Rest in Peace

Natalia could be seen walking through without hiding in bushes for the first time since she joined Hylos and the group of their 'epic journey'. She was accompanied by the two young souls she just helped escape the prison. Well, only two of them are awake now.

Alucard was gently carrying sleeping Miya who has cuddled up against him and found her warm place with the blue long coat wrapped around her like a blanket.

"Where are we going?" The blonde guy asked quietly watching the girl with a hood who was suddenly snapped out of her thoughts about her brother. Although he chose different path and ended up on different side in this conflict, she was still hoping he was alright.

"Huh...? You said something?" She asked in normal voice, a bit louder to make sure he hears her, turning back towards him and stopping in her track.

The demon hunter without his sword gazed at her threateningly, silently adding: "Shhh... She's still sleeping."

"Oh, alright... Sorry." The girl mumbled. "I- I was just thinking about Lancelot... Although I hope things turn out well for us, I still don't want him to get badly hurt..." She spoke with care in her voice followed with a lot of worry.

The guy, now only wearing his dark blue shirt, started: "Hm? Lance-- Is that the guy who took O--Ode--?"

"Odette." Natalia helped him seeing he was struggling with the name. She now slowly started walking again, waiting for Alucard to catch up to her. "Yes... That's him."

"But what's so special about him? Is he your friend or something?" The guy asked raising an eyebrow before almost falling over an old fallen trunk but somehow retaining his balance before he could fall along with the girl he was carrying.

"Oh my-- Watch your step." The white haired assassin said, keeping her steady pace. "And not only friend... Even worse. He's my brother." She said, sounding slightly dramatic. She then just sighed and kept walking.

"Brother...?" Alucard asked with wonder. "Really...? Woah... didn't see that coming." She said, now carefully watching where he was going although it was more of a lucky guess with how dark the forest was.

It was all dark until a light in the distance pierced their eyes. There was a small campfire set just a bit outside of the forest and when Natalia saw it, a smile lit up her face. "Yes! They found us!" She said happily. "Hurry up!"

She was seen dashing towards the camp after seeing the four young warriors there, just about to eat something. She couldn't wait, not that she needed them as people but what she actually needed was food. She hasn't eaten anything since early morning besides an apple she picked up along the way.

Natalia's scream of happiness when she saw the camp woke Miya up. She slowly opened eyes just to see Alucard chuckling while he was watching the white figure running towards the camp.

"Hm..." The elf mumbled sleepily before whispering: "What's going on?" She was comfortably curled up in arms of such a handsome man which instantly made her blush but he didn't seem to mind.

"I have no idea." He replied to her question, poking her nose childishly. "But as it appears, we've reached our destination." He said, slowly approaching the small hill where the party was located.

The girl slightly frowned when he touched her nose but it just looked cute. "Have you been carrying me all the way?" She asked just to get a short "Yep." as a reply. She then continued slightly apologisingly: "Um... Then... let me- just get off..."

She clumsily tried to get out of his grip but he just pulled her back closer, not letting her get away from him. "Nope." It was all he said before continuing onwards after Natalia who was already in the camp at that point.

Miya's eyes widened. She has never been in a situation like this before and was both shocked and confused. She was really taken off guard by this action which Alucard found very amusing. He chuckled softly and added: "I haven't been carrying you all the way just to let you go".

And with that, the moon elf surrendered and left herself into his arms, slowly dozing off again.

***

"Prepare, Alice, when the dawn rises, we'll rise too. It's time for he to step up again and show the world - the old master is back, more powerful than ever before." Argus spoke, freely floating in the air, warming up his newly gotten old wings.

"It's time to meet some old friends..." He said summoning an image of the Valkyrie Freya in the flame that was burning on his palm before closing his fist and crushing the image. "... I shall make her pay for what she did to me."

***

The demon hunter and his little female package wrapped in his cloak slowly entered the camp. He showed everybody the girl was about to fall asleep and asked them to be quiet without saying a word.

Zilong, Freya's follower just watched the guy, as if trying to sink in the ground. Something was there in his gaze, a note of disgust... or maybe jealousy?

This is some otherworldly communication happening between Freya and Alucard while she's showing him where to put her and let her sleep. He slowly followed instructions and placed her in a warm tent which protected her both from the cold of the night and the noise outside.

When the two returned outside, the demon hunter was met with two who he has already met before. "K-kagura? Hayabusa? What are you two doing here?" He asked raising an eyebrow receiving just a small bow from the girl in blue kimono and a nod from her guard.

Natalia looked at them with slight surprise. She didn't expect them to know each other. "Did I miss something or...?" She asked.

"Hehe~ A lot of it actually." The yin and yang mage said with a soft giggle before Hayabusa continued for her: "We've found him one night being attacked by few guys and helped him get out of there alive. We've spent some time together since but got separated when the Lunar Palace was attacked."

"Yea... Something like that... Let's just say we were all in the wrong place at the wrong time." Alucard said with a sigh. He knew that if the two lovers were with them when they were attacked they might have stood a chance against the attackers but there was no point in playing the game of blame so late on. They had bigger problems to deal with.

He then turned to the male with big brown ponytail in heavy golden armour. "Zilong..." He spoke in a greeting manner. It was interesting how he knew everybody.

The shiny knight whose spear was leaned on the tent next to him had crossed arms and an unamused expression. "Alucard..." He replied coldly. He still remembered... Remembered the night...

Natalia was stuffing the bread and the portion of soup she took in her mouth hungrily while Freya used her chance to serve the dinner to the newcomers. She handed a bowl of soup and a rather large piece of bread to the guy in dark blue shirt whose cloak was still gone because somebody was using it as a blanket.

"And you must be Freya, right? What an honor meeting you..." He said with a wide smile, bright as a day and beautiful like the scene of a forest in the morning. It was the smile which was enough to make anybody fall for it. He took her free hand and gently pecked it before gladly taking the bowl.

The sea blue haired girl blushed slightly. "I'm flattered." She said smiling back to the handsome young man who was standing in front of her before she walked back towards Zilong, who was watching this whole time with a very sour expression, and sat down next to him. "Why do you look so down Zi~?" She asked sweetly, smiling gently at him.

"Oh, it's nothing..." Zilong muttered, watching Alucard with a frown. He was still the same as the list time the two guys met. The one able to make anybody fall in love with him. It made him remember what he was trying to forget... and just the lone memory pasted a soft pink blush over his cheeks.

Then suddenly, sound of hoofs galloping from the forest lit up the atmosphere again, especially when the rich treetops revealed a white haired centaur with a girl in white sleeping dress on his back.

Finally something to turn Zilong's thoughts away from that point of his life that he has been regretting for good three years already.

Who would've known one night would haunt him for so long?

But there is no more time for regretting the past when present is bringing you new presents in different shapes. Hylos soon reached the camp. When he did, he helped the Swan princess off his back.

The girl was carrying a sword but as soon as her feet touched the ground, she felt a sudden wave of weakness in her body but luckily, the centaur still supported her and didn't let her fall. "Please somebody find her something warm to dress and something to eat." He said with his serious yet caring voice.

Odette chuckled slightly, finally standing up on her own feet. "D-don't worry so much... I-I'll be fine. You need some help even more than I do..." She spoke but the man didn't even want to hear about it. He could see how weak and pale the girl was. She needed some food and a serious amount of rest.

"First you, then me, okay?" Hylos suggested a compromise. "Come on, don't make me have to feed you."

***

"I'm ready, my Lord." The demoness said, impatiently flapping her wings. "Tomorrow shall be our day." She said, slowly taking his hand and moving it to her cheek.

Argus grinned, gently caressing her cheek. "Yes, my love. I'll touch the sunlight for the first time in many, many years, and you, my Queen will be right beside me to witness the beauty of darkness." He said before taking off his helmet skillfully with one hand revealing stunning dark green hair and beautiful, angelic face.

He pulled her together and kissed her deeply while their wings were flapping synchronously.

***

Once almost everybody was asleep after a nice evening of exchanging ideas and getting to know each other and their backstories, two young males were left alone next to the fireplace. Alucard was about to go in a tent and leave Zilong alone to keep the guard but the guy with a ponytail approached and stopped him. "Hey..."

He has had some time to think about this all and swallow his feelings. Now he has finally gathered up enough courage to get this over with once and for all. He couldn't live any more with this burden that was left on his to carry.

"Hey." The blonde guy replied. "Look. I know, I know exactly why are you mad with me. I understand. I did some things, I played your trust..." He spoke. "And I'm sorry about it... really. Until now I didn't even know how much my actions have hurt others but--"

"It's alright. I didn't come here to you now to dig up the past..." He spoke. "I came here to ask you just the opposite, let's leave what happened behind. We were younger, things happened that shouldn't have but we both moved on. I have Freya now and as it appears you have Miya. Let's focus on what we have now and do our best to keep it."

Alucard nodded. "I respect that very much. And really thank you for talking to me. I wish you the best in the future, and don't worry. What happened that time stays between us." He said, offering Zilong a hand to grab like an old friend.

He grabbed it without hesitation and the two hugged each other like the best buddies. "Just don't let the past repeat with the elf. She is young and can't hold whole kingdom on herself, especially not if you leave her heartbroken."

At that, Alucard chuckled friendly and nodded, deeply hoping he won't mess up again. "Thank you, really, and... Take care, my friend." He said and disappeared inside of the tent which was supposed to be Freya's but she allowed him and Miya to use it.

Zilong was left once again, left sitting on a log and watching over the campfire but now his mind was far more clear and there no more troubles sitting on his soul. He could freely breathe and watch the flaming embers fly up into the calm and the quiet of the night.

***

After the night of sleep and relaxing, a day od traveling was awaiting for the group... or so they thought. They were packing up the camp when something caught their attention.

With sunrise, the moon came out darkening the sun and announcing evil coming. Seeing thisgosly sign, Freya sighed. "So much about traveling back... Guys... He is here..."

Kagura gazed at her with big baby blue eyes. "Who... Wait... No... Not already! It's too soon. It can't be time for the final fight... not yet... not so soon." She spoke.

Freya sighed. "You will be fine, trust me. Do you really think I would let a child like you go to her death in battlefield? No. I will fight him, and win like last time. You and the rest stay back, run in needed."

Zilong rose eyebrows in surprise to such a sudden decision. "No! I can't let you risk your life like that!" He said with a lot of worry in his tone. He grabbed her hand staring into her eyes.

"Zilong, look. If I don't do it, we will all be sleeping in aether tomorrow." She said reffering to her homeland - the land where fallen warriors enjoy eternal peace. "Get your weapons and prepare for fight! The 'great' Fallen Angel will show up soon. Be ready and give ir your all. If we don't stop him, noone will."