"Hey you! Why don't you pick on someone your own size?" A voice shouted from behind, followed by another- "Get away from her."
Third POV
Two men grabbed the guard by his arms and quickly pulled him away from Iris. Iris stared at the two men, judging from their outfits, they must've been Black Army soldiers. One of them looked at Iris, he had long pale blue hair pulled into a ponytail with gentle brown eyes, "Oh, you poor thing. That must have been terrifying."
The other one had the features of a porcelain doll, with shoulder-length dark purple hair pulled into a side-ponytail and golden eyes, a single beauty mark dotted under his left eye. "Don't leave our side, unless you want to get yourself into even more trouble." Catching her breath, Iris gave a weak smile, "..Th..Thank you for.. saving me." Something about the purple-haired one, with his delicate, porcelain features, screamed familiarity to Iris. Yet she couldn't place her finger on it.
The other one had a completely different aura compared to the rest of the men here. He seemed quite.. flamboyant. "Get your hands off of me!" the Gate Guard shouted. He had managed to pull himself free of the two soldiers' grasp, and made a beeline sprint for the barracks. "The Black Army has come in attack! Ring the alarm! Form ranks!" the man shouted. This couldn't be good. The purple-haired one sighed, "So much for sneaking in, Seth." "You can say that again, Luka."
Iris' gaze drifted down, "I.. I'm sorry.. You two wouldn't.. wouldn't be in this mess if.. if it weren't for me." she mumbled, her voice weak. "Don't worry about it, sweetie. Do you really think we'd let some smelly old guard treat you that way?" the blue-haired one, Seth, gave Iris a gentle smile. "This isn't the time to chat." the purple-haired one, Luka, pointed out. Turning his golden gaze on Iris, "If you want to come with us, come." "..Okay."
As much as Iris was hesitant to trust Seth and Luka, she wasn't open to waiting around to find out just how Jonah would react to this incident. With Seth and Luka on either side, the three of them ran towards the gates. "Hah! Those dopes think they can escape our entire army?" one of the Red Soldiers laughed. Iris looked behind her to see the shimmer of a rifle being loaded in the distance when-
BANG!-
An array of gunshots sounded through the air. The enemy soldiers scattered as a shower of bullets pierced through the sky with a thunderous roar. A man with dark pink hair and wide eyes to match stood atop the gated entrance, a satisfied look on his face as he held up two pistols. "Did you really think I'd let you two have all the fun? I'm part of this now, too." the man smiled.
"Fenrir!" Both Luka and Seth stared at him in surprise. Fenrir met the gaze of his two allies, "Take the girl and get out of here." he told them. "Yes, sir!" both replied. "Don't let them escape!" the Red Soldiers shouted. "Looks like it's going to be a good hunt tonight." Fenrir smiled, a wild glint in his eyes as more gunshots rang out from his pistols. Pants escaped Iris as they continued to run further and further from the gates.
Iris turned back to see a shower of bullets. The air filled with the sounds of fighting, gunfire, and Fenrir's wild laughter. She felt relieved that Fenrir had saved them, but she couldn't help but think that he may be completely insane. "Fenrir, you can stop now." Luka frowned. "We're safe now, so cut it out!" Seth shouted. "Sure, whatever you say!" Fenrir returned his pistols to their holsters and jumped down from the gates. Iris could see through the cloud of smoke and dust that every last Red Soldier had fallen down.
"..Did.. Did you kill them?" Iris muttered. Fenrir smiled, "I guess you could say I killed their careers as soldiers." "Fenrir uses a gun equipped with bullets made from Magic Crystals. One hit and the enemy is off to dreamland." Seth explained. Why was Iris not surprised? Of course he had been using magical bullets. "You were in a heap of trouble back there. The name's Fenrir Godspeed. Pleased to meet you." Fenrir introduced.
"..Iris. Iris Matthews-Schuyler." she spoke, attempting to sound more calm rather than nervous. Fenrir focused his gaze on Iris, "Iris, would you mind lifting your chin a bit?" he asked. Confused, she did as he asked. Fenrir took a long look at her face before pulling a handkerchief out of his pocket, gently wiping her cheek. "You had a bit of ash on your face." he explained. "Oh.. …Thanks." Iris muttered, averting her gaze.
Fenrir seemed a bit off the rails at first, but maybe that was just how he behaved in battle. His actions just then suggested he was quite the gentleman. It wasn't easy for Iris to wrap her head around the fact that these two strikingly different personalities could belong to the same person. "Stop hogging all of her attention, Fenrir, and let us introduce ourselves too!" Seth whined, "I'm the 10 of Spades, Seth, and this cutie is the Black Jack, Luka. I can already tell we're going to be the best of friends, Iris." Seth smiled.
"Now's not the time to be talking about friendship. The enemy's approaching." Luka narrowed his gaze. Iris glanced back to see a plethora of Red Soldiers marching straight towards them from the Red Barracks. How many of them could there even be? Iris couldn't help but wonder. "You just had to go and showboat your way through the Red Army, didn't you? Berserkers are so classless." Seth complained.
"Oh, come on! You ought to be thanking me for saving our butts back there." Fenrir spoke. "Shut up, you two. We're running- now." Luka told them. The trio continued with their bickering until the four clambered into their carriage. In the East, the sky burned with a bright crimson glow as the four of them took off into the night's cold embrace.
Iris opened her eyes to the soft rays of sunlight warmth filtering in through the window. Finally, the longest night of her life was over. The carriage pulled up to the town square in Central Quarter, and they were greeted by a line of Black Army Soldiers. There must have been hundreds of soldiers lined up, with Ray and Sirius at the front.
Sirius' amethyst eyes widened as they exited the carriage, "Glad you're back in one piece. But why did you bring Iris back with you?" he asked. Ray smiled, "Nice to see you again so soon, Iris." "Ray, Sirius, it's- ..I.." Not sure what to say, Iris trailed off. But she still did her best to give them a smile before inevitably averting her gaze. No sooner had she spoken than Fenrir and the others' expressions quickly turned to surprise.
"Iris, you already know our King and Queen? Talk about a small world, huh?" Fenrir asked. Iris tensed up, she hadn't known that Ray and Sirius were the King and Queen of Spades. "You're really good at popping up at the worst possible time." Ray commented. "Erm.. That.. That wasn't my intention.." Iris muttered. "We can chat later," Luka interrupted, "The enemy is approaching." The thunderous sound of hooves against the cobblestone grew louder and louder. Four men led the perfectly synchronized battalion of soldiers, clad in red and white.
Jonah was there, his porcelain features covered in a sheet of ice; Edgar, with an uncomfortably soft smile unbefitting of the tense situation at hand, his jade green eyes not giving away anything. Then there was Zero, seeming to size them up with a calculating gaze; and after him, Kyle, who appeared to be completely uninterested with this entire affair. It felt as though something big was about to occur.
Ray's emerald gaze hardened, "What the heck is this about?" he questioned. "Well, you see.." Seth began, "We had a little run-in, so to speak, with the Red Army at the gates to their barracks." Sirius gave Seth a stern look, "Seriously? Do I need to send you all back to school to take Recon 101 again?" "There you go with that salty face. I don't know why you're so upset." Seth commented, completely oblivious, then added- "If you really thought nothing was going to happen, then why did you come here with so many men?"
"The Reds have been waiting 500 years for an excuse to strike, and they've finally found their reason." Ray spoke, his tone and expression flat. It was just like Blanc had said- war really was about to begin. The Red Army's march finally came to a halt, the two sides stood facing each other. "I'm quite impressed. I wasn't expecting the Black Army to send its leaders out to welcome us." Edgar commented.
A fierce glare sparked in Jonah's golden eyes, "You took that girl, who was under our charge, and then had the audacity to attack. Explain yourselves." Sirius smirked, "You almost had me fooled into thinking you were a victim there for a minute. Twist the truth too much and your face might end up that way too." "Say that once more and you'll rue the day you were born." Jonah hissed. "How dare you insult our Queen?!" A red soldier shouted.
Indignant cries of anger rippled through the atmosphere surrounding the Red Army until- "Silence!"
