Work Text:
Dragon:
Now a day into the journey, Emma was making sure to keep track of the old man's every move and choices. Already, they've had to escape from multiple rabid demons, although ever since the first encounter, it's gone surprisingly well.
That night, she'd gotten little to no sleep because of a demon ambush. They were lucky to get even a few hours in before the shout of their companion to wake up sounded. Blinking her eyes to clear the sleepy haze from them, Emma stood up, observing everything and making sure Ray was right next to her. He looked as tired as always, perhaps even more so.
"Ready to go?"
Sunny:
"Yup" He said while standing up and rubbing his eyes. It was going to be few more days until they'd reach Goldy Pond, and as tired as he was, he definitely was willing to try his best to get there.
Dragon:
Nodding with a smile, she paid attention to the adult in front of her, following his steps through the long trek. He seemed to be in a happy attitude yet again, not one bit worried about the dangers of the forest.
Glancing around, she noticed a buzzing noise in the distance. Emma knew Ray sensed it too, as her grip tightened on the bow, holding an arrow in the other hand.
Sunny:
Ray grabbed his gun and stayed on guard, as the buzzing slowly turns into the ground rumbling beneath them. However, as the noise began to increase in volume, he saw Yugo headed towards a tree and followed him. "Emma, there's too many of them, we need to hide."
Dragon:
Keeping right behind the two companions in front of her, Emma leaps along the trees, looking back just once to see a group of demons on the ground, crawling towards them almost in a herd.
Focusing on not falling, she races after, staying close to not lose them within the forestry. Her bow was loaded but the string was not yet stretched, although her hands were prepared to shoot at anytime.
"Ray, where's he leading us?"
Sunny:
"I don't know, but we don't have much of a choice. There doesn't seem to be a path more stable than this one, and we are going in the right direction." Ray whispered carefully.
They continued to walk among the branches of the trees, and it didn't seem like the demons noticed them, but there were still many around below, and any loud noise would lead to them stampeding to where they were. Even taking care to walk forward in caution, there were still more and more demons below.
Dragon:
Nodding at the statement, Emma continued following them, looking around for any place to hide from the demons below. Occasionally, one would get far enough that she'd have to shoot an arrow, hitting the single eye dead center of their head.
Further along, she came to a stop as the man turned into the slight hollow of a tree. Her voice dropped down to a whisper, tapping on Ray's shoulder.
"Is it safe inside?"
Sunny:
"I don't kno-" He was cut off by a loud crack. It sounded like something heavy was on a tree branch not far from them. He gestured Emma to come into the hollow. They didn't have much of a choice regardless of whether it was safe or not.
Dragon:
Quickly sneaking into the hollow after him, she took a look around the inside. Surprisingly, the area was bigger than expected, the whole tree had almost been carved in the perfect shape of a cave. But this was natural growth, due to how normal and untampered with the bark felt.
Setting her things except her bow down, the old man was facing them, as if amused at how they still kept on with the journey. Emma just smiled back, revealing nothing but contentment at the current situation even though a reason for panic was right outside below the tree.
Sunny:
Ray peeked out of the hollow to find multiple branches moving not too far from the tree. After he retreated back into the hollow, they heard a ragged breath of a demon. He looked towards Yugo, who looked as if he was calm, but as the breaths became closer and louder he could see Yugo's expression change.
Pulling out his gun, he moved further back onto the hollow, and gestured Emma to do the same. Yugo already had his gun in his hands, aimed straight at the entrance to the hollow.
Dragon:
Sensing the demon climbing up the tree, probably clawing at the wood with it's animalistic fingers, Emma moved towards the back of the hollow, pulling out her bow and standing next to Ray.
Making sure her aim was ready, she watched Yugo as the demon's claw reached in first, grabbing out for any possible humans.
Sunny:
They were all frozen, partially in fear, but mostly because they hoped that the demon would go on it's way. However after even more clawing and growls, the demon hoisted itself onto the higher branches of the tree. The moment it's head came up, Yugo fired his gun.
As the bullet hit its mark, the head exploded into bits of flesh. The demon screeched as it fell to the forest floor. Yugo then ran straight out of the hollow, and started traversing the branches faster than before, he followed Yugo as best he can, making sure Emma was keeping up.
Dragon:
“Go, go, go!”
Emma's body moved faster than her own mind as she raced out of the tree, strapping the bow onto her backpack for efficiency. Trying her best to ignore the angry screeches of demons right below them, she pulled herself up after Ray and the man, making sure to not make a mistake on climbing the tangled yet strong branches of the huge elder tree.
Sunny:
Yugo looked back to see that the kids were keeping up with him. Ray, although paying attention to traversing the branches and occasionally looking back to see how much distance was between them and the demons, still gave Yugo a content smirk.
A few more minutes in, the branches began to be less stable and further apart, their pace was slowing down as a result of that. The demons were getting too close, so they had to switch tactics and shoot them while moving as fast as they could. As time passed the demons were getting closer, and they knew that they were using up a large portion of their supplies.
However, they reached a wide crevasse that looked as if it was bottomless.
They didn't have much time, but they could make it work. Taking a rope from his bag, he handed it to Emma who had another, seeing that one rope wasn't long enough.
Yugo, meanwhile was shooting down countless demons, glancing back at Ray and Emma, he was surprised that they already had a solution on how to get across. He was planning to use a grenade to know over a tree after enough bodies piled up, but it seemed that they knew what they were doing.
Dragon:
Seeing the canyon that stretched across the cracked earth in front of her, she smiled. This was easy enough after escaping gracefield, right?
Taking the ropes, Emma tied them with a rock at the end and threw, watching it wrap around a tree at the other side before securing it. She tightly tied their end of the rope to a tree on this side of the cavern. Hopefully, everything was ready to go.
Determined for everyone to get across before her, she beckoned for Ray to go, opening his backpack and handing him a solid wooden clothes hanger similar to the ones back at gracefield to effectively get across.
Sunny:
Ray took the hanger that they used to escape Grace Field and zip-lined across. He couldn't help but feel slightly scared, as the pit looked like a dark abyss, just waiting to swallow another unfortunate soul. But he arrived on solid ground on the other side, sighing in relief, he looked back to find the adult was next. Preparing to slide on the rope with a piece of bent metal.
Dragon:
Watching ever more carefully, she saw Ray cross safely, and then the old man follow after. The demons were almost on Emma by now. Her hands grabbed the other hanger tucked into her backpack and she ran, momentum on the rope carrying her far away over to the other side of the canyon.
"Are we safe?"
Seemingly okay now, Emma smiled with Ray, confident at how they were doing on the journey so far. They had been making good progress, and supplies weren't used up as bad as predicted. Although the journey would be hard, a determined feeling coursed through her.
Sunny:
Now they both observed the adult they had been following, who silently looked around, then came back to Ray and Emma with a tired look on his face. Ray pulled out the map and gestured for everyone to come over.
"So we were around here when we were in the tree hollow," Ray said as he pointed at a seemingly random point, or so it looked like to their elderly companion. Then the three stared intensely at the map, until Ray said, "We should be around here." while pointing at a location on the map that was further south than where they were supposed to be at.
Ray frowned as he realized that this mistake was going to cause multiple problems along the way, not only did they practically go halfway backwards, it would be hard to navigate forwards. He looked up to find the others also frowning, but Emma still stared at the map, seemingly planning what to do.
Dragon:
With night falling and the three slightly off course, the old man declared camp. Tomorrow, early morning, the three would continue their journey, except this time, taking care to be even more careful. Being delayed anymore would cause a hindrance that costed too much time, so stealth and avoidance was key.
For now, the two kids sat around a small fire, lit moments earlier by one of the matches Ray carried. It was chilly outside, but there was no where else more convenient to camp. Besides, if a demon did attack in the middle of the night, escape was the only option.
"Hey Ray, do you think this is the right choice? Trying to find Minerva?"
Sunny:
"I think it was the right choice, Emma," Ray reassured her, "It's the only lead we have so far that could lead us to the human world. Any other option would only be temporary."
She couldn't help but smile warmly at his reply, and Ray gently grinned back. He had been warming his hands with the fire, which was dancing in warm hues of oranges and reds. Emma sat next to him doing the same thing, and the old man sat on the other side with his back against his backpack.
Dragon:
"Thanks, you always know what to say."
The forest at night was humming with whispered noises, mysterious yet so foreboding that there was no point to exploring them. Better choice to try and get some sleep and prepare for tomorrow, where they'd have to travel an even farther distance than anytime before. She laid down, bundling up in fabric thin blankets as the fire dwindled down.
"Good night, Ray."
Sunny:
"Good night, Emma."
Ray replied, as he too, got his blanket and wrapped himself in it.
All the remaining noise was just the crackling of the fire, still glowing brightly as it faded away, and the sound of the wind in the leaves, not to mention other miscellaneous noises like the sound of smaller animals in the forest. He glanced over at Emma, who was already asleep, curled up beside the comforting dimming heat of the fire, and then drifted off to sleep, smiling.