Heart to Heart

Chapter 6

"Where the hells is she?!" Zariel snarled as soon as we got back to the camp.

The attack went smoothly and we were able to pull out a win, but it didn't end well for the devils who were being used as bait. All of them were slaughtered within an instant of the demons knowing their presence. And Zariel knew she was sending them off to their deaths. And seeing how Y/N fought against other devils, she wasn't going to make it out alive. So this was how she was going to repay her most loyal and most hard working tiefling? By sending her off to her death?

"She must have died with the other devils," a commander said.

"No. She wasn't there. I walked by those corpses and she wasn't there. So where did she go? Her gauntlet must not be working either."

"She must have run off the second your back was turned," a general said.

"If she is still out there on those battle grounds, we're going to find her. Champion, take a few other devils and search the battle grounds. I want her back as soon as possible. Is that understood?"

"Yes, Zariel," I bowed to her.

Heading further into the camp, I grabbed a few of the devils that knew of my plan. Heading far away from the camp and deep into the battle grounds, we came together to discuss what had happened.

"Were you able to free her?" one asked.

"Yes. She is safe and away from Zariel. But it won't take her long to figure out that she is free from her."

"What are you going to do, Champion?"

"For now, play it cool. Afterwards, I'm going to try to figure out a way to get out of here myself."

"Your secret is safe with us, Champion."

A small smile danced across my face, "Thank you. Come on. Let's 'look' to see where she went."

We all started to wander around the battlefield, flipping over corpses and turning over rocks, trying to kill time from returning to Zariel.

"Where did you send her?" a devil asked.

"A place far from here. A place I can reach so the two of us can stick together."

"Let's hope you two can come together."

"I hope so, too. Although, I don't think she liked what I did to her."

"What did you do?"

"Kind of kicked her through the portal."

"You didn't?" a few of the devils chuckled.

"I hope she can forgive me. Not to mention, I had removed her gauntlet and properly disposed of it. Turns out that not everything down here is fire proof," I snickered, remembering that I easily melted the gauntlet with just the use of my engine alone. I guess that was the only good thing about having this thing in my chest.

After killing some time, I decided it was time to head back and deliver the news to Zariel, even though I knew she wasn't going to be too happy that one of her prized slaves was missing. The devils who helped me went back to where they were needed and I made my way towards her camp site, finding she was looking at the map of Minauros.

"Zariel," I began.

"Give me some good news, Champion. I am in desperate need of some."

"I apologize to let you down, Zariel, but we did not find Y/N out on that battlefield."

"No corpse?"

"No corpse."

"If she did die, she must have died so terribly that it left her without a corpse. If that is the case, might as well go on. Now then, since you are my Champion and you have not yet failed me as terribly as you did ten years ago, you're not only going to fight for me, but you're going to be by my side."

I clenched my jaw tightly, as it reminded me of someone I used to know. I was very close to them, both physically and in terms of being very close friends with them. I had trusted them, but I learned that I can't trust anyone other than myself. As he was the one to sell me to Zariel. Now I have to live in this literal and figurative hell.

~Reader POV~

Walking around in the woods, I was breathing heavily as this air was going to be something I needed to get used to. It was so fresh and clean that it made me want to go back to Avernus just because I wasn't breathing properly. There were a couple of times where it caused me to pass out by the river. Now that I was getting used to it slightly, I hoped I wouldn't pass out as much as I did.

Wandering, my mind thought of the Champion and if her and Zariel were able to succeed. For the Champion's sake, I hope she did. For Zariel, I hope she had the toughest battles to face there as well as to face in the future. I also hope the Champion is able to get out of there and be free. Out of everyone there, she deserves her freedom and the ability to walk freely. But her engine was going to be a problem. I owed her everything for being able to free me in such a manner. But even then I can't go back. Not yet at least. If I were to ever go back, I'd need some fighting experience and that was something I lacked. She really was about to throw me to my death without batting an eye. She really wanted to get rid of me that badly? She should have done it herself. That coward. As I was aimlessly walking, I almost didn't notice I had wandered into a small town and into someone.

"Hey, watch it."

"S-Sorry," I said to the person, who had long black hair.

"You're a face I haven't seen around here."

"I-I'm n-new to this whole place."

"Where are you from?"

"Avernus."

"Avernus? Not many tieflings we get here in Sword Coast. Name's Shadowheart. I can show you around if you'd like."

"P-Please, t-that'd be very kind of you. I-I'm Y/N," I stuck my hand out and shook hers.

"Nice to meet you, Y/N. Bit timid, aren't we?"

"I-I was never really given a voice."

"No matter your past, it doesn't matter now. You're free."

"Y-Yeah."

I'm free.