Ingrid gasped as she slumped unceremoniously to the ground. She heard the sound of someone else collapsing next to her as Alice’s legs could no longer support her. She closed her eyes, struggling to take deep breaths, but choking on some of the blood caught in her throat. Rolling over, she coughed and tried to ignore the sound of it splattering on the ground in front of her.

The sound of Malori speaking became apparent to Ingrid, but she was too exhausted to make out the words. She could barely even make out where they were. The only notable thing to her was the fact that she was lying on something with a soft upper layer, while very firm under it. The esper sounded so far away. As she began to drift off into an exhausted sleep, she was jolted awake by the uncanny feeling of her wounds forcefully stitching themselves back together. Her eyes shot open to see Malori kneeling above her, eyes closed in concentration as she applied her healing magic.

She let out a groan of pain, but thankfully the pain didn’t last long. The most intense pain that is. The dull throb of the wounds Malori didn’t manage to heal was all too apparent in Ingrid’s mind as she forced herself to sit up against the wall and look over her surroundings.

It was a small, secluded grove surrounded by trees and brambles. It wasn’t the best place to hide, but it was better than nothing. Alice had left her on a large stone covered in moss. Ingrid blushed a little bit. It was probably the closest thing to a bed that she could find. Natalia was moving some of the brambles to cover up a small gap in the cover of greenery, likely where they had entered. Kallen was leaning against a tree, snoring loudly. A fair amount of her wounds seemed to be healed, but there were still a multitude of scabs and gashes still covering her. Ingrid winced as she looked at the small pile of blood covered and broken arrowheads, crossbow bolts, and spearheads a few feet away from her.

As she finally got a good look at Malori, she realized that despite her lack of injuries, things were not good. Her skin was already exceedingly pale, but what little color was there seemed to have drained aside from the dark circles under her eyes. Her eyes were sunken and struggling to focus on anything. There was a slight sway to her as well, like she was about to fall over. She barely even seemed to register that Ingrid had gotten up. Her hands were still extended, shimmering faintly with the remnants of healing magic. Ingrid’s heart ached as she saw her.

She pulled the smaller girl close and sat her on the soft bed of moss. After Malori seemed to snap back into the present, she immediately slumped against Ingrid’s shoulder. It was hard for Ingrid not to smile a little bit. Within seconds, her eyes had fluttered closed. Her breathing was still shaky, but it was even. A few seconds more, and Ingrid was certain that she was asleep. Leaning her head back against the rock, she took another deep breath. It was less shaky, and she didn’t choke on her own blood either. Progress.

She glanced next to her at Alice, who was struggling to bring herself to her feet. Her dark elven friend was certainly beat up, but she felt relief wash over her when she realized that there weren’t any actual external wounds. Hopefully, there weren’t any internal ones either. Gripping a tree branch, Alice finally managed to drag herself to her feet, still using the trunk to support her. It seemed the only one able to fully stand was Natalia, and she did so while walking with a severe limp. Her left wing was still huddled close to her back, twitching ever so slightly.

Alice looked at Ingrid, causing her to shrink back from the alarming amount of anger in her gaze. She was about to open her mouth to say something when her friend spoke up.

“What in the absolute hell were you thinking!” She shouted. Ingrid really wished that her tone wasn’t one she had become familiar with recently. She was absolutely furious.

“I-I just–”

“You barely manage to hang on when casting big spells the last two times, and you came that close to it even after I tell you not to? Are you trying to get yourself killed?” As she continued, Ingrid realized that there was a hint of desperation clear in her voice. “Ingrid, this is your little errand. We’re trying to find your brother. You should be the one calling the shots, but instead we have a glaive swinging lunatic with the strength of a giant making the calls!”

Kallen stirred slightly, her eyes slowly opening. Malori had been woken up by the shouting too, scooting away from Ingrid as she cowered from Alice’s wrath. It felt like Ingrid’s heart was being grabbed and squeezed without mercy. Using the back of the rock as a support, she brought herself to her feet to try and meet Alice’s gaze.

“Kallen decides something on a whim, Malori agrees with her without even considering it, and you’re too scared of causing an issue to say anything against it! How many times, how many gods damned times did I tell you this was a trap? And you ran headfirst into it!” She continued, gesturing to Natalia, “Am I the only one who actually wants to focus on what’s at hand here? We got beyond lucky that we managed to pull that escape out of our asses, otherwise Berith would’ve killed every single one of us.”

Ingrid’s breathing was starting to pick up. She just needed a minute to think. The yelling, the harsh words, it was too much right now. She was tired, she was hurt, it was hard to think straight. Everything in her body wanted to tell Alice to shut up for a second to at least let her gather her thoughts, but she just kept going. Her throat felt tight as her senses started to overload. She couldn’t even remember how long it had been since she had last felt like this. The last time she had felt angry.

“We can’t keep up like this, Ingrid! Either we’re all gonna get killed, or someone will get captured and do whatever the hell Berith wants them to do. I don’t fucking want that! I barely wanted to come in the first place, and I didn’t sign up to babysit a grown woman who can snap a tree like a twi–”

“Then why don’t you just leave!” Ingrid screamed, her heart jumping into her throat. She didn’t even know that she could raise her voice that much. Everyone around her went silent as their eyes locked onto her. Despite the silence around her, the rushing blood in her ears was deafening. Her eyes met Alice’s shocked gaze, and she quickly averted them. “I’m trying to hold things together here, I really am. But I don’t know what I’m doing! You keep expecting me to know what to do when I’m in an entirely different world! You get angry at everything Kallen and Malori do when they’re trying their best too!”

Even staring at the ground, she could feel Alice’s anger rising. She wanted to stop. She just wanted to shut up and turn back time so that she could have never said anything. Every single thought was screaming at her to just shut her damn mouth but no matter how loud they screamed, her anger drowned them out.

“If you’re just going to get angry at every single thing that happens, if you really hate the idea of being here so much, why haven’t you left yet!”

“Because–!” Alice stepped forward to respond, then looked around at the eyes on her. Her expression somehow soured even more as she stepped back. “I fuckin need a minute,” She all but growled, before marching off into the underbrush. She didn’t even seem to mind the fact that she walked directly towards a set of brambles and almost certainly got pricked and cut by a few of them.

Ingrid looked at Natalia, desperately trying to bottle up all of the anger that was running through her. The illian seemed completely unamused by their argument, but had been watching it intently. She made eye contact with Ingrid (presumably) and sighed before turning around.

“Go make sure your girlfriend doesn’t get herself killed. I’m going to make a fire,” She muttered in annoyance.

Ingrid felt her heart jump into her throat once more at one of the words in that sentence. Why had that jab gotten such a rise out of her? “She’s not my–”

“She’s going to be dead if you don’t get a move on.”

Maybe she wasn’t entirely right on Alice dying, she could definitely fend for herself, but going off on her own was dangerous. Ingrid wanted to stay here and give her anger time to pass, but Kallen and Malori were exhausted beyond belief. Natalia clearly had no intention whatsoever to do anything aside from start a campfire. Her wing twitched in annoyance.

Letting out a small involuntary whimper, Ingrid forced herself to step forward, still using the rock behind her as a support. Glancing at the ground, she realized Alice had dropped their dimensional bag. She reached into it and immediately felt some of her stress relieved as her fingers wrapped around the familiar wood of her staff. At least now she had a walking stick of sorts and didn’t need to rely on random trees. She tapped the butt of the staff to the ground, then stopped. She wanted to send her thoughts to the plants and ask them to guide her to Alice. The more she thought about it, the more she wondered if that was a good idea. With how angry she felt, would she be able to stop that from being sent through? Deciding against it, she marched off painfully into the brambles. At the very least, Alice had left an obvious trail to follow.

Pushing her way past the brambles, she trekked off into the woods. It felt strange for it to be daytime, but she couldn’t entirely put her finger on why. The fight with Berith had all happened at night, and she could see the flecks of pink in the sky as the sun rose. The dour mood and events strangely felt like ones that should have been happening before bed. She frowned as she continued to follow Alice’s path. She had seen the dark elf and the way she could make her presence practically moot. Avoiding a trail like this was well within her ability. Either she wanted it there, or she was too angry to even think about staying hidden. Currently, the latter seemed more likely to Ingrid.

It wasn’t long before she found Alice, hunched over against a tree and holding her side. Her friend glared at her, then kept walking. “I said I needed a minute, try listening.”

That anger writhing beneath the surface reared its head again as Ingrid responded before she could properly think. “Oh? I thought you had a problem with me listening to those around me!”

“Right, I forgot, you listen to everyone except for me! Should I start stuttering like an anxious wreck or talk like a bumbling moron for shit to register?” Alice spat, limping off further into the trees.

Ingrid followed her, a small growl of annoyance in her throat. “Would you stop insulting them? I already said they’re trying their best! What did they do to you?”

“Oh they didn’t do jack shit! That’s the fucking problem, Princess! They do fuck all for this trip and they’re the ones making the decisions!” She yelled back, punching a tree in anger. “You know it wouldn’t kill you to make a decision on this every now and then!”

“I have been, they just haven’t been ones you’ve liked! I thought that rescuing Natalia was a good idea. I thought letting Kallen join was a good idea. Those are choices, you just hate them!”

“No no no, those were Kallen and Malori’s choices. You just agreed with them. Look where that got us! Every single one of us almost just died!”

“Well if Kallen and Malori are so useless, why are they the only reasons we escaped? If Kallen wasn’t keeping Berith back, we would be dead! If Malori didn’t do whatever it was she did to stop him, you would be dead! I tried to save you and you were about to throw a knife at me! What was with that?”

“Well sorry for not wanting you to fucking kill yourself!” Alice spat, whirling around to face Ingrid. They had been walking a few feet away, and it was hard to even tell how far they had gone from camp. Alice looked behind Ingrid, then spun back around to keep walking.

“So throwing a knife at me was going to accomplish that?”

“I wouldn’t have thrown it at a vital, I just needed to stop you. Nilin’s sake Princess, think before you do things like that!”

“So you would have rather Berith killed you?”

“He would’ve been busy with me and Kallen, maybe you could have gotten out!”

Ingrid was taken aback. Alice was constantly looking for ways in these situations to make sure she and Ingrid were alright, that was nothing new. To say she would have died to keep Ingrid safe? That was very new.

“I get that you’re my friend and you care about me, but why don’t you care about the fact that he would have killed Kallen or Natalia? Do you really hate them that much? Why were you so willing to die?”

“Princess, watch it–”

“I won’t watch it! Alice, I am angry! I can’t even remember the last time I felt like this. You’ve been so, so irritated this past week and it all stems from them!” She rambled on, struggling to find the words. She looked at Alice, who had stopped her march. She just stood there, hands shaking as she stared at the ground. It just made Ingrid even more mad. “And you still are willing to get yourself killed to make sure I’m alright! What is going on? Why are you doing all of this? Why are you staying when you’re this angry and you can leave anyti–”

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

“BECAUSE I’M FUCKING IN LOVE WITH YOU DUMBASS!”

With just a few words, the anger consuming Ingrid subsided. Or put it on hold as her entire brain struggled to comprehend what was just said. It was only then she got to really process the silence that pervaded the woods. There were no birds or animals, there wasn’t even any wind blowing to rustle the leaves and plants around her. That was the most bewildering part. There was no sound to drown out what Alice had just whirled around and proclaimed at the top of her lungs. There was no mistaking what was said.

She looked at Alice in shock. She had never seen her friend look so desperate. Tears welled in her eyes. Her hands shook anxiously. As she continued talking, thankfully quieter, Ingrid saw a mirror of exactly what she had been feeling. The desperate desire to stop talking, but no longer being able to hold back.

“I’m in love with you. Have been for years,” She choked out. A dry chuckle escaped her lips. “You told me a decade ago that I’d end up falling head over heels for some random elven girl who paid for a night and spent the first twenty minutes in tears, I probably woulda stabbed you. Here we are though.”

The energy seemed to leave her body. Her confrontational stance faltered, and she slumped back against a tree. She slowly slid down the trunk, sitting on the ground. She just looked… Defeated.

“Kinda hypocritical if I’m being honest. I made fun of Shortie for her romance novel addiction when I’m the one throwing away everything because the one I love is risking her life,” She looked up at Ingrid apologetically. “No matter how bad it gets, I can’t leave. Not while you’re here. Not while Mattias is missing.”

Ingrid was at a loss for words. She stared at Alice, struggling to make anything other than a pathetic rasping noise that made her want to hit herself. Taking a step towards Alice, her legs wobbled and she crumbled to her knees. Even in that defeated state, her friend managed to lean forward and catch her before she hit the ground. Maybe she wasn’t Kallen or Natalia, but her arms felt so strong…

Tears began to form in her own eyes as she looked up at Alice. She wished she could form a thought that made sense. Her mind just felt like a mess of screaming out so many different emotions that she couldn’t actually tell what any of them were. She didn’t know what to say, she didn’t know what she was thinking or doing, only that she was doing it.

Her lips were pressed against Alice’s. They felt softer than they ever had before. Even with her eyes closed, she felt Alice tense up momentarily, then relax. She wrapped her arms around Ingrid and pulled her closer.

In that moment, nothing else mattered. The entire world faded away, leaving her in Alice’s arms and wishing that that moment would last forever. She pulled away a moment to take a breath, then went right back in for another kiss. If they weren’t in the middle of the woods, injured, and on the run, things might have gone further. Her brain wasn’t working, only her heart. Her heart was a jumpy mess, but a mess that knew it wanted this.

It would have been smart to pay attention to how much time had passed, but she just couldn’t. There was only that moment, her lips on Alice’s, and Alice’s arms around her.

Of course her brain had to ruin everything like it always did as it finally caught up to what was happening. It was panicking. She opened her eyes, then pulled away from the kiss once again. Alice looked completely shocked, unable to say anything. The leaves and branches around Ingrid started to rustle as a wind picked up.

She couldn’t do this.

She didn’t deserve this.

The instant her brain started to process what she had done it started to shut down all over again, only this time from sheer panic.

“I-I-I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have–” Her voice came out shaky and uncertain. She looked into Alice’s eyes, which seemed to be processing even less than hers. Ingrid scrambled to her feet, Alice either too shocked or too exhausted to hold onto her. Even so, Alice’s arms continued to reach out as she snapped back to reality.

“Prin–Ingrid, wait,” She begged.

Tears welled in Ingrid’s eyes as she grabbed her staff and limped away as fast as she could. “I’m sorry,” She croaked.

She needed to think. She needed to fully understand everything in her head and heart and didn’t even know where to begin. She ran. A part of her knew that she would always hate herself for it.

Alice blinked in bewilderment as Ingrid rushed off into the trees. Just like that, the best thing to ever happen to her ran away. She sat there for a moment, lowering her arm and slumping back against the tree. She buried her face in her scarf, pressed it against her knees, and screamed into it as loud as she could. Thank the gods she muffled it. It was the most pathetic sound she had ever made.

Why had she said that? Why couldn’t she have actually listened to herself and shut her damn mouth when she needed to? She only found herself with more questions as she did something she hadn’t done in over a decade. She cried. She buried her face further in her scarf and she cried as every emotion, every thought she had had about that stupid beautiful elf that had her heart in a vice shoved itself through the floodgates and wouldn’t take no for an answer. She was in love with Ingrid Alvar, and now Ingrid knew.

It wasn’t enough for Ingrid to just know though, of course not. She had to stumble into Alice’s arms and kiss her so passionately that Alice found herself wishing it was another night at the brothel. Then she ran. Perfect.

She understood that Ingrid had some rather terrible anxiety about big emotions, but that was possibly the most unfair thing she could have done in that situation. What was even behind that kiss? Lust? Reciprocation? Confusion? She didn’t have a clue. The only thing she knew was that she’d trade the entire world just to go back to that moment and have the woman she loved in her arms again. She screamed into her scarf once more, clenching her fists so hard it felt like she was going to break the skin on her palms.

Ten minutes had never felt so painfully long. Even those watches where she was bored out of her mind went by quicker than those ten minutes of tears. She couldn’t actually tell if they stopped because she had calmed down or if she was so exhausted her body had just given out and couldn’t make any more. She pulled her face out of her scarf, now soaked with tears. The rising sun made her eyes burn even more than they already did from crying. Life really hated her.

Leaning her head back against the tree, she tried to steady out her breathing. Before long, it lost its shakiness and uncertainty. One step closer to calming down. She placed her hands back against the tree and staggered to her feet. Her legs still hurt, and her ribs screamed with pain at every breath she took. That was a bad sign. Once she was satisfied that there were no more signs of her crying, she began to make the trek back to camp. She did it with her dagger in hand. Whatever Malori had done had incapacitated Berith long enough for them to escape, but she didn’t have a clue how much longer it would last. There was no doubt in her mind that the man would immediately begin searching for them. Honestly she was impressed that they managed to make it a solid two miles in their mad dash away, especially with their injuries. Even with that distance, anxiety wracked her brain as she passed by every tree, every stone that marked the way to the grove. She sighed. Her life really sucked.

Ingrid gasped as she shoved through the brambles back into the group’s tiny hideout. She stood there, panting as she looked at her three other comrades. Kallen and Malori had both fallen asleep, again. That was good at least. Those two needed as much rest as they could get. Natalia was putting the finishing touches on a small fire pit. It was oddly quaint seeing the behemoth of a woman hunched over a small stone circle with a cluster of sticks in it.

“You sound like something tried to kill you,” Natalia deadpanned, not turning around. She held out a hand and placed a finger at the top of the sticks. Her fingertips began to glow, though not as intensely as they had in battle. Smoke rose off of the wood, and with a small woosh, a fire sparked. Natalia pulled her hand away slower than Ingrid expected. Did she not mind the heat? “Are you going to stand there gawking or are you going to warm up? I already pulled blankets from that bag. Make yourself useful and help me move the other two next to it.”

A small squeak of surprise escaped Ingrid’s throat, but she complied. Thankfully, Natalia moved over to pick Kallen up, leaving Malori to her. Her eyes lingered on the other two for a moment. It felt strangely out of place watching the illian scoop up the taller woman into a princess carry and gently lay her down in a bed roll. She seemed almost motherly as she pushed a few stray hairs out of her face and tucked them behind her ear.

Ingrid felt exhausted, but picking up Malori was even less difficult than she expected. She was taken aback for a moment at just how light the girl was. She didn’t even stir when Ingrid hoisted her into her arms. It was strangely comforting.

She brought her over to one of the bedrolls Natalia had laid out and tucked her in, staying there for a moment as she listened to her gentle snoring.

“You’re shaken up,” Natalia said matter-of-factly. It was hard to even tell if she expected a response or if it was merely a random observation.

If it was just an observation, it was a correct one. How was she even supposed to begin to process what had just happened with Alice? Her best friend was in love with her? The fact that her heart practically stopped when she heard it? That swell of overwhelming emotion that made her mouth go dry and her head feel light? What were any of those?

She reached for a waterskin with a shaky hand and gulped it down greedily. She was only now realizing how thirsty she was.

“Gods, at least remember to breathe.”

As if on cue, Ingrid’s eyes shot open as she coughed up a mouthful of water. She had accidentally inhaled some. Gasping for air, she sat back down on the moss covered rock.

“It’s cold. Stay near the fire.”

The words barely registered with Ingrid. She was still preoccupied thinking about Alice. About how soft and wonderful her lips had felt. About how everything was going to change one way or the other. She was terrified. She was actually going to have to talk about everything that had just happened, she couldn’t just hide from it for the rest of her life. That was unfortunate.

A strong hand picking her up shunted her out of her own head and into the present as Natalia carried her over to the fire.

“You were so talkative before. Annoyingly so. Are silence and never shutting up your two settings?” Natalia rolled her eyes.

Ingrid yelped as she was plopped down in front of the fire. The other woman was right, it really was cold out. Within seconds, she was leaning forward and holding her hands out to the fire for warmth.

She would have preferred being in bed with Alice to stay warm.

She quickly shook those thoughts away, instead trying to muster up a response for Natalia.

“Th-Thank you…” She muttered.

“Don’t mention it,” The woman sighed. “So, what’s the verdict on the dark elf? You and her were at each other's throats.”

Ingrid winced. Of all the times to remember how to feel angry, why did it have to be then? And at Alice no less? She rubbed her arms. “I-I don’t know. Something happened and–” Her breath caught in her throat. “Um, I… Ran off…”

Natalia didn’t seem to have much of a reaction to the statement. She absentmindedly poked at the fire. Concerningly enough, she did so with her bare hands rather than another stick.

“Well, I just got here, but I suppose I am the slightest bit in your debt. What’s wrong?” She sounded almost irritated. Her ‘resting bitch face’ as Alice would have put it certainly didn’t help.

Ingrid stared at the fire, letting the warmth touch her face. “It’s nothing,” She lied, “We’ve never fought like that before. After everything that just happened with our escape too, it just feels like too much.”

Natalia gave a thoughtful nod as she added a few more sticks to the fire, steadily increasing its size. “Well, here’s my take; you should sleep.”

“Huh?” Ingrid looked up at her.

“Sleep. You’re exhausted. So are these two. So is your friend even if she wants to pretend she’s invincible or something. You’re trying to process things that you’d already be struggling with while running on a fraction of the energy. Go the hell to sleep and address it when you wake up,” She explained.

She spoke like it was the most simple conclusion in the world. In a way, it was. Magical engineers who worked with complex spells and devices had long since talked about the classic ‘turn it off and back on again’ method since their inception. Despite how mundane it was, it was oddly effective. This was just the biological version of that, right?

“Um, what are you going to do?” She asked quietly.

“That’s a question for when we’re all more rested. Well, you are. I don’t need to sleep.”

Ingrid did remember hearing from somewhere that illians didn’t actually require sleep to function. Sources also claimed they didn’t need to eat or breathe either. One of those was evidently true.

She felt guilty as she looked longingly at the bed roll next to Malori. She really did desperately want to sleep. It was like Natalia bringing it up had suddenly taken that thought and yanked it to the forefront of her mind. That wasn’t the worst thing in the world. At the very least it was something to think about that wasn’t Alice.

And just like that she ruined that brief blissful moment. Her heart sank as she thought of how she had left her friend. Was friend the right word? Were they something more? Something less? It had been a rather pointed argument. Maybe Alice didn’t even want anything to do with her any more. Who was she kidding, after a proclamation like that, it was doubtful that she’d suddenly want to spend less time around her–

A soft, feathery wing gently smacked her forehead. “You’ve got that face again. Sleep. Now,” Natalia commanded. She still hadn’t looked in Ingrid’s direction. “I’ll keep hitting you with my wing until you do. Whatever problems you two caused can’t be dealt with if you die of exhaustion.”

Ingrid got the strange sensation that she was being side-eyed.

“So go the fuck to sleep already. Your problems will still be there to overthink in the morning.”

As much as she hated to admit it, Natalia was right. She crawled over to the bed roll, but that was all she could muster. The moment her head was in line with the pillow, the last of her strength gave out as she crumpled into it. She didn’t even bother to put herself into the roll, instead just laying on it. That was fine. The fire kept her warm. Her eyelids felt heavier than anvils. She let them drift shut, allowing sleep to take her as her thoughts were occupied by a kiss that sent her heart aflutter.