The Sun and the Clover

by BG9

Mute

Sunset did her best to flip on her back so she could see where the assassin was heading. as she feared, she was going straight for the cabin. She threw Sunset's wand far into the bushes, opting to pull a knife from out of her pocket. Sunset opened her mouth to scream however nothing but a faint wimper escaped. There had to be something, anything she could do to get his attention.

Sunset's eyes scanned the surrounding landscape. Eureka. Just a few inches away from her was a branch nearly breaking from the weight of the snow. If she could just pull it down a little, the sound of that much snow hitting the ground could wake him. She used her chin, slowly but surely pulling herself into the clearing and to the branch. Inch by inch. She was almost there. Just as she was in reach, the assassin turned around and began to walk briskly towards her. No time to hesitate. She lifted her face and grabbed the pines with her teeth. The pain of them stabbing into her tongue and cheeks would've made her scream if she were able. With all her might she pulled down, causing a mountain of snow to come crashing into the ground, and into her.

Then, nothing. Sunset poked her head out of the snow. Anon hadn't woken up. Sunset felt hot tears trickle down her cheeks. This was all her fault and there was nothing she could do. If she'd just stayed by Anon's side this wouldn't be happening. She watched helplessly as the assassin turned back around and opened the door to the cabin, knife at the ready. A few seconds later, there was a loud crash and a yell followed by a splash of blood slamming against the window.

Nightmare Moon, meanwhile, had since returned to her warband. It was in the distant ruins of the north, a site where a historic battle took place. The place where she and her childhood friend Clover the Clever first fought and where she was also defeated. Not much was left of it, just a few crumbling stone supports and a dusty and broken marble floor. Everyone was in attendance.

"Step two has been achieved. Or at least it will be soon. It seems they're going to unleash the second leyline of their own accord to revive Princess Skystar." Nightmare Moon explained

"So what does that mean now? Where are we headed?" Discord asked

"I'd say we head east. But it's too dangerous. Better for them to handle that." she said "and we can't open the gates of the western kingdom, though no doubt Clover's successor can. Which leaves one place left."

The was a spike in tension across the group. It was the southern island of Avalon. A place feared even by the mighty Nightmare Moon.

"I'll head there with Discord. In the meantime I have tasks for each of you."

Nightmare walked up to the three dazzlings Adagio, Aria and Sonata. Sonata sat on the frost covered ground, using her magic to form small snow figures and having them fight one another. She was hardly listening. Even after all this time she was merely a child. She'd not changed since the moment Nightmare picked her and her sisters up. Aria sat beside Adagio, the both of them with scowls on their face.

"How're you three doing?"

"I'm doing great! The snow is so pretty!" Sonata chirped

Luna giggled placing a hand on Sonata's head and ruffling her hair

"Are you ready to work, little one?"

"Hey I'm not little! I'm like three centuries old now!"

"Oh, yes. Forgive me." she said turning to Adagio and Aria "I want you three to head to the west and wait for Anon to arrive. When he does, wait for him to open the gate and retrieve whatever artifact he came for."

"What do we do when he finds it?" Adagio asked

"Take it and return it here. If I'm not here then go to the world tree." she said "As for the rest of you, I need you in the mortal world. There's something important that must be retrieved."

Sonata jumped up with joy

"Is this like a secret mission?"

Nightmare Moon smiled again, but this time her smile had a sense of pain to it

"Yes. It's just like that."

She turned around and began to walk out into the snow

"Come, Discord." she said with a shaky voice "We've got work to do."

As soon as the two were far enough away from earshot, Discord placed his arm around Luna.

"Do you think I'm making the right choice?" she asked

"It's the only one we have." Discord said "With this we can save them all. Sonata, Clover, even you."

"You're right. I just wish... no. I can't let my mind wander."

Discord let go of Luna and stood a good distance from her. With a deep breath, his entire body filled with light. He became bigger and bigger, ripping his blue robes to shreds. He grew large scales, two giant horns and glorious iron colored wings , revealing his true form once again.

"Shall we depart my lady?" he said in a gruff, animal like voice

"Yes, my silver dragon."

She hopped on his back and with a gust of wind took off to the heavens.

The door was kicked open and Anon hid behind a table. His assailant stood just feet away. Anon took a deep breath and put his hand on the ground and had a branch shoot out from the wood just behind the assassin's head. She side stepped it as if she knew it was coming hours ahead of time. She tapped the branch with her finger and Anon's body was filled with searing pain. The branch immediately withered and collapsed. The assassin took out her knife and began to walk towards Anon, now motionless on the floor form the pain.

The old house began to quiver and shake. The stress of ages of snowfall and neglect coming to a head by Anon's magic coursing through the old beams. A loud snap rang through the house and before the killer could react, a large fifty pound support beam came crashing down into the back of her head. Her mask flew against the wall and, as she fell, her knife plunged straight into her stomach, coating the window in a thick layer of blood. The beam would've landed on her right arm if she had one, instead crushing her shoulder. Whatever magic she was using to stun Anon faded immediately and he got a look at her face. It was one of pure fear.

"P..." she gurgled "Please. I don't want to die. Please. I'm begging you."

Sunset busted through the door at just the moment, wand in hand.

"Anon! Are you ok?"

"Yes but... she's not."

"What happened?"

"I heard you leave and couldn't sleep. I saw the whole thing from the window so I set up an ambush, trying to stab her with a tree branch. It made part of the cabin collapse."

"I guess we better finish the job then."

"No wait! We don't need to kill her. Think of all the information we can get out of her."

"You're right. It's dangerous though. You saw what she did. She disposed of me in just a few seconds."

"We'll make sure she can't escape."

Sunset walked over to the assassin, now unconscious and face pale from blood loss.

"I'll keep her stable. Can you lift the rubble off?"

"I can try."

Anon placed his hands on the ground and tree branches jutted on the debris, lifting them off and giving her a few cuts in the process.

"Careful!"

"Sorry, sorry!" he said "It's still difficult to control it."

Sunset took out her wand and focused, firing gentle beams of yellow light into her wounds. She let out a little gasp.

"What's wrong?"

"Her body. Her circuits are completely messed up. Normally magic circuits extend outwards in branches, kind of like veins and arteries. But hers... hers go inward."

"What does that mean?"

"It means she can't actually use magic. If she tried she'd literally rip her circuits apart."

Sunset cast another spell into her free hand and began running it along her body

"My... my god."

Anon ran over

"What did you find?"

"This is... horrible. Her mana is poisonous. It's been hexed to act like venom." she explained "It means that she's in a state of constant pain. It makes sense how she disposed over me so quickly though. Only a little bit of this tainted mana is enough to incapacitate someone or cause them intense pain."

"Who would do something like this?"

"You said it yourself. It has to be Vignette."

Anon clenched his fists

"Is she really this heartless? How could she do something this cruel?"

Sunset looked down, not saying anything.

"Let's just heal her as best we can. It's entirely likely she's a bystander caught in all this."

"What about the Mad Druid?" he asked "We can't just leave her here. And if we don't keep going she'll probably not make it or escape."

"I don't know. I'll have to think. Until then get some rest." she said "I'll look after her."

"Thank you, Sunset."

"Don't mention it."

The next morning Anon woke to find Sunset fast asleep and the would be killer still unconscious, tied to one of the support beams. In the light of day he could get a clear look at her face. She was actually quite pretty, innocent even. She had short purple hair, her bangs just touching her shoulders. She had a peaceful look on her face, her lips curling into a barely detectable smile. Just as he was starting to appreciate each of her features, her eyes shot open. There was a fire to them but just as quickly as she opened her eyes, that fire faded.

"What?" she asked groggily "Where is this place?"

"Who are you?"

"Who am I?" she asked "I... I can't remember."

"You can't remember?"

She shook her head

"I can't remember anything. Who are you? and why am I tied up?"

Anon was perplexed but then he remembered the fight that took place. She was struck in the back of the head pretty hard. Did that cause amnesia?

"Sorry. We can't untie you just yet."

"Why not?"

"I'll explain everything to you when my friend wakes up." he said "Do you know your name?"

"No. I can't remember anything, none of it all."

Was this real? Or was she feigning ignorance in order to get him to free her? All of a sudden the girl's face began to coil in pain.

"What's wrong?"

She didn't answer, instead lifting up her leg in a single fluid motion and slipping through the ropes as though she were covered in oil.

"Wait!"

The girl fell on her back, her expression full of fear and her arm in a defensive pose.

"D-don't come any closer!" she said "I'm warning you! I'll kill you!"

"Hey, hey, hey!" he said gently "Relax. I don't want to hurt you."

The girls eyes darted across the room, taking in all of her surroundings, their weak points, their strengths, escape routes and exploits in just a few seconds. She saw the blood on the floor and excalibur. Her mind instantly jumped to the worst.

"Y-you took my arm didn't you!?"

"No, I-"

"Shut up!" she screamed

She pushed off with a charge, her finger aiming straight for Anon's eye. Just before she could reach him, Sunset tackled her to the ground.

"Anon! Kill her while I have her down!"

"No you don't understand! She's confused!"

The girls in built training kicked in. In the same way a normal person would ride a bike, she jammed her fingers into Sunset's weak points, filling them with her venomous mana. In seconds she had estimated her hight and weight to put in just enough not to kill her. Anon didn't waste a moment. He put his hands on the ground and branches shot up from the ground, wrapping her up tight.

"Let me go!" she begged

"Not until you relax."

Anon walked over to Sunny and helped her up.

"You ok?"

"Why the hell didn't you kill her!?"

"You don't understand!" he said "She's got no memory."

"You believe that? She's an assassin!"

"If she were she would've killed us when she had the opportunity. But she didn't." he said "she deliberately went for non lethal methods."

The girl struggled more, eventually giving up.

"Are you relaxed now?" Anon asked

She looked down, not responding.

"Well? I can't release you until we know you won't try to hurt us."

"I promise I won't."

"Good."

Anon released the branches and sure enough she just sat on the ground.

"So..." the girl said "what happens now?"

"Well... we're need to go vanquish a mad druid. We could use someone with your skills. Or you could go out on your own."

"My own?"

"Whatever you chose."

She stood up, adopting a confident pose.

"I'll go with you." she said "I'll go until I find a way to recover my memory."

"Sounds like a fair trade. What should we call you?"

She thought about it for a moment.

"I don't know."

"Why not Novo?" Sunset asked

"Novo?"

"Yeah. It's from a legend of this land. It's said that it was created when the Goddess of History, Novo, angered the God of Time by falling in love with a mortal and giving him magic. As punishment, the God of Time cast her memory of time across the world as snow so she could never retrieve it all. As such, the land was forever blanketed in ice."

"Novo..." she said "I like it. Then I will stay for now."

"Then shall we go, Miss Novo? Sunset?" he asked, picking up excalibur "We've got a druid to slay."

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[redandready45]

A darkness is rising.