Finding Beauty in the Darkness *Obi x OC*(COMPLETE)

Saving Ryanne

Obi POV

I walk up the path and find Aeri standing beside two baskets of food, her gaze trained on the cottage while Herron circles her feet. I greet her as I start pull the letter from Ryuu out of my jacket to give to her. She jumps slightly and as she faces me I see her tear-stained face.

"What's going on?" I ask.

"W-We came b-back from the-the village and the door- the door was open. S-She hasn't come out yet... I'm scared Mister Obi."

My eyes widen and I forget the letter, telling her to stay there as I run toward the cottage.

I immediately hear signs of a struggle as I get closer to the cottage and rip the door open. I find Ryanne pinned against the wall by her throat in the kitchen by a tall blond man as his fist heads toward her face. I rush forward and catch his fist before elbowing him in the throat. He drops her and stumbles backward and I notice a dagger, one of my daggers actually, sticking out of his stomach. He lunges toward me, forgetting about her and I dodge his body and kick him in the back of the head as he passes, dropping him to the floor. He tries to get to his feet before I can get to him but I quickly move to stand beside him and pull the dagger from his stomach to hold against his throat.

"Are you alright Miss Ryanne?" I ask as I latch onto a handful of his hair.

She doesn't speak but nods slowly. She's injured, I can tell that much but I don't know how badly yet.

"Did he take anything from you or-?" I trail off, praying that my unspoken question is a no.

"N-No."

"Count yourself lucky then." I growl to him as I press the dagger harder against his throat. "Let's go. I'd rather not make a mess in her kitchen."

I return to the cottage a short while later, having handled the situation and cleaned myself up. Aeri isn't outside anymore so I'm assuming Ryanne finally allowed her to come in. The cottage is still messy when I walk in but I don't see Ryanne or Aeri anywhere. The baskets are on the counter though so they were in here at least. I make my way through the rooms looking for them and finally gently knock on the door to Ryanne's room. I hear her quietly call for me to enter and I find her sitting against the headboard of her bed with Aeri cradled in her arms asleep. Ryanne is softly singing to her, something about being her sunshine and making her happy and grey skies, while her hand runs through her hair. She looks up at me then down at the girl in her arms before carefully moving her to lay beside her. She covers her with the blankets then gets to her feet without waking her. She holds up a finger to signal she'll be out in a minute, so I shut the door and move to the kitchen to survey the damage.

Ryanne meets me in the kitchen wearing a different shirt a few minutes later and sighs and she looks around, grumbling that the day sucked. She starts to pick up the mess and starts to fill a bucket with soapy water but I stop her and gently move her to face me. Her eye is swelling already and her lip has been split open. I can see the red handprints from him choking her along with a dark red hand on her forearm.

"Are you alright Miss? You're hurt."

"I-I'm fine Obi. More shaken up than anything... Are you okay? You just appeared out of nowhere and just- I've never seen anyone fight like that." She mumbles.

"I'm alright. He's not... but I am. So he didn't take anything or do anything to you or Aeri besides these few injuries?"

"No, no. Aeri stayed outside the whole time. He was looking for money. I tried to get him to leave but he threatened me, then I remembered your knives that you left behind and I'm sorry for getting blood on one of them..." She sighs.

I hold back a smile at her apology for getting blood on my weapons designed to draw blood.

"Why didn't you just give him the money? You put yourself in danger."

"Because it's what I've been saving to give to Aeri when she finishes her training. Every profit that comes in from her work or orders that she takes I save for her, same as I've done for previous apprentices. I keep whatever is left and I just used it today for food in the village." Her eyes cloud at the mention of the village and I can hear an annoyed tone in her voice. "If it were simply my money, I would have handed it over but she worked hard for it whether she knows it or not. It's going to be a surprise for her."

I arch a brow as I feel something wet on my fingers and move my hand off her shoulder.

"Miss, you're bleeding. I thought you said he didn't hurt you further?"

"He didn't." She tells me as she moves to the pantry and pulls out a kit.

"Then who did?"

I help Ryanne bandage her shoulder as she explains to me that a man in the village called her out for being a witch and shoved her after spitting on her. He wouldn't have gotten away with it if I had been there. It's thankfully not a bad injury; it's just a large scrape where she hit the wall. I help her straighten up the cottage and clean his blood from the floor afterward, then offer to make her tea. She declines but a second later gets up and sets up the kettle herself. I shoot her a look and she simply says that I do too much for her already, then asks why I'm here since she didn't expect me. I remember the order slips from Garak and the letter from Ryuu for Aeri.

"Picking up orders and dropping off orders and a love letter." I explain as I hold them up. "Also, Master gave me a three day break because I was getting restless at the castle..." I admit.

"Is the love letter from Garak? If so, I don't want it."

"It's for Aeri from Ryuu. He likes her." I grin.

"That's precious."

"But Garak does say hi, told me to drink whiskey with you, and that if we 'have too much fun' we should name it after her." Her expression deadpans and I hear her mumble threats to the herbalist as she prepares tea for us.