Chapter Text
Bad is an extremely skilled bounty hunter, the best in the Nether Kingdom some might say.
He's never failed to catch a target,
never failed an assassination,
never failed a single mission he's been granted.
He can walk amongst his fellow village mates completely unarmored and not a single soul will lift their blade.
He only works for the highest ranking rulers. Is only paid the sweetest amounts of gold,
Only hunts the toughest, most dreadful ghasty monsters
So you can sense Bad's surprise when his next victim is 4'2 gemfolk.
He lifts his head from the paper he was handed seconds ago and tilts it slightly.
"This is it?" He asks, almost laughing
Rat, his small white dragon companion, stayed perched on his shoulder patiently.
The much larger crimson demon in front of him huffs slightly, clearly annoyed.
It sighs before speaking in a low voice
"Yes. Is there a problem Halo?" the bitter taste from his voice leaves Bad rethinking his words.
"No, not at all. But why the high price for such a small target?" He questions, curiously pocketing the paper.
"This target is dangerous, Halo. It's been known to best even our most skilled assassins."
Bad doubts that.
From the picture alone he could tell the gemfolk hadn't fought a day in his life.
It was solely made from diamond, the tips of his head forming into some sort of mane.
He was covered in lighter diamonds amongst his already blue skin, which were sharper and slightly sticking out.
Probably for self defense reasons.
He had small diamond horns, accompanied by small wings and a light blue spaded tail. Similar to his own.
But Bad knew, this small creature would stand no chance.
"Although, if you don't want the mission I'll pass it onto another demon." it spat, snapping Bad back to his own reality
"Oh- no no! I'll take the mission easily, deadline?" he asked, maybe a little too cheerfully.
The demon stared back at him annoyed,
"Two weeks, if you don't bring him back by then I'll go get him myself." He glared
Bad nodded, straightening up
"Bring him back within a week and I'll give you a bonus, maybe even one of his own diamonds." The demon stepped away, its claws scraping against the ground.
His diamonds? Perhaps this gemfolk had a horde like dragons do.
"A diamond?" He eyes glistened
Now that was a prize, plus a bonus to this already pricy amount of gold?
It was like Christmas all over again.
"Yes. Now go. Make haste, before it flees" The demon sat down at his throne, Bad nodded in return.
Then he sped off, checking his map quickly.
Bad wasted no time, buying himself a quick to-go snack at the nearby bakery before dashing off into the woods.
He flipped his map, eyes studying it for a quick second
"He said it lived in a tall tower, like a witch tower" Bad spoke to Rat- or, more to himself.
Rat spat a bit of fire, now flying in circles around Bad
"Don't burn the forest down, Lucy!" He grumbled, keeping a keen eye out for a tower
She growled, continuing to fly faster around him.
Rolling his eyes Bad continued into the forest, taking random turns
It had been days now, god knows how far Bad had gone into the forest.
Luckily, luck was on his side and after hours of searching he spotted a tower in the distance
"There- that has to be it."
Quickly Bad hiked towards the tower, ignoring any nearby monsters that turned towards him.
He stepped over a mossy log, checking his map once more before continuing.
Once he got closer, the tower revealed itself to be- twisted in on itself?
"That's weird-" Bad felt his stomach turn at the unsettling sight
"Okay Rat you stay here," He reached up and pet Rat, who whined and clung onto him
He grumbled,
"No Lucy, stay. It's too dangerous-" He set her by the tree with a small bone to keep her distracted.
Then Bad turned back towards the tower, walking over
It was tall, obviously. Curled and twisted in a circle
The steps were old, mossy and creaking.
No way he was taking the stairs then.
The building was also littered with arrows and cracks, it had probably been attacked multiple times.
He spread out his wings and grabbed onto the rough cobblestone tower, climbing up slowly.
Bad used his wings to aid him in climbing, seeing as they were slightly ripped it would be near impossible to fly., smoothly that is.
He slightly prayed that the gemfolk inside would be unaware of his arrival, although, with how loud he was the chances were slim.
Bad slowly peeked into a small window, the place had been ransacked and destroyed.
"Fudge." He mumbled as he climbed in and looked around
Looked like somebody had beaten him there.
The loud creaking that was made once he hit the floor made him flinch.
God this place was old
No way the gemfolk lived here? It was abandoned, looked like it had been for months.
But regardless, Bad wanted that paycheck.
So he started searching, flipping chairs.. carefully- knocking over glasses.. carefully- and even breaking open cabinets.. carefully.
Listen. He didn't want to destroy the place more then it already was,
But everyone seems as if it'd been untouched for years.
It was almost too perfect-
Things were placed too specifically, too perfectly unperfect
Or maybe Bad was just going crazy from the amount of dust he'd inhaled.
He brushed those thoughts off. He had a mission to focus on.
Running his hand along the table, he noted how the dust felt much lighter.
Almost like a powder
It didn't have that smell to it either.
Something was clearly off and he was going to figure out what,
Bad looked around for a couple more minutes before something caught his attention,
Small, paw-like footprints
The dust gave them away easily, and they were fresh.
Very fresh.
He shuddered slightly, pulling out his blade
Something was in here with him, but it was small.
He'd dealt with massive lava dragons and giants, this should be easy-
He leaned down, touching the prints softly
They seemed to be cold,
Bad tilted his head confused, something wasn't adding up
He followed the prints until they lead under a carpet.
He lifted it up and it revealed a hatch,
Wasting no time, Bad broke the latch with his knife and opened the door, revealing a perfectly kept small home-like spot.
The gemfolk must've been hiding in here.
It had lights, food, a bed, even a tv and some tools.
Bad took a mental note of all the hairbrushes and other hair products.
He was unable to fit into such a small space though,
But he could break the floorboards open to see what was inside.
Bad pulled out a small iron pickaxe, and just as he was going to break open the first board he heard something fall behind him.
A glass shattered, causing Bad to whip around at record speed.
"Come out, gem thing." He stood up, his grip tightening on his sword
He kept a sharp eye in front of him, the room was barely lit making it difficult to see anything in front of him.
He stood quietly in place, refusing to move an inch until he saw some form of movement.
Suddenly he heard a loud snarl of some sort, before he could even think he was tackled from behind.
The small creature held onto the back of his head and attempted to stab Bad is the neck with an iron blade,
Bad's reflexes were just on time though, pulling back and grabbing the dagger, then throwing the creature off of his back.
It harshly hit the floor with a thud, before snapping back up instantly
It was the gemfolk, he looked exactly like the picture. Except he had a slight scaring along his neck and chest.
He kept his eyes locked on it, holding out his diamond sword directly at him.
"A little cruel to use a weapon of my own species dude" Bad was taken back by the sass of the small creature.
"Well-" He needed to focus on his mission, not get side-tracked in a conversation.
The small creature quickly flung diamonds right at Bad, who dodged all but the last one.
It chipped his tail, causing him to growl with pain before regaining his focus.
The gemfolk had disappeared into the darkness surrounding him, but Bad wasted no time and pulled out a bow and arrow.
He coated the arrows with a potion of weakness, then aiming and attempted to shoot the gemfolk
"That's just fighting dirty!" Bad heard a voice from the shadows.
Classic mistake.
Bad quickly flung an arrow in the direct of the call, then hearing a sharp stab and a whimper of pain.
He heard the gemfolk hit the floor, walking over slowly to the body.
"You're finished. Make this easy," He had to admit, Bad felt a little guilty about shooting him in the leg,
He leaned down to tie the gemfolk with a rope,
But just as he got within a foot the gemfolk pulled out a bottle of hairspray and sprayed it directly into Bad's eyes
"WHAT THE HECK-" He stumbled back and covered his face, snarling with pain.
The spray burned against his eyes, causing Bad to lose vision for a couple of seconds.
That little rat
Bad could've sworn he heard a small giggle before small, uneven footsteps headed for the window.
He wasn't losing that easily.
He yanked a heavy fishing net out of his bag, quickly he flung it in the direct of the gemfolk.
No, it wasn't honorable at all but the little gremlin just sprayed him with hairspray of all things.
He heard a thud followed by a yelp of surprise,
And a lot of curses
Bad rubbed his eyes, slowly regaining his vision
The gemfolk was struggling, attempting to free himself from the net
"No fair! Let me go you- you ugly demon!" It whined, Bad walked over towards it
First thing he did was kick that stupid can as far away from it as he could.
"Fair isn't a thing in this fight anymore." Bad grumbled, leaning down to try and tie the net.
The gemfolk grumble and attempted to bite Bad's hand
"What the muffin is your problem!" Bad yanked his hand away, glaring at it
"What's your problem?? I was living here peacefully," He glared
Well, crap he had a good point.
But he didn't have to bite him!
"Whatever-" he carefully leaned over and tied the net, careful of his fingers and eyes now.
The gemfolk continued to thrash around and squirm, making it difficult for Bad to tie it
"My god you are a wiggly one," Bad grumbled, finally holding the net up to eye level
"Wiggly??" The gemfolk stared at him with a very unserious face
"Yeah?"
"That's a stupid word for you to use" It giggled, Bad blinked with confusion
This thing was not insulting him.
"I have you in a net. I wouldn't go to insults gemfolk," Bad glared, showing his fangs slightly in hopes to intimidate the creature
"Bleh thats boring, you're boring!" It stuck out his tongue at Bad
"Wha- I am not!" He was trying to not let the creature's shallow words gets to him but it was difficult.
The gemfolk had a mischievous smirk on his face, it struggled for a second and sat up
"Yeah you are, I'm gonna call you mister grumpy face from now on."
It had been barely 2 minutes since Bad caught this thing and he was full on ready to give up the mission.
He still had a long hike back to the kingdom, but the amount of gold reward kept him on his feet.
"Whatever, I've got a long trip ahead of me," He grumbled, holding the net in his mouth as he threw his sword into its pouch and headed back for the window.
"Oohhh, where we goin?" The gemfolk lied down and watched as Bad climbed out and down the tower
Bad grumbled in response, not wanting to drop the net.
As he climbed down, he watched the creature carefully.
It reached his hand out from the net and poked at Bad's fangs
He growled, mumbling a quick 'Stop that'
"Can't hear you-" It snickered, continuing to mess with Bad the entire way down.
Finally he set foot onto the floor, quickly taking the net back into his hand.
"What is your problem??" Bad snapped, the gemfolk only laughed at his response.
That only irked Bad further, quickly he lifted the gemfolk up to eyelevel.
"You should really be more careful with your actions." He spoke in a low, warning voice. While maintaining eye contact
He could tell the creature was ever so slightly startled, but it stared right back at him.
Suddenly Rat landed on Bad's shoulders, he jumped and turned in surprise
"Oh hey girl! We're just about to leave don't worry," He smiled, scratching her head softly
Rat purred, then blinked and averted her attention to the creature in the net.
"You have a dragon pet?" the gemfolk peered closer with curiosity
Bad was hesitant on responding. He wasn't supposed to talk with his captures, or build any sort of relationship.
Then again, he just yanked this guy out of its home and is now taking him to god knows where.
He then realized he didn't even know what they were going to do with him.
But that wasn't his problem.
He was just here to deliver
"Uh, yeah" He responded blandly
"What's its name" the creature reached out in an attempt to pet Lucy
She hissed and climbed onto Bad's head, arching her shoulders and glaring
"Rat- or Lucy, I guess" Bad grumbled, petting her
The gemfolk continued to stare at Rat, who stared right at it
"Can I pet her?" It asked, now looking at Bad
What? This creature had some real confidence in itself, or he was stupid.
One of the two or maybe a mix,
"How do I know you won't just kill her?" Bad glared at the gemfolk, looking for any sort of lies when it spoke.
Lucy snarled at him,
"I'm not a monster dude, I'm not gonna kill your dragon" It glared back at Bad, it sounded genuine.
Bad was quiet for a second, letting his thoughts run.
"Fine." Bad spoke
Lucy crawled down his shoulders, carefully leaning forward to the creature.
Bad watched, ready at any second to cut off his hand if it dare hurt her.
But to his surprise, it didn't.
The small blue hand reached out and slowly touched Rat, gently petting her and smiling.
Bad noticed that the gemfolk had- paw pads??
Without thinking, he reached out and grabbed onto its hand
Which caused the gemfolk to yelp and yank back violently, now trying to scratch Bad's hand.
Bad ignored the scratching and turned it over, there were dark ocean blue paw pads on the bottom.
"You have paws??" He finally looked up, and noticed how horrified the gemfolk was
He swiftly let go of its hand, but kept his mind on the question.
The creature backed itself away from him, rubbing his hand and glaring
"Yes. You could've just asked" He growled slightly, now keeping away from him,
Bad felt slightly bad for pulling on its hand so hard,
He wasn't supposed to feel bad but., he did anyways.
"Right sorry-" He apologized, without thinking really.
He didn't want to show any form of weakness though. This gemfolk was not his friend,
The creature rolled its eyes,
"Whatever,"
It seemed to have run out of energy, or it just didn't care.
Which made it easier for Bad
He carefully put the net over his shoulder, looking around the tree line of the forest.
The sun would set soon, monsters would flood in.
He needed somewhere to rest, somewhere away from this tower.
So, he started walking off into the forest, looking for a perfect place to camp for the night.
Seeing how hyper the gemfolk was during the morning, he silently prayed it'd be quieter at night.