Kallen
More than a month had passed since Kallen had set out for the dragon's cave. He gazed upon the distant grey wall of the Dark City, feeling relieved that he was nearly there.
There was a certain guilt at the thought of the girl he'd left waiting there. Not that he'd thought of her much on his voyage. Between them was something unspokenm—though just because it was unspoken, didn't mean they hadn't acted on it.
She was probably worried sick. The rest of his squad was likely the same. Convinced he'd gone off and died. But he had been too busy surviving to think about typical teenage stuff. Or, well was he a teenager anymore?
He'd been two months away from 19 at the solstice. How long had he been on the Forgotten Shore for?
His hair was far too long, despite him cutting the bangs himself on occasion. There was a bit of stubble on his face that he struggled to keep clean shaven, and his armor, Widow's Husk, had accumulated visible damage, despite numerous repairs in the soul sea.
If all went well, however, he probably wouldn't need it for long.
~~~
In no time at all, Kallen was standing before the gates of the castle, two guards looking at him with a strange unease. They couldn't have known that he was an enemy of Gunlaug, for they were too low in the hierarchy, most likely.
Which meant that it was his appearance alone that unsettled them.
But still, a brave guard stepped forward, and said, "State your name and occupation."
"Open the damn door."
They shared a nervous look before nodding and turning to the gate. With great effort, they shoved it open and he walked in. The same man was sitting at the receptionist desk as when Kallen had first come to the castle. Harper, he thought was the guy's name.
He was staring at Kallen, apparently more nervous than the other two guards had been. He had a good face for being afraid. It suited him quite well.
"Welcome back to the Bright Castle," Harper said.
Kallen ignored him, walking past without so much as sparing a glance. He had somewhere to be and it certainly wasn't here.
He made his way to Gunlaug's quarters.
The throne room stood quiet and stalwart, as if the tides of history weren't going to change in the span of a few days. Though, that was of no importance to the throne of the bright castle anyways. It had seen many leaders come through, great and benevolent, or tyrannical, and oppressive. Weak willed, strong willed, careless or careful?
What would Kallen be? Would he achieve greatness, or would he crumble under the weight of pressure? Only time would tell.
He waltzed in the throne room, his reputation as the most celebrated Hunter save for the leader of them, allowed this privilege.
The Bright Lord himself sat at the far end, flanked by his generals as if he knew to expect company. It didn't much matter. Kallen wasn't here for a fight. He avoided his reflection in Gunlaug's mask.
"You've come empty handed." It was a statement, nothing more.
Kallen nodded. "I have. I barely escaped alive, my lord."
The golden man shifted in his throne, as though assessing his 'subject' with a scrutinizing gaze, hidden behind the film of his helmet. "I do believe returning with nothing to show for yourself is a punishable offense. Is it not?"
"If I may," Kallen said, feeling uncomfortable prostrating himself on a knee. "I believe I actually did you a favor."
"He's afraid you have figured out his flaw." The voice of Ariel came quick and sweet. Kallen nearly smiled there in the throne room, because what he'd just heard confirmed what he knew the Bright Lord's flaw to be.
It had to do with being in someone's debt. And being forced to repay that debt, no matter what. But Kallen couldn't act on it right now, not with that hunchback present, as well as Tessai, Gemma, and Seishan.
And so he corrected himself, "I felt it was most pertinent to escape with my life in tact, as I learned something in that cave that I think you'll find important."
Though Gunlaug's face was hidden, and Kallen's gaze was turned to the side, he could practically feel the displeased expression by the set of his shoulders. There was a tension. Gunlaug didn't know what Kallen's game here was.
"Then, speak."
"I saw a Titan, your grace." Kallen took the opportunity to stare at his feet in a show of false piety. "An Awakened Titan. I'm afraid my investigation stirred it from its… slumber. It pursued me, but I was just only able to evade it, barely. As you know, Titans are very intelligent creatures, and I headed towards the hollow mountains before turning back around and coming here."
It wasn't an overt lie. More of a mishandling of the truth, courtesy of Sunny's School of Deception and Lies. Or whatever the boy had coined the name as.
"I believe that whether or not I returned, it would come after the Bright Castle eventually. I thought it better for me to warn you then to stay away."
The Bright Lord sat in silence. Kallen snuck a glance at the faces of the generals, knowing that they would be his in due time. To their credit, none seemed too shaken, despite the fact that an Awakened Titan could probably annihilate them.
Maybe not everyone. Maybe not all of them.
But hundreds of people would die if it attacked. Unless Kallen had that armor.
Gunlaug continued to stew in that silence. Harus's eyes were trained on Kallen like those of an attack dog waiting to be unleashed.
Gemma and Kido both seemed unnerved by the prospect of a Titan descending on them. Tessai's reaction was hidden, as was Seishan's.
Kallen wasn't sure what to make of Seishan. To his knowledge, and some of what Ariel told him, she was an adopted daughter of Ki Song—the very person who'd ordered him to slay Nephis. Did that make them enemies? In the future, perhaps. But for now, it seemed her goal was to make it off the Forgotten Shore.
And she couldn't do that with Gunlaug at the helm.
"You are dismissed," was all the Bright Lord said.
~~~
According to protocol, Kallen's team should've been reassigned to a new leader, or dispersed into other units entirely, once he was presumed dead.
He found his subordinate Lucius first. The man confirmed the latter: the team had been broken up, and he and Harren were now part of the same squad, but they were the only ones to stay together. When Kallen asked about Lyss, Lucius told him her location had stayed the same.
It only took about five minutes to reach her home. Of course, Kallen had been there, even slept there occasionally, so he knew the way.
Three loud knocks on the front door.
Lyss appeared, framed in the doorway. Her hair was shorter than he remembered—still with the usual bangs, but the back only fell to her shoulders. She looked as attractive as ever, especially with that startled expression twisting into recognition.
"Kallen…" she breathed. "What the hell…"
She rushed forward, clearing the few feet between them before he could blink. Her arms flung around his shoulders, and his instinctively went around her waist. The force of her hug was almost crushing.
She pulled back, just enough to look at him. Perhaps to confirm he was real. A disbelieving smile broke across her face, then she hugged him again, tighter this time.
Kallen closed his eyes, taking the moment in. The soft feeling of her body pressed against his. They way her touched warmed him. Moments like these would become scarce in the coming days. Months even, and he needed to appreciate them while they lasted.
At least until they could make it off the forgotten shore. Then maybe their unspoken thing could finally be said aloud.
~~~
A few days passed in tense apprehension. Kallen knew that Harus would be coming soon, but the letter from Seishan had still yet to come.
Gunlaug had not demanded that he return to his post as the captain of his own squad of hunters. Neither had he made him pay tribute, or sent him on any suicide hunts. That was all fine with Kallen, who took the time to weave a few thin strands of iron spider silk through his room.
He could feel Sunny's presence near him, even during the few times he stayed at Lyss's place during the day. The scout was insistent about being there at all times, which made sense considering who they were up against.
They couldn't rely 100% on Seishan's warning, they had to be ready at any time.
But their worries proved to be for naught. Because before long, a handmaiden handed Kallen a message that read: Your Hunters are doing well.
Based on what Kallen had been told by Sunny, Seishan had a hidden code somewhere in her quarters. She must have known that Sunny had been in there, and relayed the information to him.
That would have been mildly concerning if not for the fact that she were on their side.
So he translated it in his head, finding the sentence to truly say: Harus will come at midnight.
Kallen nodded his head and closed his front door, tossing the letter into the shadows. He took a deep steadying breath, exhaling through his nose with a measured release of tension. He rolled his shoulders, then pretended as if nothing happened.
A few hours later, he lay in his bed, hand clutching onto Wyrm's Tongue under the cover of his blanket. Poor Sunny had to stay in the corner.
The two of them had long debated what Harus's aspect and flaw were. It was evident to them that his abilities were uniquely suited to assassination and one-on-one combat. Why else use him solely as an executioner?
They would have liked for other members of the cohort to be there to help them, but there was no way for that. To get into the castle, they would have had to pay tribute, or sneak in somehow without being seen—but then it would be obvious what Kallen's plan was.
Sunny was slippery enough to sneak himself in though. And even though Kai could fly, they couldn't risk someone seeing him carrying people over the wall.
Thus it was just the two of them.
~~~
Sunny Pov
Sunny wasn't sure about Kallen's plan. He didn't like what would come afterward, if they were able to defeat Harus in the first place.
He ran through their conversation earlier, trying to figure out just what the Legacy had in mind. Kallen had told him: "I can't tell you my plan because I know you cannot lie. And yes I've also already guessed that evil defect of yours, but please, just trust me."
It went against everything Sunny stood for to so blindly trust the guy. But Kallen had also left his own Sister in his, Nephis, and Cassie's care for months now, willingly outed his own flaw, and demonstrated his loyalty over and over again.
But still…
He knew about Sunny's true name. And that he couldn't lie. Somehow. A few well placed questions and Sunny's freedom was gone. While he could trust Kallen now, in this moment with both of their lives on the line, he wasn't sure if he could trust him in the long run. What if he was controlled by an enemy? Or he somehow turned evil… or found out about what he and Nephis were hiding from him.
Midnight crept closer together. Sunny was explicitly told not to move until Kallen gave the signal—he wasn't positive how the Nightwalker would know to give the signal, however, since he appeared to be sound asleep on the bed.
But Sunny supposed he had a plan. It was probably to prevent unnecessary risk due to the minefield of imperceptible wires of spider silk strung throughout the place.
Minutes passed. Dozens even before Sunny noticed something strange.
A whisper of shadow creaked just outside the door to Kallen's house. Then, the other side of the wall exploded with movement. Wood splintered as a figure, nearly a foot taller than Sunny burst through the door. It's hand smashed into Kallen's head, and his bed crumpled under its weight.
But the image of Kallen simply shimmered out of existence.
Then a pull. It was nearly invisible, but with his shadow sense, Sunny felt dozens of razor thin wires constrict around Harus's arms.
Kallen, who now appeared out of the corner of the room opposite to Sunny yanked on those wires, and they sliced through Harus's arm. Blood gushed from the stump, and Kallen shouted the signal, rushing forward, but he suddenly faltered when he swung his now flaming sword.
Harus cradled the stump of his left shoulder, but still lashed out with a kick that sent Kallen tumbling through his house, crashing through the wall and out into the street.
Sunny wasted no time, rushing Harus with Midnight Shard, but the second he was revealed by the pale moonlight cascading into Kallen's house, his vision suddenly went black.
And that was when it all made sense. Why Kallen had faltered. Why no one survived fighting Harus. Why it didn't matter the level of one's aspect, or the potency of one's abilities. If you couldn't see, in most instances, you couldn't fight either.
A heavy blow struck Sunny in the chest, and he too made a new opening into Kallen's home.
A few moments later, Sunny struggled to his feet. Since there was now an abundance of moonlight, as well as lamplight filtering through and messing with his shadow sense, he elected to shift his vision to his own shadow in order to see.
A small Nightmare Creature—who Sunny recognized as Kallen's echo, Puddle—stood over the Hunter's downed body as Harus approached. A weird mirage twinkled in place of the little beast, but it didn't seem to have any affect on Gunlaug's personal executioner.
So Sunny sprung into action. A set of metallic chains appeared, wrapped around Harus, and he let loose a little slack, swinging the excess at Sunny, who dodged just at the last moment.
The hunchback looked confused for a moment. But he recovered in time to block Sunny's strike with his hand. On the ground, Kallen reached blindly for Harus's leg. When he grabbed it, he twisted, forcing the assassin to the ground. Blood from his bisected arm splattered on Kallen's helmeted face as he wrestled the man.
Sunny joined the fight, using his shadow's vision as a compass, and swung Midnight Shard down.
Through the chaos of the deadly grapple, Harus managed to put his free-hand out, trying to stop Sunny's blade with his forearm, but at the last second, Sunny sacrificed sight for more power. His shadow shifted into his sword, stealing his vision away, but empowering it enough to carve straight through the man's arm.
In the same moment, Kallen pulled him to the ground. He was on him in no time, driving Wyrm's Tongue into Harus's shoulder. Blood spilled from the wound.
Sunny followed up, dropping Midnight Shard and summoning a ghostly blade. He lunged and it peeled straight through Harus's neck. His eyes went wide and disbelieving. He reached for his throat with each of his arms, but didn't have enough limb to cover the wound.
Not that it would have mattered.
Harus suffocated in the street. Just like that.
A/n
I apologise, i've been insanely ill for the past two weeks or so. This chapter is a bit rushed, but I should be back to my regularly scheduled stuff by sunday. (Hopefully)