For the next few minutes, Valentine stared at the sleeping Fayette.

'She's too confident...' He sighed and struggled to stand up, there were things to do.

He wanted to sleep, but he couldn't... If the two of them slept at the same time and somebody or 'something' came... They'd be done for. He knew by now that this sulfur, acid or whatever it's called rain wouldn't stop such a beast from coming in this cave.

The heat hadn't decreased in the slightest, but at least there was no horrible beast's threat.

He walked up to the beast and the first thing he does is break several of its claws with the rock he had used before, his hand still pained as hell, but there is no other way.

This claws were his first priority, no doubt they were the sharpest things he had ever seen, they went through rocks as if they were tofu, they would be very useful to defend until he found something better.

The claw was as long as a knife, he took one carefully and started to cut the beast.

There were many things that he could take out of a beast like this one that would be for his benefit.

Skin, bones, meat...

All those were things he desperately needed.

He continued his work for half an hour while Fayette visibly regenerated.

When she finally woke up with a pained yelp, the first thing she saw was Valentine dismembering the big beast.

She couldn't help but admire his dedication and experience, feeling ashamed of herself for falling unconscious just like that, what if he had ill intentions?

'At least now I know... That he has no ill intentions against me.' She sighed and continued watching him for a few minutes before struggling to stand up, there was still a bleeding wound on her waist, but her intestines were no longer visible at least.

This regeneration is truly shocking.

Her body looked normal, clearly, he hadn't raped her, maybe he fondled her? She didn't know but believed that he wasn't such a person, especially with all the work he had done by now.

Besides his working form, lay many things.

Many layers of the beast fur, neatly trimmed.

Many of the beast's long and nightmarish claws, attached to the long bones by said fur making improvised knives...

On another there were several chunks of meat, also neatly cut and prepared to simply cook, he had removed all organs and left only the edible meat, clearly, they had the luxury to choose due to the beast's gargantuan size, but who knows how long it would take for that meat to decompose under these conditions... It would be a miracle if it lasted a day.

"I will cook the meat if you want... You can sleep, I will guard." She said and only received a nod from him, he was still cutting more fo the beast's flesh and obviously noticed that she woke up.

Her stomach shook due to the intense hunger, she took a big chunk of the bear's flesh with her to the edge of the cave... Then placed a layer of fur on her arms before moving many of the scalding rocks and placing them all together, outside of the cave, she then placed the piece of meat on top of it, and it started to cook due to the 'rain' and also the heated rocks.

"..."

"..."

None of the two said a word for a while.

When the meat was ready, she brought it beside him.

"It is ready..."

"..."

He still didn't say anything and continued to focus on cutting the beast's flesh, he seemed to be opening its stomach.

His silence made her bit her lips, 'Is he upset with me?' she thought they had reached some kind of communication agreement, but suddenly everything seemed to have returned to how it was when they just arrived.

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"Aren't you hungry?" She didn't want to start eating before him, even in this disgusting place they were currently at, she still refused to let go of her manners.

"I am... You can eat without me, also there is beast's fur over there... You can use it to cover yourself" He answered, not turning around.

"I will use it later... It is too hot for me to cover." She smiled wryly, appreciating his consideration, and began eating at his permission.

Valentine finally managed to cut the beast's stomach that seemed to be way harder than expected for some reason, and inside he saw what he was looking for... There were three crystals in there... There were black crystals and not only that, there were also several stones like the ones he took from the creature's brain, except that they were smaller and less shiny.

'What are these things?' He could recognise the black crystal... When his body tore to pieces, he felt it... That black crystal is inside his palm, right beneath where his tattoo is located.

"Did you find anything?" She asked while eating, curious at what new discovery he did.

"..." But once again he didn't answer.

"You don't trust me?" She furrowed her brows and stopped eating, clearly intending to resolve this matter.

"...? Do you?" He looked back at her with a frown of his own, clearly, if she trusts him, is because she didn't learn her lesson.

"I trust you... You saved me, twice... no, thrice. I'm not going to backstab you, you clearly are a professional, an elite officer... You should know that one can't survive without trusting others to a certain extent, I'm willing to trust you, why won't you trust me?" She placed her cards on the table, they're in an unknown world and only have each other to rely on, she's willing to bet.

"Why won't I trust you? For the same reason, you gave your back to that girl... These things are your repayment for helping me deal with that creature, once this rain settles, we're on our own."

He didn't feel like trusting anyone after what that bastard Quilt did to him.

"..." No words came out of Fayette's mouth, it's because he's right... Once again she was trusting someone she shouldn't? They had only helped each other to survive against that creature, there was no more connection.

"I understand..." She answered and continued eating, but then again, she just couldn't look at him like this, "But you should trust me until we leave this cave... You haven't slept at all, so you should eat and then sleep... I'll take care of us, and if something happens I will wake you up straight away."

He wanted to deny her, but there is no doubt the mental toll was getting high on him... This had been one of the days he received so much physical punishment in his life... And it is just the flipping first day in this place.

Thankfully his daily life back on Earth was like hell, so unless this place is hell itself, it can't be worse, right?

He finished taking whatever resource he could from the beast and even decided to leave all the crystals and stones inside the beast's stomach before evolving it in a layer of fur...

Why? Simply because he didn't know if after taking those black crystals out, those people would come back to life... And he didn't need useless people, one Fayette was enough even if she wasn't a total waste.

He ate the cooked meat that she prepared, feeling like he ate something after not having eaten for a month.

And then proceeded to lie on the ground, with a knife in his hand, obviously, he wasn't going to sleep, he was just going to rest.

Fayette stared at this and sighed.

...

Valentine just lay there with his eyes closed but his ears and senses all alert, he sensed her moving towards him.

And then he just opened his eyes with a glare when she picked his head and placed it on her lap...

"What are you doing?" His voice sounded cold as if he was ready to plunge his knife in her heart at any moment.

All his gaze could see was her big jade chest and pink nipples with her beautiful face sneaking in between with a soft smile, "I'm just making it a little more comfortable for you to sleep."

He stared deeply at her, only now noticing how beautiful she is, like... unnaturally so... The most beautiful woman he had ever seen.

Her eyes were blue and yellow, both colours forming a gradient inside her irises.

"... You just suffered one of the worst betrayals ever, and now you're here trusting a man you barely just met, letting him glance at your naked body... Are you asking me to rape you right here?"

"... You wouldn't do that." She spoke, with confidence much to his surprise and even caressed his raven hair.

"You don't know that."

"I know... You could have done it while I was sleeping."

"What if I'm some deviant that likes to rape women and see their scared reactions?"

"Then I guess I'm done for." She said simply and continued caressing his hair.

"Why are you doing this?" He still couldn't understand, obviously she's not stupid.

"Because I want you to trust me, maybe it's my womanly instincts, trying to cling on a man for survival... Or maybe I just want to be your friend... As I said, in this world, you're the only person I can remotely begin to 'trust'."

"You're surprisingly honest."

"I have to if I want to break the walls of someone like you... Tell me, who betrayed you for you to grow so traumatized?" She asked with curiosity.

"..." He simply evaded her gaze, obviously not feeling like answering, Quilt's dastardly visage appeared in his mind and his hand started to itch.

"It's okay... If you don't want to answer, but let me ask you something... It's very important" Her gaze became somehow stern and he looked at her with raised eyebrows.

"...?"

"The last memory before you came here... Is it that of your death?" Her gaze pierced his, loosing herself on his silver eyes, looking for a reaction, and she got it.

!!!

He didn't answer anything but his reaction told her everything she needed to know.

"As expected... I think I know where we are, Valentine..." She showed a dejected expression.

"Where?" This time he was interested in her words.

"We are in Hell."