Sparks of Silver and Crimson

'It seems the men of the land cannot resist me, even in my old age.'

'My daughters have all grown into fetching young women; my sons cannot hold a candle to them when it comes to beauty, yet they are the ones who have found wives and left me behind.'

'My daughters still stay with me, and only get more beautiful as time passes, yet I am the one swamped with professions of love. Everyday the servants bring in baskets filled with letters, flowers and all manner of gifts; men even come to the doors of my academy, waiting outside just to catch a glimpse of me.'

'It is disgusting, and most tiring. Still, I suppose it goes to show just how beautiful I really am. Perhaps I cannot blame these lecherous men for their attitude toward me; after all, with their weak minds, they cannot resist me.'

'It is a sad reality, being a man.'

|Thoughts of Madame Hautaine As She Has Her Morning Coffee|

"Curse you, Sylvia!"

"To hell with thee, Marshall!"

In the bright blue skies above, not a cloud could be seen that was not wildly scattered by two monstrous hawks. Their riders were armored and strapped, tightly holding reins in one hand and their lances in the other.

One of the Hawks was decked in scant red armor, with a sharp metal addition to its beak and talons, while the other sported similar silver armor.

The hawks flew around each other, rapidly encircling and striking at random intervals. With each strike, the hawks would lunge with those reinforced talons, wildly reaching for any vital spot they could. However, as both their riders were seemingly equally matched, neither side could gain the upper hand.

"How long can you keep this up, Marshall!? Concede!"

"Never! I can fight just as well as you can!"

The hawks screeched with repurposed zeal as their riders urged them on with vicious intent. If neither side had been truly trying to kill the other before, such was not the case now.

They both chose to cast aside all reservation, and go in for the kill. Whoever survived the next clash would have the be the more skilled rider of the two.

Lances at the ready, the hawks swooped in for a final charge. Talons locked in a deafening metallic clash, casting sparks into the air. Both lances drove forward, piercing through the air with enough force to easily penetrate their armor's defense.

However, as fate would have, the tips of their lances met at the exact same point and came to halt. Both sides were perfectly equal, and so the lances came to halt. The hawks struggled with each other, but at the behest of their riders, broke off once again.

"Damnit!" Both frustrated, they repositioned themselves and quickly developed new strategies. Once again, they flew into each other, but at the last moment, the armored young lady, Sylvia, made her hawk roll in the air.

She wore a triumphant smirk, but her opponent, Marshall, had chosen to make his hawk do the exact same thing.

With neither side expecting this, they cried out in shock and watched as their hawks crashed into each other at full speed. Both birds were instantly knocked unconscious, and those two had no choice but to fall to the ground along with their hawks.

"You!"

"No, you!"

Even though they were both wrapped up in straps and unable to escape their impending doom, they bared their lances and struck at each other yet again. Each time, either of them would narrowly miss the other, and their frustration only abounded.

"Stop doing that!" They cried out.

"No, you stop doing that!"

"Shut up!"

"UGH!!!"

The last thing they saw before they crashed was the endless tall grass, the sparkling water, and two amused individuals.

BANG!

Gilgamesh and Ishtar approached the two unconscious beasts and their riders, who were almost completely out of it. Though they were pretty much unconscious, their bodies instinctively tried to attack the other.

Of course, they were out of each other's reach, so their attacks did nothing.

"What do you make of this," Ishtar asked.

Gilgamesh had already crawled over the hawks and removed both the riders' helmets. After looking them over for a bit, he sat back on a wing and said, "They're both fine, they didn't hurt each other. Judging by their appearances, they could be siblings. As for why they were fighting... Who knows?"

After his assessment, Gilgamesh hopped off the hawk and dusted himself off, "Rather dirty, these beasts..."

Ishtar gave a wry smile.

"I say we leave them here," Gilgamesh said, already continuing through the grass.

"Or, we could get some info from them... ?" Ishtar suggested, and Gilgamesh paused. He turned around, his arms folded, and thought about it for a bit.

"I suppose."

Smiling, Ishtar pulled the condo out of her pouch and watched as it was gently placed onto land, crushing the grass in the process. Gilgamesh cut the straps that bound the riders to their mounts, and brought them inside one by one, laying them on the couches.

They were only a bit larger than Gilgamesh; if not for the armor they would be even easier to carry. It was clear that they were not yet adults, but they were out here all alone, fighting each other with hawks and lances.

Even Gilgamesh started to become intrigued.

This continent was, according to Ishtar, still mostly wild and only just beginning to be explored and conquered. So, they were either a part of the forces sent here, or from somewhere entirely different.

After waiting for an hour and seeing that they still had not woken, Gilgamesh and Ishtar locked the door and went to their room to pass the time watching TV.

After a while, Sylvia and Marshall woke up to their new, strange environment. Before even bothering to try to figure out where they were, the both saw each other from across the living room and subconsciously reached for their lances.

Ishtar had put them in the closet, so the two teens did not find them. Instead, they rushed at each other with their gloved hands, ready for a fistfight.

"You'll never win, Marshall!"

"No, you'll never win, Sylvia!"

They each reached for each other's necks, grabbing onto the color and pulling. Both Sylvia and Marshall were locked in place, both sides pulling furiously but unable to make the other budge.

Grunting, they struck each other with fists, square in the face, and both fell back, letting each other go.

"You call that a punch?" Marshall said as he spat blood.

"You hit worse than a girl," Sylvia mocked, feeling a tooth come loose as her tongue brushed against it.

"Knock it off."

Gilgamesh's placid voice silenced the room, and they both looked over to a young boy with his arms folded. The instant they saw him, images of the moments before they crashed earlier flashed before their eyes.

"You-"

"You were there when we fell?"

Gilgamesh did not immediately answer. Instead, he walked through the living room and over into the kitchen area, then opened a draw and pulled out a cloth. He tossed it to Marshall and said, "Clean that up."

"I was there when you idiots crashed, and I brought you into my... house... so you could get some rest."

Gilgamesh took a seat on one of the single chairs, leaning forward while looking between them with that placidity still present.

"Strange house," Marshall commented as he wiped his blood from the floor.

"It's a lovely house... if a bit... whimsical..." Sylvia expressed her annoyance with Marshall's distasteful remark while also politely giving one of her own. Gilgamesh was amused, but he also felt a bit of excitement swelling in his chest.

"You live alone?" Marshall got up and folded the cloth a couple times, then looked to Gilgamesh and wordlessly inquired of what he should do with it. Gilgamesh tilted his head toward a bin, and Marshall went over and tossed the cloth in.

"I don't. I live with my fiancé, Inanna." Sylvia immediately put a hand over her mouth and 'cleared her throat,' while Marshall instantly sputtered and sent saliva flying onto the floor that he had just wiped.

Gilgamesh frowned, gave a slow, solid blink, and went over to the kitchen to throw him another cloth. This time, he did not say a word.

"Sorry..." Marshall meekly offered.

Gilgamesh shook his head, but was also suppressing the urge to chuckle. Eventually, it got the better of him and he wound up letting it out, to which both Marshall and Sylvia added their own laughter.

Ishtar walked out of the room at that moment, rubbing her eyes. "Oh, they're awake," she mumbled.

She looked around a bit before spotting Gilgamesh, then she went over and fell on top of him. Marshall's eyes followed her all the way across the room, wide with incredulity. Sylvia was also shocked, but for an almost entirely different reason.

To Sylvia, it appeared that Gilgamesh, a child, was engaged to a fully grown woman, and that rendered her mind-blown. So, too, was Marshall, but because he could not believe that Gilgamesh was lucky enough to be engaged to such a smoke show. He was bitter with envy as he weakly wiped the floor.

"Had a nice nap?"

Ishtar nodded and got comfortable, then turned around to look at their guests.

"Why were you two fighting," Gilgamesh asked, "aren't you siblings?"

Sylvia and Marshall's eyes met each other, and they both folded their arms with a 'hmph.'

"He's just insufferable," Sylvia remarked with disdain.

"And you're just jealous that I made silver before you did!"

Sylvia was overtaken by offense, and opened her mouth wide to gasp. "Jealous!? Of you!? Ha! As if!"

"Admit it," Marshall laughed, annoyed, "you've always been jealous of my every accomplishment instead of trying to accomplish something yourself."

This time Sylvia was even more pissed off, and she stood up and pointed straight at him.

Gilgamesh and Ishtar watched this unfold with amusement, and even whispered among each other that this was just like one of those dramatic tv shows.

"Maybe if you didn't constantly rub it in my face EVERYTIME you did something even remotely noteworthy, you boastful bag of air!"

Marshall also stood up, angered more than annoyed, yet still laughing at the absurdity of her accusations. "I'm a bag of air? That's rich! Especially coming from the person who took two years to make crimson, while I did it in four months!"

"Ughhh! That's exactly what I'm talking about! That boastful attitude you have is so- So! So fucking sickening!"

Marshall, Ishtar and Gilgamesh all blinked at the exact same time, briefly startled.

"It took me two years because, unlike you, I had to juggle school, my job, and taking care of you!" Sylvia was all but red in the face at this point; it was clear that she was resisting the urge to pound Marshall into the floor.

"There you go again, always using that as an excuse. You were barely even at home- how could you have been taking care of me!? I had to take care of myself!"

The back and forth continued for a while until Gilgamesh grew sick of it.

He pulled the Demiurge Blade from his inventory and sent it downward in a chop. In a metaphorical sense, he sliced the tension between them and shut them both up, then as they looked to him in shock, he smirked.

"You two both need to grow up. Rivalry between siblings is always fine, and I love seeing it- but when that turns into resentment, it's just plain stupid. She's your only sister, and he's your only brother."

"If you don't care about that bond, then I can sever it. Right here, right now."

Sylvia and Marshall were taken aback, and between the blade in his hands and the look on his face, it became clearer and clearer that this boy was all-too strange. So caught up in their own argument were they, that they had neglected their situation.

They were in his house, and they did not know whether or not they could afford to act so childishly.