Cecil Harvey: "Desertion" (2/3)
Title: Crusader's Run: Desertion (part 2 of 3)
Theme + Number: Healing #58, Questions #74, Prayer #98
Claim: Cecil Harvey
Characters/Pairings included: Rosa, Kain, Golbez, Baigan, Cecil
Rating: T
Warnings: Brief flash of nudity, maybe
Summary: An entourage from Baron is sent to investigate Mist and Rosa soon discovers all of the changes and revelations following the incident.
Index
"Quotes" = Dialogue
"Quotes & Italics" = Thoughts
Italics = Flashback Scene
**Asterisk** = Time Passes and/or Change of POV
--------------
“Cecil... Kain...” Rosa calls out in her mind as she squeezes both her staff in her right hand and the shaft of Kain's broken spear in the other.
It has already been a day since Rosa first arrived in Mist. The kingdom of Baron had felt the slight tremors yesterday morning, and the cleric tried writing it off as a mere coincidence unrelated to the two knights' venture into the valley. Yet her hidden suspicions gained more validation as the hours passed by with neither Cecil nor Kain returning from their mission. A small entourage was assembled soon afterwards to search for the two missing knights and she had easily volunteered to go along with the convent as its resident healer.
When she entered the valley, however, Rosa grew sickeningly worried her services were unnecessary as she took in the sight before her. Massive tons of rocks and gravel laid missing from the northern mountain slope as they could be found burying a good half of the valley. At the center of the ruins, the very earth was brutally mutilated as hundreds of cracks ran throughout the face of the land. As for the village, there wasn't a single structure that stood more than a meter high, either by having its foundation knocked over or being reduced entirely to ashes.
Even though she was used to the sight, Rosa still needed a moment to compose herself after she witnessed the sheer number of causalities within the valley. Many of the dead, both human and monster alike, were found allow the village borders and formed a definite arc away from the devastating land destruction. From the townspeople's ashen remains, it was terribly easy to figure out that the vast majority of them died due to inflammation. And after taking a moment to examine the bomb corpses' dried, hardened skin, the cleric had deduced their own life flame was somehow completely extinguished.
When she had found some of the monsters bearing wounds inflicted by weapons, Rosa grew more hopeful yet as they continue searching the area only to turn up more dead bodies, a little more of that hope dies. The wait - the constant struggle to remain calm in the face of dire possibilities - is slowly killing her. Only recently did the soldiers dig up Kain's spear and the weapon's broken condition left her remaining hopes dangling by a thread. Now the cleric finds herself clinging every time the soldiers beckon her, telling her of their findings.
“Lady Rosa,” a echoing voice calls from above. The cleric quickly looks up at a tall, uprising land ledge and sees a lancer from Kain's platoon gazing down at her; his right hand at the the side of his mouth while his left hand points a thumb behind his shoulder, “There's something over there that you should go see.”
Rosa carefully weaves around the various sections of uplifted earth and deep pitfalls as she anxiously goes to where the soldier had indicated. Upon arriving at the solid base of the landslide, she immediately spots something foreign to her sight that she wasn't expecting to find since she first arrived.
Patches of green grass were left untouched by the great fire and now lay underneath the mountain rubble that is currently being excavated. Many of the soldiers seem to disappear into the small hole, and it isn't until Rosa looks inside before she realizes there are already sizable rooms and passages that allow them to move about freely under the landslide. Two soldiers soon come out of the tunnel carrying the body of a dead woman and they set her down on the ground besides the cleric.
Unlike all the other victims, she is the only person Rosa has seen thus far who carries no traces of burn marks anywhere on her body. The cleric places her staff over the corpse and is slightly taken aback as she discovers her magic producing no results. She begins stripping the pale woman down, more for confirmation than anything else, and finds a dreadfully deep cut running across the corpse, “I see... So it was Cecil after all...”
Rosa's heart sinks a little upon knowing the cause yet being unable to see the reason. The damage was definitely caused by a secret technique the king passed down to Cecil. It is a sword skill renowned for both its amazing cutting powers and projectile-like capabilities, however, there's one additional ability that the dark knight alone is privilege to. Wounds inflicted by the Corrosion of Darkness cannot be healed even long after the victim expires, and nothing in the ways of ancient magecraft or modern alchemy seem capable of lifting such an unforgivable curse. But there's still one detail that arouses the cleric's confusion, “Something isn't right... Even if she was struck down by the Corrosion, her clothings shouldn't have remained intact like this. So how is this possible..?”
“Lady Rosa! Your most urgent attention!” one of the Red Wings soldiers shouts from inside the tunnel as they hastily bring out another person and carefully sets him face down on the ground.
The azure armor the man is wearing quickly tips Rosa off as to the identity of the individual and she surprisingly exclaims, “Oh my... Kain!”
The dragoon turns his head towards the voice and weakly mutters, “... Ro...zaaa..?”
The cleric brings out a vial she had prepared beforehand and feeds Kain the red liquid. Though the extent of his wounds far exceeds the potion's potency, it's still capable of providing temporary relief to the injured dragoon. After having drunk the contents of the vial, Kain's expression immediately eases and his muscles lax. The cleric then runs her staff over the dragoon, able to read and scan the layout of his body due to the disperse mana that seeps out from his injuries.
“System severity... as expected... Third degree burns spread throughout his entire back... Patches of fourth concentrated on his shoulder, some reaching all the way to the bone... Going deeper... Spine shattered in several places... likely paralyzed from the neck down... And here, the most difficult... Something engraved, running deep into his skin... Strange... not the same... foreign to the body... this material..?”
“How is he, Lady Rosa?” A voice from outside her range inquires but the cleric tones it out.
“... Back of skull... a slight fracture... thankfully not as bad as the spine, only enough to cause disorientation... His left arm also... dislocated as well...”
“Lady Rosa?” the voice, sounding different from the one before, calls out.
“...
...
......”
The cleric softly exhales as she rests her staff on the dragoon's back, “You needn't worry. While his wounds are excessive and excruciating to be sure, so long as Kain is monitored and regularly treated his injuries shouldn't turn life-threatening.”
The soldiers around her breath a sign of relief before going back to search for the other missing captain, allowing Rosa to focus on healing her injured friend. She recites the single verse needed to quickly initiate the Cura spell and repeats the chant in a soft murmur to retain its effect. The pulsating light glowing from the head of the staff regulates the chaotic mana until it flows back into its natural rhythm, which in turn restrengthens the body enough to heal its own injuries. With the continuous aid of white magic, it would take a normal person a few days to make a full recovery. But because of Kain's ineptitude to the mystic arts, a far greater period of time is needed. Looking at his sorry condition, Rosa wishes she had practiced more in the ways of alchemy so that she could better aid her friend as well as those like him.
The cleric continues working in silence, afraid of the answer she might hear if she poses the burning question in her heart. Her need to know soon wins over her ominous fears, however, and she quietly asks her friend, “Kain... what happened? Do you know what became of Cecil?”
The dragoon's body stiffens upon hearing her inquiries. Nevertheless, he begins to recount his last moments of recollection.
*********
One by one, Kain took down the bombs in front of him, trying franticly to create an opening that would have allowed the two knights to escape from their predicament. His concentration solely focused on the task at hand, the dragoon never expected any danger to attack him directly from behind; not until the stabbing pain at his back shattered the complete trust he had for his best friend. Painfully, he turned his head to his left and saw a bomb with its jaws clamped around the armor plates of his left shoulder. With his dominant arm restrained, Kain grabbed the spear's shaft with his right hand and drove the reverse end of it into the monster's chin. However, as he witnessed the flaming creature glowing brighter and its body collapsing into itself, the dragoon came to a horrifying realization.
He didn't kill it in one stroke.
The bomb exploded in a great fireball and drove the dragoon violently into the ground, the blast shattering the majority of his spear into a rain of tiny iron shards. Kain tried to get back on his feet but both the sheathing agony of his body and the blistering headache he was experiencing made it an impossible task for him to do so quickly. The monsters saw their golden opportunity and pounced on the fallen warrior, coming in from every possible direction. Surprisingly calm, Kain steeled himself for the inevitable end. But something strange caught his eyes as he laid on his back and gazed overhead.
A glowing yellow circle was suspended in the sky high above, and something incredibly large and bulky was rapidly descending into the middle of the village. Kain braced himself just as the huge object smashed into the ground, creating a massive shock wave that savagely scattered everything away from it. While the dragoon was merely sent tumbling five meters backwards, most of the unprepared bombs were blasted away and instantly destroyed due to the ferocious winds.
Kain slowly sat up and took a good look at the fallen object only to find its figure more closely resembled that of a human than anything else. It looked as if it was craved directly from the earth yet the way the creature moved, the way that it breathed, didn't make it seem artificial at all. It stood at about ten meters in both width and height, the surface of its dirt-colored skin bulging with unrestrained muscle on every square inch of its blocky body.
The dragoon suddenly took notice of the remaining bombs as they shot pass him from behind, ignoring his presence in the face of their greatest threat for survival. The flaming creatures all banded together to take down the gigantic golem, but that only led to their downfall being all the swifter.
With a primal roar, the giant drove both of its fists into the ground, causing the already unstable fragments of the earth to rise and collapse wildly. Many of the bombs were mercilessly brutalized and impaled by countless columns and shards of uplifted earth while the few surviving were then swallowed into the makeshift abyss. Desperate not to share the same fate, Kain forced his agonizing body to jump awkwardly to one side before the land fell underneath him. But the golem caught sight of his flight; its murky, pupil-less eyes trained entirely on him.
The giant ran its massive fingers through the earth and sprayed dozens of sizable land clumps in the general direction of the dragoon. Knowing he couldn't dodge them all, Kain successfully planted his feet on one of the first incoming projectiles and used it as stepping stone to jump even higher, avoiding the rocky barrage as it harmlessly whizzed by underneath him. The dragoon kept his eyes on the ground and carefully watched the giant's next move, but he became distracted upon spotting the small figure of Cecil amidst all of the chaos below. A few seconds later, however, the ledge his friend was precariously hanging onto crumpled and he dropped into the ravine along with the Mist girl.
“Cecil!!!!!”
Kain's horrified screams died in his throat as an impossibly deep shadow suddenly immersed his airborne body. The dragoon only needed to look up to see an enormous strip of earth come hurling towards him, the titanic object easily covering the entire range of his vision. All he could do was futilely raise his forearms over his head before the twirling piece of land swatted him down right out of the sky.
The dragoon fell fast, his unprotected back crashing through the undamaged house's roof and into the wooden floor below. Every strand of muscle in his body ached with renewed agony and his consciousness was quickly fading. The last thing Kain heard was the booming collision of earth striking earth, unaware of the mountain avalanche descending down upon him.
*********
“No..!” the cleric intensely whispers as the healing light from her staff flickers for a brief moment before stabilizing into a fainter glow. Rosa's gaze goes far off as she hazily asks, “Kain, are you absolutely sure..? Maybe you're just not remembering right?”
Kain clamps his jaw shut and softly shakes his head, indicating his own wish that it were so. The cleric's eyes fog up before she is able to turn away, yet her moment of silence is interrupted as she witnesses the light of her Cura spell grow weaker until it dims into nothing. Soon after, a mysterious figure arrives and announces a statement that makes light of the solemn atmosphere, “Well, well. Seems there is a survivor after all.”
Rosa and Kain both look up and see a large, imposing man before them. A miniature fortress, impenetrable yet mobile, is the cleric's first impression as even she, a person lacking any knowledge of metalworks, can see the unbelievable sturdiness of his heavy armor. Its color is that of a bottomless black, as if even the tiniest of light that strikes it vanishes from all existence. Contrary to all appearances, however, Rosa is aware of the man's capacity and where it truly lies, for those with an advance level of sorcery are able to sense their own kind. It's obvious by the staggering pool of mana he eludes, so thick it's nearly tangible to her eyes. This man before her is a magician, one who exceeds even those of the highest of caliber she has ever known.
“I see, so she was the cause...” the mysterious man quietly notes to himself as he takes one look at the corpse besides the cleric. He then looks at the dragoon, his next words coming out more like a demand than a question, “You. Were there any others who survived the firebomb?”
Caught unaware, Rosa and Kain could only stare at the intruder until some sort of realization washes over the dragoon's face. He glares at the armored man before him and responds with a question of his own, “And just who are you to be integrating me?”
“I possess every right to question those who are my inferior,” the mysterious man states. There was no arrogance or grandeur in his declaration, it was merely spoken as if it were the most obvious fact.
“What..?!” Kain voices with indignity but whines in pain as he tries to get up.
“Stop it!” Rosa suddenly exclaims as she looks up to address the intruder while gently pushing her friend back down, “Don't you see he's hurt? You only succeed in further aggravating his injuries.”
“Hooo...” the mysterious man mutters as he stares at the cleric in mild amusement, yet his attention is soon diverted as a familiar, decorated figure briskly walks into the evacuation site.
“The both of you should learn your place and show this man the proper respect,” Baigan interjects as he steadily approaches the group, “However, this one instance can be overlooked given your absence from the kingdom. The man before you is Lord Golbez, captain of the Red Wings fleet and chief commander of Baron's military forces.”
Rosa is taken aback while Kain experiences heavier shock upon hearing the announcement. Somewhat baffled, the cleric insists, “Surely I must have misheard. You must know, Sir Baigan, that it is Cecil who occupies the station which this man supposedly holds.”
“No mistake I assure you. After displaying direct defiance towards his highness yesterday evening, Cecil was effectively relieved of his duties as lord captain, thereby leaving the position open for one far more deserving,” the royal guards' captain says with vindictive glee, “It comes to no surprise that he withheld such information from his colleagues. But if you require further verification, I believe Sir Kain would be more than happy to oblige you.”
Stunned, Rosa looks directly at Kain, her eyes searching for answers. But the dragoon doesn't meet her gaze as he turns away in shame, and that alone was enough to provide the proof behind Baigan's story.
“And in light of our recent findings, it was quite the correct decision his highness had made,” Baigan finishes by adding before he turns to address the tyrant, “If I may, Lord Golbez?”
“Report.”
“Yes, my lord. Our men have finally reached the other side of the canyon and they have found evidence that one of the ruined homes was thoroughly ransacked after its collapse. Upon further inspection, they found pieces of discarded black armor inside a well, yet the dark knight was nowhere to be found within the vicinity. I must say that such a strange, peculiar incident implies neither an accident nor a necessity if Cecil was still upholding the kingdom's decree.”
Though Baigan's implication wasn't meant to invoke such a reaction, both Rosa and Kain stare in disbelief upon receiving the news. It isn't long before the cleric's eyes fog up again, only this time, it's for a reason she has no quarrels of shedding tears for, “Cecil's alive! Thank heavens he's alive...”
“So my predecessor has survived as well, yet he felt the need to run. I wonder, why is that so?” Golbez questions out loud yet the tone in his voice bears no hint of confusion. He again lies his focus on Kain, his gaze piercing and sharp, “Surely you can enlighten us on his motives.”
“...”
“No? Are you so incompetent that you're unable to hazard even a guess? Or perhaps there's more to this situation you don't care to reveal.”
Both Golbez and Baigan bear the full weight of their stare onto the dragoon and even Rosa looks on, her breath withheld as she anxiously awaits his answer. She knows well enough the situation Kain is in and anything he discloses now can incriminate either him or Cecil for life in the eyes of the kingdom. What felt like several sunlit hours later, her friend finally gathers his words and speaks, “... Probably because there was another who survived along with him. A child, likely this woman's daughter.”
“A child you say?” the royal guards' captain questions as his eyes sweep over the surrounding area in sheer amazement, “And you're saying this girl was powerful enough to have survived all of this?”
“... No... Most of the citizens fell within a matter of seconds after the initial assault... The girl was saved only because she was blessed with the protection of this woman here. Had it not been for that, she wouldn't be alive otherwise,” Kain says as he directs a heated glare at the tyrant before him.
Golbez stares back dryly as he seems to circumcise each and every one of the his words for any falsehood the dragoon may have spoken. After a long, tense moment he turns and walks away, apparently satisfied with what he didn't find. Baigan takes notice of this and closes his discussion with one of his men before he obediently follows after the tyrant. Though they have moved a fair distance away, Rosa is still able to hear their conversation as the royal guards' captain calls out, “Lord Golbez. I have just taken the liberty of sending a scouting party to pursue Cecil. What will your orders be should our traitorous dark knight elude them?”
“Nothing.”
“W-What..?”
“Did you not hear me?” Golbez questions as he stops and begins to turn. Baigan is ready to object but a hard glare from the tyrant causes him to visibly backpedal, “You also have the audacity to move the troops and are only now asking for my approval?”
“B-b-but my lord. It's standard procedure to capture all renegades and bring them back to await trial,” Baigan weakly protests before another thought occurs to him, “And the residents of Mist..! His highness ruled that-”
“My decree is the king's will. You'll do well to remember this,” Golbez interrupts with absolute authority. The tyrant's gaze seems to drift back towards Rosa, or to be more accurate at the woman lying besides her, as he states, “The original objective was successful for the most part, and there are far more pressing matters in need of attendance. Whatever merits he may have been hailed for in the past, this Cecil is now just a mere deserter harboring a lone child from a lost tribe. Neither one is of any consequence, and therefore, they are unworthy of my attention.”
“Y-yes. I beg your pardon, my lord...”
Baigan again bows his head deeply towards Golbez, much to Rosa's continued astonishment, “To command such obedience from a prideful man like Baigan... Just who in the world is this man?”
But the cleric is given no more time to ponder such matters, however, as Baigan's booming voice disrupts her thoughts, “Everyone!! Fall in formation!! We're moving out!!!”
“Wait a moment..!” Rosa quickly yells as she gets on her feet and makes her way towards the two men. Even while standing, she still needs to tilt her head to look at Golbez who towers over her by at least a foot, “There is still the matter of those here who have passed on. It would be inhumane to simply leave them as they are.”
“Hmph!” Baigan grunts as he takes it upon himself to answer for the tyrant, “We've no time to waste on such trifles.”
Reigning in her anger, Rosa turns to the royal guards' captain and responds with disciplined courtesy, “As you say, Sir Baigan. Doesn't Baron's code of conduct demand recourse for the citizens of Mist, especially considering our involvement?”
Unimpressed, the royal guards' captain thinly states, “Perhaps that would be the proper protocol to take - if we were still living in times of peace. But it seems being out here digging through the dirt has left you woefully ignorant of our current state of affairs. We are at war.”
“What..?” Rosa fadingly asks, “With whom?”
“Why, all those who don't carry the mighty banner of Baron of course,” Baigan sheers, taking pride in his words as well as pleasure in seeing the cleric's distress, “In other words: complete unification under the kingdom's rule.”
Rosa takes a step back, her head swimming with the recent revelations, “Just one day... How can all of this occur in so little time..?”
So many things have been happening so quickly: the mindless slaughter, the advent of this man known as Golbez, her love's defection and now the kingdom's declaration of war against the rest of the world. The cleric grips the fabric over her chest with her free hand as she hangs onto the last stability within her life, “... Even so, these people still deserve this final respect. All the more so since there isn't anyone but us who can carry out this duty.”
His eyes narrowing, the royal guards' captain prepares to make a scathingly rebuttal but is interrupted by the man besides him, “Leave it be, Baigan.”
Wonder-struck, both Rosa and Baigan look up at Golbez, however, the man walks away before the cleric can make eye contact with him. Baigan hurries to his side and buzzes around him, seeming nonplus as he continues carrying a one-man conversation with the silent tyrant. Rosa watches them leave, a fleeting image of the dark knight's back suddenly imposing itself over Golbez's frame. She shakes her head slightly and wonders at the thought. Even though their outer appearances look somewhat similar, their personality and mannerism makes up the resounding difference that sets them both worlds apart.
The cleric breaks out of her musings as she takes note of the many soldiers gathering around her, possibly having caught the conversation that just occurred. A man who Rosa recognizes as lieutenant of the Red Wings walks up to her, a good measure of regard and appreciation on his face as he says, “Allow us to handle the heavy labor, Lady Rosa, as your assistance will prove more beneficial in aiding Sir Kain.”
“Yes,” a voice echoes from the sky. Rosa looks up just in time to see the same lancer from before land gently besides her, “We'll make sure everyone receives a proper burial. So please take care of the captain in our stead.”
The cleric ducks her head. She wants to feel relieved, wants to feel happy for achieving this small victory. But because of her position here, she can no longer go anywhere else, not to the place she truly wishes to be. She shakes off and suppresses this selfish feeling, “It's enough to know he's alive...
... Then I'll graciously leave this to you all,” Rosa responds after a good while and gives a nod to everyone present. Her eyes then gaze off into distant, redden horizon, offering a last prayer for Cecil's safety before going back to fulfill her duties.
*********
“Agghh... Wha..?”
An overwhelming sense of deja vu sweeps over Cecil as he begins to regain his bearings. The first thing his mind registers is the feeling of moist humidity all around him. The dark knight opens his eyes and sees grains of sand darkened to a muddy brown. And as he turns on his back, it isn't long before he discovers the cause.
Mist. A thin veil of it surrounds both him and the girl, protecting them against the light of the desert sun, “So that's why... it was you. At that time too...”
Cecil slowly sits up and peels through the mist, expecting to catch sight of the dragon's silhouette again. But no matter how long he waits, not a single shadow appears from the mist nor does he feel the same lingering presence emitting from anywhere within it.
The dark knight lets out a sigh, whether it was one of disappointment or relief he can't really say. There's so many things he wants to explain, yet he doesn't know if he can handle the encounter. Just wondering about the type of eyes that will cast judgment upon him, Cecil can't help but be overcome with apprehension. The dragon did save his life twice already but it was with sound reason. To rely on its killer in order to accomplish what the dragon could not, he believed that to be the only plausible explanation.
“Still, to go beyond the brink of death...”
Even if no one is there to receive the gesture, Cecil straightens himself up and bows his head with utmost sincerity. No matter the reason, he feels grateful for the dragon's assistance, all the more so if he hasn't received its forgiveness.
The dark knight raises his head and looks around, still finding himself in the same bleak predicament as he was in before. He looks back to the visible mountain ranges, wondering if he should change destinations to ensure they reach civilization, “... No. Even though the underground caverns supposedly leads to the kingdom of Damcyan, it's just too far... It'll still take several days by foot to reach the desert kingdom, days we simply don't have.”
Just then, a thought strikes Cecil as he absently presses his palms against the dampened sand. He mulls over the idea, and though it's one of the few remaining options available to him, it also happens to be the one with the highest chance for success, “50/50 under the best conditions... But if I'm unable to find it... or if it's not even there...”
Cecil shakes his head, clearing it of such thoughts. This second opportunity granted to him won't go to waste. It's no longer about ifs or cans, it's simply a matter of must. His resolve strong, he wastes no time in lugging the girl on his back and carrying on, the direction of his travels running perpendicular to his first track into the desert.
The dark knight moves with a delicate balance of being neither too desperate or overly cautious, to make haste that will cross the miles yet to take care in each of his steps. And instead of hopelessly searching the far scape, his eyes are casted downward at the nearby sands below. Doubt creeps into his mind on numerous occasions yet he doesn't waver, reminding himself that this was the surest way of reaching the village oasis. After a few hours of walking, his efforts are rewarded as Cecil feels something solid under the sand making contact with his feet. He stomps on the spot to make sure he isn't imagining the sensation and becomes ecstatically thrilled upon feeling the packed weight of the earth beneath him. He then scrutinizes the ground and is just able to barely make out a long, recently wore path in the sand; the same trail nomads use to migrate between Kaipo and Damcyan.
Cecil follows the path that seemingly leads into nothing more than endless desert and it isn't until several hours later before he spots the village along the sandy road. Feverishly running the rest of the way, the dark knight staggers into Kaipo and quickly locates the only building that could possibly be open at this time of night. Banging on the door, he doesn't need to wait long before it opens, revealing two women that express clear shock upon seeing both Cecil and the girl's dreadful condition.
Though his throat is abysmally dry, the dark knight manages to choke out, “.Ro... room and board please...”
The younger of the two women regains her bearings and is the first to speak, “Y-yeah. For two people, it's going to come to 350 Gils.”
Cecil reflexively reaches into his pockets, stops and blinks twice. He fumbles through the empty folds yet feels nothing inside them besides the little black box he had taken from his room. The young woman adjusts her glasses and scowls, noticing the white haired man before her is dirt poor. But before she can response, the older woman interjects, “It's quite alright. Just go down this corridor here and turn left into the west wing. There should be a vacant room all the way down the hall.”
“Grandma..!”
“Oh hush up now, Farrah,” the elderly woman turns to her granddaughter and chides, “This inn is meant to shelter those in need, and it's obvious these folk need it more than any other.”
The girl named Farrah seems put off by her grandmother's words but makes no further protests. Cecil thanks the innkeeper before walking inside and making his way to the room. Upon entering, he lies the girl on the bed further away from the door while he occupies the other one besides hers, relieved to be finally off his feet. A few minutes later, a stern knock behind him rouses the dark knight and he turns to see the innkeeper's grandchild walking in with food and water in her hands.
“Breakfast isn't served until 9, but the innkeeper insisted that I bring these leftovers to you,” Farrah says as she crudely leaves the tray at the bottom of Cecil's bed.
With the little tack he can muster, the dark knight reaches over and drinks a tall glass of water in a single gulp before composing himself enough to give a proper response, “Thank you. You've already both done so much for us.”
“No kidding,” the young woman remarks as she walks out of the room and, with a bit more force than necessary, shuts the door behind her.
Cecil looks at the door, a small measure of guilt ridden on his face, as he helps himself to several of the slightly stale bread rolls. He then helps feed the bowl of cream soup and some water to the unconscious girl, her face again showing less strain upon having eaten. Feeling both incredibly exhausted and satisfyingly full, the dark knight flops down on his bed and no sooner does his head hit the pillow does he drift off to sleep.
Theme + Number: Healing #58, Questions #74, Prayer #98
Claim: Cecil Harvey
Characters/Pairings included: Rosa, Kain, Golbez, Baigan, Cecil
Rating: T
Warnings: Brief flash of nudity, maybe
Summary: An entourage from Baron is sent to investigate Mist and Rosa soon discovers all of the changes and revelations following the incident.
Index
"Quotes" = Dialogue
"Quotes & Italics" = Thoughts
Italics = Flashback Scene
**Asterisk** = Time Passes and/or Change of POV
--------------
“Cecil... Kain...” Rosa calls out in her mind as she squeezes both her staff in her right hand and the shaft of Kain's broken spear in the other.
It has already been a day since Rosa first arrived in Mist. The kingdom of Baron had felt the slight tremors yesterday morning, and the cleric tried writing it off as a mere coincidence unrelated to the two knights' venture into the valley. Yet her hidden suspicions gained more validation as the hours passed by with neither Cecil nor Kain returning from their mission. A small entourage was assembled soon afterwards to search for the two missing knights and she had easily volunteered to go along with the convent as its resident healer.
When she entered the valley, however, Rosa grew sickeningly worried her services were unnecessary as she took in the sight before her. Massive tons of rocks and gravel laid missing from the northern mountain slope as they could be found burying a good half of the valley. At the center of the ruins, the very earth was brutally mutilated as hundreds of cracks ran throughout the face of the land. As for the village, there wasn't a single structure that stood more than a meter high, either by having its foundation knocked over or being reduced entirely to ashes.
Even though she was used to the sight, Rosa still needed a moment to compose herself after she witnessed the sheer number of causalities within the valley. Many of the dead, both human and monster alike, were found allow the village borders and formed a definite arc away from the devastating land destruction. From the townspeople's ashen remains, it was terribly easy to figure out that the vast majority of them died due to inflammation. And after taking a moment to examine the bomb corpses' dried, hardened skin, the cleric had deduced their own life flame was somehow completely extinguished.
When she had found some of the monsters bearing wounds inflicted by weapons, Rosa grew more hopeful yet as they continue searching the area only to turn up more dead bodies, a little more of that hope dies. The wait - the constant struggle to remain calm in the face of dire possibilities - is slowly killing her. Only recently did the soldiers dig up Kain's spear and the weapon's broken condition left her remaining hopes dangling by a thread. Now the cleric finds herself clinging every time the soldiers beckon her, telling her of their findings.
“Lady Rosa,” a echoing voice calls from above. The cleric quickly looks up at a tall, uprising land ledge and sees a lancer from Kain's platoon gazing down at her; his right hand at the the side of his mouth while his left hand points a thumb behind his shoulder, “There's something over there that you should go see.”
Rosa carefully weaves around the various sections of uplifted earth and deep pitfalls as she anxiously goes to where the soldier had indicated. Upon arriving at the solid base of the landslide, she immediately spots something foreign to her sight that she wasn't expecting to find since she first arrived.
Patches of green grass were left untouched by the great fire and now lay underneath the mountain rubble that is currently being excavated. Many of the soldiers seem to disappear into the small hole, and it isn't until Rosa looks inside before she realizes there are already sizable rooms and passages that allow them to move about freely under the landslide. Two soldiers soon come out of the tunnel carrying the body of a dead woman and they set her down on the ground besides the cleric.
Unlike all the other victims, she is the only person Rosa has seen thus far who carries no traces of burn marks anywhere on her body. The cleric places her staff over the corpse and is slightly taken aback as she discovers her magic producing no results. She begins stripping the pale woman down, more for confirmation than anything else, and finds a dreadfully deep cut running across the corpse, “I see... So it was Cecil after all...”
Rosa's heart sinks a little upon knowing the cause yet being unable to see the reason. The damage was definitely caused by a secret technique the king passed down to Cecil. It is a sword skill renowned for both its amazing cutting powers and projectile-like capabilities, however, there's one additional ability that the dark knight alone is privilege to. Wounds inflicted by the Corrosion of Darkness cannot be healed even long after the victim expires, and nothing in the ways of ancient magecraft or modern alchemy seem capable of lifting such an unforgivable curse. But there's still one detail that arouses the cleric's confusion, “Something isn't right... Even if she was struck down by the Corrosion, her clothings shouldn't have remained intact like this. So how is this possible..?”
“Lady Rosa! Your most urgent attention!” one of the Red Wings soldiers shouts from inside the tunnel as they hastily bring out another person and carefully sets him face down on the ground.
The azure armor the man is wearing quickly tips Rosa off as to the identity of the individual and she surprisingly exclaims, “Oh my... Kain!”
The dragoon turns his head towards the voice and weakly mutters, “... Ro...zaaa..?”
The cleric brings out a vial she had prepared beforehand and feeds Kain the red liquid. Though the extent of his wounds far exceeds the potion's potency, it's still capable of providing temporary relief to the injured dragoon. After having drunk the contents of the vial, Kain's expression immediately eases and his muscles lax. The cleric then runs her staff over the dragoon, able to read and scan the layout of his body due to the disperse mana that seeps out from his injuries.
“System severity... as expected... Third degree burns spread throughout his entire back... Patches of fourth concentrated on his shoulder, some reaching all the way to the bone... Going deeper... Spine shattered in several places... likely paralyzed from the neck down... And here, the most difficult... Something engraved, running deep into his skin... Strange... not the same... foreign to the body... this material..?”
“How is he, Lady Rosa?” A voice from outside her range inquires but the cleric tones it out.
“... Back of skull... a slight fracture... thankfully not as bad as the spine, only enough to cause disorientation... His left arm also... dislocated as well...”
“Lady Rosa?” the voice, sounding different from the one before, calls out.
“...
...
......”
The cleric softly exhales as she rests her staff on the dragoon's back, “You needn't worry. While his wounds are excessive and excruciating to be sure, so long as Kain is monitored and regularly treated his injuries shouldn't turn life-threatening.”
The soldiers around her breath a sign of relief before going back to search for the other missing captain, allowing Rosa to focus on healing her injured friend. She recites the single verse needed to quickly initiate the Cura spell and repeats the chant in a soft murmur to retain its effect. The pulsating light glowing from the head of the staff regulates the chaotic mana until it flows back into its natural rhythm, which in turn restrengthens the body enough to heal its own injuries. With the continuous aid of white magic, it would take a normal person a few days to make a full recovery. But because of Kain's ineptitude to the mystic arts, a far greater period of time is needed. Looking at his sorry condition, Rosa wishes she had practiced more in the ways of alchemy so that she could better aid her friend as well as those like him.
The cleric continues working in silence, afraid of the answer she might hear if she poses the burning question in her heart. Her need to know soon wins over her ominous fears, however, and she quietly asks her friend, “Kain... what happened? Do you know what became of Cecil?”
The dragoon's body stiffens upon hearing her inquiries. Nevertheless, he begins to recount his last moments of recollection.
*********
One by one, Kain took down the bombs in front of him, trying franticly to create an opening that would have allowed the two knights to escape from their predicament. His concentration solely focused on the task at hand, the dragoon never expected any danger to attack him directly from behind; not until the stabbing pain at his back shattered the complete trust he had for his best friend. Painfully, he turned his head to his left and saw a bomb with its jaws clamped around the armor plates of his left shoulder. With his dominant arm restrained, Kain grabbed the spear's shaft with his right hand and drove the reverse end of it into the monster's chin. However, as he witnessed the flaming creature glowing brighter and its body collapsing into itself, the dragoon came to a horrifying realization.
He didn't kill it in one stroke.
The bomb exploded in a great fireball and drove the dragoon violently into the ground, the blast shattering the majority of his spear into a rain of tiny iron shards. Kain tried to get back on his feet but both the sheathing agony of his body and the blistering headache he was experiencing made it an impossible task for him to do so quickly. The monsters saw their golden opportunity and pounced on the fallen warrior, coming in from every possible direction. Surprisingly calm, Kain steeled himself for the inevitable end. But something strange caught his eyes as he laid on his back and gazed overhead.
A glowing yellow circle was suspended in the sky high above, and something incredibly large and bulky was rapidly descending into the middle of the village. Kain braced himself just as the huge object smashed into the ground, creating a massive shock wave that savagely scattered everything away from it. While the dragoon was merely sent tumbling five meters backwards, most of the unprepared bombs were blasted away and instantly destroyed due to the ferocious winds.
Kain slowly sat up and took a good look at the fallen object only to find its figure more closely resembled that of a human than anything else. It looked as if it was craved directly from the earth yet the way the creature moved, the way that it breathed, didn't make it seem artificial at all. It stood at about ten meters in both width and height, the surface of its dirt-colored skin bulging with unrestrained muscle on every square inch of its blocky body.
The dragoon suddenly took notice of the remaining bombs as they shot pass him from behind, ignoring his presence in the face of their greatest threat for survival. The flaming creatures all banded together to take down the gigantic golem, but that only led to their downfall being all the swifter.
With a primal roar, the giant drove both of its fists into the ground, causing the already unstable fragments of the earth to rise and collapse wildly. Many of the bombs were mercilessly brutalized and impaled by countless columns and shards of uplifted earth while the few surviving were then swallowed into the makeshift abyss. Desperate not to share the same fate, Kain forced his agonizing body to jump awkwardly to one side before the land fell underneath him. But the golem caught sight of his flight; its murky, pupil-less eyes trained entirely on him.
The giant ran its massive fingers through the earth and sprayed dozens of sizable land clumps in the general direction of the dragoon. Knowing he couldn't dodge them all, Kain successfully planted his feet on one of the first incoming projectiles and used it as stepping stone to jump even higher, avoiding the rocky barrage as it harmlessly whizzed by underneath him. The dragoon kept his eyes on the ground and carefully watched the giant's next move, but he became distracted upon spotting the small figure of Cecil amidst all of the chaos below. A few seconds later, however, the ledge his friend was precariously hanging onto crumpled and he dropped into the ravine along with the Mist girl.
“Cecil!!!!!”
Kain's horrified screams died in his throat as an impossibly deep shadow suddenly immersed his airborne body. The dragoon only needed to look up to see an enormous strip of earth come hurling towards him, the titanic object easily covering the entire range of his vision. All he could do was futilely raise his forearms over his head before the twirling piece of land swatted him down right out of the sky.
The dragoon fell fast, his unprotected back crashing through the undamaged house's roof and into the wooden floor below. Every strand of muscle in his body ached with renewed agony and his consciousness was quickly fading. The last thing Kain heard was the booming collision of earth striking earth, unaware of the mountain avalanche descending down upon him.
*********
“No..!” the cleric intensely whispers as the healing light from her staff flickers for a brief moment before stabilizing into a fainter glow. Rosa's gaze goes far off as she hazily asks, “Kain, are you absolutely sure..? Maybe you're just not remembering right?”
Kain clamps his jaw shut and softly shakes his head, indicating his own wish that it were so. The cleric's eyes fog up before she is able to turn away, yet her moment of silence is interrupted as she witnesses the light of her Cura spell grow weaker until it dims into nothing. Soon after, a mysterious figure arrives and announces a statement that makes light of the solemn atmosphere, “Well, well. Seems there is a survivor after all.”
Rosa and Kain both look up and see a large, imposing man before them. A miniature fortress, impenetrable yet mobile, is the cleric's first impression as even she, a person lacking any knowledge of metalworks, can see the unbelievable sturdiness of his heavy armor. Its color is that of a bottomless black, as if even the tiniest of light that strikes it vanishes from all existence. Contrary to all appearances, however, Rosa is aware of the man's capacity and where it truly lies, for those with an advance level of sorcery are able to sense their own kind. It's obvious by the staggering pool of mana he eludes, so thick it's nearly tangible to her eyes. This man before her is a magician, one who exceeds even those of the highest of caliber she has ever known.
“I see, so she was the cause...” the mysterious man quietly notes to himself as he takes one look at the corpse besides the cleric. He then looks at the dragoon, his next words coming out more like a demand than a question, “You. Were there any others who survived the firebomb?”
Caught unaware, Rosa and Kain could only stare at the intruder until some sort of realization washes over the dragoon's face. He glares at the armored man before him and responds with a question of his own, “And just who are you to be integrating me?”
“I possess every right to question those who are my inferior,” the mysterious man states. There was no arrogance or grandeur in his declaration, it was merely spoken as if it were the most obvious fact.
“What..?!” Kain voices with indignity but whines in pain as he tries to get up.
“Stop it!” Rosa suddenly exclaims as she looks up to address the intruder while gently pushing her friend back down, “Don't you see he's hurt? You only succeed in further aggravating his injuries.”
“Hooo...” the mysterious man mutters as he stares at the cleric in mild amusement, yet his attention is soon diverted as a familiar, decorated figure briskly walks into the evacuation site.
“The both of you should learn your place and show this man the proper respect,” Baigan interjects as he steadily approaches the group, “However, this one instance can be overlooked given your absence from the kingdom. The man before you is Lord Golbez, captain of the Red Wings fleet and chief commander of Baron's military forces.”
Rosa is taken aback while Kain experiences heavier shock upon hearing the announcement. Somewhat baffled, the cleric insists, “Surely I must have misheard. You must know, Sir Baigan, that it is Cecil who occupies the station which this man supposedly holds.”
“No mistake I assure you. After displaying direct defiance towards his highness yesterday evening, Cecil was effectively relieved of his duties as lord captain, thereby leaving the position open for one far more deserving,” the royal guards' captain says with vindictive glee, “It comes to no surprise that he withheld such information from his colleagues. But if you require further verification, I believe Sir Kain would be more than happy to oblige you.”
Stunned, Rosa looks directly at Kain, her eyes searching for answers. But the dragoon doesn't meet her gaze as he turns away in shame, and that alone was enough to provide the proof behind Baigan's story.
“And in light of our recent findings, it was quite the correct decision his highness had made,” Baigan finishes by adding before he turns to address the tyrant, “If I may, Lord Golbez?”
“Report.”
“Yes, my lord. Our men have finally reached the other side of the canyon and they have found evidence that one of the ruined homes was thoroughly ransacked after its collapse. Upon further inspection, they found pieces of discarded black armor inside a well, yet the dark knight was nowhere to be found within the vicinity. I must say that such a strange, peculiar incident implies neither an accident nor a necessity if Cecil was still upholding the kingdom's decree.”
Though Baigan's implication wasn't meant to invoke such a reaction, both Rosa and Kain stare in disbelief upon receiving the news. It isn't long before the cleric's eyes fog up again, only this time, it's for a reason she has no quarrels of shedding tears for, “Cecil's alive! Thank heavens he's alive...”
“So my predecessor has survived as well, yet he felt the need to run. I wonder, why is that so?” Golbez questions out loud yet the tone in his voice bears no hint of confusion. He again lies his focus on Kain, his gaze piercing and sharp, “Surely you can enlighten us on his motives.”
“...”
“No? Are you so incompetent that you're unable to hazard even a guess? Or perhaps there's more to this situation you don't care to reveal.”
Both Golbez and Baigan bear the full weight of their stare onto the dragoon and even Rosa looks on, her breath withheld as she anxiously awaits his answer. She knows well enough the situation Kain is in and anything he discloses now can incriminate either him or Cecil for life in the eyes of the kingdom. What felt like several sunlit hours later, her friend finally gathers his words and speaks, “... Probably because there was another who survived along with him. A child, likely this woman's daughter.”
“A child you say?” the royal guards' captain questions as his eyes sweep over the surrounding area in sheer amazement, “And you're saying this girl was powerful enough to have survived all of this?”
“... No... Most of the citizens fell within a matter of seconds after the initial assault... The girl was saved only because she was blessed with the protection of this woman here. Had it not been for that, she wouldn't be alive otherwise,” Kain says as he directs a heated glare at the tyrant before him.
Golbez stares back dryly as he seems to circumcise each and every one of the his words for any falsehood the dragoon may have spoken. After a long, tense moment he turns and walks away, apparently satisfied with what he didn't find. Baigan takes notice of this and closes his discussion with one of his men before he obediently follows after the tyrant. Though they have moved a fair distance away, Rosa is still able to hear their conversation as the royal guards' captain calls out, “Lord Golbez. I have just taken the liberty of sending a scouting party to pursue Cecil. What will your orders be should our traitorous dark knight elude them?”
“Nothing.”
“W-What..?”
“Did you not hear me?” Golbez questions as he stops and begins to turn. Baigan is ready to object but a hard glare from the tyrant causes him to visibly backpedal, “You also have the audacity to move the troops and are only now asking for my approval?”
“B-b-but my lord. It's standard procedure to capture all renegades and bring them back to await trial,” Baigan weakly protests before another thought occurs to him, “And the residents of Mist..! His highness ruled that-”
“My decree is the king's will. You'll do well to remember this,” Golbez interrupts with absolute authority. The tyrant's gaze seems to drift back towards Rosa, or to be more accurate at the woman lying besides her, as he states, “The original objective was successful for the most part, and there are far more pressing matters in need of attendance. Whatever merits he may have been hailed for in the past, this Cecil is now just a mere deserter harboring a lone child from a lost tribe. Neither one is of any consequence, and therefore, they are unworthy of my attention.”
“Y-yes. I beg your pardon, my lord...”
Baigan again bows his head deeply towards Golbez, much to Rosa's continued astonishment, “To command such obedience from a prideful man like Baigan... Just who in the world is this man?”
But the cleric is given no more time to ponder such matters, however, as Baigan's booming voice disrupts her thoughts, “Everyone!! Fall in formation!! We're moving out!!!”
“Wait a moment..!” Rosa quickly yells as she gets on her feet and makes her way towards the two men. Even while standing, she still needs to tilt her head to look at Golbez who towers over her by at least a foot, “There is still the matter of those here who have passed on. It would be inhumane to simply leave them as they are.”
“Hmph!” Baigan grunts as he takes it upon himself to answer for the tyrant, “We've no time to waste on such trifles.”
Reigning in her anger, Rosa turns to the royal guards' captain and responds with disciplined courtesy, “As you say, Sir Baigan. Doesn't Baron's code of conduct demand recourse for the citizens of Mist, especially considering our involvement?”
Unimpressed, the royal guards' captain thinly states, “Perhaps that would be the proper protocol to take - if we were still living in times of peace. But it seems being out here digging through the dirt has left you woefully ignorant of our current state of affairs. We are at war.”
“What..?” Rosa fadingly asks, “With whom?”
“Why, all those who don't carry the mighty banner of Baron of course,” Baigan sheers, taking pride in his words as well as pleasure in seeing the cleric's distress, “In other words: complete unification under the kingdom's rule.”
Rosa takes a step back, her head swimming with the recent revelations, “Just one day... How can all of this occur in so little time..?”
So many things have been happening so quickly: the mindless slaughter, the advent of this man known as Golbez, her love's defection and now the kingdom's declaration of war against the rest of the world. The cleric grips the fabric over her chest with her free hand as she hangs onto the last stability within her life, “... Even so, these people still deserve this final respect. All the more so since there isn't anyone but us who can carry out this duty.”
His eyes narrowing, the royal guards' captain prepares to make a scathingly rebuttal but is interrupted by the man besides him, “Leave it be, Baigan.”
Wonder-struck, both Rosa and Baigan look up at Golbez, however, the man walks away before the cleric can make eye contact with him. Baigan hurries to his side and buzzes around him, seeming nonplus as he continues carrying a one-man conversation with the silent tyrant. Rosa watches them leave, a fleeting image of the dark knight's back suddenly imposing itself over Golbez's frame. She shakes her head slightly and wonders at the thought. Even though their outer appearances look somewhat similar, their personality and mannerism makes up the resounding difference that sets them both worlds apart.
The cleric breaks out of her musings as she takes note of the many soldiers gathering around her, possibly having caught the conversation that just occurred. A man who Rosa recognizes as lieutenant of the Red Wings walks up to her, a good measure of regard and appreciation on his face as he says, “Allow us to handle the heavy labor, Lady Rosa, as your assistance will prove more beneficial in aiding Sir Kain.”
“Yes,” a voice echoes from the sky. Rosa looks up just in time to see the same lancer from before land gently besides her, “We'll make sure everyone receives a proper burial. So please take care of the captain in our stead.”
The cleric ducks her head. She wants to feel relieved, wants to feel happy for achieving this small victory. But because of her position here, she can no longer go anywhere else, not to the place she truly wishes to be. She shakes off and suppresses this selfish feeling, “It's enough to know he's alive...
... Then I'll graciously leave this to you all,” Rosa responds after a good while and gives a nod to everyone present. Her eyes then gaze off into distant, redden horizon, offering a last prayer for Cecil's safety before going back to fulfill her duties.
*********
“Agghh... Wha..?”
An overwhelming sense of deja vu sweeps over Cecil as he begins to regain his bearings. The first thing his mind registers is the feeling of moist humidity all around him. The dark knight opens his eyes and sees grains of sand darkened to a muddy brown. And as he turns on his back, it isn't long before he discovers the cause.
Mist. A thin veil of it surrounds both him and the girl, protecting them against the light of the desert sun, “So that's why... it was you. At that time too...”
Cecil slowly sits up and peels through the mist, expecting to catch sight of the dragon's silhouette again. But no matter how long he waits, not a single shadow appears from the mist nor does he feel the same lingering presence emitting from anywhere within it.
The dark knight lets out a sigh, whether it was one of disappointment or relief he can't really say. There's so many things he wants to explain, yet he doesn't know if he can handle the encounter. Just wondering about the type of eyes that will cast judgment upon him, Cecil can't help but be overcome with apprehension. The dragon did save his life twice already but it was with sound reason. To rely on its killer in order to accomplish what the dragon could not, he believed that to be the only plausible explanation.
“Still, to go beyond the brink of death...”
Even if no one is there to receive the gesture, Cecil straightens himself up and bows his head with utmost sincerity. No matter the reason, he feels grateful for the dragon's assistance, all the more so if he hasn't received its forgiveness.
The dark knight raises his head and looks around, still finding himself in the same bleak predicament as he was in before. He looks back to the visible mountain ranges, wondering if he should change destinations to ensure they reach civilization, “... No. Even though the underground caverns supposedly leads to the kingdom of Damcyan, it's just too far... It'll still take several days by foot to reach the desert kingdom, days we simply don't have.”
Just then, a thought strikes Cecil as he absently presses his palms against the dampened sand. He mulls over the idea, and though it's one of the few remaining options available to him, it also happens to be the one with the highest chance for success, “50/50 under the best conditions... But if I'm unable to find it... or if it's not even there...”
Cecil shakes his head, clearing it of such thoughts. This second opportunity granted to him won't go to waste. It's no longer about ifs or cans, it's simply a matter of must. His resolve strong, he wastes no time in lugging the girl on his back and carrying on, the direction of his travels running perpendicular to his first track into the desert.
The dark knight moves with a delicate balance of being neither too desperate or overly cautious, to make haste that will cross the miles yet to take care in each of his steps. And instead of hopelessly searching the far scape, his eyes are casted downward at the nearby sands below. Doubt creeps into his mind on numerous occasions yet he doesn't waver, reminding himself that this was the surest way of reaching the village oasis. After a few hours of walking, his efforts are rewarded as Cecil feels something solid under the sand making contact with his feet. He stomps on the spot to make sure he isn't imagining the sensation and becomes ecstatically thrilled upon feeling the packed weight of the earth beneath him. He then scrutinizes the ground and is just able to barely make out a long, recently wore path in the sand; the same trail nomads use to migrate between Kaipo and Damcyan.
Cecil follows the path that seemingly leads into nothing more than endless desert and it isn't until several hours later before he spots the village along the sandy road. Feverishly running the rest of the way, the dark knight staggers into Kaipo and quickly locates the only building that could possibly be open at this time of night. Banging on the door, he doesn't need to wait long before it opens, revealing two women that express clear shock upon seeing both Cecil and the girl's dreadful condition.
Though his throat is abysmally dry, the dark knight manages to choke out, “.Ro... room and board please...”
The younger of the two women regains her bearings and is the first to speak, “Y-yeah. For two people, it's going to come to 350 Gils.”
Cecil reflexively reaches into his pockets, stops and blinks twice. He fumbles through the empty folds yet feels nothing inside them besides the little black box he had taken from his room. The young woman adjusts her glasses and scowls, noticing the white haired man before her is dirt poor. But before she can response, the older woman interjects, “It's quite alright. Just go down this corridor here and turn left into the west wing. There should be a vacant room all the way down the hall.”
“Grandma..!”
“Oh hush up now, Farrah,” the elderly woman turns to her granddaughter and chides, “This inn is meant to shelter those in need, and it's obvious these folk need it more than any other.”
The girl named Farrah seems put off by her grandmother's words but makes no further protests. Cecil thanks the innkeeper before walking inside and making his way to the room. Upon entering, he lies the girl on the bed further away from the door while he occupies the other one besides hers, relieved to be finally off his feet. A few minutes later, a stern knock behind him rouses the dark knight and he turns to see the innkeeper's grandchild walking in with food and water in her hands.
“Breakfast isn't served until 9, but the innkeeper insisted that I bring these leftovers to you,” Farrah says as she crudely leaves the tray at the bottom of Cecil's bed.
With the little tack he can muster, the dark knight reaches over and drinks a tall glass of water in a single gulp before composing himself enough to give a proper response, “Thank you. You've already both done so much for us.”
“No kidding,” the young woman remarks as she walks out of the room and, with a bit more force than necessary, shuts the door behind her.
Cecil looks at the door, a small measure of guilt ridden on his face, as he helps himself to several of the slightly stale bread rolls. He then helps feed the bowl of cream soup and some water to the unconscious girl, her face again showing less strain upon having eaten. Feeling both incredibly exhausted and satisfyingly full, the dark knight flops down on his bed and no sooner does his head hit the pillow does he drift off to sleep.