The blur....The smell....Smoke filled even his lungs here under the rubble. Akatski could feel the wooden plank through his abdomen and simply lost the will to fight the pain. He had lost. His only real reason for going on anymore was to win and since he lost what good was moving anymore" Wait....This pain, what was it' He groaned and moved his arm only to feel the fresh sting from it burn at his elbow.

Still lost to the world he turned his head to the side and droopy eyes turned to what had once been an arm but now was a hunk of smashed flesh bleeding from a torn section just above the middle of his bicep. He could even see the bone piercing the red meat and broken in two. So that explains why his shirt was wet on the side" Oh....He grasped it then.

Dahlia was going to be furious when he came home with his clothes this bloody and ripped. He smirked and rolled his head back to look at the mass of fallen lumber over him like a burning damn. She wouldn't be angry....He was going to die here. His whole life he had been fighting the odds and it seemed he was not as strong as he thought he was. Death actually sounded nice now, it felt like a release from this hell he had been born into.

A drip of liquid in an utterly dry place hit his right eye and blinking it away he grew confused why the orange the fire cast over his little mound, this was his mound if he was dying here he was claiming it, had suddenly become red.

That sound, like someone had lost their breath and was trying to scream as they gasped....He couldn't quite place what it was though. His eyes still looked up confused and dazed as one of the logs at the top was torn free and a bloody hand burned and ravaged began pulling at the stone and wood. A dainty little hand, feminine in its' own rights but clearly used and abused. Well of course it was bloody and ripped apart.

As the second log was ripped away he caught a glimpse of silver and blue, something that looked liked armored breasts and red hair pulled into a half tail. That really only matched one person he knew. He knew those huge breasts personally.

His mouth opened and he tried to lift up much to his chagrin of forgetting what was going through his abdomen. But that pain was just what he needed to slap him in the face like a cold bucket of water. Crimson eyes narrowed and squinted when the dim sunlight hit them and he hissed at the hole he was now all to aware of going through him. "God damn it Dahlia! This hurts!" He groaned and finally arched his back as his stomach slid up the wooden stake going through him with a scream of utter pain.

Dahlia had been so involved in snatching off the debris she hadn't paid any heed to the offspring in the area. After all the Cataclysm himself had just been here and they tended to avoid their father and where he moved about out of fear of being eaten. She didn't care though, they could descend on her for all she cared just as long as she was able to get Akatski out of this death trap of a city.

Her terrified and solemn expression lit up when she heard his voice even if it was in agony. That just meant he was alive. She just had to get him out of here and she could heal him. "Master Akatski!" She was a happy woman suddenly. The man she loved was alive, her master was still alive. She grabbed another board and began to heave it off with twice the effort, three times when she saw his face. "Just a little more then we can escape, master!" She heaved and snatched the boards again.

"W-What about Aegis"....I didn't hit him with the bomb..." Akatski groaned out to her. He was fading fast, she could tell when he began to speak without that robust and arrogant confidence. But by the sisters if she would leave him to burn to death, "What"! You have never seen the ocean"! Ohhh....Heh. I know what we are doing when this is over. Imagine it Dahlia! Sun over your head....the sand under your feet....And all the watermelon you can eat by a ton of water!?, He still had a promise to keep. That was the first time a master had ever shown enough compassion to do something without her having to spread her legs to get it. This man was her savior and she would rather die before he did.

It was the sight of his arm that made her pause and a harsh raspy gush of air left her throat. Her eyes widened seeing him pinned to the ground like a snake and her heart tightened seeing the way his face twisted and bunched with the weight pushing down on him. Her chest rose and fell far too fast for her to even hear the world outside this small pile that once was a house.

Her fingers drug along the wood and she began to rip at the wood faster pulling it off the pile along with the stone even as her bloody fingers tore and broke. She whimpered catching her lip between her teeth when one of the stones was fumbled and fell on her hand. She felt the warm touch of blood on them but it didn't stop her and she only continued to tear at the wood. Her whole world was under this debris and as he tore at the wood piercing him lifting the stack she could see which needed to be taken off.

Finally she had a hole large enough to pull the piece piercing him out of his abdomen so he could roll over and out of the way. It was heavy, the top still had the joint on it and even for a Sudonian this was something that she had to scream to pull free from him. She was a war elf after all.

When master rolled to the side she rolled her shoulder to the left so the banister clattered and crashed through the rubble. It seemed to scratch his side but compared to the pain that made him coil in a ball it look minuscule. There was no telling the internal damage that gushing wound had left inside him. She never once looked around them she was consumed.

Akatski's eyes widened and he began to thrash forward. When the warmth hit his face it wasn't the same as when he had felt it every other time, This time it made his stomach knot and his eyes cloud in tears. A different warmth ran down his face as he screamed out heavily. The warmth continued to hit his body even as he screamed and thrashed to stand.

"————————————————————————- ———————

When I was bought on the selling block by that fat Uther I honestly thought I would be bearing his children until the day my womb finally shriveled or he found me to old and gray for him. He used to rut around inside me and squirm on me like some wild animal sweating and panting while he expected me to find that attractive and return the enthusiasm. I was less than impressed with his performance but as the pretty elven slave girl what could I do' I was fourteen and he was an unaging.

I lived with that man until I was twenty years old before the Crusaders sent you to hunt him, master. The dull and, like the rest of him, unimpressive black magic he was performing enough to send a low ranking witch hunter after him. But they didn't see it, the way you cleaved his creations in two and fought a noble trained from childhood to the death....You were like a force of nature. It awed me. That was the first time I saw an immortal be slain. I still have dreams about you rushing in and ending that wretch.

I was afraid to speak to you at first I will admit it, I thought you would find this little elf girl a pest and strike me down as well....Imagine my surprise when you were already on me while I was trying to escape and asking me those questions. Awkward...Hehe but cute. I could tell right away you hadn't spoken to many women. Even the way you acted when you found out about my children was cute, the sheer shock and way you stumbled warmed my heart. It was the final straw when you took them to good homes. I was a slave and had no possessions to my name or way to raise them....

I was even more shocked when you stole me away like a prize and brought me back to Stonewall, heh your little elf princess you called me. Come to think of it you are younger than me, I should have chastised you for calling me those cutesy names.....But I loved it. I used to eat it up. I was happy to have a master that was so attentive to me and treated me so lovingly. I was a selfish girl I know but it was my little treat.

Did you know the maid at the institute had a crush on you master" She used to come to the servants quarters giddy as a schoolgirl that you pet her head or told her something sweet. I remember the little smirk I used to have when she would make me so jealous speaking that way then that night I would climb into your bed and curl up behind you. She would survive and I was able to sleep with you.

Remember when I was afraid of thunder every time it stormed" I'm sorry master but I lied. I simply wanted to be babied by you a little more than usual. Did you know you smell like hay and sunlight' I know weird combination but it used to make me feel so safe on the odd times I did feel afraid. Like the storm was my imagination and it was simply a clear day. I think it was because you worked with the horses so often.

I remember when you taught Kiko how to ride Echo and it made me so jealous I tried to take her out one night and learn how to ride on my own......You found out the next day when I came back with that big bruise on my back and waited until it was healed then taught me to ride. It was wonderful, I see why you liked it so much. I was just hurt and prideful so I told you it was stupid. I wish we would have rode more often...

I should have kept my mouth shut and been happy with being at your back. But I wanted more. I wanted Kiko's place in your heart and when I was given it I didn't even know. I have been at your back for seven years now master and when you pulled me to your side I didn't even know how to act.

I am yours master. Whether you knew it or not the moment you pulled me out of that bottomless pit you were my entire world, the man of my dreams, what I dreamed of and who I wanted more than anything.

The night you took me and we kissed I shivered and cried from the way it felt just like I had imagined it would, you tasted like the sweetest honey....No it was better than my imagination, it was the real thing. My heart soared and I was so afraid you would hear it pounding in my chest.

I wish we didn't have to fight a war that had nothing to do with us......Let the gods fight their own war and let us go about our own lives. I could give you the children you wanted and we could enjoy our nights more, I know you said Johann was like your own son but I also know you wanted children of your own....But that is wishful thinking now and the war has already begun and honestly if you fight him with everything you have it would be over. Don't get me wrong master, I'm not scolding you I'm just speaking my mind on the subject. All you have to do is....Let go.

But master....

Akatski".

Please don't forget me....

Darrion stood staring off the ship's deck with the other survivors at the smoke until the massive column of blue tore the city scape apart and swallowed the city's west side as it pierced the sky and set an eerie blue glow to the clouds around it. The boy he had been sent to protect stared at the light and pressed his lips together with a deep gulp, his fingers tangling in the man's pants as he watched.

He looked up from red hair fearfully and a small pair of pointed ears came into view as hair disheveled. "Mister...." He was afraid to ask the rest.

Darrion's eyes met the boy's, gray blue for dull chocolate, before he snatched him up and held him on his waist. Thankfully the boy was small and he was easy to carry around. Darrion's smile was strained but a child shouldn't be able to pick it up. "Johann, your Ma and Da will be just fine. It takes more than a demon to hurt them." Even in the brilliant bright blue that shined on the on lookers and boat the dread on their faces was easily seen.

The boy only pressed his lips into a line and nodded then leaned against the man to wait on them.