I was sitting in the corner of the kitchen now, with my head down. I wasn't able to tell if hours or minutes had passed. It appeared that the Gunt-Mahn spirit had long since left, its purpose fulfilled. I was in full control over my actions again and my mind didn't feel quite so cloudy anymore. If I had to guess, it probably just wrote me off as dead as soon as Celeste ingested me. Looking back on it, that entire situation should've scared the shit out of me. Maybe I'm lucky to be alive, but then again, if I was lucky at all, this thing wouldn't have even visited in the first place.

 Lost in my thoughts, I was startled to notice Celeste's blood was slowly creeping up to me again. Of course, I was already coated in it, but to linger in it seemed... wrong. I didn't want to touch any more of it. The image of the stuff pouring out of her neck, her eyes half-open, focused on nothing in particular, wasn't something I think I'll ever forget. There's no two ways about it-- she was dead.

 The front door in the living room creaked open, but the silence of the place combined with my diminutive stature seemed to amplify the sound many orders of magnitude than it should've.

 I gasped, and jumped up from my spot. Was the Gunt-Mahn back? If so, why didn't it just phase through the door like it did the first time? My questions were soon answered as Remura made her way into the kitchen. She didn't react like I did when I exited Celeste's mouth, no, she just stood silently, taking in the scene as calmly as possible. Her eyes did seem to be widened in surprise and horror, though, and her expression was shocked. Eventually, though, I started to make my way towards her, and she noticed me right away.

 "Shute! Are you okay? What happened?" Remura asked, her concern temporarily overriding her usual shy persona.

 "I'm..." I tried to answer, and found the words difficult to form. My throat felt dry, and then... it hit me like a ton of bricks. I'd almost died, and Celeste did die.

 By the time I reached Remura's feet, I just collapsed and started weeping from it all. Everything. From Celeste's behavior, to her cruel actions against living things my size, and finally, the near death experience. I harbored no ill will against Celeste since she never truly intended to harm me or do any serious damage, but my first night in this cottage was a traumatic one in every sense of the word.

 Remura knelt down, and scooped me up wordlessly. I was then lifted and held next to her sternum, and held in place with both of her hands in some manner of hug only a giant person could share with a smaller one. Of course, every time I make skin to skin contact with Remura felt cold, but I could tell she had a warm soul.

 After a minute, Remura spoke up, "Everything's going to be okay, Shute. I'm here. Take your time, and fill me in on the details once you're able..."

 I nodded my head once she was watching me again.

 "In the meantime... Well..." Remura trailed off.

 I was then placed carefully on the kitchen table.

 "I'm not like Celeste," Remura continued, "she's good with the healing magic. I'm not able to cast anything Holy, being... well, you know..." Remura gestured to herself.

 "Um..." I wondered where she was going with this.

 "She's able to cast Revival magics, which is fairly rare to find. I'm a more twisted version of that, though, Shute..."

 Remura produced an old tome from her backpack, and cracked it open in her left hand.

 "Have... have you heard of necromancy...?" Remura sheepishly asked. Her shy attitude seemed to be coming back.

 "I... uh... overheard your conversation with Celeste back when I was hiding in the bandit's wallet," I admitted.

 "Well... um. What do you think of them?" Remura asked, averting her gaze and biting her lip nervously.

 "To be honest, I only know what others have told me... It's never anything, well, good," I admitted. There was no point in lying. Remura looked quite a bit saddened by my answer as I spoke, so I decided to try and reassure her. "B-but, after meeting you, I think I had the wrong impression. You're very gentle with me, and you seem kind."

 Remura cracked a wide grin at that. "T-thank you, Shute... We're not, um... all bad. J-just like all priests and clerics aren't always good."

 Heh. That's an understatement. But I wanted to get something out in the open.

 "Remura, wait a second, please," I pleaded. "I think I'm able to... fill you in on what happened."

 Remura closed her tome, and turned her full attention on me. "Y-yes...?"

 ~~~

 "... and that's when you got here," I concluded. 

 I'd gone over everything that happened since I'd awoken in the middle of the night, all of my encounters with Celeste, the spider, the other man, and the Gunt-Mahn. Throughout the whole thing, Remura just stared at me, mortified.

 "I... I had... no idea she would... I thought I could trust..." Remura trembled over her own words. She seemed particularly stressed about Celeste's darker side. Apparently she had no idea Celeste was a sadist in secret. She just assumed she was more spunky than anything else.

 Remura looked back to Celeste's corpse, and then to me again. I knew what she was going to ask without her even asking. Was I comfortable with her reanimating Celeste? Honestly I'd be fine if Celeste were brought back to life completely, because Remura promised me she'd never leave me alone again.

 "It's okay, do what you will," I spoke up, "But... what exactly happens when you reanimate someone with Necromancy?"

 Remura replaced her concerned look on her face with a bit more of an unreadable expression. "Um... well, there's several types of ways to bring back the dead... I'm going to use the strongest one I know, but..."

 "But?"

 Remura looked embarassed to even say it. "This type of reanimation brings the soul back into their body, but they're... completely bound to my will..."

 "What exactly does being bound to your will mean?" I asked.

 My question seemed to cause Remura even more distress. "It... it means she's... going to be aware of everything, where she's at, and all... but she can't act without um... my permission, basically. I-I can't control her thoughts or anything but I'll mentally have to manage her for as long as this spell is active, which is... basically until I die, or want to stop..."

 "Remura, you seem... uhh..."

 "Yes, I am. I hate being in positions of power over anyone, it makes me... feel... well, not good," Remura lamented.

 Something dawned on me. Remura had been acting rather skittish around me ever since we met. Was she afraid of the difference in our power? I decided to test it.

 "So is that why you're so tense around me?" I asked.

 Remura jolted slightly, as if she'd been hit with a static shock. "I-is it t-that obvious...? I-I don't like being... intimidating, or dominant.. like, at all..."

 I sighed. So, that's why. I needed to handle this, if I could.

 "Listen... Ms. Remura, I already know what it's like to be, well... dominated. In the short time I've known you, I've only felt comfort from you. You go out of your way to speak to me as an equal, and I appreciate you for it," I explained.

 "...you're sure you're... not secretly scared of me, are you?"

 "In no way, shape, or form. Not because of size, or because you're a necromancer, nor even because you're a vampire. I hate to say it, but you do have a lot of power over me, even if I weren't shrunken as I currently am. Your words and actions have all given me every reason to trust you, and I want you to try and relax, like you keep trying to relax me." I monolouged.

 "... heh... It's kind of funny how you're the one having to... um, comfort me," Remura replied, trying to sound more cheerful.

 It was a strange situation, to be sure. But I'd told the truth. 

 I motioned towards Celeste. "So..."

 Remura nodded, and restarted her incantation.

 Soon, a glowing pentagram spawned on the floor underneath Celeste, and all of her blood began to seep back into her body. It began to flake off of me and my clothes, as well, and floated back down to the floor to join the rest. After a minute, Celeste began to twitch, before getting up from the floor with her hands and knees, then stood on her feet once more.

 "I don't have to say this out loud, Celeste, but until further notice, you have full permission to speak," Remura announced, looking guilty for even having to bestow someone the permission to talk.

 "Ah, you're home, Remura! Permission to hug?" zombie Celeste asked.

 Zombie... Celeste... Zeleste? Yeah. I like that.

 "Soon, but... I want you to... um..." Remura pointed to me, and Zeleste looked at me, shocked. She hadn't noticed me until now.

 "Shute! You're... but... I... I ate you! How did you...?" Zeleste stammered, obviously flustered.

 "I was able to crawl back out your throat after you... uh..." I trailed off. I think she got the point. The esophagus is a lot easier to climb back out of when the consumer isn't still alive or constantly swallowing their own spit.

 "... oh! Haha. I was wondering~" Zeleste replied, implying something I'd rather not think about right now. Or ever.

 "So, Celeste... I'm not going to command this because it would take the meaning out of it, but... you need to apologize to Shute. He told me everything he's been through since he's gotten here already," Remura spoke up in my defense. Zeleste looked like she'd been caught with her hand in the cookie jar.

 This was a fairly awkward situation. I didn't want to confront Zeleste about what had happened.

 "It's oka--" I tried to interject, but Remura suddenly stamped her foot, catching me off-guard.

 "Like Hell it is!" Remura interrupted, in a very uncharacteristic display of assertiveness for once. I suppose my stunned expression brought her back to reality, because she followed up with an apology. "S-sorry!... I mean, no it's not okay... She did some awful things to you, Shute."

 Zeleste was twirling her hair in one finger. "Okay, okay. I'm actually sorry to the both of you. For Shute, I shouldn't have put you through all of those things to satisfy my ego. And Remura, I'm sorry I kept my sadist acts hidden from you, as well as tormenting your new man."

 New man? What?

 "...way to call me out like that, Celeste. Please be more considerate before I make you mute for awhile," Remura muttered under her breath.

 Zeleste walked over and hugged Remura from the side since she was done with her apology. "Just tell him already, damn."

 "Um... yes?" I asked, "Tell me...?"

  "..." Remura paused for a long time.

 "Shute, I've been telepathically commanded to speak for Remura instead," Zeleste announced, causing Remura to slap her face. If that's the case, then Remura wanted to be subtle about it, but Zeleste seemed to be a blabber-mouth. "Remura likes you, like... affectionately, you dummy."

 "... O-oh.." I was honestly surprised. I mean, maybe not too entirely surprised. She did seem nervous around me, a lot.

 "I-is that okay, Shute..? Your reaction just then..." Remura spoke softly, starting to sound let down.

 "N-no it's perfectly fine! I just... our size difference, and... um," I began to make excuses. But it was time to say the hard stuff. "I also hadn't considered it because you're actually extremely attractive. Way above my league..."

 Both Zeleste and Remura just stared at me like I'd had an alien burst out of my chest.

 Zeleste was the first to speak up after a moment of silence, though. "Hey, hi Shute! I understand your reasoning, I honestly do. But," Zeleste leaned in closer towards me for a dramatic emphasis and whispered, "I don't think Remura cares about leagues or whatever the Hell else you're probably telling yourself in your head. Just give her a chance, pretty please?"

 This was surreal. I haven't known Remura but for like a day and I'm already being shipped with her? I mean, I had a very great first impression of her and she was definitely my type. Do these women really not socialize very much? It's a silly question I asked myself-- they seemed like the solitary type. I highly doubt any human settlements would readily welcome a vampire and the Dark Lord's offspring in with open arms.

 I looked at Remura's eyes, and she bashfully averted her gaze. I searched my heart for a moment, and I came up with the conclusion: I really had nothing to lose.

 "I-I'm fine with it, if you're fine with me, Remura," I finally replied.

 Remura returned her gaze and beamed a very warm looking smile. "O-of c-course I am!"

~