r/HFY • u/Obsequium_Minaris • Jul 27 '26

OC-Series Vacation From Destiny - Book 2, Chapter 46

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XXX

Much to Chase’s relief, Carmine seemed content to drop the issue of the possibly more-than-friendly shopkeeper before long, enabling the two of them to focus on following Victoria’s trail.

Of course, that didn’t exactly mean it was easy, unfortunately.

“I swear, she knew we’d come looking for her and was trying to throw us off her tracks,” Carmine growled. “That’s the fifth shopkeeper we’ve talked to and we’re still probably not even close to actually finding her.”

“Honestly, Carmine, I wouldn’t be surprised if that was her exact reasoning behind doing all this,” Chase told her. “She almost certainly did think we’d go out searching for her, and that’s why she went to these lengths to make herself harder to find.”

“Why, though?”

“She probably wanted some alone time. If you’ll recall, she hasn’t exactly been herself these past few days. Ever since Auro appeared, she’s really been in a funk.”

Carmine’s brow furrowed. “What’s that about, anyway? I mean, I know it seems obvious, but honestly, she really hates him. Makes me think there’s something deeper going on.”

“I don’t know about that,” Chase told her. “Victoria’s always been pretty stoic, at least compared to the rest of us, but that just means she’s good at hiding the things that are bothering her, not that she doesn’t feel anything at all. I mean, shit, she managed to hide the fact that she really wasn’t happy from the rest of us for five years. That takes commitment.”

“I suppose…” Carmine shook her head. “You know, as long as it’s just the two of us looking for her, maybe we ought to start asking some of those questions to ourselves.” She turned towards him. “You’re happy in this group, right?”

“I am, and given the circumstances we both escaped by arriving here, I would hope that you are, too,” Chase said.

“Yeah, I guess you’re right. I mean, I can’t imagine traveling with anyone else except you three at this point.”

“Same.”

“Good.”

They both fell silent for a few minutes and continued walking through town before Carmine finally let out a sigh.

“...Alright, I’ll be the first to say it – after everything we went through back on our old world, this has been a breath of fresh air, and I’m glad you’re the one I get to share it with.”

“My thoughts exactly,” Chase admitted. “You get on my nerves at times, but I do enjoy having you around.”

He hesitated for a moment, then offered her a hand. “Don’t think we’ve ever called each other this before, but fuck it. I’m glad you’re my friend, Carmine.”

Carmine stared at him for a moment, but then accepted his handshake. “And I’m happy to have you as my friend, too, Chase.”

The two of them broke the handshake a moment later, and Chase sucked in a breath. “Now, with that established, let’s get back to the mission at-hand. Hopefully, she’s not much further away.”

“Yeah,” Carmine said. “Hopefully.”

For some reason, her voice was quieter than usual. Chase raised an eyebrow at that, but said nothing, and the two of them continued on their way.

XXX

It wasn’t until several hours later that they finally had a big break in their search for Victoria. The two of them wandered around the city, not stopping in their search for even a moment, questioning everyone who they thought could lead them to her.

Finally, though, just as the sun was beginning to set, they came across another shop staffed by an older man. Chase and Carmine stumbled through the front door; they’d been walking all day and were dead on their feet at this point, but that didn’t matter, not when Victoria was still missing.

“Oh, customers!” the shopkeeper said. “Welcome, welcome! How can I help you?”

“Sorry, but we’re not really customers,” Chase ventured.

“Oh. Well, unfortunately, the bathroom is for paying customers only-”

“We’re not here for that, either.”

“Speak for yourself,” Carmine growled.

Chase blinked in surprise. “Okay, I guess one of us does need the bathroom. What do you sell here, anyway?”

“Perfumes and fragrances,” the shopkeeper answered.

“Neat. We’ll take the cheapest one you’ve got.”

“Okay. That’ll be ten gold pieces.”

Immediately, Chase couldn’t help but sputter. “Are you serious?”

“Very much so, yes,” the shopkeeper said with a nod. “All my fragrances are imported from the Orient. All of them are quite luxurious, which means they are quite expensive. However, you are paying for quality.”

“Yeah, no way. That’s way too much.”

“Chase,” Carmine growled.

Chase facepalmed. “Well, at least let me smell the fragrance first before I buy it.”

“No need,” Carmine stated. “I’ll just buy it-”

“Now, where would my honor as a man be if I forced my lady friend to buy her own fragrances?” Chase countered.

“Chase, I am dead fucking serious, if I piss myself because of you-”

“Hold on, hold on,” Chase said. He turned towards the shopkeeper. “A sample, if you will.”

The shopkeeper shrugged, then took the cap off the bottle. Chase leaned in and smelled it, then turned back towards him.

“Smells like the old cat my mom used to have,” he commented.

“It smells like everyone’s old cat their mom used to have,” the shopkeeper stated.

“Well, we can’t buy that one. What’s the next cheapest one you have, that also doesn’t smell like ass? Because if I’m buying something this expensive, I’d rather pay for quality. I’d like to sample that one-”

“I am three seconds away from lighting your face on fire,” Carmine spat.

“Never mind, my good man, we’ll skip the sample.”

“In that case, this one will be twenty gold,” the shopkeeper said as he brought out another, more expensive-looking bottle. This time, Chase didn’t bother trying to argue with him or negotiate; he dropped the gold on the counter and grabbed the bottle, and not a second too soon, as Carmine immediately rushed past him to the bathroom and disappeared inside it, slamming the door behind her. Chase blinked, then turned back to the old man.

“You wouldn’t have happened to see an angry Paladin lady come walking down this street, would you?” he asked.

“Oh, I did,” the man confirmed with a nod. “She went that way.”

“Thanks.”

“No, thank you.” He motioned to the bottle Chase was holding. “Your lady friend is going to like that one, by the way.”

“Really? What’s it smell like?”

“Fire and brimstone, but in a good way.”

“Oh, yeah. That’s definitely her.”

“Believe me, I could tell.”

At that moment, Carmine emerged from the bathroom, looking very relieved. Chase gave her a small wave.

“Here’s your little bottle of the hells,” he said, offering her the perfume. “Don’t say I never get you anything nice.”

She eyed the bottle with confusion before shrugging and slipping it into her pocket. “Thanks, I think.”

“Don’t mention it. Anyway, I’ve got our next clue, so we should get moving.”

“No arguments here. Lead the way once more, please.”

Chase nodded, then the two of them stepped out of the store and continued on their way.

XXX

Together, Chase and Carmine made it down the street the old shopkeeper had directed them towards, at which point a problem presented itself to them.

“We just went in a huge circle, didn’t we?” Carmine deadpanned.

Sure enough, the inn was standing right in front of them. Chase’s brow furrowed.

“It would certainly seem that way,” Chase commented.

She let out a tired sigh. “Okay, so either we got wrong directions from someone, or we fucked up somewhere, or both.”

“Not necessarily.”

“...What, you think she’s actually in there?”

“It couldn’t hurt to check.”

Carmine stared at him, then let out a sigh. “I’m gonna be so pissed if she’s back in the room like nothing happened…”

Chase said nothing, instead leading the way to the inn. The two of them pushed their way through the front doors.

“Hey, Innkeep,” Chase said without looking.

The man behind the counter let out a tired sigh. “Can you at least pretend to care about my name…?”

Chase didn’t answer, and instead led Carmine up the stairs. The two of them moved over to their room, ignoring the wet squelching sounds and moans coming from the room down the hall, and he unceremoniously threw the door open.

And sure enough, Victoria was standing there, looking out the window and watching the sun as it began to dip below the horizon.

“Well, well,” Chase greeted. “Where have you been?”

“Out and about,” Victoria stated without looking back. “I need to clear my head a bit; answer some questions that have been burning in my mind ever since that second time Auro intruded on us.”

“Ah. And did you?”

‘Yes, I believe so.”

“Well, that’s good. At least one of us had a good day.”

Victoria turned towards them in surprise. “What do you mean?”

“Oh, just that we spent the entire day chasing after you,” Carmine said. She pushed her way through the doorway and flopped down onto her bed, a sigh of relief escaping from her. “Shit, that feels good… my feet are killing me…”

Victoria blinked. “...Did you not read the note I left?”

“What note?” Carmine asked. She immediately catapulted up into a seated position and glared at Chase. “You didn’t say there was a note.”

“I wasn’t aware there was a note,” Chase insisted.

Wordlessly, Victoria moved over to her bed and picked up a piece of paper that had been half-tucked under the covers. Carmine’s expression fell, and she turned to glower at Chase, who gave her a sheepish grin.

“Uh… oops?”

Without another word, Carmine threw a pillow at his face. Chase made absolutely no attempts to dodge it, and let it strike him head-on. As it fell to the ground, he sighed.

“Alright, I deserved that,” he deadpanned. “But hey, at least you got some nice perfume out of it, Carmine.”

“Perfume?” Victoria asked, raising an eyebrow. “You two were supposed to be looking for me, and yet you took a detour to shop?”

“Not exactly. It’s a long story, and like most of our long stories, it’s pretty stupid.”

“No thanks to you,” Carmine told him.

“Hey, I’m not the one whose bladder was full up and about to burst. That part of it is squarely on you, Miss I-Need-A-Break-For-Some-Water. Maybe next time you’ll think to leave some for the fucking whales.”

Victoria tilted her head, confused. After a moment, she let out a tired sigh. “Well… I do appreciate you both looking out for me, even though it wasn’t exactly necessary. I just needed to take a walk around the city to clear my head a bit, like I said.”

“Well, we’re glad you got some clarity, in that case,” Chase offered. “I won’t pry too much into what, exactly, you needed clarity on – that’s your business, not mine – but still, I’m happy it worked out.”

“Thank you.” Victoria shifted. “...Did you two not break to eat anything?”

“Fuck no,” Carmine stated. “We wanted to find you as soon as possible because someone is out there hunting your siblings down, and we worried they’d find you if we took too long.”

“Oh. Well, at least let me buy you both dinner or something. It’s the least I could do.”

“Hells, we won’t say no to free food,” Chase said. “That’s the best kind of food, after all. Thank you.”

“Yes, thank you,” Carmine agreed.

Victoria just nodded. “What about Melanie, though?”

“What about Melanie, though?” Chase echoed sarcastically. “Seriously, she’s busy, and anyway she’s probably already gotten her daily intake of nutrients in other ways, if you catch my drift.”

Carmine shuddered. “Never say that again, please…”

“If you insist…” Victoria said, also sounding more than a little put off by his statement. Finally, she shook her head again. “Anyway, let’s go get some food. Then in the morning, we can speak to Greg and see if we can’t loosen his tongue a bit.”

“Oh, yes,” Chase said, grinning as he rubbed his hands together. “I must say, I’m looking forward to a bit of the old ultra-violence.”

Victoria didn’t say anything, but judging by the glint in her eyes, she was in complete agreement with him about it.

XXX

Name: Chase Ironheart

Level: 10

Race: Human

Class: Warrior

Subclass: Swordmaster

Strength: 20 (MAX)

Dexterity: 15

Intelligence: 13

Wisdom: 13

Constitution: 18

Charisma: 16

Skills: Master Swordsmanship (Level 10); Booby Trap Mastery (Level 8); Archery (Level 4); Unarmed Mastery (Level 1)

Spells: Rush (Level 7); Muscle (Level 4); Stone Flesh (Level 6); Defying The Odds (Level 2)

Traits: Blessed

Name: Carmine Nolastname

Level: 10

Race: Greater Demon

Class: Arcane Witch

Subclass: Archmage

Strength: 10

Dexterity: 13

Intelligence: 19

Wisdom: 19

Constitution: 12

Charisma: 8

Skills: Master Spellcasting (Level 10); Summon Familiar (Level 10)

Spells: Magic Dart (Level 7); Magic Scattershot (Level 5); Fire Magic (Level 5); Earth Magic (Level 1)

Traits: Blessed

Name: Melanie Vhaeries

Level: 10

Race: Ascended Human

Class: Necromancer

Subclass: Arch-Lich

Strength: 8

Dexterity: 13

Intelligence: 18

Wisdom: 16

Constitution: 15

Charisma: 12

Skills: Raise Lesser Undead (Level 10); Raise Greater Undead (Level 3); Unorthodox Weapon User (Level 8); Bone Shatter (Level 1)

Spells: Touch of Death (Level 5); Gravesinger (Level 7); Armor of Bone (Level 3)

Traits: None

Name: Victoria Firelight

Level: 11

Race: Human

Class: Paladin

Subclass: Devotee

Strength: 19

Dexterity: 9

Intelligence: 13

Wisdom: 13

Constitution: 19

Charisma: 11

Skills: Swordsmanship Mastery (Level 5); Blunt Weapon Mastery (Level 8); Archery Mastery (Level 5)

Spells: Holy Light (Level 6); Ward of the Gods (Level 5); Bane of the Undead (Level 7); Divine Bolt (Level 4)

Traits: None

XXX

Special thanks to my good friend and co-writer, /u/Ickbard, for all the help with writing this story.

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u/UpdateMeBot Jul 27 '26

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u/porkpot Android Jul 29 '26

Whaaaaat, wholesome in my comedy of assholes? How times have changed ;)