In a rare change of pace, Cross did not participate in any combat training after waking up. Though he was curious as to the reason, he was not so foolish as to request his daily beating.

Seated on the floor across from Misa, he leisurely munched on some kind of root for breakfast. The taste was nutty, with a strangely sweet aftertaste. He figured if he mashed it down into a paste, it would have made an excellent meal spread on some toast. Of course, there was no toast to be had in the forest. Not that Cross doubted he could get the ingredients. Misa could probably grow wheat if she so desired, though of that desire he did doubt. She seemed completely satisfied with the raw meal of nuts and berries that were spread out before her.

Cross watched as she gracefully picked up a red berry and lifted it to her mouth. The way she moved was mesmerizing at times. She was so fluid, so natural. It was like watching art come to life. The berry passed over her lips and her eyes flicked up. Cross flinched and nearly dropped the root he was holding.

Flushing, he quickly turned his eyes down and continued eating. He could still feel Misa staring at him, but he couldn’t quite find it in himself to look up quite yet. After a few more minutes the intense gaze subsided and Cross let out a soft sigh.

“You have a decision to make,” Misa said abruptly. This managed to bring Cross’s eyes back to the elf. She met his gaze with her customary stony expression. With a slow, deliberate movement, she reached her hand under her shirt and pulled free the knife. Holding it lightly in her palm, she held it out towards him. “If you do not retrieve this from me today, then it will not be returned to you.”

“Ah,” Cross stared down at the knife. Along Misa’s slender arm he could already see the vines beginning to creep down, ready to strike.

It was only inches away, but the distance already felt insurmountable. His hands clenched and unclenched, but he did not move. He licked his suddenly dry lips and took a moment to control his suddenly quickening breath.

“I have all day?” Cross asked, leaning back and resting his weight on his hands.

“Yes.”

“Well, then I guess there is no reason to go into this without thinking it through, yeah?” Cross picked up a nut and tossed it into his mouth.

Misa did not respond.

Cross shrugged and reached out for another nut. His hand had just touched the pile of nuts when he reversed his wrist and flicked his ring finger. A flashbang burst from the bracer’s barrel on a beeline for Misa’s head.

Without blinking the Elf tilted to the side, allowing the ball of light to pass harmlessly by her cheek. She did not so much as flinch as it exploded behind her, filling the room with an ear-splitting crack that echoed off the wooden walls. Cross hadn’t been expecting the flashbang to hit her, in fact, he knew it wouldn’t.

But it had caused her to move, even the slight amount was enough.

Sliding forward, Cross kicked out towards Misa’s chest. Still seated on her knees, and twisted to one side, she was forced to block the kick with only her left arm. With a grunt, Cross pressed as hard as he could as their bodies made contact. Misa held her position for a moment before his strength was able to overcome her balance and she was sent to the side.

Bouncing onto his feet, Cross chased after her.

Misa rolled once with her momentum before throwing her left arm out towards Cross. A thorn burst into existence and flew towards Cross. Coming to a skidding spot, Cross batted the thorn away, and the one that followed. Misa used that time to return to her feet and produced yet another spear, this one held up defensively. Cross used the moment to load a fresh cartridge.

He had used his Sight to avoid the first spear attack and he could only feel the slightest hints of a headache. Still, he needed to keep this from dragging on too long.

He would not win a war of attrition.

As if reading his thoughts, Misa suddenly bolted to the side. Her footsteps were light as feathers as she reached the stair case that lined the tree and began to ascend, barely throwing a glance behind her to see if Cross was in pursuit.

“No, you don’t,” Cross growled as he charged after her with decidedly less grace, his feet loudly stomping against each step as he chased Misa around and around.

Taking the stairs two or three at a time, Cross was just able to keep pace with Misa, but he was unable to gain any ground. Still, there was only so far the Elf could go before they reached the top of the tree

That had been Cross’s initial thought, and one he held onto tightly as the chase dragged on into minutes, with Misa showing absolutely no signs of slowing down as they ascended higher and higher into to the tree. Far higher than Cross had ever been before.

His legs ached and his lungs burned, but he did not slow as he kept Misa’s lithe form just in his view. A more cynical part of him wanted to stop already. It was just a knife after all. Besides, If Misa truly didn’t want him to take the knife back, then he seriously doubted if there was even a remote possibility that he would be able to do so.

But a different part of him, one that he was becoming more and more acquainted with… that part of him just… didn’t care.

He didn’t care. Not in the slightest.

A smile formed on his face as they reached the highest level of the tree. Misa cut her arm to the side and the wall instantly parted for her. Rain, driven in by the wind, instantly soaked her entire frame. She threw a look over her shoulder, taking a moment to zero in on his position before she spun and launched the spear towards him. He caught it with a deft hand and tossed it to the side.

As it clattered to the floor, Misa took a step back. Not an unsteady step, but merely a step, placing her heel against the newly formed opening. Rain dripped down her face as she regarded Cross for another moment before she held up the knife for him to see.

Her eyes never left his as she spread her arms wide and fell backwards.

Cross raced towards the opening, his eyes wide as he watched Misa gracefully fall through the air, the wind whipping at her clothes as she gained speed. Even through the growing distance he could tell she was watching him.

Waiting.

A laugh escaped Cross’s lips. A completely mad laugh as his hand came up to grip the edge of the opening, before he launched himself out and into the waiting arms of gravity.

This wasn’t about making logical decisions anymore. Logic had gone out the window the moment he had entered this damned forest. No, even before that. The moment he had learned that he could use magic. That first glimpse into the future that had him hooked and wanting more.

His life was illogical and hypocritical and irrational and now… right now, in this moment of pure, unadulterated indulgence, he was going to take back what was his.

The raindrops stung against his skin as he dropped through the sky. His stomach formed into a knot and his heart threatened to leap into his throat, but he still couldn’t keep the smile from his face.

He could see it.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

He could see all of it.

His right hand whipped out and caught a vine. Slick with rain, it cut painfully into his hand as he gripped it tight. His momentum slowed somewhat, but not nearly enough to actually stop.

It wouldn’t matter.

He didn’t need to stop completely.

Beneath him, he watched as vine’s burst from the branches beneath Misa, forming a netting to break her fall.

Loosening his grip on the vine, Cross raced towards the same destination, allowing his speed to increase.

Misa landed lightly on the netting, bouncing once before coming to a complete stop. Her head tilted up to follow his descent and Cross saw a moment of genuine shock spread across her stoic features as he raced down towards her. Not giving her a chance to formulate a plan, Cross fired a flashbang directly down. The resulting blast of light was more than enough to cover his landing as he crashed against the netting.

A gasp of pain escaped his lips as he bounced against the netting, going up into the air once before coming back down on his stomach. Pushing aside the pain, he swung his arm up to block Misa’s incoming kick. The pain rattled through his arm, but he was still able to block her next kick the same way before pushing her back.

Unsteadily, he got back to his feet.

Thunder rolled across the sky and the rain fell with greater vigor. Cross sucked in a ragged breath, but still found it in himself to smile.

Misa did not return the smile, but that almost familiar gleam in her eye was more than an answer. Stepping forward, Cross met her with a punch that she easily ducked, coming up beside him with a rapid punch to his side. Swinging his arm around, Cross just missed her as she jumped away, before moving back in, this time with a low kick that he blocked with his own leg before he lunged for her hand.

The Elf was too quick, however, and danced out of his range before returning with a swift strike that would have caught him on the cheek had he not quickly brought his hand up and caught her by the wrist. Misa tried to tug her wrist free, but Cross held tight.

“I think you’re getting slower.”

Misa’s response was to suddenly swing both her legs up and wrap them around his arm. A look of shock passed across the clairvoyant’s face before the sudden movement sent him stumbling to the ground.

Like a snake, Misa suddenly had her limbs wrapped around Cross, her leg’s wrapping around his head and cutting off his ability to breath. Cross lifted his arms to pull himself free, but before he could even begin to struggle, Misa’s elbow came crashing down on his face.

Blood burst from his nose and technicolor spots blew up in his vision. Sucking in a gasp, he tried to tilt his face away from the next attack, but it was useless as she slammed her elbow against his face again and again.

His consciousness beginning to fade and desperation growing, Cross did the only thing he could think of… and he sank his teeth into Misa’s thigh.

While it would be a stretch to say that Cross was proud of what he had just done, he could not, in complete honesty, say that he didn’t feel at least a little satisfied as Misa let out an uncharacteristic squeak. He was unsure if it was of surprise or pain, but no matter what the cause, it did succeed in allowing himself to free himself.

Gasping, he scrambled across the ground to a relatively safe distance as Misa silent rose back to her feet.

“You bit me.” Misa’s voice was even as ever, but there was a dangerous edge to it that Cross was quite sure he hadn’t heard before.

“… yeah.” Cross returned to his feet as well. He lifted up one hand, ignoring that his fingers were trembling and pointed at the knife. “You told me to decide and I did. I’m taking that back. No matter what.”

A vine slithered down Misa’s arm and took the knife, before retreating to rest behind her back. With both her arms free, Misa produced a longer spear and held it out towards Cross.

“Right, then.” Cross steadied his mind and wiped away the steady trail of blood that was dripping down his nose.

Misa attacked first, leading with a rapid series of thrusts that Cross avoided with quick, jerky movements, careful not to lose his footing on the unsteady surface. Misa kept up the attack, trying to force him to the edge of the netting, but he held his ground, using his armored forearms to bat away any strikes that he was unable to simply avoid.

Still, he was on the defensive and that would get him nothing but a loss. Sooner or later Misa would manage to elude his sight and land, if not a finishing blow, one that would be more than painful.

Painful…

It would be okay if it was painful, just as long as it wasn’t fatal.

Gritting his teeth against what might have been his stupidest plan to date, Cross crouched low, bringing his arms in tight to his body, and charged forward. True to his expectations, Misa held her ground, puling the spear back and waiting.

With each step Cross took, he limited his ability to avoid Misa’s eventual strike, and Misa knew this. Roaring, Cross forced his body faster, his eyes open against the driving wind and rain, the future playing out with his mind, an endless amount of possibilities flashing until they became a single, almost still image.

“Damn,” Cross breathed as Misa’s spear shot forward.

The tip of the spear met his shoulder, just as he had seen. The pain exploded though his mind as the spear drove through his flesh and burst out the other side.

But it did not stop his forward momentum.

Teeth bared he slammed into Misa. Wrapping his uninjured arm around Misa, he sent them both tumbling across the uneven ground. At some point the spear was ripped from his shoulder and Cross let out a howl of pain and Misa slipped from his grasp. Fighting off the wave of nausea, Cross forced himself onto one knee, his bleeding arm dangling uselessly by his side.

The rain had already washed the fresh blood from Misa’s spear as she held it up and waiting, ready for the next round, but Cross only shook his head. Lifting up his good arm, he spun the knife in his palm.

“I told you I’d get it.”

He smiled at Misa, as blood dripped down his nose and leaked from the corners of his mouth. He was still smiling as he keeled over and allowed the pain to consume his mind and spirit him off to blissful unconsciousness.

xXx

Cross woke up in a dark room. Blinking open his eyes, he stared up at the nothingness Mindlessly, he started to roll over when a sharp pain halted his movement.

“Oh, right.” Cross let out a deep sigh as he tilted his head down to look at his shoulder. Even thought it was dark, he could see where his shirt was torn open from where Misa had stabbed him. The wound had already been tended to, with some kind of salve rubbed across his skin. It felt cool, but it wasn’t enough to entirely alleviate the pain he felt. Still, it was more than manageable and he started to push himself up into a sitting position when a hand reached out and pushed him back down.

“Rest.”

Straining his eyes, Cross could just make out Misa’s eyes as she stared down at him. After a moment he nodded and collapsed back against the sleeping mat. Misa soon followed suit, her back pressed against his.

Since the night Misa had told him the tale of the forest, this had become their usual sleeping arrangement. At first, it had made it somewhat difficult for Cross to sleep, but now he was having trouble imagining sleeping any other way. There was something uniquely comforting about Misa. It wasn’t just the heat she shared as she pressed against him, or the soft, fresh scent of nature that seemed to emanate from her very being. It was a sense of calm that was both familiar and completely foreign. No matter how much he thought about it, he found it impossible to categorize and eventually he had given up. It simply was as it was and that was all it could be.

It was both a comforting and distressing thought.

"Would you like to hear another story?" Misa asked, interrupting his thoughts. Her words drifted so lightly through the air that Cross almost missed them.

Cross gave a small nod, even though she couldn't see him. "Yes."

"Once, long ago, but not so long, there was a young girl who lived in a forest with her mother. Her mother was beautiful and kind and the girl adored her for it. She strived to be strong, just like her mother. Strong enough to protect the forest and everything in it. And perhaps, it was because of this, that the girl made a horrible mistake.

"The girl knew the hunters that stalked the forest well. They came like the seasons, though to what end, she did not know. Her mother had warned her to never go near them, to run if they got too close. The girl didn't fully understand, but she knew she must listen well. In all the years they had been in the forest, the girl had seen her mother take few lives and often had it been the hunters. So time after time, she listened to her mother and ran, safe among the treetops, until one day….

"It was a cold day, even though winter was still far off. The rains had only recently faded away and with them gone came the hunters. As she had done so many times, the girl's mother drove them out. It filled the girl with pride to see how strong her mother was. Maybe it was for this reason, that when alerted to the presence of another entering the forest, the girl struck off on her own, confident in the abilities her mother had passed down to her.

"A single figure walked slowly through the forest; a cloak drawn around his frame. The girl watched him from above, an arrow, dipped in poison, at the ready, just as she had seen her mother do. The first arrow she fired was true and struck him in the wrist. The second as well, driving him to the ground.

"For a moment, a sense of pride flooded through her veins. She had done it. She had protected the forest, just as her mother had done. The scream that echoed through the forest pushed those feelings away and replaced them with a burning shame. The girl dropped from the tree and rushed to the intruder's side. No, not an intruder. A child. A child who stared up unseeing, through tear-filled eyes as the poison did its work. A child who screamed in pain as the arrows that pierced his flesh twisted with his every move.”

Cross's wrists itched and he fought the urge to rub them.

"The girl was sure he would die," Misa said softly. "All of her training, her confidence, it rushed from her as she stared down at him. She called out for her mother, but no one came. In her panic, she had grasped the boy's hand. Slick with blood, she had to grip it tight, so tight.”

“'I'm sorry," she told the boy, though he could not hear her. 'I'm sorry.'

"The boys hand grew limp in hers and the girl knew he was not long for this world. Fear gripped her. A fear stronger than any she had ever felt before. A shameful fear. One that she could not accept.

“'I will save you,' she told the boy as she gripped him so tight she feared she might break him. 'I swear it.'

"How?" Cross blurted out, unable to contain himself. With every word Misa spoke, he felt the memory, the memory locked away so long ago, begin to chip free. Flashes of the past, no longer than the blink of an eye, played across his mind. He felt the pain of the arrows and the rush of the poison. His fingers, slick with warm blood, held tightly in Misa's small hand.

"The girl took him," Misa continued as though Cross had never interrupted. "She took him and gave him the mark of the forest. The mark that would flush the poison from his veins. A mark that would claim him as a ward of the forest until the end of his days.

"The girl’s mother came as soon as it was done. From afar she had watched, refusing to intervene. She looked down at her daughter, though not with anger, only with a grim understanding.

“'He is your responsibility now,’ the girl’s mother said. ‘His life is a burden that you must carry for it is one that you took.’

"The girl accepted that fate. She accepted responsibility for what she had done in her arrogance and haste. For days on end she stayed by the boy as he recovered, though it was a slow, and painful process. She shared in his suffering, shared in his pain, but through it all, she never regretted her choice.

"When the boy grew strong enough, she allowed her mother to take the boy from her care and return him to the edge of the forest. She watched from the trees as he was carried away. She had not wanted to let him leave, not in such a state, but he was with those he belonged. Yet even as he faded from view, he did not fade from her memory, as the mark she had given him was one that would forever bind them."

Misa grew silent and Cross let out a breath he hadn't realized he had been holding in.

"I remember now," Cross said as the pieces of the puzzle finally fell into place. The reason he was still alive. Why the poison had failed to kill him a second time. Her relentless instance on training him. "Not all of it, but enough. I remember you, Misa."

"I am glad," Misa said quietly.

"I should have known. The bear… I ran into a bear when I first entered the forest. It didn't attack me. It barely showed me any interest. It was because of you."

"It did not attack because it saw the mark. So long as you carry that mark, nothing in this forest will seek to harm you."

"Well, you did." Cross couldn't help but point out.

"There was a reason."

"Which was?"

"I was not looking for it."

The answer was so blunt and simple that Cross couldn't even muster up a sense of annoyance. Instead, he let out a soft laugh and felt exhaustion fall across his bones. Misa seemed to feel it as well.

"Rest now, Cross," Misa said quietly.

"I will. Thank you, for the story," Cross said, just as quietly. He was just about drift back to sleep when a thought occurred to him. "Misa?"

"Yes?"

"How did you mark me?".

He felt Misa tense up.

"That is… unimportant," she said, before shifting and falling silent.

"Right, then," Cross said with a bemused sigh before he settled in for the night.

He supposed that part wasn't particularly important. At least, not for the time being.