Chapter 21: Is this the end?

It only took a second.

Malene's heart didn't even have a chance to beat in that one moment. Time froze for all of those in the room. Jadeite rushed towards his sister, only to be stopped by Jasper's spear.

"Malene!"

The young huntress turned her face upwards at the Knight.

"Take a good...look you...bastard...this is the last face you're ever...going to see..."

The Stormy Knight's sword fell to the ground with a clank as he keeled over. Jadeite pushed his friend away and ran to catch his sister, who fell to her knees. He looked to see that Stormy's body now had a gaping hole through his midsection. In the last moment of the fight, Malene had quickly double strafed though him. Looking up, the hunter saw his falcon flying in a circle around the arrows protruding from the ceiling.

"B-big...bro...ther..."

Jadeite returned his attention to his sister, who was now extremely weak. She smiled and raised her hand to her wounded shoulder.

"I...I did...it...I...beat...him..."

"Shh, don't speak sis, just rest."

He brushed the hair from her face and stroked her cheek.

"I...I can't believe...it..."

Suddenly she covered her hand with her stomach. Somehow, Stormy had managed to shoot a dagger of ice into her, making her bleed heavily. She coughed violently, the blood coming up and making her choke.

"I...feel...so...weak..."

"Sis, hang on, please. You'll be fine. Lapis and Emery are here with me...they can heal you."

Malene smiled at her brother and fell against him, covering him with blood as she collapsed from her kneeling position.

"Malene...mother will be so proud of you..."

His voice broke as he hugged his younger sibling, the tears pouring down. Emery used heal to close off the wounds and stop the bleeding, dismay showing in his eyes when he realized that there was not much he could do. He picked her up and set her on Jasper's Peco as Jadeite walked over to Stormy's frozen corpse. He took his dagger from the sheath on his belt and stabbed it into the monster's chest, making sure that his heart beat no more.

After spitting on the dead reindeer, he stooped over to pick up something from the ground.

"Come on guys...let's get out of here..."