#chessi

Scarss got me the new Kitsune Ears.

It had taken her a moment to catch on that something was gravely wrong. But not nearly as long as it might have otherwise. 

The door felt wrong when she put her hand to it, ready to push it open, and Chessi paused. 

No. Don’t go inside. 

Her lips parted to reply, but the very air felt thick. Chessi remembered that feeling of confused panic very well, and it was rising again.

Calm down and don’t panic. Just listen to me, all right? For once, listen to me. 

With a slow breath, the blonde took her hand off of the door and nodded, stepping back and hugging the canvas sack holding the fresh pastries she’d bought. Reed had been nice to her, even after the vaguely awkward period of time following her refusal of his request. She’d wanted to be nice in return, as only he and Cerise had shown any real happiness at seeing her alive. 

Stop thinking about that. It’s not going to help you now, and haven’t I already told you that your coming back is just a burden to the people you knew?

Chessi flinched, but she nodded, looking at her boots. 

Now what you’re going to do is simple. Put the sack down by the door. Knock once and then leave. You remember that abandoned house we saw? That’s where we’re going. 

Her lips parted, a protest already rising, but a sharp jolt of pain between her eyes precluded that.

No arguing. I know what’s best for you. We’ve gone over this. I swear you’re the most idiotic human ever born. 

It was a familiar chastisement and Chessi hung her head, saying nothing. 

Now do as I told you. We’ll go to that abandoned house and stay there. It’s my own fault for letting you do as much as you have of late, but if you don’t start listening just a little harder, I’m going to have to step in and take direct control. And I don’t think you want that. 

She didn’t. Especially considering how often the voice told her to do things that she considered “mean.” Chessi nodded again when another pain caught her off-guard. “Okay, okay!”

Shut up. You’re going to let him know that you’re there. Now put down the bag, knock once and then get moving. You don’t have much in there to worry about. 

Although something felt vaguely wrong about it, Chessi set the bag of pastries down. She gave the door one firm knock and took to her heels, darting swiftly down the stairs and around the corner. The voice in her head chivied her to move faster and she did, hopping curbs and ducking behind fences until the first ramp up the city wall was in sight. 

It was hard not to turn and go back--she knew something was wrong, and wasn’t there always the possibility she could help?

No. You never help anything. Please, by all means, tell me one time that you managed to make something better. All you do is fail, and the fact that I’ve had to guide you every step of the way is proof enough of that. The voice was icy, hard and clearly angry as it snapped at her. Now get moving. Up the ramp and over. We’ll settle for the night in that abandoned house and I’ll decide what to do in the morning. 

Chessi wished she could actually argue with it, but the logic was sound. Reaching up to tug at the end of her ponytail, the blonde plodded up the ramp. 

They were delicious and she really, really wanted to eat the cookie that she’d bought for Reed. 

Of course, it might not even be to his taste. Not everyone liked sprinkles...

Chessi grimaced, wrinkling her nose, and carefully kept it wrapped, averting her eyes from it as she strode through Rurikton, heading back to the flat that Reed was letting her share with him. 

She couldn’t help a little happy hop to her step as she walked. Having seen Josef, seen that he was alive and well... It was wonderful. She wished that she’d had a moment longer to give Lukas a treat, remembering that the crow always liked little tidbits. 

But seeing him alive and well was enough. Although she’d secretly hoped for at least a hug, Chessi realized it was a lot to ask. Especially when she often forgot that everyone thought she was dead. 

You were. 

A tilt of her head and she listened to the voice that was always lurking at the back of her mind. “I know. I just forget.”

You shouldn’t. Not everyone’s going to be happy you’re alive, you know. They’ve moved on. Their lives are different now. 

The buoyancy of her steps faltered a bit and Chessi nodded, looking at the wrapped cookie. “I know.”

I’m the only one that you can really count on. You know that.

“That’s not true. There are a lot of nice people in the world!”

Yes, but to them, you’re stupid. You’re just an imposition.

“...not to all of them.” Chessi had stopped walking, and looked at the wrapped cookie. Her brow furrowed slightly.

He asked you for one thing and you wouldn’t give it. What do you think everyone else you once knew will do, hm?

She didn’t move for a long moment, cookie in hand. Chessi glanced at the rubbish bin not far away and then shook her head, bringing her chin up. “No, people aren’t bad. You just... really think so and I don’t know why. You’ll see. Reed will like the cookie, and if I get to see Josef again, we’ll be able to talk just like we used to.”

The last crate was set down, but there were no greetings exchanged, no pleasantries. The ragtag bunch of mercenaries looked downright disgruntled as they returned to the dolyak cart. 

Several climbed into it, flopping about tiredly. A few others picked up the burlap sacks under the front seat and carried them over to join the crates. 

With a last look at the odd assortment of “helpful” mercenaries, the Seraph turned back to the blonde standing next to him. “Can’t thank all of you enough for this. We really needed those supplies.”

Brushing her bangs out of her eyes, Chessi smiled up at the Seraph and nodded. “Glad we could help! It was a little hard getting the cart through those centaur, but we didn’t lose any of the supplies.”

“Appreciate it, really.” The Seraph grinned as he motioned the others forward to start carrying the supplies into the fort. “I never knew mercenaries could be so selfless.”

It had been… odd, to say the least. A strange period of weightlessness, followed by sudden action, bouncing from one person to another. A Charr with fluffy fur, a tall, pale man without facial expression, a much shorter man in armor with a perpetual scowl. 

All of them people she somehow knew, but with names that drifted just out of reach. 

She knew them. She loved them, but she couldn’t be certain she was doing the right thing when she kept a book from falling off of a shelf, or snapped a twig to make someone look in the direction of an incoming ambush. 

But this…

This she knew was the right thing, and despite that strange pull, the murmur of a voice that she would come to know well distracting her, Chessi was focused. 

“You can do it! Just a little further!” 

Intangible hands hovered around the small amphibian, guarding it as it hopped forward and hesitated. There was another pause, wet gold eyes blinking once, and then the frog took another hop, reaching the edge of the pond. 

Gunsmoke blew in eddies across her vision, curling lazily as the breeze picked up. Her abdomen throbbed; blood stained her buckskin leggings and her white shirt was now red. 

Violet eyes, glassy with dumb hurt, shifted to look up at the man lowering his gun. His face was largely expressionless, but there was a sneer in his gaze that reflected lightly on his thin-lipped mouth.

“Should’ve done this years ago,” he said, flicking away the apple core he held in his other hand.

Her vision was swimming, but everything was strangely tinted, as if gazing through lavender glass. 

There were two more steps and he leveled the gun with her forehead, pausing only to lift a foot, using it to push away her upraised hand. “Think after this I’m going to find that Kurzick and blow his brains out, too. Finish off what I started.”

Although her heart was pounding in her ears, the frantic race of an organ struggling to stay alive, Chessi heard those words. Heard them and went cold as her vision darkened. A sweep of aubergine blurred everything, and she was only dimly conscious of moving. 

Despite the blood staining her clothing, pulsing out of the holes he’d shot into her, the blonde lunged, bursting out of the swirling shadow that had abruptly coalesced around her. 

Retson looked down rather blandly, almost curiously. Her arm was in his chest, and there was a dull ache that was spreading with the blood now welling from his flesh. 

Teeth bared, Chessi’s eyes went a vivid, almost electric violet, and she brought herself within kissing distance. “No,” she hissed. “I don’t think you will.”