Book Two: The Legends

Chapter Twelve - Loss

I drew back to see Ike and Marth slipping into the room. Oliver entered after them, holding up Walter and Winter with a strange, blank expression on his face. Ava closed the door behind her and immediately crossed her arms, grinning at me.

"Where's the girl?" Marth asked, voice showing no emotions.

Everyone turned to Darius who had a sad, guilty look on his face. "They hid her already."

I narrowed my eyes at him and he gave me a sheepish look.

"You cannot be serious," I muttered angrily.

"They hid her the moment she arrived, Shayde," Darius told me, "They have no intention of letting her go."

"We need to find her," I hissed, starting to walk for the door. In the crowded room, I bumped into both Ike and Marth who grabbed an arm each and held me there.

"We must go without her," Marth declared.

"No!" I cried, struggling to get out of his grip.

"I'm sorry," Ike murmured, "They will raise her well though. Teach her to fight and look after herself. And when she's ready, she'll come looking for you."

I fell limp at his words and bowed my head in silence. All the fight suddenly faded from me.

"Is there really a point anymore without her?" I whispered, more to myself than anyone else.

I then heard Ava give an annoyed scoff and I glanced up at her, still being held between Ike and Marth.

"Stop comparing her to Evie. Zoey is NOT Evie. Zoey is NOT your sister," Ava said forcefully. I stared into Ava's warm brown eyes and only saw concern and sadness there.

"I kno-," I started to say until Ava cut me off.

"You don't."

I sighed and shook my arms gently, letting Ike and Marth know to let me go which they immediately did. I watched as Darius reached out for me and pulled me into his arms. And when he whispered in my ear that everything would be okay, I burst into furious tears.

***

"So, we literally just go up the elevator and we're home free?" Ava repeated in surprise after Ike and Marth had given the rest of us a run down on the plan.

"No. We may be stopped on the way up," Marth told her stiffly. Ava narrowed her eyes and nodded.

"So who's down and out to look after these two?" Oliver asked, his voice strangely harsh, referring to Walter and Winter.

Everyone glanced around awkwardly, refusing to meet each other's eyes. We were silent for a for a few moments until Ava sighed.

"I'll do it," She murmured in annoyance. Quickly, she stepped over to Oliver and leaned close to him. I watched as she whispered something in his ear and then took Walter and Winter's arms off him and onto her.

Ike and Marth immediately jogged out of the room, closely followed by Darius. Felix gestured for me to head in front of me but Oliver cut in front with a look of thought on his face. Deciding to ignore him, I followed after, hearing Felix close behind and Ava, tugging the others behind him.

We all piled into the elevator, just managing to fit everyone though you couldn't avoid touching several people. I was squashed between Darius and Oliver and when I glanced up to see their faces, I could sense a strange tension as they stared each other down.

"They'll be waiting on the surface, surrounding the elevator. They'll be ready. They'll have ranged weapons. You must be quick and careful. Take them down as soon as you can and protect each other's backs," Ike ordered all in one breath.

The elevator was quickly ascending and as I felt it slow down, I readied my weapon and felt everyone around me do the same.

"Good luck," I whispered when the elevator came to a complete stop. Then the door swung open and we streamed out as quickly as we could.

Immediately, I could see Ike was right. They were surrounding the elevator in a large loose circle and each had a gun which was immediately pointed at us.

"GO!" Marth shouted as he started running at a random point in the circle. Everyone started to do the same and I gripped my knife a little closer as I focused on a Legend. He seemed surprised at my bravery and I took it as a distraction to smash into him and knock his gun away.

He shook away the shock and reached for my hair, gripping it tightly.

"You did not," I hissed, twisting away, feeling some of my hair get pulled out. The man smiled and landed a punch at the side of my face which I tried to dodge unsuccessfully. With a swift movement, I got my knife up and slammed it down into his neck. I felt warm blood on my face which I ignored as I removed the knife and went crawling for the gun I had knocked away.

Picking it up, I tucked it into my pants and ran across to tackle a Legend who was wrestling with Felix. He nodded a thanks and silenced the man. Felix and I separated to help someone else manage a fight.

I noticed Marth going hand to hand combat for almost three Legends and I ran over, snatching the attention of one. He was unarmed and must have seen my knife, because he started to back away. I swung my knife dangerously close to his face and he managed to knock it out of my hand. I tried to go for my gun but the man tried to land a punch on me.

I spun away and kicked the man right in the middle of his chest. He doubled over coughed and I ripped my gun from my pocket and pulled the trigger.

I turned to continue to help Marth but realised he has already taken down his victims. I glanced around, looking for someone else to help when I saw the elevator had returned. From inside, Mina stalked out and swung her katana at the first person she could.

"DARIUS!" I screamed as the blade caught his arm and blood started to stream down it. As I started to run at Mina, I watched as she approached Ava and caught her by the neck. I watched as Ava fumbled with her knife and accidently dropped it on the blood soaked ground. With a smirk, Mina raised her already bloody katana and stabbed it right into Ava's stomach. As she removed it, she dropped Ava to the ground and turned away to discover her next victim.

As I was so focused on Mina, I barely noticed Ava picking up her knife and sinking it into Mina's calf. Mina shrieked and fell to the ground. I raised my gun to shoot Mina when I saw Ava reach over and drill the knife right in the middle of her neck.

I hesitated and stopped running at that, approaching slowly. Mina's eyes were closed and she looked almost innocent. Ava managed a tiny smile at me until her head hit the ground and I leaped on her, pulling her into my arms.

--

What did I just do? O.O.

(Don't hate me.)

Much love,

Lucie

xo