Disclaimer, I own nothing, don't sue me.

Chapter 7: Trial

Mass production of spectre mobile artillery platforms was on track, thus far eight of them were ready for deployment while a further six stood by in the reserves. Field tests indicated all systems functional and they simply awaited an actual target now.

Saito nodded with satisfaction as several cyborg shadow teams were likewise combat ready. Just a little longer and he'd be able to shell the ever-living crap out of Midgand and any other Reconquista forces in the area.

The only issue plaguing him was the fact that troop redesign was proceeding a lot slower than he'd hoped. Tiberium based arms and upgrades were perfectly fine back on Earth where they'd just be another drop in the ocean, but Halkeginia was a different story. The risk of tiberium infection was too high to justify fielding them.

Which left him the unenviable task of having to recreate other tech from whatever blueprints hadn't been scrubbed in the name of compartmentalisation. Repurposing his production facilities to produce something they weren't designed for was another major headache.

Still, it was a headache he'd willingly bear if it meant he could field tiberium troopers again. Sure he could just stick a rifle or rocket launcher on them but that was highly resource inefficient. The sooner he managed to reproduce the obsolete flamethrowers used by the black hand the better. With the world still placing large focus on infantry battles, dedicated anti-infantry weapons capable of melting flesh would be a massive psychological advantage.

A loud crash reached his ear and Saito sighed in exasperation. His eye began to twitch when the scorpion tank backed up only to immediately ram into the side of his war factory a second time. "Again? Really?"

In hindsight, giving a bloody tank to a bunch of kids to play with probably wasn't one of his best ideas. A small beeping came from his communicator, sighing as he hit a button, TIffa's worried face popped up. "Umm Mr Saito…"

"They're fighting over the controls again aren't they?" Saito could make out squabbling in the background and his command centre seemed more than a little messier than he remembered it. A sheepish nod was the only response from his master and Saito sighed again.

"Would you mind passing on a message? The kids will learn to share or I will remotely deactivate the tank then nobody gets a turn. And if they break something, they don't get to ride the avatars."

A nod and then the feed cut off, Saito was pleased to note that in its aftermath sweet blessed silence greeted his ears as the scorpion stopped trying to bulldoze the building. A part of him was glad that his old comrades weren't here to see this, if they ever found out he caved under the pressure of a few children begging for a chance to play on one of his 'toys' he'd never hear the end of it.

Still… he couldn't deny that a part of him enjoyed seeing smiles on their faces. Just a few more weeks before he had the resources to start building avatar war mechs, Saito could hardly wait for that day to come just so he could see the looks on their faces. After all, what kid doesn't love giant robots?

Returning his attention to the digital feed from one of his spy drones scouring the countryside for any sign of the prince, his attention was drawn to the one that had picked up an anomaly. The feed was grainy as ambient magicial energy played hell with the sensors but he could make out that a massive amount of earth had been gouged out as though hit by high powered artillery. At its centre was a tunnel descending into the earth. Quickly running through the calculations in his head, the tunnel had to be at least the size of a building.

"Well, hundred bucks says that's where our prince got off to." Saito surveyed his surroundings, at the moment there wasn't much else he could do. Production was in full swing and there wasn't a need for him to personally oversee things. With his earlier threat and Lady Tiffa, the children had been brought back under control and wouldn't level the base anytime soon… hopefully.

Saito sent out a command, marshalling twenty squads of awakened and two of the shadow teams into formation. The inquisitor nodded grimly as the cyborgs fell in line and prepared to march in the direction of the tunnel.

As for himself, he would proceed to the site in one of the available venoms. Magic occasionally screwed with his systems and it wouldn't do to have battle control terminated in the middle of an operation. He'd go in person to take direct command of the troops if remote operation failed.

Sending a message to his master about his actions, Saito took to the skies to scout out the route ahead. Even if reports indicated there were no Reconquista forces in the area, it wouldn't do to be careless and accidentally reveal the location of Westwood. The rest of the army would follow soon after.

"Alright, now we just have to retrieve the prince… if he's still intact."

-line break

Empty rooms with furniture haphazardly strewn around the place greeted Wales as he continued his journey through the empty castle. He was grateful for the cessation of pursuit by those murder happy golems. Less so about the insidious whispers that replaced them for the past few days.

The prince grinded his teeth in frustration as he uncovered yet another empty room, he was completely lost at this point and he swore the corridors were shifting around when he wasn't looking, even if the castle was bigger on the inside due to magic this was plain ridiculous.

"You'll never escape."

The shadows seemed to dance along the edges of his vision but every time he turned to look there was nothing there. No matter how hard he looked he could never find the source of the incessant whispering. All of his detection spells registered that he was alone in this section of the castle.

"Why do you resist? Submit."

The voice assaulted his ears again, little more than a whisper, in the confines of his mind it was deafening. Roaring in anger, Wales spun around and fired a burst of wind magic at empty air. The razor wind transformed a wooden table into a fine cloud of sawdust but had no other effect.

"You fail again. You've always failed. You always will fail."

"Shut up! Shut up! SHUT UP!" Wales dropped his wand and sank to his knees, pressing his palms against his ears, trying to shut the voice out.

"You're a disappointment. A mistake."

"ARRGHH!" Wales screamed and grabbed his wand, firing randomly at the shadows that crowded around him, levelling everything. "I am not a disappointment! I am not a mistake!"

"Lies. You remember the shame in your father's eyes every time he looks upon you. You could never be the son he wanted."

The voice was maddeningly familiar but Wales couldn't put a name to it. Always there, never granting him more than a few minutes of rest at a time, it was pushing his already frayed nerves closer and closer to a nervous breakdown.

"NO! I… I made him proud! He said so!" Half screaming, half crying, Wales staggered to his feet and starting running down the corridors, seeking an escape from this nightmare.

"Lies to keep you happy. You bring only pain."

"That's not true!"

"You hurt your family with your failures. You hurt your retainers with your selfishness. You hurt your people with your incompetence… you hurt Henrietta with your cowardice."

The crown prince grit his teeth and tried to keep the words from affecting him. "I WOULD NEVER HURT HER!"

"You denied her feelings."

"I… can't… my responsibilities… Reconquista would-"

"Excuses. Nothing but cowardice."

"And what would you have me do!? HUH!?" Wales stopped running and roared at the ceiling in place of his hidden antagonist. Tears of anguish pooled at the side of his eyes, threatening to fall at any moment.

"Do you think I don't know that!? We have our own responsibilities! I cannot return her feelings, not if it gives Reconquista a reason to invade Tristain! I will not be a burden to her!"

"But you already are. She will come for you."

"No. No. Nonono… she cannot, she won't!"

"She will."

"No." Wales' heart sank as his denial sounded hollow even to his own ears.

"Her agents will be intercepted by Reconquista spies… Tristain will burn because of you."

"NO! I WON'T ALLOW IT!"

"You can't do anything. You will die here, forgotten and alone, buried in your own self-doubt and cowardice. Reconquista will destroy the royalists, execute your hidden cousin and burn Tristain to ashes."

"Ho-how do you know about all this… how do you know about Henrietta, about my cousin… are you working for Cromwell? Just who the fuck are you!?"

"You know who I am."

Wales clutched his ears and started running again as the voice degenerated into dark laughter, blindly throwing open doors and sprinting down the corridor beyond. Tears ran down his cheeks as his stressed mind conjured up images of the future, each one darker than the last.

His breathing was ragged and the sound of his beating heart pounded in his ears. Crazed eyes darted from shadow to shadow trying to find the voice. This wasn't like fighting the golems from before or Reconquista assassins, this was beyond anything he'd ever dealt with.

How do you fight an invisible enemy that weaponizes your deepest fears? How do you deal with an opponent capable of crushing you with words alone?

Wales had no answer to that. Throwing open yet another set of double doors, he absentmindedly noted that this was the first departure from the identical corridors of before. The walls were made of softly glowing ice-blue crystals polished to a mirror like sheen.

Countless distorted reflections of himself were displayed in them in all directions, a maddening sight that he barely paid attention to, his mind completely consumed with the voice that still plagued him.

"WHY DO YOU TORMENT ME SO!? WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME!?"

"I want you to die."

-line break

Saito watched with morbid amusement as several of his awakened had already partially phased through a perfectly solid wall. Slamming his fist against it and feeling the rebound proved that the wall wasn't a hologram or illusion, at least not of a type he was familiar with.

Checking the feed from his troops, every one of them showed the exact same thing, impenetrable darkness with no end and a lack of any walls. There wasn't even a roof, just the ground beneath their feet.

Peering over the edge with them yielded only more darkness. Saito glanced at the dim speck of light that marked where the entrance was and noted that his rangefinder was still giving an error. By his estimate, they'd moved half a kilometre into the ground and the tunnel continued to slope downwards without an end in sight.

Reviewing the footage from the awakened, he noted that the runes on the walls were repeating at a fixed interval, he had zero idea as to what they meant but he could take a rough guess. 'So spacetime is loopy here. Gonna chalk that up to more magical shenanigans. Going back isn't an option either.'

It was a conundrum with no easy outs. Returning to the surface was out of the question since whatever magic was at work in this place effectively negated his ability to control his troops. Commands would either not register or have their exact opposite be carried out. Only by entering the tunnel himself did he regain control.

The abyss on either side was an unknown, none of his sensors could detect anything at all other than the same energy permeating the whole place. Blindly marching forwards was a waste of effort as well. He had attached a tracker to a small ball earlier and let it roll downhill, at the moment the ball was several kilometres away and showed no sign of stopping.

He was convinced that the tunnel was enveloped in some kind of spell that allowed it to stretch on forever. Going back was a no go, going forwards a waste of time, that left going down but possibly losing his cyborgs.

With a command, one of the shadow teams stepped through the wall and deployed their gliders, beginning their descent into the abyss. The camera feed displayed nothing but pure darkness until a sudden burst of static obscured it.

When it cleared up the darkness was gone, replaced with a walled off city and a beach of white sand. The connection to the cyborgs was holding steady but their location data was a complete mess. The shadows landed on the beach and stowed their gliders.

When nothing jumped out and tried to eviscerate them, Saito nodded and sent a squad of awakened through the wall after them. Bereft of the gliders, they fell through the air like a brick, as with the shadows, their feed was momentarily obscured before they passed through the veil and landed wherever the shadows were.

The inquisitor noted that at the instant static claimed the awakened, there was a small burst of light on the shadows' feed. The awakened popped out of that burst and fell into the lake. Wading to shore, they were none the worse for wear. Scans of the liquid indicated that it was water albeit with an unknown energy signature.

"Right… I am not taking a dip in that. Connection is holding fine, I think I'll just sit here, the marked will handle the rest."

Curious as he was about the city on the other side of the abyss, the inquisitor was happy to just sit in the tunnel and direct the troops from there. Leading from the front to inspire men of flesh and blood was one thing, actively throwing himself into the unknown just to sate his own curiosity was quite another.

One by one the other cyborgs leapt into the void and emerged on the other side to regroup on the beach. The second shadow team was the last to go through, their gliders taking slightly longer to deploy than just marching off the edge.

That was when it happened. There wasn't even a rumble or warning of any sort. One moment he was seating comfortably, the next his ass met air as the floor simply disappeared.

Saito barely had the time to let out a curse before he went tumbling into the void. Fortunately he was close enough to the last shadow team that he could grab hold of one instead of diving headfirst into the abyss.

Ejecting the cyborg from the glider and allowing it to fall, Saito strapped himself in and corrected his erratic descent. After passing a certain point the transition happened without warning and his eyes widened in surprise as the landscape just appeared out of the darkness.

Landing on the beach, he cursed softly and ditched the glider, watching as the awakened plus one shadow exited the lake. Checking his command interface, Saito's face fell as an error message returned when he tried to contact his base.

"Aw fuck, so much for reinforcements and evac." He shrugged and squinted at the battlements between him and the city. A single tower of light extended into black void above originating from the castle he spotted during his descent.

Figuring that was as good a place as any to begin his investigations, the inquisitor had a few recon drones fly over the wall to investigate the city beyond. He ordered the shadows to begin planting det packs on the portcullis when scans indicated zero life signs beyond.

"Knock knock."

The det packs sheared straight through the steel and left a mess of glowing twisted metal behind. Satisfied with his new entrance, Saito entered with his troops falling in behind him. He blinked when he felt energy coursing through his body, a quick check on the status of his minions indicated their power cells were at full capacity and climbing without any adverse effects.

'Very interesting.' The inquisitor would have loved to continue investigating the strange phenomenon afflicting them but the pillar of light coming from the castle was increasing in intensity and he had a bad feeling about it. Taking advantage of the power boost, the small army sprinted full tilt towards the castle.

As he got closer, the sense of unease increased. He'd fought in abandoned cities before but something about this one was off and it wasn't just the magic in the air. The city felt… wrong for lack of a better word.

The first sign of trouble came when his motion tracker started beeping and countless red dots appeared. Human sized golems poured out of the woodwork and mobbed them with weapons drawn.

The cyborgs opened up with their guns immediately and the first line of golems went down in a hail of bullets. Several of the awakened went down when massive arrows fell out of the sky and impaled them with deadly accuracy.

Saito cursed and commanded his shadows to break off and hunt down the archers before they could demolish his forces.

Emptying his guns into the solid wall of incoming hostiles, Saito retreated into the centre of the formation while reloading, using the cyborgs as human shields. He didn't have time for this, the golems just kept pulling themselves together no matter how many times they were blasted to pieces.

A part of him regretted not upgrading his forces with the new prototype supercharged particle beams in favour of rushing out spectres. Saito highly doubted the golems would be able to rebuild themselves once they were melted into scrap by his awakened.

"Too late for regrets now, come on tin cans, lemme show you the true power of superior NOD engineering." Redeploying the awakened into a wedge formation, Saito increased their pace and there was audible crunching when the golems were crushed under the weight of the cyborgs suicidal charge.

Without self-preservation instincts and the magic supercharging them, their charge would not be halted and the golems collapsed under either point blank gunfire or being bludgeoned with mechanical limbs when ammunition ran out.

Despite their showing, the awakened weren't invincible and one by one they fell to their less advanced cousins. Arms of the fallen golems continued to grasp at their ankles, pulling down more than a few cyborgs before the others piled on and tore it apart.

Giant arrows continued to harass them whenever the shadows were unable to reach the archers and more cyborgs went down in mass of twisted blood and steel.

Jamming his pistol in the helm of a nearby golem, Saito squeezed the trigger and blasted the head to pieces, a small smile graced his face when he spotted the bridge leading to the castle through a gap in the enemy ranks.

Wiping away blood from a cut above his eye where a sword had nicked him, he split his remaining forces into three groups. One held position and fought with fanatical devotion to keep the golems from the rest. Another broke free from the melee and made for the centre of the bridge before holding position there. The last formed the inquisitor's personal guard and kept the oncoming golems at bay while they sprinted across the bridge.

Connection to the first group cut off before long as they were overwhelmed by enemy numbers, disappearing behind a mass of black iron. Saito keyed a few commands into his terminal and crossed over to the other side.

A blast of heat tickled the back of his neck and the sound of gunfire was lost in the blast the followed it. The world was bathed in orange as the second group forcefully overloaded their capacitors and self-destructed, blowing the bridge and halting pursuit at least temporarily.

'Out of the frying pan huh…' Saito sucked in a deep breath as more contacts appeared on his motion tracker. Larger versions of the golems he just blew through started marching out of the water and towards him.

Noting that the battle damage around him predated his arrival and was relatively recent, he surmised that someone encountered the same opposition he did and fought their way into the castle. Whether that was the reason for the golem's hostility or not he had no idea, nor did he care really. The damage bore signs of wind magic which fit the prince's profile, and Saito hoped that if it was Wales, the man was still alive.

At the very least the doors were blown in and there weren't any bloodstains indicating a wounded or dead human. Saito chose to take it to mean that the prince or whoever it was at least made it inside the castle, whether they were still alive and kicking or not…

Saito shook his head and pushed that possibility out of his mind, he didn't have the time to entertain such thoughts. Exhausting his last magazine, he flipped the pistol around and began using it as a club. Against armoured golems twice the size of man they weren't very effective weapons but with his enhanced strength he made it work.

Sacrificing two more awakened in a last-ditch attempt to hold off the horde with their self-destructs, the inquisitor made it inside with his personal guard cut down to a measly six cyborgs, a far cry from the army he begun with.

-line break

Wales had come to a dead end.

His mad escape had led him to a semi-circular chamber. The walls curved away from him and ended at a mirror that took up the length of the room. A single ornate sword was planted into the ground just in front of it.

"No more running little prince."

For the first time since the voice started whispering, Wales paid it no mind, the sword had consumed his focus entirely. He felt like a young child again, being given a stern talking to by his father after making a mistake. It left him feeling both nostalgic and melancholic, those days were long past, memories of a happier time, when his mother was still in the land of the living and his father actually smiled out of happiness.

In a dazed trance, the prince approached the sword and reached out to it, the wind was howling in his ears and he just knew if he could draw out the sword everything would be alright.

An electrical shock running up his arm snapped him back to reality and Wales bit back a cry as he pulled his stinging arm away from the sword.

"Only the worthy may wield this sword. You are unworthy."

"I am worthy! I don't know who you are or what you want but I am the crown prince of Albion, I will not be mocked by you any longer! Come out and face me coward! Or can you only hide behind words." Wales shot back at the voice, surprised at the rage boiling beneath his skin, something about the voice had changed. It was more familiar now although he still couldn't place it, being belittled by it was even more aggravating now.

Dark laughter was the response to his challenge. "Have you looked in a mirror recently?"

Wales furrowed his brows in confusion before staring at his own reflection, trying to identify what the voice was getting at. Unlike the distorted reflections in the crystal walls, the one in the reflection was perfectly clear.

He saw a tired man on the verge of collapse from his ordeals. He saw a man who despised his own weakness but lacked the conviction to grow. He saw a man deluding himself into the believing the hopelessness of his problems without searching for a solution.

He saw himself.

"Oh."

"At last the blind fool opens his eyes to the truth." His reflection grinned and gave him a sarcastic slow clap.

"You. You're me."

"Indeed. No more lies little prince, no more running." Now he could place it, the voice tormenting him relentlessly… it was his own.

His reflection ceased clapping and stepped through the mirror, raising a copy of his own wand and pointing it at the original. "Time to show me what you're made of, prove yourself or die."

The reflection launched a spear of wind towards Wales who barely managed to counter it with a magic shield of his own.

"Why!? Why are you doing this!? I don't want to fight you!" Backpedalling and warding off incoming spells, the prince put some distance between him and his doppelganger before retaliating.

"Don't want to? Ha. Why should I stop? Your desires don't matter… you never have the guts to act on them anyway."

"What the hell does that have to do with anything? This is pointless!" Wales fired back and was caught off guard by a bout of depressed laughter, leaving him open for a water whip to tear open his cheek.

"Pointless? You see but you do not understand. I am you. I am every lie you ever told yourself. I am every emotion you ever bottled up because you were afraid to show it. I am everything you hate about yourself. No. This is a long time in the making." Punctuating each sentence with an assault spell, the doppelganger rapidly forced the prince back.

"So you're going to kill me because I refuse to accept you?"

"Yes."

-line break

Saito was cut off from his two remaining guards as a shimmering barrier sprung up between them, cutting off his retreat but also keeping the homicidal golems from getting to him. He watched with a frown as they fell upon the duo and reduced them to scrap before leaving.

"Okay… now what do I do." turning back to face the corridor he had been running down earlier, he noted that the same barrier had cut off most of the doors and side passages, leaving him a linear path to follow.

"Haaah… step one, identify trap. Step two, spring trap." Without any other options all the inquisitor could do was follow the path laid out for him. He kept a virtual map of the place stored in his memory but gave up on it after awhile when he noticed the path took him back to areas he should have covered earlier except were completely different.

"Spacetime magical bullshit again, got it… and can you stop with the whispering. Its rude to dig around in someone's head you know." Saito called out when his distorted voice started whispering in his ear. He didn't know how whoever was messing with him could just pluck things from his brain but he didn't like it in the least, it reminded him too much of the scrin and their fancy mind control.

"Nothing but a machine, always at the beck and call of someone else. First Kane, now Tiffania, do you have a will of your own or are you just a weapon."

"Why ask when you know the answer. The brotherhood is the arm of the prophet, and the Marked his blade. I am a weapon."

"And what of your desires? Stripped away with your humanity like so much else."

"Humanity is overrated. I have seen what humans can do when left unchecked. GDI taught me that well. As for my desires… I want what most desire I think… a peaceful world, one where weapons are no longer needed."

Saito shrugged his shoulders as he continued at a sedate pace, with space and time itself warped here and himself being railroaded, there was no point in running. He'd arrive whenever his observer decided it was time for him to do so, not a moment before and not a moment after.

"Yeah, I'm more machine than man but I don't mind. You see, I have perfect memory as a result of it. I remember what happens when you don't have enough strength to crush your foes, at the same time I will never forget what it is that I'm fighting for." The memory of the despair consuming the crowd when Reconquista was about to execute the innocent rose to the surface, as did the jubilation when he turned the tables.

"With your power you could rule. Instead you insist on being a slave."

"Ay, you misunderstand. The lack of a desire to rule is not the same as the intention to be a slave. I have spent nearly my entire life fighting against an oppressive regime, I will not be responsible for the rise of another. Yes, I am assisting the people of Albion to rise up and tear down their oppressors, but no, that does not mean I will condone their ascension to tyranny. I am a soldier of NOD, we oppose tyrants and despots wherever they are to be found, if the revolution loses their way I will bring them back into line… one way or another."

"So you'd betray your own people for your ideals."

"Bzzt. That is incorrect, I betray no one. If they do travel down that path then they are the ones betraying themselves. I am a weapon of the downtrodden, if the positions change, isn't it natural that my wielders and my targets switch around as well?"

"Such arrogance, you think yourself above everyone else. Your actions breed only chaos. You claim to be a guardian, but who watches you?"

"Lady Tiffa will. I have given her override authority, should I ever raise a hand against her I will shut down. Should she see that I have been compromised, I will shut down. Yes, the network isn't completely up yet but it will be soon, once that happens, HQ will have a constant feed of all marked activities for her to oversee. Nothing can be hidden and a kinder person than her I have never met. Even if I lose sight of myself, she will ensure I never turn traitor."

"So you hand an elf the keys to the kingdom. All power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely. She is no exception. In the end, she'll tear down everything you've built in a mad lust for power."

Saito snorted in disbelief. "Well you've clearly never met her then."

"Even if she is incorruptible, she is but of flesh and faith with so many weaknesses. She will become a pawn of others."

"And just what do you think I've been trying to prevent by keeping Westwood hidden? I'm not a fool, her power isn't normal, one way or another, she will end up in the public eye, that's just how these things tend to go. By the time that happens I intend to have an assassination network set up, anyone who tries getting to her won't end up with anything. They will just end."

"Where do you derive such confidence from." The voice asked again after a pause, the accusatory tone had disappeared, leaving behind only a curious one.

"I'm a bloody cyborg responsible for the lives of god knows how many people. It was that way back on Earth and it is so now. The revolution is young, untested, they are nothing more than civilians with guns and no matter how powerful their weapons, they aren't trained soldiers. Any mistake I make will cost them their lives. Even when I don't people will still die, no such thing as a flawless victory. I do not have the luxury of self-doubt, it is disrespectful to those who died believing in my leadership. Well, obviously suicidal overconfidence is bad and unnecessary risks are to be avoided."

Silence greeted Saito as he said his piece, whatever he said clearly satisfied his observer as he came to the end of the path. Pushing the door open, he entered into a dining hall with the furniture shifted to the side to make room for a duelling arena.

A copy of him stood at the other end of the room.

"Figured this might happen when you were using my voice." Saito called out as a greeting, drawing a nod from his other.

"Indeed. I have peered into your mind and discerned your will. But. There are still some things that can only be learnt this way."

"So we do this man to man." Saito stated.

"Indeed."

With that, both inquisitors rushed at the other fists at the ready.

-line break

Wales stumbled back and dropped to one knee after taking a kick to his midsection. Spitting out a wad of blood, he retaliated with a barrage of wind arrows, forcing his doppelganger to halt casting or be skewered.

The prince took the brief respite to catch his breath and tried coming up with a new strategy to beat his copy. Thus far everything he'd tried had come up short, they were just too evenly matched for any of his usual tactics to work.

Still wearing that mocking smile, his copy rushed him with a blade of wind forming around his wand. Unleashing a rapid series of thrusts, Wales was again forced back by the intensity of the onslaught and sustained several cuts where his defence failed him.

Biting back a scream when the copy lashed out with a sudden kick into his side, aggravating the arrow wound from before and sent a lance of pain through his entire being. Allowing himself to fall in the direction of the kick, he did his best to reduce the damage and used a wind spell to cause a mini explosion between them, forcing them apart.

Staggering to his feet, Wales grit his teeth and refused to allow his copy the satisfaction of seeing how much pain that kick had caused. "What do you want from me? You've had more than enough chances to finish me off by now."

"What do I want? What do you want?" The copy spoke in a disappointed tone while shaking his head.

"You're even more disappointing than I thought. Why do you insist on standing again and again and again when you are so unwilling to win?"

"Speak reason or don't speak at all imposter!" Wales shouted at his copy, unable to comprehend his words. Unwilling to win? He was doing everything he could to win. The one not trying to end the battle was his copy.

"Reason? You're the unreasonable one. You keep getting back up every time I knock you down but you aren't willing to actually beat me. Every time you attack I see the doubt in your eyes, before you even try you're already half convinced you're going to fail. How do you intend to beat me when you don't even believe that you can?"

The copy pushed on while the prince was still caught off guard by his words. "Don't feed me the whole I can't commit because I don't know what he can do routine. I am you and we both know those are nothing more than excuses."

"So what you expect me to just blindly commit and hope for the best?" Wales snorted in derision and summoned a vortex of wind around him, launching wind blades at random to harass the copy.

"Yes, as a matter of fact I do." Shrugging off the assault with a shield, a hyper-focused drill of wind was his answer and Wales just barely dodged out of the way as the spell tore through his vortex and shredded his side in the process.

"You've already concluded that that was the best choice of actions yet you continue to doubt yourself, never allowing yourself to commit. Any wonder why you disappoint everyone you meet? Even you don't believe in yourself, let alone everyone else."

"I am not a disappointment." Wales bit out through gritted teeth.

"Prove it."

This was an unwinnable battle and the prince knew it. His copy could do everything he could and knew his every move before he even thought it. Continuing this fight in the chamber would only end with his death.

Maybe he could fall back to the corridor outside, set up a kill zone where he could hit the copy from behind… but what if he knew it was coming? What if the clone already had a strategy for that occasion? What if… what if… what if…

A bitter look crossed the copy's face. "Unbelievable. You manage to disappoint even when it comes to being a coward. Can't even run away right… we're done here. Run along now little prince, the door to your right outside the chamber will take you back to the surface."

Lowering his wand, the copy favoured the original with a look of pity. "You are not fit to be king. It's for the best that Reconquista wins if you are the future Albion has to look forwards to. I don't even know what Henrietta sees in us anymore, whatever it was died a long time ago… if it even existed in the first place. Go. Get out of here. We're through."

Something in Wales snapped as the mocking tone penetrated into his skull. White hot rage burned inside him as every scrap of anger that had been building up for the past few days erupted in glorious violence.

Maybe he was playing into whatever the copy was up to, maybe he just signed his own death warrant. He didn't care, the only thing that mattered to him was beating the living shit out of the miserable imposter who dared to steal his face.

"You know what? Maybe you're right, maybe I am too damned cautious for my own good. Well, I am done holding back. Now… CHOKE ON MY FIST!" With a roar, Wales rushed at his copy wind surging around his clenched fists.

Adrenaline surging through him numbed the pain from his wounds and the berserk prince barrelled through an incoming storm of wind arrows without slowing down. Assuming he survived, he'd definitely feel it in the morning but right now the only thing that mattered was wiping the smirk of the other's face.

"Good. GOOD! Show me what you're made of!" The copy howled with insane laughter and ceased his spellcasting, meeting Wales with a charge of his own.

There was no finesse to their battle, no carefully planned tactics, no feats of skill. It was a simple fistfight between two individuals who staked everything on the line and absolutely refused to lose.

"I am the fucking crown prince. I will not be insulted by ANYONE! Least of all myself!" Slamming his fist into his copy's face, Wales felt a morbid sense of satisfaction when he saw blood fly from his mirror image.

"Crown prince eh? How do you expect to lead when you're ruled by fear?" Ramming a knee into Wales' stomach and following up with a vicious right hook, the copy received an armoured boot to the face for his trouble.

"I! AM! NOT! RULED! BY! FEAR!" Punctuating each word with a punch, Wales begin to force the doppelganger back.

"AREN'T YOU!? YOU HESITATE, YOU ALWAYS HESITATE WHEN IT MATTERS MOST! RUNNING IS ALL YOU'RE GOOD AT! ALWAYS PUSHING THINGS OFF! IT'S WHY YOU HURT YOUR RETAINERS! IT'S WHY YOU HURT HENRIETTA!"

Grabbing his lapels, Wales pulled the copy in close and headbutted him to shut him up. "DON'T YOU FUCKING SPEAK HER NAME IMPOSTER!"

"IMPOSTER!? IMPOSTER!? I AMYOU! I KNOW YOU! EVEN IF YOU LEAVE YOU'LL JUST END UP HURTING HER AGAIN BY REJECTING HER OUT OF COWARDICE! THEN YOU'LL DIE IN A LAST STAND AGAINST RECONQUISTA! HOW DOES THAT HELP ANYONE!?" Shouting at the top of his lungs, the copy returned the headbutt and started swinging wildly with his fists.

"SHUT UP! SHUT UP! SHUT UP! I WON'T LET THAT HAPPEN! I WILL BEAT YOU! THEN, I'M GOING TO DESTROY RECONQUISTA! AFTER THAT, I WILL MARRY HENRIETTA!"

Wales roared and dumped all his willpower into his right fist, increasing the strength of his punch to absurd levels. He'd be out of magic after this attack and if he missed or failed he'd be screwed. 'If I fail… no. I will not miss. I will succeed. I will beat him!'

Half blind from the blood and sweat in his eyes, Wales swung with everything he had and just before he connected, he saw his clone smile in relief.

Once the fist made contact, the magic holding the winds in place destabilised and the resulting explosion devastated the room. Wales went tumbling across the floor, eventually coming a painful stop when he collided with the far wall.

Staring up with pain filled eyes, he noticed that the copy had crashed into the giant mirror and while it didn't shatter, a spiderweb of cracks spread out from where the body was embedded.

"Heh… he… heh… well done. Finally found your resolve eh? About damn *cough* time." The copy's form flickered and begun to fade into nothingness.

"You pass… if only barely. Take up the sword and *cough* go meet your destiny"

"This… was a test?"

"The world is about to change, a crisis beyond anything you can imagine is coming and Albion *cough* Albion will need a strong ruler to weather the storm. A king must be resolute, walk tall and never look back, a leader can't lead if he isn't focused on the path ahead."

"Yeah, I'm done letting doubt and fear rule me." Wales rose to his feet as his body screamed in protest. Dragging his battered form to the sword, he wrapped both hands around the hilt, this time there was no shock and the sword slid out of the ground smoothly.

Power surged through him and Wales let out a gasp when the pain left his body, his wounds knit together and left only unbroken flesh behind. "Caledfwylch…"

"It's up to you to remain worthy of that blade, no more excuses, no more second guessing and… if you ever hurt her I'll be back to end you."

"Get in line. I have first crack at myself."

"Heh. One last thing, your missing cousin? Her familiar is here to retrieve you. Farewell my other self." With one last smile, the copy faded into nothingness and the mirror shattered completely.

-line break

"What an unreasonable existence. Kuh! Why am I losing!? You haven't overcome any of the darkness in your heart, I shouldn't be weakening!" Saito's clone put up a valiant defence but more and more of the inquisitor's blows were finding their way through his guard.

"You, are a copy of me from five minutes ago. That is why you're losing."

"What does that have to do with anything? I should be just as powerful as you are!"

Ramming his knee into his copy's midsection repeatedly, Saito delivered an uppercut and followed up with a roundhouse kick that send the copy skidding across the floor. A feral grin was on full display as he relished in the combat. "I don't know what you mean by overcoming the darkness in my heart or what not, I only know this. The most reliable path to victory is just to be better than your opponent."

"But you're not better than me!"

"All due respect, you are wrong. You haven't grown at all since we began. I on the other hand have been learning constantly. You see, you're completely stagnant but I have been improving with every blow we trade. I don't have to be the best, I just need to be better than the me from before."

Saito let out a peal of laughter born from the sheer exhilaration he felt. "You didn't weaken, if we both started at 1, you are still a 1 but I am at 1.01 now. Yes the difference isn't astounding but the longer we fight the closer I get to victory."

"…What an unreasonable way of doing things. Your worldview is warped." The disbelief was evident in his copy's voice.

"So I've been told." Shrugging in response, he waited for the copy to stand again before sliding back into a fighting stance.

"In any case thank you. It's not everyday you get to fight yourself. I'm stronger than I was before and it's all thanks to you."

The copy shook his head and wrung his hands in exasperation. "You're giving me too much credit, really I'm just here to test the resolve of all those seeking the power of kings. But you have resolve in spades."

"Seeking power? I… have no idea what you're talking about. I'm just looking for prince Wales. It's not my fault the floor disappeared under me and those bloody golems chased me in here." Saito said honestly and drew another disbelieving stare from the copy.

"Unbelievable, you broke into the inner sanctum and passed the trial without even meaning to? Truly you are an unreasonable individual." Shaking his head and letting his arms fall to the side, the copy indicated that it no longer wished to fight.

Reluctantly lowering his fists as well, Saito didn't have to wait long for something to happen. Bands of light appeared and began to wrap around thin air, when they faded an elaborately designed gauntlet was left floating in place.

"Take it, Aegis is yours now. I only ask that you use it to support the prince. Even if you remain intent on tearing down the monarchy, please, grant the prince your strength for now. A storm is coming and he cannot prevail alone."

"I did promise Charles I'd give him a chance and that is all I can guarantee." The inquisitor slipped his left hand into the gauntlet and felt magic surge through him along with the knowledge on how to use it.

Testing it out, he willed the gauntlet to change and change it did. First warping into a buckler, then a tower shield and lastly a circular greatshield with spinning chainsaw blades at the edges, Saito returned it to its gauntlet form and nodded appreciatively. The weight never changed no matter what form it took and he knew that it could reform into any shield his imagination could come up with no matter how impossible it was.

'Aww yes. This is going to be my new favourite toy.'

"It will have to do. Protect your master, protect Albion. And now, farewell." Fading away like a ghost that was never there, the inquisitor was left alone in the room.

"Hmmph, didn't need you to state the obvious. I'll protect Tiffa even if it kills me."

There was a rumbling and the far wall collapsed, opening up into another chamber. A man in tattered clothes vaguely reminiscent of a noble's attire stood at the centre of it. Blonde hair waved in a non-existent breeze and steely blue eyes met his own.

"Prince Wales?"

"Who's asking?"

"A friend… of a friend. Charles is still looking for you, you know."

"I see… I will have to apologise later. You wouldn't happen to be a familiar would you?"

"…As a matter of fact I am… why?"

"Your master happens to be my cousin, I'd like to speak to them."

"I was unaware my master happened to be royalty. Forgive me if I don't buy your words, even if my master is your cousin, which I doubt, why should I bring you to them? For all I know you could be intending to assassinate them. Your father's actions do not leave me with a lot of confidence."

"I am not my father. I only desire to see her safe, Reconquista knows of her existence and general location. They will not stop until she's dead, I just want to keep my family safe."

Saito kept his face blank but was frowning on the inside. If Reconquista already knew of the existence of Westwood if not the exact location, no amount of stealth technology would keep them from being discovered for long. He'd have to move the timetable up.

"Alright. Say I believe you, I bring you to her, what then? What is your intent?"

"I want her kept safe. If her location is secure I will leave and return to fighting Reconquista. If she isn't safe, I intend to bring her with me to Newcastle, the royalists will be able to protect her there. You have my word that I will do her no harm."

"The royalists? You are aware that you are losing right? Your ranks have been infiltrated by Reconquista spies and the situation is bad enough that only your personal guard can be trusted. The monarchy is finished."

Wales narrowed his eyes at the familiar, a slight edge bled into his tone. "You would have me give up then? I cannot. If Reconquista wins Albion will burn when they try to invade the rest of the world. Even if I might die, I have to fight. And I will win. I won't allow them to destroy everything. Maybe the monarchy will end with me, maybe the crown will go to your master instead, I don't know, I don't care. Right now the only thing that matters is crushing Reconquista and returning peace to the people. I won't ask you to believe in me, but I won't allow you to mock my ideals."

"Say you win, say you defeat Reconquista, are you going to continue your father's reign of tyranny? The people have suffered under his rule long enough, if nothing is done they will rise up again."

"Of course not! People are what make a kingdom, not any one king or noble. It will take time but I will see a new Albion rise from the pit it is sinking into. Reconquista is a symptom of the real problem, that of too much power concentrated in the hands of the few without any oversight. I will forge a new nation where this can never happen again. I will not have my people living in fear of some corrupt noble destroying their lives anymore."

As though to punctuate that statement, there was a bright flash and when the light faded they were both back aboveground at the entrance to the never-ending tunnel. The wound in the earth had closed and the blast crater was only a few feet deep now. All signs of the tunnel had vanished completely.

Saito raised his arm to shade his eyes as he readjusted to the bright sunlight. He'd heard enough from Wales to make a judgement.

"I have a proposal for you if you are willing to listen. Charles is helping me out with it but he won't commit more without your instructions. It mainly involves…"


Authors notes: Writer's block physically hurts. This chapter was incredibly hard to get out. In other news, C&C rivals just got announced. This one hurts the soul. EA killed the franchise with C&C 4 and now they want to milk its corpse for everything left.