“You’re lucky you’re cute,” she mumbled in mock annoyance.
She passed out as soon as her eyes closed, but her contentment radiated within her dreams.
Standing on the tips of her toes, Emerie was thankful Ingram lowered his raven skull so she could wrap her arms around his neck. She hugged him with all her might as she buried her face against him, taking in the roughness of his scales, the warmth and strength of him, and his wonderful scent of burnt sugar and hickory bark.
She fully took him in… for the last time.
“I don’t want to go.” Ingram grumbled his protest, as he had many times this morning. He wrapped his arm around her waist and dipped forward even more.
“Everyone needs food,” she murmured against him. “It’s better and safer for everyone if more of you go to hunt.”
“I still think bringing the Mavka who cannot control his hunger is a poor decision,” Orpheus stated as he hugged Reia in his arms, who was embracing him just as tightly as he was her. “But she is right. Travelling through the Veil will be safer with all three of us. The Demons are less likely to attack.”
“Will you be okay by yourself, Delora?” Magnar asked as he stroked the back of her dark-brown hair.
“I won’t be alone,” she laughed in response – although Emerie could hear the nervous tremble in her tone. “I’ll be with everyone else.” Magnar let out a disappointed huff, his head turning away, until she added, “But I will miss you.”
His long, fluffy fox tail wagged behind him at that.
“The quicker you leave, the quicker you can come back,” Faunus stated with his hand gripping the side of Mayumi’s waist. One of their children crawled sporadically between them. “Hopefully you return before night falls.”
Emerie finally let Ingram go, and she gave him a warm smile.
He cupped the side of her face and brushed the back of his glossy claw underneath one of her tearing eyes. “Why are you crying, little butterfly?”
“Because goodbyes are hard?” she laughed off, before gesturing to Reia, but more importantly, Delora. “See, even she’s crying.”
And thank fucking goodness for that, otherwise Emerie’s pain would look out of place. Reia’s expression was warm, lacking in tears, but Emerie had already discovered she had a strong personality. She tried to keep her more extreme emotions inside when she could.
That’s how she usually was, or rather, had been before she met Ingram. Who knew it would be a monster that would bring her out of her shell?
“Then don’t say goodbye? I can stay.”
Emerie groaned as she dipped her head back. He was really making this hard.
She placed her hands on either side of his beak and shook his head around. His chuckle was deep and playful, and it lifted her spirits slightly. She gave the end a kiss.
“Here, I have a gift for you.” She tipped his head down until she could reach one of his short, upward-jutting goat horns. “It’s the bracelet my parents and Gideon gave to me for my eighteenth birthday.”
Although only one charm out of three remained, consisting of a silver disc with the letter G engraved into it, every one of the colourful gem beads was intact. When she realised it wouldn’t fit, she took off the ribbon keeping her braid together and used it to link one side of the brown leather twine to the other. She tied it as securely as possible to him, making sure it sat in the recess where his horn and skull met so it couldn’t slide off.
He looked a little funny with a floppy red bow hanging down the side of his skull, but she also liked it. It was obvious against the stark whiteness of his bony head.
Hopefully the next human you meet sees it and realises… someone loved you. Her jaw clenched at the pain her thoughts brought. And gives you a chance because of it.
“Why are you giving me this?” Ingram asked as he tentatively touched the triple-knotted bow.
She grinned. “Consider it a good luck charm.”
“We’ll need it,” Orpheus stated solemnly.
“I have a horn charm like you now,” Ingram said, his orbs turning bright yellow while his tail tip curled.
“Mine’s better,” Orpheus huffed.
Ingram growled at him just as Reia tapped him on the stomach. “Be nice, Orpheus!”
“I am being nice.” Orpheus turned his head away and folded his arms, his bell charms jingling under the momentum. “I was just being truthful.” Then he reached up and flicked one with a claw, his own orbs turning bright pink. “But I know it feels nice to receive a gift like this.”
“You should have painted my face before we left, Delora,” Magnar whined as his orbs turned bright green in jealousy.
“Sorry.” She laughed at his unexpected sulking. “I’ll paint it when you get back. How about that?”
His tail wagged once more. He was easy to placate, and Delora knew just how to make him happy.
The discussion as to why Faunus was staying behind was brought up again by a jealous Ingram. Someone had to protect the women in case of Demons, and no one was willing to take his pregnant bride from him when it was obvious he’d maul them all for it.
Then, with much reluctance, Orpheus, Magnar, and Ingram left – all three of them unaware of the true reasoning as to why.
Reia, Delora, and Emerie shared a look between them. They all feared their partners’ eventual reactions when they discovered what had happened, but it was Emerie who the others’ gazes lingered on. She wouldn’t be here to make the knowledge of it better for her leaving Duskwalker.
She averted her gaze when Mayumi and Faunus moved closer and fixed their sights on her as well. “I better get changed,” she said to escape.
With a heavy heart, Emerie went to her tent while pulling her hair free to redo it after she ripped some cloth to create a makeshift, crude bow. She removed the blue dress she’d been given and instead donned her Demonslayer uniform. Reia had repaired all the holes in it by patching it with brown material.
The soles of her shoes were worn, but that made them more flexible. Hopefully there weren’t any sharp rocks within Jabez’s castle.
She also fixed the silver diadem tiara to her hair so the blue teardrop would sit in the middle of her forehead. The gem was cold, and it tapped against her skin as she ducked under the tent flap to leave.
Faunus approached from their home with his arms full of weapons, and they both arrived to where the other women waited at the same time.
A sword for Reia, a bow and full quiver for Delora, and a whip and sword for Emerie.
She turned to Mayumi.
“I wanted to thank you for all your hospitality over the last few days. I know it’s a lot for you to stay behind, but I really don’t think I could have survived staying here any longer with this decision.”
“It’s fine,” Mayumi answered with a deflated tone. She scratched at the side of her hair tied back tightly before humour twitched at the corner of her lip. “I doubt after yesterday, you would have lasted much longer. I bet I have to disinfect my tent. How’s your ass? I saw you limping around when you jumped out to pee.”
By the simple fact that Mayumi was trying to hold back laughter, Emerie knew she’d said that simply to rile her up. Whether it was because she liked to tease her friends, or she was trying to lift the sorrow clouding Emerie’s gaze, she didn’t know.