The sensation of hands on the center of his chest, shoving down rhythmically, brought him back to himself. His stomach heaved as he tried to take in a breath, and water spilled from his lips, coughing as he was turned onto his side. Slowly, Flynn sat up, wiping his mouth as he looked around.
He could see the river nearby. If the state of his clothes and hair was any indication, after what had happened (what had happened? The memory came up fuzzy, as if in a dream. He could remember a girl, a name-) he had fallen into the water. Someone must have found him. Flynn took a breath, intending to thank the kind person who had helped him, and proceeded to cough more.
"Sir, you should take it easy," an achingly familiar female voice said quietly, a hand pressing between his shoulders. "Don't try to speak yet. Just get used to breathing again."
Slowly, Flynn lowered his hand from his mouth, and looked over at her. Copper hair shone in the rising sun, longer than he usually saw over Sodia's face. The no-nonsense demeanor he had missed about her, the way she took control of situations that needed help when he was unavailable, the kindness she could have- "You've been running the packages here," he rasped, wonder in his voice. "You're who the doctor was talking about. Sodia, I-"
"Sir." Her voice was firm as her eyes sharpened. "You just drowned. You weren't breathing, and I couldn't find a pulse. Stop talking."
And there it was. Flynn snapped his mouth shut, looking at her with a bit of surprise and more longing to have that lack of awe by his side again. Instead, he looked back at his hands, slowly flexing them. He expected to feel weaker than he did, but he felt- he felt like someone had cast a First Aid on him. He felt like he could fight a dozen monsters, and run miles. The feeling of water still burned through his chest, but he felt amazing. Flynn stood, heedless of the sharp "Sir, sit down," and took a deep breath as he looked around. Things felt... different. He looked over at Sodia as she stood, her eyes wary. "Thank you," he told her quietly. You've always watched my back, haven't you?"
Sodia hesitated, her mind twitched towards old events that had started her break from the Knights to begin with. "Someone has to," she finally said. "Sir, you're still weak. Let me-"
He waved her off, taking a step towards the river. "I'm not weak," he told her, tilting his head up. It was a beautiful morning, how hadn't he seen that? "I feel... great." He looked at her, at the frown crossing her features. Why she had to leave, he understood. Even Flynn was still angry about her killing Yuri, about how her actions had set up the events six months ago. But still... something in him wanting to take her hand. To tell her she had been his best second-in-command.
"Sir, did you meet anyone last night?" Sodia's face held as much caution as her words. "Anyone that may have promised you something?"
Flynn hesitated. Every time he tried to hold onto it, the memory of what happened slipped further away. Only a name remained, but where had he heard it? A colorless girl, but had he met her last night? He remembered her from earlier, but- why was he here? Sodia's eyes narrowed at the hesitation, leaning in. "A girl?" she prompted, making Flynn open his mouth, trying to remember. "A girl, who seemed like an angel?"
He relaxed. No. The girl had been injured, helpless, almost as if her thoughts had been interrupted by the wounds, but not angelic. Not in the least. "No," he told her firmly. "I didn't meet anyone like that."
Doubt didn't clear from Sodia's face, but she stepped back. "We should start back to town, Sir. You might feel well, but you still weren't breathing when I found you." Her hand took his elbow, leading him away from the river. For a moment, he hesitated, then turned away from the water. There was nothing for him there, right? And Judith would be wondering where he was.
Judith. The good feeling inside him started to falter as he remembered. He had left her bed in the middle of the night. She must be worried- he would have to apologize to her when they got back. His fingers pressed against his lips, and a small smile crossed his face. Why had it taken him so long to start trusting her? To consider her a friend? A thought flit across his mind, something about Yuri, about a woman, but it didn't matter so much.
He felt... good.
"Sir." Sodia's voice held caution as she spoke, looking at him out of the corner of her eye. "You seem in better spirits than the last time I saw you."
Better spirits. He did feel good, but overall...? The vacation seemed to have done its job. Stress was still back in Zaphias, he knew that. Everything he had left was still there. But now it felt... manageable. Like he could go back and handle it. That he could return and find a second-in-command that he worked with as well as Sodia. "It's been a rough six months," he admitted. "I haven't found someone I work with as well as I did with you. But... it feels as if it will get better. It's good to see you, to know you still have a living."
Sodia's mouth opened, then closed in frustration. "Sir-"
"How long have you been helping them?" It had been too long since he had seen her. Knowing how she was doing... it felt right.
It made her pause, look over at him. "A few weeks. I've been... the way people have been dying made me suspicious. I've been trying to pin down why. There have been a few clues, similar ones to Zaphias, but not enough to explain the drownings. And given how many there have been, I am certain someone is drowning them, that it's not suicide." She stopped there, something in her eyes weighing choices. "They've all talked about an angel," Sodia finally told him. "A girl that sounded too good to be true. Are you sure you met no one there?"
"I'm certain." No matter what had happened, he hadn't met an angel. "You've been helping them with other things too?"
A light blush crossed her face, as if she had been called out on something she shouldn't have done. "They needed someone to run a package," Sodia started, in a tone trying to defend herself. "And none of them were strong enough to face those monsters. I couldn't let them-"
"I wasn't judging you." Flynn smiled at her. "It's what I expected from you. I'm glad, Sodia. You've always helped people when they needed it."
Her mouth closed as she looked away. "Not always," came the quiet answer, almost to herself.
Perhaps she had meant Yuri, or when he had gotten injured at Zaude, but something about it made his steps pause. "What do you-" Flynn started, breaking off when a rustle of leaves started. It could be birds, but his instincts told him it wasn't. Too much noise, it was like before. It moved, quickly. Both of them whipped their heads up, hands going for their swords as it passed overhead, the sound of harsh breathing following the noise. Without a word, both of them followed it, weapons drawn. A crash of a body ended the flight, and Flynn came to a stop as he watched it fall.
Dark hair, pulled back into a long braid. A face, burns covering half of it, twisted in pain. Flynn felt his lips twist in a snarl as he watched a dark hand come up to cover a mess of black blood covering the other arm- no. As the arm was shoved back up, he realized it had nearly been torn off. One dark eye opened, and Catherine smirked up at the two of them. "Commandant." Her voice purred in lowborn tones, not even bothering to affect the noble lilt anymore. "Did you bring me a snack? How kind of you." Her legs gathered under her as she stood, still holding her injured arm as she looked at Sodia, brows knitted in concentration as Sodia's hand relaxed, her lips parting slightly as her gaze unfocused. Fury exploded in Flynn's chest as he grabbed Catherine's shoulder, not even taking pleasure in the pained noise she made as he shoved her back against a tree, his sword coming up to shove into her stomach.
The scream that escaped her snapped Sodia out of her control, and he could hear her gasp behind him. "Sir, what are you doing?!"
"This is the bitch that tried to kill me," he growled, shoving Catherine back against the tree as she slumped. "And tried to control Lady Estellise."
"I did fail in both," Catherine managed to say, her voice pained. "Now, can you take that damn sword out of my gut before I shove it up your-" She cut off as Flynn twisted his hand, words choking in her throat. "Damn it," she gurgled, black blood dribbling from her lips before she turned, spitting.
"Give me one good reason not to take your head right here and now," Flynn growled in her face, ignoring Sodia's presence at his elbow. Those assassins, the mind control, the guilt on Lady Estellise's face as Rita parted ways with her after a day together... He nearly pulled his sword out and followed through when she lifted her head, glaring at him.
"I'm hunting the thing hunting this town," she hissed at him. "And I nearly had it before you and the damned vampire showed up here!"
"Sir, what is she-?" Sodia cut off as Flynn slowly let Catherine's shoulder go, still keeping the sword in her. "What does she mean by hunting this town? The vampire?"
A demonic smile twisted Catherine's dark lips as she focused past him. "That's right, you were about to get your head chopped off the first time I saw you. And then you performed so admirably under my Spinneret's threads." An angry flush crossed Sodia's cheeks at the reminder of her attempted execution, and the blood that had run over her fingers after. "The Commandant never told you? About how- fucking hell, take the sword out!" Her body shifted, legs coming up to kick Flynn away. As the sword slipped out, she fell to her knees in a pained grunt, her head bowing as Flynn staggered to a halt. "I heard who it was you killed," she finally said, her voice threading through pain. "He never told you, who it was that saved his life, who finally chased me from his room after the princess nearly burned my face off?"
Sodia's hands trembled, not yet snapping to punch her repeatedly. But Flynn could see it was a thread spun taunt, and each word hit it harder. "And what is your point?"
"Oh, merely that you have your eyes shut tighter than I thought." Slowly, Catherine straightened, hand over the no longer bleeding wound in her stomach. "There's something hunting this town. You've seen the bodies, I presume?" Without letting them answer, she smiled, an animalistic baring of teeth. "At least some of them look familiar, don't they, Commandant? You know those intimately."
The words hit him, the confirmation of who the work of the bodies belonged to. That would mean... Yuri had lost all rationality again. He had become an animal, killing indiscriminately. "It's not as if you wanted to stop it back in Zaphias," Flynn growled at her.
An arm lifted, the one that had nearly been torn off, now at least flesh covering over the wound. Her fingers twitched, and she frowned at her hand. "And now I am," she told him mildly. "I believe, since you seem to always want to do good, that at least means we should not try to kill each other until that's taken care of." Her arm lowered again, and she snorted at Sodia's wide-eyed expression. "My healing is not by far the best of my tricks." Catherine turned her attention back to Flynn, losing all humor in her expression. "I can only hold one of my knives now, as you can see. If you feel I am a threat... well, you did threaten to take my head."
"Sir, she's a threat," Sodia told him under her breath. Catherine laughed a little, hand going back to her stomach. When Sodia glared at her, she merely smiled in return. "It would be for the best if we kill her now and continue on our way."
It would be. A part of him clamored for it, hot and loud. But... Flynn lowered his arm, looking at Catherine. "What do you have to gain from this?"
A shadow crossed her face, a pain deeper than the physical wounds across her body. "My own reasons," she answered simply. "Though, dear girl, you might find it's harder to kill me if you find me a threat than you think."
"How did you-" Flynn held up a hand, cutting off Sodia's words. It wasn't time for that. Though, considering how not human she was, he had an idea how she had heard that.
"At the first hint of you trying to hurt either of us, I will finish what we started in my room," he promised. "And given how injured you are, and how you haven't snacked on me, I will kill you this time."
She rolled her good eye. "I am aware of that." Using the tree for support, Catherine slowly stood, her still healing arm hanging uselessly by her side. The fingers twitched occasionally, but otherwise stayed motionless. "Though if you refuse to let me have a little snack, a moment so I'm not so woozy from blood loss would be nice."
Flynn nodded, then felt Sodia touching his elbow. When he turned his head, she indicated a nearby bush, still probably close enough for Catherine to hear them, but there wouldn't really be a place not to be heard if they were going to keep an eye on her. "She's not human," Sodia muttered as soon as they moved a few paces away, still watching Catherine. "What she did to me, that healing, that hearing... she's far from human." For a moment, she paused, then turned slightly to Flynn. "Are you sure about this, Sir? If we let her heal as we find what she's talking about, then she might be able to stab us in the back first."
His heart lurched, remembering what it was Catherine had said. "She's our best bet to find it," he said carefully, trying not to let slip he knew it was Yuri. If Sodia knew it was him, that he was a walking feral corpse now... "And I recognize that look she had. The one when she answered my question. She has a personal reason not to kill us right now. We can, at least, trust her to find h- it."
Catherine started slightly, her eye wide at his words. Was it such a surprise that he would at least give some trust back to her? Sodia paused for a moment, then let out a breath. "You shouldn't trust so easily," she told him, an old argument as she retrieved her sword, sheathing it before coming to a stop before Catherine. The urge to laugh hit Flynn as he realized just how short Catherine really was as Sodia glared down at her. "I know you heard all of that. And I will not hesitate to kill you if you try to harm him."
"Such loyalty," Catherine murmured. "I do wonder how the Commandant managed to inspire such loyalty within a noble brat like you." She pushed off the tree, staggering a bit as one leg refused to work completely correctly. "Well. Shall we?"