But I have a friend to thank, so instead, I swing the iron door ajar and enter. I don’t spend too much time in the main entrance. These are the catacombs I’m searching for, and everyone knows that catacombs are underground.
Down I go, an impenetrable darkness taking over after only a few steps. Mildew and iron clings to the air, heavy and pungent. It feels like I am deep, deep underground, even though I am only a few rungs in.
On the last step, I expect to come upon a door rather than to enter straight into the catacombs, but here we are. Before me is a hallway of human remains, unlike anything I have ever seen. Each wall is sectioned with four shelves, the shelves decorated with human skulls and bones.
My boots echo as I walk down the thin passage, my hand sweeping through the cobwebs that entomb one shelf after another.
“May I help you?” croaks someone from the shadows up ahead. Their hunched figure steps into view, long and wiry hair framing what appears to be a frail and mangled female face.
I jump. My back slams into the wall behind me, and a neatly stacked collection of bones jostles before falling to the ground and shattering. The jolt to my ribs almost folds me in half, my arms clutching my side as I try to regain my stability. But I feel the person’s gaze on me, sense them walking closer.
I try straightening, though my hand won’t leave my throbbing side. “I was just—I didn’t mean to—”
Suddenly I remember Eparah’s warning about making sure that Alphonse doesn’t discover my visit here, and I realize that I’ve already failed in this simple task. I have two choices: make things worse or accept this failure and wait to see Dimitri until tomorrow. As much as I want to see him, part of me starts to worry that I won’t be the only one in trouble if Alphonse discovers I’ve left the infirmary. For Eparah’s sake, maybe it’s best I return.
“I’m sorry. I was just…leaving.”
“Halira?” Dimitri’s voice calls from around the corner. His head pops into view a moment later, and when he sees the state I’m in, there’s no hiding his concern, or more palpably, his disapproval.
He addresses the shadow-lurker. “It’s all right. She’s a friend, come to check on me. I’ll just be a second.”
The hooded woman gives a shallow bow. “The bodies will be waiting for you,” she says ominously, before shambling down another hallway and leaving us alone.
“What are you doing here? Look at you! You can barely stand.”
“You try fighting a boulder,” I say as he helps me over to some steps and sets me gently on the bottom rung.
“I did.” A cocky grin flashes from his mouth. “And I won.”
I try to kick him, but the motion sends another sharp pain up my side again and I suck in a breath.
He rolls his eyes. “You should still be in bed.”
“I had to come see you,” I say, nursing my screaming ribs. My voice becomes heavy then as I recall the unfolding of the morning’s events. “I had to thank you and apologize that you got stuck doing…” I glance up to him, noticing the strange rubbery apron he’s wearing that matches his gloves. “What does Alphonse have you doing down here anyway?”
“Ah. It’s like I never even left the butchery. You’d love it,” he says sarcastically. “You see, there’s all these corpses over there that have been drained of their blood and it’s my job to drag them into the fire—”
Revulsion racks through me, churning and gnarling my already sensitive stomach. “Eww. Why are they drained of blood—” Then, thinking better of it, I shake my head. “Never mind. I don’t want to know any more of the details. I can barely stomach the stench down here enough as it is.”
He snorts a laugh, seemingly pleased with himself. I swallow hard though, remembering the reason I’ve come down here to see him isn’t to learn about the bloodletting—I’m sure that’ll come the next time Alphonse wants to punish me.
“It’s not fair that you’re down here,” I say to Dimitri. “While I’m up there lounging in bed like a queen.”
With a sigh and a tilt of his head, Dimitri takes a seat beside me. The warmth of him makes me realize just how cold it is down here and I find myself unintentionally leaning closer toward him.
“Yeah, well,” he says, eyes slanting over his shoulder to meet mine. “It wasn’t fair for him to make you fight Güthric. The general knew you two weren’t a good match.”
I shrug my good shoulder, careful not to disturb the left side of my body. “That’s Alphonse for you. He’s always been the cruel bastard—”
Dimitri jumps to his feet, nostrils flared and jaw clenched. “You’re so quick to cast the blame back onto him. Have you learned nothing from this? Yes, none of it is fair, but you are hardly blameless. Are you so incapable of taking accountability for your own actions?”
I’m slower to stand, but I grab the railing and pull myself up. I won’t be chastised and looked down upon like a child. “I’m here, aren’t I?”
He scoffs, turning away from me. “Well, if you’ve come to besmirch our superior after you were caught laughing behind his back, in front of the entire unit, then maybe you should just leave. Some of us actually want to be here.”
I quirk an eyebrow, my anger already dissipated. “You want to be here in the catacombs?”
“You know what I mean. The Shadow Crusade.”
He starts to turn away from me, but I catch his arm.
“I want to be here, just as much as you do.”
“Oh yeah? Prove it. Leave your past in the past and actually act like you want to succeed at this. Forget whatever squabbles you had with your cousin and instead treat this like an opportunity to impress your general. Because I can’t stand here and watch you half-ass it.”
“I’m not half-assing—”
“You are though!” he bellows over me. “You mock our general in front of everyone. You disappear for hours yesterday and no one knew where you were. You’re late to the meeting this morning and miss all of your training the rest of the day.”
There’s no stopping him now that he’s started. It’s like he’s been holding on to all of this since the moment we arrived, and now that he’s released it, it pours out of him like a torrential storm blustering between the two of us.
I cross my arms. “Some of the things you’re mentioning were hardly my fault. I got lost yesterday. And yeah, I was late to the gathering this morning, but so were you. And how can you blame me for missing the rest of training today? Need I remind you that I was incapacitated.”
“Yeah, you were, because rather than learning to conform and do your duty, you’d rather goof around and piss everyone off. Rather than standing alert and learning what you can about combat—something you clearly know nothing about, and will need to if you’re ever going to be a Crusader—you get yourself in trouble. You almost got yourself killed today. You know that? If I hadn’t…”
His words trail off with an exasperated sigh. I follow them though, the ones he leaves unspoken yet speak so loudly down here in the catacombs. And now I finally understand where all of this frustration is coming from.