The girl was babbling on about men in suits and getting more worked up by the second. Danica couldn’t make any sense of the situation, but from the sounds of it the bandits were in more danger now that a new enemy was on the playing field. It was not long before the girl ran across the room and deeper into the ship when a scream shattered the air, where their other friend had gone. While Danica was thus distracted, the Muran leaned forward and threw her weapon across the room, out of her reach. Danica couldn’t hold back a frustrated growl in her throat. No chance of getting it back for a surprise retaliation, not that there was any point to drawing out the fight. The man had her pinned down with his sword, and he didn’t seem to be immediately about to kill her, so Dani raised her hands in a disarming gesture and flashed a smile. Of course, the Naga was never out of options, but for now biding her time was the best move, although accepting defeat left a very bitter taste in her mouth.

It was more surprising for her when the man let her get up, stepping back and lowering his weapon. So he had been sincere in his desire not to hurt her, despite the fact that Danica had been about to kill him just a few minutes before. In her line of work, people rarely stayed true to their word when they promised not to hurt you, and Danica had long learned the painful consequences of growing to trust someone. She rose to her feet carefully, wary of a trick now that she was seemingly defenseless, but the man only urged her to leave before disappearing down the stairs himself. She let him go without a word. At this point, it seemed wise to take his advice and make herself scarce. She held no loyalty to the bandits beyond their coin, and there was little chance of getting paid after this disaster. And if they were in real trouble, she was just one woman—she wouldn’t be able to help them anyway.

With a sudden urgency driving her forward, she snapped into action. She strode across the room and picked up her dagger, inspecting it briefly before jamming it into its sheath. Her quiver and bow were securely strapped on her person and undamaged in the short fight, and it was a simple matter to grab her pack from one of the nearby rooms in the hold. With that, all of her possessions on the ship were with her once again, and it was time to go. It was so easy to just pick up her entire life like that, often, and she held no nostalgia as she gave a cursory glance at her surroundings before turning for the stairs leading up onto the deck. The distant sound of wood crashing from another part of the ship made her pause, but she simply shook her head and continued—half the ship could be breaking apart at this point for all she knew.

As she reached the top of the stairs, the sounds of a raging battle continued outside. Danica stopped to wrap shadow magic around her, taking the extra moments necessary to make the enchantments stronger than usual. After all, it seemed likely to her now that there were more Magi involved, and the light outside would not help either. The effort of keeping herself concealed so strongly would tire her out soon, but it wouldn’t matter if she could make a clean break from the ship. With her magic ready, Danica stepped out onto the deck, eyes widening at the chaotic scene that confronted her. As her eyes adjusted to the light from the darkness of the hold, nothing she had anticipated prepared her for what she saw now. She began to circle around the edge of the deck, avoiding the heart of the fighting as she inched towards the gangplank, moving slowly to keep her cover intact. Most of the bandits were down already, and her stomach turned as she saw some familiar faces lying dead, killed in gruesome ways even for her. She resisted the urge to stop and examine them, to try and help. There was no hope for anyone here now.

Danica finally ducked behind a crate with the gangplank to her back and peeked out at the fighting. Everyone involved in the battle was clustered around the center of the deck, and it was then that she noticed a familiar figure. It was the man who had darted past her in the hold earlier, and now that she could get a better look she saw that he appeared part Machina. And he was aggressively killing or severely wounding the rest of their enemies with powers she had never seen before, making no distinction between the bandits or the men in suits, the latter group Dani didn’t recognize at all. But the Machina man didn’t seem to be hurting his friends, an assorted group of younger people. The little girl was with them in the Machina’s grasp, the distressed look on her face tugging at Danica’s heart. Everything really had gone to pieces here—what a mess. She got a quick look at everything, but ignored the details as her heart raced, the urgency she was feeling telling her she needed to leave before the fight ended, as it looked like it quickly would. Not to mention that she was their enemy, and she didn’t want to be on the receiving end of a mechanical glove punch.

Danica turned and made her way down the gangplank until she could leap to the ground, lightly rolling to cushion her fall. Here there were more bodies, the grass soaked with blood under some of them. An uneasy feeling settled into her stomach like a rock as she walked quickly past the fallen, away from the boat and the clearing. Once again she was leaving places and people behind, people she could not help despite all the power in her possession. Once again, she was useless. Her glamour dissipated like a cloak falling gently from her shoulders as she began to walk faster, her pace quickening until she was lightly jogging through the trees, her pack bumping against her back between her shoulder blades as she ran.