Whenever he caught her staring at him, he'd brandish his axes at her, vehemently glaring back. Her mind was grasping at ways to escape him. Surely, when he apparated out of there, she would have her chance to flee. But with him knowing exactly where she was, was there even that chance?
She squirmed, her bladder full. She really had to go pee. But where could she go?
Upon noticing the girl squirming, the Subordinate's full attention was drawn back to her. His eyebrow rose in a silent question.
"Stop staring at me!" she shouted, drawing a crooked smile from him in response.
"I will if you come out to play!" he stared unblinkingly in defiance, wanting to make her feel as uncomfortable as possible.
She blushed, trying to hide herself behind the patron saint statue. She stared down, her shoes shiny from the water. She didn't know if the water was recycled, but she also didn't want to urinate on the one source of food she had. She wasn't well-versed in what it took to farm one's food, so she wasn't sure if urinating in the soil would contaminate it and make it unviable for future food or even contaminating the food that was currently planted there. She surmised she had a finite amount of food; she didn't want to waste it.
Peeking briefly from behind the statue, she found that Chopper was still locked onto her. She grit her teeth. The statue was large, but it wasn't enough to hide all of her. If she didn't go, though, her bladder would surely explode.
She moved slowly. In her mind, the slower she moved, the less likely he'd be able to see her—even if that wasn't a rational thought. She slipped her panties down, squatting and using the statue as a backrest.
"I could help you get rid of those if you'd just come over here," she heard him say. She tried to ignore it as she relieved herself. The water remained crystal clear, to her surprise. "IT seemed the holy water purified any liquids of contaminants.
"I'd peel them off your body, grip at your exposed flesh," he purred, pausing momentarily to hear the trickle of her urine on the water, "before cutting your body into pieces and use your blood to paint makeup on your face."
Her body had warmed at the first comment, as vulgar as he was being, but she quickly chilled as he finished that sentence. She ripped a leave away from a branch to wipe herself with before pulling back up her underwear.
She was disturbed by her body's reaction. Perhaps it was just the fatigue that was getting to her. Being panicked, fearful, and stressed for hours at a time was taxing to any human, even if Rooders were renowned for having superhuman speed and reflexes. She didn't normally stay up past 8pm. It was likely 2am at this point. Despite a walking demon prowling about outside waiting to kill her, she was safe here.
She went behind the curtains to that little alcove. It was large enough to accommodate her body in addition to all the food. She made sure not to squash the fruits and vegetables as she made herself as comfortable as one could sleeping on a grassy floor. She drew the curtains so that she wouldn't have to see the monster as the last thing before falling asleep.
.o
Alyssa awoke to the sound of him sharpening one axe using the other. It sent chills up her spine. She peered from underneath the curtain, blinking away the fog in her brain to observe him. He was sitting cross-legged, honing the weapons that would take her life.
"You've not gone away yet?" she asked quietly. She didn't think he'd be able to hear, but he perked up upon hearing her. As though he was looking forward to talking to her again.
"I've got all of eternity to wait for you to come to me, Alyssa," he crooned. She scowled and dropped the curtain, blocking his visage. She tried to go back to sleep, only managing to do so once he stopped making that awful noise.
When she woke back up, it was silent. Her right arm was hidden from view. Cautiously, moving so that it wouldn't alert him that she was awake, she drew up the curtain's bottom, just enough so that she could peek with one eye to look out of the hole.
There was no one there.
Her heart leapt and so did she with the opportunity. She ran to the entrance, sticking her head out to make sure he truly wasn't there.
She fell for it. From the corner of her eye, she saw an axe come flying at her head. Screaming, she ducked back in. She couldn't believe she did the same thing as before. If she weren't more careful, it'd be her end. The dark chuckle coming from the man made her sulk and pace back to the foliage.
"Don't pout, girl. You don't look as cute," he lamented. She did a double take. What?
"Not as cute as when you're paralyzed with fear," he finished. Of course.
With the fruits, vegetables, and water, it was likely she could last for a month, rationing wisely, until it ran out, but she wasn't going to last there forever. She had her arrows, but didn't know how effective they'd be when Chopper was so easily able to break free of the heavy magic binds the first two Subordinates weren't able to break free of.
She harvested a bunch of grapes from the vines climbing up the walls, savouring their watery taste. She didn't like being watched while eating, but she didn't have the energy to hide from him despite having just woken up.
She sat in silence for a few hours, picking at her hair, at her skin, touching the leaves, the textures keeping her occupied. She was growing bored.
"Where did the two clowns go?" she asked. They had been a curious bunch, what with their odd garments and peculiar way of speaking in riddles—despite the cruelty of the words.
She didn't think she'd get an answer considering how long he stayed quiet.
"They aren't clowns. They're jesters," he finally responded. "As well as executioners for Lord Burrough." He was sitting on one of the chairs that hadn't been destroyed by the pirate.
"So they…told jokes for him?" she probed, having nothing better to do.
"In a way. They angered many of Lord Burrough's constituents, much to his amusement. If his allies—or enemies—crossed him, he'd have those two execute them." He flexed his blades, watching the light glint off of them. "They make their own fun tormenting people. They don't have the patience to wait around for you to give up and come out, unlike me."
She smiled humourlessly. "It seems like many kids these days don't have the patience that the older generation does."
A natural silence fell between them. She let her mind wander aimlessly before it tangled around the words of their conversation.
She frowned, "How old are you?"
"I died at 19," he said bluntly, as though his own death wasn't a tragedy. "However, I have been roaming this earth far longer than any other Subordinate."
Alyssa gasped, covering her mouth. "19?! T-that's… so young!"
He tilted his head away from her, the first time she'd seen a sort of pained smile on him instead of one filled with malice. "Heh. Yeah."
She used the restroom again, albeit with a wobbly stance since the place she slept in wasn't the most comfortable. This time it wasn't met with vulgar jeers, she silently thanked. She cleaned her hands with the holy water and looked to the grove. Seeing the leaves of carrots, she began digging. They looked healthy and orange. She wasn't a fan of raw carrots but she chewed on them anyways. It was peaceful for several minutes before the demon had to ruin it.
"You know that's useless, girl. You're just prolonging the inevitable."
Alyssa scowled, her heart racing with the fear of the truth, but she continued to eat. She'd think of something. But in the meantime…
"Do you eat?"
Chopper blinked, perturbed. He could smell the fear coming off her, even though he was so far away, but she outwardly displayed none of it. Oh, and the question. Yes, the question. He'd never been asked that before.
"I feed off the misery and suffering of those I kill."
She expected a dramatic and gross response, nodding. "But do you eat human food?"
"I haven't… tried," he grounded out. He sounded awkward, as though having normal conversations like this wasn't something he'd been given the opportunity to practice.
"Do you… miss eating? Normally?" she finally dared to turn her body to face him and look him in the eyes. It was hard to see with him sitting so far away, and the lack of pupils was unnerving, but she held her ground.
"I wouldn't have to think about that if you'd just let me kill you!" he snarled, getting himself as close to the invisible holy barrier as he could without actually touching it, for it would likely burn him.
She flinched away at the suddenness before huffing and turning away fully from him again. She heard him get up and start pacing around the room.
She looked to all of the fruit that was growing. Despite her having eaten grapes a few hours ago, they had miraculously regrown as though untouched! She stared at the empty space where Chopper had been sitting.
"What was your favourite fruit when you were…alive?"
"Apples," he said somewhere to the left in the room. "I remember the ones from Monmouth near the Monmouth Castle that had been demolished. They were so sweet, the juices would leave your face and hands extra sticky." His voice sounded so light and lacking in hate, it was disorienting.
Alyssa felt her heart yearn. She stared back at the fruit growing from a seemingly endless ceiling that extended into darkness despite the lighting cast into the prayer chamber. A red apple hung innocently from a branch. She wondered why she even had the thought to do it—maybe it was just the loneliness and boredom getting to her—but she plucked the apple and walked over to the border between safety and death. Upon hearing her heels clacking on the hard floor, she noticed the sound of his carpeted footsteps had stopped. She crouched down, looking into the barrier and having a startle when she saw that he was already at the barrier despite her not having heard him walking to it.
She rolled the apple through the barrier. It wasn't a Welsh apple, but it was an apple nonetheless.
He stared at it like it was an alien.
Was it… a gift?
He'd never been given a gift from anyone who wasn't his family.
She sat back on her heels as he looked back at her and picked it up. To her chagrin, he walked out of her line of sight. However, she could still hear him bite into it. That apple must have been so crisp, so crunchy. The low moan he emitted as he savoured it had her stomach warming and heat blooming in her loins. She scowled at her body's response, pressing her thighs together and focusing on picking at the threads of the hem of her skirt while he ate.
He threw the core back at her when he was finished. She wasn't quick enough to dodge it, mind having been elsewhere; it knocked her square in the lips with enough force to throw her off balance, sending her back to the floor. Her head banged against the floor. She hissed, picking herself up.
"You're welcome!" she yelled as she held her mouth, certain that the impact had bruised her lips.
He chuckled. "That touched my mouth and yours. Technically, it was our first kiss."
Alyssa made indignant noises. "That's not how it works at all!" She blocked out his laughs that weren't so cruel, ones that had some sort of light-hearted joy attached to them.