Arcadia

Death By A Thousand Cuts

The morning sun shone through the peak of the mountains, waking Yura up. She slowly opened her eyes and sneezed. As she felt the floor she was lying on, her eyes sprang open and she started looking around her. With the little lighting she had from the sunlight and a fire that has been set up, she was able to make out rock walls all around her. The walls curve around, giving her an impression of a closed-in cave. 

"Finally awake, huh?"

Yura looked around and saw Ren seated at the other end of the cave holding a small pebble. Seeing him, Yura quickly remembered why she was there.

"Oh! S-sorry about last night. I caused some delay, sorry!"

Ren flicked the pebble away and walked towards Yura. The look on his face showed that he was not pleased about what happened, and Yura frantically thought of a way to appease him. 

"Y-you could have just left me and..."

As expected, Ren interrupted her with a stern voice. "Don't even think about that! ... It's not your fault."

Yura reacted with a surprised look on her face, expecting Ren to go off on her, given how unstable he has been for the past hours. 

"I should have known that you were exhausted from the earlier fights and have the least endurance among all of us, especially in this harsh environment. The cold's getting worse..."

Yura sat up and blinked several times in order to fully wake herself up. While doing so, Ren handed her a wrapped piece of bread. What Ren said about her conditioning was not the nicest thing to say, but it's true, to an extent. 

"Here's something for you to eat. We're almost at the destination."

Yura, feeling quite hungry, took a bite from the bread. "I think you're calm enough to listen now. So..."

"I know what you're going to say. Normally, I would have agreed with Jet. In fact, under normal circumstances, he would be the one charging head-on. However, this is a time when I just can't afford any delays."

"I understand, but..." Yura stopped in order to take another bite. "You mentioned a promise, so.."

"You know, one of those cliched childhood promise things in movies and TV. We actually had something like that. I promised her that when we grew up, I will protect her and be her knight in shining armor. How silly and childish, right? I still want to uphold my end of that deal, for some reason."

Yura giggled at Ren, who looked at her with a slightly embarrassed face. 

"It's just so unlike you. I would have never expected you to be like that."

"We were all foolish kids once. We were all dreamy and way ahead of ourselves back then."

"Yes. I know Yukiko has a special place in your heart. Treasure her, alright?" answered Yura. However, her voice had a mix of happiness and a tone of uncertainty. "I'm sure... you'll be happy together."

Yura smiled, which made Ren feel the need for an immediate response. "Hey! What are you talking about, it's nothing like that! Nothing like that!"

"Whatever you say," said Yura, who finished her food and got up. "So, let's get going, shall we? On to rescuing Yukiko!"

~~~~~

The moment the sun came up on Freya, Jet was up and running. While a lot of the citizens resumed with their everyday lives, a sizable number of them began repair operations, especially in the areas around the power plant, the gate, and the plaza. For Jet, his first order of the day was running towards the plaza.