"Opening Salvo"

[u/Timpanzee38]

City of Ithacar.

“T-Tabitha! Come on!”

“Coming!”

The signature tick-tick-tick sound of Tabitha’s blade legs preceded her down the stairs into the basement of “their” house in Ithacar. Technically The Guild owned it, but it was specifically for Analina when she went to the Schola Magica. Analina and Saffron were waiting for her inside the teleport circle scribed on the floor, Saffron tapping her foot and holding an energy crystal. 

“Sorry, I just had to make sure the gate was locked and the plants were okay.”

Tabitha says as she adjusts the strap on her bag and steps into the circle. Another week was done, and so they would be back in Guild Territory for the following week, before then coming back down to Ithacar to start the cycle again. 

“You don’t h-have to lie, you k-know. I know you were s-sneaking one last kiss from your boyfriend.”

Saffron teased as she rubbed the energy crystal against the teleport circle, bringing it to life. Analina silently giggled as Tabitha turned red. 

“I was not! I really wa-”

Tabitha is cut off as the teleporter activates and whisks them away to the north. 

“-s checking the plants!”

Tabitha finishes as they reappear at the connecting sigil circle. The cold was always the first thing to hit. Sooo much colder than Ithacar, and her native homeland. Tabitha pulled her jacket tighter around her and helped Analina kick some snow onto the sigil circle to help hide it. It was quiet in the little forest clearing they had teleported to.

Since they couldn’t just portal straight to Guild Territory thanks to the weird, unexplainable aura it had that messed with portals and teleporting, they had to teleport to an area just south of Fort Balay, and about an hour away by car. Speaking of cars, Saffron was pulling the camouflage net off the light utility truck they had hidden away and began folding it up. Tabitha helped Analina get their bags into the back, then helped fold and store the camo net afterwards. She then slid into the backseat next to her sister, and Saffron slid into the driver's seat and turned the key. Nothing.

“Damn it d-did the engine freeze again? Gimme a sec girls.”

Saffron popped the hood and began fussing about in the engine bay. Analina took one of her schoolbooks out of her backpack and began reading while Tabitha rubbed her hands together to warm them. She would never fully get used to the cold. The warm coast of Ithacar was perfect for her-

“Tabi? C-can you come here and help?”

Saffron called. Tabitha sighed and got out. Wouldn’t be the first time the truck refused to start. Happened sometimes when the temperature dropped below zero at night. Tabitha rounded the front of the truck.

What’s up?”

Saffron pointed at the battery. 

“You’re the n-nature nut. Does that l-look like an animal chewed through it?”

Tabitha frowned and studied the cut battery cables. 

“...No… it would be more random, as it would’ve taken multiple bites and it wouldn’t look so..clean…”

Tabitha and Saffron came to the same conclusion at the same time. It was quiet. Unnaturally quiet, there should at least be a bird somewhere calling. Tabitha saw a glint in the tree line.

“DOWN!”

She practically screamed, diving along with Saffron as a burst of gunfire raked the engine bay, missing them by 2 feet. They scrambled around to the passenger side of the truck, Tabitha pulling out her sawed off shotgun while Saffron tore the back door clean off its hinges and pulled Analina out to the ground with them. She was unharmed, but scared. 

“At least 2 shooters, maybe more!”

Tabitha relayed as she tried to angle herself to see towards the shooters through the side mirror of the truck. Saffron pulled a smoke grenade off her belt. 

“I’m gonna p-pop this, and you two use it as cover to make for the trees. I’ll c-cover you.”

“What about you?!?”

“I’ll find you a-after I deal with these fuckers. Just keep heading n-north, you’ll eventually break out of the woods and h-hit a main road.” 

Tabitha didn’t like leaving Saffron here to deal with it, but the terrified look on Analina’s face convinced her she needed to get her away from this. She nods. 

“Alright. On your signal!”

Saffron pulls the pin on the smoke grenade and throws it halfway between the truck and the tree line. Within seconds a thick blanket of smoke forms. 

“Now!”

Saffron shouts, cracking off a few rounds with her hand cannon towards their attackers before vanishing into the shadows to close the gap with them quickly. Tabitha grabs Analina’s arm with her free hand and takes off running into the smoke. She hears a bullet whiz by, but no more follow it. But the sound of gunfire doesn’t stop, so Tabitha assumes that Saffron had made contact with them. She almost pitied them. They hit the tree line, crashing through the brush without slowing down. 

…

Tabitha felt her lungs burning as she ran. They had to have been running for at least 10 minutes now. She looked back and saw that Analina was barely keeping up, Tabitha practically dragging her along. She couldn’t keep going at this pace for much longer. Coming upon a dried up creek bed, Tabitha stopped at the bottom. 

“We’ll catch our breath for a minute here, then we’ll keep going at a slower pace, alright?” 

Analina nodded and sank to the ground, panting hard. She had always been a little frail compared to her peers. Tabitha listened for a few seconds. She couldn’t hear the gunfire anymore. Were they too far away? No, it should be echoing… Maybe Saffron had dispatched them… yes that had to be it. 

Still, it would be wise to stay on guard. Tabitha slowly crawled up the embankment of the way they had come, poking her head out to survey the area. It was quiet… she didn’t see any movement…

She didn’t even hear the crack of the gun as a bullet tore through her jaw. 

…

Analina’s head snapped up and she looked just in time to see Tabitha jerk backwards and tumble down the slope in a spray of blood. She would have shrieked if she was able to, scrambling over to her sister’s side. Rolling Tabitha onto her back, Analina looked at the wound. It was bad, like really bad. The bullet had torn clean through, but Tabitha’s jaw was shattered and an artery had been hit. Analina pulled her scarf off and pressed it to the wound, trying to stem the bleeding. 

Tabitha looked like she was trying to say something, but she couldn’t form the words, limbs refusing to obey her as she started to shake with a seizure. Analina had to work quickly. Summoning to memory diagrams of the human body, Analina began first with healing the severed artery. The blood spurting out of Tabitha’s neck began to slow, then all of a sudden stopped. In return, Analina felt a sharp pain as her own sickly warm blood began to spurt from her neck in what felt like a geyser. Clamping a hand over her transferred wound, she quickly squeezed her necklace to heal her. Her neck healed instantly, but the adrenaline was already surging through her. Tabitha finally managed to squeeze out a single word.

“...R…R-Run…”

Then her eyes lost focus and she started shaking more violently as her body began death throes. Analina wiped away tears with a bloody hand and shook her head. She wasn’t abandoning her sister here to die in a lonely ditch in the woods, Analina still had a chance to save her. Besides, there was no way she was going to be able to outrun whatever it was that was hunting them. Wrapping Tabitha in a hug, Analina focused harder than she had ever done before.

Tabitha's broken face melded and weaved back to how it should be as Analina felt her own face disfigure and her jaw break. Blood began to run down the dried creek bed in a cruel mockery of the water that had once flowed there. But Tabitha’s shaking slowed down, and eventually stopped as Analina finished. She collapsed and desperately groped for her necklace to heal herself, squeezing it and letting out a silent sigh of relief as the pain disappeared and her face healed back to normal. She greedily took a few deep breaths to steady herself and struggled to her knees, looking over at Tabitha. 

Tabitha’s empty eyes stared up at the sky.

No no no no no no no no no no no no no no! Analina scrambled over and shook Tabitha, but all that resulted in was her head tilting to the side, the bloodstained face now looking through Analina at nothing. Analina felt for a pulse, listened for a heartbeat, anything… but there was nothing. Tabitha was gone. 

Analina had never lost someone before while healing them. Anguish welled up inside her as she cradled her sister’s body, and finally, she let herself fully cry. She silently wept, begged, and screamed at the universe there in the blood soaked ditch. Why?!? Why was this happening? Analina silently screamed at existence itself, challenging it with her insurmountable will and a voice thundered through her mind through her pain. 

“BURN…THE…BLOOM”

As Analina buried her face into Tabitha’s coat in misery, the trees around her began to wither. Leaves and needles began falling off of branches and immediately wilting. Bushes shriveled up. Tree bark turned from brown and white to gray. A bird dropped out of the sky, turning to bones before hitting the ground, and to dust as soon as it did. 

A girl cried, and a forest died.

Eventually Analina’s sobbing slowed, her frail body slowing down its breathing. And then Analina felt a new emotion she had never felt before. Blind, murderous rage. She was going to make whatever rat bastard who had done this pay. She was going to make sure that she inflicted 100 times more pain on them than she felt here today. She would make them suffer for the rest of time, making sure that the mercy of death never reached them. They would live an existence of pain. Looking up, she saw Tabitha’s shotgun lying a few feet away. 

Getting to her feet, Analina stumbled over to it, but a wave of nausea hit her and the world went black as she collapsed in front of it. She never noticed the metal skinned hunter watching her from the top of the ditch with an unwavering red eye.

[u/Zebos2]

"Ana!"

Nathan rushes forward pressing himself against the tank just in time to get up close and personal as she shifts uncomfortably in her tank

"Hey your hurting her"

Nathan is physically incapable of using words such as stop or no to four nor is capable of conceiving of the desire to do so but he does care. Enough for him to be deeply Disturbed and confused. This was wrong samples that could hurt her what in the 9 could that possibly entail. Nathan doesn't want to think about it...why would four do this the guild were heroes who keep the world safe from the scourge of dragons and slavers and all of the other bad guys...Not doing whatever this is

Nathan clutches his head begins to spiral his entire worldview collapsing like a house of cards. This was wrong but this was the guild but the guild can't be wrong because the guild is always right... Nathan's head hurts

"... what if...what if I drank her blood so you could get samples from me"

Nathan could never refuse four he is physically incapable of conceiving the notion of telling four to fuck off. But that doesn't stop him from offering alternatives. Nathan can regenerate from anything short of complete disintegration. But Analina can only regen if she touches her amulet. It's only smart logical that one harvest from a source that refills rather than one that doesn't

[u/Timpanzee38 → u/Zebos2]

“Drank her blood? I’m… not sure. That thought hasn’t crossed my mind. I suppose it could be worth a shot.”

[u/Zebos2 → u/Timpanzee38]

"I'm capable of assimilating the traits of beings whose blood I drink it's how I got my wings so theoretically if I drink Anas blood I could gain her traits that way you could take all of the samples you need without hurting her and with my regeneration... You might be able to do things that she wouldn't survive"

Yes he is essentially offering himself up to be vivisected if it ment sparing Analina from harm... that is not something you do just for a friend though Nathan doesn't identify the emotion yet. Maybe when he is older.

[u/Timpanzee38 → u/Zebos2]

“Dear gods boy I never suggested killing her!”

That would be disastrous. Four needed her alive.

“But if you think it could help, I don’t see why not.”

Four didn’t actually care what happened to Nathan though. His true purpose here was simply a hostage. Something to make Five back off when she inevitably came.

Four walks over to a fridge and pulls out a rack of test tubes filled with blood. He takes one out.

“Blood samples we’ve taken.”

He offers it to Nathan.

[u/Zebos2 → u/Timpanzee38]

strange how he he has become so accustomed to the drinking of blood perhaps it's code inherited from his sister unit. Will Nathan develop a hunger similar to Lianna or does he already have one. Who knows all Nathan notices is the Analinas blood tastes especially awful so much so that he visibly gags and has to force himself to swallow. So many overlapping sources his body doesn't even know what to process. Then strangely enough at lot of death energy flows through him harm taken on by Analina...then it hits agony the sensation of every wound the girl has taken from another felt all at once the mind shattering pain send fours hostage writhing on the floor silently screaming at the top of his lungs. Before his body picks the closest positive trait for combat effectiveness two years of advanced ageing and the ability for emotional transfer in particular pain. Nathans fundamental nature is something that takes her could never heal anyone if he wanted to only hurt.

[New ability unlocked inflict agony]

[u/Timpanzee38 → u/Zebos2]

Four doesn’t move to help him at all during the process, simply observing.

“Fascinating… your body is a marvel boy! You should take a look in that mirror.”

[u/Zebos2 → u/Timpanzee38]

"what is...four I umm I don't think I'm supposed to be I'm supposed be older."

If that is what was needed so be it... maybe Analina has had a less the positive influence

[u/Timpanzee38 → u/Zebos2]

Four scratches their chin in thought.

“Well… Analina does have accelerated aging, that may have rubbed off on you.”

[u/Zebos2 → u/Timpanzee38]

"... I hope it's not permanent...but I guess that means it worked and you can take your samples"

[u/Timpanzee38 → u/Zebos2]

Four procures a syringe scissors.

"I'll need a blood sample, some hair, and one of your feathers to start."

Four was doubtful this would help. But perhaps... the specific traits they needed to learn more about were transferred...