Author's Note: This chapter begins digging into Naga's psyche. I've used my own take on how she acts to determine this, so please don't throw negative reviews at me if the contents consist of "I don't think that's why Naga does that" or "I doubt Naga would care about X and Y".
Chapter 6 – Demons of the Past
The first thing she was aware of was morning light streaming through a window. It was still early morning, and the sound of birds chirping outside slowly lulled her from a groggy slumber. Surprise number one was that, as she came to, she realized she was in an inn room she didn't recognize. There were two beds, though one of them barely looked slept in. The second surprise came as a bit more of a shock as she tried to sit up, only to gasp out as pain throbbed through her body, forcing her to slump back down onto the bed. Several seconds went by before the pain subsided. The door to the room opened and in walked a familiar blonde swordswoman, only now she was dressed in a simple tunic, trousers, and boots.
"You're awake!" Lucia said cheerfully, her voice sounding more than a little relieved.
"Lucia." Naga the Serpent groaned softly, her throat dry. "Can you get me some water?" she asked after a moment. The girl nodded and walked across the room, retrieving a pitcher of water from behind Naga's bed and pouring her a glass. Naga eagerly drank from the glass, forcing herself to tolerate the pain of sitting up for a brief moment before she slumped back down.
"I'm glad to see you're finally awake. I was starting to get worried." The blonde said, setting the glass aside and clasping her hands behind her back.
"How long was I out?" the sorceress asked softly, feeling vulnerable in this position and finding it impossible to call up her usual bravado.
"Three days." Lucia replied. "You were hurt really bad. I bound your wounds as best I could and I used healing spells to keep you alive, but I'm not very good with them, and you were hurt so badly that only a priestess would be able to heal you completely."
"Three days?" Naga asked, pondering for a moment. She could feel that she was naked under the blanket, and a glance under it revealed that most of her chest, as well as her arms, were tightly bandaged. In fact, the only parts of her that weren't encased in bandages were her breasts and legs, and she felt a brief blush come to her cheeks when she thought of Lucia dressing her wounds. Lucia seemed to catch the blush and responded with one of her own.
"Yeah, I had to undress you to bind the wounds. Your outfit seems to have survived undamaged." She said, glancing down nervously and scraping her foot back and forth across the floor.
Naga then looked over at the unused bed, her gaze slowly trailing to the chair beside her own bed. She realized that Lucia looked very tired and felt her throat tighten. "Lucia? Do you think I could have a moment to myself?" Naga asked softly. Lucia gave her a quick nod.
"Sure! I'll be right outside if you need anything." The girl replied, appearing much happier than she had in days now that Naga was awake. She excused herself and left the room, thus leaving Naga with her thoughts.
She's been running herself ragged taking care of me. Why? Naga thought to herself. Ever since leaving home, she'd distanced herself from people. Even with Lina, it had been a business arrangement more than anything else. Sure, she had thought of Lina as a friend from time-to-time, like the time she brought Lina along to the Mipross Island hotsprings. However, Lina had been her rival first and foremost. Every action she took was to prove she was stronger than Lina, smarter than Lina, more capable than Lina.
Would Lina have exausted herself nursing me back to health for three days? She wondered. Lina probably would have saved her, but she would have probably left her in the care of someone else, or would have just healed her enough to make sure she'd live, then left her to fend for herself. Lina wasn't cruel, but she wouldn't have allowed Naga to slow her down. Why would Lucia, whom she's only known for about a week, go through so much trouble for her?
She's an opportunist, just like me, isn't she? Naga pondered. But she cares about me. I'm arrogant, I always talk down to people, and I'm aloof. I do that for a reason! The sorceress thought to herself. Despite her attitude and her mannerisms, she'd found Lucia often laughing right along with her. Lucia never seemed to care about being called a "sidekick" and, in fact, sometimes even seemed proud of it. Naga had never seen that kind of humility in Lina, and unlike either herself or Lina, Lucia didn't seem to have a burning desire to gain more treasure or more station in life, but rather live life to its fullest for no other reason than that. It was the way she'd been once, a long time ago. Maybe it would be nice to actually care about someone again.
But what happens when she gets killed? Will you be able to handle that? Naga wondered, feeling another lump in her throat. Could you deal with losing someone you care about again? Even if she is only a friend? Naga's internal dialogue was cut off as Lucia knocked and entered once more.
"Hey. I just wanted to tell you that I got us some food." The swordswoman said, pushing a small cart with a few plates of food on top of it. Naga felt her stomach growl at the smell of the food and her mouth started to water.
"Excellent, I'm starving! I haven't eaten in days, you know!" the sorceress said, a small sliver of her wit returning. She stared at the food for a moment, then watched as Lucia separated the plates, only setting half aside for herself as she did for Naga. "Say, Lucia, can I ask you something?"
"Sure!" the younger girl replied cheerfully.
"What happened, back at Bennet's manor?" the sorceress asked, sitting up as much as her injuries would let her.
"You got blown into a wall, that's what happened." Lucia replied, feeling a bit sheepish that the whole reason Naga had gotten hurt was because she was distracted by Lucia's own peril.
"Yeah, I know. I mean with you. When you killed Bennet. You were…different." The sorceress said. The memory was clouded by her injured state at the time, but she could remember Lucia's apparent suicide charge. As soon as she mentioned it, however, the smile left Lucia's face and she turned towards the window, stepping closer and looking out across the small town.
"I'm sorry you had to see that." Lucia said solemnly.
"Well, it worked, didn't it? I mean, you took care of Bennet and saved me. What's wrong with that?"
"I lost control." The girl stated without looking away from the window. She took a deep breath, and Naga could sense that a story was about to follow. "Ever since I've been a child, when I get angry, I lose control. At first, I used to just hit people, or shove them. My parents just thought I had aggression issues and used to punish me for it."
"That's not that bad, Lucia. I used to pick on my little sister, and sometimes she'd go crazy and start throwing vases and eating utensils at me!!" Naga said, feeing a pang of longing and realizing that she missed her sister more than she thought.
"My parents thought it was just a bad temper, too." Lucia said, taking another breath to bolster her resolve. "I was always a tomboy growing up. While other girls were learning how to cook, or clean, or sew, I always wanted to run and play with the boys, throwing rocks, climbing trees, playing bandits and bounty hunters with wooden swords. My parents sort of accepted it, especially my father, but there were these two boys in town that constantly picked on me." Lucia explained. "One day, when I was thirteen, they started tormenting me, telling me that my parents hated me because I acted like a boy, telling me I'd never be able to fight or run like a boy, and then they started throwing rocks at me."
Naga nodded slowly as Lucia related her story. "So you lost control?" she surmised.
Lucia just nodded slowly. "I don't remember all of it. I remember charging at them, and I tackled one. Then there was a rock in my hand, and I was hitting him…and I just kept hitting him. Over and over." Lucia said. She was trembling a little now, and Naga was shocked to find herself wanting to walk over and give the girl a hug, restrained mostly by her inability to crawl out of bed that fast. "He died a few days after that. They never said it, but I could tell that my parents were very ashamed of my actions. I decided then to leave home so I wouldn't bring any more shame on them, and that's pretty much how I decided to become a traveling treasure hunter and that's how I came to be here." Lucia finally said, a wistful tone to her voice. Naga nodded slowly, leaving an uncomfortable silence in the air for a long moment.
"Is that why you're always so cheerful?" Naga asked the woman, feeling completely out of her element with all of this deep emotional conversation.
"Well, that's how I've always been, really." Lucia replied, forcing a bit of a smile. "I've learned that if I'm optimistic and try to focus on the positive side of everything, I don't get angry as often." Lucia explained, finally turning to face the sorceress. "Carefree, just like you."
Great, now she's even looking up to you!. The sorceress thought to herself, flashing Lucia a smirk. "Well, worrying adds wrinkles, after all." She said, laughing for a second before coughing and putting a hand against her side. "Oww…I think I might be able to heal myself a little bit now, Lucia." Naga said, which earned her a withering look from the swordswoman.
"Be careful. You haven't eaten much lately, so you don't want to burn up what little energy you have." The younger girl warned, sliding the cart with the plates of food on it towards the side of Naga's bed. The sorceress shoved all thoughts of conversation aside as she immediately started digging into the food. Lucia was right, she'd gone too long without a meal.
Four hours and numerous healing spells later, Naga was able to manage slowly walking around the room. She had removed the bandages and healed the surface injuries, though the deeper bruises would still take some time to recover from until she was at full magic capacity. Lucia had told Naga that the best way to get back on her feet was to find another job to do and immediately set out to hunt them down some work. Naga couldn't help but smile at the girl's endless enthusiasm.
She acts like a child sometimes, but somehow it fits her personality. The sorceress thought to herself. She risked her life to save me, she nursed me back to health, and now she's helping me recover. It wasn't that Naga couldn't comprehend things like compassion and caring, it's just that she had long since decided that caring about someone and becoming attached to them opened one up to terrible pain and tragedy.
I remember hearing about father. Thank the Gods that was just a hoax. Naga thought, recalling a time when she'd received word that her father had been assassinated. She had cried that night, and even considered visiting home, but had since attributed her ability to handle the news to the fact that she had always kept her distance from home, thus reducing her attachment to the family she only seldom contacted via letters. She later learned that her father had staged his assassination to reveal his enemies, much to her relief.
Lina was a friend. Sort of. She thought as she walked to the window and looked out into the street. Families and friends walked about the marketplace in the midday sun, talking, laughing, playing, and everything else that friends and families did together. Naga had spent a long time convincing herself that these were all trivial things that she was above, but deep down she'd always known that she was fooling herself. Even the Great Naga the Serpent could use real companionship from time to time.
"I got something!" Lucia called out suddenly as she pushed the door open. Naga turned quickly, snapping out of her contemplation. Lucia stopped and looked at the sorceress curiously. "You're dressed already?"
"Well of course! You didn't honestly believe that anything short of complete destruction would keep me down for that long, did you?" Naga said with a laugh. "Now, what sort of job did you find?"
"Well, it's not a 'job' technically, but it is something that could definitely make us a good deal of money, and we might even uncover a valuable artifact in the process!" Lucia said excitedly, and the sorceress swore she'd be able to see the gleam in Lucia's eyes even if it had been pitch black in the room.
"Oooh, what? What is it?" Naga said, Lucia's excitement spreading to her now. Lucia produced a rolled up paper from her cloak and spread it out on the now vacant serving tray to reveal a map of the region.
"Right here." The swordswoman said, pointing to a spot in the woods. "There's some old ruins that were buried in an earthquake. I've talked to several people, and I had to use a little gold to 'grease the wheels', but from what I've learned the place is guarded by a bunch of zombies and ghosts and used to be a vault for a palace that once set there." Lucia explained.
"Well, if it was a palace then it's definitely going to have gold and gems unless it's been looted already." Naga said, carefully mulling over Lucia's description, though being cooped up in the room was making her so stir crazy she'd jump at the chance to explore anything at this point.
"We won't know until we check it out, though!" Lucia said enthusiastically. Unlike Naga, who preferred doing bounty work, the swordswoman was a treasure hunter, and half the fun for her was just looking for stuff, regardless of whether she found it or not. "The place is about two days north of here. We can set out as soon as you're healed up."
"Please, Lucia. I'm more than capable of handling a little travel!" Naga said. "I can keep casting healing spells on myself periodically until I'm good as new, don't worry." The sorceress added as Lucia started to look a bit torn. This seemed to satisfy the younger woman's concerns.
"Well, then! Get your things together and we can set off in the next hour."