Chapter Text
On second thought, maybe stealing from the ridiculously tall man with the weirdly eye catching silver hair and the way outdated monocole -seriously, what’s with that sense of fashion?- wasn’t the best of ideas. Just maybe.
Because Eva is pretty sure her being chased by the terrifying looking things, creatures (?) right now has something to do with the damned necklace she stole from that man. Are those the so called demons they speak about in legends ? They look more like something a child would draw when imagining what the ‘monster under the bed’ looks like, than they do demons. Whatever, maybe the necklace is possessed, and is attracting them?
Should she drop the thing that’s currently resulting in her running for her dear life ? Probably, that’s what any sane person would do, but Eva wasn’t exactly the sanest out there was she. She needed every penny she could gain out of selling it, so if they perhaps want to take it they’re gonna have to do it over her dead body.
Well, judging by the way they’re chasing her claws out and all, that’s probably their intention.
At least she’ll die in a more exciting manner than her sister did, Eva thinks bitterly, at least she won’t be taken out by mere poison, betrayed by her own h-
Eva turns left, she’s getting exhausted, physical strength was never her strong point you see, she always did things sneakily and quitely, but her growing exhaustion is forgotten by the sight in front of her.
A little girl is standing, frozen in place by fear probably, Eva quickly snatches the child into her arms causing the ball she was clutching in her hands to fall -who lets their child out to play ball in this ungodly hour of night? There is nobody in the streets even!- and buries the child’s head into the crook of her neck.
“Don’t look, I’ll get you somewhere safe soon. Okay ?”
“Okay…” whispers the little girl weakly, her voice muffled from where her face is hidden.
Eva looks back to her hand where she’s clutching the cause of all this, the growls of these creatures still behind her, it was a pretty necklace, would probably get her a lot of money if she survives this encounter. But…
She also looks to the whimpering child in her arms, small arms clinging to her shoulders as if she’s her lifeline, and takes a deep breath.
This is stupid, Eva is being very stupid. And selfish.
She looks over her shoulders and throws the blasted thing at the demons.
But a gloved hand snatches it before it could reach them.
“Now now, this isn’t something you can just throw around.” Said the man in a husky voice Eva recognised immediately, because he did speak to her that same morning before, while giving her a short apology for bumping into her, oblivious that she had used the opportunity to take something that wasn’t hers. And is now regretting it deeply.
As if reading her mind, he narrows his eyes slightly at her, and seems to physically restraint himself from adding any other remark if his clenched right arm is any indication, choosing instead to unclench it and point a finger at the little girl still hugging her tightly.
“Get that child somewhere safe.”
“Behind you!”
The man, not even bothering to turn around, uses his free hand to shoot the demon that was about to jump at him, quickly finishing the rest of them too, and returned his gun back to place with a …Bored expression on his face. -What the hell?!-
“Let’s get the child back to her home.” He then turns to leave, not another word spoken.
Halfway on their way to return the girl to her home, with Eva carrying her and walking behind the man, the haze of fear that was covering Eva’s brain finally goes away, and she realises something…
“How do you know exactly that that’s the way to this girl’s home ?” Asks Eva in a breathy voice, her mind may have been clear enough to notice this, but her body was still recovering from the chase that took place mere minutes ago.
“That’s where you found the child standing before picking her up. Is it not?” He replies with a question of his own, again, boredom is the only word to describe everything about him, from the way he carries himself to the way he talks, and it irks Eva so much.
Yeah, he saved their life, but she’s not sure if she likes this guy one bit.
“And how do you know that ?” Eva spits out, venom laced with every one of her words.
“Because I was watching.” His tone was flat, as if that should’ve been obvious from the very start.
Okay, she definitely doesn’t like this guy.
“You-” She cuts herself off, glancing at the child in her arms, she was sleeping now, if Eva wasn’t so busy being very annoyed at the stranger in front of her, she would’ve had more time to be at awe with how this child felt safe enough in her arms to doze off. Not a single care in the world.
Eva bites back all the words swimming at the edge of her mouth, waiting to be unleashed. They find the girl’s parents right where Eva picked her up, scared out of their minds of course, and she is told the girl sneaked out of the house without her parent’s permission.
They thank Eva while That Man hangs in the back away from the commotion of grateful words and hugs, the girl wakes up when her mother takes her into her arms, she too thanks Eva quitely, but then glances hesitantly towards That Man, she then waves at him with a toothless grin on her face. -Gosh, she is adorable!-
Eva turns around fully expecting the man to be waving back, but she could swear his entire posture stiffened, he hesitates a little before he gives the small girl a quiet nod, it was so small, and Eva doubts the girl noticed it with how the grin fell off her face and she buried her head in her mother’s chest, disappointment waving off of her.
Eva glares in disapproval at the man, if he noticed it nothing about him indicates so. The parents thank Eva again, throwing a hesitant glance at the stranger before vanishing down the street.
“That wasn’t very nice now was it.” It wasn’t a question, it was a statement.
“Says the thief.” he dead-panned.
“Oh please, drop the act, you were watching the entire time?! Why didn’t you intervene sooner then?!”
“I was hoping being chased like that would teach you a lesson,” Again, that flat goddamn tone that makes Eva’s blood boil! “That stealing isn’t nice.” he adds, holding the necklace up before hiding it in his pocket.
“Standing around doing nothing while being perfectly capable of helping someone in need isn’t nice either.”
He waves a hand at her, “Those demons were nothing, plenty of humans encountered them before, and the smart ones survived to tell me stories about it over a drink or two.”
“Are you saying I’m dumb?”
“Never said that.”
“You implied it.”
“Maybe” He shrugs.
“So what, my life isn’t worth saving because I didn’t immediately know how to deal with the monsters I never saw in my life before today ?!”
What a jerk!
“What about you ? You only decided to throw the Amulet at them after the child was involved in the chase, perhaps you didn’t think your life was worth saving either ?” He asked in a nonchalant voice, as if he didn’t just touch on a subject Eva struggles with almost daily.
She had a code, you see.
'Smile, stand straight and lower your gaze. That's the only way for a proper lady to survive in this world.'
Eva took her late sister's advice to heart.
She smiled, while her hands quitely went to places they shouldn't go to.
She stood straight, so whatever she just hid beneath the long dresses she usually wears wouldn't stick out.
She lowered her gaze, so whoever she just stole from couldn't see the gleam of barely contained mischief in them.
But in that moment, it was one of the few times where she forgot that code, she didn’t care enough to respect it. Or maybe she was just so exhausted she didn’t notice.
She wasn’t smiling, she wasn’t standing straight and her eyes were glaring hard into the man’s own.
-His eyes were too blue to be real.-
Funny how sometimes we drop the mask covering everything true about us in the strangest of situations. In front of complete strangers.