Chapter Text
The cold morning mist drifted across the beach as you and Gorou hid in the shadow of a rock outcropping. Behind you, there was the soft shuffle of movement as the men waited for your signal to move. You glanced over your shoulder at your friend, his ears pointed ahead attentively. At the feeling of your gaze on him, Gorou glanced in your direction, a reassuring (if slightly nervous) expression on his face.
“Soon.” He breathed, barely audible over the soft lapping of the waves.
You redirected your attention to the beach ahead of you. In a rare instance of luck for the rebellion in this gods-forsaken war, a scout had rushed into your barracks not three hours earlier with the news of a Tenryou Commission ambush set to happen this morning. Both you and Gorou had decided that your two units would be doing the ambushing instead. It was a risk, but Her Excellency’s directives had allowed for the tactical move.
Suddenly there was movement on the horizon. You tensed, preparing yourself to size up the Tenryou Commission’s forces. As the platoon marched across the beach, you felt your heart drop. The scout had reported a fair number of men moving in your direction, but you had hoped that his guesses on the exact number had been an overestimate. According to what you now saw before you, that was not the case.
Again, you glanced over at Gorou only to find his eyes already on you, a questioning look in his eyes. After years of experience on the battlefield together, you understood the look immediately. Glancing back at the approaching forces you made up your mind. There was no choice when it came to fighting them: either you ambushed them here or you waited like sitting ducks in your camp. Your expression hardened as you turned back to Gorou and gave him a single, firm nod. That was all he needed. Turning back towards the men, he gave the ready signal. The sounds of shuffling silenced immediately as your men prepared themselves.
Your hand settled on the shaft of the polearm you had shoved into the sand. The familiar grip of your weapon was a reassuring feeling and helped to ground you. You also extended your consciousness to the vision hung at your waist, its golden Geo light pulsing as your readied to use it.
You waited until the platoon of Tenryou soldiers was halfway past your hiding spot before you attacked. Gorou pulled on the power of his own vision, setting down a field of Geo energy that sent the power of the element singing through your veins. Simultaneously, you yanked your polearm out of the sand and infused it with Geo before using the energy to launch yourself forward through the rock you had previously been hiding behind. The rock exploded forward with the force of your strike, and the men took this as the signal to charge.
Chaos immediately ensued. While all members of both your and Gorou’s units were highly experienced and well trained, there is little delicacy in battle. The sounds of weapons clashing and cries of pain and effort soon clamored in your ears as you slashed with your polearm again and again, the Geo infused into it crystalizing on your opponents as it mixed with other elements. You felt a sword cut across your side, but as you turned to face the culprit an arrow sprouted from the soldier’s eye socket, and she fell silently to the sand. Sparing only the shortest of glances, you sent Gorou a grateful look over your shoulder before springing back into battle.
As you continued to fight, you felt the energy in your vision build. It was reaching a crescendo and you readied yourself to unleash its power on a group of Tenryou soldiers in front of you. When the energy reached its peak, you gathered the energy in your polearm and raised to the air, a mirrored spike of earth erupting from the ground in front of you. Bodies went flying as the cries of pain and surprise suddenly increased in volume before you plunged your spear back into the ground. As the tip of the spear pierced the earth, cracks of geo energy spread from its entry point sending a shockwave of energy out around you. At the same time, the spear of rock that had emerged from the ground in front of you shattered, sending out its own shockwave.
The area around you was suddenly devoid of any opponents, and you took the opportunity to take a breath before you plunged back into the battle.
The aftermath of battle is never pretty. You sat on a rock, your head in your hands as your gaze rested unseeing on the sand by your feet. While the rebellion had emerged victorious from the ambush, too many lives had been lost. It was always too many lives.
You heard soft footsteps approaching from behind along with the comforting thrum of a familiar element. Gorou stood behind you and placed a hand on your shoulder, surveying the battlefield in front of the both of you as Watatsumi medics hurried to check the fallen soldiers.
“We emerged victorious.” He said with a soft squeeze of your shoulder.
“But at what cost,” You replied bitterly. “No matter what we do, we are still losing more men than we can replace.”
You heard Gorou sigh and his breath brushed against a patch of open skin underneath a tear in the armor on your shoulder.
“I know. Our current course is unsustainable. We need other options.”
“Have you talked to Her Excellency?”
Gorou sighed again. “Only briefly over the past few weeks, and only though letters. Supplies have been running short on Watatsumi after the dry season we just had, and tensions are running high. Her Excellency is trying her best, but I do not think she has the energy or power at the moment to address our problems on the front line other than to keep supporting our current maneuvers.”
You felt weariness start to settle deeper in your bones. “We need to recruit more. There are no more eligible soldiers on Watatsumi, and the Tenryou Commission is still conscripting people from Narukami and Kannazuka. We need to start pulling more people out from under their direct control. I know the Vision Hunt Decree has left many people bitter, but I don’t understand why more are not traveling to come join us.”
Gorou and you had discussed this before, and you knew he was in agreement. Anticipating he would have no response to your statement as he had not previously, you stood up to brush the sand off your pants but instead you were hit with a strong wave of dizziness. Gorou let out a concerned yelp as you started to collapse, your knees suddenly unable to bear your weight. Familiar hands caught your sides and gently lowered you to the ground before running over your torso and abdomen checking for wounds. You felt your mind slip in and out of consciousness as Gorou swore and yelled for a medic to come over. Ah right, you thought dreamily, the wound on your side. Guess it had been deeper than you thought. As Gorou looked at you with panicked eyes and said something you couldn’t quite make out, you looked into his eyes and thought What did I do to deserve such a loyal and caring friend before giving in to oblivion.
As you came to, you were aware of two things. One, there was a warm and familiar hand resting in your own, and two, based on how you were feeling you would really rather have stayed unconscious. A hushed groan escaped your lips and the figure sitting beside you jolted awake.
“You dumb idiot,” hissed Gorou, “you almost fucking died.”
You blinked slowly staring up at him. “Isn’t ‘dumb idiot’ a bit repetitive?”
“I should have just let you die.”
“You couldn’t have carried on without me.”
“Frankly, I don’t know how I’m going to carry on with you.”
A small, pained smile stretched across your face. “Nah, you love me.”
Gorou’s smile mirrored your own. “You know I do. I’m still pissed at you though. How do you not notice a gaping wound in your side?”
You attempt a shrug before aborting the maneuver with a hiss of pain.
Gorou lets out a pained sigh and his tail twitches in irritation. “Just… you need to take care of yourself. I can’t do this on my own. For one, the resistance needs you. I also happen to give a shit about what happens to you, you ass, and if you go dying on me I don’t know what I’d do.”
You squeeze his hand. “You know the same goes for you right? I can’t be losing my only friend in this gods-forsaken world.”
Gorou smiles as he squeezes your hand back. The two of you sit in silence for a moment before he says, “You know, I was thinking…”
“A first.”
A sharp and exasperated look is aimed towards you. “Original. I was thinking that I may have a partial solution to our recruitment problem.”
Struck by surprise, all you could do was look at him expectantly to continue.
“I’ve been hearing reports that there is a gang in Hanamizaka who has been speaking out against the Vision Hunt Decree. Apparently, their leader was causing quite a lot of trouble for the Commission before they got Kujou Sara involved and she took his vision. Word on the street is he is not too happy about that. Could be that his gang would be willing to join us with the right amount of convincing. With all the trouble I hear about them stirring up, they must be fairly big on numbers, right?”
You consider Gorou’s words for a moment. While recruiting a gang off the streets of Hanamizaka didn’t seem like the most conventional (or smartest) of ideas, you were growing desperate. If this leader really had a large following and the power to cause so much trouble for the Tenryou Commission, it could be worth a trip into enemy territory to get him on your side. You let out a breath.
“Ok then. Who is this gang leader that’s been such a nuisance for the Commission?”
“Arataki Itto.”