Fantasy Dappled Light [Closed]

[Melpomene]

For some reason, Lucan had certainly was not surprised to hear that Ava had managed to meet another vampire, even if it was only in passing, though from the sounds of it that was not necessarily the way she was going to describe it at first. In truth, that did not matter. Mostly, he was hoping to know if she knew what the vampires were doing as of now. He may have been a traveler but he did not have any idea how they were coping.

He uncomfortably began to pull his hood back forward, tugging his bandana into place as he scratched the top of his cheek. While he was certainly not one of the most well-taught people in the world, he was able to see the atrocities that had been brought on by Gwaine's... 'saviorism',

"It's true," Lucan said. "At least from what I have seen. The ones that decided to be more openly against it-- they have been the ones who have been most... harshly put down. Some stayed quiet and simply hid, and I don't know if the Renascence will be able to root all of them out, I suppose there might be very few like Reamun who decided to rebel against their roots. But if you must know, yes, they have been managing to kill them." It was difficult to think of, as vampires had always been on the top and now they were scrambling in the shadows, attempting to find a place to get a foothold in this new world.

Sometimes he wondered what it was like for them. To be so uprooted in such a way, every way of life apparently completely upturned. Perhaps he would never know. In truth, Lucan did not plan to live long. He had no end goal in sight, his life seemed reduced to nothing more than quelling this force, as no matter how far he looked it seemed there was no fixing this. After another turn, Lucan looked up to see a guard leaning against the wall by the door, he looked to have nearly fallen half asleep with his arms crossed before his body. He looked at them, and then suddenly stood upright.

"Stop," he said as he looked between the both of them with narrowed eyes. "Think you went the wrong way."

Lucan surreptitiously pulled his hood more forward, Ava could work whatever magic she apparently had.

 

[Lucyfer]

Ava had anticipated Lucan’s answer, but it did not mean she liked to hear it. Her gaze lowered, and the torch started to, as well. It drooped, at least, and Ava bit the inside of her cheek. This was still hard news. ‘But what can you do?’ On that, she did not know. She just knew – hoped – she could find a cure for the rot.

And that began here, with Reamun, and this guard who wanted to stop them.

She looked up, a bright smile coming to her lips immediately. “No, this is the right way. Oh, you're not Mark."

"No...why?"

"I thought Mark would be here by now. Terst briefed him -- who are you?"

"I'm Saul, who are--"

Ava didn't let him finish. Names had power. A quick to step forward to capture the guard in the light of her torch stopped him from the suddenness of it, even if it was unnecessary. There were a couple burning besides the path he guarded. “We’re here on behalf of the academic research team, Saul. Captain Terst wants us to look into something in Reamun’s home, so we just need to pop in and out real quick! That’s okay, isn’t it, Saul?” Inflections and vibrations played, adding urgency in tempo.

No time to question, no time to think.

“Oh, uh, yeah,” he nodded almost dumbly, “Yeah, if Captain Terst’s cleared you, go right ahead,” he shuffled a bit to be out of the doorway.

“Thank you~” sing-song, “You can go back to sleep now,” and her tone changed immediately, slowing, deepening. Soothing. “It’s all okay now, we’re here.” Lulling.

And he nodded along, back falling into the corner where the walls met.

Nodding.

Nodding…off.

Ava looked back to Lucan. “See? Easy.” Though now was the hard part…avoiding being seen. She might be able to talk some down, but there were outliers. Ava knew that. Terst was among them, but not the only one.

 

[Melpomene]

That was... too easy.

All of Lucan's suspicions had culminated up to this point and now he was trying to think about what she could possibly be doing to so easily manipulate people with nothing but her voice. He had heard of a few beings and creatures throughout his time traveling, though he had no time to think to really pinpoint what it was about Ava, as now they were in the manor of the enemy and they certainly were not going to wait for the two of them to talk about identity and powers.

"Alright," he said, deciding to put the display of power behind him and instead concentrate on where they were and what they were doing. He cautiously approached the doorway, he assumed there would not be a guard wasted on the other side, seeing as they already had one there. He doubted they expected many people to be stupid enough to try and get into the manor of a former vampire whose home was now being protected by the new leaders of the country.

It struck Lucan rather hard how stupid and dangerous what they were doing was, however, they were already into it too far as far as he was concerned. That may have been incorrect, but truthfully he just wanted that journal as quickly as possible. Was this foolishly rushing things? Perhaps or perhaps not. The less he waited for people to get suspicious of him the better. He glanced in then turned back to Ava.

"You snuck in before, right? Know any guard patterns?" that would not help them too much, but it may have at least let Lucan make somewhat of a plan. Assuming the guards moved from their places they would eventually get a chance to go, but they would need to be quick and quiet. He frowned the glanced back to Ava.

"We'll make it as quick as possible, I don't want to have to deal with Terst--" the woman could probably beat him in physical combat just by some of her benefits of height alone, he would have to rely a lot on his guns to get out of this one.

"We'll stay in the shadows," he said as he leaned forward, scanning for another guard before slipping into a shadow.

He was rather certain he was going to get ulcers after this.

 

[Lucyfer]

There was no guard wasted on the other side, and Ava followed after Lucan, glancing around – humming, a moment.

Nothing came back to her from the humming, but she opted to extinguish her torch along the wall, and leave it on the ground, leaning against the wall. If they needed it on the way back, it would be there, waiting for them, but carrying it any further was only going to get them in trouble.

“I do not,” she lowered her voice, “I sort of just…talked my way through,” which she knew wasn’t going to be feasible this time around. “Still, there didn’t seem to be too many actually on guard, last time,” they likely weren’t expecting too many to actually get in, that weren’t supposed to be in.

Most didn’t pause to ask questions, just went about their day.

It was the good thing about assumptions, and one of the reasons Ava tended to prefer moving with confidence, to hiding. However, Lucan was already planning to stick to shadows. He probably had a point, she hadn’t made as much progress as she wanted to by trying to just…walk in, and talk her way through.

Ava would mimic him, and keep after him, a shadow behind, as they moved.

It wasn’t terribly populated with active staff, it seemed. Oh, there were people around, and some stationed as guards, but there was a laxity to their presence that was useful for Ava and Lucan. As Ava thought, most weren’t looking for anyone, or expecting anyone, despite the fact that unbeknownst to Lucan and Ava, Captain Rina Terst had mentioned to them there might be an issue in the coming days.

There were some that were more alert.

Particularly those right in front of the study, which Ava still managed to guide them towards, despite being behind Lucan.

Two were stationed outside the doors to it, a good hint, at least, that there was something in there.

 

[Melpomene]

It was a really stupid plan, if Lucan was being honest with himself. A bit rash and not well thought out, but they were too far in to turn back now and were looking at what was probably the Study, seeing as the Renascence had decided it was important enough to be guarded. Lucan felt his mouth twist into a frown as he brushed a lock of loose hair from his eyes and sighed softly from beneath his bandana.

He pulled back for a moment, tapping his fingers against the wall before slipping to the side. There were two of them which made it harder. He could not exactly just take out one, and Ava's expertise seemed to be in convincing people more than using physical force against them. If they were loud it would certainly alert the entire manor, meaning there would be no quiet escape and they would need to fight out tooth and claw to be able to see the light of day again. Though, they could just use a normal entrance by that point, luckily. What had he gotten into? He turned back to Ava and beckoned her to come a bit closer to him.

"Alright. I have a plan," He said lowly, just so he could barely be heard by someone right next to him. It was more like a half-baked idea filled with holes, but he did not have time to fine-tune anything.

"I'm going to attack them and you go in while I am distracting them." It was why someone else was usually who came up with the plans. Lucan had always been a petty thief, he knew how to handle hand to hand combat and striking people, he could steal, yes, but to do a whole covert operation with armed guards? That was a different story. He was always the most volatile of the branches and terrible at lying, usually when he was doing something like this, there were not so many guards and he actually had a trained partner.

Likely easier said than done. But that didn't matter. "I have a feeling they would put guards here a bit more immune to your little... persuasion trick." Otherwise, he would have asked Ava to go out right off the bat, but he at least wanted to try for a semblance of secrecy as long as possible to get them both prepared for the fight. He looked over and found a decorative vase.

'Gaudy anyways'

It was a very stupid plan.

He really should not have come in here in the first place. He readied himself, and then charged, slamming the vase into the first guard's head as he turned and then tackling the second.

"Gah! Damn it!" the guard cried as she turned to try and wriggle away from him. Lucan grunted, hopefully, it would give Ava plenty of time. And hopefully, it was the right place. They were playing with fire here, but they would definitely find something.

 

[Lucyfer]

Ava drew closer to Lucan, even if it wasn’t expressly necessary for her to do so in order to hear. Still, she did, and listened well to what he had to say. Her face scrunched in disagreement with his plan to attack. Wasn’t there a better way? She could have tried talking to them, although Lucan seemed to think that wouldn’t work.

He’d recognized it as a trick now, at least, so she wouldn’t put up much fuss, just give a quick nod.

She’d follow the instructions, and try to find what they needed.

A moment later, a pretty vase was thrown at the head of one of the guards, and the other was tackled. Ava pushed a hand over her lips to keep from crying out, then remembered herself, and sprinted by the downed guard, and struggling one, into the room. “Oh it’s—!” Locked! Ava wanted to scream as she pulled on the door, then looked to the downed guard and saw a keyring.

She grabbed it, and put in one key, then another. It only took to the second one, and she pushed the door open and stepped into the room full of books upon books.

“HELP! HELP – DAMN YOU BOTH – HELP!” The guard on the ground was now trying to get attention, perhaps aware now their companion wasn’t going to, or knowing that they weren’t breaking out easily from Lucan, or getting to their weapon.

Ava tuned it out, flitting around the study, looking over spines of books, looking to the desk. It was there, a book full of dog-earred pages, that Ava thought she might have found what she was looking for. The spine was blank, suggesting personal writings, and when she opened it, the fluid script of Reamun’s own hand became clear to her.

She flipped through marked pages, wondering if it was Reamun, or the Renascence, who marked them.

Her flipping went right by a page on relics – and then right back to it as she saw a design that reminded her of a Pomapple. She skimmed the details of it, realized it was a fruit from Ersetu, and called out, “Luc—oh—I found something!” She probably shouldn’t call him Lucan here, should she?

But there were others, besides Lucan, moving this way. Running.

Ava closed the book, and then shoved it down the front of her shirt. No time for showing the book off, she supposed.

 

[Melpomene]

There was a certain level of regret that Lucan felt as he rummaged for his knife and then slammed the butt of it into the guard's temple. It was short-lived, as he couldn't dwell on the shortcomings of his own ill-constructed plan for long. There was about to be quite a bit of violence and it was lucky that Ava found it quickly enough for them to begin their escape from this mansion. He gritted his teeth, flipping the knife in his hand as there would be fighting soon.

There were far too many to handle on their own, but if Ava led, perhaps, and left fighting them off to Lucan then perhaps it would not be so bad.

He was lying to himself, of course, like he would always do before every mission.

Or in this case in the middle of it when he should really be coming to some sort of peace.

"Nearest exit-- away from the crowds!" he said hurriedly as he jumped up from his crouching position.

'Mr. State the Obvious'

" DAMN IT! WHO LET THEM GET THIS FAR?" A voice boomed, causing Lucan to hurry in the opposite direction faster, hoping Ava had an idea of where to go and a sense of urgency, though the second part he was not so worried over.

He felt heat blaze past his ear, and the sound of a gunshot as he rounded the corner.

"THEY HAVE THE DAMN JOURNALS, WHO IN THEIR RIGHT MINDS--?" some type of alarm would have to be set off soon. They definitely did not want to wait for Terst to wake up to this mess.

Lucan reached for his own gun, cocking it and lightly panting already from running as he sent a warning shot back.

It was going to be a long night.

 

[Lucyfer]

Ava hurried out of the room as Lucan leapt from his crouch, stating that they needed an exit, away from the crowds. ‘Like I know that!’ She pursed her lips together a moment, silencing a panicked protest. She should have known it couldn’t be as easy as waltzing in and grabbing a journal, but she didn’t have much experience with this sort of thing.

And the world was dying.

That was worth a bit of chaos to get an answer, right?

“Okay!” She listened – and darted off in the quietest direction as others moved their way. As someone let off a shot that grazed by Lucan and whizzed by her. ‘Don’t scream.’ She barely stifled a shriek, turning it into a muffled whimper as she hit the stairs and went down them, jumping the last few and regretting it almost immediately.

She wasn’t cut out for this life.

She winced with the sound of another shot, but didn’t look back to confirm who it came from, or where. That wasn’t relevant. If she wasn’t bleeding, then it was fine. And Lucan was still following.

Ava was taking them to a back exit, although what she did not know in this path was that, while it was quiet, it was not, in fact, without problems. It was quiet because it was near the barracks where those Renascence guards allowed to sleep in the manor, did sleep. It was where Captain Terst herself slept, near the back exit for that very reason of the possibility of someone sneaking in through the back exit.

She was a light sleeper.

The gunshots had already woken her, and by the time Ava turned into that hall, she was out of her room – not fully dressed in armor – but with her gun, and with a rather imposing looking hammer, as well, that Ava knew had a nickname as the ‘Boom Hammer’ due to it being a bit…explosive. Powerfully so. The head of it was on the ground, its weight apparently a bit much right in the moment.

A squeak left Ava and she tried to backtrack.

Into Lucan.

Terst fired a shot intending to take them both out, through Ava’s head, through Lucan’s chest.

She wasn’t awake enough to be asking questions – although she was awake enough to know not to count on a single shot, awake enough to be prepared to follow up.

 

[Melpomene]

Shit.

Lucan grit his teeth as he stopped short, it was a time in which it felt that time had slowed. Ava stumbled back into him, instinctually a hand went up to her shoulder to steady her as he assessed the woman they had come across, as he had imagined she wasted no time in getting up and ready to fight the moment the alarms were sounded.

And like he expected she wasted no time attempting to eliminate the threat.

Lucan's grip on Ava's shoulder hardened as he shoved her forcefully the other direction and then fell into a one handed cartwheel to dodge the shot that had come. He landed primly on his feet and assessed her once more, deciding he wanted to avoid any hits from that hammer if he wished to leave the place in one piece. With a curse he aimed his gun at her chest and shot once, hoping to distract her first, though his aim was not as good with the eyepatch, so he did not even bother attempting a headshot.

"This way, damn it!" The sound of pounding footsteps made the situation all the more desperate. Lucan caught sight of Ava again, damn it, where were any windows? He was eccentric enough to not fear the sun, Lucan was sure if they made it more towards the outer region, well at least they could maybe find a door. The guards were coming from all directions, he could not figure which way would be best, but he knew they had to choose and get out or else they would be as good as dead.

He swooped to make sure he stayed out of... hammer range and glanced towards Ava, she knew the place better than he did but... If her legs were fine enough she could correct their course after they had already began running. So he turned towards the nearest exit that sounded like it did not have guards barreling down it.

 

[Lucyfer]

Ava was in no way prepared to dodge a bullet. It was fortuitous that Lucan was – and cared enough, or was in a good enough position, to get Ava out of the way before the bullet reached her, while artfully dodging it himself. Ava was not so graceful. She lost her footing in the shove and fell, but caught herself with one hand.

The other pressed to the book, to make sure it was still safe.


As Ava was regrouping, Rina followed the man she knew as Ivan’s movements with her gun, but had to evade a shot he pulled off before she could attempt it. She managed to side-step, and dropped her gun into its holster as both hands went to her hammer. Attempting to line up a shot while Ivan was on the move did not seem like it would pay off.

He had instinct, and training – if the cartwheel hadn’t proved it, just the look on his face, did.


As Rina was hefting the hammer up, Ava had gotten back to her feet. She glared daggers at Lucan’s back for all his shouting at her – even if he had a point that she ought to be moving. He could be nicer about it!

Ava ran after Lucan, trying to tune back into the sounds around her, and the direction of the manor – where they were, too. Clearly, they weren’t going to be trying to get past Captain Terst, so they had to find another way. “This way!” Ava grabbed Lucan’s arm before he make a turn where she did not want to go, thinking in a way he had earlier.

Get to the outer areas of the home.

Find windows.


Terst wasn’t far behind. The hammer hindered her, as did her need to shout commands. “SURROUND THE PERIMETER OF THE HOUSE! GUARD EVERY WINDOW, EVERY DOOR!” Her voice boomed throughout the manor. The shout was carried by others, although not all heeded it. Some, obviously, intended to join Rina and help rout the duo to an area where they could be pinned down, rather than let them near the perimeter. “THERE ARE TWO TRESPASSERS!”

 

[Melpomene]

Lucan let Ava weave him through the house, trusting her intuition on it more than his own. Weaving through nature was his capabilty, though someone's house whom he had never even met? He had no idea.

Unfortunately,Terst was hot on their heels, meaning they could not take any time wondering where they were supposed to go, luckily as long as they were moving it would be hard for anyone to get a shot in- it took a lot of skill to hit a moving target and nothing else, so he whipped down the hall closely behind Ava, gun raised and waiting for the sight of any one.

One appeared as they rounded the corner, her gun raised in a start when they came into view.

"Got- oof," Lucan tackled her to the ground before she could shoot, he reared back and struck her hard in the nose, causing it to bleed. As she turned to cover her face, groaning in pain, he had a feeling she would not be up any time soon and scrambled forward, catching sight of a window and wanting to get out of it before anyone else could catch up. He did not bother trying to open it up.

He yanked the bandana from his face, wrapping his hand up in it while he pulled back and then slammed his foot hard into the panes, the glass shattering around his ankles and the wood splintering that held the pieces in. He brought his foot back and kicked again until the hole was decently big and then with his covered hand shoved more glass and wood out of the way, hoping to minimize the damage of cuts and scrapes when they got out.

"Go on!" he waved to Ava as he turned to stand behind her. "I'll cover you- get out and run."

 

[Lucyfer]

Ava could only wince as Lucan tackled someone to the ground, barreling by her to get to them. It was good, of course – that meant no one got shot – but it was still a significant amount of violence that was immediately followed by shattering glass. She sucked in a breath, and almost regretted it with the scent of blood heavy in the air.

She hoped none of it was Lucan, but she would pointedly keep her gaze away from the woman he’d tackled.

Her look to Lucan was a bit blank as he told her to go. ‘What just—jump?’ But he was already turning around to do as he promised, and she forced herself to recall days of jumping out of windows to escape being seen by people who might be angry with her presence in another’s bedroom. Besides, this was on the ground floor.

No problems.

She hastened as best she could, not jumping, but stepping through, and she still managed to cut her hand on the glass left on the sill when she tried to use her hand to balance when she was halfway over.

“Hey, what’s—!”

A guard on patrol would keep Ava from looking back, or pausing. She saw him out of the corner of her eye, heard him start to speak, and bolted for the trees. Thank goodness Reamun liked shade! She put one hand back over the book to keep in place, hearing shouts, and more violence.



Within the house, an individual came from the left to the area where the glass shattered. They lifted their gun to aim at Lucan, as Terst also came from the same way Lucan and Ava had come from, hammer in hand. Ava was out by then, leaving just the stranger from the market, and too much distance for her to easily cross before he was out the window.

Even so, she charged, and hoped the shot from the other one would strike or slow the stranger down.

 

[Melpomene]

In the few moments Lucan had left in the manor, he was quite happy he had not been forced into any type of combat with Captain Terst. Once Ava was safely through, he drew back, not looking to die trying to fight the rest of them off. Terst looked to be a ready fighter waiting to strike, and it would have frightened Lucan if he was a younger man with how she charged like a bull at him, likely preparing to swing that nasty looking hammer at him.

Putting his acrobatics into use, he jumped from the window, feeling a shard of glass graze his arm but nonetheless, he came rolled on to his feet when he came out and immediately looked to the direction he had seen Ava begin to run off to.

'Perhaps we should have discussed a meeting place out in the wilderness in case of such events...'

He had never been a planner.

Perhaps Ava was not either.

He could hear the guards that stood outside, likely having to come to alert after long dies and quiet nights of no disturbance other than that which likely did not require so much force. But they had the shade of the night on their side as well as the trees, it was, perhaps, lucky that it was a Vampire's house they had decided to attack and not someone who enjoyed the sun on their face.

Well... perhaps Reamun loved the sun on his face, but simply did not wish to die yet.

It did not matter.

"YOU IDIOTS, STOP STANDING THERE WITH YOUR MOUTHS OPEN AND CHASE THEM!"

Lucan clenched his jaw. They were not out of the woods yet, well... their problem was that they needed to be in the woods, or something like it. Away from the open air, give them nothing to shoot at and a chance to lose sight of them.

He was gaining on Ava, and felt another bullet graze his cheek. He hissed in pain, but thanked that it was not his neck.

"Keep going- we gotta lose 'em." he panted. "Woods or somethin'."

How wonderful it would be to die here. Lucan, the final remaining Branch of the Tree of Ersetu, falling dead in here outside of Reamun's manor.

He really did not want to give Gwaine the pleasure of such a thing.

 

[Lucyfer]

Gwaine Ivantes rode at the head of a procession across the countryside, near Deadwood. It was two hours past the fall when he lift his hand in silent command for the procession to pause upon a hilltop, and he dismounted, before turning towards those with him. A smile graced his face, “We will camp here for the night,” he told them, his voice easily reaching even the back, as if carried by the wind itself.

“But, Sir, we can reach Deadwood in an hour.” It was Lind Terst who spoke, riding forward a bit on his black steed.

Gwaine smiled, “I know that we can,” he agreed, “but there is a stream nearby, and this is soft ground to rest upon. I would rather we arrive well-rested and refreshed when we make our introductions.” Not that anyone would soon be accusing him of ever looking anything but refreshed, no matter how many silvery strands appeared in his golden hair.

The procession all began to slow, and circle up. Commands were shouted to prepare the temporary lodgings, and Lind gave a deep nod to Gwaine, accepting the logic, as he moved to go and assist with the set-up. Gwaine himself also participated, smiling indulgently as one of the newer recruits fumbled with getting a tent up. He assisted him in the process, waving off their apologies for supposed inadequacies, before he would head to the stream.

There had been something about it which called to him, and in the light of the moon he was able to see.

The fish within the stream had come closer to the surface. Their scales held an eerie glow, the green of algae, while their eyes seemed even more lifeless than fish’s usually would be. When he reached out his fingers, the fish rose to the surface, mouths opening and closing on the air, not able to reach his dangling fingers, but clearly wanting to.

It made him smile.

The changes were happening all around. Slowly, and yet, he was seeing it more and more.

Ersetu was no longer stifling their development.

He drew his fingers away as he heard the approach, and was not at all surprised to find it was Lind, who seemed to recoil as he recognized the fish in the water. “They’re beautiful, are they not?” He asked, though he knew Lind had yet to recognize the changes as beautiful. In time, he would see. For now, it was all too new for him.

“They’re unique,” Lind answered, rather diplomatically. “We actually found that some of our supplies have gotten bad since our last stop.”

“Then these will provide,” Gwaine said as he rose from his crouched position, “This area is lush enough,” which was true, although the grass had a silvery quality to it that was also rather unique. Not so eerie as the glowing fish, but something they had not seen in great quantities until venturing out here. The moon actually made it rather beautiful.

“We must soon stop depending on what we knew for sustenance. We are no longer a part of that world.”

 

[Lucyfer]

Lucan was fast. The Captain had surmised as much, and even though she let out a feral shout of frustration when he was out the window, she had known her odds of catching him were slim. The shot had failed to hit him, but others were rallying to catch them, another shouting out a command she should given. The duo were visible, but not for much longer. They would be out in the woods, soon.

She would still attempt pursuit before she considered how she would tell Gwaine about this failure, and assess just what had been taken, if anything.

“Get our dogs!” the captain commanded, turning from the window to prepare to join that hunt, rather than wait to watch the figures get increasingly smaller, and out of sight. The dogs would help to locate them if they got too far away.

~***~

Ava was startled to hear Lucan’s voice. The gunshots were starting to impact her hearing, a bit, but so far she had stayed away from getting struck by one. Lucky her. A whimper still rose from her throat, and a mad urge to yell at Lucan that she was running as fast as she could – she didn’t have training for this!

At least they reached trees.

Trees they could use to better block shots from.

“Mmmm—hm!” Her lips were pursed together in an effort to keep from calling out anything that could end up detrimental in the moment. She did know this area. She knew a river nearby, and it went deeper into the forest that Reamun had left in place. That the Academy had made use of. She adjusted their path, hearing further back the crash of people entering the woods in a mad haste not to lose them.

At least the hail of gunfire had started to cease, at least a little, no doubt their constant movement and the trees responsible.

But they were still visible.

She paused, suddenly, and cupped her hands over her ears a couple of times, hoping Lucan got the hint, before she turned in the direction of their pursuers.

She took in one breath – and screamed, a deafening, disorienting, senseless sound, in the hopes it would cause those immediate pursuers to stumble and lose themselves, so they could get out of visual range of their followers.

Although now she really was going to be quite breathless.

 

[Melpomene]

Lucan, truthfully, should have guessed on what Ava was before now. In the end, everything began to add up. It was, perhaps, simply the fact he had never seen a siren in person that he had known their origin, at least. It was good, however, he had begun to suspect things before as even as he covered his ears he knew whatever the men and women running at them felt must have been tenfold what he did.

It was very disorienting. He shook his head and lowered his arms when the scream passed, his head was still ringing but at the very least he was still capable of telling where he was going. He blinked away the last remaining shadow of confusion and then stepped back away from the scene before turning towards Ava, really unsure of what a move like that took out of a person.

He was too tired for this.

Honeslty he would have liked to try and implement the fact that she was a siren into his plans. But that was a discussion for later.

By Ersetu, his ears were still ringing.

It was fine, they had a way out now. Everyone else chasing them would take awhile to catch up and the ones who were closest were stunted, if they kept going they would be able to lose them completely, but they would need to run out of town soon after.

He sidled next to her and tugged on her arm to get her moving. "Do you have a horse?" he hissed. "Just nod- we need to get out of town." Whichever the right way for that was now, his ears still were ringing. He thanked Ersetu he would not have to go through that again, at least not in the foreseeable future.

 

[Lucyfer]

Ava was left gasping for air when the sound left her lips, and she did double over. It had been a long time since she even needed to think of using her voice like that, and while she was practiced in singing and manipulating her voice, this was still something else. She knew she had to move, but she wanted to buckle under and just take a moment.

Of course, such a moment would allow the others to get their bearings, too.

She looked to Lucan as he spoke, wide-eyed, almost as if she didn’t understand. She did, of course, but she was still getting her bearings. At least he realized that – and she shook her head. She did not have a horse. She walked. She liked walking.

She could find one.

Probably.

There were usually a few at hitching posts around the taverns at this hour, and she breathed out, “Charlie,” as if it were an answer. She hoped he understood as she followed along with his nagging gesture to get moving. He had gone to Charlie’s with the Father, hadn’t he? By now it would be busy, but there’d be horses, maybe even cy-horses! There might be better places, of course, so far as sneaking out went. She wasn't thinking of that, even though she should be.

She clutched the journal closer, though it was about as close as it could be to her, under her shirt still. She just wanted to reassure herself it was there and she hadn’t dropped it as she moved along.

She didn’t yet hear anything more than other human feet.

 

[Melpomene]

At the very least, Lucan's ears had stopped ringing.

He rubbed the skin behind his ear and winced. That could serve as an unofficial lesson as to why he did not wish to anger a siren. While he could get loud when he wished, it seemed that he was no match for her in a screaming match.

But more importantly, she had no horse. That was fine, but it was good to know there was nothing for her to hop on to ride out of town. Worse came to worse they could share his, they couldn't actually split up until they looked at those notes, after all. But even so, it might make things harder, he was hoping they could split up but... perhaps they still could?

"I have one," he said somewhat breathlessly, despite the fact she should already know that, as both he and the father had seen him ride in on one. Oh the father and Stephen, he wondered if they could hear the ruckus they had started.

Lucan was beginning to suspect the whole damn town was about to be privy on the ruckus they had caused to rile up.

"Charlie? Char- oh." the bar? Maybe. There would be horses but... that might be conspicuous. However there would be a lot of people there. Though... perhaps they could split up and make it easier.

"Alright," he said as he let out a breath. "Ok, my horse is in town, in front of the bakery. Steal you a horse if you want, but Grant could hold us both and then ride out and away from here?" They were already heading in that direction. At least he already had jerky for the road.

 

[Lucyfer]

Ava had absolutely forgotten that the stranger had a horse. Really, she was probably not going to be thinking of too much outside of the immediate issues of not dying. She couldn’t go back to the Academy anytime soon, could she? Terst had seen her. Terst would recognize her.

Terst was going to go interrogate everyone at the Academy, wasn’t she?

Who else might she interrogate? Ava had a lot of associates. It would be impossible to consider all of them could have been in on it, but certainly those at the Academy would fall under suspicion.

Her mind ran with those thoughts, and with those of stealing a horse. Likely the person she stole from would immediately be suspect, considered helping her even if they denied it. An anguished, breathless moan escaped her as it started to sink in, and she shook her head, “I don’t want to make more trouble,” she’d made enough, hadn’t she? Neither of them had thought this through. She hadn’t truly considered it would escalate this much.

It was a journal.

A single journal, that maybe had some information to help the world – but Terst wouldn’t even talk! She just fired right at them! And ordered them to be killed! “Let’s just – let’s just get out of here, the less people we’re seen with…the less people in trouble.” And they seemed now to have a good lead, but Ava was hearing followers that were distinctly not humans. “I think they have dogs….”

 

[Melpomene]

At the very least Lucan and Ava could agree on not causing anymore trouble. If that was even possible. The best choice would simply be to run as quickly as possible and then faster. If these notes had any chance of bringing back what had been taken, then Gwaine would be on their case as soon as he was told by his lackeys what had happened. Lucan was unsure if he wanted the man to know that he still lived or not.

There would be the added benefit of him knowing his grand plan had missed one link, no matter how insignificant he thought it to be. As far as Lucan was concerned, as long as he lived, the Branches lived.

But to know that was a double-edged sword. Perhaps knowing they lived on through him provided him some meager hope, yet if to Gwaine it meant his job was not done, and the past was not properly erased, then Lucan would be on the run tenfold. Now, he was fine simply walking into a town, as most people would not recognize him, but if Gwaine had people set and ready to take him in or kill him at a moment's notice? Hopefully, it would not change things too much, he was rather certain he had not been recognized.

And... and they had dogs.

Shit.

"Ok ok ok," he ran his hand through his hair and then he looked back at Ava and nodded as he tried to get another plan in his head. She did not seem used to battle, so he tapped her shoulder and pointed towards town.

"You run ahead of me, alright?" he winced when the barks hit his ears, the loud howls of the dogs. Likely they were taught to bite first. Shit. "Run ahead, I'll hold off the dogs, get to Grant, cy-horse in front of the bakery, he'll respond to his name. If I ain't there soon after just go." he would prefer the notes to be far far away no matter what happened. He made sure his gun was loaded and tapped his side to check for ammo. As a second thought when he turned from Ava he flipped his eyepatch up to make it easier to aim.

"Just make sure you get that book out of here no matter what."

 

[Lucyfer]

Lucan’s distracted panic was understandable, or that’s how Ava took his running his fingers through his hair. It did not, in fact, ease her any at all, even as he came up with a quick plan that seemed to protect her. No doubt, he could have easily taken the book from her and ran, left her to the dogs. Not that she wouldn’t try to sing her way out of that, but she’d rather not need to. There were some things her voice couldn’t overcome.

Dogs were usually easier than cats, but certain states made them less suggestable, as with people.

Still, she immediately looked in the direction he pointed, and squeezed her arms tighter around herself. Around the journal. For all this trouble, it better have some answers! She nodded in understanding, even if it was taking a moment for her to actually understand what he meant.

Horse. Grant. Bakery. “Ok.”

She didn’t quite have her breath back, but then again, she had it better than a few minutes ago – and if he could keep the dogs from getting to her, no doubt she could get to the horse in good time, and try to wait for him. The horse really should be easier than the dogs, especially if it responded to its name.

And so, with a deep breath, she turned, and fled in the direction he’d pointed, leaving him to the dogs and hoping he would soon catch up. She didn’t keep her ears attentive for that, but listened for others who might be following instead, and listened for the sounds of the town she’d grown up in.

That made it easier to be familiar with it, and find her way back.

Once she made it, she slowed to a walk, to not draw too much attention to herself. It was unlikely much had spread here, just yet. Soon, but not yet, and she didn’t need to draw much attention by panicking or running about, so she did her best to clear up her expression, and walked to the bakery, where this horse was, indeed, waiting. “I’m sorry I forgot you, Grant.” She spoke at nearly a whisper, but it would carry.

Completely unnecessary, but really, how had she forgotten this handsome creature?

She still approached with some hesitance, offering a hand towards it to sniff, before she would work at undoing its ties so it would be ready to go. “I hope you’ll let me up without a fuss. I don’t plan to leave until we have your friend back.” She also wouldn’t mount up just yet, but would wait until she heard reason to do so…whether that was dogs, or Lucan, or something else.

 

[Melpomene]

Grant was, more than anything, a good horse.

Having been with Lucan since before the burning of Ersetu, he had become bonded with his rider to the point he often did not even need to be hitched to a post in order to be kept in place. He had seen far too much action, but because of it he was jaded, and not easily frightened. In truth he was likely Lucan's most trusted companion, being that Lucan had confided in him about just about every twist and turn his life had taken since before Ersetu and did not seem to be ready to let up any time soon.

Luckily for Ava, Grant was far friendlier than his rider.

He leaned in and sniffed her hand, happy to have companionship. Then he nuzzled her shoulder soon after, waiting patiently as she began to untie his reins. Already he began to stomp his hooves, ready to move again after being stuck there all day. He knew he would get to move again, soon, however.

Lucan was not faring as well, attempting to discern where the barks were coming from, knowing well they could not outrun dogs, and he had a feeling he would fare better in battle with the rascals than Ava. He was not one to enjoy killing animals, but he would prefer to do that than be mauled to death.

When the first one blew from the brush he cursed and raised his gun, shooting straight and true. It was when five more came out behind it that he cursed once more and hoped he could shoot fast enough. He managed to make it through three before the other two were on him. It was quick, in truth, but it felt much longer.

Because when dogs latch onto your arm it is hard to feel like things are moving quickly. Luckily he managed to shoot one quickly.

The other one managed to bring him to the ground. He let out a shout, attempting to shove it back with his feet. Why did it have to be dogs?

One last shot. The dog whined before it fell to the ground. Lucan groaned as he looked down at his mangled arm, but the sound of thudding footsteps urged him to push aside the nausea and stumble up to his feet.

Perhaps he would get lucky and find out Sirens had an impeccable method of healing. Somehow he doubted it. But he ran like the wind and was soon coming down the street towards the bakery, more than happy to see Grant already untied. He wasted no time hopping on to his horse, taking the reins in his unmangled arm and waiting for Ava to hop up behind him.

"Alright, now we drive." he said, with full intentions of completely blasting away from this town.

 

[Lucyfer]

Ava managed not to bolt up into the saddle immediately at the sound of running steps, although her heart practically leapt into her throat. She forced herself to stay still, to listen, and soon enough it became apparent to her that the one running was Lucan. Then, sight and smell hit her.

It was a very good decision to eat earlier.

Ava let Lucan get up onto Grant first, and she followed right after, not giving any reason for delay. She wasn’t terribly accustomed to it, but it didn’t take a genius to figure out it’d be a good idea to wrap her arms around his midsection and make sure not to be too close to the end of the horse before they were off.

‘Do not bite his shoulder.’

Easier thought than done.

‘Do NOT bite his shoulder.’

Ava pressed her face into Lucan’s back, and hummed. No, Siren’s by nature did not have healing powers, but Ava had learned that there were vibrations that helped to speed things up. It was by no means an instant healing, and she wasn’t even sure she could pull such a thing off in a night, but it would start the process, at least. She thought it might help a bit with the pain, and if nothing else, it gave her something to do while she was adamantly not looking around. It also muffled the scent of blood.

Well, fresh blood, anyways.

The sound itself was akin to a purring of a cat, and likely to be more felt than heard, if anything would be felt over the hasty retreat from Hilbes.

At least the journal was still well-trapped in her shirt.

 

[Melpomene]

The bronze light of dusk dusted the dewy blades of grass. There was a stark silence. The creaking of the dusty floorboards was all that broke it. It was cold. Deadwood had never been particularly warm, however, the bite was noticeable and it had only grown with every day marked off. The accused was breathing harshly, trembling with every gust of wind as though he was nothing more than a leaf. Tense and tearful he stood agape, looking at the minor crowd that his sentence had managed to garner. They were quiet, a certain serenity always overcoming them when the executioner raised his hand to speak. He stepped forward, before the man with a noose on his neck.

"Arlen Bardmore." At his name, the man jerked back as though struck. His trembling quickened. For a moment his knees buckled, the only thing forcing him to straighten up once again being the noose pulled taught around his neck. The floorboards creaked, as did the rope that snapped even more taut. The crowd cooed, a murmur rising to a dull roar before quickly falling back to silence as the executioner rose his hand again.

"You are charged with denying the renascence, to the point of treason. You have been known to cling to Ersetu as though it was more than ash, but you have taken your faithlessness further upon the beating and death of a Renascence officer Cassandra Miller. You have denied a man of his wife and children of their mother, a father of his daughter and the Renascence of an officer in these trying times. I ask you, Arlen Bardmore, do you have anything else to say for your crimes against Darkwood and the Renascence as whole?"

Arlen shuddered on his platform again, his dark eyes snapped up before they darted to the fingers tapping against the lever, waiting for the moment to let the floor drop and sending Arlen to his doom. He shuddered as he stepped uneasily, his eyes flicked up to the window of the capital building, a shadow was casted against it, the curtains ruffled on slightly, but it was enough for him to capture sight of a woman's figure, none of her features were seen. But he knew who it was that watched with such intent. His fingers curled into tight balls behind his back, but all he could managed was a choked sob. The moment had come to him in a flash, a heat of anger and pain after his livelihood had been ripped from him so quickly the moment that demon had chosen to burn down their life, their Ersetu. He shuddered hard.

"Th- that demon." he managed to choke out, his eyes lifted to the figure in the window once more. "He-..."

He could not manage it. The pain and rage which had consumed him when she had knocked him down, beaten him back with the butt of her weapon for daring to stand against her, it had been red and all-consuming. As wrong as it was, as against the Saying of the Bark it was, he was incapable of self-control. At the very least, that was what he told himself. Until the bitter end when the lever was pulled and the rope snapped taut.

Gwendolyn leaned back from the window, her fingers running along the rough wood of the window pane. A soft smile was on the edges of her lips as she stepped back from the display, the crowd which had gathered already beginning to disperse now that the true show was over. She brought her fingers to faintly touch her bottom lip as she continued to watch, ignoring the annoying discomfort that came as the last ray of the suns light spread across her skin.

They had been diligent in accepting the Renascence the moment Ersetu had been burned. The roots were... well uprooted and loyalty to the Renascence was encouraged, though never forced. The man was simply unlucky. Murder was always punishable, it just so happened he was an Ersetu sympathizer at the same time. But such things had come up time and time again in the year since Ersetu burned, men believing themselves above the law simply because they felt a part of them were lost because of a burning of a tree.

Perhaps a part of them was lost, and now they scrambled to find their meaning in life.

Sometimes Gwendolyn did forget that not all were as lucky as her as to have found a reason to exist other than the tree.

"Miss?" she looked up from her musings, a young man with a mop of blond hair stood in the doorway, his arms wrapped about a bundle of papers and folders. Little Archie was her assistant. Though she supposed he was larger than her, it had been what others had called him and the nickname stuck. She supposed he was not so young either, though many people were young to her now. She smiled at him, showing her fangs as she did so.

"It is a lovely evening, isn't it Archie?" she said softly. He nodded his head in agreement as he glanced out the window as well. "What did you need me for?"

"Jus' some paperwork, finished some of it up for you and just need you to sign." The headache was already beginning to form. Some people did not understand the less than glorious work behind the judges robes. But, the day was good. That she could not deny. She was unsure what, exactly, was Gwaine's vision. But it seemed every day they had grown one step closer. While she did not believe in men, or in items, preferring to hold true to her ideologies, she felt hers and Gwaine's must have intersected somewhere, as change was coming, for the death of Ersetu must have meant the birth of something else, perhaps something grander.

Now if only her vampire comrades could see the same, they should have been alive long enough to know.

"Miss?"

"Apologies." she hummed and then walked to her desk, ready to work into a new night.


Was she... purring?

Lucan did not really take a moment to consider, assuming it was something akin to a Siren thing, though he doubted it was out of some newfound pleasure in this current situation. She seemed unused to combat, and in truth Lucan rode fully expecting to feel a bullet pierce his back or leg. He was unsure if he would feel if it pierced his arm or not. Probably would just blend in with the rest of the pain he felt. The jostling horse certainly did not help.

But he forced himself to drive on anyways, gritting his teeth as they rushed through the beaten path and then he took a sharp right to ride through the trees. It was more dangerous that way, perhaps, but it was easier to lose them. Now he just tried to make sure his steering was true and he did not slam them into anything.

He could hear the pounding hooves, but eventually they would have to give up the search, wouldn't they? So he drove on, panting slightly until they seemed a good enough distance, hopefully, as Grant was growing tired his head hanging low, his breathing ragged. Truthfully Lucan's was as well. So he huffed as Grant slowed to a trot and then finally stopped. Lucan twisted on the horse and looked back.

"Hear anything?" he asked Ava breathlessly, letting go of the reins for moment to cradle his arm.

He really hoped not. He needed to wrap his arm without someone else's interference. Probably clean it too. Damn dogs.

 

[Lucyfer]

It was definitely a good thing that Ava wasn’t looking at the route that Lucan was taken. Once he’d veered into the trees, she would have been terrified, and with good reason. Thankfully, there was no incident of them running straight into a tree, and Ava never looked up to verify what was going on. She heard enough, and was uncomfortable enough as it was riding behind Lucan and trying to hold on to any shreds of sanity.

She had just stolen from the Renascence.

Perhaps, more than that – the Renascence were keeping secrets that had the potential to help the world! She had thought that if there was anything, they would eventually share it with the academy at least so they could help, but it seemed that was not to be the case. Still, Ava wouldn’t believe they were purposefully trying to destroy the world.

Once they saw what could be done….

Ava’s purring vocalizations were interrupted by his question, as well as the slowing, and stop, of Grant.

She straightened up and shut her eyes to close out any annoying visuals, and stopped breathing for a moment. Just focused.

She shook her head slowly as she exhaled, “Nothing out of the norm,” as in, no hurrying gallops, no dogs, no shouting people. “Though I wouldn’t want to stay here long,” she was certain they weren’t far from Hilbes, but perhaps a moment’s rest, and a slower pace, would be acceptable.

~***~

Captain Rina Terst was going to mark this as, perhaps, her worst day. Many of the dogs she had sent after the escaping duo had been killed, and the group had been lost in the forest when they were seen escaping.

That did not mean she intended to give up the search. Far from it, as she quickly rallied her soldiers to begin a perimeter search which would gradually widen in a circle around Hilbes. ‘I knew I shouldn’t have left him alone.’ Rina was kicking herself over not having the stranger watched when first they met, over not following her instinct.

This was a problem as she realized precisely what they had taken, was the journal of Reamun that had been undergoing study for some of its contents. Of course it had been out in the open. Of course it had been easy to take.

Gwaine was not going to be happy with her.

It was dogs now that Rina took with her into the Academy, after putting it on lockdown for Ava’s association with it. There would be further interrogations about where Ava might go, and what Ava was doing, but for now, she could make sure that they were tracked. Ava’s room was easily broken into, and much of what she had would be taken into custody to be examined, but for the moment, it was likely rich in the scent of its former occupant.

Rina let the dogs sniff around, their handlers waiting, until one let out a low, whining-howl, and looked up, clearly prepared. The others started to follow suit.

“Find them.” Rina ordered. “Kill them if necessary, but I’d prefer them alive.” Now that she had her head on, she wanted them alive for questioning.

She wouldn’t be staying, though.

She understood that there was little time to delay – and she, unfortunately, had to take up the duty of going to report to Gwaine on what had just occurred.