Lisanna was seriously having trouble thinking straight.
She'd been alone in the woods for almost an hour now. That wasn't mainly what bothered her, I mean, she'd been in these woods plenty of times, so she wasn't lost, this town wasn't exactly a rare spot to find quests- but she hadn't come here alone, and she'd rather she not leave that way.
According to her watch, she and Bickslow had split up over forty minutes ago. This was their first mission after becoming a couple, and they'd thought- hey, why not? A quest for a missing satchel, easy enough, and just extra time for bonding.
Jesus christ, if only they hadn't split up.
Forty minutes ago. Forty minutes, and he still hadn't returned to their agreed on rendezvous spot. It was entirely too late in the day for such a foolish plan- but they'd agreed to only separate on the fork in the path for ten minutes before returning to each other. At the time, ten minutes had seemed safe enough, but nearly an hour later, as Lisanna shivered and glanced anxiously at the slivers of darkening sky visible through the thick foliage, time was doing them no favors.
She huffed, tucking a strand of stray hair behind her ear. The night air grew frigid as the moon rose to its seat in the sky. She seriously needed to find Bickslow so they could call the quest a flop and leave already- the local village wasn't exactly a short journey. So she ventured forward, purposeful feet taking the path her boyfriend had disappeared down earlier. She found herself tripping on the occasional winding tree roots and pushing low hanging branches away from her face. The foliage of the woods was extremely thick, unfortunately, and she had to remind herself to keep checking she was following the thin path. Getting lost was not an option.
She briefly wondered if Bickslow had lost his way- the thought sent a jolt of panic through her and she quickly pushed it down. She had to trust that her boyfriend had been careful.
"Bickslow?" She called his name softly at first but quickly corrected herself. "Bickslow!" In the silence of the forest she was shocked at how unashamedly her voice revealed her anxiousness. "Bickslow!" Silence.
She was crossing a small, stagnant pool of water, feet intricately placed on stones jutting out its surface to avoid soaking her shoes, when she heard it.
It was a muffled, quiet noise, really, something she wouldn't have heard if a bird happened to chirp at that exact moment, but it registered clearly as human in Lisanna's ears nonetheless. It caught her off guard, and she yelped as her foot slipped from a stone and sent her freefalling into the water.
She only had a moment to recover, brow furrowed at the fact that much more than just her shoes had gotten wet, before she heard it again.
"...Lis….Lis!"
Her eyes popped instantly and she scrambled from the pond to follow the faint voice that sent her heart racing. Her back could be in better shape- the rocks she'd fell on hadn't exactly been soft- but she willed herself to concentrate on her goal. "Bickslow? Where are you?"
"Right… tree…"
Her forehead crinkled in confusion, but she let herself be led off the path, pushing through a significantly dense patch of branches. There was literally a forest of trees to pick from, but she understood what he meant once she'd walked a few meters in. A large oak sat much wider, plumper, and, for lack of a better word, fatter than the surrounding tall, slim trees. Its roots were sprawled impressively acrossing the mossy ground around it, and Lisanna was sprinting as she immediately noticed the figure draped in a low crook of its trunk.
"Bickslow! You're-" She paused as she took in the sight that had previously gone unnoticed by her. "Bleeding," she gasped, kneeling at his side. "Oh my god, what happened?"
He offered her a small grin which she supposed was meant to be reassuring, but only left her horrified as it quickly turned into a grimace of pain. His hands were clamped firmly over his right calf. The thin material of his pants was slashed open, red staining the already dark material.
"Hey, don't look so scared," he teased, but his voice was strained. "Couple of thieves, got past me. By the way… found the satchel."
"Where is it?"
"That's kinda where the thieves come in," he gave a small chuckle, but she couldn't find the motivation to respond. Instead, she gingerly peeled his hands off the wound, ignoring the reluctant groan of pain that came with it.
The new blood flowing out slightly distorted her view of the cut, but it was easy enough to note that it was long, but not too deep. He spoke up, watching the way her expression twisted. "We should- we should probably get back and check this out, huh?"
She looked at him incredulously. "Are you kidding? You couldn't walk two steps with this thing."
"...you could carry me."
"I could not carry you," she sighed, looking up at the ever encroaching night sky. An idea hit her then, and although it was only half-formed, she was soon digging through her pack.
His look of confusion quickly switched to amusement. "You gonna fix me up, doc?" He joked, eyeing the white first aid kit she was fumbling to open. His smirk dropped as she hesitantly picked out a thin needle and thread, looking up at him questioningly.
They shared a look and spoke at the same time.
"Not that desperate." Her clumsiness was a topic they both agreed was not worth testing.
She ruffled through the pack a second time, this time selecting a roll of gauze, tissues, and bottle of clear liquid. She scooted closer to her boyfriend, kneeling with her back inches away from the stiff bark he was propped up against. He ripped a portion of his pant material off and she didn't hesitate before reaching down to wipe away the slowly drying blood.
He hissed through his teeth, and although she was concerned for him, she couldn't help but be humored by his stubbornness to hide his pain. "You don't need to be all macho, you know. It's not a small cut," she told him.
He chuckled a little. "Macho? What dyou take me as, Li-" Whatever he was about to say next was cut off as Lis pressed firmly down on the wound and he let out a howl of pain. She let a smile slip out and he mock glared at her.
"You trying to kill me?"
"Maybe," she smirked. Her anxiousness almost instantly disappeared as she slipped into their familiar teasing. She found it a bit easier to ignore the flash of pain that struck his face when she dabbed the wound with antiseptic, quickly wrapping his calf with the gauze shortly thereafter. She sighed loudly, sitting back on her heels, her already sore back protesting at the jagged bark.
"Well," she said finally. "We should probably head back."
He looked at her as if she had just suggested they should jump off a cliff. "Head back? Do the words missing satchel mean anything to you?"
She frowned. "Do the words you can't walk mean anything to you?"
He sighed dramatically, dragging a hand across his tattooed face. "Lis. Lis. I don't abandon missions."
"It's not abandoning!" Her voice came out higher than she intended and he raised a brow. She cleared her throat. "We'll just come back later."
He shook his head, adamant. "It's not the same, babe. We gotta go after the guys who stole the satchel. It probably won't take long."
She gave him a disbelieving look. "Seriously? The only reason it wouldn't take long would be because those guys will take one look at you, stick their leg out, and then you'll trip and start bleeding again and then I'll actually have to stitch you up and that's gross and I'll probably poke you like ten ti-"
"Lis," he interrupted, an amused expression playing across his features.
"Sorry," she sighed, fumbling with the hem of her shirt. "But I really don't think you can win this fight, Bickslow."
He reached over, interrupting her fingers' work on the fabric. "Well then," he huffed, wrapping his long fingers around her pale ones. "It's a good thing I'm not alone then, huh?" He squeezed her hand.
A faint smile appeared on her face. She squeezed back. "Yeah, I guess so."