Author's Note. This will likely end at chapter 20. How fun is that? I never outline or plan anything, but it will probably end on an even chapter.
I was sad writing this one, but I think that is what makes it better. Perhaps all the emotions I put into my pieces are why people read them, lol.
Oh well, review if you want... Or don't... I wouldn't worry about influencing the story because it is set in stone at this point.
Please. Remember to vote on chapters if you like my story, as it tells other readers of its quality and helps more people see my work. Thank you kindly.
Cover image commissioned and drawn by NamelessHiredArtist. https://www.deviantart.com/namelesshiredartist
Please go and view their art and commission them. They have incredible talent, and I was lucky to have them draw anything for me.
Fanart of Marianna by my darling Zodiac Tiger: https://www.furaffinity.net/user/zodiactiger/
The night was harsh, and the sounds of powerful rain beat against the crumbling wooden roof above. The cacophony of drips that splashed all about was accentuated by the continuous sound of ticking from an old wooden clock.
Kiel lay there staring upwards with nothing but the fireplace's light dancing before him. So many volatile and painful emotions running through his mind and heart.
He hated being here. He hated how pleasant he treated Marianna earlier. His distrust for her and everything she offered kept him from conversing further. Strange as it were, he wanted to talk but found an inappropriateness in it, so much so he just lay awake listening to the storm that raged.
....
....
"Are... Are you awake?" Marianna's voice quietly whispered through the room.
Kiel became ever more defensive and turned away from the sound of her voice, choosing to lay on his injury and hold in his cries of pain so that he could keep from speaking to her further.
"I... You shouldn't do that... It will make it worse." She said gently.
Kiel became angrier and angrier with her false pleasantries and eventually replied in a harsh tone. "Do you ever shut up? All you have done is speak, just let me alone, and I will be out of here by the morning."
...
There was no response at first, then Kiel breathed in deeply and rolled off his throbbing arm so that he could relieve his distress.
"Well, you haven't even told me your name... I, well... I asked, and you just refuse to talk to me. You didn't even eat the stew I made you..." Her voice was clearly filled with pain and fear, though Kiel was struggling to understand why.
He huffed out again and then pulled himself up to look at her in the dimness. She was sitting in an old puffy chair by the fireplace, and it was worn and dated. It looked like the kind one could sleep in if they needed to for lack of a bed.
"I... what does it matter what I am called? I never asked to be here, and I never asked for your help.'"
The harshness with which he spoke was not lost on her, and she merely turned her head to glance at the fire. There was an awkward and long silence that brought the rain and leaking to the forefront, but eventually, she responded.
"I've never had company here before... Usually, when people that look like you come into this forest, they attack and shout at me."
Kiel shook his head and responded bluntly. "As they should, you use your fell magics to kill them. You are no different than the monsters that attacked me earlier."
Marianna stood up, and she scowled down at him angrily, her feathers shimmering against the fire. "That's rubbish, and you are bonkers if you think otherwise. I have seen the monsters with weapons kill your kind, but your kind also does the same to them. It was peaceful here until all of you came."
Kiel stared at her, and her gaze was powerful to the point it made him feel sheepish. He looked down at the blankets covering his lap and then spoke to her again. "I... Then why does everyone say you attacked them?"
Marianna came over, stopping to stand beside him, and said nothing until he looked up into her eyes.
"I attack those plonkers that would attack me first... I... I know it takes faith to believe such a claim, but it is true."
Kiel felt confused; he hated her, but at the same time, her mannerisms and speech brought with it a sense of authenticity.
"..."
"..."
"Here..." Marianna said abruptly after the speechlessness and began to walk away from him to the side of the cramped room.
Kiel eyed her, still unsure of what to make of any of this. It was all brand new and entirely alien for him to experience.
She began pulling various vials and plant matter from the shelf in front of a giant table. The cluttered thing seemed to be some sort of apothecary workbench from the looks of it, and she was quick to move her wings about and mix the various materials into a small metal decanter.
With the lid closed, she began to shake it and watched Kiel as he stared back. Eventually, he became lost in her violet eyes, and his staring became less of suspicion and more of curiosity.
Who was she really?
...
Why did she act so sweet?
...
Sweet...
Kiel eventually broke his stare, then cast his gaze on the fire. After a moment or two of shaking, she walked over, then reached out with the decanter sitting gently atop her angelic wing.
"Drink this... It is a potent mixture made of rare herbs... I... It is hard to get these, but its healing properties are so potent, it will fix you up enough to be gone by morning."
Kiel stared at the decanter and then the awkward but pain-filled smile on her face. Her willingness to sacrifice her own precious things for him was making him feel enraged. It was all a trick and were it not a trick, it was her stupid primitive way of mocking her betters.
With rage, Kiel raised his right hand and smacked the metal decanter from her wing. It flew out of it and crashed against the floor, spilling most of the precious liquid onto it.
"Don't mock me, you dirty beast!" He shouted.
Marianna was speechless as well as in shock. Her wings clenched into the shape of what would be fists, and she shook with painful rage. "You... You..."
Kiel, lost in his own madness, stumbled out of his bed and stood before her threateningly. "What? You can't speak? Don't know how?" He paused briefly, wracking his brain for anything he could use to attack her character. "I... I can see my precious sword is missing! Did you make off with that? Was that your plan?! You disgusting creature!"
Marianna was visibly hurt, and Kiel readied himself to be killed by her. He was welcoming it. He wanted it. His life was so filled with unhappiness. Proving her the vicious scum she was would at least be vindication for his beliefs that were being challenged before his very eyes.
Kiel heaved, and when he saw the soft tears run down her cheeks onto her delicate beak, he found it surprisingly painful to see.
Marianna used all her strength to push him to the side without words or magic and didn't even look back at him as she crashed through the front door. She barreled out into the dark twilight hours in one of the worst downpours Kiel had ever seen and left him there in a state of perpetual confusion.
"..."
After a moment, Kiel could tell that Marianna was not coming back, and so he shut the door of the home to prevent more water from splashing into it. With her gone, Kiel could now be alone with his thoughts, and he, in this solace, found his actions extremely distasteful even if he didn't want to feel that way.
He moved over and bent down to pick up the decanter to look at it. Upon closer inspection, he could see that there was still some of the liquid left inside that hadn't spilled out. He gave it a sniff, and it smelled as if it were a fresh floral arrangement.
"I don't understand..." Kiel muttered to himself.
The thought of Marianna's tears weighed heavily on him, and the longer he dwelled, the more he recognized her feelings were like his own.
As if by some attempt to make it right, he downed the leftover liquid from the decanter, something he logically didn't trust but now emotionally felt compelled to do.
Once the taste of sweet flowers hit his tongue, he swallowed it and then gently placed the decanter back on the cluttered apothecary table where it once sat. He didn't feel much different but was at least relieved drinking it didn't melt his insides.
"..."
With no distractions in the home, Kiel began to take the room in by walking around where he had been laying. It was cluttered with junk, and it seemed that the place once belonged to a Mewman, judging by the things he saw. A plethora of cookware atop a dining table, a giant grandfather clock that somehow still worked... Buckets full of rainwater... Kiel even noticed that there were doors leading to other rooms.
"Perhaps this place is bigger than I thought?" Kiel commented and moved away from them to peer out the cracked window that leaked rain dribbles through to the other side.
It was so dark with the storm that Kiel might as well have had his eyes shut.
Where did she go?
Why?
Why did he even care?
Kiel was at a loss and turned to walk back towards the bed but tripped a little over things laying on the floor. When he recovered from his stumble, he looked down and saw it to be his bloodstained tunic, chain armor, and empty decretive scabbard thrown haphazardly into a pile.
"She must have torn them off and quickly got to helping me," Kiel uttered and was feeling ever worse by the minute, struggling to maintain hostility towards her.
Once he plopped himself down on the bed and laid down again, he found that he was becoming sleepy. Perhaps due to the elixir he had drunk, though, instead of worry, Kiel was feeling physical and mental relief. It was like a numbing trip that made him dizzy, like when he partook in a glass of wine or two at dinner.
Quietly Kiel lay there relaxed and going in and out of consciousness. Most of his volatile emotions now balanced and in check, save for one. Remorse... Remorse for hurting Marianna, and though not Mewman, in his altered state, he found that to be a disgrace on his name...
Hurting such a beautiful young girl...
...
Shameful...
...
...
...
"Ugh." Kiel groaned when he awoke. The sounds of flooding water against the wooden floor immediately drew his attention.
His body sat up rapidly, and upon first glance, he could see that the buckets catching the rain had overflowed because nobody else was there to empty them. His eyes lifted from the soaked floor towards the window, and he could see that it was day out.
After a moment, he took in a deep breath and stood up so that his bare feet splashed into the cool flooding water. With a bit of speed, he grabbed hold of one of the full buckets and opened the door to the home, after which he tossed the water out the door and returned it to its spot under the leak.
One...
Two...
Thee...
He splashed along the floor, tossing the water outside, and returned them to where they could continue catching the rain. After all was done, he stopped at the open front door to catch his breath and peered out into the forest. The sky's dark greyness could be seen in an opening at the top of an endless succession of gorgeous trees.
So awe-inspiring it was that Kiel ventured into the small grassy opening that the home resided in. Not too far from the side of it sat an old cobblestone well, and when Kiel noticed it, he began feeling weird again.
"Ah!" He held his head from dizziness and then looked away from the somehow familiar sight.
The rain drenched his hair and the bandages around his wound, but he cared little for it at this moment. After his dizziness wore off, he turned to look at the home, which was indeed a cabin made of wood. It looked at least a century old, and Kiel was shocked it even had a roof given that it was clear it had never been tended to in this time.
"..."
After taking it in, Kiel re-entered the home and shut the door behind himself.
Now that the dripping had returned instead of the flooding, Kiel sat on the edge of the bed he had been laying on, hovering his wet feet above his drenched clothes pile on the floor. Once he had oriented himself, he turned to look up at the clock that was still ticking away.
VIII...
"So, it's morning..." Kiel said and looked back at the door.
Where was Marianna? He still felt awful for what had happened, though he was less charitable than he had been when he'd fallen under the influence of the leftover elixir. Still, he couldn't fathom where she'd gone to for these past few hours.
With a sad sigh, Kiel looked over at his soaked bandage and was quite surprised at how his pain level had decreased. He used his free hand to snap the wood holding the once likely broken arm in place and moved it cautiously.
"Ah..." He whined a bit but could tell that not only was it not broken, but it felt like a mere sprain or muscle injury.
"Such potent medicine..." He mumbled, unable to help but be impressed as much as look at himself as a fool for wasting most of it.
...
BANG!
The sound of a slam made Kiel jump to his feet, and his gaze quickly landed on the source of the loud noise.
There, standing in the doorway, was Marianna. Soaked and breathing heavily, her feathers were dripping, and her ratty dress was contouring to her feminine frame. Kiel couldn't help but gawk at her figure, but once he remembered who he was ogling, he felt disgusted. He looked up and settled his gaze on hers, and eventually, a smile came across her beak.
She lifted her wing and then placed the other end of an extended object on the other one. Finally, when Kiel took notice, he saw that it was his sword he'd lost from that night.
With shock and confusion, Kiel walked up to her, and she raised both wings to offer it to him. He reached out his right hand, taking hold of the hilt, then examined the shimmering blade as if trying to find a reason to be ungrateful.
Once he took in his reflection, he looked back at her, and now, she was undoing a rope she had tied around her waist. Once it was undone, she showed him the sack he had dropped full of his belongings.
"I..." Kiel began.
"Are sorry?" She interrupted and placed the wet sack on a chair by the door. "I already expect as much."
"..." Kiel felt angry she was dressing him down. Still, her playfulness was apparent, and rather than continue down the path of resistance, he merely nodded and let her draw her own conclusion.
Marianna smiled and then looked about the place. "Oh! Well, didn't you make everything sorted all nice-like? All the water has been emptied." She paused and noticed the decanter on her apothecary table. "And I can see you drank some of the elixir I made..." There was gratefulness in her voice, and she moved to stand before him.
"Not as if I had a choice..." Kiel trailed off, struggling to remain indignant.
"No, I suppose not, still... I am, well... Glad you didn't scarper..."
Kiel couldn't believe what he was hearing. As much as he had done, she wanted him here? Why? What was the point of any of this?
"I..." Kiel tried to speak again but was interrupted once more.
"Are undoubtedly famished... This time eat what I make." She said insistently, and grabbed a dry log from the top of the log pile, then threw it into the dying fireplace to help rekindle it.
Kiel watched her work in soaked clothes and then looked down at his sword she had retrieved. She had done it because of what he had said to try and hurt her last night... Looking back upon her, there was sympathy and a desire to verbally apologize. Still, his deep-seated resentment refused to let him.
Instead, when he tried to speak, it came out almost as a criticism of her. "Why are you walking about soaked? Are you daft?"
Marianna stopped and looked back at him. Then, she merely smiled, standing up straight. "I... Well, thank you for your concern."
Kiel looked away because of her statement and refused to acknowledge such absurdity.
...
"The reason I don't is that this is the only thing I have to wear..."
When she spoke, Kiel looked back at her while she placed food into the pot of water now above the fire.
"I couldn't possibly walk about all starkers with you here..." She said with a slightly embarrassed laugh and began to place her feathers near the fire to dry them.
Kiel felt warmth in his cheeks as he looked upon her Mewman like form. Despite her bird features, she was anthropomorphized and clearly designed in a similar but opposite way to himself.
"N-no... I suppose you can't..." Kiel stuttered, and she looked back at him.
Her eyes shut, and she smiled brightly once again. "Glad you agree!"
Kiel sat on the bed with quiet resignation and placed his sword beside himself against the wall. He just stared at her as she cooked, and he was coming to realize he had never even been treated by his own family so sweetly.
It bothered him much that she was a monster, yet, he found her to be pleasant company despite his prejudice against her.
...
"My name is Kiel..." He blurted out begrudgingly to her.
Marianna stood up and stared at him in shock. When their eyes met again, he could see the happiness of her expression. It was like the excitement of a child experiencing a new thing.
"Thanks for telling me..." She said and then turned to begin pouring soup into the wooden bowls as she had done the day before.
When Kiel was inevitably handed one, he stared down at the steaming slop. His desire to toss it was immediate, but when he looked at her wide-eyed anticipative expression, he pulled some of it up with his spoon.
Why he was doing this for a monster was beyond his ability to comprehend. Still, he felt it appropriate, and so he sipped the piping hot soup.
It was clear it was made mostly of plants, though the spices and herbs within were incredibly flavorful. She clearly knew everything there was to learn about natural flora.
"I... This is quite flavorful..." He said absent-mindedly.
"Brilliant!" Marianna placed her wings together, pleased as ever.
She then grabbed her bowl and began to set her wet body into her chair she had been lying in mere hours before.
The two quietly sat and watched one another eat, but it was Kiel who had been starving, so he finished far before her. Once he was done, Marianna was already up and pouring him seconds.
Kiel accepted the second bowl and ate it slowly to savor the blend of flavors in his mouth.
Marianna went over to her apothecary table after giving him seconds and began to examine the shelves while he slurped. After a brief examination, she turned back to look at him and spoke gently.
"Unfortunately, there isn't enough to make you more medicine... So whatever healing is done already, the rest will have to occur naturally."
Kiel didn't respond and tried to ignore conversing about the medicine for fear that it might tread into bringing up his outburst. He was conflicted, for belief meant she deserved it, but his empathy meant that she didn't.
After her comment, she grabbed the rest of her soup and began to drink the remainder of it from the bowl. Her mannerisms stood out to Kiel because she acted very Mewman, nearly identical in fact.
After he'd finished his second bowl, his eyes began to travel around the room, with the light providing more to see. They darted from object to object, then settled on the few doors placed around the room. Once Marianna took notice, she stood up and eyed the places he was looking at.
"Oh... How positively rude. I should probably give you the grand tour." She said with a small laugh, placing her empty bowl down on her chair and opening the door directly in front of Kiel.
"Here is the storage room... I really do not know what half the stuff in here is, but since it was here before I came, I didn't have the heart to toss it away."
Kiel, now interested, stood up behind her and peered into the room. It was cluttered beyond belief, but from what he could make of it, there were a plethora of Mewman tools. Axes of varying types, bows, arrows, nails, rope... Enough for someone to live off-grid and out of Mewni for quite a time.
Marianna smiled brightly still and moved over to the door beside it. "Well, in here is the bathroom, so if you need to clean yourself, or uhm... use the loo to do your business, this is the place."
Kiel was surprised to see an internal bathroom rather than an outhouse. Only nobles and royalty had such things, but this one was complete with a fancy tub to be filled and a functional toilet. Strange as it were, there were buttons about this room next to the fixtures.
"I... What is this?" Kiel said, befuddled.
Marianna shrugged. "I haven't the faintest idea. It was like this when I came, but I know this button makes the water pour into that tub hot, and this one over here somehow provides that water."
Kiel was in disbelief that such a thing was possible. His home had servants fill the tubs and clean the grime, but this was all self-sufficient.
After the shock wore off, Marianna moved over to the final door and opened it. Inside was a neatly kept yet cramped bedroom. It had the same bed the main room had, and all about it were books, bookshelves, and various trinkets, as well as a desk complete with stationary atop it.
At a glance, Kiel could tell that they were Mewman books, and he could read their titles reasonably well, even from a distance. After his eyes stopped on the bed, he blurted out what he was thinking automatically.
"With such a comfy bed in here, I don't know why you prefer the ratty chair."
Marianna looked back at him and frowned a little bit but then shook her head and responded.
"Someone needed to care for you to make sure you weren't feeling wonky."
Kiel felt his heart beat quicker, and he looked away from her. The jittering in his stomach was uncomfortable, and he tried to suppress his reaction to her selflessness by walking away from her rudely.
"I've seen enough of this hovel..."
She stared and then quietly followed him, shutting the door behind herself. Kiel moved over towards the front door, and the two were left to stand in awkward silence. Marianna seemed to be trying to tolerate his constant aggression. Still, the sadness in her expression showed it was a difficult task.
Kiel just eyed her as she moved over to her apothecary and began to busy herself with organizing and moving her materials. An evident distraction, as there was not much else she could say, or rather, much more ridicule she could tolerate.
While she slowly worked, Kiel heard the sound of strained wood cracking, and his eyes glanced about in search of the source of the sound. Marianna seemed to be too lost in a world of her own at the moment to notice.
After Kiel settled his eyes on the roof, it was clear that it was under a lot of pressure. He glanced down at Marianna busying herself, then back upwards towards the ceiling.
Crack...
Marianna turned to see Kiel focusing on her with his eyes, and she seemed a tad nervous.
"Uhm... Kiel?"
Kiel was quiet, but with a quick movement, he dashed forward. Marianna, seeing him come rapidly, raised her wing, and magical energy began to encompass it.
"Ah! Stay back!" She shouted in terror.
"Look out, you fool!"
CRACK!!
SMASH!!
BANG!!
The sound of breaking came, and Kiel grabbed hold of her, yanking her body as close to his as Mewmanly possible to himself.
The frenetic chaos and the sounds of flowing water pouring inside were heard. Kiel held her body close to his, and it felt safe.
Instinctively he had moved, and it wasn't until Marianna calmed down that she took a peek at the destruction. It was now that she realized part of her roof had collapsed entirely.
Wood lay in shambling mounds, and water flowed everywhere as the rain beat down through the giant hole in the roof. The fire had been snuffed out from the flood, and the two just stood there staring in awe at the destruction.
Marianna's apothecary lay piled under a pile of rotting wood, and their bare feet were soaked covered in water. The chill of the morning was only offset by the fact they still held each other in their shock.
"..."
Marianna eventually let go of Kiel, and all she could do was walk forward, her mannerisms slow and somber. She looked at her beloved home, and she began to cry, softly at first, but then it became a sob.
Each wail and agonizing cry sent pain through Kiel's heart, and he watched her with the complete understanding that this was all she had. The pain was so great that she threw herself onto the bed Kiel had been resting in and sobbed into the lumpy pillow.
"..."
Kiel watched her briefly and then looked up at the gaping hole in the ceiling. Once he had eyed the size, he looked over towards the side of his bed where his boots rested and slid them on swiftly.
Stomping through the water with splashes, he pushed aside much of the fallen debris and entered the room she'd shown him prior. Once inside, he immediately took a small ax from the wall, after which he returned to the room where Marianna now sat confused and teary-eyed.
Taking the ax, he eyed her dining table, then with his injured arm, flipped it to its side.
"What are you...?" Marianna began but was cut off by Kiel beginning to hack off the legs.
"S-Stop!" She cried out in confusion, but he quickly hacked all four legs off.
Once it was a flat, thick board, he pointed to her and then the door. "Help me move this! Hurry!"
Marianna stared up at the hole and instantly knew what he meant to do. Quickly, she rushed to push the door open, after which she came over to help him slide it out of the home.
1.
2.
3.
They pushed together until they made it outside into the pouring rain. Once done, Kiel ran back inside and grabbed an extended length of rope from the same storage room. When he'd come outside, he was surprised to see that Marianna was already raising her wings in the air, and it was as if the forest itself was obeying her commands.
Vines entangled the tabletop and effortlessly lifted it towards the roof. Kiel was frightened but merely watched as they placed it over the gaping hole in her roof. Shortly after, the vines pressed downward and across the shelter as a way to keep it in place.
By the time Marianna had completed her task and lowered her wings, she could see that Keil stood staring at her in bewilderment.
After a moment, she solemnly walked past him and back into her decaying home. Kiel followed soon after and rested the ax against the back of his bed next to his sword. When the door was shut, at last, Marianna turned away from the destruction and moved back towards Kiel.
"I... I'm sorry for..." She stammered, mere inches from him, unable to put into words what she was sorry for.
Kiel looked at her, and rather than say anything mean, he simply stated how he felt about it.
"You needn't apologize..."
There was another odd silence and then a spontaneous embrace from her. Her delicate wings wrapping tightly around his frame for comfort.
"I... I don't... know... what I'll do... I can't go on... like... this..." She said with broken speech through sobbing heaves.
Kiel knew her loneliness well, and it was of the agonizing sort. Part of him wanted to throw her off of him, but another side of him wanted to stop her from crying... To make her feel better.
Eventually, Marianna let go of him on her own and sulked over to the bed where Kiel had been resting. She lay down due to how overwhelmed she was and tried to keep from succumbing to despair.
Kiel merely pushed the stuff off from atop the wooden chair and sat in it. After which, he examined the roof for a length of time quietly.
He was familiar with Mewman buildings and knew with time he could likely do something about this.
Time...
Did he even have time?
Surely, he couldn't stay here for the sake of her feelings...?
"..."
No... He was a man, not just any man, but a Mewman one. If nothing else, he had a debt to pay, and a man always paid his debts in full.
He quietly watched Marianna lay there with her eyes closed, so pathetic and yet powerful. No matter what, he knew what he wanted to do... He just had to convince himself he was doing it for his own pride and not for the sake of Marianna... The monster.
...
...
When dawn broke, Kiel awoke to find himself in the chair where he'd slumbered. After a moment of waking up, he went to searching about the dimness for his boots. Once he located them, he slid them onto his bare feet and stood up with a quiet stretch.
Marianna had fallen into a depressed slumber, and due to her already sleepless night the day before, it was clear she was dead to the world.
Kiel entered the storage room with a quiet purpose and began lifting the appropriate tools for the long work ahead of himself. Thankfully, the rain had since stopped, and he knew he could get a good day's work in.
His arms, now full and ready for what was to come, he pushed his way through the front door quietly. Marianna turned and moaned but did not wake from his movements.
Once free, Kiel moved himself a ways away from the home, and with an extended length of rope, he connected a massive tree to another to create tension. This was done so that he could control where it would topple when it finally gave way.
After all was set correctly, he began to use an old woodsman's ax to chop at the gigantic tree. With determination, he worked through the pain his arm was causing him and controlled his breathing so that he could go on for a while without stopping to rest.
Chop...
Chop...
Chop...
Chop...
Chop...
...
The sounds echoed, and sweat poured off him as the sun quickly rose to mid-morning. Eventually, his chopping had ripped through most of the base of the tree, and after he was sure he could fell it, he moved to where he had rigged the rope. With a mighty pull using his body weight, he heard the loud crack of the tree he'd been working on give way in the distance.
CRASH!
Once felled, it was incredible to take in just how big it indeed was. Kiel was now beginning to think just this one of these would do. After surveying the entire thing, he began to use mud to mark the sections he would saw into.
After picking up a saw, the pain was really setting in from his swinging, but he continued on without complaint.
One...
Two...
Three...
He heaved with each motion of the saw, his fortitude granting him the ability to move until near breathless.
...
"I... What are you doing?" Marianna's voice called out to him in the bright sunlit glade.
Kiel finished cutting through the massive tree section, stood up, and then wiped the sweat off his brow. Once he eyed the separated piece's length, he picked up a hand ax and began to debark the section he had just severed.
Marianna came in close to watch, and Kiel went around, rolling the stump with all his might until a sheet of bark had been torn free in long strips. Standing upright, Kiel grabbed hold of his throbbing arm and gasped.
"You shouldn't..." Marianna began but was cut off by Kiel raising his hand to silence her.
"A man pays his debts, and I know how to fix the damage done to your home... It is clear to me one of my kind built it, and so the techniques used to make it are familiar to me."
Marianna stared at him awestruck, and her eyes shimmered in the sunlight that pierced the gaps in the tops of the trees. "Really...? I.... thank you...."
The gratefulness in her voice was beyond measure, and Kiel simply ignored it. He picked up a hewing ax, and after using mud to make markings on the debarked section, he set to turning the giant log section into planks for which to fix her home.
...
...
...
...
So it began... day after day, Kiel would awaken before dawn. A routine began, and soon a week passed, then another. The wooden planks started piling up, and so too did the bark. Even as Marianna made him breakfast, lunch, and dinner, he still remained aloof, barely speaking to her save for some small chit-chat.
Eventually, Marianna came to him as he worked during the midday, and upon seeing him rest and rub his arm. She sat beside him on what was left on the downed tree's stump.
"..." Kiel looked at her, still maintaining his emotional distance.
Marianna moved her wing and presented him with a vial. "I went searching all day yesterday, and I managed to find you the correct herbs to relieve the pain of that arm... I know you have stopped resting it to do this for me."
Kiel looked away and rubbed his now hairy face. A beard had begun to grow in, and he found it to be quite itchy. He'd never been so unkempt and found it to be disgusting, but he felt a sense of peace in not having to keep up appearances for other nobles.
Eventually, Kiel took the offered medicine and swigged it. The second he downed it, he found it had a strange numbing effect on his arm. Pain replaced with light tingling made him grin, and he set his focus on the piles of planks he had hewed in the past two or so weeks.
Marianna chuckled, and it brought his attention back to her as she sat next to him.
?
"You've grown a lot of fuzzies on your face." She smiled cutely.
Kiel looked at her and felt as if she were insulting him, but how she said it made him feel tingly inside.
"..."
"I don't know why..." She continued and brushed her feathers up against his growing beard. "But I think it suits you."
Kiel felt hot and looked at the ground, then as if calmed by the medicine and the compliment, his tongue loosened. "You'd have to be the first to believe so... Being a Wolfe means I am roundly criticized for everything I do... Including how I keep my appearance."
Marianna blinked and looked befuddled when Kiel returned his gaze to her.
"Wolfe?" She said.
Kiel was confused at first but then shook his head. "I... Mewmans have two names... A first and a last... It is how we tell each other apart if some of us have the same first name."
A smile returned Marianna's beak, and she nodded approvingly, after which she giggled a bit and looked at the dirt. "Well, I guess if you are a Wolfe, I should be worried you'd eat me... I am a bird, after all."
Kiel stared at her dumbfounded, then a smile came across his face, and he chuckled a bit.
Did she just make a joke? He laughed despite himself and then stood up to begin his work again.
She arose with him and watched while he began hewing more planks.
"How did you learn how to do this?" Marianna said inquisitively, finally bold enough to have a more extended conversation with him.
Kiel glanced at her while he worked and frowned, after which he answered. "I always loved working with my hands... My family doesn't like the thought... As a young lad, I used to sneak away from my studies and hang with the common men who'd build things... They'd let me help them until my father found out and put a stop to it."
Many of the things Kiel said seemed to go over Marianna's head, and she confusingly repeated his terms. "Family... Father?"
The utterance made Kiel stop working entirely and stare at her. "You don't have parents? A family? You know not what such things are?"
Marianna shook her head and then hung it in shame. To Kiel, she didn't look like she could be a day past fourteen, and he knew that monsters had families traditionally, based on what he had seen before her.
"I... Do you know how old you are? Anything...?" Kiel prodded more.
Once she shook her head solemnly, he scratched his facial hair and then responded. "Well, a family is a group of people who live together and take care of each other... I guess...?"
Kiel tried to put it in a way that she'd understand. Still, upon saying it, he realized his family did anything but support one another.
After he said that, she looked up at him with a grin. "Oh...! Like you and I? I see. We are family!"
Kiel stared at her, and he felt a gross feeling wash over him. Not because of her stupidity, but because the thought of that actually sounded appealing to him. He turned away from her and aggressively began to hew the wood.
...
"I have work to do... Stop bothering me..." He said, attempting to cut her off.
Marianna said nothing more and quietly left him once she sensed she had reached her limit.
While Kiel worked, he found himself becoming angrier and angrier, disgusted so thoroughly with her he was at one point and time, but now... He found himself to be the one he scrutinized.
What had happened to him?
Was he truly so rotten as to take pleasure in the company of a monster...? Mangey creature though she was, he hated himself wholeheartedly for his newly found impure thoughts.
All his life, he had been raised to believe in his superiority. His race was better than hers, and he knew it. It was vile he now adored her... Preferred her company even to that of his own damnable sister.
He angrily slammed the ax down, and it destroyed the plank he was making for her roof. "Treacherous swine... wretched, perverted, unclean..." Kiel reprimanded and shamed himself.
His conflict was so hard to deal with that he knew he could not work another minute today. Instead, he wandered aimlessly in a stupor until he found himself before the well that resided by the home. As if drawn to it, he leaned forward and peered into its dark abyss.
Oh, how he contemplated jumping into it... Despite its familiarity and the fear, it evoked in him. He truly felt at odds with his own feelings and duty as a Mewman noble.
Hatred... it once belonged in his heart for Marianna, but now... It raged for himself and his reprehensible and repugnant feelings brewing under the surface for her.
A race traitor... It is what he was, a man shouldn't lie with a beast, and he should be ashamed of it all.
His one foot was placed on the side of the well, and he was sure now that he had to be punished for his sin... He could not stand what he was becoming. So he wanted to purge himself to escape shame, so wholeheartedly he believed now that he was evil and impure.
...
"Hey... Kiel...?" He heard Marianna's shy voice interrupt his internal descent into madness.
"What!?" Kiel thundered angrily and glared back at her.
Marianna winced, but instead of backing away, she held out a piece of cloth towards him. "I umm... I found this in the house a long time ago and figured you might enjoy it... I... well, it is to thank you for helping me."
Even though he was trying to repay his debts already owed, she still thought of him selflessly. Her kindness was otherworldly, and it shamed him. He removed his raised foot resting atop the side of the well and stared at the gift hidden beneath the wrapped cloth.
No...
He was not repaying a debt... He wanted her to smile... He had to admit it to himself, which brought even more embarrassment, humiliation, and rage. He hid it, let it seethe within his heart, and merely walked over to stand before her.
He lifted his hand to unwrap the cloth, and what lay beneath it shimmered brightly once the afternoon sun beamed upon it.
After his eyes adjusted from the flash, he could see that it was a dazzling knife. An ornate hunting one, to be exact, plated in precious metal and etched in the blade was a wolf howling at what appeared to be the multiple moons of Mewni.
"..."
Kiel reached his hand out to grasp the polished wood handle, and he stared at its razor-sharp edge. The knife of a Mewman hunter or craftsman... Precious and from ages past, but astounding to behold.
Kiel looked into Marianna's violet eyes, and she bashfully lowered her gaze. "It reminds me of you because you are a Wolfe..."
Kiel lowered the knife, and with his other free hand, took the decorative leather sheath that it belonged to.
A gift his family would never bestow upon him because of their shame of his uselessness... His own sword he commissioned himself.
"..."
"I... Do you like it?" Marianna asked nervously.
Kiel continued to stare in silence and then eventually responded gently and wholeheartedly honest for the first time. "It's... gorgeous..."
Marianna smiled and proudly clapped her wings together. "Ohh, I knew you'd love it... It has sat in that old room for years. When you told me about your two names earlier, I instantly knew it should belong to you."
With pep in her step, Marianna made her way into her home to begin dinner. Kiel was left standing out there by himself, filled with both care and hate as they battled one another for his heart and soul.
...
...
Well over a month had passed since Kiel had left his home to slay the Witch of the Wood, but now he simply sat atop her roof. With the help of her magical powers controlling vines, it was effortless to tear said roof apart.
Ripping out the rotting planks and lifting the new ones, one by one, with her plants. Kiel was setting them and hammering them down once they were delivered.
One, two, three...
Ten, eleven, twelve...
Fifty, sixty, seventy...
One-hundred one, one-hundred two...
The two worked in tandem. Kiel, so overheated from the continuous moving and banging, removed his tunic. Sweat poured off his toned body as he worked in the hot evening sun.
His hair had become unkempt and longer as his beard grew fuller and fuller each week. He had taken on the look of a woodsman, and every so often, Kiel would catch Marianna from her place on the ground gawking at his exposed muscles.
He could see the longing in her stare, and it fired up feelings of desire in himself for her. So hard he tried to repress it, but so hard was it to contain.
The two acted friendly, but Kiel still struggled with the demons of his ill will and revulsion. He wanted her. He cared about her... He was wrong to do so. He was repugnant... He was lecherous... He was...
...
Kiel kept feeling bad for feeling happy, and even as the sun faded into the beautiful moon's light. He continued to castigate himself while he worked tirelessly into the twilight hours.
Bang...
Bang...
Bang...
...
Eventually, it all ceased, and Kiel sat at the edge of the restored roof, staring down at Marianna. The fireplace from inside casting flickering light onto her frame as she smiled up at him.
"It's done, isn't it?" She said with tired excitement.
Kiel couldn't help but smile over his accomplishment and leaped from the roof. Once he landed on the grass and regained his standing composure. He felt Marianna wrap her wings around him in a celebratory hug.
When Kiel's heart pounded against her chest, he could feel hers rapidly knock back. After the two separated, they both shyly looked away, and eventually, Kiel broke the silence.
"I should bathe... The work is finally complete..." He said.
"O... O-of course... I w-washed your shirt for you earlier and placed it in the bathroom." Marianna stammered slightly.
"Thanks..." He said quietly and began to follow her through the door.
...
Once inside, Kiel scrutinized his own craftsmanship. The new wooden planks above made a tightly sealed roof, especially with the long strips of bark nailed over the top to force the water to run off when it rained.
With such a setup, all that would need to be replaced was the bark periodically, and it would allow the planks to be sustained for far longer.
The room had been cleaned and organized since the incident, and it was now rather homely and extra warm within the wooden walls. Marianna hummed pleasantly as she cooked by the fire, and Kiel sauntered into the bathing room.
He shut the door, kicked off his boots, and then removed his one pair of socks that he'd begun reusing. He then pressed a button on the wall that started the gigantic marble tub to start filling.
While he watched the water pour, he thought back to a journal he'd began reading that he'd found among the small library of books in the bedroom.
Oddly enough, the home and all its neat apparatuses were built by a craftsman and inventor. It seemed they intended to make this a widespread feature of homes until their untimely death many years ago.
Once the tub was full enough, Kiel pressed a second button, and the tub began to warm itself using a strange heating element made of an unknown metal. By the time Kiel undressed, it was ready to be used, so he pushed the button again to turn the element off, then simply plopped himself inside of it while letting out a relaxing.
"Ahh..."
Sitting there in the steaming tub, he couldn't help but stare at himself in the body mirror that sat by the door.
Strange how different he looked, time seemed to escape him, and now that he was here. He had to wonder if his family even cared he'd been missing for well over a month. His sister, he was sure, was glad she'd been rid of him, but his mother... He figured she might cry at least once when the news came to her.
With a sigh, he scrubbed himself with a cloth and pondered possibly hunting tomorrow... He was craving for some meat about now and wondered if perhaps Marianna would...
No...
He kept sliding into fantasy when he knew he should return home... He had repaid his debt... Yet, the thought of returning made him feel blue.
He couldn't help but stare blankly, losing himself in thought until eventually he'd had enough and left the now cooling tub. With a repress of the first button, the tub drained, to where Kiel was not exactly sure.
After some drying, he reached out and retrieved the gifted knife from its sheath in his discarded clothes.
Staring at his own face in the mirror, he knew he had to shave to be presentable, but when he actually raised the shimmering silver knife to his chin. He couldn't help but recall Marianna's preference for it.
With reluctance, he lowered his hand and then stared at the top Marianna had washed. He knew he should really wear his fancy clothes from the sack he brought with him. Still, he elected to begin redressing himself in his used clothes, then wore the cleaned Mewni kingdom tunic with the bloodstained crest.
"..."
Once the outfit was complete, he moved out into the other room, where Marianna waited with another stew. She smiled upon seeing him, and he flopped down atop the bed. She offered him a bowl, and he took it silently, after which he watched her begin resetting up her apothecary now that everything was perfect again.
After some silent thinking, Kiel stared at his personal bag by the bed. He was feeling anxious and ill, but his nervousness was cut off by Marianna speaking.
"You are planning to leave tomorrow... Aren't you?"
Kiel looked up at her from his place on the bed, and when he could see how sad she looked, he felt like he didn't want to tell her the truth.
"I..." He began but was cut off.
"N-no... It is ok, you have helped me more than anyone has... ever, and for that, I am truly grateful." She put on an apparent faux smile and turned to look away towards her fireplace.
Kiel stood up and felt his emotions battling each other. Eventually, after a long pause, his care for her won out. So rather than fight it any longer, he walked over to his bag and began quietly pulling out his fancy boots and clothes.
BANG!
The sound of the stiff leather boots toppled against the wooden floor and startled her. When she looked at them, she was confused to see them lying at her feet. Then, when she looked at Kiel, he had his hands outstretched to offer her his fancy nobles' clothes.
"I..." She stared, but Kiel pressed the clothes into her chest until she wrapped her wings around them to hold them.
"It could use a wash, but I have little need for it... Every person needs comfortable clothes and a good pair of boots." Kiel said, feeling bad that he referred to her as a person, but recognized he was already in far too deep.
Marianna shook with happiness, and her eyes sparkled. "Oh wow! I... I am trying these on RIGHT NOW!" She squealed ecstatically and rushed into the bathroom, slamming it behind herself.
Kiel smiled a bit, hearing her rustle about with the clothes as if trying to figure out how to wear them. After a moment or two, Marianna came out in his fancy attire. True, its black and gilded look was masculine, but she seemed happy to have something so lovely to wear.
"Taa daa~!" She danced and spun around so that he could see the loose-fitting men's clothes on all sides of her slender body.
The black with gold trim and buttons truly brought out the beauty of her white feathers.
"How do I look?"
"I... uhm..." Kiel said, his body becoming tense.
"Oh, be honest..." She said, sliding her feet into the fancy boots. She stumbled around in them and nearly fell.
"Wow! These are so warm and squishy! I can see why you wear things on your feet." She giggled a little bit before pulling them off again.
Kiel scratched the back of his head... He just gave her extraordinarily expensive, fancy clothes... His parents would kill them if they knew.
"This is bloody brilliant! I-I am absolutely buzzing." Marianna bounced about and grabbed hold of Kiel to hug him lovingly.
"I've never seen anything so lovely." She continued.
When Kiel heard that, he felt caught up in the moment and spontaneously responded without thinking.
"I could say the same about you."
"..."
"What?" Marianna pulled away and looked up at Kiel.
After realizing his mouth had spoken before his brain, Kiel tried to look away but was stopped by her wing, pulling his gaze to meet with hers.
...
...
The adrenalin was pumping through Kiel, and he felt paralyzed when she leaned in and planted a gentle kiss on his bearded cheek.
"..."
The two separated without another word, and Kiel felt both elated and terrible over what had occurred. Marianna was visibly blushing, but to offset the embarrassment, she began to look down at the sleeves of her new overcoat.
The awkwardness continued, and Kiel just sat down on the bed and began to pull one of the many books he'd set lying on the wooden chair beside it. Reading was a way to pass the time and avoid conversing with Marianna when things became too uncomfortable for him, but tonight was different than the other nights.
When he cracked open the book, Marianna hovered over him and looked at the page. After some silence, she spoke.
"You know... Why don't you take that room in there, and I sleep out here? You seem to like those book things a lot, so why not have access to them instead of hauling them out here?"
Kiel stopped beginning to read and looked up at her bright, youthful face. "I..." Keil hesitated.
"Unless you are leaving..." She said somberly.
Kiel felt the pressure, and rather than explain his intent to do so, he gave into his reluctance. "I... Well, there are things that need repairing still, so..."
He trailed off, and Marianna fidgeted with excitement. After which, she plopped down next to him on the bed and looked over his shoulder at the words on the page.
"What does it say?" She asked giddily.
Kiel stared at her dumbfounded and then looked at the book. "I... are you saying you can't read...?"
Marianna shook her head, and Kiel was feeling somewhat angry again. She was so dumb as to not understand the written word, yet knew magics that even his sister didn't possess.
"How is it you can use magic if you cannot read? The vines, the energy... Everything... I do not understand." He blurted out with a hint of frustration.
Marianna shrugged and responded frankly. "I don't know... I just can, the forest obeys me, and I can't remember anything else but my time in this home."
She was indeed an enigma, and it made him jealous, to be sure... Still, she'd asked him a question, so he finally went to answer it, unwilling to spoil her mood.
"The book is about a princess who was cursed to be a monster because of her greed and unkindness, but if she can find true love's blessing before her twenty-first birthday, the curse will be lifted."
Marianna's eyes lit up, and she held onto Kiel's arm to stare at the gibberish scribbles called writing. "Ohh... that sounds exciting!"
Rather than push her away or complain, Kiel instead resigned himself and decided to narrate the story for her.
"Once upon a time..." He began while she listened intently.
...
...
...
...
The night dragged late into the twilight hours, and Kiel had read the book aloud until he took a look down at Marianna.
She had fallen asleep against his frame and snoozed comfortably in her fancy clothes.
"..."
Kiel watched her breathe peacefully and contemplated continuing the story alone. Still, the thought of her happiness over it caused him to note the page number and shut the book.
With a quiet sigh, Kiel sat there peacefully with Marianna snoozing and felt truly at peace for this one moment in his life. As much as he hated it all, he was under its influences and felt powerless against whatever it was driving him.
The longer he thought about it, the more fear and anxiety welled up within him. His recognition of the wrong and immoral things he was taking part in was offsetting his bliss with complete dejection and fear.
For better or for worse, Kiel was trapped between his perversion and his pure Mewman soul. He knew that his people would find out about this so long as they wanted the forest to themselves, and Marianna and he remained close together.
In this thought, he knew the penalty for such despicable, dirty behavior and the consequence of ill-fated love for the both of them.
...
...