Suggestion - While reading these chapters, put on ambience music that will help simulate the environment in the story. Such recommended channels are the 'Guild of Ambience', 'Sword Coast Soundscapes', 'Pandora Journey', and 'The Spirit of Orchestral Music'.
You may not realize it, but using such background ambience enhances your reading of the story over 10 times more.
With that said, please enjoy the chapter.
Chapter 7: Unleashed
2 weeks later, after the incident with the thugs, Sayori and Wesley were starting to repair the gap that had opened up between them in that moment. With more lessons on the intricacies of trade, dining out often, entertainment, late night drinking, and sometimes just plain old fun, the two had brought their bonding to a whole new level. They came stumbling out of a bar, half-empty (or half-full?) mugs in their hands, ale sloshing around in their mugs as the two giggled and laughed like people with a BAC level of .15. The two made their way back to their house now (Wesley had recently declared the house to be shared with her, only a good friend (wink, wink) would do something like that).
As they stumbled about on the paved road of cobblestone, Sayori felt Wesley slump into her arms. Being drunk, she laughed wildly at first, then came to sift through the bubbles of intoxication in her brain to understand that she needed to put him in bed. And so she went up the stairs of the two story house, and she laid him in bed, tucking him in as best she could (when really she just kinda tossed him onto the bed and ruffled the covers up).
From there, she was about to make her way to her own bed until she heard an especially loud cry for help. Her 'hey let's help everyone' instincts kicked in, and she bumbled down the stairs and out the door, trying to trace the source of the yelling. It was gradually getting louder, and after running around the streets, she came upon a gathering of people carrying torches, knives, and other weaponry circled around a group of three. When she got closer, she started seeing that those people had wings and crow feet. She was taken aback, astonished by the sight.
The people surrounding them were shouting curses, insults and threats at the bird-like people, who were cowering in fear, visibly shivering in fright as the crowd shook their torches and weaponry in such a barbaric fashion. Sayori was confused by the situation, and so tapped on the shoulder of one of the individuals, questioning him as to what was happening. He turned around, his face a contorted sneer as he told her.
"These demons here are known as harpies, and they're the scum of the world, just like every other demi-human on the face of the world!" He shouted. "Those parasites, just like every other demi-human, have hunted and killed humans for centuries now! They're gonna continue killing unless we put a stop to them!"
Sayori was once again taken aback by how fervently this man spoke, as if he himself had experienced the actions he described himself. But as she took a look at the harpies once more, she could not see any cruelty or malice in their eyes as they huddled together, crying and pleading. She wondered if there was some sort of misunderstanding here, and felt the urge to step in. Having not learned how to control those urges in the first place, she moved to the crowd until she was standing in front of the harpies. They looked at her, cowering as they assumed she would be the same as everyone else. She reassured them that she was not going to hurt them, which seemed to make them relax a bit at her presence, but they were still in fear of the circle of people around them vying for their purge.
Sayori grimaced, deciding she had to put a stop to this now, and turned around, facing the crowd. She thrusted her hands to her sides, metaphorically and literally shielding the huddled group. To this, she got a flurry of slurs and insults thrown at her. And yet, she kept her resolve, finally speaking loudly so as to drown out the crowd.
"People of Northham!" She yelled. This seemed to have somewhat stilled the crowd as they curiously awaited to hear what she had to say (Imagine these individuals to be like the Roman people, who, if you know something about their history, would more often listen to reason and debate before resorting to violence). She gulped, and continued her point.
"At first, I was not sure as to why you were going after these things (Sayori was a natural peoples person, as well as a good mediator of arguments or fights. One of these skills was first finding a middle ground to work on, and so she decided to satiate their violent moods by referring to the harpies in such a demeaning way, though she felt hurt by having to say it), but after hearing one of your explanations, I believe I understand a bit about why these creatures were such a bother to you all."
"You bet your ass they're a bother!" One random individual from the crowd shouted. "We're not gonna sit back and let these ravenous, wild monsters kill us off!" The crowd began to get riled up by his outburst.
"Let me finish!" Sayori boomed, asserting her speaking authority over the crowd. It was necessary to nip any riling comments in the bud before the crowd simply steamrolled over her and went for the harpies. She was in an extremely delicate situation right now, and almost anything could set off the atmosphere right now. She continued.
"But let's compare your argument to the sight you see before you. You essentially claim they are ravenous, wild creatures, and yet the creatures behind me reflect neither ravenous nor wild traits. And even if you were to claim that they were faking their appearances, what good would that do when my fellow Northham people have already confirmed their savagery?"
The crowd was silent as they contemplated her points. Another random individual perked up.
"Well, they could be doing it so as to garner sympathy from people like you!" He shouted, which brought up a haphazard set of voice agreeing with him.
"BUT!" Sayori cut off the crowd once again. "Are you to seriously tell me they would rely upon such a tiny sliver of a chance? After all, there is only one of me sympathizing with them, compared to the 20 or more of you. What good would my supporting them do if I cannot guarantee their safety? Why wouldn't they simply fly away, or attack you all if they were to be so savage?"
The crowd was stilled once again, as they begrudgingly acknowledged her point.
"The only reasonable thought about this would be that these specific people are not savage nor wild. This cannot be said for their entire species, but then again, can we say that all humans are civilized and forthright people?"
The crowd began understanding her case, and were slowly beginning to agree with her, lowering their torches and weapons as their violent drive began fading away, the heat of the moment dissipating.
"And so, my conclusion is that rather than causing more violence, death and strife, we could simply question these individuals on many things about themselves and their species, so as to understand who would be the violent cretins to attack us humans so unjustly." Sayori could see her point had finally gotten across, and so lowered her hands slowly, avoiding any possible triggers, as the situation was still on thin ice.
She turned around slowly, offering her hand to the lady harpy that was huddled, who at first recoiled in fear of the hand. Sayori smiled. "I promise i'm not going to harm you, ma'am." She said in a most soothing tone. The harpy looked up at her, her eyes filling with hope. She tentatively placed her claw hand in Sayori's. The texture of it was rather smooth, Sayori noted, contrasting how rough the harpy's claw hand looked. She raised the harpy up on her two legs. The sight of it pacified the crowd even more, leading them to start disbanding to head home, and although there was still a tense atmosphere, it began to fade away along with all the other harmful ideas, some of the people feeling shame, others feeling satisfied. A couple of the individuals walked over to Sayori, asking her questions regarding the harpies, her ability to diffuse the situation, and some other minor questions. She answered them accordingly as the rest of the harpies stood up slowly, most of the fear in their eyes evaporating. The lady harpy who had took Sayori's hand retracted it, looking down at the ground whilst fiddling with her claw hands.
"Th-thank you, kind lady." She stuttered, her cheeks turning red. Sayori smiled back.
"It's no problem." She said positively, her own cheeks having already been red, thanks to her heavy drinking just minutes earlier.
At this, the taller and more mature-looking of the male harpies stepped forward, looking at Sayori with a sincere expression.
"We must thank you deeply for having saved us from what would have most surely been a horrible predicament." He stated.
"It's really no *hiccup* problem, sir." Sayori smiled, her head slightly bobbing around. The male harpy tilted his head in mild concern.
"Are you okay, ma'am?" He asked curiously. Sayori grinned at this.
"Yeah, I just had a drink with a friend not too long ago."
The male harpy's eyes widened in bewilderment. "You gave that speech whilst drunk?" He exclaimed in shock. Sayori giggled.
"They say some people perform their best while inebriated." She said, hiccuping once more. This made the gathering around her erupt in hearty laughter.
WHACK!
Out of nowhere, a rock came flying at Sayori, smacking her in the side of the head, to which she reeled sideways, crumpling to the cobblestone. The gathering around her yelled in alarm, looking towards the now-charging madman with a dagger in his hand. He screamed in rage.
"DIE, YOU MONSTER SYMPATHIZER!"
People still in the area looked at him in surprise, frozen in shock as he was about to stab Sayori, who was laid out on the street.
However, his effort was interrupted when he was tackled to the ground. Sayori came to and looked over with half-closed eyes to see Wesley wrestling with the would-be murderer, smashing the murderer's weapon hand to the ground, forcing him to release the dagger, whilst at the same time punching him in the face repeatedly, rage clearly seen in his movements. Suddenly, the attacker desperately clutches at a rock dropped by one of the former rally people and slugs Wesley in the head with it, causing Wesley to fall over, slamming into the cobblestone.
The attacker then takes up his dagger and manages to stab Wesley once, in the side, before being tackled by a couple bystanders, who keep him down whilst calling for the guards. Sayori gets up, screaming in panic as she rushes over to Wesley, who is in bad condition. She sees him breathing faintly as the blade wound leaks blood at an alarming rate, the injury on his head also bleeding. Sayori cups her hand over her mouth, unsure of what to do. Eventually, after a couple minutes, some guards and medics rush over to the scene, the guards taking the attacker into custody, the medics doing their best to care for Wesley's wounds, Sayori sitting on the side, sobbing, unable to do anything to help.
A couple hours after the incident, late into the night.
The medics had said his condition was in critical condition, and that he would most likely not make it through. Having heard that, Sayori's depression set in once more, and she felt all of her spirit drained from her. She ran away from the ward, out into the streets, away from her mistakes.
Now, here she was, wandering aimlessly around the slums, her whole world turning grey before her eyes.
She eventually fell to her knees.
She stared at the ground.
Voices in her head kept berating her, insulting her for causing such harm to Wesley, for making so many mistakes that ultimately led to his death. Sayori felt tears well up in her eyes, tears of sorrow and grief. She began sobbing loudly, wailing from the horrible results she had caused. Night sky had no stars for her to gaze upon, only a spiritless dark-blue sheet looking down on her. The weather had no warmth for her, only chilly winds and cold temperatures encasing her in her own misery.
Above all, the voices in her head, continually reminding her of her own failure.
You're nothing but a burden on everyone else.
You're worthless.
Just die already.
She crawled towards an alleyway, finding difficulty in walking. She eventually huddled inside the alley, feeling the cold creeping upon her skin, coupling with the voices and her own horrifying depression to make her quietly cry for help.
It hurt.
It hurt so much.
Please, make it stop.
The depression made her skin crawl, rupturing her feelings like a punctured artery, scrambling her mind like a jigsaw puzzle. She couldn't focus on anything, couldn't do anything, couldn't see anything, couldn't help anything.
You vermin.
You scum.
You parasite.
For so long, she had thought she was working with Wesley to help him start up his empire. He had talked, for so many times, on how he was going to be a great trader one day, how his network was going to spread across all of Uropa one day, how she was going to be his partner in this dream.
Now he was dead.
It hurts.
It hurts.
My heart.
My heart.
My mind.
The voices.
Make them stop.
I'm banging my head against the wall, but they won't stop.
Harder. Harder. Harder. Harder harder harder harder harderharderharderharderharderHARDERHARDERHARDERHARDERHARDERHARDERHARDERHARDERHARDER!
My head, it's pulsing with pain, it's bleeding so much, i'm losing my train of thought. I can't think, I can't eat, I can't sleep, I can't breathe. Help me. Please. Someone.
Please.
You whore.
You bitch.
You monster.
Get out of my head.
You monster.
You monster.
You monster.
Get out of my head. Get out of my head. Get out of my head. Get out of my head. Get out of my head. Get out of my head. Get out of my head. Get out of my head. Get out of my head. Get out of my head. Get out of my head. Get out of my head.
G
E
T
O
U
T
O
F
M
Y
H
E
A
D
.
How do I get rid of these voices…
How?
HOW?
HOW?
I know.
I'll kill myself.
I have rope.
I have a chair.
I have a room where no one can stop me.
I saw the gallows, how men were hanged.
I copied the method.
I tied the noose.
I stand on the chair.
I put the noose around my neck.
…
…
…
You monster. You monster. You monster.
Get out of my head.
You monster. Die. Die monster.
Get out of my head. Get out of my head. Get out of my head.
Kill yourself. Die. Die. DIE.
Getoutofmyheadgetoutofmyheadgetoutofmyheadgetoutofmyheadgetoutofmyheadgetoutofmyhead.
GET OUT.
I kicked the chair-
I can't breathe. It's tightening around my neck. I can't breathe. There's no air.
I don't want this.
I don't want this.
Help, i'm choking.
Augh, egh, uuhh-.
I'll take it off.
My fingers grab at the rope. I scratch at it.
It's not working.
Ugh, uuh-ahh, hegh-.
IT'S NOT WORKING! HELP!
HELP ME! HELP! HELP ME! HE-
Uhhhhg, ghhaahh, ggghhuhggg.
My vision's fading. My mind is shutting off.
I'm dying.
Goodbye.
Now that the harvesting of the fields was done, and winter was right around the corner, Wolfe was planning on training Yuri more on farming, a bit of trading, finding sources for the seeds and equipment necessary for running a farm, as well as managing finances, repairing tools, and a lot of other important information regarding her responsibilities. Yuri took all of this in at an abnormally fast rate, contrary to her rather slow intake of the subject a month ago. But Wolfe didn't question it. In the end, he was just happy to have someone working with him on the farm.
Wolfe looked up to see the sun setting once again, and so got up from the opposite end of the Yuri, who was sifting through the most recent Farmer's Almanac, a book that was sent out to farmers who could pay for it every year, and contained many things essential to any big-time farmer.
"Welp, I think it's 'bout time I go take my porch break." Wolfe stated, his countryside accent blatant. Now that he had gotten accustomed to having Yuri on the farm for some time now, he no longer kept up his formal manner around her, only really using it when heading into town for supplies and such.
Yuri looked at him with a hint of disappointment in her eyes. "O-oh, already?..."
Wolfe glanced at her, sighing. "Fine." He stated. "I guess we can one more lesson."
Yuri looked at him with a starry gaze in her eyes and, being just 15 years old, he couldn't help but feel his heart skip a beat at the sight. Nevertheless, he shook his head and got up. "I'm gonna go get the book on Tool Repair, and we'll go over the necessary procedures once more."
Yuri looked up at him, nodding fervently, her mouth slightly agape, as if she was enamored just by the sight of him. Wolfe felt himself blushing once again, turning his head towards the stairs. "And close your mouth before a fly makes its way in there."
Yuri now realized her mouth was slightly open and closed it, her face turning red. "S-sorry…" She muttered.
Wolfe began making his way downstairs, reaching the bookshelf that contained most of the info he had compiled and bought regarding farming and other necessities tied to it. He sifted through the shelf, eventually picking out 'The Dummy's Guide to A Farmer's Tool Repairs'.
Why does it have to be named that?, Wolfe wondered in irritation.
With that, Wolfe huddled the book under his arm, securing it in place, and walked up the stairs. Once he reached the top step, he noticed that Yuri was absent from her chair. He glanced around curiously whilst walking over to set down the book on the table. He then looked around, wondering where she went. There were four different doors leading to four different rooms on the second floor, and their studying place was a table sat next to a window at the end of the hallway. Wolfe eventually assumed that she had to go wash her hands or something. After all, they had just gotten done storing the rest of the crops they had just harvested from a week ago in the warehouse next to the cabin, having gotten their hands dirty in the process, so that was the only conclusion he could come to.
He was about to take a seat at the table to wait for Yuri when he heard a creak downstairs. He froze, placing his hand on the dagger sheath hooked to his belt. He got up, creeping over to the stairs, meticulously taking a step at a time down the stairs, slowly pulling out the knife from its holster, making great pains to avoid any intruder in the house from hearing the soft hiss of iron scraping leather. He inverted the blade of the dagger, turning the blade downwards so as to have it ready for stabbing anyone that dared to break into his establishment.
He heard someone coming up the stairs and readied his dagger, raising it to his side, and quickly turned the corner to-
"Ah! Wolfe!" Yuri backed up in surprise from the sudden appearance and felt her foot slipping on the last step, about to tumble backwards down the stairs. Wolfe quickly gasped and caught her hand pulling her forward to prevent her from falling. However, he overestimated how much he needed to pull, and so brought her tumbling onto him. Causing him to crash backwards.
Wolfe groaned, feeling a crushing weight on top of him. His face was buried in something….
He yelped as he realized that Yuri's breasts were smothering him. Yuri looked down at him, at first not realizing the awkward position they were in. Then, slowly, her and his face consecutively turned red as cherries, both of them scrambling to get off of each other. They turned away from each other, Wolfe kneeling on the staircase, heavily panting as he felt blood rush to his head. He could hear Yuri mewling in embarrassment and decided the best thing right now was to get some air.
"i'M gOnNa Go OuTsIdE fOr A sEcOnD!" His voice reached high pitches at every other syllable as he ran down the stairs and opened the front door, resting on the porch steps outside, groaning in exasperation. He covered his face with shame as he sat there for a couple minutes.
…
…
…
It was cold outside. The wind blew the cold air onto him even more, making him shiver. He began to realize just how ridiculous he was acting right now. It was a simple mistake, and he just needed to go inside and make a quick apology for the situation. Sure, it would be awkward, but he should not be one to act so stupidly over something so trivial. That brought him to the thought of Yuri showing up from downstairs. After all, he had just went down there to get the book from the bookshelf, which was in the living room, so that meant that she had crept down the stairs silently and quickly to go do whatever she had planned on doing. Wolfe was both unsettled and impressed by the thought of that clumsy and shy girl being able to stealth around like a fox like that.
Wolfe sighed once more. He went to sheath his-
"Wait, where's my knife?" He said aloud, realizing that he was not holding his dagger. He must have dropped it when the accident had happened. Well, that was convenient, as he was about to go inside to settle the situation anyways. He got up from the porch steps, dusting himself off and opening the front door to walk back inside. He went to the stairs, but noticed that Yuri had left her spot. He shrugged. It was to be expected. She was probably sitting in her room and groaning in humiliation. He went to collect his knife, but he noticed that was missing from the staircase. Perplexed, he searched all around the stairs, looking to see if it had fell somewhere he was not aware of.
After a thorough inspection, he came to the conclusion that Yuri must have grabbed it for him. He went up the stairs, looking around for Yuri. That was when he noticed the door to Yuri's bedroom was slightly ajar.
Wolfe felt a little flustered, but he decided it was necessary to go do what he needed to do. He went to open the door when he heard a moan emitting from inside. Wolfe stopped in his tracks, his cheeks flaring up once again as his mind instantly went to dirty thoughts. He shook his head in frustration, unable to believe he would think such things. He probably mistook it for groaning or something-
"Uuhh…."
Nope, that was moaning. Wolfe froze, his hand halfway to the door handle. By now, he had no idea what the Hekk she was doing in there. He decided the best course of action would simply be to call to her in there.
"Yuri, you in there?" He said, raising his voice a bit so as to make sure she heard it. He heard a yelp of surprise, then some scrambling noises, along with a sudden clang of iron. It sounded like a knife….
"Can I come in?" He asked tentatively.
"U-uh-um…..one second!"
For some reason, Wolfe felt an eerie suspicion build up inside him, he had gone on a long time on trusting his instincts, and so abruptly opened the door to see Yuri frantically moving in the corner of the room, which was dimly lit by the faint sunlight shining in through the window. She yelped once more at his sudden entrance, shaking quite heavily in the corner of the room, in front of her writing desk.
"What….uh…..what were you doing in here?" He asked inquisitively, a hint of shame present in his tone.
"Wha? Oh-uh-eh, I was….uh….just….you know…." Yuri stumbled her own words, her face turning more and more red as she tried to form a sentence.
Wolfe scanned the room curiously, and eventually noticed some stains around the area that Yuri was in. Along with that, he noticed a slight glint under the bed as light reflected off of the source. Finally, he noticed that Yuri was keeping her arms close to her body, the sleeves of her shirt pulled up more than necessary. By this time, Wolfe's suspicion was fully aroused, and he walked over to the glint, pulling out the object. Yuri protested loudly for him to stop.
In his hand was his dagger, newly stained blood evident over the sharp edge. He looked over at Yuri, who was huddling even more against the writing desk now, keeping her sleeves pulled down more than before. The knife, the stains on the ground, her pulled-down sleeves.
Wolfe walked over to Yuri, who was pleading for him to stop. "Give me your arm." He said with an assertive tone.
"No-I-please-"
"Yuri, give me your arm!" He shouted, causing her to mewl in fright. He grabbed her arm and rolled up her sleeve.
Cuts lined her arms, from the sides of the wrist all the way up to her elbow. They bled profusely, drops of blood irregularly dripping off her arm and splashing onto the floorboards below, a faint blip heard as they did.
Wolfe gazed in horror at the sight, feeling his whole body shiver at the scene. Meanwhile, Yuri got up slowly, her eyes now having that same hyperactive look to them, but magnified by ten. They darted around, feeling Wolfe up and down, a wide grin now taking up half her face. She walked towards Wolfe, who dropped the knife in shock and backed away, eventually feeling the back of his legs hit the bed. He glanced downwards, then back up at Yuri, who was now gazing at him with those lecherous eyes, which gleamed with obsession. She suddenly grabbed him by his arms, bringing him down at the bed whilst keeping that intense stare upon him.
"Wolfe." She muttered in ecstasy. "I can't describe this feeling for you. It's like every nerve in my body is screaming to be with you. I want to feel you. I want to touch you from head to toe. I want to f**k you, Wolfe. I want to feel you inside me. Can you please, please, PLEASE GIVE ME THAT, WOLFE?" She shouted in complete euphoria, moaning loudly as she felt her senses tingle wildly just by staring at him.
Wolfe, on the other hand, was about freaked the f**k out, struggling against her suddenly strong grip, hyperventilating from the situation. Never before had he faced something like this, and he had no idea what to do. S
She continued her lascivious actions, and began rubbing her body lustfully on Wolfe, moaning loudly the entire time, her tongue hanging out from the actions. Eventually, Wolfe felt his offense from these actions build up so considerably that he finally managed the strength to propel her off of him, to which she stumbled backwards, smacking into the writing desk. Wolfe got up, sweating heavily from all over. Yuri looked down to see her hands covered in his sweat, and began licking them passionately, moaning once again.
Wolfe became disgusted by the sight.
"WHAT THE HEKK IS WRONG WITH YOU, YURI?!" He boomed.
She looked over at him once more, licking her lips, her mouth agape, her eyes still containing that hyperactive stare. She got up, and began ranting.
"Wolfe, I can't stand it. My body, mind, and soul are screaming to be with you, to look at you, to TOUCH YOU. I love you, Wolfe. I love you with every fiber of my being. You're so caring, and patient, and hard-working….GOD, I can't bear to not be near you for even a second! Please, Wolfe, let me know now….do you accept my confession?" She panted heavily, her face gleaming with sweat.
Wolfe stared at her in utter bewilderment. "What the-wha- WHAT IN THE NAME OF TOG ARE YOU SPOUTING, WOMAN?! Why are you acting like this? What's gotten into you?"
"Please, answer the question, Wolfe! I need to know! Do you accept my confession?"
"I-ah-wh-uh-wha-"
"DO YOU ACCEPT MY CONFESSION, WOLFE?"
"NO!" Wolfe shouted, his voice cracking from the tension of the situation. "I don't accept your confession, Yuri! This is not love! This is obsession! This is blasphemy! This is madness!" He took a moment to gather his breath. He had no idea where this was coming from, but he felt an irresistible urge to say it. "Love is not something that sets your body on fire with such emotions that makes you act so lecherously, that forces you to spout such things! I don't know exactly what love is, but I sure as Hekk know that what you're doing is not being done out of love! It's being done out of obsessive tendencies! So no, I do not accept your confession, Yuri!"
He panted, having went on a rant himself, placing his hands on his knees in exhaustion from the whole bit. Meanwhile, Yuri stared at him with an unsettlingly calm expression on her face. Wolfe looked up at her, wondering if his message had gotten through to her.
She began laughing quietly.
"Hehehehehehe."
Then louder.
"Hahahahahaha."
Then louder.
"Hahahahahaha!"
Then louder, her face now reverting back to that hyperactive state, her body shivering violently as she began laughing uncontrollably.
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
Out of nowhere, she raised Wolfe's dagger from behind her back, bringing it upwards with both hands. Wolfe's eyes widened in horror. She continued laughing as she now brought the dagger towards her abdomen.
Instinctively, Wolfe dashed forward, grabbing her hands tightly whilst pulling backwards. However, the knife had already gone in halfway, causing her to bleed profusely from the spot. Wolfe's face contorted in rage, and he pulled back Yuri's hands with all his might. She continued to struggle, pulling it forward into the wound. Eventually, Wolfe kneed her in the groin, causing her to grunt in pain, keeling over slightly and loosening her grip on the knife. However, she had also attempted to reassert her dominance over the knife and pushed it forward, stabbing Wolfe in the side. He yelled in pain, but found his chance, ripping the knife from her grasp, breaking the window of the bedroom and tossing the knife out into the field, where she had little chance of getting to it. She screamed and crumpled to the floor, struggling as Wolfe began holding her down. He clenched his teeth, feeling his knife wound twist and turn from his wrestling with Yuri.
Eventually, after a few moments, Yuri began calming down, her struggling beginning to slow down and eventually stop. For a moment, she laid there, wide-eyed, staring at the ceiling. Then, she began tearing up, her eyes watering as she slowly realized what she was about to do. She began sobbing, holding one arm over her eyes as she wailed in torment.
Wolfe, on his side, tired out from the struggle, felt his adrenaline fade away, his emotions now hitting him like a train. He was unable to stop the tears from streaming down his face as he cried in relief. After all, regardless of how mature he was or what he had went through, the whole encounter was a scary thing to him, especially since he was only 15 years old. He had almost lost his newfound friend. He laid there on top of Yuri, crying with Yuri the whole for hours.
"Wolfe….i'm *sniffle* so sorry for that. I couldn't *sniffle* control myself." She said in between her bouts of sobbing. Wolfe managed a few words, also having trouble trying to communicate as his throat closed up.
"I...It's okay….Yuri. Just please….if you ever feel like that…..tell me….tell me, and I promise, I will help you…."
Yuri looked up at him and smiled through her tears.
"Thank you, Wolfe." She said quietly.
Wesley gasped as he opened his eyes, looking around at his environment in panic. A medical ward. A couple nurses looked over in bewilderment, dropping their trays in absolute confusion. Wolfe began panting heavily, getting up from the bed with only one thing in mind. Finding Marigold.
He was about to catapult off the bed when he groaned loudly, feeling his head ache and a stinging pain in his side. He felt at both spots, feeling a bruise on his head and stitching on a closed-up wound on his side. He pulled up his bloodied tunic to see the knife wound that had been inflicted upon him earlier. He growled, thinking about the scumbag that had tried to hurt Marigold.
Mari! He thought, alarms setting off in his head. He had an awful feeling about her, and so got up from the bed, making his way towards the exit.
"Sir!"
He briefly turned around to see a cleric, clothed with a dark green, flowing gown secured around the waist with a tied rope, a puffy hat, and a medical book in one hand. He stared at Wesley in bewilderment.
"How are you...alive?" He asked, perplexed by the what he assumed was a walking corpse. "Your wounds were fatal!"
"I don't give a sh*t right now, cleric! Is a girl by the name of Marigold in this ward?" He asked in desperation.
The clerk backed up slightly, surprised by the man's urgent nature. "Oh, that woman who was hit in the street? Yeah we took care of the wound as best we could, but it didn't look too good. Luckily, she woke up, but she asked us about your condition…" He trailed off after having realized something. Wesley stared at him, a painful knot growing in his stomach.
"And?" He pressed. The doctor looked up at him, regret present in his eyes.
"We said...that you would not have a good chance of living."
Wesley's eyes widened in fear. He had never thought of what Marigold would do if she had thought he was dead. He resolved to go find her to alleviate her grief.
With that, Wesley took off, groaning as his wounds throbbed continually, but he pressed on, running around town, calling out Sayori's other name in desperation.
"MARIGOLD!"
He ran to the market square, with was empty as it was a stormy night.
"MARIGOLD!"
He ran to the tavern, which was closed up due to the weather.
"MARI!"
He ran to his house, all the lights having been turned off before they left for their outing.
"Mari…"
He dropped to his knees on the cobblestone, Wondering where else she could possibly be. He got a nagging feeling to go outside of the town, as there was a horse stable that was right outside the front gate. He remembered a conversation with her, where she had mentioned that she really liked horses.
Maybe she's finding comfort with the horses in the stable, Wesley thought, and so ran out the front gate, first clearing up with the guards on his business. They nodded and let him out, warning him on the weather. He nodded and dashed for the stables. The rain beat down on him as the thick, grey clouds from above covered the expanse of the entire landscape, occasional thunder striking the land. Wesley saw the stables within sight, feeling hope as he reached them. He finally arrived at the door, hearing the horses neigh loudly from the thunder. He opened the door, walking in.
His hands dropped to his sides, his mouth fell open, his eyes widened in horror.
Before him, Sayori was hanging, desperately clawing at the rope that was slowly constricting around her neck. Her face had turned pale as she was losing blood to her head. Drool had come slithering down from her mouth, and her eyes were glazing over as he brain was losing precious oxygen. She dangled helplessly a chair having been kicked over from where she was.
Wesley felt a cold shiver arouse his skin, and he screamed in terror, running up to hold Sayori up by her legs, yelling her name over and over.
"MARI! OH MY TOG! HOLD ON! I'LL HELP YOU DOWN! PLEASE, DON'T DIE ON ME!"
He gave her some time to breathe, allowing oxygen and blood to flow back into her head.
"I'm so sorry, Mari, but wait just one second while I get the chair up."
He released her quickly, feeling his heart break at the sound of her gagging resumed. He quickly picked the chair up and placed Mari's feet on it, then got up on the chair, holding her up whilst taking out his dagger. Holding her with one hand, he used his other to cut the rope holding her up. He began sawing at it, cursing at it for taking so long. Finally, it snapped, and Wesley felt the chair tip backwards as Sayori's full weight came tumbling down. He leaned forward hard, turning around so that his back would hit the mud below, Sayori's weight causing him to grunt as they came crashing to the ground.
He wasted no time cutting off the noose that was around her neck, throwing it to the side. He dropped his dagger and held her like a stuffed toy, cuddling her whilst sobbing his heart out, like a little boy who had almost lost his mother. Tears came streaming down his face uncontrollably as he clenched to her, as if afraid he might lose her by letting go.
Sayori coughed violently as air began circulating through her once again, oxygen and blood returning to her brain. Wesley heard this and turned her over, sitting by as she then became sick violently onto the floor. Wesley then brought her over to a wall, setting her against it, hugging her tightly once she was set.
"Mari….why….why would you do such a thing…."
As she began to slowly gain consciousness, she felt her eyes well up with tears of relief, and she began crying as her worries and depression dissipated quickly.
"Wesley….I thought…..I thought you were…..dead…..I'm so glad you're alive….."
She then hugged Wesley back, clenching to him tightly, now wailing in relief. And so, the two sat there, in the stables, covered in mud, their sobbing piercing through the now-calming storm, as rain turned from a torrent to light patter, as the thunder receded from the landscape, the grey clouds clearing the sky for a full moon to present itself above them.
Sayori was safe. That's all that Wesley cared about.
Rulf slammed his mug down, sighing loudly in happiness after downing a good half-pint of ale. He laughed heartily, now being properly drunk. Monika sat to his right, smiling sweetly as she saw her one true love in a merry manner. Subconsciously, she knew that winter was approaching, and was planning on telling the whole group about the idea of Christmas. She couldn't wait to give her present to Rulf.
Meanwhile, Rulf, the legend himself, wrapped his arm around Monika, pulling her in, to which she yelped in delight. As he turned his head towards her, she could very blatantly his flushed cheeks, a sign of his growing inebriation. He giggled, using his other hand to poke her nose.
"Boop." He said, to which he then hollered with laughter. Monika giggled as well, feeling a strong urge to kiss him. Two others sat with them at the table, Malin & Natsuki. Malin roared with laughter, slapping the table with one hand, pint of beer in the other. Natsuki, who had also gotten a hold of a filled mug herself, was also quite drunk herself (cuz, you know, middle ages and bar age limit aren't in the same timeline). Seeing the sight, she averted her eyes from Malin.
"I wish you'd do stuff like that sometimes." She muttered under her breath, obviously aimed at Malin. As if on cue, he grabbed Natsuki, to which she yelped in surprise, and booped her nose as well. She squealed in delight, but immediately covered her mouth with one hand, as if realizing how embarrassing that was. However, everyone in the bar, at this point in the night, was about as drunk as Rulf and Malin, and they didn't seem to notice either, so she blushed and smiled, this time gazing at Malin.
The four seemed to be having a jolly good time, until some random ass mofo decided to show up, sliding into the seat to the left of Rulf. A female, who was not quite that bad looking, sporting a linen shirt with rolled up-sleeves, some plain brown trousers and a farmer's hat. She also seemed to be quite drunk (as I had mentioned earlier in this section, everyone is just drunk af), giggling incessantly, her cheeks also flushed, and she leaned in close to Rulf, grinning cheekily. He could see that she had blue eyes and freckles on her face, which was rather pretty.
"How ya *hiccup* doin', handsome?" She asked amorously, her farmer accent quite distinct now that she was intoxicated. "Name's Liz. Ah' see yer enjoyin' yerself. What's yer trade?"
Rulf looked at her with quite a wary expression. She didn't look like the type, but he'd run into plenty of women who'd flirted and tried to woo him for a number of reasons. Some for money, others for more sadistic reasons. Most of them had done it for some selfish reason, and he kept his guard up because of it.
"What's it to you, Liz?"
Regardless of that, he wasn't exactly a woman's man. She grinned even wider.
"Just tryna make conversation, ya lout." She said in a joking manner.
"Y-yeah? Well, we're conversing here already."
He wasn't good with women.
"So, you can, you know, go talk to your lady friends or something…."
At all.
"I mean, not that i'm trying to offend you or anything, but-"
HOLY F**K, STOP TALKING!
Rulf cringed, feeling an inner voice in his head nag at him for continuing such a useless conversation. He should probably listen to that voice. Liz tilted her head in curiosity at the action.
"What was that? You a bit too drunk?"
"N-no, i'm just listening to the, uh, the voice that's telling me to tell you to-"
That's it.
Out of nowhere, a beer mug came flying towards Rulf's head and smashed into a ton of pieces as it broke on his head. They fell to the floor as he grabbed his head, cursing wildly. Malin roared with laughter, pounding his fist on the table and pointing at Rulf's head, to which the comical relief had occurred.
"Bro, that was so comically relieving! Hahaha!"
You're next, Malin.
"You think i'm gonna be next-"
Out of nowhere once again, another surprise mug came sailing towards Malin, smashing even harder into his head than the other mug hit Rulf. However, Malin's head was so thick, on top of him being drunk, that he didn't even notice the mug breaking onto his head. Truly a terrifying representation of retard strength.
Rulf got up from his spot at the table, looking down at the maiden before him. He spoke to her through clenched teeth, a smile mirroring that of a wolf plastered over his face.
"Miss Liz, I plan on leaving now, so I need you to do me a favor and move." He uttered through his teeth. The woman shrugged and moved back, allowing for Rulf to storm past and out of the tavern. Monika got up and quickly followed behind him, quickly glancing at Liz with a murderous stare before resuming her sweet smile, following closely behind the now-drunken Rulf, who damn near fell over as he pushed open the tavern door and stumbled out onto the cobblestone street, which was quite slippery from the recent drizzle.
As they walked home, Monika felt a burning sensation of hatred for the woman that had tried to woo her Rulf. Of course, she was absolutely captivated with him now that he had managed to avoid her disgusting methods (when really, Liz kind of flirted with every guy in the tavern). She mentally noted down to later reward him for his stalwart action.
The two finally arrived at their lodge, which was beginning to look like a home. They had cleared out more of the forestry, making way for a quite sizable yard, both front and back. The axes that had done so much work laid against the wall next to the door, and a pile of logs was stacked under a wooden shelter, which had four columns of wood supporting a slanted wooden roof over it. On top of that, they had also cleared out a space where a small pond was present, a grouping of cattails swaying slightly as a small breeze blew them softly. (Look up 'pragser wildsee' on Google Images for a semblance of what this looks like)
Of course, the duck which Rulf had detested for so long (which Monika had named Dan, for reasons unknown) was sitting in the pond and, upon seeing the two, quacked its haughty greetings. Rulf, still at massive odds with the duck, raised his middle finger towards it out of habit, as it was standard at this point.
Finally, the two had made their way inside, Rulf still giggling thanks his intoxication, having forgotten all about the mug that had smacked him in the head, fell onto the double bed, rolling over and almost instantly falling asleep. Monika smiled at him once again and, being sure that he was fully out, walked up and gave him a kiss on the cheek. She then turned around, her eyes filled with malice and fury. She picked up an unlit torch along with a canister of lantern oil. She then poured a bit of oil over the rag that was tightly wrapped around the stick, capping it before picking up a piece of flint, then threw open the lodge door, making her way to Northham to carry out her nefarious deed.
Rulf woke up to the sound of fire crackling faintly, and got up groggily to investigate the sound. He walked up to the window facing Northham and gazed outwards. He became extremely alarmed when he saw, to the far right of the town, a burning barn amidst growing crops and a farmhouse. He saw as dozens of specks rushed around the area, and assumed they were people trying to put out the fire. Quickly getting his gear on, he ran out and, after around 15 minutes, ended up around 75 meters away from the blazing fire. He stared in bewilderment at the scene, watching as dozens of people, with buckets of water, scurried back and forth between a nearby river, filling up their buckets and dumping them onto the blazing fire.
Rulf caught one urgent individual and questioned him on how the fire had started.
"No idea, sir! There was no indication that there would be one, and the owner claims she there was nothing that could have started it!"
Rulf's mind stopped in his tracks, a nagging feeling at the back of his mind.
"She?"
"Yeah, the owner of this farm, Elizabeth Brook."
"Does she…..go by any nicknames, perchance?"
"Yeah, most people call her Liz, why?"
Rulf looked back at the raging fire, letting a few moments pass by. The man he had questioned had run back off to take care of the fire.
Rulf continued gazing at the fire.
He remembered seeing one of his torches missing from the pile.
He also remembered the door being slightly ajar when he woke up.
He threw his hands up in exasperation.
"MONIKA, FOR FU-"
Rulf opened the door to his cabin, seeing Monika sleeping soundly on her side of the bed, snoring cutely. He walked up to her and tapped her on the shoulder lightly. She stirred from her sleep and turned over, smiling sweetly as she saw Rulf fill her vision.
He was absolutely furious.
"Get up."
"Wha-"
"GET UP!"
Monika yelped as Rulf grabbed her by the arm and pulled her off the bed, led her over to the table, and shoved her into the chair. She said nothing as he did so. After she was seated, he kept holding her arm with one hand, his other planted on the table. He peered down at her.
"What the Hekk, Monika?! Why would you jeopardize our cover like that?!"
Monika was taken aback, more so out of confusion and surprise than shame. She had expected him to question her on why she had burned the barn.
"Wh-what do you-"
"You can't go around doing shit like that! I'm trying to avoid the city guards, and the last thing I need is to be traced back here because my arsonist partner couldn't resist!"
"So...you don't care that the barn was burned down?"
"I really couldn't give a shit if that whole town burned to the ground. I just don't want to get caught and thrown in prison or executed. So don't pull shit like that again, or we're parting ways immediately. You got that?"
Monika nodded fervently. Despite how angry Rulf was at the moment, he couldn't help but leave it there. From what she had told him when she first came here, it sounded like she was new to all of this. Interaction with people, surviving, getting a job, basically everything there was to life. She gave off such a strong vibe on how naive she was to just basic living, that it honestly kind of scared Rulf.
He sighed, releasing his grip from her shoulder and rubbing it, feeling a bit bad for gripping it so hard. Rulf then took up stay in a chair by the table.
"You heard what I said, which means you better not do this again. Okay?"
Monika nodded once more, slower this time. She began to realize that Rulf viewed the world much differently than other people, just by what he had told her just now. Clearly, his morality was not as high as others' would be.
But that was just fine for Monika. If anything, that was perfect.
As Rulf slid out of the chair and towards his bed, he began to take off his gear from a hard day of work.
"Quack."
Rulf froze. He scanned the lodge around him.
"Where the Hekk did that-"
"Quack."
Rulf could feel his anger beginning to flare up. He looked towards the window. They had recently taken off the boards and got it replaced with shutters, so that they could get some fresh air when needed-
"Quack."
"Why is the damn duck on the window sill?!"
Monika shrugged.
"It's just Nigel. What's the problem?"
Unfortunately for her, Rulf had not yet gotten over her previous fuck-up, and so directed his gaze back to her, his eyebrows furrowed.
"You know what? I was just thinking of a suitable punishment for what you did, and now I think I've found one. Since you like that stupid FUCKING duck so much, you can sleep outside tonight with him!"