Agnes stirred in her sleep and eventually slowly woke up, a column of light peered between the curtains shining on her face. Completely groggy and disoriented, her body still felt heavy and sore, her chest and torso felt tight and bound. She lifted her covers slightly to find her chest wrapped in bandages and the rest of her stripped nude. She lied back down and sighed, rubbing her eyes and slowly looked around the room. She saw that the television was on, and looking across from her Flash was laying on the bed watching his cartoons, his arms and feet neatly tucked so he simply resembled an oval with a head sticking out. Aside from Flash the room was empty, Agnes’s mind was rather empty, no thoughts, no opinions, nothing. Agnes slowly pulled herself up into a sitting position and looked around more clearly. Although she didn’t really know where she was, how she got to where she is, and how much time had passed, she did know that she needed to use the bathroom very badly, the pain on her forehead was gone, and she was starving.
Her stirrings eventually caught Flash’s attention and he immediately got up and hopped onto Agnes’s bed hugging her and inspecting her before he backed down and stared at her. “Don’t worry Flash, I’m fine.” She slowly stood up with Flash’s help and she made her way to the bathroom. Although her body had mostly recovered she still felt stiff and sore. She took a long shower, just letting the water wash over her as she tried to recollect her thoughts, flashes of what happened days ago played back in her head. Eventually she got out of the shower and exited the bathroom just wrapped in a towel and she sat down next to Flash, he had immersed himself in his cartoons again and she joined him.
A half hour later. The door to the room unlocked and Angel and Amphy returned. Flash got up and greeted them promptly while Agnes simply stared. “Ah, you’re finally awake, it’s about time. If you didn’t get up today I was going to get worried.” Angel spoke as she closed the door behind her, Amphy was carrying two brown paper bags which she brought to Agnes, the contents being a huge variety of food. Angel was carrying two small flat square cases which she placed on the table near the center of the room.
Agnes didn’t hesitate to start devouring the food brought to her. Angel smiled slightly at her before washing her hands in the bathroom and taking a seat in a chair and watched Agnes devour the food. Angel calmly waited until Agnes began slowing down on the food before she started speaking. “I don’t know what made you want to become a mercenary, but it will be something that you will not be doing from now on, your life with the Death Merchants is over, I’ve already spoken to them about you.”
Agnes chewed on the food angrily while looking at Angel then swallowed, “What?!”
“Mother wants me to show you the proper path… to ‘rehabilitate you….”
Agnes was about to speak but she held her tongue. She lost her cool the first time and ended up losing four days of consciousness.
“It was clear to me from our… dispute a few days ago that you do not want to follow in the duties of the Cho'ehatua. Thinking about that for the past few days I’ve come to the conclusion that there is no way I can force you without causing a great deal of pain and suffering both mentally and physically for both of us.”
Agnes nodded in agreement but was till irritated about being cut off from the Death Merchants, how the hell did she even do that?
“So I will not force you… instead you are going to be my partner for the remainder of my mission, all I ask for is your cooperation and help.”
“Huh? What? Why? Why the hell would I help you with your mission?”
“As a way to prove to you that our pact and purpose is very much real. Aside from retrieving the Horn, and I quote Mother: “show her what it means to be a Cho'ehatua, she’s a lost sheep in need of a shepherd, rehabilitate her” my main job is to keep Maker safe, she has left the care of her normal protectors for… unknown reasons, and I’ve been keeping track of her whereabouts for the past few days and making sure she is safe despite your… partner being so close, but it would seem she surrounded herself with decently capable guild mates….”
“How do you know about Taikon?”
“If there is a threat to the Tower’s family, we will know about it and we will try to deal with it before it even becomes a probable threat to them. Just like how we knew about you being involved.” Angel sighed, “Agnes, our duty as a family is very real, you may not see it but surely you’ve felt it, from the moment you took that job your own body had been warning you. Just carry out this mission with me and let me prove to you the seriousness and reality of our family, and what it means to be a Cho'ehatua. And afterwards if you still feel the same way you do now… well, I won’t ever try to convince you anymore and I give you my word that you will be free to do whatever you want... that does not involve threatening the Towers family.”
Agnes sat in silence still eating but now digesting her sister’s words, tough out with her for one mission and she will be free to what she wants? “What’s the catch?” Agnes swallowed and eyed Angel suspiciously.
Angel smiled, “Help me finish my mission and if you feel like you still want to be free from the Cho'ehatua way of life then you are free to do so. As the future matriarch of the family I can grant you that in defiance of Mother. The only conditions being, one, you must not interfere with us and our duty in any negative way, and by extension have any intention or motivation to bring ANY kind of harm to the Towers family. Two, you will resume and complete your training on the initial path you took with me.”
Agnes understood the first, but looked question at Angel for the second, "What do you mean training on my initial path?”
“After our exchange on that building a few days ago, it was obvious to me that you still retained a lot of basic forms of Gunslinging, forms we learned when we were children, you know that being a Sharpshooter is something that never sat right with you….”
It was Agnes’s time to smile now, “That was a long time ago….” She looked at the revolver on the nightstand with a frown, “Is that why you took the Horn?”
“No, that was Mother’s orders, but I do agree with her decision. That weapon does not suit you, and it was not meant for you.”
“All right, so before I agree to anything, what is the end of your mission?”
“Maker ran away from her caretakers and protectors, my mission is to make sure she is safe, secure, and if that means delivering her back to the king then that is something we will be doing, Mother’s wording was specifically “By any means possible,” can you imagine that? I’ve even gotten permission to take her to the Pasture if that’s what’s needed to secure her.” Angel checked the clock on her phone, “So what’s it going to be?”
Agnes sighed, it was so much information but Angel was offering her a way out, something she’s always wanted, but at the same time, she was afraid of the many possible unforeseen repercussions of her decision. Also something about Angel’s behavior was odd, but she couldn’t quite place it, perhaps people change over time and she has just been away for that long. “Alright, I’ll do it, I’ll join you, and get retrained by you. So what now? I don’t even a proper gun that I can use anymore.”
Angel grinned, genuinely happy and glad, “Well, I’ve been keeping an eye on the Guild House that Maker is currently staying at and even a closer eye on your colleague Taikon. Since you’re up and moving, how about we go and remove him as a possibility of ever being a threat and introduce ourselves to Maker?” Angel stood up and picked up the two small cases she was carrying earlier, “Don’t worry about the guns, I’ve got you covered.”