Good stuff, Sammie. I like that Teresa's friends still accept her even though she's done something she considers unethical. I also really liked the ending line...it's soooooo Fabien. 
I also like how the story's starting to come together, and how characters are coming into contact and working with other characters. This chapter felt a bit like the calm before the storm. I sense big stuff coming up from that German border.
Can't wait for the next one!
Seeing how long it is makes me especially appreciate those of you who've been reading all along.So, thank you for your continued reading and patience with us.
And just because I feel like giving an overall status update: We're getting to the last several chapters here.
The original projection for chapters was something in the ballpark of 26, but it may realistically come down to 24 or 23.
So, with the inclusion of the chapter I'm currently working on, 18... That's about 6 chapters left to go.
Hopefully you'll continue to read and enjoy (bigger hope) the ride.
So, I think what's going to happen is I'll finish this up and post it and tack what I couldn't work into this chapter onto Samson's next chapter.
Another last thing: I'm starting school tomorrow and I have no transportation.
Why this means anything: I'll probably be stranded in the city all day, 5 days a week without a way to get back home to my computer... so the speed of my chapters will probably be effected by that.
I'm still trying to figure out when I'll have time to do them because I'll be down there from roughly seven in the morning till six at night...and by the time I get home I'm just going to be exhausted. Right now all I can see working for me is weekends, but it'd be a miracle for me to get a chapter done every weekend.(Not really tl;dr but) tl;dr: Hikki needs a laptop or a working car or the fic is going to take a short break. also, this thread = my blog.
(I think I update too much and Samson doesn't update enough... so that balances out, right?)
New chapter! Please don't post until you see the cast list.
Felix already knew what this was about, and what would come of it. A bead of sweat dripped down the side of his scarred face. From side to side, his eyes darted for an exit strategy while the prince’s men seemed all too ready to open fire on him right there. His eyes finally fixed on the table next to the window where his gun lay still. It was better to go down fighting than just do nothing at all, He decided. He quickly rose to his feet and slid his hand around it all in one fluid motion. Taking aim at whoever he could hit, he fired. Where did the bullet land? He couldn’t even concentrate on that crucial fact with the adrenaline fuelled tunnel vision impairing him. He heard a yelp from the prince and his guards’ guns clicked off their safeties in near unison. Felix knew it was almost over. He could basically feel his life already slipping away from him without even a scrape on his body yet. He leapt backwards blindly and heard the shattering of glass. Another thing he decided, as his body flew through the glass window behind him; was that it’s better to go out by your own hand, than that of a pathetic ruler.
It was a blur of noise and motion, no one remaining in the room was quite sure exactly what had occurred in only a minute. “What the hell… just happened!?” seethed the blonde prince, gripping his newly bloodied arm. “You idiots should’ve fired before he got the chance to escape!”
A masked guard broke away from the group and looked over the ledge of the balcony from whence Felix had just thrown himself. “Either way, I don’t see how he could survive a fall like that, my lord,” he noted.
Fabien inched over to the window himself, still tightly grabbing at his arm. Looking over the ledge similarly, he spat through clenched teeth, “If that’s true, then where’s the body?”
The guard looked again to see that on the ground where Felix should have fallen there was nothing. “How the-”he started, but Fabien cut him off. “You lot,” he said, gesturing to half of his men. “Get down there and search. Don’t contact me unless you’ve got a body.”
Fabien fell back onto Felix’s sofa to briefly collect himself. “The rest of you… search this room for everything and anything you can find on those Euro Paladins” his breathing was becoming somewhat shallow. “And.. You two,” he pointed. “Take me back to Corbenic,” he looked down at his arm, the blue fabric of his usual jacket was now dyed a brownish hue.
“Idiots.”
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Stage
18 Black King
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“It’s pretty chaotic, isn’t it?” Mazur looked on from their hiding spot a good 175 yards from the battlefield. Since the battle broke out around 6 PM earlier that day, it’d been non-stop. Now, it was hard to see anything in the dead of night but there was smoke and there was fire and it smelled just like you’d think destruction would. Loud too, clanks and bangs and missiles going off every other second. Mazur inhaled deeply. “I’ve never seen a battle this big,” he beamed.
“You sound excited.” Joseph remarked.
“’Course I am. Just gotta wait for the leader to let us in on a slice of this action.”
Nada looked up from her writing to shoot him a glare. “If you’re so anxious to battle why don’t you just go in there and get yourself killed now?”
“What?! These guys are chumps! Killed? By those amateurs!? I should be insulted!” Mazur pointed to a couple knightmares in the distance. “See those two?” he asked. Nada and Joseph shook their heads. “Get a closer view!” Mazur instructed. Nada then squinted over as hard as she could from inside Chaos’ open cockpit. “…Binoculars, Nada!” he scolded, throwing over his own.
Nada grumbled and pressed Mazur’s uncomfortably warm binoculars to her eyes. “Alright, what am I supposed to be seeing now?”
“The two jerks fighting it out over there, they’re just smackin’ each other!”
Nada scanned the battle field and saw what Mazur described could sum up just about the whole scene. On both sides, their movements seemed more like a schoolyard brawl than an actual battle, there was no strategy, no skill; just frames bashing each other back and forth. Occasionally, one would be hit by the frames who stayed to the back and shot off missiles. When that happened, she watched; the frame would crash to the ground and the knightmare it was previously battling would move on to another game of back and forth with another equally unskilled robot. “What the hell kind of battle is this?” Nada wondered.
“You know what else,” Joseph noticed, “None of those aces are on the field.”
“Huh?” Mazur motioned Nada to return his binoculars and took another look. Joseph was right. No Agravain, no Firestarter, no Canti, no green knightmare… not even those red and white frames. Just the standard issue Gloucesters and Sutherlands. “Are they toying with them?”
“You think so too?” Teresa cut in.
“But why?” asked Nada.
“Who knows why they do anything.”
Teresa slapped her hand up and down on side of Nada’s knightmare and glared back expectantly at Mazur and Joseph. “Any reason you two aren’t in your knightmares prepared to go in when needed?” she questioned.
“I thought it’d be kind of risky to be in there to be honest,” Joseph spoke up. “If I activate anything without thinking, wouldn’t we show up on their radar?”
“No, fortunately,” Teresa answered. “We’re blocked from radar somehow… gift from Felix, actually.”
Mazur folded his arms and added, “And you’re sure they can’t just… I don’t know, look over and see a buncha big robots waiting in the wings?”
“It’s too dark for them to see us, and when it gets lighter, we’ll have the forest behind us for protection. So, unless we start shooting off roman candles and flailing our arms, there’s no way they’re coming over here.”
“Hmm… but if we all realize that the Britannians are toying with the Euro military… does that mean we’re going into battle?” Conrad finally spoke up.
Teresa took a long look back at the battlefield. “Not just yet- If the aces got involved and there were still that many of those other pilots on the field, it could be certain death for us,” she advised.
“So we’re still going to wait?” he asked.
“Yeah, that’s the plan.”
--------------------------------------------
“Shouldn’t we be fighting, sir?” Athea wondered from the seat of her knightmare.
Wilhelm touched his ear piece as he climbed into the Agravain still inside the Eden. “No, I think it’s in the best interest of everyone if knightmares like ours are only deployed in a dire situation.” Wilhelm clicked on his video screen and could now see Benedict’s image. “We’re more noticeable targets to the average E.U. pilot, I have no doubts of our skill, but if enough of them were to gang up on us while we’re out on the field, there’d be a slim chance we’d return alive.”
“Understood, sir.”
“Hey Wil,” Theobald contacted almost instantly after Athea. “I know you want us to hang back until we’re really needed for safety and what not, but those tanks of frames they’ve got in the back with the missiles are a pretty big threat. We don’t have anything like that on our own side- And if we don’t do something about them…”
“Where are you going with this?”
“Naota and I are requesting permission to engage, sir.”
“Not yet, if enough of-”
“If enough of them were to gang up on us, blah, blah, I know. But if we don’t take those things out now they’re going to get the upper hand.”
Wilhelm rubbed his temples and grumbled “Permission denied, Daryan.”
“Figured you’d say that. I’m going either way.” Theobald clicked off his video screen and ended communications to the Agravain. He looked over to his right where he could see Naota was listening in on their conversation. The boy nodded sharply in Theobald’s direction, a signal that he was ready. “Alright,” Theobald announced, wearing an enthused grin. “Let’s do this.” With that, Their knightmares sped off across the field into the darkness.
“Theobald!” Wilhelm called into his communicator, to no avail. “Naota!”
There was no response. The flurry of movement in the battle before him obstructed his view. He couldn’t even make out the shapes of their frames. His communicator beeped. “Sir” it was Athea. “Should I go and bring them back before-” she stopped. “They’re that far already…”
Wilhelm remained silent in his seat for about a minute, seemingly assessing the situation right before picking his hand up and smashing it hard against the side wall of his cockpit. He hung his head for a moment, thinking again. Finally, he brought his eyes back up again and with a twist of his wrist, powered his knightmare on for battle. “Sir?!” Athea called over again with surprise in her voice.
“We’re going out.” he stated.
“Don’t.” Athea advised. “If you leave out there, you’ll only be hindered by your feelings right now… Wait as you were.”
“You’re not in a position to be giving me orders, Benedict.”
Athea nodded. She knew it too, but he already shifted his knightmare to standby mode again anyway. A small victory for her.
--------------------------------------------------
After a long ride from Vienna, Meghan was relieved to have her feet on the ground again. She looked around. Not much to her surprise, the station was completely abandoned. Meghan clutched at her purse strap somewhat nervously as she walked through the eerily empty station, her clicking heels echoing with every step. No ticket takers, no vendors, and there weren’t many lights working either. She wondered how long it’d been since the place was regularly staffed. She noticed the spiders and moths that seemed to have taken up a happy residence in the building. At least someone was getting use of it these days, she figured. In the distance she could barely make out some small light coming from one concentrated area. It looked to be the around the area where the Epernay massacre had taken place. She squinted hard and stopped in her tracks, realizing it was probably the new camp for Britannian soldiers there. It was then when she remembered she didn’t even have a clear destination aside from “Epernay.” From her bag, she pulled her phone.
“Where are you?” Meghan asked, as soon as the other end picked up.
“Uhhhh….” Thomas paused. “Outside of a church. Sort of near… You see where the troops are?”
“Yes.”
“Well, the church is right behind there, you can’t miss it.”
“Right behind the troops?”
“Yep.”
With a groan, Meghan flipped her phone back shut. Alright, she thought. Just sneak in behind them and then you’re there. They probably won’t even notice you.
She was right. Not more than 15 minutes later, she arrived at the doorstep of the church. No Britannians stopped her or even paid her mind. Thomas sprung up from his waiting place on the ground to greet her. “You made it!” he exclaimed.
“Yeah, where’s that picture?” asked Meghan, tapping her foot. She heard a small rustling and noticed the movement behind Thomas. She poked her head to the side and tried to get a glance at whatever was behind there. “Wait, who’s that?”
“Brandon Ramsey,” the man behind Thomas introduced himself.
“Uh… okay then,” Meghan replied. “So, the picture?”
Thomas pulled out of his back pocket, a folded piece of scrap paper. He unfolded it for Meghan and presented it to her proudly. She grabbed for it like it was a prize and quickly began to study it carefully. Her expression went from one of great interest to one of great disappointment. “This isn’t very good.” she complained.
“What are you talking about!? It’s good!” he defended.
Meghan sighed. “…It’s not exactly what I was expecting, there’s not that much detail.”
“Well, I tried. You’re just too picky.”
Meghan examined the picture closer. For some reason, despite its less than perfect quality, the face seemed to ring a bell with her memory. Where have I seen this face before? She wondered. She dug into her purse again and grabbed out the photo from earlier. “So he has reddish hair then… He seems familiar somehow…”
“If you figure out who it is, let me know” Ramsey sighed.
“Oh? And what do you need to know for?” Meghan demanded, cocking an eyebrow at the man.
“I’ve got a good hunch this guy in the picture is someone who did something terrible to-” he paused briefly, figuring out how to phrase it. “a friend of mine.”
“I see…” She looked hard at the drawing again, sifting through every face she’d seen recently. “Red hair… who do I know…” Finally, Meghan’s eyes widened slightly. “No way!” she exclaimed. She glanced back and forth between the photo and the drawing rapidly, seemingly double checking something between the two of them.
Ramsey snapped off the ground and walked over behind Meghan who seemed completely astounded at something on the paper. He looked along with her, but didn’t feel the same. “You know who this is?”
“I recognize the person, but it can’t be him…” she puzzled.
“Who is it?”
“I need to talk to him and settle this…” she muttered to herself, already taking off back to where she came.
“Hey, wait!” Ramsey called from behind her. “Would you mind telling me who it is, at least?”
“Just follow me if you care so much.” Meghan replied, not bothering to look back.
--------------------------------------------------
“Where are your friends, Alex?” On the sofa, Alexander sat closely with his wife as they quietly watched the news reports covering the battle at the German border. There was a hotel providing rooms to people who had lost theirs in Britannia’s recent ‘second strike’ It took Alex a little longer than he’d have liked to find it, but when he arrived earlier, his family almost completely smothered him with affection, especially Trisha, even with her small frame. He was happy to be back with them, he always was. Trisha whispered over what their boys had been up to. Fred and Eric had apparently been following the Euro Paladins very closely, they even had gotten the idea of joining once or twice, she told him. Cameron, the eldest, was trying to use some of the weapons Alex had created to stop Britannian foot soldiers during the second strike; sudden as it was. Unfortunately, he suffered a few minor injuries from the event but he was slightly pleased with himself for trying anyway. “We’re all worried about you while you’re out there with them” she finally said.
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be, it’s alright.” she assured him with a small, but clearly proud smile. “I know there’s been some problems in the past, and they don’t always do the right thing, but you’re fighting for all of us, aren’t you…”
Alex almost felt like blushing, even at his age. “Yeah.” he replied, he didn’t know what else to say. He turned his attention back to the story on the television. Alex was still surprised to see that not a single one of the Euro Paladin’s knightmares seemed to be involved in the scuffle. He wondered what they were waiting for.
“Are you going back again?” Trisha spoke up without looking over.
He didn’t want to, he really didn’t, and he hated to have to admit it to her after only coming back not too long ago. “Not yet.” he said.
“I’m glad.” she replied.
--------------------------------------------------
“Daryan’s still out there…” Wilhelm grumbled under his breath. “How long has he been out there?” he looked over to Athea.
“A half hour, sir,” she replied.
Wilhelm sighed and returned to trying to get a decent idea of their activity by monitoring their placement on his radar. It was a futile effort, you couldn’t get much idea of anything just by looking at a ton of dots. They still showed up though, and that was just enough to keep him from trying to launch out after them again. His communicator in the Agravain beeped. “Templars, huh?” he said to himself, answering the call.
“Crane, why were my men and I not informed that we’d be needed at the German border?” Celestine demanded.
“Because you’re not, Grandmaster Fray,”
“And why is it that your grunt troops were deployed there?”
“We need good troops to protect the castle.” answered Wilhelm.
Celestine was sounding aggravated, “So we’re babysitting the palace then? That’s our mission?”
“Essentially.”
Celestine clicked off communications in a huff. “Ridiculous…” she muttered. “Sending us out here to Europe just to stay in one place.”
In the hangar where they waited, the Templar knights were getting restless. There were only so many card games a man could play or jokes he could tell until he lost his patience. Jarvis in particular had grown stir-crazy from all the waiting. He crept up behind Celestine as she fumed over the call and leaned next to her. “So then, what’s the story? Are they in need of our services?”
“Not at the moment- Our current mission is to defend the castle from potential threats” Celestine relayed, trying to sound official and mask the annoyance in her voice.
“That’s a shame isn’t it? Maybe if we had a stronger grandmaster we wouldn’t be assigned such menial work…Don‘t you-” Jarvis stopped. “Oh! Terribly sorry, I’d forgotten you were the leader. not hard to do; Celetine-dear.” He remarked with a sneer.
“Mind your place, Neuville.” Celestine retorted with boredom.
“Really though, why don’t they just bomb the E.U. if they’re being given so many hassles? It’d take care of having to level buildings to make new cities for Britannians over here anyway.”
“Right you are, Jarvis, that’d get it sorted.” Damon piped up from behind him.
“Just do your jobs.” Celestine grumbled.
----------------------------------------------
Fabien’s motorcade returned short a number of cars. Angel watched as it pulled around to the front. She’d been awake the whole time since he left, even though it was now the wee hours of the morning. The sun hadn’t risen yet, it hadn’t even begun to poke its head over the horizon. Darkest before dawn, She wondered if that phrase actually applied to the night sky. Then again, it’d been about this dark all night. Maybe it was just the feeling of anxiousness she got around Fabien lately that was making it seem even darker. That call she answered 15 minutes ago wasn’t helping to relieve any of it either… With a loud boom, both of the front doors opened quickly, pushed open by those faceless guards who gave Angel the creeps just by being in the same vicinity. Fabien followed, his arm looked to be wrapped in something and he was gripping at it tightly as he sort of trudged his way through the door and towards the staircase.
She approached him quietly, trying her best to hide all the suspicion. “Are you alright?” she worried.
Fabien started a bit from her sudden call. “Oh... Yeah, I’m fine.”
“What happened?”
“Car crash… I wasn’t wearing my seatbelt.” he lied.
She could tell. “Oh, Wilhelm always tells you to wear it, you should remember in the future.” she advised.
“I won’t forget after this” he promised.
“Heh, I guess not… I’m just glad you’re alright. Well, rest up… I hope it feels better. Good night.”
“Good night.”
Fabien continued up the stairs and his guards left his side. Taking off their masks as they left the room, she felt relieved somehow to see that they were just people inside, even though she was aware of it the whole time. The two placed their firearms on the table and wandered off into their sleeping quarters, now talking animatedly about some tv show or other. It was all very strange to Angel who’d imagined them as some kind of emotionless automatons. Her eyes kept being lured back to the small hand gun one had left on the counter. She would confront him now, she decided. She crept over and picked it up, tucking it into the top of her skirt. Down the corridor, she followed Fabien as silently as she could, always staying at least a hall away from him. She had a feeling she knew where he was going. Down to that basement where she’d encountered Maroney that one day. Amongst the other things that had been troubling her, that day ranked fairly high. As expected, he arrived there and pushed open the heavy wooden door at the bottom of the stairs. Angel watched wordlessly behind him. Once he’d entered and closed the door behind him, she approached. The girl pressed her head to the door and moved her coral coloured hair away from her ear to hear better. He was talking to someone in there. Who? She pulled the gun from her skirt and held it tightly in her hands as she shoved the door open with her body.
She crashed through the door and almost landed with a thump on the stairs under the door but was able to catch herself.
The room looked like she remembered… If a king decided to make his room in a thrift store.
Magazines strewn about, velveteen draperies and pillows that had gathered visible dust. And of course, in the centre, a throne. Fabien sat on the arm of the thing, a man with dark hair sitting in the chair itself. Both of them had their eyes on her, and she had hers on them.
“What the fuck are you doing here!?” Fabien growled.
Angel held the gun in front of her, her arms rigid and straight out. More than seeming like she was going to shoot right then and there, it was more like she was making a point that she could. Fabien caught sight of the thing and his expression worsened.
“Explain yourself!” she demanded.
Fabien remained seated on the arm of the throne motionlessly. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
Angel toggled the safety, making sure he saw it. “Don’t lie to me. You might be able to fool everyone else but you’re not fooling me. There was a call 15 minutes before you got in. One of your men calling to inform you they hadn’t found a body yet. Part of your so called ‘negotiations’?” she spat. “And your arm, I’m guessing he fought back… A car accident, is that really the best you could come up with?”
“I’m not lying, you’re clearly delusional. I assure you there wouldn’t be any calls like that, and I did get in a car accident. That’s why a large portion of my moto-”
Clap, clap, clap, clap.
Slowly at first, the man in the throne began to applaud. He picked up speed and began laughing as though he’d heard the funniest joke ever. “Bravo, Ms. Magdelene. Angel, may I call you that?”
Angel switched targets to R.R. “Who is this?” she demanded, shooting a glare at the prince.
The dark haired man grinned widely. “You really are an excellent piece of work, Angel. This all must’ve taken a lot of courage from you. It’s very daring. And tell me, have you ever held a gun before? Coming here, barging down the door… despite hearing both of us in here. You should be a soldier, my dear girl.”
-----------------------------------------------
Another train ride led Meghan to a station not far from Stuttgart. It was nothing like the train station in Epernay. Despite the early hour, there were many people getting on and off trains. It was clean and bright and she could smell food cooking outside. She stepped off the train with Thomas and Ramsey trailing behind her.
“You think this guy is really the one who was there that day then?” Ramsey wondered. “You’re sure? Because I don’t really have time to be wasting travelling around Europe on a wild goose chase.”
Meghan nodded. “If Thomas’ picture is accurate enough, it’s definitely him…”
“My picture is accurate.” Thomas interjected, shoving one last sandwich from the dining cart into his mouth.
“There we go then.” Meghan pulled out a map and an address book. “I’ve never actually been to his place before, but it’s around here somewhere.” she ran her finger across street names and over the index key. “It’s only 20 miles away but there’s no train that runs out there. So, we’ll need to go by bus, I guess.”
--------------------------------
“Who are you?” Angel repeated herself, ignoring the man’s praise.
“My name really wouldn‘t mean anything to anyone, names are silly like that. And forced introductions just seem so… unnatural.” he replied.
Angel didn’t understand his relaxed attitude but she decided he was probably right anyway. Unless he turned out to be some hidden Britannian prince or something of an equally far fetched nature it probably wouldn’t change much. She set her sights on Fabien once again. “What did you do to Claira?!” she shouted.
“I didn’t do anything to her.” Fabien answered. For once, he was telling the truth. “She went missing and came back like that. I had no involvement.”
“Liar! How can I believe you!?”
“Fine, don’t. I don’t care.”
“Fix her! Fix all of this!”
“I can’t fix her, I told you, I had nothing to do with it” Fabien explained. He looked over at R.R as if asking for help. The dark haired man did nothing as he watched Angel amusedly and folded his hands.
“What are you going to do with that gun?” Fabien asked, trying to change the subject. Fabien looked at Angel expectantly. When she said nothing, he continued. “Are you going to kill me, is that what this is? Just because you got wind that I was trying to eliminate the threat of a traitorous governor?”
“Why?” Angel asked. “Why would you resort to killing him? Why… are you and Wilhelm so fixated on killing those paladins and conquering everything… Britannia’s big enough already isn’t it?! Do you really need that much territory? I’ve sat by and said nothing this whole time, but is any of this really necessary?!”
“The war will be over soon enough” R.R. cut in. Fabien looked over at him curiously as he announced this. It seemed he hadn’t heard any of that news yet. “Do you know what Fabien’s goal is with all of this here in E.U.? Why the tactics used are being employed?” he quizzed her.
Angel didn’t know. With a strained look of valiancy on her face, she remained silent and still except for pointing the gun back at R.R. once again.
“Genocide.” R.R. said flatly. “That’s why there were no negotiations, no warnings for the invasion- the more civilian deaths that could be racked up as ’casualties’ the better. That’s why he wanted to strike Claira for trying to resolve everything peacefully. Truth be told, your boy Fabien here would’ve probably dealt with her on his own if someone hadn’t beaten him to that punch.” The colour drained from Fabien’s face as R.R. explained.
“Isn’t that right, Fabien? You want a purely Britannian world your father could be proud of? Where there’d be no more wars because everyone is the same?”
Fabien paused long before answering. “That’s… correct.”
Angel’s face contorted with a look of unimaginable distain. “That’s disgusting. You’re a monster! And I don’t even know who you are,” she looked at R.R. “but you’re just as bad, sitting here and helping him. So everyone’s been a pawn for you so far!? For your insane goal? Wilhelm… You’ve been stringing him along this whole time to further your plans of doing THAT?!”
“Alright, so I’m a monster,” Fabien agreed. “But what are you going to do about it?”
What was I going to do about it? Why did I come down here in the first place? For answers, she told herself. Then, she remembered the gun in her hands was more than just a device for getting Fabien to talk. The placement of the trigger was really rather inviting, almost enticing. If you don’t- Genocide… she thought. Squinting her eyes from the fear of what she was about to do, Angel tightened her grip on the thing and held it the way she’d seen them held by soldiers. She brought her finger over the trigger, feeling its shape for a brief second and squeezed her finger down on it. A shot rang out.
It missed. She pressed down again, it missed. And again. She tried again but it clicked hollowly.
She tried to fire again, not out of much more than frustration now. It clicked again. It was empty.
Across the room, she could no longer see Fabien, he’d probably have gotten enough sense to run and hide somewhere by now. That other man remained seated; sickeningly calm. It was unsettling, what did he have up his sleeve? She didn’t feel like finding out. Angel scrambled back up the stairs as fast as her feet could take her, still gripping the gun tightly.
“Twice in one night people have tried to shoot you. Do you like the life you’ve made for yourself?” R.R. laughed. “At least you didn’t get hit this time.”
Fabien crawled out from behind the chair and rose to his feet. “Well, I think it’s safe to say she knows too much.”
“Then you know what I’m going to say next.”
“Consider it dealt with.” he grunted.
Following Angel, Fabien set off out the door and up the stairs. Anxious as he was, the slight creaking of the stairs served as an effective soundtrack to his feelings on this duty. Through the small passage way connected to the closet in the main corridor he pushed by cautiously. He looked back and forth down the main hall. She wasn’t to his left, or his right. He started off towards the right, taking a sharp look back to quickly double check that she wasn’t around. Seeing that the coast was clear, he whirled back around and continued on his way. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, he felt a hard crack of something against the back of his head. The pain from the impact took a little bit to realize itself and the room seemed to darken. Still, he staggered forward trying to shake it off. His vision went blurry and his knees gave out, collapsing his body down to the ground.
Angel watched to make sure he went down. She couldn’t shoot him, but she could at least do this. She tucked the gun which she’d stricken him with back into the top of her skirt and waved her hand in front of his face to ensure that he was in fact knocked out. With no response from him, she let out a sigh of relief. “Alright… now I’ve got to get out of here.”
---------------------------------------------
Cast
Felix Schultze - Khoasgonzy
Fabien la Britannia - Kohikki
Mazur Fried - Shatter1313
Joseph Revere - J-Dubb
Nada Kaiser - rukiasoul
Teresa - MoonGoddess17
Conrad Cross - Fudozukushi
Athea Benedict - Q_Chan
Wilhelm Crane - MasterSamson
Theobald Daryan - fool_on_the_hill
Naota Nandaba - Shins?
Meghan O'Shea - GypsyWoman72
Thomas Francisco - FurionTassadar
Dr. Brandon Ramsey - Jingai
Alexander Boone - stewie_castro
Celestine Lia Fray - QueenoftheDorks
Jarvis Neuville - Trunks378
Angel Magdelene - mgangel1124
R.R. - NoProof91
Claira li Britannia - Houdini_Kill_Sale
Nicholas Gerwulf/Servius - Blah_canbespanish
Lucien la Britannia - _Boxers_
Notes:
Black King - Doesn’t refer to a chess move like the other chapters so much. Black is thought of to be an evil colour or a symbol for darkness and King is the most important chess piece, obviously. The title is mostly a reference to Servius, but also a little bit Fabien and R.R
Uhhh well, what can I say… I wrote way more Fabien than I ever wanted to in this chapter. This was more focused on all the stuff that’s been going on behind the scenes rather than the main battle, so it was kind of light on the aces and the Euro Paladins. Hopefully some of the developments that will come from this chapter will prove interesting to you all.
Also, night of srs interrogations. More srs interrogating of villainous, scheming bastards than you can shake a stick at. Have fun.
Thanks for reading.
Comments and criticism are welcomed.
Wow.
Angel really kicked some serious butt, however I really think she is in serious trouble for doing so.
Theo grows exponentially in epicness with every chapter.
I don't know who scares me more, Nicholas or Servius, but I'm now more concerned for Meghan, Thomas and
Ramsey. Evil is bad enough, but crazy and evil is even worse.
Oh, usb flash drives are cheap, if you are looking for a portability solution. I mean like 10 bucks at Wal-mart cheap.
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