I lulled from side to side and a jolt made my entire head explode with pain. I cracked open one eye, the other was swelled shut, and saw boots stomping through underbrush. My head swam as I tilted up and saw Frederick following. He caught my eye and smiled shyly at me. Everything was foggy and I could hear my heart beating in my ears. A feeble flex of my hands confirmed they were manacled and I suspected I was watching Marn's boots from over his shoulder. I felt nausea building up again and thankfully faded back into blissful darkness.
The next thing I felt was cold stone on my cheek. I opened my eyes and nothing changed. Oh fuck, was the head trauma that bad? Am I blind now?! I started panicking until I saw a subtle shifting of the darkness. Oh wait, my eyes were adjusting. Wait, was I- "Paz!" I stage whispered and dragged myself to my feet.
"Devil girl!" Her sweet voice replied from the shifting darkness.
I started blindly stumbling in the direction of her voice. "Um, my name is Alexis, actually."
"Oh, hello Alexis." She rolled her tongue around each letter and syllable of my name, almost seeming to taste them in a way that made my knees weak.
"H-how are you holding up?" My eyes had adjusted to the darkness well enough that I managed to stop next to her 'bed' rather than trip over it.
The shadows across her face shifted; was she smiling at me? "As well as ever. One eternity fades into the next."
"How old are you?" I whispered in the darkness, perhaps afraid of the answer.
"I.. can't remember." Her head turned as she instinctively looked away from me. And then the shading on her cheeks changed. "I missed you."
I smiled at her, my own cheeks warming. "I- I missed you too. I'm sorry that I had to leave you."
She turned sharply back to me and I jumped as her hands found my thighs where I was kneeling on her bedding, such as it was. "H-how do you come and go? Please take me with you this time!" Her voice cracked and I sensed that she was crying and trying to hide it from me.
My throat tightened with emotion and my hand rose up to rub her arm. I could feel fresh scars and now I was crying too. "I don't.." I coughed and cleared my throat and stared up at the ceiling as I composed myself. "I don't know how I'm doing it, or if it's being done to me."
The silence stretched between us long enough to get uncomfortable before she finally mumbled. "I see."
On impulse, I pulled her into a hug. She stiffened for a long moment and then melted into my arms. "We will figure it out." I was sure that I sounded more confident than I felt.
And then we talked for hours or days or years, it was impossible to tell time. At regular intervals, the hulking monstrosity would bring in a bowl of slop and refill the trough of water that I hadn't seen before. I hid from him and then Paz shared the slop with me. Initially I begged off, there wasn't enough, even to keep up just her strength, but finally my stomach complained enough that she forced me to share. And still we talked yet more. I told her my entire life story. Everything about Earth and what life had been like there. I talked about my shitty family and my gaming friends. I missed them. I missed playing with them, even though I was paradoxically living the adventure now. She oohed and awed, utterly fascinated by Earth and everything on it.
She told me what she could remember about growing up in Ninira, the capital city of the Emerald Empire. She had apparently left when she was very young. She described the endless forests that were so thick and stretched so high into the sky, they blocked out the sun entirely. I chuckled and told her about the time five dragons had chased my friends through the Southern Emerald Forest. By the time I had described the entire encounter, we were both laughing so hard that we were in tears.
One day, we were sitting comfortably together, crossed legs with our knees touching. Paz was leaned against me, still recovering from a giggle fit over a bad joke I made, and I couldn't hold it in any longer.
"Paz, can I ask you a question?" She nodded into my shoulder and then pulled away slightly. Our noses were almost touching and I could feel her breath on my cheek. "I like you."
"That's not a question."
"I'm rolling my eyes at you."
She giggled. "I like you too.
I lost my nerve. "Good, so it's agreed that we like each other's company. That was a close call, I'd hate to be stuck in Hell with someone who couldn't stand me." I wiped imaginary sweat off my forehead.
"Now I'm rolling my eyes at you." I giggled at her. "My turn to ask a question, if that's okay?" I nodded reflexively, and then remembered that she couldn't see me.
"Yes, of course."
"I.. We- This thing," She paused and looked up at the ceiling, "Fuck me, why is this so hard." She huffed and refocused on me. "I've been feeling a vibe. A um... romantic vibe, uh, between us." She chewed on her lip.
"That's really more of a declaration than a question." I gently teased her.
She slapped my arm. "Please tell me you feel it too? You're killing me!"
I leaned my forehead against hers and nodded. "Yes, big romantic vibes for me too."
Paz shifted and slowly closed the distance left between us. She licked her lips and pressed them against mine, wet and soft and full, and suddenly we were kissing. After a moment's hesitation, I kissed her back. And y'all, I swear to the gods Above and Below, she somehow tasted like fucking dark chocolate and cinnamon. Paz snorted without breaking the kiss. The way her lips tasted made me wonder what her... Nope! Head out of the gutter. I pushed that thought down and finally had to break the kiss due to a severe design flaw in mortals that makes us require oxygen.
"Wow.." Her voice was roughed by arousal. We both sat, panting and sucking in air.
"I'll say. Wow is right."
She shyly reached over and intertwined her fingers with mine as we held hands like teenagers.