Heavy… So heavy…
I barge into the next door.
Nothing.
I shout into the locked room.
Nothing.
“What are you doing?!”
Unknown voices keep bothering my ears.
You’re not who I’m looking for. Get out of my way!
“Excuse me, how may I help you, miss?”
That’s not it! you’re not her!
“Someone like you shouldn’t be in this part of the town.”
Shut up, shut up!! Where…? WHERE?!
Once again, useless. Another meaningless building. This area reeks of perfume, spread like a disease. They’re supposed to smell nice, but all together it hurts my head. It's not the same. THESE DISGUSTING SCENTS ARE IN THE WAY…
Emma would always chase me out of this area. She would make sure to lose me if I thought she entered here. I would be misdirected from Wing. Karla would stop talking to me whenever I asked.
I never cared.
There was nothing to worry about.
There was nothing to worry about.
I see women dressed similarly to Emma as I run through the alley, none of which compared to the beautiful gold hair that made me look up to her. No one with hair that shimmered in the sun and no one with a kind smile that soothed one heart. You're not her. You're all so unsightly!
When have I seen Emma? Has it been so long that I forgot? That’s not right…
It was just yesterday I saw her…? Last week? Last month? Last year?
I don’t understand… I feel like home life was easier… I just helped Wing every day.
Ugh…
I ended up in a quiet area, away from the sights and smells of the area. An abandoned home in the section of Fals I never saw before.
I’m tired…
I ran the distance from home to here, my heart’s pounding…
I don’t think it's pounding from the run, but for an indescribable reason.
Wing… Where are you…? Am I alone…?
I ran off, but I don’t know what to feel…
As I thought that, I heard footsteps outside of the building. I had my hopes up that it was Wing, but… I heard more than that. It sounded like multiple people walking towards me.
Instinctively, I quieted myself and placed my hand on Wing’s knife.
What do I plan to do with it exactly? I don’t know… The steps sound scary.
Bang, bang, bang!
I hear loud knocks at the door, and an even louder voice outside it.
“Hey, mutt! I know you’re there!”
My hands were shaking… Why? Something in my heart knows this isn’t right. I have to get out of here. I crawl out the window, onto the opposite street.
As that happens, I hear the door get kicked in. It was a large crash. I peek at the entrance to see who was walking into the building.
Three people in uniforms I don’t recognize.
They don’t look like the ones I usually see enter Fals.
“The Mysmegal Army.”
I muttered Karla’s words, and crawled away.
“Well, well what do we have here?”
“…!”
I felt a shiver down my spine as I bump into someone else when turning.
I’m not sure when or how, but I already jumped away from the man.
Greasy pulled-back blonde hair…A crooked nose and even more crooked eyes…
This person wore a black uniform lined with yellow, with the marking of a horned pig. A boar? Something like that. Very unlike the green uniforms I’m used to seeing with a wolf on it.
“Got anything to say, girl? Or are you just going to keep quiet?”
I backed away preparing to run, but the other three were there. I ended up backed into the corner. He continued to speak to me.
“I’m talking to you. Respond at once! Don’t look at me like that you animal.”
Each of them had a gold bracelet with gems embedded into them. Emma told me that she ‘could protect us as long as she had it’. When Wing failed to enter Velbus, she was told, “Cadets are given Edonai like the one Emma has; they have to make sure those who are attending have to be worth it.”
I have to get out of here. I sprint through the three men. Something tells me I shouldn’t run in the direction of the other, but I tripped and nearly fell on my face.
The three men laugh, but the other one gets angry.
“Shut up! I’m trying to talk to that thing.”
As I get up, I feel immense pain in my gut.
“Get up!”
I was kicked in the stomach. An unnatural pain… Are people this strong?
“Nngh..!”
I crawl away from them, struggling for air, struggling to even cough.
I get on my back and push myself to the opposite wall. He continues to berate me with his annoying voice. It hurts… It really hurts. The pain that won't go away…
“What’s with that look? Truly a mutt.”
The four of them stare at me, but they’re not looking at me. They see a wild animal. I was no longer human.
Something is welling up in me… I don’t understand the feeling I have… I want them gone… They’re not who I’m looking for, they’re not who I wanted to find me.
They become silent and draw their swords, all while the greasy-headed one speaks with a voice that I want to stop hearing.
“Woah, there, you have to control yourself, mutt. If you use that knife, you could hurt yourself. Even though you're going to be hurt anyways...”
What is he talking about? I looked at my hands and at some point I pulled Wing’s knife out at them. What's going on? I saw my hands move on their own. Why?
Why is this my response…? My vision is surrounded by clouds of darkness, an unknown feeling with no description.
Please go away, feeling that makes me nauseous.
Please go away… you're the one I'm looking for.
Please go away… I no longer want to look at you all.
I can hear them muttering something, but I can’t comprehend what they’re saying. However, breaking my stupor, I hear a familiar voice.
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“Excuse me, sirs! Oh, esteemed knights, there must be a misunderstanding! Regardless of what happened, surely it's not worth pulling your swords at a young girl!”
The four get annoyed, then direct their weapons at the young figure standing in front of them.
“Oh, and who are you?”
While putting his hands up, the one who responds is who I’m used to.
“I am Wing, it is a pleasure to meet you, esteemed knights.”
The blonde man approached Wing aggressively; this ugly man was a little bit shorter, but still looked down on Wing.
“Well, you got a pretty face on you, but clearly you got no brains protecting that wild mutt over there.”
“With all due respect, sir—”
“It’s Shanen El’gant to you! Captain Shanen El’gant.”
“Then, Sir esteemed Captain Elgant, she means no harm. She’s been through a lot, you see.”
Angry, the man hits Wing in the stomach with the butt of his sword, causing him to bend down.
“It’s Captain El’gant, insolent mutt! Know your manners and bow down when speaking to me!”
“…”
While holding his stomach, he backs away towards me and puts his arm out.
“Captain Shannon... You must be one of those types, aren’t you?”
“What did you just say? I must be hard of hearing. What did you say?!”
He clenched his sword and spewed out nonsense, but ultimately called himself down.
“Enough, rough ‘em up a bit. If they can’t handle a bit of that, then it simply can’t be helped.”
After a deep breath, Wing unsheathed Emma’s rapier and prepared for the confrontation.
I know Wing. I know that he always calculates the odds. I know that he never makes any rash decisions. So, why? Why? For me…? Is this the best course of action? As the men approach us, he starts to move around them to match their pace. While doing so his arm guides me along.
One unsightly man charges at us, causing Wing to push me down while avoiding the attack.
They’re trying to kill us…
A welling in my chest… I grip the knife harder, but Wing tries to calm me down.
Another man attempts to thrust his blade into Wing, but he parries it rightward, using the rapier’s guard.
Then…a third one makes a wide swing at us, but Wing pulls me backwards against the wall so that the wide arcing slash would hit the wall.
Crash! –
The sound of steel smashing against brick and iron. Fragments and dust, bricks turned into dust more than anything. Why do they have such unnatural strength!? They cleaved the side of the wall, while a layer of iron in this particular wall was cut into. The man had hurt his hand because of the vibrations of steel and iron.
He is trying to hide it, but I can tell. He’s afraid. Wing is taking me into account as we move around, and I know he would take a serious injury if it meant I was safe…
It can’t be like this.
Emma always protected us.
Wing always protects me.
What can I do in this situation?
Wing swipes the rapier at the man who hit the wall, but he stepped backwards. Then, the one who charged at us tries to strike upwards at Wing. He manages to get out of the way, but the other one attempts to stab him.
I pulled Wing out of the way, and our matched movement prevented the sword from being embedded in his chest.
However, the third one recovering from hitting the wall went to attack me this time. Reacting to that, Wing sent a powerful thrust against him, embedding a portion of the rapier into the man’s arm, dropping his own sword.
“Why, you—!”
After receiving the injury, he went straight into tackling Wing into the wall. I screamed when seeing him get tackled against it.
“Wing!”
Wing groans in pain and is hit repeatedly in his stomach, the same area he was hit before.
“Kuuh—!”
I can hear Wing in pain as the other two start to laugh and punch him. He can’t overpower them. The rapier didn't even phase the man. Wing isn’t that strong, but there’s something more about these people… I'm scared.
I don't want to lose anyone anymore…
My heart is hurting.
But above all else… I feel something else.
There’s something I can do.
I scream… Louder than I’ve ever done before and charge at the man.
They all pause. Wing shouts at me.
“E-Eclaire—!”
I look at Wing who has blood coming off the side of his mouth, he’s wincing in pain, but he still looks concerned with me.
However, I hear a wet gurgling. When I look at my arms, they’re red. So very red.
The knife I was holding had somehow found its way. It was embedded into the man who was pinning Wing against the wall.
My hands were shaking. What have I done?
The greasy haired man shouted.
“What the hell is going on here?! You have got to be joking!”
The man I just stabbed…
[https://imgur.com/Nu3gFxi.jpeg]
The man I just stabbed fell to the ground and is gurgling blood.
I did this…?
Wing looked terrified; the first time I’ve seen him with this face. He wasn’t scared for his life, but he was afraid. He quickly backed into me and placed the rapier in front of him. The other men spoke out loud.
“He's a goner! That mutt! We can’t do anything about this! It's torn, the knife tore into his sides.”
Wing’s knife did have those jagged edges along its spine… They’re probably referring to that… I wanted to vomit. What I did, what I tore. The immediate regret.
Shanen then approached Wing.
“You can’t expect us to take that, can you?”
He said it quietly, but there was anger. More anger than before. It wasn’t empty aggression, I felt cold hearing that. We were in the deepest of trouble.
Wing understood it too and immediately went into thrusting his rapier into Shanen before he could get into a fighting stance.
Flesh was torn into, and we were able to run away while the two were distracted.
Or, that seemed like how it was supposed to go…
He grabbed the rapier at full strike as Wing thrust it, and broke it off with his own blade. It was snapped in half. The same rapier that was used to protect us in these many years…
It was broken just like that.
This isn’t reality isn’t it? To have everything in this world taken?
A constant reminder of everything lost.
He snapped the blade in half, and held it in his hands. With his sword he swung at full force against the Wing.
“Dammit—!”
Barely avoiding a fatal blow, Wing used the handle of the rapier to block the strike, but even then, he was hit hard enough to be knocked next to the downed soldier. The force was enough that the rapier got sent clattering away from him.
Once again the man kicked me, but this time he hit my right knee.
“—!”
It hurt worse than anything I've ever felt. I couldn’t let my voice out. My leg went into a direction It never should have bent. I could barely breathe. Help. Help. Help. It hurts.
I’m on the floor. It hurts. It hurts so very much. Please… make it stop.
I can’t think right. What’s going to happen? Am I going to die?
Emma… Wing…
Please… Help me. Someone… It hurts. Make it stop.
It hurts, but my heart hurts even more. The intense burning of my leg is one thing, but… There’s something more.
The other two approach me and start stepping on my leg. The greasy-haired man just looks at me with a wry smile.
It hurts. It hurts so much. Why does being alive hurt so much?
Their laughter makes an indescribable feeling swell in my heart. The sight of Wing on the floor makes it feel worse. The pain is building even more.
When will it be over…?
When can I go home?
My eyes are blurry; I’m not sure if it’s me losing consciousness or if it’s something else… I close my eyes shut. Afraid of the cruel nature of people.
Afraid of the loneliness in my heart.
I don't want to die.
Afraid of the danger I brought upon Wing.
I don't want to say goodbye.
However... Nothing happened.
I was still alive.
“Wha—! What have you done?!”
It’s the same condescending voice that I’ve been hearing this whole time. I was in a panic.
“Get away… Get away from her—!”
When I open my eyes, I see both of them drop to the ground. The broken rapier was lodged into one man’s throat while the sword the previous man dropped was embedded in the other man’s torso.
“Stay away… From Eclaire—!!”
Quickly, Wing grabs my arm and rolls me onto his back. It hurts, but right now I don’t feel anything. The feeling of numbness. I can only meekly talk to him as he starts to run down the alley while the remaining man is dumbfounded with what he just witnessed.
“Wing… Where are we going…?”
“We’re going somewhere crowded! Stay with me Eclaire!”
“Somewhere… Crowded…?”
“Yeah— Then we’ll go home, okay!?”