Cherish || A Chase x Sweetie Fanfiction ||

(S3-C25) • Unbreakable; Soldiers Stand Forth! •

Maria exhaled through her nose, cold was her heart. She was hopeful in making the upcoming war as clean as possible. She hated the concept of death towards both sides.

"Are you all right, Maria?"

Maria lifted her head up to her owner, Princess Diane. She wore a heavy outfit of metal and a sharp, thin blade was at her side, sheathed in a pearled, glistening yellow scabbard. She rode a horse as she led her army of hundreds, who simultaneously marched forth. "I worry for the safety of everyone. I want this to end peacefully, yet judging from that flying castle—" the Shiba Inu moved her sights to the building in the sky, moving towards them— "this wouldn't end deathless."

"Princess Coraline asked for war against the world. We are the only line of defense until she is able to achieve such a feat. Without us, everyone is doomed."

"More of a reason to worry. Everyone is desperate to accomplish their beliefs—ours and theirs." Maria pointed towards the army distant in front of them, slowly closing in. "The most difficult enemies are those who are ready to give everything to win. If both parties are the same, it will only end in a massacre."

The human princess frowned upon the reasoning. She wasn't proud of being the commander to lead her people to their much needed sacrifices. They were merely ready to fight for a bright future, not die for a possible dark age. Only their mindsets were able to muster up their courage.

"Where is Alejandro? Shouldn't he be leading his own army after you sent your letter to him?" Maria added.

"Unfortunately, he couldn't risk his kingdom getting into danger. He did say he was bringing reinforcements but there were no details afterwards the reply in his letters."

"Then we're all alone for now." The pup sighed, excited shouts turning both her and the princess's heads.

An explosion occurred, or rather, a large breaking in the side of the floating castle. Along the rubble that fell from the sky was a figure that brought Maria into shock. A small white fluffy figure. "Sweetie?" Her friend was falling back to earth, yet a black platform saved her before she reached dangerous levels of speed. Despite that, she wasn't in any shape to even stand up.

"You aren't fit to battle me, Sweetie. You used up your magic and I am unstoppable at this state. Even more once I hold the power of the orb."

The voice came from a human that leisurely floated in the air from the same hole just made in the castle. Weirdly enough, her voice boomed across the land, as if amplified, like the magic during their current event. She then turned towards Maria, but maybe it was just the whole crowd she was in. 

"Princess Diane dares to intervene with my plans as she leads in the frontlines? Won't your dear friend Alejandro fear for your predictable downfall?"

It was a tactic to make one lose their cool in the heat of battle. This alone could win fights but Maria knew how steel-tough was her owner's mental fortitude.

Princess Diane presented herself tall on her horse. "Says the ruler who asked her kingdom to remain the most peaceful. She himself waged war she knew she would never win in a million years."

The two went on and on. It was unlike Diane to be spouting insults, which Maria found interesting. She concluded that it was her owner's way to remove their opponents' attention to the fallen Sweetie. She truly was a leader.

What seemed like minutes now became seconds of anxious hearts, for the two armies stood to face each other, merely a few dozen meters apart. Only then did Coraline notice the wasted time she had, groaning in her inability to deal with her pooch, who's head hung from her platform as she gasped for air.