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You were more than determined to get to the bottom of this.
Months ago, the rider had appeared in your small, peaceful town. He rode a massive beast made of bones and blue fire, destroying homes and carts, killing horses…it was terrible.
Then, after the first three attacks had nearly decimated the edges of town, all the poorest homes destroyed utterly, the lady came.
She was impressive, looking like a powerful sorceress with her long dress and staff, but something about her had always struck you as wrong with her. Something in her eyes, or the way she carried herself, reminded you of a weasel sneaking into a hen house.
Give her tribute, she said, and she can buy the ingredients to use a spell and keep your home safe.
Of course, not everyone was desperate enough to give in, convinced she was running a scam.
The most vocal against her had their homes destroyed in the next attack, while those who gave her the price were untouched.
This scene played out over and over, with holdouts or those who no longer had the means to pay being singled out for attack while the payment owners were spared.
You were tired of it, even though your parents were just thankful to be spared and paid the tribute every time. You had not been able to get your start in life because of the rider, your attempt to journey to the city to use your skills to apprentice to a trade had been stymie by the rider’s killing of all horses. Everyone in your village was stuck here, so far out in the forest that it would take days on foot, and no one dared risk being out in the open when the rider came at night.
So today, you put your plan into action.
It was Tribute Day, the day each week when the Lady asked for payment for her spell, and you volunteered to take your family’s tribute. Your poor parents were relieved, thinking this was your way of giving in and accepting life as it was, but no. You’d been practicing your pickpocketing skills, and though you had given back anything you’d taken (under the guise of practicing a slight of hand trick to entertain the children you usually looked after or that your neighbors had simply dropped their items) you were now assured you could do this.
You offered your tribute, and as you passed by and the Lady was distracted by the glittering gold of the next offering, you swiped her keys. Hiding behind a building, you used the lumps of clay you had to make casts of each one, then snuck back, dropping the keys beside her to make it seem like they had simply fallen out of her bag on their own.
Now your plan was truly in motion.
--
At home, once everyone was sleeping, you melted one of your few remaining possessions, a set of copper soldiers your uncle had brought from his travels long ago. It pained your heart to lose these relics of a sweet childhood, but there was no better cause than freedom for your whole town.
Pouring the metal into the molds, you dumped each one into the bucket of water beside the hearth, hearing them hiss softly as the keys were cooled and ready.
But you were patient. You knew, after “dropping” her keys, the Lady would be suspicious. So you took two weeks, making your keys, carefully preparing yourself for the right moment, before you set off to her home in the dead of night.
It was a bit of trial and error, seeing which key would open her door, but you made it, and soon you were inside, the black of your clothes hiding you in the moonless night. Your eyes had long adjusted to the blackness, and you easily made your way through her sumptuous quarters.
Your stomach turned at all the silks and velvets, the fine furniture and trappings that had been paid for by you and your neighbors living in fear. Stars, you hated this woman with your whole being. Even seeing her in her feather bed, satin bedclothes glittering in the low light from a leftover lantern made you want to vomit. Soon enough, she’d get what was coming to her. But you had to find proof first. A way to stop the rider without her.
You searched every room, quiet and frustrated as you found nothing time and again. It relieved you that you found no actual magic working materials, no cauldron or herbs or spellbooks, because that added credence to your suspicions of her fakery, but still, you needed a solution to the problem of the rider.
In the basement, the final room, you found only potatoes and preserves, the tributes the farmers could afford to pay. Forlorn, you walk around the room one more time and gasp when you hear a wooden “clunk” as your foot lands on part of a rug.
Quickly, you roll up the rug and grin when you find a trap door in the otherwise even floor. Finally, a breakthrough!
Opening the door, using the rug as a muffler, you go in, down a short ladder to the top of a staircase. Down further into the earth, and you gasp as you see a pedestal lined with runes, and atop it is the largest skull you’ve ever seen.
It’s not exactly human, but the empty sockets, gaping nose, and permanent grin are definitely eerie. To add to that, a large hole is busted in the back of it, as if this was a soldier’s skull from some war long ago…when giants roamed.
This skull was definitely important, and those runes on the pedestal had to mean something, so you pull a little note pad out and start transcribing. You’ll figure these out later, but first you have to get all of them.
Slowly, you circle the pedestal, and as you’re coming back to the front, a red light flicks on. It’s not a candle, too steady and bright, and it suddenly turns on you.
Looking upward, you stare in horror as the EYE inside the left socket of the skull stares back.
“what are you up to?” growls a voice from inside the skull, and you scramble away.
“Y-you’re alive!” you gasp, trying not to scream to avoid being caught.
“well, means you aren’t with that extortionist if you didn’t know,” The skull is making expressions now, clearly unamused by you. “so, you figure you’d take the next run at milking these peasants dry or what?”
“She’s…she really is doing that? How?” you’re so relieved to be right, but now the worry is replaced with confusion. You come closer, after all, it’s just a skull.
He, the voice is definitely male, sighs and looks away from you, “like I’d tell you. I have enough trouble with that greedy wench upstairs; I won’t help my next captor learn how to control me.”
“So you…aren’t normally a headless menace on a skeleton beast?”
The skull snorts, “no. I’m normally a very average skeleton on a skeletal beast. And he’s not a beast, his name’s George.”
“That thing is named George?” you regret it almost instantly as you get glared at.
“he’s a lot smarter than you lot, that’s for sure. he’s a blaster, part of my magic, but he won’t be around much longer at this rate.”
You want to ask why, but you see a line of black fluid begin to dribble from his mouth and pool around his jaw, “Uh, what’s that?”
“just full of questions, aren’t ya?” the skull snickers, “and that would be a signal of how hungry I am.”
“A hungry skull?” you’re skeptical, and he sees fit to prove himself.
Sliding a thick, purplish tongue over his teeth, the skull croons, “I’m still connected to my body. Anything I eat gets absorbed into more magic to run me. but she doesn’t exactly think I deserve much, so I’m running a bit low.”
All of this is said while staring right at you with a sinister smile, and your self-preservation instinct kicks in. Scrambling away, you hear him laugh softly before you stick your own tongue out at him.
“alright, i will admit, you’re at least fun to mess with. I really am hungry, though, and I don’t exactly want to see what she does when she finds you,” he’s looking away, seemingly done with you.
“Well, nobody deserves to starve so…why can’t I just take you off that pedestal and take you to your body?” You start to approach but he growls at you.
“Do you want to be paralyzed till morning? These runes make humans seize up for hours if they touch me,” he closes his sockets for a moment, and you start to wonder why the other socket is dark. “but thanks for the offer, I guess.”
“Then I guess I’ll have to come back, then. Cause you’re as much a victim of this woman as we are,” getting up, you smile, and introduce yourself, “And your name is?”
“Chain,” he chuckles softly. “see you later, if you make it that far.”
Filled with a new purpose, you head back up to the ground level. You’d feed this skull, and you’d find out all you could from him.
And then you’d find a way to break the Lady’s control so you could both be free of her.
--
You had to be careful, of course, using your foraging skills to get the wild food you could and hiding half your haul to feed to the skull.
After about three days, you went back, skulking through the night and the dark house to the second basement where you met your…new friend? Ish?
He was at least getting friendlier toward you the more you came with food for him. You’d gotten very good at tossing various roots and berries into his mouth, and he seemed to enjoy the amusement, catching your stray shots with that bizarre glowing tongue. You also couldn’t say you didn’t like having someone to talk to about how horrible the Lady was, and the skull….Chain was more than eager to commiserate on the subject.
“How exactly,” you ask on the fifth visit, gently chucking mushrooms into his mouth, “does this feed you, if your body is out there smashing farmer Johnson’s pumpkins?”
He munches on the little puffballs and swallows, “magic. I’m a skeleton, so all my eating just turns things into energy, wholesale. Least if it’s dead or plant matter or something similar, but if it’s alive it just kind of…sits inside till I do something about it. found that out when that witch upstairs tried to feed me live mice. Not fun.”
“Eugh,” you shudder at the idea of him having to eat mice, but sigh, “okay, so magic. But can you even taste what you eat?”
“yep. every bit, if my tongue is there. I can turn it off if I want,” he grinned and waggled his brow bones, “wanna see?”
“Yeah.” Feeling brave, you scoot over closer, but outside the rune circle around the pedestal, and motion for him to open up.
Chain opens his mouth and shows his tongue, then you gasp as it suddenly vanishes from sight, leaving a dark void in his mouth. “Whoa, that’s so weird.”
Closing his mouth, Chain smirks a bit, “only for you humans. lotsa monsters do things this way. Elementals, ghosts, other skeletons…’s just you fleshy types that can’t.”
“You are so weird. Fleshy types, huh? At least I can’t get my head stolen,” you stick your tongue out at him, and he waggles his at you, and you both snicker softly.
Okay, so while he couldn’t control his body at all like this, you still can see how his huge skull would fit on the body of the rider. Chain’s damaged head would look pretty proportional to the wide shoulders and solid-looking body, his size matched by his strength. Yeah, you could believe that.
--
For his part, Chain was trying not to panic the first time a new human slipped down into the dungeon. How could he not be? One human, unnoticed, had stolen his head and bound his body to their will.
But you…you didn’t seem interested in that. Instead, you just seemed angry, desperate, and lonely. He’d been able to read all that off you, just by your body language and the feeling of your energy. Then your reactions had surprised him more. You were curious, and bitter, and cautious…but your soul blazed with the yellow light of justice and he found himself intrigued.
And now, visit after visit, you brought him food, you talked with him, and joked with him. You treated him not as an object or stepping stone, but a person. That was worth something, and your justice leaned heavily in favor of that witch upstairs being the sole blame for all this misfortune.
Lucky him, a human who actually was thinking about others.
Well, it was getting time for you to leave him again…or it would have been had he not heard a click above.
“uh, hey,” he asked as he looked up, “why don’t you check the door up there? Gets stuck sometimes.”
You nodded, “Oh, right, it’s almost that time, huh? Thanks for the reminder.”
Please don’t let him be right for once.
Up to the door goes the human and…down they come with a panicked face, “It’s locked!”
Not for long, he’d wager. Taking a deep breath, Chain said urgently, “okay, you’re going to hate this, but you have to be gone before she comes back. That witch has to have figured out someone’s coming down here.”
“How do we do that, though?” was hissed back at him.
“I gotta eat ya.”
Your blank reaction was kind of funny, but then came the fear, “What? But how do I get out of that? How is that gonna help me?”
“listen, when I’m not ‘on duty’ for her, I can get a little control over my body. I’ll do what I did with the mice, just open up my belly magic and let you out and seal it up again, no harm no foul. Just talk nice to George when you get out and he’ll help you find your way back home.”
“Chain, please, there has to be another way!” you were clearly desperate, eyeing his teeth.
Hearing the approaching footsteps above, his hearing better than yours, “we don’t have time to think of one and there’s no other exit to this room. Just think of it this way, who is more likely to hurt you, that witch up there, or me, who’s kind of in your debt at this point?”
You looked back as the door rattled, then nodded.
Chain sighed and opened his mouth wide, pulling you in with his long tongue the moment you were close enough.
--
You yelped softly at the touch of his slimy tongue, but allowed it to draw your arms and head deep into the hot confines of Chain’s mouth. It glowed the purple-blue you’d come to know from the glimpses you got as you fed him, and the magic tingled across your skin.
With one swallow, you were yanked forward and down, the soft, damp magic around you pressing in and your legs leaving the floor as your lower torso was pulled into his mouth. Another wet gulp and you were sliding down with gravity, whole body sparkling with the feeling of the magic around you and the waves of movement in his throat, pulling you down even faster.
One slick ring opened over your head, and you slipped easily into a more open chamber, curling up as you were closed inside. Still, your heart was racing, your mind checked out from how fast and easily you’d been eaten alive.
It took a moment before you felt the movement. Bump, bump, bump, you were being bounced along, causing the softly glowing magic around you to gurgle and squeeze a bit in complaint about such rough movement combined with your weight.
Riding. This felt like horse riding, like how you’d traveled to the city before being cut off. You really were in Chain’s stomach, riding along with his body on his nightly raids.
Gosh, but Chain’s magic was soft, you thought as you continued to sway and bounce with his body. Yes, you were curled up, but he was so big you weren’t uncomfortable. In fact, you felt sort of relaxed now that you weren’t actively on the move or in danger from that hideous woman who’d taken Chain’s head.
No, you just…you’d been up so late so much lately…under so much stress and…the warm, cradling magic around you, combined with the little burbles and whines as his system complained at being so full, were enough lullaby to let you sleep.
--
A soft nudge and whine woke you up. With no idea how long you’d slept, you looked around and realized dully that you were still in Chain’s belly, and no worse for wear. Hearing it again, and being prodded but something rounded and rough, got you more fully conscious.
The soft glow of the magic was turned up as the shirt outside was lifted, you supposed, and a gloved hand suddenly sliced its way through the wall beside you.
Gravity and a pull from the arm sent you sprawling, getting lowered to the ground by the headless skeleton before he walked off.
Then you heard the growl. Chain’s steed stared at you, it’s strange skull fixed on your location and body ready to pounce.
Sleep clear in your voice, you cooed, “Hey there, George. It’s okay.”
Hearing his name, the creature slowly came out of attack stance and walked over, sniffing at you curiously.
“Yeah, you’re a good boy. Were you the one whining? Worried I was making your master sick? Yeah, what a good boy you are,” very gingerly, you began to pet George, and George began to purr and nuzzle back. “Chain said you’d help me find my way back, right?”
Getting a lick from the creature, revealing it had a bright navy blue tongue, you were pulled to your feet and dragged away, barely getting a glance at Chain’s body as it jerkily resealed its magical abdomen.
--
George nuzzled and purred at you for a while, till the distant edge of the trees came into view. With clear reluctance, he gave you a final lick before bounding back the way you had come with all due speed.
You were still damp from soaking in Chain’s stomach, but at least you could get home from here, and your long nap had let you feel more energized than you had in a long time.
Home consisted of your frantic family asking where you had been and why you were wet, and you made up something on the spot.
“Went looking for more food in the woods and-“
“You’re lucky to be alive at all! The rider was out and you weren’t even in bed this morning!”
“I know, I had a close call and lost all my stuff in the river when I hid in the water from him,” you said, and that seemed to go over well. You were chastised for being so careless, but told to get warm clothes and be ready for the day.
Sure, easy enough. But the town crier was yelling about a break in at “Her honorable Ladyship’s home” and how the constable would be searching for the culprit.
Hah. So she didn’t even know who you were, just that someone had been there.
But you were out of luck. She would have changed her locks, so your keys, that you had sacrificed your dearest mementos for, were useless now. And you could not see Chain, which turned out to hurt you much more than having lost your chance to find direct evidence to show of the lady’s treachery.
He’d taken up most of your thinking time, Chain. His welfare was your main concern, knowing you couldn’t deliver him food, and now when you thought of new jokes, no one was there to share them with. You missed his voice, his dark humor, and some part of you still woke tingling as if his magic was wrapped around you again.
It was so strange, but somehow, he’d become an irreplaceable piece of your life.
And you were supposed to just go on without him now….?
No.
--
You’d waited, you’d watched in the night as his figure shot by to ravage the poor and the stubborn of their property.
Two months, you wait. You want the witch to grow complacent. You want her to leave you and Chain alone when you reunite.
But you cannot wait any longer, very concerned that your skeletal companion might be starving to death. Out into the woods you go one fine morning, and when you get deep in, you call, “George? George, can you hear me?”
You think this is the way you left the woods when you last saw the huge skeletal beast, and as you call again, you hear crashing.
George bursts out of the underbrush and leans down on his front feet, long tail wagging as he looks up at you.
“Oh there you are!” you gasp in delight, so happy to see his goofy face. “There’s my good boy, thank you so much!”
George gets many pets and kisses, making him whine and nuzzle you happily, purring away. Apparently, he’s happy to see you, too.
“George, honey, can you take me to Chain? I miss him,” you confess, and George freezes, eye lights darting before he huffs and backs off. You worry he’s not going to before he turns and makes his way back where he’d come from.
The trail is clearly fresh, since there are broken tree branches and trampled plants all down the way, but you’re focused on keeping up with George as he makes his way through. You’re more than a little scared when, as you enter a clearing, you see Chain’s body rise, axe in hand, and start making its way toward you.
“Uh, George?” you stammer as you back away from the weapon wielding body.
The creature huffs, using his long tail to wrap around Chain’s legs and trip him up, making him faceplant (without a face) into the dirt.
As the body scrambled, you took stock of Chain. He had scars all over his bones, and since his chest armor was off, most were on display.
George drags the body away from the dropped axe, and you sit on its stomach, “Okay, big guy. Stop flailing and let me in.”
The body stills, though it gives a few twitches and jerks like its fighting not to reach up for you. Taking this as a sign you should be quick, you being pushing on his sadly thin belly, the magical gel over his bones barely making a shape in the deep gap between ribs and pelvis. You know it was thicker the last time you saw him…the witch was still starving him.
George whined at you, and suddenly the body sprang into action, grabbing you tight before unzipping itself and shoving you roughly up into the opening.
As the membrane sealed behind you, you realized this might have been a mistake. What if he didn’t realize it was you? What if you’d been shoved in here and Chain’s withered system decided to drain you until you died of exhaustion? You didn’t know how magic worked, that could happen!
There was a squeeze on you, soft, and almost as if his body had no idea what it was going to do with you, before a stronger one pushed you up, the speed increasing till you were dumped onto the cold floor of the sub-basement of the wicked woman’s house.
“are you insane?” Chain hissed quietly as you collected yourself, voice rough from having to force you out. “I could have killed you, coming at my body like that. you’re so lucky George knows a good egg when he sees one.”
“Well excuse me, princess,” you shoot back, whispering yourself as you wipe his slobber off, “but I was worried about you and I missed your stupid face.”
He glares at you, but the expression falls and he just sighs, “you’re something else….i missed you, too.”
You feel a weight lift off your shoulders when he finally smiles and you can’t help returning it, “I saw how your body was thinner when I went in. Is she not feeding you at all now?”
“nah, she’s feeding me the same,” he moves his eyes in what you’d learned was a ‘come here’ gesture, “it’s just I don’t have you giving me extra. An’ I wasn’t exactly happy either, an’ that takes a toll.”
“Aw man, Chain…” you sit just outside the rune circle around the pedestal. “I just want there to be a way out of this for you…well, for all of us but…”
“I know,” his eye light was looking you over in such a tender way, and it made you blush. “so I’ve been listening more when she talks. Stupid wench, she’s got runes on the doorway to keep the house off limits to my body, or I’d’ve already broken down the door and left. Oh,” He remembers something and grins, “y’know, all our shenanigans, they frustrated her so much she scuffed the runes down there.” He looks down and so do you.
Three of the runes are partially rubbed off, and you grin, “That makes it that much easier for us, doesn’t it?”
He chuckles, and you sit up on your knees, resting your chin on the pedestal to be somewhat even with him. To your surprise, you hear him purr, very softly. “y’know, it’s so hard for me, not being able to really show you what’s goin’ through my mind. ‘s a lot different from the first things, when you came down here.”
“Same,” You sit up a little more and gently touch your foreheads together, “I couldn’t stop thinking about you while I was gone. Worrying…missing you.”
“careful,” he murmured, a scent of mulberries playing around your face as his cheekbones colored indigo, “that’s awfully close to something you can’t take back.”
It was mere moments from being a confession, a kiss, something that expressed the magnetic pull from inside your chest toward Chain, but then there was a screech as the very person you were hoping to never see again rocketed down the stairs, “THIEF!”
Chain didn’t even hesitate, maneuvering his jaw around your head and quickly pulling you in and down, back the way you’d come, and that mulberry scent was all over you. His magic. This was his magic’s scent. You’d never felt so very happy about mulberries before.
It barely took a second before you were once more curled up in the cradling bowl of his body, but you didn’t get time to even catch your breath before you were yanked out and thrown a good distance away as his bones rattled.
Knowing the Lady had seen you, knowing she’d be sending him to do the one thing you knew in your heart Chain would never willingly do, you ran. Fast as you could, toward the sound of the village in full swing.
--
You just had to get home and hide, get clean clothes and cut your hair maybe….maybe use the coal dust from the coal bucket to dye it black….
But you didn’t manage to even get into town before you heard the Lady, “And she dared to break into my house to try and stop me from telling all of you of her treachery!”
Oh no.
You were suddenly grabbed by two men who ran at you, dragging you kicking and screaming into the square. “HERE!” came the horrible, smug voice of the Lady. “HERE is the little witch. The one who summoned the rider to bring misery to this town, who cavorted with the devil! Well,” she pulled on your chin, forcing it up to look at her with a painful crack to your neck, “now you’re going to pay. Because I know how to make the rider turn on you.”
With her so close, you actually tried to bite her, and she backed off, but you heard the thundering footfalls of George…the same as when he rode at night.
Out into the square, with people screaming and running away, came Chain’s body, armored and axe-weilding, on George’s back, who tried desperately to back away when the body urged him forward.
The men holding you were cowards, thankfully, and they bolted as soon as they saw George’s face, leaving you to throw yourself to the floor to dodge the swing of Chain’s axe.
George tried his best to prevent harm to you, whining and growling at the body as he used his tail to pull his arm and make the axe miss, or pushed himself between you and the body to make it stop, but as you ran through the market place, trying to get to the Lady’s house to stop all this madness, George got trapped in the ruins of a stall you’d been trying to hide in, the tarp tangling his limbs and causing him to let out pitiful squeaks and trills of distress.
Poor George, but you couldn’t help him right now.
Chain’s body was vicious as it tried to hit you, with the axe, with sharpened bones that appeared out of nowhere, and with his grabbing hands. It’s not even down to skill, you are just desperate to get away and LIVE, so your body does its own work, getting away from him as best you can and using his size against him.
Narrow alleyways are your friend, and you duck and dive into them as much as possible, but Chain just crashes through walls to get to you, and it’s all you can take just keeping yourself running as you chest burns and your side stings.
The Lady’s house comes into view, the painters outside having run as the crashing of Chain’s approach reached them, and you bolt through the open door.
The body cannot come in, and even though it approaches and looms menacingly at all the windows and front door, it cannot break the spell. Eventually it backs away, and your brain starts to function.
Right, time to stop this.
Grabbing a can of blue paint, you go to the door of the basement and slop paint over every rune you see. You easily open the door now, and rush back upward with your paint.
The Lady is here, now, and yelling at Chain’s body, “You were supposed to kill her! Not let her into my home! What kind of monster are you if you can’t kill a simple peasant?!”
Quiet as you can, you use the brush to paint over the rune circle on the door, standing in the frame as you reach around and cover the runes while her rant continues. When the last one is covered, you beam, then turn and yell, “HEY IDIOT!”
The Lady gasps in rage, and the body perks up, grabbing its axe and charging after you as you rush back inside and hear the frustrated screams of, “NO! NOT IN MY HOUSE!”
Chains body crashes after you as you SPRINT down the stairs to the basement, nearly falling at the bottom as you switch directions and go to the ladder down.
However, because of your near slip, the body had time to catch up with you, and you are ripped upward into the air by your shirt.
Held up, you see the stump of Chain’s neck, the glow of the magic under his armor shining through the hole. You’d say it was ethereal, to yourself, as your mind has short circuited from being so close to the goal but suddenly stopped.
“That’s it!” the woman you hated more than anything else in all known existence came to glare at you, “You nearly cost me my house AND my money maker! You’re such a nuisance, you hideous little cretin. Monster,” she snapped her fingers at Chain and the body stood up straighter, “wring her neck and let’s be done with her.”
“Chain!” you yelp as you feel the body begin to move, arms shuddering as the one holds you and the other inches toward your neck, “Chain, please!”
You know he can hear you, the door is open and the magic is gone.
And then you feel it, the hand holding you loosens just a fraction, but it’s enough.
You go limp and drop to the floor through your shirt, dashing half naked to the ladder and down to the plinth that held Chain’s head.
“Oh stars!” He gasps as he opens his eyes, seeing you shirtless, but his blush is interrupted by the crash of his body dropping into the staircase and thundering down.
It stops as soon as it’s within a foot of the plinth, and you watch as the arms lift and grab hold of the skull, almost fluidly resetting it on top of his neck. His eyes are closed for a moment, and then they open.
“thanks to you, hon,” those hands that had grabbed you so roughly now brushed your shoulder softly, “this nightmare is over. Stay here for a bit,” you almost collapse as he kisses the top of your head, so gently, “I’ll take care of this.”
“Okay,” you manage to whisper, and as he dashes up the stairs, you fall onto your rump on the plinth and shake, all the adrenaline leaving your body as you hear a distant scream…in the Lady’s voice.
--
It takes an hour or so before you’re found, and as they see the Lady’s house, the villagers grow angry. They raid the place, calling your parents to help you get dressed and go home. None of your family believed a word of what the Lady had said about you, nor did anyone in the town who actually knew you as a person, which was a good deal of them since the town was so small.
So, even with her lies, everyone still found the Lady guilty of fraud and destruction of property once your story came out. Of course, you downplayed your affection for Chain when talking about him to others, because it wasn’t their business how you’d fallen in love.
But it took a week before anyone heard anything from of the woods, where Chain had chased the Lady out of town. George was still with you, thankful when he was freed from the stall ruins and a Very Good Boy as he helped with the initial rebuilding of houses and things damaged by Chain in the chase. Then that week passed, and you, in your new role as Mayor, were perched on George’s back to oversee the reconstruction of one of the farms that was destroyed by the Lady, when you heard screams and people came running.
“Mayor!” a man yelped as he came into view, “The rider!”
You and George both turn, George’s tail wagging and your own heart leaping with joy as you see Chain slowly walking into town. His armor is gone, and he’s in a simple shirt and pants. He looks…healthier, even if his magic glowing through the shirt was darker purple than before. That was fine. You weren’t going to ask what he’d done to the Lady; you didn’t care.
“Chain,” you finally breathed, before George made the move for you and rocketed forward to rub and nuzzle his master in happiness.
“hey. hahahah, and hello to you, too, George. Ya been good for them?” He asked good naturedly, getting a purr and lick to his hand in response, “I knew ya would.”
The people all around were slowly beginning to edge out of hiding, especially as you sat there on George’s back, beaming up at the skeleton standing so tall above them.
“Chain, I’m so glad you’re back. Welcome home,” you reached out your arms, and heard the collective gasps as you were picked up and hugged tight to his chest. “I missed you.”
“missed you, too,” he nuzzled your head very carefully, then drew back, “but I think I need to do some apologizing. Could you introduce me to your people here?”
“Oh, right,” you blush and laugh slightly, leaning back and calling, “It’s alright everyone. Remember, he was bewitched before.”
Those hiding nearby slowly exited and looked nervously at Chain, then at you, then at George.
George was smiling (as well as a Blaster can) and sitting at Chain’s feet, tail wagging and still nuzzling and purring. They had learned to love George, and seeing how both you and him reacted to Chain right now, it eased them.
“Is it really okay?”
“Um, hello, Mr. Chain?”
“What’s going on?”
You grin as you explain, “Chain has come back to apologize to you all, even though it wasn’t his fault this happened to all of us.”
He nods, “I feel terrible for what happened to all your homes and livestock. I’m more than willing to be put to work if it means I can atone for what my body did to this town.”
Murmurs of wonder and hums of thought followed, and then your uncle shouted, “Heck! If you make them so happy, I’ll let ya sleep in my house.”
The square echoed with laughter as you blushed and hid your face in Chain’s shoulder, who smiled and laughed even as he comforted you from the embarrassment. “well, sir, I’ll take you up on that while I help with the repair work. Many thanks.”
While you wished it hadn’t had to happen at your expense, Chain being welcomed in with such warmth was more than you could have asked for.
--
It takes months, and a lot of hard work, but the town is slowly rebuilt. Along with it grows the people’s understanding and acceptance of Chain as he is. Your uncle’s barn is his home, George sleeps across his lap, and your place is on his shoulder or in his arms as he talks long into the night about his long life before the Witch (as they call her now) came.
You hope to meet his brother some day. He says he’d love you, and from what Chain says, you already love him. And of course, the whole village already knows how deeply you and Chain love each other. You’d tried to keep it…more discreet after him first showing up, but Chain had no such qualms and openly loved on you with kisses and nuzzles no matter what, so you’d given it up and gave in to the reality that you were in love with this hulking skeleton with a metaphorical heart of gold.
His magic was slowly fading from the purple color down to more blue, and at one point while you two are sitting in the woods, just enjoying the warm sunshine and quiet time, Chain asks, “so you know how my magic color’s changing?”
“Yes?” you looked up at him and tilted your head, curious.
“that’s…well, it was red cause it was corrupted. I was starvin’ and…it was bad. Had to do some bad things,” His big fingers are gently stroking your hair and you hum in acknowledgement. “well, I’m better now, but not all the way. Might still be a little dangerous if…well, what I was going to ask you is, um,” he has to swallow a bit.
“Go on, Chain, I’m listening,” you gently pat his chest.
He takes a deep breath, “would you mind if I maybe kept you in my belly for a while? when I’m all the way better?”
You look at him, confused, and see the magic beading on his skull as he gets nervous. “I’m not saying no, but I don’t know why you’d want to do that?”
Blushing, he looks away and explains, “so creatures like me, skeletons, ghosts, that kinda stuff….we can do that safely, right? well, I wasn’t so sure I could, till the mouse thing and then when you fainted. So….now that I know I can, I want to because it’s, well…”
Frustrated with himself, Chain growls and hides his face in your hair, “skeleton monsters usually hold people they care about in there sometimes. Like…like your kids, or your best friends or…or your mate.”
Now it was your turn to blush, face hot and brain going in circles as you process this. He was basically asking you for what you guessed was the skeleton version of second base.
Oh.
“That…that works for me,” you finally answer, barely able to make the words.
Your whole body is then wrapped up as Chain curls in over you and purrs, nuzzling and cooing. Now you know why George does this. He gets it from Chain.