Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Sacrifice ❯ Hatred ( Chapter 43 )

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Sacrifice

Chapter 43 : Hatred

By: Melissa Norvell

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"So, what the hell? What is all of this about?" Hiroshima asked the Red Witch.

"I was wondering the same thing. Just what exactly is this about and why are we training? What are we really up against?" Keiji wondered about his predicament as well. To everyone in the group, it made no sense for them to keep wandering around for a goal that even they didn't know of.

"There is a point to this, as I have previously stated," Vespa informed the group.

"Who is Soel, Miss Vespa?" Azmy asked.

"Yeah, and why was Serenande talking about her like that?" Chichiri wondered aloud. It seemed that Serenande and Soel had known each other in the past, and from what he had gathered, Soel screwed her over badly. It was enough to cause her to go corrupt and hurt her own people and even those who were most loyal to her.

"Remember when I told you that someone was coveting power from Saesugawa?" The red-haired witch questioned.

"Yes, I remember," Keiji replied.

"So that person is Soel?" Fife came to the silent conclusion.

"Yes, Soel is a very powerful sorceress who wants something that both you and I possess," her gaze shifted to the legend in question, who narrowed his eyes in recognition. He knew that he was the object in which she spoke of.

'What's she talking about? Does she mean our communication stone?' Chichiri thought to himself.

"So you want us to defeat this sorceress for you?" Fife had a feeling that they were doing something significant for Vespa, he just hadn't been sure that this was the specific task at hand. This could either hurt him or help him out. It would be interesting to wait this out until the end and see the results.

"Yes, but this task is not as simple as it seems. You are doing several things at once."

"Several things?" Azmy questioned. How could finding a sorceress be several things? Were they doing more things then simply finding her?

"You're keeping the legend's curse from coming back and protecting out item from the sorceress. Other missions will come up later."

"This wasn't in the original agreement," Hiroshima stated.

"The reward will be worth it. If you don't believe me, you can always look into the future and see," Vespa told him with a smile. She knew that the angel didn't wish to look into things to come, for he would find out far too much for his own good and living a life that was predetermined bored him.

Hiroshima closed his eyes and folded his strong arms over his chest and frowned. "I'm fine."

'Having such a power is painful. I know but you will need it in a case like this one.' The Red Witch gazed upon his stubborn form. Her gaze was then torn from him as Keiji questioned her.

"So, Soel is the one we're after?"

"Yes but beware of her. She's very strong and her powers rival my own," they may not have known much about her but they should know enough by now to know that she could easily be a rival for Hiroshima. She was, after all, the strongest magician in all of Zameln.

"Why does she want me?" Hiroshima spoke up after he had thought for a while.

"She knows you from long ago," the witch informed. "Your powers are very important to her. You are inhumanly strong, can foresee events that are ahead of you, and have many attributes that would make you a prime target." A somber look crossed her face as she continued to look at him. It was almost as if she'd been examining him for quite some time. The angel felt like a display that had been put in front of an audience. He felt rather stared at and not to mention alienated.

"I'm not going to be used anymore," Hiroshima seethed lowly.

"Yes, I see that you like playing renegade angel, but it will take more than self-reliance for this to work successfully," she commented.

"We've all been doing what we want and feel is right but we do help each other when we need it," Fife pointed out. Even though they were quite a dysfunctional team and probably the farthest thing from understanding each other they did cover each other in battle well.

"I see darker times ahead as the two angels do as well," Vespa cast a stoic glance towards the direction of the two angels in question.

"We are well aware that things will get harder from here," Tsurugi replied with a serious expression. Unlike Hiroshima, he had seen ahead and he didn't like what he'd seen at all.

"Is this going to be similar to my quest for the Crimson and Clover swords?" Hiroshima asked. That whole fiasco was a bitch to even go through, not to mention that he nearly died trying to accomplish his goals on more than one occasion. If this was anything like what happened in the past, he wasn't sure that his nerves could handle it.

"It will be a long journey and you will meet some old acquaintances but this journey will be different. You are well aware of whom you are but more truth will come to pass."

"This is a lot harder than the last journey. We've already been through so much…and it's been incredibly hard to carry out orders," Tsurugi replied.

"Yeah, we always get away by the skin on our necks," Ko replied with a sigh. They really should become stronger so they could get away easier. It had never been a problem for Hiroshima, and that's someone she strived to be more like. She didn't want his bad attitude or anything like that. She simply wanted at least a fraction of his strength. It would be nice to at least be in his league instead of feeling overpowered by being like he and Tsurugi. Everyone could fight well, even shy little Azmy.

Ko had been against fighting this whole time and she really didn't want to go back to fighting again. She had led that life and Ko had faced those hardships. It had been something that Ko had been running from for a long time and now, she could no longer run from it. She had made herself become weak and Hiroshima had already figured her out. The white-haired girl was now one spot from the bottom of the strength pole and she knew that she could do far better than that.

"The next place you will go will be no exception. From here you'll have to go through the village you are currently in and on to Hikari Country."

"Hikari Country?" Fife asked.

"Yes and I want Zangetsu to go with you," Vespa looked towards the young Nighthawk Ninja.

"Why me?" Zangetsu knew that he could not go back to the village he'd resided in but what purpose did he have with these strangers?

"Now that you are out of Serenande's hands you need to find a way to break that curse."

The young man looked at his snow white wing that lay beneath his bird-like cape and stared at it with deep navy eyes. "Yes, I see that," his voice was low and regretful.

"Uh, Hiroshima, how did your wings grow back so quickly?" Chichiri asked. It had only been a few days since they had been dislodged and now they looked as good as new. "I remember Tsurugi said three days. It's barely been one."

"I told you, it's the curse."

"Farewell, "the witch told everyone. She figured that she would let them talk out any further problems amongst themselves. Vespa could not tell them the entire truth just yet but she would disperse as much information as she possibly could about the whereabouts of Soel and her minions. She just hoped that they could collect the magical weapons before Soel could get her hands on them. Fire shot from the ground in small rivers as they engulfed the odd group of people. "We'll meet again and I shall advise you on upcoming tasks."

Those were the last words that they heard her utter before they were standing in the middle of a barren village.

'Hikari Country…That's near Sumeria…Why are we going there?' Fife thought to himself in a panic. Until now he had been able to keep a calm of some sort but he could slowly feel his barrier weakening. They were merely inches from his homeland. They were inches from a place that he had never wanted to go back to. Through his thoughts he could faintly make out a snappy, male voice. The long-haired boy blinked a bit to see something green come into his focus.

It was Keiji.

"Did you hear me?" The drummer asked with a look of slight irritation. He had tried to speak to Fife several times and every time it seemed as if the boy was simply ignoring him. All he did was stare at Keiji with a spaced out look on his face.

"Hm?" Fife snapped out of his momentary flight of fleeting feelings.

"You Dumbass. What are you, deaf? I said we're moving out now."

"Sorry, I was just spaced out," Fife smiled calmly. "I was just thinking about what Vespa said."

"Is something wrong?" Keiji's face shifted a little. He noticed that the blue-haired boy's eyes held what looked like dread in them. If Fife was dreading something then it made him uneasy.

"Nope," Fife lied. "Why would you think there was?"

"Because you never let anyone know how you're feeling."

Blue eyes widened. Keiji had begun to tear down his façade. "Keiji-kun…" Was all that he could even utter at the moment in time. Could he be breaking down that easily? Keiji had never noticed the way he'd acted before…had he? Or was he simply not speaking his mind until now? Whatever the case, he had to find another way to cover himself or keep his guard up before he had nothing to hide.

"I want to know you, Fife. You're very mysterious and I can't help but be compelled to figure you out," the drummer had said something flattering and strangely complimentary to him. For the first time in a long time, the familiar feeling of warmth flooded into Fife's chest.

"You're a very complex and mysterious man yourself, Keiji-kun," he neared the other boy's face and smiled.

Keiji simply stared as he could feel an odd sensation develop in the pit of his stomach. Fife was beautiful and looking into his eyes only made him realize how stunning he actually was. His eyes shone with such depth of blue and his hair was long, thin and silky. Fife's skin was pale and complexion clear. For that moment in time, he seemed just as beautiful and mysterious as Tsurugi or Hiroshima.

Chichiri popped in between them. "Uh, guys-"

"Gah!" The green-haired boy screamed in horror as he took a few steps back and held his arms out defensively over his face. Fife casually giggled from the other side of the blonde. He'd been thinking of that very man who now laughed at him. The concept of him thinking that another man could possess such urethral beauty made his heart race. What was he thinking! The blush crept to his cheeks and he stomped off, muttering something about not being gay and asking himself what the hell was wrong with him.

"Um…Sorry?" Chichiri looked towards the angry boy, who quickly fled the scene.

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Everyone walked down a small path that was line with stones as they neared the edge of the village. They were surprisingly quiet after they had been in such a battle. What Serenande had done to everyone in that village was still going through their minds. The whole course of events was very mind-numbing and no one was quite sure of what to say.

They passed several houses with sparsely spread civilians who peered at them with malicious eyes. They all felt themselves being stared at, so hard that their gaze alone could bore a life-threatening hole in their bodies. Zangetsu was the first to notice that the people of his village had stared at him with such hatred.

He looked down; his longer bangs fell into his vision. 'I was afraid of this.' He didn't want them to gaze upon the people in his party the way that they did. Zangetsu wished that they would take their bad glares off of them and all look at him. After all, he was the one who deserved those heart-crushing looks.

Ko glanced around as more and more people exited their homes and the building that they were hiding behind. "What's with all of the nasty looks?" She asked as she looked at a mother and child. Even the eyes of the child were filled with malice.

Azmy put a balled fist to her chin as her eye brows furrowed in worry. "They seem like they hate us."

"They do," Zangetsu replied lowly.

"Huh? Why?" Chichiri looked to the ninja in question. They hadn't done anything wrong, so why were they being hated on?

"Because I'm affiliated with Serenande and they've seen what Hiroshima has done to their people."

"So I killed them," Hiroshima wondered aloud and beside so what if he had killed a few of them? It didn't matter to him or them really. No matter what the village would hate them. Why not give them a reason to hate them? He already had a bad reputation and people will believe what they believe. There was no going back for these people now. They were far too scarred by the course of events befalling them that they would not be able to trust in a long time.

He had just now found out that he had even killed anyone and he had speculation before but he wasn't sure of what really happened until now. He had been possessed by the spirit that dwelled within his body and when he woke up, he didn't know where he was or how he'd gotten there. In a way, the angel was thankful that everyone had ran into him or they still might be separated.

"You mean you didn't remember?" Ko thought that Hiroshima was lying.

"Does it look like I did?" Hiroshima knew that someone was going to speak up about him lying and he was right.

"I don't know. Does it have a specific look?" Ko didn't know that you could actually look like you didn't remember something.

While the two were arguing, the angry people of the village slowly walked up to them. A woman stood in front of the crowd of citizens, each with irritated expressions, and pointed to Hiroshima.

"There they are! There's the one who killed my child!" The livid woman yelled in distress as the group of odd people looked at her, then to Hiroshima who wore neither guilt nor anger on his face as the angry voice became louder and louder with the commotion.

Soon, they were surrounded by angry people and they could hear their voices ringing through the air with hatred.

"Let's get all of them! They probably killed everyone else too!"

"Yeah! Stone them!" One of the villagers yelled as several other cries of 'stone them' could be heard as everyone looked around to see the angry faces of the people around them. Each one of them held contempt for what they had done. Soon after the cries had been released, a few stones flew from the crowd as they picked up whatever rocks were nearby and began to throw them.

A small stone hit Ko on the top of the head. She rubbed her head as the sharp pain registered in her body. "Ow! Stop it! We didn't do anything!" The girl tried to retaliate as another stone hit her in the shoulder. Ko covered her shoulder with her hand.

Soon, many stones were showered on the group of all shades and sizes. Some of them dodged and others simply hid. More and more stones came down and they got to where they couldn't dodge them. Hiroshima stood there like a human wall as stones bounced off of his form. He stood stock-still and let them hit him. The stones mercilessly pounded against his milky skin, leaving bloody spots and small bruises.

Fife blocked his face and looked towards Keiji. "We need to get out of here."

"No joke! We'll die from this!" Chichiri shouted as even bigger stones were being hurled at the group. The stones had reached the size of a human hand. The rocks were becoming dangerous to them and at this rate, one of them if not many would die from being stoned to death.

'It's always like this…' Hiroshima felt the rocks pelt against his skin. He had been bleeding in several places but kept his silence. Showing them pain would not satisfy them. In fact, it made him seem weak in their eyes and he would not be viewed that way in anyone's eyes. Hiroshima would take any pain that they threw at him with grace and dignity. 'It will never stop…Humans cannot understand and they are too filled with greed and conceit to see the other side of one man's pain. So let it hail stones upon the Earth…It will do no good to attempt to change man's beliefs of the convicted.'

A stream of blood ran down his arm and dripped on to the ground below.

Tsurugi folded his hands together and laced his fingers. He closed his eyes and began to pray under his breath. "This I pray, please send us to Hikari Country from this unjust punishment."

Keiji felt an odd, warm sensation that the prayer was giving off and then looked to Hiroshima, who had stood stock-still, unmoved from his current position. A few rocks bounced off of his form and he had noticed that the angel had bruises, cuts and abrasions on his usually perfect form. Hiroshima's eyes were closed and a deep-set frown was plastered on his face. His green eyes were locked on his form in question and a part of him felt sorry for the wounded angel. 'Why? Why I he just taking this? He can kill them all in one hit.'

His thoughts were cut short as a rock as large as a paper plate headed straight for Hiroshima's face. Acting upon adrenalin alone, Keiji moved in the way and caught the rock with all of his might. He nearly was hit in the face from the force as the rigid surface scraped his skin. Glass blue eyes widened upon seeing the boy save him. The angel was surprised that Keiji cared enough to catch the rock. He expected no less, but at the same time, doubted that he would put such a risk on his life to save him.

"Stop it!" Keiji yelled in frustration at the angry mob. This was getting too out of control. He took the massive rock and chunked it back at them, not to hit anyone, just to make them scatter and stop throwing rocks at them. "What are you doing?" The boy seethed, huffing as he felt the small pains in his body from the pelting.

"Shut up, murderer! Rah!" One of the burly men hurled another large rock at them. He intended to execute or fatally injure at least one of them.

"Look out!" Azmy's eyes widened as the large rock closed in on them.

Hiroshima's eyes narrowed as he wrapped his bleeding arms around Keiji and whipped the boy around protectively. Now the angel's back faced the rock and he would be struck. At least this way, Keiji would not be critically injured. He hugged the green-haired boy close to him.

Keiji could smell Asian spice, blood and sweat as his face was buried in the muscle of the angel's chest. He uttered Hiroshima's name as a white light consumed his form. Then it was as if all sound was paused for that moment in time. He felt a warm heat and all went peaceful for a few moments in time. It was almost as if he'd lost all senses except that warm feeling.

After that moment had passed, the group now stood in a remote, desert-type place with a few barren trees and deserted, abandon and dilapidated houses. The air was thick with the faint stench of death and dust as Keiji pulled his face away from Hiroshima's chest and looked up at the angel.

"Are you okay, kid?" The angel looked down at Keiji.

"Yeah…Thanks…" The green-haired drummer responded, not completely sure of what to make of the current situation as he adjusted to his new surroundings.

"Thank Tsurugi, he's the one who saved you."

"Thank you, Tsurugi," Keiji looked towards the blonde angel, who smiled and said 'you're welcome' then turned to the rest of the group and asked if everyone else was alright.

"I think someone threw a dead fish at me," Chichiri commented with a wrinkled and disgusted face.

"Well, I got hit with someone's shoe," Ko rubbed her aching shoulder.

"Why did they hate us?" Azmy looked a little sad. She didn't want to be hated by anyone and they had saved the people from their possessed princess. What went wrong? "Is it because we killed Serenande?" She wondered aloud.

"No, they thought you were affiliated with me," Zangetsu looked a little guilty. He hadn't meant for everyone to get in so much trouble.

"What?" Ko looked to him for an explanation.

"It's me they hate," the black-haired man tilted his head down. "…because I've killed their families by giving their souls to Serenande-hime."

"It's not just you they hate, Zangetsu," Hiroshima spoke up. "It's me as well. If I killed them as they say, then it's my fault too."

"Why did you let yourself get stoned like that?" Keiji's look hardened. "You just stood there and let them hurt you!" His voice became louder and slightly more emotional. "Look at yourself! You're covered in injuries and you just healed!"

Ice blue eyes casually looked to the boy he still held in his arms. "Was there really a point to trying to stop them? They hated us and attacked us out of sheer rage and hatred. The look of prejudice."

"I don't like it. It was scary," Azmy held both hands to her chest in unease. She didn't like being stoned and the angry, hateful voices still rung through her senses. The left over fear was still fading in her innocent blue eyes as she still tried to calm herself.

"Yeah, not to mention painful," Ko nursed her injured shoulder a little more. The once stinging pain was now a dull one.

"Bruising is more like it," Chichiri agreed in a whine.

"Up until now we've been heroes but now we've wrecked that town and people will look upon us as demons," Tsurugi said regretfully with a crestfallen gaze to the ground.

"Are you serious?" Chichiri asked, nearly in an exclamation.

"Dead serious," the angel replied.

"We don't have time to think about how many people hate us. We have to find Soel and figure out just what the hell is going on here," Hiroshima informed everyone. They could not forget or abandon the mission at hand. It was first and foremost that they did what had been asked of them by Vespa.

"Don't you know already?" Ko asked as they walked towards what looked to be an abandon village. "I mean, you're an angel so you can see the future, right?" If he knew then he really should tell all of them what was going on. They had to depend on his predictions to make sure that no danger would be fall them and they could avoid all of the bad happenings that would eventually befall them.

"I don't just look ahead. It makes things too predictable…too boring," Hiroshima replied simply. Even if he did look ahead, then he would be forbidden to tell them what their fates would be. The future was a delicat4e balance and they could not interrupt what fate had in store for them. They could only interrupt it at that moment in time.

"I wonder why we're going to Hikari Country. I mean it's a dying place that's riddled with sickness," Tsurugi was a little skeptical. It seemed as though Vespa was sending them to their deaths.

"What? You mean we have to risk getting sick?" Chichiri looked at the blonde angel. What were they up to? How could she send them to such a place and why? Did Vespa want them to die?

"It was rumored that the leader of Hikari Country, Eagle, approached the Plant Goddess Flora to ask her for a medicinal plant that would help his dying people but she sent two elf warriors after him, feeling betrayed, he retreated and he hasn't come back. It was rumored that he grew sick as well," Zangetsu explained.

"What kind of sickness is this?" Azmy wanted to be informed in case someone in the group had gotten sick. That way she would know the symptoms of their illness. If she had gotten sick herself, then she would also know if she had the same illness.

"No one knows," Zangetsu replied. "All that's known about it is that whoever catches it will become fatigued and lose their appetite. It's followed by seizures and hysterical fits which lead to suicide and eventually death." The black-haired ninja narrowed his eyes.

"That's serious but what the hell can we do?" Hiroshima asked nonchalantly, as if the sickness weren't a real threat at all. "If that witch expects us to come up with a cure then she's just as crazy as these people."

"No one is allowed into this country and it's said that it may be a plague," Zangetsu informed. This worried him a little. He didn't want to catch a plague more than anyone else but he owed Vespa and these people for saving his life.

"I don't want to catch the plague!" Ko didn't want to set one foot into that village. She'd read about the Bubonic Plague and she knew how those people had suffered. It wasn't something that she wanted to go through herself.

"It sounds horrible," Chichiri agreed. To be truthful, it scared the hell out of him.

"I feel sorry for them. If no one can get into this country then no one can help them. It's like they are just isolating them to let them die out so it doesn't spread," Fife sympathized with those who have died and those who still lived with the disease. He didn't want to catch the supposed plague but he wanted to help those who had suffered. It was a difficult choice to make- catch a deadly disease or help someone possibly recover from one.

"It'll be like a mass suicide when we get there," Keiji dreaded the thought of all of the bodies that he'd see and how thick the stench of loss would be in the thick, virus riddled air. It brought back disturbing memories that were hard to deal with. He tried not to think about it too much.

"Poor Eagle…" Ko looked a little grief-stricken. She could only imagine how he felt.

"Well, it would be use to stay on the outskirts," Hiroshima educated.

"I don't want to go there," Keiji stated firmly.

"Let's just be careful," Tsurugi tried to comfort the troubled drummer.

"We're going to die," Chichiri, on the other hand, only made him feel worse.

"Don't say that," Ko scolded. "We can fight against anything but we can't win a sickness battle."

XXXXXX

When they finally approached the village, the sight that lay before them was ghastly. Dead bodies lay in the street and in piles, where they had gathered. It had as if they came to that very place to die. They had glazed eyes and sunken-in features. Flies were abundant and the smell of death was so thick that it could literally take one's breath away. The air was thick and warm with disease and the town in general looked like a ghost town. It was silent, so much so that not even the animals would make a noise.

"How terrible…" Azmy's voice crackled with emotion and she nearly cried at the sight that lay before her.

"They are ridden with disease," Hiroshima's voice was low in tone as he looked over the littered ground. He was calm but his voice nearly seemed mournful or even compassionate in a remote way.

"It's truly a shame that so many have died," Zangetsu's voice was low as well. "I don't even think there is anyone left in the country that is alive."

"It's eerily quiet. I don't even hear the birds chirping," Ko slowly glanced around at her surroundings.

"This place is a nightmare," Keiji closed his eyes and turned his head from the disarray before him. He couldn't stand to look at the bodies. He just couldn't. Behind him, Azmy was silent as well.

"I think we should find Eagle," Hiroshima stated and only a few moments after he ended his sentence, a gunshot was fired. Everyone jumped at the sound and turned around to see someone's nearly-dead form crash to the ground. A gun fell from their hand and landed with a clank and spun a few times before it stopped. Hiroshima looked upon them with understanding in his eyes. A moment of silence passed before he felt something grab his ankle from behind him. He turned around to see what appeared to be a man in his mid-thirties' with a sick look in his eyes. The man's pleading glance seemed to reach out to him and beg for something yet to be said.

"Please…" His raspy voice reached his ears as blood ran from the man's mouth in a steady river. "It hurts…"

The sound of a gun could be heard and a gun was dropped.

It was Hiroshima.

He had shot the man and put him out of his misery without a second thought.

"You shouldn't suffer this way," Hiroshima said with a distinct kindness to his voice as slight sorrow showed on his face. It had only been indicated by the lowering of his eyes and deep set frown.

"Hiro-kun…" Tsurugi looked to his mate in shock as the silent angel stood there for a few moments in stillness. It was almost as if he was silently mourning for the fallen man.

"No one deserves that sort of fate, not even if they are human," the angel remarked and closed his eyes. It was almost as if the whole situation had moved him somehow. This was another time that the angel actually seemed human as far as emotions went. It was odd for a widely-proclaimed killer to show any type of emotion- especially for killing someone. One would have thought that he would be the type to sadistically smile and laugh about something like that but he did the opposite.

"Hey!" Chichiri, Ko, Azmy and Keiji were offended by his last remark.

"We don't have any time for this. We need to find Eagle. The longer we're out here, the more exposed we are to this disease," Undine ran ahead.

"Wait!" Azmy called out as she followed after the long-haired girl. On her way to Undine, she nearly tripped over someone's unmoving arm that lay in the middle of her pathway. The shy girl let out a small 'eep' and moved around it before she continued to run.

"Well, shall we go?" Tsurugi looked at everyone else in question.

Hiroshima's sights were still plastered on the dead body before him in deep contemplation.

'I hate you…You deceived me…' He could hear the man's voice in his mind as it seethed to him within the confines of his mind as he dissolved his soul and absorbed it into his body. "Now I am." Hiroshima turned to everyone and began to follow them.

He only managed to take a few steps before Tsurugi caught him by the arm. The dark-winged angel looked to his mate and spoke. "How do you think they'll react to your curse?"

"Giving how they dealt with Serenande, I can't give them that opportunity," Hiroshima looked away as he headed off to follow everyone. Tsurugi then ran after him. He had been a couple of steps behind but decided to take their lagging behind as a good excuse to talk over some serious issues.

"I don't know how to take any of this myself," the blonde angel commented.

"We shouldn't reveal ourselves yet. There's too much conspiracy and propaganda going around to feel in the clear just yet," Hiroshima told him.

"I agree. Do you think we could help these people?"

"You should know that answer."

"I sense the darkness ahead."

"There's little we can do to change the future," Hiroshima concentrated on the path ahead. He didn't want to give much thought to the suffering people around him at this moment in time. "Much less attempt to alter it."

"Yes," Tsurugi looked down. He too knew that he was powerless to help them but he didn't think it would have been too much trouble to get a second opinion. "Even dark angels are punished for that."

Undine saw what appeared to be two people standing in her way. They were small figures that seemed to grow in size with each footstep as she grew closer. One was a tall woman with a muscular built, who wore a black eye patch over her right eye and wore a tight, short dress that looked more like an oversized general's coat then an actual dress. It was a drab blue and white color with two columns of gold buttons. Her long, poofy, lavender hair was pulled into a high ponytail that ended at her cheek and her long bangs hung over the eye patch. She looked at the approaching group with her one, slender eye in a casual manner.

The other was a man with an eye patch over the same eye. His uncovered eye was slender with long lashes and a deep blue in coloration. It was riddled with misery and fatigue from sickness. He looked to be in his mid-twenties and wore a dark, long cape with a black shirt, pants and boots beneath them. The man wore several belts with containers on them and thick, black gloves. He was very handsome but very pale and sickly.

The black-haired man looked at the approaching group and pondered to himself. 'Who are these people?'

Undine stopped in her tracks a few feet away. Now she could clearly see the two of them.

"You must be Eagle of Hikari Country."

"I am indeed Eagle but who are all of you and why have you come to a place so riddled with disease? You are not allowed to be here," the dark-haired man stated in a cold, informative voice. These people had no business being there and he would definitely show them the way out.

To Be Continued…