[I'm introducing our RP with Eve. This is about the past of Falki, when he was fiercely fighting every SP on his road. Eve is one of them. He always escaped his destiny, he always survived from Eve's claws. Will it change? Has the evil taken over him? You'll know it in this RP. Have fun! :) ]

Night. Smoke. Everyone was dead. Everything was burned or still in flames, dying flames lighting the darkness with orange reflects. Soot was drizzling like snow on a wasted land, a valley closed by mountains, as dark as the ashes.Bodies were drowned in a dark red mud, evidence of a violent battle. Complaints still arose in the heavy atmosphere. Some beaks were strong enough to ask for some help...Some of those owls, Pure Ones, Guardians, both of them were still alive, badly wounded or almost dead...
In this mess, an arrow in the chest, another guardian was hit. A victim of the war madness. His grey plumage was sooty and stained by the blood. His own and from his enemies. But in such desolation, are there still enemies? Looking around him, he saw some black helmets. Those eyes were sad and filled with pain. As his own. Falki was trying to keep his mind clear. Hardly breathing, eyes sored, chest pierced, how could the situation be worse than the actual one? His only wish was to go back to his nest...With his friends. Why was he so willing in helping the guardians in this battle. He left the tree to be free, not to die for them...Nevermore. To live on his own, with his fellows...

The smoke was still thick, and day barely passed throught. A lone shadow was walking on those dark and dusty clouds. A lone owl, still alive, walking between calcined or demembred bodies. Grey feathers (stained feathers), slow gait, he recognized someone he barely knew...A female which cared for him untill he lost himself in the blizzard. Falki's voice was hushed, his throat was smothered by ashes. His sight was blurred, unaccurate. He began crawling in the direction of the soothing presence. Shaking its head, coughing harshly, he whispered some words:
"...Mum? " Sobbed the little hawk owl "How did you find me...And why now?...Am I dreaming..."

Within the darkness of the bitterly cold midnight smog that hung ominously low over the long drew covered grass, crept a faint white shadow between the smouldering fires that crackled in the still silence and licked the moist air. The shadow, a demon of the night, known only as Eve, a Pure One most devoted to the ultimate cause hid amongst the thick smog. With shiny nickel claws drenched in blood from her foes clinking eerily with every gentle step taken, Eve carefully made her way around the countless blood stained bodies that layed slain amongst the diminishing flicking flames. The hard, folded edges of Eves’ highly distinguishable polished helmet and cuirass glinted softly in the warm ambient glow which faintly lit the rolling smoke drifting effortlessly at an angle up towards the starless night sky.

Then, out from the smoke called a weak voice that called out for it's mum, the shaky voice distant yet familiar with the distinct accent of a northern hawk owl before fading out again back into the stillness. Eve suddenly spun her head around to the right, thinking that she heard a scroom her dark, glossy eyes framed by her spiked helmet peered deep into the fog, and narrowing her eyes she spotted a shape within the obscurity. Turning her body around she slowly began to walk towards the shape, gradually an owl with a dense, fluffy plumage as grey as the smoke came into focus. This owl heavily barred with black and white feathers was slouched staring at Eve with an arrow lodged shallowly in his chest near his flank. Covered in dusty soot semi-dried blood had seeped out of his wound and down his chest and belly onto the frosty ground. Eve soon noticed that this hawk owl which she knew as ‘Hawkie’ was the same owl in which she hated and loathed so much. It was a special touch that he was wounded and dazed, perfect for her to finally have her revenge for him stabbing her in the upper leg.

“Mum?” darkly said Eve with a wicked grin slowly creeping across her pale beak, “You will not find your Mum here… Falki,” she added jeeringly, “Maybe you should have thought about that before you became a Guardian to face owls such as myself.”

Slowly stepping forth in an intimidating manner her figure became clearer through the dense smog. Glaring evilly at the arrow stuck in Falki’s chest for a brief moment then she turned her glace to watch how dazed Falki was before chuckling softly to herself.

“Do you… by any chance; remember the time when you stabbed me in the leg with your shattered blade?” Eve asked, “And when I said that I am not finished and that the strong shall devour the weak? It has always meant to be like that,” Eve continued as she felt an itching desire in her feet, she wanted to make him pay and suffer.

The shadow, the moving body Falki saw wasn't a dream. But it wasn't his mother either. Slowly noticing he was mistaken, Falki began to understand who the living owl was. Shiny helmet, jingling claws, slow and strict walk. "No...Impossible..."
The grey plumage Falki saw was just because of the soot acting like a filter in front of his bruised eyes. This proudness, this will. A PO... Not moving anymore, rolling on his side to face the threatening spectre, Falki understood he was doomed. There was no escape. That smile, this hate he could feel. Eve. That voice, those behaviors. Everything belonged to a single killer, and Falki was at its disposal.

“Mum? You will not find your Mum here… Falki. Maybe you should have thought about that before you became a Guardian to face owls such as myself."

Falki kept his beak closed. He was listening, maybe the last words, the last glare he could hear and feel. He admitted to himself it was impossible that a random wandering owl on a battlefield could have been his mother...After so much time, there were no possibility of such an event. Closing his eyes for a second to soothe them with the rest of humidity still existing in his eyelids, he lifted his head again, staring straight in those deep black, shiny and evil orbs. Opening her beak again, the vicious owl continued her speech.

“Do you… by any chance remember the time when you stabbed me in the leg with your shattered blade? And when I said that I am not finished and that the strong shall devour the weak? It has always meant to be like that,”

Leaning his head on the side, he breathed, hoping for Eve not to attack him before he could say a word.

"Well" began Falki in a accentued hoot, "You're always speaking. One day it will kill you. I know it. I'm sure of it. Speaking brings arguments, and arguments brings discord." Taking a pause in his words, Falki stood calm. "Do what you want. I do not care anymore. Today, I did my last mistake, I admit it. You did one aswell in the past." he continued, pointing at her leg with his beak. "Perfection doesn't exist. This world is on its decay because of wars, hate, discord. Guardians, Pure Ones...All the same."

Still on the ground, he crawled a little to a little rock and leaned against it. Weak and weary, he breathed again and whispered two words, staring at his future torturer, at his future murderess.

"What for?"

Standing tall and proud Eve let Falkis words mull continuously inside her mind for a brief moment only for her to shun them aside as foolish words from an impure owl she wanted to be dead. Thinking about what she could do to Falki her dark narrowed eyes shaded by her helmet stared coldly down at the wounded owl in pain, observing him with bitter thoughts as he agonisingly crawled across the damp floor in front of her and leaned up breathless against the smooth moist rock as tall as himself.

“What for?” he simply questioned in a worn out whisper.

Eve’s eyes then suddenly grew wider and stared directly at Falki in shock when she discovered she was unable to answer the simple yet deep question with nothing but ‘For the good of the Union’, Indeed. What for? she desperately asked herself repeatedly for the first time in a long time since she was an owlet. Ignites words then came crashing back to her from eight years ago like a faded ghost in her morbid mind which she kept locked away, “Eve”, he said fixing her in his intense orange eyes, “What you think ye are fighting for is nothin’ but meaningles’ war, hatred and pointles’ bloodshed. Me self, Zoltus and even you are all the same, we are all owls, we all have feathers, we all do the same thin’s, and there is no difference.”

Loosening her proud body language up she slowly tilted her head down and gazed deeply at the soggy blades of grass below, “What have I done?” she quietly questioned herself listening to the crackling flames dying in the background.

Sluggishly lifting her right lemming leather protected leg her semi-dried blood covered claw grabbed the rim of her helmet with clang before she slipped it off her head and placed it gently down on the ground. Revealing her haunting, brilliant white facial disc and auburn shades to her plumage. Sighing deeply she suddenly looked up at Falki, her dark eyes that where as sharp as ever lit up with emotion for once; few had seen what she really looked like under her armor.

“And so," she said darkly, "It seems I cannot answer your question for some anomalous reason,” said Eve with her usual evil grin.

Falki kept staring at the Pure One, not moving anymore because of the pain. Eve stopped her victorious walk toward him and leaned her head to the side. In a whisper, he repeated his words for himself. All those years lost for a vain reason. All those fights risking his life for...saving another lives. But in vain as they will die one day for the same reasons, for their own cause. As she took slowly her gear, Falki catched his dagger and slowly pulled it out of his scabbard. He looked up at Eve. It was the first time he saw her discovered face. She didn't looked like Falki imagined. She was really pretty compared to what she's beyond the appareance. She was still glaring deeply at him, without a word.
As she sat on her helmet, some words flowed out of her beak.

“And so, It seems I cannot answer your question for some anomalous reason,”

"Sure you can't. Me neither." he replied slowly, still animated by distrust. "Everyone is fighting for some words since centuries. Words made of wind, of sounds. But sounds fades away. The wind flies away. We're fighting for nothing. Fools that we are, we all want to win, as if we have all the time..."

He stopped. He didn't wanted to tell more. She was actually too unstable. He knows her mood could switch at any time. But he didn't know the limits before this moment.

Perched motionless in deep reflection on her steel helmet to keep off the annoyingly damp grass, she stood ghost-like and as mysterious as the smog in which she was enshrouded in. Watching, observing, as she always would with her dark poignant eyes, she had seen so much yet understood so little, there existed a lighter side behind those dark eyes of hers.

That stupid hawk still thinks I am going to try and tear his wings off, Perhaps maybe one day, sneered Eve in her thoughts.

Listening carefully to every word the small wounded northern hawk owl spoke between his short, raspy breaths laced with pain. She stared at the wooden arrow stuck in his upper breast. Cocking her head to the side and narrowing her eyes to dark slits in her spooky white face she noticed it did not look at all that deep into his flesh, if only she could pull it out herself.

That arrow will certainly kill him or do a considerable amount of damage if I do not act fast and soon. What if it is cross headed? I know that we make the weapons as lethal as possible; it would most likely be cross headed indeed. Not to mention if the others find out that I am helping out an ex-Guardian, what would become of me? Eve mulled over, What has gotten into me anyway? Me? Saving a Guardian? Have I lost it? Or have I understood the true nature of my reality? Thought Eve as her eyes grew wide again.

Straighten herself out she took a deep breath before she slowly turned her head to the millions of stars above, “Indeed,” Eve said distantly, the stars suddenly felt that much softer than they did before, she finally saw their beauty in which shocked her to the gizzard as they reflected in her dark, glossy eyes. “With time, everything will be washed to the sands in which they belong to and slowly forgotten,” said Eve, her eyes rested on Falkis calm gold ones, filled with pain and grief, “I will help you… but, you must know this one thing. You must know that as long as this world keeps living I must do what I have to do and the same goes for you, and so I must fight for what I think is right and nothing will change that.”

Eve hopped down off her helmet and onto the cold, unforgiving ground. Walking away from her helmet and towards Falki it faded into the smog.

“Let me see this,” said Eve clasping softly onto the arrow with her metal claws of death still covered in dried blood.

Falki listened to every Eve's words. But he was still not trusting her. Tightening his numb claw on the handle of his weapon, he waited for her to approach, he was waiting for her to act. Falki wasn't sure about what she was going to do. He noticed he wasn't finally ready to die.
*As I'm still breathing, I'll struggle untill death...* thought Falki. But he hasn't strength anymore. No helmet, no gear, Eve was unprotected. The best opportunity...
Eve walked slowly toward him, stopped just in front of him and leaned her head above his chest. Her claws approached slowly from his feathers and his breathe speed up. This sensation of weakness made him shake slightly. As Eve touched the arrow, the pain in his chest intensified. He grinned and let some words flow out of his half closed beak.
"N...no...I won't die like this...No...Away...Go away." he said with a hushed voice. His mnd tingled, it was the right moment to stop this fight, to end this long story, to kill Eve. As she was still thinking how to remove the arrow, Falki holded his knife and in an instant, is going to stic this shiny blade in the flesh of the Pure One, not in the leg this time.
"It's the end of every pain..." he whispered.
The time was like it was stopping. No sounds more, no feelings either. Everything seemed dead around. And soon, the death will maybe strikes again...

Smirking evilly at Falki’s words her eyes grew callous, she loved to watch him agonise and plead for his pitiful life; it brought her great sadistic joy to know that he was completely helpless. Letting go of the arrow she turned her reflective claws in and gently brushed back Falki’s thick, bushy feathers before leaning in to take a close look at where the arrow had pierced his soft flesh, it was a straight and clean puncher which meant it was easier for her to pull it out depending on the arrows head. Before gripping the arrow again she noticed that Falki’s body began to quiver with fear, his breath and heartbeat quicken and heard his weakened foot tighten his frail grip around his trusty knife. In response, Eve spun her head and looked sharply into Falki’s pale yellow eyes.

"N... no... I won't die like this... no... Away... go away."

Eve grinned and began to chuckle lightly to herself, “Fool!” she snapped, “You still think I am going to kill you,” Eve said mockingly before snatching the blade clean from Falki’s foot and throwing it behind her, it disappeared into the smog. Leaning in within centimetres from his facial disc she continued, “I will never go away; I will always be your worst nightmare in flesh,” threatened Eve before leaning back. Suddenly clamping her blood stained claw around the dew moist arrow she slowly began to pull causing the skin to lift and fresh blood to seep out and trickle down his densely feathered breast, “You may be able to hurt me Falki, but you will certainly not be the one to kill me as you seem to dangerously underestimate me,” darkly said Eve with a proud smile that quickly faded into a face concentrating on the wooden arrow, “Now. Hold still. I am going to pull it out, it is going to hurt,” continued Eve in a serious tone before slowly pulling out the arrow.

This fool, why am I helping him? Thought Eve to herself.

In a really short moment, Falki lost his weapon. He felt Eve's claws wrapping his own and in a sudden move, his blade was away from him. No more hope. As she spoke to his ear, almost hissing, she said she wasn't going to kill him. How it is possible? What changed? Yeah, she almost changed. Falki understood she wasn't going to let him in peace, but at least, he won't dine this day. The fluffy grey feathered owl stared at Eve as she wrapped again her claw around the arrow. Just by touching the arrow, the wounded felt this spike moving in his flesh, making the opened round cut to bleed again.

"Ahh...It hurts don't touch it...no..."

A hoot resonated into the heavy atmosphere, Falki was shaking to get rid of Eve's 'medicine', increasing his pain. She was pulling slowly the arrow not to rip a piece of his chest apart because of the crossed head. Without a sound, Falki was still trying to yell and ask her to stop, but no sound came out of his beak. His eyes closed let filter some drops, red drops as the tip was almost out. The head of the arrow was still stuck, and surely going to be the most painful part to pull out. Falki stopped moving, trying to control himself. He grinned and tightened his claws on the rest of the moss still covering the rock where he was leaning against. His other claw was holding Eve's one, but didn't noticed it so the pain was intense. Tilting his head backwards, he tried to breathe the most he could, as if the air was flowing out his body by the apperture he had in the chest. Eve didn't fully removed the arrow yet. He apprehended this moment. He knew he won't stand it

"Let it...Don't move the arrow anymore...It won't help me..."

Focusing on gradually pulling out the wooden arrow as smoothly as possible without causing any further harm to Falki, she suddenly felt his cold, weekend foot grab a hold of her fuzzy, almost featherless lower leg wrapped in a leather greave and paused to tilt her damp head up to see Falki riding in agonising pain. She had never let anyone get that close to her, let alone touch her and it being from a non tyto. Again, she began to wonder to herself if she was doing the right thing or not, What am I doing? I should leave this owl to rot and die as I intended.

"Let it... don't move the arrow anymore... It won't help me..."

Eve quickly disapproved of the small owls words, “You fool!” she hissed tartly, irritated by the moist smog settling on the fine feathers of her facial disc and dew covered grass soaking the mouse fur that cushioned her feet in her battle claws. “Do you want to die?” she questioned bluntly glaring harshly into Falkis soft, golden eyes that could hardly focus on her. “If I left you here, to die with the arrow lodged in your breast. You would surly die of starvation or of your wound becoming infected. It would be slow and painful death, something in which I do not think you want. Now. Let me pull this arrow out you coward…” seriously said Eve while she continued to slowly pull out the arrow. “When I was just an owlet, back when my parents where still alive, they use to tell me things,” paused Eve, she could feel the tip of the arrow coming to the surface of his skin, “They use to tell me that the Guardians of the Great tree of Ga’Hoole where brave… heroic, that they would rise into the sky each night to do knightly deeds. But I knew from the start that it was all racdrops,” she ended, suddenly pulling out the arrow.

Standing tall she flipped the arrow in her foot and eyed the metal head of it close to her face, “Looks like you have a Pure One souvenir to keep, Hawkie," Eve said mockingly with a smirk looking at Falki slumped against the moss covered rock.

He didn't wanted to die...He just wanted to be in peace. When she was speaking about the Guardians, about bravoure and so on, he was still feeling the arrow moving from the inside out. When the head went out, he hissed and fell on the side, holding his chest in his wings, staining them with the blood flowing warmly and softly. He grabed the rock again and tried to stand up...in vain. His legs were shaking like branches during a storm. He lost too much blood.
He was really grateful to Eve but totally ignored her last words.

"I...wanted to tell you...*cough* no...Glaux it's too painful...can't stand this" hooted Falki, holding his chest in his left wing. He wanted to thank her, but it was hard for him to do so...

Trying to find something to stop the bleeding, Falki began to crawl on the ground the best he could, moving away from Eve. He didn't wanted to be too close from her. He was feeling his chest as if it was burning. Approaching a bush he noticed, which was still green but covered by soot, he flapped his wing to remove the black snow. While catching and chewing some leaves, he stripped off the leather strap he still had around his neck and spreaded the leaves on the wound. Protecting it with the leather, he leaned his back against the muddy ground and breathed calmly. He knew those leaves were the one Skorpii, his old friend was using when he was a part from the Healing Chaw...When he was still here.

The atmosphere was calm again, just the sound of burning vegetation and the wind pushing away soot and smoke.

Lifting a little bit his head, he looked up at Eve, wondering what she was going to do right now. He was still animated by doubt, and was still freightened about the "friend" he just had on this lost battlefield, the owl who helped him, who saved his life.

Standing motionless, ghost like within the tall, damp grass and slate grey smog next to the emerald moss covered stone. She clenched onto the thin, wooden arrow in her right claw while she carefully observed Falki through the thickness of the melancholic smog which silently rolled by carrying the strong scent of firewood and death. A few moments passed before she leisurely lifted up the arrow to in front of her brilliant white facial disc rimmed with rich auburn. Glancing at it briefly her head suddenly jolted up and glared over at Falki. One would say Eve had a spine-chilling, yet robotic use of body language. Her, cold, preying eyes, as sharp as the battle claws she wore pierced through the smog and quickly focused on Falki lifting his tried head up to take a look at Eve at an awkward angle.

My enemy. This hawk. For all these moon cycles, I could have killed him there and then, when I had the chance. But yet, I did not. Does compassion still beat within my blackened heart and stir in my stone cold gizzard? Deeply thought Eve with her eyes darkly fixed on Falki and head dipped down slightly.

Unexpectedly, she quickly clamped her razor sharp claws around the arrow, cracking it effortlessly in two as if it was some helpless prey. Very small splinters of wood flew through the heavy air. Mechanically opening her claws, she let the splintered pieces slip away through her metal covered toes and hit the dank ground below before placing her foot back down on the grass to feel the moisture seep around her toes. Dampness, she hated it.

I must go. I must not stay here a second longer for none must know of what I have done here, she thought before swiftly turning on her feet with her blood red cape flowing arrogantly behind her, leaving Falki to suffer on the frozen ground and smog. A fitting end for the Guardian.

Walking slowly into the stagnant depths of the smog her claws clinked with every step over the rugged grass. The last thing that was seen of her was her vibrant cape flowing in the gentle breeze, fading into the solid grey before there was nothing, again. All was still and quite once more. Walking through the seemingly grey void, she soon came to her reflective helmet sitting on it's own in the tall grass covered in crystal dew droplets. Stopping just next to it, she glared down at it, it’s smooth, shiny surface reflected her own reflection and the moody tones of the smog that shrouded her. As the moments past staring at her own reflection she could have swore she saw herself as an owlet, back eleven years ago, when she joined the Pure Ones. "What has become of me?" she questioned to herself in a whisper staring at the clean, curved scar on the left side of her neck. The same scar her brother, Altair gave her. She then began to think about Zoltus and Ignite, the two who loved her dearly. Yet she threw it all back in their faces just because of some Pure Ones lies.

‘Zoltus’, the name rang off like a lonely wind chime in her mind, Now I understand. The reason I helped that Hawk was because of you… you are both hawks… both ex Guardians. If I could ask, I would ask ‘what have I done?’ But I believe that, not even you could surely answer that one. It is up to I. And I only…she thought with a tear coming to her right eye.

Grabbing the helmet by the beak guard her claws clashed against the cold nickel before she turned it around and slipped it over her head. Pulling down the mouse leather strap her helmet tightened around her head, she felt determined. Feeling the soaked mouse fur lined inside her helmet press against the sides of her head and into her ear slits, she muttered how she hated the damp under her breath. Turning her head to look behind her she thought about Falki while hearing him agonise in pain in the distance behind her. The smog made everything sound clotted. Clotted, like her mind that had been warped through the years.

I cannot leave him there; she thought turning around and marching back through the smog. She could practically feel the frozen, moist air drafting through her helmet, hitting her facial disc covered in small droplets of dew.

Soon, Falki once more came into view from out the gloom; his plumage was the same shade of the smog. Standing in front of him she stood proudly, her dark eyes glaring down coldly at the hawk owl through her ominous helmet that framed her darkened eyes with spikes of death. She couldn't help but feels she was going against her own will.

“Indeed. Hawkie, I have decided to stay with you… as mad as it may seem, in our current situation. For I see it as good will on my part,” sternly said Eve, her glare was unintended to be evil, it was just the way she was after years of practice, of being forced.

Still looking at her, he saw the Pure One preparing herself, taking again her gear. The end of all fears. She'll soon fly away and he'll be in peace, no more threatened by her presence, even if she helped him. He still has this fear. Trying to look normal...unless his wound, Falki followed her with his weakened stare. Everything was over. He was still under the shock of Eve helping him. He closed his eyes and tried to rest a little. This day was one of the worst he ever had. When he reopened his eyes, Eve was walking back to him. As she stopped, he was wondering what she forgot...or what he forgot, maybe.

“Indeed. Hawkie, I have decided to stay with you… as mad as it may seem, in our current situation. For I see it as good will on my part”

Really? Since he noticed she wasn't going to kill him (which was surprising...), he was reassured by her presence. In fact, she was the only help he could actually get. Falki could not help but smile a little, thinking about everything they lived, all those confrontations, those fights, those arguments, those scars...
They looked at ech other during some minutes, without a word. Yeah, it would be a mess if another POs or guardians were there.
Finally calmed down and comforted, Falki lifted his head off the dry and muddy mossy ground. With a slight smile, Falki finally tell her something:

"Thank you...yeah, thank you a lot...I never imagined to tell you this one day..."

He was quite happy. he saw her differently than usual. She had a good part hidden under her evil behaviours. So much time before discovering it...In fact, he noticed that everyone has this hidden part. Even the worst, even the most horrible PO. Even himself.
He waited a little more before continuing.

"What made you change?...If my question doesn't bother you..."

At ease, he felt more free to ask her some questions. He wanted to discover more things about her thoughts. Surprisingly, he didn't felt trapped here, in front of a PO, with a hole in his chest. He was more like enjoying this peace, maybe temporary, which appeared on this part of the battlefield, just under this dark sky.

"I can not help but ask you questions...you know, I'm quite...curious..." he said with a hushed laugh.

“What made you change? If my question doesn’t bother you…”

Eve felt her stomach roll into her gizzard before she looked up directly into Falkis golden eyes with a serious glare through the shade of her helmet. The question struck her where it hurt the most, the reasoning which had not been touched since she was an owlet. Searching deep inside her mind she knew she could not find the answer through logic, she knew her act was spiritual, which irritated her greatly. Narrowing her dark eyes in frustration she swiftly twisted her head up to look at the slate grey smog filled sky to think for a moment. The towering conifers scratched and curled into the sky above her with treetops fading into the obscurity. The moon could not be seen, but the light still lingered illuminating the smog, lighting the pale grey reflections in her dark, glossy eyes. The smell of death was still drifting silently in the gentle breeze.

“That is a good question Falki, I had a feeling you would ask this. But sadly it is not one that I can answer clearly. Because it is something in I have yet to understand myself,” coolly said Eve in a distant voice, as if she was talking to the smog itself.

"I cannot help but ask you questions... you know I'm quite... curious..." Falki said with a hushed laugh.

Eve titled her head back down to rest her eyes on Falki once more, gazing into Falkis eyes she wondered. Curious, as so am I, she thought narrowing her gaze.

"It is fine to ask such questions, after all… I have been so quiet, soo secretive all these years,” said Eve, her words rolling off her beak. “All that I know of my act of kindness is that I felt that it had to be done. Something told… No. I felt it, I felt it in my gizzard even after all these years I thought it was dead, cold as a frosted stone as I was taught. After all. I have been in the Pure Ones for one hundred and forty three moon cycles now,” said Eve with a smirk.

The question was a gear, and this gear just drove her thoughts. She was thinking on herself. Falki observed her, lost in her mind. Something seemed to worry her, as something unknow that she just felt in her body.
Eve was hiding so much things in her deepest ends that she wasn't knowing herself what were those feelings, those thoughts. It was good for her to think a little about her past life...or maybe not so far ago.
The hawk owl followed her gaze, looking at the sky, everywhere she looked at. Nothing. Was the worry about the other POs? Would they come? As she looked back at him, he tilted his head on the side, waiting for her words. Now, he wasn't scared anymore.
She calmed down before opening her beak.

“That is a good question Falki, I had a feeling you would ask this. But sadly it is not one that I can answer clearly. Because it is something in I have yet to understand myself,”

She was really special! But such a messy mind couldn't be that easy to read...
When Falki replied, she tilted her head aswell, peering at his yellow eyes. He was surpried. What was she thinking about now?

"It is fine to ask such questions, after all… I have been so quiet, soo secretive all these years, All that I know of my act of kindness is that I felt that it had to be done. Something told… No. I felt it, I felt it in my gizzard even after all these years I thought it was dead, cold as a frosted stone as I was taught. After all. I have been in the Pure Ones for one hundred and forty three moon cycles now,”

"Such a hard feeling you've got there. I can't explain it. I'm amazed how you changed." he hooted calmly. After a short silence, he continued, "...and by the way, It's quite long for a PO service. I wasn't guardian for a long time. I left because it became messy and suspicious. Everyone seemed spied because of traitors and PO special task squadrons...sort of assassins, I think. Like Areska!" smiled Falki because it reminded him the day they 'met'. "...I can't help again but compare him to you. Nevermind...it's a part of the past." concluded the grey owl.

His wound was less painful since he used those plants as drugs. They were really effective. Everything wen better than expected. trying to move on his legs, Falki rolled on his side and lifted his little dirty body and stood on his legs. Hiolding the bush to keep his balance, he turned again to face Eve.
"Feel better now...We should move away from here. I'll try to walk a little " said Falki while limping a little.

"Feel better now... We should move away from here. I'll try to walk a little."

Through the ever shifting smog, Eve threw a thoughtful glance at the gloomy forest towering before her on her left before looking back at Falki with an idea in mind, “Indeed. We must go. Otherwise I will be tracked down by another squad and we will both end up being killed,” said Eve coolly, before looking back into the depths of the forest again, a sea of evergreen coniferous trees that faded into the unknown and undergrowth comprising of nothing but emerald green dew covered ferns. She was thinking, thinking of what to do next and how Falki could mange.

Because of the smog hanging over head, there was a single drop of sunlight that hit the vegetation. Eve knew very well of what was hiding within the darkness. She also knew very well of her keen eyesight and acute hearing within the darkness, it was her element. Darkness is what she sort for and darkness was what she became; ‘The Ghost of the night, and the demon in their nightmares’.

Without looking back at Falki she gave a steely glare at the wall of trees before her, “We must go into that forest. As dangerous as it may seem in your condition we have no other choice; we have the advantage, the smog gives us good cover and it dampers the noise, covering the sight completely.”

Turning her head to the right to look at Falki she reached for the silver clasp on her cape and swiftly pulled it over her head, clear of her helmet encase the razor sharp spikes tore it, she had recently sharpened them for the battle. The blood red silk flowed like a flag through the air twirling the smog as it rolled off the fabric before resting elegantly on the damp ground.

“I must take it off, less chance of being spotted by something. Today, I do not want anyone knowing I am a Pure One, not in that forest with you wounded and no squad.” said Eve, tucking her cape into the right side of her breast plate. “Now, let’s go, we have already hung around here long enough,” sternly said Eve, glancing at the forest once more to check for noises before swinging her head background to look at Falki, “And if we are attacked by any of the inhabitants, take cover, I will do all the fighting which you have seen me do little of,” gloated Eve, peeling her gaze arrogantly away from Falki. "You will see what I am capable of, I have not trained all my life for nothing," said Eve boldly, titling her head up she gazed proudly at the dark forest.

Eve then began to walk slowly towards the forest so Falki could keep up and stay close. With each step her hooked claws clinked fearsomely against the damp ground with her usual strict walk. She became closer and closer to the still conifers ahead of her; the fog subdued everything around her as the tall trees seemed to loom above and leave her with a feeling of isolation. The crackling flames had faded, only the smog was left hung low over the deceased bodies that lay slain across the damp clearing.

“Indeed. We must go. Otherwise I will be tracked down by another squad and we will both end up being killed,”

His feathers puffed up slightly when Eve whispered her last word. War was still going on. And every moment they were wasting on this battlefield was a precious minute for their lives. Even being a PO couldn't save her this time if some Pure Tytos had the bad idea to come here.

“We must go into that forest. As dangerous as it may seem in your condition we have no other choice; we have the advantage, the smog gives us good cover and it dampers the noise, covering the sight completely.”

"Yeah, no doubt it will be safer..." answered Falki, anxious about this walk in the dark. So much things happened since he came here, when the sky was still bright and the moon bathed in the waxing moon light. So much happened, so much changed. His mind was still dazzled by those discussions he had with Eve. His reflexion got interrupted by the noises coming from behind him: Eve was getting rid of her gear. *better like this*
Then they walked ahead into darkness, through this gloomy ambiance, searching for a safer place. Falki still needed some answers. Reaching the first burned silhouettes rising to the smoke clouds, the hawk owl finally opened his beak.
"What if some of your...'friends' had the bad idea to come over here?"

After a short silence, Eve finally answered.
“And if we are attacked by any of the inhabitants, take cover, I will do all the fighting which you have seen me do"little of.
You will see what I am capable of, I have not trained all my life for nothing,"

Smiling slightly at her words, he knew she was capable of taking them down easily...As they weren't able to kill him when he trespassed the Stronghold entrance.
"Hehe...I know right..."
And paradoxically, he felt safer with her than any other owl. The best excuse would have been to tell those dumb PO soldiers he was her captive...But if they were found by Guardians first, he could tell them she saved his life. In both cases, everything was prepared in his head.

Unfortunately, he had not yet thought of something worse...

Breathing the cool dank air, Eve could feel the dew begin to gradually settle on her oiless feathers. Creeping slowly through the head level ferns and gloomy smog that suspended spookily low over the moss covered tree roots, she made sure to carefully place her wet claws on the decomposing vegetation to avoid stepping on any frail twigs. Smoothly turning her head one way then the other she vigilantly scanned every inch of the vegetation with her sharp earing; she picked up everything from the icy breeze blowing gently through the moist pine needles to insects buzzing amongst the obscure darkness. Her sight was near useless, everything from within fifteen pytes faded into one murky colour, ash grey. The smell of smoke and death still drifted mournfully towards her through the air, Eve knew just to the north-west of them was the heart of the dreaded battlefield that she had left unattended for so long now. Gazing deeply into the nothingness she narrowed her cheerless eyes as her cold gizzard filled with uncertainty that she had never felt before. Sighing, she threw a quick glance of pounder at Falki limping closely behind on her right side, she thought about him for a brief moment before turning her head proudly away. She thought about her duties, which was to make sure this part of the land was seized before the end of the night, but she then thought about Falki and why she was with him. What made her change? It left her mind in knots, the same resurfacing knots from when she was an owlet. When, she first joined the Pure Ones.

Eve turned her brilliant white facial disk towards Falki once more, with sullen eyes her eerie appearance almost glowed through the dreary smog, “Stay as quite as possible,” whispered Eve, feeling a sense of sadness roll up inside her gizzard.

Falki seemed blend in with the smog, only his happy, golden eyes shone through. Eve after staring at him for a brief moment looked away. Apon turning her head she caught a murmur of a voice to her right, an echo from the darkness. On first thought, she thought she was hearing the voices from the past again, her parents talking to her from beyond the grave. Telling her of the evil she had become.

“Stop!” Eve commanded, throwing her ruddy wing out across Falkis path, “I heard them… they are coming,” said Eve, alert and trying to peer past the smog.

Leading quietly their walk, Falki instantly froze when Eve asked him to stop. *Frink...no...not now...*

“I heard them… they are coming...”

The grey owl knew she had a better hearing than him. He wondered if she was just thinking about something or if it was real. At this precise moment, he notice the absence of his knife in his scabbard. Turning his head slowly, he thought about his knife he forgot on the battlefield when Eve threw it away. He finally turned over to face her.

"My knife! I forgot my kni..."

Cutting short his comment, Falki leaned his head on the side with his interrogative expression. Eve went out of focus and his gaze switched on something behind the Pure One. After a short blank, puffing his feathers again, the hawk owl jumped to Eve in a blink of an eye.

"They're coming for us...Beware Eve..."

Staying en guard on his weakened legs, Falki feared this moment. And his nightmare came true.

“My knife! I forgot my kni…”

Haughtily folding her ruddy wing back to her right leather strapped flank, she quickly swivelled her head around to behind herself and harshly set her cold eyes burning with frustration down upon Falki. Before she opened her pale beak to tell him to be quiet, her hard gaze melted into a look of disbelief as she noticed Falki fearfully focusing on something in front of her in the deaths of the boggy darkness.

“Do well with that Glaux has given you,” Eve whispered, assuring Falki who seemed worried of what was to come, “You are Guardian, are you not? A protector of all that are good?”

“They’re coming for us… Beware Eve…”

She did not answer Falki but instead gave a swift nod in his direction. In front of me? Impossible! Eve questioned herself surprised; swinging her head around her eyes grew wide and peered into the murky obscurity only to see a vast forest of trees shrouded in solid smog, Humm… fair enough. All that I cannot see, I can certainly here from this range. Not like any of you tools could out smart me, smugly thought Eve. Quickly growing still she began to listen to any echo the darkness would give her, They have moved. Since when? And how so quickly without me noticing them? They must have moved when I looked away. Crafty. But three can play that game of death, thought Eve with a faint grin curling on the sides of her beak.

Slowly turning her head one way then the next she scanned the undergrowth and quickly triangulated their whereabouts through the sound damping smog, “Indeed they are on out tails. There are two of them, and they somehow moved from east to north without me noticing them, must have flown. They know we are here…” Eve explained remotely with a hushed voice. “Follow me,” added Eve simply with a flick of her right wing, she did not want to give away details of her heading west away from the battlefield encase they heard.

“Do well with that Glaux has given you! You are Guardian, are you not? A protector of all that are good?”

"Sure I'm...The situation is a bit...different tho..." replied innocently Falki. He shook his head to get rid of the mist slowly laying on their feathers as they were immobile. Turning on himself, looking in every direction, his gaze tried to hang on the finest proof of some hostile presence. Nothing.

“Indeed they are on out tails. There are two of them, and they somehow moved from east to north without me noticing them, must have flown. They know we are here…Follow me”

Slowly steeping forward, he followed the Tyto. This atmosphere was too empty and every move Falki did wasn't really stealth. In spite of his low accurate night vision, Falki felt a presence near them in his gizzard...Not only Eve. Some cold and threatening steps lightly echoed in the damp air. Approaching Eve, the hawk owl kept his calm as they were going further into the dark and oppressing forest.

"I'm sure they're just next to us..." he whispered, turning his head toward the source of the insignificant noises...A twig crackled. His presumptions became true.
"Here he's!" snapped Falki, only noticing one of the guards. Hissing as the intruder was approaching, the hawk owl stood in defensive position.
"Eve!"

Eve calmly turned her head to the left and stared poker faced at the lone solider through the dark obscurity of her portentous helmet, Only One? Eve examined, tilting her head slightly down making her gaze look more baleful, Humm… They must have seen me helping Falki, and therefore already suspect me as a turnfeather. I know the other one is behind me, somewhere; if only I could just turn my head to triangulate his position… plotted Eve, trying not to give any free hints of her cunning plan away.

“Greetings soldiers, I see that you are both on a patrol…” ominously paused Eve, shifty eyed and grinning softly, she let her hint gently soak into their foolish minds knowing that she was the one that summoned the briefing during when the night was young.

Unfolding her starboard wing she presented Falki, “As you can clearly see, I have finally captured Falki. He was helplessly wounded in the middle of the smoking battlefield, with an injured port wing and an arrow lodged lightly in his upper breast,” darkly lied Eve.

“And since the battle is over, I am taking him back to our outpost personally, as a reward after how troublesome he has been these past few months, as I am sure that the High Tyto would love to see him in flesh and brought in by my talons alone,” proudly said Eve, quickly throwing a irrigated glance at Falki for making so much noise before.

“The only reason I patched him up earlier was so I could get the information I needed out of him, and it was a success, he told me everything we need to know about the Guardians next movements,” said Eve, turning back to the solider with the triangulated position of the other solider she needed.

“So, go back to your posts, this area is clear, me and the others made sure of that,” ordered Eve, hoping her lie would work.

The other Tyto was hidden within the smog laden forest, Finally, I have found him, and he is behind me, not good, not good at all. These two obviously have been trained in stealth, I can tell, analysed Eve, knowing that there was only one of her to protect another who was wounded and herself from two others. This is far from over; they have to surround me to defeat me. It takes four to surround a foe in close combat.

Listening to their discussions, Falki walked sideway just next to Eve. He was uneasy, feeling alone for some odd reasons...Myabe not odd, just real facts like the one he was the only non-Tyto. He looked around, hearing the two owls discussing in the background.
*Is he really alone?* thought Falki, narrowing his eyes into the ambient darkness. Suddently bowing, he wrapped his wings around his chest because of a suddent pain. He felt as a lightning passing through his body.
"Can we go now...Can't hold this too much. I need some real medici..."
The guardian stopped immediately. He almost choked on his words. Falki realized he compromised their cover. At this moment, he looked up at Eve and moved back.
"Better go" he whispered. In a blink of an eye, a ghost-like owl jumped on him noiselessly and tackled him to the ground. Carelessly dragging him, he tried to hold Falki still.
"W--watch your back Ev...Ahh!"
Kicking the hawk owl on the ground to stun him, the Pure-One didn't noticed that the ground was made of wet humus. After shaking his head to remove the dirt off his face, Falki flapped his wings to disturb his opponent. Then he leaned his head on the side and catched the owl's leg with his powerful beak, tightening as hard as he could.
Hissing fiercely, the Pure One shook his leg, but in vain. 'Get off me you little weakling!' yelled the bited owl. He moved so much that his leg broke under the constraints exerced by his moves and Falki's beak. Loosing his grip, Falki stood up and looked at Eve. Her moves were more...'professionnal' than just a bite. But this bite was enough to down a PO...Almost. Not paying attention to his enemy, Falki got knocked down. 'You'll see now who's the strongest!' yelled the PO, pulling out of his scabbard a short, serrated knife.

”Traitor!” furiously shrieked the tall soldier, the screech echoed and distorted throughout the thick smog, “We should kill her!”
 
Squaring up to his shorter superior, he rashly separated his metal adorned toes with a resonant ‘chinggg’ in an attempt to intimidate Eve, and suddenly lunged forward, striving to viciously down strike Eve’s unprotected neck through the face opening of her helmet.
 
Eve, knowing to well that she was at a size disadvantage decided to swiftly hop back and to the right, dodging the soldier’s simple frontal attack his poorly maintained claw coarsely scrapped against Eve’s bevelled breast plate, causing him to slip downwards off Eve’s breast plate and stumble, leaving him wide open for attack.
 
“You should have paid more attention to your training sessions,” lectured Eve, quickly spotting her chance, “it might have saved your life and ended mine.”  
 
Without delay, while the soldier was busy picking himself back up from the ground, Eve quickly reached down and pulled out her hidden cape tucked away between her breast plate and lower right flank with her beak and slung it over the soldier to confuse him. The striking silk crimson cape caught the stray light and flowed beautifully through the dank air, covering the soldier's head completely. 
 
“Forgive me!” boldly declared Eve.
 
With a solid steely focus, Eve's dark eyes glared at the disoriented soldier desperately trying to tear the cape from his head through the shadow of her helmet scanning for a window to attack. 
 
While his comrade watched helpless from behind in horror with Falki lying still on the moist ground, slowly slipping away into an unconscious state under the solider seemingly heavy right battle claw.
 
As the shredded silky cape slipped from the panic stricken soldier to in front of his face, Eve poised her right hooked claw and trusted for his exposed throat before he could even gather his bearings. Tear through the thin fabric caught in the attack, the cold nickel unexpectedly sunk deep into his warm flesh, his body cringed from the pain before he was brutally forced to the ground by Eve in a still silence. The soldier, with Eve’s claw through his blood polling throat tried to call out to his comrade petrified from what he has just witness, but all slipped into vain as all that came out was a half gurgled mutter saturated in his own blood.
 
The other soldier on an impulsive whim made a suicidal attempt and threw himself at Eve, releasing Falki, “You killed our own, you murderous demon!” he cried.
 
Eve heard the metal ‘clink’ of the soldier’s claw move of Falki before his screeching, and so spun around and took to the thick air earlier then her foe had suspected, striking fear into him. Her blood drenched claw slipped effortlessly out from the deep gashes leaving a thin trail of blood follow her up into the air from each of her metal talons.  Dodging the attack yet again causing her foe to blunder under her, he looked up in shock just as Eve kicked out her left claw striking the soldier’s facial disk, tearing most of his right eye out along with slashing the rest of his feathers, flesh and ear on the right side of his face next to his eye with her hooked battle claws. Splatters of blood, flesh sprayed across the ferns like heavy rain and shredded feathers floated to the ground. The solider fell to the moss covered ground shrieking in pain and fainted while Eve landed in front of Falki.
 
“We must leave now, the others would have heard that,” said Eve, wondering how he could walk with her, We are both going to die here, how am I going to help him?