“We haven’t even been here five minutes!” Emrys yelled in exasperation, pushing Jo away as he rolled to his feet, “How in the seven hells did you manage to piss it off already?”

Joanna had more than one answer come to mind, none of them appropriate for the circumstances, “Short answer? I don’t think he was expecting us.”

Actually, Jo realized, that sufficed for the long answer as well. It was clear that the creature hadn’t actually expected company, let alone company capable of performing any sort of exorcism. As it had torn through the veil, Jo had made her way into the room.

Even regardless of the circumstances, anger directed at unexpected company wasn’t something Jo could particularly judge anyone on.

Emrys helped her to her feet and she watched him hesitantly do the same for Fawkes, the latter of which was absolutely transfixed on the creature that bounded into the room.

“Shit.” Fawkes murmured under his breath.

It amused Jo, as this wasn’t a particularly bad demon. A bit more than she had anticipated, obviously, but definitely nothing she couldn’t handle blindfolded and with her hands tied behind her back.

She surveyed the creature, checking for telltale identifiers. It loomed above them, like a large inky shadow, and struck, missing all but Fawkes as it’s gesture sent him into the nearest wall.

“Any thoughts?” Emrys said, clearly trying to decide if the energy required for a binding would even be necessary.

Jo frowned, watching the way the demon moved and taking it as all the evidence she really needed, “Looks like a standard griefling, shouldn’t give us too much trouble.”

“It hit me!” Fawkes yelled from his landing point, pulling himself back up to his feet, “What do you mean, not too much trouble?”

If a little griefling had him this riled up, Jo could only imagine what an actual threat would do to the poor boy. She reached behind her for her weapon, knowing she’d need it eventually.

Jo’s hand met only an empty space where the sword should be.

Emrys, being who he was, noticed her expression immediately, “Everything alright, Jo?”

She looked over at him, willing her expression neutral, “Uh...see...yes and no?”

“You forgot your weapon, didn’t you?” His eyes narrowed.

“It’s not like we really need it, you know. You can always-”

Emrys groaned, “This is why I told you not to come while inebriated! You could have stayed with the idiot and I could have handled this, but no. Let’s all go along, she says. It’ll be fun, she says.”

“I never said it would be fun!” Jo huffed, “Besides, look at him! He’s about to piss himself over this little weakling! He needed exposure!”

“I’m right here.” Fawkes mumbled to neither of their notice, “And decidedly not  pissing myself.”

“He’s going to get plenty of exposure soon enough.” Emrys frowned, “One of these days you’ll eventually realize that you should listen to me, if only occasionally.”

Jo appreciated her friend more than she could articulate, but she would never be accustomed to his general lack of tact, “Can we fight about this later, Em? We are sort of in the middle of something.”

“Yes, put it off until later so we never actually have to have the conversation, sounds like as brilliant of a plan as leaving your sword behind.” Emrys’ hands flew up in a clockwise motion, a symbol drawn in light in the space in front of him, “Just...tell me when you’re ready.”

“For the conversation?” Jo blinked, “I just  said-”

“For me to hit this thing, you idiot!” Emrys interrupted, nodding to the waiting spell.

“Right.” Jo looked back to the creature, regaining her bearings as she did so. She’d never admit it out loud, of course, but perhaps Emrys was right. The entirely-too-much-ale induced fog that had settled in her brain had caused her to forget her weapon and her reasoning skills were perhaps not the best at the moment. Jo focused on the inky shadow ahead, channeling it’s source as she did.

She took slow, careful steps towards it. If the creature would have had eyes, she knew they’d be looking at her, regarding her, questioning her approach.

While the weakest of demons, there was a part of Jo that found she disliked dealing with grieflings the most. Perhaps, she wondered, it was because they felt so avoidable. They were manifestations of bad energy that latched onto a spirit, helping it gain access to their world by providing a physical form. In this particular case, a pseudo-physical form.

Feelings were easy enough to deal with, if one approached it the right way. These poor beasts could easily avoid their circumstance if people just had healthier ways of coping.

“Hey, there.” She soothed, growing closer to it, “It’s alright, it’s almost over, love.”

Carefully, she reached a hand up to the creature, watching as it recoiled away, around the hand still, “It’s going to be okay.”

The was a noise, like a low rumble, from the creature.

Not as resisting as I thought you’d be, Joanna thought, watching as it allowed her hand closer as she continued closer,you’ve been waiting for help, haven’t you?

Her hand connected and she prepared herself for the wave of emotion that she knew was coming.

Maybe this was why she disliked these particular beasties so much.

The ones full of rage and anger were much easier to deal with, because you could fight them. The spirits heavy with heartache? Not so much.

Jo supposed one could fight them, if they felt so inclined, but that wasn’t her style.

The beast calmed and stilled, and as the emotions poured into Jo it grew smaller, fading out into a gentle lilac color instead.

She wondered, briefly, how this would affect a less seasoned peacekeeper. It had taken years of training to learn how to keep the emotions that filtered into her separated from her own.

Shooting a glance back at Emrys, she nodded, letting him know it was time.

“It’s okay now, you’re free to go.” She said quietly to the creature as Emrys released his sigil, the spirit now separated from the energy.

~

Though she wasn’t entirely sure what it was, Joanna was thankful to whatever force happened to drive the boys into silence.

More than likely, Fawkes was still processing the evening’s events while Emrys was probably still stewing over the fact that Joanna had forgotten her sword.

One of these things was charming.

The other was Emrys.

It wasn’t that she found the boy particularly annoying so much as it was his penchant for nagging. Joanna wasn’t sure when it started, and the more the thought back the more it felt as though it were always the case, but at some point it seemed as though Emrys wanted to be the adult, and no longer the child.

Which was fine, it was normal to mature.

But it seemed as though he were going about it in a way that insinuated he may want to take care of Joanna the way she’d taken care of him, and the last thing she wanted was a nagging mother in the body of a young man.

The inn was still, and they made their way into the room provided, Fawkes falling on one of the beds the moment made it into the room.

He let out a little yelp of pain, “Gods, that...thing really did a number on me.”

Jo scoffed, “Oh, boyo. You’ve got quite a bit of preparing to do if you think that was bad.”

Fawkes looked up at her, something bordering on magical twinkling in his eyes. Emrys was right, Jo thought absently, they do look like amber.

“What was that?” He asked softly, tugging at his shirt, “I...It calmed down so...quickly. That whole fight was incredibly anticlimactic, but...I don’t know. It was almost...like it was just waiting.”

“It was.” Jo smiled, sitting on the foot of the bed and trying to shoot Emrys a look that told him to help, but he seemed to be ignoring her, “Waiting for us, I mean. In it’s own way. Not all demons are crazy rage monsters, you know. Some of them...well...sometimes spirits attach themselves to a negative energy and not a vile creature.”

“So it wasn’t technically a demon?” Fawkes finally managed to free himself of his shirt, hissing a bit as the cold air made contact with a cut along his shoulder.

“Yes and no,” Jo shot another look at Emrys, who seemed to notice this time but did not particularly seem to care, “Demon is more of a catch all term than it should be.”

“Do you know why it was there? What happened?” Fawkes’ curiosity was beginning to be the most endearing thing about him.

“No, and we don’t necessarily need details, though we can always ask for them another time.”

“So that’s it?” Fawkes crossed his legs underneath himself, “It’s over and done with? Just like that?”

“Sometimes it will require more,” Emrys said, begrudgingly reaching for his bag, “Actually, most of the time it will require more. But every once in awhile a spirit just gets stuck somewhere they aren’t meant to be. And every once in awhile a peacekeeper forgets her weapon so the one without proper equipment has to tire himself out with a spell he shouldn’t be doing in the first place and now has to treat your wound the old-fashioned and boring way.”

“You’re still on that?” Jo grinned, “We took care of it together, I thought you’d be pleased.”

Emrys huffed, avoiding her eyes, “I suppose it is rare you let me assist to that degree.”

Fawkes sent a panicked expression at the small vial Emrys pulled from his bag and an even more concerned glance at the cloth he poured it on, “What? No more of the glowing blue thingy?”

“No.” Emrys said, clearly fighting a smile, “No more of that, I’m practically useless for quite some time after a severance.”

“Severance?”

“Yeah,” Jo chimed in, leaning back on the bed to watch Emrys do his work, “It’s sort of a special peacekeeper ability. We separate the demon or spirit from whatever brought it past the veil. My sword does it for me, and if anyone asks Emrys definitely did not do it.”

“Is he not supposed to?” Fawkes asked, still fixated on the materials Emrys was preparing.

Jo looked over at Emrys, who in turn shrugged apathetically. She was always grateful for their ability to communicate without words sometimes.

“He hasn’t been initiated yet.” Jo offered, watching with slight amusement as Fawkes looked over at her wide-eyed, and then back to Emrys.

Fawkes turned to Emrys, who was about to sit next to him, “All that big talk and you’re not even official?!”

Jo said a silent prayer that the amused grin plastered across the prince’s face was a dead giveaway that he found this funny, and was not genuinely upset with Emrys. Emrys had never been particularly keen on picking up social cues.

And that was with Jo putting it quite nicely.

A deep frown spread across Emrys’ face, “I don’t know what you mean by “big talk”. I never claimed to be an expert.”

“Sure you didn’t, Mr. “spent my whole life training” and whatever else nonsense you go on about.” Fawkes snorted, “You’re not even initiated!”

“I fail to see how my training makes me an expert.” Emrys looked over to Jo, his eyes pleading for help, “I have spent most of my life training. Knowing more than you doesn’t make me an expert, it just makes me more proficient in these things than you currently are.”

Oh laddie, Jo sighed internally, “Always so literal, Emrys.”

Emrys’ eyebrows twisted, his expression genuine confusion for a moment before it was replaced with annoyance. He looked back to Fawkes, “Turn around. I need to get that cut cleaned.”

“Is he always so humble and kind?” Fawkes asked, despite obeying the order and turning around anyways.

Jo cackled and watched as the cloth met skin and an onslaught of profanity escaped Fawkes’ lips.

“Maker’s tits, that hurt!” Fawkes twisted his neck to pout at Emrys, “I was kidding!”

“Kidding doesn’t make the antiseptic hurt less.” Emrys replied with a light tone, “Don’t be a baby.”

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Author's Note:
I have NO IDEA how this ended up so long. I hadn't intended to write today, but Nicholas the Usurper made that wonderful graphic that now adorns the top of this page, so how could I not? (He's the coolest. If you're reading this and you haven't checked out his stories, go fix that like...NOW. If you need a rec, Dirty Little Secrets is the best, in my humble opinion hehe.)
I'm going to try to keep updating this for now, since I seem on some weird roll with it. If you like it, thank Nick and Beckit. If they didn't like this so much I wouldn't be updating it ;)