Selene looked up from the clear pool as she heard the rumbling of feet. The march was beginning… she could feel the trudging of thousands long before she could hear them. She taps Aysun gently on the knee, looking towards the mouth of the cave.
“The soldiers, Kitten,” she says. “Sounds like they’re starting.” Fireflies spritz around cave plants as the dull echoes of nature are disturbed by the oncoming war. Selene fidgets in her armor, suddenly uncomfortable in its steel trappoings. She doesn’t want to be here. She doesn’t want to die.
**
Aysun had been quiet for some time now. Lost in thought, so it seemed, but really, her mind was just blank at this point. When Selene tapped her knee, she looked up from where she’d been staring at the pool of water. Soldiers, adventurers.. they were both, as were most of the people walking by outside the cave. She may have even seen familiar faces among them, had she looked.
She stood and nodded to Selene’s words, leaving her satchel where she had been sitting. She wouldn’t need it anymore, after all, it would just be a burden here.
She was teetering on words. They had been failing her for awhile now, and it wasn’t surprising they were again. She could tell Selene that she didn’t have to be here, but she needed her to be. She could tell her she didn’t want to be here, but she had to be.. But those words didn’t come.
“Come on, we don’t want to fall behind,” she said as she headed to the mouth of the cave, beckoning Selene with a hand if she didn’t follow straight away. Watching the mass of people heading west to meet battle for a moment, she then looked back to Selene again, asking cautiously, “You alright?”
**
Selene nods, putting a hand on her knee to push herself to her feet. She rises slowly, but steadily. Every moment a little more of the fear fades away, to be replaced only by dull acceptance. “I’m fine,” she says, stretching her muscles and taking a few deep breaths. She kicks a small rock into the pool and turns to face the entrance, stepping towards Aysun. Her sabatons crunch the dirt beneath her feet as she looks out towards the advancing army.
She holds a moment of silence as she thinks. This is the end. There’s no turning back here. She is prepared to die, prepared to let Dalamud crush her to pieces even if she should somehow survive a thousand enemy swords. She doesn’t plan on falling to them. But a meteor from the heavens… there is little a shield can do against that.
The thought of the heavy shield slung across her back made her falter again. She still remembered the day that Eufrasi had given it to her, a gift for finally becoming a paladin. It had been too heavy for her to use effectively then, but she had pushed herself and pushed herself until it just felt like another appendage. Oh Twelve, just thinking of Eufrasi made her smile. A silly little period in her silly little life. Her thoughts turned to Blade then, and she pushed them out as she reached her hands up to her head. Some wounds were still too fresh.
Hands wrapped in gauntlets slowly undid the blue ribbon knotted into her short hair. She’d done her best to try and make her chop job look passable, but the results had been… well, not particularly impressive. She pulled the thin strip of cloth out, placing a hand on Aysun’s shoulder and turning her slightly to get a better look at her. She reached out and tied the ribbon into Aysun’s hair, quickly and deftly. She smiles, stepping back to admire her handiwork.
“There,” she says. “That should be better than any spell of protection.”
**
Aysun let the silence hang thick in the air after Selene’s response. For a moment she watched the spot where the pebble Selene had kicked landed in the pool. Her gaze was drawn back to Selene as she approached, and she forced a small smile.
‘Fine’ she had said. Yea, she was fine. As fine as Aysun herself no doubt, which meant she was likely on the verge of just letting the aether take her away from the cave, away from Mor Dhona and Dalamud. That would have been the smart thing to do. No sense being here, fighting a losing battle. Even if the battle was won, Dalamud was their end. Oh how she hated that particular spiral of thoughts.
Still, the forced smile remained as she looked back out of the cave entrance to those they’d be joining shortly. Did all of them know the fate they were to meet? Surely they would know. They were just brave, or devoted, or trapped, or maybe they were just misled..
She blinked, turning slightly at the pressure on her shoulder to look back to Selene again. Her smile wasn’t forced this time as she held still a moment and the ribbon settled on her shoulder, surprised. She nodded as Selene stepped back, though she promptly stepped forward in persuit to pull her into a hug briefly. It may not have been the time or the place for such a thing, but what other time was there?
“Thank you for.. for everything,” she said quietly, and she left it at that.
**
Selene embraces her as warmly as a woman whose hands are wrapped in steel can. She smiles and exhales happily, running a hand down her back reassuringly. “You too, Aysun… you too.” She pulls back, holding Aysun at arms length with a confident, motherly smile.
She doesn’t call her Kitten… no need for nicknames now. How many times had they embraced like this? Had a poignant talk? Shared a moment of confidence that they’d never shared with another? Selene had lost count… and now this was going to be their last one. The thought was enough to break her heart.
“Come on,” she half-whispers, more out of a desire not to cry than an inability to formulate words. “We don’t want to fall behind,” she says, mimicking what Aysun had just said. She slips her shield from her back and slides it over her arm, nodding at the young Miqo’te and making confident strides towards the mouth of the cave.
**
Aysun took a steadying breath and nodded to Selene. This was probably one of the reasons she had asked her to come fight with her in the first place. She was beyond needing “comfort” or some such at this point. No, now it was simply that Selene hid her fear well, and it was motivation for Aysun to hide her own too and push onward.
She followed without another word initially, reaching back for her bow and an arrow to nock. She dreaded the march west they were joining. But it likely wouldn’t be as far as she thought before they met the opposing force. Once out of the cave, she could not help but look up. It was hard to miss what she was looking at as she walked.
**
Selene didn’t look up. She knew full well what was up there; she’d been staring at it growing ever larger for moons. Looking up would be the worst decision in the world… she’d probably succumb right then and there. At the mouth of the cave they stopped as the force marched past. Picking a thin patch in the crowd, she motions to Aysun and slips in, matching the pace of the rest of the army quickly.
The march wasn’t fast. This many people trying to move in unison, people that had never marched together before, was almost impossible. All manner of people were assembled here; soldiers, adventurers, various standard bearers of the various companies. There had been no time to train, no time to practice as a cohesive unit. They were throwing everything they had at the enemy, and praying to the Twelve it did the trick. Selene stuck close to Aysun, her hand gripping the shield’s strap so tightly her hand was beginning to go numb. She glanced over at the Miqo’te every now and then, but tried not to let her gaze linger, and showed no emotion on her steeled face.
**
Aysun tore her gaze away from Dalamud, mostly because she had tripped over some uneven earth and stumbled. It was enough to draw her attention back to the present. She fell into step next to Selene quietly, wishing she could see over those infront of them. She was sure there were some Lalafell riding on shoulders up there, how unfair.
“I’ll have to fall back-” she said after some time, seeing a pillar of smoke a little ways ahead of them, “-When we meet them.” She motioned with her bow, as if to explain why they would need some distance between them. She looked to the taller Hyur woman momentarily before letting her gaze wander the terrain, attempting to figure out where she might go. She needed distance, but she needed to keep Selene in sight as well.
“Do you see anything ahead?” she questioned quietly.
There was an explosion further ahead then, a tremble that seemed to shake the ground. Then some distant cheers, though they quickly stopped as those making them were rushed by a wave of imperials.
**
Selene looks back at Aysun as she explains her tactical plans and nods. Of course she’d have to fall back… she was ranged. And naturally, Selene would be at the front. There wasn’t really any way for them to stick together efficiently in this fight. The very nature of their styles said so. But Selene would stay by Aysun’s side if she had to. She was here to protect HER, not to kill their foes. She could care less what happened to these other strangers.
“Do you see anything ahead?” Aysun asked. Selene didn’t need to stretch much to see over the heads of most of the assembled. There was nothing really to see but an endless sea of heads, bobbing and weaving without rhyme or reason. She glanced back down at Aysun and shook her head. “No, nothing at all.” She didn’t tell her that she could see the glow of fires in the evening sky, see embers flickering into the air not far away, see a hill far in the distance with enemy artillery encamped. They were close. There was not much left to march now.
She heard the cheers first. “Nock an arrow,” she says to the girl, her own hand inching towards the large sword at her side. She rested her palm on the pommel, not ready yet to draw it. She adjusted the grip of her shield, brushed a stray hair out of her eyes. The end was coming.
The cheers that were silenced were replaced by the roars of combat. Hundreds of men and women shouting their own personal shouts of self-encouragement, two opposing forces trying desperately to keep their morale up. Men at the front lines who knew they were as good as dead needed /something/ to justify their sacrifice. Both sides cheered for their families at home. Both sides cheered for their brothers in arms at their sides. Both sides cheered for the causes they believed in. Selene would not be cheering this day.
Then the explosions came. Mages launching powerful spells down into the fray. Garlean magitech unleashing the full brunt of their weapons. Gunblades discharging. The clang and clamor of metal on metal could start to be heard. Selene could see the forward lines starting to charge, making a wave back to where they were standing. She turned back to Aysun.
“We’re going to charge soon!” she shouts over the din of warfare. “Stay close to me! I’ll keep you safe! I promise!” she shouts, finally drawing her sword. It glints in the light of the fires, perfectly sharpened and shined.
**
Aysun seemed a little unnerved by Selene’s response of ‘nothing at all,’ one finger plucking at her bow string a couple times. Not that she didn’t believe her, she was just anxious by this point. Ready to fight, even if she wasn’t ready to die.
She tilted her head slightly at the cheers, glancing to Selene as they transitioned to something else entirely. War cries, pain and exertion, met her ears. Even more anxious now, she set the arrow she’d pulled previously in place properly, ‘nocking’ it as instructed. ‘Nothing at all’ huh.. now she didn’t believe her.
She heard the battle, it was closer now. She looked to Selene, alittle wide-eyed as she shouted to her, and nodded. No time to dispute, or figure out any real plan. The wave of movement had reached them and it was either run or be trampled from behind. Aysun didn’t yell like many of those around her as they rushed forward to push into the opposing force. She saw the juggernauts now, above the sea of fighting they were running towards, and that amongst other things took her breath away; she couldn’t have yelled if she wanted to.
As the two forces merged and mixed, the nameless, faceless man in front of her suddenly staggered and fell as a bullet hit him somewhere clearly critical. Instinctively she drew back her bowstring, and fired on the Imperial that had been opposite him. As he fell, she sidestepped to follow Selene and nocked another arrow.
**
Warfare like oil and water. Two sides are separate, they merge into a sea of chaos, and when all is said and done they return to how they were. The women were somewhere in the middle phase now as the lines began to blur. Selene set her shield firmly and stepped forward as quickly as she dared, not wanting to lose track of Aysun in the swirl of bodies. Her sword arm was taught, ready to spring as her eyes darted around looking for a target. The corner of her eye caught a Garlean approaching with his halberd set to thrust – she angled her shield to accept his oncoming thrust, deflecting it upwards into the air. His body was wide open now, throat open to a blade. Selene obliged with a quick thrust, grunting as she pulled it back out of his neck, blood spraying onto the clean steel. Target dealt with, she looked around wildly, trying to keep Aysun’s position locked. Bullets whizzed by overhead, explosions and sprays of dirt echoed across the Flats. The charge was over, there was nothing to do but search and destroy now.
She spied Aysun and shuffled back over to her, keeping shield ready and eyes peeled. Aysun was a ranged fighter, focusing on targets far away. Selene would protect her from foes nearby that might be out of her focus. It didn’t take long for her to find another enemy, this one wielding a sword. It was a simple strategy; defend, parry, destroy. Blood flew into the air, a few specks landing in Selene’s hair.
“Are you okay?!” she shouts blindly over her shoulder to Aysun. “I’ve got your back!”
**
Aysun scanned the crowd, turning her head slightly to Selene’s yell. She backpeddled a little, so they ended up back-to-back somewhat. That would make it easier for her to keep track of things, she hoped.
“I’m-” she paused, letting loose an arrow as a man with a lance rushed towards her, “-fine!” He fell.
She glanced back, checking that Selene was still near by and alright as well, before whipping back around to scope out another target in her line of sight. Selene was certainly right in thinking Aysun was not focussed on the ‘near’ at the moment. It was difficult to be in the middle of such a thing armed with a bow. She’d be much better off if she’d found somewhere to perch and rain arrows down. Instead, she had to keep reminding herself to watch her sides, and behind her, for Selene, rather than just what was in front of her.
She darted forward, grabbing the feathered shaft of an arrow she’d fired not long ago and pulling it from the body it was lodged in with a grunt, before letting it fly at another in her line of sight. She had to be conservative and gather back what she could. To run out would cause a whole different world of trouble.
Or would it? She looked up, then. Searching out Dalamud–not that it was hard to find. Lightning crackled and raced over the cloud layer that had settled over Eorzea for a moon now. Dalamud hung low, lighting the battlefield with its eery glow. As long as she didn’t run out before /that/ happened.
**
Selene had never experienced war before. It was something completely unlike regular combat. Thousands of little fights breaking out. It was relentless; a man goes down, another took his place. Two, three, like a hydra. She could cut a man down without trouble. Four, five, that was simple. But she was well past a few dozen now, and her pace was slowing. She was already starting to run on gut and not finesse. Selene rammed her blade into the gut of a Garlean, lashing out with a foot to kick another one in the side. She hastily ripped the longsword out, entrails and blood spewing behind it as she brought it down in an arc onto the head of the off-balance foe, cleaving through armor and bone. She took a deep breath, spitting enemy blood out of her mouth onto the ground. She looked back over at Aysun, over her shoulder. Her eyes widened.
“AYSUN! YOUR LEFT!” A Garlean with a spear was charging at her, screaming a battlecry while Aysun was busy aiming elsewhere. She shouted, dragging herself back over to the Miqo’te. She wouldn’t get there fast enough. “AYSUUUUUN! SPEEEAAAR!”
**
Aysun heard Selene’s shout, even if she had not noticed the Garlean’s as he ran at her. It had just been more noise to her, after all, adding to what was a deafening mixture of sounds already. She’d let her arrow loose mere moments before, and as she turned her attention to her left she desperately readied another. There was no time to aim, and she fired as quick as she could. The arrow struck the Garlean in the right side of his chest, and he staggered slightly in his charge a few mere fulms from her.
He didn’t stop though, not for a second. The stagger had destroyed his attempt to impail her and so, injured, the lancer fell back on more primitive means of accomplishing his goal. Without a moment’s hesitation, he swung his lance at her, a bastardization of the art that only a desperate man would think to do.
Surprised, and with not even a chance to get another arrow to finish the job, she cried out, “Sele–!”
The Garlean’s lance struck her head, and she collapsed in a heap abruptly. The Garlean shouted, and rounded on Selene, an arrow still sticking from his chest. Adrenaline was an amazing thing, and although his breathing was labored as he adjusted the grip on his lance to a proper one, he charged at her, ready to meet her. Battle did not stop for anything.
**
Selene’s eyes widened in horror as Aysun crumpled to the ground. She roared in anger, rage and hatred fueling her movements. She charged headfirst at the spearman, her sword tip dragging against the ground. The distance between them closed quickly, Selene’s vision going read with fury. She swung her blade, using the ground’s resistance to propel her blade tip upwards, underneath the spearman’s guard. She twisted her body, losing her balance but dodging his vicious thrust. She fell to the ground, but not before her longsword embedded itself deep in his belly. Blood gushed out over her arm, and his dying body landed on top of her with a thud. She struggled against his weight, pinned.
It took a moment, but she managed to free herself from his bulk. Her vision still clouded with fury, she picked up her sword and brought it down again on top of the spearman’s corpse, twice, three times. She collapsed to her knees, face and body covered in his blood. Exhausted, she looked back over at Aysun, suddenly remembering where she was: in the middle of a battlefield. She readied her shield as she rushed over to her friend’s side.
“Aysun! Come on, Aysun, talk to me!” she shouts, taking her by the shoulders and trying to wake her up, not realizing that she’s spreading blood everywhere.
**
Aysun was surprisingly unmarred by blood, save that which Selene had splattered onto her previously while fighting, and now as she shook her limp form. However, it was also matting her hair above one eye, trailling down her face, stemming from a mostly hidden wound. She was unmoving, unresponsive to Selene’s cries. Fingers were still curled around the grip of her bow loosely, eyes only mostly shut, unseeing.
But the battle still didn’t stop, and Selene was a sitting duck. It was not surprsing that she was noticed and targetted quite quickly.
**
Selene looked up just in time to see an axeman charging at her. She raises her shield just in time to deflect a blow, getting knocked back on her ass in the process. She turned it into a roll, managing to put some distance between her and Aysun. She didn’t want a fight breaking out right over her unconscious friend. The axeman recovers quicker than she expects, and charges at her with another heavy swing. He’s telegraphing his hacks, and she has plenty of time to dodge… but her sword is still over by Aysun. She leaps clear, easily dodging the slow hack, retrieving her blade and turning around, planting her sword in the man’s back, she ends another life. She looks around, making sure she’s in the clear before she sheathes her blade and runs back to Aysun. She picks the unconscious miqo’te up in her arms, beating a hasty retreat.
“WHITE MAGE!” she shouts as she heads back towards the Eorzean Alliance’s main headquarters, seeking anyone that can help between here and there. “WHITE MAGE! DAMMIT, WHITE MAGE! SHIIIIIIT!”
“Here!” calls back a voice. Selene spins around, careful not to put too much force on Aysun. A hearty rogaedyn dressed in white robes and carrying a large staff runs over. He looks at the blood-soaked hyur, and then at the unconscious miqo’te. “Which one needs it more?” he asks, picking a strange time to try and crack a joke. Selene forces a smile, wiping up blood trickling from her forehead and gesturing down at Aysun. The Roegadyn nods, reaching out his arms to take her, and Selene reluctantly lets her go. “She’s still breathing,” she says. “She’s going to be fine, right?”
“I’ll do what I can,” the white mage says as he lays Aysun down on the ground. Soldiers and adventurers swirl about them, either regrouping or rushing back to the front lines. Bodies are strewn about, many injured beyond any hope of being saved. A young hyur girl, no more than 17 cycles, lies off to the side, holding her own severed arm in her hands as she chokes on the blood that fills her lungs. Selene looks away, back down to the white mage. He looks back up at her.
“What are you still doing here?” he asks. “Go join Merlwyb and her second wave, they need more shields.”
“I’m not going to leave her here,” says Selene forcefully.
“GO, SOLDIER!” shouts the white mage, his brow furrowing as he begins waving her arms. “There’s more lives at stake than this one!” Selene grits her teeth together, then nods and storms off. “I’m coming back for her!” she shouts over her shoulder.
She didn’t want to leave. She needed to stay here with Aysun, make sure she was going to be okay. She’d already fucked that up; she was unconscious. She hadn’t done her job as a paladin. She was a failure. She couldn’t even protect her best friend, the only person that really meant anything to her. She stopped dead in her tracks, about ready to run back and check on her, the consequences be damned. She’d desert if it meant saving Aysun’s life. She turned around, but then something caught her ear. A whistling sound, growing louder and louder. She looked up.
Against the glowing backdrop of Dalamud, a streak was flying through the air. A volley from a Garlean’s magitek artillery, screaming across the sky. It was headed straight towards the area where Selene had left Aysun with that white mage. Her mouth opened in horror. She started to sprint, running full tilt. There was no way she could outrun something like that though. She watched as the blast fell down into a sea of soldiers as if in slow motion. She couldn’t see the exact landing spot for all of the warriors in the way, but she felt the rumble in her feet as it landed, detonating.
An explosion rocked her, a column of fire spewing up from the ground as it sent bodies flying in all directions. A wall of smoke and dirt came flying at Selene, and she shielded her eyes as she was buffeted by the aftershocks. She stumbled forward blindly, coughing and hacking. The dust settled, and she kept running, trying to find the point of impact. She arrived at a smoke crater, charred corpses on all sides. Her head swiveled wildly, trying to find any sign of Aysun or the white mage.
“AYSUUUUN!” she screamed in horror. “AYSUN WHERE ARE YOU?!” She runs around to the other side, searching, seeking. But there was nothing to see. Just strangers, all trying to stay alive as best they could. A tear ran down her face as she bit her lip, feeling hopeless and alone out there on the battlefield. She felt a lump in her throat, fear rising. There was nothing left for her to do. She turned, slowly sprinting back towards the front line, ready to join the charge.
“Let her live,” she prayed to whichever of the Twelve might be listening. “Let Aysun still be alive”
Selene Artemis 