Elfie's POV

Yokkaichi was gone the rest of the week, and soon the weekend was upon me. I learned from Lala that she was out sick, though she didn't know what she came down with. It was a bit lonely without Yokkaichi, but I was also anxious to ask her about my proposal for a date. But of course, with the things going on with her family, I vowed to not bring it up again until things were resolved.

On the other hand, it also meant that Hasenoo, Elfie and I were held in suspense as to find out who Yokkaichi liked. I had no problem with this, after all, I had things to do, other than worry about the petty competition between us. Even though it was the beginning of November, December was going to be short due to our winter break, which meant midterms. I had a lot of catching up to do. Especially since I now had tailoring after school everyday and had to turn in a final tailoring project for that too.

But soon, Alban Eiler (Monday) was here, and so was Yokkaichi.

"Nice to see you after so long," I teased her as she sat down at her desk in homeroom.

"Thanks," Yokkaichi blushed and set aside her inventory bag, "I came down with a nasty cold. I felt awful all weekend!"

"That must've sucked," I sympathized.

"Well, my parents did stop fighting long enough to take care of me, so I guess it's okay..." she trailed off.

I didn't need to ask her, but I could already tell from her faraway glance that her parents were back to the fighting again. If there was any way I could save her from her heartbreak over her parents, I would, but the problem was, I didn't know how, or where to start for that matter.

It seems as though the rumors went deeper than Yokkaichi's parents just cheating on each other. During the weekend, when Hasenoo went to visit Yokkaichi (why didn't I think of that?), he found out the truth. Apparently, Jadiana and the person she's supposedly cheating with, nicknamed Ghost, was her boyfriend from back in high school. They fooled around, but they were never serious, though Ghost seemed to think so. After she fell in love with Zero, basically marrying rich, he disappeared and never tried to contact her... until now.

Yokkaichi had the awful feeling that Ghost was trying to stir up trouble during the height of popularity for her family, so as to cause their downfall and try and get Jadiana back. Though she had her doubts, Yokkaichi believed that her parents love could overcome this. I didn't want to be rude, but it sounded almost too hopeful, and I had a feeling her parents would take their leave soon enough.

Suddenly, the door banged open and Lassar strutted in, and set her books on her desk, "Alright everyone! Quiet! It's time for morning announcements!"

Everyone scurried to their seats and settled down as Lassar began writing the date on the board along with the announcements, "Today, after school, there will be a study group for the upcoming midterms. If you have a subject you're having trouble in-"

I tuned her out and continued to gaze at Yokkaichi's sorrowful face as she stared straight ahead at the board. Though I couldn't really do anything, I at the very least, wanted to see her happy and smiling again.

"Points in my favor!" shouted Hasenoo.

"You only visited her while she was sick. It's not like you saved her life! Which I did!" Cinnamon shouted back.

I rolled my eyes and leaned against a desk. It was lunch now, and while everyone else was in the cafeteria happily eating lunch, I was with these two in another meeting to establish our goal of finding out who Yokkaichi liked. Apparently, Hasenoo visiting her while she was sick and bringing her flowers gave him bragging rights.

"You guys are being ridiculous. Let's not overwhelm her, give her some space," I retorted.

Cinnamon and Hasenoo stopped fighting and pondered this for a moment. I sighed, happy to finally have a moment of peace and quiet.

"Okay..." Hasenoo said, breaking the silence, "Yokkaichi's going through a tough time, and we're vying for her affection. As much as I hate to say this, Elfie is right."

I smirked, then layed the bomb, "Of course I'm right. Unlike you two, I've been around women practically my whole life. I have an insider on the way they think."

Hasenoo turned red in the face and looked like he was about to choke me while Cinnamon, unexpectedly, gave me the finger.

Just then, the door slid open. I freezed up, as did Hasenoo and Cinnamon, and a quick moment of panic was shared on our faces. Technically speaking, we weren't supposed to be in an empty classroom during lunch. Too many suggestive things could go on. The only reasons were to deliver something for a teacher, or to pick up something we forgot.

The door slid all the way open to reveal a smirking Kaitlyn and a blank-faced Kristin. I breathed a sigh of relief, "Oh, it's just you two."

"That's right!" Kaitlyn boomed, not fazed in the slightest that she could easily be just as in trouble as us for being in here too.

"No offense, but what are you doing in here?" Hasenoo asked.

"Listening to your conversation," Kristin said without hesitation, "It was quite...interesting."

"It sounded like you guys were passionate," Kaitlyn said, looking straight at me.

I gulped hard, and Cinnamon shifted from foot to foot, a blush creeping up on his cheeks.

"Listen, I'm one of Yokka's best friends. That means I know her really well, right? Well, I know the perfect way to get her mind off of her troubles," Kaitlyn said, pointing her finger at the ceiling for emphasis.

"And that is?" I asked, crossing my arms.

"Doing a dungeon!" she shouted, splaying her arms out, "Nothing gets the mind off of your troubles like doing a super cool, fairly challenging, reward-giving dungeon!"

Cinnamon's eyebrows shot up while Hasenoo twisted a lock of pure white hair and thought hard about this. Even I had to admit, a dungeon sounded like a good idea.

"That sounds like a good idea," I said, flashing Kaitlyn a smile, "And which dungeon will we do?"

"Rundal Hardmode," Kristin said.

Hasenoo gawked at her, "Are you kidding me!? That's practically suicide!"

"Oh come on! It's not that hard!" Kristen retorted.

I gazed at her in surprise. Rundal by itself was already hard for me, but hardmode? No way. Now I truly wondered just how much power did Kristen hold in that tiny body of hers.

"Maybe to you! But to the majority of us elves, our arrows will barely make a dent in their defense. You and Ax will probably be doing all the work!"

"That's true..." Kristen trailed off, her black, blank eyes regarding Hasenoo and Cinnamon.

"Then let's do something easier. Much easier," Kaitlyn suggested. Being an elf as well, she knew her limits when it came to facing enemies, "How about Alby Intermediate?"

"Hmmm..." Hasenoo said, tilting his head back, "If I remember correctly, that dungeon only has wolfs, bears, and spiders, right?"

"And a werewolf," Kristen added.

"Sounds good to me!" Cinnamon jumped in.

Hasenoo shrugged and nodded his head in approval. Kristen gave a small smile and crossed her arms.

"Then it's settled! We're doing Alby Intermediate!" Kaitlyn exclaimed, pointing her finger in the air again.

I sighed as the bell rang for the end of lunch. As we headed to class, I thought of all the ways I could possibly woo Yokkaichi in a dungeon. Saving her life was one, or helping her heal, or showing off my great archery skills.

But there were two problems. One: I didn't have great archery skills. They were only basic; quite pathetic compared to Cinnamon and Hasenoo's. And two...

My stomach grumbled loudly. I groaned and wrapped my arms around my waist.

"Damn, I didn't even get to eat lunch," I muttered as I made my way to music class.

Yokkaichi's POV

"So whad'ya say?" Kaitlyn asked me, planting her hands on my desk and leaning forward some more. From where I sat, I got a whiff of strawberries. Must've been her perfume.

I shrugged, "I guess so," I said, rearranging some things in my inventory bag, "Just tell me why we're going to do Alby Intermediate?"

"To cheer you up, silly!" Lala said, bouncing over to my other side and giving me a hug, "We want to get your mind off of things for a while. And besides, you have to go! You don't really have much to do anyway. And the guys agreed to it too!"

"Cinnamon, Hasenoo, and Elfie agreed to go?" I asked, incredulous.

Lala nodded hard, "Yup! They're so excited!"

Now I definitely had to go. Something told me we were going to need extra help, what with Elfie looking to be more of a womanizer rather than a fighter.

"Oh by the way," I said, standing up, "I did have something to do after school today."

"What? A part-time job at Malcom's General Shop?" Kaitlyn teased.

My cheeks burned and I looked down as Kaitlyn laughed and slung her arm around my shoulder, "C'mon Yokka! This'll be fun! And besides, how many times have you complete Alby Intermediate?"

"Plenty," I muttered. It was true, after all. My parents would take me there a lot. They even took me to Alby Hardmode. Let's just say, my parents, when working together, were pretty kickass. But I would never go in there alone, that's for sure.

But with Lala's bubbliness and Kaitlyn's persistance, I couldn't say no. So a half hour later, I was with everyone at the front of the Altar of the Goddess.

"Okay everyone, group together in fours," Kristen instructed, "I have 2 passes for Alby Intermediate. I'll make sure we end up in the same dungeon when we drop the passes."

Cinnamon, Hasenoo, Elfie and Ax gathered together while Kristen, Kaitlyn, Lala and I grouped in the other. First, the boys stood on the altar, and Kristen dropped the pass. They transported in the blink of an eye and then we stepped onto the altar. Kristen concentrated hard, then slapped her pass on the altar as well.

"Great! We're altogether!" Lala cheered, hugging Ax.

Kristen smirked and brushed her razor straight bangs as we entered the dungeon.

By the time we got to the second floor of the dungeon, we were already exhausted. Everyone was beaten up and bloody. I was trying to heal everyone as fast as I could, but everytime I did so, I was using up my mana power, and Eweca wasn't even out yet to help recharge it faster. Plus, I was running out of bandages to heal everyone's wounds.

"Sorry, that's the last bandage everyone," I said, healing the claw marks and spider bites Lala had sustained from our last encounter with blue grizzly bears and eight burgandy spiders.

"This is bad..." Kristen said, pacing back and forth in the room we were in. It was void of monsters, and was also the last room before going inside the boss room. This was where we could rest and heal up in the middle of the battle if we needed to. But at this point, there was no need.

"I'll say!" Ax said, putting his finger in his mouth and running it over the claw marks on his left arm. I winced as he did so, about to tell him how unhygienic it was, but suddenly remembered a lesson taught by Dilys at the healer house that human saliva, while not the cleanest, can still speed up the healing process a bit.

"So here's what we do," Kristen explains as she stops pacing, "Our toughest and strongest heroes will go in there first. That includes me, Ax, Kaitlyn, and Cinnamon. We'll take out the Giant Black, White, and Red spiders. Meanwhile, Elfie, Lala, and Hasenoo will take out the Burgundy spiders. Yokkaichi, you can fight the giant spiders with my team, or fight the other spiders with the other team. However, out of all of us, you have the highest healing power, which means when one of us is severely hurt, we come to this room and you heal one of us. If we're knocked unconscious, then revive us with those phoenix feathers. You still have them right?"

I nodded my head and brought a few out. I always carried phoenix feathers, just in case. Thankfully, none of us had been knocked unconscious for me to use them, though I was feeling a tiny bit ill for having consumed so many mana potions just to help heal everyone.

"Alright! Everyone okay with the plan?" Kristen asked.

Everyone nodded in agreement, most likely because we couldn't think up of a better one, though I saw Hasenoo and Elfie exchange looks of disdain for being the secondary fighting crew.

"Okay," Kristen breathed out slowly as she put the boss key in the lock and turned. The lock fell away and the door fell open to reveal the giant spiders and the other 15 Burgundy spiders. My mouth fell open in shock, but Kristen pulled out her swords again in determination, "Let's go!"

The main fighting team quickly charged at the giant spiders while the rest went after the Burgundy spiders. Since the other spiders were a bit weak, they were easy to take out. But I decided to fight the smaller spiders anyway. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Kristen charging powerful lightning bolt after powerful lightning bolt, bringing them down on the giant red spider. Ax slashed left and right with his powerful longsword, causing the giant black spider to fall back, while Cinnamon and Kaitlyn charged arrows at lightning speed and shot them at the giant white spider.

Before we knew it, all the Burgundy spiders were dead, and together, we started charging toward the giant spiders. Unfortunately, they were smarter than we gave them credit for, and ended up knocking out Hasenoo.

"No! Hasenoo!" Kaitlyn gasped dramatically as she caught him. He still had some life in him, just barely enough to not be considered "knocked out."

"He needs healing!" Kristen shouted as she and Ax teamed up against the giant red spider in the front side while everyone else attacked from all around. The giant red spider was utterly surrounded, and decided to keep going on defense, using its natural armor protection to block most arrow attacks, which unfortunately, was all us elves had.

I stopped drawing my arrows and quickly ran to Hasenoo who had a hand over his forehead and was looking pale, "Yokkaichi? Is that you?"

"Yes," I nodded, pursing my lips, "I'm here to help, but I don't have much mana right now, so you'll have to drink this health potion."

I pulled the potion out of my inventory bag and twisted off the cork, "Can you sit up and drink it?"

"Oh, uh, I think I'm... too weak..." he replied, closing his eyes for a bit, then opening them again, "Do you think, maybe, you can give it to me... mouth to mouth?"

I blushed hard, "Oh! Um, of course! Since it's for healing..."

Hasenoo gave me a weak smile, and Kaitlyn sighed loudly and rolled her eyes, "Yokkaichi, they need you out there!"

"But Kristen said-"

Kaitlyn cut me off and pointed a finger at the fighting scene. Lala was already knocked unconscious, her spirit floating above her body glancing fearfully at the spider. Cinnamon's arrow supply had dwindled almost to nothing, Ax was incredibly wounded and starting to look fatigued, Elfie had started using his scmitar against the spider, but it wasn't very effective, and Kristen, started to look tired as her lightning bolt charges slowed and she started using her Claymore to hit the spider.

"They need you," she said again.

I nodded, handed Kaitlyn the potion, then stood up, "I'll try to take down the spider. Meanwhile, could you give Hasenoo that potion?"

Kaitlyn smirked, "Will do. Alright Hasenoo-chan, pucker up!"

"On second thought, I'd rather swallow it myself," Hasenoo said quickly.

I giggled, then brought out my bow and started charging arrows. The spider had dropped its defense, which left me with an opening. I started charging arrows faster as the spider fell back. Soon, Cinnamon joined me, this time with magnum arrows, further weakening the spider. I shot a grateful smile at him and he smiled back. Finally! We were making progress!

"Keep...charging...arrows..." Kristen said as she herself started charging a lightning bolt. Once it was done, the blue ball swirled around her, ready to be used.

"Cease fire!" she shouted. Cinnamon and I stopped charging as she brought the lightning down on the spider. With a final screech, it vanished into black smoke. Everyone cheered as the door to the treasure room opened by itself and blue treasure box keys appeared in our hands.

After quickly reviving Lala, my tired, beaten down friends opened our treasure chests. I found 5,000 pieces of gold, a Magnolia Headband, and Black Scar Long Bow. Everyone else recieved varying different awards from potions to magic powder, dungeon passes, weapons, and farming tools. Though we all recieved gold.

Satisfied, we exited the dungeon victorious and gave a whopping cheer all the way to the healer's house, causing several travelers to stare and gawk at us.

"That was awesome!" Lala cried out, pumping her fist in the air. Dilys the healer rolled her eyes, but smiled as she healed the last of Lala's wounds. After drinking another mana potion, I quickly got to healing my friends as well, and in no time, we were all woundless and rested up.

"After all that, I'm pretty hungry," Ax said, sheathing his broadsword after cleaning it of monster blood, "You up for dinner La?"

"Oh you know it!" Lala winked, "Guess we're going to my place then! Wait until daddy hears about what you did!"

With Ax in tow, Lala waved goodbye as she headed home. I waved back until they were out of sight, then turned to see Cinnamon, his hands in his pockets, dragging his foot around in the dust leading up to Alby dungeon.

I smiled and came up to him, "By the way, you were really good back there."

He looked up, his chestnut brown hair covering his glowing green eyes, "Y-you mean it?"

I nodded and he smiled, "Thanks Yokka."

"Well!" Kaitlyn said, interrupting our conversation, "I don't know about you guys, but that was one helluva day! I think Lala and Ax had the right idea in mind, I'm starving! Should we all go out to eat?"

"I'll go," Elfie said, his face was lackluster ever since we got back from the dungeon. He was probably embarrassed at his archery skills. As mean as it is to say, an 11-year old begginer elf could do better than him.

"Same here," Hasenoo said, brushing his white hair away from his eyes, "Dinner at Emain Macha's restaurant?"

"Sure thing!" Kaitlyn replied, then playfully tugged his elfen ear, "But you have to pay."

"With what?" Hasenoo yelped as she tugged harder.

"With that pile of gold you just got, silly!"

"That can barely buy us a small appetizer and drinks!"

"Elfie pays too," Kristen chimed in, obviously enjoying the scene.

"For you lovely ladies, I shall pay," Elfie replied, his charm turned on full blast again, "After all, that's what any gentleman should do."

At this, Hasenoo stops protesting with Kaitlyn and nods his head, "Fine! I'll also help pay."

Kaitlyn giggles, summons her horse, and has Hasenoo hop aboard while Kristen does the same and makes Elfie ride her horse.

"Bye Yokkaichi! See you tomorrow!" Kaitlyn says, riding away. Behind her, Kristen and Elfie follow. I smile and glance at Cinnamon, who is still sticking around.

"So... what are you gonna do?" I ask him.

He shrugs, "I'm not that hungry, what about you?"

"I'm famished," I confess. It's true, after all that fighting, I was quite hungry.

"Should we go with them, then?" he asks, jerking his thumb to their horses which had already made it to the bridge crossing Adellia Stream.

"Nah, I have some stuff I can make at home. No need to spend good, hard earned money so soon," I replied.

Cinnamon smiled, "Yeah, exactly."

I blushed and quickly summoned Ichiaki, and mounted her, "Do you need a ride?"

He shook his head in reply, "I think I'm gonna stick around here for a while. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Okay. Bye," I said, pulling on Ichiaki's reins and moving her in the direction of the stream.

As Ichiaki galloped over the bridge, my heart beat fast and I could feel a blush coming up to my cheeks. Since when have I felt that way around Cinnamon? It seemed so awkward...

Shaking the thought from my head, I instead, decided to think about what I would make for dinner.

This story hasn't been updated in a long while. Now that I'm back to playing Mabinogi, it almost feels embarrassing looking back at this story w;;

I can't blame anyone but myself though. My lazy, incompetent self for not updating. To those that read my story, I am truly, deeply sorry, and hope you will forgive this lazy author QwQ