Chapter 13: Out of the Shadows

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A jarring RATTLE roused Nyx from her dreary state. She barely had time to react as Vira’s dagger whizzed through the air towards Baelia. Nyx leapt forward and managed to deflect the dagger with her Void Dampener, sending the blade clanging against the device and careening upwards. A sinister smile spread across Vira’s face as she yanked the dagger back down, nicking Nyx’s shoulder.

The wound was the straw that broke the Apis’s back. Nyx sank to the cold cobblestone waiting below, her injuries and exhaustion all caught up with her at once. Her eyes blinked weakly as she stared up at Baelia and Ozzy. The grey faerie’s arms were up as she attempted to shield Ozzy, who peered through her fingers with a silent, pleading scream plastered on his face.

“Hmph! What a stupid way to go down.” Nyx heard Vira cackle above her. “Come on, Painter, time to get out of here!” Craning her neck, Nyx could see the cursed Acara begin to flutter away before turning back upon realising Ozzy was not following. Utterly heartbroken, he looked over at Vira and murmured…

“I…” His fingers loosened, and the Acrimonious Paint Brush fell to the ground with a THUD.

“No.” A voice so defiant comes from the little Yurble that it hardly sounds like Ozzy at all.

“No? What do you mean ‘no’?” Emotions flash across Vira’s face faster than she can process them. Her visage scrunches up with confusion and then tenses up with fear before it quickly contorts into a snarling mask of fury.

“Are you betraying me?!” Vira’s knuckles turn bone-white as she clutches her dagger as if it were a handrail on Terror Mountain.

“No!” The meek voice that answers sounds much more like Ozzy.

“No, no, no, is that all you can say?!” Vira hisses at him from behind folded arms.

“N—I mean, I’m not betraying you! But I think… Maybe… the Grey Faerie… might be… right.” Ozzy sighs, exhaling as if he were trying to expel the memories he just relived from his head with a mighty gust of breath.

“I was lonely. I thought I had no friends at all… But then Styx came into my life… And so did you. I had friends for the first time ever. I was so happy when you bought my painting, Vira… No, I was happy just because you were talking to me. And now that I’ve seen what I have…”

“What are you talking about?” Vira fiddles with her chain as she looks away.

“I think maybe you felt the same, too.” Vira’s wide eyes blink in astonishment, darting around swiftly, before narrowing and meeting Ozzy’s gaze once more.

“...Ridiculous.” Vira’s wings flick irritably as she eyes him. “You’re not making any sense – not that you ever did in the first place.” Without warning, Vira turns on Luxinia, dagger in hand. “Did that Light Faerie do something to you?”

“Vira, please, listen to me. Remember when you told me that you didn’t always look like this? If someone was purposely trying to manipulate me, then don’t you think maybe the same thing happened to you?”

“Hah… Ha ha ha ha ha ha!” Vira broke out into a cacophony of unsettling laughter. “Oh, you really are stupid, aren’t you? Even if someone was trying to mess with me, I chose this! Because, unlike you, I’ve got a spine. And nothing is going to stop me from getting what I want!”

“I’m not trying to stop you, Vira.” Ozzy’s gaze fell to his feet as he twiddled his thumbs. “But maybe… Maybe there’s another way for us to get what we need.” He took a step toward Vira, leaving the Acrimonious Paint Brush behind. Vira lifted her dagger as he approached, as if preparing for another fight, but her trembling hands and darting eyes revealed hesitation.

“Wait… Ozzy, what are you doing?!” Vira demands as he continues walking, undeterred. The Yurble comes right up to her…

and holds out his hand.

Vira stares at him in open-mouthed, earth-shattering shock. It’s all she can manage to do for several seconds, until she pulls herself together enough to respond.

“Why… why would you…?” Her voice starts timid, small, before suddenly elevating to a deafening roar. “Don’t you get it, you dunce?! Our patron saw you as a component in her crafts. I saw you as an assignment.”

“That’s not true! I know that you—” Tears well up as Ozzy tries to get a word in edgewise, but Vira won’t let him finish the thought.

“Listen to me!” As Vira rants, her callous facade begins to slip, emotions forming lumps so deep in her throat she practically has to spit the words out. “We never cared about any of your stupid problems past how they could help us. We bent you to our will. Isolated you, pushed away everyone who tried to help you, cultivated your hatred like you were another one of my poison flowers! We– I used you! You should hate me more than anyone…”

“...But I don’t. I don’t know what I was to you when we first met, but I do remember how you smiled when we were together. I saw the way you looked back at my painting. Some of it had to be real, it had to be. I know you, Vira!”

“You don’t know me at all.” Vira’s eyes trail down as the words softly fall from her lips. She absentmindedly removes her helmet and begins to tug at the lining with her fingers.

“Please… We don’t need to fight anymore. The Grey Faerie – I mean, Baelia, is right. It’s not too late. Not for me, and not for you. Please, Vira.”

“I…I…” For the slightest of moments, Vira’s fingers extend towards Ozzy as she looks back up at him. Then, without warning, she abruptly turns away. Even with her back to the group, Vira cannot hide her trembling hands.