HOME | DD

Description

[Here There Be Dragons]

Kyo led the pack, stomping out several steps ahead of the others and running straight in as Greta approached them. He raised his hands, beseeching her to stop, and she ignored him, swatting him aside as she turned to charge down Ecchs. Cryak was the first to transform, an armored lizard bursting through his skin and clothes and slamming itself into Greta’s side throwing her over. Ecchs piled and started pummeling her around the face and neck. She popped up, seconds later, scattering them and roaring defiantly.

Ecchs transformed seconds later and joined Cryak in savaging Greta who slashed and bit at them. In a moment of frustration, she breathed fire upon the pair, but the action only earned her a slash across the maw.

“You really thought that was gonna work on us you Bitch!” Cryak roared as he punched her in the throat.

While she was reeling, Ecchs ran straight for the flaming gap in her chest and started trying to tear away the hidden gemstone. In response, she grabbed him with her forepaws and shoved him tot he ground before raking her claws across his chest, slicing him open. With the tendons severed in his biceps, Ecchs collapsed, letting go, and Greta lowered her jaws to bit down on his head. Cryak rushed in, punching her in the side of the head and cracking one of her horns she went stumbling away.

“Stop!” Kyo yelled as his uncle charged after her again.

He almost didn’t stop, looking over his shoulder at Kyo like he was nothing, but Ecchs managed to stand up and hold his guts together long enough to stand in Cryak’s way. With the two of them stopped and Greta still recovering from the punch, Kyo stepped forward to meet his wife.

“Greta, my love, please, please stop this madness!”

Greta snarled back at him pacing impatiently as she tried to walk off the fatigue she was experiencing.

“Please…” Kyo approached, arms outstretched, voice calm and even, “I know I’ve made mistakes, we all have.”

“All of us?” Greta snapped at him.

“Yes,” Kyo insisted, “Greta, that gem, the heart, it’s going to kill you, we have to get it out…”

“No,” Greta hissed, “It’s going to kill you!”

She pounced on him, biting and clawing when Ecchs and Cryak hit her with a double uppercut, but it only raised her onto her hind legs. Greta slammed back down on Kyo, crushing him into the ground with an incredible force before turning her attention onto the others, beating them down into the dirt.

“You wanted to use me, You All Wanted To Use ME!!” she screamed, “Now Fucking die!”

She opened her maw to bite down on Ecchs when a hail of gunfire pelted her in the back. Looking back at the source Greta saw Belix standing with the rest of the house staff, lined up along the edge of the roof, each one holding a smoking gun.

“Stop trying a standing fight, just…” Belix yelled down at them, “Drive her to the lake!”

“Cute,” Greta sneered, then turned towards them, “Let’s see if you can!”

Rushing forward, she knocked away Ecchs and Cryak as they tried to slow her down. Leaping into the air, she was met by another volley and pushing through it like heavy rain and tore down a mansion wall.

“Godsdammit!” Belix shouted, “Get to the base, get to the base! Climb Down!”

They did as they were told, scuttling down the building freehand while she had to use rain gutters and window ledges. Greta turned and snickered at them as they continued to surround her.

“Really?” she wondered, stepping out from the wreckage, “How about we make a deal, you stay out there and enjoy the last few seconds of life while I turn this house into a pile of rubble.”

“Well…” Ecchs stood up from his previous beating, and checked that his wounds were healing, “We can’t have that…”

While he was still recovering, Clyde suddenly stomped past him holding the bent and bedraggled lamp-post like a staff.

“Look at this fuckin’ guy,” Cryak scoffed.

“Hey,” Ecchs ran in front of him, “Why don’t you stay back, let us handle this?”

“Fuck you,” Clyde muttered, pushing him aside.

“You’re just going to get in the way,” Cryak insisted.

“Like you care!”

“Well, I do actually,” Cryak insisted, giving him a shove, “Because you could wind up getting Me hurt! Or Killed!”

“What a shame that would be…” Clyde ignored him only to have Belix grab his arm.

“What the Hell do you think you can do?” she whispered harshly.

“I can draw her out,” Clyde insisted, “And You can surround her, create a defensive wall between her and the mansion.”

“Because that worked so well last time!” she snapped, then winced as he pulled his arm away, “But, it’s something, I guess,” she gestured to the assembled Gremlins, moving them into position, “Good luck.”

Greta watched him approach and moved out of the hole she had created as he stood, and he waited.

“So…” Greta mocked him as she stepped forward, “How many bones do you have left unbroken?”

“I don’t keep track of that kind of thing,” he joked, and they shared a chuckle.

“I gave you a warning,” she told him, noticing Belix and the Gremlins circling around to flank her, “Several in fact, I’m not going to stop.”

“I know,” Clyde nodded.

She raised a claw and placed it against his chest.

“I’ll make this quick.”

“Power makes you arrogant,” Clyde pointed out.

“Excuse me?” she paused.

“You think there’s nothing that can hurt you.”

“Well, so far I’d say I’m right,” she nodded towards Ecchs and the other two Ryukau who were approaching, “Even the wounds they gave me are starting to heal over, I’m practically back in top form.”

“Ah...well… have you ever been shot in the eye?”

“What?” the dragon had just enough time to cock her head to the side before the bullet penetrated her skull.

Blood rained down on Clyde’s head as he lowered his eyes, not wanting to watch her fall. The Ryukau didn’t waste any time and immediately piled onto her, beating her mercilessly. Clyde rolled his eyes and reached out his hand, dropping a his spiders onto her arm. Within seconds they had sheathed her claws in a cloth and offered Clyde a rope.

“Stop, Fighting,” Clyde yelled at them, already pulling while his Spiders continued to wrap her in straps of thick cloth, “Just get her to the lake!”

Cryak turned to argue, but the others soon joined him, either helping him with the ropes or grabbing at and restraining her legs while they pulled her along. She fought, she bit and she struggled, almost breaking free at one point, but with every second that passed, she was further encased in the unbreakable cloth, and, though it stretched with her every movement, it kept her from moving freely and snuffed her flames enough for the others to grab a firm hold of her as they continued to shove her along.

“You won’t stop me!!” she yelled, “YOU CAN’T!!”

The lake was a ways off but, bit by bit, step by step, they made their way closer. Eventually Clyde gave out, his back foot sliding on a wet stone as he stepped over the edge and into the water. Belix quickly came to his side and helped him out of the way as the Cryak and Ecchs gave her the final shove and pushed her over the edge. Engulfed in water, she thrashed about as steam rose up around her like the devil himself was dragging her into Hell, but finally the steam subsided and only a few bubbles reached the surface.

“So what now?” Belix demanded, still looking over Clyde’s wounds.

“What do you mean ‘what now’?” Cryak scoffed, “Job’s done.”

“You’re just going to let her drown?”

“Yes,” Cryak shook his head, “That crazy bitch killed my brother I’m not about to…”

Without a word, Kyo moved past his uncle and dove into the lake. While he was submerged, Ecchs resumed his human appearance and walked over to check on Clyde and Belix.

“How is he?”

“You care now?” Belix raised an eyebrow.

“No, but, you do…”

“He’s been well cooked,” Clyde told them grimly, “A few blisters and some cracked bones…”

“And it’s all your fault and I want you to know that!” Belix snapped as she helped Clyde to stand and started walking him back to the mansion.

“Hey, I’m not the one who…”

“Piece of advice kid,” Cryak, still in his dragon form, stepped up next to him, “Let it go, folks like that, they’re never going to accept…”

He stopped suddenly when Ecchs spun around, punching him in the snout.

“GET OUT!!” Ecchs yelled.

“Well that’s gratitude for ya,” Cryak snarled back, “You wouldn’t think that I’d just…”

“GET OUT NOW!!” Ecchs repeated, his arm becoming a dragon’s claw, “My father isn’t here to protect you anymore, so go throw yourself on the mercy of the council, and get the Hell out of my sight!”

“You’d really do me like that?” Cryak demanded, almost sounding tearful, “Even though…”

“I know who you are,” Ecchs snapped, “And I know who my father is! And You’re Nothing To Me!” he turned away, adding softly, “Leave.”

Cryak almost tried to argue but raised his hands and brushed the boy off, before walking away, not even bothering to head back to the mansion, he turned directly for the exit and kept walking. A few moments later, Ecchs caught up with Belix and Clyde just as they were walking through the hole in the wall Greta had created and tried to offer his assistance only for Belix to shove him away.

“You think that little performance got you some sympathy?” she demanded.

“… no,” Ecchs admitted, “But I am sorry.”

“No argument,” Belix replied harshly.

Clyde looked over his shoulder, his neck cracking painfully as he moved.

“So…” he grunted, massaging his neck, “How long can your people hold their breath?”

“There’s a network of caverns in the lake, it circulates and filters,” Ecchs mentioned as they approached an ottoman and he fell down into it, “It’s what keeps our supply clean.”

“So he might be down in an air pocket, looking for his wife,” Clyde surmised, “Or he might be trapped, struggling to breathe…”

“I hope he is,” Ecchs admitted, a tear rolling down his cheek, “Better dead below the lake than at your own brother’s hand.”

Belix tried to drag them down the hall, but Clyde put out his hand, grabbing the corner and stopping them.

“You knew?”

“Greta wouldn’t hurt Rio,” Ecchs shook his head, “He didn’t approve of the marriage, but he was always kind to her, and… do you know why my old man was retiring? It was all to do with Rin, the first female of our species born in over a thousand years, the first one able to produce pure-blood heirs, the council will…”

“I don’t need to know,” Belix shook her head, then sighed, “So you think they put him up to it?”

“Maybe, but I didn’t help,” Ecchs admitted, leaning forward and tenting his fingers, “I should have never let it get this far, I should’ve never played these games…”

“But you did,” Clyde told him bluntly, then added, more softly, “But, frankly, your whole family is a mess, I’m not even sure if I can blame you.”

“Sure you can,” Belix scoffed.

“Punish him then,” Clyde corrected himself, “And if I did, we’d just be looking over our shoulders for the rest of our lives.”

“’We’?” Belix repeated happily.

“If I could get rid of you I’d have done it by now,” Clyde sighed, “So, clearly, I’ve got my limitations, but you,” he pointed to Ecchs, “There’s only one question I’ve got to ask, can you learn from this?”

“I…” Ecchs groaned, rubbing his eyes, “I hope so…”

“Good,” Clyde turned away, “So do it, and Look after Rin, do right by your father…”

“If I can…” Ecchs muttered, staring at the floor, lost in thought.

Down the hall, Belix found him a bed and lay him down.

“What’re you smiling about?” he grunted.

“We’re a team,” she declared.

“Yeah?” Clyde shrugged, “Haven’t we been?”

“It’s just nice to hear it out loud,” she mentioned before sliding into bed next to him.

“I’m not…”

“In the mood, in the shape,” she muttered wrapping her arm over him as they both started to drift off, “I know… baby steps.”

Belix awoke the next morning as the crystals outside began their transition from dark blue to red, indicating the rising of the sun. She left to join the rest of the family, what remained of them, for breakfast. Kyo clearly hadn’t rejoined them during the night and nobody seemed to want to press the issue. Clyde rose a few hours later, hobbling and limping around as the servants struggled to clean up the remnant of the fight from the night before. As soon as he met with the others, Ecchs ordered a carriage to remove them from the house as soon as possible.

Belix took long enough to change into her street clothes and negotiate with Ecchs to give her a fair payment for the night they had just had. Ecchs reluctantly agreed, revealing that he had never intended to pay them to begin with, but still sent them off with a purse full of gold. The ride back was quiet, randomly punctuated with casual conversation until they were deposited in town. Together, they, wandered down to the warf and started searching for a ship headed towards Knott.

They eventually they secured passage on a transport ship that was carrying rugs and various sundries from Miji over to Peregrine. It wasn’t much of a pleasure cruise, more of a working passage where they would be responsible for cleaning and maintaining the ship as they sailed, but, they were promised their own room and bed while traveling. The room itself wasn’t much to speak of, the ‘bed’ was mostly a pair of make-shift hammocks, secured to the walls with nails and a few blankets draped over them. After getting a good look at their accommodations, and securing their luggage in the room, they both agreed to buy some provisions for their journey so that they wouldn’t be living on hard tack and rice for the next week.

While they were shopping, Clyde’s injuries started to bother him, and he went to sit on a bench while Belix carried their haul back to the ship. Catching his breath, he decided to take the time to look over the city one last time. It was a simple port, no different than the one he would be seeing soon enough back home, but with the scent of salt carried on the breeze, the brush of a hot wind brushing across his cheek, and the sunset painting everything in a vibrant golden pink, it almost seemed magical.

He was struggling to get onto his feet, when he heard someone calling out to him.

“Hey Stranger!” a woman called out to him.

Clyde looked back and very nearly fell over again, seeing familiar Mountain Elf standing on the docks, wearing a simple white gown and waving to him happily.

“Greta?” he needed a nearby street sign to get onto his feet and still took a step back when he ran over to him.

“Don’t be so jumpy,” she chuckled, “I just wanted to say ‘hi’.”

“...hi…” Clyde raised an eyebrow and just decided to ask the obvious question, “What the Hell are you doing here?”

“Same as you I think,” she shrugged, “Getting out of here.”

“How…”

“How did I find you?” she finished the thought for him, “Your smell,” Greta mentioned as she rubbed her nose, “Always had a good nose, but this new one… I’m still getting used to it…”

“You… seem a little… okay, a lot calmer.”

“Yeah,” she nodded, “I don’t think that transformation agrees with me, part of the reason I wanted to look you up, I wanted to say I was sorry.”

“It’s… fine, you were…”

“Kind of,” Greta corrected him, “The thoughts were still mine, but the change… it, it made things worse, so much worse,” she looked away, ashamed, “So, I’m sorry, and thank you, thanks for not trying to kill me, for trying to talk and all, it… it helped.”

“Not nearly enough,” he commented, rolling his shoulder and it made several popping sounds.

Putting a hands on his head, she smiled, sadly.

“All those things you said,” she wondered, “All the… about the emptiness, is that really how you feel.”

“...more or less,” Clyde muttered, then pulled away, refusing to look her in the eye, “So how’s Kyo, is he going with you?”

Without warning, she leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek. Clyde snapped back, jumping away from her and receiving a nasty twinge of pain running down his back. Greta just chuckled.

“You’re a filthy liar,” she smirked, then turned away, seeing her husband at the other end of the warf, “Take care of yourself,” she waved before leaving, “Tell Belix I said goodbye.”

“Good luck,” Clyde nodded solemnly, “Take care of yourself.”

Finally managing to amble onto the waiting transport ship, Clyde shuffled his way down to the room they had been assigned to. Belix was already down there, lounging in one of the hammocks and munching on one of the snacks they had bought. She winced seeing him, noticing the hitch in his step.

“You doin’ alright?” Belix asked, a half-eaten meat bun in her hand.

“As good as can be expected,” he grunted, painfully before throwing himself into the hammock on the other side of the room.

“You sure?” she wondered, sitting up, “Because I can cover your shift in the morning, it’s not a problem…”

“I’ll be there,” he groaned, rolling over in the hammock and pulling the blanket over himself, “Greta said ‘hi’ by the way.”

“Oh? You saw her?”

“She made a point, to meet up, I think she and Kyo are running off together.”

“Good for them,” Belix thought on it for a minute, taking another bite of her meat bun, “You think they’ll make it?”

“I’ve got no idea,” Clyde admitted, staring at the wall, “She looked happier though.”

“And you?” She lay back in her bunk, quietly munching on her snack, “Are you excited to be going to home?”

“...do you…” he chewed on the words for a minute, then let out a sigh, “Do you think I’m empty?”

“No,” Belix responded bluntly, “Not strictly speaking anyway, you’re… dull.”

“Is that better?”

“It is what it is,” she set aside her snack and folded her hands across her stomach, “I think you kill your own feelings before they get the chance to happen, it gives you a sense of control, and I think you need that, but you’re not empty.”

“But maybe I am,” Clyde offered, looking over at her, “Maybe I’m just that good at pretending, so that it looks like I’m hiding behind a shield of control.”

“I don’t believe that,” Belix finished her meat bun and grabbed her own blanket, “Get some sleep, first shift starts at midnight.”

Description

[Here There Be Dragons]

Kyo led the pack, stomping out several steps ahead of the others and running straight in as Greta approached them. He raised his hands, beseeching her to stop, and she ignored him, swatting him aside as she turned to charge down Ecchs. Cryak was the first to transform, an armored lizard bursting through his skin and clothes and slamming itself into Greta’s side throwing her over. Ecchs piled and started pummeling her around the face and neck. She popped up, seconds later, scattering them and roaring defiantly.

Ecchs transformed seconds later and joined Cryak in savaging Greta who slashed and bit at them. In a moment of frustration, she breathed fire upon the pair, but the action only earned her a slash across the maw.

“You really thought that was gonna work on us you Bitch!” Cryak roared as he punched her in the throat.

While she was reeling, Ecchs ran straight for the flaming gap in her chest and started trying to tear away the hidden gemstone. In response, she grabbed him with her forepaws and shoved him tot he ground before raking her claws across his chest, slicing him open. With the tendons severed in his biceps, Ecchs collapsed, letting go, and Greta lowered her jaws to bit down on his head. Cryak rushed in, punching her in the side of the head and cracking one of her horns she went stumbling away.

“Stop!” Kyo yelled as his uncle charged after her again.

He almost didn’t stop, looking over his shoulder at Kyo like he was nothing, but Ecchs managed to stand up and hold his guts together long enough to stand in Cryak’s way. With the two of them stopped and Greta still recovering from the punch, Kyo stepped forward to meet his wife.

“Greta, my love, please, please stop this madness!”

Greta snarled back at him pacing impatiently as she tried to walk off the fatigue she was experiencing.

“Please…” Kyo approached, arms outstretched, voice calm and even, “I know I’ve made mistakes, we all have.”

“All of us?” Greta snapped at him.

“Yes,” Kyo insisted, “Greta, that gem, the heart, it’s going to kill you, we have to get it out…”

“No,” Greta hissed, “It’s going to kill you!”

She pounced on him, biting and clawing when Ecchs and Cryak hit her with a double uppercut, but it only raised her onto her hind legs. Greta slammed back down on Kyo, crushing him into the ground with an incredible force before turning her attention onto the others, beating them down into the dirt.

“You wanted to use me, You All Wanted To Use ME!!” she screamed, “Now Fucking die!”

She opened her maw to bite down on Ecchs when a hail of gunfire pelted her in the back. Looking back at the source Greta saw Belix standing with the rest of the house staff, lined up along the edge of the roof, each one holding a smoking gun.

“Stop trying a standing fight, just…” Belix yelled down at them, “Drive her to the lake!”

“Cute,” Greta sneered, then turned towards them, “Let’s see if you can!”

Rushing forward, she knocked away Ecchs and Cryak as they tried to slow her down. Leaping into the air, she was met by another volley and pushing through it like heavy rain and tore down a mansion wall.

“Godsdammit!” Belix shouted, “Get to the base, get to the base! Climb Down!”

They did as they were told, scuttling down the building freehand while she had to use rain gutters and window ledges. Greta turned and snickered at them as they continued to surround her.

“Really?” she wondered, stepping out from the wreckage, “How about we make a deal, you stay out there and enjoy the last few seconds of life while I turn this house into a pile of rubble.”

“Well…” Ecchs stood up from his previous beating, and checked that his wounds were healing, “We can’t have that…”

While he was still recovering, Clyde suddenly stomped past him holding the bent and bedraggled lamp-post like a staff.

“Look at this fuckin’ guy,” Cryak scoffed.

“Hey,” Ecchs ran in front of him, “Why don’t you stay back, let us handle this?”

“Fuck you,” Clyde muttered, pushing him aside.

“You’re just going to get in the way,” Cryak insisted.

“Like you care!”

“Well, I do actually,” Cryak insisted, giving him a shove, “Because you could wind up getting Me hurt! Or Killed!”

“What a shame that would be…” Clyde ignored him only to have Belix grab his arm.

“What the Hell do you think you can do?” she whispered harshly.

“I can draw her out,” Clyde insisted, “And You can surround her, create a defensive wall between her and the mansion.”

“Because that worked so well last time!” she snapped, then winced as he pulled his arm away, “But, it’s something, I guess,” she gestured to the assembled Gremlins, moving them into position, “Good luck.”

Greta watched him approach and moved out of the hole she had created as he stood, and he waited.

“So…” Greta mocked him as she stepped forward, “How many bones do you have left unbroken?”

“I don’t keep track of that kind of thing,” he joked, and they shared a chuckle.

“I gave you a warning,” she told him, noticing Belix and the Gremlins circling around to flank her, “Several in fact, I’m not going to stop.”

“I know,” Clyde nodded.

She raised a claw and placed it against his chest.

“I’ll make this quick.”

“Power makes you arrogant,” Clyde pointed out.

“Excuse me?” she paused.

“You think there’s nothing that can hurt you.”

“Well, so far I’d say I’m right,” she nodded towards Ecchs and the other two Ryukau who were approaching, “Even the wounds they gave me are starting to heal over, I’m practically back in top form.”

“Ah...well… have you ever been shot in the eye?”

“What?” the dragon had just enough time to cock her head to the side before the bullet penetrated her skull.

Blood rained down on Clyde’s head as he lowered his eyes, not wanting to watch her fall. The Ryukau didn’t waste any time and immediately piled onto her, beating her mercilessly. Clyde rolled his eyes and reached out his hand, dropping a his spiders onto her arm. Within seconds they had sheathed her claws in a cloth and offered Clyde a rope.

“Stop, Fighting,” Clyde yelled at them, already pulling while his Spiders continued to wrap her in straps of thick cloth, “Just get her to the lake!”

Cryak turned to argue, but the others soon joined him, either helping him with the ropes or grabbing at and restraining her legs while they pulled her along. She fought, she bit and she struggled, almost breaking free at one point, but with every second that passed, she was further encased in the unbreakable cloth, and, though it stretched with her every movement, it kept her from moving freely and snuffed her flames enough for the others to grab a firm hold of her as they continued to shove her along.

“You won’t stop me!!” she yelled, “YOU CAN’T!!”

The lake was a ways off but, bit by bit, step by step, they made their way closer. Eventually Clyde gave out, his back foot sliding on a wet stone as he stepped over the edge and into the water. Belix quickly came to his side and helped him out of the way as the Cryak and Ecchs gave her the final shove and pushed her over the edge. Engulfed in water, she thrashed about as steam rose up around her like the devil himself was dragging her into Hell, but finally the steam subsided and only a few bubbles reached the surface.

“So what now?” Belix demanded, still looking over Clyde’s wounds.

“What do you mean ‘what now’?” Cryak scoffed, “Job’s done.”

“You’re just going to let her drown?”

“Yes,” Cryak shook his head, “That crazy bitch killed my brother I’m not about to…”

Without a word, Kyo moved past his uncle and dove into the lake. While he was submerged, Ecchs resumed his human appearance and walked over to check on Clyde and Belix.

“How is he?”

“You care now?” Belix raised an eyebrow.

“No, but, you do…”

“He’s been well cooked,” Clyde told them grimly, “A few blisters and some cracked bones…”

“And it’s all your fault and I want you to know that!” Belix snapped as she helped Clyde to stand and started walking him back to the mansion.

“Hey, I’m not the one who…”

“Piece of advice kid,” Cryak, still in his dragon form, stepped up next to him, “Let it go, folks like that, they’re never going to accept…”

He stopped suddenly when Ecchs spun around, punching him in the snout.

“GET OUT!!” Ecchs yelled.

“Well that’s gratitude for ya,” Cryak snarled back, “You wouldn’t think that I’d just…”

“GET OUT NOW!!” Ecchs repeated, his arm becoming a dragon’s claw, “My father isn’t here to protect you anymore, so go throw yourself on the mercy of the council, and get the Hell out of my sight!”

“You’d really do me like that?” Cryak demanded, almost sounding tearful, “Even though…”

“I know who you are,” Ecchs snapped, “And I know who my father is! And You’re Nothing To Me!” he turned away, adding softly, “Leave.”

Cryak almost tried to argue but raised his hands and brushed the boy off, before walking away, not even bothering to head back to the mansion, he turned directly for the exit and kept walking. A few moments later, Ecchs caught up with Belix and Clyde just as they were walking through the hole in the wall Greta had created and tried to offer his assistance only for Belix to shove him away.

“You think that little performance got you some sympathy?” she demanded.

“… no,” Ecchs admitted, “But I am sorry.”

“No argument,” Belix replied harshly.

Clyde looked over his shoulder, his neck cracking painfully as he moved.

“So…” he grunted, massaging his neck, “How long can your people hold their breath?”

“There’s a network of caverns in the lake, it circulates and filters,” Ecchs mentioned as they approached an ottoman and he fell down into it, “It’s what keeps our supply clean.”

“So he might be down in an air pocket, looking for his wife,” Clyde surmised, “Or he might be trapped, struggling to breathe…”

“I hope he is,” Ecchs admitted, a tear rolling down his cheek, “Better dead below the lake than at your own brother’s hand.”

Belix tried to drag them down the hall, but Clyde put out his hand, grabbing the corner and stopping them.

“You knew?”

“Greta wouldn’t hurt Rio,” Ecchs shook his head, “He didn’t approve of the marriage, but he was always kind to her, and… do you know why my old man was retiring? It was all to do with Rin, the first female of our species born in over a thousand years, the first one able to produce pure-blood heirs, the council will…”

“I don’t need to know,” Belix shook her head, then sighed, “So you think they put him up to it?”

“Maybe, but I didn’t help,” Ecchs admitted, leaning forward and tenting his fingers, “I should have never let it get this far, I should’ve never played these games…”

“But you did,” Clyde told him bluntly, then added, more softly, “But, frankly, your whole family is a mess, I’m not even sure if I can blame you.”

“Sure you can,” Belix scoffed.

“Punish him then,” Clyde corrected himself, “And if I did, we’d just be looking over our shoulders for the rest of our lives.”

“’We’?” Belix repeated happily.

“If I could get rid of you I’d have done it by now,” Clyde sighed, “So, clearly, I’ve got my limitations, but you,” he pointed to Ecchs, “There’s only one question I’ve got to ask, can you learn from this?”

“I…” Ecchs groaned, rubbing his eyes, “I hope so…”

“Good,” Clyde turned away, “So do it, and Look after Rin, do right by your father…”

“If I can…” Ecchs muttered, staring at the floor, lost in thought.

Down the hall, Belix found him a bed and lay him down.

“What’re you smiling about?” he grunted.

“We’re a team,” she declared.

“Yeah?” Clyde shrugged, “Haven’t we been?”

“It’s just nice to hear it out loud,” she mentioned before sliding into bed next to him.

“I’m not…”

“In the mood, in the shape,” she muttered wrapping her arm over him as they both started to drift off, “I know… baby steps.”

Belix awoke the next morning as the crystals outside began their transition from dark blue to red, indicating the rising of the sun. She left to join the rest of the family, what remained of them, for breakfast. Kyo clearly hadn’t rejoined them during the night and nobody seemed to want to press the issue. Clyde rose a few hours later, hobbling and limping around as the servants struggled to clean up the remnant of the fight from the night before. As soon as he met with the others, Ecchs ordered a carriage to remove them from the house as soon as possible.

Belix took long enough to change into her street clothes and negotiate with Ecchs to give her a fair payment for the night they had just had. Ecchs reluctantly agreed, revealing that he had never intended to pay them to begin with, but still sent them off with a purse full of gold. The ride back was quiet, randomly punctuated with casual conversation until they were deposited in town. Together, they, wandered down to the warf and started searching for a ship headed towards Knott.

They eventually they secured passage on a transport ship that was carrying rugs and various sundries from Miji over to Peregrine. It wasn’t much of a pleasure cruise, more of a working passage where they would be responsible for cleaning and maintaining the ship as they sailed, but, they were promised their own room and bed while traveling. The room itself wasn’t much to speak of, the ‘bed’ was mostly a pair of make-shift hammocks, secured to the walls with nails and a few blankets draped over them. After getting a good look at their accommodations, and securing their luggage in the room, they both agreed to buy some provisions for their journey so that they wouldn’t be living on hard tack and rice for the next week.

While they were shopping, Clyde’s injuries started to bother him, and he went to sit on a bench while Belix carried their haul back to the ship. Catching his breath, he decided to take the time to look over the city one last time. It was a simple port, no different than the one he would be seeing soon enough back home, but with the scent of salt carried on the breeze, the brush of a hot wind brushing across his cheek, and the sunset painting everything in a vibrant golden pink, it almost seemed magical.

He was struggling to get onto his feet, when he heard someone calling out to him.

“Hey Stranger!” a woman called out to him.

Clyde looked back and very nearly fell over again, seeing familiar Mountain Elf standing on the docks, wearing a simple white gown and waving to him happily.

“Greta?” he needed a nearby street sign to get onto his feet and still took a step back when he ran over to him.

“Don’t be so jumpy,” she chuckled, “I just wanted to say ‘hi’.”

“...hi…” Clyde raised an eyebrow and just decided to ask the obvious question, “What the Hell are you doing here?”

“Same as you I think,” she shrugged, “Getting out of here.”

“How…”

“How did I find you?” she finished the thought for him, “Your smell,” Greta mentioned as she rubbed her nose, “Always had a good nose, but this new one… I’m still getting used to it…”

“You… seem a little… okay, a lot calmer.”

“Yeah,” she nodded, “I don’t think that transformation agrees with me, part of the reason I wanted to look you up, I wanted to say I was sorry.”

“It’s… fine, you were…”

“Kind of,” Greta corrected him, “The thoughts were still mine, but the change… it, it made things worse, so much worse,” she looked away, ashamed, “So, I’m sorry, and thank you, thanks for not trying to kill me, for trying to talk and all, it… it helped.”

“Not nearly enough,” he commented, rolling his shoulder and it made several popping sounds.

Putting a hands on his head, she smiled, sadly.

“All those things you said,” she wondered, “All the… about the emptiness, is that really how you feel.”

“...more or less,” Clyde muttered, then pulled away, refusing to look her in the eye, “So how’s Kyo, is he going with you?”

Without warning, she leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek. Clyde snapped back, jumping away from her and receiving a nasty twinge of pain running down his back. Greta just chuckled.

“You’re a filthy liar,” she smirked, then turned away, seeing her husband at the other end of the warf, “Take care of yourself,” she waved before leaving, “Tell Belix I said goodbye.”

“Good luck,” Clyde nodded solemnly, “Take care of yourself.”

Finally managing to amble onto the waiting transport ship, Clyde shuffled his way down to the room they had been assigned to. Belix was already down there, lounging in one of the hammocks and munching on one of the snacks they had bought. She winced seeing him, noticing the hitch in his step.

“You doin’ alright?” Belix asked, a half-eaten meat bun in her hand.

“As good as can be expected,” he grunted, painfully before throwing himself into the hammock on the other side of the room.

“You sure?” she wondered, sitting up, “Because I can cover your shift in the morning, it’s not a problem…”

“I’ll be there,” he groaned, rolling over in the hammock and pulling the blanket over himself, “Greta said ‘hi’ by the way.”

“Oh? You saw her?”

“She made a point, to meet up, I think she and Kyo are running off together.”

“Good for them,” Belix thought on it for a minute, taking another bite of her meat bun, “You think they’ll make it?”

“I’ve got no idea,” Clyde admitted, staring at the wall, “She looked happier though.”

“And you?” She lay back in her bunk, quietly munching on her snack, “Are you excited to be going to home?”

“...do you…” he chewed on the words for a minute, then let out a sigh, “Do you think I’m empty?”

“No,” Belix responded bluntly, “Not strictly speaking anyway, you’re… dull.”

“Is that better?”

“It is what it is,” she set aside her snack and folded her hands across her stomach, “I think you kill your own feelings before they get the chance to happen, it gives you a sense of control, and I think you need that, but you’re not empty.”

“But maybe I am,” Clyde offered, looking over at her, “Maybe I’m just that good at pretending, so that it looks like I’m hiding behind a shield of control.”

“I don’t believe that,” Belix finished her meat bun and grabbed her own blanket, “Get some sleep, first shift starts at midnight.”