by SlyOkami
“C-Come on, stop that! You can’t escape!” Quinn tried to explain, yet her soft voice was all too easy to ignore for Shizuka.
As she did, and continued to struggle.
That is, until the frustrated falcon stepped on her tail…
Causing every hair on Shizuka’s body to stand on end, as her eyes opened to their fullest while she screamed.
“A-Are you going to calm down now!?” Quinn sheepishly exclaimed as she stepped off the feline’s tail.
As Shizuka’s wide and focused cat-like eyes turned to glare at her, “I’m gonna rip your throat out.” She warned, and Quinn shuddered at her dead-cold tone.
Terrified by the melancholy she sensed within Shizuka, Quinn took several steps back, shaking her head as she apologised over and over. “I’m sorry! I’m sorry! Sorry! Please don’t! I’m so sorry!” her back hitting a strangely mangled treetrunk before crouching down, raising her hands over her head Quinn then continued to apologise, but now seemingly whispering to herself.
Shizuka watched her captor in confusion, (“This…is that guy’s sibling?”) she pondered remembering Hayato’s cold and wicked behaviour. Then comparing it to…this meek girl before her, the contrast between them was far from familiar. “The hell is wrong with you?” She asked.
“Hm?…” Quinn hummed back as she peaked a glance at Shizuka, “W-What?”
“You’re no killer, are you?” Shizuka mused, narrowing her eyes as the girl’s expression paled at the question.
Quinn shook her head in response.
“Then what the hell you doing here? Why you caught up in this mess if you’re too afraid of someone already bound up like me?” Shizuka asked her, trying to rise from where she lay but only able to make it onto her knees.
Quinn tried to lean further away, but with the tree trunk behind her she found that she couldn’t, “Wha-What do you mean?…”
“Your brother is one bad apple, do you even know what he’s got you taking part in?!” Shizuka exclaimed, “Entire fucking realms are at stake and here you are scared shitless from something like this? Where the fuck do you think you are? You think you can afford to be afraid? War is no place for cowards so, I’m asking you, what the hell are you doing here?!”
“I know…” Quin whispered as she shook, anger filling the Spirit Beast’s eyes as she suddenly bellowed, “Dammit I know!” a shockwave of Spirit releasing alongside her voice as her eyes suddenly shone emerald green. “Yeah…Yeah I’m a coward…But can you blame me? Back home…Back home all we know is peace…All we know is tranquillity and…Then they come…”
“They? Who are they?” Shizuka asked, giving up on struggling as her curiosity took hold.
“Kurzan…” Quinn hissed the name, “His people came…Monsters we’d never even heard of before…They forced their way through our peace, they shattered our tranquillity…Kurzan…He owns us now…”
“And you’re okay with that?” Shizuka then asked, forcing herself forward, she dragged along the dimly coloured ground like a worm. “Are you fine with being owned? Are you fine with being someone’s item?”
Quinn shook her head, “I-I wanted none of this…”
“And your brother?” Shizuka asked, as she came to lay before the younger falcon.
Quinn smiled with melancholy, “Hayato loves it…He loves the sight of blood, always has. But before the Devil, we had clear laws…laws he always pushed against. Now?…Now he’s the Devil’s lapdog, enjoying every single bit of it…”
Shizuka rose to kneel before her, “Your brother at this moment is fighting a monster, a real monster, that could very well take his life. What do you think of that?”
Quinn’s hands lowered from above her head, clenching against her robes as her eyes narrowed. “Hayato…He…He did nothing…”
“What didn’t he do?” Shizuka pressed.
“He watched…He just watched…And forced me to just watch as…as Kurzan killed our grandfather…” Quinn mumbled out, her eyes wide open yet Shizuka could tell, the young falcon’s sight was elsewhere as she spoke those words. Trapped in that memory.
Shizuka knew what it felt like, to be frozen in the past, to be unable to forget.
She knew those eyes too, eyes full of hate, trapped in a body too weak.
Shizuka also knew, what needed to be done.
As she rose higher, and suddenly slammed her forehead into Quinn’s, “Oof-” headbutting her head back into the tree’s trunk.
Both of them then falling aside, Shizuka groaning in pain as she rose while Quinn tumbled back and forth screaming in agony.
“W-Why!? Why d-did you do that!?” Quinn asked with teary eyes as she rose to her feet and backed away from her, holding her now reddened forehead as she stared at Shizuka in fear.
“Cause that’s the only way I know of snapping you out of it.” Shizuka said, blood leaking down her own forehead as she slightly regretting that action. “Pain, is something you’ll have to face a lot of, from now on. I know how that feels…I was trapped like you before as well but-But I was saved.”
“S-Saved?” Quinn stuttered in question.
Shizuka nodded, as the blood leaked down onto her left eye, forcing her to close it.
Seeing this Quinn immediately kneeled down before her, taking out a cloth and cleaning the blood off.
“I was saved by someone so strange, from no less her own master…I had no worth to her, there was no point in saving me yet she did it anyway even at the risk of her life at the time…” Shizuka told as Quinn carefully cleaned off the blood. “And after that…The monster of her master who was so keen on being rid of me…at the risk of his and all of his comrades’ lives…fought a vampire lord just to save me as well. Do you know what he told me? I’ll never forget…”
Quinn’s meek gaze rose to meet Shizuka’s resolved eyes as blood lay smudged over her face, “What…did he say?”
“Legends he said…” Shizuka whispered as she grinned, as she managed to force herself onto a one-legged kneel, “Does Kurzan scare you? Do his actions haunt you? Does he plague your mind and soul?” Shizuka asked as she rose into standing over the still crouched down Quinn, “Do you think that makes you weak? Then you are, very weak. But do you not want to be strong instead?” Shizuka asked as Quinn watched on in frozen awe.
As Shizuka continued to struggle with her bindings, crimson spiritual energy forming around her hands as she fought against the ember winds. “If you do…Then let that fear, that terror, fuel you instead! Burn it, turn it into hate and let that fury overwhelm you instead!” She raised her voice, shouting as she struggled against what before she thought to be too strong a spell to break.
But as she reminded herself of those words once told, Shizuka felt her power meet those requirements.
As the ember winds suddenly burst aside, replaced by raging crimson as it engulfed her entire body.
She then looked down upon the meek falcon, not as the terrified kitten she once was, but as the lioness she now felt like.
And she said.
“I can free you, but only if you wish for it.
Right now, you are akin to a slave, but I give you a choice. Do you want to go on with your life afraid… or do you want to be free?
I won’t lie, you alone, won’t accomplish much but…Together, wield your power alongside mine and be remembered not as a coward, but as a fighter. Join me, join us, Quinn. And I promise you if you accept to face the challenges ahead? Your name will echo throughout history!” She said, as she forwarded her hand to the falcon.
“With us, we shall stop hell, and in turn become legends beyond myth.” Shizuka promised, as the meek Quinn stared up at her, tears starting to form at her eyes.
“I d-don’t want this anymore…I can’t take it anymore!” Quinn exclaimed as she wept, “I want to be strong…I want to be able to stand up to my brother and not fear for my life the second after!” Quin screamed out, balling her hands up as her gaze fell to the ground.
“Then take my
hand.” Shizuka offered, and Quinn’s gaze rose to see it outstretched towards her.
Their eyes locked, and Quinn reached out for it.
Grasping the crimson engulfed Shizuka’s hand, as at her own palm formed an emerald energy, slowly growing to engulf her too.
Shizuka pulled Quinn up to her feet, “Welcome to the party.” She told the meek falcon with a wide grin, “You’re our problem now.”
“Uhuh…” Quinn said, seemingly still entranced with wide teary eyes.
Shizuka tried to pull her hand away but found that for how thin and weak Quinn seemed, the girl had an iron grip. “Can I…have my hand back?”
“Err, Ah!-” Quinn suddenly let go, realising she was still holding on and going completely crimson red as she stepped away, “S-Sorry!”
Shizuka sighed, “Back to square one already?…Fine, let’s go.” She then said, but after glancing around she remembered that she had no clue as to where they even where. “Or…” She pointed her finger at Quinn, “Lead the way, we’re going after your brother before he does something stupid. That is…if something stupid hasn’t already fucking happened…”
“Y-You should really watch your language…” Quinn said, but immediately regretted it as Shizuka’s cold glare fell upon her.
“Shut yer trap, I speak how I want kay?” Shizuka warned her, to which Quinn stepped away and bowed her head down.
“S-Sorry! I’m sorry!” Then apologising over and over again.
“S-Shit-Calm down!” Shizuka told her, flustering herself. “Stupid…Get a hold of yourself!” she shouted.
Causing Quinn to suddenly straighten up, “Y-Yes…”
“Ugh…” Shizuka sighed once more, “Alright, show the way then.” She said gesturing at the forest nearby.
“W-We can blink to his position…This is the Spirit Realm and we are Spirit Beasts…” Quinn said as if it was the most obvious thing.
Annoying Shizuka, “Go…ahead?”
Quinn nodded and stepped to stand closer to her, reaching out with her right hand to Shizuka’s shoulder, yet faltering.
“Well?” Shizuka snapped at her.
Causing Quinn to fluster red once more, “S-Sorry!” she apologised for the millionth time, slamming her hand onto Shizuka’s shoulder as she felt it almost break from the sudden force.
Then, her vision blurred.
Shizuka saw the world around her swirl, making her feel sick as everything turned into a smudge for the briefest of seconds before taking new form.
Now finding that she stood elsewhere entirely, she felt to her knees from the ensuing nausea.
“No…” Quinn said as she stared ahead, Shizuka rising to glance at her wide eyes before following her gaze.
“I’m sorry…we’re too late.”
-
* * *
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qLL2Gx3I_k
* * *
-
Moments earlier
Hayato stood before an open rift, burned and beaten bloody.
Whilst before him, stood Thea, glancing between the Spirit beast ahead of her and the mistake she had just made behind her…
“Well…I’m sure you shouldn’t have been able to do that…” Hayato mused between weary breaths, “Yet, this was no magic was it? Else why is the Dragon not chasing after also? Hah…Hahaha!” He laughed, amused by this incredible occurrence. “No…don’t tell me…it can’t be that you-B-bahahaha!”
Hysterically he laughed, as Thea’s stone-cold gaze turned to face him, yet a step back she took.
Only to find that Hayato was suddenly gone from ahead of her quicker than a blinking eye.
“Well, well, well…How cruel, just can destiny be?” Hayato mused, Thea turning around to find him standing between her and the only way out.
As he raised his hand to the rift, and it quickly closed up.
“This, if you didn’t already know, is the Spirit Realm…” Hayato explained, as he straightened himself, “And as a non-physical plane of existence, only Spirits and Spirit Beasts can enter…with just one exception…”
Again, Hayato laughed, as his eyes set upon her.
“You should have died a long time ago, huh? Truly, how truly amusing fate can be sometimes…” He mused with a wide smirk. “Now to do the reaper’s work is usually beyond me but…such an intriguing coincidence is something…I simply cannot ignore no?”
Backed in a corner with a beast she couldn’t hope to defeat, yet still Thea stood tall, clenching both of her weapons as Aura surrounded her.
“Feisty, I like that, yet I’m afraid you’re not worth my time for amusement.” Hayato said with a sigh, his already bored eyes meeting hers.
“You’ll find that…I’m stronger than I look!” Thea exclaimed, raising her left gunblade towards him. “Where is she!?”
“She? Oh, the traitor from another bloodline? I don’t know…I left her laying somewhere?” Hayato mused, chuckling as he glanced about. “Maybe a Spirit ate her? Who knows…”
Thea grimaced at his words, her Aura thickening around her body further as she prepared to fight.
“My, how pointless.” Hayato said with a sneer as he returned to staring at her, raising his charred arm towards her, he chuckled.
As he swiped his hand aside, and to her cold surprise, the entirety of her Aura disappeared.
Thea’s expression paled as she took several steps back, gazing at the monster before her in fear.
As it approached her.
“Well? Where did all that sass from earlier go? Will you not defy me? Will you just stand there as I butcher you like an animal?” Hayato asked with clear annoyance, “There’s nothing I hate more than a coward unwilling to give it their all!” He bellowed, and reality around them shook.
Causing Thea to stumble and fall back, losing her grip on one of her gunblades which quickly dissipated into nothingness as she stood right back up, leaving it behind.
“Truly, fate is cruel.” Hayato mused once again.
And Thea, realised what his words meant.
That realisation taking with her fear, as nothing more than coldness was left behind.
“I see…” She whispered to herself, Hayato raising a brow as he didn’t quite hear her.
“Huh!?” Hayato said, taking another step towards her.
“Ah…Hah…” Thea sighed, before suddenly breaking into a laugh.
Confusing the Spirit Beast as his eyes focused and narrowed. “Tell me, what’s so damn hilarious? Do you not understand your situation, human?”
Thea shook her head, “Oh, I get it. I fucking get it. That’s why I laugh.”
“Well I bloody don’t.” Hayato argued back, “Have you lost your mind or something? Never saw fear do that before, I must say I’m intrigued.”
“Maybe…Maybe I have!” Thea exclaimed, “But still I’ll laugh.” She said with a wide forced grin.
“Why?” Hayato asked, as ember winds began to flow all around them.
“Because, I made a promise.” Thea said, as her blue eyes suddenly turned gold. “I promised him my soul. I’m his champion, his chosen…His Empress…And for as long as I hold those titles…I’m not allowed to be afraid! And if I fail…”
“Then I fail while fighting, in his name! Smiling through every moment!” Thea bellowed as golden lightning surged through her body, feeling as if Erik himself held her shoulders as she rushed forth.
Sensing his power raging through her as well, Hayato’s demeanour immediately changed, as he willed his winds forward to meet her.
Thea though charged still, her gunblade lunging ahead of herself as crimson flames too engulfed her.
Surrounded by his mana…protected by his flames and empowered by his lightning.
Thea met the spiritual winds head-on, stomping her right foot into the ground and sending forth a quake as she slashed her weapon through the wall of ember blades.
Feeling, as the flames and lightning clashed with the wind…
Feeling as it divi
ded beneath her blade…
Thea smiled, even as she felt the winds tear at her body and engulf her in agony.
Still, she forced a smile, as she fought against the overwhelming strength before her.
She screamed, as alongside his power she struggled.
Yet…
The winds then suddenly stopped.
And her vision briefly blurred.
Then returning, something strange seemed amiss…
Her gunblade was gone?
“Utterly pointless.” Hayato hissed as he glared at her.
Thea was confused, she was still unharmed and standing so what was he up to?
“NO!” Then a voice bellowed from their side, both of them turning to follow the sound and seeing Shizuka crash down nearby, stumbling forward before freezing in her steps.
Eyes wide and reddened from held-back tears as she stared at Thea…then at something behind her.
Thea, followed her distressed gaze…Seeing what she had seen…
Seeing herself, sprawled out on the ground as her gunblade lay broken beside her.
Her own body, ripped up and beaten, grinning still as her eyes also still lay wide.
Her own body….
It took her several moments for it to sink in.
Her own body…
She knew she stood there, yet also before herself she lay there too?
It didn’t fully sink in…not until she turned to meet Shizuka’s eyes once again.
The pain, the horror she saw in Shizuka’s eyes told her that her own sight wasn’t lying to her.
“Hah, how does it feel to see your dead self? Amusing isn’t it?” Hayato asked with a chuckle as he turned to Shizuka, “And you…managed to escape huh? Not that I cared, but I guess I’ll kill you too just in case…”
His eyes though, widening as he saw Quinn step out into the open and come to stand next to Shizuka.
“You…Ah, I always knew you were weak…But this? Master Kurzan will not be amused.” Hayato said in a cold tone.
Quinn though ignored him, as she glanced between Shizuka and Thea, understanding fully the event before her…she stopped Shizuka who turned to charge at Hayato.