Yami paused when the cave path darkened and there were no longer jagged holes in the wall to let in light, so he pressed his hand against the wall and decided to cast a spell.
His MP was dangerously low considering he hadn't had anything to replenish it since his job at the village, but as long as his health remained high, it should be fine.
He was about to speak when Seto gave his hand a warm squeeze, and everything brightened around him as if it were daylight.
Stunned beyond belief, Yami blinked and glanced down at the demon child, noting that his blue eyes were glowing eerily bright for a moment before they darkened again, and his heart skipped a frantic beat.
"A-Are you doing that? You can project …night vision?" Yami breathed, his throat tight as he struggled to contain his joy.
Seto gave him a confused look and a shrug. Was it dark in here? It looked just like the outside.
"Let go of my hand, let me see," Yami instructed as he gently pushed Seto's hand away, and the cave's darkness came crushing down around him so fast, his head spun, so he reached down to grab onto the child again, seeing his world brighten in an instant. Oh. Wow. Incredible!
Seto saw Yami wobble, and he shot his arm out to steady him, wondering if the mage was going to pass out. He stared a moment longer at the tips of the man's spiky hair and saw three colored spheres floating above his head too, similar to the lizard-horses, except Yami had one blue sphere, one white sphere that was half-full, and one green sphere that looked nearly empty.
Lifepoints? Mana? His health status?! Seto thought gleefully, wondering if he could touch it.
"And…now we'll cast a seeking spell," Yami said quietly, kneeling on the ground of the cave to swirl his fingers into the cold stone, feeling Seto's eyes on his back while he chanted.
Seto's eyes widened as he watched Yami's spell disperse as long silver threads into the cave, and the white sphere above his head depleted ever so slightly.
Oh…shit, that's his MP or something , Seto realized as he clung into Yami's arm harder, feeling a surge of protective warmth wash over him. Not his own feelings. Yami was feeling this.
"Okay, it looks like they're this way and we'll be out before you're hungry again," Yami said cheerfully, giving him a gentle smile.
Dazzled, Seto followed him magnetically and secretly appreciated how thoughtful Yami was.
He could hear soft conversation in the distance, and if he looked hard enough at some rocks, he could see odd shapes and shadows moving through them, but only sometimes. Why? Was it…ghosts? Cave…monsters?
They turned several sharp corners, and his question was answered when he saw a group of humans huddled by a shallow pond, nursing one of their injured friends.
The shadowy lumps he'd been seeing through the rocks were these fuckers!
And they smell bad, Seto thought irritably as the stench of their blood assaulted his senses. Humans were filthy disgusting creatures in this universe too. How awesome.
Yami let go of his hand and rushed forward to help.
Bored, Seto hung back and gazed around the cavern, choosing to look at the sharp stalactites instead. The injured man's gasps were echoing annoyingly around him, so he shut him out and circled a towering stone icicle, reaching out to touch it because it was sparkling prettily.
"Seto! Stay close!" Yami's voice raised warningly, followed by another gust of cold wind as he cast a spell. "…Heal!"
Ugh, Seto thought dryly as he daringly swiped at the glittering stone, surprised when a huge chunk of it fell away and crumbled at his feet. Oh. It was soft, like…sand…
He knelt and dragged his finger through the softness, fascinated. There were stray oval stones made of this sand too, and after hesitating, he scraped the edge of his nail against it, seeing the tip dull the way it would if he was filing it. Perfect! This stone could be his nail file.
Palming a couple into his pockets, Seto vigorously sanded his nails down, hearing the humans talking about him as if he wasn't there.
"Your ward? He's a cute little elf…" one of the adventurers said quietly, noticing pointed ears sticking out from the edges of the apprentice cap while the child knelt by the piles of sand to play with it. "How old is he…or she?"
Damn, I don't know! Yami thought anxiously, quickly drawing knowledge on elven children's stages of life, bullshitting an answer he hoped would suffice, "…He just turned 50. He looks younger than most kids his age. Picky eater. You know."
"Ahhh," the man replied half-heartedly, and Yami bit the inside of his cheek, hating the human for even asking when he clearly didn't care.
Wow, he's kind of right, Seto thought, disgruntled. If he was 50 years old in this tiny body, how fucking long would it take for him to 'get old'?! Fuck. This sucked.
"Now let's all stand and stay within my teleportation circle—Seto, come here. We're leaving. Put that stuff down," Yami instructed, his heart clenching with guilt because the kid looked like he'd been having fun playing with the sand.
Fine by me , Seto thought blithely, having dulled all his nails down to rounded edges, he felt much better when clenching his fists.
He was pulled against Yami's leg inside the circle of stones that had been arranged around them, and the ring glowed brightly for a second, blinding him briefly. Wincing, Seto kept his eyes open, struggling to see what teleporting would look like, but he found himself staring at the ugly lizard-horsemen when they arrived at the mouth of the cave beside the stone tablet.
The group of adventurers collapsed gratefully and touched Yami's hands, thanking him tearfully.
"We thought we'd die in there!" One man said, bowing his head while his companion clambered to give Yami his thanks too.
"Here. Please take this location marker. It goes to the pub my wife and her sister run together. A free meal and a drink if you ever stop by our town!"
Yami accepted the card with a curt nod and felt Seto hanging onto his leg while gazing up at the humans with wide eyes. This had been a great way to gauge how well-mannered Seto was, and thankfully, the child wasn't prone to violent outbursts.
Two of the guards wearing red robes stepped forward and set giant bags of gold at Yami's feet, and two more were appearing out of the sacks worn by the lizard-horses, and Seto stared so hard, his eyes watered.
Wow. They were bulging!
Was gold the highest form of currency here in this world?
"Thank you," Yami sniffed, reaching a hand out to hover over the sacks of gold, storing them safely away in his inventory, aware that all the humans were now staring at them. It was time to leave.
"Let's go, Seto," and his hand was held tightly as Yami dragged his toe in a quick circle around them, and it glowed brightly again so much that he had to shut his eyes.
They arrived at the edge of the paved road with a town in sight in the distance, and Seto felt Yami wobble dangerously at his side but put on a brave face.
Mildly worried, Seto glanced up to see that Yami now had two empty spheres above his head, with the yellow sphere being the fullest. Okay, that one had to be a life point, because Yami's health and magic points were practically empty.
"Could've done without that mini adventure," Yami smiled shakily and grabbed Seto's hand to lead him down the path into town. "It's dangerous to hang around humans for too long, you know?"
Yep, Seto replied plainly, wondering if there was a way he could help Yami replenish his spheres, and he couldn't think of any other way than to ask.
"How do you regain your energy?" Seto heard himself say in a series of clicks and rasps, and he tried not to wince at how his voice sounded like a thousand insects swarming in his throat.
It was disgusting to hear. He'd make a point to talk even less.
"Food and water usually help," Yami replied kindly as they walked down the paved path, hand-in-hand, approaching a long line of people waiting to enter the gates. "Now let's get inside safely, because I'm sure you'd like something to eat soon." His stomach turned at the thought of Seto suddenly going feral and eating someone's expensive mount, so he made a mental promise to himself about always keeping Seto consistently fed.
Not hungry, Seto thought faintly, but he let Yami continue to gently instruct him on how to act once they got to the gates. Apparently, it was like customs. A guard would check their ID.
Wait.
ID?!
"No worries, I have a card for you here," Yami said smoothly as he pulled out the location card the adventurer had given him earlier and passed his hand over it to cast an illusion spell before handing it to Seto, who accepted it with both hands. Yami nodded approvingly, trying not to let Seto's body language affect him. Demons who received items with both hands usually signified respect.
He respects me! Yami thought happily, and Seto stared at the fake ID card in his human-like hands while the line inched forward three steps.
He'd heard Yami's thoughts, but he was too anxious to respond to it because they were three groups away from walking in through the spiked gates that were flanked with threatening guards that had eels for heads and three-clawed fingers. Those guards were poking everyone with their wooden staffs, and it glowed every time. Oh fuck.
The security here was magical.
He was so fucked.
One poke and they'd realize he was a demon or had some kind of demon blood.
Yami could feel Seto tensing and relaxing oddly, so he rested a gentle hand on Seto's tiny shoulder, bending down to whisper, "don't worry. My cloaking spell is more powerful than those detectors…because I helped make them. The ring you're wearing is five levels higher than those wooden sticks. Just act normal, don't breathe too fast or too slowly."
What if I just hold my breath?! Seto thought frantically, and he was instructed to raise his arms by the eel-headed guard on his left.
He took a shallow breath in, and let it out. Another deep breath in, and calmly letting it out.
His heart was thundering in his ears as the staff nudged him on his side, and it glowed briefly before the eel guard nodded and looked to the next person in line.
Oh. Fuck. SAFE.
He rushed to hold Yami's hand on the other side of the gate, and Yami gave him a triumphant smirk that made his heart skip a beat.
"There, see? Told you," Yami pressed a finger playfully to his lips and winked. "Now one last obstacle. Let's secure your real ID before we get carded at random, okay?"
Carded at random?! What is this place? A fucking dystopian prison? Seto wondered frantically, but he stuck close to Yami's side as he was led down a busy street filled with colorful shops that had giant banners hanging from the roofs, windows and doors, advertising their products in a runic script he couldn't read.
Great to know he was illiterate too.
He would tell this to Yami in private because he was afraid of speaking in public, lest someone hear his terrifying, raspy demon voice and peg him as a monster… But there were monsters here too, some more grotesque than others, sporting a variety of odd animalistic features, some reptilian and others mammalian.
So fucking weird. It was like he'd walked onto a set of some abandoned, halloween RPG reject game mid-dev.
He was so consumed with staring at the odd "people" walking by that he didn't notice Yami pulling him up a set of stone steps into a large building. Potted plants that flanked the doors had weird tongues coming out of the flowers that wiggled at him as he passed, and Seto's mouth dropped open, staring at them in horror. What the fuck were those things?!
His nose bumped into something soft, and he realized it was Yami's back. The mage was talking to someone over the counter above his head, and since he was too short to see, Seto resolved to listen.
"…Name and species?" A woman's voice asked, sounding patient and kind.
"Seto. Half-elf, half-dragon," Yami lied smoothly, just in case Seto's fangs showed up on camera.
That's way cooler than what I actually am , Seto thought nervously as he understood that Yami was essentially smuggling him into this 'safe town' with this fake ID.
"Okay, another rare rescue for you, Yami?" The woman asked sweetly, and Seto perked up even more.
So… Yami did this often?!
"Yes," Yami replied quietly, resting his hand protectively atop Seto's head and feeling the jagged edges of his horns dig into his palms, making him sweat harder at the lies he was about to tell. "He's a funny one, always playing around with magic so I've made him my apprentice to keep a closer eye on him."
More like because I'm a monster, Seto added spitefully as he listened to the woman tapping on something, inputting the information. There was brief silence before she spoke up again brightly.
"Okay, have him step over here!"
Yami reached down to wrap his fingers around Seto's wrist, leading him between two pillars for the photo and knelt before him to adjust his clothes, whispering through gritted teeth, "don't smile so much that your fangs show." And he stood quickly to let the woman take Seto's photo.
She hovered behind the glass with the button in hand, looking confused before she turned to Yami with a funny look to ask, "is he wearing a cloaking item? He's not showing up on the glass for some reason."
Crap! Seto thought anxiously, and it seemed Yami had the same thought, because his violet eyes widened slightly before he pulled a dazzling professional smile.
"Ah, he is wearing a cloaking device because we just had an educational adventure in the caverns," Yami laughed lightly and turned to give Seto a frantic look while his voice remained steady. "Seto, take that ring off and keep it in your palm, clasp your hands behind your back and stand up straight, okay? I know you like to slouch."
Or because I have black nails? Seto thought furiously as he did he was told and hastily tucked his hands behind his back first before slipping off the ring,
Yami noticed this and his appreciation for the child's tactfulness rose, and so did the initial estimate of his age. Maybe Seto was 80 and was merely runty for his age.
Just when Seto thought he was in the clear, the woman piped up again to ask, "Oh and could he take off his apprenticeship hat? No hats, glasses, or magical feature enhancements please."
Fuck! Yami raged privately as he kept the smile on his face while lying through his teeth.
"The hat is enchanted to his head by a silly spell he needs to find a reversal for. I'm refusing to help him because he needs to learn a lesson the hard way."
To his relief, the woman laughed and added, "oh my niece did that. She turned her skin blue for an entire week, right around school picture day. You can imagine how angry my aunt was."
"Young magicians and their overconfidence, right?" Yami said emptily, trying to keep the good mood going. He couldn't feel too relieved to hear her laughter and willed himself to remain composed. Could she take the damn picture so they could be on their way?
Seto needed to be fed every six hours…at least.
We're so fucked if she takes a second longer to make my photo, Seto thought calmly, willing himself to remain pleasant because he knew if he felt even a little bit angry, his eyes would start turning black.
"And…smile!" The woman said cheerfully, pointing at the green dot on the glass in front of her face.
Seto curled the corners of his mouth upwards and prayed he didn't look mean or ugly as the green dot blinked once, and that was it.
She turned away and bent down under the counter to pull out a sparkling new card, handing it to Yami with a beaming smile.
"He's so cute," she gushed, giving Seto a playful wave from over the counter. "Now you know the drill, Yami. Hope the line to get the paperwork isn't too long. See you both later!"
Yami grimaced at her in thanks and dragged Seto out of the building behind him, reaching down Seto's pouch to shove the card inside and watching the child hastily stick the ring back onto his pinky finger. The nails had been rounded at the edges, and Yami stared briefly in amazement before the spell took effect, turning Seto's tiny fingernails into a light pink color.
Sometime during their trek into the cave, Seto had managed to manicure himself.
This child was so odd. Demons were known to be vain, so maybe this was like that. They prided themselves in having the largest, sharpest horns, being the most muscular…and all the rest, usually inciting disdain from the elves who were similarly vain.
Their aesthetic rivalry was irritating, making it hard for them to get along.
It might be an issue when he meets her… Yami thought anxiously as he felt Seto skipping beside him again, and his heart wrenched. Even after experiencing a massacre, the child still managed to hold onto some of his happiness and innocence. How sweet. He must've been protected well.
They passed a few food stands, and Seto's eyes watered at the giant meat skewers, his stomach grumbling in protest as he was pulled by way too fast to ogle. He was hungry now. Didn't Yami say they were gonna get some food?
Thankfully, he was led up the steps of another building, and they traveled upwards in a glass elevator before arriving in a luxurious sitting area with a chandelier made of glowing, bulbous plants. Seto craned his neck upwards, fascinated.
The archway of a door passed by in his vision, and they were greeted by a creature with a kangaroo's head but a woman's body.
Stunned, Seto stared at her breasts with his mouth hanging open as they were led to a private booth, and she left them with two empty plates on either side of the table.
Sliding into the booth, Yami tapped the plate with two fingers and meat skewers that were even larger than the ones he'd seen from the food cart appeared, and Seto's mouth watered painfully. How was he doing that?
"Menu is here," Yami pointed at the glowing square on the table, and Seto barely spared it a glance as he grabbed the food and began to eat, suddenly realizing he was famished. He couldn't read, so he'd let Yami order whatever he wanted.
Yami tapped the table twice and a gleaming glass of water appeared. He delicately took a few sips before setting it down and giving Seto a smile.
Can I have some alcohol? Seto wondered hungrily as he eyed the wine glass in the kangaroo waitress's tray, and Yami's gaze followed him with concern.
"You like her?" Yami asked curiously, his stomach curling as he wondered if Seto wanted to eat her.
What the fuck, I don't want to eat her. I have food here , Seto thought irritably, holding the skewer up to admire how it was taller than his entire face before leaning forward to chomp down on it, his mind humming with joy as the juices melted across his tongue. Oh god… food… This kinda tasted like beef katsu…
He looked over to see what Yami was doing and nearly choked on his next bite when he saw Yami eating a sandwich made of two turtle shells.
What.
The fuck.
But it made his health sphere increase slowly until it was a quarter full.
He had to remind himself that Yami wasn't human, even though he looked like it.
It was disturbing to see him chewing down on the turtle shells, so Seto had to look away.
He had to think, maybe his own eating wasn't too attractive either, so he reminded himself to be neater after rounding off another skewer and reaching for the bowl of soup that appeared when Yami ordered it for them with two taps of his fingers.
The booth had glass on all sides, giving them some privacy, so Seto relaxed after a while and he began to feel full. He tried to catch a glimpse of himself in the reflection, but he couldn't see anything. He couldn't see his own stats either. Maybe…he could try asking Yami by speaking. No one could really hear them because the restaurant was so noisy, he could risk it.
"Ya-ami," Seto heard himself say, and his voice brayed and vibrated in that terrible high-pitched kid's voice with that disgusting throat-full-of-insects sound. " Why can't I see my stats?"
Yami blinked and raised the glass of water to his lips, trying to understand.
"Your…what?" he asked delicately, setting the glass down with a concerned frown. "Is it something you want to eat?"
"My stats," Seto repeated, deciding to go with another definition. " My levels of power. I can see yours. Why can't I see mine?"
Yami blinked slowly again and his face steadily flushed, his voice lowering as whispered fervently, "you can see my levels of power?! I didn't feel you appraise me!"
Oh, I thought everyone could do that in this game , Seto shrugged, regretting asking entirely, but now Yami was fixated on it like a man possessed.
"What does it look like? Or you can see when I'm weak? Is it like an Appraisal?" Yami pressed, leaning forward in his seat and watching Seto's blue eyes drift to the side, uninterested.
Ah, well…
"If you want to see your power, we can use an appraisal mirror, perhaps? If you're not able to perform a self appraisal yet …." Yami tapped his chin thoughtfully while his other hand turned the glass of water on the table. "I'll see if I can secure an appointment with that mirror for you, alright?"
Seto nodded and wiped his hands neatly on the napkin provided and tucked his hands back in his lap. Cool, sure.
"Are you full? Eat some more," Yami suggested passionately, tapping the table again and making a plate of greens appear beside a giant ice cream drink with a colorful, striped candy stick stuck at the top.
"If you can eat all of those healthy plants before this melts—" Yami didn't even finish speaking before Seto's tiny hands reached for the utensils at lightning speed. The child shoved the plate of vegetables into his mouth with three rapid arm movements, his cheeks pouched comically before he reached for the giant glass of ice cream.
Aw… What a good kid.
Oh this tastes nasty, but I'll wash it down with this , Seto thought pleasantly as the bitterness from the vegetables stung the back of his throat, but he knew Yami meant well. He latched onto the candy straw with vicious joy, thinking that ever since he turned 28, anything too sugary made him nauseous and gain weight while he sat at his desk all day. Now that he was stuck in a kid's body, he could be an endless vacuum for all the fried, sugary, fat stuff he'd previously avoided because consuming it meant two grueling hours in the gym to work it off.
Ice cream tasted the same in this world too, how fucking nice.
Another napkin was produced for him, but this time, Yami reached intrusively across the table to swipe it across his face, clearly parenting him.
Jerking his head away in annoyance, Seto tried to fight him off, but Yami rested his hand atop his head and managed to clean him off until he was happy.
I'm a 38-year-old man! Seto screamed furiously, and Yami hastily dropped the napkin and held his hands up defensively when he saw the whites of Seto's eyes darken alarmingly fast.
"Okay, I'm done. You had it all over your face and I'm not walking around with you looking like that," Yami said with a small smile, and he watched the whites of Seto's eyes lighten immediately as the child pouted and crossed his arms firmly, looking away pointedly.
Seto set his jaw and listened to Yami chuckling at him from across the table. Ugh, whatever.
"Now I think you need nap time," Yami said seriously, setting two silver coins on the table before getting up to give Seto his hand, and he saw the child visibly roll his eyes.
What?
What was that reaction?!
"You're still doing nap time, aren't you?" Yami asked anxiously as Seto grabbed his hand with too much force and gave him a condescending look that made him shiver. Oh, alright then…
"But I want to show you where we're staying for the night," Yami said cleverly, walking Seto to the exit while Seto clearly was done listening to him. His blue eyes were fixated on the ceiling once more, awed by the decorations.
They were out on the main street again, and Seto hung onto Yami's hand as he drank in all the new sights. Weapons shops? Armor fitting? Bag…weaving?
He couldn't read, but he could guess by the artful drawings on the windows and banners.
Approaching one that had a drawing of a classy wine glass, Seto's eyes widened with joy as he wondered if he'd be able to sneak some alcohol. It would have to be done when Yami wasn't watching him. Damn it.
He was led through the swinging doors of the bar and was greeted with simple round tables where a couple of patrons were sitting, enjoying a large bottle of wine. Aside from them, it was empty. Even the bar was deserted.
"Come on…no staring at the humans," Yami said gently, pulling Seto up the wooden steps to the second floor and then up to the third floor to a tiny closet door at the end of the hallway.
Seto frowned when he noticed they'd passed two numbered doors and aimed for an unmarked one. Great. He was officially being hidden. Or maybe it was too much to hope that this room was nicer than all the rest?
No such luck. When Yami pushed the door open, there was a fine layer of dust cascading down from above, and Seto recoiled in horror at the piles of clutter in this room.
Yami stepped inside and knelt to clean it up with a quiet chant, and Seto watched in wonder as the fallen books arranged themselves neatly back on the shelves, the spare wooden staffs bundled together and propped up against a wide bed that was puffing up repeatedly, dusting itself off. There was a dusty window letting in light, but that was it.
A small wooden end table covered with metal tools was cleared away, the tools back in the drawers, and the surface sparkling clean.
"This is where you'll sleep for now… until I'm finished fortifying my house," Yami said seriously, pulling Seto over to the bed and casting another cleaning spell on the child. "…Cleanse! ….And again, cleanse!"
Seto sat down on the edge of the bed and swung his legs curiously as a bubble of water appeared out of nowhere to envelope him, and it was a soothing, cooling sensation that left him feeling very refreshed.
"Good, now you'll be comfortable enough to…take a nap?" Yami said hopefully, and he received another eyeroll, but thankfully, the child laid down obediently and pulled the covers up to his chin, his bright blue eyes like two icy pinpricks, staring at him.
"You're a good kid," Yami gushed warmly as he dipped his head down to press a quick kiss to Seto's forehead, and he turned to go, resting his hand on the doorknob and freezing in terror when a voluptuous woman with beautiful blond hair came storming up the steps.
Seto saw her and sat up slowly, thinking he saw pointed ears sticking out from the sides of her face, but Yami had swung the door shut too fast, and he was left in the stifling silence.
Okay, weird? Seto thought as he leapt out of bed to eavesdrop at the door, hearing a woman's voice echoing shrilly through the barrier.
"What's going on?" Mai demanded, eyeing the door which Yami was standing so protectively in front of. "Did you 'rescue' another creature egg? Another half-dragon? What is it? I saw you bringing a baby in here. Don't think you can get past me."
Seto blinked and sat back on his heels, his stomach churning. Right.
Yami did this 'rescuing' thing way too often.
Yami was stammering, sounding uncharacteristically clumsy as he muttered under his breath, "he's the last living member of the blue demon tribes."
There was a pregnant pause, followed by a frightened shriek.
"WHAT?! That baby?! No way! Are you serious, Yami?! It's dangerous and you snuck it into town?! Get it out of my bar, now !"
"I can hold a conversation with him!" Yami pleaded desperately. "He's very composed and aware of everything that's been happening! He lost his whole family to murder, to which I had to clean up blood for, you understand I had to keep him safe—!"
"You're going to be imprisoned for this," Mai said coldly, crossing her arms with a glare. "They're gonna punish you to the highest degree when they find out you saved a demon from a purge."
"Purging is wrong. Period!" Yami hissed, balling his fists at his sides while his blood boiled. "It's systematic killing of monsters who humans don't want to understand or make peace with! What did they do to deserve such violence when they're living peacefully in their own villages?"
Yeah, you tell her, Yami, Seto rested his forehead dully against the door, still listening with a heavy heart. Super nice that the lady was calling him an 'it' so casually.
Nice to know he was an 'it'.
"I don't want to hear your excuses, Yami," the woman was relentless. "We are in a safe zone. Get. Rid of it. I don't want it here. It's going to grow up to be a rampaging monster. You love taking in these babies that bite your hand off the second they grow up!"
"…Not true," Yami mumbled to the floor, his face flushing.
Having heard enough, Seto climbed back into bed and turned over, hating how his eyes were leaking tears of frustration. His pillow was hissing for some reason, so he lifted his head up, horrified to see that his tears were singeing through the cotton cover of the pillow, leaving tiny, burning holes.
Oh. Great.
I cry acid! That's wonderful ! Seto reeled, pressing his hands to his face and noticing that it didn't burn his skin, but when it got on the sheets, it left little holes everywhere too. Awesome.
Fucking awesome. And to add to this awesomeness, he could still hear the elf woman hating on him through the door while Yami desperately tried to defend him.
"Mai. You owe me. He's a baby! He can be reasoned with! Remember when I found that baby dragon?"
There was a derisive scoff, followed by, "yeah, you love finding baby creatures. Stop it! The town is getting full because you keep doing this!"
"Tell me how that dragon is helping you now," Yami challenged, and there was a long sigh coming from the woman.
"Anja delivers herbs for me, but that's because she can be tamed! Demons are a whole other breed! They're monsters with human intelligence! How scary is that?! We already live in fear of humans. Get rid of it, Yami. Last chance, or I'll report you myself."
"One conversation. You talk to him for one full minute!" Yami insisted, raising his voice and not caring if Seto could hear him through the door, but he already had a feeling Seto could hear them.
"Nope. You have two solar rotations to get it out of here before the inspection period for all my tenants," Mai said flatly as she turned to walk away with a huff.
"Thank you, Mai. That's long enough for me to finish fortifying my house," Yami called after her, and she tossed a lock of her blonde hair over her shoulder as a response.
He turned around quickly to step inside the room and closed the door behind him, seeing the lump underneath the covers tense. Seto grit his teeth furiously and tried to stem the flow of tears that didn't seem to want to stop coming out of his eyes.
The pillow had become a tattered mess. Yami was sure to notice.
Yami approached the bed cautiously and sat on the edge, resting his hand protectively atop Seto's shoulder, his stomach dropping to his feet when he saw the pillow had nearly disintegrated from all the acidic tears.
Seto clenched his fists in fury and humiliation when he heard Yami mutter something under his breath, and the pillow magically fixed itself underneath his ear. He glared at the tiny window above his head, wondering if it was even worth running away to relieve Yami of the burden. He wouldn't survive two seconds on his own out there.
"Hey… I know you heard all that," Yami said quietly, feeling Seto tense again and nod.
"Come here. Let me give you a hug," Yami suggested, pushing the covers off of Seto's body and bending down to scoop him into a tight embrace, gently chinning the top of Seto's head and tenderly touching the jagged edges of his missing horns.
"Don't worry. I'll teach you lots of magic so you can survive," Yami spoke into the top of Seto's light brown hair, and he felt the child nod glumly again.
Survive. Yeah, Seto thought bitterly, doing his best not to cry again. That's what his dead older brother told him to do. Was this surviving? It felt shitty.
"There are lots of ways you can live happily," Yami continued quietly as he laid Seto back down on the bed.
"You're special, and you're not a monster," Yami said seriously, and Seto rolled his eyes again.
Please. Shut up.
Another kiss landed on his cheek, making his ears burn, and Seto felt Yami get up from the edge of the bed and walk around the room while chanting and drawing symbols in the air, casting protection spells over the entire room, even managing to get the window.
How nice. He was still being protected while in a town that was a 'safe zone'.
Did that mean it wasn't as safe here?
Seto turned over and dared to peek at Yami, his heart wrenching strangely when he saw Yami's mana depleting fast with every spell he cast around the room, and he felt a rush of guilt.
Finally, Yami was finished, and curled up beside him on the bed, his head hitting the pillow with a soft thump! and he turned onto his side to drape a protective arm over Seto's small body, his breathing quiet as he drifted off into a light sleep.
Seto blinked rapidly and stared at the way the sphere slowly began replenishing itself the more Yami continued to sleep, and he felt his eyes heating up dangerously again.
He would not fucking cry while Yami's arm was underneath his head.
He'd singe the flesh off his arm.
Shut up. Stop feeling bad. Seto admonished himself as he turned over onto his other side and stared at the wall, willing for sleep to come.
Author's note:
waww… seto is now in a 'safe town' with extensive help from yami who is a nature conservationist :puppy eyes: