Jade looked surprised when she woke up with those wide green eyes staring into my bright pink ones. She jumped a little from where I had put her down on the coffin. We were in a cemetery after all, if she was going to fall asleep she should have at least gone inside the small mausoleum further in rather than crashing at the gate. I had gotten back from taking care of the witch hunters quite a few hours ago, in fact is was about to get dark again.
"Where am I?" She mutters with a look of bewilderment. Jade's hair is all messy and caked with some dirt and her clothes fare no better. Poor girl, those hunters must have really made her run.
I smile in sympathy, "The mausoleum, you fell asleep at the gate dummy. I brought you in here."
"Oh." Was all she said. An awkward silence ensued for a bit. It had been months maybe a year since I'd last talked to someone who could talk back, social skills were not my forte.
"Uh, you eat right? Are you hungry?" Another bewildered look.
"Of course I eat."
"Alright then let's go get something for you then." I say grabbing her arm and dragging her up from the not so comfortable coffin and out the opening of the mausoleum.
"Where are we goin…"
"A small café just inside town." I interrupt pulling her out the gate and starting down the old overgrown path. Town wasn't even a mile away, after all we were in the cemetery. It wasn't super close but it wasn't an uncomfortable distance either. After a few minutes of speed walking we end up just outside a near empty café, I let go of her and make a wide gesture of "ta-da!", it's slightly rundown.
"Uhhhh…" Jade starts giving me a sideways glance. Ok so it might be more than slightly rundown, but the food is amazing (or at least that's what I had heard) so I push her through the door anyway much to her distress. Much to Jade's surprise the café looked pretty nice on the inside.
"Not so shabby, huh." I smirk returning her side look. She just rolls her eyes with a slight smile and then we sit down. The waitress comes a few seconds later. When she asks what we'll have Jade starts to order a ton of food and I just ask for coffee. After the waitress walks away Jade looks like she remembers something. She then grabs the hat off her head and starts looking for something but soon gives up and throws it back on.
"Oh, um. I don't think I have any money." She frowns brushing a lock of her dirt covered hair back.
"Don't worry, it's on me." I flash her a quick smirk and she looks uncomfortable for second. Again that stupid silence returns.
"Are you going to order anything?"
I lift up the coffee cup nonchalantly.
"No." She giggles, "I mean food."
"Oh um, I don't think that's a good idea."
"Why not?"
"I don't eat dear."
"What?"
"I don't eat food, it's not good for my stomach."
Silence, this time not awkward just sorta… Strange. Jade doesn't seem uncomfortable though, that's good I guess. Jade starts asking me random stuff then, I guess she got bored. Most of my answers were plain and simple and accompanied by a motion to the waitress for a coffee refill. Yes, I travel around every once and a while. No, it's not because I want to be an explorer, it's because necromancers are territorial and I don't like trouble with my own kind. No, I'm not weak, what are you talking about? I've been doing this for years. How many? Oh a long time. How old am I? I dunno anymore, pretty old. Being immortal does that to you.
"You're immortal?!" She gasps out loud earning some bewildered looks from the few people in here.
"Jade please keep your voice down."
"Oh, sorry." She giggles a little and then whispers, "You're immortal?"
"Yeah sorta." I shrug, "it's not really a big deal."
"What do you mean sorta." Jade asks stuffing her mouth with the newly arrived potato's in front of her.
"Well nobody is really immortal Jade." She nods, her eyes urging me to continue. "But I'm pretty damn close, I mean as long as I have grip on something whenever I'm killed I'll just come right back."
She looks confused, crap.
"What I mean to say is whenever I reanimate something, so like control dead things like skeletons and stiffs I give them a little bit of my energy, like some of my soul sorta. That energy or soul or whatever will stay with the dead thing as long as I control it. When I want it back I release control and get that bit of life back. If I die I lose grip on the dead and it all comes rushing back and actually sorta reanimated me rather then the dead. Get it?"
Jade still looks pretty confused but she just shrugs and smiles with a loud "Whatever!" And we again grow silent, listening to the sound of the café around us. Clanking dishes and mutterings fill the silence. The pauses aren't really that bad anymore, actually they're kinda comfortable. Jade again is the one to break the silence, she gestures with her head to my arm tattoo's.
"So what are those all abou..."
"Equivalent exchange. Ok Jade, your turn to talk for a while." I give her my signature smirk and readjust the hood on my robe like dress. Well, robes if you count the whole no arms and wearing pants under it. But whatever. "What brings you here little witch."
She stops devouring the meatloaf for a moment to swallow the chunk she had been chewing.
"Well I'm here to visit someone." I feel my eyebrow raise.
"Oh yeah?"
"Yeah." She giggles. "I'm looking for my brother."
"Oh, that's cool." I down another cup of coffee, and then hold up the cup slightly while making eye contact with the waitress. She comes back and refills my cup for the seventh time.
"Good lord Roxy, how do you drink so much of that stuff?" I smile.
"Well, I could be drinking worse things." She laughs.
"Yeah, I'd hate to imagine you tipsy." We both laugh and continue talking, some of it is important and other bits just ended in us both laughing hysterically. The night wears on and we stay until the waitress kicks us out ten minutes before closing, although I suspect she was just nervous I would drink them out of business.
We start heading back to the graveyard and much to my surprise Jade links arms with me.
"You know Roxy, for hanging out with dead people you aren't half bad. Besides I think it's pretty cool to have a friend that can talk to the dead." She keeps talking and I hope she doesn't notice me staring at her in disbelief.
Friend.
She called me her friend.
Huh. It's been years and years since I'd had an actual friend but thinking about it we did pretty much fit that description didn't we?
As we walk back a warm feeling starts filling me up.
Friends. I smirk.
That night two unlikely friends walked back into the graveyard laughing, little did they know that slit eyes watched them closely. The lurker licked her black lips nervously, while quickly checking a page of one of the many tomes she always carried. That was what she needed. One witches heart, and it was as good as hers.
A/N: Thanks again for taking a look! I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I enjoy writing it. This chapter was more setting up some stuff that will happen soon, sorry if it was a little dry! Oh and just to clarify for those FMA fans this isn't a cross-over story, sorry. Roxy just likes the principle of equivalent exchange. Don't forget to fav/follow/review, they bring me joy x)
See you again soon!