Summary: Ranni and Laurence explore the rest of Nokstella. It's time to head towards the Baleful Shadow. Will Ranni remember Laurence fondly after all?
(Author's note: Guys. Guys! Why was nobody telling me it is called urumi and not umugi?! Now I misspelled it in the first two chapters Gah!
I also got a hint that I used thine wrong and thanks to that, I tried to use it in this chapter. I will try to go back and correct my mistakes in chapter 1 and 2 as well.
This chapter... it feels a bit rushed, but honestly, I felt I ran out of things to talk about and I didn't want to up the word count by describing every battle. This is still a comedy fic and it should mainly be jokes.
Anyway, this is the last chapter for real this time, so please enjoy and write your thoughts into the comments. Thank you very much!
Quatermass, thank you very much for your review, however, I am sorry that you think that Laurence is a too cruel punishment to Ranni. He is annoying, but he isn't that bad, really. Ranni could have picked up by a true monster, Laurence is downright tame to other characters I could come up with. If you are still here, I hope you enjoy this final chapter.)
"And, what didst thou learn from this experience?", Ranni asked.
"That stairs suck. But I already knew that.", Laurence said, fleet-footed hopping down the last stairs towards the grace.
"That is not what I meant.", Ranni grumbled, she had heard more than enough about Laurence' dislike of stairs over the last two hours. Especially because he had to climb them up several times, one time only to recover his runes.
"So, what did you mean? Do you want to convince me that stairs are great?", Laurence said, looking down at her and then grinning, "Because last time you seemed to be in favour of them being the devil as well."
"What I meant was that thou shalt be more careful on stairs.", Ranni murmured, "But apparently thou didst not learn anything..."
"I did. Stairs suck. I don't need to know more.", Laurence said, sitting at the grace and securing his runes by using them right away. Once he was done resting, he got up and looked at the stream.
"Your baleful shadow wasn't upstairs, so we have to continue our search here.", he sighed and then looked at the water with disdain, "Which means my feet and shoes will get wet again..."
"Thou really hate having wet feet.", Ranni said, surely not for the first time. There were many things that Laurence disliked, but he had been most vocal about this.
"No, it is freezing that I hate.", Laurence said, "And having water in your shoes will keep your feet wet and you freeze all the time and will shudder and it will make you have to piss and it can get you sick and-"
"Stop, I don't need any more details.", Ranni sighed, wrinkling her nose, however it was possible as a doll, "If thou needeth to do anything, do it now."
"Nah, I am fine.", Laurence said, "I just try to prepare myself for getting wet feet again AND fighting one of this swordstresses on an ant.", Laurence let his shoulders droop, "That would be so much EASIER without having wet feet..."
"Listen, if thou art really that bothered by wet feet, or, uh, freezing, just taketh off your shoes."
Laurence stopped moving for a second, then removed Ranni from his pocket to hold her a bit closer to his face. "Ranni, that is an EXCELLENT idea. Why didn't I try this while we were still at Ainsel?!"
Once Ranni was back in his pocket, Laurence' boots were off in an instant and he bound them to his pants, then moved towards the stream, slowly dipping his toe into the water, recoiling at the temperature.
"It's freezing.", he murmured, standing in front of the stream, crossing his arms, swaying around. He tried another time and recoiled just as much as the first time.
"Wouldst thou move already?", Ranni got seriously annoyed. How many problems with water did this guy have?!
"Easy for you to say, you don't have to feel it.", Laurence said, "Well, I guess there is no way around it. I'll just jump into it."
Ranni held onto Laurence' pocket while he jumped. As soon as his feet got submerged, several needles seemed to prick his feet and he cried out loud: "FUCK!"
That, paired with a loud splash from the jump, got the attention of the ant rider and she instructed her insectoid mount to charge towards him.
"Now see what thou hast done.", Ranni said.
"You have no clue how could that was, you don't have a right to talk.", Laurence said, frantically grabbing his urumi and charging against his foe. The ant was done with three slashes and while Laurence caught his breath, the Nox Swordstress got up on her feet and grabbed her own weapon.
One dodge roll later which made Laurence cuss out because now he was wet ALL OVER again, he got a good hit into her back. The Nox Swordstress fell and the short adrenaline rush left Laurence' body.
"And that is why we don't cuss loudly and audibly.", Ranni said.
"Don't berate me.", Laurence whinged, "You have no clue how COLD this water is."
"Thou wilst get used to it."
"I hope so.", Laurence said, moving along the river when he suddenly stopped.
"What is it?", Ranni asked, "Why didst thou-"
She got interrupted by Laurence: "EW! I stepped into something wet and icky!" Laurence quickly moved a step to the side and scrubbed his foot, then he moved on only to have this icky feeling under his feet again. "Ew, it's back! It's everywhere here! That is so GROSS!"
"Thou probably are only walking on algae.", Ranni said, "It is nothing thou needeth to be worried about."
"But it feels all wrong and icky.", Laurence complained, "I don't want to step into it. What if it isn't algae but something more nasty?! Aaaah, I don't even want to think about it."
"Me neither.", Ranni murmured, knowing exactly what other kind of icky stuff Laurence was talking about.
Laurence kept moving until the weird soft feeling under his feet vanished. "Ah, finally.", he said, "The ground is nice again." He then took another step and let out another loud "FUCK!" when a sharp pain hit him. Once he looked down, he saw blood rising in the water.
"Ranni! I cut myself!", he whined, "There were some sharp rocks!"
"Thou art getting hurt all the time, that is why thou have thy potion.", Ranni shrugged, not getting what the big deal was. He could just heal the cut with his flask like he healed every wound.
"But... but, what if I get an infection?! With all the stuff in the water?! And- FUCK, not AGAIN!", Laurence groaned when his other foot got hit by a sharp rock.
"I am BLEEDING!", he whined, "I have to get out of here instantly!"
Laurence stumbled to the water's edge and let himself fall, now that he was out of the water, the deepness of the cuts could be seen better and they were a lot more severe than he first thought. Even Ranni shuddered as she saw the blood streaming out of the wounds.
"I think I prefer to have wet boots.", Laurence said, grabbing his flask and taking two sips, closing the wounds on his feet, "Damn, lost quite a bit of blood. If only there would be an easy way to replace that." Laurence crossed his arms and was silent for a bit, then moved on, "That felt familiar, but as usual I can't put my finger on it. Fucking amnesia."
"One day it surely will come back.", Ranni said, only to say anything lest Laurence would keep complaining about his feet. Well, not wearing his boots had been a failure, he was even MORE annoying without them, a thing that Ranni didn't think possible.
"I am going to wear my boots again.", Laurence said while he dried his feet, "I think I prefer to have my feet wet a bit longer instead of almost bleeding to death by stepping on sharp rocks."
"Wilst thou stay quiet about your feet at least?", Ranni asked.
"Hmmm, no.", Laurence said and Ranni hated the grin on his face.
Laurence held his word and while he was walking down the river with his boots on his feet again he didn't stop complaining about it. Ranni briefly wondered how Laurence could even get wet feet when his boots were made out of leather, but a brief look down told her that the water was deep enough to just slosh into the boots, which gave Laurence a perfectly valid reason to complain.
Laurence stopped when he saw another Nox Swordstress riding an ant as well as a myriad of silver tears near the water.
"Nah, I won't go there.", he said and turned to the right, walking on dry land, where he spent a minute pouring water out of his boots.
"Why art thou not moving towards the silver tears?", Ranni asked, "Thou seemeth to have fun with their chain reaction before."
Laurence turned back to the silver tears and pointed at them, or more, a bit in front of them. "The river.", he said, "If they all explode and cause their chain reaction, they will react with the river eventually and that would mean that I would most certainly die and come back at the grace."
"Why art thou so certain about this?", Ranni asked, cocking her head to look up at Laurence. He felt uncharacteristically serious.
"Have you ever seen lightning hit a river or lake?", Laurence asked.
Ranni shuddered. Of course she had. The lightning would move along the water, as if the water would let it ride on itself. Of course it wouldn't bother her, a doll made out of wood and porcelain and cord, but Laurence was still made out of blood and the lightning would inevitably travel into his body and kill him.
"If thou giveth up thy mortal body, there are certain things thou might forget...", she murmured.
"I hope you didn't forget to give your subordinates a chamberpot.", Laurence said, grinning and Ranni shuddered again, this time with a bout of anger. There was the Laurence she had learned to love and hate at the same time in the meantime.
"So, until I find a way to deal with them, I will look around in these ruins, thank you very much.", Laurence said, moving towards them.
He stopped once he saw the Nox Monks. "More of them, huh...", he murmured and went to crouch, pressing himself against the wall. Ranni wondered if he would try the same tactic as the last time. Well, it hadn't been the best tactic, but at least Laurence had gotten a good surprise attack in.
He did, but this time his tactic didn't work out. While he was busy sneaking up on his first foe, the other one had completed a patrol and struck him from behind.
Laurence yelped from the sudden explosion of pain, being hit with a blunt weapon hurt like hell. His cry of pain alerted the other Nox Monk and he frantically dodged its swing and then pressed himself against a wall slightly out of sight, breathing heavily.
"Any more ideas?", Ranni said, voice toneless, almost bored.
"I am thinking.", Laurence whispered. While the Nox Monks hadn't found his hiding place yet, they would once he showed himself. First, Laurence needed to heal his wounds, then he needed to start a counterattack.
He found his crimson flask soon and took a sip, his breathing smoothing out while the pain ebbed away, then he went back to observe his enemies. Once of them regularly showed its back and Laurence could use that.
The next time the Nox Monk turned out, Laurence dashed out of his hiding place and set the Nox Monk who had turned its back to him ablaze with a well aimed fireball, then his urumi was swung towards the other, attempting to get it into close combat while the other one was still burning.
It was a surprise for Laurence when the mace suddenly got transformed into two parts, which were being attached to one hand each and then had the ability to form into a shield. His urumi recoiled from the improvised shield without having done any damage.
"Oh, that's clever.", he murmured to himself, "The other ones I fought didn't do this. Having a weapon that can transform... that is pretty amazing, I have to admit."
"Wouldst thou admire them after you are done fighting?", Ranni requested.
"Of course.", Laurence said, "I remember the beating your fucking companions gave me, so I won't falter this time and just destroy you!"
Laurence moved towards the back of the Nox Monk to get a good hit in, when all his courage indeed faltered the moment the second one stopped burning and came to join the battle rather furiously.
"Uh oh.", Laurence said, "This isn't good..." He backed away until he slipped into a small passage where he intended to think about his next move when a sudden hissing was heard.
"Huh?", Laurence said and turned around. Even Ranni gasped when she saw that Laurence had run right into a bunch of snails and now he was trapped between them and two very angry Nox Monks.
"I am going to die, right?", Laurence said and all too soon he and Ranni found themselves at the grace again.
"I ran along the river for nothing!", Laurence cried out once he realized his setback, "Why were these... snails... serpents... whatever they are there?!"
"Snails, they are just snails.", Ranni mentioned.
"No, snails don't have sharp teeth and scales and they don't hiss, they are soft and slimy and don't make any sounds. And they eat only salad. And you can keep the ones without a house in your pocket."
It wasn't the first time that Ranni wondered if Laurence came from a complete other world, because his world view was seriously screwed up. If she didn't know better, she might have believed it. Nobody could come from another world, just from another country.
"I have never seen snails like thou hast described.", she said, "And the ones without house art as hot as magma and nobody wouldst keep them in their pocket."
"Still, they are not snails.", Laurence said, "Snail-serpent. That is what I am going to call them from now on. Anyway, it's time to get my runes back."
"Wilst thou-?" Ranni started, but Laurence interrupted her before the sentence was finished.
"Shut up about my wet feet? No."
Laurence kept word and complained all the while he fought the first Nox Swordstress another time as well as walked down the river until he was at the part where he had lost his runes. Like before, he spent a bit of time pouring his boots out.
"I will surely get a cold after all this is over.", he said, more to himself.
"Thy flask won't help with that?", Ranni asked.
"Nah, they don't work with illnesses.", Laurence said, "Well, they can heal the damage of illness, but won't heal the illness. Had to learn the hard way with the scarlet rot. When I get sick, I have to live through it."
"And if thou die?"
"Well, then my illness would be gone, but killing myself for having a cold, well... that feels a bit drastic, don't you think?"
Ranni silently had to agree, though she wouldn't put it above Laurence to kill himself just to get rid of an annoying illness. On the other hand, he loved complaining and he probably would find some poor soul to complain to while the snot was stuffing his nose.
"What is thine approach this time?", she asked when Laurence sneaked towards the first Nox Monk.
"Not engaging in a double battle.", Laurence fished a knife out of his pocket and took aim. Ranni understood what he wanted to do and hid in his breast pocket, only peeking out to see what was happening.
The knife hit its target and the Nox Monk came closer without having alerted the other one. Laurence fared far better against only one enemy and while he got hit once or twice, he managed to take his foe down without too much trouble. After a sip from his flask, he approached the other Nox Monk. In order to not run into the snails again (at least Ranni assumed that was the reason), he also got its attention with a throwing knife to fight it fair and square. Well, everyone else probably would have fought fair and square, but Laurence liked to curse a lot while doing it, especially if he got hit.
Ranni slowly got used to his foul mouth, though she considered offering him soap for his tongue again.
"Hmmm... this place looks spacious, but I can't see many things of interest.", Laurence said, looking around, "Ranni, tell me if you see your assassin. I will just walk around and pick up stuff of interest."
"Don't forget the snails.", Ranni reminded Laurence.
"You mean the serpents. Serpent-snails. Whatever.", Laurence sighed, drawing his urumi and looking around.
A while later, Laurence had picked up several items and materials from the grounds and had gotten magic burns from some of the serpent-snails, especially the ones who had dropped on him.
"These beasts are evil.", Laurence muttered, "They just come from the ceiling when you least expect it."
"...", Ranni had to bite her on non-existent tongue to not comment.
"Excuse me, Ranni, do you have something to say?", Laurence stopped walking and looked down at her, his hand dangerously close to his breast pocket.
"Thou hast not learned from the silver tears.", Ranni quickly said before he could force the answer out of her and as a reward, she saw Laurence legit blush in embarrassment.
"How should I have known that two of them would try the same trick?! They are awful. All of them. The serpent-snails, the silver tears, the water, the Nox warriors, the stairs. I hate this place. Why did you even come here and why did you do it while being TINY?"
"Because... this place leads to a place I must go.", Ranni admitted, "It's the only way."
"Great, I get this, but why in miniature form?"
"That is none of thy business.", Ranni crossed her arms and left it at this explanation. Laurence didn't have to know everything.
"One day you'll tell me.", Laurence said, "Just consider yourself lucky that I am too annoyed to get the information out of you."
"What a blessing...", Ranni murmured. Laurence probably was exhausted in the meantime. He had walked a long way, fought a lot of foes and died several times. Ranni would allow him a break at the next grace, though Laurence was in charge of them himself. She would just not berate him for one then if he took one himself. He would fight better when he was fed and watered.
"So, nothing of interest was here.", Laurence pointed at the ruins, "So back into the river and to the silver tears. I really should only fight them outside of the water..." He prepared his finger seal and let a flame spark on it already.
"This place can't be that big anymore.", Ranni said, "Just a little more."
"Oh, are you encouraging me? I thought I was a nuisance.", Laurence said.
"Thou art a nuisance, therefore the faster thou art done, the faster I'll have my peace."
"Touché.", Laurence said, "You are getting good at this, you know."
"I am having a good teacher."
"Keep this up and you master the art of annoying anyone that you don't want to talk with out of your sphere. Oh, you know who I should inflict myself on? Seluvis! The guy barely disguises how much he doesn't want to talk to me and-"
Laurence fell back into rambling, but this time Ranni actually enjoyed his voice. How strange, bullying Seluvis felt like something she would like to partake in. She almost asked if she could join. Almost.
Laurence had to interrupt his rambling to fight a Nox Swordstress on an ant. He got better at it. First he would bombard the ant with hits and once the Swordstress was down, he would inflict a critical hit from above and then have an easier time getting her down.
"Fuck yes, that was perfect.", Laurence said to himself, a grin on his face and then he yelped when he was hit by something sharp and cold. He turned around to notice that he had come too close to the silver tears.
"You little shits!", he cursed and bombarded it with his urumi until it.. exploded and Laurence looked with panic at his feet which were still doused in water.
"Oh FUCK! No no no...", Laurence lunged out of the water and watched with wide eyes as the river turned into a death trap. "Wasn't it thee who told me about lightning hitting water?", Ranni said, watching the death trap of a river with a curious and morbid fascination.
"Surprise attacks are mean.", Laurence replied instead and cleaned some blood off his sleeve, taking a sip of his flask to heal the wound. "At least they are gone-", Laurence gasped when a ranged attack almost hit him, "-now.", he finished, looking at the silver tears out of reach.
"Oh for the love of! Why do they have to be out of reach?! I can never climb that ledge!"
"There must be a way up, last time I checked silver tears couldn't fly.", Ranni said.
"Even though they can shape-shift?", Laurence asked.
"Their mass would still be the same. They can't fly without being able to lift themselves off the ground. Not without gravity magic.", Ranni explained.
"Makes sense.", Laurence pressed himself against the ledge where the silver tears couldn't hit him. "I guess I just follow the river until I find the way up, but first..."
He peeked around the corner and then approached a Nox Swordstress on an ant, "This time my surprise attack won't fail..."
He actually managed to succeed and took out the Swordstress while she was left dazed from her mount dying.
"Impressive.", Ranni said, "If thou keep up, we are done before evening falls."
"Nice, then I can go to dinner in the Roundtable Hold.", Laurence said, sounding and feeling much more motivated.
Laurence followed the river and ducked from the occasional attacks of the silver tears on the ledge. They weren't the only ones around, the silver tears were practically everywhere and so Laurence slashed his way through the ones on the ground, frantically jumping out of the water whenever they exploded and cursing at the ones who formed shields while at the same time cursing at the ones who managed to hit him from above while he was distracted.
"I have lost entirely too much blood today.", he said as he had to take a sip from his crimson flask, "I can thank the... um, who can I actually thank for the flask? The gods? Aren't you a demigod? Do I have to thank you?"
"It wasn't me who invented the flask.", Ranni said, "However, if thou want to praise me, I'll gladly allow it."
"Hmmm, nah.", Laurence said, "You haven't really done anything for me, why should I praise you?"
That shut Ranni right up after she let out a confused and upset "Wha-" before she realized that Laurence actually was right. She only could do things once her plan was complete and the age of the stars would happen. Still, having it said to her so bluntly... she crossed her arms and started to sulk.
Laurence either didn't care that she wasn't talking anymore or relished in it, because he followed the river to the end and ran up the hill without even pouring his boots out.
"Finally! Revenge!", he shouted, brandishing his urumi as he ran into the middle of all the silver tears. There were a lot less of them than had been on the ground, so Laurence managed to Make short work of them.
"Silence and peace.", he said, sitting down for a moment and dangling his legs over the ledge, "On the topic of silence, you'll have been awfully quiet, Ranni."
Ranni didn't grace Laurence with a response.
"Aww, are you sulking?"
"I am NOT.", Ranni hissed, breaking her silence, gasping and then hiding deep into his pocket.
"You are. How cute.", Laurence said and even though Ranni couldn't see it, she knew he had that shit-eating grin on his face. That face that told him that he had won, that he had been annoying and got a reaction out of her.
"Anyway, let's move.", Laurence stood up and walked down the ledge, "We still haven't found the baleful shadow and we are running out of places to explore."
"It hast to be close somewhere...", Ranni murmured, not seeing any sense in keeping up the silent treatment now that Laurence had looked right through her.
Laurence finally noticed that his boots were still full of water and spent a bit of time pouring them out before he put them on again. "I was so driven by revenge that I even ignored having wet feet. I never knew that could happen to me.", he commented to himself.
"It truly seemeth like thou art sick if thou forget...", Ranni simply had to remark.
"Ah, so you agree that having wet feet is awful?"
"No. I mean, yes, but... thou dost not have to complain about it every little time it happens."
"I disagree.", Laurence said, walking towards the west, "It is so much easier to cope when you can get upset about it."
"And here I was starting to think thou wouldst be actually pleasant to talk to...", Ranni sighed.
"I heard that.", Laurence said, "Be glad that I don't leave you at a high place again."
Ranni didn't comment that there wasn't a high place here or Laurence would probably find one. Since she stopped sulking, she peeked out of his pocket again and watched as he set three giant ants aflame and then picked up a stonesword key. Then, he moved to the edge of the cliff he was standing on.
"Woah, look, it's so deep!", Laurence said, bending forwards so that Ranni almost slipped out of his pocket and held onto it for her dear life.
"Wouldst thou pay better attention, prithee?", she grouched.
"It's good to see you who learned how to say please, even though you use a strange old fashioned way of saying it. Well, your whole speech sounds kind of old fashioned..."
"It is not old fashioned, it is simply sophisticated.", Ranni said.
"Yeah, sure, and the guy who was not wearing anything but a cloak also talked like that. How sophisticated...", Laurence waved with his hand and stood straight again, "Anyway, I see water down there, but I won't try to jump down. That is sure death. Let me search for another way. Just how deep is this place? It's rather fascinating..."
Laurence continued to talk to himself about his fascination with the underground until he stood in front of some stairs.
"Ah, stairs, my old enemy.", he said, putting his hands at his hips, "I won't allow them to get me down again!"
"In a sense, thou art ascending them, so...", Ranni said.
"You know what I mean. Leave the annoying comments to me, Ranni."
"What, art thou not fond of getting a taste of thine own medicine?"
"Oh, you REALLY are getting good at this.", Laurence grumbled, "Anyway, I ascended the stairs and don't intend to fall down this time. At least this time there weren't so many."
The stairs simply led to a long walkway. Laurence wasn't the only one who walked it, a Nox Swordstress was also there and she wasn't too happy to see them. After an intense battle, Laurence got out of it victorious (bleeding all over, of course), healed his wounds and approached a chest.
"It's a Ghost Glovewort.", he said once it opened, "Nice, that will help strengthen my spirits. They sure would be a great help here, but it doesn't seem like I can call upon them around here."
"Thou art correct, only at the top of the city hast thou been able to call on Luthel.", Ranni said, "Though, art thou not in possession of the Mimic Tear ashes? Why dost thou rely on the Mausoleum Knight?"
"Truth be told, seeing two of me is weirding me out.", Laurence admitted, "I try to not rely on its powers too much. I want to keep feeling unique. I already am a blank slate, I don't need someone who also has a matching body for a blank slate."
"Hmmm, well, it is positive for me because I do not have to see two of thee.", Ranni said.
"Mimic me is at least not talkative.", Laurence said, "If he would be, it would be maybe less weird. Anyway, I don't think there is anything else here, so the last thing to check out is this building over there."
Laurence pointed to the building and moved towards it, but before he entered it, he saw a small pagoda and went there, taking out a few silver tears and picking up something that Ranni recognized as Celestial Dew.
"What's that?", Laurence asked, clearly blanking on its use.
"Thou can use it for absolution at the church of vows.", Ranni said, "Thy misdeeds will be forgiven then."
"You mean that everybody I ever annoyed won't be mad at me anymore then? What a good thing to know.", Laurence pocketed the dew and Ranni instantly regretted that she told him.
Now Laurence could finally move to the last unexplored building in Nokstella and it turned out to be an elevator.
"We are going down.", Laurence said once he had stepped on the plate, "Just how deep is this place indeed? I am glad I didn't jump earlier. That would have hurt. And I would have died and I would have had to walk all the way back to the end of the river and my feet would have gotten wet again, well, they are already wet, and all the enemies would have been back and- Oh, we are there. And there is a grace!"
Laurence ran towards the grace and touched it, taking a minute to refill his flask. He then intended to move right away, but Ranni stopped him.
"Stop. Rest for a while. Get food and water.", she said, "The baleful shadow is close, I can feel it."
"Are you worried about me?", Laurence grinned, but he heeded the advice. Truth be told, he was getting tired and he really should eat another snack and especially drink something. He removed Ranni from his pocket and placed her next to the grace.
"I don't have any prawns anymore however...", Laurence said, searching for something to eat in his belongings. He settled on some Rowa raisins which he could wash down with some water.
"Art thou eating Torrent's food again?", Ranni asked.
"I have plenty of them and he isn't even here, it's fine.", Laurence said, sitting himself on the ground cross-legged. "Well, you said your baleful shadow is near. Is there anything else you want to tell me? Well, outside of that I am annoying?"
"Very well.", Ranni said, "Take the rest of my tale. Even when I turned my back upon the Two Fingers. Blaidd remained my loyal ally."
"I mean, he's your retainer, right? Shouldn't he remain loyal?", Laurence asked.
"I am coming to this part.", Ranni was a bit peeved, "Even though Blaidd was created a vassal for an Empyrean, he was a colossal failure, on the part of the Two Fingers. Blaidd, and Iji both... Art willing to give too much to me."
"Yeah, you really could give them something in return sometime.", Laurence commented, and got shut up when Ranni glared at him.
"Yet they both understand. What lieth beyond the dark path... That I must betray everything, and rid the world of what came before. Ah, should I add thee to the list? Another one, kind of heart. As kind of heart as they."
What... what had Ranni just said?! She spluttered and had a hard time finding her voice because she already could see that grin form again.
"Ach, this form hath loosened my tongue. I've let slip too much. Forget what thou'st heard. Forget."
"How could I forget that you just admitted that you actually think fondly of me!", Laurence said and in fact, the grin had formed on his face, "And that after I have been such an annoyance. I may have been wrong about you. You are like me, you just act cold and aloof so that nobody can hurt you, right? You and I, we are much more similar than I first thought."
"No.", Ranni hid her face in her big hat, "I don't want to be compared to thee."
"If you stay with me, I can teach you the art of being an annoyance.", Laurence said, finishing his Rowa raisins and washing them down with a large amount of water, "Anyway, you have time to think about it, I am going to step out for a minute, the waterfall around here is downright torture."
Ranni kept her face hidden in her hat while Laurence was busy. She really didn't want to say the last part. Not to him. Not to this absolute obnoxious annoyance. And she especially didn't want to be compared to him.
Ranni wondered if she could get second thoughts about this whole consort thing.
Laurence returned and picked Ranni up. "Don't worry, I washed my hands.", he said, "It was kind of impossible not to, with the waterfall around..."
"While I didn't ask, I appreciate that thou told me.", Ranni murmured, still not able to look directly at him.
"And thanks for telling me to take a break, I feel much better now.", Laurence said as he moved forwards, "The fight should be a breeze like this..."
"It's close. Be careful.", Ranni said, finally lifting her hat enough so that she could see again.
"It will be fine, I fought so many foes already and I don't think I- Blaidd?!"
That Ranni's assassin looked exactly like the half wolf surprised Laurence so much that he froze for a second, a second too much and he got sent back to the grace.
"That hurt...", Laurence said, "Why didn't you tell me that your baleful shadow looked like Blaidd?!"
"It is not Blaidd, thou do not hast to worry to hurt him...", Ranni murmured.
"I mean, I am glad to know this, but Blaidd makes me nervous! Beings that are half human and half beast make me nervous! I don't know why and I think it has to do with my memory loss, but that fight surely won't be a breeze."
"All I can offer are my apologies...", Ranni murmured again.
Laurence sighed. "Well, it seems like I have to win this battle somehow. At least I can come back.", he said, moving back to the area where the baleful shadow was waiting.
"It's using a large sword, so it probably is slow.", Laurence said to himself, "So I should be able to get a few good hits in when it is recovering from an attack."
However, Laurence' tactic turned out to be a failure, because the shadow simply would use the momentum to lift the sword again and hit him with it. He stumbled back and healed a deep cut.
"Oh, that asshole.", he hissed, "I will find an opening, I just... have to find it..."
Laurence was sent back to the grace not long after.
"This is hard.", he said, "Any tips, Ranni?"
"Blaidd always goes stiff and still when I scratch him behind the ears.", Ranni suggested.
"I don't think the shadow will let me close enough for that.", Laurence groaned, "Alright, another try. I will just observe and then find the right tactic. I always do."
In a minute, Laurence was back at the battlefield. And he actually found a somewhat working tactic, standing close to the shadow baited it to use a certain attack and Laurence found a good way to dodge it and attack the shadow. It was just a bummer that his urumi had trouble cutting the thick skin of the shadow. And Laurence loudly cursed when the shadow used a health flask.
"What? Thou art using them all the time.", Ranni said.
"Yes, but I am also squishy and die when I get stabbed.", Laurence said, "This guy barely took damage from my attacks. Oh, my incantations!"
"I was wondering when thou wouldst remember..."
With the incantations, the battle changed in Laurence' favour and while the shadow's fur was set aflame, he managed to get a good hit that finally was deep enough for it to fall.
"It was a good fight, better than I envisioned. I can finally stand before them.", Ranni said and a key materialized in her hands, which she held up for Laurence to take, "Tell Blaidd and Iji, I love them."
"Wait, Ranni, don't talk as if you are dying! You can tell them yourself!", Laurence said, taking the key and then dangling the doll Ranni from the scruff of her neck, but she wasn't responding anymore.
"Wait, Ranni, are you gone?! Just like that?! After all we went through you just LEAVE?! Well, whatever.", Laurence put Ranni back in his pocket, or more, the Ranni doll. She had moved on to a new body apparently.
"Well, it wasn't that bad.", he said to himself, "At least it wasn't a giant lake of rot. She could have sent me to Caelid again..."
Laurence stepped on an elevator at the far end of the cave, he had come too far to not see the rest of this place, "However, I think I will miss her little comments. Who do I annoy now? I guess I am back to soliloquizing..."
The elevator arrived with a thunk and Laurence stepped out, staring... at a lake of rot. It was worse than Caelid. The rot was literally EVERYWHERE.
"Oh, are you fucking KIDDING me?!"
(Author's note: Laurence walking down the river barefoot: ""Why is my blood loss bar filling up?"
The Baleful Shadow fight got cut a bit short, sorry, I just couldn't think of anything very funny happening there. Also I remember what a pain it was, that thing killed me a dozen times.
I also have to apologize that the characters suddenly were in a shipping mood and I had to tone it down so that they didn't start to be romantic with each other, but a little ship tease made it in. I think Ranni was more fond of Laurence than I thought. It was fun writing her, I normally don't write characters like Ranni, so it was a nice challenge.
Can you find the Bloodborne references in this chapter? ^^
Anyway, that has been it. My one-shot turned three-shot. It was certainly fun to write and I am glad that I listened to my impulses and wrote it. If you like my Tarnished version of Laurence, I might bring him back. Though I try to make up an actual OC but I am failing... I probably need a story idea to develop him properly...
As usual, please point out mistakes in Ranni' archaic English for me, otherwise I hope I'll see you in my next fic.)