Hey everyone! Guess who's back from Hell! Gahd I'm so tired rn- Sorry that I didn't update this chapter last month though, school projects are killin' me :')

And tbh, I almost forgot that I had a story published here :'D (I got hooked up to BnHA again, sorry XD)

And a HUGE reminder; I didn't proofread this since I'm busy, even in holidays. So sorry ^^'''

Anyways, enjoy reading this chapter (I guess ^^')

.

Point of View: Earthquake

"Stand back, Fang! He's mine." I snarled, glaring at whoever disguises as my brother.

…Solar.

—No wait, Thunderstorm..?

He seems to resemble as them…combined…

I widened my eyes in realization.

There's no way they can be fused together…it can't be…

"Surprised, brother?" he said, giving me a dirty look towards me.

Tsk, you made me pissed off than before, bastard..!

I quickly made my move as I punched the ground with my fist, making the rocks underneath the dirt ascend and gripped both of his legs firmly. I slowly walked up towards him, still glaring with my furious eyes.

He laughed and threw the injured and unconscious Thorn towards me without thinking that he threw a person whose life is at the verge of death at me. My senses quickly reacted and caught him. I looked closely, and he was barely breathing.

Leaf…hang in there..!

I walked towards Fang and let him carry Thorn. I looked at him straight in the eyes, making him startled like he'd seen a ghost, or thinking that I was going to attack him. "Please, run back to the base and let him rest there." I said, trying to sound nonchalant. My eyes are slowly looking at Thorn as I felt guiltiness at myself at the same time. I was unable to save him, no, I wasn't able to see a light to know that there will be chances of saving him. I'm useless. So useless…

I jolted as soon as I saw Fang leaning towards my ear and whispered; "Let's escape while we can, idiot..!" he said, his tone is somewhat trembling in fear.

Escape..?

Does that means we're going to forfeit..? Why..? Why?! Are you saying that I'm not strong enough to kill him?! He almost killed my youngest brother! He threw him like a broken object! HOW COULD I FORGIVE THAT MONSTER-!

..!

I snapped back to the reality as something…cold was holding my hand. I thought it was a ghost or my imagination but when I slowly looked at my arm, it was a hand, a real hand gripping weakly to mine. I looked up and it was Thorn; who's half-conscious.

"Brother…stop that…" Thorn said weakly, his eyes gazed upon me. Wait; did he hear me muttering..? Did I mutter?

"He's right, you should stop muttering," I flinched, realizing that the voice was the same as Thorn, but from someone else. That someone else is…"and focus on your enemy." Infinite.

I quickly turned around to see if he's still trapped but, just as I suspected, he wasn't there anymore. I faced back to them and there he is, 'warping' behind them. A small 'tsk' came out in my mouth bitterly before I punched the ground to make a wall between him and us —and I mean Infinite and Thorn, Fang blacking out, and me.

I huffed, exhausted of how scared I am in front of him. Scared of his powers? Maybe. Scared on hurting him? Yes and no. I was tired, tired on these worst-case scenarios. I was tired of seeing my friends suffering. But now's not the time to attack him, not yet. I looked at Fang and slapped his cheek hard. "Idiot, let's leave, now!" I sound so tired, damn it, I'm using too much of my strength…no, we just got here, right? If so, what's keeping me from extending my powers..? No, I should worry that later, our lives are on the line, not to mention that 'death' is also here, wanting bloodshed.

Fang snapped back to the reality and quickly nodded, making no other responses as he knew what's going on. He's scared. Damn it, I failed…as the eldest of my brothers...

"Come on, this way." He held my arm and ran away from the battlefield. But, there's something in his voice that makes me surprised, his voice when saying that was a cold whisper. That time, he wasn't even looking at me. Was he…avoiding the fact that he's so scared; I or my brothers might tease him? Fang, that's not important right now!

We kept on running until we didn't see or even catch a glimpse on that cliff. Wow…it feels like hours since we forfeit. No, it feels like hours because we're running in the dark! Only Fang can see since he had that night-vision glasses. Well, at least he's useful at this point, considering that he froze when he saw him. No, it's probably my fault when he thought that I was going to kill him due to my murderous aura when I saw Infinite. I know he's not the one doing this, or somebody is pulling the strings on my brothers…but how can the two of them…fused together? Or maybe it was my imagination…

…Who knows?

I noticed that Fang stopped running so I did the same to him. As the silence surrounds us, I can hear Fang's breathing abnormality. He bent down and laid Thorn on the soft ground. Is he planning something? As I patted on his shoulder, I realized this sudden cold temperature on him.

"Hey," I bent down to face him, not that I can clearly see his face with this darkness. "You alright, Fang?" I asked with concern.

"It's…f-freezing…" I felt like my heart stopped beating as I heard Fang's whimper "C-Can't…breathe…" He rubbed both of his arms to help his body to warm up. The strange thing is…I didn't feel cold, or Thorn. Damn it…if only Blaze was here…

My mind sighed; I guess there's only one way to do this.

I felt Fang's body jolted out when I…hug him. For Pete's sake, this is embarrassing! But, they say that hugs can warm someone's heart…right? Wait…WAIT A SECOND—

"E-Earthquake..?!" Fang yelped in surprise. Of course, he didn't know or expect for this to happen, but neither the both of us didn't expect this sudden change of atmosphere. This hug felt too warm, it makes me feel relieved with all those problems—

"T-This is…too 'unmanly' and embarrassing!" He yelped once again. Geez, I can imagine that he's flushing red again. I have no choice but to let go of this… comfortable hug. The first reaction that came out to my face is to laugh Fang's steaming face. "H-Hey! I-It's not funny, you know!"

"I know, I know." I wiped off my tear and smiled. "I just want to lift up the atmosphere a little since you were shaking there." To be honest, I never thought that I could change the mood for a second, but oh well, my mouth spilled all the words from my mind.

Fang looked away, still blushing from embarrassment. "Y-You should check on Thorn. A-And I think I feel better now." I swear I heard him mumbling that last sentence, but it's better to leave that be. I don't want to anger him at the time like this.

What a coincidence, I was about to carry him before he said that. "You don't have to tell me twice." I said and carried Thorn in a piggyback style. He's fine, he's just tired…damn it, I'm sorry Thorn…

"Come on, we're almost near to our base." He stood up and walked, so I followed him. He turned his face to see me. "And thanks, for comforting me like that. I-I know this sounds…weird but…i-is that h-how you warm someone's heart? I-Isn't that a…l-lover's way to warm someone's…h-heart..?" He asked, his blush wasn't gone…yet.

I chuckled. "I was going to doubt about that one too but, I knew you needed help when you experience that…odd situation." I looked at the night sky. "You felt something…strange about him, right? That bloodlust aura was spreading all over his body. He wants us dead…a-and…he's…" I stopped as the realization hit me. "Solar and Thunderstorm…that isn't…possible, r-right..?"

I heard Fang sighed. "My mind went blank, Quake. It couldn't process of what I think of at that moment because death was surrounding us. Or at least, that's what I thought." He pauses for a moment, letting his mixing thoughts lining up. "And about that topic you mention, I think that's just an illusion. Who knows what could happen to them." He said in a straight tone, there's no emotion when he said that.

I kept myself quiet. This whole situation seems stressful than we all thought. Now that reminds me…in only Solar haven't picked up the gem in the first place, what could happen to us? Will we live in a normal life just like others? Can we be at peace if only that gem doesn't exist right in front of our house? Can we be free for once in our lifetime for Pete's sa—

"Don't think that they cannot save by themselves, Quake. Both of them have the will to escape the darkness that consumed them. Heck, even one of them is 'light' himself." He chuckled his own comment, which makes me smile.

"Alright, where are you getting at, Fang?"

"All I'm saying is that don't 'overstress' yourself, Quake. You know that you're not the only one who's worried about this news, right? We might not know how powerful the enemy is, and the enemy doesn't know most of our powers…yet." Unless the one who kidnapped Solar and Thunderstorm might dug its hand to reach their memories… "But still, we need to get stronger. Let's go beyond…PLUS ULTRA!"

"You're way too enthusiastic right now." I commented and chuckled. "And yeah, I strongly agree with you." I added with a smile on my face. Forgetting what happened when I fought

"Right!" Fang suddenly ran, which makes me run to catch up with him too. I'm not really a fast runner, but I do have some good strength to lift some heavy objects though. Carrying Thorn at the back was…seemingly easy for me. I mean, I am the only one who do almost all of the household chores there is, maybe that's how I got my strengths…enhanced..? Huh, that's…a good way of training my arms for that…now for the legs…

"Hey! Earth to Quake, we're here!"

Fang shouted and waved his arm as a signal to stop myself from running. I slowed down until I stood behind Fang. The flames beyond our hideout were still there though. "I'm still here, Fang. I just…" I stopped for a brief moment. I don't want to lessen the mood again… "T-Thanks, for making me smile back there." I beamed a smile and patted his shoulder before going inside.

Fang sighed and smiled back. "No problem, I guess."

Hmmm...I've been meaning to ask, what is a 'fluff'? Not the, uh, 'fluffy pups or kittens' but another type of 'fluff' used in fanfics :')

And also, Merry Christmas readers!