Chapter Text
‘Love is the most powerful source of magic within oneself. But magic of this nature can also become their downfall.’
“This is a well-known proverb in the Uranohoshi Dynasty. Though it may sound heartfelt, those who do understand it know it’s a double-edged sword. There are only a handful of individuals that were unfortunate enough to bear the truth behind this meaning, which could only come from a great deal of loss and suffering.
The origin of the saying is a warning to its civilians. A legend that brings about harmony after a great misfortune with the nine dragons that each nation was founded upon. Though this has been passed down from the many generations that came before me, I still have no idea what it really means in depth, and how it will change the tides for the future of the Ohara- no, the Uranohoshi Dynasty. I guess, from this kind of mystery, the only way to find out is from facing the impending doom head on.” - Ohara, Mari.
The warm sun bathed the kingdom with orange hues, an almost perfect morning in the stark of winter. Spring was coming soon, everyone who favored such weather were already setting up booths in await for the season’s givings. The market was bustling with readily traded goods, and travelers of all species and statuses came far and wide to take look at each of the precious items.
This was no exception for the warriors that were posted for duty nearby the kingdom's borders, for several of them bought warm cocoa to keep the high spirits despite the cool, damp morning. Even beggars were given donations from the generous priests and priestesses, though they were sparse and inexpensive.
In such occasions, of course, arises inevitable trouble due to the temptation of obtaining even the most common of goods.
“You there! Stop!”
A young merchant calls out to the thief that stole from her basket, trying to run and catch up but failing. She bends down and grabs a rock, getting ready to hit the man, when suddenly a knight on a horse blocks his path. The merchant watches in awe as the thief surrenders quietly, and walks up to the knight, immediately recognizing the signature sailor ship insignia resting firmly above the knight’s armor.
“General You! It’s a pleasure to see you today, as usual!”
You takes off her helmet, greeting the merchant- who was also her childhood friend- with a warm salute. “Aye aye! Good to see you doing quite fantastic, Chika-chan. Well, other than your business with this thief of course.”
Chika giggles at that, grabbing the three stolen mandarins from the thief and returns them to her basket. As she does this, You gets off of the horse and ties up the convict to one of the horse’s straps. “I owe you one, You-chan. If it weren’t for you I would’ve probably killed this man on accident!”
You nervously chuckles, “Now that would have been a sight to see. I’ll be taking this convict to jail then, I’ll see you later!”
“Ah, You-chan, wait! What are you planning on doing after this? Are you free? I was wondering because Inferno Phoenix is hosting a performance later tonight.”
“Sorry Chika-chan, I’m not. I have to go gather my squadron by tomorrow evening. There’s been word spreading of a small invasion in the town northeast from here, and we’re going to investigate the area for any clues of who did it.”
Chika hums, feeling more interested than disappointed by You’s venture. “Do you think it was the Seisen Kingdom striking again? I wouldn’t be surprised. They’re gaining more and more power lately, it has everyone in the village worried that we’ll end up in another-”
“Shh! Chika-chan, you need to keep quiet about that or-”
“-else people will start worrying even more. Sorry You-chan, I know you’ve told me a hundred times, but it still keeps slipping from my mind.” Chika laughs awkwardly, You just sighs as she puts her helmet on once again. “Please do take more caution next time Chika-chan. I’ll take my leave now.”
“Wait!”
“What is it now, Chika-chan?”
Chika places a couple of mandarins in You’s pouch, almost overfilling it.“Take this as a token of good luck, You-chan. Consider this a gift of thanks from your best friend!”
“I won’t be gone that long, only two days at most. I won’t need this much mandarins.”
“No take-backs! You can always share them with your little squadron, can’t you?”
“Umm… I guess I can.” She wraps up the pouch carefully, making sure none of the mandarins spill out during her trip. “Thanks, Chika-chan.”
Chika gives a salute and grins. “No problem! Now you’re all set. Promise to bring me something nice when you come back?”
You chuckles and salutes back. “Of course.”
Two nights later, the empress receives word of the army’s downfall.
“What the hell happened, Riko!?”
The advisor tries to muffle Mari’s voice by stuffing a piece bread down her mouth. It was an unsightly gesture, but it was better than the scene that would’ve been caused if she didn’t shut her up now. Riko had to thank that they were sitting on a balcony, unseen by the commoners and guards below. Everyone was captured by the performance of the Inferno Phoenix, which were the Kurosawa sisters.
Riko’s focus returns to the choking Mari, who quickly drinks her glass of wine and coughs violently. Despite her struggle, Mari isn’t the slightest mad at her, but seemed rather grateful of the younger girl’s actions. Yoshiko walks up to both of them, ignoring Mari’s coughs, and clears her throat to get her attention.
“Emperor Mari, are you ready to hear more information on what happened now?”
Mari curses under her breath, it’s obviously directed at her. “Gladly, Yoshiko.”
Yoshiko glares at her, but Mari won’t budge to call her by her preferred name, ‘Yohane’. “Well, I received word from one of my little demons-”
Riko glares at her, Mari sighs.
“Ahem, messenger crows, that You’s squadron had to fall back due to the losses in her forces. Based on her observations, she says she’s sure it wasn’t Saint Snow that caused all the wreckage. None of the town’s markets and churches were ransacked, so the perpetrator destroyed the village blindly.”
“So, if it wasn’t Seisen Kingdom’s invaders, then who was it?”
Riko goes on where Yoshiko leaves off. “The last we heard from her was from this letter. Yoshiko received it just this morning. We haven’t opened it yet, we were hoping you’d read it first just in case.” Both Mari and Riko have read through You’s letters before. Out of the two, only Mari could really read You’s handwriting.
Yoshiko hesitantly gives the crumpled letter to Mari, the contents written in You’s signature handwriting: sloppy cursive.
To whom this may address,
If you’ve received my previous messages, you’ll know that I mentioned that the attack on the Hakodate didn’t seem like it was done by any rebels or invaders. The attacker didn’t leave behind any footprints or weapons, but there are lots of ashes, and even some buildings are still burning from golden flames. It’s strange seeing the flames, the intense snow in the area isn’t putting out the fire at all. We’ve tried using snow and water, but the flames still stay in place… Rather, it seems like the flames are consciously attacking my forces.
The casualty is about two or three, not much since we’ve given up on trying to attack them. We were planning on evacuating the citizens and the injured, but we’ve been cornered. Please contact Emperor Mari for me, hopefully she can find a solution to all of this before things get worse. Something in my gut tells me this is the work of a dragon, there’s no mistaking the color of the flames and the size of the destruction.
With all due respect,
Watanabe, You
Mari furrows her brows out of shock and confusion. A small but audible gasp escapes her.
Yoshiko leans on her shoulder, trying to decipher the words within it. “Uh, what’s it saying?”
“You is saying the attacker might be a dragon.”
Yoshiko gasps and tries to lower her voice. “A dragon?!”
Riko muses. “If that's the case, we need to get reinforcements right away… We don’t know if or when that dragon would come back.”
“I agree with Riko. I think you should have two squadrons and a couple of sorcerers to back them up.”
Mari shakes her head and looks back at the performance. The fire on stage was blinding and powerful, enough to burn down small village if given the signal. The two on stage did it with such elegance and power, it was no wonder that the Kurosawas had the reputation of being the most skilled pyromancers within her kingdom.
“I’ll call in Inferno Phoenix. We need to fight fire with fire.”
The winter wind took a particularly strong force the next morning, almost snowing in all of the houses and driving many merchants to close their shops for the day. Ruby felt lucky to be a welcomed guest within the Ohara castle, because that meant she’d be able to eat delicious food and not freeze to death in the cold.
The night before made her feel queasy. Her performance outfit wasn’t fit for the weather, but it was necessary so she could remain quick and unharmed in her fireproof clothes. As a result, she ended up feeling she’d get hypothermia when she wasn’t using her powers, and feeling as if she’d entered a sauna when she was.
Ruby sneezes, wrapping the fur blanket around her tighter. She hoped that sneeze didn’t mean she was getting a cold soon, that would make her sister angry, and she didn’t want that. She tiptoes over to the fireplace and sits in front of it, lighting its wood with a flick of a flame she created from her finger. The flames spread quickly from its origin, and create an image of a running mouse Ruby brought from her imagination.
“Pretty…”
Ruby turns to the direction of the noise, a maid with tan-colored hair appears right beside the door. The maid flinches as Ruby’s eyes land on her. “A-ah! I didn’t mean to barge into your room like this… Um, breakfast is ready… Zura.”
“Zura?”
“Sorry, I have a vocal tic and I can’t help it.”
Ruby sinks into the blanket, a reflex that she’d blame on her lack of social interaction and shyness. She averts her eyes to look at the fire instead. “Er, it’s alright. Thank you for telling me… um…?”
The maid gives her an amiable smile. “My name is Hanamaru, if you were wondering zura.”
“Oh, thank you. For telling me your name and also calling it pretty.” Ruby glances over at the fire, the mouse affectionately waves at Hanamaru. Hanamaru gives it a wave back, as if it were a real animal. “Well, I’ll give you some time to get ready. Breakfast is going to be a bigger feast than usual today, it’s Empress Mari’s treat.”
Ruby gets up and politely nods. “Don’t worry, I won’t take long.”
The dining hall Ruby and Hanamaru walk to was extravagant, to say in the least. The Oharas were known for their fine taste in luxury, which compared to no other kingdom Ruby had visited. Almost all of the furniture was violet or lavender, while the marble walls were etched with the family’s long history.
Ruby walks towards Dia, who appears as composed as always. The only sign of emotion given to her little sister was a quick glare, making her flinch. Dia curls her finger at Ruby, who hesitantly makes her way to her. Dia whispers in her ear with a low voice.
“Ruby, why did you bring the guest blanket with you? It’s unsightly.”
“But sis, father only gave me a thin tunic. I felt cold.”
Dia clicks her tongue. Ruby knows it wasn’t directed at her, but it still made her heart drop nonetheless. She removes her own coat and puts in on Ruby, providing her warmth immediately. “Here, you can take mine. I’ll have a talk with father once we get back. It’s irresponsible of him to think he could train you by putting you through more obstacles like this.” Dia hands over the blanket to Hanamaru, who eyed her in pity before leaving to return the blanket to her room.
Ruby sits down, fidgeting at the hem of her sister’s coat. She tries to ignore her own worries and replace it with a level of formality that could at least try to match her sister’s. She sees Mari enter the hall and sits at the edge of the table, wrapping herself in her own fur robe for warmth.
“So much for formality.” Dia remarks sarcastically.
“Oh Dia, loosen up! You’ve been gone for months so don’t you go on giving me this. Come on, where’s your youthful self I loved and adored?”
“She’s most likely gone.”
Mari grumbles, she decides to take the first slice of the roasted turkey. “Then I guess there’s no helping it, hm? What have you been up to all these months?”
“I’ve been tasked to do missions by the clan’s request. Ruby here has busied herself with her own training and even teaches the clan’s pupils on fire manipulation.”
Mari hums. “So what’s up with the performances now?”
“Winters in Uchiura have been getting more intense as of late, my father fears our powers would weaken if exposed to too much cold. To preserve our bodies but also train them, we’ve done performances to hone our skills without the dangers and consequences that come with it. Of course, Ruby won’t have to worry about that though.”
Ruby notices Mari’s expression shifts from goofy to downcast, but it only happens in a mere second. Was there something the empress was anticipating? Was she disappointed by something Dia said?
Mari suddenly cracks a joke about Dia’s chest size, making Ruby dismiss her own thoughts and worry for the safety of the empress in her older sister’s fury.
A sharp knock on her bedroom’s door startles Dia awake. Opening it revealed Mari, holding a candle in one hand and an opened letter in another. Mari’s serious expression feels awfully wrong to Dia, it was reserved for grave situations, she hoped her gut was only giving her the wrong idea.
“Dia, we need to talk.”
Today was the second day of Ruby’s stay, and this time she made sure she was fully awake long before Hanamaru came to her. She was watching the fireplace again when she heard her sister’s voice through the door, and it didn’t seem like Dia was alone either.
“Are you sure about this?” This was a voice she recognized, it was Mari’s.
“For the hundredth time Mari, I’m sure of it. I can’t risk the both of us getting stuck in that situation- or anyone else, for that matter. Remember what happened last time, do you think anyone in the right mind would try to face what you told me? I don’t even know how I’m going to fight it alone, but I can try.”
“Look, your mission isn’t to face those flame minions. It’s just to hold them off until we could get everyone evacuated, free You’s squadron, and hopefully investigate some more before you leave.”
“But seriously, Mari? Those are golden flames we’re dealing with, it still takes me a lot of effort to create blue fire. Yet those things could withstand snow and water…”
“Calm down, Dia. Trust yourself on your own skills for once, you’re going to be alright. You still have to take care of your sister, right? If you don’t think you can do it, just think about her.”
“You’re right. But just in case I don’t come back, tell her she’s going to inherit my title, okay?”
“Of course, it’s the least I could do.”
“When is the mission?”
“It’ll take a couple hours to get there, so you’re leaving first thing at midnight. I already have a large carriage waiting for you at the kingdom’s north gates. I think it’ll be big enough to contain at least half of You’s army. I’m sorry I can’t provide you with another. It would draw too much attention.”
“I’m sure their general would understand.”
“Say, Dia. I have one more question for you.”
“What is it?”
“...Are you ready to let your sister be on her own?”
There’s a moment of silence before Dia knocks on her door. Ruby ruffles her own hair and rubs her eyes in an attempt to look like she’d just woken up. The knock comes again and this time she answers it. Both Dia and Mari greet her with warm smiles.
“H-hi sis, did you come to wake me up?”
“Uh… Yes- I mean- technically, but no. I came to tell you that practice is canceled and you’re free to do what you want today. Just don’t get into any trouble, since you’re still a guest in Mari’s castle, alright?”
“Why is practice canceled?”
“I uh, have to run an errand for Mari-san that no one else can do, so… I won’t be back for a while.” Ruby can tell Dia’s lying. She’s scratching her mole and her eyes are averted from hers, but she plays innocent.
“Ah, okay. I’m going to stay in my room so I won’t make any trouble for Mari-san, then.”
“That won’t do, Ruby! A girl like you needs to go out and make friends!” Mari’s voice echoes throughout her room.
Ruby nervously smiles. “Um, I think I’ll be better off in here instead…”
“Well, I’ll probably let Hanamaru-chan come over to visit you then. She’s around your age. Since you guys both are pretty shy, I think you’ll get along nicely.”
Ruby glances at Dia for approval, she nods in return. Ruby looks back at Mari and smiles. “I’m okay with it.”
“I hope you have fun, Ruby. Oh, and one more thing…”
Dia gives her coat to her, Ruby tries her best not to lose her composure right then and there.
“Since I’m getting a new coat for this mission, I’m giving you mine. Make sure you wear it instead of that blanket, okay? I’ll be gone for a couple of days at most, so write to father for me. I’m counting on you.”
“Got it, sis. I’ll do my Rubesty!”
Dia softly chuckles and pats her head. It felt incredibly difficult to muster up a smile, knowing her sister could be in grave danger. But she needed to make sure not to give herself away, or else they won’t let her sneak out for sure.
“I’ll see you later then, Ruby.”
After a day of reading books with Hanamaru, she was finally able to escape from the kingdom’s watch the moment the maid left her bedroom. Ruby first planned on what she was bringing, the most reasonable items she thought to bring were healing potions, charcoal balls, and explosive pellets. Then she wore her performance outfit (which was the only one that was heat resistant) under many more layers of clothes, and of course, wore her sister’s coat as a finishing touch.
Instead of sneaking out of the castle through her bedroom’s door, she creates an exit by melting the window and dropping out. Thankfully, the drop didn’t kill or give her a concussion, but it did land her a couple of bruises that’ll heal in no time.
The next step was to find the carriage, which was fairly easy. She was a couple of hours early from her sister’s scheduled departure, so she was certain she wouldn’t bump into her on accident.
Using an excess piece of wood she’d broken off of an unused carriage (she makes a mental note to apologize to the owner and compensate for it later), Ruby creates a small compartment for herself to hide in inside of the carriage’s storage.
After she finishes, she waits and lies inside the compartment, listening to the sound of the wind howling and the leaves rustling in the trees.
Ruby wakes to the sound of a horse’s footsteps and a lot of shaking. She’s instantly hit by a sharp pain in her neck that she’s sure was caused by sleeping in a curled position for too long. She bumps her head as she tries to move into a more comfortable posture, almost yelping before she realized had to keep quiet or else the driver or Dia would hear.
A couple of minutes later, the carriage comes to a halt.
“We have arrived at last, Madam.”
“Thank you. I’ll be taking my leave now. Please be back here in two or three hours maximum, I’ll need all the transportation I can get for the immobilized squadron.”
Ruby hears her footsteps as she steps towards the storage compartment, she holds her breath. She only lets it go after she hears the door shut and feel the carriage moving again. She leaves from her hiding place in the carriage and immediately spots Dia. Keeping a safe distance from her older sister, she starts to follow her as she roams around the forest and into the barren town.
Dia has got to admit, she’s utterly screwed.
Not only does she have to combat in the worst weather possible for a pyromancer, she’s going to have to battle something she’d only encountered once before. Sure, she’s able to defeat a holy knight, three goblins, and seven mages in one mission… but a dragon? Even its golden flames are a mysterious entity to her.
Dia’s not exactly uninformed, of course. From her studies, she could gather that a dragon’s flame is the hottest fire there is, and that they are able to summon flame minions that could attack at will. But she also knows that most armies lose two thirds to half of their men fighting just one. And what if… she loses? Who’s going to take care of-
She interrupts her thought by slapping herself. It’s wrong for her to assume Ruby would need her, she can take care of herself now.
As she walks through the remains of the town’s shrine, she hears a couple of voices in her vicinity. Dia runs to the source and finds a squadron, the remaining soldiers covered in wounds and bruises. “Is this General You’s squadron?”
A girl with gray hair stands and salutes her. From what Dia could observe, she had a couple of untended wounds, there were specks of ashes on her armor, her left arm was bandaged, and was she holding… a mandarin?
“General You at your service, Kurosawa-san!”
Step one of the mission: find and confirm that You’s squadron wasn’t dead, check.
“General You, I’m here to escort your knights back to Uranohoshi Kingdom. Please separate them by who you think could walk, and those who can’t.”
“Yes ma’am!”
The general quickly draws the attention to herself, giving out orders with charisma and inspiring energy despite the hopeless atmosphere. It was impressive that they were able to withstand the force of a dragon and stay alive for as long as they did.
It’s no wonder Mari chose this kid to be kingdom’s general at such a young age, Dia thinks. Flashes of images run through her mind, an indigo-haired girl sporting a ponytail replace the general she was seeing now. It pierces her heart a little, but she keeps a composed face.
“Um, Kurosawa-san, why are you staring at me?”
Dia blinks, she immediately finds somewhere else to stare, feeling a little self-conscious. “Ah, I apologize for that. You just remind me of a general I once knew.”
The general hums in curiosity. “Oh? May I ask which general you’re talking about? I haven’t seen anyone who’s looked like me at all in the kingdom.”
Shaking her head, she tries to suppress the urge to smile. “No, I meant you both act similarly to each other. And the general’s name is Kanan, Kanan Matsuura.
“Matsuura-san!? I used to look up to her a lot when I was a kid! It’s a shame she’s gone missing, but it seems that no one in the kingdom has been able to find her for three years. It’s a little embarrassing to say this about a person I don’t really know… but I really miss her.”
“I miss her too, kid.”
The general’s eyes light up. “Ah, I’m glad I’m not the only one.”
Dia nods in agreement. “Well then General You, please stay put for now. I’m going to look around and investigate. Maybe I could find clues to help the Empress decipher the attacker’s motive.”
The general’s expression turns grave, a stark change from her warm enthusiasm.
“Be careful out there, those flames aren’t something to be messed with. If you see one, I do advise you to take the opportunity to run away as quick as you can. Oh, and most of the flames we’ve encountered were east from here.”
“Thanks for the tip. If I don’t come back in an hour or so, there will be a carriage waiting in the front gates of the town. Lead your squadron there and they will take you back to Uranohoshi.”
“Understood, Kurosawa-san. I wish you good luck.”
Entering the town’s main hall, her footsteps against the chilling snow was the only sound that pierced the silence. Dead bodies littered the floor, the dried blood already hidden by the many layers of snow and ashes. It almost made her want to vomit.
“Look what the cat dragged in. Sarah, I thought everyone fled from hearing the rumors of a dragon destroying this town.”
“Well Leah, I guess the information we were given was wrong.”
Turning to the direction of the sound, she finds two young women with magenta eyes that glowed similarly to hers. Glowing, magenta eyes could only mean that the pair standing in front of her was-
“Saint Snow.” Similar to Dia and Ruby’s partnership, Saint Snow consisted of two sisters donned the power of legendary beasts that executed orders from the officials of their nation. The only substantial difference was that Saint Snow had become notorious for their gruesome torture methods and unnecessary bloodshed. Dia finds it absolutely revolting.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Inferno Phoenix, or rather… half of it. Where’s your little sister?”
“It’s none of your business. Were you the ones that destroyed this place, rather than a dragon?”
The taller of the two smiles, whether it was a polite smile or a sinister one, Dia couldn’t tell. “Do you really think we’d be that cruel? Of course not. We were sent here as emissaries, and of course, I can’t reveal the purpose of our mission to you.”
Dia clicks her tongue. There was a possibility the duo’s mission was to obtain the flames or attack You’s army, two of which would be devastating for the Uranohoshi kingdom.
“Well, if you’re going to complete that mission, you’ll have to go through me.”
Leah glares. “Really, in this kind of weather? I’m sure you know who would have the advantage here.”
Dia commands a flame to burst from her hand at will, the heat of the fire and newfound adrenaline warming up her entire body. “So be it. I’ll be the winner of this battle.”
Sarah hums in amusement. Sharpened shards of ice and its cold vapor escaped from both sister’s hands like miniscule explosion.
“We’ll see about that.”
If things didn’t look bad then, it certainly did look a lot worse to Ruby now.
Despite her sister’s calm demeanor, Ruby was convinced she was slowly losing her stamina. Her movements were delayed, her bursts of fire were growing less steady, and most of all, she was getting hit by the shards.
Just then, she sees Dia lose her footing and land head first in the snow.
Ruby recounts the number of items she can use to help her sister, thankfully she brought enough healing potions for the both of them. She looks at the carbon ball in her other pocket, an idea coming to mind quickly.
Ruby gulps. She might get a lot of scolding, but it’ll be worth it.
All Dia could feel right now was a dull ache, she thinks it may be the snow that’s numbing her body, or maybe the several pieces of ice sticking out of her cold body. Whichever one works, really.
Sarah and Leah walk over to her, Leah carrying a large fragment of ice in hand. “Are you ready to give up?”
Dia gives them the most threatening glare she could muster up.
“I guess that’s a no. Leah, go ahead.”
Leah gives a nod, she leads the fragment with her hand and-
The sound of an object hitting the snow startles Dia, and Leah as well.
“LEAH WATCH OUT!”
BOOM!
An explosion erupts right behind Leah, immediately knocking Sarah off her feet. She’d managed to push Leah out of the way, making her drop the ice a few inches away from Dia. Leah quickly runs to her sister, checking for the severity of her injuries. From what Dia could see, she’d suffered a couple of harsh burn marks on the stomach and chest. The biggest wound was on the side of her abdomen, and it was bleeding profusely.
Suddenly, something- no, someone picks her up… or tries to, but fails miserably.
“Sis, we have to get out of here!”
“Huh? Is that you, Ruby?”
Ruby looks away, feeling a little guilty. “Um, yes… but there’s no time to explain, here drink this!” She gives Dia a healing potion, which instantly brings back the pain of all the ice shards in her flesh. Dia hisses a little, but drinks more. “We have to leave soon or else-”
She nearly gets a heart attack when an ice shard misses her by half an inch. She turns to the direction of the other two, only the younger one was standing.
Leah glares at her, tears threatening to fall from her eyes. “Were you the one who did this?”
Ruby squeaks, Dia internally facepalms.
The Leah balls her fists. Many, much larger ice shards emerge from her hands.
Dia curls her finger to motion Ruby to come closer. Ruby listens intently.
“It seems as if the younger one has lost her temper. Just stay calm and vigilant Ruby, and I know you’ll manage to take her down.” Dia whispers to Ruby.
“I know, don’t worry sis. I’ll protect you this time!”
If Dia hadn’t been immobilized at the moment, she swears she would’ve hugged her little sister to death right then and there. Instead, she gives her an encouraging smile and a weak thumbs up.
“I believe in you Ruby. Now go!”
Leah makes the first move and aims a shard directly at Ruby. Though the floor was filled with snow that could immobilize her, she’d luckily stole a pair of winter boots from the Ohara castle (she takes a mental note to compensate the owner of these shoes as well). She dodges it with ease, leaving her time to counterattack.
Ruby runs closer to Leah and makes a fire filled kick straight to her face. Her leg connects with the arm Leah used to block her. The steam that emerges from it blinds Ruby for a quick second, but she takes a lucky leap to evade a punch from Leah.
Leah aims more ice at Ruby, one manages to scratch her. But no direct pierces so far. Leah curses under her breath. Ruby swings both of her arms in front of her, and with it two flames fired at Leah’s direction. She somersaults to evade it, but she hisses when she feels a part of her leg getting burnt.
Leah clicks her tongue and forms an ice shard around her arm to create a blade. She sprints to Ruby to stab her, she only barely manages to move away, and stumbles instead. Leah smirks.
“NOW I’VE GOT YOU!”
She yells and tries to swing it at Ruby, but Ruby quickly ducks and kicks Leah’s legs, knocking her off her feet. Leah attempts to get back up and fight, but she’s met with fire nearly touching her face.
Ruby summoned a ball of fire pointed right on Leah’s heart, but doesn’t fire it.
Leah’s face flushes with shame when she realizes Ruby is sparing her. She glares at the other girl. “You beat me, finish it up already.”
Ruby pauses for a few seconds, then lowers her arm, keeping the ball of flame still in her hands. Leah interprets this hesitation as an opening. She takes her chances with the fire and pounces on Ruby, pinning her down on both arms.
Leah’s icy hands and Ruby’s scorching arms start to create steam, damping their hair and clothes. She raises one arm and it begins to form her ice sword once again. Ruby’s arms are in flames now, and though it hurts, Leah still keeps holding her arm down.
“I’ll make you pay for what you did to my sister.”
“If you strike me I’ll burn the both of us. It’s a stalemate, either way.”
“Even so, I’ll-” Ruby puts her palm against Leah’s mouth, it’s warm, rather than scorching. Leah’s too shocked to react.
“Wait, I think I hear something.”
Leah’s “Eh?” is muffled by Ruby’s palm. Right then, she hears it.
Dull thuds coming from the forest were growing louder, the two stare at each other once more. Leah pitches in first. “Okay, we’ll call it a stalemate for now, because whatever that thing is, it’s huge.”
Ruby nods her head, but Leah keeps her pinned. She pats Ruby’s coat down- making Ruby squeak in surprise- and grabs a healing potion from her coat’s inner pocket. “Let me just get this first.”
When Leah lets her go, both of them run over to their sisters to check on how they were faring. Leah immediately lets her sister drink the potion and it only takes a moment before Sarah’s eyes open once again. Leah sighs in relief. “Thank god, you’re still alive.”
Sarah gives her little sister a grin. “Of course I am, I wouldn’t be a good sister if I weren’t. So, what’s the plan?”
“Just run before whatever’s making that noise comes out.”
“Sounds good.”
The Kazuno sisters look up to see the Kurosawas, as battered and injured as they were. “Ah, is that your sister? That surprise attack was pretty good, I’ve got to admit.”
Ruby looks to the floor. “Th-thank you.”
Dia sighs in frustration. “Now’s not the time to get well acquainted with one another!”
Another thud resounds in the forest, following a low rumble and sounds of fire burning. Leah swears she sees a faint light in the distance. “Okay, time to get out of here.” She turns to Dia. “Kurosawa-san, please help me carry my sister. She can’t move her legs… I’ll let you capture us, when all of this is over.”
Dia doesn’t respond. Leah bites her lip out of frustration and bows to Dia’s feet.
“Please.”
The older girl sighs and picks up Sarah piggyback style. Leah picks up her cape, but Sarah tells her to put it on instead. “Fine. But if you dare try to escape, we’re going to kill you for real.”
Sarah grins. “I wouldn’t dream of it.”
Since the only way back to the shrine where You’s squadron was is in the forest, they tried to move swiftly and run away from the resounding thuds. Ruby can tell whatever was heading for them was drawing nearer, and the fact that all four of them weren’t in shape for combat made the situation grave.
In order to make use of the time and calm her nerves down, Dia starts interrogating Sarah. Sarah protests at first, but realizes she’s not in a position to question the brunette.
“Sarah, what was Saint Snow’s mission here?”
“It was to travel here and capture-”
“A flame minion and use it to strengthen your own power?”
Sarah chuckles. “That’s idiotic, only a person who’d want death would do that. We were tasked to obtain a sample of the flame.”
“The flames are able to burn anything it touches, so there’s no possible way to contain it. And even if you find one, for what purpose would it be for?”
“There is a way to do it, and that’s by using a titanium container. Many of the mages request for a sample in order to find a way to duplicate it, which would hopefully help combat the golden flames attacking parts of our kingdom.”
“Wait, this isn’t the only place that was destroyed by it?”
Sarah shakes her head, “The nine nations have given us reports on the collateral damage, and it’s getting worse every week. But it’s being kept a secret from the public for obvious reasons.”
“I’ve only heard of this one thus far…”
“It seems Uranohoshi hasn’t been attacked so far, consider yourselves lucky. But it’s only a matter of time until they begin to.”
This is bad news, she’ll have to inform Mari of this right away. “Thank you for the information, Sarah.”
“I’d say you're welcome, but I still kind of hate you.”
Before Dia could say anything else, she spots the roof of the shrine in the distance. They’re getting closer to You’s squadron. “Ah, look! I can see the shrine’s roof from here. We’re almost there!”
Only seconds later, a boulder filled with flames hits the ground near the group. Ruby and Leah dodge in the opposite direction of Dia and Sarah. A large fire spreads between the two, and separates them.
“SIS!”
“Ruby- Stay there!”
Ruby freezes in fear as a monster appears- the monster’s body was composed of molten rocks and metal, and the only thing on its face was a large, glowing eye. From the corner of her eye, she sees Leah trying to attack the border fire with sheets of ice, but it immediately melts into a large puddle of water.
“It’s useless, Sarah. I can’t go through!”
Sarah doesn’t respond, but Ruby can see Sarah whispering something to Dia’s ear. Something about it made Ruby’s chest sink, she can already tell what Dia’s going to say.
Dia turns towards the two of them and yells. “RUBY, TAKE LEAH AND GO!”
Leah crosses her arms and glares at Dia. “I’m not leaving without my sister.”
Dia tries to speak, but Sarah does it for her. She tries to shout, but she ends up coughing, and instead speaks with a low voice. “You have to go, Leah. Or else you’re going to get hurt too.”
“But I-”
“Dia, take these!” Leah’s protest is interrupted by Ruby. She tosses Dia her coat and receives a few questioning looks before she realizes it was full of healing potions, carbon balls, and explosive pellets. Dia immediately gives one to Sarah and downs another in one go.
The monster was getting closer. Both older sisters shout at Ruby and Leah. “GO!”
Leah was stubbornly staying in place. Ruby instantly picks up Leah and carries her bridal style. She makes sure to have a flame hovering above Leah, just in case she tries to escape. “H-hey, what the hell are you doing?!”
“I-I’m sorry but… we need to leave, now.”
Ruby takes one last glance at her sister and Sarah. It seems that Sarah was walking again, and they were beginning to fight it. She sprints all the way into the town.
When they meet the general back at the shrine, the first thing she says is:
“Why are you crying?”
Sarah wakes to a water droplet dropping on her cheek. It takes her a minute to realize she isn’t at home when she starts to feel the ache of each wound and bruise in her body, and the cold surface she was laying against.
It’s best not to get up so suddenly. Someone might be watching me. Sarah thinks to herself. She opens her eyes slowly and looks around, still not moving. She seems to be in a cave, the opening isn’t far from where she was laying. Nearby her was Dia, still unconscious. She was just about to sit up when an abnormally powerful gust of wind from outside the cave keeps her down.
Sarah turns her eyes to the entrance and finds a dragon landing on the snow. She could already feel her hands getting clammy due to sheer fear. She tries to close her eyes, hoping it would help.
But Sarah ends up opening them again when a voice begins to speak. She cautiously shifts her head in order to see better, she finds that the owner of the voice was a young blonde with a ponytail.
“Geez, what did you do to the village back there? It’s in shambles!”
Was she insane? That dragon could kill her!
Suddenly, the dragon was enveloped in a purple light. When it was gone, the dragon had vanished and instead was replaced with a short-haired redhead.
“I… I got mad at Nico, and before I knew it we started fighting.”
“Ugh, I can’t let you two out of my sight for a minute…”
“So, what are we going to do about those two?”
“Hmm, I guess we’ll just transport them over to a nearby village. They haven’t seen us, right?”
“I don’t think so, hopefully not-” The blonde one immediately turns her head to check on Dia and Sarah. Sarah closes her eyes too late. She hears a nervous chuckle from the blonde. “… You’re awake, aren’t you?”
“Shit.”
Ruby gave all of the information Dia told her to General You, who took it with shock and grief. Of course, when Leah asked her to tell Ruby to free her so she could fight with her sister again, You refused.
The sun had set by the time the carriage arrived. Ruby had expected her sister to come back, but she didn’t. On the bright side, everyone was able to fit in the carriage, so it meant they wouldn’t have to camp out tonight.
Ruby creates two flames: one in the center of the carriage, and one for herself. She’d been offered a couple of sweaters and coats to keep her warm, but she denied all of them because they were the only pieces of clothes the squadron had left.
Ruby flinches in surprise when she feels something warm and heavy envelope her, she looks around and finds that Leah had given Ruby her sister’s coat.
“Th-thank you.”
“Fuck you.”
“That’s rude…”
“I don’t care.”
Ruby pouts. “My sister always says that cursing is bad. Your sister isn’t teaching you properly.”
Leah’s eye twitches. “W-well, my sister tells me that if you’ve got to defend yourself, you could use any means necessary!”
“But that doesn’t mean she’s right!”
“Nor does it mean she’s wrong!”
Both of them grumble and look away in silence. Ruby breaks it first. “You really do love your sister, don’t you?”
“Of course I do. What kind of question is that?”
“Then you’ll do anything to save her?”
Leah breaks eye contact with her and focuses on her hands. “Yeah. If I had the choice I would’ve switched places with her.”
“Then you can’t waste your time trying to escape from me.” Ruby startles herself, she’d never said anything with this much assertiveness before. “B-because, we’d have to work together to find them again.”
“Fine, so what’s the plan?”
“Um…” Ruby takes a moment to think, she’d honestly believed Leah would turn her down immediately. “I think we should get help from Uranohoshi Empress, Mari-san, first. I’m sure she’ll let us partner up in order to find our sisters.”
“Find them? But they could be dead by now!”
Ruby shakes her head and points to the feather on her left ear. “This is a phoenix feather we were tasked to retrieve during our initiation. Since it chose both of us, if one of the users die, the other will turn dull and destroy itself.” She makes Leah place her fingers on the root of the feather, to show her its glowing, golden stripes. “You see? She’s still alive!”
“H-how would I know my sister is alive?”
“Hmm… where is your ‘piece’?”
Leah points to crown. “When my sister and I defeated a Cetus-” When Leah sees Ruby’s lost expression, she clears her throat. “A sea monster, this crown was made for us to wear.”
“Did you kill it?”
“No, obviously. It’s common knowledge that armor forged from a mythical beast’s parts will stop working once it dies.”
“I-I do know that…” Ruby gets up and examines the crown, looking for the signature glow Dia taught her to look for. “I can still see a glow in the crown, though it’s a little faint.”
“Okay, so my sister IS alive. What's our plan?”
“We’ll convince Empress Mari to settle for an alliance with the Seisen Kingdom. After that, we should start by forming a team to examine and battle the fires head-on.”
“That part sounds a little questionable, but I’m with you on it. If we have to fight against a dragon, then we’ll train for it too.”
Ruby gives out an audible gasp. “That’s just what I was thinking!”
Leah covers her mouth with her hand as she leans on her arm. Ruby could tell she was trying to hide her smile. “Th-that’s enough planning for today. We need to rest.”
“Okay…” Ruby drapes the cape over the two of them, she receives a confused glare from Leah. “It’ll get cold even later tonight, you can’t afford to get sick.”
“O-oh, that makes sense... Can I borrow your shoulder?”
“Sure, I guess.”
Ruby leans on Leah’s shoulder, sleep tugging at her eyelids. “Thanks and goodnight, um…”
“It’s Leah… Leah Kazuno. Seriously, you didn’t even know my name after all this time?”
The awkward silence from Ruby instantly gave Leah the answer. Leah sighs in disappointment.
“…You know, I still haven’t forgiven you for hurting my sister.”
“A-and it’s the same for me. But, since we’ve both hurt each other’s sisters, shouldn’t we call it even?”
Leah tries to make a snarky retort, but ends up failing. “I guess so. Goodnight then, Kurosawa.”
Ruby winces, she finds it unusual to be addressed by her family name since it was always only Dia who was called by it. “I’d rather you use my first name.”
“I see. Goodnight, Ruby-san.”
“Goodnight, Leah-san.”