"I'm sorry about my brother. He can be a pain in the ass sometimes." Fate said as she sipped her tea.
(Y/N) nodded and sipped hers as well. She was still annoyed and nervous from earlier. The commotion between the demons and the people at the gate seemed to have died down, whether that's a good thing or not... She just hoped that Ki and Akai listened to her and waited.
"So, how are you liking the surface so far? Besides the demons and stuff."
(Y/N) crossed her legs together on the table with her cup of tea in her lap. "Besides them... I think the world is very beautiful. It's not like how I imagined it though." The demons played a big part in how she viewed the world. So much chaos and decay, an old world left to rot, having to watch your back every second. She can't imagine living the rest of her life up here. She applauds the Outsiders' ability to.
"What do you mean? You didn't expect everything to be fully functional and brand new, right?" Fate chuckled. "If only things were though."
"Well, a lot of the photos we have of the surface are from over a century ago. I've recently started taking some myself. Maybe if I ever do get back home, they can be useful to some people. Hey, where is my stuff by the way?" She forgot all about her belongings until now.
Fate sat up from her chair and left the room, coming back a minute later with the girl's bag and parka. "Sorry but we went through your stuff while you were knocked out. For security reasons of course!" She smiled even though (Y/N) could tell that wasn't the whole truth.
She took her bag and looked inside. Everything seemed to be there. Her camera, old clothes, the files, and her knife... holster? "Wait where's my knife?"
"Your knife?" Fate asked, confused. She didn't see any knife when she searched the bag.
"I had a knife! One of my demons gave it to me, it's my only weapon." (Y/N) rummaged through her stuff, not seeing the black blade anywhere. Without it, she feels completely defenseless! 'Did I drop it back in the city?!'
"If you had a weapon, then maybe one of our scavengers confiscated it. You should ask Miri about it, he'll probably know."
(Y/N) wasn't in the mood to talk to that man... They had a full argument about her safety and it ended with him storming off. It'll be pretty awkward to have to speak to him again. But she needed her knife.
The two ladies spent time talking together. Mostly Fate keeping the conversation going by asking questions about the Zones. She was genuinely curious about the way people lived, how they studied demons, what it was like growing up without the worry of being killed, and what the food is like. When (Y/N) described some of her favorite meals, she smiled at how Fate practically drooled at the delicious sounding foods. After (Y/N) told her about cake, the nurse became eager to learn how to make one. She even pulled out a notepad and started jotting down the ingredients, materials, and steps as (Y/N) taught her.
"After you take it out of the oven, make sure it's all the way done and not mushy on the inside."
"Mhm!"
"If it's baked all the way through, flip the pan upside down and gently let it fall onto the pla-"
The door to the room opened and both ladies turned their attention towards it. (Y/N) immediately looked away when she met eyes with Miri's, he did the same and looked to his sister instead. "Dr. Lee needs your help with someone, Fate."
The nurse nodded and rose from her seat. She grabbed her satchel and eyed the two, expecting a fight to start, then slid past her brother while saying bye to (Y/N).
When she left, (Y/N) expected Miri to leave as well. Instead, he motioned for her to follow him. "Come on."
"To where?" Her tone was a bit aggressive.
"I'm sure you don't want to stay cooped up in here. Come on." He turned to leave, knowing she'll follow him. (Y/N) sighed and scooted off the table, grabbing her bag and following the scavenger out. When they reached outside, she tossed her hood over her head and zipped up her parka. "Where are we going?"
"You'll see."
She narrowed her eyes at him but followed anyways.
The two walked silently but (Y/N) didn't mind, she was too curious about her surroundings and the people around her. Despite the world being how it is, this small community managed to make the island so lively but hidden. As they walked, she started to see tiny white specks floating down from the sky. Her eyes bounced from one to another, confused. Was it raining again? But it didn't look like rain.
One fell in front of her and she moved back quickly while her eyes followed it in the air. Miri saw her move and stopped to watch her stare curiously at the falling white speck. "What's wrong?"
A speck landed on her sleeve and she got the chance to look at it up close before it melted into the fabric. It had a very intricate design even with its small size. If it's coming from the sky and it melted once it landed, was it snow? She looked up at the sky and saw the cloudy weather, no blue sky shown or any sun. "Is it snowing?"
"Yea? It's supposed to around this time." Did she not know what snow was? Well, she is from underground and this is probably her first time seeing it. He can understand her curious reaction towards it.
The snow started to pick up more and more as the minutes passed until they fell in larger clumps than before. (Y/N) smiled when a group of kids was running around trying to catch the flakes with their tongues. When Miri wasn't looking, she tried doing the same and got frustrated when she couldn't catch any. She didn't notice him stop at a gate and turn to her, catching her with her tongue in the air like a child. "What are you doing?"
She yanked her tongue back in her mouth and blushed, trying to act natural. "Nothing, why?"
She blushed even more when he chuckled instead of finding her actions weird. "We're almost there."
She looked at the gate sign before going to catch up with him. It read, 'The Den. Keep children away' and it leads off into a small forest. There was an old broken road that they were following that was being eaten away by nature. The deeper they got, (Y/N) started to hear barking and growling that reminded her of the night before. The feeling of having teeth in her arm and being dragged across gravel. "Are you... taking me to the wolves?" She sounded nervous when she asked, lightly grabbing her injury.
Miri nodded, he didn't seem concerned unlike her. "Yea. Someone would like to apologize to you."
"Uh- who?"
They approached another gate and he pushed it open, revealing an area of the forest that kept a group of wolves. (Y/N)'s eyes widened at the many wolves that occupied the area. Some were resting, some were play fighting, and others were busy with trainers off towards the side. Miri brought his fingers to his mouth and did a whistle she remembers hearing and a second later, a dark wolf pop her head out and started walking towards the scavenger. It was the wolf that injured her arm. (Y/N) started backing away but Miri held her hand, keeping her from escaping. "Hazel won't attack you, don't worry."
"But she did the first time!"
"But she won't now." He bent down to pet the wolf's head when she reached the two. Miri pulled (Y/N)'s hand closer to the wolf and Hazel started sniffing her. He let go and stepped back while the girl was panicking on the inside. "Just let her get your scent. That's how she'll recognize you."
"But I smell bad!"
"You smell good, stop being scared."
She stiffened up, feeling the wolf's wet nose tickle her hand. Hazel then moved to her body and started sniffing her legs and clothes, she gruffed which made (Y/N) flinch. After that, Hazel sat down and pushed her head into the human's hand, wanting to be petted. (Y/N) stared wide-eyed and looked to Miri who did a petting motion. When she started petting the wolf, Hazel huffed and rubbed her head against the girl's leg.
"There. She likes you." Miri spoke before a different wolf ran up and dove on top of him, sending the man falling to the ground.
Both (Y/N) and Hazel jumped. This new wolf looked familiar too. It was licking Miri's face wildly and barked happily while its tail was swinging side to side rapidly. "Spike, stop!" He yelled between being licked.
'So that's Spike?' (Y/N) thought. She couldn't help but laugh at the sight which caught Spike's attention. He turned towards her and jumped off of Miri before approaching her. He started sniffing her like Hazel did but it didn't take long before he jumped up to her and tried reaching for her face to lick her. (Y/N) stumbled back but didn't fall, laughing because the action reminded her of a dog.
Miri got up and wiped his face of wolf saliva before calling Spike back. "Heel boy!"
The wolf jumped down as told and went to Hazel next. He started a wrestling match with the female even though Hazel seemed too lazy to play.
"Jeez. You alright?" He asked and she nodded with a smile. "Is he always that energetic?"
"Since he was a puppy. I found him abandoned in the city two years ago and brought him back here. Since then, he hasn't left me alone."
"So he's yours?" (Y/N) went to stand next to him to watch the two wolves play. Hazel just sat there as Spike ran circles around her and jumped onto her back, biting her ear playfully which made the female wolf shake him off and run away. Spike chased her though, determined to get her to play with him.
"I guess. He doesn't listen to others and likes to stick by me when we go out to the city. Like I said, he doesn't leave me alone for a second."
(Y/N) thought the wolf's attachment to the scavenger was adorable. They turned back and started leaving the dens but (Y/N) did want to meet the other wolves there. From a distance, Spike saw them leaving and ran up to join them, bumping his side into Miri and licking his hand as he walked alongside him. Miri just rolled his eyes but had a small smile when the wolf yipped up at (Y/N) and she giggled at how cute he was being.
It's been a while since (Y/N) genuinely giggled like how she used to. Being around the wolf seemed to bring that out again.
"And another thing."
(Y/N) looked back up to him. "Yea?"
"I thought about what you said earlier... and you're right. I can't stop you from leaving so you're free to go."
She gasped. "You mean it?!"
He seemed like he didn't even want to say it. It's been ingrained in the Outsiders to protect their fellow humans excluding the ones below ground. Despite the fact that (Y/N) is technically a ground dweller, those demons believing they have some claim on her made not only Miri but other scavengers as well be reluctant to give her up. They found her completely defenseless after all. Way different than how the Capturers are.
He had his arms crossed and didn't meet her eyes but he nodded. "But I don't like the idea of you going out there with your arm still messed up. You can leave once my sister says you're good to go."
(Y/N) felt relieved. She wasn't being forced to stay here and can go back... to them. Her drop in mood was clear as day.
"You don't want to go back to them."
She glanced to see him looking at her before looking back to the ground, slowly shaking her head no.
"How did you even meet them? You're from underground."
She went to answer but he might not understand what her job was. "You know that the Capturers capture demons, right?"
He nodded, listening to her carefully.
"Well, they bring them back underground to labs where we study them. I was a Keeper. My job was to take care of those two while observing them. I guess... somewhere along the lines, they caught feelings for me..." she sighed.
He cringed at that. Something about a demon loving a human sounded unnatural. "And how did you get to the surface with them?"
"Um... there is another demon.." She proceeded to tell him about I9 and it being the main reason she refused to stay. It was hard having to mention her best friend, especially having to see her dead body being used like some suit. Miri was shocked by this. Not only was she being kept by two but hunted by another. It's like her situation got worse and worse. She told him about how it was after her for her body and why. How her body was apparently 'perfect' enough to last years under possession. Then about Ki and Akai kidnapping her during the whole lab breakout incident just so they can protect her because they both loved her.
Now he sees why they were ready to raise hell when he refused to give her back. Luckily, after Miri told them that he wasn't going to give her to them until her arm healed, they both accepted the deal after some thinking. The loud one refused at first but the dark demon managed to talk some sense into him. Miri informed her about this and he saw how much more relieved she got but he knew that was only because she wanted to protect them.
"They're assholes." He muttered but she heard.
"They weren't always like that. Ki used to be so sweet and understanding towards me. I wasn't intimidated by him at all. Akai was a jerk and childish at times but he didn't give off the sense that he was a danger, especially towards me." She got lost in thought, remembering much better times with the two demons. She called them her friends. How naive she was. "I miss the old them... When they didn't love me..."
Spike could sense that the lady was feeling down and rubbed his head into her side with a small whine. She felt an arm sling over her shoulders and pull her in. She looked up at Miri and saw that he looked angered but had a reassuring arm over her.
The two fell into silence as they walked. Spike jogged ahead of them to go find a squirrel that ran by and (Y/N) watched him bark up a tree. Watching the wolf made her feel a bit better.
"You know, my name isn't actually Miri." The man suddenly spoke, taking the girl's attention away from the animal.
"Hm?"
"When I was born, I got sick. It was so bad that the doctors believed I wouldn't survive after a week. But then I started getting better after the scavengers went into the city to find a hospital and brought back some meds. My original name was Trevor but my parents thought it didn't fit me after that.... So they named me Miracle."
He felt embarrassed telling her his real name, especially when her sulking mood went away and was replaced with a better one. She visibly lit up like a match. "That's your real name?!"
She giggled when he flustered up and looked away. "Mhm..."
"Don't be embarrassed! Your name is very unique! Is Miri just short for Miracle."
"Mhm..." He still didn't meet her eyes which made her laugh more. She liked his name, it had a beautiful meaning behind it that he shouldn't be embarrassed about. She can tell that he only told her to make her happy and it did. "Thanks."
"Only you and my family know so don't go blurting it out."
"I won't." She giggled.
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Author's note
I still ship them idc