Brynhildr Aria

Chapter Eleven: Dark Edda

Chapter Eleven: Dark Edda

I didn't know what to say. "Wha...what do you mean, it's gone?"

"I mean it's gone!" Kuina barked. "It's not in my dress anymore, I can't find it!" Her growing fear quickly boiled into frantic panicking. She ruffled her dress, dug through her pockets about a dozen more times, looked around on the ground, and checked every nook and crannie of her clothing. She even went as far as to pull her fluffy black-and-white dress up over her head and tug it clean off, exposing her frilly blue bra and panties.

Elijah blushed a little. "Damn..." I elbowed him in the ribs before pawing around on the ground. "Cut the crap and help me look for it."

"Kuina, put your clothes back on!" Kosagi snapped. "It's not going to magically appear in your underwear! Are you sure you didn't drop it while we were fighting Loki?" Kuina's periwinkle pigtails swished as she shook her head. "No, of course I wouldn't have dropped it! I'm not that stupid!"

Pretty soon, all three of us (Elijah just stood back and ogled Kuina) got into a screaming match like a trio of bickering schoolgirls whilst Kuina was in the process of having a nervous breakdown.

Seishirou raised his voice...loudly. "Everybody QUIET!" That gutteral roar shut us up quickly. My blood froze in my veins. "S-Seishirou...what's going on?" The Kamui furrowed his eyebrows. "We've been set up."

A small, incessant giggle echoed across the wind. I caught the clink of metal. I whirled around and singled out a short, slim, pink-haired figure. The fiery energy in my horns flared up. "You."

Amamiko dangled a pen-sized steel vial between her fingers. "Looking for something?" Kuina pulled her dress back on, burning with fury. "Give that back, you bitch!" She shot forward, vectors unleashed and horns jabbed out as if she were about to stab her with them. "Kuina, don't!" I shouted.

She didn't listen. She charged at Amamiko, only to be thrown back by the A-Class Brynhildr's telekinetic blast. "What a naughty girl," Amamiko snickered. "None of my little sisters know how to behave...I guess I'll have to discipline them all myself. You're so ignorant, you didn't even feel it when I plucked this little guy from your pocket. Some keeper you are." Kuina rolled over and snarled. "Sh-shut up..."

"I don't understand," Kosagi said. "We should have been able to catch her scent...but we didn't sense a thing!"

"Scent disguise," Seishirou replied. "Some Kamui can use it to hide themselves or others from being detected...but Brynhildr shouldn't be able to do that. This whole thing...it's a trap. Everyone, get back!"

Seconds after those words left his lips, I felt the air-bending force of incoming vectors. Instinctively, I dropped to the ground and tumbled over on my stomach as a surge of telekinetic power came barreling over me.

Seishirou swooped in and lifted me up in his arms. "Yuki, are you alright?" I nodded quickly. "Yeah..." He curled his wings over his shoulders to guard me. "Grrr...how could I be so stupid!

Of course it was a trap! Loki chased us all the way out here to tire us out and corner us like rats! We've been followed all along!"

The figures of Kriemhild and Fenris rose up over the lattice-esque webs of intertwining crystal. Kriemhild gazed upon Seishirou, a dreamy look floating in her seafoam-colored eyes.

"Oh, Shiro...why must you be so difficult? Just give up that little brat, and we can live out our lives together, just as we always dreamed about."

"You're delusional," Seishirou growled. "That's not going to happen. Whatever you thought we had back then, it's over. I've made my decision a long time ago. And my decision...is Yuki."