Arietta's POV.

'I'm done for!'

"Stone Dragon Ascent!"

I opened my eyes slowly. I saw the wolf fall. It's dead.

"…" I was still trembling in fear, I couldn't speak, looking at the wolf.

"Hey, you okay?" it was Sync. He kneeled and looked at me, clutching my doll.

I bit my lower lip, I was about to cry. "H-hey." Sync looked worried. Did he have to?

"I…" I was able to speak.. but not properly. Tears began to fall. I was relieved.

"I thought I was done for!" I cried, tears flowing, I was rubbing my eyes. "..Uhh." Sync was clueless. Huh. I wouldn't be surprised.

"S-stop crying already, you're making me feel guilty!!" Sync said nervously.

I couldn't stop crying and whimpering. "Sheesh, you can really be a crybaby sometimes." He scratched the back of his head. But that only made me cry more.

"I-I'm sorry!! Okay?! ..Aww, man. What am I gonna do with you?" He sighed.

He stood up and sat beside me, frowning. "Stop crying, will you?" he pleaded.

That made me calm down a little. "Thanks for coming back…" I mumbled.

"I-it's not like that. It would be a pain if you died here, Legretta would kill me." Sync sighed.

"Still, thank you." I smiled a little. "Come on already, if we stay here more monsters will attack us." He stood up, and so did I. I grunted at the pain on my arm, I kind of forgotten about that.

"Your arm's bleeding." Sync told me. "I know. I'll heal it." and so I did. It was no sweat, actually.

After healing my arm, we wandered in the marsh, finding somewhere we could rest.

"I'm tired…" I fell on my knees. "*sigh*, we still need to find somewhere we can rest without monsters popping out." He reminded me.

"I know. I'm really tired from all this walking." I whined. We were near a large lake, it was pretty deep. I heard noise coming from it.

SPLASH! There was this big monster that came out. "Ahh!" I shrieked.

"Crap!" Sync dodged it. It was really big. "Run!" Sync yelled.

I tried standing up, my feet still hurt but I managed to run. "Tch, this'll be a piece of cake." Sync grinned. He looked so cool with his moves. This was the first time I saw him in action.

"Cyclone Blaze!" he attacked it with a fire Arcane Arte, and it worked. I stood still there and watched in awe. But then another one came out. I gasped. And also, I thought, just when Sync was fighting, instead of casting I stood still there, I'm so stupid!

"Arietta!" Sync yelled. Luckily, he beat the first one. Fear got the best of me, I was standing still there. It was about to attack me, I closed my eyes. My heart beat got faster.

"Dammit!" Sync cursed, I opened my eyes, Sync blocked the attack. But he got hit instead. "S-sync..!" my word shaken by fear.

Just when it was about to hit again, it suddenly went out of control. It was banging it's head on the floor again and again.

"Serves you right." Sync muttered. "W-what did you do?" I asked. "It's a kind of Daathic Arte." He replied. 'A Daathic Arte? Isn't that something… Only Fon Masters could do?'

It ran back towards the lake. It was still growling, it pulled me into the lake with it. Sync got my hand but the monster was too strong. It pulled the both of us in. The monster still got a hold of me. Sync did an arte, then I couldn't feel it's grip anymore.

I couldn't breathe anymore. I inhaled water, it hurt my head. I closed my eyes, one step closer to being unconscious. But then I felt something touch my lips and held me. I opened my eyes, only to see another ones'. They were emerald green, and they had a gentle touch.

We reached the surface. I breathed heavily. I was soaking wet. "*huff* *huff* That was close…" it was Sync. Wait… Sync was the one who…

I touched my lips, and blushed madly.

"U-umm.. th-thank you.." I said, looking away. "..Huh? O-oh! ..y-yeah." He looked away from my gaze, blushing.

"C'mon. Let's go." He said, standing up. "Y-yeah…" I blushed too.

Fortunately, we found a small cave. It was night, so the monsters weren't active.

The both of us removed pieces of our clothes. I was left with just my dress. A simple black dress that's usually under the main articles of my clothes.

Sync was wearing a black shirt the shorts he wore before his pants. Our shoes were soaking wet as well, so we removed it. My legs were exposed too much, I wanted my doll but it was also wet. But at least I wore short… shorts under.

I sat beside Sync, he looked away. I took the pleasure by seeing him blush. "So umm.. thank you, for earlier." I spoke.

"Y-yeah. Sure." He was still looking away from me. "And… You used… Daathic Artes earlier?" I asked. "…" he didn't speak. "Sync… Answer me. Please." I pleaded.

"Isn't it pretty obvious? My face, my voice, Daathic Artes… I'm just a replica!" He raised his voice.

"A replica… of Ion?" I asked. "Yeah, so please. I don't wanna talk about it now, because if I do, I'm afraid to make you cry again." He hid his eyes with his bangs.
'Afraid to make me cry?' I thought.

"Okay.. But promise me you'll tell me later?" I pleaded. "Yeah.." he looked sad.

I place my hand on his back. "Ow!" he grunted. "Huh? Oh yeah! I'm so sorry. I forgot about that…" I said.

"It's okay." He reassured me. "I'll heal it. But I have to look at it first." I said.

"It'll heal." He smiled at me. It was… unusual. Because he looked sweet.

"No. I'll heal it. Let me take a look." I pushed. "Are you sure?" he asked. "Uh huh. I'm worried about you." I smiled. "..you do?" he tilted his head. It may seem weird, but I thought it was cute. "Of course I do, stupid!" I giggled.

(A/N: Yeah, Arietta, you said that on "A twist of Fate" too. LOL.)

"Now, let me see it." I said. "Oh, yeah." Sync removed his shirt, I tried as hard as I could not to blush, and…not to drool. Arietta! Snap out of it!! .

"It looks bad. But, don't worry I can heal it." I smiled a reassuring smile.

I started casting Heal. "..Owww!" Sync grunted. "S-sync." I was worried. "Keep going." He mumbled.

I held his hand. He and I blushed. "H-hold on. It's almost done." I told him. "Y-yeah…" he hid his blush with his bangs.

"Huh? What's wrong?" I asked. "You know, you could really stand wearing a longer dress." He looked away.

I blushed. I stretched my dress longer. "H-hey, my clothes all wet, you know. And also, I'm wearing SHORTS under." I informed him. "Yeah, short shorts." He scoffed.

He chuckled.

"There, all done." I said. "Thanks." He smiled sweetly. He wore his shirt back on.

We both yawned. "I'm sleepy." I said, scratching my eye. Sync chuckled. "What?" I asked.

"Nothing." He replied. "Whaat?" I whined. "Nothing! hah hah. We should sleep now." He chuckled.

"..Wake me up later." I said. "Sure." He replied.

With that, I laid down and closed my eyes. I slept well.

(A/N: Aww. Try your best not drooling Arietta, okay? LOL! Sync was completely clueless. Onto the next chappie!)