The wind blew colder as time passed. Elliot was sitting on the guild's rooftop, a blanket of Yellow Rabbit fur was draped in his back. Sipping a coffee that Lance made for him, Elliot stared at the city's streets.
"How are you doing?" Lance asked, sitting beside Elliot with a box of bandages in his hand. "Oddly enough, there are no healers in the vicinity. I have to do this on my own."
"Let me," Elliot offered, not even letting Lance react before he placed down his coffee and took the boy's arm and the box. "And tell me what happened while you're at it."
"Well" Lance trailed off, looking for any sign of hesitation or doubt in Elliot's eyes. When he had found nothing, he sighed. "We followed you to the alley because we're nosy"
~ an hour ago
"Lance," Connor ran up to Lance, panting. "Florencia's here to see Elliot again. Come on, let's follow them."
"The last time that had happened, it was a big mess," Lance said. "Let's give them a little bit of privacy, yeah?"
"She's blushing," Connor lied. He regretted lying to Lance but it was the only way for their friend to come. Lance was somehow very protective of Elliot and his romantic relationships. Nobody knew the reason and neither did they asked. It wasn't their business to begin with.
"Let's go," Lance immediately said not one second after Connor's statement. He dragged Hope and Ed with them, crouching behind Elliot and Florencia, Lance's eyebrows met as he saw that Florencia was red for some other reason.
She looked exhausted.
When the two they were trailing turned to the corner of the alley, the four piled their heads up to take a peek and listen.
Elliot and Florencia were further away and they were almost whispering, making it hard to make out what they were saying.
"Lance, can we come closer?" Connor asked. "I'm pretty sure"
A sound of a concrete wall being slashed echoed inside the alley. Their heads snapped to Elliot's direction, seeing the boy with blank eyes and frozen expression.
Another slash from the air on the alley sounded, them glancing upwards and saw that the attack was high up. It was below the roof of the two storey building of the alley.
Lance felt a lump in his throat as a surge of threatening aura was bottling inside Elliot. As quick as he could, he ran inside the alley and extended his right arm forward.
"Black and White Fortress!"
The ground shook around Florencia, the girl gasped as a wall made of black and white light erected around her, making a clanking sound as another slash hit it, just a shy second away from hitting her instead.
They heard Elliot took a sharp breath before the slashes came from every direction in the alley. Lance brandished both his swords but was a moment too late when his arm was hit by a slash. It was like a storm of wind blades paraded the entire alley, not caring to whatever it might hit.
"Elliot!" Lance yelled. He could see the aura of the air slashes. With both his swords, he was blocking them, walking towards Elliot as he did. "Elliot, wake up!"
Two yells and he didn't get any response. He increased his speed, walking closer and closer, more slashed coming from a tranced Elliot. Lance forced his way inside and threw his white sword, slapping Elliot across the face to wake him up.
The slashes stopped momentarily, a sigh escaped his lips when he thought everything was over.
And that's where he was wrong.
The wound he got before got cut deeper, Elliot releasing a breath before fiercer, more powerful, and more number of slashes came out from him.
Lance was having a hard time using just one sword to block everything, looking back at Florencia who had already fallen to her knees in shock. Tears streaming in her eyes as she watched her mentor in this state.
"Damn you!" Lance yelled. He grabbed Elliot by the collar, raising his arm and let his hand graze the boy's face. This time, using as much energy as he could to hit Elliot's face with the palm of his hand.
This made Elliot take in a sharp breath, the slashes stopped completely.
"L-Lance"
"Let's put you in the roof so you could get some fresh air, okay?" Lance said as they walked up the flight of stairs.
"Okay," Elliot replied, leaning his whole weight onto Lance. He did not know what happened to him, but there were a few words that came to him the moment he woke up.
Christina was locked up.
"Tell me her situation," Elliot said, almost whispering as though he was out of breath. "Christina I felt all of you by the corner. What happened to Christina, Lance?"
"Calm down," Lance said. "We're here."
The taller boy opened the rooftop door, the instant they walked out was the instant the gentle breeze of the air from the fields greeted them. Elliot took in a heavy exhale, closing his eyes and letting Lance guide him.
"If you weren't there, I would've killed Florencia," Elliot whispered. He was clenching his fist, gritting his teeth as he felt nothing but guilt throughout his body. "Thank you, Lance. You being nosy has its benefits after all."
"Your recklessness brought us some good things, didn't it?" Lance chuckled, trying to relieve the tension between them. "Why shouldn't my meddling have its good things too?"
"I don't even see the good things anymore," Elliot confessed. The older boy put him on a chair that they usually have on the roof in case someone needs to breathe. Lance walked to the side and opened a trunk, pulling a yellow blanket fur out from it.
"What do you mean?" Lance asked. "We're alive, isn't that a good thing? We're breathing, isn't that a good thing? We still have all our limbs, isn't that a good thing?"
"Yeah, but"
Lance placed the blanket over Elliot's head, cutting him off. "Hey, Lance you're mean."
"Here's your coffee," Midnight said and walked out of the rooftop door. "Lance told me to bring you some. Here it is."
"Thank you," Elliot smiled. "Why not beer though ow! Lance, I swear you're gonna pay for this."
Midnight took his leave and walked our of the scene, leaving the two with the return of the unwanted tension.
"Elliot, listen," Lance kneeled in front of Elliot, eyes serious. "Don't get mad but apparently, Christina's locked up. She was caught in Florencia's castle, taken into her city and then locked up in a tower. I didn't know any more details."
Elliot slowly nodded, breathing deeply. "Okay."
"Okay?" Lance smiled. "We'll plan her escape soon. But for now, you need to breathe first."
Elliot felt the gentle wind passing through them, closing his eyes as he took them in. "Okay."