For a while, Ash just sat there. Around her, the chill in the air picked up and grew even colder, as she looked out at Arianna's body in front of her. Her chest felt so tight that she put a hand up to it, trying to breathe.
... So, this is what happens when I actually try to be someone's hero for once, Ash thought, letting out a deep breath. I'm just so fucking...
With her hands clenched into fists, Ash let out a deep sigh as she went to pick Arianna's body up.
I... Can't just leave her here. She thought, as she began to walk back to the valley, the same way she'd gotten here. The carriage that Zafir had come in had left already, just like the citizens' cart had before it.
As for Zafir himself, his ruined body was left alone there in the middle of this vast emptiness, where Ash felt it deserved to be.
With the girl's body in her arms, she began retracing her steps. It was a long trip back, and the poison effect she had to endure again made it especially annoying, but some time later, she was moving through the underside, where many of Amber's locals were still perusing the strange marketplace.
By now, of course, the illusions Kasumi had placed on her and Arianna had long since faded, so their eyes fell on both Ash and the girl she was carrying, in their true forms. But, she couldn't care less about their gasps and stares right now. Her mind only produced the same handful of thoughts over, and over again.
If I'd just been a little bit faster...
Among those statements, another thought also crept in.
If Bin was the "source" Zafir was talking about, she glared, someone else is going to end up having to take care of that bar of his.
"H-Hey!" A guard called out as Ash walked up the bridges and reached the topside of the city. She began walking behind the buildings, on her way back to the Manor, when the guy stopped her. She halted, looking over at the guard who was jogging her way. Arianna's blood, by now, had slid from the wound in her neck down to Ash's body already.
"Eh," the guard stopped in front of her, his eyes darting from the body in Ash's arms to her, and back to Arianna. "Who, what, why-?"
"..." Ash ignored him, continuing to walk past the guy. Just leave me alone.
"I'm talking to you!" The guy said, putting a hand on her shoulder. "What-"
"If you don't get out of my way, right now, I am going to fucking slaughter you!" Ash yelled out, in a flash of anger that made her body feel warmer. The guard stopped.
Again, Ash turned away from him and kept going.
Just... I don't know, Ash thought. I don't know, I... I just want to give her over to someone and be done with all of this.
When she reached the Manor's gates, she hopped over the wall, like she had before, landing on the other side without alerting the guards stationed at the metal doors. Here, she around the building, heading to the garden with the intention of going straight to their rooms.
Uh, Satsuhiro, Ash thought. Metsumi. One of them will know what to do with her.
However, as she reached the spot where she and the other girls usually trained, where the flowers were almost glowing in the nighttime, she saw someone. Kasumi was still sitting right where she'd been when she cast the illusion spell onto Ash and Arianna that started this whole "mission".
Seeing her, Ash's legs quickly took her to the woman.
Kasumi yawned and then turned toward her when she noticed Ash out of the corner of her eyes. As soon as she did, those eyes widened with surprise, and she stood up.
"Ash?" She asked. "What the hell happened?"
"I..." Ash looked down at Arianna. "Zafir came and... I was too slow to... I just... I failed."
Each phrase took so much effort to say that when she was done, Ash finally felt all of the exhaustion that had been building up tonight land on her shoulders.
"What do I do with her?" She asked that question weakly to Kasumi, hoping for any sort of answer.
"I mean, I don't know, I think," Kasumi paused. "Maybe this place has a crypt?"
As soon as she heard that, Ash turned away and walked indoors. She ignored the way Kasumi called out after her.
Right, Ash thought. Just, a place where she can be buried or something. Makes sense.
But, as soon as she walked inside, a handful of servants saw her, and aside from gasping, they ran over and asked:
"Is she alright?" A male servant, dressed like a butler, stood in front of her.
"She needs healing!" A maid to Ash's right said.
"N-No, she's... She's dead," Ash let them know. They paled when they heard that. "Where can I put her body?"
"Uh, maybe just leave her in her room, for now. The senate can choose after."
"..." As soon as Ash heard that, she scowled at them.
The senate is going to have a hard time choosing anything, in a little while, if I get my hands on them.
Rejecting their idea, Ash walked back and went into Satsuhiro's room. As soon as she did, the Savior woke up, sitting up to see who had come in so hastily.
"Ash? What the fuck?" He asked, as his eyes fell on both her and Arianna. In a second, he was reaching for his cane and standing up.
"Zafir," Ash explained, once again. Satsuhiro walked out into the hall, and Kasumi walked into the building. "He..." She looked down at Arianna, hoping he'd understand.
Satsuhiro shook his head as if trying to wake himself up.
"Shit..." He said, remaining silent for a while. Behind Ash, the servants gasped, as if shocked to learn the senator was involved, but she didn't care. "Is the senator still with us?" He asked, in a hushed tone.
"No."
"... Then, in that case," Satsuhiro looked over at the servants, who were still there. "You two, wrap her up in something, and leave her in her room."
"R-Right!" One said, and both of them quickly came and took Arianna's body out of her hands, leaving the half-demon with nothing but her ruined clothes, stained with both red and violet blood.
As soon as they did, Satsuhiro put a hand on Ash's shoulder.
"Are there any witnesses left? Anyone who can say you were involved?" Satsuhiro asked.
"Uh, one guy," Ash replied, remembering the driver who took Zafir to where she'd been.
"In that case, we need to wake everyone up. We should probably leave the city as soon as possible."
"Why?" Ash asked, in a low, dangerous voice. "It's not like any of these guards can do anything to me."
"If you feel like fighting everyone in Amber just to prove a point, you're welcome to. Everyone else, though, is in danger right now. Understand?"
Hearing that, Ash loosened up a little.
"... Right, sorry," she said with an equally low voice, but one that was softer.
With that, she turned and went into her own room. Keiko was peacefully asleep, and Ash sat down on the edge of the bed, in front of her. It hurt to disturb the girl, but Ash did so anyway. Satsuhiro was right, after all.
She nudged Keiko's shoulder and the girl's eyes blinked open a while later.
"Ash?"
"... Yeah," the girl nodded.
"What time is it?" Keiko asked.
"Still nighttime. Get ready though," Ash said. "We're leaving."
---
Sometime later, the group was walking out of the city. Guards, of course, stepped up to ask questions, some of them even pulled their weapons out, but a few threatening glances from the half-demon and Sinneah was all it took to get most of them to lay off.
Ash was walking at the front. Now, instead of Arianna, she was carrying Kaori, along with her backpack, which had all of her stuff inside. She still hadn't even sorted out the EXP she'd gotten from all of her kills. She figured she'd do that later.
Behind her, Luvine and Opah were dragging their sleepy selves by the others' sides. Sinneah was expressionless as usual. Yumi was talking to Keiko, asking about what happened as she sensed that Ash wasn't going to give her any detailed explanation, though Keiko didn't have one to offer either.
Metsumi and Satsuhiro were silent, a few steps behind Ash. The only one walking by her side right now was Kasumi.
"Sorry that things turned out like this. It really sucks," Kasumi told Ash.
"Yeah," Ash replied. "I just feel like, I dunno, maybe I made the wrong call. Maybe I should have tried something else but, yeah. I can't take anything back now."
From behind, as they walked out into the vast lands and began putting distance between themselves and Amber, Satsuhiro asked:
"Did you get those spells?"
As Ash heard that, she nodded.
"Most of them," Ash replied. "She didn't get to finish before everything went down, though."
"... At least it wasn't a total waste."
For some reason, hearing that didn't make her feel any better.
"Well, what's done is done," Kasumi said. "Now, what do we do?"
"I can send a letter to the Council and have them send someone to pick us up," Satsuhiro stated. "If Zafir and his guards were the ones preventing letters from exiting the city, it should work. It'll take a few days, though."
With that new plan settled, a silence fell over everyone. Ash thought of something then and asked:
"Kasumi, can you put another illusion on me?" Ash quickly asked. "Tomorrow morning."
"Yes, why?"
"I want to go get some potions from Tyl," Ash replied. "I mean, if we aren't heading back into Amber ever again, I think it's a good idea."
"Sounds good," Satsuhiro told her, and Ash was glad to hear that.
Mainly because that wasn't all she intended to do.
"By the way," Metsumi walked up over to her. She placed a hand on Ash's shoulder, comfortingly. "Don't beat yourself up. Doesn't matter how high your level is, you're not gonna be able to succeed at every single thing you try to do."
"Yeah, I know," Ash replied, nodding.
Suddenly, a little hand tugged on Ash's shirt, by her left. She looked down and saw Luvine looking up at her.
"... Are you okay?" She asked, in a quiet little voice as she looked up at Ash with worried eyes.
"Yeah," Ash replied, trying to smile at her. Luvine didn't look convinced.
Or... She thought. I will be.. After tomorrow.
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