Anarchy

In the young man’s right hand, a short sword held backwards had blocked the attack. A quick spear-hand strike from his left hand and the subordinate collapsed. “Tch, How annoying. I wasn’t even supposed to appear until we reached Weis,” The young man, who could be no other than Jeremy, muttered loudly enough for everyone to hear. “Normally, I wouldn’t even have interfered, but letting the two of you die would leave a bad taste in my mouth. This is infuriating, you know. Yuki, you should know better than to allow yourself to get poisoned. Then again, saying all this is pointless seeing how you’re unconscious right now.”

“Who the hell are you?” The captain of the other ship shouted.

“Me? I’m nobody. Nothing. I do not exist, except maybe in your nightmares, or perhaps as a figment of your imagination. I’m not here are all.” The young man slowly walked forward, his eyes gleaming. “However, even though I am nothing, I would advise you to retreat. There is a ship behind you full of Hybrid reinforcements, and I doubt even you and the backstabbing Captain Klaine would be able to hold them off.”

It was painfully obvious that the two of them had been working together. Jeremy had noticed that Captain Klaine was untrustworthy since the beginning. Furthermore, he had found out that Klaine had been poisoning Yuki’s food recently, although he had only been able to take measures against that the other day; it wasn’t soon enough, it seemed. And as if to further prove his statement, the only men who were actually injured were the ones Yuki and Adriyll had fought personally. All the other battles were nothing more but an act.

Unfortunately, there were also a lot of things he wasn’t able to predict, such as his own early appearance. Nothing ever went his way., but it was too late now. Jeremy supposed that he’ll just have to explain more things than necessary later on.

Of course, since Yuki was unconscious right now he could try to take advantage of that....

-----

“What?” The captain, whose name happened to be Craig, exclaimed, turning around to confirm the young man’s statement about sub-human reinforcements.

Nothing but the open waters; there was no ship full of enemy reinforcements. And why would there be one? Now that the captain thought about it, such a thing wouldn’t make sense.

“Why you.... eh?” When the Craig turned around, however, the young man had already disappeared. “Where did he go?”

“I... will... not lose!”

A third unanticipated event. The voice that belonged to none other than that beast girl.
“B-but.. how?” Craig exclaimed. She had been poisoned by Klaine, as he had paid him to do! There was no way the poison could have worn off this quickly! He saw her collapse himself! He gave a withering glare to Captain Klaine, but Klaine looked just as surprised as he was. What in the world was going on?

-----

Yuki got up slowly, using her sword as something to lean on. Arrows flew past her, sprouting on their faces, shoulders and chests, giving Yuki a minute to recover. When she glared at the man, his figure no longer stood with the same swagger as before. It was almost as if... fear had gripped him within its grasps as he stood there, frozen.

“H-how!?” He eventually sputtered as Yuki quickly pulled her sword apart, arrows still flying around her. She ran at him, a snarl on her lips as she swung one of her blades down at his head, her silver eyes glinting dangerously. The man barely blocked it, his knees almost buckling under the force of her blow, and pushed back. Yuki jumped back and ran again, swinging a blade up and the other down, digging into his chest. He jumped back, putting a hand to his chest as he looked at her in horror. Before Yuki could end his life, he sputtered out, "To me! To me, men!"

Yuki spun around, slicing a chest before stabbing into her opponent, the end of the blade nearly poking out on the other side. Yuki attempted to pull the sword out cleanly, only to have the sword lodged into his ribcage. Growling, she attempted to kick the man off in a single blow, jerking her sword back. She barely dodged a blade, however, it bounced off her side. “Thank Etro I got scaled armor.” She muttered before finally jerking the sword out of the man’s body, quickly slashing the men close to her.

Adriyll’s arrows continued to fly as Yuki ran at her opponents, leaving a bloody trail behind her as she advanced toward another man, near the leader. As she approached another, he seemed to pale with each step she took. Yuki, taking advantage of his fear, sprinted at him and swung her blade down, locking blades with him again. “Tell me what you know about the Duke’s plans!” She yelled over the sound of fighting on the boat.

“What could a little beast like you do to me?” He re-gained control over himself, a scowl on his face as he pushed back. “I won’t speak, not for a disgusting wolf-breed!”

Yuki pushed the sword higher, and in a swift motion, kicked his stomach. “Fine, we can play that game.” As he fell, she stabbed into his neck, quickly pulling out after his body hit the floor with a thud. This time, however, she was expecting a horde of men to swing at her, and in swift motions, kept all at bay before slaying them. Swinging the two blades together to create her original broadsword, she stepped over the corpses she approached the enemy captain.

“Game? That’s an interesting choice of words; I never thought my own prey would refer to this game as a game. A little over confident now, are we?”

“Says the man who was in fear when I finally got up.” With a growl, she pulled her sword apart again, the blood on her blades dripping onto the wood of the ship. Almost impatiently, Yuki walked around him in a wide arc. Her tail swung in an irate manner, and she swung her blades in small circles.

“Me? Scared of a subhuman like you? Impossible! I was just surprised at the series of unexpected events. Considering how badly poisoned you were earlier, I did not expect you to recover so soon.”

Yuki scowled as she continued in a wide arc around the man. “Surprise does not equate to fear.”

“No, it does not. Which means, I was not cowering in fear earlier. I was shaking with ecstasy with the thought of actually having a challenge for once.”

Yuki barked out a humorless laugh. “You can try to cover it up with words, but your actions were clear; you were gripped by fear.” And with that, Yuki stopped circling him and ran at him, swinging her blade at him. Locking blades with him, the two had a short grapple contest before breaking off, jumping back. Running at each other again, Yuki jumped and swung her blade at his head, hoping the force him to stare straight into the sun, giving her a small opening.

He merely swung his blade up, knowing where she was, the force of his blow not enough to knock her back, but enough to change her course by a few inches. Yuki, not expecting the force, was caught off-guard and rolled on the ground. She got up and pivoted quickly, facing him again. She swung her blade in a small circle before bifurcating them once more, running at him with dual swords.

Yuki threw a flurry of a slashes and stabs, her eyes glinting dangerously. Only half of them had found their targets, and she could only throw so many attacks before getting tired. She jumped back, scowling, before locking blades with him again. She grinned, and before he knew it, she had lifted his sword with hers and spun, slamming her free sword’s hilt into his stomach, sending him flying back a few feet. She pounced on him, holding him to the ground with the tip of her swords aimed at his throat. “Tell me what you know about the Duke’s plans in Weis.”

“Why would I ever tell them to you, you lowly subhuman? Even if I you kill me now it’s too late; l the Duke’s plan has already been set into motion. All you lowly subhumans will soon be eradicated once and for all.” His swagger had returned, and with a smirk he grabbed at Yuki’s sword. “But first, it’s time to show you who’s the real boss around here.” And with his own blood dripping down his hand he pushed Yuki’s sword away from him, slowly pushing Yuki back with his own strength.

Yuki, still a bit weak from the after effects of the poison, was more easily pushed aside then she had thought. However, neither of them were expected an arrow to suddenly sprout from his shoulder. He began to pull the arrow out while grimacing, and taking advantage of his distraction, Yuki swiftly cut off his arm and jumped back, her other sword sliding out of his hand.

He stared at the hand before getting up and kicking it. “Ah well. There goes my arm. Then again, it’s only a flesh wound.”

Yuki stared blankly at him. “Are you serious? Your arm’s off, and that’s all of a reaction you have?”

“So?”

Yuki ignored him and ran back at him, swinging her blades at his head. He slashed at her chest, only to have his saber glance off. Yuki spun on her heel, her blades digging into his chest. She jumped back only to sprint forward and swing her sword up before swinging her other sword to the side, creating a cross on his chest. Stumbling back, he slammed a hand to his chest to stem the blood, his blood trickling down his arm and dropping to the floor as he slid down a pole.

She walked towards him in a wary manner, her footsteps silent on the ship’s creaky boards. Swinging the two back together, she pointed the broadsword at his throat again. “Speak,” she barked, “and tell me what the Duke is planning.”

He barked out a laugh and scoffed, coughing out blood. “I stay with my previous statement: why should I tell you even if you have me at swordpoint?”

Yuki’s face seemed to have a shadow, raising an eyebrow as she slammed her sword into his outstretched leg. He screamed, putting his head against the pole as Yuki dug her sword into his leg, dragging her sword down until she felt something stop her. Looking down, she saw that it was his kneecap, and though he was screaming, cursing and crying, he still didn’t say anything about the Duke.

Yuki, half-ready to kill him, leaned forward, crouching. “If you tell me what the Duke is planning, I will end your misery painlessly.” Her voice was dangerously low, her eyes steel as she scanned his face for scheming. However, all she could see was his breath rapid and shallow, his remaining hand still pressed to his chest. His rapid breaths only showed pain, and she spied a few more tears running his face. I would be crying too, she thought with a grim smile before chucking that thought out the window.

In war, you’re not allowed to feel sorry for your enemies.

Lowering his head to meet her now steely gaze, he only glared. “I won’t tell you, even when I’m in ribbons, filthy sub-human!” He spat at her, and fulfilling his wish, Yuki stood up and sliced his throat, her face apathetic as she walked away from him.

“Well done on a spectacular battle.”

The voice caused Yuki to turn around, raising her sword, but she soon realized that it was only Captain Klaine.

“And where the hell were you during the entire battle?” She growled, curling her upper lip.

“Trying to understand what the hell was going on?”

“Oh really.”

“Well, when you’re in my position, what I’m supposed to do is not as clear cut as it was for you.”

Yuki was silent, her expression turning apathetic. “Whatever.” She said, ignoring her urge to ask him how the other man had found them or what his name was, walking back towards the hatch, kicking away corpses. She crouched and found Adriyll, her arrow nocked and arm shaking as she opened the hatch. “You can release the arrow, but slowly.” Yuki said, helping her. Yuki scanned over Adriyll, gently placing her hands on Adriyll’s small frame, breathing a sigh of relief when Adriyll didn’t have any wounds.

Adriyll frowned and pointed to Yuki’s wound. “You’re hurt.” She said simply, meeting Yuki’s gaze.

Yuki flicked her ear in mock apathy, and shrugged. “I’ll be fine, Adriyll.” Showing Adriyll a brief and small smile, she ushered her down to the room. “Stay here, I’ll be back with rolls of bandages and salve.”

“But I’m not injured, you are. So you stay here and I’ll get the bandages.”

Yuki’s head began to feel light, but she didn’t trust Klaine not to do anything when she wasn’t near Adriyll. “No, it’s okay,” she said, smiling weakly as she put a hand to her head, “I’ll get it. You just stay here and be safe. There still could be stragglers left from the opposing ship.” Yuki gave her a swift but gentle peck on the forehead and left before Adriyll could protest, exiting the room and wandering around on the same floor for bandages.

It felt like it had only been seconds after she stepped out of the room that a hand touched her on the shoulder.

“Wait.” Klaine said. “You clearly need treatment. I can show you the way to the medical supplies. But I need to talk to you about something.”

Yuki glared at Klaine. “And what did did you want?”

“We can talk while we get you to the sick bay. Follow me.” He said as he strode off. “I highly doubt you trust me at the moment, so I’m not even going to attempt to make any physical contact.”

The seriousness in Klaine’s voice made lessened Yuki’s doubts about the captain, but she still refused to trust him. Still, she decided that there wasn’t much of an option but to follow Klaine.

Klaine glanced back to check that she was following him, and he slowed down his pace to let her catch up. “So, who the hell was that weird man earlier?”

“How should I know? Probably just some random fanatic under the jackass Duke who wanted a promotion or something. Shouldn’t you know? He did address you by name.”

“Huh? No he didn’t, he addressed you and your companion right after he popped up out of nowhere, and wreaked havoc in a matter of seconds!”

“Well, obviously. There was a lot of intense fighting going on, why wouldn’t there be havoc?”

By then they had already reached the sick bay, and Yuki was in the process of grabbing roll after roll of bandages.

“What, those explosions weren’t cannons? Then what were those explosions, then? You were there while I was half asleep, you should know.”

“What explosions? I don’t know what you’re talking about. Also, I don’t think you need that many bandages.”

“Yes I do.” She replied, her arms full of rolls of bandages.

Silence permeated the room as Klaine shook his head in defeat. “Whatever,” he eventually said as they started making their way back to Yuki’s room.

“Anyway. Back to that mysterious man.”

“Why are you so interested? He’s dead now.”

“He is?”

“You didn’t see it?” She asked incredulously.

“No, I didn’t.”

Yuk didn’t reply but kept a close eye on him. He didn’t see it happen? There was no way she could trust him, not one bit. Slipping back into the room before shutting the door quietly she turned towards Adriyll, ready to start applying bandages. There, however, was Adriyll in the corner, holding her stomach and moaning quietly.

Yuki made her way over to her after putting the rolls of bandages on the bed, stroking her hair. “What’s wrong?” Concerned, she crouched and looked at Adriyll’s face. Her face had turned to a nasty shade of green, and Yuki continued to stroke her hair soothingly. “Did you eat something?”

Adriyll only moaned and nodded her head. Yuki glanced around the room before noticing her bag was open, and only laughed. “I guess you may have eaten my salve on accident. Luckily for you, it was organic, but it makes the stomach easy to upset.” Getting up, she picked up the bucket near their bed and her bag, taking out what looked to be a bun. Yuki crouched, putting the bucket in front of Adriyll and tearing a piece off of the bun, handing it to her. “Have some of this; it has herbs to calm your stomach.”

The two stayed where they were for a while as Yuki kept rubbing her back and giving her small pieces of the bun. Adriyll was back and running around after a while, but kept her distance from Yuki’s bag. Who knew what was in there!

-----
When Yuki finally opened the door again, properly bandaged and Adriyll resting on the bed Klaine was still waiting there outside.

“Oh, hello.” Yuki said dryly, her face expressionless as she looked at him.

“We never did finish our conversation.” Klaine said, drumming his fingers on his arm. His tail twitched in an annoyed manner, and his ears flicked randomly.

“What about it?” Raising an eyebrow, she crossed her arms and shifted her weight onto her right leg.

“Like I said, I want to know who the hell that man was.” Klaine wasn’t happy with how she kept dodging the question; it felt like she was purposely doing that to spite him. He rubbed his face and sighed. Why wouldn’t she tell him?

“Didn’t I already tell you? I wouldn’t know.” Shrugging, her tail swung in a lazy manner.

“No, that weird guy that was wearing this white... longcoat thing, --” Klaine began, making a face as he tried to explain what he saw to the two of them. Adriyll was on the bed, idling picking at a loose string on her pillow.

“You mean Jeremy?” Adriyll suddenly spoke up from where she was lying, her face turned towards the two.

“Is that what his name was?” Klaine asked, raising his eyebrow.

“What are you talking about, the one I killed wasn’t Jeremy.” Yuki said slowly, as if Klaine were a child. How many times was she going to have to say it for him to get it through his head?

“Yes, the ones I saw you kill were Captain Craig and his men. So who’s this Jeremy?” Klaine sighed and rubbed his temple. He had been asking this question for a while, and he wanted answers.

“So you did see! ...Wait, Jeremy was here? That doesn’t make any sense.” Yuki said, putting her hand to her face and muttering. She then smiled, and started to laugh. “It makes sense now; that cunning and smart man, he is.”

“What makes sense now?” Klaine said, frowning. “Tell me!”

Yuki shot him a grin. “Nope.”

“Dammit you--!”

“And no, I’m not scared, Captain Klaine.” She smirked at him.

“I’m not trying to intimidate you, I just want answers!” Klaine shouted.

“But Jeremy said you,” Adriyll said while pointing at Klaine, “that you were a.. backstabber?” She stumbled over the word before giving them an innocent look. “That’s what adults say... right?”

The two of them blinked before Yuki shifted closer to Adriyll, as if on instinct. “And Klaine, how did you know the name of the person I killed?”

Klaine opened his mouth before closing it, and to Yuki, he looked fearful. “I-- Craig is another captain, and as captains, we all- well, we all need to keep in touch and k-know one another.” Klaine suddenly turned his back to Yuki, nearly whipping her in the face. “I need to go.” He said quickly, and scurried away.

“Was it me, or was something off?” Yuki asked, turning to Adriyll as she shut the door behind her.

Adriyll looked back at her. “What went off? Also, where’s Jeremy?”

“I don’t know.. I hope he hasn’t really done anything to hurt himself.” She walked back to Adriyll, sitting next to her and fiddling with Adriyll’s hair. “When I say was something off, I mean that something seemed... wrong with him. As if he was telling a lie... hmm..” Yuki trailed off, earning a look from Adriyll. Yuki ignored it, and continued to fiddle with Adriyll’s hair.

Yuki contemplated what she had come to the conclusion though, and ended up curling up next to Adriyll in deep sleep.

Adriyll played with Yuki’s ear, sighing. When will Yuki keep herself awake for more than four hours?

------
Klaine paced in his room, his arms crossed and his mouth set into a tight line. He had nearly given away who Craig was, and he was glad that the both of them didn’t catch that small mishap. But what had Yuki thought in her head when he had told her about the man in the white clothing? Surely she didn’t know him personally, but then again...

“Land ahoy!”

A shout from one of his crewmen interrupted Klaine’s thoughts. If they were approaching land soon, it would be best if he went out to take care of things.

He’ll just have to think about who the mysterious man was later.

-----

Yuki woke to find Adriyll’s face inches away from her face again.

“What now?” Yuki grumbled, turning over as she tried to go back to sleep. Honestly, if Adriyll was going to wake her up the same way every single time, then Yuki might as well keep herself awake all night around this girl.

“We’re approaching land!” Adriyll said cheerfully.

Yuki grumbled and put a pillow over her head. “Five more minutes.”

“Nope.” Adriyll then climbed on Yuki, who growled at her.

“You’re too heavy to do this, Adriyll, get off.”

“Wakey.”

Yuki groaned before getting up, gently pushing Adriyll off of her. Swinging her legs over the bed, she rubbed where Adriyll had sat, slipping into her clothes. Yuki strided across the room and pulled the cloaks out of the bag from McCrual. “Come here, Adriyll.” The two put on the cloaks, slipping out of the room a few minutes later.

Yuki put her hands on the railing, looking out at the foggy outline of the coast.

“I’m finally home.”

-----

The coast was dotted with snow here and there, as if many travellers had walked on the coast recently. It was that or the snowfall in Weis was below average, Klaine noted. The coast, having sand, was also gleaming as the boat drew closer. Yuki, who was at the railing with her items near her, leaned forward and squinted. Following suit, Klaine raised an eyebrow at the coast. “Is that.. Is the sand... glittering?” He muttered before leaning back. Grunting, Klaine scanned the coast, the fog seemingly untouched as it clung to the tree tops.

It had been long trip, but Yuki was glad to have finally set foot on land again. The younger one had stumbled around a bit, still unused to solid ground as they got off the boat. Adriyll, grabbing onto Yuki’s arm, swayed and almost dragged the two of them down to the ground, had Yuki not caught her and held her for a few minutes. The two didn’t have much problem getting to land, since Klaine had given them a boat and an escort.

Klaine restrained himself from pacing, his tail twitching in annoyance. Why wasn’t Yuki affected by the drug he had slipped into her food? The drug was supposed to be extremely useful against hybrids, though he never had experienced it and didn’t plan to, Klaine noticed that near the end of the trip that she began to retire earlier and sleep heavier, which meant that the drug was beginning to take its toll. But during the fight, she had suddenly gotten up. Crossing his arms, he stared at the pair, thinking, his tail hitting the wood with an audible thump.

The mysterious man, he appeared soon after Yuki fell, and caused everyone to take their eyes of the pair; when they had all looked back, and then she had mysteriously risen.. but how? She didn’t drink anything; Klaine doubted she had the strength to, since she barely had the strength to glare at the men approaching her, but she showed nothing out of the ordinary.

However, her work had resulted in him losing an important asset to his plans, since Craig was, Klaine scowled when he remembered Craig’s body as he threw him overboard, part of the Duke’s inner circle. The Duke would not be pleased when he heard that his and Craig’s mission had not gone as expected. Klaine turned and walked back to the threshold of his quarters before turning. “When the escort gets back, I expect everyone to act as if nothing happened.” He barked out, his scowl deepening before he walked in, slamming the door shut.

He was not happy about this situation at all.

-----

Yuki and Adriyll had split the load into halves, though Yuki had taken on a slightly bigger load since Adriyll couldn’t hold some. The two had on backpacks, which irritated Yuki since her sword sheath was right on top of the backpacks, and Yuki was still worried that the strap might break. The pair also had small bags tied to their belts, and their cloaks under it all. Yuki gave Adriyll a pat on the head before walking forward, towards the forest.

Yuki looked around, a small frown on her face. “If this is where he said he’d drop us off...” Yuki trailed off before realizing something with a “Oh!”. Yuki smiled, and taking Adriyll’s hand, she began to walk towards the east, towards the snow.

It wasn’t long when they found a familiar man standing at the side of the road, his arms crossed as he watch them approach.

“Took you long enough.” Jeremy said, a bored expression on his face. “Now, shall we get going? We don’t have all day.”

“What, we haven’t seen each other for weeks and that’s all you have to say?” Yuki frowned, unhappy that Jeremy was still being a jerk. She knew he could be nicer than this, and especially considering how they haven’t seen each other in a while, what’s wrong with a little friendly chat to catch up on things?

“Well, if you don’t mind wasting your time and letting the Duke further whatever plans that he has, then yes, you are free to stand around and indulge in whatever pleases you.” Jeremy replied, almost as if reading her mind.

Yuki sighed. Jeremy was technically right, like always. “Well, we can at least talk and catch up on things while we walk...” she started, but trailed off as she saw Jeremy pull out a book and start reading, completely ignoring what she was saying. “Ahhh, damn it! I don’t even care anymore! You can just go and jump off a cliff or something! Let’s go, Adriyll, and leave this idiot alone.” Frustrated with how Jeremy was treating her, she stormed off, dragging Adriyll along with her.

Why did it have to turn out this way? Yuki complained under her breath. If only he could be a little nicer to me...

-----

“I think Yuki and Jermy shouldn’t fight.” Adriyll spoke up as Yuki continued to storm on through the forest. Yuki glanced at Adriyll, and noticed that Adriyll had been reluctant to go with her because Adriyll had kept looking back in the direction where they had left Jeremy.

“I know, but sometimes Jeremy is just so intolerable.” Yuki replied, gently stroking Adriyll’s head.

“I know.” The last voice Yuki wanted to hear at the moment rang clearly through the air right behind them.

“Ehhh!? J-Jeremy, since when-” Yuki stammered, completely caught off guard by Jeremy’s appearance. She then realized that Adriyll had not been looking back in the direction where they left Jeremy, but at Jeremy himself!

“What? Even if you stormed off telling me to go jump off a cliff, we’re still apparently travelling companions even if only at the moment, so I decided to ignore your advice to commit suicide and follow after you.” He replied without looking up from the book in his hand. “I’m actually more surprised that you didn’t even notice me right behind you the entire time.”

How does he do that? Yuki wondered. There’s no way you can read a book while following someone in a land that one is completely unfamiliar with!

“Hmph.” Yuki looked away, crossing her arms as she turned away from him. “Adriyll, let’s go and leave this idiot behind.” She tugged at Adriyll’s arm, but felt more resistance than before. Surprised, she looked back at Adriyll.

“No more fighting.” Adriyll whined at her, stomping her small foot. A pout had crossed her face, and she pulled back, her hands attempting to pry away Yuki’s hand. Adriyll liked both Yuki and Jeremy, and she didn’t like seeing her two favorite people in the world not getting along.

“I’m not fighting,” Yuki replied indignantly, drumming her fingers on her arm as her tail swayed. “That idiot did something very bad, so I’m treating him the way he deserves it.”

“Ooooh, I see.” Adriyll said, nodding her head as if she understood. Yuki nodded with satisfaction, and sent a glare towards Jeremy, who didn’t seem bothered by it at all.

Argh, that idiot! Why is it that everything he does annoys me? Yuki thought. Nothing is ever fair!

-----

The three of them continued to trek through Weis, occasionally stopping as they went to take a short break. Many times Yuki had to explain to Adriyll not to touch the more exotic undergrowth growing over the rarely used path they took due to their poisonous nature. Yuki always felt smug when that happened, because, for once, it was something she knew about that Jeremy didn’t.

That thought process was quickly shot down when Yuki attempted to brag about it to Jeremy, who explained things even she didn’t know about the very same plants, before turning back to his book.

Needless to say, when night finally fell Yuki still thought Jeremy was a jerk and stubbornly refused to talk to him, even if Adriyll tried to mend their relationship.

Or at least, she tried to ignore him, but she always ended up accidentally trying to start a conversation with him, before being reminded how much of a jerk he was. And with every single conversation that she started with him, she ended up simply dropping it and ignoring him.

Jeremy wasn’t even bothered by that in the least, far too absorbed into that book of his. What could that book have that I don’t? Yuki wondered. No, how can a book be more important that I am, anyways?

She never really got to know for the rest of the trip.

-----

“So where are we going?” Adriyll asked one day while they continued making their way through the thick undergrowth. There wasn’t much of a path anymore, but Yuki continued to insist that this was the right way.

“We’re going to my home and then from then...” Yuki trailed off, pushing away a few plants to let Adriyll through. In retrospect, Yuki hadn’t thought of what would happen after she reached her clan, and how she would go about the abrupt returning. “From then, we’ll just see.” Yuki finished, walking with the pair. Her thoughts trailed off to her guardian, a chill running through her as she imagined the fury her guardian would have, and how she would have to beg not to be disowned. Yuki sighed and shook her head. It had happened before, and she wasn’t going to be surprised if the situation called for it.

Adriyll snapped her out of her thoughts, trembling in fear behind Yuki as Adriyll pointed to a moving shadow. “It’s-- It’s--!”

“Hmmmm?” Yuki looked down at Adriyll, whom gripped Yuki’s sides extremely hard, and patted her head gently. “It was probably only a deer. Deer are known to be in this part of Weis during the winter.” Yuki said as she held Adriyll’s hand, resuming her walking. Swaying her tail, she let her thoughts trail off, although Yuki came back to reality to check where she was going, occasionally steering them back on the right course. As they treked farther into Weis, the snow was becoming more and more apparent, eventually getting to the point where the snow reached their knees, although, for Adriyll, it was to her hips.

The fog was also becoming a problem, and it grew thicker and thicker with each mile. Sighing, Yuki tried to find a higher place, perhaps a hill, to set up camp and let Adriyll rest, but to no avail. Jeremy, as always, was flipping through his book as he followed the two, never missing a beat. Yuki gave a quick glance to Adriyll, who was beginning to falter as the snow started to rise.

“Do you want me to carry you?” Yuki asked.

Adriyll wrapped the cloak around her and shook her head. “I’ll be okay.”

Yuki raised an eyebrow but let her walk, keeping her close. It was a while until Adriyll had said anything other than, “It’s cold.”, but once again, Adriyll was behind Yuki trembling in fear. “I saw something again!”

Frowning, Yuki tried to pierce through the fog only to see fog and heavily blurred outlines of the landscape around them. Still, to help calm Adriyll down, she stopped and took out her sword, looking around. “Adriyll,” Yuki began, turning back to her, “I don’t see anything.” In a swift motion, Yuki put her sword back, holding Adriyll’s hand as she continued walking. Yuki sighed, a puff of hot air visible in the frigid air as she pulled the cloak closer to her.

It was going to be a long and cold trek for the three of them.

------

Yuki had eventually found a good place to set up camp, and with Adriyll nearly passing out while they walked, they built a small fire in a cave. Yuki had kept Adriyll close, wrapping the sleeping Adriyll in her own cloak, tenderly stroking her hair periodically. However, when Yuki and Jeremy ate, it was a drawn out silence, struggling for words to apologize to Jeremy with. Eventually, she gave up and went back to petting Adriyll’s hair, looking out the mouth of the cave as the seemingly harmless snow began to pick up and whistle.

“Hey, Jeremy,” Yuki whispered, careful not to wake up Adriyll who was exhausted from the long hours’ trek to the cave, “I’ve been thinking.”

Jeremy grunted, not bothering to look up from his book.

Yuki took that as an invitation to continue, whispering still. “I want to say that I’m sorry that I acted the way I did, and that you didn’t deserve that. So...” Yuki trailed off, and looked at Adriyll, struggling for words to complete her sentence.

“I wasn’t even angry in the first place,” Jeremy said, looking up from his book as if to finally properly acknowledge her. “Nonetheless, I accept your apology.” And just like that, he was back staring intently at a page in the open book again.

Yuki, relieved, sat back and shifted Adriyll carefully, as if she were made of fine porcelain. Recluctantly, Yuki closed her eyes and began to listen to Jeremy’s and Adriyll’s breathing, the irritated snaps from the burning wood, and the whistling of the furious storm outside the cave. Yuki cleared her mind, thoughtless for the first time in years, and as her ears lazily flicked in seemingly random directions, she began to slowly slide into the arms of sleep. To whomever lays in the heavens waiting for a prayer, or perhaps a question, I beg of you one thing.

Don’t give me another nightmare.

------

The three of them were forced to stay in the cave for another few days, because the furious storm had refused to abate for several days. Thankfully, Yuki didn’t have any nightmares the few days they were there; she decided to attribute that to the fact that she and Adriyll had cuddled next to each other for warmth.

She wasn’t sure what Jeremy did to stay warm, but whatever it was it seemed to work well.

Despite the tension that she had felt growing towards Jeremy when they had been travelling, for the most part she had managed to keep quite civil towards him during the days they were stuck in the cave, despite the fact that most of the time Jeremy had spent his time doing whatever with those books of his.

Seriously, were those books really that interesting? Yuki never did find reading very interesting, and so she had chosen to spend most of her time training with Adriyll whenever she could instead.

When the storm had finally stopped, though, she was surprised that she wasn’t the one to first notice it.

In fact, she was still sleeping soundly with Adriyll when it stopped.

When Yuki woke up that day, the sunlight streaming through the cave entrance, she felt that something was off; it had actually taken her a few minutes to realize it was because she wasn’t used to the silence now that the storm had stopped.

The second thing she noticed was that Jeremy was gone.

Yuki sighed, rubbing her head as she moved at a sluggish pace. It had taken her a few minutes to finally realize that he wasn't there in the cave with her and Adryill. Snapping out of her daze, she sat up and looked around, taking off her cloak and getting up, putting Adriyll's head on the soft fur inside the cloak as she walked outside the cave."Jere--?" She was cut off by the sight of Jeremy’s leg dangling over the entrance of the cave, however. She took a step outside to find Jeremy leaning against the mountainside, sitting on top of the cave entrance staring out at sky.

“Finally awake?” Jeremy said, not even bothering to move from where he sat.

She smiled before moving back to look at him. “A given, seeing as I ran outside.”

“Well, I can certainly see that. In any case, it seems the storm has finally stopped, so perhaps we should get ready to move on.”

Yuki looked at him before raising an eyebrow. “How did you get up there?”

“I climbed up here?” He replied, shrugging his shoulders as if it was the most obvious thing ever. With a small leap he jumped down, landing in front of Yuki. “We should probably get going soon, though. We already wasted a lot of time being trapped in this cave.”

“Alright, I’ll go wake up Adriyll.” Turning away from him, she walked inside the cave and crouched next to Adriyll. Yuki began shaking Adriyll gently, sighing when Adriyll wasn’t waking up quickly. She reminds me of my younger self. Yuki thought, shaking her head at the memory. “Hey sleepyhead.” Yuki said as Adriyll finally woke up, rubbing her eyes and groaning softly. “We have to go. Come here, I’ll help you with your long hair.” Yuki helped Adriyll out of the ocean of cloaks, and Yuki began to brush Adriyll’s hair gently before putting it up into a pony tail, earning a whine from Adriyll. “Sorry,” she said as she tugged on Adriyll’s hair, “but I can’t have your hair catch on branches.”

Adriyll raised an eyebrow and pointed to Yuki’s hair. “What about your hair?” Yuki only chuckled, giving Adriyll’s hair one more tug.

In the end, however, Adriyll stopped her whining and they had set out a few minutes later.

During much of their trek Yuki ended up teaching Adriyll about the plants, since there weren’t as many poisonous plants deeper in the forest, also telling Jeremy a few tidbits about the same plants before she remembered that Jeremy probably already knew. For one thing, it didn’t seem like he was paying any attention to what she was saying about those plants, always looking into that book of his.

In the end, she eventually ended up ignoring Jeremy all over again while Adriyll pestered her about the moving shadows that were probably deer.

How wrong she was.