Ash felt like he was being dissected by Alarisset's gaze, and wasn't sure if he should be flattered, or scared. Was 'man eater' the word that was used in a case like this? She certainly was an attractive woman, but she had an air about her that gave him the sense that she'd either try to sleep with him, or slit his throat with a letter opener. Not exactly his cup of tea, but he'd play along.
"I'm sorry my lady, but I really have no idea what is going on here. All I can tell you is that dear Mohan here captured some of my scouts. Now he was good enough to bring them back to me, but he only released them in exchange... Well, for me as you can see." Ash conveniently had forgotten to mention Argent and the other fellow who had been handed over, and he would continue to conveniently forget that. He and Mohan were going to have a very important talk later, Ash would see to that.
__________________________________________________________________________________
Present:
Ash chuckled slightly as he took another swig from the bottle, looking out into the courtyard as his mind frantically raced to figure something out. "Heh, it's bloody hot out here you know. Unbelievable." He looked back into the office that once belonged to Alarisset, and upon her old desk lay a body. It was Saly's. No, it was changing, skin darkening... He quickly turned back to Seru, a slim stream of tears finally making their way down his cheeks, unable to be held back any longer.
"It.... It's been years since I last saw her... Between the desert, the liquor, all the fights and women... I guess I was just able to push it to the back of my mind... Ever since that- Bloody canon showed up... It started with weird dreams, then I saw her at a bar in the Holy Land, I saw her as that woman's corpse..." He pointed down to the grave that belonged to Saly. "Dark skin, dark hair, dark eyes. Yybian she was..."
The Captain took another swig of the liquor. "Seru, I really... Really don't want to..." He fell to his knees again, the bottle rolled out of his hand, and Ash let loose a scream. "They killed them! They killed them!" His words soon became lost in a series of uncontrollable sobs of anguish.
The world disappeared for a moment and Ash was running across the sands, the whole world lost in the roar of ship engines and gunfire. The Sorillians and the locals, Skylanders, Sudeans, all sorts of warlords and bandits. He turned around to see a woman with black hair, dark skin, and dark eyes running behind him.
And then she froze. Bullets penetrated both sides of the body, several dozen as a fine red mist was laid out across the golden surface, like a thin, red silk sheet. Ash remember running to her, screaming 'no', 'please no', and every other plead he could imagine. He knelt down next to the body, holding his wife's hand, holding her stomach where their unborn daughter rested. Blood pooled out around them, as Ash continued to scream out.
"They killed them! My wife! My daughter! A little baby! They were innocent! Why! Why did it have to be them!"
The world disappeared again, and he was at that flaming pyre. Burial could never be an option. He wasn't going to let the creatures of the desert, or the filthy, stinking bandits or soldiers have a chance to desecrate their graves. Ash would ensure they were given every respect they deserved, and that they could rest in peace.
Ash had survived the war. He had survived attempts to kill him by nobles, soldiers, bandits, and more. He'd made it, sometimes on his own, for 16 years on this planet. Ash would not die. But his mother, father, brothers, sisters, wife, and daughter, all did.
His hands covered his face as the sobs continued, refusing to be controlled or held back any longer.