F Grade Healer Becomes Strongest Biomancer-Chapter 47: Champion of Pontos

Nami

Well fuck me, Ezra was right.

She’d heard the footsteps ten minutes ago. Light, too quick for a mere child. A child’s gait nonetheless, trying to be quiet and failing.

The things in the tanks had stirred as she passed. The giant with white eyes had tracked her through the dark. But nothing touched her. OG’s work, probably. Or Ezra’s.

Nami had waited. Sitting in the dark. Listening to her niece navigate past the tanks and the things inside them.

Brave little thing. Just like your father.

The girl stood in the doorway, white hair practically glowing in the dark. Chip dust on her fingers. Breathing hard like she’d run the whole way down.

Eleven years old. Sneaking into Sublevel Four.

"You look so much like your father." Nami’s voice cracked. How long had it been since she’d used it? "It’s like staring at the girl version, but tiny."

Her brother’s jawline. That stubborn set to the shoulders. Even the way she stood — feet planted, chin up, refusing to show fear.

You idiot. You never told them about me.

The girl didn’t run. Didn’t scream. Just stared.

"But you’re so skinny. Are you not eating enough?"

Still staring.

"How about your hair, so beautiful. I wish I had that hair."

The girl’s eyes narrowed. Sizing her up.

"Who are you?"

"Ah." Nami smiled. "I’m your auntie."

The girl’s face scrunched. Worked through it. Didn’t like the answer.

"Dad never mentioned a crazy woman locked in a cage."

Nami laughed.

It echoed off the walls, bouncing through the dark corridor behind the girl. She laughed just like her brother used to. That dry, surprised bark.

She grabbed the metal collar around her neck.

The metal groaned. Hairline cracks spider-webbed across the surface.

Then she let go.

"Not yet," she murmured.

The chain settled. The cracks remained.

Nami stood anyway. Tall, slender, the prisoner uniform loose on her frame. Her brown hair, long and tangled from months without care, fell across her face and covered one of her green eyes.

The girl didn’t run. Brave little thing.

Nami brushed dust from her sleeve. A habit. The uniform was filthy anyway.

"Where is your older sister?"

"Dunno." The girl shrugged. "Killing things."

"Ah."

Killing things. Just like that. Like it was normal. Their father would have wept.

Nami stepped closer. The girl tensed but held her ground.

"Wow, look at your eyes." She reached out, brushed a strand of white hair from the girl’s face. "Took them from your mom, eh?"

Brown. Not green. She’d hoped—but that was selfish.

"I guess," the girl said.

Nami ran her fingers through the white hair. The girl let her—that was most surprising to her. No tangles. It smelled like strawberry shampoo. Someone was taking care of her, at least.

"How did you make it all the way down here? Aren’t you afraid of the men in suits?"

"OG helped me." The girl nodded, matter-of-fact. Like she hadn’t just implicated a Bureau agent in treason. "She gave me directions."

Everything’s in motion now.

Ezra’s letter. OG’s loyalty. And now this girl, standing in her doorway.

"Huh?" The girl tilted her head.

Had she said that out loud?

"Nana-chan, you must eat more." Nami picked up her bony arm, turned it over. Skin and bone. Nothing else. "And look at this, you’re short for eleven years old. You need to drink more milk."

She pinched at the thin cheek. The girl squirmed but didn’t pull away.

"And what’s this?" Nami rubbed her thumb across the girl’s fingers. Orange residue. "You’ve got cheese all over your fingers. That’s not womanly."

"It’s chip dust."

"Same thing."

"It’s not—"

Then the thin arms wrapped around Nami’s waist.

She froze.

The girl’s face pressed into her stomach. Small shoulders shaking. Breaths coming in hitches.

Her hands hovered. Then settled on the white hair, stroking.

"It’s okay, Nana-chan." Her voice cracked again. "Your auntie is here now. You must have gone through so much."

The girl cried harder.

"Auntie is here now."

Her eye didn’t match her voice.

She kept stroking the white hair. Then her hand brushed the girl’s arm.

Nana winced.

Nami pulled back the sleeve. A bruise, purple and fresh, blooming across the elbow.

"Who did this to you?"

The moisture in the cell answered. Condensation beading on the walls. Droplets bleeding from the ceiling. The air thickened until Nana’s next breath came out ragged.

Nana looked up. Eyes red. Snot on her lip.

"Onee-san."

The moisture stilled.

"Oh." Nami loosened her grip. "Sisters fight."

"Who won?"

"Me."

Nami’s lips twitched.

What did you raise, brother?

The tears were slowing.

"Nana-chan." Nami cupped her face. "You need to go back now."

"But—"

"She’ll worry where you went off to."

The girl’s lip trembled. "Will I see you again?"

"Soon." Nami brushed the tears from her cheek. "Very soon."

She raised one hand. The moisture in the air gathered, pulling into a flat disc at the center of the cell. It held like a mirror, but instead of reflection, it showed porcelain. A faucet, followed by steam.

[Pontos Reflection]

Nana’s breath caught.

"Step through."

Nana stared at the portal. At the bathtub on the other side. At her aunt, still chained, still smiling.

"Auntie."

"Go."

The girl stepped through.

The water took her without a ripple.

Nami lowered her hand. The mirror dissolved.

She sat back down in the dark. Alone again. The cracks in her collar caught what little light remained.

The strawberry smell faded.

Not yet.

She remembered the first time Pontos had spoken after the flood. After she’d stopped screaming. After she’d chosen the cage:

Dear Nami, why do you sulk so much? In this little dry room? You are a current. A mere pebble should not impede your inevitability.

"Let me be sad."

The tides are changing, little droplet.

A pool of reflection: a fat man and a skinny woman. Assassins from beyond the threshold. Defectors. Looking for purpose.

Hire them.

"For what?"

Family.

She hadn’t believed it then. Brother was dead. They hadn’t spoken in years. What family?

Then Ezra came. Champion of Kharon. Whispering about blood relatives. Two girls. The youngest, she’d failed to retrieve. One marked by Gaian—she’d assumed he was lying about that part.

Nami had laughed.

Then she’d stopped laughing.

And now she stayed chained in her cell. But the little niece was real, and somewhere the older one was fighting for her life.

Then came the familiar drowning; her mind pulled under, then yanked to the surface like a whale in distress. Pontos loved to announce her presence. Nami was used to it now.

"What do the currents reveal?"

Your hounds have returned, little droplet. The older one bears Gaian’s mark. They call her Tamei Mio. But how sad. Gaian is ruthless. The girl must be going through it.

"Thank you, Pontos. I owe you."

You owe me many favors now. Fear not, the water is selfless.

"I know."

The air suddenly hardened.

"You know you can’t hide yourself from me," she said, her voice echoing along the metal walls.

A boy emerged from the ceiling, upside down, hands in his pockets.

Ezra, champion of Kharon.

"I wasn’t trying to." Then he smelled the cheese. "She made it."

"Thanks to you and your little trick."

"That was the older sister’s doing."

Sisters. Already protecting each other.

"Ah."

"You didn’t tell me you hired monsters of your own. The Bureau’s on high alert now."

"Are you nervous? Champions don’t get nervous, necromancer."

"Stasis is catching onto our scent."

Nami smiled.

"Good." 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

"I’m jealous. Your eyes don’t do that with me."

"What are you talking about?"

"Nevermind." He sighed. "You’re making that face again."

"Which one?"

"The one I love."

"You’re going to make me melt."

She was not amused.

"What’s next?"

"Us Tamei stick together. Let the older sister find me herself. Then we move."

Ezra nodded. He wanted to stay, she could tell by the way his finger twitched.

Then shortly after, he disappeared into smoke.

Nami leaned back against the wall. The moisture in the air waited with her.

The smell of cheese lingered.

Tamei Mio. I like that name.