A pair of stealthy eyes had been peering at the scene the entire time. Once every single soldier of Titan had exited the house through the vast system of tunnels, the body they belonged to clamored out of the tunnels desperately, sprinting to the table upon which the body of the Black Shield’s leader lay on, unmoving. Bodies of Black Shield soldiers were scattered all around like a dark garden of death, the blood around their bodies like a macabre nectar which made the house smell of iron. There were 400 in total, none of which would get a proper burial due to the circumstances they had died in.
“Vi!” Jay cried, following after her. “We are supposed to fall back. The Anti-Imperialists are having a hard time defending the building, we can’t be here for long!”
The young woman gazed at his half-open his eyes before she lifted the back and head of the body. After staring at his peaceful face for a moment, she cradled the side of his face against her chest. The emotionless, now third-strongest soldier in the Black Shield’s after Meinrad’s betrayal now looked as vulnerable as any other person mourning their loved one, even though her expressions were obscured by a mask.
“Vi…” Jay taken aback by her sudden show of emotion for the first time in the two years he had known her. Despite this amount of time, he was never acquainted with her. But given the nature of the person who had passed on and their relationship with them, who wouldn’t feel so hollow, so dejected?
Jay struggled for a moments, trying to decide between giving up a few moments to have any semblance of a show of grief for his brother, or dutifully exercise his role as the new head of the Black Shield and force Vi to fall back with him.
He had decided to do the former. He leaned forward against the table, gripping its edges. He closed his eyes. Images of long walks through the fields with Egon and his mother flashed through his mind. Late night conversations on their favorite balcony echoed in his head. Visions of them aweing at the soldiers sparring on the court below the balcony while simultaneously trying not to get noticed repeated. Tears flowed out of his eyes in remembrance of the time they had together. He could not hold them back, for he was only human. He opened his eyes, water still falling, and saw that Vi had put down the corpse. She ran a hand through his hair.
“No one else cared… no one else cared… no one else cared…” she repeated continuously, and Jay allowed her. It wasn’t like he could stop her. Her devotion, loyalty and effort were completely for the dead man before her, never the Black Shield. After that, he was unaware of how to handle her. This would be the first major decision he would have to make as leader of the Black Shield.
That was correct. He was the leader of the Black Shield, the organisation that was to liberate Terra from the Titanian Empire’s cold fist. That was his brother’s dream, and he was going to carry on with it.
Just then, someone had climbed out of the tunnels and dashed towards the table with the Anbieter’s body. Jay wiped his tears and turned to the person who had joined him and Vi.
“What are you doing here, Leon?” Jay asked straightforwardly.
“Mr. Bakken was wondering what was taking you so long, and since I was the closest person he could trust to check on you, he sent me.”
Too many rushing thoughts occupied Jay’s head for him to realise that what Leon said was only a half-truth at best.
“I want to take him to a field near one of our safehouses to the west about 10 leagues,” Jay said, glancing at Egon. “It’s an old sacred ground for us southerners that Ma used to take us to about twice a year. Would you help me take him to the tunnels?”
“Of course.” Leon said. The medic wasn’t any more upset about his boss’ death than any other member of the Black Shield. He wasn’t very close to him but seeing him dead did make his heart heavy. Most of this weight was from not being able to save those soldiers who were thought to be easy to help, but it wasn’t. The environment of the battlefield was fast-moving and everchanging, so mistakes were often made. But they cost lives.
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Using the tablecloth on the furniture piece, Leon and Jay shrouded their late leader’s remains. They were just about to hoist it off when they were halted by the sounds of heavy, laboured breathing.
They turned to see Vi’s chest moving up and down vigorously as something unseen had taken hold of her. Leon ran to the young woman, leaving Jay alone with Egon’s corpse for several moments before he too caught up.
“Vi, easy there, easy there!” Leon comforted standing aside. “Breath slowly, in through your nose and out through your mouth. You’re okay.”
He almost didn’t notice that her mask was pulled up slightly, revealing lips that were nearly the same caramelised color as sections of skin around them, covering much of her chin and cheeks. These were burn injuries, and Leon could tell that they were at least several years old. But that was the least of his concerns.
“There is no meaning…” Vi stammered out in a panicky tone. “There is no meaning without Master. There is no reason.”
Without warning, Vi’s hand flew away from her side—which had been at the holster on the belt around her waist—and flew to her face, holding the gun in it. Its muzzle found itself pressed into the roof of her mouth, and her index finger was resting on the trigger, trembling.
“Vi, no! Don’t do it!”
Leon did not hesitate for a moment as he cried and tackled the girl to the ground before she could push down on the trigger, sending the gun sliding yards away.
“Vi, please…” Jay said, lowering himself to his knees to help the weeping girl sit up, allowing Leon to help himself. “You ain’t the only one who lost him. We’re all hurting, but we ain’t got to do something’ as drastic as that.”
“I thought he would always be there… always be there to care for me and assure me that I’d be fine… I swore to serve him in honour of that… now who will I serve…? Tell me… who will I devote myself to?” Vi spat in yet another uncharacteristic plea.
“The… Black Shield… you were the first one, remember? The boss and I recruited you first. Out of everyone.” Jay said, struggling to rationalise a concept that made sense to Vi. To be part of a unit, a group was foreign to her. Doing something for someone without anything in return with no sense of camaraderie was all Vi understood. Hundreds of soldiers came into the organisation throughout the years, but Vi could not fraternise with them. It was simply too absurd for her to partake in.
“I was his servant, I did whatever he needed of me…” Vi said, the mask slipping back down over her mouth.
“Servant…” Leon muttered, trying to bring the harrow situation to a close. It was clear Jay was struggling to make his desires known to Vi. Then, Leon remembered their previous conversation in one of the Linden manor’s bedrooms. She had mentioned that she was saved from something by the Anbieter. That was the key. Leon knew how to convince Vi to remain with the Black Shield and prevent her from harming herself any further.
“I... saved you, didn’t I?” Leon said, unsure if this logic would work, but it was worth a try. Nothing Jay said was working.
“Leon, now ain’t the time to be boasting your feats!” Jay snapped at him.
“I saved your life, Vi,” he ignored his new ultimate superior, stretching a hand out to the young woman. “Swear yourself to me. Your life was in my hands. It’s imperative that you use it in service of me.”
Vi’s green eyes stared deeply into the boy’s. They did not carry the unfeeling energies that Vi had shown him in their previous meetings, but instead harbored immense gratitude. Was she contemplating what she wanted to do, or had her mind already been made up and she was simply processing the weight it carried?
“I… now belong to you, Master.” Vi proclaimed.
Jay breathed a deep sigh of relief. Though only a small sliver of his worries had disappeared, it was one less off of the mountain he had on his back. He stood up.
“You will call me Leon.” he said, rising back to his feet.
“Of course, Leon.” Vi acknowledged.
Jay whispered something into the young medic’s ear, which Leon transmitted to Vi.
“Come with Jay and I to lay the Anbieter to rest. And whatever Jay says, you will follow it.”
“Yes, Leon.” she acknowledged.
Vi was no longer a secretive patient of Leon’s, but something more intrinsic. He now had a duty that no one else had. He would have to try and learn more about her, in a way that the Anbieter must’ve after he rescued her from whatever horrific situation she had been in. But what even the Anbieter was unable to do was assimilate the Black Shield’s third-strongest fighter with the rest, to make her a soldier that worked with the rest as part of a bigger machine. This was Leon’s new responsibility, and for the sake of the bloody war ahead of them, he would carry it out no matter how hard it was.