The Dance with Death

“That girl I told you about, I thought she was just a normal girl, but she told me she was something called an Adaption? I wasn’t there for her Ceremony but she said she was born a boy? I don’t really understand but she seems all girl to me. I wonder if that’s because of the Ceremony or who she really is?”

Bunberry crashed through the portal with Cherry safely cradled in her arms. She landed in an open field with a sign in the back that directed survivors to a nearby shelter, but that wasn’t what caught her eye. There was a Luminescent breathing down the neck of an old woman who was next to an unconscious old man. She was cowering at the sight of her impending demise.

While the woman was in trouble, Bunberry was more concerned for the young boy in her arms. She gently put him down, and scanned him over. His skin was discolored, his breathing strained. She knew she had to act fast. She wasn’t going to let him end up like Ice Dust. She wasn’t going to watch another one explode.

It didn’t appear that the Luminescent could see her presence. It was focused on its prey and was about to strike. Bunberry moved as fast as she was able to and with her sword deflected the claw strike. “Get out of here, it’s not safe! I’ll handle this.” She called to the old woman.

The Diversion Field kept the woman from seeing where she actually was. That was part of being an Umbra Girl. She could never really interact with people, they’d always think they were talking to some random girl, but always in a slightly different direction. It happened automatically whenever an Umbra Girl transformed. No one could ever look at her directly.

The old woman complied and quickly ran away, leaving the old man on the ground. Bunberry wondered if he wasn’t that important to her. Her thoughts were shaken by the amount of force that was being pushed into her sword by the Luminescent hovering over her. It attacked her with savage fury, growling, with glowing yellow globs of drool dripping from its mouth; some of which fell onto her shoulder.

She turned her full attention to it then swung outwardly knocking it backwards. She leaped into the air and slammed the flat end of her blade onto it’s skull, knocking it to the floor and leaving it lightly stunned. What to do with it now?

The gears in her head began to turn and a plan formed. “You aren’t going to like this.” Bunberry brought her sword down with the maximum amount of force she could muster and smashed the Luminescent’s left leg. Despite being made of energy, Luminescents still seemed to have functioning body parts, by doing this, she essentially made this creature’s leg completely unusable. The force of the attack caused it to break out of it’s stupor, before it could react she had already flattened the other one. The creature writhed in agony, but Bunberry was unmoved by its crocodile tears and broke its arm. No matter how much it cried or whined, Bunberry moved with surgical precision and disabled the final arm. The creature looked pathetic. Wailing and flailing on the ground. Its eyes begging to be put out of its misery. Bunberry wasn’t going to give it the satisfaction, however, at least not yet.

Bunberry grabbed it by its broken legs and quickly dragged it over to Cherry’s fallen body. Now was the next part of her plan. Bunberry grabbed Cherry’s face and shook him to try to wake him up. “Get up Cherry! Get up! It’s going to be okay, you can finish this one off easily, it won’t be able to hurt you.” Bunberry’s words were frantic. She was desperate to save the boy. When he didn’t react, she said a small prayer that he’d forgive her for this.

She readied her hand and slapped him hard. Immediately, Cherry’s eyes opened.

“Bluh? What’s going on?” Cherry’s voice was groggy and upset. His staff was sitting against his arms, barely in his grasp.

Bunberry walked over and grabbed the head of the disabled Luminescent and dragged it in front of Cherry, then bound it’s snout with her arms. “Go on, kill it!

“Where am I? My head is spinning.” Cherry wobbled back and forth.

“You need to refill your Night Crystal or you’re going to die. Kill it now!”

Cherry looked down at the Luminescent, hesitating, but after a moment Bunberry could see in his eyes that he remembered what happened to his friends at the orphanage. He plunged his staff into its chest. As soon as his staff touched the Luminescent’s chest, Cherry began to glow with white energy. Extraordinarily, the yellow glowing energy that comprised a Luminescent’s body, began to turn orange. It started from the point of contact, and quickly spread across its entire form.

Bunberry had never seen a Luminescent turn orange, or change color in any way, for that matter. She looked at Cherry with wide eyes. What in the world was this kid’s power?

Suddenly, the creature cried out in pain as she let go, apprehensive of what the orange energy might do to her. “Ah! It hurts! It hurts! Oh God, oh God! Please, please make it stop!” Bunberry gaped at the creature. She had been certain it was a Grunt, but they couldn’t talk. Was it actually a General? Why hadn’t it spoken until now?

“Oh God, please, help me! Help me! I don’t want to die!” It begged. It sounded genuine. Almost human, even. However, Bunberry wasn’t going to be fooled. The phrase “Never let down your guard,” was burned into her soul.

“Cherry, finish it off.”

Cherry nodded, then held his staff above the pathetic lizard’s head. He moved to thrust downward, but before he could finish the deed he paused.

“Cherry, what are you doing? Kill it.”

“I-i-it feels wrong. Something isn’t right about this. My body won’t let me. I’m sorry.”

Bunberry sighed. The kid wasn’t strong enough yet. She wasn’t going to push him, though. It wasn’t easy to kill something that looked you in the eyes and begged you not to. Bunberry, however, had no such limitation.

Bunberry turned her sword downward and drove it into its skull. It gargled and twitched and then, it turned to dust. That too, was odd. Luminescents normally vanished in a flash of light. Bunberry made a mental note to be more attentive to oddities like this. If their enemy was changing, it could spell trouble. Unless… no, it couldn’t have been something Cherry had done. That was impossible.

Cherry turned away from her, tears falling from his eyes. “Why did you do that?"

She sighed. The boy had a weak stomach. It was to be expected from someone so young. Though she noticed the color was returning to his skin, whatever he had done had regained enough Night energy to stabilize him. She knew that inflicting pain also allowed one to refill their Crystal, though it was a method that many Umbra Girls looked down on.

A groan came from behind them, and Bunberry turned towards its source. It seemed that the old man had woken up. His hair was short and blonde, with deep blue eyes and vanilla skin. He reached for a wooden derby walking stick with a golden handle, then a brown bowler hat and put it on his head. He stood up, looking quite dapper in his brown tweed suit. It seemed as if he’d stepped out of one of the old history books Bunberry had read back in school.

Cherry looked at her and she motioned for him to help the old man. While sulking, Cherry walked over to the old man, dried his tears, then held out his hand. He still was upset at what she did. He’d learn eventually, but for now she would let him stay innocent.

“Why, thank you, young lady. May I ask where I am? I seem to have taken a hit to the head.” The old man chortled. His voice was hearty and jovial, a little too jovial after what just happened. He didn’t seem to notice Cherry’s previous tears, which was part of the Diversion Field. It wouldn’t do if the innocent civilians could see the emotions of an Umbra Girl. They only needed to be saved or helped. Anything else could get in the way of the mission. You didn’t want some empathic person to distract you while fighting deadly monsters.

Bunberry smirked as Cherry looked left and right till he saw the sign that read “This way to the shelter.” He was smart . She liked that.

“We’re near the shelter. I’ll help you get there.”

“What a sweet little girl, I’d appreciate the help.,” the man said with a tip of his hat to the right of Cherry. Cherry hobbled a little as he slowly walked the old man in the direction the sign indicated.

Bunberry smiled. He was a good kid. She could see some more color return to him. This good deed was helping him. Her smile, however, faded as the air suddenly changed and every hair on her body stood up. The old man had turned to Cherry and looked him dead in the eye. “Tell me, little girl, what is your name?”

Before Cherry could answer, Bunberry felt her feet moving towards them at maximum speed. She grabbed hold of Cherry and flung him as far away as she could. The boy flew about fifteen feet before crashing to the ground. It was probably a little painful, but it was better than the alternative. Cherry hadn’t realized it, but she did. No human could have seen through the Diversion Field. They were standing in front of a Royal.

With a slow clap, he smiled wickedly. “Bravo. I’d heard you were astute, and you did not disappoint.”

“What do you want, Royal? This is a small area that’s barely worth your time. Why are you here?” Bunberry readied her sword in front of her.

“Why, my dear Princess Bunberry, I’ve been dying to see you. Or should I call you the Umbra Knight?” His words pierced her. He knew who she was.

“How did you know I’d be here?”

“That is none of your concern. Oh, but where are my manners? I am Allightstar Allbright, at your service,” he said with a formal bow. Bunberry did not return the gesture. “It seems deportment was not in your education. Very well. Let’s be on with it then. I’ve longed for the day I would cross swords with the Umbra Knight. I’ve heard so very much about you. Let us see if the rumours hold up to the real thing.”

He turned the golden handle on his cane, and from inside he drew out a thin golden sword. Royals were extremely unpredictable, she couldn’t risk trying to retreat and have Cherry be hurt. Nor could she try to call for help as he already was ready to strike her. She was stuck between a rock and a hard place, the one thing she knew though was she had to keep his attention on her and off of Cherry. “Fine, but leave the kid out of it.”

“I’m afraid that’s impossible. After I kill you, I’ll be taking her with me. Mother wants her, and Mother always gets what she wants.” Bunberry was filled with horror, the Gleaming Queen herself wanted Cherry? How did she even know Cherry existed? For that matter, why in the world did she want him? Bunberry couldn’t imagine a world in which that was good.

Bunberry could wait no longer, she clutched her sword tightly and attacked with a downward swing. Allightstar blocked it perfectly with a frown.

“Is that it? Surely you have more than that. I suppose it’s my turn now, en garde!” The man moved faster than she could register, and slashed diagonally at her. The force of his attack knocked her back ten feet. Luckily her shield held up, but before she could even react he struck her again. He continued his barrage again, and again, and again, and again. Her shield protected her from each blow, but it was beginning to crack. Bunberry gasped for air. She was taking heavy damage.

Allightstar looked at her with disappointment, then swung one last time, shattering her shield entirely. His sword made contact with her chest and purified a swath of it. This was very, very bad. She couldn’t handle him, not like this.

“I know you have more power than this. Quit holding back!” he said through gritted teeth. He slashed again, causing more of Bunberry’s body to fade. He looked at Cherry and smiled wickedly. “Perhaps you just need a little motivation.”

He ran over and picked up Cherry, holding his sword up against his neck. Cherry was conscious now, and his eyes begged her to save him. He was silent, and afraid, like the scared child he was. Bunberry felt rage boiling inside her. She wasn’t going to let him die. She had to do something. “Leave Cherry alone!”

“Oh, is that her name? Cherry? What an adorable name for such a cute little girl. However, I tire of this little game, show me what you are made of or the child will die.” She knew she had no choice. She would have done so earlier but it was unwise to transform in the midst of combat. It took time to say the incantation. But if this is what he wanted, she’d give it to him. It was time for her to go to the next level.

“The Light thinks it has won, but I will never give up. I will wipe out every last one of you, for I am the Umbra Knight!” She performed another dance, a different one this time. With “The Light thinks it has won,” She placed her left leg forward and swung her sword diagonally upwards to the right. Then “but I will never give up.” She slashed her sword diagonally to the left. “I will wipe out every last one of you,” she spun the sword in a full circle. Finally with “for I am the Umbra Knight!” She thrust her greatsword into the ground and stood tall. Just like before, after her performance a darkness cocoon enveloped her. This time, however, it was much smaller and more compact.

She was cloaked in darkness as her clothes vanished. Blueberry bunnies giggled and bounced as they swirled around her feet then rose upward. With a pop her feet were covered with sabatons made out of a black metal that had a bunny engraved on them with blueberries for eyes. Her hands had the same black armored fingerless gloves, except with the same symbol as the sabatons this time. A black dress with frills and lace materialized on her. More black metal plates than before melded themselves into the dress, leaving about forty percent frilly dress, the rest was armor. In the center was a large bunny with blueberry eyes. Atop her head a black tiara with that same symbol floated down onto her head.

Allightstar looked like a kid in a candy store. “That was magnificent! Why were you hiding this thing of absolute beauty?” Despite being covered in darkness, a Royal’s vision was absolute. He could see clearly what was happening. Bunberry, however, didn’t even acknowledge him as her sword dematerialized. She held her hand to the sky and from it dropped another greatsword but this one was much different. It still had the black blade, but now it had sawblades slowly rotating along the blade. It looked like an unholy combination of sword and chainsaw. This time the pommel was a bunny with blueberries for eyes. The darkness sphere faded, and now she was exposed once more.

“I did what you asked. Now let Cherry go,” she commanded.

Allightstar smiled. “Why of course. I can’t wait to see what—” He tossed Cherry away mid sentence, and as soon as Cherry left his grasp Bunberry charged. Before he could even finish what he was saying she was in his face, her sword pressing against his own. He had blocked her but he was having a much harder time against her increased strength. He was going to regret giving her this chance to go to a higher level form. He was going to regret threatening Cherry.

“What the devil are you?!” he cried out as she relentlessly swung over and over and over again. She screamed out in rage as her attacks increased in intensity. All she could focus on was protecting Cherry, by any means necessary. He was faster, technically, but she was far stronger. Each blow of hers pushed him further and further back. Luminescent weapons were also invincible, so she couldn’t break his sword, but she’d caught him off guard and she couldn’t waste this opportunity. It was time to finish him.

Without giving him a chance to react she kicked him in the crotch, then performed a full somersault as he stumbled backwards. Her sword glowed with blueberry bunnies as her chainsaw revved. “BLUEBERRY JUDGMENT SLICE!” She screamed at the top of her lungs and slashed her greatsword diagonally left while in mid air. A gigantic crescent moon made of blueberry bunnies flew towards him, threatening to cut him in half. He moved away but not fast enough, because the attack severed his left arm. To show he wasn’t human, he had no visible bones or blood, just a viscous glowing yellow liquid seeping from the wound.

“You bitch! My arm! What did you do to my arm?!” All courtesy seemed to have left him as he screamed and cried. “I’m going to transform, then I’m going to kill you!”

He intended to show his true form but Bunberry wasn’t going to give him the opportunity. She wasn’t stupid enough to let her enemy transform to gain power while she had the upperhand. She leaped high into the air and a large amount of blueberry bunnies charged into her sword. There were far far more than her last attack. She was going to end this, she was going to rid the world of Allightstar once and for all. He cowered as her eyes burned with hatred. “BLUEBERRY JUDGMENT BLA—”

“Allightstar, are you finished yet?” Bunberry was cut off by a man’s voice that sent a shiver up her spine. It wasn’t maniacal, or cruel. It was like the voice of your friendly neighbor, and was just so frustratingly average. She stopped her attack, and landed on the ground, paralyzed with fright. Behind Allightstar appeared a portal made of pure light, and out walked a young man. A young man that was the only thing that gave Bunberry true fear.

At a glance he wasn’t particularly frightening. Caucasian, brown hair, green eyes, about average height, but rather skinny. Dressed rather casually in jeans, a t-shirt, and sneakers. It wasn’t his appearance that was scaring her, it was what he was capable of.

“Allightstar, what are you doing?” The man asked. “Did you secure the girl?”

“Oh, uhhh you see, I have everything under control. See, she’s right there.” He pointed towards Cherry. “I’ll just transform and-and everything will be fine.”

“Allightstar,” the young man said with a sigh.

“What, Luc—” Before Allightstar could finish, the young man slammed his fist into the old man’s chest. Allightstar cried out as he passed out from the pain. The young man picked him up, then threw him into the portal. Then he picked up Allightstar’s arm, examined it, rolled his eyes, then threw it into the portal. After that he turned to Bunberry and smiled that same disgusting smile he always did. That smile that he used when he’d… she didn’t want to think about it. This was no longer in her control, she reached into her Night Crystal, and performed the collect call again. It rang a few times without doing anything, making her heart nearly stop, before it was finally picked up.

“Bunberry, what’s wrong? Is everything okay?” Her voice was strained, she clearly had been working a bit too long today.

“No, Blue Bubbles, everything is not okay! We’re in severe danger, we encountered not one, but two Royals! One of which is now gone!” Bunberry’s thought voice was in a panic

“A Royal?! Okay I’ll be getting a squad to your location as soon as possible. How many do you think you need?”

“All of them.”

“All of them? Really, it’s just one Royal right?”

“Bubbles, it’s him, he’s here and he’s going to kill us if you don’t do something!”

“No. No. No no no no no no, not him! Okay I’ll get a squad there immediately, we should be there shortly. We’ll use the quick portal. It’s dangerous but we can’t lose you and Cherry.”

Bunberry severed the connection, and faced the man directly.

“Bunberry! It’s been so long. What has it been, five months, seven months? A year?” the bastard asked with a smile. His presence alone forced her to remember what happened, what he’d done. She shook head to get those intrusive thoughts out. She couldn’t let him get under her skin.

She heard ruffling as Cherry rubbed his eyes, then stood up and looked at the man. “Who are you?” Cherry asked and Bunberry turned to him immediately.

“Cherry, don't talk to him!”

“Oh, how rude of me.” He said, then turned to both of them. “My name is Lucid Allbright, and yours is… Cherry, right? Cherry… Sparkles.”

Bunberry’s mind went into overdrive. How had he known Cherry was a Sparkle? Cherry had never even been out in the field before, he’d never done anything that could have informed anyone.

“I can see you’re confused. I wouldn’t think too much on it.”

“What do you want, you bastard!?”

“Oh, Bunberry, don’t be like that. What happened before? That’s in the past, and it’s not like I did it on purpose. I was just following orders.” Everything about him made her want to smash his face in. “If you must know, I’m here for that adorable little girl. Mother wants her, and what kind of son would I be if I didn’t get her what she wants?”

“You aren’t going to touch one hair on his head, Lucid!” Bunberry stood tall and clenched her sword. “Cherry, get behind me, I won’t let him touch you.”

“Oh, aren’t I? What are you going to do? Are you going to stop me?” He never stopped that disturbing ‘neighborly’ smile. Bunberry readied her blade. “So that’s how it is, very well. Come at me then.”

Bunberry swung her chainsaw sword at him with fury. Her energy was low and without it even her Stubborn Trait would give out. He smashed his two hands at the sides of the blade, performing a perfect blade grasp, then forcefully pushed her away. “Why won’t you just die!?” she shouted.

“Bunberry, you’re exhausted. We should continue this another time. It’s no fun to squash a tired bug. I prefer when they’re fully rested.” Bunberry spat at him, and he wiped it off, his smile finally broken. “Hand over the girl. I won’t ask twice.”

Bunberry looked at Cherry cowering behind her. He’d been silent this whole time, she never wanted his first day to be like this. He’d been frozen with fear, but his eyes told everything. “Please, save me.”

“You can’t win, Lucid,” Bunberry said, feeling a warm metallic tasting liquid in her mouth.

“Oh, and why not?” He regained his smirk. She breathed heavily then looked him in the eye.

“Because the other Umbra Girls will be here soon. The entire squad. You can’t beat us all. You might kill some of us but we’ll take your ass down.”

“The lone wolf calling for friends? I’m loving this new and improved Bunberry. Keep improving and I’ll just have to make you mine.” He laughed and it made Bunberry recoil in disgust. She had no idea why Royals acted so much like humans, it was as if they’d copied all the ones they’d killed and made some horrid concoction of their best and worst traits.

“Well, it seems it’s time for me to leave.” A yellow glowing portal opened up behind him, and he stepped backwards, saying one last thing. “Don’t worry though, I’ll see you both again, very soon.”

Bunberry tried once more to slash at him as the portal completely closed. After her failed attack, all of her emotions she was bottling up exploded and she thrust her sword into the ground. She sank to the floor crying ugly saltine tears, covered in snot, mucus, and saliva. “LUUUUUUUUUUUUCIDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD!” She screamed and slammed her fist into the ground repeatedly, even more ugly tears pouring down her face and clothes.

She felt warm childlike arms wrap around her and saw Cherry there holding her, his puppy ears folded downward. He said nothing, just held her tight. She struggled a bit, but then without reverting to that other girl she felt her defenses drop, and let herself be held. Something about Cherry allowed her to be held by him. She hadn’t let herself be held since what happened a year ago.

“Where is that bastard? I’ll smash his head in!” Dragon roared. Clearly the brigade had finally arrived, Bunberry hadn’t noticed while being lost in Cherry’s embrace. She didn’t budge from her position, however. Fatigue was finally setting in as her transformation faded, and her Trait deactivated.

“I think it’s over, Draggy.” Dag replied.

“What happened?” Blue Bubbles asked.

Bunberry said nothing she continued to just be held by Cherry, tears streaming down his own eyes. Lucid was gone, she’d protected Cherry, but at what cost? The answer to that appeared as Bunberry lost consciousness in Cherry’s arms.