Blistering cold winds constantly whistled passed the roaming Inquisition as they trudged through the knee high snow. Loch and May were trudging along with them; despite the snow being weakened by the several people ahead of them, May was still shorter than a lot of them and was still a child, making it harder for her to keep up and be noticeably dragging behind. Her uncle was carrying a hefty amount of supplies as is, but he couldn't simply let her fall behind.
"May," Loch spoke up, "I'll carry you from here on out after I find someone to take these damned supplies, or at least most of them."
May shook her head while rubbing her arms, "No, I can keep up." She shivered under her breath as she started to try picking up the pace.
He just shook his head, "It's one thing to have determination, but this isn't the time, nor place, to try acting tougher. You're a kid for fuck's sake, sometimes you have to remember that you simply don't have enough strength as your elders do."
May frowned and avoided eye contact with him, knowing full and well it's true that she's not as strong as she'd like to be, but it didn't mean she couldn't try.
"I'll carry her." May turned around to see Cole standing there.
Loch arched a brow, but shook his head, "Alright, I'll be just a bit further ahead if you need anything." He adjusted the strap across his chest and carried on forward.
Before May could even say anything, let alone protest, Cole stood in front of her and squatted down just enough for her to hop on, "Come on, we don't want to fall behind." Cole looked back at her and gave her a kind smile.
May just sighed before hoping onto his back and letting him carry her as he began to walk forward with ease, "What about your ribs though?" She curiously asked, "I heard that you had a few of them cracked… Are you ok?"
The blond didn't want to admit it, but his ribs were indeed still hurting. Not as bad as before of course, if they were, he couldn't even bear the thought of May on his back. The health potions helped though, that was enough for him, "I'm fine, don't worry about me," he reassured her, "it doesn't hurt." Well, that part wasn't a total lie, but he didn't want her to feel bad or anything.
"Are you sure?"
Cole just nodded, "You should rest, you seem tired."
She didn't want to admit it, but she was exhausted. It's not enough that she nearly died in a burning building, but they most likely lost the Herald after she drove off the dragon and Dark Spawn Magister with an avalanche. It panged her at the mere thought of not seeing that kind elf again… not to mention they've been walking through this snow for what seemed like hours, being that they can't even see the sun due to the storm, but just knowing it's there because it's not dusk yet.
She just nodded and quietly said thank you as she cuddled up to him before slowly dosing off to sleep; thankful for the fact that Cole was still here, and not a dream.
ooOoO0OoOoo
With a light yawn and dazed eyes, May slowly took in their surrounds to see it probably just now turned to dusk as the winds were cooler and the light from the sun barely showed anymore. She was still warm as she remembered that Cole had been carrying her this whole time and felt a pang of guilt at the mere thought of his ribs. The young girl looked to Cole's hat, seeing that it had some snow on it now and some toppled over as he continued to trudge through the snow.
"Hey Cole…" She rested her head back onto his shoulder, barely even speaking loud enough for him to hear over the whistling winds, "If you're tired, you can put me down."
He just lightly shook his head, "I'm ok, I don't get tired easily." He gave her a reassuring smile, "I'm fine."
"What about your ribs?" She asked with a hint of curiosity.
Even though Cole was an overt spirit, he wasn't about to tell her that his ribs did indeed hurt; not wanting to worry her or anything, he just bared the pain and shoved it down for her sake, "I'll be ok, don't worry, it'll heal."
"I know… I just…" She thought for a moment, but her heart started to ache as it literally felt like it was going to pound out of her chest. She rested her cheek on his shoulder and tried to hide her face from everyone else around her as tears started to stream down her face and be soaked up by Cole's shirt.
Of course the spirit could feel her warm tears lightly dampen his shirt, but he didn't exactly know it was crying until her breathing hitched and her grip tighten on him. "May…" he spoke loud enough for only her to hear, "What's wrong…?" His voice was careful, as if he were walking on thin ice that was recently salted.
"I… I…" she choked on her own words and had to desperately swallow the lump in her throat before speaking, "I feel like a burden… I got you hurt because I ran… maybe…"
He knew where that sentence was going, "You can't change what happened. Even if you could, do you really think things would be better or worse?"
May raised her head, curious of what he was saying, "What do you mean…?" Her cheeks were burning red and it was still hard to breathe, but the cooling winds helped.
"Everything happens for a reason. If you didn't run, the Venatori would have caught you, and I couldn't have done anything about it." He turned to look at her, "You're very brave. It's one thing to run, but it's another thing to do nothing." He looked straight ahead, "I've seen plenty of people do nothing… it never turns out well."
"But…" She wiped the tears away, but still held more in, "I still got you hurt."
He just shook his head, "I've dealt with worse." His voice lightened up a bit, hoping she'd get off the topic and move onto something else, something more that wasn't about his injury.
May closed her eyes before looking down and mentally sighed, she rested her head on his shoulder again before asking, "Are you really a spirit?"
He impetuously stopped for a moment before taking a hesitant step forward, "I thought I already told you that…" He looked a little vexed, since she was being redundant with this topic and not really taking his word for it… can he blame her though? It's been a long week for the poor kid…
"You did, it's just… a little hard to believe…" she frowned and looked away for a moment before speaking again, "I mean, I partly believe it, and I want to completely believe it…" She trailed off as she pushed a few strains of hair behind her ear, "a part of me doubts though… I'm sorry…"
Cole mentally sighed before looking at her with his peripheral vision, "It's ok, people tend to forget me anyway, so the things I'm doing now won't matter later on. Eventually, you'll forget too." He looked back forward, not wanting to meet with her concerned gaze.
She tightened her grip on his shoulders, "I don't ever want to forget you…" Her voice was quiet, but meaningful none the less to the spirit.
He felt that she's being honest, it touched his soul, making him feel warm inside as he let a small smile curl before letting his thoughts about her flow, "Words warm like fire, like a soul, but never burning. A flame you can touch and feel for all the greedy, but only given to those who need it. Passion is a roaring fire that can never be tamed, only shown, yet beautiful all the same."
May opened her mouth to speak, most likely question what he just said, but quickly closed it as the words sank in like warm honey down a dry and cracked throat. It was… oddly soothing, healing really. Her warm smile finally showed as she finally relaxed and eased her grip on him.
A couple more cold windy hours later, the Inquisition found a good place to camp and started setting the tents up while making blazing fires. Cole spotted May's uncle helping with the supplies and set her down; she almost immediately ran over to her uncle and hugged him while he gave her a squeeze back. Cole just smiled at the little reunion before returning to his calm state as Loch waved him over. He was curious with what he wanted, but did as he gestured and strolled over to them.
"Thank you, Cole." Loch's eyes were warming with a hint of protection as he patted May's shoulder.
Cole lowered his hat while he shrugged, trying to hide his bashful self, "It was nothing… I just wanted to help…"
Loch grabbed the spirit's shoulders and gave him a tight hug, "I won't ever forget this… you've helped May three times now, even saved her life, this isn't fucking nothing, boy." He held him out at arm's reach and showed a kind smile, "If you need anything, just ask." He let go of his shoulders and patted him on the back before tending to the supplies.
Cole just let out a mental sigh with relief as he turned to walk away, but felt a pair of eyes linger on him; so he turned around while he was walking and saw that May was waving at him with a big smile. He couldn't help but smile, with a warming smile like hers, who couldn't? He returned the wave before turning back around and casually walked away to help the others.
After Loch helped a few more people, he led May to a makeshift tent and they both sat down together. The young girl let out a puff of air as she huddled to herself; Loch just let out a tired sigh before wrapping her in a blanket and finally relaxing as he smirked.
"Some job this turned out to be," His words were dripping with sarcasm, "Putting you through all of this… nearly dying." He shook his head and grumbled, "Perhaps it would've been better if you went with some other damn family… live a cushy life and not have to worry about being caught in a firefight."
She gave a soft smile before nudging him with her shoulder, "I don't want to leave you though, who would remind you not to burn the meat?"
He let out a small laugh before holding her close and kissing her head, "Says the person who nearly cut off all her fucking fingers earlier." He let her go so then she could groan in peace and hide her face with her hands as she rested her head in his lap. He petted her head and softly spoke, "I forgot that it's your birthday today… it's past midnight."
She lightly laughed, "I thought closing the breach would be my only present," He curiously looked down at her, "I don't really want anything more."
"Of course… you never really liked asking for anything." He commented, "But, being alive is a pretty decent fucking present if you ask me." May just shook her head and playfully rolled her eyes, "Get some rest… we're gonna have a long journey ahead of us." She didn't protest to this and easily fell asleep.
"The night is long~ and the path is dark~ look to the sky~ for one day soon~ the dawn will come~"
May groggily woke up to this with eyelids heavy like lead as the familiar tune soothingly rang through her ears. Feeling a little bit of hope with this old song, she came out of the tent to join in, but spotted Cole tending to a person and couldn't help but smile; knowing full and well that he's not leaving any time soon now.
A/N:
The story and art belongs to cartoonartist on Deviantart, I just write it out.
Please review and thank you for the favorites/follows! My friend and I appreciate it :)
Btw, I'm terribly sorry that this is late, stuff happened and... yeah, sorry. Hope you enjoyed though :3