Rain“One can find so many pains when the rain is falling.”
-John Steinbeck
Veronica hated rain.
Let it be known to her few allies and numerous enemies, to her acquaintances and enemies alike. Veronica Sienna hated rain with every fiber of her being. It made the ground muddy and disgusting to wade through with her boots, ruined her beautiful makeup that she painstakingly applied every morning, and always, always, managed to clean away the wonderful feeling of blood that she had worked so hard to amass on her skin every day. So yes, she hated everything about rain, even the lightest drizzle. And at the moment, she found it very, very difficult not to curse what heaven probably thought was a funny joke to play over her, standing two feet away from the maiden in soaked white priest robes.
“Umm... Veronica? Could you not... glare at me so much?” The somewhat frightened priest questioned timidly under the withering gaze Veronica shot at him.
“Please be quiet, you stupid priest.”
“Bu-“
“Now.”
“I-”
“The weather is looking beautiful outside, is it not?”
Max was quickly silenced by this dangerous turn of events, not wanting to mention that it was in fact not beautiful outside, but raining hard enough outside that their tent threatened to tear down, and that if Veronica forced him outside, he would probably catch pneumonia and die. Of course, this wouldn’t have been a problem if he had his own tent, but an unfortunate incident involving Priscilla toying around with some of Grant’s chemicals had occurred a few days ago, and it was safe to say that there was no way for even the resourceful mutant to piece it together afterwards. They had managed to avoid the whole problem by staying at hotels for the last few days, but had somehow forgotten to get him a new tent. The original plan had been to share tents with Kali, since, embarrassing as it was, the arrangement wasn’t exactly new. But when a freak rainstorm had suddenly hit the campsite with astonishing alacrity, the group had darted into their respective tents as fast as they possibly could... and Max darted into the nearest tent without thinking.
“...So...”
“...”
Any attempts at conversation fell short due to the rather intimidating glare Veronica sent at Max, staring at him with all of her energy as though he were the source of the rainstorm. To be fair, she wasn’t exactly in the best of moods today, and everybody could see it. When they had woken up, Veronica had realized that she had accidentally left one of her favorite dresses at the previous inn they had stayed at, and then while traveling; the group had run into a group of bandits who were either unfortunate or stupid enough to choose them as their next victims. Normally, she loved bandits. They were ridiculously easy to kill, and since no one would particularly miss them, she could bathe in their blood to her heart’s content. But the priest had accidentally bumped into her trying to hold one of them back, and one of the thugs had managed to nick her on the cheek with a rusted sword. She had been injured. By a bandit.
A BANDIT had marred HER beautiful face! Needless to say, that particular bandit had not died in a pleasant fashion, and the rest of group quickly realized that she wasn’t particularly the happiest person at the moment. She knew it wasn’t the priest’s fault, but given the day she had so far, it was rather easy to blame him.
Then to compound matters, the heaven’s had to play a cruel joke on her, and not only made it rain, but somehow placed the person that she wanted to throttle at the moment, right next to her. The only thing she had to thank was that at the moment, the spirit inside of the stupid priest had not taunted her yet. Normally she enjoyed the confrontations that they had, but in this particular instance, she was almost 100% certain that the sound of his voice would send her to a Shattered state.
Eventually, the priest seemed to take the hint, sighing lightly and supporting his body with his arms as he leaned backwards. Despite the fact that she was irritated at the moment, even Veronica could not ignore the fact that the priest was lightly shivering, his robes and body soaked to the bone. While she herself had gotten out fine, the priest had idiotically looked from tent to tent desperately as the rain fell, before darting to the nearest one he could find. As a result, he had probably gotten the worst out of the group, and it was clear that if he didn’t dry himself, he’d catch a cold. The maiden felt a sigh escape her lips as well, it wasn’t exactly the priest’s fault that the day had gone so badly, or that he was too clumsy to notice her while battling. Well... the second was most likely his fault, but the priest had healed the ‘wound’ afterwards anyway. And even she wasn’t cruel enough to ignore the quivering form of Max at the moment. She felt the curious gaze of the priest follow her as she moved towards her belongings, shuffling through them before tossing a few towels and blankets at the sickly priest. He caught them with some air of surprise, his gaze beginning to question her before she cut him off quickly.
“You are making the tent wet, priest. And if you were to get sick while I was near you, I doubt the angel would let me off easy.” Veronica hurriedly explained, as a warm smile came to Max’s lips.
“Thanks, Veronica.” He replied appreciatively, gladly using the towels to dry himself as well as he could under the circumstances. She didn’t know why, but that smile irritated her somewhat. It was a smile of understanding, as if he saw through her words with ease. She didn’t understand that smile. Then again, she didn’t exactly understand a lot about the priest anyway.
Veronica took a small step forward before reclaiming her seat next to the priest, her emerald green eyes curiously examining him as he dried his robes. That was right... when they had just started out on their journey; they had all sat around the campfire that day, exchanging pasts and aspirations on a whim. She knew of the wolfen’s past, of his lost friend named Timor, and remembered Priscilla’s tragic tale with the devil Selesterge. Veronica even knew of the enigmatic Grant’s past to some extent, since he had shared that he came from the Desolation Zone. So in short, there were only three people that did not outright speak of their past, the scylla, the angel, and the priest. From what it seemed, the scylla had merely left on her adventure to explore the lands, and she was able to gleam certain parts of the angel’s past through her conversations with Max.
So that just left one person that she could not understand, one person that was so irritatingly honest and kind, that Veronica could not see any reason for Max not to speak of his past. As much as the priest irritated her at times with his overly optimistic words and naïve compassion for others (just weeks ago, he had tried to help a wayward injured man on the side of the road that had turned out to be a bandit, waiting to signal his brethren), Veronica found it irritating that she didn’t understand the sickly priest very well at all. And yet, he had the audacity to flash that knowing, thoughtful smile at her as though he knew everything about her. She didn’t know why she was getting so annoyed over such an inconsequential matter, but she was. It wasn’t like she wanted to get to know the priest better, wasn’t it? No, the reason she was getting so aggravated was because of that foolish grin on the priest’s face, and his consistently stupid actions such as rushing out into the middle of a battlefield just to heal her. That had to be the reason.
“Umm... Veronica? Is something the matter?” Max asked with some measure of concern to his tone, seeing the maiden’s gaze pierce straight into him. Immediately, Veronica averted her eyes, and an ever so faint blush came to her cheeks once she realized that she was staring.
“Y-You had something on your face, stupid priest!” She quickly covered her blunder, the confused priest nodding in thanks before wiping his face with the towel once more. Veronica shook her head, turning away from the exorcist and staring at the wildly thrashing walls of the tent. The storm had not abated in the slightest, but somehow had gotten worse. She was acting foolish anyway. Since when did she care so much about the pasts of others? Once, there had been a time where her life’s sole purpose was to hunt down Doctor Verkrag. That had been her ambition, her mantra, her thoughts and desires all her life. Since when did she have the leniency to think about others? Since when did she decide to care?
“...nica...”
...No, she knew the answer to her own question. Since she had joined this group, and met people like the wolfen, the mutant... and the priest, things had changed. Whether it was for the better or not, she did not know... but one thing was for certain. Lately, she had been-
“VERONICA!” A sudden shout from nearby cut off her self-musing, the maiden stumbling back slightly in surprise. Growling, she looked at the perpetrator, before giving him a glare that was returned with a slightly nervous, guilty smile.
“What is it, priest? If you wish for clothing to replace your robes, I regret to tell you that unless you have a preference for dresses, I-“
“N-No, no, it’s not that!” Max hurriedly cut her off, fearing what would happen if he were to wear one of her dresses. “It’s just... it’s getting kind of late, isn’t it? You must be tired.” Giving her that same, irritatingly kind smile as always, he slightly gestured towards the lone sleeping bed between them with his right hand.
“I wouldn’t want you to not get any sleep because of me. Don’t worry, I won’t pull anything funny.” The maiden’s glare softened once she realized that Max’s words were sincere, sighing slightly before shaking her head.
“...No, you require more sleep than me, priest. I will function fairly off little sleep. You will not.” She pointed out, raising an eyebrow as a rather stubborn look over Max’s features that she had seldom seen before. Then again, it was true that once he set his mind to something, it was rather difficult to get him to change his mind.
“That’s not true. Besides, I’m imposing on you anyway, right? I’m fine with lying on the-“
“No, you will not, you stupid priest. Think, would the scylla truly be pleased if she had to pick up your body for the-“
“Veronica, don’t worry about me! It’s your tent, so just take the-“
“I told you, you will take the sleeping bag, and there is little you can say to dissuade me.” Veronica let out a low growl of frustration at the stubborn expression of the priest, who crossed his arms and folded his legs together in opposition to her.
“I’m not going to just barge in here and steal your sleeping bag, Veronica! Besides, what kind of guy would I be if I just take the bag for myself, and leave the girl on the floo-“
“Are you truly bringing sex into this priest? Is this coming from the person whose physique is more similar to that of a female’s than mine?”
She smirked as a red hot blush stained Max’s features, who responded indignantly to her words. “W-What’s that supposed to mean?!”
“Oh? I have seen you attempt a punch before, priest. Are you certain the little daughter of that last innkeeper could not have thrown something similar?” Veronica questioned, a smirk still on her face as she seemingly got more and more amused off the poor priest’s embarrassment. Suddenly, Max’s eyes widened, and his beet-red face seemed to turn to a shade of scarlet of epic levels before averting his eyes away from the maiden. Raising an eyebrow, the maiden glanced at the priest, who tried his best not to look back at her emerald green eyes.
“...Priest? What is the matter?” Stumbling as if surprised, Max again averted her eyes, before beginning to laugh nervously.
“N-Nothing! Inner just said something stupid just now, that’s all...” Max laughed nervously yet again, Veronica’s eyes narrowing as a sneaking suspicion began to develop inside of her. Whatever the spirit had said, she didn’t trust it one bit.
“What did he say?”
“W-Well... he...just said that if we were going to argue so much about it... t-then we should just shaaa... whydoyouhaveyourDevilBladesout?!” Max hastily spoke in fear as a chill ran down his spine, observing a faint red tint color Veronica’s cheeks that was either embarrassment, pure anger, or both. As the maiden of death began to march over towards him, blades in hand, the priest nervously swallowed as he noticed the color of her eyes beginning to turn blood-shot red.
“V-Veronica... it was Inner, not me! WAI-“Max was cut off as a Devil Blade sliced through the air, landing neatly between his legs and nearly preventing the birth of any future Maxwell’s or Maxine’s.
The thunderous drops of the rain outside muted the screams of fear from the poor priest, as well as the loud crashes inside of Veronica’s tent that echoed throughout the night.
Moments later after the carnage, Veronica and Max sat silently next to each other, one person still fuming; the other noticeably more shaken up then before. Both tried not to acknowledge the rather patchwork state of their tent. It was as if a mini tornado had hit it, and then sent swords flying everywhere. Veronica’s belongings were strewn out throughout the floor in a messy heap, and there were random sword holes in the tent that had been quickly tied into a knot, and it was clear that when the storm abated, the tent would most likely not see another day.
Between them, the sleeping bag laid unharmed, in pristine condition. Somehow, Veronica’s rage had managed to avoid it. An unspoken rule had seemed to have been agreed between them however, in that if neither one of them would accept the sleeping bag; then neither of them would use it.
“...”
Despite the rather heavy atmosphere in the air, Max managed to lie down on the tent floor, staring upwards at the swaying tent ceiling. Outside, the storm was still raging, but it didn’t seem quite so violent as before. Resisting how heavy his eyelids felt at the moment, the priest stifled a yawn, trying his hardest not to fall asleep. It was childish, but somehow he didn’t want to be the one to fall asleep the first among the two of them.
Next to him, Veronica had calmed down somewhat, but the main reason for her irritation wasn’t the stupid priest next to her. She knew that it wasn’t his fault. She knew that the stupid inner priest had just been trying to provoke her... and what ticked her off was that it worked, almost too perfectly.
Why?
Why did she care so much about what he said? A month ago, she would have brushed his words aside, and had a vicious quip in store for the spirit’s words almost instantly. Why then, was she flustered right now over childish taunts? Had she really changed that much...?
More than the fact of change, what scared her the most, was that she had never had these emotions before. She didn’t know what to think. When the rest of them were laughing and joking around, she had always stood askance to the side, not sure of what to what to do, of how to act. If she had to describe that feeling, it was confusion. She didn’t know what to do, of what to say. Back then, it was easy. She wanted to kill Verkrag, and nothing would get in her way. She didn’t have time for the ridiculous scenes that kept repeating in front of her, of the wolfen’s silly pranks and the priest’s comical misfortune. But now, it was different. And she didn’t know if she liked these new feelings or not.
The maiden narrowed her eyes, staring at the silently swaying flap of the tent with such intensity, that she might as well have been staring at the unrelenting rainfall outside.
“Is something the matter?” A voice softly rang out near her, Veronica’s emerald green eyes meeting a brilliant shade of sapphire blue. Hmph... was she that easy to read, so that even the stupid priest could see through her? No... from the beginning, it might have been impossible to hide anything from him, she realized with a sigh. The maiden silently turned her gaze back to the falling raindrops outside, and stillness passed between them. Veronica made no attempt to acknowledge the sickly priest’s question, and Max neither pressed the issue nor seemed to let it go. Finally, after a short silence, Veronica spoke up, her voice quieter than usual.
“Do you believe people change, priest?”
Max seemed to mull over the question silently, thankfully not inquiring why she had asked it. After a brief silence, he finally responded, his expression seeming to be lost in the past instead of the present.
“Yeah, I do.” The maiden stared at the priest, whose voice seemed to hide a quiet conviction. Veronica turned her bright green eyes to him, her expression genuinely curious. “Why?”
“...” Although it was a simple question, the sickly priest seemed to take even more time than before to answer it, his expression softening as if remembering an important memory. A small smile appeared on his lips, as he turned his gaze away from the maiden, seeming to stare at something that she could not see.
“I used to be a pretty frightened little kid you know. Everything frightened me. No, maybe that’s not right...” Max muttered, thinking of days that had long past. “I think I was afraid of change. I didn’t want anything to change... because I didn’t know what would happen if they did.”
“...And what changed? Would it not be preferable for things to remain as they were, if it were more comfortable?” Veronica inquired, curious as to what answer the priest would give her. The priest’s description of his former self was interesting not just because it was the exact opposite of what she had come to expect from him... it was eerily similar to her.
“Not what.” Max corrected with a sigh. “Who. I met the most violent, reckless, blindly optimistic person you’ll ever meet in your life... “ Despite his words, it was clear that he didn’t truly mean his words, and they were even tinged with some amount of fondness. “But... I don’t think change is all that bad. It’s true that if nothing changes you’d be more comfortable, and you’d never be scared...”
The priest turned to her with a thoughtful smile, as if he knew what Veronica was trying to gleam from her question. “Isn’t that part of what makes life so beautiful though? If she hadn’t changed me, then I wouldn’t be able to laugh with everyone right now, right?”
“...You are too naïve for your good, you stupid priest.” Despite her words, a small smile began to develop on the maiden’s face. She probably should have expected this type of answer from him, Veronica realized. He hadn’t given her a clear answer, but only one person alive could make such a blindly naïve, optimistic answer such as that.
Neither of them realized it, but the torrent outside of their tent had slowed down somewhat, and their once wildly swaying tent was moving much more gently.
“Besides, I like the Veronica that smiles and laughs with us more than the one that tried to cut off my head.” He joked with a small grin, and Veronica’s face flushed slightly. Was she really, truly that transparent?
The pitter-patter of the raindrops outside had finally stopped. The wind that had once threatened to tear down the roof of their tent had abated, and outside, familiar voices could be heard.
“...I’d better get out and see if everything is alright. Knowing some of them, their tents might be worse than ours somehow...” Max muttered, beginning to pick himself up and slowly step towards the exit.
“Max... wait.” Veronica stopped Max, who turned around quizzically, surprised that she had actually used his name for once. She rarely did.
“...My thanks. I... enjoyed your company tonight.” The maiden admitted, a genuine smile appearing on her face that Max had never seen before. For a moment, he could only stand there dumbly, not knowing what to say. Finally, after a short silence, he grinned back as a beam of light pierced through the front flap of the tent.
“You don’t need to thank me... but it was fun, wasn’t it? We should do this again sometime!” The priest joked, Veronica chuckling slightly in response. With a slight wave, the priest gracefully stepped out of the tent, only to let out a startled cry once he was out. Alarmed, the maiden quickly grabbed her blades and prepared herself to rush out, before she heard the familiar voices of her allies.
“Damn dude... you’ve got more balls than I thought.”
“Max, you lucky fucker!”
“Huh? What are you talking about?”
“...You made sure to use protection, correct?”
“Yeah, I- w-what?! H-Hey, this is a misunderstanding... don’t look at me like that, Elaina!”
“Hahaha!”
...They were all truly idiots, Veronica realized, listening to their laughs outside of the tent with a small smile on her face. Silently, she pulled her body up from the ground, beginning to walk out of the tent, a soft beam of light hitting her face. She had changed, but it didn’t seem to matter as much as before.
The rain had stopped.