Everyone seemed in such a rush as they prepared for a performance you learned would be held the next night. The bugs you had learned to call Grimmkin flew about with a purpose. Carrying items, torches, and some decorations. Grimm led you to a room that was quiet and had a higher ceiling, Divine and Brumm were already in it. Brumm was practicing the accordion filling the room and the hallway outside with soft sinister music. The music that brought you to the tent the first night you saw them, Brumm played with ease and without stopping for a break.
When the two of you entered the room, Divine turned and gave a wide smile.
"Hello you two, taking a nice walk together?" She giggled and Brumm shook his head lightly while he played. Grimm glanced to you then back to Divine.
"No, Y/n was just exploring the area and I wanted to ensure she was safe. Though now she can watch us practice for our performance tomorrow." He had dropped your hand to walk over to the violin case that held his late mother's heirloom to him. You felt a prick of sadness as he left your side and you didn't exactly know why. Maybe it was his warmth that gave you constant comfort, or possibly it was due to how kind and charming he was matching his personality. Whatever the case was you still could not hide your slight disappointment as he walked away. Divine saw you and only gave a cheeky smile before turning to Grimm who retrieved his violin and held it carefully with ease as he readied to play.
You sat against the wall along the side and went silent, your attention trained directly on Grimm as Divine and Brumm also gave him his space. His eyes burned with determination clearly as he positioned his violin onto his left shoulder. The more you looked at his expression and form, the more you noticed how he shook lightly. His eyes showed a clear sign of nervousness as well... It caught you off guard how he easily showed his nerves yet easily hid them. Soon his nerves subsided as Grimm took a deep breath and began to play.
When knowing their relation now to one another, you could tell where the old woman in Dirtmouth and Grimm's talents overlapped. He played just as well as her and it brought back the memories of stepping into Dirtmouth after traveling from your home. How the melody brought a sensation to sing along. The music touched you deeply despite it trying to sound like the theme Brumm had played because Grimm still brought out a bit of him in how he played it. It was light and gentle, and after a bit of him playing he began to sway and move simply with ease. The music, his movements he synced completely and it had you mesmerized.
You had never seen anyone play in such a way, and you had never wanted to keep your eyes on someone more than you wanted to on Grimm. There must have been a reason for your strange emotions, how every time Grimm and you talked you grew a feeling in your chest you couldn't shake. You thought it was due to finally gaining a real friend for the first time in your entire life but maybe there was more behind the label you gave your relationship with Grimm. It was as if the world stopped when you two were together, the negative that once came from Yirel and from life altogether was almost gone when with Grimm. His smile was charming and made you only want to smile in return, his eyes held genuine comfort and care that made your face heat up and your body feel weightless. Was this still a friendship then?
Your only desire was to hold his hand, to be wrapped up in his warm cloak with him while drinking tea. You closed your eyes and let the melody carry your imagination... Your desire, your new aspiration with Grimm was more than you could handle. It was as if it was the plot of a story you would have read. That was when it came to you slowly. Your attachment to Grimm, and your adoration for his treatment of you.
You loved him and cared for him strongly. He was the right mixture of charming, sweet, and kind. Overall, Gimm was the man you wished your parents made you try to marry. If that was the case, you would give up everything if you had to but you knew he would still let you follow your true passions. He was this relief you had gained after so much time suffering in silence, and you never wanted to lose him.
As this realization came to your mind, you felt a small smile come to your lips as you began to softly sing. Matching the melody he played with ease, it didn't hurt to sing. Yirel wasn't here to yell at you about it anymore. Your voice carried along to the light melody as you still were in this daydream state over Grimm. You didn't want to fall so easily, but now that it made sense and who were you to avoid it? You deserved happiness, and if this brought you happiness then you wanted to love him even if he never felt the same way in return.
Soon Grimm stopped his playing though, and your eyes shot back open to find Divine and Brumm looking at you with a bit of a shocked expression. They had noticed your singing and you must have been louder then you expected which had happened back in Dirtmouth before. Grimm looked back at you as well, though his expression was more of a surprised one then just pure shock. Your face began to feel hot as you brought your knees closer to your chest as you covered your mouth a bit. You didn't know what to say, especially since you must have ruined Grimm's practice. Grimm then smiled widely and approached you.
"Y/n, that was incredible. I didn't know you could sing! Why didn't you talk about this before?" He asked with a laugh, clearly not insulted but you were embarrassed over your own loss of thought and actions.
"Because I didn't really mean to interrupt you." You said with sad eyes which Grimm noticed. He took a deep breath and sighed softly before kneeling in front of you so you were eye level with one another. His eyes didn't show hate for your voice like Yirel's would instead his eyes showed the same calm and kind expression that caused your heart to flutter.
"You didn't interrupt me, you actually made playing feel so much like home to me..." He whispered so Divine and Brumm wouldn't hear. Brumm fiddled with his accordion while Divine looked nervously on at you two from afar. "Your voice is beautiful... A gift from the heavens. You could perform with us, as an act by yourself." He took one of your hands as he grew excited. You seemed to tense up a bit as he said this, but his warm comforting hand that held yours made your heart want to melt.
"M-me? I haven't performed before for anyone." You defended yourself and Grimm chuckled,
"Then do so with me. Please?" He basically begged, his voice lifting in tone as his captivating red eyes shinned a bit from even the dull lighting the room held. Your heart never ceased its rapid beating as you felt panicked yet not. You could perform with Grimm, the crowd would call your name but not in glory. Nonetheless, you would be able to say a crowd had adored you for something you did. Though what if you choked in front of everyone, and the demons from your past life held you by the throat? Would you be able to stand with Grimm and not freeze completely? What if you only made a fool out of yourself... That was what still held you back and it made you only want to shrink back.
"I don't know... " you admitted and Grimm gave your hand a light squeeze.
"Hey, it's okay. If you change your mind, just tell me. It would be an honor to have to perform by my side though Y/n. You're an amazingly talented person." He comforted you and it did bring a warm smile to your face to hear him say such nice things about you. Divine cleared her throat soon enough and spoke up,
"Well Master, it is getting late. Tomorrow is a big day! So I think we should all get some rest." She informed. Grimm nodded and stood up, helping you to your feet as well since he still held your hand. He didn't drop it this time as he gave you a gentle and friendly look.
"I'll make sure Y/n gets to her room," Grimm stated to Divine and Brumm who then bowed simply to their master before leaving the room. Not without hearing Divine start chattering excitedly for no audibly known reason. The two of you now stood alone as Grimm began packing up the violin. It looked the same as you had seen it in person in his mother's hands... How eerie it was how this violin never left you. Maybe it could have been elsewhere and you would never know.
Once he finished up the two of you began walking down the hall towards your rooms. Grimm looking down at you with his sweet red eyes.
"I hope a part of you changes your mind Y/n. If you're nervous, you don't need to be. I would be right there with you. You know I would always be there for you, right?"
"Of course I do know that, just..." You paused as you tried to figure out the best way to state how you felt. You couldn't just tell him that you didn't want to embarrass yourself next to him, but how else could you put it?
"You're not used to singing so open before?" he assumed and you nodded to his answer. It was the best you were going to get. He let out a warm chuckle, one that made your heart beat a bit faster and your face tint a light shade of pink. You wanted to hear that chuckle on repeat as it made you feel a way you never really had before. "You don't need to really fear anything... You're a bold and brave girl. I really think you could do well out there." He told you as he stopped outside your bedroom door. You were going to defend yourself again before a small group of Grimmkin approached from the other way and a tall red one clear their throat.
"Master?" They asked and you noticed how all three of them ranged differently. One small gray one, a medium gray one, and the largest was a deep red. All followed the same code of white masks with slits over the eyes, these were Grimmkin you were now used to seeing about. You had never seen them approach Grimm though, but as they did Grimm slowly turned to face them.
"Yes?" His voice dropped a bit, and you were a bit surprised. The authority in his voice now clear, and you actually liked it a lot just as much as his calm and playful voice. He must have only used this voice when addressing his kin. The other two Grimmkin glanced at one another than to you from around Grimm before whispering something to each other. You knew it had to be something about you, but you were still in shock over Grimm's change in tone to care. The red Grimmkin spoke simply and calmly stating,
"We, uh... Handled your request." Grimm perked up a bit and as he nodded.
"Good, good. I knew I could trust the three of you somehow..." he let a small joke pass before looking back to you. "Oh, Y/n... I need to talk things over with my kin. I hope you rethink things over. No rush or pressure, have a pleasant evening though." He consulted you before giving a bow and motioning for the group of Grimmkin to follow him. "You three, to my office. Tell me how it went..."
The two largest Grimmkin floated behind their master while the last one looked back at you. You waved to them shyly which caused them to giggle and mumble something along the lines of,
"Master was right, no one should live if they hurt someone that sweet seeming." Before they too left for Grimm's office. This only left you confused for a brief moment before realizing Grimm must have told them why you were here. You then quickly entered your room and thought deeply, not showing any emotions.
Yirel must have paid somehow... At this thought, you cracked a small smile which only grew larger as you laughed to yourself. Justice was coming slowly, and that was for sure. For now, you could only rethink Grimm's offer as you readied yourself for bed and slowly began falling asleep for the night.
I hope today's chapter was enjoyable, kinda all over the place but I really need to start pushing things underway with how I have it planned. I grabbed some inspiration for the trio at the end (If you're reading this and you know who those three are, I wanted to give a small tribute to you for reading my book. I appreciate you like I do all my readers, and I hope you don't mind me using these guys to help finish up Yirel's existence. Hahahaha.). If people have characters they may wanna see in the book, drop into my messages and feel free to give me references for such. I may or may not use them, but I need some NPC type of character since most characters from the original game are DEAD. They need to fit the background since they will not be the main characters just small people to meet along the way (We know who the main characters are, duh). So yeah! Other than that, I will try to stream Thursday with Xavier. And I will be Streaming Saturday, as my friends (Xavier included) and I all start reading 'Nightmares' LIVE! If you're interested in that, follow my Twitch which the link is on my profile so stay tuned for Saturday! Enough chattering for the night. I'll see you all tomorrow! Ciao!
-S_I_R