CELESTIAL FLOWERS ( s. gojo )

arc i ━ chapter v. jeopardy, 2

a r c  i.
❝ and you love the chains, even when they cast you to the ground. ❞
━━ chapter v. jeopardy, part 02

ERISU CAN'T BREATHE. The arm wrapped around her neck is like a noose, tightening, squeezing oxygen out of her lungs, wringing life from her body and she wants to scream and thrash, but her limbs feel weak. She tries to open her lips to cast an incantation, but it only makes her captor angrier, tightening the grip on her neck. She sputters and ends up biting her tongue, drawing blood.

Someone screams. It's Azu. Azu who promised to protect her. Azu Azu Azu Azu. Help me, she wants to scream, but only droplets of blood are escaping her lips. She gags at the presence of her own blood, splattering more crimson liquid that stains the sleeves of her captor. It incites more fury from the woman who throws her onto the frozen ground. Erisu can feel her bones breaking from the pressure and this time, a mixture of saliva and blood flies out of her mouth.

It hurts so much. Azu, help me. Azu, help me. Azu. Azu. Help me.

"Don't ruin my clothes, you little bitch," the woman says and pulls her by her braids.

"Don't touch her!" Azu screams. It's Azu. Azu who used to read fairy tales with her when they were young. Who loved stories about sorcerers and witches and princesses. Who accepted and loved her for who she was. She tilts her head to the direction of where her friend is screaming and through the blurs of white and blue, she sees her. Azu.

But that glimmer of hope dies as quickly as it forms for when she sees Azu being overwhelmed by dozens of attackers.

Pain. She can feel the woman's knees pressing onto her back. Erisu wonders if she can still walk after this, if she can still run. Something dark is soaring into the sky, a tall wall that looms over them like a dark cloud. Ah, they've trapped Gojo-san and the reality turns bleaker and bleaker and she closes her eyes.

"Listen to me, Eri," Kazuko says, catching her breath, hands on her knees as she wheezed for air. Erisu tries to put a reassuring hand on her back. "If by chance, we have to run away from them and I'm lagging behind because I'm slow, I want you to leave me behind, okay?"

"No!" the reply is quick. "What are you talking about? None of them are left. Gojo-san will catch up to us after he defeats them all. There won't be any reason for me to leave you behind, okay?

"And even if there was, I won't." She holds Kazu's hand and her friend looks up at her, a rare smile on her usual stone cold face. "This will be over soon."

Something nudges Erisu back into consciousness. It's gotten quiet save for the occasional blow of wind. A crowd is still covering Kazuko, but unlike before they aren't moving. They're standing still, staring and her captor hauls Erisu to stand. There's temporary relief from the fact that she can still stand.

"I'm not going to hesitate," she hears Kazu in an impression of her voice. It's steady and daunting. A gossamer of comfort wrapping her in warmth. Erisu is the older one and yet it is Kazuko who eatablishes herself as reliable, someone she can turn to in her time of need. Someone independent, someone strong. "Set her free."

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KAZUKO IS GOING TO KILL THEM. Blood is pooling on the ground. Some of it hers, some from the cultists she slashed and some from Erisu who got beaten black and blue by the woman with the whip of flames. Kazuko wants to kill them, but it doesn't take rocket science to figure out that they won't win this fight. So she does the best she can.

"Clear the path," she says in what she hopes is a voice they do not suspect to be any other person than Erisu. They don't follow her orders. She's going to save Erisu. Even at the cost of her own life. There will be no hesitation. Kazuko presses the knife deeper into her neck and it manages to draw an inkling of blood. "I said clear the path!"