Work Text:
Lue headed down the path toward the farm; it was nearing midnight. She was on her way home from a long day in the mines. Her pickaxe was slung over one shoulder; her face and overalls were coated with coal dust and dirt.
Her heavy leather boots crunched through the snow. It was freshly fallen, pristine but for where she ruined it underfoot. The wood was otherwise still and silent. No wind blew between the trees. It was getting quite cold at this hour, the frost nipped at her fingers through thin gloves. She was exhausted and eager to get back to her warm bed. Her muscles ached after many long hours of back breaking labor crushing rock under the weight of her pickaxe. Her backpack was heavy with spoils: gemstones, ores, and geodes.
The lights of the farmhouse soon came into view through the trees. She sighed in relief when her boots landed on the cobblestone path that marked the beginning of her property. A shadow moved in the darkness, passing in between the porch and the crop fields, which were filled with crystal fruit this time of year.
She smiled and waved as she approached, happy her friend had come to greet her. Even if it was unusual to see him outdoors. She had been gone so long, she hoped she hadn't worried him.
"Hey, what are you doing outside? Is everything alright?" She called.
Wait a second... that shape wasn't quite right. It was tall and broad shouldered, instead of short and round. The welcoming smile dropped off her face and she stopped in her tracks. As the shadow stalked toward her, it grew larger and larger. Soon, there was a towering monstrosity looming over her. It growled, a low thunderous rumble. The thing bared a mouth full of sharp black teeth. It unsheathed claws like kitchen knives. That's not Krobus! She screamed internally.
It swiped at her, she ducked out of the way. The strike mutilated the scarecrow behind her. Poor Turniphead exploded in a shower of splinters and straw as the creature's talons sliced through it.
Lue dropped her pickaxe and drew her sword from its sheath— where it hung on her belt. She sidestepped the creature, attempting to circle around, so that she could flee for the porch. It remained like a stubborn brick wall, following her movements and blocking her escape with it's bulk. She brandished her blade at it in threat. If possible, she wanted to avoid slaying any of Krobus' people on their front lawn. She had the brief thought of his horror, if he discovered the mess. She imagined him walking out onto the deck to lounge in the dark, per usual, only to witness the field of corpses she had left for him.
In her peripheral vision she could see more of them closing in. Scores of living shadows materialized out of the blackness from their hiding places behind trees and fences. It was an ambush. Soon, she would be surrounded. The monster in front of her moved in. It made a second attempt at her with its claws, she struck at its arm as it arced toward her on the down swing. The blade severed the offending appendage from the rest of its body at the shoulder. The arm hit the snow with a dull thud. The creature shrieked in agony, a blood curdling cry like a rat caught in a woodchipper.
She kicked it in the stomach, and it fell onto it's back, remaining limbs flailing. She made a run for it. Another beast grabbed her long hair from behind and tugged, causing her to stumble backwards. It's claws raked across her face, and she was blinded by the spray of blood. Lue stabbed wildly into the space behind her with her sword. She felt the end plunge with little resistance into the center of the being's squishy mass, and heard it squeal. She wrenched herself free of it's grip as it fell, leaving a clump of torn hair behind. Wiping the blood from her eyes with the back of her arm, she ran. Her eyes stung and her vision was still blurry, but she could just make out the shape of the path ahead, and more shadows descended upon her from all sides.
She burst through the front door, slammed it shut, and locked it behind her. She spat and coughed, trying to clear blood from her mouth. Lue dropped her sword with a clatter. She raced over to the kitchen sink and washed out her eyes under the faucet. She reached for the hand soap, and cleaned the wounds. Blindly, she grabbed for a dish towel hanging from the oven's handle, and whipped her face clean. With her eyes finally free of blood and water, she was able to take stalk of her surroundings.
It was dark in her house, the lamps were off. The only light came from the torches in the yard, a warm yellow glow that entered through the curtains.
“What was all that noise? I thought I heard screaming." A small voice emanated from the blackness. Lue startled at the unexpected sound, then took a deep calming breath. It was only Krobus. She could see his round shivering outline. He was cowering behind one of her taller houseplants. "You're hurt! You look like you’ve been attacked by a wild animal!” he gasped, and ran up to her. She flinched when his claws brushed her cheek, and he pulled his hand away in alarm.
“It’s nothing." She felt along the gashes in her face with her own fingers, they had stopped bleeding. She was thankful the stranger's claws had missed her eyes, and the wounds weren't too deep. If she was careful, they might not even leave too much of a scar. "Heads bleed a lot."
"How did this happen?" He asked.
"Uh...." She had the grace to look embarrassed. "I lifted the magical wards on the farm.”
A look of horror crossed his face.
“You what? Why? ”
“Excitement? Some extra resources? At first it was just slimes and bats... but now.... Take a look.” She motioned toward the window, and pulled back the drapes. He waddled over to the windowsill and peered up over the edge. He had to stand on his tip-toes to see.
For a moment beyond the glass it looked like an ordinary quiet night. In the black nothing moved, just the flickering torch light reflected in the freshly fallen snow. Then, a shadow passed in front of one of the flames, blocking it for a fraction of a second and illuminating a hulking silhouette. Lue strained her neck to see. The first shadow was followed by another, and then another.
Krobus paled. Lue was counting her lucky stars. Either any corpses she had left behind had already faded into the ether, or they had fallen conveniently out of Krobus' sight.
“I’ve never seen so many in one place before. Not even in the lava caverns; at most I saw two per floor. There’s got to be what? Ten of them?” She exclaimed in wonder.
“They can’t know I’m here,” his voice was small and tight with anxiety.
“Well I’m not about to go out and tell them. They’re real mean, I don’t think they’re in the mood for conversation.” she gestured to her cut up face. “They came out of nowhere, and they were so fast....”
“They’ve got to know I’m here, why else would they be on the surface? And in such numbers? This hasn’t happened in decades,” he explained.
“They might just hate me personally. It’s a good possibility, I cause a lot of chaos in the mines."
Krobus groaned in despair.
She patted his shoulder.
“It’s fine. They're out there, and you’re in here. They can’t get you.”
BANG! The front door rattled, as if something large had just thrown itself against the opposite side. Krobus shouted in fear and ducked down below the windowsill. The wood cracked and popped as it splintered, but the barrier held.
“It’s locked, relax,” she told him.
He scowled at her.
“How’d you even lift the protections in the first place? Those were powerful wards," He snapped, gesticulating wildly.
She crossed her arms.
"Not quite strong enough to keep you out. Evidently."
"I am an adept spell caster," he told her with confidence, tiny hands on his hips. "I have knowledge my brethren do not."
How modest.
“A spooky witch’s shrine. It asked me for baked goods," she told him.
He gave her an accusatory, exasperated look. It made her feel like a scolded child.
"You should know better than to make offerings to unfamiliar shrines!"
"Coincidentally. It wanted the Strange Bun you made me the other morning, which worked out pretty well." She bit her tongue, and cursed her compulsive honesty.
"You've been using the meals I make you out of the kindness of my metaphorical heart, for black magic?" He gasped.
“What? No... it sounds awful when you put it like that."
There was another thud, and the door trembled and whined as it strained against the force thrown against it. Krobus flinched.
“Give it up buddy! You’re not strong enough to break that!” Lue shouted in the direction of the door.
There was a gurgling growl in response, like a large angry bear was standing just outside on the porch.
“Let’s just... go to bed,” she suggested. “They’ll be gone by sun up.”
Krobus nodded.
“Yeah.”
Krobus was all too eager to retreat farther into the house, he practically ran to his room and closed the door behind him.
Lue dragged open the drawers to her bureau and changed into a soft tank top and sleep pants. She flung her overalls and shirt, now stained with blood as well as dirt— into the hamper near the doorway. Then she crawled into bed, suddenly feeling all the days work weighing down on her.
A few minutes later she felt the mattress shift.
Krobus crawled under the covers and tucked his head under her chin. Lue stiffened in surprise. She knew for a fact she was sweaty and gross, and his sense of smell was a lot more sensitive than a humans. She had expected him to stay in his room, or take up the humid hide beneath the bed.
"Are you sure you want to do that? I've been working underground all day. I probably smell awful. I'd shower but... I don't think I could get up." Her limbs felt like noodles.
"You smell fine to me, like earth and soil. It's a good scent," he said.
She reminded herself that he used to live in a sewer. And before that, he'd lived in the mines, which she undoubtedly smelled of. He probably wasn't the best judge.
“What would your people do if they found you here anyway?” she asked.
She could feel him shake his head against her shoulder. Under her hands she felt tremors run up and down his back.
“I don’t want to discuss this. Please restore the wards tomorrow.”
“C’mon, the new neighbors aren’t that bad, just noisy.”
“Lue. That isn't funny.”
“Alright, fine.”
“Hey, it’s going to be ok." She rubbed small circles into his back. "I could... go back out there and kill them. They can’t have seen anything if they’re dead," she offered.
Krobus wailed in distress and she instantly regretted the suggestion.
“No! Don’t! Violence will only make things worse.”
She didn’t say that normally, she settled her disputes using violence. She didn’t mince words when someone threatened her or the people she loved. She’d already killed over a hundred shadow people in the past year and a half she’d been in the valley, what was a few more? He didn’t know that about her, and she didn’t know how he’d react if he found out.
Rasmodious thought she was supposed to be some kind of catalyst for peace. Just because she befriended both Dwarf and Krobus. She thought that was laughable. Sure she loved Krobus, but he'd never tried to flay her alive.
The front door continued to groan and creak, with the sound of something throwing its full weight against the other side. Krobus whined.
Lue sat up.
“I’ll put some music on, maybe it will drown out the sound.”
She crossed the room to an old radio sitting in the corner and flipped through the static filled stations. Eventually she found one that was almost intelligible, the singer's voice just managed to break through the white noise. Unfamiliar folk music, guitar accompanied by warbling vocals. It sounded like it had been recorded half a century ago. She turned the music up, until it began to drown out the sound of the rattling door.
“That sort of worked," she remarked.
Lue crawled back into bed and yawned. Her head connected with her pillow and she was out cold in moments. Krobus thought that she could probably fall asleep anywhere, in any condition.
He lay wide awake, he didn’t often sleep, and he was nocturnal regardless. Krobus shifted closer and pressed the side of his head to her chest. He could hear the sound of her heartbeat, even through her solid rib cage, strong and thunderously loud. The sound of the rattling door blended into the background.
Lue got into the shower first thing in the morning. The mattresses bounced and the blankets rustled as she threw them off.
Krobus grumbled in discontent as he was disturbed, squinting at the harsh morning light that streamed in through the cracks in the curtains.
It seemed he'd fallen asleep after all.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you," she said.
"It's fine," he mumbled into the pillow as he violently pulled it over his head, blocking out the light. He should get up and make breakfast, but he didn't want to. How could humans stand this vicious routine day in and day out? Wake up at the specified time, cook, do chores, work, sleep, get up and do it all over again. It seemed endless. How did Lue put up with it all these years?
"I'm just... I'm a terrible roommate. I put you in danger just by existing."
"What was that? I can't hear you through the pillow."
He threw the pillow off. It flopped onto the floor.
"It's all my fault! I can't believe they would have come here in such numbers if it weren't for me."
"It's not your fault. And anyway it doesn't matter. I'd fight for you to stay, if that's what you want, even if there was a whole army outside."
Krobus just stared up at the ceiling, not sure what to say to that. He heard the clunk of the shower turning on, and water rushing through the pipes behind the walls.
"Mrrrroooowww."
The drawn out croak of a cry was all the warning Krobus got before a gray tabby blur landed on his center mass.
"Oof. Mittens!" He objected as the breath was knocked out of him.
Mittens wasn't listening. She was kneading the jelly-like surface of his belly with her white paws, Krobus laughed. That tickled. She rubbed her face against his cheek and purred.
He scratched the cat between her soft ears as she leaned into the contact.
"You must be hungry," he said.
"Mrrow!"
Krobus picked her up and slid over the edge of the bed.
"Let's go make breakfast." He headed toward the kitchen, the purring cat cradled in his arms.
Lue finally made it to the kitchen, dressed in clean work overalls and shower-damp hair tied back. Krobus was standing on the step stool he'd pulled up to the stove so that he could reach the pan that was set atop it.
He'd already fed the cat, she noticed. Mittens' head was buried in a bowl full of unseasoned shredded chicken, set on the tiled floor. Even though Lue owned actual cans of cat food, from the grocery store. He was spoiling her, but she didn't have the heart to protest.
Krobus tilted the frying pan so that the freshly cooked scramble slid onto the plate in his opposite hand. Moments later the toaster dinged, and he placed two browned slices of sourdough next to the eggs.
Krobus made a disgusted face as he stepped off the stool and walked over to her with the plate.
"You smell like chemicals," he complained.
"No. I smell like birthday cake body wash and coconut conditioner. It's amazing." He was just going to have to deal.
The next face he made told her he did not agree, but he didn't comment further.
He handed her the plate. She raised an eyebrow at him as she accepted it. His mouth was making an uncomfortable sound. Crunching, like he was chewing on rocks. Oh, he was eating the leftover eggshells like a little garbage disposal, she realized. Cute?
At her staring, Krobus gave her an expectant look and narrowed his eyes at her in suspicion. She blinked at him in confusion before she recognized what he was reading into her sudden pause.
“No, look. No black magic. I’m eating my breakfast right in front of you. This tastes awesome.” She shoved a forkful of the yellow eggs into her mouth.
She had to stop herself from gagging at the unexpected flavor, and managed to hold her smile. What was... he'd put paprika in the eggs. Why paprika? Paprika didn't belong in eggs.
She ate without complaint as Krobus continued to munch on eggshells like popcorn, seemingly mollified. These wordless conversations were becoming more and more common between them, she wondered if it was a shadow person thing.
The eggs weren't over or under cooked at least, they were light and fluffy. Not terrible, just... strange.
“Alright, I’m headed out to fix those wards.”
Breakfast ritual completed, Lue washed her plate in the sink and towel dried her hand. Then she stooped to kiss his forehead.
Krobus emitted an embarrassed squeak.
He shrunk away from her and escaped to pull a Strange Bun out of the fridge, already packed in Tupperware. He shoved it in her direction, holding it out for her to take. He refused to make eye contact.
“This one is for black magic. I assumed you’d need another to reverse the spell," He told her.
"Right you are."
She slipped the bag off her shoulder and unzipped it from where it hung from a single strap, then dropped the offering into the largest pocket.
“Wait, one more thing,” Krobus announced as he darted out of the kitchen. He disappeared around the corner. When he reappeared, he was clutching the crumpled cardboard box of bandaids that had once occupied the cupboard beneath the bathroom sink. There was a faded smear of old blood along the top, long dried. Lue tended to get into accidents on the farm or in the kitchen. And sometimes, she lost fights.
“You are reckless,” he declared as he added a colorful bandaid across her nose. This one was green and decorated with pastel blue stars. “And also, you’re dumb,” he said as he stuck one with pink hearts over her cheek.
“Hey!” she bemoaned his insults with mock offense.
She thought he must have misunderstood the application of bandaids. Her wounds were no longer bleeding; she didn’t really need them. These bandaids were small, not big enough to cover even a fraction of each cut. This was like applying scotch tape to a pleather sofa that had been destroyed by Mittens. It was the thought that counted, she supposed.
She righted her backpack and opened the front door to leave. She could hear the songs of chickadees and juncos. There was a biting cold, but the morning sun was shining in a deep blue sky. Although her yard had seen better days, the monsters were gone.
She spotted tracks in the snow, too large and misshapen to have been made by her own boots. Pickling barrels and kegs had been smashed; leaving their contents to spill. The mangled wood bore the marks of long claws. The snow was soaked indigo with blueberry wine.
It would take her some time to replace all that had been lost. The chicken coop and barn doors were still firmly shut, and although they bore the deep gouges of claws, they had held firm.
She would check on the animals just in case, they would need to be fed regardless.
Krobus cautiously peered around the edge of the doorway, evidently curious enough to risk being burned. He squinted and hissed at the bright light as he surveyed the destruction.
“Lue! What happened to Turniphead?” Krobus exclaimed, spotting the downed scarecrow, lying in pieces. It's hat was crumpled and one of the intruders had gone so far as to take a considerable bite out of the turnip itself.
“Ah yes, an unfortunate casualty of war,” she said, with an appropriate amount of drama and reverence befitting her fallen comrade.
Krobus frowned.
“That one was my favorite," he groaned.
"I'll make you a new scarecrow."
Krobus brightened and looked up at her with hopeful eyes.
"Can I help? It should have a pumpkin head this time!"
"Will you be able to resist eating it's head?" she asked.
Krobus glanced away.
"Maybe," he muttered.
That was a resolute no then.
“We'll make it a project."
Lue set out down the front steps and out into the winter landscape, Krobus waved goodbye from the open doorway.