Last Hope [VERSION I]

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My eyes widened.

As he lifted my broken body once more, a slashing sound emerged from behind me. The man screamed in pain as he turned around, dropping me to the ground. The sound of swords clashing rang in my ears as I fell into a deep sleep.

~~~

A wet substance covered my whole forehead. It was cool, refreshing—yet odd. Only moments ago I was laying in the heat of battle, my face a bloody and disgusting mess! Now I felt calm and refreshed.

I opened my eyes. My blurred vision cleared, and the sight of Noah made a wide smile cross my face. "Ruby!" He screamed. I lept to hug him and embrace him—only I didn't. My arms were glued to my sides, my body weaker than ever!

"Be careful now, you don't want to put yourself through anymore pain." A voice came from behind Noah's head.

What happened? Whose voice was that? What happened to the man who attacked me?

I shifted my position, only to come across dark brown eyes. I didn't know anyone with such a shade. My eyebrows furrowed in confusion as I took in the features. Dark brown hair, dark brown eyes, tanned skin? I couldn't recall who it was.

Then it dawned on me—it was one of the men under the burning arch.

"Noah, get away from him!" I tried to yell,
but my voice didn't let me. A scratchy muttered emerged instead of my usual boisterous call.

The boy put his hands up in defense. "Woah woah woah, I'm not here to hurt you."

"He's right!" Noah said, turning to face me. "He helped me!"

"The name is Theo." The boy said. "Teran knight. Teran rebel."

"Rebel?" I choked. "As in, you hate the Empress and all that stuff?"

"Pretty much."

A silence dwelled upon the three of us. I itched my arm, covered in dirt and burnt flesh. I cringed.

"I'm a knight due to my father's dying wishes, that is all." Theo announced and scratched the back of his head. "Ever since I heard about the Order of the Eroe, I yearned to be one of them—or like one of them, fighting for justice in Tera."

"And how do you know we're The Order of the Eroe?" I questioned, slowly raising myself off of the ground. "They usually wear cloaks and you can't really tell who they are or who is who and–"

"All of the knights know, the Empress herself even knows." Theo proclaimed. "It's our job to find these things out. You've done a good job keeping it hidden, let me tell ya. We've had a bunch of sleepless nights."

I pushed Noah behind me. "Silly conclusion! Its just me and my younger brother, living far off in a tiny hut!" I ached as I shuffled my feet in the opposite direction, preparing to walk away from the scene.

"I want to join you."

NICO

"Indeed." A man announced, holding the wine glass high. At least, thats what I think he said. Or something fancy like that.

"Welcome everyone to the celebration congratulating my only family, my only daughter, Lucia, on her 16th year!" Everyone else's conversations died down as Eluard lifted his chubby arms way up high in the air. His ginger whiskers were stained with alcohol and he stunk of an unfathomable odor. "I hope you are enjoying your time so far! It is my greatest pleasure to announce—" I zoned out the rest of the announcement, my attention fixed on the large dishes of food to my left. My mouth watered as I stared at the sight.

"Having fun there, Nico?" Lotus nudged my side. I snarled. "Because we have other things to be doing."

"Yeah, I know I know." I said, shrugging my shoulders.

"We go in three minutes, like Ace said. At that point, he'll be ending his speech. Then, as he's walking towards his study, Ace will do the thing. In the meantime, you and I." She said, slowly lifting a shuriken from the breast part of her dress. "Kill some bitches."

"How the hell---actually, I don't want to know."

"Great. So follow me." Lotus's eyes narrowed as she turned around, her white braid whacking me in the face. She strutted through the crowd. No one payed mind to a few teenagers doing whatever during a celebration, so no one expected anything. Thank heavens for that.

We reached a long, dark, narrow hallway. Down a long staircase, guards and knights stood. They were the few left that we hadn't attacked---or Lotus had attacked. Before Ace and I arrived, Lotus had assassinated the guards in the front and inside the house, somehow without anyone noticing. Thana arrived here with Lotus too, so it made me wonder...where was she?

Eh, never mind. I don't really care.

Lotus slowly crept down a single step, turning to look in both directions. Then, she pulled two small shuriken from her dress. She brought them back, her arm stretched back behind her head. With a flick, they were soaring threw the air, slowly disappearing into the darkness of the floor beneath us. The sounds of bodies suddenly slumped to the ground. Lotus dashed downwards. I followed behind her, bumping into walls as the light dimmed. A cool breeze passed my body, sending chills down my spine. Whatever, just Lotus I guess.

Suddenly, a small flicker of light came into my sight. I turned around, long raven black hair coming into sight. Thana.

"There you are." Lotus flipped her long braid behind her and put the remaining shuriken where they were. "Did you get the mo–"

Thana tapped a large satchel with her pointer finger. It hung off of her arm, camouflaging in the large dark gown she sported. "Got it."

These past few months, Thana has been practicing and training like crazy. She's become much better than before

"Nice." Lotus smiled. "Its about time anyway, we better get—"

Screams

The three of us turned around and dashed upwards. It was time.

"Daddy!?" A girls scream sent shivers down my spin.

Another loud bang and a scream.

"It's the Eroe!"

Ruby's POV was supposed to be in the first part, but I thought it would be to long so I put it in this part. Next chapter will have Leona's, Beth's, and Ace's POV. Maybe Ruby's if it's not to long.