"Follow behind me!" Alek bellowed over the cacophony of battle, smashing aside a demon with his shield and cutting down another three with fast, brutal strokes of his sword.

"Come, stay close!" Misa called to the civilians she was shepherding. Behind them, eye-searing bolts of light stabbed out again and again as Essylla blasted any demons that dared come close.

The demons had caught them off guard and overrun their camp. They were fighting a desperate rearguard action to get the civilians out safely.

"Mommy!"

The petrified cry reached her ears through the roar of combat, and Misa turned to see a little girl, no more than four or five, pinned against a wall, a thrakka raising its sword.

*DONT YOU FUCKING DARE, DICKWAD!*

The demon soldier recoiled in surprise, it's arm gone at the elbow.

Kikyo cradled the child against her, whispering soothingly.

"There, there, little one, it's okay, I've got you, you're safe now," she murmured. "I want you to be a strong and brave girl for me, okay? Keep your eyes shut tight, alright? I'll get you back to your mommy."

The little girl nodded and squeezed her eyes shut, plugging her ears with her fingers for good measure. Kikyo looked back at the thrakka, who had been joined by three others, and hissed, baring her needle sharp teeth.

"You die know, shitfucks," she snarled, and lunged at them.

********

The girl's mother couldnt stop thanking Kikyo. Not knowing what to do, she retreated, and left Misa to deal with it.

"Please, please, it wasnt me!" Misa protested, but to no avail. They. were calling her Hell Maiden now. The Savage Physician.

Well, maybe it wasnt all bad. At least they didnt seem afraid of her anymore.

((Tadaaa! I know it's been ages, and I'm so sorry! >_< I got so caught up in Seeker, and work, amd all the other insanity. I'll try to get back into posting more. Stay safe, stay healthy, and stay home! ♥️♥️))

"Pleeeeeeeease?"

The battle had been a hard one, but it was a crushing victory, and command had informed them that it would be a while before the demons considered trying again, so they had celebrated in the mess hall of the Seeker, partying hard late into the night. At this point things had started to wind down, amd everyone was simply sitting around chatting, relaxing, and generally enjoying themselves.

Darrius shook his head at his sister good naturedly, and sighed in mock annoyance. "I'll no get any peace from ye till I agree, will I?"

"Nope," Erissa confirmed, beaming at him.

"Alright, alright," he said, and turned to his brothers. "But if I'm gonna sing, that means you two have to play, and Erissa, you and Alek have to dance."

Joseph and Allister both grinned, andAlek laughed, standing up. "I'm game for that! C'mon, Eri, let's show them a thing or two about dancing." 

With a sweep of his arm a beautifully embellished mandolin appeared in Joseph's hands, and he tuned it for a moment before nodding in satisfaction while Allister did the same with an equally gorgeous guitar. 

Tables were quickly pushed aside to clear a space. Alek flared his wings politely and bowed, while Erissa giggled and curtsied prettily. They began to turn and spiral around each other in a truly impressive display of skill as Joseph and Allister started playing, and after a few moments, Darrius began to sing, his voice a clear tenor, rich and warm.

"Gentlemen it is me duty

To inform you of one beauty

Though I'd ask of you a favour

Not to seek her for a while

Though I own she is a creature

Of character and feature

No words can paint the picture

Of the queen of all Argyll

And if you could have seen her there

Boys, if you had just been there

The swan was in her movements

And the marvel in her smile

All the roses in the garden

They bow and ask her pardon

For not one could match the beauty

Of the Queen of all Argyll"

Alek and Erissa whirled, spun, and danced, Alek using his tail and wings just as much as his arms and legs while Erissa wove glittering patterns with Quietus and Demise. 

"On the evening that I mentioned

I passed with light intention

Through a part of our dear country

Known for beauty and for style

In the place of noble thinkers

Of scholars and great drinkers

But above them all for splendour

Shone the Queen of all Argyll

And if you could have seen her there

Boys, if you had just been there

The swan was in her movements

And the marvel in her smile

All the roses in the garden

They bow and ask her pardon

For not one could match the beauty

Of the Queen of all Argyll"

Essylla now joined them, glowing brightly with magic, slipping between and around the other two, leaving sparkling trails of magic behind her as she flew, adding to the beautiful scene.

"So my lads I needs must leave you

My intentions no' to grieve you

Nor indeed would I deceive you

Oh I'll see you in a while

I must find some way to gain her

To court her and attain her

I fear my heart's in danger

From the Queen of all Argyll

And if you could have seen her there

Boys, if you had just been there

The swan was in her movements

And the marvel in her smile

All the roses in the garden

They bow and ask her pardon

For not one could match the beauty

Of the Queen of all Argyyyyyyyyyll."

Alek and Erissa stopped at precisely where they had started, with Essylla now hovering between them, panting hard but smiling as the room erupted with cheers and applause. 

((I hope you guys you like this one! It was inspired by the song "Queen of Argyll" by Silly Wizard. Please go give it a listen! Anyway, as always, lemme know what you think!))

I couldnt think of anything else to post, since I'm too focused on Seekers right now, so I figured I might put a snippet from one of the chapters of my fanfic from the lovely and amazing @officialleehadan. ^_^

"Well, that was fun!" he said, causing the rest of them to laugh. 

"Well, now we–oooooffff!!!" Alek went sailing sideways to crash headfirst into the ground as something very large smashed into him from behind. Zan and Gren threw themselves out of the way as the ghoul thundered out of the undergrowth, bellowing in rage, its piggish red eyes glaring around itself hatefully. Essylla opened a hole in the shield, allowing The two boys to dive through. She slammed it closed again just in time to stop the ghoul from crashing through. It recoiled from her barrier, hissing and growling in anger and pain, the light magic leaving vivid red burns on its arms. 

"Wher...the hell...did that...come from?" Zan gasped out, trying to catch his breath.

"It must have heard us fighting the gryphons and figured on finding an easy meal," Riah said, grimly. The ghoul smacked the barrier again, hard enough to make Essylla wobble, and hissed again in pain. 

Everyone, including the ghoul, froze as a thunderous, snarling roar tore through the air. 

Riah's mouth fell open. Tracy gasped, and Melody squeaked in surprise. Zan stared, his face unreadable, and Gren swore colorfully in three languages.

Essylla giggled. "Oh, he is piiiissssed," she said in a sing song tone of voice. 

Alek strode forward, his wings mantled threateningly, fangs bared, tail lashing furiously. 

He was also a lot bigger than he had been moments ago, his body reverting to his normal form from the sheer force of his rage. His skin was scaled, a dark, blood red, his face having lengthened into a more muzzle-like shape. His horns were longer, and his nails had thickened into wickedly curved talons. He was over fifteen feet tall, and he rippled with muscle. 

The ghoul, recognizing the bigger threat, lunged at him the same moment Alek launched himself at it. They collided with a tremendous crash, the ground shaking with the force of the impact. The ghoul swung at him, but Alek blocked the blow with a forearm, then dealt the ghoul a titanic blow to its chest, the force of the punch actually creating a shockwave that flattened the grass around them. Seeing an opening, Zan dove through the shield again and up under the ghoul's guard , dealing a nasty cut along its ribs. When the ghoul tried to swipe at him, Alek was there, deflecting the blow with a backhand sweep of his arm.

He socked the ghoul again, and the beast staggered back, Gren materializing from the other side in a similar move to what Zan had dine moments before. Tracy was pumping shot after shot into the monster through gaps between them, her timing and precision absolutely perfect. 

Every time the ghoul would try to attack either Gren or Zan, Alek would get in the way, blocking or deflecting its attacks, then delivering a massive blow of his own. When the beast was off balance, Zan and Gren would dart in, dealing cuts with their poisoned blades, and Tracy kept blasting away at it, keeping it angry and distracted. 

With a howl of rage, it suddenly tried to bull rush them, and Alek seized his chance. He leaned forward, grabbed the ghoul's ears, and yanked its head down. At the same moment, he flapped his wings and brought up his knee with all his might. 

CRACK

The sound of the ghoul's nose being shattered was akin to a very large branch being broken. It staggered back from him drunkenly, thick black blood oozing from its ruined face. 

"Zan! Gren! Alek! Fastball Special!" Essylla suddenly yelled. 

All three moved simultaneously. 

Gren and Zan sprinted at Alek from either side, then leapt into the air, turning sideways as they did so. 

At the same moment, Alek swept his wings forward as hard as he could. 

The two assassins were rocketed towards the ghoul, and Riah dropped a holding spell on it, freezing the beast for that crucial fraction of a second the boys needed. They struck it at the same time, each with a sword buried up to the hilt in one of the ghoul's eyes and out through the back of its head. 

The ghoul froze for a long moment, then, very slowly, toppled backwards, hitting the ground with a crash like a massive tree being felled.

Once again, silence descended for a long moment. 

Until once again Gren spoke up. 

"I know we talked about that move, but I honestly never expected it to actually be useful," he said, yanking his sword out of the dead ghoul and setting about cleaning the blade on the grass. "Now, would you care to explain why you look like a wet dream of Damarinth right now?" 

I may just put some more of these here for you guys!

Essylla came zipping in through the door of his tent and landed on a table near where Alek was sitting, reading several scout reports. He glanced up at the pixie, and was about to go back to reading when something caught his eye and he looked back at her sharply. She looked……...smug. Extremely pleased with herself, like a cat licking its whiskers after having just finished off a bowl of cream. 

He knew that expression far too well, and was instantly wary.

"Well?" he said after a long moment, raising an eyebrow at her. "What did you do this time?"

She merely giggled, then, taking off, crooked a tiny finger at him to follow, and zoomed back out of the tent. With a sigh, Alek set aside the reports and followed after her. He followed the trail of giggles, and eventually followed her up into one of the observation towers. The soldier saluted him when he reached the top, then jerked his thumb at where Essylla was perched. Alek drew his binoculars from a side pocket, and slowly scanned the demon lines.

"Alright, where am I looking?" he asked her after a moment and not seeing anything obvious.

"Just be patient," she replied in a sing song voice. Movement caught his eye, and he retrained his binoculars in time to see a hellion, one of the demonic mages, walk out of the primary ammo dump bunker, step up onto the firing step of the trench, a spell bomb in his hands, and prepare to throw. Alek had just opened his mouth to warn their lines when he saw the wooden platform beneath the demons feet glitter for a moment, then snap and tilt sideways. 

The demon tumbled sideways with a yell, and the primed explosive fell back into the trench behind him. 

What happened next was pure pandemonium, and Alek saw it all. 

The demon tried to catch the bomb, but misjudged his lunge and ended up slapping it further away. The bomb bounced twice and then rolled to a stop next to a stack of rockets and misfired, igniting like a candle rather than exploding like it was supposed to. This lit the fuses on the rockets, which then banged off down the trench. Several rockets impacted the walls or demons and detonated, causing immense damage, but one rocket spiraled high into the air and then plunged back down into the camp. It slammed through the roof of one of the bathhouses, utterly destroying the building and tossing naked demons left, right, and center. It also startled a nearby ignolioc, a dog-sized, insectoid fire breather the demons used to heat water. They also tended to light themselves on fire when frightened. The ignolioc yelped in surprise and, fully ablaze, pelted away from the ruined bathouse..…..right into the still open door of the primary ammo dump. There was a brilliant flash and a throaty roar as a huge mushroom cloud rose from the bunker, burning ordinance flying in all directions, secondary explosions rippling through the demon forces. As a final touch, the roof of the ammo dump, having been blasted clean off the structure, cartwheeled through the air, then came crashing back down to earth atop the hellion who had dropped the spell bomb that had started the chain reaction. 

Alek lowered the binoculars as cheers and laughter erupted from the Alliance forces. 

Essylla was laughing so hard that no sound was coming out, doubled over and clutching her stomach, rocking back and forth as tears streamed down her face.

Alek was laughing nearly as hard. He finally managed to get himself back under control and eventually scooped up the still giggling pixie from her spot on the railing and placed her on his shoulder as he headed for the ladder to go back to his tent, then made his way down and began walking back.

"Well?" Essylla asked him when she finally managed to stop laughing. 

He opened his mouth, then simply chuckled and shook his head. "You really are just a disaster waiting for someone to happen to, huh?" he finally said, which set her off giggling again. 

((I hope you guys liked this one! Just a bit of silliness I thought might amuse you. ^_^))

Just a quick blurb from an rp I've been writing with a few friends that I thought you all might get a kick out of. I love writing dramatic stuff like this. ^_^