" You did what?!"
" Oda, hear me-"
" You just- and - how are we-" Oda's eyes were widened and she kept pacing back and forth in this huge room Errot was currently staying in. It was about six in the morning, the sun barely making its way into the sky. They informed them that they are required to wake up at dusk so they wouldn't waste the Moccasins precious time. Errot was hardly awake when Oda burst into the room, furiously, while demanding answers. He should have seen it coming and now he must face the consequences of his actions.
" Oda, just listen to me, please. I can explain."
Odas eyes snapped at him. Errot had never seen his best friend so angry and hopeless, it really broke his heart . "Go ahead then, explain"
" Tell me one thing we have to offer to Moccasins that would actually be useful to them"
Errot said calmly. He knew better than anyone not to raise his voice when the other person is angry.
" We- I don't know Errot! Anything but that!"
" We don't have this 'anything' you're talking about. What do you think would happen to us if we didn't accept this deal?"
" You mean, if you didn't accept this deal. I didn't accept anything. I was in my room, peacefully laying down on this huge ass bed and drinking a cup of hot chocolate while you were signing our death contract!"
"...Let me rephrase then. What do you think would happen to us if I didn't accept this deal"
Silence filled the room for a while. No one was talking. Suddenly, Oda spoke up " we would die in an instant...Moccasins were our last and only resort..." She mumbled while avoiding Errot's gaze.
" Exactly. But now we have a chance Oda." His eyes lit up and he gulped. " We have a chance to live. To survive. Thats all we've ever known. We need to survive. We can't look back. And we definitely can't give up . Not right now. Not when theres a very small possibility that we can get out of this alive. At least for a bit longer. Nobody will ever know that we are just two Merlots seeking refuge. We are gonna go undercover. And we are gonna succeed. Why? Cause we are together. You and I against the world. Remember?"
" Against the world. Not the fucking Inks. They are worse than the three other blood dimensions combined."
" They are. But desperate situations-"
" Call for desperate measures. I know." Small pause. Oda raised her eyes and looked at Errot dead in the eye and sighed "Lets do this. We literally have nothing to lose while they have everything . Also, I have a bad habit of not being able to let you ruin your life alone." Oda rolled her eyes.
Errot gave her a fainted smile. " I know you're scared. I am too. But its really our only option. I'm not crazy, I would have never-"
" I know Errot. I already agreed...Not like I had a choice.." She mumbled the last part but her face seemed to soften when she locked eyes with Errot "How are you? Are you in pain?"
Errot glanced at his bandaged shoulder and then back at Oda. " I'm feeling better. I'm also medicated so no, Im not in extreme pain right now."
Oda nodded " You scared me..."
" Im sorry... I don't even know- it all happened so quickly, I didn't even realize that I got shot. I suppose I just passed out immediately." He frowned.
" Yeah, you did." It sounded like she wanted to continue talking and complete the sentence but that was all she eventually said.
The deafening sound of silence filled the room once again. Errot looked like he was in thought. He suddenly furrowed his eyebrows. "Hey Oda... What happened after I passed out?"
Oda looked at Errot while not saying anything at first. She wanted to collect her thoughts and give him a complete and appropriate answer. But what could she possibly say? She didn't even know herself. After he lost his consciousness, everything happened so quickly, Oda is still very confused and everyone refuses to tell her anything.
" Something very weird happened, Errot. The guy that shot you. He wasn't alone. He had his puppies with him, you were on the ground and I was weaponless, just staring terrified at them. I was convinced it was our last seconds alive and I couldn't do anything about it. I was just standing frozen on my spot. I couldn't physically move. I was watching you laying there, shot, and all I could think about was 'This is the end'. They all raised their guns and aimed them at me and I just closed my eyes shut. I refused to open them, refused to scream, to run. I just waited. But the bullet never came." She looked at Errot a bit creeped out while he was waiting for her to continue. "It never came. When I opened my eyes they had all dropped dead on the floor. My eyes were closed for literal seconds . Seconds Errot...Thats when I saw them. Angels. I dont think we've met them yet. They had their freaking wings spread out. It was beautiful yet creepy as fuck. What were they doing here? Why did they save us ? Cause they did. They saved us. And they had no reason to. I mean, why would they go out of their way to save two mortals? "
Errot was frowning deeply by now. " And how did they know where to find us?"
" Exactly. Something's fishy here Errot...I can feel somethings wrong. I don't trust them."
" Damn right you shouldn't. Oda they told me that you were the reason I am alive right now and that I should thank you"
" Oh...I feel like maybe that part was true, in a sense? Not the 'you should thank me' part " She gave him a small smile that faded quickly enough. "Uhm..they told me that we should follow them but you were unconscious so they took you bridal style -by the way it looked like those romantic movie scenes where the guy saves the girl and—"
"Oda" Errot had his eyebrows raised.
Oda looked at him and coughed. "Right. Uhh, so they carried you and we walked to this tiny warehouse a bit further away from the borders. It was made of wood and it looked very old. Not something that you would step in it voluntarily. Inside, the warehouse looked as old as it looked from the outside. It didn't have any furniture whatsoever. Only this door. It looked like a portal or something. They stepped through it so I did the same. They told me that we won't be arriving for five minutes. Five minutes for us. For them, its 5 freaking days. I really don't know how that works, I was amazed too" She said while looking at a shocked Errot.
"Anyways, I couldn't let you bleed for 5 whole minutes -or days-, I had to do something. So, I took my jacket off and tied it around your shoulder very hard and I kept putting pressure against your wound so you wouldn't lose any more blood. It was the only thing I could do. This 'trip' we took through the portal was very odd. It felt like we were in the middle of nowhere. Like we were floating when we weren't. I wasn't extremely focused on that but rather at the task in hand but all I could see around me was a yellow dim light and the two Moccasins. Nothing else. I don't really think there was anything else to see. The minutes felt like seconds and we arrived quicker than you can say 'angels'. The moment we stepped out of there, they took you away and said that they would take care of you."
Errot was speechless. So many things happened in the span of two days he felt like he needed a break. However, a break wasn't in the plan. They couldn't afford it. They needed to keep fighting. Especially now, that they were so close to freedom. Yes, they risk everything. Yes, their lives are on the line. Yes, they might die the moment they step into the Inks territory. But this is the closest they've been to freedom. Every step they take, they get closer to their liberty. They can do this. He moved his eyes to Oda and started staring at her intensely. " Thank you, Oda. Genuinely. This is not the first time you save my life. I owe you"
" Yeah yeah, I save your life and what do you do?" She tried to hide a small smile that was making its way to her face. " You go and-"
" Oii there you are, you beautiful chicken nuggets!"
They both turned at the sound of the voice at once. Errot raised an eyebrow, while Oda looked stunned at the sight of an angel in front of her. The woman is matching Elian in height and charm as well. She is gorgeous, her eyelashes naturally long, giving her honey colored eyes an enormous boost. Her auburn wavy hair falls softly at the middle of her waist covering her shoulders at their entirety. She looks like a warrior ready to jump into war the first chance she gets, but her bright white angel wings hold her remote and collected. She gives them that almost friendly but sneaky grin. A grin that tells Errot that despite her being an angelic creature, she could easily betray them and slice their throats open. And then her words start to register into Errot's mind.
" Chicken nuggets?" Oda retorted back.
Exactly, he thought.
" Ehh, mortals. I just gave you a compliment and you both look offended." The beautiful angel said with that grin still stuck at the corner of her mouth indicating that maybe the compliment should be taken into further consideration. "Anyways, I'm assigned to give you a tour of the infamous Moccasin Blood. And god forbid I don't follow Elian's orders. He burns us alive and then peels off our burnt skin and feeds it to the animals"
At Errot's and Oda's horrified expressions and extremely wide eyes, the angel immediately loses her serious face and bursts into a fit of uncontrollable laughter, her head leaning back and her palm covering her stomach. "You should have seen your poor faces. Holly cow. Priceless." She managed to breath out eventually.
Errot rolled his eyes clearly annoyed with himself that he believed that disgusting thing that came off her lips. But then again, he's heard Inks do way worse things than what the ginger just named so it shouldn't have been that much of a surprise to him. Instead, it should actually terrify him more about the future. His future actually. It was in that brief moment that he started thinking that this was all a bad idea but that thought quickly faded away when Oda spoke.
"We don't even know your name and you already are teasing us and calling us ..chicken nuggets" She ends with disgust in her face.
" Oh my, you're right! Where are my manners? Im so displeased by myself. I'm Flare. And I take a wild guess that this brown eyed beautiful boy is Errot, and you are...?" She gives a polite smile as she turns to look at Oda expectantly. Errot wonders how both Elian and Flare know his name but he places the thought at the back of his head for future purposes.
"I'm Oda" She gives Flare a distrusting look.
" Oda great! Wonderful names you both were blessed with at birth! Come on now, we are already late. Follow me" Flare said a little bit more enthusiastically than the guys prefer.
♛