Devilla
"Lucy..." I whispered, my voice faint enough that I'm not sure even Bailey heard it, let alone Feyra who was laying a few feet from me. My eyes were locked upon the statue that had once been a living, breathing redhead. A statue with a smile on her face, and a thank you on her lips - though what she was thanking me for, I couldn't fathom. For failing to protect her? For daring to give thought to hiding my abilities when people were in
real
danger? What had I
possibly
done that might have deserved thanks?
A cough from the side gave me my answer, no matter how little I wished to accept it. Lucy had thanked me for saving Feyra. For defeating the cockatrice that had threatened her friend. For doing what Lucy would not be able to... because even as she turned to stone, she'd thought of others before herself.
"Wha..." Feyra started, then stopped, staring wide eyed at the petrified Heroine beside me. "What did you do?"
"I hesitated," I told her, my voice flat. Cold. "Something I won't do again."
Feyra shuddered when I spoke, though whether at my inflection or my words I did not know. Nor did I care. All that mattered to me was the splattered corpse that now decorated the wall. The corpse of the cockatrice that had turned Lucy to stone. That I had
allowed
to reach Lucy through my hesitance. If it could petrify her, though, then surely it could
depetrify
as well.
At least, that's what I told myself as I grabbed a feather off the floor and popped it into my mouth, washing it down with a bit of water stolen from the air. Yet even as the genetic material of the monster passed into my gullet, I felt... nothing.
No. Not nothing. There was
something
- an imprint, similar to what I had with Bailey, but... weak. So much weaker than it should have been. Was it the difference between monster girls and monsters? No. Impossible. If that was the case, then nobody would ever be able to get
anything
out of plants, which were the weakest of the three.
Though, speaking of plants... Yes. I recalled something, from Amessa's impromptu lecture upon potion making. That there were certain parts of the plants that were stronger. That contained more magical power. That could be used
better.
I wasn't sure if monsters worked the same, but... it was
something
.
"Feyra."
"What?!"
the green hair girl all but snarled at me, her face twisted by rage as she tore her eyes from Lucy to glare at me. "You want to kill me, now that you've taken the Heroine out of the picture? For
good,
maybe, considering she's not even
dead,
just-"
"I need you to use your powers," I interrupted. I had no time to listen to her tirade. As much as I might have deserved her anger - albeit not for the reasons she'd claim - I had no way of knowing what was going through Lucy's mind right now. Whether she was awake in there, screaming to move but unable to do so. Whether she was in pain, and suffering. Maybe she was merely asleep. Something to ask her when she was
back.
"I need you to find the parts of the monster that have the most magic."
"Why?" Feyra demanded. "So that you can destroy them? Make sure she'll never come back?"
"If I wanted to ensure she'd never come back, I would break her. Or maybe just take her, and burn this place to ash - it's not like you could stop me. I want to
bring her back,
but the damn chicken feather isn't doing me any good." Whether because monsters concentrated their magic more than monster girls, or because of the researcher's meddling with monsters, I had no way of knowing. Hopefully the former - if it was the latter, there was a chance they'd managed to breed something worthless for potions without even knowing.
"Like I'm going to believe that!" Feyra scoffed. "Even if you
do
want to bring her back, it's probably just to fuck with her some more, right? Break her heart, then turn her to stone again? Bet you have another of those stupid chicken monsters just waiting somewhere!"
"If that was my goal, then why did I kill the one splattered on the wall?" I queried her before holding up a hand. "No. Stop. I don't want to hear any more of your warped logic. We both know you can twist anything I say to make me the villain. To make me the one at fault. Maybe you're even right to do so - it was my hesitation that cost her. My desire to keep my secret safe that allowed all this to happen. My
idiocy
that put us in this position. Yet that won't stop me from bringing her back. So you can either point out which monster part I need to consume, or you can sit there and entertain yourself while I consume every damn bit of this bird until
something
changes."
Feyra didn't respond, at first. She just stared at me, eyes wide, like she'd never seen me before. It wasn't until Bailey growled in her general direction that she finally replied. "You need to drop your magic first, or I'll go blind trying to find it."
"...Right. Of course..." I'd honestly forgotten I was still spreading my magic out. It certainly hadn't done me any good when it mattered most. Great for holding back annoyances, and yet when a true threat came along... I sighed, shaking my head and allowing my power to disperse. "Done."
Feyra nodded, and as I watched her eyes began to shift, the pupils elongating like a cat's as she eyed the room around us. Eventually, she pointed to two distinct parts in the wall - one that looked vaguely like the snake's head, and another that looked like some sort of... goop. Studying it closely, I thought there was a chance that it was what remained of one of the creature's eyes. "There and there. Those are the two places I'm getting the strongest energy from."
I hesitated a moment, between them, before settling on the eye. It was the less tasteful of the two, but if the snake's poison was what petrified then perhaps the chicken's eyes were the key to undoing the petrification. Another portion of water was pulled from the moisture in the air, encapsulating the goop and freezing around it to form a perfectly smooth pill.
"Thank you," I said, popping it into my mouth and swallowing it quickly.
