NOTE: PLEASE READ PART 1 FIRST!
Reluctant Company
Part 2
"What I wouldn't give for a decent cup of coffee."
Free looked at the woman across from him - her face resting against the palm of her hand, eyes closed and mouth forced half open by the squish of her cheeks. He lowered his eyes to the greasy heap of eggs on his plate. The scent of chemicals was strong to his enhanced senses, only slightly less foul than the mildewy smell which permeated throughout the rest of the diner. Wordlessly, he scooped up the eggs with a fork and took a bite.
"We could have left at a decent time," he said around the mouthful.
Eruka sighed, overly loud and aggravated, arm dropping with a thud against the linoleum table. When her eyes, still tired from sleep, peeled open she glared at him.
Despite himself, Free felt his lips twitch. It wasn't the first time they'd had this conversation.
"Honestly, Eruka, if you can't even function—"
"Bite me," Eruka groused, rubbing her cheek. She pinched her eyes then looked over at Free's plate with a touch of longing in the pale set of her tired face. "Maybe I should've gotten something to eat."
Free snorted. "As much as I would like to say I told you so, you may have been right in this particular instance. There's more oil in this than egg."
"Mm?"
Free's eyes rose to see that Eruka was back to resting her chin on her hand, eyes closed. He kicked her with his boot. Eruka grunted. "Hey, Eruka. Hey."
Her head dropped on the table with a thud. A moment later, a loud snore sounded from her blue head.
"'ey! You two are gonna miss yer bus!" yelled the diner chef.
Muffling a curse before it could pass his lips, Free slid awkwardly out of the booth. He reached over Eruka and pulled her wallet from her bag, half relieved and half annoyed with how easy it was to get. "Perfectly fine on her own, she says," Free muttered under his breath, curling an arm around her back and under her arms. He grunted as he pulled her from the seat, hooking her bag over his shoulder. Eruka simply snored louder. "Don't need help from anyone, she says. Certainly doesn't fall asleep in a bloody diner where any nut job in the country can get at her."
Free hefted her over his shoulder and walked to the chef, whose furry brows were raised nearly to the fine threads of his hair net. "Do you take twenties?" Free asked him, hefting Eruka up higher when she started to slide. He wrapped an arm around her knees to keep her in place and fiddled through the bills in her wallet.
"Ye- uh, yes, sir, we do."
Free huffed a wry laugh. "Sir, huh? Can't remember ever being called that. Here—a twenty and two ones. Keep the change."
"Much appreciated." The man took the wrinkled bills, folding them and putting them into the pocket of his apron. Free was aware of the other man's eyes as he closed Eruka's wallet and stuff it into the pocket of his borrowed jeans. When he looked up, the chef nodded to Eruka. "She gonna be alright?"
Free smiled, wide and friendly, like he had nothing to hide. "Oh, yeah, she just needs some sleep. Wants to visit her mother so bad she can't wait for a later bus."
Chef laughed, as though in response to an inside joke. "Not a fan of the old mother-in-law, then?"
Free felt his lips twitch. "Not particularly, no. How'd you figure?"
"Between you and me, you look like a fella who's been in and outta jail a few times. Not someone a mama wants her baby taking home."
Free made sure the smile on his face didn't fade. "Right. Well, I don't want to be late for our visit with mom."
As though sensing the tension that had arisen, the chef nodded and backed up a step. It was more difficult than Free wanted to admit not to follow. "Ah, yea. 'Course, 'course… be seeing you then!"
"I sure as hell hope not!" Free called back cheerfully and burst out of the diner.
—
Free glared into the darkness. Beside him, Eruka was sprawled out on the bench, one arm thrown haphazardly over his lap while her face pressed, open-mouthed and drooling, against his arm. Since the diner, she had only woken to pointedly complain about being cold until he'd given her his coat, and then had promptly fallen back asleep.
Eruka was not a morning person-a fact which clashed largely with her wanting to leave their cozy motel room at four in the morning to catch a bus.
Free sighed, his breath visible in the cold morning, and rubbed at his face. He didn't know why the diner owner's comment had pissed him off so much. He knew what he looked like, knew that he would have gotten the same reaction even before his stay in prison. But fuck, he was a nice person. Normally. He only ever hurt people who needed to be hurt.
And hell, it wasn't like Eruka was some doting daughter from a loving family, either. It shouldn't matter that some greasy nobody thought that Eruka's imaginary parents wouldn't approve of an equally imaginary relationship.
The thin, pale hand fell off his knee as Eruka shuffled in her sleep. Free glared at it for several seconds before sighing and gently picking it up and placing it back on his lap, warming her hand in both of his.
"You certainly are an odd one, aren't you?" he murmured, fondly.
Drip, drip, drip, drip…
The smile, which he hadn't realized had appeared on his face, faded. His eyes slowly rose to the small overhang above the bench, which dripped water from the cap of snow that had fallen upon it. Free watched the trail of water to the puddle below.
Drip, drip, drip, drip…
It was amazing how a simple sound could take you places, Free thought, as he felt the phantom chains around his wrists, the cloth over his eyes. He saw, so clearly, the dripping of the blood of the man hung next to him.
"I could free you," he heard the woman say, months ago now, standing outside his cell. "I could kill the witch who took your family, the witch whose eye you bear. I could do it all for a price."
His head rose at the sound, but he didn't speak. Her bare feet stepped closer. "Follow a witch for me, make sure she does as she's told. Report to me. Do you agree?"
"Yes," he'd said. The implication that he may one day be ordered to kill the witch he followed was heavily implied. At the time it hadn't bothered him - witches had killed his kind for years. Now, as he turned away from the puddle to look at Eruka, he tried not to think about it.
The sun was slowly rising over the tips of the trees, covering her in a warm glow.
The bus came soon enough, and Free bundled Eruka up, passed over their tickets and tucked them both away near the back of the bus. He had leaned Eruka against the window, but in her sleep she was soon slumped against his arm. Free didn't mind. What did concern him was the slow tightening of his chest with every soft breath of the woman next to him.
—
"Eruka?"
"What?" her answer was a distracted mumble, her attention focused on the worn leather book in her hands. It was gripped tightly in pale fingers, and every once in awhile her eyes would lift from the pages to scan her surroundings with paranoid thoroughness.
"Why are we here?" he asked her.
Those large, inky black eyes shot to him briefly before dropping back to her book (not before darting quickly to the woman swaddled in rags to his left, to the tightly wound businessman on his right). Eruka turned a page, the motion of her hand deliberately slow. "I need ingredients for the spell."
"Yeah, I get that," Free grunted as someone knocked his shoulder, pushing past to grab a vacant seat, "but is it really necessary for me to be here?"
After the four hour bus ride which had taken them out of the dense forest and into a small city, Eruka had pulled him through the streets and down a set of stairs where they'd then boarded a rusted subway train.
The train creaked and swayed and jostled with all the reliability of an expired condom. Worse than that were the jumbling mass of bodies, pushing and elbowing their way through like frazzled chickens running for feed. Free rather wished they were chickens: he was allowed to eat those. He also suspected they wouldn't smell half as bad as these unwashed humans.
Eruka looked up, face pinched. Free also noted genuine confusion in the set of her brows. "You were the one who wanted to follow me."
Free sighed, rubbing at the whiskers on his chin whilst surreptitiously eyeing the wrinkled hag who hadn't looked away from him since she'd sat down. "Yes, but-"
A screechy ding sounded around the train, and Eruka turned to look out the window. "This is our stop," she said, scrambling to collect her ragged travel bag, still damp from having been dropped repeatedly in the snow. Free blew out an aggravated breath as he watched her exit, the metal hand grip screeching as it bent under the pressure of his fingers.
Eruka was out of the train and halfway to the exit by the time she realized he wasn't following. Her head swivelled around in confusion before she finally spotted him, still standing in the train car. A confused frown briefly appeared on her face, before her eyes narrowed and her lips thinned. "Come on," her lips said, the sound lost among the noise of the station.
Free rather liked Eruka, he really did, even considering the fact that she had all the friendliness of a prickly wolverine. He liked to believe that had he been freed from prison without the stipulation of trailing her, he would have somehow found her and followed her anyway.
The thing was, though, he wasn't sure he liked her enough to follow her into a den of witches.
Contrary to what he imagined Eruka might think, Free was no fool. He knew where they were headed. The decay of the buildings, the twisting black vines, the alarming decline of personal hygiene shown by those ambling passed (he knew he wasn't exactly a shining example in that department, but really) - these were all characteristics of a magical black market for all things wicked, unnatural, and generally creepy. It was places like these that had caused the death and genocide of millions of magical creatures.
Absently, he noted that the look of confused concern was back on Eruka's face. She took a step back towards him, but was forced to jerk to a stop as several passengers darted by her. She called his name. He watched her, unmoving.
He could reconnect with her after she'd bought what she needed, Free decided. It would allow him to avoid almost certain capture and still follow Medusa's orders—
That was when the smallest spark of real fear flashed in Eruka's eyes, and she tried to take another step towards him, only to be thwarted again by a man rushing by. His heart seized, and he swore minutes passed in the seconds he watched her then, recognizing that someone-that she-needed him.
Free released a slow breath, felt his tense shoulders sink in defeat, and moved to her - slipping through the closing doors of the train and shoving away the asshole who had knocked into her shoulder.
Eruka's hand reached for him, grasping at the thin fabric of his shirt as soon as he stood before her. The knuckles of her small hand felt cold pressed against his chest. "You idiot, what were you doing?" she asked, her words devoid of their usual curtness, now awash with panicked relief.
"Sorry," Free muttered. It was all he could manage with the sick feeling in his gut.
Eruka seemed to realize she was still clenching Free's shirt and released, offering a companionable, if awkward pat on his chest before picking up her bag and hoisting it over her shoulder. Her lips twitched up at him in a short smile. "Come on, then. The sooner we start, sooner we finish."
Free made a noncommittal noise, rubbing his now sweat-slickened palms on the side of his pants. As they made their way through the crowd, Free noticed vaguely that Eruka kept looking back at him, as though to make sure he was still following her. If he weren't so focused on remembering how to breath he might be flattered by the change in attitude towards his presence. As it was, his mind was filled with memories of chains and bloodied hands and screams.
Eruka led them through the shuffling bodies, quick and unobtrusive, like a mouse. Free followed at somewhat of a distance, merely due to the fact that he kept bumping into people. Soon however, the mass of bodies thinned and Eruka slid in close to a building, the bricks dark and worn with age. She turned her head to make eye contact with him, before silently sliding into a damp, moss-ridden alley.
"I'm sensing some anxiety here," Eruka said once he'd joined her, making a general motion of her hand in Free's direction. The alley was tight, and presumably led to the market entrance. For the moment, Free noted with some relief, they were alone. "Something you want to share?"
"Magic makes me a bit nervous."
Eruka fought a smile, fiddling with the brass buckle on the strap of her bag. "Just a bit?"
Free raised a brow.
The smile faded. "Look, I can tell you're not exactly… happy to be here. But I…" Eruka cleared her throat, "I appreciate… you coming with me."
Free grinned. "Don't hurt yourself."
"I take it back, you're an asshole."
"No you don't, you appreciate me."
Eruka sighed and stopped walking. "I don't want to be here either, okay? That's what I meant. I don't want to be here, and the fact that I'm not alone is...comforting."
Free was silent for a moment as he regarded the tightly wound witch next to him. Eventually, he reached over to squeeze the arm she held tightly against herself. She jumped at the contact, before relaxing. "I know, Eruka. Thank you."
Her hand brushed his briefly, a flush of colour on her cheeks, before nodding. "Yeah," she coughed. "C'mon, let's go. The shops are just through here."
"You do know where you're going, right?" asked Free as they started moving.
"Sure do." Eruka shot a conspiratorial glance back at him, adopting a thick german accent, "Follow me if you want to live."
"What?"
"...Nevermind."
—
The smell was overpowering, though it wasn't as gruesome a scent as he'd expected. No scorched bodies or decaying flesh, rotted vegetation nor putrid excrement. Instead, his nostrils burned with the echo of concentrated spices, preservation chemicals, oils, and smoking herbs. Free's eyes watered with the stench of it - clearly someone had wolfsbane airing above one of those shoddy little stalls.
In front of him, Eruka moved forward through the crowd; those pale, little fingers curled tightly in the fabric of his sleeve as she tugged him with her. She was hunched over, the hood of her sweatshirt pulled over her face.
An odd urge took hold of Free as he stared down at the wispy strands of blue pulled free from her hood; at the pinkish, pointed, curve of her nose - poking out just long enough for him to see despite her inconspicuous hunch.
He wanted to hold her hand. Like, really bad. The anxious way she curled in on herself made him want to pick her up and carry her off far, far away. In his mind's eye he could imagine the stink-eye she would send him if she knew he was pondering such a thought.
Of course, that logical voice in his head - admittedly one of the quieter ones-considered how bad getting closer to Eruka would end up in the long run. Even to him it was clear where this would end.
But he really wanted to hold her hand.
Free leaned in close, felt the tension of her shoulders where they touched, and scooped up her fingers. Eruka paused, turning in confusion to look down at their hands. Free coughed.
Several seconds passed and Free was bracing himself for rejection, however Eruka simply glanced at him with a raised brow, before turning to once more pull him forward - this time by the hand.
Warmth trickled down to curl in his stomach, and breathe left him at the acute clench of his heart. Free squeezed her fingers a little tighter in wordless thanks.
He waited till a particularly gnarled looking fellow passed them before murmuring in her ear, "I imagined more genitalia in a witch market."
Eruka choked through a surprised laugh, before quickly slapping a hand over her mouth. She darted a look back at him, her expression a curious mix of incredulity and amusement. He liked the way her eyes danced at him despite the furrow of her brow. "You should not be making jokes like that here."
He grinned at her.
Eruka just shook her head, lips twitching. A conspiratorial glance was all that prepared him before she whispered over her shoulder, just loud enough for his advanced hearing to pick up, "You should see it after Valentine's Day."
She was teasing him back. Free decided to ignore the odd fullness he felt in his chest over the fact. He hoped his hands weren't sweating.
Now that Eruka's anxiety had abated some, Free was forced to face the harried pounding of his own heartbeat. He'd heard the stories. Even in the brief period after his release he'd heard stories. The shady markets of witchcraft were dark and dangerous places. There was talk of evil magic, wicked curses, and immortals being locked in chains for decades as unwilling organ donors.
He didn't see any of that here, merely herbs, jarred animal parts, and shuffling hooded figures. Not that that said much, mind. He hardly imagined they would air out their dirty laundry in the open.
It continued on like this for several blocks, mostly in companionable silence despite one moment of minor cursing on Eruka's part over a fork in the road. Free had barely held down the urge to cover his nose, and was less restrictive on the urge to snarl at anyone who ran into him or Eruka. Eventually, Eruka's fingers reached up to wrap around his forearm.
"We're here," she said.
Free frowned at the faintly nauseous expression on Eruka's face and turned to follow her gaze. It was one of the few permanent structures featured within the market, embedded into a tall brick building and tucked away from the rest. The door was rustic and painted red, covered in curling, twisting ivy. Above the frame was a collection of heavy-browed skulls of different shapes and sizes, tucked together in an almost ornate, if not overly morbid, bouquet. Free decided that whoever owned the store was trying way too hard.
He turned to Eruka with a raised brow.
She had pulled off her hood and released his hand (to his disappointment), obviously more comfortable now that they were more or less away from the crowd. When Eruka turned and saw his expression, she snorted. "Oh, shove off, would you? They may be a little overenthusiastic, but they're also the people least likely to screw us over."
This had Free raising his other brow. "Least likely?"
Eruka bit the nail of her thumb, eyeing the door. "There may or may not be a 25 percent chance they're still going to sell us out."
Free just stared at her. "What."
Eruka waved her hand about. "Well, you never really know, do you?" She paused half a beat, before adding, somewhat reluctantly, "Aand… because of certain persons I'm associated with I'm not the most well-liked witch right now, alright?"
"Are witches really that picky?" Free asked, skeptical. In his memory, they had always been more of a solitary folk.
"What? You think we don't have friends?" Eruka snarked back, bony finger poking into his chest. "That's prejudiced."
"True in your case, though, isn't it?"
The voice was new, exasperated and, surprisingly, young. Free turned to see that the red door had opened and a small witch stood before it, hands on her hips. A very small witch.
"Angela." Eruka sounded pained.
"You two do know that we can hear everything you say? It's not like the bloody door is soundproof."
Free eyed the young girl, who appeared to be not much older than a toddler. "Are you even out of diapers?"
Those devilish, purple eyes darted up to him. He watched in horror as she pulled a cigarette from the pocket of her pink dress and lit it with a flick of her finger. "Are you?" she shot back after a long drag, blowing out smoke. "You look like you've done some time. Pissing in the corner of a cell all these years. Has she got you housetrained yet, I wonder?"
"Hey," Free whined, offended. He stepped slightly behind Eruka, away from the child's deadpan stare.
"Clearly special snowflake here has had a bit too much to handle. Need a moment, sweet pea? Go ahead, tell the class how you need to waste all our fucking time because you have insecurity issues over your tiny-as-fuck penis."
Free turned to Eruka in wide-eyed shock. "Really?" he hissed, hoping she could get him out of this because she was the crazy person who wanted to come see this foul-mouthed devil baby. Her only response was to shrug apologetically; Free wanted to throttle her.
"Hey, hey, I was just joking about the tiny penis. Did I get too close to the truth for you there, little man? I got a sock you could borrow if you ask me nicely."
Free stared at Eruka. Meaningfully.
"Alright you troll, stop picking on my friend. Do you have what we need?"
Angela smiled at that, as though being called a troll was a compliment. For all Free knew, maybe it was. Not that he was thinking too hard on the topic when Eruka had called him her friend in the same breath. He fought a pleased smile.
"Of course. Come on in."
Angela turned, flicking the half-smoked cigarette away and patting down her small, pink dress. Without even having to touch the wood, the door opened before her, allowing the small witch to step inside. Free thought it might be magic, but then he noticed the hand clasping the door.
A man with long, light hair greeted them as they warily stepped in after Angela. He was an odd looking fellow, a bit on the tall-ish, pale-ish side, and leered in the shadows with several swords attached to his person.
"Mifune. Lovely to see you again," Eruka greeted politely.
"Eruka." Mifune emerged from the corner, fingers twitching. "Who is your… companion?"
"Uh…" Eruka shot Free a confused glance. "This is Free. I asked him to come with me."
"He's magnificent," Mifune breathed, eyes trailing up and down Free's body. A beat passed before he blinked, the glaze of his eyes disappearing as he suddenly appeared horrified. "Oh my god…"
"Thank you." Free smiled at him.
"Right." Eruka turned away from Mifune to Angela, who smiled back prettily. "I need a shit load of salt, hemlock, three four leaf clovers - but not the ones that are made with too much pesticide because the spell always ends up wonky…"
As Eruka droned on, Free took in the room around him. It was very tidy, bottles and herbs neatly stacked on perfectly aligned oak shelves. There weren't any body parts or curious goop like the outside market had in copious amounts. If he wasn't so viscerally aware of the dangers the place faced, he might even say it was cozy. His eyes strayed to the elaborate carpet beneath him, filled with carefully stencilled designs of wicked looking symbols and — a foot….
Free looked up to the man who had sidled up next to him. "Oh...hello."
Mifune shuffled on his feet before turning to Free. "Candy?" he offered, holding up a round hard candy.
"Not for me, thanks," Free said. "They always get stuck in my teeth and since I don't have the heart to spit it out, I always swallow."
Mifine choked. "Is…is that so?"
Free hummed in response, watching as Eruka leaned against the wood counter and continued to list various ingredients she needed ("…baby's breath, a squirrel liver, and maybe smoked sage? I mean you never know right?…").
Someone poked his face. Free glared at Mifine, who stood much closer now than he did several seconds ago. "What are you doing."
"Sorry, I just…Maba, your bone structure is giving me bone structure."
"What?"
Mifine made an odd gurgling sound, tilting his face up to the ceiling for a few moments, red-faced, before clearing his throat. "What I mean is… you have good. Bone structure. You have good bone structure. Very uh, very symmetrical."
"Oh. Thank you." Free wasn't used to getting compliments, and after a moment, awkwardly clapped Mifune on the back. "You too."
"Uhhnn…hit me again."
A second passed. Mifune choked.
"Okaaay." Free retrieved his hand. "Good talk. I'm going to go over there and see how Eruka is doing while you handle that boner."
"Mmf."
Free walked to the counter where Eruka was tying up her dealings with Angela.
A small collection of glass vials and envelopes of folded parchment had been placed on the counter in neat rows. Free poked a small jar filled with eyeballs; Eruka slapped his hand away. From the other side of the counter, Angela floated up (with a spark of magic so potent it made Free sneeze) and dumped a large cloth bag down by the rest of the ingredients.
"And salt - not kosher," Angela huffed, breathing hard. She settled down on a tall stool next to an ancient cash register, poking several buttons before turning back to Eruka. She sucked on her teeth a moment before saying, "That'll be $78.46. Or the equivalent of that in human souls. "
"Sure," Eruka grunted, busy stuffing ingredients into her bag. "Just put it on my tab."
Angela's nails tapped loud on the wood beneath her hand. Her small foot banged against some unseen surface beneath the counter. Her eyes never left Eruka. "You already have a tab of 234 dollars, Eruka." Tap, tap, tap. "I need cash. Now."
Eruka stilled. "Your limit on tabs is 500, Angela. It's always been 500." Anxiety permeated the air. Free automatically shifted closer, allowing his eyes to roam to the exit. He heard the frantic pound of Eruka's heart. "It even says so on that poster!"
"Things change."
Footsteps approached the shop from outside, swift and sure. And aggressive. "Eruka," Free warned, crouching low.
"Angela, no," Eruka choked out. "Please, no."
"You said it yourself, didn't you?" Bitterness dripped from the words. "There's a reason we don't have friends."
The door to the shop burst open, bodies flooding in, the air sparking with bursts of magic. "Eruka Frog you are being detained for-"
Free roared, claws bursting from his hands as his fangs lengthened.
"He's a werewolf!" someone shrieked. "Everybody back!"
Behind him, Eruka stood frozen, head lowered. "Eruka, move! We don't have time for this!" When she didn't respond, he grabbed her face, careful not to harm her with his claws. She stared at him in shock, cheeks comically squished together in his hands. "Eruka, I need you to not be useless right now."
Her brows furrowed. "I…"
An incantation was promptly shouted in the distance, which gave Free less than five seconds to pull Eruka under him and press them both down against the floor before flames exploded through the store entrance.
Free snarled as the fire singed his back, the scent of his own burnt flesh permeating the air along with ash, smoke, and Eruka's fear. He hugged her closer. The unbearable heat strained down on them for what felt like hours before the spell waned and the flames finally dissipated, leaving only the carnage they inflicted.
"Eruka," Free whispered when he could, throat hoarse.
"My supplies," she responded with a gasp, wiggling out of his hold, and scrambling to the counter. "I need to get my supplies!"
"We don't have time!" he growled, eyes straining through the clearing smoke clouds.
"One second! One second!" she yelled back, panicky.
Free snarled as a blast hit him in the side of the head, disorienting his senses. Two more struck him in the arm when he instinctively curled inward. His other arm held behind him, Free shuffled backwards until his back met Eruka's.
Free looked over his shoulders, blinking through the darkness until Eruka's blue head came into view. "Eruka."
"Okay, we can- oof!" She had just managed to stuff the salt into her bag when Free wrapped an arm around her waist.
Mifune was ready, sword in hand, as Free turned back, Eruka thrown securely over his shoulder.
"We would've been good together."
"Get out of our way you judgemental peon," Eruka screeched, twisting around. "He's not interested!"
Mifune glared, eyes flashing. "Than he's dead."
"Maba, he's crazy," Eruka hissed to herself, then, louder, "Free, he's crazy."
Free flexed his claws, grinning wide. "I don't know, I think we can manage crazier."
And with a roar, Free lunged, Eruka's shrieks loud in his ear as he dodged around Mifune and into the street. Witches and other magical folk shrieked at him, Free allowed a moment to snarl back at them before darting down the road on all fours, Eruka clutching frantically to the fur on his shoulder.
"Don't let them leave!"
Free growled at the yelling faces and turned left, towards the scent of forest. His claws slid along the slick road, leaving lines along the cobblestone. It wasn't till they left the limits of the city that Free felt he could breath - his nose finally free of the stench of black magic and death.
For a long time the only thing Free registered was the feel of Eruka's fingers in his fur and her face pressed to his neck, gasping through adrenaline-driven tears.
Free didn't know where he was, but he knew he had to get them both out of the city and somewhere safe. The forest had always been synonymous with home, and so it was that scent that he followed now as he ran blindly through the city, Eruka's tears against his neck spurring him on until the muscles in his legs burned with pain.
—
Once surrounded by trees, Free felt sane enough to find a motel too seedy to raise much protest when they walked in the door covered in soot and blood.
Eruka had still been hanging off his back when he'd asked for a room, but she was conscious, if a little mopey, so the motel owner had merely spared her a brief glance before wordlessly handing over a room key.
Now he fumbled with the key and shoved the door open, careful to duck low enough through the entrance to accommodate Eruka's head. The room was small, cozy—the furniture worn but clean. Well, clean enough. Free would rather not think of the suspicious scent coming from the far corner with the brownish stain.
Free closed and locked the door, and immediately after, Eruka unlatched her arms from around his neck and slid down his back. When he turned to face her, his heart pinched unpleasantly. Her soot covered face had tear tracks running down her cheeks, and her front had soaked up the blood from the already healed wound on his back.
"How are you doing?" he asked tentatively, almost afraid of the answer. She looked so close to falling apart he was worried one wrong move would cause her to shatter altogether.
"I'm going to take a shower."
If one were to look up sad sack in the dictionary, Free was pretty sure they'd find an image of Eruka right now. He wanted to pat her on the head or something, but he knew his size could be intimidating and the last thing he wanted to do was upset her further. This in mind, Free simply scratched awkwardly at his beard and nodded. "Okay, I'll just be, uh… here."
Eruka didn't respond, simply dropped her ragged bag where it was and walked into the small bathroom. The door shut quietly behind her.
Free sighed and sat on the bed, the mattress creaking in noticeable protest. He sat for long enough to wonder what to do next, fidgeting anxiously with his hands and the loose thread on his sleeve, when he heard a muffled sniffle.
Up immediately, Free rushed to the bathroom door. He didn't breathe as he concentrated on listening, face pressed against the wood. A hiccup. Shit on a stick, Free thought, Eruka was crying.
"Eruka?" he called through door, thumping the wood the palm of his hand. "Eruka, are you crying?"
"No!" she wailed loudly.
"Oh, Eruka. Of all the stubborn things… That's it, I'm coming in there." He backed up to examine how solid the door was. Unfortunately, it didn't look flimsy.
"For fucks sake, Free, I told you I want to be alone!"
"How much do you think it'll take to replace the door?"
Eruka sniffed. "Like…100 dollars, maybe?"
"...that's too much." They could hardly afford food as it was. "Do you think I could fit through the window?"
There was a pause. "No. Well, maybe if you squeeze?"
The thought wasn't appealing. "I don't know, my back still kind of hurts." He huffed, scratching his thigh. "Don't worry, I'll figure something out."
"Free, honestly, I just want to be alone."
"Is there a hair pin somewhere?"
"In my bag. Left pocket."
Free turned around, moving when he spotted the abandoned bag by the door. He crouched down and shuffled through the left front pocket, tossing aside pieces of broken chalk and old buttons when they got in his way. Soon enough he found a small baggy of tiny metal hair pins.
"Free…? Are you still there?" Eruka called from the bathroom.
"I got them! I'm coming!"
"I told you no!"
"Don't you worry, I saw a friend do this once," Free assured, fiddling with the baggy. The bag opened and the pins scattered to the floor. "Shit."
"...What is it?"
Free bent down. "Nothing, just dropped them—alright, I got one. You just stick it in, right?"
"I thought you said you knew how!"
The first pin broke. Free grunted and bent to find another. "I said I saw a friend do it," he answered.
"Ugh!"
"Hey, you could just open the door, you know."
The answering silence was petulant.
"That's what I thought." Free was about to try with his third pin when the lock under his fingers abruptly twisted, and he heard the soft padding of footsteps as they moved away. Free blinked, rising from his awkward half-crouch over the lock. "Eruka?"
When she didn't respond, he turned the door handle and poked his head inside. Eruka was sitting by the toilet, arms wrapped around her knees. "Hey," he whispered. "That's not how toilets work."
Eruka snorted and rolled her eyes, causing a collection of tears to spill down her cheeks. She sniffed and wiped them away.
Carefully, he slipped into the bathroom and slumped down next to her. Eruka shuffled closer, wrapped an arm around his, and pressed her face against his bicep. He felt her body shudder with a sigh.
"I don't know how much longer I can do this," Eruka told him in a harsh whisper. She squeezed her eyes shut. Opened them. "Free, I'm so afraid."
The words were like a fist in his gut, and Free had to swallow several times before he could manage an answer. "I know, Eruka," he said.
"No, you don't, because I didn't tell you that-" Eruka choked, more tears falling, and she brought a hand up to cover her face. A wracking sob shook her then, and Free dislodged the hold she had on his arm so he could wrap it around her shoulders, pulling her in closer.
He waited until Eruka had calmed slightly before he asked, a whisper against her temple, "Tell me what?"
Eruka fisted a handful of his shirt, tugging it under her chin as though to keep him next to her. "That if I don't find those kids and," a hitching breath, "and kill them, she's going to kill me."
Free's blood turned to ice, for all that he already knew this; it took him a moment to respond, guilt swirling like black tar in his gut. "Who is?"
"A strong witch. A horrible witch."
Free swallowed, squeezing his eyes shut. "Who?" he asked, needing to hear it. Afraid to hear it.
"Medusa."
The name tore the breath from Free's lungs, a more visceral reaction than he'd expected at hearing the name of the woman he was following Eruka for. Free squeezed her tighter, as though he could protect her, or maybe to assuage the guilt he felt. "I'm sorry," he said, because he was, far more than he could convey. "But… we'll figure this out. I've got you, Eruka. I won't let her hurt you. I promise."
"Tell me you won't leave." It was whispered against the sleeve of his shirt, vulnerable and low, and had it not been for his advanced hearing he wasn't sure he would have heard it. He could also tell by the tightening of her hold that she immediately wanted to take it back.
Rather than comment, because Free didn't think he could quite manage speech just then, he leaned over and grabbed a washcloth off the towel rack. The faucet was out of his reach, and Free knew the instant he moved Eruka would bolt for the door and forget that any vulnerability was ever shown on her part. So he licked the cloth and started scrubbing the smeared soot off Eruka's cheeks.
"What the hell!?" she shrieked, flailing in his arms. Free scrubbed harder. "Is that your spit!? Get off me!"
"I'm not leaving," Free said, teeth grinding together. Eruka stopping struggling, but Free continued to clean her cheeks. "I promise. We'll fight whatever it is you're fighting together, and I won't leave you. Okay?"
"Free…"
He finally found the courage to meet her eyes. "Okay?"
Eruka smiled. "Okay."
Once the soot was gone, Free fell back against the wall with a huff. Eruka watched him. "So is the spit a werewolf thing?"
"I don't know. Maybe? It seemed you needed to be taken care of, or maybe I wanted to take care of you. I don't know." Free's head lolled against the wall till he faced her. "Was it weird? It was weird wasn't it?"
Eruka snorted. "A bit weird."
"Next time I'll use water."
Eruka's smiled softly at him for a while, until it faded. "I always trust the wrong people. I've known Angela for half of my life. Even if I knew there was a chance, I didn't actually think she'd betray me like that," she said solemnly, looking down at her hands. They clenched in her lap. "Free, tell me I can trust you."
"You can," he whispered, in lieu of the truth on his tongue. Because she needed someone to trust, a friend. And as much as he hated to admit it, he needed to be needed just as much. He took her hand, grinning in return when she smiled hesitantly at him.
Eruka wriggled out of his grasp till she was sitting up on her knees, facing him. "Okay," she said, rubbing at her eyes. "Okay, I feel better. Thank you." She grinned, watery but bright.
"You're welcome," Free replied. Her smile allowed him, however briefly, to push the guilt to the back of his mind, selfishly allowing himself this moment with her. He took a hold of one of her hands and returned her smile.
Eruka squeezed his hand back affectionately, and raised her free hand to his face. Her fingers traced his jaw. She was watching him cautiously.
"We're feeling the same vibe, right?" Free asked, somewhat breathlessly, against the fingers now tracing the bow of his lip.
The fingers paused. "What?"
"The kissing vibe? It's happening?"
"Um," Eruka's lips fought a smile. "Yes. It is."
"Good." Free leaned forward and pressed his lips to Eruka's, kissing away her playful snickers as he pulled her against his chest and folded her up in his arms. Her laughter persisted - progressing into her delightful frog croaks and snorts - and because he loved the sound so much he pressed loud, smacking kisses along her cheek, up the line of her jaw, and finally against the hard bone behind her ear, where he snuffled his nose into her hair. "We have good kissing vibes," he told her, grinning, his sudden happiness a bright ball in his chest.
"Maybe," Eruka conceded, laughter still in her voice. "If I stop giggling long enough for any kissing to happen."
"I like your giggles."
Eruka bit her lip to try and reign in the grin, but it was no use. "So you've said."
Free brought Eruka's hand up to his mouth and kissed it. "So I have."
Once he'd lowered her hand, Free's eyes rose to find that Eruka's expression had sobered.
"You've been wonderful to me," she whispered. Her fingers curled around his neck, tracing the bone of his spine.
It was amazing, Free decided, how fast happiness vanished. He stared solemnly into those eyes. "Don't say that, please."
"Why?" Eruka asked. "It's true."
"Please."
Eruka's eyes, as dark as two black ink stains in the florescent light, roved over his face. Finally, she nodded. "Alright," she said, with an understanding smile that tore at his chest, and lowered her head to where to fit perfectly against his shoulder.
The tile dug into his back, and the position was far from comfortable, but nothing could have made Free move from that spot and disturb the witch resting against him.
—
Free gasped awake, heart pounding in his chest. Tears pricked at his eyes as the remnants of the almost forgotten dream left his mind. Bars, blood, death. The usual. Free wiped a hand down his face, scrubbing at tears.
A hitching snore beside him drew his gaze down to Eruka, whose face lay pressed against his chest. He sighed, somehow relieved at the sight of her.
"Okay," Free said, groaning as he sat up from the hard bathroom floor. Eruka made a muffled protest, tightening the arms she'd wrapped around him sometime in her sleep. "I know, I know," he soothed. "We're just going to the bed. God forbid you have to wake up."
He carried her out of the bathroom, careful to watch her head, and walked over to the bed. The bleach stained sheets pricked his nose unpleasantly so he quickly shucked them off before settling Eruka down onto the mattress.
For a moment Free simply watched her, her limbs sprawled in awkward angles around her, slobber trailing down her cheek. She snorted, scratched her butt, and rolled over.
It was easier than he cared to admit to convince himself to sprawl down next to her. She curled towards him immediately, pressing her still-wet cheek to his arm. Something in Free settled and he sighed, eyes closing as sleep consumed him.
—
When Free woke again, it was from a dreamless sleep, his mind pleasantly fuzzy. Eruka wasn't next to him, and somehow he knew that fact was wrong. He reached out blindly for her, peeling open his eyes when all he could feel was the cool mattress.
"Eruka? What are you…" Free stared at Eruka, who stood frozen beside the bed, wide eyed. In one hand she held scissors, in the other she held a tuft of dark hair that looked suspiciously like his own. "What are you doing?"
"Nothing," she squeaked, face flushed red.
Free sat up with a grunt and looked down at the circle of symbols Eruka stood in. It was drawn in green chalk, and in the middle burned a single candle. "Are you… cursing me?" he asked.
Eruka licked her lips she looked down. "It's not a curse."
"That's my hair!"
She crossed her arms and sighed, looking put out. "Not all witch spells are curses. Really, Free."
"Look, it's not everyday a witch stands over me with my hair, performing a spell, okay? Boundaries, Eruka."
Eruka looked pained, but she sighed. "It's a…" Her face pinched. "It's a protection spell."
Free stared at her, a smile slowly forming on his face. "A protection spell? Were you worried about me?"
Eruka blinked at him in surprise, then, "Yes," she croaked, her face taking on a faint green colour. "I suppose I was." She turned shakily on her feet. "I need to...go." And throwing Free a glance of bewildered annoyance, she left the room.
"Eruka, you can't just keep locking yourself in the bathroom."
"Watch me!"
The box spring groaned as Free rolled off the mattress. He hopped around Eruka's carefully drawn chalk circle, and yawned loudly. Ugh, he needed a shower. And food. Mostly food. The analog clock he grabbed off the side table told him it was well past 7 pm and his stomach told him he'd now missed lunch and dinner.
"Eruka, I'm hungry!"
"I don't care!"
Free grabbed Eruka's bag and rummaged around till he found her wallet. "Fine, but I'm going to get food. I'll even bring you something back because I'm a nice person."
"Wait!"
Eruka burst out of the bathroom and rushed over. She yanked her purse from his hands and rifled through it. When she retrieved her hand, it was grasping a worn, velvet bag. Eruka then knelt by her chalk circle and scooped up the scattered hairs she dropped earlier, stuffing them in the bag. Finally, she grasped the still warm candle and poured wax into the bag.
"Hold on to this," Eruka said, tying the tiny rope shut and stuffing it in Free's pant pocket. "I mean it, Free, do not lose it."
Free grinned, leaning down to press a kiss to her cheek. "I will carry your mojo with me always."
"Alright, don't make it weird. Now shoo, I'm hungry and I have to start this stupid tracking spell."
—
By the time Free got back, Eruka was sitting cross-legged in the middle of the floor - the rug and table pushed to the side of the room. She had new circles drawn, intricate symbols traced onto the wood in black chalk that stained her hands up to her wrists.
"Been busy?" Free asked around the pepperoni stick in his mouth, arms full of food found at the corner store.
"Don't step there. Or there. Go around the other way." Eruka pointed to a small mat he could follow to the bed. "One brush of your big feet and everything goes to hell. I swear to god, if I have to redraw these lines one more time, I am gonna lose my shit."
Free jumped from the side of the room to the bed, flopping on the mattress with a grunt.
"Six times, Free. I have redrawn this fucking circle six times! That's how uneven this stupid floor is!" Eruka sighed as her dust coated hands left streaks of dark grey as they ran through her hair.
She looked up when Free starting sifting through the bags. "Is that a turkey club?"
"Mhm. Break time." Free tossed the package over. Eruka caught it and immediately ripped it open with her teeth, stuffing the wrapper in her pocket and the sandwich in her mouth.
Free watched her eat, an odd feeling of contentment in his chest. When she'd finished the first half of her sandwich, he asked her, "So what makes these circles different from the ones you put under me earlier?"
Eruka froze and glared at him, cheeks flushing. "Those," she said the word through her teeth, "were for a simpler spell, ergo simpler circles. This spell is a bit more complicated, and a lot more intricate."
"Am I not worth complicated?" Free asked with a smile, looking up from his own lunch - a turkey bacon club with extra turkey and bacon.
"You don't need complicated," Eruka retorted and stuffed the second half of her sandwich in her mouth, wiping her hands on her pants. "But if you wanted," she said, after swallowing. "I could make it more complicated and more powerful with a blood sample…"
"No."
Eruka threw her hands up. "Well, there you go. Simple circles."
"And this'll work? The tracking spell, thing?"
"Here's hoping." Eruka tossed the wrapper on the bed before continuing with a shake of her head, "I mean, if it doesn't, there isn't much else I can do. And would you stop scratching your crotch, please?"
Free settled down on the bed, shoving bags aside with his foot. He yawned. "'Wasn't scratching… I was just adjusting a little."
"Just don't do it in public," Eruka mumbled, turning her back to him as she rubbed dried herbs between the heels of her palm. "People'll think you have crabs or something."
"You do care."
"I'm sure that was my intention, yes."
Free smiled into the pillow and reached out to touch the fall of hair against her back, carefully fingering a strand as his eyes closed.
"Anyways, the spell is almost done…" Eruka paused, then amended with a wave of a hand, "well, it's relatively soon to being almost done. Then we-or I rather-can begin the incantation."
"Mm."
"...Hey do you mind-Free!" A hand swatted his arm. "Are you sleeping?"
"Restin' my eyes."
"Well stop it. I need you to get dirt."
"But I just got back!"
"Then you won't get lost on your way to the door."
"Erukaa…" Free whined, even as he pushed himself up from the bed. He watched, eyes droopy from near sleep, as Eruka carefully extracted herself from the circle and hopped to the side of the room. He watched, significantly more awake, as she bent down to retrieve the trash bin in the corner.
"You do not get to sleep while I have to do this spell, mister. Here," Eruka stepped carefully around the circle till she stood before him and held out the bin, "you can use this. Now shoo, I need it soon."
Free stood with minimal grumbling and shuffled around the witchy squiggles. He wasn't quite sure where he was going to find dirt that wasn't completely frozen. At best he knew where to find some pretty muddy snow.
"Wait!"
Surprised, Free paused with his hand on the doorknob, turning to find Eruka. Her cheeks were flushed a pleasant pink as she glared up at him.
"Thank you," Eruka said, and Free froze completely as she reached up to pull his face down close enough to brush her lips against his cheek.
"Kay," Free squeaked.
Eruka opened the door, and gently guided Free out. "Be safe."
"Kay."
She grinned at him, so wide and cheeky that it crinkled her nose, and vanished behind the door.
Free grasped his chest. He turned dazedly from the motel and stumbled down the walkway, further and further from the most perfect woman in existence.
The image of Medusa flashed in his mind, like the turgid boner killer she was, and smothered instantly every happy feeling he had. Free's cheerful stride fell to a weary waddle.
He'd known almost instantly after he'd met her, at least unconsciously, that he would never be able to harm Eruka, let alone take her life. The thought alone twisted his gut in the most visceral of protests.
Free looked back at the motel. Even should Eruka complete her task, he knew Medusa would never leave her alone. For whatever reason the witch had Eruka completely entangled, and would send her off on task after task—threatening death with each one.
Ideally, killing Medusa would solve the problem, but Free wasn't so prideful that he thought he could win. And even if he survived, Free reasoned mentally, Eruka likely wouldn't. She was remarkably squishy. And soft. And beautiful.
"Arrgh!" Free groaned, hand gripping his hair. "Planning, brain. We. Are. Planning."
Glaring at the icy ground, Free scuffed the bottoms of his boots. He'd have to take Eruka far away, where Medusa's greasy fingers couldn't reach, where he could protect her.
Like Madagascar. Or Africa. Somewhere warm, so Eruka wouldn't get cold. She hated being cold.
Although if she was too warm he couldn't snuggle her. And kiss her. And sniff her.
"Planning!"
—
"I'm back," Free called into the room, feeling strangely shy as he peeked around the door, trash bin full of dirt under one arm. "Eruka?"
His eye caught her in the corner chair, head bent over a cellphone. Sudden, thick dread filled his gut like black sludge. "Eruka?" he repeated, more cautious.
Eruka startled, head shooting up to stare at Free blankly. A moment passed before she blinked, eyes lowering. "Right, sorry, I was just...checking messages. Have you got the dirt?"
"Yeah, I...is everything okay?" Free eyed the cell-phone Eruka was tucking into her pocket. His eyes rose to meet hers. "You seem a little off."
Eruka tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, moving to take the bin Free offered. "The reward for my head has been posted." She laughed humorlessly. "Needless to say the number is quite high."
"Is that all?" Free asked, watching Eruka dump a portion of the dirt into the middle of the circle.
She scoffed, shaking the trash bin empty before tossing it aside. Free noted her hunched shoulders with a frown. "Is that not enough?"
The squeeze in his chest abated somewhat, and yet doubt remained, niggling in his mind. "I suppose it is," he said, forcing levity in his tone, rather than voice the burden on his mind. Free cleared his throat. "So what happens with the spell now?"
"We wait," Eruka said. "I've said the incantation already and the dirt should form a map leading to their location."
Free trailed after her as she stumbled to the bed pushed to the opposite side of the room, sitting on one side after she'd dropped spread eagle in the middle. "That's quite impressive."
Eruka snorted into her pillow, then turned her head to face him. "Don't act so surprised," she murmured, her socked foot moving to toe at his back. "It's insulting."
A long silence followed, in which they watched one another. Free felt his heart swell and clench in his chest intermittently, as his mouth opened to whisper apologies that never passed his lips. He raised his hand, perhaps to brush her hair back from her face, only to return it to his lap.
"Eruka," he pleaded. "Say something."
Eruka sighed, closing her eyes and freeing him from the spell she'd held him under. "Lay down with me, Free."
He did so, wiggling to get closer, brushing his shoulder with hers. Eruka immediately settled herself against him, resting her cheek against his shoulder and throwing her leg over him and curling it around his own. Free noted absently that she was a bit like a vine, the way she clung.
"Wanna know a secret?" she asked.
Free gulped. "Kay."
"I like you. A lot. And I think for the most part you're a pretty good person."
Free shifted. "...I want to write epic poetry about your boobs."
Eruka barked out a laugh, the melancholic aura she'd carried suddenly gone. "Go to sleep, Free. We have some time before the spell starts working."
"I also sniff your hair while you sleep."
"Okay, that's enough secrets."
—
Free woke briefly, noting first the slobber pooling on his shoulder and Eruka snoring at his side. He smiled weakly at the image, her cheek that pressed into his shoulder squishing the rest of her face. Familiar guilt stirred, but he resolutely ignored it. He would protect her from Medusa, and from anyone else who wished her harm.
Free poked her nose and watched in amusement as her face scrunched up in annoyance. Her hand rose and she slapped her palm over his face. "Snooze." Free kissed her fingers before tucking them back against his arm, where they instantly wrapped around like a vine.
When he turned his head to examine the drawn circle in the centre of the room, it was with a sinking feeling that he saw that the scattered dirt formed a perfect map. The spell was complete and Eruka would want to leave as soon as possible.
And Free didn't know what would happen once they left that door.
"Why don't we sleep a bit longer?" he whispered to Eruka, settling back down and holding her close. "Just a bit longer."
—
The second time he woke, he couldn't move his limbs.
"Figures you would wake up after given a sedative made for dragons."
"Eruka?" Free looked around blearily, his head unnaturally heavy. He spotted her by the door, tying up the opening of her bag. "What are you-"
She turned to him abruptly, her eyes dark as two black ink stains in the dimly lit room. "You're working for Medusa, aren't you?"
"I-"
"It's okay, I found out earlier. While you were out." She didn't look angry, mostly she just looked indifferent. Free decided that was what hurt the most. "I fixed my cell phone. Turns out Mizune stumbled upon your secret after our chat."
As much as listening to her speak of his betrayal pained him, Free was more concerned with the expression of resolution in Eruka's eyes. "Eruka, where are you going?"
"I'm going to find my targets."
He tried to swallow down the panic. "Okay, just let me get up and we can go."
"You're not coming," Eruka said curtly, not looking him in the eye. She took out her phone and snapped a photo of the map formed in the pile of dirt. It wasn't until she'd tucked it back into her pocket that Eruka finally looked up, a weary smile on her face that broke his heart. "It's okay, you know. I get what someone in power can do to you…"
"Eruka, listen to me, if she- if anyone finds you-"
"Don't worry, you're too valuable to Medusa to kill."
"You think I care?!" Free roared, startling Eruka enough that she froze. "That I give a shit what will happen to me? Just some selfish asshole only out for his own skin? Eruka, I'm terrified for you."
Eruka smiled sadly. "I know, Free."
"Then let me come, please."
Eruka ignored him, collecting her bag and hooking it over her shoulder. She pulled the hood over her head and opened the door.
"Eruka! Eruka!"
She paused at the the entrance, hand curled tightly around the handle. Her shoulders rose and fell with a heavy sigh, and for a blissful instant Free thought that she would listen. Instead, she turned to face him one final time. "I forgive you," she said, calmly and cleanly piercing his heart, before the door shut behind her with an all too quiet click.
Free stared at the door, eyes wide, his heavy breathing loud in the silence of the now empty room. His heartbeat quickened and his hands raked the sheets of the bed, linen tearing beneath claws he had unconsciously released.
"Eruka!" he yelled, the vacant look in her eyes flashing in his mind like a death sentence. "ERUKA!"
Free pulled himself across the bed, growling with the effort, until he managed to topple over the side.
Thud, thud, thud.
A hesitant voice followed the tentative knock. "Excuse me? Sir? Is everything alright in there?"
"Open the door!"
"Do you need an ambulance?"
"JUST OPEN IT!"
Free struggled to his knees, grasping the side table. His body felt impossibly heavy, and the strain to simply remain upright made the tendons of his neck flex and his fangs burst free. It was this image that the motel manager found as he hesitantly opened the door.
"W-w-wha-?"
"Stop," Free growled, left eye glowing. "I need you to take me somewhere..."
"Oh, uh, I have other obligations I'm afraid-"
"...or I will kill you," Free finished simply.
The man at the door, pale faced and trembling, gulped visibly. "Wh-where do you want to go…?"
Free pointed to the ribbon of intertwined blonde and silver hair at the centre if the dirt map. "Here."
—
"This is it?" Free asked, turning to face his driver.
The driver flinched at the attention, but nodded, keeping his eyes on the gravel road. "Yes, uh, right through the trees up ahead." There was a pause, the sharp smell of sweat, then, "You're not going to kill me, are you?"
Rather than answer, Free had the quivering driver stop a short distance away, and wordlessly slid out of the car. As soon as he slammed the door shut, the vehicle was racing away, kicking up bits of gravel and ice in its wake. Free ignored it as he stretched out his limbs. They'd grown lighter since he'd woken, but were nowhere near his usual level of mobility.
If he hadn't gotten a ride, he would have never caught up with her. A fact which she clearly had counted on. Free frowned at the thought.
The wind brushed his face and he caught her scent in his nose. Free closed his eyes, inhaling. The direction came to his mind and he set off through the snow, fear driving him as he chased Eruka's scent.
He walked through forest, the smell of a campfire growing more prominent the further he went.
"Eruka, you idiot," Free muttered.
"Free?" At the bewildered call of his name, Free's head darted to his left, spotting Eruka crouched behind a tree. Her eyes were wide, her face pale. "You shouldn't be here! What are you doing here?"
"What am I doing here?" Free shrilled, incredulously. He went to her, dropping down into the snow beside her. "Eruka, what the hell are you doing here?"
Eruka pulled a bomb from her bag. "I figured I'd at least give their campsite a present before they eat my soul." Free flinched at her words, and Eruka rolled her eyes. "Oh please, don't act like it isn't obvious. Medusa won't let me live the night."
Free snatched up her elbow, ignoring her grunt of protest as he tugged her closer. "I won't let her hurt you, Eruka," he whispered furiously.
Eruka met his eyes levelly. "That's not your decision to make. Free, she doesn't even need you to kill me. A single thought and the snakes will do it for her."
What? "…Snakes?"
Eruka laughed weakly. "I'm guessing she skipped that part of your orientation?"
Free shook his head. "Then we'll just kill the kids. That's all you have to do, right? Kill them and Medusa will leave you alone."
Eruka sighed. "As titillating as it is to hear you talking about committing a crime…they're strong, Free. Really strong."
"Why are you giving up?" Free growled the words. "Eruka, we can still try. You still have-"
"Time?"
Eruka's face drain of all colour, and she clasped Free's arm. Free calmly shook her off and, willing his expression to go blank, stood to face the presence behind him. "Medusa."
The witch stood barefoot in the snow, though a pool of steaming water surrounded her, no doubt from whatever spell she'd cast to arrive. She raised a dripping foot and frowned. "Oh, Eruka. I should have known your last act as a good-for-nothing would be to force me to come to a place like this. Though I am pleased with how fast I was able to find you despite your idiotic decision to run."
"Bitch," Free spat the word.
Medusa raised a brow and offered him an amused smile. "Hello again, Free. Grown chummy with the target, have you?"
Free bared his teeth, allowing them to lengthen.
"Ah," Medusa raised a finger. "Make a single move against me and she's dead."
Free heard Eruka's breath hitch behind him, her fingers curling around the fabric of his shirt.
Medusa grinned when Free remained still, glowering at her. "Good boy. Now, Eruka come here."
Free instantly grabbed Eruka when she moved to pass him, fingers digging into her sides. "No—stop—don't—"
"Free!" Eruka snapped, and it killed him to see the tears shining in her eyes. "Please. This is hard enough."
"Don't make me live without you," Free pleaded, voicing breaking.
"Oh for Maba's sake," Medusa's voice interrupted. "If you didn't want to die you should have at least tried to look for Soul and Maka rather than run away."
Free opened his mouth to snap back, only to frown as Medusa's words registered. "Wait…what are you talking about? We did—"
Eruka coughed loudly, digging her nails into the flesh of his side. When Free's gaze dropped to hers, he found her staring at him meaningfully, eyes wide.
Medusa frowned, eyes sharpening as she watched the exchange. Her voice grew icy. "Did what?"
"MEDUUSAAA!"
Out of nowhere, a scythe razored through the air and sliced Medusa in half at the abdomen. The range was so large that it tore through the surrounding trees, and would have cut through them as well had Eruka not grabbed Free around the waist and pulled them both to the ground in a tangled heap.
"What the fuck," Free gasped, staring up at the sky.
Eruka was still clamped tightly around him and refused to let go, so when Free finally willed himself to move, he felt somewhat like a turtle as he pushed them both up. Once righted, he was faced with two dweeby-looking kids. Though admittedly the one wearing the skirt in the middle of winter had nothing on the weird shark kid.
"Oh my goodness, are you two alright?" the girl asked, nothing at all like the amazonian warrior who'd just cut Medusa in half. "We could have killed you!"
"I knew they were there," the boy mumbled. "They were fine."
"Shut up, Soul. What on earth are you two doing out here?"
"Hiking!" Eruka squeaked, wiggling up Free's back. "We were hiking and that horrible woman found us. Thank you so much for saving us! I don't know what we would've done without you!"
The girl seemed to puff up at this, though the boy—Soul—eyed them with suspicion. "You're very welcome, ma'am!"
"What would Medusa want with you?"
"Shut up, Soul! Don't be rude."
"I wasn't being rude! It was a perfectly valid—ouch!"
"Do you two need help getting back to your vehicle?"
Eruka waved her hand vaguely. "No, no, you two seem busy. We'll be perfectly fine."
The girl smiled cheerfully, though she'd been standing in the bloodied corpse of Medusa for several minutes now—her shoes coated in blackened red sludge. "Okay, nice meeting you! Soul, don't forget to get the soul."
"On it."
Free and Eruka watched in horror as Soul reached down and lazily plucked the life force from Medusa's cooling corpse before following obediently after the girl.
"They're monsters," Free whispered after the pair had long since disappeared through the forest. "Why didn't Medusa know they were there?"
"They've been masking their presence somehow. It was why it was so hard to find them in the first place - without a sophisticated tracking spell there's no way of knowing where they are. Medusa couldn't sense them in the location so she didn't cast soul protect."
Free huffed out a breathe. "Well, I suppose in the end everything tied up together rather nicely. Where do you want to go now?"
Abruptly, Eruka started screaming-angry, hoarse screams. Her nails clawed at his back in vicious swipes.
"Eruka? Ow! Eruka, what's wrong?"
In answer, Eruka swooped down and picked up a wad of snow and flung it at Free. It slammed into his face and he yelped at the temperature. "Hey! Why are you throwing snow at me?"
Eruka kicked him in the shin. "Why do you think, you asshole?! You were working for Medusa!"
Though Eruka continued to attack his person, Free largely ignored the insignificant swipes and focused on the tears draining down her face-which hurt far worse than any wound she made. "Wait, but you said you forgave me! Right before you left, you said-"
"Of course I don't forgive you! You betrayed me!"
"But you said-"
Eruka finally stopped her attacks, panting. Her shoulders were slumped in defeat. "I thought I was going to die, you idiot! Of course I wouldn't leave you with that shit."
"Wait so you still-"
She glared up at him with renewed vigour. "I cried on you! My snot is now forever on your shoulder, Free! You can't give me that snot back! You don't deserve to know me when I'm that vulnerable!"
For such a ridiculous statement, Free couldn't believe how much it hurt.
"Eruka…"
She sighed. "Come on, let's just go."
"Can I kiss you?" Free asked a moment later, as they began to wade silently through the snow.
"Wha- no! I can't believe you!" Eruka snapped.
"Well, I thought I'd ask!"
"Well, I appreciate you asking!"
"Fine!"
"Fine!
Several months later...
The house they found to live in was small and drafty. Still, they both grew quite fond of it. It was cheap enough for the remainder of Eruka's money and allowed her to keep and dry her own herbs.
Free liked it because he could chop wood, do sudoku puzzles, and the draft forced Eruka to abandon all pretense of pride and burrow in close to him. The tiny house also allowed them to lie low until the issue of Medusa's death blew over.
Without the snake witch's shadow casting over her, Eruka was able to make an appeal to the Witches' Court, though there were some who still caused her trouble over the fact.
During her appeal, Eruka spoke for Free, and he was allowed to remain out of prison for his "aid in ridding the world of Medusa". Eruka had smacked him when he tried to point out he had nothing to do with it.
"Have you forgiven me yet?" Free asked, as he did most days. He was slumped on their small table, face in his crossword.
"Nope," Eruka said simply, pulling the head off a beetle. "Now hush, please. My client wants this spell by tomorrow and I need to concentrate."
Free grumbled.
—
Free stared at the top of her head as she slept, snuggled in close, her face pressed against his chest. The longer he spent with her, the more he seemed to care, and his heart hurt with the swell of his adoration.
I love you, he said in his mind.
"Free," Eruka grunted into his shirt. "You're thinking too loud, go to sleep."
He blinked down at her with a wary frown. "You can read my mind?"
"No, I can read your boner. Go to sleep."
"Oh." Free shifted. "Eruka?"
"Mm?"
"Do you forgive me yet?"
Eruka reached up and patted his chest. "Not yet."
"Soon?"
"Mph."
Eruka's sparkly orange nails scratched along the skin of his stomach as she pushed up tight against his body, sliding her leg up over his hip. Free rolled with her weight onto his back, and she settled her slim form over him.
"Did I ever tell you I want to write epic poetry about your boobs?" Free gasped out breathlessly.
Eruka grinned as he pressed amorous kisses to her neck, over the pinkish smudges he'd left the day before. "You may have mentioned it before."
"I adore you," he whispered into her breast bone.
Eruka's smile sobered. "I know."
Free perked up, rising above her. "Does that mean you forgive me—Ah! No Eruka! Not my nipples! Not my sweet tender nipples!"
—
Eruka did finally forgive him, officially, a few months following Medusa's death. It happened in the morning, as they sat together eating porridge in the small home they'd made together. A window was open, and it let in a gentle breeze that rustled Eruka's drying lavender and the level 5 difficulty sudoku puzzles Free had completed and proudly pinned to the wall.
"So," she began, hesitant. "I think I forgive you now."
Free looked up, a careful smile growing on his face. "Really?" he asked, not quite sure whether to believe his ears.
Eruka nodded, then reached out to grasp Free's hand. "I sort of care about you."
"I know," Free answered, his lips twitching. "And you know I sort of care about you, too."
"I do," Eruka said with a shy, happy smile, then snorted out a laugh. "We're kind of shit at this, aren't we?"
"I dunno, I think we're doing okay."
THE END
A/N: Big, big thank you to Howl and Proma for betaing last minute, I love you both, you rock my world. Finally after so long this story is finished and thank you to those who have kept with it. Happy resbang!