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Urf wasn't just some random guy who fitted into the role of a villain. He was the leader of the swords of Laylon, an organization specializing in stealing artifacts, and as every leader should be he was strong and experienced. Th group had a difficult time fighting him and he even managed to kill, leaving Jekyll and Ronove alone to fight him. Although they were inflicting damage succesfully on him, he was better than them and if it weren't for Mercy, who came to save them like a deus ex machina they probably wouldn't have made it.
After mercy revived Blade and healed the other two, Jekyll used this diversion and managed to sneak up behind Urf and deliver a deadly blow righ next his heart by piercing her sword inside his back. Urf coughed blood and fell on the ground with his face fist. Without missing a beat Jekyll pressed her boot on the side of his head and positioned her sword right over his neck. Urf was tired from the battle and his fatal wound didn't help the situation at all. In the end he told them everything they wanted to know about the swords of Laylon and the traitor from the king's guard that worked with him. With a satisfied grunt Jekyll pushed his face to the ground harder and kicked Urf's guts, leaving him to die on his own despite his cries of pain. Not even caring about the rest of her teammates she searched the leader's pockets taking whatever money or valluable things he had and got up.
"Let's go back"
She didn't wait for them, she started walking back towards the city. She just wanted to go back to her room she got at the inn and sleep. Maybe Elgis would be there too, she needed to talk to him.
She was visibly physically hurt because of Urf, from sword slashes and cuts to actual chunks of her flesh missing. She would heal soon, it didn't even hurt that much.
With heavy steps she reached the inn and entered. Walking straight upstarins to reach her room she only hoped that Elgis hadn't left.
Jekyll opened the door and Perla immediately leaped at her with an excited bark. The dog's tail was wagging fastly and she got on her hind legs trying to reach Jekyll's face to lick her to welcome her back. She wasn't even away for so long but for the hound it felt like too long. Jekyll managed to give her enough attention to satisfy her and calm her down and after some petting Perla jumped on the bed to continue her nap.
Elgis was trying his best not to pay any attention, to not turn his head to look at her. He was stationed at the office in the corner of the room sitting on the chair with his head on his hands trying to remember anything about last night when he got drunk. He didn't apreciate the memory loss when something in his gut told him that he had done something embarassing that he'd regret later.
"Are you okay?" Jekyll's voice echoed in the room. She sounded tired, and Elgis realised that he couldn't ignore her for longer.
"Could be better, just trying to forgive myself for losing control like that yestreday" the elf replied softly. He didn't raise his head to see her yet. He couldn't face her yet, not when he didn't know if he had sone something regretable.
"Do you want me to tell you what happened?" Jekyll snorted remembering the tavern fght.
Drunk Elgis managed to get into a fight with an equally if not more drunk dwarf and they ended up starting a fight. Soon the other people in the tavern had joined and the situation had spiralled out of control. Jekyll and Ronove had to navigate their way into the chaos and drag Elgis out. Ronove managed to pass out after being hit with a table and Elgis was spoutering nonesenses the whole time. The day was wild and Jekyll didn't know if it was a shame or not that Elgis didn't remember but the elf would probably appreciate not knowing.
"No thanks" came a rushed reply and finaly Elgis looked up to see her for the first time. He wasn't surprised to see her beat up like this, they had both seen each other and in worse states but he couldn't help but worry even if he knew that it was nothing serious. Nothing could be more serious than his own situation.
"W-what... what happened?" he asked worried. It looked like she had just got home from a hunt expect that her wounds were mostly from a sword and not wounds from a monster.
"Long story short, we found the gang leader we searching for, got the info we needed about the traitor and killed him"
Jekyll laughed nervously and looked away. She made it sound like an everyday thing, which wasn't exactly a lie because before she became a blood hunter this was her everyday life. But Elgis didn't need to know about that. She was just glad that he was worried about her.
"That's good to hear" Elgis sighed and smsiled softly not paying attention to how puzzled Jekyll looked.
The tiefling took a deep breath. She had to ask. She needed to know. She had to make sure before deciding if it would be worth it to talk to him about her own feelings.
"I have to ask you something, it's important. It's about something Ronove told me, he said you were the one who told him first when you were drunk last night"
Oh fuck. What did Elgis say to Ronove he didn't remember at all, he didn't even remember talking to the human. Cold sweat started forming in his palms that he closed into fists. All he knew was that Ronove couldn't be trusted with anything, not that he'd seek his help when sober.
"He said that you liked me. Like in a more than friends way and I'm confused- is it true?"
Elgis's eyes widened as he tried to stay composed and calm. His drunk self really fucked it up for him, how was he even supposed to get out of this situation now.
"W-what do you mean Jekyll- why would that be true?" a bad response really. He mentally slapped himself for even uttering these words, he hated himself even more after this and a coughing fit escaped his lips in his panicked state.
He could clearly see that Jekyll's features showed clearly disappointment and sadness. But he couldn't pinpoint if his response was what made her sad or if it was something else. Which in this occasion Jekyll was disappointed at herself for thinking she had even a chance with him.
"Oh" she stayed quiet before continuing "But would it be bad if it was true?"
Completely avoiding her question he got up and walked in front of her. Elgis looked serious.
"Tell me something Jekyll. Are you seriously going to the mire of the dead men?"
Jekyll sighed and crossed her arms feeling defeated.
"Yes. But it's not about what I want to do, it's about what I have to do. I must go, I'm forced to" the tiefling run a hand through her hair and let her hands fall to her sides. Going into that swamp was like having a death wish, she was put in a suicide mission without knowing how long it would last or if she would even survive.
"I don't want you to go there" Elgis blurted out. If he didn't have the balls to tell her how he felt directly he'd be passive aggressive about it.
"The reason Endermath stopped hunting is that swamp Jekyll, the things he saw, the things he had to endure, and in the end he didn't even finish his job. He lost his sanity, rumors say he killed the otehr blood hunters that were with him along with along with the rest of his team. That's the reason why he got kicked out of his own order, that's the reason why he's forced to live alone nevr to enter Neverwinter again. I... I don't want you to have the same fate as him'" Elgis finished and took a step closer. Their bodies were almost touching now and the elf just wanted to hug her and never let her go.
Jekyll shook her head and gritted her teeth, her nails digging into her side arm from her anxiety. She hissed, trully not enjoying how the conversation turning out to be.
"Do you really think I want to go? Of course I know how bad it is, shit I could even fucking die on my first day there and trust me I don't want to die like that. If I could avoid it i would, but I need to go" she bit her trembling lower lip and looked at Elgis with pained eyes. "The idea that I might not see you again fucking ruins me"
Elgis wasn't sure about the context of her last sentence but at this point he didn't care. His illness was just getting worse and worse and at this point he had lost hope about finding that spell that would heal him.
"I can't stop you Jekyll- but the least I can do is help you"
Elgis moved closer, taking Jekyll's hands into his to make her stop scatching herself. They were so warm. They were never this close before and it felt so surreal for both of them.
"Do you want my help?" he asked and looked at her with a gentle smile.
"Yes, if you want"
"By the way... yes" Elgis spoke up again.
Jekyll tilted her head puzzled. "About what?"
"About... liking you. Yes. I do"
Her eyes softened upon hearing his repsone. Her face lit up witha smile appearing but it soon fell as she lowered her head. She was feeling guilty, of course she liked Elgis back but she didn't feel like she was worth him. He deserved someone who was... not Jekyll. Someone better than her.
"Why" was all she managed to say in a quiet voice.
And Elgis was truly confused. What did she mean by that? What kind of response was that? Before he could ask about it the tiefling continued.
"W-why... would you waste your time on me, Elgis" she whispered and shook here head in disbelief, a hint of sadness in her tone. She tried to pull her hands back from Elgis' grip but he didn't let her.
"You truly are an idiot sometimes" the elf chuckled softly but after seeing Jekyll still disstressed he gulped. He was getting seriously worried.
"No Elgis I... I'm a monster, I mean it. I-I've done things... Bad things, Elgis. I never expected us to get close to begin- I don't know how you keep putting with me- It's like-" a pause. She had forgotten to breath. "I'm in a dream"
Eglis was in a state of sock. Jekyll seemed so proud, so full of herself. She was arrogant and greedy and sometimes straight up mean, but for her to actually feel like that? He just wanted to hug her and whisper that everything would be okay, but decided against it for now. He would let he finish, but if she would keep talking bad about herself he'd intervere.
"You made me feel like I was at home for once after so many years- I finaly managed to feel safe. B-but you trully don't deserve someone like me, you don't need me I'm just an-" Jekyll had almost started crying, tears had started prickling at the corners of her eyes.
Elgis couldn't let her talk about herself like that. He leaned in and wrapped his arms around Jekyll squeezing her. He moved one hand to her head to pet her, trying to soothe her down.
"Just because you can't understand how wonderful you actually are doesn't mean that you aren't" he stopped and closed his eyes.
Jekyll didn't speak up again, she wrapped her arms around his torso and clung from his shirt. She even used her tail to wrap it around his leg just to feel him as close as possible.
"You brighten up my world, trully. You actually paid attention to me, you cared, you spent time everyday to talk to me and make sure I was okay. I couldn't help but just... fall for you"
His voice was a whisper and Jekyll had to fight to hold back her tears. The hug was the first long one they shared, all of their previous ones were short celebratory hugs after a succesfull hunt.
"Thank you..." Jekyll whispered. "Thank you for being here"
Elgis pulled back to look at her and smiled. He was tryig so hard to not start coughing and his lungs were starting to hurt from struggling.
"Will you let me... kiss you?" he whispered softly.
"Yes" was the only thing Jekyll said and started leaning in.
They started getting closer, their lips had almost touched, they could feel each other's breaths on their lips. But suddenly Elgis started coughing violently from keeping it inside him for so long. He had to pull away and bring his palm in front of his mouth trying to controll his fit. Blood started to drip from from his lips and he started feeling dizzy. He tried to walk his way towards the bed but he didn't make it, he blacked out and fell on the floor.
Everything happend too fast for Jekyll to react. She rushed to his side immediately and raised his upper body paying attention to his head for any wounds. Taking Elgis in her arms she made him lay down on the bed and whiped the blood dripping from his lips way. Perla had woken up and had moved close to Elgis making worried whimpering sounds. But Jekyll didn't have time to stay here. She needed to find someone who knew about his condition.
She was panicking as she was walking to the door, grabbing the handle too harshly and opened it to rush to the inn's corridor.
Surely Jekyll would panic a lot more if she hadn't found Bob a few doors further ready to walk into his own room. She didn't explain anything to him she just went and grabbed him from his arm and practically dragged him to her room.
"H-He fainted all of sudden- what's... what's wrong with him"
Bob sighed and gritted his teeth in annoyance. He pulled out a small purple potion from the handles of his belt and poured into Elgis' mouth.
"It'll make him feel better when he wakes up but that's all I can do. I'll tell you everything I know about his condition, which unfortunatelly keeps getting worse faster than I suspected, in one condition. It's fairly simple actually, you just need to be patient untill we have entered to swamp which will happen at dawn. Can't have you running off to help him just a few hours before our mission. I know you enough to know for a fact that you wouldn't come back. Now rest, it's going to be a long trip" and with that the necromancer left Jekyll's room, closing the door behind him.
Jekyll wasn't given a choice from the start, she would agree either way but Bob was right to not trust her.
She ended up crawling on her bed that night and craddling Elgis close to her. It was hard for her to sleep, constant negative thoughts attacking her mind. But sleep overtook her at some point. She was exhausted.
One thing was sure though. If both of them ended up living, a moment like this would occur again. And then maybe, just maybe nothing would stop them from finishing what they had started.