Chapter 10: Victory, Or Defeat?

"Dragstor!" Brittni screamed as she ran over to treat him. Brett fired his pistol at Glimmer just too late, barely missing her. He growled and holstered his pistol, then ran over to help Brittni. Brittni pulled out gauze from her pack and shoved it onto the gaping wound on Dragstor's back, applying as much pressure as possible on it.

"Brett, get those cuffs off! His arms are pushing blood out!" Brittni commanded. Brett quickly reacted, holding up Dragstor's wrists, and cutting the cuffs chain with his saw. The blood oozed out slower, but he was still losing blood rather quickly. Although Brett was usually calm in stressful situations, his understanding of medicine was much less than Brittni's, despite his observational skills. He shuddered at everything that had just transpired. Brittni, on the other hand was used to dealing with medical emergencies, and as such, was able to react accordingly while maintaining her composure.

"Brett, hold this gauze down!" Brittni again commanded. Brett did so, pressing down as hard as he could. Brittni, meanwhile grabbed antibiotic fluid and a hemostatic shot. She moved Brett's hand out of the way and wiped the fluid onto the wound. As soon as she started applying the fluid, Dragstor groaned louder. Relieved at hearing anything, even a painful groan, Brett said,

"Well, that's a good sound…" He chuckled, nervously. Brittni then took the shot, and plunged it into the wound, in order to stop the blood. Dragstor screamed even louder in pain. Once the shot was taken out, Brittni applied a dressing, then covered it with gauze, then finally bound it with more cloth. Brittni sighed deeply.

"Is he gonna be okay? Is he going to make it?" Brett asked, desperately. He was standing hunched over, not really knowing what to do. Brittni, kneeling next to Dragstor, kept her hand on the gauze, and turned her head towards Brett.

"He does have a chance… But… He might not be able to walk again." Brittni said, dismally. Brett gasped, then sighed,

"Well… At least he'll live." Brett said, optimistically.

"He's going to need surgery, and I don't have the equipment here. We're going to have to find a medical center in this city." Brittni said, standing up. Brett was about to respond until they heard voices coming from outside the hole they had made to get into the Mayor's office. They both looked over and sure enough, they saw Octavia and a group of Horde soldiers stepping over the hole.

"Octavia! I have never been so happy to see you!" Brett exclaimed.

"You've never been happy to see me, kid…" Octavia said, facetiously. She looked over and saw Dragstor and the Mayor groaning and struggling to get up. She ran over to Dragstor and knelt down next to him, "Dragstor!" She looked back at Brittni, "Is he okay?" Brittni looked unsure, her eyes darting away from Octavia,

"He's stable for now and I think I've stopped the blood… But we're going to need to get him to a medical center with the right tools." Octavia nodded, switching glances from Brittni to Dragstor.

"We'll be expecting a Horde occupational force, relatively soon. They'll be bringing in more medical professionals; doctors, combat medics, the whole ensemble. They can take over with the right tools." That made Brittni and Brett feel a little better. Octavia smiled, while keeping her hand on Dragstor's shoulder. She then looked over at the Mayor and glared. He was slowly picking himself up, but was badly beaten by Dragstor.

"Troopers, restrain the Mayor, and get him out of here." Per her command, a group of soldiers kicked the Mayor to the ground, cuffed, him, then pulled him up. The Mayor growled upon being lifted up by his wrists. The Mayor said in protest,

"You cretins will regret the day that you ever stepped foot in Elberon. You'll see! You'll- augh!" One of the soldiers pushed him into a wall and said,

"Oops, sorry 'your highness,' didn't mean to do that." Another chimed in and said,

"C'mon, let's move 'em out." And with that said, the soldiers took the Mayor outside, and escorted him out of the castle. In the meantime, Octavia stood up and interviewed the Twins.

"I know this isn't the time for sentiment, but I'm very proud of both of you. Thank you for taking care of Dragstor, and capturing the Mayor. I am very impressed with the both of you." Octavia put a tentacle on one shoulder of Brett and Brittni, "what happened to Dragstor, exactly?" The Twins looked at each other and then gave a brief synopsis of Glimmer attacking Dragstor. Octavia shuddered for a moment, then put a tentacle under her chin, rubbing it. She started pacing around, then sighed.

"Well, regardless, we need to get Dragstor out of here." The Twins nodded. Octavia, using her prehensile tentacles, wrapped them around Dragstor and strapped him to her back, carrying him out towards the entrance of the castle. On their way back Brett spoke up,

"We need to be careful. This castle has been a complete nuthouse." Brett said, cautiously.

"What do you mean?" Octavia asked, keeping her eyes forward.

"Well, we got attacked by a teleporting princess, and our reflections came out of mirrors and attacked us." Brett replied. Octavia turned her head, keeping pace,

"You got attacked by what?" Octavia inquired, confused. The Twins explained what had happened in the mirror maze. Octavia looked forward, her face filled with disorientation.

"These rebels have some serious magic on their side… we're going to have a spec ops team tear this castle apart and strip it for any tech that we can get our hands on. But never mind that, let's focus on getting Dragstor to the medical tent. The Twins nodded. Once they got near the entrance, Viktor saw them and ran at them, wrapping Brittni and Brett in a hug.

"You two are alive! Ha!" Brittni smiled and closed her eyes, enjoying the hug, while Brett looked at Viktor with a cocked eyebrow and gritted teeth. Viktor took quick notice and pulled away from the Twins. He started scratching the back of his neck and chuckled, nervously, "I-.. uh.. I mean, good work." Viktor then saw Octavia lagging behind them, carrying Dragstor. Viktor's mouth dropped as if a fishing hook had pulled it down.

"C-Captain!" Viktor whimpered as he ran over to Octavia.

"Take it easy, Lieutenant, we need to get him to a medical center, stat." Octavia said, while grunting from holding him up.

"But! But, what happened to him?!" Viktor asked, spasmodically. Octavia exhaled, impatiently, and eyed Viktor with the same impatience.

"Er.. Right, sorry. Um.. Yeah, the occupational force is just now arriving, we can get a skiff to take him to the occupational forces' medical tent, here in Elberon." Viktor suggested, "I'll go get a medical team." He then offered.

"Great," Octavia grunted as she followed Viktor. The Twins followed in close proximity. As they all went outside the castle and headed towards the occupational force's direction, they looked around. Although it was nearly nighttime, they could see the destruction that encompassed all of Elberon. Laser holes in walls, fires on roofs, corpses littering the streets. Brittni shuddered at all of the destruction that surrounded them. She tried to stifle her neuroticism, but it was quite obvious how traumatized she felt. Brett managed to maintain a stoic face, but even he was trying to get over the mental fatigue from everything they had just gone through.

After traversing through the carnage of Elberon, they met up with the occupational force. A team of paramedics took hold of Dragstor, put him on a stretcher and carried him to the medical tent that was set up. The occupational force had salvaged equipment from the medical center, knowing that they would have to deal with many wounded soldiers. Instinctively, Brittni wanted to follow them on the skiff. As she made her way to the skiff, Octavia put her hand on Brittni's shoulder. Brittni turned her head back with a desperate look.

"Captain, I need to go with them! I can help! I-" Brittni started to say but was quickly interrupted by Octavia calmly shushing her.

"Brittni…" Octavia began, "this is your first battle, and honestly, almost nothing went according to plan. Despite all that, you and your brother managed to do the impossible. You two have done enough for today. You two need to head back to the Fright Zone."

"But, Captain! I.." tears began welling up, a couple lines being drawn down her eyes. Octavia used one of her tentacles to wipe Brittni's tears.

"You've done much more than what was asked of you. You've dealt with things today that I didn't even know existed." Octavia said, her voice getting softer, "Dragstor is in good hands." Brittni sniffled a bit and nodded, glumly. Octavia took her hand off Brittni's shoulder, then looked to Brett, "alright, there's a group of skiffs that are taking the remaining attack force back to the Fright Zone. Get on one and have some R&R back home. Hordak forbid, you deserve it." Brett gave a salute to Octavia and put his arm around Brittni. They then both headed to the skiffs that were going to be in transit to the Fright Zone. They met up with Viktor and a few of their infiltration team and boarded the skiff.

The way back home was understandably quiet. Some of the more veteran soldiers were talking quietly amongst themselves, but the Twins and Viktor remained silent. Brittni couldn't stop thinking of the myriad of experiences they just had. Between the betrayal of Vultak, the cryptic mirrors, and the deaths of their comrades, it was difficult to put it out of her mind. The two things that were at the forefront of her thoughts, however, was the dialogue she had between the rebel that was trapped under the wardrobe and the purple, teleporting, princess. Those two were hard pressed in believing that what the Horde was doing was wrong, and what they were doing was right.

"No…" Brittni reasoned with herself in her mind, "they're just… victims of war. Nobody wants this war to be happening, but the rebels… They… sounded so sincere." Before she allowed that thought to turn towards sympathy she amended her thoughts, "No. I'm sure that Horde villages have been sacked by the Rebels, just the same. It's unfortunate, but we're in the right… We're in the right…" Brittni continued to have her thousand yard stare. Brett, in the meanwhile was trying not to think of the moral implications of everything that they had just gone through and tried focusing on feeling a greater sense of pride. It's not that he was a killer, but he was proud that he believed he was making a difference. Viktor, leaning back in his chair and arms folded finally broke the silence.

"Not to interrupt your thoughts, but I gotta tell ya, you two were pretty amazing. That castle was some kinda wacky shack… That Mirror Maze sounded insane." Viktor said. He then leaned forward and put his hands on his knees, "but, you won't believe what happened to my squad." Viktor went on to explain the story, the length of it taking around the rest of the trip to tell. The Twins' despite everything that happened to them, were still rather amazed by what Viktor had told them. Once they reached the Fright Zone, the troops started departing the skiff and made their way to processing to get checked for any contaminants or unseen wounds they might have experienced. After passing through the processing, it was nighttime. The Twins headed for Keirnan's quarters. The two raced to the door. Brett grabbed the knob first, but Brittni shoved him out of the way.

"Oof! Hey, no fair!" Brett protested. Brittni ignored him and grabbed the knob,

"I get to see Keirnan, first!" Brittni declared. Brett rolled his eyes while picking himself up. Brittni turned the knob, took a deep breath and opened the door. Inside was Keirnan, reading, while relaxing on his chair. Once the door opened, Keirnan averted his gaze to the door. Upon seeing Brittni his eyes became wider than the walls of the Fright Zone. Keirnan immediately arose from his chair, dropping the book from his hand.

"...Brittni?" Keirnan asked, in disbelief. Brittni smiled, and let her tears begin strewing down her face.

"Keirnan!" She exclaimed as she ran towards him and jumped to hug him, not remembering that she was in rather heavy armor.

"Oh! Wait, oh!" Keirnan began protesting, as he fell backwards with Brittni on top him. Brittni wrapped her arms around him, squeezing him tight. Brett followed in close proximity and went on the other side of Kiernan, hugging him while he lay on the ground. Although Keirnan was gasping for air, he couldn't have felt more happy.

"...Welcome home, Twins."

Meanwhile, Glimmer made her way back to Bright Moon…

Glimmer was bruised and bloodied from her undertaking at Elberon. She staggered to the gates of Bright Moon and was greeted by the perturbed faces of the front gate guards.

"Princess Glimmer!" One of the purple robed, staff wielding guards shouted as she finally gave into her wounds and collapsed in front of the guards.

"El...Elberon…" Glimmer managed to wheeze out before darkness overtook her eyes. She awoke several hours later in her room, the light of the moonstone, causing her eyes to open. She blinked a few times, and began rubbing her eyes. She groaned from the pain that she had experienced, though she felt more rejuvenated from the moonstone. She swung her legs from the ottoman that she was laying on, onto the floor. She put her head in her hands, continuing to rub her head. When she finally looked up she saw her one of the purple robed guards standing before her.

"Princess Glimmer? Are you feeling better?" The guard asked, concerned.

"Ugh…" Glimmer moaned, "A little bit… Thanks." The guard nodded.

"I'm glad to hear it. The Queen will be happy. As soon as you arrived, she had you rushed for medical attention. There wasn't anything very serious, except that laser burn on your leg. That should fully recover, soon enough." The guard said. Glimmer exhaled, sharply, then looked up at the guard.

"Thank you…" Glimmer said, despondently. The guard smiled for a moment, then switched back to a neutral look.

"Of course. The Queen requests your audience." The guard said. Upon hearing that, Glimmer groaned heavily and fell back on the ottoman. After pouting for a few moments, Glimmer mustered the strength to get up and head towards the throne room. Once she arrived at the doors to the throne room, two guards opened the two doors and bade Glimmer to go inside. Glimmer marched into the room as though she was headed to the gallows. Once Glimmer approached the throne, she knelt before the queen, as courteously as she could.

"Your majesty…" Glimmer said with faux humility. The Queen was a rather tall, godlike being. She had a shining aura that surrounded her lightly purple, peach skin. She had long, dual-toned hair of both pink and purple. She wore a pink leotard with purple leggings and dark purple boots. To complete her godlike appearance, she donned a pair of translucent wings. Her face looked slightly annoyed, but calm.

"I was told you disobeyed orders, Commander Glimmer. That… Horde informant warned you of the attack on Elberon, and you did not retreat." The Queen said, sternly.

"Vultak gave us valuable information. We had a chance to defend Elberon. I didn't want another city falling into the hands of the Horde! We evacuated all the civilians that we could before the attack took place. We even managed to thin a large amount of Horde soldiers. It was a huge massacre for them." Glimmer protested.

"At what cost, Commander Glimmer? The Mayor has been captured, we lost many soldiers, and Elberon was taken, anyway!" The Queen snapped. That statement really hurt Glimmer. Glimmer let a tear fall from one of her eyes before she raised her voice,

"At least I'm doing something to fight the Horde!" Glimmer shouted. The guards in the back gasped, and the Queen's annoyed face turned more somber, "the Horde keeps creeping closer and closer to Bright Moon. Soon enough we won't have any territory left between us and the Fright Zone!" The Queen's somber face curved into a glare.

"I've had enough of your back-talk, Commander Glimmer!" The Queen said, raising her voice. Glimmer's voice got lower, but still was argumentative,

"Why did you make me a commander if you won't let me fight?!" Glimmer whined.

"That's it… You're… grounded!" The Queen. Glimmer and the guards gasped,

"Mom!" Glimmer protested.

"You are embarrassing me in front of my court!" The Queen snapped. This statement irritated Glimmer.

"Oh, ho! I'm embarrassing you? You're the one that's too afraid to fight the Horde!" Glimmer snapped. The entire room went silent after that declaration. Even Glimmer sort of regretted saying it, her face matching the regret. The Queen's face was shocked for a moment, then changed to irate.

"Go to your room!" The Queen shouted. Glimmer sniffled from the tears that had started strewing down her face.

"I'm going!" Glimmer snapped back. With that, Glimmer trudged back to her room, with a scowl on her face. Once she got to her room, she sat down on her bed and started sobbing into her hands. For a good few minutes she let the tears fall from her face. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, she inhaled and exhaled some deep breaths. When she calmed down, she reached under her bed and found her journal. She began writing in it:

"The siege on Elberon was a disaster. Although we were able to take out the majority of the Horde force that attacked, it did cost us many of our soldiers. But, again, at least we fought back instead of running away. That seems to be all we do, now. Speaking of fighting, I-" Glimmer stopped writing for a moment, then took a deep breath before finishing what she was going to write. "I killed a man. I didn't mean to, it was just some kind of knee jerk reaction. It was him or me…" Glimmer stopped writing again and thought deeply about her experience at Elberon. She then continued writing, "The Horde is evil. They're the ones that are attacking us. They're the ones burning our villages, enslaving our people, and slaughtering those who resist. I don't want to kill them, but I will do whatever it takes to destroy the Horde and free Etheria. To do that, I'm going to have to become stronger. But how can I do that?" Glimmer pondered the possibilities. Maybe she was going to have to start utilizing the weapons she had been hoarding. She then started thinking of her mother. Perhaps she was a little too harsh on her, even if she did speak the truth. She figured a good way to vent her anger is to write about it. " "Dear Mom, I know you'll never read this, but I have to say it somewhere. I feel like you... don't respect me…" As she was writing, she was interrupted by an arrow whizzing by her head. She shrieked and bent backwards. The arrow stuck against the wall, and a note unfolded from the arrow. It read:

"Look outside!" and had a picture of a boys head, winking…

Meanwhile, back at Keirnan's quarters...

Keirnan had made the Twins some of the leftover steak he had made for dinner. Informally, they all sat on the couch and Keirnan's lounge chair where the Twins recited everything that they had experienced at Elberon. Keirnan remained quiet, but as they told the story, Keirnan's expression became more and more concerned. At one point when they got to the Mirror Maze, Keirnan's face was completely shocked.

"So it's true what they say about the Rebellion's magic…" Keirnan muttered. The Twins then continued elaborating until they got to the part about Dragstor. Brittni looked down, while Brett explained what happened. After finishing, Keirnan let out a long sigh. It was quiet for a few moments. Brett was on the edge of his seat while Brittni slumped back with her head down. Finally, Keirnan broke the silence.

"I can't believe that you two went through all of that…" Keirnan muttered, He switched glances between the two and said, "I cannot tell you how proud I am of the both of you, though. Despite having the disadvantage of the Rebellion knowing about the attack, you two pressed through and accomplished your mission." Brett smiled.

"Thanks, Keirnan. We definitely appreciate it." Brett said while stretching and yawning, "well, I am beyond exhausted. Luckily we've got the day off tomorrow to recuperate from the mission. We can talk more in the morning, Keirnan. G'night!" Brett stood up and walked over to his room, pulling pieces of his armor off as he went.

"Hey! Don't just leave-" Keirnan started, then remembered everything they hadjust gone through, "ah, never mind, I'll get it." Brett gave him a two finger salute-nod, and walked into his room. Keirnan smiled, then turned back to Brittni. She was hunched over with her hands clenched together, her head resting on said hands. Keirnan walked over, sat down next to her and put his arm around her shoulders.

"I have a dumb question with an obvious answer… but are you okay?" Keirnan asked, encouragingly. Brittni immediately raised her head, put her hands down, then looked at Keirnan. Keirnan was taken aback by her jerky movements.

"Keirnan, why are the Horde and Rebellion fighting?" Brittni inquired, sternly. Keirnan blinked his eyes rapidly a few times, and opened his mouth slightly without saying a word. He closed his mouth again, as if he was trying to find the answer to her question. Finally, he cleared his throat and said,

"Er… Well…" Keirnan started before pausing for a few seconds. Brittni stared intently at Keirnan, earnestly waiting for an answer, "well, the Horde has ruled Etheria since I could remember, and the Rebellion was started by some radicals that didn't want to live under the Horde's rule, anymore." Keirnan said, almost unsure of what he was saying. Brittni easily caught on.

"You don't really know why, do you?" Brittni said, perceiving his thoughts. Keirnan shrugged his shoulders and bobbed his head to the left and right.

"No, I mean… this has been a rather long war. I… Huh, I guess I don't remember exactly why it was started." Keirnan admitted.

"Then how do we know if what we're doing is the right thing? Who's to say that the Rebellion isn't right?" Brittni challenged. Keirnan quickly hushed her.

"Easy, be careful about what you say." Keirnan whispered, looking around, rather paranoid. He then continued, "look, all I can say about that is that both sides have suffered extensively from the war. As for right and wrong, I've witnessed atrocities committed by both sides. I've seen the Horde conquer villages, I've seen the Rebellion raid Horde outposts. I've seen all kinds of death and destruction instigated by both parties." Keirnan looked into Brittni's eyes, "you just endured a mission that most people would never go through, let alone actually accomplish the mission. I know that there's a million thoughts racing through your head. I think you just need to sleep the rest of this off. We can talk more tomorrow. Is that okay?" Brittni said nothing for a few moments, diverting her eyes to various points in the room before she finally sighed.

"Okay, yeah. Yeah, you're right. I just need to sleep. Thanks, Keirnan." Brittni hugged Keirnan. When she let go, she stood up and started peeling off pieces of armor while she was headed towards her room, just like Brett. Keirnan opened his mouth to protest but stopped himself.

"Good night, Keirnan." Brittni said, distantly. She then walked into her room.

"Good night…"

Hey, everyone! I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I wanted this to be a "breather" chapter, seeing as how the last five have been action-packed and at many moments, intense. Anyway, thank you so much for reading :)