“Hey Anna. Trey, Jean,” I greet them politely.
Their faces all turn to me instantly, and I give a small smile. I must be getting better at hiding if none of them heard me come in.
[Obfuscation 7 > 8]
“Snow,” the girl breathes, putting down the knife. “You’re alive.”
I tilt my head. “Do I truly visit that little?” I ask, and the young woman blushes briefly before looking aside. Then, my eyes fall on Jean. “Hey,” I greet him.
The boy looks at me with wide eyes, his blonde hair having grown longer in the past few months. His blue eyes are still the same, though. Quiet, and too kind. For a moment, only his lips move, then he remembers to use his voice. “Hello, Snow,” he says.
“Hey Jean. Do you miss your grandmother?” I ask.
Instantly, the boy’s eyes widen even more. “Yes,” he breathes. Then, he flinches and pulls back. “Nooooo…” he tries, refusing to look at me. It’s not very convincing.
“Okay. You remember our plan about letting you heal people, yes?” I ask, and he nods. “Well, right now, we want to offer that service to get your grandma back, Jean.” As he processes, I sneakily inspect him.
[Bodymender, lv. 53]
Which confirms that there is some way to go up without reaching the right threshold. Because I can tell that Jean doesn’t have an authority, not yet. Despite the fact that he is, in so many ways, powerless, the boy just nods at me. “Okay,” he says bravely. “What do you need me to do?”
Giving him a nod of respect, I ruffle his hair. “Brave kid,” I say, and I see him light up. Then, I hold out my hand for him to take. His fingers are very small in mine. “We’ll go take you to a pretty dangerous meeting. So you’ll have to be careful, yeah?”
“I’ll be careful!” he agrees, immediately, eyes set with determination.
Humming slightly, I pull out a coat I made for him. It has a few basic enchantments, as well as an [Obfuscation] inscription he can activate with his own mana, letting him hide. With careful motions, I wrap it around him, and pull the hood over his face. Intuitively, he tests the cloak with his own mana-sense, and smiles when he notices what I’ve done.
Then, I take his hand again. “We’ll be back,” I tell Anna and Trey, who watched the exchange wordlessly. The other kid just nods, and I can tell his core is getting better, while Anna half-glares at me, seemingly unhappy about something. I can’t quite tell what.
“Be safe,” she tells me, not meeting my eyes.
“Sure,” I reply, shrugging faintly as I head outside.
Rain smacks into my face at the same time as cold air does. Jean draws his cloak a little tighter, feeding some mana into the warming enchantments I included, thanks to what I learned from Jess. When he’s ready, he squeezes my hand slightly, and I fight down the urge to pull away from the touch.
He needs it, and so I hold his hand as we walk through the city. About halfway through, I put on my mask of manifested shadow, and Yuki becomes Kuro.
- - -
PoV: Yollic Zurn - Raven
I can feel the tension in the air. The way that authorities taste each others’ boundaries. My muscles are coiled tight, and the tension pisses me off. It was supposed to be a simple ambush - lure them here, then take the healer off them.
Now? My spear is still against that damn human woman’s neck. The old woman, who the healer likes. It hums softly in my hands, and the weight of my feathery cloak is comfortable on my back. Despite that, I cannot relax.
They’re all here. Crybabies didn’t come alone. Bloodstain stands next to me, the woman seemingly so pleased at the situation. An easy smile plays on her bronze skin, and she licks her rust-red lips as she twirls a knife. An enchanted knife which she stole from one of my birdies.
Still, I can deal with that anger. What makes me nervous are the others.
Coldscar is a scithian. He’s tall and built with blue-white wings and matching hair, cut short. There’s a jagged scar across his face, and he wears an eyepatch to cover one eye. His face has that permanent scowl frozen on, and he crosses his tree-trunk arms.
Lucky, meanwhile, seems almost pleased. The zoof sits on the edge of a roof, her wiry feet dangling in the air while her big, beady eyes scan the area and her straw-gold fur blows in the wind. She seems to be permanently smiling, not worried in the slightest, regarding things with curiosity.
And then, of course, there is Reign. The most arrogant of all the gang-leaders, sitting on a piece of rubble, with that enormous axe planted into the ground. Her golden armor catches the light, even covered by the dark cloak she wears, contrasting her steel-grey skin and eyes. Her face is entirely neutral, resting on her hand, almost bored. As if this was beneath her.
We can’t take them all.
That’s what pisses me off most. We can’t take them all. Hush, the leader of crybabies, looks pale as a sheet. He’s hunched and vulnerable, and yet, no one makes a move on him. Because we’re now here for negotiations, and my ambush is falling pointless!
“When will you show us the boy?” Coldscar demands, his voice gruff. “I was told this was important.”
Falling idiot has a shite detection skill. That’s why he doesn’t know yet. I don’t deign him with a reply, and Hush just bids him to wait a little more. The boy is so humble in his words, even when his voice is raspy and his posture so secure. He truly feels safe. I want to rip his throat out.
But I don’t, because it only takes moments for Kuro to step from the shadows.
That dark mask catches my sight instantly, and I linger on it. From below, cold pools of darkness stare at me. Eyes that wander the whole meeting, lingering on each of the bosses for a moment. Me, Bloodstain, Reign, Lucky and Coldscar. One by one, I can feel us getting dismissed.
I fucking hate that arrogant look. Somehow, that fucker is worse than Reign. And despite that, I can’t look away, because holding Kuro’s hand is the kid. That same kid that the falling fairy stole from me. The same kid whose eyes linger on my spear now, pressed against his grandma’s neck.
That makes me give a happy hum. I press the blade a little closer to the fragile human’s skin, just to remind them all who has the most leverage here. “Made us wait,” I tell Kuro, displeasure clear in my tone, rallying the others against the fucker.
In response, I just see that mask tilt to its side faintly, as if confused by my statement. Hush speaks instead. “We’re all here now,” he says with a clap of his hands. “As you all know, we Crybabies have recently found a healer.” He gestures at the boy.
Instantly, attention is on him. So, they hadn’t mentioned the healer before. “That person Raven is threatening,” Hush continues, “is the healer’s grandma.” And instantly, sentiment shifts against me. I hold back a hum of displeasure.
“You stole the healer from me,” I reply.
“Now, now,” Gem, that tall, sword-wielding fucker in a big coat says. “It doesn’t really matter who had him first. He’s with us now. And you’re threatening his family. Just as we were about to offer his services to all of ring five, too…”
Fuck.
At the statement, Coldscar tenses, and stares at me. Reign shifts, her head still resting on her hand, but the other moves to grip her axe. Even Bloodstain gives me a sideways glance. I feel frustration twist in my stomach. “You could never stop it from spreading. The guards would be on us instantly.”
“The guards,” Hush interrupts with a drawl, “are after Aviary. We have him safely hidden away. And my colleague, Titania-” he gestures at the woman who just two days ago blew a few holes in me, “has a contract skill. We can ensure silence.”
More attention on me. I clench my fists, nails digging into flexible skin. “We smuggled him in. We deserve a reward,” I say.
Hush grins, as if I’d stepped into their trap. “Of course, Raven. Your contribution to this is to be valued. If you gift the boy his family back, I’m sure he’d be willing to heal anyone from Aviary, free of charge, for… say, three months, hmm?”
I feel my muscles tightening. It’s an offer that’s brutally unfair. It was supposed to be my healer. But now it’s public - and the stares on me aren’t receding. Coldscar nods in approval at the deal, because he knows it’s fair. Lucky giggles at my misery. Just Kuro stares with that same blank, infuriating expression.
Before I answer, Reign speaks. “Take the deal, Raven,” she says, her voice like steel. “Take it before we have to cut your head off. Ring five hasn’t had a healer in years. If you falling ruin this for us…” her eyes narrow. “I’ll be displeased.”
Kuro’s eyes bore into me. Clenching my muscles tightly, I fight my anger down. Owl’s hand lands on my arm with the softness of a feather. Slowly, ever so slowly, I press down my spear from the woman’s throat.
I’m fucking pissed. Everyone else, however, seems really rather pleased. And I don’t even come away empty handed. No one died. But despite everything, I have the guards on me. I can’t even rat them out, because I’d be executed. What a falling shitshow.
Giving a great, long sigh, I watch the old lady reunite with the kid healer. The way his eyes light up and they wrap each other up in a hug. But even through it all, my eyes meet those of Kuro. And I know, then and there, that we understand each other.
That this… isn’t over.
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