Under His Mother's Wing - PewDiepie Fanfic Ch. 5

Chapter 5:

Stephano woke with a start. His eyelids opened to darkness; morning had not yet cast it's rose-colored rays into the Back Hall. Once his sight adjusted, he could just barely make out a pale, blue light emanating from outside; predawn, just before the sunrise. The young, golden boy cautiously looked around. Although unable to see anything more than their faint outlines, he could feel his head resting on Gonzales's back, and the warmth of his mother's wing was still draped over the both of them. Unsure of why he had woken so suddenly, Stephano closed his eyes, hoping to get just a little more sleep before dawn.

Bang!

Stephano sat bolt upright. There was no denying the loud, crashing noise that reverberated off the tile floors, and echoed between the spacious walls. His heart began to speed its pace, and his mind raced to figure out what was going on as he huddled against his sleeping family in the dark. The pulse in his veins took a sudden halt as the loud crash repeated itself a third time. Gonzales suddenly stirred underneath him.

"What's that?!" He heard his twin whisper in a trembling, fear-laced voice.

"I don't know." Stephano answered.

"Where's Mommy?" Gonzales whispered. Stephano could feel his brother trembling next to him in the darkness.

"She's here." Stephano brushed his cheek against his mother's painted wing that was spread over the twins.

"I'm scared, Stephano." Gonzales pulled his blanket up to his chin. He was no doubt getting ready to cry. This time, Stephano didn't blame him.

Stephano followed the length of the metallic wing until he felt his mother's torso at its base, gently rising and falling with her breath. "Mommy?" He placed his hands on her back and rocked her gently, trying to rouse her from her sleep. "Mommy?"

Isis groaned drowsily, lifting her head from her folded arms. "What is it, baby?" Her voice indicated she was still half asleep, and carried just a hint of annoyance. "It's not even dawn yet."

"Mommy, Gonzo's scared." Stephano didn't want to admit to his mother that he, too, was afraid.

Isis sat up, lifting her wing from over her sons as she stretched. "Did you have a nightmare?" She asked her silver little boy.

"No, there's-." Gonzales's explanation was interrupted by the resounding crash that had startled him.

Isis froze in mid-stretch. Even in the predawn light, Stephano could see his mother's golden eyes grow wide. The smeared black lining around them was still present on her cheeks, becoming visible in the growing light. She said nothing, and only her eyes darted about in the dim, blue light.

"Mommy?" Stephano's fears were being anything but muted by his mother's reaction. "What is that?"

Isis's eyes suddenly halted their travels, coming to rest looking above the family sleeping place…the door at the top of the grand staircase. "They can't be…" Isis muttered to herself under her breath, but it was loud enough for her children to hear.

Whatever suspicions his mother had, they seemed to be confirmed by a fifth loud crash against the large, wooden doors that served as the main entrance to the Hall. Isis sprang to her feet, pulling her sons up with her. Gonzales moaned as his injured shoulder was accidentally pulled on by his mother.

"Gonzales, you have to be quiet now." Isis urgently whispered into her son's ear. "You both need to be."

The statue goddess began nudging her son's in the direction of the side entrance, crouching down into a stealthy posture as she hurried them along.

"Where are we going?" Gonzales asked.

Isis hushed her child gently, and pushed her palms a little firmer into the boys' shoulder blades to speed up their pace. Stephano had no idea what was going on, and honestly, it terrified him. He'd never seen his mother act so afraid before. The Back Hall was the safest place in the whole castle, right? Why would she be in such a big hurry to get Gonzales and him away from it? Without even bothering to grab their blankets? Stephano felt his stomach churn.

Isis reached for the handle of the doors as another deafening crash echoed through the room, making the family of three flinch. Carefully unlatching the great doors, Isis turned to her sons:

"Follow me closely, boys."

Isis watched her sons both nod in understanding, before throwing open the doors to the residential wing. Stephano was almost stepped on by his mother with how sudden of a stumble back she took the moment the door was opened. Isis gasped deeply as she drew back, desperately fondling the open air in an attempt to find her sons' hands. As Stephano's hand was tightly clutched by his mother's, he took a look at what had frightened her so badly. He wished he hadn't. There, standing in the doorway, was Eloi. Behind him stood several brown-clad, sunglasses-wearing individuals.

The menacing-looking group slowly entered the room, forcing Isis and the boys to back up several feet. Stephano gazed at the men and women who wore the black-tinted sunglasses. They all looked identical to one another, aside from gender. That alone put him on edge; he'd never seen any group of residents like them before.

The doors at the top of the staircase suddenly burst open, sending splintered wood and metal hinges sailing over the railing and onto the tile floor. Spinning around to see what had slashed its way into the sanctuary, Stephano saw the faint outline of a horrible, clawed figure. Several raspy noises came from the silhouette as it dragged its heavy frame down the stairs, closely followed by several more of those odd, identical people. Stephano felt his mother's palm grow very sweaty.

"No need for introductions here, Isis." Stephano's attention was drawn back to his father as he stepped closer. The individuals behind him remained both emotionless and motionless. "You remember your old family, don't you?"

Unable to see his mother's face, Stephano felt the hatred in her voice as she spat: "What family?"

Eloi smirked. "Come now. Don't you remember our little talk last night?"

Isis backed up a few more steps, now back at the family's sleeping place under the stairs. Somewhere above his head, Stephano heard that horrible creature and its Masters blocking escape via the main doors, and he and the family was now being forced into a corner. His heart and mind both raced in a sheer panic, and he heard Gonzales begin to cry on the other side of his mother. Eloi took notice of the state of his sons and frowned.

"Look, Isis." The silver suit of armor motioned sadly to the twins. "Look what you've done to our boys. If you'd let them come peacefully when I first asked, they wouldn't be forced to go through such a frightful collection."

Stephano stumbled as his mother swung both he and Gonzales behind her protectively. "If you bastards lay so much as a fingernail on them, I'll-!"

"You'll do what?" Eloi's tone was saturated in sadism, and he put on a smirk to match. He motioned around the room. "My Masters have you surrounded, Isis."

Stephano glanced at the silent, still individuals wearing sunglasses. "Are they the Barrels?" He asked naively, pointing to his father's company.

Eloi's silver eyes sparkled with pride. "Yes, Stephano." He beamed calmly. "They're our Masters, and they've come to take you home."

Stephano heard Gonzales cry out and grasp onto his mother's dress to dry his tears. Isis gently stroked his hijab to comfort her frightened child, still glaring hatefully at Eloi.

"They are home." She growled.

"We've been over this." Eloi sighed in annoyance, his French accent dripping from his words. "My Masters want our children; and you know my Masters always get what they want."

Isis backed up further. Stephano glanced at the gold and silver swords that were still lying where his mother had thrown them. Why hadn't he listened to her when she said not to play with them? None of this would be happening if only he'd listened to her! He looked up at his sobbing brother and furious mother, and felt a deep guilt solidify in his chest. Hatred, sadness, fear; they all spun around his head. He fought back tears that brimmed in his eyelids as he hid behind his mother. He bit his lip and prayed that the situation would just end. He just wanted it to end.

"This is your last chance." He heard Eloi say. "You either hand them over…or we take them from you. Your choice."

"Mommy…?" Stephano piped up the pitiful plea despite himself, hoping his mother wouldn't give them up.

Isis stood stagnant for a moment, glancing from one emotionless face to the next, before making her move. Stephano saw his mother become a blur in front of him as she leapt for the twin's swords, taking them both into her hands and taking up a stance in front of her sons. Stephano's jaw dropped, and saw that Gonzales was in even greater shock than he was.

Eloi glared at the Egyptian goddess statue. "Fine then."

Suddenly, several of the stagnant Barrels leapt forward, drawing knives and large planks of wood out from behind their backs. Isis's true colors shone through for the worse. Like a caged animal, she slashed at her attackers, cutting deeply into their backs and chests as they stabbed and swung at her. Wounded adversaries stumbled to the ground; some unconscious, others crying out in pain, all of them bleeding out on the floor. One Barrel made the mistake of raising his knife high over his head while attacking. Big mistake. Isis knocked the weapon from his hand, sending it skidding across the ground and leaving a cut across the Barrels' palm. Huddled against a trembling Gonzales, Stephano watched his mother with both horror and admiration as her rigorous training as an assassin was demonstrated with the swords she'd forbidden them to touch. He understood now where he and Gonzales's swordplay skills came from.

Isis's golden hair was in disarray and her eye lining paint was practically dripping off her face from perspiration. Having already dispatched about five Barrels, the spark of hatred still burned strong in her golden eyes as her next opponent stepped forward: Eloi, her ex-lover. Isis held up the twin swords.

"If I win, you leave us alone." She panted between breaths, blinking sweat out of her eyes. "And never come back!"

Eloi calmly unsheathed his sword, about twice the length and weight of both the twins' swords combined. He ran his hand along the edge. "You already know what happens if I win." He said flatly, getting into his starting stance. "Begin."

Stephano watched the exchange of metallic clashes that ensued. With a racing heart he and his brother watched their parents literally fight for the right to keep them; his father bent on the drive to win his Masters their prize, and his mother lost in the fury of a mother protecting her children. Gonzales wouldn't stop screaming; to him, the display was like watching a small animal being tortured. It was just unbearable to watch.

Stephano was so enraptured with watching the swordfight, that he didn't realize until the last second that a pair of Barrels was sneaking up on him and Gonzales. A pair of cold hands snatched him around the waist and hoisted him into the air, and the same was done with his brother.

"Mommy!" The two twins let out the same blood-curdling cry as the fiends held them off the floor, both of them thrashing for escape.

Isis's motherly instinct redirected all her attention to her children in the midst of the swordfight. Upon seeing her sons being captured by the one group she was fighting to protect them from, Isis's golden skin turned pale.

"Boys!" She screamed, rushing at their attackers with her swords drawn in a fit of blind rage.

That was a mistake. She had fallen for the perfect distraction. The second she turned her back on him, Eloi made a savage stab at Isis. The golden goddess went rigid, halting her new attack. The swords, both now darkened with blood, fell from her hands and painted their crimson liquid across the floor. A stain of the same, vibrant color began to coat Isis's flowing dress. Blood drained in large quantities from the fresh wound in her abdomen…where her ex-lover's sword had run her completely through.