"Light travels faster than sound, that's why some people appear bright until you hear them speak."
Red filled her vision.
Her eyes widened behind her dark mask, her lips parting in a scream that caught in her throat, that was trapped in the haunted woods so long ago. It happened so fast, the man she'd sworn to protect's head dislodging from his spine, that she hadn't had time to react. The lava that normally coursed through her veins felt like a dull ache. She was a hunk of volcanic rock, the remains of something great, she was as she'd been when Jin died, when her family died - hollow.
The shadow of the figure Jin loved.
Eien's words wandered through a fog, drifting through a person too focused on the lifeless eyes that watched her from a head that didn't hold a mind. Not anymore. He'd believed in her. Pledged himself to the Red he thought would free them all. He wasn't the only person she'd betrayed today. At least she knew, if she and the Colours hadn't come, that the death rate would be much higher. It was no comfort.
It was ironic how still her body was, how calm, as she rolled to her feet in one elegant movement. Her physical manifestation could do significantly more than she ever could hope of achieving. She couldn't lead, but her powers could.
"...before this whole incident started I thought you would be an interesting opponent...but it seems I gave you to much credit. Maybe it is my fault for believing a child could be entertaining. You call yourself a leader? What I see is a coward, who can't protect anyone. Do you really believe by offering up your life, that it would solve this whole problem?"
A sharp bark laughter escaped her mask before quickly being swallowed. No, she didn't think offering her life would solve the "problem," she thought his arrogance might. The shock of what he'd done to Kira had faded to the distance - for now - and she knew now that everything was going as she'd planned. She relied on this very strength and weakness of Eien's. He was powerful, both in status and abilities, and that made him foolish. She'd counted on it. She wasn't wrong.
"If you take the punishment for another person that would be enough? What blind foolishness. You're just like a new born child. Helpless and naive about the situation before you. Let me give you some advice Little Red. Instead of trying to shoulder the mistakes of the people around you, start letting them take responsibility for their actions. You can't save everyone. Tell the soldiers outside to let the Rebels pass, and that their Colours are leaving with them also."
A grin graced her features behind the mask.
"So Little Red. You may leave now. Or do you wish for more people to die? If it was me I would take this opportunity to save yourself and the rest of the Rebels and Colours. Now go. Go while I'm showing you mercy."
Mercy? Eien showed no one mercy. This was him being as self-assured as a narcissist could get, underestimating the masses. His arrogance was the only blessing in this God forsaken world.
"Thank you," she said and was glad that the mask distorted her voice, making it crackle, masculine and shrill in an odd dance of every voice to have ever been. Red gave White a nod of respect and appreciation, or so it seemed. She flicked the blood, fragments and liquids of the slaughtered rebel, of the woman who's throat she'd slit, of the dark creatures and the zombies from her mask, blinking her one unseeing eyes and the other glowing gold orb. Let them think what they wanted, that she didn't care for the people she led or that she did. People saw what they wanted, and what they wanted to see and believe was exactly where she wanted them to be.
She spun around and tossed her arm in a glowing arch down the hallway, a wave of light crashing through the building and zigzagging through it in multiple pathways. There were dull roars in the distance as the entrances and exist of the building were ripped open in a gust of wind and shattered architecture. Eien had commanded them all to let the rebels and Colours go but she wouldn't allow for one person who doubted him, who didn't fear him enough, to trap and kill them all. The light tossed aside the monstrous creatures and the Prime's security and backup, not hard enough to give them more than a few bruises, but stern enough to free her people from their grasp.
Her bones felt like a drowning Titanic in the sea of her blood that held no oxygen.
Eve forced herself to stand straight, to turn, to walk, to swing onto the ledge of a shattered window. The cloaked and masked figure that might be Red saluted her enemies and her comrades, before disappearing into the world below.