After

"Wha-what just happened?" The boy asked, staring at a cage with an enormous snake in it, fast asleep. The symbol Aurora drew glowed beneath it.

"What do you think happened?" Aurora said, walking to the snake, her hand on its head. "Because of the symbol, she is in deep slumber now. If we take her out of the cage, she will wake up with much more hunger than she had before. Why did you do that?"

Aurora charged at the guy, grabbing him by the collar.

"I-I-Ugh." He started coughing out blood onto her hands.

"So the poison has started to take effect? Honestly, I should just let you die from it for being such an idiot. But, Meraki told me to keep you alive. Come." Aurora dragged the boy out of the room.

She threw him, who is now a coughing mess, onto the bed. Aurora waved her hands over him and slowly started to draw the poison out from his body as well as heal his wounds.

"Seriously, how much poison did you take in?" Aurora said, collection the poison into a bowl beside her.

"Why are you saving me?" He gasped.

"It's not like I wanted to. You are only alive because Miss told me to not let you die. You owe your life to her, remember that." Aurora tried to calm herself down but anger burned in her.

It is because of this boy that Miss is like this now. I should have killed him when he stabbed me. Why does she have to suffer more just because of him?

"Done. Come down to the kitchen to eat once you have rested." Aurora picked up the bowl of poison and walked out the door, "And don't you dare think of escaping. I have reinforced the barriers, no one is allowed to come in or go out."

She's scary.

The boy turned in the bed, sleep hanging heavy over him. The sweet lull of the wind against the window soon sent him into a dreamless sleep.

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.

Why did I have to do that? Why did I bring him inside? Why didn't I kill him that time too? Why? If it's for Meraki, I said that I am willing to do anything so why couldn't I do that?

Aurora threw the pots and plates onto the floor, along with the groceries from earlier that morning.

Her hands rested against the counter as she hung her head in shame and regret.

What are we going to do now? I can't wake her up without endangering more people. What do I do? What do I do?

Miss. Please forgive me. I don't know how to get you out of this mess and it's all my fault.

_________________________________________________________________________________________

"So you came." Aurora looked at the boy still in his torn bathrobe.

"You told me that I couldn't run away." He murmured and from the looks of his bathrobe, he tried to escape.

"Damn right you can't. Sit." She pointed to the dining table, bringing out the food.

She places the food in front of him and sat down, her heart hurt passing Meraki's empty seat.

"So, who sent you?" Aurora asked.

"No one." The boy played with his food, hesitating to eat it.

"What are you worried about now? You took in enough poison to kill ten people before, now you are scared to eat this?" Aurora scoffed, "If I wanted to kill you, I wouldn't have saved you before. So eat up."

The boy looked at Aurora then took a big bite, eyes widening in wonder.

"It's good right?" Aurora smiled seeing his reaction.

The boy nodded his head and began scarfing everything down.

"Slow down. If you eat that fast you will choke. Don't worry, there is still a lot more, take your time eating."

Wait, what am I doing? I have to be mad at this boy. He's the reason Meraki is like this. Yes, hate him.

If I take the food away from him, he will be distressed. I could do that. Make him suffer a little bit.

She looked that the way he ate the food and her heart hurt a little for him.

I can't do it, I can't take the food away from him. I understand what it feels like to eat as though it would be your last meal. I can't take this away from him.

"W-want some more?" She asked once he finished eating.

"Can I?"

"Of course! Wait right here."

Aurora giddily walked to the kitchen and refilled his plate, a smile on her face.

"Here you go."

"Thank you." The boy dug into this food again, like he hadn't just eaten.

"Good thing you have an appetite, unlike Meraki, and Kefi only cares for the deserts." Aurora laughed a little before the realization hit her again.

"I'm not going to apologise." The boy exclaimed, mouth full of food.

"Don't talk with your mouth full." Aurora scolded.

"I am not going to apologise." He shouted again.

Aurora fell silent for a while, staring at his bloodshot eyes.

"Hey, why did you provoke her like that when you were so scared, yourself?"

"I wasn't scared."

"When I caught you, after you were just about to be eaten, you were shaking so much I thought you would die from the fear alone. What's your reason for doing this?" Aurora looked at him, a hint of compassion in her eyes.

"She killed everyone in my village."

"When?"

"Two weeks ago." He said, glaring at her. "I saw it with my eyes. She didn't spare anyone."

"Two weeks ago? But she was here the entire time. Meraki never left this house before. Are you sure it's her?" Aurora grabbed his shoulders.

"It was a giant snake that day, it looks exactly like she did. My father and other elders asked what it wanted and who it was. The snaked hissed, 'I am Meraki Sagepice. Never forget this name' and began slaughtering everyone. I managed to survive but the snake got away. So I began to roam the lands, searching for the name Sagepice. That's how I found this house."

"What was the colour of the snake?" Aurora shook the boy.

"I don't remember. It looked a little silver in the dark."

"But, Miss is a black snake. Someone else has it out for this family. But who also has a snake spirit? Only the Sagepice were able to make contracts with them. Who could it be?" Aurora made her way to her room but not before saying something to the boy.

"Look. I apologise for what happened to your village but you took it out on the wrong person. Getting revenge is understandable but do not hurt other people on the way to it. Remember that."

The boy stared after Aurora, a strange look on his face.

I know that already.

He turned to the half-finished food on his plate and sighed.

"I don't have an appetite anymore."