I do not own Familia Myth or any of the characters.
Rescue
Ethan stared out the window in silence. It was almost time to go after Bell and Mikoto. They had all agreed that they didn't mind a war. They just wanted to save Bell and Mikoto. However, despite the impending battle against the Ishtar Familia, Ethan found his thoughts were rooted elsewhere. He frowned as his thoughts warred. He wished it was easier to understand his feelings. He knew that Ryu was important to him, but he wasn't sure exactly in what way. It felt nothing like how he'd felt about Hestia, and now he wasn't even really sure how he felt about her either. All of his thoughts and emotions were confused. He couldn't make sense of it, no matter how hard he tried. Finally, he sighed, standing and walking into the common area, finding Cassandra sitting alone, a rare occurrence.
"Hey, Cassandra?" Ethan said as he walked over, Cassandra smiling up at him. "Can I ask you something?"
"Sure," Cassandra nodded.
"Is there...Are you...in love with anyone?" Ethan asked.
Cassandra's face turned scarlet instantly, and he hurriedly began to assure her that he wasn't trying to ask her out. "W-Well...uh...th-there is...I-I mean...She-He is...uh...I mean...He's been a good friend of mine for...a long time."
Her face was practically glowing in embarrassment and Ethan couldn't help but laugh.
"So it's Daphne, then," Ethan said, Cassandra squeaking and blushing even darker. "That's good. I think you'd be good together."
Cassandra's blush darkened, but she smiled and nodded. "Thank you. But, why do you ask?"
"Well..." Ethan frowned. "I'm not...really sure. How do you know you're in love with her, rather than just...attracted to her?"
Cassandra thought for a long while before humming. "It's...hard to explain. It just feels...right when I'm around her. When I'm not around her, I miss her constantly, and if it gets really bad, my heart aches until I get to see her again. Sometimes it hurts to be around her, too, though, because she probably doesn't feel the same. But even when it hurts, I still want to be around her, and I only ever really feel happy if I'm with her. And then, I feel happy when she's happy, and if she's ever upset, I want more than anything to make her smile."
"I see," Ethan nodded, frowning. "That's not...what I was expecting you to hear."
"What were you expecting?" Cassandra asked.
Ethan shook his head. "I'm going to go to go grab my blades."
Cassandra nodded, and Ethan walked out of the room, climbing the stairs toward his room, only to stop as he found Daphne heading for the stairs.
"You look like you've got something big on your mind," Daphne said. "What's up?"
"It's..." he trailed off, trying to decide if it was worth asking. "Not trying to ask you out, but...is there...someone you like? Or love?"
Daphne's cheeks darkened a little, but she nodded. "Yeah. Cassandra." She smiled slightly. "She's so beautiful and amazing and strong. No matter what happens, I try to always be at her side. I try to always be able to be there to look after her, but..." her smile fell. "I guess...she hasn't noticed how I felt. Or...maybe she's just too nice to tell me she doesn't feel the same." she remained silent for a moment, staring emptily ahead before blinking and returning to the present. "Anyway, was there a reason you asked?"
"I don't...I'm not sure if I...really love anyone," Ethan said.
Daphne nodded. "Well, from what I've seen, you weren't in love with Hestia. You were devoted to her, and you had feelings for her, but you were in love. Part of being in love is wanting to survive in order to be with that person. If anything, I'd say it was more like she was your first crush, and you just didn't know how to react."
"How do you know?" Ethan asked.
"Well, because if you had actually been in love with her, aside from wanting to live to be with her, you also wouldn't need to ask if you had been," Daphne said. "When you do fall in love with someone, it'll be stronger, but it'll also feel different. It'll be easier, but it'll also be harder. It'll be so easy to love them, but things like missing them, or worrying about them. That'll be unbearable. That's why I make sure to always be with Cassandra, so that I don't have to."
Ethan nodded. "If you don't mind me asking, who was your first crush?"
Daphne blushed a little but smiled. "You were. In an entire Familia of entitled assholes like Hyakinthos and Luan, you were the only guy who was ever nice all the time. And you were my friend. And I think Cassandra's first crush was Anya, but I could never get her to admit to it."
Ethan smiled. "I'm flattered."
Daphne shrugged. "That was a long time ago." She walked past him, then paused. "Sometimes, you can choose who to love. Sometimes, it's just that easy."
She walked to the top of the stairs and Ethan turned back toward her.
"You should tell her," Ethan said. "Cassandra. You should tell her how you feel. But...make it special."
Daphne stared at him for a moment before smiling. "Maybe I will. Thanks for the advice."
"You too," Ethan said.
She nodded and walked down the stairs as Ethan headed to his room, grabbing his two swords and heading back down to the common room, finding everyone was present and ready. Once Hestia saw he was ready, she nodded and led them all out of the mansion.
Ethan narrowed his eyes as the two Amazonesses at the gate refused to let them in. They didn't have long. According to everything they knew, once put together, Haruhime, the childhood friend of Mikoto, Ouka, and Chigusa, as well as a descendent of a royal bloodline, was going to be killed under the full moon inside of the next two hours, and her soul would be trapped in a stone known as a killing stone, then shattered in order to give all of the members of the Ishtar Familia the ability to raise their level by one at will, allowing them to go to war with the Freya Familia. bell and Mikoto were likely going to do everything in their power to stop it, so Ethan and the others had to hurry to get in and help. Except, they couldn't just power through without being swarmed too early to help anyone, and Ethan's Guardian Heart skill would be worthless with his stats as low as they were.
"Enemy attack!" a voice shouted from inside the wall suddenly. "Return to the home!"
"Looks like something's up!" Welf smirked.
"Should you really be standing here?" Lili smirked. "You should get back and win some glory for yourself."
"Sh-Shut up!" one of the two said. "We were told to protect this place!"
"Move!" Ouka finally snarled, hurling one of the two over his shoulder.
"The hell out of our way!" Ethan snapped, stepping forward and drawing his sword, slamming the flat of the blade into the other one's face, knocking her out.
"Let's go!" Welf cheered, everyone running into the Pleasure Quarter.
The gate wasn't close to Ishtar's palace, and there was no straight path there. After several minutes of running, a red flare suddenly shot into the air. Ethan grit his teeth.
"We're taking too long!" Ethan said. "I'm going on ahead!"
"How?" Welf asked, just as Ethan pulled a potion from his pocket.
"I'm so glad I borrowed this from Asfi," Ethan said, draining the potion.
Instantly, he shone with a green aura and exploded forward in a blur. Everyone shouted in surprise and pushed themselves to run faster, but he left them far behind him. Within a matter of minutes, he reached the palace and began to sprint up the side of it, making it about halfway before his momentum finally began to die and he had to smash through a window. As he landed inside of the palace, he stopped, finding himself in a winding stairway and standing directly in the middle of a large group of Amazonesses, one of which stood double his height, was disgustingly obese, had the face of a toad, and was holding a pair of human-height battleaxes like they were hatchets. Another was holding a sword bigger than Ethan was tall. This one had straight raven hair hanging down behind her and her bangs covering the right side of her face, a strip of purple cloth wrapped around her sizeable breasts, a pair of white panties underneath a pair of loose, see-through, purple pants, and with a gold choker with purple around the middle then three strings of gold beads reaching down to a gold ring on her upper abdomen, just below the curve of her breasts, then a pair of strings of beads reaching from the bottom of the ring around behind her. Her sword had a box hilt with the back wrapped as the grip, then the blade was a gigantic single-edged one reaching about five feet long and being nearly two inches thick and six inches from edge to back by the end of it.
The girl with the sword moved to slash him instantly, moving too fast to be Level Two, and he thanked his new luck stat that his potion hadn't worn off yet, because he slipped under the blade, then leapt away, spinning and firing a Chain Lightning back into the toad's chest, the branches hitting all of the others and hurling them, though he healed them all to avoid killing any. He flipped backward, landing on the stairs ahead of them just as he realized that the toad was fine, and that the girl with the sword was standing.
"You're fast," the girl with the sword said, just as it wore off, his green aura fading. "But it looks like that just ended. I'm guessing you're a level two."
"Good guess," Ethan nodded. "What kind of monster do you have as a pet here?" He gestured at the toad, and the girl with the sword laughed as the toad glared at him.
"How dare you!" the toad spat. "Don't you know a beautiful woman when you see one!?"
"Yeah," Ethan said, gesturing at the girl with the sword and all of the unconscious Amazonesses. "I'm looking at a bunch of them right now. And then there's one disgusting, obese toad ruining it."
The toad shrieked in rage, hurling one of her axes at him and he dove aside, barely escaping it and falling to the stairs below them instead. "You're just jealous that I'm not interested in you! You want my beautiful body because you know I'm much more beautiful than even any goddess, but you're mad that I won't let you have it!"
"I don't know if I want to gag at the thought of being forced to see you naked, or laugh at the thought that you think you compare to anything that's even humanoid, let alone a goddess," Ethan said.
The toad shrieked in rage, grabbing her axe from where it had been embedded in the wall, only for the girl with the sword to hold her sword out to get the toad's attention.
"Phryne, let me deal with this," she said. "You go and ensure the Little Rookie doesn't interfere with the ritual."
The toad glared at him for a moment before nodding and continuing up the stairs. Ethan turned to her and swallowed hard, readying his sword.
"That's a very nice sword," the girl said.
"It was given to me by someone...important to me," Ethan said, frowning slightly. "She's...It's...complicated."
The girl stared at him for a long moment before speaking. "What's your name?"
"Ethan," he said.
"Oh, you're that one who finished Hyakinthos," the girl said. "My name's Aisha."
"Nice to meet you," Ethan said. "I'd really appreciate it if you'd let me pass."
"I can't," Aisha said. "My goddess has ordered Haruhime's sacrifice. I cannot defy my goddess's order's."
Ethan sighed. "I understand. Let's see about this then, shall we?"
He sprinted at her and she slashed horizontally. Ethan leapt over it, only for Aisha to spin, her blade exploding into his and sending him crashing through a wall, then bouncing down the hallway on the far side. Aisha followed him down the hallway, sword held out to her side. He staggered back to his feet, then reached into his pocket, pulling out a second speed potion, his last one, and drank it. Aisha smirked and shot forward, Ethan moving to meet her. She slashed downward at him and he spun around it, slamming a kick into her head and feeling his bones rattle as she staggered away. Her Vitality was ridiculous. She spun, slashing at him and he flipped over it, then slashed downward at her as he fell, only for his sword to spark off of her sword's guard. Then, she slammed a push kick into his chest, hurling him backward. He flipped, driving his sword into the ground and skidding to a stop before ripping it out of the floor and diving to the side as her massive blade crashed down where he'd been. He rolled to his feet again and shot forward, slashing at her several times, only for her to block his blade each time. Finally, she knocked his blade away and spun in a circle her foot flashing up and smashing his head into the wall before she spun back the other way, the same foot kicking him backward. He bounced off his shoulders, then crashed down on his stomach, skidding backward a few inches before stopping. As he did, the green aura around him faded and he groaned.
"You can't beat me," Aisha said. "At this rate, Haruhime is going to be killed."
"Not yet," Ethan said, pushing himself up slowly before drawing his second blade and picking up his sword, feeling his injuries, including a cracked skull, broken ribs, a mild concussion, and several bruises and cuts, fueling the power up from his Hero's Sacrifice skill. "It's not too late for someone to play the hero. It might be me. It might be Bell. It might be Mikoto. Hell, it might be all three of us. But we will save Haruhime."
Aisha scoffed. "Hero? Don't make me laugh. Haruhime is a prostitute. Heroes all hate prostitutes. We're impure."
"How?" Ethan asked. "If there's a goddess of prostitutes, wouldn't that make it acceptable? It may not be what everyone necessarily agrees with or wants to do, but that doesn't make it impure."
Aisha hummed thoughtfully. "You're different from most. Including the Little Rookie. He had the face of a boy, but you have the face of a man."
"I just have more pressing concerns than whether or not Mikoto's friend sells her body," Ethan said.
Aisha smirked, raising her sword. "Come. I want to play with you some more."
Ethan sighed, then nodded, flipping his smaller blade to reverse grip before charging, his blades beginning to spark against hers rapidly, though she was clearly not struggling to defend herself, as evidenced by her kicking him and sending him flying every few seconds.
"Let me tell you a story of a certain prostitute," Aisha said, even as she easily fended off Ethan again and again. "There was someone she just hated. A Renard child who'd come from the Far East. Some thug somewhere had deceived and sold her, and she'd ended up here."
Ethan flipped over her foot as she kicked at him, but in exchange, he simply got slammed by the broad side of her sword, bouncing away from her.
"No matter what the prostitute did for that Renard, she just smiled like she'd given up on everything," Aisha continued, stalking toward Ethan. "She never tried to make friends." She knocked his blades aside. "Never learned about the world." Her knee drilled into his gut. "The prostitute hated her so much..." she slammed the broad side of her sword into his head, sending him crashing away from her again, "that one day, she did something stupid. She destroyed a precious stone that had been brought into the home to vent her frustrations."
Ethan staggered to his feet, taking several seconds to steady himself before retrieving his blades, sheathing his shorter one.
"Of course, what she'd done was found out. A disgusting toad beat her half to death, and then..." she stopped her assault, allowing Ethan to stagger backward and notice the anguished, regret-filled expression on Aisha's face, "she was charmed by her goddess until she went mad. Since then, she's been unable to disobey her goddess's orders."
"I'm so sorry," Ethan said, staring at her in sympathy and surprise. "I can't imagine."
"That's how this Familia works," Aisha said. "Heroes have no role to play here, because there is no one who wants a hero."
"You tried to be one, though," Ethan said, Aisha stopping, staring at him. "You knew that even though Haruhime didn't cry, she was suffering. You wanted to help her. You were nice to try and show her that her life hadn't ended yet, and you broke the first Killing Stone to save Haruhime from her fate." He watched her for a moment before voicing his suspicion. "You're in love with her, aren't you? Are you really okay with allowing her to die? Are you really going to just accept her fate without fighting for her, even if it is against a Goddess?"
Aisha's eyes widened, then began to water, even as she raised her sword, her arms trembling. She charged and he moved to meet her charge, tapping into his Hero's Sacrifice skill's power up finally. He deflected several slashes, blocked several kicks, and managed to land several kicks and punches of his own. Aisha's arms continued to tremble, and there was a hesitation in her strikes now, but it wasn't enough for him to win.
"Please!" Aisha finally sobbed out, her face contorted in pain and effort, tears flooding down her cheeks, but the rest of her body fighting him just as fiercely as it had been for the last few minutes. "Please save...Haruhime! I...I can't...protect her! But I...I don't want her to die!"
Ethan smiled, nodding. "You have my word, we will save her."
"And how will you do that?" a voice asked from behind Ethan.
He leapt backward as the voice ordered Aisha to stop, then turned, only for his eyes to widen as he saw Ishtar standing before him. She wore a pale orange skirt, a pale orange cloth loop hanging around her neck to cover her breasts, her purple hair was curled lightly, and the moment he saw her, his mind went almost completely blank. She smirked knowingly and wave a hand to dismiss Aisha.
"You're an interesting one," Ishtar said. "You're only a Level Two, as I recall, and yet you're able to fight on level with Aisha. And you also managed to break through my control over her a bit. I'll have to charm her again now, thanks to you." She hummed thoughtfully as she inspected him. "You're not nearly as appealing as the Little Rookie is. And you're not really handsome either. You're rather plain-looking. However, you are strong. I suppose I could have you at least delay your friends for me. That wouldn't be hard." She reached out, feeling his muscles lightly. "Well, you have a decent amount of muscle, at least. You feel toned, too. Take off your shirt."
Ethan's body complied instantly, his mind still trying to recall where he was.
"I've seen better," Ishtar said thoughtfully. "But you'll pass. I'll have to make it quick, though. Take off your clothes.
As Ethan's body began to follow its instruction, Ishtar shed her own clothes, and suddenly Ethan's mind snapped to the present just as he began to feel like he was drowning in a powerful, animalistic hunger. He stared at Ishtar, his mind rapidly growing clouded by lust. She was unbelievably beautiful. He'd have admitted that much even without being charmed by her. She had a perfectly proportioned figure with large, perky breasts, a slim waist, and then full, firm flesh which then compressed into smooth, slender legs. aside from her head, her body was completely devoid of hair, so there was nothing to obstruct his view. She smirked as she saw the hunger in his eyes and stepped forward, leaning dangerously close to her.
"Do you want me, boy?" Ishtar asked.
"Yes," Ethan responded, mind spinning from her scent and proximity.
"Good," Ishtar said. "But it'll have to be quick, so don't hold back. Give me everything you've got at once, understood?"
"Yes," Ethan nodded.
Ishtar smirked victoriously, capturing his lips with her own and the hunger inside of Ethan roared as his body sucked in a deep breath desperate for her presence, attacking her lips and tongue ravenously with his own. Ishtar chuckled at his reaction, but just as her hands began to ghost down the flesh of his stomach, words that didn't belong to either of them fought their way through the haze in his mind.
"I will not bury you just because you're too impatient to take the time to heal. I'm not letting you die."
His eyes darted down to the side where he could just barely see the hilt of the sword he'd dropped beside himself.
"...as long as you have this, I won't need to be afraid of losing you anymore."
He squeezed his eyes closed, struggling to force his body to obey his own commands instead of Ishtar's. He began to make very slow progress, but Ishtar's hand sliding along his member was making it very hard to focus.
"We'll always be here for you, so you have to live so that you can be here for us, too. Even if it means you don't protect us, you have to survive so that we can smile and laugh with you."
He growled in effort and shoved Ishtar, sending her stumbling backward before she caught herself, and he fell to his knees, panting, sweat dripping from his face from the effort of breaking her control, a feat he'd never heard of. However, as more words drifted into his mind, in a different voice this time, the ghost of the feeling of a kiss ghosted lightly over his cheek.
"I hope you realize just how much you mean to them."
"How!?" Ishtar was shrieking, now standing over him and he could feel his crest on his back. "You don't even have Liaris Freese! How can you resist me!?"
Ethan grabbed his sword and shoved himself up, slashing at her, but she leapt away, snarling. He sighed, setting his sword down and pulled his underwear and pants back on, then grabbed his sword and turned, sprinting away from her and in the general direction Aisha had gone. His head was still spinning from his concussion and from the lasting effects of Ishtar's charm, but he was able to think a little more clearly, now. He reached a staircase and began to sprint up it, leaving it onto a bridge finally and seeing a large group of Amazonesses, along with Phryne and Aisha standing on a massive structure suspended between the three towers of Ishtar's palace by the bridges. Kneeling in the center of that was Haruhime, who was bound by six separate chains, sitting on her knees, and watching as Mikoto clung to a silver-haired Amazoness on one of the other bridges. Below Haruhime was a large square tarp, which was glowing green as the moon shone on it. Ethan steeled himself and walked toward them, sword out to his side. As he did, one of the other Amazonesses shouted a warning to the others, only for Aisha to stare at him, open-mouthed.
"Impossible!" Aisha gasped. "He was charmed by lady Ishtar!"
"It's probably because he witnessed my beauty first," the toad said, then laughed by making a "Keh heh heh" noise that made him want to throw her off the building just to stop her from laughing.
"It's not too late to be the hero!" Ethan shouted, locking eyes with Aisha.
"What are you shouting about?" Phryne demanded.
"The hero always shows up at the end!" Ethan shouted. "It's not too late to save her!"
Just then, Mikoto shone red before suddenly exploding, knocking the Amazoness she was clinging to out, along with six more who were near her, but then staggered to the edge of the bridge and fell herself.
"Bell!" Mikoto shrieked, Bell sprinting out of his hiding place on the third bridge instantly.
"Sharay!" Phryne shouted, pointing to an Amazoness holding a dagger with a fist-sized crystal sphere in the pommel. "Kill Haruhime!"
The Amazoness turned to run to Haruhime instantly.
"If you aren't willing to fight to protect what you love, you don't deserve to have it!" Ethan shouted.
"Haruhime!" Bell shouted as the Amazoness raised the dagger.
Then, there was a deafening crash and a shattering sound and everyone stared in shock as Ethan sighed in relief. Aisha lowered her sword, the dagger stabbing into the ground behind her as she glared at Phryne.
"What the hell are you doing!?" Phryne demanded.
"I'm protecting the things I care about," Aisha said, gripping her sword in both hands as both Ethan and Bell slowed to a stop beside her.
Both slashed three of Haruhime's chains, but she simply sat there, staring at Aisha.
"Haruhime," Ethan said. "I hear you have the ability to boost someone's level. Haruhime!"
Haruhime nodded. "Not for long, but for a little while I can."
"Boost Aisha's," Bell said. "She's fighting to be your hero, so you should help her the best way you can."
Haruhime hesitated, staring at Aisha in fear, tears leaking from her eyes. "Please! Just run away! I don't want you to be hurt because of me!"
Suddenly, one of the other Amazonesses shouted in surprise and fear.
"Hey, what is that!?" she shouted. "The city is on fire!"
"What's going on!?" another asked.
"Don't get cocky, you little whore!?" Phryne seethed. "I'm not letting Haruhime go! We'll just get another Killing Stone, just like last time! And don't forget! I beat you to death once, I can do it again easily! And this time, I'll go all the way!"
"Please, you have to go!" Haruhime pleaded with Aisha.
"I will never leave you," Aisha said, flatly. "I'm going to protect you this time, no matter who I have to fight against. I don't care if you're a prostitute or not, or what Prostitutes mean to heroes, or any of that garbage. I never liked Hero stories. But even if all that's true, it's fine for me, because I'm a prostitute too. So if you don't deserve a proper hero, then I'll just have to be the hero for you."
Haruhime covered her mouth, tears falling freely now as she stared at her.
"Enough talking!" Phryne shouted. "Haruhime! Cast a spell! Give me your power!" As she spoke, she slammed one of her axes into the ground, a shockwave tearing across the ground at Aisha, whose mouth was moving quickly.
"Hell Kaios!" Aisha shouted, red magic energy exploding to life along her blade before she slashed the blade downward in front of herself, sending out a massive wave of red energy that clashed with Phryne's shockwave for several moments before the blasts exploded, filling the area with dust.
"Were you chanting that whole time?" Ethan asked.
Aisha nodded, already chanting under her breath again. Haruhime stared up at Aisha for a moment before determination filled her features and she stood.
"Get bigger," Haruhime said, speaking quickly as Phryne laughed her annoying laugh, seeming to think Haruhime was going to help her. "That power, that vessel. Many treasures and many wishes. Until the bell tolls..."
"That's right!" Phryne laughed as Haruhime chanted. "Your little hero speech did you no good, you ungrateful whore!"
"May you have glory and fantasies," Haruhime said, raising her arms over her head, streams of golden light suddenly forming and flowing toward her, spiraling in a column in the air above her. "Get bigger. Uchide no Kozuchi!"
The light formed into a ring pillar, which fell around Aisha. Ethan smiled, stepping in front of Aisha with Bell as Phryne shrieked in outrage. As a golden aura began to shine from Aisha, Haruhime fell to her knees.
"I don't want to sell my body anymore!" Haruhime cried. "I don't want to hurt anyone anymore! I don't want to die! Please save me, Aisha!"
Aisha smiled as the light around her faded, leaving only the silhouette. "I would have done that even if you hadn't asked."
Then, she exploded forward, her blade rapidly crashing into Phryne's axes again and again, the toad cackling and shrieking in effort, slashing at Aisha over and over, but failing to land a hit. Aisha was faster than her now. Ethan turned, walking over to the Amazonesses who were watching the Pleasure Quarter burn.
"You all should get out of here," Ethan said, all of them turning to him. "I don't have any reason to fight you now, and without the Killing Stone, you're all helpless against them."
"Who is it?" the one who had first noticed the fire asked.
"I'm going to bet it's the Freya Familia," Ethan said. "She's obsessed with Bell, so if she heard that Ishtar set her sights on Bell, she'd destroy her without a second thought."
"We're too weak to fight the Freya Familia," one of the other Amazonesses said.
"Like I said, you should all get out while you can," Ethan said.
"Alright," the first one nodded. "Look after Aisha for us."
"I'll do my best," Ethan said.
The Amazonesses all turned and fled, and Ethan turned back to the fight just in time to see Aisha spin under an axe, then slash Phryne across the face from her right cheek just above her mouth to just below her left eye. Phryne shrieked in pain and rage instantly, swinging both axes at Aisha, only for her to leap into the air over Phryne. As she did, Cade noticed the cracked floor under Phryne. Checkmate.
"Hell Kaios!" Aisha shouted, slashing and sending out a much, much larger blast of red energy than last time.
Phryne crossed her axes to block it, but both shattered just before the ground did, the blast sending Phryne streaking downward, a scream of fear following her the entire way. Then, just as Aisha landed, the golden aura around her faded and Haruhime threw her arms around her, sobbing into her chest as Aisha smiled, letting her sword fall in order to hold Haruhime. Just as she did, a massive beam of golden light rose into the sky, parting the clouds.
"Ishtar's gone," Aisha said. "I can feel her influence leaving my mind."
"Good," Ethan said, sheathing his sword and picking hers up. "Now, let's get the fuck out of here while we're alive."
The other three nodded and Aisha reached up to Haruhime's neck, tugging lightly on the collar, which crumbled instantly. Haruhime raised a hand to it, eyes wide with surprise.
"That looked easy," Ethan said.
"I weakened it before I broke the last Killing Stone," Aisha said. "I had meant to take her and run, but I got caught. You could have removed it at any time since then."
Haruhime's eyes watered, but she shook her head, smiling. "It was worth the wait. I wouldn't have wanted to leave without my only friend."
Aisha's eyes widened before she smiled. "I'm not your only friend anymore."
Just then, Lili and Hestia's voices called out to Bell and Ethan and they turned seeing the rest of the group Ethan had come with walking over. However, just as the four of them turned to greet them, the sun peeked over the horizon in Ethan's line of sight and his concussed brain throbbed painfully. He groaned, holding a hand to his head, then sighed. That would be another week or two of house arrest. He smiled as Hestia began to yell at him for being reckless and getting hurt again. It was worth it. He got to help his family, and now Aisha could be with Haruhime, hopefully as more than just her friend.
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