Minnie couldn’t sleep. She had tried, was still sort of trying as she shifted around in the make shift bed that was given to her in her current Master’s home. There were far too many things pressing in her mind.
She felt like she was living in a nightmare.
She has yet to find where Dodger was and it wasn’t for lack of trying. She didn’t know what house he was placed in, if he was okay, if he was even here at all, or in the Underworld. That ate at her every nerve. She hardly knew where any of her other close friends were either save two, who she saw get taken away before her very eyes leaving her worried about their safety.
In short, she knew nothing. It was all a nightmare. Losing the battle in gaining sleep, Minnie slipped out of the bed moving ever so quietly within the House of Water making her way into the kitchen. She was the most comfortable there because her other self felt at home within the space of the kitchen. She thought of maybe making something to help calm her nerves when her eyes caught the form of a shadow creeping by.
Minnie froze a little, who could be up this late? A guard... was it.. was it one of the guards? It had to be... She whispered then quietly, but with enough force to be sorta heard. “H-hello....? I-is is anyone there...?”
Summary: Minnie makes it to the Prison Hell and finds Dodger
Trigger Warning: Noneee :DDD
Additional Information: This took a bit bc of course it became work weekend for me -_____- but it’s done now :DD
MINNIE:
If Minnie had to be particularly honest with herself…. She didn’t have much of a plan as to what she was going to do when she actually got to the prison itself. This has been part of the journey where she was to go alone. Raksha had stood in the Asphodel fields and both Sally and Violet had stood somewhere Minnie was left unaware of. They had split once they reached the city, Minnie following a grungy seward path Sally had told her would lead her to the prison.
It felt awful having to do the ending alone.
Luckily, her father had appeared for this part of the journey and through some minor bumps Minnie had made it to her destination.
The only problem was that upon reaching close to the prison she had gotten caught and ended up a prisoner herself. Funny as this may sound… while speaking to her father she came to the conclusion that her grand master plan was to simply get caught.
Look she was exhausted!
At the same time, Sally had suggested such an idea. She promised Minnie that all of this will soon be over and so all the brunette wanted to do was stay in the prison and rest in Dodger’s arms. So, she had done her fist part of the plan: became a prisoner. Her eyes scoured around the small area. The heat was unbearable clinging on to her skin making it itchy from the mud that had dried out. She saw a couple of people, others hidden in the shadows, and was there… a naked pair there?
It didn’t matter… her eyes were growing heavy and all they were looking for was Dodger. She stepped a little further into the prison managing to bump herself into someone. “Oh... I-I’m so—” Minnie had turned around to see who she bumped into and long and behold it had been Dodger himself!
All Minnie did at that point was simply throw herself on him wrapping her arms tightly around him as she cried.
DODGER:
Prison sucked. That was it really.
It fucking sucked. Of course, Dodger expected the whole prison thing to not be fun in the slightest, but come on, it was Dodger. He never really thought that he was going to get caught, or even that he’d be able to sneak his way out of jail if he did get caught.
That was not on the agenda in hell prison.
He tried, boy did Dodger try hard trying to get out of that goddamn cell. Not to mention the fact that he wanted to get as far away as possible from the assholes that managed to get stuck in prison with him. (They didn’t fucking shut up). It left Dodger bruised and battered and burnt, the bars of the jail cell not budging even an inch, scorching hot to the touch.
Dodger needed to get out. He needed to make sure that everyone up on the surface was okay. God fuck, Minnie. Hadn’t he literally just gotten done promising Minnie that he wasn’t going to get caught? And the second he walked away and to the temple, what happened? He fucking got dragged into the ground. He had to apologize for going back on his word, tell her that it wasn’t going to happen and prove that he could get out of this for her.
He moved towards one of the other ends of the cell, one of the ones that was less crowded to see if he could maybe find a secret passageway or maybe even a small area he could start digging into to make a little tunnel when he bumped straight into someone. Dodger was frustrated at this point though and it began to show in his voice when he spoke out, “AYE! WATCH WHERE YOUS GO-” but then it hit him.
Quite literally.
Because the person he had run into was none other than Minnie herself. Dodger was completely and totally shocked, but he didn’t even have a second to think about how the hell Minnie got down here or what happened that got her sent down here, she had thrown herself into his arms, balling. His arms went around hers in an instant, keeping her close half because she was crying and he wanted to be there for her, but half because he still couldn’t believe that she was standing right in front of him.
“What the hell is goin’ on Mins? What are you doin’ down heres?” He spoke out, still holding her close as his hands trailed against her back to try and calm her down somehow.
MINNIE
Minnie only continued to cry. She knew that she should probably say something, but all she could do was allow tears to fall from her eyes. A huge portion of it all stemmed from how exhausted she felt.
She could truly fall to the ground right now and stay there passed out to the world.
She was dirty from the mud that coated her skin and her eyes were heavy and puffy from the crying that had happened in the Doors of Judgement. Her legs, muscles and arms were so sore and as Dodger held her in his arms softly rubbing her back Minnie just wanted to close her eyes right in his embrace.
And she had for a small moment, closed those eyes and continued crying burying her face into the crook of his shoulders. She felt the sobs beginning to settle in her chest threatening to break through her lips.
Minnie looked up then through the thick veil of blurriness in her eyes.
“I-I came down…. I found out you were here and I… I came down.”
Her head fell back on the crook of his neck. Minnie hardly realized when she started hiccuping the sharp forced grasp of air feeling like blades in her chest. She knew that in hindsight this all had to appear embarrassing. She was filthy from head to toe, sobbing, felt exhausted and now she was hiccuping. Yes, very embarrassing but the tiredness felt so heavy over her bones that none of that mattered as much as being inside of Dodger’s arms.
DODGER:
As Dodger held her, all he could feel was the utter exhaustion that she had to be feeling. The cries, the way that her body felt almost heavy in his arms, the mud that was caked to her arms, and even the look on her face when she pulled her head away from his shoulder to look up at him. It absolutely ate at him knowing that she felt like this, and all he wanted to do was make sure that she felt better. To make this better because he didn’t know what the fuck had happened to get her to this point.
But then she spoke, and Dodger was at a loss for words for the second time in a matter of a minutes.
She found out he was in prison and she came down.
He couldn’t have heard her right. There was no way that Minnie traveled through hell just because he was in prison. No, there was no possible way. He...he wasn’t worth that. Why the hell would she do that?
Because if she had come all the way down here just for him…
Well, even thinking about that made something in Dodger’s chest tighten, and he couldn’t put a finger on what it was, but it was something and he wanted to get to the bottom of it. But that wasn’t important right now. What was important was making sure that Minnie was alright.
When she looked up to him, Dodger removed one of his hands from her back, making sure the one that remained was firmly around her so that she wouldn’t fall, before reaching up to try and wipe a couple of her tears off of her cheek. Though when she finished speaking, her face was buried right back into his shoulder, and Dodger wrapped that arm right back around her. Whatever had happened to her must have been serious, he had never seen Minnie like this before and it was breaking his heart.
She needed to rest, or sit or something just to at least get her off of her feet. Dodger gently kissed the top of her head, giving her back a few more rubs before scooping Minnie into his arms, much like how he did the night she showed up at one of his gigs. He leaned against the wall for support before slowly lowering himself onto the ground, keeping Minnie on his lap as her back pressed against his chest.
“Aye, you’re okay now, alright? I’m here, I got yous. I ain’t gonna let anythin’ happen to yous down here.”
MINNIE:
Minnie hardly realized when Dodger had picked her up, but she really hadn’t minded. She had curled up in his arms and when he sat down she only curled even closer to his body. The journey down to the prison had been unlike something Minnie had ever done in her life and it had come with some hardships that had literally broken her apart.
But it had all been worth it.
Dodger was safe, healthy and she was curled in his arms. She would re-do her whole trip in the underworld all so that she could be right where she was: inside of Dodger’s arms. She didn’t know what that meant, how deep everything ran now that she had internally come to that conclusion.
Maybe if she didn’t feel as exhausted as she was she’d be able to analyze everything and put a word to all that she had done simply to make sure that Dodger was alive. In all honesty though, all Minnie could think about was the softness in his voice, and being so glad that she could hear it in the first place. She had been so worried when she first found out that he had been sent to the prison.
Worried enough that she came down.
Now that she knew he was okay, could hear him speaking, hear the strong beating of his heart so very close to her owns…. everything felt right, even if they both were within a hell prison.
“I’m sorry… I-I don’t even know w-why I’m crying.” She was still hiccuping and her words sounded so slurred and worn out that Minnie hardly knew what she was actually saying. She was speaking without a thought to anything that left her mouth.
“A-and I’m okay…. I-I’m just so, so tired…. But I’m g-glad you’re okay… I w-was worried that you w-wouldn’t be… you are though, okay… right?”
DODGER:
As Minnie curled into him, Dodger wrapped his arm around her even tighter than it had been before. There was absolutely zero way that he was going to let anything happen to her while she was down here. Nor was he going to fucking leave her while she was like this. It just...Dodger wanted to help. He didn’t want to ever see Minnie like this again, and he hated to think about something that could happen to her again to cause this.
But he couldn’t just shake what Minnie had said. That she had heard that he was in prison and came down because of that. To make sure that he was okay. No one...well, no one had ever really done something like that for him outside of his little crew. Maybe not even them. Yeah, they always had one another’s back, but coming to the Underworld just to make sure he was okay?
That was on another level.
“Shh, you don’t have to apologize,” Dodger spoke out, keeping his voice low as he smiled own towards her. “Yous just need to rest, that’s all.” God she had to have had a long journey here in the first place. He wanted to know about it. About what exactly Minnie had gone through to get to Dodger, but at the same time, it only made him angry. Because he wasn’t there to make sure she was okay.
It only proved how strong she was though. Dodger had heard some other stories from some of the people in the prison of what they had to go through to get there, and if Minnie went through the same shit? God, she’d have to be one of the strongest people that he knew.
He nodded at her question though. “Yeahs, I’m okay. Betta now that yous here.” He lightly teased, though he would have rather her stay safe up on the surface than go through hell to find him. Speaking of, he had to know for sure. “You really came down all this way just because I got sent down heres?”
MINNIE:
Minnie smiled a small little thing of a smile hearing Dodger tease even when the both of them were in the Underworld. She had been scared that she would never get to hear him tease at her, see his smiles, hear him laugh or even get to look into those dark brown eyes that she loved so much.
She had turned her head to look at them now, remembering how Raksha’s son’s eyes had reminded her of his and the ache of not knowing how he was.
That ache was gone now, replaced by a general warmth that didn’t make the stuffy heat worse. She laughed a little although it almost came out in a raspy whisper. Her throat felt dry and her head was slightly pounding from all of the sheer exhaustion that befell her, but she was happy enough to laugh.
Happy that Dodger was holding her and was so glad to have her in his arms. She couldn’t ask for anything else in this moment, nothing else would compare.
“Good…. it’s the same for me…. that I’m here….” She hoped that made sense she wasn’t so sure…. but it was fine surely Dodger would understand her.
At his question, Minnie just blinked. Did… did it look like there was disbelief behind his eyes? Did… did he not think that she wouldn’t come down here for him? “Yes…”
She answered quietly more so because she was far too tired to speak any louder. “I-I couldn’t stay up there… not-not knowing if you weren’t okay…. it was eating at me… I-I needed to know if you were okay… I-I had to make sure you were….” She paused then for a moment.
“I saw my mom…. she likes you.”
DODGER:
At the confirmation that, yes, Minnie did fact come to the Underworld just to make sure he was okay, he was hit with that feeling once more. It was strong in his chest, felt like it was clutching at his heart, ripping it down to his gut. He hadn’t know what it was before, but now he did.
It was love.
Minnie had come all the way to the Underworld, probably battled off monsters and demons and ghosts all just to make sure that he was okay. She showed so much strength and so much courage that Dodger couldn’t even bare to understand it all. All he knew though was that he wasn’t going to say shit. He couldn’t. Who was he to spring that sort of shit on her after all she had just gone through. Especially when he wasn’t even completely sure what the hell was happening in his life anymore. It was...it was so soon. They hadn’t even defined what they were yet and now Dodger was fucking realizing just how much she meant to him.
That he loved her.
Then she spoke again though. Talking about how her mother liked him, and Dodger knew exactly what that meant. Her mother had visited Minnie on her journey
here. A while ago, Minnie had shared with Dodger the story of her parents’ accident. He knew that they had died, and that she had been without parents for over half of her life. Her words now only meant that her mother had managed to come in contact with her though, and that maybe just maybe, she had been keeping an eye on Minnie in the afterlife. How else would she know about Dodger.
It made his gut sink once more though, having the knowledge that his mother liked him. It made him feel like maybe he wasn’t as big of a piece of shit as he thought. Though it also worried him that maybe he was just fooling everyone. But no, what he felt for Minnie was real. He realized that now. He’d do anything for her.
The words had threatened to escape his lips as well, but Dodger held back. He couldn’t say that to her now. Instead he smiled, tucking a strand of hair that had fallen in front of Minnie’s face behind her ear, “I don’t know why the hells you would do somethin’ like that, but thank you.” He spoke softly, leaning down and kissing her forehead gently. He wanted to ask her to tell him about her mother, but she already sounded so tired and Dodger didn’t want to emotionally drain her anymore than she already was. So instead he settled with a short, “Does she now?” Leaving it more open to her as to what she felt comfortable saying.
MINNIE:
It was funny that even though Minnie was extremely fatigued and all worn out, she could tell that Dodger had been thinking about something in the back of his mind. Normally, she would have been worried that she might have spoken something wrong, but as it was, she hardly remembered what she said.
Her eyes were still looking at Dodger when he spoke. She knew that he didn’t believe he was worth the trip she had taken, but Minnie disagreed. He had been worth every bit of it. All the terrors, the cold, exhaustion and trials she had to face. She would repeat it all again exactly how it had been all to know that Dodger was okay.
Even if she didn’t end up right in Dodger’s arms, all she needed was to see that he was alive and well.
Dodger had been the only person whom she had been with who actually cared about her. He took care to make sure she was safe, happy, and well. He sought to make her smile, make her laugh. He made her feel like she was worth something to someone… no one had done that before to her save her parents.
And for that he was worth coming to the Underworld.
“Because I wouldn’t be okay i-if I didn’t know that you were okay…. or at least alive… I-I don’t think I’d ever be okay… but I’m… I’m okay now. If you’re okay… I’m okay...”
She laughed a little then. “Sorta like Titanic… you know? ‘I jump you jump.’” Her words were mumbling a bit now almost slurring all together.
Minnie loved the soft feeling of his lips pressing over her forehead. He can do that gesture over and over again and she would love it all the same each time. She wanted to kiss him too, press her own lips to his cheek, even intertwine her fingers with him, but she was so tired… even talking felt so tasking.
“Mhmmm…” She nodded slowly. “She told me so herself…. she said t-that you’re good for me…”
DODGER:
God, see, this is why Dodger didn’t do this shit. Because he didn’t want to bring someone close enough to the point where he felt this. Where he felt this strong sense to just...love. To love and hold and keep her safe as long as he possibly could. For fucks sake, she told him that she wouldn’t be okay if he hadn’t been alive. To the point where she had to just come to check to make sure that that wasn’t the case.
Not wait until later, when it would show up in the goddamn paper.
He wanted to tell her. God, Dodger wanted to fucking tell her just how much she meant to him, but there was no way that he could say it without letting those three little words slip right out of his mouth. How could he tell her? That he was so thankful that she had come all this way down to make sure he was okay. That he was proud of her for making it as far as she did and for literally going through hell to get here. For showing him that maybe he was worth something. That his life wasn’t meaningless.
She helped give him meaning.
Hell her fucking mother was even able to see that. See that he was good for her.
“I’m glad I got your mother’s approval then.” Dodger teased with a smile because that had never fucking happened before. Not that he ever got close enough to someone to actually meet their family for real, but the ones that had walked in while Dodger was in their house...yeah. That never went over well.
He wanted to still make sure that she was okay before she closed her eyes and went to sleep in his arms though. “How was that...seein’ your mom?” Dodger didn’t want to bring up something terrible for her, but he didn’t want to let her sleep with a potential nightmare brewing from what she had witnessed and come in contact with.
MINNIE:
It felt nice to be held in Dodger’s arms. Minnie had probably thought this thought a hundred times already, but it was. It made everything simply disappear. Right now, she could close her eyes and just drift away comfortably forget about the darkness, the stuffiness of the heat, and the things she faced getting to where she was right now.
Back in the marshes while the girls had been wading through thick murky waters filled with the souls of the damned, Minnie had closed her eyes, yes, but hadn’t completely slept. How could she? How could anyone?
But here in Dodger’s arms she knew that she could.
Minnie didn’t know when it had all transitioned, when her feelings for Dodger had grown to the point where she would go through the Underworld without giving it a second thought. No thought towards her safety, what she would face and well…. her life really. She just knew she had to find him that nothing would be okay anymore if she hadn’t.
A part of her could say that that was simply who she was, because it was. Minnie always gave all of herself away if it meant being there for another. She would exhaust herself, bleed herself down if she had to, but to go to the Underworld?
She didn’t know when it had all began. When everything had grown had grown and she couldn’t place what it was, not when she was so, so tired. What she could place is that she wouldn’t be okay if anything were to happen to him, that she wouldn’t want to be with anyone else but him, that his arms were her absolute favorite place to be in, and that even with all that she went through Dodger was worth all of it and more.
Minnie was taken from her slurred thoughts when she heard Dodger speak. Her eyes were slowly becoming heavier, lids dropping in their heaviness.
“Hmmm? Oh…. my mom. It was…. it was really nice. I missed her…. I missed her so much…. but it was….” It was hard. The trial was something Minnie never wanted to experience again. “It was hard too…. really hard…” She shifted a little in his arms remembering the anger she had so secretly harbored for her mother and how she was made to see it’s ugly head at the Doors of Judgments.
“But… she’s okay… she’s at peace. I’m happy about that.”
DODGER:
You know, this moment really would be one that Dodger wouldn’t mind staying in for a good while. It felt...perfect.
Well, except from being locked in a prison in the middle of Hell.
Other than that it was great.
Dodger never ever, in a million years, thought that he was going to find someone as special as Minnie was in Swynlake. Never. He wasn’t exactly a fan of the entire magic spells springing on the town at the drop of a dime when he first arrived, but it was starting to seem like it might not be all that bad. Especially when it was because of one of those crazy spells that he even met her in the first place.
That gorgeous, shy little Puff that couldn’t find her damn quill.
He glanced at her periodically in the library that day, he remembered. Seeing her frantically look around for something instead of just using the one thing that made the most sense. She was frazzled, much like she had been after they first kissed. It brought a smile to his face just thinking about both.
When he looked down to her now though, he could see her struggling to keep her eyes open. Minnie was exhausted, he knew that. She needed to sleep despite how much Dodger wanted to just keep talking to her. Because it made this all feel so much more real. “You can go to sleep you knows. I ain’t gonna be mad at yous.” He adjusted his grip on her so that it was just a little looser, so that she had room to move if she wanted to to get comfortable. “I’m real glad that yous got to see her again though. You’re so strong, Mins.”
MINNIE:
Minnie instantly felt the adjustment in Dodger’s arms and it was as if her body moved all on it’s own inching just a little closer so that she was as closely cuddled as she could get. It felt so comfortable, even against the heat, it all felt comfortable and right…. Like she belonged right where she was.
One could also argue that Minnie herself was so beyond exhausted that dirt would feel just as comfortable, but thankfully she found herself being held and not having the option of dirt.
You’re so strong, Mins.
Minnie felt the words blur through her head, her eyes tiredly looking up at Dodger. She didn’t know if she would consider herself…. bold. She never felt as though she was. In fact, she often felt scared more so than anything. That’s what had her stray slightly away from Dodger when she had initially met Rita: her fear. Out of all four women that went down in this journey, she could easily tell she was the weaker link even when Violet was younger than she was. She wasn’t sure if bold was the correct word for her….
But she was so tired she couldn’t even think to argue against it. Instead, she smiled softly using the little energy she had left to lift her head a bit and place a small kiss on Dodger’s cheek. She had been wanting to do that since she had seen him if she was honest with herself.
“Thank you….” Was all she said in a small whisper as her head fell back onto Dodger’s shoulder.
You can go to sleep you knows.
Hmm, she wanted to. Minnie wanted nothing more than to drift far, far away in her sleep, allow the soreness and the heaviness of her muscles to lull her to unconsciousness. She didn’t want to leave Dodger alone though awake in this hell prison. She had come here for him, not to just leave him.
It was getting harder though to ignore the exhaustion. The heat felt thick adding an extra layer over her already worn body, Dodger’s heart beat sounded so strong and soothing against her ears and her body felt relaxed… it all got so hard that Minnie ended up succumbing to a deep sleep.
