Yui I

0 PA

Yui Blackwoods could safely say, without a shadow of a doubt, that she hated her new life.

It had all started after that eldritch-god-thing kidnapped her and a bunch of other people. It gathered them up, killed a man, tore her soul out of her body, and then dumped her into a fishing village without even a by-your-leave.

What was she supposed to do about that!?

So, the God-Thing dumps her in a fishing village off the coast, right? And apparently it duped them as well, because it told them she'd be some great and amazing god-queen that would lead them to new age of Glory and yadda yadda Prosperity blah blah Divinity.

Yeah, that illusion was immediately shattered once she opened her mouth. Or failed to, more specifically. She was just horrible with people, and whenever she had to talk to someone new, she always froze up and made a fool of herself.

Sure, she was supposedly immortal now, but that didn't do anything to help with her social anxiety!

And then they found out that she couldn't weave clothes, or find berries, or even fish. For people in a fishing village, that was just rank blasphemy!

And so, without any further fanfare, they deposed her. Luckily non-violently, since they had figured out enough of her personality by that point to realize that they could just ask her and she'd dump the job in a heartbeat, but still. It was the principle of the thing. She's been deposed. She bet all the other people the God-Thing dumped into this world were doing just fine, being the immortal rulers of their villages, beloved by all and not shoved off to the side and told not to touch anything…

No she wasn't bitter! Shut up!

So here she was, sitting in her tent with a pile of rocks.

What were the rocks for, the voice in her head she used as a substitute for actual people asked?

Well, at least someone cares about what she's doing.

You see, there was an even greater travesty in this village than just the fact they were all assholes. For you see, they had no books.

Hell, they didn't even have a written language!

Not that they'd have anything to write it on, seeing as they had no paper and all, but…

Look, she has a point she needs to make.

Books? Nada. Nope. Zilch and zero.

And it was awful.

How is she supposed to drown her sorrows in endless literary works if there's nothing to read?

Ah, but that's why she had rocks! For you see, back in the days of yore, when mammoths roamed the land and Borders hadn't yet gone bankrupt, people carved their words onto stone.

And so that was what she was trying to do. To carve her own stories, her own books, her own trashy romance fics, and become famous as this world's first author!

Or she would. Eventually.

It turns out carving letters into stone was actually kind of hard.

Luckily, she was living in a tent, immortal, and didn't need to eat or sleep, so she had all the time in the world to carve her masterpieces, with absolutely nothing to distract her.

(God she missed the internet).

So anyway, that's how she's spent the last two months. Hiding in her tent from the people who threw her away, and having a mini-heart attack whenever she saw that number in the back of her head tick down.

Hm? She was having so much fun, voice in her head, why do you ask?

Unfortunately, she accidently put too much pressure on the chisel, causing the close-enough-to-a-tablet-shaped-rock she was carving to shatter into a bunch of pieces.

Yui let out a disheartened moan, before scowling heavily and shoving the pieces onto the floor, alongside the rest of her broken rocks. She rubbed her palms into her eyes and scrunched up her face, forcing herself not to cry. She wouldn't cry, she was sixteen years old! She was practically an adult! She'd even been a Queen (for a couple days)! Queens didn't cry, they were too busy being regal and shit!

She hiccupped. She wouldn't cry. Everything was fine, she was fine.

(She missed her mom).

Unfortunately, she didn't have much time for her pity party, as without warning two people suddenly burst into her tent, a man and a woman, with panicked looks on their faces.

Yes! A distraction!

Wait, no, I can't let anyone see me like this! Oh my god this is so embarrassing!

"Madame Yui," the woman hissed quietly, "you need to leave. Now!"

"What?" Yui replied eloquently.

"Someone is here to kill you," the man told her quietly as the woman gathered up her meagre belongings. "A foreign king has set his sights on our village, and the chief has already bowed to his might. The only other thing the king wants, is your head."

A dozen thoughts swirled through her head, ranging from 'This can't be happening!' to 'Ha! Serves that bastard usurper right!' to 'Oh shit.'

"Oh shit," she said. It felt like the right thing to say.

"Yes, oh shit," the man nodded, before shoving her out of the tent. "Now come with us. We've set up a boat down the coast. We'll take the boat east, and go to my cousin and his clan. Hopefully they'll be willing to take us in."

Yui, thoroughly confused and shaken, was even less articulate than normal. "Wha—why—?"

The woman clutched her hand, dragging her quickly into the forest behind her tent. Thank god for her loner-outcast status. If it had been set up closer to the rest of the village, they would have instantly been spotted.

"Why are we doing this? I suppose the answer is simple." the woman told her quietly. "You are a child. When you first arrived here, we were—all of us—blinded by false promises of glory, that we failed to see you for what you truly were. A scared child, younger than even our own daughter. And we piled so many expectations onto you, as if you were some sort of prophesized savior, and not a lost, scared child."

'H-hey! I wasn't a child! I have—er, had—a driver's license and everything!'

"And now," her face twisted in displeasure, "Someone wants to kill you. Not for any crime, but because they see you as a threat." She sneered out the last word, as if it were the most horrible thing in the world.

And, hey, absolutely unbiased opinion here, Yui totally agreed.

Still, something jumped out to her during the woman's rant. "Daughter? You have one? Er, a daughter I mean. What about her?"

The woman shook her head, smiling lightly as if to banish her anger. "Your kindness does you credit, but you don't need to worry. Who do you think is setting up the boat?"

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

"Oh."

The three of them went silent for a moment, only the sound's of Yui's clumsy footsteps cracking sticks and leaves as they rushed through the forest.

Hey, these two knew where they were going, right? They weren't lost, right?

Wait, hold on. A thought occurs.

"Are we being chased!?" Yui whispered harshly, panicking. She quickly doubled her speed (regardless of the fact she was already running out of breath), before slowing down and wincing at all the noise she was making, flip-flopping between wanting to be faster and wanting to be quieter.

"Shh, shh, calm down, it's all right," the man soothed her, placing a hand on her shoulder. "We aren't being chased. We were the ones the new king sent to grab you. They probably won't even notice we're gone until we've already sailed away. It's going to be fine; you'll be safe."

His words sort of worked—it calmed her down enough to think rationally, but only enough to remember that Murphy's law existed, causing her to panic all over again. They were totally gonna get caught before they reached the boat, she just knew it.

Still, it would be really awkward to ask them if they were really absolutely sure they weren't gonna get caught, especially since the man had put all that effort into calming her down—she didn't want him to think he was bad at it, after all. And she appreciated the effort, really! It was her own fault she was panicking anyway, just her own crazy delusions. It was like that time she had a panic attack on the plane—it landed just fine, right? It was just turbulence, nothing to be afraid of, right?

If she kept repeating that, she'd calm down, right?

Nodding to herself, she sealed her mouth shut and pretended not to notice how her heart was thudding against her ribcage.

--

It turns out, for all her panicking, nobody had caught them.

Yet.

But she wasn't going to let her guard down! The boat was the perfect place for an ambush! She could see it now, a bunch of tribesmen jumping out at them as they got in the boat! A heated debate between two old friends who now stood ideologically opposed to each other! A desperate escape, the father holding the entire king's army off singlehandedly, as the women escaped, tearfully mourning his sacrifice!

Wait, no, that meant the nice man would die!

She shook her head as they came into sight of the boat, slapping her cheeks a few times for good measure. No daydreaming, bad Yui! Remember that you're in mortal peril! Don't let yourself get sidetracked!

"Alright, here we are," the man told her as they walked up to the boat. Another woman was already sitting in it, holding onto a rope to keep it close to the shore. "Uma, put our things in while I grab the paddle. Let's move out as quickly as possible. Yui, you get in with Ami."

Yui shuffled out into the water, flinching at the cold water. Compared to how hot it was outside, it was practically freezing!

Ignoring the chill, she waded out to the boat. But once, she got a good look at it, she was suddenly a lot more wary of this plan. That boat was so tiny! And it was supposed to fit four people? They'd be crammed in there like sardines!

Still, it was this or lose her head, so she guessed this was her only option.

Well, she wouldn't lose her head, she'd have her crystal ball smashed. Though maybe they'd cut off her head anyway just to make a point.

Wait! Her crystal ball! Did she forget that!? How did she forget that?! It was only the thing that—if smashed—would instantly kill her. How—?

"Miss, uh—!" crap, she never got her name! Oh man, it was way too late to ask her that now! What if she hated her for not knowing her name! What if she decided to turn around and give her back to her executioner! Wait, execution! Focus, Yui! "My, uh, my ball! My crystal ball! Did you bring that with you!? Please tell me you have it!"

"Shh, dear, shh," the woman soothed her. "I have it. I grabbed everything that looked valuable from your tent and put it in your bag. Why, do you want me to get it out?"

Yui bit her lip, forcing down her blush as she tried not to get embarrassed. Of course the nice lady had grabbed it for her. How could she have been so stupid. Taking a deep breath to calm her racing heart, she whispered, "Yes, please."

"Hear you go," the woman told her softly, placing it in her hand.

Yui immediately felt both more at ease and very uncomfortable with it in her hand. It always felt creepy to hold, like someone was poking her brain with a pool noodle. Still, after that scare she never wanted to let it go again. She stared down at it, white and light blue lights swirling around inside it.

So pretty. If only it wasn't her actual damn soul, then maybe she could turn it into a Christmas ornament or something.

"Alright Ami, if you could help Yui into the boat now?"

"Right, got it ma!"

A hand suddenly waved itself in front of Yui's face, causing her to flinch. "Here, grab on, I'll pull you up."

Yui's eyes trailed up the hand to the arm, and then up to the face, seeing a young girl with dark skin and chocolate brown eyes.

Urk. Pretty girl.

"Er, come on, we should be hurrying, yeah?" the girl questioned, waving her arm around.

Yui flinched. Oh shit! I was staring, wasn't I? Oh god oh god she probably hates me now doesn't she! Goddamn it—wait, arm, pull up, now!

Face flushed, Yui robotically grabbed onto the other girl's arm, yelping as she pulled her up onto the boat with a single strong tug.

Mhmn. Muscles.

Yui pinched herself, trying to calm down. 'Down girl. Remember, you're running for your life. This is not the time to be horny.'

'Ah, but this is the perfect time to be horny!' The horny side of her replied.

Well damn. How was she supposed to argue with that logic?

"Hey, you okay?" the other girl asked, leaning closer to her—'wait don't do that I'm trying to calm down to close to close!'

"Ah," Yui got out, not trusting her voice to say anything else.

The other girl's eyes softened in sympathy. "Yeah, I get it. Ma and Pa sprung this on me pretty suddenly, and I'm not even the one in danger. It must be really hard for you." She reached forward, softly grabbing Yui's hands in her own. "Just know that if you ever need anything, I'll be here to help you. Ah, I'm Ami, by the way."

'I want you to do unspeakable things to me.'

"Alright, we're moving! Hold on!" the man called out, temporarily knocking Yui out of her mortified-horny fugue. With a single strong push with his paddle, he shoved the boat out into open waters, setting off for what was hopefully safety.

And with not a single person having caught them.

Damn. What an anti-climax.