We set our camp next to a tree for cover. Though majority of our surroundings is mostly just flatland, we are able to see anyone coming from a mile away, and the same can be said about the people that can come from a mile away.
Timi made their camping supplies appear again, all of theirs in a designated area of each of the surrounding area.
As she did, I caught sight of Timi her face looking a bit pale. She also begin to cough a bit, sneezing just the same, every few moments.
As soon as she managed to drop her tent out of thin air, she entered not even waiting for everyone and went to sleep.
Rosa and John began to make a fire pit area, Angel left a bit ago, saying she's going for food.
The sun was down, stars in the sky and moon giving us, just a bit of light.
I pull out my sleeping bag and it's a bit larger than I thought it would be.
'This could fit two people.'
John spikes two stones against each other, just above the fire place area and the sparks turn to flames. Making fire.
"Yeah!"
John yells in happiness.
"I freaking told you I could do it!"
He turns to Rosa as he gets up and jumps, like an excited kid.
"Whatever…"
Rosa says as she looks away from John.
"Seems like someone's angry…"
Rosa gut checks him.
"Urghhhh…"
John drops to his knees.
Rosa bends down and kisses his head.
"Good job honey."
She says as she sits on the grass. Next to the still in pain John as he's still holding his stomach and groaning.
"Thank… you."
She smiles at him.
The fire grows brighter and brighter, until it gives us a good amount of light for the rest of the group to see everything around the place.
Sply is by the tree, sitting on the side of it as she stares up at the sky, looking in the direction of many beautiful stars, and the moon.
Celestrus, stands looming behind me, as if embarrassed to even separate from my side.
Her feet digging into the ground as she twists her toe into the grass, messing it up a bit.
Angel appears again with a few rabbits in her hands, holding them all by the ears, blood spilling a bit from its sides.
"Got dinner."
She says as she continues to walk toward us.
"Give me a few minutes and I'll be able to cook it soon."
Angel goes to her tent, one of the biggest in the group, it could be big enough for the whole group to sleep in.
She enters with the three rabbits and that's that.
"Lazuli!"
John says as he's now, no longer in much pain of his stomach being punched.
"Yeah?"
I answer to him.
"Come. Let's bond. Both of you."
John says as he gets closer to Rosa, for a second she looks afraid to do so, catching sight of Celestrus that's standing behind me.
"Okay."
I say as I stand up and away from my sleeping bag, putting my bag on top of it.
"You can go ahead… I'll just…"
Celestrus says as if trying not to get involved.
"No, come on. I want us to be friends. All of us."
I say, trying to convince her.
I hold out my hand for her to grab, looking up at her face from the way I'm standing.
Slowly and reluctantly she reaches out her hand as well, grabbing it in hers as we step to the group's fireplace.
Softly we both lower ourselves on the other side of them and I smile at them. John smiles at us, as Rosa slowly widens her mouth to smile at us as well.
"So, how are you liking the group, the both of you?"
John says, sounding the exact way as he always sounds, as if he doesn't see the living being people would call demons is sitting right in front of him.
"Well. I think you guys are nice and cool. I mean, you guys saved me. Twice. And both times I never for it. So, I'm more than happy to be traveling with you guys."
I say sounding optimistic about our journey.
"Cool. Love this kid."
John says as he looks and points to me with Rosa at his side.
His laughter grows for a few seconds, and slowly dies out. As Rosa stays staring at Celestrus. Making Celestrus turn her face to the ground, looking embarrassed.
John shoves her shoulder as he nods his head in the direction of Celestrus.
"Wait…"
John groans a bit, and Rosa gives him a death stare from behind her glasses. Making John scotch away a bit from her.
Rosa stands slowly and looks down at Celestrus.
"How… about you…"
She pauses as if she forgot something:
"Celestrus."
John says.
"Yeah… Celestrus. How have you been liking the group?"
Rosa begins to take off her armor, starting with her bracers.
Celestrus looks at her and for a second she pauses, looking at her, following as her bracers fell.
"I… I've never been apart of a group before."
Celestrus says with a small sad smile.
"John?"
Rosa call for him, and motions for him to come to her.
John gets up and goes behind her, helping her untie the sword from her armor and placing it down softly on the ground so that it doesn't hit the ground at an awkward angle. After that, John begins to help Rosa take of her armor, by undoing a few straps on it.
I close my eyes as she takes it off.
"Don't worry Lazuli."
Rosa says as she lets out a laugh.
"I'm not naked under this."
Slowly I open my eyes and look at her.
The sound of the armor gets taken off and slowly drops to the ground.
The thunking sound that it makes when it drops is heavy, very heavy.
'How does she wear that?'
A white tank top is under the armor, she grabs at it and pulls it forward, taking it off from sticking to her chest and stomach, but for a quick second there's a glimpse of her abdomen, built to be like a goddess own.
'Why's everyone so freaking built?'
My mind asks.
Setting herself down, she begins to work on the back side of her metal leg armor, taking off straps that'll make it so she can take it off, but while she's doing that:
"So, back to what you were saying Celestrus... What do you mean you were never in a group before?"
Rosa asks, sounding less scared to ask questions, that's mostly because of the fact she's working on doing her legs armor.
John sits beside her, watching her, then going back to looking at the both of us.
Celestrus been looking at the ground, and when she lifts her head, she smiles a bit, not a sad smile, or a smile to move her cheeks, but an actual smile because, no one has ever truly heard her before, since she's been a slave since she was a child.
"I've never been apart of groups."
Celestrus says.
"But weren't you...?"
Rosa stops asking he question so that she can get off the one leg armor.
Exposing her entire leg to us. The only clothing she's wearing under that armor being her underwear. A black covering of clothing, that stops just at the part where the thigh and stomach meet.
My eyes move to her face, I may have the body of a child but, i was still going through puberty during my past life...
'Am I going though puberty now?'
I ask myself mentally.
Rosa begins to work on the other leg piece.
"We were never allowed to be in groups, because Master... always thought that there would be a group takeover for us."
"So. You never been in a group, because they were always separating you guys?"
John asks.
"Yes..."
Celestrus answers the question that John asked.
Rosa soon gets off the rest of her leg armor and places them beside her.
"Okay. The stuff is done."
Angel says as she comes out, with what seems to be a skinned and cleaned rabbit carcass.
"Yes."
John says.
Angel comes closer to us and no only does she have the rabbits in her hands, she also has large sticks, three rabbits, three sticks.
She stabs the sticks into one of the rabbits, making it go right though and then stabbing the two other sticks into the ground just beside the fire. After that, she puts the rabbit over the flames and leave it, making a makeshift spit.
She leaves it there for a bit and scoots back, not before catching sight of Rosa for a quick second.
"Goodness you don't get any worse to look at."
Angel says to Rosa as she adjusts her glasses.
John turns to Angel.
John hides her legs.
"This is my wife."
He says in a joking manner.
Angel rolls her eyes.
She then turns to everyone else.
"So what's happening with the elf? Is she going to eat us?"
Rosa and John groan, and I look at her a bit annoyed, Celestrus looks down to the ground embarrassed.
"Angel!"
Rosa says to her.
"Oh, so she isn't planning that?"
"She's not a killer. No elf does that."
I say defending Celestrus, but not only Celestrus, but Marcilene back home as well.
'The place really is different compared to the village I lived in.'
I tell myself, remembering what Sply had told me when we left the village.
"Oh..."
Angel says, making everyone go into an awkward silence.
Blood and sweat from rabbit drop down and hit the fire, making it crackle.
Angel clears her throat.
"Sorry. Guess. The idea of elves being these blood hungry beings is something that has been drilled into my mind since I was young. After all the war was fought because of the elves. But if the elves didn't end up being blood hungry beings then...?"
"I don't know."
Celestrus says as she listened to the hulking woman.
John reached forward, toward the spit and turned it. The side that was under the fire for a while was now darkened and the side that was being faced on the flames was now being cooked for us.
"Okay..."
Sply stands up and i hear her shuffling.
"Lazuli."
She calls for me.
I turn my head in her direction.
"Yes?"
"I'll be back in the morning."
She tells me before she just vanished into thin air.
John tilts his head and looks at me.
"What a cool master. Leaving her own student with strangers. For all she knows we could be cannibals."
John says in a joking manner.
The fire continues to crackle as the rabbit is getting cooked.
"Anyway. Let's get ready to eat, then we'll sleep."
Rosa says.
"Me and John will take first watch."
Rosa continued.
John nods.
"Lazuli. And... Celestrus. You two go ahead sleep in our tent for now. Atleast for this night, after all, you don't have a camp, and tonight we should be able to get to town in less than a full days time if nothing happens along the way."
Rosa says.
"Are you sure?"
I ask Rosa.
She nods to me.
"I don't need to sleep in a tent... I mean... I'm still just a slave after all."
"No, that's not good. You shouldn't be just fine with that fact."
Celestrus waves her hands in front of her as if waving off the idea.
"I don't need much comfort. I can sleep on the..."
"I wasn't asking you. I'm telling you. Sleep in the tent. Both of you."
Rosa says in a tone that is very serious. As she adjusts her glasses.
"Okay. I'll sleep in the tent."
Celestrus says. sounding defeated, yet happy.
"And. Celestrus. I'm sorry for assuming that you are just a blood sucking monster."
Celestrus for a second looks stunned then she smiles and nods to Rosa.
"It's okay."
A tear falls from her eye as she says that.
She wipes her face.
And as time moves past, we eat. I grab my sleeping bag and put it into the tent.
Sitting on it. Celestrus enters right behind me. Laying on the opposite side.
"How... are you feeling?"
I ask Celestrus. The fire from outside being blocked weakly by the tent.
"Nice, I've never been able to eat a full meal. My master would always just..."
"He's not your master anymore."
I say to Celestrus.
"That's the only thing I know him as though...?"
She tells me, sounding a bit embarrassed by the fact she doesn't know the bastards real name.
"Well let's come up with a new name for him."
She slowly get up, into a sitting position and looks at me.
"What would we call him?"
"I don't know... Ugly Bastard."
I say as if I just had the biggest lightbulb moment.
"Ugly Bastard?"
"Yeah. Think about it..."
I chuckle a bit:
"He's ugly and a Bastard. There's nothing better for him than that."
Celestrus laughs a bit, a genuine laugh.
"That is true. Okay then. Ugly Bastard it is."
We pause as we share a good laugh with each other.
"Oh, what about you..."
I say to her.
"You need a nickname too."
She looks at me for a second, tilting her head.
"I don't really want a nickname..."
Celestrus says in a tone that sounds like she's scared of it.
"Why they're fun and really cool."
"My last nickname, wasn't really fun... Mast..."
She pauses as she remembered who she was talking about.
"Ugly Bastard, had a bad nickname for me... It was."
"No. I'm notgoing to give you something that'll degrade you, or show off you worse parts of yourself, those aren't what nicknames are, they should be something that'll hold place in a persons mind to show love for the person that was given a nickname."
I pause as she stares at me.
"Here's an example. My name is Lazuli. But My sister gave me the nickname. Lazi... I don't know how it popped into her mind, but it did and in the end almost everyone I'm relly close with calls me that."
"You want me to be close to you?"
She asks me.
"I mean. Yeah. You're a friend that I helped. I want to be close to you."
She gulps as she hears that.
"Okay... I'll enjoy the nickname you give to me. What would you make it..."
She says, giving in to me wanting to give her a nickname.
"Celestrus... How about Celes. It's just a shorter version of your name, and it's easy to pronounce."
For a second she thinks about it.
"Okay... Okay. Celes. I like it."
"Nice... Goodnight Celes."
I lay down first before Celestrus and on my back as I look up at the top, then she lays down after me, her head also going to lay on her side.
Both of us lay there on the sleeping bag and we both fall asleep. Having enjoyed a meal, a conversation and a good tent for us. As we both lay down and slowly fade to sleep.
~~
Back at a house with white walls, wood eroding and many people standing around a desk.
One of them being Ugly Bastard with a giant amount of bandages around his empty body part, behind a closed door.
A group of very familiar people standing around that desk on the opposite side.
A bald looking girl with an upside down cross and three others in robes.
One a giant looking man in a regular polyester robe that has the colors of red stitchings along with edges of red and black solid coloring.
Another man wearing a robe that matches the colors of the other man's own, but the only difference which is a very big one being the fact that his own is metallic.
And a woman that wears a robe.
Masque.
"Where's the kid?"
She asks plain and simple.
"I don't… I don't know. After his little friend shot my di…"
"Language."
Masque says to Ugly Bastard.
"Sorry, when she shot of my genitals they left."
"So you let him leave, not only that, but you let him leave with Slave.. hundred years and you are truly the only incompetent one of your own kind."
Masque says.
Ugly Bastard gulps.
"You three go ahead."
She says as she turns back and goes toward the doors.
Two of them bare their fangs, and move quickly to get to him.
Before Ugly Bastard has a chance to even yell, their fangs dig into his neck and spray blood.
Julia just stares at them with a smile so devious on her face, then she looks at Masque.
"Can I get the other one?"
Julia says, as Masque gets halfway toward the door.
She groans.
"He sounds young so I was going to take him for myself, but you can go ahead and get him."
Julia moves quickly, almost like she air itself, the door opens as if not being opened by person and behind us the same one that fought and lost the duel.
He looks stunned at the blood spewing for inside the room and along with the the sight in front of him.
He tries to gasp for air, but that ends as soon as Julia sinks her teeth in.