Chapter 10:Realisation

Grand Chase was walking towards Kaze'aze's castle to defeat her once again, but only Jin knew that somebody was captured. Jin walked faster than he had ever before, his friends trying to persuade him to slow down, while attempting to catch up to him.
"Hey! Slow down, will you?!" Sieghart, the new member who claimed to be more than 600 years old, shouted while trying to keep up. Jin ignored his friends' complaints and shouts; all that mattered to him right now was Amy. Suddenly, he stopped, causing everyone else to nearly crash into him.
"My sole purpose of being here is to rescue and kill. Don't try to stop me." Tears started to well up in his eyes, but he refused to cry, so he held them back and broke into a run, leaving the whole team stunned and still.
"Did he mean...that...Amy was captured...?" Elesis said slowly, as Jin had arrived in the lounge the night before and had yelled to Knight Master, saying that he needed to defeat Kaze'aze as soon as possible, but he refused to say why. They had also realised that Amy disappeared, but Jin seemed uncomfortable in the topic so they decided not to ask him. Nearly seeing Jin disappear in the distance, the team snapped out of their silence and thoughts, and continued to chase after Jin.

"We can't stay for camp! We need to keep going!" Jin shouted, still impatient to rescue Amy. Elesis had said that they needed to make camp, since night was closing in. Jin, however, insisted for them to keep going.
"So we just continue walking, collapse from fatigue, and get ambushed by monsters, you are suggesting?!" Ronan shouted back, his fists clenched as if he wanted to punch somebody. After Ronan's comeback, Jin stayed quiet, even through dinner. He remembered that it had taken them a week just to get to the entrance of Kaze'aze's Castle, and even longer to get to the monster herself. Although a huge conversation about martial arts had started in attempt to cheer Jin up, he still stayed quiet and thoughtful. He had no appetite and only ate a small amount, even though Arme hadn't purposely cooked the things he hated to eat to tease him. He pushed his chair back and made a small gesture to say that he wasn't hungry and walked over to the campfire. He sat down and stared at the dancing fire, which reminded him of Amy and made his mood drop even more. He faintly could see a small silhouette of Amy smiling through the fire, even though he knew his thoughts and eyes were playing tricks on him, he didn't care. He just wanted to see her again. As if she was really there, he reached out to the fire but burnt his finger slightly. He winced at the pain but made no move to try and cure it.
This injury can't compare to what she went through...He thought, staring at his minor burn. Arme had seen him reach out to the fire and burn himself, so she picked up his unfinished plate and walked over to the campfire to sit down next to him.
"Jin...I know you're feeling down, but at least eat something! Also about that burn, let me cure it." Arme placed the plate beside him, and reached for her wand.
"Don't!" Jin grabbed Arme's hand which was now holding her wand and looked at her, nearly about to tear up again. Arme was quite surprised, because she had never seen Jin cry before. Jin, realising his strange action and his eyes tempting to cry again, he let go and looked away.
"Sorry." With that, he stood up and walked away, leaving Arme alone sitting near the fire and his plate of food. He picked up a set of tent materials and prepared to make one, but he couldn't shake the realisation of the strange feeling he had before Amy was captured from his mind. He looked down at the tent and stared at it, alike what he had did much earlier with his keys.
This is love, right?

3 days had passed and the Grand Chase had advanced further than they had previously did, but it felt like years and they had been slower that before for Jin. His longing to hold Amy in his arms had invaded his mind and he felt weightless, almost no emotion at all left in his body, only sadness. Although now everybody had worried about him and asked him if he needed anything, all he would do is facade and smile, saying that nothing is wrong. He continued the same routine everyday; walk very fast and stay in front of the rest of the team, don't talk or eat much and sleep until very early in the morning when dawn breaks and wake everyone else up. Ronan, who was usually the first to wake up, was now woken by Jin. Although he isn't eating very much, there was always energy inside him. The rest of Grand Chase could only worry and assume Amy was captured as their red-headed fighter slowly decayed into nothing but a moving body. On the 4th night on their travel to Kaze'aze's Castle which would probably be their last, Lire was eating dinner, but could not stand watching her friend lose his soul and become nothing. She walked over to Jin who was sitting near the campfire, and slapped him across the cheek. Jin blinked and stared at her with soulless eyes.
"What's the matter?" He asked, putting on a fake smile.
"That's my line! What have you been doing recently?! Wake up when dawn comes and walk the fastest, not talk or eat and not sleep much either?!" Lire screamed. Their teammates now directed their attention to the two, surprised that the tranquil and peace-loving Lire would speak up and shout. Jin stopped smiling and stayed quiet, still staring at her.
"Do you think this is good for you?!" Lire continued. Jin just turned his head the other way and tried to ignore the elven girl. Her face turning a slight shade of pink from anger, she slapped him again. Jin's raised an eyebrow and turned to the bowman once again.
"Do...you..." She tried to muster all her energy and courage to continue.
"Do I what?!" Jin interrupted.

"Do you think Amy would want to see you like this?!"

She flicked the switch. Now Jin's eyes were wide, realising that he had worried more than just Lire. He looked down at the ground and stood up. He turned his head at the rest of the team who were still watching the show, then at Lire.
"I'm sorry." With that, he walked away and started to set up his tent. Lire narrowed her eyes at him, but gave up. She walked away and continued to eat dinner with her other friends, who decided to stop staring for the sake of Lire's anger being lowered. After Jin had finished laying down his sleeping bag, a thought ran across his mind but didn't leave.
Love is painful but worth it.