Chapter Text
The Ravened One stands back, sending yet another wave of concussive sound towards the Stains, their dying screeches admixing with the melody from her weapon. It was oddly captivating; the way her music is seemingly heralding the creatures’ cursed souls back to wherever they came from.
But not as captivating as the grace and power of the knight in front of her. Nerissa always enjoyed watching Elizabeth fight, though, "enjoyed" does not really encompass it. There was something hypnotic about the way she moved whenever she drew her blade; a confidence that was almost arrogant and yet somehow never crossed the line, like a whirlwind of deadly steel whose every strike landed exactly where it needed to. The Scarlet Knight effortlessly destroys another of the creatures. Her eyes remain resolute despite the sting of sweat rolling down from her brow. Nerissa knows she will always stand between danger and the people she cares about without a single thought of herself.
And right now, she is the person the Scarlet Knight cares about the most. The thought sends heat through Nerissa's chest.
Another Stain lunges at her from the darkness, and before Nerissa even fully registers the movement, she is abruptly shoved to the side– to relative safety. Claws meet flesh, and a drop of blood stains her immaculate white cape. She looks up and sees Lady Bloodflame there, her bare arm caught in the monster’s maw.
Rage blooms inside Nerissa that even the pain in her chest from nearly being struck vanishes beneath the overwhelming fury flooding her veins. Her wine-red eyes darken.
"You dare touch her…", she snarls at the beast.
Pressure builds around them and one moment, Nerissa is several paces away. Next, she is standing directly beside it. Cracks spider across the ancient cobblestones beneath her boots before a single, haunting note escapes her lips. The sound slashes through the field like an invisible blade. The Stain’s body shudders violently as the resonance passes through flesh and bone.
Then its head slides from its shoulders. For a brief moment, the creature remains standing as though it does not yet realize it is dead. Then the rest of its body follows, collapsing into a heap at Lady Bloodflame's feet. There is a palpable shift in the air as Nerissa turns to those still surrounding them. Sound, no– pressure– emanates from the Ravened One in time with the beating of her heart, getting stronger and stronger. With each wave, the remaining Stains falter and shriek as the invisible but crushing force washes over them.
Thump.
The crack beneath her widens. “Princess–”, but she simply ignores the Scarlet Knight.
Thump.
The nearest Stain drops, black blood spilling from its eyes and mouth.
Thump.
Several more collapse entirely. The survivors flee at the sight until not a single one remains. She exhales and only then does she turn back toward Lady Bloodflame. The fury is still there but now it is directed elsewhere. Namely—
"Hello?!-- have you completely lost your mind?"
Lady Bloodflame blinks. Of everything she was expecting after seeing Nerissa literally obliterate an entire horde of Stains, this was definitely not among them.
"I think the only thing I lost is my pauldron." she replies dryly.
Nerissa is not amused. She immediately seizes her injured arm, her grip only firm enough to prevent any attempt at pulling away. Red eyes sweep over the wound, and the sight of blood only seemed to worsen the storm brewing behind them. A tight bandage quickly stems the blood flowing from the bite.
“You have a weapon- a shield?” she gestures at said equipment strapped on her back."You do know what a shield is for, right, Lady Bloodflame?"
"For protection."
"With the shield. Using the shield. Not your arm. Not your shoulder. Not whatever body parts are supposed to be behind it."
"It seemed like the fastest solution at the time."
"The fastest solution." Nerissa repeats. She exhales. "You could have been killed." The knight starts to speak but is immediately cut off.
"Don’t–"
Lady Bloodflame stiffens almost imperceptibly and her eyes glaze over. She shuts her mouth. A pulse of pressure ripples outward from Nerissa, sending a faint tremor through the already fractured ground beneath their feet. The lingering echoes of her power remain in the air around them.
“-Don’t say anything.”
Nerissa does not notice the effect it has on her knight. To her, it is just urgency bleeding into speech. She hates seeing Lady Bloodflame hurt. She hates seeing anything else touch her. She hates knowing how she could be taken from her at any moment.
"You are not allowed to do that ever again, you hear me?” Her voice is measured and absolute.
The Scarlet Knight’s shoulders tense and her gaze fixates on Nerissa. For a moment she says nothing at all, then tilts her head in confusion.
“But I am your knight.” she replies slowly, as if testing the logic of the statement. “This is what I promised you, is it not? To fight and stay beside you? To be your shield?”
“I didn’t mean that to be taken so literally, Elizabeth,” she snaps.
The knight straightens. Her eyes soften once more, as though the words have realigned something inside her. The confusion does not vanish entirely, but it is set aside, neatly folded away behind the curtain of following orders.
“I understand,” she says curtly.
Nerissa does not seem to be satisfied with her answer. “I don’t think you really mean that.”
“But… I do,” the knight looks like a kicked puppy. “I apologize if I worried you, Princess. I will try– I will be- better in the future for you. Always for you.”
That same familiar heat rises in Nerissa’s chest again. “You’re just so–” she shakes her head. Venting her fear cleared her mind enough to remember they are still in the middle of a Stain-infested field. “We’ll talk about it later. Come on– we’ve got to get out of here.”
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The ride home is charged with many more unspoken words. Lady Bloodflame rides ahead, ever the dutiful protector. Nevertheless, anyone, or anything, that comes across them could easily tell who is protecting whom at the moment. Faint ripples of pressure still radiate from Nerissa, forming some sort of barrier around them in a constant rhythm, like the waves that wasps create to warn off predators. Every few seconds it rolls outward, discouraging anything in the surrounding darkness from coming too close.
As the silhouette of their home slowly emerges ahead, the Scarlet Knight slows her horse into a trot beside her. “You’re still thinking about it.”
“I am always thinking about you.” Her voice is sharp, not out of anger but uncertainty.
“...oh-?” The flustered knight almost rams her horse on their mailboxes.
“I want us to stay together, Lady Bloodflame. Do you not want that as well?”
Silence. “Of course I do,” the knight breathes.
“At first I thought I would have to worry about fate or people or politics. Something external and I could plan around, eliminate, control if needed. But no. It is you.”
“Me?”
“I do not know what to do about you when you act so carelessly when it comes to your life.”
“That is not what I meant to do.”
“Your actions tell otherwise.”
“When you step between me and death as if it is your place to do so… I do not feel protected, Elizabeth. I feel like being chosen between two absolutes– my life over yours. I do not like the implications of that.”
Lady Bloodflame has no immediate response to that. And Nerissa, realizing what she has just admitted, looks away.
“My Juliet-” Nerissa flinches at the nickname, uttered with such devotion from the knight’s lips. “-you misunderstand me. If I do nothing and you are hurt, I fail you. If I act and you are hurt less, I have done my duty. It’s not always between life and death, my lady. Sometimes it is only about positioning, timing.”
Her eyes drift briefly toward Nerissa, studying her in quiet curiosity. “Tell me something,” she says after a moment. “Why now?”
“W-what?”
“You have seen me injured more severely than this, and yet only now do you react like this.”
She waits.
“In Libestal,” she begins slowly, “you have been the only constant variable I have had. We may have had a… complicated relationship, but you were always there. And I have come to rely on that.”
She waits for her to continue. Nerissa relents.
“And perhaps I have grown… attached to that constancy.”
“...I see.”
“I have lost so much already, and I know that this world will take even more from me. But not you. No one gets to take you away from me, not even you yourself, Lady Bloodflame.”
Her knight nods once, the tips of the flame on her chest flickering gold for a split second. “As you wish.”
She reaches over to touch Lady Bloodflame’s injured arm. “So when I ask you to be more careful, please understand that I just want to keep you safe because I know what’s best for you, Lady Bloodflame; what’s best for both of us. I do not need you to be a hero, I need you to come back to me safe and sound at the end of the day.”
For a moment, the knight does not respond. Her gaze remains on Nerissa’s hand where it rests against her arm, her eyes narrowed as though weighing the intent behind the words rather than the words themselves.
“But… then again…” Nerissa’s thumb brushes gently across Lady Bloodflame's knuckles.“You are as impressive as ever in the battlefield, Lady Bloodflame.”
She flushes bright red, a startling contrast to the pale, almost bluish hue of her skin. It takes Nerissa by surprise as well to realize how sickly she looks. “Oh– you’re not looking so good.”
“Wow,” the knight chuckles. “Kick the poor knight while she’s already down, why don’t you.”
“We should go inside,” Nerissa says more quietly, the humor in her earlier tone fading back into concern. Her hand still lingers for a moment longer than necessary before she finally withdraws it, an act of restraint rather than indifference. “Let me take care of you.”
Lady Bloodflame watches her for a beat, then gives a small nod, too steady for someone so clearlyunwell. “As you wish,” she replies again, softer this time, and follows without hesitation as Nerissa turns toward the house, the distance between them already closing naturally.