Judgement Blood: A Celestial's Vendetta

Ilyas strode through the thicket with urgent steps, too anxious to look over his shoulder, too tired to run. Both his hands were straining to keep the Twinblade in grasp.

'It's so heavy, Goddamit! Why?! Why must you be so heavy, my dear?!'

He had already surpassed the vicinity of the encampment's northern scouts, so now, he was as safe as one could be in the Leyman Forest. But still, there could still be pursuers with Imitations similar to Alexander's

Either way, the plan was undoubtedly a success.

'No! More than just a success!'

Ilyas once again stared at the weapon in his hands and chuckled mischievously. He sounded like a madman, but that's fine; no one was around anyway. 

"He, he, he. You're finally mine," he cooed, giving it a smooch out of excitement. 

Clang.

Oh, right, of course, only Brass touched it. 

'Later then.'

"I always thought you an interesting fella, my dear southern friend, but I didn't take you for a... passionate man."

Ilyas flinched, felt his stomach drop, and turned to his side with horrified eyes.

'Noooo! They saw me! Shit!'

Alexander was standing to his right, arms crossed, and an impish grin twisting his face as if he had heard something priceless. Oh, he seemed quite glad by what he heard... and saw. Half his body was covered by a thick bush, while the other half was popping out of it.

"I... I uh... I was..." Ilyas stuttered. There was no adequate excuse for his creepy behaviour! "I... uh... You see, what happened was-"

"You don't have to explain, good sir. We understand. You are free to uh-" Cenric paused. He was completely shrouded by the bush himself, so it sounded like the bush was talking. Alexander's imitation clearly rubbed off on him, too. "You're free to express your love to whatev-"

"No!" Ilyas burst out in panic. "I was just really happy that I could finally not be defenceless given our circumstances. And this weapon is er... familiar."

They stared at him for a few seconds, Alexander raising an eyebrow suspiciously, Cenric, god knows. The GentlePug was the bush at this point.

Alexander shrugged. "Well, if you say so."

Cenric cleared his throat. "As long as you're happy, good sir."

'Noooo! No, they don't believe me! They obviously don't!'

Ilyas mumbled, trying to say something to clear his name in their minds, but nothing came out. Eventually, Alexander pursed his lips, then turned. "Let's go then. If we want to make camp for the night, we need to make considerable progress."

Ilyas reached out with his hand, but it was too late; the moment was gone, and he was permanently engraved in their mind as a reclusive weirdo.

 'Ilyas, you idiot! Why do you keep messing up?!'

***

Hours passed, and sunset loomed once again.

They were making their way north toward Peyton Valley through a route that wouldn't require them to climb anything, down or up. So they had to make do with trudging the slopes, whether they be the uphills that burned their legs, or the downhills that jolted their wounds back into screaming pain.

The wound on Ilyas's arm inflicted by Rye made carrying the Twinblade much more gruelling, but not enough to make him dispose of it. He was determined to start training to wield the thing tonight when they made camp. The steps from the dance, along with some guidance from Alexander and Cenric, would serve him well for the time being.

The only problem was, he wasn't physically strong enough to wield it properly. Alexander claimed that with the strength gained from becoming an Imitator, it will become significantly easier, alongside wielding it from his own blood.

It all sounded convenient and all, but as he was now, Ilyas hadn't the luxury to wait.

His wounds, as well, would make the task a bit more tedious and dangerous than it would've been without them. Thankfully, the Sanguiniser did well to exterminate any chance of them reopening. So, other than the internal damage and the pain, he had nothing else to worry about.

Ilyas, Alexander and Cenric also attempted to stir up conversation with their new companion Henry, but failed multiple times. The frail guy seemed too disturbed and agonised to engage with them, so they ended up letting him keep to himself most of the time. They did feel quite guilty in those respite intervals when they nerded out about the Wasteland Crusader as much as they could while Henry watched them in confusion a few steps away. 

Ilyas even paused every few minutes to call him over, "I can catch you up until the Clan Wars arc if you want? You can-"

"No, it's fine. I'm fine." Henry reiterated.

"Hm, that indeed is a very good one," Cenric mumbled seriously.

"The storytelling is sophisticated enough to entice even the Lord Minister of Culture," Alexander added under his breath.

By the time the sun had completely dipped behind the horizon and the dark night sky surged to replace it from the other side, Alexander, with his hand clutching his side, hummed a tune and stared above. "Well, I must say, my noble instincts suggest we make camp in the nearest glade."

Cenric chuckled. "Your noble instincts? I fear you may just be referring to the hint of common sense you have."

Alexander scowled. 

Ilyas cleared his throat. "Did we make good enough progress for the day? Considering..."

Alexander and Cenric nodded. 

"We would probably finally start leaving the forest by tomorrow night if we move with haste early morning, good sir."

***

They gathered around a sorry campfire in an especially small glade. It was quite unfortunate that it was the only one available in the vicinity that granted them adequate protection from the forest beasts and tolerated their route. Alexander and Cenric were blaming each other nonstop, while prodding Ilyas to join them in apologising to Henry for the inconvenience. Apparently, they considered him a part of their scout team now, and Henry to be their 'Moral Obligation.'

'I guess that's better.'

"Ilyas, my good friend, "Alexander whispered to him in the corner, "as you may remember what Elder Roman said: Propriety is the thin line between man and beast."

'Is... is this guy really quoting the Wasteland Crusader to me?!'

"Our guest here is scarred, and we must ensure that our mistake is confronted and atoned for in his eyes, you see."

Ilyas nodded. "I see, I see. Elder Roman is indeed wise."

Alexander smiled and raised his chin, "Yes. You speak true, southern friend. He reminds me of myself in my better days, if I may be so blunt."

Ilyas chuckled. Alexander's arrogance always seemed to get a laugh out of him nowadays.

Around the fire, Cenric went about preparing the vegetables they had scavenged from the Supply tent by sizzling them over a makeshift pan they retrieved from the cabin. After adding the spices, the smell was salivating. 

It was too salivating, in fact, that Ilyas worried the beasts would be interested too.

"You were bloody damn marvellous today, Ilyas," Cenric said, not lifting his focus from the pan. He sounded genuine this time, quite scarce on the manners, too.

"I must agree with the GentlePug here," Alexander smirked and patted Ilyas on the shoulder. "I swear you're gonna be a talk over drinks when we reach the Procession."

Ilyas flicked his head between them, tempted to remove his mask and show them his genuine gratitude. 

 'Why does it feel so good to be complimented?'

Behind the mask, he was smiling widely and blushing. "Well, er, thank you. Thank you for the appreciation." He bowed his head slightly.

Alexander chuckled again, taking a roasted, sliced eggplant from Cenric. "A GranOrangutan?! My my, that is just right!"

Cenric handed Henry his sliced eggplant and leaned forward. "I'll tell you this, good sir, from our position, it was a scene! Everything was quiet and then-"

"They started fussing like little girls!" Alexander continued, hand to his stomach from laughter. "Do tell us, Ilyas, how did it all happen. How did the beast follow you, and all those specifics?"

Ilyas's cheek muscles were hurting from all the proud smiling he'd been doing. Gosh, he must look like a goof.

'Thank goodness for the mask.'

Ilyas cleared his throat and leaned forward, close to the fire, and close to his friends. 

"Well, if you must know, I was scared straight and sweating buckets through it all. And since running away for my life was the whole plan..." Ilyas couldn't finish the joke before Cenric and Alexander broke down in laughter.