Red Amongst the Snow

As Hitomi pierced through Kari's chest, she'd hear even more shattering, and the girl's torso would just crumble. Kari didn't respond, so it was safe to assume she was a goner.

Rushing towards Fie, Hitomi would notice Tala gaining traction, but she'd reach Fie just in time. As her blade went through Fie's arm, she'd hear a crushing sound, and Fie's forearm would shatter into multiple pieces with shining crystal interiors. The arm dropped onto the ground along with Tala's weapon.

Tala came to a halt as she witnessed what happened and Fie looked at their arm in surprise. Quickly seeing Hitomi, she realized what had just happened, but what surprised her was in the distance Kari was lying on the ground with several crystal pieces about.

"Kari!" Fie shouted.

Looking quickly at Tala and Hitomi, Fie gritted their teeth and slammed their sword into the snow with a series of Cartic glyphs. The snow under Tala and Hitomi would grumble, causing feet of solid snow to crush under them and hopefully destabilize them.

As this happened, Fie dashed to Kari's side. Surprisingly, Kari's head turned stiffly to Fie. The sound of cracking could be heard.

"Sorry, Fie," she said, still cheerful, albeit tired. "I guess playing was a little hard for me."

Fie knelt over and shook their head.

"Shh, don't speak," Fie said as they scooped Kari up. Bits of crystal poured out from the robe. Fie glared at Hitomi and Tala. "You'll pay for this."

Quickly, Fie raised a hand and the bits of crystal that had scattered over the snow started flying towards her. In a beat, she leapt with Kari in her arms and disappeared into the forest.

Behind Hitomi, Tala was on her knees and panting, but she had already started healing herself with magic. She looked at Hitomi.

"Hitomi," she murmured. "Are you hurt? Let me...heal...you..."

She weakly raised a hand towards Hitomi with Cartic marks, but before she could even cast it, she collapsed onto the floor.

It seemed that Hitomi didn't have to do much else. Fie quickly retreated towards Kari. Hitomi was quite shocked to see her speaking. She was alive, for that, Hitomi was both relieved and worried. Chances were they'd report back. At the same time, Hitomi wasn't a fan of killing without reason. These two were doing their jobs, even if they had tunnel vision.

Either way, she may have made some enemies.

She made no attempt to chase after them, instead, she rushed towards Tala who had collapsed to the ground. After checking to make sure she was alive, Hitomi was quick to bandage any bleeding wounds she might have had. Briefly, she looked back towards the town and frowned...

--

By the time Tala would awaken, the first thing she'd see was Hitomi's face. There was a calm expression, but her eyes betrayed worry. There were trees around her and a makeshift camp set up. She'd see a small amount of fire flickering from a dug hole in the ground. Oddly enough, it had warmed the area well enough that there was little snow around them.

The next thing she'd notice was that Hitomi had moved her onto her lap. The girl had figured it was the best way to keep an eye on her state as she rested. Any nightmares would be soothed, any abnormalities in her condition would be quickly stabilized.

All in all, Hitomi had figured it was the best way to take care of Tala.

As she finally awakened, relief would be visible on the young woman's face. She smiled, but made no movements, Tala was likely sore and she didn't want to hurt her in anyway.

Despite barely moving in her unconscious state, Tala's mind was restless. Images and colors flashed through her mind. First there was blue and a calm hand soothing her forehead. Then, bright red and orange flames from a man. She saw gray and a cloudy sky that rained on a man hanging in the town square. She saw a soft peach as she leaned against someone on the green hills. She saw darkness. And then she saw lines of green and felt pain. Lastly, she saw bright yellow eyes.

Tala's eyes clapped open and she saw Hitomi. She hadn't realized it, but she was holding her breath, and it took her a moment to slowly exhale and resume it.

"Hitomi..." she murmured as she stared at her confusingly.

Suddenly, Tala's body became aware of more of its senses. She could hear the crackling of a small fire, and the softness of someone's legs underneath her head. She realize she was lying on her lap. She was about to move, but the next sensation that came to her was pain, and she winced.

"Gaahh...I haven't hurt like this in awhile," she told herself as she weakly touched one of her wounds. Looking back up to Hitomi, albeit, now blushing in embarrassment, she asked "What happened? Did...did we win?"

'Win' was a loose term, she realized, but it worked all the same. If they were gone and Hitomi was alive, that was victory enough for her.

"Mm.."

Hitomi gave a short, curt nod at Tala's question. She reached over and pulled out a pre-written paper. 'They escaped. Their skin was made of crystals?' She was clearly hoping that Tala had some explanation beyond that.

Next, she'd reach out and grab a small teapot close by. She'd pour its contents into a cup, raise it to her lips and blow a few times. Her other hand grabbed a paper in the meantime and held it up. 'Mixed herbs from Sakigake. Dulls the pain and relaxes the body.' She gingerly shift and try to raise Tala's head without causing any more pain. Slowly she'd bring the cup to her mouth, urging her to drink.

Hitomi knew that a good spell might fix any wounds, but she didn't know much about all that. Magic seemed good short term, but she highly doubted its long term effectiveness.

Whether or not Tala drank, Hitomi would pull out one last piece of paper. 'They were good, but not as good as you. What happened?' Hitomi had an accurate assessment of Tala's skill, in her opinion, Tala could probably kill her in a one on one fight. Hitomi had dispatched Kari without much of a problem, Tala should have been able to do the same with Fie.

As Hitomi wrote, it took Tala a while to grasp what had happened earlier. It was only when Hitomi mentioned Kari and Fie escaping that it all started coming back to her. She only remembered bits and pieces, but she was aware of just how bad things got, and that caused shame to wash all over her. Still, she focused on Hitomi's question...something she didn't really know how to answer.

"I'm not entirely sure..." she said. "I've never seen anything like that. Maybe its a form of alteration magic. I've seen people bring their prosthetics to life with magic, maybe this is like that."

Despite the pain, Tala forced herself to sit up, gently guarding the wound on her side as she did. When Hitomi offered the herbal drink, she thanked her but made a mental note she had to heal herself with Carta soon so that Hitomi didn't have to keep watching over her. It wouldn't do for Tala to be incapacitated.

Hitomi finally asked about what happened in battle, or rather, what happened with Tala. Tala slightly hesitated. She gave a sheepish smile.

"You're sweet to assume I'm that good of a fighter," she said trying to play it off lightly. Her tone quickly subdued, though. "I don't know if I can really explain why I lost. I was so angry..."

Bit by bit, Tala started to remember more. She remembered how she had been striking mercilessly, how Fie easily predicted and blocked each of her moves. She remembered Fie turning into nothing but an undefined blob of black and everything around her going dark.

"No, not angry," she murmured. "I was scared."

Tala didn't lift her gaze from the ground. Her eyes focused hard on the snow at her feet; slush amongst twigs and rock and dirt, specks of filth against a pure white sheet.

"I wasn't always a beast slayer," she admitted. "Well, I mean, I fought monsters, but they weren't my main enemy. Humans were."

She took a deep breath. Her eyes closed and she could instantly picture Expiate officers surrounding her. She saw a paper talisman raise in front of her before getting pierced and soaked with blood. Her hands began to shook, but she clutched them tight. She breathed out.

"But those days are over for a reason," she said. She relaxed her hands and raised them over her lap. They were still slightly shaking. "When I fight, I lose it. I go berserk is another way to put it. And this is usually fine against monsters. Monsters aren't that smart. Monsters can't fight back with a sword or spells or..."

She swallowed.

"Things are different when I go up against someone. I remember things and everything just turns really dark."

Her voice remained as calm as possible as she explained and her hands finally stopped shaking. She lowered them and looked at Hitomi apologetically.

"I shouldn't have put you in danger like that earlier," she said. "I could have gotten you hurt. I promised myself I'd never let that happen to someone again."

She sighed.

"Now that they know about me, it's even more dangerous. I thought I'd be able to plan things insidiously, but while I'm being hunted, you're only gonna be in more danger. You can't have that..."

It was easy to guess what Tala was going to say next, but she didn't say it and merely looked at Hitomi waiting for a reply.

Hitomi barely moved or even took her eyes off Tala as she spoke. Every so often her ear would twitch one direction or another, but she was making a concentrated effort to sit still and pay attention to Tala's story. It was a lot to take in, that was for certain. Still, when Tala began to grow upset during her story, Hitomi hesitantly reached forward and began to stroke the woman's hair. She was worried about her coarse prosthetics not doing much in the way of comfort, but she had to do something. She didn't like seeing Tala upset. She swallowed hard, the irrational need to put on her mask hitting her like a wave.

She didn't though...

At Tala's last point, Hitomi's eyebrows twitched downwards. While her face was fairly passive, Tala would see Hitomi's hair almost start to bristle. She shook her head wildly, her hand suddenly sliding down and cupping the woman's cheek. She couldn't shift or move Tala, so this was her best course.

Her other arm shot out, her brush furiously moving across a piece of paper.

'No.'

Another moment.

'Not going to happen.'

Another.

'I promised to protect you and you did the same for me.'

Another.

'Do not cast me aside now. I've been in danger my entire life, from worse than what hunts you.'

She hesitated next, her furious writing pausing for a moment. She sighed and calmly wrote out her next message. She couldn't believe she had gotten so worked up...After a few seconds, she'd written out a final message.

'My homeland has been at war since I was a child. I've been a cripple since I was a child and I've only had two traveling companions since I was a child. You're the second. Before I was even a teenager I had to kill to survive in a war torn country. I've been stabbed, beaten, bitten and even poisoned. You've seen my body, you've seen the scars. You know I can take care of myself and you know I wouldn't travel with anyone I didn't have faith in. What we're doing is dangerous, what you have planned is dangerous, and what will come is dangerous.'

At that point, Hitomi leaned down slightly and flipped to a second page.

'This is hard for me too. I don't want to see you hurt either. If you're planning on leaving me behind and then saying its for my sake, you're lying to me and yourself. You won't get to do that though, because I'm not leaving. Don't test me on this, I'll fight YOU if I have to.' The last part was a bit of a joke...She DID just dump a lot on her at once.

But there was no way she was getting rid of her.

Tala oddly didn't flinch when Hitomi stroked her hair, even if it did surprise her. The thing was she wasn't bothered by it at all. It was soothing, even. Hitomi didn't know, but a long time ago someone always comforted her this way too. It made Tala a little sad to be honest, but she managed a soft smile.

But then Hitomi got upset. Every page she made, Tala wanted to chip in, but Hitomi's brush strokes were too fast to let her respond. She decided it might be best to wait it out. She hurriedly read through each line and...she was surprised that she was Hitomi's second partner. Her heart ached when she read what happened next. Compared to her, Tala felt like Hitomi had to struggle so much more. Despite everything that had happened to Tala, she had always had people with her. Hitomi though...

Hitomi's promise of keeping her safe were reminded to her, and when she threatened to fight her if Tala tried to make her leave, Tala smiled ruefully.

"Well, I definitely don't want to be on the opposite end of those killer blades," she said.

And then, more softly, "Alright, I won't fight you on this," she said. "I guess I'll just have to do my best to keep my end of the deal."

She straightened up looking around.

"If we're going to do this, I know who we have to go to," she said. "We should be safe there and I'll have the time to recuperate. She's...a difficult person, but there's no one I know who'd be our best bet against what we're gonna do."

Tala stretched her arms as she got up, she was still in a little pain, but not as much. The Sakigake stuff really seemed to work for her. She let out a small smug chuckle.

"Oh, that old fox is going to be a headache..."

She then turned to Hitomi and offered her hand. She felt a little awkward reaching out to her like that--it was a pretty sentimental gesture--but she trusted Hitomi to take it.

"Shall we go? ...partner?"

Hitomi let out a relieved sigh as Tala relented. It seemed her 'speech' had reached her. She didn't know why her leaving would hurt, but she would avoid that pain if she could. Her face morphed into silent laughter at the mention of her 'killer blades'. In the end, that's what they were weren't they? As much as they were tools for protection...

Sad thoughts aside, Hitomi still couldn't help but smile at Tala. It seems they had their next destination in mind already!

She pushed herself up, Tala made a mention of a fox. They were going to meet with an Enkidu? Well, someone from her homeland would be a welcome sight indeed. She dusted herself off, looking up at Tala as she called her 'partner.' For the first time since they'd met, a bright, cheery smile appeared on Hitomi's face. She was certain she'd be giggling if she wasn't a mute. She stepped forward and grabbed Tala's hand with an excited energy she wasn't really known for.

"Mm!!!"

Tala's smile was warm and affectionate when Hitomi finally took her hand. She didn't feel the need to point out where they were going since it was probably just up ahead. But, aside from that, she felt that Hitomi would trust her on it.

As they started walking, she'd glance one more time at Hitomi. It felt so odd having someone next to her side again. Hitomi had mentioned she was her first partner after a long time, and while Tala had always had partners in her olden days, she had been going it alone for...ten years? Twenty?

She wondered if bringing Hitomi along was really okay, if bringing people to fight alongside her after each time had gone so horribly was going to be alright. Tala wasn't what she used to be, and this time it was just the two of them.

Tala's mind wandered back to another time from long ago. She remembered a younger version of herself not trekking along snow, but walking across the badlands. She saw five people, all taller than her, and she remembered the young man in a tattered cloak not too different from Hitomi's holding her hand and leading the way.

"We've got your back if you got ours okay shorty?" the voice had said, confident, but affectionate.

A younger version of her bobbed her head eagerly. The young man smiled.

"Then you have nothing to worry about from now on. Just trust me on this."

Tala found herself smiling a little.

Okay, Sal, she thought. I will.

Tala looked at the road ahead of them. The slope would go upwards towards the higher parts of Eisleyn. In the background, the higher mountains and the palace towered over the rest of the land, Diamant shining brilliantly as everything else loomed in darkness. Her eyes narrowed.

Tala wasn't going to lose this time. She couldn't afford to. Not when she had someone to rely on and who relied on her again.