The Armor She Wears

A Broken Girl

Biana tossed in her bed, haunted by the memories of the first battle. They seeped into her brain and soon she was reliving it over again.
The morning had been gray but Biana didn't care. Her and Fitz were playing base quest outside with Sophie and Keefe.
"Now come on, it's not fair you get to have Sophie on your team" Fitz playfully whined.
"Fine, how about no abilities" Sophie calmly answered.
Her friends agreed and Biana teamed up with Keefe. They spread out and Biana vanished herself. She crept up on Fitz who was lazily sitting in the sun.
"Come on Fitz, we have to protect our base" Sophie yanked him up and Fitz laughed. Biana ran up to him and pushed him down the hill before running towards the tree. She touched it and un-vanished smiling.
"We win"
Biana looked at Sophie, but Sophie was staring at something behind her head. Biana turned and saw what Sophie was afraid of. The sky had gone dark and purple force fields shimmered. Voices cried out and Sophie yanked out her light leaping crystal. Biana grabbed Keefe and Fitz and they all followed Sophie into the light.
They reappeared in Havenfield where Grady and Edaline were fighting a pair of Neverseen. The councillors were fighting a horde of Neverseen by one of the animal fences.
"Why are the councillors here?" Biana whispered fearfully.
"Grady has them over to discuss something. Come on let's help!" Sophie ran down and looked up at her friends.
They ran over to the councillors and Biana fingered the goblin star in her pocket. Sophie threw a dagger at one of the Neverseen and he cursed stumbling over to the cliff. Sophie pursued him and realized it was Ruy. Biana saw him fall and Sophie reached for a nearby sword from on of the goblin bodyguards that had disappeared.
"Sophie! Stop!" Biana yelled and tried to stop Sophie but she plunged the sword into Ruy.
That was the first break in Sophie's amor she had seen. Sophie had collapsed and Biana sobbed at the sight of Ruy's body.
A week after the war had started, Sophie was replacing her emotional armor with real armor and was ready to fight, but Biana, Fitz, and Keefe wanted no part in it.
"We have to go Sophie, come with us"
Biana has pleaded, holding out her hand.
Sophie glared at her, "You cowards! You would rather run away than fight for your families!"
"We're just kids!" Biana yelled.
"Maybe you guys are but I'm the Moonlark and this is what I need to do. So leave cowards, I never want to see your faces again!"
Biana stood there stunned, but Fitz grabbed her hand.
"Come on Biana. We have to go"
Biana sat up sweating and covered her mouth so she wouldn't sob. All the deaths and pain she had seen had finally cracked. Biana felt like a broken girl, cracking at every moment and ready to shatter.
Keefe and Fitz would never understand. The one thing Biana never told them was about her one encounter with one of the Neverseen. He was a young boy who she had caught stealing from her home a day before they left.
Biana had asked him where the Neverseen was but the boy stared at her scared. She had become so frustrated that.... Biana had grabbed one of the kitchen knives and threw it at the boy's foot. He had screamed and fallen over, but Biana was even more scared of what her parents would say. She grabbed the light crystal around the boy's neck and leaped him away. Once he was gone, Biana mopped up the blood and told her parents that she had seen a rat and screamed. That was only the first crack.
Biana shook her head to keep herself from bringing up more bad memories and snuck out of her room. Keefe and Mr. Forkle were down the hall talking but she didn't want to face anyone. She stepped out into the castle's fields and sat down in the snow. Biana dug her hands deep into a snow mound and the cold pain felt good on her hot skin. Biana looked up at the sky and noticed something on the horizon.
She recognized it as Sophie and some strange man. Without thinking Biana ran across the fields towards Sophie, the biggest mistake she had ever made. But she did it because Biana Vacker had finally shattered.