(OOG: I don't know, I just kind of... suck at writing Fei. ^_^; I sped through this scene, so... err... anyway, I took the rankar out because I didn't think there'd be any point to me subjecting you to my unskill at action sequences. ^.^ I'll have a Shitan post after this, unless Fei would like to jump in...)

Only an hour had passed since she'd awakened near the fire, but Elly found herself feeling much better. Physically, at least; after an hour of watching Fei mope by the fire, her mind had begun a war with itself. She was the cause of the destruction of his village, and she knew it, even if he didn't... He had every right to be a depressed lump of flesh right now. But... He wasn't even taking care of himself. The bullet wound was still bleeding - his shirt looked wet in the firelight, at least. And what was he doing running /away/? Shouldn't he be back in that valley helping the survivors?

"Are you hungry?"

She started, blinking at him for a moment as her mind tried to catch up with his odd dialect. Avese was bad enough without regional accents like his! "Hungry? I... I guess so. But I left my rations in--" she clenched her teeth shut before she could finish the sentence. //That's right, Elly, give yourself away the fist chance you get! Even Kelvena would laugh at you, then.//

But Fei, still preoccupied with his own problems, didn't seem to notice. "There's a patch of Hobgrass over there, if you don't mind roughing it. It doesn't taste that great, but it's edible, and it's easy to prepare."

"Um..." She nodded, trying to keep her mouth from curdling. It didn't sound 'great' at all, but it wasn't like she could complain.

Fei rose with a grunt, favoring his wounded arm, and said simply, "Stay here then, and I'll bring back as much as I can."

Elly had jumped up before she realized it, and she rushed over to her 'companion' before she could change her mind. He was a -Lamb-, but... he was injured. And he expected to go and dig something up with that arm? "Wait, wait... at least let me see what I can do about your arm first. I... I'm so sorry..."

Left side... he was luck she hadn't hit his heart... Elly bit her lip and glanced around for something, anything to use as a bandage. She couldn't use her own uniform, or she might try - the material was just too tough. But there wasn't anything - not even any vines, or large leaves... what use /was/ this forest, anyway?

"Elly..." She turned her gaze back to him, and found she couldn't look away once she met his dark brown eyes. There was something about them... an unreadable expression that she couldn't quite pinpoint. But it disappeared a moment later, and he gently disengaged himself from her grip. "Don't worry about it - it doesn't matter. It's not like I have anyplace to go anyway, so it won't matter if I bleed to death." He brushed past her. "At least I can get you out of here like you asked, eh?"

"You /fool/!" She grabbed his good shoulder and yanked him around to face her again. She didn't care if it was nice or not - that was too much. "So /what/ if your village was destroyed? You have a responsibility to go back there and /help/ them! You can't just wander around in this place until you die! That's just running away! It's cowardice!"

"So what?" He shook her arm off, a glare penetrating his depression. "It's my fault! They don't want me back, so how can I help them? I'm just better off /dead/, don't you understand that? I'm too dangerous to--"

She backhanded him, wincing as her knuckles struck his jaw. "Enough of that!" She ignored his incredulity and returned his glare full-force. "Don't be an idiot, /Fei/. It doesn't matter whose fault it was... the fact is, you /owe/ them." She owed them... She had to get back to that village. Even if it was just to return to her gear, maybe she could help the survivors in some small way. Anything, to try to make up for what she did... "If you can't face up to this like a man, maybe you /are/ worthless... but your life isn't yours to waste. Understand?"

"What gives you the right to say that? You didn't see what I saw... you didn't see them... the houses, the animals..."

Elly spun on her heel, turning her back to him. It was more to hide from his eyes, than anything else, but... "If that's the way you're going to be, I'll find my own way out of this forest." She made her voice as cold as possible, trying to emulate the edge of disgust that she always heard in Dominia's voice. "I'll be around the bend, if you decide to get over yourself and join me."

Silence.

She started walking, the feeling of his eyes on her back like a hot brand between her shoulderblades. He didn't know, but that look - the whimpering self-loathing that she saw in his eyes - had shaken her to the bone. She knew all to well how he felt, and she couldn't stand to face his accusing eyes any longer. He blamed himself, but she was really the cause of his pain, and that... that was enough to make her sick.

Why did it disturb her so much? He was just a Lamb... Just... a...

"That won't be necessary," came a soft call, and she halted just before she cleared the firelight.

It was just that call - just a voice, from the shadows ahead of her, so soft and calm that it was intimidating... More intimidating than a 'voice in the dark' should have been. This wasn't a children's bedtime story, and there was no such thing as the boogey man. But...

"Doc?" Fei asked uncertainly, shuffling up behind her. "Is that you...?"

There was a shift in the shadows ahead, and a piece of darkness detached itself from the line of trees, hardly making a sound as it approached, aside from a soft, almost amused, "Yes, Fei, it is I."

Elly backed away cautiously, stopping only when she sensed that she was about to run into Fei. Who was this...? Someone Fei knew obviously, probably from the village. A doctor, she hoped, like he said, although... with /another/ person to watch, things were surely going to get more complicated now...