1001 Cranes | ✔

Last Step

She stands near the town square's water fountain. Her dark hair is chopped to her shoulders now, a new haircut she must have adopted throughout the past four months. When she whirls around, catching sight of him, she pales.

     "Stephen."

     "Alice."

     "You came." Surprise echoes in her voice. Her features sag, weighed with defeat. "I should've known you would."

     "I'm pissed." Stephen approaches her like a looming shadow, each step a heavy clomp against cobblestone.

     She clenches her jawline. Her brow creases and her hands ball into fists by her sides. "If you want to harm me, I won't stop you."

     Snarling, Stephen draws closer to her. He raises a hand up, ready to strike. Alice sucks in a breath before bracing herself. She squeezes her eyes shut, focuses only on the darkness that her lids bring, and waits for him to initiate a slap, a hit, or anything else that would make a mark.

     She flinches when he throws his arms around her shoulders and embraces her.

     Her eyelids yank open.

     "What . . ." Her words stutter, then die out on her tongue. After a second, a split half-second of registration, she hugs him back. He squeezes her lungs dry and grinds her bones into dust, but she doesn't care. "I thought you were pissed."

     "I am. I'm pissed that you'd think so lowly of me." Stephen lets her go, but not before seizing her shoulders with fierce claws. She flinches from the warmth of his intensity. "I don't want my old life back. I have a new one for a reason."

     Her shoulders slump, relaxing underneath his heated grip. "I tricked you all this time."

     "I willingly stuck with you all this time."

     "I don't want you to be involved."

     "I don't care what you think," Stephen snaps. "I'm going to make myself involved. Whether I get involved or not is my choice."

     "I'm a criminal."

     "We'll be criminals together." He says this with all the confidence he can muster, which isn't much. "I never cared for the laws and all that bullshit. Alice, I'm a demon. My existence brands me as a criminal already."

     Alice tosses her head back. Laughter bubbles in her throat, hysterical laughter that can't be tamed. "I can't believe this is happening." Her giggles fade out, dissipating into soft hiccups. "I was planning on hopping from one town to the next, but now that you've decided to become my accomplice, I don't know what to do."

     As they exchange chatter on their way back, Stephen realizes how much he misses this. He misses interacting with Alice like this. He will never not miss it.

     "We should lay low and stay here for a while," he advises. "We'll move out once the monastery is under trustworthy ownership. The monastery still needs to be managed until then."

     Alice's brow shoots up. "How are we going to find anyone who's interested in inheriting the monastery?"

     "I know someone. His name is Griffin. He's a kid right now, but he has potential. He knows who I am entirely, but he's okay with it. He manages."

     "There's someone like that in our world?" Alice lets out a sharp gasp, a reaction so melodramatic that it has Stephen rolling his eyes to the back of his skull. "Unbelievable. I don't know anyone else that can put up with you other than me."

     "Shut up." Stephen elbows her. "You'll like him. Somehow he reminds me of you."

     She doesn't answer. When he glances at her, a inquisitive brow arched, he stops. Alice's lips are wobbling, threatening to collapse.

     "In all seriousness though," she finally says, speaking up after her minute of silence, "it's good that you made a friend. A friend who knows you for who you are. I'm happy for you." Her voice is tight and cracks around the edges. Tears gush down her cheeks. "I'm happy to be back."

     Stephen smiles. "Welcome back."