I finally found the catch for his helmet and popped it open. The black smoke dissipated, revealing the full armor of Berserker. Several gasps came from the girls behind Princess Celestia and Princess Luna at this.
I turned my attention back to Berserker, who had grabbed a hold of my wrists. Clanking of armor behind him almost caused him to look away from me, but I gently said, “Berserker, look at me.” His head turned back to look at me, just staring at me, like before. He did not release my arms though. Then, he looked to where his hands are, and looked back at me, before slowly shaking his head. He pulled my arms down gently and stood up as I did. He then replaced the catch on his helmet before growling and pointing to a section farther into the maze. He started to walk off without me, but guards blocked his way. Immediately, he punched a guard out and grabbed the sword that fell out of the guard's grasp and charged at the other guards blocking his way.
“Stop!” I yelled, again reaching his ears just in time. He started to turn towards me but shook his head and jumped over the guards, throwing the stolen sword right in the middle of them. He landed behind them, causing cracks to spider out from his feet. He looked at me before bounding away again.
“Princess Celestia, I’m going after him,” I said, and began to walk after him.
“Celedon, no. I understand that you may be a guest here in Equestria, but he is a dangerous criminal. I cannot let you go after him,” she said with a face that brooked no argument. From behind her I saw the girl with the rainbow hair being glared at by almost every one of the other girls of the group.
“Please, let me go after him. It is in my nature to help people. I must help him,” said, with the weird reverb emphasizing a few of the words that I said. Some of the guards looked surprised and shook their heads, and I saw that Celestia was seriously contemplating my plea.
Pleaseworkpleaseworkpleaseworkpleasework…
She sighed and said, “Fine, but four guards will follow after you and stay hidden.”
I’m pretty sure Berserker would notice them, but if what I plan on doing goes well, then he won’t attack them on sight. Hopefully.
I nodded and began to walk down the path that Berserker had gone down. Four guards joined me at my sides and behind me, escorting me through the maze. The atmosphere was awkward, to say the least.
We walked in silence before I decided that I hated silence. I sighed and said, "You could at least talk to your friends like normal people." They didn't even acknowledge that I said anything. "Well, if you won't I will," I said, and turned to the guard on my right, a woman.
"Hello, my name is Celedon," I said with a smile. I stuck out my right hand for her to shake.
I saw her surprise through the golden helmet, but she regained her composure quickly enough and stated, "Star Saber." She didn't shake my hand though. I saw a lock of silver hair underneath her helmet, and her pink eyes stared straight ahead.
I lowered my hand and said, "Nice to meet you Star."
I turned to my left and the guard automatically said, "My name is Snow Lance." His light grey wings fluttered a little as he said his name. Probably a nervous habit.
"Nice to meet you Snow," I said as I went for a handshake. Like the guardswoman before him, he did not take my hand.
Behind me, I heard a man's voice saying, "I'm Rock Breaker."
I turned around and began to walk backwards, thankfully not hitting anyone with my wings, and said, "Nice to meet you Rock." Perhaps it was because I was practically in front of him, but this time he did shake my hand in greeting. It might have also been the fact that I didn't see any weapons on him beside the heavily armored gauntlets that he was wearing. He had soft brown eyes, but he was still focused on his objective, namely, escorting me. I didn't see any wings on him, nor on Star now that I think about it.
"Jade Hunter," the last member of our little group curtly said. Her bright emerald eyes looked almost angry to me, and I could see that a few of her pale green feathers were ruffled on her wings. Before I even had a chance to say anything, she said, "What purpose does this have? I don't need to talk to you, and I don't really want to."
Surprised, I said, "Well, I'm only trying to be friendly."
"We are guards. We don't need you to be friendly with us," she said.
The three others glanced at her before they stared ahead. My shoulders slumped a little as I turned to face forward. On my right, Star sighed and whispered, "Don't worry about her. She's just a little testy right now. I can't really say more than that."
I nodded discretely, and stayed quiet through the rest of the time walking down the broken path that Berserker left. The four guards stayed in formation as I turned left at a corner where another impact had been made. I suddenly saw Berserker standing in the middle of a small clearing, with some benches here and there. I held out my hand to the four, and they stayed behind the corner to observe me. As I walked towards him, Berserker turned to stare at me. Hopefully the four guards and potential friends stayed out of Berserker's line of sight.
I walked right up to Berserker, who stood stock still. I reached behind his helmet to unlatch it. He grabbed my arms again, but I said, “Trust me.”
He held me for a few more seconds before he slowly released my arms. I undid the clasp at the back of his helmet and took care to slowly remove it. However I nearly dropped it when I saw who had been wearing it.
“Tim?!”