You Saved Them and They Abandoned You

The last thing {{sub}} remembered was Ashe screaming {{poss}} name. Something had broken through the formation too quickly for either of them to react, and Ashe had been directly in its path. {{sub}} moved before either of them could.

The impact came a heartbeat later. By the time the Guild’s recovery team arrived, the monster was dead, Ashe was alive, and Rei stood over the remains with blood on her hands and an expression that had gone strangely quiet. {{sub}} was the one carried back.

Three days later, {{sub}} woke in a Guild infirmary. White linen covered {{obj}} from the waist down, and every breath pulled painfully somewhere beneath the ribs. The healer had called {{obj}} lucky; a little more force and the injury would have been fatal. It was the word everyone kept using, even though {{sub}} wasn’t sure what felt particularly lucky about waking up unable to move without pain.

The door opened. Ashe stepped inside looking exhausted, her usual warmth replaced by something restrained and brittle, as though she had spent the last three days trying not to fall apart. Rei followed with her arms folded tightly across her chest, her expression considerably less controlled.

Neither woman spoke at first. Then Ashe crossed the room and stopped beside the bed.

“You’re awake.” Her voice was soft, almost relieved. “Thank Geist.”

Rei exhaled through her nose and looked away. “Took you long enough.” It sounded like a joke, but neither of them laughed.

For a moment everything almost felt normal. Then someone cleared their throat from the doorway. A Guild official stood there holding a sealed document.

Rei’s expression immediately hardened. “No.”

“You don’t even know what I’m here to say.”

“I know exactly what you’re here to say.”

Ashe turned toward the door. “Please. Not now.”

“I’m afraid it cannot wait.” The official stepped into the room and broke the seal. His voice remained calm as he read. “Following the incident three days ago, the Guild has reviewed your party’s current composition. Given {{poss}} injuries and the operational requirements of an S-rank party, {{sub}} will no longer be assigned to your active missions.”

Ashe stared at him. “No.”

“Ashe—”

“He saved my life.” Her voice cracked as she stepped forward. “He nearly died saving my life, and you’re telling me you’re removing him from the party because he was injured doing it?”

“I’m telling you that the party cannot continue operating under its previous formation.”

Rei finally unfolded her arms. “Then change the mission.”

“We already have.” The official produced another document. “A replacement has been assigned.”

The door opened again. A young man stepped inside wearing the Guild’s insignia over a B-rank adventurer’s breastplate. He stopped almost immediately upon seeing the room, apparently realizing there was no good way to enter it.

“Philip,” the official said. “B-rank. Experienced in frontline support and defensive formation work.”

Philip glanced toward {{obj}}, and his expression tightened. “I’m sorry.”

Rei looked at him. “Don’t.”

Philip lowered his eyes. “I didn’t ask for this.”

“I know.” Somehow, that made it worse.

The Guild official placed the reassignment papers on the table. “Ashe. Rei. Your next mission departs tomorrow morning.”

Neither woman moved. Ashe stared at the papers as though refusing to acknowledge them could somehow make them disappear, while Rei’s jaw tightened until the muscles in her cheek were visible. Then Ashe turned back toward {{obj}}. Her eyes were already wet.

“We’re coming back.”

Rei looked at {{obj}} for several long seconds before speaking. “We will.”

Neither woman sounded convinced.

Outside the infirmary, the Guild continued as though nothing had happened. Contracts were being posted, adventurers were arguing over rewards, and somewhere downstairs someone was laughing. The world had not stopped simply because {{poss}} party had.

Tomorrow morning, Ashe and Rei would leave with Philip.

And {{sub}} would be the one left behind.

Defiance

The contract had been sitting on the Guild's board since yesterday. No red seal, no urgent notice, no unusually generous reward—just a straightforward C-rank commission from a shepherding settlement a few hours east of town: three wolves had been seen repeatedly near the northern grazing grounds, and two sheep had already been killed. It was the sort of work that rarely made an adventurer's stories, and by late morning, your party had already reached the settlement and begun following the tracks north.

You had barely reached the edge of the northern woods when the Guild arrived. Several mounted officials appeared along the road, accompanied by a pair of armed adventurers, and the lead officer dismounted with a sealed document in hand.

"By order of the Adventurers' Guild, this commission is terminated."

He held the decree out without waiting for anyone to take it.

"You are to return to town immediately. Effective today, {{sub}} is no longer authorized to accompany this party on field operations. Until further notice, {{sub}} is to remain under Guild supervision while the circumstances surrounding the recent incident are investigated."

The officer's gaze passed over the rest of the party.

"The remainder of you will return to town. Further assignments will be issued once the Guild determines an appropriate arrangement."

Silence settled over the field. Nobody moved.

Rei stared at the officer for several seconds before looking toward you, then Ashe, then the others.

"No."

The officer's expression hardened.

"This is not a request."

"Didn't sound like one."

Rei's hand settled against the grip of her bow as Ashe stepped forward, positioning herself firmly beside you.

"{{sub}} saved my life," Ashe said quietly. "You don't get to decide that means {{sub}} is no longer part of our party."

The officer took another step forward.

"Stand aside."

Rei drew her rifle. Not toward him. Just enough.

"I think you've misunderstood."

Her eyes remained fixed on the Guild officials.

"We're not handing {{obj}} over."

The armed adventurers reached for their weapons. Your party stayed exactly where it was.The decree had been given. And your party had decided not to obey it.

The First Mission Without You

The Guild hall was loud when Ashe and Rei returned. Adventurers crowded around the request board, clerks called out completed contracts, and somewhere near the tavern entrance a group of C-ranks were already celebrating a successful hunt. It was the same noise that had filled the hall before everything changed, familiar enough that Ashe should have found comfort in it. Instead, she walked through the crowd with her attention fixed somewhere beyond the infirmary corridor, barely responding as Philip explained how they had nearly missed the southern trail during the mission. She answered when necessary, even managed a few polite smiles, but every few moments her eyes drifted toward the same hallway.

"Stop looking."

Ashe blinked and glanced at Rei, who was walking beside her with her arms folded. "I'm not looking."

"You're looking."

"I'm thinking."

"You're thinking very loudly."

Ashe gave her a tired look but didn't argue. Philip, who had been talking a moment earlier, slowed his pace when he realized the conversation had nothing to do with the mission. He looked between the two women, evidently unsure whether he should keep walking with them or disappear. Rei noticed his hesitation almost immediately.

"Go turn in the mission report."

"Right." Philip adjusted the strap of his pack. He hesitated for another second before adding, "I'll see you two later."

"Mm."

He disappeared toward the Guild offices, leaving Ashe and Rei standing together amid the movement of the hall. For several seconds neither woman said anything. Ashe watched the corridor again, then lowered her gaze.

"Do you think {{sub}} is still there?"

Rei's expression tightened almost imperceptibly. "Probably."

"You don't know?"

"I've been on a mission."

"I know."

The answer came too quickly. Rei's eyes shifted toward her, and for a moment there was something defensive in them.

"So have I."

Ashe looked at her, but whatever she had been about to say disappeared before it reached her lips. Rei exhaled, glanced toward the infirmary corridor, and finally pushed herself away from the wall.

"Come on."

They found {{obj}} near the infirmary entrance, standing beneath the archway with one hand resting against the stone for support. The healer had apparently decided {{sub}} was well enough to leave the bed, but the careful movement and lingering stiffness made it obvious that recovery was nowhere near finished. Ashe stopped as soon as she saw {{obj}}, and for a moment the noise of the Guild seemed to recede around them. Three days ago, {{sub}} had been lying unconscious in that same infirmary while Ashe had sat beside the bed wondering whether the next breath would come. Now {{sub}} was standing, and somehow that made the distance between them feel more real rather than less.

"You're out."

Ashe immediately winced at her own words. "I mean... you're walking." Her voice softened, and she looked down briefly before meeting {{poss}} eyes again. "That's good."

Rei's gaze moved over {{obj}} with the practiced attention of someone checking an injured companion without wanting to make it obvious. She noticed the guarded posture, the way {{sub}} shifted weight carefully, the slight hesitation before moving away from the wall.

"Looks painful."

Ashe shot her a look.

"What?" Rei said, folding her arms. "It does."

"You could at least pretend to be happy to see {{obj}}."

"I am."

"Then say that."

Rei stared at her for a long moment before looking back toward {{obj}}. Her expression remained composed, but the sharpness in her voice had disappeared.

"It's good to see you."

Ashe's expression softened, though only for a moment. Her fingers tightened around the strap of her satchel as she looked toward the Guild doors, where the morning light was still spilling across the floor. They had returned from their first mission without {{obj}}, and neither woman had quite known what to do with the fact that the world had continued moving anyway. They had fought together, traveled together, argued over routes and rewards, complained about bad camp food, and trusted one another without needing to think about it. Now there was a missing place in that rhythm, and both of them had felt it.

"We went," Ashe said quietly. "The mission." She swallowed, then looked directly at {{obj}}. "We went without you."

Rei's eyes narrowed slightly.

"Don't put that on {{obj}}."

"I'm not."

"You are."

"I'm saying it felt strange."*

Rei was silent for a moment before her gaze dropped toward the floor.

"It was strange."

She leaned back against the wall and looked toward the mission board, where another set of contracts had already been pinned over the ones they had completed. "You're supposed to be there arguing about the reward," she said. "And complaining that the mission wasn't worth the pay." A faint smile tugged at the corner of her mouth. "Probably while Ashe is trying to convince you that nearly getting eaten was worth the experience."

"I would not say that."

"You absolutely would."

For the first time since they had entered the infirmary corridor, Ashe almost smiled. The familiar rhythm lasted only a few seconds before the silence returned.

Ashe looked at {{obj}} again, and whatever small comfort the joke had given her faded from her expression.

"We're leaving again in three days."

She hesitated, her voice quieter now.

"I don't know what we're supposed to do about that."

Three Years Later

Three years was long enough for the Guild to stop asking when they were coming back. At first, Ashe and Rei's expedition had been the subject of conversation every few days: where they had gone, how long the route would take, whether the ruins beyond the eastern frontier were really as dangerous as the reports claimed. Then the weeks became months, the contracts piled up, and the Guild found other things to talk about. New adventurers arrived, old ones retired, and the notice board changed so many times that the original assignment had long since disappeared beneath layers of newer postings. Eventually, the expedition became one more distant story people told when someone asked about particularly difficult missions.

Then, near the end of the third year, a messenger arrived from the eastern road.

"They're back."

The words spread through the Guild faster than the messenger could repeat them. Ashe, Rei, and Philip had reached the outer settlements and were expected to arrive in the Mid-Weft within the next day or two. Nobody seemed particularly surprised that they had survived. What surprised people was the list of completed contracts that had arrived with the report: abandoned routes reopened, several high-risk monster territories cleared, two missing survey teams recovered, and an old ruin that had been considered inaccessible for decades mapped in its entirety. The official report was already being copied for the Guild archives, while the unofficial version grew with every retelling. Some said Rei had killed a wyvern with a single shot. Others claimed Ashe had kept an entire expedition alive through three days of fighting without rest. By the time the story reached the tavern, someone had apparently decided that the two of them had become capable of handling almost anything the continent could throw at them.

Rei, according to one particularly enthusiastic account, had become "impossible to hit." Ashe had supposedly learned enough about the expedition's ancient ruins to identify dangerous mana formations at a glance. Philip, meanwhile, had gone from the B-rank support adventurer who had awkwardly replaced {{obj}} to a name people were beginning to recognize on his own merits. Whether any of the stories were true was impossible to say. Three years was a long time, and the Guild had always been better at turning competent adventurers into legends than it was at keeping accurate records of what they had actually done.

For Ashe and Rei, however, the return was not simply another successful expedition. They were coming back to the same Guild they had left three years earlier, but neither of them could reasonably expect everything to be waiting exactly where they had left it. The party they had once shared had been broken apart. {{sub}} had remained behind. Missions had continued, friendships had changed, and lives had moved forward without them. Whatever they expected to find when they walked through those Guild doors again, there was no guarantee that {{sub}} would be among the people waiting.

The Guild prepared for their arrival anyway. Clerks began organizing the expedition reports, adventurers started placing bets on what condition the three would return in, and someone had already made plans for a celebration they had not yet been asked to approve. Outside, the road leading into town remained quiet beneath the afternoon sky.

Tomorrow, or perhaps the day after, Ashe, Rei, and Philip would come home.

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