Runaway Gingerbread - Part 1

As they left to the outskirts of Oak town, Phaje was happy that everything had worked out for the better. It would be nice to have someone like Zera around to keep him company. She had so much in common with him. Which brought up another realization: they still needed to blow off their steam, and with everything that had happened, the sooner it happened the better it would be. As they reached the fork where he had met Asura, Inaris, and Megalos, his blood started to boil again.
"This was the spot where I got pissed off earlier today and almost killed a kid," he explained to Zera, a disgruntled look on his face. Megalos did actually irritate him more now that he thought about it. "I had a vision showing me him with a group of 5 other individuals, though. I was one of them. I wonder what it means. Most times I just see the Star of Sin: Arcadia in my visions. Sometimes, though, it seems to show me more of a future event. So it should be interesting to say the least."
He looked over Zera, watching the sunlight that came through the leaves and branches dance off her hair, Her eyes were a lovely shade of blue, which reminded Phaje of the color of the ocean. Two deep pools which he easily found himself lost in. He knew what this feeling was, though it scared him. He couldn't tell her with as awkward as things had already gotten. He blushed a deep shade of red as he realized he had been standing there looking in her eyes and ignoring the look she was giving him. She had noticed how he was looking at her... great.
"A-A..." He had to pause and look away. He took a deep breath. "Anyways, I still have some steam to blow off so we should definitely find..."
He looked back at her and saw the look on her face... he had no clue what to expect that look to be.

Zeron was walking down the path, humming a tune lightly to herself as she meandered behind Phaje. One of the great things about being a shapeshifter with so much knowledge about the human body is that she knew exactly how vocal chords worked; she could make herself sounds as melodic or threatening as she wanted to. In this case, it let her match the pitch of a song perfectly. If only she had bothered to remember the words, she could probably astonish Phaje even more. Speaking of Phaje, she was keenly aware of the glances he kept sneaking back at her, staring into her currently blue eyes. It was plainly obvious to the half-demon exactly what her companion thought of her. While she'd seduced and toyed with her fair share of men and women before, she'd never had somebody fall for her quite this much before. Personally, Zeron thought it was hilarious; when she revealed her true form to him, it'd be quite the reaction.

Her brow furrowed. Why was she already planning her reveal? It'd likely better if he never knew the truth about the guise she was currently wearing. He had quite a strange effect on her, she had to admit; it was almost like she wanted to tell him things. It was a particularly dangerous effect, one that she'd already found herself caught up in several times. It was a calculated risk, however, in order to have a companion like him. He was different from others; he had a sharp wit, a calculating and scholarly mind, and a powerful magic, all of which combined to make him one of the most entertaining people she'd happened upon in her travels. They certainly shared a lot in common, including their love and research and, if his story was to believed, their habit of getting irritated with others. Traveling with him, she had to admit, was almost fun; it was a strange feeling in this context. Fun, to her, had always been experimentation and discovery. To derive this emotion from interacting with others was bizarre and unexpected for Zeron. She'd have to experiment to see if other stimuli invoked-

With a start, Zeron realized Phaje was staring at her again. "What's up?" She muttered, smirking and trying to hide the fact that she had completely missed if he had just said anything. "Do you need to talk to me about something, or are you just taking in the sights?"

Phaje had stopped on the path at her words, looking around. The woods around these parts were beautiful. There was a slight breeze that kissed them, being ever so playful with their hair. the look must have been something she was thinking about. Should he...
"You look to be lost in thought. Something troubling you? We can always-"
He was abruptly cut off as a small figure ran towards him, faster than most things this forest could produce. quickly he grabbed an arm around Zera and held her close to his side as he prepared his Prodigious Push. It would be awkward as he usually used both of his arms for dramatic effect but this time was an exception. This was his specialty and he knew full well how to use it no matter how he did so. He pressed his hand against his chest. Evoking gravity he turned and looked at Zera, their faces closer than he had ever been to anyone.
"Hold on tight to me I don't need you flying off!" He exclaimed, a certain heir of command to his voice. He turned back toward the figure and push his hand towards the target. "Prodigious PUSH." The small being flew backwards, landed on its feet and ran towards them once again. What the hell was that thing?
He heard it talk as it was coming towards him. "I must get away from the muffin man! THE MUFFIN MAN!" The thing talked?
He let go of Zera, "Looks like we found something to blow off steam. Your go its obviously not human. Too small for that."

Zeron opened her mouth to respond to Phaje, but barely got a word out of her mouth when they were suddenly assaulted by a strange, short creature. She moved to assault, but again, others had been faster; Phaje wrapped his arms around her, yelling something about holding tight. Zeron, for her part, went wide-eyed and a tint of red actually came across her face. This was unprecedented; the half-demon hadn't been this close to somebody in over a decade, and hadn't been embraced in far longer. She was the one who was supposed to make other uncomfortable, not the other way around! Yet here they were, with Phaje holding her close. Unacceptable.

The torrent of emotions within Zeron continued to build and build in the few moments as she stood there in petrifying panic and shock, until something within the half-demon broke. The glamor on the half-demon's left eye broke, causing the black eye to emerge and the shadowy cracks to re-emerge from the eye. One of the cracks spread across the bridge of her nose, reaching the other eye. Within a flash, the right eye turned black as well, and Zeron's face went completely blank. She pushed back against Phaje's embrace, demonically enhanced strength easily breaking his protective hug.

A quick glance confirmed that the small thing was running at them again; within an instant, she was in front of it, staring down at the miniature monster. The monster rammed into the sudden leg that had appeared in front of it and bounced backwards; it stared up at the demonic and blank-faced visage of Zeron, its eyes growing wide.
"The Muffin Man...?"
Zeron's arm shot out and gripped the small monster's face and lifted it into the air, leaving its stubby limbs flailing around uselessly. Zeron took a deep breath and let out a bone-chilling howl, menacing crimson flames spewing from her mouth and spraying onto the small monster's body and the area behind it. It began screaming, a high-pitched squeal, only for it to be cut brutally short when Zeron slammed it into the now-burning ground at full force. Zeron watched the gingerbread being burn to a crisp with a chilling silence, before turning over to face Phaje with her blank stare. She took a single menacing step towards the gravity mage...
...And blinked, her eyes suddenly returning to normal. "What the...?" She muttered suddenly, looking around confusedly. The crimson flames had vanished; all that was left was the charred remains of a small creature and Phaje. "Ergh, I hate it when this happens," she muttered irritably, shaking her head before turning back to Phaje. "Sorry, I let my emotions get the best of me for a bit. I didn't hurt you, did I?"

Phaje watch as his companion roasted the small creature, noticing how she had changed again like last time. His heart sunk a little as he realized he had made her uncomfortable for a second time in the same day. He hung his head, but tried to keep his composure this time a little more. He had ran off and she had followed him the last time, so running again, he thought, would not necessarily be the best idea. He stood in thought trying to figure out what to say to her to try and make things better when she reproached him. Hearing what she had to say, though, definitely raised questions. She... cared about him being ok? He shook his head and looked up at her.
"No, I'm ok. I'm sorry I made you uncomfortable again, but it was better than you flying off into the trees. I just grabbed you so I wouldn't lose you. That really didn't appease me much," he said pointing at the gingerbread that was burnt to a crisp. "There is a graveyard i was approached about in town. Wouldn't be bad. Small detour. Some lady will be joining us but I have to blow off this steam. Even if I have to kill the lady and make it look like an accident, I really just need to let out some aggression."
Making her feel the way he had was starting to get his blood boiling. Soon he would have to put on his strategic mask, to prevent the visions from coming. He knew full well it would be a horrible thing to snap and lose someone. The Dark Sun had a negative effect on his psyche. It calmed him but something else would wake up. It had only happened once before when he got really pissed, but he was trying to avoid that now. He had someone he cared about now. He couldn't just let his rage go. He wondered what would happen if he saw a real Dark Star. His thoughts trailed as he looked back at Zera.
"Let's go," he smiled. He would try to brush off what had happened. It wasn't Zera's fault. There was obviously something that had happened in her life that had caused her to react this way.