Note: The following scene contain's characters and places linked to my character, Seneca March's involvement in the roleplay This is Your Story. However, this is a scene written for my own amusement, because I saw it playing inside of my head and couldn't resist. It actually has nothing to do with the real role-play at this point in time. Also note that it is probably full of grammatical errors and typing slip-ups. It was, after all, writing around 4-5 in the morning.

Everything seemed to be falling apart as people ran this way and that, looks of terror on their faces. No one had expected the attact; enemies within the walls of the kingdom with so many guards on duty... It just wasn't something that had been planned for. Seneca and Cassus did their best to usher the royal family of Virsana into the safety of one of the castle towers. With their swords drawn, they baracaded the door and stood between it and those they swore to protect. The family was all there: Edward, Ace, Mika, and Richard. The faces of Ryn and Bambi were also there, the small Virsana company all crowded, alert, and frightened. And that was when the flames grabbed hold of Seneca's attention.

Outside, from the view of the tower, she could see the inn had been set ablaze. That inn was the very same one in which her brother was staying while he sold his baked goods from a street cart. "Khael..." she whispered under her breath. Her brow quivered as she found herself faced with a dilemma. She was sworn to protect the royal family, but her younger brother had been her passion in life since childhood, and he was the only family she had left; the only one to carry on their family name. The young princess heard the guard's soft whisper and gently placed a hand on her arm. "Seneca, go to your brother. We'll be fine," she said, turning to look with stern eyes up at her father. The king looked from Mika to Seneca and just nodded. Seneca hesitated and looked at the faces around the room. They all seemed to understand, so with a nod, she fled from the tower, from the castle, from the grounds, and into the chaotic streets of the city.

High abover her head, familiar colorful wings zipped past her towards the inn, a loud caw echoing in the smokey night sky. The sounds sounded here and there as evil men on horseback attacked the civilians. Sword and shield ready, Seneca fought her way along the cobblestone paths. A horse galloped toward her carrying a man, his sword raised high in the air. Raising her shield, she blocked his attack and returned with her own, striking him and knocking him from his steed. She continued her mad dash, stopping to help a pregnant woman to her feet, guiding her out of the line of fire before continuing her bee-line towards the inn.

Finally reaching her destination, she darted inside in time to see Tinsel soar around the corner of the upper level towards the room Khael had been in. Her heavy metal feet bounded up the wooden stairs and around the corner where Tinsel was rested in the rafters, wings stretched outward as his feathers ruffled from the excitement in the air. With a grunt, Seneca kicked the door of the room open and quickly stepped inside, lowering shield at the sight which greeted her: the lamp was knocked off the end table, the matress had been sliced open, feathers strewn everywhere. Papers had been blown and shredded. An obvious struggle had taken place here, but two other things alerted Seneca.

Khael was no where to be found, yet, on the floor with a broken wing, Tinsel's silver sister, Starr, struggled to try and get up, but was to badly injured. "Tinsel," Seneca called to her own falcon. "Take to the sky and find Khael!" she ordered as she scooped up the injured bird. Finding a torn piece of paper, she scribed a quick note and, cradling Starr, made her way back down stairs and out of the inn where she grabbed the first young boy she could find. "Take this bird to the palace and find Meilin. Give her this note," she said, shoving the bird at the boy. The note was explaining that the bird was precious to Seneca, and, having befriended Meilin before, she pleaded with the healer to keep Starr alive.

In the chaos again, Seneca's dull brown eyes, alert and alive, scanned the sky for her falcon. It wasn't hard to spot hsi brightly colored feathers through the dark smokey sky. He was hoving over the brewery, circling like he was about to dive in for his prey. The guard's eyes followed the bird's flight path to the ground and that's where she spotted a rather large armored man tugging her thin frail blonde brother along. "Khael!" she cried out, her eyes growing large as she quickly began to run in his direction.

But she was forced backwards as a horse dashed by her, nearly knocking her off her feet as her focus had only been on the elven-looking boy who's hands were bound behind his back. The man was trying to force him up on the back of a large grey horse. "KHAEL!!" Seneca bellowed louder, again gaining momentum towards her brother. This time, he'd heard her over the roar of the battle going on in the streets. "Seneca!" he called out her name, just as a woman to Seneca's left was being grabbed and forced to the ground.

In a rage, Seneca paused and rose her sword, striking the man on the back of the neck hard with the butt of the handle. He let out a loud grunt and fell in a puddle of muddy water as the woman gathered her skirts and ran for fear, no thanks or anything to the female guard that had just saved her. Shaking it off, Seneca quickly directed her focus back towards her brother. He was on the horse back and the man was mounted and taking hold of the reins. With a loud cracking of a whip, the grey horse began to pull its weight causing Khael's head to bounce violently as he again called his sister's name, "Seneca!!" He had a look of absolute terror in his deep blue eyes, a look that Seneca hadn't seen since their mother died so many years prior.

Feeling her heart fill with rage and fright, she ran as fast as her feet could carry her. The man in charge of the horse knew he wasn't forcing the beast to go its full velocity as he cackled at Seneca's efforts to reach her brother. "You'll never catch up, girl! Say bye-bye!" he mocked her. But still, she forced herself to move faster, sweat drenching her as she did so. She felt her throat burn and her legs quivering, wanting to stop, but she wouldn't allow it. Khael was all she had. Who else was going to love her the way only family could? She couldn't lose the very last precious thing in her life! She had to reach him! And then-

Pain. It caught her in the lung the way a fish hook caught a bass. Her back arched, eyes grew wide yet shrunk at the same time, and she lost her footing. The arrow shot from another rider who had appeared behind her caught her, piercing through the weak spot in her armor just below her shoulder blade. She gasped for air, but she could only taste copper in her mouth. Writhing on the ground, her vision began to blur. Seneca March looked up in time to see hooves dash past her and hear her brother cry her name one last time, his blue eyes growing fuzzy before she muttered his name through a mouth full of blood, and then her world went black.

Three suns and three moons went by before Seneca finally woke up late the fourth morning. She found herself in a warm bed surrounded by flowers, a bandage wrapped around her chest and shoulder accompanied by an unbelievable stiff feeling. She tried to sit up, but so much pain ran through her body that she cried out and bit down on her lip, forcing herself to continue to sit up. Once in that position, she panted, trying to remember where she was. And that's when images of her brother filtered through her mind, and the feeling of a phantom arrow shot through her bandages. She closed her eyes, feeling herself grow angry, and for some reason, she felt the need to get out of bed.

She swung her feet over the side of the bed, her arm in a sling, she was dressed in a long white robe. Wincing as she rose to her feet, she just stood there in silence for a moment. The image of her brother being taken played over and over in her head. First, her mind ended with the man punching him in the face and knocking him out. Then the scene ended with Khael being through in prison in a foreign land. Finally, t ended with him being murdered outside of the city walls, his corpse being left to mock the kingdom which had been pillaged. Each time, the scene had a different, horrible ending, and each ending made Seneca's heart pound harder and harder.

"Khael..." she murmured, taking one step forward. And then she stumbled quickly to the doorway of her room, gripping the paneling to stop herself from falling. "Khael!" she called again, panting as the pain from her wounds became more intense. She looked down the hall, and while she knew her brother was not there, she still was not one to give up. "KHAEL!!!" she called out in a rage, the voice echoing in the large empty corridor as she tried to run. She had to get out of the palace and find him! But her body was weak from days of bed rest and she strumbled. Feelings of weakness, anger and frustration rose within her throat soon joined by a stinging in her nostrils and eyes. A loud growl escaped her as the fist of her uninjured arm slammed against the ground.

Seneca let out a sob. For the first time since she was a child, tears found their freedom from the corners of her eyes, streaming down her face. And she sobbed and sobbed, her fist uncurling as her hand covered her face. He was gone. Her little brother had been taken and may or may not be alive and she was powerless to stop it. Little did she know, she wasn't alone in that corridor. A familiar man had been standing on the other side of the hallway, a place she had failed to check, and had witnessed her breakdown. Lucky for her, he was one of the few people she felt she could trust her own life with, her fellow guard, Cassus.