Unwritten Destiny [Yuri/Sapphic, Isekai, LitRPG]

The only kindness afforded to us after severe trauma is that our brains can't stay on the razor's edge forever. Eventually, time dulls the agony to a constant throbbing instead of lemon juice in a fresh cut. GOSH, I SURE WISH I COULD JUMP TO THEN.

I couldn't remember anything they said. It was all incoherent noise. All I remember was unimaginable pain and certainty of a slow, painful death. Well.. I'm not dead. I kinda expected to wake up dead. Which in this world, was actually quite possible. Wait, was I dead? Could you feel dead? You could certainly feel dead inside. That was the first twenty-five years of my life.

Finally, the nightmares receded, although I knew they would be back. But that was tomorrow Alexis's problem and fuck that bitch. What gave her the gall, the divine fucking right to slop frosting on a pop tart after I had oatmeal and fruit all day?! It already comes with frosting! It was disrespectful! It was rude! Maybe next time, I'll be the one to shove my face in a cake, and then we'll see how much you fucking enjoy having a muffin top in your favorite jeans! Bitch.

I could smell Paz and feel her arms wrapped around me. That helped. Like, a lot. Fuck, she is so amazing. I could feel the tears coming and I violently shoved them back down. No! I get five fucking minutes to relax. I earned it.

"Hush little one, don't say a thing,

momma's gonna buy you an enchanted ring.

And if that ring turns brass,

momma's gonna get you a wizards's glass."

Huh, that wasn't Paz. Whoever it was had the voice if an angel though. But like, a metaphorical angel, not a real one. Those guys were assholes. Shut up tears, not now!

I opened my eyes and saw a young devil girl sitting beside the bed, smiling at me. "H-hi." My throat burned and my voice barely came out, raspy and rough. I remembered screaming and screaming. My stomach did a violent flip and I couldn't hold back the tears any longer.

"Here, take it slow." The girl helped me sit up a little and very gently held a cup to my mouth. I sipped it and the water soothed my aching throat.

I looked around the messy, messy room. There were clothes everywhere and empty food dishes stacked on the wardrobe. I could see multiple pieces of paper spread out on the floor and a map carefully drawn across all of them. A buff girl with red hair was slumped against the door and gently snoring. Beside me, Paz shifted in her sleep as I moved around, her sprawling mess of ginger hair spread all over the bed. I looked back to the devil girl with the kind eyes.

"How long have I been out?" I rasped and tried to swallow, but that just made it hurt more.

"Nearly four days. It's just before dawn on Friday."

Four days. No wonder my stomach ached almost as much as my throat. I groaned and flopped back on my pillow. "I'm starving."

She reached over and grabbed a bowl of soup off the nightstand. "Here. Do you want me to..?" She held the spoon up.

I nervously shook my head and reached for the bowl and spoon and started ravenously shoving it into my mouth. "Who are you, strange girl?"

She smiled broadly. "Oh! I'm Sterling and that's my girlfriend, Moira." She pointed to the buff redhead sleeping against the door. Oh. They really grew up.

"Please don't think I'm not grateful that you've apparently been taking care of me but.. why?"

Sterling giggled. "We're part of your adventuring party, boss."

I sucked on my lip. "I guess I missed some things." Out in the hall, someone slammed a door. I screamed bloody fucking murder and jumped so hard that I fell off the bed. I curled up into a tight little ball on the floor and sobbed uncontrollably.

"Fuck! Did someone get murdered?" Moira asked the room as she climbed to her feet.

Paz rolled off the bed beside me, her eyes still bleary with sleep, and gently wrapped her arms around me. "Shhh love, I'm here. Paz is here. It's going to be okay. Alexis, you're safe and you are loved."

I managed to untuck myself enough to cry into her shoulder. After a while, I started to calm down. "T-thank y-you." I stuttered into her hair. I kissed Paz's cheek. "I love you and I'm so lucky to have you."

"I love you too." She whispered into my ear and for just a moment, we were the only two people in the Cosmos.

I pulled myself together and looked up to where Sterling and Moira were both perched on the bed, looking very concerned. "You both must think I'm crazy."

They shook their heads and Sterling smiled reassuringly at me. "No way, boss. Paz told us enough. I can't imagine what you're going through, but we understand why." She slid off the bed and added her arms around me as well.

Moira sniffed and looked away. "You're all a bunch of girls. Good thing I'm here to look after you." She put her hand on my shoulder.

"So.. can someone explain to me how we gained two new members in our adventuring party while I was out of it?" I raised an eyebrow and looked around at them.

"I needed someone to look after you while I went out and took care of some things. So I gave them some silver and they did a good job. After I got back, we started talking and it seemed like a perfect fit. We could use the help, and they could use the supervision."

"Hey!" Sterling and Moira protested together. Moira crossed her arms and pouted. "You old hags need us around for when your backs give out." She flexed her arms and bounced her abs at us which was a very disturbing display of fitness and muscle control.

"Huh, alright." I slowly stood up and stretched and gosh, they were right, I really did feel old. I looked around the room and then pointed down at the map. "So, what's all this about?"

Sterling bounced excitedly and grinned at me. "Oh, we're planning a heist!"