WHERE THE FUCK HAVE I BEEN? DO YOU KNOW? I DON'T.
Dart relaxed his clenched jaw as the mangled cry of the impaled creature faded into the lonely mountain pass. Squinting through the settling clouds of grey dust and dirt, he made out the familiar, reassuring form of his comrade. Her long back facing him, she was poised in the rigid stance of her finishing blow, legs slightly bent and spine arched, her right arm and rapier extended forward. It was a standard pose for the warrior after felling an enemy. And at her feet lay their fallen foe, the massive Black Vassal Dragon, the final strike dealt by its former companion. It was a comforting sight to Dart, especially when the last image he had seen of her before was her leaping ruthlessly into a massive black beam, desperate for the chance to hit the beast at its sole weak spot.
He should expect nothing less from Rose. Or so he tried to convince himself.
Her rapier was still plunged deep within its exposed core, leaking dark blood upon the broken earth and further staining her archaic blade. As the seconds passed and she failed to move, Dart felt himself intinctively move forward, his teeth grinding anxiously once more. Gripping the hilt of his sword troublingly tight, he barely heard her ghostly voice over the sound of his footsteps and tip of the blade dragging along the rocky earth.
"A dragon's body is capable of enormous endurance. . . " Her voice was hauntingly low, tinted with a heavy, unsure husk. ". . . but its heart is not."
He saw her clearly then, the debris having settled, nearly dropping his weapon as he eyed the violent shudder in her back.
'No,' he wearily pleaded in his thoughts. 'Don't.'
"After many fights, it becomes savage. It will care for nothing and blindly attack others. In due time, it won't listen to the orders of the Dragoons, and eventually. . . "
Just footsteps away from her, Dart ignored the putrid scent of the dragon's freshly spilled blood. His fingers felt numb as he sheathed his sword. Staring at Rose's heaving form, he watched as her stance slowly weakened. The beautiful, confident poise slowly dissolved before him into an unstable hover. The sight unsettled and, as she began to speak once more in her gutted voice, angered him.
". . . eventually, he wouldn't even recognize me," she spat bitterly before collapsing to her knees, finally releasing her hold on her rapier's hilt. " And so I killed him."
Trying to stifle the rage rising in his chest, Dart averted his glaring eyes to the dead dragon. Their surroundings suddenly illuminated as the corpse disapparated into black and yellow hues. His thoughts were a cesspool of curses and expletives, directed toward the Moon or Soa or whatever the hell was putting her through this. Putting his comrades through this. Hearing her muffle a pained sob only fanned the fumes of his anger.
He had realized early on that this wasn't going to be easy, that they were to face many trials before reaching the end of their journey. And he knew he mustn't interfere as each of them came to terms with with their pasts. He could only watch as they suffered and cried and broke, at the mercy of their bloody, unforgivingly ruthless pasts.
Rose herself had advised him: he musn't protest the workings of the Moon.
'But this. . .' He clenched his fist as he heard the rapier drop to the ground in a piercing clang. Only the blade and a pool of blood lay before them now. 'This is just. . . '
Turning his gaze back towards Rose, he was taken aback to see her head craned back, bloodshot eyes peering at him as a faint, trembling smile playing at her lips.
"I killed him with my own two hands," she whispered hoarsely.
'Fuck. This.'
At last, Dart hastily stepped forward. Kneeling behind her, he forced his long arms around her stomach. A hitched sob escaped from Rose as he pressed her back against his torso. He gripped her abdomen with one of his bloodied hands, as if trying to supress her convulsions.
"Enough," he ordered a bit more loud than he intended. Indeed, she froze in abeyance in his arms, her once violent shakes immediately quieted to a rigid tremble. "That's. . . that's enough of looking back into the past, Rose," he continued quietly. Loosening his hold on her, he lifted a hand to her chest, cradling her broken self in a ginger embrace. "You've lived for over 10,000 years to make sure this world has a future. Not to be burdened by your past." He pressed his forehead to her mussed hair, earning him a noise somewhere between a resigned sigh and a relieved moan. "We're almost there, Rose. . . please, don't stop just yet."
Dart himself nearly trembled at the hoarse, pitiful laugh she barked.
"You overestimate me, as always." Her voice was painfully hoarse, yet somehow gave Dart the solace he was looking for.
Soon, her breaths would return to a less worrying pace. Her uneasy body would eventually became still once more. Eventually, she would pry away from his concerned grip, staring down at him as if he was the one with the problem (granted, he imagined his turn wasn't too far off). Shifting his hand from her shoulder to the tip of her chin, he pursed his lips at the damp layer with which his fingers met.
'Just give me the cue, Rose,' he thought solemnly to himself as if she could read his mind. 'When you're ready, we'll continue. . .'
And perhaps she could read his thoughts, if the way she finally relaxed against his chest and nodded was any indication.
'Yeah. . . we'll continue on. Together.'
FanFiction pulled a stupid on me. Or perhaps it was gmail. Whatever the fuck happened, for the past who knows how long, all of my emails have been going straight to spam. SPAM. FUUCKING SPAM. =.=;;; I've missed reviews, favorites, follows, etc from months ago I assume. I just happened to look at my spam when searching for another email and saw all these notifications. I honestly thought maybe I just fell from the favor of peeps on fanfic (all my Dart/Rose has finally offended everyone XD). But nope. It was fucking gmail. Or . I don't even care. So if I haven't replied to your reviews right when you post them, I apologize =w=;; I'll stop my rant now before it gets longer than the actual story.
Anyway, chapter seven, eh? After this, three more chapters and I'm done writing for this collection!
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... didn't I have another Dart/Rose story I was working on? Whatever happened to that old thing...
