THE LAST STAND
"We're counting on you, Felix!"
"Defeat them for us!"
"We'll catch up on you!"
"Show the Barrel King who is boss!"
Everything is black, and these are the words echoing in his mind. The Bro Army, his friends Ryan the gunner, Toby the assassin, the twin brawlers Ian and Antoinette*, the archer Ken, and of course his beloved mage girlfriend Marzia… they all went this far with him to face the Barrels in the last stand.
They're all desperately fighting for their lives and for everyone else's sake.
And he just lay there…helpless.
'What am I doing?' He thought. 'They're all depending on me to end this diabolic tyranny caused by that dam Barrel King!' He yelled mentally.
'Let's just face it. We're doomed.' Felix started to lose consciousness.
"Agh!" Ryan got thrown to the wall of the throne room. As he stood up, shattered metal and wood surrounded his feet. He realized that he broke his rifle.
"Shit."
"Ryan! Are you okay?" Marzia yelled from afar as she tries desperately to block the Statues with her magic barrier.
"Yeah." He croaked weakly as he drunkenly swayed from side to side due to all the impacts of the crashes he received.
"But Felix is still down."
Marzia froze, crestfallen. She didn't realize that her barrier is already breaking. It shattered, blowing her away and crashing into the wall beside a damaged Antoinette.
"Hey…" she whispered.
"Antoinette!" Marzia scrambled to the brawler despite the pain. But said brawler raised a hand to stop her.
"I'm…just…fine. Try…getting Felix up. He's…our last…hope."
"But, what about you?"
"Don't…worry…about me. Worry…about Felix…if he doesn't…get up…" The brawler wasn't able to finish her sentence because she passed out.
"…Antoinette?" Marzia called. No response.
The mage just bowed her head.
"Out of my way!" Ian charged through another hundred Barrels, turning them into a million, broken wood splinters. Ken and Toby just followed his lead. They got to the throne room, which is now a desert of wood.
"God." Ken's jaw dropped.
Ian looked around to see Marzia kneeling by an unconscious Antoinette.
"Antoinette!" Ian rushed to the girls. He held his sister in his arms and leaned on her chest. It heaved up and down peacefully He sighed a sigh of relief.
"Thank goodness."
Raucous laughter destroyed the intimacy of the siblings. Everyone turned around, except Felix and Antoinette, who still lay unconscious.
The Barrel King.
"You fools! You think you can stop me, huh? I am the King for dang's sake! No matter how strong you may be—" He snapped his fingers, summoning a colossal group of Barrels.
"—no matter how good you may be—" He snapped them again, this time, summoning heavy duty Statues that seem to have strength increased tenfold of that of ordinary statues.
The Barrel King smirked as if he's sure enough to win.
"—you'll all die here! Minions, charge!" He pointed to the exhausted fighters and the King's army rampaged, ready to end everything.
Everyone prepared to counter attack…
Except for one…
Ryan hid in the shadows as what seemed to be the final battle commenced. With the last of his strength and effort, he slowly staggered over to Felix, in hopes of waking him up and getting him to beat their enemies.
He held his friend's hand and leaned over to his ear.
"Come on, Felix. I know you're better than this. You can't give up now, man. What about your promise to Stephano? You told him that you'd avenge his parents and his home, right? What happened? Did you forget everything? Didn't you swear that one day, you'll defeat that damn wooden piece of shit? That you'll be a hero?" Ryan started to tear up. His face contorted in frustration.
"What now? GET UP! What about the people who died just to get you here, especially Stephano?! You would just have them die in vain! Everyone's fighting for their lives! Marzia, Ken, Toby, Ian, Antoinette, the Bro Army…" Hot tears flowed down freely on his bruised cheeks.
"GET THE FUCK UP FELIX!"
Felix found himself in an unfamiliar place. Tall, sugar maple trees with vivid, red leaves towered the sky. Warm, rich sunlight passed through the leaves. Flowers of nearly every kind and color carpeted the ground.
" What is this place?" Felix turned around a few times to process what is going on.
"Ellos, Felix."
He froze. The deep, croaky voice, the greeting…
All of it is so strikingly familiar. His eyes stung at the pleasantly nostalgic memory.
It is no doubt…
"Stephano! You're alive!" The blonde ran to the golden colored figure, only to stop at seeing at the sad smile plastered on Stephano's face.
"Bro..? What's wrong?" He asked.
"Why are you giving up?"
"Me? Giving up? On what?" Felix is so confused.
"Did you remember what you promised me a long time ago, Felix?"
Promise?
He stood there, staring off into the distance. He made a promise to Stephano?
Suddenly, a soft, vague voice resounded in his mind. It sounded familiar.
" …up…Felix…."
What?
"…the…up…Felix!"
That voice…
"GET THE FUCK UP FELIX!"
All of a sudden, the voice became all clear in his head.
It's Ryan.
"…Ryan?"
Everything came back.
"Do you remember now? Your promise?" Stephano asked him again.
"Yeah. That…I'll avenge your parents and hometown. That I'll someday be a hero." His voice started to get louder at every word.
"That's right." Stephano smirked.
"THAT I'LL DEFEAT THE BARREL KING!"
Suddenly, the wind blew harshly around him, scattering leaves everywhere and blurring his vision of Stephano.
"Stephano! No! Don't leave me!" The thought of losing a friend again is just too painful to think of. He started to cry.
But the golden man smiled and extended something out to him.
"Take this sword. I'm its keeper, but you're the one able to use it. Take it, and bring back peace."
He disappeared with the dying wind.
Felix's arm shot out.
"STEPHANO!"
Felix awoke with a start and with pain. He sat up and saw Ryan lying down beside him. He's still breathing so he breathed out, relieved. As he stood up, he felt something heavy hit his thigh. What he saw surprised him.
The sword Stephano gave him in the dream.
Before he could process, loud, sadistic laughter caught his attention. When he saw it, pure rage surged through him.
" Morning, sleeping beauty! Look what I've got." The Barrel King swept his hand across the room to reveal his friends hanging on the wall. Luckily they're conscious, except Antoinette.
"What did you do to them?" Felix growled.
The King slicked his hair coolly. "Oh, nothing. I just made sure they wouldn't interfere with our one-on-one. Too bad there's not enough space for the gunner dude." He grinned devilishly.
Felix unsheathed his sword and pointed at the King. "En garde! Let's get this over with, you fiend."
The Barrel King released his broadsword. "Fine."
They started a fiery duel that holds the fate of everyone. Felix and the King exchanged lightning quick slashes and moves. At first, the King received many injuries. But then, he gained the upper hand. The King showed such skill in swordsmanship that Felix hadn't seen in his entire life. Never before has Felix seen a swordsman greater than him in…almost everything. The King has speed, agility, flexibility, strength and skill that can rival Felix's. But the King's prowess is nearly unbeatable.
Felix staggered and fell down repeatedly. He stood up, only to be brought down again. He had blood oozing from his mouth and head and bruises nearly everywhere. His clothes are all torn and his hair points towards all directions. He's already exhausted where he's reaching the limit. He's panting really hard and his body is starting to lag to the point where he uses his sword as support.
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! You sure are foolish enough—wait, no. You're the worst idiot ever! You come here, challenging me to a gruesome duel and claiming to be the one who can defeat me!" He walked over to Felix and kicked him. The blonde fell limply to the floor. As he struggled to rise, the King just stepped on him and tugged harshly on his hair.
He whispered, " I had to admit that I was scared of you at first. Thought you can beat me? Well, who's laughing now?" The brown colored monarch raised his sword over Felix's head, ready to strike.
"Game over, Felix." He smiled as wide and sadistic as possible as he brought down the sword.
Felix could just close his eyes.
'I'm really done for. I'm sorry.'
Clang!
Instead of the sound of metal on flesh and bone, metal against metal resounded.
"WHAT?!" The King seethed in anger. The sword is blocked by something that looks like hard crystal. It seems to be connected to something. He looked to see his prisoners freed and Marzia is the one protecting Felix.
"Don't you dare hurt him." Marzia's voice sounded dangerously low. Their eyes also burned with intense anger.
Ryan shot the King with a revolver. The King dodged but still got his arm badly impaled. He screamed in pain and clutched his arm.
"Why, you—" He charged Felix's allies only to miss as they dispersed. They started an all-out attack on the King. He got overwhelmed as he tried to block attacks from every direction. Sure he can handle the twin brawlers and Toby, but the long range attackers—Marzia, Ryan and Ken—are the ones he can't evade easily with speed and agility. He has to give maximum effort.
"What's…with this…strength?"
He tried to unleash his full power, only for Marzia to cancel it out. The Barrel King was stunned. Too stunned to notice Toby, Ian and Antoinette to crash him to the wall. He was able to stop it and finally took them down in one fell swoop.
But he learned too late that he missed something.
He felt immense nausea as Felix's blade met his throat.
"This sword…"
"None of your business." There's a hint of sadistic pleasure in Felix's voice.
" Goodbye. "
Blood spilled everywhere on the floor as a horrible and gory body lay on the floor. Toby and Ken nearly threw up.
Meanwhile, outside the mansion, all the Barrels and Statues just fell apart, as if they lost life. The Bro Army tried to process what just happened.
Realization in 5…
4…
3…
2…
1…
"FELIX DID IT!"
"WE WON!"
The outside was filled with victory cries and cheers. They all rushed in the mansion to celebrate with their heroes.
Inside, his allies cheered as well. Marzia and Antoinette hugged Felix tightly while crying. The rest of his best friends did some crazy victory dance. Soon, the hugging trio joined in.
The Bro Army found them celebrating in the throne room. They all joined in the crazy dance and carried Felix and his friends and stormed out of the castle.
The sun started to shine from the gray sky and upon them. Felix looked up.
'I've done it, Stephano.'
They celebrated as soon as they got home.
He spent the rest of the night with his friends. He thanked them for everything they've done. He then ended the night with a proposal.
"Marzia, will you marry me?"
A/N: Another one-shot complete!
*Antoinette is obviously a gender bent Anthony. I can't leave Marzia to be the only girl, geez.
Sorry for the crappy ending. I'm just so random at times. I did this at late night , I'm sorry. ^^;
No pairings as well, sorry. :/ (Unless you consider this Pewdie x Cutie, considering the proposal at the end _ )
Please review. By the way, I might start taking requests by first week of August.