#hkaxe

You couldn't stop running. You had to outrun that twisted, bloodthirsty monster, your life depended on it. He had been chasing you for almost 5 kilometers at this point, forest stretching as far as the eye could see. You didn't remember which way you had come from, every direction looked wrong...you were panicking at this point, but you just had to keep running.

The skeleton, still hot on your trail, growled for you to stop running, as he held a giant bone, sharpened into the shape of an axe. He was still chasing you after all that distance you had made. There was a good reason for it, though...you had stolen food from him. It wasn't a big deal in other universes, sure, but in the one you came from? Food was as rare as diamond. You weren't sure if you were in the same universe that you had been in previously...things looked different. You thought you were losing your mind at this point.

You stumbled, tripping and feeling a sharp pain in your leg. You dropped the food, yelling out in pain as your ankle was caught between two thick branches, popping out of place. You closed your eyes tightly as you heard the crunch of footsteps in the snow, knowing exactly who it was.

You brace yourself for the axe to come down on you, to chop you clean in half....but it never came. What did come was the loud sound right next to you.

*CRACK!*

You look, to see the branches trapping your ankle now ripped in half, torn by the bare hands of your pursuer. The skeleton was staring at you, the hunger and rage you thought you had seen in his eye now gone. In its place was....a look of worry?

"Sorry for...for scarin' ya...are ya hurt? Hungry?" he gently questions, his voice deeper than any you'd heard before, a slight rasp to it. You nod, hesitating a bit to trust him right away. With that conformation, he carefully picks you up, picking up the bag of food supplies you had taken from him earlier when he dropped his guard. His scent consisted of some sort of barbeque...it was nice, but it only made your hunger get worse.

With a blink, you were in a different place....teleportation magic, you assumed. It was a dark, gloomy, yet strangely elegant looking castle. He set you down on a nearby chair, looking at your ankle with an expression that almost seemed...guilt-ridden.

"Again....'m sorry for....scarin' ya like that.... I was just....worried for ya." He gently put a hand on your knee, making you realize just how huge his hands were, and how sharp his phalanges were as well. "I know hunger all too well....when I saw it in 'yer eyes....I wanted to help, but....but I panicked." He sighed. He hated that he looked like such a monstrous creature....he liked helping people, but it was hard when they all ran away at the sight of him. He looked at you with a slightly more serious expression.

"This 's gonna hurt, 'm not gonna sugarcoat it. Do ya need somethin' to bite on?" You didn't feel like it was a hundred percent necessary, but it would be helpful just in case there were others in the castle too. You nod, thinking it would be better to be safe than sorry. He reaches for a towel from a cabinet, one that no normal adult could reach, but he was....a lot taller, to say the least, now that you got a better look at him. He was over 8 feet tall, you would've guessed. His skeletal body was somehow bulky, under the layers of clothing he had on, the fabric thin enough to make out the rough proportions of his body. Bones were not usually that thick....in a human body, anyways....maybe you still had more to learn about monsters than you thought you did.

He gently hands you the towel, waiting until you gave him the go ahead before counting down from three, to let you know when he was going to set your ankle back to it's original position. The guilt-ridden expression spread across his face again as you let out a muffled yelp into the towel that was in your mouth. He wrapped your ankle with some bandages to form a makeshift cast of sorts, his touch gentle and soothing.

After eating a meal he had cooked for you, he seemed happy that the two of you were getting along so well. "Name's Axe, by the way. What's 'yers?" For the first time since you had seen him face to face, you spoke. "Y/N. Thanks for helping me." You smile, planting a gentle kiss on his cheek. Blush quickly spreads across his face, gently touching the spot where you had kissed him. He smiled, the red eye light in his eye looking almost...half-lidded if that were even possible, but you didn't question it. He looked off to the side, the blue blush glowing even brighter. "H...heh..." He turned back to you after a few seconds, hugging you close to him and letting out a soothing purr.

"I think 'm gonna keep ya<3"