[h1][center][i]Courage - Kindness - Fear[/i][/center][/h1]

The mighty roar of the sea was tumultuous and terrifying as wave after wave of water crashed against the legs of the colossi that stood with defiance against the endless assault. Even as dawn approached, the light seemed to be suppressed and muted, hidden behind a subtle cloud of darkness. All of this reminded the three champions of their promise to the goddess of honor, and her inevitable return when she would discover that they had been unworthy of her faith.

[indent]"We lost them..."[/indent]
Neither of her sisters immediately said anything in response to the words Fear had spoken, for they continued to stare southward where the thieves had fled upon their strange metallic vessel, and none of them could quite explain what had happened. The culprits were creatures they had never seen before, and had successfully stolen hundreds of their sleeping kin before any of them were even aware what was transpiring.

The waves had washed away the thieves and their tracks, and Fear could see no way of following after them. Even if she could, there was the great sea that stood between them, and the anxious champion recalled the last time the water had nearly claimed her life. The cold. The dark. She couldn't help but shudder at the memory and clutched the amulet that warded away the cold wind.

Courage turned and stalked away angrily, and Fear realized that her sister likely needed time to calm down and rest after chasing the intruders throughout the confounding halls of the colossus. When she had found Courage standing at the edge where a hall opened out into the outside above the sea, she felt panic upon thinking that her reckless sister would leap after her quarry. Fortunately she had not, but the shattering terror was only replaced with the throbbing pain of shame afterward.

"I promised to protect them." Fear said, her voice weak with guilt, and silent tears trailing down her cheeks.

Kindness placed a hand upon her sister's shoulder, and spoke softly.

"There was nothing you could do, Fear. But... I know [b]She[/b] will forgive you as well."

Her sister shifted suddenly as arms reached out and held onto her. Fear let herself be enveloped in the soft embrace of Kindness, and she could not stop herself from crying as her thoughts tormented her with vicious mockery.

[i]Too weak to stand without the support of her sister, and too weak to prevent the thieves from escaping. She was supposed to protect them, but she could not fight. She was just pretending she was anything more than a burden to those around her.[/i]

"I... I'm glad you are still here..." Kindness murmured to her sobbing sister, and continued to cling onto her. The winds were howling and tugging at them, but the two remained rooted where they stood and found themselves unbothered by its presence.

The humiliation hurt, as anguishing over their defenseless kin only caused her to ache all over, but Fear felt the pain abate a little since she was not suffering alone. She wanted to hide and flee from her failure, however her sister refused to let her go. Kindness kept her from running away.

"Shouldn't you comfort Courage?" Fear asked, and was surprised by the sudden bitterness of her own voice. The unspoken resentment.

"Please, do not do this." 

"It's the truth. There is only one of you, and you should be with Courage now. Not with me." She recognized the scorn she held for herself; how she despised her desires to be of use, but ultimately being useless, pathetic in the end. She should not be keeping Kindness away from those that may actually serve a purpose.

"You deserve my compassion as well, Fear." The tender touch of her tone and the gentle strength in her arms all were akin to powerful chains that held the anxious and stunned champion now caught in contradictory pain and relief. But Kindness was wrong; making a mistake! Fear was aware that if she accepted the solace of kindness, she would only bring suffering to both of them when she inevitably failed again and again in the future. If she separated herself from her sister now, she could avoid that painful path... she could avoid letting everyone down.

"Am I interrupting something?"

Both Kindness and Fear turned to look at their sister who had returned and stood with an irritated expression directed towards the duo. Her arms were crossed in front of her, and none of the anger she had when she left seemed to have faded.

"No, it's nothing." Fear said as she stepped back and looked down before Kindness could explain. Courage shook her head, exasperated with the feeling of defeat. "Enough of that! We're going to get them back!" She shouted at her sulking sisters.

"How? We cannot. You already know this." Kindness answered, and stepped towards her brash sister. She stood between Courage and the sea beyond,  refusing to let the reckless champion from continuing. The roar of the sea did not abate; the clashing waves and violent winds a reminder of the inevitable fate of any who would dare trespass in its domain.

"We walk on water, like our maker." Courage replied.

"Did you hit your head when you smashed into those walls? We cannot." Kindness spoke firmly, the difference from her quiet voice had caught Courage off guard, and created an uncomfortable silence that lingered for too long.

"Perhaps you can't, but Fear and I aren't afraid." With those words, Courage grabbed Fear and pulled her past the angered Kindness. She leaned close and whispered to the anxious champion. "We can do this. Don't be frightened, sister." Between two pillars on the precipice of the crown, the two of them peered over the edge to the sea below.

"I can't." Fear whispered to herself, and tried to free herself from her sister's grasp.

Courage simply sighed, her vice grip unbroken. "Then you would abandon your kin? You would betray our maker?" She asked with vehemence. As she spoke, her hair began shimmering, her skin faintly glowing, and her words were suffused with power.

"What would you do if you found the thieves? Will you fight them? Kill them? Is that what you think our maker would want?" Kindness interrupted and took hold of Courage's shoulder. However her subtle resolve did little to extinguish the conviction of Courage, and fear found herself alone against the world as her two sisters argued with each other.

"I would make them give me back what they took!" Courage yelled, and shook Fear with her frustration.

"And how would you bring them back? You cannot carry all of them." Kindness stepped back with sorrow in her eyes.

"I would use their ship! I'm not a fool, Kindness. I know what I'm doing, and I won't let you stop me!" Courage fiercely pointed her finger at her sister, and glowered. Her shimmering visage seemed to flicker after she had spoken.

"So be it, I will not stop you." Kindness said, but could not look at either of her sisters, ashamed after relenting to Courage's demand. Even when Fear sought her gaze, she could not look.

"I'm taking Fear too."

"As I said, I will not stop you, but... please, promise me this. Promise me both of you will come back."

Kindness wanted to cry when Courage approached and embraced her. She wanted to cry when her foolish sister spoke more madness to her. "I wanted you to come with us." But Kindness found that no tears would come. Courage continued to speak to her, as she held her. "Have faith in us, Kindness. We'll be back and laughing about this before our maker returns, isn't that right, Fear?"

Fear remained silent, but her skin began to shine, and her hair glittered with light as her inner flames stirred and crawled out towards the surface. Courage grinned and let go of Kindness, and the quiet champion watched as her two sisters stared out to the endless horizon.

"The power within us is the same as [b]her[/b]'s. We can and will do this." Courage bravely claimed, and called upon the might building up within her. The wind around her seem to sing and dance beckoned by the presence of otherworldly power.

Courage leapt from the colossus, soaring through the air, falling and falling, until she alighted upon the surface of the sea. The waves were pushed back, as they crashed against an crystalline barrier that tossed scarlet light outwards, and the water beneath the champion calmly rippled, separated from the rest of the raging sea. Akin to a truly massive beast, the waves lumbered and roared all around her, but Courage stood defiant against the great cacophonous presence.

Fear fell down beside her, afire and tense, surrounded by the sanguine sea and crystals conjured by her sister. She hesitantly took a step forwards and found that the crystals furthest behind her suddenly shattered, but the new shards were created ahead.

"We just have to keep moving forwards! We'll find them before [b]she[/b] comes back!" Courage called back as she charged forth in the direction the thieves were last seen traveling.

Fear looked back to the three colossi, and the barely visible red figure atop one. She raised a hand in farewell, and promised that she would come back before following after her crazy sister.

[center][b]---[/b][/center]

Anger. Anger. All of them were swallowed by anger; the immense waves of water that raged without relent upon the scarlet shards that protected them, and Courage whom would only brazenly push onward, ignoring the calls for rest and reason from her exhausted sister.

There had been no respite, no moment of recuperation for the two champions, and Fear felt the fire within her become smaller and smaller as the crystals she conjured consumed more and more of its warmth. She was grateful that the amulets Chailiss had gifted them offered some shelter from the cruel winds and cold rain that came from above, but she could not continue this endless chase for much longer.

"Courage! Please! We need to stop!" Fear desperately called out, but her sister remained marching through the turbulent tides, ignoring her pleas and fatigue.

Summoning the last of her strength, Fear surged towards Courage and grabbed her sister by the shoulder. The action caused both champions to come to halt, then Courage turned back and snarled. "Do you see any land!?! We have no choice but to keep moving!"

Fear could see her sister breathing heavily from strain after sustaining the conjured crystals for so long. Fear felt the exact same strain and anxiety became dread as she couldn't see a way to save themselves, let alone their missing kin.

"Go! We can't stop!"

Courage pushed her forward? Backwards? All sense of direction was lost as there was only the sea and the darkened sky above. There was nothing to guide them. The crystalline barriers were fracturing faster and faster, there was less to shield them from the crashing waves.

"We can't! It's too much! We have to find land!" Fear shouted and looked back to her sister, and found only a few lingering red crystals where she had stood before. "Courage? Courage! COURAGE!"

Stumbling as she was struck by the water that rushed past the last of her shards, Fear frantically looked for any sign of her sister, her hands sinking into the bloodied sea, but grasped nothing.

Another shatter as the last crystal broke apart, and a powerful wave slammed into the terrified champion, pulling her beneath the surface. 

[i]Where? Where? Where?[/i] Fear's mind raced as she tried to find where Courage was. It was dark, and she couldn't breathe. The sea was choking her, strangling her with its immense strength. [i]Courage... where are you?[/i]

She could the roar of the merciless sea echoing in the abyss around her, she was sinking further and further while her limbs became stiff and brittle.

Then she saw the light. Faint. Small. Red.

Courage was deeper in the darkness, but her skin still shone, and her hair was shimmering. It was enough for Fear to follow and reach out towards. So close, and yet so far. Her hand seemed to almost touch, before it broke away, and Fear could only watch as part of body slipped away and sank further. Drowning. Immersed in the memories of thousands upon thousands of corpses in the sea.

No. No. No. No. No. No. No! No! NO! NO! NO! No...

She couldn't keep her eyes open any longer. She couldn't move her body as even the protection afforded to her by her amulet was not enough to resist the cold grasp of the deep. She only felt numb, the words in her head were no longer making sense. [i]Courage scolding her for sleeping, Kindness asking her questions about her favorite flower, Curiosity challenging her in a myriad of games, Wanderer singing when she thought there was nobody listening, and Homura...[/i]

She only wished she could've seen them all one more time.

Then there was nothing.

[center][b]---[/b][/center]

The song of the sea seemed sorrowful as the coming of dawn painted the vast stretch of water red and orange and pink. The sun had emerged over the horizon, but its presence seemed suppressed. Despite its keen gaze revealing the truths of the world and illuminating the land with its majestic radiance, there was also a shadow. The semblance of peace seemed on the verge of shattering, as if a terrible creature had grasped the throat of Galbar in its jaws and would soon to bite down.

She had waited for their return with desperate hope. She had prayed to her maker, to the King in Heaven, to any whom might hear her and offer her aid, but she was only greeted with silence. 

Kindness was alone.

With the return of the sun, she had known her sisters would not come back. She had known that the sea had claimed them. She had them go because she was weak, and found that the inner fires that blazed in her sisters were so much more brighter than her own diminished flame. They could laugh and cry, dance and dash, and become overwhelmed by their feelings of pride and shame, but Kindness could not. Her emotions were always locked behind an obstinate veil even when she wanted to feel as free and strongly as those around her.

"[b]Kindness.[/b]"

The quiet champion looked behind her to the red goddess that stood facing her with an enigmatic expression, neither joyous nor angered. The same face as her two sisters. The same face that had given them their lives and purpose. All words eluded Kindness, and she could remain still. She was surprised by a sensation upon her cheeks. The wet feeling of a tear trailing downwards.

"[b]Come child, you need not speak.[/b]" Homura stepped towards her crying champion and held her in her arms. The first sin that had stained her creations, and taken their innocence from them too soon. Homura could only console Kindness, ease the pain, but not entirely erase it. She knew that more would come, and that this was only the beginning of something sinister that had seeped into the world.

"Save them... please." The mortal in her arms whispered, pleading with her.

"[b]We must return to Keltra.[/b]" There were three colossi, but only one champion to direct them. Their journey could not resume until more champions could command the colossi, but Curiosity and Wanderer were still at the fortress.

"No, we need to find Courage and Fear. We cannot leave them." Kindness retorted.

"[b]Shh... sleep.[/b]" Homura murmured before striking Kindness in the stomach and then placing a palm upon the champion's forehead. Kindness could not react as she found herself exhausted and falling into the realm of dreams.

The red goddess lifted her sleeping champion with one arm, resting her against her shoulder, then turned to look upon the colossi that would not move without guidance as she had ordained. She held up a hand, and called upon the innate divine power as she spoke and the world obeyed.

"[b]The Red Goddess gives you wings![/b]"

Bursting from their backs and sides, great celestial wings emerged from each of the colossi. The massive metallic creatures lifted themselves into the air, and glowed with an aura - a red radiance that enveloped them and sang otherworldly music that echoed all around. Their wings remained motionless, but carried them upwards, and Homura stood atop the crown of the colossus in the center.

"Let us make haste. Our enemies and our allies await us." She pointed with Daybringer, and the colossi bellowed in response. Then they soared across the sky westward like a great comet coming to crash upon the earth. Homura looked to Kindness with a sorrowful smile.

"[b]I will explain in time. I just need more time...[/b]"

[hider=Summary]After the theft of their kin, the three champions; Courage, Kindness, and Fear, are all feeling ashamed and angered. Courage takes off to be alone, while Kindness attempts to comfort Fear. None of the champions have dealt with trauma with the absence of Homura, and they all find themselves struggling.

Courage returns and says that they can just take back the stolen humans by emulating Homura and walking on water. Kindness says that such is impossible, but Courage refuses to give up, and forces Fear into joining her. Kindness doesn't stop them and waits on the three colossi for their promised return.

The two champions face the sea, calling upon their power to create warding crystals to step on and protect them from the mighty waves. They travel in the direction the thieves went, but after a few hours they both find themselves exhausted.

They see no nearby land, and become desperate. Fear sees that Courage has fallen into the water, and tries to rescue her, but succumbs to fatigue and falls into the water as well. She immediately begins drowning, but still tries to rescue Courage until her hand is ripped away from her and she loses conscious.

Homura returns to find Kindness alone, and informs her that they must return to Keltra. Kindness wants to save Courage and Fear instead, but the deity knocks her out, and takes command of the three colossi. She gives them temporary wings to fly back to Keltra.[/hider]
[hider=Vigor]Cycle 2 
Homura’s Vigor total: 6.
Vigor spent: 0.
Remaining Vigor: 6.

Courage, Kindness, and Fear gain 2 Spirit
Courage and Fear use 8 Spirit to teach themselves a spell.[/hider]