It was about Mid-day, the air was warm and inviting. A light breeze blew through the crimson and pink wavy hair of a succubus as she let her eyes roam across the various civilians that was walking about. She was wearing a business casual attire, a simple white dress shirt with a pink tie and comfortable lavender slacks. She sighed in contentment after she drinks a simple blueberry and cranberry smoothie. She was reminded of the days where once classes were over, she would just go out of the academy and walk around, enjoying the sights. She saw a couple walking with their child. The little boy was happily talking about what they should do next as the cheerful dad gave his own suggestions and the joyful mom coming in with her own ideas. And they all decided on what to do next with great excitement. It was pure magic and bliss to her eyes.
Furiosa sat on a cushiony plush velvet bench. These benches was part of a ordinance made by Mayor Isabella in order to boost public morale in time for reelection. Pretty to look at and comfortable as well. She look over some files from her job, as a social worker for the newly appointed Blossom Behavior Network that was founded by Novan, a Hobgoblin who is a decorated general and advocate for peace. She had to involve herself in a lot of cases that varied differently, from helping someone whose homeless find housing, treating victims of drug abuse and making sure that they stay off these chemicals that are being transported into various neighborhoods across the realm.
"I have to come up with a solution to that. I'm not against feeling like you're soaring in the galaxy and everything is tickling you in moderation but some of these drugs are outright dangerous. I mean Cinnamon? Why take a drug that only calm you down for fifteen minutes before sending you into a berserker rage?" Furiosa thought to herself as she remember a disturbing case where a man came into her office, completely bloodied and both his hands were broken along with a embedded knife in his abdomen. He explained to her that his wife started taking this drug in secret to calm herself due to increasing stress from her parents wanting her to give them grandchildren.
"I take you to a doctor first and then you can give me your full story, alright?" Furiosa told him calmly as she escorted him out while using her magic to convert his burning pain into a calm and subdued pleasure.
Apparently when she would smoke this particular substance she would lay on the couch or in bed with a smile on her face before bolting out the front door. She would always do this when her husband was at work so he wouldn't be suspicious. She would take her anger out on a tree in the backyard or just break glass bottles on the ground. This was told to Furiosa later when she visited the recovering woman in jail.
Well her parents showed up to their house unexpectedly earlier that day. And she just took a hit off the pipe that he didn't know about. She thought she could get through it and she was doing well. Then when fifteen minutes passed, that when her mother decided to make a not so subtle jab at the husband's income, it was enough to pay for basic necessities, but not much else.
He never seen someone fly as far as her mother did when his wife punched her in the mouth.
"He tried to stop it but got brutally assaulted for his troubles. Eventually when the wife came too, she broke down sobbing and immediately turn herself in. They lived in wallopa, it was basically the stopping point for smuggled in goods. Been there many times, got a decent jacket out of it." Furiosa thought as she continue to look over these files. More and more cases of drug use have been popping up and from what she heard from her boss, Isabella was in contact with him to pass a new law outlawing smuggled in drugs.
"Yup, keep my drugs local." Furiosa thought sarcastically.
What was most important to her, was saving victims from abusive households. Her clients were naturally agreeable and listened to her advice. Of course there were times she had to use her natural abilities as a succubus such as Serenaio (A ancient musical spell that make one more open to ideas and thoughts, as Apollo used on many occasions to get himself out of a jam.) to convince the more stubborn clients and the clients who have lost all hope in themselves and their situation to seek the help that they need. She laughed bitterly at the feeling of hopelessness, she knew what that was like.
She knew that feeling like it was a old fuck buddy.
She took a sip of her Blueberry and Cranberry flavored milkshake and continuing working through the pamphlets that were "borrowed" from the other realm about cyber-bullying that Novan insisted she read due to the computers that were currently being installed across the lands.
"Words can indeed hurt, especially when you being messaged non-stop with "kill yourself" and somehow your whole home address? Yikes." Furiosa thought in surprise, bullying sure is different from when she was growing up. Her thoughts went back to EizenGarte Academy and rolled her eyes in disgust at how the teachers and the administrators turned a blind eye to bullying despite being a supposed "prestigious academy". The bullshit of it all.
"But if it wasn't for their utter lack of care, i wouldn't had met my Hera." Furiosa thought guiltily, maybe it was for the best in the end. After all, Hera put her on the right track to where she is now. Her words of encouragement steering her slowly but surely. So in a twisted way, she had to thank that bastard Sazael and his gang of fools.
"I'm really awful...am i-No i can't think like that anymore." Furiosa thought to herself and force her mind back to the previous topic.
"I wonder if it such a good idea to have internet in this realm? Although when it does get set up, i do get to talk to my cute angel from wherever i want using this social media everyone in that other realm seems to be on." She thought as she finished her coffee with a smile. Some thoughts of her sending Hera risqué photos of herself to mess with her slyly cross her mind.
Something been bothering her ever since the incident with Sarglan and Velven. She went to visit them to see how they were doing over a week ago. They were doing great! They had just came back from a concert being held by Apollo to celebrate the arts and many music stylings that were created over the centuries. Sarglan was peacefully asleep, Velven was in his strong arms wide awake and content. Velven talked about the assassin and how she saw her at the concert with her wife. It was awkward as all hell but their respective partners got along really well.
"You know maybe me and her could have been friends, i used to work for the same monster she worked for, after all." Velven said with a grin. The relaxed Harpy look at Furiosa's face and judging by the surprised expression she didn't know about that.
"Ah right, Don't worry it was a short stint. It wasn't anything too dramatic, just being some extra muscle for his wife at one of her many tours. Some smuggling jobs here or there. They have some crazy shit in the other realms, like this black small rectangle that can play music, talk to people, and watch movies. Pure insanity. Lucky that i was considered small fry in the grand scheme of things and The Boss just let me go after i requested my leave. It was surprising as hell, who knew he had a heart after all?" Velven recounted with a laid-back smile.
"No shit...How did you end up there?" She had to ask, stretching her legs.
"Needed the money, it happen at a good time too. It was shortly after i was expelled for the bullpig grease incident." She recalled, leaning back into Sarglan's warm and muscular body.
"How the hell did i not know this?" She asked, more to herself than to Velven.
The blue-haired Harpy chuckled.
"Because you actually took your studies seriously and worked hard to get out the shitty situation you were born into and you be damned if you let me being a little shit drag you down into failure?" Velven theorized, she put a finger on her chin and poorly imitated the Thinker statue.
Furiosa looked horrified and rested a hand on Velven's shoulder.
"You know i don't think like that." Furiosa told her softly with a serious look in her eyes.
Velven chuckled at her reaction.
"Gods, calm down Furiosa. It's alright, even if you didn't feel that way it the undeniable truth. I'm so proud to be your friend and very proud to see you accomplish that dream you thought you were being so secret about. Then again, you never been that subtle have you?" Velven finished with a smirk as a embarrassed expression made it way across Furiosa's face.
"Oh fuck off, i'm subtle where it counts." Furiosa retorted.
"Oh yeah, name-" Velven stopped mid-sentence as she see Furiosa polished off the rest of the beer she previously had in her talons.
"Clever bitch." Velven complimented as Furiosa poked her tongue at her and winked.
"Now can you hand me another beer, i don't want to move from this comfy spot." Velven asked of her.
Furiosa grabbed one out of the bag and handed it to her and crack another one open herself.
And after doing some digging, the whole academy reason for existing comes from being a deal between the founder and someone who only goes by "The Boss".
"Apparently he fought that Messenger Demi-God...Bylon? Nylon? I don't know, but The Boss didn't immediately get his ass kicked, and from what else i learned, he fought that fun party Goddess and That God who i kinda feel bad for and didn't die. He has to be pretty powerful." Furiosa thought, worried about the implications, she saw they were selling that fight on DVD and Blu-ray, she might have to pick that up.
Her mind went back to the letter Hera wrote her, she received the letter from...Zylon, it was Zylon! She received it personally while she was lounging around, drinking a beer to celebrate her first successful case of getting a little demon girl away from her abusive father who happened to be a priest at a local church. He hanged himself once he was found out to have sire this innocent girl by the public, the utter coward that he was.
"I remember seeing this one movie called Casino Royale, this one scene had James Bond get wacked in the balls, i hope that happens to that priest once Thermes get ahold of him." Furiosa thought to herself with a dark smile, before she could entertain further thoughts of violence towards the already dead priest, a blonde man wearing a white jacket and a blue shirt with a lighting bolt on it appeared in front of her. She almost spilled her beer as she stumbled back.
"Sorry about that. I have some mail for you from Hera." Zylon said with a confident smile as he handed her the letter along with something else Furiosa couldn't see clearly.
"Oh? Thank you." Furiosa said awkwardly, this was her second encounter with a Godly figure.
"Here you go! It seemed urgent considering the stamp and from what Devilla told me. So make sure you read it quickly and help out your girlfriend. You will be receiving a message from Devilla shortly." Zylon explained to Furiosa and with that he was off within the second she blinked. She saw that Zylon had also put a phone in her hand. It was one of those ones that basically look like mini-flat screen TV.
To say she was worried about the implications of having to get Zylon to deliver this mail to her was a understatement.
"What have you got yourself into my guardian angel?" Furiosa muttered to herself.
Her heart dropped when she read the letter and find out Hera's friend Bertraim has been kidnapped. Bertraim meant a lot to Hera as it been with her since her hellish days at the academy.
The phone came to life with a cute jingle. Furiosa swiped up on the screen and saw the message from Devilla herself.
YourGoddessOfLove: Well hello there my little angel's paramour!
Furiosa smirked and text the Goddess back.
Furiosa: Don't you ever forget it! What's up? Did you know about the situatio-(Furiosa backspaced this because it was a stupid question)Can you do anything to help my little guardian angel?
(YourGoddessOfLove is typing...)
YourGoddessOfLove: I already did, your precious Hera would be visiting you tomorrow along with a special guest to help you both. I'm currently in the other realm right now taking care of crisis after crisis, so it might take me some time to get back. Sorry darling.
Furiosa had so many questions that trampled through the grey matter in her skull. A special guest, another God perhaps? No that would be overkill, one of Hera's coworkers seems far more likely. Why would the Spawns of Retribution kidnap Hera's friend? Was Sazael still running that group?
"Is that bastard still alive even?" Furiosa asked herself, her mind going a mile a second trying to come up with various theories and way to help her girlfriend.
Furiosa:Does this have anything to do with what happened at Velven's house?
YourGoddessOfLove:Basically, but not in the way you expected. I don't know the full details but my theory is that someone overheard what happened at that house and knows about Hera being my newest assistant. Also tell Velven and Sarglan how proud i am of them both!
Furiosa chuckle to herself in the abrupt change of conversation but it whatever.
Furiosa:I will.
With that Furiosa took a walk to the Garwik's public library for better learning. If she wanted to be of any use to her girlfriend, she needed to brush up on her Arcadia. Wouldn't hurt to pick up a few new tricks.
"Furiosa!" Someone called her name and her heart beats faster. She arose from the bench and Saw Hera running towards her, that relieved smile on her face sending her into a complete frenzy internally.
"I want to make you smile like this when we're in bed." Furiosa thought with a devilish grin. Furiosa picked up the hybrid and kissed her softly on the lips, seeing Hera go red as a tomato was one of her favorite past times she swears.
But something unexpected happened, Hera held Furiosa's face in her hands and kissed her on the cheek and smiled brightly, her face still red.
Furiosa's heart wanted to leap out her chest as she sat Hera's back on solid ground.
But what took her completely by surprise was the Slayer, he was standing there unbeknownst to her and she was wondering how the hell didn't she notice him before?
"Can't believe i'm standing next to the legendary Slayer, not bad considering years ago i thought my life was going nowhere." Furiosa thought with a sense of accomplishment.
"Woah now that i see you in person, all i could say is gods damn you look badass." Furiosa complimented the Slayer.
The Slayer didn't respond.
"About what i expected in terms of personality." Furiosa commented on his lack of response. She could clearly smell the stench of blood from a mile away.
Hera found the smell quite calming actually.
"That not a good thing, right?" Hera questioned in her head, a little disturbed at herself.
"Sorry about dragging you into this Furiosa." Hera apologized, a guilty expression on her face as Furiosa waved it off and place her arm around Hera and bringing her closely.
"Damn you smell good today." Furiosa thought to herself, her hunger growing for a little bit.
"Please, all the things you done for my dumbass? It the least i could do." Furiosa said with a wink that made Hera's heart flutter like crazy.
Hera didn't like Furiosa insulting herself but let it slide for now.
"Do you want a sandwich? It roast beef and salami with pepper jack cheese and Lettice." Hera asked quickly, stumbling over some of her words pulling out one of the sandwiches.
"My baby know me so well! Doesn't she Slayer?" Furiosa said with a smile to Slayer who just nodded.
Hera blushed, a smile crept up to her face as she watched Furiosa eat the sandwich with delight.
"Where you get the baseball bat? Shit, is that enchanted with electricity?" Furiosa asked with a gleam in her eye and a mouthful of roast beef, thinking that would be extremely useful for negotiations for getting a victim out of a abusive environment. And dealing with those creeps late at night when she goes to the bar.
Hera smiled awkwardly, wondering how she should put it so she doesn't worry Furiosa.
"We got ambushed. Well ambushed is giving the fools a lot of undue credit." The Slayer bluntly told Furiosa, might as well get to the truth. There was no time for sparing of worrying.
Hera shot him a glare and quite honestly he didn't care. Maybe back then, this would had intimidated him. Now after every thing he seen? It was actually calming to some extent.
Furiosa's eyes went wide.
"You're not hurt right?" Furiosa cupped Hera's cheek, her skin soft to the touch, her emerald eyes gazed at Furiosa's own with a apologetic look. Hera drop the bat to the ground, leaning into her touch. Hera could see the now pure black aura that surrounded her, radiating killing intent from the red and pink haired succubus.
"If i lost you..." Furiosa thought to herself before shaking those negative thoughts from her head. She had to. She can't fall back into that abyss.
"I can't blame you for feeling this way." Hera thought as she rubbed circles in Furiosa's back.
"No i'm okay. I'm sorry that i made you worried." Hera apologized as she hugged Furiosa tightly. Relief flooding her very being that Furiosa was safe in her arms. She could feel Furiosa dig her nails into her back.
It felt good.
"What is wrong with me?!" Hera thought flustered at herself.
"They didn't touch us at all. They were embarrassing, quite honestly." The Slayer commented.
"Seems about right, Sazael probably wasn't expecting you teaming up with the damn Slayer!" The social working Succubus exclaimed.
Hera laughed.
"Devilla gave me a good head start on where to find him." Hera explained as she flick a thumb in the direction of Slayer.
"So you kept Hera safe?" Furiosa asked of the armored mystery. She felt her eyes roamed across the many contradictory features of his armor. Well first thing first, she likes the colors. But the armor itself seemed to be mix and matched from different eras of warfare. It was unnerving as she felt like he could ripped both of them apart with ease and yet he stood there. A Sentinel that watched over the people of this realm as if they were his children.
"Your whole vibe is just off. But you still protected my woman so i trust you for now." She thought as she cracked her knuckles.
"She didn't need my help, she know how to abuse a spell i can tell you that much." The Slayer mentioned calmly as Hera look like she been struck by lighting.
"I do not abuse my spells!" The blonde yelled offended at such a notion.
"That technique you used to stop people in their tracks, you used it twice and if you didn't then you would have been seriously-no I'm not going to give them even that. They were that incompetent. Besides if it wasn't for that spell, we would have beaten them a lot less faster." The Slayer mentioned. Hera sighed and shrugs. Maybe The Slayer meant it as a complement?
"I'm sorry for my outburst." Hera apologized with a hint of embarrassment.
The Slayer nodded.
Furiosa looked slightly concerned. "Is-is any of them still alive?" She had to ask.
"Had to snap the neck of one of them. But i believe the majority can still move. Don't see why you're concerned considering they were trying to hurt your precious Hera." He told them as he planned his next move in his head.
"It not that i particularly care about those dicks it just that i don't want Hera to be hurt or even fight if i can help it." She calmly stated matter of fact. Hera felt something in her snap, but only a little and she didn't know why.
Furiosa swallowed. She was used to using violence in her life, but with Hera it was a different case. She didn't want her to be corrupted by it.
Furiosa still remembers when Hera justifiably lost it on Sazael and beat him within a inch of his life. Hera said she wasn't going to kill him but the look in her eyes...
Well it was the same look her adoptive mother had when she found out Furiosa drained half of her true son soul. She swears it was a accident, she didn't even know at the time how she was doing it. All she could feel was the feeling of a full stomach and complete ecstasy all throughout her own soul.
She knows that she should trust Hera more and yet she can't help but have the feeling that she is a ticking time bomb. Why wouldn't she be?
"She has every right to be considering the situation." She thought, feeling guilty of not believing in the one who believed in her.
Hera looked annoyed at her. Furiosa didn't understand why.
"Remember." She started, that annoyed expression turned into anger. "I'm not some pushover anymore. Don't worry about me." Hera said, a hint of flippantness in her tone. Furiosa had to scoff at this.
"Of course i worry about you, what kind of girlfriend-hell best friend in general would i be if i didn't?" Furiosa argued calmly, keeping her voice level.
"One who actually trust their best friend to take care of herself." Hera retorted. The anger simmering under every pronunciation.
"I do trust you. But i can't have you losing control." Furiosa explained, continuing in a calm matter.
Hera took a step back. The expression of sadness that was on her angel's face stabbed Furiosa in her heart.
"Hera i-" Furiosa got cut off by Hera's question.
"What do you mean? You think i can't control my emotions?" Hera inquired both hurt and a little confused before she remembers that night. She clenched her fists, her eyes staring directly at the ground.
"That night was different and you know it. Just like back then, I want to rescue my best friend from being killed. And i told you before, i wasn't actually going to k-kill him." Hera said, but even the words that tumbled out of her mouth sounded unsure. She remember that feeling and sometimes she still think back to that night, more so lately. She wonders if she had just slit his thro-
The Slayer clapped his hands, the very sound of it drew various passersby attention to the very surreal trio that stood by the bench. Fuck anybody else who wanted to sit down i suppose.
"Now not the time for you two to be engaging in this conversation. We have to save your friend right? That all that matters." The Slayer said with a irritated tone in his voice. Hera look flustered and shared a look with Furiosa who seem downcast for a second before shaking it off.
"He right, Bertraim takes top priority. I would like to apologize to both of you for wasting time." Hera told the duo as she made a bow. She wonders why did she get so angry at Furiosa wanting her to be safe? Does she not feel the same way for her?
"Is she always this-" The Slayer started.
"Yeah but that what make her so damn sexy." Furiosa ended as Hera shot straight up, a crimson mask decorating her cute little face, and a look of exasperation dance it way across her face making the social worker smirk.
The group decided to head to the warehouse. The Slayer look at the two before him and thought of the past again. He smiled ruefully underneath the helm.