A/N: Yeah... I doubt this is gonna be up for Sunday... o_o

Disclaimer: Don't own Grand Chase! Dx

Chapter 12: Journey Resumed

Arme looked surprisedly at the village as she stared at it from her point in the doorway of the small home. She had stayed quietly in her room the previous day, allowing herself to get rest and impatient for the departure that was to happen the next day. Amy had deemed her condition well enough to be moving around that day, and they planned to be leaving within the next hour. The village was much farther in it's reconstruction than she would have guessed, nearly all the remains of the burned buildings gone and replaced by fresh, new wood. It must help, she supposed, to have someone like Ryan on the reconstruction team, who could grow plants at will. After her first glance over the village, she realized with dismay that in the distance was an entirely burned section of the town that no one was attending to. A frown settled onto her face as she noticed it was the closest to the Gorgos' den. That meant that most of the people in that section of the town hadn't survived... She sighed, the memory of the small girl coming back to mind. She had come into the house the previous day to have her wounds checked on by Amy, and had received a shock upon noticing the purple haired mage.

"A-Amy...? Hinahime stood in the doorway, her long red hair up in a half pony-tail, the rest of it lying down her back. She wore a dress much neater than she had the day she was saved by Amy, and seemed overall more healthy than she had been than. She gasped as she saw Arme sitting up in the bed, her previous sentence addressed to the dancer completely ending.

"O-oh! Are you all right?!" The red haired girl had asked, ignoring the muse entirely in favour of running to the bed and kneeling next to it. She soon sufficed for sitting on the side; she could hardly see over the edge when she kneeled next to her. Arme watched her worriedly, looking down at her hands when she found herself unable to look into the silver eyes of the girl.

"I... " She couldn't continue her sentence, her throat clenching up as she remembered the red haired boy struggling through his last few breaths. She felt a small pair of hands lying on her own, and dared a glance back up. The girl was looking at her with a small, sad smile.

"It's alright. It was... Unfair of me to ask you to do that..." She gave a sigh before continuing quietly, "My brother was one of the first taken... He was gone over ten minutes before you showed up. I knew there wasn't much hope for him, but still...I guess I just wanted to feel like I didn't fail my parents entirely. After all, I was too afraid to go after him myself and save him." Her body gave a shiver, and she rested her forehead against the bed sheet. Arme watched uncertainly, looking down at the red locks splayed across the bed.

"No, you were just doing the best you could. I was scared too when I went in there, and I had the best protection anyone could. By not going down there you saved yourself, and I'm sure wherever your parents are extremely grateful for that." Hinahime looked up again.

"You did the best you could, too." She repeated, "So it's alright. At least you survived... I was so scared when I saw you come out of the den... I thought you were already dead. Elesis-sama brought out my brother's body, and we buried him." Arme attempted a smile.

"I-I'm sorry I missed it." The red head waved it off.

"We still weren't certain you would make it at that time, so..." A frown was on her face as she pressed the tips of her fingers together, "The white haired man said it would be my fault if you didn't make it." She stated, looking troubled. For a moment Arme just stared, her eyes wide.

"L-Lass said..." At this point Amy saw the need to cut in, seeing the distraught look on the magician's face.

"Arme, some times Lass says... Some things he regrets later when he's in a bad mood. He was really upset, so I'm surprise that was all he said. I think he was trying to avoid us, though." She sighed, ruffling Arme's hair.

"Don't let it bother you too much." The purple haired girl nodded, looking at the faces of both of the other girls in the room. The little girl nodded in confirmation with Amy's statement.

"He was really mad... He said you nearly killed yourself in the cave trying to heal my brother." She held Arme's hand tighter, "Thank you... It may be selfish to say so, seeing how hurt you were, but I felt happy. Even if he wasn't conscious, he must have known someone was trying their hardest to save him." Arme nodded, even though she doubted the statement greatly.

"Well... I have to go back to the care center they have set up soon. Can you please check my injuries before I go, Amy-Sama?" She questioned.

"Yeah." Amy whispered, her eyes downcast as she looked over the two crestfallen girls.

Even though the majority of their discussion had been geared towards making Arme feel better, it just made her feel more guilty for all of the trouble she had put the others through. As the girl's wounds had been dressed they had ended up discussing everything that had happened from the point where Arme had gone unconscious to the point where she had woken up. Ronan and Amy had nearly drained themselves of energy healing her for hours on end, Ryan exhausted from searching through the forest to find all the herbs Amy requested. Elesis was in charge of sorting all of the people out and helping those who still had relatives find them. Jin had soon had to take over for her, the sword user mentally exhausted after seeing the faces of more than one too many orphaned children. Lass had flat out refused to do anything that involved being more than five feet from the injured female. He left the others to cope without his help as he sat silently, watching the two healers and their patient intensely.

"Arme? Ready to go?" The purple haired girl was snapped out of her trance by Elesis, the fiery haired girl waving a hand in front of her face.

"O-Oh! Yeah!" Arme rubbed her eyes for a second, looking around at all the assembled chasers. The surviving village people were also crowding around them, looking on with concern.

"You're leaving so soon?" One asked. Elesis nodded in confirmation.

"If the gorgos were this riled up, we need to keep going. We're not sure what's going on in the other villages right now." She explained calmly. Arme gave an involuntary gasp as she heard Elesis say this. Even through all that had gone on, Arme had never considered that the same thing was possibly happening in other towns. A worried frown set on her face as she was picked up by the assassin, who had seemed to have approached her while she was thinking. He spared a glance at her, his eyebrows furrowed as he let out a sigh.

"Arme..."

"Yeah?" He sighed again before continuing hesitantly.

"I might as well let you know this now, so... We're going to have to go through the cave again to get to the gorge of oath." He explained quietly. Arme felt her stomach drop, words stopping in her throat as she though over her previous expedition in the cave. She bit her lip hard to keep away the protests she was dying to let out, allowing the reality of the situation to seep into her. They needed to go through again, so she would just have to grit her teeth and bear it. With a few more formalities out of the way, the group began their path towards the cave entrance. Lass hung at the back of the group, some how managing to watch Arme over his shoulder and the path ahead at the same time. She forced a smile onto her face that she was sure he didn't buy to calm some of his worries, her eyes wide open and searching for the cave entrance. Eventually she found it, and her heart skipped a beat at the large dark tunnel. The group entered it without hesitation, mainly seeing as Arme was being carried and therefore unable to stop at the entrance. They began down and into the cave. The warmth seeped into her, quickly making her warmer than comfortable. The glow of the magma pits was still waiting for them as they made it to the first room, the layout of the room untouched from the first time Arme had come in. She felt her stomach churn as she looked around the place, her eyes falling on a body in the center of the room. The body of the man hadn't been moved, it lay sprawled out messily in the middle of the room.

"Don't look..." She abided to Lass demand without much thought, burying her head into his shoulder. She could feel her body swaying softly in tune with each of the thief's silent steps, the only thing keeping her awake the uncomfortable warmth surrounding her. The only thing she really noticed was the jumps, from Elesis' 'Be careful!' And Lass' slight change of step. It was all fine enough until they entered the next room, Arme pushing away from Lass quickly as she felt nausea hit her, the smell of rotting flesh falling on her in a wave. She was set down just soon enough to see the pile of bodies that remained in the corner, setting even more of an edge to her stomach. She fell to her knees, coughing loudly as her head spun.

"A-Arme!" She could hear Amy's voice, though she voided it out quickly as her body chose that exact moment to empty itself of it's breakfast. A hand rubbed her back as she sat up dizzily, trying to take in the people around her. Amy was the one who was rubbing her back without thought, her attention directed to her bag, where she was rummaging around in it and searching for something unsuccessfully. The rest of the chase was looking at her with mild concern, though Jin seemed rather close to her condition himself. Arme gave a half-hearted smile, her stomach still on edge from the smell of the rot. Finally the dancer managed to produce a toothbrush and toothpaste along with a bottle of water from her bag. She handed the items to Arme, who stared at her half-deliriously in return.

"Come on, you can brush your teeth over there~" She explained as she tugged Arme into a standing position, leading the magician over to a quieter wall of the dungeon. Not quite in the mood to make an argument, Arme quickly cleaned her teeth with the supplies. She couldn't deny that she felt several times better when her mouth was cleaned, her head ceasing it's spinning as she finished up. The rest of the group had spread around the dungeon, getting a better look of it while the two girls were busy. After putting the cleansing tools back in their assigned spots in Amy's seemingly endless bag, the group re-assembled near the center of the room. Arme finally noticed the large Gorgos lying against the wall, it's body twisted at an akward angle and it's mouth gaping open, blood stained teeth shining dully (stained with her blood, Arme thought grimly). It was crashed next to the exit of the room, and Arme was almost surprised the exit hadn't collapsed with the force. She hadn't noticed she was taking steps toward the large dragon-like creature until Lass pulled her back by the wrist, not saying a word as he lifted her onto his back effortlessly. They were almost out a small hole in the wall Arme hadn't noticed when a shrill cry filled the room, causing all of the inhabitants to turn around. Peeking around the large gorgos, it appeared, was a baby gon. It looked at them seriously as the leader pulled her spear out of it's sheath. She approached the gon cautiously, stopping only when Ronan put an arm out in front of her.

"Ronan...?" Elesis blinked, staring at the blue haired male. His eyes were locked on the little beast that was slowly coming out from behind the large monster, floating along supported by little wings that seemed too small for it's body.

"Call me crazy, but I don't think it's a threat." He replied. She looked back at it and put away her spear in silent concurrence. There was no way the small thing could hurt them, and even the most inexperienced in hand-to-hand combat in their team could would most likely have been able to destroy it without a weapon. It continued approaching at a steady pace for several seconds before it arrived nearly in front of them, seeming to stare back at the Dragon Knight. It let out a shrill cry as it latched to the front of his outfit, clawing its way to Ronan's shoulder while the rest of the chase watched amusedly.

"I think it likes you, Ronan." Ryan stated, eyebrows raised as the thing began letting out a sound that could have been mistaken for some sort of purr while it nuzzled into his hair. Ronan shrugged, reaching up to pat it on the head. He turned to look at Elesis, who seemed equally at a loss for what to do.

"Do we bring it with us...?" He asked slowly.

"Err... " The red head blinked, reaching for the monster slowly. When it noticed the approaching hand the gon let out something that sounded like a hiss, and Ronan winced.

"I think at this point we're going to have a pretty hard time dislodging it from my shoulder without taking the whole arm and possibly a significant chunk of my hair." He explained looking back at her. Elesis gave another shrug.

"Well if you don't mind, sure. Just try to make sure it doesn't bite anyone." She said. The spell knight nodded.

"I don't think I'll have a problem with that. It seems pretty content gnawing on my hair." He replied idly, the rest of the chase looking on with concern. The rather odd discussion ended there, the gon keeping its position locked on Ronan's shoulder and it's head buried in his blue hair. Arme watched drowsily, the heat getting to her again. The smell had faded in her nose, a burning that she had become accustomed to. Her head fell heavily on Lass' shoulder again as they continued out through the exit. Charred trees met their view, the path burned in various places. Further inspection lead to the discovery that the burns were cold; made a fair amount of time previously. Arme shivered at the cool air that hit her as the group picked up speed, the forest becoming more dense as they continued, then becoming sparse nearly immediately. The dirt under their feet was changing, and before Arme was certain where they were they were standing on a large plane of pale stone. Instead of a convenient path, the layers of stone were medium-sized and spaced largely apart, serving as a gigantic jump zone. To her surprise, Elesis seemed delighted with the place.

"I haven't been here in ages!" She exclaimed, pumping her fist in the air. Ronan nodded, looking over at her.

"Yeah, It's been... Two years? He smiled, taking the lead next to her as the group began the jump across the cavern, "You're certainly not as easily startled now as you were back then, huh?" Elesis began blushing, looking away from him.

"It's not my fault you showed out of no where and nearly made me fall into the gorge!" Ronan grimaced.

"That would have been slightly unfortunate." Elesis rolled her eyes.

"Obviously!" She scoffed. Ronan chuckled at her pout, then went silent for a moment.

"It really was a long time ago, wasn't it? I wasn't a part of the Grand Chase, and you nearly hated me." He remembered. Arme blinked in interest.

"Elesis used to hate you?" She asked uncertainly, unable to imagine the two knights going any further than their frequent quarrels. Ronan nodded in confirmation, and Elesis sighed exhasperatedly.

"I didn't hate you! Just... Harbored strong opposition toward you!" She called loudly. Ronan nodded, "Just what I said. She hated me." To Arme's surprise, Ryan also gave a quiet laugh at that.

"Yeah, Elesis. I'd have to classify that under hate. After all, you still weren't over it when I met you." Elesis shrugged, and it was obvious at that point that all of the chasers who didn't know the story were interested, even Lass, who turned his head slightly in their direction to watch the pair of knights.

"Oohh~! This I need to know!" Amy exclaimed, clapping her hands together. Elesis sighed resignedly, and Ronan cleared his throat. It was clear that when Amy was interested in something she would find out about it one way or another, and it was best that they told her before she decided to go to an alternate source.

"Start at the beginning!" The muse demanded, looking at Ronan. He thought for a second before starting to speak.

"Hmm... Well, the start was probably when we met, right?" He asked, looking over at Elesis. She nodded.

"Mr. Genius over here showed up out of no where, and I nearly tripped off the edge of the platform I was on!" She said, glaring at Ronan. The knight chuckled.

"It's pretty difficult to not be surprising when you show up in the gorge, Elesis. And you didn't nearly fall off the platform, you did." He grinned, "I had to reach over the edge and grab you before you fell." Elesis scoffed.

"What you didn't have to do was treat me like a helpless female after! Are you alright, miss? You shouldn't be walking around the Gorge alone, it's dangerous~" She complained, making a surprisingly accurate copy of Ronan's voice and holding her hands together in an exaggerated immitation of a girl in distress.

"Hey, I figured, you were helpless!" He defended with a smile.

"And of course, she had to recommend you for the chase." Elesis sighed as she let out the word she, and Arme knew she was referring to Lire.

"And... That was the first time you met the counsel." He said with a sigh.

"They nearly made me revoke my position to have you on the team!" She exclaimed loudly, causing a laugh from Ronan.

"It could be because you crashed the wall of the counsel's meeting area entirely down with your sword. That wasn't exactly the best first impression." He reminded her.

"Come on! I didn't think it was that bad!" She said, looking around and remembering their audience.

"O-Oh yeah! Why I disliked him!" Elesis remembered, "Well... It always used to bug me that he was the kind of person that would stop to help kittens out of trees and whatnot. Always so polite!" She scoffed.

"One of us has to be." Ronan said, causing another blush from Elesis.

"And always opening the doors and pulling out chairs and helping me when I didn't need help and making me take potions over the most minor of injuries and doing little nice things like that!" She continued, rolling her eyes.

"And that made you dislike him~?!" Amy asked, her eyes wide. Elesis nodded, Ronan shrugging.

"Only Elesis." Jin laughed at that, looking over at the blue haired man.

"You would meet the one girl in the world who doesn't melt into a puddle immediately when they meet you." The spell knight grinned.

"Well--" Ronan's speech was cut off as a small rock came from the right, pelting Jin directly in the forehead. He stumbled backwards and into Amy, who had been running behind him at that point. Everyone spun around to look at the red head, but that wasn't the only stone that was thrown. Within a minute there was a rain of small rough stones falling on the group. Arme turned hastily to look around, and was one of the first to notice they were surrounded by small Gons not unlike the one on Ronan's shoulder. The group spread out quickly minus Amy, who was still trying to revive the unconcious fighter. Arme took her staff out of her bag, waiting expectantly for Lass to set her down as the group was surrounded by more strange monsters. The silver haired boy did no such thing, instead tightening his grip on her with one hand to hold his scimitar in the right. He took a stance a fair distance away, where Arme settled for poking him in the cheek.

"Lass? I think you're forgetting something! You haven't put me down yet!" She reminded him.

"Obviously. What do you think the chance of you not falling off the edge if I set you down is?" He asked, and Arme looked at the ground. In between avoiding monsters and teleporting on uneven ground, Arme had to admit there wasn't a very high chance she would be able to maintain her balance.

"Still! There's no way you can fight like this!" The magician continued. The assassin glanced at her.

"Oh really? Watch me." Arme found her grip on the back of his shirt tightening as he spun quickly to slice through an approaching monster, still managing to kill it with one hit even with the added burden of holding her on his back. Soon enough the pair were back in the fight with the rest of the members, helping with the elimination of the group of monsters. The small gon that was accompanying Ronan seemed to have taken to throwing stones back at the enemies, causing a surprising amount of damage. Amy was hanging back to make sure Jin was fine, as he had managed to regain consciousness. The fighter seemed a bit dizzy, but overall able to fight the thinning out monsters. It was Elesis and Ronan who were doing the most damage, both sporting large grins on their faces. Arme was soon unable to observe the others, having difficulty even focusing on the enemies. It was difficult enough to hold on to Lass, and any ideas she had previously had towards conjuring some spells to help were quickly vanquished. By the time Lass had stopped twisting and turning to get through the enemies Arme's head was spinning, and her head fell against Lass' shoulder with a thud.

"Never... Again..." She breathed out heavily, earning a chuckle from Lass.

"I'll try to keep your short tolerance for speed in mind next time." He smirked. The two walked over to where the main group was, Arme unable to find a comeback.

"Judging by the looks of things, I'd be willing to guess that they've elected a new leader of the Drillmon..." Elesis said loudly, looking over the gorge. She then turned to the group.

"It would be faster to just pass by at this point, but I'm thinking we should go get rid of it before it gets too strong! Everyone with me?" There was a chorus of nods from the group, and Elesis grabbed Ronan's arm.

"Onward, then! Lead the way, pretty boy!" She demanded. Ronan sighed and smiled, assuming the lead as the group altered their course so that they were headed west of their previous direction. Arme's head recovered from it's recent stir around that point, clearing out and giving her a better idea of what was going on around her. She leaned forward so she could see Lass without his hair obscuring her view, and he turned to look at her inquisitively.

"Lasssssss... If I promise not to fall into the gorge can I fight next time?" She pleaded, feeling somewhat foolish. Lass rolled his eyes.

"Hate to remind you, but you're a hazard to yourself. I'm gonna have to say no. Not that it really matters here."

"Hm?"

"If I'm thinking correctly, I'd bet Elesis and Ronan have this battle covered. Reminiscing, I guess." Arme blinked and looked up to the front of the group to where the two mentioned knights were. Elesis seemed to be in much higher spirits than usual, and both she and Ronan were playfully bantering. The gon that had taken to Ronan minutes earlier was floating along beside them, lighting down on the spell knight's shoulder ever so often. Amy and Jin were a few feet behind the pair, Amy still seeming to be fussing over the red haired boy's forehead. She felt a pang of sympathy as she looked to her other side and saw Ryan, seeming far enough away from the group to be mistaken as an outsider to their group if the one doing the assessing didn't know better. He seemed rather distracted, perhaps caught in memories of his own from the place. The thought sparked a memory of Arme's own, and she sat quietly for a moment before voicing her question.

"Lass?"

"Mmhm? And if it's about putting you down, I don't want to hear it." She bit her lip, thinking before she hesitantly continued.

"Why did you join the Grand Chase?" From her position holding tightly onto the back of his shirt she could feel the thief's entire body tense up, and she knew instantly she had said something she shouldn't have.

"Ahh-- I... You don't have to answer that." She finished carefully, watching what she could see of his face. From the angle he had turned her head she was unable to see his clear blue eyes, and the thought worried her. She felt somewhat embarrassed, and settled for resting her forehead on his shoulder so she wouldn't have to deal with seeing him. The silver haired assassin let out a sigh.

"Maybe another time. It's a... Long story." He said quietly.

"N-- That's all right! I'm sorry I asked, that's your business." Arme whispered, a loud cry causing her to look up before she could continue. They seemed to have arrived at a fairly large, sturdy platform where a gigantic version of the previous monsters was, a metal-like tip on the lower half providing as some form of stinger. There were roughly three of the smaller monsters surrounding the giant one, spaced out evenly.

"Let's go!" Elesis was predictably the first one to charge in, her grip on Ronan's arm still in-tact and therefore dragging him along with her. Arme was almost surprised to see the others hanging a fair bit back from the battle until she remembered Lass' previous reminder. The knights had easily wiped out the smaller monsters, and Arme watched as the two exchanged glances while they fought. Even though it wasn't her first time seeing the two fight together, it still amazed her at how fluently the two were able to maneuver around the other to get their weapons where they needed to be. Even when Elesis swung her spear within an inch of the Royal Guard knight's neck he didn't seem fazed, and Arme realized quickly that it was to get to the goron behind him. The small gon did all it could to help, throwing seemingly useless bits of rock at the large Drillmon until it ran out and decided it had done enough work. It still hovered protectively around the spell knight, though it made no attempt to fight. The large Drillmon didn't seem to take much more effort than the smaller ones, and with a carefully placed swing from the glave and the spear it was into three neat pieces. The redhead stretched lazily as the rest of the chasers approached, turning to them with a grin.

"So, decided to leave all the work to me and Ronan? Well, it was easy enough."

"If it was that easy, you could have not nearly lopped off my head!" The spell knight protested loudly, though the matching grin on his face was an indication to his actual lack of annoyance.

"Kree!" The gon let out a small shriek, as though annoyed at being forgotten in the victory count. It landed back on Ronan's shoulder, falling asleep yet somehow managing to keep its balance as the group turned back in the direction they had come. Elesis looked back at the monsters for a moment, contemplating what they should do.

"Hmm... Should we stay here for lunch, then?" She questioned when she turned back to the group. Ronan shook his head, and Lass nodded in agreement with the spell knight.

"We're pretty close to the Elven Forest already, aren't we?" The assassin asked.

"Yeah. It should take a few hours to make it there, though. Everyone wants to just wait until we get there?"

"Sounds good. So we'll stop at the edge of the forest and eat, then continue into the elven village?" Jin asked, receiving a nod from the rest of the group.

"All right then! Let's get going!" Elesis called, taking up her point at the lead of the team. They began making their way across the gorge, Arme thinking to pull out her book but aware that she would more than likely drop it into one of the large gaps between the platforms. She stared ahead quietly until she heard footsteps coming up next to Lass and herself. She turned her head to see the muse waving wildly at her, Jin's hand clenched tightly in her other hand dragging him beside her. The red headed fighter didn't seem to be complaining, a smile on his face and one of the handy-dandy band-aids Amy carried around that Arme had become well acquainted with in the last month placed on his forehead.

"Arme!" She called excitedly, "We get to stop by the forest! It's so pretty!" She exclaimed happily. Arme turned back to look forward, but was unable to see a flash of green anywhere.

"I... don't see it." She said, leaning forward. Amy laughed.

"Well of course not! We're still a few hours away and--- Oof!" Amy stopped mid-sentence as she didn't notice the end of the platform, dropping quite suddenly from Arme's view. Fortunately Jin had noticed, and his hand was still clasped with hers. The redhead nearly tumbled off the platform as well, falling to his knees as he pulled the pink haired girl back onto the stone. Lass had stopped to watch somewhat amusedly as the Muse was heaved back up next to the fighter, who gave a large sigh.

"Well, that was surprising~!" Amy chirped, standing up to dust herself off.

"Amyyyy!" Jin groaned, leaning back on his hands and flipping over onto his feet, "You should really watch the path more!" The mentioned girl giggled, spinning around and winking.

"But that's no fun~! And I knew you were there, anyway!" She stuck out her tongue childishly before taking a leap ahead, laughing loudly.

"Come on!" She called back. The blushing red head sighed before complying with her request, managing to catch up with the energetic female. Lass shook his head, letting out a sigh.

"I'll never know how he can keep up with all of her energy." He mentioned. Arme laughed lightly, a cough surfacing before she could stop it. Lass looked at her concernedly, but didn't ask any questions.

"Woah! Lass! Lass! Is that the Elven Forest?!" She gasped, looking forward at the large forest that was beginning to show over the stone horizon. Lass rolled his eyes.

"No, Arme. Whatever would make you think that was a forest?" He replied sarcastically. Arme blushed, taking her staff and hitting him lightly on the head.

"I didn't ask if it was a forest, meanie! I asked if it was the Elven Forest!"

"Oh, that's much different. But yes, it is." He answered. The magician huffed, waiting patiently for the group to reach the area with trees. It was still about five minutes before they even got out of the gorge, and by that time Arme was resting her head on Lass' shoulder boredly.

"How much longer?" She asked, recieving a sigh.

"A couple minutes."

"...Okay." At that point she decided to focus on the actual forest that they were actually approaching at a rather fast rate. Birds could be seen making large circles around the trees lazily, chirping filling the air and causing Arme to stare in anticipation. By the time the group had found a clearing in the forest decent enough to stop for a meal the short girl was nearly ready to Leap off Lass' back. As soon as he set her down she when off like a loose cannon, inspecting everything and anything there was to be seen. The rest of the group watched her with an interest as she spun around happily.

"It's so prett-- DEER!" Before anyone could say anything Arme had rocketed after the poor four-legged animal, giving a much more enthusiastic chase than any of the others would have imagined possible from the excercise-hating magician. They all watched stupifiedly as she disappeared after the brown animal.

"What were you thinking?!" The assassin was demanding minutes later as he dragged Arme back to the clearing by her wrist. Said girl had found out first-hand several different reasons for not hugging a deer, and Arme wasn't about to admit to the thief that opening her wounds was one of them. Her hand pressed on it discreetly as she shrugged, slightly embarrassed over her hyper behaviour. Lass sighed again.

"It's like you've never been in a forest before!" He continued. Arme looked at her feet, and after a second Lass turned to look at her.

"You... Have been in a forest before, right?" Arme smiled embarrasedly.

"To be honest... No." She finished finally, earning a look from Lass that said 'you've got to be kidding, right?'.

"Well, it's a good thing I got to you before you were eaten by that deer. Don't run off next time, and bring someone with you if you get the urge to do more exploring." She agreed to the terms easily, waving at the others as they reached the entrance of the clearing.

A/N: Ending is fail, but I needed to get this chapter done x_x Sorry for updating so late! I was away all weekend Dx I'll try to have some actually important stuff in the next chapter. Please review~! Comments, suggestions and all that are appreciated!
-Utsuro