Chapter Text
"There it is! Get it!"
The guards were chasing him through the forest. He thought he would have lost them by now, but it seemed like luck just wasn't on his side today. This was more his terrain than theirs, though. He just had to be smart enough, and he would lose them not before long. He just needed to make sure that he didn't trip over.
He dodged through trees and jumped over roots, weaving around everything he could in the hope that the guards would soon lose his trail. After running for quite a while, he slowed down and chanced a quick glance behind himself to see if the guards were still following him. When he couldn't see anyone, he stopped and quickly pressed his back against the nearest tree, taking this chance to get his breath back.
He strained his ears to hear if anyone was approaching. After living in the forest all his life, he knew every sound, including that of footsteps against the grassy undergrowth. Which, after a few moments of listening, was exactly what he heard. He quickly drew an arrow from his quiver and nocked it, trying to be as quiet as possible so as to not give his position away.
He waited as the footsteps gradually got louder, the other person sounding as if they had slowed down to try and figure out where their victim went. When he was sure the person was about to walk right past his hiding spot, he jumped out from behind the tree and pointed his arrow right in the approaching guard's face.
It seemed like the guard hadn't been expecting him to be hiding on the other side of the tree, as he made a startled sound and stumbled back a step. He dropped his sword as he tripped over a root and fell backwards onto the ground.
He still had his arrow pointed at the guard as the guard held his hands up.
"Pl-please don't kill me! I have a family!"
He faltered and looked at the guard, confused, and he raised his eyebrow at the sudden change of the man's behaviour. Just a few moments ago he seemed ready to kill him.
"I-I never wanted to go after your people!" The guard continued. "I just had to because it's my job! I need the money!"
He lowered his bow slightly, still not quite sure whether to believe the guard. He didn't trust him, but the man did look quite terrified, and his hysterical begging might have suggested that he was telling the truth. If the guard was telling the truth, then this may be his chance to get away before the other guards found out where he was.
He stared at the man a moment longer, and then lowered his bow to the ground. However, just as he was about to turn around to take off again, he saw the scared look on the man's face twist into an evil grin.
Alarmed, he was about to point his bow and arrow at the man again when he heard a twig snap. He whipped his head towards where the sound had come from, and saw another guard approaching him from his right. He looked around himself and saw that the guards had formed a circle around him and were drawing closer.
He mentally cursed himself for letting the guard distract him from his other attackers. He caught movement out of the corner of his eye and found that the man on the ground had grabbed his sword and was about to lunge up at him.
In the moments he had before the sword reached him, he didn't have any time to think about what to do. Instinctively, he called upon his power, feeling the familiarity of it coursing through his body. He could hear the rumbling and static inside his head as it built up inside of him before what felt like an explosion leaving his body.
It was only a small blast. He didn't actually want to kill anyone, and he didn't exactly have much time to build up anything bigger even if he did want to. The blast sent the guards around him back several feet and they were knocked to the ground, dazed. He immediately turned around and sprinted off, not sure how long they would stay stunned for.
Although, he didn't make it that far before he ran straight into another person and knocked both of them to the ground.
Michael was making his way through the forest, not sure on his destination. He never was. It wasn't like he had anywhere to be anymore. Anywhere that he did go, people would take one look at him and alarm the authorities. It was like a game now; 'let's see how long it'll take to get kicked out of this town!'
He was actually just now coming from a small town that was not that far off from the main city. He knew it was risky being so close to the palace and practically on the doorstep of the one person who he wanted to be as far away from as possible, but he needed to pick up some supplies that would have resulted in too long of a journey if he went anywhere else.
He was only at the town for thirty minutes until he had to make his escape before the guards got to him. At least he got his supplies.
Now he was hiding out in the forest not too far off from the town, thinking about what his next move would be. He could go further up north? It'll be a lot colder, but at least the people there will be less likely to know who...what he was.
Sighing, he stood up from where he was taking a break at the base of a tree. He dusted off his pants and gathered up his things to continue on his journey. However, he paused in his movements when he heard a commotion coming from deeper in the forest.
Intrigued, he wandered towards where the sound was coming from, but he hesitated slightly when he heard what sounded like an explosion. Then, just as he took a step around a tree, he was suddenly tackled by a mass of green.
Michael grunted as he hit the floor, startled for a moment as to what just happened. The weight on top of him quickly scrambled off him and Michael sat up and felt, quite frankly, angry.
"Watch where you're going, asshole." He rubbed his head for a moment and focused on who- or what- was in front of him.
It only took a second of taking in the green-clad man to know what he was staring at. A creeper.
Said creeper was staring at him startled and panicked behind the scarf wrapped around the lower part of his face, and beneath the hood casting a shadow on the remaining parts of his face. Michael had never seen a creeper so close before. Actually, Michael had never seen a creeper ever, other than maybe once from very, very far away. There was a reason he never had any intention of being so close to one.
However, this one didn't seem to have any intention of blowing him up so badly that not even his sword would be left behind in the blast. No, this one just stared at him with eyes of a green he had never seen. Which was also strange, weren't creepers supposed to have solid black eyes? Maybe he was mistaken, but no, this creeper definitely had green eyes. Even under the shadow of his hood they seemed like they were glowing as they stared back at him.
Michael snapped out of his daze, realising that he was staring. "You're a-"
"It must have gone this way!" Michael was cut off as he heard yelling come from the same direction that he had heard the commotion before, and apparently from the same way that the creeper had just come from.
The creeper clambered to his feet, hastily looking around to decide on where to go. He seemed to make a decision as he looked up at the tree they were right next to. He threw the bow he was holding onto his back and started to climb the branches faster than should have been humanly possible.
Then again, he wasn't exactly a human.
Michael stood up and watched the creeper climb, wondering who the man was so desperately trying to hide from. "What are you do-"
The sounds of metal armour noisily clanging together reached his ears, and he had dealt with enough guards to know that that was exactly who was nearing. He looked towards the direction of the guards loudly approaching and back up the tree where the creeper had now almost reached the top.
Fuck it, he thought. He did not want to get caught today.
With his strength, it wasn't hard to get up to the first branch and then pull himself up the rest of the way almost as fast as the creeper. When he reached a point that seemed like it was the highest he could go, he stopped and looked up to see that the creeper was staring at him with a very confused look on his face. Michael was sure that underneath the scarf his mouth was hanging open.
Michael let out a light chuckle at the creeper's bewildered look. "What, you think I don't know how to climb a tree?"
The creeper somehow looked even more confused than before. It seemed as if he might say something, but any further conversation was cut off by the approaching clang of metal as the guards reached their hiding spot. They held their breaths as they watched the guards run straight past their tree, oblivious to the two men perched just above them.
They waited until the clashing of metal and raised voices had completely faded into the distance, and all that remained was the sound of the leaves rustling around them before they started to relax a little.
Almost as quickly as he had climbed up the tree, the creeper started to make his way back down to the ground. Michael hurried after him, not sure why he wanted to catch up to him so quickly.
As soon as they reached the ground, the creeper started to walk in the opposite direction to the way the guards went. He didn't know why, but suddenly Michael felt sad at the possibility of never seeing this man again, for him to just walk away without even saying a word.
"Hey, wait!"
The creeper stiffened at his words and stopped in his tracks.
Now that he'd stopped walking off, Michael had no idea what he wanted to say next. He didn't even know why he cared so much, just let them both go their separate ways, better than staying near a creeper long enough for it to blow him up.
Yet, this creeper seemed different to what he had learnt about them growing up, and something about his green eyes made Michael not want to let this man just walk away.
Michael scrambled for something to say, fearing that the man in front of him would take off again if he didn't say anything soon. "Um...why were those guards chasing you?"
At those words the creeper turned around to face him but continued to not say a word and just stared at him, a hint of that confusion from before creeping back onto his face.
Creepers could speak the same language as humans, right? He was pretty sure of it.
Michael tried again, this time sticking his hand out. "I'm Michael."
The creeper looked at his hand curiously before slowing taking the scarf off. The face behind it looked like that of any normal human. Just a man who looked similar to Michael's age, not of a monster who lurked in the forest and caused destruction wherever it went.
"Gavin," the creeper finally replied, but didn't shake his hand.
Way to leave me hanging, Michael thought as he dropped his hand back down to his side. At least the creeper had finally said something.
Gavin. It was a nice name. Michael was surprised he had a name that other humans had, but then again Michael wasn't actually sure what he had been expecting. Just a jumbled mess of letters that made no sense?
"So, Gavin, you didn't answer my question before. Why were those guards chasing you?"
At his question, Gavin tensed up again and got the same panicked look on his face that he had when they first bumped into each other.
"Why?"
"Why what?"
"Why do you care?"
"Um..." That was a good question. Why did Michael want to know anyways? "I guess it's something we have in common."
The scared look on Gavin's face faded a little.
"They want you too?"
"Of course!" Michael laughed. "I mean, look at me!" He gestured to himself, clad in his bear furs and his diamond sword.
That just made Gavin look even more confused. "I'm not sure what you mean."
"I'm...different." Michael struggled to find a way to explain why people would take one look at him and run for the hills. Why he would barely be in one place for a few minutes before he was running away himself so he wouldn't get caught. "People are scared of me. They fear what they don't understand. And me they don't understand."
They stood in silence for a moment before it was broken by the quiet whisper of, "they attacked us."
Michael glanced up from where his gaze had drifted to the floor. Gavin was watching him with a look on his face that Michael couldn't quite read.
"What?"
"The guards. They came to our village. Attacked us, destroyed our homes. I don't know how many others got away." His voice drifted off at the end and he looked away.
"I'm sorry."
Gavin turned back to face him, looking shocked at what Michael had said. "Why?"
There was that question again, but this time Michael didn't have to think about the answer. He knew how people felt towards creepers. Knew it from the way people talked about them, how they were described in books. How they hid in the forest, away from civilisation.
"They attacked you because they fear you, right?" After a moment Gavin nodded. "I know that feeling."
Gavin watched him for a moment, seeming thoughtful, before a shy smile crept onto his face. "People fear what they don't understand?"
Michael gave him a small smile back.
"Yeah."