Maidenless No Longer (Elden Ring)

Chapter 42: Malenia, Millicent

"MIQUELLA!"

His name tears its way out of her throat in a half-snarl, half-scream of unbridled rage. Malenia, Blade of Miquella, follows it up by tearing off, sprinting down the path with a strength she did not know she still had in her bruised and beaten body. But for Miquella? For Miquella, anything. Everything. The whole wide world would be his if she could make it happen. In that regard, giving of herself, whatever she might have left, was, as they say, small potatoes.

Of course, the path is not completely clear. Enemies make themselves known... and die to her blade all the same. She does not stop either, even as she feels the Tarnished and his companion hot on her heels. She keeps going, until she reaches another landing, where several red-skinned Albinaurics stand listening to a blood mage dressed in ornate garbs and wielding a blood-caked rapier.

Needless to say, his rapier no more helps him then the weapons the Albinaurics wield. Malenia cuts through all of them like a scythe through so much chaff, and when she is done and the battle is over, she turns to face the lift she knows will bring her to her brother.

By that point, the Tarnished and the doppelganger have caught up with her. Or were always right behind her and just chose not to interfere. Malenia knows not, for she had tunnel vision, and could focus on nothing except Miquella's salvation. He needed her. He had needed her for who knew how long, and she had SAT ON HER ASS BY THAT DAMN HUSK OF A TREE AND WAITED USELESSLY!

The Tarnished places a hand on her arm, and Malenia goes still, staring first at it, and then at him. It hits her then, how much she owes him. The gratitude she'd felt before was an anthill compared to the mountain of debt that she now feels to this one mortal man. What if he had never come for her? What if he hadn't spared her? She would have died to this powerful warrior, and Miquella would have remained in this place, languishing in his imprisonment for all time.

As the gravity of what this single strange Tarnished has done for her and her brother hits her properly, Malenia lets out a shuddering breath, and bows her head.

"... You have my thanks, Sweet Tarnished. I have only reached this point because of you. In this moment... do you have further aid to offer me?"

She's not sure what makes her ask it. For so long, Malenia has been reliant only upon herself and her brother. All others, even their mother and father, were distant thoughts at best, and active threats at worst. And yet... and yet, this Tarnished has done more for her than any save for Miquella himself in her entire life. So yes, she asks... and is not all that surprised when he answers.

Not verbally of course. Rather, instead he holds up both hands. In one, he holds out three Flasks of Crimson Tears to her. Malenia flushes, well aware that she's quite literally been teetering on death this entire time. Anything could have slain her, if it had been lucky enough to hit her. She, of course, was too skilled for that to happen. Still...

She takes the Flasks, and downs them one after another, feeling them rejuvenate her health until she is no longer in quite so much danger. Only then does she truly regard the thing in his other hand. She didn't even want to look at it at first... what it implied stilled her very soul. But now, she gazes upon it. Now, she takes it from his grasp.

"... I see."

With great effort of will, Malenia graces the Tarnished with a grateful smile.

"My thanks, Sweet Tarnished. Now come... and let us free my brother."

He nods, resolute as can be with his trusty jar still atop his head, and follows after her, the mimicry on their heels as they move onto the lift and stand ready as it begins to rise.

-x-X-x-

To say Millicent was at a loss by this point would be an understatement. She didn't know where they were, other than that it was a place that was decidedly cursed. Different from Caelid, or anywhere that had been affected by the Scarlet Rot, however. This was a completely different animal, a whole new accursed thing that might just spill out onto the world above and cause more heartache and pain.