Only the screams of the pedestrians could be heard as the Venatori advance. Cole started towards May as she was left in shock; her uncle managed to grab her wrist and yank her back to reality as they headed for the chantry. The spirit sighed with relief before blocking out the excess noise coming from the Venatori and other people around him, making sure to only hear the people he knows, and not the rage coming from the other side of the wooden walls.
"To me!" Sanya jumped off the ledge that was behind the campfire and easily leapt over the flames with her twin daggers at ready.
A light pat on Cole's back nearly made him jump, "Come on kid." Varric came out from behind him with his modified crossbow at ready. Cole just nodded while pulling out his daggers and turning invisible before running to the first enemy he sees.
ooOoO0OoOoo
Loch tosses a heap of wood that had fallen on one of the servants, trying not to catch himself on fire as the embers flew through the air. May offered a hand and helped the young woman up before letting her uncle take the woman from her and helping her run.
"You're not going anywhere!" A Venatori mage practically had venom backing his tone as he conjured a fire ball in his hand.
Loch quickly pulled a kitchen knife and charged at the mage, taking him by surprise and letting the fireball accidently cease as May's uncle knocked him down, managing to leave a long gash across the mage's chest, "May! Get moving to the Chantry!" Her uncle spouted as he held the tempered mage back.
She took a hesitant step forward, but obeyed and ran to the Chantry; after a few meters, she spots more Venatori, and they're pounding at the strong wooden doors while tossing fire at it; it seems to have some sort of protection ward since the flames merely bounce off of it.
"Hey!" One of the Venatori point to the frozen May, "Get her!"
May yelped before running to the nearest building and crawls into a hole through the side that's just enough for her to squeeze through, then a rough hand grabs her by the ankle, making her scream and kick at the hand, "Let go!" She squealed before delivering one last adrenaline filled kick and hearing a few cracks, probably his bones breaking, as he let go and allowing her to crawl to a corner of the empty home.
"Dammit!" One of the Venatori cursed as they pound at the barricaded door.
"I'll get her." A feminine voice told them as May hears light footsteps get closer to the tiny hole.
With quick thinking, she spotted a bookshelf next to the hole and rushes over to it. She aggressively used her whole body weight to tackle the bookshelf with her shoulder, causing it to slowly tip over and land heavily before the hole, successfully covering it with a loud BANG!
"Fucking bitch broke my hand!" The woman cursed as she backed away from the hole.
"That makes two of us, must be a gift." One of them remarks before a loud slap was heard.
"Shut up…" The woman grumbled.
"Just burn the house down," A third voice joins in, "She has nowhere to go now."
May's eyes shot wide as smoke filled the air and the familiar sound of wood crackling under a fire could be heard from above. She looked up to see a small fire forming at the north end of her position, causing her to scream in panic whilst she tried not hyperventilating from the sheer anxiety of the situation.
ooOoO0OoOoo
With a final slash at the Venatori's neck, blood spurts and splatters Cole's face and upper torso. He looked through his shaggy blond hair and noticed blood dripping from his hat. Not my hat… He mentally whined. It's difficult washing the blood out… He quickly shook the thoughts out as he heard a familiar voice behind him.
"May!" Loch was frantically looking around the Chantry, "May! Where are you?!"
Cole's eyes widened, "May…" He breathed out before turning invisible and quietly searching for her thoughts. May… be ok. A pang of distress hit him like falling bricks as someone else's thoughts filled his head. The walls seem to get smaller, smoke fills my lungs, it's hard to breathe… I hate being so useless… "May…" He followed the thoughts, they kept hammering into his head as he got closer to her. No one knows I'm here besides the people outside… I'm going to die… and I didn't even get to see my uncle again… why can't I do anything right…?
His breathing hitched as he clenched his jaw, seeing the very Venatori outside the burning house. How dare you make her feel that way… A scream filled the house as a part of the ceiling started to fall. How dare you put her in danger! "Do you see me…?" He breathed out as he rushed over to them without making a sound.
"Did you hear that?" One of the Venatori pointed out as they started to look around with peeled eyes.
"You will see me!" Cole lunged at them, slicing two jugulars at once before turning towards the last Venatori, who was just in shock at the sight before trying to gain his composure. Cole wouldn't let that happen and took his chance; digging the dagger deep into the mage's heart, lifting him off the ground and locking eyes with him. The mage trembled and coughed up blood at the fury in the spirit's eyes.
Cole sheathed his dagger before hearing another scream from the house, he turned his attention to the barricaded door, "May?!"
"Cole!" Her shriek instantly filled him with panic as he tried thinking of solutions.
"May, you need to crawl out!" He desperately called out to her.
"I can't! It's blocked!" She started to choke on her words as light sobs could be heard on the other side.
The spirit just wanted to comfort her at that point, a pang of guilt hit his chest as he frantically kept thinking, "Where is it blocked?"
"Over to my left, I blocked it with a bookshelf!" He quickly ran over to the left side of the house and saw the hole being blocked by unsinged wood, "I… I don't know what to do…"
"Can you move at all?" He asked while putting his head to the wooden wall.
"Yes… how far…?" She whimpered out.
He took a deep breath and took a couple steps away from the wall, "Just get away from it, May." He ordered while getting down to the snow and dug his daggers deep into the ground as he practically got down on his back and brought his knees to his chest, "Are you away from it?"
"Y-yes!" She weakly called out.
Cole steadied his breathing, focusing all of his strength in his legs, before he could do anything else, he heard crackling from above and saw the roof was a hair away from falling. He quickly rolled out of the way while pulling his daggers out and letting the side of the roof fall over the hole. He growled to himself as another scream from her filled his ears; sheathing his daggers he got up and called out to her, "May! Are you all right? Can you hear me!?"
The only thing he could hear was the wood crackling under the fire and creaking due to the unbalanced weight. Fear surged through him as he slammed his fist against the wooden wall, "May! Answer me! Please!" panic soon took over at the mere thought of May dying in there because he couldn't get her out in time. He thought of the angry look her uncle would give him when he would have to tell him that May didn't make it. I tried… He shook his head.
"I-I'm here!" Her little voice filled him with relief, but he had to think of something.
"Are you alright?" He silenced his breathing, trying to focus on her voice, and hers alone as other people around him were shouting.
"I'm cornered, I can't move anywhere." He could hear the fear in her voice, he hoped to never have to hear her like this…
"Die!" Cole turned around just in time to see a Venatori aim his staff at him, the ground below him glowed a pattern before it was traced with fire. He leapt away from it just in time as the rune erupted with a loud cackling sound before he rolled to a stop and glared at the mage… of which his head rolled to a stop at his leather shoes.
Cole's face contorted as he looked at the fallen body, to see a man in Grey Warden armor with a rather finely grown black beard along with blueish grey eyes that could pierce anyone's soul with a mere glare.
"Blackwall," Cole quickly stood up, "May's stuck in there, can you break down the door?" He pointed to the burning building.
"What?" He arched a brow at the spirit, "Of course I can." He stalked over to the door, "May, are you close to the door?"
"N-No…" Cole cringed at how hopeless she sounded right now.
"Good." Blackwall raised a heavy iron boot and brought down the door with one swift kick. Cole raced into the burning building and carefully scooped May up before running out and letting the building collapse in on itself, "I've got your back." The Warden told him, "Just take her to the Chantry and I'll distract them."
Cole looked over to his right to see more Venatori advancing toward them, he just nodded, "Thank you." Then ran to the Chantry. May was quivering in his arms as she was holding back her crying, or trying to anyway, but Cole could see she was crying terribly, "Hey," He reassuringly squeezed her shoulder while trying to show a genuine smile, "It'll be all right."
She tightened her grip on him and cried in his chest, "Th-thank you… Cole…"
His stomach tightened as he shoved down his worry for her, "It's ok, you'll be able to see your uncle again."
"Bloody hell!" Cole turned around to see that Blackwall was taking on four Venatori, and by the looks of it, could use some assistance.
"Look out!" May squealed while hiding her face with her palms; Cole looked over with wide eyes as he barely had any time to react.
He turned his back to the oncoming fireball and shielded May as the fire knocked him down to his knees, making him double over by the shear impact and held onto May tightly. Why didn't that burn me…? He looked around to see a faint blue hue covered them, he turned around to see another mage use their own fireball to kill the other Venatori.
He looked down at May, her eyes were clenched shut, but she slowly peaked up at him, "Are…" He steadied his breathing.
"Are you ok?!" May looked up at him with swollen, red eyes that streamed tears down her rosy red cheeks.
"I do hope you're all right dear," a pleasant accent came up to them as the mage helped Cole up by grabbing him by his bicep, "you took a rather heavy hit." The mage looked at them with worry, but by the looks of him, he didn't even look like a fighter of any sorts; more like someone who would be pampered to the highest extent possible and more.
"I'll be fine…" Cole cringed as he tried straightening himself out, clearly he was lying.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk…" the mage smirked, "You are a brave boy if I've ever seen one, taking a hit like that for a young girl, it's simply adorable. If it weren't for my barrier though, you'd be in worse shape…"
Both May and Cole contorted their faces, "What? We're in the middle of fighting…" Cole frowned at the mage.
"Oh, well, that part is true, I can't argue with that…" he turned around just in time to throw another fireball at an oncoming Venatori warrior before turning his attention back to Cole, "I suggest you get to the Chantry, you're clearly in a lot of pain from the impact..."
Cole just nods as the mage sets another barrier on themselves, making sure to fight off the Venatori before they rushed into the Chantry, letting someone else close the door behind them as Loch ran up to them.
"May!" He took the girl out of Cole's arms, letting him hunch over as May's uncle inspected her, "Are you all right? What happened?" He looked over to Cole, "Thank you so much, boy." He gave Cole a bear hug, making him scream in pain as the man's arms nearly crushed his damaged back. Loch quickly set him down, "I'm sorry, I just… thank you, so much."
A potion was handed to Cole by the fancy looking mage, he quickly downed it and sighed as the pain was starting to numb away, "It's all right… I'll be fine." He straightened up and gave a small smile before looking over to May, who was coughing profusely due to the flame's smoke from earlier, but still kept his smile, knowing she'll be all right now.
Loch patted May's head, "What's your name?"
"I'm Cole." He simply replied before being pulled away by a healer, who set him down on a bench and moved his shirt up, but he quickly shoved it back down, "What are you doing?" He asked innocently.
"I need to check your back, see how bad the damage is." She told him, "A mage told me you took a hard hit, I need to see." Cole mentally sighed while reluctantly letting her pull his shirt back up as he rested his elbows on his knees. She lightly felt his toned back while tracing his ribs; with each one, he held back his cringes before she was done, "You have a few cracked ribs, and some bruised ones." She pulled back a strand of light brown hair behind her ear before pulling out some gauze and started to tightly wrap his torso.
"So, that's your friend?" Loch asked curiously as he looked down at her before they rested against a cooling wall.
May nodded as she watched Cole hesitantly stand up and pull his shirt back down before going off to help the injured. She smiled at this and mentally pleaded for him not to disappear again.
Cole heard these thoughts and let a small smile appear as he hid his face with his hat. Don't worry… I won't.
A/N:
The story and art belongs to cartoonartist on Deviantart, I just write it out.
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