A/N: THE LAST CHAPTERRRRR ;-; (epilouge still needs to be done, but still xD;; ) Creditz for Amy's bag failure go to WillowWhip x3
Disclaimer: No GC for me D:
Chapter 26: Never Forget
"Lass, seriously, get back here!" Elesis yelled ahead at the silver haired boy, who was rushing ahead of the group yet again. He turned around to give her glare, and his uneasiness was clearly displayed in his posture. The peaks of Kaze'aze's castle were just barely
"We're almost there, now how about you guys hurry up?" He demanded impatiently, "You have no idea what Kaze'aze could be doing to her even now!" Elesis paused, breathing heavily as the rest of the group caught up to Lass. All of the magicians and other classes at the disposal of the town were several yards back, and the redheaded leader knew that they too were tired.
"Lass..." She sighed, "I know. And it's not like I'm not worried right now, I'm terrified for her! But we've been running for three days, and we've only stopped three times! Two of those were to eat, and when we did sleep hardly any of us got a decent amount! I've been lugging around a sword two times my weight, and I'm tired! Charging into Kaze'aze's castle right now is like suicide!" Ronan nodded from the side, and Lass scoffed, looking away.
"I know..." He agreed a moment later, "I know, but what if she possesses Arme? It's not like she just kidnaps magicians for no reason, she has a purpose, and with three days she's probably already started whatever she's doing!" Amy came over to put a hand on the distressed dark assassin's shoulder.
"Lass, if we go in there and die who's going to save Arme? Just sit down for a little while, we'll all get rested up and it'll go fine." Lass paused, staring down at the ground before reluctantly nodding.
"And no moping around like that..." Elesis added, "You're acting like your best friend just died."
"Or perhaps like Arme's been kidnapped by the strongest dark witch on the face of the planet because I was trying to avoid her?" He corrected sarcastically, running a hand through his hair.
"It wasn't your fault." Ronan responded sympathetically as he turned to Amy and began helping her drag the blankets out of her bag, "And Arme's not weak. Whatever Kaze'aze wants with her, she won't just give in." Lass bit his lip roughly.
"But... That's just it! She's not weak, but she's so... It's like she's a huge danger magnet! If something can go wrong, it will! She doesn't even have a weapon to defend herself!" He took a breath, continuing slightly quieter, "And I know she won't give in... That's what I'm afraid of. Kaze'aze has ways to break people. Even people as cheerful and determined and... Arme-like as Arme." By the time he finished his sentence his voice was no more than a whisper. Jin walked over, looking at him with concern.
"Lass, she'll be okay. I promise we'll get to her before anything happens... You should rest too." Lass looked around the area and shook his head, grimacing.
"I'd rather not, if it's all the same with you. This place isn't high on my 'favourite spots' list." Jin, following Lass' action, nodded.
"Amy, do you have that thing we found in the store the other day?" Ronan asked. Amy's face blanked.
"Ronan, I bought a lot of stuff at that store. You're gonna need to be more specific." She stated.
"You know... The thing for detecting enemies!" After a second Amy visibly lightened up.
"Oh! The monster detector! Of course I do!" She exclaimed, rummaging through her bag. Elesis watched somewhat worriedly as the dancer dug through the never ending supply of items. The others continued setting up and Ryan went back to tell the other troupes that they could rest. Lass lay back and stared up at the sky until a loud screech came from Amy. He sat up abruptly, looking over to see her gasping at her bag.
"I forgot it!" She exclaimed miserably, "I'm so sorry! I totally thought I had it with me!" The rest of the group semi-nodded at this statement; it was a pretty sound conclusion that Amy had everything with her at any given time. The pink haired girl looked as though she was about to die from shame, and she curled up on the ground.
"I can't believe I..."
"Amy?" Jin's voice cut in, and Amy shot up to look at him.
"Y-yeah?" She sniffled. The shisa reached into his pocket, pulling out an orange device.
"You didn't forget it, you let me borrow it the other day, remember?" Amy blinked.
"I... Oh yeah!" She chirped, leaping over to hug the red haired fighter, "Thank you~!" Lass sighed, lying back down. They should really be more serious right now. Arme could be... He turned to his side as his mind attempted to play an image in his mind; only the slightest glimpse of a cell flashed before the dark assassin shut it out. Don't think of that. Just forget it... Think about Arme. That wasn't incredibly difficult. Opening his eyes, he glanced off at the peaks of the castle. We'll be there soon. Just wait.
"Lass?" Elesis murmured. The thief opened his eyes immediately, looking up at her.
"Time to go?" He questioned, standing up. The sword master nodded, looking over the troupes.
"It's dark. We're kind of hoping that'll give us some sort of advantage." The silver haired boy stretched lazily, and Elesis tilted her head.
"Did you sleep at all?" She asked somewhat hopefully. The assassin shook his head.
"I'll sleep when this is all over." He muttered. Elesis frowned.
"Don't you care that we're about to fight the strongest witch out there?" She demanded, "This isn't going to be easy!" Lass looked away.
"I know. What's the battle plan?" Elesis hesitated before answering, letting out a sigh.
"The majority of the people we have with us are magicians, which gives us a really good advantage. We're naturally expecting a fair amount of trouble from her lackies trying to keep us out, so they're providing backup and keeping the monsters down. We were able to find another muse somehow, which makes this a lot easier. With two..." Lass blinked.
"Isn't Amy a siren, though?" Elesis nodded.
"She is, but in this case her being a muse would be better."
"Care to explain?" Ronan walked over as Elesis continued speaking, the monster detector in his hand.
"Well, you should remember Amy's Rhapsody? It recovers mana to full, and all muse can use it, but it takes up their own mana. The general idea is that if we have two muse using rhapsody over and over again, they'll recover each other's mana and the mana of the magicians standing nearby. That way-" Ronan cut her off.
"We'll have meteors repeatedly, and that's not including the amount of damage we can get by the two battle mages using deep impact continuously. The warriors we found can go in and clean up whoever's left. While they're doing this the rest of us'll search the castle and grab Arme. Once we have her we'll finish Kaze'aze off."
"Sounds like a good plan." Lass agreed. The two looked at eachother warily, and the azure eyed boy knew why; even the best of plans could be thrown off by Kaze'aze.
"Well, I have the monster detector, and we'll use it so we're ready for attacks. Though... In all honest, from here on in we should be ready for attacks at any given time."
"We're all ready!" Amy exclaimed, "Let's move out!" Finally. Looking up at the castle as the group began running, Lass sighed.
"What are the chances she already knows we're coming?" He asked idly. Elesis, looking up at the castle, shrugged.
"Oh, about... One hundred percent?" She replied, "Thought that's only judging by the swarms of miniature dragons flying above the castle." The moon had nearly been blotted out by the horde, darkening the area significantly.
"Should I send my dragon ahead to clear some of them out?" Ronan asked cautiously, following their gaze.
"Nah... Your summon wouldn't stand a chance in a horde like that. It wouldn't be a bad idea to get an areal view of here, though. You should take your dragon up to look around, but don't fly far ahead." He nodded, handing over the orange device to her and twirling his glave towards the sky.
"You didn't bring your shield and sword?" Elesis asked, a roar and the flap of wings filling the air. The spell knight shook his head.
"Some of us can't master our weapons in a couple days," he chuckled, "And I'd rather not chance this battle." The flaps grew louder and louder, increasing in volume until a gust of air nearly pushed the group over. The dragon landed rather nimbly for it's size, bowing it's neck so Ronan could get on.
"... Ronan? Take Lass, too." Elesis added as an afterthought. The assassin blinked.
"Why me?" The red haired knight looked at him seriously.
"You're going to get tired, I don't want you wasting your energy. Aside from that," She continued when she saw him frown and open his mouth, "The dragon will arrive in the castle first, and you wanna get there as fast as possible." Lass was silent for a moment; he then acquiesced, jumping up onto the dragon next to the blue haired knight.
"See you in a bit!" Ronan called, making a subtle gesture for the dragon to lift off. It did so, and soon all of the witch's castle was visible. It had quite clearly been rebuilt since the last time they had been there; a completely different shape than it had been the last time. It still made Lass shudder, and he instead focused on the horde above.
"There must be hundreds of them..." He muttered displeasedly, looking back to the spell knight.
"I wouldn't doubt if there were over a thousand." He responded with a sigh, "She really doesn't want us getting in there. Look at the base of the castle." At first Lass could see nothing wrong; the grounds of the castle appeared to be a dark purple. After a moment it appeared to almost shimmer; he squinted as he attempted to look closer.
"What...?" All of the castle was flooded with anmon soldiers; there wasn't a single hint of the stone floor in sight.
"This'll be fun..." He muttered, "It looks like she made the castle larger, too. Finding the prison'll be difficult... If she even left Arme in the prison." Ronan shrugged.
"We'll find her either way." He answered, "It'll take us less than an hour to get there."
"That's good, at least..." The white haired boy responded, staring into the hordes of enemies, "How well do you think this is going to go?"
"I have no idea, but... We can always hope for the best. When it's about Kaze'aze, you never know." Ronan looked over at Lass silently. He stared for several minutes before the assassin started finding it unnerving.
"... What?" Ronan took a deep breath, but didn't look away.
"Are you... Afraid to go back?" He questioned quietly. Lass blinked, and looked over at the castle.
"I..."
"You don't have to answer." Ronan added quickly, "Sorry. It was pretty insensitive of me to ask." The assassin seemed lost in thought, and silence ensued for a fair period of time.
"Yeah, I suppose I am." He said suddenly, "For some reason I never thought I'd come back here. I'm not going to run, though. I'll deal with whatever bad memories this place holds once and for all." The dragon began flying in idle circles as it's owner realized they had flown too far ahead, and it waited for the group to catch up patiently.
"Oh... Ellyrine told me to tell you she's sorry, as well." The dragon knight said. Lass scoffed, looking back at the ground troupes.
"She was too afraid to tell me herself?" Ronan shook his head, letting out a sigh.
"No, she knew you'd take it like this if she tried to tell you." He explained, "She really didn't mean for this to happen, Lass. It was just a bad timing of events." Lass shrugged somewhat indifferently.
"I already know that. Doesn't mean it didn't happen." He muttered, attempting to locate the blue haired magician in the crowd. He soon gave up, looking up at the sky.
"If it makes you feel better, she's offered a compromise on the guild thing. The next person in the list for guild leader was Ellyrine herself, so it was decided that she'd act sort of like a 'substitute leader' for Arme. Arme herself would be given an adequate amount of time to perfect both of her next jobs, and so long as the Grand Chase remained together she would be allowed to put her obligations with us before those with the guild." Lass frowned.
"She's still going on about that? It's not like Arme can becone the leader of the guild anyway... She'll be going... Home soon." He let out a sigh, and Ronan stared at him.
"Lass, how are you so sure she doesn't want to stay here?" He questioned quietly. The assassin's head whipped around, and he glared at the knight.
"Because she can't! Ronan, Elesis broke down the day she lost her connection with wherever she came from. Amy said she hadn't even seen her family in over five years, but she still cried. Arme... There's no way she doesn't have people who care about her, family, people she loves, people... People she'd die if she couldn't see again." Ronan looked down at the ground.
"And what about Lire? Don't you remember the day she disappeared?" Lass nodded lightly.
"Is it possible to forget?" Ronan glanced back at him, a frown on his face.
"Do you want that to happen again?" He asked. Lass was silent; he then leaned back with his palms against the dragon's scaley back.
"If it's better for Arme, yes." Ronan's eyebrows furrowed.
"I'm going to tell you this because as a friend, I'm worried for you. If you let her go like that, it will break you, Lass." The dark assassin stared back evenly.
"Maybe so. I don't mind, though, if I'm broken for her sake."
"Ronan!" A loud voice interrupted before the knight could respond, and the two on the dragon looked down to see Elesis waving. Ronan quickly lowered his dragon until it was flying just above the ground.
"We're only a few minutes away, you two can go ahead!" She yelled up. The knight nodded, at the command, and his dragon sped forward as they approached the outer wall of Kaze'aze's castle. The gate was closed- a minor inconvenience.
"Arc Breath!" Ronan commanded. The dragon followed the order without flaw; a large, blistering hot flame hit the drawbridge and lit it on fire.
"What are you doing? Fly up!" Lass exclaimed, eyes widening as they approached the flaming door.
"If we do that we're going to get attacked! Hold on, and try not to get burned!" The assassin grabbed onto several of the dragon's scales as it pulled in it's wings right before they crashed into the wood; there was an spray of flames and chunks of the gate falling everywhere as they made it through to the other side. Several anmon on the other side were taken out immediately; others seemed confused by the forward attack. The dragon scraped it's claws into the ground to stop itself from skidding forward, and by doing so threw Lass off the side.
"You're an idiot!" He yelled as he stumbled out of a small pile of debris and anmon parts, glaring at Ronan as he dismounted the dragon. Said knight shrugged.
"It worked, didn't it?" He replied, turning back to the gate as he pressed a hand to the dragon's side. It let out a navy blue glow and a roar before disappearing, leaving the two chasers in the midst of their enemies.
"How's everyone supposed to get in now?" Lass demanded as he turned around to slice through an anmon before it could attack.
"They have magicians and it's not a very large moat. They'll figure it out." Ronan responded, "But for now I think we should focus on staying alive and slaying as many of these things as possible." Lass nodded, a frown falling onto his face as he cut through another anmon soldier.
"This army's pretty makeshift..." He muttered, "It's not like they're difficult, there's just a lot of them..." Ronan nodded, setting off a rune on several enemies.
"It's times like this I wish I was still a spell knight," He sighed, "Kanavan Strike would make this a lot easier."
"I do too," Lass agreed, "Then you wouldn't have the means to send us through a burning door!" Ronan rolled his eyes.
"You- Move!" The white haired boy didn't stop to question the order; He quickly backflipped out from where he was standing just in time to see a purple ball of energy explode where he had been.
"Watch out for the dragons!" The knight warned. Lass looked up; The black horde had lowered, and several were diving down in attempts at hitting either knight.
"This is just great..." The dark assassin groaned, using his hyperjump to reach those of the swarm that were low enough. Aiming for their wings, he managed to send many of them down to the stone. Grounded they seemed just as persistant; sharp teeth biting in whenever they could. There was a minute of rough battle before a voice entered their ears.
"Ronan, what the hell'd you do to the gate?" Both turned to see Elesis storming in, waving her giant sword as though it was a twig. The others followed behind her, and the fighters behind the Grand Chase.
"Must everyone doubt my logic?" The blue knight complained jokingly, visibly relieved with the backup. Another muse ran up to the front of the group as all the magicians entered, nearly bumping into Amy.
"Are you r-ready?" She asked, holding out her violin. Amy nodded, smiling.
"We'll go ahead then, all right?" Elesis said, "Let's get searching these towers!" Lass took the lead as they began storming through the monsters, and cries of 'meteor!' began filling the area.
"Don't go too far ahead!" The red knight scolded, receiving a shrug.
"I won't!" Regardless of this, when they entered an area splitting into three different paths Lass was no where to be seen.
The assassin turned around as he entered what appeared to be a courtyard, strangely void of monsters.
"Looks like Elesis wasn't following very well... He sighed, turning back around, "all the monsters are probably still at the front gate..." Meteors could still be heard falling; Lass guessed they wouldn't stop for a while. Glancing around to observe his surroundings, his eyes skimmed across each tower.
"Which one is she in...?" Another, more unnerving thought came to mind; "And why hasn't Kaze'aze shown up yet?" No one answered (predictably), and Lass frowned.
"Guess this one's as good as any..." A thin path led out of the courtyard, but just before he could exit a voice called out.
"Lass-kun! Over here!" Turning around quickly, his eyes widened as a short figure lunged at him.
"A-Arme?" He exclaimed, eyes widening as she wrapped her arms around him.
"I thought you would never come..." She sniffled, "Where are the others?" Lass blinked, patting her head.
"They're just that way, come on. How'd you even...?" His voice trailed off, and Arme looked down at the ground.
"She probably thought I couldn't use magic without a weapon or something, because my cell wasn't at all prepared for magical attacks. It was pretty easy to get out, I've been hiding for a couple days." The assassin tilted his head.
"She what? ... Whatever, now's not the time. Let's go, the others are looking for you too..." He murmured, pulling on her arm. The magician resisted, looking at him with wide eyes.
"Lass, come this way! I found this orb thingy, and looks like it has something to do with you. I've been trying to break it, but it's not working!" Lass paused, sapphire eyes opening and closing slowly.
"Arme, we need to get you out of here!" He insisted. Arme frowned.
"Lass, please! I'm worried it could have something to do with her possessing you!" The girl exclaimed. Lass sighed.
"If you're sure..." He murmured, leaning down to kiss her on the forehead, "But let's go fast, you have to get out of here as soon as possible." Arme nodded, turning around and pulling Lass toward one of the other paths. There was a brief moment where she felt her hand slip through air; and the next thing she felt was the cool pressure of a blade up against her neck.
"Lass, what are yo-" There was no more time given; The blade pressed into her skin swifly, allowing a purple gas to begin leaking out. The magician began fading, and Lass watched as the mist began solidifying several feet away.
"Well, someone was rather certain of themselves... What gave me away?" Lass wasn't surprised when Kaze'aze appeared, a hand on her chin as she stared at him contemplatively. The dark assassin too a step back, glaring.
"For starters, Arme's never reffered to me with an honorific. Ever." The witch sighed.
"Well, I did correct that when I heard you call her 'Arme'." She frowned.
"Another thing is that there's no way you didn't know she could enchant without the use of a wand, and she'd generally have more of a reaction to me willingly kissing her on the forehead. Not to mention she doesn't know I was possessed." The dark queen's face lit up in a grin, and she chuckled lightly.
"She didn't know, my dear child." She corrected. Lass' eyes widened.
"You told her?" He hissed, glaring. The witch shrugged.
"Still have a temper, I see... I admit she might have heard a thing or two from me..." Lass continued backing up, whispering something inaudible under his breath. As he said it he disappeared, and turned to run full speed down the pathway. I have to find the others... Something's wrong. The latter thought came suddenly, and he tried to pinpoint what exactly it was. Aside from the fact that you just found Arme, only to have her morph into Kaze'aze?... Yeah, something other than that. Though I do have to admit that was somewhat traumatizing. He noticed what it was after a moment; there were no meteors in the sky. Before he had been filtering out noises as battle sounds; he was beginning to hear screams and the clanking of metal on stone.
"Damn it, what happened?" He muttered. Before he could make another step a pillar of flames shot up underneath his leg; the dark assassin gasped in pain as he became visible again, falling to the ground nearly immediately.
"Heard you~" The voice of the witch hummed, with no exact origin. Lass looked around hastily, using his invisibility again before forcing himself to stand up. His right leg had gone entirely numb; in those conditions he supposed it was for the best. Where are the others? He wondered frustratedly, looking around and trying to keep his breathing steady as he continued along the path at a considerably slower path. Kaze'aze formed once again, several feet above the maze of pathways and towers. She glanced across the ground with a frown, and Lass felt a chill as her eyes passed over him. Still, she didn't seem to be able to see him, and her green orbs continued on. More walled paths were showing up; as he entered them as he continued on his way towards the gate. Elesis and the others should be headed this way too, I need to find them. The first thing he passed was a seemingly lost anmon guard; it was swinging it's hammer around at nothing in particular. After eying it oddly for a moment he jumped over it, landing awkwardly on his injured leg. Letting out a quiet cry of pain, he fell to the ground again. For a moment, the assassin sat against the wall, staring up at the witch and just praying she hadn't heard. The guard, while confused, couldn't understand what had made the noise. It looked around for a moment before resuming the swinging of it's hammer. Lass closed his eyes for a moment as he let out a breath, opening them slowly. When he did so he realized the dark magician's gaze had fallen upon him, and unlike the previous time it wasn't moving on. Lass' heartbeat sped up, and he chanced a look down at his hand. Both he and the anmon soldier noticed his invisibility had worn off at the same time, and the white haired boy rolled over to avoid a hammer to his head.
"Lass?" Another voice entered the area, and Lass turned to see Amy standing at the next turn, the others following behind her. He let out a sigh of relief as they made quick work of the guard, and looked up to where the witch had disappeared.
"What happened to you?" Elesis demanded, kneeling down next to him, "You know it's a really bad idea to sit down in a place like this! And I told you not to run ahead!" Lass took another deep breath, allowing his head to rest on the stone wall.
"Sorry about that. I made it to a courtyard, and I found Arme-"
"Arme? You saw her?" Lass sighed.
"She said some wierd things... Turned out she was Kaze'aze in disguise. She set a fire column on my leg, and then we ended up here." Amy blinked.
"Can you stand?" Lass nodded, trying to push off the wall and failing.
"If I concentrate enough, probably..."
"I mean without hurting yourself!" The assassin shook his head.
"Can you do something about it? This isn't a good time to be idly chatting." Amy nodded.
"How much of your leg was hit?" She asked worriedly, sitting down next to Elesis. Ronan joined them a moment later.
"From just above the knee to the foot." He muttered, allowing her to pull up the pant leg and survey the damage.
"All right, hold on a minute." Amy's tongue stuck out in concentration as she hovered her hand above the skin, allowing a pink glow to cover the area. A navy blue joined seconds later, Ronan helping the muse.
"Elesis, are any monsters coming?" Jin asked calmly, pulling himself up onto the short wall. The redhead nodded.
"A couple anmon soldiers..." The fighter shrugged.
"I'll go deal with them." After he left Lass' eyes suddenly widened as he remembered the screams.
"What happened at the gate?" He demanded, watching as Amy's face fell into a frown.
"There was a traitor." She whispered, "Just one, but... No one expected any of the meteors to hit them, so with one attack a lot of our mages were down. We had no idea who cast the spell because everyone was casting meteor, and there was so much confusion after that... We couldn't keep using Rhapsody because we didn't want to give mana to our enemy, but at the same time... There was a big fuss going on, and I couldn't do much there so I came to find you guys. I ran into Elesis, and then we turned the corner and saw you here." She looked down at his leg again, letting out a sigh.
"It was really bad... We have a lot of casualties. Try bending your leg?" Lass did so, nodding.
"Thanks." Amy gave a hum of approval, pulling out a gauze and quickly wrapping it around his leg, "Be careful on that for a while, all right?"
"We have bigger matters now... Kaze'aze was just here, she's probably not far." Elesis glared down at the ground.
"And we know just as much as we did 10 minutes ago about Arme's whereabouts."
"Let's keep looking. Together this time." Ronan said, looking over at Lass. The assassin nodded. An explosion from nearby caught their attention, and the group looked up to see that Kaze'aze had reformed above them.
"Done chatting, children?" The witch asked impatiently. From her position in the air a tail that had been previously concealed had become visible, matching her ears. It swayed below her as she watched the chase condescendingly.
"Where's Arme?" Elesis demanded loudly. Ronan glanced at her with a disbelieving look.
"You actually expect her to answer that?" He questioned, looking up at the witch.
"She's not the brightest, is she?" Kaze'aze agreed, "However, I may just grace that with an answer... She's in one of the towers behind me. If you can get that far, that is. I don't plan on handing my precious magician over to the likes of you." Elesis gritted her teeth.
"You will hand her over, whether you want to or not! She's not yours!" The violet skinned woman laughed, waving her wand back and forth idly.
"I don't believe I will be. And what do you plan to do from down there, in any event?" Elesis' eyes narrowed as she glared at the magician, but Lass put an arm out in front of her to halt her.
"Elesis, calm down. She may not even be telling the truth about where Arme is... If I can keep cool right now, you certainly can." He muttered. To one who knew him well it was obvious the dark assassin was enraged, and Elesis quieted down. The dark queen frowned.
"My my, I do so dislike it when people don't believe me... Though I suppose not much can be done in this situation." Giving a smirk, she finally lifted her staff into the air. With a soft wave a ball of air formed, spiralling above her head and growing larger.
"Let's make the playing field a bit more... open, shall we?" She said. Before any of the chase could comprehend what was happening the ball exploded, throwing them left and right. The knights themselves didn't seem to be what she was aiming for, and when Lass opened his eyes he realized what she had done. All of the walls seperating the paths had been shattered, crumbing to the ground and being pushed back by the heavy-pressure winds. The towers around didn't seem to be affected by the gust other than the large chunks of stone lying against them, and aside from these there was nothing but a flat plane of stone. Some of it piled awkwardly where walls had previously been, but none provided much of a hiding spot from where the witch had disappeared again, her mist swirling to the center of the courtyard before resonating in a familiar glow.
"It's a bit early, but we're back to this part again? Bring it on! This way we can just get it out of the way and save Arme!" Elesis exclaimed, her grimace morphing into a smirk. Ronan sighed.
"You really are too hyped for battles, Elesis. This is seriously dangerous... Kaze'aze's true form isn't something to take lightly." He muttered as darkness began emitting from the glow. Lass looked back and forth between the two.
"Again?" He asked quietly, receiving a quick glance from both. The spell knight shrugged.
"You were unconscious during this part the last time," Elesis answered, "If we hadn't retreated you probably would have died." The assassin didn't reply, watching as two pointed ears shot out of the mass, followed by two paws thundering onto the ground.
"Everyone ready?" The red haired sword master asked quietly. The others nodded cautiously, and the swordsman began taking cautious steps towards the light. There was a second of absolute silence; it was followed by a loud, rumbling growl as the rest of the light exploded out, leaving a dark blue and white beast in its midst. Red tipped the end of its ears and the spikes that came out of its back, waving about. Lass glared back as Kaze'aze's thin green eyes locked down on him, her mouth stretching into a distorted smile. If we can do this Arme can go home. He wasn't sure whether the thought felt more like an instigation to continue the fight or turn around at that point, yet he still closed in on the witch with the rest of the group. How about... If we do this, Arme'll be happy. Taking a deep breath, he got into a more solid battle stance before lunging ahead of the rest of the group. The witch appeared to have seen it coming; a black barrier erupted from her, pushing back the chasers that were too close and sending out dark, inky orbs.
"It's curse, watch out!" Ronan yelled. Lass, steadying himself from the force of the barrier, looked around the battlefield hastily before deciding the curse orbs were too far away to bother with watching. He instead joined Elesis, who was preforming a frontal assault. Her sword hit numbly against the iron-solid skin of Kaze'aze, and Lass quickly hyperdashed through and to the other side before a large paw could be used to beat away the red haired female.
"Curtain call~!" Amy's voice reached Lass as he attempted slicing into the witch's. Like Elesis' his claws were parried by the steel-like body of the dark magician, and he moved back as to not be crushed by the piano that came crashing down on her back. Amy dropped down next to him as the piano began fading, and Kaze'aze turned around to look at them. The area began filling with a yellow glow, and Lass' eyes widened as an orb resembling a miniature sun began growing. The muse beside him didn't appear to have noticed the danger, and she strummed her violin in a gentle tune Lass recognized as Rhapsody.
"Move!" Amy blinked, and Lass didn't bother wasting more time. Grabbing her collar, he hastily pulled the dancer and himself out of the line of fire before the ball of heat blazed by. Stumbling to the ground as soon as Lass released her, Amy looked back up.
"What-"
"Watch more carefully!" He hissed, watching as Amy bit her lip and nodded.
"You two still alive over there?" Elesis' voice came from the other side, and from the volume the assassin guessed she wasn't very far away.
"Barely!" He called back, glancing at the muse and back to the witch. The floor began rattling as she lifted up her paws and smashed them against the ground, and Lass felt himself thrown up into the air before he could jump. Landing painfully on his back, rolled over and pushed himself up as he looked around the battlefield. Kaze'aze didn't appear to be in the mood to give them time to think- A light yellow glow emitted from her right before the battle field filled with white hot streaks of lightning, falling without partiality along the battlefield. A muffled scream was heard from the other side, and Lass winced as he registered the sound. Ryan... He looked back at Amy but it was unnecessary to tell her to go check on the sentinel; the muse had already jumped up into the air. Kaze'aze let out a growl as Amy used her nose as a platform, though the pink haired girl was too fast for the magician to do anything about it. The girl pushed off it to flip over to the other side successfully, avoiding a stab as the dark queen's back spikes elongated and thrust forward into the ground.
"Nusances..." Kaze'aze's voice echoed across the castle ground, her ears twitching in annoyance as she turned around to face the others. She dropped her front paws and shook the ground again, though Lass was more prepared. Dashing into the air, as he fell back to the ground he lashed out at the back of the creature yet again. Battle cries could be heard from the other side as well, and Lass looked at their enemy in frustration; she didn't appear to have damage anywhere on her. Even Elesis' heavy duty sword didn't seem to breach the thick armour, nor did Ronan's glaive. An indigo light flashed on the other side along with a returning bout of the lightning, though it didn't sound as though it had hit anyone. A roar issued from the sky as Ronan's dragon swooped down on the battle field, spewing flames against the witch.
"It's not doing anything!" An exclamation from Jin had the area filling with chuckles.
"Of course not... You thought you could hurt me?" Lass' teeth clenched as he hyperdashed through the dark queen to where the others were standing, and he quickly turned to look at the dark magician. Jin's right, though... What can we do? He looked around at the rest of his team and realized with shock that Ryan was still lying on the ground, Amy hovering over him.
"Is he unconscious?" The assassin questioned as he backed up, nearing the healing muse. The girl nodded gingerly, letting out a whimper as the ground began shaking. Lass hefted up the sentinel before he could be thrown in the air, dragging him over to Ronan.
"Can you call your dragon? We need to get Ryan out of here!" The spell knight nodded, but before he could lift his glaive into the air a grumble issued from the orange haired boy.
"D... Don't..." All eyes turned to Ryan, whose eyes were just barely open.
"I just need a minute..." Lass frowned as the air heated up again, and both he and Ronan dashed out of the way as a dark red fireball burned past them.
"We don't have a minute to give you!" He replied hastily, following Ronan's line of sight to where Elesis was standing. Somehow the girl was still right in front of Kaze'aze, though she seemed to be having difficulties holding the giant sword. If Lass had looked closer it would have been obvious why- her arm had been singed by the fire.
"Elesis, get back here and let Amy heal you!" The redhead glanced back, a frown on her face.
"Not right now, I-" The paw shot out before anyone had a chance to warn Elesis- it crashed into her back and forced her to the ground before she could move out of the way.
"Elesis!" Ronan dashed forward as the girl gasped in pain, the witch lifting up her paw and slamming it down on her.
"It'll crush her!" Amy exclaimed horrifiedly, Lass staring along with her and caught between holding up the sentinel or racing forward to help Elesis. We can't... How are we supposed to win this? Lass growled and lay the half-unconscious druid against one of the wall stubs, racing forward. Elesis had moved her sword over top of her as minimal protection from the beast, she couldn't seem to move much other than that. As Kaze'aze moved her paw to force it down and onto the knight again Ronan's glave swung up and into the soft palm, causing the dark queen to frown.
"Must you continue to be a hinderance?" She whispered, forcing the paw down further. Despite the pressure applied it dug no further into the skin, and Ronan's blade only acted as a prop to keep Kaze'aze from stepping on Elesis once more. Lass used the opportunity to pull Elesis out of harm's way, and he let out a held breath as Amy dashed forward to assist in healing.
"You've fought her before, what did you do last time to damage her?" Lass yelled at the dragon night as he joined him, blades pressing uselessly against the arm of the large dog.
"She wasn't nearly this strong last time, and even then we barely managed to faze her-" There was no warning given before the black barrier exploded out of the dark magician again, throwing back all of the chasers.
"So you acknowledge this is a pointless battle? Why don't you just give up and join me again...?" The last of this statement was addressed at Lass, and it caused the dark assassin to flinch back.
"Never." He replied venomously, "Never again." The ears of the beast drooped in mock-sadness, and a chill began creeping along the ground.
"No one ever comes without force, do they?" She whispered, "But with or without force, I do believe I'll-"
"METEOR!" Lass' heart momentarily stopped at this cry, his eyes widening and his head whipping around the battle field. Kaze'aze mimicked this action, and Lass felt himself beginning to panic.
"A magician made it from the front gate?" Jin looked around wildly as large meteors started falling from the sky, and everyone was shocked to see Kaze'aze let out a growl of pain as they made contact. A magician from the gate? No... It's... Casting his invisibility, the assassin began a dash across the field as he began hastily searched the area he had heard the voice come from. Where- And then a colour flashed in the corner of his vision; the slightest hint of purple. Resisting the urge to call out and accidentally give away his position, the assassin's eyes locked on to Kaze'aze to make sure she hadn't noticed anything before making his way to where the colour was. Behind the crumbling stub of a wall he found what he was looking for; taking a deep breath, he approached the girl huddled against the wall. How...?
"Arme!" As this hushed exclamation was made a head of purple hair shot up, and Lass found his hopes rewarded. Amethyst eyes looked around for the source of the voice, and Lass grabbed her shoulders to stop her from standing up before she could blow her cover. The growl of Kaze'aze grew louder, and Lass knew there wasn't much time before they would be spotted. Arme didn't struggle against the hands holding her down, and she blinked slowly.
"L... Lass?"
"Yes!" The dark assassin whispered urgently, looking at the dark queen again, "I don't know how you got out of there or- It doesn't matter, teleport out of here now!" He didn't feel the uncertainty he had when he had bumped into Kaze'aze 'Arme', and he could tell the one in front of him was real. The magician shook her head, making sure to keep her hair from showing over the brim of the wall.
"Nuh-uh!" She whispered back, eyes straying as she looked in the direction she assumed Lass to be.
"Arme, we aren't ready for this fight! If you teleport we can retreat, and come back when we're sure you're safe from her!" Arme shook her head again.
"No, Lass. I'm not leaving here unless Kaze'aze is dead." The assassin noticed an unusual look in her eyes; one more filled with pain than he had become used to on her face.
"Arme, what do you..."
"For what she did to you. For her attempt to break you so entirely you'd never be whole again... I won't walk away from her now." Lass' breath caught in his throat, and there was a moment before he released it.
"I didn't want you to find out about that... But Arme, listen to me-" An angry howl ripped into the night sky as Kaze'aze rose on her back paws, slamming back into the ground with her front. A tremor rippled through the ground, creating large cracks in the earth and throwing up the distracted assassin and mage.
"Found you..." The dark queen's voice echoed throughout the battle field as Arme became visible, and Lass grabbed her before they could both hit the ground when he abruptly realized she couldn't break her fall with her arms. They were locked behind her back with a thick metal cuff, and several thick pieces of chain link trailed behind.
"Why didn't you get rid of i-it?" The assassin let out a cough as he hit the ground, pushing himself up. Before the witch could form another attack he stood up with the magician in his arms, making a dash towards the area where the other chasers were standing.
"How did you escape, my precious magician? That cell was made specially for you..." Kaze'aze's haunting voice continued to ring, though a hint of what sounded to be urgency had fallen into her tone. The area started to cool rapidly, a white steam rising from the ground hinting to the ice that was starting to seep out of the cracks in the ground. It was moving quickly; quickly enough that Lass' foot was caught before he could make an escape.
"Arme!" A shrill voice exclaimed. Before the frost could crawl further up Lass' leg a violin shattered the ice near the base, allowing the thief to move again.
"How did you get out of her dungeon?" Arme frowned, and Lass felt her begin to struggle.
"No time for questions right now, I'll explain later, I swear! Lass, can you use your claws to deform the symbol on the back of this cuff?" Lass nodded, pulling further back as Kaze'aze began moving towards them and setting the violet haired magician down to see the shackle more clearly.
"If you come now it will be a lot less painful for you, Arme..." Ignoring her, Lass did as Arme requested. Once a thick line had been sliced through the black mark Arme's expression lightened, and the cuff seemed to crumble until Arme's arms were free.
"Thanks," She murmured, "It had a seal on it so magic wasn't working." The assassin nodded.
"Now Arme, tele-"
"No!" Lass shirked back at the firm statement, following Arme as she made small distance teleports to where Ryan and Elesis were, guarded by Ronan.
"Amy, Jin, can you guys hold her off for a bit?" Arme yelled.
"Hold me off? A laughable idea..." The shisa seemed to be about as doubtful as the witch, but he nodded.
"We'll try!" He replied, glancing at Amy before the two dashed forward. The magician dropped to her knees beside Elesis, who was staring at her with wide eyes.
"A-Arme? Weren't you-" The magician frowned, pressing a hand over Elesis' chest and arm.
"Not right now." She commanded again, "... All right, all done there... Were you hurt anywhere else?" The redheaded knight blinked, then shook her head slowly.
"Shouldn't heal take longer?" She asked, flexing her fully healed arm. The violet haired girl shook her head.
"Not if you do it right. I was thinking about it while I was trying to escape, and everything is just starting to make a lot more sense..."
"Arme, please!" Lass tried again, "Go back to the town and wait for us there! You don't even have a weapon!" Feeling Arme nearly glaring at him from the corner of her eye as she began casting a heal over Ryan, Lass sighed.
"Lass, no means no! I'm going to help, and I don't need a weapon!" She said again. Ronan frowned as he sliced through a curse orb that was floating liesurely in their direction.
"Arme, I think Lass is right... She's going to be-"
"Well I think Lass is wrong!" Elesis interjected, "Arme's not weak, she can help us! Aside from that, you think Kaze'aze would actually let her leave? All that would happen would be that Kaze'aze would teleport after her and Arme would have to fight alone! And Lass, I know this goes against your 'I can protect Arme she doesn't need to fight' theory, but you're going to have to deal with it!" This silenced both Lass and Ronan effectively, and they watched silently as Ryan regained full consciousness.
"Arme?" He mumbled lazily, blinking, "Is the fight already over?" Arme shook her head.
"No, I escaped." Before he could question what she was saying a blast of ice roared up from the ground in the corner of Arme's eye, followed by a blast of red and a shriek from Amy.
"JIN!" Arme's eyes shot over to where the dancer was pulling a badly injured shisa back to the group. The healed members of the chase shot out past her to stall Kaze'aze from slowly advancing, save Lass, who stood near Arme.
"Arme, what do we do?" Amy moaned in distress, "I-I wasn't looking and he was stabbed in the shoulder and he- He couldn't move and ice shot up from the ground and then a miniature flame ball hit him and Arme I don't think his breathing's so good and-" The siren was hyperventilating, tears in her eyes as she held the fighter tightly, "And Arme, I think he's dying and I can't live without him and what-" The magician put a hand on Amy's shoulder as she looked over the damage on Jin.
"Amy, please calm down and give me Jin, I can save him." Amy clutched the shisa tighter for a moment, then released him.
"D-don't let him die..." She sniffled, standing up and wiping the tears from her eyes. Arme nodded gently.
"I won't." The pink haired girl turned back to the battle, a visible fire in her eyes as she turned and dashed back into the fight. The violet haired girl placed a hand to Jin's chest first, over his heart. The other hand rested on his shoulder, where a hole had been created. She winced lightly at the look of the wound, then turned to Lass.
"Go help the others..." She whispered, "I'll come as soon as I'm finished here, all right?" The assassin pulled several kunai out of his pocket, shaking his head lightly.
"I'll fight from back here. I'm not leaving you alone again." He responded quietly, throwing one of the blades firmly. Since Arme's meteors had struck attacks seemed to be taking out more damage, and Kaze'aze had several small wounds on her. These wounds didn't seem to stop her from approaching Arme slowly, as she was.
"Terribly pathetic... You're not going to get out of here alive... Why bother healing him?" Arme looked up just in time to see Kaze'aze rearing up again, and she put her arms under the red haired fighter before teleporting several feet in the air. Landing seconds after the tremors stopped, the magician would have fallen over with the added weight of the shisa had Lass not quickly took him from her grip.
"Let's at least get back further..." He said, looking down at Jin, "And... He will be all right, right?" Arme nodded.
"If I heal quickly, yes... And if this battle ends quickly." When they had retreated further Arme placed her hands back on Jin's chest and shoulder, allowing the injuries to further close. His skin was beginning to regain it's colour, allowing Arme to let out a sigh of relief.
"His blood is flowing properly again." She stated, allowing the healing glow to spread over the rest of his body. The scalds on his skin were fading faster than Lass would have imagined possible, and they reminded Lass of his own injured leg. Ignoring the thought, he watched Kaze'aze closely. Arme's tongue had stuck out slightly as she concentrated on finishing the heal; they stayed that way for a moment.
"He'll be all right now." She said when the shisa let out a cough, looking around warily.
"Amy... Where's..." Arme looked at Lass.
"Lass, please put him down... Jin, you're still really hurt, I just did what I needed to to stop you from beeding openly and reconstructed the things that were really broken... I need to transport you out of here." The shisa's eyes widened.
"No! Please don't-" He coughed again, and a small smear of red appeared on his palm.
"Sorry, but I don't want you to take chances. Do you want Amy to worry about you?" The red haired fighter went silent, looking about the battlefield for the mentioned pink haired girl. Lass had set him down by that point, and Arme took the chance to place a hand on his shoulder. A purple light swirled around him, and in a moment Jin had dissappeared.
"Where'd you send him?" Lass questioned as they turned back to Kaze'aze, who was sending out several curse balls.
"Back to the cell she was holding me in." The magician replied, beginning to take small teleports, "I knew he didn't want to be too far away, and from there he should be safe from battle." The assassin nodded, turning to Arme and grabbing her arm before they could get too close.
"I..." He took a breath, "I know I've told you this a lot in the last five minutes or so, but be careful, all right?" Arme looked at him and her eyes softened for a moment.
"I will, Lass. You too. When we finish this battle, no one'll ever have to live with her terror again." A thought filled Lass' head quietly, and he made certain he didn't vocalize it.
When this battle is over, you'll have to go back home.
Arme had roughly twenty fireballs spiralling around her by the time they made it to Kaze'aze, and she shot them towards the witch quickly. They twirled and twisted around as a distraction, though didn't achieve much. Many were destroyed by an idly waving, pointed ear, and those that did survive only singed into the dark queen for moments before they were iced out of existance. Amy made a side dash over to where the magician and thief had moved to, pink eyes darting to the violet haired girl urgently.
"Where's Jin?" She questioned as notes flew off her violin in an erratic pattern. They seemed more violent and sharp than they had in the past, providing an appropriate background sound and hinting to the musician's distress.
"He's fine, Amy! I'll bring you to where he is after the battle!" Arme called back, pressing her hands together and concentrating. The sound of the violin eased ever so slightly as Lass somewhat hesitantly went forward to attack with the others, aiming for the slightly charred spots on Kaze'aze's body.
"Insolence... You're tiring me..." A yell of 'Saver!' entered the air moments before lightning rained down on the group, making the chasers flinch as the green shields that had just been applied shuddered and cracked.
"Thunder!" When Arme said this an attack similar to lightning bolt lit up the area, an explosion of lightning seeming to center around Kaze'aze shooting out and making the witch groan. A dangerous sparkle in her green eyes lit up, and she let out another roar.
"This is enough!"When the witch hissed this the violet magician was surprised to see the other chasers nearly collapse, Ronan pressing his hands against his knees in order to keep himself from being grounded. Arme slumped over as well, and soon the area was filled with the sound of heavy breathing.
"Wh... What's-" Elesis began stammering angrily, trying to use her weapon as a prop to stand up. Kaze'aze kicked her away harshly, a gasp let out from the knight as she hit the nearby tower.
"Enjoying the mana pressure, children?" The beast purred, noting Arme with a mixture of disdain and interest.
"And you... Still able to stand... Understanding your potential truly has made you stronger, hasn't it? No matter. Should we try more pressure...?" The witch paused.
"No... perhaps I shan't. It will be best for you to learn your place now." Eyeing the others as they rose with a grin of amusement, Kaze'aze's laugh filled the area.
"And the rest of you have grown as well... Elena reported some of you being unable to so much as walk up to where the orb was... Perhaps I should simply collect a full set of new pawns." Most of the chase had made their way to their feet at that point, though they had to use their weapons as props.
"Keep attacking!" Ronan commanded, turning his gaze to Elesis, who was using the wall to push herself back up. Arme bit her lip, looking around at the other chasers and then at Kaze'aze. This is rediculous. We can't fight like this! Her mind raced as another flame ball was prepared in Kaze'aze's paws, and she teleported to the edge of the field. What can I do? Her mind strained to think of a plan, and she glanced over at her comrades once more. I can saver them, but that won't... Her eyes widened, and she pressed her hands together again. Please let this work!
"Mana shield!" savers of a deep blue spun out of her palms, making their way to a chaser. Once surrounded the fighters didn't seem nearly as pressured, and they turned to look at Arme.
"What did you do!" Lass questioned, slicing against Kaze'aze's back.
"She protected you with her own mana pressure. A smart move." The witch replied, twisting and nearly biting Lass in the arm before he could dash back and out of her range.
"We can do this!" A voice yelled out. Arme turned to see Elesis dashing back into action, her blade slashing against the monster's foot and cutting slimly through the armour.
"Don't get cocky because you can move." Kaze'aze spat. Her leg shot out again, but Elesis was prepared. Using her wedged in sword as a hold, Elesis jumped up onto the dark queen's leg. Pulling out her blade hastily when Kaze'aze's leg was at a proper angle, she lunged forward with the giant sword once more.
"DRAGON DIVE!" A red burst of flame followed her sword as it pierced into Kaze'aze's shoulder, making the witch scream. Before she could be thrown off Ronan thrusted his glaive upward, and a familiar sapphire glint shone off it's blade. Arme's vision of Ronan was quite abruptly cut off by a breeze of orange feathers, and she watched in confusion as a blue-skinned, orange haired monster clawed against Kaze'aze's s stomach.
"R-Ryan?" She questioned to no one in particular, pressing forward with several flames. Amy nodded at her question.
"It's the nephilim!" She didn't elaborate, rushing against the side of Kaze'aze with her violin prepped. The roar of a dragon reached Arme's ears as Ronan's summon entered, a coil of flames entering the attack and pouring over Kaze'aze's head. There was a flash of white above the dark witch followed by another jarring scream; Arme realized quickly that Lass had managed to stab a blade of his claws into the vibrant emerald of Kaze'aze's eye. We need to end this now.Kaze'aze shook furiously, an action that threw the assassin off the top of her head where he had been perched. Violet eyes watched horrifiedly as he was thrown through the air, and she forced herself to look away. If we don't end this now, we'll lose. Something inside her head repeated this, and she knew it was true. Taking a quick breath, Arme teleported into the center of the chaos. Slamming both of her palms to the ground, the magician squeezed her eyes shut.
"FIRE STORM!"A crack in the ground exploded directly underneath Kaze'aze and Arme, shooting up a broiling geyser of flame. It consumed the witch entirely, and though there were others surrounded by the flames they didn't seem to be affected by the heat at all. Yet another wretched scream filled the night; it tapered out with Arme's flames a minute later. The area was filled with silence; it lapsed over all of the chasers heavily. Arme, kneeling on the ground, panted heavily.
"Did it..." A shudder of the ground and a crackle of the greatly charred beast made all the members step back, and Amy grabbed Arme's shoulder to yank her away from the scene of the battle a second before an outburst of soot shot from the witch, seemingly making her crumble. It fell through the area, coating everything like a black snowfall and leaving in it's midst the human form of Kaze'aze. Her body was bleeding profusely; eye wide and edged with insanity. Her skin appeared to be burned badly everywhere, and it too was cracking away.
"No..." She rasped, eyes darting around at the chase, who watched her warily, "No... No! This pain... What's happening?" Arme rubbed her eyes free of ash, holding onto Amy's shoulder to keep herself from falling.
"You're dying." She remarked coldly, "Just like I told you you would." The dark queen's eye focused onto Arme, and her face cracked painfully into a smile.
"You... You... You... This is all your fault, my precious magician." She hissed, hacking loudly, "I should have known no good would come of you. That power... You were faking being hit by my pressure, it didn't effect you at all..."Her body shook in spasms of coughing, her hands chipping away. In fact, the dark magician's very existance appeared to be being disinigrated by the air. The one emerald eye she still possessed swayed, as though it couldn't keep focus any more.
"Perhaps... Perhaps you are right... Perhaps I am dying. You think you'll just walk away from me? The last laugh will be mine." Even though the chase stood there, no one could quite comprehend the need to attack the dying witch. Her fingers had crumbled- the dark staff she had been holding fell to the ground, landing in a soft pile of soot. Her mouth moved rapidly, and Arme squinted in an attempt to make out what she was saying.
"You can't do anything. Just give up and live your last minute in acceptance of what you've done." The witch laughed.
"What I've done? Do you forget it is I who you owe this existence to?" She replied, "But now... I'll break it. Your mission may be done here, my precious magician, but... I don't think I'll let you go back." Elesis twitched.
"What are you trying to say!" The witch only laughed.
"Don't you feel it? The bridge will shatter... And you alone will be stranded. I know where your heart lies... I'll shatter it with my last breath. And... she shall be lost to the sands of time... So unfortunate..."
"Damn it, what are you saying?" Elesis demanded. Kaze'aze's laughter elevated in volume, and Arme's eyes widened as the last of the witch was taken by the breeze, leaving only her haunting laughter.
As soon as the last of the magician had faded Arme and Amy both nearly fell, the taller girl holding the shorter up. Nearby, Elesis had slouched over. The violet magician, steadying herself, looked around blindly while the laughter petered off, and it was soon replaced by Elesis.
"WE DID IT! WE REALLY DID IT!" She yelled, laughing and shaking from excitement. Amy joined her, though her laughter was strained. The musician was more focused on Arme, who seemed lost.
"Lass..." She whispered, "Where's Lass?" It took another moment for her to notice his snow white hair among the ashes, the assassin lying on his back as soot rained down around him.
"Lass, we did it!" Elesis yelled, running over. Her step appeared to be off; slightly less coordinated than it normally was. There were only a few seconds before they made it to where the assassin was, and Arme lay her hands over him gingerly.
"Lass, are you all right?" A blue eye peeked open slowly, and the assassin nodded. An unusual smile had taken over his face; it didn't disappear as he looked at Arme. Amy tilted her head.
"And your leg?" She asked quietly. Lass sat up, still focused on Arme.
"I don't think I can walk." He replied, "But it's not like it wasn't worth it." The violet haired magician blinked, realizing for the first time the blood seeping through sooty black bandages.
"That's not all right!" She scolded, trying to focus her mana into a cure. After a minute she didn't feel as though she was getting far, and she bit her lip.
"I think I'm out..." Letting out an unexpected sigh, Arme felt her body run out of air, "I think I'm out of mana, sorry. That's the best I can do..." Lass nodded, stretching his leg.
"It's better." Ruffling her hair to clean it of the ashes, Arme gasped when she saw a tear run down Lass' cheek.
"L...Lass?" The assassin looked away.
"It's nothing. H... How did you escape the cell?" Arme blinked slowly, then nodded in comprehension.
"Oh! I... There were symbols written on the wall, like the back of my cuffs. She made the cell strong, yeah, but it wasn't prepared for attack. The main reason for this is because I couldn't use my magic in there. She was probably expecting to watch me until I gave in... They were on the wall pretty deeply, but after rubbing against the wall with the corner of my cuffs on them, I was able to cut through the line of one. It didn't weaken the cell much, but it was enough for me to use a spell on the chain and the bars. I couldn't break the cuffs because they had the symbol on them... They were weakening my magic a lot..." She took another deep breath, looking around. She paused when her eyes landed on Ryan, who had changed back from Nephilim.
"And I... Learned a lot while I was in there." Turning to Lass, she smiled sadly.
"I really did want to hear about your past from you..." The assassin didn't respond, and Arme looked back at the rest of them.
"What else happened?" Elesis asked quietly, "I get the feeling that wasn't all she showed you." Arme nodded in confirmation.
"I... Well, now I know what was going on all this time... Why didn't anyone tell me?" Her question wasn't angry; just truly confused. Ronan looked down at the ground.
"Well, at first we weren't certain, and then... After all the confusion with... Lire... And... We didn't want to affect what you chose, and... Maybe in the end, all of us were just too afraid to confirm our suspicions. Which were pretty clearly right after the first time you passed out, but..." The dragon knight looked back up at Arme, but she was focused on Ryan.
"She sent me back..." Arme whispered. Elesis kneeled down.
"To the hospital?" The violet magician nodded.
"But that wasn't all." She took a breath, closing her eyes, "... I met Lire." The moment she said this Ryan shot over, dropping to his knees in front of her to look directly into amethyst eyes.
"You- You saw Lire? He stuttered, "You saw..." Tears were forming in his eyes, and Arme nodded again, placing a hand on the orange haired boy's heart.
"Yeah. She wanted me to tell you that she's sorry, she misses you... And she wanted you to know she still loves you." The green eyed boy gaped at her, his body shaking.
"She still..." His head raised to the sky, eyes closed to stop the still softly falling soot from entering them.
"Why did she leave me?" He questioned quietly; brokenly, "I needed her. Whatever her reason, I should have done more for her, I should have told her I loved her, I should have let her know every day... " Tears began leaking from the corners of his eyes, but he didn't wipe them away.
"I need her back..." He whispered, "Please tell me, Arme... Please tell me I can have her back! I'll never let anyone take her from me again!" This cry went unanswered, and the druid buried his head in his hands.
"It wasn't your fault... Elesis, she wanted to say sorry to you too." Looking around, she continued, "To all of you." Arme coughed gently, a throbbing in her head. Elesis and Amy seemed to be in similar pain, and Arme looked between both of them.
"It's..." Her head was spinning, though it stopped after a moment, "The connection." Her eyes widened, a look of terror crossing her face, "She shattered it!" Lass jolted, staring at Arme, who looked confused.
"The connection is breaking? You mean you can't go back?" Arme shook her head, shivering. Looking focusedly at the assassin, she shook her head.
"N... Not quite. It's not broken yet... She used the last of her magic to... I don't know what, but I can feel it... She's trying to pull me back to the other side." The silver haired boy didn't seem to know what to say. His mouth opened and closed as though he was trying to speak, and in the end he closed his eyes and let out a sigh.
"Oh." Arme stared at him, disbelief clear on her face.
"Oh? Lass, are you getting what's going on? If the connection breaks and I'm on the other side, I'll never be able to see you again!" Lass opened his eyes and nodded, the same sad smile from before pulling onto his face.
"I know. But there's... Better for you than here." The magician's mouth gaped open, and she didn't move her gaze.
"Are you trying to say it's okay for you if you never see me again? Lass, in a few minutes I could dissapear!" The silver haired boy nodded again, eyes watering up. He tried to conceal this by turning his head, though it didn't work well.
"It's not could, it's will." He corrected gently, "You'll forget about us. You can have a normal life now." Arme reached out to press a hand to Lass' cheek.
"I didn't ask what would happen to me. I asked if you really wanted to never see me again. I know I've caused a lot of trouble for you, but..."
"You were never a trouble." He responded, "I never disliked saving you, and... I'm grateful I met you. I'll never forget, so... Just think of us every once and a while."
"You won't forget. Lass, I won't let you forget." The silver haired assassin tilted his head.
"You won't let me? What do you-" Arme took a swift breath, leaning forward and grabbing the front of Lass' shirt to yank him towards herself. The surprised dark assassin couldn't sum up her actions soon enough to move himself, and before he could make a protest his and Arme's lips were pressed together. There was a mere second where he pressed back, and the violet haired female could feel an arm wrap around her back. The next second all traces of warmth were gone; she opened her eyes to see Lass standing several feet away. His face was pale, his eyes wide and confused. He was leaning on his left leg, and Arme could tell his right was causing him pain.
"Wh... Why did you do that?" He demanded after a moment, "Arme, you're going to fade away soon and I'll never- Why?" Arme looked away.
"Because..." She mumbled somewhat embarrasedly, "I could see the court yard from my cell! And... I saw you kiss the other me and-"
"I kissed her on the forehead to make sure she wasn't you!" The assassin exclaimed, vexation coming out in his voice. Arme huffed, looking back at him as a cherry coloured blush covered her cheeks.
"I also did it because I wanted to..." She continued, keeping her eyes on the silver haired boy and ignoring the stares of the other members. Lass let out a groan, pressing a hand to his forehead.
"There's the problem! Arme, you're not supposed to want to have anything to do with me!" Arme blinked, feeling quite suddenly guilty when the Lass' blue eyes began building tears of frustration. Over the time she had known him Arme couldn't remember the assassin crying once, and she internally cringed at the thought of how many times she had been reduced to tears in front of him. When she took a step toward him the thief backed up, though he didn't look away.
"Well I do." She replied insistantly, "And I don't want to disappear! I want to stay here!" Lass stared silently for a moment, then began to shake his head.
"Arme, you have a familyover there! Are you really ready to give them up just like that?" He questioned. This seemed to catch Arme off guard; she paused for a moment, and then nodded her head ever so slightly.
"If it's to be here, yes." The assassin growled in frustration, taking a step closer to Arme.
"What are you thinking? Arme, you grew up there, you... Everything's over there for you... We can't... Ican't take that all away from you. A-and didn't you say you were going to be forced back over there anyway?" Arme smiled at this, pressing a hand to her forehead as a sudden throb hit her.
"I... Never was very good at doing what people expected of me. So what if she's trying to send me back? I have magic too... I can fight back." Another, more tentative step was taken towards Arme as Lass saw her hand pressing roughly against her skin.
"Don't fight it..." He whispered, "It's all right. You don't need to do this for me... I'm not going to let you hurt yourself because of this." Arme laughed gently.
"Did you ever consider that I'm not doing this for you? That I'm going to fight with all my heart because I want to be here with you? Besides, you said you'd protect me. How are you going to keep your promise if we're in different worlds?" Lass sighed.
"You'll survive... I hope. Or you'll... find someone else." The magician shook her head violently.
"I don't want to find someone else!" Sapphire eyes closed slowly, a single thought ringing through the assassin's mind. I don't want you to find someone else either.
"Arme... This is the last time I'm ever going to see you, I don't want to fight with you..." Arme crossed her arms, watching Lass closely.
"Lass, why are you so adamant that I want to leave?" She asked. The assassin's eyes avoided her own, though they darted back shortly enough, as though he was afraid she would disappear if he looked away for too long.
"Because you've lived there for fifteen years, Arme! You've been here for about three months! I don't want you to decide your life on that, and then realize later on that you really never will see your family again! I don't want you to realize you've abandoned the life you really care about... I can't do that to you. Peace will come soon... In a few years the Grand Chase won't be needed. What would you do then?" Arme took a step forward; the throbbing in her head impairing her sense of distance and making her tumble forwards and into Lass. The assassin wasn't prepared; catching the magician set all of his weight on his right foot and sent them both falling to the ground. Arme found herself lying next to Lass against the soot-covered ground, and reached out a hand to hold his. The ashes that had been raining down from the sky had nearly dispersed; very few were still in the air and most covered the clothes and hair of the chasers.
"I'll spend my time with you, and I'll learn more about you from you. I can learn to use all of my weapons properly, and you can somehow accept the fact that the Sidtri's not out to get you. I don't care what it is, so long as I can spend time with you." The snow-haired boy reached out a hand to take hers timidly, and he let out a sigh.
"This is exactly what I was afraid would happen..." He turned to stare at the sky, "Right from the moment I met you. To tell the truth, when I saw the how the others acted around each other I was confused... I thought it was ridiculous, how they'd act stupidly around a certain person because they couldn't think straight. And after what happened to Lire... It seemed even more ridiculous, but then... You showed up and..." His trail of thought cut off suddenly, and he turned to look at her.
"Forget everything I just said. I'm supposed to be saying good bye, not pouring out my heart. And on a side note, that bird is out to kill me." Arme laughed again, then fell into a coughing fit.
"Lass, I want to hear you pour out your heart to me some times. I don't always want to be the weak one..." Her body inevitably curled inward as she tried to press away the pain in her head, "Don't say good bye." The thief sat up, pushing himself over so he was leaning over Arme.
"Arme, don't fight her..."
"Lass?" The assassin nodded.
"Can you honestly look me in the eye and say you never want to see me again?" Lass was caught off guard by the question, and Arme continued it a moment later.
"If you can, I'll do what you want..." The dark assassin's eyes widened, and he opened his mouth to speak. Words that were supposed to come out stayed mute, and Lass found that no amount of prompting he could give them would lure them out. What are you doing? Now's your chance to save her! Now's your chance to protect her one last time! Lass closed his mouth, opening it again after clearing out his throat.
"Arme, I..." A tear dropped from his cheek down to her own, "Of course I can't, stupid." Arme's grin widened, and she reached up to tug on Lass' bangs gently.
"I'll see you again soon." As Arme's vision began to fade she looked around at the other members of the chase, mouthing 'See you' silently. Her eyes fell on Lass one last time before an all-too familiar darkness consumed her once more, his protests ringing in her ears.
And just like that, Arme was back in the darkness. Things weren't quiet as they had been in the past, however; if anything, it was much too loud. Sounds from both worlds were crashing down on her with little to no unison, increasing the pain in her head. Only one thing remained constant- The sound of a ticking clock.
"Do you have her back?"
"Yes sir, her condition is much more stable than it was, I'd say she's improving..."
"Good, keep her that way... I thought we'd lost her there for a minute..."
"What do we do now, though? Her body should be accepting the cure, but it's rejecting it like it's a virus..."
"It's probably just her body's preliminary defenses coming in stronger than they should. Keep introducing it into her system a little bit at a time."
"And you're sure neither of you two feel like you're being pulled over as well?"
"Yeah... I think Kaze'aze only had the strength to force one of us back, and she's trying to do it to Arme."
"Damn it, damn it, damn it..."
"Lass, stop it. You're acting like a child... Why can't you accept that she wants to be here?"
"If I had just told her what she needed to hear she wouldn't be in pain right now..."
"Don't ignore me, and answer the question!"
"Because I don't want her to hurt! I don't want her to be in danger, all right? I just want... I just want her to be somewhere safe, and here isn't safe."
"It is if you protect her. Aside from that, Kaze'aze's gone. Things won't be targeting her anymore."
"You all... I'm sorry, Arme."
Days passed in a repetitive fashion, and Arme's struggles grew greater each minute. The voices of the hospital workers had gotten frighteningly loud over the first while, and Arme had quickly come to realize that the louder their voices, the closer her condition came to being cured. This thought in mind, the violet haired girl focused entirely on pushing away those voices.
"... Arme? Keep hanging in there... Your father and I are right here waiting for you."
"Brought you something from Hong Kong this time, princess. You're going to have to wake up to get it though, all right?"
"... I never should have taken her out of the hospital... They were right about her condition..."
"She'll make it. Our princess would never give in."
These were the first voices to make Arme falter. In that one second she could hear the voices of her parents perfectly clearly, and the vague sound of a heart monitor beating wildly in the background. Thin tears trailed down her cheeks, bubbling out into the black space. I... Hesitance was all it took- At her lack of resistance to the dark queen's last spell the violet haired girl could feel herself being tugged towards life again. I...
"I'm sorry, Arme. I'm so sorry, but... I love you."
Lass.
Arme's breathing quite suddenly steadied out; her fingers and toes were able to twitch about without the pain of the dark void. She squinted her eyes together tightly, her breath catching in her throat. Eyelids slid open slowly, and the violet magician's voice died out.
What lay before her was an entirely white room. Everything in it featured generic white furniture; the chairs, the couch, the sheets on her bed. The room in itself was enough to make Arme sick; it probably would have had two things not set it apart from the hospital room she so detested.
Visible from the window was a grand castle; the sounds of crowds hustling through overly crowded streets.
The second thing was the head of a familiar assassin, his snowy white hair splayed across the blanket of her bed and nearly camoflauged against it's white as he slumped over from his chair next to the bed. Arme's heart resumed a proper pace, though it picked up once again as she pressed a hand gently against his hair, as to not wake him. A soft smile crossed her face, and Arme leaned over to hover her head above the thief's.
"I love you too, Lass."
A/N: And there we go~! 8D Thank you all for staying with me this far, it's an honour to have so many reviewers and views for this story! I'm also sorry for the fight failure and the long wait D: I hate writing battle scenes...
I know right now you're probably all thinking something along the lines of "WHAT THE HELL JUST HAPPENED THAT'S NOT AN ENDING D8 STUPID UTSIE", and I agree with you xD;; Fortunately, we have the epilogue to clear everything else up!
I'll just cut this off here for now, you guys can read my 'IT'S REALLY DONE D:' a/n at the end of the next epilogue :3
-Utsuro