Chapter eighteen:
The two emerge from the woods and into the land of rocks and cliffs.
Mello blinks and glances around himself. "I didn't even think a place like this was even here." He admits.
"I didn't either. But apparently it does." Near agrees. "But apparently it's here." He says.
Mello nods and glances around. "Well it seems ok other than being a little more dangerous and less places to hide. He walks over to a cliff.
Near blinks as he watches wondering what it is Mello is doing though he has a good idea of what it is.
Mello peers over the edge looking around there. "That's a long way down." He says.
Near shivers as he remembers his fall down it that almost killed him. "Yes. Yes it is." He says and goes over to Mello but he tests the spot by the edge before standing there next to Mello. He wonders if the beast is still there so he looks down and looks for where about it landed. He doesn't see it so he wonders if it climbed up or is wandering down there somewhere.
Mello moves and sits on the edge with his feet dangling over the side. He turns to Near. "Come on. Come sit too." He pats the spot next to him.
Near cautiously moves and he checks the stability of the edge before cautiously sitting down with is legs over the edge. He relaxes his tense body when it doesn't cause him to fall.
Mello laughs. "You are fearful of the edge?!"
Near turns with a disapproving look. "Perhaps had you fallen off the edge once then you would understand." He states and looks away from Mello putting on his emotionless mask.
Mello stops laughing and looks to Near. "You feel over the edge?" He questions.
Near nods and brings his hands up to look at them. "Yeah. I was quite lucky to have been able to grab the wall just in time... As well as be able to kick that beast off me before I fell." He says almost softly.
Suddenly Mello grips his worst bringing the younger's hands over to him as the younger looks to the older.
Mello inspects Nears hands looking at the wounds there.
"It's ok." Near assures Mello. "I took good care of them. It'll be fine."
Mello looks to Nears face worried. "Did you get any other wounds?" He questions.
"Just some scrapes on my leg from when the beast grabbed me and tried to climb up me." Near responds bringing his legs up. "But it's ok. they aren't-"
Mello cuts him off. "Let me see." He moves over and lifts Nears pant legs until he finds what he's looking for. He confirms that the wounds are nothing serious before rolling the pant legs back down.
Near puts his legs back over the edge. "I told you that they weren't serious." He says.
"What the Hell were you doing that caused you to go over the edge?" Mello demands with a slight frown and in a tone letting Near know he has to tell Mello what happened.
"There's a ledge below a cliff. I got us there to hide from the beast. The beast was going to spot us as we hid though and if it did we'd be trapped." Near says glancing away.
"So you pulled the beast and you over the edge." Mello frowns in a disapproving way.
Near shakes his head. "I ran past it since it was peering down trying to find us. I got it to chase me away from where you were." He explains. "I wasn't going to be able to run for long and I knew it. So I did the one thing that I could do. I led the beast to the cliff and I tried to get away from the edge just in time to avoid going over the edge but tricking the beast too... But... The loose rocks fall making me fall too." He explains. "I managed to grab onto the wall."
"The beast grabbed you and you kicked him off. Then you climbed back up?" Mello guesses the rest.
Near nods. "Yeah." He says.
Mello hugs Near close.
Near gently hugs back. "It's ok. I'm still alive." He says to the other.
"I know but what you did was really risky. I almost lost you." Mello says.
"But you didn't." Near reminds him.
Mello pulls away and looks to Near's face. "What you did was really dangerous." He says sternly.
"I'm not a kid." Near says with a slight frown. "And I know it was dangerous but there wasn't any other choice." He says.
"You almost died!" Mello states.
"But I didn't." Near says.
"I don't want you to do anymore dangerous things." Mello tells him sternly.
Near slightly glares at Mello. "I am not a kid. I know very well how to take care of myself." He gets up. "Stop treating me like I can't do anything!" He turns and begins walking away.
Mello watches Near go for a moment or two then his mind actually processes what's happening. "Wait!" He calls out to the other.
Near doesn't even look back as he seems to stare at the ground.
Mello scrambles to his feet and starts to chase after the other. "Near! Wait!" He reaches towards the other as he races to try to stop the other.
Near just continues moving away.
Mello slightly stumbles but he manages to grab Near's shoulder. He swiftly regains his balance and turns Near to face him.
Near looks up to Mello with an emotionless mask on.
Mello runs his free hand through his hair then he puts said hand on Near's other shoulder. "Near look." He begins. "I didn't mean to make you feel like a child and like you can't do anything." He says watching Near's eyes. "I just…. I just really don't want to lose you."
Near is silent for a few moment.
"So I'm sorry." Mello adds still watching Near's eyes. He fears he really messed up this time as there is more silence between them.
"Just don't treat me like that again." Near says a little softly as he glances down.
Mello hugs him close. "Oh Near. I won't." He says.
Near slips out of his arms and goes back to the edge only to sit down again.
Mello turns to him feeling a little hurt but he can't blame Near for it as it's the blonde's own fault for how things turned out. He goes over and joins Near sitting on the edge. "You know I've been thinking." Mello begins.
Near's eyes flicker to the blonde and he reaches up twirling a strand of his hair.
Mello turns to look to Near. "What if we had a book." He says.
Near looks a little confused. "A book? I doubt it would be a good idea to carry one around since it'll end up be-"
Mello cuts him off. "No I mean that we write a book. As survivors about our adventure." He explains. "One so that way if we die before the defeat of the beasts then it might help someone else figure out how to stop them. Plus we won't be lost into forgotten time."
Near blinks then slightly glances away in thought for a moment. "It's an idea."
Mello smiles. "But you're not rejecting it." He says.
"Well either way we'll need to find our way back to town before we can even think about that." Near points out.
There's suddenly noise of a bunch of birds that makes them look to the woods.
There's a whole flock of them flying off into the air.
"That might mean danger." Mello says. "We should get going."
Near nods.
The move away from the edge and they get up.
"I believe that the way back is that way." Mello says nodding to their right.
And so they begin walking in that direction, walking a by the edge but a safe distance away, keeping alert for anything that might be dangerous for them.
Meanwhile….
Allen silently groans mentally and he slightly shakes his head only to blink open his eyes half way. He turns to glance to Matt only to see the other is asleep.
They both had accidently fallen asleep. They're extremely lucky no beast found them.
Then suddenly Allen hears something that makes his eyes widen slightly.
Someone or something else is in the store.
He cautiously and hesitantly peers over the counter only see the back of the beast. He swiftly drops back down into hiding kind of like you would see someone do in a show when they try to hide scared. He swallows harshly but stays silent as he lowers his arms to his sides. His eyes flicker to the red head. He reaches a hand to Matt's shoulder and shakes him awake.
Matt is about to groan but Allen slams a hand over the red heads mouth causing the red head to open his eyes only to look at Allen wanting to know what he's doing.
Allen lowers his hand to his side.
"Allen wha…" Matt opens his mouth to ask what's going on but Allen puts a finger to his own lips to say be quiet. He tilts his head then his eyes widen as he hears some beast noise. His heart sinks as he realizes why Allen woke him and told him to be quiet.
But he had spoken! Did the best hear them!? Were they going to get caught because of him!?
Matt certainly hopes not as he tries to keep himself calm.