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She should've known that itI was a trap all this time.
Running away to a desert part of the island, in a spot where everything could be seen from the high ground. The lack of enemy soldiers during the entity path, saved from their leader who she is chasing after. The attack occuring while a heavy rain and loud thunders kept falling, slowing people's movements and blurring their senses. And her order to her soldiers to stay behind made the enemies grim go visible wilder, even with the mask covering half of their face.
But signs are something often ignored by her when she’s feeling bold enough. Dealing with the fatui trying to infiltrate the government business isn't something new after the civil war between Watatsuimi and the Shogunate, and after the Inazuma lockdown. This mission should be like the others, the enemy tries to be subtle, the now alert army finds it out, they try to escape and are captured by force in the end. Another chase, another capture and one less problem.
She just didn't expect the enemy was after something much bigger than just information that day.
The chase stopped at the end of the beach, where the sea waves almost reached the foot of the Fatui. Turning around to face the samurai, the enemy did not show any trace of jumping in the water, or surrendering.
“Surrender now. Your disguise was already ruined” - the warrior said.
“As I did care for this, you military are really easy to trick, I might just get another and you all might fall like ducks” - the fatui said with a wild smile.
“We already know who you are, no matter where you go on this island, my men are vigilant and they will find you sooner or later.”
“Well, they may try, and I don't doubt they can find it, but…” - the fatui said, taking a step back, lifting a hand up to their mouth to whistle.
Suddenly, various fatui warriors came from the shadows, some jumping from up the small cliff to the lower ground, some materializing from a weird smoke camouflaged by the rain. They all gathered around the samurai, who stood still without reacting to the new foes, not surprised by the sudden ambush, that wouldn't be the first time anyway.
“I’m after a much bigger prize today, I'm not willing to be captured so soon”
The samurai chucked - “Hum, let me guess. The fatuis are going to try killing me again?”
“No, no. The boss said that would be a waste. After all, you're on the high ranking of the Shogunate warriors.”
The enemy prepared their weapon, staying ready for battle.
"But you're still being a pain in the ass to our plans. We need you out of the map, but instead of just wiping you the boss had another idea. We are just taking you with us."
The samurai eyes got wild. Taking her?
"Like a kidnap? How bold of you, thinking it will work"
“And why wouldn't? You are indeed surrounded, and your men are far away, doesn't sound like the better situation fo you”
“Right”
The samurai drowned her sword, ponting de blade forward, ready for battle - “Come them”
The nearest fatui at her right side attacked first, coming in high speed to close the distance, jumping and going for an air attack using the blades attached to their wrists. The girl only lifted the blade, blocking the attack and using enough strength, and a water blast with her hydro vision, to throw the fatui away. The attack must have gotten them angry, and so wave after wave of enemies attacked. 1, 2, 3, at the same time, but none with enough strength to break her stance and water shield, or dodge the water blasts, blades and her own katana.
Not long after, half of the group was either down, injured, or with a low moral. The leader however did not stop staring and smiling for a second.
“You look too happy for someone who is going to jail” - the samurai said
“Oh, but not so fast there, I still have half a man…” - the Fatui lifted his left, unarmed, arm until it reached their ear..
“Myself…” - they continued, pointing at their own chest, eyes locked in..the hill?
Something moved above her, were there still soldiers there?
“And a good archer” - the fatui finished, doing a sign with his hand.
Up, the samurai thought, dodging just in time from a weird arrow. But arrows usually aren't so small like the one that passed above her shoulder, that one looked like…a dart?
Venomous, thought her, but this time not being fast enough to dodge the second shot, being hit near the neck.
At first, it looked like nothing happened, only a small injury decorating her clothes with a drop of blood. But seconds later, her head started to spin, turning hard to focus on the battle.
"What is.. this?"
"Did you like it? It's the new solution Dorotte was working on, it isn't still the final product, but it's enough to take anyone down" - the fatui affirmed, pointing the tip of his arm blade to the samurai - "now, you will come with us, the boss have great plans for vision holders".
"I'm not going.. anywhere with you" - her limbs started to become dormant, being heavier and heavier as the seconds passed.
"Well, you won't have a lot of choice soon enough"
Unfortunately, he wasn't wrong. Her legs started to lose strength, making her kneel on the ground, whatever this liquid was the effects were quick and cruel. The limbs started to not obey the commands, making her grip on the katana loose and the blade fall to the ground, taking the rest of her body with it. Her head spinned and her body collapsed on the floor, making the chances of winning the battle go away with the ocean waves.
Paralyzation potion, that is cowardly even for them - she thought, trying desperately to react and move to get out.
“Come on everyone! Take her from her. Don't forget that the package is more valuable alive” - the leader said, their voice sounding more distant than ever.
DAMN IT, thought her while trying to reach her katana, but her arm never felt so heavy, so powerless.
Her mind was already taking too much energy to try functioning, because the loud blow that just echoed near her sounded like a hallucination, if it wasn't for the fatui screams in the background. Suddenly, the sounds of blade clashing and things breaking in the camp filled the whole ambient. Someone just jumped in to fight the fatui, and looked like they were taking the best by hearing the screams and despareted footsteps echoing. The battle seemed to go for some minutes, or an eternity when you're down, until the whole beach went quiet, saved for the rain.
Who, for the archons.., her thoughts were cutted by the noise of footsteps in the sand, growing louder and closer, coming in her direction.
The samurai, now with sword half in hand, tried to lift it to deflect whoever the hell was coming, but her limbs remained weak, with her breathing being suffocated by the drug and the rain falling, the despair to get out growing even more as the figure of a person stopped in front of her.
The figure was blurred, but it was noticeable the red and golden cape adorning their shoulders, with a hoodie covering the head and darkening the face, making it difficult to see. The rest of the clothes seemed a mix of black and red, but the warrior's head was already reaching a limit to really pay attention.
"General, can you stand?" - the person said, kneeling on her side, a warm air blowing on her cold body.
"Not…really".
General? It was one of her soldiers? But none of them had this kind of power. Or had they?
"Right. Paralyzation. I will need to carry you to get out".
"Wait..Where, Who" - the warrior said, becoming even more agitated. Going away with a stranger wasn’t reasonable at all.
"It's ok, I will take you to the nearest soldier camp, but you need to let me carry you. May I?"
Asking politely? Ok, definitely not a Fatui. But too soon to not be an enemy.
But enemy or not, that didn't change the fact that her muscles were like mush, the stranger could lift her anyway even with a denial if they wanted, and she really needed to get out of this place and off the rain, the options were nonexistent.
"Right..but..to camp". - she said weakly.
"Alright, general. Let's get out of here".
The figure slowly grabbed the warrior, placing her in their arms in the most comfortable way possible, then started to walk fast to get out of the beach. Their arms were strangely warm, giving the feeling of a fireplace warming her cold body on a winter night.
The walk was making her feel even more sick, her head spinning like a tornado, but the despair of earlier was fading little by little, making her body relax and cease to the potion. Relaxing though was something she shouldn't be doing, being in the arms of a stranger without face or name. The warmth she felt, probably due to a pyro vision the person had, did not help a lot to stay awake. But their somehow familiar voice kept her mind working, trying to remember to whom it belonged. It could be likely the effects of the drug, sure, but her instincts pointed the contrary. In the back of her mind, a lot of questions still flew.
"You..why are.. helping me?"
"You're the general. You're too important to be taken by those guys. Besides, they deserved the blow, to stay away from other people's business" - the person said calmly.
That answer didn't satisfy the warrior, but that doesn't matter now, she only needs to keep asking things and to stay awake. She didn't trust this person and couldn't give in to the drug until being in familiar territory.
"Who..are you?"
"Nobody."
“Why are..you here?”
“Just passing by”
Is this person testing me? - she thought, trying to make them speak more.
“You…”
“Save your energy, you will need to recover” - the figure said, interrupting her thoughts.
Both spent part of the walk in silence, the samurai trying to recover her senses and the stranger rushing to the camp, supposedly. She noticed that at least smells she could still sense, knowing by being so close to the stranger that she could feel their scent, lavender mostly, with a light smell of sea salt. Almost like the scent of..a memory, a precious one.
“Do I..know you?”
“Once upon a time.”
“Looks like..a yes” - the samurai said, giving a small smirk.
“a long time..” - the stranger whispers, being heard without noticing.
A long time? Well yes, she did come to know a lot of people, being a general and an heir of the clan, but she would probably remember any vision holder that powerful.
“You have a pyro vision..don’t you? Arms..warm” - the general said, her voice still sounding pathetic.
The person looked down, a strand of hair falling from their hood, a dark brown strand, they kept looking for a moment, their face still not fully visible.
“Smart observation, don't forget to use your head like this in your next chase, alright?”
Are you kidding me?? - her patience was already running down with this creature, and this last sarcastic tone. The samurai growled and didn’t respond to the boldines.
Red cape, familiar voice, brown hair, lavender smell. Those didn't seem enough clues to the puzzle of who it was, but she needed to work with that now. The hair and cape didn't help much, since it was fairly common. The pyro vision though was more rare, since vision holders were less common, and a lot of them were exposed during the vision hunt decret, that lowered the options.
But the last clue was something the samurai didn't want to think about. Lavender and salt were a part of a lot of sweet memories, but long gone, thinking about them now was painful. That doesn't mean she forgot it, or wanted to forget who these belonged to.
After all, it's been a long time since..wait.
Could it be? - the one option that matched everything, was strong enough to defeat an army and sometimes sarcastic enough to make her lose her mind.
One insufferable option of a pirate.
"You..Anne?"
The person tensed, stopping their track for a moment. They took a deep breath and continued to move, not bordering on giving an answer, but kept their head a bit lower than before. They tricked themselves with the action and recognized it.
"So it's you.. isn't it" - the general said, being a bit more relieved that she wasn't entirely in the hands of a stranger. Though, the entire situation still didn't make sense.
"But Anne.. should be.." - should be gone, though the warrior.
The person kept their posture still, like not paying attention to the comments, or anything the samurai said.
"Why are you …"
"When you wake up" - the person said with a serious voice - "All of this will look only like a dream"
"No..but you..how"
"We're arriving"
The samurai could see a familiar silhouette of a purple camp, an Inazuma soldier camp. The person really helped her in the end. The one now with a name and that gave her a million questions with it.
They shouted to get the attention of the soldiers and, quickly, all of them gathered, ready to pay assistance to their general injuries. She was placed in a small improvised bed, and apparently a doctor was coming to see her. Her consciousness was drifting away again, the potion still strong, but she managed to grab her helper hand with the last of her strength.
"Don't.." - she said almost with despair.
"... I'm sorry" - the figure said before removing the hand, getting up to talk with a nearby soldier who asked what happened.
Stay - she thought, before her mind gave up, and everything went black.