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Reed stood facing Ailette at the bottom of the ravine. He was still riding the high of seeing her come down to save him, oblivious to what was brewing behind him.
“Surely some leisure wouldn’t hurt," he said. "It is, perhaps, not quite a lovely day, but as lovely as it gets here. Isn’t the sky dazzling?”
And then, before he even had a chance to blink, a black ball of demonic energy spun out of nowhere and hit Ailette in the head.
“Ailette Rodeline!”
Reed lunged forward and caught her before she hit the ground, cradling her limp body in his arms. He turned her face toward him; it was unusually pale, and her eyelids were closed.
His mind went completely blank, but he pushed the panic down. He checked her over; she didn’t have any physical marks, and both her pulse and breathing seemed to be fine. But he wouldn’t feel at ease again until her eyes were open.
A gurgle caught his attention. There, behind him, was the newly-formed swamp. It was black and bubbling violently, and was almost certainly the source of the demonic energy that hit her. He wished it was a monster instead so he could have blasted it into oblivion, but as it was, adding mana to that chaotic bog might only destabilize it further. The only choice was to get away.
It would be dangerous to go up the cliff while she was unconscious, but the canyon was a few miles wide; he’d stick to the bottom for now.
He lifted her up and took off as quickly as he could without making the ride uncomfortable for her. It wasn’t until she let out a small groan that he halted. He sat down, heedless of the rubbish streaming around him, and set her on his lap. He stroked her face gently, his entire world narrowing to just her.
Slowly, her eyes opened. However, instead of the normal clear green, a milky haze had settled over her irises. Before he had a chance to speculate, her gaze turned toward him. His breath caught.
She blinked once, and then again. “Huh…?”
“Ailette—”
“Huh?!” She shot up and twisted around, out of his embrace. “Bia?! What are you doing here???”
He blinked at her. “No… it’s me.”
“Bia!! I can’t believe it!” She clasped his hands, her expression anxious. “Did you get sucked into a dungeon sink? Are you hurt anywhere? Let me heal you.”
Even if her vision had been affected, she should have realized the hands she held couldn’t possibly belong to a delicate lady. With her eyes still glazed over, he came up with a hypothesis: Ailette was caught up in a full-on hallucination.
He decided to play along for the time being. “I’m all right. You were hit. You should heal yourself first.”
“Right.” She obeyed him instantly—or rather, obeyed “Bia.”
He felt a bit disgruntled by that. Somehow, he had a feeling she would have argued if she’d known it was him saying it.
Any feelings of jealousy, however, immediately fled as she stood up, grasping his hands once more. “Come on, I know the way out of here. This place is pretty dangerous, but don’t worry! I’ll keep you safe.”
First, she led him to the sheer cliff lining the canyon. “Let's get up there, to start.” She took out her harp string and held out her hand.
Reed took it, but instead of pulling them up, Ailette blinked at him.
“Oh, Bia, that won't be very secure. Come here.” Releasing his hand, she stepped closer and wrapped an arm around his back, drawing his hip flush against her waist.
He was frozen stiff at this point, but she simply smiled up at him. The hallucination must have been completely fooling her senses if the height difference didn’t strike her as odd—unless she was under the impression that Lady Bianca was unusually tall for a lady.
“Now, put your arms around my neck and hold on tight. I’ll get us up in no time.”
After a moment’s hesitation, he looped an arm around her shoulders. The way his frame dwarfed hers made the position exceedingly awkward, but Ailette didn’t seem to notice. Only after he was secure did she carry both of them up the cliff—and not all at once like last time, but steadily, in consideration of her friend who lacked the aura that would protect her from the sudden G-forces.
He let go after they'd reached the top, but Ailette wasn’t having that. She insisted they keep their hands linked. “I know you could balance a whole stack of books on your head from here to the ends of the earth, but this place has a lot of sudden changes. Stay close, okay? And don’t let go, no matter what.”
Reed, for his part, felt like he was dreaming. This wasn’t the first time they’d been in contact for so long, but in the mana field, she had clearly been uncomfortable. He had no doubt that she would have let go of him immediately had she not been on the brink of collapse. Now, though, she was happy to keep his hand in hers, swinging their arms occasionally and smiling the whole way. She had also set a far more leisurely pace than usual.
There was a lot he wanted to try—rubbing her wrist with his thumb, or reeling her palm in for a kiss—and he realized, in her current state, she would almost certainly let him. She clearly had a special relationship with Lady Bianca, one that seemed unusually affectionate for a servant and a count’s daughter. Part of him was curious to see what he could get away with. Linking arms? A hug? If the debuff hadn’t worn off by the time they made camp, could he fall asleep with her in his arms…?
But, even as corrupt as he had become, he didn’t want to take advantage of her. Even if it turned out that she didn’t remember anything that happened during her hallucination, even if he would be the only one who knew, he didn’t want to violate the trust she had placed in him. No matter how tempting a picture she painted.
Fortunately, distraction was easy, because another notable contrast to their usual travels was that, instead of stoic silence, Ailette happily chatted the whole way. A good deal of what she said was lost on Reed; whatever hallucination she was under must have included audio as well, since she didn’t need to hear a response from him to hear “Bia’s” response. This often led to Reed hearing only one-half of a conversation based on a long history of mutual correspondence.
He did interject, though. “Ailette, were you traveling with anyone before me?”
He was curious. Would the debuff have erased all memory of him? Or would she instead be convinced that he had died? Would he get to see how Ailette would mourn him?
“Oh, yeah, I was. I wonder where he went?”
Neither, I see. “You don’t know?”
“Nope. He was here not too long ago, but I guess he left at some point.”
“… Shouldn’t we look for him?”
She laughed. “Don’t worry, he’s fine. He’s way stronger than either of us.”
She wasn’t wrong, but it disappointed him to see that she would brush him off so easily. Was it the debuff’s influence, suppressing any contemplation of his absence to keep the hallucination going? Or… did she really care for him so little? “You yourself said this place is dangerous. If he suddenly vanished, he might be in trouble.”
“Well… I’m not sure it was all that sudden.”
“What do you mean?”
“Oh, well… how do I put this?” With her free hand, she began toying with the ends of her hair. “We’d been traveling together for a while. But lately, he’s been acting like he doesn’t want to leave this garbage dump.”
So… she picked up on that, did she? “Maybe there’s a reason he wants to stay longer.”
“Maybe, but I’m in a hurry. If he doesn’t want to rush, that’s fine, but obviously it means we’d have to go our separate ways.”
His stomach dropped. His mouth opened, but nothing came out.
“But, you know, he has his own plans. It was probably just a matter of time before he left. I’m not really that surprised that he disappeared.”
That stung. Reflexively, his grip tightened. “You think he would abandon you? Without saying anything?”
She paused, her brow furrowing. He examined her expression closely, but it clouded over.
“Ailette?”
She blinked. “Sorry, Bia… I spaced out for a second there. What were we talking about?”
“… Nothing.”
Though her eyes still had a haze over them, she looked at him with concern. Then she gasped. “Oh, no! I should have realized! You’re tired, aren’t you? I’m sure you’re not used to this much walking. Especially not with the ground constantly trying to trip you up. Hold on, let me see…” She scanned their surroundings, but there weren’t any useful outcroppings that they could comfortably sit on. “Hmm… I don’t think this would be a good place to stop, but maybe I can carry you until we find someplace better?”
No, no, no. “I’m fine. We can keep walking.”
“It’s really no trouble, Bia! I’m sure you’re light as a feather.”
Please stop. “Walking is good for a person’s health. I’ll be fine for a bit longer.”
“If you insist… but you have to tell me if it’s too much, all right?”
Ailette kept an eye out for places to rest, and before long, had spotted what looked like half of a castle tower moving sluggishly on its side through the landfill, angled so that the roof offered a mostly flat surface. The main issue was that the rubble directly around the ruined tower flowed much faster than the rest of the garbage, much in the same way rocks in a river created rapids. It didn’t pose a problem for two aura users, but Ailette currently believed she was traveling with someone without any of the Three Great Powers.
“It’ll be safer if I carry you up, Bia,” she said.
“I can get up on my own.”
“Hmm.” She mulled that over, and then nodded. “All right, I get it. It is a little embarrassing, isn’t it? Let’s do this instead.”
She cast Siege Barrier, temporarily stopping the flow of the rubble within its walls. Then she released his hand and trotted forward, kneeling down by the tower and lacing her fingers together. “Here, Bia, I’ll give you a boost. Just put your foot here.”
He stared at her. “How about you go first and pull me up instead?” he said, partially resigning himself to his fate.
“This way will be easier,” she insisted.
“I don’t want to get your hands dirty.”
“Oh.” She looked thoughtful. “I can wash my hands afterward, but I see your point. Who knows what we’ve been walking on? All right, wait a minute, then.”
Reed let out a sigh of relief as Ailette hopped up onto the roof, and allowed her to help him up as well. Then, after she laid out a picnic blanket, she released the barrier, saying it would be best to conserve energy.
“Speaking of energy, you need a lot when you do a lot of walking. We should have something to eat. Look!” She pulled out her picnic basket. “This duplicates food. God gave it to me. Pretty cool, right?”
He froze. God? The same one who abandoned this world? His brain scrambled amidst his astonishment, but the only plausible explanation was that He’d given it to her before the loops began. Reed didn't know when exactly He'd abandoned the world, after all.
She busied herself duplicating a few dishes, including an apple that she soon began peeling and slicing into neat pieces. Once she was done, she held one up to his mouth.
He almost died on the spot.
She seemed not to notice at all, happily thinking she was feeding her best friend.
He was still determined not to take advantage of her current state. However, if this was the usual sort of thing the two did together, a blunt refusal would hurt her feelings. Carefully, he said, “Ailette, you were injured not too long ago. Instead of doing this for me, you should rest.”
“Hm. You have a point.” She nodded solemnly, and then promptly passed the plate of apple slices to him. “All right. In that case, you should feed me instead!” Then she folded her hands on her lap and patiently waited, smiling brightly.
He stared blankly at the plate in his hands. His resolve not to take advantage was crumbling faster than the giant flytrap she’d crushed beneath her barrier.
If you think about it, do I even have a choice? He couldn’t break her out of the hallucination by talking to her, and trying to wake her by force would be unwise. Ignoring her as “Bia” would hurt her feelings, so wasn’t the only option left to play along?
Tentatively, he picked up an apple slice and brought it to her lips.
She ate it cleanly, a bright smile on her face. He fed her another, and she encouraged him to have some too. He did so mindlessly, not even tasting it. It could have been charcoal, and he wouldn’t have noticed.
Soon—fortunately so, for the sake of his heart, which felt like it had been trying to fight its way out of his chest for the past several minutes—they moved on to other dishes. Ailette even brought out a kettle and lit a fire to make some tea.
“It’s been ages since we’ve had a tea party, hasn’t it?”
Gradually, he began to relax. Ailette had never been so at ease around him. It was the first time in ages he’d sat and shared a meal with her, or anyone else, without any tension or uneasy alliances hanging over their heads.
“Bia, before we head off again, we should do something about your hair.”
He blinked. “My hair?”
“I love how you grew it out—it’s absolutely gorgeous—but wearing your hair loose can be a hazard in a place like this. We should put it up in a braid or a bun.”
“… I don’t have anything to style it with.”
“Don’t worry, I have plenty of hair ties you can use! In fact, I can do it for you, if you like?” She leaned forward, her eyes sparkling.
Now came another choice. He had never even attempted to style his own hair, but by this point, he’d seen Ailette do it enough during their trek that he could copy her technique. He could borrow a hair tie, pull his hair into the quickest and simplest style—a ponytail—and Ailette would be perfectly happy.
But the temptation really was too much.
“All right,” he said. “I’d like that.”
Ailette clapped in delight and immediately set to brushing his hair, humming and chatting away again. He could feel the gentle tug as she parted his hair, her fingers weaving through the strands.
Then she said, “Red would really suit you, but I can’t decide if we should go with crimson or more burgundy. Do you have a preference?”
“For what?”
“Ribbon color, of course!” Though she was still behind him, she stuck one hand out, dangling two ribbons of slightly different shades. “I was going to weave one into your braid. Just because we’re in the Demon Realm, that’s no reason to go with a bland hairstyle.”
He had no words.
“Right, it’s hard to decide without a mirror, isn’t it? Hold on.”
She stepped around him, one hand holding his hair in place, and gazed very intently at his face, her own mere inches away.
Had the circumstances not been what they were, it would have been the perfect opportunity to lean in and find out what she tasted like. As it was, he held his breath and waited.
“Maybe it’s just the lighting, but your eyes are a lot redder than I remember.” She nodded once to herself. “In that case, let’s go with crimson.” She returned to her spot, and it took all of Reed’s self-control to remain still and let her work. He felt unreasonably hot.
The time went by too quickly. Reed tried to memorize how every touch felt, when she gathered his hair or her fingers accidentally brushed his ear.
However, her one-sided conversation took a strange turn.
She laughed. “Does that mean you still haven’t found anyone to put on your marriage candidate list?”
Reed felt himself tense. The hallucination sometimes ignored what he said, but… “No, not yet. What about you? Is there anyone you’ve been thinking of…?” he asked.
Her hands stilled momentarily. “Me? Um…” She resumed braiding his hair, her pace somewhat slower than before. “… No.”
“What about the person you were traveling with before…?”
“Um, can we change the subject? I really can’t be talking about this.”
“‘Can’t?’”
“Yeah, that’s right.”
“What does that mean?”
“Well… look, I’m only telling you this because it’s you, Bia, but I’m sure you’ve noticed already, at least somewhat.”
He had no idea what she could be referring to, but fortunately, it seemed her hallucination provided an answer.
“As expected, I knew you would’ve picked up on that. And you see, the reason is that I’m under a curse where, if I try to date someone, we’ll both die.”
“What?”
“I know, it sounds crazy, but I mean it! But you don’t have to worry. I can get rid of the curse with a donation to God. It’ll just, uh, be a while before I can gather the funds. Until then, I’d rather just ignore all that.”
He was in too much shock to respond. However, “Bia” apparently said something.
“Oh, I see what you’re saying… but I don’t want to ask my grandpa for help with something like this. Besides, it’s not like it’s really urgent, and I have a few dungeons in mind that should bring me closer to my goal.”
He barely even heard. First, because she was apparently under some ridiculous curse—unless she was, for some reason, lying to her friend about that. But what was she talking about donating to God? Giving him money? To lift a curse???
How can she give a donation to a God who’s abandoned this world? Does she still have a connection with Him? It would make some sort of sense, considering that she was the Divine Emissary. But then… did that mean that God had returned for this loop, despite abandoning all the others? If Reed were to die in this loop, would his regressions end, even without destroying the world…?
But no. That couldn’t be it. Because before, Ailette had spoken as if something more needed to be done. Was there a way for her to have contact with God despite His having abandoned the world?
None of this made any sense.
“Ailette, when did God give you that picnic basket?”
“Hm? Oh, a few weeks ago, now.”
The answer was too vague to satisfy him. They’d been in the landfill for “a few weeks,” and the point of his return was just a few weeks before that. But if she’d gotten it after his loops began…
“Ailette. Where is God?”
“The Divine Realm, of course.” She answered easily, like it was nothing.
“… Do you talk to Him often?”
Her hands halted. “Bia?”
She didn’t continue, so he turned his head to meet her gaze. Her eyes, though still hazy, wavered.
“Bia, you know the answer to that question.”
He waited, watching her face. Would it cloud over again? Or…
She winced, bringing a hand up to her head. “Ugh…”
Then she swayed.
He reached forward and caught her in his arms, the second time in as many hours. But whereas earlier he had been in a panic, he was able to assess her more calmly now. Eyes closed, breathing even. Her skin its usual healthy blush, no redness or unusual pallor. He wondered if she would still be under the debuff’s influence when she awoke, or if that expression on her face before she fainted signalled an end to the hallucination.
He hadn’t gotten an answer to his question, but perhaps it didn’t matter. It didn’t really change anything. All he’d learned, really, was that God maintained some sort of tenuous contact through Ailette. Not enough to give the world a future, or supply his followers with anything but the bare minimum of divine powers. Meaning He could come back if He wanted, but refused.
Reed felt a familiar boiling of resentment at God. If he was going to abandon this world, He should leave and be done with it. Why continue to meddle?
He couldn’t be angry at Ailette for not saying anything. After all, she’d been plenty open about having a direct connection with God. He just hadn’t realized that it was still ongoing. And expecting her to control God or His cruel and careless whims would have been absurd.
His gaze refocused on Ailette’s sleeping face. She was truly beautiful: long lashes, soft lips, pointed chin. Watching her calm, even breaths filled him with a strange sense of peace. Gradually, the turmoil of his thoughts washed away, returning instead to the two hours of bliss before that. He thought he could even feel her hands on him again, her fingers threading through his hair as she chatted lightly. His scalp tingled in remembrance.
Abruptly, he hugged her close, burying his face in her hair.
She had been so sweet to him. So at ease, like she trusted him and enjoyed his company. And although it hadn't exactly been how he'd envisioned, he'd finally gotten to hold her close as they rappelled up a cliff.
And yet, it was a lie. He knew it was a lie. She wasn’t treating him that way—but he couldn’t let it go.
This wasn’t fair. How was he supposed to bear it when they finally parted ways? He would go mad. Even thinking of saying goodbye made him want to claw off his own skin. Why couldn’t she just stay by his side?
Yet, from what she’d said earlier, she seemed to expect them to part ways long before they reached the exit. His attempts to extend their time together had backfired massively.
He had to convince her to let him stay with her. He had to…
Wait.
No.
Why should he?
If it was this hard to let go of her now, how much worse off would he be in a week? Would he fall to his knees and beg? The same way he’d begged God to end his loops? Another prayer to be scoffed at and ignored?
No… she wouldn’t scoff. God was cruel, but not Ailette Rodeline. And he knew she felt something for him. It was probably just pity. But it wasn’t nothing.
He rubbed his face against her cheek. He didn’t want time to march forward and bring them to their goodbyes. Couldn’t he have this moment for a bit longer?
Ailette felt groggy upon waking, like someone had stuffed her skull full of cotton. Her body was also sluggish… but the latter might have been due to how warm and comfortable she was. Her eyes creaked open, and she realized that she was wrapped very securely in Reed’s cloak.
“Are you awake?”
“Yeah,” she said, sitting up. A glance told her that they were on a rooftop, one that seemed to be moving very slowly. Beside her was Reed, half-turned away as he stared out over the landfill. She tried to think back. “What happened?”
“Do you not remember?”
“Um…” She rubbed her temple. “No, not really. Did I get knocked out or something?”
He thought about that. “Yes. You were hit with some demonic energy.”
“Right, I remember now. There was that earthquake, and I heard something whiz by, and…” And she'd had a very strange dream. A lot of the details were fuzzy, but she remembered that in it, she was traveling with Bia in the landfill. And it had felt very real. They’d held hands, had a picnic…
Come to think of it, she thought, absentmindedly folding Reed's cloak before handing it back, in my dream, that picnic was on top of a roof exactly like this one.
[The Eye Overseeing All Chaos bites their handkerchief and wails that they wish they could have seen the dream too.]
[The Scale that Judges Souls laughs and says reality was a much rarer treat.]
As if on cue, a system notification popped up.
[<Status> [Dreams of Desire] has lifted!]
… Oh no.
Her eyes snapped back to her companion. “Um, Reed?”
“Yes?” He turned to meet her gaze, and Ailette felt all the blood drain from her face. Because in her dream, while styling Bia’s hair, she had clipped a small gothic barrette near her temple.
The same barrette currently in Reed’s hair.
Heat shot up her neck all the way to the crown of her head. She clamped her hands over her face, covering it as she turned away. Suddenly, the dream that had been so fuzzy just a minute ago began replaying in her head in vignettes: weaving a ribbon through “Bia’s” hair, their steady ascent up the cliff, her demanding to be fed apple slices, of all things!!!
All of which must have actually happened with Reed. Not Bianca.
TM gods, is it possible to die of embarrassment in this world? Because I think I just might.
Reed, meanwhile, sounded confused. “Ailette? What’s wrong?”
With great effort, she put her hands down. Her face continued to burn, no doubt a brilliant shade of red, but she reached toward him nevertheless. “Just… hold still a second.”
He stayed perfectly still as she removed the barrette and put it back in her inventory. He caught a glimpse of it as she did.
“Ah. I didn’t notice that one.”
She covered her face again, unable to meet his eyes. “I’m really sorry you had to put up with that. It must have been a huge pain.”
“No, I wouldn’t say so. It was quite enjoyable.”
“Don’t lie.”
“What reason have I to lie? It was the most pleasant tea party I’ve attended in my entire life.”
That’s really not a high bar to clear. After all, every tea party he’d been to before this had been in Vinchester, surrounded by people who wanted to kill, torture, or sabotage him—sometimes all three.
“However, there is something I’d like to say.”
The serious tone had her shoulders instinctively tense up. As more of her memories came back to her, she recalled that she’d chatted on quite a bit. She didn’t remember everything she’d said… but what if she’d revealed a bit too much to Reed?
Slowly, she lowered her hands again and met his gaze straight on. His expression was solemn.
“I want to apologize.”
She blinked. “For what?”
“I’m sure you’ve noticed that I’ve been causing delays on purpose.”
“Oh.” She did think they might have to have this conversation soon, but she didn’t expect him to bring it up himself. But since he had... it was probably time to say goodbye. “Yes, I have noticed.”
“And because of my carelessness, you were hurt.”
“Huh? I mean, I got a debuff for a bit, but I’m all better now. And I wouldn’t say that was your fault. That swamp could have formed anywhere, at any time. It couldn’t be helped.”
“No?” He looked away. “Anyway… I won’t try to delay us anymore.”
Wait, what? Really? “Reed, if you want to stay in the landfill longer—”
“I don’t.”
She didn’t quite understand what was going on, or what had caused him to change his mind all of a sudden. Was it just guilt? She felt bad, if that was the case. Even if it had been his fault, surely staying with her despite how outrageously she was treating him made up for it.
But frankly, she hadn't been looking forward to traveling solo, anyway, so she wasn’t going to argue. “Well, all right then. We can keep traveling together if you want to.” She got up and dusted off. “Shall we?” Without thinking, she held out her hand.
There was a pause between them, and she almost immediately realized why—because why would he need her to help him up? However, before she had a chance to retract her hand and apologize, he’d taken it in his.
“Um, Reed?”
He turned her hand this way and that, inspecting the calluses at the base of her fingers and the lines over her knuckles. Then he brought it towards his mouth, as if to kiss it.
She inhaled sharply.
He stopped just before making contact and glanced up at her. His lips curved into a small, elegant smile. “I hope I don’t have to remind you that I am not a lady.”
The heat returned to her cheeks with renewed force. She took her hand back. “Come on, Reed. Let’s get going.”