Sword, Shield, And Family

Chapter 36, Hunters Return

~Raven's POV~
It had been two days since that encounter with Sara's sister. From what I could tell, we were now somewhere in 21st Century North Carolina. We had just entered the ruins of a small town. I raised my M75, watching my surroundings. Sara only scoffed. "There's nothing there human. I checked already. Few signs of wildlife which is normal. If it was completely silent then there'd be danger." I only nodded, shouldering my rifle as I walk through the streets. "This isn't just ruins. . . It's pretty much history."

I looked back at Sara, who was simply watching around. "There's a recent scent here Human. One. Unknown. Be mindful of your surroundings yes?" I gave a slight nod, drawing my sidearm. Weather wasn't clear but it wasn't blinding either. Just a light fog, so visibility wasn't too much of an issue. Which made me feel slight ease knowing what had happened before.

I suddenly saw flashes of when I was ambushed away from Sara, causing me to stumble back and go to a kneel, trying to focus as the flashes played through my mind like I was there again. It caused strain on my head when they happened, causing me to keep a firm hand on my helmet. The silence, the warm breath, the alarms, being subdued so easily, how? Where did they learn to? Why not bring me in then? It just needed to stop for a moment. I needed to focus. Through it all I heard Sara's voice. "Human. Human listen to me. Focus. Your thoughts are clouding your awareness, try to focus on my voice and only mine. What happened, happened. There is nothing more to it. Focus on now. What we are doing now."

I felt everything start to clear, soon standing up and raising my sidearm, beginning to search each building for any signs of hostility, searching each room until we reached the other side of town. I then rejoined Sara to continue on our journey.

Sara looked down at me as we walked. "We are almost there human. The stars said the night before that we will arrive before the fog thickens." She stated as we treaded on the rugged and old road. I looked up at her, not sure how she was able to speak to stars, seemed a bit odd, for both of our kinds. Sara scoffed at my thoughts. "Doesn't seem strange to me and the others of our kind that follow the stars wisdom. For many of them are the ones that have fallen before us. Guiding us on paths we could never see ourselves." The conversation ended there, she made her point clear.

After a while, we had decided to follow a road that hasn't been used in years. When we reached a crossroads, Sara stopped in her tracks, glancing around. "Human, we're not alone." She growled, glaring at the surroundings while I drew my M75 and watched where she wasn't. It was pure silence, aside from Sara's low growling. I then saw the bushes move in front of me, aiming my rifle in that direction, Sara's gaze turned towards the disturbance as well. I saw a figure slowly step out into the clearing. You had to be joking.

I stared at Rebecca as she stepped into the open, hood and mask and all. "Seems our paths cross again Dragon's Heart." She said calmly, examining the blade in her hand. I heard Sara snarl. "I've heard about you outcast. Your kind filled with deciet and hatred." She said with a hisd to her tone. Rebecca looked up at Sara. "Oh? Then I suppose your sister is the liar here no?" She stated as the dragon from before leapt out and tackled Sara out from behind me, the two tumbling in the dirt and clashing with one another catching my attention for a moment before Rebecca ran at me. I raised my rifle once more before she slashed at me, causing me to have to use my rifle as a shield before I stumbled back, seeing it halfway cut in two by Rebecca's blade, causing me to extend my wristblade and catch my footing, watching as she tossed aside my broken rifle.

I stepped into a defensive stance, raising my blade. "I don't want to fight you a third time." I said to her, taking a step back. She scoffed. "Please, save the pity talk. I'm here to bring you to Miss Zera, and I'm fine incapacitating you to do so." This wasn't her. This was not the Rebecca I knew. This was what she hid from me wasn't it? My thoughts were cut short by our blades clashing, I kept my defensive positioning and countering as a primary fighting style. I didn't want to hurt her. Not this time. The sounds of Sara and her Sister fighting became background noise with the rest of the environment. Every slice or stab Rebecca threw at me I evaded or deflected. I could bring her down quickly, but I had to wait for an opening to bring her down without much injury. I then saw my opening: she threw an offput stab at me, I stepped to the side, grabbing her wrist with my left hand, sheathing my blade and pulling her forward and grabbing her other wrist and keeping her still, staring down at her, masked soldier to masked hunter. My mind went blank as I stared at her mask this close, she seemed to stop moving as we stared at each other. Things have changed, haven't they? She wasn't the same Rebecca I knew, but I now realized I'm not the same Raven she knew. She probably couldn't even recognize it was me, right?

I heard Sara's voice yelling at me from out of view. "Get yourself together human! She's an enemy not a dance partner!" I blinked a few times, quickly bringing her to her knees and keeping her arms behind her back, she let out a grunt, struggling in my grip. I let out a sigh, tying her hands together before getting up, seeing Sara had already subdued her Sister. She stared at me with narrowed eyes. "We need to move quickly human. The fog is thickening." I gave a nod before walking to follow her, I stopped to look back at Rebecca, who had her head low and her body partially relaxed. I turned away and kept moving. Sara looked down at me as we moved at a quick pace. "You've met that one before?" She asked me. I shook my head. "No. I never knew her." I said softly as we kept moving on the rugged path, wherever it could've ended.