Lucky Souls

Chapter 8: Do You Trust Me?

The roaring of the dragon erupted through her small frame, shook her to her core, it wouldn't be long until it would be hot on her heels again, how long could that reckless little knight really hold off the beast?

She eyed a nearby window, too quaint for a normal-sized person to fit through, but just right for her. It was times like this she actually welcomed the fact she was so petite, it really did come in handy.

Slipping partway out the window, it was only now she realized just what a drop it was. Stepping out really wasn't an option, it was at least a fifty foot drop.

"Rotten luck…" The bluenette whispered to herself, but before she could even attempt to think of another way to escape from her tormentor, a gale force of wind suddenly exploded from behind her, sending her flying out of the window like a rag doll.

Her heart nearly stopped as she flew in mid air, watching in slow motion as the tower she had been in was obliterated by the scaly beast, whose head was sticking out of the wreckage, continuing its monstrous roar at the falling prey.

What happened next she couldn't even describe, she felt lightness below her, soft like a pillow, almost like it wasn't even real. Perhaps she had already hit the ground, and her brain was fizzling out a few last random thoughts and feelings, she couldn't even tell.

Her mind went numb, followed by her body, as she slowly succumbed to the warm, gentle feeling that was surrounding her, consuming her.

Right before she surrendered to the warmness, she recalled something, a similar feeling to the one she experienced at that moment, a tender, gentle feeling, how long had it been? A month maybe, a little less, her journey wasn't even supposed to have started in the first place, let alone go on this long.

She did miss her father, more than anything, but she wondered if it was really worth it as she allowed her memories to take hold of her mind, and the darkness to gently eclipse her vision.

"Sojiro? No, sorry, haven't seen him since yesterday." Her cousin had told her, a frown brimmed with worry, her gloved hand clasped to her chin in thought.

"Oh, okay…well, I'm sure he's fine. Probably out with his new lady friend." Konata chuckled to herself with that reassurance; she had to assure herself everything was fine, even if nobody else would.

It wasn't like her father to just run out, especially without telling somebody. He was a simple man with simple needs, and while she knew he was out and about now and again, he was a pretty reclusive individual, and didn't often converse with, let alone spend time with, people outside of his small social circle.

Legally, Yui was at a bit of an impasse, she wasn't allowed to declare an individual missing unless they had not been heard from for at least twenty four hours, but Sojiro and Konata were her kin, and it irked her a bit that the wily old man would suddenly up and leave with a strange woman, it just wasn't like him.

"Well, look. This is pretty out of my hands but…well…" Yui mumbled to herself slightly, deciding on an appropriate course of action to take. She was captain of the city guard, and she had a reputation to keep, she couldn't abandon her post to search for somebody just because he was family, but she couldn't outright dismiss the issue either.

At the slight shift of brightness in the eyes of her young cousin, she couldn't help but give in, who could say no to that face? "I'll…keep an eye out, alright?" She leaned in with a wink, trying to lower her voice so her fellow guards couldn't hear her, and while the bluenette wished to scream in joy as much as she could muster, she kept it on the down low with a simple grin, knowing Yui wouldn't let her down.

Turning her attention to the other reason for her visit, the bluenette's green orbs shifted to the infirmary, where her dear friend would be waiting for her well and intact, or at least she hoped. She said her goodbyes to her cousin and was allotted a brief visiting period by the knights, who claimed the twin-tailed girl still needed quite a bit of rest before she would fully recover from the incident.

Gently creaking the door open, Konata inched herself in as slowly and dramatically as possible, shielding her eyes as she approached her bedded friend, who could do nothing but groan at her antics.

"Tell me Kagamin, how bad is it; did they have to amputate your head? Remove your brain?" She worriedly yelled out still covering her eyes.

"Yeah, they put my brain in a jar too. They're keeping it alive with magic." Kagami shamelessly joked back at her friend, earning a gasp from her as she wretched away her hand blindfold.

"Hey, you're not a brain! Oh well…" Konata mumbled as she plopped onto the wooden stool next to her friend's bed, grumbling with disappointment at the sudden revelation that her friend was still well, and in her body at that.

"Oh well? What's that supposed to mean!" Her tsundere roared back at her, earning only a laugh from the little blue joker.

"You know it'd be cool! Anyway Kagamin, you okay? Yesterday was pretty wild." The bluenette joked with a few last laughs, even if her demeanor was somewhat of a shield for the worry she was hiding.

At her words Kagami's chest couldn't help but run cold, was she okay? She wasn't even entirely certain, neither were the knights. They had told her that the Dregling had indeed pierced her skin, and that it is possible that the disease that plagued the beasts now ran in her blood, making her a ticking time bomb. They offered her some good news, saying that the wound looked benign, but only time would tell.

While Konata masked whatever fear she felt well with a carefully placed smile, Kagami knew better than to tell her friend any bad news, especially after what happened. It was technically the bluenette's fault, among other things, but the twin-tailed girl just didn't have the heart to blame her, she only had fun in mind that day, not any sort of danger.

"Y-yeah I'm fine, crazy huh? The knights told me that if the cut was just an inch deeper, I'd be in trouble. Pretty lucky, right?" The tsundere blurted out suddenly, realizing she had spent one too many seconds in quiet contemplation.

With her smooth lie apparently slipping right over her friends head, Kagami couldn't help but reprimand herself at the smile the bluenette now presented herself with, one of relief.

"That's good. Anyway…hey Kagami, you seen my dad?" Konata asked curiously, earning only a raise of a brow and a shake of the head from her wounded friend.

"No, why?" She responded, noticing that her friends usually chipper outlook seemed eerily missing, something was wrong, even if she did a pretty good job not showing it.

"Ah…no reason."

Eyes shakily opening to the world, Konata felt her memories fade from her; the warmth and past were gone in the blink of an eye as she allowed herself to join the waking world once more.

She surveyed the area, ignoring the throbbing feeling in her head as she slowly sat up and looked to the sky, had she fallen from the tower?

She watched as the mighty reptile in the sky continued to circle around the obliterated structure, breathing fire with reckless abandon, destroying everything it saw in a mindless rage, what had set this beast off?

More importantly the bluenette thought, what had broken her fall? There was no possible way she could survive such a drop, and especially not completely unharmed. She saw nothing and no one, what exactly was going on?

"Did I eat some funny-looking mushrooms, or something?" She questioned to no one in particular, her train of thought being broken by the sudden clank of armor against stone ground.

Ducking behind a nearby collapsed wagon, Konata scanned the area for enemies, but none seemed to appear. She saw shadows appearing from around a nearby corridor, followed by their casters, which were revealed to be a small band of knights, led by that foul-tempered little one.

The bluenette couldn't help but wonder how she survived, but saw easily why she decided to make a tactical retreat, that dragon was a serious danger, even for a trained knight.

"Hey! Little knight!" She called out as she jumped from her hiding spot, causing nearly the entire squad to rip their swords out in response, only to halt when their leader suddenly lowered her blade.

"You…" The pink-haired knight breathed out as she was approached with a laugh, an odd sight, not only because the blue-haired girl was laughing in Boletaria of all places, but that she was in Boletaria in the first place.

"You're the one that helped me with that dragon, thanks!" The bluenette cheered as she shook the tiny knight's hand with a laugh, only for it to be slapped away angrily.

"Don't be thanking me yet, civilian. I have some questions for you." The knight spoke as seriously as possible, but the bluenette couldn't help but smirk, just how scary could this pint-sized package of pink-hair be?

That thought was almost immediately retracted on Konata's part when the knights suddenly surrounded her, swords drawn and pointed in her direction, it seems a simple question and answering session wasn't exactly what she had in mind.

"Hey, whoa, look. I'll answer your questions, alright? Just-"

A blow to the back of the head suddenly sent the bluenette tumbling to the ground in a heap, a gash the size of a small rock bruised harshly into the back of her skull.

A small line of saliva slowly slipped off of her lip as her vision blurred, and the memories of the past slowly came flooding back as she felt the knights iron grips suddenly envelop her small form.

"Your father? No, Izumi-San I'm sorry, I'm afraid I haven't seen him today. Is everything alright?" The bubbly eyed mage Miyuki asked as she set down whatever book she had been currently reading.

"Yeah, everything's fine, I was just sorta wondering, I haven't seen him at all today." Konata played off with a shrug, trying to clear her mind of the idea that anything could be wrong and instead focus on what she should have been doing, school work, which her friend had offered happily yet reluctantly to tutor her in.

"Alright, if you're sure. Anyway, let's get back to the lesson, are you ready?" With a cheery nod in response, this was the sign for Miyuki to continue. "Okay, so, magic is an extension of the self, built upon by raw emotions and life force, where do mages siphon energy from?" Miyuki asked expectantly, hoping her friend had been paying attention, but at the sign of a blank face, she couldn't help but giggle at her friends slightly less than great attentiveness.

"Hehe, that's alright. Mages siphon energy from the soul, which is the metaphysical heart of any human, its existence has been debated for many generations. Scientists and scholars have found other alternatives to the theory, but we mages continue to believe that all life is sustained by souls." Miyuki continued to explain, noticing the bluenette was listening, albeit struggling to understand anything that was said by her bespectacled friend.

"Now, in order to produce efficient magic, a mage must pay a debt, of sorts. They must offer up a small portion of their own blood, to sustain their life, which in turn gives them the ability to harness the power of the soul, and use magic." Miyuki continued to explain, pressing her finger to her glasses and sliding them gently up the bridge of her nose.

Rubbing her chin in confusion, the bluenette shook her head wearily, she didn't understand a thing her friend was saying, but maybe that was for the best.

"Well, one thing I can say is that you sure know a lot Miyuki. Who taught you all this anyway? I remember some of it from the academy, but…" Konata noticed that some of this knowledge seemed to be imparted from different sources, she did pay attention sometimes, and she never remembered her instructors speaking of such things.

"Where…?" Miyuki whispered to herself, sheepishly scratching her head at her friend's question. "Well, somebody very important to me taught me all my knowledge of the magical arts, but…" Trailing off, Miyuki wondered if it would be wise to divulge any further, she trusted Konata, knew that the girl wouldn't tell anybody something she didn't want others to hear, but she couldn't help but be apprehensive.

Picking up on the sudden uncomfortable air filling the room, the bluenette let out a chuckle suddenly, slapping her hand to her knee and breaking her friend from her trance.

"Hey, did I tell you? I was visiting Kagami at the knight's clinic earlier, and they had in her in one of those hospital robes, you know the one's where you can see the person's butt? Is it just me, or does Kagamin kind of have a nice one?" The blunette giggled with a wink, nudging her friend's side roughly and causing the mages face to melt into a deep shade of red.

"I-Izumi-San!" She called out at her friend, clasping her palms to her reddening cheeks in embarrassment.

"Wake up, civilian!"

The screech that broke her out of her memory-laden sleep came from the puny knight she noted, the shrill squeaky voice and ever-present anger were dead giveaways, she had known this girl for a day and yet she continued to remind her of someone she had known her entire life.

Drearily, Konata pushed herself up off of the wet ground, spitting up a few drops of blood and saliva that had been stewing in her jaw for the past however long she had been out, again.

"That was really uncalled for, y'know…" The bluenette mumbled as she shakily attempted to rise to her feet, only for a sudden slam to the back of her knees to cause her to topple downwards once more. "Will you stop doing that!" Konata complained loudly, groaning at the growing pain in her head, and the now-growing pain in her legs.

"Why? So you can reveal our position to King Allant and his demon horde? I think not, girl. Don't think I won't cut you down in an instant if you even so much as hesitate during this questioning, understood?" The puny knight angrily roared, stomping her iron-clad boot down in queue with her screech just to make her point all the more profound.

Konata couldn't exactly refuse any line of questioning, she didn't doubt this angry little knight would kill her, she seemed to be having somewhat of a bad day, and she certainly didn't intend to make it any worse by being a smart ass, so she decided to respond with a nod only.

"Okay. So, first question, what are you doing here?" The knight Akira spoke as she began circling the battered girl at her feet, never allowing an eye to leave her heaped presence.

"I came here searching for someone, but I got sidetracked. I was traveling with my friends and I got separated from them, I was told one of them might be here." Konata answered truthfully, not even wishing to attempt a lie or try any funny business. It seemed the only way she could get out of this in tact would be to play along with the knight's little game.

"Fair enough, who were you searching for?" Akira asked with a raise of a brow. People rarely came to Boletaria for noble reasons, whomever she was searching for, something told her it was likely an artifacts smuggling operation, or slave trafficking, which were common practice among the few deprived and depraved survivors in the land.

She knew she couldn't hesitate, but the sudden stiffness and change of facial expression was all that was needed for the knight to suddenly tear her blade out and place it to the kneeling bluenette's throat. "Who were you searching for!" The knight roared once more, gently pressing the blade against the girls shoulder and curving it to her neck, ready to lob her head clean off should the response not be to her liking.

"…My father." Konata whispered quietly, allowing her eyes to drift up to the puny knight's to show her just how genuine her answer was. "My father went missing, I heard rumors of a blue-haired man, and a blind blue-haired woman making their way towards the kingdom of Boletaria, I followed them." Konata answered with vigor once more, trying to present her case as best she could, she certainly didn't want to be minus a head.

At her response, the knight seemed somewhat off-put. She didn't remove her blade from the girl's throat, but she didn't seem exactly ecstatic to kill her anymore.

"Blue hair…? We heard the same thing awhile back, we thought you were this blue-haired woman they spoke of, I can see now that is incorrect…" Slowly drawing her blade away from the girl's throat, the knight raised her hand to the air, signaling a nearby knight to grab a towel and some water for the beaten girl.

"I'm sorry for the brutality, but I had little choice. That woman is dangerous; our reports claim she is a powerful demon." The knight spoke, noticing the bluenette's mouth slowly creak open at the sudden revelation.

"A demon? But, my dad…!" Konata yelled back at the tiny knight, slowly standing to her level and shaking the pink-haired girls shoulders absent-mindedly, causing several knights to tear her from their superior's frame and send her harshly back down to the ground with a thud.

"Look, I don't know what you're talking about, but the one you seek is likely dead, either by that woman's hand or by the demons." The knight spoke matter-of-factly, placing a hand to her forehead and rubbing away the stress the heated conversation was currently placing upon her.

"You're wrong! You don't know that for sure…he's alive!" The bluenette erupted again, standing at Akira's level only to be thrown to the ground once more by the knights; they really did seem to have some poor manners she mused, tossing around a young lady like an object.

"And how do you know that! Look kid, I don't mean to shatter your dreams of finding your father, but face facts, it'd be in your best interest to just go home!" Akira exploded onto the poor girl, feeling her pulse radically pump behind her eyes in anger.

At that, the room fell deathly silent, no more retorts from the broken girl on the floor, and none from the fiery knight, the conversation had become null as far as either was concerned, it seemed nothing would get done with such attitudes filling the air, and while Akira wasn't exactly content with the answers she received from her little interrogation, she saw little point in continuing it.

"You can stay here the night, we're moving out the morning, and after that, you can do what you want. I don't recommend leaving now, its night, and while your vision might deteriorate in such an environment, the demons' surely won't." With that, the knight turned to leave, taking her brazen attitude and unasked questions with her.

Checking the knights just to make sure they wouldn't toss her around anymore, Konata sighed to herself, slumping back onto the hard ground and placing her hands behind her head, tenderly rubbing the gash that was now slowly beginning to ooze.

"Jeeze, they could've at least given me a pillow…" The bluenette mumbled to herself, deciding that sleeping on her side would likely be a less painful option.

The knight's words stung into her mind as she attempted to find any peace attempting to sleep. Was it really hopeless? Had the blinded woman really killed her father? What reason would she have to do that? Was he alive? Were her friends alive? At that moment absolutely nothing seemed to be looking up, and she couldn't help but choke on a lump in her throat as her eyes lazily drifted ever downwards, sending her back to her shattered sleep, and back to her looming memories.

"Ma'am, we just checked with our patrols in the lower quarters, they say there is still no sign of him." The knight sheepishly spoke to his captain, knowing she would be disappointed by the news, and the fact that he was the bearer of said news bode ill for him, even if his superior didn't mean anything by it.

Oddly enough, she didn't yell at him to search harder, or that his performance wasn't good enough, she simply resigned any arguments with a weary sigh and a pat on the shoulder as she passed him in a trance.

It had been a week since Sojiro had vanished, no word to anyone, just up and disappeared with that strange woman. In that time, Yui and her knights had been searching tirelessly around the clock for the wily old man, only to be met with strange looks and shakes of the head.

Not only was her uncle gone, it seemed that absolutely nobody had seen or heard where he went, and as odd as that was, it irked her even more that the kind old man would even do something such as this.

As each day passed, Yui noticed her younger cousin Konata growing ever more frantic with concern and worry, this was pretty unnatural for the girl who was usually so dull to the worlds affairs that it seemed almost to the point of an uncaring attitude, a girl who's only reason in life was to laugh and have fun, to see this girl in such a state was definitely chilling.

As she approached her cousin's shack of a home, she stood at the door for a moment and contemplated whether or not to even enter, and raising her hand gently, she decided against it. Maybe she just didn't look hard enough, or needed to double check somewhere, surely Sojiro hadn't left the city, maybe he was just at this woman's house, but at the thought, Yui certainly didn't remember any blue-haired blind woman living in the city.

Wearily, the sleep-depraved captain decided one more sweep of the city before turning in couldn't hurt, she may just get lucky and find the old man trailing some poor girl home from work; at least, she hoped she would.

On the hole-laden shabby balcony above, Konata watched as her cousin slowly turned back towards the seedy underbellies of the lower quarters of the city, hoping to find the man that had eluded her for the past week.

The bluenette knew that her cousin had been searching tirelessly, every day all day for her father, and she couldn't help but feel guilty about it. She had the entire city's police force on a leash to search for one man, and knew that while Yui wanted to find him as well, there were likely better ways to spend the resources required for the city wide manhunt.

Mingled with the guilt was a tinge of spite, for who she didn't know. Some for herself, for not noticing that her father had been under dire stress for so long, some for the strange woman that had taken him out of her life, and some for the man himself, who seemingly dropped everything he held dear to run away with this girl.

Her heart stung when the thought that her cousin wasn't working hard enough to find him flashed across her mind, and her guilt only piled on more. She wasn't exactly up and running around looking for the one she sought, instead, she was moping alone at home thinking about how others are fixing her problems for her, she really was selfish, she mused.

"Hey Konata!" A voice suddenly called out, and at its call, the blunette peeked over the railing of her shabby balcony, and saw her tsundere below her, light grin drawn across her face and hand raised in a greeting.

"Oh hey, Kagamin! What're you doing here?" Konata asked with a light laugh, trying to swallow the lump in her throat at that moment, hoping her friend hadn't seen her wallowing in her own self pity at her predicament.

"Oh, uh…" Sheepishly rubbing the back of her neck, Kagami cleared her throat, and attempted to make what she was about to propose as politically correct as possible. "I was just coming to check on you, I know you've been a little down so…need some company?" She asked with a beat red face, noticing that the bluenette's lips curled upwards slightly, well, she tried anyway.

"Sure, but only if-"

"The offer expires the second you make a dirty joke, so I'd hold that thought." Kagami moaned in despair, knowing her friend wouldn't be able to resist a perfectly well-placed set up when it presented itself.

With a hoot and a laugh, Konata motioned for her friend to join her, and with a head full of less than pure thoughts now hounding her mind, Kagami happily yet slightly reluctantly joined her, making her way into the house and onto the crumbling balcony.

Taking a step onto the wobbly thing, Kagami couldn't help but gasp slightly at what she saw. The view was quite the sight to behold, the grand city stretched out before her, presented as if in a painting on a museum wall. The faint glow of the many homes in the distance, the hustle and bustle of the many civilians combing its streets and walkways, and the brightly illuminated star filled sky, which stretched on in all directions as far as the eye could see.

"Wow, you got quite the view up here." Kagami noted as she soaked in her surroundings, spotting her friends houses in the distance, the rolling mountains that stretched to the heavens that tore open the sky behind them, it really was picture perfect.

"Yeah." Konata chimed in, but her own gaze was anywhere but the scenery her balcony so readily presented to her, she was beholding an entirely different spectacle of beauty.

Noticing her friend staring at her out of the corner of her eye, the twin-tailed girl couldn't help but nervously clear her throat, and scratch at the budding feeling of warmth that had begun to crackle in her cheeks and chest.

"S-So, any luck finding your dad?" Kagami asked trying to strike up a conversation, not really believing he had been found, but deciding that anything was better than awkward silence.

Lightly sighing, Konata stood from her sitting position to take one next to her friend on the railing, running a hand through her hair coolly, trying to alleviate the anger that was boiling up inside, she really didn't feel like making a scene in front of her friend.

"Nope, nothing. Yui told me yesterday that they're gonna call off the search." Konata said in a near whisper, not even trying to hide the anguish she was currently feeling, she felt there was no need. She didn't want her tsundere to worry about her, or even for her, she just wished everything could go back to normal, but what was normal in that day and age?

"What? They can't do that, can they? Maybe you could go ask Yui to extend the search?" The twin-tailed girl asked as optimistically as possible, knowing that in reality the amount of energy and time spent looking for him already was beyond it's limit, it was somewhat of a miracle that the search wasn't called off days ago because of how much resources it was wasting.

"I couldn't ask Yui to do that, she'd get in more trouble than she's already in. I heard some of the knights talking the other day; they think she's gone mad because of how hard she's looking into this. I think I should just accept that he's..." The bluenette explained wearily, slowly losing sight of the cityscape before her, it seemed to ooze, to blur slightly.

Blinking once or twice, she noticed her eyes were damp, and that was odd. She pressed into them harshly; she wasn't one for crying, ever. She rarely got sad, and even when she did she found ways to deal with it, she wouldn't allow herself to break down in front of Kagami, in front of anyone, she was bigger than that, she didn't rely on others for emotional support, they relied on her. She mused that everyone needed a shoulder to cry on now and again, but when she needed one, she wouldn't be crying.

Kagami didn't know what to say, she had never seen her friend like this, not once. She had rarely even seen her in the textbook definition of sad, when Konata was sad, she was more down in the dumps really, not full blown crying with a drippy nose sad. The only time when her eccentric little friend was ever less than happy was when she spoke of her mother, but not out of pity for herself, but for her father, who always seemed to take matters that involved her much harder.

As the silence took hold of the situation, Konata allowed the world to slow down for a moment so she could think. These past few days, she hadn't been entirely useless in the search for her father; she had done some snooping and information gathering of her own. With the last of her safety funds pooled together, she personally met with some off the less than reputable characters of the city for whatever scrap of information they could dig up on her father.

There were some rumors that he had gone north towards the northern kingdom of Boletaria, and that he was accompanied by a blind woman. Whether the rumors could be trusted were in question, but she didn't exactly have anything else to go on. At first, she wanted nothing more than to tell Yui and the knights, but thinking about it, they probably wouldn't believe her, and even if they did, they certainly wouldn't leave the city and travel to an entirely different kingdom in search of a single unimportant man. Were Sojiro a king, a noble, upper-class, they might, but he was just a lowly man, a single cell in the body of the world, in the grand scheme of things, he was as nothing before it.

So, Konata had already decided what needed to be done with the information given to her, she needed to act upon it, but how? Boletaria was dangerous, a land of demons now, condemned by its ruler and quarantined by the rest of the world as an inhospitable and ravaged land, its ground not to be tread upon by anybody.

Konata knew nearly nothing of travel, survival, combat, she had picked up a few things during her short life, and a few tricks of the blade from her father, but little else. She certainly couldn't make such a journey alone, well she could, but it would certainly end in failure and most likely her life.

She would need the proper equipment, allies, and the gall to even attempt such a perilous journey. Did she have it in her to abandon everything as her father did before her? Leave her life behind and go to find him in these wretched lands? She liked to believe that she did, even if the amount of apprehensiveness she felt towards such a goal to be insurmountable.

The world sped up around her once more as she unlatched herself from such thoughts, glaring in her friend's direction but not entirely maintaining eye contact, she found she could not.

"Hey Kagami, can I ask you something?" She sounded quietly, her voice cracking slightly in distrust at her self, she almost didn't want to even attempt to ask her friend such a thing, but found that her mind was nearly forcing her to.

"Yeah, sure. What's up?" The twin-tailed girl asked with a light grin, trying not to look down or off-put by the question in case her friend's mood suddenly took a turn for the worse once more.

She bit her tongue a moment before the words escaped her lips, it wasn't fair to Kagami, it wouldn't be fair to anyone if she asked anything more than her moral support from the girl, but thinking on it, life really wasn't too fair was it?

"Uh, well…this is gonna sound crazy, so bare with me." Konata started, turning away from her friend and looking the sky for answers, nothing but stars, she wouldn't be getting any help from the gods apparently. "I heard a rumor that my dad went north." She continued, still coldly turned away from her friend.

"North? To where?" Kagami questioned, what business would Sojiro have in the northern lands? There wasn't anything up there worthy of note, mostly anyway, and before the words escaped the bluenette's lips, a chill ran down the twin-tailed girl's spine, this was not good.

"Boletaria." Konata whispered, almost as if she didn't believe it, or want Kagami to even hear it. Even speaking the name of the damned kingdom was enough to silence a room of happy drunkards, and make them turn and listen in. What was told of the kingdom was mostly stories, a legend or a rumor passed from one person to the next, it was the only information anyone had on the place, it wasn't as if anybody had gone there themselves.

"What…?" Kagami had to replay the word over and over in her head to make sure she had heard correctly. "Boletaria? The kingdom that was wiped out by demons? That Boletaria?" Kagami hesitantly asked, knowing full well there wasn't exactly any other Boletaria to the north, probably not any other Boletaria in the world, she felt foolish for even asking.

Turning to her friend at last, Konata silently nodded, a stern expression masking whatever she was currently feeling at that moment.

Kagami couldn't even believe what she was hearing, if Sojiro had gone to Boletaria, for whatever unfathomably foolish reason, he was surely dead. While Kagami was lax to admit it, she saw that glint in her friend's eye, she saw that spark that stunk of malicious ideas, earth-shattering goals, and she couldn't help but feel a cold sweat slither down her back.

"Konata, please don't tell me you're thinking what I think you are." Kagami gently probed as she moved closer to her friend, hand lazily raised in an attempt to grab hold of her in case she attempted to make a sudden escape. She now knew why Yui's search was bearing no fruit, there was information on Sojiro, but it was being withheld, by his own daughter.

"Kagamin, please just listen to me for a minute." Konata began to explain, only for her hand to be roughly grasped into Kagami's and shook violently.

"Look, Konata. We are not having this conversation, it's out of the question, and you're out of your mind for even thinking it!" The twin-tailed girl erratically explained, more afraid than angry, she was appalled her friend would even cook up such a plan; she really was out of her mind.

"Please! Just listen for once! Before you call me crazy or stupid at least give me a chance to explain myself!" Konata yelled back with unusual ferocity, she wasn't one to lose control of her emotions, especially around Kagami of all people, but this was a serious situation, and she needed to be tough in resolve.

Heaving the mightiest of sighs, Kagami couldn't even believe it when she released her iron grip from her friend and resigned herself to actually listening to what the bluenette had to say; maybe she was the crazy one for humoring her.

"I don't even think I need to ask, you're thinking of going after him aren't you?" Kagami breathed out wearily, still scarcely believing she was listening to this dribble.

"Yeah, I am." Konata said without fear, she had to be strong, if she wanted this plan to work she couldn't seem apprehensive about it, especially if she was explaining it to somebody she wished to join on her on such a journey.

"I knew it, and the answer is no, Konata. You're not going after him, he probably isn't even there!" Kagami reasoned as much as she could, trying with as much force as she could muster to talk her friend out of this crazy scheme, but having little success as it would seem, whatever iron wall her brave little friend had built up in preparation for this conversation, it was a strong one.

"I'm going, Kagami." The answer was simple and to the point, and left little to no room for arguing, as was intended by its speaker. It seemed her friend was doomed to die in a pointless journey that would end with less than favorable results for anyone involved.

A light silence filled the air, the two girls eyes locked together, unflinching and unmoving. One could not sway the other in their opinion on the matter, and they would either stay on their side or defect to the others. Konata knew where she stood, but she needed to see just how far her friend would be willing to go, she needed to know.

"Do you trust me?" The bluenette suddenly sounded, breaking the silence and the thick tension in the air in a flash, causing the two to exit their minds and return to the world.

"What? Of course I do, what are you on about?" Kagami asked suspiciously, eyeing her friend as the bluenette closed the gap between the two, taking the twin-tailed girls hands in her own gently but firmly, whatever resolve was currently fueling the girl; she seemed unbeatable in her current state.

As Kagami gazed into her friends dancing green orbs, she saw a surge of emotions she had never seen from the girl before. She had know her since they were children, the two knew everything about one another, shared every experience together, lived their lives as the best of friends. And until that moment, Kagami had never seen her friend so sure of something, so positive, that she knew what had to be done.

"Then trust me." Konata quietly sounded, releasing her friends hands sheepishly with a snicker, turning away to hide the light blush that was striping across her pale face. "I'm going after him. I need to know why he left, more than anything I just want to know. And, more than anything…I want you to come with me." The bluenette said as she turned back to her friend with a warm smile, no longer attempting to hide the rosy blush that was enveloping her face, which again was odd, she was usually pretty slick with these types of things.

She extended her hand once more, but this time held it open. Whether her friend, her dear tsundere, would trust her was in question, but she had to know.

Glancing back and forth between Konata and her extended palm, Kagami didn't know what to do. Her friend was asking her to give it all up and run away with her on some crazy adventure, and not the typical kind either, this was surely to be an adventure that would be the end of them. This wasn't some little walk downtown to mess with thugs, to sneak out of school, to explore crypts; this was in a whole different league entirely.

It would haunt her for the rest of her days, why she did what she did. She would replay the scene over and over in her head a thousand times and always reach the conclusion that she must've been insane when she agreed to what her friend was suggesting, that she must've been crazy, there was no other way to look at it.

No words needed to be said about it, no objections, no suggestions, nothing. As Kagami extended her hand out to meet Konata's, and clasped it gently around the bluenette's, she knew she had made the right decision, no matter how crazy it was.

A drop of water plopping onto her twitching nose suddenly arose Konata from her light slumber, releasing her memories hold over her as she feverishly scanned the room for opponents, but seeing none, only the knights, and their puny little leader sound asleep all around her.

She wiped the antagonistic drop of water from her nose with a grumble, laying back down to the ground and closing her eyes to return to the dream world, she needed a little break from the real one, it was seeming bleaker by the day.

As she gently closed her eyes and prepared to slip into unconsciousness once more, she felt a twitch at her finger, a twang that she couldn't seem to irk off, it seemed omnipresent, it was her promise, stapled forever into her being like a scar upon her flesh.

She had no intention of betraying her friend's trust.

Author's Note: Oh good, another experimental chapter. I did a flashback chapter awhile back, but I handled it poorly and received some pointers from my readers about how I might better handle such a thing. Well, this is the result. Instead of a single solid flashback, I put transitions from the current time line to the past one, and pointed out each time it happened quite easily, each time Konata lost consciousness, she had a flashback. Easy enough to understand, right? Flashback chapters are always a bummer for readers I'd have to assume, because they do little to further the plot. They might make you understand it more, but still. And I finally added a little bit of fluffiness, this is supposed to be a part romance story too right? Right. And I seemed to be forgetting that these past few chapters. Don't worry about it though, I'll keep the action and plot heavy, even with the romance elements, promise. Also interesting to note, I had a blast writing this chapter for some reason, same with the last chapter. I think I'm getting more comfortable with my writing now, I don't know, but I like the feeling.

Well, until the next chapter, which now that I have this one out of the way, will be released in no time at all. Hasta la bye bye!

P.S. : How was my second attempt at a flashback chapter? It wasn't too confusing with the constant shift between timelines was it? I hope not.