WARNING: This chapter has violent scenes and crude language that may be disturbing to some readers. Please use discretion.
Chapter XIII "Confrontations"
Dryden looked up at the clear blue sky and frowned off the odd feeling that someone was watching. The feeling itched and crawled its way up his spine, settling at the base of his neck.
He watched as Reeden ran around Shezar's airship, Crusade, preparing it for the journey to the Summit in Asturia. Alseides, the ambassador's guymelef, remained conspicuously covered in the main hatch of the airship. Dryden glanced behind him towards Van's private gardens and not for the first time today wished that Escaflowne was still on active duty.
The king was preparing to depart Fanelia as quickly as possible, responding to King Asturia's summons. Two weeks had already flown by, but the preparations of three separate parties could only move so fast. Although Van was welcome to use Dryden's own barge, Allen's smaller airship would provide faster travel time and allow the king to arrive at the conference of rulers more quickly. President Kestral and Duke Freid would both be following Van in small airships of their own, smaller detachments from their main entourages.
Dryden had decided to forgo the more comfortable barge and travel with Van and Allen. His high rank within the International Merchant Association came with connections with those who could provide the materials for war individual countries could not or would not provide openly. It was invaluable information that the Summit couldn't afford to be without.
Men moved quickly in the landing field, making sure that equipment remained secure and in place. The tension in the air was palpable; news of the Summit had spread quickly, and rumors of war consumed conversation like fire to dry tinder.
Van's men waited with a sense of anticipation, almost able to taste the blood in the air. Dryden, having experienced the horrors of the Great War from the political seat, could not understand how anyone could look forward towards bloodshed with eagerness. Innocent life was taken uselessly on both sides, and in the end, even with a victor named, both sides lost unaccountable life and resources. The waste was staggering, and it was something that Dryden had difficulty coming to terms with.
The Fanelian army remained untried. Six years of being rebuilt and retrained weighed heavily on the soldiers who had not seen a day of battle on the field and who felt keenly their lack of experience. A war was a chance to prove themselves and chase after the collective dream of glory.
All Dryden could see was the wasteland a new war would leave behind. This war would be bigger than the last, greater and more horrifying than any of them could imagine.
He shivered and tried to shake off the impending sense of doom that plagued him. He glanced around in irritation because the feeling of been heavily watched still bothered him. He had decided to his chagrin that Celena and he should accompany Van's party along with Merle and the mysterious Seiki.
Millerna had made it clear that anywhere Allen was, she would be there as well. She had unfinished business with the blonde-haired ambassador. Dryden was relieved that Millerna was distracted by another, although a small part of him resented the fact that it was Allen. The awkwardness between Dryden and Millerna was a hurdle they could not overcome after all the long years of actively avoiding each other.
Dryden had truly loved Millerna when he married her. He left her because he felt unworthy to be her husband and unworthy to hold the title of king. The Great War had shown him with clarity how small of a man he really was and how powerless he was to do anything at all.
So he laboured to try and make himself a bigger man over the years, always trying to live up to an image of what he thought Millerna deserved in a consort. He developed the International Trades Association in order to encourage the trade of goods and fair labour for most countries. He worked until he realized that he didn't even know what he was working for anymore. His days were blurred and his nights lonely and exhausted. After the Great War, all he could worry about was not wasting anything, when in the end he was wasting away his own life.
What good did all his work come to in the end? The Association missed the one country that could have prevented any possibility of this new war. Dryden had known in his heart long ago when he first started the project that Zaibach should have been the first they should have tried to help. Countless of refugees were turned away or scorned, destitute because of the collapse of their major cities and the loss of their leaders. The Association was too young to have a real voice, afraid of losing the little support they had back then to risk it. Dryden allowed the rulers to talk him out of what was right and what had needed to be done for their future's sake.
Now it was going to come back and haunt them.
Dryden's mouth drew into a tight line. It always came down to the politics, the very position he fled from. The ceaseless games of men playing gods, the constant struggle to remain on top of the pyramid of power. It was never the goal that seemed important but the way that the players played the game, no matter how long it took.
The irony lay in the fact that the very position he felt useless in was the same as the one he needed to get things done and get people to listen.
Van walked into the landing field with Allen, distracting Dryden from his harrowing thoughts. He knew his fiancée's brother was not really fond of him, but it didn't stop Dryden from respecting the man in his own right. He suspected he knew the reasons why Allen was constantly avoiding the princess over the long years. People talked, and Dryden was aware of Allen's past, although not all the details. However some things were simply best left untouched, unsaid. He had no reason to provoke Celena's brother. Dryden was sure the ambassador had enough worries to deal with.
As Van and Allen reached Dryden, Celena came in with the remaining entourage that would be traveling in the Crusade. Merle, Millerna, and Seiki accompanied her. Merle and Millerna seemed to be in a particularly animated conversation.
"Millerna, I can't believe you're telling me that you actually LIKE Lady Jessa! She's been an incredible pain in the ass, and the way she treats Seiki is unforgivable!"
"Please Merle, don't take this so personally. We simply had a chance to chat, that's all. She doesn't seem so bad."
"Yes, well tell that to Maria and her family, the ones that little twit managed to evict out of here under her schemes."
Millerna rolled her eyes. "That is not the worst I've heard of nobility doing each other. Lady Jessa, I'm sure, could have found less savory ways of getting rid of her rival and probably less revocable ways too. She did apologize to Maria and her family, and even you as well. There is more at stake now than your feud."
Merle huffed, "Well, don't think I haven't thought of that as well. I still don't have the slightest clue what you see in her at all." She scowled. "You know I only agreed to truce with her because you asked me to even though I don't know why."
Millerna looked away, and Seiki thought she looked a little sad. "Let's just say we seem to understand each other, that's all." She met Seiki's eyes and her mouth twisted into a wry smile. "Perhaps it's because I can sympathize with obsession. After all, I'm quite an old hand at it."
Merle sighed and patted the princess on her arm. "Aren't we all obsessed in one way or another. Sorry Mill, I didn't mean to get on your case. The Lady and I have lots of bad blood between us. I won't hold it against you if you think you find something redeemable in her, just don't expect me to come out to tea with the two of you."
"What is that awful noise?" Celena winced as the squalling of a particularly irate child rose in volume. She paused in checking the smaller cargo to plug her ears and shut out the noise.
"Can't you tell?" Merle grinned, her sharp canines glinting. She looked over her shoulder and out of the main cargo bay door. The Advisor was desperately trying to leave instructions with Yana the cook, who had a firm grip on a familiar bellowing furball.
Seiki peered over a pile of luggage that represented what the Princess had brought with her. "Sosa?"
Millerna placed her last bag - this time her medical kit - on top of the pile. I'm guessing Radan has decided to leave his ward with Yana."
Merle shrugged. "This isn't the time or the place to bring children."
The girls moved further into the ship in search of the ships quarters, leaving Seiki standing along, watching the little one being dragged away from the only family he knew.
The Advisor turned away and closed his eyes.
Seiki hugged herself and shivered.
On the other side of the landing field, another watched the moisy scene as well.
Lady Jessa watched silently, thankful that she, at least, wouldn't be left behind too.
Millerna laughed as she, Merle, and Celena reached the men waiting for them inside the Crusade. Van turned to them with his eyebrows raised.
"Interesting conversation? Merle looks particularly upset." Van commented casually.
"We're talking about the good and bad qualities of Lady Jessa." Celena inserted, grinning at Van's ill-concealed wince.
"Ah, I see," he muttered, "I'm sorry I asked."
Millerna studied the Fanelian king peculiarly. "She adores you, you know Van."
Van gave Millerna a hard look and shook his head. "I don't adore her. I don't even LIKE her. I may not be very good at expressing myself sometimes, but I'm pretty damn sure I've made that clear to her AND her brother."
"Well, at least it's more than what most men will give." Millerna replied cryptically and moved toward the airship docking ramp.
Van sneaked a look at Allen who was making a studious attempt at ignoring the conversation by checking for dirt under his fingernails.
The camaflauged men moved steadily through the undergrowth. The lead man stopped and raised his hand, signallying the rest of the men to do the same. He pulled back the hood of his cloak, revealing Loki's trademark white hair.
"Muse," he murmured.
"Here." Musalen's voice crackled through the tiny ear piece in Loki's ear. A slight rustle to his left indicated Vengeance's position in invisibility mode.
"All in place?"
"Of course. The others are all in position as well."
Loki glanced back at his men, who watched expectantly. There were a few men here and there with fear in their eyes, but for the most part, they waited, patiently, confidently.
Know what you want, and then take it back.
"We should have brought more than three guymelefs." Loki shook his head at Musalen's voice in his head. It was a rather disturbing effect.
"We don't want to exterminate them, Muse. You know the plan."
"You're too kind for this job, Loki." Musalen's tone turned acerbic at the unwelcomed nickname.
Loki smiled, glad to have scored a point, no matter how slight. "Perhaps." He looked towards the bushes where Vengeance crouched, hidden. "I know that Farell wouldn't have thought so."
There was silence and then, "You did what was necessary."
Loki stared up at the sky where three dots were steadily growing larger. "Yes, I know." Silence.
"Ready, Muse?"
"We're here for you."
Loki nodded. He raised his had, and drew his sword. The three dots in the sky resolved into ships.
Taking a breath, he closed his eyes to steady himself. Slowly, he opened them. They gleamed amber.
"Fire."
Millerna wanted to scream. Wherever she turned on this bloody ship, wherever she tried to find Allen, he somehow managed to elude her even on this limited structure. Will the bastard never give her a chance instead of constantly avoiding her forever?
She stopped in the middle of the hallway and stared out of a small porthole. White, fluffy clouds floated below them in fat, wool-like lumps. Light slanted across the acres of white causing Millerna to squint in the rays that streaked through the glass.
She turned away from the window, blinking the sunlight out of her eyes. Surprised she found Seiki standing there, watching her patiently with a thoughtful look on her face.
"Are you looking for Allen?" Seiki asked softly. To Millerna, Seiki seemed too small and delicate to be capable of wielding a deadly weapon, but Calder, Merle, Celena, as well as many of Van's men swore up and down their various gods that it was fact, not fairy tale.
She certainly had the ability to move without being heard, Millerna thought to herself sardonically. I couldn't even sense her there until I saw her.
"Yes. Would you happen to know where the jackass may be right now?"
Seiki laughed. Millerna smiled with her. Seiki had an infectious laugh. "He's talking with his crewmen. He's on the bridge with Merle and the King." A serious look stole the twinkle out of her green eyes. "They want to make sure that they're prepared for any possibilities."
Millerna sighed. "Without me?" Seiki shook her head.
"They sent me to find you. The King wants to make sure that you're informed of everything." Seiki tilted her head, puzzling out the princess's sad expression. "Is there something wrong?"
Millerna force a half-hearted smile. "No, nothing. Don't mind me. I'm just a little preoccupied."
Seiki snorted. "Yes, well, you and everyone on this ship." Millerna moved to follow Seiki as they started to head towards the bridge. "I can't shake this bad feeling I have."
"Is that why you're carrying that?" Millerna gestured to the staff Seiki carried strapped across her back.
Seiki blushed and nervously fingered the strap across her chest. "Like I said. I have a bad feeling."
Millerna eyed her sharply. "Like your mother's bad feelings?" They climbed the short ladder up into the bridge, Millerna following Seiki.
Seiki shook her head and reached for the next rung. Van waited at the top impatiently. "I don't know yet…"
Metal flashed vividly in her mind, and Seiki sucked a breath as she missed the rung. A warm hand grabbed her out reached hand and roughly yanked her up the rest of the way. Flames in her mind's eye, and the scent of smoke, burnt flesh, and blood. Blood. Seiki shut her eyes.
"Seiki!" Van gripped Hitomi's daughter to him and shook her slightly. "What do you see?"
Seiki leaned back and stared at Van's face. He shrank back, startled. Seiki's eyes were frozen amber.
"They come." Her voice was hard and sharp as honed steel.
Merle shouted out. "Basram's ship has been hit!"
"Shit!" Gaddes snarled. "Fried's already down. What the hell! Ambush!"
There was a muffled explosion and the ship rocked heavily to the side. Millerna, taken by surprise, hit the wall hard. Seiki staggered slightly before anticipating the roll of the ship.
"Son of a bitch!" Van hissed. He quickly checked out the window where a cloud of smoke was billowing past. He glanced at the two women. Seiki was helping Millerna to her feet.
"Are the two of you all right?" he asked, concerned. A small trickle of blood ran down Millerna's temple.
"Ouch." Millerna winced as she probed the shallow head wound. Around them, the crew exploded into frenetic activity.
"Gaddes!" Teo bellowed, "We need you below, pronto! The levitation stone on the left wing is gone!"
"Shit!" Gaddes hesitated, glancing at everyone clustered around the princess.
"Go, Gaddes," Van shook his head. "I'll take care of the Princess."
Gaddes nodded. "Right." He jumped down the hole, disappearing without another word.
"Talk to me!" Allen hollered down the hole. Precious seconds were ticking by.
"It's no good!" Gaddes screamed back. "There's nothing there! A chunk of the ship side was taken with the stone!"
"Shit! Boss, we're going to have to bring her down!" Kio struggled with the wheel.
"Get us as close to the other ships as you can!" Van demanded. "The bastards that shot at us is trying to separate us. We need to keep the ships together!"
"Brace yourselves!" Allen shouted. "This isn't going to be pretty."
Van gritted his teeth, bracing arms against the wall and using his body to shield the two women on the floor as the ground rushed up to meet them.
Jessa shook her head to clear the cobwebs. She had been thrown heavily into her brother at first impact, and now chaos had erupted on the bridge of Kerr's airship.
"Jessa! Jessa, are you okay?" Kerr's concerned face peered over her, his hands moving briskly over his sister's limbs to check for any damage.
"What happened?" She whispered, still groggy and somewhat fascinated with how the frenetic activity around her seemed to move in slow motion.
"Ambush, Sir!" The young captain bellowed out a warning. "Mr. President, you need to take cover with the Lady! Freid has gone down, and the Crusade has just been hit!"
Millerna, Jessa's mind froze. The one person Jessa felt she could trust other than her brother was on the Crusade. No.
Jessa scrambled to her feet, shoving Kerr aside in her haste to see outside the window. Men started running outside of the craft, screaming and shouting, as the Crusade landed heavily amongst the trees.
Loki and his men watched the last ship fall with a silent grim anticipation. The Crusade dropped rapidly to the left, aiming towards the quickly scattering mass of people from the crippled Freid and Basram ships. The Crusade straightened roughly before slamming into the trees, driving leaves, branches, and dirt up into a thick cloud.
Loki raised his sword and dropped it in a noiseless swish.
From three separate points surrounding the crash site, a dark wave descended.
"Move! Move, damn you!" Seiki dragged herself to her feet as she dimly heard Allen screaming in the background. Her head hurt. Millerna and Van lay to the side, both groggy as well. Allen and his crew were already outside, struggling to get Alseides ready for battle. Men and women poured out of the trees, enraged and frantic, descending on the bewildered crews of the fallen Freid and Basram ships. Their swords and voices were raised in battle. She glanced out of the side windows on the bridge and paused. Standing a few metres away was a tall humaniod monster of a machine not unlike the Ambassador's Alseides.
Light rippled across it, invisible, yet not. Seiki paused. Something didn't feel right. The guymelef stalked Allen and his men as they frantically defended the Crusade from attackers as they prepared to launch Alseides.
The men didn't know it was there.
Seiki started running, jumping down the hole to the lower deck, pulling the staff around her body until it settled against her side as a sheathed sword.
It was chaos in the lower deck. Smoke billowed in through jagged pieces of wood. Practically the entire side had ben taken out, another chunked gouged out by the trees they crashed into. Seiki leapt onto a broken treetrunk, sprinting up and out of the ship.
The guymelef rose up behind Allen and his men, sweeping aside a cloack of invisible air, and a metallic gleam pointed grimly at the Ambassador's head.
"Allen!" Seiki roared, "Get your men out of there!" The ambassador spun around with his sword in hand, batting away attackers. Seiki jumped down, her body moving faster than the metal giant could follow. Or perhaps, she thought darkly, it simply didn't perceive her as a threat.
Allen met her fierce gaze as she barreled towards him.
"Duck." She commanded, before she disappeared.
He did, all the while trying to keep track of the chaos around him, and stop any attackers from skewering him.
"Boss! Boss!" Gaddes scrambled to where Allen crouched and gaped as Seiki appeared above them, impossibly high. She floated over a disembodied guymelef weapon arm, her sword drawn. She landed lightly in a small crouch in front of them as suddenly the hutch of the guymelef popped open, and the rider frantically scrambled out.
With a hard shove from Seiki, Allen and Gaddes hit the dirt as the giant monster exploded. Flames shot up in the air.
"Son of a bitch! Those are Zaibach machines!" Allen swore. "Where the hell did they come from?" He grabbed Gaddes and shook him hard once. "Alseides. Now!"
Gaddes grunted and took off running. Swinging his sword, Allen cut down a man at his knees as he ran full tilt at the ambassador. By the time he had a chance to look, Seiki had disappeared.
"Shit! Shit!" In the chaos, Musalen's voice crackled in Loki's earpiece. "We lost Ash's guymelef! Damn!" There was more static. Loki's eyes narrowed as bright blonde hair flickered in the windows of the fallen ship he watched.
"Loki!" Musalen snapped in his ear. "Locate the target now! The Ambassador has awakened Alseides!"
Loki smiled tightly and pulled his hood over his conspicuous hair.
"Loki? You have five minutes, damn you!" He heard Musalen grunt in surprise, and man yelling in the distance, and the screech of metal on metal. "Dammit, Loki, can you hear me?"
More white noise in his ear accompanied Musalen's heavy breathing in his earpiece as he listened to her fight an unseen enemy.
A face appeared by the window that Loki was carefully watching.
"Muse?"
A grunt. "Yeah."
His smile turned into a grisly grin.
"Consider it done."
"Excellent." Another clash of metal in the background.
"Muse, one more thing."
"Fuck, Loki, spit it out. I'm trying to fight here."
Teeth shone in the dark, as the muscles in Loki's face tensed briefly. He didn't like the idea of Musalen possibly losing her fight. She was the only friend he had.
"Hurt him."
Muse's laughter echoed in his ear as he silently descended upon his chosen target.
Allen ran to where Alesides stood waiting. The screams and shouts coming from the outher ships told him there were more guymelefs waiting like the one Seiki destroyed. Somehow after the initial shock wore off, it wasn't too hard to believe that Seiki would have a similar ability to see the hidden like her legendary mother.
"It's good to go, Boss!" Gaddes waved the go ahead. "Basram needs help. One of those freaking invisible ones took out one of their melefs. The other won't last much longer."
Allen notted sharply and jumped into Alesides' body. The chest plate rose and helmet closed with a sharp click. Alesides slowly stood, drawing its sword as it did.
Allen moved Alesides toward the whirlwind of chaos as the second Basram melef was speared and destroyed. "Show yourself, you murdering coward!"
Dust kicked up around the destroy melef as it went up in flames. The heat waves undulated strangely, giving Allen a brief glimpse of the invisible intruder.
He snarled and swung Alesides' sword at the rippling image. The stealth cloak vanished an a plain gray guymelef brought its sword up to block Aleside's blow. In the same move, it shoved its fist into Alesides' chest armor, causing Allen to grit his teeth against the jarring impact.
There was no shouting or insults from the other combantant. He thought he heard a voice, as if the rider was talking to himself, but nothing directed to him. It was a grim silence marred by the shrieking sounds of metal against metal.
Allen could feel sweat drip down his face, the heat from the fires cooking him alive inside the cockpit of Alesides' body.
The gray melef snapped its sword, tangling the hilts with Alesides. Allen swore as he struggled to removed his guymelf's sword from the deadly embrace. He blinked in surprise as the faceplate opened to reveal steely gray eyes in a sharp-boned narrow faced intricately tattoed along the left side.
"It's over Ambassador. We have what we need." An emotionless, sexless voice spoke from that frozen fascade.
"What?" Allen shoved the gray melef and tugged back on the tangled sword. "What is it you want?"
His adversary shook his head. "Goodbye Ambassador." The gray melef twisted its sword, releasing the interlocked swords. Surprised, Allend felt Alesides's weight shift backwards. He swore viciously, moving Alesides' sword arm to try and compensate the change.
Too late, the gray melef stepped back and sliced upwards under Alesides outreached hand. Metal screamed as the gray's sword sheared through the arm joint, sending Alesides' dismembered appendage and weapon flying through the air.
Alesides continued its fall, landing heavily to the ground. The impact snapped Allen's head back painfully, and the last thing he heard was the dull roar of flames before everything went black.
Seiki muttered obscene words under her breath as she battled her way through demented people, who continued to assail the ships in a berserker, white-eyed desperation. She found herself caught in an eddy of fighting, bleeding mortals, too far away from the ships to be of any comfort.
Art appeared by her side, a silent giant, swinging his mighty axe as if he was clearing away trees in a forest. People screamed. Blood tainted the air. Seiki glanced up at him briefly, and he winked at her. I got your back, his grin told her. The smile looked morbidly out of place among the dying.
She smacked another attacker on the back of the head with the flat of her sword, grimly working her way towards the Crusade. She had yet to run a man through. Her sword was only flecked with the blood of Art's victims. She was worried about the girls. She had left them in order to help Allen with the invisible robot.
Seiki heard Van's voice raised in a shout. Alseides was being attacked by a non-descript gray guymelef that had it's left back panel done in a deep red. It had a patched, battered look about it that did nothing to hide the fact the rider was very, very dangerous.
The gray guymelef attacked Alseides with the same ferociousness and desperation the attackers on the ground did. However, with the addition of sheer skill and power, the gulmelef was lethal—even to the likes of the ambassador.
A woman screamed, high and shrill, before being abruptly cut off. Seiki shoved another man away, clubbing others down with the base of her sword. The looks on the faces of the men and women who threw themselves at Seiki frightened and unsettled her. Is this the glory that Van's men talked about, her mind wailed. Their looks were of fear, of horror, of sheer torment. It was a look of starvation, not of just food, but of innocence.
No, she could not bring herself to slaughter them.
"Seiki!" She disarmed a young man, no older than herself, who tried to run her through with a sword too big for his bone-rail grip, and smashed her fist into his face. She glanced in the direction where her name had been called.
Millerna lay unconscious on the ground with Merle frantically checking the Princess to see if she still breathed.
Van fought against someone in a black cloak. The attacker moved effortlessly in patterns that were familiar to Seiki as breathing.
Van had been helping the crew as soon as they hit the ground. One by one, people were drawn away to fight, until only Van was left with the girls to hold the ship. Seiki disappeared before he had been able to do anything. He had to force himself to keep moviing, keep fighting around him.
A stranger draped in a black cloak appeared out of no where, and before Van could react, the man had reached Millerna She shrieked her alarm and was promptly clubbed over the head for her trouble. The princess tumbled to the ground, bright hair spilling into a puddle around her.
Merle cried out and rushed to her friend's side with little thought to the man who stood over the princess.
Furious, Van attacked, confident and righteous in his anger. His friend and his only family were in danger. He swept the sword into a two-handed grip, slashing in an arc with the intent to disembowel.
The cloaked man faded back, and Van's sword caught nothing but air. Van jerked his sword up and felt the jarring impact of an impossibly quick response. In an instant,Van went from attack to defense.
The man didn't fight with the same look of desperation as the others who attacked the delegations. The stranger's movements were fluid and smooth, following the silent rhythm of a pattern learned long ago.
A slash appeared on Van's arm, sharp and painful. He gritted his teeth and dug in, desperation welling up within.
He faintly heard Calder's bellow in the distance. Alesides was fighting another guymelef, struggling and outmatched as he was. There was a great boom and the horrible sound of metal being torn away.
The wind blew and white hair snaked out of Van's opponent's dark hood. Van staggered, his foot sliding into a divet in the ground. The stranger didn't miss a beat. Relentlessly, he stepped into Van, beating down the king's sword, and as if playing a silent children's Simon Says, replicated the ruthless move that Seiki performed only moments before.
There was a mild tug, and Van's sword flew effortlessly from his hand. He turned and caught a full look at his enemy's face, amber eyes and white hair. Shocked, Van screamed out Seiki's name.
The stranger jerked back in pain, and snarled. The man called the Fallen One, called Loki, called Seiji, smashed his fist into Fanelian king's face.
Merle growled and leapt at the stranger who attacked her king, claws fully extended, fangs bared in fury. He casually brushed her aside in midleap, Merle's body flying through the air with ease before crashing violently with a tree trunk and falling to a limp heap on the ground.
Loki stood there silently, with the screams and shouts echoing in his ears. A girl's name rang in his ears over and over with familiarity.
He glanced down at his objective, the Asturian princess lying unconscious at his feet. He knelt down and picked her up. Standing, he spoke.
"Muse."
A crackle. "Yes."
"I have her."
"We're done here then?"
"Yes." He paused. "Your oppenent?"
"Down, but not completely out."
"Are you going to kill him?"
She paused. "Not today. We have what we want."
He shifted the princess' weight in his arms. "Call a retreat. I will meet you back at the meeting point." There was a sound of fabric tearing as white wings ripped through from his back. Blood-tipped feathers flew in the air. He looked down at his passenger's sleeping face. "Hang on," he muttered sarcastically, as his wings beat the air, once, twice, before lifting the both of them into the air.
Loki glanced below as he rose, and almost fell in his shock as a mirror to his face stared up at him in agony.
The girl in his dreams stared up in him, her face contorted in pain, an eerily familiar sword in her left hand.
"Seiji!"
He jerked, almost dropping the princess. His gaze locked with the girl on the ground, and he could see her impossibly green eyes turn amber as she raise her unbloodied sword and because to hack away at his men. Fighting her way through them, fighting her way towards him.
He continued to fly away, as horror filled him, knowing somewhere deep in his heart that something was lost. Something very dear to him.
His name, his true name ripped through the air, filled with agony and a blooming rage as he turned away with tears in his eyes.
She could only open her mouth to scream. Her twin's face remained horrifying clear in her mind, the same, yet different. Young but still older than she.
"Seiji!" The shout was torn out of her throat. The man who was her twin, yet not, jerked as if in pain. His amber eyes turned green as they met hers in recognition, yet he still continued to move away. Blood-tipped wings blooming behind him, carrying him away, flying away with the princess of Asturia. Millerna.
"Seiji!"
Her sword lifted mercilessly, scything through flesh like wheat in a field.
Oh, how I hurt, my soul hurts
And still the sword slashed and cut its way through the endless bodies that threw themselves in front of her.
She could only see through a haze, viewing her sword move as if another person wielded it. She couldn't feel and the sounds of battle and the screams of the dying came muffled through a fog. The dead didn't frighten her.
Her thoughts pulled her back into time, the funeral of her father, her mother clawing the winter ground of his grave begging him to come back to her, crying that it was too soon to leave.
She was not afraid of the dead, because the dead walked by her side and slept in her bed.
She was one of the walking dead, her soul forfeit even as she took others.
My soul breaks
Out of the corner of her eye, Art collapsed, cut down by soldiers she couldn't see. The giant bear of a man fell heavily, without a sound, using his body as he fell to protect the girl he was charged with.
"NOOOOO!"
She could hear the sound of fabric tearing behind her and a sharp pain in her back. Feathers flew in the air.
Blood tipped - twin to her twin.
She felt the prophecy reach up and grab her in its black grasping claws.
Jessa ran through the trees, trying desperately to keep up with the fleeting glimpses of wings and Millerna's long blonde hair. She dimly heard Kerr's shout as he realized that his sister has disappeared.
Foolish, the voice in her head chided. Why are you risking yourself for someone you hardly know? Jessa shook her head, confused.
She'll be alone, she protested to the voice.
So will Kerr. Jessa stopped in her tracks with a gasp. What the hell was she doing? She spun on her heel to retrace her steps, when a tall, dark man stepped in front of her with a pearly white grin.
"Well, well, what to we have here? I think the Fallen One might be interested in you,…Lady Basram."