Kira took in the darkness that surrounded her- all encompassing, consuming, and somehow...alive.
She had been here a long time, she knew.
She felt the tendrils of an otherworldy power slither on her skin once again, after the last time, pulling, tearing. Familiar fear danced in her brain, as she tried to pick away the ever-elusive intruder, to make them just STOP!
And that is when suddenly pictures-danced in front of her eyes, brief flashes- of a rolling field, a waving flag, huge towers...of a man...or rather, a silhouette of a man.
His features were out of view, moving too fast and changing too much for Kira to get a clear image.
Blue, green...now grey eyes, soft once but now hard...ever-changing builds and- and hair...
An echoing voice sounded in her head, urging, encouraging.
Kira struggled to understand, reaching out to the one thing, the one person she could see in this dark, lonely place she had been stuck in for such a long time...
"Come to me..."
Oh, she wanted to. She wanted to go...anywhere but here.
She reached out her hand, hoping to get close, to get away from whatever this place was. She ran, but she never reached.
"COME TO ME!"
Kira came to with a gasp, or she tried to gasp while still hanging by a throat. In a barn. With goats and chickens wandering near her in curiosity
It couldn't have been much long then, if she wasn't yet dead, though it felt like she had been away in that dream for days...
With her sudden consciousness came the sudden realisation that she still couldn't get in air.
Her legs, which had been hanging uselessly, began flailing again.
She did not think she would make it out this time...
...And that is when she heard it.
𝘛𝘩𝘶𝘯𝘬!
With that she fell heavily.
Her legs buckled from the sudden weight, and her body half fell on a small mound of dung.
But she didn't care. She took in deep rasping breaths of air, her mouth open and tongue lolling out as her body breathed in deeply, hoping to compensate for the depleted oxygen.
"I said-" 𝘛𝘩𝘶𝘥, "Listen," 𝘛𝘩𝘶𝘥, "to," 𝘛𝘩𝘶𝘥, "MEEEEE!" A voice, sounding rather far away, roared loudly.
She raised her tear-stained face towards the source. It was near the edge of the barn.
In the light of dawn spilling from the window near the ceiling, she could make out Noiara, standing with a shovel raised above her head. The crazed look in her eyes as she glared disdainfully at the lump at her feet- Boroh- was visible for Kira to see.
The shovel came down a few more times, hitting the lump that twitched with each hit delivered to it. Screams of rage followed.
Kira could feel her instinctive reaction of wanting to wince a few times, but she was so tired that all her body managed were a few blinks, her face still.
Finally, after screaming and hitting and kicking the likely corpse in front of her, Noiara stood still, her breaths filling the silence.
And soon, even the breaths stopped.
With a heartwrenching wail she fell down on top of her husband, begging and crying. But he didn't move.
She lay her head down, her body shaking with sobs, arms covering the man whom she had just killed in rage.
"No...no...please...come back! Please! Boroh..."
Kira looked on at the devastating scene of a wife begging her husband to return from death. Her heart hurt for her.
Of course it would have hurt a lot more if the wife hadn't just killed the husband herself.
Kira looked around the barn, her gaze pausing to her left. The door was right there, if she could just...
She swiveled her head back to take in the scene in front of her once again, only for a startled yelp to catch in her throat when her eyes met the enraged ones across from her.
Noiara was staring at her through a curtain of discheveled hair that fell around her face and partially covered her gaze.
Her pupils didn't move, didn't shake. Her hands didn't try to clear the hair to get a better look at the woman her husband had been about to kill, as she stood, picking the shovel on her way up, her legs steady beneath her.
Kira gulped.
Noiara put one measured foot in front of the other, her hands at her sides, her face tilted down even as she approached the stranger in front of her. The shovel dragged on the dirt behind her, blood shining in the light.
"You..."
"..."
"...it's all because of you..." She said in a steady tone as she walked, and walked, "...You killed my husband..." Her voice neither raised, nor wavered.
Kira's eyebrows raised in alarm.
"Noiara?"
But there was no answer. She again, tried to get her legs under her, to get up and away from the approaching doom. Her broken knee protested.
She collapsed right where she had been.
That seemed to be enough of a trigger.
WIth an enraged cry, Noiara ran forward towards her, the weapon raised high, and ready to be brought down on the woman who was the reason her husband was DEAD!...
𝘛𝘩𝘶𝘯𝘬!
...When something hit her in the face inches before she reached Kira, her own momentum carrying her forward until she fell on her face.
Near a hyperventilating Kira.
Kira looked up, shocked, at the person who rounded in front of her.
"Are you alright?" She bent down to face the scared woman, checking her face, neck and scalp for injuries, "Art you hurt somewhere?"
"Sh-Shira?"
The aforementioned girl sighed, kneeling down in front of Kira.
"I'm so sorry you had to go through this...this was not supposed to happen..." She sighed again, looking at the Sun rising through the window.
"What-how?...I thought-"
"Quick, we don't have time." She used her hands and a cloth she took out of her bodice to clean Kira up. "The cart driver is diverting the cart-should be here any minute. Can you get up?" She handed Kira the cloth to continue. Looking dubiously at Kira's knee even as she urged her to stand with a hand on her elbow, Shira looked at Kira for an answer.
The response came quick. She couldn't miss her only way out.
"Yea-Yeah. Yes. Give me a minute." Kira let out a short breath, as she gritted her teeth and with support from Shira, pulled herseld up.
Her right leg threatened her attempt, and she stood with Shira's shoulders as support.
Looking around, Shira quickly shrugged Kira's hands with a 'Just a moment', and retrieved the shovel that had fallen to the side.
She handed the handle to Kira.
Kira looked distatefully at the weapon, but it was not like they had a lot of choice.
With Shira supporting her one side and the shovel supporting the other- Kira hobbled her way out of the barn which had provided her refuge- albeit unsafe- for the night.
When they reached outside, the cart was just coming around the corner towards them. It was large, with a big space at the back that was covered by a frame and curtains on all sides. Likely one used for trading.
A middle-aged man sat as the coachman, and had a couple of horses tied in the front. He pulled their reins to a stop in front of Shira, who Kira only realised had been waving her hand.
He eyed the two indifferently, his eyes hobbling to Kira's broken leg and back up to Shira, who was reaching on the side of her skirt-likely for her wallet.
"An extra pence for an injured traveller. Brings it up to four."
"What?! We agreed on three!" Shira hotly argued.
"That was before you tried handing a patient off to me. She will need looking after. An extra pence for an injured traveller." Saying this, he faced forward again.
Shira made an aborted noise of frustration, even as she took out the money. She handed the extra coin over with a stink eye.
The coachman didn't seem to mind, taking the increased income with upturned lips even as he quickly jumped down from his seat. He took the other side of Kira, helping her to get to the back of the cart.
Shira shoved a few of the cloths and boxes behind to make way for the woman. The coachman didn't say anything other than sparing a glance to the side, before helping the traveller in.
He took out a light box from the side whose bottom had been hollowed out and handed it to Kira.
"Just until we are out of sight." She nodded in understanding, and tapping his knuckles on the wooden frame at the top, he went to his seat again.
Once he was out of sight, Kira turned to Shira.
"Thank you, Shira. For everything."
Shira shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly, an easy smile on her face, feet swaying back and forth with her hands in her pockets.
"Don't worry. It was the least we could do. You saved one of us." Finn.
Kira knew. Still, it was more than the least, and they both knew it.
"What will you do about..."Her eyes wandered to the bar.
"I'll get Mimi and Daichi. We'll figure it out."
RIght. She looked around, for anything that could come to mind. Anything forgotten.
Nothing. Time to go then.
Mustering up a smile, hoping to convey her gratitude, she raised her hands in a goodbye just as the cart started forward, taking her away.
Shira returned the gesture, turning around after a few seconds to walk to the opposite side of the barn.
Kira looked back around the village, taking in the houses trodding around her, left behind.
There was the river, in that direction lay the field, Suki's house would be just over there...
She raised the hollowed out box and brought it down on herself, watching as the familiar scene disappeared for the last time.