Glad some of y'all are liking this so far so here's a new chapter for you! I don't own Darksiders and I hope you enjoy! That's pretty much it… Um… banana nut muffins? I had a dream I was an oddish in a handstand push-up competition? What do you want from me?!


Grace woke only a few hours later to find herself back in her own bed with the Horseman War sitting beside her, obviously asleep, and holding her hand in his. The human couldn't help but let out a small yelp of surprise before yanking her hand away and, consequently, falling off the other side of the bed.

"Ow!" she shouted as she landed on the hard floor between the bed and the wall, the fur blanket and War's cloak following her down as apparently she had pulled them along with her. Grace wasn't even sure how she had rolled off the bed considering how large it was. Then again, the Horseman was pretty large himself.

She heard a thud then and something that sounded like metal scraping against stone and peeked over the bed to see War standing in the middle of the room with his sword Chaoseater at the ready.

"Grace, what happened?" he asked her as he scanned the room for any threats.

"I just… fell off the bed." Grace mumbled.

War lowered his weapon and finally looked at the human, "Are you alright?"

Grace sank down below the edge of the bed so the Horseman couldn't see how embarrassed she was, "I'm fine… I was just… surprised. Didn't expect to see you in my bed."

"I brought you back to your room last night and you wouldn't let go of my hand." War explained, placing Chaoseater onto his back.

"Oh… sorry." Grace mumbled, climbing back onto the bed, dragging her blanket with her. "Here's your cloak back. Sorry I… sort of… stole it…" She tried to hand the ragged piece of cloth back to the Horseman but he just shook his head.

The human was obviously still having trouble sleeping and if his old cloak could help her get through the night, he'd happily let her have it. "Keep it."

Grace clutched the piece of fabric to her chest and, despite the lack of change in her facial expression, War could tell she was happy with the gift. "Okay… thank you."

The door opened, allowing the golem who was carrying a tray of waffles and orange juice to come in and set the tray on the bedside table before leaving just as quickly as he came.

"You should eat." War told her as he headed for the door.

Grace just nodded, still clutching the old cloak, but didn't reach for the food.

So War did the only thing he could and left, hoping that she would eat something. As he walked through the halls to the sitting room – where he was sure Strife would already be – he couldn't help but think of the sense of awkwardness that he felt around the human. Perhaps once they got more comfortable in the new familial roles they both took on, that awkwardness would go away. Then again, perhaps it was those new roles that made things awkward. Either way, he hoped that feeling would go away soon. Needless to say, it made it a bit hard to communicate with her.

Grace, meanwhile, continued to sit on her bed until she could no longer hear the Horseman's footsteps in the hallway then flopped face-down onto her covers. How could she do that? Any of that? She could almost die of embarrassment. Not only did she sneak into his room last night, she also stole his cloak, and fell asleep on his bed! And if things weren't bad enough already, War had to carry her back to her room and fell asleep beside her because she couldn't let go of his fucking hand! Yeah, dying of embarrassment would be a kindness to her right then. Not that life had ever been kind to her so why would it start now?

Deciding to get over it for now, Grace sat up and tucked War's cloak underneath her pillow, almost ashamed at the need for a security blanket. She thought she had outgrown that.

She stared at the food on the table. It sure did look good, and smelled really good. Her appetite, though, was non-existent and she knew that if she tried to force herself to eat, she'd just throw it up nearly as soon as she got it down. So despite what the Horsemen thought, it wasn't that she was refusing to eat, it was that half the time, she couldn't. She wasn't sure why either except maybe it had to do with her current mental state. This was also one of those times when she just didn't feel like eating. Then again, she still rarely felt like doing anything.

Grace knew it would probably make the Horseman happy if she got up and did something like exploring the castle but just couldn't find the motivation to even get out of bed. So Grace figured she'd do what she did most days and sleep. Or stare at the fire still burning in the hearth or out the open window and zone out. So that's exactly what she did.

The next few weeks passed by the same as usual. Grace still wouldn't eat like she should and still spent the majority of her time in her room but when War occasionally checked on her, he was glad to see that she started moving around more instead of laying on her bed all day. Though he wasn't sure if it was that much better since when she wasn't in bed, she was sitting or laying on the floor in front of the fireplace. At least she wasn't trying to jump into the fire.

Her nightly crying had also gotten better. Though most of the time when he heard her from down the hall, he'd come into her room to find her already fast asleep yet again and holding his cloak. Of course, he still had to sit with her sometimes. Not that he had a problem with that.

Coming into her room, he found her in the floor yet again. Laying on her side on the bearskin rug in front of the fireplace, Grace stared into the flames, an open book laying forgotten on the floor in front of her.

Grace tipped her head back to look at him when he entered but then went back to staring at the fire.

"You need to come outside." He told her.

She just looked at him again.

"Strife has brought you a… gift." War explained, answering her unspoken question. Technically it was Death that brought her the gift, with Strife's help, as a way to make some sort of amends, but Grace didn't need to know that.

The human just nodded before getting up, leaving the book in the floor for later and made her way over to the Horseman.

War looked at her for a moment and sighed before going over to the armoire and pulling out a jacket and a pain of fur-lined boots. "Put these on." He said, handing the clothing to her.

"I'm not cold." Grace replied, looking at the jacket with something akin to disdain.

"It's cold outside." War pointed out. Which was true. It was much too cold for the black T-shirt and grey short shorts she was wearing but he couldn't exactly make her change into pants. But he could make her put on a jacket at least.

Realizing they weren't going anywhere until she did as she was told, Grace put on the boots and jacket and once again waited for the Horseman to lead the way. Not like she knew how to get outside. Unless they were going to jump out the window but considering how high up they were, she didn't think that was a good idea.

As a final measure against the cold, War grabbed a fur blanket from her bed and wrapped it around her shoulders then finally led the way out of the castle. Halfway down the hall, War ended up picking up the human and carrying her on one arm.

"I can walk." She told him simply, her face turning red from being treated like a child.

"Not fast enough." War grunted his reply. He didn't mind carrying her either.

Grace just shut up and accepted her fate.

Outside, they found Strife and fury waiting for them. Death was there as well but stood far away from the rest of them and Grace did her best to ignore him. She had by no means forgiven him, she doubted she ever would, but that didn't mean she had to start a scene every time she saw him. Though the first thing she really noticed was that it was a bit chilly but no where near cold enough for her to be bundled up as she was.

War finally set her down and they made their way over to Fury and Strife, who was tossing what looked like a glass ball filled with pure darkness into the air and catching it again.

"You warm enough?" Strife jokingly asked the human.

"War made me put it on." Grace mumbled her reply.

Strife just shrugged and handed her the orb, "A gift from the fam."

Grace raised an eyebrow at the use of the term "fam" but took the orb from him, holding it gently in both hands, afraid it would break. Her first impression of darkness being trapped inside wasn't quite right since it seemed to be more than that. It seemed to suck in what ever light and made her think of that thing Friedrich Nietzsche said about the abyss. She sure hoped she wouldn't suddenly see eyes in this thing. It was as if they had trapped a piece of the void.

She looked up at the White Rider, the unspoken question in her eyes.

Strife scratched the back of his head, trying to come up with an explanation that the human could understand.

"It's a piece of the abyss." Fury answered for her brother.

Strife glared at his sister before giving his own explanation, "Basically it's a pet in a box. All you have to do is smash that orb and think of whatever animal you want and that black shit inside will become it."

"Any animal?" Grace asked, staring at the orb that was apparently more amazing than she initially thought.

"Any animal." Strife confirmed. "Dog, cat, parrot, lizard. You could probably even make a drago- ow!"

War elbowed his brother before he could finish. He did not need a dragon running around his home.

"Any… animal…" Grace repeated to herself. Stepping away from the Horsemen, she closed her eyes to get a better mental picture and raised the glass orb high above her head before smashing it on the hard ground, shattering the glass and releasing the abyss inside.

It didn't take long for the creature to form and what the human created surprised all of the Horsemen.

It was about the size of a teddy bear and when it stood it reached the human's shins. It was a forest green color with big black eyes which seemed to take up half of its face on its almost bulbous head, a mess of writhing tentacles where it's mouth should have been, small bat-like wings on it's back, and a small tail that almost seemed to bee wagging happily. In a word, it was cute. But that wasn't the issue here.

"Holy shit!" Strife yelled, snatching the human away from the creature that was clinging to her legs and actually tossing her to War, causing her to lose her blanket in the process.

"Was this your plan?" War asked, catching Grace.

"Of course not!" Strife answered. "How were we supposed to know she'd summon an eldritch horror?!"

Said eldritch horror was currently trying to waddle its way towards Grace but War kept backing away from it, the struggling human still in his arms.

"Well, what are we supposed to do about it then?" Fury asked, actually enjoying the scene unfolding in front of her.

"We've got no choice but to kill it and try again."

"You don't think that would make things worse?"

"Do something." War growled out, continuing his retreat from the miniature old one.

"Fine, I'll take care of it." Strife said, drawing Mercy and aiming it at the horror.

To his surprise, the creature responded to the new threat by lifting up its tentacles, revealing a circular mouth filled with rows upon rows or sharp teeth.

"No!" Grace screamed, finally managing to wiggle out of War's arms only to fall flat on her face but quickly scrambled to her feet and hurry over to her new pet. Picking it up, she held it to her chest where it hugged her back happily. "He's just a baby. Don't hurt him. Please."

"Look," Strife sighed, lowering his pistol for the moment, "You know what that thing is, right?"

Grace nodded, petting the happy horror in her arms.

"Then you know how dangerous it is." He continued.

"He's just a baby." She repeated. "He won't hurt anybody."

Strife shook his head, "We have to kill it before it can prove you wrong. We'll get you a new pet later."

"You can try." Grace glared at the Horseman, turning her body so that she stood between him and her creature.

War put a hand on his brother's shoulder, "Leave it."

"Fine." Strife said, holstering Mercy. "She's your human and it's your house at risk."

War sighed, "I know." Then headed over to the human who was gazing down at the creature almost lovingly but looked up when the Red Rider got closer, "You can keep it."

Grace grinned up at him practically beaming. He hadn't seen her smile like that since… well… never." Setting the creature on the ground for a moment, she quickly hugged War with a "Thank you!" before picking the mini old one back up and carrying it inside to get warm.

"Are you sure this is wise?" Death asked, finally joining the others and handing War Grace's forgotten blanket.

"No." War answered. "But I don't have a choice." If he thought a dragon was bad, he definitely didn't need an eldritch horror running around his home but what could he do?

"You've gone soft." Strife snorted, heading inside as well.

War had to admit that he was right when it came to the human. He had gone soft.