Chapter 21

If Melyssa had an inkling that Rean was actually alive, she would have jumped for joy. However, if she knew Ash was missing, she would have had a meltdown. "Shit, I need a minute…" She muttered to herself when she walked for a while, or so it felt like, and leaned back against a tree, staying in the wilderness and out of sight.

Following the railroad tracks was a surefire way of being blasted off them or attacked. Hissing at her arm, she pulled the soaked bloody piece of cloth away to survey it. The bleeding had stopped, but one false move and the wound would reopen. She had managed to bypass monsters, knowing fighting alone wasn't the best idea since she was injured. Ripping off some of her jacket, she rewrapped her arm and took a deep breath before continuing on.

Not even two seconds later, Melyssa was tripping on what could have been a log, but after a second look, it was not a log. She landed on her knees, catching herself with her good arm and turned her head. Laying there was Ash, breathing but unconscious, a large knot on the side of his head and dried blood down his face. Or, he had been unconscious. He was starting to stir, moaning as pain tore him from that knot on down. The last thing he remembered was harassing Monique, cracking a joke before turning to enter his room and he had felt a change in… everything, right before a blinding light and a scorching heat had engulfed him, then nothing.

"ASH?!" Melyssa hadn't meant to shout his name, but she hadn't expected to run into anyone far into the woods either. "Oh Aidios…"

He was hurt and she had just tripped over him, which couldn't have felt good either. A groan came out that sounded low and gruff, his eyes slowly opening. What was Melyssa supposed to do? There was no way she could call for help because they were too deep into the woods.

"You're alive…thank goddess…" As much as she wanted to hug him, she really needed to help him first. "C-Can you sit up?" More than likely, he had a concussion. "How the hell did you make it all the way out here?" Was he headed for the 4th Armored Division at Twin Dragons Bridge?

"Here?" Ash echoed weakly, confusion lacing his soft, cracking voice. He began pushing himself up into a sitting position only to stop, hissing in pain. "Something is wrong with my arms, Melyssa." It came out a puzzled whine, his teeth gnashing as he pushed himself up anyway, his pink eyes closing as if he could shut out the pain. It took him a moment to realize what was wrong. They were singed. His arms and his back, now that he was conscious and everything was registering, had been burnt. "What happened?" He asked, wishing he had water as he met her stare finally, noting how pale faced she was and frowned. "Are you hurt?" The pain was becoming bearable as he began categorizing what was hurting, what may have caused it and whether or not it was an immediate life or death situation.

"D-Don't worry about me." Goddess help her, she was trying to remain strong and vigilant, but the tears began falling before she could stop them. She had to get a hold of herself and took a shaky breath in and let it back out slowly. "Ash, the train…it was attacked and…there were explosions. People are dead. I-I'm on my way to the Twin Dragons Bridge to get in touch with the 4th Armored Division. Crow stayed behind to help civilians and…I don't know if the others are okay. You're the first one I've found alive since leaving the wreckage…"

He was pale and the blood on the side of his face broke her heart. There was no way he could go with her, but she refused to leave him in this state. What was she going to do?

"T-There's a stream about five minutes from here, let me go get some water. It should be clean enough to drink…"

"No," Ash's hand shot out, it was shaking and it wasn't something he could control just yet, but his grip was strong enough to stop her, briefly anyway. "Just, give me a minute and we can go together." His other hand came up to his head when Melyssa raised her fingers to ghost it, feeling dried, sticky blood there and grimaced. He probably looked worst then he felt, he hoped anyway, he felt pretty crappy right now. "What happened to your arm, beautiful?" His eyes, which were finally focusing properly and the glossiness wasn't as bad, zoomed in the makeshift bandage wrapped around it. "Ouroboros attacked the train." He said after she explained about the glass, shaking his head. "Somehow they found out about us… unless there was a very important passenger aboard none of us knew about."

"That's what Crow thinks. He's almost positive it was Ouroboros. Something big is going down in Jurai for them to attack us on the Twin Dragons Bridge railway." Not only would the 4th Armored Division be there at the tower, but so would the RMP. "Ash, you're injured more than I am…" That didn't stop the stubborn man from rising to his feet in front of her, using the tree as leverage with his free hand. He still had a hold of her arm and she had no choice except to get to her feet as well. "Instructor Rean told me there's something going on regarding the politics in Jurai and he believed…believes…" She immediately corrected herself, refusing to believe Rean was dead and wished she could clean Ash up even a little bit.

So, the question was, did Ouroboros attack because of Class VII coming or had there been a high profile target abroad the train? It wasn't ego to assume that it could have been Class VII, the students of the class had gone to war and won, so… their enemies knew most of them weren't just students. They were a threat.

"Afraid for Rean?" He asked, almost conversationally as he forced her to move with him or drop his overly large ass. "He'll be fine, he's been through worse." He laughed, it came out a little raspy. "I can't really think of anything worse at the moment but I know there's something. It'll come to me eventually… which way?" His sense of direction was addled, he was relying on Melyssa a lot more then he was trying to let on.

"I'm worried for everyone, Ash, not just Instructor Rean. And it's down here a ways, just hang onto me." Melyssa was stronger than she looked, her petite frame having a muscular, feminine build to it. She didn't look grotesque, but her strength wasn't to be passed over either. "I got you, come on." Together, slowly, they began trekking back down the hill through the woods, the sound of running water coming to their ears within five minutes of walking. Once they arrived at the stream, Melyssa managed to help Ash to the water and they sat down to drink their fill. "Okay, I'm going to start cleaning your face off." Tearing some of his shirt off without hurting him, Melyssa dunked it in the stream and then proceeded to straddle him, his legs not singed like his arms were, and started wiping the blood from his face.

"Ow, ow, mind the knot, wench," Ash whined, ducking his head when she actually got said knot. He knew, rationally, it needed to be cleaned and checked for damage beneath the blood and he probably looked a hot mess, but OUCH. "Hey," He displayed quickness that he shouldn't have possessed in his current state, rolling so he was hovering over her, shielding her. "Sshh…" He bent down, his lips hovering against her cheek as the sound of someone coming became clear over the sound of the stream. Ash wasn't sure if it was friend, foe or some random person, but he wasn't risking a thing right now.

Ash was covering his entire body with her own, moving his arms while his face remained right next to hers, so she was completely out of sight from whoever was approaching them. Goddess, please don't let it be Ouroboros, Melyssa silently prayed, holding her breath while her face was buried in Ash's chest. Ash could more than likely feel how fast her heart was racing and pounding against her chest, fresh silent tears spilling down her cheeks. She was legitimately scared to death and wanted to protect him, but Ash still showcased tremendous strength, even in his current condition.

"What the-"

"Ash!"

A second later, Ash was being pulled up by a half-naked, soaked and sweaty Rean with Crow right beside him. Crow looked down, blinking when he realized who Ash had been on top of and stooped to help Melyssa onto her feet. She looked terrified. She should have been halfway to the 4th by now. Crow studied her, looking for any new damage and nodded when he found none.

"Don't squeeze me!" Ash yelped, instantly covering his mouth. "Where are the others?"

"Looking for you, and heading to the 4th. Responders are on the scene, so we left."

"I-I found Ash unconscious and helped him down to this stream for some water…and to clean him up a little." Being found in THAT compromising position should have been the last thing she worried about, but this wasn't just any men. Crow and…Rean. Rean was alive! Melyssa couldn't break down right now and cry out to the Goddess, to Aidios, for sparing him, needing to keep her head on straight. "What are you two doing here? I thought you were staying behind to help the civilians, Crow?" Did he not trust her to make it to the 4th Armored Division?

"When the responders came, Rean said we should try catching up with everyone else." Crow said with a shrug. "Also, we have no way of knowing if we're the targets or not."

"If we were, the longer we stayed, the more likely the attackers would have become alert to our presence." Rean explained, his eyes taking in Ash and Melyssa slowly, cataloguing their bumps, bruises and cuts. "There's enough responders there now… we shouldn't be needed." A hint of worry laced his tone.

"So… cleaning him up, huh?"

"Yes, Crow, I had to help him. He's my friend and…" Melyssa looked back at Ash, the lump on his head rock hard and she could only imagine what he'd whacked it on. "I care about him. I care about all of Class VII. Have you guys heard from Juna, Kurt or Altina yet?"

"Altina was on her way to the 4th Armored Division. Juna and Kurt…no…" Rean was worried sick for his missing students, but they had to keep the faith they weren't dead like so many others. "I'm sure they're fine…"

Rean didn't sound convincing and Melyssa shared a worried look with Ash, knowing he had the same thought process going as she did. "I'm glad you guys came after us because I wasn't going to abandon Ash to keep going to the tower. Now that you're here, we can bring Ash with us and get him proper medical treatment."

"Juna and Kurt were out looking for Ash." Rean said quietly.

"So, has anyone tried raising anyone else on ARCUS or did we all forget how to use them?" Crow asked curiously, obviously they had all forgotten since even he hadn't thought of it. He had mentioned using it to stay in touch with Melyssa earlier, but… that was about it.

"Let's walk and talk at the same time." Rean suggested, sliding an arm around Ash's waist. "Crow, you can try getting through to them, please."

The problem was they were in the middle of the woods and nowhere near an area that would gain a signal on the ARCUS II. Sure enough, Crow couldn't make a call out to anyone or send a message. Melyssa was on the other side of Ash, his arm draped around her shoulders to help Rean guide him through the woods. Their posse, all of Class VII, had miraculously survived somehow, someway, and now they had a huge problem on their hands to figure out why the train had been attacked. Did Rean have any injuries? His white coat was singed, torn and had black soot on it, but other than that, he seemed to be perfectly fine. Ash had to stop a few times to catch his breath, his head pounding from the concussion he had.

"I wonder how much farther the tower is…"

"Not much." Rean said softly but cheerfully, ignoring the weird look Melyssa tossed his way.

"Yes, he's always like that." Ash grunted, knowing that was probably weird for her.

Rean sounding like they were at a day in the park for a picnic. It was something he did to try to keep morale up. Some people it irritated, others… when they heard him speaking in that tone, it calmed them down, made them less prone to freaking out.

"It should be coming into sight once we clear this line of trees." Rean had cause for being cheerful, the end was in sight. That was cause for celebration, right?

As soon as they cleared the trees, a huge tower stood before them that held part of the RMP and 4th Armored Division. They were on high alert, tanks already rolling out and the railway had, to no one's surprise, been shut down. They managed to make it up to the bridge and were stopped instantly by security.

"It's the Ashen Chevalier! Please, please right this way, sir." The soldier instructed and blinked when the big man Rean had a hold of, along with a petite dark blue haired girl, dropped to one knee. "We need medical attention immediately!"

"Right away, I'll inform Lieutenant General Craig of the Ashen Chevalier's arrival!"

Melyssa had no idea who these people were, but she was thankful Ash would finally receive the medical help he desperately needed.

"REAN! CROW!" An orange haired man came bolting across the bridge, his hair pulled back in a small tail. "Oh, thank Aidios you're safe! We've been so worried! Alisa and Laura are here too! Emma is on her way!"

"Elliot, must you gallivant off without a lick of sense?" A green haired man came walking up next, holding a shotgun with a grim expression on his face. "Thank the goddess you're all right, Rean and Crow. We heard about the explosion and immediately came here." He pushed his spectacles up his nose since they had slid down a little, clearing his throat.

Melyssa recognized the green haired man instantly as Machias Regnitz, the son of the current Governor of Heimdallr and the orange haired man as the sensational Elliot Craig, a well-known musician throughout Erebonia. He was also the son of the Lieutenant General Craig, who was also known as Craig the Red in the 4th Armored Division. Judging by the way these two men knew Rean and Crow, she was venturing a guess they were former members of Class VII from the Main School.

"I wish we could have reunited under better circumstances."

"Same here. Have the others made it?"

"Altina, Juna and Kurt are inside talking to my Dad." Elliot rubbed the back of his neck. "We were told you'd stayed behind to help civilians and my Dad immediately sent out reinforcements to assist."

Oh thank the Goddess they're okay, Melyssa thought, not leaving Ash's side even as the medical team rushed out to bring him into the tower for treatment.

"Well that explains why the responders got there so fast." Rean said with a nod. They had been on the scene so fast that, if he had been thinking properly, he would have been concerned about their initial attackers sneaking in under the cover of being responders.

Now he knew the why's and the how's, this was the perk of having friends.