Vol.2 Ch.27 - Brothers vs Lions

Looking at The Fort in it’s current state, you really couldn’t find anysimilarities between the peaceful haven it was just a moment ago and thechaotic maelstrom it’s found itself in as of the recent news. Certainly, astrong tinge of regret over swept me, since we are in the care of thesepeople. Then again, our entire goal was to pit these two powerhouses againsteach other, and we’ll certainly do everything we can to have BilBros emergeat the top.Before we could leave the general’s quarters, they had stopped us for asecond to discuss under whose wings we’ll be put.“We can’t have all of you fight together.” mentioned Julian.“What? Why’s that?” protested Cecily.“You could gang up against us, but if it’s just one of you, I’m sure any one ofus could take care of you.” Leonard said with a guffaw.This made us a bit uneasy, fighting in a completely unfamiliar group withoutthe aid of each other… None of us really relished in the idea. Instead, wewere each placed under the wings of the four generals, excluding Jorgen.Ed was to fight under Maxwell, mostly due to William’s recommendation,who is also fighting with the childish general.Cecily was placed under the care of Julian, but she didn’t seem too pleasedto listen to his blabbering. We all gave her a silent look of sympathy, andeven Max had a similar look to give.Carter, surprisingly, was to fight with Quinn, a character we’ve yet to seeshine in the spotlight… He was the quiet type, which definitely didn’t sitright with Carter. Phrases like This guy? Seriously? came out of Carter’smouth, of which Julian had some harsh words to refute with.I, of course, was stuck with Leonard, and while he was on our side during thenegotiations, it was by a marginal amount, quite literally sitting between“Being on our side” and “Mocking us”. He’s bulky and holds his chest uphigh in pride, so I imagine he’ll be good in a fight, but I’ve heard some gymbros are all talk…Overall, this seems like something new, so I of course had no objections tothe idea that was proposed. We were told to get our weapons as quickly aspossible and recoup at the main hall of The Fort in about an hour from now.***While we picked up our weapons, the four of us pondered what to do fromnow on. Cecily and Carter were brimming with shiny-looking smiles allover, and in the middle of an impending war, no less. Inquiring about thematter, they simply brushed it off as “We finally get to fight in a real gang!WOOHOO!”After calming them down for just a moment, we had asked about our plan ofaction, to which they replied Fight with all your might, and don’t get killed!Ed was a bit freaked out, so he started reprimanding their reckless behavior,much like my mother used to do to me back in the day, but then again, it’s notlike there was anything else to do in a full-on war. Best he could do is stayalive, not much to it…With the final preparations completed, we left for the entrance of The Fortand regrouped with the generals to discuss war strategies.With everyone huddled up around a large map of The Fort’s blueprints,Jorgen quickly started with his presentation.“Max’s group will be our vanguard. They’ll attack head-first, clearing theway for Quinn’s and Leonard’s groups to advance while they clear out theremaining fodder. Try to capture as many hostages as possible, this’ll be thebest way to destroy their morale while simultaneously keeping our moralityintact. Remember: we’re not monsters. Our goal first and foremost is todefend our base and negotiate for peace once more.”Sounding like a real man on a mission, he really did seem dependable to thevery core. There was one thing we didn’t understand about the plan,though…“Excuse me,” Ed raised his hand, “where is my-err, Julian’s group situated?”Some people started snickering at his weak presence in comparison toJorgen’s heart-pounding speech, but the generals admired his willingness tocooperate.“Why of course,” replied Jorgen, “your group will defend the base whiletaking care of the wounded or tired soldiers who will eventually crawl backhere.”Looking at Ed’s group, it was mostly comprised of nurse-looking scrawnypeople, so logistics was most probably their calling here from the start. Anddon’t get me wrong, you can’t fight a war on an empty stomach, much lesswithout any rest! They were doing the Gods’ work, they were!“EVERYONE UNDERSTAND?” Jorgen suddenly raised his voice.“SIR, YESSIR!” the crowd cheered.Just as quickly as our charge was issued, so too were we already at the placeof the altercation. Jorgen was called out to the front to talk with the enemygeneral, and all the way in the center of the two fronts, no less.This was done so that no one could hear (or interfere) with the generals’negotiations. They were also told to drop their weapons in front of them, andwith a large thud…The enemy commander fell on the floor in front of Jorgen. An arrowshot him through the throat, and after his collapse, everyone went crazy.Looking around for anyone with a bow in hand, the suspects (from bothgangs) were quickly tied up and beaten for killing a general before thenegotiations were done. Some of the enemy soldiers even teamed up with oursoldiers to beat up friends and foes alike. This was literally a picture perfectdepiction of chaos.The generals were told to hide in a safe area so as not to have any moreimportant casualties. After brutally beating (and killing a few) archers, theones left standing were just left crying out I DIDN’T DO IT!I had no idea what to do in this situation, so I approached General Leonard,who was seated behind a building not too far from the situation to seekguidance.“Jus’ don’t do anything, kid.” He said with a serious expression, “They gotwhat they deserved.”These words shocked me. Got what they deserved? Are they monsters?Looking at the situation, in a moment of fury I spit on the General’s face andran out to look for Cecily or Carter.***Heading outside the tent, it started to look a bit more like war. The peoplethere realized that cross-teaming was a no-no, so they started fighting in amore organized manner, i.e. they finally started fighting the enemy after allthe archers were dealt with.I found some of my fellow soldiers in dire straits, so I quickly went to helpthem. Fending off the enemies, I got a pat on the back and a “Nice assist!”from the people I helped. Fighting my way through the crowd, I finally madeit to Quinn’s battalion. It wasn’t that better on their side either, but the newsof the enemy general’s death still hasn’t reached them.“Lune! T’fuck you doing ov’r ‘ere?” Carter shouted out to me.“A friend of yours?” asked General Quinn.“Sure is!” answered back Carter.There was a noticeable difference in how Carter treated the General now asopposed to just a couple hours ago when he was just assigned to him.After explaining the situation to them, their faces quickly went pale as theyrealized how close they were to losing Jorgen, but overall weren’t too sadabout the news.“That’s great news, boy!” mentioned Quinn.“Yeah! Means we’re surely winnin’ this one!” Carter continued his thought.As we fought on, I quickly noticed where Carter’s respect for the Generalcame from. His fighting style was more elegant than anything I’ve ever seenin my life. Movement more fluid than water, slices sharper than a sword atleast threefold, this was the fighting style used by The Elegant General,Quinn.“Whooa! General Quinn, where’d you learn that from?” I couldn’t help butask the question out of sheer curiosity.“Hmph!” He quickly pointed to his gray colored iris. Indeed, he was abeholder of solipsism, a gray iro. People with this iro are characteristicallynarcissistic by nature, and believe they themselves are the only true person toexist in the world, with the rest of the world revolving around them. Thiswas solipsism, their main ideology and belief. Even still, I fail to realizewhat this has to do with his ability with the sword.“So you haven’t heard? Figures, you aren’t ‘real’ like Sir Carter is here.” Heremarked my lack of ‘realness’ as he continued, “New studies suggest eachiro has it’s own ‘perk’ of sorts. We all know of the famous folk belief of‘Green Iros heal faster.’ or ‘Blue Iros have an unparalleled knack forinventing.’ But what if I were to tell you these are actually true?”He then explained how he believes gray iros have talent with weapons,allowing them to weave past their opponents, making it seem as if theiropponent’s world revolves around them. This allows them to slice withoutso much as a hitch.Now, he officially piqued my interest. But wait, if that’s the case, then…!“Is there an iro that creates fire seemingly out of nowhere?”“That’s-”He was stopped mid-sentence by an enemy soldier, who he disposed ofquickly before heading off to the next one in a blind frenzy. I didn’t get myanswer as he started slicing and dicing every person wearing The BlueLions’ signature uniform. Before running off, he briskly told me to payJulian’s group a visit after resting up…As he said that, I quickly fell unconscious from fatigue without even noticing.***As I awoke, I noticed I wasn't outside at all. In fact, the room I was in had asimilar feel to that of The Fort's enclosures."Ah! You're awake, thank goodness!" a boyish voice entered the room I wassituated in."Ed? Is that you? What's going on?" I answered back.What struck me as the most surprising is seeing him wearing a BBG uniform,specially fitted with the 'Logistics Emblem' on his chest. I guess he did quitea lot while I was out fighting on the frontlines. Looking around the room, itappears I was in the hospital, which would also explain why I was wearing ahospital gown similar to what Ed wore back in Springwood. I wonder ifHarper would be proud of him for playing nurse at BilBros?"That's what we wanna know too, Grim." he explained, "after our victoryduring the first day, Carter brought you in here unconscious after you blackedout from fatigue."Hmm... I see."And not only that," he continued, "General Leonard came back the day laterwith a frown on his face, and doesn't even want to explain what happened onthe frontlines!"Ah, that might've been because of me..."What's worse, Julius' squad is nowhere to be found..."These words suddenly made me jump out of my bed in shock. Julius' squadis in trouble? But that means Cecily is also..."We believe Cecily and the others are surrounded by the enemy and arefighting for their lives according to the scouts' reports, but no one can reachthem from the outside." he explains the situation."......Get Leonard over here."I was getting desperate asking for his help, but I also just wanted to spit inhis face again for neglecting her safety.A couple minutes later, that bulky bastard squeezes through the door with thesame frown he had on that day. I immediately started shouting insults andegging him on for being a coward and not doing his job as General."SHUT THE FUCK UP!" he stopped me mid-sentence, "You have no ideawhat it's like to be a General, brat! Thousands of lives awaiting your orders,what do you think would happen if I got shot as well? It'd be chaos."He tried desperately to defend himself, but I think even he knew what he didwas the cowardly approach, so after I refuted his every claim, he simplysighed in anger and begrudgingly asked why I called for him."I'm giving you a chance at redemption." I explained, "Let me make it clearthat I have no respect for you, even as a newbie, but if you join me and showme your worth, I'll at least be proud to call you my General.""You get put on the frontlines for a day and suddenly you grow a pair? I guessI was wrong about you, kid. I thought you were all talk, but you actuallymanaged to deliver the info on the assassination of the enemy General toQuinn's group. You've got potential, and guts, too.""Just shut up and get going. Empty praises don't work on me." I said with afury as I got dressed into my uniform with the 'Frontliners' Emblem' sewn onthe front.Let's get Cecily back...!***Making our way to the side of the formation, where their expected locationwas, Leonard and I decided to split up to cover more ground. We were bothquite speedy, so running through the city streets and alleyways was quite thebreeze. Leonard decided to cover the surrounding areas, and I said I'll go tothe center. This way if the enemies tried to escape, he could ambush them(although I wonder if he's capable of pulling it off).Entering the run-down building where the scouts said they were being held, Iquickly noticed just how quiet the place actually was. Slowly tiptoeing myway from room to room, I noticed some of the enemy soldiers talking in thehallway. I had decided to listen in on them."I think that's all of them, let's just go back to base and report this side asclear..."Crap, looks like they might've subdued Julian's group."We aren't allowed to leave after we've killed all of them. We need to getrevenge for what that bitch did to the General..."W-what?! Killed? Does this mean they're all dead? NO! This can't be! Julianseemed capable enough to at least keep the enemy at bay!The more I desperately listened in on their conversation, the sadder it got.Apparently, after their General got killed mid-negotiations, they all focusedtheir forces on Julian's group. But why? Julian's group wasn't anywherenear the scene of the crime! Why not attack our group, the group right infront of them?As I looked away for a second to ponder how to face Carter and break thenews to him, I noticed the enemy soldiers suddenly go quiet. There’s achance they spotted me, so I readied my sword in my hand and waited forthe right moment to strike.Slowly… Slowly… NOW!I jumped up, ready to thrust my sword into the enemy in front of me, when Igot another shock upon seeing the enemies on the ground, unconscious. Iwas even more surprised upon seeing the person who deflected my swordattack stand in front of me.“Told ya’ a knife is faster than a sword!” she said with a smirk.“Cecily? And is that General Julian over there?” I said with adumbfounded expression.Apparently, from how they explained, those two were the only ones leftalive. After the mysterious assassination of the enemy General, theycouldn’t keep up with the sudden full out onslaught by the enemy troops,and were forced into hiding in this abandoned shelter all this time. Thesetwo then simply waited for allies to come pick them up, and if any enemieswere to appear, they’d deal with them accordingly.“The young mademoiselle’s a rose, alright.” Julian praised her honestly,“Not only did she survive the onslaught, but she’s saved my skin multipletimes now.”He had a more calming aura around him than the last time we met, I guessshe managed to win him over for us during their time here. Now that I lookat him, he was probably right to not have us join so easily like Max andLeonard did, he probably cared about the safety and wellbeing of hisfellow soldiers…After telling them how Leonard and I went to look for them, we decided ournext course of action was to get Leonard and go back to base and requestreinforcements. There was no sign of winning at this front, but if we usedtheir tactic and called forth the wrath of The Fort, they’d have no choicebut to back down…Slowly making our way through the war-torn streets, shifting from onecorner to the next, one of us knocked over a barrel, leading to enemytroops being alerted. We subdued them without using our weapons, insteadrelying on our fists and nearby ropes to tie them up to the lampposts. Withthe General’s gray iro and mine and Cecily’s hand-to-hand training, it wasall too simple (these Generals appear to share their eye color, whichexplains their position in the gang).The problems arose while I was clearing out the last of the stragglers. Inoticed Cecily go off into the distance and pick up a bow from a seeminglydead soldier, when he suddenly grabbed her arm, surprising her and makingher shriek. This lead to our location being found out. As a wave of enemysoldiers came rushing in, we had suddenly been surrounded from all sides inthe blink of an eye. We had no other option left but to fight…*schwoop!**thud*A soldier was hit by an arrow and promptly fell from his high ground. Theperson who shot him was none other than Cecily herself.This was basically her saying “Let’s go!” and both me and Julian figured thisout. We suddenly started beating people left and right, without any regardsfor their safety. Well, I didn’t kill anyone, just pushed them around andknocked them out. These two demons apparently had no qualms about endinganother person’s life, but to me that’s a novel experience that I don’t want tohave to ever face in my life.The more we fended them off, the more they kept appearing, and these twowere running out of energy after days of fighting. As if pleading for amiracle, I quietly prayed for anyone to show up…“Comin’ throooooooough!” shouted a burly voice as he steamrolled an entirelane of enemy soldiers.“You couldn’t have come at a better time, you rat bastard!” I cried out inrelief.“Leonard?” added Julian, “So you’ve finally decided to do your job?”“Fuck off, the botha’ ya! I’m a General of BilBros, and I ain’t gonna let somesmartass newbie outshine me!” he retorted.No matter how much of a coward he was, there was no denying we’d havelittle to no options left had he not arrived in time. Damn, now I gotta startshowing him some respect…Fighting on as if we were all in a trance so powerful you could almost startto sing, before we realized it, a trumpet interrupted us as the enemies shoutedRetreat!“… Is… Is this what I think it is?” I asked out of genuine insecurity.“YEP!” answered back General Leonard, “WE FUCKING WON!”***We returned back to base with loud cheers and applause from the community.Two generals, a boy and a girl returning from a hopeless situation covered inblood that wasn’t theirs, this was what our friends at BilBros saw that day. Itwas a spectacle unlike any other, but it wasn’t yet time to call forth thecelebrations.BilBros officially won against Blue Lions on all fronts, but it doesn’t changethe fact that all this bloodshed could’ve been avoided had that mysteriousperson not shot that arrow.The first thing Jorgen did after doing a rollcall was call up a ‘Post warmeeting’ to discuss the war crime committed that day…“The question we all want to know: Who shot the General?”As he asked this question, he looked around for any shifty behavior from thecrowd, expecting to find the perpetrator among them. What he didn’t expect,though, was a straight confession from the crowd…“I did it.” said Carter plainly.We all looked at him with a Not the time for jokes, dude. look, but heshowed no signs of insincerity when looking back at us.“Dude, you were with Quinn, I saw you there. Don’t joke about this.” I saidback, refuting his claims.“Whatchu’ talkin’ ‘bout, bro? I w’s right nex’ t’ya when it happened. Iwanted ta’ end it quick, n’ run back t’a my station after makin’ quick work oftheir Gen’ral. Didn’ know it’d make such a fuss, s’all.”I couldn’t believe his words. Could what he’s saying actually be true? WasI so caught up in the idea of fighting in a war that I genuinely didn’t noticehim? I mean, why would he lie about this?The person that took his words to heart the most, was Ed. He immediatelypunched Carter in the face upon hearing his explanation.“Are you mental!? You caused so many casualties with just a single arrow!”Carter, with a completely straight face, simply used Ed’s momentum againsthim.“Don’t act all pure yerself, now. Yer’ tha one who poison’d our hostagesunder th’ false pretense of ‘em succumbin’ to their wounds.”Another gasp echoed from the crowd. But now I knew for certain Carter wasbullshitting. Ed wouldn’t hurt a fly, it’s not in his nature nor in his interest todo so. So I imagine this is all part of the siblings’ plan, so I’ll play along.“Fuck! Carter, stop telling them our goddamned plan! I spent ages figuring itout to the last detail, only to have you reveal it to them!”“Grim!” Ed looked at me in fear.With these words, I had not only made Carter’s claims seem more plausible,but also successfully incriminated all of us. Now all that’s left is for Cecilyto…-“What?” she said with genuine trembling.“You guys… Started this?” she screamed out, “After what all these peopledid for you, AFTER I FOUGHT TO GET US HERE!?!”Was this not part of the plan? But then, why did Carter say all that stuff?Did I just ruin everything?“No, wait-!” I hopelessly tried to go back on my words, but the damage wasalready done. From promising new recruits, we were brought down to thelevel of killer beasts. All of the members were ready to beat the three of usto the ground, with some consoling a crying Cecily, but the Generals simplystood there contemplating what to do with us.“Isn’t it obvious?” suggested Quinn, “We throw these traitors out! All four ofthem!”“Throwing away the young mademoiselle due to these three’s nasty plotwould be unfair, no?” retorted Julian, “And even if we do, she’ll just bestuck with three untrustworthy idiots!”It was only when he suggested we were a threat to Cecily that I realized justhow much they’ve come to hate us.“Cecily!” I screamed out, “Don’t let them fool you! I was genuinely joking! Itwas tasteless, I know! But please, don’t stay with them! Anything but that!”“……………… I’m going back to my room.” She said quietly.And with that, we were promptly kicked out of BilBros, and Cecily stayedwith them…