The Harvester

Chapter 268: Cold Yet Warm

“Out with it then, or are you going to glare at me like that all day?” Cuniya sneered.

Flavia coldly watched her for a while, the cloudy clock ticking in the sky, before sighing softly. Her expression loosened up a bit but there was still a lingering frigidness left on her face. “I want you to stop bothering me. That’s all there is to it.”

The White Witch blinked in a stupor. “Excuse me? That’s it?” She uttered. “I was expecting a speech of some sort; I am thoroughly disappointed. And, pray tell, why should I listen to you?”

“Because you’re bothering Rakna.”

“…” Cuniya fell silent and her eyes twitched. “But of course… Why did I even entertain the idea it would be something else? You don’t care that I am taking over you. But you’re angered knowing that my existence might upset your ‘sweetheart’.”

“Exactly.”

The witch clicked her tongue at the woman’s cold and succinct reply. “You didn’t even think twice about that. That’s why you–”

“I want to be with him,” Flavia interrupted her with a slightly downcast look. “To be exact, I want to be by his side; support him. Not burden him. I’ve sworn to myself that I would try everything to save him…” She said and then smiled bitterly. “Though, it seems other people have already made much better results than me since we’ve arrived in the System.”

Cuniya didn’t say anything for a moment, impassively observing her. “…are you not jealous?” The witch ultimately asked and Flavia erased her smile, shaking her head.

“If they are making him happy, then I also am. But if they ever hurt him…” She trailed and her eyes welcomed a dangerous glint, mirrored by the darkening color of the ocean behind her.

“You would kill them?” Cuniya smirked, but no answer was given. “Hm,” the White Witch mused and leaned her shoulder on the prison’s bars. “Chaos Witches. They are known for their ability to induce berserk states into different elements and bring Chaos. In that regard, you have quite the talent. Even more than the woman who killed me. But do you know what trait every Chaos Witch shares?”

“…”

Unabashed by the silence, Cuniya continued, “There is a gossip about them being notoriously ‘sexually frustrated’. That is not quite correct. The truth is, Chaos Witches all inherit Chaos Traits; a part of their ‘self’ gets twisted by Chaos. The very first Chaos Witch had her lust pulled into chaos. This is what birthed the legend. For instance, the one that defeated me had her trust in chaos. She barely could allow a fellow living being to be in her vicinity without killing them. No matter how close to her they were, or how long they knew each other.”

“And then, there’s you,” she pointed her finger at Flavia. “It took me a bit of effort, but after reading your memories, it quickly became clear. You have an obsession. However, you don’t show it. Or to be exact, your Chaos Trait hasn’t had the room to thrive. Usually, those traits grow the more you pander to them, and they also make a Chaos Witch stronger. Yours… is that boy. The problem is that you don’t allow yourself to ‘indulge’ yourself.”

“That’s why, if one day, that boy dies… Chaos will consume you. Swallow you whole. You will turn into a crazed beast, an embodiment of chaos, with the sole goal of abolition. Then, you will end yourself. That is the reason why you are the real monster of your little group. Rakna Xiorra is akin to your shackle. If released, you will turn into a calamity.”

Flavia scowled and the two women stared at each other in pin-drop silence until Cuniya eventually scoffed. “Well, what are you going to do? Scold me then leave? Expecting me to go along with your wish and confine myself here for the rest of your life?”

“What else would you do?” Flavia retorted coldly.

“…”

“Do you think you have a chance? Regardless of my feelings on the matter, I know that Rakna will help me if needed. Moreover–”

“You don’t need to continue, Chaos Witch,” Cuniya spat out bitterly and turned around. Returning to the edge of her cage and sitting on the ground, her head leaning against the tree’s trunk. “What is the point when something like Eternal Night is involved? Defying that boy is the same thing as defying the highest authority of the universe. Who would be crazy enough to do that?”

Flavia opened her mouth to speak but paused, simply gazing at the White Witch’s back. After some more time spent in silence, she smiled sadly, finally breaking her cold façade, “Do you want help?”

Cuniya’s entire body shivered but she didn’t deign to look behind her. “…who do you think you are to believe you’re capable of that?”

“Didn’t you say so? The authority of the universe. Isn’t this the best group of people you could ever ask help?” Flavia said with a hint of hilarity in her tone. “If no one wants to aid you… we’ll do it. I will, at the very least.”

“Damn woman…” Cuniya cursed under her breath, her tears flowing down her chin and perfectly visible from her back. “You are making me second-guess if your chaos trait isn’t that ugly kindness of yours.”

Flavia simply smiled again. “I need this kindness… to balance him,” she whispered and faded away from her soul scape, leaving the White Witch alone.

Cuniya bit her lip as she stared at the horizon and then closed her eyes, viewing a certain memory of the soul she was inhabiting. A younger Flavia was crouching in front of a grave, a bouquet tightly held in her hands. Her eyes were darkened and hollow, looking at the name of her grandfather on the tombstone without focus.

Then, footsteps echoed from behind her and someone crouched next to her. Her expression made an instantaneous transformation when she glanced at the indifferent face of Rakna. Her eyes were revitalized as if she had seen the light of salvation.

She wanted to say something but words failed her. Before she could compose herself, he spoke up first, “I didn’t interact with him that much, but I could tell he was a good man. I’m sorry for your loss.” As always, his tone was gratingly empty and cold. But she had gotten used to this. In fact, she had come to find comfort in it.

“Thank you…” Flavia smiled lightly and in the next moment, she spotted someone in the distance leaning on the cemetery’s fence; Rakna’s uncle. The old master was looking elsewhere, and in a display of inhuman perception, he looked back at her when he sensed her gaze.

He squinted his eyes in slight solemness for her grandfather and then flashed a smirk, the lollipop in his mouth angling upward. Flavia tilted her head in confusion and her mind gradually connected the dots based on where the old man was looking at and the mischief in his eyes.

The young woman eventually realized her closeness with Rakna and her face flushed. ‘Don’t tell me he’s hinting at this…’ She thought and then saw the old man start laughing, and although he was too far for her to hear it, she could practically replicate it in her head.

She promptly looked away from the teasing old man and hurriedly checked if Rakna had noticed anything. But the only thing she saw was an expression full of grimness. The sheer concentration with which he was inspecting the grave was enough to wash her embarrassment away.

Her mind then went to new places, going through several ideas. “Rakna…” She raised her voice.

“Hm?”

“Do you…” She paused, hesitant. “I only ever saw you with your uncle… and I know that he is not directly related to you. Do you have any family other than him?”

His eyebrow twitched at the question and that was already a bad sign in her opinion. Any sort of topic that could make him have a reaction seemed like a bad one. But she hadn’t even had the time to apologize before he replied.

“I don’t know,” he said with a faint scowl. “My parents; dead. I never met my grandparents, cousins, or my real uncles and aunts. Probably because they wanted nothing to do with my parents in the first place.”

“…”

“Long story short, because of my parents’ line of work, I was put in danger after their death. The old man saved me and kept me around since.”

“I… see…” Flavia grimaced. She wasn’t slow-witted enough to not recognize how much there was to unload hidden under his words. “To some extent, it’s a bit like me,” she continued. “My parents died when I was very young and no relatives wanted to take me in. Back then, I wasn’t what you would call… a good child. I was different. A creep; I have been called. Then, grandpa came into the picture and took me in. He taught me… how to be kind.”

Rakna raised an eyebrow, silently musing the idea of the girl he had always known as kind actually being without any sympathy in the past. “That’s rather… unexpected,” he said.

Flavia smiled wryly at that.

“I’m slightly envious.”

“Eh?” She exclaimed in surprise and her head snapped to him, eyes wide open. But as always, his face betrayed nothing.

“The old man isn’t good at pep talks and even less at teaching things,” he deadpanned and as the words left his mouth, the way Arimane jerked his head backward in appalment went unnoticed.

“What do you…”

“I am afraid,” Rakna continued and this shocked her even more. “Let’s say I don’t know if I can understand how to be kind further down the line. Or at the very least, I’m scared of forgetting.”

“That’s–!” Flavia wanted to refute for his sake, but the words got stuck in her throat. She bit her lip and clenched her hands. “Then… I’ll do it.” Rakna’s eyes widened ever so slightly and he turned toward her, nearly taken aback by the palpable determination on her visage. “I’ll teach you. And if I can’t do it either… then I swear to always be here to point you in the right direction.”

He gazed at her in silent shock and he eventually gave her a small smile, the first she had ever seen and the last until a few years in the future. In that single moment, she knew she had gained every possible reason to live on.

“Cold…” Cuniya mumbled as she opened her eyes, resurfacing from the memory. “Yet so warm. Is this what I lacked? You are so much like me… yet so different,” she said and wiped her tears. “That is so unfair…” She peacefully smiled.