Note: The content of this chapter was previously written in chapter 4. This new version is much better, at least according to me.
IMPORTANT NOTE TRANSFER FROM THE OLD VERSION: The old chapter 4 was published for my two friends, Vendelareader and bokpricken, on their birthday, and was dedicated to them. Naturally, this transfers to this new version, so the chapters 11 and onwards for a while (I'll say so when we reach the content of the old chapter 5) are dedicated to them. If you have nothing better to do after this, you can check out their profiles (through the author search function or my fav. authors list), read their stories (and drop a review?), and/or maybe start up a PM conversation with one or both of them. They are both awesome people and good writers, so I don't think that you would regret it, and you would make them very happy. Yes. Shameless advertising. What one doesn't do for one's friends...
That said, I would like to transfer my thanks to the both of them, ThorongilAnime, Meatbun Attack, gaarasgrl19, Serositannia and krad09 for reviewing back in the old version. Thank you so much! If you guys hadn't shown an interest in this story back then, it would definitely never have become what it is today.
For reviewing chapter 10 of this version, however, HikariNoTenshi-San, krad09, Vendelareader and AnimeVamp1997 deserve my thanks, a hug, and a couple of cookies each.
WARNING: This is the last chapter before I put Beast Queen on hold again. I'll put more information in the next "chapter", as I don't want to hinder you from reading this one for any longer than I need to. Also: VIOLENCE. But seeing as this is a T-rated fic, and you've already read chapters 2, 3 and 9, I don't think there should be any problem with what shows up here.
Disclaimer: Come to think of it, are fish even capable of owning stuff like legal rights? Does anyone know?
Chapter 11:
Promise?
I do not think that seeing a demon being dragged around by her hand by an angel kid was a common sight in the angel town – Indeira, Robin told me that it was called – at least if the reactions of its inhabitants were anything to go by. Everyone was staring. Well, maybe not everyone, but... enough.
I tightened my hold on Robin's hand a little. I did not like this. Some are even following us! Why are they following us? It made me uncomfortable, and the heat in my cheeks refused to die down. Most of all, I just wanted to duck into an alley or shop and hide.
Robin, however, seemed to be oblivious to my discomfort and our followers as he happily chatted on while giving me the grand tour of the lofty town. Apparently, he had spent quite a lot of time in the game already, despite his low level. This was due to the fact that, while he had gotten his SL helmet for his birthday four days ago, he had not yet been allowed to go out to kill monsters by his parents. From what I could understand from Robin's energetic and rapid talk, it seemed as if they were very worried for him and had originally wanted him to play with his older brother, who could look out for him, as he was still a bit on the young side for playing. Yet things had not turned out entirely as expected, as Robin was mistakenly placed in Central by his GM, instead of going to the North, as he was meant to.
When this mistake was discovered, Robin was at first forbidden from playing until his cousin – named Kyle in real life, but called Wrath in Second Life – could reach Indeira and take the place of a babysitter originally meant for the brother. The circumstances had changed, however, when the cousin had fallen sick the next day. Not wanting to wait for him to get better, Robin had nagged his parents constantly until they had given in and let him play on his own for a little while, as long as he promised to keep out of trouble, not fight any monsters and not talk to any strangers.
At this point of the story, I had blinked, confused. Hadn't he joined a hunting party full of strangers, fought some monsters, then gotten lost before bumping into me – yet another stranger – and asking to form a team with me? According to him, this was only the second day after he had been allowed to play, and yet he had already broken all of his promises. Wasn't that a really bad thing?
As we crossed a high bridge between two of the larger towers, Robin's storm of words momentarily died down and was I reminded of something I had thought about earlier by the gnawing pain in my stomach and the constant ache in my throat as I breathed.
"Robin?" My voice was raspy and broken, and went unheard before I cleared my throat and tried again, with a much better result, even if I still sounded hoarse."Robin? What was in your pouch when you started?" He looked up at me from where he was walking on my right side, still keeping a firm grip on that hand. He had refused to let go of it since he had gripped it to haul me up from the ground back in that alley.
"Hmm... Some money, bread and a knife? Oh, and an empty water pouch, but an evil rat bit it and made a hole in it so that I couldn't use it anymore... I bought a new one, though! Then I ate the bread, and I broke the knife when I tried to climb that tower over there." He pointed at the highest tower, which was made of a different and lighter wood than the rest of the town. "Then I found out that there were stairs... So now I'm fighting with a branch instead!" He said, and hefted said "weapon" around; he had removed it from his back earlier to poke at an unidentified slimy substance in an alleyway, before we both decided that it would be better to leave it alone, mostly because it smelled bad. Really, really bad.
But why had he gotten those things, when I hadn't? Quickly realizing that I wouldn't find the answer, I abandoned the question and decided to take up the battle with my scratchy voice again.
"Cou-" My voice died on me, so I tried again. "Could you show me the way to a well? Or a drinking fountain?" He looked back at me and smiled.
"Sure! I'm getting thirsty, too, since I drank all my water earlier." Then his smile suddenly dropped, making me worry about if I had done something wrong for a second, before he said: "Is that why you aren't talking and your voice is sounding so weird? You should have told me earlier!" He sounded upset with me, almost making me want to curl up into myself.
"Sorry..."
"You shouldn't be sorry, I should be sorry! Come on, this way!" He said, and quickly pulled me to the end of the bridge before veering right, down a set of broad and shallow steps. "That forest was really warm, and you were there before me, and you were chased by those weird bird-thingies," he had forgotten the name of the monsters soon after that comment on it, it appeared, because whenever he talked about them after that on our trek through the angel town, he had called them 'weird birds' or bird-thingies' "and then you ran with me, and then we've been walking around, and it's almost the middle of the day, and it's really sunny and I haven't seen you drink! You must be very, very, very thirsty!" He took another right once we reached the bottom of the steps, steering us onto one of the larger streets I had seen so far. "There!" He then said, and pointed to where a drinking fountain in some sort of grey stone was set into an ivy-covered wall by the landing of the steps. Then he let go of my hand for the first time since he started his 'tour', got behind me and started pushing, hands firmly set into the small of my back. "You first!"
I looked over my shoulder at him, conflicted. I was thirsty, sure, but he was, also, and now that we were by the drinking fountain anyway, it really wouldn't hurt me to wait another minute. Then I saw him give me a look and point towards the drinking fountain, brows furrowed, wings and tail ruffled and slightly unfolded and feet planted firmly into the ground.
See that look, kitten? The brat ain't gonna yield. At least not without a lot of noise. Just drink. It'll give him his water sooner than he would have gotten it if you decide to be stubborn about this.
I sighed slightly, giving in. "Okay." Bending forward, I activated the fountain and took deep, gratifying gulps. I had long since realized that there was nothing that tasted quite as good as water did when you were tired and dehydrated. Except possibly milk, but water came a close second. Stepping back with a contented sigh, I let Robin have his turn as I wiped the water off of my face with the back of my hand and scanned the sunlit street. Angels of all shapes and sizes were milling about, making for a scene I would never have thought to be possible. I had tried to get used to it as I and Robin had moved through the town, but somehow, my eyes just wouldn't stop widening with wonder or shock as soon as we stumbled upon something new.
I was brought out of my thoughts as Robin grabbed my hand again, tugged on it and asked:
"You're better now, right?" I looked down on him and nodded, feeling slightly flustered about the fact that he seemed to be taking care of me, when it really should be the other way around. "Great! Then I'll show you the central square! It's the greatest place in the whole town!" With that said, he tugged me down from the steps and out into the street, taking left. Now that I was thinking about it, most of the traffic seemed to be flowing in that direction. "All the guilds are there, and there is this biiiig fountain which is really, really pretty, and lots of shops, and nice people, and scary people, but more nice than scary people, and the... the... the... umm... I don't remember what it's called, but there's this reeeally big house where you can get quests and-"
I switched my primary focus away from Robin's friendly chatter, even if I still registered what he said with half an ear, as the hairs on the back of my neck rose and I experienced and unpleasant clench of my stomach that had nothing to do with how little I had eaten in the game.
My neck had been acting up for quite a while due to our followers, so I had sifted that sensation back into the back of my mind, but now it was much stronger than before. That coupled with my stomach clenching led me to believe that the danger was much more acute this time.
Not one to ignore my instincts, I ducked just in time for a serrated dagger to pass over my head, just at the right altitude to have gouged my throat out, had I remained where I was.
What the fuck? I growled in mind, just as I lashed out with my left elbow and hit my assailant hard in the kidney, hoping to rupture the organ and put her out of commission. She certainly went down, but before I could see if I had done any serious damage, or if I had just shocked her, however, the kid was yanked out of my grip.
Robin! A slightly panicked voice in the back of my mind screamed out. Quickly reassessing the situation, and prioritizing the brat before dealing with my grounded opponent, I looked around just in time to intercept another crazed woman, this one with a sword. She came in with a wide horizontal swing from my left, aiming for my head. Seeing as I was already crouched, I knew that it would be hard for me to move if I chose to duck even further, so I sprang back, just out of range of the sharp blade. My opponent was obviously not experienced in wielding a sword, because the large guardian angel had overextended herself with that swing, something I immediately took advantage of. Springing forward once the sword had passed, I circled my right hand around her black feathered forearm and put my left hand against her upper arm. Pulling with my right and pushing with my left, I broke what was left of her balance and sent her stumbling to her knees as I let go of her arm before I forced her beak into the ground with a well-placed roundhouse kick towards the back of her feathered head with my left leg.
She didn't get up, and since my first opponent still lay on the ground without moving a single feather, I had a slight reprieve in which I could look for the brat.
What seemed to have started as that single attacker was quickly getting out of hand, and the kid had already been dragged so far away from me on the street that I could barely see him through the chaotic mass of people. None of them had yet to gather the courage to get close to me after seeing how easily I had taken down the two angels now laying on the ground beside me. Not that it mattered much, because the idiots were still in my fucking way.
Some of them seemed to be trying to propose to me, others tried to attack me, and still others were trying to stop the ones in the previous groups. But these were not the ones I was focused on. My concentration was held by what seemed to be the majority of the females in the area, who were playing tug-of-war with the kid being the rope. There were tears in his eyes, and judging from the force his limbs seemed to be pulled on with, I'd say that they were on the verge of dislocating.
The same voice that was to be panicking earlier, when they pulled him away from me, seemed to be on the verge of tears. Can't they see that they are hurting him?
I'm not saying that I am the most patient person in the world, but neither am I short-fused. This, however, this was too much for whatever patience I had. I growled, and jumped. I may not have any fancy wings like all of these angels around me, at least not yet, but that did not mean that I could not get over them. Landing with my left foot on the shoulder of a kneeling, burly, male angel with ridiculously small wings, I sprang over the crowd, using shoulders and heads as stepping stones to get to the kid. I was studiously avoiding stepping on the bright forms of the angels which only seemed to consist of some kind of energy or light, as I had yet to find out whether it was possible to touch them or not. And I really didn't want to find out by crashing through one of them and getting stuck in the middle of this rabid crowd. From what I had seen so far, the whole lot of them were out of their fucking minds.
Finally reaching the kid, I landed right by him, in the middle of the cluster of crazed females. Not believing that it was possible to reason with the harpies, I kicked the one holding his left arm with my left foot, breaking her right kneecap and sending her crying to the floor. My health and mana bars appeared in the corner of my vision, letting me know that that attack had consumed mana, before I continued on, drawing the dagger hanging from her belt with my left hand. In one fluid motion I twirled around and shot forward, slashing open the throat of the hag who had been pulling on the kid's right arm. She gurgled, and blood spilled out of the jagged gash – the dagger had apparently not been particularly sharp – to run down her throat before her body disintegrated into white light and shot up into the sky.
This seemed to serve as a wake-up call for the rest of the mob, as they backed off, leaving me and the brat some space.
I growled and crouched down, switching the bloodied knife into a reverse grip, ready for whatever they might throw at me, even if my situation now not was much better than it had been in the forest. As a matter of fact, it was worse. Just like this morning, I was severely outnumbered, but unlike then, I was unable to run. They had me surrounded. The only thing I had going for me right now, apart from my inflated stats, was the fact that these players were sentient beings, and could probably be persuaded into thinking that attacking either me or the kid would be a very bad idea.
Even if they had acted as intelligence-bereft fucking morons up until this point. I mean, who the hell with any sense left in their head would gang up on someone like this? For something as ridiculous as getting a virtual girlfriend, knocking someone down a level, or spending some time with a cute kid?
Anyway, it was worth a shot.
"Get the fuck away from us." I snarled in as threatening of a tone as I could manage. "Or I will kill you." I put every ounce of anger and bloodlust I had into that simple sentence, hoping to scare them away. Interestingly enough, I saw my mana bar starting to drop further as the ones in the first row started to quake and scramble away. Straightening out, I swept the kid forth from where he had been standing behind me and pulled him close to my chest with my free right arm, while my left still was held at the ready with the knife on my other side. I then let my eyes roam the crowd, seeing that more and more of them were starting to quake, before I snarled: "What the fuck are you waiting for?! Get the fuck AWAY!" As I talked, my voice had been betting louder and louder, before gaining an inhuman echo and ending in what was practically a roar, which took a good chunk of my mana with it.
At this, the crowd broke, and I took the opportunity to get away, since I had no idea of how long the confusion would last. Dragging the kid along with me, I ducked into the nearest alleyway before sprinting as far away from that street as I could.
Several stairs, bridges, rooftops, streets and alleys later, I came to a stop in a small courtyard, walled in by four flower-shrouded cottages, with a great willow occupying the middle of the open space. Cautiously creeping up to the tree, I put my back against it while cautiously listening for any pursuers. Hearing none, I could focus on the kid again.
The kid that I currently held pressed to my chest with my right arm across his shoulder.
The kid who was currently shaking.
No, I heard that worried voice in the back of my head again. Oh, no. No, Robin!
Echoing my thoughts, I asked timidly: "Robin?"
Had I scared him? Had I made him hate me? After seeing me killing someone just like that, without a good reason, without trying to talk with them first, there was no way he would want to stay with me, right? I gulped and crouched down, pulling my left hand up to scratch myself behind my ear, before realising that I was still holding the bloodied dagger. Dropping it as if it had burnt me, I instead fiddled with the hem of my shirt, trying to remove the bloodstains from my hand. Even if he might hate me now, even if he would probably run away after this and I would never see him again, I still had to make sure that he was okay, that those women hadn't hurt him.
Even if he had seen me for the monster I really was.
"Robin, are you okay?" It almost came out in a whimper.
I was fully prepared for him to hate me, to attack me, or to run away. And I would have let him hit me. I wouldn't have chased him. I would have deserved it, and he would have been better off without me.
So what he did next came as a complete surprise to me. My whole body froze up as he flung himself at me, hugging me and burying his face into my neck.
He was crying, his small frame shaking.
"I wa- I wa- was so af- afraid. Th- they were – they were try- trying to hur- hurt yo- you. An- and... they can- can't hurt you! They jus- just CAN'T! You're MY P-Pan! They aren't all- allowed to hurt you!"
I could barely even think. He doesn't hate me? He isn't afraid of me?
No kitten, he isn't. He was afraid, worried and angry for you, not of or at you.
He is crying... for me?
As I gently wrapped my arms around his small body, being careful as to not hurt his wings, I could feel a resolve forming and hardening inside me. I would protect this boy no matter what; I would do all in my power to make sure he never cried again.
Working around the lump in my throat, I said: "Don't- don't worry, Robin. I won't let them hurt me. Please stop crying. I don't want you to cry. I will never let them hurt me, and I will never, ever, let them hurt you, either. Jus- just please stop crying." I felt the tears burning behind my eyelids, but I wouldn't let them spill. From now on, I would have to be strong.
Robin sniffled. "Re- really? You won't get hurt? Promise?"
My throat clenched. I couldn't give him a promise that I knew that I wouldn't be able to keep. "I promise... I promise that I will protect you, but I can't... I just can't promise that I'll never get hurt. But- but I'll promise you that I will always try my best to avoid getting hurt, is that okay?"
At that, Robin pulled away from the hug, and I felt my heart clench at the idea that I had made him even more upset, but he had stopped crying, and just pulled away enough so that he could look into my eyes. He looked dead serious when he nodded and said:
"Okay. But you'll have to pinky promise." Familiar with the concept from having made a few such promises with Theron – who had explained to me that such promises were very serious and could never, ever be broken – I nodded and pulled away from the young angel. Standing up again, I offered my right hand, pinky outstretched, for the promise. It would feel wrong to seal it with my left, even if that was my dominant hand, when it had blood on it.
"Pinky promise."
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