"...Hello, Pearl." he said, turning around. And there she was.
Standing straight and tall, boots polished to perfection, Imperial uniform in perfect order. Blue eyes shining with malice, red lips twisted into a smirk. Her hair was pulled back and wrapped into a tight bun. Fitcher blinked--he had never seen her hair like that, but it was unmistakeably her.
"I knew I could count on you to come visit me again." Pearl said in a sickly-sweet tone. The two gate guards that had pursued Fitcher and his companions to the courthouse hesitated. The first, who Fitcher recognized as the bolder of the two, stepped forward.
"Sorry, Commander, but we found them. The reward's ours!" he declared. Pearl turned her steely gaze on them.
"Heeley!" she reprimanded sharply. "How dare you, following these people out here and abandoning your post! Who's watching the gate while you two gallivant all over the city?!"
"Er..." the second guard stammered.
"You and Farkins get back there, now!" she snapped with relish, adding, "And that's Major to you."
"Y-yes, Major Lione!" Farkins blubbered.
"Right away." Heeley said, pale. They turned to return to their posts, hurrying before Pearl could unleash her wrath on them further. Heeley, the bolder one, never made it, however--moments later he fell dead, his body riddled with throwing stars.
"I don't think so. We don't need more troops swarming in on top of us." Aybabtu said darkly, frowning.
"Aaaah!" wailed Farkins, fumbling for his weapon.
"What are you doing, you fool? Go!" Pearl commanded. Aybabtu posed dramatically, and flung three stars. They hit poor Farkins dead-on, in the face, neck, and shoulder. Howling in agony, he toppled to the ground.
"Nice shot!" Nora cheered.
"...I was aiming for Pearl." Aybabtu muttered.
"Why, Aybabtu. I wasn't expecting to see you back in Gregminster so soon." Pearl said in mock surprise. Her eyes narrowed. "Especially since you're supposed to be in prison right now."
"Well, a funny thing happened in prison, you see...ohh, it's the greatest story! A real knee-slapper!" Aybabtu said grandly.
"Oh?"
"I got out." Aybabtu said, sticking out his tongue in a juvenile manner. Fitcher wondered idly if he should mention Kreutz and his grand scheme of revolution. Granted, telling Pearl about it would almost certainly take them off the hook---after all, even Pearl couldn't resist being the first to ride valiantly into battle with the rebels and get more prestige and glory---but Fitcher couldn't bring himself to sell out Sydonia and the others. He didn't know them that well...but no one deserved having Pearl and legion of troops sent to wipe them out. He figured he may as well just deal with her himself.
"Oh well..." Pearl said. "I may as well just arrest you all again. It won't hurt my feelings any..." Fitcher's hand went straight to his holster and he pulled out his gun.
"Not today, Pearl." he said. His hand was shaking as he pointed the weapon at her, and he hoped it didn't show.
Pearl appeared surprised at first, but then relaxed slightly. She strode over to Fitcher.
"Not an inch closer!" Fitcher warned. She smiled.
"I just want to make sure you don't...miss." she said, coming into point-blank-range. Firing the gun here would surely blow her brains out.
"Hmph. I won't miss again, you--" Fitcher retorted, but Pearl surprised him by swinging her leg up and kicking the pistol out of his hand. Dammit, why did he always fall for such stupid distractions?!
"Fitcher!" Nora said. "Stand back, she'll use her weapon!" Fitcher backed up considerably, but unfortunately in the opposite direction of where his gun had landed. Pearl drew her polished broadsword, Rylaine.
"I'd be careful, Fitcher. I'm a great deal better at killing people with swords than you are at dodging them, I'm sure..." Pearl murmured. She advanced one step, then two, stepping over Farkins' body as if it were a mere loose cobblestone.
"PEARLY-WHIRLY~~~?!" squealed a voice that echoed in the narrow street. For the first time, Fitcher noted with satisfaction, Pearl's composure fell and broke into a million pieces on the pavement. She seemed visibly shaken. Fitcher, however, was not sure exactly what the hell was going on either, so couldn't properly enjoy the moment.
"Pearly~!" piped Archipelago from the courthouse door. "I didn't notice it was YOU~!!!" Pearl choked.
"P-P...you! W-What are you doing?!" she sputtered. To her apparent dismay, the young blond man hopped eagerly down the steps and squeezed her around the waist.
"Big sister, I've missed you!" he gushed. Fitcher's jaw dropped.
Not...another one?!
"Pan." Pearl said tightly, shoving him away forcefully. "D-Daddy told you NOT to come back here. What are you doing?!"
"Hmph. Father's not the boss of ME." Archipelago, or Pan, apparently, asserted. "I can go wherever I want."
"He said you're not to interfere in my business. Now leave." Pearl said, practically spitting with rage.
"...this is too much. I have a headache." complained Clinker. Pan surveyed Fitcher, Clinker, Aybabtu and Nora with a furrowed brow.
"Are these your friends, Pearly?" he asked.
"No." Pearl said flatly.
"L-let me fight beside you, Pearl!" Pan requested suddenly. Fitcher's heart dropped into his stomach. But to his surprise, Pearl doubled over, laughing.
"Y-you?!! F-f-fight! With me! Oh, come ON, Pan!" she laughed. Straightening up, she frowned at her brother. "Never."
"I...I can fight too, Pearl! I have one of the family swords!" Pan said fiercely. Pearl looked at him with pure hatred.
"Only...only because you stole it, you little bastard!" Pearl screeched. "Daddy would never let you set your grimy hands on the Lione swords willingly!"
"But, Pearl! Join me! Together we can rule the Empire as Brother and Sister!!"
"Get out of my sight." she spat. Pan looked shocked and hurt. His stunned expression quickly twisted into one of defiance and hatred. His eyes narrowed, and he pointed his polka-dotted umbrella at arm's length at his older sister.
"If I can't fight with you, then I'll just have to fight against you." he said. With a press of a button and a flourish of his wrist, the outer casing of the umbrella flew off, leaving only the handle, which was apparently the hilt of a narrow sword in reality. Unfortunately, the rest of the umbrella which he had negligently tossed happened to hit Aybabtu in the face.
"Aggh, you accursed boy! Watch what you're doing."
"Hmph, you see? You're just a clumsy fool." Pearl berated. Pan held his sword up high in the air. Despite it being overcast, the sun suddenly shone through the clouds and obligingly gleamed off of the blade.
"You may have Rylaine, Pearl...but I have Turnlaine!" declared the blond detective-wannabe.
"Hah! You would dare fight me?" Pearl scoffed.
"If that's the way you want it!" Pan threatened.
As if signaled by dramatic cue, Magnolia and Cole burst forth from the courthouse. The haggard old woman looked exactly as Fitcher remembered her---a little more worn, perhaps, but with the same spark ignited in her eyes. Cole was sporting a wide grin.
"Freedom!" Magnolia declared. "Justice!"
"For Revolution and Liberation!!" Cole echoed. Now, Fitcher knew, with a career-maddened patriot like Pearl around, the first words that were likely to set her off were 'liberation' and 'revolution'. Cole, however, did not care.
"Y-you! Convicts, all of you! I'll have you all thrown in prison at once." Pearl said through clenched teeth. Despite her rage, she seemed to realize after a moment that she was sorely outnumbered. "Damn you. I'll be back!" She sheathed her sword in a flash and ran off down the street for reinforcements.
"We don't have much time. Hurry, we have to get out of this city before she gets back!" Fitcher urged.
"I know the way." Magnolia said, leading the way down another street in the opposite direction. Everyone followed, except Pan.
"Come on!" Fitcher called to him. "Hurry!"
"Oh, leave him. He's with her anyway." Clinker said impatiently, pulling Fitcher along.
******
As the fugitives ran along the narrow back-streets in single file---Magnolia, Cole, Clinker, Fitcher, Nora, and Aybabtu---Fate was playing a game of chess with itself. It glanced casually down at the happenings in Gregminster with little interest. It did, however, notice the male-female ratio of the group running frantically for their freedom.
Women...eh? Hm. Nah, she's too old. That leaves... Fate thought, reaching out its icy hands to screw up Fitcher's life some more.
Nora tripped and fell on the ground, suddenly and unexplainably. She cursed the gods of fate--tripping like that was the job of the ditzy blonde, not her! She was not that woman.
"Agh!" she cried out, despite herself. Damn you, Fate!
"Nora!" Fitcher and Clinker said in unison, turning back. Fitcher ran over to help her, even though she was already halfway to her feet once more. She smiled inwardly--he was so sweet that way. Nothing like that brick-headed partner of hers.
"I'm okay, Fitcher." she assured him. Magnolia, at the head of the procession, was turning the corner, but jumped back suddenly, halting the others.
"There's a whole league of troops marching down that street already! That woman..." she cried. Cole frowned.
"We'd better hide somewhere until they pass by..."
"How about that old building over there? It might be occupied, but there's a staircase going up the outside to the roof top. From there, we could lay low and have a good view of the proceedings." Aybabtu suggested, his bushy brows furrowing.
"Good idea. Quickly, now." Cole agreed. They shuffled across the street and scrambled up the stairs of the two-story unmarked building. As Nora gripped the rail tightly, hopping up the steps, a crossbow bolt whizzed through the air and hit the building next to her head.
"They saw us, we're toast!" Clinker wailed.
"There's bowmen as well as the usual grunts." Aybabtu observed, reaching the rooftop. There was something of an extension of the wall, giving them cover to hide behind, as well as various barrels and crates scattered across the flat roof. "And Pearl's leading them."
"This is about to get very ugly." Fitcher observed. Nora crouched behind the lip of the wall with the others. She could see Pearl proudly marching down the avenue, with at least a dozen soldiers in tow, all armed with crossbows. Aybabtu, still crouching, made his way to the top of the stairs.
"I'd better go fight them head-on." he reasoned.
"What?! You're talking suicide!" Fitcher said.
"Don't throw your life away, Aybabtu." Nora urged. She barely knew the crusty old ninja, but he had certainly grown on her.
"Hmph. A lot you know. If no one's down there, what's to stop them from coming up here and shooting the bunch of you in the face?" Aybabtu said gruffly.
"They'll shoot you down before you can even get close...!" Clinker protested. Aybabtu chuckled.
"I'm a ninja! You insult me! But I'll strangle you later. First, those bums get a little action." With that, he rolled down the stairway in some sort of odd 'stealth' move Nora didn't recognize. She could hear his joints popping as he rolled. Yech.
Sitting up behind that wall, deja-vu washed over Nora. It all seemed so... familiar.
"There you are, Fitcher. I know you're up there!" Pearl called from the ground. "Come out, this is your last chance!" She signaled to the crossbowmen to ready their weapons.
Finally found you, Kirk. Don't move, and this will end quickly. This is your last chance.
"Burn in hell, Pearl!" Fitcher spat back.
"For Liberation!" Magnolia shouted defiantly.
"Long live the Revolution!" Cole cheered, throwing a rock down at the soldiers. Pearl didn't mask her glee as she signaled for the soldiers to fire on them. Arrows zipped through the air, most bouncing harmlessly off the side of the building.
Suddenly, Aybabtu dove out of the shadows, tackling several crossbowmen. Pan emerged from the darkness after the middle-aged ninja and went straight for Pearl, sword at the ready. Drawing her blade, Pearl parried the flimsy strike and the clash of steel echoed in the air.
"This is getting bad...they're gonna get killed down there!" Clinker cried. He scrambled between the raining bolts to the steps, and ran down to aid the others. Fitcher fumbled with his ammo.
"Stupid gun..." he muttered, finally loading it up again. He suddenly ducked as a crossbow bolt whizzed past his head--from above!
"They're...they're on the next rooftop over...!" Nora cried. Fitcher suddenly grabbed her arm and dragged her over to a crate.
"Just...stay down, Nora! I'll take care of this."
Keep your head down, Nora. I'll take care of these thugs! Don't worry. It'll be all right. Despite herself, Nora's eyes filled with tears. It couldn't happen twice. It just couldn't.
"Be careful!" she said, kissing Fitcher on the cheek. He cocked his gun and nodded, blushing. As the scrawny agent moved to a better position to fire on the Imperial soldiers, Cole and Magnolia were calm and collected---and for some reason, seemed to be keeping tabs.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk." Magnolia noted, reading out of a book she seemed to have brought along. Nora blinked---what was that title? She turned her head slightly sideways and squinted at it.
The Art of Drama, by Vicks Biggwedge, she read. ...Oh. She suddenly wished she hadn't asked.
"The proper line for that sequence was 'A kiss...for luck.'" Magnolia dutifully informed her. "You'd better brush up on that if you want to be a real Revolutionary." She turned to her husband and consulted the tome. "Now, according to this, we're surrounded, and all looks dim. However, apparently that means we have the greatest chance for survival, so cross your fingers."
"Of course. Standard procedure. Plus, if you look in the glossary..." the old man agreed, completely oblivious to the crossbow bolts whizzing by his head so closely it blew his hair around, "We ARE 'Liberating Forces', combatting an 'Empire.' The glossary says Empires are corrupt by definition! We're sure to win, now."
Nora blinked. Who WERE these people?!
******
Pan cursed his sweaty palms as he gripped the handle of his sword, Turnlaine. Sweaty palms were no good--how could he prove his worth to Pearly-Whirly if he dropped his stupid weapon?
On the other hand, if his hands were sweating...so must his body! And that meant his sexy, tanned body was now glistening with sweat. Fwahaha! Now all he had to do was overwhelm the enemy with sex appeal! Finally, something he could win!
Except...all the soldiers were men. And the only woman was his sister. Curses! Just when he had it made. He certainly couldn't distract Pearl with some old trick like 'your bra is showing'--she had never particularly cared about that one. He would have to use a desperate ploy.
"Uh, Pearl...look! Helpless victims for you to step on!!" he cried, pointing wildly.
"Where--?!" Pearl said eagerly, looking around. Then she realized she had been fooled. "I can't believe I fell for that stupid trick..." She lunged at him with her blade, and he barely blocked the blow. He had basic skills in swordsmanship, but he was aware that Pearl was better, much better. And so was she.
"You can't win." Pearl declared, dodging his strike.
From their vantage point, Cole and Magnolia were getting excited. They pointed wildly into the book.
"Yes, yes!" Cole said eagerly. "'You cannot win' will be shortly followed by 'I am invincible!'...and once that is said..."
"Hurrah!" Magnolia cheered. "Victory is ours!"
Down on the ground, Pan, Aybabtu and Clinker were still fighting off the soldiers the best they could. Aybabtu had a nice gash in his forehead where one trooper had decided to beat the ninja with his crossbow. Their swords clashing together, Pan and Pearl continued their somewhat subdued dance of death. Pan had a feeling Pearl wasn't trying her hardest, but said nothing about it. Instead, he pleaded with her for...peace! Love! Humanity!
"Can't we all just get along?" he asked innocently.
"No." Pearl spat.
"C'monnnn, Pearly~!" Pan whined. "LIVE THE DREAM~!!!"
"Listen, you little parasite. I'm not going---" Pearl began, but she was suddenly halted. Not by a lightning-quick stab wound, nor gunfire, nor a crossbow bolt. What Pan did next, even Pearl was unprepared for.
Flourishing his blade, he leaped up on a high crate. The sun broke through the clouds once more, birds chirped, and townspeople all suddenly burst from their homes in unison. And Pan sang.
I don't understand, really I don't
Why you'd want to hurt me
And especially since you won't
Fight me with full esprit
Maybe it's so hard for you
Because your care for me is true
Stop this deceit, then, and
Live the dream!
Pearl was speechless. Frankly, so was Fitcher, too. The soldiers had stopped fighting, eyes widened. Magnolia and Cole had dropped their book, and Clinker had dropped his jaw. Aybabtu stared wistfully, wishing he still retained his maracas. Nora couldn't believe her ears. And...it wasn't over. Then, the townspeople suddenly leapt gracefully into a full-blown song-and-dance number, perfectly choreographed through some unexplainable phenomenon.
He may not get the things you do
And frankly we can't blame him
Because a sibling's love's true-blue
And you wound Pan on a whim
Maybe it's so hard for you
To forgive and then begin anew
Stop the violence, then, and
Live the dream!
"S-Stop this! Stop it, all of you! You lunatics!" Pearl shrieked, nearly getting knocked over by the merrily dancing townspeople.
"Impressive dance steps..." Aybabtu remarked, taking notes. Fitcher shrugged, watching the musical spectacle.
"I don't believe this! It's not in the handbook!" Magnolia gasped. "Not even the INDEX!" Cole nearly fainted. It wasn't enough, however. Seeing that the point had not been driven home, Pan cued the soldiers to join in the number. The cue wasn't all that surprising, after all, Pan had done random things before.
What was surprising is that they did.
We salute and bow and kiss your foot
Because we're for you to abase
We, on your command, stay put
And die, we're easy to replace
We're tired of having arrows chucked
Because, frankly, we're really fucked
Stop the madness, then, and
Live the dream!
Pearl tried vainly to restore order. The troops had now been swept into the merry dance, laughing and singing as they kicked their legs all in a line.
"I will not tolerate this..this treason! Get back in attack formation, at once!!!!" Pearl shouted. Fitcher couldn't help but tap his foot to the beat. Whipping the masses into a frenzy, Pan seized his moment.
"Everybody, now!" he cried exultantly.
Live the dream
Live the dream
Open your Heart up
And live the dream
C'mon, throw away that sword
And join our merry little horde
Let the sun into your Heart, and
Live the dreeeeaaaammmm!
It occured to Fitcher somewhere in between the festively choreographed villagers, the line-dancing Imperial bowmen, and the heart-warming musical rendition that this would be the perfect opportunity for escape. They could slip away unnoticed and leave Pearl to ponder the deeper meaning of her brother's melodious pleas. Pearl probably would not be at all convinced by the sappy song, indeed, the frown she wore on her face seemed to be a dead-certain indicator of that much. However, it was what happened next that sealed the fact that Pearl would never, ever, ever go along with it.
Aybabtu, caught up in the spirit of the moment, backflipped (!) up onto a crate, and with a sudden noise that sounded like the harmony of a thousand small animals dying in different terrible, torturous ways in unison, he belted out a verse.
Oh, once my heart you did seduce
With your luscious bod you dangled
But my eagerness you did reduce
'Cause you'd rather have me strangled
Maybe it's so hard for you
'Cause you're a nasty, scheming shrew
Stop the cruelty, then, and
Live the dream!
The music abrubtly ground to a screeching halt. The random dancing townspeople, with perfectly choreographed precision, screamed in unison and scattered. The soldiers stopped dancing, sheepishly.
"That DOES it." Pearl shrieked. "I've had it with you imbeciles! I'll...I'll kill you all!" She clenched her teeth and stomped her foot on the ground. In the blink of an eye, she charged at Pan with murder in her eyes. Not expecting her to attack, Pan shrieked girlishly and feebly held out his blade in defense. The clang echoed like a bell as the blond man's sword was struck from his hands and landed with a resounding crash on the cobblestone street.
"Aack! He lost his sword, Cole!" Magnolia cried, fumbling for the book. Her husband flipped quickly to a marked page.
"Hmmmm...it says here his girlfriend or sidekick has to throw it back to him at the last moment..." he read.
"He doesn't have a girlfriend. Or a sidekick!" the old woman noted ominously. Cole snapped the tome shut with a look of grim finality.
"It was nice knowing him, then..." he said simply.
Pearl pointed the tip of Rylaine at her younger brother's neck, glaring daggers at him. Fitcher, from the roof, took aim at the dastardly Imperial officer. This was it. One pull on that trigger, and all his strife would end. All the lives that Pearl had ruined or taken...it would be all over. He pulled the trigger.
Click.
"What the hell?! I just loaded this thing!!" Fitcher cursed, perplexed.
"Sucks to be you, I guess." Magnolia shrugged.
"T-That's not fair!" Fitcher pouted. Nora slunk over to the edge that overlooked the battle below from her former hiding spot.
"I thought you were going to stay down, Nora...!" Fitcher said, exasperated.
"Sssh! She's saying something to him." Nora hushed.
"You have one last chance. Take your flamboyant, sing-song ass and get the hell out of Gregminster--no, Arlus." Pearl said icily.
"But Pearl---" Pan whimpered.
"Or I'll lop off your pathetic head off, right here." Pearl said. A nasty grin spread over her lips. "Daddy would probably thank me for it." Pan's eyes widened.
"He would NOT!!!" he screamed. Pearl smirked, raising her blade.
"I warned you." she said simply, winding back to swing at Pan.
Before she could behead him, however, a bolt of electricity lanced through the air and struck her in the gut. She convulsed several times and fell limp, her sword clattering to the ground. Pan scampered away like a frightened puppy. Fitcher, Nora, Clinker and Aybabtu were entirely unsure of what had just occured. Magnolia and Cole, however, cashed in their bets.
"Salvation!!!" she cheered.
"Victory!" he cried.
"Liberation!!"
"Freedom!!" Cole said happily. He held up the text valiantly. "Divine intervention! I should've known! According to Chapter 5, it pre-empts all other forms of---"
"Oh, be quiet." Fitcher sulked. "I wanted to shoot her."
Rather than divine intervention of any sort, two figures ran frantically down to the end of the street, dodging the few arrows that the troops half-hearted shot at them as almost an afterthought. One of the figures Fitcher recognized immediately, and the other came to him after a moment.
"Hah! Direct hit, you bitch!" gloated Darryl Kriegstoff, pumping his arms in a victory pose.
"Is everyone all right?" Penelope asked, stopping to catch her breath.
"Penny~~~!!!!" Pan shrieked, leaping into her arms. "My big sister!!"
"...Pan, what are you doing here??" Penelope said, surprised. She smiled, however. "I see there's more than just Darryl and I out to get you today, dear sister of mine." Pearl struggled to her feet, scowling.
"Penelope..." she said hatefully. "What is this? Some kind of trap? Don't tell me that idiot Fitcher planned all this."
"Hey! I resent that! If my gun hadn't mysteriously run out of bullets, I'd shoot you in the face right now!" Fitcher shouted down at her. Then he paused. That hadn't sounded as cool in real life as it had in his head. Drat.
"How did you two get here from Muse so quickly??" Clinker asked, puzzled. Penny shrugged.
"A man calling himself 'X' met us in South Window and gave us a ride in his cart. For some reason, it seemed to take less time than normal. I can't explain it. Whoever that X guy was, he was good at racing along like that." She turned to Pearl again.
"You've just made more than your share of enemies in your time, Pearl." Darryl said darkly. "It seems we've all caught up with you now." Pearl glared.
"I can have the entire Imperial Guard on your heads in an instant." she declared.
"You're bluffing." Penny asserted. "You'd be killed before anyone could arrive." Pearl laughed weakly.
"You would kill me, then? Go ahead and try." she said.
"Hmph. It's not like you're any different. You were going to kill Pan just as we got here." Darryl said. Pan whimpered.
"Yeah~!"
"I was just trying to scare him out of here. Daddy---" Pearl began.
"We know you're his favorite. Spare us the lecture." Penny said, her eyes narrowing. "Now, to business. I think killing you would be way too easy. Perhaps we should collectively ruin your life, as you've done to all of us."
"I'd like that..." Darryl said with a sadistic grin. Pearl shrugged, feigning indifference as she backed away several steps.
"If you say so..." she said, reaching into her back pocket.
"...she's got a rune scroll, look out!!" Aybabtu yelled. He and Clinker rushed at her.
"Thor Shot!" Pearl cried, throwing the seemingly-innocent-looking piece of parchment in Darryl's face, where it ignited with a flash and vanished. A massive blue bolt of energy descended from the heavens, blasting apart the pavement and sending Darryl and Penny reeling. The few remaining Imperial troops scattered. In a liquid-smooth movement, Pearl grabbed her sword and struck for Aybabtu's face, a blow that was only just blocked by Clinker's metal staff. Clinker, however, was no swordsman. She feinted and he moved his staff to block the blow, but it never arrived. Instead, she seized the hole in his defenses and stabbed him in the side.
"AAAGGH!" he screamed, crumpling up in agony. Nora cried out, and was halfway down the stairs before Fitcher could blink. He found himself running after her. Pearl pulled her blade back out, and Clinker fell to the ground in a heap.
"Clinkerrr!" Nora shrieked, running to his side. To Fitcher's surprise, a round, glowing object rose from the teleporter's body. Was it...?
"His soul!!" Magnolia shrieked in terror, coming down the stairs with Cole.
"A ghost?!!" Aybabtu gasped, recoiling.
"Live the dream~!" Pan murmured, his eyes sparkling with Full-On-Anime-Shimmer.
In fact, it was a miniature idol that Fitcher recognized as a Sacrificial Jizo. It dissolved into dust, and Fitcher suddenly heard Clinker cough. Whatever the Jizo had done, it had brought the young man back from the brink of death. But he still seemed to be badly wounded, and was bleeding profusely.
"C-Clinker! Speak to me!" Fitcher said frantically. He heard a dull moan in acknowledgement.
"Where's Pearl?!" Darryl swore, coughing on the dust that the spell had stirred up, "I'll fucking kill her!!" Penny shook her head.
"She got away...dammit!"
Cole put a hand to his ear, and listened for a moment. There was a rhythmic thump-thump-thump coming from close by.
"We've got company. That spell she set off appears to have alerted more fully-armed troops." he said grimly.
"C...Clinker..." Fitcher said suddenly, leaning down by the teleporter's ear. "I know you're in pain, but there's no way we'll be able to help you if we die fighting here. I need you...one last time, to teleport us away. Anywhere." Nora gasped.
"Fitcher! He's terribly hurt! He'll kill himself trying to cast that spell, especially on all of us!" she protested. Darryl shook his head.
"Not all of us. We'll hold them off. Come on, Penny!" he cried, dashing off towards the rumbles of marching. Penny nodded.
"This is all I can do for now....Healing Wind!" A soothing breeze of fragrant petals swirled down the avenue, refreshing them all. "He needs serious medical help, but that will do a little..." With that, she ran off after her boyfriend.
"Count me in. There's no way we'll abandon the fight for freedom at this pivotal hour! Right, Magnolia?" Cole said eagerly. His wife nodded.
"Right. For Liberation!" she cheered. There was a pause, and she looked expectantly at Nora. "Oh, drat, I know you'll never do it right..." She leaned over and kissed Fitcher on the cheek.
"A kiss...for luck." she said with a devilish grin, skipping off with her husband to fight to their heart's content. Fitcher was quite taken aback, but had no time to think about it.
"Please, Clinker. It's our only chance. Think of somewhere....anywhere....far, far away, where we'll be safe from Imperial harm. We have to get you out of here. Please..." he begged his friend.
"Ughh..." Clinker moaned. "It hurts..." Nora knelt tenderly beside him and tightly gripped his hand in hers.
"D-Don't die, Clinker...I'll never forgive you if...if..." she rambled.
"Here they come." Aybabtu prompted. They could hear the explosions and roars of angry voices as the fighting began, and it was getting closer.
"G-gotcha..." Clinker choked. There was a dim, faltering light, and then a brighter one.
With that, they were gone. And Fitcher prayed.
