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thescarletnargacuga · 3 months

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BLADE OF SHADOWS

AN UNSEEN CONTINUATION

Harlequin AU credit: @tadc-harlequin-au @iamespecter

The Unseen/Shadowblade is my OC and is NOT CANON

WARNING: heavy swearing, violence, arachnophobia

~~~

The sun blazed down on the wasteland. Heat rippled the air as midday temperatures soared. Crazed pawn puppets lay in wait along a rocky outcropping, waiting for any other unsuspecting puppets to wander by. Directive: guard. Taken to the extreme, anyone in sight is considered a trespasser and must die.

Whisps of a dark, heavy mist collected around the rocks. Noticed by one puppet, his gears clicked and whirred with confusion. Quickly, the unknown mist became a thick, rolling fog that engulfed the entire area. Day became night. Confusion became panic.

The puppets brandished their weapons, searching the darkness for signs of a threat. They never saw the shrouded figure moving swiftly through the mist. A blade in the dark took off the head of a pawn, downing him instantly. The figure moved quickly, golden eyes streaking through the shadows. The figure leapt into the air, kicked a pawn in the chest, knocking him over and stabbed his head, the blade puncturing through to the ground beneath. The pawns fired at random into the mist to fight off the unseen intruder. The figure tucked and rolled out of the line of fire behind a boulder and whistled loudly.

Rumbling from a huge, fast approaching entity gave the pawns enough time to see two more, much larger, gold eyes before many of them were sliced in half by a giant energized blade. The entity kept moving, slipping back behind the veil unseen.

The remaining pawns were frenzied and some ended up attacking each other, making them easy targets as the figure re-emerged to join the frey. They punched one though the face with their mechanical arm and gutted another with their sword. The figure hacked off the gun arm of a pawn and used his own weapon against him, shredding his body to splinters with the rapid bullet fire. The figure jumped back into the shadows as another pawn tried to grab them.

The crazed puppet ran blindly through the darkness, trying to find the attacker. He slammed into something huge and metal, knocking himself off his wheels. From the ground, he saw the glare of a great beast silhouetted against a break in the mist above. He only had time to scream as the beast crushed him in it's powerful maw.

The figure breathed heavily and clearly, unaffected by the mist, and sheethed their sword. "That was the last of em. Kill the mist, Shadowblade."

The mist emanating from the beast's vents ceased. In a matter of moments, the mist faded away under the intense sunlight. When the battlefield cleared, Pomni took off her mask. She took a breath of fresh air and wiped the collected mist residue off her brow.

Her mask was an invention from Caine. It was a breathing apparatus and night vision goggles combined into one compact, form-fitting face mask that attached to her via micro friction. No straps or clasps, it stuck to her face like a magnet she could attach and release with the push of a couple buttons on the jawline. The mask lenses being the same color as Shadowblade's eyes was an aesthetic choice.

Pomni looked down at the remains of the deranged puppets. "Enjoy your time in the void, boys. None of you are coming back." She kept watch while Shadowblade cleaned up. Pomni's beast chomped down puppet after puppet, still conscious or not, until every enemy was consumed. However, one pawn had too much live ammunition left on his person, and when Shadowblade ate him, the ammo exploded. Shadowblade coughed and hacked as smoke billowed out of it's maw.

Pomni turned quickly towards the sound of the explosion, but rolled her eyes at Shadowblade. "Fucking hell. I told you. Stop. Eating. The weapons. Caine will have to fix your fucking shredder again if you keep doing that."

Shadowblade shook the throat rattling explosion away and grunted. Consuming raw material was necessary for mist production, Shadowblade couldn't help it if the materials were sometimes a little spicy.

"Let's get moving. Bet your ass we can find more trouble." Pomni smirked before putting her mask back on.

Shadowblade chuffed and lowered itself to give Pomni easy access to the saddle attached to it's back via the same technology as the mask. Pomni mounted up and whistled. Shadowblade took off at a full sprint.

Caine checked his Wondrous Apparatus for Cohorted Kindred on the Yonder. The tracker installed on Shadowblade's saddle blinked closer to the city. It was very late, Pomni and Shadowblade had been out galavanting about since sunup and was only now seemingly heading back to the manor. He closed his modified pocket watch and put it away with a heavy sigh. "It's been every day with them for weeks now. She doesn't even wait for me to send her out on a mission anymore, she just...takes off on the back of her mighty steed and poof."

He took a large swig of liquor, settling deeper into his office chair. Bubble hovered next to him. "You regret building that saddle?"

"Nope. Keeps her out of my hair."

"You don't have hair, boss."

"...I know, Bubble. No, what I wish, is that's she'd at least tell me were she was going. Then I wouldn't have to obsessively check my W.A.C.K.Y. watch for her position." Caine hiccuped and patted his chest. "You see, there are areas that are still extraordinarily dangerous. Even with her new friend."

"Like that quarry with the drill worm you sent her to a few months back?" Bubble gave a snarky grin.

"I DIDN'T KNOW THERE WAS A DRILL WORM!" Caine snapped back, nearly throwing his half empty bottle at the blimp. He hasn't forgiven himself for that. If that worm had gotten her, she wouldn't have just died. She would have been destroyed. Her soul piece included, sending her to final death. He held his head with his hand. Bottle loosely hanging from his free hand. "Maybe I'll have a talk with her..."

"And I'm suuuure she'll listen, boss." Bubble chortled.

Caine looked at his latest creation on his desk. "Maybe she'll listen if I come bearing gifts."

Shadowblade zipped into the crumbling city limits at top speed, skirting around broken street corners and jumping over fallen buildings with practiced precision. The occasional puppet poking their head up from the rubble scattered as the beast blew past. With a charge of speed up a fallen slanted roof, the beast leapt over the wall that separated Caine's manor from the rest of the city. The garden forest trees shook with Shadowblade's landing, spooking scavenger birds and critters from the branches.

Z watched this unfold with very mild interest from their sentry post, giving Pomni a nod as she dismounted and approached the stairs to the manor's grand entrance. Shadowblade stretched, shaking the wasteland dust from it's joints and eventually meandered towards it's designated barn.

"Did I miss anything exciting, Z?" Pomni removed her mask, hanging it on her hip opposite her sword sheeth.

"Just Caine getting drunk off his ass again." Z said flatly.

"Great." Pomni sneered. "How many bottles deep is he?"

Z shrugged.

"Has he been singing at the top of his fucking lungs while swinging from the chandeliers?"

Z gave a quiet, amused huff. "Not yet."

The front door flew open, revealing Caine bracing himself against the doorframe. His shirt was half soaked from drink poured over his exposed heart. "HeeeEyyyyyyy, there she is! The prodigal puppet returns!" He falls forward with his arms open in an attempt to hug Pomni.

She stepped back, letting Caine fall on his face. She crossed her arms and looked down with disapproval. "You're disgusting."

Caine rolled over onto his back and looked up at Pomni. "Says the puppet covered in grime and mist residue. You can't judge me." He pointed at one of the three Pomni's he saw over him.

The gentle tinkling of bells announced Gangle's presence in the doorway. "Master Caine, I thought you were going to your office. You said you had something new for Pomni." She wrapped her ribbons around him and helped him stand.

"Yes! The thing! I have a thing! Pomniiiii follow meeeee!" He could barely put on foot in front of the other without Gangle puppeteering him through the foyer.

"I'm sorry for his behavior Mistress-"

"Don't." Pomni cut her off, fist clenching.

"Right, sorry." Gangle shrank away from the grumpy harlequin, focusing on getting Caine to his office in one piece.

Caine fumbled with the door handle, but got his office door open and made way to his desk with Gangle's assistance. He leaned against it and Gangle released him. On the desk was a small unknown device. Caine presented it to Pomni with a flouish. "Ta-da!"

"...what the fuck am I looking at?"

"Give me your sword hand and I'll show you." Caine held out his hand to her.

"No. Tell me what it is." Pomni kept her arm crossed to her chest.

Caine released a tired sigh and put the device on the back of his own hand. Black metal bands attached to his wrist and middle finger. A polished amber colored crystal shined proud in the center, surrounded by symbolic carvings of unknown meaning. "THIS-" He held it up to Pomni. "-is a very special charm. I made it myself!" He said proudly. "Since you've been spending a lot of time with Shadowblade, I made a charm that will specifically work with them!"

Now Pomni was intrigued. "What does it do?"

"This is one of the most advanced harmonic resonance detection and response systems built by your's truly." He puffed out his chest. "I made it from some of the fluid I collected from Shadowblade. It crystallized while I was examining it and that's when inspiration struck! You see, that fluid is an energy based nano-"

Pomni rubbed her temples. "Oh my GOD, I don't care. What does the fancy fucking bracelet do?"

His tone and bravado flattened. "It connects you to Shadowblade. You'll be able to sense intention, presence, and energize your sword the way Shadowblade does with their own blades." Caine took off the device and tossed it to Pomni.

Pomni put it on the way Caine had. "Lead with that." She unsheethed her sword but nothing happened. "...uh..." She gestured to her sword, arching a brow at Caine.

"You'll figure it out." He sloshed back another drink and plopped into his chair.

Pomni glared. "You're right, I will. Right now, actually." She turned on her heels, marching for the door.

"No, stop, come back." Caine sarcastically called to her as he continued to drink.

Gangle silently watched Pomni leave in an annoyed huff. She looked back at Caine, who was zoning out and slouching heavily in his chair. "Oh dear..." She slinked out of Caine's office, only the bells she was required to wear made a sound.

Shadowblade watched Pomni walk to the front door and slowly went towards it's barn as Pomni spoke with Z. This was the routine: go with Pomni, follow her every order, return to the barn when finished. No camaraderie outside the rides.

A strange pang radiated in Shadowblade's core as it entered it's barn. It couldn't tell what it was, but it felt bad. It hurt. It clawed at the dirt floor of the barn, loosening the hard ground and circling to find a good position to lay in. Shadowblade settled down and vented air hard. It started to run a diagnostic on it's core.

"We're leaving!" Pomni shouted into the dark barn.

Shadowblade canceled it's diagnostic, getting up with some surprise.

"Son of a bitch thinks I'm not smart enough for this just because I don't want to listen to him blabber on about shit I don't care about." Pomni hissed to herself as she climbed Shadowblade. "I'll show him." She looked at the crystal on the back of her right hand. Nothing was happening. She didn't feel anything. "Shit probably doesn't work anyway. Whatever. I'm not in the mood to be around that asshole." She put on her night vision mask, whistled low and Shadowblade walked on.

The wasteland was silent under a sky full of stars. Without human light pollution, the moon gave the land a silver blue hue. A barely noticeable breeze swept swept through as Pomni and Shadowblade traveled further from the city, keeping a moderate pace.

Pomni scanned the surrounds and their wasn't another soul in sight, puppet or otherwise. She looked down occasionally to see if the crystal was doing anything. Nada. It was just a cool colored rock. "What the actual fuck am I supposed to do with this?"

Shadowblade suddenly stopped unprompted.

"What is it?" Pomni whispered, still seeing no one.

The ground felt wrong. Hollow. A crackling, shifting sound came from the hard dirt and a sinkhole opened. The ground collapsed and sent them plummeting down into the earth.

They fell dozens of feet before Shadowblade hit slanted hard surface. It dug it's claws in, trying to stop. Pomni held on for dear life as the position of gravity kept changing. Shadowblade left deep marks as it slid to solid ground. Finally coming to a stop, they could catch their breath.

"What the fuck!?" Pomni looked up, just barely able to see the night sky through the hole far above. She looked around, the sinkhole was part of a larger cave system. Or, rather, what she thought was a cave.

Shadowblade brightened their eyes to the max, revealing a ruined brick and mortar building, broken and slanted. There were multiple buildings of masonry and brick build, all half collapsed and barely standing. Ancient structures of the forgotten world, buried by time.

"Holy shit." Pomni looked around and saw a way through large enough for Shadowblade. "To the left."

Shadowblade looked at her.

"Yes, the actual left this time, prick."

Shadowblade chuffed and crawled through the crumbled entrance of the largest building.

Inside was absolutely massive. They stood on the third floor overlooking an open factory. Iron steam machines of unknown purpose filled the space below. Oversized pistons and gears reached for the vacant ceiling. The metal grated floor beneath them creaked under Shadowblade's step.

"There's got to be a way out somewhere. Let's go, but watch your step." Pomni held tight and Shadowblade climbed over the railing and jumped down to the factory floor. Dust shook loose from various machines when they landed. Being on such a large beast gave the factory a more claustrophobic feel than it should. Shadowblade squeezed in between and climbed over long dormant machines.

A sudden skittering sound had Pomni unsheathing her sword and Shadowblade freezing in place. Neither of them moved or breathed, waiting for the foreign sound to happen again. Silence.

"Keep moving." Pomni whispered and kept her sword at the ready. Shadowblade dimmed it's eyes and went on much more slowly, it's spines and tail flared.

The factory opened up some, the machines a bit father apart. Long, stringy cables webbed between them, blocking the path. Shadowblade pushed forward, using a paw to swipe away the cables when the webbing closed on it's own like a clap trap. The beast jumped back, but the webbing held tight. As Shadowblade thrashed, it's tail hit another web, becoming snared. Then the other front leg. Then the maw. The combined trapping webs started to pull Shadowblade deeper into the factory. Shadowblade activated the outer blades. The golden glow took out a few cables, but the webs pull tight, preventing Shadowblade from moving their legs enough to cut.

Pomni jumped off as Shadowblade was forced to the ground and dragged. She tried cutting the webs, but there were too many of them. Shadowblade was pulled away faster than she could keep up and disappeared into the darkness with a muffled roar.

"Fuck!" Pomni kept pursuit in the direction Shadowblade was taken. Skittering came from all around. The walls began to shift as hundreds of clockwork spiders the size of small cars moved in unison to advance on Pomni. She slid under a web trap, avoiding two spiders that tried to jump her in the process. Keeping her momentum, she vaulted over a machine and slashed her sword through the legs of a spider that got too close. She found a hold in the wall just big enough for her, and threw herself through it. She felt a pointed spider leg claw at her ankle as she squeezed herself into the horribly tight space.

Even when she was safely out of reach of the spiders, she didn't slow down. She kept her sword out in front as she wiggled her way through the gap in the wall. It occurred to her that using any of her weapons in this space would be next to impossible. Cold chills prickled her back. Even being surrounded on all sides by stone, she felt vulnerable.

Pomni heard Shadowblade's roar and she found a small opening she could peak through. She saw Shadowblade's eyes and blades glowing in the dark, still fighting desperately for freedom. The beast almost cut itself free when a mass of web descended from the out of sight ceiling, pinning Shadowblade to the ground.

Pomni's eyes widened as gigantic spider legs ever so delicately came down from above. This clockwork behemoth on eight legs wrapped up the struggling beast and pulled Shadowblade up into he air. Pomni ducked out of sight when one of the smaller spiders climbed up the wall in front of her. The spider skittered and clanked past her and she carefully peaked out again. Shadowblade was gone, along with the largest spider.

Pomni slid down out of sight and quietly cursed to herself. Part of her told her to run. This was a lost cause. Try to get back to the sinkhole opening and grapple her way out. But what about Shadowblade? They were her constant and faithful companion. Always obeying, always defending, always...being there. She looked at the crystal on her hand. "I'm coming for you."

Caine was passed out in his office chair, snoring loudly. He didn't stir when someone knocked on his door. Ragatha peaked in and groaned at the sight of him. She gingerly went to his side and shook his arm. "Caine? Caine. Caine!"

Caine snorted and awoke. "Oh, hello, Ragatha." He stretched.

"Caine, I'm terribly worried about Pomni. She hasn't come back yet."

Caine sighed heavily. "She left after I gave her a new toy to play with. She probably won't be back until morning."

"Could you at least check were she is? Please?"

"Of course." Caine took out his W.A.C.K.Y watch and opened it. He saw the blips of everyone at the manor...and no other. He stood so quickly, his chair fell over.

"What! What is it?"

"Pomni isn't showing up." He adjusted some settings, no change.

"Her tracker isn't active??"

"No. I would have received an alert if that happened. She, or more specifically Shadowblade, is somehow out of range." The best result he could pull up was her last transmitted location. He grabbed his coat and cane.

"Wait! I'm coming too!"

"I move much faster without a passenger." He blinked away.

Pomni slowly worked her way out of the wall, she looked up and saw only darkness. Even her mask couldn't see that far up without at least a little light. The skittering sound of the spiders still came from all directions, but none seemed to be getting closer. She at least felt able to move about without being immediately noticed.

She found a ladder to a catwalk on the second story. From there, she climbed her way to the third floor. She felt queazy looking down but she stayed focused. If she squinted, she could just make out the silhouettes of hanging bundles. She picked up a lose bolt and did something very risky. She threw it at the closet bundle to see what the response was. The bolt bounced off and clattered to the ground. Some of the smaller spiders reacted to the noise but the big one was nowhere to be seen.

She got a running start and leapt to the bundle. She swung and nothing happened. The bundle was too small to be Shadowblade, so she moved on to the next. No beast. Another, this one was quite large. She pulled at the cables and got them loose enough to see black metal and tangled spines. She pulled out even more cables and found Shadowblade's eye, it glowed brighter when it saw her. "Hey!" She spoke in as quiet a voice as she could, keeping an eye out for the giant spider. "I'm going to cut you loose, and we're getting the fuck out of here." She put her hand on Shadowblade's head.

Shadowblade gave a quiet, low rumble in response. As opposed to the pain it felt in its core before, another new sensation came over it. A positive one. One of strength.

The crystal on Pomni's hand started to glow. It became brighter and brighter until it was a beacon. Pomni cursed and tried to hide the light, but it was too late. The spiders were on the move, including the massive queen clockwork. "Okay, fuck all this sneaking around!" Pomni took out her sword and sliced at the cables holding Shadowblade to the ceiling.

They fell three stories, but the bundle Shadowblade was wrapped in softened the landing. Pomni started immediately trying to cut Shadowblade free again, and the golden glow of the beast blades blazed underneath. Pomni brought down her sword to free her companion and her blade ignited with gold energy, slicing through multiple layers of cables.

Shadowblade forced it's own blades open and burst free as the spiders were closing in. Shadowblade whipped it's tail and shot blazing darts of metallic shards raining down on the spiders. Pomni could feel Shadowblade's resolve: Protect. The crystal on her hand harmonizing with the thrum of her own heart. She lashed out with her sword and it cut clean through a spider's body. Then another. And another! It was like they were made of paper!

Cables rained down from the ceiling. They would have trapped Pomni, but Shadowblade scooped her up and moved swiftly back from the snares.

"Fuck this place! Fuck these spiders! I want that thing's eyes!" Pomni pointed her golden blade at the descending queen.

Shadowblade clawed the ground, feeling Pomni's intense hunger for the hunt.

Rip.

Tear!

KILL!

Caine sprinted full speed across the wasteland, blinking as far as he could in bursts. He finally made it to Pomni's last known location and didn't give himself time to catch his breath. He saw the hole in the ground and looked down. The moonlight was just bright enough to give him a view of the bottom.

Blink.

Underground, he could hear shouting and roaring and shattering and screeching. He moved into the ruins and could only see the distant glow of gold from Pomni and Shadowblade as they climbed the factory to attack a massive spider he didn't even know was there until Pomni lit it up.

"What in the world??" He lifted his cane and the round end glowed with warm light. He was surrounded by clockworks. "As Pomni would say, ...fuck." A spider shot cables at him, he sidestepped and they flew past him. Another spider lunged at him and he caught it with his puppetmaster strings. "You're not the only one that comes with strings attached! Ha!" He contorted his hand and the spider attacked the one next to it.

Shadowblade ran up the broken wall with the fury of a thousand suns, leaping at the queen and cleaving one of it's arms clean off. The beast made an abrupt u-turn off the adjacent wall and lunged again, grabbing the queen by the mandibles. The clockwork Queen screeched and tried to push Shadowblade off, but the beast wouldn't budge.

Pomni climbed up Shadowblade's head and plunged her sword into the Queen's head. This didn't kill it, but did a lot of damage. Shadowblade was forced to let go when the queen thrashed her legs as them, but the beast grabbed a hanging bundle and swung around back to the queen.

Shadowblade leapt and Pomni prepared her sword. Shadowblade lashed from the left, Pomni the right, the two creating a gold X made of pure energy that carved into the queen spider. Shadowblade spun and kicked off the broken spider to the second story catwalk. The queen fell to the ground in pieces.

So much was flowing through the connection in the moment. The satisfaction of a successful hunt. The rush of survival. The disbelief of actually pulling this crazy shit off. Feeling alive.

Shadowblade turned it's head to look at Pomni. She was just as out of breath. The glow of her sword faded and she sheathed it before resting her sword hand on Shadowblade's neck. "I told you I'd get you out." Shadowblade rumbled in return, it's eyes dimming for a few seconds before brightening again.

"Wait a second, is that..." Pomni zoomed in with her mask lenses. "..Caine!?"

Caine was making four spiders tapdance while he dance-dodged away from two more, the end of his cane still glowing.

Pomni reset her lenses. "Should we help him?"

Shadowblade huffed, feeling Pomni's desire to watch Caine fight just a bit longer.

"Fine. I suppose he is outnumbered."

Most of the spiders retreated when the queen fell, but a few just wouldn't quit and were making Caine really work his dance moves to keep from getting hit. His fun came to an end when a streak of gold light flew by and sliced all the spiders in half. He calmly brushed dust off his jacket as Shadowblade circled him and scattered the remaining spiders. "Well, it's good to see you two getting along nicely. Care to share how you ended up here?"

Shadowblade stopped and Pomni held her right hand high, along with her middle finger. "I figured it out, asshole."

"As I said you would." Caine smirked.

"Shadowblade and I are of one mind now, I don't even have to tell it to eat you out loud."

Caine narrowed his gaze. "Is that REALLY what Shadowblade wants? I'm the one always out studying and repairing them. And stop called them an IT. This beast has more personality than even you."

Pomni growled. Trying to force thoughts if eating Caine through the connection. Shadowblade stepped forward.

Caine gripped his cane just a little tighter, ready to blink.

Shadowblade lowered their maw...and pressed to Caine's chest. A low rumble vibrating his being. Shadowblade sent through the connection feelings of trust.

Caine pet the top of Shadowblade's maw with a smug grin aimed at Pomni. However, he was caught off guard by Shadowblade moving forward and lifting him off the ground. He slid down the beast's neck face first and into Pomni. Pomni was pushed back and nearly lost grip on the saddle.

Shadowblade had no regard for the position Pomni was in. They were making their way back to the large carvern where all this started to try and find anorher way out.

Caine held himself over Pomni for only a few seconds, that's all he could spare before she'd try to kill him, but those few seconds felt like an eternity to see her like that. He backed off before she started shoving and made his way around behind her on the saddle.

Pomni could feel her face heating up behind the mask and she hated herself for it. She didn't want anyone to make her feel this way, let alone the self proclaimed puppetmaster. "Don't get any ideas and turn that damn light off. I'm using night vision for god's sake." She growled.

"My dear, I am nothing if not a gentleman." He held his hands away from her and his cane dimmed. "Buuuut that may make things difficult when it comes time to leave. I need to be in physical contact with my passengers."

Pomni looked back at him. "Wait, you can blink both of us?"

"I can try. I've never taken anyone as large as our friend here, but we need to get topside somehow."

Shadowblade looked up to see the first pastels of morning coloring the sky through the sinkhole. Then they looked back at their two passengers. Caine rubbed his hands together. "Hold this for me?" He shoved his cane in Pomni's hands and put one hand on her waist, the other on Shadowblade's back. He focused as much energy he could muster into the transfer of their bodies to another space. He visualized the surface. He willed himself and the others to be there. Blue energy radiated out from his heart, covering himself, Pomni and slowly Shadowblade. The process usually happened so fast, no one knew how he did it, but this time it was like trying to move a boulder uphill. Shadowblade saw the blue energy cover their body making them feel momentarily weightless.

Blink.

Suddenly they were on the surface, a good distance from the sinkhole. Caine collapsed against Pomni, on the verge of unconsciousness. He breathed heavily and felt more lightheaded than when he was shit-faced drunk. "Did...did it work?"

Pomni resigned her anger and sighed. "Yeah. It worked. Try to hold on, would ya? I don't want to have to drag you all the way back to the manor."

Shadowblade was already walking back without verbal prompt. Feeling the mutual need to rest.

Caine lazily wrapped his arms around Pomni's waist. His head heavy against her shoulder. "I was worried..."

"Hm?"

"You disappeared off the map. I...was worried."

"Oh. Well...don't be. I can take care of myself. And I have Shadowblade besides." Pomni took off her mask as the morning light brightened.

"You are a very capable woman. Always have been. But I still worry. I want you to come back." He mumbled, half asleep.

Pomni didn't know how to respond. Him saying how much he wanted her to keep returning despite how often they're at each other's throats, it made her feel strange. A good strange. But still strange. She tensed when Caine held tighter.

"...come back."

"I'm right here, you doof. I think you blinked away a few IQ points." She sniggered.

The wasteland was merciful. Allowing them safe passage home without interruption. Shadowblade took them all the way up to the front door and got as low to the ground as possible to let Pomni help Caine inside. Shadowblade watched them disappear behind the threshold, and walked along the side of the manor towards the barn. This time, they looked up. Seeing Pomni and Caine limping inside. They had never bother to try looking through the windows before. Where do they go? They watched to see another woman with red hair rush forward and help Pomni escort Caine up the stairs.

Shadowblade reared up on their hinds legs and carefully leaned against the manor to see through the second story windows. Pomni and Ragatha took Caine into a room Shadowblade couldn't see into. They came out after a few minutes talking to one another, without Caine. Shadowblade could not hear but they felt relief and security through the connection, even if those feelings did not translate on Pomni's face. Shadowblade cocked their head to the side watching what was happening when their view was obstructes by a curtain of red ribbons. And then there was screaming.

Shadowblade moved back and down from the window and continued to their barn. They got comfortable and could finally rest their road weary paws. A booming rumble form overhead promised a storm. Rain collected on the ground in front of the barn, making large puddles in view of Shadowblade's reflection. Shadowblade looked at themself, really looked.

Is that...me?

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