Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Two shadows crouch behind the rose bushes, one slender one robust. They make their way across the gardens, carefully hidden behind the branches, unseen by the unsuspecting target inside the inconspicuous building. A shorter third shadow runs from the back door of the building and into the forest behind the garden, causing the slender shadow's blue eyer to narrow. Worried that this new element could turn this reconnaissance mission into something more dangerous or well, a fantastic opportunity, the intruders follow into the woods. They come to a stop near a lake where they now see the outline of a woman's figure searching for something under some rocks on the shore. With a nod from the blue eyed shadow they separate surrounding the woman but she startles as a stick cracks under the robust shadow's sole. The shadow raises his arm and a metallic crash is heard followed by the thud of the woman's body hitting the ground.

*Alaya*

The first thing she noticed was the cold, then came the banging headache. She heard two voices arguing.
“If you hadn’t startled her you wouldn't have had to knock her out.” A rough voice said from above her.
“I’m sorry master, I didn't see the twig and I panicked.”He shuffled.”Her hair is… “
“Like Fowler’s” the first voice muttered.
They were right beside her but didn’t seem to have noticed she had come to. She took inventory of the situation. She was alone and they were two, one of them was clearly the leader, the one to her right, and she hadn’t had time to get her supplies so she was weaponless. She had only one advantage, that she knew those woods like the back of her hand. Before her attackers could notice, she sprung up and took off towards the far end of the lake, weaving through the trees and leaving her things behind. She would come for them later after the danger had passed.
It wasn’t long before they caught her again, this time tackling her to the ground and tearing open her forearm’s skin with a branch.
“Now where do you think you are going?” the master rasped in her ear as he put a knife to her throat. He was the one who had tackled her, his apprentice rushing to help. “She is most likely the Castela’s daughter.” He sneered, carelessly lifting her to her feet.
Of course they were looking for her father, it was forbidden for a white man to enter Japan but he had been able to fly under the radar all those years. If only this could have happened a couple of hours later it wouldn’t have been her problem.
“It seems we have stumbled upon a great hostage.”
“But I thought we weren’t going in today”
“Well, we are now” There was an eagerness to his voice, a hunger as he tied her wrists, blood trickling down her hand and plopped her under a tree. She looked up with a barely contained grin and for the first time looked at her captors.
“Why is she shaking like that, master?”
Maybe she wasn’t hiding her amusement as well as she had thought.
“If you are planning on using me to get to Castela please save yourselves the trouble.” She managed in between giggles under the weirded out looks of both men.
Honestly the absurdity of the situation made her think she was a character in one of the tragic comedies her mum used to love so much.

They went in through the door she had thought she would never cross again just a couple of minutes ago. The only light inside pinpointed her stepfather’s location quite easily. She could feel the master’s chest pressed against herback, his heart beating rapidly in anticipation, as he guided her inside, as well as his warm breath sliding down her neck sending a shiver down her spine.

He gracefully placed her into the more careful arms of his apprentice as he opened the door, unsheathing his blade slowly, savouring the moment. She hoped to see the colour drain from her stepfather’s face and soon her wish came true as she was ushered inside. If she was going to die at least that would be the last thing she saw.

The man stood behind his desk, quickly reaching for the old gun she knew was hiding in his top drawer. Before she could warn what she could now clearly see was a samurai, he moved like the wind, cleanly cutting the firearm in two. However the gunpowder exploded sending rusted shrapnel flying in all directions. The samurai jumped in between the explosion and his apprentice as he covered her with his body. She heard her stepfather pleading and grovelling, none of which she knew was for her life. Coward. What happened next could only be described as way more swift than he deserved.
A pool of blood spread on the floor and a body collapsed.
The apprentice moved away and she saw the samurai pass by the corpse on the floor and go for the still warm cup of tea on her father’s desk.
“I wouldn’t drink that, it’s full of hemlock.”

Chapter Text

*Ayala*

The house was silent, only Alaya’s breathing could be heard as the midday’s sun shone through the little gaps in between the curtains. It had been two whole days since the frustrated escape attempt, the body would start smelling soon.
What to do with the body. A fire could draw attention to the well hidden house, compromising her temporary sanctuary and she wouldn’t want to damage the lake’s balance with something so foul. That left Alaya with one option so she got to digging. She had found the most undignified spot in the forest, where the deer usually did their needs in the summer and took solace in the fact that Iñigo’s grave would be covered in deer shit in just a couple of months.
She had pondered about what to do next as she scrubbed the blood off the floor but came up with nothing. A couple of nights ago all she wanted was to get away. In anger she had forgotten about the reality of her situation, she was alone, a foreigner in a country where she was not legally permitted to be and more dangerously so, a woman. She knew she had to do something, just wandering aimlessly around this empty house as she had since that night wouldn’t cut it for her.

The sun had long set when she heard a heavy knock at the door that startled her from her stupor. She readied the crossbow she had recovered from its hiding place at the lake and loaded an arrow as she opened the door. She relaxed as she saw the heavy set apprentice standing outside, his expression riddled with concern and his master barely standing leaning heavily on his side.
“Hey sorry to bother you but my master isn’t doing so well and I didn’t know where else to go.”
She slowly lowered her weapon and let them inside, after all the person that had killed the disgusting man that had been tormenting her and her mother for most of their lives deserved the best care she could offer. The apprentice was right, the master looked awful. His cheeks were flushed but the rest of his skin seemed entirely too pale, eerily similar to the corpse she had buried just that afternoon.
“What happened?” she asked as she helped lead the two men to the kitchen and carefully laid the feverish man on the table.
“He has just been getting sicker and sicker. Yesterday he spiked a fever and I have done my best to treat it but it just isn’t coming down. It must be the wound on his leg from the explosion.”
“Can I see?” Almost in tears the boy complied and lifted up his master’s pant leg to show his thigh. The wound there was most definitely infected and an abscess had formed around a black line. The wound had clearly been stitched up but some shrapnel had clearly been left behind, too deep to be noticed, and was now pushing its way to the surface causing all kinds of trouble.“I’ll be back in a moment.”
She got her supplies from her bag and they got to work.

A lot of draining, cutting, suturing and bandaging later she sighed and stretched.
“It looks like he will be alright, I’ll make something to get his fever down and a balm to keep the infection contained.” She was about to get up but he held her down immediately springing her defences up until she realised he was hugging her. It must have been a stressful couple of days for him so she leaned into the soft hug, god knows she needed one too.
“I’m Alaya by the way” She said softly after a while, standing up and heading to the hallway.
He hurriedly followed in a surprisingly quiet way and whispered.
“I’m Ringo and my master’s name is Mizu.”
“So glad to be finally properly introduced.” She smiled at the exhausted boy feeling that same tiredness. However, there was still a lot of work to do and in a way she was more than grateful for the distraction. “You might want to get him into a set of clean clothes. I'll get you some and prepare a room for the two of you.”
After everything was taken care of and they had successfully moved the samurai into the room, she checked on Mizu and was glad to see that his fever had gone down significantly even though he still felt a little warmer than he should be. After Ringo changed him she let them sleep as she washed their clothes and mended the holes in them, sitting right by the door outside just in case there was an emergency but not wanting to disturb their privacy.

She awoke to a blade by her throat.