Re: Reaching Salvation: Post-Acer

[quackers are yummylicious]

Heidi stiffened when Eithne so casually mentioned her pregnancy. "Well don't tell anyone. 'Cuz then Erika'll jump at the chance to ship me off, and there's no way in hell I'm going to run away from this."

"You can tell Amelia that shithe- Joey- knows first aid, and I'm not that much of a fuck up when it comes to that either." She paused for a second, before make a noise that sounded like some sort of combination of a laugh and a groan. "Eithne, you realize you're asking life advice from a pregnant teenager? Dunno if I could help you at all with that. I'd probably just be as blunt as possible and cross my fingers."

[Dobi Boshi]

"Your call, Heidi," Eithne shrugged, it wasn't his place to tell her how to live her life, he just had to have faith in her that she knew what she was doing. "Any advice is good advice if you know how to use it properly."

[quackers are yummylicious]

"Well, I guess if you still get along, then just stick with it. Y'don't wanna try 'nd fix something that works, right?" Heidi shrugged, biting her lip.

[Dobi Boshi]

"Was pretty much what I got from Irish, haha," he shook his head, propping himself back up on his elbows so he could stare at the sky. "I hate this - this waiting for them to come. We might be on home turf for this fight but that's because they want us here, this entire war is going to be on their terms and if we can't change that quickly we aren't going to last long at all."

[quackers are yummylicious]

Heidi shrugged. "I'm kind of excited, though it might just be the bloodthirsty psychopath that lives in my head. The adults never looked at us like we were people, like we weren't worth anything. This whole war may be on their terms, but if we can win, then, I mean, we finally win. I dunno about you, but I like winning," she explained, though she wasn't really sure of it in her own head, either.

[Dobi Boshi]

"Winning sounds pretty good, yeah," Eithne agreed, nodding his head absently. "Did you ever stop for a moment though, to think about what we do once we've won? I mean, sure there a few things everyone will want to do once it's all over with, but that's all short term, in the long run what do we all do with ourselves? I've done nothing but fight for so long I don't honestly know what I'm suppose to do when I can't anymore...?"

[quackers are yummylicious]

Heidi frowned slightly in thought. "Well...I dunno. I guess...we didn't have to fight before the Storm, or at least I didn't, so I figured I could always go back..." she trailed off, running a hand through her short hair in thought. "We'll probably all end up turning on each other," she announced with a small sigh, assuming the worst. Now that she thought about it, though, it was rather plain to see. After all, look at all the people she couldn't trust, or bring herself to talk to. Tom and Eithne were probably the only people left on her list of people she trusted, and who knew how long that would last?

[Dobi Boshi]

"Aren't you the bright little ball of optimism," Eithne drawled, not even trying to mask his blatant sarcasm. "I know humanity's track record isn't exactly great, but you got hope for the best, even if you are preparing for the worst at the same time. Hope is a powerful thing, Heidi, and if you abandon it then you really do have nothing left, because to live without hope is to live without dreams and then you might as well not be alive at all.

"Buck up, and remember that me and Irish will probably always have your back, even if you don't want use to." He added, ruffling her hair with a slight smirk, repressing a playful laugh. "I can't believe you're pretty much an adult now and yet you're still so short."

[quackers are yummylicious]

"Wow, you have a way with words. 'Get some optimism or jump off a cliff, bitch!'" Heidi replied, equally sarcastic, swatting away Eithne's hand when he ruffled her hair. "And I'm not short, goddammit! You're all just freakishly tall!" she protested defiantly, folding her arms across her chest and scowling. Tom, she could at least lie (badly) about everybody else's height. Eithne could see.

[Dobi Boshi]

"That's like saying you don't need anger management classes, you just need everyone else to stop making you mad!" Eithne rebuked with a roll of his eyes. "Stop deflecting you problems onto other people and you might get on a little better."

[quackers are yummylicious]

"Everyone does need to stop making me mad!" Heidi rolled her eyes. "You sound like Erika."

[Dobi Boshi]

"Maybe it's because I'm old and know better," Eithne joked, sticking his tongue out at Heidi, the slight irony of such a gesture at that exact time not lost on him. "And it sounds like Erika's got a good head on her shoulders. But you seriously do need to learn to keep your temper in check, Heidi."

[quackers are yummylicious]

Heidi rolled her eyes. "I thought I was doing really good. I didn't even hit Paul! My temper is totally in check."

---

Kira sat next to the dying fire, hesitantly poking it with a long stick to keep it going. She'd finished cleaning up, now she supposed she just had to wait for Luke to get back and make sure he ate something.

[MrMissMrs Random]

Simon sighed as he finished packing up the rest of his things. "Can I look over your pack Elena?"

OOC: I'm so sorry for not replying to your post, Poker. D:

[quackers are yummylicious]

The sun rose on the next day, the sun shining brightly as if it had no idea about the events soon to transpire.

---

Heidi had woken up early, pacing around the house for a few hours and occasionally snapping at Benji. The two would argue a bit, retreating to their own separate corners of the house, slowly daring to get closer to one another, before the process started all over again.

Despite Heidi's agitation and anxiety, Benji was quite excited. He missed his home a lot, especially the people there. He was really happy that he was going to see his friends again.

---

Elena was curled up in Simon's bed, still asleep. As long as Erika and Simon came with, she was rather indifferent towards the whole trip.

---

Kira lay curled up in her bed, having knocked her blanket off the bed in her rather fitful sleep. She kept having nightmares about the tournament and horrible outcomes of the upcoming battle.

[Big Uri]

Luke woke up a bit later, noting Kira's sleeping difficulties and made his way over, gently rubbing her shoulder.

"Hey, you alright?" he asked softly.

---------

Tom was, as usual, already long awake. He always seemed to be up before everyone else, and could usually be found perched on somebody's roof in the village.

[Ra The BlazeWingPhoenix]

Sage was fast asleep, while Mirror was starting to wake up.

[quackers are yummylicious]

Kira blinked awake, jumping a little in surprise. She was used to being the first one up, not the other way around. "...Y-Yeah, I'm fine," she answered after a few seconds, smiling weakly at Luke as she sat up. "Just nightmares..."

[Big Uri]

"Nasty," Luke sympathised knowingly. "Anything you wanna talk about? Know I might seem like a bit of a hypocrite here, haha."

[quackers are yummylicious]

Kira frowned, nervously wringing her hands. "I g-guess...at first it w-was j-just the tournament, a-after your...f-fight, e-except this time the bleeding w-wouldn't stop, a-and I...I couldn't do a-anything to help, and...and..." she trailed off here, looking rather shaken. "A-And the r-rest was j-just us fighting against the Big Five's a-army...w-we always lost, though." She glanced down at the floor, getting to work on slowly shrinking the forest's boundaries again. She didn't want this place to get burned down or something. It was giving her more weaknesses.

[Big Uri]

"I get you, they're some nasty jitters," Luke agreed, grimacing. "At least as far as the first one goes, you can look on the bright side. I'm here, aren't I? And I ain't gonna leave you any time soon. As for the second one, I get your worries. 'S logical. But 's important not to give up hope, right? More than anythin'."

[MrMissMrs Random]

Erika was sitting in the wooden chair, staring at the inside of the house with a sad expression. Simon and Elena had stayed over at Heidi's last night after she spent some time with the latter. The night was mostly filled with preperations and making sure those who stayed were able and those who would go were packed, and she and Joey hardly had any time for themselves.

This has been our home for years now... I... I can't just leave it... The woman kept thiking, but the more rational side of her knew that it would be best for her family and in turn the village if she left with the others. They couldn't have a pregnant woman to worry about on the battlefield.

Please, please don't take away the lives of my loved ones. Even if I'm not here to protect them, please do... She chanted in her head, unsure if she was speaking to God or just the unknown void.

---

Eric was waking up the twins, preparing them for the journey. Alice was leaning againt the crud doorframe, watching.

"...Are you packed?" He asked behind her.

"Do you honestly think I would leave you here by yourself?" The other teen deadpanned.

Eric sighed, nodding to the boys. "They'll need someone to look after them-"

"You know Eri- Celeste wouldn't leave them alone for a second."

"She has other charges..." He said gruffly, but knew it was no use.

Alice smiled, walked up to the teen and hugging him from behind. "You know as well as I do that there is only one person who can make any of my decisions for me."

Eric let out a short bark of laughter, leaning into the embrace. "...Yourself?"

"You betcha."

---

Simon had woken up during one of Benji's and Heidi's arguments. During the lull he stacked their supplies by the door, heading over to Benji. "You set?"

[quackers are yummylicious]

"Of course I'm set," Benji snapped, glaring at Simon. "I'm going home!" Despite his hostile nature towards Simon, it was still quite obvious how excited he was.

---

Kira smiled slightly, standing up and hugging Luke tightly. "Thanks..." she mumbled, pushing her nightmares to the back of her head.

[Big Uri]

"Oof," Luke joked lightly when he was squeezed. "Don't worry about, that's what I'm here for."

[MrMissMrs Random]

"Okay," Simon sighed, sitting down a little ways away from the other boy. "Must be nice to be heading back home. I've never really had the feeling of 'home' until the tournament..."

Back where I met Heidi and the others... The black haired boy sighed, looking down at his gloved hands.

[Sponsored content]