I've been doing a lot of running lately… I really hope this doesn't become a thing.

Darren vaulted over a log and ran, again, through the forest as he tried to find his way back to the road. Beside him, Cooper kept pace beside him as they weaved through the trees. Thanks to their night vision the two had little trouble navigating the forest.

After Aenwyn had given him her message and explained what she meant by it, Darren had immediately started sprinting for the road that led to Chrimata, leaving behind Jones and the knights. Once he made it to the road, he would follow the path that Elizabeth showed him back to the orphanage.

He just hoped he would get there in time.

Darren dashed through the forest and pushed through a mound of bushes in his path, Cooper following suit. He looked around and realized that he was close to the beaten path. A quick jog forward brought him to the road that led to Chrimata. Panting slightly from exerting himself for a while, Darren started to look around and get a bearing of his surroundings when he noticed some light in the distance.

Weird, Darren thought, the sun shouldn't be coming up anytime soon. And isn't that in the direction of… the…

He wasn't sure when he started moving, but when his mind caught up with his body Darren realized he had been sprinting in the direction of the light. He barreled on through the forest, knocking any obstacles out of the way without slowing. Cooper was behind him but was slowly being left behind due to Darren's unyielding speed.

As he got closer, Darren could hear fighting, metal squealing against metal, and people yelling in pain. The light was shining brighter as he ran through the trees. Hot air pushed against Darren as he got closer to the source of the light. He could smell something permeate in the air as he ran forwards.

A smell of ash and blood.

Coming up to the edge of the forest, Darren burst through and took a moment to catch his breath as he stood there. His eyes widened in shock behind his helmet as he examined the situation in front of him.

The home that was once the orphanage was now nothing more than a raging bonfire of a building. Tongues of flame licked at the walls and burnt the wood. Windows were shattered from the intense heat and the deteriorating supports groaned under the weight of the building. The heat itself seemed alive and pulsed every few seconds, bringing a new wave of intense pressure with every beat.

In front of the building were Noah and a group of his men. They were dressed similarly as Chrimata's guards and had the same arms. The thing that Darren noticed though was that while most were battle-ready a fair few were on the ground, unconscious or dead he didn't know. There was also some cloaked figure standing next to Noah paying attention to the fire, but he seemed unimportant now.

And in between the burning building and Noah's group stood Timothy, along with Abigail and Elizabeth behind him, who were huddled protectively near the kids. Darren's eye was then drawn to Timothy, or rather, what he was wearing.

Instead of clergy robes, Timothy was clad in a large set of old armor. His torso was covered by a plate cuirass made of segmented pieces over chainmail. Metal pauldrons covering his shoulders added to Timothy's already broad frame which led to his arms and hands which were covered by large segmented plates. Greaves and boots made of the same metal protected Timothy's legs and feet. A white cloth tabard with red trim ran down his middle and back with a silver cross embroidered in it. He had no helmet, but that only added to Timothy's imposing presence when one could see his now stern visage.

In his hands, he carried the largest war hammer Darren had ever seen. Standing at least five feet tall, the large block-like head of the hammer was double-sided with silver crosses engraved along the length. It seemed well cared for as well as the leather grips that were bound around the wooden haft. With his armor and weapon in hand, along with the fire blazing behind him, Timothy pulled off the look of a shining cleric ready for war.

Or at least, he would be shining, if it wasn't for all the blood on him, Darren thought to himself.

Timothy's armor was bloodied as well as his weapon. Luckily, none of it seemed to be his. The large man didn't even seem winded from exerting himself and it looked like he could continue fighting for as long as he needed. There was just one problem though.

He was outmanned.

Every time Timothy tried to focus on an opponent, another would get to his blind spot and move closer to the group he was trying to defend. This in turn led to him backing up in an effort to stop it which had the defenseless group back up closer to the burning building. There was only one way and one way only that this standoff was going to end if the group had to keep backing away from Noah's men. Timothy knew it, Noah knew it. They all knew it.

Good thing then, that Darren wasn't going to let that happen.

Darren ran towards Noah's group from behind them. Without stopping for a second, he punched one of the men in the back of the head and continued to run hitting anyone in his way. Cooper followed his master's example by slicing at the legs of anyone he passed.

The resulting noise pulled the attention of the guards in the front near Timothy and the orphans. Not letting the opportunity go by, Timothy capitalized on the moment of confusion and started swinging.

His first swing hit a guard on his back and sent the man flying. The next one clipped another guard on the side and made him tumble to the ground. Timothy made for an overhead swing.

BOOM

The swing missed hitting anyone, but it cracked the earth where it fell and left a large imprint.

The guards backed off, fearing for their lives, but Timothy wouldn't let them run away. Not after what they tried to do. With a quiet but righteous fury, Timothy charged into the fray.

Noah was starting to panic.

His men were disoriented and confused as they started getting attacked on two fronts. They had initially come to the orphanage expecting an easy fight. It even started out well enough when the man Noah brought along had started burning the building. Then the cleric burst out of the building in full plate armor with the kids and women behind him.

It was a bit of a problem trying to corral their victims, they had lost a few people in the process, but it was worth it. They were able to force the cleric and his flock back against the fire. A few more pushes and they could put all this behind them with no one the wiser of their actions.

He could taste the gold and recognition that he so rightfully deserved after working under that bastard McKenna for so long.

At least, that was the working plan until a commotion from the back was heard. The next thing he knew, the damned cleric was swinging his war hammer around while they were losing men at the back of their formation.

It should have been easy. All they had to do was kill a few kids, maybe have some fun with the two women who worked here, and head home. Hell, the Rogue Magi that was loaned to him in goodwill from Serenity was making things go faster than he would've thought.

If you want something done right… Noah thought as his earlier panic turned to irritation.

"Deal with the guy and his pet behind us," Noah said to the cloaked figure next to him. "You wanted a chance to prove yourself to Serenity? This is it."

The figure nodded. He pulled his hood down to reveal a mop of brown hair and unassuming features as he made his way to the back of the group. The most distinctive feature on him was a black tattoo of Serenity's symbol on the side of his neck.

Turning back to the front, Noah started to rally the guards around him. "A bag of gold to the man who kills the big bastard! And if I see anyone slacking off, then you'll answer to me!"

SMACK

Darren punched a guard in the face and saw the body fall with enough force to bounce off the ground.

SCRAPE

The blade of a sword slid down the hard carapace on his arm.

FWIP

A hydralisk spine was thrown into someone's throat.

SHLICK

Tendons severed as Cooper's claws lashed out.

Before, when Darren went to help Jones and the knights, he tried to neutralize the guards as non-lethally as possible since they took the knights prisoner rather than kill them. These people were different though. They tried to kill children and willingly followed the man who killed McKenna. Darren may not have agreed with the choices McKenna made, but at least his intentions were good.

Dodging to the side as a spear attempted to gore him, Darren used his hands to bat it away and then moved into the guard's space. With a quick swipe of his claws, Darren cut through the armor and into the guard's flesh. He went from person to person, not really having a plan beyond dealing with each guard he came across.

Darren went for the next one only to stop when he felt his Zerg instincts scream at him to move. He dropped down as quickly as possible as a fireball flew over his head and hit the ground in front of him. The guards that surrounded him started to back away and went to regroup with the others, leaving Darren alone.

Darren turned around to see a man in a dark red cloak with Serenity's symbol tattooed on his neck. The man's right hand was stretched outward towards Darren while his left had a flame resting in his palm.

The Magi's eyes were narrowed in thought as he looked at Darren. With a wave of his hand, he pulled the fire from his left as if it was a ball of yarn and directed a large stream of fire towards Darren. Rolling to the side, Darren got back to his feet and rushed the Magi.

The Magi backed up slowly and conjured more flames around himself in response. With a wave of his arm, the Magi made the flames shoot towards Darren in rapid succession. Darren dodged to the best of his ability as he ran towards the red-cloaked Magi, but then he saw one of the flames headed towards his face. He brought up his arms to protect himself.

MISTAKE! MISTAKE! MISTAKE!

Instead of the flames washing over his armored arms harmlessly as Darren expected, he felt searing heat spread across his arm. The flames washed over him and burned his body as he ran forward, making him stumble.

What the hell was that!? This was the first time that Darren had felt pain, real pain, since waking up in Aleria. The only thing that came close was the Alpha Rock Eater from Counter, and even then, it was more of an inconvenience than anything.

Before Darren could think about the implications of magic hurting him, he saw the Magi weaving fire around his arms. After hesitating for a moment, Darren shook off his confusion and sprinted for the Magi, this time with more caution. The Magi saw this and prepared to wield more fire against Darren.

"SCREEEE!"

That was until a blood-soaked Cooper blindsided the Magi with a tackle.

Startled by the zergling, the Magi flailed around and lost his concentration on his magic making the fire coiled around himself disperse harmlessly. The Magi redirected his attention to Cooper and moved to use his magic against him. Darren saw his chance to strike and took it.

With a few more steps, Darren made it into reaching distance. The Magi saw him and turned to retaliate but was too late to stop him. Darren threw a punch into the Magi's stomach making the man bend over in pain. He brought up both hands together and slammed the Magi to the ground. The Magi tried to get back up and turned to look at Darren, but a quick kick with Darren's heel to the Magi's temple brought him down for good. A quick pat of thanks to Cooper's head and Darren looked at how Timothy was holding up.

"I will make you regret your transgressions!"

SLAM

"ARGHH!"

"How the hell isn't he dead!?"

"Kill him already you idiots!"

He seemed fine.

Turning his attention to Noah, Darren's eyes narrowed to a glare behind his helmet. The man looked like he was trying to lead the guards to kill or pass Timothy. It was just too bad that he was such a poor leader. His version of "leading" involved throwing threats around at anyone he saw. He also made no attempts to go after Timothy himself and, if he got close or was pushed near Timothy, he would try to distance himself from the cleric with more bodies.

That didn't mean that Noah wasn't a threat though.

Sure, he may be a bully and a coward if his actions were anything to go by, but he was also in a position of power. And if there was anyone that had the potential to be dangerous, it would be a capable coward who had power with ambitions to be even more powerful. Noah had to be stopped before he had the chance to grow into something more.

Besides, Darren thought to himself, what kind of person burns down an orphanage? With that in mind, Darren made his way to Noah.

Things were not going to plan for Noah.

Having all these people go against one man shouldn't have been too difficult, even without the help of a Rogue Magi. Hell, he was starting to think that he made the wrong decision when he sent the Rogue Magi to kill whoever was behind them in the first place.

Still, he had his own problem to deal with at the moment and he would be damned if he couldn't do this one small thing. He looked at the guards around him with disdain.

These were like-minded people who also didn't agree with McKenna's policies of only getting the scraps to get by in the world. They wanted more and they were willing to do whatever they needed to get it. Everyone here knew that Noah was top dog now and if anyone wanted anything in Chrimata, they would have to go to him first.

It was infuriating that they couldn't kill one man though and Noah was starting to rethink who he would keep in his good graces after this thing was over.

"Hurry up and kill him already!" Noah yelled.

"Bu-But he's taking us out when we get to him," one of the guards blubbered.

Noah grabbed the guard by his collar and dragged him to his glaring eyes. "And if you can't do this one thing, then what good are you to me!?" Noah threw that man to the front before he had a chance to respond. "If he isn't dead in the next few minutes, then heads will roll!" He watched as the other guards around him started to slowly inch their way to the front, though many were still wary. "Idiots," Noah muttered under his breath.

From what Noah could see, the large cleric was starting to slow down as he kept fighting. It made sense as the armor he was wearing was large and bulky, along with the fact that he seemed out of practice. Still, he was worried about how well the man fought the guards. A fighter like him should be well known, even more so if one considered the kind of armor and weapon he had. It bothered Noah that he knew next to nothing about this cleric.

"Sir!"

Noah turned around and glared at whoever was disturbing him. "What now?" he growled.

FWIP

The guard went to say something but went wide-eyed and made sudden choking sounds. Growing impatient with the man, Noah went to shake an answer out of him when his eyes rolled into the back of his head. The guard fell in a boneless heap at Noah's feet, dead as evidenced by the sharp spine in the back of his neck.

Noah looked up and saw the damned bastard and his pet who interrupted him earlier. The man's arm was being pulled back from its outstretched position and the creature next to him was growling. Looking around quickly, Noah cursed under his breath when he saw the Rouge Magi laying face down on the ground unconscious.

Before he could call for reinforcements, the blood-covered creature next to the man moved in an explosion of speed. Faster than he could see, the creature had already sliced deeply into the neck of a guard near him and continued to kill anyone else while moving erratically. The creature's master however walked slowly.

A guard tried to get a swing in, but the armored man dodged the sword and retaliated with a slash of his claws. Another went for the man's legs but was unprepared for the kick that launched him a fair distance away. One guard was fed up with weapons and tried to push the man in the face. A hand caught the swing and squeezed roughly, bringing the guard to their knees. A haymaker brought the guard down for the count. Throughout all of this though, the armored man never looked away from his target.

Noah.

Feeling an impending sense of doom as he continued to lose guards, Noah babbled out orders. "Ki-K-Kill him!" he shouted at his men, panicked out of his mind. "Kill that monster!"

This shouldn't be happening! Noah desperately thought to himself.

A spear broke against black armor.

I climbed out of the gutter and made a place for myself!

A guard's legs were cut from under them.

I was going to get the respect I deserved!

The crunch of bone echoed behind him.

"You can't do this to me!" Noah cried out. He shuffled backward and tripped onto his backside as the monster of a man came closer. "I worked too hard to be stopped now!" A black hand grabbed his leather armor and lifted him up. Noah kicked the air and desperately scrabbled at the hand, trying to dislodge himself. "You can't kill me!" Noah yelled. His eyes glinted with a dangerous edge as he reached for his back. "And I won't let you!"

As fast as he could, he pulled out a dagger, the same one Noah used to kill McKenna, and stabbed it into the man's left shoulder. The effects were instantaneous. The eudium dagger cut into the armor like butter and sapped the man's strength, making him drop Noah as he staggered backward and fell to his knees.

He let out a laugh of relief. "Yo-You're a Magi, aren't you?" Noah shakily stood back on his feet and walked towards the downed form. "Only Magi act like that when it comes to eudium, and I got you. I'm going to enjoy tearing you…" Noah paused as he took in the armor, some part of him recognized the make of it. His eyes widened as he remembered where he saw it. "You were at the town center," he said gaping in shock. Then he grinned and brought himself to the man's face. "This is going to be so much sweeter than I thought. You should've taken me down when we first met because I'm going to show you why you don't mess with me! I'm going to make you wish you killed me when you had the chance! I'm going to-GURK!"

Noah choked as the man's right arm flashed out and gripped his throat. He watched, panicking, as the man's armored head lifted up to stare him dead in the eye. Without looking away from him, the man used his left arm and slowly pulled out the eudium dagger lodged in his shoulder, dropping it on the ground. He stood up and lifted Noah above the ground again and he started to clench his hand around his throat. In a tired voice, the armored man spoke.

"You talk too much."

He threw Noah to the ground, hard. Noah squeezed his eyes shut in pain and gasped as the air left his lungs. Opening his eyes, he saw a black armored boot hover above his head. He yelled out a plea as the boot came down.

"Wai-!"

CRUNCH

Darren stepped back from the mess that was Noah's head, then he fell backward, nearly spread-eagle onto the ground. Darren gulped huge lungfuls of air as he tried to recover from what he had done. Someone in his position would probably be disgusted by the fact that he had crushed someone's skull, and he was, but the dagger was what affected him more.

He could still remember the feeling of the dagger slide so easily between his armor and flesh like it was nothing. The pain that hit him along with the feeling that he was being drained away from that one point in his body. But the most damning thing was that he could feel the connection with his Swarm nearly fizzle to nothing. Sure, he could still feel his Swarm at the edges of his mind, but the connection didn't have the power of command behind it.

It scared him to his core when it happened.

Thankfully, even with the eudium dagger stuck in his shoulder, Darren forced whatever vestiges of strength had left to force himself back up. Pulling the dagger out was torturous and he nearly passed out from doing it, but it was worth it when he felt the connection with his Swarm snap back into full power. At that point, Darren didn't care for what Noah had to say and he decided to just end it.

Now, Darren was tired and just wanted to sleep, but he still needed to know what was happening. With a groan of protest, he lifted his head and looked around the area.

The place was littered with the bodies of unconscious, dead, and dying guards. Cooper, blood-soaked from the fighting, was prowling the area and growled whenever he saw a body twitch. The firepit that was the orphanage had dwindled down to less of a danger. Elizabeth was fretting on the kids for burns and making sure that no one was harmed during the fighting. Then he saw Timothy and Abigail walking towards him. Sighing in resignation at whatever was coming, Darren slowly got up to meet the two while his body yelled at him to stop moving.

"Darren," Timothy said with a small smile. "It's good to see you."

"Same here Timothy, Abigail," Darren said with a nod to each of them.

"Are you hurt, Darren?" Abigail asked. "I can help if you need it."

"It doesn't hurt too much." That was a lie. He felt like he was going to fall over any second now.

"Please," Abigail said, waving off the denial. "It's the least I could do for you helping us."

Without another word, Abigail walked up to Darren and put her hands up to his wounded shoulder. She closed her eyes in concentration and in a few moments her hands began to emit an ethereal light. Darren was confused for a moment but then realized that he was starting to feel better, much better. Looking at his shoulder wound, Darren realized, with no little amount of surprise, that it was the light that was giving him the soothing feeling. He watched as his flesh started to heal in front of him at a rapid pace, though he made sure to move away before his wound was healed all the way. His armor was biological after all.

At Abigail's displeased frown, Darren said, "It's alright Abigail, I'm fine now. See?" Darren started moving his shoulder without trouble to prove his point.

Abigail still frowned, probably still wanting to check more thoroughly, but she relented with a nod.

"Still," Darren said with a slight grin, "I never took you for a Restoration Magi. I thought you were going to give me some bandages or something. Thanks for that."

Abigail shook her head with a sigh then smiled at him. "You're welcome."

"Darren," started Timothy with a serious look on his face, "next time, try to avoid being hit like that. I've seen far too many good people die due to small mistakes in my lifetime and I'd rather that you not be one of them."

Darren winced with a nod of assent. He'd also rather avoid having any more injuries, especially any that involved eudium.

Timothy's look lightened but then turned to a look Darren couldn't quite place. "Also, while I can't thank you enough for coming to aid us, how did you know to come here? I can't help but think that you knew something about what happened here."

As Darren went to explain the events that led up to this moment, he felt a prodding at his consciousness then heard some footsteps behind him. He turned around, ready to face a possible threat, but was knocked off his feet by a tackle. Before he could get his bearings or wonder why Cooper didn't warn him, he felt a wet appendage journey across his face. Darren looked up to see Declan panting at him with a look of excitement on the zergling's face.

"Darren!"

Moving the zergling off of him, Darren stood up just in time for Aenwyn to start looking over him in worry. Abraham and Gilbert caught up moments later at a more sedated pace.

"Are you unharmed?" Aenwyn asked, concerned for Darren. "We came as fast as we could," she said quickly while looking around the area. "But it seems that you have this handled."

Darren smiled at her. "Yeah, everything's fine here. Thanks for worrying." He frowned for a moment as he looked over her as well. She seemed troubled by something and was somewhat anxious. "Are you alright though? You look…"

"I am also unharmed," Aenwyn said quickly as she stepped back. "There is nothing wrong with me."

Darren was unconvinced, but he didn't push it. Instead, he turned to Abraham and Gilbert who were explaining to Timothy and Abigail what they knew. There was a frown slowly growing on Timothy's face the more Abraham spoke, but Abigail's presence seemed to calm the large cleric.

Hopefully, this all goes well, Darren thought to himself. Then he turned to the unconscious Magi that attacked him earlier. And maybe he knows more about Serenity if the tattoo's anything to go by.

A/N: Hope this makes people happy, an action-filled chapter seemed like the right thing to put here.

This one really didn't want to be written, but I got it out. Just in time for summer school to start too.

Damn it.