"I'm telling you, I'm fine."
But I didn't look fine at all. It was hard to "look fine" when forced to imitate a sacrificial figure from another religion with stakes riddling your body, and a giant basin below to collect your blood as your body tried to heal itself, failed, activated the enchantment of the stakes, got even worse, tried to heal itself, failed...
But all I could do was say those words, seeing the look on my familiar's face. A face that never usually lost its cool, not even when I came back beaten and battered after a fight with a god. A face that stared up at me without moving, with shock enough to resemble the woman's behind her. Naive, almost, as if disbelieving that I of all people could be hurt.
Even though she knew better than anyone else, in the whole of existence, how easy it was to hurt me, how deep I could let the wounds afflict me, and how long they could linger in my heart before I let them go.
"Uh...Kiki?" My throat was scratchy from all the screaming of earlier. I blinked away the images that tried to summon themselves to the forefront of my mind, pushing them down. They could be dealt with later. If I lost my cool then, in the middle of the city, sure - I could take down the Church and kill a lot of its members, as I really wanted to do in that moment. But it would come at the cost of all the innocent sheep in its surroundings, and all of the territories far beyond the walls of Leonera as well. So, later, it would be. Somewhere I couldn't risk damaging anything, or anyone, at all. Not even myself.
Because if I was damaged any more in that moment, without the chance to heal even a little, I was sure to break.
Only for the pieces to be put back together again...like kintsugi.
But unlike kintsugi, I was not sure to be beautiful even while patched together again.
No. I would only have more scars to my body, and wounds to my name.
"Do you think you could help me down...? It's kind of...uncomfortable...?"
Well, uncomfortable was one way of putting it. Searing, absolutely agonizing, was another. They were holy stakes after all, and I hadn't had enough time to change my race from "Demon" to anything else to avoid the purifying the thing was attempting to do on me. I wasn't quite sure why I wasn't purified yet, despite having been up there for long enough. When Lady Lilly purified the curse wraith so many years ago using her own holy magic, it was instant. I would've expected the holy magic of a god to wipe me out in an instant, especially seeing how much stronger he was than me.
The strength of one of the top three gods really was something else.
River was the form she took on then, with her crushed, yet somehow relieved, appearance, walking forward up the steps to the altar, to stand below me. Putting her hand on the edge of the basin that blackened at her touch, before disappearing into her storage. There was no way we were leaving something almost full to the brim with my blood there - not only was it weird, there was no telling what kind of weird things those weird folks would do with it if I carelessly underestimated the extent they were willing to go for such a trap.
"Oh, wait," I shook my head, sweat flinging off the ends of some short hairs framing the sides of my face. "You might be affected by these, since they're not ordinary holy stakes, Kiki. Let's see...do you think you could drag Keir over here instead? Sure, that means owing him a favor, but I'd rather not see you get hurt-"
Instead of her hand blackening the thing, it blackened her, while wrapping a tight grip around the edge of one jagged white stick that looked like it'd been torn off of a bare tree branch from one of the trees in front of the Koraco estate. The light blue bangs of her hair fell in front of her face while pulling the thing out of my chest, where it had been staked right beside my heart. Right besides the other thing they had stuck into my chest, not that long ago. The one that had me at his mercy earlier, forgetting the conditions that triggered its control over me in my blind fury...
"Kiki-!...huh?"
...peach?
Peach-colored orbs fell from beneath her bangs, past her feet where she stood in the air, to bounce off of the white ground beneath. They rolled, varying in size, down all of the steps, clacking until their momentum and the flat ground brought them to a halt.
What the...
The other side of the door was quiet. Earlier, when it disappeared, upon walking into the Church the apostles had pointed towards, it had been quiet as well. She'd partially closed it, likely to be free even a bit of my musings of the day.
But the door was wide open at that moment, and I couldn't hear a single thing from the other side of paradise.
Nothing...nothing at all.
Like her mind was too numb to think, and her body only moved to do what she needed to do.
One stake flung out behind her, bouncing off the edge of the altar, clattering to the ground at Anastasia's feet. Its red-soaked tip scattered a few thick droplets around, adding just a bit of color to the column of shadow she stood in, as the stained-glass windows just missed her.
Another stake flung out, with more force. It glided past the woman that time with enough force to send her hair flying, before sending spiderweb cracks up the grand walls of the Church, piercing into its innocent architecture and through its holy facade.
"Kiki, stop."
But her blackening hand reached forward again, wrapping around the next stake. Her hand trembled so badly it almost fell off, as if controlling the thing attempting to be purified, with peach-colored little mana bubbles drifting upwards, was becoming harder and harder with each passing moment.
But she flung the thing out of my shoulder through a stained-glass window, letting it shatter and crash into a colored, dangerous mess below the sill.
Then she grabbed the one that had struck straight through my shoulder piece, the one I'd adopted as my own with skull-and-cross, and flung it somewhere into an icon that shattered...no, turned to dust from the force of it, and pierced through the wall ultimately.
Then the one in my stomach, next to where Seer pierced me, was sent through a row of pews, piercing through one and dragging it by sheer force into the ones behind it.
Then the one in my thigh-
And the one in my foot - well, what was left of my foot, since it was a good-sized branch, and I was my small self in that moment, with tattered kimono combination and missing articles such as my scarf and geta - got sent off somewhere else as well-
"Kiki Nazira."
She paused, only for a moment, as the black crept up to the top of her shoulder and reached toward her heart. My arm, riddled with holes and not much muscle left to move it, with less skin attaching it to my shoulder than I'd have liked, drooped down towards the ground as the lack of branches had me sagging off the wall and grimacing at the doubled pain of it tearing through my skin.
"You're only hurting both of us and doing more harm than good at this point." My eyes flicked up to the woman still standing in the distance, shocked so badly she didn't seem to know what to do while reaching down to the blood-stained stake at her foot. It didn't burn her hands, though it clearly had an affect on her daughter and her daughter's familiar, seeing the blackened skin of the both of them, and the fury it caused them. No, on the contrary, to a being embraced by the gods and not cursed with a Demonic disposition, it probably felt wonderful holding the thing in her hands. Comforting, warm, safe. Probably a broken branch of some holy tree somewhere. "And if you bring this place crashing down on our heads, I don't think we could stand the consequences of that right now."
Nor, be able to save ourselves.
It was the last stake that her hand froze on, staring at the ends of her fingers beginning to harden and stiffen like obsidian. More of those peach-colored bubbles were flying upwards, leaving me curiously confused as to what that was, before she pulled one last time and freed me from my unorthodox crucifixion. My body popped off the wall, and within an instant, a blanket had appeared that was soft and warm and fluffy enough to wrap me in and convince me the outside world couldn't harm me anymore. Swaddled closely, I could finally breathe easy, close my eyes, lean on her shoulder, and ignore the way the blood kept seeping out even though those vicious little branches no longer induced my body into doing so.
Definitely done for tonight.
Kiki still hadn't said a word, holding me to her. If I wasn't suddenly so tired, I would've been questioning what was wrong. Even after all of my other fights with other gods, she never was like that. It was like...something was unplanned, for once. Something outside of the scope of what I could deal with, that she couldn't predict either, and it scared her. It scared her to silence. It was something that, even though we both knew I'd make it through all the next eight years some way or another, was able to trip her up and remind her of just how mortal, fragile, and weak I could really be despite not being able to die just yet.
"Anastasia," I called out over Kiki's shoulder. I was able to look over it, barely, to see her still standing there, heart thudding slowly in her chest, as if her blood had also frozen and was working hard to pump her back to life, looking up to catch my gaze. Well, one of my eyes. The other was shutting and unable to stay open for some reason. "Come here. Unless, you want to find your way back to Koraco on your own?"
She did come forward, though probably not for the reason I offered. Stepping up every short, wide step to pass the altar, to stand beneath Kiki where she still floated in the air. For once, I didn't mind her being so near. Maybe it was because I'd just been through the ringer again, and I was too tired to care. Maybe it was because I'd given up on pushing her away finally...though, after a bit more rest, I'd probably retract that option.
Maybe it was because my heart was in too much pain to feel anything, so I was just relying on my brain to take the actions I needed to in order to get things done.
"Kiki, please."
Send her back, and take me home.
As always, I wasn't quite sure what I wanted to do. Cry, maybe. Scream, that was always a good option. Be alone and sit in silence? Possible, but not preferable, and would probably turn out to be a bad idea in execution.
I just knew I wanted to be anywhere but there...and somewhere comfortable, so my familiar could put me down and attend to her own wounds. I couldn't see them anymore, but her right arm had looked toasted after a while, unable to even flex her fingers as they stiffened and eventually frozen half-curled as they'd been on the last branch.
"..."
It was a dimly-lit room that we appeared in, and one I could see only the back wall of. The space, it took me a few seconds to recognize, that stood behind the earl's office chair. A wall I'd fazed through again and again, while running off somewhere in that manor. But for some reason...there were books piled up against the wall there? Ones I was sure I'd had Kiki confiscate after the earl's Demon summoning phase.
Looks like I'll have to come back tomorrow.
"Kiki-"
"Well that's a voice I haven't heard in a while," I whispered, jaw hardly moving in place. It was hard to really move things when your muscles were totaled, or just flat out missing and spliced in two. "Aloire, what are you doing here? Are you disguised as Thérèse again?"
"Sister-"
"Actually, just the first question." The second one would've gotten her in trouble, and didn't make sense if I could recognize her voice.
"...I came to find you."
Find me? Oh, I blinked, wanting to yawn but unable to. It must be because of earlier.
"Well, I'm here. You can go back now, thanks for worrying about me."
"...I'll be by later."
Her presence, which was normally a giddy, welcoming one, disappeared warily.
"No need to make this more awkward that it is, Kiki," I whispered, lips beginning to slur against her skin. "Please...take me home."
And despite all of her tedious pushing until then, all of the things that would've pointed out to me that she'd try to push me closer to my parents in that moment in order to reveal vulnerability or whatever, for once, she did as I asked without question.
"Oh, wow," I sighed, breathing in the particular scent of my room. It wasn't a place I entered often, despite it being "my room" so the untouched dispersion of my past mana trails comforted me more than anything else. A place that was my own, with no worry of anyone coming in to bug me, with no one able to make it past all of the defense mechanisms on my door. A place I could feel safe in. "This is nicer than I thought it would be."
Especially being able to lay down on my bed, when placed down in that fluffy blanket of Kiki's that so thoughtfully coagulated my wounds for me when they failed to do it themselves, and kept bits of my limbs intact when the skin between them was so scarce they'd fling off if dropped just wrong. She opened the blanket, which felt like individual, soft balls beneath my back, pushing upwards in all the right places. Stretching and smiling like a cat was what I wanted to do, but I couldn't really move myself. Only my mouth really worked, with as much of a red waterfall had streamed through earlier and got stuck around my teeth...oh.
I smiled a lot a few minutes ago. That must've looked freaky.
"So...how exactly does this work? I know it sounds weird, but I've never exactly had any trouble with holy magic until now, and it's not like I've ever encountered a Demon that I needed to save from my holy magic, therefore, I don't really know how to...you know..."
Fill in the holes of my Swiss cheese body...? Even though the cheeses with holes in them tended to taste better than those without.
"What happened."
My eyes widened towards...well, one eye widened, the other for some reason began to swell shut though I was sure I'd just gotten a small cut over it...Kiki's flat tone. Really, not even when I'd fought gods...
Her hands weren't shaking, though I wasn't sure if they could have, as damaged as they were.
Her face was blank, strangely lacking even the bare minimum of poise and pleasantry she always carried around no matter the situation.
Her body was upright, sitting on the edge of my bed, simple dress flowing simply forward and not bunched up or wrinkled in any way that would've made me think she'd been going through something.
Just...sitting there, with her head ducked, bangs covering her eyes, being so awfully silent.
"Well...I mean, I did get something out of this, even if it doesn't look like it. I was just a little upset earlier-"
"You were furious."
"-and I went to the God of Hearsay."
"Tell me, Godslayer. I want to know."
My one eye - my left eye, having found out that that guy was a lefty the hard way as the right refused to open - narrowed at the memory.
The God of Hearsay had been so welcoming, that creepy little blonde boy on the chair, in the room full of manastone slabs acting as screens, beyond walls surrounded by mindless...apostles. And it'd been a little too easy to break into the heaven that the apostles had begged me not to try and break into, because it was a place not even the highest gods dared to go without asking permission beforehand, a place that...no one went into, and came back out of, completely alright.
At least the last part was true. I did get sliced down the moment I left that heaven.
"You said a thousand fold. A thousand fold, Godslayer."
"...the God of Hearsay is not one to be messed with. Despite being non-combative, there are many aspects of him to be feared. He is a wildcard amidst the deities."
They're all wildcards to me.
My brows, it felt like they lifted. They also didn't feel like anything, as that blanket's healing properties were numbing me to the best they could. "Yeah, I figured. That was one heck of a barrier for a god that's not even above fifty on the God Scale. They really need to reorder that thing so the actual threats are at the top, and not hidden at the bottom."
How was I supposed to know that a guy at #14 on the God Scale, was actually #96?
""The rebuke of the guardian of Thanos remains unchallenged. You won't even answer that, Godslayer. How are you to claim you could return any ill-favor a thousand fold?"
The room was mostly quiet, leading me to think even a ticking clock would be better than a Kiki I couldn't tell the emotions of. Nothing, nothing resided on the other side of the door. Not even a subconscious thought.
Wholly, just listening to me, waiting for my explanation.
And that was guilt-riddling like no other.
I swallowed, or tried to swallow. The blood wasn't drying in my mouth, but it made it difficult along the insides of my throat, like I had ramen strung all the way down that refused to be cut. Screaming earlier hadn't made it any easier to clear my throat when it was trying to trip me up.
But still, I really believed I'd had more gains that night than losses. Sure, my body was totaled and for once I didn't know how to fix it, but it wasn't something my trusty familiar and some [Successful Guessing] wouldn't be able to fix, given enough time to accumulate mana-
"A deity is a deity - the physical symbol and culmination - of what they represent, and what they represent is also what gives them strength and life. Do you think I'd stop just because you told me to? That's the equivalent of telling me to die. Are you aware of that?"
"Firea."
"Let's make a deal."
My eye drifted over to meet Kiki's black ones, their endless depths, the hint of madness she always kept so carefully concealed that I'd never seen it before. The madness all Demons had, no matter how refined they were.
"Where did you go?"
"Imagine what would happen if you didn't attempt to destroy the natural flow of communication in your ignorant state at the moment - having yet to reclaim your source and remember the rules of this place before doing something stupid even for you, Order - and instead let information do for you what it does best. What if you let information work for you, rather than against you?"
"I..."
"And you expect me to believe you would betray Tiyana so easily why?"
"It's a deal, not a betrayal. Amidst the gods, it's all business, and only business. We're all just trying to make ends meet somehow."
Business...
I choked on swallowing that time, and water appeared for me to drip down my throat. Lessening the difficulty, but not completely taking it away, as for once, rather than prioritizing me, Kiki was prioritizing my answer.
Tiyana, Zuelis, Arion, Paivla, I learned, and I, have a relationship a little more personal than business.
And...one other.
"Unless, of course, you plan to awaken your own guardian once more, and have him answer the rebuke?"
My breath shuddered, trying to take it in even though I didn't need to. Doing something, anything, simple, and familiar, was enough to distract me from the implications...of that statement.
Not yet. I can't break while I'm broken. At least heal your body first.
"I went to the God of Hearsay, we talked, and I left. When I came back out of the entrance hidden in the Church, that...guy was there, and I was so angry still that he managed to...use the [Monitor of Light]."
And from there, the rest was history.
"What happened?"
I said it was history. "What do you mean what happened? I got the freaking stars holy magicked out of me."
"He was saying something."
"Yeah. Gods do tend to talk a lot when you give them a pedestal...or an altar...to preach at."
"Why the basin?"
"Stars, Kiki, I don't know. Am I supposed to know why the gods hate me in the first place, and try their darnedest to make me their slave? Because I'm still figuring out the reason behind that one too, though..."
I'm sure you already know.
Kiki's eyes flashed another color, that peach color, while ducking her head back down.
"Stop talking in circles, God of Hearsay-"
"I don't speak in circles, Godslayer. To you, who has forgotten everything, it may be riddles. But to the rest of us who know and have merely watched you fall from grace with every life that passes," he sat back in his chair, changing the panels around the room yet again. It was of a scene I didn't recognize, not even if I scanned my memories for it instantaneously - as I did in that moment - and one that unsettled me greatly with widening eyes. "It's common knowledge. Not that you would know that anymore."
Suspicion was hard to avoid, given the evidence presented to me earlier. But I held my tongue, because neither of us were ready for the division of gossip and information to tear us apart. I needed her, whether she kept secrets from me or not. I needed my familiar who was more loyal to me than anyone else.
Even if her loyalty, ultimately, was to someone higher above my head.
"Kiki, please. This is awfully uncomfortable. How do I heal from this?"
For once, I really didn't know the answer. Demons were evil, they were Demons, they were a plague that needed to be killed, purified, wiped out. They were disposable tools of war even to their own comrades, and murderers, gluttons, thieves, with no purpose to exist other than to make the rest of the world miserable.
There was not a single person in the world who would try to save a Demon if it was injured in front of them.
"...you don't."
"What?"
"When Tiyana first made Demons, it was to turn all of her enemies into a target easily disposable by her magic only. Her magic system is dominant compared to Tasega's. Demons can't heal from something their magic can't even counter. The equation is not...balanced."
The charcoal-chipped hands resting on Kiki's lap caught on the dress, snagging little bits of the fabric with its rough surface.
"The only way to heal is to break."
Her arms lifted, the left one completely, and the right one partially. A sword appeared, made of darkness, emanating coolness, and it swung down swiftly before carving up the other side and getting half of the other arm where the creep hadn't been as bad, slicing along joints and slicing through bone. The arms didn't hesitate to drop down to the floor either, bouncing off the side of the bed before clattering onto the floor, fingers curling upward like dead spider legs to the ceiling high, high above.
"...huh."
Well, with my luck, I couldn't say I was surprised. All I could do was close my other eye and try not to think about the nine holes in my body waiting for a good carving. I felt like a piece of meat, suddenly, and not a person.
"I see."
"Forgive me, Master."
"No, it's fine. I had a feeling tonight wasn't over anyway. I'm sorry you have to do this in the first place, since it's not like there's anyone else I can ask."
"We will wait. If it's done now, when your condition is so imbalanced, then it could have unintended consequences."
"Ah, Kiki. The suspense is killing me."
Circles beneath her eyes, ones I'd never really noticed before, didn't appear as amused by my joke as I was.
"Do you think I could take a bath? I've never gotten to use the bathroom before, and it's a nice one, if I do say so myself."
"Master, you'd bleed to death."
"That's what we have coagulation spells for."
"Why are you trying to die?"
That question hit different than others. My breath stopped coming in for a moment, trying to avoid the gaze on me that refused to let go. The pain there was evident, the aura so exhausted it wasn't even present, the peach orbs that pushed out from her eyes without even having to narrow them. Streaking down from the corners, running along the side of her nose, arching down her cheek, with a head tilted as if stuck on a broken neck unable to stay upright.
Gingerly, she leaned over, pushing up against the fluffy blanket and being sure not to shift me even while trying to lay her forehead on a finger.
"Master, earlier, you completely disappeared. I couldn't feel your presence anymore. Our contract disappeared, and our pact, and my magic. Aloire couldn't find you, and your soul was gone from the whole of Tasega. It was only a few seconds, but to me..."
Demons were normally so cold. Even when casting spells to imitate other races, to pretend to breathe, to be warm, to have a beating heart, I could still faintly tell - even from myself - that it was fake.
But my eye opened, and widened ridiculously when the Demon's tears fell on the back of my hand, streaked off, and stirred me so heavily I thought my soul moved in response to it. Something tugged down deep, making my own eyes water. It was so warm, those tears. Falling like boiling rain while seeping through the crevices of my fingers, through the holes in my palms, dripping along their inner muscle and flesh exposed cruelly to the world.
"..."
I didn't need the contract linking us together to tell me the emotional agony consuming her. The amount of liquid on my hand, the shaking of her body, the slight tremors, said enough.
"I'm sorry, Kiki. I won't lose my head and put myself in danger like that again until I'm ready. That much-"
"Selali," I smiled, the sun behind my head casting a shadow over the exasperated little peach on the ground while reaching down to pull her up. Those short strands drifted about her cheeks while brushing the dust of the sparring grounds off her face, and she sighed in defeat at my excitement while pulling from down deep in my soul for my foreign magic. Just looking at her, I could tell...I found another one. And that made me happier, at that moment, than anything else in that whole strange world. "From now on, we'll be friends. If you need me, just say my name, and I will be there. If I need you, I want you to do the same. Deal?"
"...deal."
"I can promise you."
...
Hm?
I was sure I heard little footsteps pattering closer, though I couldn't turn my head to look over towards the door they were emerging from. Light from the hallway spilled in, just a little bit, before pushing all the way open.
"Faeydark!" Magaris gasped, trying to close it and limit the amount of light quickly. "Don't!"
They've gotten closer.
If they weren't running away from her, that was already enough to tell me the while I'd been away was long enough.
I think, for the time being, I'll just stay home.
"Hey, Magaris. Are the kids with you?"
"F-Fir," Magaris hiccuped from afar, startled to be caught. "You were in here?"
"Is it such a surprise I'd be in my own room, Magaris?"
"Yes, Firea. Yes, it is."
"Hah," I laughed, though it certainly made me wince and cough to do so. "Well, can I ask what all of you mongrels are doing slipping past my level 500 barrier spells?"
I didn't exactly recall exempting anyone to allow them entry, except for myself, and Kiki. There was no need for Magaris to clean in there - or clean at all, but since she insisted, saying it kept her busy in that quiet place, then it wasn't my place to stop her - and it wasn't like just anyone could open the door.
"They stopped working, I think, a few days back. And, well, the children...they like..."
"Like?"
Kiki remained silent in her emotional distress, and finally stopped shaking. Just remaining in place, refusing to pick herself up, even when black blood was gushing from her arms that she wouldn't stop. Like it was her own dramatic expression of sadness, her own way to match my pain, as we'd never been so in tune before.
"Your...bathroom."
"Really?" I smiled again, just within shadow. The bed was far enough away that the light pouring in didn't reach us, but if it opened any further, it would've. "See, Kiki? I told you it's a nice bathroom. We should go together later, it's been a while since I did more than just cleaning magic."
"Firea, you'd need to wash yourself a dozen times before getting into a bath with anyone else then."
"Ah, for shame, Magaris dear. Cleaning magic does the job far better than any shower or bath in the world, and you know it."
"-Fern!"
The pattering of someone's little feet came charging up to the side of the bed, hopping up and plodding to stand just above me.
"...looks like someone got a nickname? Huh," I tried to look as non-threatening to the girl as possible, not revealing my teeth but still trying to smile. "Fern."
Those gaudy red eyes stared down at me unapologetically. I could feel all of the curiosity in the broken child zeroing in on every hole in my body revealed by the kimono in tatters, but still mostly on me. I guessed that, after being torn from innocence, and having been injected into violence so swiftly, she was numb to seeing such a thing.
But it still wasn't a good thing for a child to see. "Uh...Magaris? You can call her back over, right? I'm not in the best state right now, for a child to see-"
"What kind of state are you in, then?"
"A very bloody and mangled state. One that you would throw up at, so I don't recommend coming over here at all."
And Magaris, over yonder, made a funny noise.
"Gagging without even a glance, Magaris?"
"The smell suddenly makes sense."
"Then you'd best be on your way then. Fern," I sighed up at the child, seeing the cut-off hair where Magaris had finally decided to just sacrifice the dead ends. "You can come for the bath later. For now, I really, really just want to rest. Do you understand?"
Neither she nor her brother acted as if they understood, and had yet to say a word to us even though I'd made them capable of understanding the words we spoke and being able to respond.
They just did as they pleased, in my home, and from time to time, to my heart.
"Oh, you. I'll have you know that my sweat and blood don't taste good to anyone but Demons."
They had their sweet moments, even if we rarely saw each other. Again, my scarred, often battered appearance, must've twisted its way into their sympathetic hearts, as she leaned down to place a kiss on my forehead.
Actually...wait. It would be bad if she-
"The child will be fine, Master."
Kiki mumbled, but refused to get up. Fern turned to look at the familiar missing her arms and bleeding out dramatically on my bed, before rifling through her pocket for something. Then, reaching over me, to tap on Kiki's head, since there wasn't exactly a shoulder on the left side to do any tapping on.
"Kiki, your attention is wanted."
Though likely in unfathomable pain, my kind familiar humored the girl by lifting up her head. I didn't fail to see the overlap of an old, ancient memory, as it glanced across Kiki's face before disappearing and leaving me clueless as to when it came from.
Or, what lifetime it came from, since that seemed to be a valid concern those days.
"What is it, child?" Kiki sighed, utterly drained. Perhaps the vacation was a sooner-rather-than-later kind of thing. "What do you need?"
Fern tipped forward, off balance, to-
-crash into Kiki lips first, meeting her forehead for the hardest kiss ever.
"Oh," I winced. "Glad I got the soft one."
It was the equivalent of a wooden fence post falling on your head.
"Fern!"
Magaris covered her eyes and bustled forward, moving around the bed with keener senses than I thought she could use, coming to swipe the child up. Lips twisting while stepping in a pool of something sticky on the ground, and trying not to breathe in the anguish in the room while accidentally kicking an arm on the floor, her eyes barely peeked open to find the light periwinkle beacon of a head of Fern, to pick her up and be on their way.
"I'm so sorry-"
"It's fine," Kiki answered for the both of us, slowly sinking back down.
"I feel better, at least. I don't know about you, Kiki, but I could go for a bath-"
"You'll still bleed out, Master."
"...it was worth a shot."
"I'll...I'll fix some dinner."
"No need. I currently don't have a useable stomach, and Kiki does not have arms with which to grab a fork and knife."
"You two!" she cried from across the room, holding Fern over her shoulder and grabbing Faeydaek before he could charge in and copy his elder sister. "Stop getting injured! It's almost the holidays, and you're running off doing who knows what! Would it kill you to not be in danger, for once? And Firea! I expect this from you, sadly, at this point. But Kiki Nazira!"
Kiki jumped in place, picking her head up, disturbed, while confusedly staring towards the light of the doorway. Magaris, trying not to gag, trying not to cry, as her eyes adjusted - well, she was a familiar of the God of Darkness, after all - to the sight of her own black footsteps on the ground, seethed and scolded us from afar.
Oh girl, you're in for it now, I poked at Kiki, who didn't understand until that day what it was like to feel fear at your whole name being called.
"You, of all people, should not be imitating Firea. I don't care if you're a shapeshifter - protect yourself, and don't learn any dangerous habits from the unteachable. Or else, the children will catch on too!"
"...I don't think it's so easy to teach children to hurt themselves and run into danger."
"Or," I offered, glancing around the ceiling with my one eye. "Get tortured. But-!"
"Firea-Madeline de Libellule!"
"-again, none of it is intentional! Have a good night, Magaris."
"When I come back here tomorrow morning-"
"Yes, yes, Magaris, no blood anywhere-"
"-you better both be completely healed, with not a single wound in sight-"
"Ah, that one might be a bit difficult-"
"-and you better have a stomach to eat my breakfast!"
"It wasn't like I got my stomach purified on purpose!"
"You-" Magaris looked around the empty hallway, searching for someone else to hear that ridiculous nonsense. "You what?"
"Nothing, goodnight!"
Trying to hide her emotions, turning away while burying her nose in a child's shoulder, Magaris left the room, heading off for better-smelling places and saner people. Or, saner places, because there weren't many other people there to be found. Or sane ones, at all.
"Now, Kiki, why don't you lay down? I have this strange feeling we're going to get the lecture of our lives in the morning, so it's best to rest while we can."
Pushing down the pain, bringing mirth to the surface, and trying to forget for a while, just how much was buried deep beneath, I invited her up. Sluggishly, she did climb over, lowering gently to not shift the mattress so much.
"Master..."
"Firea."
"Firea," Kiki begrudged. "Halo..."
My ears twitched. "What? What about a halo? Are you already seeing angels, my familiar? I didn't think I'd lose you so soon. Don't go towards the light while we sleep, hear me? I'd better wake up to you breathing easy next to me in the morning."
But the familiar breathed in, finally ceding for the night while laying on her back and looking up at the faux stars I'd painted on my ceiling and imitated with mana stones drifting by above. "Nothing, Master."
"Firea."
"Firea. Have a good night, Firea. I'll be by you in the morning."
I will not leave your side, so sleep well.
Ah, I replied, taking in as deep a breath as my tattered lungs could allow. Whistling noises ensued, but it was whatever. You too.