“Like I said yesterday, I have a way.”
“Which is?”
“A portal.”
That quietened Mayumi. She placed her hand on Emerie’s shoulder, before yanking her in for a hug. Emerie froze, not expecting something like this from the usually hard woman.
“I’m sorry you’re being asked to do this, but if it works, there’s nothing in the world I could say or do that would show my appreciation.” She tightened her arms around Emerie’s waist while she plopped her chin on her shoulder. It spurred her into returning it. “I don’t even like hugging people, so this is the best I can do.”
“Neither do I,” Emerie admitted.
“Then why the hell did I start this for?”
She didn’t know how it was possible right now, but Emerie weakly laughed. She pulled away, and Mayumi let her go.
“It’ll take time for me to round up the others and for us to make a plan to get rid of the boys. I’ll let Faunus in on it, and we’ll go from there.”
Emerie gave a nod, her throat too thick with emotion to speak. Her shoulders fell, and she looked at Lindiwe, who appeared guarded, when only a few moments ago she had been vulnerable and soft.
She averted her gaze to the eerie forest before drifting it up to the moon.
Part of her wanted to back out of this more than anything.
Emerie wished she and Ingram had never come here to begin with. They could have journeyed anywhere they wanted to go, and she would have fallen more and more in love with him until her soul jumped out from wherever it came from for him to take.
Maybe he would have accepted that she could never give him what Mayumi could for Faunus. He didn’t seem to mind her scars, and over time, she’d begun to feel more at ease about them around him. He’d provided her solace in times when she really needed it, when no human had been able to do that for her. Even though he’d almost eaten her multiple times, his arms still felt safe and protective, and she’d started seeing him as a shield from the horribleness of the world, as well as her own mind.
And he was trying.
Ingram tried his hardest to be gentle, when everything about his exterior was monstrous and frightful. His raven skull, short goat horns, his scales, spikes, and long, thick tail. His claws were deadly, and yet he’d managed to dance them across her skin with such a lightness it stimulated her into gulping at the air with need.
Sometimes, he was frightening in the most titillating way. His growl unexpectedly had her thoughts clouding.
In the back of her mind, and in a corner of her heart, she was hoping Ingram would find a way to stop her before she did this.
If I’m going to die… would it be selfish of me to ask for one real night with Ingram? A parting gift for her, not just from him, but from the world, and a way to teach him something for when he, undoubtedly, found the bride he was meant to have.
The one that wasn’t her.
Sadness washed over, so heavy and cold it threatened to drown her. She wished her eyes didn’t bubble with tears again, but she couldn’t suppress the ache in her chest no matter how much she tried.
It wasn’t fair. None of this was.
I want to be with him.
Emerie had decided if today was truly going to be her last day on Earth, then she would shamelessly milk it for all it had to give. Other than having a bath at Delora’s because, well, she wanted to go out clean, she spent the rest of the time doing what she wanted.
Which just so happened to be spending almost every single second of the rest of it with Ingram.
With them secluded in their tent, she’d attempted to teach him how to play one of the board games Mayumi owned. That had gone poorly, as nothing, not even checkers, seemed to really stick in his mind, since they all required forethought and cunning. It did allow her a bunch of giggles, though, especially when he picked up a disk-shaped piece with his claws, and it flicked out between them like a projectile – straight into her forehead.
Her giggles had erupted into full-blown laughter when he’d grown overly apologetic.
At least scissors, paper, rock was simple enough and based purely on luck. He chuckled each time he won, and him covering her hand when he picked paper seemed to make his chuckle deepen each time.
She even taught him how to count to a hundred, although he often got muddled on the bigger numbers. He was quick to learn. She found it endearing when he started tapping at her freckles, like he wanted to count them all.
Since she’d been teaching Magnar how to read, Delora had lent Emerie a fairytale book Reia had given her.
Teaching Ingram how to read was too big of a task for just one day, although she did start with the alphabet so he could attempt to read along. He did occasionally tap a claw at the page at certain words she repeated regularly.
He’d grown giddy whenever he was correct, scooping his arms around her from behind in innocent joy.
Really, she’d just wanted an excuse to stay curled up in his lap, even until the sun went down and she was forced to light an oil lamp. Emerie wasn’t fond of anything with fire, but she’d grown comfortable with lamps, candles, and campfires over the years.
This was the first time she’d truly been enthralled by one. Once she’d gone through every story, she laid the book down to stare at its flickering flame.
It was a quiet flame as it burned its wick, but the smell of it brought back terrible memories.
Fire, whether she wanted to truly accept it or not, had brought her to this moment. I wouldn’t have joined the Demonslayers if Gideon was still alive. She would never be thankful for it – no person should have suffered what she did that horrible night – but if it didn’t happen, she wouldn’t have ever met Ingram.
Just another reason to regret it, and although the pain in her chest wasn’t physical, it corroded like acid.
She never would have been faced with knowing tomorrow could be her last.
She wished it didn’t have to be.
Does it have to be? Emerie thought when Ingram stroked his claws through her freshly washed and silky hair. Lindiwe said she would try and find another human if I don’t want to. Or, if I bond with Ingram.
But did he want that with Emerie?
It was possible, considering his obvious attachment to her. He hasn’t asked me, though.
It was likely he’d thought about it, considering the three other couples around him. He’d had ample opportunity to ask Emerie for her soul, yet he’d chosen… not to.
She wanted to ask him about it, but she also didn’t. She didn’t want to know the truth if it was terrible, and she didn’t want this day, her final day, to either end in a fight with him, or her in tears.
So, could she find out the truth without having to directly ask it? Because, if she was being honest with herself, the real reason she was doing this was for Ingram. Yes, Delora, Reia, and Mayumi were part of her desire to do this, to help them and be a reason their love continued.
Yet, as selfish as it was, she didn’t think she would have done this just for them.
Her reasonings weren’t so noble.
She’d started this journey for him. She was intending to end it for him as well.
And also for Gideon and her parents. To finally have revenge for the loss of their lives – and how much it had affected her own.
However, her heart was at war with itself.