Chapter 11: Allies
“I suppose you’re right.” Bella fidgeted with the edge of her cape, looking up at her. “I just don’t want more to feel guilty about.”
“Then don’t. Focus on how you’re helping.” Haruka reached up to brush a few strands of hair from Bella’s face. “You helped me to get away from my father. Your strength is what keeps us all going.”
IXH
Watch was boring. Able was having a difficult time thinking of something less interesting as he leaned against a tree and stared through the redwood forest at nothing but more trees and darkness. He had half a night of this to get through which meant another two hours of staring at nothing. He glanced across the small camp site at his watch companion, Haruka, who didn’t seem bored at all, somehow. Every so often she’d glance at her sleeping girlfriend and smile, and that seemed enough to keep her happy as they sat in silence. Able didn’t know what it was like to have someone inspire those kinds of feelings in you, but he knew she was lucky.
Their rotation made sense. Isabella couldn’t keep watch, she needed all the rest she could get – she was already slowing their movement down during the day. Haruka kept watch the entire night because she could go for weeks without sleeping and suffer no ill effects, and besides that she didn’t seem to mind at all. So Able joined her for the first half of the night, then he would wake Freya for the second half and get a little sleep himself. Going without some sleep didn’t bother him at all; it was the endless boredom during the watch that got to him. Add to that, Haruka wasn’t the most talkative companion. Able wasn’t a big conversationalist himself, but Haruka was nearly a mute, even when there was absolutely nothing else to do.
The sounds of the thick forest were subdued and distant. Since they were being pursued (or so he was told, they hadn’t encountered anyone) they lit no fires at night, so there wasn’t even something to watch. The massive redwood trees were so thick the sky couldn’t even be seen from their position. Able sat down, deciding that he might as well be comfortable while he was out here half the night; he didn’t even register Haruka sitting down at the same time. The ambient noises of the forest seemed to be growing quieter as the minutes passed, almost as if they were fading away.
For a moment, Able thought he could almost hear a sort of hum in the air, but that was ridiculous. His head nodded a little as his eyelids drooped; it really was a long time to be sitting awake, he thought. He decided just to close his eyes for a bit. Maybe if he rested his eyes they wouldn’t be closing on their own so much. He felt a lot more tired than he remembered being a few minutes ago, but that was probably because he was just now realizing it. It was alright even if he fell asleep, though; after all, that’s why they had two people on watch. Haruka wouldn’t let anything happen if he just… rested for a minute or two.
He fell asleep without seeing that Haruka already had.
IXH
Haruka felt a strange sensation when she awoke, as if she was wrapped up in the sheets of the bed. She must have gotten tangled up during a dream somehow. Then she remembered she hadn’t been in a bed but in a forest, and suddenly she realized she had been on watch and her eyes shot open to see the forest… upside-down. She jerked in surprise and felt something constrict around her, preventing her from moving too much. After a moment’s confusion she recognized it as silken webbing, wrapped securely around her body. She forced her body to remain calm as panic struck her until she managed to turn her head enough to spot the others hanging near her with Isabella among them, apparently still alive.
Haruka focused on breathing slowly, speaking in a loud but calm manner, “Wake up. Bella, Freya, Able – wake up!”
Freya was the first to jerk awake suddenly, blinking rapidly. “What… What the… The hell is this?!” She said, struggling against the webbing that wrapped around her body.
Able was second and awoke more calmly. He made no outburst but his eyes darted around analyzing his situation. Bella was the last and looked more afraid than anything as she looked around. “Haruka?!”
“This way,” Haruka stated calmly. “Freya, stop moving!”
“Th’ fuck are you talkin’ about?! I want outta this goddamn thing!”
“Stop. Moving.” The intensity and conviction in the monk’s voice froze the pirate in place, and the three looked at her silently. “This isn’t normal webbing,” she explained. “This is Aranea’s work.”
Freya blinked. “Th’ Hand o’ the Frozen Web?”
Haruka nodded, though the gesture was less meaningful while hanging upside-down. “The same.” She looked at Isabella. “She’s a witch that works for the Black Sun. She has a really disturbing fondness for spiders,” Haruka said with a frown. “Really disturbing. But she has powerful magic.”
“She put us to sleep,” Able guessed.
“It seems that way. And now she had some of our pets string us up.” Haruka looked up – except it was down – to the forest floor far, far below. It was still the dead of night so it was hard to see, but she could make out the ground in the dim shadows. “We’re in a bad position. Listen, this webbing is unique – the more you move, the tighter it gets. Struggle too much and you’ll end up suffocating yourself, so try not to move and take deep, slow breaths. Keep calm.”
Isabella closed her eyes. “How can we get out of this? I can’t draw my sword like this to cut it. Will magic work?”
“Yes, but it dampens magic so it can’t be used with the webbing around you.”
“So that’s useless… What did this to us? This Aranea?”
“I was thinkin’ that did,” Freya said, nodding in a direction so they all looked over as an absolutely massive spider crawled over the branches and trunks of the redwoods. The arachnid was black in color with dark red markings, perfectly made to blend into this forest when it tried. It was also easily big enough for all four of them to lie on its back with plenty of room, making the way it moved with total silence as amazing as it was eerie.
Isabella seemed to pale further as the thing came into view, shutting her eyes tightly and causing Haruka to look at her worriedly. “Bella, you aren’t afraid of spiders, are you?”
Bella didn’t speak until the monstrosity was out of view again, and then she peeked out of one eye before she looked at Haruka and spoke in a shaky voice, “Afraid? Of spiders? Do you know how many creatures I’ve killed?”
“That’s not an answer,” Haruka said, continuing to give her a skeptical look.
“Of course not!”
“Bella…”
The blue-haired knight sighed, closing her eyes again. Haruka only now realized her eyes had been closed most of this time – she was trying to block out her situation and ignore it. “When I was five I was already really fond of exploring. You remember me telling you how we lived in a small town? Well it was bordered by this old, moss-covered forest. I would traipse around it with our dog – this really beautiful golden-haired dog named Sunny because I was a really uncreative kid and they let me name him. Anyway, the problem with old forests like that one – they get a lot of rain, that’s where the moss comes from. This creates a lot of sinkholes that the moss then covers over. Sunny was good at finding them, but that time I was trying to race him so neither of us saw this one before I fell in.”
Isabella sighed, suppressing a shudder and forcing more control over her body. “It led right to the bottom of this old, rotten tree; I remember exactly what it looked like, half-dead and with those creepy branches that look like arms at night. I’d landed right on one of that tree’s roots and broken my leg, so I couldn’t climb out. I remember Sunny barking at the entrance to the hole and I yelled at him to go get my parents so he ran off. Then I felt something on my neck and I did that – you know, that sort of spasm, flinging thing you do when you feel something on you? It was this hand-sized spider that had come out of the tree. Areya doesn’t have a lot of things that are harmless, so it was undoubtedly venomous. With my parents’ warnings ringing in my ears I backed away from it into the trunk of the tree and the rotted wood broke away – they poured out.”
Isabella shuddered violently this time, opening her eyes and looking around for the giant spider. “It’s not here,” Haruka said softly, wishing she could actually touch her. She wanted to tell Bella she didn’t have to continue her story, but she knew Bella was also intending to distract them from their current situation, so she let it go on.
“Alright…” Bella sighed. “Anyway, they… swarmed over me. I can feel it now if I think about it. Of course I screamed and thrashed but there were dozens. Next thing I knew Sunny was in the hole with me, barking, jerking around and eating every spider that crawled on me. My parents hauled us both out as quickly as they could and got the rest off of both of us, but by that time we’d both been bitten a lot of times and I went into shock. I don’t remember anything afterwards but I woke up in bed so I survived. Sunny didn’t – he’d ingested a lot of venom and been injected with more, and dogs can’t handle as much as a fallen.”
“…Fuck,” Freya said, breaking the silence that followed.
Haruka watched her girlfriend carefully. “Bella, I’m-“
“I know,” Bella interrupted, giving her a small smile. “It’s alright, it was a really long time ago. I have many far more painful memories. It’s just… I’ve been afraid of spiders ever since.”
“That’s a pretty good reason to be,” Able said simply.
“So…” Freya craned her head to look at her. “Why aren’t you goin’ crazy right now? I’d expect that.”
“Because I’m not a little girl. I’ve been through a lot – I can control myself. I’m terrified, but I’m experienced enough that I don’t become stupid when scared.” Isabella grimaced. “Besides, I’ve probably been in a worse spider-related situation even if I can’t think of one right now…”
“We’re going to get out of this one right now,” Haruka said, finalizing her plan. Of course, that was before a large web lowered in front of them and a form that she recognized all too well stepped out of it.
The white-haired witch – clad in her web-like robes – appeared before them, smiling with an expression that made the monk want to beat her with the branch she hung from. “Haruka, it’s been so long. I like the mask,” she said playfully. “I see you’re just hanging around.”
Haruka sighed. “Are the bad jokes part of the torture?”
Aranea laughed, sitting back in the web that bent around her as if it was a throne. “Just toying with you a bit. I honestly didn’t expect you all to be so easy to capture; I had entire plans that are no longer needed. You, of course, will be coming back with me. Your father is expecting you.”
“Tell him to fuck himself,” Haruka said easily, getting a nod of approval from Freya.
“You’ve learned such rude behaviors,” Aranea said with a shake of her head. “Could it be from the pirate?” She looked at Freya and Able with a sweet smile. “You two will simply be devoured here by my pet. I have no use for you unless you wish to make a deal.”
“I gotta deal for you, lass – hang yerself with that web.”
“I’ll pass. I’m done with you anyway.” The web behind her moved and rotated to form a platform below the four that the witch walked on as she moved over to Isabella, raising a hand to touch her chin. “So you’re the one Haruka has fallen so hard for.”
“Aranea,” Haruka said darkly, her eyes burning coals. “Leave her alone.”
“I will… I might.” Aranea smiled at Isabella who simply gave her a cold stare in return. “Haruka has always had odd taste, but you are pretty. It’s a shame you won’t be in our lands for much longer.”
Isabella blinked. “What?”
Aranea’s smile widened into a grin. “Oh, I do love surprising people! Do you remember your Lord Faust’s son? Oh I know you were a different person then, but he would be disappointed if you’ve forgotten him. Don’t worry though, you’ll be reintroduced to him soon enough. He’s wanted to meet you for so long, ever since you killed his father.”
“No!” Haruka struggled against the webbing, damning the consequences. “I’m not letting you take her!”
Aranea chuckled. “Such an emotional response! You’ve lost your professionalism, Haruka. Have you forgotten how that webbing works?” She grinned at Haruka’s furious face, trailing her fingers over Isabella’s cheek and making the knight turn away from her. The witch watched Haruka as she leaned up and licked Isabella’s neck, infuriating the monk further. “Maybe I should just make her a toy instead…”
Isabella’s head slammed into her own, knocking her back as the knight shuddered and tried to wipe her neck on her shoulder. “I’d rather be kissed by your spider. I hope you didn’t just give me a disease.”
Aranea shook her head clear and gave a soft chuckle. “So feisty! I’m leaning towards ‘toy’ more and more.” A tearing sound caught her attention and her eyes widened as she noticed Haruka now had one hand free and was currently shredding the webbing that held her. The monk’s eyes were pure black and focused on Aranea as she continued ripping apart the webbing. Aranea narrowed her eyes. “You’ve gotten stronger… Well I’m not your father, Haruka. I don’t take chances!” Strands shot from the web she stood on and moved it away from the group as the giant spider came back into view, along with five more just as large.
Haruka struggled even harder to free herself now as they approached with dripping mandibles, but there was no way to free herself or the others in time. Suddenly the dark forest was lit up brightly as a ball of flame roared into the air from the forest floor. The orb split into four, each of which ignited the webbing holding one of the four. Everyone looked down to spot a small figure on the ground who unleashed another giant gout of flame that struck one of the massive spiders, lighting it and making it screech in pain.
“No!” Aranea whirled around in rage, forming a spell before Haruka shot free of her webbing and made it to her in a blur, her hand finding the sorceress’ throat and continuing her movement until she was slammed into a tree, held there by the iron grip on her neck. She glared at Haruka as the monk pulled back a fist that would no doubt pulverize her head. Fortunately for her, Aranea was no fool. She gripped Haruka’s shoulder and immediately an overpowering weakness filled the brunette’s body, making her slump. Aranea then formed a purple orb in her hand that exploded in a blast that hurled Haruka away from her. She ordered the spiders to try to kill at least one of them before retreating back through the web, which fell apart behind her.
Isabella tore her way out of the webbing as it burned away from her, spotting Haruka falling. She threw herself out of the webbing and drew her sword as she fell, deciding that “Haruka’s about to die from a fall” constituted a “last resort” situation. White light encased her body and soon she was in her Angelic Form, golden hair streaming behind her as she tucked her sword and shield on her back and caught Haruka mid-fall, spinning to land on her feet hard enough to send out a blast of dirt in all directions. “I had to,” she said as she set Haruka on the ground.
Haruka looked up at her after they landed, standing shakily on her feet as her strength quickly returned with Aranea’s spell wearing off. “I know. Thank you.”
Bella smiled at her. “Thank you for getting all angry for me.”
Haruka smirked. “I’m glad that flattered you.” Both of them looked over as a scream came from their rescuer, who appeared to be a young woman and that’s all they knew at this point. Haruka flexed her fists and Bella pulled her sword and shield from her back before both took off towards the two massive arachnids that were threatening the girl.
Far above them Freya grumbled to herself as she was finally able to draw her cutlass and hack through the webbing holding her. “Sure, jus’ leave us behind, we ain’t yer girlfriends.” She looked at the extremely long drop, and then at the three giant spiders moving along the tree towards them, making climbing down impossible. She then looked over to Able, who had just cut himself free with his energy blades. “Willin’ to trust me, Able?”
The young man glanced from her to the giant spiders. “Do I have a choice?”
Freya laughed. “Nope! Drop!” She let go and he did as well, falling behind her. She pulled off her captain’s hat and threw it down before her, where it began to multiply in size. Soon it was big enough for her and Able to land in it and it floated them gently to the ground where they hopped out. It shrank back to size and she set it back on her head as Able shook his.
“You have a lot of tricks.”
“It’s why I’m still alive despite most o’ th’ world’s best efforts.” Freya winked. She looked up at the spiders that were rapidly descending. “Let’s make haste to our dear, abandonin’ friends, shall we?” He nodded and the two of them took off running towards the fighting.
The girl that had aided them – clad in a white cloak with red accents and a wide hood – was busily flinging fire at the giant spiders that converged on her. Two of them managed to fire webbing onto her and pin her in place, approaching with dripping mandibles that looked quite deadly. Haruka suddenly appeared in the air in front of one, slamming a fist into its head to stop its forward momentum. She then kicked off its head and into a forward-flip, bringing her heel down on its head and slamming it to the ground. Isabella appeared in front of the other spider and bashed it upwards with her shield, then cleaved off one of its front legs with her sword. The spider screeched and backed off, spewing venom at her. A sphere of light surrounded her as she raised her shield, deflecting the venom in all directions.
The other spider chose to try the same and spewed venom over Haruka. The monk instantly felt its effects as it seeped into her skin, weakening and slowing her heart to a stop. She simply smirked as she directed her chi to purge her body of the venom. After a few seconds she was fine and able to dodge the spider’s follow-up attempt to pierce her with a leg. Isabella blocked a similar piercing blow from her spider, cutting off the end of the leg afterwards. She and Haruka then switched over as she blocked a leg that went for Haruka and the monk kicked the other’s head up after it tried to bite the knight.
Meanwhile Freya and Able reached their rescuer. Able used an energy blade to cut the girl free and help her up as Freya yelled at Bella and Haruka, “We brought friends, guys!”
“Well then take care of them!” Bella shouted back as she narrowly dodged a stinger, the wicked point glancing off her shield. “We’re kind of busy right now!”
“Oh, sure, we’ll jus’ take care of ‘em ourselves, then.” Freya turned to the other two after glancing back at the three rapidly approaching spiders. “Got any ideas?”
The girl smiled in thanks at Able before brushing herself off. “It shouldn’t be a problem!” She clapped her hands together, spread them out and pushed them forward while whispering something under her breath.
Freya blinked as her pistol and cutlass, still in her hands, suddenly glowed a fiery orange. “What the…”
“I hope you don’t mind, I thought you needed some extra firepower.”
Freya swung her sword and blinked again as it left a trail of flame. Her expression switched to a wicked grin. “Oh, I like you.” She turned towards the approaching spiders and began running to meet them. “Let’s not waste any time!”
Able glanced at the girl, who met his eyes before looking to his weapons. “Um, I don’t know how to enchant energy.”
He smirked. “I don’t think it needs it. Just keep throwing fireballs.”
She saluted with a wide smile. “Will do! Charge?”
“Charge.”
Both of them ran to catch up to Freya’s flanks. The pirate captain rushed for the spider in the middle, firing a magic shot at one of its legs and laughing as she noticed flame inside the shot as well. The creature’s leg was severed, bringing its head lower and allowing her to leap up onto its back where she hacked away with her cutlass. Able increased his speed as the spider on the left approached, dodging to the right to avoid one leg, and to the left to avoid the other. The head came down and he slid beneath its jaws, coming back to his feet underneath it where he stabbed both blades into it and continued running. The girl summoned an orb of fire in both hands, flinging one into the air and one at the spider. The spiders were aware now of her magic, so her target leapt to the side, avoiding the fireball she’d launched at him. She grinned and brought her other hand down and the fireball in the air slammed down into the spider’s back, exploding and setting the creature ablaze.
A short distance away, Haruka sprinted around her spider with ridiculous speed, hitting every leg as she passed. Right across from her Isabella did the same, but cleaving every leg she passed. As the Death Marks Haruka left behind exploded, severing each leg, both of their spiders hit the ground. Both women darted away from the thrashing spiders and sprinted towards each other. Bella winked at her as she raised her shield and Haruka leapt onto it, being launched high into the air. Isabella charged herself with power, rushing towards the other spider with increasing speed. At the same time, Haruka twisted in the air and came down in a flaming kick that demolished one spider’s head as Isabella crashed into the other one, her blade driving deep into its head. Both spiders writhed wildly before dying, no longer a threat.
Able had cut open his spider’s stomach and removed several legs, making it more or less defeated. He finally managed to get on its back and climbed his way up the thrashing arachnid to its head, driving an energy blade in to kill it. Freya rode the back of hers like a wild bronco, laughing as it bucked and jolted trying to throw her off. She stabbed her cutlass in for a more secure hold and put her pistol against its head, blasting a hole clear through and bringing it to the ground. Finally, the girl had erected a wall of fire to keep her spider at bay as she chanted, forming a symbol of fire in the air. When it was finally ready the symbol shattered and lines of flame surrounded the spider, tying around it like a net made of fire. This ‘net’ then constricted and exploded, leaving a scorched corpse behind; the last spider was dead.
Haruka began heading towards the others, glancing at Isabella. Her girlfriend was still in her golden-haired state; she probably wanted to make sure she remained conscious for the next few minutes. All five of them gathered together and Haruka inspected their rescuer, wondering at where she’d come from.
The girl was an elf, just over five feet tall and nineteen Common Age if she spoke the truth. She was a happy-looking girl with crimson hair styled with large curls on either side of her face, but straight and waist-length in the back as was apparent when she lowered her hood. Her eyes were pink in color and she had the slight tan of a traveler. Her appearance was a combination of “pretty” and “cute”, probably a mark of her age. Her cloak, a white one with red accents and designs, was connected in the front by a silver clasp that looked to be expensive. Besides the cloak she wore a sleeveless red cloth vest with a v-cut at the chest and waist. Below that she wore a knee-length pleated skirt of the same color and cloth, and white boots that looked even more expensive than the rest of her clothing.
Given Haruka’s past, though, she always noticed markings and tattoos more than anything else, as to her they had the most meaning. This girl had one visible: on the back of her left hand was a tattoo of a sun with four tails of fire curving from the center in each direction, probably representing the four cardinal directions. Something else seemed important to her: a brightly-colored red rose that was tucked into a brown wristband with the initials “S.R.A.”
The girl took Haruka’s inspection with a smile, watching as Haruka folded her arms. “You helped us, so you probably aren’t an enemy. So who are you and where did you come from?”
The girl’s grin widened as Haruka spoke. “You aren’t very trusting. But I did just see a creepy woman try to feed you and your friends to giant spiders, so I guess it makes sense. There’s no reason to be so worried, though! You could beat me no problem!”
Haruka smirked. “I’m not worried, just suspicious. Your appearance is very fortunate.”
“Oh, right. Well then, let me give you all the information I can so you’re more trusting.” She folded her arms and changed her expression to an imitation of Haruka’s, mimicking her serious monotone well enough that Isabella burst out laughing. “My name is Suria Rose Alarius. I never use all that. Parents and old people call me Suri, dates call me Rose, and friends call me Red. I’m from the Imperial City. Like I said, I’m nineteen Common Age. I’m a Mage, in case the whole fireball thing didn’t make it obvious. As to why I’m here, um…” She shrugged. “Out for a walk?”
Despite Bella’s amusement, Haruka simply raised an eyebrow. “Out for a walk dozens of miles from where you live, in a dangerous unknown forest?”
“I like danger?”
“Try again.”
Suria sighed. “Okay, I ran away.”
Bella blinked, suddenly concerned. “You ran away? Why?”
“Nothing bad, really. I’d rather not talk about it; just know my parents never read any ‘Choose your own adventure’ books when they were little and think everything needs to be written out for you.”
“Ah…” Haruka tilted her head. “I can relate.”
“Really?”
“My father was behind that situation you just helped us out of.”
“I… Wow.” Suria looked around at the dead spiders. “I hope my father would never send giant arachnids after me to get me back. Probably just guards. Or bounty hunters.”
“Well you’re in luck,” Freya said with a grin. “This group already ‘as half th’ world comin’ after ‘em, so what’s another pursuit?”
Isabella was silent now, staring at the ground in thought. Haruka looked at her worriedly as Able shrugged. “Yeah, you could come with us. We’re heading south, away from the capitol.”
“That would be nice… I don’t like being alone. I-“ Suria trailed off as Isabella walked away. “Um, is she okay? Does she not want me to come or something?”
Haruka shook her head. “It’s nothing to do with you. I’m going to talk to her.”
As the monk followed the knight, Suria looked at the other two. “You guys aren’t gonna talk to her?”
Freya shrugged. “Haruka’s plenty. They’re together. We’d jus’ be in th’ way.”
“Oh! Okay. So the one with the mask thing is Haruka?”
Freya laughed. “Oh, right! You don’t know us. Yeah, an’ ‘er girlfriend – th’ glowy one right now – is Isabella. I’m Freya, an’ th’ kid in th’ suit is Able.”
Suria looked at the last one, tilting her head. “I noticed your suit. It’s really rare to see that kind of clothing outside of the Imperial City. Are you from there, too?”
Able nodded. “Sort of. That’s where I got the suit, anyway. I lived there for a while, but I don’t think I’m from there originally.”
“You don’t think?”
“My memory has a lot of holes in it.”
“Ooh, mystery?”
Freya chuckled. “This should be fun.”
IXH
A short distance away in the forest, too far for the others to see or hear, Isabella stopped and sheathed her sword with a sigh. Her power left her and she stumbled as weakness hit her full-force until two solid hands caught her arms from behind, steadying her. She knew Haruka would follow her; of course she had. She turned around to look into concerned green eyes. She wondered what she should say, but it turned out she didn’t have to say it. “This is about Faust’s son, isn’t it?”
Isabella nodded, looking down. “I never thought about him. I can’t believe he’s after me. I didn’t expect him to be working with your father, at all…”
Haruka shrugged. “It doesn’t matter; they’re the same thing. We’ll just keep either of them from getting either of us.”
“But working together they’re so strong…”
“Working together, we’re strong.” Haruka gestured behind her. “And we have allies. Freya says her nephew’s mercenary company is two thousand strong. Two thousand! They can’t reach us through that.”
Isabella sighed, looking up at her. “I hope you’re right. I just… I have a really bad feeling about this. And Haruka, I only have a year at most…”
The monk looked away. “I know. Believe me, I’m never not thinking about that. I don’t want to spend most of that running, either. There’s so much you haven’t done or seen that I want to do with you and all of this running seems like they’re wasting our time. But we have to deal with this.”
“You’re ruining the rest of your life just for this year. I just… I just want to make it worth it.”
Haruka smiled at her. “It’s already worth it.”
Isabella returned the smile before averting her eyes. “This is still better than anything I could’ve hoped for… This situation. But it’s still my fault.” She silenced Haruka with a look. “You can make me feel better, but don’t lie. We’re all in this situation because of me, and I keep pulling more people into it. First you, then Freya, then Able, and now this girl. So when I worry about this new threat… It’s not just because of me.”
Haruka sighed and leaned back, running a hand through her hair. “You’re worried you’re going to take someone with you.”
Isabella nodded. “I have nothing to lose, but the rest of you do.”
“You and I could leave to protect them, but honestly…?” Haruka shrugged. “These are people who get into danger anyway. Freya actively seeks danger; she’d be angry if we left her out of it. Able… Who knows what he gets into. And Suria ran into us because she was traveling alone through a dangerous and unexplored forest. And what’s more, all of us have our own problems that we’re leaving behind. As a group we’re stronger against all of them. I don’t want to go back at all.”
“I suppose you’re right.” Bella fidgeted with the edge of her cape, looking up at her. “I just don’t want more to feel guilty about.”
“Then don’t. Focus on how you’re helping.” Haruka reached up to brush a few strands of hair from Bella’s face. “You helped me to get away from my father. Your strength is what keeps us all going.”
“Was it really that bad?” Isabella gently caught the monk’s wrist, bringing the hand down to take it in her own. “I know what he was like, in general, but… only that.”
Haruka let out a sigh. “I did promise, didn’t I…? Tell you what, we’ll trade stories.”
Bella smiled. “You owe me like, seven stories, then.”
Haruka chuckled. “Alright. We shouldn’t leave the others just standing around, though.”
“Right.” Isabella paused, looking around. “Okay… We can’t stay in this spot, we have to move. We can’t set up camp again. You can tell me while we walk. It’ll be just like when I talked while we were walking in the forest, except this one’s a lot creepier and there are giant fucking spiders.”
Haruka laughed, turning to follow Isabella as they headed back to the others. “It sounds odd hearing you swear like that.”
“GIANT. FUCKING. SPIDERS, RUKI.” Isabella waved her hands above her head. “It’s like someone raided my nightmares for ideas!”
“Is there anything else you’re afraid of? I want to be prepared when it appears.”
“Don’t even joke like that!”
“Who’s joking? You got scared of sea zombies and those appeared. You’re scared of spiders and we’re caught by half a dozen giant ones. Obviously, whatever is coming next will be from another entry in your nightmare catalogue.”
“Then I should keep it a secret.”
“Think of the safety of the group! Is it dragons?”
“Everyone is afraid of dragons.”
“Oh, right. Ghosts?”
“Again, who isn’t scared of ghosts?”
“Okay… Snakes?”
“No.”
“Wolves?”
“They’re just slightly angry dogs.”
“Tigers?”
“What’s a tiger?”
“That’s a no… for now.”
“Please don’t add to my list of fears, Haruka.”
“Bats?”
“Nope.”
“Undead?”
“Please.”
“Demons?”
“I’m half one.”
“More of yourself?”
“Multiple Bella’s? Okay, that’s a nightmare.”
“Oh, not for me,” Haruka grinned. “For me that’s a fantasy.”
Isabella blushed, laughing softly. “Your mind sure gets dirty fast.”
“Only when it comes to you, Bella. Only when it comes to you.”
IXH
“So,” Bella said, looking at Haruka. “Talk.”
They trailed behind their three allies by a good distance as the group walked through the forest, heading south at a fair pace. The three up front were talking but Isabella wasn’t interested in their conversation; she had dropped back with the hope of learning more about the woman she loved, a proposition that excited her as much as it scared her. When she really thought about it, it depressed her how little she knew about Haruka’s past. She had a general idea, but she didn’t know any more than the others did. She wanted to change that; she hoped to eventually know more than anyone.
Fortunately, Haruka seemed willing. She was looking up at the trees in thought, trying to decide what to start with. She had Bella’s hand in hers and would run her thumb over the knight’s fingers every so often, something she’d developed subconsciously that she would do while thinking, which Bella enjoyed far more than she would have expected considering what a simple thing it was. The monk finally nodded, looking to her girlfriend. “Alright… I’ve got a story that will give you a good idea of my life in the monastery. We’ll start with that, because it’s a good basis.”
“Okay,” Bella said with a nod of her own, preparing herself to hear it. She had a good idea that controlling her anger would be important soon.
Haruka looked at the others to make sure they were still out of hearing range before taking a breath and launching into the story.
“Again,” Kazuki said sternly, his voice amplified by the loudspeaker.
In the room below, Haruka did her best not to glare up through the observation window at her father. This was the thirteenth time she’d heard that word in the past several hours and it was getting old. The thin green vest and shorts she wore were drenched in sweat and her hair clung to her skin annoyingly. Various parts of her body were wrapped in bandages, mostly her limbs; every time she took an injury, she would simply wrap it there in the room and keep going.
The room she was in was built specifically for intense training. In theory it was there for everyone, but Haruka had hundreds of hours more in this place than anyone else did. She knew the room better than she knew her own face. She knew all the varied arrangements the room could take with the moving columns, boxes and platforms it was filled with. She knew what challenges she would face in it. She knew how to move around the room and take down all opposition. She even knew the exact number of steps from any point in the room to any other point in the room. From that tall black platform to the red column? Seventeen steps walking, six steps in a full-out sprint. From the horizontal blue bar to the mass of red pipes? Twenty-two steps walking, nine steps running, watch out for the pit six steps in. And that was just for this current arrangement; all the platforms and objects in the room could move into different arrangements, but she knew them all.
And still none of that was good enough for her father. Still he had her remain in this room until she collapsed, and he would always give her that disappointed look when she did, as if he expected her to be tireless and unrelenting like some sort of automaton. The room began moving and Haruka tightened the bandages on her blistered hands and feet, leaping up to climb onto a higher platform as it moved past. A whirring sound hit her ears and she went into a roll off the side of the platform, catching it to hang off the side as a turret sent a hail of gunfire across the platform. A blade flashed up from the floor and she tucked herself up and kicked over it, landing in a roll and coming up in a run.
Finally her opponents appeared. Sometimes they would be other monks from the monastery, sometimes they would be captured bandits or hired mercenaries. This time it was bandits; she could tell by the crazed look of the first man she spotted. Kazuki would set them loose in here with a weapon of their choice; she could hear his voice over the loudspeaker telling all in the room that if they killed her they would be set free and given a large sum of gold. The one she was sprinting towards had apparently chosen a cutlass and licked the blade to intimidate her as she ran at him. She’d seen it plenty so she kept running. He grinned and stepped forward, hacking horizontally. In theory it was a good move, it would make it more difficult to dodge in this narrow space between tall platforms.
Haruka ran up the wall to her right, coming up above the sword and sending her foot into the side of his head. He hit the other wall with a grunt and Haruka landed behind him, gripping his hair and pulling him away only to slam his head back into the wall. He crumpled and Haruka immediately ran up the platform, gripping the top and pulling herself up onto it as fire filled the makeshift hallway behind her. An arrow flew at her and she dropped to let it go over, spotting the archer perched on a platform a short distance away. A whirring sound made her eyes narrow and she shoved herself to her feet, beginning to sprint across the tops of the platforms as a turret tracked her, staying a bit behind her.
The archer fired another arrow and she caught it this time, having no time to dodge with the turret’s line of fire almost catching her already. She sprinted past the wide-eyed archer and heard him scream as the bullets tore through him behind her. She then dropped between platforms, causing the turret to barely miss her. A spear-wielding bandit found her there and thrust his weapon into the narrow opening. Haruka knocked the spear point to the side before gripping the shaft and shoving it into the man’s stomach. She created a fulcrum by shifting her leg beneath the center of the spear and then smacked the head down, sending the bottom into the man’s jaw and putting him on the ground. Haruka flipped the spear and impaled him before she began running again.
The final bandit spotted her, but this one had been given a pistol. Haruka spun back into cover as he fired and slipped away, back through between platforms only to climb on top of them. She circled around and ended up coming down onto him from on top of one, landing on his shoulders and bringing him to the ground. She turned the pistol in his hand and fired it into his head before climbing off of him, panting. That was the last one, but she was a fool to think it was over. A long blade jutted out from the wall and slid towards her at a ridiculous speed. It was parallel to the ground and about three feet up. Haruka had no time to dodge; she threw her arms up in a cross block and channeled as much chi as she could after thirteen long training sessions in a row and endless fights.
It was enough to keep her from losing her arms as the blade slammed into her, but it still cut to the bone, sending a spray of blood everywhere. Haruka gave a cry of pain as the blade hit her, and another as it shoved her back and slammed her into the wall. She fought for breath as she was pinned in a corner and her arms were pressed against her chest. The blade continued shoving, trying to cleave her apart. She struggled against it, trying to push back, but now she couldn’t even breathe. She opened her eyes and saw her father watching from the observation area, making no move to stop it; as she expected. The blade cut deeper into her arms and she could now feel the bones weakening at the points where the blade pushed on them, as well as her ribs bending. One of her ribs cracked from the force but she held on, knowing that if she gave up, she was dead.
A whirring sound barely made it through to her oxygen-deprived brain – her father had activated another turret. She could see it lowering in the opposite corner and turning to aim at her. With a burst of strength Haruka slammed her knee up into the wall blade, snapping it off. The part of the broken blade remaining in the wall shot past her, no longer being restrained, tearing a gash in her right side as it did. Haruka ignored the pain, she had to, as she threw away the piece of the blade that had cut into her arms and darted away from the wall as it was filled with bullets. She barely managed to stumble behind a platform, safe from the turret.
“Make it to the exit,” her father’s voice said. Suddenly every turret in the room activated; they were set up so that there was no place to hide but down between the platforms, and those areas were now filled with superheated flame. Haruka’s eyes went wide and she leaped up to catch the edge of a platform, leaving blood on it as her injured side hit against it. She hauled herself up, ignoring the blood trailing from her arms and side as she began sprinting and leaping from platform to platform. Dozens of turrets filled the air with fire, forcing her to flip and kick off and slide her way across the room. Several times she nearly fell into the flames below or felt the air from the hail of bullets, but somehow she finally made it to the exit.
She stumbled out and fell to the floor, shuddering from a lack of oxygen, blood loss and exhaustion. The door to the observation room slid open and Kazuki stepped out, his arms folded behind his back. “I see you’re done for the day. When you’re ready, you can try to do better.” As he walked past her she clenched her fists but she didn’t make a move; she never made a move. It was pointless.
Isabella shook her head. “That’s not even training.”
“Father’s training was never easy, never safe.”
“His actions make no sense! He lost his wife so he constantly almost kills his daughter?”
Haruka sighed. “He thinks mother died because we were all too weak to prevent it. In his mind, if I’m not strong enough to make it through his training then I would die anyway. He thought he was either preparing me for survival or preparing himself for my death, however it went. What was left of my father is long gone now. He doesn’t understand what caring is anymore. He thinks it’s forcing something to be invincible.”
“So he’s coming after you now, refusing to let you go, because it’s supposedly more dangerous for you to be free?”
“Something like that. I’m sure he thinks you’re weakening me.” Haruka shook her head, looking up to catch a glimpse of the sun through the trees. “He’ll never understand or actually care about another person’s emotions, and it’s been a long, long time since I last hoped he would.”
Isabella squeezed her hand, watching her face. “Loss can twist people very easily… Just look at me.”
Haruka gave another sigh, meeting her eyes. “I guess so. Maybe what happened to him is something similar. Maybe I should be more understanding…”
“No,” Isabella said harshly, her eyes narrowing. “Loss doesn’t excuse you from being responsible for your actions. I am guilty of what I did, and so is he. Worse, he still had family. He had a child. He had a responsibility to be there for you after you lost your mother, and he wasn’t. I have a hard time forgiving parents for things like that.”
“Does it make me a hypocrite?” Haruka asked as she looked at Bella searchingly. “Being so willing to forgive you and uncaring of what you did, but hating him so much?”
“What he did affected you,” Bella said softly. “In that time period, I could have been the one to kill your mother if we were in the same place. You could have spent your entire life training to kill me. But I never hurt you, so you have nothing against me.”
Haruka shook her head. “No… No, it’s more than that.” She looked at Bella with conviction. “If you had killed my mother and I’d spent my life preparing to kill you, when I met you as you are now, I would be unable to do it. You’re a different person and I would be able to recognize that even then. No, Bella, you’re something special. You aren’t like my father. You feel guilt for what you did. It pains you as much as it pains anyone you hurt, I can see that. When that man we ran into hated you for what you did, I could see that no one in that room hated you more at that moment than you did. I consider you as much a victim as anyone.”
Bella looked at her, shaking her head. “I’m still trying to believe that. I don’t know if I can.”
“You will,” Haruka said with a nod, tightening her grip on her hand. “You will.”