Chapter 3: The Half-Fiend and the Strongest Struggle Part 1

Foreword: If the title doesn't give it away this chapter will be focused more on Fremy than it will on Adlet though given the nature of this story I think they each will receive plenty of screen time in any given chapter.

Also Fremy and Adlet have to share a bed, what could go wrong, it's not like they are a pair of virgins who have trouble communicating with each other...ohh wait!

Before we start, reviews! Pierre, I will make this short: thanks! Florencia Alcoba thank you for your review, glad you could enjoy the story! Won't spoil the ending, only the author knows the ending, wait this just in, the author does in fact, not know the ending, so he says, well...No story is fully written till it's actually written, so we'll just get to see how he does things. Why am I referring to myself as he, don't ask such questions.

Story Start: Fremy stared straight into Adlet's eyes for a moment until both of them turned away each with a blush.

Adlet then started muttering out loud, "That makes no sense, Master was rich last I checked. This place also had enough rooms for a dozen people to comfortably live here. Why is he doing this?" Adlet then gently scooped Fremy up in his arms and began to walk her into the one room he predicted had a bed in it and said, "It is cold already not next to the fire, we should get to bed." Adlet's moving quickly to try and hide his blush from the thought of sharing a bed.

Fremy's face with a constant blush as her mind that had just woken up was in a full panic. Fremy thought various things to herself, "Wait if we share a bed with each other, does that mean we are going to have sex? We have slept back to back on several nights. Adlet has also never done anything to me despite having my chest on his back for months. Fremy had no problem with being close to Adlet, he was warm and she felt safe next to him but this situation was entirely separate. This is how kids are made, I don't dislike the idea of being a mother but I am not ready for that, plus no kid would ever want a freak of a mother like me. My mom also ate my dad after they had sex, does that mean I will eat Adlet? No that couldn't happen, that is ridiculous, right?"

As Fremy's imagination drove her deeper into an abyss of worry and embarrassment, Adlet found the one room with a bed, it was his old room. It was just the way he had left it, though it had notably been cleaned at least once or twice since he left. He had lived in this room for eight years and it brought back memories of when he thought of nothing but being the strongest man in the world. Now he had something else to work for, a new goal to devote himself too. Adlet now feeling the cold set in and the sounds of thunder roar in the background; Adlet placed Fremy on the edge of the bed and said to Fremy, "You can take the bed and I will go and sleep on the couch in the living room or I can sleep on the floor if you don't feel safe alone."

Fremy being broken from her thoughts responded, "No I will sleep on the floor."

Adlet smiled and started to take out a coin as he said "we need to find a way to settle this, will toss a coin and the winner sleeps on the floor, the loser sleeps on the bed, how about that Fremy?"

Fremy, not as enthusiastic about gambling said, "No we will just share the bed, we are not doing that."

Adlet, a little disappointed, looked Fremy in her blue and pink eyes and said "If you're sure." Adlet continued to stare at Fremy for what seemed to be an eternity than he stepped closer to Fremy and said "I have been thinking, you're beautiful." Adlet then put his hands on Fremy's shoulders, getting face to face with her. Adlet's face was stern and serious and his checks weren't flushed with embarrassment.

Fremy was very flustered and panicked, trapped by Adlet's grip she could do nothing but blush bright red and look into Adlet's orange eyes. Fremmy muttered "Adlet I, I…"

Adlet leaned in closer his nose touching hers and said, "Fremy, I want you to stop wearing your eyepatch and head covering." After saying it Adlet backed off a little bit but still kept a firm eye contact with Fremy.

Fremy was caught off guard, that was not what she expected him to say, Fremy felt a rush of emotion she couldn't identify, was it disappointment, annoyance, anger, relief, she couldn't tell. Fremy asked Adlet in a quite almost inaudible tone, "why? Why do you care so much."

Adlet expected this and replied immediately, "Because I love you, all of you, even the parts of which aren't human, I still find them beautiful because they are a part of you Fremy. I don't want you to hide yourself anymore!"

In typical Fremy fashion she returned Adlet's enthusiasm with a cold statement, "It won't work. People won't accept me. Think back to what happened with the king of Gwinvale."

Adlet knew what she was talking about, it was immediately after the braves had left the Land of Wailing Demons and returned to the barrier temple. The braves met up with Roland III the king of Gwinvale, who had prepared a reward to all of the braves to thank them for the hard work and sacrifice to save the world. A reward had been prepared for all but one, as the king had learned of the crimes of the brave killer Fremy Speeddraw. She was to be executed at once for her crimes.

Adlet once again stepped between Fremy and her enemies shouting, "She is one of the braves who just saved the world, yes she did horrible things but she was raised by fiends, she didn't know better. She does know better now, since she has become a brave, she knows better and helped us against the fiends instead of helping the fiends, she deserves leniency and another chance!"

Adlet now had a semi circle of Gwinvale's royal guard surrounding him and the other braves were a distance behind Fremy and Adlet currently doing nothing.

Rolan III spoke, "I have no proof she was unable to understand her actions, I do have several dead heroes, multiple good people killed by her hands, that I do have proof of, guards! Execute her." Rolan's guards moved closer to Adlet, spears pointed at him and they shouted, "move brave or die with her!"

Adlet carrying Fremy on his back began to step back and shouted back, "if it must be that way then we will be your enemies."

As the royal guards were about to charge and Adlet was drawing needles while Fremy was aiming her gun, a voice shouted "wait! I won't let you do this!" As Rolonia the Saint of Fresh Blood charged forward and stood next to Adlet saying, "If you want to do this I won't stand by and watch."

A cat man appeared beside Adlet saying, "I don't do anything for free but I owe you for many things back there, been some time since I killed a king, nya."

Mora and Chamot stepped up as well and Chamot spoke, "if your going against , Chamot will crush you." Then Mora spoke, "Fremy has become our ally, she has more than earned a second chance, if you wish to make an enemy here than all the braves shall be your enemy."

The King of Gwinvale sighed in frustration he wanted to avenge the potential braves that were killed but he was no fool, he had no intention of making an enemy of the braves, no matter how much they angered him. The King said, "I hereby pardon Fremy Speeddraw, and will inform all other countries of my decision and of your decree of protection, should another nation such as Piena wish to pursue a vendetta against Ms. Speeddraw than Gwinvale will not intervene. Of course I hope you understand that the money I was going to give you should be given to the families of those that Fremy killed as reparations for their crimes so, sadly I will be unable to reward you for your deeds."

Most of the other braves had no problem with this, except Hans who gave the king a murderous smile and the king in response sighed even deeper motioned over and han was given a large sack of money. Hans only uttered some grateful cat noises in response.

As the braves split their separate ways, Mora and Rolonia back to their separate temples and Hans and Chamot left to go, whoever knows, Hans stopped Adlet and threw him a small bag of coins without a word and left.

Before that the braves also decided that they would meet here again every five years if they were able to make the journey. This was simply to be a meeting of comrades.

From there on Adlet and Fremy left on the journey to his Master's home on the other side of the continent, the money Adlet had been given was not enough to buy a horse and carriage and also food and since Fremy was a large fan of animals, Adlet ruled hunting out as a food source and so spent the money on travel rations and the occasional nice meal. They spent the next three months traveling, sleeping outside each night until they reached their destination.

Adlet remembered well what Fremy was getting at and couldn't agree. "Fremy, I know your worried about your reputation, coming back to bite you, I know you worry people will see you as a freak or a monster but your not! The reputation you built will follow you eyepatch or no, there is no reason to hide behind it, people will know you regardless. I promised I would make it work and no matter what I will keep that promise, so believe in me, I am the strongest man in the world after all."

Fremy sighed, "fine, I will put my trust in you. I want to know, do you actually mean that, you aren't disgusted by my face, by my eye, you truly find it beautiful?" Fremy shivered as she said it, whether from the cold or from fear of Adlet's answer she didn't know.

Adlet gave her a bright smile, thunder boomed in the background as he said, "I meant everything I said, I think you are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen! I don't ever want you to hide yourself or change who you are!"

Fremy tried to look at Adlet as cold as possible to hide her feelings but a slight smile escaped her control and a blush started again in her checks, she than crawled under the covers to try and hide her happiness from the brightly smiling Adlet and said shyly, "It is cold, get in the bed already."

Adlet changed out of his clothes that needed desperately to have the blood and sweat washed out and the fabric mended. He found some old pants he had slipping into them and leaving his shirt off he slipped into the bed to hide from the cold air around him. Fremy who wore little and did not exert herself much anymore on a daily basis and owned no spare sets of clothes, simply laid in the bed with her chest covering and torn pants.

The room was cold and the cover alone did not do the best job of dealing with the cold, Fremy still surprised Adlet had done no more than lay in bed with her and close his eyes, moved closer to him and laid her head on his chest and nuzzled as close as she could for warmth. Adlet could only blush and smile as he embraced Fremy. Beneath covers hiding from the frigid cold; both Adlet and Fremy were cold from talking in the room so long. but as he laid there cuddled with Fremy, he could swear he saw a smile on Fremy's face as she slept. Despite the cold, Adlet felt warmer than he had in a long time and he drifted off to the sounds of rain, thunder and Fremy's gentle, soft, breathing.

The next day came. When Fremy woke up Adlet was out of the bed and the temperature had risen from cold to temperate. Fremy could hear the sounds of the banging of metal and conversation outside the room.

After about an hour Adlet came and gave her some breakfast. Adlet told Fremy, "Master and I are working on something, is there anywhere you would like specifically to wait, in bed, on the couch, outside?"

Fremy said "outside."

Thus Adlet brought her to the doorstep of his Master's compound, there was both a good view and Adlet left the door open so she could easily alert them if something happened. While Adlet was a little worried he wouldn't treat her like a child even if she was disabled.

Fremy sat on the steps watching the rain fall in front of her and the storm clouds roll by, the thunder and lightning had stopped but there was still heavy rainfall.

Fremy tried to use the time before Adlet appeared again to think of what she would do for the rest of her life, could she do anything to make it better, to make it worthwhile. She realised she could never kill herself no matter how helpless she was, she had no desire to die but more than that, she knew no matter how much of an inconvenience she was to Adlet. Adlet would never forgive himself if she died and would blame himself even if it was not his fault, she couldn't do that. She thought hard, perhaps she liked the idea of cooking, no she would need to be able to move. What if she was an animal handler, no that likely would not work. She was not intelligent enough in her mind to be a scribe. She could make clothes, that was work for those good with her hands and didn't require one to move from a chair, she could likely do that at least as a hobby. Fremy spent the rest of that time thinking of various ways she could try and occupy her time.

Meanwhile Adlet and Atro were working hard at Adlet's first project. As they worked Atro asked for details on the rest of the adventures of the braves, the death of the brave Goldov was a story Adlet promised to tell later and he moved to hit as many other bullet points as he could. Eventually the story hit the events of their last encounter with Gwinvale and Adlet said "So after the King kindly left us poor, we spent the next three months trudging our way here, with Fremy riding on my back. It wasn't easy but I don't regret anything I have done, I don't regret becoming the strongest man in the world, becoming the 7th brave, saving the world, falling in love with Fremy, I can only look back at it with fondness."

Atro not looking up from the project said to Adlet "Hmm so you really love that girl that much. How close are you two yet? I imagine you would have had to see her naked several times, helped her change, bathe, you probably helped her use the bathroom as well given her state. I bet you two have known each other as well given how young you are. I wouldn't be surprised if she is already pregnant."

Adlet's face was flushed and he acted like an embarrassed kid, " I have no idea what you're talking about, none of that stuff happened. None. Fremy always went out of her way to hide her nake body from me and she said she would rather die than have me help her use the bathroom. We have slept next to each other but nothing like that, Master why do those things come to your head?" Adlet did not know of course that Fremy specifically avoided sex and him seeing her naked because she couldn't believe that she was sexy or that he would be interested in that, she believed her body was disguisting and something to be hide.

Atro replied, "I ask because unlike you I think and I judge. Another question, if this girl could walk what do you think she would do, would she leave you if she were able?"

Adlet thought about it and said, "I don't know, I truly hope she wouldn't, but if that's what she wanted, I would not stop her."

Atro mumbled to himself before speaking, "I see. We are almost done here, you put the finishing touches on it, I will go outside for a bit." Atro estimated he had about half an hour before it was finished, plenty of time for what he would do next.

Fremy turned her head as Atro came out of the doorway, shutting the door behind him and sitting down beside her. Fremy wasn't sure what to do or say, this man had both given her food and a place to sleep but had also tried to kill her, even if only as a test to Adlet. Fremy stared out into the dreary distance. Atro only looked out at the same vast sky covered by grey clouds.

After a minute of silence Atro moved to stand up, but instead of standing up he threw out two needles at Fremy, each hitting one of Fremy's arms. Fremy was about to scream when she felt something sharp against her neck.

Fremy knew of the power of the needles used by the fiend hunters, the poisons they wielded could kill with but two pricks, the first would completely paralyze the second would end it. The needles in her arms must have been different as she could still move her head and center of her body, she couldn't feel or control her arms or shoulders or hands.

Atro said to Fremy in a low, threatening tone, "We are going to have a talk, and if Adlet hears you, I kill you."

To be continued in Chapter 3: The Half-Fiend and the Strongest Struggle Part 2

Afterword: Splitting the chapter: I originally planned for this to just be one chapter but as my thoughts developed on paper (or text in this case), it got really long really fast. I could call this chapter 3 and move to chapter 4 but I like naming the chapters with a semblance of what happens in the chapter itself, the title I feel will also fit somewhat chapter 3 part 2. I don't plan on having more split chapters like this but only time will tell what my naming sense allows.

What do you mean you don't have a clear idea when the end of the story is: Simple answer, I don't. Not to say I have no idea what I am doing, I have a few ideas for what I want the end to be and so I don't have a clear idea on what the end will be, also as I write this story it evolves from my original conception of it. I add more and more details as I write, more concepts, details and scenes and I want the end to reflect the journey the characters undertake which is ever evolving as I write, so I will figure out how to end it when I feel like the story is reaching its end. Sorry if that makes me an incompetent writer for not having everything A through Z planned out, all I can say is I will try my best to end the story in a way that does not suck!

Till next time!