Work Text:
On windy days like these, Elliott can't help but feel horribly bored. Leaves rustle under a mangrove tree. The path towards the others' houses is messy and muddy as always. Elliot wonders if the path was ever really clean, and if someone — or something, had the comfort of ever walking on smooth and set in place cobble, if the grass was perfectly walked down, without any holes nor other misperfections.
Hand grazing across the mangrove wood, boredom rising even more, she thinks about her offer to her, did Yuko hesitate the way Elliot remembers she did? Did she hesitate with denying it at all? She narrowly misses a kiss with the ground, tripping over a rock and just barely catching her balance. "That's one way to lose your balance" she thinks. The little stone falls into the lake. Elliot goes to retrieve it, for some reason. She sees her reflection in it.
Brown hair fades into black on the ends (almost as if burnt). Lips dried, and skin oddly pale. Her eyes though, god her eyes, are scarily different. A once green jade, a field of grass, leaves on a tree, are now dried and empty. Dark, soulless. Like a deep sea, dark and uncharistically quiet. Empty.
"I'm burnt," she laughs, "I look burnt!".
Cackling to herself, she reaches her hand in the water and picks the rock back up. It's really just a rock. Not perfect, but not horribly. It's not even horribly average , it just has.. nothing special to it. She hides it in her pocket. She'll find some use for it. Maybe.
Dark red wood beautifully frames the walls and the stairs, curling and connecting in all of the right places. In another room, its a deep cyan, decorated with paintings and shelves.
A hand trails across the table, wiping it off whatever dust could've collected. Yuu's been unnerved today. Something's gonna go wrong, it's— it's quiet. Too quiet. It's hard to admit even in her head, but on days when there isn't a pair of emerald eyes looking back at her feel wrong. So, so horribly wrong.
So then, if she isn't here, then where? It's been a while since they last spoke. Yuko had time to look back at ..previous events. She remembers the way, in Elliot's now dead eyes, the way green flashed for a second. The way there was that speck of light, that tiny flame of hope, when she noticed Yuko's hesitation to answer. And then the way that flame left as quickly as it started.
Yuu doesn't care. Elliot deserves it. For what she did. (But then again, she misses her Eli and those always wounded hands, and that unkept hair. And that light in her eyes.)
Yukos waiting for something to happen finally ends. There's a sound of rustling bushes, and then steps down a ladder.
Click–clack
Well ... It's obviously Elliot. She knows that. But
Click–clack
what could she want? If Yuko was so unnerved,
Click–clack
then surely this isn't for a good cause. (She remembers the entrance to the base is blocked with stone. Even if Elliot gets down., she'll be stopped for a little).
..Watchers,
Click–clack
it's Elliot! Why would her presence ever be
Click–clack
for a good cause?
Click–clack
What should Yuu even do?
Click–clack
Hide?
Click–clack
GOD, isn't that stupid to think. Elliot would probably find her anyways. And who is she to hide anyways? It's fine. Yuko has armour. Elliot doesn't. (She never wore almost any, actually. Yuu's disgusted she knows that.)
She draws her sword.
..?
Elliot's taking a while.
...
Yuko sighs. Watchers, whatever. If Elliot's gonna ambush and kill her so be it! Maybe she could hurry up though.
She carries on with her business. Her guard is still up, but she has other things to do. Going into the enchantment room, she begins sorting and organizing books into bookshelves and items into chests. The smell of fresh paper is really nice, she notices.
Sometimes, enchanted books can have a reflection (if they're really powerful), Yuu takes an Efficiency V book. It shines, and staring into it, she sees black, healthy hair. There's no glued on cat ears on her headphones. You can smell rain in the air. She's waiting for someone to come back with iron.
She quickly puts the book where it's supposed to be— a CRASH— something fell on the floorboard hard. Instinctively, Yuu whips around, sword in hand.
Elliot's laying, well, now sitting, on the floor. Examining the scene, Yuko can see a hole in the ceiling. They're both staring at eachother, Eliott resembling a deer in headlights, and Yuu, the driver. Holy Watchers, would Yuko want to run over Elliot. Trample her with a horse maybe. Or with a camel. Herbert the Camel actually, but he's dead.
"Well hello there," Elliot starts, calmly getting up, "what brings you here?". Yuko processes the question for just a second. And sword in hand, replies:
"This is my place, Elliot."
El notes how she said place, not house. That could mean this.. building? is something more 'work-related'. But Elliot's not here to play any kind of guessing games. She'll give Yuko a bit of comfort before the ~big questions~ though.
"What'chu up to?" She leans forward, hands behind back.
"None of your business —" yuu sharply replies, "leave." She ends, and goes to the training room, hoping Elliot will note her being busy and get out. But she doesn't, following her. Yuko takes an enchanted bow from the wall, a couple of arrows, and begins to shoot the targets, one by one. Elliot chooses to make some small talk:
"Mm... heard of any.. doctors around?" Yuu raises her brown in reply, waiting for Elliot to continue. She doesn't.
"Have you been looking for one, too?" wonders Yuu — while she hasn't been in w healthy state for a while now, she never really took the time to think whether Elliot hasn't been doing well, too. She looks like she's doing just fine. Yuu for sure fucking doesn't, if the green mold-looking infection spreading onto her face and arms doesn't say enough.
Elliot replies:
"You could say that."
".. Are you dealing with.." she points at her face "..this, too?". Elliot looks away.
"Ah, that? I've taken care of it already. I have other reasons for a doctor." what? Yuko stops just for a second, processing if she really hear what she just heard.
"You— you've gotten rid of it? What? That's.. possible?" She looks at Elliot with furrowed brows, a mix of surprise and confusion on her face.
"Yes, yes.. though, I don't think many doctors would necessarily.. advise, my methods." She looks away, reaching to scratch her neck for comfort. Yuko keeps staring at her. She leans over towards Elliot, and as if it was an unspeakable piece of information, she whispers:
"How?" Elliot doesn't skip a beat in replying, tone as careful and steady as usual, "I scraped it out. Dug, even." Yuu blinks. "What?" Elliot smiles; it's one of those stupidly perfected smiles Yuko hates. She fixes her posture, sighs, and begins to rant:
"Oh, yes! Like I said no one would recommend those sorts of—", she throws her arms in the air, "—horrible, painful methods! But oh," she spins around, almost closing in on herself, and using the most broken sounding tone she can force herself to make, says:
"..but what could I do..? NOTHING!", she whips around back to face Yuko, "Nothing, absolutely nothing! I was lucky enough to have it in my back, you however.." Elliot eyes her up and down, "..you have it considerably worse!"
"Have I told you that you're absolutely insane yet?" Yuu says, a bewildered expression all over her face.
"So are you, though~ ☆" Elliot winks at her, in exchange of which she receives a look of absolute disgust.
"..."
Elliot clasps her hands, breaking the silence:
"Alright! So, your affiliated with whatever.. tomfoolery this is?" She spins her finger around, pointing at the entirety of the base. Yuu opens her mouth to reply, but Eliott continues: "You've put in quite the lot of effort towards this place. Are you doing this for someone else? You just can't be alone in whatever this is! You've put in too much work."
She rambles, 'securing' the topic in place. And throughout her speech, Yuko's expression gets more and more offended. Defensive. A little intimidated, even (more than a little actually). She tries to save herself:
"Why do you care. It's none of your business! And actually, for your information, I can appreciate a clean and beautiful workspace just for myself!"
She crosses her arms defensively, hiding her hands in her shoulders. EIliot walks by her, and just for a split second, looks her in the eyes with the least friendly look she can make. Yuko wonders if she wasn't seeing things, because immediately after Elliot is back to her 'usual' self, looking around childishly. She whistles, touching and looking at everything. Yuko's tense, and no matter how hard she'd try to hide it, her shoulders and expression are giving it away.
Elliot makes her way to the room facing the ladder she was supposed to use. Well, that's one way for Yuko to completely blow her cover! The room has six chairs, all facing a table. It resembles a meeting room of some sorts, with a painting in the middle of one the wall, and shelves with items decorating the other ones.
She'll give it to Yuko. It is a beautiful little place she built. It's mostly built using dark woods and materials, but the soul lanterns make up for the darkness. It's a vibe, to say the least. But, most importantly, it's a giveaway. A lead in Elliot's tracks.
Rounding the table, she goes ahead and takes a seat, facing the ladder and Yuko with a smile.
"But, how can you the only person 'working' here, if there's.." she teasingly counts out loud with her fingers, pointing at each and every seat "...six chairs?" she looks at Yuko, obviously fake confusion across her face.
".. I— I like to um, have a lot of options when it comes to sitting! You know, they say that you should feel the most comfortable you can when at work!"
Yuko hides her hands in her pockets, looking away, and her boots fill the silence as she walks by to sit in a chair near Elliot. She's been caught, sure, but just the fact that there's more than one person in the alliance isn't gonna tell Elliott anything. It's fine. It's fine! But then Elliot wonders out loud, almost mockingly:
"Ah... But Vixen's in on this, aren't they? And that makes 2 out of 6 people." she looks back at Yuko, "who else, Yuu? Who else?"
Yuko tries to reply, but is again cut off:
"And I mean.. there's no way Crue isn't one of the people in this alliance thing. He just seems like the type."
Yuu tries to keep her expression as neutral as possible. She's not doing a great job. Her mind is racing, and her hands are all of a sudden really sweaty. She tries to dry them off with the insides of her pockets. And then the logical thoughts show up, because how does Elliot know about that? She shouldn't. She has no real reason to know about that. Hell, not even about the base. There's no way to just stumble upon it.
Yuko should reply. She doesn't, which proves to be a grave mistake on her part.
Elliot stands up, towering over Yuko. There's something malicious in her eyes, something Yuko would have never seen, never even thought about seeing, just a few months ago. Her eyes are enchanting. They bring Yuu in, icy hands dragging her into the dark. There's no light in them, and when Elliots towering over her, they're really just like a void. Dragging you in, and then eating away at whatevers left of you. Was her Eli always like that, and Yuko just never noticed? There's no way, no, whatever Elliot is now, she never has been before.
That girl she met on the side of the river, that girl with the enchanting emerald eyes, that blended in perfectly with the green grass that always surrounded them, that girl, that girl with flowers in her hair and words of a poet, that's not that same girl anymore. And so, Yuu doesn't care. She just doesn't— it's not the same person. That Eli was kind, with scarred hands and dirty clothes. This Elliot is malicious, with bloodied hands and clothes stained with red. And it can never be the same again.
Yuu instinctively stands up. In the end, Elliot is still taller than her, but at least Yuu can protect herself now. Even if her throat is closed, her hands are clutching a sword, or dagger, of some sorts. She'd love to hurt Elliot. It doesn't matter anyway.
Yuu expected the other to stop walking when she stood up. But that didn't happen, and so now Yuko's more or less internally panicking. Eliott only stops when Yuu's back hits the wall of the meeting room. She smiles, and Yuko hates how it's perfectly fitted. It looks so fucking fake right now. Her breath is starting to hitch, and her throat is completely closed. Elliot's eyes bore into hers. If she screamed for help right now, not a single person would hear her. Why for the love of The Watchers did she make this base underground. This is horrible. Yuko hates this. She hates it so much. At this point, she'll tell Elliot*anything, just to make her back off. And as if on command, Elliot states:
"I reckon MJ knows about this too. Then.." Eliott looks at the ceiling, seemingly 'deep in thought', "..that makes what, 4 out of 6 people? Who else.. Astra? ..Ali?" she seems to genuinely ponder over this, and she eyes Yuko for an answer. But oh, Yuko's too scared to probably even *listen* to Elliot right now. She rolls her eyes in her head. It served as a good intimidating tool, but this is a little too intimidating for Yuu, it seems. She steps back, and it's like Yuko finally regains her breath:
"I.. I'm not telling you anything. Leave." Yuko points her dagger right in Elliot's face (Why didn't she use it 10 seconds ago, when she needed it?). Elliot glances away, not enjoying the thought of having something go through her skull like that. She takes another step back, playfully raising her arms in the air:
"Alright, alright! I'll back off, Miss!" And so she does, again and again, until Yuu has enough space to freely leave the room. When she turns around, her body stops to say something. She doesn't. (Is that really the end of this whole ordeal?..)
———
A.N :: if you look at how many words we got left youll. Youll get the answer bud. (send help Godddddðddðddð)
———
And so Yuu leaves the room, going into the one on her right. It's kind of like a tiny library, bookshelves places at every wall. There's an enchanting table in the middle too. It even has it's own little seat, even if you don't usually sit down when enchanting. Yuu snaps back to reality. Ok, well, what was that! What just happened. What the actual fuck!. But the worse part, she just realized, she didn't hear the sound the ladder makes every time it's used ... Elliot is still here. And she feels eyes on her. And her back is facing the ladder too. She whips around on instinct. Elliot's frame rests on the wall, or more like the corner, as that wall is mostly gone, and acts as a door. Why can't Yuko ever hear that womans footsteps ...
"I told you. Leave." She snarls at Elliot, her eyes as cold and unforgiving, as hot and raging as ever.
Elliot moves, but in Yuko's direction. The opposite of where she should go. And so, Yuu makes a move. She fires a warning a shot. Both of them, right now, are glad to have quick reflexes. Because if Yuu hadn't shot just then, she wouldn't have at all. And Elliot, because if she hadn't moved to the right, that bullet would've ended up buried in her eye.
S
moke slowly exits the gun, and Yuko is still pointing it at Elliot. She's tired. She wants to shoot Elliot between the eyes right now, like the dog she is. Something is stopping her. She tells Elliot what she wants:
"The last person is Stelle. Leave. Or I'll personally 'escort' you out, right here, right now."
"Stelle? But oh, Yuko—" Elliot smiles. For some reason, it's disgustingly genuine looking. It takes Yuu back. It's the same look her Eli would give her, after she'd say something funny. Yuu wants this to stop. It'd be nice to go back. Braid her hair. Finally brush it.
But Elliot finishes her sentence. "—how do you think I found this place in the first place? You know I couldn't have stumbled upon it. Well, a little birdie whispered where this was to me. And it's weird, you know, that birdie resembled a moth more than anything!" Elliot finishes. Yuu's brow furrows at the realization. Wimsiii. Wimsiii. Oh.
Yuu looks at Elliot. There's something even worse in her eyes right now. It's not a black hole. It's not a predator, waiting to pounce. There's just something quiet. Something so ..steady? in her eyes right now.
What. does. she. want.
Did it take all of that. for Elliot to get to her point?
Yuu sighs, as Elliot keeps smiling at her, like she's waiting for her to say something. And so, Yuu asks:
"Do you have something else to sa—" Elliot cuts her off, "Don't you feel trapped?"
She tightens her grip on the revolver:
"What?" Yuko tries to think of all the things Eliott could mean by that; does she mean literally, in here? Or does—"Having to know that there's a higher power. That's getting more and more control over you, too. And you can't do anything about it."
"...You've actually gone crazy." but so has Yuko.
She knows what Elliot is talking about. That feeling, she knows it. She has known it since she was born. There was always something watching her, tracing her every move. And lately, especially since after what happened to the Jyuungle, Yuko's been feeling it more and more. There's something going on, something about to happen. What if— what if They do something to her? What if They did something to her?
Elliot brings her back to reality:
"Have I? And you're acting like you haven't either?" She looks around, "What's all of this the—" "If you're gonna go on some insane tangent, and then end by asking us to reconcile, you can go ahead and leave now. I won't accept."
"..." Elliot blinks back at her, trying to look as innocent as possible. She opens her mouth to say something, but closes it after a few seconds. Yuko crosses her arms and stands her ground; looking at Elliot as judgingly as possible.
Yuu sighs, realizing no matter what, Elliot isn't gonna be leaving. She assumes the person standing before her is out of words. But, as soft as ever, she hears:
"Do you miss it?" Elliot's voice is sickeningly calm, "Do you miss me? Do you miss us?" She says, approaching the barrel of the gun. Yuko goes to take a step back, but ultimately doesn't. Elliot's looking into Yuko's eyes. There's something to her, again — hope. That faint glimmer of it, contrasting with the almost black eyes.
Yuu sucks in a breath: "I don't."
"Ah..." Elliot looks for the signs that the stranger before her is lying. She doesn't find any. How sickening. Well.. obviously, Yuko just.. controlled herself.
"Elliot. Do you really, REALLY, think that after what you did, I would still care?” — she averts her gaze, looking at Elliot’s shoes, “because I don’t. I don’t fucking care. You— you ruined everything.” whatever face Elliot is making right now, she doesn’t want to see it. A calm and collected voice fills in the silence:
“Why should I care then, too?” — Elliot presses her forehead against the muzzle. The movement forces Yuko to look at her. Her eyes bore into Yuko’s, the smile she had a few moments ago gone. Yuu bites the inside of her mouth:
"I never asked you to. Maybe if you left, after.." she furrows her brows, "..after what happened, then I would've had some peace. For once." Yuko could shoot her right now. She won't. Elliot keeps staring at her, her expression neutral and unmoving. She sighs, and closes her eyes smiling:
"Why don't we get back on track." Yuko raises her eyebrows. She's a little surprised, because this means that for.. one of the first times, she actually made Elliot feel out of control in a conversation. She knows that insane bastard is a control freak.
Elliot straightens herself (as to have her forehead touch the muzzle, she had to bend down a whole lot, since Yuu isn't...the tallest...), and begins to speak:
"Like I said, something's happening. A seed has been planted, and it's close to sprouting. There's no doubt in my mind that it has something to do with Them." She checks if anyone's behind her. Now, Yuko's compelled to do that too. Is someone listening to them?
"Ah, I remembered, I was going to ask. You know how I learnt of them, but what about you? It's not like He told you too."
Yuko pauses, and replies deep in thought:
"Now that you mention it... I.." she goes to speak, but Something's stopping her. Her mouth is open, but the words won't escape it. She manages to choke out:
"... I don't remember. But there was someo—" before she can finish, Yuko feels.. sick. She sees spots in her vision, something purple. Elliot's eyes are too green. She takes a step back. There's someone behind Elliot, approaching. Ginger hair. Purple eyes. She remembers that, she was gonna say.. there was someone.. before..
...
She's out before her knees connect with the floor.
...
Well.. this isn't what Elliot was expecting to happen! But now, at least, she knows that there really was Someone listening. And that Someone really, really didn't want Yuko to say what she was gonna say. Hm!
She (lightly) kicks Yuko's head with her shoe for a reaction, but nothing happens. She's gonna have to wait for Yuu to wake up. Ugh. She grabs Yuko by the hair, and drags her, propping her up against the wall. As she turns to sit down, she catches something looking at her in the corner of her eye. ... Whatever that was, she for sure wasn't supposed to see it. It disappears as quick as it appeared. It was.. humane looking. A figure of some sorts. ..Ginger hair, if she saw it right.
Elliot didn't count, but around 10 minutes pass. 10 BORING minutes, that is! Elliot's a very honest person, so she's willing to admit, boredom is one of her only weaknesses, if not the only one! But eventually Yuko begins to murmur something, and she moves around a little. Though, the second she looks to her left, she actually wakes up (Elliot will give it to her, staring someone dead in the eyes like that probably gets most people on their feet). She takes a sitting-down-step back.
"..?!" Brows furrowed, she waits for Elliott to say.. anything, really. And she does:
"You just fainted. What were you g—" Yuu places a hand on her mouth, and states the obvious, "Well, you IDIOT, if I fainted out of nowhere, then you shouldn't hear what I had to say." Elliot blinks at her, "It's not that I shouldn't hear it. It's that They don't want me to hear it. Aren't you a rebel? Why not tell me?"
"When did I ever say I'm a rebel? You're in no place to assume things like that anyway. We're not friends." Bitter words roll of Yuko's tongue. The both of them wonder if that last part was really necessary. At this point it's just adding salt to the wound..
"Right. But still, are you really gonna let them treat you like that?" Yuu goes to say no, but.. it's what she's doing right now. There's a reluctant yes fighting with an even more reluctant no in her mind.
"Why'd you even come here? Boredom, or—" "Boredom! But, I had some things to talk with you about either way, so it's boredom with other reasons!" She inquires, smiling at Yuu.
"Did you tell me all of the things you wanted to say?" Yuko gets up, cleaning the dust off of her.
"Mmm.. there is something else. I've been hinting at it, but~" she kicks herself off of the ground, doing a little jump as she stands up, "I guess it's time to actually address it!" that cheery tone of voice always pissed Yuko off *so bad*.
"I'm all ears." She rolls her eyes, eyeing Elliot as she goes to stand in front of her.
"Like you said, we're not friends (or whatever), but.. that doesn't mean we can't be.." she smiles sheepishly at Yuu, "..allies?" Elliot subconsciously makes herself as small looking as possible. She leans down, looking up at Yuko for an answer. She receives none.
She turns around dramatically, "I mean— think about it! We both have things we want to find out, that the other very much might know about! Hell, if you're that salty, we don't even need to call it an alliance— just, a trade between two very capable people!" and turns back, even more dramatically, "Sure, we can do it on our own fairly fine, but the things the both of us can get out of this would be a GREAT help, right? You'd be stupid to refuse this offer!" ending her ramble, she eyes Yuu's face. Her expression is.. doubtful, but that's good! It means she's at least considering it.
" ..Things like what. What could I possibly want to know, that you know already?"
"Well.. You've built this place for a reason, right? That training area.. there's something you want to fight. This room - so many books, most very old looking. It's clear you want to fight something, but you don't know just enough about it. Yuu, I've been places. You lived.. ther— here, your entire life. I'm bound to know more about folktales and legends than you are, aren't I?" She smiles at Yuu. It's a decent explanation, for Yuu at least. Elliot's annoyingly good at coming to conclusions.
Yuko actually wants to say yes! But something whispers in her ear, don't do it, not because it'll result in horrible things. Possibly quite the opposite, actually. But because Yuu has no reason to satisfy her. Rather than that, she has reasons to make her unhappy. Reasons to make that little spark of hope fade from her eyes. Let her know, that in the end, they'll never go back to even a resemblance of what they had. And that it's all her fault. She was the one who lit the first tree. Maybe Yuko gave her the lighter, but she was the one who lit it. That's all that matters. So why should Yuu agree? Elliot said it herself, sure, it'd be a nice addition, but the both of them can live without it. At least Yuko can. She replies:
"I—I don't know. I don't." Elliots eyebrows furrow at this response, but she does her best to hide it.
"You don't know." The amount of dissepiment Elliot has on her face has to break some kind of record. She sighs.
"Yuu, I—" "Don't call me that." " ..What?"
"Don't call me Yuu. You don't deserve to call me that. Not anymore. My name is Yuko."
"Ah. Yuko, I don't want to be mean, but you need to grow, and move on."
" ..Move on? You think I'm just gonna fucking move on, when I haven't what, even gotten a goddamn apology?"
"An apology. An apology.
Right. Yuko, I am so terribly sorry, for burning down some worthless little shack after you murdered me. I'm SOOO sorry! If only I collected myself, after being slashed across the chest by my best friend, after looking at my reflection and— and seeing someone else. If only I collected myself!"
"...Is that all it fucking was to you? Just a 'worthless little shack'? Did it— did it ever even matter to you? What we had? Did it ever even cross your fucking mind, that the 'worthless little shack' you burnt down was something I considered to be my home? Our home? "
"Maybe I would've considered that if you pretended to care. About me. About us. You're painting me as a monster here. I— It's not like I don't care. I cared. But it's gone now. And so is that part of me that cared about it. We might not have the Jyuungle, but.. but we have us."
" 'We have us.' I don't have you anymore, Elliot. That person, that person with those bright green eyes, that person who might as well have been my whole world, That person died in the fire."
Yuu's starting to doubt if it really was just Elliot's fault.
"..."
"Got something else to say? Oh, please, I'm all ears."
Elliot's eyes glisten under the cold embrace of the soul lanterns. Yuko hopes hers don't.
"Then.. You don't want to make it work. You don't even want to try."
Sharp, Yuko's voice cuts through the air.
"No.
Not if it's the two of us."