All the better; all the worse . . .

[Zach Kaiser]

"Of course." Eld readily gave her his arm, and once she was ready they'd begin moving.

It was only a few minutes in before it would become clear that something was on Eld's mind; he was less energetic than he'd been even during the crisis. Fortunately, she wouldn't have to ask; it wasn't long before he spoke his mind.

"Akizetsumei...I'm really sorry," he said. "If I had been paying attention, been more responsible..." Regardless of the fact that they were both more or less alright, his carelessness had put her danger. If it weren't for that, they wouldn't have even needed the rescue.

"I guess...I still have a ways to go," he mused. He tried to act all grown up a lot of the time, but the encounter with Remmy proved he wasn't an adult quite yet.

[Nayt]

"N-no," Akizetsumei shook her head insistently.

This was the last thing she wanted, Eld thinking this was all his fault. Well it wasn't! He wasn't the one that brought her out here and tried to maximize his time with her as much as humanly possible. No, that was all Akizetsumei's doing. She was the one that invited him to go hiking with her and she was the one that purposefully ignored how much time was going past. She'd so readily accepted how great of a day they were having, she practically refused to acknowledge that it could possibly come to an end sometime.

"It's not your fault at all," she exclaimed in a whisper, before somewhat softening, "Please don't think that. Please don't think it's your fault."

Akizets dipped her head low. As much as she wanted to say this, it made the whole of her heart want to explode. After all, what if Eld hadn't thought of the idea that she could be to blame here? What if he was only thinking that it was all his fault? Then he wouldn't be angry at her because it's her fault, he'd be angry at himself. But that wasn't fair. It wasn't right. It wasn't the good thing to do. Even if Eld got upset with her, he shouldn't be blaming himself over this.

"I-- I mean, I mean, um, I mean . . . I'm okay with it. Iknowit'smyfault," part of this was a lie; she wouldn't have fallen to a squeaky voice if she was truly okay with this-- but it didn't matter. If anyone should be taking responsibility for this mess, it should be her! "I-- I asked you out here a-and, ummm . . . a-and, um, i-it was me that tried to act like the sun would stay up forever-- s-so please don't blame yourself. Pretty please. It-- it's really okay to blame me! A-and . . . and I'll . . . I'lltotallyunderstandifyouneverwannaseemeagain."

She shut her eyes tight, as if expecting a blow of some sort.

[Zach Kaiser]

"Why would I think that?" Eld asked, genuinely surprised. Akizetsumei was a nice girl, and fun to be around; he wasn't going to let one bad experience color his opinion of her like that.

But she was clearly blaming herself just as much as he was. He mulled this over for a few seconds before concluding, "Well, I guess we're equally to blame." Then he turned to her smiled. "We'll just have to be more careful if we do this again."

[Nayt]

But a blow never came. Eld never said he never wanted to see her again. He never said it was best for their mutual health that they not do stuff like this ever again-- hiking out any distance or even spending the shortest possibly moments alone together. He didn't say any of the sort. He was gentle, in fact. He was gentle and kind and smart and wise all rolled up into one. Akizets looked up to him with wide eyes and a furrowed brow.

"Y-you mean you'd . . ." Akizets trailed off, surprise filling her voice. She was so shocked by the idea that Eld might actually come out this way with her again, regardless of how horrible the night was to them.

And then she smiled again, genuine and sincere and thankful.

She was so happy she almost wanted to cry again.

---

Remmy's directions were spot on. It was a little shy of a forty minute walk to get to the wide and well traveled road that connected Hillcrest and Galaens. They experienced no problems with Batou or his pack, either, making it a relatively easy walk--all except for Akizetsumei's sprain. From there, it was another forty minute walk to get back to Hillcrest. They were far off from Akizetsumei's usual path, and unable to just take a straight line to get back home, they had to double the distance with two routes. It was the easiest route to remember at night, however . . .

---

The two of them came to a stop between the Tsukimono residence and the house of the Terra Clan. There was hesitation, almost as if they wanted to accompany each other to each house to explain all the little details of the evening, perhaps to better help the other's reputation with his or her parents--but that didn't come to be.

"S-so, ummm," Akizets whispered. She suddenly felt nervous again. About what, she hadn't the slightest clue. "I-- I guess this is where we go our separate ways, huh?"

[Zach Kaiser]

"Guess so." He shuffled on his feet nervously. After everything that happened it was hard to just say "see you tomorrow" and leave it at that. They'd hiked for hours, climbed a cliff, sat and watched the day go by, had a close call going down the cliff, gotten stuck in the woods at night and then were attacked by a large, scarred wolf and saved by a larger, stronger man.

"If your ankle's still bothering you tomorrow, you should stop by the clinic." No, that wasn't really enough either. "Umm...would you like me to come with you to your house and talk to your parents? I don't want you to get in trouble."

[Nayt]

Akizets shook her head slightly, yet still smiled. The indication that Eld cared enough to not want to see her in trouble was heartwarming, though.

"Mn," she replied, "My parents aren't even home anyways. They don't come home an awful lot. Everyone else is probably asleep right now, too."

The girl almost asked if Eld wanted her to do the same with his parents, but then she remembered that they had a roughly similar situation. Except rather than Eld's parents being gone most of the night, they were asleep and Eld was given pretty free reign over what he wanted to do with his time. They sort of expected him to keep track of their patients, but if he wanted to go out for a walk for a little while, he very easily could. There was no one at his place to really take the time to talk to and convince them of the truth of their day-- just like there was no one for it at Akizetsumei's, either.

She stood there for what felt like hours. There was something else. Something else she was supposed to do. Something else that was supposed to happen. At the end of the day, after all the excitement they'd been through, she felt like something was missing. One thing. One very simple thing.

And when she finally realized what that was, Akizetsumei didn't think about it at all. She knew herself and she knew she'd talk herself out of this if she thought about it.

Akizets turned to Eld and wrapped her arms around his shoulders and neck-- but this wasn't a hug of desperation. Rather, this was one of affection and appreciation and contentment all mixed into one. It was soft and close and warm. She had to stand on her toes a bit to do it, but Akizets did what she could to level herself with him enough to hold onto him in an affectionate and gentle way.

[Zach Kaiser]

Though he was curious as to why her parents were often gone--and come to think of it he didn't even know what they did for a living--now really wasn't the best time for a conversation. Akizetsumei was surely quite tired, and even though it was actually still a bit earlier than he usually went to bed he was exhausted; there would be no studying tonight.

Eld was taken off guard by the sudden hug. This wasn't simply clinging to him for fear or comfort like earlier; this was genuine affection. He was glad to know that despite all his mistakes that day he hadn't screwed up so much that she lost all faith in him.

He returned the embrace. "We've had a long day, huh? Try and get a good night's sleep."

[Nayt]

Feeling Eld's warmth again brought a welcomed skip to Akizetsumei's heart. He'd wrapped his arms around her just the same, and though he was a bit more casual in embracing her than she was with him, he still wrapped his arms around her lower back and held her gently. It almost made Akizets want to try ignoring time again, treating it as unimportant as the cycles of the sun and just staying here in this moment, where she held onto Eld and Eld held onto her-- but that wasn't to be. She couldn't just steal Eld's time away like that.

But even though she released her embrace and casually put a few feet of space between them, it was as if all the ills of the day had melted away in Akizetsumei's mind. She was able to smile again.

"Mhmm!" she hummed and nodded cheerily, smiling as brightly as she did in the beginning of their day's journey.

Akizetsumei took a step back from Eld and for a brief moment, walked backwards. Part of her didn't want to let Eld leave her sight, for fear that the day's events-- that everything good that happened today --would be undone by it. But she couldn't walk backwards for too long, as she'd learned early. She folded her hands behind her back and took one more step before she decided to finally part ways with Eld for the night.

"Good night, Eldridge," she said to him, her voice now filled with contentment.

All the bad stuff-- it didn't matter now. This whole day had been spent leading up to that moment, where Akizetsumei gathered the courage and drive as quickly as possible to embrace Eld. This whole day had been spent getting physically and emotionally closer to him, and it all seemed to culminate in that one moment. Nightfall, Batou, Remmy-- all of that mess, it was as if they'd become necessary evils, means to an end. A method of Akizetsumei and Eldridge growing closer.

Akizets spent so much of the day worrying if it was going to be a failure or a bust, and when Batou confronted Eld, she feared the absolute worst-- but when the girl went home and shut the door behind her, she had no doubts in her mind. This day was a successful one.

[Zach Kaiser]

"Good night." He smiled and waved as she left; she was happy, which was kind of amazing given everything that happened. Akizetsumei seemed like the kind of girl who would quickly bounce back from any difficulty, whether it was a broken leg or getting attacked by wolves.

Eld stayed in that space between their houses just long enough to watch her go inside, and then he returned to his own residence. As expected, it was dark and quiet, his parents having gone to bed some time ago.

He couldn't help but let out a sigh as he entered his room; he was unused to so much excitement and activity in one day, and was absolutely wiped out because of it. For once he decided to rush his night routine a bit, and fell asleep practically before his head hit the pillow.

[Nayt]

A silhouetted figure stood at the top of a cliff-side, one which Eldridge Tsukimono and Akizetsumei of Terra departed from several hours ago. His frame was tall but lanky. All that illuminated his face was a dim orange glow, and even then only his lips were visible. They were chapped and dry and he seemed to be missing a few teeth behind them. A second silhouette approached from behind him and stopped directly next to the first. Nothing illuminated his frame. They stood side-by-side, idly looking over the forest and the town in the distance.

"She's right," the second silhouette remarked.

"About?" The first man replied. His voice was gruff and accented, but not like the more "southern" dialect of his counterpart. Rather, he seemed to speak the same dialect as a member of southern Ulster.

"The kid's a spittin' image," the second replied.

The first man said nothing at first. Rather, he paused to collect himself and take a drag from his cigarette. It was self rolled and even had something of a makeshift filter set at the lip-end.

"'ow'd 'e do?" the first man spoke at long last.

The second man shook his head.

"Almost got torn t'shreds, eh?" As playful as his voice seemed, the man was relatively serious.

The second man nodded.

"Well, ain't that a bitch?"

"If ya say so . . ."

There was a long pause between the two men.

"Hell . . . maybe he's all the better for it," the second silhouette remarked thoughtfully after a short moment of silence, "Not bein' prepared-- maybe he'll go on an' live a normal life."

The first silhouette shrugged his shoulders. "Or all the worse."

"How do ya figure?"

The first silhouette took a long drag from his cigarette. It burned down to its filter and was plucked from between the man's lips and flicked away.

"These people ain't gonna save themselves," he replied, "If that kid ain't ready for 'eroics, this place's gonna be written of the map in a few years tops."

The second silhouette folded his arms over his chest. This was a revelation he did not question. The first silhouette turned from the hill and the village in the distance, shoved his hands into his pockets, and walked away.

All the better; all the worse . . . //Fin.