His Muse ~ Rafayel x Reader

Ch.10 ~ Close Call

Y/n's POV

A distant voice calling out to me slowly became louder. My name left the lips of the owner of the voice in desperation, my ears perking at the sound of the voice cracking as it called out to me.

My tired eyes fluttered open as I groggily tried to locate the owner of the voice through the hazy blur which blocked my eyesight. A tired whimper left my lips as my eyes desperately tried to focus on my surroundings. Cave walls blended with the dripping of water droplets, a tall rocky statue, red and blue crystals and the blinding beams of light which came in through holes in the ceiling.

It wasn't till I squinted my eyes shut, shook my head and reopened my eyes did I realise that the rocky statue which hadn't been there before I passed out was in actually a Bryo Golem. Its large mossy and stone like stature unmistakably indicating its relation to the Golem family.

The thing stood only a foot away from my slumped and wide eyed form, Its large rocky arms were raised above its small head.

"MOVE!!!!!" The voice yelled, which I now realised was Xavier's.

The Golems' hands began to descend downwards towards my stiff and limp form. Its movements were slow, a clear indication of the damage Xavier must have caused to it.

My brain and Xavier's voice screamed at me to move but it wasn't till the quiet hushed voice of Rafayel calling out to me was I able to jump out of the way, just barely dodging the attack.

"M-move." Was all Rafayel muttered, yet the sound of his voice alone sparked the fire under my butt that had me tumbling out of the way of the Golems arms.

The Golems fists had slammed down into the ground uplifting the rocks and leaving a giant hole where its fists had embedded themselves into the cave stones. The shear forces sent an earthquake through the ground. The quaking caused my body to bounce along the floor till my back collided harshly with one of the PC's.

Luckily no damage was caused to the cluster though my back wasn't as lucky, with the sharp ends of the crystal digging into my fragile S/T S/C skin. Thankfully the lack of damaged caused by my collision into the cluster meant that no other wanderers would join the battle.

A loud roar followed by a crumbling sound attracted my attention as I turned back to where I was once sat slumped against the wall. I saw Xavier had finished off the Golem. Though the victory was short lived when the sound of something generating into the room caught our attention.

Looking over towards the second cluster, Mossy Knaves had made an appearance. Easy enough for someone of Xavier's rank and talent to defeat. Looking at the cluster he'd tasked himself with, it was obvious from the multiple cracks and the cluster chippings falling from it that the cluster was close to being destroyed.

I turned to tell Xavier that I'd handle the Knaves while he finished off the cluster however within the blink of an eye and at the speed of light he was gone from his spot and once against the cracking and shattering sound of glass filled the room as the once barely standing cluster finally crumbled, exploding as they do and taking out the newly generated knaves with it.

It seemed Xavier had sensed what I was gonna say and took the matter into his own hands. A small smile came to my lips as I lugged my body into a standing position and walked over to him.

"Good Job, Xavier." I praised him.

He nodded at me though his eyes hadn't locked with mine. Instead they roamed my body noting the torn fabric and cuts that we both supported.

"Are you alright? That was a close call." He asked concerned as he stepped towards me.

"I'm alright." I replied, waving off his concern. "All rested up, you should rest now while I handle the next cluster." I suggested only to immediately be shut down.

"No, I'm fine." Xavier simply replied with a roll of his clearly tired shoulders.

I didn't argue with him, simply nodding and looking up at Rafayel who's eyes were already looking at me. As his and my own locked I could help but feel this sensation flow through me, that dream I had still lingered on my mind.

I wasn't sure whether what I saw was a dream or real, something about it felt familiar yet another part of me wanted to remain oblivious to it. I mean there was no way Rafayel could be a half man half fish.... Could he?

'Maybe I was hit with a knave's hallucination? Xavier had obviously fought the monsters and fighting alone; he wouldn't have been able to tell if one of them had tried to pull me into a hallucination.' I tried to convince myself.

"Hey Xavier, did you fight any normal Knaves just now?" I asked casually as I examined my guns preparing for the next fight.

"No, why?" He asked.

"Weird dream." I replied with a shrug.

"Anyway how's you suppose we go about these two clusters? They're closer to the ESA meaning the wanderers generated will be drawn to the Anchors. Rafayel is in no state to protect himself either. We need to get this done quickly." I questioned spinning one of the guns in my hands as I looked at Xavier.

"In that case why not tackle a cluster each." He shrugged in thought.

"Each?" I enquired.

"Hmm, you take that one closer to your friend at the top, I'll take the one just below it on this side." He says, pointing to the one on the left for me and the right for himself.

"Focus on the crystal while trying to avoid the wanderers attacking you. The faster you destroy the crystal the faster you kill the wanderers. Use your power charges and active skill only on the wanderers to keep them away from you and the boy, I'll do the same." He continues to devise the plan while running a finger along the edge of his sword checking its sharpness. A small cut on his finger, followed by the trickling of blood indicated the blade to still be sharp despite it having been used to slash at aliens and crystals alike.

"Then with the more powerful attacks, being our combo and ardent oath, we'll first focus on destroying the cluster which produces the stronger wanderers, sending the more damaging attacks to the crystals to speed up the destruction process. After that we'll take down the remaining crystal and untie your friend." Xavier concluded.

I stared at him wide eyed for a moment at the plan he'd just come up with off the top of his head. He really was quick to think up a decent enough plan when under pressure. Still though, I frowned and squinted at the boy when I realise a slight flaw in his plan.

"What?" He asked with a tilt of his head.

"You know cannonly it's gonna be my cluster which produces the more challenging wanderers, right?" I say with a pointed look and hands on my hips.

"Also, what's to say we'll be able to just untie Rafayel after destroying the clusters. Look at his wounds, whatever caused them scratch marks is still yet to show itself. My guess, we're gonna have a boss to fight." I say with a raised brow as I look up at Rafayel who's once again unconscious.

"You just jinxed yourself." Xavier says nonchalantly.

"EHHHHHHH!!!! DON'T SAY IT OUT LOUD! IDIOT!" I yelled, my voice echoing off the cave walls loudly.

Xavier looked away from me with a slight annoyed and displeased look as my voice reverberated around the room.

"Concerning the boss... let's hope it shows its face before the clusters are destroyed. I don't know how much longer the two of us can hold out." Xavier then says in the same straight to the point tone of voice.

"Geez, what a bother. Should we call in backup?" I suggest.

"No, we'll handle it." Xavier denies my suggestion, stepping forwards. "Now let's get ready."

With that the two of us position ourselves in front of our assigned cluster, weapons ready. After a nod and a beat of silence in each other's directions, Xavier and I jumped into action and began our assault.

~~~

To Be Continued