Archive of Our Own ^beta

Ragatha sighed. Such a drama queen, she thought. Before her, Jax sat in a chair with his head in his hands as he pitied himself. His hair had been dyed from its platinum blonde to a lovely lavender, at least that’s what Ragatha thought. But Jax was not a fan, not at all.

She rested a hand on his shoulder and shook him gently, “Come on now, it’s not so bad,” she said with a smile. Jax groaned before sinking further into himself; he hugged his knees to his chest and buried his face. Ragatha frowned and put her hands on her hips. “Quit moping, will you? Dying your hair the wrong color should be the least of your worries!”

Jax lifted his head to stare ahead at Zooble, the bright flame burning in the hearth. “Life isn’t worth living if I can’t be beautiful,” he murmured. Suddenly, his body seemed to deflate, as if he were literally sinking in on himself.

Ragatha gave another exasperated sigh, “Now, you’re just trying to get on my nerves,” she mumbled. “Well, fine, be that way then! I’ve never been beautiful a day in my life and I’ve been just fine!” She yells, then storms out the house.

The door slams shut behind Ragatha just as rain begins to pour. She tucks her hair out of her face and walks out to the lake down the hill, stopping to stare out across the horizon once she’s there. For a moment, she’s grateful to be out of that house, and the next, she’s wishing she’d never set foot in it. Her shoulders shake and hunch up as she cries, her tears mixing with the rain. Her back aches, a cold reminder of the reason she left home to begin with.

Ragatha looks up, no longer feeling the rain hitting her, and sees an umbrella, and with it, the familiar scarecrow that’s followed her since the start of her journey. She laughs, feeling a bit silly for crying over the same thing she was just scolding Jax for. “Hah, thank you, Pomegranate,” she smiled at the head of the scarecrow, which was a pomegranate. It had been fresh when she’d found them, but now it was starting to rot. “I hope you’ll be alright if your head rots away,” she mumbled, reaching up to touch the flesh of the fruit. “I’m sure I could find a much nicer fruit or vegetable to replace it with,” she chuckled. The scarecrow hopped on its pole and spun around; they didn’t seem to like that idea much. “You’re probably right; I don’t think that would work either.” Ragatha straightened up and turned towards the still castle. “Best not leave them for too long, less Jax tears the whole castle apart,” she sighs and picks up her dress as she heads back inside.

Ragatha closes the door and walks up the short steps, pausing on the last one as she sees a strange red slime covering the floor. Following its trail, it seems to be pooling from Jax himself. His skin is pale and translucent, melting off his body and onto his surroundings, the chair, the floor and… the hearth.

Gangle is running back and forth with a bucket in hand, continuously scooping up the slime from the hearth and onto the floor in an attempt to save the fire demon. Zooble stands on a single untouched log, clinging to it desperately as the slime creeps ever closer.

“Jax, snap out of it! You’ll kill us both, dumbass!” The fire demon yells, but their words fall on deaf ears.

A jolt shoots through Ragatha as she realizes the urgency of the situation. She strides forward and lifts what's left of Jax over her shoulder. “Gangle, clean out the slime and take care of Zooble. I’ll handle Jax,” she says before heading to the bathroom on the second floor.

The bathroom is almost as messy as it was before she cleaned it, which only irks the woman even more. “You’re always making a mess of things, aren’t you? Suppose I shouldn’t be surprised by a heartless man like you,” she mumbles, setting Jax in the tub.

The water has gone cold, but she doesn’t seem to care. She turns towards the cabinet where she had put all of his shampoos, conditioners and whatnot, only now she realizes that some of them may not have been so easily labeled.

“What kind of genius puts his spells and his soap together?” She asks, knowing she won’t be getting an answer.

Bottles have been knocked over and spilled, likely from Jax’s previous outburst before he came downstairs. She grabs an average-looking bottle, reading the faded label as best as she can before squeezing some into her hand. She turns back to Jax and is surprised to see that he looks better, albeit a bit younger.

“Hmph, you look like a boy,” Ragatha chuckles, sitting on her knees and kneading the soap into his hair. “But you can’t stay like this, so don’t get comfy.” Despite her own words, she finds a great deal of comfort in taking care of him, though she’s not sure why. The old lady instincts, perhaps.

After a few minutes, Gangle knocks on the bathroom door. “Miss Ragatha, I have the rest of Jax here for you,” the girl says.

“Ah, good. Bring it in, Gangle,” Ragatha answers, standing up and washing the soap off her hands. Gangle opens the door timidly and sets the bucket of slime at her feet. “Thank you. Now, go back downstairs and make sure Zooble has plenty of firewood. I’ll join you when I’m finished here,” Ragatha says, picking the bucket up.

“Um, Ragatha?” Gangle squeaks, prompting the woman to glance back at her. “Is Jax going to be okay?”

Ragatha nodded her head and gave the girl a reassuring smile. “Of course, he will.”

Feeling better, Gangle excuses herself back downstairs and Ragatha returns to work. She dumps the slime into the tub with Jax, gagging only a little as the slime wriggles like worms and puts Jax back together. She shudders and turns away, offering him the little privacy she could give while still taking care of him.

She grabs an untouched bar of soap off the sink, one so untouched it had become stuck to the sink from sitting in place, so she digs her nails into it and yanks it off. She turns back to Jax, glad to see he has returned to his normal-looking self. Though, he remains unresponsive.

“I told you not to get comfortable,” she sighs, sitting back down on her knees and lifting his arm, starting to wash his upper body for him.

She can’t help but feel like he’s watching her, but she refuses to acknowledge it. She continues as she was, washing and taking care of him, even though she’s almost certain she doesn’t need to. Maybe it’s the simple fact that Jax can’t tease her for her efforts now, since her skills are what saved him. Whatever the cause may be, Ragatha is… almost happy to continue this way.

Ragatha stands up, having finished pampering Jax all she was willing. “You can do the rest yourself, I’m sure,” she says, washing her hands. “We’ll be downstairs when you feel better,” she tells him, bowing and stepping out of the room before he can argue.

She swiftly heads downstairs, smiling as she sees that Zooble is doing better as well. Gangle sits in front of the hearth, tossing woodchips into their mouth as if playing a game. She smiles and joins them, laughing with the child and the demon as if nothing were wrong.

It’s dark out; night has fallen. Of the four people living inside the castle, only two of them sleep now. The other two, one a demon and one with no heart, feel no need for such a thing.

Zooble sits on a log, idly burning away as it’s all they can do. Jax walks downstairs, dragging his fingers down the railing, and walks up to the little nook Ragatha sleeps in.

“She saved our lives,” Zooble states, as Jax parts the curtain to check on the woman. She looks content as she sleeps. “You know how this is going to end,” the fire demon adds.

“No,” Jax looks back at Zooble, “None of us know how this will end.” He smiles and looks back at Ragatha. “Because it hasn’t happened yet.”

“I hate when you speak in riddles,” Zooble groans.

“It’s not a riddle; it’s the truth.” Jax closes the curtain and walks up to the hearth, adding another log of wood.

“I’d believe that if I didn’t know you better.”

“I’m serious!” Jax laughs, “Am I not allowed to be genuine about something once in a while?”

“No, it’s weird,” Zooble mumbles, laying across the fresh log of wood and sighing.

“Kind of rude, Zooble.” Jax grins and swipes the wood out from under the demon.

Coughing and sputtering, Zooble scrambles back onto the first piece of wood. “Bastard.”

Jax slips the log back in place, “Whaaat?” Jax smiles innocently, shrugging his shoulders.

“I am not going to miss you,” Zooble mutters.

“I love you too, Zooble.”