"This place is huge." noted Jin as he pushed his way through some hanging vines from the trees around him. "And it's a huge nuisance." he added as he cut away at the overgrown obstacles. He had been traversing through this absurdly annoying collection of overgrowth since coming here. There had been no signs of players around him and Luna's tracker placed her a fair distance south of him. As it moved everyday, Jin was having to keep moving constantly in hopes of catching up to his lost sister. "Damn you Luna, just stay still for a while." he grunted as he swung his blade down at a collection of vines that hung in his path.
He stabbed the blue blade into the ground and rested on the flat silver pommel. The sword that Fox had granted him was based on a straight katana and had a blade as light a blue as the midday sky during clear weather. Around the hilt was black leather wrappings for better grip on the weapon. He had slung the sheath over his shoulder instead of carrying it at his waist so it would allow better movement in this dense and hindering environment. He continued on, using the sword as a walking stick until the time came to cut more vines that blocked his way. The weather was much more humid than he was used to and he was drenched in sweat. He had to take his jacket off at the start of his journey and had draped it over his shoulders so it rested on him like a cape or cloak.
"Damn this place." he said, planting the sword into the dirt again. He was panting and catching his breath as he wiped the sweat from his brow. He held up his hand and a cold blue mist began cascading from his open palm. He held it over his head so that the mist would wash over him and cool him down in the process. After a minute passed he stopped his ability and began pressing onward again. For a while it appeared as if he moved in a pattern. He would walk for some time, accompanied by the sound of his blade cutting into the earth with each step. Then he would cut some overgrowth from his way and then resume his progress. As he moved further south, he kept his watch's map open and watched Luna's blip on it constantly.
"I hope you're okay, sis." A sudden rustle in the bushes nearby caused his eyes to dart to them but he remained on his path as if he did not notice it. I'm being followed but they're not attacking. Are they waiting for something? Maybe they want me to get to wherever their ambush is. That or they're just watching to see what I do. Perhaps they don't mean harm to me. Jin scoffed at that thought and wrote it off as wishful thinking. "Were I in their shoes I would most likely jump at the opportunity to have a free ticket home." he said to himself. He cut away another set of vines and pressed forward with his stalker noticeably on his tail. The day progressed like that until nightfall came upon him. Jin found some wood to use for a fire and managed to hunt a hare just before setting up camp. He felt bad about using his ice on it but he hoped that dying from the cold wasn't too bad.
"Want some?" he asked the empty air around him. There was no response and he sighed. "Then I will just eat it all myself, I hope you enjoy watching me eat." Jin picked up some slices of meat that he had cut off and cooked. Just before he took a bite more rustling came from the brush beside his camp. A young man with straight and short black hair strolled up to him with his sword held in his left hand. His dark brown eyes glared at the food in Jin's hand as he neared. "Are you hungry?" Jin asked. "Why aren't you afraid?" asked the man. "Because you didn't attack me. Sit down and eat some, there's not a lot but it will do you some good." He was wearing a torn black tank top and a grey jacket was tied around his waist. For pants he had the same black cargo pants that Jin was wearing and was wearing black combat boots on his feet. He had a pair of black gloves on his hands and a silver necklace was hanging around his neck.
Dangling from the chain was a small golden coin that appeared to be very old as it had some dings and scuffs in the metal. Jin didn't get a good look at what was written on it due to the poor lighting but it was of little importance to him at the moment. The man seemed to be no older than Luna even if he stood nearly as tall as Jin which was around six feet. The man sat down and placed the sword next to him on the ground. It left his hand but Jin didn't fail to notice how close he kept his hand to the hilt as he reached out with his right hand to grab some of the meat.
Jin had the slices impaled on sticks and had cooked them all over the fire he had made. "So, what's your name?" Jin inquired. "Roy." he answered after a hesitant pause. "Jin, nice to meet you." Jin held out his right hand and saw the reluctance in Roy as he moved his left hand from his sword. They shook hands but it was a brief thing as Roy quickly put his hand back near the hilt of his blade. "You don't need to be so cautious around me, I only have intentions to attack those that would harm me." he said, smiling kindly at the man. "And you know that I'm harmless just because I didn't attack you yet?" questioned Roy. "No, I'm not that stupid. You just don't appear to be a threat. I gave you plenty of opportunities to attack me today but you didn't take any of them. That and you didn't attack me when I revealed that I knew you were there. You either don't want to attack me or you are very clever and good at acting."
"I know who you are. You're the Lightning Dancer's brother, killing you lets me go home, the fox man told me." "So, are you gonna try?" Jin asked calmly. "I will fight you if you want but I will tell you this now and believe in the honesty of it. I will kill you without remorse if you become my enemy. My sister is the only thing that matters right now and I won't let a single person get in my way as I try to get to her." Jin stared into the man's eyes with the coldest glare he could muster. "Understand me?" Jin asked. Roy nodded briefly and went back to eating his food. "Good, then we should be the best of friends." Jin stated before returning to his own portion of food. When the pair of them were done eating, Jin sat against the base of a tree and leaned his sheathed sword against his shoulder. "So, are you gonna stay the night here?" Jin asked.
"In the camp?" Jin nodded. "I wouldn't have asked if I didn't mean the camp. Are you gonna stay here or are you going to leave?" "Would it be alright to stay here for the night? I'll leave in the morning." Jin nodded again. "Just don't try to kill me, it won't end well for you." Jin stated before closing his eyes. He didn't fall into a deep sleep, it was more comparable to an alert rest. All of his senses continued monitoring his surroundings while his eyes rested. It wasn't too helpful in relieving his exhaustion but he didn't want to take any chances for as long as he was here. He had to make it to Luna no matter what and he would be damned should he die in his sleep to some coward.
Jin's eyes opened before the break of dawn so he could get an early start on his path. His idea was to wake up before Luna so that he would already be moving towards her before she even got up. He figured Luna would sleep in due to her tendencies to do so in the past. "These are different circumstances but I can only hope." he muttered as he stretched his arms and rose to his feet. "Roy!" he yelled to the man sleeping by the extinguished fire pit. He started as he woke and reached for his sword that laid beside him. "I'm leaving, if you want to come then hurry up and get ready." Jin left his weapon sheathed and used it as a walking stick while moving towards Roy.
"Come with? You want me to?" he asked. "I don't care much either way. I just figured I would offer. Just so you know, I won't be slowing down for you." Roy nodded and leapt to his feet. The only thing he had on him was his weapon and he was still dressed from the night before so he was quickly ready to go. Jin opened the map on his watch and noticed Luna's blip had moved a decent distance overnight. "Damn, she's not sleeping so I've lost more ground." "Who isn't sleeping?" Roy asked, peering over Jin's shoulder. "My sister. I'm tracking her but she didn't sleep when I expected her to. This is gonna get tedious real fast." he said, closing the map. Jin began moving without checking to see if Roy was following or not.
The forest was only growing more dense and full of annoyances that ranged from more vines to thorn patches in some of the brush. "Why are you going this way and not taking a road or something?" asked Roy. "Because I need to hurry. I'm cutting through everything instead of going around." he answered while pushing his way in between a grouping of trees. He opened his map again and saw that he was getting closer to the river. "Perfect, she's traveling along the water. If I can get there then I can catch up to her." "I don't know, she looks pretty far away." Roy interjected, peeking at the map again. "She is but she keeps stopping or starts moving slower than usual." He closed it again and pressed on.
"What are you gonna do once you find her?" Roy inquired. "Find a way out of this game. I need to get her home as quickly as possible. What are you going to do once we find her?" Jin questioned back with ferocity and suspicion in his voice. Roy held up his hands and shook his head. "You have the same bounty, if I wanted to kill someone for my freedom then I would have tried it already." "Good because if you thought you would take her out because she's younger or weaker, you would have been proven wrong. She's around your age and she's a far better fighter than you could ever guess. She would have hurt you in a second and you would have never even known it was happening." "She sounds terrifying." Roy stated. "She can be. That's why I need to save her. Save her from herself and save others from her in the process."
They walked for a few hours being only hindered by minor nuisances that have begun to grow ever more frequent as they traveled. "Man, this place really sucks." Roy complained as a root snagged his foot and nearly tripped him. "Stop complaining and watch your step. I'll leave you if you get injured. I don't have the time to deal with that right now." "So you would just leave me that easily?" "That's what I said." He began watching Roy as he moved. Roy was stumbling a bit as he fought with another root that had caught his foot and he tripped forward. Just as Roy fell, a bullet whizzed past where his head would have been had he not fallen. Jin shrugged the sheath from his shoulder and caught it in his left hand. He gripped tightly to the hilt with his right as he glared around at the surrounding trees.
There was little space between some of the groupings which provided an unfortunate amount of cover. It was too advantageous for their attacker and hindered too much of Jin's own potential for finding him. "You okay?" he called out to Roy. "Yep, lucky fall I guess." he said with a chuckle as he remained low to the ground. Roy began crawling towards a tree of his own to hide behind and Jin began walking backwards with his eyes scanning the visible areas ahead of him. When the two of them reached some cover he saw Roy produce a small knife from his jacket.
He threw it with perfect accuracy to a couple of trees across from them. To Jin it looked as if it had missed but it suddenly struck air and a red liquid dripped from the floating knife. When whatever Roy had stuck moved, Jin noticed a vague shape of a man rustling the bushes as he ran. "He's invisible. How did you know he was there?" Jin asked. "I didn't, I was aiming for the tree, I got lucky." I doubt it but now isn't the time to be questioning him. "We need to find him." Jin said. "Yeah, easier said than done though. Invisible people have that way about them I suppose." "This isn't the time for jokes." Jin said. "Who's making them?" Roy questioned before gripping his sword tighter in his hand. He began swinging it wildly and stumbling around before tripping over another root and falling on his rear. Just as he fell, another shot barely missed where he had been standing.
"There was a bee, I'm allergic to them." Roy said. Jin remained silent and simply shook his head at the man. Another shot struck the tree Jin was covering behind and scattered pieces of bark into the air from the impact. Jin had retreated further behind the tree and took a slow breath. As Roy stood up, he swung his sword again behind him and a man let out a wild scream as his arm flew into the air. It wasn't the invisible man but he had been sneaking up behind the flailing Roy. He saw a smile appear on Roy's face for a moment before he stabbed the man in the chest. The metal of the man's sword clanking against stone rang out and then another shot striking bark followed it. "Can you keep him busy? I'm gonna sneak around and flank him." Jin asked Roy who was wiping the blood from his sword.
Roy nodded and turned to draw the gunner's attention. Jin moved to the left to circle through the tree cover after Roy threw a rock in the shooter's direction. It didn't take long for Jin to see the bloody trail the shooter was leaving from the knife wound. Not long after, Jin found him standing and reloading his rifle behind a tree. "Found you." Jin said, smirking. The man panicked and drew his rifle but Jin's hands were faster. The sword was pressed against the man's throat in the blink of an eye. Jin didn't hesitate to push the blade through the man's flesh until it hit the tree behind him. The rifle dropped to the ground and after Jin removed the blade, so did the body. "Gahhhh!" yelled another man as he swung a sword down from Jin's right side.
Jin dodged it and then deflected another one of the boy's wild swings. Two more hits came and Jin deflected both of them easily before the boy prepared another swing. As he swung down, Jin hit his blade away hard enough to leave the boy open for a counter. Right after the unbalancing deflection, Jin swung the sword towards the boy's neck but stopped just short of cutting him. Jin looked at the boy's face and noticed that he was young, probably younger than Luna. The boy's dark colored eyes were full of fear and grief as he stared into Jin's yellow eyes. Jin grimaced and took his blade from the boy's neck. Instead, he swung down at the boy's hand and severed it from his arm. He let out a cry of pain as both hand and blade fell to the dirt below and while Jin felt some guilt from it, the thought of Luna washed it away quick enough. "Luna's all that matters, nothing else." he muttered as he examined the scene he stood in. One man dead and another boy maimed, both by his own hands. More footsteps came from behind and Jin swung at the incoming noise. Roy tripped and barely managed to miss the blade as he fell to the ground.
"Damn, you almost killed me." he said, standing and wiping the dirt from his pants. "Sorry, I thought you were another attacker." Jin looked around and gave one final glance to the dead and injured. Regret did come as he stared at the boy clutching to the stump at his wrist but it had to be done. He shook the feelings away and tried to push the boy from his mind. "Come on, we have to keep moving." Jin turned and began walking with Roy on his tail. "Are you okay?" Jin questioned. "Fine, thanks. It's a good thing that I'm so lucky all of the time or I would have died three times over." "I'm willing to call it more than luck but I won't ask you anything about it." Roy smiled and then trotted up to walk alongside Jin. He opened his map and saw Luna's blip. "She left the river. She's moving fast." he noted, concern growing in his voice. "Maybe she's being chased." Roy suggested.
Jin growled and closed the map. "This is taking too long, I have to go quicker." Jin picked up his pace and drew his sword to cut more vines that hung in his path. The pair of them continued walking into the night. The moon illuminated their path with the casting light that poured down from the cloudless sky. "Damn it." Jin grunted as he stabbed his sword into the ground to use as support. He was panting and he looked up, wiping sweat from his brow as he gazed at the path ahead. "At least the vines seem to be lessening." Roy said as he stood calmly next to Jin. He sighed and dropped his head while catching his breath. "I suppose. It will definitely make traveling easier. We'll continue on in the morning, for now we should get some rest." Jin sheathed his blade and stood up, stretching his arms and back.
"That's a go…" Roy suddenly halted talking and his gaze went to the left, towards more tree cover. "What is it?" Jin asked. Roy didn't answer and instead gripped onto his hilt while closing his eyes. "Hey." Jin said as he reached towards him. In a second, Roy drew his weapon and sliced upwards as it left the sheath. Before Jin could even react, two small bits of metal whizzed around him, one striking the dirt, and another hitting a tree just behind them. Roy cut again and another bullet sliced into two. Jin held firmly onto his own sheath that was in his left hand. Two more shots echoed around them and both were intercepted by Roy. "What the hell?" Jin gasped. Roy sighed. "The ability that the fox man gave me was one I used in one of the games I played before getting stuck here. It's basically a type of foresight, it allows me to predict or I guess sense a few seconds into the future.
It's also kind of like a sixth sense so I get a strange feeling when something's about to happen." Roy explained as he gripped his sword tighter. "There's another one in the tree behind us. You take her and I'll take the gunner." Roy added before moving towards the bushes ahead of him. Jin turned and saw a girl drop from the trees above. "Good thing you had him or we totally would have killed you. A real shame, that is, I was hoping to be home within the hour." said the green haired girl in a tone that hinted at boredom. Her green hair was tied into a bun on the back of her head, strands of loose locks hung down on either side of her face. Her bangs were swept to the right and held in place with a small metal clip that had a metallic apple upon it.
Her clothing was a black sleeveless shirt that stopped just above her stomach. Instead of pants, she had a short pair of shorts that halted in the middle of her thighs. Over her shirt was a long, oversized, jacket that went down to her knees. It was black with green stripes covering the right half of it. The girl twirled a silver dagger in her fingers as she gazed at Jin with a somewhat unsettling hunger in her eyes. "Home? What makes you think that killing me will allow you to go home?" Jin inquired. "Don't play stupid with me, handsome. Everyone received a picture of what you looked like and every hour we get an update of your proximity. Someone will always roughly know where you are. We were close by and thought to capitalize on it. Don't take it personally but I don't very much like the jungle or forest or whatever this is." Jin grinned. "Then I'm sorry that you're gonna die here." he said, gripping ever tighter onto his sheath.
"You would kill a scared little girl that wants to go home?" she asked, batting her eyes at him. "No, I would kill a person that plans on getting in my way." Jin replied, his expression turning cold and foreboding. The girl's softened look returned to a dull gaze and she forced an underwhelming smile on her face. "Very well." She resigned and readied her knife. Jin gripped onto the hilt with his right hand and kept his left squeezed onto the sheath. Jin slowly exhaled a breath of frosty mist as his yellow eyes began to glow brightly in the fading moonlight. Around him was the sound of gunshots and the rounds being cut and sent into separate directions by Roy's attacks. He attempted to block them out as best he could so he could focus on the girl ahead of him.
She gave a sly wink before leaping back into the shadows of the tree behind her. Jin saw her body vanish and in a flash, he had lost her. He gazed around before a sudden pain appeared in his right shoulder. He reached for it and plucked free a small knife that was protruding from his flesh. He gave a subtle growl as he glanced around him. Another knife came and struck his left leg, near the calf, causing him to grunt in pain. He pulled it out and threw it into the ground. Luna was always able to block throwing weapons, maybe I can if I try hard enough. Hmm, that was in Somerant though and she had better hearing due to her race. Worth a shot anyways. "I need to focus and calm myself, like she always did." He closed his eyes and took another breath. With every exhale, clouds of frost escaped through his nostrils and dissipated into the air.
As he stayed there, motionless and listening intently, the sounds of the world began to flood his ears. The wind blowing through the branches and brush around him, the sounds of Roy's fight that seemed to be growing ever farther away, the footsteps crushing leaves and twigs underfoot as they moved fast through the surrounding shadows. He turned and drew his blade in the direction of the running steps. A high pitched clang filled the area as his sword deflected another throwing knife. Damn, it actually worked. He was smiling despite the predicament and quickly dispelled it. He listened again and this time the steps were growing closer. He spun and swung his blade, clashing with the girl's dagger and throwing her off balance.
She stumbled back and Jin seized the opportunity to cut her down. He thrusted the blade forward but she regained her footing and rolled to the right, avoiding the attack. She leapt back into the shadows and vanished once more. Jin grimaced as he listened again to the running girl. This time when he spun, he blocked with the sheath in his left hand, catching the girl's dagger. It stuck into the wooden scabbard and he grinned at her. Panic and fear danced across her face as she began to tug on the weapon. Jin raised his arm, bringing the dagger and her, with it. It forced her to move closer to Jin as he thrusted his sword at her exposed gut. She closed her eyes, frozen with fear, and Jin halted his attack.
The tip of his blade just barely pierced into her stomach causing a slight dribble of blood to seep out from the wound. She gasped but then opened her eyes in surprise. Jin saw the tension escape her body as she released her grip on her weapon. She stared up at him and then dropped backwards away from his sword's point. The girl fell onto her rear and stared, confused and afraid at the glowing spheres on Jin's face. He stabbed his sword into the ground and ripped the dagger free of his scabbard. His hand began to grow more blue as white mist floated down from it. The dagger grasped in his fingers began to freeze and he dropped it, shattering it into pieces upon the ground. His hand was growing numb from the cold and he felt a fatigue begin to take over his body.
Nevertheless, he moved towards her, keeping his ability activated. He breathed another haze of frost before kneeling down to gaze into her emerald eyes. "Y-you're not going to kill me?" she asked nervously. Jin snarled, sending a cloud of white mist against her face, and a shiver down her spine. "No, I'm going to let you run. If you ever come back to me again then I will kill you. Make no mistake, it won't be slow either. I will not hold back against somebody that wastes the opportunity I gave them." His eyes dimmed and the frosty haze began to fade into the wind. The cold still clung to his fingers as he rose to his feet. After grabbing the hilt of his weapon, he pulled it from the earth and slid it into the wooden scabbard. The shooting that was filling the air around them then faded and a painful wail replaced it. After, only silence remained as the girl's eyes darted around.
"I imagine your friend is dead by now. Leave and don't come after me again. I won't be so merciful next time." Jin said as she nodded and scampered off. Her body vanished the second she reached the shadows and he heard her no longer. "You're still alive." Roy said cheerfully as he strode back into sight. "Did you think I would die? I'm more surprised that you lived." Jin replied. "My ability allows me to know when he's gonna shoot and where the bullet is gonna go. I just have to be out of the way or have my sword in its path before it gets there." "Why hide that? Why act like a fool instead of telling me to begin with?" Jin inquired. "Simply put, it's because I am a fool. That and I didn't want to tell you about my power. That can be easily used against me should you ever become an enemy."
"Are you planning on me becoming an enemy?" Roy shook his head. "I hope not because I probably don't stand a chance against you. I would much rather us be best friends while we're stuck here." Roy held out his hand and Jin took it. "As long as you don't mess with my sister, I won't mind you tagging along." "I wouldn't dream of it. Your sister is my sister." "Please don't say that?" Jin asked as he released Roy's hand. "No problem." he replied before the pair of them continued on into the forest. Once they were well enough away from where they had been attacked, they settled down for the night. Jin remained resting against a tree, watching Luna's blip on the map. It was staying still for a change and it was a small relief for him. "It's good to know that she's sleeping a bit."
Despite the fact that it wasn't moving, he still watched it closely. Images of his sister's face began coming to mind, some of when she was young, others of more recent memories, all of them brought a sense of nostalgia to him. He took in another weary breath and let it go into the chilly night air. "I hope you're okay, sister. Just a little longer and I'll be by your side again." His eyes eventually closed as his exhaustion became too much to bear any longer. He was in his room back at his parent's house when he next reopened his eyes. "Jin! Hey, get up!" he heard Luna's voice, accompanied by the sounds of her banging on his door. "What is it?" he called back, standing from the seat at his desk. He took off his remaining earbud before reaching the door that she was still banging on.
When he opened it, he saw a twelve year old Luna standing in the hallway. She was wearing a large grey parka that was dripping from the melting snow that covered her. She caught her breath and smiled up at him. "It's snowing." she said. "So what? It snows here every year." "Yeah, and every year we play in it. Come on." She grabbed his arm and began to tug on it. "Stop acting like you're five." he said, preventing her from moving him. She pulled harder until he had to grab hold of his doorway to avoid being moved. "Cut it out." he said, tugging his arm free of her grasp. "You're really getting strong." he stated, grabbing his arm and rubbing it. "Why won't you come with me?" she asked. "It's not that childish to play out in the snow." she added firmly, crossing her arms in the process.
"Yeah, it is. But that's not why I'm not coming." "Then what is it?" she said, letting her arms drop back to her sides. "I'm not dressed properly. Luna's face lit up and her smile widened as she took off running down the stairs. Jin was left shaking his head and a grin stretched from ear to ear. He walked back into his room and grabbed a silver bracelet from his desk and clasped it onto his left wrist. It was just a simple chain with a small wolf charm dangling from it but it meant much more to him than it would to most. He gazed at it with a loving feeling that he felt for no other possession of his. He turned around upon hearing loud footsteps and panting breaths at approaching his door. "What took you so long?" he asked. She smiled and threw his jacket to him. "Put it on and let's play already." He walked over to her and ruffled her messy brown hair before pulling her hood over her head.
"Come on then." he said while walking past her. She sprinted past and beat him to the stairs. "Be careful." he said as she skipped two steps at a time to descend. Jin shook his head and swept his hair from his face. He descended while pulling the jacket on. Luna was waiting by the door with a look of excitement on her face. "You can go without me." he stated. She stopped her persistent jumping as if to think for a second and then ran out of the front door. Jin couldn't help but chuckle as he reached the door. He sat and pulled his boots onto his feet and tied the laces tight. "Watch her." he heard Akira say from the living room. "Will do, mother." he said as he took to his feet. He closed the door behind him and the second he turned around, a pile of snow hit him in the face.
"You little…" he said as he wiped the cold frost away. Luna laughed and began scooping up another handful of white powder. Jin did the same and produced his ball much faster than she did. He threw it and struck her left shoulder. He heard more laughing as she fell to her back and feigned an injury. Fake cries of pain filled the air as she rolled on the ground. He chuckled and made another ball of snow. "I'll hit you again if you can't run away." She stopped and looked at him. Just as he got close enough, she threw her handful of snow against his chest and then he too, fell to his back. "Ahh, you got me." Luna leapt to her feet and put her hand to her hips as she laughed. "I totally got you." He stopped his groaning and smiled back at her. "Totally. I really fell for it." "I know you did, which is why I got you." she said smugly. She was looking proudly skyward and he threw another snowball against her chest.
"Hey!" she shouted as she bent down to scoop up more snow. He rolled onto his front and hurried to his feet to run away. She gave chase and was throwing ball after ball as he ran in circles around her. When he was out of breath, Jin stopped and gazed at his sister. She was running at him and before he could move, she tackled him. The two of them were on the ground and Luna was laughing as she rolled onto her side to look at Jin. He remained motionless and silent while keeping his eyes closed tight. "Jin." she said. She moved closer and pushed on his body. "Jin, are you okay?" she questioned, concern growing in her voice. "Hey, get up." She pushed Jin's body which he let move limply under her force. "This isn't funny anymore, get up. Are you hurt?" "I don't know, it's kind of funny." he said as he rolled onto his back to gaze up at her.
He saw tears forming in her eyes and she scowled. She hit his arm and he laughed as he rubbed the pain away. "That wasn't funny, I thought I hurt you." "You, hurting me? Ha, that really makes me laugh." She hit his arm again in the same spot. "Ow." he gasped. "Now who's laughing?" she asked, wiping a tear from her eye. He smiled and held up his hand to wipe the other clean. "Sorry." She grinned and dropped another pile of snow on his face. He quickly shook and brushed the freezing cold powder from him and sat up. Luna was laughing again and quickly stood up. "I'll hit you again if you can't run away." she said his words back to him while scooping up more snow. "This time it's your turn to run." He scooped a big pile of snow and flung it up at her. They spent a few hours running around out front of their house before Akira appeared from inside.
"Come on in you two, I got warm tea ready and you need to get out of the cold before you get sick. Jin stood up and brushed snow free of his clothes. "Really?" Luna complained. Jin looked down at her and smiled. "I'm getting tired anyways, let's get warmed up." With his suggestion, she listened and ran inside ahead of him. He was filled with amusement and glee as he watched Luna run inside and quickly followed behind her. "It makes me so happy to see you two still being this close." Akira said to him as he stripped his dripping jacket off at the door. "It makes me happy too." he stated before undoing his boots and joining Luna at the table. He couldn't help but watch her the entire time as she sipped from her cup and talked with their mother.
"Jin. Hey, wake up." It was Roy's voice that pulled him from the dream and back into reality. He wiped his eyes and yawned before glaring at the boy. "What is it? Did something happen?" "Yeah, the sun came out and I know that you like to move early. Get ready and let's go." Jin nodded before yawning again. He stood and stretched his limbs before pulling the jacket he was using as a blanket back on. His sword was leaning on the tree next to him which he took in hand and opened his map once more. His eyes widened as he stared at Luna's blip. "Hey, how accurate are these things?" he asked Roy. "How would I know? I don't have some kind of magical tracker for anyone." he replied uselessy. "Why?" he added, moving closer to see Jin's map.
"Because if it's accurate then that means Luna's in the river." "So, maybe she's bathing or something." "I hope so. She can't swim, if she's in there then she might be…" He pushed the thought from his mind and closed the map. "Maybe you're right, maybe she's just bathing." Jin said with a nod. Or maybe not. The doubt of it caused a hurry in Jin's steps that morning. He moved with more impatience and frustration than he had the previous days. Roy was struggling to keep up with him but he managed it somehow. "I'm sure she's fine." Roy protested as he jogged to keep up with Jin. "I'm glad you're so sure." Jin retorted sarcastically. "Look, even if she was in the river, and this is a big if, she would be dead before we get to her so what's the point in… Ah." he gasped as he bumped into Jin. Jin had stopped and tightened the grip on his sheath.
"Dead?" he gasped. He turned to look at Roy with glowing eyes and an intimidating ferocity emanating from them. "It was just a hypothetical, calm down a bit." Roy said, holding up both hands in surrender and apology. Jin growled as his eyes dimmed before turning and pressing on. He checked the map again in a few hours and noticed Luna's blip moving again so she had been bathing or drinking. Jin felt his body relax as the built up tension in it eased away from him. "I told you, just calm down and keep moving forward. That's all you can do." He glared at Roy and then soothed his expression. "You're right. Calm down, right." Jin took a few breaths and relaxed. They then settle down again later that night. It was a tight knit bundle of trees so that they could be somewhat hidden throughout the night. "Soon, Luna. I'll be there soon." he murmured before closing his eyes to sleep.