The Varied Path (Akatsuki no Yona Fanfiction)

Chapter 46: Courage

Once she got over that it was actually Yoon in a dress, disguised as a woman, Calista gestured to her neck to indicate her problem. His eyes darkened, but he chose not to say anything.

Her gaze betrayed her gratefulness that she couldn't verbalize. She heard a soft, "P'ykuuuu"!! A familiar furry squirrel crawled her way out of where she was hidden in Yoon's dress, and the girl cupped her hands to hold Ao as she scampered in them.

With her wrists now freed after the squirrel had chewed through the ropes, Calista waved her hands, trying to catch everyone's attention. One by one, they all quieted and Yona came over, sitting down across from her on her knees.

But she was puzzled when Calista didn't say anything. "What's wrong?"

Calista opened her mouth, but Yoon cut in hotly, forehead creasing in annoyance. "This stupid, stubborn, hardheaded, idiotic—"

"Yoon, those are all the same words." The princess chastised, not picking up on what he was getting at.

"—fighter has gone in alone and gotten her voice box crushed by Kum-ji."

Yona's eyes widened, stunned. "Is that true?"

Calista shrugged helplessly. It wasn't like she could say anything in reply. But what should have been anxiety inducing, simply wasn't. She could care less if she never spoke again, but it would put a damper on things for how this mission was supposed to go.

Now that she couldn't communicate with them, it was time to get creative.

She braced herself up on her hands and knees despite how the hard floor scraped her skin. By drawing patterns, symbols and words into the ground, Yoon was able to make out what she was asking.

She wanted to know how far away the pirates were and their plan. In hushed whispers, they formulated the details and slowly but steadily, Calista watched the life trickle back into the captive girls.

As he got everyone else into position, Yoon told Calista to hang back at the rear of the hold while he and Yona put things into motion. And even though she showed her displeasure, she did what was asked of her without complaint, silently vowing to strike back without hesitation if anyone laid a hand on either of them.

One of the girls banged her hands against the wall, and a second later, rapid footfalls could be heard above them. Light flooded the dark room when the hatch opened, and a guard peered inside suspiciously. But when he saw the rows of girls lined up with blindfolds and restraints on, he came down to investigate the noise.

He didn't pay attention to where he was going. Yona pulled the rope as soon as his foot set down on the floor, yanking it so that it tightened around his ankles, causing him to slam his temple against the rung of the ladder.

It wasn't enough to knock him out, and Calista readied her herself to spring at him as he staggered towards Yona with a sickening look of malice on his face. But before she could move, Yoon had brought his hands together over his head and whacked him on the head.

He was out cold. The girls started tugging off their blindfolds, having been freed from their handcuffs by Yona and Yoon earlier, murmuring somewhat excitedly.

"You're really going to do it? We're going to escape?"

One of the older girls, the same one who had spoken up against Yona earlier when the hopeless in her eyes was desolate was now filled with renewed spirit. Now, she stood up tall, the same determination she had seen in Yona was now fueling her.

Calista eyed her warily. She didn't trust the girl's, whose name was Yuri, sudden change of heart, but was willing to give her the benefit of the doubt this time. If she messed up once, she was going to make sure she knew the meaning of pain. But for now, they seemed to have gained a new ally.