Chapter 20 (Hell 3): War Sure Is...
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        Garland had no idea where the reinforcements came from.  He had
burst in the room, and Returners seemed to pour forth from the walls. 
They had, in fact, been hiding there for quite some time, waiting for the
perfect moment to strike.  As he shouted his cry of revenge, everything
seemed to happen at once.  The Returners came, soldiers fell, and he found
himself in the jaws of hell for the third time in a matter of hours.
        "Holy Bahamut!" Garland exclaimed, as debris fell from overhead. 
Soldiers appeared out of thin air, and the situation became grim.  He
noticed a river of blood form beneath his feet, and the smell of death
filled his nostrils.  He ripped a vial from his alchemy belt, downed it in
one gulp, and leapt into the fray.
        Kraken leaned against the door frame, helpless.  The poisons and
grime of the sewer water had taken their mighty toll on him, and he found
his legs a bit too heavy to move.  All he could see was a great mass of
colors, and vague shapes of men and women.  Every second another shape
would cease moving, as another warrior bit the dust.  In the water fiends
mind, hours seemed to pass. He could feel the cold sweat creep down his
face, and he decided he'd better just rest there a bit...
        Garland had never felt so invigorated in his life.  Whatever he
had drunk, it was helping him now.  He had already run two soldiers
through the stomach, and he was about to make three.  As he plunged his
blade deep into the Imperial's gut, his eyes were distracted by a vision
of the rarest beauty.  Standing among many of the dead, and many live
soldiers, there was a woman.  She was the most beautiful thing he'd ever
seen in his life.
        The woman stared back at him, equally entranced.  Time seemed to
grind to a halt.  The soldier Garland had so neatly run through fell dead
with a tremendous thunderclap, it seemed.  Their eyes met, as two sets of
crystaline pools, flooded with wonder and enchantment.  As Garland began
advancing toward the living angel, he saw, to his horror, a man cut across
her upper back with a curved dagger.  The world froze.  The hall went red,
the color of the angel's blood.  As she fell, Garland sprang forward, with
the speed and strength of a rabid beast.  The man shouted a protest.  "NO!
I'm A Returner!"  Alas, it was to late for the poor young man, as he
recieved slash after countless slash to his belly and chest.
        Garland knelt over the wounded woman.  "Are you... are you
alright...?"  he asked, uncorking one of his many medicines.
        "Why... yes..."  The woman said, staring into his eyes.  "I am
now..." She took the medicine he offered, and the slash wound on her back
closed into a scar.  There was a long silence as the two looked into each
others eyes, oblivious to the rages of war not five feet away from them. 
Finally, she broke the silence.  "I.... I'm... Sascha..."  she momentarily
forgot that she was talking to an enemy.  "Sascha DelAubre..."
        Garland couldn't remember where he'd heard that name before, but
it didn't matter now.  "I'm Garland," he began.  "Garland Ast-" he
stopped, wincing at painful memories.  "...just Garland."
        "Thank you for saving me..." Sascha said faintly.
        Garland's mind snapped to attention.  "That's right..." he
realized.  "They hurt you!  THESE BASTARDS SHALL PAY!"  he shouted,
readying his light sword.  His eyes glowed a fierce and wild purple, as if
a tempest raged in his head.  Indeed one did, for he hair began to move,
and his cape flowed as he made a number of quick sword strokes in midair. 
"AMAXSA ARDAFXT..." he began.  The power of the spell he prepared caused
his whole body to slowly lift into the air.  "HAXTIO RONEFXT!"  As he
completed the power words, he made a giant slash with his sword, and held
it aloft above his head.  Light beams poured forth in all directions,
burning designs in the wall and striking Returners and Imperials alike,
until the entire room was bathed in a brilliant white destructive light,
all except a small bubble in which were Garland and Sascha.
        It took several seconds for the light to subside.  when it did,
wounded and dead men littered the area.  Most were Imperial soldiers, but
there were a good amount of Returners who didn't retreat in time to
escape. Altogether, more than fifty men had been wiped out.  Garland
sheathed his sword and turned his attention back to Sascha.  He helped her
stand, and dusted her off.  Both of them were indeed, a mess.
        Sascha looked in the direction of where Kraken was sitting.
Garland's eyes followed.  Kraken was nowhere to be found. This didn't
bother Garland, though.  He had forgotten all about Kraken for the moment.
"Can you walk?" he asked his angel.
        "I'm not sure..." Sascha replied, staring into his eyes.  Garland
found enough strength to pick her up, light as she was, and began heading
for a safer destination.
                               *  -  *  -  *
        "HE WHAT?!"  Kary shouted as she heard the news.
        "Not so loud..." Kraken wheezed.  "The Imperials might hear
you..."
        "How could he take on a battallion by himself?" Tiamat whispered
irritably.  "He'll be killed!"
        "Even worse," Kraken coughed grimly.
        "What is it?"  Lich asked.  He was getting a bit impatient.
        "Come on, I've got a headache!"  Tiamat whined.
        "Yeah, out with it!" Kary demanded.
        "Well..." Kraken began.  It was getting a bit hard for him to talk
so much.  "Sascha was there."
        "THE Sascha?"  Kary asked.  "Sascha the beast?"
        Kraken nodded gravely.
        "Has he been taken prisoner?"  Tiamat asked urgently.  She was
getting cramped hiding in the shallow basement of the small house the
fiends had hid in.
        "Are they torturing him?"  Lich asked flatly.  He was getting
cramped too.
        "Are they doing horrible, unspeakable things to him?"  Kary asked,
getting a bit excited.
        "Even worse..."  Kraken breathed miserably.  "He's in-" he was cut
off by his own sneeze.  "Oh... get me a handkerchief, would you please?"
        "AARGH!!!"  Kary shrieked.  The suspense was just to much.
        "Here, use my cape..." Tiamat offered.  Kraken blew his nose
loudly on the white linen.
        "Thanks..." he said.
        "WELL?"  The other three asked in unison.
        "Oh yes..." Kraken said, as if he'd forgotten what he was saying. 
"It's even worse than all that... He's in love."  High over Jidoor,
thunder boomed...