Side Story- How Sonya met Falk part four

This might be bad.

She’d been stuck with the man, Falk, for a week as she tried to heal herself to the point she’d be able to move, and despite herself she’d gotten to know him as the time passed. Whenever something put her on edge he tried to start small, simple conversations to help her relax, he kept cleaning her wounds and applying more herbs to them to help the healing process, and the entire time he’d been showing her nothing but gentle kindness, asking before he touched her, keeping her safe from any beasts he didn’t know she’d was dragging in with her charm, and keeping her fed, even if his skill in that regard left a bit to be desired. In the face of all of that, the fear she’d initially felt waking up with him so close began to fade, being replaced with a fondness for the man.

Don’t be an idiot. She chided herself. Day’s for my charm to be eating at him, I could be in danger at any minute if he doesn’t keep himself under control, and there’s no way he’d do all of this for a stranger otherwise. I mean, I’m sure he’s normally really nice too, I doubt he’d check with me each time before he does something otherwise, but… it doesn’t matter. I’m almost better, in a couple days I should be able to sneak off when he’s asleep and he can assume I’m dead or something. I’ll probably have to start avoiding the gate near this area though.

The thought bothered her deeply. She knew that after she left he’d begin to realize something was wrong beyond her disappearance, that he’d question why he’d done just so much for her while they were out there and maybe even come to the right conclusion, but there was nothing she could do about that. She hadn’t done it with intent, but explaining things would be far harder than she wanted to deal with and the feeling of risk that came with him becoming aware of her charm still ate at her. Worse than any of that was the small part of her wanting to stay longer.

…Stupid.

“Everything okay Sonya?” Falk asked, seeing a range of emotions fluttering across her face as she thought.

“Oh yeah, just focusing on my healing,” She told him, putting all of her efforts back into it. At this point she was mostly just sore, she could move but wanted to work a bit longer to avoid any relapse in injury. Being so close to good shape again, it wasn’t the time to be distracted.

<LIFE MAGIC LEVEL INCREASED>

Her eyes lit up with the notification and she immediately felt a change in the quality of her magic. It wasn’t like her wounds would heal in an instant with it, but she was able to do more with less mana, meaning she’d be able to work on healing herself longer and with better results. It had been a long time since she’d gotten a system notification and she couldn’t help but beam.

“Has anyone ever told you, you wear your feelings on your sleeves?”

“Ahem, I leveled up my life magic,” She explained, feeling herself blush from how much her face showed her thoughts. “Looks like I’ll be in top shape in another day or so.”

“Ah, that’s fantastic!” He said happily, a wide grin stretched across his face. “In that case, let’s celebrate with some food. I’ll start dinner.”

It was on an impulse she stopped him. “Wait, I’ll cook.”

“Hmm? You sure? I think you should take it easy a bit more.”

“I’m good enough to move a bit and I’m going to be honest, I’m definitely going to be better at it than you.”

With all he’d done, be it in his own will or not, she couldn’t deny how deeply she owed him. Cooking him as nice of a meal as she could manage out in the woods was nothing when she thought of what she should be doing to make up for it, but since she was going to try and sneak off as soon as she was well enough to anyway she at least wanted to do that.

She got up and kept the blanket he’d given her held tight, still feeling conscious of her lack of clothing, especially if she was going to have to try and make it back to the gate.

So am I going to be stealing his blanket after all this on top of everything else? I really am the worst.

“Um, Falk, you mind if I ask where you live?” She questioned on a whim, her nagging guilt making her want to make up for everything one day, even if that would be complicated in its own way.

“Ah, between homes at the moment, not sure where I’ll actually settle down,” He said with a shrug, making the prospect of finding him and paying him back so much harder. “I had been stayin’ with my master till recently but I’m done with that now and returning to the family sounds a little dull so I’ll probably be splitting my time between some cheap inns when I’m done out here. Got a decent haul at least so I can sort all of that out later.”

With the bones and skins of the different creatures he’d killed as they were drawn in by Sonya collected, he didn’t consider how he’d had to spend his time to be a loss. The question did bring a complicated look to his eyes though as he waved something to her, the same piece of leather he’d been working on since she’d first woke up.

Getting the point, she took it, finding a long, hooded cloak. She hadn’t asked as he’d been making it, finding her own thoughts consumed by everything else that she’d had to deal with, but finding he’d been working so long just to make her something to cover up with added to her guilt that she tried to hide by teasing him.

“You know, with how good you seem to be at all your other stuff, I’m surprised this took a week,” She said as she put it on. It was slightly too big and heavy from the leather, but it was comfortable and she was significantly happier to have it than just a blanket to rely on.

“Hey, a normal coat I could whip up in minutes, that one’s just special is all,” He said, rubbing his head as he tried to figure out how to broach a topic she’d obviously been avoiding while she dealt with her own feelings.

So it took longer because he was making it with me in mind?

Hearing that made her annoyingly happy. She understood that some of her kind were tempted by the sort of treatment they could receive with their charm, but she’d never imagined she’d be one of them. It wasn’t the most pleasant thing to discover about herself and only added to her feeling of guilt.

…Maybe I should leave tonight instead. With the level up if I focus on my healing for the next few hours I can sneak off in whatever time he spends asleep. It’s not ideal, but I really shouldn’t be getting used to this.

“So there’s something I think we need to get out of the way,” Falk started with a sigh, seeming annoyed as Sonya froze at his sudden tone. “About the fact that you-”

His words cut off as his head whipped around, staring off into the distance at whatever he’d noticed through the trees, and moments later she felt her stomach drop as over a dozen creatures came rushing out of the bushes, the same that had gotten her into that situation and locked in on her.

Falk's reaction was fast but limited. Firing off two spells, two of the beasts collapsed to the ground, but the rest lunged, most choosing the smaller target.

Sonya jumped back as he threw himself in front of her, hitting one of them away as another sunk its teeth into his arm, trying and failing to get through his fur before being shaken off as well.

Seeing they were outnumbered and not liking their odds in the situation, he made a quick choice, picking up Sonya in his arms and running as fast as his legs would carry them with the sounds of footsteps chasing behind.

---

As the hours wore on, they could both only describe the creatures giving chase as persistent. As better as Sonya was, she wasn’t in the sort of shape to be sprinting through the woods on her own, meaning Falk was carrying her the entire time. It wasn’t a problem for him, but it did slow him down, ensuring the creatures were always at their heels, even when he attacked.

Any point they managed to gain a little distance, he would fire back a spell, but each time it didn’t manage to be enough, only stunning one or two before they came rushing back.

“You say these awful bastards are what got you in this state?”

“Yeah.”

“They seem annoyingly resistant to death magic.”

Falk was confident in his skills, sure that even if he wasn’t able to give his best in those conditions he should have still been making significant progress in finishing them off, but if it wasn’t a matter of them being resistant to his magic then it was an outrageous level of vitality keeping them safe. Either way, they weren’t giving up and things had to end.

Putting all of his speed into a final sprint, he ran into the distance, hoisting Sonya up to a tree branch before turning around to face them.

Seeing his magic had such a minimal effect in his previous attacks, he didn’t use it alone with his next spell, firing it at the closest one and moved the moment it went down.

His size and weight were his greatest assets against creatures like that as he rushed over, crushing its skull under his foot as he shot off his next spell, doing it again and again until the survivors got the message, seeing that they were not the predators in their exchange and running off into the woods, letting the yeti catch his breath before letting Sonya down.

It was obvious the effort had exhausted him, but despite that he still focused on her.

“You alright? Didn’t get too shaken up in the run did you?”

“No, I’m fine, what about you?”

“Bah, nothing I can’t manage. You think you’ll be able to make it back on your own feet or need me to carry you?”

“I’ll be fine, don’t worry.”

She watched him try to keep himself from gasping for air from how hard he’d been running, feeling even more guilt for it as she did. It seemed like he was able to handle himself, but her presence was undeniably putting him in danger just by being around.

---

“Sonya!” She heard a voice cry out to her as the two of them were walking back to camp, being wrapped in the arms of a familiar cloaked figure as soon as she saw her. “Why are you so far from where I left you do you know how worried I was when I got back and you weren’t there? I can’t believe I found you!” She gushed, continuing in a much smaller voice. “And like, isn’t this situation kind of really really bad?”

She grimaced, unable to deny it. Reuniting with her sister meant she wouldn’t have any issues going back through the gate, but there was the larger problem of the hulking slab of muscle beside her, watching the reunion that was taking place. Even if it would still take days she could safely get home from there, it just came down to how to get away from Falk.

He’s exhausted so if we don’t do it while he’s sleeping then now's the best choice, but I still don’t think I could run so that really doesn’t look good. Oh gods above he literally just fought so hard to protect me and now I need to rush off without a word and since I’m never seeing him again I’ll have no way to make up for all of this but that doesn’t even matter cause what will I do if he tries to stop me I don’t know how he’s been handling this since I hadn’t tried to leave him from the beginning but-

All of the thoughts flowing through Sonya’s head being completely unbeknownst to Falk, he cast Pelenia an appraising look as she stood in front of her sister, with Sonya trying to keep her from fighting.

“Pel, it’s a long story but he saved my life, let’s just relax for now.”

“Aye, I don’t mean any harm,” He told her, waving any concerns away and shocking them with his next words. “I’m gonna head back to camp, you’re welcome to join of course but since I’m sure you were looking for your sister anyway I wish you the best. Try and keep out of trouble Sonya.”

“...What?”

Without much thought he started walking away, letting her make her own choice on the matter as she tried to process what was happening. He’d spent days with her as her charm was flowing from her body, getting all but drenched in it as he fed her and helped with her wounds, and now he was walking away like it was the easiest thing in the world.

“Wait, Falk why did you do so much for me?” She called out, rooted to the spot and wanting an answer as he turned around, looking confused by the question.

“What, I’m not such an awful bastard that I won’t help someone in front of me,” He told her with a shrug before remembering one more thing he needed to tell her. “Right, if you’re going back the new jacket has a fanet’ail attachment on it so even if it’s not made of the right materials your sister there will be able to lead you through the gate without any trouble, even if that does mean walking blind. Take better care of this one than whatever happened to your last one.”

“...You knew?”

“Hard to ignore the obvious bits. The eyes, tail, an unending scratching in my mind. It’s fine. I’m not so weak-minded as to break from the small whiff of mana coming off you and I prefer minding my own business on these things.”

…So he was never affected by my charm…

She knew it was possible to beat certain mind effects through willpower alone, but it was never something she would have considered or relied on when looking at how she’d been taken care of. Everything he’d done for her over the past week flashed through her mind and in an instant her face was red from her blush, her far too perceptive sister seeing it and speaking up a second later with mischief in her voice.

“Well, if you know and there’s no problems then we’ll happily join you for a bit, and then maybe some more after that. I wouldn’t mind hearing everything that happened but I think it’s safe to say we need a new party member. Really didn’t like seeing the limitations of being in a group of two”

“Ha, not interested, miss.”

“You will be.”

Pelenia had never once seen her sister look at anyone like that before, even if Sonya hated it, she wasn’t going to let him get away from her, she’d just need to wear him down first and enjoy watching things progress.

Author's note

Oh god I edited this so much trying to turn it into something I'm happy with and I'm not sure if thinking about how I wanted to write this for so long gave me too high of a standard or what but I still can't help feel like I could have ended it better.

Oh well though, instead of talking about my insecurities lets talk about it in general since what was supposed to be one chapter and around 2000 words ended up as four and over 9000. Now since it doesn't come up a ton it has been a part of Sonya's character that she holds a one-sided crush on Falk and I said specifically all the way back in chapter 52 that Falk saved Sonya once which was the start of that attraction so I wanted to show that, while also trying to make them feel like younger versions of the characters in the main story, having grown up by then. How well I did on that is of course up to you all but at least for the characterization I feel okay, it's just my prose that I really want to work on.

Oh well, with the year coming to an end I hope you all enjoyed what was basically a mini prequel arc (and hopefully one of the longer side stories I end up writing cause oh man this would be rough to try and do each month) and look forward to the regularly scheduled chapter coming to you tomorrow along with a poll and now I'm going to nap!

An update for future generations reading this

I was adding the side story tag to all of them finally when out of the corner of my eye I saw I wrote writing as righting in the last paragraph of my authors note. I fixed it but that's gonna haunt me for a while