Natasha stumbled through the halls of the castle, her and Aki supporting each other.
Natalie walked around with uncertainty, trying to avoid the one person she didn't want to see.
Finally, those two crossed paths.
Despite her injuries, Natasha's eyes lit up.
"I finally… found you."
Natalie didn't respond.
"Let's go back."
"Why would I?"
"...Well, I didn't expect it to be that easy. But it's cause I can't leave here without you."
"That sounds like your problem."
"I guess it is. But I'm selfish."
Natalie didn't respond. Natasha couldn't think of any follow up.
"I'm also bad with words, so I'm just gonna get to my point. I don't think this is gonna do you, or anyone else any good, whatever it is. Too ominous."
"If I don't stop myself, then things will just go wrong again. I'll just get hurt again."
"That's fine! Not the you getting hurt part. Kind of. I mean… I don't want you to get hurt, but things like that are normal, y'know! It's unfortunate but we haven't got a choice here! So come back with us!"
"Don't just decide that for me. What do you have against a world without suffering? There's no normal human who would be opposed to something like that, right?"
Natasha paused.
"Yeah. You're right. That'd be an ideal world."
"So then-"
"But, life isn't gonna be convenient enough that the bad things'll just go away over nothing, right? There's gotta be a catch. So what is it?"
Natalie went silent for a moment.
"The elimination of all monsters. That's what will prevent things from repeating."
Natasha was shocked, but quickly responded, likely without thinking.
"Isn't that worse!?"
Natalie didn't answer.
"Hey, answer me! Isn't that just gonna make things worse?"
"Dia was destroyed because of monsters. Who's to say that can't happen again here?"
"Those things weren't the same as the ones we know."
"I know. But that doesn't mean there still isn't a risk. The only way for us to be completely safe is for them to be gone."
"So you don't think anything of all that time you spent with Frega."
"Yeah. I was misguided. But now I understand."
"You-"
Natasha tried to reach out to her, but was stopped by a spike emerging before she could reach her sister. She pulled away just before it impaled her hand.
"It'd be for the best if you didn't get too close. I don't control these things, they just work on their own."
Natasha paused.
"So that's what's keeping you away from us."
"Yeah. So just-"
"So I've just gotta work out how to break that down, and you'll be fine, right?"
"...Are you stupid?"
"Yeah. Do you really need to ask?"
With those words, Natasha tried to approach again.
Another spike appeared. Natalie pulled back.
"You're just gonna get yourself killed! Just back off already!"
"I told you that I can't go back without you. I'm gonna get through those spikes or die trying!"
"But you're just gonna get yourself hurt!"
"I'm not afraid of that!"
Natasha paused, trying to work out what to say next.
"I can't afford to be afraid of it anymore."
She closed the distance again. A spike appeared once more. Natasha tried cutting it.
It went through. The spike was sliced off and quickly vanished.
Natasha mentally celebrated her small victory, but before she could another spike took its place, hitting her shoulder.
She stumbled backwards.
"This is gonna be harder than I thought."
She turned over to Aki.
"I was gonna try doing this on my own, but I don't think I can. Can you help out? We just gotta keep destroying them without hurting her."
"What will that do?" Natalie asked back.
"They'll run out eventually, I hope."
"And what if they don't!?"
"I'm not considering that."
Something resembling a battle began. Natalie was on the defensive, trying to keep her and Aki away.
The fight continued like that for a while.
Natasha and Aki broke through the spikes, only for them to return. No matter how many times they were injured in the process, they refused to stop.
Natalie swung with her hunting horn, pushing Natasha back. Natasha went around it, slashing at yet another.
She slashed wildly. Some disappeared, but she was hurt again.
Natasha tried to ready herself again, her breathing ragged.
The fight seemed to be at an end. Natasha couldn't continue any further.
A song from above. The Qurupeco descended.
Natalie's eyes only grew more distressed.
"Why are you here too?"
Frega replied with a short caw, before trying to approach me."
"Why can't you all just leave me alone already? You don't even know the real me. I-"
Frega continued to approach.
"Don't come near me!"
A spike appeared before Frega even got close to her.
"If I- if I go back then things'll just happen again. I can't go back to that. I don't want to deal with it."
No one moved, but she kept going.
"Fine then. No choice. If you all so want to hurt me so badly, then I've got no choice but to defend myself."
With those words, her entire presence changed. Natalie lunged towards Frega, finally on the offensive. Spikes surrounded her, making her impossible to counter.
Frega tried to dodge. She avoided the first hit, but was unable to get out of the way of the rest.
Aki tried to attack from the side, but was pushed away by those spikes. Natalie attacked anything in her line of sight with a frantic energy bordering on madness.
She spotted Natasha. They stood off for a moment, before Natalie started charging at her. Natasha charged towards her as well.
There was no longer any space between them
Natalie swung. Natasha swung back.
Their weapons clashed, pushing each other back.
Natalie prepared herself for another attack.
Instead, she found arms wrapped around her. An embrace.
"Huh?"
"I think I worked out what to do. Fighting won't get us anywhere. So, I'll just do this."
"B-but, the spikes, they-"
Before Natalie could finish speaking, they activated.
A countless number of spikes pierced through the girl. The room went silent.
Natalie looked up slowly, shaking.
She only found Natasha faintly smiling back.
"The reason… it got like this, is cause of everything piling up right? Letting those frustrations out on Frega isn't good, you know?"
"B-but, you-"
"It's fine. I'm the one who's been seeing it happen for so long, unable to do a thing to help you."
"Taking it out on you isn't much better!"
"It's a bit late for that, isn't it?"
Natasha paused.
"If I had to guess, this is cause you were always trying to hide how it affected you, right?. Acting strong. All that stuff. So, it's fine now. Complain about it, yell about it, whatever you need. It won't fix anything… but if it can at least get rid of that weight, then it's enough."
Natalie continued to not respond.
A cage she had built around herself. The ghosts of those she had lost swirled around inside, reminding her of what would happen if she let anything out. At the front stood Natasha, trying to force the door open.
"If I do that, then things will just get worse again. Just like before!"
"That's just being stupid! It was a coincidence! That's all there was to it!"
Natalie looked around her. What she was saying was true. The bars of the cage would still let some things in, just as she would accidentally let some out.
Yet, she could deny it. Keep living in that comfort, turning a blind eye to those gaps. It might be easier.
"Never complaining about anything won't fix things! You need to let it out! Be angry, be sad, just feel something, then deal with everything else!"
She heard Natasha continue to try and shake the door open. She blinked. A sudden realisation.
What she had been trying to avoid was in that cage with her. It hadn't been there from the start. It had built up. But now that it was, she knew that continuing to stay here would only make things worse.
So, she took a single step forwards.
"Fine then!" She yelled "Fine, I'll do as you say! Of course it's affecting me! How would it not? I lost my family, got kicked out of the damn country I lived in, just cause some shitty monsters decided to take revenge on something I never had anything to do with in the first place! And then- and then Eric went and died, and it was all my fault! What am I supposed to do about that!?"
She gasped for breath.
"I… was so scared. That entire time afterwards. I was terrified that it'd happen again. So I didn't let myself act like I did then, I had to be different. I mean, it made sense, right? If it was caused by me acting that stupid, then all I had to was be a better person, right? So I acted nice. But in the end it just ended up the same! I got attached to Ben, and he just got killed too! All cause of me! All cause I'm so stupid!"
"I'm gonna have to disagree on you calling yourself stupid, but yeah. I know."
"No, I'm stupid! Cause, after all that, I decided to deal with it by hurting all of you! What the hell's with that!? What about wanting to protect you!? I'm so tired of being stupid! I'm so tired… of all of this…"
"I know… I know… I'm here for you..."
Natalie continued to yell out.
She approached the door of the cage.
Finally, that door broke down. The bars disappeared, rising upwards. Natalie stepped outside, fully exposed to the world around her.
TO BE CONTINUED