Fates: Entwined
Dirt road rough with wheel wells and debris, their decrepit truck screamed in effort, noises unnerving at best. Metal and bolts clunking around still failed to cover continual gunfire. Barren wasteland had been transformed to apocalyptic, smoke and fire and dust turning the sunset deep red.
Paved road alongside them had been reduced to rubble. Whether by the mafia or residents, supplies struggled to reach the city since its destruction. The main road into Meteor City remained heavily contested. Right now, it was controlled by the residents, though Chrollo said it flipped by the day. Wall of flies and vultures descending on the ditches said as much.
"Looks like the last time we fought the mafia," Nobunaga commented offhand, turning onto a rougher path leading into the city.
Silence was agreement between the Phantom Troupe.
Lan shifted, leaning into Chrollo. A glimpse at the past, the Spider had been born from this misery.
Roeis sucked in a sharp breath, corner of her eye catching him holding a hand over his mouth. He could be horrified for them. Lan felt much too tired to… feel much of anything, really. Still not quite as numb as the Phantom Troupe, but she could see it so clearly with Roeis. Self-preservation, given more time she would become emotionally dead to stay sane.
Nobunaga drove until the path disappeared into the trash heaps. Half-collapsed building amid a sea of leveled shacks, he stopped in front.
Lan followed Chrollo out, him passing her phone back to her- borrowed to read, she didn't understand how he managed. Lan fought covering her nose at acrid smoke heavy in the air. It overpowered even the smell of garbage and rot. Nobunaga stretched to crack every joint in his body. Feitan quietly moved around the vehicle to join them on the other side.
Familiar faces filed out from the ramshackle building. Phinks rolled his shoulder, Machi and Kalluto a step behind. A circle formed in the street like it wasn't an active warzone. Dying sunlight, yet the red hue coloring the city didn't fade to complete darkness. Fires thrived.
Kalluto stepped forward, hiding paper dolls in his kimono sleeve. "Hecate hasn't moved from the Council building," he reported, always on task, "but she is planning to leave soon."
"The other Elders are hiding in their estates," Machi said, unimpressed as ever. "They're surrounded by landmines and protected by the bulk of Hecate's forces. She's shifted focus from attacking the mafia to protecting her allies. She knows we're coming,"
"Can't find Haven anywhere." Phinks tossed a book at Lan. Hit square on her sore arm, hiss of pain made him mutter curses in some form of apology. She picked it off the ground with a glare. Why give it to her, anyway? Chrollo had asked for it. "Raided Hecate's home," he continued, "and found nothing but dead guards and junk. Other books you wanted were gone."
A wet squish lurched her stomach, Nemmi's feathers rising. Lan glanced to a corpse she'd ignored. Hundreds of bugs marched from the viscera to disperse. Shiver of Nen up her spine, within a partial heartbeat Chrollo had Bandit's Secret open, sickly green nymph clearing the latest infestation. Nemmi snapped his beak. He remembered the fleas.
"They're still alive." Hands in his pockets, tick in his brow, Phinks muttered, "Better be alive. Took my damn cat somewhere."
Chrollo set a hand on her shoulder, bringing her a step from his shadow. "Lanfen and I will confront Hecate." Cold eyes scrutinizing her thawed to disinterest much sooner than expected. Feitan shrugging when Phinks raised a hairless brow settled it wordlessly. "We will need a path cleared to the Council Chambers. Feitan, Phinks, and Nobunaga will focus on eliminating any opposition. Machi, Kalluto, and Roeis will search for Haven."
Much like the rats scurrying about, attention only shifted to Roeis when named. Leaning into the dirty truck, nausea on his face, he avoided looking at the small crater left by Nymph Dance. No yelp when the fleas had emerged, though. She didn't think Machi would tolerate him if he squeaked at every corpse along the way.
"He was working with Haven," Lanfen said for him when Machi's glare pinned him. That was the most pity she could muster. "Feel free to ditch him if he's too slow."
Machi completely lost interest, insane intuition not finding an issue.
"I would like Haven captured alive, if possible," Chrollo added, curses in mind, yet unworried the same. His composure returned the second he resettled into his role. "Avoid killing any Elders for the time being. Anyone else is of little concern."
A round of confirmation from the Troupe, they turned towards the crumbling stone tower at the heart of Meteor City.
The closer to the city center, the more the walls closed in, buildings crowding narrow alleys. Vehicles were out of the question, leaving them to walk with a layer of Nen as protection.
Fires burned like torches.
Fighting intensified as well. Both mafia and Hecate's side aimed guns at their approach. Feitan had heads rolling on the ground long before they could fire, Phinks a half-step behind snapping necks. Nobunaga's sword gleamed with each swing. Even the mafia helicopter that trained a spotlight and machine guns on them crashed within a second, Phinks pitching a stone through the tail. Extra points to their killing game, he claimed.
Chrollo and Nemmi picked off shooters from windows and roofs. Pulse of En, Nemmi cautioned to Nen ahead. Horde of fleas or users, he circled to confirm.
Roeis quietly pointed out a stray flea on Kalluto's back, Machi plucking it off to crush.
Flickers of green, the imagined edge in a stolen ability, Lan prepared for the actual impression to come. Still exhausted after sleeping a few hours in the airship, she could probably manage a knife coating. No full Arri, even. She clutched the book tighter to her chest. Such a brilliantly stupid plan, Chrollo would have her play what she played best.
"Ahead," Lan called up to the fighters, Nemmi chirping his count, "ten of them."
"Finally," Phinks said, punching a hole through three people. Maybe he was being nice to her. "Getting bored of these guys."
Feitan huffed agreement. "Boring, and you're still losing." Devil smirk in his voice, "Not as bad as Nobunaga."
Their game continued to the front gates.
Tower of weathered stone, carvings once intricate, stain-glass windows and dark wooden doors now barred with jagged metal and barbwire, the Council Chambers loomed over the city. Gated courtyard surrounding the tower was picked clean of the filth coating the rest of the city. Nemmi's promised Nen users waited near the main entrance. A mismatched group of ranging ages and various traits, origin and home of Meteor City was perhaps their sole similarity.
Sharpened teeth and slick saliva, Lan bit her lip, sensation parading over her skin. Conjured dog snarled, soulless eyes focused on the Troupe as they stepped into the courtyard.
Nobunaga scoffed in recognition, a representative of the group walking to the front. "Looks like she called her old recruits back." He swept his sword, blood trail a perfect arc at his feet. "Didn't call you though, Danchou. Rude, if you ask me."
Their representative, a man perhaps Chrollo's age, scarred face, leather, and unsubtle Nen fog surrounding him, "Hecate wanted us to talk some sense into you," he said, bored, performative. He knew the answer. A flick of her wrist. "All the power she's gonna have, she needs people to execute her orders. Your group'll –"
Talons raked his face before razor wings sliced. Nen fog building faded with blood pooling, Nemmi's wings dissipating it further as he retreated.
"No, thank you," Chrollo said ever politely, Lan catching amusement in his tone and approval in the hand on the small of her back. Light pressure convinced her forward as the rest of the group snapped from surprise to rage.
Ravage. Devour. Lan's foot dragged, body wanting to freeze with hot breath to cooling saliva, with phantom fangs slicing skin. Chrollo's hand pressed into her back to keep her moving. Bared teeth, paws digging into ground, it charged. Ignore. She closed her eyes. Just ignore the feeling worse than the bite. The memory worse than the present.
A yelp, she pried her eyes open. Phinks dropped his arm to his side, fingers curled into fist. Conjured aura failed to fade. Ribcage caved, but bones snapped back into place. Demon dog hopped to its feet, snarling. Phinks rolled his shoulder, winding up for another swing set to destroy.
"I suspect she can summon a set number." Chrollo kept her at his side as Lan chewed the inside of her cheek. Not quite comforting enough. Hecate's aura was a new, unfamiliar evil with a haunting edge: slime aspect was far too similar to Sybil's. He may regret choosing her. "We will leave this to you," he said, Nobunaga, Feitan, and Phinks happily hacking away.
They easily walked through the front doors.
Outside worn with time, but the inside persisted in splendor. Wealth and power, a mosaic mural spanning the wall, decorative plants in gilded pottery, and plush rugs on spotless marble tiles. No dust choked the air.
Heavy door between her and feral fangs, she took a breath. The worse was to follow. Nemmi perched on her shoulder.
A split in the grand hall paused footsteps.
"Machi, Kalluto, search for Haven."
Immediate to Chrollo's order, they went opposite, layout already known. The first soul they found would know misery. Down the hall, she heard Roeis offer, "My ability can force answers." Cooperating without resistance, now, being thrust back into the havoc Haven helped create renewed his guilt.
Halls echoing with footsteps, stone ate outside sound, low rumbling all that remained. A flight of stairs at the end of the corridor, Chrollo slowed. She held out the book. Thick encyclopedia of poisons, it was too cumbersome for her to carry. Chrollo had the custom book-sized pockets sewn into his jacket.
Bandit's Secret offered to her, she hesitated a heartbeat. He really trusted her. Her fingers closed around the conjured book. Bookmark already in place, she just needed to hold, for now.
They ascended spiraling stairs.
A maze of doors levels up, Chrollo walked to the double door barred with metal. Pages turning, something explosive, she searched before he glanced over his shoulder. Sun and Moon. He placed a hand on the door, mark appearing at the center. He grabbed a small sculpture perched on a table, opposite mark placed. She closed Bandit's Secret as he joined her in hiding behind a pillar.
"You're doing well," he whispered, leaning in to plant a kiss on her temple. "You may want to cover your ears."
Perfect aim, he pitched the sculpture at the door.
Reverberating in silence, the bar clattered on the tile, rolling. Splintered wood covered the floor. Hands dropping from her ears, only a slight ringing persisting, Chrollo boldly stepped away as she peeked around the pillar. She clutched the book to her chest, Nemmi's feathers rising. Wall partially blasted away with the door, the room opened into a chamber with vaulted ceilings. The actual council chambers. Fangs and saliva, Chrollo had been right. Hecate waited.
A part of his shadow, she followed him.
"Why if it isn't little Chrollo," Hecate greeted, sweeping her arms open, robe billowing, "the biggest pain in the ass brat I've ever had to deal with. And, mind you, I raised Sybil." Twin dogs at her side snarled, bodies shaking in place.
"You sent Agnello quite purposefully," Chrollo said, playing to Hecate's sense of drama, "yet I fail to see what that purpose was." Rattle him? A bit, but she knew better than to think it would keep him distracted for long.
Lanfen hated her title as primary distraction.
"You didn't enjoy the family reunion?" Hecate's raspy chuckle mismatched dogs growling. She leaned onto the window at her back, mosaic colors dulled by low burning red light. Portions left black, missing gemstones desaturated the oasis depiction further. "Honestly, the only good thing you've ever done for me was steal Sybil's Nen the way you had. The Lagario- Excuse me, the remains of the Lagario now headed by Mr. Abate on his wife's behalf- had called me to identify you when they learned I had recruited you. Wanted to string you up alive." Thought made her smile wicked, Sybil's mannerisms always Hecate's first.
Lan shifted, fingers wanting to pick apart the book. Demon black eyes, not an animal, something false. Nothing like Nemmi, no personality instilled.
Bark and snap, Hecate's taunting mood was a lie. Room large, columns and tables to hide behind as promised, but also no clear exit where Hecate stood. Defensive, but Hecate's confidence reigned supreme. She didn't need the blasted door behind them. Why?
"But how that all changed when I showed him a picture," Hecate continued, no response not the conversation she seemed to want. "I don't believe in ghosts, but he certainly looked like he had seen a ghost in your eyes. Recognized you right away." And then swept his existence under a rug; perhaps that's why Chrollo had no desire to know more. Hecate swung her arms to the side, Lan flinching. She just had to speak with her hands. "His little bastard had returned! Came back just in time to threaten everything. You can piece together the rest, I'm sure. Haven did such a fantastic job of spoiling it."
Content in monologuing, "You're stalling," Lan said. Answer to her why had to be time.
Hecate's brows raised at Lan. Just as quickly, she ignored her. "Such a pain." Hecate's attention was all Chrollo's. "When I went forward with this, I never expected you to turn me down. Especially because your girlfriend got a wittle scrape." Belittling, spoken of as if she was a child absent from the room… Nemmi screamed in her ear with the rage on her face. Hecate's smile, she kept prodding. "Lovely choice, by the way. Paijin, such a worthless name without Fanghe. You're a match made in heaven."
No cold ocean suffocating, heat snow against true flames engulfing insect wings, fangs a needle prick instead of an icy metallic bite, malice edge nothing compared to obsessive bloodlust, the fear warped.
"I'm willing to negotiate." Hecate's expression fell with her voice, conjures bowing their heads in silence. "Haven was the one hellbent on killing her. I couldn't care less what you do in your spare time."
Lan's nails curled into her palm, a hand dropped to save the book. Offering her as a consolation prize… Haven at least had a reason more than collateral damage.
"You know Meteor City will be better off if I take control." Hecate paused, expecting confirmation that never came. "Your stunt in Yorknew weakened them. I just finished the job, so we can take full advantage. Let me finish taking power, so I can rebuild this place into something more than some trash heap baking under the sun." She sighed at the lacking response to a logical conclusion. Undoubtedly, killing the mastermind, leaving puppets with cut strings to rule... "I've been trying to consolidate power for years," she stressed, "stopping me now would completely waste this attempt."
Words echoed heavy in the chamber.
"You've tried this before," Chrollo said, every miserable dot connected with two words. Blank expression broken, his brows creased ever so slightly as the corners of his lips downturned.
"Hm?" Confusion a flicker in sharp hazel, she quickly corrected with narrowed eyes. "Yes, this is attempt number two. I'm sure you remember. You're not that young."
Why did you start it?
An innocent question answered only with the circumstances, not the deeper why. An indiscriminate massacre as several mafia families feuded over inhabitants labeled inventory. A massacre as the Council of Elders sat idle, mulling the consequences, arguing actions to take. Everything swept aside in the end, truce renewed as if nothing had happened.
Lan remembered the secondhand tale that had birthed the Spider.
"I'd admittedly been sloppy," Hecate guiltlessly confessed, "failed to consider the families I baited wouldn't cooperate with each other. Threat was never quite enough to get the city to unite, let alone unite under me." Misjudged her sway yet had gotten away without consequences to try again. Her face alight, arms sweeping a grand gesture to Chrollo, her failure disappeared. "But Haven, Haven did their job spectacularly. Those fleas scared the mafia families right into each other's arms."
Silence at her brilliant scheme caused her expression to fall. Chrollo's face stone, Lan had no idea.
Hecate scoffed, hand on her hip as the other waved him off. "You don't mean to say you care, do you?"
He closed his eyes, voice level with acceptance. "I suppose I don't." Acceptance that fate had played its role. That the conclusion had been reached years ago whether he knew or not. Not much difference if the mafia or Hecate had been the cause. The Phantom Trope existed regardless.
Instead, Lan was angry for him. She held grudges. She resented decisions, the butterfly forming the storm. She vehemently blamed the person, not the abstraction called fate.
And one fucking person started this domino fall.
Opening his eyes, staring at Hecate, a chill ran her spine. Promising death to Minji and Circe on her behalf, the same look reflected in his eyes, in his voice, deathly calm, sharpened ice, "Yet, perhaps, in a way I do."
Conjured dogs snapped their heads up, fangs bared. Hecate crossed her arms under her sleeves. "As much as I'm stalling, I absolutely refuse to listen to you muse like you're some tragic lost soul and not the leader of the Phantom Troupe. You're far from helpless." Her step back prompted the dogs forward. "Places to be and everything."
"Fate, coincidence, or choice," Chrollo said, "no matter which, the credit is yours." No, not Hecate's. Not entirely. Misplaced guilt swept over Lan, bloodline always her damnation. "Your failure, we formed the Phantom Troupe soon after. I used the destruction to coerce Liang into joining, and Haven followed until her death." Admitting fault for what he had earlier denied, acknowledging something other than fate- "Rather, then, ours is more accurate."
Everything. Absolutely everything in Lanfen's life related back to Fanghe.
Chrollo had been fascinated by Fanghe as she had collected the Fan Shi. That fascination led him to seek the same power, to initiation at Hecate's hands. Nen that she only had because of Fanghe. Hecate had placed him with a mafia family adjacent to his blood family. His desire to know, to understand, to possess, he stole Sybil's, Fanghe's, ability. He inadvertently placed his father in control. Hecate used the opportunity to leverage more power, the Phantom Troupe then formed in the ashes of her failure. Then everything coalesced in Yorknew.
The only reason Lanfen even had Chrollo was because he had wanted that fucking item. They had only bonded during the Fan Shi chase because he had lost his Nen to someone seeking revenge against the Troupe. Then he wanted her as a Spider. Only a Spider. Only a piece to this tainted legacy.
Everything. Everything always began and ended with Fanghe.
There was no more vengeful ghost than fate. No more venomous fate than unyielding will. No more vicious will than this cycle.
Nails clicking on tile, growls warped to open snarls as the dogs shot across the room. Lan took a half-step back. Hecate's sleeves whipped aside as she leveled a gun for Lan. Feral aura flowing into the gun-
Lan darted towards cover. Gunfire, heart pounding, the bullet never bit skin. Angered hiss from a different corner of the room, Chrollo had already teleported her. Way too fucking fast. Condition for teleportation, the destination needed to be within eyesight while the user didn't move. Not a long-term strategy.
"I don't need to see the damn pages turning to expect you're switching abilities," Hecate yelled, voice booming under the vaulted ceiling.
She had no idea about the bookmark, the circumvention of that original condition. Needed to stay that way.
Shattered wood with a yelp and thud, snapping bones, another gunshot roared. Couldn't look. Nemmi shifted his weight between feet after once more finding her shoulder. Lan's fingers felt clumsy, pages suddenly way too delicate. Why the hell did he trust her with this? Turning, she found the first page, moved the bookmark. She searched for the second. All the paging through in practice disappeared under pressure.
Chrollo ducked around the same corner. Lan found the page as he stepped close, hands already on her shoulders. Buzz of foreign Nen, but subtle, unassuming. Odd sensation of being taller yet not, disorienting in its own way. Worse, staring back at herself. Convert Hands, they swapped appearances. He reclaimed Bandit's Secret, arrow marked hands quickly hidden by her stupid always-too-long sleeves.
Nemmi hopped shoulders, head cocked to the side as he perched, stared. He could tell the fake on contact. A nod, he left In anyway.
Snarling teeth rounded the corner, paws sliding.
Sickly green, Nymph Dance activated with Convert Hands still in place. A dozen Nymphs appeared to hover above. Earsplitting echo, the conjure skidded across the floor with a trail of inky ooze. The spatter on exposed skin seared. Fuck. She quickly wiped it away, fabric over her hand melting, thin layer of Nen not quite saving it. Nen she had to then fully drop as Chrollo left cover. Chrollo scrubbed at an acid spattered patch on his arm, feigned dramatic hurt, Nemmi's aura flaring in time. Enviable actor.
The conjure reformed to rise like a zombie.
Gunshot bang, it struck the pillar Chrollo narrowly reached. He kept attention. Hecate fell for it, knife aura impression on his shoulder difficult to ignore. Her idea, she was so glad it worked.
Lan reached for her waistband, metal cold. The gun from Agnello. She fiddled with it as Chrollo showed her. No one trusted her with tranquilizer guns, she definitely shouldn't be allowed live ammo. Much easier to aim with Nemmi. Too bad Hecate would notice floating darts.
She waited for a green flash. Nymph Dance, angle shifted from her direction. Ruse had a limit. Lan moved low between cover. Had to be much closer.
Nemmi slammed into a dog as Chrollo approached. Another Nymph separated, zipped at Hecate to force her towards actual Lan. A few steps. Dog shook Nemmi to leap into the blast, dampen the explosion. Toxic wounds closed as it rose back to its feet to engage Chrollo on repeat. Other guarded Hecate.
Lan kept moving in moments between blasts, Nymph Dance dwindling to zero.
Second dog snapped at movement. Stomach in her throat, using Zetsu amplified the impression. Teeth were crushing her throat without contact. A Nymph ricocheted with Nemmi's call. Explosion flung the dog aside with an acid rain. Trajectory kept it off her. Nervous glance to Chrollo, he removed the bookmark, Nemmi returning to In, to her.
Hecate undoubtedly noticed. Last Nymph had generated from his direction as she hid. Assumption would be teleportation unless she noticed the arrows of Convert Hands.
Concentrated silence, Lan wasn't used to it.
Dissolving disguises brought slight nausea. Bookmark placed, Lan tensed as Chrollo stepped from cover. Hecate showed no surprise. Raised gun, both dogs charging, Chrollo stood in place.
Nemmi ripped from her shoulder. Motion blur. Gunfire.
Footsteps echoed in pitch black.
Two sets, Roeis stumbled after Haven, Machi and Kalluto absent. Narrow maze of passages built behind walls and cut into stone, paranoia ran rampant in the tower's construction. The Council Quarters had a complex set of hidden escape routes; navigating without light or prior knowledge, they may have gotten lost in the pursuit.
On the upper floors of the tower, they had found Haven tossed in a room, door barred, guards waiting. Machi and Kalluto had resolved to deal with the guards, unimpressed. No one had expected the sudden flood of fleas from underneath the door. For the door to then be pried from its hinges after several desperate hits. Haven bolted down the hall while Machi and Kalluto were preoccupied. Something out of a novel, Haven had shoved aside a cabinet to scurry through a hole in the wall, mass of fleas at their feet. Roeis had managed to squeeze through to follow.
Nen saturating the air, Haven targeted the epicenter. Continual explosions, once below, now above, they'd descended. Were they escaping? Should he try to stop them? He had no idea what the Phantom Troupe planned to-
Roeis crashed into a wall. His hands smacked against it. Feeling blindly, but all he felt were hundreds of legs parading over exposed skin. His aura buzzed with the sensation. Fleas coated him. Coated everything.
He listened for Haven. They had to be navigating with the fleas, using them as a strange offshoot of En.
Swell and plummet, aura storm above quelled. Explosions silenced, Haven's steps became distinct. Fumbling, he stepped to the sound.
Nothing. His other foot slipped from a narrow ledge that turned to stairs. Sea of fleas under him, he began sliding down, butt hitting every step. His hands trying to find walls to brace, to stop, more fleas- His leg caught, elbow suddenly in his ribs, weight on top of him.
The stairs finally gave way to ground. Groaning, he tried to shove Haven aside. They sucked in another breath, hid pain. When catching them, Hecate had injured them. Badly, judging they waited until the Troupe caused a distraction to escape. They both managed to stumble to their feet, Roeis keeping a hand on Haven's shoulder as they almost crashed back to the floor. Metallic clunk, Roeis's stomach dropped. This is why holsters were a thing. Adventure down steep stairs dislodged the gun from his waistband.
"You are absolutely useless," Haven hissed, shrugging off his hand. Barely a step, their back met a wall, an arm's width apart at best. His fingers brushed walls in search. "You pick that up and I have fleas swarm down your throat."
"A dead end?" Silence cut deep as he felt more insects stick to skin.
"No," Haven eventually answered, thud to the side. They sit down? The fleas retreated to leave the smallest sliver of light shining from a needle-point hole near the floor. "Should be an exit."
Smell hit his nose in congested space. Blood. More than a scrape's worth. Secondary as he adjusted to Meteor City, a fresh wave of rot churned his stomach.
Assuming a pile of fleas waited on the gun, Roeis avoided it. He crouched, tried to pry at the wall. Maybe it slid aside or away. Nothing. Uneven, labored breathing behind him, Haven remained sitting. Chasing them down all those flights while heavily injured, he didn't understand how they hadn't passed out midway.
Haven grew impatient after a minute. "Just break the wall down." He wondered if Haven would have been able to alone. Breaking down the earlier door was sheer determination. "You have no resolve whatsoever." Assumption crossed Haven's mind, if the bite-back remark proved anything. "Couldn't even kill that stupid Paijin woman, could you?"
"She-" Fist at his side, nails in his palm, it stung. "She wasn't the problem."
"She was the solution," Haven snapped, sucking in a breath at a wrong move. Their voice lowered, embittered, "Chrollo adores her more than anything. He must, to go through all the trouble of saving her."
"It doesn't sound like they want to kill-"
"Shut up." Whispered rage settled the conversation, Roeis admitting defeat. "You don't know a damn thing about us."
Straightening his back, taking a half-step back for momentum as aura shifted to his shoulder-
"Is Miwa dead, at least?"
Roeis paused, swallowing. Image flashed in mind, "Yeah," he answered. "Lanfen killed her."
No response beyond a scoff, Roeis retuned to task. Nen to brace and power, he threw his shoulder against the wall. Creak of stressed wood, hollow, a single board- He hit again. Light filtering in through cracks reflected on slick carapaces. Next hit fractured wood, fleas swarming outside as he kicked away the final splinters.
Legs sticking to skin. Parading over his face. Roeis tried to brush fleas from his eyes. More replaced. Shit. Eyes forced closed, mouth snapped shut, fleas still found his nose and ears. A rough shove knocked him aside. A second of clawing away insects trying to breath, then they just… left.
Roeis watched the swarm scurry along the floor, Haven coated in shining black as they bolted down the dim hall.
They could have killed him.
He whipped around. Spears of wood surrounded metal. They left it. Roeis snatched the gun off the floor, chasing Haven again.
Hall opened to a muddy room with a single door.
Haven was through the door, losing their lead, running on resolve alone. Outside. They had made it outside to another courtyard, greenery red with firelight. Haven stopped, fleas gathering over them. They didn't turn to Roeis. His steps paused a distance from them.
They were no longer alone.
A/N: This chapter brought to you by HeavenlyCondemned- thank you for the review, I needed it or else I'd continue doing literally anything but posting. Anyway, only three chapters left.