[center][h3]Vesta, Alice, and Ayano[/h3][/center]

Gray eyes stared out over the city from atop the castle tower as candlelight after candlelight was snuffed out in a wave of darkness as the citizens of the Barcean Capitol went to sleep. No sleep would be coming to Vesta, however, as she wrestled with her ever growing list of worries and complaints as she leaned up against the stone wall. She was wrapped in her northern cloak to warm herself against the night chill, while the flask in her hand added a little extra heat to her cheeks. She stayed there, unmoving, until she felt her leg lock up. Cursing under her breath, she began to turn until a shadow scaling the walls below caught her eye. Her eyes narrowing in suspicion, she opened her mouth to shout just as a scream echoed throughout the castle’s walls.

Even though Vesta had been awake for the start of the attack, the scream very well might have saved her life as she whipped her head to look for the noise just in time to catch a cloaked figure leaping over the tower’s wall. She wasted no time asking questions and moved on the man as he began to brandish a dagger, throwing all of her weight forward to shove the man off balance. She collided with him and heard the dagger tear through her cloak, but she came out of the scrap uninjured. That was not the case for the attacker, however, who plummeted noiselessly until he hit paved path in the gardens below with a sickening splat.

Vesta, after confirming with a look that the man would not be crawling away, grabbed her bow and sword from where she had set them down and threw open the door into the tower. She quickly regretted her decision from earlier to try and cool her head by climbing up the tower, each step confronting her with one perilous challenge after another as her knee groaned and threatened to stop cooperating. Still she pushed herself downwards, cursing underneath her breath with every step. She knew that the others by now were well aware of the attack (judging by the various noises of struggles ringing throughout the area) but Vesta had to make sure that the Queen and her siblings were safe. If they had been harmed, she—she couldn’t even consider the outcome.

Flushed in the face as she hit the bottom of the tower, Vesta stepped out into the gardens. A scant few others bodies littered the walkways between the rose bushes, almost all of them showing the colors of Barcea. This struck Vesta as odd, but she had no time to process what it was about this scene that was so unsettling—despite the obvious fact that, somehow, the entire castle had been caught off guard. Turning towards the royal quarters, the woman began to limp as quickly as she could towards where she hoped the Serio family were safely being guarded.

“Get down!” The voice rang out loud and clear in the cold garden air.

A figure darted out from the shadows brandishing a sizable blade in hand, running towards the woman. Yet, striking behind her with a downward swing. A rather grotesque noise made it clear that the blade had come into contact with a body- a body that the limping woman had passed.

The one holding the blade would be Alice Leon, covered in splattered blood and looking rather disheveled as she pulled the blade from the fallen body. “Sorry Miss Debove. I knew I missed one.” Her green eyes turned back to the body, bringing down the admittedly too-large, sword down on the body again- the head about three quarters of the way off at this point. She rose the blade again, “They are all dead and yet they are walking. They won’t stop until you take off their limbs...I think.” THWACK. The blade came down again with the head finally separating itself and a bit more blood on her person.

Alice wiped what she could off on the sleeve of her leather jacket before facing Vesta, “To the Serios?” Of course that would be their first objective but by the way Vesta was moving Alice had to wonder if she was even going to make it that far. 

“Hm,” said Vesta in a half-hearted affirmation, her hand still hovering over the hilt of her blade. Alice had been fortunate that Vesta had recognized her, otherwise the severe woman would have made a grave mistake. Looking at the body, Vesta was able to confirm what the young lady had said was true—for her unknown attacker had been none other than the man she had shoved from the tower. [i]So, the whole damn castle is under attack by creatures like that paladin’s protege,[/i] she thought with a frown. [i]It’d probably be better to burn the bodies after all of this is over, just in case.[/i]

“We best get to Ayano first, uh,” she said while turning back Alice, pausing as she realized she had forgotten the girl’s name. The look of confusion on Vesta’s face would make this clear; it would also make it clear that Vesta had no intentions of confessing this oversight. She brushed her hair out of her face, “Let’s go.”

Alice felt he smirk building on her lips, forcing it back as best she could as she realized the woman’s lapse. She’d never bring it up as it was not her intent to embarrass but it was amusing none the less. She pushed the thought aside while she eyed the bodies around them- looking for another blade. Her guns were holstered to her body but she’d quickly realized that they would not help her in defeating enemies such as these. When she’d, somehow, gotten one of the [i]things[/i] down she’d been able to take it’s blade and gone to work. “Are you going to be alright?” Her eyes lingered on Vesta’s leg. Of course she didn’t mean to insult the woman but this was a matter of safety. 

“Let’s worry about more important issues,” said Vesta, swallowing a spiteful retort as she followed the woman’s eyes to her crippled knee. Drawing her sword, she stepped past Alice—making quite the effort to show no pain and to certainly not rely on her scabbard as a cane. After all, the last thing Vesta wanted when the castle was under siege was to have some shrimp trying to coddle her and lend her a shoulder.

With a clench of the jaw and a sucking of the teeth Alice used as much self control as possible to not roll her eyes at the woman. “Alright then Lady Debove. Let’s get going.” The shorter woman kept pace with the knight; if only a half step behind her. She did have to carry the blade up and on her shoulder with the flat side resting against her body; the blade was too large for her and Alice was barely trained with a blade. She was very much so out of her element at this point but she’d be damned if that was going to get in the way of defending the people that allowed her to live in such a beautiful place- even if it was covered in bodies currently. 

The two passed the threshold dividing the gardens from the palace, Vesta slowly but surely leading the way through the corridors towards where she assumed Ayano’s room was located. Truth be told, the former brigand only had the vaguest ideas of where she was going; she had not been to the Princess’s room since she was an infant, and she highly doubted that she still resided in a nursery—despite the way Diane treated her. As they walked the duo passed by a number of slain guards and staff, but despite the pools of blood there were no signs of the invaders. Vesta bit her lip as they stalked down the hallways, a cloud of dread hanging over her.

She held up her hand to stop Alice just before they turned into the hallway to the royal chambers. Pressing herself up against the wall, the woman cautiously peaked an eye around the corner and then tucked her head back. Turning to Alice, she spoke in a hushed, stern voice, “A few bastards up ahead. We’ll have to cut our way through. Ready?”

Alice bit back colorful words that were just on the tip of her tongue, “Fuck it. I’m ready.” 

Turning around the corner, Vesta drew her bow and fired a few rapid shots at the group of assassins. She doubted the arrows would do little against undying devils, but a few well placed shots could slow them down to make them easier for Alice to deal with. She may not have known the woman’s name, but she did know that she was good enough to at least fight in the Arena. As the first arrow hit the chest of one of the assassins the group of four turned in unison, quickly closing the distance to Vesta. Dropping her bow, the woman snatched up her sword to defend against the assault of oncoming daggers and hoped that Alice was as ready as she flippantly claimed herself to be.

“Oh son of a -” Alice gritted her teeth together as both hands grasped the handle of the too-large blade, grunting as she tried to put as much power as possible into the downward swing. Red flags were going off in her head as she realized how open she was to attacks- even if the blade did land squarely on the nape of one of the thing’s necks. However, it was in the moment that Alice was unable to pull the damn blade from the thing’s still moving body. “Oh for fuck’s sake.” 

She released the blade altogether; opting for her standard weapons instead. With a pistol in either hand the hallway filled with a series of loud gun shots; ones that took off first the  left knee of the thing then the right. Being at such close range give a much higher damage rate- as clearly evident by the entire knee itself no longer being there. The beasts body fell, onto it’s now stubs, and yet still tried to reach towards her. Alice actually saw red for a moment as she emptied the rest of her clips into the area of the shoulder sockets; affectively [i]disarming[/i] it. A heavy boot coming up and kicking it squarely in the chest and forcing it to the ground. 

Yet, she didn’t stop there as one gun was holstered and the other reloaded a moment later. With her green eyes glowing with faint spell circles her bullets found the key joints of the beast- avoiding any possible shot that could hit Vesta. 

“Shit!” cursed Vesta as the gunshots rang out, momentarily deafening her hearing. Still, the other woman did manage to draw some of the heat off of her. Deflecting back a dagger, Vesta slashed a shallow cut across the chest of her closest attacker before turning to avoid the slash of one of the other assassins. She was too slow, however, and the blade grazed her arm—fortunately doing little more than scratching her gambeson. With a growl, Vesta swung her sword with all of her speed and caught her foe in the elbow, forcing him to drop his weapon. Not forgetting about the other attacker, she took a step back as another barrage of bullets echoed down the hallway and slashed at his foot. 

Taking another defensive step backwards, Vesta swung again at the joints of the two assassins attacking her. If what Alice said was true, then the strategy she had used to beat Oubera would have to be kicked up a notch—and she wasn’t going to damage her sword hacking through bones. Parrying another barrage of stabs, Vesta twisted and wrapped her free hand around the hilt of the blade buried in one of the assassin’s neck courtesy of Alice. It was buried deep, but she was able to free it after two tugs. 

However, in the time it took her to free the weapon the assassin with the slash across his chest was able to close himself in on Vesta. His dagger scraped across her side, and she gritted her teeth as she felt it knick through her armor and draw blood. In retribution, Vesta riposted with her sword and forced the man away as he tried to avoid her blade, putting him just in position for her to swing the blade she borrowed from Alice with all of her might and cleave through the hand wielding his dagger. She did not relent and followed up with another powerful slice, taking his other hand off with one fast lop. 

With her pistols placed back into their chest holsters Alice reached behind her for her extending bo staff. She twirled it once in her hands before moving behind the soldier that Vesta was fighting. As soon as the hand was lobbed off she sung the bo staff like a bat-effectively hitting the beast in the head and sending it side long. “Come on Vesta we need to move! Those gunshots must have gotten some attention.” The shorter female condensed the bo staff before grabbing a slightly smaller sword that one of the dead-not-dead soldiers had been carrying and beginning down the hallway.

“Ayano’s room is just around the corner and down the hall. You’re far stronger than I am so can you cover me while I get inside and secure the princess if she isn’t secure already?” The light tone she had earlier was entirely gone as she tried to place her foot fall as lightly as she could manage before stopping at the corner of the final hallway.

“Understood,” said Vesta, catching the change in manner of Alice. “Are you going to be alright?” she added dryly, an unconcerned look on her face as she wiped her blade clean, echoing Alice’s words from earlier. “Princesses can be quite the handful.”

Alice used the back of her hand to wipe away blood that wasn’t her’s as she looked at the taller more imposing woman, “Yeah, I’ll be fine when this is all over. Nothing a stiff drink or two can’t fix.” The humor in her voice died as the sound of fighting broke out around the corner. “Fuck.” She groaned to herself as the guards before Ayano’s door had erupted into battling the dead-not-dead soldiers. “We need to go!” She exclaimed as the now slightly smaller sword in her hand was cocked back to find it’s place in the shoulder of one of the beasts. 

Vesta taking control of the situation, gave Alice the perfect chance to get to Ayano’s door and get inside to the princess herself. “Princess, it’s Alice. We need to leave as soon as possible.” 

Perhaps if the rest of the castle hadn’t descended into a hell Alice would have appreciated her first glimpse into Ayano’s room a little bit more. After all, even in the dark it was completely clear just how colorful the Princess’ room was. Not only were there paintings of everything from scenes of the Capitol, to views of the castle, to images of the people Ayano knew and loved from her siblings to the Sentinels, and even servants. Each painting was perfectly done, and yet there was a sort of surreal beauty that only the mind of an artist could capture. What could be seen of the walls implied they were once white, but now paints of all colors decorated them.

The room was something that Ayano was proud of, but in that moment the Princess couldn’t think of it. Instead, her face was pale, and she had screamed when Alice had first come through the door, shrinking back near the window. After hearing her voice and giving a sniff, she realized who it was though, and asked in a trembling voice, “M-Ms. Leon? What’s happening? Where’s E-Edward, and Al-Alex-?”

Rather than appreciate the work that was the youngest Serio’s room, Alice glanced over it all to secure it-to make sure nothing bad was going to be happening to the princess within this room. She took a long deep breath before quietly speaking again, “It’ll be alright little Ayano. There is an attack going on right now and I’m sorry but we need to leave, alright? “ she took a step forward towards the girl. “Edward and Alex,” who Alice had put together as the two guards likely dying on the other side of the door, “...are guarding you the best way they know how. They promised me and Miss Vesta that they would make a hole so we could get you to your brother and sister.” 

The younger female nodded before reaching a shaking hand out. Alice wiped her hand off as best she could before lightly taking the princess’ into her own. “I’m going to warn you now. It’s going to be loud and we are going to have to move fast okay? If there is anything wrong just squeeze my hand.” Her heart hurt seeing this girl in such a situation. Even still, she led the blind girl to the door before opening it with her sword hand. The two guards, Edward and Alex, were barely standing and yet still fighting alongside Vesta. She swallowed back before opening the door completely and leading Ayano out. 

It would take a fool to not realize the dire situation before them. Without thinking Alice pulled the smaller girl towards her and into her arms, “Hold on Princess!”, while doing everything possible to get them out of the immediate battle. “Vesta let’s go! Edward! Alex! Hold them!” She aimed to yell away from the girl’s ears as her right hand rose to block an initial swing of a soldier. She took a step back before barreling onwards until they broke past the initial fighting.

Vesta grunted in acknowledgement, her eyes glancing over to verify Ayano’s safety before they turned back to her quarry. Ducking low and hooking her sword behind one of the assassin’s legs, she shoved her borrowed blade through his fleshy stomach in an attempt to pin him to the ground. The two men fighting shoulder to shoulder with her were wounded and likely would not survive if Vesta abandoned them. Truth be told, she knew nothing about them besides from the fact that they had been trusted to guard the Princess. If she left she might as well bury her sword in them herself. On the flipside, fleshwounds and aching knee aside Vesta was still in fair fighting shape.  As the two guards clashed with the other assassins, she glanced over her shoulder to see Alice and Ayano still there.

Alice’s green eyes bore holes into Vesta’s eyes as the plan of attack was formed, “We need to get to The Prince and The Queen.”

“Yes, [i]you[/i] do,” she said slowly.

A frown set upon her face It was her sworn duty to Olain to protect his children. She knew that if she went with Alice that Ayano would be safe, but these men would be dead. She lurched forward and parried a slash from one of the assassins; the one on the ground was already beginning to writhe back to life. The path ahead of them was clearer and there would be likely more guards the closer they got to the Queen and the Prince, and Cyril had shown that he could defend himself. Alice also proved herself to be no slouch, and Edward and Alex could still hold a sword. Cyril’s words from days earlier ran through her head: [i]...I rely on others...I put faith in them.[/i]

Damn it, his naivety was infecting her. She stepped forward again, pushing back the assassins as they traded blows with the two guards. Already so many of the Barcean guards were dead. She would ensure within the best of her power that they did not lose anymore as she cut a path clear for the men to follow after Alice and Ayano.   

“Edward, Alex, the Queen charged you with protecting the Princess at all costs. You are forbidden from dying until you see that her wishes have been carried out. I'll bring up the rear,” she said, drawing her blade across the neck of a charging assassin and leveling her sword again as another one took its place. “I can’t run as fast as you assholes anyway,” she muttered. [i]And so help me, if I find out that any harm comes to Ayano because of this...[/i]