-=Lost Souls Intertwined=-

The sun was slowly beginning to set over the horizon. Whatever light the rolling clouds of gray allowed into Kerning City below was disappearing. Any activity going on in the city was quickly being concluded as people made their way towards their homes. Lights from the windows of skyscrapers came to life, slightly illuminating the approaching darkness covering the urban area. Some people didn’t always sleep in the city.

One such person was lucky to ever get any sleep at all. Tonight wouldn’t allow it.

The girl in maroon sat upon one of the giant cranes in Kerning’s construction zones, watching an open part of the sky go from sky blue to dark red. She watched as the brightness of the sun slowly give itself up to night, sinking lower and out of sight. She couldn’t help but compare the sight to her mood; falling constantly, giving way to darkness. The entire day had proven to be nothing but turmoil and strife to her, all of which was constantly written on her face and soul. In addition, she couldn’t help but wonder about Shadow’s words from Ellinia.

‘You might say I gained a new family.’

*A new family….doesn’t that sound awesome….*

The assassin instantly shook the thoughts out of her head. *Tch! Impossible,* her mind muttered. *My family is all gone, and a new one won’t replace anything. A new family? Those don’t even exist! All that I had was my original family, and now-*

A girl’s scream cut through the air from below. The maroon assassin immediately returned her thoughts to reality as she looked down at the brick-laden surface far beneath the crane. A female, dressed as an archer, stumbled through the area, one hand gripping a bleeding shoulder, the other clutching to a composite bow with the string cut. In an instant, a figure in a gray suit appeared in front of her so suddenly she fell backwards. Seven more gray-clads, along with a person in black and yellow, burst in from out of nowhere, all forming a circle. The archeress was trapped inside.

Upon seeing this, the maroon moon girl instantly laid down on the ground in an attempt to keep from being seen from below. Her green eyes peered through triangular spaces in the crane framework. Her heart was pounding fiercely against her chest, with sweat dripping down her temples. *How…how did they…what…when…* Her thoughts were in complete disarray as she watched the situation unfold.

The yellow colored figure stepped towards the victim. “We’ve seen you with the warrior before!” he shouted menacingly. “He knows the assassin who works with us somehow, and we suspect he is harboring her, as she has not reported to us in weeks! Tell us where your sword-wielding friend is, and we may only cripple you!”

Hearing this, the maroon girl cringed. *Just perfect,* she thought bitterly. *They finally grew tired of waiting….for ME. Although….a warrior? What is he talking about there? I don’t know any warriors of any kind. The only ones I did know were in my family, and they’re all gone…* She put her focus back on the scene below.

“I….I’ll n-never tell you!” the archer girl shot back. Though visibly shaken, she stood as firm as she could against the opposition. “I know that warrior indeed, but I’d never expose him to any danger, least of all YOU!” She then spat on the yellow-dressed person, hitting him on his mask. Two gray figures behind her grabbed her arms, holding her in place.

The yellow-dressed captor casually wiped the spit off of his mask as he walked towards the archeress. He nodded to the two henchmen, who each let her go, then quickly grabbed the girl and held her by her throat. Above, the maroon assassin’s eyes widened in shock as she saw this. *Oh, not this, not this!* her mind screamed. She fought back the urge to throw up.

The bowman girl struggled against her enemy’s strength as she pounded his arm and kicked at his chest to get loose, but the being in yellow held her far from him with a powerful grip. His pupil-less eyes stared at his prey vacantly, watching with little interest at her resistance. In response to her antics, he simply said, “I’m sorry you feel that way, young lady.” A split second afterwards, a rope topped with a sharp spearhead shot out of the sleeve on the arm that held the girl up. At top speed, the spear pulled a point-blank as it tore straight through the archery girl’s throat, sending a blast of blood out of the exit wound. The maroon moon girl fought her nerves with all of her might to keep from suddenly screaming.

The yellow figure carelessly let go of the archer girl. She landed on her knees, her hands wrapped desperately around her throat, amidst the torrent of blood that seeped from her wounds, changing her leaf green clothing’s colors. Despite her efforts, her strength was waning quickly; her vision dimmed, her muscles weakened, and very soon she was laying on her side, continually choking.

“Expand the search everywhere you can,” the yellow-clad masked man ordered. “Stay hidden at all times. Whoever you interrogate dies immediately after, whether they know anything or not. If you find the assassin, bring her to the leader alive…..and unspoiled. Kill the warrior.” The group nodded and began to disperse, until another figure dashed in at top speed, wielding a two-handed sword. He dashed by one of the gray warriors, swinging his sword with him. In an instant, the target’s head was clean off the body.

“Just try to kill me,” the swordsman growled as he skidded to a halt.

The maroon assassin’s eyes were at their widest upon watching the newcomer arrive into battle. *Is…is this…the warrior?!* she mentally questioned in astonishment. *He looks like hardly any other warrior I’ve ever seen.* Even from the height she was at, she could tell he was wearing umber shouldermail, and wielding a zard, a well-known, powerful sword. What set him apart from other warriors, however, were two distinguishing features worn on his head. One was a dark brown hood, which covered his head so well, it was nigh impossible to see his face from above. She still managed to angle herself to see his face, which revealed the second feature: a mask, crafted in a ninja-esque way, similar to those of the men sent out for her. The mask was a gleaming metallic gray.

She only had a few moments to note these features before the swordsman was off and running again. The gray-clads had brandished their hunting daggers, but in a few swift motions, the stranger quickly managed to cut three more asunder before they could counterattack; one vertically, one horizontally through the waist, and one in a diagonal fashion. Four gray dressed bodies now littered the ground, three in pieces. The ground was quickly becoming a pool of red.

“You’ve improved since our last meeting,” the black and yellow ninja commented curtly. “Still, you are far beneath me, and even as you improve, it’s only a matter of time before we find the one you’re obviously hiding. In fact, if you aren’t careful, that time could come very soon.” He nodded to the four remaining henchmen, then disappeared in a blast of orange and yellow smoke. The four lackeys immediately leapt upon the swordsman, who swung his zard in response. The giant blade caught one gray, splitting him as he returned to land, but another gray managed to catch a weakness in his stance and plunge his dagger into his arm. He was stunned for a moment, but recomposed himself, then pulled out a bottle of red liquid. He uncorked it and raised it up, but DIDN’T drink it down, instead throwing it at one of the three gray ninjas. The liquid splashed into his eyes. He quickly wiped them up, but finished only in time to see his own dagger flying back towards him. His own weapon embedded itself in his head, and he fell still. His comrades rushed at the swordsman yet again, using their fiendishly high speeds to catch him off guard. However, the warrior simply stood his ground, raising his zard into the air. He brought it down fiercely, sending shock waves through the ground. Both ninjas stumbled from the blast, one stopped right in front of the zard-wielder, who promptly impaled him. The other ninja, however, was stopped behind the warrior. Recovering quickly from the attack, he saw his opening and sped towards it, dagger in hand. He leapt into the air. Instantly, stars rained down on him from above. All hit their marks at the top of his head. He fell down to the ground, a living henchman no longer. The swordsman turned around just in time to see the would-be suprise attack fail. Though perplexed by this event, he managed to relax a bit, now that the ninjas were dead. Unfortunately, the calm didn’t last long, as he soon slammed his zard against the ground.

“Every time we meet, he accuses me of the same thing!” he yelled out, his angry voice accompanied by a metallic tone. “I have NO idea what he means by hiding an assassin! I don’t even KNOW any of them!”

“Neither do I know any warriors,” a voice spoke behind him. “Yet it seems they believe I know one.” The warrior turned to find a female assassin, dressed in maroon-colored clothing. He eyed her suspiciously as he thought of something to say in return, then dashed off to the blood-filled patch of ground suddenly. He picked up the archeress, who was barely alive, though clearly fading. He carried her far from the rest of the carnage, taking her to a more secluded part of the construction zone. The maroon moon girl followed, anxious as to what would happen next.

The three of them made it to an out-of-the-way dirt pile. The warrior gently set the dying archer on the ground, then quickly began fishing for a potion. He was stopped, however, when she grabbed his arm. Weakly, she shook her head. The warrior was stunned by this; was he truly too late to save her? Frantically, he went back to looking for a potion, until the archer grabbed his shoulder with suprising strength. Again, she shook her head, her face reading feelings of understanding, as though she knew what her fate was and that she wasn’t afraid to face it. This brought tears to the swordsman’s eyes as he slowly began to realize that there was nothing that could be done. With that in mind, he held the archer close to him in a hug. In return, she planted a kiss upon his mask, staring deeply into his eyes afterwards. Then, her eyes close and her body fell limp. The burden of mortal life was now no longer hers to bear.

The maroon girl knelt by the warrior’s side. “I….I’m sorry,” was all she could say.

The swordsman wiped his eyes of tears before responding. “I knew her for the past three years,” he explained solemnly. “Though she wasn’t officially part of my original family, she ended up being like a new family for me. We….we were in love…”

“I…I see…” the assassin replied. She backed off from him, yet again disgusted by what she heard about a new family. She didn’t show any negative response anywhere on her body, however. Even she knew that this moment wasn’t a proper one to hold such a debate. “I mourn your loss, then.”

The warrior said nothing as he picked up the archer’s body once more and headed towards the Kerning City entrance that bordered the L Forest. Without even realizing it, the maroon girl was following him. As odd as it seemed, she was slowly beginning to feel she had something in common with this masked man.

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Mere feet away from the Kerning concrete, the fighter and the assassin had finished burying the archeress, who was identified as Claire Lowe. Kneeling by the dirt of her grave, the swordsman placed a lone rose on the top of the risen earth. “Even though you are gone, my love for you will never perish,” he said softly. “I will bring peace to your soul, no matter how long my new quest for vengeance takes.” He then stood up and began to leave, then stopped. He couldn’t help but stare at the assassin, who was still sitting by the grave. It was wierd, but he had a familiar feeling about her. He shook it off, however, when something else came to mind. “I know this is forward,” he began, “but are-

“Yes, I am the assassin they’re looking for,” she said. “I’m also the one who helped you in the fight. I haven’t ‘reported’ to them because I have little desire to work with them, other than the fact that being in league with them has played a large role in me still being alive today. However….” She wiped a lone tear. “Earlier today, something terrible happened. Something so horrible….now I no longer care what happens to me. I’m NOT going back to them.”

The fighter nodded after hearing all of this. “I see,” he said. “That is good to hear from you. Had you not explained, I would’ve eventually called you an enemy and killed you.” He took one more longing look at the grave behind him. “As I said before, we were in love for three years. In fact, my original family was around as well, around for my entire life, up to around four months ago. Back then, things were awesome. However, four months ago, my entire family, save two siblings, were slaughtered by a gigantic beast that is now known as the Victorian Oni. The creature brutally destroyed my hometown and virtually everyone living in it. The town’s defenses, even myself, were no match for him. The last I remember of the creature was being given a terrible injury from him. Of course, the monster was around long before that, but that was the first time I actually saw it. Ever since that attack, my heart holds nothing more than vengeance. I want to see that creature die so badly, especially by my hand. I know deep down the souls of my family won’t rest until that happens. Claire held the same vengeance in her heart as well, as she was also from my home town. From the attack until today, we simply looked for whatever information we could find about where the fiend was, as well as training ourselves so we could one day stand against the creature. Of course, now I’ll be doing all of that on my own. One thing doesn’t change: my vengeance is my primary concern. Nothing else matters to me.”

The maroon assassin was taken aback by his story. “Your story, while sad, is also ironic, though this is most likely coincidental” she explained. “I too lost my family, barring two cousins, to that beast, and it was…four months ago.. However, rather than suffer an injury, I was captured near the end of the battle, which my home was also destroyed in. I had suffered a grievous wound from the oni, though when I was certain I would die, someone came in and swept me from the battle. Unfortunately, my saviors turned out to be terrible villains who forced me to work for them, lest they kill me themselves. For the next four months, I did their bidding, performing nefarious tasks of murder and theft. That has changed since the oni appeared again, this time in Ellinia. Ever since then, it became apparent to me that there must be some relation between the oni and my captors.”

“That is indeed a coincidence,” the fighter said after listening. “The only plausible conclusion is that we were in the same place when the attack hit. Still, I am happy to hear that someone else from my home village escaped. What have you done since then, besides being forced into evil?”

“Overall, I’ve been simply trying to forget my past,” she replied. “Like you, my life was wonderful before all of this happened. When the fight came, my greatest joy in my life, my family, was stripped away from me. Back then, I didn’t know what I would do without them. Eventually, it became clear that the more I remembered losing my family, the more depressed I came. Thus, I decided to forget the past, to stick with the present, no matter how terrible it was. It’s been a bad four months so far, but at least I know I’m alive. The only regret I have from all this is knowing that my original family will never be replaced. No other family will bring me the happiness they did. For now, I’ll simply look forward, in hopes that I can find a new life, a life of goodness and joy, that will extinguish the past from my tainted memory. That is what I want most, nothing more. I don’t care about getting any help from anyone or anything. I’m perfectly fine with doing it on my own.”

The fighter nodded. “So you wish to abandon your past and try to renew things with the future you have. All in all, that is an understandable goal. I, however, don’t care what the future brings. All I care is that my past is also extinguished, though I keep that same past in constant reminder so that I don’t lose focus in my goal.

After their discussions, the pair fell silent. After listening to eachothers’ stories, it soon became clear to them how similar they were. Despite the differences, they both had one clear goal in mind; to see the darkness and despair from their pasts gone from their minds. They could also see that they had similar outlooks on life; they only cared about what they wanted most, and nothing else. However, as they reflected on this, they had found someone who could relate to them. For the first time in the past four months of the maroon assasin’s life, she found a sense of understanding in someone else.

“I must go now,” the fighter said. “I wish you luck in your endeavours…..that is, if you choose to go on your own.”

The maroon moon girl shook her head. “I’ve been fine with being alone, but my quest often leaves me in doubt of where I should go next on my path of life. Perhaps…I could stick with someone else. Maybe….that could help.”

The warrior nodded, and together, the two headed through the L Forest, both content that they had found someone that was worth being around. As they walked, the fighter turned to the assassin. “Damien Hawthorne,” he said.

“My captors called me ‘The Crow’ when they set me on my new life,” she said. “I will keep that name only to make it meaningful for myself, and not them.”

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Hello everyone! This chappie has a bit of a twist: I decided to take a break from Shadow and friends to put a bit more of a backstory on the maroon moon girl, not to mention ACTUALLY GIVE HER A NAME! It has some action, too, though I’ll keep bringing more of that in future chapters. Enjoy, and mountain dew goes to all readers! ^_^

Previous installments:

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