"I'm not... Letting you... Go!!"
Groan-
"I told you... We'll look for him... At dawn...!" Elisa shouted as she struggled to contain the fierce Lioness.
Rwaaar-
The latter opened its jaws wide and showcased its fangs while trying to break free from the former.
Her arms, wrapped around the Moonlit Feline's neck, were starting to cramp.
This had been going on for a while after all.
"You're going to... Stay... Right... Here-"
Twitch-
Twitch-
For a fraction of a second, their eyes widened.
With great speed, Elisa moved her arms away from the Moonlit Feline, stood up, and turned around to face the intruder's direction in one swift motion.
'...!'
Elisa's body immediately froze.
A hand from which extend sharp claws was inches away from her face.
How did that hand get so close?
How did it do so this rapidly?
How come the intruder hadn't been noticed until now?
The hand moved, while Elisa remained frozen.
The intruder, wasn't an intruder.
Still, his diabolical face in the dark was enough to make one doubt.
He truly looked like a Devil after all. With those horns, scales, fangs, and earless head.
Her lips parted, but no words were uttered, as the clawed hand moved upwards.
Pat-
Pat-
'Dawn...!'
Elisa's eyes widened, taken aback by the Monster's action gesture.
"What are you-"
"Thanks... For standing in front of her."
Feeling a rush of something head towards her face, Elisa pushed the Monster's hand off her head.
"Get your hand..." She blushed lightly while looking away. "Off me."
"Yep, yep." The Monster nodded with a smile.
It looked beyond Elisa.
"Kristaaa!! Did you miss me??" The Monster shouted as he walked around Elisa and towards the whimpering Moonlit Feline.
The Lioness, upon his approach, took a leap, immediately bringing the fatigued and injured Mark to the ground.
Elisa slowly turned around.
'How come I couldn't sense him approaching? How come he got that close without me noticing? Did he get stealthier somehow? I guess he... No.'
Her eyes turned cold.
'Sloppy. That's not the sharpness of an Elven Princess' senses. I need to-'
"Stop, stop, Krista! Hahaha!" The Monster shouted as he wrestled the Moonlit Feline.
'First, putting his hand on my head... And now this?'
Elisa let out a sigh, and her brain started thinking back about different things.
From the moment she and Krista were separated from Mark to now, Elisa had been trying to stop the Moonlit Feline from entering the Forest again.
She had no time to think about the disturbing things the Green Mist had made her remember.
Her time with her father as a Princess.
Her father's demise.
Those who had orchestrated his demise.
Those who had put her and her people into cages.
Those who had moved them through the Realm like merchandise.
The one that had toyed with their bodies and Souls.
"I'm glad the two of you made it out safely."
"It's thanks to you. I'm glad you're okay too." Elisa scratched her head. "Sorry for... Well, I'm still a bit shaken from... That whole thing."
She immediately winced upon saying those words.
He had been put against a Nature Spirit inside the Monster Realm. He had managed to make it out after going through who knows what.
How could she be the one that's...?
"Oh, don't worry, I understand. Those mind games, I'm..." Mark moved an index finger, while the Lioness tried her best to playfully bite down on it. "Not a fan of them. Anyways, I'm really happy that you guys didn't move away or go back inside."
"Ha! You can say that again. I told Krista that we'd go find you once dawn comes. She really wasn't having it though."
"Really?" Mark asked with a raised eyebrow.
The Moonlit Feline looked away, and he chuckled.
"Yeah, that's right. Keep looking that way." Mark said as he repeatedly poked Krista's head with his index finger.
"So..." Elisa started as she scratched her head and turned away. "What uh... What happened in there?"
"So you convinced her not to go in, huh? Thanks for that."
'Huh? Did he ignore my question? Does he not want to talk about it?'
"Having Krista there would have been an issue for sure." Mark continued.
'Well, if he doesn't want to talk about it...' Elisa thought to herself.
"Convince? Oh, no. There's no convincing that one. No matter what I said, she was determined to go in there."
"Really?"
"Oh, yeah. I had to wrestle her for hours to keep her here. Can you imagine that? You'd think that, at some point, Krista would understand that no means no. But nooo, she just-"
Elisa barely had the time to bend her elbows.
That diabolical face...
Part of her couldn't help but expect the sound of cracking.
Of bones cracking.
But even though part of her expected that, she didn't move.
Elisa's feet slightly left the ground.
Was she trembling?
Or had her body frozen?
Elisa couldn't tell.
Was her heart beating extremely quickly?
Or had it skipped a beat?
She couldn't tell.
Surprised, Elisa didn't move.
She didn't say a word.
Was she about to laugh?
Or was she about cry?
Elisa couldn't tell.
"Thanks... For always being there for her when I'm not."
The Devil's embrace was a gentle one.
With wide eyes, the Moonlit Feline stared.
For a couple of seconds, Elisa remained silent as his arms were wrapped around her body, as she was gently and lightly lifted off the ground.
Elisa could feel that something was coming.
A cry, or a laugh?
She couldn't tell.
Which is why,
"Put me back down."
"Yep, yep. Haha!"
The Monster did as it was told.
A second later, it turned around.
"Alright!" Mark called out his map, and turned 45 degrees to the right. "Next stop, the Elven Forest."
'Huh? He already wants to...?' Elisa felt she had to focus on Mark's words.
Not focusing on them would mean thinking about what the Green Mist had shown her, or about the Monster's previous actions.
At this point in time, Elisa preferred ignoring both.
"Should be this way. If we go at the same speed we've been going since... Oh."
"Oh?"
Thump-
The Monster collapsed.
Elisa brought a hand to her side as she realized.
"I'll just... I need... A short break."
She smiled brightly.
"Take all the time you need."
"Just a couple of minutes."
"Just take a few hours."
"Minutes are enough."
"I said take your time!"
"Ugh... Alright..."
Mark, who had collapsed onto the ground face first, slowly flipped his body around.
"It's not as dark." He commented as he stared at the sky.
"That's dawn for you."
"Dawn... Dawn... Dawn..."
"What about it?"
"Nothing. It's funny word."
"How so?"
"I don't know. Pronouncing it feels funny. It sounds funny too."
"Did you get hit on the head a bit too hard?"
"Yeah. My jaw was practically flying off my head."
"Haha!"
"Haha?"
"Yeah...? That's funny?"
"It's not a joke."
"Oh."
A couple of steps away, Elisa sat on her bent knees.
Krista, on the other hand, jumped onto Mark's body. Fortunately, she did have the common courtesy to take her Cat-like Form before doing so.
"Wooow, the colors in the sky... Amazing!!" The Monster commented.
'Colors...? It's dawn. How can you think this after what we saw just outside the blizzard?' Elisa thought to herself.
"You can count on me, Elisa."
"Mm?"
"I'll definitely do it. Oh, goddamnit. Why is the world spinning around this fast?"
'Oh. OH! That explains everything actually...'
Yawn-
The Monster's yawn provoked one from the Moonlit Feline.
"Yawn... Dawn... Lawn... Lawn...? Is that a word?" Mark muttered as he closed his eyes.
'He's still high off that Mist.' Elisa thought as she nodded to herself.
As the Monster's muttering continued, she maliciously stared.
'Wonder if I should take advantage...'
Elisa thought for a bit, before taking a decision.
"Mark."
"W... What?" The Monster asked as it yawned.
"About that Raven guy... What do you-"
Mark suddenly sat upright, which caused the Moonlti Felien that lay on his chest to fly away.
"That's it... That's exactly it."
"Huh?"
'Raven... I saw him already. Before my fight with Zephyr...'
I convinced her to fuck off once you passed out, though she didn't want to. You were shuddering and trembling continuously. What was that about-
There was fire... Darkness... People... And... Death-
The Monster bent its elbow and stared at its palm for a while.
'That's right. I saw him...' Mark's eyes rose towards Elisa. 'In a dream.'
