Leviathan’s Duaghter : Chapters 13, 14, and 15
Author: GoldenEagle

Chapter Thirteen

It was silent in Folken's room as he and Persephone ate breakfast. They
were both trying to put off the subject at hand. Persephone had gone to the
meeting two nights before. There would be a battle at Mirama's capital,
Corinth. Dilandau and the soldiers under him were to attack in their
guymelefs. Folken was to stay in the fortress and do the planning and
quick decision making. And Persephone was to go out on the battle field,
with no guymelef. They all had to travel by foot, or guymelef, using only
the ground to move upon. Corinth could not find out about their attack
until it was upon them. This meant that the fortress would stay anchored
here and no one would venture into the skies.

Persephone knew Folken was edgy at the thought of her going out with
only a sword when the real fight depended on the force of metal giants. He
would be so for any of the men under him. 'But I'm not like the others.'
Persephone thought quietly as she watched him shuffle his food around on
his plate to make it look as if he had eaten. He wouldn't look up unless she
spoke, and even then it was a distracted look. 'Folken,' she pushed her
emotions towards him. 'Don't you feel my confidence, my strength, my
courage? Folken, I'm more than what you think I am. Why else did you
think Lord Dornkirk wanted me? There's a power inside of me, Folken. I'm
not afraid. You shouldn't be, either.' Her soul spoke these words as she
looked up through her short hair with sympathetic eyes.

She was discouraged that she couldn't help his confidence in her without
worrying him more. Yet, unknown to her, he had felt her waves of strength
and self-assurance. It's what finally made him look up to her on his own
accord to speak. "If I tell you to back out, you back out. You hear me,
Persephone? My rank is above yours, and that's an order. I have a large
amount of faith in Lord Dornkirk, but I can't help but question his decision
in this matter. You will be the most vulnerable, and if there is too large an
amount of trouble, I want you out. You understand?" Folken's voice had
fallen into calling out orders as a General would, and for some reason this
made Persephone feel better.

A sad smile shone behind her hair, beyond the point that Folken could see
it. 'I'm not the most vulnerable. Don't worry so much. Quit playing these
games of strength and indifference. I'm not going anywhere anytime soon.'

Folken sensed her mind tugging at his. He couldn't quite catch exactly
what her thoughts were, but he did catch the general idea: 'Don't worry.'
He sighed. "I have full faith in you, Persephone." He said and looked up at
her. She looked relieved that he had said the words.

"Thank you, Folken. Thank you for trusting me." She replied, standing as a
computer made everyone aware that it was time to leave. Folken did the
same, but a little too quickly, a little too suddenly.

'Oh, gods.' He thought as he saw her turn to go. 'What if she gets killed?
What if she's captured? What if-'

Persephone looked over her shoulder and smiled. He realized that she had
somehow read him, knowing his exact thoughts. "Don't worry, Folken. I'll
come back in one piece. I promise." With that, she left, leaving him
clenching the edge of the table he was at and scratching gashes into the
woods with the talons on his right hand.

*************

It was getting dark by the time the traveling party stopped to camp for the
night. Persephone rode on Dilandau's guymelef's shoulder, relishing in the
cool, Autumn crispness. As they slowed to a stop, Dilandau's guymelef
knelt down and she jumped off easily. They were so close to the city that
she could hear and smell the happenings. There was laughter and
celebration in the air. Ignoring everyone else's hurried attempt to secure
their camp, Persephone ran up a hill which blocked her view of the city.
When she reached the top, she froze in awed contemplation of its beauty. 

It wasn't really that large, but its building were built high and made out of
a shimmering, crystal like material. Bonfires burned all over the city as
people danced and enjoyed themselves. Persephone was a little taken back
when she realized that there was a festival taking place. 'All these people,'
she thought quietly. 'These children and men and women and families...
We'll be attacking them. Ruining so many lives-' but she interupted her
own thoughts. 'No, it's not my fault! If they just surrender, then everything
will be okay. Not many will have to die.'

"Isn't it magnificent?" Dilandau squealed behind her. His eyes had gone
wide, his smile splitting his face. She tried to hide the distaste that came to
her at that look. "Imagine," he muttered out, his eyes glazing over as he
fell into his own, twisted mind. "All of it. Gone. The people, the blood...
the fire!" He cackled after this and Persephone could take it no longer. She
stood and passed him by, still laughing in the distant city's glow.

She remembered back on past thoughts, when he was only a child. He
doesn't want war. He wants massacre.

Chapter Fourteen

Persephone couldn't sleep. Instead she stared up at the dark, starry sky. She
shifted her gaze to the two moons hanging overhead. Earth. It was strange,
thinking back to when she had lived on that lush planet. And now...? Was
Gaea her true home? Home is where the heart is. The thought made her
smile. Yes, where the heart is. Gaea was her home, afterall.

A cold breeze made her shiver in the open air. The shutter continued after
the breeze had left and she realized it was from emotion. She was terrified.
Horrified by what would happen the next day. She felt sick, like she was
doing something that put her against herself. She felt like she had drunken
poison with a light mood. This battle... She could feel it, already hear the
screams.

And then everything reared up at her, like a striking snake, too fast. Flames
engulfed her and she saw angels falling, twisting, dead... 'My fault! It's my
fault! I should have been there, to protect-' she stopped herself, her mind
twisting on its own accord, speaking from a different perspective. But the
words came, a ghostly whisper as she saw the flames, saw the death, saw
something she didn't understand. 

"Atlantis... Destroyers of Atlantis..." the words whispered out.

"No! No! I tried to stop them! I tried to protect! It was my position, my
responsibility, my fault!" She screamed voicelessly. "I tried!" She sobbed.
"I tried!"

"Punishment... Consequences." The words flashed through her mind and
she cried out as the memories came back. Her parents' deaths, her rejected
life, her pain and love and sorrow for Folken and Dilandau. "Someone
from the line must pay for their ancestors' sins..." Then the things she had
refused to acknowledge, the memories locked away in her, never to be
looked back on, flashed before her. The experimentation, the training, the
shame... 

"No, please! Don't make me remember! Please!" She screamed out in a
voice that was beyond sobs as the visions resurfaced. The touches, the
hands over her mouth, the hatred at them for destroying all she had been,
for breaking her. She remembered the way they looked as her body shut
down, trying to push away their violent passion. "Someone help me." She
whimpered, her memories so real that she could still feel their bodies on
top of her own. "Please..." her voice was a whisper as she started to fade
away. "Folken..." It was her last word, but it brought her comfort. It
brought her strength.

Persephone awoke suddenly, sweat and tears coursing down her face. She
was shaking so fiercely that she couldn't even move. Finally, after a few
minutes, she grabbed hold of her wits. She wrapped her arms around her
legs and hugged them tight to her chest as she sobbed, much as a child
would. She was cursed. It was what the dream had laid upon her. Doomed
to a life without joy, without love-

*Folken*

Her thoughts contradicted themselves. 'Oh, God,' she thought quietly as a
small, childish wail escaped her lips, unheard by her sleeping comrades.
'What- Please- Help me, oh, God, help me!'
Chapter Fifteen

The sun was setting and the soldiers of Zaibach were positioning
themselves for the attack. Dilandau was licking his lips with pleasure at
the images which filled his head. Because of his insanity, he could not
even begin to detect the mood which hung over Persephone. Though he
could not, the rest of the soldiers did. They had seen her go throughout the
day withdrawn and snappish. They all knew to keep away from her during
the battle. There was a bit of her own insanity in her gaze that day, a
vengeful, tortured, hateful expression.

Persephone was distracted, her very attitude emanating her bitchy mood.
She was also tired, weary. She had dark circles under her eyes and her
actions of indifference and lack of concern was odd. "Persephone, do you
hear me?" A calm and cool voice crackled in her ear. Persephone started
for a second before she reached her hand up gently to the small speaker in
her ear. It crackled a bit more before the line smoothed out.

Persephone forced a bit of the tension out of her limbs as she spoke. "Loud
and clear. How about you? Having fun up there in your confined little
fortress?" She asked, her voice pushing between teasing and resentment.

Folken chuckled a little. "Yeah, but I'd rather be out there in the open air."

"Perhaps we could go out sometime, get out of that dingy old ship. Just
you and me, get away from Zaibach for a couple of days." Persephone
said, her attitude finally lightening as she conversed in small talk with him.

"Perhaps." But his voice sounded distracted and troubled and she suddenly
remembered what exactly was going on. Her soul heavied again as he
spoke. "Remember what I said, Persephone. I call you out, you better be
running for the hills. Got that?"

She nodded, despite the fact that he couldn't see her. "Yes, Lord Folken."

"And, Persephone?"

"Yes, Folken?" Persephone answered wearily as she rubbed her temples.

"You better keep the promise that was given to me."

*************

Later on, when Persephone looked back on the battle, she would fully take
into thought the way things went about. Zaibach attacked quickly, cloaked
by invisibility. She was on foot and she sprinted to keep up with the
machines' large strides. There were a few soldiers on foot, mostly younger
ones, not much older than twelve or thirteen. At one of the invisible
guymelef's attacks, a small wave of pandemonium rippled through the
streets of Corinth. People took in the first crumpling building, then their
shredded gates as if it were a nightmare, taking a few seconds before they
realized the seriousness of the situation. Their soldiers were out almost
immediately and Persephone was faintly surprised by the power and
advancement of their guymelefs. 

She hit the first wave of fighting much quicker than she thought, a large
man in bounded armor bringing his sword over his head and letting out a
cry. "Aarrgh!" Persephone answered his cry and with two calculated
swipes of her curved sword, he was gutted. At the first sight of death, she
lost all control, the remembrance brought on the night before coming back
in an overpowering wave.

She hit another soldier, then another, and another, her teeth bared, and then
the tears came angrily and smudged with dirt. The next guard she hit didn't
even see her coming. Her blade plowed through his back, killing him
instantly. *Strapped down, their eyes on her, their lips on her...* "Fuck
you!" She screamed as she pulled the sword from the man's back and
brought it down again, oblivious to the fact that he was already dead.
*Their hands, on her chest, between her legs, mocking her...* "Fucking...
Bastards..." She was still tearing into the same corpse, devastating it so
that it was barely recognizable as human. A man charged her from the
back and she turned, slicing up, into his groin. *Forcing themselves on her
violently, one after another, pain smashing through her, then leaving her
there, naked, crying, screaming...* "Die, you bastard." She whispered
through bitter tears, making one final, killing sweep.

"Persephone? Persephone?! Can you hear me?" The voice in her ear
finally registered, her sword blade dropping and hitting the ground, her
chest shaking with sobs. No one around her was still alive. The fight had
moved on, and an indefinable amount of mutilated corpses lay in pieces
around her feet. She had no idea how long she had been there, no idea
what so ever. "Persephone?! Gods, Persephone, answer me!" The choking
voice awoke her again and she opened her mouth, choking on her own
words a few times, her mouth gaping open a bit, before she could finally
answer.

"Fol-Folken?" Her voice was small, weak, broken. 

"Thank the gods!" The voice exclaimed before going forward, a new rage
in his voice. "Where the hell have you been?! I've been telling you to
retreat for the last half hour! Dilandau and his guymelefs are on their way
out now. They tried to contact you... They thought you were dead. I
thought you were dead." His voice had transformed from one of anger and
disapproval to a desperate, concerned whisper. "Are you all right,
Perseph?"

"Yeah, I just..." Her voice faded and her shoulders fells. She could smell
the tremendous amount of blood on herself. She was too tired to think, too
tired to finish her thoughts.

"Get out of there, Persephone. Come back to me." Folken said quietly,
noticing the defeat in her voice.

Tears welled in her eyes. "O- Okay, Folken." She stuttered before stepping
over the remains around her, slightly aware of the fact that most of the
corpses at her feet were because of her.