Last Crack At Hope

Blistering Abnormality

—Chapter 8—
Blistering Abnormality

A large sigh escaped from the raven's lips as she sat within a relatively small cavern, a few feet away from the entrance and watching the heavy blizzard rain down from the once clear blue sky. All she had on the skins of her back was the heavy jacket she wore and her reduced size of a staff within her pocket.

"Why did I even initiate that conversation?" She spoke softly to herself as a cold breeze caused her to shiver and shrink within her coat. "That was immature of me to even try to get him to say it. Now I'm stuck in the middle of nowhere. This blizzard is somehow imbued with mana which makes it hard for me to even traverse."

. . .

"I'm just curious about what you do, Emiya. We've been travelling for months and all I'm aware of is that we both have similar objectives. That doesn't exactly tell me what that means." The female spoke before taking a sip of rose tea. The white-haired male paused from reading the letters he had received. "Did we not agree on just conversing on this particular topic if the person decides to reveal it themselves? Then why are you trying to pry it out of me, woman?"

She sighed, placing down the cup as she glanced at the male. "I'm not trying to dive into your privacy... I'm just concerned about what is going on. Every time you return from whatever you are doing, you're always injured and covered in what may be soot and whatnot..." Emiya dropped the letters onto the table and folded his arms, glaring at his travelling companion. "Whether you are concerned or not, it is none of your business. I do things my way, you do things your way. It's as simple as that. Just because we may have saved each other's asses once and whatnot doesn't mean you should put your damn nose into my situation."

Her left eye twitched in annoyance as he spoke. "What do you mean 'none of my business'? I thought we had agreed on the fact that it's going to become our situation if we are travelling together? You left out the detail that we were going to Czechia through this snow barren from what I am aware of."

"How... did you know we are within Czechia? I said nothing of the sorts regarding the destination!" The male stood up from where he sat and slammed his hands onto the table. The raven hesitated before turning away. "I.. just somehow know."

"That's ludicrous. All you had told me was that you used to live in Ireland. Nothing about anything else regarding Europe. You preposterous woman, what else have you not spoken about then?!" A swift sound of something was shot merely a few inches away from the male's cheek, lightly searing it as he flinched at the sudden malice. "I have enough of your egotistical personality. All I wanted to do is to help you whatever means necessary. If what I'm saying doesn't even move something from within, I may as well leave."

. . .

She sighed once more. "I really should not have ended the conversation like that." She stared out into the blizzard, trying to see if she could even reach the small bracelet that the male had worn... After all, she made it in case either of us was lost and can reach back to one another. The more she tried to reach to the accessory, the more disoriented she became. Was it the blizzard that made it hard to concentrate or was it the bits of mana sprinkled across the land that made it difficult?

After a few minutes of trying, an abrupt feeling of nausea drowned her concentration and made her excrete her meal onto a part within the cave. She coughed out whatever was leftover from her mouth and wiped the edge of her lips on the back of her hand. "Well..." She spat onto the cavern floor. "...whatever that was, it definitely didn't feel natural. Is this someone's doing?"