A dream again.
Men in black and blue battled those in red and white.
Her avatar was on a roll today, cutting down men with one sweep of her greatsword like a weed wacker.
Spinning in all directions. She stabbed, batted, and swung. Sweeping up a vortex of dirt with each and every move. There was no need of her(Anna) to do anything. So she took it easy until the dust rose up and suddenly the shadows in it disappeared.
Even her men.
"Commander?" The call of a man from afar.
But she couldn't say "I'm here." No.
"A trap?" Her avatar questioned.
Someone suddenly broke through the cloud and lunged their sword held up at eye level.
With a bored expression, her avatar blocked with her greatsword tilting her sword at angle, the soldier's sword slid down hers and she knocked him out in the neck with her elbow.
"So obvious, I don't know why I expected something more elaborate." Her avatar muttered.
As if prepared for this, she used him as a shield as a barrage of arrows suddenly rained down upon the sky. Her avatar couldn't block them all so Anna deployed a bubble.
Still running with the body shielding her, her avatar broke out of the dust cloud into a clearing.
"There she is!" A glance to her right.
Her soldiers had been facing off against the men in red and white still when they spotted their commander Father away. Confusion registered on her faces.
How did she get all the way over there?
Her avatar was confused as well. She looked to the right to see men in red and black gazing down upon her from a hill and all of a sudden she froze. As she laid eyes on the commander of the army seated on a small throne her body felt hot, as it overflowed with rage.
[What were they doing here? Did they come to their aid?] The avatar thought.
But that couldn't be. The men in red and black watched on.
"Song Lina," their commander spoke. "Let's not fight."
Those three words had a strangely calming effect at first on her avatar.
"Hah!" A laugh escaped her. "Ha. ha. ha! Hahahahahah!"
She snapped her greatsword in half into two dual-wielding blades.
"My name isn't Song Lina," She pointed her blade at him. "If I don't take your head today."
The man's smile waned.
"Have you forgotten the debt you owe?"
"My debt? No, this one hasn't forgotten... I was just thinking, if the collector is as good as dead then there's no debt, to begin with!"
The man's expression became frosty.
"You... seriously want to kill me? Why?"
Her Avatar, Song Lina only responded with a wide-toothed grin.
[Why are you here? You take the side of my enemy and then suddenly act surprised when I point my sword at you, Wei Zhen you've overestimated your importance to me!]
"..." Wei Zhen stood.
"Commander!" Her soldiers called out to her from behind.
Facing their army alone seemed to make them concerned for her. The group became distracted causing some to suffer a few blows from the enemy.
Perhaps sensing this Song Lina roared.
"Greedy bastards! Focus on the meal in front of you! You have to finish your supper before moving on for desert!" Her response startled all sides but her men quickly responded with an upbeat roar.
Wei Zhen's expression was frosty.
Song Lina took a stance as if preparing herself to lunge at him.
"I didn't think you were this unwise. Going against me will only lead to certain death. Don't you value the lives of your men?"
"..."
Seeing that she would not respond, his gaze sharpened.
At the same moment, he swung his sword, Song Lina took off running at a frightening speed.
Not at him but at the rear of the red and white army.
There a young woman sat on a white horse. Her gaze widened as Song Lina's sweeping motions cut the air, the wind slammed into the rearguard that sandwiched themselves in front of their Princess.
The wind settled and the Princess flinched when their lower halves collapsed in on themselves. The very horse she was sitting on also... She screamed. Not from the loss of her men but from the realization that she was missing her ankles.
Not only that, the one responsible was speeding across the plains straight for her. She fell first, her horse second, the upper half of it pinned her underneath.
The front guard became distracted from this, and the blue and black army bulldozed through them.
"NO!" Wei Zhen realized her true target a bit too late.
He charged down the hill in seconds. He was seconds away from meeting Song Lina who's sword was raised and swung his first.
A bad feeling overcame her, Anna deployed 7 shields at once, but the sweep of the commander's sword broke through all 7 and sent Song Lina flying above and over her army. They retreated to tend to her. Pain seized hold of both Anna's arm and her avatar's.
At the same time rage coursed through the body of both her and Anna.
"DAMN BASTARD!" The two screeched consciously and subconsciously in unison.
Lina screeched, "DID YOU SERIOUSLY THINK I WOULD LET YOUR WOMAN LIVE IF YOU ASK ME TOO NICELY?! AFTER FOOLING ME?! THE HELL DO YOU THINK I AM?!" Song Lina sat up almost immediately after the crash, landing into the sand. Only to wince from the pain that coursed through her body.
Anna had never witnessed her sister getting this angry before. Not even when getting spat at.
(Anna: HOW DARE YOU HARM MY SISTER! YOOOOOOOU BAAAAAASTAAAAAARD!)
Granted, up till now neither had she, not even when she had gotten beaten up by rival gangs.
Her men rushed to Song Lina's side and held her down as she lunged forward, like a grasshopper suddenly shooting forward at a frightening speed.
"THE FRIEND OF MY ENEMY IS MY ENEMY! DON'T YOU KNOW THAT? DO YOU THINK I'LL PLAY FAVORITES WITH YOU, YOU TRAITOR! DO YOU TAKE ME FOR AN IDIOT?!"
"Enough, Commander! You're gravely injured!" They could barely hold her back as she shoulder bumped them.
She suddenly lunged forward again, dragging her men that attempted to hold her with her.
Anna's hate was quickly swapped with fear. She was scared.
Whoever this person was, he didn't seem to be Lina's match in strength! Continuing to pick a fight now would be suicide!
Wei Zhen had already embraced the fallen Princess who smiled apologetically as she held onto his hand. His gaze was warm but it became frosty when it lifted to lay eyes on Song Lina.
A chilly feeling overcame Anna once more.
Before the man could even move. Anna deployed as many bubbles as she could to obstruct his view of them.
"!" Song Lina and her men paused seeing the shields deployed. They swept across the land multiplying without seeming to end.
"What is this? So many?" Seeing them sobered Lina to the danger she was facing.
"Your guardian spirit is wise. We should go... Commander!" A soldier pleaded.
(Is that what they refer to her as?)
Before she could respond, however, she was scooped up into the arms of a man with the androgynous features and helped onto a horse.
"Men, We're Leaving!" He gave the command and for some reason, the men gathered up their injured and retreated.
[No! That bitch needs to die! He needs to pay!]
CLANG!
Wei Zhen swung his sword, mowing down twenty bubble shields but in their place thirty more grew. His eyebrows knitted.
Song Lina who had witnessed this scene as the horse began to move blinked. What?
"The Princess needs immediate medical attention, your majesty!"
Wei Zhen pursed his lips before finally spitting the words. "I know!" He scooped up the Princess and carried her away.
The bubbles followed after him and his group, blocking off their path in case some were ordered to follow.
Song Lina didn't look back anymore as they rode away. The pain that was coursing through her arm now plagued her. She could hardly think now that her rage had subsided.
As the ride continued, the up and down motions of the horse's galloping made it excruciatingly painful.
So much in fact that Anna woke up sweating beads as she sat up in bed clutching her arm, groaning.
"Sister Anna?"
"DON'T TOUCH ME!"
A startled Juju, Jia, Ah Rong, Little Min, Big Min, and nearly the entire orphanage all stared blankly at her as they crowded around her bed.
Juju who had attempted to help her just stared wide-eyed in fright.
Annoyance flickered across Anna's face.
She was weak. If her shield had been stronger her sister wouldn't... Her sister wouldn't have... She's pretty sure her arm is as good as gone! Knowing this alone made her guilt unbearable, not to mention the exhaustion she had felt from pushing herself to the max, combined with the annoyance from all these kids looking at her and thinking what a weakling she must be to be having such nightmares...
Anna bit into her lip. Then sighed.
"Did I wake you all? I apologize." She felt so distracted she didn't have the wherewithal to feel sorry.
They all stared stunned. Jia was the first to recover.
"You apologize? You apologize? What the hell is wrong with you?! Is that the main issue here?"
"What is the main issue then?"
"What was all the fuss about? Were you having a nightmare?"
"Obviously."
Jia was speechless.
"Ob-obviously? What's with that tone?" Jia looked to the heavens and rolled up her sleeves before putting her hands on her hips as she hip bumped Juju, (the closest) to the side.
"Look here, I notice you've been becoming more closed off for a while but don't you think you're being too unreasonable? You woke up everyone don't we have a right to know what's up?"
Anna wasn't backing down and even sat up.
"It's my nightmare. I don't see how it's any of your business!"
"Y-you! You!"
"If it bothers you so much just throw me out the window! Or something!"
"We tried to touch you but you elbowed Little Min in the face! Whenever anyone got near you, a bubble would deploy!" Jia spat.
Little Min?
Noticing the bruise on Little Min's little face as he calmly watched her, Anna opened and closed her mouth. Guilt collapsed into deep self-loathing.
"I'm sorry."
"You're awake now and you're fine. That's all that matters." He smiled serenely at her. Though she couldn't help doubting even him.
Tears stung at her eyes but she fought them back, she couldn't live it down if she allowed herself to break down in front of all these children again.
"You're seriously not going to say anything?" Ji Zha asked, she expected him to be in a bitching mood but his gaze revealed disturbance and concern.
"I already told you didn't I? None of you can help me! Is there a point in saying anything? If there's anything more clear, it's that I can't stay here!" Anna crawled out of bed only to nearly fall, the support in her right arm was nearly nonexistent. As she fell forward, Xu Cui who had been the closest at the bed end caught her.
"Ms. Anna, your arm..."
The lower half of it was swollen and a nasty purple color.
"What is that?"
Seeing it, Anna just pursed her lips. Punishment for her failure. She felt relieved somehow seeing it. Thankful even. Her irritation subsided like a receding tide.
Evidence that she and her sister were connected. No matter where she goes or what she does...
"..."
"Seriously?"
Qing Anna stood.
"Where are you going?"
Everyone stared as she awkwardly shuffled around them without so much even a glance out of the room.
"What else? I'm going to sleep outside."