Enjoy this chapter. :3

A low grunt escaped Shinon, despite his best efforts at keeping quiet. Mist had been begging him for half an hour now to let her examine the wound again… but he refused.

Partially because that required removing his shirt and armor, and that just took too long.

Plus it hurt like hell to move. When they had fallen into the stupid pit, one of his arrows had somehow scraped his shoulder and down his chest. Mist was fine, aside from some broken fingers and a bloody lip. Ike would give him hell for letting her get hurt…

"Shinon," Mist whimpered yet again, reaching a hand out toward to where he was slumped against the wall of the pit. "Let me just look, okay?" Shinon managed another grunt in reply, feeling his energy fading quickly. He was losing a lot of blood…

Mist scooted over to him on her knees, her wide eyes anxious. The kid was obviously scared, but Shinon wasn't about to comfort her. It was a harsh reality that they might die together in this pit, and he wasn't about to lie and tell her otherwise.

She began gently probing his shoulder, looking for the deepest part of the wound.

Shinon remained slumped, unable to resist her anymore. He was just too tired…

But he wasn't so tired to not react when Mist's hand brushed over his side, sending sharp pain running through him. He swatted her hand away roughly, letting out a mixture of a growl and a gasp of pain. Mist pursed her lips, nodding her head slowly.

"Broken rib," she mumbled, crossing her arms. Shinon shrugged, then almost moaned again… moving still hurt. "Doesn't matter," he answered gruffly.

Mist slowly sat down beside him, her lower lip trembling. "S-Shinon, do you think they'll find us…?" Shinon sighed, closing his eyes. "If it were only me in here, they wouldn't care so much," he said after a few moments of silence. "But since it's you, Ike will probably have everyone searching for days… maybe even a week or so."

Mist nodded, pulling her knees up to her chest. "Okay," she mumbled back to him.

Ike's Point of View

"Ike," Soren spoke softly behind me, the sound of his footsteps halting. "We've been searching the forest for hours… I think it's time we head back now."

I cursed loudly, throwing down my sword. This could not be happening… not Mist…

A pang of guilt went through me. Didn't I even care about Shinon? He was probably dead, too. We had never been the best of friends, but he'd saved my life before… he'd saved everyone's life before… we needed to find him, too. He wasn't going to die…

"No," I growled back to Soren, continuing to move through the thick trees. "But, Ike," Soren called after me, his voice a little annoyed now. I rarely didn't take his advice… it was never wrong. "Just one more hour," I insisted, giving him a firm look.

Soren sighed and followed after me in silence, his dark hair falling in his face. He was probably regretting coming in here with me by now, but we have to find them…

"Soren, do you hear that?" I asked quietly, tilting my head towards the low mutter. Soren nodded, a confused look spreading over his face. "One of the others, maybe, calling out for them?" He mused aloud, pointing toward the edge of the woods hopefully.

I didn't answer, still listening hard. The sound was almost like someone calling, but it was deeper than that... like someone crying out in pain…

Soren and I gasped at the same time when we heard the unmistakable sound of Mist's high-pitched voice, coming from the near the far edge of the woods. We began to run, Soren's panting loud and heavy behind me. But I didn't have time to wait for him…

"Ike? Ike!" Mist's voice was clearer now, getting closer, but the sound of it was off… like it was muffled somehow. I continued to run toward the sound of her voice, hearing Soren answer her call behind me. "Mist! It's us! It's okay; you're going to be fine now!"

We reached the edge of the woods suddenly, looking down from atop a small hill to see Mist, with Shinon slumped in her lap. Her face was pale and streaked with tears, but aside from that she seemed to be okay… she was alive, at the very least.

Shinon didn't look so good, though. There was blood all over the front of him, and his breathing was loud enough for me to hear at the top of the hole. I turned on my heel to Soren, keeping one eye on Mist. "Send off some flames to get the others," I ordered, my voice no longer stressed. We had found them; everything was going to be okay now.