Chapter Text
A day and a half passed
Gale was thinking. Thinking of all the ways they could beat those mechanical monstrosities. Their eyes scoured their house, before they landed on something.
The locked box standing in for Calamitas's treasure bag. They jumped off their couch and ran over to take if off of the shelf it was on and hastily opened it.
To their disappointment, there was little of interest inside. No ranged weapon. Only summons and a copy of the witch's robes. There were some smoldering ashes in there still, but Gale couldn't make anything with them at the moment.
But seeing that box reminded Gale of something, or rather someone.
Calamitas.
They hadn't checked on her in ages!
She said she would be leaving soon. The next full moon, they remembered. That was tonight!
Gale hastily set the box back on the shelf and ran outside. They ran to the inn, and opened the door, booking it to the room Calamitas was in.
Frantically knocking, Gale hoped against hope that she hadn't already left. And it payed off. A moment later, the witch opened the door.
"Yeah?" Calamitas murmured sleepily. Gale felt a twinge of shame. They had probably woken her up.
"It's just... Ahm... You said you were leaving today." Gale said, rubbing the back of their neck. Calamitas's eyes drifted to Gale's side as she thought.
"I did, didn't I..." She said with a yawn after a moment. "I've actually been meaning to talk to you about that..."
Gale co*cked their head to the side.
"I.. I've decided that I want to stay here, if that's not too much of a burden on you, and everyone else here..." She admitted, with an embarrassed blush on her face. Gale opened their mouth to say something, but Calamitas started talking again. "I-If it's not okay, I'll go. I mean, I'll just find somewhere else to go... M-maybe farther inland..."
"Hey, Calamitas." Gale said with a few snaps, getting her attention. "You can stay." Gale confirmed in a tone that they hoped was reassuring. Judging by the subtle shift in her expression, it was. "I'll work on getting you a place tomorrow, alright?"
Calamitas nodded and slunk back into her room. As she started to close the door, Gale stopped her.
"And one more thing. You aren't a burden. And you never will be as long as you're here." Gale said sternly, trying to get the sentiment into her head. "Trust me, I know what it's like to feel that way, and it can feel like the truth, but it almost never is." Gale looked off to the side, trying to avoid making eye contact. "Don't fall into that mindset. It's not a good place to be."
Calamitas looked at them with a mix of confusion and understanding, then she closed the door.
Gale stood there a second after the witch shut the door. Thinking about her had made Gale realize there was someone else they hadn't visited in a little while.
And it was about time to see them again.
Calamitas stayed close to the door as she heard Gale walk away. Just to hear them leave. Gale didn't notice the fact that the psychic link caused by the Amalgam seemingly went both ways. She could read Gale's thoughts as they could read hers. Except for when they were adversaries, strangely enough.
But somehow, Gale's thoughts were foggy and harder to make out. But Calamitas did catch one word, in all the fog and haze. That word was: Azafure.
And that made her worry. She didn't know why though, Gale obviously knew what transpired there and at Ilmeris, yet still allowed her to stay. There was no reason to try and stop them from going, then.
But she was still nervous. Hastily, she decided that she would follow them. It couldn't hurt, right?
The trek down into hell was long and tiring. It made Calamitas's feet hurt. She should've worn some more appropriate shoes. At least most of the journey could be skipped thanks to the pylons that had been set up in each major region of the continent, including underground.
But then, there was the walk to Azafure itself. That was also long.
Calamitas walked and walked. She followed Gale's aura and eventually saw the city's ruined gates in the distance.
Except they looked different. Not quite as ruined as the last time Calamitas saw them. More on that, the short wall surrounding the city was in the same state. Not as broken as the last time Calamitas had been there.
When the witch was close enough to the wall, she reached out and touched it. There was a distinct difference in segments of the wall, and there was new, less damaged brick in place of the holes. And the brick had been placed recently, as far as her limited knowledge of construction told her.
"What the hell?" Calamitas said quietly. She needed the know what was going on here. She hopped the small wall, and ventured further into the city.
Inside, the same phenomenon appeared. The once destroyed buildings were fixed with new brimstone bricks and slabs. Buildings Calamitas was absolutely sure she burned to the ground, were rebuilt. Almost as they were about a decade ago.
She wandered until she came across the once great bridge of Azafure.
It too, was rebuilt completely.
Walking down it's immense length, was Gale. They were looking around for something. Calamitas froze for a second, then hid in a nearby alleyway.
Then, she heard a noise. Like a bird's chirp mixed with a warble. Gale heard it too, and they spun around in a circle, until their gaze landed somewhere that Calamitas couldn't see from her hiding spot in the alleyway.
Another warble, and something barreled towards Gale, capturing them in its arms. Calamitas readied a fireball and was about to fire at the thing, when she recognized what it was.
It was the Brimstone Elemental. And it wasn't attacking Gale. It seemed to be hugging them. Like they were old friends.
In the few moments Calamitas wasn't concentrating, her brimstone blast grew out of control, certainly giving her position away.
As she thought, both Gale and the Brimstone Elemental were looking over at the alleyway. Calamitas felt scared. Not of the Brimstone Elemental, but of Gale. What if they were angry? What if they retracted their feelings about her staying in Galia? A bunch of 'what if' scenarios raced through her mind.
Just as Calamitas was about to walk away, the Brimstone Elemental floated over to the alleyway, and saw her.
Her eye widened at she let out a shriek, before firing a fireball at Calamitas, which the witch barely dodged, jumping out of the alley and behind the Elemental.
Calamitas's gaze landed on Gale, and the elemental rushed to get between them. Her hands were trembling, and she had a look of fear mixed with determination in her eye.
"She thinks I want to hurt Gale..."Calamitas realized. Just then, the elemental launched another fireball at her. Calamitas scrambled to her feet and blocked the blast with her shield.
The elemental drew back to further protect Gale, who rushed to her side to try and calm things. But the Brimstone Elemental stuck out her trembling arm to block them from going past her.
Gale hovered a little over the elemental's arm to look at Calamitas. Then, they looked back at the elemental, and flew over her arm to stand between her and Calamitas.
At the same time, the elemental threw a fireball, aiming at Calamitas. But at it's current trajectory, it was aimed right at Gale, and Calamitas was helpless to watch, as the fireball struck Gale directly in the chest.
