Apologies for this taking longer than usual. I had a minor case of writer's block. Fortunately, it's gone now. Hope you enjoy this new chapter.

"Team Saber might have saw me walk into the motel, the Team's got cameras fucking everywhere. They're not gonna attack me now though, they don't want to risk being seen.

"Although in hindsight I suppose I've been acting like that for quite a while, jumping from city to city, barely peeking my head out of abandoned alleys. I was scared, petrified actually, that they'd be around a corner some day. I didn't even start this whole message thing until a few days ago, so my confidence wasn't exactly sky high.

"But I'm sick of doing nothing. There has to be something I could do to stop Team Saber, and that's what this recording is all about.

"I'm not going to sit idly by and teleport away at the first hint of trouble. Not anymore."

A clump of cold whiteness smacked against Matthew's cheek and he jerked his head around, trying to find who threw the snowball. Though, he figured that even he did find who the culprit was, there was little he could do regarding the situation. His body was still bound by rope and although Shali's aura bind was no longer attached to him, her father, Tokala, had taken over for her in the morning.

Tokala wasn't the one guarding him however, it was another Lucario who he knew nothing about. Tokala was just binding the aura and occasionally shot Matthew a glare which he returned without a pause.

He had yet to see Shali throughout the day since she left to do whatever but decided to keep her advice close to heart and not attempt any conversation with the other Lucarios. That didn't stop them from throwing snowballs at him, some of which, he was pretty sure, had actual rocks in their cores. They certainly felt like it.

As promised by Shali, the sun had reached its peak in the sky and he had yet to receive even a speck of food from the tribe. Now, his stomach was starting to protest the lack of sustenance, occasionally growling and causing a slight pain to form in his gut.

His guilt had grown from last night's events, he knew Shali wasn't like the rest of them and it was really eating away at him. There had to have been a better way, he had been thinking about the moment Neo had left his mindset until the morning came.

No luck, he had to keep going, despite how much he knew it was wrong.

Neo had disappeared again, which was probably the only thing he was thankful for. He only hoped that he wouldn't come up until he was out of this situation. Though his hopes remained cautiously intact, he was certain he would come up again sooner or later.

Matthew looked up at the sky, between the thick branches he could see a clear sky, one of the first in quite a few days actually. The sun helped warm his system up a lot better than Neo was handling it. He still cringed as clouds occasionally blocked the light out, leaving him with a harrowing sensation.

From the corner of his eye he saw another snowball coming right towards him and tried to move out of the way. But the rope did an impeccable job of restricting his movements and before he knew it, the snowball struck the side of his nose.

He groaned and immediately felt blood beginning to drip down to his lips and onto his shirt. His nose already felt swollen and much too big for his face. Before he could figure why the impact had hurt so much, a light thud was heard at his side. He turned and saw a grey rock, still covered lightly in ice crystals and the new addition of a scarlet splatter of blood. The Lucario guarding him hadn't even batted an eye, in fact, he seemed to be pleased by the bloodshed. He turned his head around and saw a group of Lucarios, laughing cynically. One of them that had inverted colours, a shiny, had another ball in its hand and smiling.

"You know, if you accidentally kill me, Arphal might get pissed at you," Matthew said, ignoring the blood running down his face.

"I'm not planning to, I wouldn't want to ruin this fun we're having," the shiny responded and threw the other ball, most likely containing another stone. Matthew ducked his head to the side and felt the ball fly right by his head, the wind whistling in his ear as it went.

A light sigh of relief had just left his lips when he felt an impact on his head again, a sharp pain pierced through his skull and he began seeing stars. His eyes rolled lazily to one side and he saw a Lucario on the opposite side of him with an arm extended, most likely also part of the shiny's group.

"And I wouldn't want you to ruin it either," the shiny said, picking up another object from the ground. Another rock, this time, he didn't bother with the snow.

"Azen, stop."

Matthew and the shiny, apparently named Azen, turned their attention over to another Lucario brandishing a spear at the shiny.

"What the human says is true, the elder would grow angry if you killed the human before judgment," said Shali indifferently. She lowered her weapon and approached Azen. "You'll get your opportunity to throw your little stones in two days."

Matthew felt a small grin appear on his face from the fact that Shali was actually defending him, and then felt it immediately disappear from the tidal wave of guilt. At this point it had gotten so bad, he felt as though he should have let Azen keep beating him.

Azen's reaction though, was different. Matthew had expected him to be deterred in any way and yet, there was not a hint of that on his face. Quite the opposite, in fact. He smiled, and went face to face with Shali, who didn't falter for a moment. There was an eerie sort of confidence that Matthew could sense within Azen and in a split-second, through the fuzzy agony of his head, he started feeling afraid for Shali.

"No, I don't think I'll have time two days from now," he said, reaching out a hand and attempting to connect with Shali's but failing as she pulled away. He persisted. "Tomorrow, there is a little event scheduled where I will be… professing a certain thing, as I'm sure you're aware," his hand went down and slowly closed around Shali's spear then began making its way up, towards her hand. "And I think that the rest of that day, along with the next, I will be… expressing said thing."

Shali's gaze finally broke with Azen's and he used the opportunity to quickly scale up the spear and connect with her hand, carrying a sick smile as he did so. While she didn't wear it as openly as Matthew would if he was in her position, Matthew could feel the resentment coming off her expression. And as though Azen had acknowledged it, he smiled wider. Now Matthew was not only feeling afraid for her, he was feeling disgust and anger as well.

"So you see," Azen said, picking up another rock and breaking the connection between him and Shali, "I'm getting my worth in now." He drew his arm back for the throw and Matthew braced himself, but it never came. A shocked yelp of pain and the familiar thud of a rock was heard however.

"The elder won't care if you are included or not. So I suggest you back off now," said Shali, her voice slightly shaky but otherwise holding strong. Matthew opened his eyes to see her spear extended towards Azen and Azen holding his hand with a painful look. Blood dripped between his fingers and he stared with anger into Shali's eyes.

"I hope you realize what you just did," he said, beginning to approach Shali with confidence and vexation. Shali raised her spear, halting his progress.

"I do, so back off."

"That spear of yours will be useless tomorrow, you know weapons aren't allowed." In a quick move, he grabbed the spear and jerked it towards him, almost ripping it out of Shali's grasp. "And your fight is much weaker than mine." He jerked the spear again and it slipped another few inches away from Shali. The tip of the weapon was now across his chest, just under the spike that stuck out.

"Hey! Break it up!" said a gruff voice, lined with annoyance. Azen let go of Shali's spear and she herself stood towards the voice, Azen looking as though he gave little care. Matthew turned his head towards the voice, it was Tokala.

"What were you two doing?" he asked, standing in front of the two.

"Nothing, father. We were just messing around," said Shali, her head down and spear at her side.

Tokala looked over at Azen, "And you? Can you agree with what my daughter has said?"

Matthew suddenly felt the ache in his head go away and the swelling of his nose lower slightly. Confused at first, he realized Tokala was distracted by them and wasn't using the aura bind anymore.

"Yeah, I can agree," Azen said, not looking at Tokala.

"Good, I don't want to see you two fighting so close to the blessing tomorrow," he said. His eyes went over to Matthew, "This petty human shouldn't be the cause of any discord among you." Matthew had figured he would have put his aura back on him again but he still felt his healing powers slowly relieving pain.

Tokala walked off and was eventually out of Matthew's sight. He could still feel his powers working, had Tokala forgotten about him? Did he have another chance to escape that didn't involve taking advantage of someone else? It was possible and perhaps if the one guarding him didn't notice, he could teleport back into Goldenrod city. Team Saber would be waiting for him to show up but it wouldn't take much for him to get a new parka and get his energy back.

"Finally that old man is gone," he heard Azen say. There was a sudden yelp and then a quick silence and Matthew was quick to check out what was happening. His eyes widened at the sight and if his anger had spiked before, this time it had fucking exploded.

Shali's spear was on the ground and she had been put into a headlock by Azen, one hand covering her mouth. His face was close to hers and Matthew could see the discomfort in her eyes and the sense of achievement in Azen's.

Maybe it was part of his past that pulled the hair trigger that was wrath or perhaps his general sense of chivalry but he couldn't let this slide. Azen was not going to do this to Shali, there had to be a way,.

There was. But not unlike his plan, he didn't like the direction it took. He would be sacrificing an opportunity to escape and he might dig himself into a deeper hole while doing it.

Damn it, I can't believe I'm doing this, he thought.

"You shouldn't bother struggling, Shali. You're going to have to get used to this real soon," said Azen into her ear quietly.

Shali struggled, managing to knock one of his arms off her head but quickly having her lead off taken down. Muffled sounds came from her head and Azen chuckled at them.

"Just say you want me to let you go. That's all you have to do, Shali. Just say the words, it's not hard."

Again muffled sounds came from her but it only seemed to feed the growing smirk that Azen had.

"Just say it. Come on now, Shali. Or do you enjoy being like this, huh? Is this what you really want when we-" His statement was cut off when a projectile struck him in the head, barely missing Shali as it bounced off and landed on the ground.

Azen lost his grip on Shali and she pushed away from him, almost tripping but holding steady. Azen's group of cronies had backed off from the scene and all were shocked at what happened.

The shiny Lucario had let out a measly yip in surprise but made no other sounds. His head was to the ground and he was staring at the rock that he had been hit with. There was blood on it, his blood. He turned his head to the one he knew had been the one to throw it.

Matthew couldn't wipe the stupid grin off his face. And it was stupid in the sense that it completely gave him away, not that it would have mattered much. Azen knew it was him the moment he turned his way, there was no two ways about it.

"Human," Azen said darkly, giving Matthew a strong glare, "Did you throw that rock at me?"

Matthew gulped but still kept giving off a smile. "Uhh, no. But I have to give credit to whoever did because that was practically spot on to your thick skull," he said, giving a nervous laugh at the end.

Azen took a step towards Matthew and that laugh was very abruptly shut off. "Well that's a shame," he said, halfway to Matthew beginning to give off his own smile. He stopped in front of him. "Guess I'll have to settle for you then."

At the end of his sentence he reared his foot back and shot it right into his gut. Matthew felt all the air in him shoot out and an immeasurable amount of agony set in upon him. He barely had time to make a pained sound before a punch landed on his face, taking away the healing that his powers had done and giving plenty of extra damage.

"C'mon, get over here. The human's asking for it," Azen said to his group who quickly followed him over to the tree where Matthew was tied. He was a sitting duck.

Matthew began feeling his powers start to ease the pain before it was quickly shut off. He tensed, and in the corner of his eye he saw Tokala looking at him, a pleased expression was printed on his face.

I am so fucked, Matthew faintly thought.

A limb smashed against his torso, a fist or a foot, he wasn't sure, it was too fast for him to see. Just as the pain kicked in, he felt another impact on his right arm, then his left, then both his legs got the treatment.

It wasn't long into the beatdown when he was struck in the head again, seeing much bigger stars than he had when he was hit with the rock. Matthew felt himself scream but never heard it, he wasn't even sure if he got it out before a fist smashed into his mouth, chipping several teeth and splitting his lip.

Grey and black were building over the majority of his vision and he was quickly shutting his eyes for longer and longer, it didn't help that one Lucario hit an eye and made it completely swell shut. He couldn't go on for much longer.

Please let me have made the right choice, thought Matthew before he passed out from the pain.

Shali saw the group of Lucarios back away from Matthew and she gulped hard at what she saw. His face was nearly completely red with blood, most of which was still flowing from fresh wounds, one of his arms and one of his legs were bending at odd angles and his eyes were blackened and shut tight.

Azen spoke up, "Alright, let's get out of here. I don't want the elder seeing us like this." He walked off and his group followed, not turning back for Shali. None of them seemed to have been given a second thought.

The Lucario who was guarding Matthew had turned a blind eye to what happened but not a deaf ear, it was telling by his light smirk that he knew exactly what had transpired.

As soon as she saw Azen leave her sight she walked up to Matthew and observed him carefully, she couldn't help feeling a light knot of fear form. But the knot unravelled as she saw light breaths coming from his mouth. To assure herself that he wasn't, in fact, dead, she carefully put two fingers on the nape of his neck and sighed as she felt the faint pulse of a heartbeat.

"What happened here?" a voice said that made Shali stand up straight. She turned to see the elder. But he wasn't speaking to her, only to the guard. "Did you beat him?"

"No, elder. Azen was the one who beat him, he thought the human threw a rock at him," the guard replied.

"And did he?" the elder asked, looking over at the unconscious human, not feeling any pity.

"No," said Shali, making herself known. The elder looked over and she felt her words getting stuck in her throat, never had she lied to the elder before. "Someone else did, none of us saw it coming. We're not sure who did it."

There didn't appear to be any question in the elder's eyes but Shali didn't take the risk of lowering her guard. "Well is he still alive?" the elder asked.

"Yes, apparently. But I doubt he could take another beating like that." Shali kept her steady appearance.

"Well then," the elder said, turning over to the guard, "Make sure no one else comes close. There is still a judgment to be held." He nodded once to the both of them and they bowed back. He went off without a second glance.

The guard resumed his general pose while Shali looked at the human. It was good that he was still alive. Tomorrow had always held a sense of apprehension but after what she saw today, it was all the more reason to push on. There was no backing down now.

Nightfall was quick to set in due to the shorter days of winter and Shali was standing in front of Matthew once more, guarding and binding him with aura. She had made a reminder to herself to not use as much so she could last longer. So far it had paid off.

She did regular check-ins with the human, making sure his pulse and breath were still there. Azen had done quite a number on him and she couldn't be too careful, there were other Lucarios who faced his anger and had gotten out a lot worse.

Most, if not all, of the Lucarios were asleep by now. She imagined she would be talking to Matthew right now but it still had yet to happen due to his unconsciousness. There had to be something done.

She leaned down in front of the human, the wounds still looking as fresh as they were when he first got them. Her paw found the way over to his shoulder again. The aura healing was not made for physical wounds but it could invigorate the aura to be more active, that was what she really needed right now.

The aura from her began to connect with his, slowly working its way through his body. From her paw's placement, she could feel his pulse quicken and his body made a sudden jolt.

Matthew's eyes opened, well, only one did. The other was still black and firmly swelled shut. "Wh-what happened?"

"You were beat up, pretty badly too," she replied, putting her paw at her side again.

He turned his head both ways, making pained noises at the effort it took him. "Are they gone?"

"They're far from here, you don't have to worry."

He nodded his head and looked down. His eyes set on his twisted limbs as he gave a groan. "Fuck, that hurts… Did they really had to go all out on me? I was tied down for Arceus's sake.."

"Trust me, if they had gone all out, there wouldn't be much of you left. I'm surprised there still is even after that," she said.

He sighed, looking at his broken arm. He attempted to move it and hissed at the sensation. "Gahhh… Hey, Shali?" he asked, ignoring the flare in his arm.

"Yes?"

"Could you… let go of my aura for a little bit? Not long or anything, I… just need to do something."

Shali was suspicious, as she had every right to be, but went against her common sense. Matthew felt the sudden release of aura from his body.

His healing powers were immediately switched on, quickly fixing the several cuts, bruises and scrapes he had acquired. He could feel a series of forced movements in his chest, most likely broken ribs, and felt ease when they stopped in the right place. The same process repeated with his twisted limbs. Then his swollen, black eye, dissipated back into healthy skin and depth perception returned to him. The only thing that he couldn't remove from his face was the dried blood.

He became aware of the stare that was being aimed at him. Shali's eyes were wide with surprise and he couldn't blame her, this wasn't exactly common to see. But he didn't think to much about it, he just felt too damn good that his injuries were gone.

"How are you able to heal so fast?" asked Shali, kneeling down to eye level with him. "Does it relate to your psychic at all?"

Matthew felt himself choke on his own spit and coughed roughly. How did she know? Oh, shit. She saw me throw that rock, didn't she? He cleared his throat and looked at Shali, who appeared a bit worried for him. The guilt spiked again, he forced his eyes away.

"Yes… Yes it is. It's a long story and I really don't feel like telling it right now, okay?" he said, trying to push the matter off as fast he could. He didn't need to meddle in explaining what had happened so long ago when there were more pressing matters at hand. "I bet it seems really weird, seeing a human with white hair and psychic powers?"

"And one that can heal fast too."

He gave a smirk, "Yeah, well just wait until I get hit with a dark type attack, then I'm not healing too well." Shali just stared at him and he made a face, "I guess that wasn't a good joke."

"I didn't realize it was a joke," she said, tilting her head.

Well if I wasn't funny then, I doubt I'm funny now. "My bad, I just… kinda wanted to get the conversation away from the… you know what."

She nodded her head and said, "I can understand that. But if I may ask this, why did you stop Azen?" She gave a smile, as though she knew exactly the question she needed to ask.

Matthew nearly choked again but calmed himself. "Well I guess I could ask the same from you," he said in rebuttal.

"I did it because I was worried about you. I didn't want you to get hurt because your a nice person. I know I won't be able to stop your execution but you don't deserve to be beaten up before then," she said in confidence.

He was speechless, and he had no idea how to respond to it. The guilt that he carried on his back suddenly increase in weight. He lowered his head, "You.. uh.. are really blunt, aren't you, Shali?"

"Blunt? What does that mean?"

"You know, saying things without a filter or anything. Sometimes it comes off as a bit too truthful or something"

She tilted her head again and she had an expression that was… sad? That didn't seem right to Matthew. "It was the truth, Matthew. Why did you think I was being… 'blunt'?"

He quickly realized his mistake and allowed the guilt to take him, there wasn't much more of this he could take. She had even used his actual name. "No, no, don't take it the wrong way, please.." Shali lost a bit of her sadness that was replaced by confusion. "It's… been a while since I heard someone say to me that they care for me, I wasn't ready for it, I'm sorry."

She lost the rest of her sadness and ended in indifference. Matthew had no idea what that meant but didn't want to read her mind to find out, he thought it was a rather big breach of privacy.

Shali stood up and walked to the right, eventually leaving his sight. He sighed, he had messed up. He blew his chance but maybe it was for the best? There couldn't be trust broken now, and he could figure out a way to escape without hurting anyone else. Tokala forgot the aura bind before, he might do it again, and this time he would take advantage of it. He would teleport out of here, he would get his energy back, he would-

"Hey."

Matthew turned his head to the right. Shali's hand was extended, holding a couple berries in the palm. They were pink, spherical and had a light dusting of snow on them.

"They're magost berries. You haven't eaten all day so take them," she said, pushing her hand forward.

"No, I'm.. I'm not that hungry, Shali," he said, pushing her hand away without really trying. Why? Why couldn't she have left? Why couldn't she have not brought the berries? I don't want to break her trust, this isn't fucking right! He gave his head a shake, finding a meek smile through it all. "You can eat them, I don't mind."

"Matthew. You need to eat, and you are hungry, your aura says so," she said, pushing her hand forward again. He looked at the berries thoughtfully.

This is your chance, he thought. This is your chance to cut yourself off with Shali and not break her trust that much. Just reject the food, stop the conversation and let everything else play out as it were. There are other solutions to this that you can follow through with, it's without a doubt trickier than this would be but it would be clean. He felt his eyes go from the berries to the ground, then back to the berries, then to Shali's face which emanated assurance, then back to the berries. Make your choice, Matthew. And pray that it's the right one.

His hand raised, then lowered, then quickly shot up and took the berries from Shali's paw. He shoved his palm against his mouth and took in all the berries at once, creating a ring of pinkish red around his lips. Oh Arceus, these are good, he thought impulsively, his mind not quite catching up with his choice.

"Wow, I can't believe you actually took the berries. Hope that was your brain's choice and not your stomach's," a voice said, filling Matthew with dread.

Fuck off, Neo.

"I just feel I should know where you're taking us with this plan because frankly, it's looking pretty shitty right now," said Neo, walking out from thin air and standing behind Shali, slightly to the left of her.

Matthew gulped the berries down, leaving him with a nice sweet aftertaste and tried to ignore the presence of his twin. "Thanks for the berries, Shali. I guess I did need them."

She actually smiled at that, and for a moment he didn't want her to notice that Neo was being active again. "Your welcome."

He didn't know if he was doing the right thing anymore. He had to follow through with this, didn't he? Tokala forgot the aura, sure, but only once and he wouldn't dare forget again. If Matthew decided to break it off with Shali and go through with that, it would be like taking on a deathly one-sided bet.

"But I wonder if there's another reason, Matthew. Is there another reason you want to continue this whole thing?" said Neo. His voice wasn't malicious or even evil in any way, it was rather strong but thoughtful as well.

There was another reason, but it didn't matter. In the state he was in, incorporating such reasoning as that would be irrational. I said fuck off, Neo.

"Right, right. I guess you have a long night of building trust, don't ya?" Neo disappeared.

"Why don't you tell me why you saved me from Azen now?" asked Shali. She caught his eyes again, and he felt himself get choked up.

"Ah, right.. Heheh, I almost forgot," he said, wiping the berry juice ring around his mouth with his hand. "I've dealt with those like Azen before and I really don't want anything that happened to me to happen to anyone else."

"When did you deal with those like him?"

"When I was-" he cut himself off. No, this can't get too personal. I can't open myself up, that only leads to disaster. "It's… part of that long story I told you about, alright?"

"Okay, then. Is there any other reason?" she asked, giving him eyes that said, 'I know there is, I just want you to say it.'

"I think it goes along the same lines as your reasoning. Well, sans the whole execution part," he said, nearly whispering it. There was hesitation in whether he wanted to answer that way, it came through as somewhat personal.

Shali nodded and sat down, allowing their eye contact to fall in line with one another. There was a sort of freeze in the air, the chill of the night seemed to fade away, the thin moonlight passing through the canopy bathed them in bluish white light. It became evident to Matthew that this was the most calm he had felt in over a decade. No Neo. No powers. No Team Saber. And he sighed, a white cloud of breath blew down to the ground.

"Well thank you for that, having to deal with him is just too much for me," she said. Her smile faltered, only a little, but it was noticeable.

"Yeah, those kinds of people are pretty hard to deal with… I guess you just kinda got to acknowledge that they are who they are and move on, right?" he said, trying to bring her back up although with little success.

She snickered, but it was out of bitterness, "It's pretty hard to move on when they seem to follow you."

"So try running, it'll be pretty hard for them to keep up if your determined enough and-" He stopped talking as he realized Shali's head had drooped down and her spear shook slightly. "Sorry, I… I took it too far, didn't I?" he asked hesitantly.

She shook her head, "No. What you say certainly sounds appealing," she sighed, "but it is against the Aperta tribe's code to run away from the problem, we stay and we hold our ground, no matter the cost."

"And if the cost is too much?"

"Then we fight and last as long as we can," she said, her head coming back up. It bore a rather small simper but it shined very nicely on her.

Matthew shared the expression, "Well, clearly you and I have very different ways of thinking." He adjusted his sitting position, "If I counted the number of times I've run away from anything, I'd be talking all night."

"You didn't run away when Azen was attacking me, did you?" said Shali. There was silence from Matthew, he wasn't thinking of anything to say against that because in a whole, it was true.

"I guess you could say I'm turning over a new leaf, one that's kinda hard for me to turn over but one I'm following through with," he said, rubbing the berry juice ring in an attempt to remove it, although it seemed like it was nearly frozen on.

"Is it because you wanted to turn it over though? Or were you forced to?"

He became perplexed, "What kind of question.." His eyes focussed on her aura sensors which were lifted up. Right. The aura. he thought. "... Forced. Definitely forced." He tried rubbing off the berry juice again and stopped trying this time, "Give me a second here, Shali…"

Matthew looked up and saw several far up branches coated in snow. He raised a hand toward the canopy, feeling the familiar flow of energy gather through his arm into his hand. Soon, his fingertips were alight with a pink plasmatic energy. Then at once, he pushed it out and it was sent towards the branches. He could feel the snow collecting in the mass of energy and pulled back as soon as he felt the right amount was reached.

The energy returned towards him, like an ebbing tide going back to sea. It carried with it a large ball of snow, much bigger than the ones Azen and his group had thrown at him. It appeared to be the size of a head you would see on a snowman. He dragged the ball closer to him and let it rest just a foot away from his face.

"Your psychic is quite powerful," said Shali, looking quite amused at Matthew's display.

He smiled at the comment. "Thanks, Shali. I'm not done yet though," he said, turning his attention back to the ball.

The energy holding the ball changed colour from a pink to a rich magenta, and it also seemed to flare up more actively than before. The ball, originally white as paper, turned clearer and clearer until it was transparent with only tiny black specks as the impurities. The snow had now turned into water.

But Matthew wasn't finished yet. He continued feeding energy into the water ball until it bubbles began to form and steam came off of the top. He looked at the ball and was quite satisfied with what he had made.

"It almost looks like an aura sphere," she said, reaching out to touch it. Her paw fazed through the energy as if it weren't there and made contact with the water. She attempted to push through but it was though there was a thin film around the water, preventing her access. "What are you planning on doing with it?" she asked.

"First thing," he said, bringing the water ball closer to him, "I need water, and the warmth of it will help my body temperature." He brought the water to his mouth and began drinking out of it. Looking from the outside, it would have appeared that he was sucking air out of a balloon as the ball decreased in volume.

He finished, the ball about half as big as it used to be, only about the size of a small volleyball. "Holy shit, I needed that," he said contentedly.

"Now, to get this berry juice off me." The energy from his hands slowly shifted pushed the sphere into a disk. He put another hand under it as its width became larger than his one hand. Using his hands, he pushed the water disk onto his face and began rubbing it around as though he were using a washcloth. His pores opened up from the warm water making contact, allowing him to absorb more warmth.

Soon thereafter, he removed the water disk. His face was dripping with water but it was clean, not only the berry stain but the solidified blood that remained of his injuries as well. He wiped the water off using his forearm.

"Wait," said Shali, catching his attention and making him nearly breaking the hold on the water.

"What?" he replied, again using the energy to make the water bubble but kept increasing the flow through it and eventually caused all the water to steam off, leaving him with nothing in his palms.

"They're going to notice that there aren't any marks on you."

He nodded, "Well I guess that second use for my water was pretty useless then." His arm went down and grabbed a chunk of cold earth. "Time to get dirty again, I guess."

He rubbed the dirt over his face, it was hard to do due to the frozen nature of the dirt but he managed. When he finished, his face resembled that of a child who imagined that diving into a mud puddle was the best thing in the world. Matthew didn't mind however, if it covered his face, which it sure felt like it did, it was fine. "How do I look?" he asked, grinning.

"Dirty. Very, very dirty," said Shali, giving a grin back. "Wait, you missed a spot…" She took her open paw and dragged it through the soil. She brought it back up and leaned in towards his face.

He instinctively recoiled at the approaching paw but then relaxed as a thought came to him. Not anyone dangerous, not anyone dangerous, it's only Shali.

Her paw brushed against his lower left cheek and through the light roughness of the dirt, felt a comforting paw that he could feel the urge to lean into. No, don't let it get too personal, this can't happen, you can't let it get to you.

And just as this became apparent to him, he felt it leave. "There, all covered up," said Shali, leaning back into her position. "I don't think they'll be able to tell now."

"Th-thanks," said Matthew. His mind wandered, and he was unsure about where the direction it was taking. Did Shali genuinely care for him? It was a terribly bittersweet question that he had to come to terms with. If true, then following through with his plan could cause him to lose something he might never regain. He had had that happen to him a few times, it was something he didn't want to repeat.

But if she didn't? Was that even worse? He didn't know. He didn't want to know either.

"You know, you certainly do act different around me than you do with the tribe," he said, trying to get the conversation to change.

She turned to a stoic appearance. "One of the aspects of wearing a mask is that you can always choose who you want to reveal your true self to," she said. Out of the corner of Matthew's eye he saw her grip on the spear tighten, instantly he felt a pit in his stomach.

"A-and you chose t-to reveal yourself to me?" he asked nervously, fixated on the weapon.

The weapon lowered and her expression became less serious, "No. It would be rather silly if I did that to a random human who I was tasked with guarding." She smiled, and that gave Matthew some relief.

"Right, right… Umm… So how about that blessing your father was talking about? What's with that?"

Once again, she became stoic, then it took a few steps forward and became an odd mix of somber and something he couldn't quite put his finger on. Bitterness? It seemed close but it also didn't seem entirely true either.

"You know how you have your long story?"

"Sure, yeah."

"Well I have mine as well."

"And if I told you my story would you tell me yours in return?"

She became thoughtful for a moment then said, "No, I don't think I would. Sorry if you thought so."

"I don't mind. But does it have anything to do with Azen?" He suddenly regretted his decision as Shali showed her pointed teeth through an unsettling growl. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I took it too far again," he said with hitching breaths, unsure of what Shali would do next.

"Yes. Yes, you did take it too far." And at those words he felt his muscles tense. Then her teeth were hidden by her muzzle again and the growl subsided. "But again, you didn't know. I can at least accept that."

He sighed mightily, "I didn't know you hated him that much. I mean, he's a total asshole, no doubt about that, but I guess there's a lot more to your reasoning."

"There is. You haven't been around him for over fifteen season cycles. You don't know what he's done to others."

He felt it was safe to assume that a 'season cycle' was their version of a year. What he didn't feel was safe, was to think about what Azen had done to others. If this is what he, Matthew, looked like after his group beat him up and apparently didn't go all out, then he would have hated to know what happened to those who faced the full wrath of him. "And nobody stops him?"

"He's the strongest fighter here, stronger than the elder even, nobody would dare try to stop him. On top of that, he was born shiny. And considering the rarity of him, he's been treated like a near equal to the elder from some."

"Okay, I can kind of see where this is going. Being treated like this, he must have gotten an over-inflated ego quite quickly."

"Yes, the problem is nobody can cut him down to size because no one is strong enough."

"I bet I could take him on."

She laughed, "Really? Don't misjudge, your psychic and healing is impressive but I don't think it would be enough to take him on."

He smirked, "Come on, don't think just because I'm a human I can't hold my own. Especially with this power."

She simply shrugged. "Perhaps."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing that you need to worry about."

"Now that just makes me worry a million times more."

They were smiling for a while and that felt good to Matthew. What didn't feel good was the guilt. The fucking guilt that he was still carrying, that he had the opportunity to leave behind and yet didn't. Why? Because he knew what he did. He let it get personal. He let it get the tiniest bit personal and he was regretting it all the same. He never intended it to go like this but now, the momentum was too fast, too hot. So what now? There was no other way but to break her trust.

"Hey," she said.

"Let me guess, you won't be guarding me tomorrow and I shouldn't talk to whoever's going to, am I right?"

"Yes but there's more," she said, grimacing. "If certain things occur tomorrow, I won't be guarding you that night either."

"Oh, why?" he said with some interest. Inside however, he was freaking out. The entire point of him building trust with her to convince her to release him would be for nothing if he couldn't get to the last step. Now what was he supposed to do? He couldn't just ask her now, there was no way she would say yes. Not after just mentioning she wouldn't be here.

"It's part of that long story I told you about," she said with a smile, but it was one without much weight to its purpose. It was missing something and as much as he wanted to, Matthew stayed away from finding out what.

"Okay then, I guess if you're saying that we must be done talking for the night?"

"Yes."

With that, Matthew felt his powers leave him. The aura bind had taken hold and there was most likely nothing he could do now. What was there to do now? All this trust building, all this guilt carrying, it was now nothing. But there was still tomorrow, and if an opportunity arose, he would take it no matter what the cost to him.

"Wow. You fucked up so badly, Matthew. I had no idea you had it in you after that mess up with Team Saber," said Neo, remaining out of sight.

Shut up. It's not over yet, there is still tomorrow. And I intend to take every opportunity to get out of here.

"I wonder, if you do manage to get out of here, would you really want to leave?"

What do you even mean? He was becoming increasingly disinterested and annoyed by Neo. If there was the one thing he didn't need right now, it would Team Saber first, then Neo right after.

"That reason. That extra reason you didn't decide to tell Shali."

He didn't know how to respond to that, so all he did was say in his head, Leave, Neo. I'm going to get some sleep.

This time it was Neo who didn't reply, which was not something that eased him into a good sleep. But he managed to after several minutes, his head resting against tree bark.

Shali, however, wouldn't be able to sleep even if she was permitted to. There were far too many things on her mind to even imagine resting. Things had to go very well, nearly perfect, tomorrow or otherwise things looked very dismal for her. But she believed that it would work because at this point, there were very little things she could believe in. Even Sphaera, who had given her family the gift of aura binding, seemed to have turned away.

Turning her head, she saw the human had fallen asleep. She almost instinctively put her paw under his neck to check his pulse again and giggled at her attempt. That laughter faded as she remembered tomorrow.

Tomorrow, she thought, Tomorrow is when fate is decided.

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Peace!

-Minusbomb