Raynauld bit the inside of his lip and grimaced, trying to reassure himself that he could find a way back. Cautiously glancing back, he caught sight of Felicia staring into the distance blankly. Her eyes were glazed over, and she slowly swayed side to side with meandering footsteps. He slowly spoke up, hoping that she would respond normally. “Do you need to rest for a moment?”

“... Huh?” Her eyes didn’t meet his as she responded. He stuttered while repeating himself, trying to not sound worried. “We should stop and rest.”

“Okay.” Her voice was barely audible as it carried with the wind. He brushed his hand on a fallen tree trunk and took a seat, rubbing a hand through his hair. Felicia sat a distance away from him, folding her hands neatly in her lap. From a glance, she looked completely relaxed, but her body shivered and she slowly rocked back and forth.

Raynauld gripped a hand to his forehead as images of Floyd and Aldrich reappeared in his mind. He didn’t even see them die, just the aftermath. How could they have lasted less than a minute? It didn’t feel right, they were veterans, some of the best the city had, but then again, so was Haureulman. That was one of two targets, but none of it felt like a win. He was meant to not think of the fallen until the battle was over, but that was impossible right now. Looking back up once again, he watched Felicia curl into herself, still shivering. What was he supposed to do? He was never told what to do in scenarios like this.

He took a deep breath; they were safe right now, there was nothing near, and one of the people hunting them was out of the equation. Looking down to the dirt below, he sighed and looked at his palm. He furrowed his eyebrows while watching his hand slowly tremble, and quickly grabbed onto his wrist to try and stop it, but found he wasn’t able to. His breath seethed through his teeth as he grabbed onto his head and shut his eyes. What the hell was he supposed to do? Was there even a way out of here?

He cursed himself and sat upright, looking over to Felicia who still was staring aimlessly. He had to do something for her, even if that something was pretending to know what to do. Hesitating, his hand reached out towards her, but he stopped himself and let it fall down to his side while watching her take in deep shaking breaths. The forest smelled of rot and the air felt scratchy against his skin. Standing up, he quietly called Felicia. “Are you ready?”

“... Mmhm.” She stood to her feet and took wavering steps after him. Uncomfortable disquiet followed them as Raynauld tried to peer through the ever more foggy darkness.

“Ray?” Felicia’s voice called out to him from behind in a whisper.

“Yeah?”

“How… how do we get back?”

“... W-we’re figuring that out.”

“Oh.” She stayed arms distance away from him and slowly curled and stretched her fingers in a rhythmic motion. “... Where are we going?”

He paused and slowed his steps, lowering his head and gritting his teeth. “... Somewhere safer.”

“Into the inner city?”

“I… Yeah.” Raynauld shook his head and gripped onto his glaive tightly.

“What are we going to find there?”

He closed his eyes and paused for a moment. He couldn’t lie to her like this. “... I don’t know.”

“Oh… I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay.”

She let out a long winded breath and mumbled quietly. “No, it’s not.” Her voice wavered as she continued, speaking out loud rather than to Raynauld himself. “I shouldn’t have got in your way, none of this would happen if I had just…” She gave up mid sentence and let herself trail off. Raynauld shook his head and turned to look at her. “It’s not your fault.”

She stayed quiet and stared blankly at the ground, her lips slightly parted. He watched her helplessly; she wasn’t crying, but he wasn’t sure if that was good or not.

~

Lianne breathed in and out quickly, trying to keep her pace steady. She had been running for a while, and the signature switched directions recently. If he had teleported, that meant they were trapped in one location for a while. It might be her only chance, but she didn’t know that for sure. No matter the answer, she was too close to stop now. However, whatever the hell that explosion a minute before seemed to be worth investigating, but Sirius had already run off to see what it was, and she didn’t want to be anywhere near him.

Her hand brushed against cold stone bricks as she slowed her pace to a walk, entering a giant arch which led to cracked tiled floors. The amount of space around her was enough to be unsettling; it felt like something was going to drop down on her at any moment. Hell, maybe it would. Her hand shifted down to her sword and the pain started to swell in her head, but not as much as before.

Rounding the corner, she heard the dragging sound of a blade exiting the sheath come from her right. Jumping back, a sword swished by her face. Merrick stared at her with furrowed eyebrows, slowly bringing the sword back. She paused for a moment, her eyes flicking to his feet as she realized he wasn’t advancing. Behind him lay a body, long silver hair spilling onto the floor and a piece of cloth over her mouth. She chuckled to herself and looked back up to him. “I thought I was supposed to be the one killing her.”

Merrick took a second to process her words. “Her?-”

“Well, she’s not dead yet, and neither are you.”

“Astute.”

“Shut up.” She tried to move forwards, but Merrick pulled his sword up and put his weight on his back foot, preparing a lunge. He let out a long sigh, glaring at her. “We know how this ends.”

“That doesn’t matter.”

“How many times have you faced off against me and lost? Even in training?”

“I wasn’t trying to kill you back then.”

“Yet you were earlier, look how that turned out.”

“I’m not dead.” She glared back at him, gritting her teeth. “You had your chance before.”

“You should’ve been dead a long time ago.”

“It’s your fault for not taking the chance.”

“I did, do you really think losing your eye like that would be something you could have normally survived?” He eyed her carefully as she grimaced and muttered back. “Same with the arm.”

“She saved you-”

“She turned me into this.”

“This? Do you even know how lucky you are?”

“I don’t care-”

“You have so much more power than any ordinary person-”

“Those ordinary people try to kill me if they see my fucking face.”

“Welcome to the real world.” He growled at her, gripping tightly onto his sword. “She put a part of herself in you to save your life.”

“It was your fault-”

“I was protecting her-”

“And how did that turn out?” She pointed the blade at his blackened arm, smirking slightly. “I remember enough to know that the corruption has spread.”

“I still have enough ether to break you.”

“But not enough to escape.” Lianne eyed him and silently reaffirmed herself as he didn’t respond, holding his sword steady. He prepared a response, but didn’t say it, instead sighing again. “I’m getting tired of this.”

“Trying to run away again?”

“Trying to knock some sense into you.”

She laughed and drew her sword and knife, somehow liking the fact he was more talkative. It felt nice to have the upper hand on him even before their blades met. He grumbled under his breath with a frustrated groan. “How long can you hold onto your anger?”

“As long as it takes.”

“Do you find it fun? The constant suffering?”

“Who’s fault do you think that is?”

“Yours.”

She narrowed her eyes and growled through her teeth. “Oh, so it’s my fault she killed my family?”

“No, it’s not, but it’s your fault for not finding a different way after all these years. I don’t want to kill anybody, not even you.”

“Are you fucking kidding me? You?”

“Yes, me. When have I unnecessarily killed someone?”

“That’s subjective as hell.”

“I don’t enjoy any of it, that’s the difference between you and I.”

She stared at him and chuckled to herself. “Now you’re just lying.”

“No, I’m not. I don’t want to fight you Lianne.” His words were so contradictory but he seemed dead serious. She shook her head and hissed. “So you’d just let me go then, huh?”

“Not if you try to kill her.”

“She doesn’t deserve to live.”

He narrowed his eyes and breathed in deeply. “You realize that she would say the same, right?”

“Uh huh, sure, so why-”

“Because she’s wrong, and so are you.”

Lianne gripped her swords and slowly shifted her feet. “I’ve had enough of this.”

“So have I. Walk away.”

A small smile formed on her lips as she started to move closer, holding her sword up to him. He flicked his blade at her quickly, keeping the space between them. Dodging to the side, she countered with a slice at his wrist which he quickly pulled away from. A downward slash forced her to jump away as she tried to circle around him to the body on the floor. His sword flung to her neck, almost slitting her throat and forcing her to duck to the side. Pieces of cut hair fell from her face as she tried to regain her footing, only to receive a needle in her shoulder. A push kick slammed into her stomach, throwing her to the floor. She quickly rolled away, getting herself up while trying to breathe. Merrick stayed ready, poised to strike but not advancing.

Her eye twitched as she realized she should be dead. It wouldn’t happen again. Carefully returning to a defensive stance, she watched his hands. He grimaced and scanned her up and down, remaining cautious. They circled each other uncomfortably, unsure of what to do as her hands shook slightly and she forced herself to not rush at him. He backed up slowly, moving closer to the body. As his foot planted, she lunged. A quick flash deflected her stab followed by an upwards riposte which missed her chin by an inch.

Lianne’s sword locked with his blade and she tried to stab a knife into his chest. His hand shot up to her neck, shifting his body out of the way of her attack and quickly grabbing on. She choked and flung her knife at him, slicing into his arm and forcing him to back away. Taking a long gasp, she looked up to him as he held onto his arm. Laughing, she shook her head. “Still don’t feel it, do you?”

He stared at her while raising his sword, ignoring the bleeding cut. He shouldn’t have been able to hold onto his sword properly, but for some reason she couldn’t get him to feel pain. It was damn annoying, and she was admittedly jealous. Before she ran forwards, movement on the ground caught her eye. A small groan came from below as a cloth fell to the floor. Merrick cursed loud enough for Lianne to hear and he quickly backed up further. “Stay behind me and then run.”

“... Merrick, what…” Her eyes widened and burned red as she scrambled to her feet, cowering away from him. “Y-you-”

“She’ll kill you.”

Her eyes mixed with fear and anger as she backed away from him. “Where is she? How far did you take me?”

Lianne looked between the two in confusion, trying to decide who to stab. The distance increased between the two and Merrick tried to close the gap. “Avaria-”

“No, stay away.” She stumbled backwards and held her hands to her chest in a fist. “Where is she?”

Lianne stood still, whispering to herself. “The fuck?”

Red eyes flicked over to her, quavering. “Lianne… I… please, I’m sorry. I need to move quickly-”

“You’re still going to get a sword in your throat.”

“Please Lianne, others might die.”

“Others die all the time.”

“But I can help them-”

“Like you helped me? I’m probably doing them a favour.” Lianne sneered as she saw the distress on her face, her lips trembling and eyes flickering. She wanted to stab her right now, to feel her suffer and watch her struggle to get to whoever the hell ‘needed’ her. Quickly stepping forward, she raised her sword to strike. Merrick quickly threw a handful of needles in her direction while running over. “Avaria!”

“N-no-”

“Just run already!” He stepped in front of her while sheathing his sword, getting ready to teleport. Lianne’s eyes widened as his veins surged with purple as he concentrated. He was going to burn himself out, enough to be easy to hunt down and kill. A sudden wave slammed into her chest as a blast emitted from behind Merrick. She hit the floor, tumbling down the stones and hitting her head on a wall. Her head rang and her vision blurred, slowly darkening. She felt a warmth drip down her face and then a tingling through her spine. Red spotlights came toward her, growing bigger as a whisper enveloped her. “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, it’s going to be okay, I just… please, just stay still for a moment and rest, alright?”

Before she could respond, a surge of blue floated towards her as a hand touched her temple. The pain suddenly stopped and the ringing started to muffle. Her body felt so light, so empty. Thoughts slowly exiting her mind, Lianne let out a sigh.