Y/n's pov
The rest of that day turned into a blur. I sealed Rifana's wound but she wouldn't wake up. I tried to shake her awake but she didn't react. I was pulled away from her by someone, I can't remember who. The queens force had apparently arrived and captured the followers of the church that were there. People wearing white robes took Rifana away, and I couldn't do anything to stop them. I struggled against the person holding me, but they didn't let me go. I only felt anger build up in me as I could hear Gluttony laughing in my head, taunting me. I wanted to scream, but nothing came out of my mouth. I wanted to cry, but my eyes had gone dry. I wanted to see Rifana, but she was gone. Soon it had felt like all the energy in my body left me, and my limbs went limp. I couldn't move anymore, so I didn't. I could only stay still as I was dragged somewhere. I let my eyes close as I fell asleep, unable to hold onto my consciousness.
Now I am standing on a balcony at the capitol, watching the clouds in the sky move by. After the events of that occurred a few days ago, the group was taken to the capitol in order for wounds to be healed and issues to be dealt with. Rifana was taken to a clinic for the royal family in order to get better treatment. She was alive, but she wouldn't wake up for a while. Naofumi was around the area as well since the queen had promised him somethings and because Raphtalia wanted to be around when Rifana woke up. As if detecting that I was thinking about him, Naofumi walked out to the balcony and stood nearby. After a few seconds he spoke up "How are you feeling?" "I feel horrible." Naofumi nodded and looked at me "you weren't fully in control of yourself, and Rifana is going to be fine" I stood there in silence for a while before speaking "Naofumi, I want you to look after Rifana for me" "what do you mean?" i looked over at him "I'm going to go somewhere else for a while, and after what happened, I don't think I can look at Rifana without guilt eating away at me" Naofumi frowned "Are you sure about doing that? You might regret it soon" "I regret many things already. knowing that someone I can trust is looking after her would ease any regret from this decision."
Naofumi sighed "alright, I'll look after her. When are you going to be leaving?" I looked back out at the sky "Today. after the sun sets I'll be on my way." "You should at least wait until Rifana wakes up to tell her yourself" "If I do that she will want to come with me. I so leaving as soon as I can is in my best interests." Naofumi sighed and nodded "alright, should i be expecting to see you again soon?" I looked at him "Maybe, if there is another wave soon, or some disaster that might require some help." Naofumi nodded again and smirked at me "okay, don't go dying out there." I looked at him "don't get anyone killed here" He laughed and shook his head "You might be the only hero I ever sort of got along with here." "I'm not even a hero in this world, so you better work on getting along better with the three stooges, Itsuki can be reasonable if he can understand that this isn't a game, Ren could be decent if he could understand the world and the weight of his actions, and Motoyasu can't be decent since he is wrapped around a certain bitch's finger but you can still try to fight along side him, not fight against him." Naofumi nodded "I'll try, but that wont be easy with how they are" I took a communication orb out of my inventory "hopefully I'll see you in one piece, but you better be getting along with the heroes better when we meet again, cause if not... well, Fitoria wont be the only threat you heroes have soon" I activated the orb to notify Fitoria of when and where she will need to meet me, then put the orb in my coat, walking away from Naofumi and out of the building.
After I was outside, I headed out into the town, putting my hood on over my head so no one would notice me. The streets were busy since the commotion caused by the three heroes church caused a panic among the uncertain citizens, making it easy to sneak through crowds in case someone recognized me. Once I had made it to the gate of the capitol I began walking out, only to be met with a barricade of soldiers standing there. I stared at them and they split down the center, revealing Melty with her mother the queen beside her. The queen spoke up first "I figured you would attempt to leave as soon as you could after what had happened yesterday, however there is something we must discuss before you disappear." I sighed and looked at her "Will this be quick? cause I'm going to meet with someone soon." The queen nodded "Yes, we have an area nearby that will be adequate for this, follow me." The queen turned and headed off to a guard tower that was nearby, Melty staying near her side. I had followed after them, the soldiers walking in a formations around us until we had arrived at the destination. Inside the guard tower there was a table with 3 chairs set up at the center of the room. The queen had sat down on one chair and Melty sat on the chair to the side, leaving me to take the chair at the opposite end.
Once the door was shut, the queen began talking "First of all, allow me to introduce myself. I am Mirellia Q Melromarc, the queen of this nation. I already know of you, Y/n, my daughter Melty's personal guard and companion." I nodded "yeah, what is this whole meeting about?" Mirellia nodded "right to business it seems, very well. I wish to thank you for killing the Pope of the Three Heroes Church, and I want to reward you for your efforts in both that and the protection of the crowned princess." I sighed "I don't need to be rewarded for either of those things. I am Melty's friend so it is natural for me to try to protect her. And it technically wasn't me that killed the Pope...." Melty frowned "Y/n. you shouldn't just turn down rewards from her majesty" I sighed again "No, it's proper for me to turn down a reward. I have done nothing that is worthy of a reward, especially one from the queen of a nation." Mirellia smiled "alright then, allow me to reward you as the mother of Melty. It isn't a reward from a queen, but a reward from a thankful mother." "I can't accept that either, if anything you should be angry at me. I had lost control of myself and injured my party member. If I didn't regain control then, I would have hurt more people around me, even Mel. And right now, I don't know if I can keep control of myself for long." Melty frowned "That's why you're leaving?" "Yes, I could take you with me as soon as I'm sure I am completely in control" Mirellia sighed and set an object on the table "you may not be accepting any rewards, but you should at least accept this." I looked at the thing, seeing that it was a sort of badge "what is that" Mirellia spoke again "it is your badge, It is to identify you as a royal guard, more specifically the guard of Melty. This way you will not have any issues coming to the castle, and it should exempt you from the tolls of travelling." I frowned "you would still consider me Melty's guard?" she nodded "you have not harmed my daughter or allowed harm to come to her. You have proven to be a trustworthy person, even with the curses that are plaguing you"
I picked up the badge and put it in my pocket, sighing and looking at the time. "I guess I will meet you both again, hopefully soon. I need to get going now or Fitoria will be upset at me." The Queen quickly stood up after I said that "Did you just say Fitoria?!" I stared at her for a moment before piecing it together "oh, I guess you are just as obsessed with Filolial as your daughter." Mirellia looked over at Melty "Have you met her as well?" Melty nodded and spoke "yes, it was wonderful, she is as amazing as the stories say, even more so." The two started to converse excitedly about the Filolial queen as I slowly exited the room. They were so engrossed in their conversation that they didn't notice me leave. After I had gotten outside I headed out to the forest where I would meet Fitoria.
Fitoria was sitting on a log, kicking her legs back and forth. She looked over at me, frowning "You're late" I sighed and shook my head "I was held back a bit by the queen of this country. sorry to keep you waiting" She hopped off the log and walked up to me "Is Mel-tan joining us?" "not yet, I will come back to pick her up later." She nodded and grabbed onto my hand "We will be going to the dragon hour glasses first so that you can see when Waves will be starting" I nodded and looked down at her "Why are you holding my hand?" She held my hand tighter "It's so I can teleport you with me" the scenery around us changed to another forest quickly. I sighed and looked around "Hey Fitoria." "what is it" "You can let go of my hand now you tsundere." I felt my hand start getting crushed more "I don't know what that word means, but it angers me" I chuckled and pat her head with my free hand "well if you let go of my hand I won't call you it again" The pressure on my hand let up as she turned away "It's not like I wanted to hold your hand or anything" It took all of my mental and physical strength to hold in a laugh, as I pat her head more "okay okay, what country are we in right now?" Fitoria looked at me "does it matter?" I nodded "It does, countries have different laws on what people can be around." She frowned and nodded "You don't have to worry about that. This dragon hourglass is in an uninhabited continent. There may not be any humans here, but it is just as important in order to protect the world." I nodded and looked around "where is the dragon hourglass?" She pointed in a direction "There should be an abandoned temple in that direction" I nodded and started walking in the direction she pointed to, with her following after me.
The walk was mostly silent, the only noises were from the forest around us. I noticed that most of the creatures seemed to avoid being near us, even the monsters of the area backed away. I understood when I noticed they cautiously watched Fitoria. I let out a sigh and looked through my inventory to find something that could hide Fitoria's presence. Most of my concealment items were cursed or wouldn't work on Fitoria, however I had a few enchanted masks that could completely hide someone's presence. I took one out and set it on top of Fitoria's head, causing her to look at me. She took the mask off the top of her head and looked at it. "what is this for? Are you calling me ugly?" "No, It's a mask to keep your overwhelming aura hidden. If monsters are going to keep running away when you are nearby, I wont be able to get any stronger. You don't even have to cover your face, you just have to wear it on your body." She frowned and looked down at the mask before putting it on her face and looking at me again "you better find something else to do this cause I don't want to be stuck wearing this." I nodded and pat her head "don't worry, I can try to make something later." She nodded and continued walking down the path.
With the monsters no longer sensing a strong presence, they began trying to attack us, only to be either killed with my chains, or decimated by Fitoria. We soon arrived at the temple, it was overgrown with vines and other plants, with a few trees growing through it. We walked inside and stared heading down the single hall of the temple. at the end of the hall, the Dragon hourglass was visible, being the only thing not covered in vines. I walked up to it and touched it carefully, making the countdown to the wave appear in my view. The wave wouldn't happen for a few months so there wouldn't be any problems having to fight a wave. I looked over at Fitoria, who also seemed to see the countdown as well. Fitoria looked up at me "it's getting late, lets go outside and set up camp." I nodded and we left the temple. heading outside.
Right outside the temple, we set up a camp, making a small fire and using logs a seats. I took out a few ingredients to make some food, cooking it over the fire before giving some to Fitoria and eating my own. After we finished eating, I extinguished the fire and set up 2 sleeping areas for me and Fitoria. Fitoria was almost completely silent during this time. After I handed Fitoria a blanket, I laid down in my sleeping spot and closed my eyes, waiting to fall asleep. It was slightly cold but not cold enough to cause any concern. I couldn't get to sleep, so I just laid there, after a while I heard a noise coming next to me before I felt something next to me. Soon after feeling something next to me, I rolled over and looked, seeing Fitoria laying next to me, staring blankly at me. We stared at each other for a while before Fitoria put the blanket over me and wrapped her arm and wings around me. her touch felt colder than the air around. I stared at her wanting to question her but she spoke in a quiet voice "Warm". Soon after she said that, she fell asleep. I sighed and closed my eyes, deciding to just let her hold onto me like this, eventually falling asleep.
Rifana's Pov
I opened my eyes and found myself staring up at a unfamiliar ceiling. I sat up slowly and looked around, seeing that I was sitting on a bed, with Raphtalia-chan sitting in a chair while laying the upper half of her body on the bed, asleep. I slowly reached my hand out an touched her cheek, feeling that her cheek were warm. She mumbled a bit, but didn't wake up. Soon after, I heard the door open so I looked over. Standing in the doorway was the Shield Hero, dressed in his usual armor and cloak. He stared at me for a bit before walking into the room more and speaking quietly "I see you're awake finally, you've been out for a couple days now" I stared at him for a while "where am I?" The Shield hero stood by where Raphtalia-chan was asleep and spoke again "we are in a clinic at the capitol, the queen of this country showed up and had you taken here, they manage to heal you but your body needed time to recover" I nodded slowly and asked "where is master Y/n?" The shield hero spoke up, but a ringing in my ears blocked out what he had said. I felt a strange feeling welling up in my chest as I lightly gripped the sheets "W-what did you say, I didn't hear you." The Shield Hero spoke again, but once more his voice was blocked out by an even louder ringing. I felt tears well up in my eyes from the pain of the noise and the feeling in my chest "I-I can't understand what you are saying..." The Shield hero's lips moved once more, but the noise came back louder, making me curl up from the pain. Tears kept pouring out of my eyes as my sudden movement seemed to wake Raphtalia-chan. I could feel her warm embrace around me, but I still couldn't understand what was going on. Why am I feeling like this, where is master. He needs me with him, I'm his partner. I protect him and he protects me, so I need to be with him.
The exhaustion I felt after letting out all my tears had washed over me like a wave, taking all the control I had of my body away from me. I leaned against Raphtalia-chan to support myself up, before a weight had been placed on my eyes forcing them to close. Soon I couldn't keep hold of my conscious, and felt myself fall back into a hollow sleep.