Arc 4: What families entail
Road to a hero:
Three chances in another world
Chapter 42. The storm
Once everyone is woken up at about six thirty in the morning they all start getting ready. In the armory, everyone in the group puts their equipment on.
Gray: “Hey Peter, can you get me a new broadsword as well as a short sword?”
Peter: “Oh sure I’ll be right back.”
Rosemary: “Sucks you lost yours in the castle.”
Gray: “Yeah and I just had them made too.”
Edward: “Soku? You’re still gonna wear that coat? Why not put some better armor on?”
Soku: “I got some light armor under it. And I’m fine without it.”
Julius walks in with Caesar and Peter getting everyone's attention. Peter hands Gray some weapons.
Julius: “Alright let's run it down one last time. Group one will consist of Gray, Rosemary, Leo, and myself. Group two will be Edward, Soku, Peter, and Caesar. Peter will stay back and sit up on the small mountainside and will shoot the explosives when ready. Leo and I will head the charge against Beauregard, and Gray and Rosemary will fight Calgary. Edward, you will face Moro with a group of Red Arrows, and Soku will fight Ju’stone.”
Gray: “Alright, I think it’s time to move out.”
Everyone walks out of the armory, except Rosemary and Soku.
Rosemary: “Are you okay?”
Soku: “I’m fine.”
Rosemary: “Soku.”
Soku: “ALRIGHT! I’M SCARED OKAY! I’m way weak…too slow…too scared…I’M NOT READY!”
Soku starts to cry and hugs Rosemary tightly. Rosemary rubs her head and plays with her hair trying to calm her down.
Rosemary: “You…are the strongest person I have ever met. You’ve gone through so much at such a young age…and you’re still yourself. Ophelia would be proud to see where you are.”
Soku: “Are…you…*sniff*...sure?”
Rosemary: “I’m sure.”
Soku: “Do…you…think…Peter knows I’m a bad person.”
Rosemary: “I think Peter really likes you. And you’re not a bad person Soku.”
Soku: “I’m…I’M A THEIF, A LIAR, A MURDER…of course I’m a bad person…”
Rosemary: “Look, to be blunt we are all going to hell. So we gotta use the short time we have left.”
Soku wipes her nose and brushes her tears away. Rosemary kisses her head and leads her out of the armory. Soku walks a little behind Rosemary while playing with Ophelia's red hairclip, which hasn’t left her hair since Gray gave it to her at New Year.
Leo stands on a higher floor than everyone else. And everyone waits to hear what he has to say. The Athens guard turned Red Arrows, the original Red Arrows, all the people who have spent their lives fighting for their country awaiting the call to action.
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Leo: “EVERYONE! THIS IS IT, THE CALL TO ACTION, OUR TIME! WE ARE FAMILY, EVERYONE ON THIS ISLAND IS OUR FAMILY, AND OUR FAMILY HAS BEEN BROKEN AND FORCED AGAINST EACH OTHER FOR TOO LONG! WE ARE THE RED ARROWS, WE WILL STRIVE TOWARD VICTORY, AFTER EVERY LOSS, AND EVERY DEATH WE HAVE LEARNED AND FOUGHT HARDER! THIS IS IT! WHAT EVERYTHING HAS LED UP TO! THIS IS THE STORM!”
Everyone screams in excitement, tears are shed, emotions run wild, and everyone knows what they are met to do. They split up between the two groups and started to march out of the tunnels. Grays group waits for them to leave so they can walk out together.
Before they leave Erin walks up to them.
Edward: “Erin!?”
Erin: “I’m packing my bags. I got all my stuff and I wanted to say goodbye.”
Gray: “Where are you gonna go?”
Erin: “I know some people up near Valatrositce, so I’m gonna go up there.”
Edward: “That’s pretty far, are you gonna be okay?”
Erin: “I’ll be fine.”
Rosemary: “Well have a good trip then.”
Erin: “Thanks, and I hope you win this thing.”
They all say goodbye and Edward sadly watches Erin walk away and Gray pats him on the back to console him.
Gray: “Don’t worry bro, you’ll find another hot tomboy. And if you don’t…then there's something wrong with this world.”
Edward: “Yeah…whatever you say.”
Soku: “What did you say?”
Gray: “Something from the bottom of my heart.”
Soku: “STOP SPEAKING LIKE THAT!”
Rosemary: “We gotta go!”
They run out of the tunnels and meet up with the Red Arrows on the streets of the capital.
Leo: “My home is dirty and broken because of me. I will be the one to fix it.”
Caesar: “GRAY!”
Gray: “WHAT, WHAT!?”
Caesar: “CHANGE OF PLANS YOU GOTTA COME WITH ME!?”
Rosemary: “Hold on! What’s happening!?”
Caesar: “NO TIME TO EXPLAIN, ALL I NEED IS GRAY!”
Gray: “UM…OKAY! YOU GUYS TAKE DEMA WITH YOU!”
Rosemary: “WHAT ABOUT CALGARY!?”
Gray: “YOU GOT THIS!”
Gray runs off with Caesar, and the rest of the groups move as planned. Rosemary, Leo, and Julis fly to the Pillar-like castle on Dema. Soku, Edward, and Peter get on a carriage and go to the pirate camp. All the other Red Arrows follow, some in carriages, and the others walk and run to their destination.
On Edwards' carriage, they all sit silently, stressing about their upcoming mission. Soku stares off into the distance, watching, waiting impatiently. Edward on the other hand is ready, he wants to see Moro, he wants to see fear, anger, or some type of emotion. He wants Moro to remember him.
Edward sees flashes of his childhood village burning, his mother's dead decapitated body. His stepfathers' mangled corpses, the burned bodies on the ground. He touches his scared, branded eye and winces in pain.
Soku: “Edward…I noticed you shaved your face.”
Peter: “You gotta get that hair fixed if you wanna seem tidy though, it’s getting kinda long.”
Edward: “I’ll get my hair cut when I feel like I'm ready. I haven't cut it since the mansion incident.”
Peter: “We’re about to be there.”
Soku: “Can we do this?”
Edward: “Should be able to, we have to be able to.”
Soku: “Peter you better not miss your shot.”
Peter: “But the explosives have to be out in the opening.”
Edward: “Once we get there I wanna head right towards the ship. I wanna be face to face with Moro one last time, all alone.”
Peter: “What is he again? Like a blue-haired boar? I think he can use a demi-transformation.”
Soku: “I think he can, same with Ju’stone. And I’ll be fighting him in his natural habitat.”
Soaring through the sky mid-air, peering and bursting through the clouds, Dema flies as fast as she can.
Leo: “WE’RE ALMOST THERE!”
Julius: “WHEN WE GET THERE ROSEMARY AND I WILL DIVERGE FROM YOU AND FIND CALGARY!”
Rosemary: “YOU SURE WE CAN BEAT HIM?”
Julius: “POSITIVE!”
Leo: “HERE IT IS!”
Dema crashes through the window of Beauregard's room. They get off to see Bearuguard sitting in his chair, facing the window, clapping his hands.
Leo: “I thought you might be smart enough to leave.”
Beauregard: “I’m not one to run away, unlike you. Oh and you two there, Calgary is waiting outside this room. He still hasn’t recovered but he is sure he’ll win.”
Julius: “Thank you sir, but I assume this will be your last time seeing face to face.”
Beauregard: “Most likely.”
Julius leads Rosemary out of the room, leaving Leo and Beauregard to themselves.
Beauregard: “Here we are, all alone.”
Leo: “You spit in the names of our parents, our mothers especially.”
Beauregard: “Her passing was tragic, along with our uncle Fring. Our father left on his own.”
Leo: “Are mother passes naturally yes, but Fring…you wanted him dead. And I have gotten information that the Sect was who did it. Fring wasn’t strong enough to kill his attacker though, so he got help from our father. But in the end, Fring and the attacker both died…leaving you the king.”
Beauregard: “It just so happens that it ended that way. I was meant for this. I am the firstborn son of Lincoln, the unstoppable, smart, calculating king of Athens. You are the second born, the strong, blessed, and second in line for the throne. Our roles were given to us at birth and you need to accept that.”
Leo: “Athens is gone, in a few months it’ll be gone. Right now we’re stopping Athens from falling in the name of Beauregard, the hateful, racist, bigoted man. You sold out to the pirates, made plans for a war, and teamed up with terrorists. That is the name you hold.”
Beauregard: “And you are? You are the prodigy, the one born with everything. Our father liked you more, and our mother too. You even have her yellow hair and her soft eyes. I got our father's intuition and his stern firm eyes. I AM WORTHY, I WORKED FOR IT, AND STUDIED FOR IT! I AM THE KING!”
Leo: “I’m not gonna be king, I'm gonna be the man that killed him.”
END OF Chapter forty-two