12Disclaimer: I don't own Grimgar.
Chapter 1: Death
Fire… everywhere. The City of Ortana is in flames, Goblins, Orcs, Kobolds, and monsters of all sorts surround the once beautiful city. Scattered groups of the army along with the volunteer soldiers fight to buy time for escaping townspeople. One brave group valiantly tries to hold the front gates.
"ANGER!" shouts a red haired young man wearing black armor, as he stabs clean through the head of an Orc nearly twice his size. Tearing his blade out of the still standing but dead orc he jumps down and shouts, "Now Moguzo!"
"DOUMOOOOO!" yells a large man wearing silver armor carrying a giant sword as he smashes the flat of the blade into the chest of the large orc, sending it barreling into a pack of small goblins, completely flattening the smaller monsters.
"Haha! Strike!" says the red haired man.
"Ranta, to your right" warns a small floating demonic creature next to the red haired mans head.
"Thanks Zodiaco," said Ranta as he parries the charging kobold and shoves his sword into its chest. "Exhaust!" he yells, as he's propelled backwards, forcibly ripping his sword out of the now dead monster, the serrated edges taking chunks of the beast's hide and innards with it.
"Ranta, Moguzo, don't break formation!" orders a lightly armored brown haired man as he slides under the legs of a tall goblin as an arrow lodges into its chest.
As the brown haired man stood up, he swept his leg out tripping the tall goblin onto its back before plunging the black dagger he held into the taller creatures heart.
"Shut up Haruhiro! Dark Knights do whatever they want!"
"We're falling back, and I don't want you two falling behind. We're too open here, we'll have better luck fighting them in the city,"
The three men ran back to an already retreating group of people, among them a red haired girl with a bow, and a female priest defending a young woman with purple hair wearing mage robes as she prepares a spell.
"Oom rel eckt pram das!" shouts the mage as purple beams shoot from her staff and into the heads of many of the attacking monsters, disorienting them.
"Marc em Parc!" a large blue blast of energy explodes as the magic missile impacts the ground amidst a crowd of disoriented monsters.
"Nice shot Shihoru-chan!" shouts the red-headed huntress as she knocks another arrow and looses it into the head of an approaching kobold.
"Thanks, you too, Yume-chan, and thank you for defending me Mary-chan,"
"Mmm, stay focused Shihoru, and your welcome," says the blue haired priest as she moves into her guard stance.
"Ah, right. Marc em Parc!"
"Okay, we're all here! Everybody retreat!" shouts Haruhiro to the other eleven people in the group of defenders.
-oOo-
The small mob of people dash through the city full speed as monsters chase after them, "Haruhiro!" shouts a white haired warrior, "Split up! We'll try and divert some of the guys on the flank!"
Haruhiro nods, "Got it, see you on the other side Renji, and good luck!"
Renji smirks, and that's the last they ever see of him and his party as they split off to the left, taking a sizeable bunch of the invading monsters with them.
-oOo-
Somehow they end up at the volunteer soldier lodgings, and it is here that they make their final stand.
Ranta is the first to fall, leaping back from striking down an orc he is impaled on the arm of a waiting Kobold, its sharp claws tearing through his torso, before the beast flings him away. Ranta is dead before he hits the ground.
The next to fall is Kuzaku, taking a stab meant for Mary, he takes the Orc with him, shoving his sword into its throat, protecting someone till the end.
Kuzaku's sacrifice goes in vain however as Mary is quickly overwhelmed without anyone to defend her and is hacked to pieces with the crude but brutally efficient Orcish blades.
Without anyone to heal him and bleeding profusely, Moguzo succumbs to his wounds, but not before he bisects a giant goblin with a shout of "DOUMO!"
Without anyone to protect her, Shihoru is surrounded by numerous kobolds and goblins. As they lunge at her, she pours all of her mana into a magic missile and fires it at the ground directly below her. As it explodes, it takes out all of the monsters that surrounded her along with part of a building. She doesn't even get the chance to scream.
Finally, it's just him and Yume, and Haruhiro thinks that if he has to die today, he's glad that it's with Yume. The red haired girl always managing to bring a smile to his lips with one of her silly but endearing stories, always there to help him take down a monster that's too big for one person, and as her back presses against his own, he thinks, 'Always there to cover my back,'
They fight valiantly, and manage to fight off all of the remaining monsters after Shihoru's suicide attack, but their injuries are far too great for them to survive without immediate medical attention.
Haruhiro rest his back against the still standing wall of their home as he holds Yume in his arms and it begins to rain softly.
"Reminds you of 'that night' right Haru-kun," says Yume with a smile that is more akin to a grimace. She is of course referring to the night of Mary's induction to the party almost 7 years ago now, as the two of them cried for their beloved former leader and friend, pressed up against this same wall.
"Yeah, a little bit, I could do without all of the blood though," says Haru as his own lips twitch.
"Hey, keep your eyes open Haru-kun. You can't sleep yet," says Yume now fighting a real grin.
"My eyes are always like this," he fights back weakly, because this time, he can't help but think it might be true.
Yume chuckles, "You really do look like an old cat sometimes you know," she says as she leans into his chest.
It's quiet, and Haru has to focus to make sure Yume is still breathing.
"Hey Haru?"
"Mhmm?"
"I'm glad I met you," says Yume as she moves her arm around his neck and pulls her head up, to press her lips to his jaw.
She doesn't move or say anything after that and it takes Haruhiro a moment to notice her once warm lips have grown cold. Tears fall freely from his eyes as he turns his head and presses his own lips to her forehead.
"Yume," he says weakly, as his eyes shut for the final time…
Only for them to snap open moments later as he bolts upright from his prone position screaming bloody murder.
Nobody yell at me for not sticking to canon this is AU heavy.
*SPOILER ALERT INCOMING, READ AT YOUR OWN PERIL IF YOU HAVEN'T READ PAST VOLUME 3 OF THE LIGHT NOVELS!*
Plus I think Moguzo's death in the novels is complete bullshit. They fight off the attackers from the fort and are triumphant!
...and then Moguzo drops dead from exhaustion, I'm sorry, I diDn't actually read the light novel, I only found out about it from the wiki , and it probably doesn't do his death any justice, but if he has to die (and I always thought he was gonna die along with Manato when I first started watching the anime) then this is how I imagine him dying. Bleeding profusely after bisecting a monster from the head down with a "Thank You Slash"
*OK SPOILER ALERT OVER*
In any case, please read and review. I'm working on Chapter 2 and I'll also be posting a companion One-shot for this fic titled "Not in Vain" eventually.
With that, leave a review if you liked it… or even if you didn't like it, constructive criticism is always appreciated. Just no flames please.
-Delta