The cold night had finally passed.
As the golden light of morning poured over the Human District, the square glistened with dew. Birds chirped in the distance, but the two figures locked in the stocks were more focused on the warmth of the sun brushing against their bruised skin.
Joshua tilted his head toward the light, sighing. "Thank the stars… I thought my toes were gonna freeze off."
Rowdy groaned beside him. "I can't feel my left butt cheek. I think it's legally dead."
They both laughed, tired but grateful. Their muscles ached, their skin was dry and cracked from the cold, but they were still here.
Still alive.
Still themselves.
But it didn't take long before the crowds returned.
People came with the same glares, the same shouting voices, and the same cruelty as the day before.
"Demon!"
"Filthy animals!"
"Get out of our city!"
Some even tossed more spoiled fruit at them, though not as much as yesterday. Still, a wilted turnip hit Rowdy square in the chest.
"Seriously?" he muttered. "Turnips? That's a hate crime."
Joshua muttered, "I'm starting to miss tomatoes."
Then came the usual jokes about their bodies, to which Rowdy replied, "Yeah, yeah, laugh it up. Come back in the summer, I'll show you something to scream about."
They ignored most of it now. The sting was duller, the shame bearable.
Then a familiar little voice chirped from below.
"Hi again!"
They looked down.
Jill.
The little girl from yesterday stood with her same crooked pigtails and wide smile, waving excitedly.
"You're still stuck!" she said.
Joshua smiled warmly. "Yeah. Still stuck."
Rowdy grinned. "But the view's better now."
She looked up at them, curious. "You hungry again?"
Joshua nodded. "Always."
She opened a cloth pouch and pulled out two cookies, placing them carefully in their mouths one at a time with her tiny hands.
"I brought extra from home," she said proudly. "Don't tell my mom."
Rowdy chewed slowly. "Your secret is safe with us."
Jill sat cross-legged in front of them, babbling about her stuffed bunny, how she tried to make a potion with mud, and how she bit a boy at school for saying vampires and werewolves were ugly.
"I told him my vampire and werewolf friends are cool," she declared.
Joshua and Rowdy laughed.
Then she left and they waved as usual.
Not long after, footsteps echoed again.
Lancelot and Merlin.
Merlin rushed ahead the moment she saw Joshua. "You survived another night," she breathed, brushing hair from his forehead and checking his face for fresh bruises.
"Sun's out," Joshua said. "Can't complain."
Lancelot approached Rowdy with a fresh towel and a steaming bundle of food. "Still pretty?"
Rowdy raised a brow. "Always."
They began feeding the two with quiet care, cleaning off the crusted dirt and old bruises as best they could.
"You smell worse than last time," Merlin muttered.
Joshua replied, "That's because people were more creative with their fruit choices."
Lancelot chuckled. "We'll see if they let us throw some back next time."
As usual, their presence brought warmth.
And then they left and Joshua and Rowdy waved.
And right on schedule…
"Darlings, we've returned!" came Eric's sing-song voice.
He arrived with Emelia and Sam, all carrying bags of tea and sweet bread.
"Oh gods," Emelia said, covering her eyes as she saw Joshua. "I forgot you were still... y'know... exposed."
Joshua sighed. "Please stop looking."
Eric waved a fan. "Why stop? I'm appreciating art."
Rowdy shot a lazy grin at Sam, who was turning red again. "You okay over there, beautiful?"
"I-I'm fine!" Sam yelped. "You just look... um... healthy."
More tea. More laughter. More kindness in the cold.
They sat with them again, passing food gently and chatting as though everything was normal.
When the sun began to set, Eric stood with a dramatic flourish. "We'll be here to see you free in the morning!"
"Promise!" Emelia added with a soft smile.
Sam gave a short, awkward salute.
They left with waves and kind words.
Then night fell.
The cold returned.
But this time, it didn't feel quite as cruel.
The Next Morning
The city bells rang.
Crowds gathered early, expecting another round of mockery.
But instead, the guards arrived with keys and opened the stocks with heavy, rusted clicks.
Joshua stood, arms stiff from the two days of bondage. Rowdy cracked his neck and stretched his arms high toward the sky.
"Freedom, baby," Rowdy said, flexing.
But it didn't last.
A commander stepped forward with a scroll.
"By order of the Council," he declared, "Joshua Xeno and Rowdy Von Blackthorn are to be escorted back to the holding cells. Their punishment has ended. Their service now begins."
The crowd murmured.
Rowdy raised an eyebrow. "No breakfast first?"
Joshua just sighed. "Knew it was too good to be true."
The guards shackled their wrists again, lighter this time and began leading them away from the square.
Back down the long streets.
Back beneath the earth.
Back into the cold stone of the prison halls.
But as the doors shut behind them again, Joshua leaned back against the wall and said with a shrug, "Still better than the stocks."
Rowdy nodded. "Still got each other."
Joshua smiled faintly. "Still not alone."
And that made everything bearable.
Later that morning, after a cold rinse and a bland breakfast in their holding cell, Joshua and Rowdy were taken above ground once more, this time not as prisoners on display, but as laborers in shackles.
Their wrists were bound with lighter cuffs now, enchanted to prevent transformation or magical surges, but flexible enough to let them work.
The guards flanked them closely, but no longer with the same hatred in their eyes. Just cautious duty.
They arrived at the heart of the Human District, near the front of the once-proud white-stone church. Now, the street was still stained dark red, the stone shattered, the air heavy with memory. The bodies had long been cleared away, but the blood, so much blood, remained.
Joshua stopped at the sight, his expression darkening.
Rowdy's smirk faded as well.
Even the guards stood a bit quieter here.
Buckets were handed to them. Brushes. Soap that smelled like lemon and rust.
A silent order passed between them.
They knelt and began to scrub.
The sun rose higher as the blood slowly faded from the stone. Every brushstroke erased another line of what had happened. But it didn't erase the memory. The pain. The weight.
And yet... Joshua didn't complain.
Rowdy didn't joke.
They just worked.
After a while, a few human builders arrived, ready to fix the shattered houses and cracked roads nearby. They looked at the two boys with open scorn at first, some even spat near them, others whispered curses.
But Joshua picked up a heavy beam without being asked.
Rowdy began hauling stones without hesitation.
They didn't stop to rest, didn't hesitate to lift, hold, hammer, or sweep.
After an hour, one of the human workers, a wiry older man with deep lines in his face, walked up to Rowdy and offered a cloth to wipe his brow.
"Not bad… for a bloodsucker," he muttered, smirking slightly.
Rowdy grinned. "You should see me during house chores."
Soon after, another handed Joshua a waterskin. "You swing a hammer better than most of our soldiers."
Joshua nodded, surprised. "Thanks."
The mood shifted.
Slowly.
They helped lift broken doors. Repaired beams. Dug out chunks of shattered road. Even carried elderly villagers across rubble when wagons couldn't pass through.
People watched with wide eyes as the "monsters" picked up trash, moved debris, and nodded politely to children who hid behind fences.
The guards kept their eyes trained on them the whole time… but their stances softened.
Eventually, noon struck.
Lunch.
They were allowed a short break and led to a shaded corner of the road where a small portable mess was being served for workers and guards.
To their surprise, the guards sat down with them.
No words at first.
Just food passed across the bench. Meat, bread, hard cheese.
Rowdy bit into the bread like it was treasure. "Not tomatoes, but I'll take it."
Joshua quietly chewed, then looked around.
Everyone was watching… but not with hate.
Just curiosity.
One of the guards leaned back, arms crossed. "Didn't think you'd actually work."
Joshua looked at him, shrugged. "Didn't think we'd be allowed to."
Another guard, this one younger, with a scar on his temple, tossed Rowdy a waterskin. "You move faster than you look."
Rowdy gave a smug grin. "I get that a lot."
Chuckles followed. Not many. But enough.
For the first time in days, no fruit was thrown.
No rocks.
No insults.
Just food, sweat, dust… and the beginning of something new.
Joshua leaned back beside Rowdy as they drank.
"This might actually be alright," he muttered.
Rowdy nodded, crumbs still on his lip. "Yeah. Beats stocks."
They sat in the shade, muscles sore but hearts strangely light, as the city slowly began to look at them not as monsters… but as men.