[IC] The Legend of Heroes: Tales of the World

[Rexcalibur]

Syed stepped aside, allowing Amy full view of her room, which had converted to blinding white emptiness. “Don’t worry, Amy. It’s not like you can run.” He stepped forward. She stepped back – hitting the balcony behind her. Shady figures crowded the ground floor, as if waiting for her to jump onto them, while the figures towards both her left and right were encroaching still. Syed, however, did not wait for another reaction before reaching forward and gripping her wrist. “You’ll be fine!”

He flung her inside. As she passed him by, she caught sight of the red gem he was hiding behind his back, before flopping forward entirely – though not hitting the ground. Instead she was caught in safe and reassuring arms.

“Clericsis!” the savior gasped. “You need to be more careful! I mean, if I wasn’t here, you would have just…!”

Amy dropped to the floor. With a slight groan of pain she pushed herself up with her hands. A group of males from behind her pseudo-savior burst into a round of laughter, though they calmed down as one spoke up above the others. “Hey, hey, I have another joke. How many Amies does it take to change a light bulb?”

Amy yelped as she was suddenly thrown back – the jokester had approached her and knocked her onto her back by a shoe to her face. He put on a dopey grin. “None, because she’s totally useless!”

Once again the white room filled with laughter. Amy backed away – she tried to back away – but she found her legs immobile. Numb? No, big and burly hands had broken from the ‘ground’ below and gripped tightly onto her thighs, forcing her legs in place.

---

As Trixie began chasing after the darkened figure, it turned around and began to flee. “Let’s play, Trixie!”

“Wait, wait, you just got back and now you’re running away again!? Oh come on, lemme at least hug you fi~rst!” Trixie pursued the figure further down the meadow, finally reaching its outskirts and diving into the forest that walled it. Heaps and heaps of trees cut off the distance between the two, and soon enough, Trixie had lost sight of who she was chasing. She slowed to a stop and began to wheeze. “Come back!”

Seconds later, the prankster found herself tackled to the ground. Upon landing on her stomach, she buried her face in the dirt beneath her, before plucking it back up and resting it on her hands, a mischievous smile on her face. The shadowy figure’s head leaned over to meet her eyes. “Got you!”

It removed itself from her body. When it noticed she wasn’t rising, the figure then knelt down and offered her a hand. She did not accept it. “Trixie?” The figure reached forward and brushed its fingers lovingly along her chin. “Trixie, you’re crying…”

“I was,” she hiccupped, looking away, “I was so scared that—that you… that we wouldn’t ever… Amy said that you…”

“Shhh, Trixie, it’s okay.” The figure helped sit Trixie up as it spoke, embracing her warmly once she was seated atop her knees. “I’m here. I’m here now. Shhh, it’s okay…”

[Pachamac]

Thaum?

Marcus looked towards his doppelganger, and for a brief period of time nothing was said. He sighed, looking away and used the support of his staff to rise to his feet, his eyes refocused on the violet illuminated tower in the distance, back dropped against a fierce red sky, and then took a step forward, followed by one another, trudging down the hilltop’s path and in the tower’s direction. The other man watched as Marcus moved, and frowned as Marcus seemed to move away and return to ignoring him again.

“Hey, hey, Marky, where are you going?” The silver haired man asked, jogging to catch Marcus up and follow behind. “Seriously, Marky, you’re being so rude, not talking. And just when I thought we were beginning to bond. What’s the matter with you? Where are you going? Is there something you want to talk about? I’m a good listener, I promise. C’mon, Marky, talk to me! It takes two people to have a conversation, you know.”

But still, Marcus said nothing, his eyes focusing on the distant tower ahead, even as the streets below were shrouded in purple fog. His feet moved into it, and gradually his entire body sank within the fog, his surroundings growing dimmer and more difficult to see. The other man followed without missing a beat.

“Tsk. Well, I suppose you don’t have to talk if you don’t want to, Marky, but personally I feel that that’s just boring. Oh well, suit yourself. I can talk enough for the both of us!” The other man responded jubilantly.

“Afterall, sometimes it’s good to just get your thoughts out, isn’t it? To let what’s bubbling around inside your head come out into the open, so you can analyse it and decide what to do about it. The problem with you, Marky, is that you have all of these problems floating about inside our head that you never try to think about. Instead of embracing them, you just push them down and down, over and over again, hoping that eventually they’ll go away, as if it will actually solve anything. But nope. Nope, that only makes things worse. Because then the pressure just builds up over and over and over again until… PWOOSH!” The doppelganger threw his arms out in a wide semicircle, his lips pursed as he audited the sound with great gusto. “Until it all comes flying out into one great, big, sloppy mess. Honestly, I’m trying to do you a favour here, Marky. I’m trying to help you.”

The other Marcus re-centered his glasses with a confident smirk, but the real Marcus said nothing, constantly moving forwards and saying nothing. But the other Marcus wasn't deterred.

“What shall we start with, Marky? I mean, there’s so much here… where do we begin?”

---

THE BRIEFING

???

The room was dark, save for the glow of light shining from the projector in the centre of the small room lined with plush reclining chairs, until the light became reflected on the wall at the far end. The small machine would show various images of slides one after another, a telltale click dully sounding out as a button was pressed every now and then through the course of the presentation to move to the next slide. The button pusher was a young girl with braided pigtails in a scientist’s jacket and glasses, her hand holding the button rising up to push her glasses up, as her other hand held a clipboard scrawled with various notes. Beside her stood a blonde man with presence in military clothing, his arms folded over his chest as he inspected the various images that flicked up in front of them one after another.

“The situation’s dire,” He continued. “They’re planning on executing the princess tomorrow… live, for all of the world to see. If they do, then they’ll be triggering a world war… one in which we’ll never be able to walk away from again. This is the place here; the base in which they’re holding her. I won't lie, the security is tight and virtually impossible to break into, but-”

“I thought I told you, colonel…” A voice interrupted the blonde man from the front aisle of the room, a waft of smoke rising into the air. A seated man in sunglasses tilted his head to the side as he casually looked up at the images, his legs resting one atop the other, his lips taking another deep drag of the cigarette in his hands. “I’m retired.”

The colonel cleared his throat and straightened his posture a fraction. “I know you are. I know. Normally I don’t like to ask, but… but you’re our last hope. There’s nobody else who can do this. We… we need you. We need you to save the princess. To save the entire world.”

There was a loud sigh, as the seated man rose his hand into the air, the smoke continuing to waft absentmindedly into the air. The light shining from the projected images of aerial recon schematics and personnel character dossiers presented on the wall reflected off his sunglasses. “Don’t get your knickers in a twist, colonel, I didn’t say I wouldn’t do it. When a lady is in trouble, what else can I do but save her? The mission looks like a piece of cake as well, colonel. I’ve already figured out at least twenty different ways of accomplishing this mission already.” The man shifted his posture within his seat and took another long drag.

The colonel and his trusty scientist assistant drew a deep breath of relief. The colonel wiped his sweating brow, joy elating upon his face. Thank the gods. Thank Aislin.

“Thank you, Ace. Thank you. You don’t know how important this means, what a service you’re doing-”

“Don’t worry ol’ fella,” The man smiled, rising to his feet and walking up the steps to the exit at the back of the room, patting the colonel on the shoulder as he moved passed him, and granting a short, affectionate grin towards the scientist, who looked away in blushing embarrassment. “I’ll have the princess rescued, a world war averted and be back in time for breakfast, or my name’s not Ace Capuello.”

Ace’s hand retrieved the cigarette from his lips and extinguished it in the ash tray atop the table propping up the projector, as he continued his cool walk up the stairs to the exit, passing through the double doors with his hands now resting in his jacket. Both the Colonel Sanders and Scientist May looked after him with a relieved and wistful sigh.

“What a guy.”



NEXT: THE MISSION

[Bunanigans]

Moira woke with a start, gasping for air.

Sunlight streamed in through the window, which was strange. She had been a light sleeper for years. She sat up with wide eyes, and found herself looking around herself. No, nothing unusual. Just her in her bedroom. She placed a hand on her chest, feeling her heart rapidly beating against her ribs. What a horrible nightmare.

She got up quite quickly, padding out into the hallway. "Sonny?!" she called. As much as she hated to admit it, that dream freaked her out. The thought...

"You alright Mum?" he called back up the stairs. He was alive! He was alive... Moira felt the relief wash over her. Oh thank fuck for that. She quickly decended the stairs, spotting him ironing his shirt for work. He looked up at her expectantly, pushing his glasses further up his freckled nose.

"Eh, it's nothin'," Moira smiled. "Bad dream, that's all." She looked uncomfortable for a moment, feeling the need to say something but not really wanting to. "You heading to work? T... take care of yourself, won't you?"

"Um... yeah. Sure..." Sonny looked a little confused by this, but he shrugged anyway. "I will, don't worry. Seeya later." He gave her a peck on the cheek. And with that, Moira's whole world stepped out of the door.

CRASH

Moira scrambled after him, her breath catching in her throat. NO!

"Woah, close call!" Sonny stood just a little to one side, a horrible mess of brick and mortar where he was stood just a second ago. It looked like he had dodged it just in time. He turned and gave Moira a wide grin.

Moira could only stare blankly at the mess. This was... like her dream. What... what was going on? Sonny seemed oblivious to her reaction, waving as he stepped into the road.

Blood splattered everywhere when the bus hit him.

---

"Danny, if you could read us the next paragraph, please."

A blond haired boy stood up and opened his mouth wide, before positively bellowing the passage in their text books. His voice lisped slightly thanks to the tooth he had lost the day before. Bless him, he always tried hard.

While Syed listened and nodded enouragingly, his eyes were unfocused. He knew this story word for word by now, he didn't need to read the book along with them. Plus, his thoughts were on something else. Namely the absence of... well... everyone. All there was were him and his class. Why... why did this feel familar?!

His thoughts were disrupted by a high-pitched, ear piercing scream.

Syed's head shot up, his eyes clicking desperately around the class. "What's going on?!" he called out, standing up behind his desk.

"Mr Dyjani!" One of the girls at the back of the class screamed, tears welling up in her eyes. A birthday badge was pinned to her top. Jainie. "SIR! What's happening?!"

She tried to move her legs, only to find her feet rooted to the floor. Literally. Bark was swiftly travelling up her body, her body transforming from flesh and bone to wood. "Sir!" she screamed, looking towards him like he was the only person in the world who could help her. "I don't like this! Please sir I really don't like this!"

"Jainie!" Syed called back, trying his hardest to keep himself at least sounding calm as he quickly went to move around his desk. "Hang on!" He didn't know what to do. He had absolutely no idea. He felt panic through every fibre in his body, but he was the teacher, he had to stay calm-!

He found himself suddenly halted by something pulling at his chest. Something was stopping him going any further. He looked down slowly, his entire body shaking...

...And his gaze was met by a large horrific looking chain, embedded deep into his chest. A horrible, foreign thing invading his body, and no matter how much he pulled it wouldn't come free. All he could do was raise his head again, seeing Jainie's panicked eyes lock with his before she was completely consumed by the bark. And then she was gone. A tree sat in her place.

The classroom erupted into screams.

[Dannyel]

Dylan’s heart was pounding in his chest, waiting for the apology that he knew would never come. “I can’t...” Tobias stepped forward, reaching towards Dylan and interlocking his fingers with him, but Dylan wrenched free. “No!” he shouted. “Don’t touch me!”

Spinning, he stumbled out of the room and made his way forward. Tears stung his eyes, but he managed to hold them back as he raced down the stairs into the ballroom. He turned and came to dead stop, finding himself staring at another painful sight - Tobias wrapped in the arms of another man. He backed away, colliding with a table and sending a wine bottle tumbling to the ground where it shattered. Tobias wrenched away from the stranger, staring at Dylan with a shocked look on his face. “Dylan...” he said as he reached out.

“How...?” He shook his head, his mind feeling fuzzy. This had been months ago, he was sure of it, but yet he was here again. Confused, he did the only thing that made sense. He ran.

He ran through the mansion, seeking a way out, but everywhere he turned he found the same sight. Tobias in the arms of another. Some of the people he recognized, some of them where strangers. Some of them he knew in his gut had happened, others were clearly false. But that didn’t matter - each and every single time ripped out a piece of his heart.

Finally he found himself face to face with his phantom, the world falling away around them. It was just him and Tobias - the man who broke him again and again. “Why? Why do you keep doing this you heartless bastard!” Tobias arched an eyebrow, his face cool and impassive. Dylan would give anything - rage, cry, tear out his own heart and serve it to him on a silver platter - if he could just make Tobias feel just one moment of the shame and heartbreak that he still suffered. “You just used me and then threw me aside like some kind of toy that you were bored of. How could you do this to me?” 



“How could you do it to him?” Tobias responded, the faintest trace of a smirk upon his lips.

“What?”

The world blared into focus, the sudden light blinding him. He stood in a bright room, a warm seaside breeze flowing in through the window. He had been here before, not even very long ago. It was the hotel in Los Paraisos. Slowly, he turned towards the bed.

“Dylan,” Lucy said, clutching the blanket to him as he tried to cover his nakedness. There was no sign of his goofy smile, the carefree jokester that Dylan had grown to know so well. No, this man was completely different - scared, confused, and so lost that it was heartbreaking.

“Dylan...what happened last night?”

[Crescendo]

Heart pounding, she stared up at the empty guild in despair. The usually bustling square was eerily silent, causing the hairs on the back of her neck to prickle as she tried to catch her breath. The shopkeepers’ stands stood unattended, and nobody stood next to the pillar where she and Xan had agreed to meet. Against her wishes her body quivered, hands clenched into shaking fists.

“What’s this? Is the girlie feeling looonely?”

Aria jumped, whipping around wildly and trying to find the source of the screeching laughter.
“Who’s there? Who are you? Where is everyone?!” She demanded frantically. No matter where she looked, the town was as still as ever save the wind rippling over the trees. “Are you the one behind all this-”

“Slow down, sweetheart!” The voice cackled, a sound not unlike a combination of a blackboard being scraped and crunching gravel. “So many questions, too many questions. I’m nobody important, so we won’t talk too much about me. I was the one who took away all your friends though, I’ll admit to that at least. Aww, don’t make that face! I did it for your sake, after all.” The voice softened into what Aria thought was its version of a croon, and she gritted her teeth, glaring up to the sky

“What do you mean, for my sake? What did you do to them? If you’ve hurt them in any way-”

“Now, now, my dear,” it interrupted once again, crooning in a manner as if it pitied her. “I hardly need to explain this to you. You know, don’t you? That everyone will scorn and leave you when they finally realize what kind of person you truly are! Yes, see, you do know this!” The voice laughed gleefully as Aria trembled, shrinking back with narrowed eyes. Before she could manage an answer the voice shrilled on. “I know everything about you, darling. I've explored every nook and cranny of your silly little mind-And you’re absolutely right! Those little late night reflections and doubts are aaabsolutely justified, Aria. You are just a horrible, cowardly, wretched little girl who nobody could ever love, hiding under a façade of confidence as to fool the people you don't deserve to love. One day you’ll be forced to drop that silly little mask, and when your ‘friends’ see you then, there’ll be nobody left.

In the end, I’m just saving you copious amounts of shame and heartbreak, love.”

[Orpheus]

He was in Hell, and It froze over.

Lute’s eyes widened in surprise when everything fell to a halt and then completely stopped; even a simple leaf which wafted in from the open window was suspended mid-air, and his mother and father remained unmoving like stiff wax statues. He pushed himself off the counter and rubbed his eyes, feeling more than a healthy amount of confusion and dread as he reached out and touched the floating leaf.
"Ma?" The boy called out, uncertainty ringing in his tone. "Old man-" He didn't want to call the man 'Father' and he felt something vague stir within him; anger at himself for having to talk with this person, "Did you do this? If it isn't enough that you're useless, you even-"

The world suddenly flipped.

“Graaaaaagh!?” Lute shouted as the house rapidly tilted 90 degrees. The door creaked, tore out of the hinges and his father fell through the gap, still frozen with the bottle angling towards his lips. His mother, on the other hand, was pulled downwards along with all the other household objects. She was pinned against the stone wall by the dining table, a blank expression on her face despite the fact that everything was going to hell. Lute hung on to the counter and braced, but his hands kept slipping. “Wait, Ma! J-just hang on, I’m going to get you!” He yelled and inched towards the wall. The boy was almost digging his heels into the earthen floor just to make sure he was stable, but his palms were clammy with sweat. “What do I do, what do I do?” He mumbled to himself and flinched when a pan flew off its hooks and grazed his face. The nearest handhold was an inch out of reach and Lute strained forward, his fingertips brushing on the stone but never really securing a grip.

"Brooother? What's happening?" Ruana's voice wafted in from the bedroom. Was she flung against the wall by the sudden insanity that was happening right now? Shit, maybe she was injured!? Lute shook his head. He had to remain focused. Mom first and then they can save his sister together. Ruana's question rang oddly clear despite the cacophony from furniture being torn apart, and Lute immediately shrieked back at her to stay inside.

As he reared back one more time to try again the house shook and Lute fell, through the very same gap in the very same way his father did.

[Fox of Spades]

Moira and Syed didn't look like people, they looked like butchered meat. A mangled mess of bloodstained flesh and missing limbs.

Lucien's eyes were screwed shut and his head was hung low, both his arms were raised above him and no matter how hard he pulled he couldn't move an inch. He was useless, he couldn't save them, couldn't save anyone. "Stop," his voice was horse from screaming. "Stopstopstop."

He saw them die, heard their garbled screams. Syed even locked eyes with him and Lucien saw the disappointment and confusion. "I-It's not me," he had managed to utter. "Not me..." but the lion simply laughed and when the summoner opened his eyes, the creature looked exactly like him.

"Ey, ey, why do you look so down?" The creature gave him a dopey grin, he could see blood on the thing's mouth. "Why don't I tell you a joke? There was this man, who lost his entire left side." His summon nudged Syed's corpse with his foot. "He's all right now." The beast doubled over with laughter then grinned at what had once been the boss. "Three of your friends are dead because of you." The animal melted into the ground and Lucien found himself falling deeper and deeper into the darkness.

Suddenly, he was in a park. Trixie, Estelle, and Lisette were seated on the grass playing with Kapi.

The lion was there too, behind all three of them, grinning. Lucien took a wobbly step forward and sank knee-deep into the earth. Lucien yelled, pleaded, and cursed but no one ever heard him and for the third time he watched his friends die at the hands of something he had summoned. Selan, Amy, Marcus, Aria, Xan, and Lute...he watched as the Lion tore each and everyone one of them apart, and each time he could do nothing.

"If only you had been stronger." The voice teased, but he couldn't concentrate. The world went dark and when he opened his eyes, he was standing with his blood stained hands around Don's neck. "It was your fault they died, might as well kill the last one with your own hands."

Lucien's shoulders shook and he sobbed. He couldn't stop it, he couldn't do anything.



The bear had left after she decided to play dead.

The attack had only lasted a few minutes but it had felt like hours. The girl was lying in a puddle of blood, staring at the sky through half-lidded eyes. It felt cold and everywhere was hurting, but she couldn't feel her arm. A stabbing, burning pain shot down her back and she turned her head to the side. What she saw next made her whimper, she remembered a crunching sound when she raised her arm to push the bear back. The world was growing darker by the second and the pain was ebbing away. She was scared, she didn't want to die. Warm tears trickled down her cheeks as she grew even number. The girl struggled to stay conscious but darkness eventually claimed her.

---

Sunlight.

The soil beneath her felt warm. Xan opened her eyes to a blue and cloudless sky. Had she been dreaming? The girl propped herself onto her elbows and gasped. The coliseum, she was back. "Estelle? Dylan? Lute? Selan?" Her head was pounding, just what had happened? She staggered to her feet, did the bear knock her out or something?

"Fight! Fight! Fight!" Suddenly, the seats were filled with jeering animals.

"What on earth?" The girl raised her arm, ready to will it into a sword if she needed to fight. Something was off, she looked at her hand. There was no steel, just flesh and bone. How? She stared at it, transfixed. What was happening?

"Hey, turning your back on your opponent? That's very rude."

Xan spun around to see three sneering animals. A wolf, a wildcat, and a bear. The girl paled at the sight. "A-Anyone?"

"Fight, fight, fight!" The crowd wanted blood, her blood.

[Taerinn]

The room was dark, and Selan lay awake, staring at the ceiling. She could hear the waves crashing against rocks, and she could hear the wind gently brush along the tops of the trees. But much closer, she could hear his soft, steady breathing next to her. As though her body were moving on its own, she left the bed and strode toward the unlocked door with no hesitation. Her nightgown swept across the floor, but she was otherwise silent.

She had only been outside of the room a handful of times, but she had heard the noises every so often, noises no one thought she would be able to hear. But she heard them, as faint and terrible as they were. She followed her instincts, turning left here, right there, down this staircase, through this door... No one was around to stop her.

The basement smelled stale and dusty, and soft whimpers echoed throughout the cramped prison. The only light was provided by a single flickering candle affixed to the wall. Huddled, broken forms were crowded inside, some moving, some not. One pushed her way to the front, and clutched at the crude wooden bars weakly to see who had come and why. Her face was hidden in the darkness.

"Sister..." Selan said, touching her fingertips to the girl's. She was younger than Selan, perhaps only thirteen. Selan felt oddly detached, despite the heartbreak of seeing her people, mere children imprisoned.

The girl relaxed at the sound of her voice. "Selah, you cannot be here," she said in their shared language. "The iron men will do terrible, terrible things to you, as they have done to us."

"What did they do to you?" Selan whispered.

"They care for nothing other than gold. If we refuse them, they will hurt us until we can no longer dance. They will make us cry until we can no longer sing. They will starve us until we die. When you left, they took us in droves. So many of us are gone, either across the sea or from this world. Selah, they lied, they lied! You must not let them find you here! Leave!"

The girl looked up into the candlelight, and Selan could see that both of her eyes were crudely bandaged. The light went out.

Selan fled the basement, the sight of her terrible eyes engraved in her mind. She needed to find her bed, but the staircase seemed to continue on forever.

---

"Estelle, I don't want to--"

"Estelle, I don't want to hurt you!"" Estelle mocked in a whiny voice, sneering down at Lisette. "How many times have I heard that? You don't want to hurt this, you don't want to hurt that!"

"But it's the truth!" Lisette insisted. Her tears mixed with the rain.

"Then why are you aiming your bow at me?"

"I'm not, I... Ah!" Lisette realized that she was indeed pointing an arrow straight at Estelle.

"That's the spirit, Lisette! Now, can you do it? Can you kill me?"

"No... Never." she answered, lowering her head in defeat.

"That's too bad."

Gliissssh!!

"U-ungh...!" Lisette gasped, looking down at the blade that had pierced her abdomen. Blood oozed from all sides of the sword, and her vision faded to black.

But it seemed as though they weren't finished with Lisette just yet.

Face down in the mud, she began to regain consciousness. Her bow lay just out of arm's reach. She stretched her hand out to grab it, but a red high-heeled shoe stopped her, stomping her hand back into the dirt.

"Nnaaagh!" Lisette cried, thrashing her arm free and sitting up. Estelle, the sword, and the wound she inflicted on Lisette all were mysteriously gone.

Amy towered over her, as though she were the goddess of judgment herself. "Feh. Look who's finally awake. You think you've suffered enough? You don't know what suffering is if you think you're getting off that easily. You're still the same person no matter how much you say you'll change. Syed."

Syed, who always had a kind word or a piece of advice for Lisette, was now deathly silent and refused to meet her gaze. He stepped forward with his ringed fingers outstretched.

"No...!" Lisette cried, just before searing pain flooded every single nerve on her body. Over and over and over, Syed channeled what seemed like all of the lightning in the heavens into Lisette's curled up body. The pain never lessened as it went on, not even a little, and Syed made sure she wouldn't even have a spare moment to cry out for help.

But despite her best efforts, once again she lost consciousness, the last things she saw being Amy and Syed's disdainful glares. Even somehow knowing they would disappear when she awoke again, she would have beared through the pain if it meant they would stay.

---

Kapi huddled near the back of the box, fearful of being the next one taken away. He was rewarded with both of his sisters being taken next.

Kapi used all of his little capybara strength to ram against the latch to the door. He was rewarded with his oldest brother being carried off, squealing as though he were a newborn. The man who took him wielded a very large, very sharp knife with a flat edge. He once jabbed it through the fence as a "joke", cackling all the while.

There were three of them left, all brothers. They sniffed each other and slept near each other, struggling for even the slightest bit of comfort, but the smells of sizzling meat would wake them from their slumber and fill them with terror.

Kapi eventually realized that the man was taking them in order based on their size, which meant that he would be the very last one, forced to watch the others be taken away.

He dreamt that a smiling girl with freckles and hair that reminded him of golden wheat fields would come to save them, but the very next day, another brother was carried off.

He stubbornly clung to his dream, even though his very last brother was dragged out by his hind leg while the other kicked wildly.

It was hard to dream when he knew his day was coming up next.

[Rexcalibur]

There was a click. Another man rose from the ground into view, pushing his spectacles up his nose with one hand, and held his own red gem to the side with another. “Hello, my dear Amy. Do you remember me?”

“Of course I remember you, Jack,” she snarled, jerking her head away from him. “I remember all of you fuckers.”

The man wagged a finger, pursing his lips. “Tut, tut. That language of yours will get yourself hurt someday.” He then knelt down to her level beside her, staring her in the eyes. “Now look at what you’ve got yourself into…”

She raised her hand, poised to smack him right across that bastardly face of his – only to find it forced down to the ground, pressured into place. Horror washed over her face as she turned to the hands causing it. “Even you, Marcus? Largo?” They smiled back to her as she named them. With their hands over her arms, both wore her gem like a stringed necklace.

Shuddering, Amy lifted her eyes. Amidst the sea of familiar faces, all of whom she could name, she could recognize… her own teammates as well. Syed, Don, Dylan, Lucien. Behind them – Trent, Julius, Tobi, Nero, even those pigs Cole and Thunderhawk. Lute and Atlas snickering and pointing at the fallen cleric together. Don’s 20 brothers scattered throughout. Each was in possession of a red gem.



“Such a hateful, hateful woman,” Jack resumed, examining the jewel in his hand. A black wisp of smoke danced around inside it. “How can you expect to do good when you yourself cannot let go of hate?” Turning back to Amy, he reached forward and cupped his hand under her chin, squeezing her cheeks with his fingers. “Just let go, my dear. Give in. This is the way the world—”

Jack pulled back, his face dripping with Amy’s spit.

“Fuck. You.”

---

The two had resumed their play, exchanging who was pursuing the other in a nonstop game of tag. Their laughter filled the forest as trees swayed in their midst, birds singing amongst their running. It was only when Trixie bumped into the one she played with that the game finally came to a stop. “Huh? What’s wrong?”

“Trixie… look.”

Before them lied a long, white table. Beside it was a metallic stand, topped with a tray holding various utensils: scissors, forceps, clamps. Trixie backed away from the sight only to bump into a mechanical console behind her. With a gasp, she lurched forward and clung onto the silhouetted figure, her arms wrapped around its stomach. “I… I’m scared…”

Breathing steadily, the figure glanced around its surroundings. Behind them their previous path had also become encumbered with these… things. The figure shook its head. Locking its ‘eyes’ (where they should be) with Trixie’s, it slowly eased her off of its stomach and linked its arm with hers. “Stay close. I’ll get us out of here.”

Deeper and deeper the two pressed into the forest, the frequency of these unnatural things occurring rising and rising. Patches of dirt and grass hardened into marble flooring. Overhead branches converted into wires and security cameras – shades of blue, black, and grey. Tree trunks morphed into more incubation pods. Sunlight no longer bore through the treetops, as a ceiling soon replaced the very skies, slowly darkening the environment with every step.

It was not long before the forest had finished modifying itself. Now surrounded not by the cricks and cracks of dead leaves beneath their feet, but by mechanical whirs and churrs of self-operating machinery, Trixie and the shadowed figure ceased running once they realized just what they had fled into – an old laboratory.

Trixie clung onto the figure’s arm tightly, only for it to embrace her again, shorter this time. She couldn’t even form words, only wheezing and whimpering. The shadowed figure caught onto this and calmly held her shoulders. “Don’t worry, Trixie. We’ve escaped this danger before; we can do it again.”

“But… but Amy’s not…”

The figure sighed lightly, leaning its head to one side. “I’m a superhero, remember?” Its arms extended again. “I can carry you, if you like…”

Trixie sniveled with a smile, shaking her head as she ran a finger below her nostril. “Know what? You may not be the Wonderboy, but you’re my—” Her sentence was cut short with a yelp; the entire building began to rattle. The figure slid its palm into Trixie's own, holding her hand as they charged further into the depths of the makeshift laboratory.

They had to escape.

[Bunanigans]

Moira awoke.

"Woah, Mum!" Sonny froze on the spot at the sight of his mother charging down the stairs. "It's just me, I don't think we'll be getting any more burglars after last time."

"You're not going to work." Moira stood before the door, her chest still heaving, her fists clenched at her sides.

"...What?" The iron was placed back onto the board.

"YOU'RE NOT GOING TO WORK!" Moira bellowed, her eyes wild. "You're not! I won't let you!" She couldn't stand it. Smashed, broken to bits, impaled, cut in two. She had lost count of the amount of times the scene played over by now. Everytime something new. Every time the pain stabbed into her heart a little deeper.

Sonny stared. "Mum... you okay? You're acting wierd."

"YOU'VE ASKED ME THAT TWENTY TIMES NOW!" Moira screamed with wild eyes, clenching her hands in her hair. It was probably more, but she couldn't remember anymore. "Just do as you're fuckin' told for once!"

A pause. "...Okay, okay, I'll stay home if it'll make you feel better. Promise. Just calm down." Sonny backed away from the ironing board, his hands in the air. "I'll make you a cup of coffee, okay?" He gave her one last look, like he wasn't entirely sure if she'll lose it, before walking into the kitchen.

The entire house shook as something in the kitchen exploded.

---

"Sir! Sir! I'm scared!"

The screams continued, the children crying and running as they were struck down by the curse. Kirby and Frenda and Joe and Cruz and one by one the class was whittled down. And while the first was quite a slow transformation, these were anything but.

Syed pulled. He pulled and pulled and pulled and pulled and pulled and pulled but every pull just sent vibrations through his ribs the chain just wouldn't move-

"Sir!!! Sir, what's happening?!"

He was trapped here. He was trapped here, and he could feel it bubbling up deep inside of him. Reacting to his panic and his fear and his distress and his confusion, rising up and up and up and up. He couldn't- he was trying, he was trying so hard! His eyes darted to the trees which now littered the room.

"Do something!"

"I can't..." Syed muttered, his eyes wide in terror. He could feel his hair begin to stand on end already. No no no no no no no no! In one last, desperate move, he looked back up to the two remaining children, their expressions terrified yet totally trusting. Oh gods. "I need you to go to the fire meeting point. Do you understand?!"

"But sir!"

The room was suddenly filled with a brilliant bright blue-white light, and all the windows blew out into a million shards of glass.

[Pachamac]

THE MISSION



In the grey, wind swept skies above the Kingdom of Ritona, an airship glided through the air, its propellers whirling frantically as the military aircraft drew closer to its destination.

Within the plane’s cockpit, three men were seated, including a pilot whose hands gripped the joystick tightly, turning the craft in gradual increments to combat their turbulence. To his side was a well dressed man with grey, messy hair and cold blue eyes garbed in dark clothing befitting the rank of a lieutenant reclined in his seat comfortably. In-between the seated pilot and lieutenant, a soldier crouched on one knee, offered his superior his latest report.

“Where’s the girl?” Asked the lieutenant.

“In five minutes, she’ll be facing a firing squad Herr Lieutenant,” The soldier nodded.

“And the prisoner?” The lieutenant’s hands affectionately stroked the head of his pet crocodile.

“Still trussed up, in the cargo hold.”

“Excellent. As for ou-”

Breaking through the curtains that closed off the cockpit’s canopy from the rest of the craft, a well dressed man in a stylish leather jacket, rugged good looks, chiselled cheeks and majestic coif stepped in; smoking cigarette lingering in his lips as he eyed the three soldiers up. The Lieutenant swivelled in his seat to face the man, his eye twitching at the man's arrival.



“Ah, Ace Capuello. Might one inquire as to how you escaped your bonds?” A sharp, scathing look was sent to his subordinate.

“Just had to dislocate both bones in my shoulders, pop them behind my ears, and then slip in-between the ropes.” Explained Ace, to the return of a vicious glare. “Of course it’s going to take major orthopaedic surgery to put them back, but rest assured, that won’t stop me from rescuing the Princess.”

The lieutenant sneered. “Gods sake, Mr. Capuello, you’re outmanned and outgunned.”

Ace tilted his head in amusement. “You expect me to concede?”

The Lieutenant shook his head. “No, Mr. Capuello. I expect you… to die!”

The crocodile in the Lieutenant’s arms groaned loudly to reveal its glistening wet teeth, and Ace looked at it with ever widening eyes. The lieutenant turned to his men. “Care to take him into the hold, take ten minutes to explain to him all our plans to him, and then, ah…” He glanced with a coy smile to the side. “Throw him out of the plane!”

The soldier turned, training his pistol onto Ace. In a monotone voice, he simply said one word. “Out.” But Ace was on him in a flash! Tackling the soldier’s arms, and throwing a swift right fist out to deck the soldier in his glass jaw, snatching the fumbled gun and twirling it in his hands. As the pilot turned to shoot Ace, he had already coolly composed himself, lifting the gun up, and shooting the pilot in the chest before the devious man could pop off a shot or two of his own.

But then, disaster! As the lieutenant threw his crocodile out of his arms and onto Ace, sending him reeling to a crumple on the ground, his gun sent skidding out of the open door of the plane and into the dark sky beyond. The plane began to drop.

With a wide smile, the blue eyed lieutenant lit the fuse of a stick of dynamite, after strapping a parachute onto his back. Walking into the hold, he saw his most hated nemesis wrestling frantically with the chomping crocodile.

“Ah, Mr. Capuello! Sorry I can’t stay around for a chat, but I’ve got to blow! Do me a favour though, will you,” He grinned, throwing the stick of dynamite to a clatter on the floor. “And feed Snappy!”

Without looking back, he jumped from the freefalling plane, with Ace still desperately wrestling with the crocodile.

“Ugh…” Ace moaned. “What I wouldn’t give for a gun…” The crocodile roared in his face, causing Ace to screw his eyes and nose up, as his hands grabbed the beast’s wide jaw in hope of stopping him from biting down. “Or a bottle of Listerine!”

The dynamite’s fuse shrunk ever lower, and Ace continued to roll about in a frantic struggle with the crocodile, near to the open hatch. His hand stretched out at the same time, grabbing a nearby piece of rope.

Seconds later, the plane exploded in a shower of fire and debris, pieces of the craft raining down from the sky. The freefalling Lieutenant roared in laughter.

“Goodbye, Ace Capuello! You were a most worthy adversary!!” He turned his head to look back at the smoking wreckage behind, his laughter echoing on and on. And then he snapped his head back again, doing a stunned speechless double take.

The Doubletake

The Lieutenant reached for his holster, pulling out his prized gun, and immediately began firing, but with each shot going wild. Ace, meanwhile, skilfully piloted his craft to avoid all of the dangerous shots, with Snappy’s jaws latching onto the Lieutenant’s shrieking head.

Ace meanwhile climbed onto his body, un-strapping the Lieutenant’s backpack that contained his parachute, for the Lieutenant to drop screaming. Ace fitted himself into the harness and secured himself properly, smiling with one hand on the parachute’s cord.

“See you later, alligator!” The parachute unfurled.

He descended into enemy lines...

---

Meanwhile, on the ground below…



Chained to a wooden post in the middle of the military base’s grounds was a beautiful, voluptuous raven haired woman in a tight, clinging white dress, the hems of it billowing behind her in the wind. Her eyes darted with worry at the men in front of her, all staunch and firm, rifles held at the ready by their sides. At the end of the line was another commanding officer, who bellowed orders at the soldiers to raise their guns, and to aim at the trapped woman in front of them. A chorus of rifles raised in the air with a click, the officer about to give the final order…

And then a shot rang out from the sky, hitting the man in the leg and making him fall to the ground, crying for his mother.

ACE CAPUELLO!

The parachuting Ace began firing at the soldiers, knocking them down one by one as they tried to hit him. One shot found its mark, and Ace gritted his teeth, his face contorting in agony at the gunshot. With a wince he looked down at his jacket, before looking back up with bristling rage.

“This is my best top, damn it!”

He fired two more shots, before unhooking and releasing his parachute, still at least twenty feet in the air, to drop straight down, and through the roof of a wooden shed. Troops rushing onto the scene surrounded the building, yet another officer giving the command to fire before the soldiers began pumping round after round into the shack, a hail of gunfire and shells bouncing around their feet.

After all of the soldiers’ magazines ran spent, the officer gave the order to halt. There was silence from the shed, and with a broad smiling grin he began nodding to himself in a congratulatory manner.

And then the doors to the shed burst open, wooden fragments dancing through the air as Ace emerged on a motorbike, driving straight towards the chained princess. From inside his jacket he pulled out his gun, and with careful aim fired two shots at the flinching princess. Both bullets hit against the chains, causing them to fall to the ground beside her, freeing her, at the same time as Ace pulled up beside her.

“Princess Selan, Ace Capuello. There’ll be time for explanations later. And hopefully, some kissing.” He nodded to the back of the seat, and with a wide smile (“What a guy”) the Princess Selan hopped on.

Ace sped on, rounding his way to the base camp’s exit, as another two soldiers began pursuing on their own motorcycles. Ace fired at him, but by now there was no ammunition left in order to fend their daring pursuers off with. He threw it to the side, and squeezed on the throttle, his bike surging forwards with greater speed. The soldiers on the motorbikes behind began shooting again.

“Hold on, princess!” Ace commanded.

“Please Ace,” The princess hugged his body tighter. “Call me Selan.”

Ace fumbled with the buttons atop his bike, hitting one marked turbo. His bike flew through the air, sailing over the high brick wall that was in front of him. The other soldiers watched the vanishing man in wonder and awe, before crashing into the brick wall with a trumpeting explosion.

As Ace and Selan flew into the sky, they looked back on the base below, Ace brandishing one of his triumphant quips as usual. There wasn’t a woman on the planet who could resist wanting to make love to him now.

Two soldiers harried on the ground below, watching the vanishing couple in the sky.

“He got away! I can’t believe he got away!” One soldier exclaimed.

The other shook his head. “That was Ace Capuello! We’re lucky to be alive!”

Snappy fell on top of their heads, knocking them both out.

A final soldier ran to their aid, looking up into the sky, paralysed by the sight above. The exhaust fumes from Ace’s bike had left behind a message, before he and Selan twinkled out of sight.


The soldier gaped.

“What a guy.”

NEXT: THE WEDDING

[Dannyel]

"Dylan...what happened last night?"

He was struck dumb by the question, his mind reeling with images of the night before. They had gone to a club, they were following leads. He had drunk far more than he should have. But that was it - it just stopped after a certain point. "I don't know," he said honestly, holding his hands out in front of himself in an empty gesture of surrender.

"Liar!" Lucy spat, the venom in his voice unlike anything Dylan had ever heard from the jokester. "You know what you did!"

"I swear...Oh Aislin I swear!" Dylan took a step towards the bed, but Lucy scooted away from him, holding the blanket close to his chest. "Please don't do that. I'm not going to hurt you."

"But you already have." His eyes were wide and terrified, looking about the room frantically, lingering only on the door and windows. The ways he could escape. Dylan sank to the ground, clutching the edge of the bed until his knuckles turned white. He stomach rolled as the implications hit him, and he leaned over and hurled onto the floor.

"Please..." Lucy whispered, "let me go."

"I know, I know I didn't," Dylan babbled, drowning out the soft sobs that were coming from the bed. "I would never, I never have, I swear to Aislin and all the gods and everything that's good in this world."

"Don't lie," Tobias said from behind him, leaning down to whisper in his ear. Dylan could feel the man's breath kissing his skin. It made no sense, but it felt so real.

"I am not you," Dylan begged, turning to look into Tobias' eyes. All the mirth was gone, the charming smile that Dylan had grown to love replaced by the coolest of stares.

"Oh but you are, my love." Tobias reached down and cupped Dylan's chin with his hand, pulling his close. "Finally, we are the same."

[Fox of Spades]

"C'mon kid, let's see what you're made of, shall we?" The wolf licked at its lips hungrily then snapped its mouth shut. The bear and the wildcat were jeering, and elbowing each other in the ribs as they stared at her with haughty grins.

She could feel her knees shaking, but she wouldn't go down without a fight. She had to find the others.

Before any of the animals could say anything Xan dashed forward and yanked onto the handle of the wolf's sword. The animal was unprepared but he pushed the girl back and she fell with his sword in her hand. Why...why didn't she have her prosthetic?

"Tch, you're outnumbered... we took care of your friends already."

Xan scrambled to her feet, eyes wide. "Where...where are they?"

The bear grinned and pointed towards the corner of the arena. Xan held her sword out and turned her head. She could have sworn they weren't there before, but now they were, well, what was left of them.

The first thing that caught the metallurgist's eye was a feathery, black scarf.

"Aria..."

There were so many bite marks, and if not for the scarf, she probably wouldn't have recognized her friend. Xan's stomach tightened into a knot and she stared in disbelief. It was getting harder and harder to breathe. "T-That's n-not her." She whimpered before her eyes caught a bright shade of red. Not too far from her friend's body was a dog pile of half eaten guilders. They hadn't been torn apart as badly as Aria had been...there was Trixie, and Dylan, and Estelle.

"They tasted really good." The wolf smirked and gave the reeling girl a thumbs up.

She hadn't been there when they had needed her. Xan didn't move, not even when the animals began to approach. She simply stared wide-eyed, unable to believe that her friends were dead. The world was spinning and nothing seemed real.

"I bet you'll taste just as good."

[Orpheus]

Lute fell in a lake. When he realized that he gasped for breath before the waters closed over him, reaching out both hands towards the surface as he sank deeper. He didn’t know how to swim…

Shwwwing!

Something cut through the murky liquid and hit him on the side of his face. When the virtuoso recognized that it was a fish hook he immediately wrapped his fingers around it and tugged; somebody pulled the line and he was suddenly airborne for a few seconds, only to land in a mound of dry leaves. He was out of the lake, but the person who saved him…? Lute pushed himself up, crushed bits of leaf and soil clinging to his wet skin, and glanced around quickly. “Hello!?” He called out, but nobody answered. The forest was quiet…

Wait, forest? They had moved nearer to Thaum a few years back, smack near the woodlands. In fact, Lute recognized this lake all of a sudden; he used to fish here. He began to run in the direction of Auntie’s farmhouse. Maybe… Maybe it was normal there. Maybe there was an explanation why the world froze and then tilted, with him ending up here.

“Brother… It was cold last night.” A whisper floated through with the night wind and Lute froze in shock. That was his sister’s voice! “Rua-,” He pivoted and was about to yell, only to be struck dumb by the sound of his own voice, answering his sister’s question. “What are you talking about? It was so hot I couldn’t sleep!” This… This was a conversation they had back when Lute was sixteen, and Ruana was fourteen. He remembered it too well… “Is that so…? Then I’m mistaken. It’s just that the kitchen window kept fogging up while I was wiping the dishes.”

Oh gods, please no. The fear, the anger, the terror… He started to feel it coursing all over his body in the same intensity it did the first time. Lute ran faster and the farmhouse slowly started to get bigger. He was close. So close! It would be different this time!

“Brother, I… Brother, I have something to ask you…” No, no, no. Please be quiet. I can’t listen to this anymore. I can’t. “Was it cold last night?” He should’ve known. All those signs, and he didn’t see! “No, Ruana. Why’d you ask?” She paused before answering him. “My bedroom window was fogged up.”

"You're being paranoid, sis." He had the audacity to laugh. "What, you think some weirdo's squatting outside your room and breathing at you? That's just plain freaky! Nobody would do that!" Oh, how wrong he was.
Lute kicked the door open and froze in place, his chest heaving up and down because of the exertion.

You could’ve seen, but you chose to be blind.
You could’ve heard, but you turned away and played deaf.

Everything was in disarray. Chairs and tables were overturned; the vase which was usually filled with flowers Ruana picked from the meadows was on the ground, shattered to pieces. It looked like the scene of a struggle.

His sister was gone, and it was all because he didn’t listen.

[Rexcalibur]

Jack withdrew from Amy’s space in order to wipe his face clean with a handy handkerchief. “I am surprised, dear Amaranth. Truly surprised.” He moved onto shining his spectacles, checking between wipes for smudges. “This retaliation is not at all what I’ve expected from you.”

“You fucking swine. You’re doing this to me!” Amy jerked her head in rage. “I can see through your lies, coward! These guilders – these men. I trust them. I know them! They’re not these horrible pigs you’re portraying them as!”

As Jack replaced the glasses atop his nose, he pressed his finger against Amy’s lips to silence her, though pulled back just in time to avoid getting bitten. “On the contrary, madam, I am not the host this time. I was merely invited to the party.” He raised his hand into the air – the hand withholding one of the many red gems. Every face but Amy’s followed his movement, and the ripper's brows raised in satisfaction. “I am only here to warn you of what comes next. A warning which you know very well already, I’m sure.”

Amy’s eyes narrowed. “Where are you going with this?”

“One hint, dear Amaranth: true colors.” Jack laughed heartily, before turning away and bringing a bashful hand to his mouth. “I believe I’ve said too much. I shall be taking my leave now.” He snapped his fingers. All the jewels within everyone’s possession vanished with a pop – all but the one in Jack’s hand. “Best of luck, my dear. I’m sure we will meet again.”

As Jack chucked the tainted gem skyward, he dissipated into a black vapor. All the men in the blinding white room watched the rising crimson with awe. Once it reached its peak and began to drop, each and every one scrambled to catch it. Now freed, Amy could only back away as she watched the chaos unravel.

---

Everything surrounding them had begun to fall apart, cracking open, crashing down, snapping. Many times a monitor or pod nearby Trixie suddenly burst, as if triggered by a mine, threatening to collapse atop her or shower her in shards of glass – but the silhouette tugged her away just in time. Running and running until… there it was.

The open-doored exit. Fresh greens and brilliant sunshine awaited them just outside the laboratory. Close, they were so close to their escape. The duo bolted, sprinting faster than they ever had before – only to be separated as Trixie toppled over. “Ahh!”

A clank! – a small, abandoned cage – resounded behind her, having been knocked aside by her feet. She stumbled forward, losing her grip on the figure’s hand, but it whirled around immediately and knelt in front of her. “Trixie! Are you okay? Come, the exit is right over… … I do not understand. Why are you laughing?”

Trixie had begun to laugh. Laugh and laugh and laugh. Tears once again streamed from her eyes. “I’m just… hahaha! I’m so happy… I’m so happy you’re back. And look, we did it all over again – just like that. Hehe! You really are a superhero.” She proffered her hand to him. “Just… one more thing though.”

The figure reached for her hand, though hesitated as she made her request. The building continued to quake. “Trixie? We don’t…”

“Promise you won’t leave this time?”

Suddenly the shadows dropped from the silhouetted figure, revealing his visage, his outfit, his entire self right before Trixie. He smiled warmly and reached for her hand. “I promise, Trixie.” They interlocked fingers. “I promise I will never leave you again.”

CRUNCH!

“NOOOOO!!”

Trixie screeched.

A giant mass in the shape of a boot fell from above, and crushed the boy kneeling before Trixie. Scrunched beneath the sheer titanium, the sound of his bones cracking and snapping echoed in her head. His wrist, his hand, his very fingers were still locked with Trixie’s own – amputated from the rest of his arm – until it dropped to the floor beneath.

Trixie screamed and screamed until her voice grew hoarse. Her knees shuddered, wet with a cold sensation, and upon looking down she was met with a vicious stream of blood leaking from beneath the crushing mass.

“No! No, please come back, please… no, no, no, please… you can’t… you can’t die… you’re not supposed to die! Superheros can’t…”

Trixie raised her hands that were to the ground, shakily eying the thickening crimson liquid that outlined them. “Please, no… please…” she wheezed, rocking back and forth. “You’re not… supposed to… hrk—Amy—Amy, where are you… please, save him… please…”

Trixie hunched forward before falling over on her side, pulling her knees in close as she lied in a fetal position. The laboratory continued to rumble and rattle, slowly collapsing into itself as Trixie remained there, cold and laden with his blood.

[Dannyel]

Tears streamed down Dylan's face as Tobias' words sunk in. After spending all that time with the man, of course some of his worst traits rubbed off. He had never meant to become this, he had promised himself that he would be better. But it appeared he that he was weak after all. "Lucien," he rasped, "I'm so sorry."

"Fat lot of good that does, you fucking arse," Moira said.

Dylan turned around at the sound of her voice, pulling himself out of Tobias' grasp. The entirety of the Pride stood around Lucy, hands on their weapons and hate in their eyes. Even Kapi looked pissed. "I...I..."

"Don't even," Estelle spat, her sword dancing with flames. "I trusted you Dylan. I brought you into this group and called you my friend."

"Yeah, Bro," Don added, holding his metal bat in hand. "Bros don't rape bros." He threw the word in Dylan's face, holding nothing back.

"I knew he would do something like this," Amy said, stepping forward to slap him so hard across the face that his head snapped to the side. But that wasn't the worst of it.

The worst was Trixie, standing there in her cape and pigtails. "You were supposed to be a hero. We're heroes, but you've been a supervillian all along! If you ever touch him again, Doctor Evil, you'll have to face Wondergirl!"

"I'm sorry..."

"OUT!" Estelle shrieked, pointing with her sword. "If we ever catch you near us again -"

"I know," he interrupted, getting to his feet and turning away. "I know. Oh Aislin, I'll miss you." Without looking back, he ran off, putting as much distance between him and the Pride as he could. The world changed around him as he went, fading from the beautiful and balmy Los Paraisos and reformed into the cool seaside of his hometown.

It was so subtle that he didn't even notice it - not until he found her sitting by the sea. She wasn't facing him, but he'd recognize his sister anywhere. "Dalia?"

She turned to face him, her eyes alight with joy. But it faded quickly, her eyes narrowing as she studied him. "Dylan, what have you become?"

[Crescendo]

“You’re wrong!” Aria cried out, hands clamped over her ears but to no avail. The voice as clear as ever. “I-I’m not like that-“

“Not like that, she says! Well, how about this.” The voice chuckled sinisterly. “I’ll bring the city back- if you die. Simple, right?”

It was a simple choice, with the right answer being painfully obvious. It was obvious, yet the girl just stood there frozen. ‘If they’ll really come back then I’m willing!’, she wanted to shout, and yet her lips remained still, unable to form the words.

“See? SEE? You actually have the audacity to think your life outweighs those of thousands!” It shrieked victoriously.

Aria jumped as two figures walked out of the guild. “Who- Xan, Lute!” Had they escaped? They would know what's going on, right? But why were they laughing? They were both smiling about something, each looking happier than Aria could remember. About to run towards them, she paused when bits of their conversation floated by her despite the distance.

“Yeah, I’m glad she’s gone. I can’t believe they stuck me with that sorry excuse for a guilder for so long. I wanted to missions and get stronger, not be forced into babysitting someone older than me.”

“Right? I only endured her presence was because I had no choice. If I had a choice I would have left long ago. Luckily she went before I had to!”

They… They couldn’t be talking about her right? They would never-
“Aria wasn’t worthy of being called a Guilder. At least she was smart enough to quit before we ended kicking her out!”

Their voices were joined by a cacophony of others, and she whipped around, eyesight blurred only to see the Pride standing there, staring at her scornfully.

“I can’t believe we thought having you in our group would be a good idea.” Estelle shook her head, ponytail swinging.

“You couldn’t even take care of a single enemy. We didn’t need something so weak.” Marcus looked upon her with a hard glare as Selan stared her down, mouth twisted in a grimace.

“You’re crying? You think you deserve to cry when there are people suffering through more than you’ve ever faced?”

Their voices rose as they each starting talking, each word stabbing into her.

“Useless-”

“Weak-”

“Self-centered little-”

“Just get out of here already!”

They screamed and Aria fled, sprinting away from the Guild as their cackles followed.

[Pachamac]

THE WEDDING

Trumpets blared and drums were beat, as jubilant cheers and fanfare echoed across the city. The streets were packed full with pedestrians, all wearing happy, smiling and cheering faces, as they proudly waved their flags in the air as confetti rained down from the sky onto them. They screamed as the view of the parade came into sight, women fainting by the dozen and men wiping a single, streaking tear down their cheeks as the marching procession passed them by. Today was a glorious day unlike any other, and an occasion such as this demanded the attention of everyone able to witness it. Today had just been declared as a new national holiday in celebration, and so it was that everyone came out in the hundred of thousands to celebrate this most of auspicious occasions.

It was the day that the coolest guy in the world was going to marry the sexiest girl in the world. It was a day where history was going to be made.

The front of the parade was home to many musicians, all playing their instruments with great gusto. To the sides and all around were dancers, flipping and spinning, leg kicking and arm outstretching in well timed beats as they moved down the streets. At the front of the parade, standing up in the back of the world’s most glorious, tricked out and cool car, shadowed under a giant overhead float shaped in the man of the day’s very image, was the hero himself, pointing and waving towards everyone:

Ace Capuello!



Dressed in the most regal, killer outfit to ever be seen, he turned and pointed to passerbys, and winking towards other. Each wink would cause yet another fainting accident, but Ace and the parade paid it no mind, the colony and procession of vehicles moving ever onwards to the grand, regal church at the end of the street.

A red carpet had been rolled out from it, and as soon as the parade reached its destination, Ace hopped over the car’s doors, and began striding towards the cathedral. Tight security surrounded the red carpet, needing to keep the rabid fan base at bay, but it didn’t stop many of them spilling in and all wanting an opportunity to meet and greet the hero who had saved the entire world, who had brought meaning to their lives.

“Now, now,” Ace said. “There’ll be time for autographs later.”

“Ace!” One man cried from behind him. “Please, Ace, tell me it’s not true! Tell me you’re not… tell me you’re not getting married! Even to the princess, it’s… it’s…!”

Ace shook his head with a smile, walked to the despairing man and wiping away his tears. “Don’t worry, ol’chum. I’ll be marrying the fair Princess Selan today, but it doesn’t mean my marriage and love to you and the rest of the world will ever be diminished. I’ll always be yours.”

“Oh Ace!” The man collapsed, and wistful sighs and murmurs of What a guy! arose from the crowd again.

“Now, if you’ll excuse me," Ace bore one of his patented winks and grins. "I have a fine lady to wed and bed.”

The cathedral inside was as beautiful and majestic as it appeared from without, and packed to the rafters with family, friends and distinguished guests from both sides of the betrothed. At the end of the aisle was his good friend, Tom, the priest, who bowed with a serene smile to his approaching brother. Next to Tom, standing in the right spot reserved for his best man, was the rest of Ace’s nineteen strong bros, each and every one of them having the honour of being his best man. Tears were streaming amongst all their cheeks.

“Ace!” “Ace!” Screamed the concession seated all around him. Ace again winked, pointed and waved amongst the whole cathedral, before running down the aisle and smacking the hands of everyone seated at the ends, coming to a halt just in front of the altar.

“Ah, gentleman. What a fine day it is to be me, today.” He smiled. He turned, and looked out over the cathedral again, seeing all of his friends seated for his wedding, smiling happily. Estelle, Marcus, Amy, Trixie, Moira, Syed, Dylan, Xandra, Aria, Lute, Lisette, Kapi and more… all of them there in their very best. It did Ace’s heart proud to see people dressed as fine as they were. He couldn’t ask for better friends.

And then his thoughts were cut off, as music wafted throughout the entire assembly. He turned to the entrance, and his jaw started to slowly fall at the presence of an angel in their midst.



The love of his life, dressed in the most beautiful white veil and gown strode forwards towards him, a bouquet of beautiful flowers of all colours carried in her hands. She was the woman of his dreams, and today was their wedding day.

After all the hustle and hubbub from gawking cooing onlookers subsided, the ceremony itself started to begin. Tom read through the service, as Ace held onto Selan’s hand, reaching finally, to the moment of truth.

“Ace Capuello, do you take the Princess Selan Leclair for your lawful wedded wife, to live in the holy estate of matrimony? Will you love, honour, comfort, and cherish her from this day forward, forsaking all others, keeping only unto her for as long as you both shall live?”

“You bet your sweet, floppy pink hair I do, baby,” Ace replied with a grin.

“And do you, Selan Leclair, take the dangerously cool, handsome, suave and sophisticated, good-looking and talented inspiration to all men, Ace Capuello, for your lawful wedded husband, to live in the holy estate of matrimony? Will you love, honour, comfort and cherish her from this day forward, forsaking all others, keeping only unto him for as long as you both shall live?”

“You can bet your tiny tighty whities she does too!” Ace’s head shook back and forth with unparallel confidence and mirth.

“Well, Selan?” Tom smiled and looked to the stunning bride. Her head was turned to him at first, then shifted to her husband to be. Her slender, soft hands rose to her veil, lifting it up over her precise, silk hair, revealing the beautiful porcelain face beneath. She opened her eyes, looking to Ace directly.

"No." She said. “I don’t.”

NEXT: THE NIGHTMARE

---

Thaum?

Clop, clop, clop

On and on, his footsteps echoed atop the cobblestone paths, Marcus walking at an even pace throughout the empty, fog hazed streets. From time to time, Marcus’s eyes would dart to the left or right, to peer down the various junctions and alleyways to inspect if there was anything, or anyone there, but time and time again it was the same result as that the previous innumerable times. The streets of Thaum were lifeless and barren, except for him and his rambling companion. No sign of his friends, no sensation of their presence in any way, shape or form. He could only push on, march towards the ominous tower in the distance. Doing his best to ignore the prancing, laughing doppelganger behind him repeating stories of various memories… memories he had tried to suppress, tried to put behind him and forget, but knew he could never really escape from.

You can’t escape from yourself.

His feet came to a sudden stop. Marcus looked up, his jaw starting to drop upon noticing his surroundings. In front and all around him, the tight cluster of familiar stone and wooden houses of Thaum had faded from sight, as if removed by an eraser, with a new scene painted in its stead, the details filling in one by one. First there was the buildings, the large town transformed into a smaller village, this one suffering disaster and destruction in so many different ways. Many of the homes had been destroyed, with parts of the thatched roofs burned away or gaping holes left imbedded within brick walls, if they hadn’t collapsed entirely. The muddy brown streets were the next to be inked in; the ground trodden and uneven, large numbers of holes ripped into and entrenched through the ground. The sky above turned black, and both lightning and rain began to pelt all around him, drenching him and soaking him to the bone. Marcus looked up, as the thundering heavens echoed over and over again.

And then, the sounds. The sounds and the people. Interspersed between the cacophonous thunder was the constant sounds of exploding force, so difficult it was to tell what was the thunder, and what was the fighting. People formed all around, men rushing from his right to left, dashing past him as if he was invisible to see, each of them focused on the battle before them, shouting orders to their allies. They held their guns tightly and pushed their helmets down low, shouting orders to their allies, and firing forward as bullets whizzed all around them. Tanks as well formed in behind them, their mighty treads spitting up the earth behind them, rocking to a gentle stop and rattling as terrifying power erupted from their turrets. Explosions rocked the town over, and over again, as the two armies fired relentlessly at each other. He could hear screaming all around him.

Marcus said nothing, holding his head low.

“Ah, well, we both knew this was going to come up.” His doppelganger folded his arms over his chest. “It’s predictable, but… unavoidable, isn't it?”

“This isn’t real,” Marcus repeated, taking a step forwards and walking again, moving on throughout the developing battlefield.

“No, of course it isn’t,” The other Marcus replied. “Tricks and illusions don’t work on you. You’re far too clever, too magically attuned to be able to fall for ruses like this. But, it doesn’t really matter whether or not you know it’s real or fake, does it? Just seeing it, hearing it, smelling it, breathing it, is enough.”

Marcus’ fist clenched tight. A building in front of him was sent tumbling to the ground as a cannon shell obliterated one side of the building, the dwelling caving in to a miserable pile of debris. The screams and shouts from within were cut excruciatingly short.

“This is where everything changed, isn’t it?” The other remarked. “For the better, you hoped. Except…”

Another flash of lightning. This one, however, was not vertical in direction or originated from the dark skies above. This one instead lanced horizontally above the ground, erupting from a soldier’s Magitech rifle and slicing through several screaming men located on the other side of the village.

“Except it isn’t true.” A Marcus spoke. “Because it’s never, ever going to get any better.”

“It’s only ever going to get worse.”

[Bunanigans]

Moira woke.

"Woah Mum, it's just m- Mum! What are you doing?!"

Moira seized him by the wrist and forcibly dragged him right out the door. She didn't care that he hadn't finished ironing his shirt and was topless. She didn't care that she was still in her nightie. "We're getting out of here, NOW."

"What?!"

"I'M NOT GOING TO WATCH YOU DIE AGAIN!" Moira shouted, not turning to look at him. He was resisting, of course he was. And he was a fairly strong man, since he had her blood in his veins. But she was stronger.

Chimneys fell, buses shot past, a man with a knive ran by. Moira knew exactly when to dodge, when to duck down an alleyway. She had seen them all happen before. And she could remember every single one with extreme clarity.

They turned another corner. Of course Moira knew Clockwork Town like the back of her hand, she had lived there for 22 years. She singlemindedly charged through the cobblestone streets, not even noticing the towering lion of a man who tried to call out to her.

"Mum, you're being a psycho!" Sonny shouted to her angrily, still trying to wrench his hand free. "Pack it-"

A massive firon loomed over them both, it's body burning with red-hot flames. It growled, it's snarl causing the ground to rumble beneath them, before swinging out with it's tail. Sonny froze on the spot, but Moira moved instinctively to push him out of the way...

Only for the tail to dissipate into smoke as it touched her. Moira blinked a couple of times, holding her hands before her, only to whip her head around towards her son.

Blood streaked the wall he had struck, his lifeless eyes staring straight ahead.

---

Please... please stop...

Syed hunched over, screwing his eyes shut and pushing his palms against his ears. The light was blinding, the screams were ear-piercing, and... and he could hear flames.

He could still feel it though. The electricity. He could feel it picking up entire tables, chairs, destroying ceilings and walls and everything inbetween. It was stronger than he remembered. A lot stronger. He'd always managed to repress it, to the point where all but those he was closest to didn't even know he had magic. But here? He didn't have a chance.

He daren't look, even if it didn't hurt so much to even crack an eye open. He could hear well enough. How the screams of fear were now screams of agony, and how there were far too many of them for it to just be the two remaining kids. The smell of burning wood. The cracking of the lightning above as even that reacted to his ever strengthening emotions.

Just stop! Stop, please!

He gave out a cry of anguish, staggering back blindly a few steps. It was out of control, burning and electrocuting everything within range indiscriminately. He couldn't... he couldn't stop it. He couldn't hold it back. The chain which anchored him to the front of the classroom became unbareably hot, and a good part of him wished it would just hurry up and end it.

His back struck the blackboard, and he slid down to the floor. He couldn't stop it. They were dying, and it was all his fault. He clenched his fingers in his hair, tears running down his face as he fought and fought, with no avail.

He was a monster.

[Fox of Spades]

He stared at the dead body by his feet. Ha ha...he killed Don. He had actually strangled Don.

Lucien was laughing hysterically, hoping that everything was just an elaborate, cruel prank. "Yeah, yeah, I'm sorry!" He yelled to the darkness. "I'm sorry I hid a dead bird in your bag," he gestured vividly with his hands, eyes the size of pinpricks. The summoner began rambling on and on as if he had gone mad. "Guys, this prank it's pretty cruel!" He hissed before tugging wildly at his hair and laughing.

He couldn't have killed them. THIS, it had to be an illusion. He would never hurt them!

"I-I've had enough," he was sniffling now. "You can come out now...yeah? C'mon guys...please?"

Suddenly, a door appeared out of nowhere and the doorknob began to shake. Lucien looked up, hopeful, but it wasn't his friends.

"You killed all of them. Now, that was impressive." The lion picked at its teeth with his claws. "You brought me to life."

Its voice was in his head now. "You and I, we did it together. We were a team"

The scenes began replaying inside his head and once more he saw everyone die. He was the summoner, but he couldn't stop the summon. It was HIS fault. The creature grinned from ear to ear and Lucien stared at the floor with blank eyes. "T-They're dead because of me."

"Righty-o, kid!" The Lion swung an arm over the man's shoulder then ruffled Lucien's hair. "We made a great team."

It's all my fault.

---

"I'll...I'll kill you," Xan's voice quivered with each word.

The wolf shook his head and smirked. "Shame on you, that's against guilder code, silly kid." He unsheathed his own sword and took a step towards her. "Besides, we don't think you're capable!" The other two were laughing their heads off.

Her vision was blurry with tears, but the metallurgist sucked it up and ran towards her opponents on what felt like jelly legs. "Where are the others?" There was the sound of steel against steel and Xan staggered back when the wolf pushed against her own blade with his. She knew how to weild a sword when it was connected to her own arm, but actually holding one in her hand felt different. She didn't know why, but she was out of her element. "Tell me, damn it!"

"You're as threatening as a child!" The wolf sidestepped the girl's strike and slammed the hilt of his blade into her stomach.

She double over, her sword falling to the ground with a clatter.

"Heh, don't tell me you're crying over your silly friends." Xan didn't move, so he gave her a quick kick to the side.

The girl was sent into a coughing fit and she curled up into a ball. She could hear the crowd booing, but nothing in the world made sense. Aria was dead, Estelle was dead, Trixie was dead, and she was as good as dead. She hugged her knees to her chest, Xan didn't even have the will to fight back anymore.

"There's no point in this...we all know the audience wants a show!" The wolf threw his hands back and smiled at the booing crowd. "Oi, announcer guy, just release the scavengers and end this pathetic fight! She's not a guilder, just a pathetic, sniveling kid." Her opponents' voices grew farther and farther away. One of the cages were opened, and angry snarls filled the arena.

Xan closed her eyes, she couldn't save anyone, not even herself. "I'm sorry..."