That Same Night
"What's going on with your brother?" Valerie asked as they took the path Serena's sullen brother took.
"I... have an idea. It has to do with home... or, what used to be home." Serena said, not expanding on the matter.
They both rounded the corner, only to see a door at the end of the hall close, a maid walking away from the door looking concerned. The maid seen them, and made her way towards them.
"Are you his friend?" The maid asked Serena, stopping before them.
"Sister." Serena said, and the maid nodded, and gave a somber look towards the door.
"The young man is... not doing well... he kept mumbling about how something isn't fair. And someone named Alina... or something like that." The maid said.
Serena closed her eyes, and let out a long sigh that was laced with sadness.
"Okay... thank you. We'll take it from here." Serena said, and the maid gave a small smile, bowed politely, and began walking down the hall.
"Who's... Alina?" Valerie asked, and Serena sighed again.
"She's... a friend... and someone who was more than a friend to my brother. It's a long story... but with how Benji is right now, I'm sure it'll come out eventually. Come on." She said, and lead Valerie to the door. Serena knocked on the door.
"Go away..." A choked voice said from the other side, and Serena's heart ached at the pain in his tone.
"Benji... it's me. Can I please come in?" Serena tried again.
"I just want to be alone..." Benji said from the other side, and Serena sighed.
"We both know that's not true. Come on, won't you please talk to your big sister?" Serena asked, and there was a moment of silence, before heavy and slow footsteps began approaching the door.
Soon, the lock to the door was unlatched, and the door opened to reveal a puffy eyed Benji, and Serena immediately grabbed him and pulled him close.
"I'm here, Benji. You don't have to deal with this stuff alone..." She said, and Benji sniffled in her arms.
Valerie said nothing, as she was unsure of what to say exactly. She had never experienced anything like this in her life. She had never known her parents. She knew her mother was dead, but her father... well, she truly had no idea. Not that she cared all that much. He was never there for her, and never helped her. She had been a slave her entire life, and only recently had she received a modicum of freedom, so this concept of family was... foreign, to say the least. Lord Crosse was a surprisingly calm and gentle man, despite being incredibly powerful. It was strange though, because whenever she looked at him, and admired him, her chest would become warm. Was there something wrong with her?
Benji looked over Serena's shoulder at her, and Valerie had no idea what to do, so she just waved.
"You didn't mention you brought company." He said.
"Valerie is a lot nicer than I would've thought. We're friends." Serena said simply, and that made Valerie blink rapidly.
"Friends?" She asked, almost afraid that the answer would change.
"Yes... do you not want to be?" Serena asked, and Valerie almost panicked at how sad Serena sounded.
"I... have never had friends... but I would like that." Valerie said softly, and Serena gave a sympathetic smile.
"You poor thing." Serena whispered, reaching out and grabbing her hand, "Let us in?" She asked her brother, and with a small groan, he stepped inside, and gestured for them to enter.
They did so, and Benji closed the door once they were both inside. Serena led Valerie to a couch in the middle of the living space, and sat down with her, while Benji took a recliner across from them, and sank down into it with a heavy sigh. He seemed to be trying to melt into the chair, and Serena noticed how he had began staring off into nothing for moment.
Serena said nothing, opting to wait until Benji was ready to speak, meanwhile Valerie just looked between them, unsure of what to do or think. She had never been in a situation like this, but she found she was really enjoying being around all of these people. For once in her life, her company was good. Even Lord Crosse had told her she could pretty much do what she wanted. Delvin would usually just locked her up in a cage and told her to wait there until he needed her, and she couldn't disobey an order from the holder of her slave crystal. Since Lord Crosse had won it in a duel, that was him now.
"I couldn't take it." Benji said, finally speaking after a minute or two, "Everyone laughing and having a good time was nice... fun even. But... people being with and being able to hold those they love close... it made me wish so desperately that I could do that. I miss her, Serena... so much."
Benji's eyes began to water again as he held his head in his hands. Serena understood, and she wished so much that he could do just that. Serena looked over at Valerie, who just seemed confused, but still sat there, patiently waiting and listening to them.
"You know as well as I do that I want nothing more than that." Serena said softly, "But we can't go back there."
"It's not fair!" Benji said, his face contorted in rage and pain as he looked up sharply, "All because of that maniac and his damned need for everything!"
His face filled with anger, one that Valerie had no explanation for, but she could see the hurt and the pain in the man's eyes. No, he was still a boy, really. Serena looked over at her again.
"Benji... lets talk about it... Valerie is lost, and it's not like it's a huge secret." Serena said, and Benji looked up and over a Valerie, who just wore a patient expression.
"Sure... why not? It can't make things worse." He said after a moment, and Serena nodded, and turned to Valerie.
"So... we come from a small village about 2 weeks travel from here. A village full of Fox Beastkin, just like us." She began, and fond smile on her face, "Life was pleasant, and simple... at least for a time. We lived peacefully with pur parents, and Benji here had even found someone he fancied, Alina."
Both of them took on somber looks, and this time, it was Benji who spoke next.
"Things were okay... but then it happened. Another group of Fox Beastkin arrived at our village, and their leader, the self proclaimed Alpha, decided her wanted the village under his command... Raizen." He said, spitting the words out like venom, "He beat all of our strongest villagers into submission, and took everything for himself. This included all of the villages most beautiful women... like my Alina."
He let our a bitter laugh that turned into a sob.
"I tried... I really did, but he was just too strong. No one is sure of his Rank... his status is hidden, but he's stronger than anyone we've ever met. We're pretty sure he was even stronger than Delvin, hard as that is to believe. A part of me died the day he took her away from me... and no matter how much I try to forget about it, and distract myself... I just can't... my heart isn't in it... because the only one I want is Alina."
Benji just sat there, clenching his fists and gritting his teeth as tears rolled down his face. Serena's eyes had grown wet as well, and she looked over at Valerie with a somber expression.
"One day, he decided that he needed even more. I tried to hide away, and hide my face for as long as I could, but one day he finally took notice of me, and decided I would be his mext trophy." She said, her body shuttering the thought, "And I couldn't do it... I would not do it. He's a terrible man..."
Benji practically growled.
"I had already lost Alina to him... I refused to lose my sister too. So... one night, we both just decided to leave, and run as far away as we could. We had heard about this city from people we had met, but we had never strayed very far from our village until that day. We didn't care, and we just ran." Serena said.
"Along the way here, we ran into Terroth and Sheila. They were out doing a job, just gathering herbs for a client. They were so nice to us... and we told them what happened." Benji said, and then laughed, "And they actually just let us come with them. They were pretty high rank already, but they both took us in, fed us, and even let us stay with them in their little home outside of the city. We haven't been there in a while now, huh?"
"Meeting them helped turn our lives around, as we had more than just each other to rely on. They've both been through a lot too, and we all connected on our shared misfortunes... I won't tell their stories, but needless to say we are all very similar despite being the different. Terroth had to do something similar to us in leaving his home behind. After a while of working together with them, doing jobs with them, and even being trained by them, we all decided to start an adventuring party together." Serena said with a smile, and that made Benji chuckle.
"Yeah... Kelsa was the girl who helped us apply for a Party, and when we were doing that, she had joked with us, and said, 'You all look like a bunch of Misfits.'" Benji explained, and Serena let out a hearty laugh.
"He was so enamored with her right from the start that he thought that was our Party name, that she was the one to name it for us. He had done so much for us, and it was actually so cute that none of us had the heart to tell him no. So... the Misfits were born."
Valerie listened with wrapped attention, patiently listening and absorbing everything they told her, but it seemed that was the tail end of their story. Once they were done reminiscing, Benji went back to just staring at the floor, while Serena turned to Valerie.
"So... you've heard the story... and while we want nothing more than to go back there and see our loved ones... we can't. Our lives here are not bad, but... not a day goes by that we don't miss our friends, our families... and loved ones..." Serena said, aiming that last part at Benji.
Valerie didn't know really what to say, as she didn't really have a baseline to go off of for a conversation like this. Yes, it was a very sad story, and she felt for them, even if she didn't know exactly what they were feeling. Still, Valerie wanted to help them, and currently, the solution to this seemed simple to her.
"Why not just ask Lord Crosse to help you? I'm certain he would, and I highly doubt this Raizen is stronger than he is. I don't know everything about him, but it's pretty clear he doesn't tolerate people who use their power to opress others." Valerie said as if it were the simplest solution in the world.
Benji opened his mouth to respond, and then immediately closed it. Then, he looked to be deep in thought as he blinked a few times in rapid succession. Serena stared at Valerie with an unreadable expression. Then, Benji laughed, but this one actually sounded happier than anything before it.
"Of course Master Elias would help us! We only just met him earlier, so I didn't even think about it!" Benji exclaimed, but Serena shook her head.
"That's why we can't, Benji. We just met him, and we barely know him. We can't just saddle him with our problems." Serena said, but it was Valerie who responded a moment later.
"I'm pretty sure it would be more like a minor inconvenience to him. Lord Crosse is a nice man, and I'm sure he'd help you if you just asked." Valerie said, and Benji nodded.
"Valerie's right. It's not a bad idea. Master Elias could probably beat him without even trying." Benji said, and now Serena just looked incredulous.
"But Benji, we just-" She said, but he cut her off.
"I DON'T CARE!" He screamed, causing Serena to jump backwards and yelp in surpirse. Benji looked apologetic immediately after the outburst, "Sorry... I know you are probably right... but Valerie is also right... and I truly have nothing to lose at this point. I just want her back Serena... I want my Alina back. I want to hold her again...and to tell her I love her."
Serena looked at her brother for a while, before she stood up, walked over to him, and wrapped him in a hug. Benji wrapped her in his embrace as he began to cry again, and Serena wasn't far behind him.
"Please Serena... can we at least ask him? The worst he can say is no... but at best? We can see mom and dad again.... and I can have Alina back... please... I'm begging you... plea-"
"Okay." Serena said softly, hugging him tighter, "I want to see them again too... so... okay."
Benji hugged her so tightly Serena actually grunted as her back popped.
"Thank you, sis..." He said with sniffle, and Serena just smiled gently as he own hope shone on her very pretty face.
"Of course." She said soothingly, before turning to Valerie, "You're probably right. Elias seems like that kind of guy... so thank you, Valerie. We'll ask him soon."
Valerie just smiled and nodded. Her chest felt warm again, but this time it was because she did something for someone else this time. For the first time in her life, she was able to help someone, and she found the feeling.. very pleasant. All of their thoughts and conversations were immediately stopped as noise from the room next to theirs caught their ears.
"AGH! OH FUCK! YES! HARDER!" A woman shouted, and they all recognized the voice as the woman Marina.
Serena and Benji both laughed, and then went red with embarrassment as they recognized the beastial grunts of their leader, only in a far different capacity than they were used to. Valerie just tilted her head curiously.
"Are they all right?" She asked.