Yeaaaaaaahh

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HarmonianTraveller
Thank you~ Nope, nope, she'll be fine. If there really were any consequences she'd probably collapse on the spot. It was one of the smaller fins, anyway~ Hehe, and don't worry, Luka's not going to die anytime soon…

"Oh, shit. What… How-"

Len bent down to her, touching her arm. "She's still alive. Barely, but still breathing."

Luka grabbed her hand. "We have to… We have to help… Heal her. A doctor? Healers… Something!" She looked around desperately. "Th-The castle doctors, no, maybe in the village… But-"

"Stop."

Everyone looked down at Gakuko. Her face had gone pale and lifeless, but she still had the same voice of command. "Do NOT go back into that hellhole. We just got out of there, and you are absolutely NOT to risk this success for my life."

"But… We'll never find any medication in time." Miku pressed on. She really didn't want to return either, but to help Gakuko…

"Forget the medication. If I die, cremate my body. Don't leave any traces. You get out of this place, hide, and find a place to live, if you can. Find a place where you can be safe, out of The One's zones, you get the hell out of here and damn it if you take me with you." Gakuko hissed, her voice getting weaker with each word. "Don't you dare risk all this work for me. You have to leave. NOW."

"B-But…"

"GO!"

She coughed out blood, and Luka grasped her hand tighter. Len had his behind his back, trembling wildly. He knew if she didn't make it, her body was in his hands. "I… Ah… What do we do?" He murmured, looking distressed.

"You get the hell out of here." Gakuko commanded, her voice hoarse. Perhaps it was still that she had the power of persuasion, or maybe it was just that everyone was so worried, but she still had the tone of a commander in her voice, and everybody obeyed. Luki offered to carry her body, but Luka had slapped his arm away, demanding she could handle her friend herself.

"The hunters are still in the woods…" Miku implied. "We might be able to bypass them if we split into smaller groups, but with Gakuko weighing us down… And we won't know where to meet up again."

"Wait. Kaiko, are you capable of sensing water flow?" Luka turned towards the Kappa.

The blue-haired girl nodded slowly. "Yeah…"

"Good. I can produce just enough magic, if there are any ponds or lakes in the forest, to send into the air. If you can follow that source of water, we might make it out." Luka gently lifted Gakuko up. She had already gone still, and her life was all but fading. The bloody stain on her clothes was growing larger.

"Surely she'll be able to last, right?" Mikuo asked suddenly. "You can't just die from an arrow shot. It doesn't look like it hit any vital organs. We'll have some time. Maybe there will be healers…"

"Ah. I see why she likes you so much." Gakuko gave him a brief smile. "But no. It doesn't matter, I won't make it. Cremate me if you must. I know this must be painful for you, Len, but you have to be strong. For your brother. For Rin. For Lenka… You all have to keep going."

"But-"

"DID I STUTTER?"

"You don't argue with a Siren." Luka turned towards the group, taking all the authority from the body she held in her hands. It was her turn now, whether she liked it or not. "We're doing this together. I don't care anymore. We're going to get out of here. For all those that sacrificed themselves, for the ones that fought, they died trying, and we're going to do it for them. We're going to get out of this place."

(( I'm sorry idk how to make inspirational speeches))

The group looked at each other wearily, and after more bickering, forced themselves to get up and leave off. "No, wait here." Luki said, and uproar occurred, obviously he had no authority to tell them what to do, but they did as told and waited, not very patiently.

"What does he think he is doing?" Luka huffed crossly, watching him disappear back towards the village. "We'll all be dead at this rate!"

He came back quickly, and to their surprise, with two large horses. The one he rode remained calm as it approached the group, but the other whinnied and snorted, uncomfortable and the look of its company. Luka looked surprised. "How did you get those?"

"There were several horses tethered, not very well, mind you, to the back of one of the houses I saw, and I managed to take two of them. Come, bring Gakuko here. Let the twins onto the other horse, we have a long way to go."

Everybody immediately went with the plan, carefully lifting the Siren onto horseback, despite her unhappy grumbling. "Please, Gakuko," Luka pleaded as she helped her up. "This is for your own good, I could not bear to lose you, we have lost so many already." Luki gave her a sidelong glance, and tightened his grip on the horse's reins, but said nothing.

The twins found themselves happily seated on the second horse, and although it looked partially displeased, it did not throw them off, but refused to take another member. "Very well." Luki nodded. "Stay behind us. We will take the elven path."

"Elven path?" Mikuo looked confused. "I did not come that way, nor have I heard of it."

"No, you haven't, because the soldiers daren't take it." Luki had the horse start forward, moving at a slow trot, and the others scampered after him. "They have built a wall around the border of their town because through the elven path they must cross the dark lake, which is infested with gargoyles and imps."

Miku flared. "Then why is it that we take it? Can we not run past the hunters?"

"Because it is safer for us, if you follow me, and refrain from straying from the path." Luki looked at her, but turned his gaze back to the trail. "Do not utter a word until I say you can."

At that the group fell silent, reluctantly trudging through the forest, which strangely seemed to lack any wildlife or a single sign of a hunter, although it weighed more onto the positive side. The air grew damp and heavy as they pressed on, and Luka could sense Luki grow wearier, he knew they were starting to pass the territory of the lake, and if any made a sound, they would all be killed.

Finally his shoulders eased, but as Len began to sigh out in relief, Luki turned and stopped him, holding a finger to his mouth, and he puffed out his cheeks, letting out a snort of hot air instead. "Come, we are not much further." He said softly. "We are reaching the forest's edge, and soon we shall pass the stone giant's mountain."

"Stone giants?" Mikuo said, alarmed, and received several shushes in return. "Why do we go there?"

"We have no other choice. The stone giants have been dormant for many years, so it is unlikely that they will awaken just because we pass. Now follow me, we are nearly there."

Finally the endless green ceased, and after hours of walking they stumbled out into a field of green, and standing before them was the stone mountain, quiet and sober, stretching out across the lands. At its peak it was circled with hundreds of gigantic stone tablets, which Miku heard Lenka whisper were either the orcs that had been led out and turned to stone in the sun, or the hardened corpses of the stone giants, smoothed into tablets by time.

"It's… It's a change." Miku started weakly, weary after the walking. Everyone was content; relieved to be under the sky instead of the endless trees and shrubs, yet Miku noticed that the sky had started to darken. Surely it couldn't have been night already? They had left at midday, and the hours taken to get to the plains couldn't have been more than a few…

In a few minutes the wind began to gust, and although they were grateful for the breeze, they walked on with an uncomfortable feeling setting into them, especially Miku, who kept her eyes on the sky, watching the clouds, no longer fluffy and white, now dark and grey hanging above them. The sky looked angry with dark and rolling clouds, huddling together; it looked to her, their dark shapes mocking the landscape, while the wind lashed out upon the ground. With an ominous sound, the rain pelted the earth as if being poured from a bucket, and from somewhere, a loud crack of thunder exploded.

Len yelped in fright, and the twins, who had been resting peacefully on the horse, bolted up and squeaked in alarm, and the horse that Luki rode started, and it took him all he could not to throw both him and Gakuko off, though it resulted in the horse speeding off, trying to find shelter from the rain.

They clambered clumsily past the stones as the lighting and thunder crashed before them, setting what there were of trees on the plains ablaze, and from further away came roars of battle. Miku could see nothing but the fog before her, and she faltered – where had everyone gone? The rain poured heavily on her, and she panicked, feeling stones crumble under her feet as she ran, without an idea of where she was headed. Was it tears? No, it was just the rain stinging her eyes as she ran as fast as her feet could take her, until she collided into a rock wall, stumbling about, trying to find her friends as she called their names, but none answered.

All of a sudden the rain stopped. No, it did not stop pouring, but as she took a step forward the curtain of water above her head ceased, and she found herself in an even damper and darker place, and all at once she knocked into somebody, falling over them with a heavy thud on the cold stone floor.

"Watch it!" A voice cried in resonance, and Miku jerked, scrambling over what she assumed was someone else. "W-Who's there?"

It couldn't be… "Mikuo?" She gasped, out of breath, as from far away there came a light, probably from Len as it fell over them, tangled in each other's limbs on the cave floor. She shrieked and pushed off him, falling backwards. Mikuo scrambled back, hissing and spitting at her retreating figure as Len, holding a trembling and injured Kaiko with his hands, stumbled into the cave.

"The others-" Miku cried out, turning up and starting out, but her knees buckled and she fell to the ground, weeping for her friends.

"Are you crazy!?" Mikuo yelled from where he was slumped, his clothes and hair wet, cuts covering his legs. "You can't go out in that storm!"

"No, no…" She wept, trying to crawl forward, but Kaiko, as injured as she was, fell towards her, grasping her arms, begging her to stay. Miku, numb with pain, ears filled with water and the constant clap of thunder, reached out, moaning, moaning; she had to find her friends… Her friends… Friends…

…

"Miku."

The Kin jolted up, her weak eyes fluttering open, as hazy light blinded her. Where was she…? Had she finally died? She shifted over, feeling the pain burn throughout her body, starting from her legs and moving upwards, and she cried in pain. "No, stay down." The voice told her gently, and she felt something place itself upon her forehead, and she could only do as the voice had told her, to lie and rest, weak and helpless… Everyone, where were they? She had to find them… Her vision blurred again, and she drifted off not too long after.

…

"She's not… No, no, don't! She's not! Not at all! Let me go, let me go, you lugs! Move off!"

Miku awoke once again to screaming, trying to turn over, her body groaning with pain as she struggled to prop herself up on her elbow, only facing to see Luka struggling with Kaiko and Luki, screaming in defiance. "Stop it! LET ME GO! STOP!"

Her eyes swept around the cave, in one corner Mikuo lay, dead…? No, she saw his chest rise and fall with each breath; he was still alive, thank god… Wait, what? She turned again; Len was lying as well, asleep despite Luka's shrieks. The twins had been stationed near the horses, but Gakuko, where was Gakuko? Lenka, what about her? She looked around desperately, trying to turnaround, but her eyes were failing her, and Luka's screaming was starting to wear out her ears. What was she so flustered about?

"SHE IS DEAD!"

The shrieking stopped. Miku's eyes shot open, and once again she was filled with immense pain, her head pounding. What did he say? Luki? Who was dead? No, it couldn't be. Who was dead? Gakuko? Lenka? No…

"SHE IS NOT!" Luka sounded again, her voice weak and no longer strong, Miku could sense she had given up on the argument, but not on her friend. "Where is she!? Let me go, let me go!"

"Luka," his deep voice was so calming, Miku simply returned to rest, although she still tried to look out despite her eyes starting to pain and dim. "Please."

The Lumiere stopped struggling, the tears clear on her face, rolling down her cheeks and dropping to the ground. "No, no, no… Why… Let me go, I need to see her…"

"You cannot. I don't want to burden you with her death."

"SHE IS NOT DEAD!" She cried again, and once again she began to struggle, fighting, but she was overpowered, and eventually gave in, weeping as she was forced to the ground, and then her vision faded.

…

Luka was right. She wasn't gone, not yet – she had screamed and cried and looked mad, but in the end she was right, although not for long…

They sat outside the cave, comforting each other, weeping as Luki looked out solemnly, past the rubble and broken-down rocks, somewhere further away Luka was tending to a friend on her deathbed…

…

Gakuko's breathing was so laboured that she could not even lower her head to rest, Luka held her propped up, tears streaming down her face as she tried to tell her she was going to live, and she was going to find a way to keep her alive, but the Siren had refused every option.

"Strange," Gakuko murmured at last in a faraway voice, "never would I have thought that I would come here to die… I remember how dreary I felt, how alone when I was taken to the castle, as if I had come to the very end of the world. At the lake… It was so fair…" She let out a soft laugh despite the effort seeming to hurt her. "It was filled with flowers; you would have loved it, Luka…"

"There are flowers here…" She sobbed.

"But not like the flowers of my home. It is so barren here, so rocky." Weakly she turned to face Luka. "You must… Keep going."

"How? You are not there…"

"Don't pity me," she nearly hissed, but it only got lost in shaky breaths. "You see those two children? No, no, the other two. The Kins…"

Luka wiped her eyes; a sudden beam of hope struck her. "Yes, I will protect them."

"No, there's something about them…" She whispered. "I was to tell you… I cannot remember, the cold has numbed my mind… Miku, she… Her eyes, oh, her eyes, I remember a man I once met, he had the same eyes as her, but… I do not remember why… You must find out where they came from…"

"That's it?" Luka wept, clutching at her hand, shocked at how cold it was. "No, I cannot leave your side. I do love all of them, but of you…"

"No, be quiet. Luki is strong, and he will help you. You mustn't give in so easily, Luka."

"Oh, Gakuko, you know I cannot trust him completely…"

"You must. You have no other choice. Ah, the twins, yes… Keep an eye on them, and Miku and Mikuo… No harm must come, ah, it's so cold…" She took in a shaky breath, and Luka drew her closer, crying her name although she didn't seem to hear it. "They… Oh, the goddess, she's come to take me… Oh, don't look so shocked, she's not the One's, she's ours, she's so gentle… She will take your hand one day, Luka, please don't weep… Ah, yes, yes, the Kins… They are more special than you think… The flowers... Will bloom in their blessing, ah, goddess, the cold is reaching my heart... I only wish it were as warm as yours, you are a good person, Luka. Thank you, dear Lumiere…"

Luka cried for her, thinking she had stopped breathing, but no, the air was still flowing through her, the heart was still sluggishly beating. But Gakuko did not speak again, lying silently, and a little before dawn the rasping breaths finally ceased.

Hey

/whispers

GakuLuka