The days got cold and the nights got colder as he traveled north but nothing was going to stop him. Akihito didn't care to number how many days he'd been traveling, no number would be too many to help Yuuki. His bare feet were calloused now and he'd learned to hide away at night because of that inevitable glow his skin would give in the darkness.
It was the sight of the first familiar tree in the morning that made him finally pause and breathe a sigh of exhaustion. Bending over and resting his palms on his knees for a breather, he laughed a little. "I missed you." He said softly to the earth. Maelstromclan. Straightening up, his pace was slower now. Technically, he was a trespasser. After a while of walking without any disturbances, he began to frown. This was curious. Where was everyone? A few arrows suddenly appeared nearby, then a few more. What? He thought, as the ground became swarmed with them like a pin cushion. A cold feeling was crawling up from his core. As Akihito neared the main camp, he froze in place.
Bodies. Were those bodies? He was pretty sure. Piles of bodies and arrows. Bodies pinned to the ground, bodies pinned to the tents, bodies pinned to each other. The smell of blood was sour and overwhelming and it covered the ground. Running up to the nearest corpse he knelt down and rolled the body over to find Solo. "N-No..!" He cried breathlessly, "S-Solo.." He was no longer the boy Aki had known but a strong looking man, mangled with black arrows through his limbs and his neck. The body had not yet begun to decompose. "Oh god," Akihito trembled, the body falling from his arms. "Oh god oh god, no! NO!!" Standing and stepping through the bodies of his old family, he frantically began searching for Apollo and Yuuki. "Apollo!" He shouted, looking down at all the mutilated faces. His feet were covered in blood and hair and bits of everything now. Suddenly, he recognized a man with long, untamable silver hair. Apollo was there, on his knees with his body and arms shielding something. There were six arrows along his arms and chest and six below his ribs. One arrow was pinning one of his hands to the ground.
Aki stared at the body from where he stood, covering his mouth in petrified shock before bending over and throwing up. He couldn't catch his breath, sobbing and choking and gasping. He walked over and fell to his knees, "What happened here..." He managed to whisper, touching one of the arrows in Apollo's side with stricken grief. Glancing down, he noticed small fingers holding tightly to the hand that was pinned to the ground. Wiping his face hurriedly he stood up and rolled the body as far as it could be rolled considering the arrows, and found two small children safe underneath.
"Oh..." He breathed, gazing down at, undoubtedly, Apollo and Yuuki's children.
She had to have been laying there at least an hour, reliving last words mixed with sobs and screams, images flashing in rapid suggestion at the front of her mind. Icy blue irises remained covered and shielded from the horrors which transpired over minutes, if even that. Yet, she still clung tightly onto her sibling’s hand, speechless as she waited.
Waited for nothing in particular. Maybe the will to move. The sound of her father’s voice. Mom to come. For her to wake up.
Neither of those wishes came true, however, as the voice of a stranger’s rang out, calling for her father. Petrified, she clung tighter to Bleu’s hand as she braced herself for the worst.
“D-Don’t you dare touch Daddy!”
With the removal of Apollo off the two, tiny warrior released the hold of her sibling. She snapped up and instead, grabbed at the lifeless body, arms squeezing it all too tightly.
Bleu had been staring up at Apollo's dead eyes for a while, waiting for them to shut. Waiting for him to start breathing again. But the blood, it had started pouring out of his dad's mouth and stopped him from talking anymore. Bleu had cried out at him; tried to stop the blood from coming out but he couldn't. His dad's body was broken and dead.
Bleu could remember Apollo's last words.
"Sera," The man had said after the first two arrows had hit, looking hard at his daughter who was huddled beneath him, "Don't...don't be afraid to start humble beginnings. Listen to those who can teach you. And Bleu," Apollo's voice shook, barely audible within the screams and whistling of arrows. "Bleu, don't be afraid to pursue greater things. Use what you know, share it with others." He looked now at both of them, smiling wearily. "Protect each other with the gifts you were born with, and always know that you are so, so loved. Alright? You promise?"
"I-I promise, Da.." Bleu had whimpered, taking his father's hand tightly in the hopes that it would relieve some of the pain from the arrow that had just pierced through it. Apollo then had leaned forward and pressed his head against both of their's and in that moment, it was like the three of them were safe in another world.
"Than everything is going to be alright."
****
But Apollo was dead now, and suddenly a stranger was here. As Aki lifted the body and Sera sat up, Bleu recoiled and shielded his face. "Please don't hurt us!" He cried.
Akihito jumped at the children's reactions. For a few moments all he could do was stare. He saw so much of their parents in each of them, it was a thing to behold. "I-I'm not going to hurt you..." He said quietly to Bleu before looking at Sera. "I didn't do this...I didn't hurt anyone. But you must both come with me, right away. We must leave this place. Is..Is your mother's body here?"
Still clinging to their corpse of a father, Sera shakily responded to him, all while keeping an eye on her brother. She wouldn’t dare let the strange man touch him, either.
“N-No. She’s gone. Where would we go now? Da and Solo and Kanashimi and Nene and... and Ren... and...”
Tears started to swell yet again as her gaze trailed towards bodies all-too familiar. Each name she had mentioned, she could see their fates.
Slowly, she released Apollo, only to wrap her arms around her sibling. She still had Bleu. She HAD to be strong for Bleu.
Honestly, what are you going to say to that? Who are you to help these children? Akihito asked himself. If you're honest, they'll never trust you. If you lie, there will come a day that they'll hate you. Well, if I lose either way...
"My name is Akihito." He started, trying to give them a comforting smile, "I'm a very old friend of your father and mother. I grew up with your father when he was sold into slavery, for I was a slave as well. It has been many years since I've seen him. When I knew him, he preferred not to talk about the past so he may not have mentioned me.
"But...I know where your mother is- that is, your mother's spirit. Somehow she has been misplaced and is trapped inside someone else's body. I came here to find out if your father knew, but..." His voice trailed off as he glanced around.
"It is truly a miracle that I came when I did, and now I would bring you to your mother's spirit. If you would let me. She is in another clan, far from here."
Bleu's face lit with hope but he remained silent, listening closely.
Aki opened his mouth to speak when a thought suddenly crossed his mind. It was certainly possible that either of the clans he had met that night were responsible for this. Bringing the children there could be a terrible mistake. Maybe there was a reason they had Yuuki trapped in that girl. Why else would she be there? "I..Actually.. It may be better that I bring her to you. Just in case. But we would still need to get out of here. Will you come with me?" He asked, holding an arm open to Sera. "I will carry you both, you shouldn't be walking right now."
Bleu stood with her, holding her hand tightly. "I can walk too." He assured, though he'd honestly rather be carried. "My name is Bleu, and this is Sera." He told Aki, realizing the man had not been told yet. With his other hand he grabbed Aki's fingers. "S-Should we bring Da with us?" He asked.
Akihito held Bleu's hand securely as he looked down at the body. "Yes." He said. Without wasting any time he knelt down, letting go of Bleu, and broke the ends of the arrows off of Apollo's back. Slowly, he lifted the man up and stood. The body was heavy and cold with blood smearing all over Aki's arms and chest. He looked down at Apollo's face that was hung over his arm. Finally, That voice hissed in his head, The victory you've thirsted for since your life began. Aki shut his eyes and turned his head away, "We must go, and we must hurry. Are you ready? Is there anything you need to take with you? Clothes perhaps..." What do children need? How do you care for children? What was he thinking again? "Actually we need to leave," He reminded himself. "We don't know where the enemy is. We can go back the way I came, is that alright with you?" He asked, mostly to Sera.
“Okay.” She nodded, staring down at the blood on her clothes. It felt awful, and she visibly shivered in response.
“Wait!” With a gasp, she gained enough energy to start a half jog, half run towards the leader’s tent. If there was anything they should grab for mom...
Seconds hardly passed between her entrance and exiting of the tent, a closed umbrella pressed tightly to her chest as she jogged back.
“Momma would want this. I-I saw her use it only once, but... she would. Said it was special.”
Moving back towards her twin, she nearly squished him between Aki and herself.
Holding the body closer to his chest so he could see over it, Aki noticed the umbrella. A tiny upturn began at the corner of his mouth, under all the blood and grief and grime. After all these years, she still had it. "Very good idea, Sera. We must go now." Aki hurried, walking past them quickly and leading them through the camp the way he'd come. Bleu held onto Sera and followed silently, big eyes watching the bodies they passed.
The much smaller warrior tried to keep up, only held back by the grip of her sibling. She felt ten times louder with him, wandering out of clan territory. The further they walked, the less she recognized, urging her to move closer and closer to the angelic demon.
Whispering into her twin’s ear, she kept an eye on their guardian.
“Bleu, if he’s really some bad guy, then you go ahead and run and I’ll hold him off, okay? I dunno if I can bring Da, too, but...”
