Chapter 5 – The Journey Back

"Focus on the journey, not the destination. Joy is found not in finishing an activity but in doing it." - Greg Anderson.

The group was making their way through the forest, talking amongst themselves. Alexis decided to take the opportunity to try and clear the air, between her and a certain young Huntsman.

"Hi… Cole, right?" Alexis asked, approaching the young man, as he was listening to Rian describe what was going through his mind, during the battle.

"Yeah, that's right. Alexis?" Cole questioned, despite remembering her name.

"Yeah. That was nice work back there, with the King Taijitu and the statue and everything." Alexis complemented.

"Well it was mostly Lia." Cole looked towards Lia, who was nodding as Hexi laid out some ground rules, if they were to be partners.

"It was your idea though. We might not have got out of there, if you hadn't thought of it when you did." She continued, avoiding the real reason she had struck up the conversation.

"I'm sure someone would have thought of something, I was just lucky to have an idea first." Cole said modestly.

"You're… not blind are you?" Alexis asked brashly.

"Err" Cole stunned by the bizarre question. The sound of laughter came from behind him. He turned, to see Rian laughing, with Uluka walking beside him, giving him a glare signalling him to stop.

"What's so funny?" Alexis asked, the young man stifling his giggles.

"The fact that, you asked someone whose semblance is the ability to see everything, if they were blind." Rian explained.

"That's an exaggeration." Cole corrected him. "But no. I'm not blind."

"Right, well I didn't think so. Not after all that with the statue and the King Taijitu, I mean if you were blind you wouldn't have seen the statue, and used it to, I mean I just, It's where Netes said you were blind, and that's why, I was confused, and yesterday, and everything, so I didn't want you thinking I was, and we were, and then when you were, I got angry, I didn't… I…" The young woman trailed off, flustered.

"Riiight…" Cole responded. "I, I didn't really understand a word of that. Sorry."

"I'm sorry." Alexis said bowing her head and looking at her feet, as she placed her hands in her pockets.

"Why don't you try again?" Cole suggested as he looked at her, curious as to what it was she was trying to say.

Alexis took a breath as she raised her head, and with a clear voice she answered, "Yesterday, when we met in the food line. You, you didn't look at me, when we were speaking. Or Netes, who later said, she thought it was because you were blind."

"Wait wait wait, you… when you met them, and had a full conversation with them. You weren't even looking at them?!" Rian, barely finished his sentence, as he burst into laughter.

A look of horror spread across Cole's face, his mind desperately racing back to that moment hoping she was mistaken. Only for his memory to confirm what she was saying, "How could you have been so stupid? How did you not realise what you were doing? Why weren't you paying attention? I was paying attention, I was so busy paying attention I didn't even realise how I must have looked. I was paying attention… to her."

"Oh I, I'm so sorry. What must you have thought? Me just staring off into the distance like that. I, I'm really sorry, but I swear I was looking at you the entire time. Well not looking, but perceiving, it's my semblance see, I can sense what's around me. During our conversation I was so busy with being focused on you, that my eye's just, sort of got forgotten." Cole hoped his reasoning, enough to earn him some forgiveness.

"So, you were looking at us?" Alexis slightly confused by the reasoning.

Uluka walked up between the two, placing a hand on their shoulders, stopping them in their tracks. He turned Cole on the spot, so that he faced away from Alexis and himself. Pulling out his scroll he brought up a recent article, he had been reading, the article was about the Schnee Dust Company's recent development in Dust refining. He held his scroll up, so that both he and Alexis could see it, "What does it say on my scroll?"

Alexis was confused by the question, until Cole answered, "No idea."

Uluka put his hand behind Coles back, and raised three fingers, "How many fingers am I holding up?"

"Three" Cole responded, "Where were you, when I was in pre-school."

Uluka rolled his eyes at the comment, as Rian barged between them, "Ooh let me try." He said as he raised two fingers.

"Two, Four you just changed them. Are you trying to cheat?" Cole asked.

"What? No. I'm just being thorough." Rian responded.

"Riiight" Uluka said, as he gave Rian a look, indicating he saw through his façade.

Alexis slowly moved her hand behind her back, and raised a single finger.

Cole turned, addressing the three students stood before him, "Look, as fun as this little party trick is, perhaps we should continue?" He pointed towards the rest of the group, which were now had moved off ahead.

"Come on." Uluka ordered as he grabbed Rian by the arm, dragging him along. Cole and Alexis both followed behind, at their own pace.

As they started to move forward, Cole leant over towards Alexis and whispered, "One".

Alexis smiled, as she had thought he hadn't noticed her actions. "So is there a range, to how far you can see?"

"Depends, how big an object is, if it's moving or not, if there's anything in between. I can see the group up ahead. I can see the forest around us, the leaves and stones on the path, the birds nesting up there." He explained as he pointed toward a birds nest, Alexis hadn't noticed it, before he'd pointed it out. She couldn't see into the nest, but she could hear the birds Cole had mentioned.

"So, what about you?" Cole asked.

"Huh?" Alexis startled by the question. "I can see what's ahead of me, I can see you-" She started to explain, before Cole stopped her.

"No" He laughed, "I mean, what's your semblance. I can sense the strength of your Aura. So what is it?"

"Oh" Alexis was slightly embarrassed by her mistake, which actually made her semblance easier to activate.

With that she vanished. A little too pleased with herself, as she saw the expression on Coles face, she poked her tongue out at him.

"That's amazing. The invisibility, not the tongue, that's a little childish." He jested.

Suddenly reappearing, with a shocked look on her face, Alexis cheeks blushed with embarrassment, "But, I was invisible, how could you see me?"

"I couldn't." Cole explained, "At least, not with my eyes."

"At least now, I know I'll be at a disadvantage if we have to spar." Alexis said with a smile, as the sunlight shone through the tree behind her, the light bouncing off of her, making her look as though she were the source of the light.

Cole was captivated by the image before him, "She's beautiful, I should tell her. No I can't say that, it'll sound stupid. You have to say something, smile. Smile now. That's better; don't want to look like you're gawking. Say something; it's starting to get awkward."

"You look li-" before he could finish, his attention was distracted by what was coming up ahead, "-We may be in trouble."


"Maybe we can go around?" Xeek suggested.

"I don't see another way across; this bridge was probably the only way." Netes said, as she looked up and down the canyon.

It stretched for as far as the eye could see, in either direction. On the other side was the cliff, from where they had been launched, earlier that day. As they looked down, they couldn't see the bottom, the canyon filled with fog. The only way forward, a crumbling ruin, that looked to have once been a great fortress, built into the side of the cliff. All that remained, a few broken stone towers, and the ends of a path, that once bridged the gap.

"Maybe, we could jump then?" Xeek said, continuing to try and find a solution to the problem.

Alexis and Cole emerged from the tree line, to see the group stood at the edge of the canyon. Rian and Uluka moved to join the group, as they debated how to get across.

"I don't know about you, but I can't jump that far." Hexi replied angrily.

"Huh, she admits weakness." Rian jested.

"Hey! Don't make me come over there, and do something, you'll regret." Hexi snapped back.

"Don't have a go at him." Netes told her.

"Don't tell me what to do!" Hexi replied, glaring at Netes with a look that could kill.

Alexis and Cole approaching the group could sense the tension, "Hey, ladies. We're all on the same side here." Cole spoke up.

Alexis giggled, "Same side" She continued giggling.

The group looked at her with confusion. She Sighed and explained, "We're all on the same side… of the canyon. It's not funny when I have to explain it."

"It's not funny, period. Trust me, I know funny. Funny and me are like that." Rian said as he raised his hand, with his fingers crossed.

Alexis took to looking at her feet as Cole continued, "Anyway, we still need to find a way across, suggestions?"

"We could, use a hot air balloon!" Lia excitedly suggested, as she shot her arms up into the air.

"Ignore her" came from Hexi.

As the group stood there, contemplating their situation, Alexis still looking at her feet, mumbled "If it ain't broke".

The group turned to face her, most looking confused. "I get ya" Cole said, as he started walking toward the forest.

"Wait, what? Get what? I don't get it." Hexi shouted after him.

"Lia, come over here!" he shouted back, Lia doing as ordered. "I assume that, those hilts aren't just decorative." He pointed at two large sword hilts, attached at Lia's hip.

"No, they are my weapons." She replied, as she drew them, massive blades extended from the two hilts.

"Ok, where were those, when we were fighting the King Taijitu?!" Hexi demanded.

"I forgot about them." Lia responded. Causing Hexi to let out an angry ARGH! As she clenched her fists, and shot her arms down, by her side.

"Would someone please, mind explaining this plan?" Uluka asked.

"'If it ain't broke', don't fix it." Cole said as he gestured to Alexis. "How did people use to get across?"

"They used the bridge." Uluka stated.

"Right, but the bridge is broken. So…" Cole leading him to the conclusion, he'd reached.

"So… so we're going to fix it. We're going to fix the bridge?" Uluka said, with an even more confused look, as the idea of repairing the bridge seemed an impossible feat.

"Well no, we obviously haven't got the necessary equipment. What we can do however, is build our own bridge." Cole said, as he slapped his hand against a tree.


"Ok that's far enough!" Alexis shouted, serving as guide, while the others moved the enormous tree into position, seeing as she was the smallest of the group. The rest of the group stopped, catching their breath.

"Seems… stable… enough" Netes spoke, through her pants for air.

"I'll go first." Rian offered, raising his hand to shoulder height, as he moved toward the end of the tree.

"No" Uluka stopped him, grabbing a hold of his sleeve.

"If anything happens, I'm the only one, quick enough to get off in time." Rian reasoned.

"While I was going to go first, Rian makes a good point." Cole chimed in.

Uluka pulled his boyfriend in for a hug. Whispering "Be careful" before letting him go.

Rian slowly made his way across, focusing on his footing. One branch was a little tricky to get around, but he managed to make it past without incident. Once he reached the other side, the others began climbing on, one by one.

As they were all crossing, a strong gust of wind caught them by surprise, all quickly dropping and grabbing a hold of the tree, so as not to fall. The strong wind was brief, once it had passed, the group continued across.

As Cole reached the other side, he jumped down off the tree, and turned back. Expecting to see, Lia and Hexi close behind him. To his surprise, they were not. Lia had stopped about halfway, and was bear hugging a thick branch, with her eyes crushed shut, the tree starting to crack under the woman's immense strength.

"Keep going!" Hexi shouted. "I can't get passed you, and I'm not staying here. So move it!"

Lia started whimpering, "I don't like it".

"Well we can't stay here, so just don't look down, or something." Hexi said trying, and failing miserably, to console her partner.

Lia crushed down harder on the branch, causing it to break apart, exploding in her grip. Losing her balance, she fell off the tree, plummeting to her death. Hexi leaped off, diving after her partner.

Impacting mid-air, the two spun, Lia grabbing onto her partner and holding tight, as Hexi spun her arm up, releasing her chain, it shot up attaching itself to the tree. The two used their momentum to swing under the tree, and propel themselves up onto the side of the canyon.

They landed with a thud, Lia still holding on tight "Let go of me!" Hexi ordered, as she pushed her partner off.

The others rushed over, Cole and Rian offered their hands, to help the girls to their feet. Lia taking Rians, Hexi slapping Cole's away.

Pulling herself to her feet, Hexi pulled her chain back in. She turned as she heard Lia address her, "Um Hexi… thanks." Lia said, in a less excited tone than usual, still shaken from the ordeal.

"You're lucky I-" stopping herself from shouting at her partner further, she continued "You're welcome. We're partners; we look out for each other. In future, just think more ok?"

"You're the best partner ever!" Lia beamed with joy, as she wrapped her arms around Hexi.

"It's like you want me to yell at you!" Hexi raised her voice.

"You're a shouty person, if you're shouting at me, it means you like me." Lia reasoned.

"You have no idea, how stupid that sounds. Now, get off me and let's get moving." Hexi ordered.


The group followed the path of the ruin, it lead them to a small entry way, built into the side of the cliff face. It was surrounded by broken stone and there were cracks running through the walls, but the passageway itself seemed stable, as though it had been untouched by time.

"Maybe, we shouldn't go in?" Uluka said as he peered into the passageway, only able to see a few feet ahead, before the path turned to darkness.

"Unless you feel like climbing, this would appear to be the only way forward." Netes spoke up.

"How, do we even know that this will lead us back, to the top of the cliff?" Rian asked.

"Well, there are ruins at the top of the cliff…" Netes answered as she pointed up to the broken columns of stone atop the cliff, "…so, at some point, all of this must have been interconnected. There's got to be a way back up, in there somewhere." She surmised.

"Fine, I suppose you're right" Uluka responded, "Does anyone have a light?"

"Never needed one" Xeek said, as he pointed toward his ears.

"Right, well anyone else?" Uluka asked again.

Hexi gave an agitated Grunt, as she lit up her chains. Wrapped around her forearms, the chains produced a golden light that surrounded the group.

"I'll take point, Hexi stay in the middle, and um, Xeek you take the rear." Cole said, as he entered the passageway.

Alexis followed close behind Cole, as the group made their way forward. The passageway was dark and damp, water trickled down the jagged, uneven walls. After a few minutes, the group came to a small room. It was round and had cobblestone flooring, which was angled toward the middle, where a rusty old drain crate, sat a few inches above a surface of water.

"Well what now?" Rian asked, as the group examined the room they found themselves in.

The room connected four passageways, one on each side. The way they came, straight forward, left and right. With no clear sign, as to which path was the way to go.

"We should split up" Xeek suggested.

"Right, we'll go this way." Lia said, as she turned and started walking back, the way they had come.

"I don't think that's, what he meant." Hexi said in her agitated tone, as she grabbed Lia's collar pulling her back.

"Xeek, Hexi and I can all see, so I suggest we take a separate path each." Cole suggested.

"Come on!" Hexi ordered, as she dragged Lia down the centre path.

"I'll come with you, if you don't mind." Netes said as she followed behind, wanting to stay with the only light.

"I'll go this way" Cole said, as he took the left path.

"You guys go that way" Alexis said as she pointed to the right path, behind Xeek, Rian and Uluka. "See you on the other side!" She called back as she followed Cole.

"Right!" Xeek shouted back, "Be… careful." He continued in a quieter tone, knowing she was out of earshot.


Alexis held onto Coles arm, as he guided her down the passage. She could feel the curve of his bicep, under the soft, warm material of his coat. As they walked along, her hand slid down, gripping slightly firmer, almost massaging the muscle in her grip. "Sorry, it's just, I can't see." She said quietly.

"It's fine, here." He said as he reached into his pocket, pulling out a small object. With a Flick there was a small flame in his hand, coming from an old looking zippo lighter. He handed the lighter to Alexis, taking it with her other hand, she held it out in front of her. It wasn't bright enough to light up the path ahead, but it was enough to stop her accidently bumping into the walls.

As the two continued walking, Alexis asked, "What, were you going to say earlier?"

"Hmm?" Cole confused as to what she was referring to.

"Earlier, when we were still in the forest, you were about to say something, but then we came across the canyon. I was wondering, how that sentence was going to end. 'You look-'" She quoted him, hoping to jog his memory.

"Oh, right… that." Cole now felt awkward, as to his earlier remark, wishing that she hadn't remembered. "I was, I was going to say, you… look like you're glowing. It was the way the sunlight was-" stopping himself, he let out a small Sigh.

His comment made Alexis blush, hoping he couldn't see, she replied, "Thanks. I wish I could glow, would be real useful right about now." She joked.

The two laughed as they walked along, until Cole spoke "I'm sorry, if I've made things weird."

Alexis, not fully grasping the sentiment of Cole's earlier statement, was slightly confused by the comment. "No, things aren't weird."

His arm suddenly tensed up, the muscle expanding as it became solid, Alexis thinking perhaps he was showing off until he stopped and whispered "Light".

She quietly closed the lighter, extinguishing the flame, before slipping it in her pocket. Listening as intensely as she could, unable to see a thing, she gripped onto Coles arm with both hands. As the two slowly crept forward, she could hear heavy breathing. Staying as quiet as possible, she followed Coles lead, trusting him to get them out of the situation.

The two continued creeping forward in silence, for several minutes, but to Alexis those minutes felt like an eternity. An eternity, where at any moment she could be attacked, helpless to defend herself in black. After making a few turns in the passage, Cole leant in and whispered, "I think we're safe." Alexis let out a deep breath, relieved by the words as her heart pounded in her chest.

"What was it?" She quietly asked.

"Creep nest, we're lucky the mother was asleep. If it had been awake, with us that close to its young, we'd have been in real trouble." The thought of the giant lizard Grimm, ferociously attacking them in the dark, sent a shiver up Alexis' spine.

"Maybe, we should keep the conversation to a minimum?" Alexis suggested, as she pulled closer into Cole.


"How much further, you think?" Rian asked.

"It's hard to tell, we're closer to the top, than we are the bottom though." Xeek replied, as he leant over the edge of the stone spiral staircase, looking up.

"It's just, my arms are getting tired." He continued, as he raised his hands, which where waving back and forwards at extreme speed, generating sparks that were lighting up the staircase around them.

"We could take a break?" Uluka suggested.

"No, if we stop, I won't want to start again. Let's keep moving." Rian insisted.

The trio kept their pace, it wasn't long before they could see day light, shining down and lighting their path. Rian was happy, as he could give his arms a rest.

Reaching the top of the stairs, the group were in a small room, no bigger than a broom closet. The roof had collapsed in, leaving nothing but broken stone and rubble. One wall remained intact; it had a small iron gate, which had rusted shut. Rather than dig their way out, the group tried the gate.

"It's stuck" Uluka pointed out. Rian gave the gate a swift kick, the gate didn't budge. "That hurt didn't it?"

"Maybe" Rian replied as he backed away, keeping the weight off his foot.

Xeek took his shield off his back, took a few steps back, and rammed into the gate. With a crash of metal, the gate flew back off its hinges. The trio now freed, exited the ruins.

"Told you, they didn't need our help" the trio turned, to see Hexi talking to Netes. The girls sat on the grass, leant up against some rocks, while Lia chased a butterfly.

"How long?" Uluka asked, as he pointed at the girls.

"Only took us about, ten minutes to get here, after we split." Netes responded. Lia giggled, as she continued to chase the insect.

"LIA!" Hexi shouted.

"Oh, sorry" Lia answered, as she came and took a seat, next to her partner.

"Took us, best part of an hour to climb those stairs. Anyway where are the others?" Xeek asked.

"You beat them here, hopefully they don't take too long, it'll be getting dark soon." Netes replied.


"Beowolves, really? No way, definitely Death Stalker. Come on, I mean, all those eyes." Alexis said, with a shudder.

"It's the way they work in packs, it makes me think, that maybe there's more going on behind the eyes than we like to think." Cole explained.

"I guess, but in that case what a-" before she could continue, her foot had stepped onto a stone pressure plate, causing it to depress. There was a Click and a stone barrier slid down from the ceiling, behind them, blocking their way back. Another stone barrier ahead of them began to move down.

Cole grabbed Alexis' hand, "RUN!"

With Alexis in tow, Cole bolted forward. As they cleared the stone barrier, another one further ahead began closing down, and another and another. Alexis more scared than she'd ever been, running in the dark, with the sound of stone grinding on stone, trying to trap her in the black. The duo kept a full sprint, each barrier closing behind them, a closer call than the last. The last barrier almost crushing Alexis, as Cole barely pulled her out in time.

The two could see light at the end of the passage, they kept running towards it. They emerged from the Ruins, and stopped running once they saw the rest of the group, sat waiting. Hexi, the first to notice their arrival, gave a tap to Netes, and gestured to the two. Netes face lit up at the sight of her sister, "Alexis, you're alright, we were worried something might have happened."

Alexis pulled her hand back, and the two took a moment to catch their breath. Before Alexis answered her sister, she looked Cole in the eye, "Thanks".

"We're fine, we did run into some trouble, but it was nothing we couldn't handle." Alexis explained.

Hexi woke her partner, who had fallen asleep, after spending much of the time waiting, running about after various animals.

Xeek, who had taken note of the two's hand holding, spoke up, "Well, you can tell us all about it on the way back."


Thanks for reading. This was a longer chapter than usual. Let me know if you'd prefer more longer or shorter chapters. Thanks.