9:28 Guardian/February 30th
I washing clothes until my hands became sore, polishing armors and shoes, and I was running around chasing after Eren for more than two weeks now. I didn't think it would get worse.
It did.
I was flabbergasted as I lost Eren for the second time that day. Thanks to his constant walking, I was able to get a good look at the city so I didn't get lost. Eren was gone though. I scoffed and leaned against a building wall. The alleys here aren't as dangerous as Denerim so there were more people out and about. Carriages passed through on the street and I bit my lip as to where Eren went to this time. I retraced my steps and found a footprint in some mud. I took the hidden street and found what looked to be a warehouse.
My gut was telling me that this was where I was supposed to go. I went to jingle on the doorknob and found that it was open. I went in and recognized the armor on a stand. I looked at it in confusion. Why would Eren take off his armor? Then I heard another door open and Eren came in looking like a commoner. I gaped at him and he looked at me with surprise and then with anger.
"Andraste's flaming sword, how were you able to find me?" Eren rubbed his face.
"I'm just that good, obviously." I shrugged. "Now, put your armor back on. Your rotation ended and we have to get back to the castle." I went over to the armor stand to help put it on. Eren crossed his arms.
"No." Eren stated. I stopped and scowled.
"I think I had something in my ears, did you just say no?" I said sarcastically.
"I had hoped to play this charade for only a few days until I made your skin bled so that you would willingly give up. Apparently that was not the case. I have to admit, your determination is admirable although misguided as well. I am sick of playing this game however and will leave without you." Eren moved toward the door and I blocked him. He scoffed. "Are you serious in stopping me?"
"I was placed in order to watch you. I won't let you do something stupid." I replied. Eren frowned before moving faster than I could blink and punching me in the chest. My breath left me immediately and I keeled over on the floor, hacking and coughing.
"I grow tired of you and your uselessness. At first I thought scaring you away would be easy but you have a stubbornness of a mabari. How unbecoming of you." Eren chuckled. I cleared my throat and thought about the small knife hidden away in my apron. I wiped away the saliva that trickled down my chin as Eren opened the door. I rubbed my chest and got behind him. He looked back. "Impudent we-"
I pulled back my leg and kicked as hardest as I could on his family jewels. Now that he didn't have any armor, he couldn't protect them. He sputtered and keeled over just like me on the ground. He looked up at me with the meanest glare he could muster.
"You are the biggest douche I have ever met." I coughed again and then slapped him as hard as I could. He looked up with the biggest eyes I have ever seen. I nearly laughed when he cupped his cheek. "Stop acting like a brat Eren, it's really unbecoming on you." I sneered as I used his words against him. He gritted his teeth.
"How dare you-"He started and got up with his legs shaking.
"Yeah, yeah how dare I and such and such. This isn't a game to me Eren, not since the first day they put me together with you so, whether you like it or not, I'm not going anywhere. So either you accept that or I will kick you so hard in the balls again, you'll be coughing them up." I crossed my arms. Eren's legs become steadier. He chuckled and then it became a full blown laugh. I frowned.
"Ok I will have to give you some respect for what you have done." He cleared his throat. "Fine. You will accompany me for now. I will warn you though, where we going is not for the faint of heart."
"I've seen shit too so let's go." I huffed. Eren smirked.
"If you were not such a commoner, you might have stolen me for an evening." Eren commented.
"Ew, that's so gross. Ugh, mental image be gone!" I rubbed my head. Eren laughed. I think this was the first time things weren't so tense between us. I should have kicked him in the balls in the first place. We walked out from the warehouse and started to walk around the town. Eren kept on looking at me and he scoffed.
"Can you not be so formal in your stance? You feel like a maid." Eren said.
"Uh duh, I am a maid more or less." I replied. Eren frowned before taking me in a small alley. He took off my apron, took out my shirt that was tucked in, and messed my hair up. The small ting of metal was heard as my knife fell to the floor. "Hey! What was that for!?" I grabbed it in a hurry.
"No, you will not be able to stay where we are going." Eren mumbled, looking around and took a pair of pants off from someone's laundry and tossed them at me. "Wear those."
"What in the hell? Why?" I asked.
"Stop asking questions, are you going to come with me or not?" Eren snapped. I rolled my eyes. It was either this or getting left behind and I had a job to do, more or less.
"Don't look." I mumbled. Eren turned away and I took off my boots and pulled up the pants below my skirt before taking that off. I tightened the pants and held the skirt. "Ok, I'm good." Eren looked back, swiftly took my skirt, and threw it in a puddle of mud. "Hey!"
"You are not going to need that." Eren said. I let out a frustrated growl.
"You are such a jerk." I mumbled.
"And you are annoying. What a pair…" Eren scoffed. I followed Eren until the city became unrecognizable. There were more trouble around here, men that looked ready to fight, and I saw a few women that had less clothing. I stuck closer to Eren.
"Uh Eren? Where are we going?" I whispered.
"To follow a lead." Eren mentioned. I heard a guy snort behind me and I grabbed Eren's arm in fear. He gave me an annoyed look.
"Sorry." I mumbled, letting go of him. Soon the cobblestone faded away to dirt and the houses became shacks. We came to a place that literally threw one of their tenants out for shorting them on gold. Eren cleared his throat.
"We're here. Try not to make me look bad." Eren's accent suddenly changed to a drawl. I nodded and stuck close. We entered and it was a bar that was filed with all sorts of elves, humans, and even qunari. There were minstrels in the background and it was rowdy inside. Eren came up to the bar and slapped some copper down.
"Oi! Two pints o'er here!" Eren shouted. I was surprised at his sudden change.
"Comin'!" And we got two cups. Eren roughly handed me one before downing the one he had. I gulped and looked at him uncertainly. He gave me a glare. I need to drink in this type of environment. I never had much experience before with beer but I took a whiff. It smelled rank but I took a gulp anyway. I started to cough.
"Heh, come on, put some chest on that chest!" Eren slapped me on the back. A few guys gave him a salute. He put his arm around me and brought me close. "We have had disturbances in this bar and there are reports of someone using magic. There should be Templars coming any minute. After I go up to the rooms, follow me discreetly. You think you can manage that?" Eren whispered in my ear. To others it looked like something a man would do to his woman. I nodded and Eren slapped me on my back again. I gave him an annoying glare and he smirk playfully at me. He was a good actor that's for sure.
I sat on the bar stool while Eren got up and started talking to the bartender. He nodded and gave Eren a small key. Eren laughed while going toward the stairs. I took another gulp of the wretched beer, coughing, before giving it to the guy that was eyeing it next to me. I got up and went up the stairs. There were a few people up and more than five rooms. I wondered where Eren would be before I saw the emblem of the Cousland family on the floor next to a door. I swiftly picked it up and eyed the door.
I wasn't sure what to do in this situation. Eren only told me to follow him but I wasn't sure what else to do. I leaned against the wall. This place stunk like high heaven and there were men leering at me as they walked by. I was not comfortable here but I kept my head down and glared at anyone that went past. Something about this wasn't right though.
I heard a loud thump from the room and a grunt of pain. I put my ear on the door and I heard someone chuckling and the familiar ring of a sword hitting the floor. I cursed as I opened the door and I saw a woman in loose clothing, holding onto Eren's sword and he was amidst rubble. She turned to me and I stood stock still, everything going a blank in my mind. What was I supposed to do?
Eren took the momentary distraction and tackled her. They struggled on the ground before she knocked Eren off and froze his legs in place. Eren grunted in pain. I took out my small knife and the lady laughed at me.
"Do you really think you can fight me with that?" She summoned a fire in her palm. I shook uncontrollably and my heart was thumping like crazy in my heart. She walked closer to me, raising her palm. It was an instant reaction and I threw the knife at her and it stuck from her shoulder. She grunted in pain and looked at me with rage.
"Nia!" Eren shouted before I was pushed toward the ground. I felt the room shook as three armored Templars came in and deflected the fireball toward the ceiling. There was a minor fire in the room but I watched as the mage crumpled to the ground as the Templars took over. A few broke the ice on Eren's legs and helped him up.
"Thank you for your information young Cousland, we'll take it from here." The Templar nodded. Eren wiped a few of the ice crystals from his legs and nodded. Eren grabbed his sword and grabbed my arm. The people were scrambling out because of the random fire and Eren dragged me away. He clenched my arm and I had trouble finding my footing. We found ourselves in the city proper where Eren pushed me against the wall.
"What was that?" Eren asked lowly. "You could have gotten yourself killed! Do you not think before you act? I had everything under control!" Eren reprimanded me.
"Everything under control? In case I saw wrong, you crashed against the desk and she had your sword!" I shouted back.
"In any case, you made this much more difficult! If you had a weapon why did you not use it from the beginning?" Eren scoffed. My face went red with embarrassment. "Do you even know how to fight?" He asked. I bit my lip. He sighed and rubbed his face. "Of course you do not know."
I gritted my teeth. I hated being looked down upon but more so I hated being useless. This situation proved the fact that I am nothing; that I did nothing.
"Of course I don't know how to fight." My voice quivered. "I was only a cook beforehand with only my family to take care of. I didn't know anything, all I had was a normal life! I didn't ask for this!" My lip trembled as tears filled my eyes. "And now I can't go home and I lost everyone I love! I can't fight worth anything because I never needed to! I was normal, I had a normal life, I had kids, I had my husband! I didn't need to fight." I sobbed.
"Ah hey, you should not…" Eren panicked slightly, his hands waving slightly as he didn't know what to do. Eren sighed and rubbed his face as I kept on crying. "Then there's only one solution to this." I wiped my eyes and scowled.
"What's that?" I cleared my throat.
"I will teach you how to fight." Eren nodded. I gaped at him.
"Didn't I tell you that I didn't want to fight!?" I snapped.
"At this point it isn't a choice. You will learn to fight, you have the stupid notion that if you jump into a situation everything will turn out fine. As you saw there are many things that can go wrong and we were both lucky we got out alive." Eren explained.
"Didn't you say you had everything under control?" I wondered.
"That is not the point right now." Eren said. "I understand you lost everything but you cannot live your life in grief. You are under my command now and for that you will learn how to fight."
"What's that going to change?" I mumbled and looked at the ground. Eren chuckled and I looked at him.
"Everything." He smirked.
Beta'd by FearaNightmare.
You ever get in one of those real life stints where it robs you of all inspiration and joy? Yeah, I was recently into one of those and could not write for the life of me, very sorry for the late update but I am back!
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