Soul Chains

Chapter 29: Valkyrie's End

"Who are you?" Kaltrina asks as she walks firmly up to the relic holder who's still floating there.

"I'll never tell you!" she cries out and shakes her head.

"Aidan, do you know what relic that is?" I ask, hoping he also knows which specific one it is.

"Repentance," Aidan nods, "that makes sense now. It allows her to use strong winds, abstain people of their guilt, or focus their guilt until it crushes them entirely."

"We're not here to hurt you," Aislinn says, lowering her longsword and making it disappear into thin air in a flash of white energy and small orbs of light, "we simply wish to talk."

She remains silent and purses her lips as her eyes study us uncertainly and I decide to gently nudge Kaltrina aside and walk up to her, my eyes boring into hers.

"What were you running from earlier?" I ask quietly, "you seemed scared, and believe me when I say I know how that feels."

"You mean..." she trails off uncertainly, "you really aren't with him?"

"Him who?" I frown and search her eyes for answers.

"If...If I promise to answer your questions, will you let me out of this?" she asks.

We all turn our gazes to Aislinn, who nods and sends away the rune with a swish of her hand. Aidan and I catch her as she falls and she smiles appreciatively to us both.

"Mikasa," she says after a few moments, "I'm Mikasa Akiyama. Can we go inside? I really didn't mean to leave the palace in the first place, but I thought...I thought I saw him."

"Who's him?" Aidan asks and Mikasa sighs.

"He's...my older brother..." Mikasa admits, her blue eyes sad.

"Let's go inside," Aidan frowns, placing a hand on Mikasa's back, "we can talk more in there."

Kaltrina meets my gaze and I return it knowingly, aware that we're going to have to tell the others about Mikasa as soon as possible. The five of us head back towards the palace with Aidan and Mikasa leading the way, followed by Aislinn with me and Kaltrina trailing behind. Aidan leads us to a private study beyond the party and Eden knowingly appears outside, shuffling the others of our group into the study. The study consists of a polished wooden table surrounded by green padded seats and bookshelves and scroll cases filled to the roof that circle around the room.

"I saw what was going to happen, I simply had to wait for it to happen before I took action," Eden whispers to us, "I figured my assistance in gathering everyone beforehand would be helpful."

Guests start to notice and ask what's going on, but Eden assures them it's nothing special as she winks at us and nudges the door shut.

"Man, having a prophetic friend sure is helpful sometimes," Nathan breathes out, "she started rounding us up at the party in the calmest manner and everything seemed totally normal. Then, she explained what was happening outside and waited for you guys to come in."

"That's my sister for you," Aidan smiles.

"Hey," Ayette smiles softly and makes her way over to Mikasa, "you're a relic holder, right? Me too."

"Yeah..." Mikasa trails off uncertainly, her eyes hesitant.

"Eden explained to us what happened outside, but could someone please go into further detail?" Reine asks.

"I accidentally ran into Mikasa during the party and something about her stuck with me. Kaltrina and I decided to go look for her ourselves and Aidan and Aislinn joined. We learned that Mikasa is the relic holder of Repentance and that she was running from her brother, but that's about it," I explain.