There's gonna have a nice battle scene against the Covies in this chapter :D enjoy.
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I stood at the banister in front of the inn, overlooking the town. I sighed and thought about what Louise had said the other day. Was it true that I didn't work hard to get to my current position? Well... considering I was taking orders from a 15 year old brat, I found that statement, more than insulting... I sighed as I gazed at the setting sun, soon we'd be getting underway towards the pier and Albion. As I watched the sky I noticed a glimmer of purple... I put my helmet on.
"Cortana, zero in on that object over there..." I said and my HUD locked onto the purple dot in the sky and zoomed in on it. "Another Phantom?" sure enough it was a Covenant Phantom, it wasn't doing anything, simply flying across the sky... I raised an eyebrow as it landed in the distance... within walking distance of the town...
"Another Phantom..." I muttered "That's gotta be a coincidence..."
The inside of my helmet lit up purple as Cortana spoke "One's a coincidence... Two's a trend... rule eighty-nine Scorch..."
I wondered whether or not to investigate or not when...
"Scorch!" Said Louise from behind. "So this is where you've been..."
I furrowed my brow "It doesn't matter where I am!"
"Well... I... I'm sorry..."
"Sorry?"
Louise ran up to me and grabbed my shoulder "Yes... about yesterday... I'm really sorry... I... I knew you had worked hard, and lost much more then even Wardes could have lost... just... the girl who wanted to prove that Wardes was better then everyone got the better of me... I said it even though I knew it was false..."
I shoved her off "You think that's going to change anything?" I said "What's done is done..."
"Hmmf..." Louise huffed and started to walk away before she stopped and said something that made me want to run a certain noble man through... "Scorch... I've decided to marry Wardes..."
"What!?"
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I stood in place for at least an hour, not sure how to react to what Louise had said... I mean... should I be happy for her? Sure, maybe... but did I trust Wardes to look after her...? Not one bit! I was so caught up in my thoughts that I didn't notice Guiche behind me until he yelled at me.
"Alexander! What's the matter with you your never like this, we need to get going!" he said.
"Huh?" I looked at the sky "Oh right... big fuckin' deal..." I sighed
"Oh cheer up will you? C'mon!" we were about to head towards the pier when a rumbling caught our attention...
"What's that? An earthquake?" said Guiche...
"Guiche! Behind you!" I yelled and pointed at a huge rock formation climbing out of the ground... literally climbing!
"W-what the!? Is that a golem!?"
"No" I said "It's an oversized skipping stone... WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU THINK!?" I yelled
"Well... if that's a golem, then that means-" Guiche was cut off by a female evil laugh, we both looked at the head of the golem... "F-Fouquet!"
I drew Derf in one hand, Magnum in the other... in hindsight I could have just shot her... but I guess it skipped my mind... Guiche was cowering behind me... fucking coward...
"What did you come here for Fouquet!?" I yelled
"I came to thank you" she thrust her hand forward and the golem reached out it's arm to attack "for putting me in prison!"
Nope! I cut the golem at the wrist, cleaving it's hand off, causing it to crumble back into dirt... I was amazed that this rusty old sword could actually do such a thing, but I guess it had something to do with magic or whatever...
"Well, well, not bad... try this!" she flicked her wand to the side and the golem reached towards a cliff side and the dirt and stone from the cliff were sucked towards the broken wrist and the golem re-formed it's hand.
Then Guiche, who had finally regain himself... said "I am a mage of earth too!" he whipped his rose at Fouquet's Golem and several of his Valkarie appeared. "GO!" and all Guiche's creations moved in to attack the golem... I shook my head... how did he call himself Guiche the Bronze if his alleged Bronze statues that fought for him were green... in other words, not bronze, but copper!
"Forget it... that's not going to help!" said Fouquet.
"Behold the powers of Guiche de Gramont!
A few moments later all his Valkarie had been reduced to bits and pieces of scrap metal... the last one was sent flying into Guiche, who fell over, giving his creation a nice kiss as he did so, I couldn't help but chuckle at his expense. There was hardly a scratch on the golem after that, I guess Guiche's creations were just that, all pretty with no power!
"Damnit! We can't beat it if it keep regenerating!" said Guiche
"You think I don't know that!?" I replied, when a fireball impacted the golem's left (it's left, not our left) leg, causing it to tumble momentarily before regenerating... "What the hell was that?" I said and looked up to the beating of wings... I saw a sleek blue dragon above us, mounted by two girls, one with blue hair like the dragon, while the other had a head of flaming red long hair.
"Kirche! Tabitha!" I said as they landed
"Alexander... heeeey" said Kirche "How ya been?" me and Guiche ran over towards Tabitha's dragon.
"Hey hold on!" Yelled Fouquet, who had fallen to the ground after that last attack. "It's awfully rude to ambush from the side like that..."
Kirche and Tabitha noticed Fouquet now, "Oh so it's that old thief again who's causing all the trouble huh?" said Kirche
"Where'd you get that" shot Fouquet "I'm only twenty-three, that's not old!"
"What's going on!?" yelled a distant voice and a torch light appeared from the path leading towards the village... the townsfolk and guardsmen had taken notice of the golem at last...
Fouquet turned back to us "Well I see I've outstayed my visit..." she laughed "Oh well... stalled you long enough... bye!" she flicked her wand and disappeared... golem returning to dust as she vanished.
"What the hell was all that about?" I muttered before Kirche and Tabitha approached us after dismounting the Sylphid.
"So where's that cute guy with the beard, what happened to him?" said Kirche... we then heard a loud sound, similar to a gong crossed with a horn...
"Wha-?" I started
"That's the boarding alarm! Our ship is leaving without us!" exclaimed Guiche and we all looked up... sure enough the ship was leaving... but it struck me as odd how it was flying... but at this point in my adventures in this world, I can't say I was surprised...
"Ok... it's flying, I don't get it, why call it a ship? Why not an airship, the term ship is misleading..." I said, then thought about how we called Spaceships just ships in my world and figured I was being hypocritical...
I ran back to the inn, with Guiche, Tabitha and Kirche all on my tail, I ran into the inn while they waited outside. I inquired to the innkeeper if he'd seen Louise and Wardes; I described them fairly well I think...
"Oh those two? They left a while ago... said the people they were waiting for headed back the way they came."
"That liar!" I said through gritted teeth... I now knew Wardes was an enemy... there was no doubt in my mind... the way Fouquet had said she'd stalled us, the way Wardes knew so much about me, the way he wanted to test my skills... the way he taunted me! It made sense now... I ran back outside to overhear Kirche and Guiche talking.
"So what about that guy with the beard? I can't stop thinking about him, it took me a whole day just to figure out where you guys went!" said Kirche
"Well, your persistent alright..." admitted Guiche
"And then once I actually find you guys your fighting some golem!" and Guiche just looked at her with a blank, un-amused expression.
I got Guiche's attention "Ok, so which way is the pier?" I asked
"Our ship already left, what good would that do?" he replied
"Well, we might as well figure out when the next ship is leaving... also... mind explaining a bit about Albion while we head there?" I said
"Well, Albion is a flying continent you know?"
"A flying continent?" Ok... flying ships... I could comprehend... but a flying continent... give me a fuckin' break!
"Yes" Said Guiche "You see, when the moons overlap each other" he pointed to the darkening sky "like tonight, that is when Albion gets closest to the main land..."
We walked further in silence until we reached the pier... which was just a enormous tree with platforms acting as loading docks... Kirche and Tabitha went up to check on the next flight while me and Guiche stayed at the bottom. "So why would Viscount Wardes want to leave us behind?"
"Fouquet is in on it too..." I said
"Fouquet?"
"That's what she said before she disappeared... she said she'd stopped us long enough..."
"HUH!? Fouquet is with the Viscount!? Is that what you're talking about!?"
"Seems that way... but either way, I'd say Louise is in allot of trouble right about now..."
I glanced back at the dock to see Kirche scurrying down the ramp. "Alexander!" she hummed "The next flight out isn't until dawn, that's around 12 hours from now... so... I guess we'll have to wait..."
"No good enough, we need to go now... Louise could be in trouble for all we know!" then an idea hit me. "How do you guys feel about hijacking an alien drop ship?"
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Louise's POV
I sat on a sofa in one of the luxurious rooms on the vessel, pictures lined the room and a small rectangular brown table lay in front of the sofa me and Wardes were sitting on.
*Ting* the glasses clinked as Wardes held a toast... I'd been a bit disappointed about leaving Alexander behind... and... Guiche as well I guess... but... I tried to push those thoughts out of my mind...
"To my bride..." said Wardes
"Y-yes..." I nodded and Wardes put his glass down on a table.
"so tell me, where can we find Prince Wales?" asked Wardes, which I found a little odd that he hadn't been told, but I had been... but none the less I remembered something that the Princess had told me...
"Well... I'm not supposed to tell anyone until we are actually in Albion..." I said "I'm sorry..."
"Nah, never mind that's quite alright..." said Wardes "I understand that this is one of your missions after all!"
"I'm sorry" I said again
Wardes stood up without even touching his glass "We won't actually reach Albion for quite some time... why don't you get some rest until then?"
"Ok" I said, my voice growing timid... then Wardes left the room... as soon as the door shut I found myself thinking about Alexander... how I'd just left him... but also about how I felt, I knew this was how it was supposed to be... in my head... my head told me this was the right thing to do... but my heart said something else... but... this was right... I was doing what was right... this was how it should be... Lord Wardes is strong and kind, he's not a familiar and he's not a peasant... this is the way it was supposed to be... I lay down on the sofa and glanced out the window at the rising sun over Albion... we'd be there shortly... and when we did we'd head to a church on the outskirts of the port town we were landing at... I only hoped things went without a hitch...
Sadly it was not so...
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Scorch's POV.
Seven hours... that's how long it to track down the Covie Phantom I'd seen... it had landed in a clearing in the mountains, between two peaks. It's beautiful purple form gleamed in the sun rise, like a phantom... a real one, not the Covie troop carrier... sent shivers down my spine whenever I saw one of those... not of fear, but nostalgia, I'd blown up so many of those in my time that, well, it felt good to see one again, even if it was under the ownership of my enemy. Speaking of enemies... there were seven grunts; five infantry minors and two ultras, five jackals; two rangers and three infantry (shield wielding version) and four brutes; two infantry (un-armored version) and one major (Armor wearing). Aaaaand just to my luck there was a pair of Hunters guarding the Phantom... this was gonna be a problem...
Me, Guiche, Tabitha and Kirche were observing them from behind a rock on a hill overlooking their position... it looked like they were making camp or something, as three crates of Covie weapons were lined up next to a blue and purple fire, some sort of Covie campfire or something... and there was something everyone just referred to as The nipple which was what grunts ate from, next to the fire as well... with two grunt minors eating from it... I really never understood that...
I slid back down the rock to where the others were...
"Ok here's the plan" I whispered... "Kirche, your fire magic is the only type of magic that will actually harm brutes, so keep using that... what we're gonna do it, Tabitha, take Sylphid and neutralize the jackal ranger, they are the birdlike humanoids with the glowing face masks and long rifles, do that quickly or they will pick the rest of us off. Kirche you're gonna ride shotgun on the Warthog, use your fire magic to take down the shields of the Jackal infantry and Brutes... it might also have some affect on the Hunters, the giant blue armored beasts, if you heat their armor up it might kill the Lekgolo inside the shell. Fire magic I've noticed of late is very effective against energy shields."
I took a breath.
"Guiche, you're up on the Gauss Cannon, take out the Hunters and Brutes first, leave the grunts and jackals to us, target the bigger Covies first as a rule of thumb. Simply due to the fact that the Gauss Cannon is an anti-armor weapon so it is suited for taking down bigger targets. I'll be driving and keeping the Hog moving so it's up to you guys to take out those Covie bastards... maybe I can get a few splatters..." I grinned thinking about running over a few grunts which were nothing more than speed bumps when you drove a car this big..."
"Is there a backup plan?" Guiche asked
"Well, it's quite likely that if you don't take out the Hunters quick enough they might get a shot off on the Hog and take it down, if that happens bail out and engage the Covenant on foot, use all available cover and try not to die..." I said that last part Try not to die with such a cheery voice that the others looked nervously at each other...
"Ok then if your all set let's go!" I said and jumped into the driver's seat of the Warthog while Kirche got in the passenger seat and Guiche got on the gun. Tabitha took to the sky with Sylphid and flew over the Covies, I heard the snatching of a frail creature then a loud screech as the Jackal was dropped back to the ground. My signal to go, I hit the pedal and drove down the hill, while Guiche, who had already figured out how to fire the main gun, shot one round with pretty decent accuracy hitting a Brute Minor in the shoulder, blowing it's arm off causing it to bleed out quickly. Tabitha came back for another run, casting wind magic at two Jackal Infantry, causing them to stumble, exposing their bodies to us on the Warthog, I pulled out my pistol and found enough time to shoot and kill one Jackal before I had to use both hands to turn the Hog before we crashed into a rock cliff, coming back for another pass.
Kirche used her fire magic to collapse the shields of the two remaining Jackals while Guiche shot at the second Brute minor, only hitting near its feet causing minor concussive damage, blowing the Brute off his feet to the ground... but he got back up. I heard a loud thump and high pitched scream as the Hog lurched and the wheels were splattered with the glowing light blue blood of two Grunt Minors.
Kirche blasted two more Grunts with fire, sending them running away while they burned alive only to die seconds later... Tabitha made another run and fired shards of ice at the Jackals whose shields hadn't recharged yet, the ice ripped through them and their un-armored flesh. All the jackals were dead, we just had one Grunt Minor, Two Grunt Ultras, One Brute Minor, One Brute Major, and two Hunters left.
Guiche fired another round, hitting the last Grunt Minor, "Guiche!" I yelled "I told you to target the bigger ones!"
"Sorry" Guiche flipped his hair while holding onto the turret with one hand "but he was just standing there! I had to take the shot! It was too easy!" he replied, and I shrugged, nothing was more tempting, then an easy target... in my opinion anyways...
I pulled the hand brake to do 180 degree turn to head back towards the remaining Covies. Guiche blasted one of the Hunters, but the shot was blocked by the Hunter's giant arm shield. But it hit with enough force to put the Hunter on his ass, lowing his guard so that Kirche and a passing Tabitha could cast their magic on its exposed orange gut. With ice piercing and ripping through the orange worm colonies within the armored plating, while fire burned it to a crisp and cooked any unexposed flesh.
With the death of its bond brother, the other Hunter went into a rage, firing its arm counted Fuel Rod gun with no remorse towards us or his allies as a near miss hit a Grunt Ultra who was trying to EMP the Hog with a overloaded Plasma Pistol shot! It fired again and this time it got a lucky shot on the rear wheels, taking out the rear axle and sending the Hog onto its nose.
"Bail!" I ordered and Kirche and I jumped out of the seats while Guiche fell off in a panic but Kirche caught him bridal style which would have been laughable if not for the current situation...
"Guiche, Kirche, take care of that last Grunt and Brute, I'll deal with the Hunter!" I said as the two made for the Covie weapon crates for cover.
I charged at the Hunter full well knowing it's counter for such a target, it would charge back, swinging it's massive arm shield as a weapon... sure enough that's what it did, and it's what I wanted... once I saw the arm begin to swing I jumped, landing on the Hunter's shield and used it to springboard vault over him. Doing a 360 in the air whipping out my M6G magnum and firing a few shots while I was in the air, scoring three hits in the exposed worm colony. I landed and switched to my MA5B, ran and unloaded half my clip into its backside killing the slow beast...
I looked over at what Guiche and Kirche were doing... to see Guiche run up to the last Grunt and shotgun it in the face... not a bad kill for someone so green... a nice humiliation kill by the looks of it...
"Scorch!" Yelled Kirche and I looked where she was pointing... the last Brute, and last Covie, was getting into the Phantom... and with the Warthog out of service we had no way to keep him from taking off...
"Kirche, Tabitha, Guiche get over here!" I yelled and ran over to the Covie weapon racks and once Tabitha landed, the Phantom started to take off... "Take these" I gave them all Plasma Pistols...
"Squeeze the handle to fire, hold it up long enough to overcharge it, then once they are over charged, fire at the Phantom... the combined EMP charge should be enough to disable it temporarily without permanent damage...!"
It was simple instructions so I figured they couldn't screw up... thankfully I was proven right, as the combined four Plasma blasts hit the Phantom's engines as it tried to fly away bringing it down again not to far away.
"Tabitha, call get Sylphid we need to move now!" I said and we all jumped on Tabitha's dragon and flew over to where the Phantom had been forced to land... I saw a small cliff overlooking the Phantom.
The Brute who had tried to flee was outside banging on the engines trying to bring them back online... "Drop me on that cliff" I said and I jumped off as Tabitha landed her dragon right above the Brute... I drew my combat knife... holding a finger to my faceplate in a shhh motion...
I crept to the edge of the cliff and lined myself up... I whistled sharply and the Brute turned around just in time for him to see me land on him pushing him onto his back and plunge my knife into his neck, ripping out his trachea. I turned back up to the others, wiped the blood off my visor and signaled for them to come down...
"So why didn't we just take Sylphid all the way to Albion?" Guiche asked.
"To much weight for such a long journey" Replied Tabitha with her usual emotionless tone...
I stepped up to the Phantom and hit a button on the side of the purple beetle like ship and the troop bay doors on both sides swung open. I entered and found my way to the cockpit. The others entered after I confirmed it was safe and closed the doors...
I sat down at in the pilot's position... "Erm..." I pondered what button to press first...
Guiche came up behind me, overhearing my moment of question... "Are you implying you don't even know how to fly one of these!?" he exclaimed
"Well... truth be told I didn't think we'd find one in working condition..." I replied... "so no... I'm trained in Pelican, Falcon, Saber, Longsword, and Hornet control... kinda know how to fly a Banshee simply cuz those are really simple... but a Phantom..." I paused and then in awe I simply stated "So... many... buttons..."
"How about this one?" Guiche asked and pressed a large red button.
"Guiche no!" to late... the engine weered to life... "Oh... ok that works..."
"You know" Cortana said through my suit's speakers "You could just give me a minute to interface with the ship's controls right?"
"Oh right..." I said "Um..."
"OK, yank me." Said Cortana and I reached back and pulled her chip out of my helmet and put it into the ship's AI drive. "Alright... Engines powered up... navigation systems online... primary weapon online... shields offline... gravity lift online... alright... checklist complete... bringing her up."
I got out of the pilot's seat and headed back to the troop bay. Sylphid flew away once we'd gotten onto the ship since there would be no room for her. Kirche and Tabitha were both standing on opposite sides of the troop bay holding onto the handles that dropped down from the ceiling.
"So" I said "Do we even know where we will find Louise and Wardes?"
"No..." replied Tabitha.
I paused to think for a moment before heading back into the cockpit. "Hey Cortana"
Cortana's purple avatar flickered to life on a holo-emitter in the center of the cockpit "Yeah?"
"Is there any way to track down Louise or Wardes' trail?" I asked
"If we head to the port they landed at we might be able to pick up a clue, if not there is a slim chance we will find some sort of bio-chemical reading that I can follow... you know, similar to how police dogs work by tracking criminals by their sent?"
"OK... but..."
"Before you ask, I projected the ship's flight trajectory, and with the weather conditions I've calculated the most likely spot they would have landed at..." a NAV waypoint popped up on the windshield of the Phantom.
"Thanks Cortana..."
"Don't mention it! it's what I'm here for!"
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Louise's POV
I'd just gotten out of my meeting with Prince Wales Tutor of Albion, concerning the letter I was supposed to retrieve... I left the candle lit room and closed the door behind me... I stared at the door for a while, then from my left I heard; "So that is the letter in question?"
I was surprised and I turned to see Lord Wardes standing there... he approached me "That means you've finished your mission..." he reached me and put a hand on my shoulder... "Louise I've been meaning to ask your thoughts on this, but I was thinking of asking the prince to perform our marriage!"
"The prince!?" I asked in shock "But then the wedding would have to be right here wouldn't it?"
"It would be fine, I'm sure the prince would be happy to oblige us..."
"I-I can't!" I exclaimed and broke free from his grasp to go stand against a nearby column supporting the building's overhand/undercover area... "I still have to return to Tristain and report to the princess..."
"No you don't..." and I yelped as Wardes grabbed me from behind "I'm afraid I need you right here... or rather, Reconquista does..."
"Reconquista!?" I exclaimed "But... then... that means... Wardes!?"
"My dear Louise you needn't worry about a thing, just follow me..." he said with a sinister tone.
"Your deluded!" I yelled "I'm not gonna marry you after that, get away from me!" and I broke free from his grip and started to run, only to bump into the most retarded looking man in the history of Halkenginia... aside from Scarron that is...
"There's no way you can escape..." he said "Miss descendant of the Void!" he held up a hand with a purple ring on it, which started to glow... it was then that I began to lose consciousness to the point where I wanted to pass out, but my body wouldn't let me. I felt so tired that I just wanted to obey whatever command was given to me just to get whatever task it was I had to do over with so I could sleep... or at least that's what it felt like... probably that was the psychology behind it all... but at the same time, I wanted to resist... a small part of me knew I was heading for disaster if I kept obeying the commands of the one wielding this ring...
I don't remember much of what happened after that, but I scarcely remember later that evening, me and Wardes were exchanging vows... he had just said his part, then it was my turn... I didn't want to... but something was trying to force the words out of my mouth...
"Pardon the bride, but she seems to be a bit nervous" said Wardes
"No, I understand perfectly..." replied the Prince, with no knowledge as to how much danger he was in... "I'll just ask again... Miss Valliere... do you take this man to love forever, to be by his side for the rest of your life? Do you take this man as your lawfully wedded husband?"
'no, no, no!' I thought "I d-"
The doors of the Church were blown open and I heard one word which snapped me out of my stupor...
"LOUISE!" I turned around recognizing the voice.
"Scorch!?" I asked, sure enough I saw Scorch standing there with his DMR pointed at Wardes...
"Move so much as a centimeter and I'll blow yer fuckin' brains out Wardes!" he yelled
"What!? The binding has been broken!?" Wardes said a little too loud...
"What's the meaning of this?" said Prince Wales "Guards, arrest this man!" he pointed to Wardes.
"Wait your highness you don't understa-" to late... Wardes had moved and shoved his foil into the Prince's heart... Scorch had fired a shot but missed... one of the few shots I'd seen him ever miss...
"Damn you, Reconquista..." muttered the Prince who fell over, dying..."
"PRINCE NO!" I screamed and knelt next to him "I'll never marry you now Wardes!"
"Wardes, you bastard! You'll not get away with that!" Scorch yelled and fired a few more times at Wardes, but... his shots were deflected by Wardes blocking them with his now glowing sword... Scorch looked almost as surprised as I was...
"You think you can beat me that easily? When we fought earlier, I had been holding back..." taunted Wardes who used a gale wind spell to put Scorch on his back, he quickly leveled his foil to Scorch's neck... I turned back to the Prince who had slipped something into my hand with his last breath... his hand then left mine and he didn't move again...
"NOOOOOO!" I screamed "This wasn't supposed to happen!"
"How dare you... you trick Louise like that, and for what!? You own gain! Your just a sick fuck who benefits at other people's losses... how dare you take advantage of Louise's feelings and trust in you!"
"HA! A love that will never be! How pathetic..." said Wardes... then something strange happened, Scorch's hand started to glow through his armored hand... "No... Not love... loyalty..." Scorch gripped Wardes's foil with both hands and bent it in a U so that it pointed back at Wardes... "I don't have any family... I hardly have any friends... I have no concept of peasantry or nobility...
"That's it partner, just a little more!" said Derf as Scorch stood up and drew him.
"I don't give a rat's ass about your fucking arranged marriages or petty political struggles for naught but personal gains! This world makes not fucking sense to me! All I know is this... I'm Louise's Familiar!" The rust broke off of Derflinger's body and revealed a gleaming, razor sharp steel blade underneath the old rust.
Wardes scoffed and threw aside his second foil and drew a simple wand and cast thunder at him... which to both mine and Wardes's surprises was absorbed by Derflinger as Scorch blocked with him...
Scorch glared back at Wardes "Now you cocksucker... your through!" he yelled and charged at Wardes, deflecting another spell which was sent into a wall, shattering it making a hole in the wall... when Scorch reached Wardes he slashed and rolled past him... "Today you die!"
Wardes fell to his knees, clutching his side... "Well... at least I finished two of the three objectives I'd set out to do..."
"Objectives?" I asked
"One... was to ensure Prince Wales was dead... and the second..." Wardes held up his hand... in it was a letter... I recognized it as the letter I was supposed to return to the princess... but before I could do anything a pigeon flew in from the hold that had been blasted in the side of the building and snatched the letter away... "The third one... was you Louise... and I refuse to FAIL!" he yelled... and cast a fire spell towards the roof... "If I can't have you... I'll bury you and that legend once and for all..." once the fireball made impact with the ceiling the whole building burst into flames as if it was covered in pitch (A/N: Pitch is a medieval type of oil used for lighting fires, flaming arrows, and ditches to set aflame to defend a castle or boiled and poured on attacking enemies.) But... after that happened all I heard was a loud crack and saw bits of brain matter explode out of Wardes's forehead, who fell dead... I looked over to see Scorch with a smoking DMR... he looked back at me.
"Well... it's about time for extraction..." he said and pulled out his assault rifle and shot the ceiling right above us, bringing the rafters down on us... I screamed and blacked out... when I woke up... I was being held in hard, but warm arms... I opened my eyes and saw my Familiar... Scorch holding me... "It's alright Lousie" he pulled away from me... "You're safe now... and that's all that matters..." he grinned, his helmet rested on his lap...
I looked around noticing we were in some strange glowing room, with the sides open so we could see out into the night sky... the room flew with amazing speed so I figured it must have been some kind of ship... then I cried a bit and did something I hadn't planned on... I ended up kissing him, which made him reel back a bit...I guess he found it awkward that I had done that... but... I couldn't help myself... I'm gonna keep telling myself that it was due to my feelings being all messed up at the time, I don't know...
I heard a female voice come from every corner of the room... "Five minutes until we return to the Academy... standby for drop off... oh... by the way... to Scorch... the engine's power core is overheating, it's actually so bad right now that we won't be able to take off again unless you find a replacement..."
"Damnit... just when I'd found a fast, quiet, luxurious and incognito way of traveling..." joked Scorch with heavy sarcasm... "Well... I did mean fast to be honest... but that's it..." he walked to edge of the room and onto a balcony with a turret on it... I followed him and then realized this was a Phantom... I'd seen them in the dreams I'd had about Reach... Scorch and the others must have stolen this...
Scorch glanced down at the Academy which was not emerging beneath the clouds... "Well..." he said "Mission..." he hesitated "Failed..." he sighed "I'll take you into town on the Warthog in the morning to give your report to the Princess... then... well... then I've got some inventory to take..." he looked at the back of the troop bay of the Phantom... where three racks of the most out of this world weaponry were stored... weapons I recognized of those of the Covenant...
"More weapons huh?" I chuckled "Figures... you and your guns..."
Scorch chuckled back "What can I say... that's what I'm all about! guns, guns, guns! That's me! And..." it looked like he was about to make another joke but he stopped and seemed to get all sad... "Knives... no... That was Emile's thing..."
I walked over to the weapon racks, leaving Scorch to his thoughts... I looked over the weapons as I heard Scorch mutter to himself. "Kat was her computers and hardware... Jun was his snipers and silencers... Jorge was his machine gun that he loved so much... Carter was his ships... and me..." he paused and looked at his DMR... with nearly so many tally marks that it looked like an unreadable rabble of scribbles and scratches... he sat down and began to disassemble his gun for probably more than the hundredth time since he'd gotten here alone, and began to clean, and count his ammo... I turned back to the weapons and sighed... how was I going to explain this all to the Princess?
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There we go, the chapters are getting longer huh!? Well then, not much more to say other then the 6000 word barrier had been hit right NOW! Haha! Epic timing is epic and convenient! Anyways...
Two thing to say,
One is... Warning, next chapter there WILL be a lemon... I will not disclose who it is between, but yes, it does involve Scorch... that's all I will say, but not to worry... I've put multiple warnings in the chapter so that those who wish to skip it can do so easily. :D
And lastly of course, is... since I put so much time into writing this fic and chapter for you guys, why not leave me a review on what you did, or didn't like, with constructive criticism welcome! Also, if you really liked it, why not add it to your faves and follow it, so that you can be in the know of future updates? All of the above help me out allot to stay motivated to write this story (And trust me, it doesn't take allot for me to get motivated with this one!)
Thanks guys! WTYL as usual :D