Chapter 80: We Need A Break!
“Huh!? W-what, what just happened?” Vega jumped up from her bedroll, catching the eyes of the nurses and doctors.
Finding herself in a vast hall, she noticed she wasn’t the only one here. Stacks of bed covered behind curtains, pots of boiling water where people sanitized their tools, and hundreds of wounded people.
“Holy shit that elf wasn’t lying.” A doctor with blood on his apron dropped his instruments at the sight of her. Many others followed suit and backed away as they noticed her.
“She’s alive?!” A soldier pointed his crutch at her, waving it around before tripping and falling.
“Ha! I won that bet!” One nurse announced, cheering and whooping.
“Shut up!” A doctor shouted, his face red with embarrassment and not with blood.
Swiveling her head back and forth, she noticed the various accommodations people had. Comfy looking beds and pillows, thick blankets and staff constantly watching them.
And all Vega got was a bedroll laying on the cold floor.
“Bruh.” The scarecrow said. Everyone was still staring at her, not getting on or back to their work so Vega rolled her eyes and prepared.
“Oh! Sorry, didn’t mean-mean to scare ya. I know it’s in my name, but I didn’t mean to. I’m just gonna head… back to bed-bed.” Wanting to appease the doctors, Vega laid down and threw the blanket over herself. Seeing that Vega wasn’t doing anything out of the ordinary (besides her EXISTING), they continued on with their work of healing and helping.
As she lay there, Vega’s mind wandered back on the fact she was sleeping. And what she was doing whilst sleeping.
“Man… that was such a weird dream-dream… I didn’t even know I could dream…” Vega thought about it. Then Vega thought about it some more.
Then she realized that dream was very much real.
Turning on her side, Vega wondered about a particular person.
“...that shadow guy was pretty cute…”
Upon exiting the hospital which she now knew was a makeshift hospital, she saw that it had been built into the Second Tower. In fact, many of the bandages they had been using were the sterilized papers from the libraries high above.
The doctors even gave her some bandages for her arms. They didn’t really do much, but Vega appreciated the gesture.
Earlier she had went to the front desk to get her stuff, but the worker said to fuck off. So the scarecrow fucked off.
As she walked out of it, a large shadow loomed overhead. She didn’t remember there being a shadow but what she saw reminded her of what had happened on the day of invasion.
Much of the upper half of the tower was still frozen along the Black Wall, not moving or buckling under the stress. Every now and again more papers would fly out, looking like distant birds flying.
Her eyes followed one of the papers as they fell closer and closer, eventually landing on a lone grave.
Outside she noticed a small and new graveyard, around the corner of the entrance. Many people were paying their respects to the fallen, be it soldiers who died in battle or family that burned up in the fires.
One person stood out from the folks that were mourning, a lady with black hair and long ears. Vega approached, seeing her faint emotion leaking out.
“...Krimm?” Laying a hand on her shoulder, Vega saw that she was actually sad. Krimm didn’t move from her kneeled position, simply looking at the simple gravestone. It was that of the priest, the one Vega met before entering the tower.
“Hey…” Responding softly, Krimm only moved her eyes to see Vega’s hand.
“Ya alright? Ya know this guy?” Vega crouched beside her, tilting her head to see her, but Krimm looked away again.
Taking a breath, the fairy accepted what she had done, and opened her mouth slowly.
“The priest. I killed him.” Krimm felt a guilt seep into her head, yet another guilt lifted off. That Vega knows now, yet now she can admit her sins.
“...” Vega was off put, reminded of how sour and violent this world was. She didn’t have words, she didn’t have any words. Only thoughts, only memories of how she convinced Krimm to make a change.
Of how Krimm was a victim, in the way of being turned into a killing machine. That her lost people drove her to this. Now she was free.
However, an image pierced through her mind.
The only image was the dream, the man who invaded her dream. Of Ani Arma.
“I’m sorry…” Krimm’s somber voice broke Vega out of her thinking, and it was clear that Krimm was grieving, grieving over a man she never bothered to care about.
If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.
Over a man she never bothered to figure out.
Over never bothering to figure out what she wanted. That scared Vega, it scared her because of her choices in the dream. Because she held out her hand for Ani Arma, to know the truth.
“...I know…” Squeezing her shoulder, Vega scooted a little closer to Krimm. She couldn’t deny that she chose to listen to Ani Arma. Just as Krimm had all that time ago.
“...I’m sorry…” Krimm closed her eyes, glad to be feeling sad. A single tear hugged her cheek, and she didn’t brush it away. Krimm was glad to feel something, to feel more than hatred and anger.
“....I know ya are changing. This is a good step…” Vega smiled, feeling closer to Krimm than ever before.
The two, after paying respects to the dead, decided to walk around the city. Plenty of it was burnt, whole streets and blocks reduced to charcoal colored ruin.
However, a glimmer of hope and reward showed itself.
Many buildings, apartments and workshops remained, the one that Krimm had helped to protect and extinguish fires. And tons of paths and alleys were flooded with bright and clear water. When children were done helping with repairs, they often waded and played in the flooded streets, swimming and relaxing.
“So…how long has it been?” Stopping to see the kids playing, Vega popped the question. She suspected it would be, at most, a couple of hours.
“A week.” Krimm answered directly.
“A week?! Jeez, sorry, I didn’t mean to sleep that long! I didn’t know I could even do that-that.” Looking down at a puddle of water, Vega saw her reflection. Her head looked a hell of a lot more different, with new patches stitched on. Two of them to more precise, a nice and soft red.
Tracing the lines of the patches, Vega admired her new look, as if she suddenly had a crazy makeover instead of her face literally being different.
“...do you like it?” Asking shyly, Krimm too looked at Vega’s reflection.
“...It’s not bad. Not baaaaad at all.” Vega had to admit, she looked pretty badass. “Or should I say, I look-look baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad.” She snapped at the puddle, feeling a newfound pride in her appearance.
“Heh. Glad you’re taking it well. It was actually Skaldi who did it. Took some of your own clothes and refitted them on you.” Krimm still felt weird about saying Skaldi’s name, not exactly friendly with him yet.
But that wasn’t what made Vega confused.
“Skaldi knows how to sew-sew?” Vega didn’t believe it, the thought of Skaldi doing that to her seemed a little too hard to believe. She wouldn’t question it if it was Sorbet or Valiato or Florato. But it was Skaldi, so she wanted proof.
“Yeah. He’s gay.” That was Krimm’s proof.
“Now that’s just a homophobic stereotype.” Vega wagged her finger at Krimm, as if she were a kid that said something mean.
“Bitch I’m gay too.” Crossing her arms, Krimm responded with the heaviest amount of sass possible.
“Point taken.” Beaten in this verbal spar, Vega shrugged and they continued on their way.
Since most of the city was in a state of disrepair, Vega and Krimm took to climbing and jumping across rooftops, with most of them not being touch by the fires. When they did encounter a block that was decimated, they simple balanced on the pipe works and scaffolding all around.
From this high up, Vega could see multiple masses of people marching up to the Black Gate. Even from that distance, she could tell there were thousands of people ready to riot. The Cloud District was the least touched, but it was also stuffed with people that had recently lost their homes.
Often seeing below them, they saw droves of the Lai Family troops. Acting as peacekeeping forces, they delivered food and supplies for rebuilding. Since a majority of the watchmen either retreated inside Jantok Sky or stayed to enforce order, the Lai Family saw this as a chance to grab up power in the city itself.
As for what else they were doing, they were processing and interrogating the captured Tripolian soldiers. Treating it like a series of business deals, the soldiers and officers of the Lai Family secured key plans and info about their numbers on the Isle of the Blight Elves.
Vega saw nearby by a fortress a more minor interrogation.
“This is your entire force? A little… disappointing.” A Lai Family watchman gestured to a row of bound men, with their equipment stripped. He seemed a little surprised, seeing that many of them had injuries not related to the invasion.
“Yes… yes… Blight Elves… they destroyed. Lost much…” The Tripolian officer tied to the chair didn’t know much Iozian, so he told it as simply as he could.
“Hmmm… tell you what. Give me the details of how many men you got on the island and we make you a frontier centurion. Sounds good?” The watchman was obviously lying, but he flashed a gold coin in his hand, catching the officer’s attention.
“Yes? Yes! Yes I will!” The officer smiled brightly, ready to tell everything. And this was similar to the other efforts done by the Lai Family. Marketplaces turned to soup kitchens, parks became holding cells, and they made the city their own burnt backyard.
Getting close to the First Tower, Vega felt almost nostalgic. It wasn’t too long ago since she got into the city, and now it had changed so much. Or rather, the city and the events that took place changed her.
Physically, emotionally, and spiritually.
Vega felt nearly whole, with a greater sense of self and purpose. The scarecrow got a lot of answers and a few more questions. And she got a lot more friends, a little less foes.
The Scarecrow felt almost complete, but there was still work to be done.
Sliding down the roof, Vega and Krimm landed on the street leading up to the tower. As they walked to it, Krimm stopped and looked up to the roof.
“Hey.” She said, calling her to stop.
“Yeah? What’s up?” Vega knew Krimm had another thing to tell, likely something when she was still an Assassin.
“I saw you on the roof of the tower. I saw you talking with the blonde lady. I saw you singing to yourself. At night.” Krimm walked over to her, still looking at the roof. Noticing the fluttering in her eyes, Vega sensed that she needed something off her chest.
“...and ya felt alone?”
“Yeah. I think I’ve told you that a million times.” Stretching out her arms, Krimm reminisced on how rocky Vega and her first meeting was.
“Hahaha, it was a loud of shouting. But no, I get it. I am pret-pretty to look at. Now, ya get to see me-me up close-close.” Vega held onto Krimm’s hand, which Krimm’s eyes opened wide, shocked at the gesture. Not insulted, but having forgotten what it was like to feel happy.
“...hmm… I’m glad you’re my friend. Or sister? God… that feels weird to say.” Rolling her eyes, Krimm followed Vega as they went to the door of the tower.
“I like-like sister more, buuuuuuuuut-”
“You’re right, sister is cool.” As she was pushing open the door, Krimm smiled genuinely, again shocked that she was happy. Amazing? no. Content with how things turned out? Absolutely.
As the door opened, the two saw everything that they had fought for. For friends, for the people they loved. And for the people they both wished to become.
The Scarecrow and the Fairy were home.