After half and hour of letting Falte rest (and leaving Shintaro alone to seethe in his anger), the party decided that it would be best to get moving again. They didn't want any Darks to find them again, which meant they would have to travel at a faster pace than they'd been going before. They couldn't afford delays, nor could they afford being seen by any roaming Darks - Shintaro suspected that those Darks had already informed either Brethren or other Darks where the group was. 

Slowly, Falte rose to his feet with a hiss through his teeth. He momentarily straightened his back completely, like one would when they stood up - but almost immediately after he'd done this, he flinched sharply and leaned forward slightly again, cringing. 

Shintaro had already offered to carry Falte's bag, whether that was to be with magic or with his arms; but now it looked like Falte wouldn't have been able to carry it even if Shintaro hadn't taken it from him. 

Rachel was by Falte's side quickly, touching his shoulder gently to pull his attention to her. "Can you not straighten it?" she asked in worry, her eyebrows furrowed with concern. 

"No," Falte answered with a strained sigh, skimming his fingers over his lower back with a wince. 

Rachel bit her lip nervously, casting a glance over at Shintaro. "Do you think you can walk?" she asked hopefully, turning back to Falte with a small, encouraging smile. 

Falte nodded without saying anything and took a small step forward. He hid his wince well, but Shintaro noticed it right away and felt bad that they were making Falte walk with a strained back. 

But they couldn't stay here. 

Amy, whose mood had thankfully improved somewhat, tipped her head over at Falte, also noticing his small wince. "Do you want me to piggyback you?" 

Shintaro knew that she hadn't meant it to sound so carefree, like she wouldn't have any problem carrying such a short man; but it had sounded like she was almost rubbing in his face that she was taller. 

Falte seemed to notice that too, because he frowned a little playfully at Amy (Shintaro was grateful that he wasn't in too much pain to not be in a well enough mood.). 

"Sorry," Amy quickly said, realizing her mistake. "I was just offering... I didn't mean to make it sound like that. Um." 

Falte chuckled a little. "It's alright. I'm short, and everyone here knows it. You don't have to carry me, Amy. I can still walk on my own." He took another few steps forward with a tense jaw, but he didn't complain at all. 

"If you need me to, I can," Amy said with a shrug. "Just let me know whenever you need it." She looked up through the trees, apparently to right herself. When she looked down again, she turned slightly to the left and took the lead. 

~

Shintaro lost track of how many times he wished he could teleport them to wherever Amy was going. 

But of course, he couldn't for many reasons. One, only Amy knew where they were going - and even if she shared the information with Shintaro, it would be hard to pinpoint exactly where Shintaro wanted them. Two, any nearby Darks would be able to sense the use of his magic, which would bring on another attack. Three, it would take more of his magical strength than he could afford to lose. Teleporting with more than one person required a lot of physical and magical strength and concentration, and it drained the strength of both of those things afterward. Shintaro couldn't afford using much more of his magic, or he wouldn't have the strength to defeat his father. Four, his teleportation would probably counter Moon's powerful Dark magic, and he needed her at full strength as well. 

He wanted to teleport not because of his own physical discomfort and exhaustion, but for Falte's sake. Falte was grimacing with each step and walking slightly slouched. All the while, he didn't complain about anything. If he wanted to stop and rest, he said nothing about it. But he was in pain, and Shintaro didn't want to see him like that. 

Up ahead, Amy tilted her head back to look at the sun. It was crawling lower and lower, the rims of the sunshine just barely touching the trees. The shadows around them were lengthening, indicating that the day was coming to an end quickly. 

Shintaro glanced back at the small group behind him, finding Rachel pointing out certain kinds of bushes to a curious looking Nanami; Abby walking with her eyes trained on the spot in front of her, obviously lost in thought; Ruby and Moon conversing quietly with soft smiles on their faces; and Zeke trudging along behind them, his arms crossed over his torso and his steps light. 

With a pang of pity and guilt, Shintaro remembered that Zeke had gotten kicked in the ribs several times in the attack from hours ago. Shintaro had forgotten to check on him, but the way Zeke was walking told Shintaro that he was alright enough. Though his steps were quick and light to prevent jostling, his shoulders weren't rigid. 

Shintaro slowed down slightly, allowing himself to fall into pace with the three adults. Ruby noticed him and nodded politely with a small smile, Moon turned to look at him briefly and jerked her chin in a greeting, and Zeke simply made eye contact with Shintaro for a moment before looking away again.

"No I did not," Ruby said suddenly, drawing Shintaro's attention to her and jerking her hands with her palms up. Her gaze was fixed on Moon, who had her hands on her hips and a wild grin on her face. 

"You did so," she argued, tilting her head at Ruby, grinning lopsidedly. "It was hilarious." 

"You're getting it mixed up, Moon," Ruby said with a frown that wasn't actually angry. "I never did that, not even when I had previously eaten something sugary." 

"What in the world are you two arguing about?" Zeke asked impatiently from behind them, but underneath his impatience was curiosity. 

Shintaro looked from Moon - grinning like a madwoman - and Ruby - looking embarrassed and flustered, but somehow remaining calm (Shintaro wasn't sure how she always seemed so relaxed) - in confusion. What were they talking about? Was it something from their childhood? 

Moon smiled widely at Zeke, who gave her a weirded-out look. "Ruby is refusing to admit that, when she and I were younger, she would run around the house with a pan on her head, screaming nonsense." 

"I did not do that!" Ruby said passionately, raising her voice very slightly - but it was still somewhat of a shock to Shintaro. Ruby huffed with a shake of her head. "You were the wild child in the family, Moon, and you know that." 

"You so did that," Moon argued in a singsong voice. "You can not tell me that you didn't accidentally slam Dad in the gut with the pan handle!" She waved her hands before Ruby, whose face had begun to turn pink, could argue. "I only remember that because I was on Dad's back, and he dropped me." 

Ruby opened her mouth with a sharp intake of breath to argue; but nothing came out, and she closed her mouth again. "Okay, I do remember that," she finally mumbled, crossing her arms. 

"HA!" Moon laughed triumphantly, putting her hands on her hips again. "I told you so." 

Shintaro smiled faintly, happy that the sisters were getting along. Before, they had seemed tense and awkward around each other. Shintaro didn't know the full reason, but he didn't want to intrude on anything personal. 

He just hoped Moon wasn't faking it.

~

Another chappy!! 

Thank you guys for reading this book!! 

Really, it makes me super happy. 

Man, I might honestly just do a quick le time skip, because I 

DO NOT

Want to write a 

FULL WEEK'S WORTH

of them in the woods. 

Yeah, I think I'll time skip XD. 

Again, thanks for reading!!

P3ac3!!~~~~