Looking through the fog for mushrooms to eat was easier than one would think. The lack of direct sunlight and the heightened humidity were perfect for the local fungi to thrive and grow plump and perfect for consumption, or at least that was Gabrielle’s theory. Lucrece was at a loss though, not really sure where to even start looking! She imagined she’d find stuff at the base of any regular tree, and she did find a few tiny toadstools that way, but lacked any technique to know where to look exactly.

  Not that she was making a big effort. Right now, the Lancer was more focused on her companion, observing how she foraged around, picking sticks and some herbs. The swordswoman’s expression remained almost always the same: stoic, unflappable and distant… but Lucrece was starting to notice the slightest hint of a smile on her face as she worked.

  “Ace.” The redhead suddenly said. “Found our target.”

  “You did?” The blonde walked closer, blinking her eye a few times. “Where?”

  “Here.”

  What Gabrielle pointed at looked grotesque, to say the least. Black and big, shriveled up in appearance, long and concave, like some sort of ugly black horn growing from the floor. Lucrece frowned.

  “What, behind the black turds?”

  “Those aren’t turds.” Gabi picked up those black pieces one by one, looking up at them with satisfaction in her eyes. “Horn of Plenty.”

  “You’re kidding me, you’re trying to make me eat shite.” Lucrece’s eye was wide with disbelief.

  “It tastes really good when cooked… Oh! And there’s some ‘Old man of the woods’ over there.”

  Lucrece turned to watch Gabrielle pick a few more shrooms: these were white, with several black protrusions, like pimples growing on its surface. The Lancer, much more used to fine dining and regular eating, lifted her nose up.

  “What??? No. That one looks sickly!”

  “It doesn’t taste as good as the Horn of Plenty but it will do us good.”

  “Urgh! Why do all your mushrooms look so ugly!?” Even in the poverty of a Mercenary’s life, Lucrece was proud of living with some dignity. Eating mushrooms, and what was worse, ugly mushrooms, like some pig was not the life she had in mind. Her eye darted around until, suddenly, finding something in the distance. “Oh! What about those?”

  Right at the base of a tall tree there were some beautiful specimens: white caps, elongated and slightly curved, with a ring at the base in some of them. The taller girl was happy and ready to go for them, but Gabi immediately grabbed her by the shoulder and slowly shook her head.

  “Not those ones.” She said, with a deep and serious voice.

  “What? Why not!?” The Lancer looked indignant.

  “That’s the Destroying Angel.”

  “The what.”

  “Mr. Morgan says that eating one of those means you will die a painful and delirious death in a day at most.” Gabrielle stared at those mushrooms with a hint of fear. “It destroys your insides, boils your brain and gives you rashes.”

  “You’re kidding.”

  “I do not kid.”

  Lucrece looked between her ‘guide’ and those mushrooms. They looked much more delicious than whatever the Witch had gathered, but those foreboding warnings had gotten the blonde all nervous now. Her one eye looked back at the redhead for a moment, staring into her soul to see if the girl flinched or giggled, revealing it all to be a big joke. But deep down, Lucrece knew this girl wasn’t the kind to joke, especially not about things that could potentially kill you.

  So, in defeat, she sighed and nodded. “Fine. Let’s go back to the cave and cook these suckers up.”

  “They are not suckers, they are mushrooms.” Gabrielle corrected.

  “I need to teach you some sayings, girl…” The Lancer found herself smiling a little bit. She shook it off immediately.This wasn’t some helpless little girl, she wouldn’t allow herself to think that again.

  Immediately after, she felt guilty for keeping guard around the woman who almost died to save her… but she couldn’t shake some ideas from her mind. Not just yet.

  It was all so confusing…

  Gabrielle was, of course, too busy thinking about the mushrooms they had found together to really wonder what her companion was thinking. This may not mean that they were friends just yet, but to Gabi, gathering things and surviving together was a sign of trust. Evidence that maybe she could put her back against this woman’s.

  Unless Esperanza said the contrary.

  Almost immediately , the redhead felt a new pair of eyes staring at her. She flinched and picked up the pace, hurrying back to the cave.

  And so, time passed.

  Darkness had overtaken the forests, an even thicker mantle than the Fog on its own. Deep within the forest, warmed by the flickering flame of a tiny bonfire, Gabrielle and Lucrece simply stared at the flames while the mushrooms cooked, skewered by sticks. They both had remained quiet for a moment, until Lulu finally broke the silence.

  “How did you learn so much about mushrooms?”

  “Mr. Morgan taught me when I was younger.” The Witch shrugged softly. “He loved mushrooms. I think I do, too.”

  “Huh. Useful thing to know, honestly.” The blonde smiled a little bit, taking a skewer and looking it over. “Even if these shrooms look ugly as all Hells.”

  “Try the Horn.”

  Grimacing a bit, the Lancer sighed and blew slightly on the hot mushrooms, sniffing it a little bit. It smelled like burning and, honestly, nothing else. With a deep sigh, she decided to take her companion’s advice and bit on one of the shriveled looking ones, closing her eye to brace for it, munching slowly and… then slowly opening her eye again.

  “Huh!”

  “Told you.” Gabrielle bit on her own food with a nod.

  “This is actually nice.” Lucrece looked at the mushrooms again, taking another bite. “WIth some butter and some oregano, this would be great!”

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  “What’s oregano?” The redhead tilted her head.

  “An herb that people put in food. Makes things delicious.” The taller girl bit on the other mushroom, excited… and then disappointed. “This one’s moldy…”

  “The Old man of the Woods is not particularly tasty, but it is nutritious. It saves your life.” Gabi nodded sagely. “Maybe oregano would fix it too?”

  “I doubt it. It’s not a miracle herb.” The Lancer grinned a little bit. “But good. You’re paying attention.”

  “Who taught you about oregano, Lulu?” The swordswoman tilted her head. “I noticed that you speak Gaul… what are you doing in Aespania?”

  “I’m going to stop you right there, Gabrielle.” Lulu sighed softly. “No memories in the Fog.”

  “What? Why not?”

  “That’s what attracts those wretches. Remembering things that make you sad or upset makes them jump out of the shadows and such.”

  “So we don’t have to get sad while we are here?” The redhead tilted her head to the side.

  “Pretty much.”

  “Easy.” The shorter girl shrugged softly.

  “What do you mean ‘easy’? It ain’t easy at ‘all’.” Now it was Lucrece who looked confused.

  “You just ignore how you feel. Ignore the voices and that’s fine.”

  Lucrece stared for a moment. Voices? That’s a new one, she didn’t remember Claude mentioning any voices. But most importantly, this girl ignoring how she felt seemed quite on track with what the taller girl had noticed, considering the girl ran around half naked and bleeding out without even blinking. And speaking of…

  “Why don’t you blink?” The Lancer asked, all of a sudden.

  “I thought we wouldn’t ask questions.” Gabi tilted her head to the other side.

  “Only questions that are off-limits!” Lucrece insisted, frowning.

  “Is your eye off-limits?”

  “Yes.”

  “I see.”

  There was silence for a moment.

  “... Can I ask about your eye when we get out of this Fog?”

  Lucrece gave it a good thought, before simply saying.

  “No.”

  “Come on… please?”

  “No.”

  “Please?”

  “No.”

  “Pretty please?”

  “No.”

  “With a berry on top.”

  “Gabrielle, I had several little siblings. I meant it when I said: I can do this all day .”

  There was another moment of silence, before Gabrielle said.

  “...But really, pretty please?”

  Lucrece frowned, rubbing her temples slowly while doing her best to keep the memory out of her mind.

  “Look. If we survive this, somehow make it out of the Fog… maybe.”

  “Hooray.”

  “But now tell me about your blinking.” If she was going to relent, Lulu planned to get as much from it as she could.

  “I have never done that. I just don’t need to.” Gabi shrugged softly. “People always ask why, as if I knew. I have no idea.”

  “Does it not bother you? I can’t keep my eye open for too long before it itches.”

  “No.”

  “Huh.”

  In a third awkward silence, Gabrielle decided to finally ask.

  “Then what am I allowed to ask?”

  Lucrece didn’t want to be cold and just say ‘Nothing’, but at the same time, the fear of accidentally making the girl upset and summoning those wretches again, or even worse, making herself upset and accidentally attracting Hi–

  No one. No one at all.

  “Ask anything that would make you happy.” She finally said. Then, she added: “And that wouldn’t make me angry.”

  Gabrielle gave this an actual, long thought. A voice in her mind already was nagging her about bothering her companion so much, considering they didn’t really know each other at all. Another voice pointed out that it would remain as such if they never talked! And that knowing each other could prove beneficial for future fights.

  The voices then started arguing with each other about the logic of that statement, complicating thinking of anything else quite a bit. A third voice then called attention to the fact that they are not supposed to get upset.

  Something that makes her happy, then? What would make her happy to know?

  “... Do you know any stories?” She finally asked.

  Lucrece blinked and rubbed the back of her neck. “Stories? Like what?”

  “Like the Tale of the Great Gilgamesh.”

  “What in the Hells is a Gilgamesh?”

  Gabi stared back now, disbelief flashing in her eyes. She even gasped.

  “You have never heard the Tale of the Great Gilgamesh?”

  “You’re making that word up.”

  “I am not. It’s a great tale of friendship, power and death. It’s one of the best stories ever made!”

  “Well then, don’t keep me in the dark! Tell me already!”

  This would be a good distraction for the both of them, she thought.

  Gabrielle, on the other hand, blinked softly. She? Tell a story? That’s not how things work? She doesn’t tell the stories? She listens to them! She would ruin everything if she tried to! She wasn’t smart like Baraqiel or charming like Esperanza! She was…A witch.

  Just a witch…

  “...Witches don’t tell nice tales.” She said, looking away.

  Now, Lucrece was still not an empath, but she would recognize that bashful gesture anywhere. The same Claude used to make when feeling sad. That was dangerous in the Fog, but most importantly, that just made Lucrece feel guilty and sad.

  “You really have the whole ‘Witch’ thing deep in your head, huh?” The Lancer sighed. “Tell me, why would Witches not tell nice tales?”

  “Because they ruin everything.”

  Saints damn it. Ouch , Lucrece thought, crossing her arms and sighing, then shaking her head a little bit as she meditated her next words really carefully.

  “Gabi. You don’t ruin everything.”

  “I do.”

  “You saved my life.”

  “I scared you terribly in the process.”

  “W-Well, yes, but…” The Lancer flinched. That outburst was going to haunt her, huh? “But then we made up, right?”

  “Yes.”

  “And we went looking for mushrooms together!”

  “Yes.”

  “And if it wasn’t for you, I’d have died a terrible death eating them Blasting Devils.”

  “Destroying angels.” Gabi corrected.

  “Yes, those! See? So it’s because of you that we got something to eat after all!”

  “I… guess.”

  “So?” Lucrece offered her a little smile.

  “... I’m still a Witch.”

  “Well then, maybe people are wrong about witches, then?”

  Gabrielle looked back at Lucrece, blinking softly. Those words…

  —---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  Night had always been cold and humid in Doggenband, especially in the forests around Saint Loretto’s Chapel. Even when the skies were slowly clearing up, showing the Sea of Stars above them, the recent storm had left everything wet and freezing in the low temperatures. Most people were safe from this, resting in semi-confort inside of the Chapel or in their own homes… but Gabrielle and Baraqiel’s only defense from the elements back then was an old, abandoned shed, in the derelict ruins of some empty coal mine.

  There, hidden from everyone else, the girl still remembered how they shivered together. They barely knew each other back then, they must have been around ten years old by then, and Baraqiel’s wounds were still fresh and bleeding, staining the girl’s clothes as they tried to get some warmth in their embrace.

  It was there, hidden from everyone, that they had made their Covenant.

  It was there where a false angel and a wicked Witch had decided to work together, to survive together.

  To somehow make it through a world that hated them both.

  “...Are you sure?” She asked again, still shivering.

  “About what?” The kid answered, sighing softly.

  “About working together. About being a team, like you said.”

  “Yes. Why wouldn’t I be sure?”

  “Because I will ruin everything eventually!” The little girl looked down. “I always do… that’s just how Witches are…”

  “Who says so?” Baraqiel frowned.

  “Everyone!”

  “Well, I think everyone’s wrong, then.” The kid grinned a little bit. “If you are a Witch, then Witches must be nice. Because you are nice!”

  Gabrielle did not know how to compete with that logic. She would learn that, in the future, no matter how many times she tried to push back, she would never be able to shake Baraqiel’s conviction.

  Not even at the very end.

  “We’ll be fine, and we will escape together, and things will be much better.” The kid promised, again, not knowing what tomorrow would bring. Or maybe not really caring about it.

  The cold left their bodies soon enough, and in replacement, a newfound warmth would spread from their very hearts. Something that not even a storm or the cold nights in Doggenband could extinguish.

  —---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  Lucrece watched as tears rolled down Gabrielle’s eyes. Her attention went immediately around them, standing up and getting ready for an attack that could come from any corner… but nothing came. Instead, she heard Gabrielle whimper softly.

  “...Can I…”

  “Hmmm? What was that?” The Lancer looked down at the crying woman, who gently cleaned the tears off her face.

  “...Hug you..?”

  The blonde girl froze. A hug? Really? From a total stranger. The redhead must really be vulnerable right now, and that was dangerous! But not only that… it felt wrong to simply leave her like that. So, ignoring her common sense saying no, and her pragmatic self shaking her head in disappointment, Lucrece sat besides Gabrielle again and hugged her carefully, softly.

  Gabi hugged tightly, taking deep breaths. Lucrece didn’t smell like Baraqiel, who smelled like wood; or Esperanza, who smelled like roses. No, this Lancer smelled of blood, of sweat, of metal, and a distant hint of smoke. But there was something beyond all that, or maybe something to the mixture of it all. Something that was pleasant.

  They remained together for a good moment, before Gabrielle finally let go. Lucrece softly patted her back a few times, to reassure her, offering her a smile and asking:

  “Better?”

  “...Better.” The swordswoman sniffled and cleaned her nose a little bit with the cape that covered her. Lucrece chose not to say anything. “Sorry.”

  “You are fine.” The Lancer reassured her. “Now… do you think you’d like to tell me the tale of Gilgamess or whatever?”

  “Won’t you mind if I tell it wrong…?” The shorter girl tilted her head, still sniffling a little bit.

  “Nay. Go for it.”

  For the first time in a while, without having to put a front for Esperanza… Gabrielle smiled.