Iris sat on a roadside bench while fanning her shirt to try and get some airflow to her face and to the rest of her body, trying to cool off after the fight and let the excitement fade away. “Now that was fun,” she commented in a relieved sigh.

“Fuck you,” Arylos responded while sitting next to her and holding onto his stomach.

“Come on, you know you had fun!” Iris teased Arylos while patting him on the back.

“There’s a reason us guys don’t do that; not fair at all,” Arylos groaned.

“It’s too bad I’m not a guy then, huh?” Iris teased with a smile, leaning down to look at Arylos’s agony stricken face.

Arylos groaned once more and looked away from her. “You just wanted the money,” he growled.

“But I also wanted to have a bit of fun,” Iris responded in a cheery voice. “Didn’t you have fun?”

“I was until you decided to do that,” Arylos snorted.

“Yeah well, you used my own fires against me,” Iris returned with her tongue sticking out.

“I’m the Titan of Fire; using fire against me is like using my own fires against me already,” Arylos returned, taking a deep sigh and finally straightening out from his hunched over position.

“You did more to me than just that,” Iris teased while keeping her tongue out.

Arylos sighed as he watched Iris pick up the bag of money and hold it close with a smile. As much as Arylos disliked the situation, he was happy seeing her smile at least. He couldn’t lie to himself; he did enjoy himself and wished for more, but he was not taking another hit like that again. He stood up and beckoned Iris to follow him. “Let’s go home now. Bellona will get us her half later this week,” he told her.

“Alright!” Iris responded as she jumped up from the bench and followed Arylos closely as the two of them walked down the street, enjoying the quiet street and the setting sun. Arylos felt a bit of happiness come to him and a form of relief that he wasn’t expecting, but he knew the one thing he needed most right now was a bath.

“We get back, I call dibs on the bath,” Arylos commented with a laugh.

“Aww! Why?!” Iris complained.

“Because you kicked me in a place where you shouldn’t have,” Arylos teased in return as he watched someone walk down the street but quickly move to the side, triggering Arylos’s intuition in a weird way.

“Alright fine,” Iris conceded in a teasing voice, unaware of what Arylos had seen.

Arylos kept his eyes locked on the strange man as he walked past them. He already had his answer for what was about to happen next. He instinctively reached for Iris’s hand but only managed to catch the bag of money she was holding as she was pulled away from him. Arylos turned and readied a fist, ready to punish whoever this was.

“Ah ah ah,” the man teased as he held Iris’s arm behind her back and a knife to her throat as she groaned. “You wouldn’t want to mess up the pretty girl’s face for real, would you?”

Arylos gritted his teeth, hating himself for being too slow.

“Now, if you would be so kind, I’ll have those winnings,” the man teased as he gripped Iris’s arm tighter. “There are…taxes that need to be collected. Hand it to me and I won’t kill the girl.”

Arylos sighed as his stance relaxed and he looked to Iris. He saw a flashing hint of fear in her eyes that tore at him but he could see something else.

Anger.

“That seems a bit dark for you to kill someone,” Arylos returned in a scoff while keeping his eyes on Iris. He then waved his hand and turned around. “Ehh, do it; I don’t really care.”

“It will be easy, like gutting a pig,” the man insisted while keeping his grip on Iris.

Arylos chuckled as he turned back to face the man. “I wasn’t talking to you,” the Titan warned.

Before the man could question, Iris’s body exploded in blue flames that burned at the man, sending him screaming and letting go of Iris. Arylos then reached out his hand and flames grew from his hand and shot forward, cleaving the man’s arm off with a blade of dark flames. The man howled in pain as he grabbed his burning stump of an arm and fell to the ground.

Arylos dropped the bag of Marks and came towards Iris, examining Iris for any injuries.

“I’m alright,” she answered his unspoken question. “I appreciate you having faith in me, but you could be a little more concerned.”

“Why would I be concerned?” Arylos asked with a smile. “He wouldn’t even be considered small fry for you.”

“This is for kicking you, isn’t it?” Iris asked while crossing her arms.

Arylos laughed and knelt down to pick up the dropped bag of money and handed it to Iris. “No, I do have real faith in you.” Arylos then turned his attention to the man crying in pain from his burns and his dismembered arm. “Do you care about what happens to him?” Arylos asked in a soft growl.

Iris looked towards the man and she realised this was all too familiar. She felt Arylos’s growls as if her own chest vibrated. He was protecting her already, and protecting her meant doing something about her attacker.

“Not particularly,” Iris returned as she turned away, willing to let Arylos handle all of it. “You know how I feel about all of this.”

“You are all fools!” the man called out from his burnt face. “We already know where you live! Your actions do nothing but make things worse!”

“Who is this ‘we’ shit you’re talking about?” Arylos growled.

The man slowly reached for his knife and slowly stood back up, gaining an impressed whistle from Arylos. “You’re just a fool,” the man continued. “You cannot stop the inevitable; not even your dog can save you!”

“SILENCE!” Arylos bellowed in a voice that echoed off of the buildings and the street, warranting frightened gasps from the man and Iris. Iris turned to Arylos and saw him gritting his teeth and yet bore a smile on his face but she could see pain in his eyes.

“I’m a dog?” Arylos growled in a low voice. “Then you’re dog food.” Arylos laughed as red flames bathed his body and he lunged towards the man who let out a scream that was silenced by the inhuman growl of the Titan. Iris turned away and could hear flames burning and flesh tearing before ultimately fading away into silence and she could hear footsteps come back up behind her.

“How much longer can you get away with that?” Iris wondered aloud, knowing Arylos was the only one listening. “At some point, people might catch on. Someone might actually get mad and come after us.”

She felt a hand rest on her shoulder and she saw Arylos come back into view. “They won’t be the only ones who are angry,” Arylos responded in a soft voice.

“What, do you mean you’re mad too?” Iris asked with a scoff.

“I mean you,” Arylos responded with a smile.

“But you killed them, not me,” Iris responded while looking away.

“I will only kill them if you ask me to,” Arylos responded while letting go of her. “Put the blame of their deaths on me if it makes you feel better, but I will only do so if you ask me to.”

“Wouldn’t that be gaslighting me?” Iris asked while laughing and continuing down the street with Arylos in tow. “Doing all of the work but saying that you only do it because I tell you to. That’s like passing the blame.”

“I have to protect our home here, by any means necessary,” Arylos explained while crossing his arms but Iris could tell he was trying to warm his shirtless body back up. “There are very dangerous beings who will come after me and you could get caught in the crossfire. So I must do everything I can to keep us safe. However, you don’t want me to kill without reason so I will only do so if you let me; if you think the situation calls for it.”

“That’s very considerate,” Iris responded sarcastically.

“Would you rather I didn’t?” Arylos asked.

Iris thought about it as she walked. She knew Arylos would fight without any limit or consideration if needed but he also showed restraint when fighting Reyz; he tried to keep the innocent out of the way and mourned those who he couldn’t save. She knew the creature she just fought hours ago was not the creature that would be protecting her. He was going easy on her because he didn’t want to hurt her.

“I don’t know,” she responded while clutching the bag of money close, finding it the only thing she could hold onto. “I guess, don’t kill without telling me first, okay?”

“Do you want to make the decision?” Arylos asked in confusion.

“I guess give me the opportunity to say ‘no’ if I need to,” Iris responded while deep in thought. “Not everyone who comes after us needs to die, so give me the opportunity to say so if I have to.”

Arylos let out a light chuckle and patted Iris’s head, the gesture warming her up and making her a little more comfortable. “Alright,” he responded in a soft voice.

Iris felt his warmth and savoured it. She enjoyed this sensation more than she could care to admit and didn’t want him to let go. She then felt the embarrassment come to her and shook it away. “Ahem, since I’m the one who was held hostage for a minute, I call dibs on the bath,” she cut in with a stern voice.

“Oh come on, you still owe me for that little move of yours,” Arylos laughed.

“Haven’t you ever heard of ‘ladies first’?” Iris teased.

“I’m an advocate for true gender equality,” Arylos announced proudly while pounding on his thick chest. “Such things like taking advantage because of gender when it’s convenient is a poor sign of integrity.”

“Is that really why you hate that I kicked you?” Iris giggled, teasing the Titan as she always does.

“That was not fair and you know it!” Arylos exclaimed as his cheeks ran red.

“Ara~, I just made the Titan without a beating heart blush,” Iris continued giggling while cracking a seductive smile.

Arylos growled and shook his head, trying to hide this embarrassment he always feels when she gets like this. Maybe the man was right; he really is a dog, bound by this human girl. The Titan couldn’t help but laugh.

“What’s so funny?” Iris asked.

“I’ll tell you when you’re older,” Arylos responded with his own smile. He enjoyed watching Iris squirm and repeatedly hit his arm to get him to tell her. Moments like this remind him that his life here really is a blessing.