Chapter 6

Hanna and Raine were mere feet from each other in the same room that they both shared just the night before. They stared at each other like strangers, the silence weighing heavily on both of them. Raine was about to say something before Hanna rushed over to her and put a knife to her throat. She was shaking, her knuckles pale from how tight she was holding the knife. "State your name, rank, and who sent you," Hanna said, pressing the knife against Raine's neck. "I-It's Raine! It's me!!!!" Raine shouted, trying to get away. "I know a demon when I see one and I won't be tricked!" Hanna said, pushing the knife further into Raine's skin. "I swear that is my name. Raine. P-Please put the knife down." Raine said, black blood trickling down her neck. "Lucy! I need backup!!!" Hanna yelled. Lucy ran into the room, shocked by the sight of Raine's demon form. "... I'll get the rope. Don't kill her until Joana gets here." Lucy said, walking out of the room. Hanna, still with the knife to Raine's neck, stood Raine up and turned her around. She then quickly grabbed Raine's arms and held them behind her back. "Don't move," Hanna said grimly.

Lucy came back into the room with rope, tied Raine's arms and legs, and took Raine out to the hallway. "What is this?!" Raine yelled, feeling her skin burn. "It's a blessed rope. If you are Raine, we'll know from this since it scars both forms." Lucy said. Raine looked at both of them, seeing if they even slightly recognized her. They looked at her with disgust and fear. Overwhelming fear. She could see it in their souls, they were shaking from the fear they felt. It made Raine feel terrible, especially since they have every right to be scared. Her dad used to kill them for no reason, ripping them to shreds in the most painful way possible just to entertain himself. He used to torment and humiliate them. Then the thought popped into her head. "What about them? What about how they treat demons?" She knows what humans are capable of, she's seen the carnage they've left in their wake when they fight. She helped out the clean-up crew after battles between the demons and the humans. They'd burn everything. Kill everything. They were rapists and murderers.

Her heart started beating faster and faster as she thought of all the mutilated bodies that humans left behind. She was scared. Terrified. Especially with the rope burning her skin and her neck aching from the fresh wound. She remembered learning about the greed in humans and the fear that makes them want to gut demons alive. She kept on remembering the corpses of the villagers that just happened to be demons. She was terrified and it showed. She knew it showed. The more she thought about it the more she started to tremble. She knew that these thoughts are exactly what was keeping the war between humans and demons as fierce as it was and that she must stop it to move on. To not go back to her dad. She took a deep breath in and out, closing her eyes. She calmed herself a little bit, ripping herself away from those thoughts when Joana came into the room. She stopped and looked at Raine as Raine opened her eyes. "... So you show your true form," Joana said coldly, kneeling in front of Raine. "I want to turn back… B-But I can't…" Raine said quietly, still shaking.

"...Release her," Joana said, turning to Lucy. Lucy looked at her, confused and shocked. "I don't like repeating myself, especially after such a long day. Now Raine, come to my room after they release you." Joana said, walking back to her room and slamming her door. "...If it is you, Raine, then I'm sorry," Lucy said, looking at Raine. "... We'll see," Hanna said, untying Raine. They walked Raine to Joana's room and pushed her in, shutting the door behind her. Raine, who was on the floor because she fell when she was pushed, got up and put her hands in the air. "I swear I'm not evil. I wouldn't-" Raine started, interrupted by Joana saying "Just have a seat. I have a few questions." Raine walked over to Joana's bed and sat down on it. "First question, why did you hide your demon form?" Joana asked. "... I have bad memories of it…" Raine said. "What kind of memories?" Joana asked. Raine paused, remembering the screams of all the people her dad killed. The screams of the people he tortured. She then remembered his last words, "You are a failure." She remembered the look in his eyes. It was the most terrifying thing she'd ever seen. The same man who beat her and yelled at her to make her 'perfect' was now casting her aside. It hurt more than any of the scars he gave her.

"... I don't want to talk about this," Raine said, her voice small. At this point, Raine wasn't even looking at Joana. She was looking at her feet, shaking and on the verge of tears. "Let's move on then. The villagers said that a hooded person saved the village from a giant hoard of monsters, and a little boy told me that the hooded figure was a demon with curly horns and red eyes. You seem to fit that description pretty well." Joana said. "T-The boy? I knew showing him was the right thing to do." Raine said, smiling. "I'm… I'm sorry." Joana said, looking away from Raine. "Sorry? For what?" Raine asked. "For doubting you. I was very wrong about you. You're the first kind of demon I've ever met." Joana said. "Well, you're the first human to still be kind to me after seeing this form. For that, I thank you." Raine said, bowing. "No need for that. What you do need is rest. All of us do so I'll tell them to go to sleep." Joana said, getting up and going to the door.

She opened it and saw that Hanna and Tina were eavesdropping. She also saw that Hanna had a bruise on her face. "Are you okay?" Joana asked, confused. "I'm sorry! I didn't know it was her!" Hanna said, looking behind Joana to see Raine. "You better be, you dum-dum!!! That's our prized team member!!!" Tina said, punching Hanna. "She'll be staying with me for the night. I'll watch her. All of you should get some rest, our next stop is the town of Santasia. It's very far away from here so we'll have to make some stops." Joana said, closing the door. Raine was on the floor, curled up. "What are you doing?" Joana asked, walking up to Raine. "I'm going to sleep," Raine said. "Not on the floor. I just said we'll be leaving tomorrow, we won't have time to tend to your sore muscles after you wake up from a night on the floor." Joana said, helping Raine up and putting her on the bed. "But where will you sleep?" Raine asked. "Where do you think? The bed, of course. It's big enough for four of us, let alone two." Joana said, getting on the bed as well.

They both laid down, facing opposite directions, and tried to go to sleep. After a few minutes, Joana said "You're awake as well, aren't you? Having trouble relaxing?" Joana asked. "... Yeah," Raine said. "I have a spell for that. Turn around and face me." Joana said, turning to face Raine. Raine reluctantly turned. Joana placed her hand on Raine's chest and light started coming from her hand. Raine relaxed and fell asleep pretty quickly. Joana then got out of bed and started planning for tomorrow's voyage. "Hm… I can't trust her… But she helped the villagers, cleaned up, and protected everyone. She even directed a crowd… I've misjudged her, it seems." Joana said quietly while mapping out the party's next journey. She read up on the area, in the southwestern outskirts of the Royal Alliance's domain. "Otalra… It's hundreds of miles away, it's dangerously close to the Demon Kingdom, it's just barely in the Royal Alliance's domain so it's neutral territory, and most of the land around it is mountainous and filled with thick jungles. Could we have chosen a worse area to travel to?" Joana said, sighing. After figuring out the route, Joana went back to bed and fell asleep.

The next morning, Raine woke up before Joana and was curious about what was on Joana's desk. She saw the name of the town and the route that the group had to take so she decided that getting on the trail early in the morning would be the best choice since the next town was pretty far. She changed back to her human form since she didn't want another misconception and went over to Joana. There were scars on her wrists and ankles where the rope was. She lightly shook Joana, waking her up. "Huh? Oh, Raine? Why're you already up???" Joana said tiredly, stretching and getting up. She didn't seem to be fully awake yet. "I was thinking that we should start heading to the next town soon since it's pretty far," Raine said, pointing to Joana's desk. "Good thinking," Joana said, getting out of bed and getting out some clothes. "... Go ahead and wear these. I doubt you brought any clothes from this town without any money." Joana said, tossing Raine a shirt, pants, and some boots. "Thank you," Raine said, taking the clothes. They both got ready, Raine helping Joana pack, and they headed out.

Joana yawned, taking out an energy potion and drinking it. After that, she went back to her normal self, looking at the journey and waking everyone up. They all groggily got ready and followed Joana to the town. The townspeople were grateful to them for helping out so they gave them some horses for them to keep. Raine got a pure black horse and named him Storm. They all got on their horses and rode a good distance away from the town before Joana directed all of them to stop. "What is it?" Hanna asked. "I need to tell you all the plan. Our next mission is to help out the town of Otalra. It's isolated and the Royal Alliance likely has little to no influence there, so I'd suggest getting ready for a difficult time. We are to eradicate all the strange monsters there and subjugate a terrorist group that's started to form there." Joana said, signaling to start moving again. Raine was focused on riding the horse, but she couldn't help but notice the awkward stares from the rest of her party mates.

They were riding pretty far away from her, Hanna especially. Raine sighed, galloping to Hanna to talk to her. "Hey Hanna, can I speak with you for a bit?" Raine asked. Hanna looked away, not wanting to. "... Sure," Hanna said. "Alright. Let's talk over to the side." Raine said, directing Storm to the right. Hanna followed. "I'm sorry for making you uncomfortable, but please at least let me prove that not all demons are bad," Raine said. Hanna seemed shocked but then she said "I was about to say sorry. I shouldn't have done something so harsh… and seeing your wrists I guess it was you… I'm so sorry." Hanna said, turning away. "Thanks for saying sorry, and I understand why you did that. You were terrified. I could see it." Raine said. "Yeah, but I think we scared you as well, you were trembling. I hope you can forgive me." Hanna said. "Hey, I can't hug you right now but know that I'll never hold it against you. You are important to me." Raine said, smiling at her. They went back into the group and continued their long journey to the town of Otalra.