Blood and Water (♠ Blue Suit ♠)

(Well if he does kill the thing, it'd be like a chapter closure. 'Cause the thing is gone and Fawn too. So there wouldn't be a need for him to look for revenge or something like that. It will just end with that. I was kind of thinking of the light thing and such as well. That should be good enough I think :>)


Mia wanted to suggest to keep going, she could take one more night of riding. However, maybe the horses wouldn't be able to handle it and if Tome himself was telling her to stop, she should just do the same. She slid down to the floor and tied her horse to a tree branch. She patted it softly and looked at Tome over her shoulder "Ok" She said with a nod, though she doubted she could get any sleep herself.
 
((So kill it then?))


Tome set up a space for them to sleep, then just laid down and closed his eyes without any further urging for her to lie down as well. Mia was human, which meant he was going to have to fight alone, when the time came. She didn't have magic on her side, nor much strength or skill. It was fine. He was used to fighting alone, with all the odds against him.
 
(Yeah, I guess)


Mia laid down as well, though she didn't close her eyes, instead she just stared up at the sky blankly. Even Tome seemed to be wanting to get some sleep. It made her realize she'd probably be useless if there was to be a fight. Even more, she'd be a bother instead of a helping hand if she did try to do a thing. How sad was that? She sighed noiselessly at the thought, how bothersome it was to be human.
 
((Kk. Just checkin :) ))


When morning came, Tome rose with the light, getting up without paying much attention to his traveling companion, and retrieved food from the horses' packs, giving them their feed before sitting down to eat for himself. "Did you sleep at all?" He asked, knowing Mia was awake, and not showing the usual signs of morning sleepiness. It didn't bode well, but if she could last the rest of the ride it was all he would need.
 
"A bit" Mia said as she rubbed her wrist a little. Oh... She had hurt it back in the house. She shook her head a bit and scrambled to her feet "Don't worry, I can make it there. I won't slow you down" I hope She added that last part to herself.
 
Tome just shook his head and continued eating. "I'm not worried about that," He said, shrugging a little and shaking his head. "Just worried you'll die in the process." He tried to convince himself that it was just because she would be no use to him dead, but it wasn't working very well. He couldn't have that. Not now.
 
Mia couldn't stop herself from blinking, clearly taken aback by the revelation. She couldn't really think of a reason why he'd be worried about that. As far as she knew, he was not fond of her. True, Tome was not so cold hearted to wish her dead, but still... She patted her own shoulder lightly as she walked to her horse "I won't die" She stated with confidence. Not enough of a good answer, that was for sure, but that was the best she could give him. Her own confidence on her survival.
 
Tome spared her a glance and gave a non-committal sound. "Best not." He mumbled as he took another bite, and that was the end of that conversation. He pushed some food towards her. "Eat. You'll need the energy." They still had a long ride, and a seemingly impossible fight ahead of them.
 
Mia glanced at him from over her shoulder and caught a glimpse of his moving lips, surely he had mumbled something, but she hadn't quite got it. She didn't ask though and just spoke again when he gave her food. "Thanks" She said before she started to eat. Honestly, sometimes she thought it'd had been a bit more pleasant if they ever had a popper conversation, but there would be time for that later, wouldn't it? She hated to admit it, but it had become so natural for her to imagine her future days around him and Fawn over the past month. Even when she had told herself not to become too attached to those two.
 
Tome only nodded to show he'd heard, and they ate in silence. When they had finished, they packed everything up and loaded the horses. "We'll drop everything we don't strictly need a ways from our destination." He said, making sure everything was secure. "We'll need the speed."
 
"I... Don't carry much, either way" She commented as she untied her horse gently "What will we be leaving behind?" He said what they didn't strictly need but what would that be? They didn't exactly had much on them. Weapons would definitely be taken. How about food and drink? It couldn't just be left behind.
 
Tome shook his head and just slung up onto the saddle. "We'll keep a day's worth of supplies, and nothing more. We'll travel too quickly to need more than that." Once he had Fawn back, he was going to leave this place as fast as he could. They all were.
 
Mia pushed herself up and positioned herself on the saddle with a low thud "Sounds good" Yeah, she wanted to leave that place as soon as she could. Leave it for good and never come back. She held the reins in her hands and pulled them to the side. She waited there for him to take the lead.
 
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Tome nodded and just shifted his horse into a slow trot. "We'll sprint two thirds of the distance, then continue slowly." They needed stealth on their side. They needed any advantage they could possibly get on their side. "When we reach the location, you'll stay back with the horses. Keep them ready."
 
Mia's brows furrowed a little "I'll... Stay back?" She couldn't stop herself from asking. She didn't like the idea of him going alone, then again, she had told herself countless of times she wouldn't be able to help him at all. She stopped a sigh from escaping her. At the end, she could only stay back and keep horses ready. She nibbled down on her bottom lip as the grip around her reins tightened "I will" She declared, though a bit dejected, she didn't let it show on her voice though.
 
Tome just shook his head. "You're weak, untrained, and as a human you haven't even the aid of magic on your side." He glanced briefly back at her. "You'll stay back so you don't get yourself killed." He would go on alone. "If I don't return in one hour, you take the supplies and the horses and go. There's enough funds in our supplies to get you back to the house, and whatever is there is yours. I suggest taking it and gong somewhere far away, as the King will eventually search there for his daughter."
 
"My, aren't you tactful?" She commented at his first remark. She was meant to get angry at those words and yet... yet they were so true that she just wanted to cry. At his last words, she shifted a bit on the saddle and she looked up at him. "I'll stay back and look for the horses until you two come back" She stated. There was no, you leave on your own. How could he even say that? In a way she couldn't help it but think she was being left behind, abandoned, that was something she didn't want. If he didn't return well she... She would go and look for him, even if it was just for her to return the horses and the food!
 
Tme shook his head quickly. "The fight itself can't last more than ten, perhaps fifteen minutes at the most. Even mortally wounded or briefly unconscious, and hour is the maximum amount of time that getting back to you can take. An hour and a half, if it suits you. Anything beyond that, and we're dead."
 
"...I understand" She said after a while. She wouldn't obey, of course. He was not her master anymore! If he did took more than an hour she would go look for them. It was just... To painful to think of returning to an empty home.
 
Tome just nodded and they were at a run again, pushing the horses to their limits. He didn't think she would listen, but prayed that she wouldn't try to follow him. When they were far enough but still on the right, they stopped and got rid of what they wouldn't strictly need, though if things went well they could just pick it up again. After that, they continued slowly, quietly as they could, and Tome was too much on alert to pay attention to Mia.
 
Mia let out a sigh as they finally got near enough. She scowled and lowered her eyes to her hands. She wanted to go with him. She didn't want him to leave. Those were her real feeling but she couldn't say it out loud, now could she?
 
((Sorry, I was trying to put off the whole fight scene until I was home, with my laptop, but now I'm back, so I'll try to get it up in a few minutes :) ))
 
At the bottom of the hill, they stopped, and Tome could practically feel the shadow in his bones - this place was filled with darkness, and he wasn't sure if Mia could even sense it or not. Shaking his head, he got down off his horse and gave her the reigns, just to keep the horse from wandering. "One hour," He reminded, "Then leave. . . Do not follow me." He could only hope against hope that she would obey.


With that said, he turned and headed off at a jog up the hill, slowing to a careful walk but a quick one. He didn't know how much time he had left. They'd wasted enough of it already and he didn't want to think about that, about what the shadow being may have done. He had to be a soldier now, had to put aside any personal attachments and thoughts he had and fight with everything he had. It was difficult.


At the precipice of his journey, a cave carved deep into the side of the hill, he steadied his breathing and went completely silent. He crept in against the wall, as close as he could without his clothes sliding against it, and made his way in, searching for any sound or sight or scent he could catch to alert him to what was going on inside. Bones littered the floor, here and there, and he felt ill, but he pushed it down and pressed on.


Tome made it into the main chamber and saw Fawn lying far away on the ground, pale and unconscious and if she looked thinner he hoped it was just his imagination. He looked quickly, back and forth, and started to make a break for her.


He could never have predicted it coming up through the floor and catching him by the throat.


It was smaller than he remembered - though compared to Fawn's fragile body anything looked big. Still, its limb - hand? - was solid enough to wrap around his neck and squeeze until he felt the air cut off from going either in or out, and his feet left the ground. He kicked at it, but its body changed shape so strangely that all the kick did was make his foot slide off of it, the gelatinous surface bouncing back as if nothing had occurred at all, and he knew that physical attacks would do nothing, not even with weapons. He had only one other option.


With no words to be spoken, he had to rely on just his will to make the ball of energy form in his hand, and with the translucent body allowing him a fuzzy image of his sister lying on the floor, he had will to spare. He choked, struggling to breathe, and squeezed his eyes shut tight as the ball exploded into a brilliant light that filled the chamber completely. The creature screeched, so loud his ears rung even as it dropped him to the floor and shifted back, writhing and cringing away from him. He didn't want it to leave, didn't want it to get too far, so he dimmed the light enough that it had the courage to try and stop him again, and when it came closer he leaped at it from his position on the floor. The light grew brighter, the energy in his palm morphing with his fear and anger and hurt into pure light energy, into a strike like lightning, and the creature screeched long and loud and high as it shriveled into the floor. Tome had known it wouldn't take long. Either he would have died, or it.


Tome tried to stand, but his limbs were weakened unexpectedly by the drain of using magic, and he fell again. He felt on fire, like the lightning had receded into his skin, and only crawled forward until he could reach Fawn on his hands and knees. She was . . . She was too pale. And when he reached for her, her skin was cold. Her eyes didn't once shift beneath her lids, and he couldn't breathe though nothing was left to squeeze the life from his lungs. He couldn't believe his senses, had to put a hand around her wrist and feel for the flow of her blood, an ear to her chest to listen for her life.


Her heart did not beat.


Her lungs did not breathe.


He exhaled loud and shaky and unbelieving into her skin and pulled back to look at her, helpless tears gathering in his eyes even as he reached for her, a hand running through her hair around the back of her head. He pulled her close to him, cradled her in his lap and wrapped her up in his arms. She was so small. So fragile. So cold. . . So very gone.


As he curled tight around the only thing he had ever loved, he screamed - it was a sound of pain and horror and agonizing loss, and it left him feeling empty. . . And he could not ever say goodbye.


((Sorry if it's super long. Didn't want you to just have to stall for a post more than necessary lol))
 
(Oh no. I loved it! I kind of enjoy reading long posts. Made me tear up though. Fawn is dead :c T^T)


"He's not back yet" Mia thought out loud as she patted the horses snouts absently. Well yeah, he had left 20 minutes ago give or take, but he told her 15 minutes would be enough. The noises that reached her even human ears were not helping her to keep calm neither. And what if... No! They'd come back. They'd come back and leave. They'd come back for her. They... They would, wouldn't they? It made it hard to breath when the horrid scream like sounds reached even her bones. The painful feelings of worry, doubt and fear, which were making their way to her chest, were enough to make her shiver at the thought of the worst case scenario.


10 more minutes later and she was already gone, the horses firmly tied to a branch and her running all the way up. Please be fine, please be fine She thought to herself with anguish as she pushed and shoved branches away, even falling a couple of times due to her own clumsiness. When she reached a cave like opening, she was already panting and her clothes torn. The place gave off such a cold feeling that if she had not been driven by a much stronger determination than her fear she'd had probably hesitated more before setting food inside the rocky interior.


Stumbling all her way inside, careful to hide the noises produced by her steps, she stopped on her heels when she came upon a lit up chamber. And what she found there was so... heart breaking, so indescribable, that she had to struggle with herself to get the air in and breathe. She couldn't believe her eyes and yet what was truly happening was painfully confirmed by Tome's heartrending screams. She covered her mouth to stop a whimper from escaping its lips. The tears welled up but the sight of Tome's suffering was enough to stop them from coming. She... She had to get Tome out of there.


She squeezed her eyes shut for a moment and did her best at composing herself before she slowly made her way to the curled on Fawn's body Tome. "Tome... Tome we have to leave" She declared softly as she reached for his shoulder, not touching him though.
 
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