Chpt. 35) Extra Training Required

Searing, burning pain racked Ford’s body as she awoke and tried to sit up. Every muscle in her body felt as though she had spent a week straight working out and doing drop sets with every rep. She groaned and even her throat felt as though she had used it to lift weights. Blearily opening her eyes she saw the long worried face of a giant Ace staring down at me from an inch away. “Hey, buddy,” she mumbled, her throat was dry and raspy like she hadn’t drunk anything for hours.

“Hi!” Ace said his tongue hanging out the side of his mouth as he gave a big doggy smile. Then he closed his mouth and widened his eyes as he seemed to remember something, “Oh, yeah. Sit. Down. Stay human. I will return,” he said before backing away, leaving Ford alone in her tent.

Ford looked at the tent flap, perplexed, ‘Did he just tell me to sit, down, and stay? Who’s the dog in this situation?!’ Ford thought to herself, then called back to him sarcastically, “Oh, no. I’m running away. I don’t listen to orders.” She didn’t move as she was too sore.

But Ace heard her and believed her, as his head was quickly back in the tent, his nose almost touching hers with the tent flaps over his eyes. “Sit. Down. Stay. Good human,” he commanded like a human talking to a dog. He slowly backed out of the tent, still facing Ford, and just before he left the tent again, he commanded, “Stay … good human,” then he left again.

Chuckling, Ford closed her eyes and stayed still. Not because she was told to stay, but because it hurt to move. She stared up at the canopy of her tent and contemplated what happened. ‘I lost control, didn’t I?’ she thought, not expecting a response.

“No,” Wrath answered after a moment, “We worked together. You didn’t relinquish control like I thought you would. We worked together for once. No arguments and no forcing each other to do anything. We just were.”

Ford chuckled, ‘We just were. Huh. I never thought something so profound would come out of you.’

“We are you, you know,” Wrath shot back.

‘I know what I said,’ Ford chuckled at her self-deprecation.

“I do believe now would be a good time to re-negotiate your deal with Wrath,” Greed chimed in and Ford could feel Wrath’s emotions bubble up and could only describe it as a small glimmer of hope.

Ford thought about it for a moment and decided, ‘I’ll consider it. If you do two things for me.’

Wrath’s hope built up even more as she hesitantly asked, “What things?”

Before Ford could answer her tent flaps parted and Lilly poked her head in, “Am I intrudin’?”

“Yes!” Wrath yelled in Ford’s head.

“Nope, come on in,” Ford answered, ignoring Wrath.

Lilly smiled and sat beside Ford, her feet outside of the tent. She remained silent for a time before sighing, “Farah, said ye lost control? Is tha’ true? Did Wrath take ye over?”

Ford didn’t answer immediately and groaned as she forced herself to sit up and cross her legs, mumbling, “Ow, ow, ow, ow.” A flash of concern crossed Lilly’s face, but she said nothing and waited patiently for Ford to get settled. Once she did Ford took a deep, painful breath and exhaled a couple of times, before saying, “Wrath didn’t take over. I did lose control but she didn’t force it on me.”

“Wha’ do ye mean?” Lilly asked, confused. Through another painful breath, Ford explained her meaning. The emotions that filled her when the monster appeared, the conclusion she reached, and the rage that boiled up inside her. Lilly listened throughout, patiently listening and never interrupting. Once Ford finished Lilly nodded as she gathered her thoughts, “I see wha’ ye mean. If tha’s true, I’d be pissed too. Also, are ye al’ righ’? ye’ve been moanin’ an’ groanin’ this entire time?”

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“I’m so sore,” I whined, “And not in a fun way either. And what do you mean if that’s true?”

Lilly chuckled at Ford’s answer and placed a hand on Ford’s chest as she cast Absolute Healing on her. Ford’s pectoral muscles immediately stopped burning as the feeling of relief washed over her body, slowly radiating out from Lilly’s hand. They stayed like that for a time before Lilly answered, “I nu the gods aren’ kind, but I also nu they aren’ unnecessarily cruel. So I don’ tink they purposefully attacked the town.”

Lifting her hand from Ford’s chest as Lilly finished casting the spell, only a small ache passed through her body, much like the soreness after a week of recovery. Ford rolled her shoulders and rubbed her neck as she cracked it with a satisfied sigh. “Thanks that’s much better,” Ford said with a smile, before she turned more somber, “that being said, I still don’t agree with you about the gods, but that’s a question for the gods another time. Meanwhile, I need to talk with everyone, especially Farah and Ee.”

Nodding, Lilly agreed, “I tink tha’ wud be best.” She then helped Ford up and out of the tent.

‘Hey, Wrath. You know those two things I wanted you to do?’ Ford thought as Lilly reached out her hand.

“What do you want?” Wrath reluctantly and impatiently asked. Ford told her exactly what she wanted as they all left her tent.

The rest of the team sat around a campfire, all unusually quiet as they saw Ford walking behind Lilly, except Ee who lay on a chair made of shadows not paying attention to anything other than her carving. Farah snarled and put a hand protectively across Tanya’s chest while Gimble worriedly clenched his fists. Ford’s eyes were covered by the brim of her fedora as she walked up to them before looking up to reveal red burning eyes. Farah wasted no time as she drew her swords and brought them up to Wrath’s neck while Gimble summoned his shield and placed himself between Farah and Tanya. Wrath didn’t even flinch as the blades slightly dug into her throat, drawing a single drop of blood that trickled down Farah’s swords.

“Farah!” Lilly yelled in surprise in the hopes that she’d stop.

Farah gritted her teeth and growled, “Why shouldn’t I kill you right now?!?”

Wrath said nothing for a long time, her face completely still and unflappable. She then did something Farah, did not expect. Wrath bowed deeply and said, “I apologize for my actions. All of them. From back when I first awoke to now. I am sorry. And I promise it will never happen again. No threats. No attempts on your lives. I’m sorry.”

Farah stared at her in surprise. Stunned by the turn of events, her blades faltered and she lowered them as she asked, “Why are you apologizing?”

“I’m really tired of sitting back and watching from the sidelines. It pisses me off—” Wrath bit her lip as though saying any more would anger her, but she continued, “It pisses me off to watch you all fight and get hurt without me.”

Sheathing her swords Farah asked, “You want to get hurt?”

Wrath blinked and Ford’s eyes turned to their usual violet and gold. Ford chuckled as she rose, “Yeah, I don’t know about that either. She doesn’t seem to want to get hurt but she wants something. I hope you can forgive her and get used to her presence. Without her, I probably wouldn’t have been able to kill that monster.”

“Why did you kill it?” Farah asked, “It would’ve been easy for those hunters the general brought to kill it.”

“They would’ve,” Ford agreed, “But how many people would’ve died while they fought the monster? I think they would’ve ended up killing more innocents than they would’ve saved.”

“So, you killed it to save the town?” Benet asked from the other side of the fire, sounding surprised.

Ford’s eyebrow twitched as she slowly turned to Benet. “Well, Benet,” Ford began, her words dripping with venom, “Why do you sound so surprised?”

“Tch,” Benet clicked his tongue, “Just surprised that someone that only cares about themselves showed—”

Benet’s words caught in his throat as Ford’s fist impacted his face and sent him sprawling across the ground. He groaned and pushed himself up as he spat out a glob of blood and glared up at Ford. She stood over him, the light from the fire behind her casting her features in darkness. Benet’s eyes roamed up her body from her clenched fist to the anger in her face, her violet, pink, green, and red eyes brimming with rage and … tears.

“YEAH! I’M SELFISH!” Ford yelled, stunning everyone even more, “I’m the most selfish person in the world! I have no one! I died and lost everything!” she yelled as she rubbed a hand over her head, tears starting to stream down her cheeks, “I had nothing before I got my grimoire, and suddenly I had everything. I had all the power I could ever want at my fingertips and people to travel with. Then one of them hates me for not letting him go. I thought I was going to lose them. One of the only people I consider family. I-I—” Ford stopped herself from saying more as the tears overwhelmed her and she began wiping her eyes.

Before anybody could move, Tanya was by her side and tackled Ford’s legs with as big a hug as she could give. Ford fell to her knees and wrapped her arms around Tanya as she got herself under control. Benet just stared at her, stunned by the outburst. He no longer glared at her and sniffed the blood leaking from his nose as he clutched his chest and mumbled, “I’m … I’m sorry.”

***