Recurring Nightmares

“What the hell was that?!”

Charlotte launched to her feet, placing herself in the center of the room which had been flooded with smoke and dust. When she backed up and arrived at the room’s middle, she found herself back to back with Blitz. The two exchanged a glance, getting enough of a look to confirm each other’s identity, noting their masks had each been blown off, then placed their focus back on the clouds surrounding them.

“Any visual on what we’re dealing with yet?”

Blitz’s voice pierced through the sound of roaring flames beyond the smoke.

“Nope, they’re keeping themselves—!“

The female agent stepped to the side as she kicked Blitz to the ground. As the two moved out of the way, a thrust of high-pressure wind caressed their skin, blasting the carpet they had been standing on into the side of the house, before breaking through the wall.

“Wind core.” She stated blankly.

“Can we write up the arson to a flame core too?” Blitz added.

From another angle, a fireball burst into the eye of the room free of smoke. Blitz rolled to the side to avoid it, with the large flaming mass leaving a burnt indent in the floor.

“Now we can.” Charlotte confirmed, facing the smoke yet again while Blitz returned to his feet.

“Geez, how long are you gonna take, April? Let’s just get on with it!”

A voice came from the smoke, and just as quickly, it dispersed revealing the figure of an unkempt man. His leg was outstretched to the side, revealing it to be his method of clearing the vicinity. His mouth opened for a taunt, but before he could let one out, the man saw Blitz’s body mid-air already. His weapon was in hand, and his face showed no sympathy nor remorse as he brought it down on the man’s leg. The weapon itself was a mace, which unfurled itself and wrapped its chain around the mechanical leg. As soon as Blitz landed, he hammered a kick into Droite’s chin, sending him flying upward before his body jerked back into the ground from the chain holding him. The mace returned to its original form.

“Woah, we reunite and I don’t even get a hello? Rude.”

Blitz raised his mace again, which emitted its own flaming glow from the flame core in its center, bringing it down right on Droite’s head. All the mace hit was the already shattered floor. The edges of the room were embroidered with purple streaks creating a circle perimeter and kicking up dust.

“Blitz! What’s wrong, this isn’t like you!” Charlotte’s plea was not answered by who she expected, with her only reply being a rapier raised to her throat from behind. A woman in a military uniform stepped from the still settling smoke Droite had yet to clear. Charlotte clearly spied both wind and flame cores on each of her weapons. Without waiting for an answer she yelled back, “It’s only these two, Blitz!”

“He’s the only one who matters anyways.”

“Couldn’t agree more!” The purple streaks took an abrupt turn, slamming into Blitz’s body, catapulting it into a cracked wall. When his butt hit the floor, the debris of the wall collapsed onto him as well.

“Blitz!” Charlotte cried.

“I need you to stay here.” The monotone woman tried to deny any ideas of assistance before they formulated.

“If you want to stay still, I can help out.” A cyan glow from Charlotte’s hand shone bright as April had half of her body coated in ice. She shoved the half-frozen woman aside and rushed to uncover her friend.

As she approached the debris, it was blasted away on its own by an orange shockwave. The shrapnel of the blast hit Charlotte’s arms she had put up to defend against it, but that made her blind to the kick she received to her side that sent her flying into a wall next to Blitz. The two climbed to their feet, now getting a good look at both of their enemies at the other end of the room.

Droite cracked his neck, hunkering over like an animal as April broke pieces of ice off of her arm and torso. The two lined up across from their prey, giving two very opposing, yet both intimidating, airs off.

“Remember, it’s more efficient if we work together, Werewolf.”

“Right, right. I’ll do what you say. As long as I get the final blow on the purple brat!” He snarled, wiping his mouth with his sleeve as his eyes zeroed-in on Blitz.

In response, Blitz just scowled. “What happened to you, Droite?”

“You happened, you heartless murderer!” He smirked as his body charged forward, supported by a massive gale created from one of April’s outstretched swords. With his charge approaching, Blitz simply stared forward with dead eyes at his imminent death. The wall behind Blitz exploded, leaving not even rubble from the force of impact. Charlotte breathed heavily, laying on top of the shocked Blitz she had tackled out of the way.

“What’s wrong with you? Get up!” She tugged on his shirt, but his expression remained the same blank stare.

“Oh, did he not ever tell you?” Droite let out a series of breaths from his vicious cackle. His body then took on his sprinting position again. “Well, you won’t need to know if you’re gonna die anyways.”

He ran forward once again, causing Charlotte to put up both hands to erect a barrier of roots and ice. But, before Droite made contact, the forming barrier was blasted back by a torrent of flame coming from April in the backline.

The two agents of the Eastern States found their bodies knocked into the nighttime street, becoming its only inhabitants, flailing and spinning as they kicked up dust and settled in the center of the cracked pavement. Charlotte raised herself to her feet, ignoring the searing sensation of the scrapes and burns all over her body. She was about to run to Blitz, but before she could make an effort, he began rising on his own as well. Albeit, much slower.

“We won’t make it out of here alive at this rate…” Charlotte muttered to herself, barely supporting her own weight. Her knees bent, buckling slightly. She looked to Blitz, who was in the same position as her. She stood a bit firmer. Whatever was going on, it was distressing Blitz. If he could still stand despite that, she had no reason to be struggling as much too.

The two attackers exited into the street as well, with Droite outstretching his arms and cackling, April crossing her arms and looking off to the side in response.

“I’m really sorry. Truly, I am, lady.” Droite rested his eyes on Charlotte. “You got caught up in a mess that doesn’t involve you. If I were you, I’d be rightly pissed.”

“Then let me handle her.” April butted in, pushing Droite to the side. She walked slowly up to the other woman on the battlefield, brandishing her dual blades. A rush of green tendrils came at her, but she swatted away without a care, with a swing of her sword accompanied by a gale of wind.

Droite halted his own continued attacks on Blitz just to observe how April handled the other girl.

April approached Charlotte, coming face to face with her just by a few inches. She raised her blade containing her flame core.

“Don’t try to block. I’ll burn away both your plants and your ice. Make this easier for the both of us.”

She brought down her blade, and Charlotte’s world stopped. She couldn’t die yet. She suffered so long, and she escaped. Why would she let herself die like a dog in the middle of nowhere? Her mind just couldn’t accept the ongoing blade of demise, and that desire to live transferred to her body as well, which raised her hand involuntarily to block. A bright indigo flash came from her hand, but not from her blue sigil. Her hand was coated in an indigo construct, catching the blade and repelling it back, sending April recoiling back.

“You—!” April planted a foot, her eyes widening in shock. “You house Aether within you…” She bit her own lip, clenching her fists around her swords.

Charlotte’s breath came out quickly, as she processed her close shave with death. She looked at her hand, but the energy which had coated it had dissipated and faded by then.

“I can’t kill you now,” April’s blades roared as wind and flame began swirling around her rapiers. “But I cannot allow you to return to where you came from.” She raised her hands, about to launch another attack, but flinched when a large crash rang out from above the street.

The billboard on the building’s roof ruptured as something was sent flying through it, crashing through a window on the other side of the street three stories up. It had moved too fast for April or Droite to know what it was, but Charlotte had recognized the white blur. Blitz, however, still was staring ahead at Droite.

“Slater!” Charlotte cried, forgetting her own predicament yet again.

As soon as she let loose her concerned yell, a red streak extended across the street and connected to inside the other building, with a man on the other end of it flying across and into the same window. While she was focused on what had just happened, a yellow flash went by her head as she felt a sharp pain well up in her leg. Shifting her eyes, she saw a dagger of light poking out of her now-grounded-and-in-a-knee leg. Her mouth wanted to scream, but she did her best to maintain her dignity as much as she could.

“Axel’s all tied up and doesn’t need me, it’s no fun!” A girl in a white and yellow bodysuit leaped out from a window in the building the two figures had just entered, but from a floor below. She stumbled a bit as she landed, but walked up and placed her head on April’s shoulder, talking as if she just heard the latest gossip. “I was supposed to make sure that white-haired kid didn’t run off, but if they’re in there together there’s no way he gets away. So, now I’m here to help you guys out.” She wore an exhausted expression, but looked more annoyed she couldn’t help out the bloody swordsman anymore.

As the group of enemy combatants grew, Charlotte could only think to herself: Are we going to be able to get out of this?

That was when she heard a sound to her side, and saw Blitz fully standing with his weapon drawn and his headphones on his ears.

“Charlotte, just stay right there. I’m about to do something stupid.”