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Natalia hadn’t seen it coming.
They’d been on foot, leaving Theor Forest as Luke led them towards Grand Chokmah. Anise had been going on and on about something with Ion, skipping ahead next to Luke, excited as she rambled about something Natalia didn’t recognize. Ion was next to her, panting ever-so-slightly as he tried to keep pace with his best friend. Jade strolled next to her and Tear in companionable silence, rarely chiming in when he had commentary on Anise’s ramblings. Guy had been bringing up the rear, hand resting on his sheathed sword.
The leaves rustled above her unnaturally, and next to her, Jade stopped. His red eyes glinted in the sun, his hand flying to his arm as he summoned his spear with a flick of his wrist. A shadow flew overhead, and Natalia shrugged her bow off her shoulder, notching an arrow with a speed that came to her naturally. Blonde hair fell into her eyes, but she brushed it away, eyes narrowed as she scanned the area.
Something was on this trail with them.
The distinctive clack of heeled boots against the branch of a tree was Natalia’s only warning before Legretta dropped from above them, flanked by Arietta’s beasts. She cursed under her breath as the woman attacked, firing off her notched arrow before she ducked behind a tree to focus on healing.
“Legretta! What are the God Generals planning?” Tear yelled through the sounds of combat. Swords clashed against bullets, deflecting them into trees and the dirt. Fonons swirled from Jade’s spear, icicles whirling around the beasts and tearing open their hides.
Legretta yelled something back at Tear, but Natalia couldn’t hear it over the deafening sound of gunshots echoing through the forest. Legretta spun as she shot, turning like a top as bullets flew through the air. A few shots embedded themselves in the ground by Natalia’s feet, and she jumped up to avoid them. The spell she had been focused on slipped through her fingers like sand, fonons dissipating into the air around her. She cursed under her breath. Another shot came towards her, but Anise was there first, pushing her out of the way on Tokunaga’s back.
“Anise! Are you alright?”
Her smile was beaming, but determination glittered in her dark eyes. Nervous sweat dotted the warm brown of her skin. “I’m great, Nat, just peachy. But you should probably keep an eye on the boys- the woman hater is moving weirdly.”
Natalia spared a glance at Guy, scanning through the combat to find him. He was locked in the fight with one of Arietta’s monsters, his normal agility slowed compared to Luke next to him. Other than his newfound slowness, though, he looked alright. Next to him, however, Luke had a nasty cut running down his side- probably from one of the beast’s claws. She let an unsteady peace overcome her as she channeled the seventh fonon, the cold light collecting in air around her until it cascaded over him. In the blink of an eye, the wound scabbed over and new skin formed over it. Behind him, a beast fell, and Ion slipped behind a tree to hide.
Natalia drew her bow again, firing more arrows at Legretta, markswoman to markswoman. Pistols were cowardly weapons to her. They didn’t need force or talent to kill, not like a bow did. Any poor old woman could fire a pistol like Legretta. Few could match Natalia’s skill with a bow. She steadied her hand, eye closing naturally as she focused, before she let the arrow fly. It thunked into the tree, pinning her in place through the fabric of her dress, another following soon after and burning itself just below her shoulder.
The remaining beast roared, beginning to charge them, but Anise dove in front of it, swinging wildly with Tokunaga. It wasn’t long before that beast collapsed too, leaving just Legretta pinned to the tree. Legretta cursed loudly, almost closer to a scream, but they were too slow to react. Another one of Arietta’s monsters ran through the clearing, nearly trampling Tear under its sprint. It stopped for half a second to let Legretta shoot out the arrows holding her down and crawl onto its back.
“LEGRETTA!” Tear screamed after her, anger clear in her voice as her former mentor disappeared into the woods.
For a second, they were all silent, just catching their breath. Anise dropped to the ground, Tokunaga shrinking behind her. Guy pulled closer to the group, his vest unbuttoned fully as he dug through his pockets. Ion reappeared from his hiding spot, clothes crumpled but unharmed. Luke stretched upwards, his long red hair falling down his neck as he moved. Jade’s spear disappeared, flickering into light before vanishing. Natalia glanced over everyone- nobody seemed excessively hurt, certainly not hurt enough to not continue moving.
“Well, then,” She spoke into the silence. “Should we keep going? We’re close to Grand Chokmah.”
“Yes, let’s.” Jade agreed, readjusting his glasses on the bridge of his nose. “Luke?
“On it, old man.”
An uneasy silence settled over their group as they pushed closer to Grand Chokmah, the excited chatter from the kids suddenly gone. Luke led their way, pushing through branches and guiding them down the trail. Tear dug through her pack as she walked, side by side with Natalia. With a quiet “aha!”, she pulled a smaller bag from it. Natalia blinked, confused, as Tear handed her a plain rice ball from the bag.
“I made a few extra before we left. They should still be good.”
Hesitantly, Natalia bit into it. They were dry, uncomfortably lukewarm, but it was food. “They taste fine to me,” she confirmed. Tear smiled, before turning to distribute them to the rest of the party. She turned on her heel towards the rear of their little group.
“Guy, do you-”
He jumped back, flinching so violently it knocked him off his feet and sent him stumbling towards the floor. His hands braced in front of his face like he was expecting a blow. He curled in on himself slightly, but stopped halfway. He moaned in pain instead, barely supporting himself as his hand flew to his side.
Natalia blinked once, shellshocked. She’d seen Guy react poorly to women before, but never so violently to one of them. Tear hadn’t even gotten all that close to him, certainly not close enough to trigger his gynophobia to that degree.
Luke stopped ahead of them, turning to glance back. “What’s the hold up?”
Guy’s voice was shaking as he replied. “N- nothing, it’s- it’s nothing, Tear, she just- Tear startled me. I'm fine.” He shifted in a feeble attempt to give them a thumbs up, but another hiss of pain escaped his lips.
“Guy? You’re- you’re bleeding.”
Deep, dark red had seeped through his side, staining the bright orange of his vest. A tear in his shirt revealed a deep, gory wound, bloody and raw.
“I- I am?” He tried to deflect, pulling his vest closer to him. He stood up, but he swayed. Luke caught him against his side, his red hair cascading down his white shirt, the contrast almost as bright as the dark red of Guy's blood against his shirt.
Natalia circled around him, and she muffled a gasp as she noticed how utterly soaked his shirt was with blood. A gaping exit wound had drilled itself in his back, and suddenly everything about how Guy had been off made sense.
“You got shot?”
Guy's face was pale and sweaty as he finally stopped trying to hide his wound. “She- Legretta would have- she would've hit Luke, I can't-”
Luke's face pulled in worry, an expression that looked unnatural on him. “Guy, you don't-”
“I'm still your servant-”
Tear's voice cut through the argument. “Luke, Jade, hold him down. Natalia, we need to make sure the bullet gets out. It'll cause more problems if we heal it in.”
“My, putting the aging to work, are we,” Jade murmured under his breath as he braced a glove against Guy's shoulder, despite his protests.
“Tear, I don't… think we need to worry about that.” She nodded over to the exit wound, and Tear blanched as she saw it.
“Oh. Definitely.”
Luke slammed his hand against the ground, tightening his grip on Guy. “Dammit! Are you guys gonna do anything?! Guy’s hurt!”
“Yeah, even if he is a woman hater, I don’t want him dead! Not yet!”
“Do you need any assistance? I- I could try to help with my Daathic artes?”
Hands crowded around her, edging closer to her and Tear, where they were trying to isolate enough fonons to heal. “EVERYONE BE QUIET!” Natalia shouted over the increasing commotion. “Me and Tear need to focus. Just… be quiet for a moment or so. Let us focus.”
Everyone’s voices suddenly stopped, hands pulling away from them. Her hand came to rest just above the gunshot wound, feeling Guy’s clammy skin as he flinched away. Tear’s hands came to rest beneath hers, and he whined under their gentle touch.
Fonons collected around their hands, pooling over the wounds and stitching together skin. Guy cried out in pain under the healing. His chest heaved, and Luke’s grip tightened to hold him in place so he wouldn’t knock them out of their focus.
After what felt like an eternity, the wound finally closed, leaving a concave scar just between Guy’s ribs. Luke helped him up on shaky legs, Natalia pushing herself up next to him. She almost reached for him to make sure he was okay, but caught herself before he could realize.
“Sorry,” he mumbled, scratching the back of his neck awkwardly, still leaning heavily against Luke. “Shouldn’t have let it happen.”
“You should have told us, rather.” Jade scolded, starting to lead the way on their path again. “Come. There’s an inn in Grand Chokmah. Luke, help him. We’re almost there.”
Despite her ongoing worries, Natalia followed them towards the capital.