Vibrant Eyes

Chapter 24 - Death

The cool breeze hit my uncovered skin as we rode home. I felt my chest tighten as we got closer and closer to home. It's been a few days since I saw the soldiers, and in two more days, they'll attack. My fist clenched and I looked up at the sky. "Please... be alright," I said to myself. Kuragari sat behind me on Salem, while Haru was on another wolf I had summoned. Kuragari placed his hand on my shoulder. "We'll be ok." I held his hand. "I hope you're right..."

We finally made it to the border of our territory. I suddenly felt a chill run down my spine. Questions ran through my head. 'Is everyone ok? What if we're too late?' I didn't know how to stop these thoughts in my head. We finally reached our home. I sighed in relief to see that nothing bad had happened. We got Haru and Kuragari settled and went to the meeting room. Me and everyone else explained more of the situation to Haru and Kuragari.

"We need to fortify the place. Kuragari, go with Saturn and get the children somewhere safe. Ryou and Haruto, start fortifying the place." Haru spoke clear and concise. Everyone left to do what they were told to do. "What do you want me to do?" I asked. He turned to me and placed a hand on my shoulder. "You're with me. We're gonna see where Bloodborne is." I smiled. "What is with you guys placing hands on peoples shoulders," I asked. He smiled back. "To get their attention." He let go and we set off to find where the army had gotten to.

We rode on Salem's back to the place where I first saw them. It wasn't long before we found them. We quickly got higher ground and looked down at the army. "That's a lot of soldiers..." He said quietly. I locked eyes with him. "So? We can take them," I said. Although his expression didn't change. "All of the screams... there will be so much death..." I placed my hand on his shoulder. "Death will always be knocking on our door. Until we face the evil head on, we will never have peace." He smiled slightly at my words. "See? Told you the shoulder thing works." I laughed. "I guess you're right."

We watched as the army marched. They got closer and closer with every step, which made my heart pound.

"Do you think we're ready?" I asked. He nodded. "Yeah, we can beat them." We snuck away from the army and made our way back to the camp. "Ya know what I've realized?" I said to Haru. "What's up?" He asked. "Not once have I seen Takashi or any of the other main members..." Haru sighed. "You're right... what are they planning?" Suddenly, we smelt the faint smell of smoke. We looked at each other in horror. "Takashi," we said in unison.

As we stepped foot into our territory, we watched as each building had been set ablaze. Soldiers crawling at every corner. Screams and cries were heard from both sides. "What's going on?!" I spoke. I turned to Haru. "HARU!" He didn't respond. Instead, his eyes were full of rage, sadness, and tears. I spotted Kuragari and Riggs and quickly rode to them. "What the hell's happening?!" I asked. "They got the drop on us!" Kuragari said. "I knew Takashi would stoop this low..." I hopped off Salem. "Where's everyone else?!" Riggs shook his head. "We... we don't know." Haru whistled, to which Salem responded. "I'll find them!" And he rode off with Salem.

I turned to see a soldier about to slash me with his sword. Suddenly he dropped to the ground and behind him was Ryou. "Alana!" I hugged Ryou. "Where's Haruto?" I asked. He shook his head. "We got separated!"

I looked around. Our home was gone, reduced to ash and dust. Just like I had said. "Ok... we need to regroup! Find the others and get to the south side of the mountain! Go!" everyone did what I said, but Kuragari stayed with me. "I'm not leaving my sister defenseless," he said. I smiled. "Who said I was defenseless."

We tried to find the others, then suddenly I heard a scream that was all too familiar.

"LET GO OF ME!" Saturn yelled as Satsuki held her by the hair. I ran up to her. "OI! FISH BOY!" As he turned to face me, I kicked the side of his head sending him flying. I helped Saturn stand up and told her to run with Kuragari. She did so, giving me a hug before running with Kuragari. I turned to face Satsuki. "Long time no see Alana..." I smirked. "Yeah, I guess you could say that." We fought, none of us letting up. I finally managed to pin him and swung at his throat with my dagger. I just missed as he kicked me off him. I took this chance to run. I never ran from a battle, but I needed to find Haruto. I searched and searched, helping people along the way from the soldiers. I finally found Haruto who was protecting a child. "YOU LEAVE THE KID ALONE!" Haruto yelled. I laughed slightly at his words. I ran up to the guard and jumped, transforming into a huge wolf in midair and biting down on his neck before throwing him away from Haruto. I stood next to them. "Get on!" Without hesitation, they jumped on and held my neck as we ran to the south side of the mountain. I looked back as our home burned to the ground.

We finally got to the southern part of the mountain, seeing that everyone had pitched tents already. "I guess everyone had been found..." I said quietly. I saw that our group had depleted tremendously. I hopped off Salem and helped the child back to her mother. I looked to find Haru but couldn't find him. "Kura? Where's Haru?" I asked him. His expression changed. "He doesn't want to see anyone right now." I looked at him with an empathetic expression. I wasn't one for emotion, but something inside me wouldn't stop this feeling of empathy. "He's in there," he said and pointed to a black tent. I smiled. "Thanks Kura..."

I slowly pulled back the door to the tent which revealed Haru sitting on the ground, his back to me. I closed the door and walked towards him. "Haru?" I said softly. "Why... so much death..." I went to place a hand on his shoulder. "Hey... its ok-" he turned to me. "IT'S NOT OK!" his eyes were full of tears. It gave me a shock. He looked broken, like he was done with all the death. I sighed. "I know..."

We sat there for what felt like hours, but it was only a few seconds. I slowly opened my arms. "Come here..." I spoke softly to him. Haru hesitated but embraced me in a hug. "I'm sorry for your loss... this is too much death." I locked eyes with him. "Don't let this loss break you. We still need to fight for peace," I said letting him go. "I can't..." He said softly. I smiled. "Sure you can. You know why?" Haru looked down, then back up at me. "Because you've got thick skin," I said. He smiled. "And an elastic heart," he replied. "I'm happy you remember," I spoke as I sat up. "The people need a leader, they need you Haru." He stood up. "Indeed, they do."

Finally convincing Haru to leave the tent, he organized dinner and got everyone's spirits back up. Sage was helping the wounded with Saturn, and I went to find Kuragari.

I searched around the temporary camp for a while before spotting him atop a cliff, looking out towards our burning village. I walked towards him and stood beside my brother. We stood there in silence, hearing the crackling of wood and the cries of birds. "We never asked for this..." I heard Kuragari say in a quiet tone. "Kura?" I responded, turning my head to see a tear fall down his cheek.

"No one asked for this..." He spoke. I sighed. "There's no room for hate in this world," I said turning to look at our village. "The world would be better off without it, don't you agree?" Kuragari turned and looked at me with a smile. "Yeah, I do."

"We'll get our village back. I know that it'll be hard, but we can do it." Kuragari wiped his tears. "This is no time for crying, this is a time for planning, a time for revenge..." I could feel his anger. I placed my hand on his shoulder and turned him around. He turned with my hand and was now facing me. I pulled my brother close to me and held him. "Let it out," I said softly. I felt his warm tears fall onto my shoulder. Tears started to form in my eyes as I cried along with him. The noises around us muffled as we stood there together in a warm embrace. The wind blew through our hair and the chill of the cold settled into our skin. We finished crying and let each other go. "Let's get our home back, shall we?" I said with a smile. He chuckled.

"Yeah, let's go."