Red and Blue
My not-so-short story, plz comment!
Haven was split in two. Literally. Ever since the war between the Crimson Clan and the Azure Clan started, nobody was safe. Where there would be rainbow of colored knights, only existed the Reds and Blues. My name is Agius, and the story that I am writing was one that recorded the history of the Spiral Knights as we know it.
I am one of the ruling council members of the Crimson Clan, Red and Scarlet adorn our armor and clothing. It all started in a small conflict between our founder, Ignus, and the Azure founder, Blumune, that conflict grew because of publicity, then the war broke out. The war between colors. Guild mates against guild mates, friends between friends. It was bloody of course, war goes as war goes. Those who supported Ignus dyed their armor Red with the blood of the fallen. (gross) Those who supported Blumune dyed theirs Blue with the pigment of the Skyseed Camelia, a flower that grows in abundance here. The war rages on, but as I am writing this to whomever may open this Journal ever again will learn why we live in harmony today.
"Die Azure members, Die!" A Red shouted, firing his Autogun at an Azure, blowing a hole straight through his chest as quickly as he had pressed the trigger. I leapt forward, slicing another one with my Striker, his top and lower body halves fell apart. The Crimson member shouted in victory before an Antigua bullet pierced his helmet, falling to the side as blood trickled by the side of his face. Haven was nothing more than a battlefield, blood, bullets, and bodies riddled with them laid everywhere. If it wasn't for the drainage pipes, we would be battling knee-high in blood. We would emerge from battle with our lower body halves red with the blood of the fallen.
I was sent that day, on a mission to kill all the Azures on an outpost in the edge of the forest, others joined with their weapons stained with a dried red. We marched through the forest, quietly and silently as the morning mist. Until, the campfire of the Azure brightly shone within the trees, seeing it quickly we went into battle with the upper hand. We tossed bombs into the tents, clothing, and metal burst from them as they exploded with a debilitating rage. We thought we killed everyone, then by surprise, Antigua Snipers burst from the tree tops, a gun in every hand. 6 fell in an instant, more joining them. I quickly grabbed my Catalyzer, shooting one, he fell to the ground in an instant. He dodged another shot, turning around to find two aiming for me. I took out my (trusty) Striker, aiming carefully I threw it at one Azure, he fell to the ground with a thump. The other looked away for a second to be shoved to the ground, his weapons falling a good meter away.
"Have mercy," He raised his hands up in surrender.
"Did you have mercy when you killed them?!" I barked back at him, he inched away, until he grabbed one of his Antiguas from the ground. I aimed the barrel at his forehead, he closed his eyes.
"Fear of pain is nothing once you choose to accept it," I warned him, before pulling the trigger.
I turned around, and realized. He was alone. Every one of the Crimsons that joined me was either dead, or (wait for it..) dead. (OOH! You see what I did there? \(^q^)/ ) I heard some crying from behind a tree, the crying you would hear from a little girl. He walked a distance near the tree, and found a little Azure child, she had a small Proto Sword in her hand.
"Who are you? Are you here to kill me?" She yelled, tears from her eyes started to swell.
*Flashback*
"Mina! Get out of the house!" An Azure yelled, before being shot with a Callahan. Mina and her mother raced out the back, stopping right before the woods.
"Mina... I need you to be brave," Her mother sighed, placing a hand on her armored head.
"I need you to run to the other Outpost," She sighed.
"But what about you? And Daddy?" Mina cried.
"It'll be fine.. we'll meet you in Heaven!" Her mother cooed, until she pointed to the woods.
"Go now," She cried.
Mina cried for a second, then began to run to the forest, disappearing as the Skyseed Camelia she kept in her helmet vanished from view.
*End sad Flashback*
She cried out her Parent's story, and asked me a heartbreaking question.
"Where's Heaven?" She asked.
I was reluctant to tell her that her parents are dead, then answered with a silent stare. I made my way out from the ruined camp back home when he heard her crying again, loud and sobby. My heart snapped, and that would be pretty rare for a person of my grade. Crimsons are to be cold, solemn, and unforgiving. And of a person of his state, feelings like this are worthy of a death penalty. I couldn't stop himself, from making the girl fall asleep due to a trick he learned in iniation. I picked the child up, and I would have killed anyone who saw me there.
I walked for an hour, stopping to rest by a stump.
"Who are you?" The girl suddenly snapped from her sleep, and apparently snapping my nerve as well.
"Nobody," I growled, setting her on the stump. (Which actually wasn't mossy at all, it was cleanly chopped. )
"I think I know what's your problem, mister," She said in a highly annoying voice.
"Oh yeah? Well go tell me," I sneered.
"You don't know how to love!" She yelled.
(Insert Rage Face .jpg)
"Who needs love? Who needs life?" I answered in a threatening tone. Most knights would back away and shut up, but this kid kept her triumphant smile.
"Because life is beautiful, and happiness is beautiful!" She shouted with glee.
"Listen to this..." I glared at her. "I came here to kill you all, so just shut up, Flowerhead," I smirked at the blue flower in her helmet.
"My name is MINA, M-I-N-A" She spelled in a loud voice.
"And I'm that thing you think of when you go to sleep, that creature who lives under your bed, waiting to pounce on you and rip your eyes out!" I yelled back, shouting in an unforgiving tone. Mina looked at me with a saddened stare, and started crying all over again.
I kneeled onto the ground and gripped the looser parts of my helmet.
"WILL YOU SHUT UP?!" I shouted at the top of his lungs. Mina went mute. She stared at me with another sad frown, then she hopped off the stump.
"Where the heck do you think you're going!?" I called to her.
"Heaven!" She yelled back, before she disappeared from view into the woods. I chuckled lightly.
Mina traversed for a minute or two, before stopping near a river, awing at the fish(?) swimming in the water. Her face reflected in the glimmering waters like a liquid mirror. Then, the reflection of a Crimson broke her smile, and the fish swam away.
Mina shrieked, before the Crimson covered her mouth.
I was walking back when he heard the ear piercing shriek cut through the woods. I ran in that direction, a blur of red dashed through the trees like a fireball. I stopped right at the edge of the river, almost falling into the crystal blue waters when I saw Mina being held by three Crimson soldiers.
"Ah! Agius! Would you like to finish this one off?" One shouted.
"Let her go," I growled, not noticing what I just said.
"What is that you say?" Another one asked, taking out a Troika.(?)
"Let her go," I was confused with myself, the feeling I once hated now came back.
"What you are talking just isn't wrong, it is treachery," The third growled, as he pulled Mina closer to the first, readying his Bloodstained Troika. (Btw, who USES a Troika to cut a victim? Everyone knows you should use a Kamarin.) I leapt at the first one, grabbing him by the armor and throwing him towards the river, where I held his head underwater long enough to drown him.
"Agius, what're you doing?" The first one asked in confusion.
"Let her go!" I yelled, piercing the other with my Striker. He fell over dead, staining the grass around him.
"You won't be so happy when council hears about this," He sneered, letting go of Mina as he ran for the woods, disappearing as the shadows of the trees envoloped him entirely.
"Thank you..." Mina smiled as we walked along the path. I ignored her.
"What happened to them? Are they asleep?" She asked in a highly girly tone.
"Um.. yeah, they're asleep," I shrugged.
"Have you ever loved someone before?" She asked, bobbing up and down like a Demolist and a Bomb. I went silent and stopped talking altogether.
He really didn't love anyone before.
"Well?" She asked.
"Love is a weakness, losing what you love just brings you hurt and suffering," I got my point across.
"But loving is great! It lets you stick with someone to the very end of time!" Mina smiled.
"Ugh, just shut up already!" I yelled, stopping in my tracks. Mina gave me a grumpy stare.
"You need to learn how to be nice," She grunted.
"What do you need to be nice?" Mina asked after another hour of walking.
"To care and share and always smile everywhere," I growled.
I felt like the biggest Care-Bear in the whole world.
"Good!" She giggled. Some rustling with the sound of deep voices distinct with a Crimson that apparently lost his temper.
"Wait behind that tree," I ordered, pointing to a nearby shrub.
"That's a shrub," Mina snapped.
"Potato Potahto," I rolled my eyes, Mina nodded and knelt behind it, so that nobody was looking.
He looked closely at the bush (THE BUSH, NOT THE SHRUB) and walked towards it slowly.
Without warning, more Crimsons jumped from out of the foliage, their swords in an angry fury.
"Agius, Lord Ignus wishes to speak to you about your current actions, he is very displeased," The leader commanded, brandishing an Iceburst Brandish.
"Iceburst?" I looked at his sword. Ice is an element used for the Azure.
"You aren't a Crimson member.... SPY!" I shouted, tackling him to the ground.
"Get him!" He shouted as I sent a punch spiraling into the side of his head, killing him in one shot. The largest Azure spy grabbed my arms, and threw me against a tree with a loud thud. A backdrop to having really protective armor is that it splintered the bark into shingles. (Yes, shingles) Pain shot through my back like venom, ironic when the largest took out a Venom Striker. I struggled to stand up, but found out that the shortest Azure took my sword without warning. Sadly, without a weapon of any sort, I was like a can without an opener.
Practically useless.
I jumped out of the way of a deadly combo, embracing a blow to the stomach. I reeled backwards to get shoved forward from a branch of Redwood.
"Rrrg.." I muffled, laying on the ground with my stomach aching. The largest Azure brought up a slab of Ironwood.
"No!" I heard an ear-piercing screech that broke the wind. And found Mina with her Proto Sword out.
"Don't hurt him!" She yelled, until the mid-sized Asure kneeled in front of her.
"Princess Mina.." He gasped, bending his head down while the one standing above me lost concentration.
"Here!" Mina threw the Proto sword in front of me. My legs and ribs hurt a lot, and my arm was damp with blood.
"Mina, close your eyes," I ordered bringing up the short sword in front of myself.
"Kay.." She whimpered, squinting her eyes closed tightly.
I brought up the sword into a battle stance, a little ironic for a General to use especially in a life-death circumstance.
I dashed forward, seeing the largest bring down his Troika at the right moment. I dodged the shockwave created with relative ease, sneaking behind him as I dug the sword into the knight's lightly-armored neck guard. The Azure screamed before falling on the ground. Mina stood very still with her hands over her eyes. I lifted the Troika with the little strength I had, aiming carefully. Another Azure launched himself at me, a Brandish in hand.
"Knowledge of the first strike doesn't change the outcome!" He shouted, letting go a powerful charge attack that tripped me from my balance.
"That's why we have a reason to fight!" I yelled back in equivalent power. I picked myself up and gathered the strength I had left. With a grunt and a quick shout, I threw the Troika at the Azure.
The Azure fell to the ground with the Troika sticking out from his chest, bleeding furiously.
"Mina," I whispered to her, she opened her eyes and ran to me with an embracing hug.
"Ready to go?" I gave her a dumbfounded look.
"To heaven!" Mina shouted with joy.
_________________|
SIDE COMMENTARY |
Me: You think this is the part where times are too good to be true? Well, buy yourself a Wolverale and call yourself correct.
Disclaimer: Waht?!
Me: HECTOPASCAL!! *Slap*
__________________/\
That night was a little um... well.. dark.
"I think we should stop here for the night.." Mina yawned. Just looking at her cuddled up in my arms made me drowsy. I set her down next to a Wakkanut Tree. (The ones you find in jigsaw valley) She snored immediately. And I thought I sleep loud..
I took out a Jalovec I found and planted the dull blade into the soft grass. I leaned down on one leg to preserve energy.
What did they mean, by "Princess?" I thought of what the Azures said before.
The Azures are after her, and the Crimsons are after me.. I gotta get this kid back to her kind.. And settle the problems with the Crimsons afterward.. I got the plan I needed to get out of the problem I had at hand.
But for now.. I need to protect her.. I resolved, then my eyes started to feel heavy, then, I fell asleep.
"Agius! Help!" I heard a short scream, waking me from a deep sleep.
"Mina?" My vision was nothing short of blurry, I wanted to bring my hands forward to rub them, to find my hands tied firmly behind my back.
"What's going on?" I growled, my vision coming to see Mina held the same way.
"Nothing short of justice," A nerve-breaking growl familiar in more ways then one made me recognize the knight holding her.
"Ignus.." I gasped, my arms held my a hefty-looking Crimson.
"And I see you captured the Azure princess for a ransom of surrender, correct?" He walked around me with his Combuster humming with an uneasy tone.
"No," I said flatly, I felt Ingus' jaw tick.
"Oh is that really?" He growled with his back turned, then sent a punch into my left eye.
"Get away from him you big meanie!" I heard Mina yell.
"Meanie? And I suppose you know exactly who you're talking to.." Ignus walked to Mina, and took out his Combuster.
"Not so fast Ignus," Growling as I smacked my head backwards to attack the Crimson holding my arms together.
"And what?" He immediately turned and released a chain of explosions rocketing into the sky.
"So, this is where you die, Crimson or not," I snapped back, leaping backwards and kicking off a tree. Ignus brought his sword up for my Jalovec to mash right into it. A loud burst of fire and ice broke the wind passing through. I staggered backwards, as Ignus slashed the ground in front of me, setting it on fire. Belting out another crash onto Ignus' sword made him even angrier.
"Die you confounded traitor!" He barked with anger and rage swirling in each other.
"That.. is.. enough.." I felt the air to the right of my grow chilly, turning to see Blumune and a bunch of her "elite gaurds" surrounding her.
"Blumune? Stay out of this, it is an execution," Ignus growled, taking his sword back into a battle stance.
"Mina?" Blumune turned to look at Mina, arms bound by a Crimson who was now ran into the woods.
"Mommy?" Mina gasped, then running to her arms wide open.
"Eh.." Ignus scratched his head.
"And I think you were the one who brought back my pride and joy?" Blumune looked at Ignus, who shook his head.
"And who is this Knight?" She looked at me with Mina cradled (lol) in her arms.
"Agius," Mina yelled with joy, smiling at me.
"Agius? I have just two words to tell to you," Blumune gave me a forgiving look.
"Thank you," She smiled.
"Duty completed ma'am," I bowed to her respectively. She then turned to look at Ignus, who was brandishing his Combuster.
"I suppose it is about time we end this war," She gave him a dignified look.
"Agreed.." Ignus smirked, and stuck out his hand to apologize.
"And Agius," Ignus looked behind Blumune.
"You are now the leader of the Crimson army," He gave me a look of pride, before turning to look at Blumune again.
|Five Years Later...|
I shifted my feet against the warm earth, taking a seat next on the cliff on the edge of Haven.
"Might I join you?" She said flatly, as she plucked a Skyseed Camelia from the grass, letting it go in the wind.
"Um... " Mina started, curling the grass in her finger.
"Something bothering you?" I turned to look at her.
"I met this knight and..." She blushed.
"Well? Go and hang out with him, he'll really like it," I scoffed, turning to look at the sunset again.
"That's why I'm here.. thanks for everything Agius," I felt my back stiffen and some arms wrap around my back, as I found Mina embracing me in a tight hug, as I looked down to the rainbow of knights below doing their daily things together.
And because I'm being a FLIPPIN VIOLENT person today, I'm going to post some references.
Agius = Arus
Both of them changed their way of life.
Changed how they view the opponent.
Turned against leader.
Ignus = Tinkenzar
Both are power-crazy.
Commanded the Character to destroy the enemy, leading them to their resolution.
CRIMSON Order?
AZURE Gaurdian?
Get it?
This is a really good read! Nice job. :D