Chapter Text
Stay together, and don’t die. Watch each other’s backs- I’ll find you.
The words of Desscaras pulsed through Ichi’s mind like a heartbeat as he dragged his feet across the forest floor. His left arm clutched tightly at his opposite side, holding out until it was safe for him to be vulnerable. His right arm held his knife steady.
Watch each other’s backs- Ichi took it to heart as he gazed in front of him into the darkness. He vaguely saw Gokuraku’s back. No Kumugi, but he knew that she was right in front of Gokuraku, being led protectively by the shoulders. Focusing on them distracted him from the pain, even if just a little.
For the past few hours, they had been lost in this dark forest. It was home to a hostile majik which had been haunting it since its manifestation, and it was the duty of Team Desscaras as the Mantinel’s official Anti-Human-Hater Majik Squad to handle it.
From what Kumugi had written and what Ichi had observed, this majik was small, but dangerous. Fog billowed for acres around wherever it went; it struck fatal blows to its victims while they were disoriented, and made quick escapes. It targeted and killed solo and small-group travellers navigating the woods, dozens of them in total. Their bodies were found with jagged gashes in random places, and all died of blood loss from the inflicted wounds. Most if not all of the victims would have survived, but medical attention was always too far away . The strikes were fast and forceful enough to shatter bone and collapse organs. The travellers killed by the majik suffered immensely in their last moments.
It was a horrifying majik, with little known about it other than that it was murderous. The thing was so fast there wasn’t even an accurate visual description. Ichi itched to kill it quickly, so the people it victimized could rest.
He tripped on a branch and nearly toppled over. Catching himself, Ichi bared his teeth in pain but made no noise. He looked back up to Gokuraku and Kumugi, and could hear them whispering to each other. They exchanged words of comfort that neither of them really believed.
It was all so tiring. They had been in and out of the majik’s fog for an entire stretch of sunlight, standing back to back with eyes darting. More backup would mean more targets, so they were alone in this. At dusk Desscaras had selfishly leapt off in pursuit of the majik, promising to find the other three later and warning them to keep each other safe. She was still getting the hang of being in a team, but then again so was Ichi. The three watched her white clothes blend into the black of the night, and within seconds the thick fog from the majik disappeared with her.
In the lonely hours since then they had been in the fog twice more, still with no sign of Desscaras. They couldn’t stop moving- the majik was too mobile, and if Ichi had a chance to acquire the thing he wouldn’t hesitate. But they were scared, they were exhausted, and since their last encounter with the thing, Ichi was bleeding and finding it hard to stay on his feet.
Still, he trudged on at the back of the group. He had to stay strong. If not for himself, then for the other two. If things went right then he wouldn’t be in pain much longer.
—
It was truly terrifying. Lost for hours, with no path of escape and no assurance of safety. Desscaras was gone. Kumugi trembled under Gokuraku’s gentle grip. Ichi stayed to the back. It was dark; none of their footsteps were certain and every rustle of the forest around them made their hearts flutter. Gokuraku paused his walking, stilling Kumugi with him and checking over his shoulder for Ichi.
He was there, but a few paces behind. He had been a few paces behind for quite the while, now. Gokuraku furrowed his eyebrows at Ichi and wondered why he was acting so out of turn. Before now he had paid it little mind; they had all been at this losing game for hours and were bone tired. But the way Ichi had been slowly deflating since their last encounter with the majik made him worry.
They watched on as Ichi huffed and wobbled the few feet back from them. He struggled to catch his breath as he put an alarming amount of energy into just standing upright.
He was probably tired, like they all were. In need of support and too used to being alone to ask for it. He knew the feeling.
“Mugi, I think Icchan needs a break.” he whispered downwards to Kumugi, whose shoulders were still underneath his hands. He let go of her as she twisted around to peer past his shoulder. “If I carry him to let him sleep, you need to hold my hand so we don’t get separated.” It was surprisingly easy to lose her in the dark.
Kumugi nodded, nervously. “Okay.” She shifted, then took a few steps toward Ichi and Gokuraku followed. “…And if that majik finds us again?”
“Simple. I’ll protect you both.”
An unreadable expression crossed her face as he said this. They made their way to Ichi and crowded him.
“Icchan, if you’re exhausted I’ll carry you,” he offered. Ichi had balanced himself against a decaying tree, breathing heavily and clutching his side. His face was neutral as it always was, but he was drenched with sweat. It made both of them worry a little more. “Hitch a ride if you’re tired. You don’t have to do any more work.”
That wasn’t entirely true. Gokuraku didn’t know what was in store, but if it came down to it, he knew he could handle it on his own if that majik tried to ambush them again. Ultimate foolproof plan: trap it and pummel it stupid until Ichi could acquire it. Or at the very worst, he could scoop them both up and make a run for it.
“Ichi, are you hurt?” Kumugi inquired. “If you’re in pain, I may be able to help!” In her backpack were the most basic of medical supplies, jostling around since the space taken up by her usual emergency snacks was long freed up.
Kumugi was very glad she carried around what she did. In the past months of knowing Desscaras, Ichi, and Gokuraku, she found her rolls of gauze running low and her sterilizer dripping empty. The minor injuries her teammates received didn’t excite her, but the idea that they relied on her to relieve their small scrapes made it worthwhile. Even though she considered herself to be dead weight in an active battle, she could make up for it with bandages after the fact. It wasn’t a lot but the others appreciated her for it, enough to make her feel a little bit assured with her place in the group whenever things got hairy. It’s what she told herself as she began to reach into her bag for a handkerchief to wipe the sweat off Ichi’s brow for him.
Ichi didn’t answer either of them, just continued to focus on his breathing. Which worried them infinitely more, and gave Gokuraku even more of a resolve to lighten Ichi’s load. “You look beat, Icchan, come here.” He cooed, no longer offering his help and instead giving it. He reached to Ichi’s waist to hoist him up into his arms, like they had often done while in Kagami.
As soon as Gokuraku’s hands made firm contact with Ichi’s side he yelled out in pain. Gokuraku jerked his hands away as if burned, and gasped when his left came back smeared with blood. Weak from the sudden burst of pain, Ichi buckled forward and Gokuraku caught him in his arms.
Ichi’s arm relaxed away from his own wound, and blood began to drip in between them. Adjusting to hold Ichi more gently, Gokuraku looked closer. A dangerously large section of Ichi’s gakuran was soaked and glistening with blood.
Both Kumugi and Gokuraku gasped sharply in unison. It must have happened in an instant, too fast for either of them to notice.
They would have been able to tell, if both the night and the fabric weren’t so dark. They would have been able to tell, if Ichi hadn’t isolated himself to the back of the group over an hour ago.
He hated how strong Ichi was.
“When did he get hit?” Kumugi asked, helplessly. She frantically rummaged in her bag for supplies, and froze up when Ichi let out a weak cough.
“It was- was the last time the majik got to us. I think.”
—
Thick fog plumed ahead of them and behind them, snaked above them and at their feet. This was the second time the majik had found them alone without the aid of Desscaras, but it was no less scary.
Ichi, Kumugi, and Gokuraku stood back to back in the pitch black, with Kumugi more or less engulfed by the other two for her own safety. Ichi held out his knife blindly to the fog and Gokuraku held up a fist. Terrified of getting lost in the low visibility, they all held hands.
They could hear the majik. Bouncing off of trees and the ground, it erratically surrounded them in all directions, so fast not one of them could pinpoint it at all. “Brace yourselves,” is all that Ichi could croak before it was upon them.
They all screamed as the majik zipped past them over and over, in a flurry. Gokuraku cursed the thing out loud. He couldn’t keep up with its movements, and it seemed that Ichi couldn’t either. They didn’t even know the trial- he doubted the thing would even choose to talk. If circumstances were better he’d grab it and give it hell long enough for Ichi to figure it out and acquire it. But instead he became dizzy from trying to follow its path, and his coherent thoughts blurred into static.
Gokuraku remembered that Ichi waved his knife blindly during the attack, likely just pushing his luck. Then, a scream from Ichi that sounded full of shock and pain. But, high off his own adrenaline, it was ignored.
The fog cleared quickly that time (Gokuraku now realizes that it was because the majik scored a hit on Ichi), and they all came back to their senses. Ichi devised a loose plan to keep them from succumbing to panic.
“I’m the only one who can acquire it,” he breathed. “It won’t do for me to be swinging my spells blind right next to your heads.” Then he grabbed Kumugi by the shoulders, and guided her to be against Gokuraku’s side.
“Gokuraku, you lead us and keep Kumugi safe; don’t take your eyes off her.” He had said, solemnly.
His hands found Kumugi’s shoulders, and when she looked up at him they exchanged a glance. “Aye aye, Icchan. And what about you?”
“I’ll watch you guys’ backs, and the next time we see that majik I’m killing it.”
—
Everything became panicked after they laid Ichi down. In a frenzy to get to the wound Kumugi and Gokuraku bumped hands too many times trying to unfasten his buttons, and retracted their fingers at the same time over and over to let the other go first. They could hear each other’s heartbeats, getting faster and more frantic by the second as Ichi became less and less responsive underneath them.
Somewhere in the few seconds where everything was a blur, Kumugi started sobbing. Her tears fell down on the gakuran she was still working to remove, and Gokuraku, in the middle of checking Ichi’s pulse, reached over and forced it open for her, popping the buttons clean off. They scattered across the ground. He hiccuped and realized that he was beginning to cry, too. “Where the hell is Desscaras,” he muttered to himself.
He watched as Kumugi peeled away half of Ichi’s undershirt and folded the high-waisted hem of his pants down to his belly button. He was slashed nearly hip to rib, the gash seeming to bleed even more now without the clothes helping to soak it up. The cut didn’t seem too deep, but in such a vulnerable area it could still be fatal.
Feeling the sudden coldness clawing at him, Ichi tried to lurch forward and grab at his side, and Gokuraku pulled his hands away from him. He held Ichi’s wrists in one palm and guided him back to the ground with the other.
He looked up at Kumugi, expectantly. She looked right back at him, with the same pleading expression. Like deer in headlights, they both stared at each other.
With a sizeable tremble of her hands Kumugi nipped Ichi’s wound by accident, and Gokuraku had to work to get him laid back down again. The blood began to stain their knees, and their nerves started tethering them along.
“What do we do?!”
“Mugi, you have do some magic and fix him.”
“How?!"
“I don’t care how! Just do it! You’re a witch!”
“But I’m only a cadet!” Kumugi buried her face in her hands. Almost immediately, she pulled them back and sobbed harder- her hands had gotten blood on them and some of it printed to her cheeks. Her tears that came after quickly washed it all away. “I’m only..I can’t-“
A bird rustled nearby and Gokuraku tensed, hearing his blood rush in his ears. His entire body tingled with adrenaline and his heart drummed with fear. He looked back down at Ichi; he was more relaxed now, probably losing consciousness from the pain and blood loss. Gokuraku put his flesh fingers back to the weaker-than-usual pulse in Ichi’s neck and he used his other hand to pull at his nose in a sad attempt to keep him awake. Ichi barely responded to the stimulation, and Gokuraku suddenly found it hard to breathe.
“Gokuraku, what do we do?” Kumugi’s exclaim was wobbly and soaked in fear.
He squeezed at Ichi’s nose a little harder than he should’ve, beginning to succumb to panic. “You’re acting like I know!” He started pinching at Ichi’s cheeks, since the bit with his nose obviously wasn’t working. By now he could barely see through his tears, and they liberally dropped down into Ichi’s already soaked hairline. “Icchan…”
Ichi was a powerhouse. An unstoppable force. Ever since Gokuraku had met him he was constantly in motion, and seemingly always energized. Seeing him like this- laying in the dirt and bleeding, eyes fluttering in pain- it hurt. The realization that this could be the end, that something this insignificant in the long run could do his very first friend in- it was terrifying, and frankly something very new and horrifying to him.
During his decade-long run with Bakugami, Gokuraku had a few people in particular he checked up on. His sister and father were always in the front of his mind, but they were never truly something to actively worry over. He wanted to save them from Bakugami’s control. He wanted them back. But at the same time, they were royals. Constantly protected (sometimes from himself) and never faced with real danger, they were always leaps and bounds from ever being in harm’s way. Gokuraku knew that whenever he decided to sneak into the palace to at least catch a glimpse of them, he’d find them safe and warm.
It was different with Ichi though. He never had the privilege of having safety guaranteed to him. Never had he seen someone he loved this much hurt this badly. Maybe his mother- but the exact memories were embarrassingly blurry and she covered her suffering around him until her passing. The thought of it made him nauseated.
Gokuraku himself could be gutted, dropping scraps of carbon and titanium in his path as he walked, and it would be alright. He could be fixed with time, effort, and some Kagamite. But Ichi? He wasn’t fortified. No matter how strong and fast he was, he was still as fragile as anyone else.
The first male witch, his first friend, could die right now, in a puddle of blood with his counterparts crying over what to do. Besides just being here beside him, Gokuraku couldn’t do anything to make things better.
He’d never felt so helpless in his life, cradling Ichi’s head and praying his pulse would magically strengthen. He’d never felt more useless- clinging to hope instead of being able to take action. He silently promised to himself that the next time he saw that majik, he would go at it in full force.
He gets jumbled out of his thoughts when Kumugi very rightfully yells in his face.
“You don’t know what to do? Well I don’t know either!” Her voice was shrill and wet as she completely melts down at the end of her sentence. “We need Desscaras…” Her backpack strap falls off one shoulder. At the sight of a notebook sliding out of the side pocket of the bag, Gokuraku suddenly has an idea. His head miraculously clears just enough to speak somewhat calmly again.
“Kumugi,” he tries. He takes a hand and sets it on top of her head, which only makes her more upset. He retracts it.
“Ichi’s going to die and it’s going to be our fault- we should have paid better attention…”
“Mugi, you need to calm down and listen to me for a second.” It was a little hypocritical, preaching calmness when his hands were shaking and his breath hitched in his lungs just as much as hers did. When she didn’t respond through her breakdown, Gokuraku nervously shifted to be beside her and slung an arm around her quivering shoulders in what he hoped to be a reassuring hug. “He won’t die. Icchan is gonna be okay, if we do what I’m thinking.”
No response. She didn’t even lean into the hug like he was expecting.
“Kumugi!” Nothing, other than inconsolable hiccups.
With a twitch of his eye, Gokuraku suddenly stood up. He crouched down and stuck his hands underneath Kumugi’s armpits and hoisted her up into the air at his eye level.
“Mugi!!” He brought their faces close together and he stared into her big wet eyes. Still no answer, her gaze bore into his face but was unfocused and cloudy. Her sniffles and hiccups made her shake in his arms.
“Listen!” Gokuraku reached underneath her and grabbed at her ankle, effectively turning her upside down in his grip and hanging her there for extra shock value. “Ack!!” Kumugi exclaimed, thoroughly surprised. Her things tumbled out of her backpack and onto the ground, along with the bag itself. She got a good view of Gokuraku’s boots before she strained her neck against gravity to stare at him, temporarily shaken and confused out of her funk.
Gokuraku stared right back, and found himself lost in thought again. He did this with Ichi often- tossing him around for play, just because he could really. Ichi would usually kick and giggle and weakly punch at him, trying to wriggle free without admitting that he found it fun being swung around in the air. His eyes would sparkle the way they did when he was happy (and Gokuraku was proud to say that this was quite often when they were around each other), and then they would laugh and carry on.
Kumugi’s upside-down eyes were full of fear as well as moisture; her tears soaked though her top lashes and fled into her brow. The stark difference between the two burned out the mist in Gokuraku’s brain a little more. She stilled as Gokuraku held her above the ground, like a scruffed kitten. The lack of flailing concerned him, and he suddenly felt the urge to apologize for flinging her about. Usually he would be more gentle when picking her up. But her eyes finally focused, which was the important part.
He swayed her around just a little, to be sure. A friendly pinecone got tangled on the end of one of her twintails as it dragged across the ground. “Kumugi?” he tried, one last time.
A sniffle. “Put me down.”
Gokuraku sighed in relief as he righted and placed Kumugi back like he found her, and both their tears finally slowed from rivers to creeks as their minds gained a little bit of clarity.
“I recall you saying you studied medical magic?”
—
Medical magic.
It was something Kumugi mentioned offhandedly maybe once or twice with Gokuraku in the room, not even directly speaking to him. She preferred not to talk about it, since her medical career was just another failed attempt to add to the pile. She was surprised he even remembered something that small.
She wanted to be a doctor. Not a nurse, but a doctor. A senior cadet approved to operate on anyone in immediate need, well versed in a plethora of spells that could help the pained and heal the broken. These healers were deployed across the world, the shadows behind famed witches sent on dangerous trials.
Spica hadn’t thought that it was an amazing fit for her. That a shy and calm girl like her would be better off staying far behind the fray. Maybe she was right in that sense- Kumugi could accept the fact that her nerves often got the better of her. But maybe her current path wasn’t all that bad.
She enjoyed writing and being a research cadet as much as, if not more than- she pined to be a doctor. She was good at it. Not just good, but talented. Master Shirabedonna doted on her. Her fellow cadets were jealous of her. Kumugi found joy in what she did. She admitted only in her head that Spica pushing her every which way caused her to fall perfectly in place.
She used to regret not fighting back, not ignoring her sister and training medical anyway. But these days, she found it harder to imagine herself without the people who had come to surround her.
She wondered how it would’ve been, if she did commit to medical training. If she hadn’t joined the research club and Ichi, the most inspiring person in the world to her, hadn’t jumped on her busted bike. If she first met him in the carnage of Hoitaka- helping her superiors treat his injuries and rushing him to a clean bed with Desscaras herself pacing alongside her.
If she had met Gokuraku in the aftermath of his battle, broken down and littering metal across the palace halls he guided the cadets through. If she caught the first hint of his voice while she was shoving cables back into his arms, instead of overhearing him speaking to Ichi right before taking him.
And Desscaras? Well, she had never seen her actually hurt before, but she assumed that they would maybe cross paths one way or another.
It would probably be lonely. Being up and down with her team made her painfully aware of how lonely things really were before they came into her life.
“Well?” Gokuraku egged. She hadn’t realized he shifted while she was in thought, he wiggled around Ichi to be across from her again with Ichi’s head sideways in his lap. His hands were firm on her shoulders again; she hadn’t noticed the weight creeping down on her. He squeezed with more pressure than he probably intended and swayed her forward a little. “I saw the medical witches do it on me when we were in Kagami. You can stop his bleeding, right? And put him to sleep so he heals?”
Kumugi felt her eyes widen. Big ask. “Well I can- uhm…”
Gokuraku slapped a thick notebook in her lap. “I know you write spells you hear in this one.” His voice started to shake again as Ichi began to relax and untense below them. “You can fix him, right?”
How could he be so observant? Her breath hitched in her throat as the weight of what she was being expected to do pulled on her nerves.
She picked up the notebook and started flipping through it anyway. “I really shouldn’t. It’s dangerous to perform spells you’re not in practice of.” Her fingers flipped through the tabs by pure muscle memory until she found the right section. “If- if I mess up I may hurt him.”
“Well he’s not getting too much more hurt than he already is, Mugi. You don’t have room to doubt yourself right now.” His hands shook and fidgeted nervously all over Ichi’s person; smoothing his hair and moving his unclipped suspenders, adjusting his soaked shirt so it wouldn’t get in the way. He looked back up at her, hopeful and desperate. “You’re the only one who’s able to help him.” His eyes- already downturned and a little sad-looking naturally- expected the world from her. “Can you?”
She blinked at him. Kumugi had never seen Gokuraku look so small before. The fact that he was depending on her so wholly shook her to her core.
Usually, it was her that had to be underneath someone else’s wing. She knew it didn’t make her useless or a hindrance- all of her work was done more passively and the others were sure to always remind her how important her role was. It was interesting for those roles to be switched, though. Having the ability to guide the others along and make or break the outcome of the hunt. She wasn’t just being trusted with keeping records, or being asked to bandage a scraped knee. She was in charge of a life right now.
The idea scared her half to death, but Gokuraku needed her. Ichi needed her.
Kumugi looked down again at the spell. Scribbled down some years ago, it was commonly used by junior cadets to stop patients from bleeding out before their seniors could more skillfully treat them. Not terribly complicated, but definitely not something to be used by complete amateurs. The sweat from her fingers smudged the ink a little. She would have to trust herself and be careful, especially in the dark like this. The moon gave her just enough light for her to see the writing.
She took a deep breath in to calm herself. Ichi’s life mattered more than the doubts that coursed through her. Far more.
“I can try. Keep him still for me?”
“Gotcha. You can do it, Mugi-chan!” Gokuraku cheered through the strain in his voice, working to return to his usual self. His hands settled on Ichi’s shoulders. “I believe in you!” He smiled for the first time that night.
She bared her fingers over Ichi’s wound, and sighed in relief when he wiggled in response to the touch. He was still conscious.
Her heart still beat too loudly in her chest, but her intentions to help Ichi started to outweigh her fear response to curl up and cry. She looked back down at the notebook. Dipped her fingers in a few millimeters, like she had read once before. Ichi writhed and Gokuraku stilled him.
“It’s Kumugi, Icchan. Let her help you!” he tried to soothe, but they both knew Ichi was barely listening. He opted on holding Ichi firmly in place and apologizing later for it.
Kumugi spoke the spell. That was the easy part- regulating it long enough to actually heal was where things got difficult. She felt what little was left of her energy seep down her arms and through her fingers as magic. An uneasy breath escaped her, and her vision tunneled. She heard Ichi gasp in pain and felt his messy flesh tremble as he mindlessly tried to escape the inflicting fingers in his half-awake state.
It was absolutely disgusting. It would be hard enough as it was, but knowing that the poor soul she was testing her luck on was someone as important as Ichi made her shudder. He didn’t deserve something as crude and messy as this, but it was all they had.
Kumugi held at it for what felt like hours, but was probably about a minute or so. She broke out in cold sweat, strained herself to keep her eyes open and magic flowing through her fingertips. Her body screamed at her- she burned, she shivered, she felt dizzy, sick. But when the coursing through her veins slowed to their normal pace involuntarily she knew the job was done.
She retracted her bloodied fingers from Ichi’s side. He was panting, so was she. The wound still looked horrible, but the leak of blood was successfully stopped, which was all that really mattered.
Gokuraku beamed, which set Kumugi’s heart aflame with pride although she didn't have it in her to show it. She began to slump over sideways to the ground, careful not to go forward and land on Ichi. Gokuraku reached over and pulled her into a surprisingly warm hug.
“You did it. You saved him, Kumugi.” His voice was packed with raw emotion, and from where her head was resting she could feel his thundering heartbeat. In her last act of energy she let her tears fall again, out of happiness this time. Gokuraku must have done the same, because the top of her head started to feel wet.
She wanted to hug him back but her limbs were pure jelly for the time being. She wanted to take a good look at Ichi- hold his face and hear the words from his mouth that things were going to be okay. She couldn’t be sure until she heard it from him. But the best she could do was close her eyes and let Gokuraku handle things from here.
“You’re a miracle worker,” A breathy, shaky, laugh. “How does it feel?”
To Kumugi it felt like pure agony, physically. Mentally it felt like she had just been put in a bag and shaken around and tossed into the ocean. But in her heart a chorus of emotions sang, so many that were so tangled up to the point she didn’t even know what she was feeling. It felt like vibrant colors exploding out of her chest, full of words that she couldn’t find the energy to say- and likely wouldn’t ever.
“Yayyy…” was all she could breathe out weakly. She felt Gokuraku’s chest lurch in a happy sob before she started to flutter in and out of consciousness.
Fog billowed in and began to peel at her lower half, but she didn’t notice.
—
Gokuraku was in a situation. There he sat on the forest floor, overwhelmed out of his mind and a little confused on what to do next. He had one arm around Kumugi, who was quickly losing consciousness, and one rested on Ichi, so he wouldn’t feel left out of the hug. Not that he would notice.
He felt nothing but pride and joy and gratitude towards Kumugi. Even through the immense pressure, she stepped up where he couldn’t and saved Ichi. And on top of that, she did it on an empty stomach and coming down from a panic attack. He’d never felt more proud, and when his thoughts collected a little he told her this, whispered it to the green head of hair he had soaked with his tears. Not that Kumugi was listening; she was half asleep.
Carefully he collected Kumugi’s scattered items and put them back in her bag. He picked up Ichi’s gakuran and what buttons he could find in the immediate vicinity. As he was about to stand up and decipher the best way to carry the dead weight without discomfort, fog began to roll in again.
Gokuraku felt his heart drop as it rapidly engulfed them all, faster than it ever had before. He gasped and quickly but carefully pulled Ichi towards himself. His and Kumugi’s heads knocked together from the movement, which woke her up.
“Gokur-“
“Here.” He shoved Ichi into Kumugi’s arms, shook them both off as gently as he could, and stood up on his wobbly legs so he would be the sole target. “Stay under me.”
He couldn’t see past his own hand. His mind started to go fuzzy again, it must have been an ability of the majik. Still though, Gokuraku’s eyes darted and he stood at the ready. Anger seeped into every nook of his body.
It nearly killed Ichi. The aftermath of that took out Kumugi. His distorted thoughts told him to run. But his normal ones were set on revenge. He held out a fist, prepared to miraculously catch the majik and beat it into a liquid till he was satisfied.
“Come out, you bastard,” he taunted into the fog, hearing the majik approach. “Let me have a go at you, in Icchan’s stead.”
It was then he realized he hadn’t asked Ichi for permission to harm it. He scoffed. “Icchan is hurt because of you, so I’m carrying out Death for Death for him.” He reasoned blindly. That was an excuse enough.
The fog became forever thicker, and not one of them could see a thing. Kumugi gripped at his left leg, assuring herself that he was even there anymore. Gokuraku felt like his heart was going to beat out of his chest. All of his emotions clawed at his insides so strongly that he trembled in place, no less sturdy but breaching on uncontained.
He tensed himself and made peace with the fact that he might get his ass beat by this majik, at least a little bit, until he could take control of the situation. Too fast, too erratic, too disorienting. But he was fixable. Getting banged up a little meant nothing in the grand scheme of things as long as he kept the other two as safe as he could.
Turns out the majik had a voice. As it was nearing them and leaving cracked tree trunks in its wake, he heard it scream. The noise made his ears ring. Then he heard it shriek, and an indiscernible yell from something else.
With a flourish that was strong enough to nearly knock Gokuraku off balance, the fog sucked itself up and deeper into the trees. And then, a burst of light that was nearly blinding. He didn’t relax. Kumugi did though, she slumped against his calf and sighed relief.
“Is it gone?”
“Dunno, but-“ he didn’t finish his sentence as leaves began to rustle in the direction the fog escaped to. They both lit up as they recognized the figure that pushed through the branches.
“Desscaras!!” They both yelled in unison.
“That damn thing was too much trouble for what it’s worth…”The Abyssal Witch strolled through the foliage, pristine clothes dirtied by what they could imagine to be a good and long fight. Her needled heels dug into the dirt and altered her usual gait, and her sword was dipped in what seemed like blood. She looked tired; too tired to joke around and too tired to even find a place to sleep- willing to just fall over and let it happen. But she instantly perked up when she saw the condition the other three were in. Notably- she saw Ichi laying still on the ground and she rushed over.
“Ichi-“ she choked back a gasp as she saw the wound.
“He’s okay, Master Desscaras.” Kumugi whispered. “We stopped his bleeding before it was too late.” She started to sniffle again.
Gokuraku crouched down to her level and bumped shoulders with Kumugi. “Kumugi did. I just sat here and cried.”
Desscaras gave them both an exasperated look, eyes wider and shinier than they usually were. She must have been surprised at the idea of Kumugi having done all the work. Then she looked down at Ichi, and skillfully whispered a spell that put him right into a peaceful sleep.
—
Desscaras watched as Kumugi and Gokuraku held a collective waterworks session on the ground. They seemed shaken up, far more than what she expected. And Kumugi seemed like she could barely even stand.
Desscaras felt a pang of guilt stab at her. “Hey,” she called. She regretted leaving them alone like she had. “Get Ichi, we’re leaving.”
With a sniffle and hiccup in unison they both stood up, and Gokuraku effortlessly scooped up Ichi. Kumugi huddled towards the boys, wiping her tears and standing with all the stability of a newborn horse. Gokuraku looked just about as worn out as he had after his fight with Bakugami. He ghosted an arm behind Kumugi, in case her legs failed and he needed to catch her.
They were an absolute mess, worse than her. And she was the one who actually caught the majik. The guilt that seeped through her grew, even as she tried to reason with herself that this was just their job. They get sent to their deaths and come back alive, and that’s the way things go. It was their job to endure the pain, so innocent people wouldn’t have to down the line.
“I…I don’t think I can do the report tonight...” Kumugi pleaded with her. “I’m exhausted.” And for flair, her knees buckled beneath her and her safety net by the name of Gokuraku Kagami caught her before she fell, and supported her until she was standing upright again. “Aah, that was all so scary…”
Desscaras didn’t know exactly what to say. Don’t worry, we’re all safe now. Get some sleep and let me handle the rest of it. I’m sorry that this all even happened.
The words automatically came anyway. “No need. We’ll report when we get home. Mission accomplished.”
Before turning to lead them out of the forest, Desscaras reached out her hands. One on Gokuraku’s free shoulder, and the other on Kumugi’s head.
“Phenomenal work, you two.” She gave them the highest praises she was willing to offer. She gave a squeeze to Gokuraku and settled a cowlick on Kumugi’s scalp. “I’m very impressed. Especially with you, Mugi.” Then she turned tail and started walking so she wouldn’t have to see their reactions.
They followed her like ducklings and she heard them speaking with each other, trying to laugh so they wouldn’t cry.
Hearing the sad display, Desscaras decided that they all needed a vacation after this. To reward her team for their hard work and dedication over this particularly traumatizing majik, she would take them to the beach and let them have fun. Not one of the coasts of Natali though- the sand was trodden nearly flat and was oversaturated with tourists. An island perhaps, where they could rent a house for a week or so on the Association’s dime and relax their nerves before getting back to work.
She glanced behind her. Gokuraku and Kumugi stumbled in her wake, trying to self regulate and with the aura of two kicked puppies out in the cold. Yeah. They needed a break. They deserved it.
As they walked, Desscaras found it in her to check in with Moneygold. She had been ignoring her all day. After deleting about a hundred unread messages, she tuned in to communicate.
“Desscaras! You were supposed to report in every-“
“The majik is acquired. But I got it, not Ichi.” Desscaras croaked. Her tone shut the other woman up very quickly. “Ichi is injured, but he’ll be alright. Kumugi is dead on her feet and Gokuraku is running off fumes. But no one died. The usual.”
She wasn’t looking at the mirror, but Desscaras heard Moneygold take a drag of her pipe. “Good work. Have your cadet send in her reports in the next two hours, you’re overdue.”
Desscaras sneered at the woman in front of her and suddenly felt protective. “She’ll send them in when she has the energy to hold a pen.” She fixed her face quickly. “This mission messed her up worse than usual, cut her some slack.”
“Very well. Safe travels home, we’re- hey!” Desscaras rolled her eyes as the view of Moneygold went out of frame. She heard her fussing around with another woman, who was quickly recognized as Shirabedonna as she heard a faint ‘What happened to Kumugi?!’ echo.
With a tap she hung up and looked back to the cadet in question. She was so dazed she didn’t even notice her master asking about her. She looked down and focused on walking. Gokuraku glanced at her every couple seconds, watching for a potential fall and likely mulling over whether to carry her too.
Desscaras sighed and navigated to safety, her team in tow. She reminded herself that the stress and pain came with the territory of being a witch, and trudged on.