Wet moss squelches beneath her boots when Eruka pulls her knees to her chest. She reaches her right hand to her left shoulder, but recoils and curses under her breath when she feels that the wound's still bleeding. One overzealous knife meister owes her another patch for her sleeve.

The swamp's chorus of frogs sounds loud in her ears, echoing from the trees and filling the mist that seems to swallow her. It's almost calming enough to soothe her rage for a moment, and she rocks herself slightly to their melody.

Erase the memory of today's failure. Erase the memory of yesterday's failure. Erase all failures. Erase everything.

She catches her train of thought before it gets away from her. Nothing good can come from that way of thinking, she scolds herself, and she slaps her cheeks once to ground her in the present.

"Why do you do that?"

She jumps at Free's voice, and the swamp's song falters for a moment after drowning out his footsteps. Taking a breath, she collects herself, smoothing out her dress.

"I just do," she mutters, not turning to look at him. "It's not your problem."

He sighs and sits next to her, sending some of the frogs ducking under the water in fear. Before she can yell at him for it, he plants one of his large hands on her head, rubbing her orange hat back and forth.

"You've been a very grumpy frog lately, Eruka," he says in that simple voice of his; the one that makes her want to hit him upside the head with one of her bombs in the hopes that his brains fall back into place.

Her small hands clasp onto his palm and attempt to wrench it off of her. "Free! You'll ruin my hair!" she squeaks, glaring at the smirk she sees forming on his face.

"Not until you tell me what's bugging you," he replies, and it's just further evidence of how he's become too comfortable with her lately, much too touchy and smiley for Eruka's liking. His smirk falls when she smacks his hand away.

"I'm frustrated," she snaps, turning away from Free again. "Aren't you?"

Free shrugs. "Eh. Not really," he says. "We run from meisters all the time. They hit us, you run, I try and kill them. That's how it works."

Eruka peers up at him while straightening out the brim of her hat. "But aren't you tired of it being like that? Don't you wish it could be different?"

Free scratches at his stubble for a minute, glancing up at the foggy sky. "Uh… I dunno. Never thought about it," he admits absentmindedly.

Eruka growls a little to herself. "Well, I do. A Lot," she grumbles. Standing to her feet, she straightens out her hat one last time before dusting moss off of her dress. "Nevermind. Let's just get back," she says, starting off towards Medusa's fortress.

"Right behind you," she hears Free call, but she doesn't turn around to look.

Sometimes Eruka thinks she can feel Medusa watching her through the walls of her former home. Every empty hallway seems like a dark alley filled with places for snakes to hide, ready to leap out at her and squirm down her throat, like Medusa had said she had done to that little girl. Every night before she sleeps, she makes sure to put charms all around her bed and every entrance to the room to ward off whatever specter or spell that the snake witch might have left behind.

Even so, Eruka very rarely sleeps more than three hours a night.

She shivers as she walks through the halls, even with Free behind her.

"I hate living here," she whispers, even though they're alone.

Behind them, five voices suddenly remind Eruka that that's the third time she's complained about the place this week.

She jumps a little at first, but Eruka quickly relaxes when she glances behind herself at the small mouse-like witches. "Oh. Hello, Mizune," she says.

They return the greeting in unison before they ask if she was successful in bringing back food.

Eruka deflates a little. "No, sorry," she says quietly. "There was a meister and his weapon in the area. They found us before we could get anything."

They see, the Mizune say with the tiniest slump of their shoulders. That's alright; they should have enough food to last another week.

"That's what you said last time," Eruka murmurs.

"I still don't see how you can understand them," Free adds, earning himself a sideways glance from Eruka.

Well it's true, the sisters reply, ignoring Free. The food just has to be rationed out differently. They should be fine, and Free's immortal anyway. They pause, and then ask quietly if Eruka's okay; she looks tense.

She realizes then that her hands are clenched at her sides, her dress bunched up in her fists, her knuckles white. Quickly she releases her hold, clearing her throat. "Sorry," she says swiftly. All of their eyes lay on her as she takes a step back. "I'll be in the lab, if anyone needs me."

As she walks off, she hears the Mizune whisper to each other that she'd never go in there before, that it always reminded her too much of Medusa, so what changed? It must be something major.

"Eruka!" Free shouts, running a stride or two to catch up with her. His hand settles on her shoulder, stopping her. "Eruka, something's wrong." It's a statement, not a question. She tries to shrug his hand off, but he doesn't move, either because he's stubborn or he's too dense to take a hint.

"I'm fine," she says.

"You're not."

Her fists clench again. "I'm fine," she says again between clenched teeth.

Free's grip tightens. "Eruka…"

Something within her snaps, a frayed rope unraveling before breaking under the weight of its load.

"I'm tired, okay?!" she finally bursts out, glaring at the stark white linoleum beneath her boots. "I'm tired of getting attacked. I'm tired of living in a world where being a witch means I have to constantly fear for my life. I'm tired of being powerless to change anything," she tells him. Her confessions spill out as if a dam inside her head's been broken. "I just want it all gone. I want to start over."

Free is silent for a minute. "You can't though," he says when he finally speaks. "You can't just get rid of everything."

She turns around, looking Free directly in his normal eye. Though he towers over her, all muscle and brawn, she doesn't feel small in this moment.

"But what if I could?" she murmurs. Free's eyebrows raise. "What if there was some way to make things better? To erase everything that…" She stops, about to say everything that scares me, but she corrects herself before she speaks. "… Everything that's wrong with the world."

Free remains silent, so she continues. "Maybe there's something that can do that in the lab, or at least a manuscript or written spell. If I can get my hands on a weapon that she engineered, I can use it to finish off the DWMA! No more problems for us or any witches, Free!" Excitement begins to fill her now that she imagines the possibilities, and a smile begins to spread on her lips. "We won't have to be afraid anymore, we won't have to hide anymore, and we can be proud to have magic! All I have to do is find something that can destroy our enemies and problems, and with enough power I'm sure I can!"

Free seems unaffected by her unusual beam, and the longer they stand there, the more Eruka realizes that his emotionless gaze is more of a glare, and the more her face falls.

"So… What do you think?" she finally asks, unable to stand the tense silence any longer. He glances away from her for a moment.

"I think you sound like Medusa," he tells her, his voice low. Eruka immediately stiffens. It takes but a moment for her to stand there in shock before her emotions contort themselves into rage. She grabs his shirt and twists the fabric in her fist – even though she can only reach as high as his mid-chest – and gives him a fierce scowl. There are few things that anger her as much as being put on the same tier as the witch she most despises.

"Never," she growls, "compare me to her."

Free doesn't waver, and his stoic expression begins to intimidate her, but her harsh gaze remains poignant. She merely releases her hold, backs away, and turns on her heel to head into the lab. "Leave me alone and don't follow me," she calls over her shoulder. But when she opens the door to the dark lab and the scent of sterilization and dust floods the air, the feeling that Medusa's watching her comes creeping back, and she wishes for a moment that she wasn't alone.

Eruka's frustration climbs the longer she searches for anything of value. There appears to be no rhyme or reason to how Medusa stored her manuscripts, and many of them seem to be stolen from Mabaa's archives.

She's busy leaning over a table, deciphering an aged tome when she hears a loud thud, followed by an immediate cry of pain, causing her to freeze. Looking up from her work cautiously, she sees Free wander into the lab with a dazed look, rubbing his forehead. She assumes that he's run into the doorframe again.

"I know you told me not to follow you," he says, not meeting her eye. Eruka finds this slightly odd as he seemed unable to stop staring her down earlier. "But I made tea and wanted to know if it tasted good. I was going to ask the Mizune, but I still can't understand them, so…" he trails off while offering her the small cup he holds. Something about his story doesn't add up, but she ignores it as she takes the drink from him and sips it. With her jumpy nerves, Eruka never was one to refuse a calming drink.

Immediately she spits the vile liquid from her mouth, wetting the document and table in front of her. As she gags, Free blanches. His stunned look lasts only a moment, however, and he appears to be desperately trying to keep himself together before he bursts out laughing. Eruka jumps a little at the sudden noise.

"That bad, huh?" he guffaws, delight in his voice. "Sorry, but that was priceless! And it went all over your work!" he points out with a grin.

Eruka wipes her lip with her sleeve, trying to act like she isn't scared at the slightest unexpected sound or movement. "It's fine," she says, coughing once, shoving the ruined tome into the trash bin at the end of the table. "The paper was old, so I was trying to figure out what it said, but I'm pretty sure it was just a basic spell for curing wounds." She turns to Free, one eyebrow raised. "This wasn't all a prank, was it?"

He shakes his head quickly, his laughter dying down to chuckles. "No; I actually did want you to try my tea. Thought you might like it. Guess I need to try again," he chortles. With a long sigh, he finally seems to calm himself down while Eruka pushes past him to grab a rolled-up piece of paper from a nearby shelf. "So, having any luck?"

She narrows her eyes at the page, gripping the sides until they wrinkle beneath her grasp. "Shopping list," she grumbles.

"What was that?" Free asks. She shakes her head as she wads up the paper in her hands.

"Nothing. And no, I'm not having any luck. Everything in here is stolen, illegible, or research notes on black blood and Crona," she murmurs, pulling another book off the shelf anyway. "Medusa had no superweapon, and she didn't have any need for one. Crona was her superweapon. And when they failed, Asura took their place." She closes the book; it's a useless nursing text. "I was never going to find anything in here. I shouldn't have got my hopes up."

Free walks over to stand next to her, looking over the shelves. "Well… You may still find something," he says, possibly trying to sound eager, but it's not working. "The stuff you want could just be out of your reach."

Eruka lets the textbook drop to the ground and crosses her arms over her chest. "Free, stop," she mumbles.

"Like this one… Or not," he mutters to himself, apparently ignoring her. "Or this… No, that's not useful either."

"Please, Free."

"This looks cool! But it's about soul study…"

"Free!"

He glances down at her, a confused look on his face. "What? I'm trying to help you. What about this? It's a protection spell."

"Free, stop it!" Eruka shouts, grabbing his arm. "Just give up! There's nothing in here!"

Free grabs three scrolls with one hand despite her protests. "I'm sure there's something!" he yells back, yanking his arm away from her to pull open the scrolls before dropping them to the floor in succession. "Time spell! What about a time spell? Or this one that enchants objects! Or this one that makes you float!"

"Why are you trying so hard?!" screeches Eruka. She isn't prepared for when Free rounds on her, fangs bared, the last scroll dropping to the floor with a loud clang.

"Because I want you to stop being so upset all the time!"

Eruka freezes up, scared by his tone. She tries to hold her ground, even though every one of her reflexes is telling her to transform, run away, hide. "S-so this is all about me being unpleasant?!" she shoots back, failing to keep the nervous stutter from her voice.

Free snarls at her. "That's NOT what this is about AT ALL!"

She can't help it anymore. Her body disappears in a puff of smoke, leaving behind a small green frog that instantly hops into the pile of scrolls to hide.

Shivering, Eruka cowers even as she hears him curse through his teeth. "Eruka? I didn't mean to do that. Can you come on out?"

She's not sure if she should move. One part of her says she can trust Free, the other part argues that he just yelled at her.

"Eruka, come on," he says, kneeling down next to the pile. She knows he won't try to pull her out by force, but she can't help but back up a little when she can barely see Free moving closer. "Look, I meant what I said; I really didn't mean to scare you. If I could go back and undo it, I could."

Her small eyes widen.

Free coughs at the puff of smoke Eruka produces when she transforms back. "Say that again," she says softly, staring at him, ideas churning in her head. Like overseeing a chessboard, plans and solutions and outcomes expand across her mind.

"Uh…" Free stares at her, confused again. "If I could go back and undo it, I…"

"That's it," Eruka says, already sifting through the scrolls. "If you could go back," she repeats, mostly to herself. When she finds the paper she had been looking for, a rare feeling of hope ignites in her chest. "We can go back, Free," she breathes. She hasn't felt this exhilarated since before meeting Medusa.

Free raises the eyebrow above his brown eye. "And stop me from yelling at you?" he wonders. Eruka's too excited to do so much as roll her eyes at his thick-headed understanding.

"Not quite," she says, her heart rate growing faster the longer she stares at the time travel spell in her hands. "I'm thinking a little bigger."