The access port wrenched open with a grinding noise not too different to nails on a chalk board. Nyx and Thalia winced, by they didn't break their handhold.
The gate opened to reveal a group of about thirty soldiers standing in the shape of a triangle, facing the pair. Their uniforms were skintight, though still allowing space to move, so it was clear who was male or female. The overall colour of the outfits were dark grey. On their back, there was an emblem. Three crossed arrows, the navy blue, black, and silver a sharp contrast to the dark grey beneath.
Thalia sucked in a breath beside Nyx. Her fears had been confirmed. Goddamn it, she cursed herself for not being certain. I should have started setting the ship's defenses when I heard them.
Nyx could see Thalia was worried, and squeezed her hand, trying to comfort her. Thalia felt it and smiled sadly down at Nyx. Unfortunately, there wasn't much either of them could do at the moment.
The ship's captain stepped forward, and pulled off her helmet. She touched three fingers to her bicep and bowed, keeping her position for the count of three. Thalia did the same. Nyx stood awkwardly, not really knowing what to do.
Thalia nodded slightly, glancing at Nyx from under her arm to tell her she was doing the right thing. She rose again, wrapping an arm around Nyx's waist as she did. The ship's captain glared through her helmet's visor at Thalia's arm, as if willing it to unwrap from Nyx's waist. Thalia took no notice, instead pulling Nyx closer into her side and nuzzling her hair. She looked at the ship's captain defiantly.
The ship's captain pulled her helmet off, and Nyx took in her appearance. The captain had fiery red hair, cold, charcoal grey eyes, and a slit in her eyebrow. Her wild hair was tied back into a ponytail, little wisps slipping out to frame her face. She looked furious.
She tossed her helmet to the side, striding forward as if to confront Thalia. Nyx stepped smoothly into her path. She spoke calmly, but there was a fire just under the surface of her voice, waiting to be tempted.
"I think that's quite enough, don't you?" She played with the tip of her bow casually, not breaking eye contact with the foreign captain. "I wouldn't want to go starting any fights just yet. We haven't even introduced ourselves."
The lady didn't move, and looked over Nyx's shoulder, straight at Thalia. "You shattered her heart, and you've found another conquest?" She didn't look furious anymore, just sad.
A quick flash of anger crossed Thalia's face, gone in the blink of an eye. She strode up to the captain. "Akaeria, you know better than most what she did to me. You know why I had to leave." She seemed angry, but Nyx knew her better than that. She knew Thalia was hurt. Deeply. She was covering it up with anger, but she wasn't fooling Nyx.
Akaeria crossed her arms. "Her wings have gone white, do you know that?"
All the colour seemed to drain from Thalia's face. She grabbed Akaeria's shoulders. "You're lying. That hasn't happened in aeons, and they wouldn't now, not for me." She hugged herself, staring into distant space. She looked haunted.
Nyx was worried. She didn't know what was going on, who this lady was, or why Thalia had reacted like that. She hadn't seen Thalia like this since Nyx had bonded with her weapon. She wrapped an arm around Thalia's waist, and Thalia smiled gratefully at Nyx.
Akaeria was rubbing her temples. She looked up. "And there's no chance of you returning the weapons?"
Thalia shook her head. "No." She looked Akaeria square in the eye. "You lost all chance of that a while back."
"You realize I have a duty." She looked almost regretful, beneath her rigid exterior.
Thalia's eyes were steely. "Then so be it." She drew her sword, and bowed to Akaeria.
Akaeria drew a long dagger, its hilt studded with a smooth hematite gem that matched the colour of her eyes perfectly. She bowed to Thalia. "Will you fight for Thalia and her honour?" she glanced between the couple.
Thalia cupped Nyx's cheek. "You don't have to do this, love." She looked at Nyx pleadingly. "You could stay in the armory, nothing will touch you there. You'll be safe."
Nyx put her hand over Thalia's, leaning into her touch. "I know I could, but can you honestly see me hiding in the closet while all the action's happening?"
Thalia smiled sadly. "I understand."
Nyx looked at Akaeria. "I will." She drew her bow, and Thalia looked away, pain in her eyes.
"Then let us do battle," spoke Akaeria, fire in her voice.
Nyx made the first move, shooting a soldier in the shoulder, and he went down like a ton of bricks. After that, all was chaos. Nyx was forced further and further into the ship, her arrows regenerating slower due to her growing exhaustion. She had almost taken out half the group when she heard a faint call from a nearby passageway.
"Please let me go. I just want to go home," A small voice called from the passageway.
Nyx ventured in, her battle forgotten. The passageway was largely unlit, aside from a faint glow being emitted from the small gap underneath a nearby door. It was locked when Nyx tried the handle, so she picked it with one of her arrows and burst in. She did a complete double take when she saw what was inside.
A little girl of about seven years old was strapped down onto a table, wires hooked up to her huge headset, data still running through multiple holographic screens all over the walls. She ran over to the girl immediately, fumbling with the straps in her haste to untie them. Once she had gotten them off, she took the headset off gently.
She wrapped an arm around the girl's shoulders, and helped her sit up. The girl had soft, curly candy-floss pink hair cut in a bob, but it was currently lank and sweaty from going many weeks unwashed. Her wide eyes were baby blue, gentle and emotive, and framed by dark lashes.
She had a smattering of freckles along her nose and cheeks, little pink lips, and a doll-like face. She was a little chubby, which only served to make her look cuter. Her nails, however, were dirty, bitten, broken, and bloody.
"Hey," said Nyx gently, not wanting to scare her. "Can you tell me your name?"
The girl glanced, up at her, frightened of Nyx from under her lashes, trying to judge whether she was a danger or not. She must've decided she was friendly, because she spoke softly. "My name's Faye." She had a little bit of a lisp, which made her sound adorable.
"Well, Faye, you look like you need a hug." She looked down at the little girl and tried to imagine how she must feel. "Do you want a hug, because I give really good hugs, all warm and fuzzy. One time I melted a snowman when I was trying to hug it."
Faye giggled. "You're funny," she said, and jumped onto Nyx's lap, throwing her arms around her neck. "I like it!"
Nyx chuckled and hugged her back. "Do you want to stay here for a little while, or do you want to come with me, we could just go and have some hot chocolate and watch a movie if you want? It's really cold in here!"
As Nyx was speaking to Faye, she was busy on the huge computer system on the wall, trying to figure out why Faye was hooked up to so many machines. She clicked on a little file hidden in the corner of the screen, and skimmed the contents quickly. That told her all she needed to know, and she shot an arrow into the wall socket quickly.
Faye was a Wielder, and they were using her connection (although dormant) to her weapon to find the rest of them and Thalia's ship. She shook her head in disgust.
The operation could have caused her to bond with her weapon prematurely, damaging the connection and jeopardizing the little girl's life. She turned back to Faye quickly and pretended what she was doing wasn't important.
"So would you like to come with me?" She asked the little girl as gently as possible.
Faye nodded. "I don't like this place," she frowned. "They're mean. I think I'm gonna come live with you." She locked her arms around Nyx's neck like a monkey, giggling.
Nyx laughed along with her. "Would you be okay with meeting someone new? I promise she's very nice."
Faye crossed her arms. "Hmmm... depends. What's she like?"
Nyx thought for a moment, scrunching up her forehead comically and scratching her head, making Faye laugh. "Well she's very strong, and she gives good hugs. I love her very much." She looked down at Faye.
Faye looked sold. "Yep, she sounds nice." She looked at Nyx. "How do you love her?"
Nyx was taken aback. "With my heart, silly!" She tickled Faye's little waist, making her laugh and gasp for breath.
She pulled away, suddenly serious. "No, I mean is she your mum?"
Nyx laughed, thinking of all the things she'd done with Thalia. "Um, no, she's not my mum. She's like..." she thought for a moment. "You know mummies and daddies?"
Faye nodded.
"Well, I love her like a mummy loves a daddy." Nyx didn't really know how else to explain it.
Faye puffed out her lips, making a duck face, and sat frowning, deep in thought for a couple seconds. "Oh, okay, I got it now." She wrapped her arms around Nyx's neck. "I want to go now."
Nyx chuckled, and hoisted the little girl up, holding her back for support. They made their way down the corridor, and when they saw what was happening, Nyx had to bite her tongue to keep from crying out and running to help Thalia.
Uniformed bodies were scattered everywhere, and Thalia's sword was on the other side of the room. Thalia was kneeling on the ground. And Akaeria had her dagger to her throat. Faye winced and hid behind Nyx.
"I don't like her." She said, clearly afraid. "The mean lady with the fire hair."
Nyx nodded quickly. "She's evil. She's about to kill Thalia."
Faye twisted her face. "Who's that?"
Nyx was too busy trying not to cry to explain at the moment, so she just shushed Faye gently and told her to stay behind her.
She reached behind her to pull her bow out, sure that she could hit Akaeria with such a close shot. She strung it silently, nocking an arrow without a sound. She released it, and watched... as Akaeria twisted in the spot, flipped Thalia over... and the arrow hit Thalia.
Nyx cried out and ran to her. The arrow was lodged in her breast, the tip protruding from her other side. Thalia struggled to draw breath, wincing with every inhale.
Nyx tore her fingers through her hair, hyperventilating. She didn't know what to do for Thalia. She picked up her leggings and went to tear them to try stem the blood flow,but Thalia put her hand over Nyx's.
"No," rasped Thalia. "I'm immune to your arrows. I'll be fine in a minute." She grimaced, blood leaking from her wound.
"Fine!? You're dying," Nyx said in disbelief.
Thalia yanked the arrow out, hissing in pain. Nyx went to reprimand her, but the wound was closing in front of her eyes.
She gasped. "But... how!?" She had no idea how Thalia had healed so quickly, much less at all.
"If I accidentally harmed you with my sword, the same thing would happen to you, or any other wielder of a demon-killer." She said, no longer rasping now that her wound was closed.
Thalia smiled sadly and wiped Nyx's cheek. Nyx felt it, and it was wet. She hadn't even realized she was crying.
Just then, Akaeria emerged from the corridor, and ran straight for Nyx.
"WHERE IS SHE?" She yelled angrily at Nyx.
She slapped her right across the face. Nyx gasped as her face turned, tears springing to her eyes as the burning hurt registered.
Thalia growled, tripped Akaeria up, and slammed her face into the floor. Hard. "Don't touch her." She spat, but Akaeria was already unconscious.
Nyx wiped her smarting cheek and hurried over to Thalia. "Never mind that, who cares! You've just been shot!" She shouted, checking Thalia's chest.
Thalia pulled her hands away. "I'm fine," she assured Nyx gently. "It healed, but if she ever lays another finger on you, I will kill her."
Nyx smiled, and opened her mouth to say something, but before she could, Thalia had pulled Nyx's lips down into hers. Nyx melted into the embrace, kissing Thalia with a passion. Thalia kissed Nyx with all the pent up anger and sadness of the last day, showing Nyx how much she needed her.
When they broke apart, they were both panting. Nyx rested her forehead against Thalia's.
"Do you know that's literally only the fourteenth kiss we've had where I've been on top?" She grinned.
Thalia chuckled. "Don't get used to it, love, you're not-"
"I got lost." Faye sat down in the middle of the floor. "I tried to go find something to help you guys, and then I couldn't find my way back." The little girl looked mildly annoyed.
Thalia looked at Nyx inquisitively. Nyx laughed.
"Oh, I've got a lot to fill you in on."