"What the fuck were you doing?!"
Many flinched when the wall cracked by Tione's fist. She exhaled, barring her teeth like a wild animal, ready to tear apart her opposition in a berserker rage. While Aiz flinched away, the bandages on her body shifting a bit. She averted her eyes, while Bete had no such issues and leaned forward in defiance, hands in his pockets with his own snarl.
"Oi, it ain't our fault, bitch!"
Tione pointed at her sister lying in the bed of the room they were occupying. Aiz took a glance before she covered her mouth, trying not to throw up. Tiona's smile was missing. Her expression wasn't filled with sadness, thankfully, but it was filled with confusion as she wiggled her stumps a few times. As if she was feeling something she wasn't seeing.
"She's crippled, you bastard!" The Jormugand hissed before stomping on the ground, causing the mansion itself to shake. "How is this not your fault?!"
"What, should I babysit everyone in this Familia?!" Bete scoffed and spat to the side. "Shit like this happens all the time! Why should she get some special tears from me, huh?!"
Naturally most in the Familia sent dark looks at the wolf man's words. Even Aiz glared at him. But her own anger was forgotten when she saw the way Bete looked. Or rather how he glanced at Tiona for a split second before facing Tione again, as if ready to take on even more of her anger. Of course nobody else noticed that subtle motion, not even Tiona who flinched. Instead Tione grabbed him by his collar and raised him up. At the same time Bete pulled his hands out of his pockets, forming fists with narrowed eyes.
"Give her legs back! Give my sister her legs back, you tra-"
A spear head appeared between them, forcing Tione to let go and step back. Finn slammed his spear down on the ground a few times, glaring at the offenders.
"That's enough, the both of you!"
Under normal circumstances this would have been it. Tione's love for the captain was well known. Which was why it was still surprising what came next, even if everyone knew that this was not a normal situation at all.
"With all due respect, captain, kiss my ass!" Some gasped at Tione's outburst. "I want answers! What the fuck happened down there?! Why didn't you have her back?!"
Suddenly her head snapped towards Aiz. She flinched back at the rage her eyes expressed. Bete growled quietly, shifting his body to block Tione's vision, but the amazon was undettered, still trying to look at Aiz, her voice hoarse from all the screaming.
"Aiz, why didn't you protec-"
Her words were stopped when someone grabbed her arm. Tione's eyes went wide when she looked to her side, seeing her twin smile brightly as she moved over her bed to reach her.
"Sis, it's okay!" She giggled before waving her hand dismissively."I just made a silly mistake. No big deal. Those monsters were just tougher than we thought."
Everyone gaped at her. Some even looked down at her knees, as if to make sure that she was indeed missing parts of her legs. Aiz just stared at her friend with wide eyes, unable to believe it. How could she put up such a mask? Even Tione was shocked, her anger seemingly dissipating as her eyes were focused on her sister. Grabbing her by her shoulders, Tione shook her head, biting her lip.
"No big-?!"
"Cmon, I'm still kicking!" She paused, awkwardly wiggling her stumps before shrugging with a casual smile. "Well, not anymore I guess. Heh. Doggy bit off a lot."
A scoff sounded in the room. Aiz and the others turned around, seeing Bete already at the door as he waved his hand.
"I'm outta here," he muttered in a low tone before shutting the door behind him. Riveria cleared her throat before glancing at Tiona. The girl herself rubbed her chin with a hum.
"Think it was the doggy comment?"
Ignoring that comment, the elf gently put her hand on her head, ruffling Tiona's hair with a motherly smile.
"It's going to take a while, but we already commissioned prosthetics."
Tiona's mouth twitched for a moment before she let out a dramatic whine as she crossed her arms behind her head after crawling back into her prior position on the bed.
"Man, I wanted a wood leg! Be a pirate, y'know?"
"How can you say that... ?"
She didn't mean to mutter those words. Yet the damage was done. The looks of sympathy and pity. She wanted to scream. Yell. She didn't deserve any of that. But again Tiona was the one to reject her desires, instead looking at Aiz with a soft expression.
"Aiz, it's fine. We all make mistakes." Aiz opened her mouth to object but Tiona raised her hand with a pout. "Nope! None of that! The mood was bad enough after Knossos, don't wanna repeat that, do we?"
She gave Tione a pointed look. The bigger twin glanced back, gritting her teeth. But in the end, she let out a sigh before shaking her head.
"...Fine. I won't beat their faces in."
The visitors let out a sigh of relief except for Aiz. She still felt this was wrong. But if this was what Tiona wished, who was she to object? Gareth clapped his hands together, turning to the small crowd with a nod.
"Alright people, let's give her some space. Blow off some steam outside or something."
"Hah. Kinda tired right now you mention it." Tiona yawned before rolling her shoulders a bit. "Can I take a nap?"
"Of course." Tione took a deep breath before her features softened. "Just... call when you need something."
"Call any of us," Finn added, causing the entire Familia to nod in agreement. Tiona giggled at the sight before raising her thumb while flashing her teeth.
"Sure thing!"
With that said and done, the group left the room and began to disperse. Aiz lowered her head, unsure where to go. She wasn't in the mood for anything right now. Practicing was out. The dungeon was a place she didn't want to return to. Maybe she could sleep away the time until things were bet-
"Aiz, stay back for a second."
Aiz froze before slowly turning her head, seeing Tione stand there with crossed arms in the hallway. The amazon walked up to her, causing Aiz to blink in confusion.
"Tione... ?"
She didn't manage to get any more words out. The next moment she felt a sharp pain as her head was forced to move. In a daze, she touched her cheek, before she looked at Tione with wide eyes. The amazon herself seemed conflicted as her eyes shimmered with tears, tears she barely managed to hold back with a shivering breath.
"You two make it too obvious." Guilt mixed with anger as she narrowed her eyes at Aiz. "She is like that because she had to protect you."
Aiz choked. It was all the confirmation she needed. Tione shook her head before exhaling slowly. She put her hand on the Sword Princess' shoulder, patting it a few times.
"Because of Tiona and our friendship, that's all that I'm going to do." A sad smile appeared on Tione's face. "But don't expect me to act... normal any time soon."
Aiz was left alone in the hallway. She wasn't sure how long she was standing there, frozen in place.
She wanted this. Punishment. But why did it hurt so much then? Was it because Tione was hurt herself by doing this? She shook her head as her breathing became erratic. She had to go. But just as she began to walk, she stopped. Her ears picked up the noise. She wished she didn't, that her senses weren't so honed, the best after Bete. The wind picked up the sounds and guided them to her ears against her will. Aiz could clearly hear the muffled sobbing from the room they just left. The world around her began to shift as she covered her mouth, her eyes wide in panic.
"Aiz, are you-"
She slapped the hand away, almost stumbling to the ground. With her heavy breaths, she stared at Lefiya, who held her hand, startled by her actions. Aiz shook her head frantically. No, she couldn't do this right now.
"S-sorry, Lefiya. I-I have to go."
She fled, leaving behind the concerns voiced out by the elf. Soon enough, she arrived in a separate room, meant to be for guests. Not that they had any often, given Loki's usual personality. She was thankful for that, as she began to swing Desperate around, trying to get her mind off things. Yet it didn't help. Each swing reminded her off her failures. No matter how much she tried, she still heard the sobs, saw the disappointment. With heavy breaths, Aiz' gaze wandered around, trying to find something to get her mind off. For a moment, her eyes brushed over the mirror and the sight caused her to freeze.
It wasn't her image she saw. She couldn't hold it in anymore. With a wild scream she smashed the image of the wolf inside of it, shattering the glass into thousands of pieces. But it wasn't enough. Even in the fragments she saw the reflection of that beast. Of [ruby=her]its[/ruby] hate. Over and over again she slammed her sword down, ignoring the noise and shaking she caused in the basement area of the mansion. She had no idea how much time passed until at last a hand grabbed her tightly, stopping yet another downward swing. By now she sweated buckets, her lungs screaming for proper air instead of the shallow gasping she was doing. Her eyes snapped to the side, wide and bloodshot, to see Riveria slowly shake her head in sadness.
"Aiz. Enough."
"I-I-"
Riveria shushed her before gesturing down with her hand gently.
"Sit down."
Aiz weakly shook her head. She knew what this was about. But she couldn't. She didn't want to revisit her sins.
"B-but-"
"Sit. Down," Riveria said, a bit more forcefully this time, but still with that gently look. In the end, Aiz surrendered and sat down on the ground, leaning her head against the wall. Riveria said down right next to her. For a while, silence reigned between them as Aiz' breathing began to calm down. Eventually, Riveria turned her head, a tired look on her face.
"You're going to need to take a break from the dungeon for a while."
"I... was planning to... " Aiz whispered. She could feel the astonishment directed at her before Riveria slowly nodded.
"Good. After all, you damaged your muscles quite a lot." The elf gave her a look of concern. "You don't feel it?"
Aiz couldn't help but let out a scoff, which was unlike her. Yet she couldn't help it. She felt nothing. How could she? Her mind was preoccupied with... everything else.
"You promised."
Aiz flinched. There was no anger or judgement in those words. Just worry. But that only made it hurt even more. She wanted to run away, remembering the promise she made. Yet she stayed in place. Maybe by explaining she would feel better. If only a little bit.
"I couldn't control myself," she began slowly, shivering at the memory. "The moment we saw each other's eyes... It was like... someone poured oil into my soul."
Ignoring Riveria's worried look, Aiz closed her eyes. Those eyes. The fact that it was intelligent only made it worse. It wasn't feral. It knew. Knew exactly what it was doing, what it chose. To throw its entire being into vengeance. As if there was only pain and suffering in its soul, pain and suffering it wanted to inflict on others. An eye for an eye. It disgusted ehr, to feel such empathy, but she understood that feeling all too well.
"I could feel its hate. I could see how it completely consumed it. That sort of hate... it-it had nothing left. There was no satisfaction, no glee, no room for anything but that," she explained before hugging her legs. She felt the elf's hands on her shoulders. Aiz sniffed before looking into Riveria's eyes with a fearful expression. "Riveria... It looked like me."
No. She shook her head immediately. The moment she said that, she knew she was wrong. That wolf wasn't like her at all. It was worse. Aiz herself was like a foolish, naive girl, whose feet only dipped into the water. That monster... it was like it existed in the abyss itself. Like something that had nothing left but hatred. The moment she looked into it, it looked back and tried to drag her down.
"I don't... I don't want to become a monster... " Aiz said weakly. The dream. It was like a prophecy. That she would become like that wolf no matter what. She began to shiver.
She thought she already lost everything on that fateful day to that thing. When the first black flames were birthed in her soul. She thought she was already broken, a murdering machine when she first started off. Before her Familia showed her that there was still light around her. But now she knew the truth. She never lost everything. If she was truly like that monster... nobody would've been able to reach her. Nothing. Having had a taste of truly not giving a damn about anything but killing the targets she hated... for the first time, Aiz felt truly afraid of herself.
"Aiz, your... "
Aiz looked up, seeing Riveria's concerned expression. The elf seemed to regret her words immediately but the damage was already done. Aiz followed her gaze. She reached for her hair and raised it. Her eyes went wide. It was hard to spot. But now that she looked at it, the tips of her golden hair... were white. The trait she inherited from her mother was tainted. She choked before tears began to drop down her face. Without hesitating, Riveria hugged her as the small girl shivered at her own actions and hatred.
"What.. ?"
What was happening to her? She begged for answers. From the heavens. From her soul. But no answer came. The room was silent, filled only with her own sobbing.
Time until the War Game: One week and two days.