An old friend

"Hmm. This looks bad." I mutter to myself.

"Oh, you think so?" Jean replies with a condescending tone. "You're having a big brain moment right now, you know that?"

"W-What do we do?" Arra's voice is hesitant, so I get closer to her.

"You're gonna be fine. You're strong. You can do this."

I assure her while watching the Dolls come out of their hiding place. The Dolls are few, but they look intimidating nonetheless. Their approximate number is thirty. Maybe more. Most of them are larger than the three of us. Most of them are carrying weapons, too. Axes, bows and arrows, and the good old-fashioned sword. Whoever's ordering the attack is clearly watching us, and they're trying to secure the victory by following a certain principle. Striking the shepherd so the sheep will scatter. Come to think of it, Sergei also tried to go after my head. The bastards raise their weapons and take their battle stance. Oh, boy. I guess we'll have to fight this one out. Just like the usual.

"Sic em, boys!" Jean roars as the rain starts falling. "Make them rest!"

"Shut the fuck up and respect the dead, Jean!" I snarl as one shoves me away from the two. "Arra! To your left!"

My shout knocks Arra alert, and she rolls enough to dodge a swing from an ax. I swipe my scythe, slashing a guy on the torso before it gets stopped by large hands. A Doll wearing armor grips my weapon, tugs, and shoves me to the ground. Another one stabs my side with a dagger, and the uncomfortable cold triggers my spine. I punch him in the nose and cut his head. Jean's wolves are mangling someone, and Arra is punching everyone close to her. There's an odd sense of accuracy going on. Almost as if the city itself is watching us. Just like usual, lots of questions fill my mind. How do they know we would take a walk right now? Why are they preventing us from living in peace? Why do they have so many Dolls?

"Sol! Can you fight them off?" Jean shouts as he stabs a Doll in the head.

"Yeah! Just focus on helping Arra!"

"Alright! Nygris Plagas!"

He opens his palms and emits a black smoke, getting ten caught in his spell. The Dolls become slow, and they all start screaming like they're terrified. The scent attracts the wolves, and they roar as they charge into the small, dark fog. Bodies fly as the wolves do what they do best, and Arra gets attacked by three puppets. Two Dolls throw hatchets at my direction, and I dodge. Arra gets shocked as one guys goes behind her, but Jean strikes him down. Ignys burns three people with ease, and I use this chance to get back to the group.

"Arra, hon! Focus!" Jean snaps. "We're in deep shit right now!"

"I-I know! I'm sorry! I'm holding you guys back!" She replies with worry. "I-I'll focus on healing you guys instead!"

"Yeah. Go do just that. Also, Jean, stop being too hard on her." I swipe at another Doll.

"Shut the fuck up, Sol! She's from the Chimera Legion! She has to be used to this!"

"Shut. Your. Mouth."

I glare at him, and he stares back. He takes a deep breath and slashes the Doll behind him. Two more come his way, but his movement becomes quick. Three foes disappear in seconds, and he points his sword at me. I ignore it and launch myself towards five, wildly swinging my scythe as I did. The shattering of glass jolts us from our battle trance. It's the girl in the bandages. She throws another bottle of toxin near Arra. The smog spreads, my instincts kick in, and I drag her away from it.

"You... I saw you back at the theatre." Jean walks towards her, striking a Doll in the process. "Tell me what's going on or I'll separate your face from your figure."

The woman in the bandages throws another bottle in his direction before summoning her weapon. An extravagant long-sword emitting blue energy. Jean rushes forward with his palms first, producing that same dark smoke from before. His wolves follow him, but this doesn't faze the woman with the crimson cloak. She takes two more bottles and breaks it under her feet before backing away. A thud in the distance attracts my attention. Arra is using an armlock on a Doll, and she gets surprised when she catches my glance. She nervously smiles. I instruct her to follow me, and she obliges.

"Jean, you idiot. Don't charge alone. Do you have a death wish?" I hook a Doll behind him.

"Oh, shut up. I'm still mad at you." He rolls and stabs another one.

"This is you being mad? Hmm. You get petty over the smallest things. I'll make fun of you even more, then."

"I hate you right now. Stop talking to me."

The sound of steel echoes through the quiet street as the three of us fight our way through the crowd. Dolls keep on spawning from the abandoned houses, along with the sound of breaking furniture. The clouds start to weep, making the job of peacekeeping a lot harder. Is this a bad sign? Water fogs my eyes as we continue on fighting the human puppets, our backs against each other. Shit. There's no end to them.

"There's no end to them, Jean." I say. "What's the plan?"

"The plan is that we capture that girl with the bandages." Jean replies and sweeps a Doll on its feet.

"What about safety?"

"Really? You tried to kill yourself and now you're worried about safety?"

"I'm not worried about you."

"Oh, fuck off. We're fighting today! This may be our only chance of finding something!"

"Shit. Good point." I sigh as I decapitate another Doll. "Arra. Wanna bear with him for a while?"

"Huh? Ah! O-okay? What are we doing again?"

She jumps and punches a large Doll to my left. The cold sensation coming from my wounds irritate me, and I break formation and head to the woman in the bandages. Jean sees this and follows me while Arra glances at us before punching a woman. Good. She's all calm now. We make a way and run inside one of the houses, only to find more eyes staring at us. The wolves stay behind as Arra casts a spell, illuminating the whole room with white light coming from her hands.

"What's the damn plan, Jean?!" I yell as I hold the door down.

"Oh, shut up!" He screams back while stabbing one in the head. "I already told you, didn't I?!"

"That's not a plan! That's a suicide mission!"

"Oh, like you're one to talk?! Just so you know--"

"Guys?! They're about to trap us? Hello?"

The sound of wood and stone getting chipped away alerts us. They're trying to go through the walls. Jean rushes into a nearby staircase, swatting another Doll. I go after him, where three more enemies try to go for his head. He dodges this pretty easily, and he follows it up with a quick stab to one guy's torso. Arra casts another one of those light spells, exposing two small windows. Jean puts his palms forward.

"Nygris Plagas!"

He shouts, producing a small portion of dark mist. His wolves come bursting out the window in seconds, cleaving the two other Dolls standing behind the wall. A few Dolls are clinging themselves to the wolves, allowing Jean to get a free stab out of them. Arra chants a spell and kicks a guy coming from behind us, knocking him off the stairs along with his companions. Jean points his sword to the now broken wall.

"Jump!" Jean giddily shouts. I swear his mood swings are amazing. "We're gonna live forever!"

"Wha--"

"Just jump, you idiot king! We're gonna live forever!"

Despite my hesitation, he holds my hand and jumps forward, making me kneel to the ground as we land on the horde of Dolls underneath. Arra jumps after us, smashing a Doll's face with her now summoned gauntlets. Blue energy is emitting from it, giving off an aura of calmness and precision at the same time. She whispers a spell and punches the ground, creating the same shockwave that Alistair and Aldwynn did. A crackle of blue energy emanates from the rain, catching our attention.

"Great. What now?" I flatly start as a Doll punches the back of my head. My slash turns him into dust.

"She's a noble?" Arra gasps.

"Who?"

"The girl with the poisoned cloak. She's using the magic of nobles..."

She casts another spell, creating a circle of light enough to see through the rain. The robed woman is holding a pair of hatchets infused with blue energy, and a spirit is hovering above her. It looks the same as the kid I fought back at the queen's trial. She throws one of her tomahawk at us, never minding about some of the Dolls getting caught in the disaster. A small explosion breaks the walls of the house we just went into. Shit.

"Are we in trouble?" I ask Jean.

"Oh, it looks like it. Don't worry, though." Jean summons a black orb. "You know what they say. The best defense is a good offense."

He throws the sphere before charging forward, slashing every Doll in his path as he leads his wolves along. I swear to the Gods. This idiot's got one hell of an instinct. Joke's on him, though. He can die for all I care. I slash another two with my scythe, while Arra pummels a guy on the ground. I turn to the others with a look of pity and guilt. I swear everyone in here's begging for death. Cerberus is worse than scum. Just like that sect who thinks that using voodoo magic can be justified... Wait.

"Hamir!" I shout at Jean. "Have you seen Hamir?!"

"Oh?! Who's that?!" He replies while dancing gracefully with his sword.

"I'll tell you more about it after we're safe! How's that sound?"

"Oh, what? Are you stupid? Why pique my curiosity now? Now, I'm really dying to know!"

"Well, try not to die so we can talk about it! How's that sound?" I say, putting another three more souls to rest. "Mayb--"

Arra screams in pain as a piece of rubble sends a sharp pain to my stomach. The pounding of the earth resonates in defiance of the rain, and another explosion occurs. One of the houses is getting demolished by someone, and he's using the walls to create large chunks of fatal bullets. Two more beats of whatever that is, and bundles of debris fly again. I instinctively grab Arra and put her head to my chest, using my frame to take all the bits of limestone for her. She looks at me with shock and worry as the onslaught continues. Ever so slowly, we walk into a safe distance, my bloody head persisting every time something hits my back. Jean doesn't seem to mind, though. His wolves are striking all the projectiles coming to them.

"Stay here." I say to her. "I'll go help him, okay?"

The limestone walls continue on flying as I rush towards Jean. He's exchanging blows with the robed woman, but it looks like he's losing. Just like me, the Dolls continue on marching towards us despite bits of rubble hitting their body. A hatchet wounds my arm, but the adrenaline allows me to pop it off and throw it back to someone else. The rain echoes through as I reach Jean, striking just in time as the robed woman's hatchet almost takes his head off. Impulsively, I chant Ignys, but the rain cools it off before it reaches the target. Jean snorts.

"This is no laughing matter, Jean." I glare.

"Oh, there's your weird accent again when you get mad. I love it." He chuckles.

"Cease your buffoonery, fool."

"Ooh, mister. Talk to me some more."

He smiles at me with his stupid grin before launching himself at the robed woman again. The barrage of limestone chunks continue on going, randomly damaging everyone in our direction. The direction of the hammer is coming from the west, but the darkness and all of these Dolls scrambling up to their feet are making everything harder. Kinda makes me wanna punch Jean and everyone within a ten mile radius. I look at Arra and point my finger at the source of the attacker, and she nods before chanting and producing a ball of blue energy. She then throws it, producing an explosion and making a nearby house collapse. The energy coming from her spell is still emanating, giving me a faint outline of what's going on. Screw helping Jean. This guy's going down first.

"Thanks, Arra!"

I rush forward, scythe ready and blood pumping. I go inside house and chant Ignys, burning the inside of the building and catching the attacker out in the open. A large sword immediately swings at me in return, but I abandon my weapon and grab his instead. The spirit fire coming from Arra's hex along with my flames continue on glowing brighter by the second, allowing me to slowly but surely see the surroundings before me. My aggressor isn't bothered by this, and he wildly swings his sword like a madman. Even as I try to keep my grip on the wide blade, his strength manages to throw me onto a broken wall. As if on instinct, I get up and dodge as his blade almost cuts me in half. I ready my weapon... W-wait.

Khrall?! Is this some kind of sick joke?!