AN: I'm back! On with the story!

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The incessant arguing did nothing to distract a determined Frey as she aptly flew the airship. Occasionally when she felt like the arguing might turn physical, she'd gently remind them to save their strength for fighting monsters and not each other. Somehow they all managed to make it there without the two starting something.

Leon Karnak was a beautiful work of architecture, Doug and Dylas took a moment to appreciate it before Frey, in all her peppy eagerness said, "Alright guys! Let's go!" And she took off up the ladder. The two boys took off after her, nearly climbing over each other in an attempt to get there first. Doug managed to get ahead and climb the ladder faster, earning him a self-congratulating smile and a thumbs up. Dylas arrived shortly after. From the looks of things, Frey didn't even need their help. She was slicing up goblins without even breaking a sweat. Sure it was amazing to watch, but they had to see who was the stronger of the two of them. They took off in different directions and confronted a goblin each in a one on one battle.

It quickly became clear to Doug and Dylas that coming here was a bad idea. Frey had sliced up enough goblins to fill the airship in the time it took for them to take down one. They were both exhausted, but neither knew how the other was doing. Both were far too stubborn to back down, so neither showed any signs of quitting. Still, when another monster appeared before them, they both mentally cursed themselves for coming up with a strength contest in the Leon Karnak. It was clearly above either of their levels, but neither was willing to quit.

"Found it!" Frey called. "Alright, we should probably leave now." She had noticed how her male companions were struggling, so she very casually casted cure all, which fully healed Doug and Dylas.

Of course, their stubbornness wouldn't allow them to retreat. "We'll take it from here." Dylas said, though his voice was very uncertain. Doug shot him a glance, then resolved to stay there too.

"Well, if you say so." Frey said, though she had a bad feeling about leaving them alone. She then climbed down the ladder reluctantly. Once she got back to Selphia, she'd head straight to the clinic to give Jones and Nancy a heads up.

Once Frey was out of sight, Doug and Dylas locked eyes for a moment. "I won't lose to you." Dylas declared with very little conviction. Doug just grit his teeth and turned to face the monster who had appeared near him. Dylas soon became occupied with a monster who appeared by him.

Having just taken down two of this particular monster, Dylas felt as if he were better equipped to deal with them. The goblin had a predictable pattern, dodge the sword, two punches, dodge. He was doing good, holding his own just fine, until a knife lodged into his side. It dug in deep, and the amount of pain it caused was astounding. He flinched, and in that brief moment the monster right in front of him lunged forward, connecting. There was a crunch, and the arm Dylas used to defend himself splintered with the intense pain of a broken bone. The only thing he could do now was run. Where was Doug? Dylas couldn't leave without him. He looked around, acutely aware of the enemies around him, and noticed Doug attacking the portal. Even from a distance, it was easy to see Doug was in bad shape. His shirt was stained with blood, and there was a knife sticking out of his leg. Despite this, his movements were oddly fluid considering his condition. Four monsters were on the field now, and two of them were throwing knives. Neither Doug nor Dylas had noticed the knife throwing monsters because Frey had been taking care of them.

In his desperation, Dylas shot some lightning at all of the monsters, luckily stunning some of them. Doug was quick to take out one while it was stunned.

By now the contest was long forgotten. Dylas no longer cared who was the stronger of them. "Doug, we gotta get outta here!"

"What do you think I'm trying to do?" He barked back. Dylas could see him limping toward him, and for some reason seeing this gives Dylas a sense of security. All the while one of the knife throwing monsters recovered from stun and targeted Dylas in revenge. Doug noticed right away and did his best to block the attack. He leapt up, and took the knives in the back.

As soon as Dylas noticed, he lunged forward to catch him. Doug was continually pelted with knives, and when Dylas caught him, he felt something sharp and hard against his chest. Doug's body was limp and unmoving, was he even alive? Instinctively he held Doug away from the enemies and casted more lightning. Then he ran as fast as he could toward the ladder. There wasn't much time before the stun wore off.

Getting down proved to be difficult. With a broken arm, he couldn't climb down and carry Doug at the same time. So the only thing he could do was jump, and so he did. The landing was not soft, and the horse fell forward upon impact. He realised then what had been poking him, the tip of a knife that had gone right through Doug's body and now was poking through his chest. Was he even still alive? Dylas didn't know, but he was determined to get him to the clinic. If there was a chance that Doug could be saved, he wouldn't risk leaving him.

So he gathered his strength and stood, carrying Doug with him. He could make it to the airship. It was in his sight. He staggered over and placed Doug gently on the floor. The wind was fairly mild, so he could pilot the ship with just one hand. He had to keep the ride smooth. Dylas was lucky enough to encounter no resistance on his return trip.

Before long they arrived in Selphia, and Nancy was there to greet them. Of course she was horrified to see them in such critical condition and immediately sought out help. Just before Dylas lost consciousness, the last thing he saw was Volkanon, Vishnal and Clorica running frantically toward him.

"… looks bad. … lost… blood." A harsh noise, like metal hitting the floor.

"…Ncy …potion on … top shelf." The sound of bandages, then of glass clanking.

"… he alive?"

"yes." An indistinguishable sound. What was happening?

Silence, long violent silence.

"… breathing?"

"Stablizing."

A pained moan. Doug's voice? A sigh of relief. The sound of metal touching metal.

Dylas faded in and out of consciousness until he was fast asleep.

In the morning, Dylas awoke to find himself in the clinic. His memory was hazy, but he could vaguely remember how he ended up here. He sat up and found that he was alive. His broken arm appeared to have healed perfectly. Magic and medicine sure are wonderful. Then he remembered Doug, and instantly his head turned toward the other bed.

Doug was asleep, and more importantly, he was alive. His chest was wrapped in bloody bandages and he appeared to have some of potion dripping into his arm and another potion at his bed side that smelled strongly. Dylas couldn't see his back from here though, because Doug was on his side facing him, but he could see the dwarf's chest expanding with his breath. Dylas grinned a little, overcome with relief. It was particularly calming to see Doug snoring and drooling, as if he were completely fine.

Nancy had come down the stairs without Dylas noticing. She was quite pleased at least one of them sitting up. "Good morning." She said sweetly. "How are you feeling?"

"Uh, not bad." He replied. Then he glanced back over to Doug, then back to Nancy. "How's Doug?"

"He'll live." She said, slightly uneasy. "It's good that he got here when he did. We managed to save him, but it was close. He's a tough one." She looked over to Doug, who would look fine if not for the bandages. The knives that had been stuck in Doug's back had been taken out placed on the counter. Nancy and Dylas both knew the dwarf would have to be strong to survive so many knives sticking into his back.

"How long until he wakes up?"

Nancy paused. "I'm not sure, it depends on how well he accepts the medicine."

"Oh." Dylas said simply. He felt a sense of unease creep into him. Sure Doug looked fine now, but what if he didn't wake up? It was something he didn't want to think about, but his mind was completely assaulted with the thought.

Noting Dylas's unease, she made an attempt to distract him, "how about some breakfast?"

"Okay."

He didn't seem to be interested at all in breakfast though. Even as Nancy cooked, Dylas either focussed his attention on Doug or stared off into space, lost in thought. 'That stupid dwarf! What was he thinking, jumping in front of knives like that! What an idiot!' Of course, he couldn't bring himself to stay mad. In fact, a new thought invaded his head. What if Doug had taken the knives to defend him. No, absurd. Doug was just being careless. Why would he risk his life for his arch nemesis?

While he was lost in thought, he didn't notice Doug stirring and mumbling. The smell of Nancy's breakfast was having a profound effect on him. His body was reacting in all sorts of crazy ways, but most notably his stomach was growling and his tongue grazed his lips.

As soon as Nancy placed the bowl of rice porridge down for Dylas, Doug's eyes shot open. No one noticed until he said, "is that rice porridge? Great! I'm starving!"

...

AN: Ooo! Okay so I know the whole injury thing got resolved real quick, but I wanted to have a mix of drama and loyalty to the source material. Since you can die and then end up fine in the clinic a minute later, I allowed for there to be a little drama but a quick Rune Factory recovery. Come back tomorrow for the not so exciting chapter 2~!