last watch.

.

  Opting for the last watch was something Beau was regretting. In this solitude, the monk leaned back against her hands and stared into the stars, silently praying that Ioun was truly looking over her, despite her mistakes. The silence Beau resided in wasn't caused by her awkwardness-just a sleeping wizard that deserved the rest.

  Glancing back at the rest of the Mighty Nein, Beau's eyes fell to Yasha's sleeping form, and next to her, underneath her unconscious grasp: a book. Beau felt what could only be described as a tug towards the book. Beau wasn't one closely tied to the Knowing Mistress, but if this was an instance of a connection to the goddess, Beau wasn't going to let it pass.

  Beau crawled towards the tall woman, seemingly fast asleep. She couldn't lie to herself, even if these following actions were guided by Ioun, quite a lot of the reasoning behind this was Beau's crush on the barbarian.

  Scanning around again, Beau could find no sign of her friends being aware of her actions.

  Good.

  The monk continued, being cautious to avoid any source of noise she could make. This was pretty much the worst use of monk skills Beau could've come across. But it was too late now. Beau inched closer and closer, studying the features of Yasha. She seemed to still be asleep, even in what could be an uncomfortable dream.

  Reaching forward, Beau laid her fingers across the cover and binding of the book, once more being careful not to wake the giant. The monk extracted the book from beneath Yasha's fingers, breathing a sigh of relief when her face hadn't shifted from the slumbering discomfort she seemed to be in.

  Beau could barely move the book any further before a shadow shot up from where Yasha was previously sleeping, and a clap of thunder rolled through the campsite, which triggered a cascade of rain to fall onto the Nein. No one woke, surprisingly enough.

  Dropping the book to the ground, Beau bore witness to the rain failing to hit the book, creating a circle of 'dryness' to prevent it from getting wet. Beau furrowed her brows and sighed to herself.

  The campfire seemed to dim-even more than what the rain had done to it. Beau then saw Yasha, sword in hand. A flash of lighting exposed the once silhouetted black, skeletal wings protruding from her back, devoid of any feathers or skin. Beau wasn't naïve to the sight, but it still made a shiver run down her spine. The monk looked into the murky darkness of Yasha's eyes, or as much of Yasha's eyes Beau could see, even with her goggles.

  A look of recognition washed over Yasha's face, the barbarian's wings folding behind her back, black pits fading into familiar green and purple pupils. Yasha sheathed her sword and moved around the book, holding out a hand to Beau. Her face was as stoic as always, which seemed bizarre, considering the events that had just occurred.

  "Uh...thanks," Beau paused, taking her hand. "for not killing me. I know that whole demonic thing you got going is kinda...deadly against me."

  The Aasimar nodded and picked up her book. She seemed to be just as taken aback that her collection remained dry, despite the pouring of rain undoubtedly caused by the Stormlord. Yasha directed her gaze up into the clouds, pocketing the book.

  "Thank you." she muttered.

  "What?"

  Green and purple met blue once more.

  Beau panicked and cut off the connection.

  "I was thanking the Stormlord. He usually doesn't interfere with trivial things." Yasha kept her gaze focused on the monk.

  "Oh, alright. Well, I'll just finish my watch now. Goodnight-" the clouds promptly cleared, revealing the beginnings of a rising sun. "or good morning, I guess. Does...does he fuck with the weather like that?" Beau pointed her thumb to the sun behind her, once obscured by dark clouds.

  Yasha shifted in front of the disappearing moon, leaning to look at the velvet horizon.

  "Sometimes."

  Beau kicked at the dirt by her feet, trying to get herself out of the awkward pause in the conversation.

  Nodding to herself, Beau rolled up her sleep mat, as the barbarian did the same in chilling silence. Dropping the mat into the cart, Beau opened her mouth to speak and mend the awkward silence she caused between her and Yasha.

  "You want to know why I hold the book dear, don't you?" Yasha whispered; as more of a statement, rather than a question. Beau was slow in response.

  "...Yeah."

  Yasha opened up the yellowed pages, revealing a multitude of plants that seemed to be all sorts of shapes and colors. They all seemed to be beautiful in their own right. Beau couldn't help but let her jaw slack at the sight.

  "You collect flowers?" Beau scoffed, perhaps a little ruder than she intended.

  "I do."

  Yasha gingerly closed the book and pocketed it again, moving to wake the rest of the Mighty Nein for the long day ahead. The monk could only look on in mild disbelief at what the most stoic of the group had shown her. Before Yasha could wake Fjord, Beau-quite stiffly-grabbed onto Yasha's hand, looking up into her eyes again.

  "Why?" Beau questioned, voice faint.

  "It's for someone special." Yasha moved her hand out of Beau's grip, using the same appendage to coax Fjord out of his sleep.

  Over the few watches they shared together, and just as many conversations they shared, Beau and Yasha talked about the plants placed in the book, ranging from the Halfling Thistle to Blueleaf.

  When Beau's attention didn't move on from the Blueleaf plant, Yasha picked it up and offered it in silence, face blank, though Beau could've sworn that she saw a glint of uncertainty in her pupils.

  "I can't. You told me that you were doing this for someone special." Beau glanced up into Yasha's eyes. "But I mean...if you really want me to, I can't say no to someone with purple and swampy eyes-" the monk struggled to make a flirtatious comment. "nevermind, I'll just take it. Thanks."

  Of course, Beau didn't really have a place to put it, other than being wrapped onto her staff, so there it stayed, quite obvious to the rest of the Nein.

  A few days later, Beau spent a hefty amount of gold coins at the Invulnerable Vagrant to get an enchanted book. One that could preserve any plant matter Yasha placed in it.

  Beau was going to give it to the barbarian after the Clockwork Warden and freeing the orphans' parents but fell asleep out of sheer exhaustion before she had the chance to.

  Waking up in the cold, misty morning, Beau pulled the book out of her personal satchel, practically dashing over to Yasha's empty mat. Fjord and Jester's mats were also just as empty. The monk could barely stop herself from throwing the book into the campfire, before Molly and Caleb's hands set themselves onto her shoulders, Nott's hand resting on her calf.

  "All three of them left their belongings. I think they were taken." Caleb whispered.

  Beau's throat bubbled with anger, tears brimming her eyelids. She opened up the first couple of pages, both of which had a purple flower, and green plant in them, perfectly matched to Yasha's eyes.

  "We're killing whoever the fuck took them. I'm pummeling whoever chained her."    

  A/N: So...I apologize if this is a little bad since I'm not well versed in fanfiction anymore but Critical Role has become my new obsession so...I had to. Thank you for reading this, please drop a vote (if you want to, no one's twisting your arm about it) and uh...woo. I'm gonna make another one-shot soon about that thing from episode 26.