Finally back home
Ten years and a half before the Canterlot Wedding, on the road to Maredrid…
“Excuse me? Miss Chrysalis?” a gentle, soft voice gently pulled the green-haired woman out of her slumber.
Groaning scruffily as she rubbed her shoulders against the more than comfortable padding of her seat, Chrysalis wondered where she was for a few seconds before she opened her eyes. She felt a delicate finger softly poke at her shoulder as her blurry vision became clearer at every passing second. Before she knew it, her eyes were focused on the heart-shaped face of a fifteen, or sixteen year old girl with long locks of blonde, pink and purple hair.
“Did you sleep well?” the girl, whom Chrysalis remembered being named Cadenza, asked with a warm, sincere smile.
“So well that I might consider stealing this carriage to live in it, Princess,” Chrysalis stated as she sat straight up while repressing a very long yawn that tried to escape her throat.
“Hehehe,” Cadenza giggled playfully behind her palm. “Shining told me that we should arrive in Maredrid very soon, so I thought it would be the right time to wake you up,” she explained in a matter-of-fact tone.
“You did well,” Chrysalis nodded with a smile. “Like that Vigil and I can leave you alone as soon as we enter the city.”
“You know that my invitation to the castle still stands, right?” Cadenza reminded the green-haired woman. “I’m sure my family would be greatly interested in meeting my rescuer,” she added with a grateful smile.
“I’m honored, Princess…”
“Please, just call me Cadenza or even Cadence as my friends in Canterlot call me,” Cadenza interrupted her softly.
“All right, Cadenza, but drop the Miss with me,” Chrysalis retorted with a wink. “As for what I was saying, I’m honored that you’ve invited me, but Vigil and I must take care of very important business in Maredrid as soon as we arrive into the city,” she explained in a casual tone. “Especially since we left Maresaglia one day later than planned,” she added, letting out a long sigh.
That wasn’t the whole truth of course, as Chrysalis and Vigil departed from another Prench town without any plans whatsoever, but the young princess didn’t need to know that. A couple of hours ago, the young princess had turned the topic conversion to what Chrysalis did for a living, and had been really excited when she learned that Chrysalis and Vigil were a duo of mercenaries that roamed the continent in search for jobs and contracts. Another half truth Chrysalis had served to the oblivious princess who had taken it with a lot of fascination.
“Maybe when your business is done, then?” Cadenza asked in a hopeful whisper, granting the older woman of a trembling lower lips and the biggest puppy eyes she had ever seen.
“I suppose that could be possible,” Chrysalis replied, playfully chuckling. “I can’t guarantee it though.”
“I understand,” Cadenza conceded slowly. “After all, business is business, as my Father says,” she added casually.
“Exactly,” Chrysalis agreed with a nod.
“I’ll just give your and Vigil’s names and descriptions to the castle guards and inform them that you’re to be lead to me. Should you have the time for a visit of course,” Cadenza added with excitement.
“I’ll remember that, Princess Cadenza,” Chrysalis bowed her head gently at the teenager across.
“I told you already to forget about the ‘Princess’, Miss Chrysalis,” Cadenza reminded, shaking her finger in mock disapproval.
Chrysalis couldn’t stop herself from laughing heartily at the not-really-disapproving royal in front of her. Cadenza quickly joined in her laughter before a metallic knock came from the curtained window of the carriage. Taking a deep breath while resting her palm on her chest, only to exhale as she moved her hand away instantly after, Cadenza calmed herself before opening the window.
“Princess, we’re about to pass Celestia’s Gate,” Shining’s voice warned softly. “Now might be a good time for your guest to get down the carriage,” he added matter-of-factly.
“Thank you, Shining,” Cadenza replied with a wide smile before she closed the window. “Looks like it’s time for us to part ways,” she said to the green-haired woman.
“I guess it is,” Chrysalis said in a genuine sadness at the prospect of leaving. The comfort of carriage aside, spending time with the young princess had been really entertaining. “Until we meet again, Cadenza,” she said, extending her hand as she stood up. “Hopefully, I’ll not have to save you next we see each other.”
“We can only hope,” Cadenza replied softly as she ignored the extended hand to hug her rescuer one more time. “Again, thank you.”
“You’re welcome, little girl,” Chrysalis said gently before she leaned close to the princess’ ear. “You should ask your Knight-boy to teach you how to fight. I’m sure he wouldn’t mind training you in wrestling,” she added in a low purr, causing the young girl’s cheeks to take a deep crimson shade as she stepped outside of the carriage.
After one last wave to the flustered princess, Chrysalis stepped away from the carriage so that it could go on its way. Chrysalis noticed Shining Armor cast a watchful gaze in her direction from his horse as the escort started to move through the Eastern gate of Maredrid’s defensive walls. Chrysalis calmly crossed her arms as she cocked her eyebrow at the young knight before her, clearly not impressed at all. That lasted until Vigil lead his horse and Chrysalis’, which had its reins attached to the back of the former’s saddle, in between them.
“Is there a problem, boy?” Vigil asked in a casual tone, though his eyes were throwing icy spikes at the blue-haired knight.
Vigil and Chrysalis both noticed Shining’s grip on his spear tighten in frustration while he kept his face impassible. During the day they had travelled together, Vigil had been adamant into calling Initiate Shining Armor by the appellation boy whereas everyone else called him by his name or title, something the concerned party clearly hadn’t appreciated one bit. Letting out a dismissive snort at the two supposed-mercenaries, the young knight lead his horse after the Princess’ carriage.
“He could have at least said goodbye,” Chrysalis falsely complained with a shrug. “I did save his princess after all.”
“Maybe that’s why he didn’t,” Vigil supposed as Chrysalis climbed on top of her horse. “You stole his thunder by saving Prince Fortissimo’s daddy’s girl before he could,” he reminded casually, untying Chrysalis’ reins from his saddle with his magic.
“That or maybe because you spend the last day probably annoying him,” Chrysalis retorted calmly after catching the reins Vigil had thrown at her. “That fifteen-year-old-teenager’s angry glare seemed more aimed at you than at me,” she remarked as they both started to ride slowly toward the city’s Eastern gate once she had climbed on her saddle.
“Most likely,” Vigil replied matter-of-factly. “Though, for the record, the boy’s eighteen, not fifteen.”
“Really now?!” Chrysalis let out in a surprised tone. “I guess the princess really likes older boys,” she added with a warm chuckle.
Vigil rolled his eyes at his younger partner before they rode into the city through Celestia’s Gate. As a large deal of the nearby crowd was busy following the Princess’ carriage, the two Changelings had no trouble circulating in the city’s streets without having to dismount their horses. After a few minutes of riding, Vigil glanced in Chrysalis’ direction, immediately noticing how tense she was. Her grip on the reins was so tight that it would mark her palms for hours. Her posture was so stiff that she looked like a post sticking out of the horse’s back. Her eyes were filled with a mix of apprehension and fear, nothing like that strong and alluring confidence that usually shone in them. It only became worse when they had to ride through the slums to meet up with their contacts on the docks.
Chrysalis pulled her horse to a stop as they were about to pass by the market place. There were less stalls than what she remembered, and they all looked seemingly less supplied than in the past. When Vigil waved for her to move on, Chrysalis slowly followed suit. The two riders attracted the gaze of the merchants, all of them looking up to them with desperate hope. Chrysalis kept her face impassible, seemingly looking at her destination while she observed all the merchants, who tried to attract her and Vigil with their products, from the corner of her eyes. She felt her heart coming to an abrupt stop when she recognized some of them: the baker who had always let her buy his bread cheaper when her mother was sick, the woman from the clothing stall who had helped her with the costumes for her little shows, the flower-lady who had taken her as an apprentice for a time…
None of them recognized her, even though she had spent almost everyday of her childhood with them, but she didn’t blame them for that. It was probably better that, and it seemed like the years during which she had been gone were quite tough: not even ten years had passed since her last day in the slums of Maredrid, but all of them looked like they had aged a good thirty, if not more. The market used to be cheerful, the actually lively part of the slums where friends would chat together, jokes would be cracked at the fishmonger for his ‘fresh’ products, children would play around the stalls and thus earning the warning shouts of the merchants. Now, all what she remembered this place to be was gone, and had been for a very long time.
As the two riders seemed uninterested by what they had to offer, the merchants went back to their business and let them continue on their way. Once they were a few streets away from the market place, Vigil looked back at Chrysalis, seeing her rub her eyes softly. While he didn’t actually believed her when she told she had a bit of dust in her eyes, Vigil nodded calmly at her before turning back to the road. Though he decided to take the longer road to Clarion and Mendax’s hideout, leaving Chrysalis with enough time to recover from her non-existent tears.
********************************************
“Swarmlord,” Clarion whispered with a bow as Vigil entered through the back door of an abandoned warehouse of the docks, Chrysalis entering just behind him. “My Lady,” he added with another bow when he noticed her.
“Where are they?!” Chrysalis asked urgently before Vigil or his Executioner could say anything, a dark anger filling her voice.
“In the warehouse’s office,” Clarion replied calmly as he closed and locked the door. “Mendax’s keeping a close eye on them, as Swarmlord Locust instructed us to,” he stated as he lead his two superiors through the dusty shelves full of abandoned junk.
“How are they?” Vigil asked calmly.
“We gave them just enough food and water to survive,” Clarion explained in a cold matter-of-fact tone. “We also kept them blindfolded, and we’ve never talked to either of them since you left them with us,” he said to Vigil, earning an appreciative nod from Chrysalis. “Also, Mendax has been playing with them a little,” the Executioner added with a mischievous grin as they reach for the office’s door.
“I hoped they’re not damaged!” Chrysalis snarled in a warning tone.
“Don’t worry,” Clarion said in reassurance. “I sense you’re going to like how Mendax played with them,” he claimed as he slowly opened the door that lead to the warehouse’s office.
Said office looked nothing like an office and more like a workshop. Sure, there were tables and chairs in the spacious room, but a large set of tools hung from the walls or were displayed on the nearby tables : complete sets of dusty hammers, various-sized pairs of rusty tongs, dozens of brownish screwdrivers, old belt sanders and the many sanding belts that went with them. Close to the door, they found Mendax sitting casually on the cleanest table, which didn’t mean much to be honest, juggling a small knife in the air before he throw it violently across the room. After a sharp whistle, the small blade lodged itself in the wooden wall with a loud thud, millimeters away from the right ear of one of the two men attached to their chairs at the end of the room. Both men, who had been blindfolded, gagged and obviously malnourished, had jumped and trembled at the sound of the blade meeting the wood.
Silently, Mendax saluted the two Swarmlords before he went to get his blades back. He passed between the two tafels at which each of the prisoners had their respective hands shackled to, and started to pull the dozen of knives off the walls, each blade dangerously close from the prisoners’ head, arm or other parts. The noises he made caused Mendax’s toys to shiver in fright. From the many holes she could see in the walls and in the tables, Chrysalis supposed that Mendax must have been playing since Vigil went to look for her.
Vigil signaled Mendax to leave the room along with Clarion with a single nod towards the door. While putting his knives away, Mendax walked to the door, bowing slightly to Chrysalis in passing as she gave a him a proud tap on the shoulder. Once the two Executioners were out of the room, Chrysalis closed the door behind them. She heard their footsteps getting further away and quieter every second until nothing but a religious silence filled the room. Vigil and Chrysalis brief looked into each other’s eyes before Vigil pointed at himself with a questioning expression on his face. Chrysalis slowly nodded in response as she softly hugged her elbows while leaning against the wall. Casting a last glance at his former-protegée, Vigil walked to the table of the thinnest man of the two prisoners, his hand going for an iron flask inside his satchel.
“Though week, huh?” Vigil asked, startling the prisoners quite a bit. “Being pulled away from prison, only to be even more prisoners than when you were in it…. Thirsty?” he asked slowly, waving the flask in front of the man’s face, thus making him hear the liquid inside of it.
When the thin man slowly nodded, Vigil uncorked the flask and pulled the rag Mendax or Clarion had used for a gag down. He then brought the flask to the prisoner’s lips, allowing him to drink the clear water it contained. As the thin man let out a quiet sigh of a relief after quenching his thirst a little, Vigil asked the same thing to the other prisoner, who quickly nodded in response.
“Now, if you don’t mind, I’d like to ask you both a few things,” Vigil said softly as he pulled the flask away from the larger man.
“....About what?” the thin man asked in a worried tone.
“Well, mostly about yourselves,” Vigil replied casually as he magicked the two blindfolds off the prisoners’ face. “Let’s start with your names, shall we?”
The two men blinked many times after finally seeing something else that the dark cloth that had covered their eyes for days. Once they were used to seeing again, both looked in Vigil’s direction as he sat casually between the two tables, before they took a look at their surroundings, thus seeing the cloaked figure of Chrysalis - she had pulled her cloak over to mask herself from their sight just before Vigil took their blindfolds off - against the far wall of the dusty workshop. Sensing them getting tense at the sight of Chrysalis, Vigil cleared his throat to return their attention on himself.
“....Guy,” the thin man replied slowly. “Guy la Longue-vue,” he added before Vigil’s commanding eyes.
“Robert Starboard,” the bigger prisoner answered in a small voice, completely out of place in his throat.
Vigil could see that the two men were clearly intimidated by his presence, not that he didn’t understand why nor that he was surprised by it. Robert seemed even more scared than his smaller fellow prisoner, whom he kept casting discreet glances at ever since Vigil pulled the blindfolds away. That made Vigil suppose that Guy was the leader, and Robert the follower.
“What were you doing as a job?” Vigil asked curiously.
“We worked on a ship,” Robert replied slowly as Guy seemed to think about whether or not he should reply, his voice shaking at every word. “I was a sailor… Guy was my captain.”
“Figured with names like these,” Vigil commented for himself before facing the former ship captain. “So you had a ship before?” he asked the man with long, messy, greying hair.
“Ye-yes. A small caravelle,” Guy replied in whisper.
“You must have travelled quite a lot then,” Vigil said casually. “Have you had the chance to sail to Zebrica?”
“...Once, but we mostly traded goods with Saddle Arabian and Prench ports,” Guy explained slowly.
“What about Camelu? It’s just a bit further South than Saddle Arabia, surely you must have been there.”
“Occasionally,” Guy replied as Robert started to become tenser since Vigil mentioned the Sultanates. “Lots of exotic fruits and spices there… Istalloñans were crazy about those back then.”
“From what you told me, you seemed like honest merchants of the sea,” Vigil stated, joining his hands to rest his chin on them. “So tell me, how come I had to pull the two of you out of this country’s most secure prison?”
“We… We were scammed by one of our customers,” Guy replied after a few seconds, but Vigil’s eyes were focused on Robert’s shivering form. “We made a few deliveries for him in various ports, and one day when we returned to Maredrid, the guards arrested us as soon as we docked. It turned out that his crates were loaded with illegal stuff.”
“What sort of illegal stuff?” Vigil asked, his eyes focused on Robert, who pointedly looked away from him. “... Alcools? Drugs? Stolen goods?”
“A little bit of those, yeah,” Guy replied slowly. “Our customer had of course disappeared during our last travel, and they didn’t believe us about his existence, so we…”
“Amazing!” Vigil let out suddenly with a half-hearted chuckle. “Simply amazing.”
“...What?” Guy asked in confusion. “What is?”
“It’s amazing that you thought it would a good idea to lie to me after five days in this room!” Vigil explained, still chuckling warmly even if his eyes were as cold as two blocks of ice. “I know perfectly why you and your crew were arrested nine years ago! I’m very much aware of what you were delivering to Nadira before the Guard caught you! I wouldn’t have waste the time needed to get you two out of prison, if I hadn’t known all of that!”
“Then… why did you bring us here?” Robert asked as Guy only gaped at Vigil.
“Your customer… That masked man whom the authorities refused to believe he even existed,” Vigil stated slowly. “I want to know everything you can tell me about him.”
“... We worked with him for a couple of years,” Robert began in a sheepish tone. “Always the same job, but to different places.”
“Rob! Shut up! We could get hanged for th…”
“Hanging would be your main worry if I were to work for the Istalloñan authorities,” Vigil let out sternly, interrupting Guy with a wave of hand. “Robert, you were saying?”
“...He would bring a kid to us and each time he did, he instructed us to sell him or her somewhere far from Maredrid,” Robert explained, disgust obvious in his voice as he was shaking nervously. “All was always arranged before his visits: destinations, contact, how much we would get paid by said contact, how much he expected to have as a share… We really only have to sail there with girl or the boy he would give us.”
“...He sent you sell children all over the seas?” Vigil asked in shock. “Why?”
“Whenever he came, he would only talk to Guy,” Robert replied slowly. “But I don’t think he ever told him why.”
“No, he didn’t,” Guy admitted, gulping nervously at the cold stare which came from Vigil. “He never told me anything about them.”
“How many?!” an angry voice growled from the far end of the room.
“.....” Guy opened his mouth at the cloaked figure of Chrysalis, who had moved away from the wall.
“How many of these children have you and your crew of filthy degenerates brought to a life of slavery?! How many peaceful lives have you destroyed for a bunch of coins?! How many dreams and existences did you ruin because of your greed?!” she snapped, her eyes glowing in a green fire from beneath her hood. “HOW MANY?!!!” She barked furiously, slamming her closed fists on Guy’s table, causing green flames to scorch its surface.
“I don’t know!” Guy replied loudly, as the green fire licked the tip of his fingers. “I never really payed attention! It was just business, okay?!” he cried as it burned off the hair of his hands, as he tried to pull them away from the fire. “They were just a bunch of street rats from the slums! Nobody cared for them in the first place!”
Guy shook like a leaf at the sight of his blistering hand, his face twisted in pain as he started to beg for her to stop. Vigil had stood up from his chair after Chrysalis had rushed to them, and had decided to take her place at the end of the room. Nothing short to a miracle would stop her now, even more so with Guy’s last remark. The thin man’s scream of pain as the fire ravaged his forearms, igniting his dirty clothes, were so loud and sickening that Vigil thought of putting an end to his misery for a second. Just for a second though.
“FI..FIFTEEN!” Robert shouted in terror, trying to be heard over his former captain’s screams. “THERE WERE FIFTEEN!”
Vigil blinked in stupor as he witnessed the flames threatening Guy vanish from the table and his clothes instantly after Robert’s shout. The burn marks on the table had also disappeared, same for the damages on Guy’s ragged clothes and the blisters on his arms. It had been nothing more than an illusion, an illusion so realistic that it had managed to deceive Vigil as easily as the two prisoners.
She’s become really good. Vigil thought while watching Chrysalis slowly turning toward Robert, thus leaving a whimpering Guy cradling his un-burned limbs. A lot more than I realized. he added mentally in an admirative tone.
“Fifteen?” Chrysalis asked, her voice low and cold as ice.
“Yes.” Robert gulped with a nod. “Eight boys and seven girls over six years.”
“Eight boys and seven girls,” Chrysalis repeated softly in a single breath, earning a slow, ashamed nod from Robert.
Chrysalis breathed in and out a couple of times before her hands went to her hood. She slowly pulled it down before the two prisoners. As her dark skin, green hair, and face came into view, Chrysalis’ mind flashed moments of her time with both of them and some other members of the crew. As she left the sanctuary of her hood, Chrysalis relived all what they had done to her: Her wrists burned from her attempts to escape their much stronger grips as they were holding her down, her legs ached from the strength they had used to keep them open, her skin felt dirtier than ever from their invasive touches, her throat hurt for they forced her to do to them, her voice faded from screaming for them to stop. They never stopped : every morning, they came back to the deck where they had kept her for more.
“...Do you know who I am?” Chrysalis asked, her voice shockingly soft and demure. “Do you remember?” she asked, her hurtful, green eyes locked into Robert’s.
Robert held her gaze for a few seconds before tears started to roll out of his eyes as he nodded once in response. Guy had just started to shake even more violently than after he had been convinced that he was being burned alive by the green-haired woman’s magic. Vigil observed the scene for a brief instant before heading out of the workshop.
“The masked-man,” Chrysalis whispered as Vigil closed the door behind him, leaving her alone with her former tormentors. “How can I find him?”
“...... He took off one of his gloves once,” Robert replied, not managing to stop his shameful tears. “He had a ring on his left middle-finger… A massive, golden signet ring, like those the high-nobles of Maredrid have.” Chrysalis nodded slowly at him before bursted out sobbing loudly. “I’m sorry...I’m sorry...I’m sorry,” he repeated it many times in between his sobs and whimpers.
“I believe you,” Chrysalis replied in a sincere, gentle tone as her Exoskeleton morphed her gauntlets into long, sharp claws. “...But it won’t save you.”
*****************************************************
A massive, black-furred dog walked around the sinuous streets of the slums, its snout lowered close to the ground, obviously searching for something. As it passed in front of a lousy tavern, a couple of drunkards wobbled near it before one of them lost his footing and landed heavily on its head. Out of reflex, the dog yapped in pain after jumping away from the alcohol-imbibed man while he and his companion laughed their asses out at it. Though that was until it started growling at them. It bared its long, sharp fangs at the pair of drunks, a small puff of vapor escaping its throat while his dark blue eyes looked down at the fallen man. It sharply and violently snapped his jaws around the reddish nose of the drunkard, prompting a sinister crack out of him as well as frightened scream. The still-standing man sobered up a bit at the sight of the large dog mauling his friend’s face, and tried to pull him away in terror, calling back at the tavern for help. When a few patrons stumbled out of the establishment, he looked back at the dog, only to see a tiny kitten strutting away from them into an adjacent alley.
Stupid boozehounds! They almost made lose her scent! Vigil thought angrily, bringing his moustached nose close to the ground and hearing from afar the two drunks being belittled for being terrorized by a kitten. Damn, I forgot the nose of a cat is lousy compared to a dog's... I'll change back in a couple of streets.
As his thoughts dictated, Vigil followed the track for a couple of streets before reverting back to his massive canine form after being certain no one was looking. He instinctively let out a happy bark as the scent finally became as clear as before his encounter in front of the tavern. He had been following that scent for almost an hour, and he felt like his track was coming to an end. Vigil calmly trotted across the marketplace, drawing a two-seconds-long-glance from a sleepy merchant who was about to enter his caravan, before he started to run. The scent had become stronger: that could only mean that she was very close to him. He ran to an empty spot next to the relatively clean flower stall. Sniffing repeatedly, Vigil circled in the small spot a couple of times.
She remained here for a bit... He thought as its dog-shaped head raised itself to the skies, flaring his nostrils. ...That way! Vigil shouted in his head, bolting into an alley to the right of the flower stall.
The scent grew stronger as he ran out of the marketplace through one of its southern alleys. Vigil ran as fast as his strong paws could carry him for a couple of minutes before he came to a sharp stop after a turn, staring at a small abandoned house. He slowly approached its dusty door and pressed his snout against it. As it gave him no resistance at all, Vigil opened it further, just enough for him to enter. Once inside, he pushed the door closed before taking his usual appearance and looking around.
He stood in the middle of a ruined livingroom. A thick layer of dust and many cobwebs covered the remaining, busted furnitures. Drawers had been pulled out of the cupboards and thrown across the floor. Cabinet’s doors were open wide, exposing nearly-empty shelves on top of which laid broken pieces of various dishes. Vigil figured that this house must have been plundered years ago as he spotted a trail of familiar footprints in the dust. The Changeling Swarmlord followed the trail into a narrow corridor, then into a small room at the end of it. That was where he found Chrysalis.
She was sitting against the northern wall, her crossed forearms leaning on top of her knees as she stared at a small hole in the opposite wall, just next to a worn-out child-sized bed. The green-haired woman ignored him as he walked up to her side. With the faint moonlight that came from the small window of the room, Vigil could notice that Chrysalis was covered from head to toes in dried blood. He didn’t ask if she was wounded for he perfectly knew that she wasn’t. He had seen the state in which she had left of Guy and Robert a couple hours ago: Clarion and Mendax had jokingly bantered that it would have been probably faster to burn the whole warehouse down instead of trying to clean the workshop.
“I’ve been used to better from you,” Vigil stated calmly as he sat next to her. “It was awfully easy for me to find your hiding place.”
“....Maybe I wasn’t hiding,” Chrysalis replied slowly in a monotonous voice.
“Possibly,” Vigil replied with a shrug, taking a glance at his former protégée’s state. “You’re starting to smell bloody,” he commented, nodding at the brown stains of blood on her cheeks and in her hair. “You probably already do for a dog.”
His comment didn’t raise any reaction from her and Vigil didn’t press her for one. He got settled against the wall before pulling a small cloth from one of the pouches at his belt. Vigil casually dropped the piece of fabric on Chrysalis’ arm, finally earning a glance from the Swarmlady. Under her questioning look, he rubbed his own cheek with his forefinger, at the same spot as the large stain of blood on her own cheek. Silently, she took the cloth and proceeded in slowly cleaning her face. After she cleaned her left cheek, Chrysalis pulled the now-bloodied cloth away from her face. She stared the brownish red stains on it for a few seconds and then worked on her other cheek, her hand and lips quivering as tears started to roll out of her green eyes.
“It’s okay,” Vigil whispered tenderly as he instantly wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her close at the first sob. “I’m here,” he added in a gentle whisper as Chrysalis leaned her head against his torso, her crying growing in intensity.
After she had shown her face to Robert and Guy, everything they had done to her had slowly but surely resurfaced from the depths of her mind. For the first time since the fateful night during which she met Vigil, Chrysalis had lost control and abandoned herself to a moment of violent retribution. A retribution which she still bore the results all over her body. Yet, the blood covering her had nothing to do with how tainted she felt since her former-tormentors’ pleading shouts came to a stop hours ago.
“I thought getting rid of them would make it all go away but it didn’t,” Chrysalis explained in a shaken voice.
“Chrys…” Vigil began as while Chrysalis pulled away from him, tears still flowing out of her eyes.
At the sight of the conflicted and tearful, dark green eyes, Vigil realized that she needed to speak her mind. After years behind the dam she had built in her mind, all the rage and pain from her past was bursting out, needing someone to hear it. Chrysalis had never been very talkative on the matter, even with Vigil who had just imagined what Chrysalis had been through. As much as it hurt him to see his favorite protégée like this, Vigil convinced him that it was for the best to let her talk and that she would feel better afterwards. As Vigil decided to stop his interruption and to remain silent, Chrysalis started her explanation after a brief nod.
Despite having broken them with a dusty hammer from the workshop, she had experienced their roaming fingers all over again. When she started to feel their aggressive tongues travelling across her skin, Chrysalis ripped them out of their mouths. Their predatory eyes had remained on her long after she had pierced them with her fingers. Chrysalis had felt Guy and Robert’s hot and needy breaths on her neck shortly after making sure they had drawn their last thanks to her Exoskeleton’s claws. She had cut the hand which had maintained her head against the deck’s floor all those years ago, but it still weighed on the back of her skull. She had even disarmed them with her green flames, but she was the one feeling the burns of their invasive fires.
“...I kept on saying,” Chrysalis explained shakily after telling Vigil how she felt earlier. “No, yelling about how I was in my right to butcher them like pigs… That I had every rights to do what I wanted of them… Just like they did what they wanted of me all those years ago… In the end, I was much more worse than them,” Chrysalis let out softly, prompting Vigil into breathing in louder than before in disapproval. “Do you know what I did when they died?”
“... No, I don’t,” Vigil replied slowly after a brief bull-like puff. “I went out of the building to give you some space.”
“I cried,” Chrysalis said in a disgusted voice. “I cried because of two of the men who trained me for Haakim’s pleasure! I cried because of the people who raped me when I was twelve years old! I finally get my revenge on them, and I can’t stop crying like a little girl since the moment they stopped breathing!” She shouted, her voice trembling as tears rolled along her cheeks.
“With what you’ve been through, I think it’s normal to cry,” Vigil said. “You’re only one person and there’s only so much one person can take.”
“I hate feeling like this,” Chrysalis whispered sadly. “I feel like I’m twelve years old again… Filthy, helpless and like everyone has abandoned me.”
“Not everyone.” Vigil shook his head slowly as he softly passed his hand in her blood-stained green hair. “I’m here, aren’t ?” He asked while he used his nails to crack a dry crust of blood in her dark emerald locks.
“...Yeah.. You are,” Chrysalis let out in a soft-spoken tone,
“You’re also far from helpless. You wouldn’t be a Swarmlady if you were.” Vigil assured calmly as he kept on passing his fingers in her bloodied locks. “Though, I’m sorry to say it but you could really use a shower now,” he added in a joking tone.
“Jerk,” Chrysalis whispered with the ghost of a chuckle escaping her throat, her palm lazily hitting his chest as a punishment.
“Guilty as charged,” Vigil stated with a shrug while he gently rested his hand against her cheek, his thumb wiping the trail of tears away from it. “You’re going to be fine, Chrysalis. Confronting them reopened the wound, that is true, but now we can say that you properly cleaned it up. It can only go better from now on.”
“... I suppose,” Chrysalis replied with a long sniff, as Vigil’s other hand went from her hair to clear her other trail of tears. “... Vigil?”
“Yes?”
“Thank you for being there for me.” Chrysalis managed a small smile before she leaned forward to hug the older Changeling.
“Anytime,” Vigil replied in a whisper, returning the hug instantly. “Get some rest now. It has been a long day,” he added when he heard her hold back a yawn.
“Can I stay like this?” she asked sheepishly as she snuggled deep into Vigil’s strong embrace.
“I don’t mind,” Vigil replied slowly as he glanced around the abandoned room they were in. I wonder why she came here of all places... he thought as Chrysalis moved so that she could effectively sleep on his lap in addition to in his arms. I’ll ask her another time I guess. He placed a small peck on her forehead. “Goodnight, Chryssie.”
“...I strongly disapprove of that name.”
That was Chrysalis’ tired retort before sleep gained on her. As Vigil rolled his eyes at it, Chrysalis felt immensely small and frail in Vigil’s embrace, but she realized that it didn’t bother her at all, despite hating feeling like that. Her mother had once told her that she would find a special place where she could feel perfectly safe no matter what. That was how her mother had explained her what a home was when she was little. That was why she had come back to this old, abandoned house: to feel like home again, to feel safe. She had now realized that she had been wrong all along. As a child, she wouldn’t have imagined to feel safe and warm in the arms of a seasoned assassin, but now, she wouldn’t change it for the world.
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I loved this chapter. I love all the Apple Scratch stories in general, but this was something extra. I love how we get to see a more fragile, sensitive and emotional side of Chrysalis. It gives a lot of perspective and evolved understanding of the character.
Well... Ive read everything that interests me... And it took me 3 days... And those have been the worst and best 3 days of my life... Worse from how I ran out of money from having to buy tissues. Best because you are such an amazing writer Mariacheat, and others who have made excellent stories for the Applescratch universe... Oh here I go again...