What looked to be a machine strung up to the ceiling hung over a younger man. A faded beard sat on their face, their hair pulled back into a ponytail, as they sat by themselves, staring up at their creation. They scoffed, scratching the back of their head before the sound of someone entering their garage interrupted their thoughts.
He spun around in his seat to look at the figure before him. A young woman, not too much younger than he was, with long, winding red locks and amber eyes. He rolled his eyes, focusing back on his creation.
"You're Tierre, right? You work for my father?" The woman spoke.
Tierre paused for a moment, looking back at the young girl, a tired expression on his face. "I do... do you need something from me?"
"I'm Emadia Rox Tachyon, the middle child of the Tachyon line." She smiled, holding a hand out.
For a solid minute, Tierre stood there before turning back around to look at his work. "Fuck off."
"Huh!?" Her rapid blinks gave away her surprise. "I'm a Princess, damnit! You can't just tell me to..." She stopped, hesitating to curse.
"This ain't a place for Princesses."
"I ain't no normal Princess, sir!"
Tierre sighed. "Seriously, what do you want?"
"I need your help."
"With what?"
"You were an experienced Adventurer before becoming the Kingdom's Engineer, yes?"
"Yeah?"
"If you're an Adventurer, that means you're willing to do whatever just as long as it's morally good and you get money from it, right?"
"Where is this going?" Tierre turned back to look at her again. This time, his gaze was unmoving.
"Please... help me break my engagement!"
All Tierre could do was pinch the bridge of his nose, groaning in pain from the request. "Fuck..." After a moment of silence, he looked back at the Princess in front of him. "No."
"Oh, come on!"
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dahlia put a part of Emma's bangs behind her ear to get a clearer view of her eyes. Her ruby red irises searched Emma's expression as she looked back to Dahlia, nervous, eyes half-lidded. "What are you thinking?" Emma mumbled the question.
"I'm admiring you. We could very well be in the end times, y'know?" Dahlia chuckled. "I also want to burn your face into my memory... to make sure that... if one day, something goes wrong... I will remember you..."
"Wow... lots of hope for me, isn't there, huh? You think I'm gonna die or somethin'?" Emma laughed.
"No... I don't think you will. I think you'll live past me... way past me... but... life is unpredictable."
"Well... I'll do the same...? I don't want to forget you either." Emma sighed, eyes darting, attempting to memorize every detail of Dahlia's face. "I feel like I've tried this before--"
Emma is cut off, Dahlia pulling her into a kiss, the red-headed girl stiffening against her grasp. After a moment passed, Emma leaned into the kid, both of them holding each other close, alone in this classroom, the sight of their bodies entwined blocked by the curtains.
Emma pushed off from Dahlia, catching her breath. "Y-You keep throwin' me off my guard, you damn giant!" Her face was flushed entirely, and her hands were shaking as they gripped Dahlia's collar. "Do you not have any self-restraint, or somethin'?"
"Do you dislike it? I'll restrain myself more if you dislike it."
"Who said I disliked it!?" Emma yelled with way too much passion. "I love it, actually! I'm just commenting on how it surprises me!"
"You're so honest." Dahlia chuckled.
"Isn't honesty the best way to keep a positive relationship going?"
"I... I think? It's been working so far, no?"
"Y-yeah!" Emma sighed. "And... we'll get that Simon guy... and we'll save the city... and we'll save the world!"
"Yeah... we'll save the world." Dahlia smiled before whispering to Emma. "Hey..."
"Hm?"
"I wouldn't want to frame it as such, but I think it's fun to do so... but... after being so brave... after being so strong... how about a reward?"
"Reward?"
"A night to remember before everything goes to hell?"
"O-Oh..."
Dahlia's cheeks became flushed. "I... I... I have extreme desires... I've wanted this for a while, I think... do you want me tonight?"
Emma swallowed hard. "I-If you want to... I-I'm movin' at your speed, girl..." Emma laughed nervously, face completely red, already overwhelmed by the mere thought of a clearer intimacy between them-- a more physical intimacy than what she had already experienced up until this point. "S-So where should we--"
Dahlia moved in, mouth open like she was taking a bite from a fruit as she pressed her lips up against Emma's, forcing her mouth open with her own, a single, large hand cupping Emma's head as more of her weight was pressed down onto the more petite girl. Emma's hand sank into Dahlia's soft chest, tongues intertwined, both entranced by one another, a light moaning filling the room. Dahlia lifted a leg, pushing Emma's leg back in turn.
One of Dahlia's large hands began to slip under Emma's shirt, lifting it above her head and throwing it aside, then removing her hoodie, along with the shirt beneath it. Desperation, as if it were actually their last days alive, and it might as well have been.
A hand slipped onto Emma's lower back, pulling her up into a tight embrace as Dahlia wrapped herself even tighter around the red-haired girl, her warmth enveloping them both, filling the bed. One hand pushed up against Emma's abdomen, up to her chest, squeezing Emma's freckled flesh, and with each parting of their lips, strings of saliva wetted their mouths.
Almost like savages, they ripped off whatever clothing remained on both of their bodies, pressed up against one another, a marriage of flesh.
"So..." Qicy kicked her feet as they hung off the seat she was on, looking over at Viana, who watched the chaos of the city from afar, leaning up against a pillar. "Why aren't we sleeping with the other two?"
Viana looked back at Qicy. "They need a moment to themselves, and I don't wanna be there for that."
"What do you mean?"
Viana gave Qicy a pointed look, her confusion visible. "What do you think a couple is doing during the end of the world, by themselves, in a bed?"
"Sleeping? They were messed up pretty bad during the initial invasion...s-so were you, but... y'know?" She smiled innocently.
Viana searched for something she couldn't find within Qicy's eyes. "Yeah... they uh... they just wanted some alone time, actually. Y'know... to console one another and... to sleep. Like you said."
"Yeah? Uh... Well, glad I'm right!" Qicy chuckled.
Viana sighed out her nose, staring back out at the burning city of Mars.
Qicy stared, looking out to the city as well. "You think... You think everyone is okay?"
"You shouldn't consider those still out there as 'everyone' until they either escape or come here for refuge. That's all I can say."
"I see..." Qicy paused. "Will you... I think Emma is determined to face this head-on with the other exploration parties... will you stay with us? Take this on? I... you don't have to... but I want to confirm whether you'll be there. I'd prefer it if you were."
"I'll be there..."
"Really!?"
"Yeah... I might as well help. If I don't, we're doomed anyway, and if my being there raises our chances of survival, then so be it. I am not a coward, or a moron... I do whatever feels right to me, and that is how it will always be from here on out."
"Thank you..."
"Don't thank me for trying to survive. Just be happy that I'm even attempting to begin with."
"So, after all of this, what will you do?"
"Hm? Me?"
"Yeah!"
"Continue adventuring, I suppose?"
"Me too!"
Viana couldn't help but chuckle. "You're a straightforward person, aren't you?"
Qicy stared for a moment, processing the comment Viana made before smiling widely. "No reason not to be a bit simple here and then, no? It... I know that it's made my life easier by thinking in a simpler, more straightforward way. I know... I care about you guys, so I'll do my best to keep you all alive while I'm still breathing and my heart is still beating."
"I'd hope you would."
Qicy, a look of contentment on her face, watched another beam rocket up into the cloudy sky, staining it a deeper red. "They got another one, huh..."
"I guess that those things need to be taken out first."
"Don't die on me this coming week, please..."
"I don't plan to."
The next morning, Emma woke up a disheveled mess. She threw herself off her bed, putting on any clothes she could find in the vicinity before finally realizing that Dahlia wasn't there with her. Bleary-eyed, she walked out of the classroom, clothed, spotting her from afar as she passed out food for various students and survivors who had made it onto the Academy's grounds for refuge.
Emma crossed over, grabbing some food as well, sitting beside where Dahlia worked, watching her.
Two Days before Halloween.
The time that everybody had been waiting for had finally arrived. One of the Senior Adventuring Students of the Academy called everyone to the courtyard, standing atop a hastily constructed stadium that was currently being used by the higher-grade students, along with Sebastian and his party.
"Alright, everyone!" The man seemed to be a half-breed between a human and a mermaid, sporting aquatic features, clad in thick plate armor, and wielding a curved sword at his side. "We'll be discussing the next steps! So far, the blight of this bizarre, new religion that follows an entity called the Blood Mother has begun spreading its influence across our city! Our job is to take out the spires connected to that massive beam of light right there!" He pointed, the clouds above rising as they made contact with the light itself. "We are willing to take any volunteers, but presently, there are eight of these spires, and we need all the manpower we can get to clear out the streets of these demons, fiends, and undead creatures and all of that in between!"
Sebastian soon stepped up to address the crowd. "We all require multiple separate teams that are used to clean everything up and look for survivors, along with a team to take out the various lights in the city that block our path to the main spire directly in the middle-- we'll call it the 'tree' for now to make a distinction as an almost flesh-like substance has began to protrude from the ground itself in a similar shape! Please remove the eight lights, and we will lower the barrier! Once the barrier is gone, we all will rush in and destroy the center of this blight once and for all. We only have two days left."
One of the Senior students, a Ranger, stepped up after Sebastian. "We've scouted a variety of different monsters defending these beams of light. A Graveknight guards the northmost spire, said to have gone missing from their crypt earlier this year. On the docks, we have established that there is a guardian, but precisely what it is is unknown to us, so we urge the utmost caution! The eastern spire is guarded by a massive undead creature of sorts, which seems to be comprised of an amalgamation of assorted limbs-- the northeastern spire has what we believe is evidence of a higher mimic, so higher-level parties, or anyone capable of countering such a creature, should go to handle such a threat. Northwest sector has already been cleared out, leaving actually only seven known spires, so we'll strike that off the record now."
They looked to Sebastian and his party as they turned to a halfling companion of theirs, checking something off a list set on a clipboard. "Okay! It's official now!"
They droned on for a while, speaking about the specific guardian entities established at the remaining spires. Emma looked over to her party. "We're doing this, right?"
Viana gestured toward the city with her head. "I'd recommend the Graveknight."
"Yeah, I was thinking the same thing."
Qicy looked between the two. "Is it... weaker than the others?"
Emma shook her head. "No, but we can fight it, and, if our guess is correct, we'll get a boon that'll help us take on the big man himself over at the 'tree'."
Dahlia leaned in close to Emma. "Which guardian do you think Hero's party is gonna take on?"
"Assuming they even go to begin with."
"No way Sebastian would miss an opportunity like this, no? Especially, Hero."
Emma raised a brow. "That's surprising... never expected you to say something like that."
Dahlia shrugged. "I dunno... plus... I'd like it if they helped... they're competent and I think without them, we'd be... at a disadvantage."
"Ah... I see what you're trying to say."
Sebastian yelled out, "Alright, whose taking on the Graveknight!?"
Emma, without hesitating, used Dahlia as a ladder to get a higher leverage, "Us! We'll do it!"
There was a moment of silence that took over the crowd in that moment, all of them turning around in unison. Sebastian cocked a brow, "You want to take on the Graveknight? You and your party?"
"We do!"
"And why is that? What will you say that'll convince me that you aren't just going to charge straight towards your death?"
"We've been involved in this longer than anyone here, and everyone from the initial party that I now lead--" She gestured to Hero. "I believe, without a doubt, that this Graveknight was involved with our first-ever quest. In general, my party has been engaged... we want to make it right! Correct the story, to help, at the very least, end what we started! Regardless, it doesn't matter who goes, just as long as they can take it, no?"
"I suppose..."
"Then we can do it. Let us go."
"If you wish to." Sebastian turned back to the crowd.
Emma was lowered back onto the ground by Dahlia. "Step one is done." A beat, "Let's go. No reason to waste time, right?"