"It has been light out for quite some time, so I'd imagine it will be getting dark soon," Saul replied.
But as he spoke, uneasiness in Farah began to set in again. What would Rosalind think if they were gone all night? What would Ben and Andreas – the other members of their battalion – think? "Is there any way you could be ready by tonight?" she asked hesitantly.
"I can try… if we really need to be at the barn by tonight, I can push myself there whenever. Or I can be carried." Aiki shrugged a bit. "I can always rest once we get to Rosalind. I don't really know anything about her, but I'm sure she wouldn't mind. It's not like I really have anywhere else to go, anyway."
Farah and Saul made brief eye contact, and Farah nodded. "We should probably head that way then," she conceded, looking to Aiki. "Are you able to walk?"
Aiki shrugged and sat up again, taking a few seconds before forcing himself to his feet. They staggered and leaned on the tree beside them to stay upright. "Mmnh… alright, l-let's go…"
Farah quickly wrapped her arm around Aiki's shoulders for support, and as usual, Saul followed her lead and supported Aiki's other side. As they began to head out, Farah looked back and used her telekinesis to lift the Burned One and bring it along with them.
Aiki allowed Farah and Saul to support him somewhat as they went along, his breathing still a bit labored. They looked completely drained, but they were doing their best to stay conscious so they wouldn't be an inconvenience. He stumbled a bit and gripped them tighter, his heart pounding in his chest.
"It's alright," Farah murmured to reassure him. "We can take our time. It isn't dark yet."
Saul made sure to keep the barn in sight. His gaze was locked strictly ahead of them.
Aiki exhaled shakily, his legs shaking as he continued onward. They were thankful that Farah and Saul were supporting them, or they would be going down for sure. "S-Sorry… trying to go quick…"
Farah countered with a shake of her head. "We most definitely don't have to go quickly. There is plenty of time left before dark," she reminded. "And it's not much longer we have to walk."
Aiki closed his eyes for a moment, quivering where he stood. His tail dragged behind him, and his ears were drooping. They sighed shakily, gripping Farah and Saul tighter. "Can't breathe real good… mmnh…"
A soft gasp escaped Farah when Aiki tightened his grip.
"Okay, break time," Saul declared, stopping to rest near a tree Aiki could lean on.
Farah sighed heavily and decidedly leaned her back against the rough bark as well. Her eyes fluttered closed, and Saul was quickly by her side. "Farah?"
She didn't open her eyes. "I'm alright. I just needed a break too."
Aiki exhaled shakily and leaned against the tree, sliding down to the ground as their legs started to give out. He kept his eyes closed, drawing his legs up a bit as he trembled on the ground. "Sorry… s-sorry…" They whispered, trying to get themself back up, but failing and falling back to the ground.
Farah's eyes opened, and she knelt down beside Aiki. "Don't rush yourself," she insisted. "It's alright. Take your time. You don't have to be ready immediately. The barn is within eyesight."
Aiki looked up at Farah weakly, his eyelids fluttering with exhaustion. "Nngh… exactly… I-I should… I should be able to make it that far…" They whispered quietly. "Then I can… then I can rest once we get there, right? I-I just need to… push through now…" He coughed a bit and closed his eyes, his breathing shallow and labored.
"No, we can wait for you to recover enough," Farah cut him off from continuing. "My point is that once you're fine, it shouldn't be long until we're there."
"I'm… I'm not really gonna be fine, though… we might as well just go now, right?" Aiki's eyes felt heavy, and they were slowly curling up more. "Mmnh… this Rosalind lady probably has food too right…?"
"Potentially," Farah replied. "But Ben will be there, and he's an Earth fairy, so he could probably grow something for you to eat. Are you sure you want to go now?"
Aiki shrugged a bit. "I-I dunno, I just… I think it might be our best bet. It'll be hard to recover here because there's nothing here that I can use to recover. If they have stuff there, then going there is probably best."
"Alright. I guess it's settled then. Can you walk?" Farah asked, rising back up to a standing position and extending her hand down to help Aiki off the ground.
"Well, we'll see…" Aiki accepted her hand and also used the adjacent tree to try and get up. He managed to get to his feet, but he was wobbling dangerously, and he clearly couldn't walk on his own.
Quickly, both Farah and Saul wrapped their arms around his shoulders to support him. "It's not that much farther, I promise," Farah urged. "Are you ready?"
Aiki nodded tiredly, stumbling along with them in hopes that they would reach the barn soon. "It'll be fine… I'll be fine… just gotta get to the barn so we can rest, right?" He asked, his voice weak.
"Yes, we're almost there," Saul added.
Farah was beginning to feel drained as well from both supporting Aiki and carrying the Burned One behind them telekinetically. The edges of her vision became blurred, but she blinked it away. "Almost there," she repeated.
"Okay…" Aiki kept quiet so he could focus on breathing and staying conscious as he continued onward. They looked up and saw the barn, panting a bit from exhaustion. His ears were drooping and his tail dragged in the dirt behind him.
After a few more moments of struggle, the trio made it to the barn. Farah and Saul eased Aiki down against the wall, and almost instantly afterward, Farah collapsed against Saul. Just as she did, the Burned One dropped to the ground.
Saul grunted in surprise, but he quickly adjusted to catch her and hold her protectively against his chest. "Farah?"
Aiki closed his eyes once he was slid down the wall, trembling for a few seconds before he was still. He was completely drained, and upon closer inspection, he seemed to have passed out as well. Their breathing was a bit easier, thankfully, but they still weren't exactly doing great. They really needed to get some food in their system, and rest as well.
"Damn it, Farah, why do I always have to be the one to carry you?" Saul asked jokingly, sweeping her up bridal style and setting her gently down next to Aiki. She moaned quietly, and her head lolled to the side. He looked between them and sighed heavily. He made quick work of navigating the barn and finding the door Rosalind had used as their gateway. He opened it, and immediately, Ben's head jerked up in surprise.
"Andreas! Rosalind!" he cried out. "Saul and Farah are back!" Ben leaped up and wrapped Saul in a crushing hug. "I was so worried about you two," he muttered before Rosalind and Andreas could hear. Saul chuckled slightly, but as Ben retracted his embrace, his expression changed from joyful to worried. "Wait, where's Farah?"
Rosalind appeared behind Ben, Andreas on her heels. "Saul. Where have you been?" she demanded.
"Uh, see, we got a little–" Saul began, but he was quickly cut off by Rosalind.
"Where is Farah?"
"She's back this way," he motioned. Serious looks formed on the faces of Rosalind, Ben, and Andreas, and they quickly entered through the gateway and followed Saul to where Aiki and Farah both lay slumped against the wall with the Burned One lying in the middle of the floor.
Aiki started to stir a bit in Saul's absence, fighting to wake back up. He was clearly struggling, but his eyelids faltered and his ears twitched. When Rosalind, Ben, Andreas, and Saul came through the gateway, he managed to open his eyes. They glanced up and around, noticing the four of them with a soft yelp of fear and surprise. His eyes widened and he pressed himself against the barn wall, his head still feeling very fuzzy and foggy. They couldn't see incredibly well, but once their eyes focused, they were able to make out Saul as a familiar face, at least,
"Um…" He glanced to the Burned One in the middle of the floor, gathering that they had made it to the barn and that Saul had presumably fetched the relevant people to the matter. "H… Hi…? I-I'm… uh… my name is Aiki…" They stammered awkwardly, clearly not entirely sure how they were supposed to act in this situation. I've never met fairies before? What's the right etiquette??
"It's okay," Saul reassured Aiki with a subdued grin. "This is the rest of my battalion. This is Andreas." Andreas crossed his arms over his chest and nodded a greeting. "Ben." Ben smiled kindly and waved. "And this is… Rosalind."
Rosalind's presence seemed to take up the entire barn from the moment she stepped inside it. She was an older woman with hair a few shades lighter and blonder than Farah's, and while Farah had warm, dark, brown eyes, Rosalind had piercing icy blue ones. She was shorter than the rest of her battalion, but what she lacked in height, she overcompensated with demeanor. She lifted her chin in the air, seemingly as a power move, and looked down at Aiki with arched her eyebrows. "Saul, who is this?" she asked in a crisp, cool voice that suggested she knew everything and they all knew nothing, even while it was her who was asking a question.
"This is Aiki," Saul explained. "We met in the forest, and he helped us." His description was vague for a reason, and he seemed to pray that Rosalind wouldn't question it any further.
Thankfully, she didn't. Instead, she hummed curiously, and the corner of her lip twisted upwards. From someone like Farah or Saul, the action would have been kind and somewhat playful, but from Rosalind, it seemed almost menacing. "Interesting," she murmured. Her gaze locked with Aiki's for a brief, intense moment before she diverted her gaze to Farah, who Ben was already crouching beside.
Even though Aiki had woken, Farah was still out cold, which concerned Saul greatly.
"What happened to her?" Rosalind asked. Her eyes quickly noted the ripped jacket sleeve and still-healing wound and narrowed at the sight of them.
"She… was cut by the Burned One before we killed it," Saul explained. "And she used a lot of her energy during the fight and–"
Rosalind held her hand up, and Saul instantly fell silent. "Ben," she addressed the other man. "What does it look like?"
Ben looked up at the sound of his name, but he initially looked to Saul instead of Rosalind. His gaze shifted quickly, and he answered, "I believe she's just exhausted. She should wake up shortly."
Aiki nodded in greeting to each person as they were introduced, his heart still pounding a bit. He wasn't really entirely sure what to do in this situation, but he was trying his best to stay calm and not be weird. After all, they weren't really supposed to be here from what they could gather. The Otherworld and his world weren't supposed to interact much.
They looked over at Farah, clearly confused as to what had happened to her that would have made her pass out. Was she more hurt than we thought? He tried to get to his feet, but his legs were shaking a lot and he just fell back to the ground. They winced and simply pushed themself up onto their hands and knees. He felt dizzy and a bit sick, and covered his mouth with one hand, which just made him fall back to the ground from the lack of support.