Flames Meet Shadows - Part 04

Ralphie, standing in the middle of his own exposed energy, cracked his neck and prepared to deliver a blow. "I'm surprised your pressure can do so much just from looking at it," Bruno admitted, observing the yellow energy flowing from around him.

"Thanks for the compliment, but my pressure isn't just for show. What do you say we try it out?" Ralphie questioned, then was ready to dash until they heard someone's voice. "That's enough, Bruno!"

Bruno and Ralphie looked in the direction the voice came from spotting Kira in the lead of the others. "Kira? What are you doing with them?" Kira stepped in front of Bruno and looked deep into his eyes. "We're done with this fighting. I'm done following Niklas' orders after what happened today."

Bruno kept his hands close to his body, scratched from the attacks. "What's your problem? Our commands were as follows, to stop them and kill them if required, and you're suddenly letting them walk around the island freely." Kira reached with her hands forward, grabbed Bruno by his clothes, and pulled him in front of her face. She was mad and irritated.

"Yeah? Well, I changed my mind! I'm finished working under him. Think about it, will you? We were all just a bunch of soldiers on this island to protect the civilization from getting attacked, and then Niklas came to the island and took it over. We barely had any freedom since he came, and I think it's about time to stop." Bruno was perplexed, confused. "You're being irresponsible, Kira. There's nothing we can do than work for him. If we had the power to return this island to what it was before, I would, but look at it now. Pirates are running around it, trying to steal what's ours. I won't be like Leandre, who doesn't obey the leader."

At that moment, Ayuka became confused. "What? Hold on. We didn't come here to tear it down. Have you people been listening to us?" her shout caused Bruno to look past Kira's shoulders.

"Really? Don't start lying at this time of day. You've already destroyed the city hall, and now you think we'll trust you? For what?" Kira pressed her forehead closer, her mouth shaking.

"Have you been blind this entire time? I'll admit, I was at first, and I didn't know what else to do other than work under Niklas' commands." She explained and continued. "But we were doing this because we were scared for this island, and because of that, we've nearly gotten insane and accepted the horrible "gift" that Niklas gave us. The ones who we shouldn't obey were the ones that took control over us. For example, Rosi, Kuro, and Niklas forced these people to work for them. The only one who had some self-control was Leandre and Nicole.

"And now that these people came to the island, we can work together to retrieve the peace. Tell me, Bruno, isn't that what you want? Do you plan to work under somebody who's been enslaving craftspeople and forcing you to do deeds that require harm? If I remember correctly, you lived a normal life, but then Niklas came and made us become his sidekicks. But what did we get for it? We didn't get anything but more and more commands." Bruno became indecisive and lost on how to respond.

"She's telling the truth, Bruno. They didn't come here to take over the island or something. They came to release it from your boss. The White-Haired pirate Tim told that himself when I've come across him." Explained Peter, but didn't change Bruno's thoughts right away. "Who are you to judge? You've been a hired hitman to take out that girl, weren't you?"

Peter crossed his arms, unimpressed. "Yeah, and then I learned I was hired for nothing more than to become a roleplaying individual. That girl I've been trying to hunt down, Louisa Dillinger, was nothing but a child. She was duped into serving as a scapegoat and subject in order to keep Harry from being jailed due to his past transgressions by the world government and WPDA." Bruno listened calmly, then allowed Kira to speak. "Come on, Bruno. I know I love acting dumb in front of people, but this time I'm being serious. I'm not scared to show my real identity, and there's nothing that I now want to do more than return to how we lived beforehand. Please, Bruno. Stop the fight between their chef and help us out."

Bruno looked at Ralphie, noticing that he stopped releasing his pressure. He looked at Ayuka and everybody else and then closed his eyes. "What about Rosi? What happened to her? I heard she's gone missing. Explain that." He called, noticing Kira giving him an intimidating face. "She almost killed one of their allies, which resulted in her death. But, she has been on the other side, serving as Niklas' secretary, so don't be worried."

Bruno then noticed that somebody was missing. "Okay, but Luca was on our side, and what did they do to him? He hasn't been responding to us, which means he could be dead." Yumiko interrupted Bruno from continuing with her arms crossed. "I let him live. He's unconscious, but he'll survive. That wound isn't fatal for somebody like him. All we need to do is bring Ayuka to him and he'll be fine."

Bruno relaxed, letting the sweat drop down his face. "So, will you just listen to me this one time? I know you're supposed to be the leader, but I'm trying to help us and the town out. We've already pretty much removed all the soldiers that worked for Niklas, the only ones left are you and Niklas. But, I know you don't want to kill an individual. You knew that not listening to Niklas could have resulted in your death, and about the city hall, they've done it to get rid of Niklas' possession. Nothing down there was ours."

Kira noticed Bruno grabbing her hand and pushing it away. "Fine, but I'm only doing this for the island. I don't care about anything else." Kira smiled, nodding. "Great, then let's go find Luca. We should be able to treat him." But before they could move, somebody called out to them. "No, need... I'm here." They looked behind them, noticing Luca walking toward them, holding the wounds. "Luca!" Kira called, but then they noticed him dropping to his knees. "Ayuka, hurry up." Claimed Bow, and without worrying too much, she ran toward him and began treating his injuries.

To be continued...