A/N: Yay, another chapter! I apologize for the delay in updating, but present you with a chapter that's considerably longer than the last (not that it took much to make it so), and that's hopefully a little less crappy. But anywho, enjoy!
All Yuan could see was white, white, and more white. It covered the ground, it fell from the sky, and it was now the color of his clothing, hair, and skin. He'd quickly lost track of the tent and he wasn't even sure he was going the right way. The search would have been easier from the air, unless Aiden was just as snow-covered as Yuan was, but that would also have been dangerous. The wind was blowing too hard and unpredictably for anyone to fly safely, and with Yuan's luck, he would end up being thrown into the side of a mountain or crashing into a frozen lake.
Besides making flying all but impossible, the wind was also chilling Yuan to the bone. Most of the cold came from the wind, and even Yuan's angelic tolerance for extreme temperatures wasn't helping. He was still shivering violently, wishing he had brought a thicker cape, since his current one had become soaked through relatively quickly. The temperature was also wreaking havoc on his aching shoulder, making the muscles freeze painfully every time he shivered. He had originally tried warming up the joint by rolling his shoulder now and again, but doing that had only made the freezing worse, and so he'd left it alone.
Yuan could only hope he was going in relatively the same direction Aiden had, since it was impossible to know for sure. The quickly falling snow, coupled with the wind that Yuan was starting to curse at, was quick to cover tracks. The angel could barely lift his foot from the ground before his most recent footprint was half filled in, so any of Aiden's were long gone. Besides prints, there was no other way to attempt tracking the boy, especially when Yuan wasn't sure which direction was which anymore. But he figured if he didn't try to change course, it might be easier. Aiden might have been thinking along the same lines, and they might collide by pure chance. It was an unlikely scenario, but still one to be considered.
A harsh gust of wind roared by, pulling hairs from Yuan's normally carefully-kept ponytail. Now it was held less hair than was free, and all of it managed to get in his face. Yuan growled as the wind suddenly changed directions, blowing snow at his back and making his cape wrap around his legs, nearly tripping him. He caught the sound of another growl before the wind changed again and it was whipped away. Yuan froze for a second before turning quickly, eyes flicking around through the monotonous gloom for any signs of a stalker.
A vague, slightly darker shape moved through the snow, and Yuan's hand dropped down to his wingpack, only to find empty air. He cursed, loudly. He'd forgotten that he'd given it to Eli and Audrey for supplies, and was irritated with himself for not taking his Swallow out beforehand. At the time, he'd been a little more preoccupied with the fact that the stupid Chosen had run off into a blizzard to realize that it was the perfect time for monsters to attack, and his weapon hadn't even crossed his mind.
The shape got closer, more defined, and bigger. Every now and then, Yuan caught snatches of low growls coming from it before the wind stole the sound away once more. As it got closer, Yuan could make out a wolf shape - a giant wolf shape. Another lobo, though this one appeared smaller than the cubs' mother had been. A sharp stab of pain, more of a phantom reaction than anything since he'd lost feeling in pretty much everywhere by now, shot through his shoulder. The lobo stopped a short distance off, feet somehow braced in the soft snow, the spikes along its neck raised, and Yuan started drawing in mana. Even if he didn't have a physical weapon, he was at least lucky enough to be a half-elf-turned-angel more than two hundred years old, which meant magic and lots of it.
The two stayed where they were for a moment, unmoving except with the wind's interference. The purple magical spill-off around Yuan's feet made the snow change colors and reflected eerily off the lobo's eyes. Yuan kept his own eyes locked on the wolf-like monster, left hand slightly extended for aiming purposes, though his arm refused to move very far due to the stab wound and the cold. After only a couple seconds that seemed to stretch on forever, the lobo decided the stare-down had gone on long enough, and lunged.
As soon as it jumped, Yuan released his stored mana, shouting, "Thunder Blade!" The spell came easily and even left a little mana behind that Yuan held on to, even though it was starting to give him a headache. He'd forgotten that the spell's mana demands had gone down slightly, since a while ago he'd been using Thunder Blade constantly, trying to teach Kratos how to do it. A giant purple sword, crackling with electricity, fell from the clouds as if tossed down by an angry giant, and more lightning burst out from its point of impact. Unfortunately, the lobo had already jumped out of the way of the blade, but a few bolts hit its hindquarters in mid-air before the monster slammed bodily into Yuan.
Yuan was pretty sure that, after jumping, the lobo had meant to go immediately into an attack, but the shock had startled it for a second. So even though Yuan had been knocked into a sizable pile of snow and was being crushed by a furry, spine-covered monster, he wasn't immediately mauled. He had a moment to pull in a tiny bit more mana, increasing the pressure at the front of his head, before the lobo recovered.
It only took the lobo a second or two to realize that the shock, while painful, wasn't really damaging, and it in no way stopped the monster from continuing with its original plan: kill Yuan. Priorities set once more, the lobo snapped at Yuan's head, and the angel just barely managed to get an arm in time to keep his head from being bitten off. The lobo's jaws clamped down on the angel's forearm, and Yuan growled, trying not to scream. His growl was returned by the monster, who bit down harder. Yuan heard the bone snap in his arm as the lobo increased the pressure, and then he did scream. His scream intensified as the lobo shook his head, wrenching his shoulder painfully; it didn't help that it was the arm the previous lobo had aimed for.
Yuan's vision blackened at the edges and he gasped, pain flooding his body. His free hand was up and grabbing at the fur on the lobo's head, desperately trying to make it release its grip. As his focus slipped, so did his hold on his mana storage, and it flowed out of the hand on the lobo's head. Since Yuan hadn't formed the mana into a full spell, and most of it was residual lightning mana, it mostly came out as a super-charged spark that raised the fur between the lobo's ears.
The monster yelped, releasing Yuan and falling back, trampling him in the process. Yuan let out a stream of growled swears as he scrambled up as quickly as he dared, holding his bloody and mangled arm close to his body. Already the lobo was recovering from the second shock, and Yuan desperately pulled in more mana, the ring around his feet bigger than the last due to his sloppiness. Just as the lobo was shaking itself of snow in preparation for another attack, Yuan bit out between colorful curses, "Thunder Blade!"
The crackling sword reappeared, striking the lobo's back. The lightning latched on to the specks of snow, ice, and water that were stuck in the lobo's fur from its fall, carrying the charge through its entire body. The monster convulsed, letting out a high-pitched whine that remained audible even in the rapidly changing wind, before it collapsed, fur on end and smoking. Yuan watched it, tense and ready to continue the fight, but it didn't move. The angel let out a heavy breath and slouched where he sat, growling as the action moved his arm.
His arm was covered with a pins and needles feeling, as the cold tried to numb it but the warm, escaping blood kept that from fully happening. Blood flowed easily around the fingers of his other hand, and Yuan's head was swimming. Gritting his teeth, Yuan once more pulled in mana, brow furrowed in concentration. Healing was not his forte by any means; Martel had tried teaching him before, but he just couldn't get the hang of it. He was better at electrocuting things, or sometimes setting things on fire, not fixing anything. So it was difficult to try and shape the gathered mana into something capable of healing, but he slowly convinced it away from its normal destructive power.
"First Aid," Yuan gasped, and small, scraggly green lines of mana latched themselves to the wound. It was hardly a powerful enough spell to fully mend the skin and muscles, or rejoin the broken bone, but it was enough to significantly slow the bleeding. Blood still trickled from the wound and stained the snow red, but he wasn't losing it nearly as quickly, and soon it would be able to stop on its own.
The unfamiliar spell, which had taken a ridiculous amount of mana to cast, coupled with pain and bloodloss, made Yuan's vision start to tunnel. He fought it for a moment before his vision blacked out entirely and he succumbed to unconsciousness. He could trust Aiden to take care of himself for a few minutes, right?
When Yuan woke up, he sucked in a breath and immediately inhaled a mouthful of snow. The angel shot upright, spluttering and coughing. As soon as he stopped, Yuan realized his teeth were chattering, and his body was wracked with violent shivers that sent only small spasms of pain up and down his arm. His entire body had gone numb, his clothes soaked through with snow. A snow drift had formed over the angel, and came up to his stomach where he sat. The wind had died down to a much more normal intensity, and the snow wasn't falling quite as thick. Yuan had somehow managed to remain unconscious for the entire blizzard.
Yuan's hands were slowly turning blue, and no doubt his feet were too, but they were covered by boots. He stared at them for a moment, frowning slightly, his brain not quite understanding what was happening for a few seconds. Finally it clicked that blue hands were most definitely bad, and he needed to warm himself before he lost the appendages to frostbite. It took him a few more seconds to find the energy to move, but then Yuan started to shakily dig his legs out from beneath his snow, shaking his head to try and clear his thoughts.
Once Yuan's legs were unburied enough that he could move them again, he awkwardly wriggled out on top of the snow, briefly marveling over the fact that he couldn't actually feel anything below his waist, such as the fact that he was standing. He shook his head again, a little quicker, the headache behind his eyes from mana depletion flaring up. Focus, he chided himself, rubbing his injured arm with a hand that felt more like a slab of ice than anything. There was only a vague ache from the limb, it was so far frozen.
Out of nowhere, Yuan was struck with the urge to just sit down and rest for a while, maybe take a nap to regenerate his strength again, before he took off. He had already sunk down into the snow, arms wrapped around himself, before he'd even registered that he'd moved. Yuan suddenly growled at himself, pressing his hands against his forehead. He'd been buried in the snow too long, and his body was growing too cold; Yuan was quickly succumbing to hypothermia, though the thought didn't stay long in his muddled mind. But it was there long enough for him to force himself back up with a suffering groan.
Yuan forced himself to stay upright, despite his body's loud and vehement protests that he should do the exact opposite, and looked blearly up at the sky. It looked clear enough for him to take off and do a sweeping search for Aiden, if only he could dig up enough energy to do it. The angel stood there for a moment, swaying gently, trying to kick start his brain into cooperate without too much determination. It was hard to think when it felt like his head was stuffed with cotton and he was distracted by the strange emptiness he felt from his shaking, numb body.
Finally, Yuan blinked rapidly and shook his head again, willing his wings into existence and pushing off of the ground before he could collapse. He was wobbly in the air, and fell a short distance a couple of times because he forgot to flap his wings, but Yuan thought just being up was a good sign. He scanned the ground below, frowning as he tried to focus on both searching and staying airborne. About a mile to the west, a pack of lobos roamed across the snow. Thirty yards to the north, unnervingly close, a blue and white ice spider buried its way beneath the new snow. Tiny rock spires, the absolute tips of large boulders, forced their way out and peppered the white landscape with gray. From where Yuan hovered, he couldn't see the specific shade of gray that was Aiden's snowsuit, and so he forced himself to fly in gentle, easy circles that slowly grew wider.
Just as Yuan was convinced that he wasn't going to find Aiden, and was tempted just to land and sit for a bit, let Aiden find him instead, he saw the boy lying in the snow below. His gray coat was covered in small patches of snow, so he hadn't been there long, and his sword lay abandoned nearby. There was also a dead ice spider, legs curled in on itself, and it looked like at least one might have been severed. Yuan dropped down, perhaps a little too quickly, since his momentum bore him down into a snowdrift that covered him up to his chest.
Blearily, Yuan dug himself out and hauled himself up on top of the snow instead. The effort, which had required the use of both arms, as well as the rough treatment from the flight that Yuan had largely been unable to feel had opened up the gashes in his arm again, and blood dripped onto the snow. He ignored it, picking his way over to Aiden and stumbling more than a few times due to hypothermia-induced exhaustion and the lack of feeling in his legs.
Aiden was either unconscious or sleeping, though Yuan suspected it was the first. There were a few cuts on his hands and face, his lips were slowly turning blue, and one pant leg was torn. Yuan knelt next to the Chosen, nearly collapsing instead. With a shaking hand, the angel pulled at the fabric of Aiden's pants, taking in the wound. Two large punctures sat prominently on his leg, swollen and a sickly shade of purple. The veins around the spider bite were also turning a slight purple, and Yuan could see them snaking up to the boy's knee before they returned to their original color. Yuan frowned and let go of the fabric. Why, of all things, did the Chosen have to go and get himself poisoned?
Yuan's eyes closed briefly, but were jerked open again a minute or so later when he fell backwards into the snow. The short fall kicked temporarily returned consciousness and kicked his mind into action for a moment, and Yuan pushed himself back up, grabbing Aiden's sword and awkwardly putting it back in its sheath. The boy groaned and stirred, a pained grimace on his face, but didn't wake up. If Yuan had had his wingpack, he could have given Aiden a panacea, but now the boy would have to wait until they got back to the tent.
The thought of carrying Aiden all the way back made Yuan feel even more tired, but he stood before he could pass out again. Black spots popped up in his vision, and darkened the edges. Unconsciousness was going to come one way or another, but Yuan hoped he could get himself and Aiden back beforehand. Without the healing supplies Audrey and Eli were holding on to, Aiden would die from poison, and Yuan would, in the best-case scenario, become comatose for a little while and die himself, if he didn't just die straight off from the exertion he'd put on his weary body or monsters.
These thoughts spurred Yuan back into action; he definitely did not want to die out in the middle of the snow plains of Flanoir. It would be humiliating, cut down by a simple sickness and, by some extention, a lobo. And Aiden dying would probably be even worse, which meant getting back as quickly as possible.
With a low groan, Yuan hefted the boy up onto his not-injured shoulder, glad for his angelic strength, though his shivering definitely wasn't helping anything. Before his muddled mind could think any differently, Yuan launched himself and Aiden back up into the sky. He could only hope that Audrey and Eli had made it possible to spot the tent in the middle of the white field, otherwise the two were out of luck.
It was nearly ten minutes before Yuan spotted the tent, a random spot of blue in the white. Really, he first saw the makeshift flag that the siblings had planted, formed from Yuan's Swallow and a spare black shirt from Aiden's pack. Yuan landed gratefully, his vision all but entirely black, and let Aiden slide from his shoulder and into the snow, collapsing into a sitting position next to the boy. He heard the tent open and a sharp gasp, and then Audrey was there, kneeling at her brother's side.
"Poison," Yuan muttered, though he was unsure if his words were really intelligible. "Panacea in wingpack. Mouth and wound." Once the instructions were given, the angel finally gave in to the illness that had clung to his mind, and slipped unconscious for the third time in an hour.
It was five days before Yuan could finally claim himself fit for travel. After passing out, he and Aiden had been brought into the tent by Audrey and Eli, who had looked after the two. Both of them had developed fevers, and Yuan hadn't regained consciousness for three days. Audrey had almost slipped back off to town for an actual healer, but then he'd woken, groggy and slightly incoherent, and had managed to actually eat something before falling unconscious again. The next couple days found Yuan in and out of consciousness, but his mind was clearer each time he woke, until finally he managed to stay awake for a few hours before falling into a more natural sleep.
Aiden, however, was proving more stubborn. He had initially regained consciousness sooner than Yuan, only two days after being found, as the poison was slowly leaving his system, and had also been in and out of wakefulness, but never seemed to get better. The poison was very slowly leaving his system, but a little still remained when Yuan was finally up and moving, and the boy also had a fever from the bite and the cold.
The day that Yuan was finally capable of sitting up found him sitting next to the Chosen's bedroll. The boy was covered with blankets, all that could be spared, and his brow was furrowed with discomfort. Audrey was outside, taking quietly to Eli, who, as time passed, became more and more worried that their brother was dying. Yuan had tried to tell the little half-elf differently, but Eli seemed unconvinced while actually looking at his brother, and was starting to become hysterical. So Audrey was trying to talk her brother down from his latest fit, while Yuan made sure Aiden's condition didn't worse.
With nothing else to do, Yuan stared off into space, thinking, while he fiddled with the sling his arm was in. In addition to dealing with his fever, Audrey had cleaned and dressed his injured arm, and had given him the single lemon gel he'd packed. The wound wasn't fully closed, but now it was more manageable, though still ached horribly whenever it was moved, hence the sling.
Yuan was pretty sure Mithos and Kratos were wondering where he and his small group had gotten off to, since what was supposed to have been four days of travel had turned into a week and a half. But explaining himself had been all but impossible, mostly because he hadn't been able to think very clearly the past few days, and had apparently made absolutely no sense when he spoke. It would most likely be another day or two before the poison had completely left Aiden's bloodstream and he was capable of walking, and Yuan suspected the further delay wouldn't please his friends.
What worried Yuan was how Aiden was going to behave when he woke up, considering the news he'd been given a few days previously. Yuan seriously doubted that a high fever and a bit of spider poison would wipe that conversation from the boys' memory, or make him any more accepting of the facts. And without any blizzards to charge recklessly into, Yuan wasn't sure how his anger would take shape. At the very least, he was sure it would be something unpleasant.
While Yuan was considering just how poor Aiden's mood would be when he regained consciousness, Audrey and Eli slipped back inside. The little half-elf's eyes were red and puffy from crying, and he was clutching his staff to his chest, but he at least was calm enough at the moment. Audrey smiled slightly at Yuan, one hand resting on her little brother's shoulder. "Anything?" she asked worriedly, turning her attention to Aiden. Yuan shook his head.
"Not just now, but he should be conscious again sometime tomorrow. Most of the poison has left, and he mostly just has to fight off the fever by now," the angel said, and Audrey visibly relaxed, settling down on the ground. Eli's face lit up and he scooted closer to his brother, still clutching his staff protectively.
"Are you sure?" he asked. "He'll really wake up tomorrow?"
Yuan nodded, settling gently against the wall of the tent. He still wasn't in top condition, and felt strangely tired, even though he'd technically been sleeping for a total of about four days. "Positive. I can't say when exactly, but he'll be up." Eli grinned and hopped up, suddenly jumping on Yuan for a hug. The angel gasped as the little boy hit his arm, looking down at the other half-elf with surprise. He waited a moment for the pain in his arm to fade and for his breath to come back before Yuan gently and awkwardly patted the boy's back. "Uh...you're welcome?" he said, unsure if that's really what he was supposed to say. It seemed to do the trick, however, and Eli stopped hanging from his neck, moving around the tent to snuggle up to his sister, who was laughing quietly to herself.
There was silence for a little bit, broken only by the occasional groan or gasp from Aiden, each of which drew his siblings closer in worry. After a few minutes of watching them and trying to distract himself from the bolts of discomfort running up and down his arm, Yuan spoke up. "I've been wondering," he started, getting Audrey and Eli's attention easily. "How exactly are you three related? I know you're siblings, that much has become painfully clear, but it's just as clear you all don't have the same parents."
Audrey glanced down at her little brother, smoothing the hair around his pointed ears. "Aiden and I are full siblings, but Eli is our half-brother. Both of us had the same dad, but he died when I was little, lost in a sudden blizzard, and then our mom married someone else," the girl answered, and Eli patted her arm sympathetically even though she didn't outwardly appear to be very upset.
"Then our mom met my dad - he was an elf," Eli said, the last part a little unnecessarily. "He was just visiting, but he liked my mom a lot and then I came. He didn't stay, 'cause he had other places to go, but he comes back sometimes. He always has a present when he comes back." Audrey smiled at Eli, putting an arm around his shoulder. He suddenly frowned and looked around at her. "What if he comes back when we're gone? No one will be home."
"Your dad can always get inside; he has a key. And he'll probably leave a note and whatever he got for you, ready for when we come back," Audrey said and Eli nodded slowly, thinking it over before apparently deciding his sister was right, a grin spreading across his face. Yuan watched the two quietly, allowing them their conversation uninterrupted and considering their situation. It was definitely uncommon, especially in Tethe'alla, where most half-elven children weren't accepted in otherwise human homes, or if they were they had difficult lives. It was strange to meet such an accepting group of people as the Norfels.
Aiden shifted and mumbled something, and suddenly everyone's attention shifted to the boy, previous topic forgotten. The Chosen's eyelids fluttered, and though he didn't fully regain consciousness, it was a good sign, better than Yuan had expected. The angel guessed that the boy would wake up within a few hours, or by daybreak at the latest.
Yuan's most recent guess proved true. It was the middle of the night, and Audrey and Eli were asleep, curled up together and close enough to Aiden that he could touch either one of the with minimal effort should he awaken. Yuan had offered to keep watch over the boy, since he was starting to feel a lot better, if still a bit shaky and detatched. He was at least well enough that he didn't necessarily need sleep, though it would defintely be helpful, and he'd figured he'd let the two kids rest instead. They actually needed a certain amount of sleep per night, and Audrey especially hadn't been managing it while caring for two sickly blizzard-adventurers.
The angel was debating whether or not he should wake Audrey in an hours' time like he'd promised or let her continue sleeping to make sure everyone was well rested for the temple when Aiden drew in a sharp, deep breath and his eyes flew open. He tried to sit up, probably before even thinking about it, but his weakened body refused to support him and he fell back onto his bedroll, gasping in air as if he'd been drowning. Yuan moved next to the boy and put his hand on Aiden's shoulder to keep him from trying to get up again. Aiden actually didn't feel abnormally hot through his T-shirt, as he had earlier that day when Yuan had checked on him, which meant his strength would soon be returning.
For a moment, Aiden didn't quite seem entirely there, his eyes glassy and unfocused. Slowly, though, the haze left his eyes and he looked around with a low groan, unburying one hand from beneath the pile of blankets and resting it on his head. Without moving his hand, Aiden moved his head to one side and smiled slightly when he saw his siblings sleeping side by side. When he turned the other way, though, and noticed Yuan sitting next to him, Aiden's smile quickly dissolved and he scowled at the angel between his fingers.
"Thought you might have gone off to try and murder some other kid," Aiden hissed, his voice rough and scratchy but quiet enough to hopefully not disturb his siblings just yet. "That's what you do, right?" Yuan scowled back but didn't reply; there really wasn't much to say. Aiden grimaced and rubbed his head, mumbling something about his brain being swimmy. Then he went right back to glaring at Yuan, though the effect was diminished since he was pale, sweaty, and half his face was still covered by the hand he hadn't bothered putting down yet. "But you should know that we're going back. I'm not going through with this stupid quest just to end up dead later on."
"I don't think that will happen too soon. You've been in and out of consciousness for six days; it will take at least another full day before you're ready to move on your own," Yuan pointed out, though he knew the fact would do little to nothing to deter Aiden. The Chosen frowned at himself then over at his siblings.
"Well, then we'll leave when we can," he said, looking back over at Yuan. "We'll go back to Flanoir and you'll just have to find another Chosen to kill." Aiden paused again to cough, all the words apparently too much for his dissued throat to handle. Though he tried to muffle it by taking only the tiniest breaths of air before each cough and pressing his hands firmly over his mouth, Yuan looked worriedly over at Audrey and Eli. It would be just his luck if they woke up in the middle of a conversation where Aiden was repeatedly accusing him of being a murderer. But the two stayed asleep, dead to the world to due a combination of exhaustion, stress, and worry.
Once Aiden's coughing had subsided, Yuan leaned closer, squeezing the boy's shoulder to try and emphasis his seriousness. "Do you really think hiding out in town is going to help?" the angel said, his growling voice much clearer and more intimidating than Aiden's. "You are the Chosen; by going to the temple and getting your Cruxis Crystal, you've signed a magical contract to continue this journey until its end, one way or another. Even if I do allow you to go back and I do agree to leave you alone, it won't last long. Give it a month, not even that, and then I or someone else will come right back down here to drag you through this mess again. While you are the Chosen, we can't have another, and no angel is going to wait for you to drop dead of natural causes before we continue." Especially not Mithos, Yuan thought.
Aiden's scowl darkened and he tried to sit up again, but Yuan held him down easily. "That was before I knew what I was getting into," he said, making an obvious effort to keep his voice down. "I never would have agreed if I knew the whole plan."
"You didn't ask then," Yuan huffed. "And it doesn't matter now. You can't quit after the first temple, not unless the journey is finished or you're unable to continue."
Narrowing his eyes, Aiden asked, "And what would qualify me to be unable to continue?"
"Being dead," Yuan said bluntly, and Aiden's face twisted in anger. It was cleary difficult for him to keep his voice down and not start yelling.
"So I'm going to die one way or another, all because I have a stupid crystal on my chest, is that what you're telling me?" he growled, his voice quickly regaining its normal life.
Yuan shrugged and nodded, unable to find any sympathy for the boy who was chewing him out for something the angel had no real control over. "Yes. But here's your choice: You can either die at a certain time, and be able to warn and prepare your siblings for this eventuality, and pass easily and painlessly; or you can allow yourself to be killed suddenly, without warning, and no doubt violently. Take your pick."
Aiden seethed quietly for a moment before turning his head away without a word. "Fine," he growled a minute later, when Yuan was sure he was just going to give the angel the cold shoulder. "I'll play along for now. But I won't let you lead me to my death without a fight," he promised, which sent a nervous shiver down Yuan's spine. He had previously assumed Aiden had already been fighting against it; he could hardly imagine how his experience with the boy could worsen.
Before Yuan could answer, Aiden reached out and nudged Audrey's leg. The push startled her, and she was halfway into a sitting position before her eyes were open. She blinked blearily, but then realized what had happened. Suddenly she didn't look quite as tired, and she gasped, her face lighting up as she pushed Eli awake. Yuan slid back away from the small familly as the younger two all but physically attacked Aiden, making sure he was alright and crying. The angel didn't pay them much attention, more worried about Aiden's attitude and what troubles it would bring.
But at the very least, the conversation had gone better than expected, which was more than Yuan could have hoped for.