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Session 29.5

Just a Splash

Of the many things running through the mind of Polly Gostelow at the moment, burning the lake sounded nice right about now.

The last couple hours had consisted of her diving into its grey water as hard as she could, hoping to go the voice would go away. And when that didn't work, smashing headfirst into the bottom in search of something, anything that could've served as a vessel for this 'thing' inside of her.

'You'll have to do better than that to get rid of me."

Second to that, the monk wanted a drink. Preferably, something nonalcoholic. She had done her best to stick away from the blazing lights of the parties and the people that came along with it. There was never really a reason to go to these outing, outside of the slim chance of something different happening. It was only after a bad night at one that she was forced to face the music and make a better choice.

'I wonder what everyone would think of the poisons that you let course through your body. Would they be happy that their deaths resulted in this?'

"Do you ever shut up?" Polly responded, positioning herself to dive once more. Her clothes had grown quite heavy and seemed ready to serve more as shackles than anything else. Fatigue seemed ready to sneak up and push her on in, watching the monk struggle for its own twisted amusement. Yet, she wrung as much liquid as she could, feeling slightly lighter in the process.

'Do you ever think about the things that you're doing before you do them?'

The voice in her head got no answer, instead being forced to watch Polly dive back into the lake.

'Why do you follow Fate? After all, he is the big reason we're in this mess.'

The question seemed to catch the monk off-guard as she made her way back up, wringing her clothes out again once her feet touched the shore.

"You mean Aegiochusmon?" Polly countered and got a mental sigh in return.

'Has he really not told you what happened?'

Silence fell over the monk as she let the words ring through her head. While her partner had not been the most forthcoming on information, that just didn't seem to make sense.

'It doesn't matter now. The damage has already been inflicted.'

Polly took a deep breath and focused on a nearby tree. At first, all she saw was the rustling of bushes amid the overcast sky and gentle wind. But as she continued to observe this one solitary tree, something seemed to

"I can see you there, Aegiochusmon!"

Aegiochusmon let out a sigh and made his way out from behind the tree, taking a seat near the water's edge.

"How goes it?"

Polly let out a deep breath, flashing her partner the thumbs up as she made her way back towards the lake. It was more a lie, but Aegiochusmon didn't need to know that.

"Almost got her out."

"Need anything?"

The monk shook her head and dived into the waters of the lake once more. While she was doing that, Aegiochusmon lit a small fire and pulled what appeared to be Polly's backpack out of the bushes. He did a quick search of it, pulling out a sleeping bag and some rations. Where exactly she got them, the harem mage was not quite certain. But an inkling of an idea seemed to come as he saw them. It would have to wait till Polly had

'Go fuck yourself, Fate!'

Aegiochusmon rolled his eyes and let out a sigh. Normally, he would have found it nice that one of his students still remembered him. This sadly, was not one of those cases. No, he would rather have this particular person leave them alone.

"You too." he whispered and let out a little flame from his hands, watching it travel towards the wood. It erupted into a show of spark and ash as Polly resurfaced, bringing with her a body of a teenage girl. "Bring it here."

Polly complied with that order, bringing herself and the body towards the flame. The monk then sat down, cradling the body in her lap.

"That's probably the source of that voice in your head."

Polly glanced towards Aegiochusmon, a tiny bit confused by what he was even talking about.

"You should know the words already."

The monk took a deep breath.

"Frange a me." she muttered and gave the body a swift headbutt. Energy drained out of her body, but brought with it a sense of relief. "Much better."

Her attention turned to the fire, which Aegiochusmon was currently using to cook something he snatched out of her bag.

"If I had known that we were going to end up here, I would've brought a snack." the harem mage joked and got a punch in return.

"You idiot!" Polly shouted and just sat there, trying to decide what to say next. While she was pissed at her partner for snooping through her bag but, she couldn't bring herself to feel angry in that moment. "Why do you make me feel so conflicted?!"

Aegiochusmon let out another laugh. After, he let his focus fixate on the monk.

"Feel free to be angry at me." the harem mage muttered and let his eyes focus in on the flames. "I've done my fair share of bad things. Take your pick."

He got another punch for that. Not that he really cared about.

"I don't care about any of that." Polly whispered and took a deep breath. "No, I want you to be at my side. No matter what happens."

Her comment seemed to take both of them by surprise.

"Oh really now?"

A smile of sorts formed on the monk's face as she looked around for something else to talk about.

"Uh. What should we do about this body?" she inquired and got a chuckle in return.

"Throw it back into the lake, of course."

The harem mage got a confused glance in return, but that could just be chalked up to the amount of times that Polly had jumped into the lake already.

"You don't have to do it quite yet, miss." he muttered as Polly got up and threw the body right into the lake. "Or not."

The smile on the monk's face seemed to widen, shifting into a grin of sorts.

"Problem solved."

Before she got a chance to gloat in her celebrations, the body began to flail about in the water and was joined by what looked to be a blob of grayish blue energy floated down. As it bottom reached the water, it shifted shape and took on the appearance of a teenage girl.

"You idiot! How many times have I told you to not go swimming!" the ghost shouted and began to shake her friend, only to get some snickering in return. "That is not a good answer!"

She picked the body up as her gaze shifted towards Polly and Aegiochusmon.

"Oh Ms O and Mr A! Would you oh so kindly do me a favor?"

"Uh... Sure." Polly remarked, watching the ghost float towards their little 'campsite'.

"There's this pile of scrap metal in the shed. Could you do something about it?"

The monk made a quick glance towards her partner, getting a shrug in return.

"Yeah. We'll handle it in the morning."

For some reason, that seemed to make the ghost's day, giving them the thumbs-up as they floated away. Afterward, Polly chose to focus her attention solely on her partner.

"What was her problem?" she inquired and Aegiochusmon shook his head.

"If I had to take a guess, she was always like that." the harem mage countered and ripped open one of the rations. "Can I ask you something?"

Polly stared back, somehow confused by her partner's latest problem.

"Yeah?

"These aren't rations that aren't available to consumers, slut." Aegiochusmon explained as his voice began to raise with intensity. "Where did you get them?"

His partner seemed to freeze up after hearing that. While she wasn't entirely certain, it probably didn't matter that much.

"There from Drogaciji Academy." Polly answered, trying to sound as confident as possible. "I think I got them off of some fish..."

Aegiochusmon expression shifted, becoming one of laughter.

"A fish? So you're Aquagirl now?" he joked and got his third punch of the night. "I'm kidding! Can't you take a joke?"

Polly rolled her eyes and unrolled her sleeping bag, carefully pulling it towards the fire. After, she laid herself down on top of it.

"Goodnight." she whispered.

"Goodnight, Polly." Aegiochusmon whispered and watched his partner close her eyes, letting his attention return back to the fire.

For the moment, the best thing to do would be keeping watch. While he doubted anyone other than Talos would attempt a night attack while was around, one could never rule out that possibility.

So he watched her sleep. A couple times, the harem mage would debate cuddling up with her. But then he would see her move about and decide against it. The first hour or two seemed to pass almost blissfully up until...

"No, I don't want to kill my classmates." the monk announced, eyes still closed. "Why must we do that?"

Polly's movements became more pronounced, almost violent in a couple cases. If anything, she could very easily fall into the lake and drown.

"I'm sorry." Aegiochusmon whispered and followed it up with a deep breath. He then made his way over to his partner and laid down, wrapping both his arms around her body. "I hope you can forgive me soon enough."

Sleep came quickly for the duo, leaving with it all the scars of the night.

"Ugh..."

Polly was the first to wake, finding her partner wrapped around her. Very carefully, she slipped herself out and doused the still smoldering coals.

"Wakey, wakey." she whispered as Aegiochusmon continued to sleep. "I said, wake up!"

Very carefully, she threw her partner in the lake. That did the job, even if did result in her getting drenched once again.

"Serves you right, bitch." Aegiochusmon taunted and found himself back under. "And to answer your question about the rations, they came from your mom."

Polly gave him a confused glance, unsure of how to really react.

"And how is that such a big deal?"

Aegiochusmon took a deep breath.

"Your mother was good at many things. Not eating things far past their expiration date was not one of them."

"How do you even know that?"

"It's complicated. But it wouldn't surprise me if she was her own undoing."

Before Polly had a chance to inquire further, Elena touched down with Alice in tow.

"There you are! We've been looking for you." the gale corsair remarked as the rest of Delta followed. "Did you find any new leads?

Notes:

Working title for this chapter: On the Rocks

This was supposed to be a third as long as it turned out. But I'm totally fine with that. I would like to do a couple of these, possibly post the end of DAO. Most of them serving as small moments during some of the longer arcs.

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Next Time: Someone woke up on the wrong side of the grisly death. I think.