Demons (Evil Dead Fic)

Chapter 4

Ash wipes the sweat and black soot from his brow. God, he hadn't remembered what a pain in the ass it was to make one of these damn things! He looks over to the brunette sitting on a box in the corner of the room.

But 'least it's for a good cause.

Mia glances up at Ash from her notebook, in which she'd been doodling random stick figures out of boredom. It's interesting, seeing that it seems the only thing he's good at is deadite killing, and here he is, fashioning a prosthetic metal hand for her. It looks as if he knows what he's doing, too, which makes her belief that he made his metal hand himself grow. It also looks as if he's putting much effort into what he's doing, all to make it work for her.

Ever since they first met, this is something Mia definitely didn't expect from him.

Noticing the sweat dripping off of his face, she speaks up, "How's it going, Ash?"

"I'm tired as shit," he says, forcing a smile, "but I'm almost done."

The brunette nods, feeling a twinge of sadness for the poor guy. She really was just planning for him to buy the fake limb for her, not make one from scratch. "You know, it could've been easier for you to just buy me a prosthetic hand. You didn't have to go through all this-"

"Well, I wanted to. Plus," he adds, going back to work, "they work better."

"True, I guess," Mia says with a smirk, nodding slightly. She then tilts her head in thought. "Though I wonder...where did you learn to make one in the first place?"

"Told you. I went back in time and read how to do it in a book," Ash says, dipping the hand into a bucket of water and hearing the sizzle of the hot metal meeting cool water.

"Okay..." She eyes him warily, still thinking he's completely out of his mind when he says he really traveled through time to the past. Scoffing at the thought, she returns to her paper, drawing whatever comes to her mind, listening to the clanks of metal coming from not too far from her.

"Hey, I really did, 'Miss van Gogh!'" he shoots back, casting a sideways glance at the doodles.

They're kinda cute...

He shakes his head and returns his focus to the hand, telling himself, SHE'S TOO YOUNG!

Mia just catches his gaze on her, a blush rising unwillingly in her face. Crossing her legs, she tries concentrating only on her drawings, yet somehow finds herself lifting her chin once more, watching Ash as he works. Not realizing what she's doing, she allows her gaze to move from his back down to his-...

Realization hits her and she shakes her head, dropping her pencil and covering her face with her hand.

No. Stop it. No, she scolds herself, running her fingers through her hair.

Ash then takes the metal limb out of the water, touches to see if it's still hot and tosses it to her. "All yours, milady."

She jerks her head up at his voice, her reflexes acting quickly as she watches the hand flying towards her, as if it's moving in slow motion. Her hand flies up and catches it, her breath catching in her throat. Mentally thanking that she's right-handed, Mia inhales and exhales, the shock slowly ebbing away.

"Coulda given me a clearer warning," Mia says as she looks to him, both eyebrows raised. She glances down at the metal hand, observing it further, impressed at how well it's made. Untying the knot from the sleeve around his stump, she lifts her arm to the fake limb, sliding it on. Quickly, she discovers how flexible it is, easier to move than an actual prosthetic hand it seems. Mia continues to stare in awe, occasionally glancing to Ash, smirking. "Whoa..."

"Yeah, I know!" Ash smirks, crossing his arms. "Told you I was a pretty groovy dude."

Mia sets the notebook and pencil aside, pushing herself to her feet. Walking to the nearby shelf, she reaches over for a book with the title "Farewell to Arms", chuckling at the pure irony of it.

"Huh," she grins, holding the book up so that Ash can read the title. "Would ya look at that."

"Hahaha! Ain't that so funny!" he fake laughs, his voice dripping in sarcasm. His tone still sarcastic, he says, "Now get out of my shit!"

"Okay, okay!" Mia giggles, setting the book back in its place. She wiggles the fingers of her metal hand, happy that she has the limb back again. Turning to Ash, she thanks him. "Thank you. A lot. You know, you're really good at this kinda stuff. Why don't you make a job outta it?"

"Because it's hard to do and...I really don't care enough," he replies truthfully, his grin faltering as he looks off into space.

"Fair enough," Mia says with shrug, gazing at him. She notices his expression, however, and her smile drops. He's looking off into the distance, his eyes empty.

Feeling sympathetic, she approaches him, looking up at him, only now noticing how tall he is compared to her. Sighing, she wraps her arms around his waist, embracing him. For some strange reason, she feels safe in this position, enjoying the warmth of his body against hers. Unwillingly, she grins, burying her face in his chest.

He jumps at the sudden warmth around his waist, and he can't seem to conceal his blush. "I-...uh...." Eventually, he sighs and ruffles her hair. "Thanks, kiddo."

"No prob. It looked like you needed it," she says, smiling and pulling back to gaze at him. The minute Mia makes eye contact with him, she finds herself lost in his features, only now noticing how beautiful his eyes are. In fact, this is the first time she notices the color of his irises: brown.

And I used to hate that eye color...

She comes to a realization then that she's moving closer to him, her chin slightly raised. Snapping herself out of her trance, she steps back from Ash, blushing furiously. She'd almost kissed him, right there and then.

Changing the subject, Mia gestures to Ash's own metal hand, asking, "So, uh...how'd you lose your hand, anyway?"

"It was possessed and trying to kill me, so I had to cut off," Ash says with shrug, like it's no big deal.

"...oh," Mia drones, shocked. "That's not something you hear everyday."

"Yeah...and somehow it started squeaking at me." He shrugs again. "So...apparently hands can talk?"

"Wait..." Mia furrows her eyebrows, lifting a finger. "Your hand...talked?"

"Well, not really, it just kinda hissed at me." Ash shakes his head. "Damn demon hand."

"Geez, and I thought I was bad," she chuckles, humorlessly, smirking grimly. "My hand got stuck under a car, and I had to rip it out or else the deadite would kill me." Mia cradles her new hand, gulping at the memory. "Yeah. Not fun."

"Hey, if it makes you feel better, I had to put the book 'Farewell to Arms' on top of my hand to keep it from crawling away after I cut it off, and then it came back to try to kill me..." He pauses, holding up two fingers on his real hand. "Twice!"

"Sounds like a fuckin' nightmare," she grumbles, smirking afterwards. "But...at the same time, kinda funny."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know." He rolls his eyes "Anyway, now that you're my hunting partner, and you have a hand, I think it's time I show you how to exorcise any kind of demon and kill them."

"Sounds like a plan," Mia nods to him, cracking her knuckles. "I'm ready to get rid of these motherfuckers."

He smirks in approval, patting her on the back.