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the-devil-talks-realmstuff · 5 months ago

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The Thrill of the Hunt

“Oh, I can't wait to watch your life fade from your beady little eyeballs,” Foolish says, the word wait sounds more like snap with the way Foolish's teeth clash together. His eyes flick around Bad’s face before returning to his eyes. “And I can’t wait to gaze into your beautiful gumdrop eyes while your giant muscular arms are ripping me apart,” Bad says as he takes half a step forward as he speaks and leans in closer. His tail swipes up from behind him and reaches to touch Foolish’s bicep. or; Bad is ready to hunted down

ao3

Bad has experienced several executions during his lifetime; as a witness, as an executioner and as the executionee. But he doesn’t think he has ever been as excited as he is for this one.

And he's not the only one.

There is a crowd gathered below the castle stairs, anxiously waiting to see Bad die. Or “pay for his crimes” as they would say.

It’s not the biggest crowd that has watched Bad be executed but it’s decent. A lot of people showed up.

And all of them don’t even want him dead! That’s slightly surprising.

Pili is standing in the front crowd, his eyes keep jumping between Bad and the axe on Bad’s neck. He’s holding his own axe tightly in his paws, and Bad knows his inventory is filled with potions. He would fight for Bad which is nice. He didn’t seem to understand Bad’s eagerness for the execution.

Pili didn’t understand that the point wasn’t dying. It was what came before that.

Up on top of the stairs, Bad is standing with his back straight and tail calmy swishing back and forth. Every once in a while, it hits Sneeg’s ankle. The first time Bad’s tail touched him, Sneeg got startled enough to jump a little but every time after that he just scowled at Bad and tightened his hold on his battleaxe. That’s boring, Bad thought his jumpiness was funny.

On the other hand it’s probably good that Sneeg isn’t that jumpy. It would be a shame if Bad got executed before it was the right time. You see, Sneeg’s axe had been steadily placed against Bad’s neck ever since they climbed up the castle stairs.

Owen is standing on the other side of Sneeg. His axe is not pointed towards Bad at the moment; he's too focused on following Foolish’s movements as he readies himself for his speech.

Speaking of the only reason Bad hasn’t started running yet; Foolish looks magnificent in his hunting outfit. It perfectly matches his emerald eyes and highlights his strong arms. In Bad’s opinion, it’s one of the best outfits Foolish has ever worn in one of Bad’s executions.

He is standing a bit further away on Bad’s other side, against Ros’ wishes. She would have wanted Sneeg to stand between them for Foolish's safety but Foolish had waved off the idea. According to him he wanted to show his beloved subjects that he wasn't afraid of Bad, that he was in control of the situation. But Bad knows that Foolish wanted him to stand there for other reasons. The same reasons why Bad would have chosen to stand there himself.

He wanted to be close to Bad.

But this wasn’t close enough, there were still several feet between them. Much too much space.

“Hello my dear friends!” Foolish yells. The king's speech has officially started. Bad can’t wait for it to end. Everyone below them in the crowd quiets down and nervously moves their attention to their king. "Welcome, everyone, to our first official execution Monday!"

Foolish pauses as if to wait for applause and cheering to stop. In reality, only Ros and Tango let out a delighted whoops and cheers. Most of the other people clap their hands unenthusiastically; they seem confused. Maybe this is their first execution, they will understand the thrill and excitement later.

Foolish doesn’t let the awkwardness of the crowd bother him. Instead, he turns his body slightly towards Bad as if to address him but he’s still speaking to everyone around them. His attention is still mostly on his subjects and Bad doesn’t like that. He doesn’t like sharing Foolish. That attention is supposed to be on him.

"Bad, you have mercilessly murdered-"

"Not murdered. They were all accidents," Bad helpfully points out tilts his head towards Foolish.

Foolish pauses his speech and narrows his eyes. Bad can’t help but to smile at his annoyance. Excellent, Bad has his attention now.

"Fine. You have accidently but mercilessly slaughtered numerous people and have been sentenced by court to death via a royal hunt." Foolish rolls his ‘r’ on the word royal and waves his arms upwards as if he’s imagining a title screen for Bad’s death.

The crowd below them lets out a surprised gasp. Bad doesn’t know how many of them actually knew what kind of execution they came here to watch.

Also, there is no court. At least not one that ruled this death sentence; Foolish came up with the idea a week ago and proposed it Bad. He was almost more excited about it than Foolish was. He even gave Foolish a couple of ideas on how to make the execution into a real spectacle.

“You now have a chance to say your last words,” Foolish drops his 'speaking to the public' voice and steps closer to Bad. “Maybe start by apologizing for murdering your king. Maybe that will help you to get closer to Heaven.”

Bad almost laughs, Foolish would never even entertain the idea of Bad getting back to Heaven. To him, Bad has always been a demon.

“I,” Bad starts before turning to look deep into Foolish's shining emerald eyes. He can feel the anticipation emanating from the crowd, and Sneeg's axe follows his movement, “have done nothing wrong.”

Foolish tilts his head upwards and lets out an exasperated noise of frustration. And he's not the only one, many of the people watching, waiting for him to be hunted down, let out annoyed yelps. Next to him, Sneeg rolls his eyes and lets out a huff.

With Sneeg’s focus broken, Bad doesn’t miss a beat to side step his battleaxe and take a long stride towards Foolish.

There is panicked shuffling around them. Sneeg, no doubt, rushing after him and other members of the kingdom pulling out their weapons.

But no one manages to do anything to stop him before he's face to face with Foolish. That’s what you get by not training your guards properly. Kingdom full of fools, truly.

Foolish doesn’t move. He doesn’t even flinch.

There is only a foot between them now. Bad still wants to be closer.

He locks eyes with Foolish and sees the same hatred he feels. The same wanting. The same... something else. Even after all these years they have never managed to name that feeling.

Foolish waves his hand and all movement around them stops. Bad can feel everyone watching them but he doesn’t care. Foolish’s eyes are on him. That’s all that matters.

“I didn’t do anything wrong,” Bad repeats, his voice lowered this time.

“Just admit you fucked up, you scumbag!” Foolish spats out and leans a little closer. His eyes are flashing in a way that tells Bad that he has also forgotten everyone else around them; that he’s ready for the hunt to start.

The hidden excitement in Foolish’s eyes almost makes Bad smile but he forces his face to morph into an expression that can only be described as a pout. He can’t let Foolish see that easily how happy Bad is about this. That’s not how this works. “Language.”

Foolish rolls his eyes but they quickly return to Bad's face. Like he physically can’t look away for longer than he has to.

“And I can’t wait to gaze into your beautiful gumdrop eyes while your giant muscular arms are ripping me apart,” Bad says as he takes half a step forward as he speaks and leans in closer. His tail swipes up from behind him and reaches to touch Foolish’s bicep.

Surprisingly, Foolish doesn’t slap his tail away. Instead, he lets it rest on his arm.

Bad can't tell whether everyone around them has gone deadly quiet or if his ears have just decided that nothing apart from Foolish matters. Which is true. Nothing else matters right now.

“You,” Foolish starts as he in turn leans in closer to Bad. Bad knows Foolish is not doing it deliberately; he never really thinks when they are like this. And neither does Bad, he just does what feels right in the moment. Their noses are almost touching now. “are a freak.”

Bad can’t stop the excited grin spreading on his face “Don’t act like you don’t want that too.”

Foolish doesn’t answer but there is a small smile tugging on his lips.

“Never in a million years,” Foolish says and lets the smile take over his face. Bad feels his own grin widen.

“I can’t wait for you to hunt me down,” Bad mumbles. They are close enough that Foolish definitely feels Bad’s breath on his face.

“Then start running,” Foolish snarls, his sharp shark teeth shine in the setting sun.

Bad tilts his head a little to the side, bumping their noses together. He doesn’t need to look at Foolish to know his eyes flick down for a fraction of a second. Before Foolish can move or say anything else, Bad quickly whips around and lets his tail smack Foolish in the face.

Foolish lets out a surprised yelp but Bad can’t stay to laugh at his expression.

“You motherfucker! That was my royal nose!” Foolish yells after him as he sprints down the castle stairs.

Everyone in the crowd below the stairs was staring up at them with shocked expressions. None of them recover from the sudden turn of the events fast enough to do anything to stop Bad. He’s able to run through the crowd without any issues as Foolish yells insults after him from the top of the stairs.

After getting a safe distance away from the crowd, Bad turns to glance behind him.

Foolish has stopped yelling and is now standing on top of the castle stairs with his bow in hand. He’s ready to mark Bad as his property, as his target to hunt. Ready officially start the hunt.

A smile spreads across Bad’s face; some would call it creepy, others full on insane. Bad doesn’t think it’s either. It’s simply the smile that represents the feeling he gets when he knows Foolish is going to be after him. Foolish is going to be after him and he’s not going to stop before one of them is dead. And neither is Bad.

It's going to be a good hunt.

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