DISCLAIMER: I do not own Zombie Land Saga or any of its characters. This work is a fan-work offered free of charge, and I make no money from it whatsoever.

A/N: Boy oh boy this took a while! I re-wrote it so many times after I got writer's block at about halfway in, then I felt bad for delaying it so I delayed it more. But now it's done! And I'm pleased with how it turned out. There's one more chapter after this, and luckily it's already part written, so it should genuinely take a normal amount of time rather than a quarter of a year!

Thank you so much for your patience :) I hope you enjoy this chapter!

Chapter 3: Country Roads

No one in their right mind would choose to trudge through waterlogged mud lakes to go visit a town where they were hated by everyone and their uncle. You'd have to be an idiot, a true moron to do something like that. To do something so insane and unnecessary took a certain level of dumbassery. That, or you had to have a damn good reason.

Thankfully I had both.

"We're probably about halfway there now," I said to Ai, who was dragging her heels through the dirt alongside me.

"Now I see why you don't visit this place often."

"It's nothing to do with the walk, but don't worry, you'll see why I avoid it once we get there."

My old home town sat at the base of a mountain beyond the forest. They got even more rain than I did. One time, back when I lived there, it rained all day every day for a whole week. It was kind of a pain in the ass but you got used to it. The people that lived in the next village over had it lucky, they had clear skies and sunshine all year round. Mountains, man, how the fuck do they even work?

After some more walking we finally reached the edge of the forest. Beyond the last few trees stretched an ocean of grassy fields, and beyond that loomed the mountain. The fields looked pretty, but I knew from experience that the wind was a real bitch. We sat down and rested our legs under a spindly little tree with spotty white bark and big, plate-sized leaves.

"At least this part shouldn't be so muddy," I sighed, "though I'd take the mud over the wind any day."

"Saki... I'm not sure I can walk any more."

Ai looked like a corpse. I don't know why I expected her to be able to walk such a long distance. It was amazing she'd made it as far as she did. I forced myself to smile,

"I'll carry you the rest of the way. Don't worry about it."

"I can't make you do that."

"You aren't making me do anything. Do I ever do anything I don't want to do?"

"Well..."

"Exactly."

I pulled her close and wrapped my arms around her. The bones in her shoulders pressed into my skin.

"I'm sorry Saki."

"You have nothin' to be sorry about," I said, "We're in this together, right? Besides, I'm the one that dragged you out here, so if anything I should be the one saying sorry right now."

In the distance the sun was already beginning its descent towards the horizon. If we didn't start moving soon we'd still be out by nightfall, and that meant being completely exposed to the moon…

"All right Ai," I said, cracking my neck, "hop on my back, it's time to go."

"Already? It feels like we only just got here."

"We did."

"Then why the hurry?"

"Just hop on and hold tight."

"Let me try and walk it first."

"Fat chance."

"I came this far on my own two feet, didn't I? I just need a rest. With a bit more time I could-"

"Nope!"

"Saki, come on, you can't carry me all the way there! I'm gonna have to walk."

"Yes I can, and no you aren't."

"Stop being stubborn."

"You first."

Using the tree for balance, she pulled herself to her feet, "See? I can walk. So let's go already."

"You ain't walkin' anywhere with your legs trembling like that, Ai."

"I'm going now," she said as she hobbled past me, "if you don't want to join me, that's your choice."

"Well if you're gonna be like that..."

I leapt to my feet and, trying not to enjoy myself too much, slipped my hands around Ai and snatched her up into my arms. I held her in front of me like a prince carrying his bride.

"...I guess this is how we're doing it!"

"Saki, put me down!"

"Never!"

I marched out from the cover of the trees into the open fields. Immediately the wind rose up and smacked me across the face.

"Make sure you hold on tight, Ai."

"Just put me down!"

"Not happening."

The grass was as tall as my legs were long. I couldn't see how tall it was, thanks to Ai blocking my view, but I knew it was right up there cos I could feel the blades trying to crawl under my shirt and slice up my belly button as I waded through them.

Eventually Ai stopped protesting, only piping up occasionally to ask if I'd let her walk now, to which my answer was always 'No'. My stupid arms started aching long before we reached the mountain. The craggy bastard seemed to get further and further away with every step I took. I wasn't sure how much more I could take; my arms were already shaking, and all my fingers were numb. Ai must've felt it too cos she started to get real insistent.

"Saki I really think you should let me walk now."

"No."

"This is ridiculous. You're gonna hurt yourself."

"I'm a lumberjack, this is nothin'!"

"Please!"

Ice-cold gusts barged into me one after the other, shoving me back and tossing my hair all over the place. 'No wonder there are no fucking trees round here, this shitty wind must knock 'em all down before they even get a chance to grow big', I thought to myself as the bitter air refrigerated my already frosty tits.

I marched on. My cheeks were numb, my hands were numb, and my arms were numb now too. I was numb and cold and aching all over. The mountain loomed over us, a black mass piercing the sky, blotting out the setting sun and leaving us in icy darkness.

I could feel sweat running down my face.

"We're almost there," I panted, but as soon as the words left my lips my arms gave out. I lunged forward to catch Ai but I was too slow. With her arms wrapped around my neck, she plunged into the grass, taking me down with her.

I expected to smack face-first into hard dirt. Instead, I landed on something soft. I opened my eyes; my face was buried in Ai's chest. Not such a bad landing after all.

"You'd make a good pillow, Ai."

She groaned, "I told you to let me walk."

I can't say I wasn't warned. My arms were so fucked that I couldn't even roll myself off of her. She got to her feet and pulled me up. I didn't have a hope in hell of carrying her the rest of the way, but at least she could sling an arm around my shoulder if she needed to.

In the end we made it just as the first stars began to dot the sky. The town had changed since my last visit. All the noise and stink was encircled by a high wall made of wood, sharpened at the top. You used to be able to just walk straight in, simple as. Now there were two guards standing around outside a massive fuck-off gate. The guards were huge, with chiselled muscles and battle-worn armour. They were ugly as fuck, too. One of them looked like what you'd get if you cross-bred a warthog with an elephant. The torchlight somehow made them look even uglier - but then again I can't imagine broad daylight would've done them any favours either, so who knows.

"What's your business here?" the warthog-elephant grunt grumbled at me.

"I'm here to see the doctor."

The pair of them glared at me, then they looked Ai up and down.

I glared back at them, "Are you gonna let us through, or what?"

"All right, we'll let you through," replied the other guard, who looked like a half-dead horse, "but first you have to do us a favour..."

He looked over at his buddy. They both had nasty grins spread across their faces.

"Yeah," continued Warthog, "you have to show us the rest of your little girlfriend's scars."

I clenched my fist, "What!? Are you kiddin' me!?"

"Did I stutter?"

"Listen to me, shitwad, I am not in the mood to fuck around with idiots like you tonight. Open the gates and let us in before I lose my patience."

"We've made our conditions clear. If you're going to ignore them…"

"Yeah there's no way anyone's stripping for you buddy. Have you even seen a naked woman before? Somehow I doubt it."

"You're an aggressive little monkey, aren't you!" he laughed, "Well if you won't show us, then we can't let you in! For all we know you could be a pair of necromancers. Why from this distance, those scars look just like magical markings," he turned to Horse-face again, "Wouldn't you agree?"

"Oh yes, there's something magical going on here, no doubt about it. We'll have to see them up close to be sure, of course."

"They're obviously scars, jackass."

"Then you can show us!" Warthog grunted.

"That's not how this works."

"It's exactly how this works. Now you can do as we say, or you can crawl back into whatever hole you came from."

"Do you know who I am? You must do since you're being such a prick."

"You can't be anyone important," said Horse-face, "we've never seen you round here before."

I didn't believe him at first, but when I thought about it I realised I hadn't seen either of them before either. In fact the town had never had a need for guards before. I half-wondered if they brought them in just to keep me out.

Warthog scratched his chin, "All right, all right, as I'm feeling generous this evening, how about this: if she can't show us her scars, perhaps she can tell us how she got them instead. Was she tortured by some brute? Attacked by a mob? More importantly, are there any scars she has that we can't see? Don't skimp on the details – we need to be sure that you're really telling the truth after all."

"Ai," I whispered, "we haven't gotta tell 'em shit. Don't let 'em get to you."

But they already had. I could feel her her quivering beside me.

"Saki, let's just go."

"No way. These guys ain't got nothin' on us."

"I can't take them on like this. I didn't catch anything when we went hunting. I can't aim, I-"

"Relax. Leave it to me."

"Saki, no-"

I strode towards them, "I'm only gonna say this once, you pair of walking turd piles. Let us in there now, and I mean right now, or I'm gonna beat the shit outta both of you."

Warthog smirked, "That sounds like a threat to me. Does it sound like a threat to you?"

Horse-face picked up an axe leaning against the wall, "That's a clear threat. We have no choice but to defend ourselves from the intruders."

"It's our duty after all."

"For the sake of the village."

They squared up in front of me. Horse-face had an axe, Warthog had a spiked mace. They were both easily twice as tall and twice as broad as I was. I had jack shit to defend myself with, so I rolled my sleeves up and cracked my knuckles,

"Don't say I didn't warn you punks."

I can't lie, I was shitting myself. I mean not literally, like what the fuck I don't even know why I have to explain that, but metaphorically. I was pissing my pants. I was having all kinds of toilet experiences, metaphorically, while I stood there and pretended like I was about to knock out those two behemoths. I knew I'd fucked myself. I mean when you step into these things, you know you have to do it, but you know it's stupid. Sometimes you have to be stupid. You just hope it works out, you know? These things have a way of working out. At that moment, as I looked up at their butt-ugly, sweaty, hairy, just goddamn fucking disgusting faces, I honestly thought, 'Fuck, I'm actually gonna die here, aren't I?' which would be fine if it was just me, but it wasn't just me. I had Ai to think about. When in my life had I needed to give a shit about anyone else? Exactly, never. But now I'd not only screwed myself over, I'd screwed things up for Ai as well. I completely fucked it. I fucked it and I knew I fucked it, but I had to pretend I hadn't. I had to just hope that somehow I was wrong, that somehow my gamble had paid off.

I pulled my leg back, swung it forward as hard and fast as my body would let me, and drove it right up into Horce-face's crotch. Somehow, despite all the rest of his body being totally covered in plate armour, that one part didn't have so much as a piece of fabric protecting it. He crumpled to the floor in a mewling, groaning mess, dropping his axe. I picked it up. My arms were still dead from carrying Ai but somehow I managed to lift the weapon. It was easily three times as big as my own axe back home.

Now Warthog was pissed. He charged at me, tusks first, mace at the ready. I jumped out of the way as he roared past, then I swung the axe around. It was so heavy it span my entire body along with it. I didn't hit anything, but I made myself dizzy.

"Saki, look out!" Ai screamed.

It was Horce-face, he was back up, and now he was pissed too.

"I'm gonna kill you, you little bitch."

"Like fuck you are, dipshit."

"What did you call me!?"

He smacked a hairy knuckle right across my cheek. I staggered back. I could feel myself losing balance. I was sure I was gonna fall, then I felt a pair of hands on my back.

"I've got you, Saki."

"Thanks, Ai."

"Just distract them."

"Huh?"

"I said just distract-"

But she didn't have time to finish her sentence. Warthog's mace was whooshing through the air and our heads were in the firing line. We both ducked just in time.

"Get her, Umanose!" Warthog screamed.

I smirked at Horce-face, "Umanose? Your name is Umanose? That literally means 'horseback', doesn't it? Hahaha!"

Umanose cut my laughter short with a sharp kick to my shins. It took everything I had not to double over in pain. I pulled myself together and took another swing at him with the axe but he was ready for me. He hopped out of the way and knocked it out of my hands with a quick strike. I managed to get a good hit on his jaw with my fists but he didn't even flinch. Then he rammed his knee into my gut and knocked all the air out of me.

"Fuck," I wheezed.

Suddenly I was being dragged away by my head. As I looked up I saw Warthog had me by my hair.

"Now I've got you."

"So what's your name, big boy?" I mocked, still metaphorically pissing myself, "Tonkatsu (pork cutlet)?"

He growled, his filthy breath spewing into my nostrils. It was enough to make you wanna throw up. Thankfully I managed to hold my stomach. Horce-face picked the axe up off the ground. 'This is it', I thought, 'this is how I die. To a pair of fucking farm animals'. I watched Umanose raise the axe above his head. He paused for just a moment, then-

Out of nowhere a rock screamed into Warthog's face, smacking him right in the eye. He reeled back, roaring in pain. I fell to the floor. Horse-face was too busy trying to find where the rock had come from to bother with me. He soon realised what'd happened though. So did I.

"You think one little pebble is gonna do anything, girlie?" he huffed, pointing at Ai.

She picked up another rock, "No. But I think two will do the trick."

Then she threw it. This stone was much bigger than the last one. It was easily as big as a human fist. I watched as it soared over my head and crunched into Horse-face's big nose.

"Saki, now!"

Hearing Ai's call, I rolled away from Umanose just as he collapsed to the floor. As I pushed myself to my knees there she was, her hand outstretched to help me up.

"You're a lifesaver," I said, "let's open that gate before these bozos have a chance to stop us."

We ran for the gate. I had no idea what we were gonna do once we were actually in town; it was only a matter of time before the guards let everyone know that we'd fucked them up. When that happened, well, we'd be lucky to get out alive. But we had to try. Ai was already dying, and it didn't matter what happened to me. This was all or nothing.

Then there we were. The gate, standing high and mighty before us. I just had to push it open. But as I leaned my hands on its wooden surface, out of nowhere came Warthog, charging into us at full speed.

"This time you'll stay down!" he grunted as he pushed Ai aside and threw his whole body into me, squishing me into dirt beneath him.

I could feel every bone in my body being compressed under his enormous blubbery gut. His breath stank like rotten meat. On instinct I headbutted him as hard as I could. That startled him (and sent a splitting pain through my skull), but no matter how much I wriggled about I couldn't free my arms from underneath him, and if I couldn't free my arms there was no way I was gonna get his fat body off me. I thought I'd given myself an opening, but all I did was piss him off even more. He stared at me with his bloodshot, yellow eyes. Now it was my turn to take a headbutt, except if he headbutted me my skull was as good as mush. I couldn't breathe. I didn't even have enough air in my lungs to call out Ai's name.

I was about ready to give up, when off to the side I heard a loud thump followed by the long groan of creaking wood. The gate was being opened. Was it Ai? Warthog tried to look behind him but his thick neck wouldn't turn enough.

"What on Earth is going on here?"

That voice, I recognised it, but where-

"Ah, m'lady!" Warthog spluttered, quickly clambering to his feet and giving a salute to the voice. I looked past him and suddenly I realised who it was.

"Reiko!?" I blurted out.

She shoo'd Warthog out of the way. When she caught sight of me sprawled out on the floor she gasped and took a step back in shock.

"...Saki!?"

It was the mayor's daughter. The girl who got me kicked out of town in the first place. Not that it was her fault.

I smirked, "How do I look? Sexy as ever?"

"What are you doing here?"

The guard did an about face, "This ruffian was trying to break through the gate, m'lady. She attacked us, unprovoked, and her accomplice nearly killed us with her missile weapons."

I sat up, "He means she knocked out Horse-face with a rock."

For a moment I thought I saw a hint of a grin cross Reiko's face but she quickly wiped it off as Warthog leaned closer to her and whispered, loudly enough for me to hear, "Don't let them trick you m'lady. The other one looks to be some kind of dark magic user. She has strange marks on her body."

"He means burn scars."

He huffed and stomped his feet in the dirt, "You're not fooling anyone, miscreant. Do you know who you are in the presence of?"

"Kirishima Reiko, the daughter of Kirishima Hirooki, the town mayor."

Warthog's jaw hit the ground.

"If you want," I continued, "I can tell you her bust size too? Not that it'd mean much to you. Have you even seen real human tits before, Tonkatsu? Yeah, I didn't think so."

That made him literally shake with rage. Reiko seemed kinda annoyed too, but she'd forgive me, or at least I hoped she would.

"Ahem, well then," she said, trying to hide her blushing cheeks, "I think it's best I take care of these two myself."

"But m'lady-"

"Someone needs to look after Umanose, and seeing as you're his friend..."

"But, but-"

"No buts! Now, Saki," she continued, crouching down and helping me to my feet, "let's go explain everything to your friend, shall we?"

She winked at me as I took her hand. I tried not to let Warthog see my smile. I shoulda known Reiko would be still be a troublemaker. Ai was sitting in the mud not far from the now-open gate. As I approached her with Reiko she looked totally confused.

"Saki?"

"Ai, don't worry," I whispered, "This girl here? We used to fuck back in the day."

Reiko punched my arm.

"Ow! What the hell! It's the truth ain't it?!"

"You could be a bit more subtle about it!"

"What's the point of that?"

Then Ai interrupted, "I'm sorry but, who are you?"

"Ai," I said, "I just told you, she's-"

"I'm Kirishima Reiko. I manage the daily affairs of the town with my father, the mayor, Kirishima Hirooki. And yes, I used be Saki's girlfriend before she got on the wrong side of my father," she looked over her shoulder to check that Warthog and his buddy weren't listening in, "I'm sorry the guards caused you so much trouble."

"They attacked us completely unprovoked. They would've killed us had you not intervened."

"It wasn't my choice to hire them."

"Then why are they here?"

"Well... there'd been rumours about certain people wandering into town at night."

I slapped Reiko on the back, "You mean me, right?"

"…yes."

"Hah! I knew it. The bigotry in this shithole is unbelievable. The amount your dad must've shelled out just to keep me away... god damn is he crazy!"

Ai wasn't laughing, "Does that mean we won't be able to see the doctor?"

Reiko just stared into the dirt beneath Ai's feet. That wiped the smile off my face.

"Reiko," I said, "we need to see that doctor. Ai's life depends on it."

"What's wrong with her?"

"We don't know, but it's not good. She can barely walk as it is. There's no way she can make a second trip in her condition."

Reiko sighed, "There might be a way. But you'll have to wait here."

"What, with the guards!?"

"No, I'll take them with me. Just... just wait here."

Reiko went back to Warthog. He protested as she explained the situation, but obeying her command was his job whether he liked it or not, so he picked up Horce-face and went back through the gate, closing it behind him with a deep clunk. I had a little stretch then sat down next to Ai. Beyond the wall I could hear the townspeople chatting merrily as they went about their business. I could even picture it in my mind - assuming the street looked the same. A lot of shit had changed in just a few weeks. A few weeks ago I was still alone, chopping down trees for the hell of it. A month ago I was still sneaking into town to spy on Reiko and buy actually decent food that didn't taste like rubber after you cooked it.

I felt Ai's fingers slide over mine. I let my fingers interlock with hers and held her hand tight.

"You okay?" I asked.

It was so dark now that only the warm torchlight illuminated her pale face, "Saki… I love you."

Suddenly a weird feeling washed over me, like a warm waterfall cascading down from my shoulders. I don't think even Reiko had said those words to me before.

"Ai, what, I mean, why-"

"I wish I never had to leave."

"You don't have to leave, Ai. We're gonna fix this, you haven't gotta go anywhere, okay?"

Tears glistened on her cheeks as she looked up at the night sky, "I can feel myself drifting away. I don't know how much longer I have left."

"The doctor'll be here any minute."

"I don't think they can help me."

"Yes he can."

"I have to go back to the moon."

"To that prince? Yeah, fuck that."

She started shaking, "I can only think of one way back up there…"

"What… you don't mean…?"

"Yes, the lightning. I have to get struck by it again."

"Can't they just send someone for you?"

"I don't know. I've never met anyone who came down to Earth. We weren't meant to leave the moon, so it didn't matter."

"It isn't gonna matter. You're not going back."

"I have to, if I want to live."

"Ai-"

Before I could say any more the gate swung open. From beyond the wall came Reiko with a tall figure dressed in long black robes following close behind. They walked towards us. As they passed by the torches I could see the robed figure was a woman, and that she had bandages wrapped all around her legs and neck.

"Saki," Reiko began, "this is Yamada Tae, a travelling apothecary."

"What happened to the old doctor?" I asked, noticing that the 'apothecary' had drool running down her chin.

"He retired."

"I leave you alone for just one month and suddenly you guys do all this shit?"

"She's more than capable of helping your girlfriend, Saki. We're lucky to have her. She's so good at her job that they call her The Legendary Yamada Tae."

The 'legendary' Yamada Tae let out a low, animalistic groan at the mention of her name. Ai wasn't buying it either.

"Why is she covered in bandages?" she asked.

Tae slid her hands out from under her long sleeves and gripped the collar of her robe. Then, in one smooth motion, she tore her entire robe in half, exposing her scarred, bandaged body to us.

"Woah…"

Reiko seemed as shocked as I was.

"Uh, Doctor? Are you all right?"

Tae started gibbering and flailing her arms at Ai. That's when I noticed that the skin on her arms was grey. Some parts were almost blue. She staggered closer and closer. Ai tried to shuffle away on her butt, but she didn't get far; within moments Tae was all over her, tearing her clothes off in a frenzy of teeth and nails.

"Oi, what the fuck do you think you're doing!?" I roared.

"Stop, stop!" Ai cried. I grabbed the crazed doctor by the shoulders and tried to drag her off but she was too strong. She sent me reeling with just a flick of her arm.

"Reiko, stop her!"

She was frozen in shock.

"God damn it!"

Without hesitation I leapt onto the 'legendary' apothecary, pinning her to the ground just beside Ai. She had a bit of Ai's shirt still caught between her teeth.

"Ughntthhgfahhh!" she growled.

"If you think you can molest my girlfriend and get away with it then you've got another thing coming, asshole."

I expected her to fight back, but after hearing my words she just flopped back into the dirt. I released my grip on her, just a little at first, but she didn't try to attack. Instead she slowly raised her arm and pointed up to the sky.

"What now?" I asked, not even trying to hide my exasperation. Against my better judgement I turned to see what she was pointing at. When I saw it my blood ran cold.

It was the moon. The moon was staring us in the face, and we had nowhere to hide.

I looked back at Tae.

"You goddamn-" I began, but my words caught in my throat. She was glowing. Yamada Tae was glowing just like Ai did. I looked over at Ai and she was glowing too.

"…what-"

Then out of nowhere Tae pushed me to the floor, grabbed my head with both of her bandaged hands and opened her mouth wide. Her breath stank even worse than Warthog's earlier.

"No no no no no no NO! I don't know what the fuck you think you're doing, but it ain't happening!"

I grabbed her wrists and pulled with all my strength to try and pry her off of me.

"Ghlahrghgha!" she slobbered, leaning closer.

I started punching her in the chest, but hitting her was like hitting a brick wall. Nothing seemed to faze her. I could almost taste her breath at the back of my throat. "Stop!" I heard Reiko cry, as she wrapped her arms around Tae's waist and tried to pull her away.

"What the fuck is wrong with you!?" I yelled, then my lips were sealed as the mad doctor pressed her mouth against mine.

Her tongue tasted just as bad as her breath smelled. It was wet, sticky, and rough like sandpaper. As she ground her tongue against mine she started to puff air into my mouth like she was blowing up a balloon. I couldn't pull my head away. Her long hair poked me in the eyes and crawled up my nose. Everyone was screaming and shouting and at one point I felt like I was gonna throw up but thank fuck I didn't cos can you imagine how shit that would've been?

Then she released me. I pushed her away and immediately started spitting out all the saliva I could. I wiped my mouth with my sleeve but the taste wouldn't go away.

"Saki, are you all right?"

I rubbed my eyes, which were sore from the battering they'd taken from the apothecary's hair. It was Ai. Her body was shining bone white in the darkness.

"Forget about me, we need to get you inside."

I leaned on my knees as I felt my gut start to heave. I didn't wanna throw up, but puke is a lot like gas: better out than in. I've eaten some weird shit in my time, drunk some fucking godawful beer, but I can say with complete certainty that Yamada Tae's tongue is by far the most disgusting thing I've ever had in my mouth.

"Well," I sighed as the heaving finally stopped, "obviously this quack is fucking useless. We've gotta go find another doctor or something. But first we need to get inside, like right now. If we don't, you'll…"

Ai was staring at me, wide-eyed, mouth agape.

"…Ai? You okay? What's wrong?"

With one hand covering her mouth she pointed at me, "Saki… you're… glowing."

"What the fuck do you mean I'm glowing?"

I looked down at my hands. Sure enough, they were glowing bright white, even brighter than Ai was.

"No…" I mumbled, "you're kidding."

I unbuttoned my flannel shirt. My chest was glowing. My stomach was glowing. Every part of me was lit up from the inside, as if there was a huge lantern hidden in my gut.

"You…" I growled, turning to the mad doctor, who was now sitting on the floor chewing on her own hair. "You did this to me…"

Ignoring my anger, she bit off the hair she was chewing and swallowed it whole. She wasn't glowing anymore. She looked normal, just like Reiko or anyone else. Just like I used to.

I turned to Reiko, panicking now, "Why didn't you keep old doctor!? He wouldn't have given me this shit!"

"Saki, calm down."

"Calm down? Calm down? Are you serious!? Look at me!"

"There must be something-"

"There's nothing. If you're outdoors at night, you're fucked. That's all there is to it."

"Saki, I-"

"Look, you've gotta let us in. You have to explain it to your dad."

"He'll never listen to me. If he finds out I've brought you in he'll just throw you both in prison."

"I'd take that over dying, any day."

Ai looked up at the moon, "Saki, we have to go, while we still have time."

"Go where? Back through the field!?"

Her light was streaming up into the sky; her skin getting dimmer and dimmer by the second.

"Reiko, please," I begged, "even if you can't let me in, Ai hasn't done anything wrong."

Ai grabbed my shoulders, "Saki, what are you saying?"

"Go take shelter without me. I'll sleep out here."

"I'm not going anywhere without you."

"The longer we stand here the less time we have before everything's fucked, so just get-"

Suddenly a saliva-coated, bandage-wrapped hand slapped itself over my mouth. It was Tae. In her other hand was an empty glass flask.

"Gghuuahh!" she said, then she took her hand off my mouth and bent her head over the flask. Before I could ask what the hell she was doing she violently puked up a torrent of bright blue liquid into the container till it was full to the brim, bubbling and steaming and smelling faintly of over-ripe apples.

Ai was speechless. Reiko looked disgusted. Honestly, I was actually a little impressed that her vomit smelled as good as it did.

"Aaagghhh!" she beamed, looking very pleased with herself, then in one smooth motion she grabbed the back of Ai's head and poured the liquid into her open mouth.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" I yelled, "you can't just do that shit without asking!"

Ai immediately gagged and tried to spit it out, but Tae wasn't having any of it. I was about to shove Tae out of the way but then I saw the glow start to spread along Ai's cheeks. A bright light, brighter and paler than the full moon. It trickled down her skin, seeped through her hair. It melted across her entire body from tip to toe till she looked like a human spotlight.

Tae took a step back and admired her work.

"Nngrnraah!" she commented.

Ai's energy wasn't floating out of her anymore. All the tiredness was gone from her eyes. She looked just like when we first met. Well, minus the open wounds and third-degree burns. Also this time she had clothes on - or what was left of them after Tae had finished trying to eat them. With a sigh of relief I wrapped my arm around Reiko's shoulder.

"All right, okay, I take it back. This doctor of yours isn't so bad after all."

"I don't understand any part of what's going on right now, but I'm glad you're not dying."

"Yeah, that's a good point, I'm not dying… at least I don't think I am…"

I looked at my body. Just like with Ai, my light wasn't leaking out or drifting off into the dark void above. It was all mine. If the moon people wanted some they'd have to come get it in person, rather than vacuuming it up from far away like a bunch of space pussies.

"Hey doc," I asked, "how the hell did you even do this?"

But she was off in her own world, intently sniffing her index finger. I tried asking her the same question a couple more times and Reiko waved a hand in front of her face but nothing could break her focus. We stood around in silence for a while, well aware that we couldn't go into town, but also aware of the fact that the only other option was to trek all the way back into the forest. Yeah, no thanks. I started telling Ai about some of the crazier shit Reiko and I used to get up to, but just as I got to juicy bits the town gate opened again to reveal the dynamic duo, Warthog and Horse-face, along with a special guest.

"Father!" Reiko cried out.

"Oh shit," I mumbled under my breath.

The old man didn't waste any time. He pointed a commanding finger at us and his two guards leapt into action like the faithful pets they were.

"Get them, especially the blonde one!"

Ai locked eyes with me, "Saki!"

"I'm way ahead of you."

We ran back down the hillside as fast as we could, the mayor's two cronies galloping after us full throttle. There was no going back now. As we ploughed through the grass, with tweedle-dumb and tweedle-dumber huffing and puffing close behind us, a thought crossed my mind:

'That might've been the last time I ever get to speak to Reiko…'

I still remembered how the light used to fall on her hair as we lay in bed together at her dad's house. The streets were always so quiet first thing in the morning. No one was up, not even the mayor, so no one ever saw me sneaking out. We were like two nightbirds. If some random idiot hadn't reported me 'breaking in' through the window no one would ever have known about our relationship, and we'd still be together now. I almost convinced her to join me in the forest when I finally decided to up and leave, but that wasn't the life she wanted. She was never really an outsider, not like me. She belonged in the town. For a while I thought I did, too… but the other residents taught me otherwise. I don't blame her though. She was right to stay. It made sense. And honestly, just being real with you, I can't hate a girl with a face as pretty as hers. Hell, until I met Ai, Reiko was the most beautiful woman I'd ever met. She probably wouldn't feel good knowing she'd been beaten by a girl completely covered in burn scars, but she knows what I'm like. I like 'em weird.

"Saki, wait!"

"What?" I replied, looking over to see Ai's face contorted in horror.

Then it hit me. A full-frontal body blast from one of the trees on the edge of the forest. From the side of my head right down to my crotch, a big ole pole of pain piercing right through my body.

I hit the deck. Ai was pulling on my arm but I was too frazzled to move. That's what I get for being sentimental.

"The guards!" I garbled, "they're gonna catch up! You've gotta run!"

"They're gone," her voice was quiet, calm.

"Gone…? What do you mean they're gone?"

But sure enough, when the world had stopped spinning and my legs weren't made of jello, I could see with my own two eyes: we were alone. The only thing stirring the long grass was the wind. Even the night sky was empty save for the bright, blue moon. I guess they got fed up of chasing us.

I never intended us to travel back through woods at night. Not in the flooded, muddy shithole state it was in, especially. The moon can only penetrate so far down into the thick, tangled canopy. In some parts it was almost pitch darkness. Good luck navigating through that with just moonlight to guide you.

Except things had changed. Now we didn't need the moon's help. We had our own moonlight, and between us we were easily as bright as a dozen torches.

"I shoulda visited that apothecary sooner," I joked, "this shit ain't half bad."

"Do you think it's permanent?"

"If it is, that means you don't have to go back, right?"

She kept her eyes focused ahead and continued walking, silent. The journey was endless. Every step was like wading through liquid cement. Rivers flowed where pathways once were, the few pieces of solid ground that remained were mere islands in-between murky debris-filled lakes. In the darkness, the light from our bodies sparkled bright white in the muddy water surrounding us, like reverse shadows.

"I'll tell ya one thing, Ai, we're gonna sleep well tonight."

Then, as if to spite me, a deep rumble of thunder rolled through the air. 'Typical,' I thought, 'of course it chooses now to start raining again'. We heard the rain long before we saw or felt it, hammering against the leaves far above. When we reached a clearing it was obvious it was more than just a brief shower. It was absolutely pouring down, just like yesterday.

Ai was shivering.

"You cold?"

I knew she wasn't. When she didn't reply, I grabbed her hand.

"Don't worry, we're almost home now," I said, although I actually had no idea how close we were. In the end we trudged through the waterlogged maze of trees and gloop for hours without progress till finally I couldn't take it any more.

"How the fuck are we not there yet!?" I yelled as rain pummelled my head.

Lightning shot across the clouds looming above us. Ai practically leapt out of her skin.

"You said we were almost home!"

"I thought we were! I really did! We shoulda been indoors ages ago!"

The area we were standing in looked just as muddy and rain-wrecked as the rest of the forest. I didn't have a fucking clue where we were. Even with my bioluminescence, I couldn't see shit in the rain. We ambled half-blind towards a denser patch of trees nearby to take shelter. As we got under the cover of the thick leaves I heard a crunch under my boots.

"What the fuck?"

I looked down and saw it was a thin plank of wood. It was charred black, like half-used firewood. 'That's weird,' I thought, 'where the hell did that come from?'

As I crouched down to get a better look I noticed sharp glimmers of light in the dirt. Broken glass. I let my eyes wander and as I did I spotted a doorknob sticking up out of the mud along with more scorched wood splinters.

"Saki, what are you looking at?"

I stepped out into the rain, my gaze focused on my feet. I followed the glass.

"Saki? Saki!?"

Within seconds I found a cooking pot, upturned and buried under some stones, and a blanket being whipped back and forth like an embattled flag in a nearby tree. Just a few feet away from that was a mattress. That looked like it'd been set on fire too.

"Saki for god's sake what're you-"

At that point even she could see it.

"The hut…" I said under my breath, "it's…"

I couldn't take my eyes off my axe, lying there in the mud next to what was left of the fireplace.

"What happened?" Ai asked.

"Looks like it burned down."

"But we put the fire out before we left!"

Another stab of lightning pierced the sky, its thunder rolling through the forest like a stampede.

"It has nothing to do with the fireplace and you know it."

I wrapped my fingers round the axe handle and lifted it from the mud. It was cold and damp, but it was familiar. It was mine. It was still mine.

"They must've really wanted to piss me off. Well they succeeded."

"This must be a mistake. This can't be it."

I gritted my teeth, "No mistake. They destroyed everything. I guess I'm gonna just have to make a whole new house out of fucking nothing."

"This is all my fault."

"What?"

I turned to face Ai. Her hair was like a waterfall in the rain.

"I've caused you nothing but trouble since I came down to Earth."

"That's not true."

"I even destroyed that tree you like."

"By accident! I don't blame you for that."

"You never told me that it bothered you but I could tell."

"Look, a lot of shit happened, alright, but I'm over it now. This isn't the time."

"I should've gone back to the moon when things started going wrong. It was selfish of me to stay here."

"Stop talking like that! You don't mean that shit!"

"I'm being serious, Saki."

"No, you're being crazy. You can't seriously want to go back to those fuckers up there."

"Of course I don't want to go! But what other choice do I have?"

"You can stay here, you moron! You think going will help me? I've already lost everything. If you go… I'll…I-"

"If I stay things will only get worse."

I laughed bitterly, "Worse? What could possibly be worse than this?"

"You could die."

"Hah! At this point that'd be an improvement, honestly…"

The rain hissed in my ears. This wasn't how it was meant to be. Things had seemed so straightforward before. Just chop trees, kick ass, day in, day out. No worries, no surprises. Life has no complications when you live on your own. Being alone is easy… or that's what I used to think. Actually it's a fucking nightmare, a dead weight sitting on your chest, crushing the life out of you one day at a time. I wasn't going back to that again. No way in hell.

"Fine," I sighed, "if you think returning to the moon will fix it, I'm not gonna stop you…"

I could see the hurt in her eyes.

"…but you're not going on your own."

"...wait, what?"

"I'm saying I'm coming with you. If those bastards think they can fuck up my life from the shadows they've got another thing coming."

"Is that even possible?"

"I'm glowing, ain't I?"

"But we're not even sure how it works. I was just going to go back to that tree and wait for the storm to take me. It's barely a plan."

"What other options do we have? I mean these guys fucking love lightning, right? Might as well give it a shot."

"No you don't understand. My body isn't like yours. I've already survived one lightning bolt."

"Barely."

"But I survived. You could die in an instant."

"We don't know what these assholes are capable of. Either one of us could get fried this time. I'm not gonna leave you to face that on your own. Besides, you hate storms. Why the hell would you wanna endure that by yourself?"

"But-"

"No buts. Whatever we do, we do it together."

I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her so close that I could feel her breath on my neck, "Ai, listen to me. I love you. I don't wanna be here without you. You're more important to me than some glorified shed ever could be. I've spent so many years feeling alone. Even among other people I was alone. I'm always alone. You're the first person who's ever really understood me. When people talk to me, they have that look in their eyes, you know? Like I'm from another planet. They look at me and they don't see another person. They just see a weirdo, a pain in the ass who won't shut up. But not you. You look at me and there's no judgement in your eyes. Do you know how good that feels?"

"…I do now."

I smiled, "I never knew I was capable of feeling this way about another person till I met you."

I leaned back so that we were eye-to-eye again, cupped her soaking wet cheeks with my soaking wet hands and said, "That's why I can't let you go on your own. I can't live without you, Ai. Without you... I have no reason to be alive."

"Saki..."

"Either that fucking lightning bolt takes us both to the moon together, or it kills us... together. What do you say?"

Her lips curled into that beautiful wry smile, and she said, "Let's go give 'em hell."

"Now that's what I'm talkin' about!"

Snakes and lizards and birds and boars and just about every damn thing with a pulse was rushing through the rapidly flooding forest as if Noah's Ark had just crash landed nearby. We were up to our knees in it most of the time, and by it I mean mud and bird shit. Even the vultures stopped by to say hello, and again, by say hello I mean take a shit right in front of us.

"I'm not a toilet, you prick!"

By the time we finally made it to the silver tree we were soaked to the bone, shivering, coated in mud and shit and generally in about as a shitty a mood as you could ever imagine being in. I was primed and ready to sink my axe into some fucker's skull. I'd never killed a person before but hey, there's always a first time, right?

Just like before, somehow the silver tree had withstood the wind and rain and kept its poise, standing tall on the little hill in the clearing. Its glow was gone and its leaves were dead, but I could still see the beauty it once possessed. To me it would always be beautiful.

"You've been with me through thick and thin buddy. I just need one last favour from you, if you don't mind."

We sat down right at the spot where the lightning bolt that Ai arrived in split the tree in two. In one hand I held my axe, and in the other I held Ai's hand.

"It's gonna be okay," I reassured her.

She was shaking all over, "Y-Yeah."

"If you can land in this tree, you can fly back up out of it no problem."

"Mmm," she mumbled. I probably could've said any nonsense and she wouldn't have heard me.

Now her teeth were chattering. It crossed my mind that if the lightning didn't kill us, we were probably both gonna die of pneumonia. At least I would, anyway.

Ai yelped as another explosion of thunder rushed through the forest. Then I felt the hairs on the back of my neck begin to stand on end. Something was coming. I wrapped my arms around Ai.

"S-Saki?"

"We've gotta keep warm, don't you think? It's cold out here."

The wind started to pick up. Clouds swirled overhead, blocking out the stars but not the moon, which stared down at us from the darkness. The clouds formed a whirlpool around it, churning closer and closer to the earth with every rotation. I looked at Ai. She had both her eyes closed, thank fuck. Suddenly several bolts of lightning shot down into the forest one after the other after other. Thunder filled the air, suffocating all other sound. Ai started sobbing uncontrollably.

"Oh god Saki I can't do this! I'm not ready! I don't want it to hit me, I don't wanna see it! I can't-"

"I'm here with you Ai. I'm right here. That lightning bolt ain't gonna do shit to you, you understand me? It ain't gonna do shit because it has to go through me first, and nothing is getting through me, nothing. I won't let it hurt you."

She pressed her face into my chest. She was squeezing my shirt so tightly she was almost tearing the buttons out. I leaned my head on hers so that her hair stroked my cheeks, and I kissed her gently.

"Ai," I said, "I love you. I promise you'll be safe."

Then it came. A white hot flash searing the air, searing my skin, blinding my eyes. I screamed, but I couldn't hear myself over the thunder's roar, which was so deep and booming that it shook every damn bone in my body. I held Ai as tight as I could. Nothing was gonna take her from me, not even death.

"You son of a bitch!" I roared into the blistering heat, "If I survive this, I'm gonna fucking kill you!"

Then everything was darkness.