A Tale of Rust and Flesh ~ Part 6

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	"...How's your arm feel?" Susie asked.
	"I-it hurts, b-but uh... t-the pain, uh... the p-pain killers are w-working..." Kris slurred, still feeling the effects of the alcohol coursing through his veins. Kris glanced at a crimson red spot that had formed on the shoddy bandage to find that it had grown larger.

	Kris sat in a window seat and glanced at the cold grays and whites outside. The endless clouds sped across the sky as if it was a highway fast-lane that spilled out into a bustling city. He couldn't make out any distinct shapes in the stampede of compressed water vapor due to his current circumstances, but watching the clouds roll on by was comforting.

	Susie, the one person who gave him the determination to stay strong through the pain and the fear of death rearing its head right around the corner, was sitting to his left. Kris would have seen his monster friend staring at him with a worried expression had he not been preoccupied with the bare-bones sight outside. Even after being told repeatedly that all of this wasn't her fault, she couldn't shake the feeling that she could have done so much more for him.

	The dragon girl was still ashamed by the fact that the fear of her father coming in to punish her kept her away from Kris at his most vulnerable moment. If Susie had known what she knew now, she wouldn't have wasted any time barging into the waste disposal building and thrashing the gangly abomination waiting inside. She could have torn it apart with tooth and nail if she had to. She would have done anything to protect him at that moment.

	However, with the draconic monster's medical knowledge being as limited as it was, there wasn't anything she could do about the current state of affairs now. All she knew that she could do was wait for the train to start. With a huff, Susie carefully wrapped her right arm around Kris' shoulders as she placed her hand on his uninjured forearm. She didn't want to pull him into a full-on hug for fear of further hurting his still bleeding arm, but it was enough.

	Kris instinctively leaned into her arm and wrapped his red, yet dry hand around her wrist to grab the back of her hand. His fingers found their way in between Susie's claws. She didn't see it, but a small smile formed on his face. Under normal circumstances, Susie would have yanked her arm away before snapping at him, but the purple dragon caressed his thumb with her own.

	"...Are you gonna be okay, Kris?" Susie sincerely asked. He hesitated before he gave his answer.
	"...I dunno." The dragon girl gripped her human companion's fingers tight.
	"Kris... if... If you even THINK about dying..." Kris weakly chuckled and turned his head to look at Susie. Their eyes connected under each of their walls of hair obscuring their faces.
	"I'll... I'll try n-not to." He looked tired and weary. There were dark bags under his bloodshot eyes, and he looked as if he was going to pass out at any moment.
	"...Maybe you should catch a few Z's. I'll, uh... I'll be right here if you need me, okay?"
	"...Mnh..."

	Kris leaned into Susie and lay his head onto her shoulder, but made sure to mind his injured arm. After he got himself as comfortable as he could be, the human closed his eyes and held them shut. The feeling of finally resting was satisfying, bolstered by the warmth of someone he could trust radiating onto him. For the first time in what felt like hours, he felt safe. It wasn't long before Kris fell unconscious.

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	The smell of flowery rot filled Kris' nostrils. The ground shook beneath him. His entire body was naked, but he didn't feel cold. He felt completely numb except for a small stinging feeling in his left arm and parts of his face. Kris' eyes were closed, but they burned as he opened them. The pile of plastic and rot lay before him.

	Kris' fingers twitched as he examined the blackened mass before him. A voice inside of his head commanded him. "E A T ." The voice demanded. It was animalistic and gutteral, much unlike the neutral, calm voice that controlled him in the Dark World. This voice began to grow louder and angry as Kris stood in front of the pile, refusing to move his arms.

	"E A T .  E A T .  E A T !  E A T !!  E A T!!!"

	The sound of a drip turned Kris' attention to the space near his feet. There was a black splotch on the nondescript floor beneath him. Another drop of black liquid fell, and it was quite obvious that the drops were coming from his chin. Kris lifted his hand to his mouth, and reached inside. There was a cold, slimy, chunky substance inside. Kris wrapped his fingers around it, and ripped it out.

	A black mass of rotten flowers and plastic splattered beneath him. There was a small, pink piece of paper inside of the plastic with words printed onto it, but the ink was smeared and indecipherable. Kris stared at the would-be contents of his stomach and grew irritated by he sight.

	For reasons Kris couldn't yet understand, he began to feel angry. He began to hate the pile of vomited material beneath him, and he hated the large rotten mass before him. The dark voice within Kris' mind stopped screaming at him to eat for a few brief moments before it screamed at him even louder with a new command. It screamed at him to empty his stomach.

	"P U K E .  V O M I T .  E M P T Y  Y O U R  G U T  A N D  P U K E .  T H R O W  U P ."

	With no hesitation, Kris jammed his finger down his throat to trigger his gag reflex. He gagged as he instinctively yanked his finger out of his mouth, but he placed the finger back in. There was another empty gag, but the voice only screamed more. Kris gagged again and again, but nothing came out. Kris jammed his finger in his throat once more, but made an effort to keep it there.

	Kris successfully provoked his gag reflex as a torrent of black, tarry liquid spewed out from between his jaws. The voice halted its screaming again when the stream of black vomit died down and eventually stopped. The liquid on the ground lay still and motionless before it suddenly bubbled and pooled together. The black liquid rose as it seemingly hardened into a solid shape.

	Two small arms protruded from the transforming black mass. Tiny, bony fingers shot out and grasped the floor as it began to pull itself away from Kris. The voice within the young man gave him one last command before falling silent. "K I L L  I T ."

	Kris quickly caught up to the small creature and slammed it foot down onto it. What followed was a sickening crunch and an animalistic squeal. The corpse of the small, black creature sunk into the ground and disappeared from Kris' sight after several moments of watching it twitch. The hatred and anger began to dissipate as it was replaced by something else.

	A feeling of relief and closure filled Kris' chest. He began to feel... happy. It was enough to dull the stinging in his arm and face for a moment. Kris looked over to the mass of plastic and rotten biomass to see that it was gone as well. There was nothing but complete silence. It was short lived, however; it was pierced by a soft static.

	Kris' arm and face felt warm as his muscles began to relax. A new warmth filled his chest, and he could feel a powerful presence smiling at him. It wasn't a malicious smile, but a genuine, friendly smile. The small stinging feeling within Kris' wounds suddenly surged into agony, causing him to wince and struggle to smother a scream that almost broke free from his lungs.

	The pain began to fade as the static grew louder. Kris could feel a familiar hand on his arm gently caressing him. Kris couldn't see who had touched him, but something inside of him knew that it was someone that cared about him. Kris closed his eyes and felt the pain be washed away by a feeling of comfort and warmth.

	There was a friendly presence accompanying him, smiling a genuine and happy smile. The pain had faded until it was only a dull, easily ignorable feeling. Kris opened his eyes only to find himself back on the train.

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	Kris slowly woke from his slumber. He was still in his seat next to Susie. The only thing that illuminated the train car was several dim fluorescent lights lining the ceiling. Kris swiveled his head to the left to find that Susie was fast asleep with drool leaking out of her mouth. The sound of soft static alerted Kris to another presence nearby.

	The teenaged human flinched when he saw the gray figure standing next to Susie as it retracted a fuzzy, blurry arm back into its body. The feeling of warmth and a friendly presence smiling at him from his dream was still there. He wasn't being consumed or dragged anywhere by several blurry tendrils. Instead, the figure only stood there, staring.

	The startled teenager began to realize that the pain was almost completely gone in his arm, and his face was completely devoid of any gashes or scratches. Kris still felt a little woozy, but he was able to concentrate on what he was looking at a bit more. The buzz from the liquor was completely gone by this point.

	After several moments of silence and gentle static, Kris reluctantly looked down at his arm only to find a large jagged scar where his wound had been. The amateur stitches and the crude bandage were both gone. The scar was red and sore, but it appeared to be mostly healed. His right arm and the tips of his hair were devoid of the blood that had previously been splattered all over his face and hand.

	"Di͞d I͜ w͜ak͟e͝ yo͟u?" The figure spoke softly and quietly as not to wake Susie. Kris looked back up to face the figure as it stood next to the sleeping monster. Kris shook his head at the question. Kris wanted to ask what was going on, but he kept his mouth shut. "
Ve̸ry̸ w͝e͏ll.͞ ͜I͞'ll͠ ̕b͢è àt th̷e f̴r͞ònt ̢of́ the t̨ra̕in͜ i̛f yo̴u ̕néed̵ ̕me."

	The figure moved towards the door, opened it, entered the next car, and shut the door behind it. The sound of static began to fade away. Kris took a deep breath and tried to comprehend what just happened. That warmth he felt... Now that Kris thought about it, that warmth was very familiar.

	It was the same warmth he felt whenever a monster capable of healing magic used it on him. It was the same warmth he felt when his mother helped him recover from scrapes and bruises with her magical yet gentle touch when he was little. This only raised several questions. "Did that thing just heal me? Is it a monster? Why would it help me? Why am I still alive when it easily could have killed us?"

	Before Kris could further ask rhetorical questions within his mind, Susie mumbled something he couldn't understand and leaned her head into his neck. She appeared to be talking in her sleep. A small groan rumbled from her chest as Susie clumsily grabbed Kris and held him tight like a stuffed animal toy. She was previously holding the crowbar in at least one hand before, but now it sat next to her feet on the floor.

	Both of Susie's arms wrapped around Kris' waist and chest. Kris carefully returned the hug and leaned into the large purple monster, prompting a dopey smile to form on her drool stained lips before the yellow skinned teenager shut his eyes again. He was going to savor this moment before he eventually had to get up again. He would tell Susie about what the figure did after she was fully awake.

	As Kris peered out of the window one last time before falling back asleep, he swore he saw a pair of glowing eyes staring at him in the distance, but the train quickly passed them before Kris could get a closer look.

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	Susie awoke as she blinked at the fluorescent lights above her. The windows were still drenched in a thick darkness. With a grunt, the dragon girl tried to move her arms to wipe the sleep out of her eyes, but she found that her arms were wrapped around a still shirtless Kris. It wasn't like he was just going to keep wearing a filthy sweater when the nasty stuff covering it might cause an infection.

	Her hands were wrapped around his warm, soft skin. A now wide eyed Susie froze up completely to the point where she stopped breathing. Kris just snored quietly and contently. He looked so peaceful, and... strangely clean. Susie finally gathered up the courage to move, and slowly unwrapped her arms from around him.

	Just as Susie thought she was in the clear, she heard Kris sharply inhale and raise his head up with a small crack. The groggy human blearily glanced around before looking up at his draconic friend with a small smile. "U-uh-uhm..." Susie attempted to sputter out something witty, but Kris interrupted her with a greeting. "Hi, Susie..." Kris' voice was completely devoid of a drunken slur that blurred his words together earlier. The yellow teenager let out a small yawn as he pulled his arms away from Susie to wipe his eyes.

	"Uh... M-mornin', K-Kris..." Susie stammered.
	"Hey, uh..." Kris began.
	"Yeah?"
	"You know that weird thing that we gave the tickets to?" Kris asked.
	"...What about it?"
	"Look what it did with my arm last night." Kris pointed at his left arm to show that his wound was completely sealed.
	"W-what the hell? Kris, your arm is..."
	"I don't know what it did, but I'm feeling a lot better now."

	Susie stared at the scar that stretched from Kris' wrist all the way to his elbow. The bleeding had completely stopped, the bandage was missing, and the stitches were nowhere to be found. Kris opened his mouth to speak, but waited for a few moments before he formed the words on his mind. "I... I think it cleaned me, too." Susie was about to make a joke about the figure fondling Kris, but a growl from her stomach made her forget what she was going to say.

	"...Chips don't hold very well, huh...?" Susie rhetorically asked. "...So, uh... your arm is good now, and you look like you're pretty sober. We should try to see if we can find anything to eat on this train." Susie fumbled out of her seat and stretched her arms as wide and long as they could, and twisted her body in a way that produced several satisfying cracks and pops from her spine.

	"...Oh shit, I almost forgot my metal thrashing stick!" The dragon girl reached down and snagged her trusty crowbar. She stopped and narrowed her eyes when she noticed that the sticky blood was completely gone, leaving a clean, shiny silver in its place. "...Did it seriously clean the crowbar, too?"

	Kris chuckled as he followed his companion out onto the small hallway, stretched his muscles, and cracked his joints. Susie began to walk towards the train car, but stopped in her tracks when she heard the door crack open, followed by soft static.

	"...G͞oód ̡mórni͜ng. Ar͠e ̀yo̢u t̶w̨o hung̨r͠y?"
	"Uh, yeah..." Susie nervously affirmed. She still couldn't stop feeling uneasy around this strange entity. It might have healed Kris, but she wasn't so keen on trusting it so quickly.

	In one swift motion, two blurry limbs stretched out from the entity's mass, both holding small plastic bags. Each bag held what looked like a ham and cheese sandwich on white bread. Susie's mouth watered when she eyed such a delicious sight before her. Without thinking, the hungry dragon snatched the two bags and tossed one towards Kris, who almost clumsily dropped it to the floor.

	"...Thanks..."
	"Y̡o̢u͘'ŕe͘ ͟wel͏com͏e."
	Susie looked back at Kris who had already torn the plastic bag open and took several bites from his sandwich with a smile on his face that he didn't know he had. The purple monster looked back at the figure as its many overlapping forms shifted in and out of existence. "...You got a name?" Susie asked. The entity was silent for several moments before it spoke again.

	"C͏all͘ me R͟o͘r̀t̶he̵b."
	"...Rortheb?"
	"Yes͡. M͜a͝y̛ ͡I̛ a͡s͞k y̨o̸ur͢ ̨n͘ame̴s a͝s w͠él͏l?"
	"...Susie." The purple dragon pointed at the human still scarfing the sandwich down. "That's Kris." He didn't so much as look up to say hi.
	"Sp͘lèn̢did."
	"Say, uh..." Susie risked jinxing herself with her next question. "Why aren't you trying to eat us?"
	"Kr̀i͢s... ̢He̡ re̡m̨in̛d͏ed ͝me o͞f̨ a f̕ri͢end͡ ͏I̶ ̡knew͞ ̀a long ͡tim͜e ̧a̢g̢o. I̛ ͜d͡o͢n͝'͡t ̀e̢at͘ fri͏ends͜."
	"Friends...? Uh, yeah, that's what we are. We won't eat friends either...?"
	Rortheb chuckled. "...Ẁould̨ y̨ou ͢t͡wo ͡like̛ t́ó co͢m̕è up̧ fr̴on̛t a̡n͞d̛ watc̷h ̕t͘he͡ ͞tr̸acks̶ p͡ass͟ ̵un̨d̡er th͢e ̛t̶ra͡in ̀with ̀me͝?"
	Susie looked back to a satisfied Kris who shot a thumb up towards her. "...Sure."

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