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Kyrie had been on edge since Melody showed him just how she’d been hurt. The injuries weren’t from him, but just how severe they were made him panic. It didn’t help that she'd started to push him away. As if he couldn’t be trusted… like he’d hurt her. He had spent an entire day wandering their village to decide how to discuss it. As the sun started to set he made his way to her home, this had to be brought up at least. He had to know what she thought, if maybe she did finally see him how he saw himself.
The sun sank, coating his path and himself in darkness. He knew the twins didn’t like him coming by this late. It used to confuse him, but knowing they were fae he knew he might never understand. It was tempting to abandon his goal, but he couldn’t continue ignoring it. Not when he’d been pushing it off all day.
The house came into view, but it wasn’t how he expected. There were no windows in the front as he knew there to be. The stones that made up the outside of the home were gone, replaced with things that looked like roots. The strange place felt like it had always been there. At least until he saw Melody slipping out of the house. For just a moment he saw the one he knew, only to see it painted over as she carefully shut the door. As soon as it closed the strange looking almost tree returned.
Kyrie brought his attention back to the woman he’d been planning to see. She was dressed in a strange outfit. A white dress that looked like flower petals. Her legs and feet were bare. She stepped carefully away from her home. A part of him wanted to call out, but seeing the way she started to move he couldn’t. Each step looked like part of a dance. It almost felt like when she visited him, but with more intent in every movement.
He followed her as she made her way out into the woods. As she moved around the bushes and trees she looked free. It was getting hard to believe she’d ever existed anywhere else. The humming he’d grown used to began. It sounded faintly menacing as she made her way, the dress started to sprout blooming flowers. His eyes widened as he heard voices nearby.
“Is this really the area?” one said. Kyrie tried to step a bit closer, but had to freeze when Melody looked around. Her face didn’t look like her own. Her features were sharper, her eyes a solid purple rather than her natural human brown.
“No doubt. Haven’t you heard that song? It’s one those things use all the time,” another one said.
Melody started to actually dance in the woods where she stood. He watched a waltz that felt like a dream. Something he shouldn’t be allowed to see. He lost himself in the hypnotic steps she took. The longer he watched the less she seemed like Melody. Her hair became a deep black and her voice grew haunting. The view kept him frozen in place.
Two men walked forward blocking the sight. One threw something at Melody making her stop her waltz. She fell to her knees and stared up at the two. He saw fear, unbridled fear, on her face. The men approached, one grabbed her cheeks. He squeezed them in his hands laughing when she pulled away.
“What are you? You look like one of them, but you’re our size even with the ward,” the one who grabbed her said. Kyrie had a horrible feeling of dread fill him. Slowly he reached up and started to pull his armor off. Just his arms would give him enough size to scare them off.
Melody opened her mouth, but one of them slapped her, knocking her to the ground. He had to stifle his own growl at that. She started to pick herself up only for the other to kick her. Kyrie was growing restless as he watched it. He ripped the armor from his arms and let it fall to the ground. The men were too focused on their prize to notice the sound.
“Hey,” the one who kicked her elbowed his friend, “it might be one of those changelings. They haven’t been seen in hundreds of years. We’ll get a good price for her. Even if she’s a little damaged.”
Kyrie had enough, he didn’t want to just scare them. He wanted to horrify them. He wanted to show them a monster. He slipped off his chest piece, grinning when it crashed on the ground and the two men looked around in fear. Melody’s face appeared calm, he hoped she knew it was him. That he would save her. He would always save her.
He waited until they were assured the sound wasn’t real. With a deep breath he took a step forward. When his foot met the ground the men stumbled. He glared down at them as they got smaller and smaller. He wouldn’t watch while Melody was tortured. He took another step, the men fell this time.
“Don’t touch her,” he growled. The men scrambled back to face him. He kept his glare sharp and his mouth a thin line. They couldn’t see he didn’t have fangs.
“Gods help us. A giant owns her,” one muttered.
Melody stared up at him, he would apologize for scaring her later. One of the men jumped up and ran. Kyrie decided to be a bit more of a monster, stepping hard on the ground and watching him fall. He growled again which spurred the other who had stayed frozen into action. He ran off, the one who’d left first crawling after him.
Kyrie sat down as he watched the men flee. Melody didn’t move. It took him more time than he would have liked to realize the wards kept her still. He reached forward, ignoring the way she stared at him. He grabbed the strange contraption the men had thrown, crushing it between his fingers. Melody was on her feet as soon as he’d done it.
The way she looked, the foreign image painting over her, faded. Her eyes were the brown he knew, the blooming flowers were gone. Her dress of flower petals became a simple white dress, her features returning to a rounder look. There was something he didn’t like in her stance, it was hard to make out with how big he was. He'd need time to see her clearly. He brought his hands close.
“What are you doing here?” she muttered. He brought his fingers behind her, worried that she’d run off.
“Are you ok? Did they hurt you?” he whispered. He brought his fingers closer, almost a twitch from touching her.
“Don’t touch me!”
“I’m sorry, I n-”
“Let me guess, ‘ I never meant to scare you’ ? That's what you’re going to say right? Gods dammit Kyrie. I’m not afraid I’m angry!”
Kyrie pulled back after she yelled. He brought his hands up to rub his eyes, trying to clear his vision faster. When he pulled away he met a glare he never expected. He couldn’t understand why she’d be angry. They were going to kidnap her, sell her .
“I’ve been trying to lure those two for months. Every night coming out here like this, sending out illusion after illusion. I’d be lucky if they don’t spread rumors about the human sized fae owned by a giant!” she shouted.
“Why would you want them to catch you?” he asked. She folded her arms over her chest.
“Because they weren’t going to! Those wards didn’t work or my illusions would have fallen apart. All it did was keep me still. I needed them to take me and you ruined it!” She turned her head away staring at the ground. “I knew you would…”
Melody turned to storm off. Kyrie reached out to stop her. Right now she was tall enough to see over his fingers. Rather he was small enough she could. He almost wanted to pick her up and make her face him. Instead he sucked in a few deep breaths before staring down at her. She was facing him again.
“Melody…,” he whispered. “How do you see me?”
“What do you mean?” she said. He could still hear the anger in her voice, but it was mixed with something else. Pity maybe?
“ Do you see me as an equal? ” He saw her eyes widen. Immediately the anger he thought had started to fade came back. She glared at him with renewed fire.
“Do I see you as an equal? What about how you see me ?” He started to pull away, but she reached out to stop him. A single hand digging into his skin kept him still. “Have you even realized what you’ve been doing since the cave-in? How little freedom you’ve given me as we’ve worked?”
“I haven’t-”
“I knew it, of course you haven’t noticed… Did you even realize how you acted when we went into the forest people had been disappearing in? That you grabbed me every time I took a few steps away from you?”
“I was wor-”
“How about when we found the drider that didn’t know he’d scared people into staying? You would barely let me talk to him!”
Kyrie hung his head. He just wanted to make sure she was safe. That she wouldn’t be hurt, be so close to death again. It made sense someone like Melody would push him away then. She isn’t the kind to be protected like that... Except she could have died if that drider was dangerous. She could have been taken to the black market tonight. He felt his own anger start boiling.
“How am I supposed to act? You run headfirst into danger without a second thought. That drider could have been lying, there could have been danger in that forest. Those two I scared off could have killed you. It’s not like anyone else knew you were coming here!” he said. His voice was loud, he saw her flinch from it. He wouldn’t back down. As much as he trusted her, he wouldn’t lose her.
“...were you spying on me?” Kyrie flinched from her icy tone. “ Have you been spying on me!? ”
“No!” he shouted. He didn’t mean to, she covered her ears from his voice. She didn’t take away her glare. He frowned, trying to figure out how to fix this. “No. I came to talk and I saw you leaving… It looked like you were sneaking out.”
“So you followed me?” She grabbed her left arm, he narrowed his eyes at the action. Melody stepped closer to his face with her glare dying. “...we can’t keep going like this.”
“Melody…” Kyrie brought his hands around her, all his anger was gone. He didn’t want her to leave him. After she accepted him he just wanted to be happy together. “I don’t want to lose you…”
“You aren’t losing me, but you have to trust me… and I have to trust you.” She reached up to his face. He leaned forward until she was touching his skin. He felt the deep sigh she let out as she stared up at him. “Caprice and I have business with black market fae hunters. I can’t tell you all of it, but for now… I need you to trust that if I do something like this, I’ll be back by dawn.”
Kyrie wrapped Melody in his hands. He felt her small chest rising and falling, letting that take his focus for a bit. Finally he leaned closer, pressing her against him. He made sure her feet were firmly planted on the ground, then he pressed his lips against her. At this size he didn’t smother her. The way she tensed against him made him all the more scared of losing her. She leaned forward to place her own kiss on him.
“Mel… I just… if it was me or Byss that boulder fell on we would have been fine… I never,” Kyrie took a deep breath to steady himself, “I knew we were different, that we didn’t get injured like others. I just… even if it wasn’t from me you almost died. What if next time you can’t come back from it? Can’t you let me protect you?”
“Kyrie…” she mumbled. Her small hands began to draw shapes on his skin. “I know I’m fragile compared to a giant or a wolf. I’m more fragile than some humans because of my fae blood. I don’t know how to be protected. It's been a long time since Caprice and I weren’t on our own. I’ll try to let you protect me more, but how we have been. Not how you’ve changed.”
“But-” Her hands found his lip stopping his words.
“But, I can try to stop running ahead. I can learn to rely on you. I just need you to trust me that things like tonight I have to do on my own. For now at least, someday I’ll be able to explain.”
Kyrie held her tightly to him, a silent acceptance of her words. He would try not to panic about her. The way she was fragile, he had to remember it wasn’t the oddity. He was the one who was different. That at least meant that everything else was just as fragile. He could keep her safe as long as she let him be close. He had to make sure her fire wasn’t stolen from the world. As long as he kept her safe, he’d be the monster she didn’t seem to see in him.
“You should go put your armor back on,” Melody whispered. Kyrie nodded against her before letting her go. “You can explain to Caprice just why things got messed up.”
Kyrie groaned as he pulled away completely. Melody watched as he sat up straight, groping in the darkness for what he dropped. She was lucky to have someone so desperate to protect her. If he knew everything this would be easier. She grabbed her left arm tighter, pushing away the haunting song playing in her mind. He’d know someday.