Work Text:
Navarre stared up at the demon before them, who towered above their party with both pairs of arms crossed over his chest and a smug smirk on his blue face. Navarre grinned recklessly back, knowing fully well that the demon was stronger than her, stronger than her entire team together, and yet she couldn’t show defeat. He was only the beginning, a first step on their journey to defeat the demons and if they couldn’t even stand up to this, then how could they go further?
The other hero’s team had already fled from the place, and while Navarre couldn’t help but consider them cowards for giving up so quickly, she understood why they fled. This battle was certainly unwinnable. But Navarre wanted to show to the others that they could do it, that this wasn’t a fight doomed from the start, nor was this a war that could not be won.
The dry dusty air flowed across the battlefield, framed by the sun as it crept slowly higher. Hibiki, brave, loyal Hibiki, jumped forward, slamming her sword into the giant’s shoulder. It cut through the flesh, leaving bright red blood flowing forth from the wound, but it was no more than a toothpick compared to the demon. Hibiki yanked at the sword for a bit, her eyes widening as she couldn’t remove it before she was flung across the battlefield like no more than a fly.
That was what they were to the demons weren’t they? Annoying flies that nipped at their skin and could be killed with only a single swing of their hands.
Navarre rushed to Hibiki’s side when she landed, her heart skipping a beat when Hibiki laid there for a moment, her eyes closed and brown hair spread around her soundlessly. Navarre wanted them to win, but at this rate, they would all die. For a moment she could imagine it, Hibiki spread across the ground, blood pooling from her thin frame, like an angel that had tragically fallen from the heavens.
“Are you alright?” Navarre asked, her hand lightly touching Hibiki’s shoulder.
“You hyumans are so weak!” The demon laughed above them, but he didn’t move to attack them. Navarre cannot help but be thankful for his honor, even if she knows it was likely only because he considers them so beneath himself.
“Hibiki!” Hazuki called, her eyes wide as she rushed over as quickly as she could. She was no front line fighter, but her pink hair and fancy clothes were matted with dust from her attempts to help. Reaching out, Hazuki dropped to her knees as she lightly placed her hands on Hibiki’s body, casting a healing spell, with light softly shining from under her palms as it covered Hibiki in a soft glow.
Hibiki groaned and she raised a hand to her head which surely must be throbbing from the beating. Blood trickled from a shallow cut on her forehead and Navarre frowned, knowing that it was likely Hibiki was concussed from the throw. Hazuki’s magic is no more than patchwork in the end. Any deeper injuries Hibiki had will have to wait until this is over to heal, once she has the chance to see proper healers.
Clenching her hand around the handle of her sword, Navarre stood to face the demon again, not wanting him to grow bored and strike while Hazuki attempted to heal Hibiki. Baila likely had the same thought, his staff pointing at the demon while he prepared to send flames careening across the battlefield.
The demon who didn’t even flinch when Navarre leapt up at him, simply batting her away with one hand and Baila’s fireball with his other. Neither of their attacks even marred the surface of his skin in the end. It was a relentless, endless fight.
Hibiki was back up soon enough, and Navarre took the opportunity to duck away to Baila. Normally she would never consider this action, but if this was the only way that Hibiki and the rest could get away safely, then she would make the same decision each and every time. She never would have made it this far or gotten as strong as she did without them. They brought her out from the lonely life she had chosen into one filled with laughter and warmth, and it was something she could never repay them for.
“Baila, the spell please,” Navarre said, trusting him to know exactly what she was referring to.
He looked up at her, eyes widening slightly, before he steeled his face and a frown tugged at his lips. Baila had discussed this with Navarre before the fight and he knew exactly what the spell did as well as why she was asking for it. He could see how this fight was going.
Reaching into his satchel he pulled out a rectangular piece of paper with a spell written on it in dark red, which Navarre snatched from him and quickly slapped onto the hilt of her sword. For a moment, her sword gleamed like a shard of a mirror reflecting the sun.
“And the Crimson Rose?” Navarre held out her hand.
Here Baila hesitated, fingers playing with the bag he had pulled the spell from and looking away from Navarre in silence. Navarre frowned, understanding his hesitation, but knowing that there wasn’t another option, and she was perfectly aware that Baila understood that as well. She stood there, her hand outstretched, but there wasn’t much time to chat on the battlefield. Each moment she waited for Baila to hand over the Crimson Rose was another second closer to Io snuffing out Hibiki’s life, or that of another of their teammates.
“It’s fine Baila. I made my decision,” Navarre said, letting her voice drop in volume as if it was a secret between the two of them. After all, only the two of them knew what Navarre was planning.
Baila sighed and reached into a bag opposite the one which had contained the spell that was cast onto Navarre’s sword. It doesn’t take him long to find what he was looking for, pulling out an unnaturally perfect pink rose that shimmered with the magic woven into it. Navarre didn’t hesitate and snatched it from him, where she let it rest in her hand for a moment. It felt like the slightest breeze could slip it from her fingers.
“What’s that?” Hazuki asked, coming over to see why the two of them were just standing there and not fighting. Leaving Hibiki alone to the mercy of the enemy.
“Just something that will help me.” Navarre smiled at Hazuki and crushed the rose, which crumpled in her hand as if made of finely spun sugar. Soft pink particles flowed around her, dancing off her skin.
The flower would give her strength at a cost. It would kill her for the strength she obtained from it, but she would not let herself hesitate to give up her life. Not if it would save the life of her teammates, and certainly not if it would allow Hibiki to continue to live on. It was cruel, Navarre knew, to force her teammates to live without her at the sacrifice of her life, but she would not be alive to deal with their anger and disappointment.
Navarre turned towards the demon, her sword flicking out beside her as she strode forward, a vicious grin alighting on her face. Hibiki was on the ground again, kneeling as she gasped for breath, her face hidden by her long brown hair, dusty with dirt and red with streaks of blood. There was a silence to the battlefield as Navarre approached the demon, walking past the slumped form of Hibiki, sword at the ready. The demon only grinned as she got closer.
Suddenly, the world began to spin, which Navarre assumed was the rose finally taking effect, as she hadn’t read any records describing the sensation of the power of the rose flowing through them. Not that those who used the Crimson Rose technique lived long enough to leave records. Navarre pushed herself to continue forward even though the world appeared to be spiraling around her, and the edges of her vision darkened. She expected strength to flow through her limbs, but instead it began to feel like weights were tied to her, pulling her back down to earth.
She tried to raise her sword and point it at the demon, but he blurred before her eyes, appearing out of focus and distant. The tip of her sword fell as her arms grew too weak to support it, and soon after Navarre followed as her knees buckled. She crashed to the ground slamming into the dirt but she couldn’t even feel it. Gritting her teeth, she tried to get her limbs to move once more but she felt detached from her body, and her sluggish arms refused to move, failing her.
Am I really so worthless that I will die without even getting to defend my teammates? Navarre thought as her eyes slid shut against her will. Am I this worthless to Hibiki?
Everything fell into darkness.
Navarre slowly pried open her eyes, and was greeted with a blur of brown overhead and a sharp light that stabbed at her. Not bothering to fight the exhaustion that pulled at her eyes, she let them slip shut as she slowly tried to pull herself together. However, the thoughts left her as quickly as they came.
Where am I… Somewhere… I was fighting? Navarre slowly began to go through what she last remembered, though the memory felt distant and blurred. Who was I fighting… or maybe what? Blue… And a toothpick sword… Hibiki…
Navarre’s eyes jolted open and she tried to push herself up, but her limbs were weak and gravity yanked her back down as she slumped on her side. The world spun around her as Navarre finally began to make out the wooden walls of a small room, decorated with simple homely furniture. Light poured in from a nearby window, making the room much too bright for Navarre’s eyes, but she fought to keep them open.
“Navarre!” A voice called out from her other side, familiar and sweet on her ears.
“Hi-” Navarre tried to say but her mouth was dry and the word stopped as she coughed. Pain filled her throat but she pushed it away and shoved herself up with wobbling arms to look over her right shoulder.
Hibiki stood there, framed in the light of another window, brown hair carefully falling around her and dark colored eyes staring at Navarre like pools of obsidian. Navarre didn’t know how much time had passed, but Hibiki’s hair was a ruffled mess and her clothes were stained with blood and dirt.
With her throat too dry to speak with and unsure what she would say anyway, Navarre openly stared at Hibiki. Carefully, slowly, Navarre adjusted her aching body, leaning her back against the headboard of the bed, aiming to try and pull it off so that she would still look cool, even while knowing what kind of mess she must look like to Hibiki. There was never a moment where she didn’t try to show off to Hibiki and to appear more pulled together than she actually was.
“Navarre!” Hibiki broke out of her trance of watching Navarre and leapt at her, slamming her back against the headboard.
Navarre winced from the thud of her head hitting the wooden edge of the bed, feeling her body scream as her sore muscles made themselves known. But it was easy to ignore when her arms were full of Hibiki, who was warm against her chest and with soft brown hair that tickled her exposed skin. For a second, she was endlessly glad that her outfit was so revealing, as she lingered on the touch of Hibiki’s skin against her own.
After a long moment in silence, Hibiki finally pulled away from Navarre, with unshed tears in Hibiki’s eyes like glimmering highlights that Navarre couldn’t look away from. A heavy feeling pulled at her chest, and it felt like she would be crushed under the weight for a moment. Slowly raising her hand, Navarre cupped Hibiki’s face and carefully brushed away one of the tears with her thumb, letting the dewy wetness cling to her skin.
With a wince, Navarre pulled her hand away, clutching her fist to her chest and she turned away from Hibiki, unable to meet her eyes. Hibiki sat down on a chair next to the bed, her shoulders slumping as she watched Navarre, who was pretending there was something interesting on the wall across from her.
“I’m glad you’re alive,” Hibiki eventually said.
“…Sorry,” Navarre responded with a wince, her throat feeling like she had swallowed a lit torch.
Hibiki sighed and grabbed a cup of water from the table next to the bed, handing the glass over to Navarre. Navarre’s eyes flickered to it, then up at Hibiki’s face, before reaching for it with a nod. The liquid was soothing to her throat, but it also made her more aware of how scratched up and dry it was, and well, she couldn’t recall what had happened during the fight to destroy it that badly. In the end, all Navarre had done was faint, and probably rather dramatically.
“Please don’t do that again,” Hibiki said with a soft frown and furrow of her eyebrows. “I really care for you. I don’t want to lose you.”
Navarre held the cup in her hands, sliding her fingers over the glass slowly in a measured repeating motion. How was she supposed to respond to this? She didn’t want Hibiki to die, but she didn’t expect to be around long enough to have to explain herself or her reasoning. Baila’s face flashed across her mind, and she found herself tightly clutching the glass with the sudden realization that he must have tricked her and swapped out the rose for something that made her faint instead.
“How is everyone else?” Navarre asked, trying to step around the previous conversation.
“They’re all fine. The demons let us go, the uh, smaller one wasn’t happy about it but the one with four arms said it wasn’t honorable to keep fighting us in that state.”
Navarre relaxed at the explanation. If any of their group had died, she would have hunted down the demons with relentless fury, and probably would have dragged Baila along with her to make him suffer a little for knocking her out.
But hadn’t she almost left the others?
“We’re weak,” Hibiki suddenly said.
“Huh?” Navarre’s eyes snapped over to Hibiki with a tilt of her head.
“Baila told me what you had tried to do.”
That traitor, Navarre thought.
“While you were out, I was trying to figure out why you had done that. Why did you feel the need to. And it’s because we’re weak. Because I’m weak.”
“No,” Navarre interrupted Hibiki and slowly reached a hand out, sliding her fingers into Hibiki’s hand and twining them together, Navarre’s thumb brushing along skin. “I was weak to have to resort to such methods.”
Hibiki seemed to crumble under the touch, her eyes softly lidded over. “I was scared. I didn’t want to lose you. And if you’re weak, then I’m also weak. We haven’t learned anything since we fought the black calamity spider. No one may have died this time, but that was due to luck, not skill, and if we want to continue to live and fight to protect, then we need to get stronger. I don’t want to ever see you have to try and sacrifice yourself again.”
“I’m sorry,” Navarre finally said, repeating her earlier sentiment, but this time trying to project to Hibiki how much she meant the words. Navarre tried to pull her hand away from Hibiki, but her grip tightened, not letting Navarre slip away. “I didn’t mean to make you worry, or to scare you. I thought we were going to die, and I had to at least try to let the rest of you survive. While I cannot promise that I won’t try to protect you or the others, I at least will try to look for alternative ways that aren’t a suicide attack.”
“Then, I’ll just have to become strong enough that you won’t need to protect me.”
Navarre’s head snapped up to look over at Hibiki. A soft smile was on Hibiki’s face as she looked at Navarre, like the rising sun casting warm light across the room.
Slowly, ever so cautiously, Navarre reached a hand out and lightly cupped Hibiki’s face again, letting her hand slide behind her head to tangle in her soft hair. Moving hurt, and Navarre’s sore muscles strained with the motion as she leaned towards Hibiki, bringing their faces close enough that their breath mingled. Hibiki’s eyes widened and Navarre paused, watching Hibiki carefully as each of their gazes lingered on the other.
With a sigh, Navarre moved to pull back, her fist that wasn’t touching Hibiki’s warm skin clenching in the sheets on the bed. But Hibiki didn’t let Navarre retreat, as she closed the distance between the two of them, her eyes sliding shut.
Navarre paused as soft lips touched against hers, and she paused, her mind going blank as she focused the sensation. It was brief, no more than a heartbeat, and just a light brush of lips, before Hibiki was pulling back as her eyes cautiously opened. Navarre was slower to react, but she let her hand slide off and down through Hibiki’s hair as she lingered on the feeling for a moment, tracing it in her memory.
The two of them stared into each other’s eyes for a moment, before a blush spread across Hibiki’s face and she turned away. Navarre just smirked, letting her tongue lick across her lips. For now, she would be patient and wouldn’t push for more, but a bright feeling filled her, as if she had trapped Hibiki’s warmth in her chest.
“Just, don’t die, alright? I care for you.” Hibiki eventually said, still not looking at Navarre.
“Hmm, well I can’t die now. Not until I’ve sampled your lips some more.”
“Navarre!” Hibiki snapped, turning to look at Navarre, her face flushed with red.
Before Hibiki had time to move away again, Navarre leaned forward and pressed a chase kiss to Hibiki’s forehead. This only resulted in Hibiki sputtering, unable to form words at Navarre’s shamelessness while Navarre lightly laughed and carefully maneuvered herself to face Hibiki.
“Then, I’m looking forward to continuing to fight alongside you.” Navarre reached her hand forward in a fist, carefully stopping between the two of them.
“Me too.” Hibiki’s smile was bright as she curled her hand, lightly touching it against Navarre’s fist.