Work Text:
The smog covered the sky, making both seeing and breathing hard activities. Still, Arisa carried on. The blood-curdling screams sent a pang through her heart every time they echoed, and she knew she had to do her best to stop them.
She was no hero, mainly because heroes were good people. Arisa… Not so much. She had vices, hatred and jealousy in her heart. And perhaps no one was perfect, but Ichigaya was closer to damnation than most.
To her left, the walls of a house crumbled down as a demon flew through it, its powerful wings reducing the bricks to dust. She gripped her sword harder and swung it, the silver blade hitting the winged monster on the stomach. It had been flying low because of it’s prey, a child that couldn’t be older than five in-between it’s claws. The kid fell to the ground alongside the demon, screaming and crying. Arisa could see blood staining the little boy’s shirt and prayed to whatever is in heaven that it was not his.
Thankfully, this time around her prayers seemed to have been heard, because as soon as the demon let go of his arms, the boy was up and running away. The blonde watched as he disappeared between the ruins of the house, concern for his safety soon being replaced by the instinct of self-preservation. The monster may have been wounded, but it was not dead.
It lurched towards her, an inhuman scream making Arisa feel like her eardrums would explode. Before she could even think of dodging or blocking, it’s claws wrapped around her neck and started squeezing.
Her sword fell to the ground and she soon found the oxygen to be scarce .Flailing, she effortlessly hit the monster, trying as hard as possible to be set free. But he wouldn’t budge.
Arisa’s vision started to go blurry around the edges and her efforts grew weaker, up until the point she was sure that was it. She had survived dragons and hydras, but it was a low-level flying demon that would end her. Maybe that was the ending she deserved.
Before she could reach the comfortable nothingness, though, the claws suddenly let go and there was purple blood spraying on her face. If she hadn’t already been with her eyes closed, she would’ve gone blind from the toxic properties of the liquid. She coughed and fell to the ground, much like the boy she had helped moments before.
“A-Arisa!” Wait… She knew that voice.
“Rinko?” She managed to ask between one cough and another, hands massaging her throat.
“W- Where… Where is your horse? If… If we leave now, we m- may survive.” This made her open her eyes once again.
“My… No, no! We- I can’t leave! There was a kid and people trapped and, and-”
“Arisa… T- This village is gone now, t- the demons won. We have to go.”
“But-”
“No! Y- You’re always doing this, always almost dying for people who wouldn’t spare you a thought otherwise! I’m… Sniff …tired!”
“Rinko…”
“Don’t Rinko me!”
Arisa was going to answer, but another cough racked through her body and had her falling to her knees once again.
“S- See? Let’s go!” And her dark haired squire was dragging her by the arm towards the forest.
Arisa wanted to protest, to put up a fight. The village may be condemned, but it was her job to try and save people regardless. One more survivor wouldn’t make a big difference, but she had to try. Except… Except this is what heroes did, and Ichigaya Arisa was far from one.
So she let herself be dragged, and when they reached a panicked horse that they didn’t know who owned, Arisa let Rinko ride it through the foliage.
The smog covered the sky, making both seeing and breathing hard activities. Still, Arisa and Rinko carried on. The blood-curdling screams sent a pang through the blonde’s heart every time they echoed, and despite knowing she should have done her best to stop them…She was glad she was on a horse with her arms around her lover’s waist instead.