"Nia!" Val was doing their best to yell over all of the screaming, yelling, and the total carnage, "Nia, where are you! Nia—"
They were cut off as they felt someone much smaller than them bodily crash into them and quickly reached out to steady the person. To their surprise, they were met with teary, heterochromatic eyes, and catching a glimpse of those familiar constellations across dark skin, they grabbed the girl tightly as she clung to them, "Fuck, I was so scared, none of you were responding to me!" Nia sobbed against Val's shoulder, "What the fuck, Val, why didn't you all say anything—"
"I'm sorry, sweetheart," Val said against her hair, trying to soothe her, "Hyunwoo and my earpieces broke, I couldn't hear you but he could. He just couldn't respond. Risále wasn't doing so well, apparently, she was completely exhausted—"
This caused another sob to wrack Nia's body and Val panicked even more, "Hey, hey, what's wrong? What is it, are you hurt?"
"No, I—I left her alone, Val! She gave me the Wings and told me to go and I left her. If I had stayed then maybe I could have helped her! If she—If she gets hurt then it's my fault—"
Val knew that if Nia kept going, she was going to end up losing it, "Nia, Nia look at me," They grabbed the girl's face in both hands and forced her to look at them, pressing their forehead to hers, "Listen to me, Risále is fine. Hyunwoo got to her in time and she's with some of the other rebellion members. She's safe, okay? But if you don't pull it together, we won't be. Deep breaths, okay?"
Nia seemed to calm down at this, nodding and taking deep, slow breaths, closing her eyes for a moment before opening them again, "...Okay. Okay, I'm alright not."
"Good," Val said, smiling before kissing her forehead, their expression turning serious again as they spoke quieter, "You have the Wings, right?" They felt Nia nod their shoulder, "Alright. Give them to me. Right now, I don't know who they think has the Wings but if we keep switching who it's with, there's a lesser chance of them figuring it out."
"...Okay," Nia sounded hesitant, "...Be careful. Don't do anything stupid, alright?" She carefully reached into her pocket and pulled out the Wings, putting it into Val's hand. They leaned down to tuck it into their boot, against their calf, "We need to get out of here. Do you know which way…"
Val shook their head, "No, I was hoping you knew."
Nia looked around them, watching the carnage unfold, "...We need to find a clear vantage point. At least from there, we can see where we're supposed to be headed."
"Hey, follow me," Val said, grabbing Nia's hand, "I think I see a clear area. It's near a ledge but there's practically no one there."
The younger girl let herself be dragged, quickly slashing at the guard who came at them with her dagger. She crashed into Val as they came to a sudden stop, "What—"
Val quickly pulled out an arrow and notched it into their bow, letting it fly instantly. The guard in front of them froze, slowly falling, "Oh for fuck's sake, we don't have time for you to do a dramatic fall to the ground," Nia watched in shock as Val kicked the man out of the way.
"What the—"
"No time, let's go!" Val said, dragging the younger girl with her towards the slight clearing that Nia could make out between the people around them.
Val was right, there was practically no one in that area. It seemed that both sides had found a ledge too risky of an area to fight on, which was probably the exact reason Val had chosen it. The dust on the ground rose as they came to a halt, looking around.
"Where are we supposed to go?!" Nia asked, looking around. All around them, all that could be seen were people fighting, people killing, people dying…
Val squinted, "The treeline. I think the treeline is directly ahead of us if we can get through the crowd—"
"Look!" Nia stepped forward, pointing into the distance. They could see the silhouette of a fighter jet approaching, "We need to get to that jet, I'm sure that's where Leon and the others are—" She took another step forward.
"Nia, no—" Val began to yell, but it was too late.
She felt an arm grab her and practically lift her away from where Val was, turning her around and grabbing her wrists to restrain her as she felt a gun pressed to the side of her head. She tried to move, turning her head to see who had grabbed her, but the knife was pressed even harder against her temple, and she hissed at the pain.
Looking across from her, Val already had their bow and arrow at the ready, arrow notched and ready to fire.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you, little missy," The man holding Nia hostage spoke, "You let that arrow fly, I blow her brains out."
"I could kill you with one arrow," Val growled, "If I hit your brainstem, you're dead immediately."
The man hummed, "I wouldn't doubt that. You're called the Rebellion's Arrow for a reason, after all," Nia recalled Hyunwoo's words from before. He was right, Val's reputation did precede them, "But if you do, the sniper that has his shot trained on us will kill you immediately. Additionally, if your little friend here decides to cause me any trouble, he won't hesitate to kill you."
"I don't care," Val replied, "Let them fucking try."
"Ah, ah," The man shifted back a bit more, still holding Nia in a death grip, "The King thought you might say that and as always, His Majesty is always prepared. If you don't care about your own life, then you should probably hold back for her sake," He gestured towards Nia, "Orders from higher up. If you kill me, she gets shot. So, either way, your best bet is to not kill me."
Val didn't lower their weapon, but their expression wavered, "...What do you want?" They asked roughly.
The man laughed, almost wildly, "What do you think we want, little missy? Don't think for a second that we don't know the Wings are in your pocket. We've been watching your every move, every handover, every switch. You were never going to be able to trick us."
"Val, no," Nia said, looking at the other, "You can't."
"I think that's up to her, little girl," The man said, tightening his grip on Nia, "You can walk over here and hand over that little thing and I'll let your little friend go."
Val glared at the man, their violet eyes flashing, "And if I refuse?"
"Well, I'll kill your little friend over here and my sniper friend up there will kill you. Then, I'll take the Wings. Even if you kill me, the King is watching all of this, so he can come and get it off your dead body either way," The man replied.
"...What guarantee do I have that you'll let her go?"
"Val, no!" Nia yelled, "Don't you dare give it to them, Val, I swear to God! If they get their hands on it, there's no going back—"
The man pressed the gun harder against the side of her hair, "Be quiet, or I might just shoot you for your incessant whining," He threatened, "Now, little missy, are you going to hand that Relic over or not?"
"Nia…"
The younger girl looked at them, "Val, don't do this. Don't—I'm not worth it, Val! We knew what we might have to sacrifice for this, do not go back on it!" She cursed under her breath. If only she had given her in-ear to Val, then at least they could have contacted their friends for help but right now, they were on their own.
Val let out a deep breath, "I know, Nia. I know. I'm sorry, I wish I could be different, but I guess in the end, I'm really that selfish. If only I had made an impact, this wouldn't be so…" Something about Val's words wasn't lining up. Everything felt so loud in Nia's ears and she could tell there was something that was bothering her. Val wouldn't, they would never.
But what would Val do?
It was the word "impact" that made everything click.
"Val—Val, no. Whatever you're planning, please. Don't do this. You can't—Val, you can't do this to me, please. I—" Nia felt the tears burning in her eyes, "Figure out something else, anything else, please. There has got to be another way, I can't…Not you, please."
"...I don't think there is, Nia."
"Please, Val, please. Don't—Just wait a minute, we can figure something out, okay? Don't just—Don't rush into things like this. Even if you give it to them, we can get it back, right?"
"Can we, though?" Val asked, "What if we can't? I don't think I could live with myself if everything got fucked up just because I gave them the Wings here."
"...Val, please don't…Don't do this," Nia didn't know what else to say, all she could do was keep pleading, begging, hoping that Val would change their mind. She knew it was a fruitless attempt, that Val had already made up their mind, but she had to try.
"I think this is the end, Nia," Val said softly, "I'm sorry."
The man narrowed his eyes, "Whatever it is you're planning, missy, it won't work. I'll shoot you where you stand. My brother won't hesitate to take out your little friend as well. We will kill the two of you."
Val raised an eyebrow, "Ah, so the sniper is your brother, huh?" They smiled, but it had a touch of melancholy to it, "Good."
Then, before anyone could even think, Val jerked their hand slightly up and to the right, towards where they had caught sight of the sniper, and let the arrow fly.
Nia heard the exact moment the man holding her captive realized what had happened. His breath caught and he whispered, "Nathaniel?" Within moments, Nia was shoved to the ground and she got herself up just in time to see Val notch another arrow and the man pointing the gun at them in rage.
The arrow flew smoothly and like Val's shots always did, it hit its target straight on. The arrow stuck out of the man's chest as he stumbled back.
But to Nia's horror, the bullet from the gun had hit its target as well.