"Bethany Heim,"
"If you're reading this, then it means I'm probably dead. Now that we have that tidbit out of the way, let's move onto the brass tacks."
"Allow me to preface the rest of this message, by letting you know that Ren doesn't know what fate fell upon me; he picked up a quest from the Adventurers' Guild, and is on his way to Scilia Island. He's with fifty other adventurers, and I have confidence in him that he'll return to Monte Vista's mainland, within six or so days (Of the time you're reading this)."
"He's set on retrieving a possible Sternensange from the Arc Mage of King Pendragon. Whether it's the one that was taken from my family or not is unclear to me. In all honesty, I have no idea what'll happen when the letter I wrote for him finds him. Maybe he'll come home, or maybe he'll feel obligated to continue on with searching for the man who took my family's Sternensange?"
"Only time will tell."
"Anyway, that was the most important part of this letter; feel free to ignore the rest, if you aren't interested in my thoughts (Ramblings)."
"Despite you having a large hand in my recovery, I feel guilty with the fact that I never got to personally thank you for taking part in my rescue; according to what I've been told, had it not been for you taking me into your home, I probably would have died from injuries alone."
"There's been times where I've felt as though that would have been for the best though. Maybe I should have died, along with the rest of my family— things would have been easier that way, wouldn't they?"
"Regardless of my own lingering thoughts about that, let me just say (Or write) that words alone cannot justify just how grateful I am for you and your family. From someone who's recently had their family stripped away from them, I can't overstate the importance of protecting, and cherishing your loved ones."
"But that begs the question: say someone's lost everyone they've held dear to them, and they're all alone in this bleak world we call our own."
"Should they be a victim to fate if they're unable to help themselves, or is it the duty of those who've got the resources and to help lift them up?"
"Many would be inclined to answer this with the obvious answer: Yes, we absolutely should. But just how many are willing to answer the call of duty, when such a person comes to their doorstep— seeking comfort and respite, in their most desperate of times?"
"I say all this, for there may come a time when you may find yourself being met with such a conundrum. And though you and I haven't had the opportunity to properly speak to one another, everything I know about you has been through our mutual friend— and with the way he's described you, there's hardly a doubt in my mind that you'd do the right thing."
"And though I could continue to ramble through my writing for pages and pages on end, the truth of the matter is that I've run out of sheets to write on (Paper isn't cheap, and I used all my paper to write a manual for Ren)."
"Wish I could have been friends with you from closer, than just afar,"
"Amerika Prolixity."
After days of anxiously checking her mailbox whenever she had a chance to break away from her studies and chores, never once did Bethany expect to receive such a disheartening letter. Even more so, the ten year-old never expected to have it hand-delivered to her by a blond little girl, who had brought with her a traveling luggage bag.
With her back facing towards the East, Juliet saw the orange light of the rising sun glistening within Bethany's misty eyes— the redhead's trembling fingers tightening on the edge of the unfolded sheet of paper, while her other hand was raised up her mouth.
Left speechless and in utter shock, Bethany's mind was still scrambling to process the unexpected death of the goblin— her overwhelmed mind continuously reflecting back to the promise Ren had made to her, about how he was supposed to keep her safe.
"I… I don't know how close you were to her, Miss Heim, but… She spoke a lot of good things about you," Juliet spoke in a somber voice, and took in a deep breath before slowly exhaling it through her parted lips.
"Even if I only knew her for a little bit, she… She reminded me a lot of my mother: selfless, and always putting those she loved before herself," Juliet reverend— her lips curling ever so slightly into a smile, as she spoke fondly of the goblin girl.
"I told the harefolk from near Floré about Miss Amerika, and what happened to her family… I know it's a lot to ask this if you, but… May you show them where their bodies are?" Juliet asked nervously, and saw the look of visible confusion on Bethany's teary eyes before explaining, "Their village elder, he… He wanted to give them all a proper burial— including Miss Amerika."
In the emotional state that she was in, Bethany needed a moment to recompose herself after having heard that spoken. Sighing softly, the redhead used the sleeve of her blouse to wipe her tears away, before folding the letter and sticking it into the front pocket of her black denim overalls.
"That's… That's very kind of them— offering themselves to do that for her," Bethany spoke quietly— still feeling affected with grief and stress, yet trying to remain in the moment as much as she could. "The harefolk… When…? W-When are they wanting to be shown the bodies?"
"As soon as it's convenient for you, Miss Heim; there's a team of carpenters and lumberjacks who are waiting outside your property— they're the ones who escorted me here," Juliet replied politely, bowing her head slightly, but still looking up into Bethany's pink irises as she nudge the luggage bag by her feet.
"I… I don't want you to mistake this as a bribe, or anything dirty of the sort, but… Miss Amerika wanted you to have this," Juliet said, before crouching down into a squat. Unzipping the luggage bag to reveal a large pile of coins buried at the bottom of it, Juliet stared up at Bethany's wide-eyed expression— the redhead's jaw agaped, as she experienced mental whiplash.
"W-What…?!" Bethany stammered out in a baffled voice— being completely dumbfounded at the mere idea of receiving an inheritance. "I… I don't get it…?! Why did she want me to have this…?!" The redhead asked bewildered, as she knelt down across from where Juliet was kneeling— the opened bag of coins separating the two, who were only a couple feet from one another.
"She… She didn't say why, but… I think she knew how much you meant to Ren," Juliet replied with confidence in her soft voice— smiling even more, as she recalled the pleasant morning that the three of them shared, before the eleven year-old embarked for his journey.
"Ren talked a lot about you, actually— spoke a lot about him wanting to travel with you someday," Juliet mused with nostalgia in her voice, which was felt by the intrigued redhead kneeling down across from her.
Not saying anything that first, Bethany's eyes darted from Juliet's cathartic gaze, to back to the luggage bag full of coins— her mind weighing out the risks, before soon enough making up her mind as to what she would say next.
"Say, uh… Juliet," she said aloud in a warm, inviting voice— her agaped lips forming into a friendly smirk, as she looked back up into the blond little girl's face.
"Y-Yes, Miss Heim?"
"Would you…? Would you like to come inside for some breakfast? Maybe chat a bit over a glass of orange juice? It's freshly squeezed, ya know," Bethany offered with her cheeks glowing a slight hint of pink, as Juliet's eyes widened softly.
"I… I'm very grateful that you'd invite me into your home, Miss Heim, but… The last thing I'd want to do is create problems for you and your family," Juliet replied reluctantly, and frowned slightly as she added, "I believe Ren told me that everyone here couldn't know that he was still alive— he said it would make things more complicated than they already were."
Smiling humorously at what her best friend had told the six year-old, Bethany let out a chuckle as she shook her head softly. "Yeah, that's definitely something he'd say— he even told me the same thing too," she mused, before letting out a fond sigh.
"That's Ren for you, though: he's a really smart guy— I'm not gonna argue that— but even so… He's still just a kid— same goes for you and I, Juliet," Bethany said, and paused briefly before continuing on to say, "We're just doing our best to make sense of this world, and that can be scary… Ren doesn't like to admit that the same goes for him, cause I think it makes him feel helpless… I think that's why he keeps others away, because part of him knows he can only do so much to protect them— so much to protect us."
Hearing that said felt eye-opening for Juliet, who immediately thought back to her time spent with Ren. "That… That would explain a lot then, Miss Heim; he was really insistent on Miss Amerika staying behind with me, when he left," Juliet lamented with a thoughtful look across her half-closed eyes, while sighing under her breath.
Placing a hand down on Juliet's shoulder, and catching her by surprise, Bethany gave the six year-old a reassuring smirk and giggled softly before saying, "Just because his heart's in the right place, doesn't mean his judgment is always the greatest— he tends to make a lot of mistakes, trying to do what's best for others…"
"So don't worry none about doing what he says… And besides, how am I gonna NOT feed you?! You're super boney, ya know that?!" Bethany teased half-playfully, before gripping her fingers softly on the petite six year-old's shoulder— shaking her softly, before prompting the blond little girl to rise up to her feet with her.
Still confused and reluctant to go against what she thought was the correct thing to do, Juliet frowned uneasily at the bright and optimistic redhead, before asking her, "W-What are you going to tell your family then? Surely they'll want to know who I am, and how you know me…"
Undeterred by Juliet's reasoning, Bethany shrugged her shoulders carelessly before squatting down to pick the bag up with one hand. "The truth, of course," she replied reassuringly, as she stood back up to see the look of worry across Juliet's face.
"W-Won't they be upset?!" She asked anxiously, to which Bethany nodded while letting out a soft chuckle.
"Heh, at first, yeah— they probably will," Bethany admitted openly, before using her free hand to gesture to the anxious little girl to begin walking back toward the direction of her front porch. "But my parents aren't going to leave you high and dry like that— we're not that kind of people…"
"… Besides, they can't ground me forever, can they~?!" Bethany joked playfully— her bright smiling growing infectious, as Juliet even soon found herself giggling with nervous delight.
"N-No, I suppose they can't, can they…?!" Juliet mused humorlessly in her soft voice, while gingerly climbing up the steps of Bethany's porch. "Thank you for inviting me inside, Miss Heim… I can see why Ren thinks so highly of you…!"
"What can I say?! I'm just that amazing, now aren't I~?" Bethany replied teasingly, and gave Juliet a playful wink as she stepped to the side to hold the door open for her. "Come on inside~! We've got a lot to talk about, and you and your stomach have a lot of catching up to do~!"
An hour away from the coast of Silica Island, Ren and Luca sat beside one another on a wooden bench that was being supported by chains connected to the wall of their shared cell alone. Stripped of their armor and gear, Ren had on only his black turtleneck shirt and dark pants, while his white-haired accomplice wore his dark, skin-tight jumpsuit that left little to the imagination.
"… Look at the bright side, Gobbie: at least we've got our own private room! That beats being cramped in there with the others, doesn't it?" Luca mused optimistically, while smiling widely at the disgruntled eleven year-old whose hip was pressing up against theirs.
"… We're only in here because everyone else wanted to get back at us— they blame us for getting them captured, you know," Ren argued bluntly— speaking in a raspy, exhausted voice.
Unbothered by his argument, Luca let out an amused giggle while kicking his dangling feet back and forth like an energetic child. "Ahh! So you see now why I advocated for killing them in the first place then~?"
Rolling his eyes at the jovial lunatic, Ren shook his head while muttering to them, "What you were advocating for was mass murder— only a genuine psychopath would ever consider that to be an acceptable precautionary."
Laughing Ren's accusation off, Luca leaned their shoulder up against his— raising his eyebrows playfully at him, while smugly smirking at him with their eyelids half-closed. "Of course you'd have to be a psychopath to actually consider that as an option! I mean, why else would I have recommended that to you in the first place~?"
Giving the white-haired boy a side-eye glare, Ren didn't say anything at first— merely conveying his feelings through his annoyed gaze alone, before finally scoffing as he shifted his attention away from Luca's amused expression.
"… Can you just shut the hell up already?" Ren asked in a bitter voice, while turning his back toward Luca— just so he didn't have to even look in his general direction. "Think you've tried gaslighting me for the… Probably the four-hundredth time now."
Chortling at the effect they were having on Ren, Luca playfully elbowed the eleven year-old in the back, before retorting in a condescending, "Jeez! Not much of a morning person, are you now "Princess"~?! And by the way, you TOTALLY just pulled that number out of your ass— I can tell~!"
Whipping his head around over his shoulder, Ren glared dagger at Luca— his crimson eyes filled with murderous intent, which only made the androgynous boy all the more entertained.
"… If you even UTTER another GODDAMN word to me, I WILL beat the HELL out of you," Ren threatened with his fingers tightening up into balled-up fists, while already preemptively turning around toward Luca, in his seat.
"Fuwahaha~…! Oh yeah, you're SOOOOOOOO not a freakin' psycho-"
"-GrrrAAAAGH!" Ren roared out furiously, as he swung his fist directly into Luca's grinning face, before proceeding to slam the back of their head enough against the wooden wall, to create a splinter-filled hole.
Turning pink with uncontrollable laughter, Luca whipped their head forward out of the hole in the wall— smiling the entire time, as they head-butted Ren off of the bench, before the eleven year-old could get another swing on him.
"YOUR TURN, ASSHOLE~!" Luca yelled with manic glee, before leaping off of his seat to pin Ren down on his back— letting out a gasp and whipping their head back, after the gray-haired boy immediately brought his knee to their crotch.
"Fucking PRICK…!" Ren seethed hatefully with narrowed eyes, as he punched Luca straight in their jugular— causing the white-haired boy to cough violently while still laughing through the pain.
Returning the favor, Luca grinned as they brought both their elbows down on Ren's face— bashing him in the nose, before grabbing a hold of his throat and cocking their right fist back, and behind their shoulder.
"SAY HI TO YOUR DEAD PARENTS FOR ME!" Luca screamed aloud with ecstasy in their voice, as they brought their fist down on Ren's face with the same force they used to disembowel the sailors from last night.
Much to their genuine surprise— and much to their overall excitement— Luca's already widened eye grew larger, upon seeing that not Ren's face was still perfectly intact— despite the back of his head having created a hole in the floorboards, from how hard he had been punched. "Wowie…! Well, aren't you just full of supris-ES?!"
Interrupting Luca by uppercutting them in the jaw, Ren quickly grabbed a hold of their arm they were used to holding him down— pushing as hard as he could against his elbow, and causing the boy's limb to bend unnaturally.
"And you're full of SHIT!" Ren shouted back defiantly, before gritting his teeth as he cocked his feet back— kicking Luca off of him hard enough to break the ceiling, after the white-haired boy's back collided with it.
Instead of allowing gravity to pull them down, Luca remained stuck to the ceiling— the whites of their eyes becoming pitch-black, as their grin widened even more than what should have been possible.
"You're a lot tougher than you look~…! And a lot more like me than I thought as well~…!" Luca remarked aloud in a bloodthirsty voice— licking their lips, as one of their jet-black arms that was keeping them attached to the ceiling slid between his back to wrap itself around their broken arm.
Although he was anxious of what he had gotten himself into, Ren rolled back onto his feet— getting into a low, wide stance, while wincing as he heard Luca snapping their elbow back into place.
"Let's see if your arm can do that too, shall w-"
Zap.
"-EeEeEeEeE?!" Luca stuttered out uncontrollably, after they were blindsided by two tiny metal prongs that shot into their ribs, before violently electrocuting him off of the ceiling.
Turning around to see who had shot Luca, and with what weapon they were using, Ren only caught a glimpse of a terrified moth girl— one who was completely white, and one who was taking aim at him with what looked like a rectangular pistol.
Raising his arms up towards the bars that were separating him from the other side of where the moth girl was standing, Ren began protesting, "W-Wait, no wait— h-hold on-"
Zap.
"-NnNnNnNnNgGgHhHh?!" Ren stuttered out involuntarily— his eyes widening, as every muscle within his body seized up, while his entire nervous system felt as though it were melting.
What was only twelve seconds felt like an excruciating twelve minutes to Ren, who was left disoriented by the time the moth girl's electroshock device had finished scrambling his nervous system— leaving his thoughts scrambled and his eyes bleeding, as he stumbled back-and-forth in his cell, in an attempt to keep himself up right.
'BleeDihn. BLEading. Paim, bast discomfory— painM, vaast didcomdort,' was all Ren's fried brain could coherently articulate in his inner thoughts, while it began to slip into unconsciousness— right around the time Luca's limp body finally became detached from the ceiling, as they came crashing down onto his head.
From the other side of the cell's steel bars, the five-foot tall moth girl stared wide-eyed at the two boys stacked lifelessly on top of one another— the smell of burned hair and flesh filling the room, as she lowered the taser with one hand, while reaching up to cover her agape mouth.
"O…?! O-Oh my God, did we just…?! D-Did we just K-KILL THEM?!" She stammered out anxiously with her wings profusely kicking up dust into the air.
Standing a meter away from her side, was a large anthropomorphic shark woman with long raven-black hair that covered her eyes— the extremely muscular shark dressed in a similar blue-and-gold colored schemed steampunk outfit as the terrified moth girl had on over her slender body.
Raising a gloved hand to move the hair from her eyes, while the moth girl inspected the knob that was attached to the side of her weapon, the ten-foot tall shark woman eyed the two boys— sniffing the air, and wincing her snout at the pungent smell of copper.
"Oh, uhh…?! I mean, ummm… N-Nah, nah— they're probably just knocked out, is all! Nothing to worry about, Selka!" The shark woman reassured in a raspy, lackadaisical manner— failing to calm the trembling moth girl down, who spun around toward her.
Extending the taser out sideways for the larger monster girl to see, Selka stared up at her with a mortified look across her fuzzy white face. "T-Tarasha, y-you told me these were set to twenty amps— t-this one says TWO-THOUSAND AMPS! THAT'S NOT TWENTY!"
Widening her green eyes barely, as if though having murdered two children wasn't nearly as bad as the moth girl was making it out to bez Tarasha paused briefly before muttering, "I could have sworn the meter-thing said twenty amps," and took a look at what the backlit screen along the side of her own device said.
"Huh… I could have sworn that set these things to twenty amps this morning— my bad, girl," the shark woman apologized with a relaxed smile, and shrugged her broad shoulders before flicking the switch underneath her taser— ripping the prongs out of Luca's electrocuted body, and back into the squared charging-barrel of her device.
Sulking with a distraught look across her face, Selka felt her legs buckling from underneath her body— her mind being flooded with the possible consequences that would ensue.
"W…?! W-What are we going to do?! Captain Augusta said that it was imperative that these two stayed alive!" The moth girl exclaimed, before frantically gesturing at Ren and Luca with her arms extended out toward them. "How are they supposed to be interrogated, if they're BOTH DEAD?!"
Calming taking the taser from Selka's hand, Tarasha began intricately nibbling on her bottom lip— utilizing her limited cognitive capabilities, while paying no mind as Selka flinched, the moment her device retracted its prongs violently from Ren's body.
"Hermmm… Well… How about we actually check to see if they're dead, before we blow this crap out of the water, eh?" Tarasha suggested with a pleasant grin across her elongated face— paying no mind to the way the corner of Selka's eye was twitching, as the shark woman reached down to pull the retractable key-ring from where it was clipped to her belt.
Whistling a tune as a way to help distract the anxiety-ridden moth girl, Tarasha took her time making her way to the reinforced cell door— unlocking it with the keys, before giggling to herself as she let go of the key-ring.
Feeling the set of keys retracting back to her belt, the shark woman effortlessly pulled back the nearly five-hundred pound door before stepping into the confinement room. Walking over to where Ren and Luca were still lying motionless, with black smoke still rising up from their bodies.
Grabbing handfuls of her own hair, and repeatedly tapping her feet against the floorboards, the moth girl muttered incoherently to herself while the small golden bell attached to her collar jingled— all watching anxiously, as the shark got down on one knee to check Luca's pulse.
"W-Well?! A-Are they…?! A-Are they really just s-sleeping?!" Selka asked desperately with her wings flapping even more frantically behind her— a sharp breath escaping from her throat, while feeling the room beginning to spin the moment she saw Tarasha's relaxed smile waver.
"Uhhhh… Y-Yeah, y-yeah! They're uh… T-They're just asleep, is all," she replied uneasily with a feigned smile replacing her momentary expression of panic, as she pretended to take Ren's pulse next before looking back up at her colleague.
Unsure what to believe, but wanting so very much to deny accountability for their mistakes, Selka swallowed the lump in her throat before meekly asking Tarasha, "R… R-Really…?!"
Giving her a confident thumbs up, the voluptuous and muscular shark proceeded to give the moth girl a toothy smile. "Yeah— I'm for real, for real! W-Which is why we're gonna do the RIGHT thing, by putting them back on their cot— s-so that they're nice and cozy!"
Deflating a bit, Selka began to awkwardly smile as she watched Tarasha grab a hold of the boys by their necks— lifting them up with one hand each. "T… That's a bench, b-but… Y-Yes! Yes, t-that's something Captain Augusta would advocate for: the well treatment of our detainees!"
"Yeah, let's go with that!" Tarasha said agreeingly, before laying Ren and Luca down onto the narrow bench— making sure that their backs were facing toward the entrance of their cell, before sandwiching them together to make them fit.
"And in the very least, Hannah will just tell the captain that we tried our best— if worse comes to worse!" Tarasha added, before knocking twice for good measure on the damaged wall. "But for now, let's just bring their food inside, like how we're supposed to! So if— and when— they wake up, they'll have some nice fish n' chips to look forward to!"
"Y… Y-Yes, you're right; it's going to be fine— everything's going to be JUST fine!" Selka said aloud with palatable denial in her voice, before beginning to cart the trays in that they had been originally tasked with delivering to Ren and Luca— completely disassociating with what had transpired and focusing to instead listen to calming sound of her collar jingling, while Tarasha removed her sleeveless long coat to drape it over the boys' bodies, as though it were a blanket.
Leaving the cart over the large breach in the floorboards to cover it up, Selka scampered out of the jail cell as hastily as she could— pretending that everything was fine, while Tarasha closed and locked the reinforced sliding-door behind them.
"Welp… Back to work then, right?" Tarasha asked rhetorically with a shrug of her broad shoulders, and gently patted the quaking moth girl on the back before the two of them left the room housing the cell— neither of them speaking a word, while the small bell around Selka's collar jingled as they made their way down the well-lit corridor.