The Depth of Perception

Shades

"Do ya see anythin'?"

"No."

"Are ya sure?"

"...mostly."

Wrench kept her gaze forward, Zane bobbing at her side, while Oriana watched the alley behind them and the rooftops. Doing so while running in the opposite direction was proving to be difficult, and she couldn't be certain from her vantage point what was happening on the rooftops high above them.

"Well I hope yer right cause I don't t'ink I got anudder round wit' dose guys in me," Wrench said, though she looked as spry as ever—if not more so.

"What was that all about anyway?"

"Haven't da foggiest," Wrench beamed.

First it turned out Zane's ledger was cursed, then Wrench's strength suddenly soared out of the realm of 'human'. Not to mention whatever was chasing them. It was as if all the magic in her childhood storybooks was suddenly coming to life around her. Before today, she thought alchemy and zephrite were the closest there would ever be to real magic, but now...?

"Would-you-kind-ly-put-me-down?" came Zane's voice from under Wrench's arm, bouncing with the pace of her run. Oriana might have laughed at how ridiculous the previously dignified boy looked stuffed under Wrench's arm, if they hadn't been running for their lives.

"Can ya run faster dan me?" Wrench asked, pumping the arm carrying her wrench with exaggerated form.

In answer, Zane was silent.

All three remained that way for a few moments, the only thing interrupting their run being Oriana peering behind and above them, until Zane spoke up again.

"We're-near-ly-to-the-main-road," Zane said in a staccato. "We-can-lose-them-in-the-crowd."

It no longer made sense to try to hide their trail, at least not until they had lost their pursuers. By the time any trace they left was found they would hopefully be long gone anyway. It was the best they could manage given the circumstances.

But as the main road came into view at the end of the alley, their time ran out. Oriana shouted as she noticed the black smoke pouring down the building behind her, and urged Wrench to move faster. As the smoke materialized into Kuro's form, however, Dhuma dropped down in front of them. They were trapped.

"Keep going!" Oriana told Wrench, noticing her friend curb her pace and heft her weapon.

Wrench shot Oriana a curious look, but resumed her original speed, dashing straight toward Dhuma. Dhuma, for her part, merely stood in waiting, not even bracing for impact.

Still running herself, Oriana slowed only briefly to pull her bow from her back again. She levelled it at Dhuma, and this time she fired without hesitation at the woman's eye. Finally her arrows had an effect, and Dhuma doubled halfway over, clutching at her face.

Upon seeing Wrench mere paces away, she began to straighten again, and Oriana saw that while she was scowling and in pain, her eye showed no signs of trauma other than the arrow sticking out of it. No blood, nothing. Still, it was better than their previous track record, and so she fired a second arrow at Dhuma's other eye.

Ready for it this time, Dhuma burst into a cloud of smoke just as the arrow reached her, causing it to pass harmlessly by and lodge in the wall. The arrow that had previously been in her other eye fell to the ground as it lost its purchase.

Wrench sprinted past the smoke, Zane bouncing violently but no longer complaining, and Oriana jumped directly through it a moment later. While it hadn't been her original plan, it had served its purpose. They had escaped.