Chapter Text
"Naofumi."
Naofumi stops right before he bites into his food, turning to the voice in annoyance. His eyes meet with Motoyasu's, who looks uncharacteristically grim.
"I need to talk to you outside," Motoyasu says. There is a strange, unsettling look in his eye.
Naofumi stares at the man for a beat, off-guard by the look he's getting, before standing to face Motoyasu directly. He hears Raphtalia stand right after; he also hears Filo singing with the band.
"Why?" He asks, crossing his arms. Motoyasu doesn't respond, and the sounds of the party around them fills the leftover void with ease.
They both stay silent for a beat, until Motoyasu grabs Naofumi firmly by the wrist. He pulls, attempting to drag him out of the hall, but Naofumi plants his feet and yanks his arm away; there is no way Motoyasu is going to drag him somewhere without him knowing why. He's not that stupid.
"I refuse to say it in here," Motoyasu glances at the floor before looking back at him, "I need to tell you something in private."
Naofumi stares at him like he's stupid; which he is, of course, but this is strange. Raphtalia holds onto him, and when he looks at her she is just as wary, if not more. Motoyasu makes no moves to force him like he did seconds earlier, he just keeps staring at him with that strange, severe look in his eyes.
He catches a glimpse of Motoyasu's party across the room: they all look somber, none of them are laughing or enjoying the party around them. Bitch is also missing completely; even after the humiliation of her trail she should still be around the other girls. This entire scenario is weird.
He considers the options then looks to Raphtalia for any ideas. She looks at him just as confused. Naofumi decides to go with him. He knows it will likely bite him in the ass considering their history, but he can't deny how curious he is. Besides, Naofumi knows how strong the shield is, if something bad happens he can and will defend himself.
"Fine, I'll come with. But if you try anything, i Will fight back," Naofumi threatens. Motoyasu looks at him before gesturing for him to follow and turning to walk away. Naofumi follows.
They leave the hall without any issue. Motoyasu stays silent as they walk through the halls and outside; the sun is just starting to lower, sky still blue as ever. They keep walking. And walking. And walking; until Naofumi stops in his tracks. Motoyasu keeps walking until he notices, to which he turns to face him. He practically reads his mind, and talks before Naofumi can get a word out.
"I want to leave the town before we talk. We're heroes, Remember? People love being around me."
And he continues his previous pace. Naofumi stares at him, baffled at how self-centered he is, before jogging to catch up. They move through town lazily, walking down stairs and past shops, restaurants, houses, until the sky is orange and the final few houses are behind them. The guards let them pass, but watch them carefully.
Naofumi stops as soon as he passed the town walls so he can try to talk, but the way Motoyasu keeps pace tells him their trek is still not done. They keep walking through the foliage, and only stop when the wall is a long distance behind them. Naofumi observes his surroundings.
There's a pile of spears on the ground, four to be exact, and Bitch is standing close by; she has a worried look on her face. "Worried" look, Naofumi knows her acting skills. He instantly regrets coming, the very fact that she is where Motoyasu was dragging him instantly proves he is in danger. She watches him when he catches her eye before turning to the spear idiot when he approaches her, her face getting increasingly more scared.
Naofumi steadies himself, moving his shield into his hands, and watches as Bitch bursts into tears he knows are fake. She latches on to Motoyasu while whimpering something between her sobs. Motoyasu holds her like a hero holds a scared, innocent damsel-in-distress, like she isn't one of the most manipulative and dishonest pieces of shit Naofumi has ever had the misfortune of meeting.
Motoyasu hugs her tight before letting her go, wrapping his arms around her waist; Her eyes aren't even red, despite all the "crying" she just did. Naofumi decides to look away as they start acting disgustingly saccharine. Even if Motoyasu was planning on attacking him, He's the Shield hero! Defense is his entire thing, as long as Naofumi keeps his guard up, nothing will happen and he can leave to be with his party again.
Despite those reassurances, the pit in his stomach refused to leave. Why does he feel so unsafe?
He hears one of them move and looks up to find that Motoyasu had let go of the woman in favor of grabbing one of the spears on the ground. Naofumi grips his shield tighter and prepares to be stabbed. To his credit, Motoyasu can pack a punch when he's not being a total idiot. Naofumi sees him grip the handle fiercely, his hands shaking from the force, and he braces for the upcoming impact.
But it never comes. Instead, Naofumi watches Motoyasu school himself into an eerie stillness; It reminds him of the final minute before he gets teleported to the waves, when he's getting well wishes and mentally preparing to pull the weight of fight. It fills him with a sickly, churning dread in the pit of his stomach.
Nothing happens, the silence is fitting of a graveyard, and it only makes Naofumi's feeling worsen. Motoyasu is a loud, loud man, and this dead silence coming from someone like him is... terrifying.
"Are you going to do something," Naofumi barks, keeping his guard up, "If you aren't doing anything, I'm leaving. I have better things to do than watching you stand angrily in a forest."
Naofumi watches the other man carefully, observing Bitch put her hand on his shoulder in some approximation of comfort, before turning to take his leave. He doesn't go further than a step before Motoyasu finally says something.
"You are a disgusting, disgusting man, Naofumi."
Naofumi stares at him, keeping his shield between himself and the idiot who might do something more stupid and dangerous than ever before. Motoyasu made no move aside from lifting his head and changing his grip on the spear. Bitch, however, backs away to hide behind a tree some distance from them.
To the unknowing person—and idiots like Motoyasu—it looks like she's hiding away from Naofumi's glare, but he knows better: Bitch is backing away from the battlefield for her own safety, perhaps for deniability.
Naofumi know the small jolts shes doing is her trying not to laugh, but Motoyasu likely thinks that her shaking is because of real tears and real fear. That selfish, manipulative piece of shit.
"Hah? what did i do to you?-"
"DON'T YOU DARE ACT INNOCENT YOU MONSTER!" Motoyasu suddenly lurches to face Naofumi, aiming the spear in his hand directly at him. He's seething, panting violently before calming himself down and lowering the spear.
"I am Sick of being lied to by a demon like you," He growls, "You manipulative, brainwashing, abusive, rapist piece of trash!"
Naofumi finds is ironic that half of the words in that sentence can be used to describe Bitch, "Again. what did i do? If you got all of that shit from Bitch then you truly are an idiot."
"Did you forget? are you acting dumb now? You raped Myne, you bought slaves to do your work for you, you kidnapped the second princess, you cheated to make yourself stronger-"
Motoyasu stomps closer, raising his voice louder than before, "-brainwashing and manipulating hundreds of people while you do that! and not only that, but you controlled the queen just so you can remove Myne and the king from their places as royalty!"
He is right in front of Naofumi now, glaring. Naofumi, suddenly glad he's holding his shield up, stares right back and prepares for a rough blow. He knows it will come, he can see it in his eyes, but Motoyasu doesn't for some reason; he keeps glaring at him, shaking with pure rage but not moving a single muscle.
Naofumi realizes that he's hesitating. Motoyasu's eyes are filled with anger, yes, but under it is doubt. He can't help but wonder what the enraged man will do.
He question is answered as soon as he thinks it. Instead of his normal plunge forward, Motoyasu grabs Naofumi's wrist tight and yanks his arm out of place, still staring him down. Naofumi struggles to pull his hand away and get back into position, but he's met with the spear going straight through his arm.
His brain doesn't even process it yet; he feels the blade go through his bicep and out the other side and pinning him to the tree, but there's no pain and all he can feel is anger. It registers fast as the speed of light, and he's met with a sharp searing pain and he screams. Naofumi looks at the spear embedded in him and he can feel himself trembling, it makes the pain spike and flare with each tremor. He wants to stop but he can't; blood is gushing from the wound and he's starting to feel far too hot on the injury and way to cold everywhere else.
He whips to face Motoyasu again and he can see Bitch taunting him in the background, pulling her eyelid down and sticking her tongue out just like when he was first accused of rape. He can barely think, all he can feel is the mind-numbing pain of the spear tacking him to the wall and his heavy breathing and the heat of his blood and how cold he feels and how furious he is.
Naofumi sees the expression disappear and change into some disgusting fucked up version of gratitude as Motoyasu turns and walks to her, grabbing another spear from the small pile.
"What The Fuck are you doing, you idiot?" Naofumi gasps. he can barely hear himself over his own heartbeat and his magic desperately trying to heal him. Motoyasu does not answer.
"I'm glad I get to be the one to do this, Naofumi Iwatani." Motoyasu walks back to him, poison and malice oozing from his words.
Naofumi struggles to focus on him; he feels clammy and frigid and his right arm feels like its boiling. Naofumi knows he should be doing something, anything to get out of this situation, but his body refuses as he stares at Motoyasu in fear and hatred; He can't pull the spear or he will get shocked, but against his will and better judgement he feels his hand touch the spears handle, and he's met with fast, thudding electricity that numbs his arms and his brain at the same time.
He can't even get himself to scream again.
"Scum like you doesn't deserve to walk freely. And if no one else will stop you, I will."
Naofumi feels the spear go through his stomach, and he screams silently in agony as it is pushed through to the wood behind him. He tries not to look at it, but he does anyway and sees a bloody, visceral mess flowing from his abdomen, and blood falling out of his mouth.
~.~.
Ren glances at the crowds around him uneasily, trying to focus his thoughts over the chatter of a ballroom full of people and the screech of silverware against plates. The queen had hosted a party for the heroes after a particularly difficult wave, but he's been feeling off since it began. His party isn't around him, but he can hear them talking and laughing amongst each other. They politely left him alone to stay with they're own buddies.
Itsuki joins him after, saying he saw Ren was alone and wanted to take advantage of it; that he prefers Ren's company over his party's
The words made him feel warm and distracted him from the strange looming anxiety, but the discomfort returned, worming it's way into his guts like a parasite. The noise of the hall makes him feel sick.
He holds his drink tighter, scouring the hall again in hopes of finding someone, anyone out of the ordinary so he can explain this dangerous feeling. The people are normal, all happy and dancing and drinking. Everything is normal, until he sees Motoyasu's party in the corner of his eye.
The man himself is missing, along with Bitch, and the rest of the girls are acting odd: they're whispering to each other, snickering behind their hands and leering. Ren follows their eyes to Raphtalia and Filo, the former looking at the door, anxiously wringing her hands; even Filo has removed her attention from the food. He guesses they are looking for Naofumi, and suddenly the feeling becomes an intense pressure weighting over him.
Naofumi is in danger. He needs to leave.
The words come to Ren like a slap to the face, and he barely manages to disguise the whiplash he gets by looking around yet again. Thankfully, he now knows the cause of the strange festering in his gut. He wanted to leave anyway, everyone is loud, the dining hall is crowded, and everything is overwhelming and painful. Ren sets his drink down, sliding it next to Itsuki so he can watch it, and stands to leave. A hand wrapping around his arm stops him, though.
"where are you going?" Itsuki asks, not letting go if his arm, "You've been acting on edge this entire party, is it overwhelming-"
Itsuki stops himself when he sees the look in Ren's eyes. He pulls him closer, letting go of his arm in favor of holding him by the shoulder, "whats going on? you look terrified"
Ren looks at him, surprised he was that easily read, before turning away and steeling his face, "Nothing. I don't want to be here anymore, there is something i need to do."
He moves Itsuki's arm off of him in favor of trying to leave again. He's caught by the arm again.
"Ren," Itsuki says, sounding sick of his shit. Ren stays silent; the hand around his arm feel claustrophobic and he knows there is no way out of it. So, he spills.
"Something is wrong."
"What? What do you mean something is wrong?"
"Motoyasu and Naofumi are missing, leaving both of their parties alone-" Ren looks to Raphtalia and Filo, both are even more stressed, before turning back to Itsuki, "-Bitch was gone before it even started, and they're always together."
"Something's telling me Naofumi's in danger. I'm looking for him." Ren finishes, trying and failing to maneuver out of Itsuki's grasp again.
Itsuki stares at him in shock before looking towards Naofumi's party, likely to check if what he said is plausible, and turning back to him with a serious look.
"If you don't come back soon, I'm telling his party and we're looking for you," Itsuki promises, finally letting him go. Ren nods back and darts to the door, brushing past the guests with ease.
For a minute he's concerned about causing a scene and disrupting the party, but as the heavy doors slam behind him Ren breaks off into a full sprint. Instinct and fear induced adrenaline guide him through the halls; the only things he can hear are his labored breathing, pounding heart, and footsteps echoing off the tall walls of the castle.
He bursts through the entrance doors and keeps running full force; he only gets to the first staircase before he slows to a walk. He can feel his lungs burning, his throat and chest ache already.
Where is he going?
The castle town is huge, it will take too long to find them; that's if Naofumi and Motoyasu are even in the town. Ren scans his surroundings; the churning in his stomach makes him want to keep sprinting full force. He feels as though he's on a timer, he needs to move—needs to find Naofumi—or he will get hurt.
This may all be for nothing. Naofumi is likely fine, he has the defense of a tank and he's smart enough to not let Motoyasu hurt him. He's getting concerned over nothing.
As soon at the thought registers and weighs in his mind, he feels like an invisible force is trying to strangle him, trying to crush his throat as punishment for his doubt. Ren decides to just run blindly and deal with the pain later; he knows there is something bad going on, no matter his fears, and he will start coughing soon if he doesn't do something.
It was late day when the party first started, but now the sky is bright orange. Normally Ren would love to watch the sunset, but he has no time; ignoring the fiery light bathing everything he sees in favor of focusing on running.
It's getting harder to breath, the air he's exhaling tastes metallic, but he keeps sprinting. The only times he stops are to look around and figure out where he is. He goes down many flights of stairs and weaves his way through sprawling roads but finds nothing. The feeling stays, still weighing on his shoulders like the world itself; if he stops Naofumi may reach the point where he's too injured to fight, or worse. Ren only runs faster, his body is screaming at him to take a break or face the consequences.
He would rather face the consequences.
Night is rising, the moon and stars are the only things illuminating the town. He keeps going; Ren has ran through far over half of the town now, and when he looks back at the castle for a second he can only see a dark shape against the navy sky. He's wheezing, his nose clogged and his lips feel wet and sticky. He doesn't need to check to know he has a nosebleed, he has far to much experience with them.
Despite his breathing struggles and blood-slicked face, Ren doesn't feel any pain or discomfort; the sting in his chest is vague and cottony. He feel no strain from the running, simply jittery. He knows adrenaline is numbing him, and he needs to take advantage of it or else he will fall.
He keeps running, and finally makes it to the edge of the town. He expects guards to stop him as he runs past the last houses, but there are none. There should be guards; perhaps he got lucky with his timing. Looking up, the moon is about a third up the sky, and he wonders for a split second just how long he had ran.
He shakes the thought from his head and ignores the dizziness he gets, along with the gut-wrenching and nauseous feeling in his stomach, in favor of studying the forest around him. The full moon helps, but it's hard to focus over the blood pouring from his nose and pooling in his lungs and his own violent wheezing.
Ren manages to see a familiar speck of red far in the distance, and all of his pain and sickness is forgotten. Motoyasu is there, and he manages to make out the green of Naofumi's cape right by him.
He was right.
The feeling was right, and he breaks into a sprint again despite his body's protests. He gets closer and closer, and as he gets closer he can see more and more red—more blood—than there ever should be with those two. He shoves past the bushes and branches in a blind haze; Naofumi is hurt and Motoyasu has something to do with it.
Naofumi is pinned to a tree by three spears, two in his arms and one through his abdomen, and Motoyasu is about to stab him through the throat with a fourth while Bitch watches with a smile. Ren, through his exhaustion and lack of breath and nausea, somehow speeds up. He keeps going and running until he rams straight into Motoyasu. He's sent tumbling backwards into a tree; Ren stumbles to the ground, wheezing and lightheaded from the force of the collision.
He focuses on Naofumi through the dizziness; The shield hero is covered in blood, clearly struggling, yet still conscious. He groans as Ren rushes to him.
"Naofumi! Naofumi stay awake-" Ren chokes, "-Stay awake you idiot!"
He cracks his eyes open and murmurs something. Ren summons a healing potion, the highest quality he has, out of his inventory and shoves it into Naofumi's hand. It falls and nearly hits the ground before Ren catches it. He puts it back into Naofumi's hand again, this time forcing his fingers to wrap around and actually hold it. Putting pressure around the spear in his stomach and ignores the blood seeping into his glove and the pained noise he hears.
"Naofumi, you need to drink the potion as soon as i get the spears out."
Naofumi does not react and his breathing is faint, so Ren makes the smart decision to slap him across the face to wake him up. It works. He snaps awake with a gasp, as conscious as he can be. Ren looks him dead in the eyes despite the discomfort.
"The only think keeping you from bleeding out are these spears. Drink the potion as soon as i pull them out or else," Ren struggles to speak, and breath in general.
He gets a painful stare before Naofumi nods. Ren feels him grip the potion tighter. Ren tries to grab the spear in his arm, the one holding the potion. Electricity courses through his hands and makes him reel, until the sharp throbbing pain becomes distant and black dots start to spark in his vision. It is now or never. Ren grabs the spear and pulls forcefully. It takes too much strength to dislodge it from the wood. Naofumi's arm goes limp at his side and Ren drops the spear, trying to regain control of his hands through the shocks. The spear in his other arm is just about to be pulled before they get interrupted.
"Ren, what are you doing! That man is a Monster!" Motoyasu yells, hurting his ears. Ren forgot he was there.
"Shut. Up." Ren's growls, voice raspy and sore and wet with blood. Motoyasu flinches in response.
He turns back to Naofumi and yanks the second spear out full force, almost sending himself stumbling to the ground. Naofumi grunts in pain and Ren sees him start to go slack. He quickly grabs the last spear, struggling with the electricity ruining his motor skills, and pulls it out slower than the others.
It's excruciating. His vision is started to go blurred and black, this one was embedded much deeper than the ones before. The shocks made Ren's hands go numb and weak; he has to clench his teeth so he doesn't scream, but he doesn't stop. He can't stop, Naofumi's wounds are severe: he will die if Ren gives up. They will all have to die if he gives up.
Ren finally yanks the spear out.
Naofumi crumples to the ground; blood gushes from his abdomen and arms and for a second Ren thinks he'll have to force feed him the health potion, but Naofumi lifts his arm and forces himself to down it. The empty bottle falls with his arm, rolling out of his hand as his injuries glow green. Naofumi is healing. He will be fine. Ren wheezes, almost falling as well. He manages to keep himself up, and he turns his attention to Motoyasu.
"What the fuck were you thinking?!" Ren hisses, spitting blood and venom with his words, "You would have killed him if i didn't get here in time!"
Motoyasu stutters and fails to come up with an excuse,"Ren, He's a monster! Myne told me-"
"Why would you believe her you idiot?! You know she lied about everything; you proved it yourself! If Naofumi dies We all have to die-" Ren clenches his hair in his fists before dropping his hands,"-You would have killed us all!"
He can hear far away footsteps but ignores them, too frustrated and angry to care. Motoyasu shrinks back more. He looks behind him, likely for Bitch so she can back him up, but finds no one. She abandoned him.
Ren can feel blood building up in his throat and his vision is fading, but he keeps going out of sheer rage, "How can you act as if you're doing good when you try to kill a man! He cheated for power but he still needs to live, You delusional idiot-"
He chokes.
He chokes and falls to the ground coughing and hacking uncontrollably, his overexertion finally punishing him as his adrenaline fails. Blood spits and spills from his mouth and nose as he sits writhing on the ground, clawing at his neck and chest in desperate, terrified, failing attempts at breathing.
Collapsing onto his side and finally getting bits of air, he distantly hears heavy and fast footsteps getting closer under his own sickening sounds; through his tears and blackening vision he can vaguely see Naofumi's form lying on the ground lamely.
Ren tries to speak, tries to call for help or for Naofumi to stay alive, but he can't and he can feel reality becoming more distant and numb each second.
The footsteps are getting louder and louder through his failing consciousness, until they finally stop. Ren thinks he hears voices calling out close by, but he might be imagining it due to lack of oxygen. He finally fades out just as he feels hands grabbing at him desperately.