I shall let you go now, Merianna.
"T-Thank you, Dris-Nafuru." Merianna smiled.
Even before Merianna could fully come to conscience, something loud cracked the air and she felt a sudden heat at her cheek. She immediately placed a hand over it and looked behind her. A small bullet lay smoking where it hit the cobblestones; no doubt it was a warning shot. But where was Meirin? Merianna was now very far from the mansion, almost at the trees of the forest. Both were equally far away. Merianna looked around; trying to spot her, but it was futile.
Another shot brought Merianna down on her feet. Her knee burnt and a deep liquid was slowly making its way down to her feet. She could feel something small and foreign embedded between the bones and she shrieked in pain when she looked at the wound. Merianna remembered the time when Cuffs had stolen meat from a butcher, who gave chase after them. She remembered how she had tried to fight back and how scary the butcher was and how it hurt when he pulled her up by her hair and Cuffs being beaten by the butcher. She remembered how sharp the knife was slicing her skin and then crying out for someone to save her. She drew out one of the tarot cards, already knowing by touch which one was Temperance.
"Risado sirscunus, Qatorza! I need your help!"
A warm tingling grew in her toes as the vines in her body grew and slowly bloomed from her skin, producing crimson flowers with glittering petals. The sensation spread from her feet and grew upwards like a flower and by more and more, there were lilies, tulips, hydrangeas, azaleas and dandelion-like shapes bursting from underneath her translucent green skin. The process didn't hurt Merianna at all, but there was a faint feeling of it, like a wave of intoxication in which she seemed to feel detached and drowned away from the world. It was beautiful.
It was a horrifying sight to see Merianna mutate into a sort of flowing ground. Meirin wished she had followed her instinct to look away, or at least to put on her glasses to hide her vision, but snipers don't take their eyes off their targets. Meirin watched as Merianna reached inside her leg with vine-like fingers and drew out the bullet. She threw it away as far as she could. The next thing she did was to step on the grass.
Although Meirin didn't understand what her friend had become, she took this as a bad sign. She raised the next rifle closest to her and took aim at Merianna's arms, not wanting to injure much. Sebastian had arrived earlier to inform her that Merianna could regenerate as long as the wound wasn't fatal, but Meirin didn't have the heart to do it…or she had the heart not to do it…She didn't have the coldness to do it anymore.
The shot connected the moment Merianna finally stopped moving towards the trees. She saw Merianna wince as the bullet buried itself into her arm, but once again, she merely drew it out and threw the bullet away. Meirin grimaced, sure that the last shot would have more of an impact. Suddenly, Merianna turned around to face the mansion. It took her long enough to figure out the opposite direction on where the bullets were fired at…
The Merianna on the other side of the rifle was slowly getting smaller. Meirin looked again after clearing her thoughts, sliding her vision down to Merianna's feet. They were slowly intergrading into the grass. Meirin, in haste, shot Merianna's head by instinct, letting out a little gasp when Merianna winced again at the shot to her eye. She shrunk and held her hands to her face. What looked like blood fell, and vines slowly enclosed her body, still disappearing into the ground. Merianna's hands fell from her face, a blood-red and silver flower blooming from her right eye, just before she melted into the green of the lawn.
Meirin threw the rifle down to get a full view around her. Merianna would be anywhere now, and Meirin had to know. She used her hawk vision to scour the surrounding area, spinning on her heel. Meirin got to her feet and started pacing about the roof, heavy rifle in hand just in case she saw her, or that she needed something heavy as a melee weapon.
Nothing fatal, she repeated in her mind. Nothing fatal…Nothing fatal…Nothing fatal.
It took her a while to register a clanging noise that steadily grew louder. Meirin's panic grew as she held the gun up defensively. She lifted it to her cheek, but didn't take aim quite yet. Suddenly, a figure a clambering over the sides of the roof and caught Meirin's gaze. Merianna crawled onto the roof like a spider, using her hands and knees to swiftly propel her body forward. She cracked a smile, revealing not teeth, but thorns. Her eye sockets didn't hold eyeballs anymore, but a sort of sliming red texture. Whatever magic she was using, it terrified her.
"Blood…I want blood…to water the flowers…" she hissed.
While Meirin raised the gun to eye level and crouched down, she managed to notice that at Merianna's feet were ivy plants that were growing around the roof and latching her on. Prolonging the fight would decrease her chance of winning, Meirin realized, and she took quick aim at Merianna's chest, just above the heart. Merianna hissed, knocking over a stand of sniper rifles, just as Meirin pulled the trigger.
The force of the bullet knocked her back, and the plant-Merianna recoiled and screeched, in a frenzied compulsion to draw out the bullet.
"H-H-Humans! And your…your di-dirty metals!" she squawked.
Shakily, Meirin snatched another rifle and shot again at Merianna, who was trying to advance, but dug into every bullet in her body. Meirin kept shooting, grabbing and shooting again, consequently firing more and more bullets. Merianna replied with a horrible screech as she kept plucking them out of the holes in her body (this author also has a fear of holes). Suddenly, from every bullet hole in her body, a speckled red flower bud grew while Merianna pulled herself in, cringing in pain.
"Munatit aiselffar…! Munatit aiselffar!" she said in a pleading voice.
"W-What?" Meirin muttered, lowering the next gun.
Was it a plea for surrender in whatever language?
Suddenly, there was a sickening squishing and sloshing sound before the flower buds cracked opened. Each of them had a mouth with white shining thorn-teeth that were chomping and eager to feed. Merianna let out a piercing scream that scraped against Meirin's ears. The next thing Meirin couldn't stand was the stench that was released. It smelt like rusted blood from a decaying corpse till walking around. It smelt rotten as the sour waft of air invaded Meirin's senses and she had to cough and splutter before she could get used (somewhat to the smell).
Meirin fell to her knees, almost wanting to tear through her neck in order to get rid of the smell. She spluttered and vomited from the horrible stench and seemed to forget the taste of the fresh air she had always breathed in. More and more of the speckled flowers were bursting, although Merianna did nothing but cling to her body as they burst with a sickening sound.
Then they started to speak. The small flowers gnashing their teeth started adding in to the chaos with droning noise.
Some cried Mun-atit! Mu-una-tii! Muna-tit!
Others went Aisel-far! A-ise-elffar! Ai-sel-fa-rrrr!
Meirin clamped her hands over her ears, although it left her nose unprotected. She sat on her legs, trying to block everything out. The sensory overload was putting too much strain on her brain. The horrible smells, the horrible sounds of the flowers were just two. Now she felt a tingly sensation on her clothes. When she opened her eyes, Merianna was pulling her up on her feet by her collar, her face just inches away. The pupil on her one eye was white, sheer white, while the other eye had a flower growing from it, although this one stayed silent. The tingly feeling continued to course through Meirin's body, and when she looked down, there were small vines encircling her legs and leaves sprouting. If Meirin screamed, which she wanted to, the putrid air would invade her dying lungs.
Meirin opened her eyes again, although they were wet from her eyes trying to drive the stench off. Just in time to see a small paper thing landing on the roof with a lit fuse on it, counting down to its explosion. Meirin threw herself off the roof, determined to at least get away from its blast radius. She rolled down the tiled side of the roof, but just before she threatened to roll off, something grabbed the back of her dress and held her. She felt herself being lifted off and held against a familiar chef coat.
The air around her suddenly heated up and a large blast erupted, certainly more pleasing on the ears than the chants of carnivorous plants. Bardroy landed skilfully on the lawn below, safe from the blast. The roof lit onto a large fire that disappeared as soon as it caught. Some debris started to fall, some still burning.
"Bardroy!"
He had a sort of black mask on his face. His breaths came out husky and his eyes were obscured by two glass eyeholes. He let her down and took off the mask by lifting it up and over from his head.
"Gas mask." He replied. "One of the few prototypes I got to hold onto. Still gotta replenish the lavender in it though."
Something suddenly shot out from the smoke with great wings, using them to slow their descent back to the earth. It was Merianna, quite bloodied and bruised, but no longer translucent green or covered in monstrous flowers. Blood was running from small holes all over her, as if she were rolled in a nail-studded barrel. She was panting heavily while glaring at them both. It was a sorry scene.
Before the battle could continue, Meirin raised her arm in the air.
"I cede, Merianna. Without my guns…I can't…fight you at all."
She lowered it and looked morosely at the bits of wood and metal that littered the yard. With her conclusion, she drew out her large rimmed glasses from inside her pinafore and replaced them back on her face. She bowed to Merianna.
"Well, Meri," she said in her usual jovial tone, "We will see you back at the house soon."
"So I see…you're pretty special, Snowy."
"…I suppose…that is a way to…say it…" she replied awkwardly.
"Let's make this quick." Bardroy grumbled. "I'll give you just enough time to take out one of your card thingies. Go at me with your full shot and I'll return it!"
Merianna took the news with shock, but nodded.
"Risado sirscunus,"
She drew out the High Priestess.
"Du."
In the first minute, the High Priestess gave her a strange sword, shaped like a cross. Bardroy dived and rolled into the bushes against the house.
In the second minute, Merianna felt her friend take hold of her hands and swing the sword in a circle like the hands of a clock. Merianna remembered when she used to pretend to be a knight from the fairy tales she read, waving a wooden stick against little bunnies and birdies curiously peeking in. Anzu was there, guiding her and teaching her how to manoeuvre her body and arms- which led to Merianna's Ghost Walk ability.
In the following minutes, Merianna's arms were back in at 12 o' clock. Small crosses seemed to appear beside her, even behind her four wings. They were sharp and pointed at Bardroy, who had wheeled out a strange black machine, a ribbon of golden things flowing out of it and its nozzle pointed at her. She didn't like the look of it, as it was the same colour as cannons on pirate ships. (Machine gun, guys.) Bardroy gripped it by its handles, pulling down his goggles over his eyes.
"FIRE!" He screamed.
Bardroy slammed his foot down on the machine and Merianna swung the sword down. Bullets hit crosses in a volley and angry metal crashes drowned out every other sound. Bardroy continued firing, and so did Merianna. They stubbornly kept at it, cross upon cross and bullet upon bullet. Merianna could feel the heat from every shattering grow stronger and stronger, but she still held her ground. Although it was never stated, she felt that if she flinched, twitched or move her body even a little, her concentration would be flung off, so she kept her stance, kept her focus.
The blinding light was hurting her eyes, she raised the sword up to brace herself, and her body moved accordingly. She felt something hit her gut, and reeled back in pain. The crosses all disappeared from her broken concentration. A few more sharp bullets grazed her and before she was going to take more damage, she propelled her body up with her wings.
She still wasn't used to the wings, and only managed to lift herself up a few meters, slowly gliding back down into the dangerous path of the gun. I need to stop that machine, she thought. Bardroy stopped firing, yelling out at her, but she couldn't hear. He certainly seemed pissed off.
Du, what should I do? Merianna asked.
Mi estrauda….My sister.
She pulled out the card of Justice.
"Risado sirscunis! Anzu! You're my last chance!" She cried.
Merianna's chainmail and sword disappeared from her body. Long robes draped over her like the Seasons dressing Aphrodite.
Niro ghetyr sima…Keep up in the air.
Merianna pumped her wings again, but it hurt her stomach and she covered it to see blood on it. It was moving. Droplets of blood were falling…towards the sky. Merianna looked up, pumping her four awkward wings once more to keep her up. The droplets seemed to disappear, evaporated into the air. Merianna was starting to lose conscious. She thought it must have been the dark red contrasting against her skin that was making it seem so pale.
But it was her blood that was being taken. When there was enough, many sharp red needles appeared in the sky, beside Merianna. They were pointed and glistening at Bardroy down below. Without missing a beat, they were shot at an extremely fast speed right at him. Anzu wasn't sure if there were enough, but with Merianna's slowly ebbing conscious, she had to act quickly.
He let out a yell, covering himself and taking refuge under the heavy machine. When they stopped, he climbed out, a triumphant 'you missed me!' rising in his throat. The crimson needles saddened clacked open, revealing spines like a brush. A bolt of lightning suddenly shot down from the sky, hitting one of the needles. They distributed the heat among each other, burning whatever was in their area. The machine caught fire and exploded; the man let out a scream of agony and was burned by the electricity.
When Merianna saw Bardroy fall to the ground, she too did the same. She fell flat on her back, dismissing the High Priestess with her thanks. Exhausted, she lay there staring at the cloudy sky. Not only was her body crushed, healed, broken up, and bleeding out, but her mind was strained more than she had ever handled.
"I…I don't think I can…do this…anymore…"
Her eyes started stinging, and her friends had appeared around her, looking down upon her with worry. She wondered if anyone else could see them, or was it just her clinging to her imaginary friend to escape loneliness? She grasped her stomach, it was hurting and burning. The bullets were probably still in her body, but she was too much in pain to call someone to help her.
"Jake is probably hanged by now…I can't move anymore…There's still Sebastian…I can't even lift myself up to fight him…not anyone…"
She sniffed and let the tears roll down while thinking of her friend. She coughed, choking up on her spit. She closed her eyes and cried.
"I can't see Jake anymore. He's gone to where everyone else is. And I'm still left here…"
Ichiin…Wait
One of her friends was talking to her. She couldn't even raise her hands to see which card was in her hand at the moment.
Ikugo, lurisya-nie. Bakyeng nuken bongun.
He's still alive. At the back of the house.
Merianna recalled her favourite fairy tale of two brothers who went their separate ways, where their master had given them a sharp double edge knife. If one side of the blade were to rust, the other sibling would know that their brother was dead. If it were healthy, he was doing well. There was one card who reflected this tale.
Xis.
She was walking along the side of the house, hand leaning for support against the side. She may have been an angel, she may have a card that could heal her, but she did not have an endless sea of energy. Her stomach was bleeding and she could see the blue arteries snaking underneath her desperately pale skin. It felt like bugs were crawling over her skin, nipping and biting their fangs into her. She contemplated crawling the rest of the way, but that was only a last resort. Her clothes were heavy, drenched in blood. And she hated the feeling of her wet shoes squishing on the ground.
She fell, just before she could reach the corner. She shrieked when she fell on her stomach, feeling the burn of a foreign bullet inside her. She covered her mouth when she coughed, only to taste something bitter and metallic. Her vision was getting blurry, the pain was too much. She heard footsteps crunching grass. Something blue and black stood in front of her.
"Having trouble, Merianna?"
A hot wave of anger came over her.
"I can…do it, Ciel Phantomhive…" she gasped. "I know…what you think this of…I can do it…I'll beat the queen. I will promote…You didn't even…have to take…him…"
"You can't do anything in your state as it is." He replied.
She shook her head. Or more accurately, let it fall from side to side.
"You don't win…a game by…promotion…"
She coughed heavily, feeling spit and blood cover her mouth.
"You win by capturing …the…"
She grabbed Ciel's leg with her hand and with a last desperate surge, pulled and turned it so that he fell onto the ground with a grunt. She sat on his stomach, knocking the air out of him and grabbed his neck…but she was tired, exhausted and in pain so she missed and held his forehead. She pressed her nails on his temples to get a good grip.
She heard the sounds of rope being cut and quiet cursing in Jake's voice. She stayed still, glaring down at Ciel through the curtain of her dishevelled white hair.
"He's free now, Merianna. I command you to let go of me now. If you don't, I'll have Sebastian come over a-"
"You were there!" Merianna screamed. She lifted his head and brought it down again, lightly enough to not cause him pain, just a small bump.
"Ten years ago! I…I was put on that cross! You were there! I remembered…"
The memory grew gradually, starting when Merianna questioned the kindness of her mas-she meant Ciel. She couldn't think of him as anything else but Ciel Phantomhive, the child of only 14 years old. She shook Ciel's head again, not being able to control her shaky hands. The anger and hurt that swelled inside her gave her the strength to get up from her last battle and continue on to reclaim back what was hers.
"Every adult there…was calling me a witch…wishing me death and trying to murder me…! I remember being on that cross…wishing them all what they deserve…You were there! You were there!"
She wondered if it was blood coming down her cheeks or whether it were tears.
"I remember how you looked at me. A child…A child of an age younger than I looking up at me with the coldest gaze of them all. You said nothing! You did nothing! Even though you are so rich, even though you have so much power, you walked away! You did nothing to stop them and you turned your back!"
She lowered her voice.
"That's where I first saw you…the only time I ever saw someone with such sad eyes…I begged salvation for your soul…"
"Then why don't you kill me now?" Ciel asked monotonously. "You hate me so much after all I've done to you. Why don't you just kill me then?"
Merianna laughed. "I can't. Because I liked you too. Because I forgive you too. Because that's what angels do."
"Then why aren't you letting go…?" He asked, a slight uncertainty invading his voice.
"Because you don't understand my feelings."
She pulled her face close to his with a wicked shark smile on her face.
"Risado sirscunu-"
Quick as always, Sebastian grabbed Merianna and tossed her away, where she hit the grass and rolled. He helped Ciel get to his feet.
Merianna laughed. "It doesn't matter, Sebastian. The love of an angel binds stronger than any contract with a demon."
He narrowed his eyes. "Her angelic tendencies are in conflict with her human emotions, Young Master. Humans may be kind and forgiving, but angels don't react to rejection well. Merianna is a ticking bomb right now…"
She held a hand over her stomach.
"Vaint. Judgement."
Suddenly, Ciel started twisting and screaming in pain. He held his body close and trembled as he fell to the ground. Sebastian uttered a 'Master!' and fell to the ground beside him, trying to see what the matter was. Holes had formed on his torso, arms, legs and his head started bleeding. Sebastian whipped his head to where Merianna was standing, and she had more colour to her now. He guessed that her magic transferred whatever wounds she had to him.
"I will put an end to this, Master." He whispered.
The butler stood up and whipped out his knives. Just as he raised his hand to throw them, the young male whom he forgot in the background took Merianna's arm.
"Stop this, Merianna! Stop hurting him!"
She looked at him in surprise.
"Merianna, stop it! This isn't like you!"
He practically ripped the card out of her hands. She didn't try to snatch it back, as her gaze was still on him. Ciel's screaming dulled, enough so that he managed to push himself up onto his hands and knees, wiping the spit from his mouth. The black-haired ruffled male took out another tarot card and showed it right in front of Merianna. His street-accent was dropped in the disparity of the situation.
"Look! I'm still alive! You don't have to fight anyone anymore!"
The card he held up, The Wheel of Fortune.
Beside her friend was a small dainty figure, Dris looked sadly upon her with his one eye.
"Nanaku shibit, konykung…The child doesn't deserve this fate…" the imaginary girl whispered.
"…maybe it was chance that I was drawn here…and fate that I stay…"
It was her who said that phrase. She said it when Ciel asked her what he meant to her. She certainly chose the right card.
"You're right…" she whispered.
But suddenly she shoved him aside, grabbing The Wheel of Fortune in his hands too.
"He has been manipulated by this demon from the very start! Sirscunus Risado! Dris!"
The small imaginary boy brushed his hair out of the way, revealing an empty eye socket. Long ago, he gave up this eye to the Fates to tempt them away from cutting his life short. In return, he became their servant, and the origin of this power. In her hands, Merianna held onto two worn, but sharp shears.
"Oya? You plan to fight me with such primitive weapons?" Sebastian taunted, his eyes flickering demonic colours.
Clearly, Sebastian had not understood the hidden potential of the small tools, but it was better off not telling him. Her wings remained inside of her body. Against such a strong opponent, it was better to sacrifice power for a smaller body. Her mind was focused on one thing: to cut the strings beside Sebastian. If she could just snip one off, Sebastian would suddenly lose a large portion of his life. If she could snip all them off, he would surely die, demon or not.
Even better was Kerei, the girl of one eye. Seeing the shears made her scream and suddenly transform into multiple void beings, invisible to human eyes. Her scream echoed around the estate, although Ciel and Jake had no idea where it was coming from. Sebastian noticed however, and launched a knife at the body, only for it to pass by her head.
Merianna waited. She watched while Kerei attempted to claw and latch onto Sebastian, who coolly but agitatedly moved away. He seemed uncertain of how to attack this being, and was doing all he could to distance himself away.
Isanaid furisaw!…Dance away, you fool.
Suddenly, Kerei caught Sebastian by the arm. He yanked it away but he stopped mid-motion as Kerei advanced more unto him, grabbing his hand and stepping into his toes, a mad smile on her face. All she wanted was her eye back, except that she needed the rest of the body too. Sebastian slowly lost his ability to move as Kerei inched into his being. He felt the discomfort of blending into another being, and finally the inability to even move his eyes.
Merianna advanced, snipping the shears eagerly. Here was the defective angel-human standing in front of a fully fledged adult demon, holding his fate in her hands. She savoured her victory while Sebastian tried to free himself. She could practically see the defeat in his eyes. But something stopped her. Her mind was clear, yet…
Her body fell, suffering from blood loss and damage that her angel part was still struggling to heal. Perhaps her rage had caused her to lose the purity and goodness that kept an angel alive. Kerei too, fell away from Sebastian, let go of her grip and disappeared, taking the fated shears away with her. Merianna didn't even realize what was happening before she crashed onto the earth.
"I….I failed…" she whispered.
She had been so ready to kill.
Merianna found herself somewhere. Ah yes, it was her home. Her bed was lumpy and warm as ever, piled with stuffed rabbits and bears. Her bookshelf towered next to her full of French fairy tales and fables. There was no questioning that this was her room in her house. Something was wrong though, she realized. Oh. She was suddenly in the living room.
What was the thing? There was something in the chimney that was beckoning her. Her mother used to warn her not to go near it or else the soot demons would take her up the chimney and into their spirit world. But today, inside the ashes and soot, lay something of a strange interest. Merianna held her position still, not trusting the sinister furnace. It was something like the instinctive pull to jump off a high ledge, but her conscious told her that it was dangerous.
A small box appeared, familiarly silver, oval and little pearls decorating it. No doubt that she had seen it before. It sat in stark contrast to the dirt in the fireplace, shining luminously. It seemed to smile at her and beg her to come near. What was it again? Surely it wasn't alive. Boxes don't show emotion and the certainly don't live among soot.
That's right. It had Merianna's halo in it!
Wait…how did she know that? She didn't recall ever opening it. How did she know?
Who told her? She recalled a voice telling her it had her halo in it. The container was shut tight. Without any restrictions anymore, Merianna quickly grabbed the box, but it stayed stuck to the inside of the chimney. She tried to yank her hand back, but suddenly her hand wash stuck clasped around it too. With a scream, she tried to rip her hand away, but the soot that lay around the container started to make its way up around her fingers and her hand. It crawled up along her skin, prickling and tingling her arm. She shrieked at it to stop.
Something was shaking underneath her and she could hear the clattering of objects as she opened her eyes.
"I told you, you don't need to saw off an arm, Doc!"
She grabbed the sheets beside her instinctively. It wasn't that her arms were cut off then. Good. She tilted her head to the side. There was Bardroy there, fighting with a doctor who had a saw in his hands.
"Look! Look! She's all right now!" Another familiar voice cried.
Finney came into her vision and waved a hand in front of her face. Her eyes flinched at the sudden movement.
"See? I knew she'd make it out alive!" He said.
Merianna tried to lift herself up, only to find that she was bound to the bed by straps, a metal attachment circling her arm. She turned her head with a questioning look at Finny, but he only pointed to Bardroy struggling with the doctor. It looked like Bardroy had convinced him that no unnecessary amputation was needed, but he still insisted that he check up on Merianna. He excused himself for a while, presumably to put away the rusted-looking hacksaw.
"Hey, wait right there!" Bardroy yelled ferociously as he followed.
Merianna waited until they were gone until she pelted Finny with questions.
"Finny…! Finnian! How did…How did I get here? I thought…you were…and I kept going on…Where is everyone else?"
He looked down on her with eyes that hid an emotion he never showed before: deep worry, sadness, anxiety. She wished his smile was back to reply.
"Merianna…I don't know…I wish I could tell you. All I knew was that Master suddenly called us to take you into town to the hospital. You were really wounded, and we were all worried. I was scared, Meri…how did you end up so bloody and injured?"
He looked deeply into her eyes for an answer, but she quickly shifted her view to the leather straps bounding her. She was reminded of her failure, but didn't have the strength left to lash out. She apologized mentally to Finny for not wanting to answer his question.
"Oh, but we brought you something to eat!" he exclaimed, changing the subject.
He brought out an apple from a paper bag beside him and held it out to her.
"Finny…" She whispered. "Thank you…"
The look she gave him seemed to welcome a cold draft.
"But how do you expect me to eat it…?" she finished. (Silly Finny.)
He flustered in response, realizing the mistake. He glanced between her and the apple.
"I…I don't think we brought a knife…I would…let you out but…but the doctor said we shouldn't…!" He sputtered, blushing tremendously. "How am I supposed to cut it?!"
Merianna eyed the fresh fruit longingly. How long ago has it been since she'd eaten? Everything else seemed to have melted away…especially when Finny took a bite into the apple.
"F-F-Finny!" Merianna snapped.
He took the bit out of his mouth and offered it to her mouth.
"I-It's the only…way I can think of…at this moment…!" He retorted.
Merianna heart softened; of course he wasn't going to eat it in front of her. She accepted it gratefully, careful not to bite his fingers. She thanked him, and he replied with a big, bright smile. He continued to bite off pieces of the apple to feed her, and any awkwardness was quickly dispelled.
"Are your jaws getting…tired, Finny?" she asked.
He shook his head, but he stopped for a minute, looking dejectedly at the ground.
"Meri…can you promise…not to lash out at Sebastian anymore?"
Her eyes silently asked him to explain himself.
"Please…for me…He won't bother you anymore…so long as you keep working quietly. And this is probably the first time Master has ever re-hired someone…don't get yourself kicked out again…" He pleaded. "I'd…like…like…if you would…stay a while more…"