[Hermes]

"You're a Knight, your wounds are wounds earned, I am sure. And...Alright then."

~~Flashback Time~~

Hermes could smell the stench of blood coming from his own hands and gunblade, hear the cries of the man he had left wounded and dying behind him. He had taken the man's knife, and felt pity for leaving him no weapon to end his suffering. No matter.

He kept running, straight at the line of corrupt swordsman in front of him. He loosed three shots from his gunblade into the crowd, through the knife at another, and leapt into the group. Having already disabled two opponents, and killed two others, he was left with just three. He swung in a wide arc, beheading one of them. Suddenly, a fresh, stinging pain in his arm, and there was a knife stuck in it. With his other, he turned the gunblade and jabbed it through the man's torso, tossing him to the ground. He pulled the knife out of his arm as the final man kicked him in the chest.

The man pulled off his mask, and Hermes froze on the ground, staring up at the face of his brother Pontus.

"Hello, little brother." Pontus said, in a deriding tone. "What good fortune I have. I get to see the last look you make after realizing where I've been~"

"But...you've been...Mother said...I don't understand!"

"You thought I would die in some foolish fishing accident? Really? No. Although, father's body probably made a good decoy..."

"This isn't you. You were such a sweet boy when we were younger...we haven't seen you in TEN years!"

"Ten years I've been alone! I was in those woods, did you know? I just couldn't find my way home...then, years later...Instead of my "family", my new family found me. They taught me the way of the sword, taught me to fight, and taught me what familuy really meant." Pontus dug his heel into Hermes' chest. "And now I spit on insects like you." And he did so at saying this, it hit Hermes on the nose.

"Is there no turning you to my side? No changing your mind, even though you stare me in the face?"

"Not even a thought for it, not one." He dug his heel deeper, cracking one of Hermes' ribs. "But what I AM thinking about is the sweet sound of all of your ribs breaking under my boot~"

"If there is no changing your mind, then...This is the only way I know to save you..." Hermes, using the last bit of strength he could muster, lifted the gunblade, and shot Pontus, point-blank, in the eye. His head blew open, a spray of crimson spreading around them, and he fell. Laying on the ground next to Hermes' head was the necklace he had fashioned of silver for his brother 21 years ago. He picked it up, put it on his own neck, and layed there, waiting for a field medic to findhim, or a foe to end him.

When the medics finally found him, he was unconscious and barely breathing. He would wake up in a hospice 3 weeks later, the war over, and many dead or missing. He would hear stories of beating away doctors mercilessly even though comatose, when they would try and take the necklace off.

[Funkduder]

"Grandmaster Espy found a way to down me, but I'm okay other wise. The battle is pretty even, no?" He looked around the tent at the wounded and dying.
"By the way, miss, who are you visiting? You don't seem very injured, yourself."

[Renegade]

((How many years has it been since the Taskal war?))

[Hermes]

((It's not been very long at all, but my character is mean to already be well into his 40s, human years-wise XD))

[Serra Britt]

"Sir Funkduder, it's true...I have been on the front lines and have been winning several battles. I am just worried that my beloved may have gotten caught up in the fighting. I was attending the Ball to try to find her and the battle broke out. At first I was just defending myself but I owe much of my prosperity to the Queen."

[Renegade]

((I know it hasn't been toooo long, but I'm trying to get an estimate...))

[Hermes]

((Will you accept..."Nobody really has any idea 8D"?))

[Funkduder]

"Well I'll be. You've hit the dirt pretty hard in more ways than one. I wonder how you'd find the will to fight in such a situation. Well then I'll tell you it as best as I can. I'm not too sure how I survived but here it goes...and storm you better listen to," he said beckoning him over.

"Rose, who became the altered knight, the famine knight, was standing on the field awaiting a challenge. She didn't care about friend or foe as she lashed out at rebel and loyalist alike. Only the knighthood could get you even close, and even then, her presence by itself could starve an army... but that's not the point.
The point is that while I was fighting by her side, an assassin leapt in from the distance. Although she said she would handle the fighter alone, the assassin was eager to take on the both of us at once."

The sound of the fire erupted into his thoughts as he remember he next part. "This was no amateur either. Using one hand she entrenched Rose and with the other she shot fire at me, and that wasn't the end of it either. I rushed the assassin with a flail, but she found a way to fling me into the air using some magick of some sort. If I didn't land on my shield I would've died then and there. But the battle went on even further.

"I extended the flail's chain because, you know, the thing could do that, but she threw a knife into it, the assassin, that is but I'll explain later. She kicked the dirt into my eyes and threw a knife into my left hand. so I pulled out my trump card."

He showed off what looked to be a pistol, single fire that could have been from the age of exploration in real time. "It's a useless piece of junk, now, but this thing threw a chunk of lead into the assassin's shoulder, I think, and it dislocated my other shoulder because it kicks back when you use it." He knew that this was getting to be a bit unbelievable but he continued. "I was finally at my last bit of energy and the assassin was still alive, so I picked the knife in my hand and took it out, and threw it using my mouth. But she caught it and threw it back into my shoulder. Before I was taken down I looked at the face of my defeater."

He paused for dramatic effect... "It was Grandmaster Espy of the Apostles of the Hidden....

"I woke against a charred tree and made my way back here. No Rose, no espy, no nothing."

((http://www.trisphee.com/forums/showthread.php?t=5712 <-actual battle))

[Hermes]

((I read that ;3))

"Well, it seems we've both endured our share of rough fights. Times like this are when one could use a good drink, and some friends,aye?"

[Funkduder]

"Indeed...judging from your story, I don't suppose you really approve of the queen, do you? Why fight in this war?"
Funkduder looked in his eyes as he said this. They reminded him of a friend of his...

[Hermes]

"Because others do." Hermes sighs, thinking of the leader of the knights, whom he had faced as leader of Savi Vasar, before it had become a mere past guild.... "The queen is of no matter to me, honestly. I am here to keep others for dying. I have yet to even raise my blade, I have simply worked to keep others alive." He looked the man in the eyes, trying to express 'on either side...' in his stare.

[Funkduder]

Funkduder paused for what could have been perceived as an eternity. This man eyes showed no lie to him, giving him a sense of admiration for the man in black. "You said your name is Elias, right? Your a true man of character in a place like this. Do me a favor and don't die before this is over." He then turned back and laid down of the mat/bed/couch medical thing, and waited for a medic to patch up everything that hasn't healed yet.

[Hermes]

((It's called a gourney when in transport, Funk ;3 Otherwise it's just a bed ^_^ Or a cot, usually, in field hospitals, as it's just a gourney with the wheels ripped off, literally sometimes.))

"Heh, I'll try. You try and keep alive yourself, mate."

[AlphaDolly]

Alpha strode into the tent, easily balancing all of the supplies that had been left outside in one hand and dragging Dolly by the arm with the other hand. "Here is your medic. Keep her inside, or she will waste her time stargazing." He eyed the man in black warily for a moment, then walked briskly away to set the supplies somewhere out of the way.

[CupcakeDolly]

Dolly was blushing when her companion released her. She hadn't meant to space out for so long, let alone get caught in doing so. She saw the new patient and hurried over, fetching her tools. "I'm so sorry, Sir Funk! I'll have you fixed up right away!"

[Serra Britt]

Asione approached the medic gingerly. "I've been looking for someone, an Athlyk girl..." Asione blushed beneath her fur. "I was just wondering if many Athlyks have been treated here?"