Pompeii
Chapter 42
jaylene

"Zetsu," Sakura greeted, unable to help her grin as the man stumbled through the front door. It had been a while since an appointment actually came to fruition. "How may I help you today?"

He glanced up at her and she saw now that he was muttering to himself, expression stormy. Sakura's smile fell as he approached. She hoped that he hadn't turned on her, not like the others.

"Zetsu?" she said, keeping her voice soft as she braced for the rejection that was about to come.

His eyes cleared and he shook his head, meeting her gaze for the first time since his arrival. "Sakura," he said, before dropping his eyes away from her. "It is good to see you well."

Sakura contained a snort, knowing she looked nothing of the sort. She wasn't sleeping well these days and no amount of dreamcatchers would help her. No, what kept her awake these nights was nowhere near supernatural in nature. Just ordinary fears and doubts. Not that Zetsu would know, considering the way he kept his gaze averted.

"So what can I do for you today?" Sakura asked. "You didn't really specify when booking the appointment."

Zetsu looked around the room, body tense. "Is this a safe place to speak?"

"We can go back to one of the treatment rooms," Sakura said, standing from her desk. "It is more private than at the front desk." It was highly unlikely anyone would walk in, especially considering the frosty treatment she was receiving from Pompeii's citizens, but she wanted Zetsu to feel comfortable.

Zetsu grabbed her wrist, halting her. "No," he hissed. "Is it safe from prying magic? Is there anyone listening in?"

"I...I don't know," Sakura said haltingly, her own gaze roving the clinic. It'd taken a while to clean considering the trashing that it received and she hadn't noticed anything out of the ordinary at that time. "Is that likely?"

Zetsu's jaw tightened as he nodded. Sakura's face fell. Of course, why hadn't she thought of this herself? She was considered a threat by most of Pompeii, questionable at best. She was being naive.

"I apologize," Zetsu murmured as he stepped closer to her, encircling her in a loose embrace. A few of the fronds of his venus flytrap brushed against her as he did so.

"Zetsu?" Sakura said, hands splaying on his chest, ready to shove him away.

"A moment please."

Before Sakura had a chance to inquire further, they began sinking into the floor. It was a unique experience, unlike even traveling to the Goblin Market. She felt non-solid, almost liquid in nature. She couldn't see anything aside from Zetsu's chest and something about the strange slurping noise around her told her that was for the best.

Finally, it stopped and Sakura stumbled back, catching herself against a tree.

"What was that?" she demanded, chest heaving. She ran her hands over the goosebumps that lined her arms, surprised and relieved to feel the solidity of her being.

"A precaution," Zetsu replied, striding around their environment with purpose. Gold sigils lit his arms as he muttered ancient phrases beneath his breath, before sigils streamed from his body to the walls of the cave.

Sakura blinked, taking in their surroundings for the first time. From the ceiling of rock above them, Sakura knew they were beneath the ground, though the environment itself didn't suggest as such. The ground was alive with waist high grasses and fruitful plants, the likes of which Sakura had never seen. There were mushrooms larger than her head growing out of the rock walls and Sakura even noticed various crystal formations lining the garden. Almost everything glowed with an eerie, captivating bioluminescence.

"Where are we?" Sakura asked.

"This is my home," Zetsu said, turning back toward her. In the lighting provided by the plants and crystals, his eyes shone gold.

"There's no exit," Sakura said flatly, looking around. She did her best not to show the way her anxiety was spiking, though she wasn't sure of her success. "How in the world are we breathing?"

"The stone is porous," Zetsu said, "and I've amplified the production of oxygen from these plants. I may be shackled but I am not incompetent ."

"And why have you brought me here?" Sakura asked, ignoring his shackles comment for the moment. There were more pressing concerns.

"We need to speak, away from the prying eyes and ears of Pompeii's citizens," Zetsu said. "I've seen the way they poke and prod at your life, examining you like an interesting specimen of study. You're the new commodity in town and they think they've a right to you for it."

Sakura frowned, crossing her arms. "But what is it you need to tell me?" Zetsu twitched and Sakura read the hesitation in his posture. She softened her defensive stance, stepping forward and brushing a hand along his arm. "Whatever it is, I will hear you out." She smiled bitterly. "It's the least I can do for a friend."

"I cannot defy- silence ! No! She is kind to us. We will be punished- I don't care- not merciful! " Zetsu's face screwed up as he warred with himself. " Who took care of the pruning ?" he demanded, his voice almost a roar. And then there was silence.

"Zetsu," Sakura said softly, looking up at him, a question in her eyes.

He turned and, beneath her scrutiny, relaxed. "I trust you," he said in earnest, grasping one of her hands. "I know you are not at fault for what is currently happening; it has happened before, long before your arrival."

Sakura startled. "Really? Then why hasn't anyone realized?"

"It was before Pompeii, before any of them came here."

"Well how do I show them? What can I do?" she asked, desperate for answers. Finally, finally , someone was willing to give them to her. It did not escape her notice that the one giving the answers was on the very fringes of Pompeii's society. "Who do I talk to?"

His face screwed up again and Sakura knew he was fighting himself. "The knights," he said, voice quiet. "The flower knights."

Sakura nodded, choosing not to ask how Zetsu knew of them. It was hard enough getting answers to these critical questions. She couldn't waste her time on the superfluous.

"Thank you Zetsu," Sakura said, heart warmed. She pressed up onto her toes and brushed a kiss across his cheek. The fronds of the flytrap fluttered as she did so. "It's reassuring to know that I still have friends."

As they began to sink into the ground again, Zetsu leaned in close, expression urgent. "Don't trust the trees, Sakura. They whisper and lie. They drive people to commit madness...to be mad. No place is safe except here and the shrine. Be careful."

With this parting warning, Zetsu deposited her safely within the clinic, before disappearing once more into her tiled floor.

Sakura scrubbed her hands down her arms, wishing things weren't so complicated.

"Hello," Sakura greeted, weaving among the trees into the clearing that marked the home of the knights.

Since Zetsu mentioned that this place was safe, Sakura could now feel some of her anxiety and doubts abate, shed from her skin as easily as water. She wasn't entirely sure if it was because this location was sacred or because she just felt safer here, but she felt a bit better.

Marigold's faceplate turned in her direction as it stood from the weathered shrine. It cocked its head to the side slightly, crossing its arms.

"I know, I know," Sakura said, raising her hands in surrender. "It's been a while. Things have been...heated in town."

Daffodil's hand came down on her shoulder, nearly spooking Sakura out of her skin. She leapt away from it, as if its touch scalded. It immediately stepped away from her, ducking its head as Marigold smacked it.

"No," Sakura said, laying a hand on each of them. "I've just been a bit on edge recently. Please don't start fighting."

The sets of armor parted from each other, turning their full attention to Sakura. She wilted slightly beneath their gaze, before bolstering herself. She was here for answers; she had to ask questions to get them.

"Someone told me that the forest has acted up before," Sakura said as she took a seat by the pond and placed her feet in the water. The pond, Sakura had discovered on an earlier visit, ran warm, more like bath water than anything else. "Is that true?"

The knights looked to each other for a moment before tapping twice, remembering the game they played the last time Sakura plied them for answers.

"Okay," Sakura said, inhaling deeply. "Was it before Pompeii was founded?"

Two taps.

"Were you present for it?"

Again, another two taps from the daffodil knight.

Sakura bit her lip, thinking back on their previous game of question and answer.

"Are you aware of when it started this time?"

The knights hesitated and Sakura saw that Daffodil was looking at Marigold. They were expressionless, so she couldn't get an exact read on their hesitation. Finally, two taps came from Marigold, who hadn't participated up until this point. It kept its flower-filled gaze set in her direction, seemingly trying to prove a point to Daffodil.

"Was it…" Sakura swallowed, warring with herself for a moment. She wasn't sure she wanted an answer to this one, but she had to ask. "Was it around the time you remember waking up?"

Two taps from Marigold as Daffodil averted its helm.

Sakura breathed deep, as her stomach swooped. She feared she might be sick. This-the knights, the trees, everything -it all catalyzed with her. Her arrival woke the slumbering beasts, ones that hadn't been seen since before Pompeii. And now, whatever the reason for it, innocent people were suffering. Perhaps, perhaps, it was just a case of coincidence, of simple correlation. However, in Sakura's experience that was rarely, if ever, the case. Somewhere in her gut, Sakura knew the truth.

She was the cause of all of this.

"How did it end last time?" Sakura asked, scrambling to her feet and placing a hand on Marigold in entreaty. "How was the forest stopped?"

Silence met her. The knights looked to each other again for a long moment as Marigold stared Daffodil down. Daffodil threw its hands up and they both returned their gaze her way. As one, they pointed to something beyond Sakura.

Sakura turned, paling as she caught sight of what they were indicating.

The knights pointed to the headstone of the shrine.

The Maiden .

Sakura began her trek back to Pompeii in a daze, unsure how to handle the information she just received. The knights tried comforting her, but there was little that they could do. There was little she could do.

The Maiden sacrificed herself for the sake of Pompeii and its founding; most likely in a fight against this damn forest. And now...well, what was Sakura supposed to do? Was she to throw herself upon the pyre, perishing for the safety of the town? It was a pretty image, neat, heroic martyrdom.

Sakura didn't think she could do it.

She wasn't the Maiden, she wasn't a person that people spoke of with awe and respect in their voices. She wasn't the person that festivals were held for. She wasn't the person that people remembered. She wasn't the person who saved people; hell, Sakura couldn't even save herself.

Sakura pressed the palms of her hands hard against her eyelids, fighting off the urge to cry. It wasn't the time and it wasn't the place for it. She took a few deep, calming breaths, focusing on the movement of air in and out of her lungs until she was centered once more. Shaking her head to free herself of the residual onslaught of tears, Sakura looked up.

She frowned at what she saw.

Ahead of her, among the thick copse of trees that surrounded her on all sides, was a peach tree. It hung heavy and low with the fruit of its labor; despite the fact that it was out of season for peaches. The peaches were dappled pinks and oranges, tantalizing even at this distance. In fact, Sakura could nearly swear that she smelled them…

Something about the scent snapped her out of her daze and she blinked hard, scrubbing her eyes. Without notice, she'd stumbled closer to the peach tree. Fear pricked the back of her neck as Sakura turned in the opposite direction, heading back toward the clinic.

She continued on for a few moments before, unable to resist temptation, she looked back.

The tree was gone, vanished as if it never existed.

Still, the scent lingered in her nostrils, heady with unfulfilled promises.

Sakura picked up her pace, gladly leaving the forest behind.