Viva la Revolution

Milena was stood on the beach just below the main entrance to Bowerstone Old Quarter, fires burning and wreckage littered about her as a cannon ball from a mortar landed in the ground several feet away, spraying sand everywhere and almost sending Tyson flying. Fortunately though, the dog had retreated to his master's side before it had landed.

Ducking as another cannon ball landed, Ben turned to her. "Our people are getting torn to shreds out there! They need our help!" he exclaimed, his eyes glowing red in the light of the fires.

She nodded, turning to face her mentor who was stood nearby. "What do I need to do?"

Walter pointed to the top of the hill where the source of the cannon fire was coming from. "We need to take care of that mortar," he explained.

Milena's eyes widened when she saw that her route there was blocked by several outposts of her brother's elite soldiers, all of whom were ready to die for him if necessary, and ready to kill her, and her friends.

Ben seemed to notice her hesitation. "We've already lost one ship! Kalin's could be next," he said, staring deep into her eyes. "Come on!"

Walter nodded. "He's right. It's time you led from the front. We'll follow you every step of the way." The old man drew his sword to join his pistol which was already in his left hand. "Ready? Let's go." And without waiting for an answer, he charged forwards, running past their defences towards the enemy lines, shortly followed by the blond haired captain.

Drawing her own rifle, the princess ran up the hill, dodging yet another mortar shot, though one of Ben's soldiers wasn't as lucky. As soon as the first enemy came into sight, she'd fired her gun and he'd collapsed in a heap on the floor, a hole running straight through his head. She didn't have time to feel sorry for him as a bullet suddenly whizzed past her ear, forcing her to concentrate on the task ahead, though she had no doubt she'd have plenty of time to consider her actions later.

As she travelled further and further up the hill, Milena, Walter and Ben carved their way through the soldiers, leaving a path of bodies in their wake. It seemed like forever passed before they got to the next barricade, but luckily, the three of them were all unharmed.

The captain pointed up the hill to where the soldiers were coming from. "We'll never get through those gates while the mortar's there!"

Milena nodded and started to run up the road, blasting a few more soldiers to the next world with one of her fire strikes.

Suddenly, a mortar shell exploded behind her, sending her flying forwards into the mud, her eardrums popping from the pressure.

Everything sounded as though it had become ten times clearer and louder. The cries of her men as they were shot down, the explosions of the shells, the waves thrashing against the rocks, all seemed to be right next to her.

She tried to push herself off the ground and push forwards, but the ground was slippery from the blood that had been spilt, making her hand slip. Luckily though, Ben had caught up with her and hauled her to her feet before she could lose her footing.

"You alright?" he asked, his eyes filled with concern.

Smiling at him, she nodded, turning to face the last stages of their siege.

The elite guard had lost the mocking qualities they had so readily shared before she'd escaped to Aurora, their faces rigid and unyielding. They shouted at them, the rebels, and called her a witch for her use of magic, and a traitor, all the while firing their weapons, at them.

"We have to move," she said, continuing her advance.

The rest of the journey became a blur of gunshots and blood, and before she knew it, a keg of gunpowder had just exploded, taking the mortar with it.

"The mortar's down!" Walter shouted, causing some of the men to shout in celebration, but it wasn't over yet. Not by a long shot.

As soon as the mortar had been taken care of, Ben turned to face the sea, trying to ignore the feeling of awe he had towards the princess. It was amazing how such a young woman could take out as many men as she did.

One of the ships, Kalin's by the look of it, was moving closer to the shore now that the bombardments had stopped. "The Auroran ships should be able to move closer now. Come on Kalin, do your stuff."

Moments later, there was a flash from the deck and the door that had been blocking the way exploded into splinters, showering them in small pieces of wood. Grinning, he cocked his gun. "That's my girl!"

Milena gave him a brief smile before heading through the now cleared entrance, Walter charging in after her, his pistol now at his belt.

"Let's take the fight into the city!" the old man cried as he headed towards the enemy the captain had aimed at, forcing him to change target. As soon as his sword had made the first blow, Walter laughed. "Ah! A bit of close combat. This is more like it! Recognise old Walter you hobbe botherers?"

Ben noticed he was holding his hand to his chest. "Are you alright there, Walter?"

"Hm?" he said as he continued his advance through the crowd, "Oh I'll be fine. Now let's go!" That said, he charged off, further into the fray.

Milena shook her head. "Come on, we'd better make sure he doesn't get himself killed."

They didn't talk again for the next couple of minutes, save for a few cries of encouragement, as they were too busy keeping themselves and each other alive, though Tyson appeared to be handling himself a lot better than anyone would have predicted; who knew that dog could be so vicious?

Just as they were passing the statue of a man on a saddled pig (who the hell came up with these things?) one of the buildings collapsed without any source that… oh.

"Is this not the grandest time you've ever had?" Sabine asked as he walked over the rubble with his giant of a body guard, Boulder, as he laughed, ignoring the fact that he'd just made the three of them end up having a coughing fit.

Walter sighed. "Sabine! You almost blew us up!"

"You saw?" the dweller asked, his voice filling with pride, "A glorious beacon of freedom burning in the night air for all the - "

Suddenly, the massive lump of a man next to him started moaning in what sounded like a very anxious way, cutting the old man off mid speech.

"What is it Boulder?" he asked as he looked up to where the man was staring. Whatever he saw, it mustn't have been good, because he started to scurry off as fast as he could saying; "Oh, bloody hell! Move! Move!" And with that, he vanished in a cloud of smoke.

"It'll take more than a grenade to finish off that old sod," Walter said, giving the princess a reassuring smile.

The ground shook as another building threatened to collapse on top of them.

"Meanwhile, let's do what he says and get moving shall we?" Ben said, grabbing Milena's hand and dragging her forwards, just as another lump of a construction crashed into the ground where she had been standing.

They passed through the newly created road with relative ease, the rubble barely blocking the way, and the guards were preoccupied by a few other members of the rebellion, so they were taken out quickly, giving the small group a moment's reprieve before moving on.

Walter turned to her, mouth open as if he was about to say something, but he raised his eyebrows and closed it again. "Hm! I don't realise you two liked each other that much!"

Milena frowned, but then realised her right hand felt incredibly warm. Looking at it, she found she was still clutching the hand of a very red looking captain. Her cheeks flushed cherry red and she pulled her arm away quickly, curling it into a fist in front of her, trying to look somewhere other than Ben's eyes.

The captain, on the other hand, didn't appear to be making any move to change his focus point, his hand still hanging motionless in the air, though his face was the same hue as her own.

Why was he standing there like that?

Walter laughed and slapped them both on the back, jolting them out of their stupor. "Come on! This revolution isn't going to win itself!"

Milena smiled, "No, but if it were up to you, you'd probably do it all by yourself! Even with that hand of yours."

The knight laughed, "You'd probably be right!"

Ben walked slowly behind the smiling pair, rubbing his fingers together, savouring the feeling of Milena's hand in his. It had felt so warm, so… right, and yet he couldn't explain how. As shots were fired once again, he kept asking himself one question; what does it mean?

By the time they had reached the bridge, a few more rebels had joined them, so he had to push his personal thoughts to the side to face their next problem; another gate.

"I thought people were supposed to open doors for queens," he said, "Not the other way around."

"Shut up Ben," Walter retaliated, searching around for another way around.

Milena glanced at him briefly before climbing up a collapsed building. "I think I can see a way down."

Clambering up after her, the two soldiers looked down at the open plan floor of some homes. Through a gap in the wall, some movement caught his eye.

"Look, it's Page," the knight said, pointing to where Ben was looking. The rebel leader had just finished off a group of guards and was beginning to head up the road. "That girl knows how to handle herself. Come on, we're not far from the castle now. We'll meet up with her there."

They all jumped down (lucky the ground was stable enough to hold their weight) and made their way out of the burning building. Why was it that buildings always had to burn in revolutions?

As soon as they got out into the square, they came face to face with a barricade across the street and a squadron of the elite.

Of course.

"Look at that. It's almost like they're expecting us," Ben said sarcastically, making Milena giggle, which brought a smile to his own face, "Say what you want about Logan's army, they really know how to make you feel welcome."

"There's no way we're getting past that barricade," Walter stated as the first of the guards started to charge.

Ben looked around and took in his environment before taking aim. "Oh please, we're in a street. Haven't you noticed all the houses and doors?" He fired and took aim again, "We just need to perpetrate a little breaking and entering followed by some flanking and fileting."

The old man grinned. "Yes, right you are."

As the last of the loyalists were beaten, Walter pointed towards an open doorway. "Through there!"

They made a dash for the exit, narrowly dodging yet another explosion.

As soon as they got through the door, Ben realised that the rest of the house had almost disintegrated, leaving only the front standing, so they had immediate access to the road at the back… where Page was stood waiting.

"Page!" Walter exclaimed as Milena ran up to her.

"It's good to see you're alright," the princess said, earning her an appreciative smile.

"My men are taking care of the east barracks, but I couldn't leave you out here alone."

Ben grinned. "That deserves a round of applause!"

The sounds of gunfire around the corner made them all turn.

Milena pulled her hammer off of her back. "Let's get this over with then."

Together, all four of them charged around the corner, joining the already bloody battle. There were more guards here than there had been before, and there were already several men littering the floor by the time Ben fired his first shot.

Just over a minute later, they were moving up the road again, towards a very thick looking wooden gate.

"Elite soldiers my arse!" Ben exclaimed shaking his head, "I could have beaten them in my sleep!"

Walter snorted. "Be that as it may, there'll be more coming, so stay alert! We have to find a way past this gate."

Stupid…

"Always with the damn gates," he shouted, kicking it.

Page turned to Walter, "What we need are explosives. But I used mine on the way here."

Milena sighed, "Well that's a bit of a shame."

Ben smirked as a thought popped into his head. "If only we knew some sort of tiny, crazy old man who enjoyed blowing things up…"

And, as if waiting for his cue, the gate exploded, and a 'tiny, crazy old man' walked through the smoke, with his wall of a body guard by his side. "Ha ha! Did you see that, Boulder? Let the whole city bow to our thunder!"

How the hell did he…?

"Hang on. How did you get to the other side in the first place?"

Sabine tapped his nose, "Dwellers have their ways, my boy. Is there anyone left to kill?"

"There will be soon," Page exclaimed, "More troops are on the way. Kalin's fleet got a fair few, but not all."

Ben turned to face Milena. "We'll hold them off."

She looked like she was about to say something, but Sabine stepped in. "Come on, Boulder. There's more fighting to be done."

"Good luck in there," he said, smiling at her, "Hope the crown fits."

Milena smiled at him before turning to Walter. "Let's go." And with that, they ran into the castle, leaving the rest of them behind.

That was the last time he was ever going to see her as an equal, he realised. The next time, she would be the princess again… or the queen.

Another explosion brought Ben back to his present situation.

He put his left hand over his nose briefly and inhaled before running off to finish the fight, her scent clinging to him as if it belonged there…

They stopped outside of the war room, where they knew Logan, her brother, was, staring up at the great wooden doors.

"Shall we knock?" Walter asked, "Nah, let's surprise him."

Lifting their feet, they kicked the double doors from their hinges and they collapsed in a heap on the floor.

The room was darker than Milena had expected, but she could still see that, apart from the king himself, the room was void of anyone. Logan was stood next to a map of Albion, his sword half drawn.

"So this is how it ends. The old fool and the child who ran away," he slid his sword back into its sheath, "You've finally become the woman I always wanted you to be."

What?

"She's a lot more than that," Walter said as they started to walk towards him, Tyson in tow, "And now she's ready to take your place."

Logan… smiled? He looked almost relieved! "Perhaps the time has come for someone else to lead Albion."

Milena felt the anger inside her build. "You were never a leader. Just another tyrant."

Her brother looked down at the map, a look of shame flashing across his face. Only, it couldn't have been shame… It was Logan! He was cold. Hard hearted. Why would he be ashamed?

He looked at her. "Did it ever occur to you that I may have had good reason to be?"

She blinked.

She remembered what Ben had told her, how he understood why…

"We're not interested in your reasons," Walter said, glaring daggers at his former king.

"Cower behind ignorance if you will, but my sister deserves to know the truth."

"Save it for the trial, Logan," the knight said as he started to lead the tyrant out of the room, "You can beg for your life then."

As soon as they left, Milena shrunk to her knees.

None of it made any sense!

Logan was a tyrant, a murderer, a cold hearted ruler, but everything Ben had told her…

Oh why couldn't it all just go away!

Covering her face with her hands, she let her tears fall silently, the scent of an obnoxious captain enveloping her in its warm protection.

AN - Haha! I know it's been ages, but I've only just finished my exams, so don't hate me... please?

Anyway, I hope you liked this chapter. I'm not very good at establishing romance in a story, so I hope this is okay...

I found it really hard writing this chapter. It's really hard getting back into a story you haven't touched for a while, but I've had some help #cough# Well I Don't Mind #cough#. Think I might have to play the game again to get it back in my head...

Sorry it took me so long to upload another chapter, but I hope the next one will be sooner in coming!