Aftermath

[Clownpiece]

Honestly?

Liberty had to admit she was more than a little bit disappointed. When she’d been thrust out on this mission, she figured it would have been full of fire and carnage! Death and destruction! She was the heroic little hellspawn, wasn’t she? Wasn’t she supposed to be the one single-handedly routing the human army and saving the day? Yet here she was, allowed no more than a single attack by one of the enemy generals apparently.

The purple-haired soldier that had apparently given her permission to hit once had already left, donning her helmet before returning to the camp she’d hailed from and leaving the little fairy to her own devices. Her voice echoed through the forest as she called back to her comrades, their boisterous cheers emanating from the camp. Now that Liberty actually had a moment to think about it, now that there wasn’t a scary lady all up in her face, why did the soldier think she’d just do as she said?

Well, whatever the reason was, she wasn’t going to! She was going to lay waste to that camp just like Lady Shirogane ordered! First things first, open with her strongest attack! Liberty took to the sky, white-clad figure quickly zipping through the trees. The voices quickly drew nearer and nearer, the dense woodland quickly becoming sparser and sparser. The impenetrable greens and browns gave away, revealing small cracks of silvers and whites, the color of tents and armor.

As soon as there was room for a Shooting Star, Liberty hit the ground, bare feet digging into the detritus as she skidded to a halt, bracing herself and holding her arm out. Aiming for the first big thing she saw, the little fairy began to conjure up the fires of hell itself. One great attack! No one left standing!

A brilliant conflagration exploded out from the brunette child’s palm, a beautiful, shimmering orange display that burned its way through the forest, igniting bark and leaves as it passed by. In an instant, the air was laden with the burning scent of smoke and brimstone, and was disturbed not a moment later by a tremendous bang. Screams and curses filled up the forest as the soldiers were all thrown into a panic. Music to a sadistic fairy’s ears....

Giggling cutely, the psychopathic little girl hurled herself forward, quickly flying and weaving through the last remaining stretch of forest between her and her goal. The infernal flames of hell began to well up in palm of her hands. She was going to show them all the true meaning of hell on earth! A white blur shot into the camp, almost unnoticed amidst all the panicking soldiers, desperate to get the fires quenched.

Almost.

She hadn’t even managed to get out the smallest lick of flame before a flash of silver and purple rocketed forward and intercepted her. A harsh, blunt pain erupted in the fairy’s throat before she’d even realized what was going on, quickly followed by a solid whack to the head. Her light body flew backward, her world spinning, her neck burning and bruising. A solid hit knocked all the breath right of her lungs as hit the ground. Hard. Blackness crept along the edges of her vision and, slowly, shakily, she sucked in another breath. Her throat burned, her head ached, and her muscles refused to move. An instant defeat.

Her tiny frame shook as she tried to force her arms under her chest, trying to push herself back to her feet. Black and red butterfly wings trembled, but still, the little girl couldn’t lift herself in the air. Nor did she want to, anymore. The cold steel of a sword pressed against the back of her neck, bringing with it a light, stinging pain. She couldn’t even think about moving anymore....

Voices rang in Liberty’s ear, but in her daze, she couldn’t tell what they were saying. Everything came out as a garbled mess. With all the blackness seeping into her vision, all the burning in her throat, she could feel her consciousness threatening to vanish, but somehow she managed to stay awake, though not quite lucid. 

She hardly noticed as she was wrenched to her feet by a sturdy hand. When rough ropes were tied around her hands and feet, she hardly batted an eye. Even as a bag was thrown over her head and she felt herself roughly lifted into the air, she didn’t seem to react. That had been one hell of a hit she took. It wasn’t until she had been unceremoniously tossed into a cart, which nearly immediately began jostling beneath her, that the consciousness she had so desperately been holding onto gave out.