Chapter Five: Xavier/ Chapter Six: Aria

 We made it to the gas station with no problems along the way, the guest were very shy but thankful for the curtesy that Durand displayed when most of our men were ready to attack. Durand was doing repairs on the trucks, something about it shaking too much, while we waited on Bell and the hunting team, I tried to strike a conversation with the girl that was leading her people to some type of safety. She was very shy and timid, I can tell it was hard for her to speak with how little eye contact and how much mumbling she was doing. "Your people, how long have you been leading them". She looks up for a second and looks back to the ground once again, twiddling her thumbs and stuttering as she spoke. "I-I don't remember, my f-father died a few years ago and these people were kind enough to take me in, they became my new family. I've been-", she pauses and she hides her face as a tear falls from her face, "We have been taking care of each other since then". One of my fighters walks over and delivers a small plate a food, I hold it up and wait for her to take it, "As long as I am in your presence, you and your people are safe. I will take you to my colony and you all can decide what to do from there. I suggest you leave, find some land and live far away from this god forsaken war, or you can join my family and we can all look out for each other". She slowly grabs the plate and nods at me with a soft smile, though I can tell it was fake, it was good to see more emotions off her.

 In that moment, a roar was heard within the forest we rested next to. This sounded like two animals, two very large animals. The ground started to shake when another roar was heard but this one sounded mechanical, it was an engines roar. The sounds grew louder, closer, my men quickly grabbed their weapons and bordered around the people who couldn't fight, protecting them by any means. Durand moved to the top of the gas station and readied his bow, aiming directly at the sound. I stood in-between my men and the forest, my hands stood off to the side and I prepared my stance for whatever was to come. Just a few seconds later, the hunters jump out of the forest in their trucks, swerving out of the way, almost tipping over, as to not hit anyone. "Captain look out!" one of them yell as two elemental bears charge out of the forest, knocking down several trees, bearing their large saber-teeth and sharp razor like claws at anything in front of them and right behind them was Bellona, pulling as hard as she could on two sets of rope connected to them. Since she did not kill them right away, I knew what she wanted to do and how to help her. Ten feet Infront of me was a lightning and a stone bear ready to feast on me and my men, closing my eyes and quickly chanting a spell of Earth and Wind, I slide my right leg Infront of me and punched my right arm in the air and cast my first spell. "Earth barrier" I whisper as a wall erupts from the ground and stops the bears in their place, quickly I cast my next spell while holding onto the first, "Dance of the Wind Spirits", everything and everyone around me slowed down, almost completely stopping. I hold onto the Earth spell and start running around the elemental bears and Bellona, watching as each new wall formed around them as well, standing more than twenty feet tall. Finally back in the same spot, I cancel the first Earth spell and cast a new one on the barriers I had created before the wind spell wore off, making the barriers strong enough to contain the new beasts Bellona was going to tame. 

 Canceling both spell, time went back to normal and my magic felt almost empty. I collapsed to my knees, my breath became uneven and heavy, my body was engulfed in sweat and I started to cough up blood as I fell to the floor. "Fuck that was too much" I said while speaking in a horsed voice, Bellona was grunting and screaming while in the barrier, my guess was her fighting off the elemental bears, Durand ran to me with everyone else while starting his healing magic. "Sunlit Healing", He casted his spell and a bright spheric yellow glow appeared below me on the ground, sunflowers begin to grow and grow until they become three feet tall, towering over me as I lay on the ground trying to catch my breath. From the tip of their stems to the edge of their pedals, they start to lightly shake and light green orbs begin to fall ever so lightly onto every inch of my body as I slowly starts to feel lighter. Seven minutes pass, not well but I can move my body again, I smack Durand's hand away from me, "Knock it off before you run out of magic too" I pause for a bit before pulling his head to mine and pressing my forehead onto him, "Thank you brother, go grab the herbs and fuel up, Bell might need your help next". Her screams didn't cease but the bears roars sounded louder than before, they did not sound as aggressive as before, it started to sound as if they were scared. "Give up already" Bellona yelled as one of the bears yelped in pain, "This doesn't feel right Captain" one of the hunters said while helping me up, "She'll be fine, it's not the first time she fought a bear" I heavily breathed while trying to hold onto him and Durand. "She'll win, there's no doubt but she won't come out of this unscathed, we'll be lucky if she hasn't lost an arm in there". Thirty minutes go by of loud, heavy screams and terrified roars, after a few more seconds it fell silent with only heavy breathing being heard inside the stone barrier. Next was a loud thud against the walls, soon they started to crack, more screams and roars were heard again from Bellona and the bears. Everyone stepped back as the barriers started to fall one by one shaking the ground beneath us, Bellona was standing next to the bears with her Heilberg in both hands. She was covered in large bites, deep claw marks, all while her blooded leaked on the ground. The bears were covered in mostly their own blood and bruised skin as they stood next to her, breathing as heavily as she did. Slamming her weapon into the ground as to help her stand, the stone bear move closer and allows her to lean on it. The arcane bear moves to the other side of her as well as she looks at us with a big tired smile, "I'm finished" she said while placing her weapon on her back and leaning on the elementals. In those few moments as she held close to the bears, the arcane licked her wounds and small bolts of lightning shot at her skin and whatever wounds they both gave her, burned close. "Thanks Spark" she stuttered while wincing in pain, the stone bear drooled onto the dirt to create mud and began lick the mud onto her wounds in an attempt to make amends. "Awe it's alright Buster, we had our little fight and now y'all can come with us". She said while rubbing the mud in.

 Durand hands me off to one of the other hunters and cautiously walks closer to Bellona, the elementals set a low growl as Bell pats and shushes to ease them down. He inspects the mud on her arm and smile while looking at her, "You'll be fine without my magic, your pets have already taken care of you". It was time we went home, everyone packed up and got in their vehicles, My lack of energy set me unable to drive so I laid in the trailer next to our guest, Bell sat on top of the stone bear as the arcane followed behind her. I tried to finish my conversation with the young girl as I rested, luckily I was laying close enough for her to hear me, "You and your people are welcome to stay with us for has long as you want". She smiles at me as she did before, this one felt real, "My names Raven", she said with a smooth calming voice, she was finally resting. I try to give my name as well before my body starts to shiver and a pain engulfed my muscles, I started to cough violently as I held onto myself and pretty soon I couldn't breath. I felt so cold but my throat was burning through my skin, I started to cough blood, I tried grabbing for anything near me out of reflex until Raven grabbed onto my hand while placing hers onto my chest before I blacked out.

Chapter six: Aria

 "Why won't this work" I yell in frustration, I've been working on these new appendages for Xavier since they left a few years ago. As his only sister and by far the greatest inventor on this side of Aulvan, it's one of my jobs to make sure that he and his fighters have the best equipment, even if I'm only thirteen. I haven't slept properly in two damn week trying to finish this project for Xavier, they're do back sometime in the next few weeks for a switch out and I need this done before that. I wonder if he'll even like them, doesn't matter either way. I try again, making sure all the wires connect properly, all the metal is placed in the right spots to correlate with the organic matter to make them look more real. They start to move and I jump back with excitement, "Finally yes, Xavier's gonna love these". My door opens and a voice is heard from the other side, "Master C, there's a problem with the power connecting to the higher rooms again, the others are already on the way but I'm sure they'll need your help with this one". One of my subordinates walked in unannounced and beckoned me away from my lab, this was annoying but a necessary agreement my brother and I made for when he leaves for any of the battles or raids of the Aulvan war. For the first few years of my life, it was just me and Xavier, my mother died giving birth to me and father never came back from a raid when I was four years old, Xavier has always taken care of me and kept me by his side. When it came time for him to go on raids as well, I stayed home alone until his return, if you can call a cave home, but I made the best of what I could. I was born with a special ability to connect with anything electrical except toys made by the Toymaker, his inventions have always pissed me off since I couldn't connect with any of them. When I was six years old my ability's enhanced and I was able to see what the junk in our cave would be made into if assembled properly, I made temporary weapons and armor for Xavier, one day he brought someone home and our little family grew, his name was Durand and just like Xavier, he looked after me like an older brother would. 

 Even if he belittled me like a little sister, I still made him a few weapons and armor as well with all the scraps they brought back from their raids. They brought back someone else when I was nine years and her name was Bellona, it felt so good to have an older sister now. A few months after she joined our family, my newest invention was finally ready, but we had to move to an actual house in order for it to work properly. When we finally found a small house to live in, I quickly set my machine in the middle and powered it on. Finally It was in use and my excitement was very obvious on my face when an electric barrier warped it self perfectly around the yard of our small house, no one gets in from any direction without my say so. "This is insane little flower" Bell said with wide eyes and a large smile, I smugly thank her and look at Durand has his jaw drops and he just stares at my barrier. Xavier smiles, placing his hand on my head and presses his forehead onto mine, I couldn't help but start to cry and hug him as hard as I could. Soon enough, they started to bring more people to join our family, our small house became smaller and that forced us to leave deeper into the broken city Xavier and a few other raid for any type of scraps and food. 

 During their raids, in the middle of the night, I would sneak closer into the city to look for a new home. After a few days and a few more inventions, I finally found something, twenty stories high and almost ready to collapse, until I came along. I walked into the middle of the building and looked around the first floor. I opened my coat and released my inventions onto the building, after a few hours they finally stabilized it and closed off every hole that was made during whatever fight occurred around it, after three more hours of my little robots fixing the first and second floors, it was time to bring everyone over. Heading back home was allot harder than finding that building, putting my bots in overdrive destroyed ten of them, leaving me with four to protect me on my way back. With a few bruises and barely any fights with the bad people of the city, I made it home before Xavier. When they got home and I told him what I have been doing while they were gone, he yelled and scolded me for leaving and doing something so dangerous without any help. I started to cry and look down until he was finished yelling, he moved closer and wiped my tears away as I held onto the bottom of my shirt, "Pack up your thing, all of you, there's a new home we have to get to before it gets dark" he yelled at everyone else and began to walk away. I quickly hugged him from behind as he reassured me that we'll talk about me leaving by myself another time.

 I was already working on an upgrade for the barrier and just needed a stronger power source for it to wrap around the building. A year later, a few months after I turned ten, while we were all cleaning the building, the toy maker let loose a bunch of his damned toys and nearly destroyed everything around us more than it already was. Xavier and his team set out to get rid of them while everyone else held down our home, but one of the toys made their way to us. The barrier still wasn't ready an we didn't have anyone strong enough to fight this monster that was aiming for us. I had to move quick, this invention wasn't completely ready but it was the only hope we had right now, I quickly put on some gloves and a backpack and ran to the front of the building, it was running right for us. Fifteen feet tall, really dense armor, a powerful crimson colored Heilberg and some type of magic covered its body like electricity. I wasn't going to beat this thing, my legs wouldn't stop shaking and my mind was moving too fast, I didn't notice how close it got. "Look out!" Someone yelled at me and I looked up, its Heilberg was directly over me and my eyes widened, I was about to die. My backpack opened up and six mechanical arms came out, four of them moved and held the weapon down while the other two grabbed onto the toy and slammed into the building nearly a hundred feet next to ours. Something inside me locked down, an unnatural instinct took over and I quickly went into motion and grabbed it's weapon with the mechanical arms. My eyes felt strange but I'll have to worry about that later, for now this toy must be destroyed.

 The toy quickly got to its feet and gave a mechanical roar towards me as I charged, I gave my own battle cry and swung as hard as I could at the toy, the toy grabbed onto the weapon and kicked me directly in the stomach, almost sending me flying away. My mechanical arms quickly grabbed onto the leg that hit me, piercing into its metal skin and making claw like marks all the way down. As I tried to catch my breath, my arms picked up and slammed the toy into the ground multiply times until it grabbed and ripped one of them off. It kicked me once again but this time my arms didn't react, I was sent flying back as it charged after me. I tried to get up but I could barely breath, It swung right for my head as I lifted my hand, the gloves started to glow and a barrier was formed Infront of me before the toy could land a hit. These prototype gloves weren't ready, but I was glad I brought them out. I quickly caught my breath and used my mechanical arms to grab onto all four of the toys limbs and slam it into the ground, using the one free arm to throw its weapon across the street and rapidly punching into its chest, I can't let this thing back up but the arm barely did any damage. Soon its armor started to dent, gears and wire started to show out of its sides and a bright blue glow started to seep out of the holes I made in its body. The glow caught me off guard as the toy grabbed onto the arms holding it down, kicking me to the floor and ripped off two of the mechanical arms, I lifted my hands up for the barrier to form. The toy began punching at my barrier, each hit stronger than the last, eventually a crater started to form underneath me. My barrier couldn't handle much more of this, it started to crack as I sent my arms to push the toy away again, my last four arms charged at it once more. Dodging the first three and grabbing the last one, it ripped it out off me and punched one last time at my barrier, completely destroying it. Reaching and grabbing onto one of my real arms, it held my in the air, I tried moving my mechanical arms again but they wouldn't move, they just laid on the ground, glitching out of my control, I pushed these prototypes to hard. Slamming me into the ground, it stepped onto my chest and began punching me in the face, I dodged a few at first but couldn't keep up, my face was in too much pain. Blood leaked from my mouth and nose as tears fell from my swollen face. Blood splattered onto the ground, I grit my teeth and dodged one of its punches, I swung for it face but was too slow. It grabbed my arm and stared me directly in the eyes, stepping harder onto my chest and steadily pulling at my arm, the pain gradually grew, this toy was going to rip it off. I did everything I could to make my mechanical arms move while punching at the toy with my other real one, it was no use, I began to scream in agony as a shredding crimson line appear between my elbow and shoulder. "No please no, stop it, let me go, Xavier please, Bellona, Durand please help me!" I let out one last scream that sounded as if it echoed within the city as my arm dislocated and finally ripped completely off of my body. 

 Blood spilled out of my open wound as I held onto what was left of my arm and screamed in pain, just a few seconds later I laid in a pool of my own blood and my eye lids felt heavy as my screams almost fell silent, I was blacking out from all the pain this toy inflicted. Soon enough, I blacked out and I began to see flashing images, the toy was flying across the street into every building, my mechanical arms ripping the toy apart and taking some type of orb out of its chest. Everything went black again for awhile but soon after I saw images once more, our new home was almost completely rebuilt, I had a lab that was filled with all the equipment I needed, a new arm and new gear for Xavier as to help them join in the war. I finally completely awoke in shock, the room I was sleeping in was entirely clean from top to bottom, the arm I saw in my head was really connected to me, it looked to be made out of the toy I was fighting. I assessed the room and checked for anything and everything, I found a few clothes and changed into them, they were clean as well, which was weird but I had to keep investigating. There was a lab coat next to the door, I put it on before I left the room, staring down a corridor that was well kept, I must have died by that toy. I looked at everything around me as I walked down the hallway, nothing was broken, nothing was out of place, except for me. I made it to a window and looked over the city, I was so high in the building, but last I check only the first three floors were repaired. Continuing down the hallway, I made it to the stairs and began my decent, it took awhile but I was finally on the first floor, it looked to be like some type of common room. A cafeteria, a small area for reading and scavenged boarded games, the electricity was working just fine and everyone looked to be happy and healthy. "It's good to see you're finally out of bed", I heard a familiar voice behind me and turned around. "Right, good morning Xavier" I replied once my mind finally slowed down. After speaking, the room fell silent as everyone looked at me in confusion, I looked around with worry and noticed so many new faces, I was so confused as to what was happening. "Whats wrong?" I stuttered while looking around the room, "You're finally talking again" Xavier said while started to tear up. "I thought I was never going to hear your voice after that Toy Sentinel nearly killed you", he ran up and hugged me so very tight, leaving me even more confused. 

 I started to remember the flashing images I had, those were all real, just how long was I unconscious. "Wait wait wait, how long ago was that, the Toy Maker must have sent his army just a few weeks ago, why would you get all teared up over me not talking for that long" I stammered and pushed him away, my mind was racing again as I kept re-assuring myself that I was only blacked out for maybe two weeks, no the building is built up so high, maybe a few months. I kept thinking aloud as Xavier and Bellona walked closer and grabbed hold of my hand that was still attached to me. "You really don't remember little flower?" Bell said while holding my hand steady, she was taller than before, a few new marks and she carried the same Heilberg that the toy had, but this one was white. "I thought it's weapon was red, did you find another one or did you change the color some how?" I asked as she took the weapon off her back and smiled. "This is the weapon the Toy carried, after your fight, you grabbed it and enhanced it for me to use. It took you a few months but its been the best weapon you made for me. But this.." she paused and her face fell just a little, "This was nearly two years ago." 

 My eyes widened and I almost fell back until someone caught me, Durand was standing behind and holding me up. "You alright little sis?" He said with a worried voice, "Yea I just... no I can't... how did..." I held onto my head as it ran faster than before, Durand spun me to face him and grabbed my head as well, "You're talking again!" he said in surprise. "Your eyes, they're back to normal!" Why did he say that, what did they look like before. What's going on, what happened for those two years, I can't breath again, I'm hyperventilating, my chest is tightening, my palm is getting so sweaty and everyone just keeps asking what happened and trying to introduce themselves, why can't I... I can't just... shut up please... someone just .... just please stop. "Shut it!" A voice yells and the room fell silent, my mind still racing as I try and catch my breath. "Aria, Aria look at me." Someone grabs onto my shoulders and lightly shakes me away from my thoughts. Xavier was in-front of me, trying to calm me down, "Breath sweetheart, breath in and breath out" I did as he said, my chest rising and falling as he said it again and again, "We don't have to talk now, I'm sorry to say but we won't get a chance to talk about it for awhile." 

 My heart began to race again as he shouted at a few people to get ready, he held me close and walked me to my lab with Durand and Bellona. "Last year we join in the war for Aulvan, tomorrow we leave to switch out with another party." His voice was as soft as he could make it, my heart was still racing but was smoother than before. "We'll be gone for more than a year" Bell shouted from across the room while collecting armor from one of the stands. "Did I make those" I walked to the stand next to her and held onto a piece of armor. It was very heavy and tough, the engravings on them looked like a futuristic tech style. "That's the markings your eyes had as well, they were like that for two years after your fight with the Toy Sentinel." Durand said while grabbing a metallic glowing bow, "You made basically everything for us and the building, for the last two years, you have been the reason we are able to survive in this city. More people have join us in hope of seeing the Great Creator" Xavier said with a dumb smirk at the end. The Great Creator, such an ugly and simple name, but with how much my sub-conscious mind has made for the past two year, it wasn't inaccurate. We all talked for the rest of the day on what I had created for them and our people, our home was so clean because of all the repair bot I had reprogramed to also clean any mess, a few swords and regular bows and arrows for the parties that fight in the war. There was also a few refurbished guns for some reason, they said it was some type of project I was working on but since I wasn't talking, they couldn't tell me what it was. Three suits of armor lined the wall with tables of parts right in-front of them, all this stuff in my lab and I didn't recognize any of it, but I knew what to do and how to put everything together. Eventually the day turned to night, Xavier and Durand went to their rooms to prepare for the morning while Bell stayed for a bit longer to talk "Little Flower, I know this hard for you, but we can't stay any longer. Once the others come back, we have to switch out to make sure the other Kingdoms and Empire don't over throw our territory, I hope you can forgive us and I promise we'll talk as soon as we come back." She kept going on and on, trying to find the best way to apologize, I wasn't mad at them, just sad that I missed so much time with them. I finally come back to my senses and they have to leave the next day. She said her last apology and went back to her room, I stayed up a few more hours walking around my lab, looked at everything I had made or was currently working on. Eventually I found some blue prints labeled, Xavier's Gift, I went over them again and again and finally deciding my next project. I worked until morning on this gift but was no where near finishing it, Xavier, Bell and Durand walked in and said their goodbyes, I gave them some more armor and special arrows I had just finished, we gave our hugs and they took off the magic armored trucks I had made apparently. I wasn't alone though, I had so many new friends and family to make now that my memory will starting working again, there was also so much work that needed to be done while they are gone. I went back to my lab and put my lab coat back on, a few people came in wearing coats as well, saying they were my assistants and proved they could handle themselves, we exchanged needed information and now, it was time for me to get to work.