Interlude (2)

It was with a cold, detached, almost surgical precision that Aki cleaved through the latest beast threatening their life.

After nearly a week in the hell they’d been suddenly dropped into the concern over taking another life had long since left them, and watching the faint dripping of blood from the tip of the blade Aki wondered if they had somehow become less human.

With skillful hands Aki dismembered the monstrous wolf that had been hounding them the last few days, thankful it got hungry enough to attack because both them and Sara needed more protein if they were going to make the journey to some kind of settlement.

It had been almost funny the first day to put things they learned years ago into action, but that feeling quickly vanished when the enormous forest they were forced to wander seemed hell-bent on killing them. At first it was small things: the growling of a beast that could be written off as territoriality, or an overly large bug trying to make a snack of their skin. But even the plant-life seemed intent on devouring them, Aki still remembered waking up the second morning to the horror of a large ants snapping maw.

But that second night was when she had arrived.

Clad in darkness with shadows clinging to them like some kind of chiffon robe was a figure that stood just a few inches shy of seven feet. Though their form was humanoid they were anything but, with two heads sprouting from one singular neck, an enormous mouth with razor sharp teeth in their stomach, and a boa-like scarf of hands which appears to be constantly grasping outwards. Both heads wore masks, each as white as bone with one bearing a laughing smile the other a deep frown.

She had called herself The Nightmare, and promised Aki the power to protect not only themself but Sara.

Pushing through the brush Aki arrived at the makeshift camp that had been their home the last few nights, and seated by the fire with a delirious smile on her face was Sara. She laughed at the fire before catching sight of Aki and smiling brightly.

“Welcome home sweetheart! Was the store restocked on Strong Zero?”

Aki was not sure what the issue, whether it was her mentally retreating from the chaos or something else, the woman they loved believed that they were back at home like everything was normal.

“I’m afraid not love, I talked with the clerk and they said it was a supply line issue.” They did not like lying to her, but no matter how hard Aki had tried she seemed unwilling or unable to see things for what it was.

Setting the meat he’d butchered into a makeshift cooling box he cleared his throat and pulled out a portion of it before closing their cool blue eyes and focusing. Focusing on the feeling of her touch, her nails as they sliced Aki’s palm, and the feeling of her slithering inside.

“You loved it,” she whispered in Aki’s mind. “You miss the touch, admit it.”

“I’m going to make some stir fry for us tonight,” Aki said to Sara, swallowing the lump of guilt lodged in their throat.

“Yummy!” Sara said while leaning back and resting her legs closer to the fire, almost like she was at home under a kotatsu.

The blade in his hand felt like it had always been there, that it had always been a part of them. It’s black metal burned any who touched it but them, and as he cut through the meat it sizzled. Aki’s hand moved mechanically through the enormous slab of meat, unaware or uncaring that their fingers were coming dangerously close to the blade.

“It smells so good!”

Sara’s voice snapped them from their daydream and looked down to see they had cut their hand ever so slightly, a thin rill of blood dripping down before splattering on the blade. And the blade shuddered in delight.

“I’d agree, pet, you do indeed smell very good.”

Slapping the side of their face Aki let the blade disappear into the small scar in the palm of their hand. To hell with sticking to formality, they would just tear the vegetables.

Dinner was heavenly.

After nearly a week without any real protein had started to weigh on the both of them. Though Aki was used to going days without food, especially before doing a particularly important photo shoot, Sara however had spent most days dancing and so was used to eating more regularly and with voracity.

“I am so full!”

These words brought a smile to Aki’s face as Sara laid down on the bed of leaves, moss and grass that they had made the first evening there.

“I think tomorrow I’ll try again to get in touch with Midori, it’s so weird she’s ignoring me.” Sara stared at a rock with eyes glazed over, and Aki fought back tears.

“Maybe she’s just been ill.”

“She probably would have told me though. Have you noticed she’s been acting a bit weird the past two weeks?”

It was getting harder and harder for them to keep up this act.

“I’m gonna go…take a walk.” Not technically a lie. Sara bid him well and told him to be safe and for a brief moment Aki was struck by how strange that even here there were still threats, only now they were far more real and not simply a verbal thrashing for ‘not conforming to gender norms.’

Stepping outside the small cave Aki took a slow breath, taking in the chill evening air. Darkness was her time, and like a diligent working she was nothing if not punctual. There would only be a few more minutes before she was there, to taunt them, to take even more.

Gripping at their right arm, looking at the black veins that worked their way slowly upward with each use, Aki stopped acting and let the tears fall for only a minute. Once that had been finished and the dark threatened to enclose them a single thought to came to Aki’s mind.

“I hope Midori and Evan are okay…”