Chapter 4, finally. This chapter gave me a ton of trouble, but I do hope it is to everyone's enjoyment. It stands at almost 6K words, which should be the normal for this story. The first 3 chapters were a special case.
I'd like to thank my Beta-reader, MidKnightMoonglow99, for offering great and valuable creative advice, ideas, and encouragement. And also for taking the time to draw a beautiful new cover-art for the story, thank you!
With all that out of the way, I hope you enjoy!
Memories of a Future
Chapter 4: A World Worth Saving.
"Hey, Ru-" Words trailed off instantly, courtesy of a giant Crescent Rose twirling until it stood right in front of the speaker's face, ready to fire.
The owner of Crescent Rose, Ruby Rose, thankfully had enough self-control to not fire before checking who snuck up on her. "Damn it, Jaune. Don't sneak up on me like that." She whispered while her trusted weapon moved out of the way.
"Sorry, didn't mean to," Jaune replied, also whispering as he watched her sit down on the ground. "Hey, it's my watch now, you should get some sleep."
She sighed in response. "It's no use."
Jaune frowned. "Still can't sleep?"
"No," Ruby replied. "It's okay Jaune, I'm fine, you could go back to sleep, I'll keep watch." She added, setting her weapon beside her on the ground before raising one knee to her chin so she can rest her head.
She looked beside her as Jaune came down to sit next to her. "Yeah, not gonna happen, I'll keep you some company." He looked at her, both smiled. "Besides, I can't mess up my sleeping schedule anyway."
Ruby giggled silently.
It was so different than what she used to sound like when she does that. She used to be upbeat, letting everyone know how much fun she's having.
Now it's all different, she's barely making a sound, and it wasn't even remotely enthusiastic, she was only showing that she's mildly enjoying the conversation.
She never laughs the way she used to before.
He doubts that he's the only one who notices that. She tries to be positive to keep everyone's mood up, and she succeeds most of the time.
But she wasn't as confident when she does those things anymore. She used to have unfiltered belief that everything will be alright. Now it's just hope, hope mixed with doubt.
Jaune looked at his friend. The darkness under her beautiful eyes was clear even at night, she could barely keep her eyes open.
"I'm sorry, Ruby. But you're lying." He speaks. "I see you sometimes during the day, you're so tired that you're dozing off while standing."
Ruby looked at him, then down on the ground. "Yeah, I know."
"You should sleep."
"I can't"
"Why?"
Ruby looked behind both of them, at their friends and the other huntsmen sleeping. She then looked in front of her again, back at the forest.
Jaune understood without needing words. "Ruby..." his words trailed off, he thought for a moment, then spoke again. "They're not your responsibility to protect."
Ruby looked at him for one moment. And that was all it took for him to notice how she was almost crying.
"But it is."
"No, Ruby, it isn't. We're all huntsmen, you don't protect us... we all protect each other."
"I'm not just a huntress, Jaune, you know that," Ruby said, not daring to look at her friend anymore, another gaze and she'd probably start crying, she didn't know why, but it was what she felt.
Jaune himself knew what she spoke of. And she was right, she wasn't just a huntress. She was a silver-eyed warrior and a maiden.
Someone like her must feel like the whole world is her responsibility.
He didn't know how to reply without lying, and after a moment, he decided to not just reply, but request something.
"Ruby."
A moment passed, Ruby still looking in front of her, watching the forest.
"...Yes?"
"Please rest." He placed a hand on her shoulder. "For me, please."
Ruby looked at him in response, this time failing to contain herself. She felt a tear slip past her cheek.
"No, Jaune... I'm sorry." She replied, standing up and taking her weapon to go watch the other side of camp.
The terrain was rough and uneven, the only light present being the one coming from the rare dim candles randomly scattered around the walls. It was at times like these that Blake appreciated her heightened faunus senses the most.
She was capable of looking around and studying the place without much worry of tripping down. Unlike the other three dragged with her.
There were many intersecting hallways and they regularly had to change directions. It seemed like whoever dug these tunnels was either a designing genius that managed to connect all the place to itself or just someone who didn't care much. She secretly hoped it would be the former, as it would help her navigate and memorize the place easier if some thought was put into it.
It wasn't easy to focus, though, not with what was going on in front of her.
As they walked, the scarred man that she assumed to be some sort of leader just wouldn't shut up, he was singing softly, so softly that it felt like he was reciting a lullaby of some kind, his voice wasn't horrible, but that wasn't what interested her, what interested her were the words.
"A coward, like an old mountain, will be scoured."
"A weakling, unsoured like an innocent lamb, will be devoured."
"A fighter, pure like fire, in their beauty we are empowered."
"Yet their blood, they desire."
"Hear the thunder of the gods."
"And in its brilliance, lay down your head."
"And retire."
Blake shook her head, trying to get the words out of her mind, it took her a second, but she did so successfully. Instead, opting to look around once more.
As she speculated, guards were a common sight. At least one in each hallway. It would have been a disaster if she decided to fight alone, guards would hear it and surround her from every direction.
"Ha, we've reached first. How fortunate!" Blake's eyes snapped to look ahead once again, it was the scarred man who spoke, reminding Blake that he ordered other guards to collect people from other cells.
"I am afraid that this is it, my dear chosen, I must leave you to walk your road to the end now." The man speaks once more, turning to face them. Behind him was a huge wooden gate, two torches were attached to it, making seeing a whole lot easier. "Now, please, do go in."
As if they needed more convincing than the guns pointed at them to comply, the other guards started pushing Blake and the other three with the muzzles of their rifles.
The two men went in first, then the other woman. Blake was next to go. As she went in, the gate close behind her. She could immediately make almost everything out.
A huge arena, half the size of a football field.
It was littered with stake pits, fire pits, pits with barbed wires, others with snakes. And that's not to mention the abundant amount of barricades, she guessed that the reason for it was that they don't want the competitors to rely on ranged combat.
She looked around, multiple doors similar to the one she and the other three came into the arena from, at least ten of them. Some were open and letting similar groups inside. Some were already closing after letting other groups inside, and some were still opening.
With all that said, none of it was more terrifying than what she spotted when she looked up, hundreds of maniacs on stands, looking down on them. They were all sick, they were eager to see people die.
Sick, sick to the core. People who loved death.
She'd seen her fair share of death, she'd seen enough death to know how precious life is. These people, though, use it as some sort of fuel.
What was even worse was how they tried so hard to make death sound like this glorious and much sought-after treasure. Blake could only feel that they were using those things as a means to make themselves feel better about their sick nature, as a means to justify their disgusting wants.
They are using gods, worship, and sin as an excuse, but no god would ask for this.
Or at least no god worth worshiping.
"I feel sick." The shorter man of the two spoke, he had every right to be, it doesn't get much scarier than this.
Blake couldn't stop herself from thinking about it, whoever is brought to this arena would most likely be hungry, thirsty, confused, tired, and terrified. They would have little to no combat experience but they were still expected to fight for their lives.
It was a disaster, a disaster standing against everything a true Huntsman believes in. They were the ones trained for this, they were the ones that could handle pressure, that could fight in such unfair conditions, that's what they sign up for.
They endure the torture so others can live in peace, they face death constantly so other families can sleep well at night.
So why?
Why does she see the exact opposite!
People dragged away from their family, forced to die in cruelty for no reason, right in front of her face, Blake could see that these people that she fought to protect are still forced to go through the same hell as her.
The Ntah were spitting on every huntsman's morals!
It was the biggest bad joke the world could throw at her, it was telling her that all she was doing was never going to be enough, that her friends had died to save a world so unkind. It quickly made her realize the real reason to why she's here, why she went back in time.
She could only realize this because she was practically living her second life. In a previous time, when she was still fighting against Salem with her friends. All she wished for was that they win and finally get their deserved rest, their happily ever after. She'd have probably called off her career as soon as she feels the world was stable again.
She'd seen enough fighting.
But now she sees it. Even if they manage to defeat Salem this time around, even if the world doesn't fall apart. Things will always be going on behind the scenes.
People will never stop being hurt.
All she could hope to do now is to change that hurt into something else, something more.
Something meaningful.
It was at this moment that she finally realized.
The world will never stop needing her.
And as long as she can, she'll be there.
Weiss Schnee was making her way up the stairs. She'd helped Jaune with some of the cleaning but now intended to check up on Jade and her son while Jaune finishes things up downstairs.
She knocked gently on the door, just not to freak out Jade and to inform her that she's coming in.
Upon opening the door, Weiss immediately saw the woman. She also quickly remembered how she told Jaune to ask Jade to stay put and keep her son with her at all times.
It seems like he did inform her to stay put. Maybe even a bit too well, as Weiss could swear that Jade had been sitting the exact same way on the bed last time she saw her, and that was at least two hours ago.
Armani had also somehow managed to still be asleep.
Weiss briefly wondered if he ever woke up due to the sounds downstairs.
"Is it over?" Jade spoke, still shaken.
"Yes, it's over," Weiss replied, making her way towards the woman before sitting down next to her, she could almost physically feel the tension Jade's body was in. She tried putting a hand on her shoulder to calm her down. "It's fine, everything's going according to plan, there's nothing to worry about."
"Will Blake be okay?" Jade asked. It might be easy for the huntress to forget, simply because of how many times she'd done similar things. But Blake saved this woman's life, and her son's. She obviously didn't want anything bad to happen to her savior.
"It'll take much more than a bunch of idiots to bring her down," Weiss replied.
"They're not a bunch, though... there's a lot of them, she should never have gone through with that plan."
"Blake's a tricky one, she's probably already causing them all sort of problems in there," Weiss replied again. Still backing her words, partly because she wanted to ease Jade's mind, the other reason for it was probably to extinguish her own worries, she wanted to convince herself that Blake's making it out in one piece.
"Hopefully you're right."
Reason unknown to her, Weiss didn't reply to that, and instead opted to change the subject. "It's probably best for you to get some rest now, Jaune and I will do the same once the owner is here, we have a few things to talk to her about."
"Attention, attention. Dear chosen." A voice came from above. Blake looked up to the source, the other people brought to the arena did the same.
A man could be seen, he was the only one standing out of the huge crowd. Blake couldn't quite make out his face.
"For those of you joining us for the first time, I welcome you!" He says, cheering at the end. The whole crowd cheered right after him.
Blake could feel a chill run down her spine at the explosion of sound.
"And for those of you familiar faces who so gracefully honor us with your presence once more, I welcome you!"
The crowd cheers once more, louder, much louder this time. Blake thought it to be a coincidence until she looked at the far side of the arena, where a tall man stood, hands in the air greeting the crowd.
They were cheering for him, and he liked it.
"The rules are simple!" The man above speaks again once the crowd settles down. "Ten teams, each with four members, representing their cell. The winning team earns their cell extra food until tomorrow night!"
What? Blake told herself. Were these people seriously fighting to the death over food?
No, scratch that, they weren't fighting for food. They were fighting to survive, no doubt. But did this man up there really think that extra food is an adequate payment to someone who fought to the death?
What on Remnant is wrong with this place!
As soon as she thought she was starting to figure them out, something new happens. This man, she didn't see him as some religious cult leader, he didn't say a single thing about religion!
She felt him more like an announcer in a bandit show.
But he had the charisma, enough to make it work for the audience watching.
At this point, Blake was starting to doubt if the word 'cult' is a fair representation to what these people really are, the only person who seemed to have some sort of faith in anything was the scarred man who picked her and the other three people out of their cell.
"In front of you are weapons laid randomly on the ground, think of them as your one connection to the gods as you slay your enemies!" The man speaks once more.
And that was the first thing about any gods Blake had heard. At least it's some sort of progress.
"May the worthy remain, begin!"
Immediately, some of the people in the arena run forward to grab a weapon. Others stood still, confused, Blake was one of them, but it didn't take her long to catch on.
She found herself running towards a sword on the ground.
As she neared it, she took a last look at the people who ran quickly, trying to memorize their faces or bodies, they were the most dangerous bunch, as they have experience in this arena, and since they survived it, it means that they were capable of surviving a fight that had at least thirty-nine others dead.
Blake slid across the ground, grabbing a short-sword in her hand and making sure to catch sand along the way to make sure that it won't slip off easily.
By the time she was up, it had already started. The first thing she saw was a sword struck through someone's chest on the other side of the arena.
She looked elsewhere, only to find that pretty much everyone was already fighting or about to. She looked behind her to see the two men from her cell start running towards her, the woman followed soon after, scared of being left behind.
"We need to stick together." The bigger of the two men said. The other one replied with a nod while the woman stayed silent behind them.
Blake looked forward once more, just to see someone else get struck down.
They're making us fight like animals was her first thought.
They are stripping these people's humanity away from them, turning them into machines that kill to survive.
"Yes, let's stay together and-"
"No," Blake spoke.
"No?" One of the guys looked at her, bewildered.
"No, I'm not going to do this. I'm not going to kill innocents." She explains as she straps her sword to her Atleasian uniform.
"Wha-"
"Forget the bitch!" The smaller man tells the other. "us, let's stick together, these two are dead weight anyway." He adds as he looks at Blake and the other woman.
While the other man doesn't seem to fully agree, he still opts to choose to fight for his life, and so he joins him and they both move forward carefully.
The other woman looks at Blake and immediately decides that the other two guys would be a better company to stick with, so she grabs a small weapon and runs after them. "Wait, don't leave me behind!"
Blake watches, cursing silently at the whole situation, it feels like half of the people in the arena were already dead.
Think, Blake, think! She tells herself.
Trying to squeeze any solution out of her brain, Blake fails to notice the singing of the crowd above her, mistaking it for normal cheering until it was loud enough to almost shake the ground.
She looked up, and in a moment of pure horror, she realizes that most eyes were fixated on her as they sang.
"A coward, like an old mountain, will be scoured."
"A coward, like an old mountain, will be scoured."
"A coward, like an old mountain, will be scoured."
They sang again and again, relentlessly.
They saw her as a coward that was too afraid to fight.
She wasn't afraid, she wasn't.
She wasn't.
I'm just trying to figure this out...
Blake managed to snap herself out of her thoughts just in time to notice that the chants of the crowd weren't only off-putting her, but they were also notifying others about her.
She could see the man from earlier, the one that the crowd heavily cheered for at the beginning. He was making his way to her, looking her dead in the eyes while holding an intimidating greatsword.
The huntress looked around as quick as she could, and in the distance, she could see that one of the men from her group, the shorter one, was just struck down.
But that wasn't time to focus on that, she saw something else. Right in the middle of the desert-like arena, a wooden platform made of stacked barricades was visible. It was perfect.
"Hiagh!" Blake heard the heavy groan, she looked beside her to see the very intimidating greatsword swinging right at her, she rolled out of the way with moderate ease.
She didn't notice it, but that one small move earned many cheers from the crowd, just because of how easy she made it look like.
As Blake ran towards the platform, the man who tried to kill her looked angrily at the spectators. "Don't cheer her you bastards!" He yelled before turning around to look at his running prey. "I'm gonna kill you!" He yells as he follows suit.
Blake started climbing the crumbling platform, not taking long to reach the top thanks to her superior agility.
Once at the top, she looked around. Almost everyone was dead. She could see that the other man and woman from her group were still hanging on, but other than that, less than ten people were left, her included.
If she could convince the others to stop fighting, there's a chance more people could make it out alive.
"People!" She tries yelling, nobody hears her. "People, listen!" She yells again, louder. But no one bats an eye.
"PEOPLE!" She yells at the top of her lungs, still nothing. She looks annoyingly at the crowd, they're simply too loud.
Before the huntress could attempt to come up with a different plan, she found the man who previously tried to kill her, he was standing on the ground, right in front of the platform.
"You don't need to do this!" Blake tries to yell, he was close, he might hear.
Her reply was him proceeding to throw his gigantic greatsword at her, she ducked down and watched it fly over her head.
The crowd cheered again.
"Damn you, slippery piece of shit!" He yells from bellow. "I'll kill you, you hear me!" He adds.
Blake watches as he starts climbing up to her. He was dangerous. She could see it in his smile both times he tried to kill her.
That man enjoys killing. And he's already chosen her as his next target.
This man had to be taken down. And so Blake watched and watched as he climbed.
She could see a sharp piece of metal was sticking out of the mostly wooden barricade, and he was climbing right towards, Blake formulated the plan as quick as she could.
She jumped just as his chest aligned with the blade-like piece of metal. Spinning in the air, she used all the force she could to kick the man straight onto the piece of metal.
Finally, the huntress landed on her feet, she quickly turned around to see the man fall to the ground.
Blake didn't want to attack the innocent, yet this man was anything but innocent, he was a special case, one that she had to deal with, or he'd only inflict more damage.
"I'm gonna... I am going to make you pay for that." The man spoke, much to Blake's dismay, he slowly started to push himself off the ground, aura flashing then breaking.
So he had aura, but at least now it is out of the way.
Blake didn't wait for him to get up, instead opting to finish what she started, and so, the huntress charges at him. Yet he proved to be deceivably fast, as his hand shot up to grapple Blake by the throat.
The huntress's eyes flashed but she managed to duck out of the way in the last moment, as if playing a game of limbo, only a really dangerous one.
Not one to waste an opportunity, she followed by a slash across her opponent's back, as a stab would be too much of a risky bet, she didn't know how sturdy her sword is.
Blood dripped down the wound and the man groaned in severe pain, he attempted to spin around and attack back but Blake saw it coming, and his spinning attack collided with nothing more than an image of herself, one that immediately turned into nothingness.
Before he could comprehend, Blake delivered the blow that would decide the fight, one clear and clean slash across his leg, immediately rendering him immobile...
Blake watched as he dropped to his knees, groaning from the pain.
"Damned... bitch." He spoke as he tried to get up.
It was a lost cause, all he could do is look at his victorious opponent standing in front of him.
"You could've killed me already..." He spoke, grinning. "But you didn't."
Blake knelt, a safe distance away. "The crowd, they were cheering for you at the start."
He smiled. "Of course they were."
"Why?"
Silence presumed for a moment as the man took in a deep breath with a wide smile. As if enjoying the fresh morning air. "I killed, I killed, then I killed some more."
Blake looked at him with disgust. There will be no more killing for him, no more mindless killing. Even if he was to live, he was too injured to fight for months, she'd have dealt with the Ntah by then. She knew she would.
"And I'll kill even more!" The man suddenly yelled, Blake snapped out of her thoughts faster than any enemy could have accounted for, and as he used all his remaining strength to lunge himself at her, he was met by her blade instead.
And so, only three out of forty remained.
Explaining the situation would have probably been a lot easier if Weiss hadn't been up there with Jade, Jaune told himself as he watched the shocked hotel owner freeze like a statue upon entering the building.
"Okay... before you say anything, just keep in mind that-"
"WHAT HAPPENED HERE!"
Jaune cringed at the yelling. At least that would probably bring Weiss down here. But meanwhile, he had to calm this understandably and rightfully confused, mad, and worried woman down.
"Listen, listen, we're gonna pay all your repair fees, alright!" He tries.
If her eyes twitching uncontrollably was an indication, his words weren't enough to calm her down in the slightest.
"We'll pay you even more! For the trouble, just-"
"Good morning, miss Scarlatina." Weiss cut him off, coming down the stairs.
The hotel owner stared at her so intensely that one would think her eyes are almost popping out of their sockets. "Don't you good morning me! What-"
"The place was attacked, miss Scarlatina. We had to defend ourselves." Weiss cut her off.
Jaune gave Weiss a look, clearly asking her what the hell she was doing.
Weiss returned the look with an unamused glare, forcing Jaune to forget the screaming and think for a second.
In hindsight, it was much easier to do this than tell the owner that they had brought the Ntah to the building on purpose.
It wouldn't make a difference, in the end, as they would pay for the damage cost either way.
Jaune decided to play along.
The woman seemed to regain a bit of her composure as she realized that they had fought off some sort of break-in. "Attacked by who?"
"The Ntah, they came to search the building."
"T-the Ntah?"
"Yes, they came in, a whole group." Jaune pitched in.
"N-no way." The woman said in disbelief. She brought her hand up to her forehead, checking her own temperature.
"Miss Scarlatina?" Weiss spoke, concerned as the woman started moving weirdly. It didn't take her long to realize what was about to happen. "Jaune, catch her, she's gonna faint!"
It was over.
The fighting was done, Blake and another two of her group were the survivors.
And, anticlimactic as it may be, the only event that followed was simply the opening of one of the gates, allowing them to exit the arena.
The remainder of cheering from the crowd died out as they walked through the gate. Immediately met by their former escorts, led by that one scarred man.
The one scarred man who was now smiling. "Yes, yes! I knew it, I knew so since the beginning! This was a truly fortunate group!"
Silence took over as the gate closed, the man, with a state of satisfaction, ushered for them to follow. "You. walk with me." He added, pointing at the only woman present other than Blake.
Seeing that she was hesitant, one of the guards started pushing her with his rifle to her back until she was walking side by side with the disfigured leader.
Said leader started speaking to her in a low tone, low enough that even Blake could only barely make out a few words with the help of her heightened faunus senses.
Something about hiding, fright, then courage. That's all what she could make out from the short conversation before the woman fell back in line.
"You, come here." The man spoke again, this time pointing at Blake.
It didn't take long for a guard to start pushing her forward, she didn't resist, and stopped next to the leader, keeping her pace with him.
The man made a point of keeping his voice low. "Give me the knife."
"What?"
"Give me the knife in your pocket." He repeated. "I will not ask again."
Blake sighed, pulling out a small knife from inside her Atleasian jacket. It wasn't worth the fight to keep it.
The man took the knife away. "You'll get searched whenever entering the cell, if you're found to be carrying any weapon. Well..." He smiled. "You know."
Blake didn't reply, there was nothing for her to say, instead, she tried to focus on memorizing the place and intersecting hallways more and more.
Yet that proved hard, as the man continued speaking. "You, lady, just killed a man who survived the arena over twenty times like he was nothing." He paused, as they neared the cell. "I'd be forever ashamed to face the gods if I let such prowess die to such stupidity."
He inserted the key to the cell. "Anything else on you, dear?"
Blake, managing not to gag after being called 'dear' by a psychopathic maniac, replied by shaking her head.
"Good, in you go." He said.
A guard was waiting, he searched each of the three for weapons as they went in. After doing so, they were locked back inside with the rest of the cell. "Rejoice!" The scarred man yelled from outside. "Your glorious, magnificent and brave friends have earned you double the rations for the day!" His tone could only be described as celebratory. "May you feast until you can do so no more!"
"Hey Ruby," Jaune spoke, no Crescent Rose to the face this time, thankfully.
"J-" Her words trailed off, unable to think straight anymore. Until she snapped out of it. "Jaune!" She says, almost forgetting to keep her voice down.
"Ruby..." was the only thing Jaune could say as he looked at the state she was in. One of her eyes was completely closed while the other was barely open, her body was swaying as she stood, unable to hold herself together.
"Y-yeah."
"Ruby, please, this is too much. You can't stand."
"I can... take care of it." She barely manages to say, reaching for a small waterskin wrapped to her waist, she poured some water into her hand and splashed it across her face. "There, all good."
"That going to keep you awake for a few minutes at most," Jaune said, noticing that she dropped her waterskin on the ground instead of actually strapping it back.
"Then I'll do it again when I feel like I need it."
"Really?" Jaune said. "With what?"
"With my waters- wait where did it g-"
"You mean this?" Jaune said as he knelt to take the waterskin, he waved it in front of her. "You're so tired you dropped it an didn't even notice."
Ruby managed to find enough pace to snatch it back, she had an unamused look on her face. "Get off my ass, Jaune. I don't need your lectures."
"I'm not-" Jaune stopped himself, already knowing he was going to start an argument if he keeps going on.
That wasn't what Ruby needed, nor what any of them needed.
He sighs. "Look, Ruby..." He stared into her eyes.
She was so tired, it was like she wasn't nearing her limit, but she'd already surpassed it by miles.
"Ruby, just for one time, this one night... can you rest? I promise I'll keep an eye out."
"J..." the silver-eyed huntress trailed off, the effects of the water visibly coming off. "Jaune, I c- can't."
Before Jaune could reply, the huntress in front of him tripped on her own feet, only his fast reaction allowed him to catch her before she does.
He gave her his shoulder to lean on.
"M- maybe sleeping isn't such a bad idea, after all," Ruby spoke.
Jaune held onto her words like a tiger to their prey. "Yes, and I'll keep watch, I promise."
"No... that's not how I will... uhh."
"Ruby? Ruby?" Jaune spoke after Ruby's sentence trailed off.
She fell asleep on his shoulder.
Jaune tried to look behind him without moving too much, but just as he started doing so, the girl leaning on him started moving.
It was evident that she's going to wake up from anything other than the slightest movement, if even that wouldn't wake her up.
Jaune quickly made up his mind, maybe she will get mad at him for this, but he had to take this opportunity to let her get some rest. And so, as slowly as it was humanely possible, he laid her down, leaning her back against a tree. He then made his way to his sleeping bag and took it.
When he was back to Ruby, he folded his bag into a square-like shape and gently pushed his friend off the tree, just enough so he can set his makeshift pillow behind her head.
He then silently sat down on the ground. He promised his friend that he'll keep watch, and that was a promise he intended to keep.
With this chapter out of the way, I hope to be able to upload with a bit more consistency, so I will be attempting to give my self a deadline for next chapter. And that deadline is the end of April. But the chapter could come out before that. Just not after, hopefully.
Stories live off reviews, so if you have the time, please drop your opinion, everything is read carefully and criticism is put into heart. It is much appreciated!
Thanks again to my beta. MidKnightMoonglow99.
Much love and stay HOME!