Empty Shells (reader insert)

Chapter 7

"(Fn)! Wake up!" You hear a voice yell and a weight lands on top of you. Since when did Vulpes get this heavy? You really need to start cutting back on how much porridge that fox eats.

You lift an arm and cover your eyes. "Five more minutes, Vul, please." You mutter still half asleep.

"Silly (Fn). Mimi's name is Mimi, not Vul." A small voice giggles.

Your eyes spring open and you bolt up in the bed panting. Your sudden movement causes the small girl to fall off your stomach into the bed beside you. Mimi gives a tiny shriek at the movement. You carefully turn and look down at Mimi as she smiles beside you. You try to calm down and slow your breathing. After a couple minutes you calm down. What had happened? You thought that Mimi was Vulpes? How? Vulpes has been your only friend since you were a kid. How could you make a mistake with the wraith girl?

"(Fn)? Are you ok?" Mimi asks starting to sound concerned. She's looking at you with worried eyes. "Did Mimi do something wrong? Mimi's sorry."

You calm down seeing the little girls guilty face. "It's ok Mimi. I was just having a strange dream that's all."

"Was Vul your little fox toy when you were a kid?" Mimi asks, here eyes sparkling with curiosity now that she knows she's not in trouble.

You nod softy with a sad smile, a feeling of longing welling up inside your chest for the small furry spirit. You curl up you body, bending with your head between your knees. You feel the urge to cry at the separated feeling from your spirit friend. You freeze when you feel someone's arms wrap around you. It's Mimi.

"Don't be sad big sis! (Fn)'s not alone with Mimi here." The girl says quietly. She squeezes you and looks up at your face. "So no crying big sis." Her eyes bright up after a second and she starts bouncing on the bed. "Can we go outside (Fn)? Mimi wants to play outside!"

You turn and look out the window. It's covered in frost and you can see the snow falling from a white sky. You look back at Mimi's hopeful eyes and give a kind smile at the girls enthusiasm. "Sure, it looks like a nice day outside. Let's get ready."
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You struggle to lift the ball of snow. "Keep going (Fn)! You've almost got it!" Mimi cheers you on. You give one last puff of breath and lift the ball of snow on top of the larger one. Stepping back you take a look at your work. The snowman towers over you almost completed. Mimi hands you the scarf and hat and you put them on the now finished snowman.

Standing back you decide you're satisfied with how the snowman turned out. You look down at the girl jumping in the snow with her too big hat almost falling off. "Looks good to me. What do you think?" After receiving a happy squeal from the girl you take her hand in your gloved one and lead her back inside. After shaking your boots you see that she's still shaking. "Mimi, go put something warm on. I'll get you something to eat."

"But M-Mimi doesn't have to eat h-human food." Mimi stutters through chattering teeth.

"But you need something to warm up." You say finalizing the point and heading for the kitchen. Mimi runs upstairs and you walk into the kitchen. Since the group is staying at this house for a couple weeks they stocked the kitchen for you. Looking around you manage to find some more biscuits and a hot drink powder mix.

You lightly toast the biscuits to warm them up and boil water to make the hit cocoa mix. You don't know why, but Mimi always manages to cheer you up somehow. There's no doubt in your mind that if she wasn't a part of the group you probably would have been reduced to a crying mess by now. Somehow, Mimi is like a life line to you to keep you from forgetting that there is good in the world. As you mix the warm drinks and put the biscuits on a plate you're so distracted with your happy thoughts that you don't hear someone come in the room.

"Well, aren't you in a good mood today girl?" You hear a voice say and jump spinning around. Marel's leaning against the counter giving you a strange look, as if she's expecting you to do something amusing.

"So you guys are back already? That was quick." You answer taking the plate and two cups with you and trying to find a way to sneak past Marel. She's giving you the creeps right now. This wraith has never hidden her distaste of you, so you don't want to stay near her. "I got to go. Mimi's waiting."

"Ah right, Mimi. She must be getting hungry now isn't she?" Marel says giving a cackle at your confusion. She claps a hand onto your shoulder and leans towards you. "You better be quick now, or you might be keeping Mimi waiting to long and she'll eat something else."

You take a step back and side step the old women and walk towards the stairs. For some reason you have an eerie feeling about what's going on as you climb the stairs hoping that Mimi can distract you. If only you had listened to that feeling.