Voiceless

"Goddess?" The greasy voice questioned, a hint of excitement showing in his tone.

Rose pulled Lily tighter into her embrace with an arm, her other clutching the damp, soapy grass.

She tried not to panic. Tried to get her breathing even. Tried to shut out her grief. Tried to focus on the one thing that was important.

She needed to protect her little one.

Lily was held to her mother's chest, her ears made out the sound of Rose's heartbeat. She felt the strength gather in her mother's delicate arms. She didn't know what was happening, and couldn't see what was going on around her.

She could only feel her mother's quickening heartbeat.

"Mommy's going to get up now. Whatever happens next, run when you get the chance, okay?" Lily felt her mother embracing her tightly before loosening her hold, and then she felt her hair being stroked.

That soothing, loving caress she was intimately familiar with. Her heart's paradise. Lily sensed a faint melancholy in her mother's words, but couldn't quite grasp what it meant.

"I love you, dear," Rose said with a small sob. Would she have to leave her Lily alone - all by herself?

She didn't want that. She hated that idea with every fiber of her being. 

The poor girl had just lost her father. What would she do without the both of them? Her Lily didn't deserve such a cruel thing.

Rose inhaled. Then, her eyes sharpened.

She kissed Lily's forehead before standing up, her demeanor instantly shifting.

"Who dares speak casually to this Noble one?" Rose's chin tilted upwards, arrogance making its way onto her brows, her arms crossed as the silence around her became heavier with the rain.

The prostrating civilians and marines inwardly gulped. Who would talk to a Celestial Dragon like that?

"Goddess? It is you!" The Celestial Dragon gave a smile, then frowned heavily, raising his voice, "Oi, oaf, pick Us up."

"Yes, St. Lard," A thick, deep voice responded placidly.

Upon the command, the large thirty-foot man with the black beard effortlessly picked off the couch from the palanquin, both arms holding it from either side. He then walked towards Lily and Rose, and set it down in front of them.

St. Lard smiled as he looked at Rose. She was even more beautiful than he remembered.

"Let's go, then. You shall be my woman!" He said as he swayed side-to-side in happiness. He was looking forward to being envied by everyone he knew in Mary Goeise once he made the Goddess his.

At St. Lard's command, a government agent in a black suit walked towards Rose in a manner to apprehend her.

"Who do you think I am, buffoon? I am Donquixote Rosemarie. You do not command me," Rose's arrogant poise stopped the agent's steps. He looked between St. Lard and Rose, unsure of what to do.

St. Lard pushed an index finger inside his nostril, unimpressed.

"You are human now. Just like that other Donquixote traitor," he said, then his eyes brightened with a smile, "even when his child sent his head to us we refused him. Hahahaha," the dense folds of fat on his face and abdomen trembled as he giggled.

"We shall not be so harsh. I shall be kind and take you as my woman," St. Lard said as he signaled to the government agent who immediately grabbed onto Rose's arm, and another quickly joined to apprehend her.

Rose sent a death glare at St. Lard, and made an effort to break free from the two men at her sides. She couldn't get caught here. Her Lily would be left alone.

Lily saw her mother struggling in the hands of two men, and her thoughts froze.

Her breath began to stop.

The only thing she could see was that bench. Her mother. Evil, placid voices treating her as nothing.

She couldn't accept it. 

"M-mom?" Lily said amidst her mind-fog. She quickly regained her bearings and ran over, employing 'Way of Cloud' to charge at one of those men.

Like a brushstroke across a canvas, her figure blurred, and her head crashed into the agent's side, breaking his hold on her mother as well as a few of his ribs.

Rose quickly broke free from the other man's hold, and picked Lily up as she made to run away.

St. Lard clicked his tongue, and gave a command, "Surround her."

Immediately, the marines who had been hesitant to interfere sprung into action, aiming their rifles at the mother and daughter as they surrounded them completely.

Lieutenant Brannew did not move. He glanced back at the corpse on that stake. 

It was smiling.

"Did you know about this?" He whispered to himself. The man's wife was a runaway Celestial Dragon. 

How would he be able to help them out? That was too much to ask of him.

He clenched his teeth, and balled his hands into fists.

Rose and Lily looked at the marines surrounding them.

Lily felt her mother's hold on her tighten. Those delicate, protective arms possessed a warm strength.

Fingers ran through her damp hair. Even at this point, with nowhere to run, her mother continued to offer her love and comfort.

Lily tilted her head up to look at her mother's face. Rose met her eyes and smiled at her.

It was the same smile she had given Lily when she was been born.

Gentle, affectionate, protective.

Rose put her girl down. The only thing she could do at this point was find a way for her Lily to get away.

She hated it. She didn't want to leave her alone.

She glanced around at the marines. She noted most of them were hesitant, the barrels of their rifles shaking slightly.

She raised her voice at them, "What kind of people are you? You would aim your weapons at a defenseless woman and her child?"

Flinch.

Many of the younger marines shifted their eyes between Rose, Lily, and St. Lard, wondering what they should do.

Some of them looked down and dropped their weapons.

Before Rose could take advantage of their hesitance, and get her daughter to run, that greasy voice slithered around her once more.

"You… had a child?" St. Lard's face contorted in disgust. "You let a filthy human touch you-eh?!"

Rose halted, turning to the ugly noble in horror as she witnessed his actions. His couch had been shifted once more by the giant to be set right in front of Lily, and his eyes seemed to look down on her as they seethed.

In his rage, he pulled out a golden pistol from his inner clothing, aiming it at the child.

"No matter. We shall fix your mistake," he pulled the trigger.

Click.

*BANG*

A red splash hit Lily's cheek as her eyes met falling waves of rose-colored hair.

Her mother's figure was falling, but even as it was, Rose's head turned towards her, and two pairs of pale green eyes met each other through the raindrops.

One set was filled with love and deep worry. The other set was frozen in horror.

Thud.

The sound of her mother's body colliding with the ground shattered something within Lily's heart.

The pent-up ball of bestial rage that had been contained and soothed by her parents' loving care over the years bubbled up to the surface once more.

Rain fell as sparks of red and black lightning weaved around her.

A droplet of rain met a tear in her eye as she let loose a voiceless, pained howl.

Then, all those present in the Grove fainted and collapsed onto the dirt. St. Lard's unconscious figure fell from the couch, his bubble helmet popping as his face met mud.

THUD. 

A tremor shook the grove as the giant, thirty-foot man met the same fate.

And a small girl ran to her mother's bleeding body with tears in her eyes.