Chapter Text
I was in a dark place. It was as if the moon and the stars were plucked out of the sky, leaving inky blackness all around me. There were faces swarming around me, grey and almost liquid. Unseen hands grabbed at me; my hair, my arms, my cloak. I tried to scream, but their hands burned me when I tried. Then they all melted into something red. Blood. It pooled around me in a whirlpool determined to drag me down with it. Zing. A pin pricked my side until it grew into a sword. How odd it was to see something sticking out of you from one side to the next.
A pair of wide blue eyes loomed out of the darkness as I fizzled back into consciousness, black still clouding my vision.
“Honestly how you do this every time never ceases to amaze me.” He gave me a “disappointed mother look”.
“Same here, but did the bastard really have to twist it as he pulled the blade out?” I gently prodded my stomach. “I mean like, I get how it inflicts more damage but still.”
“Your guess is as good as mine, but back to my point.” He flicked my forehead. “You seriously need to stop doing this or you’re gonna die in less than a year at this rate.”
“Hopefully.” I shuffled around in blankets that were covering me and took a peek at my stomach. Ouch. There were so many bandages that it looked like I had a lump. “This is gonna leave a scar.”
“Oh no, no. It’s gonna turn into a rainbow and make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside.” Yoon snarked.
I looked around the tent. “Where are we by the way? It seems colder than where the bandits attacked us.”
“We’re just a few miles from the village; we didn’t wanna go there until you woke up.”
I came to a sudden realization. “Ah, speaking of waking up…. how long was I out this time?”
A head peeked through the flap in the tent. “Four days.” Hak looked at me with a dead expression. “Yona’s been so anxious to go to the village that she’s been pestering me nonstop. You really gotta work on the amount of time you’re asleep for.”
Jeez, four days?! This is now seven days in total that I’ve slowed us down. “Well, a girl needs her beauty sleep.” I said. “Heh, not like I need it anyway.”
“Yeah…..sure.” And promptly disappeared back outside.
“And about that whole beauty stuff, uh…. you might wanna look in a mirror.” Yoon looked at his hands.
“Are you calling me ugly?!” This brat of a brother.
“No, I’m just saying that you should mayyybbbbee look in a mirror.” He dug around in one of the bags and produced a small piece of glass.
He held it up to me and I screeched. “DEAR GODS WHAT HAPPENED TO MY HAIR. DO NONE OF YOU HAVE THE DECENCY TO BRUSH AN UNCONSCIOUS WOMAN’S HAIR?!” I tried to brush it out with my fingers, but they couldn’t get through the tangled mess. “Get me a brush stat.”
“Uh, the thing is we think that it went missing in the attack, so……”
“You’re telling me we don’t have a brush in the moment I need it the most?!” I let out a groan. “Just take me to the nearest river and I’ll try to fix this rat’s nest.”
Yoon gave me that sheepish look again. “Oh don’t tell me we’re not near a river!” He shook his head. “Ughhh!!” I give up. Kill me now, whatever gods are out there. I let myself go limp and fell back into the blankets. How am I supposed to go to a Dragon Warrior’s village looking like this?!
“When are we leavinggggg?”
“We were actually planning on leaving as soon as you woke up, so let’s go.” I let out another frustrated groan.
“But I’m in no state to walk!” I whined. “Someone literally stabbed me!”
He winced. “That’s why…...why we’re gonna have, uh, Hak…..carry you?” Say what now? Oh I’m definitely going deaf. Me, ride on that man?! Please just annihilate me where I lay.
Hak peeked his head in again. “Are we ready to go yet?” Yoon nodded and before I could stop him, Hak lifted me up onto his back, somehow managing to carry his glaive at the same time.
“Wh-Hey! Aren’t you wounded too?!”
“Yeah, but not as bad as you.” As we stepped out of the tent the sudden light gave me a blinding headache. My head flopped into his shoulder as I gritted my teeth.
“Geez, you smell.”
“I’m going to murder you all I’m your sleep tonight.” Which was probably not very threatening coming from a delirious, rat nest haired wounded girl. And then I passed out again out of sheer exhaustion, which was the obvious choice.
When I came to, I found myself being thrown by Hak onto some tree roots.
“Fucking hell! What the hell is happening now?!”
Hak smirked at me. “Oh I just needed to let you down so I can teach Yona something.” I muttered some unpleasant things under my breath as I settled down. It seemed we were still in a forest, although now there was a pretty good haze of fog.
“Where’s Yoon?”
“I just sent him up ahead, now hush.” He twirled an arrow between his fingers and handed it to Yona. “Now then, show your mentor…..how much you’ve improved.” He pointed behind him at the tree I was sitting under.
“Alright, first this tree.” Yona aimed, and I scrambled away as an arrow embedded itself where my head used to be.
“Hey, watch it!” I screeched.
“Sorry Ōkami, I was trying to aim a little higher.” She scratched the back of her head.
“Well congratulations! I knew you could actually hit something!” Hak clapped his hands and grinned.
Yona had a devilish look on her face. “I wonder why that sounds annoying to me.”
Hak walked a little ways to the right and scratched his chin. “And now……..I’ve got it.” He pointed his thumb at himself. “Please..aim at me.”
Yona’s eyes went wide. “I can’t!”
“I’ll avoid it, so it’s fine. It’s practice to shoot animate things.” He rested his glaive on one shoulder. “No...It's practice to shoot a person. I’ll be moving around adequately, so...shoot me.”
Yona grabbed an arrow and aimed. “I don’t know what will happen if I shoot you, so don’t blame me!” Hak sidestepped and I watched the arrow fly off. After that, she started chasing him around the mountain for a bit, so I got up and hobbled after them, although I don’t think they noticed me. Countless arrows were let loose, all of them hitting their mark on the forest floor. I pushed away a couple branches and watched.
“JEEZ, HAK!” She scrambled after him as he took a flying leap. “STOP RUNNING AROUND!!”
He took a look behind him. “You still have no desire...to shoot me down at all.”
She fired a few more arrows. “You!!”
Hak caught an arrow as it flew past him and snapped it. “You still don’t have enough intent to kill.” He dropped the useless sticks.
“It’s not that I don’t have an intent to kill!” Yona shouted.
“Then think of me as someone who is pursuing you.” He swung his glaive around absentmindedly. “Whether I’m from the Fire Tribe or a castle soldier...Imagine an opponent that you want to kill.”
She aimed another arrow at him. “I don’t have an opponent like that!”
“I see. Well then..” He backed up against a tree. “Imagine that I’m Soowon and shoot.” Even I flinched. I didn’t know the whole story, but I caught enough of it to understand what he did.
Yona’s eyes ignited, and she gripped the bow until her knuckles turned white. Whoosh. An arrow hit the tree next to his face, leaving a shallow cut on his cheek. His eyes widened for a moment, but then he took on a somber expression. Oh shiiiiiiit.
She stood there, with her head bowed. “That side of you…..I hate it.” Her voice trembled as tears ran down her cheeks. “Even so, if it’s to protect you...I want to take up a weapon...even if I have to sacrifice someone!”
Hak took a step forward and kissed the top of her head. I looked away, my face heating up.
“Hak?” I heard her say.
“....Quit telling me you’re going to protect me.”
She looked up at him. “Why?”
“Because I’ll get greedy.” I retreated back to where I originally was without a sound and pretended to be asleep. After a few minutes they came back, and I clambered onto his back without a fuss. We walked along the trail for a while, hoping to catch up to Yoon.
“It’s become rather hard to see.” Hak looked around at the fog. It’s definitely much thicker than before; I hope Yoon didn’t get lost or anything.
“How far did Yoon go?” Yona asked.
“The foggy phantom village...I have a feeling that village is around here…”
I rested my head on his shoulder and he tilted his head. “So….what’s betwee-“
“Hak! Hak, this is bad!” Yona’s voice was filled with panic.
He swung his head around so fast that we head butted. “I can’t see anything!” He turned around to look for her. “Where are you?”
Her voice came from ahead of us. “Over here!” Hak sprinted towards her as fast as he could with me on his back.
“Come quickly! Yoon, he….he’s disappeared!” And as we looked at his belongings scattered on the dirt, an overwhelming feeling of dread washed over me.