The human was back. Taako's single eye followed him as he made his way down the stairs and towards the two of them, a plastic bag in hand. He began pulling a few items from it, mostly random tools and a wig, but what definitely interested him were the clothes he began shimmying onto Lup's naked form, then his own. They'd been relieved of their scraps of clothing their first night here, and Taako had been able to cover them both with a sheet that kept out the cold. He wasn't sure why he was doing this, but he appreciated it all the same.
After the human left to another part of the room that was blocked off— a living space, perhaps?— Lup's hand found the mangled mess that was his and squeezed gently, beeping at him that she was already getting feeling back into her legs. Once he was fixed, they could leave.
Once he was fixed.
There isn't much he remembers during their last few hours. He remembers stumbling into an abandoned warehouse in the south district, feet bleeding and stomachs growling. Dehydration had been setting in, but starvation had been encroaching for far longer. Lup had to practically drag him to a squatter's camp, long abandoned, and set him in a pile of blankets while she scavenged the camp for food.
He remembers dying, peacefully, in his sleep.
(Lup didn't get to go out so peacefully. She remembers a bat cracking against the side of her head when she rounded a corner, falling flat on the dirty concrete floor, watching as her blood poured out around her.)
Then he woke up again.
He woke up in a candlelit room, surrounded by figures in black robes, in a body that wasn't his own. He could feel the gears turning inside him, the electricity coursing through his veins. But more than that, he could feel power inside him. Pure, unadulterated magic.
And he couldn't control it.
And neither could Lup.
When one of the robed figures had tried to grab her, he'd gone up in flames immediately, screaming in pain. The room devolved into chaos, half the cultists (at least, he assumed) trying to put their friend out, the other trying to restrain them. Lup had set most of them on fire, but Taako had gotten one.
He doesn't know how it happened, only that it did. The spell was something he'd learned, but never cast before, that, in essence, banished someone to another dimension. In the most excruciating way possible.
Whenever he shut his eye, he could see the elven man's face as he disappeared, hear a woman scream, Edward!, over and over and over and over—
You need to stop thinking so much, Koko, beeped Lup. We're safe now. That's all that's all that matters now.
He tries to exhale, but all that comes out is a screeching noise where his lungs should be. Taako hears the man exclaim in surprise, running to the door he's certain is hidden behind a shelf and poking his head out to make sure they're alright. Lup's shoulders shake with silent laughter.
He's kinda cute, don't'cha think?
His face tries to contort with disgust, but all he feels is pain. Ew, Lulu. He's like, 500, at least.
Humans don't age like elves, dorkwad, you know that.
I know. He looks like he's 500 in human years.
He's not even that grey! Just a little around the temples… quite refined, if you ask me.
Ugh. Taako rolls his eye at her. Get away from me with that old man fucker attitude. I'll never get why you like them so much.
Hey, those old men played for many a meal. John was a cutie, for certain.
And he replaced you with a dwarf, for fuck's sake.
She shrugged, smirking. I introduced them. John was a lot happier with him, the last time I heard from him. Besides, it was getting stale near the end. You can only hear "woe is me" for so long before it affects the sex.
Ew, ew. Do not need to hear about your sex life in any fashion, Lup.
He kept us fed. That's all he was to me.
They went silent for a long while.
Hey Koko?
Yeah, bubbele?
What do you think is gonna happen to us after we get back outside?
What do you mean?
Taako… What if they've already found our… our bodies?
He… hadn't thought of that— no, he hadn't wanted to think about that. He wasn't sure how much time had passed between dying and waking up in a robotic body, but he'd probably just assumed they'd be able to go back home and pick things up where they left off. Taako could go back to filming Sizzle It Up and teaching Angus, and Lup could do whatever she did in her spare time.
They could've gotten away with an extravagant lie about going on vacation in some remote, sunny port town, gained a bit of weight and got some heavy reconstructive done. Perhaps they could get an artificer to craft them enchanted rings of disguise self, to make themselves resemble who they used to be.
I… I dunno.
I'm scared, Koko.
Me too, Lulu. But whatever happens, we've got each other. Even death can't separate us.
Lup squeezed his hand and grinned. Damn right. We flipped the bird to that big queen bird, didn't we.
He would've laughed, but he figured it'd just bring back the human, and he was not looking forward to getting pulled into another conversation about how his beer gut showed he was an intelligent man or some bullshit. Hell yeah, and we'll do it again if she ever tries again.
Another squeeze. Another long, long silence.
Hey Taako?
I haven't died on you yet, Lup de loop. You don't have to start every single conversation with a "hey".
Do you remember what it was like when we were dead?
He tried to frown. Only one side of his mouth went down.
No. I just remember going to sleep, and waking up somewhere else.
I do. At least, I think I do. I remember dying, for sure. And I remember a light. Do you think that was us going to the astral plane?
I'm gonna assume someone just shined a light in your eye. Just a shot in the dark, here.
Wow, thanks for the vote of confidence there, butthead.
You're welcome, dingus. I'm going to sleep now.
We don't need to sleep, though.
I know. It just feels nice. Now use your strong new hands to fetch the blanket and snuggle the fuck up.