“ARRRRRGGGH!” screamed Knight as his pain not only impaled him but Rei’s new happiness as well. He forced his screaming down and replaced it with short ragged breaths as he looked for the source.

The sharp pain had obliterated their bubble.

Knight’s hand, numb with pain, clumsily slapped against his side to find the-

“Arrrghhh!” Knight cried out as he accidentally slapped a wooden spike, tearing more of his flesh. “Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck!”

“Let me!” Rei shouted as Knight’s arm floundered about trying to get a grip on the spike stuck in his side.

‘Forget that! You need to kill whoever fucked up our nice moment with El-Rei.’

“He’s right,” muttered Knight with ragged breaths. He glanced towards Rei, who was putting all her effort into forcing the spike out with her weak hands. Though not without damage – the spike was sharp all over and was slicing small wounds into her hands as she pulled on it. “It’s okay Rei,” Knight stated as he pushed her off him.

“N-NO! I can help you!” She cried. “You don’t need to-” Rei faltered. “-suffer!”

‘She’s right, you need to make them suff-’

BOOM!

A burst of air erupted behind the tree.

Knight instantly dropped to the floor; his anger replaced with chattering fear. He clutched his flaming side not to ease the pain but to move his focus from the horrors that boom could have brought with it.

“Knight!” but a desperate voice called out from directly in front of him. A teary-eyes Rei glared into his emerald eyes. Her golden eyes unwilling to let the dam burst and instead they froze Knight in place. He was stuck staring into the beautiful eyes that were resolved to push back the raging fear. Didn’t something like this happen just seconds earlier?

“Don’t be a hypocrite!” she yelled in a hushed voice after securing Knight’s full attention. She was caught between letting her wrath rip into him and making sure they don’t attract attention. “Don’t despair? Tell me how you feel? Survive?” Rei spewed rhetorical questions and repeatedly slammed her fists into Knight’s chest. “Don’t tell me anything if you constantly break what you say to do!”

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They were only as hard as a pillow being slapped against him, but those fists combined with her words hit Knight like a freight train.

“I-”

“Shush,” Rei’s mutter silenced any backtalk from Knight. “Just be quiet and let me heal you! If that boom and smoke mean that monster is back then you need to be healed.”

It was logic that Knight couldn’t shoot down. He’d been slapped in the face, hit by a freight train, and had his mouth sealed shut. He could only quietly pray that she wouldn’t grow up like Iroha.

“One-two-”

“Nggh,” squirmed Knight as Rei pulled the bloody splinter from his side.

But the pain was immediately dashed, replaced by warmth. “There, there. It’s gonna be A-OK.”

A few seconds passed, and Knight realised the forest was silent.

“D-Done,” Rei mumbled with a shaky smile. Her eyes met Knight’s and she grabbed hold of his hoodie to get close.

With the pain dissipated, Knight’s mind and body became more aware.

The tree they were hiding behind had been chewed and only just hid them.

The frightening silence had filled the dark forest.

The next thirty seconds were filled with despair.

Knight thought the stress would cause his brain’s structure to collapse, and held his breath.

But as he did so, he noticed something odd.

No matter how long he waited, the group of insects did not reach them.

The giant insects who had caught Rei before had to know where Knight and Rei were. At least generally. And the insects had to know they posed no real threat, even if they lacked brains. A group of bloodthirsty, hungry insects would not stop out of caution for an unarmed boy and little girl who both lacked any magic to fight. Even a group of men, armed or not, would not stop altogether out of caution for an unarmed high school boy and a small girl. So it wasn’t even a question of if they could think outside of “kill and eat”.

When that boom erupted, Knight had thought the glutton had found them. But there would have been screams and yelps of the other insects. Or talking between them. Or more exploding trees. Or a feast with Knight and Rei as the main course. But instead, a frightening silence filled the forest.

The leaves swirled in the air.

The air whistled through the trees.

For all he knew, it came and left.

For all he knew, that explosion killed the insects but nothing came to replace them as predators.

Even so, part of him warned that making any move would be dangerous.

Yet, part of him warned that he might lose his chance if he didn’t make his move soon.

“…”

As Rei pressed up against him, she forlornly grabbed onto his muck-stained hoodie.

The feeling of her small hand barely allowed Knight to keep his presence of mind.

Another thirty seconds passed.

No noticeable sounds were heard.

Only the whistling of the wind reached his ears.

He held his breath.

He squeezed his eyes shut.

He waited.

And…

And then something happened.