RD 4 Ch 26

Circe landed back at the fortress, still holding me tight. Her blue hair danced about us before the wind collected it to fall down her back. With the sun behind her she was particularly eye-catching, especially the way it backlit her loose dress, to highlight her slim form underneath.

"You know, you didn't have to come all the way back here. You could have stayed and helped everyone else," I said.

She gave me a look as if to say that I was being difficult. Though, from this angle, she looked pretty cute doing it.

"I'm not that important," I said quickly, only for her eyebrow to creep slowly up. 

"I hate to tell you, Bran, but I can’t think of a single person more important at the moment.” She replied, still carrying me like a princess and striding across the roof of the fortress as Mul Branova and Nesters waved her on, recognizing her.

I had to roll my eyes. "Obviously, I'm an important figure here." I gestured vaguely around. "However, much of this can operate without me, or should I say, with someone else in my place." 

Circe pursed her lips and set me down at the first couch we passed, she stayed standing as if she expected to be called away in a moment.

Unfortunately, our current area was decently public and a number of Mul Branova were stopping to gawk, looking at my current condition. Suddenly, the Mul Branova were fretful and hurrying away to find likely every healer in the fortress. 

Circe glanced at me again and poked me gently in the nose. "And here are some lovely ladies to prove my point. Bran, you are more important than it seems you realize. Not just all the knowledge you possess, but everything you do keeps all of these crazy women and the organization that Simone built running." 

I frowned slightly at those words. "It isn't ideal if the whole organization revolves around me." If something happened then it would all collapse and right now I was building it to be a linchpin of humanity’s survival.

"Why? Are you going somewhere?" Circe shot back.

"No, I'm not going anywhere. But it's not healthy for the Mul Branova if they are so dependent on me." I answered.

"Let them be dependent if you aren't going anywhere," she emphasized. “What’s the problem? You have plenty of help taking on administrative tasks so you can fuck off periodically to loot instances.”

I sighed and shook my head. "That's not the point. Obviously, I'm going to stick around. But having the entire organization dependent on me just isn't healthy. I mean, there need to be contingencies for the possibility that something happens. I’m sure you have done the same.”

Circe shrugged. "Not really. If I'm dead, then it's not my problem."

That was strange, I would have figured that Circe would be more prepared. Or perhaps because she saw Zeus as above her in the Heros Clan she didn’t feel the same responsibility.

I sighed, not quite having the energy for anything more. "And some people call me morbid." 

"What? I've led the clan for as long as it has existed, really. It won't be the same organization without me, and I have zero issue letting that be someone else's problem. So I'll be dead. And if I weren't dead, I would be sad that I was dead." Circe answered.

That logic required a few leaps of mental gymnastics and I was having trouble figuring out how to respond. "So if you die, you don't have contingencies? You don't have anything?" I pressed returning to the problem at hand.

"Nope. Everything revolves around me and my ability to manage everyone." Circe shrugged. “I have plenty of help, but yeah it would collapse without me.”

I gave her a long, pitiful look. "That must be hard." 

"You're not supposed to look at me like that." Circe leaned backwards, as if my pitying gaze was a dangerous fire creeping towards her. 

"How long has it been since you stepped away, did something else for a period of time besides lead your part of the Heroes Clan?" I asked. For the first time, I worried about Circe. 

"A very long time, Bran," she said after a moment. "A very, very long time." She sounded exhausted. Her flirty mask cracked and behind it was a tired old woman, who kept on going because that was all that she knew.

"Well perhaps it's time to think about yourself, at least for a while." I held a frail hand out to her, hating myself for being too weak to give her a hug. "Come sit. Perhaps you could keep me from being blown away by the wind." I’d seen her type, she needed purpose.

She smirked. "You're not quite that frail, are you?" 

"I don't know, the backlash from using both abilities at the same time kind of makes me feel like I could just crumple into ash if I don't concentrate on keeping myself together." I answered honestly.

She looked me up and down. "Don't worry, you'll bounce back. Abilities with drawbacks like these only make you weak. They don't kill you." 

"Ah, but weakness kills more often than not. I'm sure you've experienced that in your long life, or have you been too busy taking care of everyone else to notice the systematic flaws." I smirked, holding out my hand.

She rolled her eyes but joined me on the couch, hovering close enough that it was almost like she could snatch me up should something dangerous come around the corner. "Maybe I will take a bit of a break," she smiled, a soft light entering her eyes as she pulled her arm over her head pushing her chest nearly into my face.

When Circe playfully stretched, I grabbed her arm and pulled her down.

Given that I had no strength, it was clear she didn’t fight me as I managed to knock Circe over headfirst into my lap, forcing her to relax a bit more.

I laughed. "You must really need a break if that was enough to get you to lay down." I put a hand on her shoulder to gently keep her in place, and to my surprise, she didn't fight me.

All she did was turn over slightly to look me in the eyes, a moment of vulnerability filling them.

I ran my hand through her hair and she closed her eyes, sharing a moment that maybe only two leaders could understand.

In that moment, we were able to take a few breaths separate from all the people who relied on us.

But it was only a few more moments before the Mul Branova came rushing back, this time with a dozen healers in tow, only for them all to freeze at the doorway, seeing Circe laying in my lap.

I waved them all away. "It's fine. Circe's going to take care of me." More than a few eyebrows popped high up, nearly touching their hairlines at those words. I ignored them, closing my eyes and relaxing back into the seat as my hand continued to comb through Circe’s hair.

"I'll take care of you?” Circe spoke from my lap and I cracked an eye open to look down at her. She had her eyebrows raised as she waited for my response.

“What? I just wanted them to go away. Otherwise they'll fuss over me too much." I gestured loosely in the direction that all of them had just disappeared. 

"What a horrible fate," Circe said sarcastically.

"When they really swarm you, it can be a bit much." I groaned. "So thanks for the protection, Circe. Much appreciated." I gave her a purpose for lying in my lap.

She rolled her eyes, but a small smile was on her face as well. She let her head settle back into my lap.

"So if I'm going to get you to take a break, what would you like to do?" I asked.

Circe scowled off into the distance as she thought, before she flicked her hand towards the doorway. "Perhaps we should start by simply taking a rest. You're incapacitated at the moment after using your frankly obnoxious mix of abilities.” Circe started.

“With debilitating downsides after they end.” I pointed out. “You avoided the question because you don’t have a single idea what you’d do if you took a break from everything for a bit, do you?”

“Yes, yes.” Circe waved away my words, clearly not liking it when I forced her to confront her workaholic nature. “If I lay here, then no one will bother you. I might as well do us both a favor and get some rest while I provide cover for you."

I did my best to keep from smiling. "Of course, just a little rest. You certainly deserve it." 

"Nighty night, then," she patted my thigh and nuzzled into my lap for a brief moment.

I took my hand, running it over her head and across her shoulder, before returning and simply petting her head as her breathing slowed and relaxed.

***

It was hours later when Simone burst into the lobby, loud enough to startle Circe. Simone stopped, a giant grin spreading across our face.

For whatever reason, no one had been passing through here.

"Was I interrupting something?" Simone put her hands behind her back and batted her lashes at the two of us. 

"You interrupted my nap." Circe grumbled, beginning to fluff the hair that had gotten plastered to one side of her head.

"Oh, well, it's good you got some rest, and it's good that Bran recovered.” Simone looked so smug.

“I guess she was protecting me while I recovered." I gestured over at Circe, who was now sitting beside me, looking me up and down.

Her eyes lingered on the tattered clothing that barely covered my chest.

Simone came over and plopped herself in my lap, claiming Circe’s prior spot. "Is that so? Do you think we have enough time for a quickie?" She asked.

Circe grunted and rolled her eyes.

"Stop messing with Circe." I told Simone, even as I wrapped my arms around her waist and pulled her firmly on top of my legs. "And yes, I recovered. Did we manage to get everyone out?" 

"We lost two." Simone grimaced. "Before we tried to retreat," she clarified. "One of the Nesters, and one of Jenny's girls. Unfortunately, there were just too many demons to protect everybody." She shook her head and sniffled. "I should have done a better job protecting them."

I wrapped my arms around Simone and pulled her back against my chest. "We can't save everyone. That we were able to do something like that, and only two not being able to make it home is a considerable victory against an army that would have taken many more lives. Rather than beat yourself up about the two that died, praise yourself for all of the others that managed to survive." 

"I know." Simone waved a hand, but didn't make any move to extract herself from my arms. "I just can't help but see the failures and want to make them better. But you're right. I made a considerable difference during that fight, and things will only get better, right? Each of those ladies will now have experience. Perhaps we'll call them the veterans, and they can help the newbies gain their first experiences as well. Nyx is super excited, though." Simone said, turning around in my lap and flashing me a giant smile as she moved onto something better.

"What happened with Nyx?" Circe asked before I could. 

"It's a big secret." Simone mimed zipping her lips. "But I'm sure Bran will figure it out soon enough. Otherwise, since it looks like our Lord Bran is back on his feet, we should split up the loot and then get back to our plans. When do you think we're going to attack again?" Simone asked. 

"We should start sending out parties twice a week," I said. "We'll let the demons fatten up their forces, and then send groups to farm them. If we wait longer than that, it'll become too dangerous. Not to mention, they'll continue to spill out in the other direction." Both ladies gave me a strange look. 

"Shouldn't we stop it entirely?" Circe asked. 

"Stop what? The never-ending tide of demons?" I asked, with more than a little edge to my tone. "Good luck. Honestly, even if I could, I wouldn't close the Hell Gate. It's simply too valuable of a resource for us.”

“They'll spill out further into the country, though, day by day, and reap a horrible number of lives," Simone argued. 

"And if we do stop the demons?" I asked, only to answer the question myself. "Then everyone's going to just continue working at the office or the factory and pretend like it's not their problem, not until it's on their doorstep. And right now, these are demons that people could actually deal with if people group up at low levels. In a month? A year? Those demons will be so powerful that they can sweep through entire cities by themselves. They would harvest everybody and use their bodies as hosts for more low level demons. I refuse to allow that to happen. We have to force humanity to face down their demons, literally. Otherwise, they won't grow, and when something strong enough escapes our grasp, it'll just make everything that much worse."

"Lovely. Well I think it’s about time for me to freshen up." Circe got up and breezed out of the room as if an invisible wind was tickling at her clothes and hair.

Simone's eyes snapped back to me as soon as Circe had left. "Do you see that? She really wanted you to watch her walk away." 

I blinked and stared at Simone. "Not everyone has sex on the brain like you." 

She pouted. "I don't always have it on the brain, just most of the time." 

I sighed and shook my head, pulling her in close to me. I took a deep breath, breathing in her scent and letting it help me relax a bit more, knowing in a moment we would have to get up and go continue helping humanity grow stronger.

It was a mantle I’d worn for too long, a responsibility that weighed heavy on my shoulder from time to time, even though I had gotten so used to it that I hardly noticed some days.