Fumeo v Katia

Darkness.

“Greetings friends, today we have gathered to see the blessed union between a man and a woman.”

A blinding light.

“On this beautiful, clear day in Krenyra, we shall bear witness to these two souls coming together and growing stronger as one.”

Suddenly she was aware of an audience, one filled with painfully familiar faces. His parents. His father. Towards the back of the row were his friends from school. At the altar, he stood with a woman, her face obscured by a white veil. 

Anticipation. 

Her hands gripped the edges of her seat. Someone tapped her shoulder, and she turned with  great speed to the sound of that sickly saccharine voice. It was one she could remember clearly despite years of trying to forget.

“Ahhh… Weddings always make me cry, you know? For one reason or another. Even my own had me sniffling at the altar, ahaha! You can go ahead and just ask your father. He’ll tell you the whole story.”

The woman laughed in response to the clearly incredulous, hateful look she received, “What’s wrong? You know he’s right next to you. He wouldn’t miss this for the world. Go on.”

Her head immediately snapped to the opposite direction, where she was shocked and horrified to see a man sitting there, his face a gaping hole and another woman- also faceless- clinging onto him like a parasite. They had turned to look at her, gurgling and grumbling lowly.

His voice was garbled as he spoke, as if he was both a hair’s breadth and a mile away at the same time, “Oh she cried like a baby you know. What a day. That’s when I knew I couldn’t fucking stand her.”

The woman prying at his lap giggled a bit.

 Slender fingers caressed her back and she turned back to her mother who was now grinning rather sardonically , “Isn't marriage such a lovely thing? Oh, the memories. This one will be just like ours. Aren’t you excited?”

Silence.

The bride’s veil was lifted, to reveal  exactly what she had feared. An odiously beautiful visage. A turbulent storm was unleashed inside her and she unceremoniously rose from her seat to snarl at the woman in white. She was ignored by the couple and audience alike, as if she was completely invisible. Only her mother returned her fiery glare.

“Thomas and Molly will finally be joined through the bonds of love! Are there any objections?”

She opened her mouth to scream, but her mother quickly wrapped her arms around her as she had many times before, a hand muffling her cries. 

“See Katia? See what happens when you abandon your family? You get nothing more than heartache and broken promises. You should’ve listened to me all those years, but now you get to learn the hard way. Just like your me. Just like your mother.”

Laughter.

They were all laughing at her. The bride giggled, her groom snickering and pointing. Even the  faceless couple sputtered and snorted in glee. Amelia was chuckling in her ear and she struggled fruitlessly in her mother’s constrictive vice.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” she lilted.

Her limbs suddenly became stiff and lifeless, as if the strings holding her together had snapped. The room went cold, and she could feel chains coiling upon her hands and feet- she was helpless to do anything at all, even cry. Her mother was cackling now. “Poor Katia.”

“You may now kiss the bride.”

No!

—

“No!”

Katia started up in her bed, her cheap weathered sheets scrunched up in her white-knuckled grip on either side of her. Her breath was heavy, her chest heaving as cold sweat cascaded down her body. The places where her skin touched the fabric were sticky, as if she’d been glued to the bed before falling asleep. She groaned before sitting up. Just another crappy dream.

Surprisingly, Rosachime hadn’t come down from her bunk to check on her, even though she’d most likely been screaming in her sleep. A quick glance at the top bed had surprised her, at the current moment it was only residence to the girl’s hammer (she always slept with it), and its owner was nowhere to be seen. Everyone on the team knew she rarely went anywhere without it.

 The time was 23:00. She frowned. There was definitely something off if Rosachime was not in bed fast asleep this late at night. Katia bolted into the main sitting area, where Lucki sat reading the newspaper in dim candlelight, a cup of tea in her hand. 

“Ah Katia, what’s wrong? Why’re you up so late- and in such a hurry? I was about to head to bed, but I couldn’t sleep so I made myself some tea. Would you like some?”

“Where the hell is Rosachime?”

“Huh?” the other girl was taken aback.

“She’s not in her bed, and she left her hammer there. Where is she?”

Katia’s patience was beginning to run thin even with what little conversation they had shared- Lucki was always a pain when it came to Rosachime. She was always quick to cover for her, making excuses for everything she messed up and comforting her whenever she cried. There was no reason to have faith in anything a bleeding heart like her had to say.

“She told me she went out for a walk to see a friend,” Lucki’s tone wavered a bit and Katia clenched her fists.

“She never goes for walks at night! Hell, as far as I know she’s afraid of the dark, and she has no friends! You should know that better than anyone, huh? Why did you let her go?”

“You need to calm down, Kat. I had no reason to stop her. She’s her own person, you know,” she sipped her drink.

Katia laughed mirthlessly and shook her head, “How can she defend herself without her weapon? That’s just perfect! You know, you can be such a dunce sometimes, damnit!”

Lucki was silent after that, turning back to her paper, clearly hurt. Rolling her eyes, Katia stormed out of the bunker, frustration fueling her heavy steps. Her teammates were always  incompetent and emotional. Naive. How had they even survived this long? It was surely a miracle, as Lucki herself would say. Just dumb luck, of course, there was always plenty of that to go around here.

Rosachime couldn’t have gotten too far, she’s too stupid to run away but smart enough to not want to get lost. This terrain was unfamiliar, and there was the threat of traps lying around the area along the woods. Lucille had also warned of some… animal that stalked around, so any Valkyrie with common sense would not wander off alone- especially at night. That was something Rosachime often lacked, but since it was an order from Lucille she would surely obey. Always eager to please.

Indistinct chatter behind the camp alerted Katia, and she turned, slowly creeping towards the noise as to not disturb and potentially scare off whoever was there. Someone was talking to Rosachime? Typically the girl talked to herself- when she had her hammer- but she had left it behind in her bed. Lucki had mentioned she was going to see a friend, but Katia had marked that up to be an excuse for going out. Something was off.

 Peeping from over a bush, she wasn’t surprised that it was that easy to find the missing girl. Who she was talking to though, made her blood boil. Even with a disguise, it wasn’t hard to recognize the familiar grin of the snake from the late night news. Fumeo, the infamous journalist, was milking poor, stupid little Rosachime for a story. All the Valkyries knew they were restricted from discussing their work with anyone besides each other, and here was her teammate, spilling everything to one of the shadiest people in the entire colony. 

Anger taking control, Katia threw her stealth aside, marching over to the pair and interrupting their conversation.

“Rosachime!”

“Katia! Hey! I didn’t expect you to be awake…”

“Why are you talking to her?”

“Oh, you know her too? She’s my friend! She knew my father, so she’s telling me everything about him-“

The frazzled woman collected herself after the abrupt shock and finally spoke up, “Shhh, Rosachime. That’s enough. Hello there. Now, I assume you’re also one of the Valkyries? Pleased to meet you. I’m-“

“Oh I know who you are,” Katia growled and stepped forward.

Rosachime jumped up, “What’re you doing? Calm down! She’s a friend!”

Shaking her head, Katia ignored Rosachime’s protest and continued to advance on the other woman, who still smiled despite the increasing tension, “You may be able to fool her, but I’m no fucking idiot!”

“I-uh- have no idea what you’re talking about!” she laughed nervously and backed away slowly as Katia drove her into a corner. 

Rosachime cried, tugging at Katia’s arm.

“Rosa! Get out of here! I’d like to have a word with our friend.”

“No!”Rosachime squealed, “Don’t hurt her! She was just helping me!”

“I said go!”

Rosachime’s gaze darted back and forth from Katia to the now cornered and shivering Fumeo,  eyes wide and watery from tears. Her lip quivered, as if to protest further, but she didn’t budge, seemingly frozen in the spot. Katia groaned. If she wanted to be a pain and stay to witness this, that was fine. It wouldn’t change anything. 

Fumeo gulped, taking the opportunity while Katia had looked away to yell at Rosachime to attempt and slide out of where she was trapped. However, she was quickly stopped with a painful grip on her arm.

Katia chuckled before practically snarling, her grip tightening as she spoke each word, voice dangerously low and dripping with malice, “Now you listen here, lady,  If I EVER see you around here again, there will be some BLOODY hell to pay, and I highly suggest you leave Rosachime alone and go bother some other sad sack with nothing else to do, ok? You know why? Because I’m one of the damn Valkyries- not a sorry little girl who will fall over and let you take advantage of us, and you’ve caught me in a pretty bad mood as it is. And I certainly don’t have the patience for any of your lying bull crap, so I’ll give you ten seconds to get your sorry ass out of my sight.”

A cracking of a wrist. 

“Ow! Shit! That fucking hurts!”

And with that, Katia shoved the woman aside and kicked her towards the woods. 

“Go on now. Didn’t you hear me?”

Fumeo struggled to stand, dusting off her coat and picking up her camera. Her glasses were crooked and her smile had disappeared. “Fine! Fine. Screw you. Fucking psycho bitch,” she hissed under her breath, flexing her wrist with her teeth clenched before slithering off.

“And next time I’ll tear your fucking arm off!” Katia yelled out to her one last time.

Rosachime was uncharacteristically silent for the whole ordeal, her expression unchanged even as Katia walked over to her and took her hand. The storm had subsided.

Katia forced a lopsided smile, her features and tone softening, “Sorry about all that. Come on Rosa, let’s get back home, alright?”

“Y-yeah… okay…” she sniffled before clinging to the other girl’s arm.

“Trust me,” Katia laughed, “You’ll be thanking me for this later.”