148 - Tag (Patreon)

“What happened?” Arielle asked Vittoria, who strolled in, stopped, and stared into her eyes.

“What did you do?” she demanded.

“What?”

“You did something, didn’t you?” she asked her. “What was it?”

“I…” She pressed her lips together. “I had to help you.”

“Did you?” Vittoria arched her brow. “Did it look like I needed help?”

“Well, yeah.” Vittoria had been trapped in the demon’s dimension, and he had tried to separate her from the desert entirely and possibly do something even worse to her. At the very least, she'd been overwhelmed. That much was obvious. 

Vittoria shook her head. “If I had needed your help, I would have asked for it. Now tell me what you did.”

Arielle bit her lip. She was reluctant to tell her because it was now occurring to her that Vittoria might disapprove of her actions, and she didn't want yet another punishment.

But lying wasn't an option for Arielle. Even if she was good at it, Vittoria made it clear last time that a betrayal of trust would be an even more egregious offense. 

So she ventured carefully. “I used the abyss.”

If anything, Vittoria’s eyes narrowed further, her gaze growing sharper. “Used the abyss how?”

“I created an abyssal structure next to the demon’s domain and connected it to an abyss within me. Then I reached my consciousness through that and used it to break the demon’s spell.”

Vittoria’s blink was deliberate and obvious. The silence was deafening. 

Vittoria released a string of words that sounded like curses but in an array of different languages. She began pacing at the other end of the room, running her hand through her hair. 

Arielle could pick out a few of the phrases she was saying. 

“Stubborn brat" was repeated often.

"What did I do to deserve this?" was also said a few times. 

She made references to "relaxing retirement", "mistake," and a certain “idiot child."

Arielle didn't have any doubt who that referred to, and though she didn't think she was an idiot, there were certainly things she was missing. 

Arielle folded her hands together and waited for Vittoria to finish her muttered rant. She still wasn't sure what she had done wrong. She hadn't done what she did without thought. She had weighed her options and contemplated it for several minutes, assured by the passing time that Vittoria was in trouble. 

In her view, she had responded to the crisis by aiding Vittoria, and while her actions may not have been warranted, she didn't think it deserved censure either. 

But she had to have done something very wrong for Vittoria to be this angry over it.

The pacing woman finally stopped, inhaled. “Did I not tell you about the dangers of using the abyss near a demon?”

“Yes,” Arielle said. “You told me that it would be dangerous to use the abyss to capture a demonic soul because then I could be tagged through it. But that's not what I did here."

"No. What you did was arguably worse. You gave a demon lord a pathway to your consciousness."

Arielle shook her head. “I’m not sure I understand.”

“That’s the problem, isn’t it? You never understand the things you do and their impact, and yet you do them anyway.”

Arielle frowned. “I was trying to help you.”

“And again, I did not need your help." Vittoria’s voice was loud enough that Inara jerked, and the dragon let out a low growl. 

Vittoria inhaled again, a calming gesture Arielle thought. “Demons can move through the abyss. I told you this, did I not?”

“Yes.”

“And you created two abyssal structures, if I understand correctly. One that is within your soul and the other is next to the demonic domain, where it would have been very easy for a demonic orb to move within it.”

"I don't know if the inner abyss is within my soul necessarily."

"Where else would it be?" Vittoria gave her a look like she had said something ridiculous.

Arielle shrugged. She wasn't entirely sure how the inner abyss worked, which was probably one of the reasons she should not have used it, but here they were. 

Vittoria held up both her hands, gesturing with one first, then the other. "You connected an abyss that was connected to a demon, to the one that was connected to your inner self. Do you not see how that could have the potential to introduce even a single demonic orb into your body?"

"But that didn't happen."

“How would you know?”

“Because I would feel it,” Arielle said, although there was a bit of doubt in her tone. Toward the end, her focus had been on ripping into the demon's domain, rather than necessarily paying attention to what entered. She hadn't felt any demonic essences going in, but could something have slipped by her and entered the abyss?

She couldn’t say she was a hundred percent sure. 

Vittoria didn’t say anything else. 

She simply held Arielle's shoulder and stared at her again, exuding that inner glow. 

She was scanning Arielle’s soul. It wasn't just the inner glow that told her; it was also the fact that Arielle could feel a subtle movement somewhere that she couldn't entirely identify, at least not without deep meditation. 

Despite the situation, Ari rejoiced at the fact that there had been some progress in her soul exercises after all. 

 It was faint, barely noticeable, but Vittoria's power was enough to call it to light, so to speak. 

She just really wished that she hadn't made a mistake and done the wrong thing. Again.

This time she truly hadn't meant to go against Vittoria's wishes. She had thought Vittoria was in trouble, because everything pointed in that direction and everyone was tense, and Vittoria wasn't responding to her calls, and she didn't want anything to happen to her. 

Then again, perhaps her judgment was off. Perhaps she was too hasty. 

“I’m sorry,” she said instantly, taking record of her wrongdoing. “I tried to judge the situation and act the best way that I could and help you, but I guess I got it wrong. I wasn’t trying to disobey you. I just…I didn’t want you to die."

Vittoria’s expression didn’t change demonstrably, but Ari thought her apology may have given the other woman pause. Maybe it was her hold gentling somewhat and the wrinkles on her forehead straightening out. 

Vittoria didn’t say anything, though, for at least another minute until she backed away. 

“I know," she said. "I'm not so much mad at you as I am mad at the situation. And I'm mad at myself too, because I probably should have seen this coming and communicated better with you, but my attention was frankly occupied with transporting us somewhere safe and preventing those bastards from unleashing even more demons on us.”

“Is that what happened?” Arielle asked.

“Yes,” she said. “Remember the demon that I didn’t catch last time? It apparently remembered how to break past my illusion barrier and locate our home again. I always thought it might come back, so I strengthened the shields and put even more detectors far off, so that I could catch it the second it came close. I didn’t think it would return with a group of Demon Lords. How they got on Earth without a rift and without a host ritual in the desert is what I want to know.” Vittoria looked away, tension returning to her face. “Their actions are usually very limited on Earth, and their movement is restricted, which is why they have to go through humans. There must be another group we're missing, unless they manage to convince one of my desert friends to sacrifice themselves for it.” She sighed. “Either way, I managed to kill two of them and send them back to their realm. I would have done more, but I was more focused on bringing us here."

Wow, Arielle thought. She was doing that while fighting the demons. No wonder she couldn’t respond to Arielle’s calls. 

"Where are we?" Arielle was now realizing that they were in a different part of the desert, which was probably why the storm and the chaos had stopped.

"This is my secret hideout.  It's a hidden portion of the desert that I kept just in case something like this happened and the demons found my abode.”

“So we’re safe now?"

“We should be,” she said, though she continued to stare at Arielle. “However, with you…”

"What about me?" Arielle was apprehensive. "Did you sense a demonic orb in my soul?"

“No, but that doesn't mean one cannot gain access to your soul," she said. "It could be currently hiding somewhere within the abyss you created."

"But I already stopped the spell."

"That's not how abyssal spells work, if I remember correctly. The abyss isn't necessarily something you create or destroy. It's just something you access. It exists regardless of whether or not you can access it. And if a demonic orb is in the abyss and it somehow finds its way back to your soul, which it might recognize thanks to the link you created, then a demon can still tag it."

"Oh." Arielle worried her inner lip, subconsciously poking internally and wondering if she could feel something there. "So what do we do now?"

"There's nothing we can do except be on alert and wait for it to show up, if it is in fact there." Vittoria sighed. "It does mean, though, that right now, you returning to Fenway Basin to see your parents is out of the question."

Arielle’s eyes bugged out. "What? No. I have to.”

“It’s too dangerous. If the demons choose to show up while you're there, it will be a disaster. The village doesn't have enough protections against an incident like that."

"But I thought you were protecting the village. Isn’t that what’s stopping the demons from attacking right now?"

"No. What’s stopping them is the difficulty of getting to Earth and the fact that the cost of revealing themselves right now is certain death, given how on alert human authorities are. They must really want you gone to risk what they did," Vittoria said. "There are also certain measures I put in place to alert me if they ever approach the village. However, once a demon tags you, you would be leading them there and potentially helping them bypass those measures."

"But..." Desperation clawed through Arielle's voice. She understood what Vittoria was saying, but she really didn't want to spend the rest of the break without seeing her parents. And how long would this take until they were sure it hadn't tagged her? Months? Years? Forever?

"It won't be forever," Vittoria said. "We just need to capture and get rid of the demon lord that may have potentially tagged you. I'll hunt him from here and try to get in contact with Gio and Elric, and alert them of what happened. That way they can help us if the demon has gone back to the demonic realm.”

Arielle bit her lip. It was a good solution, and she was grateful that Vittoria was helping her, especially when it was Arielle's own carelessness that led to this. 

But she was crushed at the fact that she wouldn't be going back home. Her mother had been preparing for weeks now, and had shown so much excitement. So had her father. And Celie and Brom...she wanted to see all of them. 

One wrong move had taken all that away from her. 

She felt a little like she was being punished for trying to do the right thing. 

And the worst part was that she would have to come up with an excuse to her parents about why she couldn't be there, and why all her family's preparation meant nothing. 

“Whatif they were to come visit her here?” Inara’s voice was quiet, and it poked into the conversation as unobtrusively as possible. 

They both glanced at the girl, and she seemed to want to retreat to herself, paling slightly but forging on anyway. “If it’s not safe for her out there, then it might be safer for her family to come here.”

Vittoria was already shaking her head. "I don’t want people knowing where I live, especially here."

"They don't have to know exactly where we are," Arielle said. "We can disguise it. And my family, they wouldn't betray you. I promise."

Vittoria stared at her, and Arielle gave her a pleading look. She knew it was complicated to invite her family, particularly with Inara here. But she was sure they could make it work. She was willing to plead if need be, but she didn't think Vittoria wanted that for her.

The good news was that Vittoria wasn't outrightly rejecting it. She simply looked thoughtful now. 

Then finally she sighed.

“I’ll think about it,” she said, and Arielle bit her lip

. She didn’t want to ask too much. It was enough that Vittoria was thinking about it.

But she was still worried it would be a ‘no’ in the end.  

Vittoria laid a hand on her shoulder, looked into her eye. "I really will think about it. Okay?" 

"Okay," Ari responded. “Can I still go with you to check on Riorke?”

"I don't think that's a good idea," Vittoria said. "But I will check on him for you. That I promise."

***

Vittoria had landed at Camhanach Castle again, feeling unsettled and frankly shitty. 

Her emotions were a mess. She was angry first of all that a host of demons had tracked her down and nearly ensnared her in a trap. Vittoria would have overpowered them with time, but Arielle didn't know that. 

Which was the problem. 

She was still so new to this world and didn’t know the risks. Vittoria often slipped into treating her like an experienced agent, but she wasn't. She was just a child. 

It was easy to forget, as she was so intelligent and impressive in so many ways. 

But in other ways, she needed certain things spelled out for her, in detail.

When they first met, Vittoria had appreciated Ari's heroic streak and her deep sense of loyalty, but now she was getting concerned with just how much that clouded her judgement sometimes, leading her to throw herself headfirst into danger with no thought. 

It was the same thing she would have done for Elric when he was injured. Vittoria was sure that if she hadn't been there to talk Arielle out of it, the girl would have descended on the demonic sect ready to lay waste to it, in an effort to find the antidote. 

And Arielle was powerful, but power wasn't all there was to it. And her power made her sometimes blind to her own limitations, which was going to be a problem. 

Arielle did not adequately assess danger, especially when her loved ones were threatened. That made her especially vulnerable to demonic manipulation because all they had to do was kidnap someone she cared about, and she would run off to save them without thinking entirely of the consequences. Vittoria wasn't sure how to train her to ignore that urge. Arielle was objective most times, but that went out of the window when it came to people she cared about. 

For the first time, Vittoria herself started to doubt her own plans for her.

What if being a hero was actually the worst thing Arielle could be? What if, instead of safety, she was leading her down a path of destruction? 

Hiding wasn't the answer, but this might not be the right one either.

Vittoria took another calming breath. Panicking like this was unlike her; probably some misplaced maternal instinct that was being forced on her by the universe after she began to take care of two young girls.  

She was thinking too far and too much. 

Arielle was a child. There would be learning curves for this relationship of theirs, and Arielle's understanding of herself and her strengths and weaknesses would evolve as well. She would eventually learn how to properly assess danger. 

Vittoria simply hoped that she would survive that long.