Work Text:
In front of her stood a book. Not just any book, but the book that led her to this moment. Her hand glazes over the pages once again. Each and every page was littered with notes and writing, the paper slightly worn and slowly getting thinner and thinner. Her hands flip through the book, slowly turning each page, recalling each and every memory within those pages. Reading through each and every story, masterfully weaved and crafted to create a truly stunning result. Eventually, she reaches the back, and the cover, which is bound by leather, is old and worn, and if she looks closely enough, she can see little bits of leather breaking off from the main piece. Her hands, as gently as she can, close the book, and place it back down on her desk. She takes one look at her room again, before grabbing her pre packed bag and finally taking a step outside. One breath in… And one breath out. That is enough to set her thinking straight, and without much hesitation, she takes off, into the world.
Damn it, why the hell did I decide it was a good idea to go running off without a plan?! At that moment, there was a huge dire wolf in front of her, teeth bared and primed to strike. Her sword was laying pitifully on the ground, too far for her to reach, and she hadn’t thought ahead enough to bring her bow and arrows. The wolf continued to circle around her, and she had no choice but to hold up her shield, the only thing preventing her from being eaten at this point, to protect herself from the wolf. She sees the way the wolf observes every slight twitch and movement she makes, waiting for its prime moment to strike and take her down in one fell swoop. Her gaze fell upon her sword once more. Locked in a stalemate with the wolf, as there was no way for her to kill it now, she decides to take one huge risk. Diving for the sword as the wolf pounces, she managed to get close enough to her sword to be in reach, but the wolf was much quicker than she was, and was now clawing and biting at her shield, with it pitifully holding on. Just as the shield broke, a sudden flash clouded her view.
The next moment, the wolf was lying beside her, a gash in its side. Just as quickly, another flash of bright yellow light flashed, heading straight to the wolf. As she looked for the source, she saw a young woman, no older than her, with glowing wings extending from her back. She was wearing a white dress with one pink and one black streak that ran down the base of the dress, and her beige coloured hair was tied into two pigtails. Her hand was extended out, and the glow of her wings slowly faded away before they folded to rest by her back. Then, the girl quickly spinted over to her, checking her over to find any injuries.
“Are you okay?” Her voice was soft and warm, gently dispelling any pain she might have felt.
“I… think I’m fine.” Her savior breathed a sigh of relief and extended out her hand, allowing her to take it and pull herself up to dust off her clothes. Just as she finished, she realized something.
“Ah! I should tell you my name! Nice to meet you, I’m Shiraishi An!”
“A-Azusawa Kohane.” Her voice quickly died out and she slowly shrunk away, but not before An could grab her.
“What was that magic!? It was so cool, I’ve never seen someone with such bright and shining coloured magic?!” She continued to go on and on, asking Kohane more and more questions. Every one pelted at Kohane caused her to only shrink more, trying to wriggle her way out of An’s relentless questions. She did eventually manage, though. Unfortunately for her, An also realized the one thing she was hoping that she wouldn’t realize.
“Wait… ARE YOU AN ANGEL?” Great. Now Kohane was going to have to endure another round of questions thrown at her. Next thing Kohane knew, An was looking all over, a book and quill appearing from out of nowhere as she took notes, presumably on her appearance.
“Um…W-well, I guess I am, but I would prefer it if you called me an Ouranos instead… A-as it is our species’ actual name…” She didn’t really know what answer to expect from An, but a simple nod with a smile soothed her enough.
“Uhm…Can I ask why you’re taking notes…On me?” While it wasn’t a guarantee that An was actually taking notes on her, the numerous glances while scribbling things in her book certainly gave off that impression.
“Well, it’s not everyday someone gets to meet an Ouranos, y’know? Speaking of that, why are you here? It’s not like an Ouranos to be out and around, after all.” Kohane could get why she was asking. Ouranos tend to live in high up mountain tops, and they almost never leave. So, meeting even one Ouranos if you weren’t one was practically impossible.
“A-ah, well… I had a fight with my parents and they got really mad, so I was just flying around to calm myself down.” Their fight had clearly angered both of them, as An could see Kohane’s face scrunch up before she took a deep breath and calmed down. Cute.
“Hmmmm, I see…” Her hand came to rest on her face, pondering something for a second, before she quickly grabbed Kohane, her eyes shining.
“Then why don’t you come with me?! Your magic is so cool, and I would love to have a partner after traveling by myself for so long…” her voice trailed off and she started into the distance for a second, before snapping her head back to Kohane.
“Yeah, you HAVE to become my partner! We could complement each other perfectly.” Quickly, she began listing off reasons for her to join, rambling on and on, so Kohane only nodded, not fully following along. A partner, huh… it would be nice… Kohane took another look at An.
Dark black hair that faded into a royal blue, and bright orange eyes that shine like the sky at dusk. She is… really beautiful. She had on a cloak that covered most of her body, and yet, Kohane could still see a bit of her yellow dress peaking out. Her gaze turned towards her face when,
“Watch out!” A burst of light came from her wings as they folded around both her and An, the magic reinforcing them and deflecting the incoming hit. Quickly, Kohane’s wings uncovered themselves, showing the cause of the attack. In front of them stood a pack of wolves, presumably there to avenge the wolf they had just killed earlier.
“S-so… what do we do now?” Kohane was visibly trembling, holding on to An while she observed the situation. Her sword, which had been left abandoned, was still close enough for her to grab, but she wouldn’t be able to fight without a shield or some support…
“I think I’ve got a plan! Just follow my lead, okay!” An ran and picked up her sword just in time to block an attack from one wolf, giving Kohane the time to cast a spell, blasting the wolf back. Quickly, Kohane sprinted over to An as she stood off against the wolves.
“Plan is, I’ll run in and kill ‘em all and you can just stay back and cover for me with your magic, alright?” Before Kohane has even the slightest chance to move, An takes off, charging for the wolves. She took a slash at one of the wolves, aiming for its neck before the wolf dodged, her sword hitting the ground instead. Another wolf tried to pounce on her, but a shield from Kohane stopped it while a bolt of magic shot into it, knocking it down and giving An enough time to slash and kill it. Just then, a magic bolt flew towards Kohane, heading straight for her heart.
“KOHANE!” Just barely in time, she was able to reach her sword out and deflect the bolt into a nearby tree. Kohane turned toward the direction of the bolt, where one of the wolves stood. It was larger than any of the other wolves, and its fur almost glowed a deep red, remnants of the spell it just casted. Their leader had arrived, and their face told the two that they were not getting through this fight easily. The wolf once again cast a spell, its fur standing up a bit and glowing a blood red. Kohane wings spread out once more and coated the two, blocking its attack but stunning Kohane enough to let one of the wolves try to pounce. Lucky for An, its belly was now exposed, allowing her to take it out with one good slash at its stomach.
“Flare!” A ball of fire formed by Kohane’s palm before flying into the wolves' leader, scorching his side while An managed to get in a strike on the wolves’ shoulder. Howling, the wolf still stood strong. Both of them had been fighting for a while, and An could feel herself getting tired and Kohane’s bright wings were beginning to lose their glow after draining much of her mana. The wolf was tired too, its fur was also losing its glow, but it was still standing. Both sides were locked in a stalemate. Suddenly, the wolf cast a spell and a huge ball of magic energy came rushing at the two, way too big for Kohane to block.
Is this how I’m going to die? An’s legs froze as she watched the sphere approach, but not before,
“An!” Kohane had managed to use her wings and grab An, pulling her out of the way, but not without touching the sphere, and she hissed in pain as she felt her wings almost burning wherever was hit by the blast, drawing out blood. Luckily, An was relatively unscathed. Once more, the two faced the wolf, who, upon seeing the blood dripping down Kohane, was now almost drooling, staring at Kohane. It could smell the scent of her blood, and decided that it wanted it. In a frenzy, the wolf ran forwards, teeth bared and claws fully extended, fully intent on grabbing Kohane, not noticing An. Right before it descended onto her, it finally fell, dead after one final slash to its belly. After a second, the two dropped to the floor, exhausted and drained from the fighting.
“Phew…” An was still catching up on air. “That was… tiring.” She looked around. Blood was everywhere, and all the wolves they had slain were laying on the ground. She’ll have to collect their materials later, but for now, rest was most important. Kohane, in the meanwhile, was examining her wings. One of her wings had been almost fully scorched and was bleeding intensely, while the other had remained mostly okay, only being a bit bruised. Still, just having one wing injured was bad enough. Now she couldn’t fly home, and it’s much too far for her to be able to walk. Just then, she realized that she didn’t have any medical supplies on her, after all, who has medical supplies on them when they go out for a stroll?
“Un, An-chan, do you… By any chance, do you have any medical supplies on you right now?” An turned to face her, and was now able to get a good look at her wing, sending her into a panic.
“Ah!” She quickly grabbed her bag and began rummaging through supplies, searching for anything. Luckily, she managed to find everything, and quickly sat Kohane down for treatment.
“Ow!” Kohane and her wing curled up in pain as An slowly began to disinfect her wound.
“Ah, sorry! I know it hurts, but it’s better to do it now rather than risk infection.” Slowly, An began once again, and while it still stung, Kohane braved through it, partially due to the fact that An looked really pretty at the moment. Her hair was messy, blowing in every which direction, and yet, it still framed her face. Ah, her face. Kohane could see An’s bright orange eyes, staring with precision as she continued to treat her. Maybe all of this wasn’t so bad after all?
“And…” She tightened up the gauze once more, making sure it wasn’t loose. “There!” Kohane wing was now wrapped tightly, but not painfully, in bandages.
“Unfortunately, you probably won’t be able to use that wing much, cause it needs to rest and stay still while it heals, alright?” Kohane nodded in response, stretching out her other wing. Now, it was getting late, as the sun was already beginning to set. There was no way Kohane could go home now. Where do I go? Walking in the night is too dangerous, especially with a damaged wing…
“Wanna spend the night at my house? Since you're pretty far from home here, after all, there’s no mountains or anything for quite a distance.” An casually suggested.
“H-huh? No, I can’t do that… You went out of your way to treat me, I couldn’t bother you more by staying over-” Her speech quickly cut out once An just grabbed her hand and began dragging her anyways.
“No, no! It’s no bother at all! I don’t mind the company, plus, you saved me. Letting you stay over and bandaging your wounds is not nearly enough repayment!”
“B-but I only did that cause I didn’t want to see you die in front of me!” Kohane stammered.
“Even then, you still saved me, so I think that’s good enough.” Kohane continued to stammer out excuses and reasons why An should not help her, trying to get out of An’s grasp, but An continued to hold onto her until they reached her house.
“We’re home!” She announced to no one when she burst in through the door, still holding onto Kohane. Quickly, she closed the door and took off into the kitchen.
“I can make us some food, so you just rest up, alright?” An announced. Hesitantly, Kohane took a seat at the table. Shortly after, An came out of the kitchen area with some sandwiches, taking one for herself and leaving Kohane another.
“Thanks for the food!” Kohane took one bite out of the sandwich. It was flavourful, with the smoked, stewed meat adding a unique and strong flavor and melting in her mouth, while the vegetables helped to cut the meatiness and add some crunch. On top of that, there was some form of sauce or something that was on the meat, giving it a slightly sweet, yet still savory taste. Before she knew it, her sandwich was gone, and she could hear An chuckling to herself. Cute.
“I guess you liked the sandwich then?” She gave Kohane a small smile, and yet, it set Kohane’s heart ablaze. Eventually, the sun had fully set, and night had arrived. Somehow, An was able to convince Kohane to sleep with her, by some miracle (It wasn’t really, though). So here they were, sleeping in the same bed.
What the hell. Kohane was beside her, and she had already managed to fall asleep, leaving An to stoop in her thoughts. Why is she so cute?! Kohane had taken most of the blanket, her head barely poking out. To An, it was the most adorable thing she’s seen in her life. Eventually, An could feel her muscles weaken and her eyelids slowly close shut. If every day was like this… It would be nice.