Hetalia - The Cold of War
Chapter 25! And now, the last part of the flashback. This chapter was interesting to write but by its end we will be moving back into the present. As I always state, your reviews and continued support are part of the driving force of this story. That's why I'd like it if you could please leave a review that the end of the chapter to just let me know if you are still all enjoying it. That's all and now I present you the chapter,
Enjoy!
The Mortal Realm, The Elder Grove, Outside Gisil Kirkland's cabin
"How?," Victoria growled, raising her wings to shield her mate and child from the Fallen Angel's sight, "the Gate was guarded. Caesar would let none pass through"
Haldis bowed his head as he bit his lip playfully, rolling his head back around with catlike laziness "Ah, which is why I didn't. See there are other ways out of the Otherworld, Victoria, if one only has access to it". The matter he carried himself in as he strolled closer was that of a victor, as though he had already won whatever game he was playing. From under his naked feet, shadows whelmed up and rose about him in tendril-like fashion. Nether, the element of darkness and shadows. An element that wholly opposed Victoria's good Light element of Aether, too strong to be wielded by any Dominion Archangel. The Seraph of Gaia paled when realisation dawned upon her.
"You became what I am to the Lady Gaia, a Seraph. Or rather, a Fallen Seraph of Tartus. With your new power, you warped yourself through the Shadow Realm to here" Victoria grimly put together, invoking her divine Grace and felt the reassuring pulse of it throb throughout her being. Haldis smiled his confirmation at Victoria's theory and shook out his newly formed six enormous midnight-ink wings; the two Seraph stood terrifying as equals.
Haldis tipped his head to the side to spy the company Victoria shielded, the corners of his lips tugged when he saw them and the warding that temporally protected them. "You know once you are dead, ripping down those humans and the pathetic 'protective' letters they've scribbled will be child's play. What do you think you will achieve by resisting? Submit and you will avoid unnecessary more bloodshed. Hand over the child, or I kill your mate and his spawn, slowly" He threatened, spitting the last word with poison. Behind her, Gisil hissed in anger and braced himself for action; whether it was to fight or flee, Victoria did not know.
The wind howled and cut cold like a knife as Victoria shook her head and held her palms out, prepared to give Haldis one final chance for redemption. "Enow, Haldis! Yield, return to us and I swear to you a fair trial. Cease the madness Lord Tartus has you under!" She tried in fairness, despite dishearteningly already knowing the answer.
Haldis gave a bare faced laugh "Return? Yield? Those words are forever foreign to my ears. Nay Victoria, t'night, is your last," His voice tightened as impatience dripped into his tone. At her shoulder, Gisil laid a hand on it to gently move her to the side so that he could face the Fallen Angel.
"Not if I have anything ta say about it, bastard" Gisil rumbled as he moved Arthur so that he cradled him in one arm, his free hand began to spark and crackle with low flames as he ignited his magic. Haldis laughed again, though in arrogant amusement this time.
"Ho? Oh, that's just precious, the human thinks it can do what the entirety of heaven could not," Haldis cooed with a voice of velvet "You needn't worry, I'll take excellent care of Arthur once you are both gone. Why, we look so alike he might as well already be my own". Victoria let out a mangled shriek. She snapped back an arm and shoved Gisil back so roughly that he fell and skidded in the direction of the cabin, her mate huffed as he heavily hit the ground and rolled as to not hurt the babe. Victoria leapt high into the air, wings thrown open and blinding.
"You'll never touch him!" She screamed as she launched herself at the smiling traitor, her Grace outlining her form in a radiant glow. Victoria sprang across the distance between them, raising her charged fist to bring it hammering it down on Haldis' face. Time seemed to slow as Haldis looked up to his attacker, he smirked and then disappeared as he sank into the shadows. Victoria's fist cracked the spot of Earth where he had been. She spun to avoid a chasing tendril of shadow, narrowly missing it. She weaved and dodged with the skill as more chased her, a dancer against the lashing whips of darkness.
A way away, Gisil groaned as he raised himself off the ground, giving a quick glance downward to see if was Arthur unharmed; the distressed babe uncomfortably wriggled against Gisil's bare chest. Behind him, Gisil sensed his eldest rush over to him. Allistor's breathing was heavy as he stopped, his distraught eyes switching from Victoria back to his father. Gisil placed a hand on the boy's shoulders and used it as leverage to haul himself up.
"Listen laddie, take tha babe an' hide inside. My Queen needs her knight" Gisil ruffly rasped, swaying slightly as he found his feet. Allistor scowled, and furiously shook his auburn headed head.
"Yer aff yer heid! Naw, we should'a flee. Leave that bairn, let em' Angels fight it out an' we'll get away scot free!" Allistor begged as he insistently tugged on Gisil's trouser hem with a strong little grip. Gisil firmly gripped his son's shoulder and lent down so that they were eye to eye.
"I understand why ya feel that way lad. But, this babe, he's not someone we can just leave behind. Allistor, we have ta protect him like we protect our own". Allistor's face scrunched up in confusion, his suspicious eyes darted over to the evading Victoria, they widened when he saw that the golden colour of her hair matched that of the baby infant of him. He snapped his head back to the infant and saw the signature Kirkland green colour his irises. A conflict of emotions rippled through young Allistor's face, his eyes widening when he put together two and two.
"He is her's, isn't he? Her's and your's," Allistor said heavily, the knowledge that his father likely left his mother for another sat uneasily on his too young mind. Gisil's face softened as he looked at his son.
"Aye lad…he is. Which means he's yer brother to, an' right now, I need ya ta protect this family. Can you do that son? For me?" Gisil softly pleaded, reaching the tiny Arthur out. Allistor looked down at the baby, before he looked back to his old man and took his brother.
"For the family" Allistor promised. The boy turned and ran back to the crowded doorway, Seamus and Dylan watching fearfully inside. Gisil nodded to his sons before he turned his attention back to his beloved and cracked his huge knuckles. The Seraph of Gaia twirled and spun as the shadows continued to chase her. Beyond her, Gisil saw the bastard Angel watch the scene; a sinister entertained smile on his handsome face. Unseen to Victoria, Haldis raised his palm and with it, behind him, rose a serpentine shadow. The shade familiar hissed, it dark tongue slithered out and tasted the air, its movements smooth and slow as it sized up its target. Haldis pointed at Victoria, and the snake moved.
"Victoria!" Gisil shouted out in warning. Victoria turned as the shade coiled and sprang. With the agility of a snow leopard, Victoria leant back and plucked the snake out of flight. She held it writhing in her gasp before giving it a disgusted look and crushed it back into formless dark matter. A temporary victory in Gaia's name.
"An attack when your enemy's back is turned. You truly do have no honour left," Victoria sneered at Haldis as she shook out her hand that had killed the shade; her usual confident air surrounded her. Haldis' smirk had took a sour downturn, his eyes had lost their playful wink and instead were cold and calculating. His gaze slid over to the children, and that sly smile was back on.
"Shall we see how long humans can survive without oxygen?" He mused as he raised an outstretched to the cabin, directed at a trembling Allistor. Gisil threw himself forward, out over the protective circle and smashed his fist into Haldis' chest. The blow connected solid and the Fallen was blasted backwards. He collided into the hard bark of a pine tree, the tower creaked and groaned as it tilted and fell. Gisil's shoulders heaved as he raised his fists for more, fiery Greek-fire eyes alit and blazing. Victoria gazed at her mate with awe, a rose flush coloured her cheeks at his bravery and strength. It occurred to her, as she stand motionless, how blessed she was to have his undying love. Gisil's eyes flicked over to her, throwing her a flirtatious wink before they darted back to where Haldis had fell.
Gisil smirked, "Let's make short work of this, Love". He bounce on the balls of his feet in a boxer's stance like a champion. Victoria was about to reply with her own witty reply when her smile fell off her face as from the corner of her eye, she saw Haldis rise with his palm out. A bubbling mist of darkness brewed with ill intent as it aimed to fire at the vulnerable mortal. Victoria reacted with focus only on her love.
"Gisil!" Victoria cried with a wild swipe of her hand. Gisil was thrown off his feet away from the scolding energy blast that would of killed him. The sorcerer hit the ground and rolled, before seeing that it was Victoria that had thrown him. A breathless thanks on his lips to call out, when a sudden tendril of shadow spiked directly into the Seraph's abdomen, and sank in deep.
Victoria did not move, looked down and choked; blood mixed with spittle. A earsplitting scream howled from the cabin and Gisil felt as though his blood had been replaced with lead. His mind blank, and then desperate panic replaced shock.
"Victoria!" The crazed man shrieked, the name sounded as it had violently clawed its way out of his raw throat. Over by the fell tree, the fell Angel barked a hagged unstable laugh as he saw the view; having found the Seraph's sentimentality humorous. Gisil to tried to rise, stumbling over his own feet as he staggered to run to his lover's aid. But to the surprise of all, Victoria held a blood-soaked hand to halt him; blood continued to dribble down her paled face. Where she had hunched over the shadow, Victoria slowly, painfully straightened up. She took a deep breath to clear the pain and turmoil splattered across her face. With her face and body's torture under control, her stare rose to meet Haldis' unnerved one.
"How?!," Haldis demanded as he shook free his wings, several more tendrils snapped up in his anger "That should of killed you". Victoria shook her golden locks out with delicate slowness with a smug leer. Her body began to glow and Victoria gripped the spike that had stabbed her. With the same easy might as before, splintered the shadow into nothing.
A divine light began to glow atop her head, golden like the sun. Savouring the sweetness of Haldis' expression of realisation and horror, Victoria reached for the crown of her head. Brilliant particles of light winked into existence, gathered atop and began to spin galaxy-like. The tiny lights picked up speed and grew, until they formed the Seraph's ring of divinity. The holy symbol that her Angel's blade had been released. "How is this possible? Gaia hasn't resurfaced in eons. When could she have possibly given you permission to release your blade!" Haldis hissed and back-peddled, his distilled face coiled with rage and his tentacles of the dark rattled. "How is this possible? Gaia hasn't resurfaced in eons. When could she have possibly given you permission to release your blade?!".
"T'is simple: my Lady is always with me, no matter how far away we may be. Faith, Haldis, is a concept you'll never understand under Tartus' service. As to the how I am able to unsheathe my blade, Lady Gaia granted me permission to choose when to draw my blade whenever I wished on the day of my coronation as Seraph. Along with the authority to authorise the release other's blades" Victoria calmly explained as she grasped the gleaming band with both hands and held it out. With the ease of snapping a twig, Victoria snapped the aureola in half, it's light burst out like shattered fireflies before they converged into a long silhouette. There was a snap and Victoria's blade cracked into existence. The blade was two long golden interlocking talibon blades joined together as to act as the limbs of a recurve bow, no drawstring to be seen for it's arrows were made of light; it was an angelic weapon for melee and ranged attacks. The balance perfect. It bobbed afloat in her open palm for a second before in one movement, she spun it, nocked an arrow, and drew back to aim it at Haldis' heart. Her exalted gaze anchored to Haldis.
"You recognise 'Icarus', don't you Haldis? When you fought alongside me, you saw how it cleaved the Leviathan t'int two at the Battle of the Red Mountain. Do you believe you will be able to survive a blow from this distance?" Victoria's voice lacked any humane emotion, there was only ice as she drew the arrow back further. Haldis viciously pulled his lips back over his teeth to bare them at Victoria. He did indeed recognise the blade, and shrank back a few steps with wings raised defensively.
"This isn't over Victoria," He hissed as he moved away back into the gloom of the trees, "I am patient, I will wait for a time when not even you will be able to reach your son. And when that time comes, you will only be able to weep on the sidelines as I claim him. Arthur, will never be free of me". And with that, Haldis vanished from sight. The forrest rustled restlessly, its queer silence broken by a babe's sudden outburst. Certain Haldis had left, Victoria sheathed her blade and turned to look at her love with solemn eyes; the blood from where she had been stabbed had become crusty and dark. Gisil rose and looked to his children, and then his love.
"Love?" He asked cautiously, his body still tense from the adrenaline in his veins. A pregnant pause took the air as Victoria came down from her cool rage. She turned to look at Gisil.
"Yes. Yes, Gisil. I am here," Victoria hazily answered, blinking her molten amber eyes before she focused them on her mate, "I am calm…Where is my son?". At that Gisil looked over to where the children were gathered, looked pointedly at Allistor and gave a whistle and a motion of his head for him to bring Arthur over. Allistor gulped and, with Arthur awkwardly bundled in his small arms, hurried over. The eldest Kirkland looked up at the beautiful Angel nervously with wide eyes as he reached them, his lower lip trembling slightly. Victoria looked down at the human child with a equanimity, she knelt down to face him at eye level.
"May I have my son, fledgling?" She asked softly, smiling to herself at how alike he looked to Gisil. Allistor made a discomforting sound and rightened his hold on his slipping brother.
"Y'ar not human" Allistor bravely stated, his little heart thumping loudly to Victoria's sensitive ears.
Victoria shook her head gently "No, I'm not". Allistor looked down at the babe he held and his brows drew together.
"Does that need he's not human". With her back to him, Victoria heard Gisil take a sharp inhale of breath. She sighed
"Not completely, little one. He is half human like your father, and half Angel like myself. But there is something I must do to disguise that about him. To protect him, or else many will come calling for him. Do you understand?" Victoria spoke carefully to Allistor, the latter nodded but didn't hold out Arthur to her yet.
"Da said he's ma brother. An' we protect our own. He's relying on me ta protect him" Allistor proudly proclaimed to her, his chest puffed out. Victoria felt the corners of her lips upwards with amusement and delicately placed a hand on Allistor's shoulder.
"Then I to will place my faith in you…" Victoria trailed off as to ask for a name. Allistor promptly answered.
"Allistor. First-born of Gisil Kirkland" He announced with pride. At the cabin, little Seamus and Dylan had began to grow bolder in their movements across the lawn towards their father. They ran to their father and clung to his leg, watching from behind the limb with admiration at their brother's bravery for facing the strange woman. Gisil patted their heads reassuringly as he watched his woman and son converse.
"Well then, watch over him well, Allistor first-born of Gisil Kirkland. May the stars watch over you" Victoria blessed, placing two fingers to her lips and then to Allistor's forehead. The child's brows rose in surprise before he understood and smiled a toothy smile back at his unofficial second mother. He held out Arthur to his mother. Victoria took her child into a cradle and gestured to Gisil to hold him. Her mate came over and compelled, puzzled looks all directed at her as she spun the babe so his back was to her.
"For Arthur to live as a human, his Grace must be suppressed. My seal will keep it controlled, though it is not permanent and will, inevitably, break. His wings on the other hand, have already began to grow. They will have to be broken off, the seal will prevent them from growing again" Victoria instructed as she concentrated on her Grace and instilled the seal onto her son's Grace; internally grimacing as she felt it shriek and attempt to resist her smouldering.
With difficulty and heartache, Victoria forced Arthur's Grace to stem from his Soul and to condense. She buried it deep down inside his aquatic blue-green mindscape, knowing with terrible guilt that she had created a split of personality in her son's mind; divided what she should of not. She knew when the seal would weakened and eventually break, the personified Grace that she had locked away would lack humane emotions and thoughts. Cold and apathetic like how she was before she met Gisil. And yet the years of separation from it's other half would make it unstable at first, desperate to be whole again. It would be Arthur's challenge to overcome alone. It ached at Victoria impose the cruel seal upon her own son, and yet she dutifully knew that it was the only way to cloak him from Hell's sight.
Arthur gave out a piercing cry as his Grace was sealed, two identical marks on his shoulder blades flared an angry red; the place where his wings would grow. The toddlers Seamus and Dylan covered their ears and Allistor screwed up his face unpleasantly until Gisil hushed and placed a soothing hand on top of Arthur's locks, whispering a calming chant until his breath. The agitated Arthur settled and balled his tiny fists against his father's chest. Gisil turned his eyes to Victoria.
"There's still something. It's not as potent, but still there. People will notice something is off Victoria, they'll ask questions"
"Then tell them that he has inherited a rare ability, 'The Sight'. A half truth. He will be able to see things other's can't, but there is no real heritable gift. You will have to feed the lie, continue it even away from praying eyes," Victoria returned as she took back Arthur, "Gisil, when the seal breaks, the characteristics of my people will awaken and his Grace will be uncontrollable. Having lived all his life as human, he will have no idea how to cope with it. When this happens, you must teach him to understand himself"
Gisil made a gasping noise as he struggled to process the dump of information, his eyes distracted and confused "But love, my knowledge is flax in the angelic field. How can I teach him when I barely know myself?". Victoria reached out and reclaimed her son, cradling Arthur against her breast. His pink chubby cheeks wobbled as he moved to get comfortable.
"When you must become a student before a must seek out our prophet in the land of sand. He will counsel you on our ways, so that you one day will be able to pass on the same teachings. This, you must do, else our son is lost" Victoria determined, her voice quivering on her last sentence. The prospect of what she asked of Gisil weighed heavily on him. The man half shook his head.
"Victoria..the lads. They are but wee bonnies. I cannot leave them at such a tender age. Give me an extension, please love. Time enough ta at least ensure that Allistor will be able to take care of them on his own" He pleaded as he took one of her hands into his own. Victoria closed her eyes and took a heavy sigh. When she opened them again, they were full of sorrow.
"Three years. The day Arthur turns three years of age, you must leave without fail," She decided firmly, the flash in her eyes told Gisil that no more time was up for negotiation. Victoria turned and looked up at the darkened night sky, clouded black and boomed with claps of thunder. The battle for Heaven still raged on, and without her strength, it would surely fall ."My time is up dearest one. My Lady's Kingdom will not hold without mine help…This is where I departure, back to the Otherworld"
A line formed between Gisil's brows at her mournful tone, and he moved to cup her cheek; his hard eyes softened as they drank in her woeful beauty. "You make it sound as if this is our last farewell,". Victoria felt tears prick at her moistening tears as she leant into his affectionate touch. "And I don't think I could bear that".
The Seraph angel gave out a huff of a laugh at the irony "Oh, you. Who can venture the greatest man to walk this realm, had the delicate heart of a flower petal". Gisil gave his own sharp laugh and closed the distance between them so that their hot breaths intermingled sweetly.
"Would you have me in any other way, truest Love? Heart of my heart?". Victoria closed her wet eyes and shook her head. She move her forehead forward and Gisil did the same. They amorously leant against each other in their unique embrace, hearts pining for what they could not have.
Victoria breathed in a broken pained voice "We were going to spend eternity together, with our son. We could of watched all the ages of this world pass by, and then watch the birth of the next one…We could of been so happy". Gisil's heart clenched as he thought of their lost future, droplets of water became to mist his own orbs.
"Stay," Gisil hoarsely whispered through a closed throat "Stay, with me. Together, we can hide Arthur. Raise him into a fine man worthy to be called your son".
"Though my heart bleeds for that dream, I solemnly know that at it must and will always remain that. A dream. I am the Seraph of Gaia. I must return, fight in my Lady's throne. It is my nature" Victoria sobbed, her nose brushed against her love's. Gisil made a mewling sound from deep within his throat as if to weep.
"How will I continue to go on, dearest one? This world will be barren without you in't"
"You will have our child, a piece of me here with you, Darling dear. Through him, I will always be beside you," Victoria smiled "You, Gisil Kirkland, gave me a gift no one else ever could. A miracle, you made me a mother…You are the eternal holder of my heart, and while your memory of me will fade by the years, I will never forget you". And with those parting words, Victoria pushed her child into his arms and turned to walk away from the only man she ever loved. She didn't get far. A grip enclosed her forearm and spun her, back around to have her lips clash against her man's. Gisil smothered his rough lips to her soft ones, the edge that held the kiss so sharp that Victoria's breath was stolen from her. Her head spun as her eyes fell closed and her hand snaked into his lion's copper mane to clutch him closer. It was filled with longing and desperate love, bittersweet with the knowledge that it was likely their last.
Around the messy kiss, Gisil growled in a deep, husky voice "As if I could ever forget that perfect woman. I don't care if it's hundred years nor a thousand. I will wait for you, Victoria, Seraph of Gaia. I swear ta you: when tha sun rises from tha west and sets in the east. When the lion lies with tha lamb and Hell itself freezes over cold, that will be the day I will stop awaiting y'ar return"
Victoria smiled with adoring love before she moved both hands to caress Gisil's face and breezed her lips finally onto his "I love you, Gisil Kirkland"
"And I you, more tha' life itself" Gisil dazedly replied. Victoria slid her gaze down to Arthur and leaned down to place a lingering kiss centre of his forehead.
"Farewell, blood of my blood. May the stars watch over you and the wind always be on your back. May the sun eternally shine upon you and most of all, may Gaia be with you" Victoria breathed her prayer against her young one's skin. She pulled away and walked away across the stretch of grassy land. Her titanic whiter-then-white six unfurled with flourish, the air whooshed out around her as she stood ready for flight. But before Victoria brought her wings down to launch herself into the air, she paused and cast the slightest of glances back to where her beloved stood. In his grasp, Arthur's eyes were round and confused as he reached out for his mother; clasping and unclasping his little fists. His father stood bravely silent tears running undisguised down his face.
She turned her head back. "Enough" She whispered to herself, just before she threw herself back into the skies, back and away from the life she could never have. Gisil watched her as she soared away until all he saw was the spot where she had vanished from sight. He was not broken from his trance until a keen tug brought him out of his thoughts. It was Allistor who had tugged him, his wide eyes were looking up questioningly to him and Arthur.
"What do we do now?" Allistor sheepishly asked, shivering slightly from the night's chilling wind. Gisil turned back to the heavens with an empty heart. Where the spot Victoria had flown, a single star had appeared against the otherwise void night. The sight gave him a spark of hope, a promise that one day he and Victoria may meet once again someday. Gisil Kirkland looked down to the babe he held squirming in his arms, the little life he had created, and a sad smile came onto his face.
"The only thing we can, live".
Later that same night, after the Kirkland family had fallen into a deep sleep, a phenomena that shook the Earth occurred. It started as the battle for heaven moved into the Earthly realm, Demons and Angels relentlessly at each other's throats. Blades against claws, Archangels against their fallen kin. The battle had escalated, volcanos erupted and mountains shook from the brutal force generated from the devastating clashes. Such movements violent enough to reach the innermost core of the Earth, where the Goddess Gaia stirred. She awoke, and was mortified at what her fallen children had attempted. Her horror turned to wrath when she realised her malevolent brother's involvement and malicious intent against her precious Men. Invoking ancient power she had not since the birth of her planet, Gaia pried open both Heaven and Hell gates. With her voice alone, Gaia forced the Fallen Angels and their army of darkness back through the gates of Hell, before she sealed it forever behind them. She then, despite the protestant cries and wails, proceeded to do the same with her own army. The Angels were flung back into the Otherworld against their will, the gate behind them locked shut by their Lady Goddess. Gaia had cast out both Angels and Demons from Earth, shut them out so that they could only watch from the sidelines as humanity continued it's progressive life, blissfully ignorant of the holy civil war that had took place over night. With the threat to her humans gone, Gaia fell back exhausted into her deep sleep. Since then, she has ever remained there, with the gates to Heaven and Hell still shut tight.
And there we have! History explained! New questions raised and the story continues! A chuck of lore about Angels was dropped, my favourite involving their blades. A little detail I included was to name Victoria's blade Icarus (as it is identical to the famous weapon in the Kid Icarus series) but also because I feel that all great weapons are named. So in the future, we may be seeing more angelic blades and their wielders *wink wink*
Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed this chapter! If you are liking this series and wish to see it long continue, please be sure to leave a review to tell me your thoughts, opinions and questions. Once again thank you for reading and as always,
Until next time folks!