Arc The Lad Fan Fiction / Arc The Lad Fan Fiction ❯ Unholy Order ❯ Reflection ( Chapter 3 )

Unholy Order

By: Magenta Fox

Chapter 3: Reflection

Sorry my posting on media miner is so behind. They just have this tendency toward messing up the formatting, which angers me greatly. Thank you very much for all your reviews. I'll try to get more up soon. I actually have up to ch6 already typed. The faster you review, the faster I'll post!

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By the time Darc dismounted the Pyron, Kharg was already dusting off his hands as if he'd just done spring cleaning. "You always have to play the hero, don't you?"

"It's been a while," Kharg reasoned, flashing the same smile that used to get him out of chores and punishments as a child. "And I left them with enough strength to flee."

"Heh, you sound like a Deimos."

"From you, I'd take that as a compliment."

Darc's eyes narrowed for a moment before he looked over at the two girls that lay motionless on the grass before them. After taking a few steps, he was already surprised by what a closer inspection yielded.

"Deimos."

"What?"

"They're wounded Deimos," he reiterated, kneeling down beside them. Kharg soon followed, checking the tan one for a pulse.

"She's still alive, barely." He reached down to the woman she was guarding, his face paling as he resisted the urge to drop her wrist in fear. "She's…not…"

"Leave."

The order was so short, sharp and unexpected that Kharg nearly fell back when the word hit his ears. "What do you mean? We can't leave them here."

Darc didn't look at him, simply replying, "I told you to leave. I'm staying."

A pale hand rested gently on his unarmed shoulder. "What are you-"

Before the question could ever be finished, Darc swatted the offending hand off of him and stood up with his back to his brother. Clenching both his fists, he fought, for some unknown reason, to keep his voice steady and free of it usual biting tone. "You wouldn't understand, so just go wait for me at whatever town is closest east. By the time I'm done here and I get on the Pyron, I'll be able to meet you when you get there."

For a moment, Kharg simply stared at his brother's armored back, wondering if his eyes were deceiving him or if Darc was really shaking slightly. He turn around, but didn't move forward after. "She's coming with us, right?"

"I have Herbs. I can heal her."

That wasn't an answer to his question. "She's coming with us. Even if she doesn't want to, we can't leave her out here alone."

"Just go!" Darc finally snapped, turning around in time to see his twin flinch slightly. Kharg would not allow himself to run away, however, and walked away with calm, calculated steps.

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There had been countless times where Darc had witnessed the swiftness of an Herb's healing power. They could restore the heath of a dying ally in mere seconds. Why then, he had to wonder, did it take an hour before the girl finally regained consciousness? He was about ready to fall asleep when he heard her stir and moan a bit, watching quietly as she looked around for the body she'd had in her arms when she passed out.

"I buried her," he finally stated, standing up from the rock he'd been sitting on as he monitored her health.

"Who are you?" she asked, her voice low and scratchy, much like most female Deimos voices were. She was, however, one of the most human-looking Deimos he'd ever seen, as well as the girl he had buried. The one before him was very different in structure though, her skin covered in jagged, symmetrical, scarlet markings. Her face was also rather unique, for her wider chin narrow eyes gave her a rather androgynous look. "I didn't want your help. You should have left me there to die."

He ignored her ingratitude and motioned to a dark area of forest behind her. "You should say goodbye before we have to leave. I have someone waiting for us."

"Excuse me?" she spoke with a sneer. "I'm not going anywhere with you. And how dare you even touch her body? If anyone was to bury her, it'd…it'd be…" She stopped for a second and brought her hand up to her chest as if she were having difficulty breathing. It was the first time Darc noticed how long and sharp her think, black nails were. She tried to take a step forward and stumbled, having never walked without her gigantic and heavy wings. "Is this what I've become now?" she wondered, wincing at the pain still shooting through her back. "Some pathetic little girl who can't survive on her own? Who can't protect anything?" Her fiery red eyes turned to him, full of anger and despair that he knew all too well. "Leave me alone. I never asked for your help!"

"That doesn't work very well for me," he replied, taking a step toward her. "I'm not in the mood to play games in order to try and figure out what's going on in this place. You're obviously from here, so you must have some sort of information I can use."

Turning around sharply, the woman attempted to walk away from him, as if turning her back to him could make him disappear. In all truth, it was the only possible way she would have been able to get away from him with her skeletal structure as altered as it was. Using her imbalance to his advantage, Darc quickly got in front of her, noting how short she was compared to him. If he had to guess right then, he wouldn't peg her at anything too far about five feet tall.

"That girl you lost, you were close to her," he assumed, staring down at her.

"Shut up. I am not in the mood to listen to you pretend to know how I feel," she snapped, trying to push past him toward where he said Lain's grave was. If she didn't get away from him soon, she was afraid of what her embarrassing emotions would lead her to.

"That's a stupid assumption," he commented, allowing her to walk past him. "But I know how you feel. You want revenge, don't you?"

The sound of her clumsily retreating footsteps abruptly stopped.

"You want to get back at the people who did that to her. You want to kill them with your own hands. But especially in the state you're in now, you can't do it alone."

An soft, unexpected laugh rang from the woman's lips as she brought her right palm to rest on her hip. "I thought you didn't have time for games."

"Are you saying this is a game?"

She didn't offer a reply.

"Go say your goodbyes, and think long and hard about the decision you're about to make. If, when you come back, you still won't come with me, then I'll leave you alone here to rot for as long as you want."

The sound of footsteps against the grass picked up again, followed but the parting of brush that would lead her to the grave. Though he knew it to be wrong, Darc followed her silently, curious as to why, in a "Land Where Angels and Demons Wage War," a Demon would morn for an Angel's death.

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By the time Darc caught up with her, the wounded girl was staring blankly at the hastily made grave. The scene was too familiar for him, but he stayed and listened to her goodbye, hidden safely behind the thick trunk of a nearby tree.

"I'm sorry this isn't royal treatment, but I would never let them touch you. Not ever again. Those bastards don't know the first thing about the real you. They only see you as their princess, and now, as some wretched sinner."

Though his expression didn't show it, Darc felt as if this strange demon-woman was echoing the words from inside his mind. For a moment, he wanted to run, but felt his feet frozen as he strained to hear her more clearly. Everything was too similar, and his mind had played out this fictional scenario enough times that he didn't need to listen to Keyana's rendition.

*I know this isn't the grave that those idiots and Yewbell wanted for you, but I don't care. You never liked being treated like a prince anyway…*

"I told you I wouldn't let you die…"

*You said you wouldn't die on me…*

"I thought that I could keep you here, with me, forever. After the death of my parents, after being enslaved by your people, after finally being brought to you… after all that, you still leave me, too. It this… my destiny?"

*You knew you were all I had left. With our parents gone, who else is left for me in this world? Now even you have left me. Is this to be my fate?*

"You said you loved me, damn it! Is this how you prove it?" she yelled, dropping to her knees and pounding her palms into the ground because her sharp claws made making a fist impossible. "I never even got to say it back! I never even got to kiss you!" She growled deep in her throat and slammed her hands down upon the ground again. "He'll pay for it, I swear on your very grave that I will make sure he suffers for what he did to us. I will not allow your death to be meaningless. If it takes the very last drop of blood from my body, I will give your name honor." The tone in her voice changed, suddenly, sounding softer and almost happy. "You said you wanted to see me fly once we escaped that Hell-hole of a Heaven, and someday you will. I'll find some way to get back my wings, and I'll fly as close to the sky as I can. Just…" her voice cracked and faltered a bit as she swallowed a lump forming in her throat, "…just wait for me, alright?"

Sensing the finishing tone in her voice, Darc headed back to the clearing where he was supposed to be waiting, hating the fact that he wanted to get to the village as soon as possible.