FATE\Deus Decipit

Chapter 85: Calvary

...

She sat on the beach with her friend. Sand had already dug itself into every part of her body, underwear, and dress, which she had just put back on. She didn't like the feeling of sand, but she also knew that the water washed it away, and so she could put up with it for long enough. Besides, she had been told that it was wrong for her to go around uncovered unless she was in the bathroom. More than that, she liked her dress very much. These 'fiori' were very pretty, and of all the things her previous friend asked her to do, replacing the brown, dying 'fiori' with fresh ones was always her favorite chore. Dresses were also very pretty on their own. Clothes were often so restrictive, but dresses were like having the wind wrapped around your body. For these reasons, she didn't mind the sand so much: it was worth being able to wear her favorite clothes.

And yet, her friend was panicking. She could understand why. There were lights and loud sounds over the hill, and she knew enough to know that bad things were happening there. But she still couldn't make sense of what she was doing.

Her stone fingers were pulling at her dress, objecting that she had put it on. She would then gesture wildly to the bag at their feet, and then to the open ocean. At each stop her mouth would flap open and closed, trying to say something, but no sound came out. Normally, she trusted her friend to lead her; she knew that she knew nothing, and it was only right and fair for one who knew nothing to be led by those who knew more. But, through the connection they shared, she could feel no knowledge there. She felt panic, she felt unease, and she felt this nagging darkness within her.

She turned her head in confusion, her eyes bent with concern.

Echo took a deep breath, grounding herself, and then leaned forward over the sand. With her stone finger she drew an arrow pointing towards the sea, and then looked back at her Master with pleading eyes.

She stared at the arrow. She remembered when they had fought against the girl and the boy. She remembered how poorly it went. She also remembered how well they had been treated since. She was far too innocent to understand that dark, nagging feeling, but she knew enough to know that it was darkness.

There was nothing she could say, she didn't know how to say it, and so she just shook her head.

Echo pursed her lips. She felt the emotions starting to mix and fight one another, but then get cut off with a twitch of her downward ears.

-boom-

Echo stood up and readied herself.

-boom-

Massiah followed her lead. What else was she supposed to do?

-

The rhythm broke. They both watched anxiously at the place where the sound had emerged from.

"Waaaagh!"

Darting from around the corner came the familiar, pudgy shape of Lancer, Pigsy. In his tiny arms, dangling precariously with her feet scraping against the pavement first and sand second, was a girl who neither of the women recognized; a girl covered in blood.

"Please!" Tears and snot streamed from his snout, and his face, too, was stained with blood clearly not his own, "Help me! Please say you can!"

He reached them and laid the girl in the sand as gingerly as he could. She was breathing, but it was shallow- very shallow.

Pigsy looked back and forth between them, his hands out and shaking.

"Well!? Can you help? Please say you can..."

Echo bit her lip.

Massiah shot her a look.

Echo looked back with cold eyes.