escape, and the door swung open. Then it closed.
Soldiers dived upon the Smiths and Princess Max, knocking Charles to the ground and stealing Little Case from his arms.
Case panicked. This wasn't how it was meant to be!
"You bastard!" he heard Max scream at Lydecker, who seemed just as horrified as anyone.
"I swear to ye, Princess, I didn't do this!" he cried.
Max punched the tyrant in the face, knocking him to the grass, and ran after the soldiers who had taken Little Case.
And someone else intercepted them. A man on a white horse that galloped onto the common- a true knight in shining armour. Prince Zack. He rode in front of the soldiers, and Max took most of them out, taking Little Case and holding him. The ones still standing ran off in fear.
Case sunk to the grass and held his head in his hands. "Princess Tinga..." he moaned.
She wasn't coming back.
* * *
DISCLAIMER: 'Dark Angel' belongs to Fox and James Cameron. Not me. So don't sue.
NOTE: No, this isn't the last chapter either. At the most, this fic will extend for two more chapters.
Did anyone feel even the least bit sad in this part? I know most people are going to review to scoff, 'NO! That was PATHETIC!!!' but seriously. My ambition in the world of fics is... um... to make at least one person on ffn.net cry. Great. Now I'm going to get a whole helluva lot of reviews that will all simply say, 'You're twisted.' But there have been many greats on this site who have managed to make me cry, me being the big ol' sook that I am, and I just want to have the same effect in my writing.
I'm so sad. On a great many levels. Anyhow, more soon!