cascade | kotlc

10. The Armorgate

"Jesus, you'll be fine, princess. We don't have enough time to rest so frequently."

She hopped down to the catwalk under them, rolling her eyes when Biana didn't follow her, squatting down and waiting expectantly.

"Are we going to go or what, princess?"

"Ugh, I'm coming." Biana pressed her ring to her eye when she finally regained sight. Calla's energy flowed through her eyelid, soothing her pain, and she swung down. Faye held up a gadget-like device that looked like several iron bars twined together.

"He~ere we go. See, I told you I'd figure it out? This'll lead us to where we actually need to go."

Biana shook her head in doubt. "Since when were you a Technopath?"

"I'm not a Technopath. I'm better than one."

She pulled at a bar, turning it over as electricity sparked. The bars glowed red-hot and Faye quickly let go, levitating the device into the air. Lightning seemed to draw toward the bundle like lightning rods did, except it drew something else.

"Magnetism. Isn't it amazing?" Faye looked at the device affectionately before it clattered down, losing its heat. The upmost bar spun like a compass, turning and facing down a branch of the spiral staircase. "After you, princess."

Her sighing filled the room as she hurtled down, barely landing on her feet. Her arm bashed painfully against a handrail and she healed it with Calla's ring, wondering why on earth she didn't levitate. Faye giggled as she bolted down, pushing a door open.

"This way, princess."

Machinery started to spin again, engines purring in the distance. Faye cursed, pulling Biana down as a machine gun located up clicked, taking aim and firing. She jerked away, rolling and missing the shot by inches. Another shot sprayed dust in her face and she spat it away, sliding down and under the catwalk, tumbling down the enclosed ladder. A bar crashed against her elbow and she heard a crack before she dropped down, faceplanting into a metal platform. A sword plunged into the grating behind her, scattering wrecked machinery as Faye dashed down, sighing when she saw Biana injured.

"Hurry up and heal yourself already," she complained, drawing her sword back into her hand. Biana groaned, lifting her head off the floor. Faye looked like she was contemplating whether or not to step on her from that judging gaze on her face.

Another gun hummed behind her, taking in energy and locking its target just as Biana fixed her elbow. The gun flashed red as a gear clicked and she screamed, reaching out for Faye. She didn't seem to notice.

A bullet shot out from the barrel, hurtling toward them at speeds faster than sound, indeed creating a supersonic whistle that made Biana clutch her ears-

Faye's sword launched into action, whizzing behind her and intercepting the bullet. The clang was louder than anything Biana's ever heard before, louder than gongs, louder than tidal waves, louder than the force field explosion when they'd encounter Ruy. The sound seemed to rip at her ears, tear her eardrums apart, shred her ear bones into pieces, and all Biana could do was scream as she dived down.

The smoke faded eventually. She dared to look up, afraid of what she would see. Faye would have been annihilated by the bullet, it would've pierced her body, she would be dead-

She wasn't. She was standing unscathed in the wreckage, twirling her sword around her finger in boredom, dipping her head like she was falling asleep.

"Hurry," she said impatiently, leaning against a safety guard and resting on her sword. "We don't have time. We're on a crunch! So get your head up and get going, or I'll drag you along. Literally."