Chapter Text
There were times when Frieren wondered what her old master, Flamme, would think of her.
Would she admire her dedication to scouring the darkest dungeons and oldest ruins for grimoires? Would her long-gone mentor hold her in high regard for mastering the art of hiding her mana? What would she make of her combined effort to defeat the Demon King, one that shook the very foundations of Frieren’s core beliefs? Quiet moments in her ongoing adventures with Himmel made her dwell on those questions.
Having just finished their detour into a forgotten labyrinth, where a few easy battles and a not-so-easy struggle with a mimic had awaited them, Frieren had the time to sit down and take inventory. A picturesque view of a lush valley illuminated by the sunset greeted her from their hilltop camp. Around her, the quiet sounds of birds chirping and trees blowing in the wind were interrupted by the occasional noises of Himmel organizing their new belongings.
“…It’s nothing, I’ll find a way to make this work,” her companion said aloud. “Again, I don’t know why you wanted to keep the clothes-dissolving potions, but I’ll find room for them. It’s no different than our first journey together.”
On the surface, nobody would have blinked twice at their partnership. It was far from their first partnership, and what they were doing was akin to their early days of dungeon-crawling together. How long had it been since they had slayed the Demon King alongside Eisen and Heiter? Was it 15 years, or had more time passed? She had been trying to keep track of time and cherish the moments spent with friends better, but her centuries-long habits were hard to break.
Wiping the sweat from his brow, Himmel sighed as if he had just taken down a ravenous monster. Their packs were just barely kept from overflowing with basic supplies and the newly collected loot. She couldn’t help but be a little impressed that he had found a way to cram everything in; had she embarked on her journey alone, she might have had to toss some nonessentials like preserved meat or clean water for the new potions.
It was another reason why she was glad he had taken her up on her offer. She hadn’t planned to stick with her party after killing the Demon King, and her plans experienced an even worse upheaval after an unexpected truth came out of their final battle.
“…Okay, I think we’re at our limit. We can keep traveling like this, Frieren, but we’ll need to drop some things off at the next town over.”
She didn’t avert her gaze from the verdant red sky or the sunlit forests. She wanted to commit the sight to memory. Nature’s beauty was another aspect of life that she wanted to appreciate better – though the person behind her deserved a higher priority.
“You mean the town with the lavish bronze statue of you?” she flatly asked him. “You have no other reasons for going there, am I correct? No desire to indulge your ego whatsoever?”
Laughing softly, Himmel sat down beside her. Time had done little to change him – his blue hair was still bushy and soft, his skin still had a light tan from their time in the sun, and his choice of clothing hadn’t changed from that regal blue-and-white outfit. It was uncanny how identical he looked to his appearance from over a decade prior. Anyone who called it “inhuman” would be unintentionally correct.
“What can I say? I never received love or support when I was growing up. I savor them when I get the chance to be adored.”
Well-trimmed nails ran through the front of his hair. Those paying close attention might have noticed two bony stumps protruding from his skull, carefully hidden beneath the blue locks he had spent years cultivating. She had gotten used to the sight, but it had been a massive cause for alarm after the Demon King’s defeat.
She had spent years traveling with Himmel on their first journey, unaware that the “human” hero was a demon all along. The past 15 years had been spent trying to better understand him, to rationalize the man she knew with the demon he truly was.
No spell was prepared to concuss or incapacitate Himmel. She knew he was close enough to snap her neck or punch a hole in her chest.
Did she fear the worst from him? Perhaps, in the first years they had spent after the revelation, she would have acted defensively. However, when the individual years passed the threshold of a decade, it became tougher to justify any paranoia. A long con from Himmel made no sense when it entailed his race’s war effort being crippled, taking on odd jobs from strangers out of sheer goodwill, and open admissions of his feelings for her.
Serie would accuse her of going soft. Flamme might have given Himmel a wide berth and asked Frieren to do the same. But…
“Then I’ll show you some of that kindness now. Turn your back to me, Himmel. I want to try something with you.”
…She couldn’t hold Himmel in the same contempt that she saved for other demons. Not anymore.
That same gentle, compassionate smile rose on Himmel’s lips. Nodding, he went along with Frieren’s idea, never questioning it or second-guessing her judgment.
From Himmel’s pack, Frieren retrieved a large filing tool. “Your horns are starting to grow out again,” she explained to him. “I’d like to file them down for a change. That is, if you trust me not to botch the job.”
Her fingernails softly raked through his hair, eliciting a gentle moan from him. She couldn’t help but smile at his reaction. She had quickly learned just how touch-starved Himmel truly was – yet another consequence of his demonic upbringing – and had taken Heiter’s advice about physical affection to heart. Every headpat, hug, and positive gesture meant the world to her companion.
Little wonder why he had eaten up the people’s praise for him. From what he had described, the first people to ever show him compassion were human farmers caught up in a demonic incursion.
Tilting his head back, Himmel stared up into her eyes, watching her as lovingly as ever. For someone who had to condition himself to understand human emotions, he very much wore his heart on his sleeve. In hindsight, his feelings for her had been abundantly clear to everyone but her.
“I’d trust you with anything, Frieren. It would be an honor to let you file my horns.”
At least she could make up for it in the present. She had underestimated just how much seemingly unimportant gestures meant to some people.
Applying some pressure with the file, Frieren began to carefully wear down the uneven edges of Himmel’s horns. Small bits of bone dust wafted away from her hands with every movement. Contentedly, he sighed, falling back completely into her lap to give her more access to his skull.
She had initially wondered if Himmel found it painful to file his horns, but from the way he had described the sensation, it was oddly like filing nails. Little wonder why he used a near-identical tool to handle the procedure.
The gentle, repetitive motion of moving the file back and forth lulled the pair into a relaxed state. Himmel’s eyelids were half-closed, and his deep blue eyes appeared unfocused and at ease. Frieren certainly felt calmer, but aside from the light smile that Himmel usually inspired in her, she wasn’t sure if she looked the part.
Some people had found her tough to read, but Himmel had become adept at reading cues that others would miss – herself included. More than once, her features her betrayed her efforts to convince him that, no, she was not amused by some ridiculous claim or boast he would make. It was a part of his persona that, as far as Frieren could tell, had become a core part of his identity.
She wouldn’t trade that side of him for anything, even if it meant tolerating his moments of vanity or feigned humility. She had learned plenty about him in their years together, but she still had a yearning to understand all she could about him.
“…Himmel?”
“Mmm, that’s me.” He lethargically blinked a few times, awakening from a half-asleep state. “Is something the matter, Frieren?”
“It isn’t anything serious. I’m making progress on your horns. It’s just…a question about you. Rather, about demonkind. If you feel ready to open up more about your former kin.”
“I’m always happy to talk to you. Ask away.”
Some might have taken the remark as hyperbole, but Frieren knew that her companion was entirely serious. Himmel’s adoration of her was unlike anything she’d experienced before. Understanding his love for her gave his promises, compliments, and kind gestures far more weight than they had on their first journey. She could see the devotion in his behavior, even in things as simple as weaving a flower crown for her.
It left her chest warming and her heart beating just a hair quicker. The sensation was pleasant, encouraging – a wonderful feeling she hadn’t truly felt in her millennia of life experience. Being loved and sharing love…how she wished she could have understood it when Flamme was still breathing. She wondered whether, had she been more aware of her feelings, she would have felt familial love for her former mentor.
But that was all in the past. She had her time with Flamme. All that remained was to cherish the memories of her and to keep her teachings alive.
“…What would demons have thought of this? Of what we are doing, I mean. An elf caring a demon out of her own free will…it seems like something one would only find in fiction.”
Himmel softly hummed to himself in consideration. Judging by the significant delay in his answer, it seemed that he hadn’t given the idea much thought. Decades of separation from his peers, and conflict against them, must have led him to disregard their opinions entirely.
“Demons don’t have high opinions of the other races,” Himmel eventually told her. “They’re either seen as prey to hunt or tools to manipulate. It’s why they never bat an eye at razing entire villages: to them, the victims of their attacks aren’t ‘people’ in the same way that demons are.”
The observation was enough to make Frieren pause. She knew all too well how demons treated populations who couldn’t fight back. Her home, neighbors, and family were all distant memories thanks to a group of demonic warriors singling them out.
“As for this…the average demon would never consider a human, dwarf, or elf to be his equal. Holding those races in the same regard as demonkind would be seen as a sign of exhaustion and delusion at best. At worst…they’d be seen as mentally ill or degenerate – both labels worthy of being executed. The Seven Sages and the Demon King had no use for ‘broken’ people in their ranks.”
Himmel’s horns were mostly worn down to be hidden beneath his hair. They ended in the same round, smooth stumps that she had first witnessed years prior. The length was optimal, Himmel had told her: cutting them too short would cause bleeding, while leaving them too long risked exposing his true self to the world. He didn’t want to be fodder for the manipulations of other demons claiming to be “reformed,” especially when he barely regarded himself as being one.
“And…what would they say about this?”
Gently tilting Himmel’s head back so their eyes could meet, Frieren leaned in and planted a quick, soft kiss on his forehead. As soon as she pulled away, his eyes dilating and a rather unheroic blush rising on his cheeks.
It wasn’t the first kiss she had given him, but he still became awestruck and flushed whenever he received one. Everything she did for him was regarded with such love and admiration. She could practically feel the adoration radiating off him.
It was inevitable, really. Once she had become aware of Himmel’s feelings for her, it had only been a matter of time before she understood her own affection for him. Himmel was like sunlight, brightening everything in her life and encouraging her to face each day’s challenges. He was an all-loving hero, yet that made his genuine commitment to her all the more precious.
“…They would call me sick for allowing it,” Himmel admitted, a hint of shame arising in his voice. “It would have been compared to bestiality, and I would have been flogged for permitting it to happen to me.”
Glancing at his uncovered hands, she saw the horizontal patterns of scars covering much of his palms. The origins of those wounds made her own hands tingle slightly. He had practically tortured himself for decades to gain a better understanding of humanity.
Given the less-than-stellar way he looked back on his early years, she understood why he had gone to such lengths to embrace his newly adopted people.
A quick, reassuring pat on the head was enough to break Himmel out of the unpleasant recollecting. She welcomed the return of his subtle, assured smile. If Himmel was her sun, then he shone the brightest when he embraced true heroism and compassion – both for her and for the everyday people he came across.
“Then it was their mistake to cast you out,” Frieren told him. “You’ve proved to be a better warrior and a better person than any demon I’ve come across.”
“And far handsomer than any demon, whether a sage or a warrior.”
All that compassion and not an ounce of humility. Never change, Himmel.
Ruffling the top of his hair, she said, “Don’t push it. I could still file your horns to be cubes if I really wanted to.”
Himmel mock-gasped at the suggestion. “Such harsh measures for a gallant hero! Haven’t I earned my right to an ego by now?”
“Not when I have to put up with it, no.”
“Oh, the deception! The betrayal!” The blue-haired hero clutched his chest in fake despair. “What happened to the sweet, stoic elf who used to blow me kisses on a whim?”
The lighthearted banter between the two had become the norm after they had opened up more to each other. Himmel enjoyed playing up his prideful side, while Frieren embraced the colder attitude she had once taken toward him. It made him laugh and brought him delight, which would be victories by themselves, but sometimes she even found herself smiling and giggling at the exchanges.
“She started traveling with you, and she learned all there was to know about you. The human phrase ‘never meet your heroes’ comes to mind.”
“Oh? But there are still things you haven’t learned about me yet.”
His hands found hers, and soon their fingers became interlinked. She was smaller than him in size and stature, but the way they connected still felt perfect. Frieren couldn’t imagine holding anyone else so close or volunteering to help them groom themselves.
Barely an inch from her ear, Himmel leaned in close and whispered a single word to her.
“Blau.”
He pulled back, meeting her vaguely confused gaze with his usual veneer of confidence.
“That was my name before I traded demonkind for humanity. I found the name ‘Himmel’ in one of the books I enjoyed reading. He was a selfless hero who spent his life in service of the Goddess, protecting the innocent and safeguarding the weak with no expectations in return. I wanted to be just like him, so I shed my former name and took on his.”
Really, she shouldn’t have been surprised. Himmel wouldn’t have chosen the name of some grand warrior or conqueror for himself. He would have related the most to a story about devotion and compassion for others. The thought made that familiar warmth return to her chest.
“It suits you. I’d say you’ve more than earned the mantle.”
She didn’t miss the little sigh of contentment he let out. “Coming from you, Frieren? That’s better than any reward the Empire could have given me.”
They spent the rest of the evening in that manner, with Frieren finishing the work on Himmel’s horns amid other small talk. Just a simple way for the two to spend their time together at the end of one journey and the beginning of another. Who knew what other adventures they would get caught up in once they arrived in town? Himmel’s selfless streak would undoubtedly lead them to complete a favor or two for a local, not that Frieren would mind. She had time enough for them both.
No earth-shattering revelations or bold confessions came from the pair…but, by that point, they didn’t need them. Frieren understood Himmel in the same way that he understood her. Love, compassion, and selflessness – those were the pillars of Himmel’s identity. He would’ve been devoted to her even if they had gone their separate ways after the Demon King’s demise. She was just glad that they could remain together, as odd as their pairing might have seemed at one point.
A demon warrior-turned-“human” hero falling for the legendary demon slayer herself…and, in turn, Frieren learning to love all aspects of Himmel. It sounded like something out of a fairy tale. Her younger self would have scoffed at the notion. Yet, when she had his head in her hands and the melody of his humming in her thoughts, she wondered how she could have been ignorant to his affections.
Himmel’s love for humanity had renewed her efforts to defeat the Demon King. Along the way, her heart had been conquered without the question of love ever arising. Bit by bit, she had welcomed him into a sacred space once only occupied by Flamme, until her own adoration of him had become undeniable.
She knew what sort of life she wanted to live. She wanted to scour as much of the world as she could for rare grimoires, no matter where they were hidden or how useful they turned out to be. She wanted to let Flamme’s love of magic live on through her own passion for the art.
Most importantly, she wanted to do all of that with Himmel by her side. It didn’t matter whether he was a human or a demon; that didn’t change the person he was under the surface. He loved her with all her eccentricities, and she loved him back in her own way.
That was enough to make her life fulfilling.