Fan Fiction ❯ Stolen Prayer ❯ Unspoken Genocide ( Chapter 5 )

A/N: Someone told me that Nicholai was out of character. Nicholai? Out of character? ::Grin:: Only with Wink. And you'll see why in future chapters.

Stolen Prayer

Chapter Five- - Unspoken Genocide

Wink fell into a fit of coughs as the hands around her body tightened protectively. She was answered with the start of precipitation as lone drops began to fall from the sky. Nicholai looked back at the burning city, knowing that he could not absolve himself from the participation of the loss of the great city. But he chose to remain silent. He had abetted more than just minimally in this great genocide. He had caused another catastrophe just like before.

'I can't stand for father to be right again. How can I assuage the wounds of the people though? Can the Azurakey help me this time?'

At least the blatant war cries from the city had died away, and so had the malicious army. With the coming rain, it would heal the wounds of the city, dousing the fire and the evil…at least temporarily.

Nicholai had not taken notice when Wink had ceased coughing. But he did not overlook her disconsolate outlook towards what had just taken place. Still, nonetheless, he tried his best to console her. "Are you all right?" He asked.

"I should've died with the rest of them…" She answered quietly. Such a response was enough to encumber him with guilt. Nicholai knew that if he had not attempted to foment the battle with Faust, Deningrad would have been spared a grisly end. Nicholai was not a Herculean warrior. He was only burdened with the shadow in which he had been thrust into. But Nicholai was not impassive towards the humans.

"That's not true," He told her. "You are lucky to have survived."

"And for that, I thank you," But they were only words. It was an inauspicious turn of events that she did not perish with her loved ones. Nicholai found himself nonplussed with her attitude.

"Why would you want to trade your life for death?" He asked. Wink turned around, sullenly, until she caught sight of her rescuer. Her eyes widened, not in horror, but in bewilderment.

"L-Lloyd!?" She gasped, looking at the man in black.

"What?" Nicholai fretted as Wink wrapped her arms around his neck, blinding him. "H-Hey! Don't do that! We're going to crash!" It was at that opportune moment that Nicholai lost his balance in the air, causing the two of them to topple down towards the Evergreen Forest. And the rain was just icing to the cake.

Nicholai tugged at Wink's body, stuffing her under his arm as he regained his senses…a little too late. The two crashed towards the ground, the trees not exactly softening the blow. They bounced off of the branches like a rubber ball, until they broke through the weaker limbs and concluded their fall in the bushes.

Nicholai groaned painfully as Wink pushed herself off of his chest and observed her rescuer. He was muscular, just like Lloyd and his platinum hair was short but shaggier than Lloyd's. In his left ear was a silver post that matched his unkempt hair. Although he wore black, the designs on his garments were different than what Wink remembered that Lloyd had. But his eyes were the gorgeous red she remembered them to be. This HAD to be Lloyd…right?

Nicholai felt the urge to curse…very loudly. But he refrained himself for the lady's sake. Although it was her that his profane language was directed to. So he kept his anger to a low murmur.

"If you had a death wish, you should've told me so that I could've dropped you. You may want to commit suicide, lady, but I don't."

He took note that Wink said nothing. He feared that she was dead, but when he looked up at her, he was puzzled to see that she was staring mutely at him. "What?" He asked, bemused.

"Is it really you…? Lloyd…?" The woman asked him, breathing heavily.

He arched an eyebrow. "You tried to kill me because you thought I was your boyfriend?"

Wink was let down, and not easily. "He wasn't my boyfriend," She whispered and got off of Nicholai. She stepped out of the bush and Nicholai pushed himself to his feet.

"Hey, where do you think you're going? First you try to kill me and then you walk away?" Nicholai looked sharply at her. "Lady, don't walk away while I'm trying to talk to you. It's rude." He berated harshly.

She complied silently and looked at him as he jumped out of the bush. "I'm sorry." She told him, her eyes crestfallen again. "But you look so much like him," She protested. "Are you sure--"

Nicholai cut in. "Lady, do I LOOK like 'Lloyd'?"

It was then that Wink caught a good look at the man. He indeed wore black but his shirt was a turtleneck lined with gold buttons down to his chest where flaps of cloth like a sailor's uniform were flung over his shoulders and sewn together at his shoulder blades. The black shirt was plain other than that, aside from a few gold linings and designs near the buttons and at the ends of the cloth. The back of the shirt fell into two thick tails, like a military uniform. The pants were loose-fitting and tucked in at the knee-length boots, where they split in the back and were only latched around the leg by a thin strap connected to the boot. There was nothing special about the boots other than that . A black sheath that hung from a large belt around the man's waist tapped against his leg lightly. It was encasing a lengthy claymore, one that she knew he was not hesitant about using.

Yes, he did come to resemble Lloyd but in the end…

…it was not Lloyd.

Tears welled in her eyes and she quickly brushed them away with the back of her hand. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry…" She repeated over and over again, the tears falling down her face, leaving a moist trail behind. Wink could not keep herself from weeping. Weeping for Lloyd, for the carnage at Deningrad, for her Sisters, and above all else, for Deningrad itself.

Nicholai winced. He could sense that she was not a credulous woman, but he had to correct her mistake and perhaps understand the reason of her lamentation.

"It's all right. We're both alive," He told her. "You don't have to cry. I'm sorry I snapped at you."

"I guess it's true then," She sniffled. "He really is dead."

Nicholai glanced at her, biting his lip. "You say he looked like me, but everyone of my species looks alike. It's what distinguishes us from humans. If he looked like me, then he couldn't be human…right?" Nicholai had no idea what he was rambling on about, but he didn't care as long as it stopped her sobbing. She did not answer, so he reluctantly continued. "I'm a Wingly," He remarked. "not a human."

The woman still declined to say anything. She had retrogressed back into her own world of self-loathing.

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The rain came heavily now, soaking Setie and Luanna. Setie struggled to stand, staggering towards the ruins of the castle.

"S-Setie?" Luanna called out, reaching towards the Sacred Sister. Thunder resounded in the sky, causing Luanna to shrink back in fear as lightning sparked in the sky. "Setie? Where are you?" Luanna's voice came out as a hoarse whisper and when Setie did not respond, the blinded girl became frightened.

Setie was not ignoring Luanna, it was just that she could not hear her. Nor did she try. Setie slowly climbed the steps to the remains of the castle, fighting back tears.

"Your Majesty?" Setie called out into the rubble. The rain drowned her out and Setie swallowed her fear for the moment, raising her voice. "Your Majesty!?" Setie waited for what seemed like an eternity for a response from the Queen. A lump shaped in Setie's throat when there was none.

Luanna, her spirits broken, had stopped calling out for Setie. She had begun to breathe unevenly. Her fragility was an infirmity that caused her to be the burden of her sisters and the Queen and she silently cursed herself for being so weak.

Setie did not give up. She couldn't. "QUEEN THERESA!" Setie screamed, now participating in a contest between her and the unsettling rain. It poured now like unremitting gunfire, sharp and cruel.

Setie turned now, tears streaming down her face and mingling with the cursed rain. Her hair had fallen in loose strands, sticking to her shapely face. A crowd of the survivors had gathered before the castle. There had to be a little less than a hundred. It was a pitiful sight.

"Sister Luanna, are you all right?" A plump woman broke free from the crowd and gathered Luanna in her arms, pulling her to her feet.

The fire had died now, but there was no mistaking what had happened there. Deningrad was a fallen city, failed in what it had stood for and hoped to achieve.

"Has anyone seen Queen Theresa?" Setie called out to the townsfolk. "Miranda? Wink?" There was a incoherent stir within the crowd, but the commotion fell silent with no definite answer.

Setie snapped. "HAS ANYBODY SEEN THEM!? HAVE YOU!?" But the obdurate crowd would not respond. Setie fell to her knees, her body shivering from the rain, and pulled her body into a small ball.

Luanna's lips quivered momentarily, unsure of what to say. She stammered the first few words, gaining Setie's attention, until she found the strength to speak. "W-We should call on Dart and the other Dragoons." There was a disturbing silence and Luanna's face fell. "They…may be able to help us."

Setie looked at Luanna and then felt disgusted with herself. She was not alone. She still had to look after Luanna! She had to pick up Queen Theresa's role and set an example for these people. 'They're depending on me now…' Setie wiped her tears and forced herself to stand, although the weight of the rain was rather strenuous.

"You're right Luanna," Setie said, her spirits shifting. "We still have each other. We will send someone to call up Dart and the others." Setie looked for any surviving knights. There were only a few. "And we will look for survivors."

"But where will we go?" An elderly woman asked. "We cannot stay here. They may come back and attack us!"

"Furni will not accept refugees!" Another voice sprang from the crowd. "Remember when the Divine Dragon attacked us? They closed their walls to us!"

Setie looked towards Luanna, hoping that she could offer some kind of practical advice for the situation.

Luanna knew Setie's anxiety and moved against the plump woman's embrace, reassuring her that she could walk. Luanna stepped forward slightly and turned around, her bland eyes becoming surprisingly lively.

"We will go to Neet." Luanna spoke and the upheaval died gradually.

"But isn't Neet in the same condition as Deningrad?" A man protested.

"Winter's coming!" Cried another. "We'll all freeze to death!"

"No we won't!" Setie intermitted. "We'll get by."

"How!?" The angry mob amplified. "There's barely a hundred of us!"

"I don't know yet!" Setie buried her head in her hands. "But we'll try. What else CAN we do!?"

"The Queen is dead…ALL is doomed!" Wailed an enormous woman in the back.

Setie cringed. She could not supplicate order from the unruly crowd.

Luanna sensed that Setie's morale was weakening. She had to help her sister somehow.

"You're only offering surfeits of complaints and whining!" Luanna barked, ready to deliver turgid words to the survivors. The rain was escalating. Soon, they would have to evacuate for good. 'But we can't do that until we find survivors.' "There has to be order if we're going to survive!" Luanna told them. "The rain is unyielding…we HAVE to find survivors and get out of here. I don't know what you all plan to do, but Setie and myself are going to Neet. If Furni will offer us no shelter or reprieve, then we must aid ourselves." Stillness finally succeeded in overwhelming the crowd. "Really, do any of you have anything left? Money? Valuables?" No answer. "I didn't think so."

"We have to establish regulations and quickly." Setie followed up for Luanna. "Now, before the rain rises any higher, we must gather what we can and do what we must. Are there any objections?"

Lassitude had spread among everyone. There was no argument left within them.

"I'll take that as a no." Luanna said. "All right then! We must use the rest of our time wisely!" She turned to Setie. "I sense a flood is coming. The war against Deningrad is not over."

"A flood!?" The people panicked.

"It is not yet!" Luanna turned sharply back to them. "Believe in me. Neet is upon higher ground. We will be fine."

The voices died, but the people were not reassured.

"Luanna, what should we do?" Setie asked solemnly.

"How many guards do we have left?" Luanna asked, her gaze falling over the crowd.

Setie counted silently. "Thirteen," She said. "All the rest are survivors of the town."

"Is Bishop Dille among them? Librarian Ute?" Luanna waited for an answer.

"Neither," Replied a stout man. "Either missing or dead."

There was a moment of silence. Luanna had hoped that the war would not claim them. "All right," Luanna continued. "We need someone from the clinic or who knows the healing art."

"There are a few," Another voice rose from the back of the crowd.

"Architects, businessmen, and warriors?"

"Yes." More responses.

Luanna smiled. "We will get by then. If we all pull together, we will be fine."

"How long do we have until we need to evacuate?" Setie asked quietly.

"I will let you know," Luanna replied. "For now we must designate roles."

Setie nodded and stepped back, leaving Luanna in charge.

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A Foresight Into Episode Six:

"All right," Nicholai observed the shelter he had constructed ever so gracefully.

Wink blinked as she stared at it, dumbfounded, from her haven underneath a bulky tree. "It's falling apart."

"No it's not!" He snapped as he changed some of the branches around. The rain was threatening now. And they could not travel to Furni. 'Faust probably has troops swarming the skies,' Nicholai thought as he rearranged the broken tree limbs around in an orderly fashion. 'And the rain is stopping us from going anywhere.' "Well why don't you come help me then?" Nicholai's eyes squinted, his smile painted with the most obvious sarcasm.

Wink abruptly glanced away, embarrassed. "I…I don't know how."

Nicholai's face changed, startled. "You…don't?" The rain continued to fall, tracing the silhouette of his face. A droplet fell from the bridge of his nose, and he wiped his damp face with the back of his face. But it was in vain. He was already waterlogged to the bone.

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I think I might've made Luanna a tad weaker than she normally is…Whoops…

And no, I made that whole thing up about Furni not accepting refugees. I just needed a reason for them all to go to Neet.

When I was first writing the story I was afraid that I had changed Nicholai's personality around too much to be identifiable. I'm glad that one of the reviewers pointed that out to me. So I'll just give a brief explanation of his character.

Nicholai is not only skilled with his sword, but with excessive vocabulary as well…If you already couldn't tell.

He's very serious on the battlefield and is thus, merciless. He harbors a dark past and is searching for a rumored power called the 'Azurakey' for reasons unknown. Ironically, it's the ONLY thing he believes in. When's he's not fighting on the battlefield, he's being sardonic to everyone around him, especially Wink. But secretly, he holds an affinity for Wink, for she reminds him of someone lost to him. Underneath his hard exterior lies a soft-hearted tenderness.

Better? I hope so. Anyway, please R&R and constructive criticism is always welcome.

…I said constructive.

Kat