"Lo...ki..."

She lay there, twitching on the ground, one hand weakly curled around her weapon. There was blood everywhere...Blood underneath her, blood on her clothes, leaking from various wounds on her body, and forming a thin trail from her mouth. Her wide eyes stared at her Gaurdian Beast, silently pleading him to save her. "Lo...ki..." she breathed, more blood pouring from her mouth.

"Master! Aera! H-Hang on!" Loki cried, eyes wide with fear. "Just...just hang in there, okay?" He lifted his hand, the one that wasn't supporting his weight as he crouched on the ground, and held it over her, praying with all his might for that familiar blue glow. It didn't come. "No..." he said, shaking his head. He tried again and again, tried to save her, but nothing happened...he had used too much of his power to attack the monsters, and he had none left now...Aera had drank the last potion in her bag a few hours ago...before the ambush.

"Master...Master Aera," he whispered, moving closer and lifting her up. "Come on...come on, now..."

"Loki..."

"Aera, I'm...going to heal you, okay?" He tried again, one more time, almost crying when the blue glow didn't come. How often had he performed this magic? How often had he saved her butt in battle? Why would it fail now? "Come on!" he cried, flicking his hand over her again. There was a tiny blue spark, but nothing else. "Master!" he repeated.

Aera was staring up at him blankly. Her eyes, still opened wide, had tears leaking from them. "Loki..."

"HELP!" he screamed, trying to stand, trying to carry her. "Someone help! Somebody help!" Loki tried to move, but he fell after a few steps, Aera's blood staining his clothes. "HELP US, DAMNIT!"

"Loki...Lo...ki..." she repeated.

"Master...Aera..." he whispered. "I'll...I'll call for help again, okay? You'll be alright, okay? You're gonna be okay, do you hear me?!"

"Lo...kiii..."

He held her tighter, screaming, screaming at the heavens to restore the power, screaming over her whisperings of his name. He kept on screaming even after her now-blank eyes finally closed and she stopped breathing...

...And it was all his fault...

PBPBPBPBPBPBPBPBPB

It had been sunny that day. That seemed so wrong, for a person to die on a beautiful sunny day...and when not a moment ago, she had been laughing her confident little giggle, the one she adapted when she felt, no, she knew, she was going to win...

They had gone to the forests, because Loki had wanted to practice. Aera laughed at him, saying he was plenty strong enough as it was, but he, as usual, said he needed to be even stronger. "To protect you," he had said.

But as they fought together, fending off the Stray Summons, both of them had felt that they were getting nowhere.

"Man, these guys are all pushovers," complained Loki, replacing his sword.

Aera sighed. "In the most outer areas of the forest," she reminded him, sounding like she was just reciting another of Blaire's lessons, "the Stray Summons are weaker. The stronger ones live further, deeper within."

"Then why are we here?" Loki said with a cocky smile. "When we could be out there, really getting a workout?"

"Loki, you don't need to fight with everything," Aera said, hands on her hips. Then she smiled. "You don't need to impress me..." she teased.

"Wh-Who says I'm trying to impress you?"

"Hee-hee, you're blushing..."

"Am not!" he had cried as he turned away, a hand to his cheek. It felt warm. "Now, are we going to just fight these wimps here, or are we going to get stronger?"

Aera sighed again, shaking her head. "Fine, fine...But we're stopping just outside the Fire Fortress, okay?"

"Okay, okay..."

But as they went further in, the monsters had indeed gotten tougher, and so their potions were running low fast. Aera swallowed the remains of the Heartleaf potion and wiped her mouth, coughing. "Okay...now, we need to go back," she said, as she felt her body revitalizing.

"Okay, okay..." Loki scoffed, shaking his head as if to say he was disappointed with his master. "You're such a wimp," he said, smiling to show he was partially joking.

"I know...You tell me every day," she retorted as she walked past him to go back home. "You'll have more Stray Summons to fight on the way back, alright?"

"Yes!"

And then they had found a whole pack of them...Aera had to summon Loki several times to work his attacks and healing magic, but...

"LOKI!" she screamed, calling him to aid her fight against the final creature. She was cornered, trapped by one of those Hounds, and it was tearing into her, biting, scratching, charging..."LOKI, HELP!"

"GOTCHA!" Loki roared as he charged forward, a stream of fire accompanying him. The Hound let out its own cry as it burned, but what Loki didn't see...was the last lunge and bite it delivered to Aera, who didn't even have time to guard.

And then she collapsed, right in the middle of Loki's victory laugh, which was cut short. "Hey...Aera..." he said, frozen.

She looked at him...tried to drag herself forward...

"Lo...ki..."

PBPBPBPBPBPBPBPBPB

He stood in the village square, watching the casket with dead eyes. That was all his eyes could focus on, and he kept on thinking, over and over agian "Aera's in there...that's where Aera is..."

He only vaguely heard the speech that the Chief made, all sorts of talk about how Aera was a wonderful part of the village, a kind girl, a girl who had saved all of their lives...a strong sense of justice, like her father... Loki wanted to say that he was forgetting a lot of important details, like the fact that she could argue a decent rebuttle when Loki teased her (if she got mad enough, usually it was just a simple "Hey!"); that she had cried a little when the villagers had turned against her, but didn't want to give up, even then; and that she was kind of heavy; and...and that...

...She loved me... he thought, staring even harder at the casket. She did...

He could hear the other villagers whispering int he midst of the ceremony: "The poor thing..."

"Much too young..."

"I heard it was her Gaurdian Beast that did it."

"He murdered her?!"

"Not quite, but he as good as did it. It was his idea to go to the forests..."

"She trusted him far too much, now I knew something was wrong the moment I laid eyes on that oni..."

"...a lot of nerve he has, showing up..."

"Well, at least she's with her mother and father now."

Loki balled his hands into fists, until his nails cut into his palms and drew blood. They didn't know the half of it...damn them...

"And now, Aera...rest in peace..." said the chief. Several of the men came forward and lifted the casket, lowering it slowly into the pre-dug hole. Watching it, the finality of the situation finally hit Loki, full-force, and he snapped. "Don't do it..." he whispered.

One of the men glanced up, shrugged and began to cover the casket with dirt.

"Stop it! Don't bury her! STOP IT!" he screamed, runing forward. One of the villagers seized him by the shoulders. "DON'T! DON'T DO THIS! MASTER!"
"She's not your master anymore," the villager said, coldly. "You're another Stray."

Loki tried once more to move forward, before collapsing to the ground and, a rarity for him, began to cry.

PBPBPBPBPBPBPBPBPB

"This is wrong, isn't it?" Aera whispered as she leaned into Loki's embrace. It was night, and they had gone on another one of their evening walks, talking, and going back to where Aera's house used to be. And Loki had suddenly reached out in the middle of Aera's sentence, and pulled her close. She had resisted at first, but relaxed and slipped her arms around his back. And they stood that way for a few minutes, her face in his shoulder, his buried in her hair.

"Maybe," he had replied. They had never heard of a romance between a Summon Creature and a human...maybe because it never happened? Because it was an unwritten law of nature? "But I don't care, do you?"

"Mmm...not particularly..." Aera said, smiling. "But I wouldn't go bragging about it..."

"A-HA! So you do care!"

"Hey!" Aera said, pulling away and smiling teasingly. "You wanna fight or do you wanna kiss me?"

Loki blinked in shock and flushed. "Erm..."

Then Aera giggled and stepped back. "I gotcha, didn't I?"

"You...! I don't wanna kiss you!"

"That's not what your face said."

"Shut up, will ya?"

PBPBPBPBPBPBPBPBPB

Loki trudged further into the forest than he and Aera had ever gone before. Nobody came to look for him, or if they had, they never found him. But he didn't care anymore...he was beyond caring. Just like Aera...the Chief had tried to make him feel better by saying "Aera's in a better place...she's beyond pain now...she's not hurt any longer..." It hadn't mattered much to him, though. She was gone. Just gone.

"Where am I?" he whispered, finally looking up, and taking in his surroundings. Of course, there were tress everywhere...a lot of rocks and scorch marks on the ground, spots of ground where grass had died...Death. He forced himself to look away. Looked away and kept walking, not caring where he went.

PBPBPBPBPBPBPBPBPB

"If we had kids...what do you think they'd look like?" Aera asked one night, as they lay on their backs, staring at the stars.

"What brought this on?" Loki asked, looking off to the side, staring at her profile. They both had their hands behind their heads, and were right next to one another. As usual, they had gone to where Aera's old house was. It seemed to be an unspoken agreement that they would take evening walks and spend that time together there. It was a wonder nobody had ever figured it out yet...

"Well...normally, when two people fall in love, they hug..."

"So?"

"They kiss..."

"We never kissed. You keep pulling away at the last minute."

"And eventually, they live together, and they have sex. That usually leads to a baby."

"So why are you asking what a kid would look like? You want to have sex?"

Aera laughed nervously. "I'm not sure I want to imagine sex with an oni right now..."

Loki smirked. "You said 'right now." You wanna do it later?"

"LOKI! Cut that out!"

"Well, you started it..."

They lay there in silence for a few more minutes, until Loki said "Seriously, you were thinking about sex?"

"Drop it, Loki..."

"No, I wanna know if you wanted sex," he laughed.

"Loki, knock it off!"

PBPBPBPBPBPBPBPBPB

"Yeah, that was stupid," Loki muttered as he woke up. Damn, he was dreaming again. He sat up and rubbed his eyes, still feeling unbearably tired. It had been a few days now, and he had kept walking, not eating much, not sleeping much. He was feeling weak and tired every day, and wondered if he was dying... He wasn't getting enough food, that was for sure. He could only find the berries that grew on the tress, but the berry trees were few and far between, and they were tiny little berries at that, not much of a meal at all. And when he slept...he saw Aera. Everytime he closed his eyes, another dream would take him, and he would see another one of their "moments" as Aera had once called them. He had called them "nights together." He smiled grimly, remembering how Aera had blushed and told him that the way he said it sounded dirty.

"Aera..." he whispered, taking another step forward.

A few weeks later, he collapsed. Damn it...that was the fifth time that day. Loki groaned and used his arms to push himself forward, trying to get further. He was getting weaker, he could feel it...What little food he found, he couldn't even choke down; it all came rushing back up a few minutes later. All he could digest was water, and he was having a little trouble finding that lately. He couldn't sleep anymore either...so he felt exhausted all the time. It was a miracle he took another step, really. He wondered whether anyone back at teh village missed him...wondered if Gabriel and Xeride ever came to look for him. He looked around to take in his surroundings as he pondered this. They'd really have quite a job finding him...well, maybe with Gabriel's nose it'd be easier, but how long did a trail last, anyway?

Loki nearly choked as he tried to swallow another berry. It didn't go down easily, but he managed to force it down his throat, and tried to hold in the bile rising in his throat. Finally, he coughed and sat down, leaning against a tree. "Well..." he breathed through cracked lips. "At least...I didn't...vomit that time..." Then he coughed. He sighed and tried to relax. God, he felt so tired...

"Loki?"

Loki'e eyes snapped open. "Huh?"

Aera crouched in front of him, her eyes wide and curious. A small smile formed on her lips. "Hey, Loki, what are you doing way out here?"

Loki stared at her. "Aera...you're real?" he finally asked.

Aera nodded, looking a little worried. "Loki, everyone's really worried about you, you know that?"

"How do you know?" Loki whispered. "You're..."

"I talked with them," Aera said, as if it were obvious. "They're really worried. Loki, why'd you run off like that?" she said, a hand on her hip.

Loki stared at her for a few moments longer, taking this all in. "I...I missed you..." he said at last.

Aera smiled, more gently this time. "I miss you too, Loki...and everyone else back at the house, and Nina, Gabriel, Xeride...they all miss you...Loki, they're really worried!"

The oni was silent as he stared up at his master. "Aera..." he whispered.

"Yes?"

"Do you want to fight me or do you want to kiss me?" he said mockingly, wearing a teasing smile.

Aera flushed and looked away. "Well...to tell you the truth..."

"Yeah?"

"I'm tired of fighting." She leaned forwad, closing her eyes, and pressed her lips to his. Loki stiffened, relaxed, and closed his own eyes, reciprocating the kiss with one of his own. One hand went to the back of her neck, keeping her close. The other went to the side of her face. Aeera placed her own hands to the sides of his face as they deepened the kiss, staying that way for a few minutes until they finally broke apart. Loki was smiling. "I love you, Aera..." he whispered, one hand holding hers. Aera smiled back, wiping away a tear. "I love you too..."

"Aera, why are you crying?"

Aera shook her head. "Nothing..." she whispered. "Do you feel any better?"

"Yeah."

"You wanna go home?"

"If you come with me."

PBPBPBPBPBPBPBPBPB

"Guys! Over here, I found him!"

Xeride and Nina pushed their way throught the bushes to where Gabriel's voice had come from. They found him crouched inf ront of a tree, looking horrified as he held a hand over Loki's nose. Loki appeared to be sleeping deeply, but...

"He's...he's dead..." Gabriel confirmed, head down in sadness. Nina let out a little sob and wrapped her arms around Xeride, while Gabriel remained the way he was. A few minutes passed until Gabriel finally exhaled a shuddering breath. "Well," he whispered, wiping tears away. "We'd better...we'd better take him to the village...Aera's family will want the body." He bent down and took the oni boy in his arms, carrying his limp form back to Cliff Village, Nina and Xeride helping in what ways they could.

"Hey..." said Nina, suddenly.

"What?"

"Look at that," she said, pointing to Loki's face.

In death, Loki was smiling.