Work Text:
It was a cloudy afternoon. There was almost no sound except for the clicking of Nyxes far away, who appeared from black magic yet again after some time and now lurked nearby, ready to destroy everything on their way. Fade had just left the hometown, filled with determination to save the world and deal with Queen Yunona. To uncover the full truth of what had happened and bring peace to the land.
...kinda.
It was a little bit hard to remain steady, especially in a situation where she lost her calm life in a matter of minutes. If it wasn't for the strange thing inside his eye that called itself "a Player", she would be totally dead at the starting point when tragedy had just happened. Luckily, the Player was handling with ease, destroying enemies on their way and even speaking to Fade friendly. It was a start of a friendly connection, and she could only hope that it will remain that way until the end.
Her thoughts suddenly stopped when she finally realized how exhausted she was, which wasn't surprising. Even if the Player was skillful, her body wasn't made for long runs and battles. And "player" didn't bother walking when they could run freely.
"Wait..." suddenly said Fade, panting and sweating. "I think...my body is tired..."
Player reluctantly stopped and after a while she felt a voice in her head. Or from her eye? She didn't notice much.
"We can take a rest here. It's getting dark"
Fade let out a sigh of relief. "Thank you. I think we can stay here." Fade looked around at the scenery. A lonely field with no crops left – only the tall grass, not too far from their point was a place where they saw the city. It could be dangerous to sleep here but at least she knew the Player was on alert most of the time and is able to fight back. "It will be quite hard to sleep on a rough ground..."
"I can make a small camp for you." Player's voice echoed once again.
"You can do that?" Fade asked with interest. She didn't except that the entity in her head knew such skills.
"I just hope there was will be no hard minigame for that." Player quickly answered. For some reason, she could hear the voice's slightest giggle.
"What's a minigame?" Fade immediately said back.
"Don't bother too much with what I say." Player ended the conversation and walked (actually walked, not ran!) towards a forest nearby which they passed by just a few time go. She watched how the voice sliced the tree with their sword, then picked one at a time and made a bonfire. Then, they grabbed different leaves and moss to make a makeshift bad. Fade blushed at the corner of her ears to such gentleness towards her desires. Maybe the entiry had more humanity than she thought.
Finally, after on hour, she regained the small control she had back and sat on a makeshift bed, warming her hands next to the fire as the first night wind started. Luckily, Player covered the bonfire to prevent it from fading. Just when she was about to thank the voice, a soft sound of something in the grass startled her. The Player immediately took over her body once again, stood up with a jump and took out their weapon, pointing at the place where the sound was.
"I can slash it right now." The voice said with firm tone.
"W-wait." Fade mumbled. "Maybe we should wait until it comes out? What if its an innocent animal?" She suggested.
"There are no animals. And you're low on hp." The Voice argued back. She almost forgot that she was tired AND they got low hp from the last fight and had no healing shards left. However, something in her gut still whispered with the words "don't hurt it".
"Please, let's not hurt it just yet. Make a step back at least. " She said with pleading tone. The voice seemed to pause for a moment before sighing(?) and saying:
"Don't say I didn't warn you."
The waited a second. Another. Maybe a full minute until a rustling sound grew closer. Player gripped their weapon tighter. Fade tried to persuade herself that she didn't make a mistake. At the end, the grass broke and the thing that came out....had paws, fur and small ears. A gray kitten, barely 5 months old, who was sniffing the air and glaring at the "vessel" Fade tried to say something but suddenly-
"AWWW LOOK IT'S A KITTYYYY" voice yelled with happiness, hiding a weapon and crawling down to the cat to pet it. The kitten seemed to not understand that the human next to him isn't human entirely now and simply purred, getting all the attention.
Meanwhile, Fade's mind short-circuited.
An entity that killed swiftly and mercilessly... now cooed and acted like an overexcited child over a kitten.
"I... didn't know you are a cat person." Fade finally said. In truth, she was also extremely happy to see something bright and innocent in this mess of a world. And seeing how gently the voice is to a kitten, it makes her smile as a cat person too.
"I love cats!" Player chirped. "Can we take it with us?"
"Um, are you sure? The enemies are strong and it will be hard to protect it AND keep it well fed." Fade answered with a hint of concern.
After her words, they heard a cries of mother cat looking for her lost child.
"Aaand there's its mama." Fade added.
"Guess you're right. We shouldn't divide them." Voice agreed and let it go run away back to its family. Mama cat came to them and with one move scooped the child in her mouth and hid back in tall grass.
The silence that followed after was nice and cozy. It was hard to believe for a second that the world was in danger.
"Hey...thank you." Fade mumbled, looking at the sky which began to become more and more darker.
"For what?"
"...For being here." Fade said sincerely. Her mind finally got a rest as she felt her eyes close. But she wasn't worried. She knew she had a friend at her side who will keep her safe.