A different kind of Knight

Chapter 21

(Author's note: Sorry for the long delay in the story updates everyone. I got bogged down with a tremendous amount of schoolwork.)

"And then you punch them in da ugly mug of ders!" The filthy beggar yelled drunkenly as his fist flew towards the little boy's face. He laughed as he walked away. Leaving the child to cry all by himself after wasting 12 Thrones just to be punched in his face. "Stop trying to remember that awful time. It serves no use and we will NOT be punching her." The Nobleman told me what to do and I agreed with it.  The bad memory stopped playing as I brought myself back in the chase. I am close to her now. But I can get Closer. 1, 2, 3! "Humph!" I grunted as I jumped towards the distressed feline. I opened my arms as if I was reaching for an embrace. Hoping that she is just as accepting of the embrace. She turned around to look to see why her pursuer grunted. But she froze as she saw the boy flying through the air with outstretched arms, determination evident in him. And... Contact! I then wrapped my arms around her waist as I spun myself so that I would bear the full force of the landing. "Oomph!" The hit from the floor squeezed my lungs and it made me grunt involuntarily. We both landed on the floor dazed. It takes a while for the both of us to regain our bearings on reality.

It took her a moment longer than mine to process her situation. But when she finally did, oh was she angry. She began to try and scratch at my face as she reached and swiped at the person holding her. Some of the attempts connected to my face but it does do anything life-threatening, leaving only superficial wounds that will not affect combat performance. And yelling too. "Let me go! You Murderer! Uncaring! Fake friend!" Alice yelled with each swipe she made onto my face. This situation is getting out of hand, no suggested actions at the moment. She stopped swiping at me which provided relief. Only for her to do something that is much worse as she grabbed my shoulders. To be frank, I was hoping that her aggression would end there. But it was only false hope. Her jaw opens and the teeth ridden cavern of flesh flies towards me. But I was able to swiftly counter in time as I raised my hand and grabbed her head. She lets off a yowl of pain. "Why are you doing this to me!" She yells as she angrily tries to wrestle my hand from the back of her head. "Alice calm down!" Luke yelled with frustation as the cat continued to wrestle and resist.

Anger began to boil inside of him. Something foolish will happen soon. This situation is so... Inconvenient. So troublesome. So infuriating. The loyalist rushed to say nonsensical things like he alway did. "Wait, no do not act with emotions! Think it through first! Do not yell that at her! NO! NO! NO!" "BECAUSE I DO NOT WANT TO LOSE YOU! I angrily released the first jumble of words that came to mind, a superheated meltashot jumble of words that infused less than pleasant feelings. She stopped, eyes wide open and looking down at me. She blinks rapidly, confused. She finally stops struggling. A weird sensation is felt. Wet. My face feels wet. Why is it wet? "Alice, my face feels wet." "You're crying." She bluntly replies as she looks at the boy with confusion twisting her face. She looked deep into my eyes, and regretted it. "Pitiful." Is what she is probably thinking as she stared into the eyes of an abandoned child. A child whose family was executed for showing generosity in a universe that hated it. "You, lost someone?" She asks me almost hesitantly. I do not wish to tell her. The things that happened on that day are things best well kept in crevices of the mind, never to be let out again.

Such shameful moments of mine, I ran while they died. Why should I even bother to tell her? She does not have the right to know the history of your family. But it would be wrong not too. She told me her story, so why shouldn't I tell mine. "A xeno! She is a xeno!" The Loyalist blurts out. The little annoyance was forcefully silenced. I could lie but shall die with honour than to live shamefully. And lying will only earn a shameful stain on my family's name. I will never dirty the name of my House who sacrificed themselves for me with shameful acts. Something that I failed to do that day, but never again. It is a moment that there will be no coming back from. She might look at me differently after knowing it all. Who would want to be with a coward anyway? Well, let my shame be known. "Not just someone, but a whole family. Taken from me when I was only ten years of age, not even a day after I passed through the Ritual of Becoming. My father, High King of Knight World Magdalai. He knew that he would eventually be assassinated, so he brought me along that he could at least teach me how to fight. That mission, he knew, HE ABSOLUTELY KNEW!

It was a setup, an ambush. Why else would he bring along a child onto a battlefield, and not just any child but one who's obviously unfit for combat?" She looks at the orphaned boy with her eyes drilling holes into him. That demeaning stare helps me to highlight everything wrong with me. " Heh. I'm as broken as the warmachine over there!" I pointed a single digit towards the impaled Imperial Knight. "If anything, I suggest you leave this failure of a person here and cut your losses. Things would be better for you an-" Before I could finish my lamenting a soft, fleshy, and roughly textured thrashing thing suddenly entered my mouth. It took me a while to process the sight as all my negativity evaporated away. Her face was plastered onto mine as her tongue continued to roam around in my mouth unchallenged like the explorers of old. *Pop.* Her mouth departs from and she looks at me. Her face is still quite close to mine as I feel her hot breath at odd intervals. "I think we've had enough about losses today."

We agree on that unanimously and all tension between us ís finally gone. she was the first one to stand since she was on top of me. she held her hand out for me to grab and I deftly took it. "Hrrngh." She grunted in exertion as she brought her out the other hand to also help me in standing up. My face feels all hot, a common bodily sensation when one is flustered. This visage is unfitting for a warrior! I look towards Alice to see if she has fared any better than me. We only made eye contact for half a second but she was quite the sight, indeed. She was trying to suppress a smile on her face but her feelings proved to be more resilient than her intentions thus giving her a malformed smile. Her pupils were also dilated into two pools of blue. She immediately covered her face with both of her hands to make a barrier between me and her. But for me, I turned around on the spot deftly and quickly. "Don't look at me!" We both say the same statement at the same time like a flawlessly maintained machine that was treated with hundreds of prayers, incense, and oils everyday by an extremely dedicated Tech-Priest.

It seems that both our brains must've been connected through some unknown means, otherwise how else am I supposed to explain this phenomena, or maybe it's just a coincidence. "Wipe that expression off yer face." The nobleman scolds me lightheartedly, Knowing full well that I succeeded his expectations. "You did good lad but do take in mind to not be too brash again." He says as his voice slowly fades into nothingness. I bid you farewell, till we meet again. With him gone, it's just me, Alice, and the two adventurers. Then we both noticed that they weren't present. I called out into the cave. "SYLBIAAAA! FENNNDDEEESS! " No response came to answer my call. I repeated the previous action but with more purpose and energy in it this time. "SYLLLBBBBIIIIAAAAAAAA!!! FENNNNDDEEEESSS!!!" Silence still. Did they somehow perish during the duel? Damn myself! I should've been more persuasive when it came to convincing them! Two innocents died and it is small due to my complacent attitude towards them! None bear the responsibility of their deaths other than me! "They're dead, aren't they?"

My accusation echoed in the cave, the ghostly echoes whispering it back. Letting myself fall onto the floor, prostrating before their spirits to beg for forgiveness. "LUKE! ALICE! WE'RE BACK WITH HELPING HANDS!" The voice of Sylvia cries out to me. They are so kind, wishing to bring help to those who brought them death. "Look! The two adventurers are back with more people! Plus two to be exact!" Alice yells to me energetically as if there was a titanic distance between us both. Even though she stands only at arms-length away from me. I raised my head and sure enough, several figures appeared from a distance away. A hand suddenly appeared into my field of view, a very yellow one. "C'mon, let's meet them." She whispers as she bends over to me, bringing the hand closer to my face. Does she want me to take it? Obviously. It would be a rude gesture not to take it. I slowly raised my right hand to meet her left, shame still slows me down from how I was unable to keep an eye on them. She lunged to grab at it immediately as if I was in danger of being spirited away.

I wish I could feel the sensation of her skin, but I can't because the suit's gauntlets are in the way. She tried to pull me up, unfortunately her muscles just aren't enough to lift me off the floor, even as she used both of her hands. It took me a while, but I finally ended her struggles to lift as I powered through to command my legs to lift me up. "You're quite heavy!" I find that jab against me unsurprising since the typical armored body glove worn by Knight pilots such as me can weigh as much as 40 kg, plus my body weight. We both walked towards the human adventurers and the help they've brought. I now stand before the Ztosh couple not as warmech but only as a man. "So YOU really are just a man like me!" Sire Fendes seems to be genuinely surprised to see me in the flesh now that I am standing before him. We laughed wholeheartedly together. Things seem to go all well now. Unbeknownst to everyone. Tragedy will strike, soon.