Mermaid Heel's New Flare (Chapter 9)
"Well, I've wasted enough time on this little skeleton, time for her to die," Charlotte said as she tightened her grip on her blade. However, before she could do anything, Risley shot onto her knees and bit her leg with as much power and fury as she could, piercing her skin and traveling deep within the bloodstream to the point where she could feel the blood flowing down her leg.
"AGUH! You bitch!" Charlotte yelled as she kicked Risley in the chin, as she fell to her knees, holding her aggressively bleeding leg. However, as Charlotte was about to grab her blade, her rune shield suddenly started coming down.
"What the hell!? What did you do Risley!?" Charlotte yelled as she grabbed Risley by the front of her top.
"I didn't do anything," Risley mumbled before she looked up, and noticed Iris standing next to the disappearing rune. Iris looked infuriated as she started at the person who attacked two members of her guild so viciously. Charlotte looked at Iris, with a glare of equal intensity, and walked up to her with the blade up and aimed at Iris' throat.
"And who the hell are you?" Charlotte asked as she readied her blade for an assault. However, Iris simply swatted the blade away, and raised her hand, building enough magic power in her hand to get water from the nearby sea, and used it to trap Charlotte in a Water Lock akin to Juvia's magical attack of the same name.
"My name is Iris Riverfall. You attacked two women I see as my daughters, and now you're going to jail," Iris responded as multiple Rune Knights appeared from behind her with their weapons drawn and their gaze focused completely on Charlotte. Charlotte desperately tried to fight out of the Water Lock, but she couldn't get her appendages out of the water and nearly lost consciousness before Iris canceled out the Water Lock, allowing her to fall into the waiting arms of the Rune Knights.
"Make sure she is as far away from my guild and my daughters as possible," Iris coldly told the Rune Knights, who nodded in response before walking away with a barely conscious Charlotte in anti-magic handcuffs. Once Charlotte was out of sight, Iris went down to Risley, who was still on her knees, unable to get up due to her fractured ankle. Iris used her magic to make sparkling water appear on her hand and then spilled it all over Risley's body.
"Risley, are you alright?"
"Yeah…I'm feeling better. Thanks for the healing water, I really needed it," Risley mumbled as she got up, and sure enough, her ankle was healed and she was able to stand on both her feet. Once Risley got back to her feet, she and Iris immediately went over to a still unconscious Flare, who had a bloody nose, plenty of wounds on her face that had dried blood, and some remnants of her red hair on it. Risley knelt down and picked Flare up bridal style before running over to Iris, who was looking around to make sure that nobody else was hurt during Charlotte's rampage.
"Iris, I have Flare here, can you give her some of your healing water?" Risley asked as without uttering a word, Iris magically made water appear in her hands, and sprinkled it all over Flare's body. After a moment of the water being absorbed into Flare's skin, she shook her head lightly before opening her eyes, looking to her left, and seeing a smiling Risley. Flare then looked around and noticed that Risley was carrying her bridal style, and exploded into a blush, looking down at the sand on the beach, pretending to be very interested in the less than detailed footprints in the sand.
"You saved me."
"Of course I did, we are an item now, aren't we?" Risley asked, causing Flare's blush to grow even deeper, as she put her hands on her cheeks. However, when she did, Flare noticed that she couldn't feel the hair around her cheeks and covering her ears. Flare then ran her hands over her face and on her head, finally noticing that her hair was only three inches long. Flare started trembling as she continually ran her hands through her now short hair and looked down at the remaining strands of her long hair that stayed on her head. "Sorry Flare, Charlotte cut off a lot of your hair during the fight."
This caused Flare to start hyperventilating while in Risley's arm, as Iris was finishing her discussions with the Magic Council officers. Flare had treasured her hair more than almost everything else in her life. It was something bestowed upon her by the Eternal Flame in the village of the giants in which she was raised. Flare had spent years mastering her Hair magic, making the village of giants proud of her, and allowing her to train in using her hair to fight in battles. Flare continued to freak out, but her panic attack started to calm down when she saw Risley's guilty expression on her face.
Flare realized that her hair was not only important to her but important for Risley. Flare remembered what Iris had told her about Risley; Risley wanted to make everyone else happy, sometimes at the sacrifice of her own. This helped Flare realize that Risley felt guilty about Flare losing her hair because Charlotte was Risley's ex-girlfriend and Charlotte was only after Flare because of her new relationship with Risley. So of course, Risley probably felt like she was to blame for all of this, and Flare didn't want Risley to feel that way. So, despite Flare feeling awful about losing her hair, she pulled her head up so that she could kiss Risley on the cheek so that she could get her attention.
"As long as you're safe Risley, I think I can handle it," Flare said quietly while taking her hands out of her hair. Risley looked over at her and smiled before kissing Flare on the cheek in return before walking over to Iris, who had just finished her talk with the Magic Council Officers.
"Risley, is Flare OK?"
"Well, she can talk and move, so she's better than I thought she would be."
"Glad to hear it. Now, I hate to tell you, but I think that we're going to have to bring your date night to a close," Iris explained, looking around the beach as if she was looking for any more rune traps that Charlotte had laid. Risley sighed but nodded before looking at Flare, who also looked kind of disappointed that their first major date night was completely ruined by Risley's crazy ex.
"It's alright. We didn't have plans after the walk on the beach anyway. I just wish we could've had a better ending for our first date," Risley responded. Iris nodded before leading Risley and Flare away from the beach, with Flare pressing her face into Risley's shoulder as Risley ran her hand through Flare's shortened hair to try and keep her calm. Iris stopped at a carriage and offered Risley and Flare the door, to which Risley nodded with thanks in response before walking up to the chair, and sitting Flare down next to her.
"Risley…"
"Yeah, Flare?"
"Even though it had a bad ending, I still really enjoyed our date Risley," Flare said, twiddling her thumbs together, her mind still trying to get used to her shortened hair. Risley looked over at Flare, and smiled, leaning in to kiss Flare on the cheek, with some of Risley's lips grazing the side of Flare's nose.
"So did I, Flare. Maybe we can try and do this again sometimes, without the crazy ex battling us at the end next time," Risley responded as Iris finally got into the carriage, smiling as she saw Risley and Flare still trying to be optimistic after the vicious battle that they just had. Iris couldn't help but smile, remembering when she felt the same way while she was married to her former wife. Iris decided to focus on driving and leaving Risley and Flare to have some time to themselves, which they deserved after their battle with Charlotte. The three continued to make their way back to the Mermaid Heel guild as Flare leaned the side of her head on Risley's shoulder, letting Risley run her hands through Flare's shortened hair. Flare, despite still feeling uneasy about her new hair, couldn't but help but blush at Risley's touch, smiling contently to herself that her date with Risley had been a monumental success.
Again, sorry this one took so long to complete, but it was a combination of lack of ideas for this chapter and me working on my other fanfictions (mainly my fanfiction wrestling league the BTWF), kind of put this one on the backburner. I do hope this chapter was worth it even though I can't guarantee when the next chapter is going to be released.