Work Text:
Ragatha had to fight with Kinger, which was a bit awkward because…Frankly, Kinger was somewhat her father figure.
But Kinger seemed to have no problem with fighting her (probably because he wasn't in the dark) He summoned a giant rhinoceros beetle and hopped on. “Let's go, VW,” he said in a determined voice. VW charged at her and Ragatha narrowly avoided it. But she got hit on her side in the next attack, cotton spilling out.
That made Pomni’s heart jump. But she reminded herself that she can’t help her anyway because of the invisible barrier. Also, Kinger would never truly hurt her. Pomni just cheered from her seat.
“You can do it, tough stuff!”
Ragatha heard Pomni's voice. In that moment, she remembered Pomni’s first day. She told her, “Everything will be okay, new stuff” but that day didn't really go well. Kaufmo abstracting and Pomni… leaving her… for the exit. Whenever she thought back of that day, it still hurt. She couldn't breathe, the world was glitching, her ears were ringing…
The painful glitching
The long wait
The betaylal
She was left alone.
Her body was half paralyzed. But she was so scared and alone that she decided to crawl in hope to find Caine. And then Caine fixed her up and they had to catch the remaining gloinks with nets.
Oh, that's it!
As Kinger was distracted with petting VW, Ragatha quickly started tying the knots with her skilled hands. Thanks to whatever anime powers she got, her hand moved like lightning. She quickly made a giant net. She attached it to her needle for an anchor, and threw it like an arrow. The beetle's armor got punctured by her arrow but more importantly, VW was trapped in the net. She crashed as her wings got tangled in the nets.
Kinger crawled out of the net like a worm. He stood blankly, then took a look at the unconscious VW, then screamed. “VW! WHAT HAPPENED??? I shall not make your death in vain!” At the wave of his hand, all sorts of critters appeared. She took her needle out of VW and used it as a handle for her bug net. She started to catch the bugs. Ragatha was okay with the ants, the wasps, the praying mantis, even the spiders.
Pomni kept cheering for her
… Until she noticed the centipedes.
Her hands was shaking. Her legs too as she backed up untill her back touched the invisible barrier. The centipedes that were dark red and as big as her arm, came crawling at her. “C-Caine? Let me out, I forfeit. Caine? Caine please! Please! Let me out!” Her voice tone increased until it became screams.
Caine did not appear, but Ragatha’s blood curling scream must have made Kinger realize what he was doing. At the wave of his hand, all the bugs skattered away. Only then, the invisible barrier disappeared. Caine still didn't appear, but the big screen showed that Kinger won the fight.
Ragatha's pupils became scribbles. Her side where she had gotten hit seemed to hurt more. It felt like forever. She couldn't breathe, the world was glitching, her ears were ringing and…
“-atha. Ragatha!”
Pomni’s big worrying eyes came into view. Everything became clearer, quieter, as if the whole world was holding its breath.
She came.
“The centipedes are gone. The fight is over. You're safe, Ragatha. You're safe.”
Pomni and Ragatha went into a dark room to be alone by themselves. A bitter laugh escaped Ragatha.
“Hehe… what is with me with Caine's personalized adventures and centipedes, am I right?”
Pomni looked at her, eyebrows narrowing. “Ragatha, you don’t have to-”
“I don’t have to act cheery all the time,” she finished the sentence for her. “Yeah, I know.”
They were silent for a moment.
“...But Pomni, I’m really fine.”
Somehow relieved, even.
She didn’t leave her.
“That’s good, Rags.”
Gradually, the room became brighter. It was still dim, but bright enough to see their surroundings. There was a huge tree with purple leaves in the middle and many lanterns on the tree branches. It was a garden filled with colorful flowers. They sat on the wooden bench in front of the tree.
“I think Kinger would like this room,” Pomni said.
“Oh, you’re right. Kinger’s room has a little garden, similar to this one, for his bugs.”
They were surrounded by scarlet flowers. Pomni thought the flowers went well with Ragatha’s beautiful red yarn hair which was backlit by the lantern’s warm lights. White butterflies fluttered by.
“...Thanks for coming for me?” Ragatha said shyly.
Pomni’s gaze shook and she looked down. She spoke quietly. “I know what you mean by that.”
Oh.
“Ragatha, I’m sorry it took me so long to say this but I’m really... regret... what I did that day. Kinger told me before… that you were still troubled by what I did that day. I could give you a milion excuses but the fact that I left you for my selfish needs doesn’t change. I’m really sorry. And I’m grateful that even after what I did you still wanted to be my best friend… or something more than that.”
Pomni’s face had a red hue. Maybe it was just the lantern’s lights reflecting on her face.
Or maybe, something more than that.