Kumotta Sora

see disclaimer in Part 1

Crux had been gone for quite some time.

Although that probably meant that she was just further away than usual, Fabula couldn't help the small prick of worry that joined the other stabs of discontent.

She'd finished stitching the back of Kumo's wound closed, but she thought she'd better give him a moment before she did the front. He was in enough pain as it was, and his fever had begun a sluggish but steady climb. She'd forced him to ingest a few herbs that should've checked it, but they'd had no effect whatsoever. His lack of nourishment over the past few days was costing him the last of his strength; he was simply too tired to do battle with his illness any longer.

He slept constantly; if he didn't get food or medicine, he'd probably never wake.

And there was still the psychological trauma he'd been through. The rape of his body, by Chaos or whichever of his lords... the rape of his soul, when Chaos had possessed him at the climax of their battle... and most importantly, the apparent betrayal of the brother he'd loved so dearly... everything he'd been through since the destruction of his world also weighed him down. He didn't have to suffer by himself any longer, but he had no way of knowing that. And the depression he struggled under sapped his reserves far more than any injury possibly could.

Fabula was truly starting to fear that he would not make it. He was just getting worse and worse, the different elements of his condition throwing him further and further down the continuous spiral of dearth.

And by the soft, muted whimpers that accompanied his every breath, he certainly wasn't finding solace in his dreams.

---

On our first night together, when I had let you inside me, the pain had been a sharp, agonizing shock. I'd gasped when you penetrated me, and cried when I'd felt you thrust. I hadn't been able to help myself... I'd been a virgin then, terrified by the force of my own lust, unused to the close clutch of our tangled bodies. The pain, while I'd still felt it, had been unbelievable.

Chaos taught me that my pain then had been nothing.

It hurt, and it never stopped hurting, as it always did when you loved me, needful and tender. When he forced himself into me, I felt my flesh rip, and my hips ached from the first time he slammed his own pelvis against them. He'd had me pinned, his hands like iron claws right below my shoulders. I'd tried to reach around to his wrists, his hands, anything, looking for a vulnerable point to scratch, but there were none I could get to. In a mere thirty seconds my thighs were wet with blood, sickly traces of his semen flecking the mass of mottled black-red. It wasn't long after that... that I lost all ability to fight back, completely drained, my wounds throbbing as though struck just as regularly as my pulse. I just lay there as he pushed deeper and deeper into me, his hands running along my body, greedy fingers digging in and scratching. I'd screamed, cried. Pleaded in a breaking voice for him to stop. He laughed at me, mockingly assured me that it would all be over soon. Almost gently licked my tears away.

I had never hated nor feared anyone so much in my life.

When he'd finally, finally released me, I'd wanted to run as fast and as far as I was able. But I was simply too weak to move. It still hurt too much... it was too like our first time for me to bear, with me aching and exhausted, unable to shift my body so much as an inch without a struggle. I just lay there and sobbed harder, more wretchedly even than I had when he'd done those things to me.

I was completely helpless; I couldn't even defend myself against the actions of one man...

Niisama... Niisama... what you believed, that I was always one step ahead of you in our training... it wasn't true...! I always wanted you to protect me, and I never needed it more...!

Niisama... why!

---

"Kukuriyu..."

Looking up in the middle of stroking Kumo's soft hair, Fabula sighed deeply in relief. Finally, Crux was back... and in her hands, she carried one small fruit, a ripe green pear.

"Thank God...!"

The little sprite touched down and held it forward. Fabula took it carefully.

"I think you've just saved his life with this, little one. He wouldn't have been able to hold out any longer... without food, he... he won't be able to fight his illness anymore. Do you think you'll be able to get anything else from the place you got this?"

"Kukuriyu..." Crux shook her head uncertainly, and then hesitantly explained.

She'd stolen the pear from a farm almost fifty miles south of the forest. She'd seen the farmer and his family while she'd waited to see if it was safe, and was reluctant to take anything from them again.

Fabula just smiled. Shifting the pear to one hand, she held out her other, palm up, in the air, then whispered a few words in an archaic language. Crux stared in amazement as several brassy coins appeared there, and started when Fabula held them out to her.

"You can use these to pay for the next fruits you take," she said calmly. "You should go out again tomorrow, but for now, take a little well-deserved rest. Saving lives is a weary business, after all."

---

As soon as I was strong enough again, I hid.

Finding a dark corner of Gaudium, I huddled in fear, praying to gods that had forsaken me that I wouldn't be found. My injuries ached; the slightest movement drew a new rush of blood from between my legs. The bruises along my throat, shoulders, and hips throbbed, and the scratches over my belly and groin seared when my breathing shifted my skin.

I wished that I could surround myself once again with my Mist, a breath of sanctuary, providing myself with enough familiarity that I could sleep, rest, dream away the terror and the filth that was so deeply laced into me and give my battered body the chance to heal.

But I couldn't. It would have given me away.

So I curled into a ball in that tight dark corner, shivering with the cold and the fear, and prayed. Prayed for safety. Prayed for release. Prayed that I would die.

My prayers were not answered.

On the fifth day, just when I was beginning to feel weak from hunger, one of the scientists Chaos had trapped spotted me. She pulled me from my hiding place into the laboratories where she and the man she'd appeared with created Chaos' new monstrosities, and set both food and bandages before me, no questions asked.

From that day forward, whenever Chaos had his way with me, I could always find those things there. I don't know whether it was her way of fighting against the mind control Herba had placed her under or just another way for Chaos to torment me, like the way he would always dry my tears as they came. I was too tired to try to understand.

Too tired to resist... too tired of life...

---

Crux, looking on as Fabula forced the still-unconscious Kumo to eat, was so exhausted, she could've fallen asleep just standing there. The only thing that kept her up was worry.

These days, whenever she was around him, she couldn't help but stare, even though she'd resolved not to. With every hour that passed, Kumo seemed weaker, frailer. If she looked closely enough now, she could see the shadowy impression along his side where his ribs were starting to stand out. Though he shivered constantly, his cheeks still flamed with the bright red flush of fever, and his soft, whimpering cries while dreaming only made him seem younger and more helpless.

She was beginning to feel that they were fighting fate by trying to pull him out of his illness, drawing out his suffering. Somewhere deep within her heart, she felt that Kumo was going to die.

Four feet away, Fabula sat up with a sigh. "There," she said softly. "It may not be much, but at least it's something. He'll be able to hold on for that much longer."

"Kuu..." Crux couldn't help but say it, even though it broke her heart. There wasn't any hope at all.

"Nonsense," was Fabula's sharp reply. "If we can keep Kumo fed for long enough, if we can make sure that his wound heals cleanly, if we take the greatest care we can of him, there's still plenty of chance that he'll either fight off his sickness or outlast it. The many worlds still need him. And as long as there are those who would hang on to him in their hearts, he must survive. For the sake of those who lost their lives, and for the sake of those who love him--we cannot let him die."

Crux was silent, torn. She wanted Kumo to live as much as anyone else, but he was just so sick! How could Fabula insist that he could still be saved? Yes, Crux wanted to believe it, but... if she let herself believe, if she truly allowed herself to hope that Kumo was going to make it, the blow would just fall all the harder when he finally slipped away.

Kumo's low moan of pain and terror shocked Crux out of her reverie and drew her attention back to his fever-flushed naked form. He was shaking worse than ever, and there were real tears on his cheeks as he cried out in his sleep. Instantly, Fabula bent back down and leaned over him, placing one firm hand on his shoulder and stroking along his back with the other, murmuring softly to him all the while. It did no good--Kumo's cries grew louder and louder, taking the form of words:

"Dareka... dareka..."

Fabula placed her hand on Kumo's forehead; the pupils of her eyes contracted to slits as she concentrated, and her long hair swept up behind her as if tossed by a strong breeze.

"Dareka tasukete...!"

Fabula shouted; Kumo's eyes flew open as his body bucked in mindless terror. Seeming panicked, he stared warily and frantically around the area; calming slightly, he shuddered, gritting his teeth as his eyes filled again with tears.

Through it all, Crux stood frozen, too shocked and frightened to move.

"It's alright! It's alright! You have to relax now, you're safe! No one can hurt you here," Fabula was saying, her hands once again on Kumo's shoulders. "Please try to calm down... you need to rest!"

Kumo let out a low whimper, then threw his arms around her, his too-frail body shaking with the heavy sobs he couldn't manage to suppress.

As Fabula cradled the white-haired swordsman, whispering soothingly to him, Crux let out a nearly silent, shallow gasp.

She hadn't meant to look. She hadn't wanted to look. She'd done her best to keep her eyes from straying to Kumo's body over the past few days, but this time she hadn't been able to help it. And during her brief glance, she'd caught sight of a faint pink line, almost invisible in the delicate curves of Kumo's derriere.

From there, she hadn't been able to keep her gaze from straying slightly further down--and there were scars along those curves, too.

Fabula's words echoed in Crux's mind.

"No one can hurt you here."

Oh, God. Kumo... what had happened to him? Why hadn't she ever noticed this before?

Unable to stay still any longer, Crux flitted forward to hover at Kumo's shoulder, putting her arms around him and pressing her cheek to his soft skin.

"Kukuriyu...!"

As they held him, Kumo continued to sob and shake, his long and continuous wail a sharp reminder of the pain he'd suffered, the pain that, until now, he'd been unable to express.

---

Once more, Kumo slept.

Fabula couldn't be certain what he had dreamed of, but she was willing to bet that Chaos had been involved. Even in its death, that monster was still reaching to attack this innocent child.

Aside from having to use a Word of Power to break the dream-trance Kumo had been in, Fabula had spelled him for sweetsleep. For at least eight hours or so, his sleep would be deep, dreamless, and healing. Much more of what he'd been having, and his mind would be shattered forever.

It was a risk, but one she had to take. At this going rate, Kumo would be either dead or insane by the end of the week. Even worse, his unstable mind could lose grip on his Unlimited powers, leaving him a broken, burnt-out husk even if he managed to survive.

You wouldn't have been able to see it before, but the things Kumo had been through had affected him more deeply than had been expected. To all Fabula's age and experience, he was little more than a terrified baby who had been forced to learn too soon that monsters did exist, and that none were so predictable as to simply hide in the dark places of the world. Kumo had faced such monsters down and had barely gotten away with his life, but they had scarred him more deeply than any marks on his skin could show. Those tiny, fading pink lines would disappear one day, but Fabula doubted that the ones deep inside his soul ever would. The only thing that could salve such wounds was the purest love--which perhaps Crux would one day be able to supply, but that Kumo would never be able to receive. He'd already given his heart away, and it still belonged to the madoushi who, through Oscha's trickery, had seemed to betray him in the worst of ways. Someone like Kumo would never be able to recover from that pain... he would suffer from that until his death, whenever that time came.

Fabula gently touched the magenta jewel she'd strung at her throat after removing it from the cowl of her robe, a soft growl of frustration rising from her chest. If not for the seal the crystal represented, she would be able to heal Kumo's injuries with a simple wave of her hand, without denting her power in the slightest. But as her own Unlimited power was out of her control, she had to keep it on, or risk accidentally destroying everything she'd worked so hard to save. And breaking the seal was as good as death for her, anyway.

There had to be some other way.

For Kumo's sake, she would find another way.

---

With the 250 gil Fabula had created tucked into a small velvet pouch, Crux flew straight for the farm she'd spotted the other day.

She felt so much better that she'd now be able to do something in return for the fruit she took. While she did want to save Kumo, she didn't want to do anything else bad in her lifetime. She'd seen enough of that in her days at Gaudium to put her off the concept forever.

Arriving at the little hut, Crux suddenly realized that she didn't know how she was going to get her request across. Fabula might be able to understand her speech, but few ordinary humans could.

She would either have to do some serious miming, or find something she'd be able to write on...

But for Kumo, it would be worth it. She would do it, for him.

Shyly, hesitantly, she shifted the pouch to one hand and rapped on the wooden door with the back of her gauntlet.

After a short pause, the door creaked inwards, and above her loomed the figure of the weatherworn, brown-haired farmer, running a gloved hand over his mustache. "Well now, what have we here, ye wee bairn?"

She might as well try. "Kukuriyu..."

The farmer scratched his head, looking perplexed. "Cannae ye speak the Common tongue?" Red-faced, Crux shook her head. "But ye can understand it, nae?" She nodded needlessly. "Well, best come inside. Ah'll see what ah kin do for ye."

He headed back into the house; Crux followed after a pause.

"What is it ye've got with ye?" the man asked curiously, pulling a chair up beside an oaken table.

Yanking the drawstring on the pouch, Crux spilled the coins onto the rough surface, carefully watching the farmer's face, which flickered briefly with amusement as the gil spilled out.

"So ye've come to buy, is that it?" Her hesitation fading, the little sprite nodded. "What would ye be needing from a man like me?"

"Kukuriyu...?" Unlatching the window with a little work, Crux flitted into the orchard, managed to pull an apple from the nearest tree, and set it on the table beside the money very carefully.

"Food supplies?" The farmer's eyebrows went up and down. "Now why would a wee thing like ye be needin' as many supplies as 250 gil can buy? Ah cannae see ye eatin it by yerself..."

Crux flitted back and forth indecisively, not knowing how to phrase it, or show him what she meant. After a few moments of this, the farmer placed a quill and scrap of paper on the table.

"Ye can write in Common, nae?"

As a reply, Crux carefully took the quill--it was the entire length of her arm--and using a small inkwell already there, wrote down all that she dared about Kumo's predicament. She had no way of knowing where the farmer and his family stood on the issue of Gaudium and its former lords, but she did realize that she couldn't risk bringing it up--she merely wrote on behalf of her "very sick friend" who needed food supplies badly.

"Well, then. It'll make a dent out of the crop for this season, but there's little ye kin do in a bind like this. Ah'll help ye in what meager ways possible."

Sighing, Crux slumped to her knees and almost fainted in relief.

---

The basket of fruit was heavy, but nowhere near as heavy as Kumo or that boy had been. Crux's arms and shoulders ached, but she never had to stop and rest along the way.

Maybe now, there'd finally be hope. Maybe now, Kumo would at least start to get better.

So Crux was taken off guard to hear the angry shouting in the little cave when she touched down.

A very white-faced Fabula was kneeling next to Kumo as usual, uncharacteristically yelling at the top of her lungs. "Damn... damn... DAMN! It would come now--dammit! And there's no way I can...! DAMN it!"

"Ku..riyu...?" Crux began, edging slightly away from where she'd set the farmer's basket.

Fabula turned to her, a set expression of mixed horror and fury on her face. "Kumo... he's hit the crisis point of his fever. And there's just no way... with me like this, there's no way to save him now..."

(TBC)