Velvet immediately dove off of the treetop and landed on her feet and open palm. The shadow of the Nevermore grew larger as it sunk down towards its prey. A wave of fear swept over her as, in an instant, she was able to fully recollect all of the tales that she had heard of fights with such terrifying beasts as the Nevermore. All of the repressed memories of all of the fallen Huntsmen and Huntresses who were brave enough to stand against it came flowing back like a dam that had been welled up for a century. A cold sweat broke over her, and she froze in a trance. Her eyes stayed on the fast-approaching beast.
"Velvet, what's wron-" Hansel began. With that small, unfinished inquiry, Velvet snapped into gear, her mind immediately clearing.
They may have fallen, but I am not them. I will live to see tomorrow. I will do what we do best: survive. I may fall, but not like this. It won't be by your hand.
Velvet silenced him by tightly clutching his wrist once more. She pulled the both of them out of harm's way just as the Nevermore's head crashed through the trees and slammed into the earth that had just supported them.
The beast, having apparently lost sight of its prey, soared upwards once more in what Velvet recognized as the Grimm's attempt to gain a large amount of momentum for its subsequent strike. Hansel swore and undertook the task of pulling his partner away from the scene of the latest attack.
Like nearly all of creatures of Grimm that Velvet had seen in her life, the Nevermore had a mask-like, white bony structure that overlayed the upper front of its head. It also possessed four menacing, glowing red eyes, two of which on each side of its head for heightened vision. It's black body, as Velvet had been taught, was almost impenetrable by most weapons.
So that begs the question: How do we take it down? Hansel is almost totally out of Dust, and I'm not sure if my Hard-Light weapons will be enough to kill it. I suppose we'll just have to do some preliminary attacks to gauge our chances."I'll go up and try to hit it head on. It won't be easy, but I'll do it. We can gauge its vulnerabilities that way, and, when and if we have that information, we can attack it head-on?"
"Head on? Velvet, you're crazy. Unfortunatley for you, I like crazy. You do what you need to. Just don't die. I'll kill you if you do." Hansel laughed softly and backed away to allow Velvet ample space to summon Icarina's wings.
She looked upward and summoned the copy of the wings. Her knees bent, and she propelled herself upward. With her heightened vision, she saw the distant Nevermore turn and begin its descent in her direction as soon as Velvet was above the trees. Velvet aligned her body in the proper direction and ascended at a rapid pace, on a direct course for the beast that sought to kill her.
It took a matter of seconds for Velvet to come face-to-face with her adversary. In a deadly gamble, she steeled herself to not divert from her course until the last possible moment. When the beast was but mere meters away, Velvet manipulated her own momentum and barrel-rolled to momentary safety away from the razor-sharp beak of the Nevermore. Its body was a black blur in her peripheral vision as the world spun around her.
Two more spins in the air followed her initial action before she made herself stationary. Velvet looked down to see that, much to her satisfaction, the Nevermore had placed all of its attention on her. The Grimm turned itself to Velvet once more and ascended. Not taking her eyes off of the creature, Velvet ascended further, as she had initially planned to.
Once she was high enough to feel slightly light-headed and able to see the curvature of Remnant, she replaced her wings with a bow and a quiver of arrows slung over her back. As gravity overtook her, Velvet placed one of the arrow copies over the string of it's bow counterpart.
She straightened her body and blocked out the wind that whistled around her. Another period of waiting preceded the firing of the arrow copy. During this, Velvet summoned three more arrows and clutched them tightly. She added another arrow to the one that had already been on the string, took a deep breath, then waited until the Nevermore was on top of her once more.
As she did before, Velvet barrel rolled out of harm's way. As the trees grew ever closer, she wasted no time in firing the four arrows in pairs of two at the back end of the Nevermore. She was certain that, like most armored creatures and vehicles she'd encountered in the past, the heaviest portion of the armor was located at the front. With this in mind, she lost her arrows and resummoned Icarina's wings.
A wave of angst and frustration filled her as she watched the arrows fly into the hide of her enemy and shatter. From what she could see, there was no damage inflicted on the Nevermore.
"Not so much as a flinch." Velvet thought aloud.
As the monster turned once more in another attempt to slay Velvet, its enemy formulated yet another plan in her mind. She waited until the beast, as it had done twice before, dove for her. Contrary to the two previous occasions, however, Velvet pushed herself back and waited until the beast had nearly passed her once more. When the lower back of the Nevermore made itself seen, Velvet pushed forward and tightly clutched into it and held on for dear life.
The Grimm dove upwards once more, apparently unaware of the teenage girl that had desperately hitched a ride on its back. She watched as its head tilted downwards and side-to-side, seemingly looking for prey.
"Velvet!" Hansel cried out from a distance that was unseen to her.
No no no. What are you doing, idiot? I'm fine. I know what I'm doing. You're creating an unecessary risk by crying out. Velvet mentally scolded, not wanting to make any verbal actions at the risk of being discovered by the Nevermore.
"Velvet, hold on! I'm coming!"
Ugh, you IDIOT! Stay where you are!
Velvet silently debated the best course of action for her particular situation, then elected the one that, while being the fastest, would also be the most dangerous for her.
"No! Stay!" She said quickly, yet loudly.
Her attempt failed on both levels. The Nevermore looked back at Velvet, then tried in vain to tilt its head back to snap at her. Its attention then turned to Hansel when he began to strike him with his Wind-and-Fire wheels. Hansel was only able to perform a few strikes before he sunk back to the ground.
The Nevermore sunk low and tore apart a large part of the woods. Velvet looked over the edge of the creature to see if her companion had survived the assault. Not being able to make confirmation, Velvet took a large risk and jumped off of the low-flying Grimm. When her descent reached the treeline, Velvet grabbed onto nearby branches to soften her fall. Once her feet were on the ground, Velvet wasted no time in sprinting to the new clearing in the trees that the Nevermore had made.
Her eyes darted across the scene to see if she could spot her friend. Velvet sprinted from downed tree to downed tree, calling out Hansel's name to no avail. Finally, she found him. He was unconcious, but breathing(Velvet made it her first priority to ensure that he was alive). Two large trees had left Hansel pinned, making it impossible for Velvet to rely on her physical strength to free him.
Looking up to make sure that the Nevermore was not attempting to attack once more, She summoned a large battle-ax copy. Velvet placed her sights on an area of the top tree that was barely a safe distance from Hansel. She raised the ax over her head and swung it down as hard as she could. To her surprise, she was able to split both of the trees with her single strike.
The next several minutes were occupied with Velvet's struggle to lift the four sections of the two trees off of Hansel. Though her outfit would not permit one to see, all of the muscles in her arms and legs flexed as she slowly lifted each section over herself and off to the side, away from her operations. Hansel had remained unresponsive through this, the only sign of his vitality being the perodic lifting of his midsection. Aside from the times that she gazed upwards to reassure herself of their safety, her eyes never left Hansel. A wave of concern and anxiety had raged through Velvet as a river might a mountain.
In her own mind, she felt that the only one to be held responsible in the event of Hansel's death would be herself. Velvet refused to accept that such a fate would befall Hansel. She refused to allow the possibility to come to fruition, and resolved to do everything in her power to see that no such events would transpire.
As long as there is a breath within me, as long as I can stand and fight, I will stand against evil and protect the ones that I love. No one will die while I am there to protect them. I'll die before I lose anyone, like my father before me.
Velvet proceeded to repeat this in her mind like a mantra. She lifted the last log off of Hansel, giving her reason to replace her feelings of woe and desperation with those of relief. Such relief was extinguished by the noise of the Nevermore's flapping wings. Velvet's ears flickered as the flapping came ever closer, trying to find, once more, the best course of action for their current predicament. Velvet elected that it was in both of thier best interests to have Velvet run with Hansel to shelter (despite Velvet not knowing of such a place) and wait until he was rested enough to regain conciousness. Then, the two would formulate some sort of plan, based on the intelligence that Velvet gathered.
I just have to get him away from here first, though.
Velvet lifted up Hansel's limp body and struggled to hoist him over her back. She then began to run as fast as she could in such a position. Hansel's body bumped up and down with every step that she took. This was put out of mind, knowing that slowing psychologically would be just as deadly as slowing physically.
Velvet had clutched Hansel's wrists in a death grip to ensure that she would not further impede their rush to safety by having to pick him up off of the ground.
Her eyes darted through the trees in desperation. She was perfectly aware of the dire nature in which their predicament was, and how imperative it was to get Hansel out of danger. Velvet looked up once more to see if they were being followed, and was pleased to see that there were no such followers to speak of.
Reassured that they were safe for another few moments more, Velvet placed her eyes at ground level once more. After several more minutes of dashing through the dense woods and looking upwards, Velvet saw it. It was a large cave that had the potential to house the both of them. A gasp of disbelief and joy passed her lips at the sight of the rocky formation. She found a second wind within her and began to sprint at speeds that she once thought unattainable by human or Faunus. The forests' landscape seemed to speed past her, being insignificant as compared to her view of the cave, their only available sanctuary.
She could almost taste the lost sense of asylum when, as it had done so many times prior in this saga of Velvet's life, a screeching cry from above thrust her back into reality. She craned her neck back and saw that their familiar beast had dived once more in its latest attack. As before, it tore through the treeline, not having any regards for its surroundings when faced with its persistently elusive prey. Velvet swore under her breath, then placed all of her energy with sprinting as fast as she could with Hansel in tow.
One foot after the other sent her closer to her destination. The dead leaves and branches crackled under her feet as she pushed herself past the normal limits of her own endurance. Despite her desperate attempts, Velvet was unable to calm her heart rate and block out the noise of the impending predator behind them. She decided to compensate and only keep her eyes (she couldn't help but keep her ears trained on the Nevermore behind them) on her target ahead.
Velvet eyeballed the entrance to the cave and wagered that, if she was to run them into the cave deep enough, then the Nevermore wouldn't be able to reach them. She hated gambling with their lives like this, but it had to be done, ironically, for their survival. A mental note was made to laugh at this paradox when their lives weren't in immediate mortal danger. For the moment, she continued sprinting.
The trees nearer than Velvet would've preferred exploded in splinters behind her. Despite her strong urges, she refused to look back out of fear that it would slow her down enough for the Nevermore to grab them in her beak. A mental image of such a scene filled Velvet's mind, prompting her to run faster. The cave entrance was ever closer, as was the relationship Velvet felt with death.
The Nevermore let out another screeching cry. It nearly made Velvet and her sensitive ears stop cold in her tracks, but she pushed on. Tears had begun to stream down her face as a result of the combination of the searing pain that her weary body experienced, along with the strain on her hearing. Yet, in spite of this, she pushed on still. Velvet was aware just how much was on her shoulders(in a figurative sense, of course. She'd been well-aware of Hansel's weight for some time) in that moment.
Finally, after what felt so long and drawn-out, they reached their destination. Velvet slid Hansel onto the floor as far into the cavern as her weary body could manage. Before she could see just how far, Velvet was forced to dive forward as well. The Nevermore sent a rush of air forward as it(at least, it's what Velvet thought that it did) snapped at her back in final attempt to capture at least one part of its prey.
Fortunately for Velvet, however, it failed. She rolled onto her side and continued rolling until Hansel stopped her. Wasting no time, Velvet turned to see if her earlier gamble had paid off. If it didn't, the both of them would have mere seconds left to live. Apprehension plagued her nerves. Velvet had rarely questioned herself more than she had in that instant. Shortly thereafter, there were rarely any other moments in which Velvet had felt more pleased with herself.
The Nevermore struggled in vain to penetrate the boulders that made up the entrance of the cave. It successively backed up and slammed itself into the entrance. Small pebbles fell onto Velvet's head with each strike against the cave entrance and all the mountain around. Velvet supported herself on her elbows and laid on her back. The Nevermore poked it's beak into the hole, then looked into the cave with two of its four eyes.
Velvet felt a smirk cross her lips as she reveled in the idea that she had cheated death by a hair. Once the Nevermore flew away, but not far(Velvet could still hear the sound of flapping wings and screeching cries), Velvet laid flat on her back and stared up at the roof of the cavern. Hansel still recovered next to her, curled onto his side in the position that Velvet had slid him into. Along with the dissonant noises of their would-be assassin in the exterior of the cave, she heard his soft breathing. Oddly enough, the sound of his breathing calmed her for reasons she had no way of grasping at the moment.
"What are we gonna do, Hansel? How are we gonna get out of this? Any bright ideas?" Velvet asked of her unconscious companion. She looked over to Hansel, knowing that there would be no response. Velvet looked back to the ceiling, then looked to the entrance. Her mind began to attempt to formulate a plan that would liberate them current plight. Initially, she thought of nothing. However, upon recalling her success with the cave entrance and the Nevermore, a stroke of what she thought to be pure genius struck her.
"What if I were able to do it again? With a bigger hole? One that could keep him lodged long enough for us to escape? I think that I saw that the Emerald Mountains are near here. I could use that, then come back here and take Hansel out of here. All I have to do is not die. Nice." Velvet thought aloud, stroking her chin as she did so. A soft chuckle passed her lips as the revelation entered its final stages.
Without another word, Velvet stood and placed her eyes on Hansel. She placed her hands under his armpits and began to lift. His feet scraped across the cavern floor as Velvet placed her friend in a particularly dark section of said cavern. It was a near-certainty that no human intruders would be able to see him here without any form of visual assistance.
A dire probability passed her mind. Velvet pondered whether or not she would be able to protect her sleeping companion from any nonhuman entities. She was sure that Hansel would be safe from the Grimm so long as he refrained from having any nightmares. That only left the danger of Fauna bandits that may be roaming about nearby.
It pained Velvet to think of how she would briefly be unable to provide protection to her friend. The thought of simply waiting crossed her mind, but she silently feared the possibility of the Nevermore breaking through the cave entrance or cave in the entrance in its frantic attempts to. If they were to both be caved in, then they would surely die. Velvet would take the less-likely risk of Hansel being discovered. Velvet elected to put an end to this threat, there and then, alone.
With a newfound sense of confidence, Velvet walked over to the entrance of the cave and poked her head out. The sky that she saw was only populated with puffs of white clouds, no black masses to speak of. Her eyes continued to scan the skies until her target was located. It was circling their position, occasionally craning its neck down, seemingly attempting to locate any prey that would be attempting escape. Velvet ducked back into the cave whenever she saw this.
She took several more deep breaths, now realizing just how difficult this plan would be to execute. Velvet darted her head out once more, failing to attract the attention of the Nevermore. Waiting to see if its head would crane down(and being subsequently satisfied that there were no such movements to speak of), Velvet darted out into the nearby treeline. Her mind contemplated how to successfully attract the attention of the beast a safe distance away from Hansel and the cave.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw that she was standing next to one of the areas where the Nevermore had decimated the trees. She knew that it was far too close to the cave, but it gave her yet another idea.
If I can find one of those areas again, farther away from here, that'd be the perfect place to do what I need to.
Velvet looked to the area around her to see if she would be able to spot one these areas from ground level. Her mind had been in so many places, she had forgotten where they had come from, much to her own chagrin. It didn't take long to locate one of these areas with her heightened vision, however. She spotted many uprooted and splintered trees a short distance away and resolved to make it there alive. Her eyes darted upwards one final time, then she brought them back to her destination.
From tree to tree, she darted closer to the clearing. After a time, Velvet began to actively try to attract the attention of the Grimm. While still sprinting, she began to whistle and flail her arms about. Velvet called out the Nevermore's name in a shouting manner. The cry of the Nevermore gave Velvet an indication that her plan had sprung beautifully.
Looking backwards and up, there was visual confirmation given to this indication. The Nevermore was swooping down once more on her position. Velvet ran faster towards the clearing, for she could not put the next part of her plan in motion unless the Nevermore were to see her out in the open. She looked forward, and was pleased to see that she was mere steps away from her clearing.
Velvet rushed to the center of the clearing and turned to face her enemy. The Nevermore tilted its body back and shot a barrage of spear-like quills from its underside in Velvet's direction. Velvet primed herself, then leapt upwards onto the nearest quill. She performed this action in rapid succession, repeating it until she was able to jump onto the back of the Nevermore once more.
The Grimm attempted to knock Velvet off by spinning, but to no avail. She clutched onto the feathers, then put herself in a crouching position. Once the Nevermore stopped spinning for just a moment, Velvet sprinted to the head of the creature. Once she was at the tip of its head, she dove off and employed Icarina's wings. She sped forward towards the Emerald Mountains, hoping that the predator would attempt to follow her. Out of her peripheral vision, Velvet turned her head back ever so slightly and saw that the Nevermore had indeed taken the bait.
She sped forward, doing everything she could to keep herself ahead of the beast that closely trailed. The Emerald Mountains were extremely close, only a matter of minutes away. Velvet knew that, if she could make it to the mountains alive, then she would have to then try to find a cave or crevice in the mountain to trap the Grimm. It was all a matter of staying alive long enough to do it.
The Nevermore screeched behind Velvet once more, causing her to flinch. Velvet dashed forward to make up for any momentum that her flinching may have taken away.
Just a little more, Velvet. Just a little further.
Velvet began surveying the mountains from afar. The large formations had boulders all over their faces, which was but one part of her plan. She desperately needed to find some sort of compromise in the mountains if she hoped to escape. Otherwise, she would simply die of exhaustion or be killed by the Nevermore behind her.
After several more minutes of exhaustive searching, such a place made itself available to her. It was a large mouth of another cavern that was located on the side of the mountains, nearly invisible from Velvet's current positioning. A large mound of loose boulders hung precariously over the roof of the cave, ripe for falling. Velvet swooped down and flew around the mountain until she was over the cavern.
"Time for stage 3." Velvet thought aloud.
As she descended further, the Nevermore did the same. Velvet took a gamble and proceeded to fly into the cavern. Her eyes quickly adjusted to the darkness, giving her reason to feel slight alleviation. The cave was deep enough to give her room to lead the beast in and escape. She would have to execute it perfectly if the plan was to end with her survival.
The Nevermore followed Velvet into the cavern as planned. Velvet pressed herself against the wall of the cavern for a split second before speeding to the entrance of the cave. As soon as she was clear. She stood on a rock platform and summoned a Dust rocket launcher. A single round was fired from the copy of the launcher into the natural supports that held up the larger boulders.
The dissonant roar of a single explosion followed by the sound of falling boulders crashing over the entrance of the cave. As the entrance was covered, Velvet saw the Nevermore rush towards the entrance in a last-ditch attempt to escape. It was all for naught, however. The large mounds of rock covered the entrance and effectively ended Velvet's bout with the Grimm with Velvet as the victor.
Nearly exhausted of any energy, Velvet's launcher disappeared. She fell onto her hands and knees, head drooping. The temptation to simply drop there and sleep became a very real possibility for Velvet, but she fought them. Hansel was waiting, and she refused to leave him vulnerable for any longer than necessary. She recalled her promise from earlier, and would be damned if she let it be broken.
Velvet attempted to summon her copy of her wings once more, but a sharp pain passed through her body when she tried. She was simply too exhausted to use her Semblance. With this knowledge, she'd resorted to walking to her original position by foot. She looked in the direction of the cave, and groaned. It was much further than she felt comfortable hiking, but it was the only option that had a less-likely chance of leaving her dead from exhaustion in the forest.
She quickly walked through the familiar deciduous woods as Hansel and herself had for what she thought was a week. Although every muscle in her body begged her to desist her self-destructive behavior, Velvet turned a deaf ear. Hansel was too important for her to simply give up. If necessary, she would die to protect him.
With this sense of obligation in her heart, Velvet continued on. The searing pain that she felt was placed out of mind, replaced only by thoughts of her companion. She knew that he was the most important to her at that point in time, and refused to think of anyone else. He did not know it, but Hansel was the key to Velvet's survival in that forest. She pretended to not know why, but she simultaneously was aware that she would not be able to hide these emotions forever.
Velvet shook that particular train of thought out of mind for the moment. A dangerous forest, in her opinion, was not the optimal place to fret over the emotions of a teenage girl. There were much larger problems at hand. She would make sure that there would be ample time later on to discuss these things at length.
For now, she focused on keeping her senses sharp. Her eyes and ears remained as vigilant as they possibly could be at her current health level. There were some points in which Velvet's vision began to blur. This elicited a reaction of rubbing her eyes and shaking her head. The urge to sit down and rest came and went, but was fought off time and time again Velvet's will to keep on.
The sun beat down on Velvet whenever she would step into an open clearing, causing her further discomfort. All that she could do was cover her eyes and push herself more. Whenever she was in such a clearing, Velvet would instinctively look up into the sky to reassure herself that there was no enemies circling above, waiting for an opportunity to end her life. Of all the times she performed this task, no such predator could be seen. This satisfied a weakened Velvet, who was in no position to fight another foe.
The unmistakable sound of a foot falling onto a branch behind her caused her ears to flicker. She swiftly turned to see who her pursuer was. There was no such entities to see, which made Velvet all the more suspicious. She was led to believe that, whoever was following her had taken refuge behind a tree.
"Who's there? Show yourself!" She demanded.
The sound of breathing could be heard, confirming Velvet's theory that she was indeed being followed. She assured herself that it could not be a hallucination.
Hallucinations don't breath, Velvet.
"Come out-now! I can hear you breathing, so don't make me come after you."
More crackling noises surfaced as Velvet's unknown follower likely shuffled his feet in uneasiness.
"I'll give you to the count of three! One! Two! Thre-" She shouted.
"Alright, alright, alright!" an adult female's voice called out.
From the tree emerged a tanned woman that looked to be in her mid-fifties. Her black hair flowed down at the same length as Velvet's, with her bangs curling over her forehead in a shade of dark grey. She wore a tight-fitting black long-sleeved shirt that gave way to a cloak that clasped around her neck and ran down her back to of her ankles. Around her waist was what looked to be a utility belt that carried several small black boxes with tools that Velvet couldn't see.
Under this belt rested the waistline of a pair of loose grey jeans. There were small nicks in several parts of the jeans and holes that were forming in the knees. Holstered over these jeans was appeared to be nothing more than a black metal cylinder with a white stripe running down its center. The color scheme of what Velvet thought was her weapon was the exact opposite to the combat boots that covered her feet.
A smirk covered the stranger's face, almost taking away Velvet's attention from the fact that her eyes were a milky white. Freckles covered the stranger's cheeks, paired with small scars on assorted areas. Her hair was pushed behind her ears by her hands that were covered with light-grey fingerless gloves. She quickly tied her long hair into a ponytail, then proceeded to place her hands on her hips.
"You're Velvet, right?" The stranger asked.
"Who're you?" Velvet asked, purposely avoiding the question. Her own question was answered, however, in the form of a memory. "Wait...You're-"
"Oh, good. Now we can skip the formalities and go straight to the part where you tell me just exactly what the Hell you think you're doing?"
"I'm sure you've heard all the stories, Miss Graymond."
"Call me Dorian, Velvet. 'Miss Graymond' makes me sound like an old woman. And I have heard the stories, yes, but I don't like to form an opinion until I get the defendant's side of the story. So, if you don't mind..." Dorian twirled her hand in the air and extended it towards Velvet.
"First, I have some questions of my own." Velvet said in a stoic manner.
"Heh. Kids. Fair enough, I'll indulge you, since you're Zandu's daughter and all. Ask away, youngling."
"How long have you been trailing us?"
"Since the day after you left. Not sure if Zandu told you, but I happen to be the best damn-wait. How old are you again? 16?"
"Yeah."
"Ok. Good. I don't have to censor myself,then. Anywhosiers, I'm the best damn Faunus tracker in the 4 Kingdoms. They-among other old friends- send me out to hunt down fugitive Fauna like yourself. Not only am I a damn good tracker, my Semblance is cloaking. They can't see me 'till it's too late. I was trained by the best of the best to be a triple threat. Plus, I use these special heat-seeking contacts for tracking. No one outruns me. Anything else?"
"What do you know about Neo?"
Dorian chuckled and threw her head back.
"You don't wanna know what I know about her. Believe me. Now, can I ask you something?"
"I don't see why not."
"Why not turn yourself in? Why run with that kid?"
"I don't trust the system. I know how the courts treat Fauna. I don't care what others teach me, my kind is still discriminated against. Running is better for a Faunus who values her life. I'll keep running until I can find a way to fix this. So...are you going to take me in?"
Dorian paused, looking up at the sky once more.
"No."
"No?"
"Nope. I understand exactly what you mean. I've seen a lot of it myself, actually. If you have an idea of how to fix this, who am I to stop you? I've seen the way you fight, also. You're worth more trouble than you're worth. So I think it's in both our best interests if we just walk away. Plus, Zandu was like my brother. I wouldn't feel right bringing his daughter in before she could rectify her mistakes. What do you say? Sound like a good plan to you?"
"It does. I only have one last question."
The smile returned to Dorian's face.
"And,pray tell, what might that be?"
"If you're so good at tracking, how come-"
"You heard the branch snap? The one that alerted you to where I was?" She finished Velvet's sentence.
"Yeah. Explain that."
"Simple, dear. I made the snap because I wanted to be found."
"You wanted me to see You?" Velvet asked in a quizzical fashion.
Dorian snapped her fingers and winked at Velvet.
"Bingo, kid. That's my whole bit,you see. I don't get seen until I want the other person to me. Like I said, it's part of what makes me the best at what I do. Don't screw up too bad, and you could find out what that's like, eh? Just do me one favor, Velvet?"
"What's that?"
"Don't make me regret this. Or you'll get a taste of Grey Wild."
Faster than Velvet could comprehend, Dorian threw her cylinder in the air, causing it to split into two long, metal rods. They fell into Dorian's open hands where she pressed a button on each rod. Once pressed, the rods each produced a long chain that ended with a large, spiked metal decagon. Dorian pressed two more buttons, retracting the chains. She thrust the hollow rods together to form a double-barrel shotgun.
"I'm not gonna hurt you with her. I just love showing her off." Dorian threw the connected weapon up once more, causing it to retract into its condensed, holstered position.
She reached into one of her pouches and pulled out an energy bar. She tossed it over to Velvet, where our heroine caught it with longing arms.
"Looks like you need that. Take care of yourself, Velvet. And I'd keep an eye on that friend of yours. I don't trust him."
"Noted." Velvet could see why she felt that way. Hansel did act suspicious at times.
"I'm not gonna hug you in case someone's watching. Maybe there'll come a day when we can. I'll see you around, ok?"
Velvet nodded. "I'll make sure of it. Thank you once again. You won't regret it."
Dorian nodded and turned. She waved one of her hands as she walked away.
"See that I don't." Dorian said. She jumped up into the trees, but Velvet didn't hear the leaves as she rustled them. After a few seconds more, Velvet could hear no trace of her.
Without skipping a beat, Velvet turned and continued on her way. She opened the wrapper of her energy bar and proceeded to consume half of it. It was decided that the second half would be saved for Hansel. It didn't take long for her to reach the cave. As soon as she entered, she was met by a familiar sight.
Her vision adjusted to the darkness, allowing to see that Hansel still rested where she had left him. She calmly walked into the cave, the pain in her body placed elsewhere on her mind. She walked over to Hansel, and gently laid her palm on Hansel's shoulder.
Almost immediately, Hansel's eyes shot open. His closest hand clutched Velvet's wrist. The other hand reached into the satchel that hung off his waist and swiftly pulled out one of his Wind-and-Fire wheels. A cold chill went down Velvet's spine as the blade pressed against her throat.
As soon as Hansel saw who he had in his grasp,he immediately dropped the blade and released Velvet's wrist.
"Damn, Velvet! I almost killed you!" He cried, stating the painfully obvious.
"It's ok, Hansel. It was my fault. I shouldn't have startled you like that.I should've called your name or waited for you to wake up on your own. "
Hansel said nothing for several seconds. Velvet placed his hand in her own and called his name.
"You can't blame yourself for relying on your survival instinct. You did what you felt necessary to stay alive. There's no shame in that. I'm not upset with you."
"But I'm upset with myself. If you had died because of me, I couldn't forgive myself. Not only for the obvious reasons, but also-" Hansel stopped himself, and turned a beet red.
"Also what, Hansel? You know you can tell me anything. I'll understand." Velvet said, doing her best to console her friend. All of Dorian's warnings had been voided from her mind by this point.
"It's incredibly selfish."
"You've been nothing but selfless this entire time. You deserve to be a little selfish." She said with a chuckle.
"It's just-I would've never gotten the chance to tell you how I feel." He said, refusing to meet Velvet's gaze.
Velvet was certain that she knew where the conversation was going, but decided to let things take their course. Hansel lifted his head, looking into Velvet's eyes.
"Well, I'm here now. So tell me, Hansel. How do you feel?"
Hansel took a deep breath, then leaned forward. Velvet followed suit, now certain of how the conversation would end. These thoughts were confirmed when she felt Hansel's lips touch her own. She felt one hand rest on Velvet's lower back and the other on the back of her head. Velvet wrapped her arms around Hansel's neck and closed her eyes. Small abrasions formed on Velvet's knuckles as they brushed up against the cave walls, but she didn't care. It was her first kiss, and, for the first time, Velvet was able to be what her genetics and Remnant's prejudices had barred her from.
A normal teen.