Chapter Text
The Gestral Village was - to say the least - a curious place. It’s buildings were randomly built, as if they had been thoughtlessly thrown around and hoped they would work well together. Still, even with Golgra’s enormous sculpture looming above them, it felt welcoming and warm, a nice change from all the battling and sorrow.
Sciel waved goodbye, shouting her last thank you as she left the Chief’s House to meet with the rest of the group of expeditioners. Cracking her neck side to side, she spoke up. “So, we head to Esquie’s?”
Lune turned to Sciel, lost in thought as she stared at a small group of gestral bullying a big one with a fascinated face. “Golgra said it’s not that far away from the village. If we leave now, we should be able to get there before nighttime,” Her gaze moved onto a gestral that stared at the floor silently. “What is he even doing?” she murmured to herself before continuing. “Huh. With the shortcut they provided it should be faster and safer.”
“Actually,” Gustave spoke as he pointed at the gestral bazaar with his non-prosthetic hand. “I thought we could use this chance to find some supplies. All of our provisions are lost.” His eyes roamed along the colourful merchants, pointedly evading Lune’s eyes.
With a small smile on her face, Sciel quickly caught on Gustave’s plan. “That’s not a bad idea. They do retrieve all kind of crap so I’m sure there’s something useful to find,” she threw an arm around Maelle’s shoulders pulling the girl close. “Plus I don’t think they will deny anything to the current Arena Champion!” Maelle rolled her eyes but still smiled at Sciel. “I would prefer not to die of hunger. As the youngest I would be forced to feed on all of you and Gustave has put on some weight…”
A snort leaves Gustave’s mouth. “Fat is necessary as much as is protein! Your body will burn it first in case of need!” He turns to Lune. “I think you’re the only one responsible enough to use our chroma wisely. Why don’t you take Maelle with you and look around? She’s good with them.”
Lune looked unconvinced. For any lumièran, time was a precious thing that shouldn’t be wasted. However, Gustave was right; they had no food, nothing to sleep on, nor even a damn bar of soap to get rid of the dirt. She finally conceded, knowing that they couldn’t rely on their pictos for everything. “Fine,” she waved with her hand towards the bazaar. “Shall we?” Maelle nodded and headed to the first stall curious to see what they could find.
Sciel and Gustave watched the pair leave on their mission. Tilting her head to the side, Sciel broke the silence. “I never knew you could such a subtle manipulator Gustave.” He chuckled, poking her friend’s side. “Well, I learned from two of the best in Lumière,” his voice took on a serious not as he kept speaking. “I also feel like I owe her.”
They followed the shopping women from a distance, listening to Maelle as she addressed Lune, who looked at the young girl apologetically.
“You did not just call me a patate.”
“It’s just so they understand.”
They shared a smile, laughing at the indignation that dripped from Maelle’s words. Gustave’s semblance didn't take long before it turned somber. “I gave up, you know? I was there, in a forest and then - I. You know, then I was surrounded by-” he kept going, stumbling over his words.
Placing a hand on his arm, Sciel halted. “Sentences Gustave, use them.” There’s no bite behind her words, just a small friendly push to help him organize his thoughts. He grinned sheepishly as he closed his eyes. “I found the rest of our expedition death. I think the nevrons threw them like trash," A pause. "Maybe that’s how I survived? They thought I was dead like the rest and just lost me on their way.”
He stood still, staring into the distance, memories still fresh in his mind. The gore surrounding him, the sickening sound of his feet walking over their remains, the acrid smell. “I just gave up. I was ready to just…let go.”
He didn’t need to explain what he meant. If someone could understand desperation, that was Sciel.
“But she stopped me. If she hadn’t I would have never found Maelle. I would have given up on her. On the expedition,” he continued.
Sciel turned around, searching with her gaze for the other women. They were currently speaking to some kind of gestral doctor. A very, very, lazy doctor.
“I was also an asshole to her,” Gustave stated, cringing at himself as he recalled his hard words thrown at Lune. “I pretty much told her the beach was her fault and,” he slid a hand over his face. “I think she believes so.”
“Merde Gustave…”
She stared at Lune’s back with sadness. Grief and pain had been a constant in her life, making it easy for her to sense suffering on other people. She had been their charter, it had been her idea to travel to that beach. No one could have known what would happen once they reached the Continent, not even Lune. It was unfair to blame her.
And yet, she had pushed forward through her guilt and pain and kept going forward while shouldering the lost of most of their expedition.
Lune had always been a great mystery to Sciel. At times an unstoppable tempest that moved mountains, at times the quiet murmur of a hidden brook. The confusion that her absence had left after their meeting at the crooked tower had never fully left Sciel, even after joining the Expedition Academy. The vulnerable woman with a sweet gaze that she had gotten to meet in that quiet room had never resurfaced again. Instead, a figure of resolution and conviction stood in her place, cold and unflinching but steady and reliable.
Only by staring for a long time she could rarely see the hidden cracks on the surface.
“I gave up too Gustave. I was willing to spend the last year of my life punching old people, remember?” She nudged Gustave softly. “But now there’s four of us. We have the Lumina Converter, we have Lune’s and your brain and we have Maelle who has turned into an unstoppable warrior.”
Her fingers grasped a lock of hair, wiggling its burnt tips at Gustave.
“Oh, oh. You think that’s bad?” He pointed at his face, side to side. “Once she burnt half of my moustache! I had to spend two weeks - two weeks - with my face fully shaved! Emma wouldn’t stop teasing me about it. Said I looked like a toddler’s butt.”
“I remember! Sophie was horrified, said she felt like a cradle-snatcher.”
Slowly, their somber mood dissipated being replaced for a more hopeful one as they walked close to the other two.
“Plus, be glad it wasn’t Lune. The last time I dueled with her I couldn’t feel my good hand for hours,” Gustave spoke as he shook his right hand in the air.
“You know you could have tried yourself, right?”
“Please, I’m a gentleman. Ladies first,” he deadpanned before giving Sciel a loopsided smile.
“Charming.”
Waving her arm, Maelle called for them, catching their attention. “You two! We got some stuff! Stop procrastinating and come help us! Otherwise I’m going to trade you two for this one!” She yelled as she pointed at a gestral that twirled on his hands on the floor.
Sciel’s gaze met Lune’s for a short moment, before she hid it behind a curtain of her dark hair. In that moment, Sciel promised to herself to keep an eye on the group, to keep them all from their own ghosts. Maybe there’s only four of them left, maybe they won’t get too far but they should nonetheless give their best and not succumb to grief.
Not again, she thinks.
Never again.