"Are you back in your own bodies?" Andros yelled through the door. He was not going to risk looking again at them, he knew Tommy or even Josh was likely to kill him for that.
"Yes!" Grace yelled as they both heard the door open and looked back at him.
"Come on, follow me," Andros said as Josh stood up and he then pulled Grace to her feet. Now that she was back in her own body, the pain had set in again and in some ways it was worse, especially since Josh had felt no pain while he sparred her.
"Where?" Josh asked as his concern for his girlfriend was increasing. She didn't look good and it looked like it would only get worse.
"To find the gem, you'll only have to go a small ways," Andros said as he watched Grace's face tighten again and he let out a sigh. This was going to hurt her, really hurt her.
"Great," Josh murmured as he took Grace's hand and watched her closely.
"Including a potion to fully restore her health, you have thirty-six hours," Andros said as he took a step away from them.
"Andros, where do we…" Grace began as she turned to face him and realized that he had disappeared.
"Head this way, I think we better hurry," Josh said as she looked over at him. Why did they have to hurry?
"Why?" Grace asked as he looked over at her and knew that she was barely concussion of what was going on due to the pain.
"Because thirty-six hours isn't that much time, come on," Josh said as she looked over at him, hopefully the place wasn't too far away.
"I'm not sure…" Grace began as he gave her a quick kiss on the cheek and then took a step back.
"I'll carry you on the hard parts, your back can hold up on the easy parts," Josh said as she just looked over at him.
"You're sure?" Grace asked as she looked over at him. She didn't want to take too much away from him.
"It's the only way Grace," Josh whispered as he took both of her hands in his and he leaned over to give her a kiss on the cheek.
"Okay, let's do this," Grace muttered as he took the bag that she had been holding and placed it on his back.
He held onto her hand as they moved up the mountainside and he felt the chill start to become worse. They reached a grove and he finally looked back at her face. She was extremely pale and he felt his heart jump. He was pushing her too hard and he felt horrible for it.
"Sit down for a few minutes. I'm going to check ahead," Josh said as he guided her towards a stump and she just gave him a look. Why was he letting her rest? He'd never done that before.
"I'm fine," Grace muttered as her eyes slipped out of focus and he placed his arm around her as he watched her face pale even further.
"You're really pale, rest for a couple of minutes while I see what's up ahead," Josh said as he gently guided her down onto the stump and she closed her eyes.
"Josh?" Grace said as he started to walk away from her.
"What?" Josh asked as he looked back at her and saw her looking up at him.
"Thank you," Grace said as he barely smiled and then headed up the path towards the nearest landmark he could see. He wanted to make sure that she was going to be able to make it.
He made his way several yards out of her sight and he noticed two trails. A piece of paper was tied to the sign and he walked back to where Grace was sitting. He sat down next to her and she leaned her head down on his shoulder. She was even more tired than he had imagined, but they were going to have to push on, if they had any hope of getting back they were going to have to push on.
"What does it say?" Grace asked as she looked down at the paper and he just shook his head. He didn't know how she could deal with all of the things that she dealt with.
"One path brings comfort, the other brings your goal, choose carefully. Which is more important?" Josh read as she took in a deep breath. She was going to have to gather all her strength, but she knew which one was more important.
"We go after the goal," Grace stated as he looked over at her and saw the determination in her eyes. He could try to talk her out of it, but it wouldn't be easy, if even possible.
"But your back," Josh said as she stared into his eyes, trying to keep herself in the state of mind that she needed to be in to do this.
"Is secondary, we need to do what we came here for, my back can be helped later," Grace said as she cringed again and he just shook his head. She was determined, there was nothing else he could do about it.
"But…" Josh began, knowing that Tommy might kill him if something else happened to her.
"No buts Josh. We'd have to wait for the next opening if we don't make it this time, we can't do that," Grace said as he looked over at her. She still didn't look up to doing much of anything at the moment.
"Okay, you need to rest some more," Josh said as his hand rested on her knee and she just shook her head as she sat up.
"No, I'm okay, we need to get going," Grace said as she stood up and he stood up next to her.
"Grace…" Josh began as he placed a hand on her back and she turned around to glare at him. She was ready to kill him for being this protective, but she understood it.
"I'll let you know if I feel any worse," Grace whispered as he reached over and took her hand instead.
"Before or after you pass out?" Josh asked as she managed a small smile and he cringed. She was trying to put up a good front for him, but it wasn't going to work, not that she knew that.
"As I'm passing out," Grace said as she looked over at him and he shook his head.
"Okay, I'm going to take your word on that," Josh said as he pulled her along and he tried to keep his pace from going too fast for her, he was in a hurry, but he needed things to go well with her.
"I promise Josh," Grace said as he barely nodded and she just shook her head. He didn't believe her, but he was going to let it go, thank goodness.
"We better camp for the night," Josh said as they had gotten the gem and were back at the crossroad. He could tell that Grace wasn't going to make it much further and that they might as well bunk down for the night.
"We'll freeze out here," Grace said as she wrapped her arms around herself to try to give herself some extra warmth.
"No we won't, lay down next to me, we'll be fine," Josh said as he looked around for a place that they might be able to sleep that wasn't going to hurt her anymore.
"Okay, I don't think I could go much further without you carrying me," Grace admitted as she watched him lay down on the ground and she then curled up next to him on the ground.
"I figured that much, we'll decide what to do when we wake up. We might be able to get the potion after all," Josh said as he watched her face begin to relax and he knew that she wouldn't make it much longer.
"My back will heal in time. Leave it, we have to get back to the others," Grace said as she yawned and he placed his arms in a more comfortable position.
"You're really stubborn about that," Josh said as she looked back at him and tried to keep her eyes in focus.
"I have the right to be, I can't let my team down for my own benefit," Grace whispered as he gave her a kiss on the cheek and she tried to force herself to stay awake.
"They're right," Josh whispered in her ear as she just looked at him.
"About what?" Grace muttered as she cringed, her pain threshold was full and she couldn't take much more.
"You are far more self less than I will ever be," Josh said as he watched her eyes drift closed and held her securely against him. He had no clue how she had made it the entire day, but he was grateful, he couldn't have done this if she hadn't been able to hold out.