Step ?: Twilight Rising
"Uldren, if you are hearing this... then you are now the last. You will soon find a Ghost in your charge; he is not what he seems. Hide him. Keep him safe. From now on... you are the keys. The keys to stopping whatever dark forces are at play in the City. Keep yourself safe, my son." - Avar Sov, Crow data bank, PHANTOM FOXTROT INITIATIVE. Error; file not found.
The figure had spent the night in the old english cottage only once; last night. But yet she sat at the table, having rolled an old boulder in as a seat, eating a hasty omelet for breakfast as if she had lived in the ancient building her whole life. She watched silently, chewing, as her Ghost displayed the news feed from the City.
"...as of now, the Queen has been declared safe, much to the relief of the Awoken, and a crisis has been averted thanks to the actions of four Guardians and Prince Uldren Sov. Reports from the Reef confirm the Queen was injured during the encounter, but should make a hasty recovery, as should the Guardians who were also wounded in the assault. We have yet to receive official word about Prince Uldren's status, but eyewitness accounts say that he appeared relatively unharmed upon arrival at the Vestian Outpost. Meanwhile, the City celebrates as-"
The Ghost cut the feed as his Guardian made a cutting motion with her hand. She'd heard all she needed to know. She took another bite of her breakfast, savoring the flavor. She'd found some wild herbs to mix in with it, and this was the closest to a banquet meal taste she had had in months.
"Based on past observations of your behavior, I have come to the conclusion that you will attempt to preform some kind of action in regards to the danger the Royal family was placed in." the Ghost commented without emotion. She looked up at him. "I have not been a real Ghost for many years, but I can still say that I know you well."
"Then you know what I am going to do next." it wasn't a question or a statement.
"The extensive passage of time since Avar Sov's death would and should render any contracts with him to be null and void." This was a warning.
"A promise is a promise. No matter how much time may pass." she informed him.
"You do not hold your oldest oath in these same regards." had he still proper emotions, this would have sounded patronizing.
"My oldest oath was made with a liar." she reminded him. He'd claimed to love her. Her trust in humanity, in existence, had been shattered. There was only her Ghost, and herself. And he had not been a Ghost for a long time.
"Then why risk exposure? Avar Sov warned you to stay hidden, and remember what happened last time you let yourself be seen? You were betrayed. Had you listened to Avar's warning, it may not have happened. I must, as priority, urge you to not take action based on a promise that now means nothing."
"Avar's son will hunt Della Tay to the edge of oblivion if need be. Tay has already tried to take Avar's daughter, and the Prince has insulted the assassin in the worst way possible, if your information is correct. He has taken her eye; given her a scar. Della will come after him. Sooner or later. Or perhaps she will let him chase her. This cannot be allowed."
"So your solution is to kill Della Tay?"
"You would think this unwise?"
Silence. The Ghost's shell twisted, eye staring as he did the calculations.
"Your chances of killing Della Tay, and her crew, are 50%, depending on how many you have to kill to get to her. It would be deemed illogical to take this course of action on a half chance."
"I was not planning on it. I promised not to let... them kill his children. I will kill them myself if it means sparing them fate at the hands of our enemy. I promised not to let them harm Uldren and Mara; I never promised not to take up blade against his offspring."
Silence again.
"Statistically, should you kill the Queen, Prince Uldren would switch his priorities to hunting you rather than Tay, with extreme prejudice. It would, to an extent, fulfill your goal of protecting them. It would stop him digging."
She stood up, stretching, considering this option. Were he alive, Avar would fight tooth and claw against this idea; even kill her to protect even one of his children. Not that he could ever have had any hope of even scraping her skin with a knife-tip.
"No. It would make more sense to kill Uldren." she said after a while. "His sister wears the crown; he does not. She is more important than him. I cannot kill Mara Sov. It isn't too late for her to marry, heirs would not be a problem, unless she makes it one."
"So you shall kill Uldren Sov, son of Avar Sov, and cause the Queen to hunt you rather then Tay? Despite the protocols Avar had put in place?"
Silence once more. Outside, a crow called, as if it knew the leader of a group named after it was being threatened. The woman shut her eyes. Strained light filtered in, landing on her smooth face, trying to reveal what could not be seen, and failing.
"If it comes to that... yes, I will. If there is no other discernable way to save both of them." she confirmed. The Ghost's shell twitched and twisted with a whir.
"So be it, Lyse."
The woman put her helmet on, and walked towards the door. As she left, her hand brushed the doorframe, and her light set it on fire. She sent her fire all throughout the house, burning the plate that had held her breakfast, erasing all signs of her presence in the area, every iota of DNA. Her Ghost fused into her helmet. She pulled back brambles to reveal the Sparrow she had hidden.
She set that on fire, too, and walked away.
"So be it."
And here we have the real kickoff to the original plot, with the mysterious Lyse. In my head, "little Black Submarine" by black keys(or something like that) was playing in the background of this scene. Seriously, she's an enigma even to me; it took me months to figure out just who the heck she is, but don't worry; I know the whole plot now.
Now that she's here, I guess I ought to explain the 'Onion' thing you've probably been seeing. So, I was trying to figure out who the heck she was one day, and Amberstar was helping me. Then for some mysterious reason, we turned to Shrek references. And then Amber theorized that Lyse was an onion, because she has layers. This soon turned into Amber drawing a Warlock with an onion for head, and then a taken version of it. We've got a Taken Onion picture hanging form the wall in a way that it's the first thing a person sees when they walk through the door. And when I finalized her story and personality, it only escalated.
Lyse has layers, and she makes people cry, and she smells a bit when you leave too long out in the sun. Therefore, her secret identity is an onion. I'm thinking of making a crack version of a later scene where she's revealed to be a literal onion.
So there's where the 'Lyse is an Onion' thing came from, just so you all know. *Warlocks are like onions! We have, L-A-Y-E-R-S*
Oh, and just so you all know, her name is pronounced "lies".
Wow, these last few weeks have been really short of reviews! Is it a glitch? A zombie uprising? The storms? Something I said in an author's note? I seriously don't know. Even MaybeALittleBroken appears to have gone missing(maybe I scared her off with killing Brask?)! Anyway, here are the replies to the reviews that DID come.
Order and Chaos: Nah, Lol. Sierra's not going to lose any arms any time soon. Her Ghost would be looking out for her if the Fallen tried anything, anyway(he's a violent little guy sometimes). Sadly, I won't be continuing into Rise of Iron with this series. I gave it some thought, and due to events in The Taken King fic I plan for happening, an RoI continuation would be like milking it. Like when a movie series has gone past it's prime, but they keep making new ones anyway to try and save it but they just get worse and worse. Like with Ice Age. That was good up until three, which was decent. Four was... kind of lame. Five... it stinks of desperation. I want to end this series at it's prime to maintain it's reputation. I really did consider a Dysfuntional RoI, but if I ever do write it, it will be for personal use; a private story, not something I post. That being said, I won't be skipping to Destiny 2, either. Like I said; I don't want to milk it. Though, I did have an idea for a HoW/RoI mash up. It would work; a lot of Fallen problems, the like. Plus, it will make HoW much more epic and dramatic.
alienraptor: well, I'm glad you still pay enough attention to it to notice this fic! ^^
Guest: Amber and I live off reviews, feedback, the like. Otherwise, our writing fire starts to wither. We love reviewers, because feedback is great. Reviewers are friends; not food! As for HoW, I think there are enough fics out there detailing the campaign, so I'm doing something a little different with Wolfsbane; it's not exactly about finding Skolas, and more about the initial Wolf Uprising in the Reef. In this continuity, the Wolves have been building up again outside the Reef, while the ones inside are clueless... until now, unfortunately. Though we will be getting Minor HoW campaign coverage in the future of 15 Seconds, once Wolfsbane is done I'll be focusing more on wrapping up the Certech plot line and getting the other plot in full spin.
*deep sigh* I finished another fanfiction. My sense of accomplishment is very, very high right now. That's TWO complete installments to this series! With 15 Seconds undergoing constant updates. It's looking like maybe We'll be finishing 15 Seconds sometime next spring. I need to start thinking of what I'm going to do for fever's one year anniversary! Perhaps a missing moment from that fic, a behind-the-scenes thingy that you guys want to see? Tell you all what; go back to re-read Fever, and drop a review there or a Pm letting me know what missing moment you might like to see, and I'll give it some thought.
I WILL be finishing Petra's Face Is Hilarious short story before posting the next installment, to avoid extreme levels of PLOT HOLES! Ah, I think you guys are going to love this next fic; much Martenj, much Variks, and much, much Padfoot. I'm sorry I keep obsessing over a Ghost You haven't met yet in the Authors notes but I just Love the little Guys SO FREAKING MUCH! He's SO ADORABLY RAGE-Y! You know what? It's teaser excerpt time. Presenting, officially;
Wolfsbane! Coming soon to a fanction website near you!
"Rouge Ghost!? What's all this about a 'rogue' Ghost!?" he bristled furiously. "I'll rogue you!"
Rogers, witheringly, gripped the tiny being in her fist, looking like she might want to sink into the void itself, casually holding him back while he tried to fly at the offending Warlock. Uldren had been slammed by a Ghost before, in the Black Garden; a rather pointy-shelled, sharp-tounged little thing by the name of Bessy.
Surprisingly, it actually hurt a lot. If they flew at you hard enough, it was almost like being shot or hit with a rock. Rogers drew him back("Let me go! Lemme at 'em!") and pulled her cloak around, wrapping him up in it and crossing her arms around him to make sure he didn't escape. If she wasn't embarrassed before, Hunter Rogers was now completely mortified.
He was just as eager to get this debriefing done as she was, so he decided to spare her further shame. After all, Padfoot had disrupted the meeting enough as it was; Uldren was really too much pressed for time to incite a full-blown 'flurry', as it was called when a Ghost started slamming people repetitively. The paperwork involved wasn't worth it, let alone the blow to his dignity.
"Our first priority is locating Skolas exactly." he said, ignoring the muffled ranting that could be heard from Rogers' cloak("I WILL DEFEND MY HONOR!"). "After that, the Silent Fang will have to be targeted. We don't want them here at the Reef trying to get at our commanders; we have enough problems as it is."
And then there was Padfoot. Can you see why I love this guy now? 'I'll rouge you!'
That line makes no sense whatsoever, but it's my favorite in Wolfsbane so far, a close second to 'One second thought, it's probably covered in lice.' Don't ask about that one. Let's just say Smelldren was being mean about someone's sandwich.
Whew! It was fun writing this, but in all honesty, I kind of had to drag myself for a great deal of it, so it isn't as good a quality as Fever, I feel like. I was more eager to start work on Wolfsbane, and now that I can work on it, I'm a very happy person. Last questions:
*What was your favorite part in this fic?
*What do you think of Lyse? Hero of villain? Even I'm not too sure...
*What was your favorite interaction, the one that really struck you?
*Are you hyped for Tevis's definite appearance in Wolfsbane?
*What did you think of this installment? Did it live up to Fever's legacy?
And with that, we'll be having a bit of a wait. Maybe a couple weeks; you'll know it'll be soon when Petra's Face gets updated. I really, really hope this lived up to the expectations I set with Fever! Often I find that the original is always the best, but I hope I somehow managed to do my pilot fic justice!
And while you're all waiting for Wolfsbane to post, I highly sugest you go check out the fics of Matteoarts, Shuriken 16, MaybeALittleBroken, and Jsm. They're really good, especially Matteoarts' long-running series, Guardians Never Die. And Shuriken's fic keeps giving me this 'anime' kind of feel. Jsm somehow managed to hook me to a fic with a 1st-person PoV(which not many people can manage), and MaybeALittleBokren's fic... well, just read it; it's magical. 'Trench coat full of bees'... honestly, the best.
Also, if you didn't read Amberstar of Thunderclan's Twelve Days of RoI, I highly suggest it. The countdown may be over, but chapter four is still a must-see. She's also posted two new fics; a one-shot series about the Iron Lords, and an Au where the Traveler never visited the Fallen. Both are super interesting, and She's actually set an update schedule for her pottertrek thingy.
And, with that, for the last time ever on Heartbusters...
Cheers!^^