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A great spear of light came for her heels. Her leap just to the right kept her inches away from its impact.
Another shot for her head. A rolling maneuver buys her a little more time.
So unfolded her moment-by-moment bid for life itself. Same as it had ever been, but no less exasperating. She never chose any of the foes she ran from but there they remained, fast at her heels. It wasn’t her first time on the run. It most certainly won’t be her last.
Even so, running from an entire Guardian Entity was nothing to brush off as everyday affairs. When in full gallop and gunning for you at every given chance between recharges, you may as well be running from a rage-drunken bear. But she wasn’t about to let fear paralyze her. She wasn’t about to stop. Not until she had no more run left in her. Life’s gonna have to be pried from either the sleek and madly fighting hand of the captain, or the cold, unyielding iron grip of the Lieutenant’s hand. Choose your battle wisely.
“ You must be able to see how slim your options are growing, Critical Threat Variant 1. ” Spoke the calm, even and ridiculously monotonous voice of her pursuer, two more neon blue bolts thundering forth from the cannons on its back. “ I’d suggest surrendering yourself quietly at this stage, but I somehow doubt you have enough common sense for that in the first place. ”
“Don’t worry about me, darling.” ENA shot back, Captain Fight’s crimson face sporting a wry, irreverent smile. “I find my ways. While I’m at it, I could find your boulder of a head a real body. And I’ll make it an attractive one if you let me go!”
“ How about you jump directly into hell as an alternative. I would be happy to escort you there myself. ”
“Good luck with that!” She practically sang in reply.
No sooner had she mouthed off to the Cosmic Guard an especially livid barrage of fire erupted after her. On one hand, she adored how easily this one’s panties went into a twist. On the other—
One for the money two for the show three shots for her heart dear gods too close
—she couldn’t deny she was pressing her woefully limited luck.
The earthen, mountainous terrain was already affording very little in terms of mercy. Not that she wasn’t beyond ready to fight this battle but it was quickly becoming a war of attrition. In a situation of closing walls, Lieutenant Flight’s first instinct is to withdraw, hunker down and brace. She could already feel novocain start to seep into her state of mind, poisoning the emotions that would otherwise be raging alongside her. She fought the urge to go cold. It would be the death of her. She must stay topside. The Iron Maiden’s hand must remain open. For now.
The sight of bolts flying overhead for the crags above was caught only by peripheral vision. It didn’t give her much time to prepare for the rockslide that precipitated.
Even as she was made to dive away from massive stones, even as gravel pelted her while she scrambled, her thinking mind felt distant from the moment. Like she was listening to the plight of someone else from the bottom of a sinkhole. She toppled to the ground running from the onslaught. Panicked hands and knees dragged her behind and between the fallen slabs. She could hear the heavy steps of the Guardian Entity as it scouted for a visual on her. She could hear stones being kicked away. A softly humming charge from the massive ion cannons. Otherwise she couldn’t even hear herself breathing. Couldn’t feel past the bittersweet numbness of her gradually anesthetizing mind. Only a loud, roaring, rising swell of empty dread.
The Iron Maiden’s lethargic gaze drifted skyward. The sight didn’t permeate much farther than her eyes for a good long moment. It took even longer for her conscious brain to register that this growing cacophony she heard was not her that of her deafening panic, but the roar of something large, hazy and all consuming rushing forward from the horizon.
And somehow she had just enough sense to shield her eyes as the great sandstorm ambushed the landscape around her.
The thundering footsteps of the Guard audibly began to stumble. An “ Oh Goddammit ” here and a “ they don’t pay me enough for this shit ” there.
Without warning, the raging Crimson King returned to stumbling feet, a racing heart and a mindless sprint into the sand-blinded wind. She only swung her head back once to get an idea of where her pursuer was, and only the faintest shape of it could be seen past the billowing storm.
She wasn’t about to leave it to chance though. An arm was all that shielded her face from the uproar as she ran as far as this second wind would carry her.
It wasn’t unlike ENA to deal with life like an addicted gambler, much less one that had thoroughly mastered the art of card counting and dice loading. Yet vain and overconfident a soul as she was, she found herself bewildered at what seemed like a harsh and unreal stroke of luck. She always spurned the notion of fate and superstition. Staunchly. She played too close to the laws of nature to entertain such things. This sandstorm admittedly tempted her to think otherwise, even if for a fathom. Its arrival almost felt timely. Precise.
Finally, something vaguely conscious and thoughtful took the wheel, and ENA stopped. Squinting through the thick, dark pall of dust, she scanned what surroundings her sight would allow. Rocky, faded hills below, coppery red streaked sky above. Her breathing, though fast, steadied in its pace. Her eyes, attentive and pointed wherever she bid them.
Something moved in the thick haze and seized her focus. Tentatively she drew forward to get a better look.
The large cat paused mid stride and returned her gaze.
At once and with fury ENA’s heart raced while she watched the creature turn around, eyes remaining on her, and begin a gallop toward the distance. She hitched on a dumbfounded laugh before giving chase. By now her mind was feverish and on a bed of nails, but this was direction enough for her. Enough to keep the gyroscope spinning and upright.
Best as her eyes tried to keep sights set, somewhere the beast fell out of view amid the gusts of debris. This didn’t stop her from racing ahead, but it made things difficult and, for a wandering moment, almost aimless. She dared not cry out. It wasn’t worth risking the attention of the Guard. Her steely hand gripped inward and released its sharp fingers, again and again.
A shrieking chorus of roaring broke through the gusts of sand.
Gods alive and breathing. There her emotions were. And what it took for the numbing to wear off! She practically catapulted herself where the shrill calls echoed. Her lungs were dry and her legs grew sore, still she ran forward with the most vitality she remembered feeling for quite a while.
The face of the mountain she came upon was almost enough to get tears going. Almost. She staggered along its edge until she came upon a cavern. Without another prompt, she bolted inside and ran a good distance until she felt secure and out of sight enough to stop.
And when she did, she braced herself against the wall, almost slouching back. Remaining still, staying in one place felt more alien than it had any right to. The rest of her body almost couldn’t accept it was okay to stop. When she could catch her breath and restrain it enough to dispel her lightheadedness, she seated herself and almost wilted. The gusting storm outside became muffled by the comparatively comforting silence of the cave. By gods, she almost fell asleep.
That’s when a shadow eclipsed the tunnel’s opening. Someone there.
ENA reared up as much as she could, the claws of Lieutenant Flight held high. She stalled and blinked a good double-take when she saw the silhouette of the puma.
As if she really needed a third affirmation she wasn’t imagining things.
ENA exhaled deep, tension releasing her frayed body.
“…Timely as anything, love.” She spoke with a grin.
Without further ado, the cat came sprinting forward, leaping into an impossible roll. The transition from feline to human was as quick and seamless as the girl’s return to an upright, two-legged run. The emotion on her half-masked face didn’t even have to be seen closely. All was conveyed quite well by the healthy bear-hug she tossed the vagabond’s way.
“ ENA-! ”
With shaky, gradually relaxing warmth, ENA held the girl close, listening to the trills and purrs of the one she had sorely missed.
“An absolute joy to see you again, Taski.”
A hearty snuggle against her head and another, and then Taski pulled away, holding ENA’s face in both paws.
“Where by the rising sun have you been!?” She griped in high and worried tones. “It’s been long enough even for you! I would’ve sworn you were dead or something!”
“I mean, you saw who was after me, right?” She smirked. “If they really want me terminated, they’re gonna need to apply themselves a lot more than that.”
“...Did you just escape from Quarantine?” Taski asked a little quieter.
A reply was easy enough in theory. It didn’t seem to work like so in the moment, for ENA had become mentally hung up on the events of the last few days. To roughly quantify the time.
“...How long were you…? And you didn’t…?”
ENA didn’t like how heavy her eyes felt. She offered a tender hand against Taski Maiden’s face to assuage her concern.
“I’m glad to be out of dodge. That’s for sure.” She spoke softly, accompanying her words with a gentle kiss. “Thank you for that by the way.”
Taski’s eyes shut in a slow and gentle blink before both paws pulled ENA close once again. It was hard for ENA to ignore the warmth along her spine when she heard overjoyed purring against her ear, and felt the subtle rumble in the girl’s chest. Strange a sensation as it was, it soothed her.
“I hope I didn’t get any sand in your eyes…” Taski whispered.
“You did just fine, Kiki.” ENA reassured the sheepish earth sprite, stroking her red hair once, twice. “I thrive in the face of adversity.”
“How do you keep pissing off whole Cosmic Guards anyway?”
ENA greeted Taski’s question with a chuckle as she patted herself dry with her own shirt, setting it aside by the little subterranean pond where layers of sand and sweat were freshly shed.
“I’ve no reason to go searching for trouble, love.” She replied. “Trouble comes hunting for me.”
“It’s gonna do that when you pull the stunts you do, dingus.” Added Taski, setting a stick or two more into the impromptu fire.
“Indeed?”
“ Indeed, your face . Like uncaging an entire zoo. You know I watched you do that, right?”
“Creatures aren’t supposed to be in cages.” She spoke as matter-of-fact, reclasping her brassiere. “I didn’t fashion that truth myself.”
“I love the way you think but-” Taski fussed with an accusatory finger, ears almost flat on her head.
ENA studied the pout on the Maiden’s face, making her way to the fireside, little else with her but her cargo shorts.
“Are you scared for me, Taski?”
“Aren’t you? You came close today. Like… close close.”
And ENA must’ve left a reply to her dear friend around there some place. She definitely wasn’t having much luck finding it while idly dusting off her cap.
“…Don’t you, like, feel anything about that?”
The pause came before the dubiously adequate words did.
“Of course I do.”
“Like what though…?”
…ENA herself was dissatisfied enough with her waning sense of articulation. Even a regrettably alienated soul like her didn’t have to imagine how her companion must’ve felt. But to be perfectly fair, she wondered if her lack of words was because of placing more mental holds on things than she probably should’ve been.
“…Ya’ want the most honest answer I have?”
Taski produced a sulky yet somber nod, quite punctually. Only now did ENA catch notice of the Lieutenant’s steely hand in its restless, repetitive grip-and-release.
“…I don’t know.”
ENA heard a small sigh leave Taski’s lungs. She was never that great at offering closure. A distinct shift in her state of mind had already come, as her face indeed started to wax gray and distant.
“Iᴛ ɪs ʜᴏᴘᴇᴅ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ʏᴏᴜ ᴅᴏɴ’ᴛ ᴍɪsᴜɴᴅᴇʀsᴛᴀɴᴅ ᴛʜᴇ sᴇɴᴛɪᴍᴇɴᴛ.” Spoke the Iron Maiden in droning, unnatural tones, a chronic passivity coloring her speech. “Eᴍᴏᴛɪᴏɴs sᴜʀʀᴏᴜɴᴅɪɴɢ ᴛʜᴇsᴇ ᴘʀᴇsᴇɴᴛ ᴅᴀɴɢᴇʀs ᴀʀᴇ ǫᴜᴀɴᴛɪғɪᴀʙʟʏ ᴘʀᴇsᴇɴᴛ. Iɴ ɢʀᴇᴀᴛ ɴᴜᴍʙᴇʀs.”
“Like… Fear?” Taski asked, cocking her head to the side.
“…Lɪᴋᴇʟʏ.”
“…But you’re not even sure about that? ”
There was silence all around. There too, by her side, was the one she loved as strongly as life itself. If not more. There was no danger. There was no pursuer. There was no imminent threat of death. There was no pain. …At least ENA was fairly certain that there wasn’t. None that she was aware of. At any rate, there was most certainly no need for the hard freeze of Novocain.
Yet there the Lieutenant was, bingeing on the stuff. Retreating to it.
“Iᴛ ɪs ᴀɴ ɪɴᴅɪsᴛɪɴᴄᴛ ᴄᴀᴄᴏᴘʜᴏɴʏ.” ENA finally droned on, her head blankly slouching to the side just a hair. “…Aɴᴅ ᴀ ᴄᴏɴsᴛᴀɴᴛ ᴏɴᴇ.”
ENA acknowledged and welcomed Taski Maiden as she moved closer beside her. Even if only from the corner of her eye.
“A ɴᴏɪsᴇ ʜᴇᴀʀᴅ ᴏɴʟʏ ᴏɴᴄᴇ ɪs ᴇᴀsɪʟʏ ᴅɪsᴛɪɴɢᴜɪsʜᴀʙʟᴇ ғʀᴏᴍ sɪʟᴇɴᴄᴇ.” She continued. “A ɴᴏɪsᴇ ʜᴇᴀʀᴅ ᴄᴏɴsᴛᴀɴᴛʟʏ, ᴜɴғᴀɪʟɪɴɢʟʏ, ᴄᴇᴀsᴇʟᴇssʟʏ, ʙᴇᴄᴏᴍᴇs ᴀ sɪʟᴇɴᴄᴇ ᴏғ ɪᴛs ᴏᴡɴ.”
Her face began to feel pale. She couldn’t feel it in her mind, but her palm definitely felt it. Her own sharp, spindly fingers digging and clawing with little aim.
“Aɴᴅ ᴀʟʟ ᴇʟsᴇ ɢʀᴏᴡs sɪʟᴇɴᴛ ɪɴ ᴛʜᴇ ᴄʟᴀᴍᴏʀ. Aᴄᴛɪᴏɴs. Sɪɢʜᴛs. Tʜᴏᴜɢʜᴛs ᴛᴏᴏ. Sɪʟᴇɴᴄᴇ ᴘʀᴏᴘᴇʀ ʙᴇᴄᴏᴍᴇs ɴᴏɴᴇxɪsᴛᴇɴᴛ. …Aɴᴅ ᴡʜᴇɴ ᴛʜᴇ ɴᴏɪsᴇ ɪs ғᴏᴄᴜsᴇᴅ ᴜᴘᴏɴ, ᴛʜᴇ ᴡᴏʀʟᴅ ғᴀᴅᴇs.”
Inertia. It was as though a great static started to fill her mind.
No farther than the surface of her arm did the sensation go. Not past the fog. On one end of the hall it existed, and on the other end it did not. The Iron Maiden looked at her own nerve endings with indifference and confusion. Hardly arriving and with much effort was the notion to ask what.
Her arm felt again. Stronger this time.
She was practically pulled back into the room.
The startle was senseless and unnecessary, but it came. Immediately ENA’s nerves settled down when she looked beside her and saw Taski snuggling her head against her arm. The Maiden’s affection faltered with the snapback, but ENA collected herself enough to put that arm of hers around the girl. Taski was quick to settle into the gesture, the quiet rumbling purr returning to her breath.
“The nerves on you… You really are a warrior at heart.” Mused Taski.
Sober yet in lighter spirits, ENA exhaled with a smile, and one that the subdued Crimson King meekly bore.
“…Can I afford to be anything else, beloved?”
The paw on ENA’s shoulder traveled much farther this time, and she fixed her focus on Taski Maiden. A drawn out blink appeared from her eyes. ENA felt something like warmth and mimicked the gesture. Taski trilled happily, and with the strength she hardly knew, nestled firmly beneath ENA’s head and into both her arms. ENA couldn’t help snickering as she did her best to steady their collective topple on the ground.
How long had it been since ENA even saw her dear friend? If she were well-versed with memory she would’ve said it was a chance crossing of paths or one of their friendly sparring matches. Taski was much more fearsome a fighter than one would assume just looking at her, and admittedly a very close match for her own reflexes. But she felt certain she had won the last time they threw hands. At least once. Perhaps tomorrow was high time for another rematch.
It wasn’t very hard to feel that strength of hers, even just holding her. She felt a few subtle, reflexive rabbit kicks as she laid the both of them side-by-side. Taski was nonetheless pretty careful about using claws. Unless they were fancied of course.
“Not sayin’ you can or anything…” The earth nymph replied at last, softly. “Come onnn though, hasn’t anyone been gentle with you yet?”
“I can’t explain how much I adore that coming from you , Kiki.”
Taski brushed ENA off with a ‘pfff’, cuddling up to her, both paws warm around her back.
“I’m no klutz, EE-NA. I can play nice.”
ENA was not about to humor the noticeable warmth she felt across her face. And she was more than prepared to dig her heels on that, even as light traces from her mid back to her shoulders drew a few pins and needles from the less-than-personable haystack. Taski’s attention became a little more pointed, and ENA could feel a paw pad grazing something along the back of her shoulder. Something mostly numb, if mildly itchy. She turned her head likewise.
Ah. She almost forgot about that scar.
Taski’s chest puffed lightly in an exhale.
“…And blazing sun knows you need nice about now.”
Little wit in reply did ENA have but a coy chuckle. The girl holding her rested her head against the front of her shoulder.
“Oh you’re laughing now, but…”
No further a word and ENA was taken into both arms and held snug. Beside her head, next to her ear, chirping purrs.
Almost hypnotic the sensations together. Something sleepy and placid came over her like a misty evening fog. She let a voiceless sigh go in peace. Didn’t care to mind she had nestled her head against Taski’s shoulder.
Delicate touch. From her shoulder blades to the small of her back. And then again. Like petting. Her spine prickled and warmed up. ROM encrypted and gone if she knew what to call it but- aah gods a rather potent shiver - it wasn’t unpleasant. Much to the contrary. But the effect it had on her composure was nothing to sneeze at either. It was taking a nonzero amount of will to keep a relative poker face about her.
But ENA’s overstimulated nervous system fell quite feeble when she felt the back of those formidable nails lightly, lightly drag back up to both her shoulders. She went reflexively tense, muffling a low, quiet groan against Taski’s shoulder as if that would make any difference that wasn’t counterintuitive. Rascal that she was, Taski snickered teasingly and added insult to ecstasy by kissing ENA below her head.
Very well then. War it was.
Indeed, the Crimson King smirked and made use of both hands. One pointed and metallic hand on the Maiden’s back, tapping gentle and coy, the other mitten to her ears, stroking one with a thumb. She heard her breath stop up a moment, proceeding in an audible tremor.
“Mmm… this is what you want, huh.” ENA crooned.
“Try me, asshole.” Taski clapped back, grappling for ENA in the fiercest, tenderest of ways. Not that ENA wasn’t unprepared to match that intensity.
Ah. Feeling. So tenuous and complicated was ENA’s relationship with feeling. It had its ways of enthralling her one day and terrifying her the next. Feeling inside and out. The fivefold earthquake and the deeper heart tremors. But the great clamor that she hardly knew… the sounds she found herself hearing at this moment in time had far more meaning and rhythm than most other noises that crossed her heart. She heard them as her beloved’s arms encircled her, as hands gently felt and caressed her, as simple and fleeting little whispers found her ears and scurried down her nerves. It was less like an intimidating noise and more so a mellow yet intense melody. And one she could easily follow, with as much deliberation as she saw fit.
So she listened.
And the wordless notes of affections struck an intense cord. A firm, gentle bite below her head. ENA’s heart leapt and her voice shuddered in low, dreamy tones. She actually didn’t feel worthy, but this was not a gesture to be taken lightly. Looping arms around Taski, she hesitated in a moment of feeling completely unfit, and returned with a soft bite in kind to the shoulder. Relaxed and carefree trills overlaid her incessant purring. They held one another this way for a good moment, brief in time and infinite in emotion.
And when they both let go, they came together quite close in a hug. ENA caught eyes with a slow blink, and she returned it. Taski relaxed, and ENA relaxed. The heat of the fire nearby was pleasant, but it didn’t have what holding someone quite loved had. ENA laid her head back, letting her gaze go where it wished.
It promptly hooked itself on the cavern’s entrance. And it stayed there. Outside, as the dust settled, the faintest glow of a setting sun could be seen. The focus could not quite be broken. ENA pondered something, and hell if she even knew what.
“…I-NAAAAA…” Prodded Taski, incredulously.
Lazily and with little care, ENA lifted her head back up to see the earth spirit against her chest, skeptical scowl and all.
“You’re not seriously thinkin’ of waltzing back out there, are ya?”
“…Only tentatively.” ENA lied.
“You know they’re probably still scouting around for you, right?”
“They always will be, love. They know what I am.”
“I’ve heard of this neat strategy called laying low.”
ENA couldn’t help but chuckle, regardless of how funny her friend may or may not have found things.
“Mm. It won’t make a difference for long. If they find me here with you, wouldn’t you get into trouble for harboring me?”
ENA felt Taski’s talons tap in waves against her bosom before her lone, unmasked eye lit up.
“…You ever seen me rip my way through 20 men?”
The thought and the gall that gave it birth. Most certainly enough to steal a raised brow, a bemused smirk from the vagabond.
“ Would you like to? ” She added, grinning wide.
Confound it all. ENA squealed preceding a fit of laughter before scooping Taski Maiden closer. Damn her ability to put her in dissonantly high spirits.
“I’d much rather you didn’t put yourself in that kind of danger, Taski.” ENA sighed, before cupping the girl’s face and dotting her with a little kiss. “I adore your audacity nonetheless.”
Taski smiled, cuddling up beside ENA, purring plentiful and quite loud.
“At least ride it out for a little longer, dumbass. Let them get distracted with another one.”
ENA’s gaze rested softly on Taski Maiden, the Crimson King chancing a warm smile.
“There’s no one out there like me, Kiki.”
“You don’t know that.”
Is there really knowing anything? Is not the whole expanse relative and full of grays? If anything, strong probabilities, and ones that ENA herself could rest a great deal of confidence in.
This was a better conclusion than admitting her lack of certainty.
ENA’s eyes drifted to the ridges and formations of the cave ceiling.
“…Perhaps you’d like to throw hands tomorrow?”
“I knew you’d come crawling back for more, chump.”