"Y-you..." Rayla rasped as she wobbled away from Jofus, then slumped her back to the cave walls. "You h-have the Moon arcanum?"

There was a flash of hurt on Jofus' forest green eyes at her bewilderment, only to be replaced by confusion when she suddenly bumped his chest lightly with her fist.

"Y-you should've told me, you dummy."

The Skywing blinked at her with disbelief. "Y-you're not mad?"

"W-why would I?" she wheezed as her sweat began to trickle on her cheek. "T-that we h-have an advantage...?"

"I don't know - Rayla!" He immediately caught her when she slid helplessly to the ground. "Oh no. Oh no, Rayla..."

Her pale skin was cold and clammy against his gloved hands, and her breathing was getting shorter than before. And as he adjusted her position so her back was reclining against his chest, he noticed that the angry gash on her neck was bleeding.

Rayla brushed his hand away to readjust her scarf, then mouthed, "M'fine. N-No big deal."

"No big deal? You're calling this as 'no big deal'?!" The panic in his voice notched a bit higher. "You're fucking bleeding, Rayla! Y-your scarf is already wet with your blood! Is this...Is this what the rumors are saying? A-About your scarf drenched with the blood of your enemies?"

He couldn't stop his tears as his body trembled with anger. "I-It's your blood, isn't it?"

Of course, it's mine, she wanted to scoff in a light-hearted manner, but the pain was too bothersome for her to crack a morbid joke. Besides, she highly doubted that Jofus would appreciate her dark humor.

It may not be her first time to experience such excruciating pain from a neck wound, but it was her first to have a companion who was forced to witness her suffering. For two years she was a lone traveler, and every time she ended up in an area infested by dark shadows, she would either leave the place or remained hidden and undetected until she found an escape. She didn't have the skill to pull a Mystica Arbora like Jofus, so she had to use her scarf to muffle her painful screams until she blacked out from it.

Apparently, she couldn't do that anymore, not with Jofus clutching her body as if his life depends on it.

She felt shame and remorse for letting the Skywing see her vulnerable state. She didn't have enough strength to tilt her head and have a good look at his face, but the grips of his hands on hers, the thumps of his frantic heart against her back, and the sniffles she heard from behind were enough to break her heart.

She probably looked so awful to have a stranger cry on her behalf.

Rayla squeezed his hand for reassurance. "M'not g-gonna die," she told him despite her body screaming otherwise. "M'get used to it."

There was a short pause before he muttered, or more like growled, in her ear, "It's...it's the dark shadows, right? Your curse... it's reacting to their presence?"

She squeezed his hand again, both for confirmation and assurance. "I-It'll pass."

She tried to suppress her sobs as another wave of pain hit her, which caused her to convulse uncontrollably under his arms.

"Rayla! Stay with me, Rayla! Stay with me! Please, don't... I can't... again..." she heard him speak, but her dulling senses were making his voice morphed into someone familiar.

Someone she didn't want to see her pitiful state the most.

"Ventus Spiralis!"

Nothing happened.

Of course, she chuckled internally. Her lungs weren't the problem.

"Ventus Spiralis!"

She patted the back of his hand then shook her head.

"Ventus Spiralis!"

It's useless, Jofus, she wanted to say but her words came out as garbled.

"Rayla! No, no, no, no...Rayla!"

She was losing air as the invisible band around her neck became tighter, constricting not only her ability to breathe but also her ability to understand her companion's mumblings. Everything was spinning and blurring and she almost swore Jofus hands got pinkos.

She didn't like how she was hallucinating Callum in Jofus.

Was she really afraid to see him? Or was she desperate to see him for the last time before she died?

So Rayla closed her eyes and hoped that the cloaking spell could hold them long enough for the dark shadows to pass their area. She was about to embrace her fate when a familiar voice uttered a spell:

"Fulminis Percutio!"

The relief was immediate, but the quick release of the invisible band on her neck, followed by a sudden rush of air in her head knocked her out cold.

The last thing she remembered was Callum's face yelling her name.

"Rayla!"

.

.

.

The rain already stopped when Rayla woke up from her deep slumber.

They were still in the cave, though it was less chilled than what she remembered before she lost her consciousness. She was lying on a covered ground, with thick blankets wrapped around her body.

The bedroll was hers but one of the blankets wasn't.

Her eyes zeroed immediately to the person who was tending their campfire, his back facing hers.

It was Jofus.

She sighed with half-relief that it was all her imagination, and half-remorse that it wasn't real.

"You're awake now?", the Skywing was wringing a damp cloth when he tilted his head towards her direction. "You're supposed to rest more."

"M'fine," she croaked as she used her right elbow to prop herself up.

"You don't have to force yourself to talk," he muttered as he helped her to sit with her back reclined against a large boulder. "I know how it feels to be suffocated."

One of her brows perked up. Someone tried to strangle Jofus before?

"It was all in the past. Sorry," he immediately stopped wiping her face with a cloth when Rayla flinched at the contact. "You broke a fever, and you were sweaty, so I presumed you might prefer waking up refreshed than dealing with sticky sweats."

"Uh, o-okay," she sighed, then allowed herself to be pampered by Jofus. It's not like she hated being pampered; she was simply too tired to reject his help. Plus, she deserves to relish the warmth of the cave, the softness of the blankets, and the coldness of the cloth on her face.

"Better?"

She hummed, then froze when she realized that her scarf was missing. "W-Where -"

"I washed it," he moved his shoulder a bit so she could see the red scarf hanging near the fire. "It's unhygienic to have it wrapped around your wound. We don't want that to be infected."

"T-Thanks," she murmured, her face softened when the gold embroidered lines glimmered to the light.

"I know swallowing must be hard, but I have a drink here that can relieve your throat pains. Here," the Skywing handed her a small cup of warm purple liquid. "I squeezed some fresh Moonberries there to mask its bitterness."

Her hands weren't steady yet so Jofus had to bring the cup to her lips. She wrinkled her nose at the liquid's odd smell, and tried her best not to choke it out when its flavor hit her tongue.

"Gross," she spat out as she wiped the spilled liquid from her mouth with the back of her hand. "I can't even taste the Moonberries."

"I only found two pieces of Moonberry fruit in your food pack," he snorted at her disgust, then took the discarded cup.

Rayla began to trace the bandage that was wrapped around her neck deftly with her fingers. There was a slight stinging sensation when she touched it, but the pain was bearable. She also caught a whiff of the salve that was applied on her wound, and began to wonder if it was the same mint salve that Ethari used to make when she was young.

"A Moonshadow taught me how to make an ointment to speed up the healing of the wounds," Jofus explained. "I don't know about the wounds inflicted by dark magic, but I guess it can help? At least a bit? How's your feeling, by the way?"

"Peachy," she replied with less hoarseness. She wasn't dizzy anymore, but her body was so heavy and so sore she felt like she got run over by a group of banthers. "How long was I out?"

"Uh, probably three hours? Four? Maybe a bit longer since I was able to head out to fetch some water and branches to build a campfire."

She gave the Skywing's face a closer look."You looked like you needed some rest too."

Jofus chuckled half-heartedly at her comment, his expression remained unreadable. The tear marks and the puffiness of his eyes were gone, but there were still traces of irritations caused by his incessant crying.

"I'm sorry," she said glumly with downcast eyes, her hands scrunching the top blanket. "It must be traumatizing for you to see something...like that."

The Skywing walked back to their campfire and began to busy himself with their food preparation, his back facing hers. "You have nothing to apologize for, Rayla. You're not supposed to say sorry because you were suffering. It's not your fault. None of these were your fault. I just...I just can't believe you were dealing with such trauma for a year now. It's...It's a fucking miracle you're still alive. Has anyone ever told you that?"

"Aside from the physicians," she muttered lamely. "No one. Actually, you're the first person who has seen me pass out from it."

Jofus stopped from his tracks, but never turned around. "I guess you're lucky that I'm accompanying you this time."

Rayla made a non-committal hum.

When the Skywing resumed his chore, she murmured, "I saw Callum."

A loud clang sounded towards his direction.

"Are you okay there, Jofus?"

"Fine!" he squeaked as he waved an empty bowl, still not looking at her way. "S-slippery fingers, see?"

She frowned. She wasn't sure why Callum's name made him so jumpy.

"W-What did you say, again? You s-saw Prince Callum?"

"Well," she drawled, unsure how to explain it without sounding ridiculous. "It's more like, I was hallucinating and I thought I saw you as him? It was weird."

Jofus chuckled lamely, "Ah, s-so weird, indeed."

She shrugged nonchalantly. "Our Five Question game made me trippy, I guess. Or the idea of dying without seeing him for the last time probably caused it."

He continued his task without saying anything after that.

Rayla sagged her shoulders more as she averted her attention to the outside, the half-crescent moon was peeking behind the dark clouds.

"You know," she went on, "I'm glad that your Moon spell was able to hide this cave until the dark shadows left."

"Well, about that..." she turned her head towards Jofus who was offering her a bowl of what seems to be potato soup. "The dark shadows never left."

Her brows furrowed. "What do you mean by 'never left'?"

"Because I didn't give them a chance to leave," he answered with a smile that never reached his eyes.

"I killed them, Rayla. I killed them all."