Work Text:
“Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage.”
― Lao Tzu
Eva had been in this town for two weeks now, but between moving- what little there was to move- and finding a new day job, she’d had little time to herself. Even at night, her and Michel occasionally had jobs. But today had seemed agonizing, because she had time to herself, but all her mind could think of was the demon she’d found she couldn’t get off her mind. It had been three weeks since she’d seen him last, and for some reason that hurt.
Her apartment was as sparsely decorated as the last, but at least this one was on the third floor, not the sixth. Yet no matter what she tried to do, read, bake- there were some blueberry cookies set off to the side that she would probably snack on later-, there seemed to be nothing she could do to take her mind off of Sparda. So there she lay on her couch, an arm slung over her eyes.
Her reprieve arrived in the form of Michel, who opened the door to her apartment without a moments hesitation. She looked at him as he waltzed in, his weapon-which was a scimitar poorly disguised as foam, though people bought that- slung over his shoulder.
“Guess what Eva?”
“We have a job?” She replied dryly, though thankful for any distraction. If anything would be able to take her mind off Sparda, it was fighting demons.
“Nope,” That caused Eva to turn away, preparing to be miserable for another few hours, until Michel continued, “We have two jobs, so we’re flying solo tonight.”
Eva rolled over, looking to Michel, “Well, it’s not like I didn’t work on my own for practically the past two months.”
“Except for when that demon showed up,” He added smugly, setting his sword off to the side to cross his arms smugly.
“Well, there’s no way I’ll run into him again now,” Eva argued, picking up her knives and Chia and Scuro off the nearby dining table, “So you can stop teasing me about him.”
“Yeah yeah, just be careful,”
“Oh, why?” Michel always told her to be careful whenever she went out on her own. It was just ritual, something that they both meant little by than just that. Yet she asked anyway, as a part of their ritual, more than anything.
“S’pose to be lots of demons, don’t know how strong, but definitely lots of them.” Michel shoved his hands in his pockets, not looking outwardly concerned. To an onlooker, he really wouldn’t seem all that concerned at all- maybe just giving her a friendly reminder- like it was normal for there to be lots of demons. But there was a slight concern laced in his voice, easy to miss if you didn’t know it was coming.
“Then, I’ll definitely need Chia and Scuro,” She replied, putting her guns beneath her coat, which she had quickly thrown on while he was talking. As she worked about placing her knives in their places, soon enough she’d look like an ordinary bystander. “I’ll be fine.”
“Of course you will,” He shifted positions slightly to lean against the wall by the door, “Head over to that old warehouse by the port. You should find the demons there.”
^^^
Demons showing up in broad daylight was definitely unusual, but it has happened before. This definitely wasn’t the first time Eva found she had demons to kill in the middle of the day and while it made it a lot harder to get there with her weapons- hiding a shot gun could be hard, hence why she didn’t bring it today- that was part of why she chose knives for her weapons.
Eva walked along the port, which bustled with activity. This city had a market at the port, where you could buy fresh sea food or whatever else might have come in that way. People bustled about, paying little mind to her- which she was honestly grateful for- weaving around her, trying to get to whatever stall they wanted to buy from. Boats were sitting docked in the port, there was a cruise liner that was boarding passengers, from which a long line formed from.
At the end of the port, in a dirty part that everyone seemed to mutually ignore, sat a decrepit warehouse that hadn’t been touched in years- and it showed. The walls were concrete, with chips in them and countless graffiti. Some of it had to of been around for years, it was clear that no one cared about the warehouse enough to actually clean it up. The roof was tin, which every once and a while when the wind blew hard enough in the right direction flew up, falling back down with a loud clang.
No one seemed to dare to come near to it, though. Soon enough Eva was standing alone in front of it, no one around her for as far as she could tell. She could faintly hear the bustle of the main part of the port and it’s market behind her. If she turned around, she’d be able to see that. People, families, bustling about. Children with their parents, siblings, friends, couples.
Eva faintly wondered what that was like, to walk about a port like normal, browsing the wares of the market. It had been so long since she managed a normal experience like that… Last she could recall was when her and Michel first met. They walked along the market of Fortuna, talking about their jobs, newly acquired for both. That was the day they chose to team up with each other. Too bad Eva hadn’t had an experience like that since.
With a shake of her head, she cleared her thoughts, carefully removing her guns, readying them to shoot. She walked into the warehouse, as decrepit on the inside as it was the outside. The first thing she noticed was that all it really was, was a large room, with metal catwalks hanging from the ceiling, though she wasn’t sure how stable those were. The next thing she saw was a giant pile of Empusa, crawling around something. They chittered and buzzed, but like the single-minded bugs they were, they hadn’t noticed her.
The third thing she noticed, was not like the others. Off to her right was a sword, which had surely clattered to the ground. It must have been dropped by whatever poor soul the Empusa were swarming. Upon a closer inspection of the sword, she found she recognized it from somewhere. But where? It was a large sword, easily much larger than her, so the question was, who could manage to use such a sword. They’d surely have to be bigger than her…
Whatever, she decided, she really ought to just deal with the Empusa. Of course, it’d take a lot of shots and stabs, she might be here a while if she did it that way. It’d be quicker to shoot them up with Chia and Scuro, but that could risk hurting whoever’s under there, if they were even still alive. Still, there was a chance… Stabbing and slashing with her knives would take way longer, and she could still stab whoever’s underneath. Not to mention that it would be way more tiring. She’d need something bigger.
Her eyes drifted to the sword that still lay still on the ground. After having thought about it a bit, she had a pretty good idea as to where it came from. Or more accurately, who it belonged to. In a moment, an idea formed. There was a perfectly good sword laying on the ground, and while she wasn’t entirely sure how to use one- though she had taken fencing lessons when she was in high school back in Fortuna- she understood well enough to use one. It was big- bigger than her, technically- so it would take care of Empusa faster. Not to mention ever since Michel introduced her to anime, she’s always wanted to wield a big-ass sword.
Besides, if she was right about who this sword belonged to, than chances are he wouldn’t be harmed by it if she did hit him with it. The question was, would she be able to lift it? Reaching her hand down to grasp the hilt on the grip, she found with a satisfied smirk that she could lift it. A few experimental swings- which nearly knocked her horribly off balance from her standing position- she figured she could work with that, at least to clear out the Empusa.
Within moments, Eva launched herself at the demon pile, sword in hand. She quickly slashed at the demons, taking multiple out in a single swing. She continued to mince the Empusa, until soon enough, all that was left were the disappearing remnants of Empusa, and a very tired and dazed looking Sparda. Eva panted, out of breath from dealing with the demons so quickly and with a somewhat heavy sword. She gently sets it down before walking over to Sparda, who was just lying down on his back, arms splayed out. She giggled slightly as she kneeled down and poked him on the cheek, which she noted was a strange texture.
He was in his demon form, wings splayed out like him limbs- which meant Eva had to jump around a bit to get to his face, ending up just kind of sitting behind his head. His cheek had felt like an odd mix of leather and rock, not necessarily unpleasant, but definitely strange. Sparda groaned when she poked him, but otherwise did not stir. She huffed a bit and tried again. She was rewarded with the same reaction.
Now Eva huffed fully, crossing her arms, annoyed that he wouldn’t wake up. She stood, beginning to pace around him, trying to think about how to wake him up. She supposed trying to wake him up silently wasn’t working, so maybe if she said something it would wake him up. Walking over to his sword, she picked it up, heaving it over her shoulder. When she got back over to the sleeping demon, she brought the sword down by his head.
“Wake up, Bug-boy!”
Sparda’s eye’s opened up, an annoyance in them, “What was that for?” His eyes drifting to the sword by his head. With a shrug she lets it fall onto the ground away from them.
“You weren’t waking up, I guess those Empusa really did a number on you,” Eva returned to just standing shrugging. Sparda heaved himself up into a sitting position. He crossed his arms and grumbled, sounding like he was denying it greatly. “Not to worry, of course. I saved your ass.”
“I was not in need of saving, Lady Eva.” His eyes searched around, “What about my sword?”
Eva quirked her head his way, “Huh? Your sword? Oh yeah,” She walks over to where the large weapon lay, pointing down at it, “This it?”
“Indeed.”
“Neat,” She replied, bending down to pick it up, then tossing it to him, not horribly bothered by the weight or size, ”Catch.”
Though Sparda caught it, he eyed his quizzically, “How did you lift Rebellion?”
Eva laughed, as though the question was strange, ”Just because it’s big and heavy doesn’t mean I can’t lift it, Bug-boy. It worked great against the Empusa.”
“What do you-“ He wasn’t allowed to finish his sentence, a query which he felt was rather important. Eva had cut him off, not a care in the world.
“Now that my work here is done, I’m heading home,” She said, “Feel free to swing by.” She tossed at him a paper, which she had scribbled her address when she had first moved in. She didn’t need it now, having memorized where she now lived.
With a laugh- one that was undeniably cheeky- she breaks into a sprint, getting out of the warehouse as quick as possible. She had a grin on her face, not caring at the stares she got as she weaved through people in the market- now an awful lot less due to it now being at a duller time. The elation didn’t really come from anywhere in particular, though she felt much better now.
Perhaps it was that she had seen Sparda again, even when she had practically accepted she never would. Or maybe it was just because she’d saved him, like he had done to her three weeks prior. Regardless, she knew she had a story to tell Michel next she saw him. And hopefully now, she’s gotten the damn demon out of her mind.
Whatever made her so happy, which she decided was not seeing Sparda again, it was most likely just being even with him, in terms of life saving. Yeah, that was it.
She fell asleep that night with Sparda, annoyingly, on her mind.