Hello, Repost Author here. So sorry I haven't posted in weeks, I've had swim meets and school projects. We are nearing the end of our journey. Shout out to @sirena_1121, my apologies for this taking awhile.
Biana
Biana Vacker was more of a hit-and-run person. She wasn't a coward, or anything. She just found it more effective. She was made for this. So that was what she was doing. She snuck through the crowd of fighting people, knocking out members of the Neverseen. She always knocked them unconscious. She never killed them. She wouldn't stoop to their level.
Bonk!
Another person hit on the head with her trusty pan (she was an avid fan of Rapunzel). The person swooned for a few seconds, then promptly fell onto the ground with a thump.
Biana spotted her father wrestling with a cloaked person. Alden seemed to be having a lot of trouble, so Biana glided across the floor up to them. She lifted her pan above the enemy's head.
The pan hit the enemy hard on the head, but apparently, the person had a thick skull (figures) because they were still conscious. They threw a javelin (What?) at her. Puzzled, Biana barely managed to duck. She was a bit distracted by the fact that they were using javelins.
"What is this? A medieval joust?" She heard Keefe from afar as he too ducked an ongoing javelin. "Sorry, but I feel like I'm slightly underdressed for that. Let me just go get my horse."
Biana held in a snort, then remembered how Sophie and Keefe had come back with two horses. She shook her head, and moved on to the next Neverseen creep, the one fighting her father forgotten.
She found a blond person with blue eyes. He was holding a lighter. She recognized him to be the one to almost kill Sophie. Fury erupted in her, and she kicked him hard. Her foot connected with his unprotected stomach. He was sent flying back. He collided against someone of his own side, and Biana gave a quick smile of satisfaction.
She was just about to give the blond a piece of her own mind (and pan) when she saw him. He was backing up someone from the Neverseen. His cobalt eyes, so different yet so similar to those of their mother's, were hard and audacious. And it hit Biana, as if she had received a blow from her own pan, that he had betrayed them. It hit even harder when she realized he had used her own name, Agent Vanisher, to confuse the Black Swan. He had used her. His own sister.
She found her feet walking to him. He looked up, and their eyes locked. He was in front of her in an instant, sorrow in his eyes.
"I'm sorry it had to be this way, Biana." There was genuine feeling in his voice, yet it did not help.
"Why?" Her pan slipped from her grasp, onto the ground. She felt like doing the same. She felt like falling to the ground and never get back up. Someone who she had thought would always be by her side...had been on the opposite one the whole time. Just like that, her life, her family, was uprooted.
"Fitz wouldn't understand," he said. "But maybe you would." The sounds around them faded, and there was only them.
"Understand what?" Biana laced the words with venom, wanting to let him know that she wouldn't forgive him. And she wouldn't crumble.
Alvar reached out his hand. "Join us, Biana. I could show you what's wrong with this family. What's wrong with the Black Swan." He gestured with his other hand to the members of the Black Swan, fighting for their lives. "You could come with me onto the winning side. I don't want to fight you, Biana. You're the only one who would understand."
There it was again. That word. 'Understand.' Understand what exactly? That he valued family so little he would destroy his own without a second thought? That he never cared about them? That he wasn't afraid to pull the rug out from under them and leave them in the bitter dust of his betrayal?
"Never." She knew she was crying, but she didn't care. Much like Alvar didn't care about the people who had raised him and the people who had grown up with him.
"Please, Biana," he begged her. "You might die otherwise."
"What? By your hand?" The bite in her voice was ineffective due to the sob also in her voice. But she didn't want to hide it. She didn't want to hide from her brother just how much he had hurt her.
The silence on his end was like a knife through Biana's heart.
"So that's it?" she asked, tears in her eyes. "You're just going to kill me?" She didn't have the strength to grab her pan. Exhaustion overcame her. She was emotionally, mentally, and physically drained. The rollercoaster of today was almost too much to bear.
"Biana, if you join-"
"You mean, if I join a cruel, evil, murderous organization you just so happen to be in, I won't die?" She clenched her jaw. "I'd rather go down fighting."
Alvar bowed his head in despair. "It could have ended a different way." A knife slid into his hand, and he threw it so fast Biana barely had time to dodge. Even then, it caught the edge of her hood and pinned her to a pew. Her hood was suddenly wrapped around her throat so tightly she could barely breathe.
"Let me go," she gasped. Her lungs screamed for air. Her throat hurt. Her heart hurt. Her head hurt. Everything hurt.
Her vision darkened, but she could still see Fitz, coming out of nowhere, tackle Alvar to the ground.
Fitz
Hadn't he done enough? Going to the Neverseen behind their back?
"Not my sister!" he shouted at Alvar, rage pulsing through his veins. He punched Alvar in the gut, the older Vacker stumbling back.
Alvar grabbed onto a pew. Hatred burned in his eyes, and he pushed himself back into Fitz. They tumbled out of the room and into the open day. The sun shone brightly on them, almost taunting them.
Fitz unsheathed his sword and swung it at Alvar, but it was blocked by Alvar's knife. Fitz hit the hilt of his brother's knife, but it did not budge. Alvar raised his weapon, ready to stab Fitz. Fitz flipped them around before Alvar could, and pushed him against the wall of the building. He held his sword at Alvar's throat, and breathed hard as red filled his vision. He kicked the knife out of his brother's hand.
And suddenly, Alvar's life lay in Fitz's hands.
Dex
Dex heard a scream much louder than the others, and he turned around to find the source. His search came to an abrupt stop when he saw Biana being choked against a pew.
He ran up to her. "Biana!"
"A-Alvar," she croaked. "Fitz- fighting-"
Dex jerked out the knife. Biana fell forward and collapsed into his arms, gasping for air. Her ragged breaths were punctured with sobs. Dex rubbed his friend's back.
"Tam!" he called. The silver-eyed teenager came up to them. Strangely enough, a Neverseen member followed him, but the angsty teen was unaffected. Dex frowned, but decided not to think much about that. Instead, he passed Biana to Tam, who lifted her up and carried her bridal style.
"Thank you, Dex," Tam said quietly. He looked at Biana with utmost worry. "But I have to tell you something-"
Something heavy slammed against the wall of the room, and Dex ran outside before Tam could finish. His eyes widened at the sight before him.
Fitz had Alvar pinned against the wall, a sword to the older's neck. And from the look in Fitz's eyes, he was going to kill him.
"Fitz," Dex said levelly. "Knock him out."
Fitz pressed the sword deeper into Alvar's throat, drawing blood.
"Fitz!" Dex screamed. "Don't!"
"I have to," Fitz whispered. His knuckles whitened, their grip of the sword tightening. "He deserves it."
"No," Dex said. "Just use your Sucker Punch. No one deserves to be murdered."
"He does," Fitz roared. "He's the reason all of the Black Swan are getting hurt! All the hideouts, all our information, are compromised because of him." The sword was pressed even deeper, and Alvar started making choking sounds.
"Fitz!" Dex yelled. "If you kill him, that means you're no better than the Neverseen." He paused. "And I know you're better than that."
A long pause. It stretched longer, then longer. The sounds inside the room were muffled to them, now. Alvar stared at Fitz and Dex, Fitz stared at Alvar, and Dex stared at Fitz.
Fitz squeezed his eyes shut. He took a deep, shuddering breath. Then he released Alvar. Almost at once, the hilt of his sword came crashing down on Alvar's head. Alvar collapsed onto the ground, his eyes already closed.
Fitz opened his eyes. For a long time, teal eyes held periwinkle ones. Then Fitz gave Dex a small smile. It wasn't his movie star one that he gave to everyone. This one seemed more genuine.
Dex was about to smile back, when he heard low growls. He spun around, and froze.
Three grotesque creatures crouched in front of them. With long fangs, spiky tails, huge talons, large wings, and scales, they were easily the most horrifying things Dex had ever seen.
Tam, who had somehow gotten out there without Dex noticing, sucked in a breath. "It's the Gorgodons."
Next chapter out next Saturday for suspense 😉