Timeless
Part Eight: Ombra
Colonel-sama's scribblings-- 'Ombra' is Italian for 'Dark'
"Entering Heimatland seaspace now, sir." "Good, as soon as we're close enough, deploy the Hammerheads and search for that fjord." Hermann instructed from his seat, his hands together in a silent prayer. "Odds are, Hiltz is hiding there and waiting to strike Castle Eisen-Kreuz down with one shot of his cannon." "Yessir." Van approached the chair of the colonel and cleared his throat, Hermann looked up at him. "Want something, Flyheight?" "Permission, sir, but I'd like to go out in the Blade Liger to warn Colonel Schubaltz and Major Aethelwulf." "Knowing Aethelwulf and his godly status, he'd already know." Hermann replied, then stood up until he was almost nose-to-nose with Van. "But it wouldn't hurt to tell Schubaltz and Aethelwulf that we got 'em covered. Go out onto the shore with Lt. Schubaltz and get to Castle Eisen-Kreuz as soon as possible." "Yessir." Van and Thomas saluted and headed for the hangars. "Seems like you're going home, Thomas." "Seems like it." Thomas smirked and opened the canopy hatch to the DiBison, he turned to Van and cleared his throat as well. "Heimatland speaks a different language than most places, Heimatlandese has not really been translated for the Republicans, but then again, there is a strong anti-Republican sentiment here even with the war being over." "Why is that?" Van frowned at that scenario, the canopy lowering over him. "It's the propoganda bullshit that the last Emperor and the Late Minister Prozen forcefed to them for years. It's become instinctual instead of logical that all Republicans are bad." They stomped onto the elevator and allowed themselves to get lifted up, Thomas let the Beek helmet slide on his head. "...I see." The dark-haired Republican frowned and looked out the window. "Even with all the peace and civility there are still some that share that kind of mentality." "Sad, really." Thomas frowned as well, the zoids were loaded onto the shore and took off. "Yes, yes it is."
A young woman in her late teens walked through the garden near Castle Eisen-Kreuz, her dark brown hair glistened in the Summer sunset. She looked around the garden, making sure no one tailed her, then stepped into the courtyard of the palace. Standing there by the fountain was a figure in red and black, he had red hair that was in a perm and cold black eyes. Next to him was a red, dragon-like organoid with green eyes, it growled when she approached. "Samara Schubaltz." The man smiled, taking her hands in his, a plotting smile on his lips. "The slut..." "....don't call me that." Samara snapped at him, her blue eyes burning into his. Samara was different than the others, she didn't look like a Schubaltz, she was cursed of being a child produced from infidelity. Karl scornfully shunned her and blatantly refused to acknowledge her as a Schubaltz, Thomas and Bianka picked on her without mercy, her father wanted NOTHING to do with her because she was not his and she was constantly harassed at the academy. Many schoolmates taunted on the fact that her blood is not pure, that she doesn't deserve the honor and reverence of being called a Schubaltz. Samara began to resent her family name, so much that she started to try and smear it... without sucess. Every trick she has done has only tarnished her reputation and not her family's. The death of the heir is her last 'fuck you' to her hated bloodline. "What? A slut?" "I rather be called a slut than a Schubaltz." Samara frowned, fire in her blue eyes, then leaned forward until she was nose-to-nose with Hiltz. "The plan is still on?" "Yes, after you kill Colonel Schubaltz and disable Aethelwulf, return to the fjord for further instructions." Hiltz pulled away and walked through the brush, leaving Samara kissing air. She groaned and turned toward the gates, walking through the plantlife until she came to a line of black lilies growing in the flowerpots. Her eyes narrowed, she grabbed the sheers from behind her and went to snip them all. They were ripped out of her hand with an unseen force, the sheers impaled themselves deeply in the jugular of the angel statue only feet away. Samara blinked, seeing the sheers so far in the marble statue, but not seeing anything around her to cause this, Samara ran out of the garden in a panic. From behind a shadowy pillar, a dark figure stepped out, revealing his presence. It was Leon, and he heard the whole entire thing. Deciding to follow her, Leon kept one hand on his opposite arm and caught up with her. He grabbed her from under the arm and forced her in one direction. "Who the hell are you and what do you want with me!?" Samara shouted, kicking him in the knee, but she stepped back when she saw the kick did nothing to him at all although it would have shattered kneecaps of normal men. "...what are you is more like it. Wait a minute, you're that man that my darling older brother is with, aren't you?" "Why do you hate your family so much as to want to kill them?" Leon asked, a mixture of pity and anger in his indigo eyes. "Save your pity for that useless gimp of an Imperial colonel." Samara tried to break from Leon's grasp but found she couldn't even get him to budge. "Let go." "Tell me... now. Don't make me mind control you." "You really want to know?" Samara asked, scornfully and full of acid. "Well, I'm 17 years old and I'm going nowhere with my life. Why? Because all my life, people refused to refer to me as a true Schubaltz. My step-father wanted nothing to do with me, he'd lock me in closets constantly... Karl, spoiled rich mama's boy Karl, scornfully shunned me as his younger sister and used to be very brutal to me. And Bianka and Thomas weren't the nicest siblings in the world either... and my birth mother flourished her attention on Karl and Bianka more than me and I was often left to fend for myself. How do you like that, Mr. Screw Toy?" ".... so you're bitter because your family was being that... a family. Let me tell you something about ostracism and the consequences of lashing out. Let me tell you about what happened to a planet called Earth. 1000 years ago, I was an inhabitant of a planet ruled by religious prejudices and social conformity... anyone breaking from either was burned at the fucking stake with NO MERCY." Leon was in her face when he shouted that, his eyes now white and fairly demonic instead of bearing any human resemblances. "You hate your family... well, GOOD! They hate you too! If you are so unhappy about them, LEAVE... Karl and Bianka are not forcing you stay! But if you are staying, then dry up the waterworks, Little Miss Priss!!! On second thought... you better leave. I saw you with Hiltz, I know what you're going to do...." "You.... were listening to me? How dare you??" "Cry a river, build a bridge and get over it!" Leon snarled, throwing her into the mud. "Anyone who is trying to hurt Karl or his family to further themselves shall be fought off and will deserve mercy or remorse. I shall shed no tear for your passing because you don't deserve it... not because of your sob story either.... I cry for those who deserve the tears.... but as for you. You make me laugh.... only mockingly and bitterly. You would rather see your family in pine boxes and disgraced than just leaving to pursue a new life." "...you don't understand.... NONE OF YOU WILL!" "Must I? I know vengeance all too well. I don't need a lecture." Leon walked for the castle, but turned to look at her as the thunder began to rumble. "You got until the count of 1 to leave or I wipe you off the face of Zi forever." "I'll be back..." Samara ran off into the approaching night, Leon walked inside the castle just as the rain began to pour. But before he could blink, a vision entered his mind's eye. Something in the fjord was firing upon the castle, there was a bright white flash and then.... darkness. "....no.... Hiltz is in the fjord...." Leon's eyes turned toward the window overlooking the fjord. Before he could run for the marble stairs, the whole room was filled with a bright white and blue light. Leon fell to the floor as a suit of armor fell on top of him, there was a gaping hole where the wall used to be and the stairs were destroyed. Leon opened his eyes to see the castle was about to be totalled from the blast of the particle beam. "Karl..... K-karl.... r-run.... save yourself...." Leon's eyes closed, he was knocked out...
--Continued--