Ai's part!
in a white one piece with red laces quietly hums a tune without a care in the world. The gentle mountain winds rubs
her short, ruby hair, making it flutter freely in the air. Her scarlet pupil, ripe with energy, glows as she savors the view provided by the cliff; the peaceful town of Arludeia, with green fields as far as the eye can see, with the river’s crystal clear water flowing down the water. The view takes one breath away. As in a trance, the girl continues to hum her song whilst taking in the sight.

Breaking her daze was a call, not too far away. Carefully but surely, the girl stands up, and broke into a jog towards the source of the call. As she gets closer to the origin, the visage of the one calling her becomes visible. The one who called for her was a woman with similar features with the girl; ruby red pupil, scarlet hair, as if on fire. Though, she keeps it long, contrary to the girl. The lady styles long, red, slightly pleated skirt tied with a bow, a white jacket and braided hair, accompanied with black ribbons.

Next to the lady in white is a man sitting cross-legged. His height towers over the lady next to him, with a somewhat muscular build. His attire consists of a blue greatcoat, black trousers and a hat lies on top of his head. The back of his palm features an insignia; A shield on two sides and a pair of swords crossing the other. A broad smile crept on his face as the figure of the little child came into view. The couple of male and female sits together under the shade of the tree.

Energetically running over, sometimes skipping and hopping around, the little girl eager to join the pair of man and woman. But right before arriving, the girl tripped over and fell. Alarmed, the woman hurled over to the child while the man broke into a laugh.

“She takes over you, that clumsiness.” The slightly muscled man said, chuckling.
“No, that obviously came from you.” The concerned mother picks up her daughter, “Are you alright Kari?”

Her eyes starts to glass, but trying to look tough, the girl hold back her tears and nods fervently. Unbeknownst to her, her snot is leaking out of her tiny nose. On her head was a red mark, clumsily closed with her small palms.

Letting out a small laugh, the mom holds her hand and helps her get up, and the pair of mother and child sits next to the father…. Well, the lady did. The daughter sat on the man’s thigh, as it is her one and only special spot.

“It sure is peaceful here.” Breaking the silence was the mother, gazing at the blue sky.
“It’s a great break from the constant fighting.” The man replies, sipping a bottle of water. “It’s almost like the calm before the storm.”
Hearing this, the woman balled her hand and dunked the fist on the head of the dad. “No raising flags!”
“What was that for?!” the man responds as he massages his head. Not that it hurt him.
“Hahaha, Mum is bullying Dad!” Kari laughs as she rolls on the ground playfully.

The family of three continued the rest of their day joyfully playing around. Face of bliss apparent on each of their faces, fully enjoying the moment of peace. But peace is brittle.

As dusk approaches, the family was visited by a knight in full armor, on top of his horse. The next moment, the warrior announces;

“Your presence is needed on the battlefield, Prince Teito.”

------

No longer dressed casually, Teito in a suit of armor commented. His signature blue greatcoat still hangs on his shoulder. Contrary to the soldiers around him, he isn’t fully in a dress of armor--- he only has a cuirass, a pair of greaves and gauntlets. The rest are fully exposed; his hardened skin there for all to see. Hanging on his neck is a pendant, with a picture of his wife and daughter.

“Things are looking grim… huh.” Teito commentates as the overviews the battlefield.

The battlefield in front of him was… messy. Every step you take, you see a new corpse. Guts of the fallen everywhere. Some was beheaded, lost all of his limbs and bled to death. One passed away sitting--- with arrows on every inch of his body. The ground was soft from absorbing too much blood; the mud of the earth and blood was uncanny. Fire can be seen raging at the camps ahead, infiltrated by the enemy. Truly a sight of a battlefield.

“The enemy flanked us from the side and caught us completely by surprise.” The knight next to him reports.
“Seems like we still can turn the tides; you inform our allies. I’ll flank them in return.”
“Alone?” The knight asks in shock.
“Yes. Any problems?”
“No…no sir.”
“Alright. Get going then.”

The knight turns and gallops away upon receiving the prince’s demands. Teito meanwhile unsheathes his sword, held it upright, and brought it close to his chest. Closing his eyes, he muttered, “Mika. Kari. Give me strength.”
Abruptly opening his eyes, Teito roared a fearsome war cry, echoing throughout the battlefield, and breaking into a charge towards the enemy lines.

-----

“Hey mom, where’s dad?” Kari asks in curiosity.
“Dad’s… on an adventure.” Mika hesitatingly answers. Technically she isn’t lying, but Kari’s pure eyes makes it difficult not to lie.
Innocently believing her mother, Kari went “oh~” and going silent for a few seconds. Later, she asks again, “When will he be back?”

The question freezes her in place. Mika dazes outside the window, the veil of night covering the skies, decorated with bright little stars. In all honesty, she always worries on her husband, despite knowing his occupation and his social standing. Their marriage wasn’t really blessed by the King either; which is the reason why they’re living in a cottage, not in the palace. Despite that, they were happy together, settling in a relatively calm area.

“Mom?” Kari’s calls snap Mika back to reality.
“Soon, dear.” Mika answers, as she hopes her answer would be the truth. “Nevermind that, how about some cake?”
“Woah, cake! Yay!” Excited for cake, Kari bounces all over the cottage.
Mika serves it on the table, as Kari’s saliva overflows, eyes fixed on the cake. Suddenly, as if remembering something, Kari raises her head (with great difficulty) to tell her mother “Save some for Dad!”
A smile crept to the mother of one’s face, answering, “Will do.”

----

The battlefield is a noisy place. Swords clashing, dying screams, war cries, arrows flying. All of these sounds mixed to produce one thing; chaos. In the midst of it all, is a man, fighting between life and death. Constantly dodging, blocking, countering, with one sole purpose in mind; win, and survive. Scratch that--- survive. For the sake of reuniting with his loved ones: Kari, Mika. He swears that he won’t fall here.

Surrounded with enemies on all side, Teito brandishes his trusty sword, the other broke a long time ago. The air was tense… none dares to make a move. The fact apparent to everyone; the first strike is vital. But with fatigue weighing him down, Teito instinctively knew that he can’t win in a battle of attrition. While he still has energy, he should beat them down. So to break the stalemate, the hero pretends to slip.

Hook, line, sinker. One of the opposing soldiers lunges, aiming for a stab. With his opportunity open, Teito twists his body around and delivering a clean cleave on the neck of the soldier. As his head rolls, other adversaries charge, one after another, on all sides.

Diving under the first to charge, Teito delivers a stab under the enemy’s helmet, straight through his head. Without a wasting a moment, the warrior lifts the corpse and charge towards the other soldiers, knocking anyone down in his path. Unable to lift the corpse anymore, the hero stumbles but quickly recovers with a roll, his beloved sword in hand.

Two soldiers rush at him as he recovers from his fall, their swords falling on him. In the nick of time, he blocks both swords. While his enemies try to force him down, Teito lets their swords slide down his own; giving him freedom to kick one of the soldiers back. The other one fell next to Teito due to the momentum; the warrior spared no moment executing him.

Intimidated, the remaining adversaries stayed back. Despite his exhaustion, the hero taunts them, gesturing them to come. Seeing this, the soldiers broke into a run--- retreating.

The chaos of the battlefield has come to a halt, and instead becoming eerily quiet. As if on cue, the stars in the sky started falling one after another--- a meteor shower. As if to congratulate his survival… Teito has survived.

----

The silence of the village was broken by sudden roars, screams and cries. Smoke rises as houses catches fire. Without rhyme nor reason, the village is being sieged.

The noise outside wakes up Mika with a start. At first dazed and confused, but upon the sight of wreck outside her cottage, her brain goes into full alert. The first thing that popped into her head was Kari. Instantly, she broke into a run, hurtling her way to her room. Relief washed over her face as her eyes lay on the figure of Kari, peacefully sleeping in her bed, the ruckus outside unable to wake the child.

With a little shake, Kari’s small eyelids open. Drowsy, she tilts her head as to why her mother wakes her up in the dead of the night… until she hears the ruckus outside, and with her mother’s anxious face. Her mother puts a finger on her lips signaling her to keep quiet, and the child nods. Led by her mother, she follows her outside her house where the see the origin of the ruckus.

The chaos is at it’s apex. Men in green are plundering everything and everyone; killing without remorse, destroying property, looting valuables. Without rhythm, without reason. Screams, roars, cries resounds in the air, whilst the smell of blood, steel and smoke is thick in the air, choking anyone who breathes them in. By common bandits… or so it would seem. Unknown to the pair of mother and daughter, the bandits are there for a reason--- for them.

One of the purple bandits caught the family from behind sneakily, gave a kick right onto Mika’s back making her fall flat to the ground. Immediately, Kari kneels and worriedly holds her mother. Writhing in pain, she lies on the ground as she tries to catch the face of her assaulter. His appearance leaves her holding her breath.

Her assaulter has impressive stature, towering over the mother and child. His presence covers the other bandits--- this one was the leader. Clothed in purple robes that seemingly glistens with the presence of the moon, with brown skin… sight of him makes one quiver in one’s boots. A greater shock and despair washes over the woman as she spots an insignia on his shoulder; the Royal Hi-Knights.

The man breaks out a malicious grin.

-----

The sounds of a horse trampling the ground can be heard from a distance. Gradually, the sound gets closer and closer. Teito takes a stance in alarm, despite his exhaustion. Despite how the battlefield raged and roared, no wounds is visible on his body--- except scratches here and there. However, seeing the warrior on the horse, Teito lowers his swords as he relaxes his body; it was his friend, Renau.

Renau fought at the other end of the battlefield, and was almost routed before Teito appeared behind the enemy lines as he wrought chaos. Taking advantage of the confusion, Renau rallies his allies as they fought once more. This time, to victory. Once it was over, Renau went over to Teito with haste. A sigh of relief escapes his mouth as he saw the figure of his friend standing still on the battlefield.

As the two friends unite, a messenger, his pale white face giving them a bad premonition. As soon as the news has been passed, the duo’s face also undergoes a change; one of fear, one of anxiousness. As if knowing what each other was thinking, the two faced each other, and nods. Almost jumping, Teito rides the saddle and the two rode off--- to Arludeia.

Under siege.

------

Horror creeps it’s way to Kari’s face, looking at the man who attacked her mom. Fear rooted her in place, unable to move a muscle--- only able to whisper “Mom…”

Besides her is Mika, reeling in pain after being kicked. Her brain is blanking out, the man’s emblem being the only thing in her head. The Royal Hi-Knights are known as the most elite of the elite but also the highly sensitive secret; the King’s guard. They are known to be monsters in the battlefield; them on one means victory for they side on. Her knowledge on them stems on the fact that her husband too is part of them.

Questions rang in her mind; why? Why would the secret, elite soldiers of the King attack the village? Attack them? It didn’t make any sense…

Her daughter’s call managed to pull Mika back from her thoughts. There was no time to ponder on the little things. What was important that Kari is safe. The intimidating man stood there grinning, as if mocking her. Gathering her strength and courage, she lifts and throws herself to the man, trying to constraint his movements. At the top of her lungs, she yells “Run, Kari!”

Startled, Kari kneels in the same spot, frozen. But another of her mom’s screams sends a shock through her body, which she lifts her body up and runs away, looking back at her mother as she does. As a result, not too far from where she was, she knocked into something… rather someone. Another bandit in purple.
The bandit looks down as she raises her head to see what she bumped into. The moment the two locked sights, a chill went through her spines, every cell in her body warning her. But again, dread took over heart, immobilizing her.

“Don’t block me.” The bandit, coldly said, kicking the child away into a wall. Impact from being kicked knocked her out cold as blood flowed from her head, her body going limp with the sound of bones breaking resounding inside her.

The scene unfolded in front of her too quickly--- Mika couldn’t react to it. She could only helplessly watch in despair. The next moment, she found herself on the ground, a foot on top of her. The next moment,

A sword through her chest.

-----

The horse speeds through the mountainous terrain, at its maximum speed, kicking up an impressive amount of dust in the air in the process. Yet, it’s two rider wants it to even faster, in order to reach the sieged village as soon as possible. The view of the village soon comes into view--- bringing panic and fear into their hearts.

Smoke rises high into the night air. At this time of the hour, it should be serenely quiet and peacefully dark but instead it was hectic and bright. Crimson flames licks the villages building, screams of panic fills the air as civilian scampers everywhere, only caring about saving themselves.
Renau got himself off the horse first, intending to help the villagers escape as they are being pursued by purple bandits. He then entrusts his horse to his friend and tells him to find his wife. At first, Teito hesitates to leave his friend alone against the bandits but upon seeing his resolve, he speeds of towards his home.

Upon arriving, he was greeted with the sight of Kari being stabbed.

-----

“MIKAAAAAAA!” A scream rang out through the night, shaking the earth, blocking all other sounds.

Forgetting his fatigue, adrenaline rushing through his body, Teito jumped off the horse, rushing to his wife’s side. The bandit who stabbed her stood in his way, blocking him… not for long. In a flash, Teito unsheaths his sword, dicing his opponent before his adversary could blink.

“Mika?” whispers Teito, carefully lifting her up. Blood was flowing out of her wound like a river as he to patch it up. Her warmth was nowhere to be found.
“Tei…to?” Mika weakly answers, energy escaping her body. “You’re back…”
“Yes, I’m here.” He replies, laying her on his lap, his fingers overlapping with hers as he closely holds her hand.
“Welcome… back.” Smiling, she puts her bloodied palm on her husband’s face, leaving it’s mark.
“I love you.” Is the last thing she said before her hands slumps into the ground, her body going limp.
“Mika…?” His voice breaking as he shook the lifeless Mika. Seeing her limp body, reality hits him like a metal pipe; his wi

I liked the action scenes in Ai's story! You could kind of feel it and how desperately Teito was fighting for his life. It's also filled with some unrealism though... Why would the Prince and his family be in some undefended village while war was raging and the enemy was close enough to ride a horse to in a few hours? They'd be on high alert. And speaking of high alert, they certainly would have had guards or something...
Still a very enjoyable read. Teito was the only character I really got attached to, so the tragedy wasn't extremely tragic for me :p

Edit: I wish I had more to say about Boomy's story. But this is easily your best story yet. It felt realistic and wonderful and I loved both of the main characters. I enjoyed it immensely.
Without nitpicking, I guess I'd point out that people don't die very fast from a single gunshot unless they got hit in the neck or head. Even a shot to the heart will leave a guy alive for at least a moment or two. But aside from that, this was wonderful.