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"Hey, Throné, let's go for a walk!" Agnea exclaimed suddenly.
Throné hesitated. Between all that running around to help Laila and confronting Dolcinaea and Veronica, Agnea was likely exhausted, and Temenos had noted how ragged she looked. "Shouldn't you be resting?" Throné thus asked carefully.
Agnea waved her hand and smiled. "There's still sunlight out, and… I'm feeling kind of restless."
"Well, if you insist, then I suppose I'll be happy to join you."
Agnea's smile widened, and she and Throné left Sai's inn.
For a while they simply walked in silence, and when Agnea reached for Throné's hand, Throné didn't pull away. The sun was quickly falling below the horizon, beckoning the night, but Throné didn't mind. It would bring some relief from this heat, at least. She glanced down at Agnea, who wore an uncertain expression on her face. Throné thought of saying something, but what could she say? It'd been a miracle Agnea hadn't broken down at the sight of her mother's statue so maliciously destroyed.
Throné touched the collar at her throat, still locked. She saw Agnea glance at her collar, and then just as quickly looked away. The group all knew neither of the keys had worked, but no one brought up the subject.
Agnea's fingers tightened around Throné's, trembling slightly. They all felt uncertain these days.
They came to the entrance of the village and stepped outside, and already the brightest stars were visible against the darkening sky. "You're awfully quiet tonight," Throné said, finally breaking the silence.
Agnea pouted, but it only made her look more adorable, Throné could not help but think suddenly, and wondered why she thought something so seemingly frivolous. "Even I like peace and quiet too sometimes, you know," Agnea said with a sigh. "It's just that… I've been thinking about a lot of things."
"What's on your mind, Agnea? Tell me."
Agnea was silent a moment longer, staring intently at the sands before them. "What do you plan to do now?"
That question Throné hadn't expected, and caught off-guard, she could only answer, "I… haven't decided yet."
"But you'll still travel with us, won't you?"
How hopefully Agnea looked at her now gave Throné pause. She never would've dared imagine anyone looking at her like that. "Agnea—" she tried to say, and the last of the sun's rays had fallen below the horizon in that moment.
And then a dark violet haze descended on the both of them.
Immediately Throné drew her dagger and felt Agnea's back against hers, a familiar fighting position. The violet haze was thick, distorting the scenery, and no longer could she see the entrance to the village. Agnea's body trembled against hers, and out of the corner of her eye she saw that Agnea had also drawn her dagger. A shrill, high-pitched noise echoed in the air, and the shadows almost felt tangible.
Throné clenched her teeth. The shadows' scent was familiar, like the strange scent she had caught in the New Delsta sewers when Donnie had died.
Hollow rattling caught her attention, and a handful of skeletons approached her and Agnea. As the site of many a battle, it wasn't so uncommon to see ghostly skeletons of fallen soldiers wander these lands, still bound by threads of regret to this mortal coil. The group had encountered many such undead while traveling Hinoeuma. However, sickly shadows covered the skeletons' bones like ragged bits of cloth, and in their empty eye sockets was a dark glow. Agnea gasped, and Throné cursed under her breath; they were surrounded.
"Darkness, fall," she chanted, summoning a veil of her own darkness to ensure the first of these skeletons' strikes would miss. She seized Agnea's hand and dashed forward, free of the circle of skeletons, but the rattling wasn't far behind them.
"What's… what's going on…?" Agnea forced out between heavy breaths.
"Save your breath until we're safe," Throné said quickly. But where "safe" was in this sea of unnatural starless night, she didn't know.
She had to protect Agnea. Of that much she was at least certain.
They soon came to a crossroads whose sign was illegible, and Throné cursed again. She hadn't meant to lead Agnea this far from town. However, the miasma had grown thicker, blotting out even the stars. Agnea drew closer to Throné, her body shivering. "Throné," she said quietly, her voice unusually small.
Throné gave Agnea's hand a gentle squeeze. "You'll be safe, I promise," she said, her voice equally quiet.
Yet they had no time to catch their breath, and nearby an undead soldier screamed, an unnatural, eerie sound, and charged toward them out of the miasma. Throné shoved Agnea behind her and jabbed the tip of her dagger beneath the skeleton's jaw, severing its skull from its spine. The skeleton twitched a moment, and the rest of its bones fell to the ground. These ghostly skeletons were surprisingly vulnerable to daggers, the group had discovered during their travels. The fallen bones dissolved into a strange dark mist, and Throné turned to face Agnea.
But Agnea was gone.
"Agnea?" Throné cried out, frantically glancing around, but saw nothing beyond the shadowy miasma. Her fingers tightened around the hilt of her dagger; she'd just promised Agnea she would be safe.
(Yet, echoed a dark thought in her mind, had her promises ever meant anything?)
Distorted rattling caught her attention, and more shadowy skeletons charged for her. Their movements were frantic but clumsy, as if the shadows clinging to their bones were controlling them like puppets. Thus she easily maneuvered around their attacks and jabbed her dagger into their joints and snapped their bones apart. Yet there seemed no end to them, and she'd no time to chant and summon another veil of darkness to escape them.
As she tried to catch her breath, a skeleton slammed into her, knocking her to the ground. It pinned her dagger hand and then seized her throat with its other hand and squeezed, choking her. She thrashed, trying to free herself, but its bony fingers remained tight.
Why fight so desperately? whispered a strange voice in Throné's mind. Give yourself to the darkness, and pain will be no more.
Throné's lungs felt as if they were on fire. The skeleton's fingers, rough and ragged, bit painfully into the flesh of her throat. Blood pounded in her ears, and her lips gaped uselessly for air. With a mighty heave she wrenched her dagger free of the skeleton's grip and stabbed into the wrist joint of the hand crushing her throat. The bony fingers loosened its death grip as its wrist snapped in two, and she shoved the skeleton off of her, air filling her aching lungs. The undead soldier snarled and tried to lunge for her as she stood, but she dodged and slammed her elbow into the back of its neck, and it crumbled to the ground.
She clutched her bruised throat, coughing harshly, and all around her were the corpses of those undead soldiers, their bones broken and scattered, as far as the eye could see. Not even in death could they find peace, she thought grimly. The violet miasma lingered, and still she saw no signs of Agnea. She inhaled deeply again, but it didn't seem enough.
What a shame, came that strange voice again. As long as you fight, there will always be a collar around that pretty little neck of yours.
"Ngh—!" Throné groaned as she fell to her knees, and suddenly she felt as if the poisoned collar around her throat had tightened, and again she couldn't breathe.
You shed all that blood, but for what? You will never be free, so why not accept the salvation of oblivion?
"Agnea…" Throné forced out, clutching the collar at her throat, still locked.
And what does a naïve dancer like her know of your darkness? She can't save you. She can't love a snake like you. The voice chuckled darkly. Mother hated you for being Marietta's daughter. Father hated you for being Marietta's daughter with another man. Mira hates you for killing Mother. Tell me, why do you believe you can be loved?
Throné let her hands fall to her sides and stared at the starless darkness above her, and the stench of blood grew stronger. Agnea wanted to be a star. But Throné was a snake, only able to steal warmth from others. The keys hadn't worked. She'd killed Mother and Father for nothing, and everyone knew it.
Father even killed the one he loved. Raised by someone like that, would you even understand what love is?
The darkness began to close around Throné like a cold embrace, and she felt so very tired now.
But rest now in this endless night. It can offer even you salvation.
Throné shut her eyes for a moment, and the scent of blood didn't seem as strong now. The shadows collected the fallen bones, reanimating them, and the misshaped skeletons advanced on Throné, and she couldn't bring herself to move.
"Winds of favor, blow!"
Verdant winds battered the undead soldiers, scattering their bones apart. A surge of speed filled Throné, and she struck a nearby skeleton before it could strike her. Agnea dashed forward, her own dagger in hand, and her wind magic combined with Throné's dark magic to free the skeletons from the shadows binding them and return them to the dust of the earth.
When the last of the undead soldiers was laid to rest, the dark miasma finally lifted, and Throné was never so relieved to see the stars again. She sheathed her dagger at her thigh and turned to face Agnea, and before she could even blink, her face was between Agnea's hands and Agnea's lips were on hers.
Agnea, kissing her. She'd certainly dreamed of that often enough, but as a snake she hadn't the right to hope for more—
Too soon Agnea pulled away, her eyes wide and cheeks flushed. "S-Sorry!" she stammered, her natural accent slipping free. "I was just so relieved and—"
Throné silenced Agnea with another kiss. But she was a thief, after all, and she took what she wanted.
When they parted, Agnea let out a quiet laugh and rested her forehead against Throné's shoulder. "I'm so, so happy to see you again," she said, this time in her practiced city accent. "What was that…?"
"I don't know." Throné laid her hand on Agnea's hair. "Are you hurt?"
Agnea shook her head, and her shoulders trembled.
They returned to town and sat together on a bench just outside the inn, and there were no signs of that strange darkness. Throné might've thought it a mere dream, if not for the bruising around her throat. Carefully she touched her neck and saw the worried look on Agnea's face. Agnea raised her own hand, hesitant, and when Throné gave her a brief nod, she gently pressed her fingers to Throné's neck, her touch soft and warm. It hadn't been a dream, and Agnea had kissed her.
"You kissed me," Throné said finally, and winched at how obvious those words were. "You truly love a woman like me?"
"Of course!" Agnea blushed. "I mean, maybe I got caught up in the moment, but I meant it, really! And you kissed me too!"
"I did, didn't I?" Throné touched Agnea's hand at her throat, and sighed. "In that darkness, I heard a voice telling me to give up and that I'll never be free, but… you saved me."
Agnea's hand fell to the poisoned collar around Throné's neck. "I don't want to lose you. Maybe I don't understand your pain, but I do know I want to help you be free, no matter what it takes!"
"You really are a naïve girl, aren't you? But that isn't much a bad thing, I suppose." Throné chuckled darkly. "If you can still love me, I must be doing something right."
"I've told you, you're kind and strong and elegant! And…" Agnea cradled Throné's hand between hers and raised her gaze. "Despite everything you've been through, I've never met anyone who believes so strongly in hope."
Throné bit her lip. "But the keys didn't fit…"
Agnea pressed a gentle kiss to the back of Throné's hand. "I told you, I'll do whatever I can to help you be free. It's not the end."
Silence fell over them, and Throné looked toward the slums, where Dolcinaea had tried to bury her past. If only it was so easy, she thought bitterly. "You know Dolcinaea only wishes to humiliate you," she said in an attempt to change the subject.
Surprise flashed across Agnea's face, and her expression morphed into resolve. "I know. But I'll accept her challenge and prove my mother right! Stars are a symbol of hope, and we help people smile!"
"You never give up, do you?" Throné slipped her hand beneath Agnea's chin. "I won't give up either. I'll find the real keys and watch you shine at the Grand Gala."
Agnea smiled brightly. "Thank you, Throné!"
Throné raised her gaze toward the night sky, and the stars had never seemed so beautiful. That strange darkness still worried her, but she couldn't let it stop her either. Her journey wasn't yet finished, and nor was Agnea's. "The stars are especially lovely tonight," she murmured, and Agnea welcomed her kiss.
