You Make Me Stronger

@ Alphora
Ember smiled. "Well you will have to tell me sometime." she said and giggled at him. "You make it sound like I am the least terrifying thing you have ever met." she said stepped back because her mind was racing to much with what she wanted from him. She blushed realizing she shouldn't want to be in the arms of a man she had only met that evening. But no one had ever made such an effort to make her feel safe before. Ember listened to his confusing tone and moved her head to the side looking at him. Suddenly like the wind he changed directions. She laughed and shook her head. "Mostly just that. And that I am going with you. I know what you are doing. You want to stop whoever is in charge of the hunt for Elementalists." she said searching his eyes seeing he had more reason than that but also that she was right.

@ Jinx...
Saber looked a little surprised and replied, "Well you aren't entirely wrong. I know of two groups. The first one is normal people who use advanced technology and many other methods to take down and kill any Elementalist they find. The other chooses to take Elementalists in alive, but I have never actually seen a member in person so I don't know if they are an Elementalist group or just creepy sickos who plan to use them for other means. That's all I know. Well, that and the fact that neither of the two can be trusted." Saber sighed and began walking back towards Reena as he said, "Let's stop thinking about them for now. Right now our top priority is Reena. We need to make it to that town and hopefully find somewhere to take her in. Maybe an orphanage or something." He laid back against the tree and looked up at the stars.

@ Alphora
Ember yawned and nodded. "Alright." she said knowing she would have to take an early morning detour in order to get her bag. She sat by the fire. "Get some sleep Saber." she said softly. "I will stay awake until the fire dies down." she said and ran her hand over it making it dance like little fries on the stones. She smiled and then laid her head on her arms on her knees as she watched the fire listening to the woods. Ember doubted Saber would get any sleep but she hoped he would. He had been alone for a long time she could tell with how he slept so far away. She wondered what had started him out on this journey.

@ Jinx...
Saber stared at the stars for a few hours just thinking to himself, and helping keep watch. It felt weird for him not to just yet. However, he did pretend to be asleep so Ember could lay down with a little more ease. He knew she wasn't going to give up easily about it if she knew he was awake. He knew there was still a long way to go. When Saber awoke he noticed Ember already ready to go, and even more so than the day before. Saber stood up and yawned. He gave Ember a confused look and asked, "Am I going crazy or are you even more prepared than you were yesterday?" Reena was starting to sit up, her hair in a mess. She looked more exhausted than either Saber or Ember. Dazily, she looked up at the two and smiled lazily as if she knew she was safe with them around.

@ Alphora
It was early in the morning and she noticed Saber was kind of awake. She had gotten a little sleep before she woke to get her bag. She only had to walk about 15 minutes each way. When she got back she was checking her bag when Saber woke. She put everything back and smiled at him. "I am." she said and giggled at him. She looked at Reena and smiled. "Good morning." She said and handed the girl a packet of nuts. "How did you sleep?" she asked softly smoothing down her hair with a brush from her bag. Ember smiled at Saber glad to know Reena felt safe with them. It was obvious with how the girl acted. "So Saber when are we going to get going?" she asked cleaning Reena up a little before packing up watching her eat the nuts.

@ Jinx...
Saber stretched and said, "May as well head out now." He walked over to Reena and knelt down to her level. "Listen, Reena. We're going to see some scary things in between now and where we're heading. I want you to be brave, and know that I won't let anything hurt you," He explained with a reassuring smile. He picked up his jacket that Reena had slept on and handed it to her, "Hide behind this if you get scared at any time. And stay close to Ember. You'll both be behind me." He stood up and began to lead the way. Reena grabbed onto Ember's side just like Saber instructed. They walked a good distance until everyone started seeing the trees look a little more bent out of shape than what they normally would. After long enough, they started seeing webs covered along all of the trees. Saber held out his arm signalling for Reena and Ember to stop. He took a few steps forward alone and walked next to a web attached to the side of a tree. Wind began to surround his arm then he sliced through one of the webs next to him and waited. After a few moments a hideous monster rat, just like Saber described, charged through the tree knocking it down and rushing towards Saber. Reena shrieked and hid behind the jacket and clung to Ember. Saber seemed to disappear when the rat drew close. The rat was looking all over the place, but Saber was above the rat. Saber landed on its back and and watched the tail. The moment it launched towards him, he jumped off. The tail had struck straight through the rat's back leaving it to lay there dead while the tail was stuck inside. Saber walked by it and sliced the tails base just like he had done to the web earlier. He walked back towards Ember and Reena and said, "Reena don't look until Ember says so, okay?" He then walked closer to Ember and whispered, "Usually there are around 3 or 4 in every nest so we shouldn't see too many more. Just be ready." He looked as if this was something he did way too regularly when he said these things.

@ Alphora
Ember gasped as the big ugly creature charged out of the woods. She pulled Reena closer and watched a Saber fought the monster. She suddenly was worried about him but she knew he could handle this. Ember was glad when the fight was over. She sighed relaxing but then he told her there would be more. "What?" Ember was not looking forward to seeing him fight those awful creatures again but yet this seemed like a normal thing for him. No wonder he was so strong.

@ Jinx...
Saber smirked as he started walking away and said, "You don't seem surprised at how things turned out. One false move, and I would have been a goner ya know." Once they moved deeper inside the forest the trees were entirely covered in these webs. They also started seeing big animals that had been caught by these webs. Once they drew closer they saw around 3 more scattered about closing in on many of the things they had caught. Saber got close to Ember and whispered, "With them distracted we may be able to sneak by-" Saber was cut off when Reena gasped. He saw where she was looking. One of the big rats was closing in on a rabbit. Before Saber could say anything Reena acted on impulse and made a small shard of earth cut the bunny free. The web breaking signaled to all of the rats that we were here and all three of them turned towards them and began charging.

@ Alphora
Ember sighed. "Yeah... I... well I guess I hide my emotions pretty well then." she said and ran a hand through her hair walking with him through the forest growing more and more nervous as they walked through the thickening webs. She ran a hand through her hair completely groused out by the webs big enough to entangle her and all she owned. Ember nodded at what Saber said looking over at Reena as she gasped. "No." she whispered and seeing the rock to soon. She looked up at the sound of the approaching monsters. "Shit." she whispered and pushed Reena behind her as she took a defensive position. She was ready to fight. One was fine but she was not leaving Saber to fight three on his own.

@ Jinx...
Saber rushed forward. "Keep them towards the center! They're better at fighting in enclosed spaces," He demanded. He couldn't argue with Ember helping him out with this. Saber rushed forward to meet them halfway so there was still a lot of open space. He leapt over the three, sending pulses of wind downwards as he passed over them to draw their attention. Two of them turned, but one of them kept its eyes on Ember. "Not surprised, these things are used to working in groups," Saber said to himself. One of the two focused on him charged and leapt at him. The other drew closer but slowly. Right as the one in the air was close to landing the ground rat started charging quickly. They intended to attack from multiple angles. Saber charged forward striking the rat on the ground with a direct slash of wind like before. It hesitated due to the confusion of not seeing its partner. This gave Saber the chance to strike its throat. Just before it fell it saw the rat in the air suspended up there by Saber's gusts of wind.

@ Alphora
Ember stepped forward some so that the beast would have to past through her before getting to Reena. Ember moved forward quickly and shot fire at the rat's feet. She watched as the hair's on it's body sparked with fire making it cry out with pain and a cry for help. She started to build her fire ball but the tail went to strike at her and she had to jump falling onto the ground. She rolled over and jumped up quickly using the sparked fire from beneath her to toss fire balls the size of her fist at the rat while she tried to avoid the tail having a few close calls. Ember was able to get out of harms way out of range from the tail as her fire balls grew larger. Finally Ember was able to muster up enough heat to burn the rat bad enough where it suffocated fire burning through the flesh leaving a foul smell in the air of dead things. Ember watched as the fire consumed the rat stopping at the base of the tail before simmering out. The tail stopped moving and she thought it might be dead. She went to go back to Reena but suddenly the tail whipped around and knocked her over going for a direct hit with the singer. She hopped up and cartwheeled over the tail stumbling a little on the landing but had just enough advantage where she could get onto the back of the tail. She jumped up onto the tail out of reach of the singer and grabbed hold as it tried to buck her off tossing her here and there and hit her on the ground making her cry out in pain. She heated her hands sending the fire into the tail not letting go. It seemed like forever but it was only about a minute before the tail burst, fire exploded out of the tail with the pieces of the tail tossing Ember into a web. Ember yelled and looked around hanging in a tree by the webbing. Ember had felt the falling and then the stickiness of the web. "No!" she wiggled feeling stuck and vulnerable wiggling herself into a webbed mess and becoming even more stuck. She was tired from all the use of her element and would have to wait to recharge before she could burn out of the web. Meanwhile she was stuck watching what was happening below and forced not to move or risk being completely covered in web.

@ Jinx...
Saber was able to keep a close eye on Ember just in case. Once she actually finished it off he was relieved, and seeing her flail around in the webs was actually a little amusing for him, and he tried to hide it but he was almost sure Ember saw his smirk. Once Reena saw Ember in the web she rushed over to try to free her with her own hands. Her hands were getting tangled but she continued to frantically try to pull and tug. Saber didn't worry because the webs didn't do any harm so he started to turn back to his enemy he had in the air. However, before he turned all the way he heard Reena's familiar shriek. He turned quickly with his eyes wide to see one more rat dangling from above them descending with a terrifying growl. Saber's heart raced and at his highest speed he almost seemed to teleport to the rat. The rat took notice and tried to sting, but Saber was more serious than he had been in a long time. He dodged and grabbed the tail snapping it in half then whipping the rat away with it. While the rat flew he send a sharp slice of wind cleaving it in half as it dropped to the ground a few meters away. Once Saber landed he let out a sigh of relief until he remembered the other one. He turned all of his attention to the rat from before and forgot to keep it suspended. Proving his worries, the moment he turned he saw the rat almost right in his face and the stinger launching towards him. He barely managed to catch it by clasping his hands around the sides, narrowly avoiding the sharp end. He clenched his teeth and tried holding it back with all of his might. The rat tried to swing with its own claw and the tail released the whipped from the other side. Saber put a defensive layer of wind around him that acted like armor. Not only did it shred the tail to bits and the rat along with it, but cut Ember and Reena free. Although the impact of the tail landed, knocking Saber next to Ember and Reena. He was at a loss of breath for a moment. After a few coughs he finally caught it and gave a thumbs up to the worried faces of Ember and Reena. Reena stared at the two sitting next to the bare tree trunk and began crying. "Mama! Papa!" She cried as she rushed into both of their arms and refused to move. This left Saber at a loss for words. He was just happy they were both okay.

@ Alphora
"I saw that!" Ember yelled and laughed unable to help herself. Renee came over to try and help and Ember shook her head. "No, you'll get caught." she said and sighed as Reena already did. Ember smiled softly at her to calm her. "Hey shhh. Don't struggle." she said softly. Reena calmed for a moment before looking up and screaming. Ember looked up and screamed. "Saber!" she pulled at the webbing and gasped as Saber seemed to appear next to her. She gasped seeing his close calls. He was so focused and he put up a layer of wind like armor and it was beautiful and yet he was dangerous in his own way. "Saber!" she called as he nearly avoided the stinger. Suddenly the last beast exploded and she was falling. She gasped as she landed close to Saber. She felt the air blown out of her and she coughed trying to get the air back into her lungs. She finally got air into her lungs and then sat up. She turned as Saber yelled out to her and Saber. Ember's eyes grew wide and she hugged Reena as the little girl held onto her. "Reena... honey. If we were family I would be more like your sister." she said softly and stroked her hair. Ember looked at Saber scared again. They needed to talk before they left her. "Let's get out of here before anymore of those things come around." she said and stood.

@ Jinx...
After finally clearing through the woods Saber checked once more just to be safe. They were hardly 15 minutes away from the town by foot. He descended once more. Reena was clearly exhausted from all of the excitement earlier. Saber decided to carry her on his back while the two walked together. Saber figured it was a good a time as any and looked expectantly at Ember. "So, what did you want to talk about this time?" Saber asked as if he had no idea what was wrong.

@ Alphora
"Really you are not going to react to what she said?" Ember whispered and ran a hand through her hair. "She called me mama Saber." she hissed stressed out. "If we leave her in that town she won't forgive us. She might be old enough to move on but I don't know. She could hate us forever. What are we going to say to make her understand that we are not abandoning her but that we have to leave her to make her safe? My parents left me when I was a little older than her and I was confused... I still am." she said softly and looked away from him. "I don't want to do that to someone." she whispered and stopped sitting down on a log and trying to breath deep.

@ Jinx...
Saber paused for a minute. "Hmm, well how about this?" Saber sat down as well and nudged at Reena. Reena slowly opened her eyes and sat in Saber's lap looking up at him. "G'morning Papa...Mama..." She said to each of them lazily. "Reena, you know how much Papa and Mama care about you right?" Saber asked completely going along with the idea of being her father. Reena nodded and stared for a moment. Saber's face then started to mimic that of a kid's as he started telling a story with very animated voices and actions throughout all of it. "Well, I have a secret to tell you. But you can't tell anyone, even Mama has a hard time not keeping it a secret," Saber said and she giggled and looked at Ember. After turning back to Saber he was smiling and continued, "The truth is, Mama and me are actually superheroes! And there are some very bad people your Papa and Mama have to stop before they scare everyone just like those big, bad monsters we saw before. That's why we'll have to leave for a while." Reena was completely absorbed into the story until that moment. She started to look very sad and Saber quickly chipped in, "Hmm, there might be room for a sidekick in the future." He was hinting obviously at Reena and added, "However! We are going to have you meet with a trusted advisor for a long time. That's the reason we chose to come to this town. Hero-in-training Reena! Do you accept the mission to grow brave and strong like Papa while also kind and beautiful like Mama?" Reena looked at Ember as if completely reliant on her words and actions to back up what Saber is saying so she hears everything before coming to any kind of decision.

@ Alphora
"Saber..." Ember hissed and sighed as he woke her. She ran a hand through her hair. Of course he would go along with what Reena thought. She bit her lip feeling sad as he spoke. She hugged her knees blushing as he said sweet things about her. Ember sighed as Renna looked at her. She moved closer to them so she was sitting beside Saber. She took Renna's hand and looked at her so many thoughts racing through her head. Ember was still mostly a kid herself. She had only taken care of her sister. How could she be an adopted mother and do it right? Ember looked away tearing up before she picked Renna out of Saber's arms and hugged her and kissed her head. How could she care so much for these people she had only just met? How had they stone pieces of her heart? Ember nodded. "I know you can do it Renna but you have to be patient with us, with people but most of all with yourself." she said softly and looked down at her trying so hard not to cry. Ember was tired and emotional and she didn't want to make these decisions but she had to grow up now. Suddenly the world seemed to fade back and a memory emerged.
`Ember sat there holding her baby sister on the beach. "Ember you are a very special little girl." She was small about the size of Renna, and young, young enough to not remember this memory. "Ember you have a destiny. Mommy and I can't protect you anymore and it is to dangerous to bring your sister. You will have to take care of her. Do you understand Spark?" Daddy said softly to her as he sat by her in the sand. Mommy sat beside her and kissed her head. "It's going to be hard but you are stronger than you think, and you are in control more than you think." she whispered. Ember wanted to whine and apologize again for burning down the house but she just listened to Mommy and Daddy. "You are special Ember. More special than you know." Daddy started and Mommy finished.`
Ember felt the tears dripping down her face and she hid her face in Renna's hair. She waited till she was calm before she looked Renna in the eyes. "Can you do this?" she whispered. Ember smoothed her hair down and kissed her head again. Ember couldn't deny the little girl something to hold onto to help her grow up to be strong and good.

@ Jinx...
Saber had a heartwarming smile as Ember spoke through her entire speech to Reena. When Ember started crying he put his hand on her back comfortingly. 'Strong like father and kind like mother, huh? Maybe wise or caring would be a little more fitting,' Saber thought happily to himself. After Reena agreed Saber stood up. "Alright! Time to go meet your advisor," Saber said happily as he lead the way. When the three were walking Saber whispered teasingly to Ember, "You sounded like a real mom losing her child there for a minute. And here you didn't even like the thought of being called 'Mama' less than ten minutes ago." The town's entrance began approaching and even from how far they were, they could tell it was a very busy town.

@ Alphora
Ember held Reena as she walked with Saber. "Oh you haven't heard the end of this." she said and chuckled pushing his arm playfully. She walked into the town frowning looking around. She looked at Saber. "We should find a place to stay for the night so that we can find a place..." she said softly and bit her lip looking down at Reena again. Ember looked around trying to watch out for any dangers that there might be. Ember rather have to journey some more than to leave Reena in a place that would be dangerous for her.

@ Jinx...
Saber knew he was definitely going to hear the rant of his life later, but for now he decided to just nod and continue. By the time Ember finished looking around for anything dangerous and turned back to Saber he already had a mask he was wearing on the top of his head so his face could still be seen, cotton candy in one hand, and a bag that contained a guaranteed surprise inside in the other hand. Before Ember could say anything Saber replied to her expression. "Okay, I know what you're thinking. Don't hate me for this, but I am an amazing pickpocket. If it helps, I didn't do it in this town and I only do it to people who I see doing bad things," He didn't go into detail for the sake of Reena being around but the way he explained everything completely sounded like a kid's excuse to grab everything that looked cool to him while Ember wasn't looking.