I Plead, Your Majesty, For Forgiveness

Chapter 5

WARNING: There is gore in this chapter! Specifically: skin piercing, suffocation, coughing up blood and possibly more. Read with caution if these make you uncomfortable!

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Your mistakes will be forgotten, but your successes remembered.

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Dragonspine: the one place she could feel somewhat at peace. With no religious sisters at her throat; with no responsibility hanging from her shoulders; with no need to lift her weapon. It was somewhere she could fulfil her mind's desires with no consequence. Nobody questioned when she went to Dragonspine as they all knew how dangerous it could be, which is exactly why it was her element. Nobody would follow her, and she could keep an eye on any suspicious individual.

She heard the footsteps behind her, capturing her attention to see someone with Sunsettias in arms. Nothing about them screamed dangerous, but she recalled the words the bard had sung in Angel's Share.

With a face that seems so comforting,

This person will never be such a thing.

Our Creator impersonated so wilfully,

A lesson we should teach for the lack of affinity.

They seemed comforting. And with that in mind, she didn't let them say their piece as she lifted her polearm.

◇◆◇◆

Golden specs of the Wealth Ley Line Blossom covered a large diameter, frosting the grass with yellow as the elemental network hummed and huffed with the whispers from below. Surrounding the Ley Line was decaying branches of Dendro, weaved into one another to form a squared box that held no opening aside from above. Seeing a Ley Line wasn't that odd, but it was larger than the regular ones. 

It was double the size of a Ley Line, situated where the most blood had been absorbed from due to Venti's influence and out of character action. The box of vines acted as the equivalent of a modern day chalk outline of a body, refusing entry as if the area was sacred and needed to be treated with respect.

Ironic, a bitter taste laid on their tongue, so many people say about how you're only important if you're dead. And the Ley Line seemed like proof. Footsteps behind them worried them but, as they turned, they relaxed at the sight of the blond braids of Albedo. 

"Creator," he murmured, almost longingly, as he caught their eye. "I didn't expect to see you here." His clipboard clutched closer to his chest as his eyes lowered. Refusing to meet their gaze, he settled on observing the Ley Line besides them. "It would be wise for you to exit the area," his shoes damaged the grass below as he neared the Dendro vines, "I'm assuming Sucrose may be on her way to cover the area as I am." 

Wracking their mind to remind themselves of their builds, [Name] stood closer to Albedo and knelt down to observe the branches. "I'll take my chances." They could feel his eyes as he shuffled from his place, shuddering from the piercing gaze as he tried to understand their mind and how it worked. 

"If I'm inclined to ask..." He trailed off, struggling with his words as he tried to walk upon the eggshells he placed himself. There was a lack of a language barrier, but he had decided to place a phantom one for his own sake. Their eyes searched his face for any signs of a question, unsure if this was an elaborate plan to know their mind or if he was close to ratting them out.