Love is a smoke raised with the fume of sighs,
Being purged, a fire sparkling in lovers' eyes,
Being vexed, a sea nourished with lovers' tears.
What is it else? A madness most discreet,
A choking gall and a preserving sweet.
-- William Shakespeare, "Romeo and Juliet | Act 1, Scene 1"
.

Pain was a firm reality.

Agony, suffering, terror; these were the primary emotions and physical feelings that thundered through her body. Around her the world fell apart, a hundred humanoid sized bullets made of rock, concrete and tiles rippled down upon the fighting arena they had made from the crossroads. The world was torn asunder, the buildings around them exploding, far more powerful than the earthquake she had created.

That had not caused this much violence. That could.not have - she knew her powers too well and had directed the flow to only aim for him, ripping up just the few feet of cobbles and wall ... Instead the buildings had exploded and fallen about her like rain. Like hailstones.

And a cry: "My lady! My lady - no!"

Beloved! she heard in her mind, a jagged, wretched scream of a voice. And it was a scream. One that rose, clawed into the air, apexed - then died.

Died. Something hard hit her leg, and she vehemently tried to fight the falling debris as the echo of Veridian flickered around her mind. His essence fell apart, and she felt an excruciating tug at her heart as his small and easily manipulatable body was crushed beneath a rock. She let out a scream as she felt his soul leave hers, wrenched mercilessly away. No sooner had she begun to yell, however, than dust rose and filtered into her throat. She began to choke.

Strong. She was strong. But not enough for the falling world. She could barely register that on her leg as more building fell and fire rose. Whum, like a torrent.

Arm, torso, hip - and finally -

Mother! Another screech, another mind connected to hers. Going dead, going black. Ended, not dead, but unconcious as the thing assaulted her dragon, killed her soul-partner Veridian and trapped her - pinned her -

Arm. Body. Head. The world went black as she heard the yells and cries of those who had devoted themselves to defend her resound in her ears. Heart heavy, the Matriarch and General was defeated by a splinter of a meteor that should have destroyed the world.

* ~ *

Or not defeated.

Because despite the agony, despite the death, despite Delath's early burial, she still had a hero. A hero who was the villain in this tale, a man she swore she hated beyond anything, but who was the one to drag her out of that hell pit and save her from the end of life.

Holding her close, as a lover would do. One who loved, not hated. One who was enamoured, not disgusted. One who would kiss her ...

"I'm here ..." She felt him leave, move away as he scrambled across the wreckage over what had been their battleground. Weakly, as she struggled to sit up - Drys, everything hurt - and was sure something was broken. Her eyes looked over what had been streets, the houses and a tavern, and saw only horror.

Radsanth, in ruins. Or partly so. Areas, where the meteor's splinters had struck, likes hers, lying in rubble, and others standing tall, covered in a mild layer of dust. A section of the wall had collapsed, an area of the downtown. A brothel, she knew well and ran, was all but ruins, and amongst them ...

The old palace still stood. And the Hall, where the Assembly were holed up, thank the gods. Still bold, still strong. And it seemed ... Well.

The catapults were not shooting. The horses of the Radasanth Cavalry were not pounding. The mages were not firing. Either dead, surrendered or given up, it seemed that the fighting had ended. At least for now.

Veridian was dead, but she knew he would be back, born under that tree where they met. Delath was down, and she could see his tail lying still. Her soldiers, the Quint, she had heard people whisper, only just being uncovered by him - Shinsou. They gasped into breathable air again and - and -

Fuck, her arm hurt. She looked hazily down, blinking consciousness back. Her shoulder was crooked, thrust back into some unnatural form. Dislocated, she surmised, and she ground her teeth as she grabbed the dead arm with her one at worked. Taking in a breath she paused before yanking on it, and more pain - agony!

She screamed into the sky. "Fuck!"

And it was lucky that her body was caked in dust. For it worked, magically, as she slumped back and breathed, feeling the broken ribs and the ripped muscle in her calf. She swallowed hard, letting the power take over her form, her eyes following him who she had sworn to kill. Sworn to end for all this.

Who had saved her life.

"Hey asshole," she huffed loudly at him, as the first of her Quint began to make her way over to her. "We need to talk."

* ~ *

In the Hall Sebastian gasped as he saw the monster slice the splinter in half. He leant out the window, knife in hand, watching the battle end and the world fall into an era of mourning and loss. Oh yes, they knew of the ashcloud, but now Radsanth knew of the meteor that had barely scraped by the globe, and had instead burnt up in the atmosphere, sending shrapnel of terror down onto an unexpecting, warring city.

He chewed his lip as he saw the giant of a metallic samurai land, and change. Folding in on itself, shimmering and shifting into something resembling just a human. A being who had sent the rock aiming for the Hall in two other directions, where it had landed and caused lesser damage, but saved the Assembly and those beings that they had been protecting. The children and the refugees.

He watched as murmurs came, then people began to point. A crowd quickly began to gather and guards who were shaken from the awful circumstances swarmed into view. They looked at the man of honour, looked at what he had done. Saw his face, his features and his clothes -

And a name came. Was spoken, then shouted. "Hayate. Hayate Amatsukame!"

A name he recognised. That Philomel had uttered when the battle lines were being drawn. An enemy, in connection and alliance with the Brotherhood, who was wanted.

"Damn, a hero and a villain."

Sebastian pushed away from the window and began to run. As he did he gestured to three guards with his knife. "You, you and you, with me," he ordered as the member of the Assembly, a leader of Corone, took to the stairs. His heart pounded. He could not let the crowd kill this man. He was a hero ... But also wanted.

By the time he had gotten to the world outside, a world thick with dusty air and destruction, he was running, the three knights following after him. The crowd around Hayate by this time was strong and Sebastian could not tell if the man was still there - or gone.

"Draw back!" he ordered, knowing that he had exposed himself, but also knowing that if he died it would not be a loss. There were always others, and now his wife was with child ...

"Draw back, and let me see him!"