Forever Strong
A/N: Many are making a big deal about "The Drowned One", don't get your hopes too high, or they might shatter! ...Or maybe they won't. I just like to keep people guessing. How enjoyable is this? XD
"Alright, get up!" said a brusque voice from beyond the darkness. Reluctantly and with great difficulty, Zelos opened his eyes to see the blurred outline of a bandit.
This bandit, he figured, was part of the minority. Female elves weren't normally prowling around with bandits, or even outside Heimdell for that matter. She appeared to be very tan, from what little he could see of her face, for she wore a tattered scarf that covered her from just below her eyes to her neck as well as a bandana baring the traditional bandit theme just as the rest of her battle-worn apparel.
"You 'lright? You took quite a beating back there, yeah?" she spoke through both a moderate accent and a thick scarf, making her all the harder to understand. She chuckled to herself, "These idiots gotta be deluded to call you de 'Flying Man'. You obviously ain' got no wings, crazy they are."
She rose from her sitting position in the corner of the wagon. "Drowned One. You... you're gonna be... Wings, yeah, that's it."
He didn't respond. She second guessed his blank stare, "They call me 'Drowned One' cause they found me alone out in t'rain a few years ago, ya know? So of course I was drenched, a smart lot they be." She winked.
"But, uh, really..." She plopped herself down a foot or two from him, looking around vigilantly. "You wanna git outta here, yeah?"
Zelos said nothing, but he expressed a sarcastic look screaming 'How did you know?'
Continuing, she said, "It'll be tough, gitting through camp 'n all, but nuttin' Wingsy can't handle, yeah?" she laughed heartily; Zelos bore into her intently trying to find out whether he could trust this ditz or not. "Dang man, I ain' never seen anybody take on all the Bandies ly' that! Wits end, yeah? Well, no worries. Those lil' nicks ain' nuttin' I can't patch up good!"
With that, she hopped up and grabbed some medical supplies, and once she got Zelos to lie down, began to unravel his previous bandages, going on about something involving a chicken mishap. As soon as she pressed a finger onto his chiseled six pack, previously treating the arrow wounds, she stopped her ramblings and said, "Dang! You hot, man!" Her hand strayed to his head, putting her backhand against his forehead which she immediately pulled off, "Like, fever hot..." she said, giving a flick of her wrist as to cool her backhand.
As Drowned One made her way to the other side of the wagon, now murmuring to herself about her own fever experiences, Zelos felt something return to him. It felt so deviant and yet so natural; a sense of security flowed through him. Perhaps, just perhaps, he pondered, life could go on. After all, the best way to truly trying to cheer someone up is not to walk on eggshells.
Drowned One returned with a bowl that looked like it was full of dog-sick, but smelled like peaches. "Here, take this. Subdues fever for the night, increases stamina and tastes like raspberries!" she said cheerfully, but Zelos was not fooled by her carefree discomposure.
When he didn't take the bowl, she sighed and lowered her voice significantly, "Look, pal. I ain' heartless ly' the rest o' them, yeah? I saw wha' happened wit' losin' your gal 'n all. I just wanna help, okay? You can confide in me if you want, or don't, I dun see it irksome either way. Just help me escape from this camp and I'll help you in anyways I can, or I can just go alone..."
She appealed successfully to his sympathy, and before he knew it, he had downed the remedy in one gulp (and it did taste strangely like raspberries). She appeared to smile hopefully behind herred scarf and went on with curing his wounds. "I'm putting some bandages spiked with mana on yeh, they'll completely neutralize any and all current pains for abou'... oh say, ten hours?"
Once finished, she nodded approvingly, "Alrigh', now you stay here while I ready a plan. Dun move 'till the wounds are neutralized, got it?" He nodded and she went off and disappeared behind the curtain and into the night.
Not knowing entirely what she had meant by 'neutralized', he lay still in what could easily be his deathbed. His thoughts lingered curiously on this mysterious Elvin bandit and what lay in store for their escape.
It had been five minutes now that he lay there waiting for his pains to subside. Suddenly, he could clearly hear a very heated argument in progress not too far outside the wagon. The booming voices seemed to belong to Drowned One and another female bandit.
"You're a filthy traitor!"
"Traitor? You're the traitor here!"
"Am I now? I'm not the one betraying the family that saved her from the brink of death, you ungrateful, fuc—!" The beginnings of a brawl interrupted her, and she acted as any other bandit would.
Desperate and somewhat afraid of what was happening out there, he decided his wounds were neutralized enough and slowly crawled to the edge of the wagon and pulled a curtain aside. A crowd of mostly drunken bandits had gathered around the two hurling insults at one another while battling with a feminine grace.
"Bitch fight! Bitch fight!" was the chanting coming from the circle of men, while the others in the front took sides and bet on a winner.
After a few minutes of fierce combat, it was apparent Drowned One was giving up ground. On a lucky break, the other bandit managed to pin her to the ground, one hand raised baring a short knife and ready to strike. Her eyes caught with Zelos, who looked ready to jump in at any moment, and hissed through her crimson scarf, "Stay hidden, Wings!"
Just as the other bandit brought down her strike, Drowned One slipped her arm out from underneath the other bandit's grasp and grabbed the knife from her mouth and stabbed her opponent in the shoulder in one fluent motion.
Stunned with shock, the other bandit fell to the ground clutching her shoulder as the blood spilled forth from her gash. As Drowned One stood, the men around her chanted, "Finish her off! Finish her off!" However, she merely spat at the ground close to her opponent and joined Zelos back in the wagon.
She looked over to Zelos casually, reading his gawking expression, "Eh," she shrugged. "She got what was comin' to 'er, yeah? But I ain' one to kill over such a... tiny dispute.
"Anyway, other than Blood Kitten ou' there, all the bandies in this camp be either sleepin' or drunk. Meanin' we'll have ta be quiet wit' our escape." She continued in a sharper tone, "Now, be wary, yeah? This camp es very big. I say abou' tree-hundred bandies total, and trust me, the odds of a two agains' tree-hundred sound about as appealing as a good kick in the groin."
She glanced outside the curtains veiling the inside of the wagon from the outer world and motioned to follow her. He did so after grabbing his equipment and items, as soon as he landed foot on hard ground, she roughly pulled him close to her by the wrist and said under her breath, "Play along," she then shoved him ahead of her and shouted, "Get movin', Wings!"
When he began to head in the wrong direction, she grabbed him without mercy and led him quite forcefully over to the exit, where they met with some of the guards. "Oi, Cipher, Just takin' Wingsy 'ere huntin'! Ya know, maybe he'll talk if 'e's in a one-on-one environment, yeah?" she grinned stupidly as she took in a one armed embrace at her side.
The guard, Cipher gave her blonde hair a flick, "He's hot. I'm afraid though, that doesn't qualify under the circumstances of leaving the camp this late, right Mac? ...Oi! Mac!" she whacked the male guard over the back of the head with the blunt end of her spear. "Wake up you lazy picket!"
He looked over to Drowned One and Zelos, or Wings as they knew him. "Ain't he the one that—"
"Yeah," Cipher cut in. "Drowned One over here wants to go hunting with him at this hour!" she laughed, "Says maybe he'll talk in a 'one-on-one environment'."
Mac shrugged his massive shoulders, "Dunno, you'll hafta ask Wolf Bane for permission on this one."
"Great," Drowned One muttered unenthusiastically. "Well, let's go Wings. C'mon, git!" she enforced with a violent push in the opposite direction. Once they were out of earshot of any sober bandits, she whispered, "Sorry abou' this treatment, but if I didin, they wou' get all suspicious ly', ya know?" he nodded, though needless to say he didn't appreciate the treatment other than getting them out of here.
They seemed to be heading towards the largest tent of the all, so colossal it seemed more of a building even. Once they reached the curtain doors of the tent, Drowned One called, "Drowned One approaches!" to announce her presence.
"Wolf Bane accepts entrance!" bellowed a deep voice from inside. She nodded and before entering, she looked to Zelos mirthlessly. Whether it was a warning of some sort or an annoyed twitch, he couldn't figure.
Inside, she greeted the aforementioned leader with a deep bow, even taking a knee while her raven hair dusted the ground; Zelos followed suit. "Rise, Drowned One, and uh, you person."
"He Wings."
"Ah, I see." Said Wolf Bane, "Now, cut the crap and tell me why you're 'ere."
"Always to chase, aren't you?" she coughed, and continued, "I was denied access to the forest for hunting."
"And your alibi?"
"I was gonna take Wingsy 'ere with me in hopes me may be willin' to talk, ya know, one-on-one. Less pressure, yeah? Hear me out, man."
He growled, "I 'ear yeh alright, but I dun see it your way—"
She smiled with all teeth and withdrew her dagger. "I didin' think you wou', sir." With that, she jumped at Wolf Bane and managed to leave an upward slash through his armor, leaving it to crack and fall to the ground with a loud clang as she stood in almost a bowing pose behind him.
Zelos took this as his cue to draw his weapon, which in fact, he could actually use. He assumed it was the mana in his spiked bandages giving him the ability to wield his sword, and thought nothing more of it as he joined Drowned One in battle.
Needless to say, Wolf Bane wasn't going to go down without a fight, and a large one at that. He brought forth a mighty axe from behind his back with a blade equal to the size of Zelos' arm span and swung it with a potent force. However a weapon of such weight was easy to avoid the first couple times around, and that was all they needed to put Wolf Bane at their mercy.
"TURNCOATS! TRAITORS! SPIES! MAN DOWN!" Wolf Bane croaked weakly, and the shouts of awakening bandits could be heard coming their way. Their shadows could be seen surrounding the tent, armed with everything from torches to Mana-Guns.
"Damn, we surrounded..." said Drowned One as she backed into Zelos. She looked around in a panic, thinking fast she said, "Wings, you got wings! I need you to draw them! Now!"
They locked eyes, after a while, Zelos lowered his in defeat.
An arrow burst through the tent wall, narrowly missing Drowned One. "Look, I know what happened the last time you used your wings!" she said, biting back the fear in her voice, "But if you don't, we'll both be dead!"
Seeing to fulfill his duty to protect those he could in Sheena's memory, he drew his wings and looked to her for further instruction. She nodded and hopped onto his back, "Just fly upward and leave the rest to me!"
They burst through the top of the tent with a blinding orange flash. As the bandits readied their weapons to fire, Drowned One slipped off her scarf and yelled unto the night, "Hammer of Godly Thunder, I summon you, come and unleash thine power upon these empty mortals... Volt!"
Pillars of lightning fell upon them as the thunder cackled at their demise, a dazzling light encircled them and they found themselves sitting awkwardly outside the charred and barren land of which the Bandit Camp had once claimed.
A joyous and uncharacteristic laugh escaped Drowned One. Zelos stared in pure anticipation as the dead became living right before his eyes.
Tossing aside her bandit clothes, wiping away her tinted skin and her handmade Elvin ears, Sheena stood over him, offering him a hand.
"We did it."