At least take me to dinner first

And while you are sitting indoors
waiting for the storm to pass
I will be outside dancing in the rain

❧

An invitation to a dinner party. In the middle of Cursed Lands. A land known for its creepy mysteries and dark secrets. What ever could go wrong?
It was all a little suspicious, even Astrid was having second thoughts about this, and the girl was known for following through with the most horribly dumb ideas ever. But this was one of those situations where her curiosity took the better of her, and she could not find herself saying no to this seemingly polite invite. Who knows, maybe this Sombra person had a strange taste in location. A thrill seeker prehaps, or maybe the rent in this part of Fiore was just really low. Who could say? To each his own, Astrid certainly wasn't one for judging.
Apparently this man had heard of all of her recent accomplishments, and wished to dine with the guild master as a sort of congratulations, a pat on the back for a job well done. It was funny. No one else has really congratulated her about anything. Not even her own parents. To think a complete stranger would be the first to do it rather than her own family, it said something about the type of people the Foss family really were.
But still, despite the hope for a regular party she still had her suspicions. Which is why, at least for the ride there, Wolfgang would accompany her. Not because she was scared or anything, no of course not. Why would you think that? Rather the elf knew her sense of direction was horrid, and would rather not get lost within a land dubbed the 'Cursed Lands'. That was just asking for trouble. So to justify herself, because she was totally NOT scared, she thought it would be a good idea for her exceed to escort her at least to the mansion. Once they landed however, she planned to send him away, despite his pleading to come with her in order to eat all the food up. Wolfgang could be a bit... Much at times. He was still but a child, and he tended to act like one, speaking when not spoken to and the such. And this was supposed to be a rather fancy party. And the elf would rather not give the man a bad impression if this did in fact turn out to be real and not some sort of trap. Even if this was a trap she still wouldn't like Wolfgang to come with her past the doors. While helpful sometimes, the rest of the time he could be a dead weight, his curiosity often times getting him into trouble. So even though he was admittedly good in a fight, Astrid would rather not drag him into her business.
A bit mean of her, and she was sure she would feel bad about it later... But it was a precaution she had to take. Both for herself and in. She dealt with her own problems, by herself. That's the way it has always been, and always will be.

Dainty feet landed upon the ground, making not but the tiniest of noises as the leaves gave in under her light weight. The white furred exceed released the girl's sides, and the rest of her body followed. She brushed a bit of her silver locks back over her shoulder, adjusting the rest of her clothes to look presentable as they had become a bit rumpled during the flight.
Wolfgang continued to hover just above Astrid's right shoulder, white fluffy wings spread out and unmoving. His baby blue eyes looked over, holding an usual concern in them.
"Awe you suwe you don't want me to come inside with you?" as if shaking off his concerned expression to lighten the obvious creepy aura around them both his black lips would form into a cheeky grin. "You wook scawed~"
Scared? Her? Purple eyes narrowed, her lips forming a pout while she eyed him from the corner of her vision, not appreciating his teasing when it involved her own pride.

"Oh please, you only want to come with me so you can gobble up all the food for yourself. I already told you, this dinner doesn't allow plus ones." A bit of a lie, yes. She would admit that. But she couldn't think of a better excuse that he would accept. If she just told him straight out she was a little scared to go alone he was sure to laugh at her and want to tag along. But she couldn't have that.
Wolfgang pouted in return, crossing his small arms over each other angrily. Letting out a sigh the elf rubbed a gentle hand upon his head.
"Look, when i get home i'll cook whatever you want. Just let me do this alone. Please."
The exceed rolled his eyes.

"Sawmon. With wice. WOTS of wice" he grumbled.
Astrid smiled softy.

"As much as you want."

With Wolfgang hopefully appeased the two said their goodbyes and he flew away in the direction from which they came, still a little hurt, but also a little more happy than he first was.
She waited until she could no longer see the sillowette of him in the night sky to let another sigh escape her lips. An action which she was doing a lot these days. Truth be told she hated lying, especially to those closest to her. It made her feel dirty, underhanded. But she was quickly learning sometimes, it was a necessary evil.
Making her way towards the entrance the woman almost tripped multiple times due to the heels she was currently wearing. She didn't wear heels much, for this exact reason. Despite trying to be prim and proper all the time she wasn't very good at actually doing it when it came time to. Which is exactly why she only wore such frustration shoes for special occasions. The same went for makeup, as for half the time she was wearing it she wanted to chew it all off, especially lipstick, which is eventually what she would end up doing the entire time she was wearing it.
"Curse these fancy stilts" she thought bitterly to herself, trying her best to not fall over before reaching the doors. Which somehow she ended up doing. Rather slowly yes, but she still made it without falling nonetheless.
However, upon reaching the entrance, it seems things already were not going to go as planned.
Already being suspicious about the wide open doors Astrid eyed them eerily before noticing something else. Against the frame there was an old man laying upon the ground, motionless. A butler by the looks of him, given the way he was dressed.
"By the Gods..." the elf gasped, her gaze growing wide with worry
To see if he was still alive the slayer rushed over as fast as she could in these cursed high heels, bending down and patting him on the shoulder. "Excuse me, monsier?? Are you okay?" But there was no response. He was still alive, given his aura. Just unconscious. But the question now would be, why? At this moment the guild master was thankful she had denied Wolfgang to come with her. Not even to the dinner and things were spinning out of control. Peering up from the body to the dark entrance Astrid stood up.
It was time to see who this Sombra guy really was, and what he really wanted from her.
Any normal person would probably call the police. But seeing as how she had been the if not one of the main targets, she felt a sort of duty to solve this herself.
Carefully the silvernette stepped over the ma and into the mansion. It was dark besides the slight moonlight that washed in through the windows. To shine a little more light on the subject the slayer made a spinning orb of light in her hand, using it as a sort of torch to see in the dark.
Taking an a big breath of air, she would begin to wonder around the main hall, looking for any signs of life.
"Hello...? Are there any big scary monsters here?" she would constantly call out little comments, hoping that they may grab the attention of whoever currently resided her.

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And while you are sitting indoors
waiting for the storm to pass
I will be outside dancing in the rain

❧

She didn't like being in here. But then of course what kind of person would like being in a creepy mansion like this? A ghost or scary monsters maybe, which there probably were a few of in here anyway. But more than just the sense of unnerve and creepiness Astrid could feel something else too. Her whole body was tingling with spiritual energy, a kind of sensation which normally wouldn't be that big of a deal. But ever since she had stepped foot into this house it was going haywire. She could not pinpoint the source of these overwhelming feelings. It was as if the entire house itself was covered in the energy. Little to say it was all starting to give her a headache. She was okay with a few spirits, but with so many the feelings start to overtake her both mind and body.
The elf woman winced, cringing while goosebumps started to form upon her pale skin. She used her free hand to rub her forehead, hoping that would sooth her aching mind.
Once at the end of the current narrow hallway she paused, figuring maybe if she rested for a minute she could gather herself enough to carry on. She rested her back against the wall and closed her eyes, flicking the ball of light into the air so it would hover just above her head. She defiantly couldn't turn back now. Astrid was not one to give up, especially when a situation had caught her attention. And now with all the spiritual energy in this house her mind would not let it go without at least trying to find out what was going on around here. The dinner invitation, the passed out butler, the spirits. It was like trying to solve a murder case without looking at all the clues. So, what else could she do but look?
It was amid her thoughts that a familiar pain shot through the bottom of her feet. Purple eyes reopened, looking down to her feet. Damn heels again, they were only adding to her discomfort.
Well, since this wasn't a party anyway she could take them off. Not like they were helping in the slightest. The girls in horror movies who die usually always do so because they refuse to kick off their heels and run. And she was no horror movie actress. Pouting the silvernette bent over and removed the white heels before placing them off neatly to the side. She could come back for them later, she supposed. They would be a pain to carry around constantly.
But now the problem was the floor. It was made out of polished stone, no sort of rug draped over it. And with no rug the stone was cold against her bare feet. Not that it was as much trouble as potentially getting blisters from the feels, but it would take some time to get used to walking in a strange placed with no shoes on. She didn't even want to know what her feet would end up looking like once she got out of here. Who knows if this place was being kept clean. Though by the lack of cobwebs and dust it might just be...

After taking some time to gather herself Astrid was set to continue her travels. She pushed herself from the wall, about to take her first step forward when a familiar voice sounded up from behind her.
Not at first noticing it was familiar Astrid's first reaction was to turn around swiftly and punch the unknown entity in fear that it might be trying to get her. But thankfully she noticed that this was no ghoul or monster, causing her to stop her speeding fist just an inch before hitting the woman's cheek.
The guild master blinked, and then blinked again. It was... Erika.
"Oh, it's just you" she let out a sigh happy of relief, lowering her fist back to her side.
Oh, wait. It was Erika.
As if she suddenly remembered all the things the woman made her go through Astrid summoned her sword and swiftly placed the metal blade against the woman's throat to stop her if she tried any moves.
The silvernette frowned, looking up to Erika with narrowed eyes."What are you doing here? Are you the one who sent me the letter? Is this some sort of trap?"
Who could say. Was this Erika's doing? All this all just another scheme to make her suicide jump again? Granted, this wasn't Erika's style at all. If it really was her plan she would just come right up to the guild master and ask. The letter, the butler, the spirits. It didn't make much sense. But it was all she had to go on right now.

2,179/12,500 ● @tag ● notes

And while you are sitting indoors
waiting for the storm to pass
I will be outside dancing in the rain

❧

A snarky comeback. Of course. What else should she have expected? It seemed to be one of Erika greatest pastimes, insulting Astrid's intelligence and really just her in general. And while she might have asked for it this time in asking such an obvious question it still didn't exactly feel nice to have your ego hurt.
It wasn't the woman's hard stare that made the elf girl visibly shrink in place, but rather her venomous words. Astrid knew she wouldn't be able to do anything to her, the thread mage had some sort of godly powers. Slicing her neck off wouldn't solve anything as much as she wanted to right about now, and would most likely cause her own death, and Astrid really wasn't up for dying a third time. Not today, not ever.
The slayer did her best to match the woman's cold aura, matching her own hard gaze to her's. But in the end the silvernette was the first one to give up first, knowing Erika had her beat in pretty much all departments. Her expression turned into one of defeat, growing soft and disappointed. She retracted the blade from her throat and in a glowing light that only lasted as long as someone blinked, it was gone.
She crossed her arms over her chest, giving the woman a frown. "Okay okay you're right, it was an overreaction. No need for the overkill bruising of my ego. I can handle my own sword without stabbing myself, thanks." Maybe a bit of an overreaction, but it was also kind of justified given the state they were both in right now. Who knew what was going on in this mansion. Anything and everything could be a trap, and it wasn't helping that these spirits were making her nerves go haywire. In this house she was always going to be on edge until they found some way to make the spirits stop trying to communicate with her and put them at ease.

With Erika explaining she too was sent an invitation things got even more weird. Why were they both sent a letter? And why of all people did she have to get stuck with the one who had her suicide jump into her supposed mother's arms? Couldn't she get stuck with someone she got along with for once? Like maybe Kaisto or her brother? That would have been better than being both on edge and stuck with someone... Like Erika. This was going to be hellish. At this point she was tempted to just call it quits and leave, but the elf knew deep down if she did so she would look like a fool both to Wolfgang and herself. And with her ego already bruised pretty badly she didn't need it completely destroyed.
So in the end, this all still came down to what she was doing before. Wandering around in hopes of gathering more clues. But this time, with a a certain thread mage that was sure to keep dealing out the sadistic comments. This was sure to be fun.
At Erika's question Astrid simply shrugged. "I don't have any idea of what this guy wants with either of us, but i plan to find out... By myself." It's not like the person locked the doors or anything, so either of them were free to leave at any time, which the silvernette was hoping Erika would do. Which is one thing that lead the elf to want to find him even more. It was like by not exactly trapping them he was teasing her to come forward. A stupid trap to fall far, but could one really call it a trap when they were fully aware it was one but blindly went through anyway?
Not really wanting to be in the woman's presence when her mind was starting to cloud from all the spiritual energy Astrid turned in place, looking back to the woman from the corner of her vision.
"Leave if you want, or stay. Just don't get in my way."
And with that, she started to walk away down the hallway. No more words would come from her if Erika decided to be a nuisance and walk along with her, the guild master was far too busy trying to keep the voices out of her head. Instead her stare stayed blank and forward, turning when needed almost like she was on some kind of autopilot.

2,918/12,500 ● @tag ● notes

And while you are sitting indoors
waiting for the storm to pass
I will be outside dancing in the rain

❧

Perhaps she had been a little to harsh with Erika. It was all the slayer could think about now as she aimlessly wandered around the empty halls of the abandoned mansion, left alone with nothing but her thoughts and a guilty conscience. It was very out of character for her to get frustrated to easily. The girl was known for her anger issues, even she was aware how monstrous she could get once pushed past the edge, but never before has the want to slice someone's head off been so tempting and inviting. In fact her first reaction to even hearing her words was to punch her in the face, which would have been the case had she not stopped herself. What was wrong with her? This mansion was messing with her mind. It was making her... Irritated and angry. Not two emotions that the woman was unfamiliar with, but they were defiantly emotions she tried to keep hidden. But this place... It had a way of bringing out another side of her. The other side she wasn't too proud of, the side with all the pent up anger and frustration. She needed to solve this case, fast. Before her mind grew too dark to think correctly.

This would have been a good time to have the thread mage with her, as much as she didn't want to admit it. Despite being a questionable sociopath her quick witted nature knew how to get things done with ease.. Though her actions of getting there were also questionable at best. Kicking a young boy over the border? Not the most professional way to do something. But it was the most fast and convenient way to finish the job. Plus the boy survived... She thinks... He made a noise after landing, so he was probably okay. The guild master would have tried to look and see herself, but by the end of the mission she was in too much of a rush to leave.
Erika, in her guild... That wasn't something she could see happening. They already had Lucius, they didn't need another strike on their guild. It was already bad enough housing a coming storm, they didn't need a psychopath too.
... Maybe that was a little mean, again. The longer her thoughts continued the more bitter she became. For once thinking and getting lost in her thoughts was causing her more stress than being in reality. Her feelings about Erika were still conflicted, even after all this time. The woman was a complete mystery wrapped inside of an enigma. On one had she had basically told the silvernette to kill herself, but on the other Astrid had agreed to it. In return for her hearing she had to die in front of Izayuki. That was the deal, and she accepted it. It's not like Erika had forced her too either, it was of her own complete will. The woman's words lulled her into a state of confidence, like she was the right thing to do. Had it been the right thing to do? On one hand she indeed did have her hearing back in full, but on the other she basically traumatized the tanuki. And all for what? So Erika could gain a little fame? Was it even worth it? She couldn't even say no or yes. In the end, she had done it for her own selfish needs. And the elf hated it. She hated how the woman even gave her the offer anyway. She had gone into that war hoping to save the name of Fiore. But in the end, all she had left with was regret.
In a sudden blind fit of frustration and confusion Astrid spun and kicked the closest object as hard as she could. The polished knight armor which had been ever so carefully propped up against the wall of the hallway came crashing down to the hard floor in a heavy noise that resembled accidentally opening the cupboard in your kitchen and having all of your pans spill out onto the ground. The metal helmet and a few other pieces spun in place before slowly shaking to a stop, allowing a cold silence to wash over the mansion once again.
The elf girl forced in and out heavy breaths of air as she stared down at the armor, a red glaze lightly covering her purple optics. It was all too hard to think about. The more she thought about it the more confused she got, and the more confused she got the more angry she became. She could not put the blame for that entire situation on anyone else but herself. And to think she would allow herself to make such a bad decision based solely on greed... Why could she not blame anyone else? It would make this so much easier to deal with. But she could not. There really was no one else to blame but herself, and she had to carry that guilt for the rest of her life.
She wanted to cry out of frustration, but Astrid could only hear Erika taunting her for being a stupid crybaby, just like her brother would when they were younger. Sometimes he would tease her to the brink of tears. Granted it did not take much for her to do so, but he still did it, knowingly too. Then it would end with her throwing him down or running off crying, jut proving his point further.
She stared at herself within the reflection shining upon the armor below her. The whites of her eyes were flushing red while the corners began to hold back the tears she could feel coming, the first signs that someone was about to cry.
"I'm... I'm not a crybaby..." her words weakly cracked half way. Another sign she was about to cry.
"I'm not... A crybaby" her voice came out a little more harsh, almost like she was commanding herself not to break down. But it would not stop. Her eyes began to sting. She couldn't stop herself. After all of this time trying to save face she was crying over her own thoughts. How pathetic could one be? There was nothing to cry about, what was done was done, she could not change the past. But for some reason, she wanted to try anyway. Why couldn't she have cried when her mother tried to make her give up her dreams? Why couldn't she have cried after dying in her mothers arms? Why was it now that she could cry when she didn't want to?
Her chest became heavy, like some sort of ghost pressure was pushing against her body. She swallowed back a whine, biting down to completely stop it. "I'm not a crybaby!!" Narrowing her eyes angrily she picked up the helmet of the broken armor and threw it right into the next set a few feet across the hall. It slammed against the metal, causing a deep dent both in the helmet and the suit. But she did not care, this mansion was the place forcing her to rethink herself over. This mansion was the thing making her cry. How much did she want to bet that the Erika she saw wasn't even real and was just some illusion it thought up to break her? At this point she didn't know. At this point she wasn't against the idea of taking a match to this place and just burning it all down.
Soon after the helmet came into contact with the statue a blink of light came from the head's eye shield. It, along with four other suits strewn across the hallway began to convulse in jagged movements.
Great, had she now awakened something within the mansion? Did she make it angry when she destroyed their friend? Astrid stared bitterly as the four began to move from their pedestals and closed in to her. Though they were kind of slow, a little less intimidating when you could just easily outrun your enemy. But for once, Astrid didn't feel like running. In fact she was completely fine where she was. There was only one way to release her pent up energy now. She had to give back to the mansion for making her so conflicted.
She smirked darkly. "I've never used metal as a punching bag or one of those stress relievers before, but i supposed there's a first time for everything."
Wasting enough time so the suits could get close enough to her they held up their swords in unison before attempting to crash down onto the lady. But when they did so all they made contact with was the floor. Having enough speed to run out of their range in a split second she appeared right behind one of the suits. Both of her arms glowed a bright silver, a veil of light trailing from behind them with her movements. She held one fist into the other. "White Dragon's Wing Attack!" With a cry she brought down her fists into the armor, causing it to fall to the ground as nothing but metal scraps. The trails of light crashed into the remaining three, knocking them back a couple of feet.
Astrid landed upon the floor in a crouch, holding herself up with an arm. By this time her eyes were completely red, the number one sign she has lost herself to her anger. A deep laughter rose up from the elf's throat, bubbling like venom. The metal was nothing to her, it might as well be like holding paper up to a blazing fire. If she didn't know any better she would think their armor was made of butter. She rose with her laughter, placing a hand firmly onto her face. "Is that all you have? Really? I've seen vulcans that have higher defenses than you, and they can't even string together a comprehensible sentence."
The three knights looked to each other as if in either in confusion or fear, though their lack of faces made it hard to tell. It was their mistake. Having taken their attention away from the slayer she threw a decent sized ball of twirling light towards the one on the left, making it clatter to the ground as it fell apart due to the powerful attack. The remaining two jumped out of their skins, at least, they would have if they had anyway. They looked back to the silvernette, who was now calmly tossing a hovering ball up and down on the tips of her finger, like some kind of basketball, her free hand placed sassily upon her hip. They both took a step back in hesitation, feeling the malice aura flicking off from her body.
"Boo~" she joked, taking a small step forward. Leaping up into the air the two suits landed back on the ground with a clang before beginning to sprint down the long hallway, their arms flailing about like scared babies. Just what she needed, a run. How fun.
She wasn't done here yet, not until this mansion paid for making her look like a fool.

4,769/12,500 ● @tag ● notes

And while you are sitting indoors
waiting for the storm to pass
I will be outside dancing in the rain

❧

Dusk swiftly turned to night, and night to dawn. All the meanwhile the slayer did not waste a single moment. Her fury of attacks continued on throughout the entire night. Though since the Cursed Lands did not acknowledge the day and night cycle how long could one really say it was? Either way, it at least lasted a couple of hours. Every ghoul that crossed Astrid's path was met with a grisly demise. It was their own fault, really. As if messing with an angered high ranking mage wasn't enough her primary magic was holy, a power which ghouls were naturally weak to. It was not her fault they chose to attack someone who could so easily over power them. All they had to do was get out of her way and they would be left alone. But no, a lot of these ghouls seemed to really want to protect this house, for whatever reason. And those ghouls were easily disposed of. The elf girl did not tire, not in the slightest. Actually with every hit she laid upon the residence here the more power and energized she became, it was a feeling not even a strong dose of heroine could ever hope of matching. It was almost orgasmic, the way her anger and stress fueled and flowed into her every attack. She was letting go years and years of pent up stress and emotions, emotions that not even playing her violin could ever bring out of her. These were feelings so deep not even Astrid herself knew of their existence. Is this what it felt like to just let everything go? Was this what she has been missing out on this entire time? No wonder people found fighting so exhilarating, it was like a breath of fresh air. The way the knights would crumble beneath her strength with one hit, the way ghouls screamed in horror as they fizzled away under the bright dragon's light. Never in her life has she felt so powerful, like she could do anything. She felt immortal. Actually, that wasn't even a lie. She was immortal. As long as her soul stayed in tact she would just keep coming back from death. Over, and over, and over again. There was no getting rid of Astrid. She was like that one weed that no matter how much you sprayed or cut she would just keep growing back stronger.

But of course, eventually, the girl ran out of things to fight. This was a house filled to the brim with spirits, but even some spirits were smart enough to stay away from the fuming girl.
With the hours upon hours of fighting finally catching up to her the silvernette collapsed onto the cold floor in the middle of scattered debris and ectoplasm. She took deep breaths in and exhaled out almost immediately. Her chest was pounding, her heart trying to calm down her ragged breathing so she wouldn't have a complete attack. She could still feel her veins pumping with blood and energy. They throbbed, and begged for more use. But the girl was enjoying being on the edge of euphoria too much to listen to her body. The edge of the silvernette's lips curled, her cheeks flushed bright red as her body tensed and untensed automatically. This feeling, is only what she could guess an intimate night of passion was like. Though of course not having done anything like that herself, she could only guess. But still, it was such a big rush of pleasure, this could only match it or be even lower. She couldn't even fathom a greater feeling of pleasure than this, it could simply not exist.
Strange moans and laughter escaped in the midst of her heavy breathing as she rolled around on the floor, grasping her arms over her chest in the center of a circle of chaos. She should do this more often. No amount of helping people or playing her violin has ever brought her such satisfaction. It wouldn't be hard to find somewhere with a bunch of evil monsters to beat up. Maybe some attacking a small village in the middle of nowhere. She could beat it up and then leave. That was killing two birds with one stone, right? It was perfect. She had found the perfect stress relief.

In the middle of her orgasmic moans and cackles one of the metal helmets belonging to the two remaining suits of armor dug its way up from the remains of both itself and brethren. It sat upon the pile of metal for a moment before jumping off, causing a rather loud thud. Hearing the thud the helmet tensed up, only to realize Astrid's sounds of happiness had stopped as soon as it leapt off, and instead an eerie silence stood in its place.
"Think you can escape from me~?" her sweet sing-song voice broke that fragile slice, now standing above the last helmet with a sickly sweet grin on her features. In an attempt to escape her clutches the helmet sprung off and away from the slayer, jumping as fast as it could to get away. So it was running again. Funny, how this mansion acted big and tough, but when it came down to actually getting physical it got scared and whimpered away. Why was she ever so scared of this house in the first place again?
"Another runner? Good, give me that satisfaction again. Bring me to the edge! I'm starting to get used to the feeling~!" She already missed the rush of the hunt. How long should she chase it this time? It wouldn't be any fun to just cheat and instantly crack it open. She wanted to be brought to the edge of euphoria again, or maybe this time even go past it. She didn't care, but she was not going to leave this place until she felt satisfied enough to do so.
She traveled forward, slowly, as the helmet was not gaining enough speed just by hobbling its way across the floor to give her a real chase. She allowed a great distance between them. Enough so she could keep her eye on it, but also just enough so it may feel like it has even the slightest chance of successfully running away. In the end, she knew it didn't. But the fact that it thought it did gave her all the more of a rush when she smashes it.

It was about a few minutes into walking that the elf suddenly stopped in place. The energy hit her like a wall of heat. An intense wave of malice and anger rushed over her body. Not her own, but rather, someone else's. But unlike before, she could pinpoint the source of this. Perhaps this Sombra character himself? Or just some other power ghoul that lived here, she wasn't sure. But whatever it was, it was powerful. Way more powerful than any of these weaklings had been.
This was her chance of getting the climaxing rush she has been so desperately looking for all of these grueling hours. Just the thought of it was almost enough to make her mouth water.
She edged closer to the wall from which she could tell the energy was wafting from. Another hallway maybe? No, this hallway was just one big square. The other side was long out of her reach. So then, a secret passage? How cute, a secret passage in a big mansion. It was like that show she used to watch when she was younger. You know, the one with the talking dog, the stoner hippy, the nerd, the bimbo, and the questionable gay blonde who wore an ascot. What was the name of it again? She wasn't entirely sure, she hasn't actually sat down and watched television in ages, not with the amount of work she did.
Usually there was some secret lever to these things. But Astrid was in a rush, so all she did was fire a light ray into the wall and it crumbled under the pressure to revel a hidden staircase that spiraled down maybe fifty storeys. She walked closer to it, skipping over the crumbled pieces of wall that had fallen down. A cold draft rose up from the staircase as she peeked down, blinking red optics. Wow, it was so dark she couldn't even see past the fifth step. How did this man not trip and fall down the stairs every night on his way to the bathroom? It did not matter. Soon he would be dead anyway, and then he would never have to worry about tripping. Or really, anything ever again.
Hearing the clatter of the helmet continue down the hallway still Astrid looked back to it. It had only traveled so far since she turned her attention to the secret entrance. How pathetic...
To put it out of its misery Astrid shot a light beam at it, in which it instantly fizzed away upon contact, leaving nothing more than black burn mark upon the rug.
With that done, the slayer began to carefully descended into the darkness in search of the source of the powerful energy.

As she ever so slowly descended down the steep staircase a light source at the bottom grew brighter. Looks like he had some lights after all, thank god. It would have been a pain to use up some of her magical energy to create her own again. And she would rather save all of it for the big fight. She wanted to give this her all, to create the big rush she has been looking for all this time. She could not wait to dig her claws into this monstrous beast.
Astrid skipped the last step of the stairs, landing somewhat loudly. The malice energy only grew stronger. If what she felt up there was only like walking to a wall of heat, this was like walking into the actual fire itself. The energy was stagnant and thick, hanging in the air all around her. If she was not enjoying this so much the slayer would probably start gagging on it. But right now, the smell might as well be as sweet and fresh as a buttercream cake.
She closed her eyes, taking in a deep breath through her nose to inhale the energy. Not so much to enjoy it, as to try and pinpoint the exact location her prey was in. The energy has grown so large now that it was hard to tell where exactly it was coming from, meaning for now she had to rely on her enhanced slayer smell to find out where it way. Her head turned suddenly, catching the scent. It was close, closer than she expected. Closing her eyes Astrid allowed her nose to guide her, twisting and turning from hallway to hallway until... It grew so power it was starting to burn the inside of her nostrils.
She stopped in her tracks, reopening crimson eyes. There in front of her stood the source of power.

Erika.

No, wait. This was not actually Erika, of course. This was just the mansion playing with her, toying with her mind. It was merely a ghost, a fraction of what Erika actually was. A fake. Of course. It was too convenient that Erika would be here along with her. Two times in a row? It didn't make sense.
But with this... Oh with this, this Sombra character didn't know what he had done. While scared of the blue haired girl's appearance at first she has now seen through its facade. It was now only taunting her, telling her to fight it. All of those ghouls had only been the warm up for the true fight.
This was its biggest mistake.
The silvernette grinned, her fists igniting in a harsh blaze of silver light, raising them up in a fighting stance.
"I'm not scared of you anymore, God... Bring it."
Fueled by her many hours of slaughtering and bloodshed the slayer sprung forward towards the unconscious woman, attempting to punch her right in the chest.

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And while you are sitting indoors
waiting for the storm to pass
I will be outside dancing in the rain

❧

The connection was made. Astrid's glowing fist of fury hit the woman straight on, causing a massive explosion. She had done it, she had actually laid a hit upon the girl, she had done what she earlier thought was the impossible. But something was not right. The Holy Nova attack was detailed with an explosion, the slayer knew that as she had used this move hundreds and hundreds of times before. But this time it was different. What should have just been one quick explosion that knocked Erika backwards a couple of feet did not stop. In fact, it continued.
The elf was knocked back by this unfamiliar explosion also, catching her in a daze of confusion. The explosion shouldn't normally knock her back like that, it usually only worked on the target and the target alone.
Surprised and unsuspecting the guild master was thrown into the opposite wall, causing her to choke on her own breath as her back hit the wall full force. She slid down the hard surface, landing on her side painfully. She groaned, pushing herself upwards and placing her hand upon her forehead. What was that? What had happened? Time in between entering the mansion and the punch was suddenly cloaked in a heavy haze, like a distant memory she couldn't quite grasp. She could faintly recall a feeling of anger and malice as well as a few things she had done, but other than that everything else was like a dream she couldn't remember the exact details of.
But it would seem as though she wouldn't have too much time to think on things at all. The scream of dying ghouls filled her ears, loud and damaging. Astrid covered her ears to block out the hurting sound, only to find herself soon joining them in the chorus of agony. The flash of light covered her whole, piercing into her skin, burning into her flesh like hot fire. No, not just her skin. Her soul. Her mind. Every part of her being was consumed in agonizing and burning pain, like she was just hit by a shower of falling arrows on every inch of her body. A loud scream tore from her throat, begging whatever was attacking her to stop, but it only got worse. It carried on until she thought she was going to die. Really, death would have accepted by this point, anything to stop this pain from tearing her apart. But eventually, the overpowering pain stopped at its peak, and became numbing sensation. Instead of white covering her vision it faded to a dull silver color. Had she... Passed on? Was this some kind of after life? Heaven or hell? Or maybe something even more. She couldn't seem to move. No matter how hard to tried to force where her limbs should be to move they would not. In fact she couldn't even feel them, she couldn't feel herself. She could not look around, she could not blink, she could not feel. It was like she was just... Staring.
Though soon enough things did start to move. Just not by her own accord. The silver color split in two, revealing some sort of laboratory. She guessed all this time the silver had been a door in actuality. A door she had not planned to open. She wanted to look around, to scout out her surroundings and try and find some rational reason for what was happening to her, but she still found herself not being able to control anything. Instead it was as though someone was forcing her to do specific things. She would blink when she did not think of doing such an action, and move when she couldn't even feel the floor beneath her feet. It was curious indeed. She would have panicked, but she could not find herself able to do that either. It was like she was currently in a state of neutrality. Unable to feel anything, emotions included. Instead all she could do was watch, as if in someone else's body, and simply sit back for the ride.
Who or whatever this was, was currently very small. That or this lab was just very big. A stab of jealousy rung through her mind, but she was unsure if that was her own or their feelings. But still, the various things strewn about the bright room were very interesting looking indeed. At least, the things she got to see were. This person was very obviously not as interested in these things as she was, as they didn't seem to pay attention to them at all. Which may have been a good thing, who knew what this stuff could do, it probably wasn't safe. What could they possibly be looking for in this messy room?
Spotting a taller man in a lab coat Astrid felt a strange excitement fill her mind before the body sped up towards him. They exchanged a few words. By the sound of her body's voice, it was a girl. A young one at that. That would explain the shortness. The taller, more older man mentioned something about a birthday. Though with the way he said it, it was almost like he was talking about making her. Like some kind of test tube baby. A strange way to put a day of birth, but to each their own. Maybe it was like a joke or something.
The small girl asked for a simple present, to spend some time with her father. To which he agreed. A sweet gesture. It made Astrid wonder briefly about her own father. She hadn't seen him since the last time he visited her a few months back, but that's the life of a coal miner. He was always busy... Seemed to be a constant thing in her family.
Omega... The word caught the girl's attention and returned it to the situation at hand. It felt, familiar. Painfully familiar, like she had heard it only but recently. But no matter how much she tried she could not recall why the name was so important to her. It was apparently the girl's name, or maybe even a nickname. Perhaps she had met this Omega person before? Even though the elf had the most terrible memory normally if she thought hard enough something would come up, but nothing did. Why could she not remember who this Omega was?

The scene melted away, the sound of the laboratory's low hums were replaced with violent screams. Finding herself able to control her movements now the elf focused her glazed over optics upon the source of the screeching. It was Erika, holding her head, her screaming filling the entire room. It was one of the most painful sounds she had ever heard, even more painful than the sounds of the ghouls from earlier. She appeared to be in imaginable pain.
Astrid wanted to move towards her. The reason? She wasn't entirely sure herself. It was either to comfort her or silence her for good, but she could not pinpoint the exact reason why. All she knew, was that she wanted to. But she could not. The silvernette found herself only able to move her eyes as she laid weakly against the cold wall of the dungeon. The rest of her body was too numb to even try and lift, like her entire body was just one big weight. She was simply left to hear the woman scream her lungs out.
"... Erika..."
And like that, the slayer found herself unable to keep her eyes open, and fell back into what she thought to be but a simple dream.

She was met once again with the silver doors. Though this time, the body no longer seemed to be so short. In fact, she had grown drastically. Another point in time perhaps? Was she going to keep coming back at different points in this girl's life? But for what reason was she being showed all of this? Why her, and what for? These scenes had nothing to do with her, not from what she could tell. So why? Why could she not go back and try to escape from the dungeon. The real body was still alive, at least she thought so. She could only move her eyes, but that had to count for something. She wasn't dead yet, even after all that pain. So why was she here when she could be trying to calm Erika down and escape? Why?
A shot of nervousness interrupted her questioning. Not her own, Astrid knew that much. She had nothing to worry about, she was more curious than anything. So maybe this was Omega's nerves. But why was she so nervous? She opened the doors once more, but instead of those washed white walls, the walls in the room were covered in an ominous red glow. Things had changed in here since her last visit. Things were a bit more hectic. Experiments littered around the room, the smooth humming noises now grew louder as though tons of pressure were being put onto them. A cry of success echoed within the room, catching the girl's attention. The source of the noise was none other than the father again. Though this time he looked a little... Older, only confirmed Astrid's suspicions of time travel.
Just in front of him, laid a dead body. The remains of something, though it was hard to tell what exactly it had been... Only thing she did know, was that it had once been alive and breathing.
The slayer was taken aback. Just what kinds of experiments was he working on? Who were these people? She was utterly horrified. She wanted to look away, close her eyes, or anything really, just to stop looking. But the body did not until finally it looked up to the father, thankfully. The two began another conversation. This time Astrid found herself understanding even less. Something about sacrifice and creations. But the thing that she understood fully, was his aggressive tone. Though not able to know what exactly was going on it was more than obvious that this man was no longer impressed with Omega. In fact with the way he was talking to her, it made it sound like she really just was another creation of his...
So then, Omega wasn't his daughter? Though she guessed it all depends on your definition of what a child was... This was all too confusing. The more she thought on it the more complex it became. She wasn't even fully concentrating on their exchange of words. All she could really do, was absorb it into her mind. Maybe it would make sense eventually, or maybe it wouldn't. Either way this made the girl upset. Her mood changed to sadness... No wait, even more than that. Anger. Emptiness.
She looked back to the remains and cleaned them. A disgusting job. If Astrid could, she would probably throw up. But Omega seemed to be weirdly used to it.
For a split second after cleaning, she looked back to the man, tears threatening to pour over her eyes. This feeling...
It was no longer just anger. It was wrath.

Purple optics shot open, instantly staring open at the screaming girl once more.
Omega...
The word came back to her at that moment. But why? Did Erika have something to do with these flashbacks? If so, what? And why was Astrid seeing them? It didn't make much sense at all. But one thing was overly clear now, she had to find her way to Erika, no matter what. She was the reason this was happening, and Astrid had to stop her. Yes, that is why she wanted to move towards the woman, her feelings made sense now. Because she was the reason this was happening to her. The elf figured if she reached her, she could stop her. What would she do once she reached her though? Well, that was debatable. She could just cut her head off and be done with this, but even Astrid knew she couldn't do that. She was no murderer, even if Erika kind of deserved it. So then, what? Try and comfort her? How did someone comfort sometime like Erika? And would that even work? The slayer didn't know, nor did she entirely care. Her feelings were overwhelming, she just... Had to reach her. It's like if she reached her, she would just automatically know what to do. At least, that's what her body told her.
Unlike before her body started to move. Slowly, and weakly, as if it took most of her strength to even start crawling like she was. But still, she was doing it nonetheless. The numbness started to fade, but with it, came the remnants of the pain she had felt by the blinding light. She winced back, feeling the burning coming back. But her gaze stuck to the screaming thread mage. She forced herself a little more forward.
"... Erika..."
But once again, soon enough, her sight became fuzzy and eyelids heavy, until she could not keep them open. The girl ceased her crawling, and fell back unto unconsciousness.

... This time it was not the silver doors, but rather the old man once again. Even older than before, a hint even more time had passed since the last flashback. He told her to take care of the newest experiment. Great, even more gruesome stuff. This Omega person was lucky she didn't have the capability to throw up.
The woman's voice held a faint hint of similarity, even more so than the name. But now it was driving her crazy. Who was this? And why were they so familiar to her?
She had a lot of time to think upon it as they moved from place to place, lingering upon some of the other experiments. They appeared to be... Bruised, beaten. Some were still even barely alive, holding onto their last breaths. That's when it happened. It was brief, but the slayer managed to catch a flash of a reflection within the glass of the cages.
The blue hair, the blue eyes. If she could still feel her emotions she would probably freak out.
It was Erika.
There was no denying the woman's appearance. A bit younger maybe, but not by much from the first time she met her. She was looking as Erika, she was Erika. All of this time.
The name suddenly made sense. The woman had said something about her true name from when they first met, but seeing as how she preferred the other name it had easily been forgotten and forced to the back of her mind.
Omega... Erika...
Yes, that was it. But somehow, revealing the person's true identity didn't sooth Astrid in the slightest. It just left her with more questions to be answered. Answers she may never get if she wasn't able to go back to the real word and stop the girl from freaking out.
A faint voice disturbed the silvernette's mind. Once again paying attention Erika now appeared to be talking to one of the experiment strapped down to the table, the most defining feature being the long pink hair upon her head. She would have looked cute, you know, if she wasn't strapped down by chains. A pang of sorrow wad forced into the slayer's mind as the conversation continued. Killing herself? Astrid would have never even begun to imagine Erika thought such a thing. She came off as too... Arrogant and cocky to take her own life. But when it came down to it, Astrid now knew... She was just as human as she was. She had never taken in the woman's emotions at all, figuring she was some kind of god, what, with her magic powers that seemed to have no limit. But being forced to watch this and feel everything she went through... If Astrid could she would start to cry.
Sadness tugged at her heart. Well, Erika's heart. But Astrid knew if she could feel her own emotions right now she too would just on the verge of tears.
How wrong she had been to put a label on the woman, how wrong she had wished for her death. In the end, Erika had goals and ambitions too, as well as trauma. She was just like her. Feeling betrayed by the one you thought you loved most, feeling as though you life did not matter. Astrid could not have related more with anything else if she tried... And to see someone like Erika with these emotions...
... She knew what she had to do.

The flashback ended, and the elf had never felt to empowered to continue forward. Her body still held weight, and forced her down. But still, she crawled despite this. Each tug pulled her forward towards the pained Erika. The burning sensation from all of these memories still stung with every movement, but she gritted through the pain and continued anyway, keeping her gaze locked upon Erika.
"... Erika..."

Feeling herself start to give into the heavy sleep again Astrid reached out a hand, as though to try and grab the woman, though she was still too far away to actually do so.

No... That was wrong.

"... O... Mega..."

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And while you are sitting indoors
waiting for the storm to pass
I will be outside dancing in the rain

❧

The other woman's memories continued to wash into her mind, one after the other. Though instead of memories taking place within the strange laboratory this time it was taking place within the time frame of Erika learning her magic. So the woman was not born with these powers, but rather learned it from a weird lady in the woods. Interesting, especially when you take into consideration how well Erika utilized her magic. Astrid had always assumed she was born with it or something, seeing how effortlessly it took for her to use it. But now that she thought about it anything with the right amount of training and effort put into it could seem that way with pretty much anything. She herself hasn't used dragon slayer magic for as long as most of the others had, but with the amount of time she has spent developing her skills over the past couple of months to anyone else it may seem as though she was born with her magic. Though honestly she may have cheated a little, seeing as how her past magic was the same exact thing, just simply channeled through her violin. But now she was getting off track, something easily done when she could do nothing but watch and think. As if she wasn't scatter brained enough within her own body already now it was like she was forced to watch a movie, only now she couldn't get up to pee or take a sip of her overly priced soda. She was stuck. In between memories the silvernette was moved back into her own body, only to be met with a lack of energy and a screaming Erika. She tried her best to crawl forward, but in the end she would only move a couple of inches before the threat of unconsciousness was too much for her to handle, and she was once again forced back into the memories of the sociopath.
This lasted two more times. She wasn't sure why exactly it stopped where it had, it was like getting to the good part in the movie and then they never bothered to finish the rest. But honestly, Astrid wasn't sure if she even wanted to see more, despite there being a part of her that wished she could know the woman's story even better. It was fascinating to see what had made her into... What she was now. But at the same time she wasn't sure how many more depressing things she wanted to see today. There was such a thing as a limit on those types of things. First the talk on suicide and now her dead mentor, there wasn't much else that could make this even more depressing than it already was. And Astrid could do nothing but sit and watch. The past was the past, after all. These were merely memories of another, she didn't have the power to alter anything even though she wanted to.
How desperately she wanted to reach out to younger Erika and tell her everything would be okay. But she could not.
... Although, she did have the next best thing...
The last memory faded, and with it, so did her fatigue. No longer did the memories burn at her body, nor slowed down her movements. The room fell into silence. That was until at least, Erika began cackling like a mad woman. No one was supposed to see? Her memories, maybe? So that hadn't really been her fault. Her punch must have done it. Strange, Astrid did not think Holy Nova had such a power... Maybe it wasn't even Holy Nova, but rather some chemical reaction from both the attack and Erika herself? The guild master was not sure, nor did she think it would ever be explained. But what was done, was done. She had seen the memories, even if it hadn't been of her own accord. And now Erika looked pissed. Attention was drawn to the crawling slayer, causing her to freeze and tense. Erika knew what she had seen, she knew Astrid had gazed upon those deepest and darkest memories. The guild master could not blame her for being so angry. She too would probably want to kill someone who watched the memories she would rather keep locked away forever. Well, maybe not kill... But in Erika's case she could understand why the thread mage would want to.
Which is why, despite having way more than enough time to dodge or get out of the way from her dragon roar, she found herself unable to. No, she wasn't unable to. Rather, she chose not to.
She had done the unforgivable, and nothing could change that. Only in her death would Erika ever be comfortable once again, not having to worry about someone else in the world knowing her burdens. The slayer understood too well. And after witnessing the memories, it was all she could think to do for the woman to forgive her. No longer did she resent the woman for her past, be it the mutual understanding of emotions or just out of pity. Rather than seeing her as some sort of other worldly being, Astrid could only see her as human. A human with feelings. A human with trauma. A human with reason.
This understanding is what caused the elf to accept her fate. Watching the power grow around Erika's mouth and reality distort she moved her eyes away to the floor before closing them, awaiting for the massive power to strike her.
But it never did.

Instead, when Astrid opened her eyes once more the spell blasted the vampire away in a brilliant light, along with the majority of his mansion. The guild master did her best to protect herself from the falling debris and rubble. She summoned her protective orb to cover her whole, causing the bits that would have fallen down upon her to bounce off it and away. Eventually, all that was left, was a massive crater and some small structures of what used to be the mansion. The protective bubble flickered away, and the slayer stood up instantly. Her first instinct was to look for Erika, to make sure she was okay. Her worried purple orbs scanned over the cluttered area until just a little bit away laid the blue haired woman.
"Erika!"
Thankful that she would not have to dig around and search for her body under all this mess Astrid began to climb her way carefully over all the crumbled pieces of stone towards her. Once before the thread mage she looked over her body briefly. Not too much physical damage, but by her weak aura she had used too much magical power. The elf bent down, hovering her hands just slightly above her body. "White Dragon's Healing Touch."
Upon her command a bright humming light flickered to life upon both of her hands. It wasn't much of a feeling spell, in fact she didn't really have one for magical energy, but she hoped just the feeling of the holy light alone would cause some positive effect on Erika.
"Don't move, the spell works best with no disturbances." She wasn't sure if Erika was awake, or could even hear her. But the girl warned her, just in case. At least, she hoped Erika was passed out. That way this next part wouldn't be too awkward. A gentle smile graced Astrid's lips.
"Thank you, by the way. I mean, about the whole not killing me thing... You could have, i saw everything you wanted to keep locked away... But you chose not to. That means a lot."
She wasn't sure how Erika would react if she was awake, which is why she hoped that the woman was out cold. But still, she felt the need to say it despite the slight chance it was heard. She saw the look in her eyes, she wanted to kill her so badly. But she didn't. In fact, she saved her... It left the girl a little confused, but she supposed she shouldn't think too deeply into miracles.

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And while you are sitting indoors
waiting for the storm to pass
I will be outside dancing in the rain

❧

For some reason the elf did not flinch at Erika's words, nor the thread she ever so carefully directed to jab into her face. Instead she continued her spell, the same small smile plastered upon her lips as before. Call it blind faith, but Astrid no longer thought of his woman as a corrupted God, and therefore no longer feared her or her actions. That also went for killing her. Instead she took it as some sort of playful gesture, a dark one, but still playful nonetheless. If that was her intention or not, she did not know. But she at least would like to think she meant it in that way, if not just messing with her. At least she knew there wasn't anything too wrong with her, if she was messing with her like this. It's when Erika starts throwing out the sweet compliments out you know you have a dire situation on your hands.
Even as the thread mage continued to throw insults at her, Astrid could not seem to show anger or show any hint of irritation in her expression. It was strange, that just a few hours ago she probably would have attempted to claw Erika's face off a few hours ago if she said such things to her, but right now the slayer could only feel a strange calmness within her, be it the adrenaline wearing off from their adventure or welcoming this new image of Erika... Or maybe a little bit of both.
No matter the case, this was defiantly the happiest she most calm she had been in a while, weirdly enough. And it was rather nice.
Erika closing her eyes right after saying something so daunting did not concern the guild master. She could try and play dead all she wanted but Astrid was constantly connected and in sync with the souls and spirits around her. If she was dying or weakening she would be aware of it. And as far as she was aware, Erika was far from dead.
"It is funny how you don't have the energy to move, yet still run your mouth a mile a minute" the elf mused. She knew Erika probably had enough energy to get up, probably. Well she didn't know for a fact, but she figured by now her spell would have had some effect. But she was in no mood to argue. Not even with her. Astrid found no problem in carrying her back, in fact she probably would have offered if the woman had not first, kind of like a way to seal this new relationship they had... Whatever it could be called. Friends? Maybe? Perhaps not... Though what did that creation say again?

"All you have to do is understand, right? I understand so that makes us friends."

Understand... Yes, that was something you needed in some respects for a connection to form. A mutual understanding on one another... Astrid could not say if Erika understood or related to her in any way, but now she could understand Erika. That was enough. At least for her.
"Friends..."
Talk about something she never thought she would call Erika of all people...
She soon ceased her healing spell, causing the light upon her hands to flicker before disappearing.
She then picked the woman up, bending down and allowing for her to climb upon her back. Once done she would rise to her legs, at first almost tipping over to the side before she was able to adjust herself properly.
"You're lucky i'm so kind, otherwise i would have just left you here to roast in the sun for patronizing me." It was not said with bitterness or malice, rather it was just an empty threat. A dark, playful gesture to match that of Erika's earlier.
The slayer began to traverse over the rubble and debris, struggling a few times, but always managing to catch herself before anything bad happened. Erika was lucky the silvernette had spent a lot of her childhood carrying large parts of machines around for her grandfather, otherwise she might have not had the muscle to carry her.
Midway through her walking the woman upon her back proposed that Astrid should take her back to Oahu... To her house, in order to make sure her grandfather's safety. She didn't know the full details of that scientist person she had witnessed in Erika's memories... But if he was as dangerous as she was leading her to believe then it might not be the best idea to let her go back to Peace Village. And she couldn't just let the thread mage run wild. Both for her own and everyone else's safety. Even though Astrid understood her actions that still didn't mean they were good or right, she could cause mischief if bored enough. This way Astrid could maybe keep an eye on her and try to help her. And even if she couldn't cure her herself she was sure her guild mates could do something about it, they were usually good at making people feel at home. Just like Lucius...
Except maybe this time a miracle could happen she could actually help this one instead of just hoping and praying one day everything might just magically fix itself.

"I wouldn't say my house is all that. Maybe better than some, but i don't keep what i don't need. My house fits everything i need and nothing more, that is good enough. And no, i paid for the entire thing myself. Ace and Guild Master checks aren't as bad as everyone thinks they are. You probably already know this, but some of my money goes to my grandfather, so even if i wanted a bigger house i wouldn't be able to afford it in the long run."
The elf kept her head forward in thought, glancing backwards and keeping quiet for a few seconds before speaking again.
"Hey... You remember on our last mission, how you asked if you should join Golden Phoenix? Well... If you're still interested, i wouldn't mind if you did. It'd be fun to have a new face in the guild hall. You don't need to answer it right away, it's a sudden invite and we're both exhausted beyond compare, but i feel bad for rejecting you in such a harsh way before. So if you still want, you're welcome to join any time."
It was a sudden change in heart, very sudden. But if Erika joined the guild Astrid knew she had a better chance of helping and understanding the woman more. And who was she to deny what would possibly help her evolve? Guilds were meant as a way to further one's being, after all.
Astrid would not say anything further, even if Erika responded with anything smart.
Instead the rest of the way she would be lost in thought, wondering if she was doing the right thing.
... And how she was going to explain this to the others back home. Wolfgang was sure to be worried sick. She had been gone longer than a night. In fact, she hadn't even noticed, but it seemed to be morning judging by the lighting.
... Morning? Just how long had they been in there? And how had it been that long? Astrid did not know, her memory of the night being hazed in this static feeling whenever she tried to remember anything in between first entering the mansion. She could not recall much, but she assumed that had something to do with the mansion's influence. That or some sort of time magic used. She did not know, but that would not matter. They had both escaped, alive, free from Sombra's threats of death.

Heels.
The thought hit her like a train. Having escaped to the edges of the rubble Astrid let out a sudden cry of frustration, purple eyes widening in realization. "Oh no my heels!"
The white heels she had left at the beginning of the endeavor. She had completely forgotten she had taken them off. No wonder she was having such trouble walking on the fallen pieces of the mansion. She hadn't even noticed until now. They had cost her so much, and now they were probably destroyed by the powerful force of the dragon's roar. They were painful yes, but cute also. And she would endure anything in order to present herself as she wanted. Seems now as though she would have to dip into her savings again to buy another pair. The silvernette sighed deeply. It was true that she had just admitted earlier that guild master checks were good, but they weren't that good. Do you know how much those heels had costed her? A lot, lets just say that. She would have to cut down on spending for a while in order to make up for it.
There was nothing she could do. "It's no use..."
Slumping her shoulders in distress she shook her head, readjusting the woman on her back to fit more comfortably before continuing on, a little more heat broken than before.

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