Ryu ran blindly deeper into the trees. He stopped a moment to take in some air. He looked down at his newfound charge. Faust lay quietly in his arms, breathing slowly.

"Well, it could be worse." Ryu said to him, "That thing could've picked us all off."

Faust stirred a little.

"Now, there's no need to move around. Let me check you for a minute."

Ryu set Faust down, and examined his new wounds. They were just as bad as the old ones.

"Hopefully we can get back to that cabin or somewhere safe soon." Ryu said as he attempted to wrap up Faust's wounds.

Faust stirred some more, and then muttered slowly,

"You're doing it wrong."

"What's with you?" Ryu asked, "You're half-dead, and you're worrying about how I'm fixing you."

"…if you don't do it right, then it won't work."

"I don't care! Your better half can fix you when we finally get somewhere, so stop complaining."

Meanwhile, Ren came to a sliding stop after realizing he just ran away from a possible confrontation.

"I say let's go back!" he growled.

"Hell no!" Horo Horo answered.

"Do you know where Yoh is?" Chocolove asked.

"Probably the same place Manta's at."

"Do you think we should go look for them?"

"Probably, but do you know where they ran off to?"

Neither of them answered. Ren still looked tense.

Yoh came to a sliding stop. He turned around to see Manta panting behind him. Anna leaned against a tree, obviously tired, but wasn't expressing it as much as Manta was.

"Are you two okay?" Yoh asked.

"I'm fine, but I'm not sure about Manta." Anna answered.

Manta waived his hand in the 'I'm fine' gesture as he gulped some more air.

"That thing didn't follow us, did it?" Yoh said worried.

Manta turned around and started to panic.

"It didn't follow us." Anna growled, "And that's why I want you to go back."

"What!" Yoh yelled, "What for?"

"The spirit needs to be placated. If we just run away from it, it will just keep killing. From the looks of it, it refuses to pass on."

"So you want me to destroy it?"

"It's an angry spirit, Yoh. It's very difficult to placate them when they're as angry as that one. Consider it training."

Yoh was quiet for a moment. She was making it sound like an evil spirit, manifested by hate itself. However, something told him that deep down, it wanted to be free from the anger it had towards the people who had killed his owner so many years ago. Just putting it out of its misery just didn't seem...fair.

"Fine. I'll go." Yoh said as he started to walk back.

"I'll go with you." Manta said.

"Are you sure?"

"I've been with you everywhere. What makes this different from the other times?"

"Alright."

Yoh, Manta, and Anna turned and walked back from where they ran from.