Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

For Aster, things couldn’t be going any worse. Sure, she was no stranger to the cruel ways of her kingdom and its rulers, and she had been forced to endure countless punishments for her existence from the moment of her birth. She was what was commonly referred to as a Defect, someone whose genes didn’t turn out quite right. It altered her enough that she was used to the abuse by now, but nothing amounted to what had taken place that day.

It was a rare occurrence where she wasn’t gawked at, cursed at, or shoved to the ground once or twice a day. Being homeless in the streets of Vierra didn’t exactly provide much protection, and her shocking violet irises did her no favors. It wasn’t even an hour ago that a group of drunk men found her after exiting a pub. It wasn’t too bad at first until one of them pulled out a pocket knife.

Now, Aster was on the run, and she could only pray that the fear of the dangers outside of the kingdom walls would dissuade her torturers from pursuing her any further. At the very least, it would be difficult to find her with how large the forest was. Given the amount of blood she had lost, however, losing their trail might not be good enough. In her panicked state, she had hardly even spared a thought about what beings reside among the very wilderness she was stumbling through.

Sam couldn’t have been more content with his life. Residing in the wilderness surrounding the kingdom of Vierra, he was one of the strongest nagas in the area. His territory, for the most part, was undisturbed, and there were plenty of foolish humans to sate his appetite. What more could anyone desire?

He was pondering this very question one afternoon as he basked in the bright sunlight. It had been several days since he last encountered any humans, so he was beginning to grow hungry again, but that was his only complaint. A complaint that, surely, would be dealt with in the near future. Yes, Sam’s life was perfect just as it was, and he had no desire to change it.

His enhanced hearing picked up the sound of a struggle in the distance. It was undoubtedly a human, with the way they were foolishly crashing through the foliage. A devilish smile tugged at his lips. Honestly, it was no wonder they were so low on the food chain. It was too easy a meal to pass up.

Thanks to his smooth scales, Sam was nearly silent as he navigated his way through his territory. He usually had to venture out farther to hunt, but he wasn’t complaining. The scent of fresh blood overwhelmed his senses, making his stomach growl in anticipation, but Sam was patient. So far, his prey wasn’t aware of his presence, and he wanted to keep it that way.

Then, at long last, the creature burst through a patch of overgrown brush. She was small, easy to snatch up and swallow down without a care. Sam grinned before lunging forward.

He moved in a blur, capturing her waist in his clawed hands before she had a chance to react. She was barely even the length of his arm. When he got a clear view of her face, however, he froze.

She was younger than his typical prey. While Sam wouldn’t consider himself to be someone with the strongest moral compass in the world, he did try to avoid consuming anything young enough to be considered a child. That wasn’t what made him pause, though. It wasn’t even her startlingly violet eyes. Rather, it was that one of her eyes was completely missing. The left side of her face was covered in blood, and the poor thing looked like she’d been beaten to a pulp. It was amazing that she had even made it this far.

Aster, on the other hand, was too worn out to bother fighting back against the creature that had found her. It was a naga. A very, very large naga with deep green scales, wickedly sharp claws, and a mouthful of pointed teeth and fangs. He had a surprisingly young face, resembling someone who might be in their early to mid-twenties, with curling brown hair and narrowed green eyes. It was mildly disorienting seeing the jarring difference between his torso and, well…tail. She should have been far more afraid of him than she was of the people who were chasing her. People that the creature holding her could swallow whole like it was nothing.

He inspected her curiously, a claw-tipped finger carefully brushing her hair away from the now-destroyed side of her face. What had once been a look of hunger was replaced by what could only be described as disgust.

“What on earth did they do to you?” He muttered.

“P-please-” she gasped, pain tearing through her body in another agonizing wave. At this point, passing out would have been a blessing. “Please don't let them take me.”

Kill me, she’d almost said, but was too afraid of what type of method a naga would choose. Would being eaten alive be more painful than being slowly cut to pieces? The question was enough to make her tremble in fear.

Sam’s eyes widened a fraction when he noticed the sound of more movement in the distance, as well as a chorus of slurred voices. The girl he held whimpered, and he was overwhelmed with rage. She couldn’t be more than seventeen. He’d heard rumors of the horrid things that humans had a habit of doing to their own kind, but he had never seen something as vile as this.

“No,” he snapped, immediately regretting it when he saw her flinch. “They won’t touch you again. I’ll be sure of that.”

As he carefully placed the girl on the ground, he couldn’t help but be startled by his own behavior. She was young, yes, but she was close enough to being an adult that he could certainly come up with a good case for eating her regardless. But seeing something so innocent be tortured in such a way…it was beyond disturbing. Sam, at the very least, would have made things painless for her if he were to change his mind. And he was viewed as the monster!

Glancing down, he took another look at the poor girl’s mutilated face and made up his mind. She had already suffered enough. The thought of causing more harm to the small thing made him feel ill. Her pursuers, however, were a different story.

Aster swayed lightly on her feet and, without thinking, leaned against the large naga for support. He jolted at the touch, but he didn’t pull back or push her away. To her surprise, his scales weren’t cold. In fact, they felt as if they were radiating heat. It seeped deep into her bones, and her eyelid began to grow heavy. Maybe at long last, she would fall unconscious. After all, he hadn’t killed her yet. That had to be a good sign, right?

Any hope she had for her life, however, vanished as she caught sight of the group of men who had assaulted her. Despite the way her vision swam before her, Aster frantically tried to throw herself over the mysterious naga’s coils, but they were too large, and she was too exhausted. She whimpered, now resorting to cowering as close to the naga as possible. To her surprise, she felt a large, steady hand encompass her back, holding her stable.

She glanced up to see him staring down at her intensely. Strangely enough, she felt no fear underneath his gaze. He felt far safer than the angry group that was growing nearer and nearer.

“Easy there,” he murmured. “You’re only going to injure yourself further.”

All of the sudden, almost gentleness to his actions vanished quickly upon the official arrival of Vierra’s finest. They all came to a halt, although their drunkenness nearly had some of them tumbling onto their asses. There were six of them in total, and a low hiss from Aster’s maybe-savior had them shaking in their boots.

Sam felt nothing but burning hatred as he took in the sight before him. They were a crowd of drunken fools, one of them even clutching a bloody pocket knife in his hand. He held them captive with his threatening stare, manipulating their fear to make it exceptionally difficult to break free from his eventual grasp. There were very few nagas who were capable of such a thing, and Sam happened to be fairly skilled at it. It was one of the things that typically led creatures to avoid his territory.

He could devour them all right there, making them endure a fate far more painful than the one they’d afflicted. That, and it would do wonders for his hunger. Sam began salivating heavily at the thought, his mouth twisting into a wicked smile. His stomach growled lowly as he imagined it. It seemed like the perfect solution. That is, until he heard the small sound of fear coming from the tiny thing cowering against him.

He had expected to find her eye glued to her attackers. Oddly enough, she hadn’t behaved as if she feared him at all. All she seemed to care about was the band of idiots that chased her there. This time, though, her remaining functional eye was on him, and he immediately felt horribly guilty. Did she think that he was about to kill her?

Sam realized then that even if he desperately wanted to, he couldn’t eat them. Not with her watching. She had already faced enough that day, and seeing the thing that saved her devouring six human beings without a moment of hesitation was not going to help. He couldn’t explain why, but something about the small thing was tugging at his heart. She was so helpless. It just didn’t feel right.

That, and she looked like she was about to keel over. If he didn’t do something, she wouldn’t have much time left.

He looked each of them in the eyes, fighting back the urge to snatch up them all. Such a waste of perfect prey, but it couldn’t be helped.

“If any one of you so much as lays a finger on her again,” he growled, “I will take great pleasure in swallowing you alive, and your death will be much worse than the unspeakable things you’ve done to her.”

It did the trick. They fled, screeching like banshees. Fucking cowards.

Sam turned to the girl, whose drastic blood loss was quickly catching up to her. In all honesty, putting her out of her misery could be considered a mercy. He could get her down within seconds, and thanks to his exceptional control over his body, he could ensure that she didn’t feel a thing. It would be like falling asleep, really. Nothing horrific to make Sam question his morality. She was fairly small, but she would at least put a dent into his hunger until he could find something more filling. This made far more sense than trying to save the poor thing.

He swiftly plucked her up from the ground, his mind set, but one look at her face made his stomach twist painfully.

She was even paler now, her breathing noticeably weaker, and he didn’t doubt that she would collapse if he tried to set her on her feet. It would take a miracle to save her life, and it was a miracle that he was capable of giving. But at what cost? What on earth would he do with her after?

Her tiny voice startled him from his thoughts.

“Please,” she all but whispered. “Please do it quickly. Everything already hurts so much.”

And just like that, all of his previous justifications only made him feel ill. He couldn’t, not now.

Sam sighed heavily. Would he end up regretting this? Absolutely, but was he going to do it anyway? Unfortunately so.

“Look…” he started, suddenly all the more aware of how much blood the girl was losing. She was covered in it, and it wasn’t stopping. There wasn’t much time. “I…I’m going to help you. But you can’t struggle, okay? You’re going to want to, but you have to hold still. You’ll only hurt yourself.”

He contemplated saying more. There was so much that should be said, but she was hardly conscious as it was, and she practically had one foot in the grave. Explanations were pointless to her now. They could wait.

So, without another moment’s hesitation, he opened his jaws and began to carefully ease her little body inside. The taste of her blood assaulted his senses in a way that had all of his predatory instincts screaming. His mouth was watering excessively, and he barely restrained himself from moaning in ecstasy. He wanted to savor the moment, to keep tasting the hot, addictive blood of his prey that was surprisingly sweet, and it was more than plentiful. It took a great deal of effort to snap out of it, and he swallowed quickly before his focus could slip even further.

The girl was drawn effortlessly into his esophagus, and a few more strong swallows were enough to seal her in completely. To his relief, she didn’t fight against the powerful muscles. Then again, she might have been too weak to even try, but this way, he at least wouldn’t hurt her.

He raised a hand to the lump in his throat, tracing its descent down to his chest. It felt euphoric, but she wasn’t going to the place that his body was craving for. Sam didn’t make a habit of denying his instincts, but this one time, he was determined to make an exception.

- - -

Aster woke with a groan, her entire body aching. The left side of her face was the worst, a startling reminder of the unimaginable torture she’d just endured.

To her surprise, however, it wasn’t only the left side of her vision that was missing. She couldn’t see at all. Her body was in a loose curl, and something had her held snugly in place. Panic began to overtake her as she attempted to push back against the walls around her, and the combination of the soft, slick walls, along with the low groan that echoed around her, gave away exactly where she was.

She was in the naga’s stomach. It had decided to consume her after all, and she was about to die a death more painful than anything those men were capable of.

The wall that she was resting against suddenly pushed back at her, and she shrieked.

“Calm down, child,” the naga said, his voice echoing all around her. “You’re not in any danger. I have no desire to hurt you. Quite the opposite, actually.”

“W-what are you talking about?” She stammered, her heart beating erratically in her chest as she fought to pull air into her lungs. “That’s impossible. This is a trick.”

She felt him bristle around her. “A trick, hm? If I intended to kill you, then why are your injuries miraculously survivable now? You sure sound more alive than you were a few hours ago.”

“Hours? I’ve been in here for hours? How? You ate me!”

“Technically, yes. But you’re in my first stomach, so you’re completely safe. On the contrary, I’ve been healing you.”

Much to Aster’s surprise, this sounded familiar. She thought back on any and all information she’d ever learned about nagas, realizing that she recalled some of the strange details of their anatomy. Nagas had two stomachs. One in their tail for digestion, and another one in their human torso for storage. But healing had never been a part of that lesson.

“How are you healing me?” She asked quietly. “I…I don't understand.”

Sam sighed. “I suppose you could say that I am not your typical naga. One of my ancestors was experimented on by human scientists hundreds of years ago, so now my bloodline is a bit…odd. I can do things that most nagas can’t, like healing things within my first stomach.”

“So…you’re magical?”

Sam frowned. She was much more chatty when she wasn’t half dead, and he wasn’t sure whether or not he cared for it. “I am not magical. I’m enhanced. Genetically altered.”

“Huh,” she mused. She never thought that she would try to have an active conversation with the thing literally holding her within his stomach, but something about the naga felt oddly comforting. “The enhanced naga saved the defective human. Kind of poetic, if you think about it.”

“Defected?” Sam raised an eyebrow. “What is a defective human?”

“Oh…you didn’t know?” She asked, her tone turning wary. What if this made him change his mind about saving her life? He could very well adopt the feelings of the rest of Vierra. “Um…it’s a human whose genes didn’t come out quite right. That’s why they attacked me.”

“What could possibly be so off about you that made you deserving of that?”

“My body is really weak,” she said. “Like, I get sick all of the time, and my bones are really fragile. When you caught me, I had several fractured ribs just from a single kick. We’re considered the trash of society, parasites to the fully functional. Our eyes give us away, so there’s no way to blend in. As you can imagine, we usually don't live very long. I’m practically a miracle.”

Sam peered down at the small bulge in his middle, a look of utter disbelief on his face.

“That’s why they attacked you? Because you’re not as strong as they are? I will never understand humans.” He paused then, overcome with sympathy for the little human who was cast aside simply for existing.

He gently rested his hand on his stomach, a surprisingly protective feeling washing over him as he thought about the frail little body he was currently housing.

“What’s your name?” He murmured.

“Aster,” she said softly. With all of the healing that her body needed, it was surprising that she’d stayed awake this long at all. “What’s yours?”

“My name is Sam. Why don't you rest now, alright? You’ll heal faster.”

She moved around for a moment before settling down again, this time tucked beneath the place where Sam’s hand still rested. “Thank you for saving me. I’ve enjoyed the last half an hour with you much more than any time I’ve spent in Vierra.”

It didn’t even take a full minute for her to go still again, her breaths deepening as Sam’s body did what it could to care for its temporary guest. He let out a sigh of relief, although he wasn’t sure if it was for the silence or for the fact that Aster was all right. He shouldn’t care. He really shouldn’t have saved her at all, but the idea of her being back in Vierra with the people who had allowed this in the first place was far more disturbing.

What on earth was he going to do with her?

Chapter Text

When Sam first came across Aster’s barely breathing self about a month ago, he thought that he’d been handed the easiest meal of his life. What he never would have expected was to find himself worrying over the fate of the very same girl not even two months later. 

After saving her life, he’d found himself in quite a predicament. What on earth was he supposed to do with her? He couldn’t just send her back to Vierra. Not after learning about how people treated someone with her particular condition. According to Aster, the fact that she’d made it so late into her teens was a miracle in itself. To throw her back within their walls would be far crueler than killing her himself, and despite the fact that she talked much more than he would like, he didn’t want to cause her any more harm than she’d already had to endure. 

Thus, he found himself left with one option, and when she’d tearfully begged him for it herself, he couldn’t bring himself to say no. 

“This is a foolish idea,” he remarked dryly, making the little brunette bristle. 

“It’s not foolish, Sam!” She exclaimed, fixing him with a frustrated stare. 

Although his healing had brought Aster back from near death, it unfortunately could not restore her left eye. She’d managed to fashion herself a patch to cover it, but her still-functioning violet eye was more than capable of glaring daggers at him.

“Then do enlighten me, please, on how you walking into Vierra is a good idea.”

“Because I need things! I need extra food and clothes!” She then tugged lightly at the end of her braided hair, muttering, “And a hairbrush would be pretty nice.”

“And if you’re attacked?” He prodded while leaning back against his coils. His arms were crossed loosely over his chest.  “What then?”

“I’ll…be fast?”

Sam raised an eyebrow, slowly eyeing her up and down. “Yes, I can see this going well. A girl missing an eye who is not only a Defect but also has several angry villagers who would love to take a stab at her walks in, steals several items from a market, and walks back out. I don't know what could possibly go wrong.”

“I used to do this all the time, you know. How else do you think that I survived on the streets?” 

“You do realize that you’re slightly more noticeable now, right?”

“Well, it’s not like you can do it for me, can you?” Aster said. She crossed her own arms now, stubbornly matching his gesture. It wasn’t like she could just survive out in the forest the same way that he did. She had no desire to ever walk the streets of Vierra again, but she didn’t have a choice. “I’ll be fine. I’ll only be gone for a few hours.”

“Alright, fine,” Sam sighed, and his lips twisted into a wicked smirk. “While you’re at it, why don't you lure out a few prospects? I’m feeling a bit peckish.”

“Wh- no!” Aster stammered, and she scowled as he chuckled darkly to himself. “You promised that you wouldn’t make me help you hunt! It was one of the rules!”

He smiled thinly at her, taking in her scarlet cheeks and balled fists. To Sam, it was like a game, but to Aster, it was something much more complicated. She had no doubts that Sam wouldn’t hurt her, but it was still intimidating to be reminded of the naga’s typical diet. A diet that she qualified for.

Shortly after she began to live with the naga, she asked him to promise her three things: one, to never use her to hunt. Two, to at least try not to eat people in front of her, and three, to never consume any children. He had agreed to every single one without protest, but to Aster’s dismay, this did not stop him from teasing her about it.

“Oh, come now,” he said, the tip of his tail gently curling around her. “I won’t break any of your rules, Aster. There is no need to get so worked up.”

He looked at her for a long moment, his face growing serious. “Be careful, okay? If you don't come back within two hours, I’ll come looking for you myself, and I will not be held responsible for any human lives that are endangered.” 

“I’ll be fine, Sam,” she insisted before freeing herself from his coils. “Don't worry so much!”

And yet, as Aster departed toward the entrance of Vierra, all Sam could do was worry.

---

It had been nearly an hour and fifty minutes when Sam finally heard movement in the distance, and he was more than prepared to once again remind her of just how ridiculous this idea was until the scent of blood assaulted his senses.

He straightened up, his heart pounding in his chest as he quickly began moving closer to the scent. “Aster? Where are you?”

“Sam!” She shouted, and he finally caught sight of her in the distance. She looked worse for wear, with several scrapes and cuts along her arms and legs, a bloody nose, and what looked like a potentially broken wrist. Despite this, she was clutching a bundle of items to her chest triumphantly. “See! I told you I could do it!”

Sam swiftly took her stolen items and set them aside before carefully cradling her small face in his hands. There was dirt and mud smeared across her cheeks, and with how her eye patch was now awkwardly placed, it was clear that somebody had tried to rip it off. It ignited a burning rage deep within him, and homicidal fantasies danced through his brain.

“I know it looks bad,” she continued on, leaning her face against the palm of his hand. “But it’s okay. I’ve had way worse, honestly, and this time, I even got to punch someone in the face!” Her eye drifted down to her wrist, and she grimaced. “He…didn’t appreciate it.”

He gently brushed the swollen area with his claw-tipped fingers, and she whimpered at the touch. Definitely broken. 

“You’re an idiot,” he said softly. “They could have done so much worse, and you had no one there to help you. I mean, look at you.” He gestured lightly to her slightly bloodied frame. “Your body is fragile, Aster. If I pushed you over right now, your other wrist would probably snap like a twig.”

She glared at him pointedly, although she didn’t argue otherwise. Instead, she leaned tiredly against him as he continued to inspect her wounds. Right now, all Aster wanted to do was sleep. It could at least help drown out the pain for a little while.

“I’ll have to heal you,” he continued, to which Aster’s eye widened. “Yes…that’d be best…”

Sam trailed off suddenly as Aster shuddered harshly against him and stepped out of his grasp. Sure, his healing had been what saved her life when the pair met, but Sam’s version of healing was…odd, to say the least. Being a genetically enhanced naga, he had the ability to heal beings within his harmless first stomach. It had been her personal miracle, but that wasn’t enough to calm her now rapidly thudding heart.

Sam stared back at her, momentarily at a loss for words. Did she just flinch away from him? Was she afraid of him? He’d never gotten that impression before. Had he really missed the signs?

“Aster…are you alright?” He asked. His tone was noticeably cautious, as if speaking to a particularly startled animal.

She swallowed thickly, her eye momentarily dropping to his throat, but another look at the glimmer of hurt in his eyes brought her back.

“I’m sorry,” she said, her voice uncharacteristically soft. “Ah, it’s just that…well, the first time you did that, I was unconscious.”

Sam raised his eyebrows in surprise. “You’re afraid of being swallowed?”

She nodded silently, and his eyes softened. He reached out to her slowly, allowing his fingertips to lightly brush her cheek when she didn’t draw back.

“I will be more gentle with you than I ever have with anything in my life,” he murmured. “You will not be harmed in any way, and I promise that it will be over quickly. Will you trust me?”

“Okay,” she said, taking a somewhat hesitant step toward him. “I’ll trust you.”

He waited a moment, giving Aster a chance to change her mind before carefully lifting her off the ground. She looked impossibly smaller like this, his hands circling around her middle with ease. Her slightly battered state wasn’t helping, and he struggled to ignore the burning rage that flared up as he took in every cut and bruise. But that was why he was doing this. Maybe he couldn’t get back at her attackers, but he could heal the damage that they’d done. It didn’t feel like it was enough, but it would have to be.

He rested his forehead against hers, and he couldn’t help but wonder how on earth a chatty human like her had managed to win his affections. 

“Close your eye and try to stay still,” he said, and a small tremor went through her. He drew away until their gazes locked. “I would never harm you, Aster. You are perfectly safe.”

She gave a little nod, and her eye fell closed. Sam gathered her closer still, opening his jaws impossibly wide as he gently lowered Aster’s legs into his mouth. 

Her flavor was intoxicating, and saliva flooded his mouth when he caught a hint of the coppery taste of her blood. But this wasn’t ordinary prey, he had to remind himself. This was Aster, and she was hurt. Nothing about this should be pleasurable for him. He pushed down his predatory instincts with some difficulty, instead focusing on taking a slow, single swallow that tugged her calves into his throat. 

A small gasp escaped her as he swallowed again, her hips disappearing into his tight, hot esophagus. The sensations were unbelievably overwhelming, and even though she knew that this was Sam and she was safe, it was impossible to dismiss the small remnants of fear as her body continued to slip away. Telling her to close her eye had been a saving grace because she wasn’t sure if she could handle watching herself disappear past the pointed teeth that his tongue was currently shielding her from. 

She held her injured wrist to her chest, her body trembling slightly as she waited for the swallow that would draw her all the way in, but she was nearly startled when Sam gently stroked her back with his clawed fingertips. An intense calm flowed through her, and she released a shaky breath as she focused only on Sam. Her friend, the same person who saved her life in a very similar manner. This next part would undoubtedly be a bit painful, but it was going to be okay.

Sam waited until he felt her relax against him before he continued. He then swallowed as carefully as possible, drawing the rest of her, including her broken wrist, into his mouth. He knew that this part likely would not be pleasant for her, and he avoided brushing against it as he slicked her up for the rest of her relatively short journey. He truly did wish that there was another way, but this was the best that he could do. So, with as much gentle care as he could muster, he swallowed a final time.

She was pulled smoothly into his throat, becoming completely enveloped by the dark, almost smothering heat of the naga’s body, but he didn’t miss her sharp whimper of pain as the broken bones in her little wrist were massaged firmly. 

He quickly brought his hand to his throat, guilt tearing through him relentlessly. “It’s okay, you’re okay,” he soothed as the rest of her reached his chest cavity. “It’s almost over. I promise.”

True to his word, it was only moments later that Aster found herself sliding into a slightly larger space. It was exactly how she remembered it being, with damp walls and a more pleasant heat that sunk deep into her bones. There were no acids, no crushing walls. Just gentle pressure along with the occasional satisfied gurgle or groan. 

She shook lightly as her body settled into a loose curl, her wrist still pulsating painfully. When she felt the wall her back was resting against push back at her, she nearly yelped in surprise until she heard Sam’s calming voice.

“It’s alright,” he said softly as he rubbed at the small bulge in his middle. “It’s just me. It’s all over.”

He could feel each of her little tremors beneath his fingertips, but he knew that it was only a matter of time until his body got to work at healing her various injuries. Within a couple of hours, her wrist would be as good as new, every cut closed and bruise faded. She would probably be lulled to sleep for the majority of the time, but making sure she felt safe before then was crucial. With Aster’s condition, there wasn’t a doubt in his mind that this was going to become a frequent scenario for the both of them, and the last thing he wanted was for it to be something that frightened her. 

“Just try to relax,” he continued. He wasn’t used to trying to comfort someone, but he sure as hell was trying his best. To his relief, after he spoke to her, the trembling seemed to have lessened. “I know that hurt, but I promise the pain will go away soon.”

Sam continued to murmur reassurances to her as Aster finally started to settle down, and he didn’t stop until he felt her heart rate slow again and her muscles relax. He nearly sighed in relief but froze when he heard her somewhat muffled voice.

“Sam?” She whispered, pressing back hesitantly at what she could only assume was his hand. “What’s going to happen now?”

“My body will start to heal you. It’ll probably make you feel sleepy, so don't be alarmed if you start to fall asleep. Just let it happen. You’ll be completely safe.”

She leaned into his touch, letting the soothing motion dispel the remainder of her fears. Sure, being swallowed may not have been the most pleasant experience, but that was primarily due to her broken wrist, which had already stopped hurting. In fact, all of the damaged parts of her body had. 

She burrowed herself closer, letting her eye fall shut as the sounds and sensations of Sam’s body lulled her to sleep, and she couldn’t help but feel more safe than ever.

It didn’t take long at all for Sam to feel Aster drift off into a deep sleep, and he slowly arranged himself against his coils to avoid waking her. After everything she’d been through that day, some uninterrupted sleep would do her a lot of good.

As he gazed down at his slightly distended middle, he couldn’t help but marvel at how little she filled him. He didn’t doubt that being a Defect played a hand in her incredibly small stature. She was five feet tall at best, but even that felt like it was a bit of a stretch. From the outside, it looked like he had swallowed a child. Not a seventeen-year-old girl.

He cradled his stomach protectively, an urge even stronger than his predatory instincts hitting him with a force. Aster was technically his natural prey, and if she were anyone else, she would have already been in his second stomach by now, but he had long ago lost the urge to consume her. All he cared about now was keeping the fragile creature within him safe at all costs. 

It was entirely unnatural, both Aster’s astounding trust in him and his determination to protect her. But as he relaxed against his coils, knowing full well that nothing could reach her without having to go through him, he couldn’t have been more content. 

It wasn’t something he’d expected, and it definitely wasn’t something he ever thought that he’d want. In fact, he had been quite satisfied with his rather companionless life. Now, however, he couldn’t have been more thankful for the girl tucked away in his middle.

His life certainly was more interesting now, but maybe that wasn’t such a bad thing.

Chapter Text

“Helpless? I am not helpless,” Aster growled to herself as she stomped through the foliage. “Just because I’m not some stupid enhanced giant snake doesn’t mean I’m not capable of taking care of myself!”

It had been nearly half an hour since she’d angrily walked away from said enhanced naga, and her temper was still far from cooling down. Did she happen to break both of her femurs and her left wrist after falling out of a tree yesterday? Yes! Did that make her completely defenseless? No!

Well, at least she didn’t think so.

Truthfully, she had never wandered this far away from her and Sam’s home before, and she wasn’t even certain of whether or not this was his territory. But maybe that wasn’t such a bad thing. She wanted nothing to do with him right now, so maybe breaking away from what was his would be a good thing.

It certainly sounded like a good idea, but Aster wasn’t aware of the unfamiliar eyes that were following her every move.

The foliage had shifted somewhat since crossing over into the unknown territory. Sam’s domain was eerie and mysterious, full of twisted trees, misty springs, overgrown paths, and the consistent sensation of being watched. Here, things felt much more lively. There was more color, with bright plants and flowers decorating the paths and trees, and she had even seen several cute, small creatures scampering around. Sam’s territory felt safe because she was under his protection, but this place felt secure all on its own.

If only she had found it sooner, she thought as she came to a stop below the shade of a particularly large tree. It was a great place to escape to when Sam was being so unreasonable.

All feelings of peacefulness were lost, however, when she heard a low chuckle coming from the branches hanging above her.

Aster’s head snapped up, and she breathed in sharply. Wrapped all throughout the tree was a naga, and he was peering down at her with a look that was all too similar to the one Sam had when they first met.

“Now what do we have here?” He said, his voice smooth as silk while his crimson eyes narrowed on her. “How did a little Defect find her way so far away from the kingdom? It must be my lucky day.”

He began unwinding from the tree at an alarmingly quick rate, and she realized with a start that his scales, which had once been a brown that blended perfectly with the tree, were now the same mossy green as the forest floor. Sam had warned her about other types of nagas before, and the ones that were able to blend seamlessly with their surroundings were the ones that he had talked about at the greatest length.

This was bad. Very, very bad.

Before she could turn to run, the tip of his tail was wrapping tightly around her middle.

“Not so fast, little one,” he drawled, a lazy smirk on his face. He looked like he was the same age as Sam, although maybe a little smaller. Normally, that would have been a comforting thought, but she didn’t even know where Sam was. That, and he was very unhappy with her. Would he have saved her anyway?

She looked up at the creature with a scowl, and she thrashed against the coils with everything that she had. And even when the coils tightened and her ribs bent under the pressure, she didn’t let up. Maybe Sam had been right. Maybe she wasn’t strong, but that didn’t mean that she wasn’t a fighter.

The naga watched her with an unsettling fascination.

“How cute. You think that you have a chance.” He brought his face closer to hers, his pointed fangs exposed as he talked. “Unfortunately, I’m not one to let my meals escape.”

Just as his jaws began to part, an idea flashed in her mind. With her heart hammering frantically in her chest, she lashed out. Her fist connected solidly with his left eye, and before he could draw back, she clawed it savagely with her nails.

He yelled out, and in his surprise, his coils loosened. Aster tugged herself free, and despite the stabbing pain in her chest, she broke into a run.

“You bitch,” he snarled behind her, and before she could make it far something firm and heavy smacked into her.

She smashed into the ground, and the wind was knocked from her lungs as the tail that had struck her started to coil around her legs.

“Sam,” she gasped, the words barely forming as she fought to breathe. He would never hear her, not like this. This was the end. But as the naga’s tail began to drag her back, a shrill scream tore free from her lungs.

The naga had barely managed to drag her a few more feet before she heard the sound of something tearing through the foliage.

His frightening crimson eyes snapped up from her, and he hissed threateningly as another presence made itself known. When Aster saw who it was, she was immediately overcome by tears of relief.

“This is my territory, Samuel,” he growled. “What are you doing here? After all of these years, do you really want to start something now?”

Sam’s lips twisted into a snarl as his eyes locked on the human that was wrapped up within the other naga’s coils.

“The girl you’re holding belongs to me,” he said coldly. “Release her now, Kariya.”

“Come now, you know the rules. She crossed into my territory, and that makes her mine.”

Aster watched as Sam’s look of irritation morphed into rage, and when Kariya made to reach for her, he lunged.

Sam sunk his claws deep into the part of the tail that held her, and with his other arm, he pried her out with a frightening strength. It sent a considerable amount of pain through her aching ribs, but that was the last thing on her mind as Kariya’s claws found their way into Sam’s flesh just as quickly.

Aster clung to him like her life depended on it, her entire body trembling. This was far worse than being chased by the men from Vierra, even if they were the ones who caused her to lose her eye. At least they hadn’t stood a chance. She had no doubts that Sam could take on Kariya. After all, he was larger and faster, but all Kariya had to do was get her out of Sam’s grasp, and it would be over.

Sam was just as aware of that fact, and he grimaced at what he was about to do.

“Don't fight me, Aster,” he said, and that was all the warning he gave her before shoving her into his mouth.

Aster couldn’t have fought even if she had wanted to. She had been swallowed by Sam on multiple occasions thanks to her continuous need for healing, and it was always a very gentle affair. The process of being swallowed tended to make her a little nervous, so Sam was always cautious to ensure that she felt safe, but that was not at all the case now.

He swallowed her down rapidly, her body being forced down his throat in a manner so rough that she yelped in pain. She spilled into his first stomach in a measly five seconds, and she curled her shaking body tightly as the soft, warm flesh cradled her.

I’m safe, she thought desperately to herself as tears spilled down her cheek. Sam came for me, and nothing can touch me now. I’m safe.

---

Sam lost track of how much time had passed by the time he finally returned to his own territory. Thanks to the bastard Kariya, he was covered in a mixture of deep cuts from his claws, bruises from his tail, and even a handful of bite marks, but he had won, and Kariya would not be bothering him again for quite some time.

His hand fell to his stomach, and he sighed as he felt the tremors of the girl inside.

“I didn’t expect you to still be awake,” he said as he finally was able to settle down again. “The healing should have started by now. Are you alright? How are your ribs?”

“They don't hurt anymore,” she said quietly, and he felt her nestle closer to his hand. “I just…I don't know. That was so scary, and I feel like I can’t calm down.”

He stroked his stomach gently, his mind wandering back to the moment he heard Aster’s scream. He had just begun to irritatedly look for the girl, but all of his frustration from their previous argument was long forgotten as he rushed to follow the sound. When he found her trapped within Kariya’s coils, he just about lost it. It wasn’t until he’d finally swallowed her down that he felt like he could breathe again, but even that hadn’t been enough to fully calm his worries.

“You’re safe,” he soothed. “Nothing can harm you. I know today has been frightening, but it’s over now.”

As comforting as Sam’s words were, Aster could not dismiss the glaring truth that kept cycling through her thoughts.

Her voice shook as she spoke. “He was going to swallow me alive, but not the way that you do. He was going to eat me. I…I w-was going to be dig-”

“Aster,” Sam cut in, his voice firm. “I know, but that’s not what happened. And it’s something that will never happen to you. Do you understand me? I will never allow it.”

Sam felt a particularly harsh shudder within him, and he realized with a start that Aster had begun to cry. His hand stilled momentarily over the swell of his stomach, and a vicious guilt tore through him. Fiery and bold as she might be, Aster was still very young, and sometimes he forgot that.

“Shh…” He murmured as an entirely foreign emotion made itself known. It was too strong to be simple affection, but he pushed the thought aside. He didn’t have time for it now. “It’s alright. You’re safe now, I promise.”

“This is all my fault,” she whimpered, and Sam’s typically stony heart softened. “I wandered off. I did exactly what you told me not to do, and no matter how hard I tried to fight back, it did nothing. I was going to d-die, and I deserved it.”

Sam frowned, and the feeling intensified. He’d risked quite a bit in rushing to save Aster. He cast aside one of the most important rules of the forest, that anything that entered your territory was yours for the taking, and he lost an ally. Kariya had coexisted with him for nearly a century, and there was very little chance of recovering that relationship any time soon. But none of that was what was bothering him. All Sam could think about was his and Aster’s trivial little argument and all of the unnecessary pain that it had caused.

“Making one poor decision doesn’t mean that you deserve such harsh consequences, Aster, and you are not the only person at fault. The things that I said to you were unfair,” Sam finally said, but paused as yet another troubling thought dawned on him.

In his rush to get her out of harm’s way, Sam had done the only thing that he could think of to keep her safe. There was no doubt in his mind that he had made the right call, but swallowing Aster was something that he usually approached with great caution. Even though she trusted him completely, it was still intimidating to be lowered into the jaws of a natural predator. It took reassurance to make her feel safe again. Now, however, he had forcefully swallowed her down with nothing but a sharp command after she was nearly consumed by a creature that wasn’t much different than himself. As if that wasn’t bad enough, she was also badly injured, and he couldn’t imagine that his throat had made that any easier on the poor thing.

He made the right call. If he hadn’t swallowed her at that moment, there was a very good chance that Aster could have been killed, but that still didn’t take away the fact that he had likely frightened her a great deal.

He resumed rubbing carefully at his middle, the sound of Aster crying making his heart twist painfully within his chest. “Look…I’m so sorry that I scared you. I didn’t want to swallow you in that manner, and I’m sure that it was painful as well-”

“You don’t have to do that,” she cut in, but the tremor in her voice only made his frown deepen. “I know why you did it. I…I’m sorry. You shouldn’t feel guilty for saving my life. I know you aren’t going to hurt me, but I just can’t stop imagining how it could have gone and what it would be like if it wasn’t you who has me right now.”

Imagining was an understatement. Aster choked on a sob as she fought to believe her reality, willing her consciousness to be swept away by the natural healing of Sam’s body, but nothing could calm the unchecked fear that was wreaking havoc. What if Sam hadn’t been the one who swallowed her? What if it was Kariya whose stomach she was currently tucked away in? What if, rather than being healed, her body was being broken down into nothing?

She leaned desperately into Sam’s touch, and his low, calm voice became the only anchor she had.

“You are with me,” he murmured softly. “You’re safe, and I will never let anyone hurt you in such a way. Now take a breath, alright? It’s okay…”

She followed his instruction, taking slow, deep breaths as his reassurances and the soothing nature of her temporary home gradually eased away her anxiety. As close as she had been to having a very different fate, the differences of being inside Sam compared to what it would have been like with Kariya were staggering. There was nothing hostile about the way his stomach was holding her closely. Only gentle heat and the constant, reassuring beating of his heart all around her. No acids, no crushing walls. It was the same place that, despite the somewhat frightening process of being swallowed, had become a great comfort to her.

Sam cradled his stomach protectively, and the same intense feeling from earlier flared up again. He wasn’t sure when it all had happened, but he cared deeply for the person who was nestled within him. Originally, he thought that it had simply come from a place of pity and then one of obligation, but this was different. He felt true fear the moment he tore through that clearing and found Aster wrapped up in another naga’s coils, and even now, he found himself focusing especially on how her body was responding to his. Her breathing had slowed significantly, and she wasn’t shaking quite as hard, but more than anything, he listened for the rapid beating of her little heart.

He sighed heavily. As grateful as he was to hear the sound, he still couldn’t shake the fact that he was partially responsible for her fear. She had been living with him for nearly six months now, and not once had she ever been that afraid of him. It made him sick.

“Aster,” he said, and he felt her stir a little at the sound of her name. “As thankful as I am that you’re safe, I’m not pleased with the actions I had to take. I…I just want you to know that if I ever take you in, no matter what, it will never be to hurt you. Even if I have to do it the way that I did today, as frightening as it was, you will always be safe with me. You don’t need to be afraid.”

She shifted within his middle, and he felt one of her small hands press back against his. “Promise?”

The odd feeling was building still, to the point where it had become entirely impossible to ignore. It even rivaled his protective instincts that had more than startled him the day that they met, and those had increased significantly over time. But as he continued to gently rub at her, he realized that maybe it wasn’t so bad. Maybe he could afford to care for one person.

“On my life, I promise.”

Chapter Text

It was dusk, and rain was pouring down on one of the poorer streets of Vierra in thick sheets. Most people were shut away in their homes, basking in whatever warmth and security they could find, and they didn’t once think about extending the offer to the poor creature a few feet away from their doorstep.

Huddled beneath the slight overhang of a roof was a small, brunette girl who was trying desperately to use her tattered jacket to further shield her body. What was most notable about the young woman, however, was the shocking violet iris of one eye and the complete absence of the other.

Aster shivered harshly, abandoning her efforts of blocking the rain in order to wrap the rather shitty jacket tightly around her frame. Being a Defect, there was no way that she would get out of this without getting severely ill, but she was used to that kind of thing by now. At the very least, right now, she was alone.

But just as the thought occurred to her, a door farther down the street banged open.
It was the door to one of the local pubs, and a small group of clearly drunken men staggered out into the street. The sight made Aster’s blood run cold because she recognized them all.

She frantically tried to press herself closer to the side of the house, praying that the combination of the darkening sky, the heavy rain, and their current state of awareness would be enough to save her. Unfortunately for her, she never was a particularly lucky individual. They spotted her in a matter of seconds.

“Hey! I know her!” One shouted. “She’s that Defect that ran into the forest!”

If living on the streets taught Aster anything, it was that being frozen in fear was never an option. The second they set their eyes on her, she took off in a sprint.

She ran down the narrow streets as fast as her legs could carry her, taking sharp turns and changing directions as many times as she could. It was a strategy that had saved her from more beatings and assaults than she could count. Hell, it was probably the only reason she had survived this long in the first place, especially when right now, she doubted they could even say their ABCs if they tried.

She was convinced she was in the clear. That is, until they suddenly appeared right in front of her.

Aster skidded to a stop so suddenly that she nearly went sprawling onto the cobblestone street.

“What- how-” She stammered, her mind reeling. “How did you- this isn’t possible-”

“Oh, but it is,” one grinned, taking a confident step towards her. “As if you could actually get away twice.”

Her heart was hammering within her chest now, and when she turned to run back the way she came, she found that there was now a wall directly behind her.

Am I hallucinating? She thought while quickly ducking beneath the hand that reached for her. Was I drugged? How is this possible?

The others started to advance on her now, and she fought like hell. She kicked and punched wildly at anyone who tried to touch her, even biting down hard on one of their arms until she drew blood. Even as she felt her own body breaking from the effort, she didn’t let up. But she was outnumbered, and it brought back memories from a night that she wished she could forget. It wasn’t until she felt the familiar, cool sensation of a blade to her throat that her vicious struggles were abandoned.

“You’d think you would have learned your lesson the first time,” A gruff voice whispered in her ear, and she flinched away when his lips nearly brushed her skin. “I guess that just means we have to finish what we started.”

Strong arms wrapped around her as the knife was brought closer to her eye, and a blinding panic took hold of her.

“No!” She screamed, but no amount of struggling was enough to break her free now. The knife was only centimeters away from her cornea. “NO!”

---

Sam jerked awake from his slumber with a start, his eyes immediately falling to the small thing that was wrapped within his coils.

Aster was trembling violently, thrashing occasionally against him with fearful whimpers that were enough to tear his heart to shreds. When she suddenly screamed out again, he couldn’t bear to let it go on any longer.

“Aster,” he said, giving her shoulder a gentle shake. When all she did was curl herself tighter, he tried again, much more firmly this time, and she startled awake with a sharp gasp.

Sam had hoped that waking her up would fix everything, but in her disoriented state, she only panicked more.

“No!” She screamed, and she began to struggle against him. “Please- Don’t hurt me-”

His eyes widened in surprise. What on earth had the girl been dreaming about?

“I’m not going to hurt you…”

That voice…she knew that voice.

Aster froze, blinking rapidly until her gaze finally cleared. She wasn’t in the streets of Vierra, and the alarmed green eyes that were staring back at her didn’t belong to any of her tormentors. Rather, they belonged to a naga. One with a surprisingly youthful face, curling brown hair, and deep green scales that ran from the middle of his back to the tip of his serpent-like tail. For most people, this would have been far more terrifying than any dream, but all Aster felt was an immense wave of relief.

“Sam,” She whispered, then promptly burst into tears.

She didn’t resist when his claw-tipped fingers wrapped around her middle, and Sam carefully drew her into his arms. It was surprising, really, because while Sam had been doing his best to take care of her, he rarely showed such affection unless she was inside of him. Aster had been under the impression that he just felt especially responsible for her in those situations. Could it be that Sam actually cared for her? Nobody had ever cared for her before. The idea seemed too good to be true, especially coming from a naga who rarely seemed to care about anyone.

After all that had played out in her dreams, the idea of it being false turned crushing. She burrowed herself into his chest, half expecting him to tense up against her or move her away, but he began to gently stroke her hair instead.

“What were you dreaming of?” He murmured.

“Do you remember when you met me, and those people were chasing me?” She managed to say with some difficulty.

His hand momentarily stilled but then resumed the soothing motion. “I do. Did you dream of them?”

She sniffled, and a harsh shiver went through her as she remembered what they had wanted to do. She almost could have sworn that she felt the left side of her face ache beneath the patch she had secured over what had once been her left eye. “I did…they were going to carve out my other eye.”

Sam’s head snapped down to the small creature in his arms. Over the many, many months they had spent together, Aster had shared a great deal about her former life in Vierra. She lived in the streets of poor neighborhoods, completely consumed by her will to survive and the need to always be aware of her surroundings. She mastered the art of outsmarting her enemies, and there were very few situations that she couldn’t get herself out of. Unfortunately for Aster, one of those few exceptions left her with only one eye and nearly dead in the lair of a naga. Her short life had been one of constant fear, and the fact that even now she couldn’t fully escape it infuriated him in ways he hadn’t realized were possible. It almost made him wish he’d killed them after all.

“It was only a dream,” he said softly. “You are not in Vierra, and you are under my protection. Nobody will lay a hand on you, let alone take you when you are with me, and if they dare try, they will regret it immensely. You’re safe, Aster. You couldn’t be safer. You have my word.”

She desperately burrowed herself further against his chest, as if even a single inch of separation would leave her in grave danger. It sent a sharp pang through his heart, and he adjusted his grip so that he could hold her more securely.

Despite being surrounded by Sam’s strong arms and getting herself impossibly close to him, Aster still couldn’t breathe. Unlikely as it was, there was a possibility that she wasn’t safe. There were no guarantees. She stifled a sob as she clutched at his arms, wishing that there was somehow a way to be completely surrounded by him. His coils weren’t enough; they felt too far away, and his arms couldn’t do it either. And then it hit her.

“Sam?” She whispered, and she was met with his brilliant green gaze. “C-can you swallow me?”

His eyes widened slightly in surprise, but other than that, he didn’t appear to be phased. “If it will help, of course.”

A small sigh of relief escaped her, but as he drew her to his face, she still couldn’t help but shudder. Even after all of their time together, it was impossible to forget that Sam was still a predator. One that primarily ate human beings, no less, but as he stopped to rest his forehead against hers, most of the worries fell away.

“Close your eye,” he said, and she quickly complied. “Everything’s alright. I promise.”

He took her in with as much care as he could manage, taking slow, gentle swallows that eventually drew her in completely. It was so different from the way he was with his actual prey, for which he had no consideration in the slightest. Rather than being rough and uncaring, Sam was all too aware of the fragility of her body in comparison to his strength and the way she responded to him. After the incident with Kariya months ago, where his lack of attention had frightened Aster badly, he had become even more attuned to her whenever he carried her within.

At first, it had been uncomfortably strange ignoring his natural instincts, but by now, the process felt entirely natural. Of course, there was still the undeniable euphoria as he felt the little body sliding down his throat, but the urge to protect her was much stronger.

For Aster, being swallowed was still an overwhelming process. Sam’s swallows were gentle as he pulled her deeper in, but his throat was so tight that she could barely move, and the peristalsis so strong that she couldn’t have fought back in the first place. Of course, Sam would never even dream of hurting her, and she had asked for this herself, but it appeared that the feelings weren’t going anywhere anytime soon. But it was over quickly, and she finally felt herself slip into a larger space.

Sam cradled his stomach protectively as Aster began to settle down, but his frown deepened as he felt just how hard she was shaking. He was used to having to calm her when she first entered his stomach, but this went far beyond that. Her dream had really done a number on her, and that disturbed him greatly. If those men ever were to cross his path again, this time, he would not hesitate.

“You’re okay,” he said while beginning to gently rub at her. “It was only a dream. Those foolish men are nowhere near here, and you are in a place where they couldn’t get you if they tried. You’re safe.”

The natural sounds of Sam’s body were incredibly soothing, and the sound of the calm, constant beating of his heart was gradually getting her body to relax. The way his stomach cradled her so closely was almost like a hug, and the sensation of his hand resting over her was a reminder that she had his full attention. She did feel safe. It was the reason she’d asked for it in the first place because no matter the situation, no matter how overwhelming some parts could be, there was nothing that made her feel more protected than when Sam took her in. For Aster, any feeling of being protected was a priceless luxury. And yet, she couldn’t help but crave for something deeper.

When Aster envisioned having a person who loved her, someone like Sam typically would not come to mind. He was intimidating, savagely honest, and not the most friendly person in the world. And that was without taking into consideration the fact that he was a predator that had no qualms about devouring human beings. But he chose to save her, not send her back to Vierra. Nearly eight months had gone by, and despite knowing it may be a mistake, Aster had gotten attached. She started viewing him as a friend, and she trusted him without question. He wasn’t always the warmest, but when she was hurt or afraid, it was his voice that brought her comfort. And now, as hot tears slipped down her cheek as her dream continued to play through her mind, it was his affection that she craved for.

But what if she was wrong? What if Sam’s protectiveness and surprisingly gentle moments were nothing but obligation? Sam was the only person capable of making her feel safe, but suddenly, that wasn’t enough. She took a moment to gather her courage, her heart hammering erratically in her chest.

“Sam…can I ask you something?” She asked.

“Of course.”

“I just- Well, nobody has ever loved me before or really cared for me at all, and I know that you’ve only let me stay with you because you saved my life and feel responsible for me, but I just couldn’t help but wonder, um…do you care for me? Like, more than feeling like you have to keep me safe because you feel bad for me? If not, that’s fine, but I just-”

Sam’s eyes widened in surprise. As confusing as his feelings towards her had been, the idea of her not knowing if she was cared for was almost ridiculous. He wasn’t sure when it had happened or why, but there was no question about whether or not he cared. The whole thing was still so unfamiliar to him, and he wasn’t sure just how deep those feelings went, but he couldn’t let her carry on thinking she had nobody who gave a shit about her.

“Aster,” he said, cutting off her nervous rambling that had left her heart beating so hard within him. “You’re giving me too much credit. If I hadn’t cared for you at all, we would not be in this situation. I would not have let you stay with me, and I certainly would not bother spending energy looking after you. I have always looked out for myself and myself alone, but there is very little I wouldn’t do to keep you safe. I…I do care for you.”

For a moment, her entire body froze, and he heard a nearly inaudible “Really?”

“Yes,” he said, a hint of amusement in his voice now. “I would not have gone so far as to break an alliance if I didn’t, you foolish girl.”

Aster’s form had been in a tight curl from the moment he took her in, but at that moment, Sam felt all of her muscles slowly relax against him. This clearly had been weighing on her heavily, and he continued to rub at her soothingly as he was overcome by a rush of affection. He had never minded whether or not anyone cared about him, but for Aster, it mattered greatly, and that wasn’t something he took lightly.

He barely caught the sound of a tiny sniffle, and a small smile tugged at his lips as he felt her nestle against his hand. “Come now, it can’t be that shocking.”

“You aren’t exactly the warmest person, you know,” she argued, her eyelid beginning to grow heavy again. It sent a jolt of panic through her, and from the way Sam tensed, she knew he’d noticed.

“Are you alright?”

“Um, yeah,” she said, but she sounded far more uncertain than she did confident. “I…I just don’t want to go back to sleep.”

His hand stilled again, and without thinking, Aster desperately pushed back against it. It made no sense because it wasn’t like Sam could go away. She was literally inside of him. He was all around her, shielding her entirely from the outside world, and he responded to every move that she made. But the moment she drifted off, she could be back in Vierra, and nothing about that felt safe.

He carefully pressed back against her, and she could hear the growing concern in his voice. “I’m right here, it’s alright. I was just thinking…are you afraid that you’ll dream of Vierra again? What if I stayed awake for you?”

She furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. “What do you mean? What would that accomplish?”

“I don’t think you realize just how aware of you I am. I can feel every movement you make, even down to the beating of your heart. If you begin to dream of that again, I’ll know. Just trust me, okay? I will protect you, even from your dreams if need be.”

“Oh…okay.” Aster tentatively allowed herself to sink into Sam’s body’s gentle embrace, and her exhaustion was quick to take advantage. After so many years of relying solely on herself, it was strange to so willingly place her trust in another person’s hands. Strange, but undoubtedly the closest thing to a blessing she had ever had. “Thank you, Sam. For everything.”

Sam was grateful that the girl was incapable of seeing the look on his face. It was good that she knew he cared for her, but he wasn’t sure how he felt about her knowing the full extent of it. “You’re welcome. Now go to sleep.”

He sighed as he felt her finally go limp, her breaths deepening and her rapid heart rate slowing down again.

He carefully cradled his stomach, and he couldn’t help but still be amazed at how little of a bulge she made. With Aster’s strict no-children rule, Sam’s prey consisted of humans who were much bigger than her. They rarely spent more than a few seconds within his first stomach, but he still remembered the feel of them. Given that Aster wasn’t even a full five feet tall, the difference was incomparable. In the time before Aster, Sam would have been entirely dissatisfied to carry something so small, but now, the idea of something else filling the space was abhorrent. He would swallow them down as quickly as possible, sometimes not even bothering to savor the process. That was a place that made Aster feel safe, and to let something else inhabit it felt almost like a betrayal.

Unfortunately, it was not long before a sharp whimper pulled Sam from his thoughts. She wasn’t fully conscious, but her increasingly panicked movements were only drawing her deeper into her hysteria. Sam quickly began rubbing at what he was certain was the curve of her spine, but he knew that that alone wasn’t enough.

“Aster, Aster, it’s alright,” he soothed. “You’re just dreaming. Nobody’s going to hurt you. You’re here with me, you’re safe…”

Her struggles halted, but her heart was still beating at an alarmingly fast rate. He hated to think about how the dream may have progressed this time. If it had picked up where it originally left off, there was a good chance that she was fighting to protect her eye. It was even enough to make Sam wince.

“You’re safe,” he repeated as homicidal fantasies for a couple of worthless humans danced through his mind. If only he could turn back time. “I won’t let anything hurt you. It’s okay.”

This time seemed to do the trick. The once-shaking little body relaxed, and he felt her burrow closer to the place where his palm rested before going still. He didn’t dare move it away, not even for a second, and he remained that way for the remainder of the night. Even after Aster had been sleeping relatively peacefully for some time, he didn’t so much as close his eyes for more than a minute. As little as Sam cared for quite literally every other human on the planet, this one was his, and he made a promise.

He glanced down again at the spot where his hand rested, where his stomach was only just barely distended. He thought of how anxious she’d sounded when she asked him if he cared about her, and he knew with an almost frightening certainty that he had to make it up to her. Someone like her deserved better, and maybe Sam wasn’t the best candidate to do so, but he would try his damnedest. And if that meant sleeping in the afternoon instead, that was all right with him.

Chapter Text

The sun was immaculate that day, the glorious warmth soaking straight into Sam’s skin as he basked in the afternoon light. The air was quiet, he had a full stomach, and everything was exactly as it should-

Just as his eyes fell shut, an irritatingly familiar voice shattered his peace.

“Sam!”

He cracked open an eye with a growl, just in time to see a relatively small brunette girl come into view. Aster was breathless, and there were leaves in her messy braid and dirt streaked across her face, arms, and legs. She was also grinning widely, and something about that only annoyed him more.

“What could you possibly need now?”

If Aster picked up on the murderous glint in his eyes, she showed no sign of it. She deposited herself right beside the naga without an ounce of fear, even having the audacity to lean against one of his coils.

“So I finally finished making that swing,” she said. “You know, the one with the vines and stuff? I tested it and everything!”

He slowly looked her up and down. “Yes…and did you happen to destroy it in the process? Why do you look like that?”

She laughed softly while examining what appeared to be a slightly bloody elbow. “Well, the first time I slipped off the branch because a spider scared me, and then one time a vine snapped, and-”

“Ah, well, it sounds like you have some flaws to work out, so why don’t you head on back and fix it,” he interrupted, already closing his eyes again as delicious sleep called his name.

“No, you weren’t listening. I did work out the flaws, so there’s nothing to fix.” She shifted against him, and he could practically feel her violet eye staring him down. “What are you doing? It’s, like, three in the afternoon. Why are you sleeping now?”

“Leave it, Aster,” Sam muttered.

“Leave it? It’s an innocent question. What’s the matter with you?”

“Oh, for the love of- I’m digesting, you foolish girl, and you would do well to leave me be.”

For a moment, there was a look of hurt on her face, but she blinked it away before he could be too bothered by it. “Alright, then. I’ll…leave you to it.”

Aster got to her feet, brushing off her shorts as she looked away from the naga whose eyes had already fallen shut. There was no point in annoying him further. After all, he had already made his feelings very known, and Aster didn’t want to upset her only friend too badly.

She climbed down from the large rock that Sam was currently occupying, instead heading for the small spring that it overlooked. When she reached the water’s edge, she shrugged out of her shirt and shorts so that she was left in her bra and underwear before taking her first step in.

It was pleasantly cool, and a pleased smile spread across Aster’s face as she slowly submerged herself. Her eye landed on Sam’s relaxed form as she scrubbed at the dirt on her arms, and she couldn’t help but roll her eye. He was quite moody sometimes, and he had one hell of a sharp tongue. But she was used to it, and it rarely bothered her. She knew that he cared about her and would never hurt her, and that was more than enough.

An idea came to her then, and she exited the spring with a mischievous grin. Maybe Sam couldn’t hurt her feelings that easily, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t have a little fun when he had an attitude.

She climbed back up the rock that he was resting on, and as carefully as she could, she began to make her way around his coils. It didn’t help that she was still dripping water everywhere, but thankfully, the naga only stirred slightly before she finally made her way to the rock’s edge. She took one last look over her shoulder, the familiar rush of adrenaline filling her, before leaping over the edge.

The water met Aster in a blinding rush, bubbles swirling around her as she sank down to the sandy floor. The fact that this was her life, jumping joyfully into springs and living out her days with someone who actually cared for her? That she hadn’t spent any nights fending for herself in the streets of Vierra in nearly a year? It was unthinkable! Happiness was a luxury. Safety was a luxury, and somehow she ended up with both? As a Defect of all things? Maybe her luck wasn’t so bad after all.

She was so overcome with gratitude that she nearly forgot why she’d jumped in in the first place.

Somewhere up above, Sam’s blissful sleep was abruptly brought to an end by the loud sound of someone crashing into the water.

With a low growl, he peered over the edge of the rock, and while there was nothing to be seen in the water, he did spy a pile of Aster’s clothes on the bank.

Sam pinched the bridge of his nose painfully tight. Maybe he’d been a bit cross with her, but he was going to apologize once he’d gotten some sleep. Now, however, it appeared that he would need to take matters into his own hands.

He wasted no time in getting to the spring, and following the girl’s scent took all of ten seconds. She was still below the water’s surface, most likely oblivious to the predator’s arrival, and he snatched her out by the arms. Even in his annoyance, however, he still took great care to be gentle. Aster’s body was fragile, and he didn’t want to accidentally harm her.

She sputtered and coughed, but she did not struggle to free herself from Sam’s grip. She blinked the water from her eye, a sheepish smile tugging at her lips. It was both endearing and infuriating, and he wasn’t sure how to feel about that.

“Hi,” Aster said, and Sam’s eyes narrowed.

“What on earth do you think you’re doing?” He snapped.

She attempted to cross her arms and failed. “Well, I was swimming up until two seconds ago. Have a good nap?”

He raised an eyebrow, looking thoroughly unimpressed. “No, thanks to a particular little fiend I did not, but there are solutions to everything. Close your eye.”

Aster’s eye widened. “What? You aren’t seriously about to-”

“Look, I was generous enough to give you a warning,” Sam said. “I am going to sleep, and you clearly can’t be trusted to behave yourself, so I suggest you listen now.”

Aster sighed in defeat before allowing her eye to fall shut. Sam never bluffed. It wasn’t in his nature, and his mind was more than made. As she expected, her head was soon enveloped by an intense, damp warmth that cut through any of the chill left from the outside air. Sometimes, Sam let things drag on a bit (she knew how much he enjoyed it; he couldn’t fool her), but that wasn’t the case this time. He took little time before he began to steadily swallow, effectively drawing her head into his waiting throat and pulling her shoulders into his mouth. It was a miracle that his wickedly sharp teeth didn’t catch at her skin, but Sam was careful. She’d never been so much as scratched, and it was thoughts like this that allowed her to relax completely as she vanished into the body of her natural predator.

Sam was in ecstasy as the little body gradually slipped in deeper and deeper. His annoyance was long forgotten now, nothing but a speck in the distance. Aster was, by far, his favorite prey. Maybe it was because he knew that she was his alone, but he had yet to find something that could even begin to compare to her taste. The moment her cheek touched his tongue alone made his mouth flood with saliva, and there was a part of him that wanted to slow things down, but he was doing this with a purpose.

His swallows became rhythmic, quick enough to keep things moving along without being too rough, and soon enough, the bulge in his throat disappeared into his chest cavity. He dropped his hand to his first stomach just in time to feel her enter, and he nearly groaned at the sensation as she filled the space. She only just barely stretched it out, being such a tiny thing, but it was wonderful nonetheless.

Sam lightly rubbed his hand over the space as he felt her settle inside of him, a surprisingly gentle smile on his face. “You’re alright. You are quite the pest, but you’re safe. How are you feeling?”

She made a very distinct “hmph” sound but pushed back against his hand regardless. “It appears that I’m being held captive against my will, but I guess it could be worse.”

Sam rolled his eyes as he exited the spring, still keeping one hand protectively over her at all times. “Oh, please. You’ve told me far too many times how much you like being in there for me to believe that. Besides, you’re hardly a captive. I’ll let you out in a few hours.”

“A few hours?”

“Yes. I’m going to sleep, and apparently, the only way that’s going to happen is if you do too.”

Aster scoffed but snuggled down into her temporary home all the same. He wasn’t wrong. She was very fond of her designated space, and it was impossible to resist the way Sam’s body felt as though it was meant for her. It was the type of security that she’d craved for all of her life, and hearing the steady heartbeat of her friend all around her drained away the rest of her protests anyway.

“Fine, fine. I guess it’s not so bad,” she muttered before leaning further into the soothing pressure of his hand.

“That’s more like it,” he said as he resettled on the rock overlooking the spring. “Now rest, or so help me I’ll keep you in there for the rest of the day.”

A blush rose in Aster’s cheeks, and she stayed silent as she curled up tighter within Sam’s middle. Truth be told, she wouldn’t mind an extended stay in her safe place. But Sam didn’t need to know that, at least not yet. He would probably tease her anyway.

For now, she could rest.

Chapter Text

“This just isn’t letting up, is it?” Aster said softly as she peered out from the mouth of the cave.

Outside, a harsh winter storm had struck Vierra. Already known for its difficult winters, it was not particularly uncommon for people to be shut into their homes for a week or two. To experience it from within a warm homeless shelter was very different from experiencing it within an exceptionally cold cave, however. Especially when dealing with a Defect whose body did not take well to being fully exposed to freezing cold winds.

Sam, who was reclining against his coils a few feet away, scowled disapprovingly.

“Yes, we already established that a few days ago,” he said shortly. “Now get over here before you freeze, Aster.”

Despite his beyond-irritated tone, Sam couldn’t help but worry as he watched the way her small frame shook against the cold. Aster, although having an impressive amount of will and determination, did not have a strong system to support her. He’d been living with her for nearly a year now, but it unfortunately seemed like the consistent fear for her well-being wasn’t subsiding any time soon. He was very fond of the young woman, even if she was a bit more chatty than he liked.

This time, Aster did not argue as she returned to Sam’s side. He wasted no time in wrapping her carefully within his coils, where she shivered harshly until his body heat slowly warmed her again. It was times like this where he was tempted to simply swallow her down again where she would be safe and completely protected from the cold, but Sam had a bigger problem to deal with.

As if sensing his train of thought, his stomach growled lowly. He winced at the sound, and the hollowness within him ached in longing. While Aster had been primarily sustained by Sam’s body and the few things she could come across in the cave, Sam had gone without food for over a week. For a being as large and powerful as he was, going without any nourishment for such an extended period of time could make him dangerous. As much as he wanted to, he wouldn't dare risk swallowing Aster now.

She looked up at him concernedly. “Sam…are you alright?”

“Don’t worry about me,” he said, hoping that it was convincing enough to make her stop looking at him like that. “I’m fine. The only thing you need to worry about is yourself.”

The lie was sour in his mouth. This was bad. Very, very bad, and he was fully aware of it.

Especially since living with Aster, Sam was always exceptionally careful to make sure he had his hunger in check. It didn’t matter how much he had grown to care for her. If Sam’s body entered starvation mode, all he would see was that Aster was his perfect prey. And he would have no trouble in overpowering her. By the time he realized what he had done, it would be too late.

The very thought made him sick. She trusted him without question. She probably wouldn’t even try to escape. And the gnawing hunger within him loved it.

Another harsh wind filled the cave, and Aster shivered violently within his coils. Her cheeks were a bright red, and her little fingers were starting to turn an alarming shade of blue.

“S-Sam,” she started, and Sam’s heart immediately sank. “Can you swallow me? It’s really starting to hurt-”

“No,” he snapped, and Aster’s eye widened in surprise. It nearly made him curse aloud. “I’m sorry. I don’t mean to be harsh, but that isn’t a good idea right now.”

Her eyebrows furrowed. “What do you mean? It’s what we’ve been doing all week. Why isn’t it a good idea now?”

There wasn’t much reason to hide it from her any longer, he supposed. She would begin to suspect it soon enough anyway.

“It’s not safe for you,” he explained cautiously. “Nagas are dangerous if they are unable to feed for too long. I can’t risk anything that could harm you.”

Aster couldn’t help but feel foolish as she stared back at him in stunned surprise. She knew that he hadn’t eaten in a while, but the idea that it would put herself at risk hadn’t crossed her mind at all. Sam had promised that he would never hurt her. She hadn’t considered the possibility of there being a time when he didn’t have a choice.

It took her a moment to find her voice. It was like her mouth was full of cotton. “Are you saying that I’m in danger right now?”

Sam couldn’t meet the girl's gaze. “It…it’s possible.”

Aster’s heart was racing in her chest, and she couldn’t help but wonder if the predator in Sam loved it. “So what do we do? I mean, there has to be something, right?”

He gently stroked her hair, and even then, she wouldn’t shy away from him. He knew that she was afraid. He could hear the way that her little heart was pounding, but Aster’s trust in him ran too deep. She was a bright thing, and she had lived a life primarily controlled by self-preservation, and yet here she was. If he didn’t know for a fact that she would perish, he would be tempted to throw her from the cave himself.

But that wasn’t an option. None of it was.

“Of course there is,” he finally said. “I’ll think of something. I promise.”

And he tried. He tried desperately to come up with some way that he could possibly keep her safe, but he was growing more ravenous by the second. He may not view her as food yet, but it would happen eventually. It was inevitable. Whether Sam wanted to or not, Aster was going to end up within him one way or another.

Then it hit him, an idea so terrible that it nauseated him, but it was the only choice he had.

“Aster,” he said slowly, and her remaining violet eye met his. “You know that I’m genetically enhanced, and from that, I have some rather…strange abilities. Well, I can do more than just heal you within my first stomach. If I were to consume you-” her eye widened in alarm, and his face softened. Taking care to use slow, careful movements, he lifted her into his arms. “If I were to consume you,” he continued gently, “I can not only make it painless, but I can regenerate you.”

“What?” She squeaked.

He adjusted his hold so that he could cradle the trembling girl more closely. “Don’t be frightened. If I do this now, I’ll still have the mind to do it safely. I never wanted to do this to you, but it’s the only way that I can protect you. If I wait any longer, there’s too much of a chance that I might snap.”

“If you really can do this,” she said, her voice shaking just slightly, “then why have I never seen you do it before?”

“Because for that to happen, I would have needed to care about them, Aster, and I didn’t. They were prey, and that was that. But you, however, I care about very much.”

“…and it won’t hurt?”

“Not even the slightest. It’ll be like falling asleep.”

“Okay,” she whispered, and Sam lifted her closer to his face.

“You trust me?” He asked, and she feebly nodded her head. “Good. Now close your eye, love. I promise I’ll take care of you.”

Aster’s eye fell closed, and Sam wasted no time in getting to work.

He guided her down his throat as fast as he was able without causing her pain. Even though he was fairly certain that he had enough time, he still forced himself to rush all the same. If at any point he were to lose himself, it would be all over. The thought struck an icy fear deep into his heart, and Sam couldn’t even recall the last time he’d truly been afraid.

Aster soon entered his first stomach, and the rush of euphoria that came over him was overpowering. He took slow, deep breaths as his hand smoothed over his distended middle. Sam typically preferred larger prey, but somehow, Aster always seemed to fill him perfectly. He had never thought of her in this context before, but his second stomach was already growling desperately for the girl he so longed to protect. As much as he hated it, he was out of time to spare, and he regretfully began to ease her in deeper.

When Aster first entered Sam’s first stomach, she still couldn’t help but be instantly comforted. Over the last year, it had become a safe haven of sorts, a place where no one could get to her while being as close to her friend as possible. Over the last week, she’d been spending days at a time here, and it was probably the only reason that she was even alive. It nearly made her forget what was about to come next, and when she felt Sam begin to move her, she screamed.

“Wait!” She shouted and almost immediately burst into tears. “P-please-”

The moment that Aster started to cry, he almost backed out. In that moment, he felt like the worst thing to ever exist, but he rubbed at her little form all the same. “Shh…it’s alright,” he soothed. “I’ll wait. Everything’s alright.”

Aster was crying so hard that she could barely speak. Out of everything she’d experienced in her short life, nothing had terrified her like this. And that was saying something. All she could manage was two words.

“I’m scared.”

Those two words were enough to shatter Sam’s heart. “I know, I know you are, and I’m so sorry. If there was another way, I would never do this to you.” He tried to think of anything at all that would comfort the girl, but he could only come up with one thing. “Do you remember the promise I made you?”

“You p-promised that you’d never hurt me.”

“Exactly, and that’s a promise that I will never break. Will you trust me?”

“I…I will.”

Aster’s voice was so small that he barely heard her, and he hated it. This wasn’t like her. Aster was a persistently cheerful, lively little thing. Very little ever got to her, even when Sam was in a less-than-friendly mood, and he rarely saw her afraid. Especially not of him, but he really didn’t have a choice.

With great regret, he finished letting her pass into his second stomach.

She was trembling like a leaf as she settled inside, but Sam had to fight back the urge to groan in delight. She hardly even made a bulge within his tail, but his body was beyond thrilled to have her.

But he still hadn’t lost control, and that meant that his plan was a success.

“S-Sam?” Aster called out. Her surroundings hadn’t turned hostile yet, but she knew it was only a matter of time. She needed to hear his voice. She couldn’t be alone now.

Sam immediately rushed to soothe her, his low voice surrounding her completely. “I’m right here. Everything’s alright…”

One of the walls pushed in against her, and she tucked herself as close to it as possible. She hated how similar it was to his first stomach. As of right now, the only significant difference was the size. The chamber she was currently in was much bigger, but she knew that the real difference was about to be much worse.

“What’s going to happen to me?” She asked. She trusted Sam with her life, and she truly did believe that he would protect her, but she had never been this helpless in her entire life. The very thing that was her safety was being turned against her.

“Well, you’re probably going to start noticing some acid pretty soon,” he said, and Aster shuddered harshly. Sam rubbed slow, soothing circles against her while he hushed her gently. “Shh…it won’t hurt. At worst, you’ll just feel a prickling sensation, and then you’re going to fall asleep. That’s it.”

You’re going to fall asleep.

But would she really? Or was this just Sam’s way of telling her that she was going to die? Even if it wasn’t permanent, it was still death.

She swallowed hard. Maybe this was a question she shouldn’t ever want the answer to, but she couldn’t not know. She wasn’t a child. She could handle it, couldn’t she? Even if she did regret it, she needed to know.

“Am I going to die?”

Sam froze, and a horrible sickness swept over him.

Die? She thought that he was going to kill her? The whole purpose of this twisted situation was to prevent that!

“No,” he managed despite the fact that his throat felt like it was at risk of closing up. “You’re not going to die, I would never allow it. I promise you that I know exactly what I’m doing.”

The digestion process must have begun because Aster suddenly pushed hard against the wall of his stomach, as though she was trying to get away from something.

“It’s not going to hurt you,” he murmured. All he could do now was try his best to keep her calm. As guilty as he felt, he couldn’t get her back out now. If he did, he would likely fall into starvation mode immediately, and that led to outcomes he didn’t want to consider.

Meanwhile, it took every last bit of Aster’s willpower to stop from lashing out against the liquid that was pooling around her. It would accomplish nothing, she knew that, but to lie still felt like giving up. Aster was a fighter at her core despite her exceptionally frail body, and she wanted to fight this desperately. Her instincts begged for it, whether this was her friend or not, but it was Sam’s calming voice that finally got her to think clearly.

Just like he’d promised, Aster wasn’t in any pain. By now, her skin had been bathed in the acid, and there wasn’t even so much as a little discomfort. All she could register was that it was warm with a slight prickling sensation. Add in Sam murmuring reassurances to her with that rare gentleness that she loved so much, and she couldn’t help but surrender.

Sleep began to tug at her mind, and she stiffened up in fear.

Sam’s voice sounded far away now, and she was just barely able to make out the words. “It’s okay, Aster. Just let go. I’ll take care of you.”

And with that, Aster let go, and her consciousness was swept away.

Sam sighed in relief when he felt the girl finally go limp. He carefully ran his hand along the tiny bulge in his tail, and he couldn’t help but marvel at the fact that it was even smaller than when she was in his first stomach. He almost never went for prey of her size. It hardly provided enough nourishment for it to be worth it, and somehow that made him feel even worse. He never should have been a danger to her, never required such drastic actions. The chances of such a thing happening were so small, and yet here they were.

Would she ever trust him again? Or even worse, would she be afraid of him? The whole process had practically scared her to death.

“I’m so sorry,” he whispered, but she wouldn’t be able to hear him now. He would have to wait much longer for that.

He situated himself so that he could comfortably have his arm over her at all times while his body got to work at satisfying his hunger. It was strange existing without Aster, even if it was temporary. It felt like ages ago that he’d saved her from those idiotic men, and he’d gotten used to her presence. He would never admit it, but he was already starting to miss her.

The feeling plagued him as the minutes slowly ticked by. Sam normally slept a great deal whenever he digested a meal, but he refused to allow himself to drift off now, not even for a second. This wasn’t just some random human, it was his human. And whether he liked it or not, he cared for her more than he’d ever cared for anything in his entire life.

Another harsh, snowy breeze swept through the cave, so cold that even Sam shivered a little. At the very least, she wasn’t freezing in the elements anymore, but the thought only made him feel guiltier. He had saved her life by doing this, he knew that, but that wouldn’t mean anything until he had her safely in his arms again.

The hours dragged on, and it wasn’t until sometime in the middle of the night that Sam was able to mutter the small incantation that would finally bring this whole awful thing to an end. There was a soft sphere of light, and he watched with bated breath as it morphed into a small human shape.

He caught her in his arms before her body could fall to the frozen floor, and he clutched Aster’s sleeping form to his chest in a grip of iron. She was exactly as she had been before he swallowed her, and he shook as he looked down at her peacefully sleeping face.

“Oh, Aster,” he whispered. “You have no idea how sorry I am.”

Aster stirred in her sleep, and she burrowed closer to the warmth that she was pressed against. Someone was holding her tightly, but there was nothing threatening about it. It was a comforting hold, one that only one person was capable of giving her.

A chilly breeze blew over her, and her eye fluttered open.

“Sam?” She mumbled. It was dark inside the cave now, but she couldn’t remember falling asleep. Why hadn’t he just swallowed her?

She looked up at him in confusion, and the pained look on his face brought the memories flooding back.

Aster stiffened in his arms, but the fear was quickly replaced with an incomprehensible relief. She threw her arms around his neck, hot tears trickling down her cheek.

“You saved me,” she said with some difficulty, and she felt one of Sam’s warm palms cradle her back.

“Of course I did, you fool,” he murmured. “But I’m so sorry that I had to. I never wanted this to happen.”

Aster said nothing in reply, and Sam’s heart softened as she nestled against him. He knew that there would be consequences for what he did, but that didn’t matter now. What mattered now was that she was safe in his arms, and there was nothing he wouldn’t do if anything tried to threaten it.

“You mean everything to me,” he said quietly. “I’ll do everything in my power to keep you safe. You have my word.”

And that was how they stayed for the remainder of the night. Aster snuggled up to Sam’s chest as Sam kept watch, listening to the storm rage on.

Chapter Text

Nearly a month had passed since Sam and Aster were trapped during the winter storm, and, to Sam’s immense relief, Aster seemed to have recovered remarkably well. She was still alarmingly fearless, constantly trying Sam’s nerves while chatting endlessly about anything and everything, and she seemed happy enough. Even overjoyed a lot of the time. But there was one thing that had changed. And as he watched her walk along the edge of the large rock that overlooked the spring, that very thing made his heart feel like it was about to beat straight out of his chest.

No matter the circumstance, Aster did not want to be swallowed. Whether she was cold, injured, or ill (which was frequent), the answer remained the same. Quite frankly, Sam had had enough of it, but he couldn’t exactly force her. Not after what he put her through during the storm.

He watched her warily from the corner of his eye. With Aster being a Defect, he already worried for her quite often, but it was another thing entirely when he couldn’t heal her. “Get away from there, you foolish girl. If you fall, you’ll break every bone in your body.”

She flicked her messy braid over her shoulder, shooting him a playful smile as she continued to pace along the rock’s edge. “You worry too much, Sam. I jump off of this into the water all the time, and I’ve only gotten hurt, like, three times.”

“Right, that’s if you jump. What happens if you fall, and instead of landing in the water, you land on a bunch of jagged rocks?”

She paused, considering, and Sam nearly sighed in relief.

“You know, you’re not very much fun,” she teased before leaving the rock’s edge. She approached Sam instead, depositing herself beside him so that her back was against his coils. “But you are very warm,” she continued, “so that makes up for some of it.”

Sam raised an eyebrow, a small, fond smile on his lips. “Is that all I am to you? A giant heater?”

She nodded her head before nestling against him. “A very good one. I would absolutely recommend you to a friend.”

“Is that so?” He asked, eyeing her skeptically. “Forgive me if I’m wrong, but I’m fairly certain that I’m your only friend.”

Aster scoffed indignantly. “Hey! Just because it’s true doesn’t mean you need to say it!”

She glared up at him, but it was difficult to actually feel any real annoyance when he was looking at her like that. Despite knowing that he cared deeply for her, Sam had a habit of not making it overly apparent. In fact, it used to be almost exclusively only when he swallowed her that he would slip up. After the events of the storm, however, she had seen that soft look on several occasions.

A harsh shiver went down her spine, and she averted her gaze.

It wasn’t that she was afraid of Sam, per se. She wasn’t even sure if it was possible for her to be afraid of him. He was her best friend, after all, and he had saved her life more than once. But when all of that happened…Aster had never been more afraid in her life. Even losing her eye paled in comparison.

She took a slow, deep breath before putting on a pleasant smile. No, she wasn’t afraid of Sam. She loved him dearly. What he could do to her, however, was another story.

“What are you thinking about?” He asked, and she noticed that his coils were shifting around her. Creating a nest of sorts, she realized. It was something that he’d been doing since he first took her in, and a feeling of intense calm came over her.

“Oh, nothing much,” she said. “I should probably go to Vierra soon, though.”

That got Sam’s attention. His sharp green eyes latched onto her, his lips already twisting into a scowl.

“Why do you need to go to Vierra?” He demanded. “You went not that long ago, and you were nearly assaulted.”

“It was, like, two months ago. I definitely need to go back.”

“What do you need so desperately?”

She rolled her eye. “Look, my collection of human items that I have out here isn’t all that extensive. I need some new clothes, I really wouldn’t mind getting my hands on a blanket, and I need some fabric. Preferably a nice pattern, if possible.”

He folded his arms, a look of puzzlement on his face. “Why do you need fabric?”

“My patch,” Aster said. She reached up, carefully removing the fabric patch she’d fashioned to cover her missing eye. “It’s getting really worn, and I don’t want to risk it tearing when I have nothing to replace it with.”

Sam was momentarily lost for words. Aster made the patch in question very shortly after beginning to stay with him because she was self-conscious about the way that her face looked. Since then, he’d never seen her take it off. Not even once, and he could understand why.

It wasn’t that Aster was hideous. In fact, Aster had many beautiful features, but it was impossible not to notice her hollow eye socket. Thanks to Sam, it had healed well, but that didn’t make it any less noticeable.

Aster was cradling the worn fabric in her hands, and he was alarmed by the sudden aura of sadness around her. It made him remember the way he’d found her, bloody and barely clinging to life, and it filled him with rage.

She deserved so much better than this. She was the first human that he’d ever even tolerated, let alone liked. Aster might as well have been a fucking saint, as far as he was concerned. If a chance of revenge were to make itself known, there would be nothing stopping him from grabbing it.

“You’ve got that murderous glint in your eyes again,” she said, dragging him straight back to the present. “Please don’t tell me that you’re planning on waging war against the bastards of Vierra.”

He shrugged. “I see no problem with it. It’s not like they would win. I wouldn’t have to hunt for months.”

“All at once? That’s not very practical. Do you realize how many shitty men live in that kingdom? You’d split right open.”

Sam snorted, and Aster's sunny smile returned. He hated to admit it, but she was kind of adorable. It was a thought that he’d never had in his entire life. All he knew was that he had to be able to protect her, and sooner or later, they were going to have to talk about it.

Aster set the worn fabric on the rock’s warm surface beside her. Just for a moment. Just long enough to stretch her arms over her head and lean just a little heavier against Sam.

A cool breeze washed over them, and before Aster could react, the wind caught at the fabric. She reached out to grab it, but it slipped right through her fingers.

Panic surged through her, and Aster leapt to her feet. She didn’t even hear what Sam said. She was already running after it. It was about to float right over the edge of the rock, to be lost in the spring and likely never to be found again. She needed a new one, yes, but she didn’t have it yet!

It didn’t matter that she was sprinting to the edge herself. The thought could barely register in her brain. All she knew was that only over her dead body would she leave her face exposed.

Her hand closed around it just as she reached the edge, and she wobbled once, the jagged rocks below glaring up at her before she regained her balance. She heaved a great sigh of relief and began to turn back to address Sam, who was shouting at her for being a “reckless fool,” when her foot slipped out from under her.

There was barely even time to scream because, before she knew it, she was plummeting down.

At that moment, Sam’s world came to a screeching halt. It had to be a nightmare. Normally, he was the one comforting Aster from her nightmares, not the one having them, but there was no possible way that he was witnessing Aster begin to fall from the rock.

Except it was real, and when he launched himself forward to grab her, it was already too late.

He didn’t waste another second. He rushed down from the rock, his heart thundering as he did. The place that he so frequently rested was practically a small cliff. If one were to run and jump from the edge, they could easily land safely in the deeper waters of the spring. To fall from its edge, however, meant a fifteen-foot drop onto the pointed rocks in the shallow water. A regular human would be lucky to walk away without any life-altering injury, and Aster was no regular human.

The sight he found was one that made his stomach twist violently.

Aster was sprawled in the shallow water, now tinged red from the bloody gashes all along her arms and legs. One glance alone told him that many of her bones had shattered. If she hit her head…

Sam rushed to Aster’s side, immediately cradling her head in his palm. There were some cuts on her face, and it looked like she’d bit her lip pretty badly, but her skull seemed to be all right.

Her eye cracked open, and she groaned weakly.

“Shh…don’t try to move,” he said. It was miraculous that he sounded calm at all. “Just stay still. I’m going to heal you, everything’s going to be alright-”

“No-!” She tried to shift before whimpering sharply.

Sam swallowed hard. This was not at all how he wanted to go about earning Aster’s trust back, but it would have to do. She’d thank him eventually.

“Aster,” he tried again, and she looked up at him fearfully. “I swear on my life that I am swallowing you to heal you. I know you feel safe in my first stomach, and that is the only place you will go. You’re going to have to trust me because you cannot afford for me to act any differently.”

He gathered her as carefully as he could, and he cringed when she cried out. He didn’t even want to imagine how much pain she was in, and being swallowed wasn’t going to feel much better.

But she’ll live, he forcefully reminded himself. All that matters is that she lives.

“Just close your eye,” he murmured. “It will be over quickly, I promise.”

Then, with as much care as he possibly could, he began to ease her broken body into his mouth.

To a varying degree, Sam usually enjoyed the process of swallowing prey, especially if that prey was Aster. This was not one of those times.

There was a lot of blood, for one. If the prey were literally anyone else, this would have been a bonus, but now it only made Sam nauseous. It reminded him of the first time he’d taken Aster in, the day she’d lost her eye, and she had been practically half dead. Worst of all, though, was that with every swallow he took, he could hear her cry out.

He didn’t know whether to slow down or speed up. Slowing down might lessen the pain’s intensity, but it would also drag things out. Speeding up would undoubtedly be agonizing, but she would be out of his throat sooner and could begin to be healed. He would be hurting her either way.

Sam took one slow, deep breath, his mind made. The sooner this was over, the better.

He began swallowing rapidly, drawing her inside of him as quickly as he could without crushing her. There was a startled, pained scream, and if she wasn’t so injured, he didn’t doubt that she would have been struggling fiercely.

He hated that fact, but there was no space to be bothered by it now. This wasn’t just Aster being careless and hurting herself. Sam had inspected her briefly, but in truth, he wasn’t sure what the true extent of her injuries was. How hard had she hit her head? How many bones had she shattered? What internal damage was there that he couldn’t see?

Up until now, Sam had always been unconcerned when he went about healing her. He’d never had any reason to doubt whether or not she would be okay. This time, though…Sam wasn’t sure if she was going to be okay.

A new fire swept through him, and he took the final swallow that sealed Aster within him.

There was an awful moment of silence as she was forced into a loose curl in his middle. The scent of her blood hung heavily in the air, staining his hands and coating his taste buds while he carefully cradled his middle. There was a small struggle, and he just barely heard a soft whimper.

“It’s alright…” he murmured, and to his surprise, he found that his voice was shaking. “I know that was painful, and I’m so sorry, but it’s all alright now. You’re safe. I promise on my life that you’re safe, just relax…I know you didn’t want this, but you have to trust me.”

It didn’t take long for him to feel Aster go limp. With how injured she was, he knew that she would likely be put to sleep almost immediately. It was both a blessing and a curse. She wasn’t in pain this way, and her body could rest, but it would also be several hours before he got any indication of whether or not she was going to be all right.

The thought weighed heavily on him as he finally brought himself to leave the blood-stained waters. Sam settled himself back on the large rock again, his hand never straying from his barely distended middle.

There was a chance that he might lose her. With how fragile her body was, one sharp hit to the head could do it alone.

For a brief second, his eyesight blurred, and he angrily wiped away the offending moisture. How, in such a short amount of time, had one creature suddenly managed to mean so much? What would he do if this didn’t work?

Sam shook his head vehemently. This was going to work. It simply had to. If it didn't, what on earth would he do?

--- 

As the hours passed, Sam had one focus and one focus only.

He remained curled in his spot on the rock as the sun continued its journey through the sky, both hands over his stomach as he listened to the faint fluttering of a tiny heart, felt the shallow rise and fall of her chest. She was yet to stir, but she was still alive.

The many hours he was forced to wait to reform Aster during the winter storm a month ago had felt like torture, but that paled in comparison to the dread that seized him now. Sam had been alive far longer than Aster, and yet he couldn’t recall a single time where he’d felt anything like this.

There was a small shift against his hand, and he gasped.

“…Aster?”

Aster’s eye cracked open to darkness. Not just any darkness, though. She knew this darkness, just like she knew the bone-deep warmth and the soft flesh that cradled her. Before, waking up inside Sam would have immediately soothed the fear she felt upon remembering the moment her foot slipped from the rock. This time, unfortunately, that was not the case.

She tried to struggle, but unbearable shocks of pain made her yelp loudly instead.

“Aster!” Sam hissed. “Stop! You’re going to make it worse!”

This should have mattered to her, but she wasn’t thinking about the fact that she was still hurt. She tried to stretch out her legs, her arms, even as the acts sent hot tears spilling down her cheek.

It doesn’t seem big enough. It has to be the first, right?

She was about to attempt a full twist when she felt Sam’s hand press in on her.

“If you’re trying to figure out where you are, you could have just asked,” he said in a soft voice. It was the rare tone that Aster loved. “You’re in my first stomach, and that is the only place that you will wake up in. So please, just calm down. You are in dreadful shape, and I’m trying to heal you.”

Aster reluctantly relaxed beneath his touch, but it didn’t take long for her surrounding environment to aid in draining the fight out of her. This place had a habit of doing that to her. When being held within a creature as powerful as Sam, it was difficult not to feel safe. Even now, despite everything, she couldn’t help but feel comforted.

“Do you promise?” She asked. Her voice was weak, but she knew that he could hear every word easily. “Unless you have my permission, I will never go anywhere else? I…I know that we had no choice last time, but I just need to hear you say it. Then I’ll stop.”

Sam sighed softly above her, and she could feel the gentle vibrations of his voice as he spoke. “I swear on my life, Aster, that unless you tell me to, it will never happen again. I don’t want it to happen again. This space is yours just as it was before.”

Aster felt the fears that had clung to her since the incident, the fear of Sam’s body and what it was capable of, slowly fading away. Even when she was in more pain than she’d ever felt before, which was really saying something, she couldn’t help but feel soothed to her very core. The fact that she’d been wary to even approach the subject felt silly now. One conversation could have easily put the fears to rest without such dire circumstances.

Her memories grew clouded after the moment she fell, but the image of the bloody water around her and the look of terror on Sam’s face would probably haunt her for the rest of her life.

Aster swallowed hard. “This…is really bad, isn’t it?”

“I would hardly call it ideal.”

Under normal circumstances, she would have smacked him. Unfortunately for Aster, that was not an available option.

“Obviously it is not ideal. I almost died, didn’t I?”

Sam rubbed slow circles against her, just light enough to avoid jostling her too much. “You did. And I’m not sure just how extensive the injuries still are. It will likely take more than a day for me to be able to let you out again. I got to you as quickly as I could…so I am hopeful that there will be no lasting damage.”

She was quiet for a few moments, and Sam had begun wondering if she’d fallen asleep when she spoke up again, her voice small. “I’m so sorry.”

He raised an eyebrow. “What for?”

“For being so stupid. I never should have run to the edge like that. I wasn’t even thinking. I just…couldn’t lose my patch. I’m so afraid to go without it, and now I’ve probably scared you half to death.”

“While I can’t say that I understand why that bothers you so much,” he said, “I don’t blame you for it. It was an accident. There’s no need to be sorry. I’m just glad that you’re okay.”

Glad was a colossal understatement. The idea of no longer having Aster had been earth-shattering. Even if there were times when she frustrated him, the young woman had left a massive impact on his life. While it did alarm him to some degree, he didn’t want to go back to life without Aster.

“You don’t have to be so nice about it,” she said, and Sam felt her finally begin to settle down. It was only a matter of time before she passed out again. “I was a reckless idiot. You can’t tell me that there isn’t a little part of you that’s dying to scold me right now.”

A small smile tugged at his lips, and he continued to rub her soothingly while her breathing gradually deepened. “I’ll save that for later. For now, all I want you to do is rest. Let me take care of you, alright?”

“Alright,” she mumbled before slipping back into a state of blissful unconsciousness.

“If only you knew just how much you matter to me,” Sam murmured, knowing full well that she couldn’t hear him. Maybe one day he would tell her. After the day's events, he certainly felt more inclined to. But that was a worry for another day.

Sam settled against his coils, never giving up the protective arm he now had wrapped around his middle. He didn’t know if there were any damages that he was too late to repair, but they would find a way to manage. All that mattered was that Aster was alive, and it seemed like she finally trusted him again.

For now, that was enough.

Chapter Text

For Sam, birthdays meant nothing. They were just a pointless day that humans fixated on for reasons he just couldn’t understand. He’d never celebrated his own, and he’d never been around anyone else long enough to bother even learning when theirs was.

That is, except for today.

Today was Aster’s birthday, and after the throwaway comment she’d made yesterday, he was determined to do something about it.

“It’s not like I’ve ever celebrated it before or anything,” she’d said. “I mean, it’s not like I was worth anything to them. If anything, they would just be annoyed that I’d managed to live another year. So I didn’t really see the point in pretending that it was a good thing.”

She’d then promptly returned to washing one of her shirts in the spring, not even noticing the look of barely concealed horror on Sam’s face.

Yes, Sam couldn’t have cared less what day some random human was born or how long they’d been on this earth. And yet, hearing that nobody had cared about Aster’s felt horrifically unacceptable. Especially since one of the supposedly uncaring people was Aster herself.

His eyes fell to where she was now, curled up and fast asleep in a nest of his coils. It was still very early in the morning, and Aster was in a deep sleep. He gently ran his claw-tipped fingers through her hair, and she didn’t so much as stir. It was still jarring seeing her exposed face, especially since she wasn’t awake to attempt to shield it with her hair.

A rush of memories came over him, images of Aster falling from the cliff and finding her on the rocks below. Three weeks had gone by, and he still couldn’t get it out of his head. At first, he could barely even let her out of his sight. Sam worried about Aster’s well-being far more than he ever had his own, and he still wasn’t quite sure how to process it. It was a burden he’d never carried before.

Aster stirred, somehow managing to tuck herself even closer against him before immediately drifting back to sleep. Sam’s face softened.

Yes, he had to do something. She deserved that.

He carefully withdrew his hand and crossed his arms over his chest as he tried to remember what little he knew of human customs and traditions. Aster had told him bits and pieces, but her life in the streets of Vierra wasn’t exactly one of pleasant experiences, making her a somewhat unreliable source.

Birthdays were significant. He definitely knew that much, but what did they do? Food was probably involved somehow. It seemed to be a common factor whenever Aster had mentioned a celebration of any kind, but Sam could hardly provide anything of that nature. He didn’t have the slightest clue as to how humans cooked, and he doubted Aster wanted any part of him trying to replicate it. He vaguely remembered a comment about people gathering together, but he was certain that Aster would rather die than be around another human. Which would have been very counterproductive.

Sam frowned, shaking his head. There had to be something else. Was this the one where people gave each other flowers? That didn’t seem right. Or was it the one about candy that Aster had seemed to like? Of course, Aster’s memories revolved around stealing the candy, so that probably wasn’t it either.

Then it hit him.

Gifts. They gave each other gifts. But what kind of gift would Aster want?

His sharp eyes fell back to her peaceful face, and an idea began to form.

Sam gently eased his arms beneath her and lifted her from his coils, carefully setting her on the soft grass. He waited a moment, and once he was certain she wasn’t going to wake, he set off for Vierra.

--- 

Aster slowly cracked open her eye and stretched, a small smile on her face. Her dream was the best one she’d had in some time. It was about Sam, of course, except he was unusually happy and didn’t have the worried look he had so often now. It wasn’t anything too extravagant, just the two of them enjoying each other's company, but it made her happy nonetheless.

Speaking of Sam…

She looked around in confusion. It didn’t look like he was sprawled across the rock he loved overlooking the spring, which was where Sam usually could be found at least 80% of most days.

“He must be hunting,” she muttered to herself as she got to her feet. Which would be odd, considering that she could have sworn that he hunted a couple of days ago. But Sam usually didn’t travel far from her unless he had to since her accident a few weeks ago, so that had to be it.

Shrugging, Aster went on with her day. She washed off in the spring, brushed out her dark hair before tying it into a knot at the base of her neck, and threw on a clean pair of shorts and a t-shirt. It was a simple enough routine, but the lasting damage from her fall had made it more complicated. She experienced numbness in various places from nerve damage, such as her hands and feet, and her mobility wasn’t nearly as good as it used to be, but she didn’t dare complain about it. If it hadn’t been for Sam, things would have been much, much worse.

Something caught her eye as she straightened, and she tugged on the fabric of her shirt, inspecting a small hole that was starting to form from where a branch had snagged it the other day.

Aster swore under her breath. She really, really needed to go to Vierra. Her list of things she needed was only growing longer, a batch of new clothing included, but there was one problem. A very significant one at that.

Her eye fell to the spring, where her reflection peered back up at her. A feeling of dread stirred in her chest, slowly clawing its way up her throat and making her heart pound against her ribs. She couldn’t go to Vierra, not like this. If she had a hard time staying unnoticed before, she certainly wouldn’t stand a chance now.

Before she could stop it, a series of rapid images flashed in her mind. The streets, being surrounded by drunken men, fighting back viciously until the knife was produced, and blood. So, so much blood. The sounds of her screams echoed in her ear, and Aster hurriedly backed away from the water. Her body trembled violently, and she angrily wiped away the tears that pricked at her eye.

Suddenly, the idea of being alone felt dangerous, and she frantically began to search for Sam. Sure, he might not always be the friendliest person, but he was her best friend, and being near him always managed to calm her. Whether she was inside of him or even just in the same vicinity, Sam’s presence brought her comfort, and she craved for it now.

“Sam?” She called out tentatively. When she got no response, her voice became panicked. “Sam!”

Aster looked everywhere. From his favorite spots to the very edges of his territory, she covered them all and still came up short. By now, she was breathing rapidly, tears pouring down her cheek in a cascade. Sam never left his territory without telling her. He rarely ever left it at all. Had something happened to him? Had he finally decided that she was a burden and abandoned her?

No, that couldn’t be it. Sam would never leave her…right?

There was a sudden flurry of movement to her left, and Aster screamed.

“Aster?” Came the familiar, very puzzled voice, and she all but threw herself into Sam’s arms.

He caught her with ease, his hand immediately coming up to cradle her head, and all of the tension released from her body. She was home again.

Sam’s movements were careful, and she knew that if she looked up, his eyebrows would be furrowed. “Ah…are you alright?” He asked slowly. After a moment, he reached out to gently tilt her chin up, and his vivid green eyes rapidly scanned her face. “Are you crying? What happened?”

“No, nothing happened. You just scared me is all,” she said, her cheeks reddening under his sharp gaze. “Where did you go?”

To her surprise, Sam looked oddly nervous now, and he set Aster back on her feet.

“Well, I know that today’s your birthday,” he said, and Aster raised her eyebrows in surprise. She didn’t think that he’d remembered. “And it only seemed right that I give you something.”

Aster tilted her head, staring up at him inquisitively. “You got me a present? You didn’t have to do that. Nobody’s ever done that for me before.”

“Well, just because they haven’t doesn’t mean that nobody should. So…here-”

She realized then that he had something in his hand, and he held it out to her in an offering.

A soft gasp escaped her, and she accepted it with shaking hands. It was a pale blue strip of fabric that was covered in a pattern of tiny white flowers. The perfect size to use as a patch.

“This is incredible,” she whispered, and a slight, proud smile tugged at Sam’s lips. “This is incredible! I can’t believe you actually-” She stopped suddenly, a new thought occurring to her, and her eye narrowed.

“Samuel…where did you get this?” She asked.

“From your pitiful excuse of a kingdom,” he said, and his smile turned wicked. “I believe I caused at least a dozen of them to go into cardiac arrest.”

“Right…but how did you get it?”

“I took it from a woman.”

“What do you mean by took it? I doubt she was just walking around with a strip of fabric.”

“Of course not. I tore it from her skirt.”

Aster’s eye widened, and she burst out laughing. Sam looked like he didn’t know whether to be pleased or offended, and that only made it worse.

“Sam,” she wheezed. “I can’t believe that you went up to somebody and literally ripped her clothes and left. This is officially my favorite day ever.”

Sam settled against his coils and watched as Aster happily wrapped the fabric across her face. As much as he disliked knowing that she was ashamed of it, he was glad to see her happy again.

“Why were you crying when I found you?” He asked, and Aster tensed.

“I…I was just remembering when I lost my eye, and I got scared,” she admitted quietly. “I couldn’t find you anywhere, and I was worried that you might have left me.”

He blinked at her for a moment, his heart cracking in his chest. She thought that he had left her? The idea was unfathomable.

He shook his head, saying, “I would never leave you, Aster. That is foolish thinking. Why would I ever have done that?”

Aster groaned. “I don’t know, I just panicked! It’s not like you leave your territory on the regular. Can you really blame me?”

They exchanged a long, knowing glance. There was an almost predatory glint in Sam’s eyes, one that matched the growing sense of longing in her chest. She could tell that he was working to restrain himself, and she felt like she was well on her way to begging.

“Sam,” she finally said. “Can you-”

He was already nodding, and Aster wasted no time in walking back into his arms.

Sam gathered Aster into his arms, and a rush of warmth swelled in him as she looked up at him trustingly. Oh, how far they had come. Her eye fell shut, and without thinking, he brushed his lips against the top of her head.

“You know the drill,” he murmured. “Just try to relax.”

He took her in slowly, using the careful restraint he’d now mastered so well. Every swallow was gentle, gradually pulling Aster deeper into his core while his senses sang. He knew that Aster was well aware that the predator in him enjoyed swallowing her down, but luckily, she didn’t seem to mind. It was a level of trust he knew better than to take for granted.

Her head began to enter his chest cavity, and his hand dropped to his stomach in time to feel it start to swell against his fingertips. It didn’t matter that she was tiny or that, in the end, she would barely make a dent. It was more satisfying than any other prey he’d ever had.

Inch by inch, the peristalsis drew her further down until she was completely sealed inside, and the rest of her was tucked safely within Sam’s first stomach.

He rubbed soothing circles against her as she settled within him. Her tremors were minimal this time, but he knew it was still an overwhelming process for her in the beginning. Sam didn’t mind, though. The more times they did this, the more he realized that he actually enjoyed caring for Aster. Helping her feel safe didn’t feel like a chore. Rather, it was an intimate space that he wanted to protect at all costs.

“How are you feeling?” He asked, and he felt her shift beneath his hand.

Sam’s voice vibrated around her, and she nestled closer to the spot where his hand was.

“I’m alright,” she said quietly, a soft smile on her lips. All of her stress was melting away, surrounded by nothing but the beating of Sam’s heart and the warm embrace of her temporary home. Alright was putting it lightly.

She heard Sam hum in response, his hand a constant, gentle pressure against her.

Eighteen.

Who would have thought she’d make it this far? Certainly not Aster. And not only was she alive, but she’d never felt safer in her life.

“Thank you for the present,” she murmured. “I’ve never gotten one before, but this was perfect. It means the world to me.”

“There’s no need for thanks. It was nothing,” he said, his voice the rare, soothing tone she loved so much. “Happy birthday, Aster. It was about time someone celebrated you.”

Tears welled up in her eye as she was overcome by a joy unlike anything she’d ever experienced before. Yes, today was her favorite day.

Chapter Text

Being a Defect, it was no surprise that Sam frequently found Aster burning up, vomiting, pale as a ghost, or swaying like she was at risk of collapsing at any moment. Sickness was simply a typical part of her life, therefore making it a typical part of his own. That was fine enough. He was used to caring for her. The only problem, however, was that Aster was too used to it.

By Aster’s standards, there was no such thing as ‘too sick.’ No matter how ill she got, she always insisted that it ‘wasn’t that bad’ or that she’d ‘had worse’. Which, Sam soon came to realize, made her a very unreliable source.

This was what brought him to his frustrated situation that afternoon, as he stared down at Aster’s pale, shivering form. It hadn’t even been ten minutes since he’d had to catch her before she fainted, her skin alarmingly hot to the touch.

“You’re not okay,” he repeated for the third time, gesturing exasperatedly at her. “Nothing about what just happened suggests that you’re okay.”

“This is nothing,” Aster insisted, although it was somewhat difficult to understand her due to her chattering teeth. “I survived in the streets like this while hiding behind a bunch of garbage cans, so-”

“Right, you say that now, but you have no way of knowing how much worse it could get. For all you know, without intervention, this could end up being the thing that finally did you in. It’s not like you have a strong immune system to support you.”

She mumbled incoherently, and Sam sighed. As much as he cared for the girl, this was easily the most difficult part of living with her. How do you convince someone who was so used to getting hurt, to getting vilely ill, that there was such a thing as too much? The only times he’d seen Aster seem genuinely frightened by her own injuries was when she’d lost her eye or when she’d fallen from the cliff, both of which had nearly claimed her life. To her, being sick was nothing, but Sam knew better.

“I commend you for your tenacity,” he said dryly, “but determination doesn’t do much for you now.”

He needed to swallow her, that much was apparent. It was what he always did when she was especially unwell. He would hold her inside of him for a few days, allowing his body to support and restore her until her body seemed strong enough to support itself again. And despite her protests, he was perfectly aware of the fact that Aster wasn’t truly opposed to the prospect of having an extended stay inside of him. It was the perfect plan, except there was one slight problem this time.

As if on cue, Sam’s stomach growled insistently. He needed to hunt, which meant that swallowing Aster would have to wait until he was finished. Which would have been fine enough if it weren’t for the fact that he didn’t trust her not to do something foolish. Not with a fever that high.

“What am I going to do with you?” he muttered, although there was a softness to his gaze as he looked down at her.

With a practiced gentleness, Sam picked Aster up from the ground and gathered her in his arms. The girl was practically limp, only moving slightly to press her cheek against his warm chest as he carried her to the security of their usual sleeping place. It was a safe distance away from the cliff and the spring, which would at least give him some peace of mind.

He set her down on the soft grass, but she weakly reached out in an attempt to pull him back. Something about the little gesture tugged at his heart, but he unfortunately didn’t have much of a choice. He couldn’t swallow prey with Aster already inside of him. There was simply no way around it.

Sam caught her small hand in his before gently lowering it to her chest. “I’ll be back soon, and you better still be here. You are not well, and you are only a danger to yourself. Don’t be foolish.”

And with those somewhat pointed words, he set off.

---

Time blurred in odd, hazy waves as Aster lay waiting for her friend to come back. Had it been five minutes, or was it five hours? Her thoughts were deliriously fluid, and she really wasn’t sure anymore.

A harsh shiver came over her, and her teeth chattered lightly. It was so cold here. Aster rubbed her hands up and down her arms to no avail, and she struggled into a sitting position.

Something wasn’t right, that much was obvious. She could barely hold her head up, she was horrifically nauseous, and she couldn’t hold onto a thought to save her life. Why did Sam leave, anyway? And why did he leave her in a shaded place when it was clearly way too cold?

Aster weakly brushed her bangs from her sweaty forehead and groaned before vomiting into the grass.

Right, she was sick. But why would Sam leave her alone when she was sick? He was her friend, after all. Unless…

She shook her head, but the action nearly made her heave again. Sam never left her when she wasn’t well. Had he finally gotten tired of it? That would certainly explain things. After all, it was bound to happen eventually. Her strange thoughts seemed to think so.

Something wet slipped down her cheek, but her brain was already swimming again as the shivering got even worse. Wasn’t it June? No…that couldn’t be right. It wasn’t cold in June. Sam decided that the right time to abandon her was in the winter? Aster’s lip trembled as a wave of dizziness came over her, and she collapsed back onto the ground.

Warmth…there had to be warmth somewhere. But where was she? She definitely should have known.

An image came to her then of a spring and a small cliff overlooking it. A cliff that was very often bathed in sweet, blessed sunlight. Yes, she knew that place, and she knew how to get there.
With what little strength she had left, Aster started to crawl.

Sam had been gone for one hour by the time he returned, and just as he feared, Aster was nowhere to be found. The only proof that she’d been there in the first place was a spot on the ground where she’d clearly been sick not that long ago.

He shut his eyes and took one slow, deep breath, tightly pinching the bridge of his nose.

“Aster, what have you done now?” he muttered. Luckily, he was more than familiar with her scent by now, and he wasted no more time before following it.

She couldn’t have gone far, not like that, he thought to himself, but as her trail led him closer and closer to the spring, the more his heart rate spiked.

He would never forget the image of Aster falling from the cliff, of finding her bloody and broken on the rocks below. It had haunted his dreams more times than he could count. And that was when she was fully aware. He could tell that she was beginning to experience some form of delirium before he left. She could have gotten confused, and that made both the spring and the cliff equally dangerous.

Sam all but burst through the clearing, and he heaved a great sigh of relief upon spotting Aster, who was trying her best to drag herself to the top of the cliff. It took only a handful of seconds to reach her.

“Oh, no you don’t,” he murmured before swiftly lifting her into his arms. To Sam’s stunned surprise, Aster immediately began to struggle. “Aster! What on earth are you doing?”

It quickly became apparent just how bad Aster’s delirium had become. There was a slight slur to her speech, and she was struggling to get her words out.

“You left me!” she said miserably, still actively trying to find a way out of Sam’s grasp. It was a pointless effort against a creature of his size and strength, but that didn’t stop her from trying. “You got sick of me because I’m a Defect. You left me alone in the winter-”

Sam’s eyebrows furrowed in puzzlement. “Winter? Aster, it’s June, and I didn’t leave you.”

She shook her head, and a sharp pang went through his chest when he saw the tears rolling down her cheek.

“Oh, love,” he said softly and drew her to his chest. “You’re confused. I didn’t leave because I was tired of taking care of you. I needed to hunt so that it would be safe to swallow you and heal you. I just want to help you, that’s all.”

Apparently, that was good enough for Aster, as she’d finally stopped struggling. A harsh shiver went through her, and she attempted to nestle closer to his chest.

“Cold,” she mumbled, to which he raised an eyebrow in disbelief. It was a sunny June afternoon, and even though he could feel each of her shivers in his arms, there was still an undeniable heat radiating from her as well.

Sam pressed the back of his hand to her forehead before pulling it back with a hiss. Her temperature had definitely risen. No wonder she was getting so confused. He really needed to swallow her.

Sam gently pulled her away from his chest, and she whimpered in protest.

“No- don’t leave-”

“Shh…I’m not leaving,” he soothed. “Quite the opposite. I’m going to swallow you, and then you’re going to feel much better, okay?”

She feebly nodded her head, and he took that as his okay to continue.

“Close your eye,” he said, and once she complied, he began lowering her legs into his mouth.

This was normally an activity that Sam reveled in, but the minute he tasted her clammy, too-warm skin, he knew that this wasn’t the time to draw things out. Humans, let alone Defects, were fragile creatures, and having such a high temperature could be dangerous. Aster’s delusions were a bad enough sign as is, and she needed to be tended to immediately.

Sam began swallowing rhythmically, drawing her little body into his with smooth precision. Not rough enough to hurt her, but quick enough to get her into his chest cavity in a matter of seconds. By the time he felt her fill his first stomach, her little form had gone completely limp.

“There we go,” he murmured, rubbing slow circles into her. “Now just relax. Your body may not be strong enough to fight off your illness, but mine will just fine.”

“I like you like this,” she slurred, and Sam had to focus just to make out the words.

“What do you mean?” he asked.

“You’re so nice when you take care of me. It makes me feel like someone loves me.”

Sam’s hand froze over top of her, his eyes wide with surprise. By the time he’d managed to gather his thoughts, Aster’s breathing had already evened out and deepened. She was asleep.

He carefully started rubbing her again, and he looked down at the bulge in his middle thoughtfully. She wasn’t entirely wrong. Sam was softer with Aster when he had to care for her, especially if that involved swallowing her. It reminded him that despite how fiery and bold Aster was, in many ways, she was very helpless, and she relied on him. It made him protective and possessive, and in those moments, she was his entire world.

So much time had passed since the first time he met her, and it still surprised him. It wasn’t that he was unkind to her otherwise, but Sam wasn’t a generally soft person. Quite the opposite, really. He was short-tempered, impatient, and easily annoyed. It was a rare day that he wasn’t sharp with her, and she took great delight in throwing it right back at him. But despite this, there was never a time when Sam didn’t still care for her.

“You’re so nice when you take care of me. It makes me feel like someone loves me.”

He frowned deeply. Love wasn’t a feeling that he had ever attributed to anyone in his lifetime, and yet hearing Aster say that she only felt loved when he cared for her felt horribly wrong. What that meant, exactly, Sam wasn’t sure, but he knew that he didn’t like it.

For two days, Sam had to sit with the thought while Aster slept on. Depending on what illness had plagued her, sometimes it took a few days to stabilize Aster’s system. When the wound or condition wasn’t severe or life-threatening, the healing process often went a bit slower, something he knew Aster not so secretly enjoyed. Sam was far from opposed to it himself, but right now, it was driving him mad.

When he felt her stir for the first time, he had to restrain himself from interrogating her immediately.

Aster groaned quietly, and when her tiny hand pushed insistently at his stomach wall, he was quick to place his hand over top of it.

“Welcome back,” he said. “How are you feeling?”

Aster nestled against the pressure, the sound of her friend’s voice soothing her to the core. “Like I could sleep for a century.”

“That’s hardly surprising. You weren’t exactly in the best shape. In fact, you were convinced that I had abandoned you for dead in the middle of winter.”

She raised her eyebrows, blinking slowly. Her memories from before Sam swallowed her were hazy at best. “I thought it was winter? Huh…that can’t be good. I hope that’s not the least embarrassing thing that I did.”

She felt Sam stiffen around her, and she pushed back against his hand anxiously.

“Sam? You’re kind of freaking me out.”

Sam shook his head lightly before rubbing gently over her. “No, you…you didn’t say anything embarrassing, but you did say that I make you feel like someone loves you when I take care of you.”

Aster froze, and with that, Sam’s quiet hope that it had been another fever-induced declaration was promptly dismissed. Whether that was good or bad, he wasn’t quite sure.

“Aster…” he said quietly. “What did you mean by that?”

“It’s nothing! I- ah, it’s…it’s really nothing. You don’t need to-”

He raised an eyebrow. “You just might be the worst liar I’ve ever met. Listen, I’m not mad, and I’m not going to laugh at you. But it clearly meant something to you, and I would like to know.”

Her eye was already growing heavy again, but something told her that Sam wouldn’t be thrilled if she dodged the question by sleeping for another twenty-four hours. “Okay, okay. This doesn’t have to mean anything but- well, I’ve always wanted to be loved by someone, and the whole being a Defect thing basically guaranteed that was never going to happen. And I know that you care about me and all, but when you have to care for me or you swallow me…it makes me feel like I’m loved. Which doesn’t have to mean anything at all-”

“Aster.” Sam’s voice cut straight through her ramblings, and her cheeks burned as she shut her mouth. If it weren’t for the way he was currently stroking her gently, she would have thought he was annoyed. “You foolish girl,” he continued. “I’m not going to be upset that you want to feel loved. That’s ridiculous, and…I’m glad that I have made you feel that way. But why do you only feel that way if I’m caring for you?”

Why did she feel that way? If she was being honest, Aster wasn’t entirely sure. It wasn’t like she thought that Sam liked her any different.

“I- honestly, I don’t know,” she admitted.

“Well, I know that I’m not always the warmest person,” he ventured, to which Aster snorted. Sam rolled his eyes. “Look, I know that maybe it’s hard to tell sometimes, but I still care for you the same. Even if I’m not showing it the same way…those feelings don’t go away, Aster. So if you feel loved like this, that same thing exists even if you’re off pestering me like you usually do.”

Aster looked up hopefully in the darkness of Sam’s stomach. That warmth, the comfort and peace that cocooned her when he held her when she was hurt or when he soothed her while she was in his stomach, could exist all of the time? Sam wasn’t a liar, whether it hurt her feelings or not, so that meant…

Did he love her, then? The real kind?

She leaned into his touch, allowing that very feeling to wrap around her and chase away her doubts and anxieties. Knowing that no matter what, whether he was scolding her or gently holding her inside of him, Sam still cared for her the same way was plenty.

The healing properties of his stomach tugged at her mind again, lulling her back into a blissful sleep as it continued to care for her. Just before it could claim her completely, she murmured sleepily, “I love you, Sam. Thank you for caring about me.”

Sam was grateful that Aster couldn’t see his face as she finally drifted off again. It wasn’t that he was surprised, exactly. With her sunny spirit, Aster was never shy about the fact that she thought of him very highly. But for a human of all things to like, let alone love, a naga? She really was a most unusual person.

“Sleep well, Aster,” he whispered. “And the pleasure is mine.”

Chapter Text

As embarrassing as Aster’s fever nightmare was, things had thankfully stayed relatively the same between her and Sam. Sure, he’d acted a little funny over the few days it took for her body to get sorted out again, but that wasn’t entirely unusual for Sam. He showed her affection often enough, but the minute it was pointed out or she verbally expressed her own, he tended to become anxious and freeze up. Granted, nagas weren’t exactly known for being loving, emotional creatures, so it didn’t bother her that much.

It was a sunny July day, and Aster was wandering among the trees, braiding her dark hair while she marveled at the nature around her. This had been her home for quite some time now, but sometimes, it still didn’t feel real. Seventeen years of the Vierra streets as a Defect were about the worst stroke of luck you could get, and yet somehow she’d ended up here. The other humans probably would have found it terrifying, but to her, it was nothing short of a paradise.

She finished with her hair and flicked the braid over her shoulder. At this time of day, Aster would normally either be lounging in the sun with Sam or swimming in the spring, except Sam was nowhere to be found since she woke up, and Aster had grown bored. Luckily, a bit of exploring rarely failed to grab her interest, and maybe she would even run into Sam in the process.

Realistically, Aster had probably explored just about every inch of Sam’s territory at some point, but in a place so full of life, it always managed to feel brand new. She may not have been a natural resident of the massive forest outside of Vierra, but she certainly felt far more at home here than she ever had there. Maybe that was why she was born a Defect. Maybe this was the place she’d belonged all along.

A particularly large tree caught her attention, and after examining it briefly from the ground, Aster grasped onto a branch and began to climb.

Would Sam have approved? Absolutely not. In fact, she could practically hear his sharp voice demanding that she get down immediately, but if Sam had his way, Aster would be wrapped in a layer of bubble wrap. Even if her body was annoyingly fragile, it wasn’t like she always managed to get herself hurt.

She stopped on what seemed to be a sturdy branch, one that was just high enough to give her a decent view, when she suddenly heard the sound of a struggle down below.

There was a flash of deep green scales and curling brown hair, and Aster’s heart stuttered in her chest. Sam, except Sam wasn’t alone. A man was fighting in his grasp, and a rush of nausea swept over her as she remembered why it was that he had been gone when she woke up that morning. He was hunting.

“Oh no,” she breathed. Aster kept well away whenever Sam left to hunt, and for good reason. She was not afraid of him, but she was a human, and the last thing she ever wanted was a reminder of what her friend and protector did to any other member of her species. If Sam had any idea where she was, he probably wouldn’t have been too thrilled by the idea either.

Aster wanted to move, even to shrink back just a little, but she was frozen in place as she watched the man become hopelessly trapped within Sam’s coils.

“Ah ah,” she heard him snarl, and the sound sent a horrible chill down her spine. “Nice try, but I’m afraid you’ve reached the end of your rope.”

He reached out then, and with a sudden, rough flurry of movement, he snapped the man’s neck. Aster barely managed to stifle a gasp, and she bit down hard on her palm to prevent the sound from escaping.

If she’d had any hope of it getting easier now that the man was no longer alive and struggling, she was sorely mistaken. Even from where she sat, she could see the ravenous hunger displayed so clearly across Sam’s face as he gathered the body into his arms.

There was none of the gentleness that he used when handling her. His claws were cutting deep into his skin, and her nausea flared again as he greedily licked at the blood the minute it began to trickle from the wound. Sam was enjoying this. No, reveling in it. He lifted the man’s head to his lips, and a look of ecstasy came over him as he began to swallow.

Similarly to his claws, Sam hadn’t bothered to be careful about his teeth, either. Nagas had fangs and wickedly sharp teeth, and yet he had never so much as scratched her the countless times he’d swallowed her. Now, she could see those same teeth tearing flesh and spilling blood, and Sam groaned in pleasure. Had he been that enchanted by her blood when she’d been injured while he took her in? But as she watched Sam continue dragging the man’s body into his own, she found that she wasn’t sure she wanted to know the answer.

She became eerily transfixed as a noticeable bulge appeared in his throat, and her heart pounded erratically in her chest as it sunk deeper into what she knew to be his first stomach before almost immediately continuing into his second stomach within his tail. It felt like only a matter of seconds before all of it had settled within him, and he ran one hand along the bulge in his tail while licking the remaining drops of blood from the other.

A wave of dizziness came over her, which, combined with the numbness she experienced in parts of her hands, caused the hands that had been shakily holding her in place to slip, sending her crashing toward the earth.

Sam was snapped out of his post-meal reverie by the sound of something colliding hard with the ground, and the familiar groan of pain sent a fiery surge of horror through his veins.

“Aster…?” he called warily, slowly creeping closer to the sound. As much as it pained him, Aster loved climbing trees. It was perfectly reasonable to believe that she might not have witnessed a thing. It could just be one awful coincidence-

He finally caught sight of her at the base of the tree in question, and one look at her ashen face told him everything that he needed to know. She’d seen, and she was terrified. She was also cradling her right arm to her chest. It was obviously broken, and it was equally likely that several other things were as well. Except he couldn’t just pick her up and swallow her down, not after that.

At first, she didn’t move, only staring up at him wide-eyed. Then, after a moment, she staggered to her feet, but she didn’t make any move to come closer.

He was so used to her fearlessness. Even when he first caught her in his grasp that day, she showed barely any fear toward him at all. It was a trait that he both admired and cursed, given that it had gotten her into trouble more than once. Except there was one factor that sometimes he even overlooked: Aster was human. And no matter how unusual of one she was, she still had basic survival instincts.

He thought then of all of the times he’d swallowed her. Even now, she still needed to be reassured once she entered his stomach. Not because she was afraid of him or didn’t trust him, but because she was a human being swallowed by a creature whose diet consisted primarily of her species. And that wasn’t even taking into account that she was a Defect, with little defense even against her own people, let alone someone like him.

Despite her typical bravery, that instinctual fear still needed to be soothed. And now she’d just witnessed him swallow a man whole and enjoy it. If he hadn’t killed him first…he probably would have traumatized her.

“Aster…” Sam said levelly. The poor girl looked like she’d seen a ghost. “Everything’s alright. I’m not going to hurt you, and I never will.”

She nodded mechanically, but he recognized the faraway look in her eye. Her mind was spinning on something, and right now, it couldn’t be anything good. He slowly moved closer to her. Only a few feet, but to his relief, she did not retreat from him.

“What’s going through your head?” he asked, this time more softly. “We need to talk about this.”

Her violet eye raised to his. “When…when you found me that day, you were going to eat me. Is- is t-that what you would have done?”

Sam’s face softened. “No, that is not what I would have done. I…I was going to swallow you alive, carefully, and then make the rest painless for you. I normally wouldn’t have eaten someone as young as you in the first place, but you were in so much pain, so close to death, that I thought it would be a mercy. Nothing about it was intended to be pleasurable.”

If what he said reassured her at all, it was difficult to tell. “Do you normally eat people like that? When they’re still alive?”

He hesitated, suddenly finding it difficult to meet her gaze. “It…depends.”

“And do you make it painless for them?”

Aster’s heart rate skyrocketed as he gave a slight shake of his head. She had figured as much, but that didn’t stop the harsh shudder that went through her. To be digested alive, when nothing was numbing the acid…her mind went back to that past winter when they’d been trapped in the cave. When Sam had had no choice but to swallow her for the same purpose. What would it have been like, had he not been able to spare her from the agony he inflicted on his victims? If she was his prey?

She didn’t want to ask the next question, but they were too deep into this now. “Do you enjoy their pain?”

Sam’s expression hardened, his sharp eyes narrowing momentarily. “I will not lie to you, Aster. I’m a predator, and predators enjoy the hunt. Yes, we enjoy the blood and the fear and the pain. There is nothing that I can do to help that, but that will never apply to you.”

His eyes dropped down to her arm, which was currently causing her a great deal of pain.

“You’re hurt,” he said, to which she nodded shakily. “Can I see?”

Aster hesitated a long moment, her eye darting across his familiar face before nodding again. Sam approached her carefully, and she yelped when his clawed fingers gently grazed her arm.

“Shh,” he murmured, taking her clearly broken arm into his hand as gingerly as he was able. “I just need to see how bad it is. Do you feel pain anywhere else?”

“Um, some of my ribs. I don’t know if they’re broken, but-” she broke off in a pained hiss when he touched another part of her arm.

“It looks like you’ve broken it in several places, and your hand as well,” he started but stopped when he realized that Aster wasn’t looking at him. She was looking at the bulge in his tail, and he could hear her little heart pounding.

Sam reached out, lightly hooking his fingers under her chin to draw her gaze back to his.

“Sorry,” she whispered, and he was alarmed when he saw what looked like tears in her eye.

“Love, why are you crying?” he asked softly. “If you’re feeling afraid, there is no reason to be. I would never harm you.”

“I- I don’t know-” she said. With the way she was cradling her broken arm, there was nothing she could do to prevent the tears from trickling down her cheek. “I’m confused and kind of freaked out, and I know I shouldn’t be-”

She didn’t resist when Sam carefully drew her head to his chest, doing so in a manner that didn’t upset her injuries. “I think your reaction is perfectly justified,” he said quietly. “You just witnessed something that would be horribly frightening for any human, whether I am your friend or not. I take no offense to that.”

Aster relaxed against him, feeling the heat he radiated so strongly seep into her. Everything about him made her feel so safe, and yet there was still that trace of fear lingering at the back of her mind. In some ways, it almost felt like a betrayal. She’d always known what Sam was, what he was hunting when he left for a couple of hours. She saw the bulge in his tail when he returned, and while it had unnerved her in the very beginning, it rarely phased her now. She’d known that she was the exception, and that had been fine enough.

But then again, she had also done everything in her power to ensure that she never saw it happen, and Sam had acted the same way. They both knew that she might not react well, and now that it was actually happening, it upset her greatly.

Sam felt her shoulders start to shake, and he looked down at the girl concernedly. “Aster, it’s alright. It is a natural feeling. You’re still in shock, that’s all.”

Aster shook her head, and her lip trembled. “I don’t want to be afraid of you. I- I can’t- y-you’re all that I have, and I’m messing it up-”

His eyes widened in surprise. Obviously, he never wanted Aster to witness him doing such a thing, but he had no concern that it would be a lasting issue. If handled delicately, he knew that things would be fine. What he hadn’t expected was for Aster to be so bothered by her own emotions. The fact that even momentarily being frightened by him was such a troubling concept to her broke his heart. Of course she was terrified by the idea of their friendship being ruined. Like she said, he was all Aster had ever had.

“Aster,” he said. “We aren’t about to part ways because you were frightened by watching me hunt. I’m not going anywhere, and I will take care to ensure this does not happen again. A little bit of fear won’t ruin anything.” A thought dawned on him, and he added, “There are ways to combat these things, you know.”

She looked up at him then, both hopeful and puzzled at the same time. “What do you mean?”

“Think about it this way. After I swallow you, you feel safer if I reassure you. Not because you don’t trust me or feel safe with me, but because it goes against your natural instincts to willingly be swallowed by a naga. Seeing me hunt, ah, probably flares up those same feelings. Maybe your mind needs another reminder. You already need healing as is.”

As if to prove his point, Aster shifted the wrong way, sending another wave of white-hot pain through her. She gritted her teeth painfully, and if she hadn’t already been leaning against Sam, she probably would have dropped to her knees. That would have been another problem entirely because she was becoming fairly certain that her collision had damaged more than she originally thought.

“Just how badly is this going to hurt?” she asked warily.

The pained look on Sam’s face certainly wasn’t helping matters. “Well, it will hurt in my throat, but it won’t be for long depending on how quickly I swallow you.”

The image of Sam hurriedly swallowing his prey not even half an hour ago came to her mind, and Aster winced. “Um, maybe not fast…please.”

Sam frowned. “Ah, are you absolutely sure about that?”

Aster grimaced. No, she was in fact not sure about that at all. Normally, if she hurt herself bad enough, he would swallow her relatively quickly so that the pain would at least be short-lived. Except being swallowed quickly was the last thing that she wanted right now, which meant that this was about to be exceptionally unpleasant.

“I’m sure,” she said, but it came out sounding strangled. Sam raised an eyebrow.

“Right, then,” he said slowly. With all of the gentleness he was capable of, he lifted Aster into his arms. “Close your eye, and just try to focus on me. I’ll be as careful as I can be.”

Aster gave a short nod, and he allowed her a second to take a deep, steadying breath before he eased her head into his mouth.

The flood of thoughts about the scene she’d just witnessed was immediate, but it didn’t last long because once Sam swallowed, Aster was on fire.

Her shoulders had only just barely entered his mouth before Sam felt Aster breathe in sharply. Unfortunately, it appeared that his assumption about the true extent of her injuries was right. With every swallow, Sam could feel Aster fighting the urge to struggle, while he had to find a way to hold her body still so that her flinching didn’t get her cut on his teeth.

But as much as it killed him, Sam continued to take small, slow swallows despite the fact that each of Aster’s pained whimpers cut him like a knife.

Given her time living on the streets, Aster had always viewed herself as someone with a high pain tolerance. Now, however, she wasn’t so sure that was the case. How many bones did she break? Even listening to Sam’s heartbeat wasn’t doing a thing, and that was normally her saving grace when the process was painful.

She bit down hard on her lip when her arm was pulled into his throat, and the taste of blood flooded her mouth.

“Sam-” she gasped but calmed just slightly when she felt his fingers rub soothingly along her spine. He paused around her then, and once her breathing slowed again, he resumed.

It felt like an eternity had passed by the time Sam took the final swallow. Most of her upper body was already in his stomach, but he could still feel the violent tremors going all throughout her. All things considered, he had to give the girl credit. Even in agony, she didn’t scream once. Fragile body or not, Aster was tough.

“It’s almost over,” he said, bringing one hand up to cradle his gradually filling stomach. Even if she was tough, it didn’t stop the guilt that crept into his voice. “Just a few more seconds, I promise.”

To both of their relief, Sam was right, and at last, Aster was free of his throat.

“I think I was wrong about my ribs,” Aster said weakly as she settled against the pressure of his hand. With the way her heart was pounding in her chest, he was surprised she could speak at all. “They’re definitely broken.”

Sam gingerly arranged himself against his coils, doing his best not to jostle her in any way. He probably wouldn’t be able to move again until his body put her to sleep. “I think quite a bit of you is broken. The branch may not have been that high, but it was still a hard fall.”

At the mention of the previous incident, Aster stiffened, and he remembered his other purpose of swallowing her.

“You’re alright,” he said softly. “I am sorry about earlier. I can imagine it was rather shocking, to say the least, but you are not them. I have never wished to harm you, not even when we first met, and that will not change. Nothing has to be different between us.”

“Why didn’t you eat me that day?” she asked. “I was bleeding out and had no way of defending myself. Judging from today, isn’t that kind of what you love?”

Sam raised an eyebrow, peering down at his middle incredulously. While Aster was inside of him, he had complete awareness of her body. Every movement, every breath, even every heartbeat, and while she was trying her best to act calm, Sam was well aware that she wasn’t. Why on earth would she ask him about this now?

“Aster, we don’t need to talk about this right now,” he finally said. “You’re overwhelmed and in a lot of pain. I don’t know if this conversation will help any of that.”

He felt her push back against him with her still-functioning hand. “I won’t ask any more questions after that. I- I just want to know this one.”

Truth be told, the last thing Sam wanted to discuss now was his feeding preferences and how they pertained to Aster, but clearly, this answer was important to her. “Because I couldn’t. My predator instincts wanted nothing more, but what they did to you already was so cruel. Even though you were my natural prey, and I could still consume you while giving you a merciful death, I couldn’t find it in myself to add to what had already been done to you. So I healed you instead. You are the only human I have ever shown mercy to.”

“Oh,” Aster whispered. “Um, hopefully you haven’t come to regret that decision?”

Sam snorted, but there was a fond smile on his lips as he continued to lightly stroke his middle. “No, I don’t regret anything, you foolish girl. If I did, we certainly would not be in this situation. Does that help?”

Aster nodded, nestling closer as the environment of his stomach continued to tug at her consciousness. Between the heat, the sounds, and the soft surfaces, it was a wonder she ever stayed awake in here in the first place, healing properties aside. “Yes.”

“See? I told you it would be alright. Nothing’s ruined,” he said, his voice gentle. “Are you feeling better now? Several broken bones aside, that is.”

“I am. Much better,” she said, although that was putting it mildly. What he’d said about choosing to show her mercy meant a great deal to her, and that tiny flicker of fear was nowhere to be found. When she woke up next, she would make sure to let him know.

Her short answers weren’t a surprise to Sam. With the way her breathing was deepening, he knew she was bound to be asleep within minutes. “Good. Now rest, and when I let you out again, we’re going to have a talk about your tree-climbing habit. One of these times, you’re going to break something much worse.”

“Speaking of that,” Aster said sleepily, “next time, if I ever have more than fifteen broken bones and I ask you to swallow me slowly, please talk me out of it.”

Sam chuckled softly. “I’ll try my best.”

It was a moment later that he felt her slip into a deep sleep, and he finally was able to head back towards the spring. Going forward, he would be much more careful about where he hunted, and he definitely would make sure he scanned any of the surrounding treetops before he fed. But Aster trusted him more, despite him nearly giving her a heart attack.

Three words echoed in the back of his mind, ones that Aster had used frequently and effortlessly. He hadn’t thought of himself as a creature who was capable of such a thing, but he couldn’t get them out of his head.

Aster shifted slightly beneath his hand, and he gently rubbed back at her as she sleepily nestled into him.

I love you.

Maybe he did. Maybe he didn’t. But he felt something, and it wasn’t getting any smaller. And after seeing the panic on her face when she thought she was ruining their friendship, he needed to tell her. After everything she’d gone through, she deserved that.

But how?

Chapter Text

As always, the Vierra marketplace was bustling with activity as Aster strolled down the street with a practiced casualness. There was a heavy fall rain in Vierra that day, which served her purposes perfectly. She blended in seamlessly with the hood of her black jacket pulled up, keeping the rain from her face while concealing the patch over her missing eye and her remaining violet iris. A messenger bag hung at her waist, already a little weighty from the assortment of clothing pieces, personal hygiene items, and small box of chocolates she’d stolen from various shops and stalls along the multiple-block-long stretch.

If it were anyone else, they would have been caught and hauled off almost immediately. Except Aster had learned the importance of being skilled in sleight of hand at a very young age, and now, at age eighteen, she was a master.

She gazed longingly at a stall that was currently selling fresh loaves of bread for a moment before shaking her head and carrying on. She’d stocked up on food last time, and combined with what she was able to find in Sam’s territory, she still had plenty left. Besides, she already had quite a bit in her bag, and she didn’t want to push her luck.

Not that she was afraid of getting caught stealing. She hadn’t been caught in the act since she was ten. No, Aster was afraid of being recognized. The rain and the jacket helped, but it wasn’t foolproof. It was always better if she kept her visits as short as possible.

Aster started her journey back to the opening of the market, which was conveniently not all that far away from the entrance to the forest she and Sam lived in. It was also best that she kept her visits short because they tended to make Sam worry. He didn’t like not knowing what was happening when she returned to her former kingdom, which was a fair concern to have. Aster had told him too many stories of her life in these very streets for him not to worry.

Something caught her attention from the corner of her eye, and she came to a stop at a booth with various jewelry, accessories, and trinkets. In particular, a set of beautiful gold hair combs that looked like butterfly wings.

She traced one with her finger. It wasn’t a need. Her dark hair was usually in a messy braid anyway, but that didn’t mean she didn’t deserve to have nice things every once in a while too, damn it.

Aster waited for the right moment before subtly tucking the combs into the sleeve of her jacket. As always, no one noticed a thing, and she pretended to browse the rest of their supply for a minute before stepping back into the traffic, carefully slipping the combs from her sleeve into her bag as she walked.

Everything had gone smoothly. But if there was anything that Aster knew about herself, it was that she was very unlucky. And in true Aster fashion, it was as she was passing one of the popular pubs of the outer sectors that a strong wind blew through the street, knocking her hood back from her face.

She swore under her breath, hand flying at lightning speed to rip it back up, but it was then that she heard a familiar slurred voice.

“Hey! It’s that Defect girl!”

Ice shot through her veins, and she immediately broke into a sprint.

There was more than one, that she was certain of, and there wasn’t enough time to make it to the forest. Aster was fast, but they could beat her in an all-out sprint. When it came to thinking fast, however, she knew she had the edge.

Aster whipped around a corner, her boots nearly slipping on the wet cobblestone, and bolted down the side street. Her eye rapidly scanned the ground as she ran.

Find a weapon, find a weapon, find a weapon

She turned the corner down a new one as she heard a commotion behind her, repeating the process a few more times. These streets were far less nice than the last. They were in the outer sectors, after all. The market was there for the sake of getting business from travellers as well as Vierran citizens, but once you got past those few nice streets, you reached the homes of the poor.

This street, in particular, was littered with empty beer bottles and broken tiles from a damaged roof. Perfect.

She quickly grabbed a bottle and a large piece of tile before ducking into an alley between two houses, pressing her back up against one while her heart thundered in her chest. If Sam knew what was happening right now…this place would have been a bloodbath.

But Sam wasn’t here, and she’d played this deadly game before. She didn’t need him. She could do this.

There was a scrape of boots against cobblestone, and she steeled herself as the familiar band of bastards appeared before her. They were roughly between the ages of thirty and forty, five of them in total. The faces that had haunted her dreams, the ones who brought a phantom pain to the left eye that had been carved out by their hand. There was a knife in the leader’s hand now, one that looked sickeningly familiar.

A burning fury rose up within her, and she bared her teeth at them while they sized her up.

“I wondered when we’d see your pathetic ass here again,” he said, grinning viciously. “Finally get thrown out by that monster, did you? As if something as powerful as that would want anything to do with a parasite like you. I would say I’m disappointed it didn’t just eat you, but I’ve been looking forward to this way too much.”

“You don’t know anything,” she hissed, tightening her grip on the bottle that she had held behind her back. The tile sat unsuspiciously near her feet. “From what I can tell, you’re still the same drunken idiots that couldn’t manage to overpower that same weak Defect. What does that say about you?”

Rage flashed in his eyes, and he reached out to grab at her throat just as Aster whipped out the glass bottle, smashing it over his head with all of her strength.

The man yelled out as she grabbed the tile at her feet, chucking it at the one that lunged toward her before taking off in the direction of the kingdom’s entrance. She just needed to get out. With the distraction of the injuries, it should give her enough time to slip away. She would take a twisting route through the outer sector that would be impossible to track, and then she would be out-

Aster came to a skidding halt as another man waltzed out at the end of the alley, a smug smile stretching across his face.

There’s a sixth! How could I have forgotten about the sixth?

Before she could try to dive past him, rough hands seized her from behind, and she was thrown roughly against a wall. Her bones jolted at the impact, some undoubtedly cracking, but she gritted her teeth against the pain. They wouldn’t get the satisfaction of hearing her scream, not this time.

“Nice try,” the man snarled. It was a different one this time. The one she’d struck with a bottle was still farther back, his other companions inspecting the wounds. They’d banked on her getting away, then. “Did that make you feel powerful? Like you actually had a chance?”

It was then that she noticed a wicked shard of the tile that she had thrown in his hand, and her heart rate spiked.

Aster stared up at him with a sneer. She would not be afraid, couldn’t be afraid. “I may not be as strong as you, but that doesn’t mean I have no power. You’ve wanted me dead for years, and yet here I am. Alive.”

He stepped toward her, and her eye again darted to the weapon in his hand. “The only reason you’re alive is because you had a naga guarding you. You are nothing, girl.”

There were only inches between them now, and as if to prove his point, he backhanded her across the face. Aster’s nose crunched upon impact, and blood poured down her face. She moved to try to dart past him, but he easily pinned her in place, and before she could so much as blink, he ripped the broken shard across her abdomen.

She gasped sharply as she felt the skin split, and her shirt was immediately soaked through with blood. This was bad. Very, very bad. If she didn’t break free now…

He leaned in close, his hot breath fanning across her face. “Now, why don’t we take care of that other eye-”

With every ounce of strength she had left, Aster stomped her boot on top of his. There was a faint crunch, and the minute he recoiled in pain, she wrestled free and took off.

White hot pain shot through her in agonizing waves, but she forced her feet to keep moving. They weren’t going to stop, not after she’d hurt several of them, and her only bet of survival was getting back to the forest. If she couldn’t make it, she was as good as dead, whether by their hand or the blood that was rapidly leaking from her abdomen.

They were chasing her. She could hear them yelling somewhere behind her, but she had a head start this time, and she wasn’t about to waste it.

Nobody bothered to help as they saw her run by, didn’t bat an eye at the fact that her face and shirt were covered in blood. She was just another Defect, a parasite of society. They probably hoped that she’d perish. But that didn’t deter her, not now. She flew past them all, nearly sobbing when the forest appeared before her.

“Sam!” she screamed the minute she broke through the trees, praying that he could somehow hear her from this far away. It was his territory, and his senses were ridiculous, but she could still hear the sound of her pursuers somewhere behind her.

They were actually following her in. And that meant that inevitably, someone was about to be torn to shreds. Whether it would be her or them, she wasn’t sure, but it made her run harder all the same.

“Sam!” She yelled again, but this time, it came out sounding more like a sob. How far away was he? How far could she run before they caught up with her?

Her boot caught on the root of a tree, and Aster was sent sprawling to the ground.

Oh no.

She was fucked. So horribly, unbelievably fucked-

Suddenly, there were hands on her, and she thrashed wildly until she felt one softly cradle her face.

Her eye flew wide, and staring at her in horror was Sam.

“Aster, what-” he started, but she rapidly shook her head.

“T-They found me-” she wheezed, and black spots danced across her vision. How much blood had she lost? “-and they’re behind me-”

Fire blazed in Sam’s sharp eyes, and his lips pulled back in a snarl. She didn’t doubt that he could hear them coming. “I’m going to move you behind me,” he said, his voice frighteningly calm, “and you’re going to shut your eye and cover your ears. Understand?”

Sam was seeing red as Aster nodded her head. The girl had blood covering the bottom half of her face and an obviously broken nose, and the shirt beneath her jacket was soaked in it. There was also a slash through the fabric covering her stomach, surely the site of the wound that was making her bleed so heavily. Even if she hadn’t screamed his name, the overpowering scent of it would have brought him here not much later.

He carefully lifted her from the ground, using gentle movements before setting her behind his large coils. He’d only seen her in worse shape two other times, and it took all of his restraint to stop his muscles from trembling in rage.

They weren’t getting away this time. Not even over his dead body.

It wasn’t much longer before the foolish men in question came hurtling into view. There were only three of them this time, meaning that a few of them had at least been wise enough not to follow her into the forest. One of them, in particular, who appeared to have several lacerations on his head, he remembered especially well. The one who had been holding the knife that day.

“I thought I warned you all of what would happen if you harmed her,” he said, fixing each of them beneath his predator gaze and baring his fangs. “Was I not clear enough for you?”

“W-What do you care if something happens to her?” the man asked. He was trying to sound tough, but Sam could hear the tremor in his voice, sense the fear that was radiating from them all. Perfect to manipulate. “She’s just a Defect! If you give her to us, we’ll stay away-”

Oh, was he a fool. Sam moved at a breathtaking speed, grasping the man by the collar of his shirt and lifting him so that they were face-to-face.

“She is mine,” he growled, and he was fairly certain that the man had pissed himself. “You forfeited your lives the moment you laid a hand on her, and I will personally ensure that you are never able to again-”

Despite the way that Aster had her hands pressed firmly over her ears, it did nothing to drown out the screaming once it started.

Realistically, it should have taken Sam all of fifteen seconds to kill them all, but that was not the case now. He was taking his time, and judging from the sounds of sheer terror, it wasn’t pretty. She was grateful that he had told her not to look or listen because even if they had harmed her for most of her life, she wasn’t sure if she could handle the sight of whatever Sam was doing to them. From the sound of it, they were in even more pain than Aster was.

And then, suddenly, it stopped. But even so, Aster did not remove her hands or open her eye. It wasn’t hard to guess what Sam would do after he’d ripped them apart, and she didn’t want to see that, either.

She’d lost track of how much time had passed when she felt his hands gently draw her own away from her ears.

“It’s over,” he said. “You can look now. There’s, ah, a good amount of blood, but that’s all.”

She hesitantly opened her eye. There was indeed quite a bit of blood on Sam, dripping from his mouth and his claws, but it wasn’t fear that she felt as she gazed up at him. Tears flooded her vision, and his face softened.

Sam reached out, gingerly removing her jacket and surprisingly unaffected messenger bag and setting them aside before taking her into his arms. He was careful to try to keep from getting any of the blood on her, but she was already covered in so much of her own that she couldn’t find it in herself to care.

Aster whimpered in pain as the wound in her stomach was jostled, but she knew that paled in comparison to what was coming.

“This is really going to hurt, isn’t it?” she said weakly, and Sam’s lips tightened in response.

“I’ll make it quick,” he promised, and he briefly brushed his lips against her forehead before easing her into his mouth.

All Sam wanted to do was inspect her wounds to see just how badly she’d been hurt, or at the very least, speak to her for a moment, but there was no time. She had lost so much blood, and he could tell she was in agony.

Hearing her sharp gasp as he rapidly started to swallow didn’t make him feel much better, but in the long run, he knew it was a mercy. Especially considering how worked up she was, it was very likely she would still be awake for a while afterward. Getting the painful part over with now was the best option, even if it hurt to do so.

What Sam wasn't prepared for was the sheer volume of blood he was swallowing down with her.

It was no secret that Sam enjoyed the blood of his prey. When he had Aster’s attackers in his claws mere minutes ago, he’d drunk it down like a glutton. Except Aster was bleeding heavily, and when he reached the site of her wound, he had to fight just to keep it down.

This was Aster. It made him want to kill them all over again.

To both of their relief, it was only a matter of seconds before Aster slid into Sam’s first stomach, and almost immediately, the girl began to cry.

Sam gently ran his hand over her, being careful not to press in on her too much while his heart cracked in his chest. “You’re safe now…it’s alright. No one can touch you. Do you want to tell me what happened?”

Aster recounted the events of the few hours she was in Vierra, and it took all of Sam’s self-control to keep his heart rate calm. Compared to the idiots he’d just killed, Aster might as well have been a child. If they’d called her a parasite to his face, he very well might have gone and ripped their heads off on the spot.

And knowing that she had not only fought back but dealt significant damage and escaped on her own…even if he had finished them off in the end, it was a remarkably impressive feat. She was a Defect against six grown men. Pathetic men, but still men nonetheless. But it became clear shortly after that Aster felt differently.

“I’m so sorry,” she said, her usually cheerful voice warped by tears and pain. “Maybe they are right about me. Look what I’ve made you deal with! This is the second time I’ve been chased out here, and you’ve had to deal with the mess. It’s not fair to you-”

Sam snorted. “Aster. I’m a naga. A few drunken humans are nothing to me. And you are hardly a bother. You have nothing to apologize for. So, instead of that, let’s talk about the fact that you are much scrappier than I realized. I’m impressed.”

A small, pained smile tugged at Aster’s lips. “I wouldn’t have lived this long if I wasn’t.”

“They were wrong about you,” Sam said, his voice vibrating around her soothingly. “To have the courage to face off against the ones who have targeted and harmed you as they have, while having the wits to outsmart them…you should be proud. I had the easy part, not you.”

Aster shifted, wincing slightly as she let herself settle into the soft embrace of Sam’s stomach. The gentle heat relaxed her further, aided by the steady beating of his heart. This really was her safe haven. “But…you’re you. I’m nothing compared to you.”

“And you don’t need to compare yourself to me. By my standards, you are one of the strongest humans I have ever encountered. Your quick thinking alone places you there easily.”

“I guess I just wasn’t expecting you to be that impressed.” The pain from her stomach was slowly getting weaker, and she took the chance to nestle closer to the light pressure of his hand. “Our versions of being strong are pretty different.”

There was a ghost of a smile on Sam’s lips as he felt her settling, and he continued lightly running his hand over her. Even if he spent his days looking after her, he knew the girl wasn’t weak. This only further proved his suspicions. “The odds are hardly in your favor. In some ways, that’s more impressive than the monster at the top of the food chain who didn’t have to fight to get there.”

“You’re just being nice,” Aster mumbled, her mind finally starting to grow a little hazy. The pain had improved, but not nearly enough for her to want to be awake anymore.

Sam chuckled softly, still being mindful not to jostle her too much. “Yes, I am being nice to you, but that doesn’t make it a lie.”

“And you’re not a monster.”

“Maybe not to you,” he said before plucking Aster’s forgotten bag from the ground. “Now, what did you take this time-”

The clothes weren’t a surprise, nor the human products whose uses he couldn’t remember. He did raise an eyebrow at the chocolates, though. When he inquired about the matter, Aster only huffed and told him that if even one piece was missing, she wouldn’t speak to him for a week.

Sam knew perfectly well that she wouldn’t make it more than six hours. But he decided to leave her be as he moved to tuck her stolen goods back into her bag, until he noticed something gold at the bottom.

He plucked up the two strange, golden objects, peering at them curiously. They were small and delicate-looking, with something like a butterfly wing on each one.

“What are these?” he asked. “The gold things. You’ve never had these before.”

Aster’s cheeks burned, and she was suddenly glad that he couldn’t see her. “They’re combs. You…you’re supposed to put them in your hair. They’re supposed to make you look pretty.”

She waited for him to call them pointless or to wonder why she would even bother with something like that in the first place. She wasn’t some wealthy Vierran citizen. She had to steal to get something that was pretty at all. Someone like Aster didn’t deserve-

“Interesting,” Sam said, and her eyebrows shot up in surprise. He examined one more closely before adding, “These are very nice. You should wear them.”

Aster blinked once, twice. Was Sam’s healing kicking in and making her delirious, or did he actually just-?

“…you think so?” she asked dumbly. “You don’t think it’s stupid?”

“Why would it be stupid?” he said incredulously. “They seem finely made, and you like them. I don’t see what the issue is.”

Well. That was unexpected.

Sleep started to tug at her more insistently, the healing magic waiting anxiously to properly address her wounds. “You know, you’re full of surprises sometimes, Samuel.”

Sam furrowed his eyebrows, gently tucking the hair combs back into her bag. “Am I supposed to be flattered or offended?”

“Flattered. Definitely flattered,” she said sleepily. It was getting difficult to stay awake now, but she wasn’t done yet. “Thank you. You said that I did the hard part, but I wouldn’t be alive without you. Thank you for giving me someone to run to.”

A soft look came over him, and Sam brought up his other hand, resting it protectively over her as well. Those three words danced through his mind, and he opened his mouth but found himself hesitating.

“I…you’re welcome,” he finally said. “I will always be here, Aster. No matter what, even if you have a band of idiots chasing after you.”

Not quite what he was going for. But based on the way he felt her little body snuggle closer to his touch, it had meant something to her nonetheless. For now, that was enough.

Chapter Text

It was a peaceful, sunny autumn afternoon as Sam lay basking on the cliff over the spring, his arm slung protectively over the small bulge in his stomach.

Six days had passed since the day Aster was attacked and nearly killed in Vierra, and he was yet to bring the girl back out. It had already taken four of those days for her to even be well enough for him to consider letting her out, but it wasn’t just physical wounds that had been inflicted on her. Aster had still been shaken by what happened and had tearfully begged him to let her stay, as if any of that was necessary to begin with.

The truth was that after seeing her so close to death by those despicable human beings, Sam hadn’t wanted to let her go, either. Even if he knew that she was safe now, nagas were possessive, protective creatures by nature, and there was something reassuring in knowing that nothing could reach her without having to fight him first. But yesterday they’d reluctantly agreed that this was the day that she would come back out again, although he wouldn’t have minded keeping her for a few more.

He rested a hand on his stomach, where Aster was currently fast asleep. Sam had been monitoring her breathing and heart rate carefully, looking for any signs of distressing dreams like the ones she’d had a few times since the attack. While it wasn’t the first time she’d had nightmares in front (or inside) of him, it was another thing entirely to know that most of those dreams were of what would have happened if he hadn’t heard her scream for help.

Sam sighed regretfully before beginning to rub at her. Gently at first, then firmer. He didn’t want to wake her up, but a lot went into helping her adjust to being outside of him again. Especially when she’d been inside of him for multiple days, and it was best to do it while the air was still warm.

Aster slowly started to stir, a small whine of protest escaping her when she realized that she was being coaxed awake.

“Aster,” Sam murmured, and he felt her curl a little tighter. “Come on. It’s time to wake up.”

“Why?” she mumbled sleepily. “You sleep whenever you want. Just one more hour.”

The ghost of a smile graced his lips. “As much as I would love to give it to you, I know you don’t want to do this when the sun isn’t at its warmest. You can sleep when you get out if you really want to.”

Aster frowned, pushing some of her soaked hair out of her eye. Her braid had come undone by now, leaving the strands stuck annoyingly to her skin. “That’s not the same, and you know it.”

“It’s not, but it’s better than you freezing and demanding why I didn’t wake you up sooner.”

“Fine,” she groaned, forcing her body to relax and go limp.

Sam waited patiently until he felt Aster relax, and after giving her a quick warning, he carefully pressed his palm into the bottom of his stomach, causing Aster to re-enter his throat.

Out of the entire process of being swallowed by Sam, coming back up was her least favorite part. It was tight, she couldn’t breathe very well, and there wasn’t the comforting promise of Sam’s stomach waiting at the end of it. But it was relatively quick, and before she knew it, Sam’s hand was on her shoulder and helping to pull her out the rest of the way.

The air hit her first, like a wind of ice compared to the constant heat of Sam’s body, and she immediately began to shake harshly. Much better than if they’d chosen a cooler time of day, but harrowing nonetheless. Sam caught her in his arms, hurriedly drawing her to his warm chest as her teeth chattered. The blinding brightness hit her, too, but he was quick to gently shield her sensitive eye with his hand. If the fact that she was dripping with his own saliva ever bothered him, he never showed it.

He cradled her carefully against him, coiling his tail closely around them to produce more heat. Sam always felt especially protective of her like this, when the adjustment left her so vulnerable. Her already fragile body just seemed so…breakable.

“You’re alright,” he said softly, being mindful of the volume of his voice. After hearing nothing but the sound of him and his body functioning around her, he knew that her sense of hearing would be overwhelmed as well. Aster may find solace inside of him, but he was well aware of how difficult the aftereffects were.

“S-so cold,” she stuttered, pushing herself as close to his warm skin as her shivering body would allow.

He tucked her closer, forcing himself to resist the urge to swallow her back down. She would warm up. It just took a little time. “I know, love. I’ve got you.”

Slowly but surely, Sam’s body heat warmed her, and once her shivering ceased, he carried her down to the spring.

After removing her destroyed shirt, Sam carefully set her down in the water, and she leaned heavily against him as he started to wash off the saliva from her body and her hair. Despite how many times they’d done this, Aster couldn’t help but be surprised by his gentleness. When she first came out, she was always hit by a bone-deep fatigue that left her unable to move by herself, something that would seemingly have been annoying for a creature as powerful as Sam. But he never complained, never left her to deal with her gross body or fend for herself. If anything, he handled her as if she were made of glass.

As far as Sam was concerned, she might as well have been made of glass. Being human alone, if Sam forgot to be conscious of his strength, he could easily harm or kill her. And that was without her unique condition. And seeing her when he would first bring her back out, when she barely had the energy to hold up her head, was always a sobering experience. It triggered the instincts that awakened in him the first time he met Aster, and there was very little that he wouldn’t do for her. Even if it meant washing off his own saliva from her in the spring.

Was that what love was?

He wasn’t sure, and he didn’t know what to do with that.

“I’m going to lean you back, okay?” he said, and she weakly nodded, not resisting in the slightest as he tilted her back so that her hair was submerged in the water.

She remained limp as he ran his claw-tipped fingers through the strands, completely trusting. Oddly enough, other than when she was inside of him, this was often when she felt safest. When she had his complete, undivided, caring attention. If someone were to try to harm her now, when she was in this state, would probably be an even worse bloodbath than the one her attackers received a few days ago.

Once Sam was satisfied, he brought her back up and shifted his attention to gently washing her face. Her gaze fell on her abdomen as he did so, and her stomach twisted painfully.

Although Sam had healed her of her nearly fatal wound, there unfortunately wasn’t anything he could do to prevent it from scarring. It was a hideous, angry-looking thing, marring her skin in a way that left it unrecognizable. She could still feel the tile slicing into her, the crunch of her bones. Feel the blood soaking through her shirt, hear the sound of her voice as she screamed Sam’s name. Being a Defect, she had gotten close to death more times than she could count, some of which were from that very same group of people. But something about this time was different. As she stared at that awful scar, it shook her to her core.

A small shudder went through her, one that Sam didn’t miss.

“What is it?” he asked, eyebrows furrowed in concern.

“They…they really almost got me, didn’t they?” she said quietly.

Sam froze, an unreadable look on his face. Aster averted her eye, her mind beginning to spin, when she felt his palm shift to cradle her face.

“You are safe,” he said with a deathly calm. It was the voice he only used when he was absolutely furious. “None of them will touch you again. Not even the ones that stayed behind. I can promise you that.”

Her lip trembled, and to both her and Sam’s horror, she started to cry.

Aster’s shoulders shook as sobs began to rack through her body, the entirety of what had happened crashing down on her all at once. Without all of the adrenaline or calming properties of Sam’s healing, everything felt like so much. Too much.

She hadn’t just almost died. She would have been tortured. They probably would have carved out her other eye.

Sam was quiet, occasionally wiping away her tears. Whatever was going through Aster’s head, he couldn’t protect her from it. It was something that needed to be felt, as much as it pained him to do so.

“I’m so sorry,” she whispered, to which Sam raised an eyebrow.

“And what are you sorry for?”

“I- I don’t know,” she said, wrapping her arms tightly around herself. “I just…I don’t know.”

Aster noticed then the way Sam’s tail was loosely coiling around her. Creating a living wall of protection, and her sobs finally started to quiet.

Sam’s eyes narrowed. “There is nothing to apologize for, Aster. You’ve done nothing wrong.”

She looked up at him then, and something in her gaze looked so broken. So unlike his sunny Aster, who so rarely looked like anything bothered her. All things considered, the fact that she was such a happy person was surprising in itself, but it bothered him all the same. She was the only thing he had genuinely cared about in well over a century, and the idea of anyone making her look like that…he could only pray he had never done the same.

A heavy silence fell between them as Sam continued washing the saliva off from her, and once he was certain it was gone, he gingerly lifted her back into his arms.

Aster was like a deadweight against him, her eye barely open as she let her head fall against his chest. Normally, the heat that radiated from him would almost immediately put her to sleep in times like this. It was taking every bit of her concentration to stay awake at all, but she didn’t want to be unconscious yet. Not when the feeling of being in his arms was so comforting.

Even if it were the same place she woke up, she just couldn’t let it go. It was foolish, but she couldn’t help it.

The attempt didn’t go unnoticed by Sam, either. “What are you doing? Not that long ago, you were begging me to let you sleep.”

“Not yet,” she murmured. “Too safe.”

“You feel too safe?” Sam echoed, completely bewildered. “That doesn’t make any sense. You should sleep. You’re not going to feel like yourself again until you do.”

Aster snuggled closer, saying, “Your arms. I don’t want it to end.”

Sam stared down at the girl in his arms, mouth agape. How something so small, so delicate, could find such comfort from a monster like him was truly baffling. Aster knew what his diet was, had even witnessed him brutally devour a man, and yet his arms were where she wanted to be when she felt unsafe. Let alone the fact that she allowed him to swallow her regularly. In that moment, it all felt so unbelievable.

Warmth bloomed throughout his chest. Something he had felt before regarding Aster. Numerous times, in fact, but never to such an extent.

The words were out before he’d even realized what he was saying. “I love you, Aster.”

Aster’s eye flew wide, and with what little energy she had left, she tilted her head up to meet his gaze. “W-what did you just say?”

Well, there was no taking it back now. And as he took in the pure shock on the girl’s face, he found that he really didn’t want to.

“I love you, Aster,” he repeated. “I think I have for some time now.”

She weakly shook her head, tears blurring her vision and slipping down her cheek.

It wasn’t possible. Aster wasn’t lovable. It had been drilled into her brain her whole life. Even if Sam had told her that he cared for her and treated her as such, this…it just couldn’t be. Right?

“You- what? You can’t…” she squeaked, but there was so much sincerity in his eyes. Sam wasn’t a liar. He didn’t sugarcoat, and he definitely didn’t try to spare your feelings. If there was anyone whose word she believed without a doubt…

Aster choked on a sob, and Sam cradled her to his chest.

“I can,” he said lowly, his fingers gently stroking her hair. “You are not a parasite, regardless of what any of those imbeciles have said, and you deserve to be loved. And I will spend as long as I have to proving it to you.”

She didn’t even have the words to respond. All she could do was cry into his chest as he repeated the words over and over. Someone loved her. Someone like Sam, of all people, who had acted like the concept of love was foreign. Who she had loved so fiercely for so long, and had never expected to hear it in return. It was impossible, and yet somehow it was true.

Sam only continued to gently reassure her. Originally, the idea of declaring such a thing had been horrifying. But now, as he watched Aster cry because of just how badly she’d craved for love and believed it impossible, he could only wish that he’d gotten over it and said it sooner.

“Breathe, love,” he said. “I’m not lying or trying to trick you. This is real, and you deserve it.”

With how drained she was, Aster couldn’t even lift her head from his chest to meet his eye. But she could listen to his voice, and it still managed to soothe her despite the way her mind reeled.

“You really mean it?” she whispered.

“I do mean it. I would never say it if I didn’t.”

“I…I never thought this would happen to me,” she said, her eyelid starting to grow heavy again. “I could barely even believe that you wanted to be my friend.”

A small smile tugged at his lips. “Believe it or not, I have enjoyed being your friend. Normally, I would find humans intolerable, but you have been quite the surprise.”

Her eye fell shut. It took too much energy to keep it open. “I used to dream of finding someone like you. Someone who would take me away from Vierra and not hate me.”

Noticing how close she was to sleep, Sam settled against his coils and adjusted his hold so that she could lay against him more comfortably. “Well, I definitely don’t hate you. At this point, I don’t think I could if I tried.”

“You’re the best person I’ve ever met.”

Sam snorted. “That speaks volumes about your kingdom if I’m the best person you’ve ever met. Now sleep, and you’ll feel much better in a few hours.”

“Wait, no-” she tried to move her body and failed. Something that Aster expected after spending so many days inside Sam, but frustrating nonetheless. “You can’t say that. You aren’t some monster.”

If she hadn’t been minutes away from passing out, he didn’t doubt that there would have been a passionate lecture soon to follow about his supposed ‘good deeds’. To see her trying anyways was almost cute.

“I am, Aster, but I appreciate your optimism,” he said, not bothering to hide the amusement in his tone. “Now rest. I promise I’m not conflicted by my moral standing. The only thing that matters is that I am not one to you.”

There was so much that Aster wanted to say to that, but Sam was so warm, and she was so tired, and she could hear his heartbeat, and she had more than lost the battle. But even as she felt herself drifting, those three words repeated again and again.

I love you I love you I love you I love you

“This isn’t a dream, is it?” she asked. “Like, I’m not going to wake up and find out that I hallucinated the whole thing?”

He chuckled softly, saying, “No, this isn’t a hallucination. I can remind you when you wake up if it would make you feel better.”

Aster hummed in response, finally giving way to the insistent tugging on her mind.

Sam loved her. Sam loved her.

And in that moment, Aster truly believed that she was the luckiest girl in the world.