Shadow Slave | School Days

Light beamed into Nephis's eyes as she slowly cracked them open, marking what was supposedly a new day as she looked down toward her thigh. There, Rain's form still remained sleeping at her side as Nephis let loose a slight frown of concern.

'Anaesthetics don't last this long.' She mused to herself before gently tapping Rain. The girl's body flinched in response, causing Nephis to let loose a sigh of relief as she turned and saw a loaf of bread placed at her side. 'She's sleeping naturally now, and Noctis keeps bringing me food. How lucky I am.' She thought sarcastically as she shifted her weight to grab the food.

Her thigh vibrated slightly, causing Nephis's eyes to widen as she reached into her pocket and pulled out her phone. It was slightly damaged from the fights she had been in, but overall it was in typical condition. Her shoulders trembled slightly as she saw her background photo, a picture of her holding Sunny as the two held small, loving smiles for one another.

Tears trickled down her face; bringing up her arm, she wiped them furiously, taking a deep breath to calm herself down. 'What's done is done; I've fucked up supremely, but crying won't solve anything. I need to get her out of here and find Sunny.' How she would get Rain out of the underworld was an entirely different question; Sunny had been the one to lead her to the Northern Quadrant, and saying she remembered the direction would be an utter lie.

Scrolling idly through her phone, she saw that Sunny had unconsciously been sending her messages, not texts but rather pictures he had taken unknowingly as he moved about. Most of them were quite mundane, yet occasionally they revealed glimpses of where he was. A harrowing battlefield filled with blood that Nephis had never seen before.

Sighing, Nephis turned off her phone as she raised her head to the ceiling. "If I just didn't run my mouth, I would've been fine. We would have been fine. So what if he killed them? He had every right to!" She knew she was only fooling herself with her declaration; her heart still was racked with guilt and sorrow each time as the bright and loving image of her parents came into view, clashing with the cold-hearted doctors that she had seen on video.

Thinking of what they had done made her sick; pressing her hand against her mouth, she suppressed a more violent reaction as she looked down at Rain. Flexing her arms, she tested her mobility slightly, finding it acceptable before resting Rain's head on a nearby pillow. Raising herself to her feet, Nephis stretched slightly, throwing kicks and grabs into the empty air as a grimace of pain settled in on her.

'Still not healed yet.'

Without Sunny acting as her guide, she had no clue where to go. The only place with which she had some form of familiarity was… the trading hub. Eyes widening, Nephis looked around frantically, hoping to find something that would be of use. Finding nothing, she resolved herself to have a very difficult conversation with the sleeping girl beneath her.

Tapping her with more force than she previously had, she watched Rain stir, her eyes fluttering open before quickly being laced with horror. "Get away from me! You won't take me from my Mo—" Nephis pressed her hand against Rain's mouth as she raised a finger to her lips. She wasn't good at situations like this, yet between her and her boyfriend, she was the superior conversationalist.

"Lower your voice; the people who kidnapped you may come back. I… saved you from them. Now I'm going to get you out of here." Rain relaxed slightly, her eyes still laced with suspicion as Nephis slowly removed her hand from the younger girl's mouth. "Don't ask anything from me, don't question me. All I need from you is your compliance." Nephis continued, watching Rain nod affirmatively as Nephis turned around.

'If my parents were dead, who's been giving me money all this time? I should ask Revel…but if she knows what happened that day, she'd kill me!' Yet, Nephis had no choice. Hopefully providing Rain to her would offer Revel something to placate her, but ultimately it was a gamble if the woman would even listen to her or not. Grabbing Rain gently, Nephis scooped her up in her arms, leaping deftly onto the windowsill as Rain's eyes widened with horror.

"Where are you taking me!?" Rain Whisper screamed; Nephis only looked down at her with a sly smile, amused at her resemblance to Sunny, before leaping onto a nearby building's roof. "What did I say about questions?" She responded. Thankfully, this was enough to keep Rain silent as Nephis leapt from roof to roof, grimaces of pain being fought back constantly as she felt her body straining.

It had taken her a few hours before she arrived at the training hub. The jump downward was never something she could get used to, and from the looks of it, neither could Rain. Scanning around, the mood from the bustling members of the trading hub seemed off. A melancholy cloud hung over their heads as they unconsciously made way for Nephis and Rain to pass, allowing her easy access to Revel's tent.

Currently, her tent was closed. Yet from the faint sobs that could be heard within it, Nephis was sure that Revel was there as she pushed past another man and opened the giant metal curtains. There, Revel was sitting in the corner with a picture of herself and Sunny in hand; he was much smaller and wore a bright smile, hugging Revel's side with feverish ferocity. Like she'd leave him if he let go.

"My baby… my baby… Are you alright out there? Please don't die; I'm begging you."

Revel's quiet sobs ceased momentarily as she wiped her face, turning back to see Nephis. Her eyes blazed with fury as she lunged at her injured form, shoving Rain to the side as she slammed Nephis to the ground. Nephis knew she couldn't defend herself from the woman, and quite frankly, she didn't plan to. All she could do was wait for the blows to end.

"You WENCH! What did you do to my baby!? What the fuck did you say to him!? You odious, vile piece of shit, how dare you!" Slamming her fist into Nephis's jaw, a wad of blood sprayed out from her mouth as blows continued to rain. 'She hits far harder usually.' Nephis thought to herself, her body going numb from the blows as Revel soon came to a stop.

She collapsed on Nephis's chest, sobs pouring from her eyes as Nephis pulled her into a weak embrace. "I… fucked up. I realized Sunny killed my parents, and I snapped. He had every right to after what they did to him. I was out of line; I said things I could never take back. I'm sorry." Revel's eyes bubbled with fury once more as she shot up from Nephis's chest, tears streaking down her face as she spoke.

"Don't apologize to me, apologize to him! He's out there killing himself and throwing himself into fights with everything that moves because of YOU! YOU'RE KILLING HIM!"

Revel's screams only served to fuel her strength as her arm cocked back and flung itself at Nephis's chest. Before she could send the blow, Rain moved before her and grabbed her by the waist. "Stop hitting her! You're hurting her!" She screamed. Revel turned her head to the side, looking down at Rain's face as her fury quickly melted into confusion. "Sunny?"

Nephis shook her head slightly. "Sunny's… sister." Tears flowed down Revel's face with increased ferocity as she gently grabbed Rain and studied her features. Her shoulders trembled as her eyes watered slightly. "It really is you… the girl he would never stop talking about." Revel whispered. Rain looked at her with a confused expression, her head cocked to the side as the strange woman held her in her embrace.

"Who's Sunny? I don't have a brother." Rain asked, familiarity devoid in her tone as Revel's eyes saddened slightly. "He's the best brother you could ever ask for." Revel whispered, pulling Rain closer into her embrace as the girl awkwardly responded to the gesture. After all, the woman seemed to be in distress and needed a hug.

Nephis slid from the floor slightly as she wiped lingering blood from her face. Revel hadn't hit her very hard so there would be no bruise left, but still the pain was always a problem. Despite that, she simply leaned against a wall while seated, waiting for Revel to end the long embrace as she stared at the two with a small smile. 'All that's left is to find Sunny. And hope for the best. I should bring Rain with me too.'

As Revel ended their embrace, she turned to Nephis with a frown on her face, clearly displeased at her presence as she studied her injured form. "I hear you did well against Morgan; did you win?" Nephis shook her head. "Almost, I'm sure I would have, but Sunny interrupted. Then again, you never know with Morgan." Revel shrugged, studying her some more before turning around.

"Sunny is about three days of walking away from here. He's been walking like a madman ever since that ball, fighting everything he ran into in an attempt to die. So when you meet him, he'll be supremely weakened. You're going to stay here and rest until you're back to full health before going and chasing after him."

Nephis eyes widened, staring at Revel with palpable shock. "What if he dies out there? Or even worse, Valor captures him!?" Revel's eyes bubbled with fury once more as she let out a sigh to calm herself from hitting Nephis. "I know that city girl, but Sunny's far too strong to get captured even while weakened. Going after him now is just going to get you killed for no reason."

Turning to Rain, Revel understood the silent message before laughing lightly. "And what if he kills you and then takes her out of the underworld? Why would he need you to go with him? He's not in the right headspace right now, and to get him where he needs to be, you must do the impossible." Nephis eyes bulged from their sockets as the implication of Revel's statement became supremely clear.

She wanted her to beat Sunny in a fight. 

Sunny's eyes narrowed on Caster's form. The young man had changed since Sunny last saw him; his muscles were defined, and he held a sheathed Jian in his left hand, exuding the aura of a warrior. "You know, Mongrel, I guess I'm partly to blame for your current predicament." Sunny didn't reply, so Caster's smug voice continued to ring out through the bloodied hallway as he continued to speak.

"I was told by my father that some men at Valor were looking for you; all I needed to do was point them in your direction for a huge sum of money! And even better, you took that pale-haired bitch with you!"

Fingers twitching, Sunny restrained himself from killing Caster as the man unsheathed his jian. A pale jade blade that appeared supremely sharp as Caster swung it through the air lazily. "And even better, Valor personally trained me to become one of their warriors! At this rate, I might even surpass Immortal Flame's family in terms of fame!"

Shrugging lightly, Caster let out a hearty laugh as his eyes remained focused on Sunny's injured form, who stood across from him in the hallway. "So, I really have you and that pale-haired bitch to thank for all of this. And the only way I can thank you is death! Now, I haven't killed anyone before, but you appear more than experienced. So I hope you don't mind if I use you as my first test dummy."

Sunny continued to contemplate the words Caster had told him. Partly, it was Caster's fault he was in the underworld in the first place. Yet, Sunny felt no rage towards him for that. It was only a matter of time; blaming people for their involvement in something that seemed specially tailored by fate to make him suffer would only continue to fuel his hatred towards Nephis.

Yet Caster had insulted her. Sunny had every right; every fiber in his body told him to hate Nephis, to insult her and curse her existence like he had to so many others. Yet the rage he felt when Caster insulted her bubbled furiously as Sunny felt his body moving unconsciously once more. 

In a moment, he was in front of Caster. Standing before him with a dull look in his eyes as rage bubbled beneath his eyes glassy surface. Caster met his gaze, quickly flinching backward upon sensing the bloodlust exuding from Sunny as he readied his jian. And for the first time in a while, Sunny spoke. His voice was dull and hoarse from lack of speech, yet the press of death inflicted by it remained as strong as ever.

"I'm going to let you hit me three times. And I won't block or dodge. After that, I'm going to kill you."