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The group that the world had branded as transgressors had gathered around a campfire. The day was slowly coming to an end and so were their supplies. Determining whose duty it was to be the errand boy was often decided with a simple game of rock, paper, scissors, but this time around Yuna had an ace up her sleeve.
“It can’t hurt that bad, you lost fair and square, so get your lazy ass up,” Vicious grunted as he folded his arms, impatient as ever.
“Zat is where you’re mistaken,” Yuna said, one of her eyes closed as she held onto her stomach. “Misella here knows ze pain of a maiden very well, non?”
Misella didn’t say anything at first, as she was busy chewing on the last piece of beef jerky they had. “That is true,” she eventually said, her deadpanned eyes shifting to look at Vicious. “If you want, I can make you feel a fraction of what it’s like, here and now. In fact I’d be more than happy to-”
Vicious glanced at Misella and her now faintly flaming fist. With her, he could never say for certain if she was joking or serious when it came to harming him. Looking at the rest of the guys standing behind him, that sentiment was clearly shared, so he just took a step back with his arms slightly raised, like he was backing away from an aggressive predator.
“I think we should just go. I’m getting quite hungry just standing here. And they say you can’t sleep with an empty stomach!” Kanata tried to laugh away the awkward tension lingering in the air whenever Vicious and Misella happened as much as to look at one another.
Aegis put his hand on Vicious’ shoulder and nodded in agreement. “Yes, I concur. We ought to get going while the shops are still open. Do the two of you need anything?”
“Zome chocolate would be tres bien,” Yuna said before she flinched.
As for Misella, Aegis already knew what to get for her. Her diet was admittedly often heavy on the carnivorous side of things. Or, rather, only that. Meat, Misella, both clearly started with the same letter for a reason.
“We’ll try to find you some then,” Aegis gestured for others to follow his lead. Vicious was hesitant to do so, as he squinted at both of the girls before turning his back on them.
When they were more than an earshot away, Yuna let out a relieved sigh and leaned back a bit, her hands resting on the back of the log she and Misella were both sitting on.
“That was a rather quick recovery,” Misella noted, already putting two and two together.
“If our gentlemen were more perceptive, zey would have known I had my period last week. I did also want chocolate. Now I just don’t ‘ave to walk to get zome,” Yuna smirked as she began to take off her shoes.
“It’s always hard to tell when you’re telling the truth and when you’re not.”
“Oh, I know,” Yuna sighed as she stretched her toes near the campfire, but keeping her distance to not get burnt by any rogue embers that might hit her. “But zere was another reason for sending ze boys away for a little while.”
Misella tilted her head, her hands now resting on her lap. “And that is?”
Yuna shuffled her way a bit closer to Misella. A smile on her face was faint, but it seemed sincere. “In a zausage fest like zis, I feel like zome quality girl talk is all the more essential. It was merely you for a longest of time to represent the fairer sex, non?”
Misella slowly nodded back at her. “Yeah. Initially it was just me, Kanata and…
him
.”
Yuna was always amused by how much of an open book Misella was, very much polar opposite to herself in that regard. Just from the way she said Kanata’s name with nothing but warmth in her voice, only to turn cold as a winter breeze when even indirectly referring to their maniac gunslinger.
“Did you get lonely?” Yuna inquired, eventually turning to look at the campfire as to not stare at Misella too much. Hovering her hands towards the campfire, she closed her eyes and let the warmth of the fire help her ignore the cold wind gushing around them.
Or so she wanted, as one especially strong breeze that caught them both off-guard was enough to kill the kindle.
“Well zat sucks…” Yuna huffed and fixed her posture. As she turned to look at Misella, she was already kneeling in front of the campfire, rekindling the fire with her annihilation flames.
“Magnifique, mademoiselle!” Yuna clapped her hands together.
“It’s nothing too unusual if you ask me,” Misella said as she sat back down, crossing her arms as she leaned a bit closer as well. “Or, well, I guess turning Stains of Guilt into weapons is still a rather rare occurrence.”
Yuna palmed a giggle. “Zat is certainly one way to put it. For all his faults, I’m glad zat Vicious has blessed us with ways to turn our sins against zose who threaten us.”
Misella had very few good things to say when it came to Vicious, but deep down, she was grateful for his help. Were it not for him, she didn’t dare to think where she might be now. Before her thoughts could turn dark as the looming sky above them, she felt a hand on her shoulder.
“You didn’t answer my question from before. I never really got to ‘ear of your life before all of zis, but I can imagine being ze only girl must have been isolating on its own, non?”
Misella shook her head. “No, not really. I had Kanata with me,” she stated bluntly, intentionally or unintentionally still dodging the question somewhat.
Yuna would have laughed, but knowing the importance that he held to her, she refrained from it. “Yes, of course,” she paused for a moment. As she could feel that particular topic already hitting a figurative dead end, she continued. “What about your life before all of zis?”
“What about it?”
Yuna lifted one of her legs over the other and gestured for Misella to speak up. “I mean, what was it like? Good? Bad? Do you wish to go back to it?”
For someone with a mostly deadpan look on her face the vast majority of the time, Yuna caught a rare glimpse of what was a typical reaction to a joke. Her laugh was quiet and dry, but it was still definitely one.
“Did I zay something funny?” Yuna asked, clearly a bit confused by Misella’s reaction.
“Well, yes and no. Not really, but my life during that time was…how should I put it…” she tapped her chin a few times. She wanted to sound smart, given that she was having a private conversation with a journalist of all people - or transgressors in their place.
“Nothing to write home about?” Yuna suggested.
“Yes, exactly that,” she nodded, turning her attention to the sparkling fire in front of them. “If Kanata hadn’t stained his hands for my sake, there’s a good chance I would have just been married off to the highest bidder…”
Yuna grimaced at the mere thought. Without saying a word, she wrapped her arms around Misella and pulled her in for a hug, pressing her head up against her shoulder. “Oh zat is…zat is just terrible! What kind of parents would do zomething like-”
“I don’t have parents, or alive ones at that,” Misella was quick to correct the record. “I’m an orphan.”
Yuna perked up a bit before loosening her hold of the younger girl. “Zen I apologize for my poor choice of idiom from before.”
Misella didn’t look to be offended, as she simply nodded back at her. “That’s okay, you don’t have to worry about that.”
Yuna shook her head, arms folded under her chest. “Non, non, zat will not do. If I ever get to meet ze person who was in charge of it all, I will-”
“He’s already dead,” Misella once again answered the question before it could be voiced out loud. “Kanata was the one to kill him, his own father even. All of that, for the sake of someone like me…”
“Ah, I zee…” Yuna pondered out loud. “So, zat was ze snowball that started it all, and it only escalated from zere?”
Misella wrapped her arms around herself to warm up. “Yes.”
“Well, no wonder zat you hold him in such an ‘igh regard zen. A knight in shining armor he is, clearly. Well, minus ze armor part,” she palmed a chuckle, and the mental image of Kanata trying to swing his weapon while wearing a heavy, full suit of armor was funny in its absurdity.
A short lived smile appeared once again on Misella’s face as she found herself staring at the fires raging in front of them. “That he is,” she said, her voice quiet like a whisper, almost as if she didn’t want Yuna to hear what she just said.
A moment of silence lingered between them before Misella broke it with a question.
“Yuna, can I ask you something?” she asked, not turning her head, but side eyeing Yuna for a moment before turning her attention back onto the source of their shared warmth.
“Anyzing,” she was quick to reply. “What’s on your mind?”
Feeling the warmth of the fire even through her silky gloves, Misella could hear the cries of that fateful night. Even if she hadn’t meant it, there was no denying it that she was a killer, no better than Vicious when it came to that simple fact of life. Her hands, no matter how little of life they had seen, were stained with blood.
“Is there a redemption for people like us?”
Yuna was taken aback by her question. It was one she had admittedly thought for a good while herself, yet it was one of those things that would only keep someone up at night if delved too deep into it. But now poised with it, she found herself deep in her thoughts, trying to piece them together.
“Zat is an interesting question,” Yuna eventually replied, tapping the wood they were sitting on with her fingernails before tilting her head a bit. “What’s your take on zis?”
Misella didn’t dare to think of it further than was absolutely necessary. She had been raised with certain goals and expectations in mind, so life of freedom - even when branded a criminal by most of the world - was still suffocating with the newfound possibilities that it offered. Just being here under the soon starry sky, sharing a meal, drinks and stories with those she called her friends felt unreal to her to this day.
“I want to believe that there is, but then again, I’m not sure if something like that even exists…” Misella said, her half-lidded eyes watching as few embers sparked from the fireplace.
“Redemption, you mean?”
Misella nodded. “Is there return to normalcy from this, no matter what it is that we do? Make things right? Repent? Is this our life from now on?”
Yuna shuffled closer to her once more. Lifting her right hand, she caressed the back of Misella’s head, her fingers lost themselves in that bushy, pink hair. “I could give you comforting lies, but zat is simply not how I want to go on about my life,” she said.
The face of her friend and renowned actress came to her mind. For a fleeting moment, she could swear she was seeing her smile back at her through the flames before disappearing once more.
“Ze truth is zat…we have no idea what iz in store for people like us, or this entire world for zat matter,” Yuna continued after that image of Penelope had faded away. “I know zat wasn’t the answer you probably wanted to hear, but you are someone I feel deserves to hear the truth and only truth.”
“It’s just…” Misella went quiet again. While she enjoyed her current way of living, she didn’t want to be a fugitive like this for the rest of her life either. She didn’t want special privileges, but a fun, simple life just like anyone else. Yet staring at her left hand, it was a cruel reminder of the reality of her and all of their situation.
They were all sinners in the eyes of the world; transgressors. They knew the truth behind all of their incidents, how everything they had said and caused weren’t meant to harm anyone, even if they ultimately had. As tempting at times as life without anything that could be labeled as a sin could be, it was also, frankly, unrealistic. It was in the nature of every being to be imperfect and trying to deny that was nothing more than futile. Few were those who had finally realized that truth and even fewer who were now alive to tell that tale to others.
“Scary?” Yuna filled in when Misella went quiet. “I know what you mean. It is scary to think of the future, but then again it’s also exciting, non?” she grinned, her arms comfortably resting on Misella’s shoulder.
“Exciting…?” she repeated, not quite catching what she was trying to hint at.
“Yes, just zink about it!” Yuna exclaimed as she stood up. Feeling the cold grass and ground under her toes didn’t seem to scare her as she continued. “We have freedom to do what we want to do, not having to worry about blind obedience for once in our lives. I can say what I want and who'z going to stop me?” she grinned, poking out her tongue that was the proof of her sin.
“You were marked for speaking the truth,” Misella noted. She was excited by what Yuna was saying, even if she wasn’t very good at showing it. If their lives were to ever return to normal, Yuna had already planned to teach her to play card games, for it would be a genuine sin to not teach it all to someone with an undefeatable poker face like that. “It hardly seems fair.”
Yuna shook her head and turned her back to Misella, now standing right in front of the fire. “I know, but zat is the world we live in. I could give myself up, let the situation bring me down, or…”
“Or…?” Misella inquired, slowly standing up to stand besides her friend.
Yuna took a deep breath and shouted, using her hands around her mouth as a makeshift megaphone:
“I WILL EXPOSE ZE TRUTH, WHATEVER YOU ALL LIKE IT NOT!”
Misella hadn’t seen passion like this from Yuna before. “I hope you’ll get to do that, Yuna!”
Yuna turned to look at Misella, patting her on the back. “So, is there something you wish to shout in turn? Go ahead. Just yell out whatever it is that your heart yearns to let free.”
Misella pondered for a moment. There were few things in her life that she was passionate about to yell for the entire world to hear. Eventually, she realized what she wanted to shout so loud that the entire universe would listen to her.
“I know what I want to say,” she huffed, taking on a proper stance to make the most out of her lungs.
“That’s the spirit!” Yuna smirked. “Go for it!”
Just as she was about to exhale all the air she had pulled into her lungs, she heard Kanata’s familiar voice right behind her. Turning around, she looked at Yuna and gestured for her to keep quiet.
“Zome other time then?” she winked back at her before sitting down, holding onto her stomach once more. “Took you long enough! Can’t you see ze pain I’m in? Misella here can prove that I’ve done nothing but flail and cry in my misery.”
Misella looked at Yuna. Given that she had been truthful with her, it only felt fair that now she was willing to tip her toes in her way of living.
“Yes, my arm hurts from how hard she has been squeezing it,” Misella added, giving Yuna an almost hidden smile as proof of their newfound comradery.
As they all gathered around the campfire, Misella found her gaze drifting from the campfire to the starry skies above them. Their world had more than its fair share of ugly things; lies, deception, too many things for one to count; yet seeing the people around her gave Misella something she had thought she had lost a long time ago:
Hope.