Episode 42 Collapse and Scatter!
The sun begins to break at the edge of the horizon as daybreak arrives at last. A light fog hangs over the valley of Henesys, sitting low over the tops of trees overlooking the rim of the valley. The last vestiges of a fire drift slowly into the air, the gray smoke becoming lost in the gray and blue day.
Ryuu hitches his sheathed sword against his side. His eyes are narrowed with focused precision, as he gazes across the valley towards the Fatalists’ castle in the distance.
“All right, let’s do this,” he growls under his breath. “All teams will be moving on their own from here on out. Use your best judgment and no matter what you do, don’t get captured. We will meet again at our designated point seven days from now. That is the time you have to complete your missions.”
“Yes, sir!” the others gathered around him respond.
Ryuu turns to Kunai, who is standing just a couple paces behind him. “Well then, Kunai, let’s get this show on the road. We have a dessert-loving bastard to kill.”
Arai stands silently at the very edge of the veranda of his castle. Sunlight splashes onto his pale face as he stands with his hands behind his back, looking out upon the world.
A faint smile is upon his lips. Finally, he turns and slowly begins walking back towards the interior of his castle. “Perhaps I shall enter the battlefield myself…”
Zack and Cynthia walk side by side down the sloped hill, towards the town of Henesys. The bright sunlight of the rising sun strikes against them as they walk eastwards, closer and closer towards town.
“It’s strange,” Cynthia mutters softly, causing Zack to glance at her. “To be walking towards Henesys and yet it’s not Henesys…”
“I know what ya mean,” answers Zack, his brown eyes glittering in the sunlight. “S’definitely a weird feeling.”
The two of them continue walking, the grass crunching softly underneath their footsteps. “Will we be able to rally the townspeople to our cause, I wonder?” Cynthia asks.
“Hopefully,” Zack replies, “but they might have trouble acceptin’ us outsiders first. It’s gonna be up t’us to prove we’re the right side t’be on.”
They continue walking on silently, the bright sunlight paving the path for them to town. The trees around them gradually begin to thin out, as the faint outlines of Henesys grow clearer and clearer.
Eventually, Zack and Cynthia come to a stop. Their eyes widen with apprehension, as they gaze up into the lush green boughs of a tree directly in front of their path.
Dressed in his black kimono, his equally dark hair tied back in a ponytail, is a Fatalist. His skull mask is hidden away, revealing his whiskered and scarred face. For the moment, however, he is resting comfortably on a particularly large branch of the tree, dozing away.
Cynthia glances at Zack for guidance. Zack merely gazes quietly at the Fatalist, a frown on his face. Cynthia presses. “What should we do?” she whispers.
However, before Zack can respond, the Fatalist pops open his eyes. A sly smile crosses his lips, as he spots the two standing on the ground below him. Yawning and stretching, the Fatalist suddenly rises to his feet.
Spryly, he hops down onto the ground, revealing a sheathed Doombringer strapped to his back. The smirk continues to play about his lips. “Yo, it’s been a while!” he shouts.
Cynthia again glances at Zack, who merely gulps and raises his Kage in front of him. The Fatalist narrows his eyes, scratching his chin slightly.
“What, have you already forgotten me?”
“’Course not…Recelo,” Zack hisses back.
Meanwhile, Fayvard and Rill fly through the forest at lightning speed, dashing from tree to tree to avoid detection. They stop behind a tree at the foot of the hill on which the Fatalists’ castle sits.
Fayvard gazes up at the castle from afar, using his hand to shield his eyes from the sun. “All right…since we’re reconnaissance, I figure the best strategy to start with is to figure out exactly what the Fatalists are up to.”
He turns to Rill at his side. “You’re a double agent, aren’tcha? Since they’re already probably expecting us, you can just go in through the front door and pick up some info for us along the way. How does that sound?”
Rill remains silent, not replying. Fayvard glares impatiently at him. “Look, you gonna do this or not?! We’re a team, so we better cooperate like hell or else Ryuu is gonna be pissed at us for letting down the group.”
“Fine,” Rill replies in a low voice. “I’ll go see what’s going on and come back with information on their movements.”
Behind the two of them, a rustling suddenly disturbs the quiet. Both Fayvard and Rill jump slightly, but breathe a sigh of relief as they find that it is merely a Blue Mushroom. They turn back to looking at the castle.
“All right,” Fayvard whispers, “in that case, I’ll hang out here and pick off any enemies that might come this way. After you’re done, report back here and we’ll move forward from there.”
Rill nods. He rises from his crouched position to leave, but freezes as a blood red katana flies through the air and slams into the trunk of the tree the two of them are hiding behind.
Both Fayvard and Rill jump in alarm, turning around just in time to spot a female Fatalist standing over the corpse of the Blue Mushroom from earlier. A massive, twisted smile is on her lips.
“Hello,” she says, flying forward and retrieving her sword by pulling it by the hilt out of the tree. Fayvard and Rill take several steps to either side, putting distance between themselves and her.
The Fatalist raises her katana in one hand, a frown now on her face. She glares at Rill. “Hm? Rill, huh? You’re with the scum? I see. Even though His Majesty the King Arai trusted you, I always thought you were suspicious. I see now that I was right!”
“Blod…” Rill growls, his hands clenched at his sides.
Fayvard narrows his eyes, gazing at the female Fatalist with contempt. “So you’re a Fatalist, huh?”
Blod turns to Fayvard. “I’ve never seen you before. Are you new to the enemies from the false dimension?”
“Heh!” Fayvard grins haughtily. “Sort of, I guess. The name’s Fayvard Vincent Ralphus Lunari! You’ll get to know me well soon enough!”
Back at the campsite, Silver and Wake remain stationary, surrounded by their standing army. The two of them sit facing each other in front of the long-extinguished campfire.
“Say, Silver…” Wake perks up suddenly, “why did you choose me to be your First General?”
“Hm?” Silver looks at Wake. “What are you babbling about suddenly? I chose you because you were the most capable for the job.”
“You sure about that?” Wake persists. “I don’t exactly have lots of military experience, but when you came to Rose’s that day four years ago…”
“Hey, Lady Silver…” one of the soldiers suddenly says, creeping up to Silver from behind.
“What is it?” Silver asks, without turning to him.
“Well…I know there’s a lot of us so it’d be hard to move around and everything…but are we just going to stand around here waiting for something to happen?”
“We’re on standby,” Silver answers curtly. “There is currently no urgent need for us. Our unit is built for a large-scale affair and that is not suited for the current circumstances. That is the plan laid down by Ryuu.”
“But…”
“We’ll be needed eventually. Our role will be a very important one very soon. Rest up and eat if you can. We have a long and difficult road ahead of us…”
A bloodcurdling scream suddenly punctuates the quiet around the campsite. Both Silver and Wake leap to their feet, as a number of the soldiers who had been resting in an adjacent clearing come running towards the campsite.
“What’s the matter?!” Silver shouts, raising her bow immediately.
By her side, Wake moves into position as well, drawing a gun from his pocket. He points it towards the huddle of trees from where the other soldiers had come.
A soft crunching of leaves is the only sound that breaks the sudden chilled silence. From out of the woods emerges a woman dressed in black robes, her long green hair matching the greenery of the tree leaves around her.
Silver’s eyes bulge maddeningly as the woman comes into view. She strings her bow with an arrow, pointing it at the woman.
“Hold it!” Wake cries, pointing his Abyss Shooter directly at the woman as well. “Don’t take a step closer!”
The woman suddenly breaks into a laugh as she spots Wake pointing his gun feebly at her. She continues walking forward towards the campsite, as Wake takes several uncertain steps back, his gun still locked onto her.
“I say we get her!” one of the soldiers shouts.
“Yeah! She can’t take us all at once!” another agrees.
“W-Wait!” Silver howls, as the congregated soldiers pounce on the Fatalist. With a brief flash of yellow light, four soldiers lay on the ground dead, their heads decapitated.
Silver takes several steps back, wincing with disgust. She holds her hand up to her mouth, gagging slightly, but the green-haired Fatalist continues to approach at a painfully gradual pace.
Meanwhile, Wake merely looks on at the horrific scene with his eyes widened and his jaw lowered, as he continues to stand still, his gun weakly propped up in the air by his quickly diminishing resolve.
“Hmph, I thought I’d see you again,” the Fatalist says, her beautiful face aglow with a taunting sneer as she saunters past Wake, completely ignoring him.
Silver gazes at the woman wrathfully, her face twisted with rage. “You…dare show your face again to me…Midori?!”
“Ah, so you remembered my name,” Midori mocks.
“Of course I do,” Silver heaves hoarsely, her hands clenched so tightly around her bow that they have become snow white. “How could I ever forget the name of the woman responsible for killing Tide?!”
“Killing Tide…?” Wake murmurs with quiet astonishment, glancing from Silver to Midori.
The smirk disappears from Midori’s face. She frowns deeply at Silver, her eyes narrowed. “I’m responsible for killing Tide? Do you honestly still think that? It was he who got himself into that mess. He has no one else to blame for his death but himself. You cannot put that blame on me…when you were the one who killed him in the first place!”
Wake gazes open-mouthed at Silver. “Silver…is that true?”
Silver does not reply. She stands still, her bow lowered at her side. Suddenly, she raises her bow again, pointing it at Midori. She fires.
Wide, wooden planks hover over the crystal clear water of the river below. The sound of running water permeates the quiet, still day. The planks seem to extend endlessly into the distance, following the path of the river.
Kunai and Ryuu walk along the pier, taking in their surroundings. Swiveling his head about, Kunai murmurs, “Isn’t this the river near George’s house?”
“Yeah,” Ryuu grunts. A pause follows. “Well, yes and no, I suppose. But it’s the same one that runs through Henesys out to the bay at Nautilus.”
“Hmm…”
Rubbing his head, Ryuu sighs uncomfortably. “Come on, let’s hurry up. I’ve got a bad feeling about this place. I don’t want to spend too much time out in the open like this.”
“Right,” Kunai agrees. The two of them burst into a hurried sprint.
“Just like old times, huh, Ryuu?” Kunai shouts to Ryuu’s left. “Running like this, fighting like this…!”
Ryuu nods. “Yeah.”
They continue running silently for some time, their footsteps clunking against the wooden planks. Sunlight streams over their heads through the thick groves of trees growing on either side of the river. Below them, the water runs clear, with every pebble and every fish visible to the naked eye.
Just ahead, the pier suddenly forks into two paths. Standing at the very edge of the fork is one person, his figure momentarily blurred by the brightness of the sun.
Kunai and Ryuu come to a stop in front of this figure. He raises his eyes, an electrifyingly bright yellow. His blue hair hangs low over his eyes, and he clutches a Dark Ritual in his hands.
Kunai’s eyes widen. Ryuu swallows, his eyes narrowed. Arai smiles back. “It’s been a while, hasn’t it, Kunai, Ryuu?”
—END FORTY-TWO—
Time to break out the scorecards people, ’cause we got a lot of fights on our hands! Who you got?