Welcome to Gaia! ::

Trigger Warning for violence and death.


The room itself was quiet when they stepped out from behind the hidden door. Lucien was taking no chances and enveloped himself and Alastor in protective magic that hid their auras. From what Marius told them, if these invaders were able to stop Princess, then perhaps they knew more secrets about Knights and Senshi than was acceptable for those with no magic.

Although perhaps that was a debate for another time.

Thunder rumbled overhead, which was common for Jupiter, but there was a heaviness in the air. From the magic he could sense, it was as though the Wonder itself was in distress.

“I don’t hear any disturbance nearby,” he quietly confirmed, following behind Devyn as he unsheathed the sword at his side, ready for whatever stood in their way.

Madison was already feeling overstimulated from a big cat tail being stuck in his face during the trip over, but focused on the task at hand once they were able to step out of the small room. He looked around, clearly judging everything --

And then jumping the first time thunder shook the entire building.

“People can live here like this?” he sputtered, clutching at his heart. There were storms on Alastor of course, but that didn’t mean he liked them there instead! But to be in a constant storm? He was sure they got used to it, but he was already ready to go home.

“Is it usually this dim? Do they have poor lighting? My eyes hurt already. And they read a lot here?” Madison squinted at the lights along the wall, and sure enough at the shimmering green light that seemed to appear around wherever Devyn walked or touched.

It seemed to pulse slowly, and then fade to almost nothing. The crystals along the walls fluctuated as well.

While Lucien had a lot of respect for Dr. Eld as a physician and tactician, he still held his hand out to make sure the doctor didn’t get too close to Devyn, already anticipating the potential need for his magic.

Normally he would have offered to scout ahead, but in this case it wouldn’t matter who they came across. It would be a fight regardless.

There seemed to be nothing for them to come across for the entire upper hall where Percy’s rooms were located, but as soon as they started to descend, there was significantly more activity.

While it wasn’t clear what the voices were saying, there seemed to be some kind of trouble at the front gates. Apparently there was an eagle that could route lightning and was attacking those from their group that approached, but any of the people who were living or studying there seemed to avoid any damage as they passed through the gates.

“Clever distraction,” Lucien surmised. The eagle likely belonged to Serge. Although where he was, Lucien wasn’t sure. “I do not feel him if he’s powered. I do not believe Percy to be either-- no… I feel something faint,” he corrected after a moment, then eyed the way the gently pulsing light around Devyn’s hand seemed to react in greeting, but flickered and faded.

It looked like it was trying to respond, but didn’t have enough energy. Although how could a building have energy…? Lucien could only assume it was connected to Percy.

The moment they heard other voices, Madison was silent. He had his sword ready and he observed the halls in front of them as well as behind. The lights swirling around Devyn’s feet seemed desperate to guide him forward. Every so often they faded completely before pulsing back into life, almost like it had dozed off.

“A group is coming this way,” he hissed lowly, his own hand placed against the wall, although he was not given as warm of a welcome as Devyn had with the lights. He could feel the vibrations, though.

As they drew closer they could make out what they were talking about. How they were going to just cut their losses and try again with a more pliable Knight. Maybe they’d have more luck if the Knight wasn’t related to the others in the area.

As instructed, Lucien took a step back and made sure Dr. Eld remained out of sight for the moment. Devyn was strong and hardly needed their assistance when it came to delivering decisive blows. The action was swift and efficient. It was only when the men had collapsed that Lucien stepped out to follow Devyn.

The dying men received a disdainful, unsympathetic glance from the Mauvian. He didn’t put them out of their misery. He didn’t care what their motives were, but if they were seeking information from Sessrumnir by force, Lucien could only assume they intended to cause mass destruction with countless innocent lives at stake.

This group of criminals would be dealt with swiftly.

Madison made a face as he passed the men now in pools of their own blood. He wasn’t sympathetic, nor was he at all squeamish about blood or gore, but it was sometimes difficult to suppress his instinct to try and help others. As much as he seemed to despise everyone.

Unfortunately, they were no longer alone. While there had been no screams, there had been enough of a commotion that apparently drew the attention of others resting in a room nearby.

“What the--” one of the men stared with shock at the scene in the hall, and then lunged at Madison with his weapon drawn. <********>--” Madison hissed as he spun around to counter the man with his own sword.

“Keep going!” Lucien shouted to Devyn, immediately turning to return to the doctor’s side, knocking the man back with a strike of his own, before slicing across his chest. A kick meant he would join the pile of bodies already on the floor.

But one of the other men had already taken off down an adjacent hall.

Whatever time they had, it had now shortened significantly.

Now, with the bodies left in Sailor Alastor’s wake, it was obvious that there was a battle taking place. It didn’t matter how many were involved on either side. The finality in which Devyn delivered his strikes was enough.

The lights continued to dance and flicker. Slower than before, like they were tired and running out of energy. The Wonder was bringing Devyn directly to the vault, or at least the large room preceding it.

Several more men burst out from the darkness of the halls, which used to be bright with light, but had steadily dimmed over the last few minutes. Torches had been lit instead, providing the attackers with some light, as archaic as it was.

Each of them dove at Devyn, swung weapons at him, and were struck down. They were just one more obstacle in his way--

“You’ve already lost,” a man across the room sneered as Devyn finally joined him. It was the same one who had been in charge of the attack, although Devyn wouldn’t have known that. He had Princess’s fang in his hand, and a sword pointed at an unconscious Knight of Sessrumnir on the ground in a pool of blood, right next to another body of a young man.

“Even if it’s not me, there will always be someone else. Once they’ve replaced this one, we will try again, and again. We can be patient,” he said, apparently aware that he would likely not make it out unscathed or at all. He didn’t seem to fear death.

In fact, with this gesture, he clearly welcomed it. Perhaps he thought he would be hailed a hero or martyr for whatever cause they did all of this for. It didn’t matter.

“I just wanted you to see this,” he grinned, no longer wearing a mask and bearing his teeth in the dim light as he raised the sword and swung down. There was no way for Devyn to cross the distance in the time it took to bring the sword down.

A beam of light brightened the room as it struck the man’s arm, knocking the sword away and forcing him backwards away from Percy.

With how many men Devyn had brought down, it had given Lucien and Dr. Eld enough time to catch up. Lucien had the quietly cursing doctor under his arm, apparently suffering from a few cuts and bruises, and likely a twisted ankle, but was mostly in one piece. Lucien’s white uniform was stained red, but other than a few tears in the fabric here and there it was impossible to tell if the blood was his or someone else’s.

There was no time to exchange conversation. Not when the man was already shaking out his numbed arm and lunging for his dropped sword.

Percy didn’t open his eyes. He was still alive, as was evident by the flickering green lights that illuminated the stone around him, but he didn’t respond to Devyn’s touch or his hoarse voice.

“Let me try,” Madison offered, wiggling out of Lucien’s hold so he could limp over to where Devyn knelt by Percy. He didn’t seem at all bothered by the carnage, and instead focused on the survivors-- well. One survivor that mattered.

He first checked Percy’s pulse, and when he determined it was stable enough to wake him, Madison withdrew a small vial from one of his pockets. He opened it and waved it under Percy’s nose for a couple seconds.

It was then that Percy woke with a gasp, and immediately made an attempt to scramble away from the blurry images looming over him, using what he could of his hands and feet to push those around him away.

Madison clicked his tongue and quickly moved the vial away from being knocked out of his hands, letting Devyn deal with the panicked Knight.

“We encountered Valhalla’s men in the hall. They cleared out any of those who were trying to escape. From my understanding, Valhalla was trying to get in contact with the Council, because the rumor was that Percy had been kept safe with them. At least that was the lies these men spread,” Lucien nodded towards the wall where the man was quickly bleeding out and silenced by the help of Princess’s fang.

Out of respect for the dead, Lucien quietly lowered himself to his knee to turn the young student over, wanting to at least grant him some dignity in his final rest, but--

“He’s still alive,” Lucien stared in shock and mild alarm (and met with a comment of ‘bullshit’ from Dr. Eld), and immediately checked for a pulse after not being met with the icy cold of a corpse. Sure enough, it was weak, but there. The wound he’d received had been sealed as well, as if by magic.

Or perhaps…

Lucien observed the way the green lights pulsed in the stone beneath the young man, then turned his gaze to Percy as he awoke and made his weak attempt to escape.

His vision was swimming. The voices sounded distant--

But unlike the voices he’d gotten used to over the past couple hours, these were kind. Worried.

How was that possible? Devyn was away on a mission. He wasn’t expected back for several more days, at least.

His head throbbed. His body ached. He was scared. Angry.

“Dev?” he choked, clearly disbelieving that this could be real.

Percy struggled to push himself up to sit. His arms shook from the effort, but it didn’t matter. All he wanted to do was throw himself into Devyn’s arms and hold him and cry. He hadn’t allowed himself to cry yet. But with Devyn there, it meant everything would be okay.

So he did just that and managed to at least collapse against him, clinging desperately to him as he tried to muffle the sound of his sobs against Devyn’s chest. It was the most he could manage to move at the moment.

He shook his head to answer. He didn’t know how to respond. He had too many injuries to list out. So he just held onto his husband, not wanting to let go again any time soon. He doubted he had the energy to do much more, anyway.

“Stabbed, it looks like. I am not sure first aid would help. The wound has already closed. I suspect time in the Springs may help,” Lucien suggested, although he couldn’t help but frown at the sight of both Devyn and Percy covered in blood -- their own and others.

“That’s scientifically impossible,” Madison stared, incredulous. Although his voice was weaker than his normal barking. He scowled at the child now in Lucien’s arms, not understanding how he could have been stabbed and healed, before looking back to Percy.

“You both look like s**t. Can you stand?” he asked Devyn, forcing himself to get up. They couldn’t just stay there, even if the large vault door made him curious about what secrets were so important that people were willing to kill and die for them.

There was suddenly more commotion in the hall. The sound of many feet running quickly to their location, the sound of commanding and strong voices issuing orders and things to report.

Serge pushed his way into the room first. He looked pale from worry but was in good shape, despite the blood on his uniform. He took only a moment to observe the group, before his eyes narrowed on the body of the man against the wall. He gestured for some of his soldiers to enter and they started by verifying the man’s status, and removing him to pack up.

“Alastor,” he nodded in greeting. Although there was a tension in his voice, he looked like he was genuinely relieved to see him there.

“I’m going to assume you were the one who made my men’s jobs easier.”

He took a few steps towards the two, looked like he wanted to reach out and maybe touch his brother’s hair or… something… but refrained once he could see that Percy was alive and well enough to cry.

“I apologize for not getting here sooner. They set up a counter disturbance at Valhalla to keep me occupied. Thank you, brother,” he nodded and reached out to clasp Devyn’s shoulder for a moment before taking a step back again.

“Sessrumnir has been secured. My soldiers are taking care of the clean up.”

Madison was clearly unimpressed by the arrival of this Knight with a scary looking face. He rolled his eyes and crossed his arms over his chest during the exchange.

“As great as this all is, can we move? I have patients to tend to. ********… just barge in like oh it’s been secured, yeah well great job could have used you twenty minutes ago. a*****e.”

He grumbled and hissed as he limped passed the others towards the door. He was getting claustrophobic in there, anyway.

“Please forgive his rudeness. It’s been a long day,” Lucien nodded politely to Valhalla, and then allowed one of the soldiers with a medical armband to take the young student.

“Assuming the Springs are secured as well,” Lucien started, and then drew in a long suffered sigh just thinking about the humidity. “I believe that may be the best place to start.”

“Understood,” Lucien bowed his head in acknowledgement to Alastor, then turned so he could exit the room and catch up with an already protesting Dr. Eld. “It will only be for a short while,” he promised, although he looked slightly irritated that the doctor was already refusing.

“I can walk just fine! It’s not that bad!” Madison hissed, although he was clearly in pain because his words were not as biting as they usually were. Unfortunately for him, it didn’t seem as if anyone respected his boundaries because the big dumb cat decided to scoop him up into his arms anyway!

Serge said nothing to stop Alastor from approaching the corpse and removing the bloodied fang, although he was momentarily offended on his own summon’s behalf. Then again, his summon was housed in a pretty little pocket watch that Liesel got him, and probably couldn’t use it as a makeshift weapon.

He warily watched the exchange between the Mavuian and doctor, before turning to nod once more to Alastor. He was frustrated that things like this kept happening. He shouldn’t have to worry about his brother’s life being in danger every time a visitor arrived at Sessrumnir.

“I shall check in later,” he agreed. “I will have a more thorough report for you then.”

In Devyn’s arms, it was as though the heavy build up of tension and stress was finally melting away. There was still a lot to be worried about, but Percy’s resolve to stay awake and alert wavered easily in the safety Devyn offered.

He heard voices, but kept his eyes squeezed shut. He could smell blood and fire and sweat, but he didn’t want to open his eyes to look.

If the tension hadn’t finally left him and he hadn’t dozed off into semi-consciousness once more, he might have been grateful to see his brother. But for now, all he knew was the embrace of Devyn’s arms.