Chapter 10

Silver sighed and stared down the long stretch of concrete between herself and her goal. It would take at least twenty minutes to walk all the way down there, and it was cold. She hated being cold. It was one of the most uncomfortable feelings in the world. She sighed again.

A group of her friends had invited her and Claude to meet them at the movie theater on campus to see "Hotel Transylvania" at 10:00 that night. They had agreed to meet at the theater at 9:30, but the theater was on the other end of campus from Silver's dorm. Now they stood at the top of the long path that would take them to the theater, called Chancellor's Walk.

"Come on, then. The sooner we get moving, the sooner we get inside. It's too damn cold out here." Silver complained, starting down the path.

"Are you sure you want to go? We'll have to walk back at about midnight, and it's bound to be even colder." Claude warned, sticking close by her side and taking her hand.

"Yeah, I've been wanting to see this movie for a while. I missed it when it came out in theaters, so I'm glad we finally got it here. It's supposed to be pretty cute." Silver replied, shivering.

Claude immediately shrugged off his tail coat and slipped it over Silver's shoulders. The young woman blushed softly and gave him a concerned look.

"Won't you be cold?" she asked curiously.

"No, I'll be fine. The weather does not bother me." Claude answered with a reassuring smile.

Silver grinned and slipped her arms into the large coat's sleeves, giggling at how big it was on her. The tails only hovered a foot off the ground when she wore it. She was pretty short, especially compared to the tall demon. Claude smirked as his master shook her arms to get her hands through the sleeves. He took her hand again, frowning slightly at how cold she still was.

"Are you certain that this film is worth you possibly getting sick?" he asked.

"Stop being a worry wart, Claude. Come on!" Silver smirked and slipped her headphones onto her ears, turning on her music and nodding her head to the beat.

"What are you listening to?" Claude asked, hearing and not recognizing the music.

"Ah. Well, it's a song from the "My Little Pony" fandom that I like. It's got a nice beat." she replied happily, blushing slightly.

Claude smirked.

"Do you know the words?"

"I'm not a fan of puppeteers, but I've a nagging fear, that someone else is pulling on the strings. Something terrible is going down, through the entire town, causing anarchy in all it brings. I can't sit idly, no I can't move at all. I curse the name, the one behind it all." Silver sang back at him, taking his question as a challenge.

"Well, what's the name of this person causing such chaos? Sounds like a fun guy." Claude asked playfully.

"You were close with "chaos". His name's Discord. Point is, I like the song. It's got a good beat."

Claude smirked and nodded at her, looking around at the buildings they were slowly passing. The college campus was somewhat creepy at night. Most of the lights in the massive buildings were turned off, leaving the only source of light the flickering street lamps in the middle of Chancellor's Walk. There was an almost eerie air as the "couple" walked down the path, and Claude marveled that Silver had once walked down here alone on her way to meet friends. He certainly would never allow that to happen again. It would be too easy for her to get snatched up if there was no one there to stop it.

"Are you alright, Claude?"

Claude smiled and looked down at his master. She looked back at him with a curious, somewhat worried expression. It was odd, he realized; he couldn't pinpoint the exact date that she had started to grow so close to him. He was still trying to figure out why he refused to eat the girl's soul, and now she was treating him as if...their act was more than an act? Now that was a curious notion. He would think about it later.

"Yes, I am fine. I believe we're almost at the theater?" he changed the subject quickly.

"Yeah, we just need to cross this bridge over the little pond that was built here a few years ago and it'll be just down the little side path. There are some cool things in the pond." Silver replied happily.

"What, fish?" Claude teased.

Silver rolled her eyes at him.

"Well, yes, there are fish. There are a couple of really big ones, too. Like two or three feet long. And there are turtles, too. I even saw a heron standing nearby before it flew off, once. I used to come out here with a couple pieces of bread and feed the turtles." she mused quietly.

"When it warms up, we can do that." Claude suggested, leading her quickly over the bridge and toward the building where the movie theater was.

Silver smiled and took his arm.

"Yeah, I would like that. And so would the turtles. They've been spoiled." she smirked and quickly pushed the door of the building open.

The theater was almost empty when they entered and took their seats, waiting for the rest of the group to show up. Silver looked around, somewhat concerned.

"Where is everyone?" she asked softly.

"I imagine that most people are going to stay home, where they're warm." Claude replied just as quietly.

"I guess we're just crazy, then."

"You're crazy. I came here as part of the contract."

Silver gave him a knowing look and smiled.

"I think we've both realized there's more to it than that." she said gently.

Claude's eyes went wide, and he struggled to keep his voice even.

"Wh-what?" he asked quickly.

Before Silver could respond, they were greeted by a large group of Silver's friends. Claude sighed as Silver became engrossed in talking with them. He thought quickly about what she had said, his eyebrows furrowed. He didn't notice the change in the lighting of the theater until it was nearly dark. He quickly shook off his confusion and turned his attention to the screen. There was plenty of time to think about all of that...mess...later. For now, he decided it was best to relax and attempt to enjoy the movie.

Silver smiled over at him and took his hand, earning smiles from her friends. Claude barely managed to shake the strange feeling that settle into him. They had held hands like this several times as part of their act, but this was somehow different. It felt somewhat closer.

-Chalk that up to another thing to ponder later- Claude thought to himself before locking his attention on the screen.

Little bit of drabble there. Nothing all that exciting has happened to me in a while. Forgive this...mushy crap. Unless you like it. Then you're welcome! I guess that's what happens when you listen to Disney music while you write. Allons-y!

~Silver