AN: Prepare for some fluff in this chapter~! I think you'll enjoy reading it, so let me know what you think!

Chapter 23:

Safely tucked away in his room and in a clean set of clothes, Drayce rested back against the pile of pillows behind him on his bed and wiggled slightly to get comfortable. His injured leg sat atop of a pillow of its own. His ankle ached slightly and he was getting a slight headache, but Fiorello had reassured him that it was normal and nothing to worry about.

It was just from the strain of the battle and the injury.

"Comfortable?" Fiorello asked as he Drayce finally just flopped back against the pillows.

"As one can be, I suppose," Drayce answered honestly.

Ashton stood at the foot of the bed with his arms folded. "If you want to be able to enter the labyrinth on the night of the full moon, you're going to need to keep off that leg of yours for at least twenty-four hours," he said sternly.

"Right, right," Drayce said, truly not having the energy to make a counter argument. "Hopefully Shashi and Kamali will learn something with the documents we've found. If not we'll have to wait until the next full moon."

He hoped it wouldn't come to that. He wanted to find the Radiant Moon quickly. To keep Caelem safe, to return the celestian gift to the Earthlain royals, to keep it safe from those bandits. For everyone's sake.

"Shashi is likely to pull another all-nighter," Ashton mumbled with a sense of exasperation before he turned to him to give him another parentally stern look. "And I want you to leave them with Shashi until at least tomorrow morning."

"Ash, dude, you're starting to nag," Drayce teased in return.

Ashton just arched an eyebrow at him, though he didn't make an attempt to refute his words. That meant he knew he was nagging and was comfortable enough with that fact. That probably also meant more nagging in the future.

Fine, it was fine. Shashi would be able to translate the documents for him, anyway. Even if he insisted on looking at the documents, he may not be able to read them anyway. He might, but their treasure was safe within the walls of the Crescentia and no one else was aware of their findings.

He also wanted to learn a bit more information on the contents of the stone treasure chest and why it was created in the first place. Important things to inform Ramus the next time he saw him. He would no doubt be interested in the location of the ancient treasure chest also.

So, it would probably be best to do all of this and heal his injured leg before he met with him again. It wouldn't be a very positive sign to have him limping in with a crutch, would it?

"Ashton. Mind helping me gather something from the clinic?" Fiorello suddenly requested of Ashton, startling him somewhat.

Ashton glanced down at Fiorello with a raised eyebrow. He didn't ask why, though. Didn't question him at all. He simply nodded his head with an expression akin to that of understanding. "Sure."

Fiorello smiled cheekily as he turned his attention back toward Drayce. "Won't be long. Now, don't you move or we won't hesitate to tie you to that bed~"

Drayce wasn't naïve enough to take that as an idle threat…

"I'll be good," Drayce promised meekly before he sat up a little straighter. "Oh, hey, could you ask Faelen to come in here? I want so see how he's doing after our second battle."

Fiorello tilted his head to the side for a moment but his smile was soft and he nodded his head. "I've sent him to his room to get cleaned up, but I'll tell him to visit," he said as he and Ashton turned to leave the room.

"Thanks, Fio," Drayce said as the two stepped through the door and closed it partly behind them.

Left in silence, Drayce sunk back down against the pillows behind him and stared up at the ceiling. He folded his hands over his stomach but he couldn't stop himself from literally twiddling his thumbs. It was too quiet and still.

He was tired, sure, but already starting to feel a tad restless. There was invaluable treasure for him to read and document, after all!

The sound of footsteps outside his room, soft and hesitant, pulled Drayce out of his thoughts and impending boredom. He looked over at the door to find Faelen already peering in, looking hesitant, but also with an expression of concern and worry on his face.

"Come on in, Fae," Drayce said as he pushed himself up with his hands into a more sitting position.

Faelen walked into the room, leaving the door partly close behind him as he made his way to stand at the foot of Drayce's bed. He looked down at his heavily bandaged leg and his ears drooped slightly. "Are you ok?"

"Yeah, it's fine," Drayce immediately reassured, subconsciously wiggling his toes as proof. "Just a minor thing. Don't worry."

Faelen nodded his head as he kept his gaze on Drayce's leg. His ears drooped further and he folded his arms behind him as he rocked back and forth slightly on his feet.

"…That was kinda scary, huh?" he murmured as he finally looked up at him. "Weren't you scared?"

Drayce felt his gaze soften before he sighed and patted his hand on the bed next to him. "Fae, come here."

Faelen looked surprised before his ears folded back and he looked hesitant. But after a moment he pushed himself forward and moved to the side of Drayce's bed and scrambled onto it next to him. Drayce slipped an arm around his neck and tugged his against his side, letting Faelen rest his cheek against his chest.

"I was more worried about everyone else, to be honest," Drayce said as he as he wrapped both his arms around the rover, essentially cuddling him. "I wasn't going to allow any of those wild dogs near you."

"But, you weren't worried about yourself at all?" Faelen asked softly as he readily snuggled himself against Drayce's side.

"Honestly, only about my ability to keep calling Decoy Bunkers," Drayce admitted.

Faelen pressed his nose against the collar of Drayce's shirt. "You need to think about yourself," he said. "I don't want to see you hurt again…"

Drayce sighed as he tightened his arms around Faelen. He wanted to say that he preferred being the one with the injuries; the one in harm's way, but that would upset Faelen further, so he chose not to say anything.

Honestly, though, he preferred having a monster chewing on his leg than chewing on someone else's. If it was focusing on him, than the others were safe. That was all that mattered in the end.

Once more Drayce was pulled from his thoughts when he heard the sound of approaching footsteps. He kept his arms around Faelen in continue his comfort as he lifted his head and glanced over at the door of his room. He watched as it was pushed open slowly, cautiously, before to figures appeared. Blayke and Caelem. Well their heads at least as they peer around the door to check in on him, most likely wanting to see if he was asleep already.

But upon seeing that he wasn't, they both pushed the door open and stepped inside. And behind them two more figures were seen. Ashton and Fiorello had returned, Ashton with a few bottles of medicine in his arms.

"How are you feeling?" Blayke asked as he and Caelem walked over to the bed. Ashton and Fiorello chose to stay back, over by a small table and chair set where they talked silently to each other about the bottles in Ashton's arms.

"Better now that everyone is back at the Crescentia," Drayce said as he loosened his arms around Faelen a fraction to let him get up if he wanted.

But Faelen simply shifted slightly to lift his head from Drayce's chest and kept snug against his side, unconcerned that both Blayke and Caelem were with them now. Blayke sat down on the edge of the bed while Caelem remained standing at the foot, his gaze lingering on Drayce's injured leg.

"Kamali and Shashi are sorting through the documents," Blayke explained. "Apparently there's some interesting stuff there."

Good. Their efforts weren't in vain.

Caelem looked over at Drayce and shifted nervously on his feet. "Kamali has told me that the Moon Legacy is gone now."

Drayce nodded his head as he sunk back against the pillows behind him, Faelen choosing to sit up but stayed pressed against his side. "Yeah, when we came into the area where we discovered the stone treasure chest. We believe that now that it's lead someone to that chest, it no longer needs to exist."

A peculiar look appeared on Caelem's face, as if wanting to believe that it wouldn't hurt anyone again but also still cautious. Afraid of the small possibility that it may still exist. Or it may have returned to him. On his back.

He was also wondering of what would have happened to him should the Moon Legacy still resided on his back. That was a good question, honestly. The Moon Legacy disappeared in a blinding light. What would have happened if those bandits had managed to drag him to that corner of the floor? What would have happened to him?

Well, it didn't matter anymore. The Moon Legacy no longer existed.

"Y-yeah," Caelem simply stuttered.

"Although I feel that the Moon Legacy didn't mean to bring you harm, I'm glad we were able to safely remove it from you," Drayce said as he peered up at Caelem and sent him a smile. "You don't have to worry about it anymore."

Thankfully, Caelem seemed to calm at that. "Hmm," he hummed with a small smile.

"I've been wondering about those Wild Dogs," Ashton spoke up as he walked over to the other side of Drayce's bed and folded his arms across his chest lightly. "Do you think the wild dogs were also somehow affected by the Moon Legacy's presence in that part of the first floor? Perhaps even the location that the Moon Legacy led you to?"

That…was a really good theory. The wild dogs were notorious for being aggressive and violent, but for Drayce and co to have entered the labyrinth three times and encountered the wild dogs twice. They seemed to hone in on them, thinking back on it.

Interesting.

"Come to think of it, the two times we encountered them it was near that corner of the floor," Drayce murmured. "If so, maybe they'll calm down now?"

Ashton seemed to have considered it as well as he nodded his head slowly. "Who knows? Would explain the bad luck to encounter three of them. Some novices are only ever misfortunate enough to encounter one at a time. To think you had two attack you at once."

Drayce's leg seemed to ache in reply and he idly curled and uncurled his toes. "Yeah."

"Those wild dogs were the least of our worries," Blayke murmured with a surprisingly dark expression on his face.

Ashton immediately turned to look at him, an expression of worry on his face. "What do you mean?" he asked, his tone rather sharp.

Drayce felt himself wince. He knew what was going to happen next…

"We encountered a couple of those bandits," Blayke immediately replied with a scowl. "A necromancer and a pugilist. They pretty much admitted that they were the ones who kidnapped Caelem."

A look of alarm immediately appeared on Caelem's face and his ears perked up. "You met them?"

Blayke huffed as he pushed himself to his feet and folded his arms tightly across his chest. "Not only did we meet them, the necromancer ordered the pugilist to grab Drayce as he might be useful. And they made the threat of returning for him afterwards."

Caelem's ears immediately folded back and he glanced down at the floor. "That's…"

Ashton's eyes narrowed protectively and Drayce could have sworn he saw him ball his fists tightly even though his arms were still crossed over his chest. "I see..."

"Hey now, it's probably nothing more than an idle threat," Drayce injected in an attempt to pacify everyone's growing worry and protectiveness. "They only targeted me because the necromancer noticed the container with the Moon Legacy inside. That's all."

"How can you be so sure?" Faelen asked him softly.

"They probably don't know I'm a treasure hunter, so I don't see why they should," Drayce explained before he lifted his hand and gentle ruffled Faelen's hair. "Listen, even if they did come after me for some reason I'll be one hell of a difficult captive. Not to mention I'm sure you would come rescue me, right?"

Faelen actually giggled as he smiled. "Right," he said before his ears perked up. "Hey, those bandits also mentioned another treasure."

"Hm? Oh, the cache of jewels?" Drayce questioned as he slipped his arm around Faelen's neck and tugged him playfully down next to him. "Yeah, there are countless rumours of treasures hidden in the labyrinth. That's why I'm here, after all. Back in the day, jewel thieves would conduct a robbery but hide their stashes until the heat dies down. So it is possible that there is a stash of stolen goods there. Maybe even several of them as the first floor was the easiest to get to."

"We can worry about that later," Blayke said with a slight twitch of his eyebrow. "We've got enough on our plate."

Drayce rolled his eyes and nodded his head in a playful way. "I know, I know," he said as he flapped his other hand dismissively at Blayke, earning another soft chuckle from Faelen. "Besides, the first floor is huge and with a lot of water, so there's no point in searching without help."

"You would go searching for treasure if you had a map, wouldn't you?" Faelen playfully asked him.

"Oh, absolutely!"

That was followed by a series of chuckles or in Blayke's case exasperated groans.

"I think that's enough chatting for now," Ashton announced in a friendly, but still very parental manner. "Try to get some rest. I'll bring you some food later. For now, sleep."

Drayce was internally grateful that Ashton had said that because he honestly was starting to feel a little tired. It was probably a mixture of the pain medicine and the relief that everyone was safe and sound. And that they found and safely recovered the treasure the Moon Legacy was leading them to.

"Yeah, ok," Drayce said as he sunk even deeper into the pillows and against the bedsheets.

Everyone began to move, though Faelen lingered to give Drayce one last look of concern.

"I'm fine, Fae," Drayce insisted and reassured at the same time he gave him a slight nudge. "Just a little achy. That big-mouthed mutt has got nothing on me."

Faelen seemed comforted with that. "Ok," he said as he hopped off the bed.

Ashton quickly ushered everyone out of the room and they moved without argument. With everyone out in the hallway, Ashton paused to stand in the threshold to look in on Drayce with his hand on the handle.

"I'll check in on you in an hour or so," Ashton said before he stepped back and closed the door.

Drayce took a moment to get himself comfortable as he could with his leg stretched out in front of him and propped up on a pillow. He slid down so he was lying more on his back than he was sitting up. He closed his eyes, half expecting him to lie there for a few minutes to let sleep claim him.

However, in a matter of seconds, he was asleep.

… … … … …

A sharp, burning pain in his leg pulled Drayce from his sleep and he uttered a low curse under his breath. He slowly and groggily tried to regain full consciousness, enough to at least get his bearings. He soon realised that he had rolled over onto his side, which was probably why his leg ached. In protest. What an inconsiderate jerk.

Pushing himself into a better and far more comfortable position, he glanced out the window and furrowed his brow in confusion. But his eyes soon widened in surprise.

The sky was a mixture of oranges, reds, and purples. The light soft and the breeze from the open window was cool. The sun was setting. He had been out of it for a few hours! He hadn't expected that. He was either more exhausted than he first thought. Or Fiorello had slipped him something. Both were possible.

He briefly wondered if the others were worried about him sleeping in or if they were relieved. Again, both were possible.

A very gentle knock at his door gained Drayce's attention immediately and he looked over at it. He hadn't heard any footsteps.

"Oh, yeah, I'm awake," Drayce called out as he pushed himself to sit up.

The door handle turned slowly before the door popped open and the one who stood in the threshold was surprising.

"Did I wake you?" Zohar questioned as he took a half step in.

"Zohar?" Drayce murmured, truly surprised to see him but hoping that he wasn't seeing things nonetheless. "Hey, you're still here. Oh, yeah, come on in."

Silently, Zohar stepped further into the room and just as quietly turned and pushed the door shut behind him. As he turned back to look in Drayce's direction, his eyes seemed to linger on his injured leg before they travelled up to look directly into Drayce's eyes.

"Yes," he said as he approached only to pause a foot or so away from the bed. "Fiorello told me what happened."

"Ah, I see," Drayce said as he gave him a half smile that was both sheepish and guilty. "A bit of a wild day, huh?"

Zohar's gaze travelled down to his leg once more and Drayce couldn't help but notice a slight tensing of his jaw. "Your leg, does it hurt?"

Drayce glanced down at his leg and moved it slightly, to show him that, truly, his injury wasn't that bad. And not to worry too much over him. Because…Drayce wasn't sure, but for some reason he just got this feeling that there was a sense of, well, guilt in Zohar's eyes.

"Only aches a little," he insisted. "I had a minor slip-up, but I'm fine."

Zohar's eyes then turned unexpectedly wistful, yet gentle. "The labyrinth certainly is dangerous."

"There's…no denying that, I suppose," Drayce said simply in return.

With his back starting to ache ever so slightly as well, most likely from having to lie it as still as possibly, Drayce sat up, his injured leg still stretched out as he hugged the other to his chest.

"Zohar? Can I ask you something?"

"Hm?" Zohar murmured.

Drayce hugged his leg a tad tighter as he rested his chin on his knee. "You're searching for something, aren't you?"

Drayce half expected Zohar to look a little annoyed, maybe even brush him off for being nosy. It wasn't any of his business, after all.

Instead Zohar tilted his head to the side in curiosity. "Did Fiorello tell you something?"

"Only that you have a goal," Drayce replied honestly as he lifted his chin from his knee to give Zohar an apologetic smile. "I'm a nosy shit, I know. I'm sorry. He wouldn't tell me anything more than that, though. He's…just worried about you."

And…

"And, well, I guess I am, too," he whispered.

"You are?" Zohar asked. He didn't sound confused, but his gaze gave the indication that he was a little puzzled by his soft admission.

Drayce sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck as his shifted his gaze to look at something else other than Zohar. "Well, yeah," he murmured. "I mean…this goal you have. Is it really something you have to do alone? It…doesn't seem fair to me, you know?"

Zohar released a sigh and Drayce hold back a wince, waiting for to be told to mind his own business. However, he felt the side of his bed shift, as if Zohar had just sat down. Drayce quickly turned to look and, yep, Zohar had done just that. He sat himself on the edge of his bed and was turned to face him fully.

"It…would be for the best if I don't involve anyone else," Zohar said with a sense of reluctance in his voice.

Drayce didn't know what to say to that. Not in a way that wasn't intrusive. He also couldn't help his concern. What kind of…trouble was he in? It had to be something difficult if he felt it would be not to allow others to help, to know.

Zohar suddenly reached out to gently take a hold of Drayce's chin, to lift his gaze toward him and gave him a small smile. "You're dying to know more, aren't you?" he questioned.

"I am," Drayce immediately responded, not seeing the point in lying or brushing off the remark because it was simply true. "I'm sorry."

Zohar breathed out suddenly through his nose but his smile stay in place. He actually looked amused by his response.

But there was…there was something Drayce wanted Zohar to know. He wasn't asking because he was just nosy. Not just because it may prove interesting. He was asking because…he wasn't sure, honestly. He just wanted to help him in some way.

There was this hurt in Zohar's eyes. He carried a hurt he shouldn't alone. It wasn't fair.

Drayce reached up to wrap his hand around Zohar's wrist and slowly tug his hand from his chin. But he didn't push his hand away. His own hand stayed firm, but gentle around Zohar's wrist.

"Listen, you…you don't have to tell me anything," Drayce said as he pulled his leg away from his chest to shimmy himself toward Zohar a little more. "I get it. It's none of my business. It's ok. So don't feel pressured into telling me. Just…you can hang around here, you know? I mean the library upstairs may be useful to you in some way. You don't have to join as a guildmember or anything."

Zohar lowered his hand as he looked at Drayce with wide eyes, his mouth parted slightly. He looked so surprised. Stunned. He sat silently for the longest moment, just staring at Drayce, gazing into his eyes.

And for some reason, though he felt a little awkward, Drayce couldn't take his own eyes away.

Suddenly, Zohar lifted his hand again, the one that Drayce still held onto, and cupped the side of his face as he leaned forward. "…I see it now," he murmured as he threaded his fingers through Drayce's hair at his temple and behind his ear.

Drayce was startled by how close he was and how cool his hand felt against his cheek. "Huh?"

"Why the Moon Legacy activated for you," Zohar said softly.

With Zohar's hand still gently pressed against the side of his face, Drayce furrowed his brow in confusion. "What do you mean?"

Zohar shook his head slightly, though made no attempt to pull his hand back. "For as long as I can remember, I've had to do things alone. I don't know how to open up to another. I do not know how to respond to someone when they offer me compassion like you have."

Drayce drew in a sharp breath. "That's…"

"Though I am currently unwilling to say anything more, a part of me wishes I could," Zohar confessed softly, the regret in his voice palpable. "Maybe one day I'll find the courage to talk." He suddenly sighed and reluctantly pulled his hand back, his fingertips brushing the side of Drayce's face in one last lingering touch. "Until then…"

Drayce wasn't sure why his heartrate suddenly peaked, but he nodded his head and swallowed thickly. "I understand. Whenever you're ready."

"I will tell that caretaker of yours that you are awake," Zohar said as he suddenly and abruptly leaned back and took to his feet. "I'm sure you are hungry."

"Yeah," Drayce murmured, feeling unnaturally dazed for some reason. "I guess I kinda am."

What…

What exactly just happened?