Chapter Text
It has been quite a few years since the “Butcher of Blaviken” incident, and Geralt is still getting kicked out of villages
It's bad enough feeling the guilt weighing on Geralt's shoulders but he is reminded of it every town he goes through. The shouting and surprising amount of vegetables the village people are willing to waste trying to get the man to leave. It shouldn’t have been surprising to the mutant the first time they kicked him out, Humans have never been too welcoming to Witchers, often refusing them from the inns even if they killed the monster that had been terrorizing them for months. Geralt knows this is the path he has to follow, but sometimes a warm bath in a building would make things easier.
But to Geralt's disappointment this town is no different. After killing a lone ghoul that had been terrorizing the village as of recent. Attempting to kill the ghoul proved to be more trouble than expected, not coming out every night, thankfully the ghoul didn’t limit itself to only revealing itself when the moon is full, but the moon still had to be half full. It was a new moon when Geralt arrived, not being let into the inns was also not helpful, but it was only a week of this and then he happened upon the ghoul during the night. It wasn’t even a hard kill but being paid half the amount was… less than helpful.
Being as non threatening as possible Geralt attempted to ask about the rest of the pay in the least threatening way possible stating “this is not the payment we agreed upon”. This apparently was still threatening. Getting kicked out as soon as he finished speaking, the villagers soon came in arms to yell me out of the town. It of course has no effect on me, He does not hear the yelling (Butcher! Monster! Beast!) he does not see their scared faces. He only sees the beginning of the road out of the village.
The road outside the village was quite peaceful in the end and Geralt completely forgot about the money, just me and Roach. He can hear the birds in the near woods, a babbling brook a mile out, the running of a child, the leaves-
Geralt Halted Roach, surprised, looking in the direction of the noise, and sure enough there was a small child running behind him, struggling to keep up. They held a small bag and a straw hat that was much too big, running as possible to attempt to catch up with me.
The child gets all the way to Geralt before he gets the right mind to dismount Roach and to his surprise the child just stares down at his shoes. Geralt waits for a second for them to say something but they just stand there breathing heavily staring at my boots. Usually people who need monsters killed are very quick to state their issue, but having little to no experience with children Geralt figures maybe he needs to try and speak first, to encourage the child.
“hello?”
The child continues to stare Geralt's boots and breath heavily but they move their hand in a way he assumes would be a wave, if not for the straw hat in their little hand. Geralt hasn't been around children much but he knows children by this size can talk. Do I need to be more direct? the Witcher wonders, looking down at the child Fuck am I too threatening?
“Do you need any assistance?” Geralt says, forcing more words from his mouth and bending down to the child's height. The child then looks up at me looking me in the eyes for the first time, dark brown eyes matching the dark brown curly hair on their head. The child takes a moment to think about my words, then they point at me, a determined look on their face.
“coming With.. you” The child mumbles out, speech wobbly like they are still struggling to breathe.
“...What”
“With.. You” they say putting more force behind it, walking over to Roach. Gerat grabs the little kid before they can get kicked by the horse and he places the kid back in front of him. The kid looks surprised that they were moved so easily but soon gets over that to look back at Geralt with a more determined look
Fuck where is this kid’s parents? Geralt worries, He really doesn’t want to have to watch this kid, whose stupid parents have most likely lost them. Fuck what am I supposed to do.
“Move..” the child says, pushing at the mutant trying to get to the horse again.
“Hm” Geralt says, once again picking up the child and moving them even further away from the horse. Setting them down again when they get a safe distance away. The child isn't happy and seems to be getting more distressed this goes on, same could be said for Geralt who has no idea what he is doing.
“Where are your parents?” Geralt says calmly , but clearly not calm enough because that makes the kid even more distressed shouting ‘NO’ as loudly as possible into my face, getting more and more panicked by the second, not leaving though which is weird.
“Please I don’t wanna go back” the child suddenly cries holding the comically large straw hat closer to themselves tearing up. “They.. hate me” they sniffle, seeming to partially give up on fighting, grabbing Geralt's sleeve, almost like they were worried he would leave “I don’t wanna go.. back I wanna go.. with you”.
oh god tears Geralt thinks doing his best to not show how panicked he really is. He has no idea how to handle a regular child, let alone a crying and upset child. Wait a second did this kid say there parents hate them Geralt realizes in a panic Fuck I need to change the conversation so I can get the child calm.
“I uh…” Geralt wracks his brain for a change of topic looking around at his surroundings and then looking at seemingly the only item the child is carrying. Oh that's a good topic Geralt realizes no upsetting ideas can come from a hat.
“I like your hat” Geralt says, happy he came up with a suitable calming topic.
There is a beat of silence and the child stops there sad sniffling “oh.. thanks, it's not mine though, it was Straws”
“Oh who’s that?” Geralt asks, trying to make himself sound as kid friendly as possible.
“... a friend” the kid says shyly, looking away from Geralt.
“Well your friend…he is probably missing his hat right? Won’t he miss his hat?” Geralt says, trying to maybe get some information on a safe place for this kid to possibly stay. Maybe this friend is their guardian since this child seems to be scared of their parents.
The child is starting to look panicked again “I hope not, I can’t go back”
“Why not?” Geralt asks worriedly, hoping this kid's friend wasn’t one of the few victims of the ghoul I had just killed.
“.. I just can’t, I can’t go back” they hold the hat tighter “Don’t make me please, you have to be nice to me please” the little kid is officially crying now, sniffling as tears roll.
“Fuck” Geralt says in a panic, then seems to scold himself for saying fuck. “shit I-” Geralt says, attempting to try to be more appropriate then realizing what he just said, hitting his hand on his forehead in frustration.
god why are humans so confusing Geralt thinks still panicking. How am I supposed to fix this? How do I help a kid who's crying ? He looks back at the child as he thinks this and attempts to give the child a pat on the shoulder, hoping it does the job to comfort the child.
This apparently to the child is a sign that forms of physical contact are okay and they quickly attempt to try to get a hug. Geralt tries to fight this for a few seconds panicking but soon gives up knowing this is a losing battle. Allowing the child to cry some more in this awkward hug that Geralt tries to reciprocate but is just struggling because of complete lack of experience.
Well Geralt thinks what am I supposed to do about this now.
I could always go back to the village and drop them off but if what the child said about their parents is true… that's not an option. I need to get more information before I make a decision, hell I don’t even know the kids name. I have enough rations I can share and if all else fails I can stand to not eat for a night. We can return to the town to try and find this friend of theirs.
_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_
“So kid what's your name”
The child sits silent staring at the fire, the flames making it hard to determine what they are thinking. The hat sits next to them and they have opened their little bag they had been caring to reveal sunflower seeds they eat in a trance, staring at the fire.
“Kid?”
The child looks up now noticing someone is talking to them and they shrug, continuing their silent streak. After Geralt walks the child over to Roach, walking them both over to a secluded bit of woods off the trail to make camp, they have only tried talking to Roach which has made things a bit difficult. Geralt has failed to get any information about the child's family or friends, the only thing they have learned are things the child has said to Roach.
“Hehe you are so cool, but straws wouldn’t like you”
“OH Roach! what is your favorite plant, I like the little white daisy's that grow from the stone in the field”
Lots of loud giggling and patting the horse, I am so thankful for this horse and its patience with this child.
The kid continues to stare into the fire, finally setting the seeds down, and grabbing the hat placing it over their head covering up most of their face.
“Name?”
“Yes your name” Geralt signs, thankful the child has gathered their words.
The child holds the brim of the hat closer to the side of their head “I hate my name” the kid mutters still looking at the fire.
“I need to call you something” Geralt states wearily poking the fire.
I also need to know your family name so I can try to bring you home. The Witcher thinks in a panic, hoping the child can’t sense this.
“My name… is mean, I ha..te it” the kid mumbles angrily, stumbling over their words more like before.
“Well Is there something else people call you”
“Also.. not nice”
“Hm” fuck Geralt thinks staring at the trees swaying behind the kid lot in thought. If I can’t get a name out of this kid it's going to get really confusing. The whole name not being “nice” is more than concerning. What kind of family am I dealing with? Should I even be bringing this kid back god this is a whole-
“Can I make.. something up?” the kid says, snapping Geralt out of his train of thought.
“Hm?”
“Can I make up a name”
“...sure” Geralt says reluctantly, unsure of where this could possibly be going. Though quickly deciding that this would be the best course of action if he wanted the child to be more comfortable talking so he could get more information.
“How about…. Roach?” the kid says letting go of the brim of their hat, looking up from the fire and at the branches above them, basically anywhere but where Geralt was sitting.
“... Roach already has that name” Geralt says sighing his head in his hands, regretting his decision to let the child name themselves already
The child looks a little annoyed looking at the ground now seeming to scan the area for who knows what. Geralt of course, not rushing the child though he is too confused himself to even know how to direct the child in the right direction.
“Rock…” the child finally says, looking unsure at the ground.
“You can’t just name the things around you kid”
“Why not?”
“I- i do not know” Geralt says, getting more and more unsure by the second. The Witcher was really wondering if he should have braved it back to that awful town to see if he could find the kid's parents (not that he was scared! Witchers don’t get scared, it was just… inconvenient.. At the time).
“What about daisy?” the kid looks almost right at Geralt saying it, catching his attention.
Oh thank god finally something they didn’t just make up Geralt thinks remembering the kid talking to roach before when they first mentioned the flower.
“Sure why not” Geralt says, getting up to grab a blanket from Roach, realizing that the kid could get cold at some point. It wasn’t particularly cold but at some point the fire is going to burn out and Cold isn’t something most humans are built to stand, Geralt assumes the child would be much worse off.
“Here's a blanket kid”
“Daisy” the kid says taking the blanket and quickly wrapping it around themselves “thank you”
“Hm” the Witcher replies, walking back to his spot on the patch of grass on the other side of the fire in getting ready for the night. Not getting too comfortable though, he wasn’t planning on sleeping with the kid present, too many things could go wrong.
“your name?” the kid blurts a few seconds after looking nervous like they feel like they might have messed up in some way.
“Oh” the Witcher looks up surprised, most humans don't ask him his name “my name is Geralt”
“Thank you.. For helping me .Geralt” the kids speaking difficulty more present because of there obvious nerves.
“... No problem” Geralt says back, hoping he hasn’t been the one to scare the kid, hoping he hadn’t fucked up royally at the simple task of talking to a human child “You should sleep now, it's getting late”
The kid nodes and curls up into a small ball by the fire, holding the large straw hat to their chest and the blanket completely covering them up except for their large distressed brown eyes reflecting the fire. They lay like that for about 30 minutes until they finally fall asleep, finally for the first time not looking tense and ready to hide.
Fuck Geralt thinks to himself what on earth have I gotten myself into.