20 - Run


"Just keep running." Monroe urged him as cries of 'Grimm', and 'kill them' sounded behind them.

"Detective Burkhardt better hurry up." Harry grouched uncharitably.

"Detective Burkhardt? Since when did you go back to calling him that?"

"Since he has the most idiotic of hare-brained schemes. Seriously? How was any of this a good idea? 'But Harry, they won't know you're a Grimm. They know about me, but not about you. We can't let Monroe go in alone.'" Harry's attempt to mimic Nick sounded far more high-pitched and undignified than the real deal, but at the moment the wizard couldn't care less that he was making the man sound like a teenage girl.

He carefully avoided any thoughts of the things he and Ron had gotten up to when they got an idea in their heads. Sometimes even Hermione hadn't seen another way and had gotten in neck deep along with them – stealing a Gringrott's dragon or turning into a human cat after a misguided attempt at polyjuice.

Even that spying attempt was better than this one.

"Did Detective Burkhardt really think that none of these oh-so-reasonable Wesen would Woge during their little 'let's hunt down the Grimm' war-council?"

"Hey, look on the bright side, at least we made a plan B!" Monroe tried to steer Harry to a more cheerful point of view.

They dodged around another cluster of trees and saw a trio of people standing about a hundred meters in front of them.

All three of them had animalistic features and were growling at them.

As one Harry and Monroe sharply adjusted the direction they were running to.

"I thought we were supposed to be running towards our cavalry." Harry dead-panned.

"Uhm. Yes. Well, I'm sure Nick and Rosalee will show up with that potion-thing soon."

"I thought it was some sort of knock-out gas?"

"You know, right now I really don't care what they show up with as long as it works." Monroe answered. "Oh crap."

Harry glanced behind him and saw that yes, their murderous pursuers were actually catching up on them. He gave a slight prayer of gratefulness that these Wesen were predisposed towards axes, swords and other medieval, short-distance weaponry and got ready to put on another burst of speed.

"Well, at least we'll get a good work-out." Harry commented. It had been a while since he'd had to run for his life. It felt strangely familiar and fun to be running alongside a friend like this again. "Lead the way." He told Monroe when the forest thickened and the man jumped forward without hesitation, easily picking out a path and creating one if their way was obstructed.

Seeing the group still catching up with them and feeling his body tiring rapidly, Harry glanced quickly at the wolf's back, carefully took hold of his wand and pointed it at the group of Wesen without letting himself think about it too much.

"Deprimo" Harry muttered with a backwards glance and immediately a strong gust of wind started up. The wizard hid his wand and didn't watch as a few large branches and a cloud of sand and leaves hurled directly towards their pursuers.

The wolf turned his head when he heard strange sounds and curses behind them and blinked. "Did you just see that?"

"What?" Harry asked, making sure to add every last bit of exhaustion and strain to his voice to distract his friend. And maybe that exaggeration was completely unnecessary, because he really was tired and he really could use a moment to catch his breath and Monroe wasn't exactly unobservant.

The wolf shook his head. "You ok, man?"

"Oh yeah. I'm bloody perfect. I'll be even more wonderful when that detective of yours finally decides to grace us with his presence."

"Detective of mine?" Monroe stuttered out. "Why is he mine all of a sudden?"

"Because you knew him first." Harry pointed out. "Besides, I only claim him as a friend when he's being the nice Grimm, an easy-going guy, or when he has that adorably clueless look on his face. When he's dragging me into his bloody messes or bulldozing his way into a person's life he's all yours."

Right, so maybe he wasn't really all that annoyed with Nick, but once in a while he deserved a little bit of snarking. Especially when Harry was so bloody done with all of the running.

He took back what he thought before. There was nothing fun or nostalgic about this at all, because he really hadn't missed those times where he had to keep going, had to keep running even when it felt like his whole body was burning and fighting to stay upright.

He tried not to collapse with a heart-felt 'thank god' when Nick and Rosalee finally showed up with their finished product and one of those Grimm weapons.

There was really no need to make the detective even more protective by looking like a poor teen at the end of his rope, so somehow he remained standing and allowed himself only a deep sigh of relief.

When the group of Wesen finally caught up with them, the knock-out gas did prove to be spectacularly successful. And Nick did end up showing them his better side again – Harry was pleasantly surprised that somehow, somehow, the police detective ended up resolving everything without anyone dying.

Of course, the man first had to agree to a fight to the death with the leader of this little warrior troupe that had come to hunt the Grimm. But Nick was not the type of man who could kill in cold blood and it seems that these Wesen didn't think less of him for his mercy.

So in the end, the four of them went home with another threat put to rest. Rosalee the only one who wasn't battered or bloody.

All in all, Harry counted it as a win and shook his head in amusement that even worlds away this was still his life.


Word count: 1000