Fell Champions

Rua tried getting to know her fellow Ice Watch members, but the more she tried, the less she found she even wanted to. Lita had an apathetic stance towards everything, Yurgen spent much of his time in silent meditation, and she wasn’t altogether certain if Siddic was sane. He had a way of looking at people as if trying to decide on whether or not it’d be funny if he stabbed them, and the only reason he was holding himself back was to wait for better comedic timing. 

In turn, the three of them showed no particular interest in getting to know Rua. They accepted her as a fellow prisoner, but weren’t in any mood to extend that into any type of friendship.

Just as well. Rua had enough friends. 

The four of them lounged about, though Siddic picked the odd fight from those practicing. Rua expected his opponents to be fearful, perhaps wary of him, but most of those who faced him seemed excited by the prospect, as if they had been waiting their turn.

It didn’t save them from the beatings they received.

During one in particular, Rua felt the need to intervene. She could only watch so much unnecessary bloodshed. Towards the end, Siddic abandoned his weapons entirely and threw himself on top of his opponent, raining fists down on the man’s face while weeping. Tears flowed from his eyes as freely as blood did from the Mikovian’s broken nose and shattered mouth.

Siddic screamed as he cried, as if in pain, or in terror, or in reaction to something only he could experience, and he showed no sign of letting up on his sudden explosion of violence.

Rua took a step forward, but Lita caught her arm and shook her head. Rua yanked herself away and took two steps forward when a voice called out, halting her advance.

“Stop.”

She complied instantly, her body locking up midstep. 

Kir came into view, slowly approaching, and all eyes were on her. How could they not be? Her very presence demanded attention, but now was even worse. Her hair hung loose, and she’d carefully applied makeup she normally wouldn’t need, but now concealed bruises. She wore a tight-fitting Nguarian suit, though the buttons up the front were artfully undone, striding the line between tasteful fashion decision and scandalous with the amount of cleavage it presented.

Well, scandalous by prudish, Mikovian standards.

Kir circled around Siddic, who was similarly frozen, a frown on her face.

“Explain,” she said.

“He stepped on my shadow,” he blurted.

Kir sighed, and then pointed to a nearby wooden post. “You know what to do.”

“How many times?” He sounded excited.

“Until your Tenacity breaks, and then three more.”

He smiled at her, and then began laughing, and practically scampered over to the post. He gripped it with both hands, and then slammed his forehead into it as hard as he could. 

Rua winced. Or tried to. Her body still wouldn’t move, wouldn’t respond to her thoughts. She was forced to watch as Siddic bashed his own face over and over again.

Kir stood at attention, her hands clasped behind her back the entire time. When his shield shattered, she flinched ever so slightly, but remained firm.

Siddic laughed again. Not at Kir. His entire focus was on his grisly task. He drew each blow out, and his laughter only grew louder with each one. 

When he was done, he was dazed, and stumbled a step as he turned to face Kir. It was difficult to tell what blood on his face was his, and what had come from his sparring partner. 

He looked exhausted, but also happy, a wide grin plastered on his face. But tears also still flowed from his eyes. It made for an odd sight. 

“Go to the medics. Tell them to send someone for Umad,” Kir said. “And tell them to increase your dosage again.”

Siddic gave her a mocking salute and skipped away. When he was finally out of sight, disappearing into the main building, Kir’s control slipped and she visibly shuddered before turning around and seeing Rua. 

She hesitated, pausing in her motion, and then seemed to realize the state Rua was in.

“Sorry, that order wasn’t meant for you.”

Rua’s muscles relaxed, and all at once she could feel the pain of having maintained the same position without moving. She stretched out her muscles and scowled.

“Don’t know why you keep that monster around,” Rua said.

“He’s not a monster. Well, he is. But I think he just… needs help. And I’m the only one who can give it to him.”

Rua looked at the post, stained with Siddic’s blood. “Help. Right.”

“It’s one of the only things he responds to,” Kir said defensively. “I don’t… I don’t enjoy abusing him. But just relying on orders and my Pact enforcing them doesn’t work well with him.”

“Why not?”

Kir eyed Rua, as if trying to gauge her intentions. “Because… he interprets them oddly. He looks at reality differently than most people. It makes controlling him difficult.”

“And you’re not afraid he’ll turn on you?”

“Afraid of it?” Kir sounded wistful. “No.”

Lita sidled up to them both and threw an arm over Rua’s shoulders. “She wants one of us to kill her.”

“What?” Rua said incredulously.

“She’s suicidal. Doesn’t even make a secret of it. But doesn’t have the guts to just order one of us to do it. Not that I’m sure we even could. What part of her Pact wins when the two abilities clash? Do we get to hurt her, or do we not follow the order?”

Rua rounded on Kir and grabbed her by the arm, pulling her away until they were both well out of earshot. 

“Is that true?” Rua hissed.

“Of course it’s true. What did you think I meant whenever I said I wanted someone to defeat me?”

“Not this!”

Kir shrugged. “I’m a monster. Eventually, I’ll run into a hero. Heroes kill monsters.”

“And is that why you fought me? To get me to kill you?”

“No. I did it to protect you. And to anger your off-worlder pelanoa. There’s something about her that makes me think she might be able to do it. And Il-Su told me she’s clever. Deceptively so, since she doesn’t seem it at first glance.”

“You know?” Rua asked.

“That they’re from another world? One without Dreamers? One where they can tell whatever stories they wish, and have conquered the skies themselves? Of course I know. Il-Su was only too happy to tell me stories of how superior he thinks his world is.”

“And you believed him?”

“He can’t lie to me.”

Pain. Small, but there.

“Oh, so you gave the order for him to kill Juala?”

Kir turned away. “She deserved it.”

Lie. A large one from the sudden flare that hit Rua. 

“She was our sister, and you ordered him to kill her?”

“I’m a soldier. I did what I had to do. I removed the threat.”

Lie. The biggest one yet. It hit Rua like a punch, and she rocked backwards from the pain, holding her head.

“Rua?” Kir asked, coming to her side.

Rua flicked her nose. “Lie.”

Kir stared at her in stunned silence.

“You can’t keep taking responsibility for the actions of others,” Rua said. “Il-Su killed someone, he’s responsible.”

“I’m his commander.”

“And did you give the order?”

Silence.

“Then it’s on him. Or… did Old Grey put him up to it?” That was what he’d said earlier, back in his hall. She’d been too angry at the time to focus on it.  “He would have the same control over Il-Su that he has over me. Over any of your so-called ‘Ice Watch.’”

“I didn’t come up with that name,” Kir said, an annoyed tone in her voice.

“Of course you didn’t. You were probably calling them ‘Squadron twenty-seven’, or ‘battle group nine’, or whatever unit term and appropriate number applies.”

“What? No, I didn’t.”

“Lie.”

Kir sighed. “I hate your Pact.”

“I hate yours more.”

“That’s fair.”

“So, what do I need to do to be free of it? Other than killing you.”

Kir shrugged. “Beat me in a fight. A real one.”

“Really? Because I definitely bested you in our last contest. Really. You came just from some nipple play?”

Kir blushed hard, her pale skin taking on a bluish hue. She looked around frantically, to make sure someone hadn’t heard. “I… I… I did not.”

“Lie.”

She held her nose, which had to be smarting by now. “I could order you to stop doing that, you know.”

“You could. But that means I win.”

“How does that mean ‘you win?’” 

“It means I caught you in so many of your own silly lies that you had to hide from the truth by ordering me to stop flicking your annoyingly perfect nose. How does a nose of all things be perfect? I’d be angry about it if I didn’t want to kiss it.”

Kir folded her arms. “You… you need to stop this. All this… flirting. And touching.”

“Why? You’re enjoying it, clearly.”

“Mikovians aren’t, you know…”

Rua rolled her eyes. “Do I need to flick you again to show you how much you’re lying right now? Or do I need to be three fingers deep in you before you admit you like women?”

The flush that came over Kir was a sharp ice blue, running from her face all the way down to her chest, which Rua very much enjoyed watching. Did Mikovians cool down when they did that, the opposite of other people? Or did they get even warmer than their regular fever hot body temperature? 

“I never finished before,” Kir blurted.

Rua blinked. “What? I’m pretty sure you did exactly that.”

“No, not then,” Kir said. Her words started to come out all in a rush, “I’ve been with men before. And they always finish before me. I’ve never, you know…”

Rua stared at Kir in disbelief. “You’re joking.”

“I even laid with Il-Su. I didn’t order him to. He wanted to. He had a certain mysterious charm to him at first, and had so many stories of…” Somehow, Kir’s skin turned even more blue. “He said he was very good. Knew how to pleasure both men and women. But he couldn’t, you know…”

“Get you to cum? Finish? Peak? Climax? Orgasm?”

“Yes.” Kir fidgeted a little. “That.”

“And I was your first,” Rua said. She felt a little proud of that. And it felt like a tiny bit of well-deserved vengeance against Il-Su. “Guess that seals it. You’re just like a Silayan.”

“I am not.”

“You are,” Rua said, closing what little distance there was between the two of them, and leaning into Kir’s neck. She nipped at her lightly. Kir shuddered. “Any time you want to see what it’s like again, you know where to find me.”

She stepped backwards, a small smirk on her face. Kir looked absolutely panicked and flustered. It was a good look on her. 

“We… we…”

“Where am I going to sleep?” Rua asked, following Otter’s ridiculous plan and not giving Kir a moment to recover. “I assume you have some barracks in mind. Given that I am a political prisoner, this will be unacceptable.”

“I can arrange–”

“Your rooms will suffice,” Rua said. “We can set up a cot on the floor, to give the illusion you’re keeping me safe from both assassination and rescue, while maintaining the illusion of Mikovian prudishness–”

“I’m not a prude.”

“Sorry, I meant to say propriety.”

“I know what you’re doing.”

“Of course you do. I’m being very obvious about it. And I thought Juala was the dumb one out of us.”

“It won’t work.”

Rua shrugged. “If it works, we fuck, but I’m still trapped. If it doesn’t, you deprive yourself of regular knowledge of what an orgasm feels like, and I’m still trapped. I lose no matter what, but you only get to win one way. And I know how much you like winning.”

“I’m tired, Rua. I can’t remember a time in my life when someone wasn’t looking at me the way you’re looking at me now. It only got worse once I started investing in my Allure. I miss the old days. When you didn’t want anything from me, except to be my sister.”

Rua balled up her hand in a loose fist, and lightly bopped the top of Kir’s head with it. “I take it back. You are the dumb one out of us.”

“What?”

“Kir, the first time I saw you, back when you were a knobby-kneed little know-it-all with her nose always up in the air, bossing everyone about, I decided I wanted to marry you. From the moment you gave me that lisuna and saved me from an empty house, I thought, ‘That one will be my wife.’ Even if you were an insufferable shit.”

“You never said anything.”

“Yes, because you’re a very stupid Mikovian prude. I knew you probably wouldn’t ever return my affections, so even though I dreamed about marrying you, I didn’t make that your problem. I decided to suffer in silence. Well, I’m done being silent. As soon as I’m free of your stupid Pact, I’m taking you off this island, away from your asshole of a father, and I’m going to marry you. And then I am going to give you the only satisfying sex of your life, apparently.”

Kir looked bemused. “You’re supposed to hate me.”

“Well, as Juala always liked to complain, I never do what anyone thinks I’m supposed to do.”

“I’m sorry, you know. About Juala. I know your relationship was complicated, but… I never meant what happened to her.”

“Everyone’s relationship with Juala was complicated. I will bet five Tidings that no one will mourn her at her funeral.”

“We’ve been invited, you know.”

Rua grunted.

“There’s… talk. About whether we should Wayfare in, attend the event. Display that we’re not afraid. Old Grey wants me to go.”

“If you go, you have to take me with you.”

“So your pelanoa can rescue you?”

Rua snorted. “I’m going to rescue myself by showing you how stupid you are.”

“Then I have something to show you. Perhaps it’d be better if you saw, and then told everyone. Maybe they’d believe you.”

“Show me what?”

“Why I needed to protect you.”

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