Chapter Text
Endless night surrounded her as the weight on her shoulders grew heavier and heavier, pulling her deeper and deeper into lightless depths.
Far, oh so far above her head, the last light, the last slither of her hope grew fainter and fainter as the stones bound to her ankles dragged her deeper and deeper.
Her arm stretched upwards, trying to reach the light despite knowing it was useless.
There was no hope for her anymore.
One of her hands snaked around her throat as she couldn’t hold her breath any longer, choking out the last reserve she had managed to keep. Angry cold water flooded her mouth, attacked her airways, tying up her lungs like thorny vines.
No, I don’t want to die yet, she thought desperately as her vision blurred, black crowding in on her as the cruel world faded into nothingness.
***
With a shock, Himiko sat upright in her bed, panting as her hand touched the soft mattress around her, feeling for any bodies of water or… coldness, was the word she settled on in her mind. There was nothing of that though. The creepy nightmare that had been haunting her for weeks now, never in that detail though, was not real. Himiko had never been afraid of water, or of drowning at that, yet this dream returned without fail.
“What’s it, crazy,” came a raspy grumble from the bed next to hers. “Is it that shitty dream again?” Dabi rolled to the side, one eye open and trained on her. With only the moonlight shining through the window, his black hair and scars nearly faded into the night, highlighting the healthy skin in an eery way.
“Mhm,” HImiko simply hummed in reply, too shaken to speak about it just yet, not daring to speak it into existence when the realm of dreams still seemed so close. But also, she didn’t want to make a fuss over a simple, stupid nightmare. There was probably a reason for it, some underlying fear of drowning in responsibility or something. Dabi and her had gone over it already, there was no hint for it to be a prophecy. No matter the frequency, there would have been another sign.
“Get back to sleep, Toga Himiko, they’ll expect us to be in top form tomorrow,” Dabi murmured into his pillow as his eye closed again. He was right. There was no use for her to stay up, fretting over it. It never returned the same night. And she really needed that sleep if she was to step in front of her superiors the next morning. With one last look at the milky white moon peeking through their window, she settled back into her pillows, pressing her eyes shut and willing away all looming thoughts of death. There were still more important things to do before she could get eternal rest anyway.
***
“So… we assume this is a minor demon?” Himiko sifted through the paperwork she had been passed the day before when meeting her superiors at Castel Sant’Angelo, their usual meeting point whenever there was a new mission. They preferred to keep their exorcists out of the inner circle, not tempting any evil powers to use them as an entrance to the sanctissimus. Maybe they simply didn’t want to be reminded of the dirty work they did out there, banishing spirits back into the shadows where they had spawned from. Himiko didn’t know and it wasn’t pay level to question all the crazy rules they had to abide by.
In the end, there wasn’t much they could do against them anyway. And after all, the exorcists, no matter how bloody their work got, were blessed and sent out by the pope himself, so no matter how many side eyes they earned, they were validated in their calling.
“We do,” Dabi confirmed with a curt nod, eyes transfixed on the cloudless sky as he leant his head against the window, without a doubt deep into thoughts and not in the mood for chitchat. Too bad.
“But? Why are you so moody about it? Should be in and out in a few days and then we have the rest of the time off,” Himiko stated, overly excited on purpose to get a rise out of her companion. “We can go to a Sakura festival and have… I don’t know, yakitori from street vendors, oh, oh, and go to one of those fancy arcades! I bet it’s–”
“I don’t think it’ll be that easy,” Dabi turned his head to her, eyebrows knitted together in worry. “There is something off but I don’t know yet what it is. Would a minor demon really go to that length for a few measly human bones?”
Always the worrier, Himiko thought with a sigh. But then again, she couldn’t completely disagree with him. “It is strange that they gave us that much time for something supposedly so… minor. The last time they gave us a week and told us to hurry up.”
“Yeah… it is strange is all I’m saying.” With that Dabi turned back to the window, eyes unfocused as he returned to his stormy thoughts, leaving Himiko to rummage about their suspicions on her own. Geez, thanks a lot .
“Are you worried?” A new voice intruded her thoughts then, much to Himiko’s delight.
Hawks, I could never be worried with you on our side. At least you make up for that old grumpy's horrible moods , she thought with a grin, knowing that the guardian angel would have no problem hearing her, just as she could hear him within her head.
“ That’s me, my job, ” he declared at that and she could practically hear him puff his wings despite him being invisible at the moment. “ But no worries, I’ll be with you two for the whole time and warn you if I sense anything suspicious. ”
“ Thank you, Hawks. You’re an angel. ”
“Don’t boost his ego, he’s gonna explode at that rate,” Dabi snapped under his breath, shaking his head. But he couldn’t fool her: she had seen the faint smile on his face before he had managed to hide it.
Himiko quickly covered her giggle by pulling one of the menus from before her and burying her nose in there, looking for a snack to have later. One advantage of those missions was that all expenses were covered by their employer – the Catholic Church. Lucky them. And she had no regrets maxing out the limits whenever given a chance since they sometimes ended up risking their lives. It was only fair they’d eat well while they were alive.
***
After their flight, they were driven to the countryside of Hokkaido to a monastery of nuns. It looked lovely, Himiko thought, taken good care of and just like she had imagined it from the reports in her file. It was well after noon and some of the nuns were working in the garden, planting young saplings or watering the already sprouting vegetables.
“Here you can see our vegetable garden. It used to be bare for years but then, after an especially rainy spring, plants we hadn’t seen here before started growing on their own, it was akin to a miracle,” the Mother Superior told them when they passed the patch of fertile ground, Himiko and Dabi nodding at the nuns who sent them welcoming smiles.
Of course, they had known two exorcists would come. And not all people of the church turned up their noses at them. This was one of the reasons why Himiko preferred to stay outside the Vatican instead of inside.
“Let me show you your chambers where you can leave your baggage before we will prepare some food for you. You must be exhausted after the long journey.” The Mother Superior was also way nicer than Himiko had seen them in films before. “Here we have your room,” she turned to Himiko, indicating the little chamber she had just opened the door to. “Please make yourself at home, I will send one of the sisters for you once we’re ready.” With those words she left Himiko in the corridor and led Dabi to his quarters that weren’t near the sisters’ chambers.
Travelling lightly as usual, it didn’t take Himiko long to get ready. She had already changed out of her travel clothes at the airport and she didn’t have much to unpack except her most-trusted weapons against demonic forces. A bundle of knives, a travel-sized bible as well as her rulebook as she called her compendium of rituals and rites to dispel an evil spirit.
For the rest of the time, she sat on the bed, scrolling through Pinterest as she cursed the horrible connection they had at the monastery. She was pretty sure she wouldn’t get a wifi password if she asked the Mother Superior. One of the drawbacks staying with people of the faith, technology was usually quite rare to find.
At some point, a knock had her look up and Himiko quickly let the mobile vanish in one of her pockets before she pulled the door open with more enthusiasm than strictly necessary. She wasn’t met with the face of an elderly woman as she had expected. Instead… a round-faced, pretty girl was standing in front of her, big brown eyes blinking in confusion at her.
They stared at each other for what felt like eternity.
Only when the bell on the monastery grounds announced the quarter hour, did their eye contact break. Instead, Himiko’s gaze raked over the young woman, she was wearing the white scapular and veil of a novice, and yet she seemed too young to be a member of a cistercian order, a novice at that already.
“Uhm… welcome to our monastery!” The novice bowed her head slightly, casting her eyes to the ground. Had she just blushed? Himiko cocked an eyebrow before she put on her brightest smile.
“Thank you! Are you here to fetch me for dinner by any chance?”
“I am, Sister– umm…”
Ah yes, the usual problem. Being a certified exorcist usually was a privilege only reserved for men, priests at that, however, Himiko belonging to a group of specifically trained preachers to cast out evil spirits, she was of a special rank entirely. Although, of course, that couldn’t be said out loud to keep the peace within the institution.
“Call me Sister Himiko, I think that’s the easiest way. And your name is?”
The novice looked up again, and yes, she was definitely blushing. She probably hadn’t met a lot of other people her age since joining the order, not here at least. “My name is Sister Ruth.”
“Nice one,” Himiko commented nonchalantly on the religious name, she was a bit disappointed not to learn her baptismal name, but nothing that couldn’t be changed during a nice long chat. “Well then, let’s go, shall we?”
“Of course, please come with me. We have prepared vegetable stew and fresh bread for you and Brother… Dabi.”
Hearing it out loud was funnier than it had any right to be, yet Himiko couldn’t hold back her giggle, much to the confusion of poor Sister Ruth. “You could always call him Brother Touya, sounds a bit less jarring,” she finally got out after calming down. “He prefers to use a pseudonym when on the job, protection from curses and all that.”
Ruth looked at her in question and Himiko could hear the unspoken words.
“Oh, I don’t have one. I am not afraid of those curses either way,” she declared with a shrug. “Since we’re already on names… don’t mind my curiosity, but what was your original name?” She leant a bit towards the novice, giving her a knowing smile. “You know, I am just wondering because you are so… young. Cistercians prefer to accept people who… are more settled, right?”
Sister Ruth nearly tripped over her own feet at that, throwing nervous glances over her shoulder as if she was about to do something forbidden. She was definitely contemplating.
“Come on, I don’t get to talk to a lot of people my age, nevermind people my age who are also of faith. I won’t snitch on you, promise.” Himiko held up two fingers, showing her earnesty, before she winked at the novice.
“I-... I don’t know if that’s…” She looked around again before she finally folded. “I was in a bit of a bad situation and the monastery helped me, a lot. They took me in and… having been here for quite some time, they allowed me to join young.”
“Oooh, a tragic backstory, how exciting,” HImiko cooed, putting her hands on her cheeks. “You know, sometimes it’s stories like ‘I read in the bible one day and suddenly, my heart was full of joy and ecstasy’ and it’s really just somebody who wanted to run from their responsibilities, but you… paying back your debts to the community, hm? Very dutiful of you. And your name?”
Sister Ruth turned her face away, not without giving Himiko a good look at the full-on blush on her face. Without looking back, she murmured: “My name used to be Uraraka Ochako.”