[ Danny rushes in with the rest, feeling confident, feeling right, like he has his loved ones bringing up the rear. He's ready to charge with the lance again--but he stops short when he hears that garbled plea.
He watches Aymeric, then the pope man. Is there mercy to be had here? He waits for the response, hoping it's peaceful, but tense and battle-ready in case it's not. ]
[ Though the plead is heavy and rough, a clear pain to his words, Thordan VII seems to disagree. You see the man shake his head, and turn away from you all to continue onto the airship.
Beside you, the armoured man dashes forward to stop this at all costs while Aymeric hangs his head in bitterness. Haurchefant is somewhere behind you, shouting something with great urgency. It's your name. Again, you feel as if it's Sam and Tucker calling it out instead, a sharp shout of alarm.
Danny will see why soon enough but a little too late, as a knight stands on the roof behind you all having thrown a glowing, luminous spear, just like the one Danny held earlier, and it would have pierced Danny himself... if Haurchefant didn't step in to parry it with his shield.
His greaves slip, but he stands firm as the aetherial spear continues its assault, powered by unfathomable energy, countered by shield and will.
'...Go...!' He hears, and again, his vision distorts and he no longer sees Haurchefant, but rather, Sam and Tucker again, both pushing back against an iron shield to protect him from this spear. ]
[ Danny is just about to join the armored man in rushing Thordan, but he's drawn up short by his name being called. By Sam and Tucker. They're here, fighting alongside him. And of course they are, why wouldn't they be? They always have, always side by side with him through thick and thin. He watches them block the spear, but just barely, straining against its ongoing force.
How many times can he let them handle his messes for him? How many times can he let them throw themselves into the line of fire for him?
He thinks of Jazz, still, limp, buried in all that rubble earlier. A lump grows thick in his throat. He can't let this happen again.
It doesn't matter what they say. Danny's not leaving them. Danny's not going to come back to see their bodies too. He turns back and rushes to join them behind the shield. He looks up at the knight and throws his lance--it's far, he has no idea if he can throw that far, but he's gotta try--
He doesn't stick around to watch where it lands. He throws himself against the shield with Sam and Tucker to try and hold out against this spear. ]
[ You try your best. You decide you cannot abandon your friend(s), no matter what, and you go to keep the spear back, because you can't take it anymore -- you can't handle more loss. This fight you've been fighting, it's taken so much from you, hasn't it?
But fate is cruel. You can hear the combined voices of Haurchefant, Sam, and Tucker telling him to go, that stopping Thordan (that elf Pope) is more important, to end this -- but on top of that, you can hear the crackling of breaking iron.
It snaps, cracks, and with a burst of energy -- it shatters. And you watch before your eyes as it skewers your friends through the abdomen, and leave you not without injury either as the searing light burns through your side, leaving a deep gash [4]. But it's not lethal, not like them.
They cough up blood, and their bodies fall as the light dissipates. ]
[ The moment he hears the crack, he knows it's gone horribly wrong. Danny shouts in pain and falls over as a wave of pain washes over him. And when he gets himself up on his elbows, he sees: jagged shards of shield. And he sees: two bodies on either side of him. Sam and Tucker. Barely breathing. Twitching. Blood pumping out of their stomachs and pooling under them--under him. ]
Sam! Tuck! No--! [ He wants to do something, cover the wound, just bandage it up and help them walk it off, but. Danny knows it's already too late and that he's just watching their last few dying moments.
He wants to lay down with them. He wants to cry. He wants to give up and never move again. But that's--he can't do that. Not right now, anyway. Not when the guy who did it is right there and he's--but he's so far away.
Danny picks up his lance and looks up at the knight who killed his friends. He wants so badly to throw the lance at him again, but he knows...he's too high up for a throw to ever reach him. So instead he turns and runs towards the airship. Forget Thordan, forget his guards, all he's doing is making a crazy one-man rush for the airship with his lance out ahead of him as a battering ram/shishkebab stick. ]
[ Blood bubbles at their mouth, and it's clear you can do nothing for them. Behind you, you can vaguely sense that your other allies have turned back, stopped upon hearing the breaking of the shield, the iron thing tumbling to the side beside you. A glaring hole in its midst, a reminder of your failure to be strong enough.
Unfortunately for you, the moment taken to block the lance from spearing them was enough of a distraction. On the airship already, your enemies leave the place, soaring through the air. Thordan glances back at you, and you think you see the briefest pity -- but only that. Pity. And he looks away just as fast, set on whatever his goal is, forgetting Danny.
You hear a wheeze behind you -- they're not dead yet. ]
[ In a last ditch effort, Danny screams, anguished, as he wreaths the lance in scarlet fire (boosted by sunrise) and hurls it with all his might, hoping desperately that maybe he can at least puncture a hole in the damn airship. Let any of this not be for naught.
But when he hears the wheeze--he immediately rushes back to his friends' sides, not bothering to look back and see what's happened with his lance. ]
Sam! Tuck! Are you...you guys...
[ He kneels there in their pooling blood, hands hovering over them helplessly, at a loss for what to say. ]
[ Your surroundings shift, and nothing else matters. It's just you here, with them.
They lay, coughing blood, trying to sit up but failing. Oh, their injuries are far worse than they could have expected, and yet... there is no crying, here. Not from them.
They reach out for Danny, call his name, to hold his hand. ]
[ On autopilot, he does as they ask, grasping their hands in each of his. He holds on tight, as if that will keep them from slipping away.
He works his mouth, but he can't speak beyond the lump in his throat. He's seen them die before, sure, but...never slowly. Never the process of it. What he saw before, it was just instantaneous, one minute they were alive and well, and the next they were shrapnel.
He isn't sure if being here for their final moments like this is better or worse. ]
[ Despite the situation, they manage to smile at him.
Their voices overlap with Haurchefant's, but theirs take precedence -- truly making Danny carry the weight of what's happening before him.
'Don't cry, Danny...!' they say, with the weakest version of a smile they can muster, and a hollow laugh. Their voices fade, fast, but Danny still hears it crystal clear, even as his surroundings begin to be swathed by black and grey smoke.
They wouldn't have had it any other way, for Danny to continue living, to carry on what they can't.
[ They smile back at him... seemingly comforted by this.
...And then their hands go limp, all strength leaving them, as does the light in their eyes. There is nobody around you, only you, and these corpses -- but the knight from the rooftop leaps down and joins you, standing before you and looking down with an impassive, armoured face.
How are you feeling? Isn't this unfair? There was no reason for your friends to have to die, and yet... ]
What is there to do but get back to work? Danny looks up at the knight, staring at him both to see if he's going to do anything else, and almost as a challenge: do it, I dare you.
But if he's only going to stare back, then...Danny's going to go back inside. Regroup, or something. Even if he damaged the airship, the fight isn't over and there's still work to be done. He's just going to...have to figure out what that work is. ]
[ The knight says nothing, only watches Danny as he walks back, past him. Into the dark, perhaps. It tilts its head, and you can feel the question hanging over you, a question from yourself to your own heart.
Are you not angry? Do you not rage at the loss? At such pointless deaths, one after another?
Or is there something else that drives you, that encourages you to put foot forward after foot?
[ Danny has to stop walking, once he's no longer in the knight's line of sight. He buries the balls of his palms into his eyes.
Am I not angry?
He could be. He wants to be. He wants nothing more than to lash out at the unfairness of it all, give that knight a taste of what he just did to Danny. What he just did to his friends.
But...but he can't do that. The thought of that seizes his heart with fear, of falling into that trap. Of just perpetuating more death and pain. Vengeance is still violence.
It doesn't matter if he's angry. It doesn't matter how he feels, or what he wants to do. What matters is...what he has to do. And that's good. Helping people. Saving lives. Ending this war, or whatever else is going on. ]
[ The darkness is oppressing, but Danny's resolution prevails. Though the pain makes his heart bleed, his side aches with stabbing pain with every step, the burns on his face throb with every grimace...
He can do naught but keep moving on. The pain weighs, but it weighs as it should.
You have a goal to complete, Danny -- this rings like a mantra in his head. And he will not let the sacrifice of his friends go in vain. He can grieve later. For now...
He must keep moving forward. He must keep walking, to the end.
As he does, a light shines at the end of the tunnel. The vision of his friends' smiles bolster him...
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
saturations) wrote2022-02-28 08:34 pm
no subject
He watches Aymeric, then the pope man. Is there mercy to be had here? He waits for the response, hoping it's peaceful, but tense and battle-ready in case it's not. ]
no subject
Beside you, the armoured man dashes forward to stop this at all costs while Aymeric hangs his head in bitterness. Haurchefant is somewhere behind you, shouting something with great urgency. It's your name. Again, you feel as if it's Sam and Tucker calling it out instead, a sharp shout of alarm.
Danny will see why soon enough but a little too late, as a knight stands on the roof behind you all having thrown a glowing, luminous spear, just like the one Danny held earlier, and it would have pierced Danny himself... if Haurchefant didn't step in to parry it with his shield.
His greaves slip, but he stands firm as the aetherial spear continues its assault, powered by unfathomable energy, countered by shield and will.
'...Go...!' He hears, and again, his vision distorts and he no longer sees Haurchefant, but rather, Sam and Tucker again, both pushing back against an iron shield to protect him from this spear. ]
no subject
How many times can he let them handle his messes for him? How many times can he let them throw themselves into the line of fire for him?
He thinks of Jazz, still, limp, buried in all that rubble earlier. A lump grows thick in his throat. He can't let this happen again.
It doesn't matter what they say. Danny's not leaving them. Danny's not going to come back to see their bodies too. He turns back and rushes to join them behind the shield. He looks up at the knight and throws his lance--it's far, he has no idea if he can throw that far, but he's gotta try--
He doesn't stick around to watch where it lands. He throws himself against the shield with Sam and Tucker to try and hold out against this spear. ]
no subject
But fate is cruel. You can hear the combined voices of Haurchefant, Sam, and Tucker telling him to go, that stopping Thordan (that elf Pope) is more important, to end this -- but on top of that, you can hear the crackling of breaking iron.
It snaps, cracks, and with a burst of energy -- it shatters. And you watch before your eyes as it skewers your friends through the abdomen, and leave you not without injury either as the searing light burns through your side, leaving a deep gash [4]. But it's not lethal, not like them.
They cough up blood, and their bodies fall as the light dissipates. ]
no subject
Sam! Tuck! No--! [ He wants to do something, cover the wound, just bandage it up and help them walk it off, but. Danny knows it's already too late and that he's just watching their last few dying moments.
He wants to lay down with them. He wants to cry. He wants to give up and never move again. But that's--he can't do that. Not right now, anyway. Not when the guy who did it is right there and he's--but he's so far away.
Danny picks up his lance and looks up at the knight who killed his friends. He wants so badly to throw the lance at him again, but he knows...he's too high up for a throw to ever reach him. So instead he turns and runs towards the airship. Forget Thordan, forget his guards, all he's doing is making a crazy one-man rush for the airship with his lance out ahead of him as a battering ram/shishkebab stick. ]
no subject
Unfortunately for you, the moment taken to block the lance from spearing them was enough of a distraction. On the airship already, your enemies leave the place, soaring through the air. Thordan glances back at you, and you think you see the briefest pity -- but only that. Pity. And he looks away just as fast, set on whatever his goal is, forgetting Danny.
You hear a wheeze behind you -- they're not dead yet. ]
no subject
But when he hears the wheeze--he immediately rushes back to his friends' sides, not bothering to look back and see what's happened with his lance. ]
Sam! Tuck! Are you...you guys...
[ He kneels there in their pooling blood, hands hovering over them helplessly, at a loss for what to say. ]
no subject
They lay, coughing blood, trying to sit up but failing. Oh, their injuries are far worse than they could have expected, and yet... there is no crying, here. Not from them.
They reach out for Danny, call his name, to hold his hand. ]
no subject
He works his mouth, but he can't speak beyond the lump in his throat. He's seen them die before, sure, but...never slowly. Never the process of it. What he saw before, it was just instantaneous, one minute they were alive and well, and the next they were shrapnel.
He isn't sure if being here for their final moments like this is better or worse. ]
no subject
Their voices overlap with Haurchefant's, but theirs take precedence -- truly making Danny carry the weight of what's happening before him.
'Don't cry, Danny...!' they say, with the weakest version of a smile they can muster, and a hollow laugh. Their voices fade, fast, but Danny still hears it crystal clear, even as his surroundings begin to be swathed by black and grey smoke.
They wouldn't have had it any other way, for Danny to continue living, to carry on what they can't.
'A smile --' ]
HAURCHEFANT ...better suits a hero.
no subject
He barks out a laugh, thick and wet. ]
Yeah. Yeah...I know. You're right.
no subject
...And then their hands go limp, all strength leaving them, as does the light in their eyes. There is nobody around you, only you, and these corpses -- but the knight from the rooftop leaps down and joins you, standing before you and looking down with an impassive, armoured face.
How are you feeling? Isn't this unfair? There was no reason for your friends to have to die, and yet... ]
no subject
What is there to do but get back to work? Danny looks up at the knight, staring at him both to see if he's going to do anything else, and almost as a challenge: do it, I dare you.
But if he's only going to stare back, then...Danny's going to go back inside. Regroup, or something. Even if he damaged the airship, the fight isn't over and there's still work to be done. He's just going to...have to figure out what that work is. ]
no subject
Are you not angry? Do you not rage at the loss? At such pointless deaths, one after another?
Or is there something else that drives you, that encourages you to put foot forward after foot?
What is it? Your heart begs to know. ]
no subject
Am I not angry?
He could be. He wants to be. He wants nothing more than to lash out at the unfairness of it all, give that knight a taste of what he just did to Danny. What he just did to his friends.
But...but he can't do that. The thought of that seizes his heart with fear, of falling into that trap. Of just perpetuating more death and pain. Vengeance is still violence.
It doesn't matter if he's angry. It doesn't matter how he feels, or what he wants to do. What matters is...what he has to do. And that's good. Helping people. Saving lives. Ending this war, or whatever else is going on. ]
no subject
He can do naught but keep moving on. The pain weighs, but it weighs as it should.
You have a goal to complete, Danny -- this rings like a mantra in his head. And he will not let the sacrifice of his friends go in vain. He can grieve later. For now...
He must keep moving forward. He must keep walking, to the end.
As he does, a light shines at the end of the tunnel. The vision of his friends' smiles bolster him...
He returns to the book room. ]