Crystalline Universe: Team Fortress 2/ Overwatch

The tall and menacing trees appeared as an umbrella for those under them. Those not able to top them were robbed of their only source of light in the long and silent night. There is no moon, there are no stars, there is only the dead silence of the darkness that surrounded them.

It was calm... worryingly calm... horrifying calm... They can never know when the monster that hunted them will appear because they are nothing more than blind and frail preys hiding inside the darkness that granted them no hospitality but uncertainty.

Azur abruptly woke up from her sleep only scream in pain as her wounds were only freshly patched. She felt weak and powerless and soon, her body gave up on her and she was forced back into a sleeping position. The unbearable pain of her organs and shattered ribs cause her to cry out of agony as she desperately struggled to sit back up.

[Carl-E] - "Shhh! Silence, we are gonna get spotted if you keep screaming like this! "

Azur looked around her; it was pitch black with no sign of Carl and yet, she can feel that someone is beside her.

[Azur] - "What happened to me? "

[Carl-E] - "Stop moving, Kalisse! You will end up bleeding out if you keep putting so much pressure on your organs. "

Azur gathered her strength and used her hand to scan around her body only to find a long and painful scar going from her armpit all the way to her lower abdomen. She slowly pulled her hands back in shock as her entire body was covered with dried blood.

[Azur] - "How bad is it? "

[Carl-E] - "Your entire right side is in pieces along with your right lung, part of your liver, one of your kidney and your intestinal tracks. "

Azur quickly found out why she was skipping breaths; she was missing her right lung.

[Azur] - "Can you help me sit up? "

[Carl-E] - "Lay the f.u.c.k down, will you? Do you wanna die quicker? "

[Azur] - "I need to get up... I need to go kill those bastard Valentine! "

[Carl-E] - "Heh... in your current state, I'll be surprised if you even can fight a wild cat. "

Azur, refusing to give up, bit her lower lip and pushed herself up against a tree and finally sat upright in exhaustion. Mergiann quickly rushed to her and put the tip of a water canteen to her lips.

[Mergiann] - "Stop exhausting yourself, we need to find an escape plan. "

[Azur] - "No, we will fight those mother f.u.c.kers... I refuse to run. "

[Mergiann] - "Here... slowly take a sip. "

As soon as the water reached her throat, Azur started to cough intensively before spatting a viscous drop of blood out of her mouth.

[Mergiann] - "Azur, are you alright? "

[Azur] - "Ugh... This is nothing... *in a weak voice* we need to go back and kill them. "

[Mergiann] - "In the state you are in? We need to find a way to sneak out of the forest and seek help for you. "

[Azur] (in a weakened voice) - "I refuse... I will run no more. We will end this once for all. "

[Carl-E] - "God damn it, you have lost your mind? We can't win, we just can't! They are too strong and we will never be able to compete with them at this point. "

Azur, in a pain-filled smirk, raised her hand and pointed her finger toward her head.

[Azur] - "I don't need this body... I'm a crystal executioner, all I need is my mind. "

[Carl-E] - "No! We are not going back in there. "

[Azur] - "Sure we escape and then what? They will send more assassins behind us until we are dead. Running... we ran during our entire life... I ran away from my problems and look where that got me now. I will run no more, I will die here today or live tomorrow without the need to run. "

[Mergiann] - "Azur... "

[Azur] - "Go! Escape! But I will run no more. I will do the right thing today... we won't need to run anymore after this. "

[Carl-E] - "You are crazy! I'm getting the heck outta here if you want to stay. "

[Mergiann] - "I will stay if you stay, Azur! "

Carl silently packed his bags and didn't even bother to look back. He looked strong on the surface but he was heartbroken in the interior. The determination of the girl, Azur, impressed him but despite how much he wanted to believe her, he just couldn't bring himself to do so.

[Carl-E] - "You are a good person, Azur. I never saw such resolve in my life and I'm honoured to serve by your side. But now, it is time for me to step down. It is useless to try... I know already how it will end. "

Carl stood up and turned his head to look at Azur one last time before slowly walking away.

[Carl-E] - "You inspired something in me that I will never forget. Thank you... for letting me experience the flavours of hope once more. I wish you good luck. "

[Azur] (in tears) - "I understand your decision... Thank you too, Carl-Emile! Without you, I won't even be able to live up until now and to discover my true self. "

Carl held his tears from falling and without another word, he slowly disappeared into the woods.

Meanwhile, as Mergiann and Azur sat in the dark, 2 figures approached them from behind and without them noticing, they grabbed both of them by the neck.

[Mergiann] - "What the f.u.c.k! "

[Karson] - "Oh shit! Darlynn, it's Mergiann and Azur, it's not the enemy. "

Later, the 4 of them sat together and told their respective stories.

[Karson] - "... And that's how we ended up here. "

[Mergiann] - "Oh... how bad are your injuries, Darlynn? "

[Darlynn] - "A few torn muscles, a few fractured bones... nothing too serious. "

Karson turned to Azur and stared at her in glowing blue eyes.

[Karson] - "Thank you, Azur... Sigh... Why did you even risk your life to save me, I thought you hated us for all we have done to you. "

[Azur] - "Because you guys are my friends. We were all so blind to see that a division is what made us weaker. It's through unity that we will find our path out of the darkness that imprisoned us. I saw that I was wrong and sometimes, we need to let go of the past and face the present for a better tomorrow. "

[Darlynn] - "But Azur, you can't fight in the state you are in. "

[Azur] - "My body is not what matters. It's whether I will wake up tomorrow to an assassin in my bed or to the morning where I could be carefree and live my life that matters. "

[Karson] - "But we just barely escaped with our lives intact. You are telling me that we are going back to fight them? "

[Darlynn] - "Azur's right! We are fantastic dreamers and passion knights, if we don't fight for our dream, who else will? "

Karson, after seeing that everyone except him decided to stay, finally changed his mind and agreed to stay. Now with all of them gathered, they started to formulate a plan to defeat the Valentine brothers.

[Karson] - "... we could target them while they divert their ability to Rudolf and... "

Meanwhile, Mergiann looked at Azur's blood-covered belt and realized that she only has 4 sapphires left in her arsenal.

[Mergiann] - "Azur, what happened to your sapphires? "

[Azur] - "I lost 2 of them in my first rescue attempt. "

[Mergiann] - "This will greatly affect your combat effectiveness... how about I give you mine? "

Without hesitation, Mergiann pulled her necklace down and extracted the ruby from it.

[Mergiann] - "Here, use this! "

Azur, with an amused smile, stared away from Mergiann.

[Azur] - "My ability does bind to any gem. They must be of sentimental value to me like these sapphires from my mother's collection. "

Azur turned back to face Mergiann but she realized that she didn't listen to her as she was focused on Karson's strategy. Azur looked at the ruby in her belt and after a moment of hesitation, she refrained from speaking.

[Mergiann] - "I got a better idea! Do you guys remember how Azur was able to hurt one of the Valentine brothers? She said something about their ability... "

[Azur] - "If one of them is in current possession of an ability, the other one cannot use it, I figured. Meaning that when Rudolf is in D4C mode, the other brothers are all vulnerable to attacks. "

The team looked at her in exclamation as this news gave them a fighting chance against the Valentine brothers.

[Karson] - "Mhm! I'll be damned... with this new knowledge, I can now formulate a strategy without us going into suicide mode. "

[Darlynn] - "But I will oppose any plan involving me tanking damage for some half-baked after strategy! "

Karson suddenly remembered how he used Darlynn as a human shield to escape from the Valentine brothers earlier today.

[Karson] - "Oy, oy! It worked, alright? We are still alive thanks to my plan. "

[Darlynn] (in an annoyed tone) - "Yeah but still... it's darn humiliating to be used as a human shield. "

The next morning, as the forest was still covered by a thick mist and when the sun is still nowhere to be seen, Azur and her team moved silently through the woods back to the trainwreck.

On top of a hill far away, Carl took one last look at the thick woods before moving away. Azur, while marching supported by Darlynn, looked back as well at the woods where Carl disappeared in.

The mood was dark and grim, it looked as if the Valentine brothers could appear anytime, anywhere for an ambush. Soon, the wrecked train came to view but as they approached, there was no sign of the Valentine brothers.

[Karson] - "Bollocks! They aren't here! "

[Mergiann] - "Watch out for our surroundings! They may ambush us! "

[Rudolf] - "Such courage, Azur Ameri! You don't need to look around, I prefer facing my opponent rather than ambushing them. "

[Azur] - "Which of the brothers are you? "

[Rudolf] - "Rudolf. You don't need to worry about the rest of them. I will fight you all fair and square. "

[Darlynn] (in whispers) - "Guys, get ready! "

Karson immediately activated his ability while Darlynn withdrew her rapier. Azur focused her mind and called out her 4 sapphires while Mergiann pulled out her grenades.

[Karson] (in whispers) - "We need to figure out where are the rest of the brothers. "

[Mergiann] - "I'm looking around. "

[Azur] - "This isn't good... if we can't figure where they are... "

Rudolf stepped down from the trainwreck and advanced toward Azur and her team.

[Rudolf] - "Now... before we start... "

Around them, one per one, the brothers appeared high up in the trees.

[Rudolf] - "We don't want you guys to escape like last time. "

Rudolf's hand raised to the sky and instantly around them grew circles after circles of spikes that cut off every single one of their escape routes.

[Rudolf] - "There are 2 ways where this can go: we die or you die. "

[Azur] - "You think we came back to die? There is only one way this can end and I'll tell you what: Albert, you might have been my first love but this will your last day on this earth. "

[Albert] - "Ugh... "

[Azur] - "I knew you are not Rudolf, I can tell it, Albert! "

Albert discreetly wiped the sweat off his palm on his pants and as he stared into Azur's eyes, he felt a dreadful fear in his heart. The eyes he betrayed bared a fire of revenge that was aimed directly at his soul. Albert swallowed the saliva in his mouth while droplets of sweat slowly dripped from his forehead.

Despite how injured is Azur, she still came back to face him fueled by feelings he didn't understand.

"What kind of woman is she... " Thought Albert.

[Karson] - "Bring it on, you bloody wanker! "

To be continued... Next Chapter: [Resolve, Unlock, Shine, Azur Ameri: Blue Dream!]

*EXTRA

-Ability: [Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap]: "The combined ability of the 4 Valentine brothers. This ability allows the designated user to use the abilities of the 4 brothers at the cost of rendering the brothers not designated the user of the ability powerless.

-Users: Ritter, Albert, Walter, Rudolf

-ABILITY STATS:

Power - A

Speed granted by the ability - B

Speed of the ability - A

Range - C

Durability granted by the ability - S

Durability of the ability - S

Precision - A

Potential - Depends on the users