The man sheathed the small blade, jumped up and reached up for the sword strapped to his back. His fingers wrapped around the hilt, but as he moved to draw the blade out to defend himself and Farah, Farah recovered from her shock and pushed herself up. "Saul, no! Don't!" she insisted, placing herself between him and Aiki. She gripped his arm which caused him to release the sword's hilt.
She then turned to the fox boy, who might have looked terrifying if she didn't feel the waves of weakness radiating off of him. "Aiki, it's okay. This is Saul."
Aiki looked up at the two of them weakly, leaning against the tree beside him. His flames flickered and then vanished, and he slid down the tree trunk to the ground. Their gaze was hazy and they looked exhausted; using their power had only drained them more. They were definitely running on empty now.
He lifted his head to try and get a better look at the man now that he had seemingly been identified to not be a threat. "Mmmnhh… n-nice to meet you, Saul… I guess…" They mumbled tiredly. "Preferably… uh… don't kill me…? Nngh… my head's killing me…"
Farah's eyes widened, and she turned quickly back to Saul. "Do you have any food?" she asked urgently.
"Yeah, I have granola, but-"
"No buts," Farah interrupted. "Hand it over." She clutched her stomach and winced, still feeling the hunger pain manipulation. "It's killing him, so it's killing me."
Saul's expression grew worried. He quickly searched through his pack for the granola. "Farah, I've told you before to stop creating pain bonds. You can't take away everyone's hurt," he added the last part under his breath.
She winced and fell against him, but he caught her and steadied her quickly. Farah took the granola from his fingers and shook her head. "I needed to this time."
Saul sighed as Farah turned and knelt in front of Aiki worriedly. "Why on earth would you do that when I told you to stay put?" she murmured, opening the granola pack and handing it to Aiki.
Aiki didn't seem to be especially paying attention to Saul and Farah's conversation. He had closed his eyes, and only opened them again when Farah addressed him directly. Their hands were trembling lightly as they accepted the granola from Farah, managing a soft 'thank you' before they started to eat some of it.
"Mmmnh… I was gonna… but then I heard a noise and voices and… I dunno…" He mumbled in reply, his head still resting against the tree. "I-I guess I wanted to help… didn't just wanna stand there if something was hurting you. I guess I'm weaker than I thought… stupid…"
She chuckled quietly, but the smile quickly dropped off her face. "While I appreciate that, I can handle my own. That being said, you're not weak, and you're not stupid. Actually, you're quite brave." She gave them a reassuring smile. "Make sure you eat up and get some of your energy back. Then it'll be much easier to find your brother."
"Yeah, yeah… whatever you say…" Aiki flushed a bit in embarrassment and kept eating, shifting his positioning now that he was a little more alert so he wouldn't be so uncomfortable. "Since I have no clue where I am, it might be kind of hard to find Eiji, though. Odds are, he's nowhere near here…" He sighed softly, curling up a bit. "Might be stuck here for a while, I dunno… I'm sure people will be out looking for me. Although, the guy who sent me here probably doesn't know exactly where he sent me either."
(So are they on, like, normal Earth? Or an "otherworld"/fantasy kind of Earth?)
"I'm sure we'll find him," Farah replied gently. "But what do you mean people will be looking for you? Who sent you here?"
"Farah," Saul called her name.
She glanced up at him with arched eyebrows that wordlessly asked her question. Saul replied in kind by darting his eyes over to a clearing in the trees and nodding his head subtly that way as well. Farah understood, but she shook her head. The two of them were immensely close - so close that they had learned how to read each other's body language so they could communicate without words, which was especially helpful in more dangerous situations than this.
(Uhhh whichever lol)
(I was thinking a generally normal earth + magic but I'm flexible 🤷♂️)
(Doesn't have to be specific real places)
"Uhh… some annoying guy I know. He's got a teleporting sort of power and I pissed him off, so he decided to send me… uh… somewhere, I guess. Wherever this place is." Aiki shrugged and coughed weakly. "And I have family and friends and stuff. I'm sure they'll notice I'm missing and go looking."
He watched the interaction between Farah and Saul curiously, unable to make much sense out of it. They just shrugged again and kept eating the granola, hoping it would be enough to give them some energy.
(Okay, that sounds good! That's what I was thinking too :))
"Oh," Farah murmured. "Well, we'll have to figure it out then. You'll have to excuse us though, Saul and I have little knowledge of the First World, but we will help you get back to your family."
"Farah," Saul repeated her name and the gesture.
Farah pressed her lips together and gave him a warning look.
"Alright… thanks." Aiki sighed and closed his eyes, sliding down the tree trunk a bit more. They were feeling a little better, but their body hadn't really processed the food yet, and it still wasn't a ton. He could only hope it would be enough to make him functional, at least. He could make a proper meal later if he could find something to make it with.
A thought suddenly occurred to Farah, causing her face to light up with potential eagerness. "Aiki… would you mind if I performed a memory scan on you? It's completely harmless, and it might be helpful to retrace your steps so we could potentially find out where we are."
"Huh? I mean, sure… if you want to. What exactly are you hoping to find?" Aiki asked, sounding a bit skeptical. "Do you guys not know where we are either? Are we hopelessly lost in this forest??" He asked nervously. "Ughh… this is not how I wanna die…"
"We're not hopelessly lost!" Saul burst out. "I'm a Specialist, she's a fairy, and you… I don't know exactly what you are, but you have magic too, from what I've seen, so we're not going to die out here! We'll hunt, and we'll keep walking - there's got to be an end to this [expletive] forest somewhere - but we're going to survive. Got it?"
Farah whipped her head around to look at him. Obviously, his outburst completely shocked her, and it made things even worst since she hadn't told Aiki she was a fairy yet. "Saul?" she whispered.
Aiki turned his ears back at Saul's outburst, cowering a bit. They seemed unfazed at the announcement that Farah was a fairy. It was interesting, sure, but not really groundbreaking to him, especially when he wasn't at full brain capacity. "Alright, alright, sorry…" They mumbled in reply. "I just… don't know how to live out here. I don't have much experience in forests. My dad wasn't exactly the camping or hunting type…"
Farah raised her eyebrows and shot Saul a confused but menacing look. Then, she turned back to Aiki. "Don't worry. We're going to find out where we are, and we're going to be okay, got it?"
Aiki sighed and nodded, fidgeting as he stared down at the ground. "Alright… if you say so. I just… don't want people to be worried about me being missing, you know? My parents have probably already been told that I'm gone."
"Is it possible for them to trace you somehow?" Farah considered. It will be a lot easier if they find us before we find them.
"Mm… not that I'm aware of…" Aiki replied sheepishly. "Like I said, the guy who sent me here may not entirely know where he sent me. So he wouldn't be much help to people looking for me…"
Farah's brow creased with concern. That didn't sound good at all. "Who sent you here?"
"And why?" Saul chimed in, leaning against a nearby tree.
"Just some guy I know who goes to my school… I pissed him off and he's got a teleportation type power." Aiki explained tiredly. "He doesn't have great control over it, at least as far as location goes, so he might have a vague idea of what area I'm in? But as far as specifics, I doubt he knows."
Farah considered this. She glanced at Saul, who was already looking at her, and then back at Aiki. "As I said earlier, I could still preform a memory scan on you. It's completely harmless."
"I mean, you're welcome to, but I don't really know anything." Aiki shrugged. "He didn't exactly tell me where he was sending me either. Why don't you guys know where we are?" He asked.
"We're not used to begin in the First World," Farah replied, extending her hand slowly towards Aiki in preparation for the memory scan. "We came here for a mission."
"Don't you know where you were going for the mission, though?" Aiki asked, closing his eyes to prepare for Farah to search his memory for anything helpful.
Farah and Saul exchanged a look. "No, actually," Farah murmured, trailing off her answer as her eyes turned silvery-blue. Once she was prepared, she closed her eyes as well.
