Rogier lunged, aiming to kill Emma. Dahlia jumped into the way, his sharp, rigid nails digging into her forearm. "Get out of my way!" Rogier swung at Dahlia in a panic, gashes appearing all across her body from Rogier's onslaught, blood spilling all across the floor below, but Dahlia held strong, aiming to keep Emma away from danger for as long as she could.
For a moment, they were face to face, head to head, but a glowing, brilliant light fell from the ceiling. A small creature, similar to a fairy, but more robotic in design, pressed its palms against Dahlia's forehead, some of the damage dealt to her now healed.
"A... A fairy..." Rogier's voice cracked, unable to find humor in this situation as she broke into hysterics.
Dahlia huffed, and instead of taking out her axe, she readied her fists. Dahlia grabbed Rogier's collar, breaking into a fierce battle of strength against the transformed man in front of her. Suddenly, Rogier is lifted into the air and slammed to the ground, knocking the wind straight out of his body as the ground splits underneath him. Dahlia reeled back her fist, slamming straight into Rogier's face, hard enough to crack the skull, splitting open his brow in the process.
Rogier groaned in pain, flailing wildly, attempting to strike back, claws just barely missing a vital area of her neck, cutting clean through. Dahlia reflexively recoiled from the pain, but in this moment of desperation, remained firm, keeping him pinned to the floor.
Suuma's song continued to fill the room, managing to save a good chunk of the group by doing so, but as she persisted, the more worn out she became, hands white-knuckling the other.
Meliana, now awake, scrambled to her feet, lunging at Rogier, dagger in hand. He attempts to catch the blade, but with her off-hand, letting go of the blade from her primary grip, she grabs the knife, stabbing straight under his collar. As she pressed harder onto the blade, an audible, fleshy pop could be heard, crimson bubbling at the wound. "F-Fuck... you!" Meliana hissed with gritted teeth.
Emma shook her head, attempting to remain conscious. She kneeled, grabbing the disabled Rider, folding them like a case whilst crouched low to the ground. She held her gun loosely within her grip, rolling Rider around like a briefcase as she rounded the scene before her.
"Everything... everything rots... everything falls... nobody can be... truly immortal... if they could, life couldn't go on... ya piece of shit. I... I really hate fucks like you the most... just... just can't fuckin' appreciate life as it is... always bringin' others down with ya into... i-into whatever fuckin' hell you've brough upon yourselves!" Emma dropped to her knees again, propping herself against Rider.
Progressively, the flower spread —a bizarre process of necrosis that spread throughout his body. "W-what is this bullshit!?" Rogier struggled against Dahlia's weight, along with the knife sinking into his chest. "G-Get the fuck off me!"
Rogier wrapped an arm around one of Dahlia's, throwing her off and sending her flying across the dance floor; Emma jumped out of the way to avoid getting hurt.
As he stood, he grabbed onto the nape of Meliana's collar, pulling her away, throwing her out the door behind him. The others lifted themselves, getting ready for another fight, completely exhausted.
"The hell do you think you can do, huh!?"
Emma leveled her weapon at Rogier, firing at him multiple times. Not every shot dug deep enough, but the impact was enough to stagger him. She began stepping back, still firing until only dry clicks could be heard.
Rogier cackled. "Out of ammo?" He snickered, taking a step forward. His legs buckled out from under her, the rot spreading out more and more throughout his body, scales cracking open to expel pus and blood from the inner recesses of his body. "W-What the hell is this!? How!? Damnit! I-I... this isn't magic... what the hell is it!?"
Emma sighed, slowly clearing out the cylinder of her sword, casings scattering across the floor. She loaded each bullet individually, watching Rogier closely.
"Fuck you!" Rogier cackled, throwing an arm out at Emma, cut off by Dahlia with one wide step, swinging her axe straight across his chest, sending him straight back down onto the ground below. Dahlia attempted another swing, the blade getting caught in one of his arms, like before, and she was thrown into the wall beside her.
Rogier scrambled to his feet, jumping straight to the other hall across from the booths. If he were a mammal, the hairs on his body would be standing. Though his smile never faltered, he was scared, scared of what was to come next, afraid of dying, for the first time in his life. It was his last chance after all, thwarted by an unknown power spreading through his body like an infection.
Emma looked down at the unconscious Rider for a moment, flourishing the gun sword with her middle finger before latching it onto her belt. She knelt, disconnecting the arms, latching them over her own. "Sorry, Rider..."
"W-What the hell...?" A weak chuckle left Rogier's lips. "You could do that the whole time?"
"Only a recent thing, didn't think I'd need to use it though..." Emma squared her stance.
Rogier stared for a moment before breaking out into laughter. "W-what the hell are you even trying to do--" Rogier cut himself off, blood violently leaving his throat, causing him to projectile vomit across the floor. "W-What are you trying to do!?"
"I'm gonna beat yer ass, Rogier."
Rogier, without hesitating, lunged straight at Emma, knowing nothing could get in his way now. He swung in a wide arch, Emma whipping her head to the side, his claw narrowly grazing her cheek as she racked an arm back, clocking Rogier across the jaw. Teeth flew out from his maw, the shards of which spilled onto the ground below.
He staggered for a moment. "W-What...? Wait..."
"Y'know... I... I'm scared of fightin'... scared of being on the front line... but that ain't mean I don't know how to fuckin' fight! How do you think Rider knows how, huh!?" Emma's demeanor from before had dissolved; that shock, that worry, gone in an instant now that they had the upper hand. In fact, it was a state of delirium, her eyes crazed.
"Where'd this eve--" He recoiled, fist barely connecting with the tip of his snout, whilst another swing slammed straight into his injured arm. They moved onto the dance floor, Emma pressing the advantage.
He smirked. "Hey... did you think I ran out of spells?"
A spike hurled itself from the floor, aiming for Emma's stomach. She shot her arm down, the jutting spike impaling the exoskeleton of Rider's arm, breaking Emma's. Emma bit down on her lip, hard, swiping to the side, the shard of earth ripping through her arm.
"Emma!" Dahlia cried out, crossing over to help her, but before she could even reach the two, Emma threw her broken arm back.
"Don't fuckin' get close! I'm killing this guy myself!" Emma is struck across the face with Rogier's fist, cutting her head open. Blood sprayed across the acrylic glass panel below. Emma, in response, flailed at Rogier, swinging as hard as she could at the monster before her.
"W-What are you even planning here!? What do you even get by doing this!?" Rogier laughed, questioning her all the wild, genuinely baffled at what he was witnessing.
Emma, with her only available hand, got hold of Rogier's fingers. She pulled as hard as she could, throwing the man straight into her knee, sending him flying back, nose bloodied. Emma refused to let go of his fingers, and whilst they're gripped within the machination of Rider's arm, the springlocks squeezed.
Clamping hard, Emma ripped off two of Rogier's fingers. She reeled her hand back, fingers still in hand, then slammed them straight down Rogier's throat. His body is thrown back, rolling back onto his feet and spitting out what he was just fed. "W-What the fuck are you doing!? Psycho!?"
Emma swallowed hard, licking her lips. With a staggered step, she pulled herself forward. "W... What do I achieve...? I... I get to fuckin' live! Y'know... I-I ain't a really good person, but at the fuckin' least... I know how to live!"
"W-What the fuck are you even talking about!? Did the blood loss get to ya!?"
Thump! The side of his face is cracked open by Rider's metal fist, now attached to Emma's arm. He scrambled back up to his feet, met again with a strike to the face, and again, and again, only managing to leave Emma's line of destruction once pressed against a wall, stepping to the side as the exoskeleton rocketed straight through a wall.
Throughout that entire exchange, whilst swiping at her with each hit she landed, bruised, bleeding, on death's door, she stood.
"W-What the fuck... how...?"
Dahlia couldn't watch any longer; once again attempting to interfere, she was stopped by Emma, who held one hand up to her. Rogier looked back to see Dahlia readying her axe, tears in her eyes. He looked back over to Emma, arm reeled back, clocking him straight across his skull, blood leaking all across the floor, one of his eyes going slack.
"The reason why I did this..." Emma whispered. "Was... to prove a point. Congrats dumbass..." His body fell limp beside her. "You proved me right... Someone like you can never kill someone like me. Immortal my ass." Emma blinked. "W-What the fuck am I...?" She groaned, falling into Dahlia's arms, unconscious.
***
"Ms. Emma O'Kelly, could you recall the incidents that had occured at Kylika Maudrin's club on the 25th of Fading Suns?"
Emma sighed, "Uh... a party member of ours wanted to take us out to a club-- said it was for adventurers and stuff. She took us, we hung out quite a bit, had some fun, and then, out of nowhere, everything went to shit! Vampires were fuckin' killing people left and right, as adventurers do, though, we stepped in, helped out a bit to kill some of the bastards! Uh... then... suddenly, they just fuckin' blew up into a pile of gore!" Emma snapped her fingers. "And get this as well, apparently, the guy who was orchestrating it all was some bastard who killed themselves in my last quest! I don't know what the hell is goin' on, but I swear he died during that whole... excursion."
"They were Rogier Arryn, yes?"
"Yeah, don't have a clue why he was there, alive of all things, but it was obvious that he was gonna try to kill us all. So a bunch of us, and apparently some of the kidnapped students at the Academy!?" Emma shrugged. "We all went to fight him. We managed to do a decent amount, but eventually, he overpowered us."
A beat.
"Um... next thing I know, bro blew up an area with some weird lightning attack, and I was knocked off of my robot, Rider-- I was riding him since he's faster than me." Emma sighed. "Uh... after that... I don't remember anything else."
"You don't?"
Emma shook her head. "Not a thing. I was sorta fading in and out of consciousness, I think, but I can't remember any of it.
"Alright then. Thank you for the interview, Ms. O'Kelly."
They shook Emma's hand before leaving the room. Not a moment later, Dahlia stepped in after the interviewer. "You look better."
Emma scoffed. "I guess... feel sore as hell, that's for sure."
"I... overheard a bit outside." Dahlia sat beside Emma's bed, a box in hand.
"What's that?" She pointed to the box.
"Oh, it's food!"
"You made it?"
"Of course! I would never want to give you something so paltry as a meal made by my own hands!" Dahlia snapped her fingers, cutting herself off. "Um... I wanted to ask first, though..."
"Ask what?" Wait, is it about the kiss? Oh fuck, I'm not ready.
"Do you really not remember anything after Rogier shot lightning out of his mouth?"
Emma's expression relaxed, shaking her head. "Nah, I don't. Honestly, I was surprised I even ended up here cause I thought for sure we were gonna die." A beat. "Glad we didn't, though."
"Y-yeah." Dahlia chuckled.
"Anyways, what happened? You guys pull one over the guy?"
"No, you beat him, Emma. You killed him!"
Emma pointed at herself, flabbergasted by the accusation. "I did it?"
"Yeah, some unknown power or something came out from you and... I dunno, something about it led to your victory? I... could barely understand it myself." Dahlia paused. "The... the power was rotting at his body, I think, and then, suddenly, you took Rider's arms on and wore them like a power suit and started beating the s-crap out of Rogier! I-I think he was overwhelmed or something, but no matter what he did, you wouldn't go down, and finally you just..." Dahlia mimicked the motion of Emma clocking Rogier over the head.
"I did that?" Emma chuckled. "That... that doesn't sound like me at all...?"
"Well, you did... you... You were kinda the reason we won...? Not fully, but you essentially..." Dahlia shrugged, struggling to find the words.
"Feels a bit unreal." Emma's gaze lingered on Dahlia for a moment. "Where's uh... Meliana? I wanna talk with her for a second."
"What about the food?"
"I'll be back in a jiff."
Dahlia smiled and huffed. "She'll be a couple of doors down the hall out there." Dahlia pointed, straining herself as she bent back on her chair.
Emma got out of bed and crossed to the door. She opened it, leaving Dahlia behind as she looked for Meliana, head checking both sides of the hall before heading in the direction Dahlia talked about.
As Emma approached Meliana's room, she left as well, sipping on a box of juice, patches where visible scars and injuries were. Meliana noticed Emma approaching and stopped in place. "Yo, roja." In that moment, the mood changed drastically. Emma stood a fair distance away from Meliana, looking down at her. "Uh... why don't ya get closer?"
"Hey, Meliana, what happened back there?"
"Wh-What do you mean-- The club?"
"Yeah, what happened?"
"I don't fuckin' know in the slightest, honestly, I can't believe all that shit played out the way it did to begin with. I... I'm just glad that we found the missing people somehow... crazy coin--"
"You know what I'm talking about, Meliana. Quit the bullshit."
Meliana was taken off guard; the comment visibly staggered her. "W-What? Where'd that attitude come from~? What's going on?"
"Meliana Reef, quit the shit, what the fuck happened back there?"
"Woah! My full government name? What are you, my mother?" Meliana chuckled, hands lifted in surrender.
Emma's expression twisted into exhaustion, then anger, annoyance, then rage. She pinched the bridge of her nose, hand palming her face. "Mel... you... what... Why... did you take us there, Mel?"
"I wanted us to have some f--"
"MEL!" Emma's voice echoed throughout the halls of the hospital. "Stop with the bullshit-- J-Just..." Emma sighed loudly, hands at the side of her head. "Stop! Stop the fucking bullshit, Mel! Tell me, why were we there!? Don't fuck with me, okay!? Give me a real fuckin' answer or you're out!"
Meliana's expression dropped. "W-What the hell are you talkin' about, roja?"
"If you don't tell me the reason why you brought us into a fuckin' death trap, Meliana... you're out of the party-- You can take that chuunibyou Tymera with you as well."
"W-What? I... Y-You're threatening to kick me out of the team?"
"A threat!? No, I promise I fuckin' will if you don't give it to me straight! No bullshit, alright!? S-Shit like this, the shit that happened at that club! No! Absolutely fuckin' not! That mentality can get us killed, and it almost did, so I need a fuckin' straight answer!"
Meliana shook her head. "I don't need to take this shit, I already got what I wanted." Meliana shook her head, feigning a lack of understanding.
"Are you fuckin' serious right now!?"
"I... I-I-I just don't know what the hell you're talkin' about, Emma!"
"S-Stop! Stop fuckin' with me! Stop lying! We almost died in that club, I need a straight fuckin' answer, you understand me!? So... tell me, Mel... what the hellhappened...? Why... why the hell didn't you tell us!? Why!? Was it because we were on break!? I don't fuckin' care, if you have an important lead, say it TO THE FUCKING CLASS LIKE A BIG GIRL, MEL! Say it! Be the fuckin' big girl you are and say it!"
"Where the hell do you get off in sayin' this shit, puta!?"
"Do you think I'm too fuckin' stupid to notice? Do you think I'm some sort of infantile baby who can't understand when I'm gettin' fuckin' PLAYED!?" Emma's voice cracked, her whole body flailing in anger.
At this point, other patients from the surrounding rooms began exiting, looking for the source of the screaming, including Dahlia.
"Tell me what happened. I just need the truth. I need to hear it from your fuckin' mouth, you understand!?" Emma growled, prompting her to clear her throat. "I wouldn't mind that you did it, if it weren't for you not sayin' shit! You just need to say it! You found the lead... right? It led to that club, and you needed people with ya... that's all you gotta say. You..." Emma mimicked a dodging motion with her hands. "A-Avoiding, dodging the fuckin' question is pissing me off, that's what's making me mad! I don't care that you wanted to save your friend or save others; all I care about is the truth! Transparency, so say it!"
There was a moment of pause, the hall becoming nearly silent, only filled in by the cacophony of whispered voices gossiping amongst one another. Meliana licked her teeth, thinking about her next move. "I..." She paused, "I did it... I didn't give a shit about how you two would feel because I only wanted one thing... I wanted my friend back, even if it hurt you two in the process."
A beat.
"I got what I wanted..."
"You got what you wanted...?"
"Yeah, I don't need you two anymore... I got what I wanted..." Meliana cursed herself, not meaning to say it how she did. The overwhelming circumstances of the conversation got to her, that annoyance and resentment that had quickly been built up within the argument, forcing out words that she didn't mean.
Emma remained silent, only meeting Meliana with a cold, dead stare. Emma nodded to herself, a brief sigh leaving her lips, biting down on the fatty part of her lower lip from anxiety. "You... got what you wanted, huh...? Suppose you did say that from the beginning, what you were after."
Meliana nodded slowly. "I..." No, don't say that...
Eventually, Tymera rounded the corner to witness the exchange, hands in her pockets as she watched her friend dig herself a hole.
Emma nodded to herself. "You're out of the party, get the fuck out." Emma's breath hitched for a moment, spinning around and leaving, taking Dahlia with her.
Meliana stood there in stunned silence, Tymera placing a hand on her shoulder. Meliana looked up at the towering devilkin, glossy-eyed. "I fucked up... bad..."
Tymera pressed her lips together, hissing with her teeth. "Yeah... you did..."