Happy Birthday @ex-mercenary
Made by both myself and @bladeofthehawk
Perched high, the white orb cast its light across the land. A light she had eagerly awaited, pallor glow announcing the arrival of a very special boy. Every night, Casca would pin her eyes to the growing moon until it had filled out into a perfectly round circle… but not quite round enough yet to be called a full moon. Waiting for him took away from the fear nightfall brought along, when her protector wielded that frightening sword of his to cleave apart creatures aiming to hurt them. She felt better when he had set up a fire, and she sat snuggled safe and sound against the only place that comforted her.
The boy did not show up that night. When she whined and pointed towards the sky, Casca’s heart felt heavy. Where was he? Wasn’t it time for him to come to her? “Full moon’s only tomorrow, Casca. Go to sleep.” She didn’t understand, but the gentle raking of his fingers made her sleepy. Snuggling her weary head under his chin, Casca greeted slumber with a heavy, wistful sigh.
It wasn't until the next day the child had arrived, it was the afternoon, and it was getting dark, but it just wasn't quite there yet, light out and the moon slightly visible in the sky. The child's body not completely opaque due to coming earlier than usual! The boy just couldn't wait to see his parents again, to hug, feel their warmth, listen to them speak, and of course play with them! It wasn't very often that he came early, due to it taking some energy from the child, leaving him slightly transparent. It did not last long though, being on the earth for a couple minutes and feeling the soft grass between his toes and the wind in his hair.
The Struggler and Branded woman were up now, beginning to travel again, their setting changing slightly as they traveled, the weather becoming much cooler and nicer. It was quite nice in the struggler's opinion... He could see clearly that Casca was getting tired of traveling, wanting to wait for the child to return, excited to see the raven haired boy. Usually the swordsman would usually push on and ignore her noises of protest, but for once, he gave in, and decided to set up somewhere they could take a break and rest for the night.
As Guts began setting things up, Casca let out a hum and sat on the ground playing with a pile of leaves that rested on the ground, throwing them up in the air, watching them fall to the ground gently. Standing back up again she began to pick them leaves up, using the bottom her dress as a way to carry them all. The struggler glanced every so often, making sure she didn't wander off or hurt herself, upon seeing how Casca collected the leaves, a small smile grew on his lips.
A small shuffling in the bushes near by caused the woman to turn her head, a sound of curiosity coming from her lips, of course, Guts had turned to look at what caused her to let out that sound, seeing and hearing the shuffling in the bush, the swordsman slowly rose up from where he sat. Casca shuffled forwards towards the sound, letting out a hum, dark eyes staring at the bush.
Before The Struggle could even continue, a familiar face poked out of the bushes, sticks, and small twigs poking out of his hair.
Immediately all the leaves the woman had were dropped in seconds and she threw herself at the bush to pull her child out, hugging the boy tightly, she spun him around, smiling and letting out a sweet laugh. The Struggler relaxed letting out a huff, his eye watching a too, his rough expression was quick to turn soft though, a small smile on his face now from seeing the smile on the Casca's face, seeming so happy from seeing him.
It didn’t take too long for The Struggler to set things up, the two seemed to have quite a lot of energy from what he could see, the two chasing after each other and Casca letting out quite happy and giddy noises in the process, a big happy smile playing on her lips. It was quite nice and relaxing, seeing her run around and smile, but seeing her with that child, how he clung to him and Casca as if they were his parents left a fuzzy warm feeling in his chest. His lone eye continued two, the swordsman moving and settling himself to lay against a tree nearby, he wanted to be close in case something were to happen.
Guts’ eye shifted to look up at the sky, it was early, and it wasn’t too late, any apostles, demons, etc. Shouldn’t come out, so taking a nap wouldn’t be too bad of an idea right? He hadn’t been able to sleep for a while so he needed this, even if it was just a little while… Shifting to get comfortable, the swordsman’s eye grabbed his sword and rested it beside himself so he can grab it just in case, he knew he would wake if something were to happen, Casca sure would yell or the child would quickly alert him in some way, he wasn’t exactly a heavy sleeper.. His eye felt heavy, and he continued to watch the two, Casca picking up the leaves, then suddenly dropping them all on the child, burying him in it. Though almost immediately, his head poked out and large eyes peered at his mother with curiosity, Guts would feel his eye closing on him, but he would force it open, only managing to keep it open for a couple seconds, but what he saw caused a smile to tug at the corner of his lips.
Casca had turned to look at him watch her and the child, blinking a couple times she smile and let out a giggled before looking back at her bright eyed child, who played and threw the leaves around to watch them dance and fall to the ground gently.
He was asleep now, out like a light bulb when his eye remained closed for more than a few seconds, he now snoring softly.
Every second she got to spend with the boy and her guardian was a treasure made of gold and all things radiant. How she loved to play with him! Sometimes she would bundle freshly fallen leaves and sprinkle them like rain on top of his dark head, giggling oh so happily when the boy peeked out again and blinked his big eyes at her. They’d chase through field and forest at daylight (and of course never straying away from his watchful eye, Casca had learned as much), played hide and seek or bullied the fairy, and picked up tokens they found on the ground. Robe pockets spilled with all sorts of things Casca had stuffed in there, when her hands became way too full to carry the goods back to camp. A proud heap of leaves, flowers and dozens of acorns in all shapes and colour for today’s loot. The girl shot a bright grin over her shoulder, messy hair dirty and wind-tangled from all the running. It was a smile only for Guts to see - but the poor, sleeping man had long excused himself to the land of dreams.
Last night wore him out, even if she didn’t fully understand the concept of fatigue. She didn’t understand what risk he put himself in daily to guarantee his love’s safety. Or her life. Subconsciously, however, Casca knew not to disturb the man because he snored so peacefully and wished she had given the boy a warning sign. Hands full with the acorns, he padded over to the sleeping swordsman and her curious gaze followed.
Much to Guts’ future dismay, Casca had let herself be swayed by the moon boy’s boldness far too easily. Whatever his purpose was for building a nest of treasures right on top of Guts’ torso didn’t matter, she aided his task anyway and carried all the scavenged items over to the sleeping man before she fell to her knees next to him. Leaf after leaf was neatly placed by four hands, yellow, red, orange, green - a vest made of colour, decorated by acorns. The flowers pinned to his fringe made him look a lot less scary now, mother and son agreed on it with nothing more than a silent nod given to each other. After all, neither aimed to wake him. Only a very loud, disrupted snore jerked Casca’s busy fingers away momentarily. A deep frown cut into her forehead whilst she poked her tongue out at the grunting swordsman. How rude to disturb their handiwork!
He woke with a grunt, his lone eye feeling heavy as it tried to close so he could continue to rest and sleep. Only being able to move a small amount before his neck ached due to sleeping in such a odd position. A hand rose up to rub the back of his neck, but upon doing so, he felt something roll off of him, his eye quickly noticing it was acorns and leaves , causing him to raise a brow, not only that, leaves and flowers fell off the top of his head upon barley tilting his head.... He could think of only one person that would do such a thing..
Guts' dark eye shifted over to look at his side where he felt a small body pressed against him, the child laid curled up close to him, hugging him as he slept, behind the child laid Casca, resting softly, from what it looks like, she draped his other around herself, her arm extended to hug both the child and him. Seeing this left another burst of the warm fuzzy feeling in his chest. He looked over himself careful not to move so the items piled on him wouldn't fall and so he wouldn't wake the two, examining himself, The Stuggler could see clearly that the two worked hard.. Without having realized it, the moon child had quick woke up at the slightest movement that came from the swordsman, though he didn't move an inch, his big eyes watching the swordsman.
It didn't take long before the two made direct eye contact, thats when the child sat up carefully so he wouldn't wake the woman, only to suddenly begin pulling off all the leaves off of the man in big handfuls the best he could and making it into a big pile, the swordsman helping using a single hand. Once they were finished, that was when the child wiggled his way out between them and Guts carefully moved his other arm off Casca and he sat up letting out a yawn, his eye glancing up at the sky, from what it looks, they may have been out for a couple hours..
The child sat down on the ground, looking at the scenery, at this time, Guts noticed his mess of hair, twigs and leaves sticking out, he decided to take this chance and remove them, not taking noticed that Casca had began waking up, sitting up and running her eyes, a yawn escaping her lips.
As soon as the warm bodies stirred, Casca longed for the comfort of her child and the man who went through nightly hell to keep them safe. Sleep was no longer an option, but the branded woman felt rested once slumber’s heaviness fell from her eyes. A peculiar weight filled her pocket, and she picked at the seam to take a peek. Nestled snugly slept a fairy, blanketed by a leaf she had forgotten about and whistling his gentle snores. The chestnut looked so peaceful, Casca decided to keep him in her dress.
“You really need a haircut...”, Guts’ absent murmuring caught her attention. Legs were crossed beneath their bodies and the boy’s round eyes held her gaze when the Struggler began to pluck twigs and leaves from his unkempt mane. In comparasion to his titaneous posture, the boy looked so small - yet seeing them sit together so naturally made her eyes water momentarily. Casca couldn’t pin down the feeling, didn’t understand the meaning of emotions, it wasn’t a bad one and it didn’t hurt to feel it, but... somehow, the physical resemblance between them touched a deep hollowness within her. A soft whine broke the silence. If her own mouth made it or the boy did because Guts tugged a little too roughly didn’t matter, she crawled over to join either way.
As it turned out, Guts’ attempts to tame the knots were not nearly as successful as when he bound Casca’s hair into a ponytail. Of course, with only one functional hand, he was bound to struggle, but did he really have to be this rough? She decided to take rein, coming to their aid by sitting close to her guardian, nudging against his side and growling unhappily. Raking her fingers through the long, black tresses until they felt silky enough, she separated them into three thick parts. A hum alerted Guts to pay attention before one strand was folded over the other, again and again until a long braid held the boy’s hair in place. When Casca faced Guts, a crooked grin spoke to him where words weren’t needed.
‘He doesn't need a haircut if you do it right.’
As The Branded Woman untangled his hair, the child grabbed a stick near himself, and began playing in the dirt, using the stick to break apart the soil until it was thin enough and began to draw in it. Big dark eyes concentrating on the drawing he made in the soft soil, he began off by drawing The Struggler himself, drawing a triangle shape for a body and a square as a head, then began adding details the best he could, once he did that he went on with the woman, drawing her next to guts, then finally himself.
He drew them all holding hands with a smile on their face, above the little drawing, he drew the moon and a bunch of little dots, by the time he had finished drawing, Casca had already finished doing his hair, his long black locks put into a thick braid that reached down to his lower back. He turned himself and patted both Casca and Guts' legs in order to get their attention, once he did, he pointed at the drawing he had done.
Upon seeing the drawing, The Struggler felt his heart swell in his chest, his thick lips cracking into a small smile once again, Casca on the other hand let out a gasp, clapped her hands, a smile appearing on her face as she emitted a giggle, with that, her arms outstretched and she hugged the child tightly as the man let out a chuckle.
Once they had sated the hungry growl of their bellies and the aching weight eased from weary legs, all four of them had buckled up. A tiresome journey lied ahead, although she did not understand why they never stayed at one place for longer than a mere couple of hours. Six restless feet ventured over hill and under tree, and more often than not Casca took it upon herself to carry the child on her back or held him in her arms. Protective like a mother wolf over her pup, she never lost sight of him.
The next town lied miles ahead when the first quake shook the sky. Within minutes, a threatening wall of charcoal clouds bestowed a battle ground for the thunder gods to challenge each other, and not even the woods sheltered from the pouring rain they brought along. ‘Aaauu!’, an unhappy call cursed the sodden hair and robe sticking to her skin. Shoes were drenched like sponges after stepping into the dozens of puddles, making her body shiver because she felt soaked through her bones.
The child didn’t hold up any better. In the storm, his braid had loosened and his tiny body shook like a maple tree. Protective arms flung around him in an attempt to keep him warm, a helpless cry halting Guts in his tracks.
"Pllllhhh!” No matter how often her tongue pushed against it, Casca’s wet hair kept sticking to her face and lips. It annoyed her greatly, but whenever she uttered a miserable complaint, Guts would pull her in a little closer and wrap his raven’s wing around her shivering frame. She absorbed the pleasant heat he radiated when she pressed against his side. A warm, soaked-to-the bone human shelter to his woman and their child, all three of them hurled together and hoping for the rain to subside soon.
Whenever the sky growled, she bared her teeth and growled back. Somehow, the electricity in the air rose the hairs on her skin, making her squirm uncomfortably and grazing the child with a distressed glance. Another, gentle tug to her waist reminded Casca that as long as they stood under the protection of Guts’ cloak, no harm would ever touch them. He was going to make sure of it.
They marched on, slowly and before nightfall, with a destination in mind that drove the Black Swordsman forwards against all odds.
They continued walking and walking and walking, The Strugglers expression flat, it felt like they were walking for hours as Casca let out whines and growls about being wet when her clothes clung to her skin and her hair got on her face, the child other hand didn’t let out a peep or a cry, though he could tell he was cold, his lone dark eye shifted down and what he had noticed surprised him.
He had been holding onto his thumb the whole time as they walked, upon looking down, the child has turned his head to look at him, both making eye contact, they stared for a moment until a smile managed to find its way up on his lips..
It almost felt as if they were a family...
