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The ‘monster of the week’, as Jason put it, was a particularly dangerous one. Several reports of teams turning against themselves after its poison took effect had deterred all but the most loose-cannon teams from chasing it. Team Biscuit, of course, was the first pick by the Adventure Society to take on the horrifying beast that nobody else could kill. They were sitting in a modest restaurant in the nearest town to the last sighting.
“What is this thing anyways?” Neil looked over the contract again, turning it at an angle as if the action would make it make sense.
“It’s a sharzeliir.” Clive told him, as if that cleared anything up. The elf looked at him as if to say ‘ Are you serious? ’
“Thanks. That cleared it up.” Before an argument over communication could break out, Jason chimed in.
“I’m not actually sure what that is either, what does it do?” As soon as he said that, it was clear that the intention to avoid in-group tension failed miserably. Everyone turned to look at him.
“Jason.”
“Yes, Neil?”
“You accepted this contract.”
“I mean, yeah, but I did it on the team's behalf.”
“You accepted this contract without knowing what we would be hunting.”
“I suppose that statement could be considered correct.”
“Jason?”
“....Yes, Neil?”
“Have I told you recently that you don’t think nearly as much as you should?”
“Not recently enough, apparently.” Jason flashed him a trademark ridiculous grin. “I knew we’d be able to handle it, though.”
“You’ll be the best at it.” Clive piped up from where he was sitting. Everyone’s attention was now trained on him.
“A sharzeliir is a monster that uses a poison to make its victim hallucinate a nightmare. A literal nightmare, mind you. The same kind you would have when you’re asleep. Since nobody has been able to get close enough to report how it inflicts its poison, and it probably won't affect you, you'll have the best chance of killing it.” Clive looked at Jason, who was gazing, theatrically sadly, into his glass after the comment about his immunity. Humphrey shifted to better face Jason.
“It’s named after a wizard from children’s stories, it’s said he would roam around forcing people to live out, as Clive said, a nightmare. The story is mostly used to scare children into doing their chores, though.” Humphrey shuddered at the memories of his older siblings scaring him into doing their chores. “Mother certainly was willing to go with it if it got me to train when I was being belligerent.”
“I did that to Sophie once. Well, tried to. She just told me that she would fight him.” Belinda glanced over at Sophie, who just shrugged.
“So, what's the plan?” Jason clasped his hands on the table in front of him “You all distract it while I go after it, and just hope you don't kill each other while I'm doing that?”
“We'll try our best to stay out of range, but we might need more physical power than you have to kill it.” Concentration was clear on Humphrey's face as he looked at the team. “Sophie, if Jason can't kill it, it'll be on you. You're quick enough that you should be alright.” Sophie nodded nonchalantly, as if she knew that she could outrun anything. Belinda rested her chin in her hands. Only Sophie could have noticed the worry on her face, the one person who knew her better than herself.
The team packed up early the next morning to begin their hunt.
A surge of aura blasted from the monster. In the split second that everything was disguised by it, a barb shot out from the quills in its side. Too fast for anyone to see, and hidden by the aura attack, it hit its target in Sophie. Being a Bronze-ranker, she barely felt it. As a strange, sandy fog rolls in, Sophie whirls around to investigate the source. What she finds instead is the hard packed earth giving way to gorgeous marble tiles, white swirled with green and flecks of gold. It leads to a beautiful, opulent kitchen, not unlike the ones she and Belinda would break into. This isn’t a robbery, though. She doesn’t know how she knows, but she does. She takes a few tentative steps forwards. Around a corner, to an unseen section of this false house, a voice calls to her. It could be Jason. It could be Humphrey. It could be any of the sleazebags she has met in her life. A piercing sensation stabs at her brain stem, she knows something here is deeply wrong. Missing. She calls out for the one name she can hold on to in this un-reality. The voice laughs. Not menacingly or mockingly, but gentle. As if she’s simply forgotten something.
“Belinda? She’s out with-” A name slips out of the hidden hallway. Jory? That makes sense. Cold shoots behind her eyes at the thought of someone else playing watchdog. Images flash through her mind like memories she never experienced, or dreams she never had. Someone else clasping Belinda around the waist, both of them smiling. A home for her and someone who isn’t Sophie. A trail ahead, dismally dark without her silver lantern to walk with her. A weight settles over Sophie’s shoulders. The knowledge that her best friend, the person she loves more than anything, the one who stood by her through the worst of everything, has made a place for herself that only had Sophie in the periphery. Having a team made Sophie think idly about a life with someone else, back before entering this foggy house. In this haze, she is being hit full-force in the chest with the true prospect. Life with her love putting her on the fringe. Sophie turns around to see the tiles scratched up from a wooden walkway thrown down to it. A form she would remember through divinely-instigated amnesia floats around the deck of a ship, finally back to shore. She doesn’t come down to see Sophie, though. She stays on board, preparing for wherever she goes next. Countless choices and travels with those curls bouncing all alone. The fog starts to dissipate, being replaced with kicked-up sand and bright light. She starts screaming the name that she knows won’t forsake her.
Sophie was jerked back to reality, not by the hot blood of the monster spurting out of its neck, but by the arm around her shoulder and the hand cradling her head. Warm sand crawled into her clothes. As she blinked the sun out of her eyes, she caught a grasp on what had happened. Jason was dramatically twirling his dagger around his fingers while Humphrey stood over the beast, bloody sword still in hand. Neil threw healing spells at them both, and Clive was hunched over the still twitching body and scribbling down notes. That left only one team member to be holding her.
“Lindy?” Sophie moved from where she was sat so she could look over. Belinda grabbed her face and moved it around to inspect it. Apparently being satisfied, she threw herself back at Sophie, who instinctively wrapped her arms around her friend as she knocked them both to the ground. They lay there like that for several minutes while the rest of the team politely pretended not to notice them. Eventually, Belinda spoke.
“Soph…” The arms around Sophie somehow tightened even more “What did you see? I’ve… I’ve never heard you so scared.” She adjusted herself so she was propped up on one elbow, face directly above Sophie’s. Her bright eyes reflected years of worry the two had spent on each other. That face was the one that was in all of Sophie’s youthful daydreams. The two of them, as a pair for their lives, it felt so right. Sophie reached up and cupped Belinda’s face with one hand, using the other to ghost over her ribs with her fingertips. She simply replied with
“You left.” The eyes above her widened in realisation. All Belinda could do was flop down with her face in Sophie’s shoulder and whisper incoherent apologies. A kiss on the temple from Sophie was met with a light one on the jaw from Belinda, as if she was scared that she’d misjudged the situation.
“I’m not going anywhere.” Belinda pulled back and her eyes flicked across Sophie’s face, eventually settling on her lips.
“Good.” Sophie craned her head up, moving achingly slow to Belinda’s lips. When they connected, it felt not like a firecracker, but like a warm coal. A soft ember, gentle and warm and right. They were interrupted by Jason loudly clearing his throat.
“I’m all for finding love on the battlefield, but I’ll be honest, this is getting a little bit awkward. We’re third, fourth, fifth, and sixth wheeling over here” He brazenly looked the still battle-weary Humphrey up and down “Though I’m not opposed to making less wheels… happen… Yeah, this is falling apart on me.”
“Sophie!” Clive called out “How did it get you? It couldn’t have been gas, but none of its tails could have hit-” he was cut off by Sophie violently ripping out a quill from its side.
“Aura attack. Disguised this.” She tossed it at him, and he managed to dodge the sharp poison-y tip. Jason and Humphrey nodded, as if what they were thinking was confirmed. Sophie turned back to Belinda, still on the ground, and reached down. Belinda accepted the offered hand and was pulled up with much more force than necessary, launching her directly into Sophie’s waiting form. She knew it was on purpose.