Never Green | ONC 2023

three - the human girl

Aramis stumbles backwards, falling hard on the ground, air escaping his lungs. Pain shoots up through his hand, and a gasp escapes him. 

The girl lunges for him, her own gasp escaping as she basically lands on top of him. 

"Rin?" a voice comes, and the two of them stop scrambling on the ground. "Everything okay?"

"I'm okay, Pa."

Rin. The prince slides away from her on the ground, gritting his teeth. But the wound has torn anew. Even if he wanted to run, she would find him.

"Wait a second," she whispers, reaching out a hand. "I can help you," she continues. "Just not here."

He blinks once, twice.

She sighs, rolling her eyes slightly before retreating to the bakery. Aramis freezes in place. The shock is stopping his ability to even ask himself questions. He doesn't even remember her coming back out, a satchel slung over her shoulder. Nor when her hands wrap softly around his arm, giving him the strength to get to his feet.

The haze only seems to leave him when they reach the forest. He yanks away from her grip.

But she takes his arm right back, forcing him to sit on the ground as she takes his hand. "You'll need to keep still if you want help."

She's so small, he thinks, I can easily overpower her and get away. Yet there is a weird strength keeping him down. All he can do is stare as she unwraps the mess of his hand. 

The human, Rin, slips off her satchel, opening it to reveal weird bottles and strips of fabric. She leaves his hand, fossicking through its contents, and he keeps it hovering there for her to return to. The girl pours something onto a rag and presses it down onto the palm of his hand. He flinches, but he doesn't see her once look disgusted or hesitate.

"May I ask who did this?" she says, pouring some slimy solution onto his skin.

Again, he just merely blinks.

At this, she pauses, eyes meeting his for the first time. The colours in her irises are so beautiful, so—"Can you understand me? Do you speak my tongue?" She sighs, looking back down, now rubbing the solution in up to his elbow. "I don't really know what to do if you can't understand me..."

Aramis doesn't know why he can't speak either. His tongue weighs like a stone in his mouth, lips glued together.

"Though... I swear I heard you speak beforehand when I saw you. Must just be my head." A crease runs across her head, now reaching for the other clean cloths. She's gentle as she wraps his hand.

He closes his eyes, trying to silence the alarm bells ringing. If she was going to kill him, she would've done it when he was vulnerable on the ground. Yet she's here, helping him. Does she even know what he is? What they've done to humans? That he's related to the very Kadotaru who tormented the girl she came to save? Speak, damnit, speak—

"Hopefully, you should heal soon. I soaked your skin in a healing salve, and—"

"Thank you," he croaks.

She almost falls backward with how hard her body flinches. She stares at him with wide eyes. "Oh, my God. You can talk. You can understand me." She shakes her head. "Are you okay? How is the pain? Is there anything I can do?"

"Thank you," he repeats, clearing his throat, not wanting to sound weak. "For helping me."

"Of course," she says, like it's nothing. "I'm Rinley," she adds, holding out a hand to him. "Though most call me Rin."

He stares at the outstretched hand. She's asking him to dance? Now? He frowns. 

"You... you shake it," she says, reaching for his good hand. She grasps his fingers, her hand far too small to actually hold his hand. "And you say your name."