Hey, sorry for the long delay, but well... at long last my CTS (Turned out it wasn't really CTS, but it was similar) died down and I can type fine now, but guess what, the day it healed, I fucking burnt by hand! So shit! I had to take even more time off cuz my thumb and palm fucking ache like a beatch!
Me: Damnit Oven mitt you've failed me for the last time! *eyes the pinprick of a hole right where the thumb and index finger meet*
Mitt: Oh no not the fireplace!
Me: YES! The fire place!
Mitt: NOOOOOOOO! *FWOOM*
Me: Burn in hell you son of a bitch!
... I don't know what that was all about...
I digress...
Also, this chapter might be excruciatingly short compared to the other chapters... sorry but this episode is mostly flashbacks by Henrietta and I'm skipping those.
Oh and what's worse is that my obsession with this fandom is dying rapidly D: Damnit! I really want to finish this story but there are three things putting doubts in my mind about finishing it.
1: It's going to be looooong... very long...
2: My obsession with this fandom is, as I said, dying.
3: I'm starting to obsess more and more about other fandoms, well, actually it's being evenly distributed among several other fandoms, this one included, however my top three at the moment are Halo, Warcraft and this. Which is making it difficult to stay focused on just one story... damn my short attention span -.-
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Scorch's POV
"I said the Queen was kidnapped..." repeated Anies
"Yeah, yeah, I know what you said, I'm just shocked a little..." I said, I thought about what Henrietta had told me the other day about a spy. "You know on second thought I'm not..."
"But, explain please!" exclaimed Louise "What do you mean by kidnapped, who? When? Details Anies, details!"
We all stood just outside the UNSC base while Anies explained the situation. "We don't know who, but it was early this morning it seems, maybe five or six o'clock, my subordinates are searching for her and we've determined her majesty's kidnapper to be heading towards Lagdorian Lake."
"Why would they be heading there?" I asked
"I don't know, but in any case, we need to keep this out of public knowledge for the time being, so it will only my Gunpowder squad and you two will be taking part in this rescue mission.
"With all due respect Anies" I said "I've already notified Fireteam Delta and the Fireteam leader is submitting four ODSTs and a Warthog to help track her down."
"Fine, I guess since your here and our ally it's nice for you to be earning your keep..." replied Anies, to which I glared at her and raised an eyebrow in a really? Did you really just go there? Kind of way.
"Well then, I will leave you to it, I must go and join the rest of my squad." Said Anies as we walked back towards the academy, she left us and went towards the stables and jumped back on her horse and left for the capital.
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Louise and I were in the FA38 fighter, I was in the front while she was in the navigator/co-pilot's seat in the back. I started up the engines.
Mr. Colbert, who was helping us get the plane ready shouted to us "Are you sure this is a good idea? The plane as you called it has yet to be fixed completely!"
"So long as it flies I guess!" I shouted back over the roar of the engines "Oh hey! By that way! Where you able to get that thing I was asking for working?"
"Yes, yes! I worked all night to unlock the afterburners, some code was needed along with extra fuel, but I managed to get it working, you know how it works right?"
"Yeah, thanks Doc!" I replied
"Um..." muttered Colbert "I'm not a doctor..."
"Meh..." I hit the vertical control and took off, heading towards the Lake.
Once we were at a fair altitude and cruising speed, I put Cortana's chip in the SD drive, which allowed her to take control of the plane. I turned around in my seat to look at Louise, who was flipping through the spell book she received from the princess and Mr. Osmond.
"Hey, about the kidnapping... it might be useful to bring up that I did hear the princess talking about a spy in the palace... right after, she is kidnapped, coincidence?" I said
"Hmm, now that you bring it up, that's a good point, I also heard about a possible spy not long after the ring was stolen... which brings up the question why in hell were we still keeping it there, I thought Tabitha had it!" replied Louise, looking up from her book.
"Yeah..." I nodded So much for getting it to the water spirit anytime soon... wait..." I thought about something Montmorency had said a month ago. "Didn't Monmon say that the ring had magic which could revive the dead? Or something along those lines anyways."
"Yeah she did, the ring allows you user to reanimate the corpse of the deceased, and so the reanimated one will follow the orders of the wielder of the ring." Explained Louise.
"So, let me get this straight... it doesn't actually resurrect, more like, reanimate, meaning... the semi-equivalent to zombifiy?"
"Well, it's not so much as to make a zombie out of said person, more like infuse the body of the fallen with an ancient spirit of vengeance, which is tied to the ring... I think that's how it goes but you'd need to consult with a water mage or check the archives to get the full explanation, what I know, it's only rumors and tidbits I had heard from Monmon." Louise glanced at the screen mounted on the co-pilot's console, behind the pilot's seat. "Anyways, we need to hurry and find the Princess!" Louise looked out the window and seemed to ponder something "Hey, doesn't this thing go faster?"
I turned back around in my seat to check the speed and altitude, they were all fine at the moment, but then I heard a loud clunk coming from the rear of the plane.
"Alex! What did you do!?" I heard Louise shriek
"Shit... well... this ain't good..." I muttered...
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Agnes' POV
My Squad and I rode along the road to Lagdorian Lake on horseback... one of the UNSC metal mounts was catching up to us before it managed to pull next to me, but not enough to scare or frighten our horses with its loud noises.
"Alright, Commander-62 wanted us to rendezvous with you and pursue the princess under your command, hope he knows what he's doing!" yelled one of the ODST soldiers, who wore shiny black armor with silver glass faceplates or... at least I think they were glass, they looked like glass... one of them rode on the side seat of the mount with a compact rifle with a scope on it, it had a funny handle on top and there was a box mounted on the back of the gun... an ammo box I guess. Another was sitting on the flatbed on the back of the mount, holding onto the side of the Warthog. Yet another one was controlling the beast while another was standing on the flatbed, controlling a large cannon with several rotating barrels on it.
"Captain!" Shouted Michelle, my lieutenant. "I see her Highness! Up front!"
I looked forward and sure enough I saw a man clothed in a fancy blue suit, holding a wand, along with our queen, Henrietta... I noticed a spell being cast at us... a torrent of wind! "Incoming!" I shouted
"Corporal Bloomfield! Vehicle Hard-light shield! Go!" shouted the driver of the Warthog and the soldier on the side seat hit a button on the side of the Warthog and a huge blue shield materialized at the front of the Warthog, which drove in front of us, taking the blast, but collapsed after taking the impact. It then returned to its original position.
We soon got close enough to use our weapons. "Aim for the horse!" I ordered "It's not going to be a laughing matter it we hit the queen!"
"Ha!" Laughed the ODST on the back of the Warthog "Ain't friendly fire a bitch?" he turned to the ODST on the big gun "But she's right... Private Kashlow, hold onto the turret but use your Battle Rifle, that big gun just isn't accurate enough!"
"Yeah Yeah Corporal Hamlin... Sergeant Dempsey, mind holding it steady then?" the ODST then switched to a long but compact rifle much like the other ODSTs.
All of our guns fired off, none hitting it's marks... however me and my troops had to reload after we shot, but the ODSTs were able to keep up a constant stream of bullets.
"None of our shots are getting through!" Shouted the ODST in the passenger's seat "It's like this guys is hacking or something! I swear I shot him in the back but the round veered off to the side like it hit a bubble shield..."
"He's a user of air!" I replied "He's using air magic to send our bullets off course!"
"Magic huh? Riiiight..." I guess they still hadn't gotten their heads wrapped around the whole concept of magic in this world... "But I'm gonna go with this guy's a hacker instead, ok?"
I heard another metallic blast from up ahead... "Another blast incoming!" I shouted
"Damnit! The HL shield isn't recharged yet! Brace for impact!" yelled the Warthog driver.
*KABOOM*
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Scorch's POV
"Damnit the rear engine is about to go!"
"Is that bad?" asked Louise
The plane clunked more... and slowed down...
"Just a bit... Cortana, hold her steady, I'm going to take a look at it, see if I can jury rig it to keep us going a while longer!"
"Rodger!"
I magnetized my boots and opened the cockpit and shimmied along the nose until I reached the wing, then I stuck myself to the wing and struggled against the wind drag to reach the rear engine. Once I reached it I looked into the rear propulsion drive. The blue light and small flame which was supposed to be coming out of it was dimmed and there was smoke coming from the engine port.
"Great..." I pulled out a small repair kit which came with the plane and found a small hatch to inspect the engine... one of the pieces inside came loose due to a rushed repair, and had punctured the fuel line from the tank to the actual engine and fuel was leaking out of the line, slowing the plane... the small puncture was getting worse and worse, causing more and more harm to the plane. However this was nothing a little flame and heat retardant duct tape wouldn't fix... like the civilian engineers always say... duct tape fixes everything! Including top of the line, obsolete and collector quality military hardware which could be worth a fortune in collector value alone...
Once I'd fixed it I opened a com channel with the inside of the plane through my helmet. "Louise, are we good now?"
"I don't know!"
"Um... how is the speed?"
"I think we are still slowing down!"
"What!? Why!?"
"I don't know! There is this blinky red light near a weird icon of a can with a hose coming out of it, is that bad?"
"SHIT! The leak was present to long, we lost too much fuel!" I climbed back into the cockpit, and as soon as I did the plane slowed down more and more until we started to lose altitude. "At this rate, with no control, we'll crash into the trees! The plane will be ruined! If worse comes to worst then we'll have to eject!" I pulled Cortana's chip out of the SD drive just in case of an emergency ejection.
"Yup, we're goin' down!" I said and tried my best to level up the plane to no avail... "Shiiiiiiiiiiiiiit!"
Then suddenly the plane began to level itself out and fly on its own... "huh?" I wondered and looked out the window to see a blue dragon ridden by a small blue haired girl and a large breasted red haired girl... Kirche and Tabitha to the rescue... again... I was questioning my masculinity at this point... getting saved by a petite/tiny blue haired girl and her well endowed friend for the third time was not... healthy for the old ego... mind you at this rate I doubted it would be the last...
"Hey darling!" Shouted Kirche "Your dearest Kirche is here!" she made a blow-kiss gesture to me and I sighed in wonder whether she'd ever knock it off...
Louise managed to open the cockpit and retort "Hey what do you think you guys are doing following us again!?"
"Hey just a minute!" replied Kirche "is that any way to talk to someone who came here just to save you? Hmmmm?"
"Yes, yes, thank you for the assistance Kirche and Tabitha!" I shouted, saving Louise the trouble of getting in a hissy fit over her ego and rivalry with Kirche... not to mention her attitude... Louise's that is.. I simply didn't have the patience for it today...
"But this is a secret mission! Stop following us!" said Louise
"Aren't you tempting us more to follow you by telling us that?" asked Kirche with a smart ass tone.
Then just barely audible, Tabitha said something that I can only guess I heard as "Below"
I checked the bomb-sight so I could see underneath the plane, sure enough it was a white horse with the princess and some fancy pants in a blue suit... wait... this fancy pants looked familiar...
We reached the lake and Tabitha put us down in the Lake, flying by the Princess and her kidnapper for a slight show... then we recognized the culprit...
"No way! That's prince Wales is it not!?" Exclaimed Louise "Isn't he supposed to be dead!"
"You don't think..." I started
"Andvari's ring!" finished Louise
"I was afraid of that..."
Tabitha brought the plan back around and skirted is across the water, luckily, it floated and Louise and I climbed out onto the wing and jumped to shore.
"Princess! Are you alright!" Louise yelped, but the alleged Prince Wales started to lightly pull Henrietta in the opposite direction, without her objecting or resisting... which was... odd... to say the least... however before they could get away a gust of wind nearly pushed the Prince and Princess of their feet as Sylphid landed, letting off Tabitha and Kirche before flying away again.
"Yooooou, shaaaaall not, paaaaaaass!" hissed Tabitha.
"Um... ok... right..." sighed Kirche "Wait! What is the princess doing here! What's the meaning of this!?"
I jumped next to Louise from the plane wing and stood in front of her, "Stop right where you are, return the princess to us and you'll make it less painful for yourself!" I demanded.
"Ah, shut up!" retorted the supposed Prince Wales. "Henrietta desires to be together with me."
"What!?" exclaimed Louise "Your Majesty!?"
"Ugh" I groaned "Wales, did you use Andvari's ring to reanimate yourself?" I glared daggers at him, waiting for his response... which came slowly... until the clouds in the distance began to roll over us, and a lightning crack followed by a thunder clap sounded and shone... it started to rain.
"Andvari's ring huh? Yeah, I've heard of it... the myths said that it has a magic which can give the dead another life... if that's true then... I think I could understand where you begin to see the problem with it..." said Wales, before snickering evilly. I almost found it creepy... almost...
"M'lady!" Said Louise "Please, come back to us! He's not the Wales we know! He's just a ancient spirit!"
"Louise! Stop throwing around false accusations! You know him too! The Wales before his death! This IS the real Wales!" Exclaimed the Princess...
The downpour got harder, the raindrops were popping and crackling quietly off my energy shields, but with this dead silence, they as well have been cannon blasts. The darkness began to intensify as well... the bordering forest became pitched black within the tree line and beyond.
"So, how about you get out of the way?" said Wales with an evil smirk.
"But M'lady!" said Louise.
"Talking is useless..." said Tabitha who aimed her staff at Wales... and quickly chanted "Dalvies Hontallu his hissa hiru" once she finished chanting a dozen razor sharp icicles tore at Prince Wales body, leaving several holes in him... however despite Tabitha's best efforts and the shock of the Princess... his wounds quickly healed themselves...
"A futile attempt... your attacks are incapable of harming me..." said Wales.
"Well then taste dragon's breath!" Exclaimed Kirche who cast a jet of flame at Wales while Tabitha modded it with her own tornado spell. Unfortunately Wales outstretched his arms and absorbed the spell with some light blue invisible shielding... "Didn't I just say your attempts are in vain!?" shouted Wales before sharply thrusting his wand towards Kirche and Tabitha, blasting them violently off their feet.
"Kirche! Tabitha!" I shouted.
"Princess! Do you see it now!?" Said Louise "He isn't the Wales whom you once knew!"
The Princess looked like she was currently fighting with her better judgement, but she seemed to be holding onto the old Wales more then she acknowledged the new one. "No!" she shook her head "No! It can't be! He told me he would love me, Henrietta, for all eternity!"
I cringed at the thought of that... I mean... they were cousins... isn't that like... borderline incest or something... if not full blown incest? I mean I can understand that she'd love the guy, but romantically, it really didn't make any sense to me... however on the other hand, it was completely likely that she was inbred as well... call it a hunch... but I'm guessing Royalty only mix with Royalty and they think that breeding with their own will keep their family pure... uuuummmm... yeaaahhh... ok... you think that... I'm gonna go now and leave you to your sick little worlds now... bye-bye...
"Your Majesty your being foolish!" yelled Louise.
"Louise! Have you ever truly loved a person?" Henrietta asked, which seemed to catch Louise off guard...
"True love is about giving up everything just to be with him... so please..." the Princess began to plead "Stop obstructing us!"
"C'mon your majesty! Come to your senses, please!" begged Louise
"This is the queen's order, Louise Francoise! It's my last order for you..."
"w-what!?"
"You may have full authority over her... but not me..." I said and stepped forward, drawing my energy sword, it crackling to life in my hand, Magnum in the other hand.
"Alexander, not you too, I've already made up my mind, I'm going with Wales, I also order you to step aside..."
"Can't do that ma'am..." I said and everyone gasped I shock, that I'd just defied a direct order from the Queen...
"You... are defying your queen?" she hissed
I got a little miffed at that comment... "YOU ARE NOT MY QUEEN!" I bellowed, scaring the piss out of everyone nearby, including Henrietta... Wales also looked a bit nervous... "DO NOT TAKE ME FOR SOME IMBICEL OF A LOW DOWN SUBORDINATE! I'M NOT TRYING TO OBSTRUCT YOU..." I calmed down... "I'm trying to help you..." I was silent for a while "Henrietta, earlier you said you wanted me to be your friend... well... it might be different here, but back in my world, do you know how friendship works?"
She shook her head...
"Well, here it seems more or less all about a confidant or playmate... sure, the same can be said in my world, but one of the most important duties of a friend, it to not let their friends, do things stupid or reckless! And this... well this is all kinds of stupid and reckless! Can you not see through his lies! His... translucent husk which was once Wales, that which covers a more sinister person! He is NOT the Wales you knew, and if you insist on going, I will have no choice but to lay some serious beatings on Mister Fancy pants and proceeded to give you a royal spanking for you stupidity!" and before anyone could gasp or make another notion that I'd done something completely out of context I added "YES! I went there! Just shut up, and fucking deal with it!"
"I..." Henrietta looked like she was deeply processing what I'd just said... I swear if she said that she was still going with Wales, then I was going to rip them both a new asshole... Wales with my bullets, Henrietta with... well... actually... no... I'm not going to go there...
"I'm can't, I have to go with Wales, I will go wherever he goes..." ah... and new asshole ripping time has arrived...
"Well, guess I get to tear you a new one Wales..." I ran at him but he cast a gust at me, which I easily shrugged off, plowing through it (American)football style.
"Stay back!" Shrieked Henrietta who flailed her wand/mace-looking thing (It seriously looks like a mace to some degree...) and a giant ice wall shot up from the ground in front of me, blocking my path. I stabbed my energy sword into it and it began to melt through the ice wall, but it was taking some time...
"Y-you... W-will never lay a finger on Wales..." Henrietta's voice was wavering and shaky "P-please stop obstructing us..."
"Louise!" said Derf as he popped out of his sheath on my back "Even if partner gets through he won't be able to damage Wales unless you have a looksiee in the old spell book..."
"Spell book?" wondered Louise and looked through the book... I noticed a light shining from the book. "Dispel Magic?" she asked
"Yes! Yes!" Exclaimed Derf "It's only a matter of, what to cast it on... if partner can cut through in time, I'd say cast it on me, but partner might not have to to switch weapons, as his blue sword can't take any magical enchantments!"
I didn't pay attention to much of the conversation... but I noticed a blue light flickering in the corner of my HUD in my helmet... the ODST team was right behind the ice wall, out of sight of Wales and Henrietta...
"Louise!" I whispered, she came over to me... "The ODST team is in position behind this ice wall... if you can cast it on one of their weapons, I will tell them to take the shot..."
"Ok I can do that, where are they?"
I took one hand off my Energy sword and pointed in the direction of the ODST team and Louise nodded... however I managed to break through... but to my surprise Henrietta stood in front of me... blocking my path to Wales...
"If you want to get to Wales, you will need to get past me first..." she said, luckily for her, I didn't want to hurt her... if I didn't care for her safety I would have gladly chucked her aside... but that was not the case... however from behind me, through the hole I the ice wall we could hear chanting...
"Blue Sirsas An Sudake, Kyo Fu Ni Do Narushis Haelus Yara deteo is!" and a light impacted behind Wales and Henrietta...
"You may stop me... but you won't stop them..." I said "Fire!"
*BANG* a loud shot rang off through the night, leaving a imprint in the air it had passed through, making a line back to the shooter... the team of ODSTs stepped out, as Prince Wales fell to the ground, clutching his chest and shaking like he had just been electrified... reminded me of Louise whenever I tazed her...
The ODST Sergeant Dempsey led his squad out of the woods and looked at his smoking sniper rifle in awe. "I'm pretty sure my rifle doesn't fire electrified rounds... what's with that?"
"Magic..." I explained and got a few WTF looks from the ODSTs... and then the rain let up and I could hear a faint sobbing...
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We all stood over Henrietta, who cried over Wales's body... mind you we kept a slight distance from them... Henrietta's sobs must have hit a soft spot in me, cuz I couldn't help but feel a bit sad... despite I knew what I was doing was the right choice...
Suddenly Wales's hand began to move and I put my hand on my holstered Magnum just in case... but I was fine... "Henrietta..."
Henrietta looked up from her tears for a moment to look back at the dying prince. "Wales..."
I was going to leave out the fact that they were related to the ODSTs who were standing off to the side, fixing the Warthog, but Private Kashlow was observing while the others did the bulk of the work.
"Henrietta, stop crying... before I leave once and for all, I want you to forgive me, and make an oath..." the prince choked out.
"An oath? What oath shall I make?" asked Henrietta, her tears halting only for the briefest period... then starting again.
The Prince was silent for a while, he then stared at Henrietta, right in the eyes... "Forget about me..." he said, though the words sounded pained "Make an oath to forget about me... fall in love with another guy... make my death have some meaning... I wish to hear those words... please... Henrietta... beside the Lake of Lagdorian, with the Water Sprit as witness... make that oath..."
"I... I can't make an oath like that!" Cried Henrietta.
"Please... do it Henrietta..." his voice was growing weaker.
"Please, can't anyone do anything to save him!?" Pleaded Henrietta... then Private Kashlow stepped forward, he had a red cross on his helmet, the sign of the team medic... he swiped a scanner over the prince... then frowned "No... I can't..."
"W-why!?"
"His vitals are already flatlined... it says here he should be dead already..." Kashlow scratched his chin "If that the commander said is true, about the reanimation and stuff... I'd take a wager that it's simply the magic wearing off... he's already dead, his time is limited as of right now... once the magic has fully worn off, that's it... he's done." Explained Kashlow "But here, this should ease the suffering." He injected Wales with a heavy dose of morphine, enough to overdose a man and kill him, but given the circumstances... it wouldn't make a difference, he then returned to his original spot...
"Please... Henrietta... make the oath..."
"No no! I won't make the oath, stop lying you will be fine! Cried Henrietta
"Stop playing it up Henrietta, you know I'm dying... you heard the soldier... I'm running out of time..." said Wales with only a little bit of reduced pain in his voice due to the painkillers.
"In that case... make me an oath... an oath that you will love me! Love me for all eternity! I will make an oath not to the Wales of the past, but to Wales of the present!"
"Were it so easy..." sighed the Prince "But..." the prince coughed up a bit of blood, a tear trickling out of his eye "But dead men can't make oaths of eternity... Henrietta... please... forgive me... three years ago I couldn't speak these words... due to my... inevitable fate... GAH!" Wales shuttered and a pool of blood started to form under where Wardes had stabbed him a while back...
"Wales!"
"I'm glad to have met you... Henrietta..." The prince's voice began to trail off "I love you... For-eve-er..." the prince's hand went slack and his head fell back.
"Wales! Wales! Please open your eyes!" Pleaded Henrietta who began to cry deep and loud... "Wales... WAAAALES!" Her sobs could probably be heard from the other end of the lake... and her tears actually made me want to cry... I put on my helmet so that no one had to see my face... which was seizing up... I had a part in this death... I had a part in her sadness... I was to blame for her pain... it was, all. My. Fault...
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Damn, that last part always wanted to make me cry (it did the first time I watched it) I wish all my death scenes in my fanfics were as dramatic as this... but alas... tis not!
Anyways, you know the drill! :P
Since I took the time to write this out, why not drop me a review on what you did, or didn't like, providing me with tips, constructive criticism and the works if that's the case. Also if you really liked the story, why not add it to your faves and follow it so you can stay in the know of future updates?
PS: Thanks to your support as of May the 9th 2013, this is my longest fic yet, nearing 100K in word length... which for me, is a great achievement! Maybe worth... 100G or gamerscore on XBL? Maybe a Gold trophy on PSN? Who knows? But either way I want to thank you guys for getting me this far, I doubt I would have made it this far without your (for the most part) supportive reviews and faves and follows! I've said it before but I'll say it again, you guys are awesome!
Stay awesome bros, I know you will, and here come the Fan-fist... Mehhhooooowwww!
WTYL guys :D
Rogue2k8 is out!
(Yes, I quoted Pewdiepie... I love the guy, no homo...)