Landing Feet First

Civil looked over the dozen or so Milites Deus, angel-like creatures from heaven. They stood at attention, their weapons sharpened and ready.

“What do you need me here for, Aquila? The warriors look prepared enough.” Civil raised a brow at the bald man.

“They are well prepared, Civil. You were just talking with him for too long.” Aquila stated with attitude, raising his chin up to give assertion to his overall stance. “It wouldn’t do you well to make any connections to the boy despite your past relations.”

“Past relations?!” Civil blew up at him, getting in his face angrily. “How can he be a past relation, I’ve never had any past with the guy! How dare you take me away from him for such a petty reason, Aquila!” she screeched.

The man didn’t even flinch, already used to her bad temper. “Sacrifices have to be made for our cause, Civil. He’s just one of them-”

“He’s my brother first and foremost, dip skit. I don’t give a flying fudge if he’s a sacrifice to you or not because he isn’t anything like that to me.” She hissed through her teeth before turning on her heels back towards the room Regret was locked in…

“Master?”

Regret looked up from his sobbing to one of the monstrum. “Thalia? Thalia, how did you get in here?” he asked. He was both relieved and hysterical to see one of his friends.

Thalia smiled at him. “It was easy to find you, master. But I couldn’t show myself with that… murderer around.” She spat and made a face at the thought of Civil.

“You’ve known about Civil this whole time, haven’t you? All of you?!” Regret asked, feeling betrayed.

Thalia turned away from him, but nodded her head.

“Why didn’t you tell me? Why didn’t any of you tell me?” he asked, saddened by the lack of communication from his friends.

“We couldn’t tell you, master!” she pouted, her pale eyes burning as she flailed her thin arms like a child. Regret just realized how messed up and sickly all of his ‘friends’ are… “The queen commanded we not tell you. She said you would do something drastic if we ever told you, master…” Thalia’s little voice died down to a whisper at the end, turning away from Regret in despair.

Regret sunk his head lower, disappointed by the fact that he was so predictable. “You know what I would have done…”

“And we can’t be having none of that, master!” she piped up in her childish, girly voice, staring at the ropes that bound his hands and feet together. “How will I untie you without touching you, master? A tricky riddle indeed…” she puckered her pale, chapped lips as she thought. “Our lady the Queen will be here soon and she does not want you around to be a possible hostage.”

“The Queen? Of the monstrum?!”

Thalia hissed at Regret angrily. “Do not call us such a dirty word, master! We are not monsters, simply tools for you to live! The same with your sister’s Milites Deus! We are nothing but tools, master! Without us the two of you would die…” she cried out, suddenly pleading-like.

Regret looked her up and down, taken aback by her outburst. “Okay, Thalia. Okay…” he stated in a soft voice, trying to calm her down. “But she is going to be here?”

Thalia sighed, sinking to her knees and staring at the rope again. “Yes, master. Our lady the Queen will be here to protect you…”

Regret stared at the floor, thinking about what saving him meant. Saving him would mean the continuation of the gene X virus… Could he allow that? He squeezed his eyes shut tight at the heart-twisting thought. He had begged for death so hastily from Civil before, but now that he’s put some thought into it being put to death was suddenly terrifying. But all of the death he could prevent in exchange for his own… The thought of that only scared Regret more, if possible. The thought of all the death he’s caused…

CREEEEK!!! Regret and Thalia jumped at the piercing screech of splitting metal that came from the other side of the door.

“Oh no! Our lady the Queen is here and I have not freed you, master! She will be so angered!” Thalia stared at the rope frantically. It was tied so tightly around Regret’s limbs that there was no way for him to get free without Thalia touching him. “Oh, what do I do what do I do?!!?” Thalia squeezed her head in her palms hysterically.

Regret caught his breath at the sound of screams and metal clanking on the other side of the door. He cringed at the shriek of men roaring and howling in pain. He flinched at the crash of weapons clashing against one another. It was an all out war on the other side of that door; that became apparent in a matter of seconds.

Suddenly, there was a large howling overhead, above the lair ceilings. The howling sounded deep and low, like the bass of car pumped up to high. It made your ears vibrate fearfully in your head as the beat pounded against your chest. Regret and Thalia looked up at where the sound came from.

“The Queen…” Thalia whispered, her voice quivering in fear.

Regret gulped down the lump in his throat, his body shaking as well. He was terrified. If what made that terrifying, horrific yell was the Queen he couldn’t help but feel petrified. She sounded monstrous. He stared at the ceiling wide-eyed…

There was a large bang of the open door slamming against the wall catching the attention of the two. Regret jerked his head around to find Civil, panting at the doorway covered in black blood-like liquid. Behind her was an all out war between these gruesome, ogre-like beast who held axes and hammers, pounding them down against beautiful, angel-like creatures who shielded themselves with their large, saintly white wings as they swung their mighty swords and maces. Red and black fluids stained the grounds the two enemies fought on. Regret turned away hastily, not wanting to see where the blood had come from.

Civil shut the door behind her, blocking the war from view, once she noticed the distress it put on Regret’s face.

The Queen howled again from above causing everyone to look up in fear.

Without another word, Civil sprinted towards a ladder that led straight up to the open world. Straight to the Queen…

Regret gasped at this. She would surely die if she goes up there alone! “C-C-C-C-Civil, n-n-no! W-wait!” He managed to cry out after what seemed like a lifetime of stuttering.

She stopped in the middle of her ascend only to throw down something hard that stuck in the concrete with a sharp Clang! Thalia and Regret turned to find a silver plated feather, one from Civil’s Milites Deus. It was as sharp as any sword.

“Get out of here, Regret.” Civil yelled out coldly as she continued her climb with Apus Major tight in her grasp. She opened the man-hole at the top of the ladder, revealing the world above, the sky pink and purple from the setting sun.

“W-w-w-wait s-s-s-stop C-C-Civil!” Regret cried out, but she had already climbed out of the lair.

Another howl was let out by the Queen, but this one was different. It was angrier and more frightful than any cry before it.

“Thalia, what happens if Civil dies up there?!” Regret asked of his friend, urgency in his tone.

“Then we are free from the Milites Deus wrath. We’d have no reason to look behind our backs ever again; we would thrive. But…you would never be able to see any of us again.” Thalia answered promptly.

“And if I die?!”

“Then the opposite, master. They will be free of us; they would never have to fight. But she would never be able to see the Milites Deus ever again.”

Regret ground his teeth together, a new surge of courage coursed through his veins. “Thalia cut me free.”

“Master-”

Another large howl rocketed through the air, followed by an excruciating screech up above.

“Cut me free please, Thalia!” Regret demanded, the sound of the scream making his heart race and pound against his ribcage in worry.

Without a second thought of contradicting him, Thalia began carving away at the ropes with the silver plated feather Civil had given them.

Regret’s heart jumped in his chest at the sound of the ropes breaking and snapping; he was both anxious and frightened of being free from these ropes. What would he find when he was let go? Would Civil’s Milites Deus come and kill him before he has a chance to do what he has to do?

The last rope snapped and Regret automatically jumped to his numb feet. There was no time to think about what could happen; only what he could try to do. Stumbling like a newborn fawn, Regret tumbled towards the ladder and hastily made his way up, slipping and tripping on every step. His sweating palms made the iron bars hard to grip and his pounding heart drummed against his ears. He could hear the quiet sobbing of Thalia down below, but pretended they weren’t there. He didn’t have the heart to fully acknowledge her sadness and calm down her fears. There was no way he could do either of those at this point anyway. Not like before, at least.

With a couple of more clumsily climbed bars, Regret found himself staring at the man-hole. He took in a breath of shaky courage, gulped down his growing fears, and pushed opened the man-hole…

The rough and wild winds shook up and tugged at his pitch black hair, making him squint his eyes against the currents. He looked around, but saw nothing in the purpling skies. His breathing became rapid. Was he too late?! Was he too late to save her...?

The harsh Clank! of metal falling on the concrete behind the man-hole door made him jump in his skin. That heavy sounding metal could only be one thing… Frantically, he pulled himself around the man-hole door, finding Apus Major on the ground. He looked up hopefully, like a lost puppy would when catching scent of its master, only to have his heart stop cold.

Civil turned to look at him, her shadowy, long hair whipping in the wind, a dark, thick red oozing from her chest. A large gash from her right shoulder to her left hip stuck out in contrast to the black blood already on her clothing. Her body was riddled with little scratches and bruises all tell-tell signs of having caught gene X.

Civil dropped to her weakening knees, her eyes dulling and loosing color as they gazed apologetically at Regret. Her flesh began to lose color and mass, her skin shriveling to her bone. Civil reached towards her brother, as if just wanting to wave good bye for the first and last time, when her fingertips started flowing away in the wind as ashes. She was disappearing right before his eyes, the horrific virus eating away at her maniacally.

A chortling, loud, witch-like laughter echoed through the skies and Regret jolted his head in the direction it came from. In front of the twins was a massive witch with a wood-like skin. She wore her white, ivy hair, long and tangled, over her face. Her body was covered in warts and thousands of loud dark ravens and crows who took shelter in her thin, arched body. Tree trunks protruded from her body like horns or ribs and moss clung down from them like icicles. Her arms were thin, but her palms rooted out like long, uncut fingernails. Her legs were strong, sturdy roots braided together to hold all of her weight. Her eyes were dark and sunken into her trunk-like face as they stared Regret down, her smile large and cheeky.

They boy stumbled back, almost falling down the ladder, at the sight of the hideous monster. How could this be a queen?! It was grotesque, it was repulsive, it was nightmarish!

The Queen cackled and chortled as it changed its gaze back to the disintegrating Civil, the girl who was once the fighter for all good…

Regret turned to look at her as well, his heart in his throat. Her arm was halfway gone… He looked to her face.

It was like looking into the glassy eyes of a corpse.

Tears stung at his eyes as he jumped out of the man-hole and lifted the heavy Apus Major.

The Queen stopped her laughing, giving Regret curiously worried looks before realizing what he was about to do. With concern and fear finally touching her dark, sullen eyes, Regret smiled apologetically at her.

With the last of his courage, he pointed the sword at his chest and pushed it through his heart. Through the heart that was once the protector of all evil.

All at once the weight of the world disappeared in a wave of light…