Night Watch I: Eliza, Ward of Andrew

*Andy’s POV*

*trigger warning- battle scene violence; bloody death recollection*

I have a strange feeling of déjà vu as I walk down the path to the wall by Juliet’s side. She’s laughing, we have secret plans of arriving at post early to mess around, but I have a funny feeling I just can’t shake. It gets worse the closer we get to our destination.

When we get close to the kitchens and see absolutely no one from Dusk Watch milling about, no one taking a break, no one switching stations, nothing, we both agree something is terribly wrong. One of us has to go to the tower and raise the alarm, the other has to check on the Soul. We have no choice.

I didn’t want to split up, and we briefly fight, but Juliet is right, of course. I’m faster, so I need to go to the tower and raise the alarm, the Dusk Watch can’t hold the walls on its own. Juliet will locate the Soul, I’ll find her when I can.

I sprint for the tower, confused by the emptiness all around me. Where is everyone? Something is clearly wrong, there must be an enemy force-

I hear a horrible sound as I round the final corner. It’s the sound of someone dying. Fuck, it’s First Officer Dio! He has three spears sticking from his back and yet he still stands, trying to fight his way to the tower past two trolls! Of course he’s the only other one here, First Officers are always early!

I do not think; I just act. Some part of my brain knows that Dio is already a dead man. That same part takes the anger I feel and channels it. Dio is a good man; he must be avenged. The two trolls were already exhausted from fighting a master swordsman like Dio, and I managed to easily dispatch them, one with a thrust to the brain, another with three cuts to vitals. When the second one fell, I turned and saw it looked like he had started with perhaps half a dozen and left a trail.

Dio propped himself up with his sword and looked at me, blood seeping from his mouth and nose. He looked dreadful. He waved a hand impatiently. “Good lad.” He spat a huge wad of foamy blood on the ground so he could finish talking. “Tower… Hurry… Go!” I nodded.

Satisfied, Dio shocked me by literally dying on his feet, falling over with a hiss of expelled air. I wished I had time to do anything for him, but if there were trolls here, some within the walls… I ran up the stairs of the tower as fast as I could.

I found the answer as to why no one had sounded the alarm earlier when I reached the top. Jason and Cliffs’ throats had been slit, they lay in a pool of their own blood. There was no time for mourning or social convention. I was just thankful that trolls were too stupid to find and harm the howlers, and that I’d had the training to rouse them.

I got as many of their treats as I could from the bin, then rounded the corner and gave the howlers the hand signal. Excited, they held out their hands, I gave them the treats, then ran down the stairs, both to protect my ears and to find Juliet. Whoever had trained the howlers to wait to start calling had been a genius! I leapt over Dio’s body as their wails pierced the Forest. I had to find my woman and protect the Soul!

I sprinted full-bore for the Soul’s shrine, when, out of nowhere, came hordes of trolls. They were everywhere! I had excellent ears, I would have thought to have heard them coming, they had to have some sort of magical aural buffering, shit! There was no time to try and kill them all, I had to fight my way through them to get where I had to go, I had to find Juliet!

It was horrific; I saw death and the dying around me everywhere! The Dusk Watchmen looked haggard, but I soon saw members of the Day Watch had responded quickly to my call, they likely hadn’t gone to sleep yet. The Night Watch quickly followed suit. My spirits were buoyed when I saw Alice on his horrible steed, ripping the entrails out of some poor troll, as Pete tore the jaw off of another. I was almost to the shrine!

I put my hand on the door, and it seemed infinitely far away from my eyes. I had a sense of inevitability, that I had done this before. I blinked lazily, trying to clear my head, and burst into the shrine of the Soul of the Forest.

It was gone; the Soul was missing! I was filled with despair, unsure what to do. I ran to look for clues, when Juliet burst through the only other door.

“Andy?” She grinned. “Hurry! I think we can stop him! I think I know who has the Soul!”

Not thinking, I ran after her, occasionally having to skirmish, until we paused at a vantage point just past the wall. Juliet pointed out a lone troll nearby, making tracks away from the fray. “That bastard has the Soul, Andy, that larger group is a distraction!” I took note of a large group with what appeared to be a Chieftain at the center.

I saw Pat, Blasko, and Billy were all taking on the large group of trolls, no one was paying the lone troll any heed. “Don’t you think we should do as our Commanding Officers-“ Then we both saw Pat take a spear to the chest. The First Officer of the Day Watch had fallen. A sort of horrible rage filled me, a need for vengeance.

“Jules, as I raised the alarm, I watch the trolls cut down Dio! Now Pat?! Come with me-“ She kissed me quickly and cut me off.

“-I’ll just check out that one little troll quickly, make sure you’re right, you go fight the good fight, ok? I’ll catch up with you in just a minute. Now hurry my white rabbit, go!” And I did, but why did everything feel like jelly oozing slowly through my mind?

On my way to the huge brawl, I had to leap over innumerable bodies of friend and foe, I had no time to tell if they were even truly all the way dead. It was enough to know they were beyond saving. The Healers had been called when I raised the alarm; I had done all I could. My heart sank further when I sprinted past Theo’s mangled corpse. Gods. The Day Watch had no Officers left. I had to defend Second Officer Blasko; I couldn’t let the Night Watch meet the same fate!

It had begun to turn to Night, and my heart went out to the Dawn and Day Fae fighting in the darkness, they were at a strong disadvantage and would take heavy losses. My sight, on the other hand, was at its keenest.

That sense of déjà vu hit me in the stomach, and stopped and turned. Why exactly, I couldn’t say.

I saw Juliet engaged in battle with the single troll, and I stood, rooted to the spot. She had said she would just investigate. Of course she had lied! No! I was about to start running back to aid her, when a troll ambushed me as I stupidly gawked.

I was distracted, and I wasn’t thinking clearly. I was able to dispose of it, but I made a mess. I got its blood everywhere, all over my wings. Dammit! Now I would hardly be able to fly! Shit!

I looked back to Juliet, and my heart sank. She was getting overpowered. That wasn’t an ordinary troll. NO! NO! I ran as fast as I could, my legs burning, tears starting to form in my eyes, Dennis Westower already drawn, screaming at the troll, trying to distract it. But I was too far distant, out of earshot.

I saw, clearly, as the Soul of the Forest glimmered in the pocket of the troll’s garments. NO! I saw, clearer still, as that filth used its spear to knock Snakebite from the love of my life’s hands. Desperate and screaming, I jumped a cliff to try and get closer. My leg broke under me as I landed, unable to glide with my wings soaked with blood, but I barely felt it. I kept running on it, but I was much slower. I could do nothing but watch and shout, still running, as that bastard stabbed its spear into Juliet’s stomach as she gouged at it with her dagger. NO!!

I screamed wordlessly, sprinting as fast as I could on a faulty limb, not caring about the Soul any longer. So long as Juliet didn’t move, if I carried her to Patti, perhaps she could still be saved. I started shouting, hoping she could hear me. “Don’t move! Don’t move! I’m coming! I’m coming!” The troll laughed, picked Juliet’s dagger out of it’s chest, handed it back to her, and patted her on the head as Juliet fell to her knees. That filth was apparently no longer concerned with her, and sauntered away some distance.

How Juliet remained conscious I’m not sure, it had to be all that meditation she did! I was so far away, too far away, I kept screaming at her to look at me, I was coming! When she finally did, she just shook her head and smiled. What?

Then, the end of me.

Juliet summoned some reserve of strength greater than any I have ever had. She made a horrible face of agony and screamed as she pulled the spear out of her gut. NO! NO!

She wobbled, blood coming freely now out of her mouth, and retched once on the ground, as she used the spear to stabilize herself. NO-NO-NO! I tried to run faster, panicked, my leg now starting to make audible gritty noises, I was having trouble getting it to support me, though I could take the pain-

Juliet eyed the troll, it was clearly incanting a spell. She took careful aim with the spear, and threw. It went true, and the troll fell silently.

Finally, but too late, I reached her. Lying on the ground, blood pouring. “Jules-“

Blood bubbled from her mouth, but her words were commanding. “-Get the Soul! Now!” I didn’t care about the Soul, but I did as she asked. Some small part of me knew that Juliet was dying. I wanted her to see that the Soul was safe, that I would never rest again, that I would always ensure its safety.

I hobbled awkwardly to the dead troll and grabbed the Soul of the Forest, the key to the well-being of millions, with blood-soaked hands. I brought it back, propping Juliet’s head up in my lap to show her. “It’s safe baby, you were right. You did so good! Now hold still, I’m going to put some medicine on-“

I went to get the reserve jar of Lover’s Last Kiss from my pocket. “-Andy, no... It won’t-“

“I have to try, let me try, please...” I started to cry, and I dropped the Soul in Juliet’s pool of blood so I could spread all the medicine I had over Juliet’s wound. She just watched me.

“I love you… Andy…” Juliet had bloody foam coming out of her mouth that was making it hard for her to breathe. I realized I needed to say whatever I was going to say quickly.

“I love you so much, Juliet. Forever… I love you so much. You did so well, I will guard the Soul with my life, baby. You are my hero, Dragonfly. Fuck, I love you so much.” She smiled as orange-ish red blood seeped between her lips and reached weakly for my hand. I interlaced our fingers.

She started coughing every time she tried to say anything, so I propped her up a little bit, not sure how to make things any easier. I tried desperately not to cry. She was shaking, tremoring lightly, and starting to sweat. She took my hand and put it over her dragonfly necklace, giving a weak squeeze. “Here.” I took it and put it on, and she smiled. After more coughing, she had grown pale. She gritted her teeth every now and then, trying not to make noises that alarmed me. God, I loved her, she was so courageous! The puddle of blood around us kept growing into a larger and larger pool. “Kiss?”

I bent to kiss Juliet’s sweet lips, one last time. They tasted of iron, but even the metallic invasion of blood, signifying her impending death, couldn’t ruin the perfection of a kiss with my beloved. I pulled away, and Juliet smiled for just a moment before going limp.

At first I thought Jules had passed out. But then I realized she wasn’t breathing. She wasn’t blinking. I held her to me and screamed and screamed and screamed and screamed and screamed-

Notes

ok, so i'd be remiss if i didn't pop this in here:



From Juliet Simms' video for 'End of the World'

i totally cried like a bitch when she played that at Warped, it was beautiful. Juliet is an awesome performer, and she totally converted me, i went and bought 'All or Nothing' right after seeing her play. i'm totally intolerant of Juliet haters, so take your shit elsewhere if that's what you have to say.



side note: looking forward to seeing Nightwish tonight at the Showbox SODO in Seattle! yay!