Soul Chains

Chapter 3: Cherry Blossoms

Before lunchtime, Reine comes up to me and asks if it's okay to sit with me. Reluctantly, I agree, knowing that I can't exactly turn her away. I sigh as Reine follows me to my lunch table in the giant, open cafeteria with multiple white round tables littering the courtyard and planters hanging from the ceiling by various beams that hold up the ceiling, a few potted plants on the ground as well. Essentially, a nightmare to someone with plant or pollen allergies, but a nice view otherwise.

I pull out a chair at my typical round table and Reine sits down next to me as Nathan comes towards us with Melantha and the two of them join us at the table. Melantha is close friends with both me and Nathan and has been since elementary school.

"Who's this?" Melantha smiles, nodding her head towards Reine and shifting her black locks around, her blue eyes shining curiously.

"I'm Reine," Reine says, her expression blank as she looks at Melantha, "I recently moved here and I now attend this school. I met Gabriel this morning and he's been showing me around."

"Oh," Melantha smiles, chuckling, "that's nice of him. I'm not too surprised. Gabriel always loves helping people out. I think you'll learn that quickly about him. Well, my name's Melantha. It's a pleasure to meet you, Reine."

Reine nods curtly and Nathan raises a brow at her, placing his chin in one of his hands.

"You know, you seem really formal," Nathan says and Reine's eyes flicker to him.

"And?" Reine inquires, raising a brow.

"Well, nothing, it's just a bit odd--" Nathan starts, but gets cut off when we get called to go get lunch.

After the four of us collect our trays and our lunch, we head back to the table and Reine's gaze gets glued to the glass doors that lead to the courtyard area where multiple cherry blossom trees reside in a grassy area with a few tables and benches, as well as a water fountain to drink from by the doors. I anxiously keep an eye on Reine as she continues silently watching the courtyard, taking bites of her food with her fork as Nathan and Melantha talk to each other fervently.

"Reine," I clear my throat and her eyes flicker over to me, "are, um, are you okay?"

"Yes," Reine nods, "I'm...fine."

"If you say so," I breathe out, going back to eating my spaghetti.

"You know," Reine starts after a few moments, "I always found cherry blossom trees to be quite beautiful. They symbolize life. They show that there is beauty in life, but that life is also fragile and can end swiftly, tragically. They're so beautiful when they're alive and they flourish, but then they wither and blow away with the wind as they drift down to the ground."

Everyone at the table stops eating and talking as they focus on Reine, a silence creeping over the table due to her words.

"It seems to me that more are falling than they should though as of recently," Reine says as she stands from her seat, slowly making her way over to the courtyard doors.

"Reine, where are you going?" I ask as I stand up as well, Melantha and Nathan watching the spectacle before them with wondering eyes and confused expressions as they exchange a few glances to see if the other understands either.

Somehow, something doesn't feel right to me and I get the sense to follow her as she opens the courtyard doors. Behind me, Melantha and Nathan stand up as well and trail after me as I follow Reine into the courtyard, the doors slamming shut behind the four of us. As I glance over my shoulder to look at the courtyard doors, my eyes widen in surprise to find that they're gone and bricks are in their place.

"Reine--" I start wearily.

Reine holds up a hand as she stands in front of the three of us silently and her eyes scan the top of the courtyard, flickering between the roofs.

"What the hell is going on?" Nathan furrows his eyebrows and Melantha shrugs in confusion.

"Be quiet," Reine directs, "act now, questions later."

"You seem to be doing a lot of that," I grumble.

"Queen," a feminine voice laughs from the shadows and my eyes catch a dark, pitch black patch of energy disappearing and reappearing from roof to roof, quickly getting lower to the ground, "hand over the three links or suffer the consequences!"

"Never," Reine says firmly, putting one foot forward and moving both hands to her side, summoning her katana that radiates silver and lavender energy.

"Holy shit!" Nathan's eyes widen and Melantha gasps, her eyes widening as well.

"Oh, here we go again," I sigh.

"Again?!" Nathan's head sharply turns towards me and I shrug tiredly.

"Surrender, Kione," Reine instructs firmly, "nothing good will come of this."

"Not a chance," Kione giggles in a manner that has no sanity, sending chills down my spine.

"So be it," Reine presses her lips into a firm line and runs forwards as Kione finally appears, her grey-blue eyes wild and her long white hair flowing in the wind as she holds a long black scythe with dark blue and grey engravings and metal framing.

Kione's grey-blue dress that's torn and tattered swooshes around her legs as she spins with her scythe, her pale skin almost as white as the bandages wrapped around her ankles and forearms. Reine leaps up in the air and lands on Kione's scythe as she swings it, back-flipping off of it and thrusting her katana forwards. Kione, however, anticipates this and lunges to the side to avoid the lethal strike.

Reine narrows her lavender eyes at Kione and holds her katana straight up, her left hand resting against the edge of the blade as a giant lion made of silver and white spiritual energy appears behind her and runs through her, racing towards Kione. Kione scoffs and teleports away from the ravaging lion, making it turn sharply and look around for her. Kione reappears above the lion and falls through the air, holding her scythe back and swinging the blade through its midsection right before she lands, silver and white energy dispersing around her and floating into the sky.

"Is that the best you've got, Queen?" Kione sneers, "I would've expected better from the holy protector of the Soul Chain."

"Shut up," Reine grits her teeth and rushes forwards, pushing her feet off of the ground and spinning in a spiral through the air towards Kione with her katana raised to the side and ready to strike.

Reine quickly strikes at Kione, managing to cut through her block and slice a cut alongside one of her arms, making Kione stumble slightly. Reine lands behind Kione and swings around her katana, the silver and purple energy that radiate off of it now burning twice as strong as before.

"No matter," Kione scowls, "If I can't take them, I'll kill them."

Reine's eyes widen in realization as Kione turns to me and swings around sharply, a wave of black and silver energy leaving the blade of the scythe and flying towards me at lethal speeds in all its crescent shaped glory.

"Gabriel, look out!" Melantha shouts as Nathan drags her off out of the way and the two stumble and fall in the grass several feet away from me.

My eyes widen as Reine swings to the side one second too late, landing a hit of purple and silver energy from her katana on Kione, sending her flying into the wall right as my life flashes before my eyes and the next thing I know I'm being slammed into the brick wall behind me, my world going fuzzy around the edges. My ears ring as I lie there on the ground, rubble crumbling down around me as I attempt to lift my head to see Reine running towards me in what feels like slow motion as Melantha and Nathan get up, their eyes wide in shock and worry. And right as Reine reaches me, my head falls back down and my entire world goes black as my body lies there limp on the ground.