Archive of Our Own ^beta

Looking ahead at the swarm of dust sprites you sigh, wiping slime off your weapon you hold it ready to strike. Briefly looking around for an ores you see a frozen tear on the ground, you click your tongue “I already donated that to the museum… maybe Sebastian will want it.” you mumble to yourself, popping the gem into your backpack quickly, you feel a little poke on your leg, making you wince. “ Ugh what the?...”

You turn around and see a small dust sprite bouncing off your leg, a small scratch on your calf. You look down at it for a minute before you gently nudge it away with your weapon, walking around it you walk towards the swarm trapped behind some rocks that blocked your path to the ladder you see barely around the corner. You bring out your pickaxe, ignoring the small dust sprite bumping you again for a moment, you break a rock, grab your weapon and quickly start slashing the dust sprites until there's a few piles of coal on the ground. “Well, I can always use coal.” You pick up all the coal and descend down the ladder. You get down and your boots squish into green slime covering the ground, “Ick. Just my luck there’d be an infested floor..”

You turn around and come face to face with a giant slime bouncing towards you. You brace yourself with your weapon before swinging it, harming the giant slime. It takes about 5 hits before it breaks apart into 4 smaller slimes, all leaping at you at the same time. One slime snags your leg and makes you land on your back on the floor, while another comes flying towards your chest, helping knock you down. You drop your weapon as you fall, sliding away on all the slime on the ground. The slimes start attacking you and you slowly start aching and stinging. You barely manage to fling some slimes off you before you jump up and find your weapon, swinging around and striking a slime about to leap at you.You make quick work of the rest, killing the last slime you uncover a trap door under the ladder leading down. You descend quickly, wincing at your sore muscles each movement before you hop off the ladder, hearing a ding of an elevator as your feet hit the ground.

“Thank Yoba, I never thought I’d get out.” You walk towards the elevator, selecting number 0 once you're inside. The doors shakily close making you lean against the wall clutching your side where you landed on a sharp rock. You close your eyes for a moment, waiting for the jarring motion of the elevator reaching the surface to come. You hear a familiar hissing sound and brace before you get jarred slightly, making you wince and clutch your side harder. “I still have some energy left..”

You get out the elevator and leave the mines, looking ahead at the sunset you look forward and see a mop of black hair. You give a tired grin and jog up to Sebastian, “Hey! Mind if I join for a minute?” You step next to him looking out at the lake through Sebastian's smoke. “Go ahead. You look a bit banged up are you alright? The mines are dangerous, I lost one of my favorite sneakers one time I went down.” You giggle before sighing a little, looking at yourself covered in slime and dust with scratches all over. “Yeah I got overtaken by some slimes, little pests, as cute as they are.”

“Yeah, I really only go down there for frozen tears or obsidian on the rare occasion I find any, they’re neat looking. Did you know in legend frozen tears are said to be tears of a yeti?” You raise your eyebrow, shaking your head. “No I had no idea, that's cool!” He nods along, taking a drag off his cigarette exhaling through the side of his mouth away from you. You feel like you're missing something, wracking your brain as you stare at the fish in the water, before you realize and your eyes open wide. “Oh!! Speaking of frozen tears..” You rifle through your bag as Sebastian looks at you confused before getting a little glint in his eye. “Wait did you find one??”

You smile, finally pulling the frozen tear from your bag, presenting him with it proudly. “Here, for you!” He gives a small smile, taking it from you. He snubs out his cigarette with his shoe before inspecting the gem closely. “This is the best one I’ve ever seen, are you sure you wanna give this to me?” You nod, still smiling. “Yep! I already donated one to the museum so I don’t need it.” He looks down at it in his hands before looking up back at you.

“Thank you so much, I love these things.” He gently puts it in his pocket before checking his watch. “It’s almost ten, can I walk you home? We can take the mountain path.” You nod your head, putting your backpack on. “Sure that would be nice, my glow ring will help us see.” He nods back, waiting for you to get ready before walking by your side. You turn your head slightly to look at him “So why do you like frozen tears so much?” He looks at you for a moment, pausing while walking before he answers “Well, frozen tears are special to me because they kind of tell a story. You know how I said they are said to be from yetis? I imagine a yeti so in despair and anguish he cries a giant tear and it was so cold it froze forever. Frozen tears are mostly made out of saltwater anyways, I had Maru inspect one for me a while ago.”

You nod, agreeing with him “That does seem like something you like.” You reach the stairs that lead to your property and he lets you walk down first. You reach your door, spotting your pet through the window, making you smile. You turn around to face Sebastian only for him to already be looking at you. “So…” You trail off “this is me.. Here have this for the walk back.” You take a spare glow ring out of your bag, and put it in his palm. “As long as it has contact with your skin it’ll glow.” He looks down at it curiously before slipping it on his finger. “Thanks, I’lll give it back tomorrow” You wave your hand “Psh, no need, that's a small glow ring, I already have one so i don't need it. Keep it.”

You smile at him, before speaking up “Well i better go in, I gotta get some sleep for tomorrow, I’m gonna be doing a lot of fishing at the beach since it's gonna rain. Goodnight!” You dart forward, pressing a kiss against his soft cheek before making your way inside. He stands at the door for a moment, smiling before he shakes it off and begins making the trek back to his house.