Hello everyone and welcome back to HellFall!
So yeah, as you can tell here we have our first delay of Part 3. Will it be the last? No way. I'll shoot for Monday, but no guarantees.
"Are you sure you don't want to stay?" Elwood, the leader of the AOD (Atlas Outskirts Defense), asked me as I told him I wouldn't be staying.
"I'm sure," I replied, certain that I was making the right choice. I had wanted to be a huntress for as long as I could remember, and I figured now was as good a time as any to fulfill that dream to the extent for which I had longed for since childhood. Sure, I could have financial security with the AOD, and maybe one day I would return, but for now I wanted to live the way I had fantasized about. Taking job posters off tavern walls, never staying in the same place for too long. That was how I wanted to live.
Elwood sighed, rubbing his face with the palm of his hand. After stroking his thick white mustache he returned eye contact, "Alright," he said with a level of uncertainty, like he thought I was making the wrong choice. "I hope to see you again," he smiled, telling me that there was no bad blood between us, that he'd accepted my decision and wouldn't push further.
I returned the gesture, shook his hand, and left.
Back at home I set to work packing my things. I figured the pink dress might have to go, but then again it could be my staple. Maybe one day I'd get a title, a nickname, and my dress would be my trademark. It wasn't exactly convenient for fighting considering how much it stood out, but it had worked for me already. I decided that, while it was in my best interests to leave it behind, I would take it anyway. Somewhere down the road I'd decide what to do with it, but for now it stayed.
"Going somewhere?" A young voice asked. I turned around, seeing Grizzlibear Karzen standing in the doorway, a leather brown eye patch covering his left eye. He'd been stabbed by Rocco Trask during the battle, but was currently in the recovery stages. He continued to stay with me in Atlas, but I assumed he'd be leaving soon to go to Beacon.
"Yes," I replied. "I'm going to travel for a while" I replied, pausing my packing for a moment to speak to him.
"How long are you going to be gone?" He asked. He seemed distressed, and had good reason to be. After all we'd been through; it would certainly be hard for someone as young as him to move on. Throw in everything he's experienced in the last several months, and this is something he'll probably carry for the rest of his life.
"A while, at the very least," I replied. "I don't plan on returning any time soon." I continued packing at this point, as I hoped to be out the door by tomorrow, and I was still trying to decide whether I wanted to sell my house or not.
"What about me?" Grizzly asked.
"You'll have to return home," I told him. "You'll be starting Beacon soon, right? Besides, I'm sure that your parents are worried sick considering all that's happened here."
"Can I come with you?" He asked suddenly. By the strained sound of his voice, I knew it had been on impulse that he'd said it. He didn't think about it before blurting it out, yet I could tell he meant it. He wanted to come with me, and in some way I wanted him to. Still, I had to play the responsible role and tell him no.
"I really don't think that's a good idea." I replied as softly as I could, without sounding motherly, "You really should go home. Let your parents know that you're okay"
"They said I could live with you while we fought in the tournament." He pointed out, "The tournament never officially ended, did it?"
It took me a second to realize that this was true. The tournament had been interrupted and never finished, although I doubted it would until next year. It was a loophole, but it wasn't a big enough one to take someone's child away from them.
"No, Grizzly." I decided to be more firm now. He had to go home; despite how much I wished he could come along, "You have to go home. Pack your things; I'll take you to the train station."
His face contorted into something of someone who had become greatly distraught, someone whose emotions had broken into something much less than they once had been.
And then I winked.
It was subtle, but I was staring right at him. It told him that I'd take him to the station, but that he didn't have to get on the train. It told him that, if he followed me, that I'd have to take him along because that's what responsible people do. Hopefully it also told him that we wouldn't travel together for long. That if we ever reached Vale he'd be sent straight home.
He nodded, maintaining his tears, but smiling under it all. He turned around and lumbered out into the hallway.
Well there you go. As usual, favorite, follow, review, tell your friends, tell your enemies, or don't if you don't want to, and I'll see you all in the next chapter!