Just How Long Will This Last

Dani deactivated her powers, letting her tail dissipate away before flopping unceremoniously onto the grass. She was pretty sure she’d heard at some point that you were supposed to cool down after a fight (or fighting practice, in this case) but she couldn’t be bothered to do that. She was going to walk home after this, anyway. That counted. Probably.

For a moment, she took in the surrounding calm of the forest before Arashi popped into her field of view, smiling teasingly. “Your aim’s getting better, Dani. In a few months, you might actually start hitting things.”

“Oh, shut up.” She swatted him away tiredly. He laughed, settling on the grass nearby and leaning against a tree. It looked a little worse for the wear after her training session, but not by much. Arashi was right, although she’d never admit it in front of him. Her aim was pretty bad.

They sat there for a while, listening to the sound of the leaves rustling and the occasional bird passing by. Then she felt Arashi’s gaze on her, more intense than it had been a few moments ago. She turned and found that he was now leaning forward, looking like he was figuring out how to say something.

“By the way,” he started. “Do you remember everything I told you about the Overlord before?”

Man, not this again. Yeah, yeah, she got it, the Overlord was super strong and powerful and all that. It was good to know what she was up against, but at this point he was worrying over nothing.

When she didn’t say anything, he continued. “…You didn’t forget about that. Did you?”

“Yeah. No, I mean. I didn’t.” Reluctantly, she sat up. “I know she’s trying to kill me—you made that bit clear already.”

Arashi made the face he always made when he was watching her do something stupid and reckless (his words, not hers) and couldn’t do anything but watch. “Why do you not sound concerned about that?”

She shrugged. “Because I’ve got it handled already? That’s what the training sessions are for. So I’ll be able to properly fight against anyone who comes after me or my family. Not that I can’t already, but…what?”

He stared judgmentally at her for a moment longer before shaking his head. “This is not because I don’t have faith in your abilities, but that is not true. At all.”

“Now you’re just being rude,” she muttered.

“I am being realistic. The Overlord and some of the demons that I—are you even listening?”

“I am!” She protested. “It’s not that I’m not taking it seriously enough. You’re taking it too seriously.”

“There’s no such thing as taking something like this too seriously. I am just—joining us isn’t a great option, I know. But it’s the only one where you and your family can be safe. So can you consider it, at least?”

Dani decided to consider what joining the villains would be like for about thirty seconds. So… she would be working with her current enemies and leaving her current friends in the dust. She didn’t actually like any of the demons besides Arashi, though. Tal was… fine? Probably? But the rest of them were either sort of scary or annoying as hell. Ok, she had decided. She wasn’t going to join them. 

But he wasn’t going to take “I don’t want to because everyone else on your side sucks” as an answer. She owed him a proper explanation. Or maybe… an alternative. 

“Why can’t you just join us instead? I mean, some of the others don’t really like you… but if you stick around they’ll have to see that you’re pretty nice eventually.” 

“Hold on, where did this come from all of a sudden?” He looked flustered. She couldn’t figure out why, though, considering she hadn’t said anything besides the truth. “First of all, I am not. Your friends are right to mistrust me. Second, that’s not possible. The Overlord helped me out a lot in the past… I could never betray her, no matter what happened.”

Well. Now nobody could say she hadn’t tried. “Then we’re back to where we started. The Overlord might come after me, so I have to train so I’m ready for her.”

Arashi sighed, looking more than a little exasperated. Normally when they bantered or argued like this, he would look jokingly annoyed, but she could still spot a twinkle in his eyes to let her know that he wasn’t being serious. He was plenty serious now. …But why? What was the big deal? Were things more dangerous than he was telling her? Or was it something else? She couldn’t tell. 

Then, as abruptly as he’d brought up the topic, he dropped it again. “I guess I’ll leave it alone for now. Can we meet back here tomorrow, though? For training.” With a lopsided smile, he added, “…and so I know that you’re still alive.”

She grinned back, glad he was in a joking mood again. “You know I’d never say no to training. And hanging out with you, I guess.” 

“You guess? Now look who’s being rude… I come here all this way and you don’t even appreciate my presence… how could you, Dani?”

“Yeah, well, it’s hard to appreciate your presence if you’re this annoying.” She jabbed him in the side, making him laugh and jerk away. 

For some reason, his laugh didn’t have its usual energy today. 

They fooled around for a while longer before Arashi suggested she head back home. As usual, before she headed out of the forest, he waved goodbye and headed off in the opposite direction. 

Normally she would have just continued walking home, but before stepping out of the trees something compelled her to turn around. Arashi was already half turned away, but she could still make out his expression: he looked… really troubled. 

She should have yelled at him and demanded more information. If he really wasn’t able to tell her, then he would have said that, but she should have at least tried. It wasn’t like she had anything to lose. She wasn’t afraid of the truth—she wasn’t afraid of anything. 

But she didn’t ask. She waited until he vanished into a flash of green flames among the forest, and then she turned back around and walked the rest of the way home.