Trying to relearn how to fly was not an easy task. Arisa couldn't count the amount of new brushes and cuts on her from her fails. She was constantly crashing to the ground, or sometimes ramming into trees. She could not find a way to balance herself at all.

Having an uneven amount of weight on both sides was causing a lot more problems than anyone had thought. Arisa still couldn't move her leg, so that was also causing her problems. Having a deadweight to carry was hard. Especially when she couldn't hold it.

"I'm sorry..." Arisa sighed as she messed up again.

She felt bad. She was delaying them from starting to rescue Rimi. She could be the reason why Rimi died. She hoped that wouldn't happen, but they knew nothing about the demons who captured her.

"It's fine. We are asking a lot for your current condition." Saaya reassured her.

"What will me learning this do anyway?" Arisa asked.

"It would give us some comfort knowing you could escape if something bad happened while we were gone." Tae answered.

"This is hard..."

"I have an idea!" Kasumi suddenly announced.

"An idea about what?" Everyone eyed her with suspicious gazes.

"How to get Rimi back!"

"And that would be?"

"Someone causes a distraction and then someone else could grab her and run."

"Good luck with that plan."

Kasumi huffed, "It could work."

"Well, until we can get Arisa to fly enough, we can't begin to do that." Saaya stated.

"Two should be enough with my plan." Kasumi defended.

"We are not doing that."

"Why not?" Kasumi whined. She thought it was a good idea.

"It's too risky." Tae said, "We'd need a backup."

"Fine..."

DIVIDER--

Eventually, Arisa was managing to fly. She couldn't do it for too long, but it would be enough. Now, they had to discuss how to approach getting Rimi back. That was going to be a hard thing to figure out.

"We might just need to charge in and run." Saaya said, "If all else fails, we'd just need to run and hide until they stop looking."

"But they'd search here."

"True."

"Does that mean Arisa is coming with us?" Kasumi asked.

"I appears we may have to do that." Saaya sighed.

That wasn't an ideal situation. Arisa was better off staying out of the way for now. But, if all else failed, she would need to hide somewhere else. And how would she know that? She had to come with.

"Couldn't we just find a spot to hide out first?" Arisa asked, "Just leave me there and you go?"

"Too risky even then." Saaya shook her head, "We don't know who all lives out here. You could be in a lot of danger there too."

"Like I'm not when I'm here?"

"We'll figure something out."

That something ended up being that someone would try to be beside her at all times in case they needed to run. It was the best they could do given the uncertainty of the situation. Hopefully, they would be able to just sneak in, grab Rimi, and sneak out.

But, then they realized something. Either way, the group might come back to this house. They may be moving immediately. This place was just too dangerous for them to remain here.

So, as the sun was rising, they set out. Arisa was piggybacking on Kasumi. There was no other way for her to get around yet. Until she became stronger with her flying, she would need to carried around.

They followed a marking from who they believed was the group that stole Rimi. Hopefully they were on the right trail. If not, that was a very bad thing. They were heading right into the heart of an enemy group's territory.

"I hope she's alright..."

They soon found out. They arrived at the small camp the demon group had. They spotted Rimi. She was tied up against a tree. There was a demon guarding her. That was not a good thing at all.

They couldn't just simply sneak it and take her. They had to deal with this obstacle. If they raised any alarm, it was over for them. They'd all be dead.

"What do we do?" Tae asked.

"We need some way to distract them." Saaya stated.

"Would throwing a rock work?" Kasumi suggested.

"Then you'd have to let him chase you." Saaya said, "They'd probably all know not to investigate much if they don't see anyone."

"There's no way to do it without losing someone?"

"I don't think so. Someone will be split off."

"Let me." Tae offered.

"Okay. Be careful." Saaya said.

"I'll do my best." Tae said, before she picked up a rock.

She walked over to just by the guard. She took a deep breath and then threw the rock at him. The demon growled and came over to investigate. Tae grabbed another rock. When he entered the forest, she threw it at him and then booked it.

The demon gave chase. The others were free to sneak in now. Tae would have to find a way to group up with them later on. Granted she managed to escape this demon. There was a chance she wouldn't come back alive, unfortunately.

"Let's go." Saaya said.

Kasumi hung right by the area Saaya went through. She had to stay back since she had Arisa still. They watched as Saaya quickly untied Rimi and picked her up. She darted back out of the camp. It appeared that Rimi was unconscious. That most likely meant that she had jusy recently been beaten.

"Let's try and find somewhere to hide out." Saaya stated.

"Okay." Kasumi nodded.

They quietly left the territory of that group and started searching for a hiding spot. They had to wait for Tae and then they would relocate somewhere new. Now, where was a good place to hide? They didn't really know. They hadn't gotten the chance to truly explore the land here.

"How is she going to find us?" Arisa questioned.

"I'll leave a marking only she would recognize nearby where we hide." Saaya explained.

"Oh. Alright."

They soon found a small cave. It looked pretty unused, so they hoped nothing else was in there with them. That would just complicate things further. They could handle a simple fight, but it could easily draw attention to their location. They couldn't risk that happening. There could be other aggressive groups around here as well.

Saaya carefully set Rimi down. She started to examine her to see what all had happened. There were a lot of scratches and bruises on her. She did take quite a beating. Thankfully, there was nothing bleeding. Considering they had no medical supplies left, that was a good thing.

"How is she?" Kasumi asked as she let Arisa slide off of her and onto the ground.

"Seems to be alright. Nothing looks major." Saaya replied, "I'll go leave the marking."

"Stay safe."

Saaya left the cave. Arisa couldn't tear her gaze away from Rimi. She couldn't help but feel this was her fault. If she hadn't gotten injured, they could've just ran away. But, instead they had to hide and Rimi got really hurt because of that.

"Arisa? What's wrong?" Kasumi seemed to notice something was amiss with her.

Arisa sighed, "I... feel partially responsible for her injuries..."

"It's not your fault. You can't help that you got crippled." Kasumi protested.

Arisa winced.

"Oh... I guess you don't like being called that..." Kasumi realized her mistake, "Sorry..."

"It's fine..." Arisa mumbled.

"But, it really isn't your fault. She didn't technically have to protect you." Kasumi continued to argue, "She could've left you to get captured instead, but she didn't. Because she cares about you."

Arisa still found it hard to think that the others cared about her. She was just a burden to them, wasn't she? They just kept her around because they wanted Kasumi, right? Why would they care about her when she was useless to the group.

"You don't believe me... do you?" Kasumi asked.

Arisa shook her head. She couldn't believe her. There wasn't enough to support that claim, in her opinion. They were just being nice out of obligation. Maybe they even were waiting for her to heal and make her do something to repay them for taking care of her?

"Arisa, this entire time they've been nothing but caring. Not once has anyone done anything bad to either of us. Doesn't that mean anything to you?" Kasumi asked.

"I just don't fully trust them... It just seems weird..." Arisa mumbled.

"Well, we're a group now. We have to stick together."

"I know... I can tolerate it."

Saaya came back, "Alright. The marking has been made. Let's hope she can find it soon and get to us. I'd like to get moving as soon as possible."

"How long will we wait for her?" Arisa asked, "What if she... doesn't come back?"

"Midday. If she's not back by then, we'll quick check their camp to see if they caught her. If so, we'll rescue her, if not... we'll assume the worst and move on." Saaya replied.

"Let's hope she makes it." Kasumi gulped.

"She's pretty crafty. It think she'll be fine."

DIVIDER--

It was almost midday and still not sign of Tae. Everyone was starting to worry. Rimi had woken up a little while ago. She was glad to be safe again.

As the time ticked by, everyone grew more worried. Where was she? Did she get captured? Did she just not find the marking? Is she... dead? Everyone hoped it wasn't the last thought.

Just as they were planning to leave, someone approached the cave. It was Tae. She was covered in blood.

"Are you okay!?" Saaya was immediately on her.

"I'm fine... it's mostly not mine." Tae replied.

"Did you have to kill him?" Rimi asked.

"I didn't. A masked demon killed them. I don't know who they were. They left after he was dead. I didn't get a chance to say anything to them." Tae explained.

"Could it be that duo a lot of demons have been talking about?" Arisa suggested, "They are always said to be wearing clothes covering their faces."

"Maybe it was them."

"We need to leave. We can discuss this later." Saaya cut in.

They set out again. They had to find a new home now. They had no clue where to start. No one knew what was nearby. Were there even any towns nearby?

This could be a long search. The may be walking for days for all they knew. They had no choice, though. They couldn't remain here where they would be under a constant threat. They needed to go someplace that was safer to live at.

DIVIDER--

After days of traveling, they finally found a new home. It was just outside a town. This area seemed friendlier to them. No one seemed to glare or have any intent to harm them. To be honest, no one even glanced their way when they arrived. They just went about their normal business. That was a relief to them all.

Being near the town, they were able to find jobs so they could get money. They would definitely need it. While the house was free, the other stuff they needed wouldn't be.

They needed food. There was nowhere to plant anything. They'd have to rely on the shops for that stuff.

They also went shopping for new clothes once they could. It felt good to be in clean clothes again. They hadn't had the opportunity to wash up in ages. It was refreshing.

There was one problem. The organization had members stationed in towns. What if they were on a hit list? It was dangerous to go out. They resorted to having to wear items covering some of their face so they were less recognizable.

"So, we seem to have finally gotten settled."

"Yeah. It's kind of weird..."

"I hope things are calm for us now."