Struggle, But not Alone
Ch.12
Captive
Pov: Guts
The number of skeletons grew with a chorus as they surrounded the throne of my former mentor, Gambino.
"You should have died! You should've died! You should have died! You should have died!"~
It was no use. I tried to fight the shadow that overtook me, but I was still a defenseless child. Too weak to do anything. I called out to the one I thought I could depend on.
Forgive me… Please forgive me, Gambino…
"You should have died! You should have died!-" ~
…Don't touch me… Stop… Don't touch me!
To my surprise, the shadow changed. It was no longer pressing me to the ground. Instead, it laid with me.
Slowly the figure revealed itself.
… !... A woman?...
She looked familiar, but I couldn't put it where I had met her. The only thing I could tell was she looked at me with intent.
… Dark eyes. … …
Before the trance was over, I heard the collapse of bones tumbling on the ground. Taking my eyes off the girl, I saw a fully dressed figure standing with his back to me. Facing off Gambino, ready to fight. And the skeleton mercenary started to rise up from the chair. Cackling with eagerness of a fight.
XXXXXXX
My eyes at this time started to process what was physically in front of me. A tent with a trunk, a couple wooden barrels, my satchel, and a crate used as a table to furnish the room. As more senses returned, I felt the cloth I was resting in. I was shown enough care to be laid on a bed, even if it was flimsy.
…Where am I?
That was the only thought I could string together. I waited a moment before I realized I wasn't going to get an answer laying down.
Sitting up I felt the pain on my chest, a familiar pain that told me what I last remembered. As I cupped the bandage at the spot, I saw him. A silver haired man standing over me, looking down at me with what almost looked like pity.
The muscles in my jaw tightened at the memory, making me want to know the answer to my question more. Seeing I was clothed enough, I got up from the bed and moved to the entrance.
I didn't know what I was expecting; But when I looked outside, I saw mercenaries going about their business. Some were training, a few were messing around with cards, and one was in a basin nearby cleaning himself.
A merc band…?
Taking another look around, I recognized a common trait with them.
Really young though…
As I left the tent to see more, a voice startled me.
"You're awake!"
Leaning beside the tent was a man who looked a little older than me. He had dark skin, and a clean face. Looking more, I noticed his clothes. They were more familiar than the man himself, especially the hat's style. It almost made me want to rack my head to figure out why.
"Arthur, was worried a good while about you."
Arthur-?
Images in my head raced around. Seeing that man looking at me with that dumb grin made me want to roll my eyes. Then I recalled how he fought, the state he held himself. Expressionless and resolved, even with the death they brought.
Finally, I remembered how he looked at me when I left. Hadn't seen that face on anyone before…
Speaking of faces, looking past the unknown man, I saw the face I had seen in my trance.
!
That's…!
"You ok?"
Ignoring the question, I looked at the girl. She was talking to the silver haired man with a distraught expression. The mercenary tried comforting the girl before she rejected his touch all together and quickly turned to walk away. Her eyes suddenly locked into mine.
….
….
Dark eyes…
Nothing could prepare me as the girl moved past the unknown man with an arm drawn back, and it flew past my battle sense into my chest. Reminding me of the injury I had.
I felt the air leave out of me as I hunched over to cradle the mark.
"….HA!"
The stranger came to my side with equal shock, holding up his arms between us.
"H-hey now!"
It didn't stop the armored girl, even as she turned away with gritted teeth, "I wish… …You'd died after Griffith was through with you."
I could only keep one eye open from the pain she inflicted, and that eye just watched her walk away.
"That was uncalled for."
Surprisingly, I sat up wanting to agree with him. But he was just as unknown as the others.
"It's only natural."
My body pivoted to the new voice. In a chair sat a man with a small blonde ponytail at the base of his neck. At the moment, his hands were sharpening a collection of knives as he explained,
"Our Casca gave up being a woman so she could be a mercenary long ago. In truth, she's a much better swordsman than the men here.
"By Griffith's orders she had to sleep with you for two days and two nights. In order to warm up your body, since you'd gone cold from losing so much blood…"
The other man seemed concerned, "Hold up. That's what she was doing?"
Ponytail didn't answer him directly, he lifted the blade he was working on in a half hearted stance, "Warming a man is a man's duty. He said."
Before I could even react, the knife wielder threw the dagger past us into the bucket of the man cleaning himself up.
They started bickering at each other as I clutched my wound as it started to remind me of it's existence again. "Judeau" was the only name I registered.
As it subsided, another sense grabbed my attention. One that has served me well over the years of combat. And it was telling me to look to my right.
Sure enough, the silver haired man had entered my space without my noticing till now. But instead of a sword drawn, he looked down at me, "... I'm Griffith. What's your name?"
"... …Guts."
!
As soon as I answered, he suddenly raised a familiar sight in front of me,
"Its an amazing sword. I could never wield it…"
His hands moved towards me with no physical strain, and held it out like he was gifting my weapon to me.
"... …"
Whatever…
I took it back without taking my eyes off him, but he smiled some more before he asked me another question.
"Would you accompany me?"
!
Do I have a choice?
I grabbed a shirt on a nearby table and quickly put it on along with my sword now strapped to my back.
Clearly I'm not a true prisoner. Otherwise, I would be in chains.
Why should I?
It's a question I ignored as the two of us left the people outside my tent; and I followed him through the camp.
As we walked, more of the men took notice of me, showed their opinions on their faces. Anger, hatred.
Emotions I was most familiar with at this point, nothing new. But in the crowd, I noticed a woman that didn't fit. She was older than most here, and had the same kind of hat like the unusually dressed man. The woman looked at me with her scarred face, but looked confused rather than angry.
I tried turned away from the masses and looked to the man leading me through, "So who are they? All these guys with the Evil Eye?"
Silver Hair looked over his shoulder at me with a neutral expression, "... … The Band of the Hawk."
The Band of the Hawk?!
The man saw my reaction and asked, "Have you heard of us?"
"... … Just rumors."
The Band of the Hawk… … The last merc group you would 'ever' want to meet up with on the battlefield.
Thanks to them being on the other side, this last castle siege should have been over in three days. But it took over three months.
Still, I never noticed it during the battle… to think they'd be so 'young.'
If those old-timers weren't there…
My tongue stuck to the roof of my mouth at the thought of them.
They're long gone… But… No! That man said his name…
The questions grew more than the answers, and it was starting to bother me.
"Mind the wagon."
Looking around, I saw what he meant. My mind did a double take; Everything about the transport made no sense.
It was almost completely metal. The cloth tarp for the back was what you would see in any wagon for long distance tracel. But there was no place for the horses, and its wheels were beyond anything I could begin to guess what they were made of.
Walking past it, a man far older than anyone in the camp was unloading a crate behind it. He was skinny, having an unusually tall hat and long facial hair. The man saw us and called out to 'Griffith' and I.
"Mornin."
Only the Band member responded back with similar enthusiasm. I just turned my attention back to following the merc outside the grounds.
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"Ahhh. What a view."
He led us up a hill that oversaw the camp below. Everything was small, and the sight of what Griffith called a wagon was made to be little.
Though this wasn't what I was focused on.
"... Why?
"Back there, why'd you miss my heart? It should have been easy for you."
No response.
"Why didn't you kill me?"
"... …"
His gaze became narrow as he told told me,
"Because I realized I want you. Guts."
"... …"
I felt my face tighten up from the cringe I felt as he said the words. And I held back any restraint in what I ask,
"Are you a homo?"
To my relief, he seemed very bothered by my question.
"... …We were also in that castle four days ago."
"... …"
I listened well as he continued.
"And we were fortunate enough to watch your one-on-one combat with Bazuso. It was admirable… But… It was dangerous…
!
"If Bazuso's battle axe hadn't cracked, it would have been you with the cloven head."
That moment, when the blade struck my head, was only seen in a fraction of a second. Yet I could still see it clearly.
"... …Probably."
The midlander didn't react any different from my flimsy answer,
"... …You're honest… The way you fight, it's almost as though… …You're gambling your own life."
Shock ran through the back of my neck as Griffith further explained as he looked down to the camp,
"You don't budge an inch against a monster like Bazuso or multiple opponents like Corkus's group…
"Instead you run in recklessly, sword swinging. It's no doubt courageous… But it seems… …That while intentionally exposing yourself to the risk of death… …You're also struggling to make it out alive. That's how it felt to me."
"..."
I had no words to say. Nothing he was saying was like anything I had prepared myself to hear. It was like he was attacking every defense I had!
My hesitation was noted as Griffith turned his head back to me,
"... You're interesting. And I've taken a liking to you."
His face was morphed into a very infectious smile, one that bothered me immensely.
"I want you… …Guts."
End Chapter
A/N: Another chapter already?
"Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!"
And we got a new perspective! Who's next? Till next time.