Chapter Text
Saya was on the look-out for a specific monster that morning. A punisher tripion. One had been spotted in the area and it had to be destroyed before it could become a problem. They looked like giant scorpions, and were able to poison, as well as electrocute their victims.
When she heard the scream she was ready, running up to Eufaula salvage. She found no monster there, but something much more disturbing.
Krystal, a woman with blonde hair and a red dress, lay on the ground, her husband at her side, holding her. The source of their screams was their little boy, Pebbles, a toddler sitting near to them. The boy had turned completely green. Saya gasped at the sight. This was bad.
She brought them to Fang, who swore he could treat Pebbles, and that it was in fact “normal.” Saya went to city hall as soon as she could to report the incident. There were already people on the square, Rian the local carpenter, Dan-bi his wife, and mister Musa.
She had to stifle a scream herself, when Pen came round the corner, also looking completely green. Mister Musa, who had been about to drink from a bottle of Yakmel milk, dropped its contents on the ground.
‘Pen!’ Dan-bi called out. ‘You’re green.’
‘He isn’t the only one,’ Saya spoke up, her eyes still on Pen, who stared at his own hands in wonder. ‘Pebbles is at the clinic getting treatment from Fang.’
The crowd was growing fast, as news traveled that way in this town.
‘Could this be Logan’s doing?’ Arvio immediately asked, coming out of his shop.
Owen sounded perplexed. ‘He’s never attacked citizens before…’
‘This is terrible,’ the mayor said. She eyed Musa, who was taking the whole scene in.
‘Guys! Guys!’ It was Burgess, running up the square. ‘There’s a mysterious green gas coming out of the valley of whispers!’
Trudy stopped him. ‘Burgess, did you breathe in the gas? Are you okay?’
‘Yes I did, smelled like chemicals. I still feel a bit fuzzy but I’m okay.’
Dan-bi crabbed her husband Rian by the collar and clung to him. ‘I can’t take this anymore! This town isn’t safe, not for us, or our future baby.’
Saya was taken aback, she didn’t know the pair was pregnant. Cooper came to add that his yakmels had also turned green, and he could confirm about the vapors rising from the valley of whispers, next to his ranch.
‘What’s going on?’ Mi-an had turned up as well and Saya gave her the rundown.
‘Rest assured everyone,’ Trudy raised her voice over the muttering crowd, ‘city hall is aware of the problem and it shall be dealt with right away. Anyone affected go and see Fang. Burgess, Builders, Justice, please see me in my office right away.’
Saya could see Pen hurry up the stairs, likely to get treatment at the clinic. She hoped Fang had it figured out soon, this was horrible. Mister Musa followed them inside, but he stuck to the back, observing them.
Trudy wasted no time. ‘Burgess, what can you tell us?’
‘I was out on water-and-plant-life patrol when I noticed the gas, there’s all these pipes down there in the valley, and I think I saw at least one of them was leaking. Could be more.’
‘Right,’ Justice slapped his fist into his hand. ‘We go in and fix those pipes.’
Mi-an perked up. ‘We still have our suits. Mayor Trudy, we should come too.’
‘Not this again,’ the sheriff said. ‘We are not sending all of our most important people out into the danger zone all at once. Mi-an, fix me and Unsuur up with two of those suits, please. Saya is an official member of the corps now, she will be leading this operation.’
Mi-an stood up straight. ‘Oh, okay. Right away, sir.’
‘Let’s get this crisis dealt with as soon as possible,’ he went on.
Saya knew she had to get the materials ready for that afternoon’s mission, but she had to go check on Pen. On her way to the clinic she crossed the churchyard and saw Andy and Jasmine hunched over by the entrance.
‘It’s true, we really made the desert green!’ Jasmine said as she walked past.
‘I don’t believe it. Trees don’t grow on sand.’
‘They do, I’ll show you!’
Saya ran back to them feeling silly, but said anyway: ‘You’re not going out there alone.’
Andy looked at her like she was crazy. ‘Of course not, we’ll ask the sheriff to accompany us.’
‘You do that,’ she told him. ‘There’s a dangerous monster on the loose, and you can’t go into the desert without an armed adult.’
Saya pointed two fingers at her eyes and then at him, then went on her way.
She groaned when she walked past the graveyard to the clinic. Telling kids what to do. Why am I like that? It’s just what any responsible adult would do, she reassured herself.
Under the pretense of buying medical supplies, she went in to see Pen. But there wasn’t much they could do with everyone around. She longed to just be open with their relationship, but had to leave after having paid.
Yan had turned green too, and he took off from work because of it. There were still enough commissions on the board, however, but before she could get to them, Justice and Unsuur rode up to the workshop and it was time to go.
‘You got your materials ready?,’ Justice asked. Saya nodded, saddling her rental horse.
‘Let’s ride,’ Unsure said.
They were almost there, riding past a group of sleeping rockyenarolla’s when Saya had what she could only describe as a gut feeling of dread.
‘Justice…’
‘Yeah?’
‘Andy didn’t ask you about taking Jasmine and him to the little woods, am I right?’
‘Can’t say that he has, no.’
She spurred her horse, leading it around in a tight circle, then set off at a gallop.
‘Saya?!,’ he called after her.
But she was gone.
‘Please be okay,’ she whispered to herself, ‘please be just a stupid hunch that leads to nothing.’ She cleared the town, then the bridge, and when the ruins came into sight she saw the children. The monster she’d been looking for had them cornered against the rock-wall. Andy was holding up a stick, with Jasmine cowering behind him. She urged her horse straight towards them. The animal reared at the last second, seeing the monster. It threw her to her ground.
She rolled through the sand, aiming her gun, but couldn’t shoot in the direction of the children.
Breathless, in a drawn out moment that felt like forever, she ran to them, drawing her sword.
Her cuts seemed to do nothing to the creature’s tough hide. But it focused on her, turning around with its giant pincers going for her throat. She ducked, aiming for its head, bringing the sword down; she struck it clean through between the eyes, sending a shock into the creature. It stiffened, the pincers falling to the ground. Then something lashed out at her. The tail; shooting out on its own, stuck its stinger into her side and she could feel a pressure go into her flesh.
Saya dropped the sword and fell to her knees beside the beast. Her hands shook. Blood, as well as a clear liquid, oozed out from the hole in her side.
Jasmine screamed. ‘Saya!,’ the sound had a strange echo to it.
‘I’m fine,’ she said, hearing a tremble in her own voice.
She tried to stand but had to go back to her knees. Andy dropped the stick and stood there paralyzed.
Behind her, the sheriff and Unsuur had caught up. Dismounting, they ran towards them.
‘Saya, you okay?’
‘I got stung,’ she said, then a powerful spasm seized her and she fell on her side onto the sand.
‘I think Fang’s got an antidote!’ Unsuur called out, ‘we have to get you to his clinic!’
They helped her stand, and children in tow, got her onto Justice’s horse. He got in the saddle behind her and they rode back to town.
Saya saw only in flashes between the pain. Whatever poison the monster had injected her with was squeezing the life from her. It pinched her body with an invisible fist from the inside, drawing groans of pain from her.
‘It’s going to be alright,’ she heard the sheriff say, keeping her in the saddle while another spasm seized her. ‘Nothing to worry about!’
The clinic was empty of green people when Justice kicked the door open, shouldering her to the bed.
‘Fang! We need anti-poison here, now! She got stung by a punished tripion!’
He came down from a ladder and hit the floor running. ‘That needs to be… administered… immediately.’
Saya let out a yell and collapsed to her side. She was suddenly unable to move while her bones locked themselves into a fetal position.
‘Before the paralysis sets… in.’
He flung her onto her back and struck a needle directly into her chest. Saya saw the light above her expand into a silent, bright explosion. Then a darkness ate away at her sight until she could only hear Fang trying to get her heart to beat again.
She found herself walking through a green haze that smelled vaguely chemical. Did we go into the valley of whispers after all?
Saya walked and walked to find the broken pipes but there were none, just green fog and pale sand underfoot. The air felt cold and she shivered. She wandered there for hours while the fog grew denser, making it even harder to see. Eventually she couldn’t even see her own body anymore, just a pressing, green everything.
Then a hand took hold of hers and she could hear a voice. It was kinda monotonous, but in a pleasant way. She ended up following its sound, holding onto the unseen hand until the fog cleared and she saw a familiar ceiling above her.
The voice stopped talking, and someone let go of her. ‘You’re awake,’ Unsuur said, sitting up straight quickly. ‘I was telling you about my rock collection, maybe I bored you out of your coma.’
Saya turned her head with great effort and stared at him, she felt hot and her hair stuck to her forehead.
‘Here, have a drink.’
He put a glass over water to her lips and only then did she notice how chapped they were.
‘You were out for a couple of days but your fever went down this evening.’
Saya rolled her eyes at herself. ‘Stupid,’ she managed to croak.
Unsuur raised his eyebrows then frowned at her. ‘Are you calling yourself that, because I hope that was aimed at me. You are very far from stupid. You are very brave.’
Saya laid back and felt tears run down the side of her face. ‘I keep… messing up.’
‘Stop it. You saved Jasmine and Andy. You should have seen the mayor when she found out.’
Saya shook her head, but he went on:
‘We fixed the leaks, so you don’t have to worry about that anymore. It would have been easier with you around, that goes without saying. You make everything easier. There was this rat queen who we saw was responsible for damaging the pipes. With Pen on the team we beat her, and then Mi-an could patch up the holes. We even found an ingredient bottle for Qi, for the green stuff that leaked everywhere? That can only help. He’s working on some diagrams right now, so that’s promising.’
While he’d been talking, Saya laid back on her pillow and stared at the herbs on the ceiling. It should have been me, helping them with that mission. How useless—
‘I can see by your face you’re not thinking of anything nice. I advise you to stop that.’
His comment somehow made her laugh, though it hurt her side.
‘That’s better.’
Her eyes began to fall shut. ‘I’m going to tell the others you woke up, Pen told me to come find him right away.’ This made her smile, while she drifted off to sleep.
Fang gave her some medicine during the night against the cramps that still seized her body. But by morning she could sit up and take some herbal tea he offered her. Pen had come to see her, but he was called back to the church and couldn’t stay. At least he wasn’t green anymore.
The children came to visit, too. Andy was silent and wouldn’t meet her eyes.
She tried her best to not look too sick; but by how they spoke softly and were careful of her, she could tell she looked a mess.
‘We’re sorry,’ Jasmine said. She handed her a drawing of the three of them together, standing in a meadow of many-colored flowers. ‘We should never have gone out there alone. Especially after you warned us.’
‘It’s okay,’ Saya said, clearing her throat. ‘That’s what we’re here…for.’ Now she sounded like Fang, it was no way to behave. She sat up straighter, even though it made her dizzy.
‘Just be more careful… next time.’
‘There won’t be a next time,’ Jasmine assured her.
‘We brought your mail,’ Andy said suddenly. He’d been holding a little stack in his hands, that he laid on the table beside her.
‘Thanks,’ she said. He still wouldn’t look at her, only at his shoes.
Then Fang escorted them out and made her lie back down.
Saya tried to lay still, to heal faster, but her thoughts came at her, racing down uneasy paths, making her squirm. She reached for her mail and tried to read the local paper. To her amazement her name was in it. “Honorary civil corps member saves lives of two kids,” the article read. She put the paper down again and went for the letters. Her heart skipped a beat when she saw one of them was from her mother.
It was time. She needed any distraction she could get.
She opened it and braced herself, then found she was reading every word:
Saya, my dear Saya. I’m sorry. I am so so sorry for the way I treated you. I know it’s not my place to ask you for forgiveness but I think of you every day and hope my words can somehow reach you. It was wrong of me what I said, what I blamed you for.
Saya wiped at her eyes and sniffed, then read on:
It was wrong of me. Please, please don’t be too hard on yourself. I keep reading about you in the papers. You are doing great things and I am so proud of you. If you can, please let me know you are okay.
With all the love in my heart,
Mom
Saya let out a shaking breath, then crumpled the letter in her fist. She then stuffed it under her pillow and tried not to cry too loud. How could she? After all these years? With all the love in my heart, such sh*t. Such sh*t! She bunched her fists, got too riled up and passed out as her heart couldn’t keep up.
Someone prodded her awake. It was Pen and he was looking down at her with a displeased frown. ‘What’s this?’
Saya blinked, then saw he was holding a letter in his hand. Had he gone under her pillow to get it? She searched for it and found the crumbled up wad. No. It was a different one.
‘Skinny?’ He even sounded upset.
She really didn’t know. ‘What’s it about?’
‘This is a love letter, addressed to you.’
‘You went through my mail?’
‘It’s very difficult to miss, it’s like you wanted me to find it.’
‘I—’
He held up his hand. ‘We can’t talk here. Get better, then we’ll have this discussion.’ With that he left, letter in hand, leaving her sitting up in bed with fresh tears in her eyes.
Fang came down later from his living quarters, she didn’t know if he’d heard or not, but they both remained silent while he checked up on her. X flew in through an open window, bringing a sprig of fresh herbs for her tea. She hardly tasted it, swallowing past a lump in her throat.
She was eventually allowed to leave and first went home. Feeling numb, she showered and put on fresh clothes, then waited for it to get dark. She went to his room, knocking softly.
He opened the door immediately, like he’d been waiting there.
‘I went over this,’ he said, showing her the letter and closing the door behind her. ‘It’s full of nonsense anyway, you don’t even know their name.’
Saya shook her head, unable to speak.
He suddenly grabbed her shoulders and looked into her face, ‘don’t ever let me catch you cheating on me, Skinny.’
She shook her head.
His expression softened somewhat and so did his grasp on her. ‘Look at you, the thought wouldn’t even enter your mind.’ He brushed a strand of hair out of her eyes.
‘No,’ she said, ‘I would never. I can’t control what someone sends me, you—’
He pressed a finger to her lips, then undid her shirt’s buttons.
Her clothes were on the floor, and he had her into his bed in no time. Also naked, he caressed her entire body, going over every inch with his lips and hands. Then he kissed her, hard, grabbing her hair, then her wrists; pushing them against the headrest.
Saya lost herself in him, breathing hard, trying to keep up. Then he slipped a hand across her mouth and bit into her shoulder, making her yell against his grip.
‘You’re mine,’ he said, sitting up, also breathing hard, wiping some of her blood from his mouth. ‘Remember that.’
She nodded, then he spread her legs and entered her. He f*cked her relentlessly; keeping her on edge every time she started to get close. His hands massaged her breasts, his fingers teasing between her legs, his lips finding hers again and again.
Then, when it got light outside, he got into one final rhythm until the pressure built up inside her flowed over and she bent backwards in his grasp, letting out a ragged breath as she came.
He came too, folding himself around her, gasping into the pillow next to her head.
They laid beside each other, slick with sweat, panting in the early dawn.
Saya had to take several tries to get on her feet afterwards, her legs remaining unsteady on her way home. What a night. But she couldn’t forget the look on his face, she’d never seen him jealous before. There had been such darkness in his eyes. It was time to catch whoever was sending her those letters, and make them stop.
