And it wasn’t Emerie.
What’s the point in telling him if it doesn’t matter anyway?
“My god, I’m complicated,” Emerie tried to laugh, cringing at her hands before looking up to Mayumi.
Her lips thinned in returned humour, but quickly faded. “You’re insecure.”
“Oof,” Emerie huffed. “That’s not nice.”
“Is it not true?” Mayumi answered, roaming her eyes down Emerie before coming back up. “If it helps, I have plenty of fatal flaws. I’m just lucky Faunus is foolishly attached to me for some reason. Honestly thought I’d die alone if it wasn’t for him.”
“Now you don’t get to die at all.”
Mayumi’s lips twisted. “Don’t remind me,” she grumbled while slapping her face into her hands. “Did you know I’ve only been with him for like nine months? Sorry to touch on a sore subject, but we’re already on our third child. At this rate, I’ll be the sole reason the world is overrun by hundreds of Duskwalkers. Humankind will go extinct before we know it.”
After venting and finally having a moment to collect her frantic mind, the subject didn’t feel so constricting.
She gave a weak but genuine laugh.
That was until she registered something very important. “Nine months?!”
Laughter burst from Mayumi, and it crinkled the corners of her eyes.
“Took you long enough. Yeah, gestation time for baby Duskwalkers is a month. They don’t really have organs or any bones, so there isn’t much to make. The whole thing was weird for me when I first travelled here for everyone’s help, and I was about to burst when we got here. We’d only been travelling for three weeks.” Mirth filled her brown eyes as she looked off into the distance. “You should have seen it. I gave Faunus hell, and my allergies were so freaking bad that I told him to just put me out of my misery. I’m surprised he didn’t regret it so much that he never wanted to go through it again.”
“You seem fine now,” Emerie stated, still reeling about the whole month thing. A month?!
“It gets easier after the first. Apparently, we have to adjust to having the whole ‘darkness inside us’ thing.” Mayumi then stepped forward but didn’t touch her as she tilted her head. “Feeling more at ease now?”
“Yeah, I guess,” Emerie grumbled, rubbing at the side of her neck before wiping her damn face again, this time to remove her drying tears. “Could you do me a favour? Can you not tell anyone else about this? My face already makes people treat me like there’s an elephant in the room, and I don’t need that to be worsened.”
“There’s nothing wrong with your face.” Mayumi sighed as she stepped back. “I’ve seen plenty worse at Hawthorne Keep, and I doubt Delora or Reia would treat you any different because of it. But yeah, sure, fine. I won’t tell anyone what we spoke about tonight.” Then she pursed her lips. “Except for Faunus. When he gets curious about something, he won’t let it lie. He’ll hound me until I give in.”
Emerie chuckled. “Fine. I like him, by the way. He’s pretty funny.”
“Yeah, he’s great.” Then Mayumi shuffled one of her feet backwards. “Do you want to come inside for dinner, or would you rather go to the tent? I have some board games we can play if you don’t feel like being alone. If not, I’m sure we can figure out a way to keep Ingram from you for a little longer so you can rest. I’ll be surprised if he and Faunus aren’t already playing catch with Sleepy. They really like being thrown around.”
At Emerie’s ‘what the fuck’ face, Mayumi’s lips quirked in humour. Puffing out a breath, she answered the petite ex-Demonslayer. “It’s fine. I don’t really want to come inside, but you don’t have to keep Ingram. He gives pretty good hugs.”
Right now, more than anything, she wanted the big, sweet, clingy Duskwalker making her feel better, even if he didn’t know why.
There’s also something I need to talk to him about, even if I don’t want to.
She needed to tell him something that had been like a pit of acid in her heart and chest since the very first night she met him, when he was bound and strapped to that table board in the dungeon. Something she’d been putting off until they made it here.
Emerie didn’t think she could wait any longer with her guilt over it. It was a wall between them, one she had erected until she could speak of it. One that wouldn’t let her get closer to him in fear.
One she needed gone before she could let him touch her again.
I just hope… he doesn’t hate me for it.
Escaping Mayumi and Faunus had been harder than Ingram thought it would be.
The moment the female marched inside, without Emerie behind her, he’d tried to leave. Mayumi had told him to wait until dinner was ready so he could give it to Emerie, explaining humans needed to be kept fed in order to be happy.
So, with irritation, he’d plopped his backside on the ground and waited.
Once he had a plate of various items he couldn’t name, even if his life depended on it, he walked it outside in the dark of night. She hadn’t been in the open, and her scent was strongest on the other side of the ward where the tent was.
“Emerie?” he softly called as he approached, having learnt he needed to ‘knock.’ He wasn’t sure how he was supposed to knock on cloth material, though, so this was the best he could think of.
Outside the tent flap, he poked his claw through, just as she answered. He peeked inside before entering, finding she was seated under the blanket as if she’d been laying down. She was already in a white sleep gown.
She did not wait for me. He was a little hurt by that, and his orbs shifted to blue.
“Took you long enough,” she croaked, her eyes groggy. “I was just about to lie down.”
Just like that, she’d eased his hurt.
Ingram knelt in front of her and handed her the plate of food. “Mayumi told me to make sure you ate.”
“I’m not really hungry,” she answered, before placing it on the ground as far away as she could reach.
Then she straightened, and Ingram drifted his sight over her.
Her face looked drawn, with puffy cheeks and nose. She was even a little pink with the evidence of tears, and he couldn’t stop himself from reaching out to her. He cupped the side of her head so he could stroke her cheek.
“What is wrong, Emerie?” he asked, even though she hadn’t responded any other time he’d posed this question to her today.
They were alone now, so he was hoping she would finally speak about it. She does not like to share with people she does not trust.
She dipped her head. “I don’t really want to talk about it. I am sad, but it hurts to talk about it, and I don’t know where to start.”
Ingram slipped his hand down so he could place the flat edge of his claw under her chin to lift her face back up. “I don’t like that you do not want to talk to me. I want to know all your secrets, Emerie.”
His head reared back in surprise when she rotated to her knees and rose up with her arms reaching towards his chest. “Can you hold me instead?”
She is reaching for me. And her eyes were warm as they looked upon him like he was the safest creature in the world. How could he deny her, or his own desire to keep her close?