In stories familiar to Fuwa, she would awaken an ancient forbidden power in that moment to protect her loved ones and her companions, the power of friendship, and yada yada to defeat all her enemies in an instant and emerge as a hero bathed in glory. Even so, there she was, terrified by a situation she didn't understand at all. The thunderous sound of the impacts on the sky and her own heart was so loud she couldn't hear anything.
'I don't want to die'
The thought emerged from deep within her mind. It was sincere, she didn't cared about sounding like a coward, she was indeed very scared, she only was able to keep standing thanks to Raven who hugged her in place preventing both of them from collapsing. The rest of the team had vanished from the face of this land, but she wasn't alone...
'Thats right I still have her' She turned towards her companion and she smiled to her, it was one of her characteristic smiles. She felt bewitched for a moment, but it made it even more sad, she didn't want Raven to die either, it was so unfair. She could see her saying something, she couldn't hear it but she kind of understood as tears streamed down her face.
Then everything went blank.
...
...
...
'What is this?' Fuwa was surprised about how amazing was she, she retained her ability to think even after dying.
She felt a familiar sensation but she couldn't quite get the hold of what was it... It was something she had felt once in her life not long ago, but now it felt slightly different.
'If I meet a god I'm gonna complain!'
It was typical that after dying you meet some kind of deity that is gonna bow and tell you that he messed up and killed you by mistake, the absurd thing that happened seemed like a goddamn big mistake, at least from her point of view.
'Wait... But people often meet those deities before being sent to another world, not after... Mmmm, whatever I'm gonna complain anyways!'
She continued in this ambiguous state of mind, she couldn't feel her body, but she could feel something... She felt... Hungry? As her stomach growled she could hear distant laughter, it seemed the angels mocked her predicament.
'Oooh those cruel beings laugh at my misery...' She lamented as she kept hearing the laughter closer and closer, she was starting to get angry... And by pure muscular memory and force of will she incorporated and punched at something.
"Aaaaghhh!!" Someone screamed on pain as Fuwa felt her hand making contact with something... Or someone.
"Ooooh she killed Hans!!" Someone screamed
"Stop laughing at me, you bastards!" Fuwa screamed too opening her eyes wide open as she watched the image of a man flying away and crashing against a door.
Another round of laughter, she could hear a very familiar voice between the others, as she looked to the side she saw Raven sitting on a chair leaning back with both legs uppon a wood table as she holded some cards. Other people was sitting in the table, all of them looked like bad and awful people. All of them had cards and were smoking something that smelled awful, also on the table there were more cards, booze and some jerky.
"Eh?" Asked Fuwa.
"Hey you finally awake" Said Raven smugly "Lazy Fuwa"
Fuwa couldn't believe it, she was alive? And Raven was alive as well!?
'Im sorry god I won't sin against You again' She thought but then she saw again Raven.
The cat was all comfy, smoking, drinking, and eating jerky while gambling with cards. Raven used her tail to push a small mountain of coins forward as the others sitting at the table looked at her troubled.
"All or nothing" She said.
"Wait! Pause! What's going on?" Fuwa said a little annoyed and confused.
"Eeeeh?" Said Raven as she looked at the hands of the other guys who revealed their cards "You cheating bastard" She exclaimed angrily as she lost her bet, the other people looked at her nervous and scared, Raven sighed and looked at Fuwa "These gentlemen are bandits, they found us and brought us here to have some fun, but then I woke up and kicked their ass, so now they are all friendly and chummy"
Raven explanation was so bold that Fuwa opened her mouth having trouble to process all that she said.
"Heh, boss don't be like that.." Said one guy rubbing his hands.
"Boss I'm sorry you can have all the earning from the game" Said the guy who won the game.
"That's what I'm talking about" Said Raven nodding approvingly and laughing, all the people around her laughed too
Fuwa looked at her and stood up, taking her friend by the arm and throwing her cigar away.
"Hey!" Raven complained.
"Don't disrespect the boss!" Said a guy putting his hand on a sword but got intimidated by the look Fuwa gave him.
Fuwa poked Raven's chest with a judging finger.
"You stop smoking and robbing people, drinking is one thing but I won't tolerate smoking" Said Fuwa looking at Raven with cold eyes, her red eyes usually fierce looked like a glacial.
"Yes..." Said Raven in a whisper and nodded.
"And you guys stop inciting her or I will carve your heads with my fist" All the bandits nodded in unison "And more importantly..." They all gulped getting ready for the lash out "Where is the food?"
The bandits shared nervous glances, it seemed like their new boss had a boss above her, which was something terrifying. One of them raised a hand and Fuwa's gaze fell upon him.
"Yes miss... Madam!" He corrected himself "We saved some for you over there..."
Fuwa followed his finger and noticed a basket over a small table, and wasting no time she dragged along Raven by the arm. Raven stumbled along looking half embarrassed and half amused, though she was still puffing her chest in that defiant way of hers trying to save some face. Fuwa glared at her again noticing her grin.
"Seriously Raven?" Fuwa asked "We almost died and you are here playing cards, drinking and smoking..."
"Hey" Raven said "In my defense, I had to wait for someone who didn't wanted to wake up, hell, good thing I sent one of the guys to check on you, or else it would have been me the one punched"
Fuwa looked inside the basket and found some fruits and bread, she blushed a little after the answer of Raven, but it didn't excuse her from being here partying.
"Where are we?" She asked.
"Actually I have no idea, when I asked these guys about the dungeon they asked me which one" Raven sighted "Can you even believe it?"
Raven laughed again as if she heard that shitty joke again and all her goons began to laugh alongside her, they didn't understand at all why she laughed but they didn't want to risk making her mad again
"I woke up first because these idiots wanted to touch my ass or something like that" Raven said shaking her head to the sides "Then after I punched them some and kicked them some more, they began spilling the beans, so they reconsidered their options"
Fuwa finally smiled.
"Only you would turn getting robbed into a card game" It sounded so bad, but Raven looked incredibly proud of herself.
One of the bandits who had been silent until now opened his mouth a little scared
"Boss we really didn't mean to do that!" They all looked at Fuwa as if they were begging her to take Raven away.
"It's all water under the bridge now, I took all your money as compensation didn't I?"
"Raven you didn't actually rob these people right?"
"No, of course not, we played some games and they all agreed to give it to me because they love me, isn't that right guys?"
The bandits nodded in unison hastily, all of them with no exceptions, they still were trembling after their little skirmish with Raven, "Y-Yeah boss, we... We love you so much take everything ya want!" Of course, all of them glanced at Fuwa with pleading eyes to be rescued.
Fuwa narrowed her eyes, clearly, she wasn't buying any of it "Hu-Huh" She said slowly crossing her arms while looking at Raven "Okay we are leaving"
"You are no fun" Said the cat.
"Boss we promise we won't harm anyone ever again!" Said the one that looked like the previous boss of the bandits "We will change!"
Raven sighed and looked at them they all gulped.
"Look you can do whatever the fuck you want, I don't care at all!" She said looking at them with cold eyes.
Fuwa took some provisions and they began to leave the place, which looked like an intricated network of tunnels until they reached the end.
"Oh and I forgot, they also mentioned something about not knowing what I mean by a desert"
Fuwa looked at her and after they saw the light at the end of the tunnel they saw nice scenery, there were forests everywhere, mountains, and even at the distance a beautiful castle surrounded by a city.
"Do you know this place?" Asked Fuwa.
"Not a clue" said Raven putting her hands behind her head.
As they were taking in this place an arrow suddenly stopped at Raven's feet, someone had dared to attack them.
"Halt there filthy bandits! You are under arrest!"
Suddenly a guy with black hair wearing shiny armor and a classic hero bandana rushed in front of them while holding a gleaming sword, behind him a girl that looked like she came from some kind of church appeared holding a mace, she had bright blond hair and green eyes... And finally an elf archer with short red hair, her petite complexion made her look very young.
"Ah shit" Said Raven grabbing her dagger "Time to start killing"
The trio for some reason moved one step behind after Raven advanced one step ahead but Fuwa stopped her.
"Wait!" She called.