Thank you too Mizuna Kurenagi for reviewing last chapter
Chapter XXX: Fabricated Paradise
#23
Never had such a simple number caused so much weight in a living being as it did Hige. It had always been its own existing entity within the male's mind, if you asked him to think of a number from 1 to 100, the number 23 was always the first to come to his mind. For the longest time he'd always thought he just had a weird fixation on the number..but now…
Since stepping into this place it was like someone flicked a switch on in a room once lit by a dim candle and as a brighter light banished the darkness everything gained more perspective.
And here Hige thought he had decided to follow Kiba and these wolves because, deep down, he wanted to go to Paradise too.
As it turned out Hige had been playing everyone a fool all along, even himself. Hige wasn't a wild and free wolf looking for adventure, he was a number.
He was a soldier
He was #23
His collar gave the wolf killing nobles his location this whole time, he lead Jagura to Darcia's Keep that day so long ago. Hige and Hige alone was the reason Jagura was able to attack the Keep just as they had found Cheza again. Hige almost got them all killed that day because under all the jokes and smiles some deeply hidden instinct told him to. All this time, subconsciously, he had been leading this pack down the path of destruction. But as he walked down the empty, now familiar, halls of Jagura's Keep Hige thought long and hard about his journey here.
#23 could wear the mask of a defenceless wolf well but Hige…Hige just wanted adventure and food. Hige helped Kiba integrate himself into the human population, Hige formed a brotherly bond with runt Toboe, Hige faced the possibility of death with Mahina, and Hige fought against countless humans along side Tsume.
To #23 these wolves were his targets but to Hige this was his pack.
The two contradicting personalities now fought for dominance within the chubby wolf as he casually followed a scent he'd caught as soon as he entered the keep.
"Make things right somehow or finish the job" he muttered to himself as he strolled along. Those were Hige's options; try and save Hige's pack or find and kill #23's targets. Which should he decide? Hige thought he knew when he first set off but now…
Hige's spiralling thoughts stopped as a door before him slid open and the male's sensitive sense of smell was completely assaulted with the copper stench of blood. When Hige had last been in this keep there were 33 wolves in Jagura's personalized army of beast. Now there were only two and as Hige casually strolled deeper into Jagura's trophy room he was quickly realizing that soon, very soon, he would be the last standing.
He found her several feed away from where she must have been shot, she had left a thick trail of blood in her wake as she dragged herself across the floor. This young she-wolf Hige remembered, when he had last seen her she had been with the pack that Mahina had claimed was her family. She had introduced herself as Kisa and at the time Hige only thought it an odd coincidence they wore similar collars but now he knew better.
"33" Hige uttered her number.
#33 was one of the few wolves in Jagura's army to be born here in the keep. Made in Hige's image, Jagura made sure #33 had Hige's sense of smell and deceptive appearance. The others, when there had been others, had theorized that Hige had sired the pup himself being bred with some disposable she-wolf at some point. Hige himself wasn't sure if it was true, his memories of those times were a little on fuzzy side but it didn't matter anyway. Whether #33 was his pup or not, Hige had taken her under his wing back when he was just #23. He taught her all his tricks and tips in hopes of seeing her succeed in her missions.
If there had ever been someone #23 would call family back then it would have been #33.
Now...he stared down at this same pup, bleeding from a bullet wound to her back and feebly dragging herself to an unknown destination.
#33 grunted when Hige spoke her number, her shaking limbs paused in dragging her and with a bit of struggling she managed to turn her body to look back at Hige.
"So...you...finally remember." she strained herself to say as she looked up at him
"Yea…" Hige couldn't think of anything else to say beyond that. He could feel a deep frown coming to his face as he took in the form of his former comrade. Whoever had shot #33 did so from behind, the back of her sweatshirt was such a deep shade of red it may as well be black. But the shooter didn't hit anything immediately fatal, for #33 to have lost this much blood already and still be alive and aware…
Be it intentional or not #33's death would not be swift, it would be a long drawn out agonizing journey to the end as she suffered the pain of the shot while she slowly bleed to death.
"...don't...don't look at me like that" Her weak voice draws Hige's gaze from the she-wolf's body to her weak and already paling face. Despite her injuries and the obvious pain she was in, #33 smiled. She sighed and shook her head. "we always knew...that this would be our fate…"
"..it didn't have to end like this…" Hige countered, #33 was still a pup, his pup...to see her die like this. The pup merely chuckled as Hige shook his head at her.
"You've changed…" she breathed out, Hige watched in dismay as the pup lowered her head as she spoke and blood dripped from her mouth to the floor under her "you never...you never used to be so attached…"
"Well… a lot has happen."
"I can see that.." Panting, the pup's gaze found Hige's bare neck and her pained smile grew. A watery chuckle gurgled from #33 and the sound pained Hige to hear. The chubby male dug his hands into his pockets before approaching the dying wolf and kneeling beside her just so she didn't have to force herself to look up at him-just so even in death she had the smallest ounce of comfort. "so… you're...choosing them"
"I…" Hige paused before shaking his head in genuine honesty "...I don't know...all this time I thought I was going to Paradise with them… but it seems like my training only tricked me into thinking that. It's my fault that they are here to begin with."
"That may...may be so but…" #33 pointed at Hige with shaking purpose "you took off your collar"
Hige flinched at this statement and brought his hand to his bare neck. He'd had that collar on his person since he woke as #23, now he felt exposed without it. #33 mirrored his action, smudging her collar with her bloody fingerprints as she did.
"You...could have left.." #33 struggled to speak "but you...you're here...without your collar…" her body shaking as she pushed herself up so she could meet Hige's eyes. "I...turned my back on...my friends…" she already pained face echoed with regrets for what Hige could only assume was coming to terms with leading a pack #33 had spent years with to slaughter. As they begged for their lives #33 probably stood back and watched. There was also someone else blood on her, it was hard to pick up at first over the scent of her own blood but Hige had a sharp nose, he could smell kileona's blood on #33. #33 had killed the other runt "but you came back for yours… you are not a soldier...you are ...you are a wolf…you are Hige."
He was not a soldier, he was Hige.
Hearing those words come from #33 brought a shudder down Hige's spine. There, in that trophy room of dead soldiers, staring in the eyes of a dying comrade Hige knew what he needed to do.
But still…
"Do you want me to…" Hige trailed off, even though it was the merciful thing to do for #33 Hige couldn't even bring himself to utter the words. It didn't matter though, the pup understood. She let her hand drop from her collar and lowered her gaze to the pool of blood under her being. She shook her head.
"This is...my fate…" she declared "I will not...I will not take the easy route out...it's the least I can do now...to repent for all the pain I've caused" Hige couldn't argue with her, perhaps he wanted to but the air around #33 suggested it would all be in vain. Instead he nodded sullenly at her decision. "but...I have one final request…"
"Anything"
"I can't see so well anymore" she confessed "everything's getting blurry so I can't find my… could you take me to my stand?"
"..." the reality of how this encounter was going to end was becoming far too real for Hige to properly deal with but he swallowed the lump forming in his throat and nodded his head "yea...yea i can do that."
When one of Jagura's wolves died they weren't buried in some backyard with love and care like a beloved member of a homey family. That would imply that Jagura saw any of them as something beyond simple beast of labors. No, they were property of Jagura and when they died she had their bodies, posed, stuffed and mounted in their own special little stand. A hall for Jagura to vainly look upon the blood she had spilt in her conquest whenever she pleased.
Every one of Jagura's wolves knew if there body was recoverable when they died that they would end up here.
Everyone had their place here
#33 wanted to die in hers.
Hige had no trouble hoisting her up into his arms nor did he mind her blood staining his clothes as he carried her. He forced himself to focus on the pup when he walked past his own empty stand, a placard with his collars letter engraved on it and never to be filled if all ended well today. He walked past countless others, some wolves he remembered and others who must have come after he disappeared, until they arrived at their destination.
This had been where #33 had been desperately dragging herself to.
She whimpered in pain when hige carefully set her down atop the stand. After a few pushed buttons the glass cover that would seal #33 within her trophy stand lowered itself.
"Your friend should be down below...in the dungeons…" #33 remarked leaning against the glass, already the once clean stand was dirtied with blood. Hige nodded his head to her, he assumed as much, the runt had gotten himself captured and that was where Jagura took the captures wolves before she decided how she would kill them. Hige hoped the woman was too busy with her goals of forcing Paradise open to care what happen to the wolves she had captured.
Still, even knowing time wasn't on his side Hige felt rooted to the spot, his eyes burning with what he was sure were tears he tried his hardest not to shed.
"You don't have...time Hige…" #33 reminded him but he did not move
"I have enough…" he remarked digging his hands into his pockets "I can't just let you die alone"
"Don't waste your tears mourning a soldier like me" #33 chuckled a bit before coughing and hacking up some blood. The pup pressed her forehead against the glass and Hige mirrored her action still unmoving.
She was his pup, even if not in blood in spirit, Hige had raised this she-wolf and in his apsense she was dying. He couldn't…
"I'm not mourning a soldier, or a comrade" Hige shook his head "...I'm mourning my pup"
#33 took in a shudder gasp when Hige declared this, she pressed her bloodied hands against the glass and hige was quick to mirror her. As they stared into eachothers eyes two large trails of tears fell from the pups eyes and the very sight of it made Hige's heart clench in his chest.
"you have to...you have to go…" She said that but the wall of indifference had come down in #33's last moments and now all hige could see on the she-wolf's face was fear. Fear of the end, she of facing it alone.
"lease… just...just let me do this atleast"
"... so be it…"
"33… I'll make things right...for the both of us… I give you my word"
#33 only laughed weakly in the face of Hige's resolve
"let's meet again...next time...in Paradise…"
By the time Hige found his way to the dungeons of the keep Jagura's plans appeared to be in full motion. The lights flickered as power was being shifted to the Keeps center which meant getting the runt out of his cage might prove to be hard.
Hige was all about finesse after all, his delicate teeth weren't made for barbarically bending bars out of shape like Kiba could- the uncivilized savage- hopefully there was back up generator somewhere he could use to keep power up long enough to get the cages open.
Eh… he'd figure it out along the way he supposed
Color Hige surprise when he arrived in the dungeons and found that not only was Tsume also down there but that both the cranky grey wolf and the runt had somehow managed to begin prying open their cage doors.
"Well what do you know" The wolves stopped in their attempts to free themselves as Hige approached them. "looks like i came all this way to rescue you for nothing…" Toboe, the ever trusting runt, perked up immediately upon seeing Hige
"Hige!" he yelped out in joy. As soon as hige opened the cages Toboe sprung forward stopping beside Hige and looking him over. "I'm so glad you're not dead!" The runts nose twitched and his eyes immediately landed on Hige's blood soaked clothes. "Blood…" the runt observed before turning a teary gaze back to Hige's face "are you alright?"
"It's alright" Hige shook his head in response "...it's...not my blood" Suddenly thinking about #33's lifeless body back in the trophy call forceds a sickening feeling ti lurch within Hige's stomach. He forced himself to push the mental image out of his mind and focus on the moment. Turning to the cage where Tsume had no moved an inch since Hige arrive, the chubby male arched a brow. "Well… Get out of there"
Still Tsume didn't move instead he spoke, fixing Hige with a look he usually kept exclusive to Kiba and Mahina.
"So where the hell do you plan on taking us…" If the room hadn't been cold enough as it were Tsume's tone would have froze the place. It would be impossible to miss the look of distrust that painted Tsume's usually grumpy expression shades of distrust and hate.
"What are you talking about Tsume?" Toboe spoke up already stepping forward to be the mediator of what he must have assumed was an impending fight.
"What kind of trap are you going to lead us into this time?" Tsume ignore Tobot, his glare never leaving Hige for a second as the accusations started "I saw them, the wolves in that hall that had been stuff and mounted like trophies. What happen to your collar?"
Ah, so that's what happen...so that explains why Tsume fainted smelled like #33...why even from this distance Hige could tell the specs of blood that spotted Tsume's face belonged to the dead pup.
So she had captured Tsume before she was shot and considering #33 didn't go far from where she was fatally wounded Tsume could have been in that room long enough to figure it all out.
Still Hige remained resolved, he didn't want to die a soldier.
"That stupid thing was just a number"
"Then explain how you managed to waltz in here without being noticed" Tsume was having none of Hige's dismissal " it all was your mission to lure us to this keep"
Was it? The question had been bouncing around Hige's mind since he mad his way into the keep: were they here because of Cheza or because Hige's mere presence in the group brought the bad luck that forced them to be here?
…" Hige frowned deeply before shaking his head "I don't know" he decided to respond firmly and honestly he didn't know. There was so much mixing up within him, was he #23 or was he Hige?
"Yea right!" Tsume shouted over Hige clearly sure the he was the former "The pup...Kisa… she told me everything! Your skills, your M.O, your track record...we're the 13th pack you've lead here aren't we?" The statement brought a mighty and uncharacteristic scowl to Hige's face.
Yes there had been 12 other packs before this one, all of them long since dead at this point and suddenly remembering this face while simultaneously having it thrown in his face was not the easiest thing to handle. Especially not when the accuser was someone like Tsume.
"You were the nobles dog! You helped them kill your own kind!"
"If you think that's what I am then kill me!" Hige shouted over Tsume before the grey wolf could fire off any more accusations. Hige had had it with them, as true as they were they changed nothing.
Hige couldn't take them back now!
The silence that follow his outburst was deafening and Tsume looked genuinely surprised that Hige would say such a thing but…
"...please I mean it…" the chubby male spoke softer this time. Hige thought about #33, about her choice to suffer her slow and painful death over a quick merciful one. She'd done it to try and repent for her sins against their kind...maybe...maybe that wasn't such a bad idea.
If Tsume did it… maybe some form of cosmis right could be done for all the wrong Hige had done in his past.
"Cut it out" Toboe whined tugging at Hige's arm as he did "that doesn't sound like you at all"
"Sound like me?" Hige didn't even bother to stop the bitter chuckle that came out of his mouth at the idea of Toboe's words being true "What the hell does that me 'like me'? how can i sound like me when i don't know who that is"
"Well I do," Toboe countered firmly "The Hige I know is funny and nice and kinda careless but he's always someone you can count on, that's the real Hige"
Hige wanted to laugh even more at Toboe's optimism even with everything around them going to shit but found he had no energy to.
Hige felt listless since leaving the trophy room, try as he might to focus on the now he couldn't stop thinking about #33. She gave her life to a greedy Noble and because hige had vanished his pup was slaughtered like the beast Jagura had trained her to think she was. If Hige could do one thing in this world before accepting a repentant death it would be to rip that nobles throat out for #33.
He needed to keep moving
"Things have gotten pretty weird inside the keep," he remarked putting an end to this conversation, it would only going in endless circles at this point anyway "you guys can make it out if you hurry" and with that Hige was off, gently tugging his arm free from Toboe's grasp and beginning his casual as usual stroll out of the room.
He had a feeling he knew exactly where Jagura would be and there was a good chance Cheza would be there too.
Hopefully so would Kiba and Mahina too if she was still alive at this point...
"And just where do you think you're going?" Tsume yelled after him
Hige sighed rolling his eyes but never once slowing down "I need to take care of something" was the only answer he gave.
"Hige!" Toboe yelled out to Hige before he turned out of the room and back into the hall.
The air was warm with summer.
At first it Darcia's senses were filled with a sweet smell and warm gold hues. It enveloped him before he could draw away from it and as the room echoed with Mahina's sharp cry the sensation overtook Darcia in its radiance. When the light settled Darcia wasn't in Jagura's keep but in an open field. The sky was clear, birds sang melodies all around, the sun bathed him in warmth and the ghost of his past was in his arms once more. Darcia's heart soared at the sight of her. Hamona, his beloved. Paradise had given her back to him.
Or...so he thought.
"We Nobles have become lost. Disconnected from the world of our birth, we quietly wait for a lonely death." Her mouth did not move, her peaceful expression never wavered for a second but the voice that resonated from thus being was undeniably Jagura. His mind wanted to recoil but the dream was much too tempting to shake off immediately. "But you and i can stop time and hold this moment forever."
That was true but what would they have to show for this ability? Frozen in time, could Darcia find joy in this still frame beside the ghost of his beloved.
"But in this stale and stagnant moment of time one neither long for the past" Darcia countered Jagura's reasoning "nor change what is yet to come" They would be stuck like this in a pocket of time Jagura had created where time did not existed.
'A fabricated paradise'
This voice floated into Darcia's senses, drifting into his ear in a whisper of a breeze. It rose Darcia from his daze, cleared the spell enough for him to recognize the voice.
Mahina? She had made it into this pocket space?
"Such a place holds no future" That white sturdy declaration further shook Darcia awake giving him motion in this still frame.
"But what of your grandfather?" Still Jagura tried her hardest to snare Darcia in this place. Her words honey sweet to try and cover the venom beneath "he too searched for a Paradise meant only for the nobles"
Ah, the ever famous Darcia the first, the man who tried to force Paradise open onto this earth and so doomed it in the first place.
"That man thought only of himself," Darcia scuffed back "he care nothing for those he left behind. That's why he vanished and our clan was curse."
'A paradise created from a curse world' Mahina whispered in Darcia's ear again
"It's meaningless" Darcia declared heeding the words Mahina whispered to him, a declaration the white wolf echoed.
"Liar." Though she chuckled as she spoke Darcia was slowly gaining his freedom over the spell she had cast. His precious keys pull was stronger than that of this place. She was here, that sweet smell that blossomed just before this Paradise opened was most certainly Mahina's.
Darcia had to find her.
"You've been deceiving yourself from the beginning never once giving your heart over to the truth, when even now when what you long for is right before your eyes" And yet as Darcia turned his head away from the ghost in his arms his eyes only saw one truth.
Bound like Darcia recalled seeing her just before this Paradise opened, all he could make of his precious key was her silhouette. The rest of her was blindingly bright light.
Mahina shined like the sun of this world.
She was suspended high over this Paradise as its god and she spoke prophecy into Darcia's ear.
"It is meaningless" he repeated himself
"Because of Hamona?" The glare Darcia gave the older sister of his beloved did nothing but pull a chuckle from Jagura. "You are not so ignorant, you've always known who it was for havent you? That eye" Her hand pressed against Darcia's cheek, running her thumb over his left eyes "Your blood" Trailing the hand down his neck Jagura pressed it against Darcia's heart "They have longed for Paradise"
'Open your eyes'
Open his eyes?
Falling silent Darcia let his gaze drift back to his goddess curious of her command.
'Open your eyes. See. See'
See.
That one word so sternly spoken to Darcia overcame him as if Mahina had possessed him and force his left eye open. She forced Darcia to see through his wolfs eye.
And through that eye Darcia saw the truth.
The grass was dry and brown, patches of dirt littered the land. The trees were gnarled and diseased and the water was gone, a barren wasteland took its place.
And Mahina…
Darcia's wolf's eye grew wide, throbbing at the sight that met him when he looked to his goddess.
In Jagura's Paradise Mahina was crucified, wires wrapped about her slender frame. Down her arms and across her legs and neck. They were so tight even from here Darcia could see they made Mahina bleed. Even bloodied she was a beauty to behold. Her head turned to the side and her eyes met Darcia's and that was when Darcia understood.
He understood the prophecy his goddess bestowed upon him.
"You're wrong," Jagura flinched at Darcia's words, joined by the voice of that white wolf "This world is not paradise"
"Who are you," Letting Darcia go, Jagura took several steps back. "what trickery is this?" Her eyes grew wide with terror and hatred. Still blanketed by the lie Darcia had seen through, he could on guess what Jagura now saw before her. "It can't be….a wolf? But why?"
Why? It didnt matter while.
This place was false and Darcia would not let the beautiful glow of his goddess be held prisoner here. A primal urge took over Darcia in that moment like a command from the goddess herself.
Before he could stop himself Darcia bared his teeth and chomped down on Jagura's neck.
In the distance Mahina slowly tipped her head to the bleak, grey sky, opened her mouth and screamed that mournful cry. The pocket void Darcia had found himself in cracked like glass before his eyes to Mahina's cry and before long it shattered returning Darcia and Jagura to the real world.
Jagura stumbled away from Darcia, her spiked collar clattering to the floor. He'd managed to bite through her leather collar hard enough to leave teeth marks on her pale neck. Jagura looked at Darcia like he was mad as she brought a hand to her neck.
"Its over, your paradise has been closed"
Jagura's reaction was powerful.
She threw her head back and screamed in utter anguish, her Keep rumbled as if to return her cries and within moments a massive crack appeared in a nearby wall before opening up to outside air.
"This is the end of everything," from Jagura, Mahina's voice came out weak and lacking any vigor. Darcia tore his attention from the enraged Jagura to stare at her wilted form but that was enough to give Jagura an opening she needed.
While Darcia was busy staring at Mahina, the ghost of his beloved sheathed a dagger inside of Darcia's chest.
"The world is dying…"
Cher never realized when she lost consciousness but it was clear that she had at some point. When he vision slowly returned to her the scientist found herself laying on the floor and her lungs expanded allowing her to breathe once more. When had she stopped breathing? Cher didn't know but it didn't matter at the moment.
Taking in lungs of air Cher sat up trying hard to regain some sense of awareness of her surroundings. She was in Jagura's keep, the room trembled and the floor was wet, above them the ceiling appeared to have cracked open allowing the red moon to pour its light upon them. But before this,before Cher woke to a different setting than before she had been trying to save Cheza and Mahina while Darcia dealt with Jagura.
Then there was that bright light and…
And…
What world was it that Cher saw in the span between then and now?
It felt so warm and peaceful, Cher found herself submitting to its temptations before she even had time to ponder what it was.
Was that… paradise? Did Jagura…
But if that was the case than why were they all still here?
Lifting her gaze Cher looked to Cheza hoping the flower maiden would bare some answers but Cheza was in a worst state than before.
The glass of her container cracked before that place took them all and now the phere was half empty leaving Cheza hanging limply by her chains.
"Cheza" Cher gasped horrified at the very sight. Without the water the browning veins along Cheza's neck were even harder to ignore than before. They reminded Cher of the reports her mother left behind that Cher watched while Darcia's guest so long ago. Mahina was right, Cheza was withering.
She had to get Cheza out of there.
Thankfully whatever had been causing the control panel to short circuit had stopped because Cher didn't get shocked this time when she brought the board to life. With a couple of keystrokes the glass sphere was no more and Cheza was dropped into the flower bed below her prison.
"Cheza!" Rushing forward Cher easily scooped the maiden up into her arms and pushed wet locks away from her pale face. She was alive at least, though she couldn't see Cher, Cheza did open her eyes and after a moment of waking up fully she tried to speak. Her voice was weak however, Cher could barely hear anything beyond Cheza's breath.
'Paradise...this one saw...Paradise…'
Those were the words Cher could make out when she brought her ear to Cheza's lips. Even in her weakened state Cheza sounded so hopeful it broke Cher's heart to hear.
Because as beautiful as it had looked
As tempting as it had been to stay there...
"I know, i know i saw it too but that.."
That wasn't it
"That wasn't it, Cheza." She held Cheza close, hopefully her comfort would be enough for the flower maiden for now "It will be alright, they'll come, i know they will. It will be alright."
"..." Cheza took in a weak breath before forcing out more words "Mahi...na"
...Mahina?
Cher looked at Cheza surprised the name left her lips before following Cheza's gaze.
Mahina's body was slumped forward, her long black hair blocking Cher from seeing her face but even from this distance Cher could see no sense of life in the females form. "Mahina?... Mahina please…" Cher set Cheza down gentle and quickly crawled the small distance towards Mahina.
Please don't let her be dead.
Those wounds… they looked so deep and there was so much blood, how could she have bled so much already?
Cher whispered the girls name while running her hands over the girls head. Mahina was soaked to the bone from the water that leaked from Cheza's prison and the flower crown that had been on her head was destroyed leaving nothing but scattered pedal's littered across her ink black hair. Cher began the daunting task of freeing Mahin's bound wrist as the confrontation between
Darcia and Jagura came to a head.
"But why?" Jagura shouted in despair "I did it all for you why my love? Why do you love her and not me!?" her desperate cries echoed the room before the sound of ringing steel joined it. Cher only looked up briefly to watch the two Noble clashing in a dance of swords before she focused back on her task.
The wolves would come, Cher was sure of this in her heart. After all she had seen and all she had learned in this long journey their will and power was something she couldn't ignore anymore. They needed Cheza and Mahina just as much as both maiden needed them.
They didn't belong here in this dying world of greedy humans, they belonged in their Paradise and Cher would do everything in her abilities to make sure they had a fighting chance at it again.
It took a few well placed tugs, and a couple of nics to Cher's fingers but soon the wires were loose enough for Mahina's hands to slip through. When they did the girl fell limp, all of her weight dropping onto Cher as the blonde pulled Mahina to her to take in her condition.
To Cher's surprise when she pushed Mahina's hair out of her face she found that the girl was alive and awake.
Mahina was breathing for sure, Cher could see it in the rise and fall of her chest but she was limp her body feeling boneless in Cher's arms while her wide open eyes stared blankly ahead of her, up above them towards the ceiling.
"Mahina?" Cher tried again trying to rid the females face of water. Mahina's faced twitched at the call of her name but she continued to stare at nothing but the moon.
Before them the fighting had grown more chaotic.
Darcia was down, sprawled on the floor before Jagura and the noble woman had her sword raised and ready to end the fight when an unexpected challenger came to the battle
Just as Cher had guessed the wolves had come.
The first to arrive was husky looking amber wolf who wasted no time charging Jagura
"Mahina do you see? They've come for you and Cheza so please… please wake up…" But Mahina didn't respond, her gaze was focused on the moon above and nothing else until…
Something changed.
Cher took in a gasp as she felt Mahina's limp body twitch then slowly but surely go utterly rigid, something was happening to the girl… something big.
The noise of battle were nothing but muffle background noise to Cher as she stared down at Mahina. Mahina's eyes remained wide, unblinkingly fixed on the opening in the ceiling and the red moon that shine through it. Her expression was blank and her body became rigid as stone. Cher remained oblivious to the battle as she watched Mahina's long hair gradually, from her roots all they way down to the end, turn white as snow.
A smell Cher faintly caught drifted from the maiden and as the moon seemed to slowly eclipse the pupils of Mahina's eyes, swallowing them in red and making her eyes look almost exactly like Cheza's. Cher's attention was only torn from Mahina when the wolf fighting before her tried enough times to leap at Jagura and sink his teeth into her to cause Jagura peaking frustration.
"Don't interfere!" Shifting the hold of her sword Jagura chucked it at the large wolf and easily impaled him on it. The creature yelped loudly, blood splattered on the floor around him as he let out a pained noise.
"Hige!" Two others arrived on the scene gasping at the sight of their friend.
Cher didn't get a chance to see the damage however because before she could fully turn her gaze to look her vision was blocked by a white gown.
"Wha… Mahina…"
Mahina was fast, she'd always been like that even in the brief time Cher had gotten to know the girl and her speed proved itself here. Cher hadn't had a chance to realize that Mahina had gotten up before the female stood in front of her, her now pupiless red eyes taking in the scene before her.
It was hard to put into words what Mahina was feeling, how Mahina was feeling.
Her senses were all over the place as her she felt her very soul trying to properly settle back in her body again. Honestly after having it happen so many time before, that wasn't even the weirdest feeling Mahina was going through at the moment. Someone was coming, she wasn't quite sure who it was but something in Mahina told her they were fast approaching.
Like a beacon in the darkness Mahina could see their light when she stared ahead and her heart raced at their impending arrival.
It was a feeling not so different to when she reunited with Cheza, it felt like a connection was being revitalized and the time had finally come.
Time for what though?
Mahina didn't know, but as she waited for the arrival her voice found her. Words her soul told her she had long forgotten whispered to her.
"I tell you now the words of Red Moon:" She had all eyes when her voice echoed through the room. Jagura turned slowly to face Mahina, the nobles eyes burning with hate but for the first time since arriving here Mahina felt a cold sense of calm come to her. Slowly, with one foot in front of the other, Mahina walked away from the stunned Cher and out of the display of flowers. "From the Great Spirit was born the Wolf and Man became its messenger. The Beast lives his life in silence, abiding where the blessing of the blood of the gods is bestowed upon him."
The wet tile floor felt cold against Mahina's bare feet when she finally stepped out of the flower bed but she ignored the chill that ran up her spine. She kept walking, watching with cold eyes as Jagura took a shaky step back in the wake of Mahina's presence
"The White Flower, after winning the favor of the lord of the night, will share her scent, preordained and eternal in countenance is of a lily white supple maiden." the words just kept flowing forward as she brought a bloodied hand to her face, not even reacting when she smeared red across the blank white canvas of her skin "She distills and condenses all of time, until it becomes a precious frozen mass."
Just as Mahina was arms distance from the stunned woman a shadow loomed across the whole room and in Mahina's heart she knew that a chosen being had arrived without even having to look at them
"Only then will appear the wretched beast." Behind Mahina Cheza struggled to sit up, her body too weak to move much on her own. Thankfully, Cher had shaken past her shocked stupor and helped the Flower Maiden sit up. Cheza uttered one name.
"Kiba"
Kiba had come, just as he promised he would.
Mahina tipped her head to the side to catch the white wolf's golden gaze and in that instant it clicked. This connection Mahina suddenly felt, it was Kiba. As silence fell upon the room Mahina tested the waters.
Tentatively she reached out within the void of her mind, a place where she'd only ever psychically connected to Cheza. Cheza did not reach out to meet Mahina this time but someone else did. It was hesitant at first, just as tentative of Mahina as she was to it until the she-wolf was almost overwhelmed by the sensation of a hand holding her own through this new connection. A hand much larger than Cheza's dainty ones, a hand that squeezed Mahina's when it recognized her presence.
Somehow Mahina had connected to Kiba and as the male sent waves of relief through this connection to Mahina she could also feel his cold fury.
"What do you want?" Jagura snarled at Kiba "Get out!"
"Paradise is ours! We're taking it back!" Kiba charged without delay after this sending a single command to Mahina through their new found connection.
Move.
She did, as Jagura unsheathed another sword and swung to meet Kiba head on Mahina leapt back barely dodging the steel as it whistled through the air.
"Hige?" Toboe's voice drifted into Mahina's ear with the hint of a whimper
"I have to…" Hige's grunts of pain
"Don't try to move" toboe cautioned
The smell of copper threatened to drown the whole room and the conversation that caught Mahina's ear was enough to tell her who was wounded. To the side of her Toboe and Tsume kneeled by Hige trying to get the chubby male to settle down as a sword stuck out of his side.
"I promised to make things right" Hige struggled to get back on his feet despite the pain he clearly was in
"Hige…"
"That's enough!" tsume roared at the chubby male but Hige simply snarled at him before continuing his pursuit of getting off the floor
"I... gave my...word"
"That is enough." Hige froze when Mahina spoke and both Tsume and Toboe jumped at her sudden appearance. The trio stared up at Mahina in both shock and bewilderment at her new look. The confusion was clear on Toboe's face along but Tsume was the first to act on his.
"Who are…" Tsume started to say but then he paused, his golden eyes scanning Mahina's unfamiliar form until they found the familiar claw marks that marred Mahina's face "...Mahina…"
"Mahina…" At the spoken name Hige stopped his struggling "You're alive"
"..." At first Mahina had no words to respond to Hige with, this was the first time they were seeing each other since Jagura's soldiers had pulled them apart. Guilt never looked so potent than it did in that very moment that Mahina stared into Hige's eyes. He took in a shaky breath seeming to try and find his voice under Mahina's silence but she simply kneeled before Hige with an unfazed expression. "You've done enough." she told him firmly before her fingers found the hilt of the sword and with a barely contained whimper from Hige she pulled it free and without another word Mahina turned to the battle at hand.
Jagura was doing very well holding her own against Kiba managing to skillfully dodge every leap the white wolf made at her but dodging and sword fighting weren't all she had on her side.
As Kiba landed and spun around to lunge at the noble again Jagura unleashed a familiar attack. The very same one she had used against Mahina and Kiba before.
The floor around Kiba glowed bright freezing Kiba in place just as he got close enough to leap at Jagura
"I'll take it all!" she snarled out "Every last ounce of your strength!" But Kiba would not be stopped, growling menacing at Jagura his very will to reclaim Paradise was enough to give him the strength to being overcoming Jagura's spell. "Impossible…"
In her moment of surprise Hige took advantage of the opening, whizzing past Mahina to lunge himself at Jagura. His snarls only gave her a split moment to dodge him shoving the chubby male away from and watching as he tumbled to the floor a distance away with another splatter of blood.
It was her fatal mistake
So focused was she on down Hige again that Jagura had forgotten all about Mahina and worst of all Kiba.
Jagura turned back around just into to catch Kiba's teeth in her shoulder, the white male sent the nobles blood flying as he ripped a chunk of fabric and flesh from Jagura.
That was when Mahina struck.
As Kiba broke away from Jagura Mahina moved in fast as ever with sword in hand.
The woman let out a strangled grunt when blade sunk into armor, her face etched with disbelief as Mahina lifted her gaze to glare at the noble.
"That was for Kileona." Mahina whispered to the noble, her crimson eyes growing as wide as she could get them hoping to take in as much of Jagura's pain as she could.
Jagura coughed up blood, dropping her sword with a loud clatter of it's steel. She grasped desperately at the blade that penetrated her stomach, tried her hardest be rid of the steel but the maiden would have none of it. Clenching her teeth Mahina pushed against Jagura making her stumbled backwards, back and back and back until Jagura's back hit a wall and the blade finally pierced her through forcing a pained yell from her lips.
The maiden leaned close to Jagura's pained face now, her eyes two burning scarlett portals, her fair skin a faint blush against the nearly transparent gown that clung to her slender form, her hair curved and rippled off her shoulders like a stream of pure milk. Under the light of the red moon the maiden looked almost godlike.
Perhaps she was-if the book of the moon meant anything.
"... you nobles" Her voice was deep, her tone sung of her disdain "all of this started...with your… wretched breed" Blood from Hige ran along the blade until it touched Jagura's open wound, she watched it mix with her own blood before her violet eyes watched the maiden who glared to harshly at her. Mahina gripped the handle tightly as she leaned forward until their faces were almost touching "Paradise" she spoke sternly "will never welcome you"
The verdict was declared, the maidens words seem to weigh more on Jagura's dying form than when the white wolf declared it.
This declaration felt more finite, lacking of all hope for redemption. This wolf was truly the entity written about in the book of the moon.
The lock that decided the fates of all, the gatekeeper of Paradise itself
Jagura started wide eyed as the maiden opened her mouth wide, flashing the longest pair of wolf fangs Jagura had ever seen.
With a rumbling growl Mahina bite down on Jagura's neck replacing Darcia's bite marks with her own only her teeth sunk through flesh like it was nothing but air.
The last thing the noble known as Jagura saw were those burning red pools of the maidens eyes before Mahina ripped Jagura's throat from her neck.