A Guide to Surviving Against Monsters

As it turns out, Theo didn't trust me to not disappear the second I got out of view. He hopped after me into the bushes, following close behind as I search for my shuriken or a sign of the second mutant. Neither of us said anything, but I found myself breathing easier once there was space between us.

"Look, Emmalyn."

I followed the direction of his finger, staring at the glossy blade of my shuriken. It was embedded in a tree trunk, stained by blood.

"It must've grazed the second mutant," I muttered, "which means that bastard is around here somewhere."

Theo grabbed my shoulder before I could start searching. "If it ran away, then do we really need to hunt it down?"

"Do you want it to ambush us when we're least expecting it?"

He swallowed uncomfortably, shaking his head. I shrugged his hand off, walking toward my blade. I clicked it into place hanging on my back, all of my weapons sheathed for once. Theo trailed behind me as I began searching, trying to spot a trail of blood. My grip tightened around the handle of my whip, my eyesight sharpening. Once and a while my physical abilities would enhance themselves without me planning for them to, as a part of the power I still didn't fully grasp. Thankfully, eyesight was handy in this case. I spotted the few drops of blood on the ground that could lead us to the second mutant, my footsteps picking up the pace. Theo swore as I suddenly took off, bursting through the trees.

I skidded to a stop when I saw the blood smeared up a tree trunk, a puddle at its base.

Shit.

"Emmalyn?"

I hooked my whip back onto my belt, shrugging off my heavy coat, exposing the sai blades that were strapped to my arms, one of them already used against Sasora. Theo sputtered as I reached for the lowest branch, only to be too short to grab it. I rolled my eyes, prepared to jump, when Theo laid a hand on my shoulder.

"Need a boost?"

Pursing my lips, my eyes searched Theo's face. He was back to being gentle and quiet, though he knew damn well that there was a monster in the tree above us.

He flashed me a faithful smile, and I found myself wishing I could reach out to him once again.

What a coward. If I want to talk to him so bad, I just should.

But talking to him won't change anything. I'm leaving this city as soon as possible once this mission is over. I never wanted to come back to this damn Academy.

"Yeah," I muttered, cursing my height, "you don't have to climb up with me, but I need to find that--"

My eyes widened as Theo suddenly reached up, pulling himself onto the lowest branch. He balanced on his knees, one hand on the trunk as he extended the other to me.

It would've been easier to push me up, not pull me up, I thought, grabbing his hand nonetheless. The hunter's entire body tensed as I jumped, Theo pulling me onto the branch next to him.

Again, what a dumb way to get a short person up. But it worked, so who am I to complain.

"Well?" Theo prodded, both of us getting to our feet. The next branch was close enough for me to grab, my chokuto scraping the side as I lugged my body upward. Since I left my heavy coat on the ground, I was without my long sword or shuriken, which meant I was relying on sai blades, a whip and a chokuto.

"You don't have to follow me," I repeated, "but if you don't mind, I would love for someone to be ready to catch me if I get thrown out of this tree."

His eyebrows shot up. "Do you think that kind of fall would kill you?"

I scoffed, pulling myself up another level. "No, but that doesn't mean I want to feel the pain of plummeting to the ground."

"Are you not afraid of dying, Foxit?"

"Huh?"

Curiosity filled me as I glanced down, meeting Theo's eyes. His hair fall around his face haphazardly as he looked at me with an innocent expression, meaning every word of his question.

Puzzled, I forced an answer. "If I'm afraid of death, then I'm afraid of monsters, and that will make me hesitate when the most important thing is to fight."

"Is that why you didn't think twice about protecting us from a demoness?"

Throwing me all the curveballs today, Theo?

Wrenching my gaze away from his, I steeled myself, climbing up another level of branches. He followed, always staying two branches below me. I couldn't be sure if he was still alert, which meant I was staying super-aware of our surroundings. Tiny drips of blood spotted the tree as we kept making our way upward, meaning we were on the right track.

"I protected you because that's my job," I told him.

"If that's your logic, then all seven of us should've stepped in," he countered, "and none of us did. All we've ever been taught at the Academy is to kill monsters and--"

"--run from demons," I finished, hesitating with my hand wrapped around the branch above my head. "But that's a hunter's job."

"Emmalyn..?"

"Tomorrow," I reminded him, "everything will make sense tomorrow."

"But why can't you--ah!"

Dumbass, I thought, shooting down to Theo's level. He had slipped while trying to catch up to me, losing his footing. With one hand on the branch above us and my feet planted, I lunged forward and grabbed Theo's arm as he began to fall into the open air, his toes brushing the branch between my feet.

"A fall from this height might just kill you."

His chest heaved as he dared to peek at the distance between him and the ground. I rolled my eyes, pulling him back onto the branch, which in turn brought us chest to chest.

"Y-You..."

"What? I'm so cool?" I teased, reminding him of the first casual hunt we'd gone on. The hunter blushed as I let him go, once again pulling myself up higher.

At least I had the decency to ignore the way he cursed under his breath, the tips of his ears burning bright pink.