On a Drive
Samael rarely ever accompanied Naomi on missions. She normally went alone, and travelled however she needed to get there. She wasn't suble about her travel choices. She was famous and rich, so no one was suspicious of how much she travelled. She always managed to give the paparazzi the slip early on, which confused them to no end on how she was doing it. But still, she normally travelled alone.
That night, when she got into her car, Samael was in the passenger seat. They were awake, but slumped down in the seat with their head propped up by their arm on the window sill. They didn't attempt to make conversation, so Naomi drove along the road to her destination in silence. She stopped at a fast food restaurant to get breakfast, which she sat in the middle of the two seats.
Normally, when Naomi would order food while Samael was with her on a mission, she wouldn't be the one who would end up eating it. Samael would always steal it, she had a curiosity for human food. She would always try new ones, even if made her sick. She said she liked the taste enough to eat the food even though she would be sick later. This time, the food sat untouched.
"What's wrong?" Naomi said, "There's something off with you."
"It's nothing. I'm just worried," they replied.
"About what?"
"About everything." They didn't seem to want to elaborate, so Naomi went back to driving in silence.
Eventually they spoke again. "I know you think you owe a debt to me. That's why you stay, why you continue to work for me after years. Because you owe your life to me, but my life is more important than yours. If something happens, and you can get away alive while I can't, go."
It took Naomi a second to process the message behind Samael's words. The worry they held and the thought that they might be killed. Something was coming, something dangerous. But what really struck her, was that they thought she only stayed because they had saved her life.
"That's not- that's not why I stay."
"Why then? If not for that reason."
She attempted to say the words, to tell Samael the real reason she had stayed all these years. In the beginning it was just because of the debt, but that reasoning had been replaced over the years. She couldn't say it, though. Not to Samael. She couldn't even really admit it to herself, so she let the words die in her throat.
Out of the blue, Samael said, "Did you know you snore?"
Naomi shot them an offended look out the corner of her eye, "I do not."
"You do. When I came to give you this mission last night, you were asleep. So I have witnessed it."
Naomi snickered, and continued the drive forward.