𝕌𝕟𝕥𝕚𝕥𝕝𝕖𝕕 [𝕂. ℍ𝕖𝕚𝕤𝕖𝕟𝕓𝕖𝕣𝕘]

Chapter 8

Sunrays warmed Y/n's skin, conflicting with the cool fall air. She took in the scenery. Green leaves growing off the cliff side had turned orange and yellow overnight. The clouds above occasionally blocked out the sun, giving her a full taste of the crisp autumn weather. After being cooped up in the factory all week, the fresh air was rejuvenating. Y/n listened to her surroundings. She wondered what sort of songs this season could bring. Water rushing, birds chirping, trees rustling, and, unfortunately, the occasional lycan howl echoing out from the distance.

The rushing water drowned out Y/n's soft humming. She chewed on her pencil as she leaned her back against the stone wall. Her eyes fixed on the music sheet resting on her knees. Gray smudges littered the paper. On the top, she had ripped a hole from constantly erasing and rewriting a new first note. Her fingers toyed with a lock of her hair as she scribbled down the tune in her head. She stopped, looking it over. With a frown, she erased it. The tear grew larger.

Y/n had forgotten Heisenberg had bought her a stack of music sheets from the Duke several months back. She threw the bundle at a wall. It sat there, untouched, in a corner. Ever since she grew accustomed to life in the factory, she appreciated the gift now. Still, she missed her journal. Her eyes fixed on the hole. It's probably still in Noah's stuff.

"You know, you have a whole packet of those papers. You don't have to use just one sheet until it's dead in the ground." Her heart skipped a beat. On instinct, Y/n hugged the music sheets close to her chest as if she were hiding what she wrote.

Y/n looked up at him with a startled look on her face. Ever since she and Heisenberg made their deal, he hadn't once come down from the factory. It was a simple enough arrangement. She'd take more breaks from the factory, giving herself a single day off a week and an extra hour a day to step away from the corpses to do anything else. In exchange, Heisenberg never brings up the coat incident ever again.

She guessed he had set up the deal whole heartedly expecting her to spend the extra time resting and taking care of herself. Instead, she used her newly earned free time on her compositions.

Heisenberg stood by her side, leaning against the bridge, cigar in his hand. He adverted his eyes away from her and settled his gaze on the waterfall before them. A stream of smoke drifted off with the breeze.

Her head hung, and she stared at the partially unusable piece of sheet music. "I don't know when or if I'm going to get more."

"If?" Heisenberg repeated. "If you want more, all you have to do is ask the Duke next time you see him. He'll find you some as long as it guaranteed a sale."

It was always odd hearing Heisenberg regard anyone in a semi-friendly manner. He rarely gave any sort of praise. Then again, she supposed the Duke would have earned his respect. Where else would Heisenberg get those cigars he seemed so attached to?

"I guess I could." She pushed the used paper to the back of the stack. Y/n stared at the clean sheet staring back at her. Another chilly breeze passed by. She shivered. "It's already so cold out."

Heisenberg glanced around, almost confused. "I think the weather is pretty mild."

"You're a walking heater," she replied. The clouds above passed under the sun, covering the land in a thin veil of darkness. "How cold does it get around here in winter?"

"You traveled all the way here from America, and didn't take the time to look up the climate around these parts?" Heisenberg asked. He let out a low, almost pitiful chuckle.

Y/n did not hesitate to respond. There was a stringent tone in her voice. "We only planned to be here for the summer."

Heisenberg shrugged, wordlessly agreeing with her. He paused and took one last puff of his cigar before tossing it off the bridge and into the running river below. "It gets cold enough to snow."