There was a trick to sleeping standing up. Having something to lean against helped, and a place that was warm was even better. The sleep had to be deep enough that one got actual rest, but aware enough that one was aware of when a ravening beast was coming.

Those who mastered the first but not the second also died horribly. Fortunately for them, few would ever be able to tell and they just looked like complete amateurs who wasn't paying attention and got eaten by a beast.

Maria spent what little night was left sleeping in the closet, sitting on the floor and leaning against the door. If the door opening didn't wake her, her falling on whoever opened it would.

I-it wasn't like Maria had never mastered the second thing, but she was really tired and knew better to depend on it, all right?! Hmph!

And so she rested. The night alternated between the formless, timeless abyss of sleep and the strange, misty illusion and sense of passing time of dreams. Maria seldom dream since she'd died and she'd died, as if she'd had her fill of dreams and would rather do without. When she did, she did not dream of past days or vivid memories about times in her past, which she thought was just something writers had their characters do to fill in page space with flashbacks without calling it flashbacks. Instead, she dreamed of strange, disjoined things. Tonight, in flashes, she dreamed was sweeping, only instead of doing it properly she was spinning in place…

But it was only briefly, and most of the time sleep was a peaceful, abyssal darkness, empty save for rest…

There was no shift from sleeping to waking. Only that she wasn't aware of the passing of time, and then she was. Her eyes were still closed, her body still rested, but she was aware time was passing…

Distantly, she heard words, muffled through a door.

"Ah... I see you have awoken." Who was this?

"Ah... yes. I have." Maria knew this voice, but… in the dark on the border of sleep and dreams, she knew no names, only that the voice was gentle and kind and she wanted to take care of it. "...Um. Who... Who are you again?"

"Do excuse me. I apologize for not introducing myself. My name is Lana." Meaningless noise. The name meant nothing

Maria felt herself since deeper into darkness. There was no danger, and she wanted rest.

Maria drifted, floating in darkness, and in the distance the voices became murmurs…

Suddenly there was a knock and she was back in herself back in her body, back in the closet. Eyes still closed, she no longer floated but stared into the darkness behind her own eyes. Her ass was sore from sitting, her legs were stiff, her neck ached, and she felt like she wanted to curl up and keep sleeping, keep resting…

With an effort of will that seemed monumental, Maria forced her eyes to open. She rubbed her eyes, forcing herself awake. She was… on a hunt. An important hunt. She was saving a child…

She shook her head, trying to clear it, trying to focus. She concentrated, listening to the voices, and they separated from meaningless noise to actual words.

"– employ such uncouth means." A voice– a different voice– that she didn't know. "However... as soon as the relevant affairs are settled, you will be allowed to go, unharmed... Please, do stay here until then."

"...Kidnapped...?" This voice… she knew… it was her child…

Maria went from groggy to wide awake as she remembered. It was Katarina's voice.

Katarina had been kidnapped and Maria was here to rescue her.

She was beyond the door. And, if what Maria realized she was feeling was right, she was there with a wielder of Dark Magic. The woman who was Noir?

"I truly... truly apologize... I promise, absolutely, that no harm would ever come to you..."

Yes… Maria would make sure of that. There was no need for your word.

Silently, Maria got to her feet, calling eldritch light to her hand and methodically sweeping her magic over herself. The stiffness and numbness from sleeping in that position faded, and sensation returned to her seat. She sighed as she confirmed that, no, that hadn't been a weird part of her dreams. She had only a wooden sword on her. Ah well, it would do.

Maria opened the door gently, just the smallest crack.

"...Um. Well then... how much would the ransom be...?" Katarinasaid, looking anxious. She was sitting upright in the bed, looking like she'd just woken up. Before her was a butler– much taller than the king had been yesterday– next to a noblewoman. The smoke of Dark Magic rose from both. On the woman they were small, weak wisps around her head. The butler in comparison was practically a chimney, but even then, it was surprisingly weak compared to when Rafael had been possessed. Was she a victim?

In front of Maria, their back to her, was a maid. No Dark Magic came from her.

Maria smiled.

"Ran... som?" the noble woman said.

"Yes. The amount of gold you want in exchange for my safety. How much would it be...?" Katarina said as Maria rotated her shoulder, cracking her fingers loose.

"...Ah, no. We do not have any intentions of asking for a... sum of gold," the noblewoman said. Surprisingly, she seemed alarmed at the prospect. Maria loosened her back, limbered up her legs.

"Eh? It's not gold you were after? Then why did you kidnap me?" Katarina sounded confused as Maria casually opened the door.

Maria found it in herself to be exasperated as Katarina didn't even notice, even though she was right in Katarina's sight.

"...That is..." the noblewoman said hesitantly.

The dark smoke around the butler flared slightly as he raised a hand to touch the noblewoman–

Maria picked up the maid bodily– she was taller than Maria, but her dress allowed for a good grip– and threw her at the butler.

The maid screamed as she slammed into the butler, who took her full on.

"Eh? Maria?!"

The noblewoman was still turning around as Maria drew her wooden sword from the leather prop holster. Maria backhanded her with her left hand, sending her stumbling into Katarina's bed. The butler and maid had fallen to the ground, though the maid was already halfway back up. Her efforts seemed to be pushing down the butler though, who she was accidentally kneeing and stepping on.

Undignified as it was, Maria placed a foot on her posterior and pushed hard, sending her falling again, before stomping that same foot down onto the butler's crotch. As he let out a pained breath, Maria spun, and her wooden sword struck his bent and upraised knee a powerful backhanded blow.

There was the familiar crack of things unhappy thing happening to bone.

The man screamed as Maria leisurely turned to the door that seemed to lead out of the room– it was the only other door, anyway– and locked it.

"HOEEE! Why is his knee bending like that?! Agh, this is so traumatizing!" Katarina cried. "Maria, look out!"

Maria didn't question it, throwing herself to the side. Behind her came the sounds of knives striking wood. She turned to face her opponent, casualy blocking the next three knives with her wooden sword. One of them lodged themselves point-first into the wood before getting wrenched off by Maria's swings. Maria's hand darted and she caught it in her left hand.

The butler was reaching for more knives under his coat when Maria's procured knife flew straight into the palm of his throwing hand. He let out another scream.

"Stand down or I kill you for being too much trouble," Maria said coldly.

The butler seemed to tense… then abruptly relaxed, letting his hands fall away from his coat. "I yield," he said in a pained voice, which made sense since his family blood dregs had been stomped on, his knees was bending the wrong way and he had a knife through one hand. "I surrender."

"Use magic, and I'm caving in your skull. Do anything I don't like and I will cave in you skull. This is your only warning," Maria said. "You as well, maid. Both of you, raise your hands to where I can see them. Now."

The maid, having been pushed aside by the butler to get her skirt off his face so he could throw his knives, was lying down on her back. With a look of fear that Maria wouldn't have noticed was too overdone if she hadn't been with a bunch of teenagers practicing for a theatrical piece for the past few weeks, she shakily raised both hands.

"I appear to have a knife in mine," the butler said.

"How inconvenient. Do it anyway," Maria said mercilessly. Shakily, he also raised his hands, grunting as the knife shifted and blood flowed from the wound. It smelled so sweet…! And it was all just going to waste staining his sleeve…!

Maria shook her head, turning to the ladies of the room. The woman she'd backhanded hadn't moved from where she'd fallen beyond to right herself. "Lady Claes, are you all right?"

"Er, yes! Maria, what are you doing here?"

"I am here you rescue you, your ladyship," Maria said.

"Eh? Aren't you a little short for a Stormtrooper?"

What did that small and highly inaccurate covenant of Wind Magic wielders and crossbow fetishists have to do with this? "I am a knight, your ladyship. We come in many heights. Also, as we are in public, please remember to address me properly."

"Ah, sorry!"

While Katarina was all wide smiles, despite her claims of being 'traumatized', the dark-touched noblewoman had paled to a worrying degree and was staring at Maria in utter terror. "You're… Lady Maria…!"

"Lady Campbell, please, we do not know each other," Maria said curtly, and the woman visibly flinched. "Who are you?"

"Oh, she's Selena Berg, Prince Ian's fiancée," Katarina said with guileless helpfullness. "You know, the second prince? Apparently she was ransoming me?"

"Yes, I heard," Maria said. She turned her full gaze towards the Lady Berg, who somehow paled even further. "Though question is, however… why? For I doubt it was solely your idea."

"I-it was! Prince Ian has nothing to do with this! I am the one who made the plan to kidnap Lady Claes without his knowledge!" Lady Berg said.

"I don't believe you," Maria said.

"It's true!" Lady Berg said frantically. "I swear!"

"Your word is doubtful to the point of worthlessness at the moment, Lady Berg," Maria said. Huh, was she actually crying? Maria had never driven someone to tears before.

"Ah, you don't have to be so mean, Lady Campbell," Katarina said, sounding mildly rebuking. Surprisingly– though Maria later wondered why she was surprised– Katarina reached forward and enfolded the surprised Lady Berg in a hug from behind. "Don't worry Selena, I believe you. If you say the prince doesn't know anything about this kidnapping, then I'll take your word for it." Maria raised an eyebrow as Katarina gave her a surprisingly pointed look. "You look like a good person, and good people wouldn't lie about things like that."

"She had you kidnapped," Maria felt compelled to point out.

"Eh… I suppose that's true," Katarina allowed. "But it's not like she hurt me or anything! I mean, you probably hurt them more than anything they did to me."

"They are all complicit in having you kidnapped," Maria said, feeling like she was repeating herself.

"Um… ah, but not Lana! She was just standing there!" Katarina said, looking triumphant.

"I assume you mean the maid," Maria said. "Lady Claes, she would not have been allowed to take care of you unless she was either a trusted part of this conspiracy or they were planning to kill her to silence all witnesses. Despite her bad acting at being fearful–" Maria caught an indignant look crossing over the maid's face briefly, "– she is clearly capable and intended to be your jailer, making her complicit, if not part of the planning."

"Wait, it's true!" Lady Berg said frantically. "We only hired Lana yesterday, she had nothing to do with this!"

"What have I said about the worth of your word, Lady Berg?" Maria said. This time Katarina actually gave her an indignant look, pulling Lady Berg into a tighter hug and stroking her hair. For a wonder– though Maria later had to ask herself why she was so surprised– the older woman let her. Maria sighed.

Maria slowly crossed the room, her eyes on the maid and butler on the ground. The maid was looking afraid still, but less overacted, but Maria had seen the look. The butler just looked pained. Bending down, Maria picked up the knives, slipping them into her coat pockets with their new boiled leather lining for just this sort of thing.

"That is what Lady Berg says," Maria said, trying to loom over the two while keeping out of range. Usually she wouldn't be able to, not in this life with her shorter body, but looming wasn't hard when the other person was lying on the ground. She gazed levelly at the butler. "I want to hear what you have to say."

"I am just the butler," he said, trying to look innocent and disarming, "trying to protect my mistress from a burglar."

"That is the only lie you're going to get," Maria said. "Lie to me again, and your leg will have to be amputated as I maul it. Then I break the other leg. You have already killed once to gain your power. You are not an innocent. Speak, or a rip it out of your mind. The only difference to me is how much paperwork I have to do afterwards."

For the first time in months, she called Dark Magic, the abyssal strength given to her by a sacrificed soul to the fore. She saw his eyes widen even as dark smoke seemed to erupt from her very being, as that smoke seemed to solidify into abyssal flame. As that flame solidified into tendrils.

"So," Maria said quietly, knowing that all else in the room saw nothing, that to them she was just standing there. All but to this man. "We can do this the easy way or the hard way. Choose."

The man gulped, eyes wide. It was not acting, bad or otherwise. "I'm just following orders," he said.

Maria smiled thinly. "Convince me."