A/N: Hello, all! Once again, I'm posting this chapter later than I said I would, and I am so sorry, I'm trying hard to keep up with this. Today's chapter song is "Meet Me in the Woods" by Lord Huron which is...such a personal song to me, and so fantastic for this chapter. Thank you guys so much for reading and reviewing, it means a lot to me! Hope you guys enjoy!

5. Meet Me in the Woods

Heated arguing woke Eugene in the morning. Specifically that bloodbending was the coolest bender ability.

His first thought was, But metalbending, though…

His second thought was, Where in all fuck am I?

It came back to him as he sat up, taking in the unfamiliar living room. At the foot of the couch where he lay, the Misfits—Mason's tight-knit pack of friends, of which he'd met all but two—had left behind a nest of blankets. Last night, after greeting him rather exuberantly, they'd all snuggled together in a heap on the floor. But Charlie, Dray and Ashlee must have already left for Alexandria.

Guilt pooled in his stomach; he wasn't used to being the last one up, but the past few weeks were wearing on him. Tripping a bit over the blankets, he followed the voices to the kitchen.

"Okay, but you're a self-proclaimed firebender, though," Lily, a tall woman with a cloud of curly hair, said. "You could redirect lightning. Tell me that's not dope as fuck."

"I never said it wasn't, but waterbenders—"

Mason broke off when she spotted Eugene and a wide grin lit her face like sunshine. His stomach fluttered.

"Good mornin'," he mumbled.

"Morning. Want some coffee? We can set off after that."

"Yes, ma'am."

Lily leaned next to him as he poured a cup. "Eugene, you're a smart guy, right? Weigh in on this debate."

"You are referring to the discourse concerning bender sub-skills, in particular which holds superiority over the others?"

"Yeah. It's lightning, right? Tell this short fry it's lightning."

"It's metalbending."

"What?" Mason and Lily chorused.

After downing their coffee, Mason and Eugene headed out, accepting a cheerful "good luck even though I can't accept how wrong you both are about bending and probably everything else" from Lily.

Mason plucked fruits from the trees they passed on their way out of the Kingdom. Her face was bright as she took in the clear, open sky, but it dimmed as a voice hailed her at the gate.

"Mason. Wait."

The man looked down from his watch post. Eugene couldn't understand the wariness in his expression; it wasn't aimed at Eugene, which would've made more sense. It was aimed at Mason.

"How are you, Russ?" she replied.

"You're leaving again." Not an ounce of friendliness. The two women on watch with him eyed her in the same manner. Not openly hostile, but…cold.

"Yeah. Eugene's taking me to meet his group so we can work out a trade agreement."

It wasn't exactly a lie, but it wasn't the truth, either. Eugene kept his mouth shut. It wasn't his business why she was skirting the whole story.

"Might be gone a few days," she added.

The guards didn't say anything else, merely exchanged a loaded glance before opening the gate. Mason waved a silent goodbye over the stiff set of her shoulders. A dozen questions brimmed in his mind, but Eugene kept a lid on all of them.

Only once the Kingdom disappeared behind a bend in the road did Mason speak. "Sorry about that," she sighed.

"Really and truly nothing to apologize for." He hesitated. "Um. I…I am perhaps overstepping my bounds, and you are more than entitled to tell me so, but…why—"

"Why was he acting like such a dick?"

"Yes."

Mason laughed without humor. "Um, it's a long story… I guess I don't blame him. Any of them."

"Any of them, as in the whole Kingdom?"

"Most of them, yeah. They're…scared of me."

He could tell she tried to hide it, but she ducked her head slightly in a move he recognized. Like she wanted to shrink until she could no longer be seen.

"They've seen me… There's been times I've had to do…terrible things. To protect them." She cleared her throat. "They only saw the terrible things. But. So, I mean, it's…it's understandable. It's fine."

Eugene frowned. "No, it's not."

When she glanced at him, something crossed her expression that he couldn't decipher. "I-I'm sorry. I didn't mean to…tell you that. I don't usually talk about this shit with people. I mean, except my Misfits, but they already know my story anyway."

"You are not obligated to tell me more if you don't want to. I was simply curious because, well, you seem like quite an admirable person, and since I am an excellent judge of character, that man's attitude had me itching to tell him to fuck off."

Mason laughed. "You're sweet. But it's really not a big deal, I'm used to it. Now." She reached into her pocket and pulled out a long white cord. "Music! I usually wear headphones, but I brought earphones this time so we could both listen."

Eugene took the right earbud and Mason the left, and she proceeded to introduce him to her favorite music as they walked. He couldn't help admiring the way it seemed to light her up from within. There was no sadness when she talked about her music, and he recognized just what a deep, essential part of her this was.

They walked close to keep the earbuds in place. The warmth of her arm brushed his and he breathed easier than he could ever remember breathing.

~m~

"Whoa. What. The fuck."

"Hmm?"

"How did you make that out of that?"

"Mason, I am not sure you're aware, but that bright stuff is called fire."

"Shut up, you dill weed."

Eugene chuckled. "Here, let me show you."

She watched in fascination as he held the foil of a gum wrapper to either end of a battery and ignited it. They were crouched close together in the middle of the woods, everything layered in the burgundy glow of dusk. Their first day had proved fruitless, but in spite of that, they remained in high spirits.

"Dude, that's tight," she exclaimed.

He shrugged, lighting the kindling in their campfire. "I was regularly kicked out of science classes due to the fact that, instead of following curriculum, I was researching new ways to set things on fire."

"Huh. Someone I used to know would've liked you, I think," Mason murmured, running a hand over the burgeoning flames. But she flinched from the memory to a new subject. "I never got to take any science classes. I mean, any of the fun ones."

"For reals?"

"Yeah, I…dropped out when I was fourteen."

Not for the first time that day, she wondered why the hell she was telling him this. She couldn't seem to help herself around Eugene. Something about him made her feel relaxed enough to say things she otherwise kept bottled.

"I probably would've been bad at it anyway," she continued, which was probably true. She remembered catching glimpses of the Misfits' homework assignments after quitting school and feeling completely clueless. "Science is a little too close to math, and I can't do that shit to save my life. But…I don't know. I always thought it'd be cool to try."

Eugene blinked. "Would you like to learn, Mason? Truth be told, I am a competent teacher, and science happens to be my wheelhouse. I could give you lessons."

"Really?"

"Of course. I can only imagine the kind of terrifying warrior you would be with an expertise in pyrotechnics."

"I might burn the world down."

"I think I'm willing to roll those dice."

Mason beamed. "In that case, thank you. What can I do for you, though?"

"Oh, ma'am, that's entirely unnecessary—"

"Anyone ever tell you it's dangerous to argue with a future pyromaniac?"

"Not verbatim."

"Of course not. That would be weird. But I'm telling you, right now, that if you don't let me do something nice for you, I will set something on fire in front of you and laugh very threateningly and nod like, 'yeah, this could be you'. It never would be, because I like you, but you wouldn't know that."

Eugene snorted with laughter. "I can't deny it's hard to oppose when you put it that way… But you are already assisting me in the search for a workshop, not to mention your willingness to aid my community, so—"

"No." Mason shook her head. "Nope. That is an official dealing between communities. This? This is just you and me."

For some reason, she felt embarrassed to have phrased it that way. Just you and me. But Eugene seemed pleased.

"Alright, ma'am, I surrender. And I suppose there is a particular matter I could use more instruction on."

"Lay it on me."

"Well, it is admittedly more physical than science lessons. I hope that doesn't make a difference."

Mason jolted, face flaming. Physical? What was that supposed to mean? She fidgeted, opening her mouth, unsure of what to say, unsure if she should trust what she might say, but Eugene continued before she could speak.

"But you are a phenomenal fighter, that there is the truth, plain as pumpkin pie," he said. "And I would be honored to possess even one iota of your skill."

"O-oh." She shook the strange buzz from her head. "Fighting. Right."

He raised an eyebrow. "What were you thinking?"

"Uh…nothing. Not anything. I don't think ever." The words tumbled out in a nervous wave, which she attempted to cover with a laugh.

Smooth, dumbass.

"But, yeah. Fighting. I'm down. I like to fight."

"You know, I think you would get along frighteningly well with a friend of mine," Eugene said, apparently unaware of her reddening cheeks.

"They like to fight, too?" she said.

"Almost constantly."

"Coolioz."

~m~

"Holy shit. There."

Eugene pointed to a small building at the end of the alley. A ragged awning flapped dispiritedly above the door, and though the letters had worn away, he could still piece together what it said.

Metalsmithing studio.

Mason gaped. "Whoa. That big asshole in the sky really said 'let there be bullets', huh?"

"We'll discuss that questionable sentence at a later date."

They hurried to the building, but when they reached it, Mason pressed herself between him and the door.

"Let me clear it first," she said, raising her fire poker.

Eugene shook his head. "I can help. Walkers or Wolves, I cannot and will not simply stand aside while you take them all by your lonesome."

He expected her to argue, to draw back to the fact that he was not an experienced fighter, that he was weak, that he was not capable of survival.

"Oh. Yeah, of course," she said. "I want you at my back. But…I always go first. It's a Champion thing."

Stunned at such a simple win, he grinned. Mason grinned back, and it was impossible to explain the feeling in his chest, but he wanted more of it.

He brandished his machete as she pried the door open with her iron, but the workshop greeted them emptily. A quick survey confirmed there were no enemies waiting in the wings, and a small part of him couldn't help feeling disappointed.

"So. What's the verdict?" Mason asked, spinning a bit in the center of the space.

Eugene examined the workbenches and machinery, brushing the dust from various tools and molds. The place was small, humble, but his mind whirled with the potential.

"Hell yes," he murmured.

Mason clapped excitedly. "Sweet!"

He swung his rucksack onto the table and began digging out supplies, but then he paused.

"Miss Mason, would you be interested in an impromptu science lesson?"

Her eyes widened. "Really?"

"Hell yes."

He was fairly certain the council back home would have disapproved. Showing intermittent parts of the process to prove he knew his shit was one thing. Actually teaching someone from a different community was something else. But he trusted Mason, and he had promised her science lessons…

And yeah. Maybe he wanted to impress her. Just a little.

So he taught her the procedure, and he did fairly well considering she kept distracting him with her proximity. She caught on quickly, though she didn't feel confident enough to try one on her own until about three bullets in.

"You promise I'm not gonna, like, blow my face off or something?" she said, cringing behind her safety goggles.

"I can't promise that, no," he said, and laughed when she threw him a distraught look. "I assure you, I would not allow you to blow your face off."

It was a long and tedious operation, but Mason played her music, repeating some of Eugene's favorites until he knew the lyrics well enough to sing to them. She didn't seem to mind that he really had no business singing, and instead harmonized warmly with him.

He had an idea that he could've spent all his time doing exactly this.

~m~

"Oh, fuck you, you did not beat a lynel straight out the gate. No fucking way."

They were on the return journey now, first to check in with Alexandria and then the Kingdom. They'd spent most of the day making bullets and the sun was on its way down, fleeing a dark bank of storm clouds rolling in from the north. The woods around them seemed thicker with gathering humidity.

Now that they knew where they were going, Eugene said they could probably make it to Alexandria in a handful of hours, but Mason was hoping he was wrong. She wasn't sure why, but the prospect of meeting the rest of his community made her nervous.

"I am not saying it wasn't difficult, and I am willing to consent that there may have been some luck involved, but I am telling you now, hand to god, I did it," Eugene replied.

"No you fucking didn't. You may be the best goddamned liar in the whole multiverse, but I ain't buying that shit. Those bastards are tougher than Ganon."

"Would you like me to illustrate how I earned my glory?"

"I'd like you to illustrate how full of shit you are."

"You know, Mason, it is perfectly normal to be jealous of perfection."

"Listen here, buddy boy—"

Wild rustling interrupted her. She drew her iron as a large silhouette bounded clumsily out of the undergrowth.

For a moment, she relaxed, realizing it was just a deer, but then she saw the blood. Bite marks mottled the creature's hide, and its back left leg trailed on the ground, hanging on by skin alone. It paused when it saw them, nostrils flaring with terror and exhaustion, before letting out a pitiful sound and collapsing.

The walkers followed on its heels, at least a dozen. Half of them fell on the deer, but the rest turned to Mason and Eugene.

"I'll take left," Mason said, and Eugene nodded determinedly. They strode into the dead together.

Twelve of them were easy enough, six next to nothing, but Mason couldn't help worrying about Eugene. She kept watch out of the corner of her eye, not terribly surprised when he held his own but relieved all the same.

And then one of the walkers clustered around the deer stood up, drawn by the movement. It was huge, easily exceeding six feet and built like a linebacker, with a long, wicked-looking blade protruding from its left shoulder. It made a beeline straight for Eugene, who had his back turned dispatching another walker.

"Fuck," Mason hissed and leapt between them. She swung her iron, but it clanged against the walker's head without making a dent, and only then did she see the light glinting off the metal spilled in messy rivulets down its head.

"Fuck."

She rammed it back, throwing her whole body against its chest. Skin sliding in gore, she aimed her iron, intending to wedge it through the walker's chin straight into its brain.

A second walker grabbed her arm, yanking her off balance. She leaned back, trying to gain enough leverage from the metalhead to kick the second walker away, but as she did, she felt teeth tangling in her hair and putrid saliva dribble down her neck.

Eugene's shout cut through her fear. In the next second, the weight of the second walker went slack, while the weight of the metalhead disappeared completely. The second walker toppled to the ground, Eugene's machete embedded deep in its skull. Mason turned to find Eugene with his hand mashed against the metalhead's upper lip, just a hairsbreadth from its snapping teeth and sliding closer…

"No!" Mason cried, shoving Eugene away and jamming the poker up through the metalhead's churning jaw.

She let it fall to the ground with her iron still in it, too panicked to care. "Eugene!"

He stood a few feet back, staring at her. His left hand clutched his right arm hard enough to turn his knuckles as white as his face.

Fresh blood dripped down his wrist.

"Oh, fuck," Mason said, though it sounded suspiciously like a sob, and rushed to him. "Let me see."

Trembling, he laid his hand in hers, and she pulled his sleeve up to reveal even more blood. She sucked in a breath through her teeth, stomach so tight she thought she might puke, but as her fingers cast about, it dawned on her that she couldn't find a wound.

"It…it…" She shook her head before realizing that the blood was running down from much higher. "Take off your shirt."

He tried to obey, but his hands shook so badly that he couldn't manage the buttons, so she did it for him. Immediately her eyes went to the wound on his upper arm, just one single puncture. Bleeding pretty good, but…clean. Not ragged the way a bite or scratch would be. A glance back at the metalhead pieced it together.

"The blade," she said, breathless. "In its shoulder. It cut you."

Shuddering with relief, she swept him into a fierce hug. After a moment, his arms wrapped around her, and they held each other so long Mason felt his pulse relax back into what she assumed was its normal rhythm.

Which then made her remember that he was shirtless, which then made her just a touch dizzier than she already felt.

"Um." Gently she pulled away. "Are you okay otherwise?"

"Yes, I believe so." Some semblance of animation returned to him then, his eyes darting about as he examined her. "Are you okay?"

"I'm…" Fear was subsiding, rage taking its place. "You just…threw your goddamn hand at that fucker's mouth, didn't you?"

"W-well…no, my hand is incapable of detaching, so I can't—"

"Don't you even fucking play right now. You could've got yourself killed, or bit, and I swear to god—you—" Mason growled and poked a finger against his bare chest. "Just. Don't ever do something that stupid again."

"It wasn't stupid," Eugene mumbled. "It was your life, Mason. And I'd do it again. Throw me in this exact situation over and over, and I assure you, I'd do the same every time."

His gaze held hers, and her chest ached.

"Thank y—"

A walker stumbled out of the trees, snatching Eugene's arm in its grimy hands and champing at his throat.

Mason saw red.

In a blink, her hands were around the walker's neck, blood bursting as her fingers sank deep. It tried to fight back, teeth clacking, hands pawing at her arms, but she just kept squeezing until it went down.

And then she was whirling to grab her fire iron, movements savage as she attacked the last of the walkers. They arose from their feast on the deer, but they couldn't stand against her rage.

It took a moment, standing amid their fallen bodies, for that rage to dull. But once it did, her lungs began to shrink realizing what she'd done. How wild she'd become.

"Mason."

She couldn't look at him. She couldn't stand to see the fear on his face, the same way the rest of the Kingdom looked at her.

"Mason?"

She kept her eyes carefully on the ground. She made a game of picking out patterns in the blood splattered on nearby leaves.

"Are you okay?" she murmured.

"I am perfectly fine, ma'am. Are you?"

"I'm good. We should get your arm wrapped up."

But she didn't move any closer to him. She didn't want to see him flinch away from her. Not him.

When he strode forward, it startled her enough to finally look up. There was no consternation on his face.

"You saved me and I saved you," he said and smiled. It was genuine and sweet. She thought she might cry. "I don't think I am incorrect in saying that we make a pretty good team."

She swallowed hard before she answered, afraid her voice might crack. "Yeah, we do. Let's, um… Here."

And he stood, still and patient and unafraid, while she tended to his arm.

~m~

The sky opened about an hour later and both of them were drenched in seconds. Droplets pelted them at an angle, kicked up by a furious wind, which admittedly felt good on Eugene's burning arm. The lightning, however, promised one hell of a storm.

He was about to suggest they try find shelter when the lightning illuminated a shape up ahead. It was a car, half-sunk in the soil and covered in leaves. He and Mason exchanged little more than a glance before scurrying toward it.

"Holy shit," Mason gasped once they were safely inside.

"Yeah, that big asshole in the sky really said 'let's drown these fuckers', huh?" Eugene muttered.

Mason giggled. "Yeah, you look like a drowned rat."

"That's just part of my natural allure."

Mason's giggles dissolved into full-blown laughter, and it was so contagious Eugene started laughing, too. They leaned against each other in the middle of the seat, crouched close for warmth, shivering and cracking the fuck up.

But once the laughter died down, Mason pulled away with an uncertain glance.

"I'm sorry," she said. "About today. I didn't mean to, like, lose it like that." Just like before, she wouldn't meet his gaze, but the pain in her expression was obvious.

There's been times I've had to do…terrible things. To protect them.

They're…scared of me.

"I got nine people killed on the journey from Houston to here, and it was not for noble intentions such as yours."

He couldn't stop the words, but the doubt was immediate. He hadn't brought this part of his past up with anyone in Alexandria since apologizing to Abraham, but it made no difference. It was always there, a subtext keeping him separate, keeping him on the fringe when he longed for the heart. Now here he was, blatantly admitting it to someone who knew nothing about it and likely demolishing her opinion of him in the process.

But she looked at him then, and none of that mattered. He needed to say it, he needed to tell her, so that she knew… Whatever she did, she was a good person.

"Instead of protecting others, I was attempting to protect my own ass. You see, I have been afraid of everything for as long as I can remember, and I have always been a very good liar, and those two things are not mutually exclusive. I had no hope of defending myself when the world went to shit, as I possessed no viable survival skills apart from perjury. I fabricated a colossal lie so that…whoever I came across would be disinclined to leave me."

He took a deep breath, remembering the hurt and betrayal and rage on his friends' faces when he told them.

"I bluffed that I was a scientist, and that I had sole knowledge as to the components of a potential cure, and that I needed to get to D.C. to formulate it."

The storm shook the car. Mason stared at him for so long his palms began to sweat.

"Well, that's…I mean, yeah, that's a dick move," she finally said. "But you're not that guy anymore, right?"

Her easy acceptance threw him. "I am…trying very hard not to be."

"You're not that guy. I see you. You're trying to help your people, you fight for them. You fucking saved my ass today. You're not your past unless you choose to be, you know?"

It took a moment for him to recover, but when he did he cleared his throat and said, "W-well… Yes, but. Respectfully, Miss: same goes for you."

She jumped, obviously not expecting this. "What?"

"I am fully aware that in this day and age, people are required to go to extremes to survive and to keep their loved ones alive. I am not afraid of you."

Loved ones?

Eugene flushed, about to correct himself, but Mason didn't seem to register that particular part. Tears gleamed in the corners of her eyes.

"I…"

She shook her head, and a single tear rolled down her cheek before she embraced him.

"Thank you," she said.

"There is no need to thank me for the truth."

"Sure there is, if you're the best liar in the multiverse."

He might've responded, but she buried her face in his neck and something inside him melted.

~m~

Sunlight woke Mason in the morning, and the buzzing silence following a storm. She was pleasantly warm, though her clothes were still damp, and she realized quickly why.

She and Eugene were cuddled close, limbs tangled together, Mason's head resting on his chest.

She held still for a moment, unsure whether she should wake him. He was snoring lightly, but beneath that she could hear his heartbeat, and outside the chirping of birds, and…it was peaceful.

She snuggled closer, content to watch the sunrise through the leaves speckling the car windows.

About an hour later, Eugene stirred. "Mm… Mason?"

"Hey," she said, gently extricating herself from his hold. "Mind if I take a look at your arm?"

"Long as you buy me a drink first."

Mason raised an eyebrow. Eugene shook his head.

"I don't know, I just woke up."

After ascertaining that the wound did not look infected, Mason led the way outside, breathing in the rain-washed air. Everything twinkled under a layer of droplets and sunshine.

"Beautiful," she said.

"Yeah." Eugene's voice was soft, and when she turned to look, he glanced away quickly.

Mason tapped her toe. It was time to go home, but this moment…she wanted more of it. Just a little.

"Hey," she said. "You interested in an impromptu fighting lesson?"

His eyes widened. "Really?"

She grinned. "Hell yeah."

A/N: So I know this chapter was pretty light-hearted, and I hope y'all don't mind, but I just thought...it might be a nice, with everything going on. But anyway! Hope y'all are doing good. I'll try to get the next chapter out as soon as possible, but until next time, much love! xoxo