CRESCENT MOON DANCE
As the sun was approaching the forest's horizon, the usual melody of nature that was characteristic of the grove was drowned out by the cacophony of a celebration. In a clearing amidst the trees a group of five tents had been placed by a pack of goblins who had occupied the area.
Mead spilt out of tankards and extremely vulgar drinking songs sounded out from the goblin encampment as they cheered to another successful raid on the nearby village.
The small greenish creatures pranced around laughing and drinking and eating, unaware of the pairs of eyes that observed their every move. From the tree line, among the branches, there lay Ritsu Tainaka and Mio Akiyama waiting for something to happen.
"Mio, I'm bored!" Ritsu groaned.
"Then maybe you shouldn't have signed us up for this quest in the first place" Mio responded.
"I told you already, I'm sorry! But the pay sounded too good to pass this up" she jolted up from the tree branch she was sitting on. "Also, I may have been a little bit drunk when it came up…" She mumbled.
"You were really drunk." Mio said sounding smug. "You didn't even remember the whole exchange until I reminded you the next day."
"Well, it's obviously because you don't take good care of me!"
"What!? I take very good care of you whenever you drag me out to the tavern!" exclaimed the raven-haired girl, playing up her indignation.
"What do you mean I 'Drag you out'? You love going to Fier's place! Alright, let's make a deal" Ritsu said intently " Next time we go out drinking, I'll be the responsible one while you get to drink all you want"
Mio started thinking about the scenario where she got as drunk as Ritsu did, while she did believe that her friend would take good care of her, she was more concerned how she would end up behaving around everyone. The possible outcomes made her blush from embarrassment.
"I- I think I'll keep being the responsible one for now." her voice quivered ever so slightly.
Ritsu laid back on her branch, a small pout on her face.
"What are we waiting for, anyways?" asked the rogue.
"We're waiting for an opportunity to attack" replied the elf, she was watching intently as one of the goblins chased another around on all fours while squealing like a pig.
Ritsu started moving a small throwing knife across her fingers
"What difference does it make when we do it? If you're waiting for them to pass out from drinking, we're going to be here a while."
Ritsu reminisced of the one time she got to share drinks with a group of goblins some time ago, despite their appearance, they could easily drink a large man under the table.
"I want this fight to be as small as possible."
"You know I don't mind fighting big groups by myself, besides, you're going to be covering me from the tree line"
"Well unlike you, Ritsu, I care about your well-being. I don't want you fighting six goblins on your own."
She stared back at the girl lazing on the branch, a stern but gentle look in her eyes.
The knife slipped from Ritsu's fingers and she almost fell off of her branch as she fumbled it around trying to recover. Mio snorted.
"Aw, what was that?" Ritsu said half-mockingly, Mio blushed and turned away from her "Shut up" she muttered, the rogue laughed.
Ritsu crept up from her branch up to Mio's, she pressed against her and pushed her nose up with her finger.
"Did I hear a little pig creeping around here?" she started snorting and making pig sounds, moving her face closer to Mio's, she was trying her hardest not to laugh.
"Stop it!" she started giggling "We can't do this right now!"
Ritsu kept going until Mio finally gave in and started laughing. She snorted again, this made Ritsu finally lose it as well, this laughing fit was only stopped by the fact she almost fell off of the tree branch again.
"Please!" Mio wiped a tear from her eye "Let's focus on what we came here to do!" Her tone became a bit more serious, Ritsu decided to stop joking around for the time being.
The sun had already dipped down behind them, the crescent moon gently ascending in the summer sky
"Then, how are we going to go about this?"
There were 12 goblins total, led by a hobgoblin people around town called Iron-clawed Grawen, the way they had set up their camp was five tents, three of them were sleeping tents, one of them was apparently being used as a storage space, all of these surrounded a bigger tent in which most likely Grawen was residing.
From what the girls had observed, 6 of the goblins were around the campfire, two of them went into the storage tent, two of them stood watch at the main tent's entrance, and two of them went into the southeastern-most tent, while the hobgoblin had gone into the main tent and hadn't come out since the raiding group arrived.
"Well, we're obviously going to start with the group around the fire, since they're gathered out in the open it'll be easier than risking being discovered in the tents and having them call the rest—or even worse, getting Grawen involved" explained Mio
"And once we deal with the group that's having a grand-old time?" questioned Ritsu
"Well, I was hoping you could go with the flow after that and I'll provide cover from here."
"Well leave it to me fair maiden! I will lead you during this dance on the battlefield" Ritsu extended her hand towards Mio, the elf responded by placing her hand upon Ritsu's.
"Please take care of me tonight" upon hearing Mio's words, Ritsu's face suddenly felt really hot.
The girls were interrupted by the sound of pained shrieks coming from the camp.
The cauldron which was up until then resting over the campfire, lay on the ground, its contents emptied onto a goblin who was screaming at the top of his lungs, two of his comrades had tipped over and on top of him, the rest of the goblins were laughing at this display of misery. Mio gasped
"That's supposed to be a joke?"
"That looks like our cue to begin" said Ritsu who then descended dexterously down the tree trunk.
Mio cleared her throat, calmed herself down and stood up on the tree branch steadying her bow.
-The Dance Begins-
Ritsu made her way to the back of the tent in which the assaulted goblin had escaped, when she entered she saw the small creature sobbing violently, it's green skin tinted a bright pink and covered by blisters, pouring mead from a keg trying to soothe the pain, it was quite the pathetic and grotesque display.
"I'm sorry that your friends are assholes" she said to herself, pulling both of her daggers out of their sheath.
She walked out from the shadows silently towards the goblin, wrapping her arm around its head and slicing its throat, then stabbing it quickly in the heart to stop his suffering, she put her back to the entrance of the tent and took a deep breath, the song of battle had already started.
Ritsu sprinted out from the tent, barely giving the goblins any time to react, the first one to go was the one who had its back towards her, she planted her daggers firmly in between its shoulder blades, and lugged him around to block the swing from the goblin coming at her from her left, they were engaged in this strange dance that Ritsu was leading, two arrows found their mark on one of the attacking goblins, two of the goblins ducked behind cover while loading their crossbows.
The remaining goblin who was out in the open charged at Ritsu with a dagger in hand, she dodged in a half pirouette and grabbed the goblin's arm at the wrist and shoulder, placed her knee to its side and dislocated it, the goblin shrieked in pain and dropped its dagger.
She threw the goblin over her shoulder and kicked the dagger up into the air, one of the other goblins who were behind cover peeked out of cover to aim its crossbow at her, only to catch a blade between its eyes.
Two arrows buried themselves into the goblin with a dislocated arm, ending his life. And all that remained was the goblin that was behind cover waiting for an opportunity to shoot at the rogue, it was a standoff.
"This should be easy enough"—thought Ritsu as she grabbed one of her throwing knives.
This wasn't the first time she was pitted against an enemy with a ranged weapon, and she wasn't about to let it be her last, tension built as Ritsu prepared to dodge wherever the goblin aimed, she could also feel Mio's support from the tree line, she was confident.
The goblin rolled out of cover, aiming towards Ritsu's general direction, she was greeted with a volley of crossbow bolts, which took her by surprise; she tried to dodge the barrage, but she ended up getting hit in the left shoulder, Mio secured the kill on the goblin and immediately jumped down from the trees to check on her friend.
"Fuck!" Ritsu exclaimed in a hushed tone "Where did these fuckers get repeating crossbows from?"
"Are you OK!?" the elf was worried.
"I'm fine, I'm fine. My armor took the brunt of it, but damn it hurts!"
"Should we call this off?"
"What!? No! I'm fine." Ritsu stood up and retrieved her daggers from the goblin's body.
After a short pause, Mio begrudgingly decided to continue with the mission. "How are we going to go about the rest of the goblins? Can you take care of the two guarding the tent?"
Mio doubted for a second "I think I can."
"That's my Mio!" The elf blushed a little bit
"Let's get going then" said Ritsu stretching her arms.
Mio retreated back to the tree line. Ritsu flinched a little bit, she hadn't been completely honest. Even though her leather spaulder did almost completely stop the crossbow bolt from going all the way through, it still had made its way into her shoulder a fair bit, making it difficult to move her left arm.
She opened a pouch that was strapped onto her belt, the pellets inside were mixtures of herbs she made for occasions like this, Mio didn't like her using them but she had no other choice at the moment, she put a pellet in her mouth and started chewing it.
After she started feeling the effects of the herbs taking effect she gave Mio the signal to continue.
-Familiar Feeling-
Mr. Tainaka walked hurriedly around his herbarium.
"Some verbena, a couple of white myrtle petals and a couple of ergot seeds" he listed these ingredients off mentally as he clipped the potted plants in the room.
He walked back into the kitchen, the different herbs mixed in his hand. He put them into the mortar and ground them down, placed them into a small ceramic cup. He placed a kettle full of water onto the stove and lit the fire. He walked back into his daughter's room to comfort her.
Ritsu had been playing around the forest when she tripped and fell into a Hornet-Anthill, the little insects were known for their painful bite, even though harmless in the long run, their bite was normally compared to getting a nail hammered into your skin, and little Ritsu had been bitten at least a dozen times.
"Just hold on a little longer my little bobcat, you're doing great"
Ritsu had always had a high tolerance towards pain, but this would have a strongman crying like a little baby.
"Daddy make it stop! Make the pain go away!" The man held his daughter close to him
"It's ok Ritsu, you'll feel better soon" His gruff voice reassured the little girl.
The kettle started whistling, Ritsu held tightly onto his father.
"Just for a minute" With pain in his heart he pried his daughter off of him.
When he got to the kitchen he placed the ground leaves into a cup and poured the hot water into it, the infusion's smell always brought him relief.
He walked over to his daughter and held the cup steady for her.
"Alright, I'm going to need you to drink this. You've been very brave, Ritsu"
He tilted the cup slightly and Ritsu sipped on the tea bit by bit. She was trying her hardest not to spit the bitter infusion out, and she managed to drink the whole cup.
"You did good honey, you should start feeling better in a second."
As if these words were a healing spell, Ritsu felt as the pain started fading away, like a breeze in a hot summer day, her crying lulled down to sobbing, and then to soft breathing as she fell asleep in her father's caring arms.
-Plan Divergence-
"Thanks, dad." This memory always came back to her whenever she had to use these pellets, the feeling of nostalgia flowered in her mind as memories of her life back home came one after the other.
"Dammit! Focus!" she couldn't afford to start daydreaming right now.
Ritsu's special herbal mix wasn't the same as her old man's, she also used tiger-sprout and poppy petals, in addition to being a pain relief it boosted her senses and made her body numb to pain.
She could push past her limits when she used the mix, but she considered it a last resort because Mio got mad at her whenever she did. If she wanted to be able to fight tonight she had to use it.
She entered the storage tent, her pupils dilated and what used to be complete darkness was as visible as if it was illuminated by dim light. Her searching gaze wandered around, but was blocked by crates upon crates of goods, stacked neatly in rows.
"This is way more than a small band of goblins could ever use or want"
Sacks of coin, grain, even manure and caged animals were in the tent, in her mind something wasn't making sense. She readied her throwing knives and ventured deeper into the tent in search of the goblins.
"This tent is like a warehouse..." Ritsu thought "...Well, but it's a tent. Should it be called a waretent instead? No, that sounds wrong."
She wandered the makeshift aisles of the tent, her head low and her senses keen, waiting for her eyes to meet her unsuspecting prey. At the very back of the tent the rogue finally saw one of the goblins, its back was facing her.
Ritsu took the opportunity and threw the knives at him, on after the other they hit their mark, one on its lower back and one on the back of the goblin's skull, the goblin's body dropped to the ground along with the crates it was carrying which produced a loud crash as soon as they hit the ground
"Well so much for stealth".
Ritsu approached the corpse with caution to retrieve her throwing knives, as she kneeled down to pick them up she was almost struck by wooden club, barely dodging out of the way she tried to pull out her daggers, but any attempts at arming herself were stopped by the goblin's rampaging.
She dodged strike after strike but couldn't find a window to disarm the goblin, the thing was going berserk.
"I have to get some distance between us" the rogue thought.
She climbed up on one of the rows of crates trying to widen the gap between her and her attacker as much as she could, when the goblin started smashing the stacks of boxes down, the rogue lost her footing and fell back onto a pile of cages.
"Come on Ritsu, think!" her gaze veered towards the cages and was met with the ones of several pigs, all of them looking severely agitated. Something lit up in Ritsu's mind.
"Well, here goes nothing!"
She started rattling the cages, this sudden agitation was met with furious and panicked squealing, the goblin started making its way towards Ritsu and she waited patiently for it to make its next attack, as the goblin brought its club down on the rogue, she dove out of the way and the club collapsed the wooden cages instead, a stampede of pigs emerging from the crushed remains.
The goblin was trampled by a sea of pork, while Ritsu dusted herself off and started heading towards the entrance of the tent. She hadn't thought about the consequences of letting the pigs run loose.
"Wait, this is bad" she thought.
The squealing mass was causing a ruckus as they headed outside the tent.
"This is really, really bad"
Ritsu sprinted towards the exit, as she emerged from the tent she saw the two goblins that were in the neighboring tent wandering outside in a daze, they were trying to make it to the main tent where Grawen was.
"Oh fuck this is bad"
Ritsu was panicking, a torrent of ideas ran through her mind, much like the river of pigs that was running amok in the goblin encampment. Ritsu finally settled on something
"Well I always wanted to try this anyways" she said as she hopped on the back of one of the stampeding pigs, trying her hardest to steer it towards the escaping goblins.
She drew one of her swords and attempted to swing at one of them, but since she wasn't really trained in the art of pig-back riding, she lost her balance and fell just short of the two goblins, they were still headed towards the tent
Just as she was springing back up to her feet, an arrow hit one of the goblins on the side of the head, he dropped to the ground dead, this made the remaining goblin panic and start running towards the woods, it would've been hit by Mio's arrow, if it wasn't for the pig that he grabbed onto and made his escape on.
Ritsu signaled towards the tree line to go follow the fugitive goblin, she saw Mio's silhouette hesitantly sprint across the treetops, following the pigs.
As her figure grew distant, Ritsu started heading towards the main tent.
-Main Act-
"He's got to be asleep or something, right?" she thought as she approached the entrance to the main tent, this tent wasn't like the others, not only was it bigger, but it was more elaborately placed like one you would see wandering troupes use to house their main shows.
"Come on, Ritsu; you just have to go in, slit his throat, wait for Mio to come back and then you can both go back to the village and leave this train-wreck of a situation as a funny story to tell at Fiergrol's tavern."
She stood at the entrance of the tent, her eyes adjusting slowly to the darkness within. The place was organized somewhat neatly, a table for mess and a single stool, several wooden racks holding steel weapons –undoubtedly stolen from the village-, bookshelves situated around a sturdy wooden desk and a single cot.
This place looked like where a general would be stationed in an upscale battle, not the leader of a pack of goblins that were a nuisance to a nearby village.
"There's something weird going on here".
The rogue slowly and quietly made her way towards the cot, she was relieved and reassured by the figure that was laying under the covers, she prepared to dispatch the hobgoblin quickly.
But she stopped dead in her tracks, something wasn't quite right, something was missing, the rhythmic movement and sound of breathing was absent in the figure lying under the covers.
This is when she noticed the shadow that was projecting on her, and turned to face the ceiling of the tent.
"I see you're not as stupid as I thought" The words sounded coarse and deep like a bear's roar, Ritsu managed to keep her cool.
"That's weird, I was thinking the same thing."
The hobgoblin laughed "And with an attitude to boot!"
The figure standing on the support beam jumped down causing the rogue to back away slightly, she couldn't really make out his features when the moonlight was at his back but now they were a lot clearer.
He was extremely tall, bordering on seven feet, bald and with a muscular frame, his complexion a pale green that bordered on gray. Ritsu noticed his left arm turned into a stump at the wrist, a set of metal claws where his hand should be.
"That looks like it hurt" she pointed at the mutilated arm.
The hobgoblin stared at his claw, a strange mix of nostalgia and rage in his eyes.
"Simply a memento from an old friend of mine"
"Sounds like they're not great gift-givers"
Grawen smiled and started pacing around, Ritsu started doing the same
"I'd love to keep having this banter with you, but I don't think you came in here with the intention of chatting"
"Glad to see you understand"
The rogue opened the small pouch containing the small herb pellets and tossed one in her mouth, she strengthened the grip on her swords.
"One" she started counting in her head as she was pacing around the room.
"Two" She took a deep breath.
"You wouldn't really attack an opponent that's un-"
"THREE!"
Ritsu charged towards the hobgoblin and took a swing at his right side, she was met by the clashing of metal as his claws deflected her hit. She used the momentum from the recoil to swing back with both swords, again and again, this whirlwind of blades was met with the hobgoblin's steel claws.
"Faster" she thought "He's got to let his guard slip"
The barrage of hits continued in full force, each one getting skillfully deflected by Grawen. Ritsu swept the ground with her feet kicking up a cloud of dust into the air, she jumped up and delivered a roundhouse kick to the hobgoblin's left arm, leaving his defense open, then struck twice before she was hit square in the chest by the hobgoblin's knee, knocking her back and onto the ground.
Ritsu was kneeling on the ground gasping for air when the cloud of dust settled. Two deep gashes were visible on the hobgoblin's chest, vivid red and running with blood
"Little cat's got claws" he started walking towards one of the weapon racks in the tent
"When it comes to fighting it is said that it all comes down to the user's technique rather than the make of the weapon…" he threw down one of the racks, its contents scattering on the floor
"Your technique is impressive, I must say. Your movements are fast, fluid; your strikes are precise and powerful. However, you still lack raw power"
Ritsu was still trying to regain her composure, she couldn't really feel it because of the herbal mixture, but she could tell that the kick had broken at least two ribs, she stood up slowly after finally managing to catch her breath.
"I think the clear winner of a battle is whoever demonstrates the greatest amount of raw power"
That sword—no, that… raw heap of iron that resembled a sword—was long and hooked, its blade spanning easily over 6 feet and as wide as a washboard. Grawen swung the blade over his head with visible effort, and it came crashing down like a tree falling to the earth
"Man you sure like to talk." she said with a smug face, "Now are you going to keep spewing bullshit or are you going to use that hunk of metal?"
Grawen cackled "Let's see who's got the bigger claws now"
Ritsu sprinted off towards him
"Let's see how well he can keep up with that thing" she thought.
She tried flanking towards his left side to avoid having to deal with the massive sword, but the hobgoblin reacted quickly. He blocked Ritsu's strikes with his claw and followed with a low swing of his sword, she dodged over it with a somersault and as soon as she landed on her feet she was forced to dodge again by the impending mass of death that came down upon her, she stepped back but the air pressure created by the swing of the sword kicked dust into her eyes, barely giving her any time to react to the kick that Grawen aimed at her head.
She crossed her arms to block but she stumbled back since her footing was unstable. Grawen followed up with another swing, the very tip of the sword nicked Ritsu's arm as she dodged in a single pirouette, not a single movement was wasted on Grawen's side.
His attacks slow powerful and deliberate, his pacing steady and in rhythm, a rhythm Ritsu could barely keep up with.
"I can't think.."
Ritsu attacked. Grawen parried with his claw.
"He's not letting me…"
She continued dodging swing by swing, step by step, she was completely caught up in the rhythm of this storm of steel.
"I can't… think"
Ritsu was outpaced, she couldn't even think of blocking the huge pile of metal, and her attempts at attacking were met by parries followed by kicks, how long could she last?
Even if she managed to dodge most attacks she was still getting kicked around and enduring cuts. Ritsu had to change the rhythm of the fight back into her own.
She slowly steered the battle towards the furniture inside the tent
"Keep moving..."
Ritsu had led the hobgoblin to the space with the desk and bookshelves, Grawen's attacks were still relentless. She jumped onto one of the wooden shelves, the hobgoblin cackled and swung his sword to break the bookshelf down, the rogue took the opportunity and jumped off of the shelf, aiming to strike at Grawen's head.
She was again blocked by the hobgoblin's claws, she bounced off of him and landed on her hands behind the desk, the humongous sword following her trajectory was slowed down by the sturdy hardwood of the desktop.
"You skipped a beat!" Ritsu mocked him.
She bounced back from the ground taking a step on the giant sword and flipped towards the hobgoblin and before he could react, her swords sliced through his shoulders and as he let out this guttural scream, she landed behind him and swung twice at his back, each time ripping the flesh apart, Grawen was angry.
Ritsu back-stepped towards the center of the tent, Grawen's attacks became more erratic as the fight continued, Ritsu started seeing windows to attack between his swings and she took them, this was her song now.
Grawen struck vertically, Ritsu dodged to the side and anticipating her opponent's kick, she slid under it and slashed at the back of the hobgoblin's knee.
Grawen started rampaging, there was no rhyme or reason to his attacks, only bloodlust. His attacks became incredibly faster and unpredictable, Ritsu couldn't do anything but dodge.
She led him around the tent, the hobgoblin destroying everything in its path, eventually when they reached the edges of the tent, one of the supporting beams was struck down, and something clicked inside Ritsu's head.
She continued around the rest of the tent, the storm was now a raging cyclone, tearing down everything in its wake. The structure of the tent grew weaker every swing, she finally led the hobgoblin towards the center of the tent where the main support was standing.
She ducked out of the way of what she thought would be Grawen's last swing. Wooden splinters flew out of the pillar as it gave in due to the giant sword's hit, the gigantic wooden stake was brought down, Ritsu managed to dodge the wooden debris that rained from the sky as the tent came crashing down on both of them.
-Last Verse-
The fabric of the tent sliced open as Ritsu emerged from the ruins, she was certain that Grawen was still alive, it wasn't long before she saw the tall figure being birthed from the remains of the tent.
He let out a beastly growl towards the night sky, wooden beams had pierced his chest and his stomach, Grawen's eyes looked red in the moonlight and as soon as they met the rogue's figure, he started dashing towards her.
The rogue tried blocking the head on assault with both of her swords, but she was overwhelmed by this enraged stampede of his, the hobgoblin slashed wildly with its claw, she parried obliquely and as it the metal blades slid off of each other Ritsu cleaved the side of Grawen's body,he didn't seem to react all. As her sword struck, he grabbed her arm and twisted it forcing the rogue to drop her weapon, Grawen head-butted Ritsu and pinned her to the ground.
She felt as the cold steel from the hobgoblin's claws slid into the side of her torso and out the back, the blades dug into the fabric and ground beneath them, Grawen tossed the rogue's weapon aside and and struck her face with his bloodied fist, again, and again.
Ritsu felt dazed after each strike, trying to reach for her sword which seemed further and further away with each moment, each strike pushing her consciousness away from her. She closed her eyes and saw Mio's figure, her silver eyes shimmering slightly under the light of the sun, her slender legs started moving as she walked away from her, Ritsu wanted to follow but she was just... So tired.
Mio turned around and said something, but Ritsu couldn't the elf's voice, that melodious voice of hers that always brightened her day. The raven-haired girl started looking more and more desperate with each word she uttered.
"Why are you crying" Ritsu thought to herself. She couldn't stand watching Mio being sad.
She tried her hardest to read her lips. Mio's face contorted into pure agony, her speaking became shouting
"Rit-su"
"Ritsu!"
She was brought back to reality by that voice, an arrow flew into Grawen's back making him stop the brutal beat-down he was laying on the rogue.
The ranger sprinted towards the two of them, she climbed onto the hobgoblin's back and started strangling him with her bow, Grawen pulled his claw out of the ground and tried to swat the elf off of his back.
Now that Ritsu was free to move, she gathered all the strength that remained in her and stood up, her sword wasn't nearly as far away as before, the end to this fight which seemed to have been in Grawen's hands was now in her reach. She stumbled slowly towards this berserking beast that was bucking like a mad bull.
Grawen finally managed to throw Mio off of him, searching frantically for the rogue, his eyes widened as he felt the cold steel pierce his heart. He gripped the girl's head in his hand, Ritsu cried out in pain and desperation as she twisted the blade more and more into Grawen's chest, he tried to lift Ritsu off of the ground, but his strength failed him, he finally collapsed onto his knees, a soft laugh emanated from him which died down as he let out his last breath.
Ritsu stumbled back and let out a sigh of relief, her vision was fading in and out. Before she realized it she was laying among the debris of the collapsed tent, she faintly heard Mio shouting her name and the sound of her hurried footsteps as she ran towards her. she slowly closed her eyes and lost consciousness.
-Crescent Moon Epilogue-
When she came to, she was staring up at Mio's face, Ritsu noticed the clear streaks that ran down her cheeks.
"Are you an angel?" Ritsu spoke in a half-asleep manner.
"Ritsu!" a wave of relief washed over the elf as she heard her friend's voice again, "Y-You idiot!"
"Guess not."
Mio wasn't amused, and Ritsu could see it in her face.
"I think I did overdo it back there" she sighed "but at least we got the job done…"
"You think!?" Mio exclaimed "If I hadn't come back when I did you would've…"
She couldn't finish her sentence, the last words clung to her throat forming a lump which sunk down to her stomach like a rock, she burst into tears.
"Mio…"
Ritsu moved her hand up to Mio's face and softly caressed her cheek, wiping away her tears.
"You should know I would never lose against a guy like that"
"I know you wouldn't, but I..."
"You're here now. It's over, Mio"
Mio placed her hand over Ritsu's and held it tight, she didn't have it in her to keep arguing, this tender moment was interrupted by the elf's train of thought.
"Right, your wounds!" she wiped her tears from her face and motioned Ritsu to sit up.
Ritsu's body was sore, the effect from the herbs had long passed. She pressed her hand against the side of her torso checking for broken ribs, but surprisingly they were intact.
"I must've looked bad if you're the one playing doctor."
Mio smiled.
"I tried to fix what I could, but the healing magic I know can only do so much."
Ritsu checked the spot where she had been pinned by the hobgoblin's claws, there was nothing but a flesh wound there.
"Well it's enough so that I'm not full of holes anymore."
"I'm going to need to bandage you up," Mio spoke while opening her bag.
Ritsu began undoing the straps on her leather armor, she turned her head and noticed Mio was purposefully avoiding looking at her, Ritsu smirked.
"You're the one that's embarrassed? I'm the one who has to take her top off."
Mio's cheeks flushed a deep shade of red
"I uh, I thought you would like some type of privacy"
Ritsu continued removing her armor "Come on! Why would I be ashamed in front of you?"
Mio turned her head towards Ritsu.
The blue hue of the moonlight illuminated the tawny haired girl's figure, her back and shoulders were slight, but muscular. Mio didn't see Ritsu without her armor often, it was something she associated with the image she so seeing her like this gave her a weird sense of wonder.
Her eyes explored the topography of her back, numerous scars covered her body like landmarks on a map, Mio couldn't help asking.
"These scars…" Mio started speaking.
"Hmm? What about 'em?" Ritsu asked nonchalantly.
The elf started running her fingers through the scars, tracing each one of them, behind them the tales of the adventures that Ritus had lived.
"You know you could probably go to a healing clinic and get these healed completely."
"I know that… but I don't really want to."
Mio tilted her head in confusion.
"Why not?" Mio questioned "Is it some kind of machismo thing?"
They both chuckled. "I guess it is a little bit."
The usual energy that Ritsu always had was still present in her voice, but her tone was different "These scars are part of who I am now."
The tawny haired girl hugged her knees to her chest.
"Whenever I think of the times I got some of these scars, I vaguely remember how I felt every time, I wasn't scared at all. I thought death was just part of what I did for a living, "
She stared up at the night sky, absentmindedly following the clouds that floated across the moon.
"That was until a couple of years ago. I started thinking I ought to take care of myself better"
Ritsu scanned the side of her body with her hands until she stopped on a large scar that looked like claw marks.
"Remember this? Our run-in with that young blue dragon while we were with Jev's corp? It pinned me to the ground and almost crushed me to death. Even though I have had close calls like more than a handful of times, it felt completely different."
She lifted her arms and let Mio roll the bandages around her waist, she put her undershirt back on and turned towards her.
"I've never felt more scared in my entire life, Mio. It was so scary thinking how I might not be able to go back to Toyosato and sit at the tavern again, I would never laugh again, I would never see you again."
Ritsu's voice trembled slightly.
"All these scars, these times I kicked and screamed and fought and won. They remind me that right now, I'm alive and able to spend my time with you, Mio. And I feel like getting rid of them would be like taking you for granted"
Her eyes glistened in the moonlight. Mio was silently looking at her, a kind smile on her lips.
"Well… Say something!" Ritsu's ears felt hot. "You know I'm not used to saying these kinds of things and I-"
Her sentence was stopped in it's tracks by Mio, who had suddenly wrapped her arms around her.
"You're an idiot, you know?" Mio spoke softly.
Ritsu smiled. "That's not very nice of you to say." she put her arms around the elf.
"But I'm happy. I'm happy that you have kicked and screamed and fought and stayed alive. I'm happy that you're my idiot"
They held each other for minutes that felt shorter than seconds, Ritsu tried to break the embrace. "Maybe we should go."
"Just a little bit longer." Mio pleaded, she wanted this moment to last forever, for it to be ripped apart from the flow of time and set aside in the banks of eternity.
"Ok" Ritsu replied, tightening her embrace. "Just a little bit longer"
Enveloped by the warm air of the night and held together by these feelings of gratitude, they were serenaded to sleep by the droning, yet peaceful song of the cicadas.
A/N: Taco here! Hoping you enjoyed this first short story spawned from two of my favorite things: High Fantasy and K-On!
Though this particular installation was pretty action-heavy, the next one is looking to be pretty relaxed, Hopefully I can update at least twice a month.
In this universe, Mio and Ritsu have known each other for two years or so. Even after spending most of their time together, this is the first time Ritsu has ever opened up to Mio like this. I definitely want to let Mio explore her feelings for Ritsu more, and the reasons she might have to not pursue them (Her being an elf and all that)
Grawen and the goblins were part of something bigger (RIP), may they be one with the universe (or some shit, especially the one goblin who got punkd)
These are gonna be a series of short stories that are not really sequential, (well except for this and the next one having to do with the consequences) and are mostly self contained adventures. The rest of the keionbu will be introduced as the story progresses.
Well that's enough rambling for now, thanks for reading and be sure to leave a review if you have anything to say (I really need help writing, lol), and I hope you can continue reading these for as long as I keep writing them.