My ChampionNSFW

"Come out, my dear sister," Cleria called from below. "You have a date with annihilation in my guts, and I would so very much hate for you to be late. You can't hide in there fore~ver~ So hurry up, you little shit. I have a special chamber pot set aside for your remains!"

Anyi slid down the door, covering her face and bowing her head. Tears welled up in her eyes.

She had been running from her half-sister and her murderous intent for a long, long time. But this time... seemed like the last. Caught without Elissa, without Sunsilver, without Umbra. Her powers were near exhausted. Her legs trembled with weakness. And there was nowhere further to run. There was only going out and confronting Cleria. Or waiting - and letting Cleria barge in and capture her unprepared.

And once Cleria had her... Anyi had survived death many times thanks to her Sarenrae-granted resurrective abilities. But Cleria's power to digest souls would see to it that she got no further chances - not here, and not in the next life.

"Elissa... Sunsilver... Umbra... Everlight..." Anyi murmured through her hands. "I am so, so sorry. I have failed you... all of you. I wish I had said goodbye when last we met..."

Silence...

Anyi breathed out slowly, looking at the scimitar at her side. Sarenrae's Mercy, it was called.

"Please... have mercy on me, Dawnflower," Anyi murmured, tilting the luminescent, reflective blade so she could see her own face in the reflection. "If there is any way you can deliver me..."

But it wasn't her own face that she saw. The face of a smiling bronze-skinned woman with pointed elven ears and glowing golden hair, angelic in her beauty...

"S-Sarenrae?" Anyi whispered, suddenly feeling like her mouth was so, so dry.

"Don't tell me you're losing faith in me now," the goddess replied, staring back at Anyi with one eyebrow raised.

Anyi bowed her head. "I'm so sorry, Dawnflower... I failed you. I failed you, and now I'm going to die and I won't even get to be with you in the afterlife..."

Sarenrae raised a hand. "Hold, now. What is this 'I'm going to die' nonsense about?"

"I am no match for her alone," Anyi murmured, head held low. "Certainly not now. Not like this. Maybe not ever."

"I have prepared for such an eventuality," Sarenrae told her softly. "I have sent you a champion."

Elissa... Anyi winced, tears squeezing out of her eyes. "And I squandered her, just like I squandered every champion you sent me before her. And that's why I'm going to die here..."

"I would hardly describe that girl as heaven-sent," Sarenrae replied with a hearty laugh. "No. There is another. One close to you even now."

"Huh?" Anyi asked, scanning the room. Maybe Peaches? Is Peaches here somewhere?

"Not her either," Sarenrae chided. "Though she is, perhaps, closer than you might think. She is right here before you."

Anyi looked down at the scimitar, now showing her own reflection again.

"I- D-Dawnflower, don't leave me..." Anyi whimpered. "I need you... I need your help... I'm not strong enough."

"My precious daughter..." Sarenrae murmured, coming into view in the reflection beside Anyi. Anyi could almost feel the goddess's warm arm around her. "When I sent that portent, I said that you would walk in the company of champions all your life."

Anyi took a shuddering breath, relieved to see her goddess back again. "Yeah... but none of them are here now."

"You silly girl." The bronze beauty laughed again. "I see being cryptic is as ineffectual as ever with you. It's you. You are my champion."

"But- I- I'm not..." Anyi shook her head. "You have given me many great gifts, but-"

Sarenrae raised an eyebrow. "But? Are you to tell me that you will but the gifts of a goddess?"

"I'm not a champion," Anyi whispered. "You were right - I walked in the company of champions all my life. Cleria, Peaches, Lah, Elissa. Each of them saved me more times than I could count. But there's no one left to save me now."

"Do not think to contradict me, my daughter," Sarenrae cautioned playfully. "The strength is there. It is in your sword-arm and it is in your heart. It is in your mind and it is in your soul. You are the champion I have sent to save you."

"I'm so afraid, and I'm so tired," Anyi murmured, her head slipping back against the door. "I don't... I don't know if I can do this."

Sarenrae's warm arms were definitely around Anyi now, she could feel it with her eyes closed. "I know, my daughter. Your life has asked much and more of you. You have faced so much horror already. But there is still more to your story. You need only rise and write it."

Tears flowed freely down Anyi's cheeks now. "What if I don't have the strength to keep going? What if I fail?"

"You do," Sarenrae assured her. "And you will not."

With a soft sniff, Anyi shudderingly sighed. "... I don't know if I can do it alone."

"Who said you were to do it alone?" Sarenrae asked.

Something rattled the locked attic window-hatch. Anyi froze - was this it? Had she stalled so long Cleria had found her?

No - it wasn't Cleria. It was a small black paw trying to slip under the board.

"Umbra!" Anyi whispered, getting up and hastily unlocking the window to open it.

And astride Umbra...

"Damn, those gals are brutal," Peaches muttered. "Shooting at an innocent cat and an even more innocent pixie... Making threats to eat her..."

"P- Peaches?" Anyi asked, shocked. "Peaches! Peaches, you're here!"

"Yeah! Though I almost wasn't!" Peaches said, flying out and circling around Anyi's head before flying in toward her cheek for a tiny hug. "You look a little rough - I kinda figured with the size of that army your sister has going. Should we get out of here and see if we can find somewhere to hide long enough to fight back?"

"Please," Anyi murmured, tears dripping down her face and over Peaches. "Thank you..."

"Don't thank me yet, we still gotta make our way out of here!" Peaches scolded. "And we can't use the window I came in through, I had to fly up here and there's no way you can make the jumps that cat did without going splat. So... any bright ideas?"

"I think... I think I have some ideas, yes," Anyi said, drying her eyes and standing up from the door. "Come on. I think I saw a mousehole earlier."

"You got it," Peaches said, grinning and slapping Anyi on the shoulder. "Lead the way!"