Interlude Kagura - Nowhere to Run

Rosemary Village was a peaceful and quiet little place. That changed abruptly when it was lit on fire.

How quickly things went wrong. Kagura would remember the day like a disease. The experience clung to her almost like a curse. The day started out fine. Her family was impoverished, but they still were happy. She was happy.

Then, the screams started. Smoke and fear clogged the air like a noose wrapped around their necks. Her brother, Simon, yelled in the distance, warning her. Pleading for her to run and be safe.

"Run, Kagura! Don't look back please!"

Kagura remembered her legs failing her. She couldn't run. Couldn't escape. All she could do was watch as large men killed their peace. Killed her happiness.

She remembered being held by someone. The girl's red hair was as striking as the flame that burned down her town. The girl had hidden her inside a cellar, pleading for her to hide and not make a sound.

"Can you hide here? Try not to make any sound… I'll try to distract them."

Kagura broke that promise. The screams were too much. The smoke was too much. Her eyes stung and her throat was hoarse as she cried till her tears dried up. She was lucky that the cellar she had been locked inside had thick doors.

That didn't stop the big men from finding her.

They tore open her hiding place, ripped her off the ground as she cried and covered her in chains. Slaves, they called them. Kagura dragged herself with the others, and while chains were too heavy for her, she forced herself to stand and move. Because she didn't see the children who couldn't keep up.

A slave now. Her smile was gone. Yet, Kagura still had her brother. He was the light she held onto desperately, fearing that the big men might take him away too.

There was also the scarlet haired girl, Erza Scarlet. They formed a group in their prison. A not so happy little home inside the Tower.

Why they were building it, Kagura didn't know. She kept her head down, didn't ask questions and did as she was told. She didn't want to lose what little she had left.

Naturally, she lost it.

She didn't know what happened exactly, but one of the blue haired boys in their group had been captured. Like that, their little home had been destroyed. Her hopes for a moment of peace was crushed in that moment, but rebuilt as Erza once again saved her. The scarlet haired girl somehow gained the power to overpower the big men. Kagura remembered the storm of swords that swirled around the girl as she cut down those who Kagura hadn't even dared to look at, and in that moment, the little girl felt so small.

She couldn't protect her peace, couldn't even keep her head down correctly and didn't have the strength to take it back like Erza.

So, she ran with her brother.

They made it to the boats with everyone as Erza went off to save the blue haired boy from their group. Her heart was bursting through her chest at the moment, but she was wary.

And her instincts were later justified. More big men found them with massive ugly dogs. Kagura ran with the rest of the group, trying desperately not to get caught. She knew the consequences if she did.

Once again, she was saved by her brother. He hid the two of them inside one of the ships, taking care not to be noticed by the big men.

When the big men brought a dog on the ship, her brother once again hid her inside a barrel, trapping the lid so she couldn't escape. He sprayed something over the barrel that clung to her nose and almost made her gag. Kagura wanted to scream and cry, but she kept quiet.

"Stay here okay, Kagura, your big brother will be back. I'll drive them away." He said. "I'll protect you."

She believed him. She had to. Even when she heard the door to the room they hid in bust open, her brother's yells of pain and the big men laughing, Kagura kept quiet.

Her hands covered her mouth as her nails dug into her cheeks. She muffled her cries, but couldn't stop the hot tears that ran over her cheeks and white knuckles.

Keep quiet. Keep quiet. Keep quiet. Her tears felt too hot on her skin.

Keep quiet. Keep quiet. Keep quiet. Her heartbeat hammered in her head and she trembled in the barrel. Its rough wood dug into her skin, but she didn't feel it.

She had to not make noise. Her fear warred with her concern, but fear won out as the sounds of the outside trailed into her ears in bursts. Her brother yelled as they tried to pry open where he hid her. He didn't speak. Then, they started to hurt him. She could hear it; the sound of someone getting beaten over and over again.

Her heart felt heavier with each thud. Kagura wanted to come out. She wanted them to stop. She wanted him to give up and just tell them where she was.

The two siblings kept their promise of silence, and in that moment, she felt something snap within her. A well of energy that seemingly filled her. There was strength in that, and she suddenly felt like she could take on the big men.

Despite that, she kept quiet. Her brother told her to stay quiet. To stay in the barrel, and she did, but she was a coiled spring ready to explode. Yet, when she thought about finally fighting back, she hesitated.

Her mind replayed the fire of Rosemary Village. The screams echoed in her ears, and the laughter of the big men rolled over and over in her head. The lifeless eyes of those that spoke out filled her head.

"I can do this… I can do this…" Kagura repeated in her head, trying to psyche herself up for the task. However, like most of her promises, she couldn't.

Instead, she made another promise to act the moment her brother gave up. After all, she knew that the big men had broken older slaves, so she felt the moment they found her, she would finally attack. The instant he gave up, she would jump out.

"Please… just give up." she pleaded in her head. Her tears had dried up as she waited. Only anxious anticipation remained.

She waited, but he didn't pipe up. Pins and needles numbed her legs as she continued to crouch down inside her hiding place. Despite everything, her brother never said anything no matter how much they tortured him.

When they seemingly gave up, Kagura felt defeated. Frustration and guilt ate her alive as she grabbed her sides hard, digging her fingers into her ribs. Silent cries pried open her mouth as she stayed inside and continued to do nothing.

This was her fault. They wandered around the room after they had taken her brother, and she kept deathly silent, bringing her knees to her chest and holding herself tight. She felt the power in her fluctuate, wanting to do something that she didn't understand. Kagura had seen Erza do it, so she despaired at how she didn't help when she knew she could.

She was too weak. She could only run. Could only be protected. And when the big men finally gave up from searching the ship, Kagura collapsed inside the barrel.

What she hated most was how relieved she felt.

When she had woken up, Kagura panicked a bit, but quickly regained her bearings. She hadn't been found. In fact, from the yells and voices she heard, she knew she was at a port. A city. She had escaped.

Help. She needed to get help. For her brother. For Erza. For everyone. They were alive; she wouldn't believe anything otherwise.

Carefully, she made her way out of the ship, following the route her brother took to hide them. She had paused when she made it outside, seeing so many people that just… lived. Their smiles on their faces reassured her she wasn't back at the Tower.

"Can you help me?"

Kagura went up to the first nice looking person she found. She hid away from larger men, sticking closer to the shadows as she looked around the city.

The old woman visibly recoiled at the girl. "Sorry, I have no money."

"N- no, my brothe-"

"Sorry, I can't help you."

That wasn't it, Kagura tried to say. Still, her thoughts traveled back to the people left in the Tower. Her brother was still there.

She pressed deeper into the city. She asked anyone she could see, hoping that someone would help. That someone would do something where she failed.

"Sorry, I am too busy."

"Look, I have to run a business here."

"Scram brat!"

Kagura felt the despair of sitting in the barrel again. There was no help. No one paid any attention to her; they just went about their day, ignoring her whenever she tried to speak up. Panic and desperation gripped her as she tried again and again and again. The normal people yelled at her, spat at her and hated her simply by being there.

"Please…" Kagura felt tears well up in her eyes as she walked the streets of the happy little city. She grew frustrated as no one responded, but that frustration had been quickly changed as someone pulled her into an alleyway.

"Be quiet, girl." The lady who pulled her aside wore gaudy, thick makeup. Her painted lips were pulled into a frown as she hurriedly looked around while she kept a hand over Kagura's mouth.

The girl panicked, but followed the command. She trembled under the hard gaze of the woman.

"There is a group of people looking for a girl lost in the slums— Is that you?"

Kagura shivered, remembering the big men. They had found her once again. Her eyes darted everywhere as she feared the big men would catch up to her at any moment.

Two hands fell upon her shoulders, and the girl was forced to look at the woman. "Calm down, calm down. I'm gonna need you to be strong, honey. You're gonna need to run– run as far and fast as possible, okay? These types aren't gonna give up anytime soon, and trust me," she shook her head. "You don't wanna be caught."

Kagura shook with the information. She felt her emotions in turmoil as she took in the information. Finally, she spoke quietly, "Why? Why are they doing this? Why am I like this?"

"Honey…" the woman's lips trembled as she caressed Kagura's oily hair. "This is just… the way the world works. The weak are taken advantage of, and people like them," she said the word like a curse. "They enjoy this. The power over someone does something to a person, but…"

She shook her head. "Never mind that. Just… you need to get out of here, honey. Doesn't matter where, just run. Find a Magic Guild or something; they would help you, I'm sure."

Kagura trembled, nodding along with the words. She remembered back in the Tower that a man always spoke of a magic guild, calling it a family. The girl wondered if any guild would want her. Someone so weak that she could only run away.

"Go on, honey, run. I'll distract whoever asks for you as long as I can."

So, she did. Kagura ran once again, escaping the city with ease. She had caught several signs of women steering several cloaked men in the opposite direction as she ran.

Once again, tears threatened to spill out of her eyes. She was once again being protected. And all she could do was run away.

After running for a day or so, she finally met Locki, her guild master. He spoke crudely, reminding her of the big men. However, she held on. He was a Guild Mage, and she desperately wanted to stop running away. She wanted to be strong enough to not be protected anymore.

Locki was a weird mage. She was wary of him, but she still complied as he promised he would train her. Though, she learned quickly to not listen too deeply into anything he said when he wasn't teaching her. His actions spoke more than anything he said.

Kagura had thought him to be strong as he taught her about magic and how she was something called a Blank Mage. His knowledge was something she quickly grew to respect; he just seemed to know everything.

She knew she was expected to leave at some point. It was like he expected it when they first met, but the short time she spent with him, the girl learned so much. She wanted his strength, his confidence and everything that made him so sure of everything he did.

"...dammit…" that was when she heard him cursing after she had woken up after passing out, and he broke the inviolable image she had of him. His armor had disappeared, leaving a young looking mage who sat curled up in the corner of their small room. "...this is too much for a first mission…"

Instantly, Kagura felt like she was looking at a mirror of herself. The trembling little girl who cried herself to sleep in a barrel. Locki just seemed so fragile at that moment. Like he could shatter from a single push.

And yet, he still got up and moved.

At that moment, Kagura wondered why he didn't run away. What gave him the strength and confidence to continue? More than magic and knowledge, Kagura wanted to know what spurred him to not just run away. She intensely needed to know.

She wanted to ask him, but before she could take the advantage, the other guild mages came in. It would be a lie if Kagura said she wasn't interested in other mages. She wondered if they were like Locki. If they were driven by something she wanted to know more than anything.

However, she held her tongue as she read Locki's note. Her guild master had written, in clear instructions, how to poison the two mages who were left behind when he left with the older woman. How no one here could be trusted, and that he couldn't protect her at all.

Kagura felt fear color her actions. It was the first time someone had told her that they wouldn't protect her, and even when she finally got the chance to protect herself, she was absolutely terrified. She was determined to get stronger. To no longer need protection. Yet, she struggled to act on her own.

As she took timid bites from the poisoned bars, the girl shot worried glances to the two girls who animatedly spoke to her. Locki had laced the note she ate with a cure for whatever poison he used, and while she had no idea what a Vulcan was, her guild master stressed that they could assume the visages of people. There was no evidence that they were possessed, but she trusted her guild master when he said that if they weren't Vulcans, she could easily cure them when they collapsed.

Guilt wormed its way into the girl's mind. Was this how she had to grow stronger? To poison even her allies because they couldn't be trusted? For the first time, she wondered if this was how Locki had looked at everything, and if she would ever gain the strength to do the same.

Despite her apprehension, Locki was right. The two girls collapsed and suddenly two massive, white-furred creatures seemed to pull themselves out of the girl's bodies.

Kagura backed away in shock even when she expected something like this. The Vulcans angrily eyed her, screaming at her. She flinched as fear took hold on her again.

[Will You Run Away Again?]

A light voice echoed in the girl's ears. It was distinctly female, and the raven haired girl found the hilt of a sword poking out of her shadow. She knew it was that floating sword Locki had summoned before, yet she still yelped as the red and gold tassel wrapped around her arm. Her strength was immediately sapped away as the two Vulcans slowly closed in on her, confident in their victory.

[I Have Peered At Your Convictions. Is Fear All It Takes To Break Them?]

Kagura bit her lips. Frustration slowly pulled her away from her apprehension. Her strength was still leaving her body, and slowly she felt the arm that the tassel was wrapped around grow colder.

In that instant, Kagura knew she had been relying on Locki's protection once more. She fell back into easily taking the offered help even when she wanted otherwise. All because she was scared that she would end up losing the small piece of peace she chanced upon. Like in the village, like in the Tower and now as a tentative member of the Scarlet Hand guild.

[State Your Convictions. Hold Fast To Them.]

"I… don't want to run away anymore." Kagura whispered more to herself than the voice. The well of magic in her body seemed to thrum with renewed strength, pushing against the chill that originated from the tassel that wrapped around her arm. She got the impression of surprise, but she was too focused on the Vulcans approaching her. "I want to be strong— strong enough that I don't need to be protected anymore. Not by the guild master, not by Erza and not by my brother."

[A Path Of Infinite Self-Refinement. I Approve.]

Kagura gasped as she felt a mind connect to hers. She saw brief images of a female warrior who was shunned, but the woman trained harder, desiring recognition more than anything. The warrior fought, bled and strengthened herself till no one dared to look down on her. Even in her death, her desire to grow stronger through honor and combat had latched onto her sword and absorbed something called Ghost-type Aura to produce the hybrid that was Honedge.

The magic in her stomach thrummed with her intent.

Blank Mage. She remembered Locki's words, telling her she shouldn't learn magic just yet as that could inadvertently color her differently. Kagura didn't really know what he meant, but she felt her magic rage and churn as they followed along the odd connection to Honedge. The connection twisted and strengthened with her magic until both she and Honedge shared the same thoughts.

[Intriguing. This Is Not Quite Aura. I Look Forwards To Us Growing, My Lord.]

Kagura felt like the world was in a daze as she sensed how Honedge perceived the world. A colorless shade of darker shadows and steel. Not actual steel. It was the steel of convictions. The steel that set man apart, and she stared at the weak steel of the Vulcans in front of her. Their steel was flimsy with base animal instincts that colored them a dull grey.

The girl pulled Honedge's body out of the sheathe. The tassel wrapped around her arm like a snake while she pointed the single-edged weapon at the Vulcans. They snarled and charged immediately at her challenge.

Her lips trembled a bit, clinging to the last vestiges of fear that threatened her still. A white-knuckled grip on Honedge calmed her as she felt her magic, the magic that churned within the pit of her stomach, rise with her commands.

[Do Not Falter, My Lord. Hesitation Means Death.]

Kagura poured her magic through the bond that connected her and Honedge. She saw the tip of the blade leave a white trail through the air as she opened her lips and whispered softly, "[Unison Magic – Slash]."

A wave of white traveled on the path she drew in the air. Everything in its path suddenly split. The Vulcans, the room and even the building shook as she spun in a complete circle. A white ring outlined just where she had cut before everything began falling apart. The transparent white halo orbited her for a second before disappearing.

When the circle disappeared, the Vulcan's split into clean halves; their upper bodies sliding right while their legs fell left. Blood and entrails stained the floor. The ceiling and walls began sliding down a clean slope where a mirror-finish cut had shorn the building in two, leaving only a upper and lower half. Like a piece of ice sliding down an incline, the upper half of the building slowly fell from its bottom half.

Kagura breathed heavily, feeling the strain of her magic bring her to her knees. Honedge floated nearby, standing guard with heavy steel as a presence. She blinked back tears as she watched the top of the building she sat in slide off completely and crash down into the streets with a thunderous boom. The sky sat above her head as she suddenly felt all her fears disappear momentarily.

Her blurry vision caught more Vulcans charging at her, but she turned her gaze to a massive stone spire that rose from the center of the town. It looked vaguely like a spear from her gaze. She felt a bitter smile come to her face as her legs refused to move, and she could see what Honedge thought of her guild master.

His steel was corroded and broken. Cracks and whole sections of it were gone, missing entirely or just discarded. He was a man who had given up more times than she even knew possible, but even then, his steel never broke entirely. It was held together by haphazard nuggets of silver that shone brighter than the setting sun.

[Rest, My Lord. I Will Assist Your Survival.]

Kagura nodded to Honedge, feeling its sincere intentions flowing through their link. She turned to the poisoned girls who had stayed on the ground since the beginning. Honedge swung its body through the air, tearing open Locki's bag and deftly used its tip to deliver the prepared cure into each of their mouths.

The raven haired ex-slave felt her her vision grow darker by the second. For once, she reveled in the moment of her small victory. One that she gained from finally standing up and protecting herself.

The feeling was everything she hoped it would be.

"Simon…" She whispered as she finally passed out.