She found it slightly amusing she only came here when her mind was jumbled.
On the forefront of that? Her conversation with Zirconia and the renewed belief that no one did anything to protect the civilians. She leaned against the large wooden table in the map room, blowing air out of her nose. What she wouldn't give for someone to talk to in this room, to be honest. Ah, but that would clearly be asking too much. A breeze floated around the room, rustling papers. The Squire sighed and began to tidy the table up, in a need to do something.
She kept a tally of the 'approved methods' of both sides of the war.
One, fire. At least three instances in her memory included fire. The Negaverse had set fire to at least two buildings, while someone of the Senshi had done the same. The first of these fires was to try to destroy the Dark Mirror Court - who were supposedly aligned with the Negaverse at the time. The second was during that thing to bring their... what had the Code called it? Rift? to Destiny City. There was at least one more that she couldn't remember the circumstances, but fire was involved.
Two, mass drainage. Now, this wasn't exactly something Andronicus had a problem with per say. She got the whole "need energy to survive" thing. Yet, for some reason, all of these instances ended either in fire or kidnappings. Honestly, if you're trying to get away with draining from several hundred people at once, be discreet.
Three, murder.
Her mouth hardened into a firm line and she crossed her arms, looking down at the now tidy wooden table. The map made no real sense to her, but it gave her something to stare at. The unreadable scribbles twisted in her mind to name specific people on both sides of the line who thought murder was appropriate.
Murder.
First on that list: Castor and Pollux, a Prince and Eternal who'd declared war on Earth itself. They thought their calling just and a 'necessary evil' but they were no better than those of the Negaverse. Far, far too dangerous, and if they were creating a following of like minded individuals... Andronicus was loathe to think what might happen then.
Second: The General-Sovereigns of the Negaverse. Though faint, her memories of the future gave proof to their ruthlessness and perchance for death. That aside, there were precious few of them and rarely did you see one walking among the masses unless their army was already out.
Finally, third: Those of the Negaverse who gave into their bloodlust and became nothing more than beasts. Be them half youma or not, they were almost as dangerous as those that lead them if not more. Armed with bladed weapons and a desire for death, there were no limits to what they could do.
People were willing to kill for their cause, kill innocent people even, with no thought to collateral damage.
Her jaw locked and she dug her fingers into the table.
The worst offender of this whole war was the entire population of powered individuals and their lack of regard for collateral damage.
Buildings burned, civilians were attacked, civilians were killed. Negaverse took hostages to do... what have you, and they're not heard from again. Innocents were sacrificed to make a point. Magic was flown everywhere and no one bat an eye.
- "They don't give a rat's a** about anyone in those cities, ser! Not the Princesses, not the other Knights. They see seeds of Chaos and obliterate it!" raged the young teen among the stacks of books. Elias sighed from his post at the table, arms crossed over his chest. The young Squire slammed a fist into the table. Pain blossomed in her hand, only fueling her anger. A string of explicatives fell from her mouth, highly unbecoming of her.
"Alexia, would you rather these seeds of Chaos be allowed to blossom? It could mean ruin for all of us, not just the common folk," he told her, his voice even. She glared up at him.
"They are no less important than we are! Without them, we wouldn't have cities or worlds, ser! Just because you wish to keep Chaos at bay, doesn't mean you murder innocent families for it!" her voice broke into a scream at the end, a gale howling up the ventilation shafts. Her ser was unimpressed by the display, clearly ready to inform her that her rage was unbecoming of a young Knight of Andronicus. The Squire had a laundry list of retorts to fight back with if he did.
The older man let out a sigh, running his hand through his hair. "Then what would you do about it, my student? How would you protect the innocent while dealing with the evil that they might harbor?"
The question caught her offguard. Alexia spent the next several minutes stumbling over her words and thoughts, completely unprepared to even begin to answer that question. She finally sighed and hung her head.
"I don't... I don't know, ser. But something has to change."
Andronicus blinked, the vision fading as quickly as it had come. Something did have to change, and it was going to. Alexia may not have had the means to do it back then, but Andronicus had at one point. She would again.
It was positively suicide but, really what did she have to lose? The worst case, she'd have a bounty on her head and life would get incredibly interesting. The best case? Destiny City would finally have a force to protect the innocent. She had to do it delicately, she had to make sure that the force she created was not biased one side or the other.
The point was protecting civilians, not fighting a war. Those under her would have to learn that, even if she had to beat it into their skulls herself. Man, her a leader, that would take getting used to.
But, if not her, who? Who would stand up and finally fight back for their home? Who'd protect the old people, the parents, the children who had no magical talent to their names? How long would it take for someone to see what was really going on? Would it take half the population dying because someone blew up downtown in the middle of the day to bring youma into the city? Or when a mall was obliterated because the War Princes had begun their war?
Besides, she already had a perfect name.
The Sentinels would stand as the last line of defense between the magical forces of Destiny City, Chaos and Order, and the civilians who couldn't protect themselves. They would be bastions of protection and hope, and fight against whoever thought otherwise.
It was time to take back their city.
From everyone.
[ WC: 1246 ]
