Chiyoko

- Chiyoko: "child of a thousand generations"

"Such a creature does not deserve a crown."

It's a rumble so low, and so deep, that only Haru hears it, perched atop the Ridgeback's head where she's been trying to put bandaids on cuts and grazes. She reaches down, and she can't have imagined it - because Chiyoko says it again. It goes right through her, and a little smile comes out the other side.

You're slipping, Haru. You both are.

"What's this?" she asks, tracing claws over Chiyoko's hood, her mask, the slashes in the fabric and the wet bits where the blood soaked through. "You can tell me who the hell it is. Just me. And I'll goddamn deal with it. I won't rest 'til it's all dealt with. 'Til it's all over. Then..."

Then Chiyoko will have a debt, of course. There'll be interest. Bindings. There won't be anything good, she shouldn't be doing this. Shouldn't be involving Chiyoko. But... well... she's been hurt. This is all Haru knows, as far as unhurting goes.

"Tell you?"

The Wildclaw closes her eyes, and digs her claws just a little into the hood, so she can feel the damp fabric - the blood, the hurt. Why she's doing this. "Didn't you get it the first time? Whoever did this, I'll get them for ya."

Slowly, slowly, the Ridgeback raises her head to the sky. Off in the distance, a Nocturne drifts, rolling back and forth through the early morning haze, and - he's the one. Haru can feel it, in how Chiyoko's heart picks up, in how she stiffens just to look at him.

She stiffens, too. But only because it sickens her.

"I'll get him. Screw him up good. You'll be so happy." You'll be so bound. But- but happy, too. Only happy, if only she could be.

"No."

The word reverberates all around her, makes the air sing. Mister Orange A-Hole up there totally heard it; it's a tremor like an earthquake. Haru lets herself slide, until she's falling, then sitting in the Ridgeback's cupped talons. "Such a creature does not deserve a crown," Chiyoko repeats, holding Haru to her chest, until their hearts seem to sync. "Such a creature..."

"Doesn't deserve a crown, got it!" Haru snaps, wiggling about. "So, I'll beat him up! That's my job description!"

"No. He does not deserve that, either." Chiyoko laughs, for the first time in forever, and Haru goes so still, in case that'll make it last a little longer. "As surely as the moon rises, he will lose that sunlit crown, all by himself, and live with only himself. It is the way of things... Haven't you ever forgiven anyone?"

The Nocturne dips a wing and circles, forever in and out of reach. How can she forgive? Hell, how can she? It's not Haru who's bleeding.

"I can't," Haru whispers, and Chiyoko holds her closer still. "You're hurt."

"You can learn." Words so tired, from a dragon so tattered and bloody. A worthless platitude. And yet, something skips inside Haru. "I wonder if you will?"