[R] Distance Between IC (Aequitas, Car'mael)

[Car'mael]

In the territory of Armestis, a castle of impressive defenses presided at the top of a mountain, carved from the very rock of its crest. Pleasure-ships of the rich and noble floated to and from it, floating to cater to the needs of Lord Alinoth and his court. A rough and cruel man, he had taken this place by force decades ago, and ruled with an iron fist, then taken advantage of his power and position.

His powerful army waited in the valley below, garrisoned and always ready to strike at any grievance he had on a mere word. Few could get past them to reach him, and their presence cowed the local population and regional leaders in the territory to heel.

Lord Alinoth enjoyed his court, and even had obtained himself a Companion, rumor stated--a beautiful creature to help him keep tabs on his court and grace his bed. Some felt sorry for her, as she had no choice but to be loyal to such a beast... but then, the people of Armestis were in much the same situation as she.

Someone was bound to act, however.

[Anti-Hero]

"Did I forget to mention? I'm insane."
The words whispered in fellow companions ears shooting a wispy feeling up their spines taking in what seemed the cold embrace of madness. He smiled a bit licking his lips just enough to ensure the bloodlust that consumed him in certain moments of overpowering adrenalin. His composure returned and he moved quietly through leaves avoided very unorthodox patrol patterns, which honestly made it all the more difficult.
There were lowly whispers behind him.
"Its part of the disease a split personality in certain moments of stress related activites."
He hushed them with just a flick of his wrist.

The garrison was a beautiful puzzle, pieces waiting to be manipulated in order to obtain the goal at the end of the maze. Like a mice to his cheese, or a predator to his prey. As they moved closer the team began to separate leaving the figure using the surroundings to his advantage alone and very much vulnerable for the time being hidden within just feet of multiple guards holding god knows what inside the augments some wore.
"Armestis is changin' and frankly I'm not liking the fact that some have been forcibly augmented its kinda disgusting agreed?"
"Its war, and hell ironically the only country who opposes it seems to have the strongest military."
"Fuck the luck eh?"

He listened to their whining clenching his fist with a slight mechanical tinge as the metal gritted through its powercores.
There was a bit of silence just before the eruptions, smoke bellowing out of towers and bells collapsing, the assault began and the yells of wars filled the night air, this chance was taken to dispose of the men before him.
It was highly effective to use raw explosive items with a bit of electric spark but also entirely to dangerous to do without the best trained operatives.
"Quick and efficient." He snickered moving skillfully into the door that had been vacated in the security protocols. "Ironic I thinks to myself, as I stroll on in to king's palace."
Mountain terrain was his specialty training and his squad was veteran at it, they knew how to move how to maneuver and how to execute the most efficient of jobs.
It was over as quickly as it began.
The face of the king and the girl that aided his side.
"You're not my target.....lucky day for you."
The king's face lie in an expression of terror and fear with minimal blood splashing the sheets and the small dagger like rod retracting into his arm.

He awoke that morning to the sun breaking into his windows and slight triumphant feeling mustering itself inside of his chest.
"Hell its been a week since then."

[Car'mael]

Saffron curled up in her bedrobe like a cat, and shook her head firmly at what the servant offered, green eyes sad and lifeless.

Her patron was dead. Slain before her in cold blood, and all she could do at the time was stare like a deer about to die, seeing her own death in his. She had not loved him, no--he had been rough and cruel even with her, but he had been her protector and commander, the one she was given to serve. Without him, she was... lost. Any purpose was gone. She had been chosen for him specifically, her intelligence and courtly skills making her the most suitable Companion for him, carefully selected out of the others by their breeders and trainers before she was sold. None of his underlings were suitable patrons. And the leader of those who had taken over Armestis was not a suitable match, either...

There was nobody for her here. And they had not sent her back, clearly hoping to have her Bond, even temporarily, with someone suitable and keep her as their treasure. A temporary Bond would be enough, being something akin to friendship and nothing stronger. But having kept her this long, a week, she was weakening, breaking slowly.

As she heard the servant leave with the food again, she closed her eyes and curled back up to let crystal tears fall in silence. Alone, isolated to the new Lord's wing, she would find nothing... but her own death. It was torment.

She would not last much longer. Saffron feared already she might not endure the time it would take to journey back to the breeders.

Taking a deep breath, she wiped her tears away, setting her heart resolutely, bravely... and rose to get dressed and presentable.

She would face this new Lord, and ask to be slain.

It was a kinder fate.

Would they refuse her at the doors of his audience chamber again? Saffron could but hope not... at least, not with this request.

[Anti-Hero]

He sat up in his bed and peered out the cracked door of his room into the hallways watching the somewhat scantily clad servants men and women. "Lecherous oaf."
Aubrey hated his lord, this man was corrupted and frankly just a monster lusting after power he really did not deserve in the slightest.
"Being born a noble is so overrated." He smiled in a way that his lips curled and a slight laugh escaped into the air, this castle was just another day in the field.

He got up slinging on his daily work robes disowning most clothes that plastered him as a noble, he hated them and the feel of the seams against his skin, that said he wore custom built clothes that still had him stand out form the norm, as a joke within the castle but being the King's right hand in war not a soul told him so, and he enjoyed it staying that way. Today's jobs consisted of spending a few boring hours in the audience hall where a face of professionalism would have to be worn pretty much constantly.
"Such a bother." He lazily pushed open the door with the ball of his feet and strode out into the hallways avoiding the servants who would attempt to normally stop and ask if he needed assistance the day was somewhat off from its very beginning. Another day and another boring episode of this daily continuum that he despised oh so much, but as it happened the lord held his leash by holding the medication that kept his pain and his mind to a check.
The door to the auditorium was massive and had the normal to armed guards standing by to catch intruders who weren't welcome within the presence of the lord. He pushed the door open instantly, before into view, his demeanor had changed to one of eloquence. "I apologize for being late mi'lord."

[Car'mael]

Saffron had dressed as best to empower herself: her clothing was not the skimpy "uniforms" the seravnts had to wear, but a line-hugging and sleek dress with trailing hem and slit sides to offer mere hints of leg, over it, a light and loose heron-patterned robe that flowed and fluttered to draw the eye, her long golden hair free to flutter and flow like a living halo for her face and upper body. Less, she knew well, could be far more by merely hinting and not revealing all. The attraction was in the mystery.

It hid how she was growing thinner than she should be, too.

Graceful gliding steps carried her through the halls and doors, guards not challenging her because she acted as if she belonged--and because most were too busy staring and trying not to drool to even consider if she did or not.

The guards to the auditorium were no different than their bretherin elsewhere in the castle. Their jaws fell as she swept up and past--all the way to meet the Lord. She stopped before his throne, standing tall, her dress hem and robes swirling about her feet elegantly. No bow or curtsy did she offer--for Saffron was not a subject until she Bonded to someone, and that person's rank alone would give her one in this land.

"My Lord," she called, her voice soft yet ringing throught the room to interrupt conversations and draw attention. "I am but a lost pet in this, your new domain. I do not come here with news of new mastering--no, for none of your close companions are a compatible match, nor yourself. No... I have come with one final and simple request, for the only Patron left to me..."

Head held high, and eyes defiant yet bleak, she stated boldly, "Death."

Murmuring began, disturbed hisses. To force a Companion to take a Patron was unheard of--any attempt at taking one against its will in an attempt to force a Bond led to death for either the one attempting to force himself on one, and/or the Companion as well, who usually suicided. Yet for her to test a suitable Bond, even temporary, she tasted a single drop of blood from those seeking to be the one... and so far, all had been lacking, including the Lord. If he could but find someone to be her Patron in his court, he could still command that one to have her serve the Lord as a mistress in return for his favor... though a temporary Bond would be unable to make a Companion try any such thing, being more a friend and less her commander. Certainly, any man present was eager to be a candidate--such a wonderful creature would grace him with hopes of advancement and more worldly pleasures. However, any with rank had been tested already--and failed...

Saffron's green eyes were drawn briefly, surprised, to the one in dark military garb, the familiar form of the one who had killed her Patron. She had not expected to see him ever again, not since that fateful night. Something in his own eyes was equally defiant, yet lost in its own way.

It hit her then--he had not been one who was tested.

One of the lesser nobles sneered, eyeing Aubry ironically. "She seeks Death... Maybe give her over to the Lord's Executioner's care, eh?"

[Anti-Hero]

Aubrey scoffed at the remark.
"You know aswell as I if the lord asked my blade would meet your neck in oh roughly three of four seconds, I mean its not like your resistance would end up slowing your demise." He placed his mechanical hand atop the table and tapped the fingers against wood testing the sneering man's ability to remain unnerved.
Regardless the Lord began eyeing the people around him annoyed at this outburst.


"Did I give anyone in this room permission to speak? Because I recall saying something about executing our own executioner? Before some dimwitted child broke into my auditorium asking to have her life ended?" The Lord stood and the veins erupted from his forehead whilst the men around him lowered their heads aside from Aubrey who sat with smile viciously curling around his extremely, oddly almost so, symmetrical face; as almost if to say 'Try it old man. I dare you.'
The Lord who announced his name as Aerius held a hand out to this woman while Aubrey kept his eyes on the guards around him. His fingers curled down so that the single one point at her center.
"Do you think I should allow the blood of you to be spill in my room??"
He almost laughed as he looked to Aubrey who was speaking lowly to the guards standing around the lord.
"I can smell the fear on your breath." He said just as the lord hushed him by drawing a sword and pointing it just under his chin.
There was no flinch or movement as the room fell dead with silence. The Lord looked to the woman again expecting and answer from her, The man in military garb, sat still familiar to the eyes of the girl refusing to move for any reason, his fingers still tapping the desk lightly in defiance to the snickering man from across the room.

He watched them quietly all of them attempting to mathematically assume all possible escape routes from this enclosed room. Hostage? All out slaughter? Out run?
All of them honestly seemed plausible, the only obvious problem was the two guards who would need to be immediately disposed of but that might entail the lord's escape.
Something Aubrey could not honestly decide whether it was a pro or con.
Finally as the sword let away just abit from his chin he looked to the girl with quiet unending eyes, that seemed to drag endlessly into a hellish voice that strung itself into the air condemning this wretched hell.
He knew of her kind, and did not oppose the existence of them, all people needed companionship however he felt almost sorry that they were created ninety percent of the time for someone very specific and without them their lives dwindled into embers and then extinguished in the most unkindly of ways.
The words "Semper Fidelis" were etched into the metal of his arm and turned that just so she could eyes them. The language was far more ancient than either of them, but still very powerful in its own right.

[Car'mael]

The sneering man's sneer turned into a blanching of his face and a muttered, "Hounds should know their place."

Saffron stood her ground, resolute in her defiance. What else had she, anyway? There was something powerful in having nothing to lose.

She merely arched an elegant slim dark eyebrow at Lord Aerius, her green eyes amused even as she lifted her chin. "You fret over my blood tainting your floor, My Lord, yet you threaten to spill that of your own Executioner. I admit I have not expected you to enact revenge on my own behalf by offering to take his life. By all means, mine should be the throat slit. I bare it to you now."

Dim child, was she? Well, his ire would still achieve what she sought--her own end. If her blood fell here, or elsewhere, what did it matter? The way the guards and courtiers were cowering around the Executioner himself suggested the room might erupt in chaos shortly between the Lord's anger and how he rubbed his deadliest hound the wrong way. Only one would remain standing from such a fight, and she doubted it would be the Lord. It would be an oddly fitting ending, that she might go down amid such a bloodbath that took her enemy with her.

"Semper Fidelis" caught her eye on the Executioner's augmented arm, and her green gaze saddened. Loyalty was such an abused privledge. After all, wouldn't she of all creatures know? Her Patron had been a terrible brute--her loyalty had not been by choice. Was his case so very different? Loyal to another brute, brought to heel by that loyalty like a dog to perform as demanded.

Daringly, she flung at the Lord, "If you are so interested in being rid of your Hound, give him to me. At least then you need not fear my blood on your floor in this room, nor my ever offending or embarrassing you again."

Saffron did not hope for that being likely, however nice a thought it was. It would free the Executioner from his oaths, and in return, he could give her the mercy she sought. But the Lord would never approve...

[Anti-Hero]

The lord thought for a moment and looked down to the lowly dog that sat before him licking his lips with a hatred and thirst for blood that filled his cup to the brim with a violent burst of staring fury directly down the back of the sword.
The lord accepted his gaze but did not back down.

"Hounds should know their place." Stabbed loudly at the Lord's ears all the while Aubrey stared into the pit of his chest almost drooling over the want to rip out the man's own heart. Aerius thought to himself, 'If I attempted to fight him, this child would slaughter us all, and that would be a bit of a pickle even if I were to live I am incapable of doing this alone.'
Aerius looked to the woman and lowered his sword from Aubrey's neck and struck him along the jawline with the back of the sword. A snarl escaped from The Executioner's lips and the noblemen around him snickered and laughed at his performance.
It was odd and sorrowful to watch a warrior be put to his knees just for the sake of medication that dulled his agony.
"Take him, and get this beast out of my room we have been tainted enough." The stare down between them began as the blood along his jawline dripped to the floor after its initial splatter.
The lord had a guard wipe down his sword and then returned it to his sheath.

Aubrey's gaze was stern and powerful full of fear that was struck into the minds of people along with the Executioner title. The blood was ignored and the pain in his arm and jaw stung, however it was again ignored. The blade from his arm extended just enough over his hand to put down the man infront of him.
With his fist clenched and his teeth seemingly sharpened from the reality of the disease decaying his body.
His cringes went noticed by the men in the room who all had been watching him since he had sprung from the floor to face Aerius in absolute defiance. Though his blade was drawn, and he was poised to attack any man who moved, he did nothing as the Lord's words were called to the girl.

"Take him, and get this beast out of my room we have been tainted enough."
The Lord himself had decided that instead of attempting to put down his own executioner by normal law, he would create a story surrounding his disappearance in an effort to control his subjects by fear, but the only way this could happen.
"I don't want either of them killed just get them out."
The Lord thought to himself just a bit more, if nothing else worked he could attempt a benevolence story and appeal to his civilians softer side.

[Car'mael]

Saffron had to steel herself not to wince when the Lord struck his own Hound to the ground, drawing blood. She had known the man to be a beast, much as her own Patron had been, but she had not expected him to display so right in front of her. It was a surprise and a relief to have the Executioner's life given to her, however, especially how little the Lord regarded its value. A sick man, he at least deserved something for his loyalty and obedience, even if it was under duress... and even if it was the minor dignity of not being executed himself for no cause.

Given free reign to leave... Well, she could gift this man for doing her a service. Saffron had some property, which she had ordered sold as soon as she had set herself on this path for her own destruction. The monies should be enough to reward the sick man with the cash needed for some meds and transportation to wherever he wished... She would not need such, after all. Only a few personal effects and garments would not be sold, to be sent back to her creators as testimony to her end.

Not caring what the others thought, she gracefully moved over to the fallen man, and crouched down beside him to offer him a hand up, her other hand gently touching his bleeding cheek to wipe away a drop of blood about to fall.

"Come," she suggested quietly, as if it were just the two of them now, her eyes full of sad sympathy. "Let us go from here."

[Anti-Hero]

He growled lowly and walked with her, his teeth bore in anger and body tense with unsubsiding rage. The door wasn't far but mere seconds turned to minutes those minutes became endless hours of madness and discord displaying itself in his eyes leading to a mind unsettled. Regardless he did not oppose her and accepted her offer without a word of thanks.
Aubrey could not look away from the floor the stench of his blood still dancing its way down his neck.

The Lord watched them in almost a sympathetic look as he tried to begin is career of acting for the public, his eyes were humble and his smile gracious. Aubrey could sense him in away glaring at them and the meaning behind those wretched eyes.
Moments passed in his mind and time became the most clear thing in his head.
He now stood next to the girl, the woman who had offered him a form of sanctuary in his own mind. Soon the moment would come of comfort but for now as the path to the door got longer and longer he began to mumble something to the Lord.

"I'll come back, and have you head as my trophy." And like the dog he had been, his mouth began to overflow with the rage of the instinctive beast in his chest.

[Car'mael]

Saffron reached out and tugged at Aubrey's arm, the one with "Semper Fidelis" on it, hoping those few words were enough. Better to not have the man return his head into a noose if she could help it.

"Come," she told him quietly but firmly. "I do not wish to command you, but he has given your authority over to me now. Come... let us find what you need, and be gone from this place of pointless death. Sell your life for something more valuable than his."

[Anti-Hero]

"I am a dog of war, not something of value." He cast one last look to the Lord before following her movement obediently. However, despising the fact that she may be right, he knew only loyalty. Her hands touched the metal and from the magical particles that seemed through it he felt the touch as if it were his own skin. The blood along his jaw still wet dripped lighter now, his body had begun to repair the gash but it still would take some time.

He instinctively attempted to pull away from her but quickly subsided his want to be anywhere else, in his mind it wasn't as if it mattered. What awaited him was fate of pain, and he had been long without the medication as was.
He whispered quietly under his breath.
"Yes, mi'lady."

[Car'mael]

Saffron kept a hand on his arm, wary of letting go, lest that be enough of a signal that he go for his former Lord's throat. That loyalty was ended after all. Did the Lord know what he had given her? What she had done, by restraining this one?

But she needed no revenge--she had no heart for such. And to let the Lord be killed would start civil war instead, a more brutal evil for the populace than this recent upheaval. And, of course, this loyal dog would die over a petty revenge, his life sold for nothing. The Lord had no idea how lucky he was to be left alive, and the population so lucky as to not be allowed to fall into chaos.

Drawing him with her, Saffron swept from the room swiftly, yet with dignity for them both. Leading the way to her suite, a branch from her Patron's, she let go of him once within the anteroom. There, she summoned a serving-girl.

The one servant who stood fast to her, Lily, appeared. Middle-aged, thought to be of no consequence to any others, yet loyal and paid well... and ever in awe of the Companion. "Lady..."

"Lily. Take of my sellings, and purchase all the medicine it can obtain for this man. Have a case brought to us immediately. And pack what remains of my belongings. The remaining funds... will be enough for my purposes," she stated quietly.

The woman hurried off obediently.

Noting the dripping blood, though it was far less now from how the warrior healed so swiftly, Saffron grabbed a napkin from a nearby table, and reached out to dab at the wound.

"Here, hold it there, until it stops. Will it need tending...?" she asked him.

Leaving the cloth to his grip, she noted her own hand now stained in his blood, and licked the minor mark off with her tongue, not caring for her health and not wishing to waste time--or risk him heading back to further vent his anger--by moving off to wash her hands.

Green eyes widened, stunned, and she stared at her hand in amazed dismay.

Compatible...

Of all men in this castle...

This one alone was even possibly compatible with her.

"How... How can it be...?" she breathed, awed.

[Anti-Hero]

He stood indignantly, but a surreal elegance had replaced his unholy anger. He looked down at his own clothing and noted the blood that had stained his bast looking, in his mind, clothes. "I'll be fine, you need not worry mi'lady." His voice was less tense and significantly more soft and docile than before. He dabbed the napkin instead of holding it as she had suggested and felt the wound closing due to the magical prowess that had over time seeped into his skin. The servant girl 'Lily' he had seen before, than why hadn't he noticed immediately who this woman was?
He with thoughts swirling in mind cast the lord away for now and tended to the robe-like garment about his chest.
"You don't mind if I remove my shirt do you?" He asked politely turning his back to her out of courtesy.
Without waiting for an answer as the smell became moderately overpowering he shed just the top portion giving a view of multiple scars and metal being taken over by flesh, and yet the flesh being taken over by metal, regardless of how you looked at it the site was painful to mind.

The blood was steadily slowing and had all but stopped, and as the garb fell it also revealed the cut to be much worse then noted before, it reclaimed the name gash with ease as it worked its way from jaw to shoulder and chest. He tossed the napkin aside for a moment making sure to leave it with the remnants of his clothes. Attempting once again to being kind enough to avoid bloodying her own possessions.
"Might I just have a bit of water?" He spoke as she breathed in awe so that he did not hear what she had said or even the base reaction, only noting wide green eyes, but she was female and that just seemed fairly normal.
"If it of course is not to much to ask."

[Car'mael]

Saffron, still stunned, stared at the man for a long moment, mentally wincing at how metal and flesh fused and rippled, seeming to be alternating throughout his body. Nor was that wound very reassurring to see. He would have been a fine one to look at, without the metal and blood... but those clashed, making him seem far less human than he was. It made sense how many so easily dismissed those so tainted as less than human, seeing this.

Giving herself a bit of a shake, saffron pulled her mind back to the current situation and his request, and glided towards the bathing chambers, to get a glass of water.

Coming back, she offered it to him, her green eyes rising to meet his own.

"I... thought to ask a request of you, the very same I asked that the Lord denied me and still denies me. In return... I intended to give you what remained to me, with your freedom." Her gaze dropped to the bloodied clothing on the floor. "Instead... I find... What--what would you do with your freedom, with enough to tide you over for a time?"

[Anti-Hero]

Confused by the broken question he repeated it back to himself then allowed to her "Are you asking what would I do with my own freedom?" He cocked his head just slightly enough to move the unruly hair from his eyes, glancing at her with a mere perplexed look across his face. He stood there his muscles on his left arm bulging enough to be seen, this was not from strength it was from the magic corrupting his veins and his body. The decay of his teeth had resulted in his filing them to the fangs that were about his mouth. He didn't much care for them but it was better than half rotted tartar infested bone.

He stood still ignoring the would more concentrated on the girl who lingered before him, he took the class of water and splashed some of it to the wound and a slight electrical current buzzed loudly similar to static and the magic in the arm began to fuel an even quicker heal of the cut. It was actually visible to watch from the naked eye and almost astonishing, some people had perfected this in these machines and now resulted in extremely fast almost instant healing making for very powerful soldier with a very low rate of life ending in about five years after the initial disease became apparent.

"I suppose if you did set me free, I'd walk back into that room and kill him and probably end up dead myself."

[Car'mael]

Watching him heal with wide, amazed eyes, Saffron found she really should sit before she fell--this was all so very overwhelming. A settee was nearby, and suitable perch enough--gracefully she settled onto it, her robe and dress swirling around her feet.

"Is that your chosen way to die? Taking out a fool of a brute and sending a land into civil war? It seems a bit... well... of an anticlimax," she pointed out boldly. "Especially with your abilities. What if he, and this place, did not exist? What then?"

For now she said nothing of him possibly being a Bond. It had already begun, even without them realizing it, she now noted. More than that... a Patron... well... for once, she had a choice, if only for a time.

[Anti-Hero]

"It was never about theater, its about the thrill of battle regardless of the prey." He gave a quick wicked grin as he watched her move. He thought for a moment was that really his only way to die? Or did he have to die at all? Sometimes it did seem better than living with overwhelming pain on a daily basis.
He look at his arm and placed a hand over it cringing his face just enough so the he could still hide it from the obvious.
"I haven't said this yet, but you are quite becoming of a young woman." He gave a ginger smile hiding perverted thoughts, placing them and the less than gentleman like attitude in the back of his mind.

To be honest he looked to himself and hadn't given it much thought and when that mirror responded his gaze with its own, he showed the door to it and turned away returning to the body that needed a bandage.
He set himself down quietly next to her and stared at the floor.
"I don't know how to do anything but fight, if you were to let me go free, thats what I would do until I was put down. They don't call me a hound for nothing, yeah sure I have a name but really my name is Dog." He slooked lifelessly forward his fist clenched and body tensing once more from the rushes of pain.
"I'd ask you not to leave me to my own freedom but that might sound a bit forward."
He spoke in small broken sentences retracting his own social prowess into a minor setting of someone who did not care to be spoken to or of.

He looked at her with steady glances almost awaiting an order or something from her, but his eyes were focused wondering really what it was that went on behind the face of this woman he had only just recently come to remember.
He thought quietly, 'Did I ever even ask her name?'

[Car'mael]

As Saffron eyed him sadly, there was a knock on the door. Rising, Saffron reached out and patted the shaking man's arm gently, reassurringly, to answer it.

Lily waited beyond with a case of medicine, and with a nod of thanks, the Companion took it from her. As the servant scurried off to deal with the rest of Saffron's orders, she brought it over to him, and set it on the settee between them, clicking the case open. Such drugs were expensive and most governments controlled them carefully, though a strong black market was still able to obtain and sell them.

She turned the case and smiled softly. It made her heart ache to see him in such pain, trying to control and withstand it, and without any purpose to his life but slaughter. The world was so much wider than that... "Take what you need. I bought what I could, and I can but hope it will be sufficient for a time."

Settling her hands in her lap, she sighed softly. Saffron had not missed that quick grin and the flash of hunger in his eyes, but then, that was a common response to such as herself. Yet now, she had a choice about who might enter her bed, with no Patron to command it. He was handsome and good to look upon, his metal attributes notwithstanding, yet Saffron wanted something more for her likely brief freedom.

"You would be wasted in killing such a man, like using silk to bathe swine. You take pride in your skills, and you still have choice over your ending. Choose something or someone far more worthy to be your demise. Die for a purpose, something of value. In choosing thus, you defy their making you a hound--and your life has a dignity none can take from you." She smiled thinly. "I admit, when I entered there, I already did so, myself. You were to be my chosen ending. I thought giving you a freedom I cannot have would be a kinder gift than that man's servitude and promise of death. But those plans must be changed, I see..."

Shaking her head, she glanced towards the door, thinking of Lily hurriedly packing up what few belongings were not to be sold. Resignedly, she clenched her hands together, saddened.

"Perhaps, instead, you could escort me back to the breeders. Without a Patron, I am nothing. They may be able to hire you to guard others such as myself in transit once we arrive there, for plenty have tried to kidnap us before." It was an idea.

If he was a worthy Patron, she would know by the time they arrived--and likely he would realize by then that he was a candidate for such a role. If not, the breeders might have another Patron lined up for her.

And if that one was another brute, she could still ask Aubrey to kill her, and end the misery before it began again.

[Anti-Hero]

He gazed mesmerized unto the maiden in dress and watched her eyes intently. There was softness about her, something that lingered in her eyes almost a dream for something basic a simple innocence that this world had forgotten. There was worth in what she called nothing and he thought it to himself. 'I am a dog of war, but no life even mine is of no value.' They had been speaking as if they were worthless to anyone and everyone, but there were facts here.

He looked over her with eyes not pawing and lustful at her but watching over her as if there was something more, and as before he looked for innocence, yes she was a companion and in some eyes that went as far as to say a whore at birth, but that was always wrong to him. He looked for an answer, once which he couldn't even find for himself but there was a legend of the 'love at sight' he personally didn't believe in such idiocies, but he knew when there were kindred spirits coming into contact with another.

He gazed at her and noticed his own repetition of staring at a girl he didn't understand, but as the call for war burned in his body, there was an even louder call to protect those that had protected him, but maybe even that was the wrong way of putting it, for now it would suffice.

He pulled himself away from the bed shutting the eyes that had looked at her ceaselessly he felt foolish listening to himself in his own mind 'looked, gazed, stared." so many uses of the eyes just for a girl and he knelt before her.

With head bow and fist to the ground he paused in a bit of pain but ignored it as he had the medication for now he would hold himself off as long as he could.
"If I could be so bold as to speak without letting my repetitive eyes deceive you, I am not to be held to the standard of someone such as yourself...." he paused almost assuming she would begin taking this comment as an insult and he wondered should he regret it...with continued by force of word. "I am a yours to command, I am passed from lord to lord to commit acts that no maiden should witness."
Again with a pause...

"I am not like you, your words flow endlessly like music and you speak beautifully understanding things that I do not, I understand logic, its more precise to say the logic of life and death. But I also understand why I fight."
He thought a moment to himself about the sentence to follow and wondered if he still believed the way he had before. "You are a companion, I can see that because I remember you, I noticed earlier when you wiped away my blood the way you looked at it. I do not fully understand the way your kind, and I do not mean offense, work...but I know this, I was born and bred to fight a war..And as you have been given my leash, I will fight for you. I do not want freedom...." He spoke almost as if ranting on now. "Excuse me mi'lady, I apologize, I will do as you ask."
With head at the bow he sat knelt before her his arm shaking but his body unbending.
With all the burns and the scars that disfigured him, from the stories and burden he bore he was willing, as it would be obvious to one who could read emotions, to create another.

In all that stood in his mind it was a hypocrisy of criticism and irony that plague the paradox of his antisocial behavior. He knew two things, kill or die fighting.
This was his breed, this was his tragedy, and the burden he bore was of his own choosing the only thing he controlled. He was wrought with the seven virtues and sins, and all the emotions humans knew, but they were clouded by his memory to complete the mission with efficiency and without hesitation.
The character who existed as him was subject to dramatic changes, it was in him to misunderstand his basic emotions as logic and anger.
But if you looked at all of this, what you saw was the chivalry of an old knight in shining armor trapped by the dimness of the lit world.

[Car'mael]

Saffron tenderly reached out a hand and brushed it through Aubrey's hair, gazing at him sympathetically. So, he was lost without a leader, too? What would they do with each other? And if she bonded to him, making him her Patron, would he be capable of such a role?

"If you wish to take my commands, take this one first--do not sell you own life low. Give it to a greater purpose, regardless who you serve and what your future masters demand." She gently guided him to look up and meet her eyes. "I cannot command you for long. It is not my nature to do so. I was told... our original design and purpose was to be truly companions to people of power--beloved partners, the perfect combination of mate and ally. As I am, however, I am no leader, nor do I have the rights to even the barest level of humanity or citizenship of any land without a Patron. We are made now to be followers, obedient to our Patrons and tied to our Bonded, and in time, I must revert to being such, or I will fade and die."

Taking a deep breath, she patted the seat next to herself. "Come... be up, take your medicine and be at ease. No need to kneel to a fellow servant. Our lives are much the same, bound to others to serve. At least I might aim you towards kinder employment, and some worthy of guarding by seeking you a place guarding on our breeders' behalf, for likely when we arrive, our lives shall part again."

One way or another... she thought to herself.

Saffron had to admire his drive, his willingness to serve and do so with almost unquestioning loyalty, his self-sacrifice. But what would she do with him, or herself for that matter, even if they could be free of other authorities? She was right in saying she wasn't a leader. By personality, she was a follower, obedient to the one dear to her in all things, even to her detriment, unable to resist obeying his command. Beyond planning their return to her origins, she could think of nothing, no purpose or aim for existing... and if he were to follow that, he too would be broken and lost in a short time.

She could only hope he could find his way before they arrived, or else take up duties there. The breeders were more humane than most of the powers out there.

"If you do not mind me asking... what is your name?" she inquired softly.

[Anti-Hero]

He listened to what she had to say. 'Obedience, loyalty, follower.' He smiled to himself, he had remembered his war torn home and how and then he had led his soldiers into battle, and failed. His memory passed to an earlier version of himself who lacked the taste for battle and war and instead stood on the front lines giving directives to others who followed him without question of their own loyalties.

"My name? Aubrey former General at Arms of the Hierarchies 36-57." He tossed the name to the back of his mind and remembered what the used to call him.
'Paradox, ruler of the Dead.' A fairly ridiculous name that left him the renowned commander even now people were wary of his name.
But even as the name Aubrey was quit famous he had only ever called himself "Zwei." he spoke lightly. "You can call me either Aubrey or Zwei."

He rose to meet her and only took a single pill from the small hand crate.
Immediately, he had expected to see in her eyes fear, or amazement.
The histories acknowledged him as a reaper, and also dead.

His body was beginning to subside its erratic jolts in the metal and the pain began to steadily go away by the time the wound had become just a mere stain of old blood.
There was a moment of silence between them he had hoped would fill with words quickly, and he thought to himself 'Can I become the man I used to be?'
He clenched his fist and released the hand touching lightly with the tips of his fingers the words 'Semper Fidelis' and then his hand touched hers and fell away.

"I apologize for.....well." He followed the break in his sentence with a laugh. "I think you get it."

There was another truth behind the former general, he had a very distinctive trait of having the curse of being born with two personalities.
Two people.
One body.
One mind.
He wondered how well she knew her history of the old latin general.

[Car'mael]

The name made Saffron's green eyes widen in disbelief and a thrill of fear. General Aubrey... Everyone knew that name, the many lives he crushed beneath his heel or with a single swing of his arm--he was legenday and notorious. Yet gazing at this battered Hound, it was hard to see the General in him. Remnants remained...

Maybe that was why he was a candidate for her.

Wrapping her arms about herself, she shivered, wanting to cringe. He might be a broken shard of what he once was now... but if he revived, would he be as brutal as her previous Lord? Was it worth helping him become more than a mere Hound--returning a danger to the world, and herself into such a cruel life, obedient to any depravity he wished?

"Aubrey... I think I will stay with that for you," Saffron decided, feeling chilled. "No need to apologize to such as myself... You survived... and here you are. Why, how, none of it is for me to judge."

Another knock, and this time Lily entered again, hands clasped nervously. "Lady... all is set. I have the funds you asked for from the sales, and what remains is packed and ready with the medicines..."

[Anti-Hero]

He smiled and the viciousness about his lips curled up. There was a history about him that had gone missing from histories books. The memories of what followed after and how it changed the general into a man he called "Zwei, remember that name." he told her as he reminisced about the creation of the man.

The history that followed after the fall of his very young regime, when he was betrayed by his own followers and oddly enough being vicious on the battlefield, had not followed him into his courts, in his home he was considered kind but extremely temperamental and he had treated all his servants as with the kind words received by kin. But the ways of his battles had changed histories belief of him to be this beast of a man.
In truth he had been kind and when that man Aerius had taken ahold of his regime by betraying court secrets to his enemies and capturing the lord for himself, he began claiming to have killed Aubrey and his soldiers however Aerius and Aubrey still stayed by side but now in a different setting.

He reached out to touch her shoulder and rest his hand lightly, "Only the ones who survives can tell the truth of his own achievements."
He spoke and hoped she realized what he meant, it was word play almost as if calling the historical hero Aerius a liar.
His fingers clenched but gently and still with a firm safe hand.
His other personality as gentle kind man that history forgot was beginning to regain its control after years under the madness of the Lord Aerius.

[Car'mael]

Saffron nodded, keeping that other name tucked away in her memory. One never knew when such information was useful. The grip on her shoulder drew a shiver from her initially, slightly nervous despite how she had been intent on her own demise but minutes before.

This was the legendary General Aubrey, after all.

But there was truth to his words. Much of what was known about him was legend and rumour, and not necessarily fact. Only he and those nearest him knew the truth of events at the time. Was he really as terrible as it claimed? This man before her seemed... to have standards above what legend told and rumour hinted.

Only time would tell.

And she had so little of that to find it out in.

That reminded her... They had yet to be safe, in truth. It was still just an illusion, and possibly a short-lived one if any heard that she was NOT going to have him slay her.

"Perhaps... if you could make arrangements for us to travel, then, before Lord Aerius changes his mind? Away, anywhere if we must, but for the Breeder's Lands, if you can. It is a ways off from here, so an airship may be needed. I... don't know how to make such arrangements, as I have not left these lands since I bonded to my Patron."

[Anti-Hero]

"To be honest, it didn't seem to be much of a bond, regardless we have more pressing matters, I know of a place and a few people that still meet my old ties." He slipped a tile from just under one piece of the metal that seemed moderately loose, especially for a piece of armor that regenerated as fast as it was wounded. He took a moment to hold it in his hand and remember the pact made by the Brothers and Sisters that could have possibly survived the encounter at the court, those who may have not been present he had left the message to.
'I will find you.'
The tile had upon it an inscribed date 11/6 with no year to complete it, however the name Zwei written, scratched under the numbers.
He took up what small items he could carry and held out a dagger that had been concealed in his robes which he had now pulled back over him.
Night had fallen and of all times to escape now would be the best the Lord knew their presence still lingered in the castle and probably would decide to not have it much longer.
He took her hand.
"You might need a weapon, if you don't have one, regardless please take this as my thanks to you."

[Car'mael]

Saffron blanched, but nodded obediently out of habit, taking the dagger and hiding it in her dress's belt under her loose outer robe, almost behind her back where none would think to find such.

A nod to Lily, and the woman brought what she had packed for Saffron--a single bag of garments and necessities any Companion owned, and a second case nearly the same size with all the medicine. With a curtsy, the servant handed over a purse bulging with the remaining funds. The room had a few last things that Aubrey wisely grabbed--a first aid kit from the bathing room, her travel-robe and half-boots, an umbrella, a few snacks and drinks from the cooling-box to one side of the room and the picnic case to carry such.

"Do you need anything of your own, from your quarters?" Saffron asked him. "Lily might be able to run for such without too many heads turning. She is discrete."

[Anti-Hero]

"No, in roughly an hour my quarters will be burned along with this building." On that note he looked toward Lily and gave her a slightly sympathetic look. "I suggest you make yourself gone, Aerius is not a kind one, and he will destroy this place only to use it for his accord." This had been part of the discussion earlier before this whole situation had come to rise. With a nod to her he took Saffron's hand and led her from the room
"Whats your name? I don't like not knowing it." He said and as gruff and rude as it could have sounded there was a sincerity about his voice that meant she was more than just a companion.

The halls had become fairly quiet as the Lord and his men slept with few patrols only a few guards lingered themselves in the hallways and posed no trouble as they passed, he assumed orders but to some extent it was respect for him from them for saving the castle several times over. Some of them would even be kind enough to wish him the best of luck but that would not be until the gates were reached.
Aubrey eagerly awaited to learn the name of the girl who donned such beauty.
But as it was of minor importance for the time being he would only answer her with a smile.

[Car'mael]

Lily curtsied to Aubrey, nodding. "Yes, sir." From her pale face and wide eyes, she was taking that advice to heart, and would be gone as soon as they were.

Saffron reached into the purse and taook a handful of money, and pressed it to Lily's hand. "Thank you," she told the servant.

Then the Companion wrapped up in her sweeping, long navy-blue travel robe, wrapping it snugly about herself to conceal, drawing the hood up to hide all but her lower face from view. She traded her footwear for the half-boots as well, slipping into them swiftly, then hid the purse and other minor items from the room into a satchel which she slung over her shoulder, onto her back. As Aubrey had the two packs, they were ready to go.

"My name," she offered her Bonded as they hastened down the halls, "is Saffron." No Companion had a surname, except in the breeding books that recorded their lineage.

[Anti-Hero]

"Hmm, its quite becoming of you." He cast a smile her way and nodded to the guards who wished them the best of luck the gates slammed shut behind them as the crossed only inches away from the dust that it shot forward from its own weight.

He let his fingers run away from her hands and dropped quietly to his side, with what was known already things may have seemed a bit uneasy. The hood about him masked his sadly drawn eyes from Saffron as she walked beside him. However, he remembered old stories and thought could Companions really sense emotions to an extent? Hw disregarded the thought and walked onward taking a measly dirt road north toward a city he knew with airships. This was opposite of course of the Breeder lands to the southern area but for now it was the quickest route but certainly not the safest.

"Do you really want to return to the land of the Breeders? I could help you find a patron of your own choice." Aubrey believed in Companionship but he hated one thing about their creation, it was the reason for the building of the Hierarchies. Choice, the freedom to do as you were born to do, but of your own power.
He kept his face looking away from her and his soulful eyes returned and with it the kind heart and intelligence that he lacked as a warrior.
Two personalities
Two minds
One body
It always something, but sometimes that something became the most dangerous thing when threatened.

[Car'mael]

"I have limited choice, really," Saffron admitted with a slight shrug as she followed along the dirt road, trusting him to lead as he thought best to get them to safety. "With a Bonded, I may last a year or so, but it only delays the fading... That kind of relationship was created for the sole purpose of buying time for them to bring us to those who would be our Patrons. I... would like a choice, if I may, but your medicines, and our money... I do not think they would last long enough to try."

Her steps were graceful, smooth, dust collecting on the hems of her robes and looking almost out of place on such expensive cloth. Yet she took it all in stride, eyes forward. She could sense he seemed to fluctuate between two... moods, of sorts, one that looked at her with a softer, gentler kindness than she expected from the fameous General, yet the other fierce and commanding as reputation suggested. The two didn't seem meshed quite fully. Perhaps that was why so many found him unsettling? A glance at him found him hidden in his own hood, however, and she returned to looking ahead.

Saffron considered a moment, then shook her head slightly. No, for some reason, his shifts between these two moods didn't disturb her so much as how far either extreme might strike. But that she would learn in time.

Resolutely, she crushed the hope that flared within her bosum. A choice, for such as she? Not very likely. Nor practical, with their resources.

"Is... there any hope for your illness?" she asked, curious and thoughtful as they walked. "Pardon... I know little of it, except that it balances great healing and strength and power with a shorter, painful life... even madness at times."

[Anti-Hero]

He grabbed her moderatly fiercely, and glared at her pulling her close to him in the midst of dust and endless night sky. "Do not speak so lowly of yourself. Ever." His look was almost one of anger mixed lightly with concern, he let go of her wrist quickly and looked almost now apologetic but turned away from her and kept walking.

"We always, have a choice."

He looked unto the night walking into the dust that seemed to separate before him, and thought back once again to his own past and hwo the present seemed so much more pathetic than before, people had all but given up and it was unnerving.

[Car'mael]

To say Saffron was stunned and a bit frightened by his vheminence and protectiveness was an understatement--it was a shock she hadn't expected in the least, and set her heart racing in a mixture of awe, admiration, and fear. She stared into his eyes, her own green ones wide and amazed, though her wrist ached in such a fierce grip. The moment was brief, yet felt almost like an eternity as she tried to understand the man behind those eyes...

Then he released her and continued on, and she stood in the road, rubbing her freed wrist with her other hand, still stunned by what she saw in those depths. How could he care about her so strongly, think of her so highly? Hadn't they just met? Did he... really have feelings for her as a person, even this soon? Or was it just sympathy, fellow-feeling for someone in an oddly similar situation?

After a moment, Saffron clutched at the side of her robes and dress, hiking it up a bit so she could hurry to catch up to him. Unsettled, she did not bring up the topic regarding their choices again... and she wasn't sure she should mention his illness again.

Had that been what set him off, fueled his fire? After all, the illness was a risk of choosing metalic augmentation--a choice he had made in the past, to end up like this.

Once back by his side, Saffron said nothing, merely keeping pace again, though her thoughts whirled wildly.

Could there really be hope for such as she?

[Anti-Hero]

"I dont know." He responded quietly to the question of his own health, he looked ahead solemn filled the face of a man filled with raging passion for those that seemed so lost.
He stopped in the middle of the road watching ahead of him the moon rising steadily lonely into the sky. He stood next to her and clenched the metallic fist its force resonating up his arm.

"There are thing I don't understand, but my illness is far less important than you believing in who you are and your freedom to exist." He turned his head and looked at the dust she stood in.
"That dust, it moved when you walked, you're real, people augmented or built to be a companion have the freedom to choose, oru base chemistry allows us as humans to coexist and therefore will offer us more than one mate of a different kind, however you choose the mate, not someone choose it for you. I can't for that reason take you to the breeder's lands."

His fingers pointed northern bound, to a cities of flying machines, a city of life and a moment of pride filled his lungs. "We still have solace in the hierarchies we created long ago, will you come with me?" He asked offering a hand to her.

[Car'mael]

Saffron stared at him, green eyes wide, feeling the warmth of hope flood through her body. She clutched her hands together, over her heart, for the moment torn by duty and desire, hope and despair, certainty and the unknown.

Going back--they would find her a new Patron in time, and keep her safe and alive until then. But any desires of her own would be second to that of another, whether she received a Patron there or not. That path held a secure future, yet possibly a brutal one... and little but the small joys in life.

Yet to go with him to these other lands... the future was uncertain but the risks could achieve something wonderful. She would have but a year to try and attach to a Patron, before she would start to deteriorate again and pine away for that need of such a close bonding. New dangers abounded beyond the protection of a Patron, emotionally and physically, financially. How they would subsit was beyond her--once the money ran out, and his medicines, how would they survive? Yet maybe she could find a Patron of her choosing, someone kinder, perhaps... even love. Love was a dream few Companions ever aspired to, though rumor said the first ones always had it. Yet even if she died, for all it would be a slow and painful way to go, she would be cherished...

This man cared.

Taking a deep breath, Saffron made her choice.

"I will come," she returned, smiling slowly, though fear lingered in her eyes as she took the offered hand. Venturing into the unknown like this--it scared her, but she wanted to take the chance. The possible rewards were almost beyond her dreams... and the risks were not so different than what she had just faced in Lord Aerius' castle. "But... what will you do? Have you allies there still? Or resources?"

[Anti-Hero]

"Saffron, I somewhat know the life of a companion, I knew one a sister who fought beside me, after we find you a life I will search in my own way for my own cure, but for now your life is drastically shorter than mine. You take priority."

He kept walking forward watching the horizon for some of unflattened ground, the time had passed quickly and gone very unnoticed by either one of them and he knew she would grow weary sooner than him. He felt in his mind that he owed her something for giving him a chance again to regain his place as the man he once was, not just a piece of this mirror that stared back at him.
He took a deepened sigh and looked to a small rock formation that gave some form of what looked like a light shadow cast by the moon. He wondered to himself how tired she had become and in all the excitement if she could press on further in pace with him. His body was much more attuned to these sort of adventures and hers were attuned to a different kind of venturing, he laughed to himself with an image in the back of his mind as he gave her a quick joyful glance, but returned to his watch around them without saying a word.

There was a possessed piece of his mind that remained at Aeirus' side that sought revenge upon the man for the crimes forced upon Aubrey to commit. While he thought lost to his own obsessions his arm sparked rapidly with magical static, but subsided as blood began to wet the cloth of his clothing. It had gone completely unnoticed as if pain just didn't seem to be a bother, like some people noticed being punched.
This man lean but athletic bore the pain of one thousand sins and years of torture from the risk of destroying his own body to protect everything he loved, and even with that risk he had failed. Pain? This was a mere scratch again the toughest part of his body, there was no feeling even as the blood dripping from his sleeve became noticed by Saffron, to no worry it would replace itself. But, what did she know about him? HE questioned things and started to speak but hushed himself quickly mildly nervous around the marvel that walked in tandem with him. No woman, had ever made him nervous, past loves soldiers that he had showered with and random women that had been in his bed.
Something about the chemistry sparked but he knew of the Companions very picky choices and cast himself aside in the thought that there was a chance of any sort of kind.

[Car'mael]

Saffron was again stunned, and stared after him as he continued walking, amazed any would put her life ahead of their own. Was she not made, designed, to be below others, in more ways than one? Was she not to serve and obey to the rule given, except for murder and suicide? And what of the cost to himself? When the medication ran out... what would happen to him? Would he even be able to function at all, and would he retain any sense of sanity? She had no wish to see him suffer further--her heart had ached for him just seeing it at the Lord's court.

Again, she had to catch her robes and skirts and hurry to catch up, but she had to slow her pace after but a short distance, breathing hard, her side aching. The Companion had begun to pine before their interview with the Lord, and so was not in the best condition. Saffron had not eaten in a couple days, and drunk little, nor slept well or for any true length of time. By the time she managed to catch up with Aubrey again, she was starting to feel a bit faint, her steps faltering slightly and becoming a mite unsteady.

"I... I would not say I should be the priority in this joint venture," the Companion offered a touch breathlessly, a hand holding her side, focusing her gaze on the road to remain steady with her gait. "For if your medicines run out, how can I be? One cannot help others unless one is able... Besides, I..." Saffron blushed under her hood. "I... do not wish to see you in pain. You are too kind to deserve it in such quantity as the illness gives."

Green eyes glanced up at him, only to widen in alarm.

"Are you bleeding?!"

[Anti-Hero]

He began resting upon the rocks that he seemed to much and to far for the girl to go even said she pushed herself to keep walking. He tapped the ground beside him and offered his robes as a seat for her to rest on.
"Please sit. Now we can talk without worry." He leaned against the rock and sat off center so that she would have room to lean aswell, the night sky was quite inspiring to watch after the lights of the cities faded from view.

He looked at his arm and smiled a bit at the matter of he hadn't even noticed the feeling of blood let alone the opening of old wounds.
The truth of the matter was in certain areas he bled quite a bit more than the normal people, so he had grown used to it and ignored it.

[Car'mael]

Neatly, as she had been taught, and graceful as always, Saffron swept her robes' and skirts' hems close to her ankles and carefully set on the robe he'd spread for her to rets on. Leaning back, she settled against the rock--and him, finding his pysical warmth by her side comforting amid all this unknown.

"Thank you," she whispered to him, much relieved to have a bit of time to rest. Drawing a kerchief from her sleeve, she reached to try tying it around his bleeding arm. "You will be a mess and frighten the airship operators at this rate," she mused, letting some wry amusement escape with the words, gratitude and concern in her eyes. "They will think pirates have landed."

[Anti-Hero]

He made a loud pirate sound "Arghh!" and laughed with his mind full of merry and joyful thoughts. He leaned back and placed his arm over her shoulder not realizing some form of romantic insinuation. He looked at her and pointed up to the star that blinked brightly in the sky "Orion, I knwo its not the true star but thats what I call it."
He spoke and adjusted his arm so that the kerchief fit more tightly and for comfortably.

The some form of anxious he'd been to just sit and get away from the surroundings of the outside world spend one night watching the moon and the stars and everything just hang in the balance of some force beyond all comprehension.

[Car'mael]

Leaning a bit more against the arm around her shoulders, Saffron looked up as Aubrey pointed, her hood falling back and allowing starlight and moonlight to bathe her delicate features and soft hair with their gentle glow. She rested her head against his arm, sighing softly. She bore a thick travel-robe for good reason; it was a touch chilly for her out here, as she was acclimated to indoor life and rarely stepped out unless into manicured gardens.

"I don't think we need know their names to still enjoy them," she assurred him, smiling into his eyes brightly. "Stars are always wonderful to look upon, so high and bright amid endless darkness, burning wonders beyond the cares of men."

A sudden cry from some creature made Saffron start nervously and shiver. This was well beyond the world she knew. Yet she was't so much afraid, really--not with this powerful warrior championing her and beside her.

"I have only been on an airship once in my life--coming here five years ago. Has much changed since?" she asked, trying to get her mind off the possible terrors of the unknown. Animals... While she had little idea of native species in the area, she could just hope they were harmless ones...

[Anti-Hero]

He pulled his arm around her tighter having feeling her shivers run up through her body.
"You have no reason to fear that creature, infact his cries are in a way lonely." The cry was from a wolf who walked the waste lands alone, though much different than wolves from old lore, this one was one who survived in the lands of barren existence. He thought to himself for a bit about the airships he had seen not here to long ago and how the still distantly resembled the airships original form, even still however the world changed and so did they and so he nodded to her acknowledging they had changed to some degree, but he didn't quite remember the old way of their glory.

The darkness loomed quietly and he knew Saffron would drift here or there soon enough, regardless he sat wide eyes watching the known horizon and beyond into the unknown world's end.
There was a striking moment in each night that fell completely silent when a trip into dreams was like walking in the park, so many things seemed to plague the air with mystery but it may have just been the fact that you couldn't see but anything that was lit brightly in the sky. He watched listening to distant calls, and whines of the worlds creatures.

[Car'mael]

As they sat resting, listening and enjoying the sounds of the night, Saffron felt sleep finally start pulling at her weary eyelids. Now that she was Bonded, allbeit temporarily, her heart was at ease, and she had the emotional security she needed to recover... which meant she could find restful sleep once more.

Or, rather, in this case, it could find her.

Relaxing against his shoulder, reassurred and comforted by his presence and words, green eyes fluttered sleepily in a half-hearted battle, only to finally close.

Only a minute, maybe...

[Anti-Hero]

Aubrey brushed her hair too wake her up as the sun had already begun to rise, while Saffron slept within the night Aubrey had come across a caravan that had been moving on up the road toward the hierarchies for sometime now, and they had been more than willing to give them a ride which was less than a few hours by drawn carriage instead of walking.

"Hey Saffron, we got a ride, come on lets go." With a helping hand he started to lift her from her place of rest, and he looked at her with mildly joyful eyes, the city limits were just beyond their reach now and then they would make a plan of some kind

[Car'mael]

Saffron lifted her head, and started, surprised to have slept so long and in such surroundings. Gratefully, she accepted Aubrey's hand up to her feet, and collected her bag back to her shoulder, reaching to pull her hood up once more. While not a truly vain creature, she still felt mused by her slumber and knew that she hadn't been at her best before they left the castle--she certainly had little wish to be seen by others now.

Holding firmly to his hand, she gasped slightly on seeing the caravan. "Oh! This is wonderful," she breathed, quite glad for the respite from further walking, as her legs ached from what they had already done. "We shall be at the city in no time! Thank you!"

[Anti-Hero]

A few hours passed and the city came over the horizon
It was massive, a city that seemed to span miles and miles and miles so much different from anything other than they had ever seen in their lives. He looked unto the sky seeing the ships fly high, take off and land in the rings that kept them afloat.
He watched them and the magical auras float similar to cloud hangings above the skyline.

The cities architecture was one of brand new creation, the building were like art and magical sciences combined to form this world that was just amazing to the human eye.
"Welcome to Heir 12 the entrance to 13." He smiled and watched her as he hoped her eyes would widen and the smile that he wanted to see bloom on her face.
There were people here he knew from days of the old worlds in the low Heirs the ones in which he had united under the flag of freedom a flag that was printed on the sides of most of the buildings. This flag consisted of thirteen stars and circle in the middle.
He smiled upon seeing it after so long spending so much time away he felt almost at home.
"What do you think Saffron?" He looked at her and pulled the hood away from his head and let her see his face after a few days, his eyes were different, almost happy, filled with an emotion that he hadn't experienced in years.

Being away from the Lord finally gave him something to look forward to, he placed his hand on hers and looked up into the sky. Beautiful, the world was just beautiful looking from a place such as this one and how it changed so drastically over just the course of so many miles.
This world was a reminder of way he fought.
Why he paid his arm away for power, and why so many died on that day.
Solemn returned for an instant and a grip on her hand tightened bu just enough to not hurt her. Augs, could be the most dangerous because they could let you know when you were touching something but not the power you had behind your own touch.

[Car'mael]

Saffron gazed about in wonder, her hood falling once more as she craned her head in an attempt to see it all. Large airships, small, so many fluttering around the floating docks like a flock of birds at a bird feeder, buildings sculpted and towering like works of art with pennants of all sorts and colors strewn all around, people scurrying to and fro to deal with passengers and cargo. So large a bustling city! She couldn't be certain where it ended!

Wide green eyes took it all in with the wonder of a child, awed and amazed, her full lips parted slightly in unconscious astonishment.

Aubrey's question brought her attention back to him, and she smiled brightly on seeing his face bared again. He truly was quite handsome, and the joy and pride that glowed in his eyes... it spoke of how this city suited him. The freedom, the hope and dreams it offered... Captivated, Saffron didn't know what to say to that question at first.

When he caught her hand, giving it a squeeze, the Companion couldn't help smiling further. "It's wonderful... so beautiful!" she told him, though in truth her words applied to the happiness she saw shining in his face, too. "It sings of dreams!"

But that grip tightened--not to the point of hurting her, but enough to make Saffron gasp in surprise, confused. Had she done or said something wrong?

[Anti-Hero]

A single flag fell to his lap and he picked it up he looked at the words inscribed.
"Semper Fidelis." These words in big bold white letters through the circle that had been tattered overtime from the winds and rains. He looked at her and gave a half-hearted smiled before tossing the flag into the wind and watching it break away into smaller tears.
"Its A remnant, from my past." He pulled her close to him and pointed upward to one of the ships that listed the name 'Saffron' on the side of it, ironically it was an old first generation ship he and his court had built themselves.
"So is that actually, I had all but forgotten that piece of junk." He smiled happily and again the words 'Semper Fidelis,' streamed across the side of the airship.

It was almost as if he was saying to her, 'Welcome to your new life.' however words seemed inadequate, and so he just smiled and held her hand.

A new life, a new memory, and a new....friend, he thought to himself and looked at her hair blowing in the wind, she really was a beauty.

[Car'mael]

Saffron looked from pennant to ship, feeling an odd thrill of hope strong enough to make her feel giddy. Were they omens, of sorts? A higher power speaking of something important, suggesting a path of happiness and love?

Squeezing his hand back, she pressed close to Aubrey, and bravely flashed him a smile.

Perhaps they would be the General and Companion such to inspire future legends, hopes, and dreams.

Saffron was looking forward to finding out.

[Anti-Hero]

Minutes into the cities and the fires of war erupted destroying everything as it began to burn around them, it took moments for people to turn and scream while the military force began to assemble from this surprise assault. Its struck as reminiscence as one of when the fires rained up the new wastes of this world, and so the world was at war again.

He watched quietly as the fires around him exploded and everyone ran from the hell that raised the cities streets.
Next to him Saffron sat smiling and what a smile it was amid this war and blood curling from the heat of rage that tore into the bodies of so many innocent civilians.
There had been no warning and no thought that their walls were penetrable, and yet it was happening around them as the airships crashed to the ground and the smell of blood lingered in the air.

His mind returned to reality and looked unto the sky quiet and the city hustling with hurried people running toward late arrivals in the midst of the days suns.
"Its, not much like how I remember it." He said with a smile that was fake beyond its physical existence, he lie back in the carriage and waited until the caravan made its stop just beneath the airship facility

Aubrey thanked them and stood at the entrance of a large building crafted perfectly to meet the requirements of an airfield.
But something lingered in the air, a more than familiar feeling that passed over him like the intuition of warrior on the battlefield. He looked over his shoulder and peered down small alleyways. "Hmm." he hesitated to move quickly, but even still something like a fond shadow loomed over his head.

[Car'mael]

Staying at Aubrey's side despite her frequent glances around, Saffron noted how he seemed a bit distanced as they entered the city and left the carriage. Something seemed to haunt his eyes, despite his smile. She could only wonder what horrors he recalled when faced with such familiar beauty.

Yet on nearing the airfield, Aubrey grew the more wary, more watchful, and Saffron couldn't help but feel a rise in uncertainty and concern, trying to follow his gaze out of curiosity. "Is something wrong?" she asked.

As a Lord's Companion, she knew danger. Poison, assassins, they were meant for him, but would never hesitate to take out even an expensive witness such as herself. At times, depraved individuals sought to avenge their wrongs on her, just because she was the Lord's own. She had seen similar looks on the faces of the castle guards when an attack threatened.

Reaching within her robes with her free hand, she fingered the hilt of the dagger Aubrey had given her. Saffron trusted him to protect her... but she was hardly going to stand defenseless should one try to use her against him.

[Anti-Hero]

"No." He said hiding the fact that something seemed to be bothering him.
He was quietly scanning the area listening as a warrior did in the calm before war.

"Holy shit, am I seeing a god damn ghost?" A voice came from infront of them and a woman stood out amongst the crowd with one who would where such a foul mouth.
"You alive?!" She stared at Aubrey awestruck and walked toward him. The woman was tall and burly and almost seemed like she was supposed to be born a man instead of a woman. She stopped infront of him and eyed him

"Hello Ein." He spoke familiar with her, almost like and older brother to younger sister, however more harsh as if that sister was more of the boyish girl.
"Holy shit Zwei, we thought we lost you oh whats it been ten years now?"
He nodded and held the tile in his hand. She responded with a nod and gave them a signal to follow.

"We are at war Zwei."
She spoke quickly as the crowd formed around them moving as if they blended in with the rest noone cast them a glance, oddly enough however she stood taller than Aubrey and much more wide with muscle.
Aubrey followed her watching over his shoulder frequently, and keeping eyes on Ein, at some point who moved Saffron infront of him and covered her from behind.

"No kidding, I've noticed a few unfriendly eyes."
"That'd be just like General, jumpy from the minute you show up in the safest place in the world." She laughed and pulled a door open letting each of them walk in ahead of her.
In this room sat a table and four men, three women and two children aside from themselves, all of them looked as if they had seen a ghost.

[Car'mael]

Saffron knew better than to believe they were safe, assurrances or no. He was clearly too aware, and her instincts read that he was still wary of someone, something nearby. Those very insticts were what was prized of Companions--their ability to read others for negotiations, and for handling and weaving the intrigues of court and the politics of a populace. She trusted them as much as she trusted Aubrey.

Seeing the tall and burly woman appoach, and how he treated her as a friend and colleague, even almost sisterly, she couldn't help a flare of curiosity for their tale together. Aubrey had said not to forget his other name--now she could see that it was one he was well known by. Curiosity aside, she held her peace as they were led through the streets.

When Aubrey moved behind her defensively, Saffron couldn't help a slightly nervous shudder, and clutches her travel-robes closer about herself, one hand returning to the blade he had given her. Apparrently, that threat from earlier was stronger now. But was it a threat to herself, or him?

By the time Ein showed them into an occupied room, Saffron felt weary once more, almost faint. They had yet to even have a sip of water since their departure the night before, and further walking tired her more. She was surprised to see children among the others, considering the talk of war... but then, perhaps these were Ein's own family with her allies?

Giving the occupants and Ein a bit of a formal bow, she offered a soft, "Pardon our intrusion," to the room in general. After all, this seemed the woman's own home she had brought them to, and without much forewarning that guests would be coming.

As for introductions, she offered nothing, not certain how much Aubrey wanted known.

After all, with his history, that threat outside was more likely after him, not her.

[Anti-Hero]

He laughed quietly with an underhanded smirk hidden behind a softened smile hidden even more so behind an uneasy grin as joy and awe went from that to tension, he glanced over at the children who sat shyly behind the group of people in the room.
"You two, have gotten alot bigger since I saw you last." He had known them when they were born and also their mom and dad, both of which died in battle so the group raised them as their own.
It was close knit but they never knew anything different. Ein pointed out a few things and introduced a new member as Drei, he wasn't much to look at but apparently fierce with his ability to shoot down enemies ranged equipment, actually an Aug that gave him a power he liked to joke by calling them 'mind bullets'
"Who is the girl Zwei? Floosy?" Ein said with a slight joke in her tone as Zwei hushed her
"Her name is Saffron and I'll suggest you keep your remarks to yourself." He moved away from Saffron so that everyone could get a good look at her and Ein was the first to offer a hand to her. "No harm meant, bad experience with one of you." She said callously.

Zwei while this was going on looked around the room, and wondered if Saffron would change to calling him a number as these people did it was after all quicker than a name. He looked around people still casting eyes of wonderment and unsure meanings.

[Car'mael]

Hesitantly, as handshakes were not her usual way of greeting, Saffron shook Ein's hand, and gave the large woman a bit of a smile. After all, Ein was making an effort to be friendly, despite the insulting term. Yet for all it had surprised the Companion to be called such, she was not one to hold a grudge over such petty things.

"'One of me'?" she asked Ein, amusement in her green eyes. "Has... Zwei... been known to bring floozies to meet you often? I can but hope to consider myself an upgrade from his usual taste, then," Saffron teased, glancing at the man in question to give him a mischievous smirk. "It is good to make the acquaintance of you all. Zwei mentioned friends, but I had not expected to meet any so soon. It is kind of you to offer your hospitality. We... left in a bit of haste."

Setting her pack down on the floor, she found herself an empty chair to sit on, elegantly sweeping her travel-robe and skirts around before sitting. It felt so very good to sit--and she wanted to take advantage of this chance to rest, lest they have to go elsewhere soon.

[Anti-Hero]

Ein gave a heap of laughter listening to Saffron speak. "Where'd you pick her? She's great." She bellowed loudly and slapped a hand against her knee, about which time the children brought plates of food and cups of water, the young girl spoke "Thought you all might be hungry. Here you are Master Zwei and Saffy, these are for you." The young one smiled and skipped away back toward another room that had the smell of a kitchen streaming out of its doorway.
Zwei sat back and began picking lightly at the food before him taking more drinks than actually eating, he still sat silently only nodding waiting for the merriment to die down slightly, he had never been one to surround himself with parties but he figured atleast once he could deal with it, as Saffron spoke he gave her a quick smirk back and made a flirtatious movement that probably wasn't the best in front of children.

Regardless it was nice to finally be surrounded by people who he knew personally were safe. The room was slightly quieter but even still some of them hadn't really spoke at all just melded with the colors of the background as had he.

[Car'mael]

Saffron had to fight to subdue her hunger and not simply engulf her food with the abandon of a starved wolf. Instead, she kept her poise and made herself take small bites at a time, drinking plenty to wash it down, stopping once she felt somewhat full. After her recent fasting, to eat too much too soon would make her ill, she knew--all Companions were warned how to recover from fading without causing further harm to themselves.

She thanked the child who served them, and made small talk with those around the table, sticking to easy and neutral topics such as the weather and trade in the country. Her eyes often flicked back to Zwei, reading his ease in this company, how he seemed to almost open up and become more human than the executioner she had seen in the Lord's court. Relaxed and more in his element, she found him more attractive like this--friendly, quiet yet still a steady presence among them, commanding yet compromising to the merriment at the table, handsome and even playful enough to give a flirtatious gesture at her.

Saffron smiled coyly back, and shook her long hair over her shoulder, eyes flicking toward the children then back at him with mischief in their depths--a kind of teasing return with an amused warning. Easy enough to play the game, at least for one as well-trained in it as she, and it was more fun for her this way as she was not oblidged to accept at the end. Yet she guessed this game would have to be delayed--the Companion sensed quite well that Zwei had important things to discuss with Ein and Drei, at least, this very day.

However, she wasn't certain if it was something for all to hear, or just the adults, or just a select few... and if she was to be one of them.

[Anti-Hero]

Zwei began remarking to Ein and Drei on the situation at had and they replied with a name Vier was dropped more than once but out of earshot out of most of them though still loud enough for Saffron to hear if she chose to pay attention.

Ein spoke softly, "You know Vier has been tracking you for awhile or trying you dropped of the radar and we thought you were dead a year or so ago, but he also uncovered some information about whats really goin' on in the breeder lands."

Zwei looked with darting eyes from Saffron back to Ein, "Like what?"

Drei spoke to him reassuringly "Don't worry Saffron isn't one of them." HE leaned back and watched Zwei immediately rest easy.

Zwei leaned back in his own chair and listened intently about conspiracies and attacks on small villages in breeder territory where people went completely missing, gone no recollection and no return of survivors. There wasn't much to point out other than one sighting said of a highly augmented soldier walking the border who upon being seen destroyed her own body.
"Well, then we were right 10 years ago."
He held his finger and thumb against his chin and scratched at the beard that had begun growing in he watched at Saffron and at the children responding with another even more highly flirtatious movement that border lined perverted.

"You still play pretty quick with the ladies don't you? I'd slow down with her, she seemed to be coming around to you, don't screw it up like last time Zwei."
He looked down and smiled keeping his composure.

[Car'mael]

Saffron glanced over curiously on hearing about Vier--and couldn't help openly staring at them on the mention of odd activity in her own homeland, with the Breeders. For whole villages to be lost...

Blushing slightly, she glanced back at her drink a moment, lost in thought. For all she was created by them, a Companion of those lands, she knew of some of the darker things their creators did. They had no value for life beyond what they could make it into, or sell it for. She was not supposed to, but having been bred and created for picking up information and the cues of others, she was fully aware of some of the other projects that had been going on at the time.

One was for what they called "Contracts"... creatures she hoped had not yet been perfected. They were the first creatures the Breeders attempted to mingle augmentation with their genetic and physical creations from the start. One of the biggest flaws had been too short a lifespan to reach enough maturity to market, as all such died of the illness within a few years of birth, but if they managed a cure...

A cure. Then they might cure Aubrey? It gave her hope.

Then it dashed it. A cure would mean their super-soldiers would be ready. They would still limit the lifespan, surely, as there was no need for such creations to live past their ability to fight--and the Breeders would then sell more of them, breed more of them... and Aubrey might face such one day, to die at its hands...

Green eyes went back to him, not wishing him such a fate. Her glance was in time to catch his next flirtatious gesture, and her eyes widened slightly.

Oh, really?

Smiling a bit secretively, Saffron merely arched a brow at him in return, daring him to come up with something more creative next time. Then she returned her attention to what the young girl was telling her.

[Anti-Hero]

Zwei smiled at her and made one more remark under the table enough to make him hide from other people. He listened to them but paid only somewhat attention.
"Yes, I get it so aug soldiers?" He said trying to keep his compsure with a sly smile on his face.
There was a bit of an awkwardness about him while he played with Saffron mentally, but a bit ofa softness about it to almost like an innocence bound in his mind but also bound to her.
He eyes her with a coy look and dared her the same, with an arrogance about him, almost as if saying 'You can't win at this'
He had really lost interest in most of the conversations aside form this hidden one with her.

[Car'mael]

Saffron eyed his next gesture and coy look with some amusement, and shook her head slightly, raising her chin as she looked away again. While he might be confident, she was not so easily won. Nor so crudely, or swiftly. He would have to do better than that. A Companion was a refined creature, a great prize, not one easily snapped up by just anyone with a whim for a roll in the sheets. If he would have her, he would have to place effort beyond mere teasing gestures, creativity beyond mere suggestion--he would have to work hard in hopes of earning this prize. Surrendering to anyone too soon would eliminate the thrill of the chase--and demean her own value.

At this moment, Saffron had every intent on being picky about who she had relations with. Up until now, it was always at another's command, not her own desires, and so merely a duty. If she were to chose now, it would be for mutual pleasure, and she intended to have a long and pleasant time achieving that.

The children had begun some long tale of a struggle... with catching a chicken... and so she couldn't help but be amused by the wild efforts made to capture the creature. Yet she couldn't help but feel sorry for it as well. Hopefully, none would come after her, thinking she was dead--neither the Breeders hoping to sell her to a new Patron, nor the Lord feeling cheated of both Executioner and valuable Companion when he heard they fled instead of died at each other's hands...

[Anti-Hero]

Zwei watched her and noted that small gestures of sexual enuendo were not something to win her over for even a moment, he smiled "Like cat and mouse" He said aloud looking in her general direction.
He focused for a minute returning to the listening conversation as an uneasy feeling fell about him, that ominous sense returning to him if it was only for a moment before the worst of what was to come starting to begin. He looked around himself peering over his shoulder to the children, and then around the room at the people around him.
He opened his mouth to speak and shut it only to open it again and proceed

"So....I understand...bu-" His sentence was cut short.

[Car'mael]

The door burst open, and someone threw in a smoke bomb, the glass bursting in the center of the floor and sending smoke rushing up to cloud the air. Immediately, men in masks and visors with blades and repeating crossbows at the ready charged into the room--about seven of them raced through the door, the first one growling, his voice muffled by his mask, "Get down and surrender, or we'll shoot!!!"

Saffron had noted something making Zwei uneasy, her eyes slightly narrowed in confusion at the subtle signals he was giving--they changed from flirtatious to wary, but surely not because of her? When the men burst into the room, the Companion started in surprise with a gasped cry, half-rising from her seat and stepping back enough to send her chair crashing backward. The two children immediately cowered behind her instinctively.

No Companion was trained in combat beyond the self-defense needed to avoid an unauthorized suitor--certainly not with long blades or bows, and Saffron was no exception. In fact, she had been lucky not to have to be in the middle of any truely deadly combative situation until Aubrey had slain her Patron. To say she was shocked and terrified right now was an understatement.

[Anti-Hero]

Zwei jumped to his feet an immediately a blade erupted from his arm piercing the sternum of one body who was unlucky to be close enough to him upon entrance.
"No falter, No surrender!" He yelled loudly and immediately the bodies began to drop, not friendly however enemy.
Ein moved and stood in the midst of the smoke armor erupting form her body and the piercing metal bounced away from her as though it was nothing.
Drei sat by and pushed balls of metal into bodies not close enough for him to attack personally.
Drei ended two, while Ein held her position and Zwei stood amongst five bodies one left alive for interrogation purposes.
Blood soaked the floor and stained Zwei's close a wicked grin curled around his lips as he squeezed the throat of some wanna-be soldier. His fingers clenched around the throat and the man kicked for mercy.

A few arrows slammed into walls and stuck their ends out half broken however not a single person in the room who was not enemy had any of their own blood on them.

It was quick, but not painless as man half alive lay on the ground spurting blood from a grave sword wound through his stomach

[Car'mael]

Horrified and shocked, Saffron had backpedalled against the wall, raising a hand to smother a second cry as a man was slain only feet away from her, her other hand guiding the children to stay with her and almost hiding them in a fold of her flowing travel-robes--using the thick and loose cloth as a visual barrier to keep them from immediate notice.

The spray of scarlet blood scattering around the room, the awful coppery scent of spilled blood and foul odor of punctured bowel, the cries of pain and gurgles of death, the ring of metal against metal and crack of metal though bone, the hiss of flesh slicing... They were all new to the Companion, and for all she had heard of the horrors of battle, this was more than she ever imagined. She couldn't catch her breath, or blink. And, in the midst of it all, Zwei was smiling...

...as if he enjoyed this slaughter...

For the second time in her life, Saffron looked on him with fear. Just what had she taken companionship with?

[Anti-Hero]

He threw the man to the flood and pushed a foot down on his throat to stop the man's bleeding.
"Hurt?" He asked pressing more harshly down on the man Ein and Drei only watched unwilling and more than likely unable to stop his relentless torture of the man's already failing body.
"Who the fuck do you think you are?" He asked calmly, however the sinister aura about his voice carried even further into the mind striking terror into the eyes of all around him.

He focused only on the man before him all else seemed to fade to nothing.
And liek that there was loud snap, and the pressure threshhold of the human body snapped and with it lay a corpse of a broken neck body who had no more meaning to Zwei.
"Well, it seems they know, we know."

[Car'mael]

Saffron winced sharply at the crack of the man's neck breaking, shivering, pale, unable to breath more than shallow pants of fear, her gaze riveted to the scene. Dead... Granted, they had charged in there with intent to capture and harm, but still... so much death and bloodshed. Her gaze shifted back to Zwei, awed and afraid, then to Drei and Ein who made no effort to stop him. They took it in stride, somehow, from the looks of it.

There was no way that the Companion could do the same.

Seeing one still moving, still breathing on the floor but a few feet away from herself, Saffron hesitantly stepped forward. It took a couple tries to get a sound past her lips--her throat felt so very dry suddenly, and she almost winced when their gazes shifted her way--yet somehow, bravely, she kept her head high and facing them. "Please... then it matters not if one lives, right?"

[Anti-Hero]

"No." The blade from his stuck into the bleeding still living man's throat and retracted immediately afterward. "We have no time for him, he was going to die regardless."

Zwei took pleasure in taking life, however it was man that hid within him half the time a personality that erupted in the midst of battle and the smell of blood. There was an essence about the smell that took him away from reality and forsaked his human side for mindless rage.
His blade took within the blood that stained him and the years of his existence, he bathed in it in a sense of the word.

His mind was blank, nothing but madness and hint of chaotic mentallity that progressed further than even those restrained my jackets painted white.

[Car'mael]

Saffron retreated back with a soft sound of dismay, trying to smother it with her hand, a profound sadness in her eyes.

Just what had she gotten into?

Was Zwei, Aubrey, really such a cold killer under it all? Had she Bonded to a rabid wolf, intent on slaughter at the first hints of blood, unstoppable in its bloodlust? It was good, then, she had not made a full bond with him. Would she be next, were she to stray in his way, or dare stand up before his slaughter? Would his violence carry to other areas, his domestic life and bed? Such was not a risk she wanted to take. She had faced enough with her brutal Patron--he had not been to his absolute worst with her, but he had been unwarrentedly cruel enough to her at times.

No more. Saffron decided she would rather die then be bound to such again.

Stepping over to her pack and satchel, not touching the case with the medicines, she slung them onto her shoulder shakily. Best she part with these folk now, for all their sakes. She was only a burden amid such dangers, and she wasn't certain how much more blood and violence she could endure. She was not made for this... no Companion was. If it cost her this Bond, perhaps it was for the best.

"I... best I leave, then. I am of no use among you, and no threat to them," she offered quietly as she setled her few belongings on her back for walking, feeling an odd dampness to her eyes.

At least now Saffron might survive long enough to return to the Breeders... and if not, it was a good try for something better. How to even start, she had no idea. Fear and sadness drove her to simply be far away from here. For a bit there, however, she had dared dream... which was a gift in itself, and one she would remain grateful for, for however long she endured after this...

[Anti-Hero]

Zwei, calmed and turned to her. "Whatre you talking about?" He looked at her his eyes cocked in an awkward kind of way. He smiled as the blood dripped from his hand to the ground. His body lost composure and hit the floor as the man he had held before had given him a single last gift, the blood on his lower robes much more red than the rest and an increasing growing spattered down the frontside of his pants.
He lay still amongst the bodies of the rest of those fallen men. "I'm sorry, did I do something wrong?" A third personality began to take hold of him. And Ein only knelt by his side.
"Zwei, no you did nothing wrong." She smiled at him gingerly and shot an angry look toward Saffron as Zwei started to dirft away into sleep.
Drei looked to her the same way and those children held their heads low, had they heard the stories of so many personas of this great warrior? The one of the Devil, The Saint, and the innocent?
It was a history they had hoped to erase and now another woman heard and had physically seen the history.

"If you are going to go then get out, if not for him we'd of all been dead now." Ein looked at her again, and with cold eyes "You're no different than anyone. Wretch."
She looked down at Zwei and started to tend the wound that so badly brought his body to the floor, He smiled innocently as he slept sound drifting through a moment in his own mind where only certain things became relevant.

"I'm...sorry." He spoke quietly his eyes flicking open just enough to admit his consciousness. The children watched tears unseen by anyone but noted by the adults in the room.
"Ein, will he be ok? He only barely survived last time." They watched as the giant of a woman became the tender mother overwatching her own child.
"He should be fine."
It wasn't that anyone here was related but they were a family, and through their eyes Saffron had just been the outsider he protected.

[Car'mael]

Saffron gasped as Zwei fell, and dropped her things to come closer, concerned--she had not realized, amid all the scarlet strewn about, that he himself was wounded. The change in him, the odd innocence that so contrasted with the blood on his hands, confused her and was also horrifying in its own way.

Yet the way his friends surrounded him, their sadness and close bonds, their defensiveness over him... Saffron drew back again. Ein's eyes burned at her with almost palpable anger, tending to him at the same time--much like a she-wolf protecting its cub or mate. She dared not reach out--it was clear she was unwelcome.

Rejected.

Looking away, the Companion was torn. She was a burden, unwanted and a hinderance, yet he was perhaps the only friend she had dared try to make. Should she leave, and let those he cared for and trusted be his solace, cut ties to set him free? Or should she stay, and be an odd piece in something greater, out of loyalty and an effort to try and tame his slaughtering tendancies before they killed too many or even himself?

"Is... is there aught I might do to help him?" she asked, feeling so very out of her depth. She knew basic wound care--that didn't mean she had practiced it much.

[Anti-Hero]

"You, 'companions' are the fucking same." Drei didn't spit hatred or even a sneer at her just a cold stare seemed to suffice from his end. Ein refused to respond at this point she put pressure on the wound hoping just to hold in a bit more of his blood while children began to wrap a bandage around his de-robed torso which now had one more scar for him to add to the count, another body wound he would never forget, nor regret.
He smiled and in his mind the image of smoke cleared and the arrow that went for the 'meaningless girl' pierced his side and slammed against the floor leaving only the head of the arrow jutting from his rib cage. In his mind he saw things clearly and why he was only wounded because he used his body to protect Saffron who sat against a corner. It wasn't about being useless, or being a burden like she considered herself, it was about someone who existed that Zwei, Aubrey, and now this one who remained nameless took solace in standing beside.
In a way Zwei and Aubrey both looked for a way to link their minds together and become whole again, and now this nameless one was the same.

History was he had tried before, and just as now the girl was walking away from a man she found to be the terror of the world. That girl had been named Eren.
Drei started to tell part of that story but shushed himself at the word "Eren."
As he did he looked to Zwei. Ein still refusing to speak to her.

"He isn't like us, each scar on his body is not because he made a stupid mistake, not like this one." Drei pointed to scar that spread widely across the side of his arm. "Each one of those including that new one he has, is because he used his body as a shield. The guy's fucking crazy." Drei laughed and took a drag from a cigarette he had just lit up within his previous sentence.
"The thing is Saffron...I get it right? We don't really know him aside from what we see, but we can tell you this, its not what he does that makes him who he is, its the reason he does them. I know you probably didn't see what happened, but in that smoke you were useless to them, and therefore someone who need to die."
Drei took another drag and Ein opened her mouth to speak.

She looked back at her. "I don't like you, because our experiences with your kind are all the same, there's some bond and he always gave them a choice, they walked everytime and in not a single instance did he even remember why." She pointed to several scars which counted to the number nine and even more still existed.
"This one here, was for the first girl who he tried to protect, this one was from that same girl when she stabbed him in his sleep thinking he was a rabid animal. This one, this one and this one, were all from protecting us in battle." Now at five Ein took a breath. "This one here, is from a girl he loved, who he failed to protect because they used her against us, and even at the sacrifice of hi body she died, she was a traitor...she really screwed us all. The other two are from protecting those children when they were kids. This last one? Its for you." Ein looked away from her and sighed.
"You are all the same, you see him and you fall, and then when the rabid beast that protects you shows its head, you cast it aside and then go off and do something foolish."
Drei nodded in agreement.
"He's not like us, but I'll say this. Drei again spoke inbetween inhalations.
"He's not a monster."

On the floor Zwei began to quiver in pain, he groaned bearing the burden of his world alone. There was a world he understood wishing to explain to someone but whilst walking this world, he didn't ask people to stay beside him.

In their minds they wondered what she would think and almost eagerly awaited the answer, expecting some form of dramatic response. But Ein thought, 'tread careful or I'll rip that pretty head from your shoulders.'

[Car'mael]

"And perhaps they were right in that much... I am useless, amid such battles," Saffron mused unhappily, eyes steadily watching Zwei. "And if I stay, what then? He is wounded further on my behalf? I agree, he... values me, it seems. Perhaps more than I am worth. Anything I have to give is of little good here. A warmer bed, a way to relax, some pleasant memories... and, if I stay, according to you, his death. I would rather not the last. I owe him that much for the kindness and hope he has given me."

Carefully, Saffron moved forward to touch a gentle hand to the injured man's shoulder in pity and sympathy.

"I know very little about him. We truly met but yesterday, and I know enough to know he is quite complex within. How complex, I still have not seen the depth of yet."

Sitting back on her heels, she sighed, still torn. Stay? Go? Death at the hands of his enemies was no more daunting than death fading en route to the Breeders. But what of Aubrey, Zwei, this many-named man with so many odd and sharp facets? Would he be wounded further or even die protecting her if she stayed? Would he mourn her going, though it would likely leave him physically safer?

"What do you recommend? You know him best, it seems," she asked the man's friends, his makeshift family. "Would I do more harm staying, or leaving him?"

[Anti-Hero]

Zwei opened his eyes. "I don't really know why you are asking them." He cocked an eyebrow and sat up wincing, clutching the wound on his side. "Hell they know me about as well as you." Each person Zwei, Ein, Drei, momentarily looked away from each other and a silence set in between them that was moderately uncomfortable, regardless Zwei pushed himself to stand and straight he stood hiding the pain that pulsed beneath his rib cage.
It was immediate that Ein stood up and lent him a shoulder to lean which he kindly rejected.
Zwei kept quiet and made his way for the door opening and shutting it behind him leaning against the wall. It was sudden.
"You idiot." He said to himself.

On the inside Ein and Drei watched the door and listened for a loud thud.
"He's kinda like a kid who's soul purpose in his mind is to give his life for others, you won't change it, someone tomorrow won't change it. Best advice? Do what you want, tomorrow will be no different, so today is important."
With that Ein looked at her with the motherly eyes she had shown Zwei moments ago.
"He's what? twenty something? Think about it, he was our king before he turned eighteen, the man borderlines a warrior god."
Drei laughed at the exaggeration of Zwei's power but even still it was about the best way to describe it.

[Car'mael]

Saffron stared after him, blushing, embarrassed that she hadn't been aware he overheard that. Pushing up to stand because she was weary already from all the stress this evening, and her pervious condition was not fully recovered, not this soon, the Companion moved to the door after him, reaching to open it. She stayed in the doorway, looking at him a long moment, studying him.

Then she gently, tenderly reached out to brush a few of his stray hairs to the side. "What would you prefer, then? For I would have no regrets on either side. Yet I have no wish to burden you with my presence if it sets you to further danger and a greater chance for your death. I have little to offer in return, being untrained and weak, more one of mental maneuvers than physical, a creature for another's pleasure and solace when weapons are sheathed. You deserve a companion capable of handling the thick of war, and I am hardly that, being a creature of courts and intigues. At best, perhaps I might eventually be able to get out of your way at inopportune times... but I truly can guarantee nothing."

Saffron offered him a sad, small smile. She said nothing of the chance that he may, if need be, find himself having to choose between winning and slaying her, and she had no regret herself that some day the killer within him would strike her down then. It would be sad, for her, but it was a kind and merciful ending and for a good purpose, at least. If one had to die, could one ask for more?

"I think your friends would rather I be gone. They can sense as well as I, that I am out of place in this. But you are right--why ask any other? Only you can tell me the answer... What do you wish?"

[Anti-Hero]

"You're an idiot." He growled wincing slightly. "You keep talking about being maneuverable in the court's of men, but all I see if a child at this moment. If you are so mentally great than make your own damn decision." It was harsh, brutal, but compassionate even to this extent he was willing to give her this chance to choose, but he was was angry. He slid slowly down the wall and rested against it to keep his balance. "I never asked you to fight did I?" He lowered his head in an attempt to lower the pain as the magic slowly began to heal the wound, and didn't say much else. Sometimes little sufficed to make people understand things, others it failed miserably.
He looked up without moving his head and stared out to the street where people walked by without saying anything and ignoring what had just taken place, best for them he guessed.

He watched not judging but studying them as they moved some who turned a glance and others who turned away walking quickly past everything. He spoke up again but only one more time in fear that he had not gotten through to her, she was stubborn, he enjoyed it.

"Not everything is goddamn complicated."

[Car'mael]

Staring out at the passers-by, Saffron rested a hand on his head and gently finger-combed his hair in an attempt to soothe his pain somewhat.

"I... suppose my choice is already made, then, as I am still here. I simply would rather at least one here does not regret my presence." She smiled thinly, wryly amused by herself. "At times, one likes to hear it out loud. Would your medicines help with the pain of healing at all? If so, I may return within to bring you some. Like your family within, I do not enjoy seeing you in pain, whether visibly or not. The door hides little when you are easy to read in that regard."

After a moment, she added, "I would be better at dodging than striking, I would think. My limited training goes far enough as to buy me time against an unarmed man, to allow for guards to come to my aid, and to kill goes entirely against our existence. Perhaps that defensive strategy can be built on somwhat in due time... if I might get past the shock of bloodshed. I do not know of any other Companion being trained to fight, however even that much. Perhaps it is worth a try."

How much could she stretch the basics of her breeding and creation? The letter of it said she could not kill, nor instigate a fight, yet that still left room for self-defense and incapacitating another...

Again, if she could steel herself to do so. Saffron wasn't sure she could. But... she was loathe to leave him when he had done so much to free her, and now protect her. At the least, she could try, for their friendship's sake.

[Anti-Hero]

He reached up and pecked her cheek and whilst he did he worried he'd made a mistake. His hand slid across the ground to hold himself up while he pulled away.

Words rushed into his mind.
"You're a shameful oppurtunist, what you don't understand is that its better to die on your feet than to live on your knees." The voice was crisp and broken, static filled it to an extent, it was na odd sound but it was a memory, something he had forgotten.
The voice broke away and he spoke aloud to himself.
"You have it backwards, its better to live on your feet than to die on your knees."
He thought and became wide eyed, as several memories of his ancestries origin rushed back into his mind and he remembered why they called him Zwei, and he remembered his accent and his home before everything.
He'd been part of a world known as Russia. The accent was thick in his mind and as he spoke those words his accent became more apparent.

The world for a moment became clear, and as child his world came back to him. Russia was what the hierarchies called their home by name. He smiled and his memories ceased for a moment, but only for a minute they had returned and that was enough to bring him back to his own life. He was born to be the king. At thirteen he took the throne.
There was so many questions answered, and now so many more questions to ask.
He had had his memory taken when the augment was thrust onto his body and he was rebuilt.

He smiled. "I died once."


And so the story of the two would begin, the Companion who controlled her own fate, and the Mad General who fought to protect the world.
This story was now truly beginning.