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Chapter 4:

"Let's go together"

My head throbbed painfully as I slowly awoke. It felt like hundreds of drums were banging and crashing around inside my head as I dazedly staggered to my feet. My mind was a mess, all my senses were scrambled and disoriented. My eyes couldn't focus, making the entire world look like it was constantly spinning around me. A dull, incessant noise rang inside my ears, making it difficult for me to hear anything.

As I slowly recovered, I tried to inspect myself for any injuries. My face, ruff, and front legs were all covered in a thick layer of rock dust, sand and water. Feeling incredibly uncomfortable, I weakly tried to shake the grime off my fur, but in my dazed state, I only ended up tripping over my own feet and falling face-first on to the floor.

Luckily, or maybe unluckily, the sudden shock of my face striking the rocky ground jarred my senses back into action. Pulling myself off the ground, I quickly glanced around the chamber to figure out what had happened.

The entire chamber was covered with a dense, dusty fog. Rubble of all shapes and sizes were lying all around the floor, ranging from tiny pebbles to large chunks of the walls surrounding us. Confused, I stumbled around the messy room, trying to piece together the events that happened in my mind.

"Ugh..." Suddenly, I heard a strange noise from somewhere around me. The clouds of dust that covered the room was making it difficult for me to see, so I instead closed my eyes and strained my ears to try to pinpoint where the noise was coming from.

The dull buzzing noise inside my head was making it difficult for me to focus, but soon enough, I caught the sound again. Strangely though, the sound this time came from somewhere beneath me. I turned my ears towards the ground and tried to listen again.

"Fée..." I heard someone call my name. Feeling a little eager, I lowered my head even further and listened more closely.

"Fée... It hurts..."

The sound confused me. I bent down even further and felt a strange texture brush against my ears. It was soft, and a little ticklish.

"Please... Get off..."

Feeling even more confused, I decided to open my eyes and see what it is. I looked down and saw Blue lying underneath me. His chest heaved painfully as he gasped for breath. For a second, I wondered why he was having so much trouble breathing.

Then, I realized I was standing on his body.

"Eek!" I shouted as I jumped into the air. I stammered out multiple apologies as he slowly rose from the ground.

"It's alright, no need for apologies," He said as he rubbed his head. He looked over at me and gave me a wry grin, "You weren't that heavy anyway. I barely felt anything."

I responded by gently smacking him over the head with my paw and pouting a little. He laughed and stood up from the ground, dusting himself off with his arms.

"You look pretty good in that color, Fée," Blue remarked, staring at my dust-covered fur, "gray looks good on you."

"You're not one to talk, Blue," I replied, pointing out his own dust-covered body, "I think I'd better call you Gray from now on, hee hee!"

"Hm, then I think I'll call you Gréy. How about that?"

"That sounds exactly the same as Gray!"

We shared a look with each other for a moment before we both suddenly burst into laughter. The walls around the chamber reflected our laughter, echoing our voices all around us. As we recovered from our laughing spell, I noticed that the dusty fog had lifted slightly, revealing more of the chamber. Feeling a little nervous, I glanced over to the wall where Koffing and Zubat were stuck in just a while ago.

Well, maybe it's better to say 'where the wall once was.' When Koffing exploded, he completely demolished part of the cavern wall, revealing the outside world.

Through the hole, I saw a beautiful sight. The sun had finally set, replacing the orange glow of the sky with a pure, inky blackness. Twinkling stars filled up the night sky with sparkling lights, while the shiny, glowing moon floated in the center of it all.

"Blue..." I said, staring at the wondrous sight, "It's beautiful..."

"Yeah. It is," Blue replied as he watched the stars with me.

For a while, we just watched the stars in the sky in silence. As we admired the beauty, I thought back to everything that had happened today. From my flight from the Guild, the sudden and terrifying storm, meeting Blue on the beach...

Shyly, I sneaked a glance at Blue. He was distracted by the sight of the moon and the stars outside the cave. Suddenly, a strange wave of emotion washed over me, and my vision began to blur. Soon, large tear drops began to roll down the sides of my face. I tried to wipe them away, but they just kept coming.

It was strange. I wasn't feeling sad, nor was I scared. So why am I crying?

"Fée?" Through my blurry eyes, I saw Blue turn towards me. I hurriedly tried to hide my face, "Fée? What's wrong?"

"I – I don't know...!" I sobbed, "The tears...they just don't stop..."

I kept wiping my eyes until my paws were completely drenched with salty water. I just couldn't stop crying.

"I'm not...I'm not even sad..." I hiccuped, trying to prove my point by giving him a tear-stained smile.

"Tears of happiness then," He smirked at me and walked forward. I wiped my eyes and followed his blurry figure through the chamber. We stopped right before the hole in the cavern wall. Blue, noticing something, bent down and dusted the floor with his paw.

"Aha, here we are," He smiled as he retrieved an object from underneath a pile of debris, "It's still a little dirty, but we can fix that."

I tried to make out what he was holding, but another sudden wave of tears blurred my sight again. Blue whimsically tossed the object up into the air and effortlessly caught it on the way down. Blue silently walked over to a small pool of water at the side of the chamber and crouched down. He stuck his paws into the water and began to make splashing noises. Curious, I wandered over to see what he was doing.

"Here you go, Fée," From within the clear water, even through my tear-stained eyes, I saw my precious treasure lying in the middle of the pool. Blue, after scrubbing off all the gunk and grime, pulled it out of the water and held it up against the moon. It sparkled as the moonlight reflected off its surface.

"Consider this my apology for earlier."

I felt another wave of tears gush forth from my eyes when he placed it down in front of me. It looked almost exactly like it was before it got stolen, beautiful and magnificent. Emotionally, I placed a shaking paw on my treasure's smooth surface.

"Blue..." I didn't know what to say. It felt like all my emotions were whirling around in my head like a hurricane. Sniffling, I futilely wiped my eyes again and looked up at Blue.

"You've done so – so much for me, and we've j – just met..." The tears were coming out in full force now. I shut my eyes tightly, trying to stem the flow of my tears, but they just kept coming. I just sobbed, and sobbed as a whirlwind of emotion raged inside me, "H–how can I ever th – thank you enough?"

"Fée..."

"If I hadn't met you..." I choked in between hiccups, "If I hadn't met you... I probably never would've been able to get this back...I probably never would've been able to do anything..."

"I would've just stayed...stayed at home and cried about how much of a coward I am..."

I sniffled and shook my head. Through my wet, blurry gaze, I saw Blue standing in front of me. I couldn't tell what expression he had on his face, but just the sight of him, even if it was unclear, made me cry even harder.

"And...and...!" My emotions were spilling out of my mouth in waves now, "If I hadn't met you...I never would've discovered how exciting it was to be... to be an explorer!"

I thought back to the time we spent in the tunnels. Running away from the Kabuto, navigating the dark tunnels and resting in beautiful, sunlit chambers... If I hadn't met him... I never would've been able to experience any of that. If I hadn't met him... I would've spent every day at home, wishing I was an explorer instead of truly experiencing it.

"I don't know how I can thank you, Blue...!" I kept trying to wipe my eyes, to be able to see his face clearly, but the tears kept coming and coming, "I've never been so – so happy!"

I tried to wipe my eyes again, but suddenly, Blue grabbed on to my paw. I held my breath as I felt him gently caressed my cheeks, gently wiping off all my tears. When I finally opened my eyes, I found that I could now see clearly. And the first thing I saw...was the face of my new friend.

"Fée." He said my name, "You don't have to thank me."

He placed my paw against his chest. I could feel his strong, steady heartbeat from within.

"If I hadn't met you, I wouldn't be able to sit here right now." He said softly, "You're no coward, Fée. You're a brave, strong hero."

"N...no...I–" I tried to protest, but he quieted me by placing a finger against my mouth.

"No matter what you feel, no matter how scared you are..." He grasped my paw tightly and stared directly into my eyes, "Just remember, you're much stronger than you think. So don't call yourself a coward anymore, Fée."

"I...I'm not a coward..." I mumbled quietly. Blue shook his head and grasped my paw tighter.

"I couldn't hear that."

"I...I'm not a coward."

"What was that?"

"I'm not a coward!"

"One more time!"

"I'm not a coward–!"

I shouted at the top of my lungs, bellowing it out as loud as I could. The sound echoed all around us as it bounced around the chamber. I heard my voice reflecting all around me, making me feel like there were tens, if not hundreds of Fées cheering me on.

"Blue..." I whispered when the echoes finally died down, "I'm not a coward anymore..."

He gave me a wide smile and pulled me in for a hug.

"You never were, Fée."

Then, right as I was about to close my eyes, he abruptly pushed me away. My eyes fluttered open in surprise. He then placed his paw against my forehead.

"Yow!" I yelped as he flicked my forehead with his finger. I flinched, more out of surprise than pain, at his sudden change in attitude. I winced as I rubbed my throbbing forehead. I glared at Blue, who was trying his best to stifle a snicker.

"Now cut it out with the sad stuff and go to sleep," He said as he yawned and stretched. He turned away from me and flopped on to the ground, preparing to go to sleep, "We've got a big day tomorrow. So go get some rest."

"A big day?" I felt a little annoyed, and also a little disappointed for some reason, "What do you mean?"

"Isn't it obvious?" He waved his arm around dismissively, "Aren't we going to go to your town tomorrow?

My ears perked up when I heard that. Before I could process what he said, I suddenly found myself bounding over to him and placing my paws on his side. I felt a strange sense of eagerness and elation wash over me as I stared at his sleeping face.

"You really mean it?" I said, shaking him with my paws, "You.. you want to stay with me? You want to go to Treasure Town with me tomorrow?"

"Ergh..." One of his eyes fluttered open and stared at me, "Yes, Fée. Let's go together tomorrow. Now let me go to sleep."

"Blue!" I couldn't contain my happiness. I sprung at him, paws outstretched. His eyes opened wide in surprise as we tumbled onto the ground together. I gave him a big, grateful hug while on top of him. He groaned and tried to shake me off, but I held on tightly and refused to let go.

"Thank you so much, Blue!" I shouted happily, nuzzling my face into his chest, "You're the best friend ever!"

"Aaagh, just let me sleep!"