One good thing about being stuck on the island for the foreseeable future was the people. However, Johan was quickly learning that while he liked them all a lot, he really didn’t want yet another person to ask about his fight with Note, or about Wrath and the wedding, or about who Frey was.

It was getting a lot.

After they heard about the proposal, the upcoming wedding was all everyone could talk about. Not surprising, considering big events were rare on the small island. Every adult in the village was helping with it, with Odin and Hilda at the very front, and even the giants had been pulled into it.

So with everything going on, Johan decided to take up the old trade of, you guessed it, chores.

While Johan wasn’t as…enthusiastic about the wedding as everyone else. One great thing about it was that there was more than enough stuff to do, and combined with the giants accepting all help when it came to their cave, Johan had no problem finding things to spend his time on.

This worked great as Johan had a lot to pick from when it came to reasons for avoiding people. Especially Note.

Johan had been angry when he found out about the lie, sure, but that was nothing compared to how he felt now. The more he had thought about it, the worse it became. It felt like betrayal.

It didn’t help that Note really, really wanted to talk to him. At first he had left Johan alone, but he must have grown tired of waiting because suddenly, after only a few days, he started showing up everywhere, trying to corner him.

It was in times like these that Johan missed adventuring. Going off alone, not knowing anyone, being anonymous. It was easier than having everyone ask how he was doing all the time.

So there he was, hiking up the mountain to do yet another chore for the wedding. The peace and quiet of nature all around him.

It was almost perfect.

Now if he could just get rid of Frey.

“You should just forgive him already, he meant well.” Frey said, his tiring voice was like another headache to Johan.

“Please leave me alone.” Johan asked drily for the hundredth time that day, hoping that this time the answer would be different.

“I mean,” Frey continued to speak as if he hadn’t heard anything. “In what world would he, sweet, little Note, ever do anything to hurt anyone? He was just trying to protect you.”

Johan stabbed the shepherd staff into the ground in annoyance and stopped.

“From myself?” He grit out, eyes scouring the area. Where were the sheep? The faster he found them the faster he could get back to the village and get rid of Frey, who had latched onto him the second he found out that Johan was going out of the village alone.

“You blame yourself.” Frey said simply, coming closer with a smile.

Johan huffed.

“I killed a lot of people, Frey, and I didn’t even know! It’s not like I’m blaming myself for no reason, Signe got back to the village with a whole new necklace!” Johan yelled, finally reaching his limit.

“Wooo!” Frey cheered and Johan stopped in his tracks, head snapping around to see Frey clapping and nodding. He gritted his teeth in an attempt to ground himself, anger clouding his vision but Frey just kept going. “There we go! That’s good, Johan. Let it all out, then-”

Johan swung the staff at him, vision red with anger.

-but instead of hitting Frey, it passed right through him. Johan stood there, frozen in the last movement of the hit, as the Frey in front of him disappeared like mist.

He closed his eyes and took a deep, calming breath, trying to control his anger before he did something he would regret.

“I knew you were going to do that.” Frey said smugly from behind him as Johan straightened up. “It helped you be less angry, right?”

“Actually hitting something would help me more.” Johan answered with a pleasant smile, turning calmly to look at him.

Frey changed the subject. “Why are we on this mountain anyways?”

So that was the end of the whole ‘Forgive Note’ conversation then. At least for now, there was no doubt in Johan’s mind that Frey would bring it up again.

“Hilda wants a sheep for the wedding, so I’m here to get one from the herd.” Johan started walking again again. “Apparently it’s for some tradition.”

“There are sheep just walking around freely on the mountains?” Frey asked incredulously.

“Of course, why wouldn’t they be?”

“Won’t they run away?”

“To where?” Johan asked rhetorically. “We’re on a mountain on an island.”

Frey stared at him for a moment and crossed his arms. “...Don’t act as if you knew that before you moved here.”

“Of course I did.” Johan found out while he was adventuring.

“Hey isn’t this wool?” Johan turned to see Frey crouched by a bush. “That means they’re close right?”

“Not necessarily.”

Frey groaned. “How long are we going to do this?”

“Just leave already.” Johan snapped. He had taken the chore to get away from people, not so he could get to hear Frey complain in yet another new and exciting area!

Suddenly a pained bleat cried through the air.

A sheep!

Without a second thought Johan ran after it.

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“Hey! Wait for me!” Frey cried out from behind.

Johan ignored him and followed the bleat. He ran up the hill, finding a meadow at the top-

He stopped in his tracks. The green grass was covered in red. The liquid dripped lazily from the colorful flowers.

Oh, something bad had happened here.

There was enough blood for a whole herd of sheep, yet there wasn’t a single one, dead or alive, in sight.

Then another bleat filled the air, weaker this time.

That’s when he saw it.

He sucked in a breath. Frey ran up beside him only to jerk back at the sight, gasping loudly.

“What is that?!” Frey hissed, grabbing Johan’s arm tightly.

All over at the very edge of the meadow, by the treeline, was a very familiar creature. A huge, creamy-yellow and almost skin-like creature, and right there, halfway inside it’s stomach was the point of their quest, a sheep bleating for its life.

“Grassman.” Johan replied, careful to keep his voice low. It didn’t have ears so it couldn’t hear them but it was an incredibly sensitive creature, if they spoke too loudly it would feel the vibrations through the air or the ground and attack them. “It’s grown too big, it’s not rooted to the ground anymore.”

“That can happen?!” Frey whispered loudly, staring wide-eyed at Johan.

“Over enough time and with enough food, yeah.” He let out something between a groan and a sigh. “This isn’t good, we need that sheep.”

Looking at all the blood covering the meadow, that sheep could very well be the last of the herd.

They couldn’t just ignore the grassman either, in case it went to the village. An unrooted grassman could be devastating.

He looked at Frey, still cowering behind him, clutching Johan’s arm against his chest like a shield.

“We haven’t actually fought together before, have we?” Johan asked with a grin. He had seen Frey in action, even fought against him when they were younger, but they had never fought side by side before. With his daggers, Frey was a close-range fighter, perfect to have him get close and hack the sheep out of the grassman. “You take the monster, I’ll grab the sheep.”

At his words, Frey stopped cowering, eyes widening. Then a similar grin found its way to his face, a dangerous glint in his eyes. “Well… There’s a first time for everything. Let’s make it the last one too.”

Johan nodded. “Never again.”

With that they set off, Frey jumping into the fight like nothing Johan had ever seen before.

He used his ability to copy himself to bring himself closer to the monster at an incredible speed, a new copy appearing every few meters and immediately disappearing as the next one appeared ahead.

Johan snorted. Better get the distraction in place before Frey got himself killed. With a flick of his wrists his ribbons flew past Frey and grabbed onto the trees behind the monster.

And then he was in the air.

The grassman made an earth-shaking roar and Johan felt a deep rush went through him. A wide grin spread across his face and then he was there.

He stomped the monster right in the head, throwing the creature off balance just in time for Frey to jump in, his dagger stabbing right into the large stomach. The monster’s roar and the sheep’s panicked bleat mixing throughout the meadow.

With a pull of his ribbons and a push of his feet the grassman toppled, Frey following with his dagger still deep into inside it, digging through the root to free the sheep.

Johan jumped back and summoned his own dagger before landing heavily on his feet in front of Frey, stumbling only a little as his feet hit the hard root exterior of the monster. He quickly dropped to one knee and stabbed the dagger in beside Frey’s. The sheep rapidly hit its small front legs against the monster, like it was trying to run away.

Johan dragged the dagger back with all his strength and made barely any progress as Frey sawed his way through.

Then the monster started fighting back.

“Hold it down!” Frey yelled as they rocked.

“Shhh, it’s ok. We’re gonna get you out.” Johan comforted the small sheep with a pet on the head before sending out the ribbon around the nearest trees to pin down the monster properly.

He groaned as the monster fought, pulling hard against the ribbons and where it wrapped around his arm.

It roared and for a long second all they could was hold onto the hilts of their daggers, still deep in the skin, as it resisted, until finally it stilled.

Johan threw Frey a grin.

“Shut up!” Frey yelled at him. Johan let out a breathless laugh as he repeatedly stabbed into the monster. They were making progress, making sure the sheep didn’t get pulled in while they worked.

But they had forgotten something.

“Oofh-” Something slammed into him from the side and suddenly he was weightless, his grip on the knife was gone along with the ground beneath him. Then he slammed against something.

He yelled as his head bounced off it and somehow the next time his body hit the ground it hurt even more.

“Johan!”

Johan struggled to suck in air as he came to a stop, the world spinning as he pushed up on all four.

“I’m fine.” He coughed out weakly, too quiet for Frey to hear across the field but it didn’t matter. He flinched as burning, hot hands grabbed his head and shoulder, pushing him up on his knees. Johan forced his eyes open to see Frey crouched in front of him.

“Shit.” Frey muttered, feeling the back of Johan’s head. “I can’t believe you got this hurt by a grassman.”

Johan’s eyes cleared up just in time to see something coming right at them.

“Watch out!” But it was too late. Right in front of his eyes, the vine came right through Frey and Johan’s heart stopped. Blood spewed out Frey’s mouth, warm drops hitting Johan’s face and he almost fell as the hand pushing at his shoulder dropped. He jerked forward to grab the falling man, but all he caught was dust. Like sand it fell through his fingers before getting caught in the wind and blowing away.

Oh...thank Jotun. Johan breathed out, eyes still wide open. Frey didn’t die, it was just a copy. He closed his eyes and swallowed. Frey wasn’t dead.

He opened his eyes, the monster was still struggling on the ground, vines flying through the air at light speed around it. That must have been what threw Johan off, a lucky hit. Frey was hacking at them left and right. The sheep was almost free but was forgotten in the fray.

That thing. Johan steamed. It almost killed Frey. If that was the original he would be dead now. Johan felt anger flow through him. That thing needed to die. Now.

An unfamiliar feeling flowed through him. Warm and comforting.

He pushed himself back to his feet with only a small struggle. A feeling of being elevated taking over.

A small window of opportunity appeared and Frey freed the sheep before the vines started up again.

The sheep fell to the ground, legs running wildly in the air.

Johan slowly drew back his ribbon and watched as the monster raised back up. His eyes unfocused, it was like he was watching everything from somewhere else.

Yet he had never felt more in control.

Johan punched the ground, watching it ripple like water, growing bigger and stronger as it closed in on the monster.

He got to his feet, never letting his eyes off of the creature. A bright light filled the left part of his vision and a familiar weight settled in his hand. He waved his hand, somehow knowing exactly what to do. A sharp rock of the mountain broke free from the dirt and grass.

The grassman thrived in dirt. Take that away and it was cornered.

Vines shot at Johan from all sides but he easily cut them down.

“What are you doing?!” Frey yelled at him over all the noise.

“Get ready!” Johan yelled back. “Cut it when it’s in the air!”

“In the air- Oh my god!”

Johan didn’t pause. With a pull he was back in the air. His ribbons wrapped around the monster, and with a hard pull of his hand the rock stabbed into it. Right then Johan pulled with all his might, twisting in the air, and with both the forces together, the big monster lost contact with the dirt.

“Now!” Johan yelled as he barreled down towards the ground. He reached his hands to break his fall, but instead the ground came faster. His powers connected the second skin touched rock.

In the split second between touch and landing, Johan saw Frey run at the monster.

Then everything went black.