Once Upon A Dewdrop

ᴀ ɢʟᴀɴᴄᴇ ᴏꜰ ᴅᴀʀᴋɴᴇꜱꜱ

[Two Years Ago]

Dew was a dangerous woman. 

She had taken the lives of the innocent, and was given a pardon because of her connections with the military. Her comrades had begged her to spare their lives, in exchange of keeping their mouths shut about what they had just witnessed. 

After retiring from her job as a military personnel, she left her home district to start a new life at Asahi. Her family, and relatives supported Dew decisions, because at the end of the day who are they to disagree with her?

'What a time to be born in, a chaotic phase she cannot face.'

Dew Eleanore had no one to fight for her, except herself. With a promise to never return to the place where she was born as a part of a contract she was forced to sign. There was no longer home for the woman.

There was no longer warmth, but a misty steam that escaped her freezing lips. Winter has just began, but the chilly feeling wrapping her like a tangled coil was yet to be undone. 

Finally, she reached the border of Asahi District. 

Upon seeing the guards, she knew that entrance will not be free, a hesitating grimace appeared on her face. "Another immigrant!"  announced an Asahi soldier, "probably a survivor!" they screamed.

Fear began to crept up from the bottom of her heart, she was weak due to the cold weather, but with a dark zap of lightning - a ripping of the fabric and space, the girl had found herself standing in front of two dead bodies.

She buried them under the thick snow, the blood that stained the white blankets were also covered as a precaution. 

A few meters from the gate was a man smoking a tobacco. His hair unkempt and his white shirt loose, he was playing a banjo when he heard the enticing voice of the girl, as if she was a siren beckoning a sailor to come and admire her.

"That's not gonna work." A cloud of smoke covered the man's face, and he coughs as it starts to hurt his eyes. "This damn northern winds."

A groan escaped Dew's lips, she just landed harshly on the cold pavement of who knows where, the night was dark and the moon was full. She stood up, attempting to regain her balance only to realize that she had her left arm injured from the fight she broke with the soldiers earlier. "Tch."

"Oi..." scoffed the man, as he grabs two more tobaccos from his tool belt. "What's a girl doing out here at this time of night?" He was certainly not in the best mood to entertain a random individual who seemed to be a traveller who got attacked by wolves. "Those scars, where did you get them?" He lifts her chin up using the tip of his pistol.

She raised her head slowly, a turn about as the stranger meets her glacial crystal clear eyes, the moonlight reflecting on it like a rainbow prism. The woman cannot comprehend the language the man was using. Dew wondered if this is the day she dies, or his. 

"I don't have any intention to hurt you." she spoke in the Mentis dialect.

"Like you can." he growled, followed by the man's head shaking. "Can you stand?"

Her pupils dilated when the man started speaking in Mentis dialect, she glanced at his hair, but it wasn't the same shade as hers. Who had the time to learn one more language in an era of cacophony?

She stood up, taking three steps forward towards the stranger direction but afterwards faltering, thus Dew ended up leaning on the male's chest. Realizing this, of course her initial thought was to move backwards, but the man's arm had already made its way around her waist. 

"I will patch you up." He whispered, and when he tried scooping the girl, blood started oozing down from behind her back. "What in the? First things first, you should have told me you have a bullet wound!"

"Should I?" Dew sassily remarked before losing consciousness.

---

Dew Eleanore was sleeping soundlessly, her white complexion contrasting the somber color of the sofa. However, the sound of playful banjo music woke her up. 

"About time young lass." Beside the Asahi soldier was an ashtray filled with tobacco butts, with one last strum of the strings, he went out of the tent to fetch the breakfast he prepared for the woman.

"The sun's out in the horizon, reinforcements will becoming any minute now, and you will be charged for two counts of murder." He reveals casually to her. 

"Sergeant Torres received three stabs in the head, ultimately leading to his death, while Sergeant Miche got his neck sawed open." he continues, "the murder weapon is a dagger model called Glock Perfection, it's a clip-point knife with a sawtooth-spine with a blade about 6.5 inches long."

Dew didn't even deny the accusation, it didn't sound like one in the first place. The man sounded so sure. He must have backtracked in the snow, and did a good job analyzing the scene of the crime, except he missed one thing.

Dew pressed on the bandaged wound on her back, flinching immediately as the pain courses quickly around her body, causing her to cuss in the Mentis dialect. 

"Hey! No vulgar words inside my tent!" Scolded the Asahi soldier, and his booming voice was enough to surprise the wounded lady. 

She sighed as she might have forgotten that the man can understand her. Dew glanced at the small rolled-up window of the tent, and in silence watched the colors of the sky burst into daylight.

"You look calm for someone with pursuers. Are you one of those psycho who enjoys getting chased?" grumbled the man, he was clearly trying to make Dew talk so he could gain information about her.

"Enjoying the chase?" she echoed without turning her head to the Asahi soldier, "If I happen to do so, what does it have to do with you?" Even though Dew was lucky that a supposed enemy tended for her wounds, learning that he still alerted his people to come arrest her made him look more untrustworthy than he already is. 

The woman was also aware that she should stop provoking the man, if she really wanted to remain alive, but her lifeless eyes clearly contradicts her thoughts. 

"Wanna smoke before you get apprehended?" At last, a small smile appeared on the soldier's face. 

"I politely reject your offer, I'd rather die healthy than because of lung impairments." Dew states,  pushing away the tobacco with the palm of her hand, then shifting her body to watch the sunrise. 

The soldier watched the girl in amusement, as he almost forget that the tent has no walls, and tried leaning on it. "Alright then- woah that was close!"

When the man got back up on his feet, he was surprise to see the woman analyzing an unused tobacco she stealthily took from the soldier's tool belt, "how do you exactly set fire to the killer nicotine that drives people a little high?" she examined the small stick, "it seems to need fire."

Noticing that the soldier had finally let down his guard, Dew tilted her head to the right, and quickly swipes the man's identification card. "You should really stop smoking before it kills you mister."

[Flashback Ends]