A/N: Hi! Me again :3 Chapters from here on out might be a tad longer, but I'll try to keep them concise, I promise! Anyway, on to Chapter 2. Enjoy!
The windows of Leah's cottage were broken in when Faye and Pippa reached the clearing. Faye jumped off and rushed inside, but aside from overturned furniture and decimated sculptures, Leah was not inside.
She probably ran off to Marnie's.
She hoped to find them all safe. The ill-colored mist was clogging up her nostrils and making it hard to breathe. But when a deep slash struck her leg, she swallowed some of the mist in pained surprise as blood ran anew down her leg. Behind her, a Shadow Brute had attacked her with a wide grin on its face.
Not these too.
Stumbling, Faye swung her sword and managed to damage the Brute. It staggered back, and before it had another chance to lunge at her again, she aimed for its head, effectively decapitating it. She looked down to her leg, reached into her pack for some bandages, and wrapped up her fresh wound. She had sustained injuries like this before, but she did not want a whole night's fill of them.
Marnie's livestock were not grazing within their compound like usual. Faye jumped the fence, and along with the thickness of the sickly mist, black smoke was mixing in like something was burning profusely nearby.
To her mixed relief, Marnie and Jas were pale, unconscious, and stuffed in brown sacks, hair a mess and scratches on their faces as far as Faye could see. She checked their pulses. Weak, but still beating. From within their house, snarling and growling were heard, and just then it was a miracle they weren't taken alive. However, both Leah and Shane were nowhere to be seen, so she headed towards the back. The mooing of Marnie's cows and the panicked clucking of the chickens and roosters became louder and louder the closer she went. She peered behind the back of the barn, and her eyes widened.
"…These things were always too much trouble," Shane was grumbling under his breath as he loaded more grain by the armloads he managed aimlessly. "And for all the help, that sorry bitch of an aunt never gave me much."
"And I've always imagined how beautiful destructive art could be," Leah grinned as she stood back and stared at a half-demolished stable with satisfaction, "I might actually try this for a living for a change."
There, Shane had shoved pipes into all the chickens and ducks, force feeding grain and corn at an alarmingly fast rate. In a manner of helping him, Leah had hacked away at the numerous silos and set fire to some of the coops and barns, and was now hammering down a stable and feeding trough to unusable bits. The animals were crying weakly as their stomachs bloated slowly but surely, and they staggered to the ground. Valuable animal feed and supplies littered the ground, wasted, and Yoba forbid Faye know where the large blood splatters on the grass came from. She fought back shocked tears. They had to be under something.
"Shane! Leah! What the hell do you think you're doing?!" she screeched desperately, her grip tight on her sword as she came out to face them. At once, the two whipped around. Their eyes were a cloudy, milky white, and their skin looked dry and scaly. Their clothes too were blood-spattered and ripped in some places.
"Uh, who's this?" Shane asked, his voice deep and gravelly as he surveyed Faye up and down.
"It's the Farmer girl," Leah answered briskly, "Strange. She looks like she's going to attack us."
"I will if you don't stop force-feeding those poor animals and tell me what you did with the real Leah and Shane!" Faye growled as she stepped closer, her sword held in front of her.
"Nothing. They're right here," Shane opened his arms warmly, a smirk on his face. This face-off at least gave the animals reprieve from their onslaught of food.
And Leah charged at Faye with an elongated carving knife. Faye's survival mode replaced her immense confusion as she clanked blade against knife in defense. In the two years or so that she's been living on farm, Leah had always been a kind soul. She would never decimate nature or other people's property like this. Not to mention even properly handle a knife or form of blade except for art, not combat. Shane, she could imagine doing something like this if he was disturbed enough maybe, but he loves the livestock to bits and pieces, especially the chickens. He would never harm them in such a cruel manner needlessly. For all his cold demeanor, he at least has a heart in that regard.
"You don't need to do this, Leah," Faye struggled at she searched for any trace of remaining humanity. "You don't have to kill things for the sake of art."
"You're always butting into other people's business, Farmer," Leah growled in a distorted voice as her knife edged closer and closer to Faye's neck. Despite the urgent need to turn around her disadvantageous position, Fate could not look away from Leah's savage image. "Leave us alone to find inspiration however we see fit."
In front of her eyes, Leah's face flashed black and scaly like a serpent monster taking over her body. Sharp white teeth glistened against a lightning bolt flash in the sky as they revealed themselves in a hungry grin. The surge of strength staggered Faye backwards when the realization hit her.
"You think you can take me?" she taunted. She was not addressing Leah directly, but rather that monster she just saw. It flashed again, and its body temporarily fitted to Leah's form.
"We need the Stardrops, and we're not letting a measly little farmer get in the way."
"Not if you're going to destroy the place."
And Faye headbutted Leah square in the forehead. As she staggered back, Faye regained her footing again. It was not long until something tightened suddenly around her neck.
Shane had thrown a lasso. With one strong yank, Faye was pulled onto the ground, releasing her blade as she gasped for air. and grasped at the rope. Light-headedness threatened to end her as Leah jumped at her preoccupation. Faye rolled to the side, missing the blow by inches. Shane began reeling her in like a fish, the noose on her neck strangling her.
"Finish her already!" he cried angrily. Grabbing a hold of her sword, Faye resigned herself to the worst solution and hoping to Yoba for the best as Leah charged towards her.
Forgive me, Leah.
She plunged her sword into Leah's chest, and an otherworldly screech emitted from her lips while her eyes flashed between pitch black and her normal color. Black shadows and mist seemed to lift from Leah's body and, along with it, the stab wound Faye had just inflicted. When the black smoke cleared up, Leah was there, lying on the ground and seemingly back to normal except she was still.
"Looks like I have to do things myself."
Another sharp tug on the noose, and Faye was flying backwards until there came a sharp slash to her back. Shane had gotten a hold of an additional scythe. As crimson splotches made themselves known anew on her clothes and the surrounding grass, Faye hacked at the rope with her sword, freeing herself from his grip. She made a mental note to create a Life Elixir should she survive this whole thing.
"I always believed you were a good person, Shane," she puffed as she regained composure, "You just always pushed everybody away." If she knew him enough in the little interaction she was able to get out of him since her time here, he was not all bad as he made himself out to be.
"When you're a societal failure like me, you just have to go your own way and not give a shit about everything else," Shane replied coolly, "Now, let's just end this short and sweet and I can get back to business. The loss of one right now won't affect anything."
The curved scythe proved a trickier adversary, grazing Faye's arm as Shane maneuvered behind her with surprisingly deft skill. She yelped in surprised and frustration and attempted to knock it out of his hands. What ensued was a hit-for-hit blade battle, her sword's hits easily deflected by the scythe's curvature.
When she finally slit his scythe arm, her instincts took over as she also aimed for his legs. Green blood spurted from his cuts like slime. At the slightest pause, she whacked the scythe away and stabbed Shane in the chest as well.
Like what had happened with Leah, black essences drifted up and away out of Shane's body until he left there, lying crumpled on the ground. Additionally, Faye shielded her eyes are something bright and purple emerged from him. When her vision adjusted, a Stardrop floated there, though instead of being the all-resplendent purple, it had black essences splotched onto it. Hesitatingly, she reached and grabbed it. When it offered no resistance, she carefully placed it into her pack.
Relief came over her when she saw Shane stirring in front of her. Behind her, Leah let out a low groan. Quickly, Faye brought them both over together and grabbed water from her pack.
"I can't believe all that just worked," she murmured, a small smile forming on her lips as Shane and Leah drank up desperately. When they had their fill, they look around in panic.
"What happened? The farms and barns are all destroyed!" Shane wailed in despair as he rushed over to the overly-bloated animals. They recoiled at his approach, but the warm touch and care they associated with him had returned, and they relaxed albeit weakly.
"I don't remember coming out this way," Leah said quietly, fighting back tears of shock, "I was just finishing up another sculpture before bed. Not getting out and demolishing buildings." Faye sighed in relief. Their eyes and voices had also returned to normal.
"Would you believe it if I said the both of you did all this?" Faye asked tentatively. Leah and Shane looked at her with a myriad of confused emotions. Faye tried to explain it as simply as she could muster, "I think...you guys were possessed, or something...I had to stab you in the chest to get whatever they were out of you...Both of you tried to kill me. And Shane...when I got you in particular, a Stardrop appeared, so I took it. And now you both are back to normal." When their eyes could not widen anymore, Faye stepped back sheepishly, hands in the air. I hope I didn't bang you guys up too bad."
"No wonder my chest is killing me," Shane said as he rubbed it vigorously. He looked around at the scattered and wasted animal supplies, shaking his head in sorry disgust. He looked back to the animals, who nuzzled up to him as he took away the force feeding equipment and began to soothe them. "And I did this to you...I'm so sorry."
"How about Marnie and Jas? Are they okay?" Leah asked worriedly. Faye had almost forgotten about them.
"I'm not sure. They were unconscious and stuffed in sacks when I saw them," she answered, "We should probably go check on them."
"I'll go. If Shane and I attempted to stop you by trying to kill you for whatever reasons, who knows how everybody else is doing," Leah volunteered.
"You don't remember what happened before all of this happened?" Faye asked, gesturing to the still-burning mess. The two went still and quiet for a bit in thought.
"I blame that green-and-yellow mist shit," Shane snarled, "It came through the house, and Marnie, Jas, and I couldn't help but breathe it in when it got too thick. Went black after that."
"That happened with me too. I tried covering my nose, but nothing worked," Leah sighed, "This isn't normal. Go ahead to town Faye. We'll catch up somehow."
"Take care until then," Faye replied. She looked down at the Galaxy Sword she sheathed again before walking off in the direction of town. It really IS unlike anything I've ever seen.
"Hey Faye."
She whipped around at Shane's call.
"Sorry about what we did." Faye just let out a surprised exhale and smiled at him through her cuts and bloodied clothes.
"Don't worry about it. It wasn't your fault."
She never considered herself that much close to the community that she would have to save it from all this, whatever this was. It had only been two years, yet she still felt a bit awkward trying to fit in with a community so tight-knit since who-knows-when. Although everybody seemingly welcomed her with open arms, she always wondered to herself if she was intruding on well-kept peace. Thanks to Grandpa, she had pretty big shoes to fill, what with the farm and community. But was it really her place?
Shaking her head to rid herself such thoughts, she ran off towards Pippa, who was stomping on the ground nervously still. The confusion that left her before her spat with Leah and Shane was returning as she got on her horse.
How in the world did they end up possessed like that? Did those monsters need to hide Stardrops inside someone? That thing said it needed all the Stardrops. How many are out there...?
The only thing she could conclude for now was that she had to get to the bottom of what the rest of the town was going through.
Am I meant to do this?
